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Fun winter photo projects for the long, dark days of winter

22 Dec

With the nights and mornings pretty close together for the next few months, and the sun taking some time out to recoup, many photographers head indoors to escape the dark and the rain. Plenty of us are tempted to hang up our cameras until the Spring, with a brief interlude should a decent amount of snow make an appearance.

Don’t be one of those photographers.

Just because bright light and blue skies are a rarer occurrence in the winter months doesn’t mean we have to stop taking pictures. There’s still plenty you can do, provided you’re prepared to use some imagination. Here are a few ideas to keep you shooting until the better weather returns.

Still life

I used a gold sheet of card from a craft store to send a little warmth back into the subject from the left hand side. The diffused flash was positioned on the right, and contrasting the white light from the flash with the gold light from the reflector emphasizes the warm effect

A good mastery of still life photography should help improve your photography across the board, and the winter months are a very good time to get some practice in. Working with a few objects on the table top with just a single light and a reflector is an ideal way to teach yourself more about lighting, exposure and composition.

If you are new to this area I suggest starting with just an orange and a table lamp, moving the lamp around the orange to see how the direction of the light changes the way the orange looks. Once you’ve done that and looked carefully at the way highlights and shadows control the sense of three dimensions in the image you can move on to everyday objects laying around the house.

Keep things simple by using just one or two objects in your scene, and try lighting with just one source and a couple of reflectors to moderate the shadows.

Here I used a single LED panel at the top of the frame, and a couple of mirror tiles to the left and right of the handle to throw some light back in the opposite direction. A wide aperture created a shallow depth-of-field to draw the eye diagonally up the handle to the point of focus.

The blueberry doesn’t need to be sharp for us to know it is a blueberry, and it is used as a counterweight to the main area of interest

Knives, forks and spoons offer interesting shapes and compositional challenges, and natural objects saved from the autumn, like nuts or dried leaves, give you the chance to bring nature into your work. The supermarket is also filled with interesting fruit and vegetables, and home stores and hardware stores stock nice cups, glasses and industrial looking bolts, screws, springs and fascinating sheets of metal/plastic/wood that will make interesting backgrounds.

One of the nice things about still life is that you can take your time and there is usually no rush, so you can look really carefully, try things out and try again when it doesn’t work the first time.

Tips:

  • Work slowly and really look at the effect of the light on your subject
  • Use silver, gold, white and black cards to bounce/block light
  • When used as a reflector, mirrors throw back so much light they can save you having to buy a second flash

Macro

Planning ahead for your winter shooting can involve collecting interesting items from the garden during the Fall. If you didn’t manage to do that don’t worry as your local florist will almost certainly thought of it. Here a little light either side is used to demonstrate the three-dimensional qualities of the seed head and the stem, and to lift it from the black-cloth background. I used a pair of hotshoe flash units fired through mini-softboxes attached to an adapter ring

An extension of still life, macro photography will test your ability to see details and to look more closely than usual. Successful macro photography is all about finding hidden textures, patterns and features of everyday objects as well as capturing tiny plants and animals that might otherwise escape our attention.

Macro does require at least some specialist equipment, whether that’s a reversal ring, a coupling ring to mount one lens backwards on another or an actual dedicated macro lens. Using a lens designed for macro will make your life a lot easier and will deliver the best quality without too much effort, but high-quality macro lenses can be costly.

Extension tubes are very affordable, and can be added to a standard lens to help you get a little, or a lot, closer, and a micro adjustment platform for your tripod head can help when it comes to getting accurate focus in the closeup range without having to move the tripod.

Lights don’t need to be expensive. This was lit with a small pocket flashlight positioned to make these pasta shells glow in the dark. A sheet of white paper under the lens was enough to throw a touch of light back to reveal some of the details of side of the shells closest to the camera

Cable and remote release devices will help to avoid camera shake with dramatic magnifications and tethering software will allow a bigger preview to ensure anything is perfect before you trip the shutter. How about using the long winter months to teach yourself focus stacking so you can control exactly what is and isn’t sharp in your images?

