Ein Beitrag von: Tamara Skudies
Die Lomo’Instant Wide ist das neueste Produkt aus dem Hause Lomography für Fujis „Instax Wide“-Filme. Bisher besitze ich in dem Format eine alte Fuji Instax 200 und das Instant Back für die Lomography Belair. Der Film hat mich schon immer mit seinem Format und der Farbwiedergabe überzeugt und die neue Kamera von Lomography eröffnet einem ganz neue Möglichkeiten, ihn kreativ zu nutzen.
kwerfeldein – Fotografie Magazin | Fotocommunity
[ By WebUrbanist in Boutique & Art Hotels & Travel. ]
If you have ever wanted to fully experience life as a bookseller in a small town by the sea, this quirky combination home-and-bookstore holiday rental may be just be the page-turner you need.
Located in Wigmore, Scotland, The Open Book is an independent retailer that lets interested parties both rent the flat above the store and oversee its operations during their stay. Guests inclined toward working vacations get to double as volunteers, performing all the duties of the shop owners, including opening, closing, shelf restocking and display design.
It may not be a fun novelty for every type of traveler, but presents an opportunity well-suited for those of us who are bookworms, like to stay busy, learn new things and meet locals on getaways.
At less than $ 50 USD per night for up to two guests, the work effectively subsidizes the stay, not to mention giving a more complete experience of the place.
With small bookshops closing up around the country (and the world), the owners wanted to bring more attention to their store and ask their guests to blog about and share their time as a store manager. People are also asked to stay for a minimum of a week, giving them time to learn the ropes and greet a variety of store visitors, from locals to fellow travelers.
For vacation unlike any other, a person might try a visit to a hotel built of ice and snow. There are 32 artist suites for snuggling within the ICEHOTEL.
Click Here to Read More »»
A Hong Kong gadget & gift shop called Konzepp gets a fittingly bright, modern, angular facade in this asymmetrical storefront design by 33WILL.
Click Here to Read More »»
Overtly a straight-shot photographic compilation, Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York shows the rich vernacular diversity of mom-and-pop shops …
Click Here to Read More »»
[ By WebUrbanist in Boutique & Art Hotels & Travel. ]
[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]
Battery life is still one of the most obvious weaknesses of smartphones and many devices, even high-end models, will struggle to get through an entire day of normal use without charging. Apple’s iPhones are no exception, which is why there is an abundance of aftermarket battery packs and cases available for the range, but until today no Apple-branded battery expansion had been available. Read more
Das Bild des Tages von: Sandra Drljaca
Im Ausblick: 25 Nachrichtenfotos, Sommersprossen und wer hat Angst vor Fotografinnen?
kwerfeldein – Fotografie Magazin | Fotocommunity
 |
As virtual reality grows in popularity, an increasing number of consumer-grade 360° cameras are hitting the market. Latest among them is Luna, a spherical camera that records 360° footage for viewing on desktop or through a cardboard VR headset. The team behind Luna is seeking funding on Indiegogo to cover design and production costs.
Luna features a pair of 190° fisheye lenses, and uses ‘artificially intelligent auto-stitching software’ to merge the captured 2K footage into a single 360° HD video. Finalized videos can be shared on social networks or YouTube, and can be viewed using the Luna app and a VR headset. A sample video reel shows relatively low image quality from the camera’s video mode, but it’s unclear whether this is representative of a final production version of the camera.
Integrated Wi-Fi enables live streaming, as well, and the camera itself is waterproof with an IP68 rating. Luna sticks to any metal surface via a magnetic adapter, and has an optional accessory pack including a monopod, universal accessory adaptor, keychain and docking station. At 170g/6oz and 6cm/2.36in diameter it’s very close in size and weight to a pool ball.
Memora, the company behind Luna, is accepting pre-orders through Indiegogo, where a ‘mega early bird’ unit is available by pledging $ 199. Shipping is available worldwide and estimated to start for backers in October 2016.
[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]
Addressing the combined challenges of mobility and density, this series of design solutions (both conceptual and actual) turn trailer living into a vertical endeavor. While the image above was alas only a stage set for a theatrical production, there are real-world examples of this approach dating back decades.
Industrialist, developer and mobile housing pioneer Elmer Frey pitched an incredible project in the early 1960s: a set of spiraling skyscrapers designed to house roadworthy mobile homes. The 20-story structures would house over 500 homes each with parking below and restaurants and community spaces above. While this grand vision never came to pass, Frey did not give up so easily.
