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  • hand coloring in lightroom

    I’ve always loved hand-colored photos.   They have such a great look, very unique, very interesting.  For those who don’t know, “hand coloring” refers to any process where a photographer uses pigment, dye or paint of some sort to manually add color to a black and white photo.   Historically this was done in the 1800s by photographers using pigment and gum arabic on daguerreotypes!  The technique persisted in one  form or another throughout the years until it was supplanted by actual color photography.  Of course, just because it is no longer necessary to get color in such a way doesn’t mean it can’t be used for asthetic effect.

    I shoot a lot of black and white film, which I generally scan and process in lightroom rather than wet printing.  Now if you’ve used lightroom, you are probably familiar with the brush tools for things like exposure, clarity or even skin smoothing.  However, the oft overlooked “tint” option can be used to easily paint in color to a black and white image for a “hand colored” effect.

    let’s take this image.

    This was shot on film (with a holga!) during a vintage pin-up shoot.  In other words, there is no actual color information in the file etc…

    Now I’m going to hand color it to approximate the actual colors of the scene.  First we start by going into the lightroom brush tools.  Make sure all the adjustment sliders are set to zero (we are just painting on color here, not adjusting the photo itself)   Click on the tint box at the bottom right to bring up the color picker.

    A little trick with the color picker is that if you hold the mouse button down you can drag the eyedropper out of the little selection window and  sample color from *anything* on screen.  One useful trick with this is to have a “reference photo” open separately and sample your colors for hand coloring from that.

    Since the couch in this shot was a green color, I grab a nice rich green and begin painting my mask.  I find it more accurate to paint with the red overlay on (click “O” to toggle the overlay on or off).  You’ll want to use a separate mask for each area of color.  Here’s the green mask for the couch all done.

    yeah, it’s not perfect, but close enough ?

    I then do separate masks for her shirt (pink) and her skin.   With hand coloring, I like to leave a portion of the image uncolored which gives it it’s signature b/w+color look, different from “selective coloring”

    and the final result:

    Now this may be kind of a “niche” technique, and certainly not suited for all photos but it’s quick and easy and yields a very unique effect.  Overall it’s a nice trick to have in one’s toolbox.

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  • GoPro releases GoPro Labs, a beta update that adds experimental features to your HERO8 Black

    GoPro has announced the release of GoPro Labs, a new program that allows GoPro HERO8 Black owners to sign up as beta testers to test out experimental features that haven’t yet made their way into final products. In GoPro’s own words, ‘Think of GoPro Labs as an insider look at innovative features our top engineers are playing with.’

    The first release of GoPro Labs includes a pair of features that were first developed via internal [hackathons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackathons: ReelSteady GO optimization and QR Codes for camera control.

    Earlier this year, GoPro acquired ReelSteady, a team of FPV drone operators and visual effects experts that have developed some of the most advanced stabilization and image correction software out there for GoPro cameras. Nothing has come from the acquisition as of this time, but the ReelSteady GO optimization in the GoPro Labs firmware update will allow GoPro HERO8 Black owners to optimize the in-camera rolling shutter correction to better work with ReelSteady’s post-production software.

    Below is an example video from ReelSteady showing their image stabilization technology at work:

    The QR Codes for camera control in the GoPro Labs firmware update is exactly what it sounds like. By creating custom QR codes with embedded commands, GoPro HERO8 Black owners can add new functions to their action cam without the need for Wi-Fi connectivity. Below are a few examples of features you can tweak via QR code:

    • Wake-up timer for remote start capture
    • Save favorite modes as a visual preset/QR code Motion detection start/stop — only capture video when something is happening
    • Speed detection start/stop — use GPS to determine your speed and automatically start capture at a defined speed
    • Camera scripting — e.g. shoot a time-lapse of a construction site but only during daylight hours (and many other detailed camera controls)
    • Personalize your GoPro with owner information Larger chapters for fewer files when taking long video captures — e.g. 4GB chapters will increase to 12GB.

    GoPro has created and shared ten pre-built command QR codes with variables, but if you’re feeling adventurous, you can also create your own using GoPro’s list of action commands and settings commands. Additional support can be found on the GoPro Labs community within the GoPro forums.