Tips:

  • Having a dedicated macro lens will make your life easier
  • Use a tripod or support, don’t think you can do this handheld
  • Be aware that depth-of-field is tiny in macro work, so add lots of light if you need small apertures

Window portraits

Late afternoon light on a winter’s day softly passing through a bay window was all that was needed for this portrait. I kept the sitter well back from the window to produce nice soft contrast but still retaining enough to show the shape of her head and features. Using the white balance in Daylight mode shows the coolness of the light and lets us know this is a winter image

It doesn’t matter what time of year it is actually – daylight gliding through a north-facing window will always provide some of the best kind of lighting for natural-looking portraiture. On rainy and overcast days the light levels might be lower but that light will also be softer and more flattering.

Position your subject close to the window if you want more contrast and further away for less, and try turning them 3/4 against the light to get a more dramatic effect. Using a black card on the unlit side of the face can help to deepen shadows if there’s more light than you want bouncing around the room. A net curtain or sheet of thin paper across the window can diffuse the daylight on a sunny day or when you only have south-facing windows to play with.

Positioning the subjects directly in front of a sunny window gives them this stark and very direct frontal lighting. I stood with my back to the window and pulled the shutters across to create the stripes on the groom’s jacket. The light on his face is reflected from the white top-side of the shutters.

As he is close to the window the light drops off quite quickly, leaving his friends visible but much darker. This helps to express who is the most important player in the scene, and who are the secondary elements.

Extra diffusion will also cut down the light making it easier to achieve a wide aperture if you want shallow depth-of-field.

Try experimenting with white balance too, so you can create a warm or cool effect whatever the conditions outside.

Tips:

  • Try the sitter at different distances from the window to vary contrast
  • Move your sitter between each end of the window to alter how the light wraps around their face
  • Use net curtains, bubble wrap or paper to diffuse the light even more

Home studio

Using quite a small soft light creates strong direction but avoids razor-sharp edges to the shadows. The small light also allows a rapid fall off, so the subject’s head is lit more brightly than her body, and positioning the light just slightly behind illuminates the front of her face while leaving the side closest to the camera dark – drawing attention to her closed eyes. A small direct light from behind her lifts her shoulders from the background and helps to create a sense of depth in the picture.

Opera singer Golda Schultz for the BBC Proms Magazine

When there’s not too much natural light coming through the windows, or we need more for smaller apertures and lower ISO settings, it’s a good time to think about alternative light sources. Domestic lights can be very useful for lighting in a home studio but they don’t always deliver enough power, so sometimes we need to look at flash.

There have never been so many flash units available for photographers so we have plenty of choice. Big studio monoblock type studio flash offer the advantage of power and a modeling bulb so we can see what we are doing, but they can feel expensive for the enthusiast. A useful alternative is to use one of the host of hotshoe flash units that are available – either from the manufacturer of your camera or from one of the many independent brands that have sprung up over the last ten or so years.

This is the set-up for the shot above. You can see that I believe in keeping things simple. The lights are Rotolight Annova Pro on the left and the Neo2 on the right. I used a Veydra Mini Prime 35mm T2.2 cinema lens – for a softer feel – on the Panasonic Lumix DC-G9

Modern hotshoe flash units are remarkably powerful, flexible and easy to use, and with auto and TTL modes they can be set to do all the work for you. In manual mode they offer more straight forward options and with wireless control becoming the norm you don’t have to leave the camera position to make your changes – or to check the results of any adjustments you’ve made.

What makes hotshoe style flash units so useful now is the mass of accessories and modifiers that can transform their light to be indistinguishable from that of a professional studio flash. I use adapter clamps so that my flash units can fit inside the softboxes, dishes and snoots that I use with my main studio units, and enjoy the convenience, the shorter set-up time and that they fix in smaller spaces.