Instead, he approach the problem at a smaller scale, hoping to win support for his bigger ambitions. Built near the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul in Minnesota, the SkyRise Terrace was controversial from the time it was constructed.
The site provided frameworks for stacking conventional mobile homes, arrayed in an arc around a central shared space. Problems with plumbing and fear of tornados contributed to the deconstruction of this complex a few years after its creation.
In nearby Mankato, the Valley View Apartments complex used similar design principles to create an equally-unappealing set of stacked mobile homes framed by concrete supports. Deemed ugly by critics locally and around the country, this complex also was eventually demolished, but was still not the end of trailer-stacking history.
With global warming threatening coastal cities and a new era of mass migration on the horizon, going mobile just might be today’s bright idea – and tomorrow’s …
Click Here to Read More »»
The 3X trailer deploys with the push of a button, tripling its interior space in a matter of seconds, turning a cramped road can by day into an expansive set …
Click Here to Read More »»
There’s nothing like the freedom to move and live where we want. Perhaps the greatest expression of postmodern mobility is when transportation devices are …
Click Here to Read More »»
[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]
[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]
 |
This is less the story of a DPReview.com editor professing his favorite piece of gear from the year, and more the story of a photographer and system owner holding out several years for the perfect camera. This isn’t about Nikon vs Canon or Sony or mirrorless vs DSLR. It’s about investing in a system, expectations, and the joy of photography.
In the Winter of 2012 I purchased a lightly used Nikon D700 for a trip I was planning in the Spring, to document Egypt’s first-ever freely-held presidential elections. While the camera was technically a current model, it had been on the market, at the time of my purchase, for nearly four years.
I had also strongly considered the D800 at the time, which had been announced a few weeks prior. But after field testing the camera (I was working at Popular Photography at the time), I decided that is was simply not the body for me. I was upgrading from a Nikon D300, and the D800 felt too much like a studio camera: the Raw files were far larger than I needed, or was used to, the burst not fast enough (the D300 with a grip gave me 8 fps), and the price, way more than I could afford to pay. It’s also worth mentioning that the D600 had not been announced yet. So my options were pretty much limited to a camera that appeared to be near the end of its product life.
Fast forward two and half years to the late Summer of 2014. I had been using the D700 aggressively for freelance work, and put more than a half million actuations on it. Despite the rubber skin starting to peel a bit, the camera still functioned like new. Still, I couldn’t help but feel like I was ready for an upgrade, the same upgrade I had been yearning for when I initially settled on the D700, due to lack of options.
 |
| ISO 640, 1/1000 sec F5.6 shot with a Nikon 24mm F2.8D lens affixed. The D750 is the only Full-frame camera in Nikon’s line that offers an articulating LCD, which I used to frame this image. |
I’ll never forget the day Nikon first unveiled the D750 to us in a press meeting. It was an incredibly muggy August afternoon in New York City. As I walked down Park Avenue with a co-worker, I felt anxious. Rumors had been circulating for months of a new full frame camera, and I was eager to find out if they were true. Moreover, I was eager to find out if the camera I had long dreamed of, since the day I started shooting with my D700, was going to come to fruition.
At the time, both the Nikon D610 and D810 had been announced. But like so many Nikon shooters upgrading from a D700 or D300, neither camera felt right. I already mentioned my misgivings about the D800 (and the same go for the D810), but on the other end of the spectrum, the D610 felt too plasticky and simply not-professional enough for my use. By comparison, both the Nikon D700 and D300 are substantially more ruggedized than the D610 and I was not willing to purchase a new camera that felt less robust than that I was replacing.
Needless to say, Nikon PR unveiled the D750 that afternoon, and it was everything I could have asked for: a robust weather sealed body, with an updated sensor, full video capture (neither my D300 nor my D700 offered any sort of real video mode), an articulating screen and built-in Wi-Fi. Months later, as the reviews rolled in, the verdict seemed clear: the D750 offered great image quality and excellent AF performance, in a feature-packed body that also happened to be smaller and lighter than both the D300 and D700 (without sacrificing build quality or weather sealing).
 |
| ISO 1250, 1/400 sec, F4. Shot was a Nikon 85mm F1.8D lens affixed. |
It wasn’t until the Spring of 2015 I was able to afford one: a wedding assignment on the East Coast (I had moved from New York to Seattle in the winter of 2014), was ultimately the reason I pulled the trigger on my purchase. The camera arrived a week before my departure, giving me little time to try it out before the big shoot. To further complicate matters, at the time, I was in between finishing a Sony A77 II review and starting a Fujifilm X-T10 review, which is to say, Nikon cameras and the way they function, were not at the forefront of my brain.