    To show off what’s capable with the new functionality, GoPro showed how the QR code camera control feature was used by GoPro Technical Fellow (and creator of the QR code feature), David Newman, worked alongside Northrup Grumman Corp. to capture the launch of a resupply mission to the International Space Station. Since the GoPro’s had to be set 72 hours in advance and not touched, he teamed up with his daughter to trigger each camera with a QR code before securing them to the launch pad. As the below video attests to, the results worked perfectly, despite none of the action cams having external power or displays.

    View this post on Instagram

    GoPro rocks. Raw video. Raw audio. Straight from the camera. Just some simple cuts. That’s a wrap! #gopro #antares #northropgrumman #iss #rocket #nofilter #okaymaybetherewasaNDfilter

    A post shared by John + Sara (@reedpi) on

    GoPro says these features could one day be unveiled alongside a new camera, but also notes there’s a chance ‘these features may never make it to a camera release.’

    If you happen to have a GoPro HERO8 Black on hand, you can read through the installation instructions and download the GoPro Labs firmware update on GoPro’s website. Below is a great rundown of the new features from YouTuber DC Rainmaker:

    If you end up creating anything interesting with the GoPro Labs firmware, let us know in the comments below or contact us via our feedback form!

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Fujifilm X-T4 sample gallery (DPReview TV)

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    Our team from DPReview TV has been shooting a production Fujifilm X-T4 all week. Check out these new sample photos from the Canadian Rockies and the beautiful city of Calgary, Alberta.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • an ode to the normals

    Ah, the humble normal lens… in a day and age where all the glory goes to the 70-200/2.8s and the ultrawides, it is easy to overlook the humble elegance of the unassuming normal.  Traditionally the 50mm in 35mm terms, but may vary depending on format.

    The normal is small, light, fast, sharp and versatile.

    It does portraits, it does landscapes, it does street, event, low light…

    Need to get in closer? take a step forward.  Need to get  wider? take a step back.   Unlike many other focal lengths the normal is almost chameleon-like in it’s ability to adapt itself to different situations, rendering tightly framed shots as well as “wider” with equal aplomb.  (yes I know the actual focal length and field of view don’t change, I refer only to it’s apparent versatility in framing).

    In fact, I would estimate probably 75% of my shots overall are taken with a normal lens (50mm on my Nikon, 20mm on my gf1, 75mm on my Mamiya).

    The normal lens has a long and influential life in the history of photography.  Many of the seminal images of the 20th century were made with the 50mm.

    There is a kind of “Zen Like” simplicity to shooting with a normal as well – maybe it has something to do with the fact that it approximates the normal human field of view, but previsualizing the shot becomes almost unconscious.  As if one of the barriers between concept and image just falls away…

    And then there’s the beautiful, beautiful depth of field.  Opening up to f/1.4 (or more!) just creates a whole new world of depth of field effects.

    Of course the normal is not a *replacement* for your zoom – especially a telephoto or ultrawide, but if you’re a zoom shooter primarily, give it a shot – spend a couple of weeks with just a normal on your camera.  You might just find it addictive…

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  • The gear that got away: reader responses

    Gear that got away: reader responses

    After sharing our own stories of selling gear and later coming to regret it, we heard from our readers with their own tales of woe – and we weren’t quite prepared for the emotional rollercoaster ride it would be reading your comments! From an unlikely reunification, to a camera left behind in combat, to a sturdy lens that wouldn’t quit (until a spider moved in) your stories have all the excitement of a summer blockbuster. Take a look at a selection of our favorites.

    Yashica Electro 35

    CMCM: For purely nostalgic reasons, somehow and somewhere I lost track of my very first camera… a rangefinder Yashica Electro 35, bought in the Cu Chi, Vietnam PX in early 1967. This was apparently the first electronically controlled camera (hence the name “Electro), in which you selected the aperture and the camera automatically chose the shutter speed. It had an excellent fixed 45mm f1.7 lens, and my copy had a non-working light meter for most of its life. I used it sporadically until about 1979, when I got a Canon AE-1.

    I’ve recently been digitizing old slides, and I’ve been amazed at how lovely the photos from the old Yashica could be. Wish I knew what happened to it! However, for fun I recently found an absolutely mint one that appears to have never been used, and even the light meter still works!

    Panasonic LX100

    The Jimmy 86: I’ll always somewhat regret selling my LX100. I was very much a fledgling photographer when I got (and arguably still am) but I took some of my favorite photos with it. The aspect ratio selection switch was just a dream and the camera was essentially good at everything.

    I’ll likely never sell a camera when I upgrade again.