Tips:

  • Keep the flash/light source away from the camera for a more three-dimensional effect
  • Bounce light from a white wall/ceiling to create a larger/softer light
  • Use an adapter that allows you to use soft-boxes and accessories with your flash head for a wider range of lighting looks

Summing up

I’d find it easier to hold my breath all winter than to keep my lens cap on between the end of November and the middle of February. In fact, shooting in the winter months is exactly as exciting as shooting when the sun shines all day, we just have to think differently and to create shooting situations rather than relying on nature to do it all for us. Indoors we can still enjoy the wonders of natural light but just through a window, and when there’s black clouds we can use normal domestic lights or a pop of flash to do the same thing.

All that’s required for winter shooting indoors is a little imagination and sometimes a tripod to support those longer shutter speeds. So take a look around your home to see what/who you can aim your camera at, and perhaps take a trip to a florist/hardware store or secondhand shop to see what treasures you can find. The cold weather and shorter days are no excuse – keep on shooting and keep those creative juices flowing until Spring.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Camera Color Spaces Explained – sRGB vs Adobe RGB vs RAW

22 Dec

The post Camera Color Spaces Explained – sRGB vs Adobe RGB vs RAW appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Herb Paynter.

camera-color-spaces-explained

Your camera is probably able to capture color images in a variety of different color containers called “spaces.” These camera color spaces collect colors in one of several size light buckets labeled sRGB, AdobeRGB, and RAW.

Each bucket gathers slightly increased varieties of light, similar to the way Crayola crayons are packaged and sold in increasingly inclusive collections of colors; small, large, and jumbo.

Camera color spaces offer photographers a variety of different size boxes.

Camera color spaces

camera-color-spaces

Scenes that include both brilliant colors and bright lighting are excellent candidates for capture with AdobeRGB color space.
F/3.5, 1/1000, ISO 400, Lumix G Vario 2.8, 35mm

 

A debate in the photo community usually arises over which camera color spaces to choose in the camera’s preferences. Some color spaces capture more of the hues and saturated colors than others. Pictures captured in one space may include more colors than another.

Each space is ideally suited for certain purposes, and the question of which camera color space to choose needs a bit of explanation. In addition to the capture question, choosing a color space for post-production editing will depend on the image’s ultimate usage.

Your camera’s color spaces involve not just color data, but additional parking space on the drive. Larger color spaces provide more bit-depth (explained below), which occupies more digital real estate on the memory card. So, the choice of which to use does have practical importance.

What camera color space to use

There is no singularly perfect color space choice, so let’s examine which is best for specific situations.

camera-color-spaces

Images that do not include highly-saturated color but contain significant detail in the shadow areas will benefit from RAW format capture and high-bit processing. F/10, 1/1600, ISO 800, Lumix G Vario 2.8, 200mm

 

Unless the sole purpose of a photo is to display as a high-resolution digital image, you might want to convert the file’s original color space for a less demanding result. However, keep in mind that every time a file mutates from a larger color space to a smaller color space (RAW to AdobeRGB, or AdobeRGB to sRGB), the image’s color intensity and integrity may diminish in the process. Some imaging applications are less demanding than others.

While copies of digital files remain identical in size and intensity to the original regardless of how many times they have been copied, when a digital file mutates to a lesser color space, it will always lose some critical color information. Your camera color spaces in general, and device color spaces, in particular, are all unique. Each serves a particular purpose.

Image: The extreme dynamic range and saturated skies benefitted from the RAW capture and editing in...

The extreme dynamic range and saturated skies benefitted from the RAW capture and editing in AdobeRGB. Detail buried in the shadows was possible because of the 14-bit capture. F/14, 1/300, ISO 3200, Lumix G Vario 2.8, 12mm

 

It’s a matter of depth

The difference between camera color spaces boils down to an issue called bit depth. Bit depth is a mathematical description of how many visible distinctions between shades of color can be recognized and reproduced by different devices (a techie term for scanners, cameras, computer monitors, and printing machines). Unfortunately, not all devices can reproduce all colors the same (which is the primary stumbling block amidst all color issues).

Every device reads and reproduces color using a different process. While this sounds like a fixable problem, there is a sad and unsolvable reality behind the problem. There are at least three different interpretations of color at play in every capture-display-print cycle.

Image: These colorful seat cushions and deep shadows were captured in RAW format, edited in AdobeRGB...

