A lot of equipment passes through our Seattle and London offices, everything from high-end cameras to inexpensive accessories. A lot of it gets reviewed, but we can’t cover everything. In this series of short articles, DPReview staff will be highlighting their personal standout products of the year. In part 2, Allison Johnson comments on her personal favorite – the Panasonic Lumix GM1.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
A lot of equipment passes through our Seattle and London offices, everything from high-end cameras to inexpensive accessories. A lot of it gets reviewed, but we can’t cover everything. In this series of short articles, DPReview staff will be highlighting their personal standout products of the year. In part 1, editor Barnaby Britton takes us through his personal favorite – the Fujifilm X100S.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
The Royal Air Force’s annual photographic competition invites photographers employed in the service of the RAF to submit photos in eleven categories. Winners are recognized in an awards ceremony and finalists’ photos are available for viewing online. Take a look at a selection of our favorites. The images are a captivating peek inside the RAF on the ground and in the sky. See gallery
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Sony’s RX1 fixed 35mm full frame compact has received the prestigious Camera Grand Prix 2013 title, while Sigma’s 35mm F1.4 DG HSM was named lens of the year. The awards, organized by the Japanese Camera Journal Press Club have a history of recognizing what prove to be historically significant cameras. Meanwhile, the Editors Awards were given to the Canon EOS 6D and Sigma’s DP Merrill series of compacts.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
The Instagram Socialmatic concept camera, first announced in May 2012, could become a reality by next year following some recent agreements between Socialmatic LLC and C & A Marketing. The two companies would work together to bring the device to market under the Polaroid brand name. Intended as the Instagram app icon come to life, the stand-alone digital Polaroid Socialmatic Camera would both share images on the popular photo-sharing social network and print them using a built-in system. Read more about the proposed specs on connect.dpeview.com.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
I’ve written previously about the importance of getting down to eye level when photographing wildlife. When eye-level means ground level, it can be awkward to support your camera whilst also supporting yourself and trying to keep your gear clean.
Most tripods allow you to get quite low by opening the legs out as wide as possible, many actually opening out fully so that the tripod sits flush to the ground. Whilst this is very functional, it can be pretty awkward to handle, especially if trying to pan with your subject or if you have to move to follow your subject around.
One option to overcome this is what is known as a ground pod. It is a plate/tray with upturned edges, that you attach your camera to, or for more flexibility, screw your tripod head to. It supports your camera just a few inches from the ground, thus offering some protection from water splashes or sand/mud, whilst allowing easy movement in all directions.
Completed ground pod. You can see I'm using a ball head to mound my camera to the frying pan.
The commercially available options are pretty expensive (approx £80/$ 100 US) so I decided to try and make my own. I in no way claim to be the first person to do this, but thought I would share how it is done to illustrate how easy it is to make your own low-level camera support.
You will need:
Left: Frying pan with handle removed, showing the riveted bracket. Left: A 3/8" hex bolt.
The construction of the ground pod is very simple:
And that is it! Simple.
You will want to ensure that the pan actually supports your camera and lens without toppling over before putting it to use. If you chose a wide enough pan, this should not be a problem.
When out on a beach or in a field you will find that using a ground pod for support makes getting down low a lot easier whilst having some confidence that your camera gear will remain free from sand, mud and water. The pan is a good deal lighter than most tripods too, meaning you can carry less weight when out on your next wildlife shoot.
If you already own a suitable tripod head, this project shouldn’t cost much more than the price of a cheap frying pan and is a great way of supporting your camera at ground level for those powerful and intimate wildlife portraits.
(Thanks to Rob Cain for taking the picture of my gear on the completed ground pod, above)
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
A project for the New Year: How to make a DIY Ground Pod
While 2011 marked many milestones for mobile photography, 2012 easily surpassed it. Last year saw mobile photography really take off, both in terms of consumer interest and mainstream acceptance. In this article, we look back on an incredible year where images from cellphones graced everything from magazine covers to the walls of major exhibitions. Click through for a link to the full article on connect.dpreview.com.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Year 2012 is coming to and end, and while you are sewing your Superman suit for the coming New Year party, I’d like to point out a couple of cool things that happened here on Photodoto during the last year. In July 2012 Photodoto recovered from a long sleep, and now we – George Bailey, Nancy Young and Tim Soulo Continue Reading
The post Happy New Year from Photodoto! appeared first on Photodoto.