    Olympus Trip 35

    Photo by Marc Lacoste via Wikimedia Commons

    BoborTwo: My 1st ‘proper’ camera, an Olympus Trip 35 (the David Bailey one, as my mum used to say).

    It opened my camera eye, and led to me selling photos … but stupidly, I traded up to an OM10 on it, and it was gone forever. I tried to get it back some 2 years later, but it had been sold on to random customer in the Jessops in which I traded it.

    I deeply miss it, I knew its limitations – there were many, but it took a long time for me to find something I loved as much – a Minox 35 GT – I will never let it go.

    Nikon D700

    philm5d: My Nikon D700. I had taken it to Scotland on Honeymoon however. Looking at the pics I wished I hadn’t got rid of it – lovely images and also a degree of sentimentality. A chap in Europe had bought it. Two years later I found his eBay name on an old email and offered to buy it back. He wrote back to say sorry he’d sold it on but if he came across the buyer’s details he’d tell me. Six months later he wrote to say he’d found owner two’s username details back in UK.

    SO I messaged guy no.2. He said sorry he didn’t want to part with it. I put his eBay name in favourite sellers and two years later he’s selling a guitar. I offer to buy the guitar AND the camera and lo and behold he offers to list the camera at a crazy price (to dissuade others) + “offers” and tells me what he’s accept which was £450. So now I have my camera back after its travels. It’s slightly more worn with 45000 clicks but works perfectly. The serial number tallies with my honeymoon pics etc and I am happy. Beat that if you can!

    Vintage photography magazines

    valosade: Complete editions of Modern Photography and Popular Photography magazine from the 70s and 80s. When I moved I put them in a paper collection. I was insane, especially Modern I like to read every day …

    felix from the suburbs: In my case, I had several decades worth of Modern Photography and Popular Photography nicely stored in cardboard boxes in the basement. We went up north one week-end and came back to a burst pipe in the basement right over where those boxes were kept. The magazines were turned to mush. Much heartbreak that day.

    Leica M-2R

    Leica M2 photographed by E. Wetzig via Wikimedia Commons

    Rodger Kingston: It was 1973, and I was newly married and new to photography, still on my first “serious” camera, a Minolta SRT 101 SLR (which I eventually ruined by backing into a swimming pool at a wedding rehearsal, but that’s another story).

    A friend offered me a new Leica M2-R with a Dual Range Summicron and Close-Focus Attachment for the ridiculous price – if I remember correctly – of $ 250, with the proviso that if I didn’t like the camera, I had to offer it back to him at the price he sold it to me for.

    A complete newbie, I’d gotten used to the tunnel vision of an SLR, and found the inscribed frame of the Leica rangefinder unsettling to use, so after a short time I sold it back to him.

    Now, a lifetime later, my favored cameras have been rangefinder/viewfinder style for many years (including a few Leicas), but none as sweet as that M2-R that I let slip away because I didn’t have the sense to learn how to see with it.

    Olympus C-8080

    Photo by photophile with Olympus C-8080

    photophile: I purchased the huge, brick-like C-8080 it in early 2005 – and loved it straight away. THAT lens was astonishing at resolving detail. The supermacro mode was to die for, the flip-out LCD was really handy for shooting flowers & bugs at ground level and those direct on-body buttons to change metering mode and shooting mode etc – wow! BUT – it was slow to focus and RAW write speed was snail’s pace plus it was a bit noisy above ISO-200. So when the E500 came out, I thought it was time to ‘upgrade.’ As the SLR wasn’t cheap, I sold the C-8080.

    The regret was immediate. Yes the new toy was great – but it seemed a bit sterile, too easy to use! Bizarrely, I actually MISSED having to fiddle and fidget with the C-8080, I especially missed the on-body buttons – hated having to trawl through menus on the E500.

    Bought a used/abused unit in 2009. And I still have it. Love pressing buttons and turning dials, making it whirr and chirp as it struggles to lock focus. Bit like me!

    Rollei 2.8

    Photo by Sputniktilt via Wikimedia Commons

    mikegc: I took my Rollei 2.8 to Vietnam in 1969. I was a combat photographer with the First Infantry Division. During an assault, the Rollei took a hit as I was running. The bullet passed through the body of the camera that shattered the viewfinder lens and the focusing control. I left it in the jungle and I’m very sorry I did that. It would make a great conversation piece.