These colorful seat cushions and deep shadows were captured in RAW format, edited in AdobeRGB, and saved in sRGB for upload to our camera club’s server for display as part of a club field trip slideshow. F/7.1, 1/320, ISO 400, Lumix G Vario 2.8, 19mm

 

First, cameras capture color by recording intensities of light as electrical signals and interpreting those signals as colors. Each color is assigned a specific number.

Second, these numbers are then sent to the computer. Here, they get translated into another process that interprets those electrical signals into a process that turns on tiny lights (called pixels) on a backlit screen.

And third, those pixels are then sent to a printing machine that instructs those pixel values to spit tiny splatters of colored ink onto paper.

It’s a very complicated process that color scientists have tried for years to make simple. Unfortunately, it just ain’t that simple!

Anyway, during this hair-on-fire digital transition, different methods are employed that utilize the various color spaces in a way that transforms the colors from one device to another as accurately as possible. Sometimes the color translations don’t convey the colors as accurately as we would like, which is why sometimes the monitor colors don’t match the printer colors.

camera-color-spaces-explained

Science uses charts like this to plot the characteristics of camera color spaces. While these charts are referred to as “theoretical” because they are not visible to the human eye but represent what each color “bucket” can capture versus what the eye can see.

 

The ultimate referee

The only comprehensive color space that plots the full scope of what the human eye can see is what the science community calls L*a*b* (inverted horseshoe diagram) space.

The human eye is the ultimate arbitrator in the color wars, and all device capabilities (camera, display, and printer) are defined by how they match up to the eye’s master gamut. This is why this strange horseshoe shape is referred to as the Reference Space. All other devices, whether camera, display, or printer, can only recognize and utilize portions of this “reference space,” and they usually disagree with each other.

Color is a very diverse and dysfunctional family. Each device speaks a different dialect of a similar language. Each produces colors that cannot be faithfully reproduced on other devices. Color is a very messy topic.

color-spaces-explained

Crayola crayon boxes contain varying numbers of colors just as color spaces collect varying amounts of color. The lightest and darkest color crayons are the same value, but larger boxes contain more colors than smaller ones.

 

Some devices can express color more completely than others. Unfortunately, no device created by humans can reproduce all the colors that can be seen by humans. Also, the colors captured by one device that fall outside the gamut (Crayola box size) of other devices, get clipped, lost, or compressed during the handoff. Those colors never come back home.

This is the tragic truth about digital color reproduction. The trick to color reproduction is in retaining as much of the common color as possible during the process. Fortunately, this same human eye (and brain) are very forgiving about accepting the limitations of non-human devices.

Color reproduction is a true application of the law of diminishing returns and the visual science of physics. Photographers understand this law quite well.

Very rarely can a camera actually capture all the color and dynamics of an original scene. Moreover, nature’s color gamut extends even further than the colors that the human eye can identify. Any time a digital image gets transposed from one form into any another form, that transformation is a diminished-value exchange.

As an image is transferred from one device to another, those pixel values located outside the color gamut of the destination device always get lost in the translation. The object of color management is to mitigate color loss and maintain as much of the appearance of the original as possible, all the way through the reproduction process.

RGB spaces (sRGB, AdobeRGB, ProPhoto RGB)

It all begins with the camera’s color settings that are in place when you capture the scene. All cameras capture light through red, green, and blue filters (RGB color space). While there are a number of RGB color spaces to choose from, each sports a slightly different color gamut.

camera-color-spaces-explained

Each device in the photography chain interprets colors slightly differently, and each responds to the individual color spaces uniquely.

 

Each color space (sRGB, AdobeRGB, ProPhoto RGB, etc.) provides a unique collection of color attributes, and each space satisfies specific display and reproduction requirements.

Gamuts are descriptions of the range of colors that a device can recognize, record, display, or print.