It didn’t matter. Picking the D750 up instantly felt familiar. I had been using Nikon cameras since 2006, including a D100 and D2h at my college newspaper, and I was pleased to see that generation, to generation, to generation, Nikon had largely kept menus, functions and button placements fairly uniform throughout the company’s high-end models.
The wedding proved to be an epic first field test for the D750. The ceremony took place outdoors, in torrential downpours. It was raining so hard during the reciting of the vows, I physically could not see anything through the viewfinder other than the red AF confirmation square lighting up on what I hoped were the bride and grooms faces. It was truly a moment of pointing, shooting and hoping. But the D750 did not let me down. Despite the shooting conditions, I was able to still capture all of the crucial wedding ceremony moments. And thanks to the camera’s image quality, I was able to work with the Raw files, which were substantial washed out due to fogging and moisture, to add back in some contrast and saturation.
 |
| ISO 1250, 1/400 sec, F4. Shot was a Nikon 85mm F1.8D lens affixed. |
Of course, one of the biggest selling points of Nikon DSLRs are the incredible dynamic range they offer, and the D750 is no exception. I shoot a ton of live music and band portraiture and the amount of detail I can recover from the shadows of Raw files is truly impressive. Simply put, the flexibility of Nikon’s Raw files have, at times, been job saving. The D750 also holds its own in very low light shooting as well as some of the very best cameras I’ve tested. The same goes for AF performance; I rely heavily on a camera’s AF system for shooting in dark venues (I try to avoid using a flash as much as possible), and the D750 provides AF acquisition speeds and performance comparable with the best.
Video capture and Wi-Fi were also two features I had long yearned for in my D700. And while you can find other DSLRs and mirrorless cameras that offer a wider range of video function, and higher-resolution capture, the D750 is still a pleasure to use for multimedia, and the video quality is very good. Wi-Fi connectivity is also painless to use, and quite handy for transmitting images in a pinch. A close friend of mine, who also purchased a D750 around the same time, swears the D750 has revolutionized the way he sends image of breaking news assignments back to his editor. Of course Wi-Fi connectivity in cameras is nothing new, but the D750 was the first full frame Nikon to offer it, and it does so in a reliable fashion.
 |
| ISO 6400, 1/160 sec, F2.8. Shot with a Nikon 24mm F2.8D affixed. |
At the end of the day, the D750 may not be the greatest camera of all time. And there are plenty of cameras that beat it out in specific shooting scenarios, but as a long time Nikon user, looking for the perfect all-arounder to compliment my system, it is the best camera for me.
Working at a website like DPReview, I constantly think about cameras in terms of the future. Will mirrorless cameras completely surpass DSLRs to become the pros’ tool of choice? Will the D760 do 4K? How about a Nikon full framer with a stabilized sensor, to bring VR to all lenses? The point is, we can dream and dream, and the perfect camera will always be just one rumor away. But at the end of the day, the best camera is the one you have. And I’m happy to call the D750 my own, finally.
 |
| ISO 3200, 1/400 sec, F2.2. Shot with a Nikon 85mm F1.8D affixed. |
HDR, or High Dynamic Range, photography originally started as an attempt to correct the limited dynamic range for standard camera sensors, compared to what the human eye can see or perceive. This is not a new concept, but in case you’ve never heard of it, allow me to explain.
Back in the day, camera sensors had an average dynamic range of about 5–7 stops, where our eyes can easily adapt and recognize ranges from 11 to 14 stops. Nowadays, sensors of modern cameras are much more capable in terms of dynamic range, but they still, depending on the situation, can’t capture the whole range.
5 Images 1 Stop Apart – Basic Preset – Slight Contrast Adjustment
So HDR techniques utilize multiple images, with different exposures, of the same subject, that are then merged together to create an exposure range closer to what we can perceive with our eyes. Of course, this is not a new concept, and there is always a lot of controversy among photographers regarding the subject. Some people like it extreme or artsy, and others like it more natural. Both can be achieved through HDR methods. There are many different techniques and types of software for doing HDR. But, not all of them are easy to use and understand, with resulting images that are not natural, and over-processed.