    Yashica Penta J

    Photo by Rick Oleson

    ikon44: In my student years in the mid 1960s I sold my UK-made Corfield Periflex 3a for a Yashica Penta J a 35mm film camera with selenium-gold clip on light meter (that was the good decision). The meter clipped on over the shutter speed dial, you chose a shutter speed and the meter gave you the ‘correct’ f stop. It was really easy to use and I found it very reliable.

    I sold it in 1970 for an Olympus Pen F and have kicked myself ever since. Many of my friends had (and raved about) the half frame Olympus Pen F. I sold the Yashica for the Pen F and have never recovered from the mistake of thinking I could do better with ‘someone else’s’ idea of the right camera. I now have Nikon D750, and D610 and Fujifilm XT2 and am happy with them all… each for its own purpose.

    Panasonic Lumix GF3

    Wingsfan: Laugh if you want, but I traded a Lumix GF3 in on an Olympus E-M1 Mark II when they were offering $ 200 for any camera on trade on the E-M1 Mark II. I don’t regret it, because the Olympus is a much better camera, but I forgot how simple and fun it was to use the GF3. Plus, even though my daughter got to inherit my Lumix G5 out of the deal (she had been using the GF3), she still reminds me how much more she likes to GF3 to this day.

    Canon PowerShot G12

    davesurrey: A while ago I made a spur of the moment decision to reduce my camera collection and sold, amongst others, a Canon G12.

    Then every time I saw the space on the shelves where that little fellow had sat I felt nostalgia over take me.

    It was far from the best camera I possessed, even then, and it wasn’t even the one I instinctively grabbed when I went out. But there was something about it that I enjoyed.

    So I solved the problem and now have a lovely G12 sitting on my shelves again which does get the occasional use.

    Was it logical buying another again? Of course not, but what’s logic got to do with passion.

    Canon EF 100mm F2 USM

    Photo by Ashley Pomeroy via Wikimedia Commons

    aceflibble: …For more technical reasons, my first copy of the Canon EF 100mm f/2 USM. That lens was absurdly sharp and well-corrected and had, by far, the fastest and most confident autofocus on the 1Ds cameras. I stupidly sold it when I got the EF 85mm f/1.2L II and immediately missed it. Tried the 70-200 f/2.8 IS as well but still wasn’t happy, so sold both the 70-200 and 85 and bought another copy of the 100. Sadly, that copy was nowhere near as good as my original. Sold it and got a third copy, a bit better but still not quite there. Somewhere out there is a world-class copy of the 100mm f/2 and I hope whoever has it appreciates what they have.

    Nikon FM

    Photo by Callum Lewis-Smith via Wikimedia Commons

    tcab: Traded my Nikon FM film camera & 105mm lens for a film Pentax point and shoot before an overseas holiday. Walking out of the shop I happened to look around and saw the shop owner fondling the Nikon gear with a huge grin on his face. I thought maybe I had made a mistake, but left it at that and went on my holiday.

    Twenty or more years later I look back and think – what was I thinking! I loved that camera – it was my first, too. Sure I have all sorts of better cameras now, but still regret selling that classic Nikon.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Ilford 120 film packaging turns into a camera

    From the dieline, a design/packaging blog I read regularly.

    A student designed a package for ilford 120 rollfilm, that can be folded into a pinhole camera for said film.  Supercool, although it wasn’t clear whether this was an actual product or just a design concept.  Check the link for more images and info on the project.

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  • the evolution of a photographer

    Found over at RobertBenson.com.  absolutely hilarious, and very true… hits close to home actually!

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  • edzstudios is iPad compatible

    Yes, that is edzstudios.com on an iPad.  No flash here.  The whole site works beautifully, from galleries to blog to contact form.

    (grins smugly at LiveBooks users)

    ?

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  • DPReview TV: Fujifilm X-T4 review

    Is the Fujifilm X-T4 the king of APS-C cameras? Chris and Jordan answer that question and explain why the X-T3 may still a good option for some.

    Subscribe to our YouTube channel to get new episodes of DPReview TV every week.

    • Introduction
    • Calgary sample photos
    • Autofocus
    • Turk Diggler
    • Shutter and IBIS performance
    • Sensor
    • Rocky Mountain sample photos
    • Video performance
    • Who's it for?
    • Compared to the X-T3

    Sample gallery from this episode

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    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • My iphone shot from the Adorama photo contest

    My shot of the Kimmel Center for the Adorama photo contest took  one of the 3rd place prizes!

    http://contest.adorama.com/entries/36329

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