Young Australian journalist Mel Gibson takes his first assignment in Indonesia during the 1965 coup. As the violence escalates, he has an intense affair with British journalist Sigourney Weaver. Linda Hunt (“Kindergarten Cop,” “Pocohantas”) won a well-deserved Oscar as Gibson’s male photographer friend and jealous rival. A powerfully evocative political thriller with fascinating scenes of Asian culture. Academy Award-winner Gibson (“Lethal Weapon,” “Braveheart,” “Ransom”), Oscar and Golden Globe-nominee Weaver (“Alien ,” “Ghostbusters,” “Copycat”), and Hunt are joined by Michael Murphy (“Batman Returns,” TV’s “Dead Ahead: The Exxon Valdez Disaster”). Oscar-nominee Peter Weir (“Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World,” “Dead Poets Society”) wrote and directed. MPAA Rating: PG (c) 1983 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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 Extra photos for bloggers: 1, 2, 3 |
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The New Year’s almost here! You know what that means: resolutions.
Time to tackle all of those photo troubles you had this past year.
Instead, try these three time-travelling projects! The Film Negative Time Capsule, Recreate a Photo, and the Reverse 365 will help you look back on years past and look forward on the year ahead!
Photo Projects for the New Year!
p.s. Wanna be our friend? Check the box, yes or no.
Time to recover from that eggnog hangover (which we’re sure is what it’s from) with these photo projects that will catapult you right into 2013.
One of the best parts of photography is looking back on where you’ve been and seeing how you’ve improved. These ideas will give you a helping hand with just that.
Film Negative Time Capsule: It’s like a mini time machine, and you won’t even have to worry about those pesky time travel paradoxes. Just slip your negatives inside and let them hang out with their friends for a year or however long you want. Once that’s up, crack it open and see what you’ve been missing!
Recreate a Photo: We swear we aren’t up to no good with all of this time travel business. Take that photo that your mom loves to embarrass you with in front of your girlfriend/boyfriend and recreate it now that you’re older! Or, plan to go back to the same spot with friends years later and snap the same photo.
Reverse 365 Project: The 365 Project is a slick way to improve your photography while documenting a year in your life. It can get a little bit daunting, though. This spin on the classic lets you pull photos from your archive that you aren’t currently using and incorporate them into your new 365!
The Film Negative Time Capsule is a spin on the traditional time capsule. Instead of finding things to stow away for a few thousand years, this time capsule is one you add to as you go along.
It’s simple, each time you develop a roll of film, snip of a few frames from the negatives before scanning/enlarging and stow them away in the time capsule box. A year later, or as long as your willpower lasts, open the box and look at all of the memories!
It’s like a mini time machine, all without witnessing your dad’s 70′s moustache in person.
Short and sweet:
Take your scissors and cut a slit in the top of the box where you can slide in the negatives.
Add some sweet decorations to your time capsule. Make sure you warn others (and yourself) to keep out!
That’s it! The longer you wait and the more negatives you add, the sweeter the reward!
But I don’t Shoot Film!
Don’t worry! Here are some other ideas you can use to create a time capsule-esque effect.
There’s nothing better than a good reminiscing sesh with a photo album, but what if you were able to actually relive that moment? We found some cool photo projects that involve revisiting the same place to recreate a photo or reliving it!
Dear Photograph:“A picture of a picture, from the past, in the present.” Sounds confusing, looks like awesomeness. The idea behind Dear Photograph is to incorporate an old photo with the same setting years later. Hold the photo at arms length so that the scene matches, and snap the picture!
“BACK TO THE FUTURE 2 2011″ If you were to recreate that childhood photo that your mom loves to embarrass you with in front of all of your friends, this is what it would look like. Irina Werning’s photo project recreates old photos with results that are stunning faithful to the original.
The 365 Project is a great way to improve your photography and to document each day for the next year, but it’s also very daunting and can be difficult to complete. But what if you did a 365 with pictures you’ve already taken?
Pete Labrozzi created a new way to complete the 365 Project. Instead of taking a picture every day for the next year, Pete is using photos he’s taken from previous years.
In the smartphone age, our pictures barely last a hot minute. With this project, you can pull them out of the darkness and incorporate them into your future 365.
Some benefits according to Pete:
We <3 these projects. Inspired by the passage of time, they're great 2013 Inspirations!
Photo for Recreate a Photo from Dear Photograph
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