Recently Macphun, one of the world’s leading developers in consumer and professional photography software for the Mac, has teamed up with Trey Ratcliff, an artist and HDR pioneer who mastered the technique, gaining over nine million fans. According to their statement, “Aurora HDR contains every imaginable tool needed to produce high-quality next generation dramatic images.”
I’ve been a fan of Trey’s wonderful images myself, so when I heard about the software, I wanted to give it a try. I just received a copy and have been playing around for a couple of days.
5 Images 2 Stop Apart – Treys Angels Within Preset – Slight Contrast Adjustment
Some of the key benefits of Macphun Aurora HDR Pro, as described by the developer, are:
7 Images 1 Stop Apart – Indoor Bright Preset – Slight Contrast Adjustment
As mentioned above, the software can be used as a stand-alone application or as an plugin host operation within Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom or Apple Aperture. Because Lightroom is my base, I have chosen to use it from there.
After the installation, it took me a while to figure out how to make it work with Lightroom. Most plugins automatically install the extensions but with Aurora, you actually need to open the program, open an image, and then go to the Aurora HDR Pro menu and select Install Plug-Ins. In my opinion, I think it would be better in future editions to have the option of installing the plug-ins upon the initial installation, rather than having to go through this process. But after that, it integrated with Lightroom flawlessly.
When launched, the first window that shows up displays the images from which the HDR will be made, as well as options for Alignment, Ghosts and Chromatic Aberration Reduction. So far so good. Pick alignment if the images were shot hand-held, pick Ghosts Reduction if there are moving subjects, and so on.
Once you click Create HDR, the images are combined and the main interface will open up. The interface is well-rounded and easy to navigate. It features a large image view with three main sections: a navigation and tool bar at the top, layer and adjusting tools on the right side, and presets selections at the bottom.
On the top bar you’ll find: the zooming tools, quick preview and compare options (to check against your original and edited images), a move tool (to move around when zoomed in), and a brush and eraser to use in layers (when creating masks) and the layers tool.
The main section of right panel contains the following tools:
Lastly, there are the presets, created by Macphun and Trey himself. They provide a good starting point to try out different looks in a single click. Of course, you can also create your own presets and save them for future use.
I created the image below by using three images, shot two stops apart. I started with the Basic Realistic preset as a base, and played with the sliders until I got what I wanted. Then, I added a layer to add more light to the palace in the foreground, and masked out the rest.
One of the things that I’ve noticed while working, is that the application is fast compared to other software I’ve used in the past, and that is a godsend. Everything loads fast, and the application seems to be very responsive. I’ll definitely continue to use it in the future and test more functions.
Whether you are an HDR fan or have never experimented with the technique, you should give Macphun Aurora HDR Pro a try. This is a well-rounded application that can serve the needs of pros and amateurs alike.
Unfortunately, the software is only available for Mac, but I think overall it is a great alternative. They are currently three options. The Aurora HDR currently retails for $ 49.99; with this option there is no RAW support, and it can just run as a standalone application. The tested version is the Aurora HDR Pro that retails for $ 99, and there is also a package that includes the application plus training for $ 129.
googletag.cmd.push(function() {
tablet_slots.push( googletag.defineSlot( “/1005424/_dPSv4_tab-all-article-bottom_(300×250)”, [300, 250], “pb-ad-78623” ).addService( googletag.pubads() ) ); } );
googletag.cmd.push(function() {
mobile_slots.push( googletag.defineSlot( “/1005424/_dPSv4_mob-all-article-bottom_(300×250)”, [300, 250], “pb-ad-78158” ).addService( googletag.pubads() ) ); } );
The post Macphun Aurora HDR Pro Software – First Impressions by Daniel Korzeniewski appeared first on Digital Photography School.
Das Bild des Tages von: Peter Drach
Im Ausblick: Diane Arbus, Burlesque und Schneeflocken.
kwerfeldein – Fotografie Magazin | Fotocommunity
Der amerikanisch-iranische Fotograf Ashkan Sahihi portraitierte über den Zeitraum von zwei Jahren 375 Berlinerinnen und legt damit ein feinfühliges fotografisches Forschungsportrait der deutschen Hauptstadt vor. Das Ergebnis ist noch bis zum 10. Januar 2016 in der Galerie im Körnerpark in Berlin zu sehen.
kwerfeldein – Fotografie Magazin | Fotocommunity