Shooting a vibrant, saturated scene with the camera requires a larger color space. Using a camera color space with a smaller gamut could significantly diminish the raw, harsh emotion of the scene. This is why most photography experts encourage photographers to set their cameras to capture images in AdobeRGB.

sRGB

Almost all digital cameras are factory-set to capture colors using sRGB as the default color space for a plausible reason; most of the pictures we take never get printed! At best, we view them on computer monitors or social media. Quite honestly, most of the pictures we capture never make it past the initial glance at the camera’s LCD screen. Capturing those images in higher-bit color space is a total waste of disk space.

camera-color-spaces-explained

sRGB color space remains largely unchanged since it was defined in the 1950s to compress video images into a manageable size for broadcast. While the format has been updated slightly, the basic intent is the same.

 

sRGB was developed by HP, Microsoft (and others) back in the early days of television to address the color gamut needs of most televisions (early versions of computer monitors), and the standard was set long ago. The airwaves and Internet browsers live on an sRGB diet. As such, the sRGB color space standardizes the way images are still viewed on monitors and televisions.

Adobe RGB

If the ultimate destination for your picture is monitor or display-based presence (presentations, Internet, or television displays), this is probably the best choice to capture images. However, if you shoot for print on paper, both AdobeRGB 1998 and ProPhoto RGB RGB contain a wider gamut of colors and are thus more suited for preparing images for print.

camera-color-spaces-explained

The brilliant dynamics and saturated colors are always captured best in the deepest color bucket of all – RAW. The degree of adjustments provided by RAW capture and ProPhoto RGB editing is perfect for images like this. F/6.3, 1/800, ISO 400, Lumix G Vario 2.8, 26mm

 

RAW

Actually, the most ideal bucket for capturing images actually exceeds the gamuts of all three of these camera color spaces. I’m speaking of course of your camera’s ability to capture images in RAW format. This is a format that supersedes any defined color spaces.

RAW files capture color in the highest bit depth possible; up to 14-bits per color. RAW is not an acronym; it is more of a description. It is the recording of all the limited color depth and uncompressed dynamic range of the original scene. Start RAW and strip down from there.

Camera color spaces explained – Conclusion

Congratulations on sticking with this article through all the minutia.

By now, it probably seems like camera color space is more like outer space, but it doesn’t have to remain this technical. Simply remember to capture images in RAW format (perhaps in addition to capturing them as JPG) and then transform the colors down the chain of reproduction as the need dictates.

Edit images in the camera color spaces of ProPhoto RGB or AdobeRGB to retain as much color elbow room as necessary. Those images destined for print should be transposed to AdobeRGB, and reduce those images destined for the Internet or slideshows to sRGB. Simple, enough!

The post Camera Color Spaces Explained – sRGB vs Adobe RGB vs RAW appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Herb Paynter.


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iPhone 11 models may soon support new line of third-party MFi lighting accessories

21 Dec

Apple’s latest line of iPhone handsets may soon support photography accessories launched under Apple’s Made-for-iPhone (MFi) program. According to 9to5Mac, Apple has shared new specs with manufacturers who are part of the MFi program, ones that pave the way for lighting and strobe devices that connect with the iPhone using the Lightning port rather than Bluetooth.

MFi is a licensing program that enables manufacturers to make third-party accessories compatible with Apple’s mobile devices. According to this new report, Apple recently provided these manufacturers with new MFi specs as part of a developer preview that make it possible to create lighting and strobe accessories for the iPhone.

Unlike the Lume Cube and other existing products, MFi-compatible lighting accessories will use Lightning instead of Bluetooth in order to sync with the iPhone’s flash and to deliver or draw power to/from the handset. As well, MFi lightning and strobe accessories will likely better support third-party camera apps and will likely be able to sync with the iPhone’s native camera app shutter button.

According to 9to5Mac, these new specs only support the iPhone 11 line of smartphones, meaning older iPhone model users would still have to use less capable Bluetooth-based accessories. Manufacturers will be able to launch their own MFi mobile lighting products once the specs are officially released beyond the developer’s preview.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Gift ideas for photographers with too much photo junk

21 Dec
The tripod standing desk, just one way to repurpose an old clunky three-legged friend.

By now you’ve pored over photo holiday gift guides that include everything from that $ 1500 lens no one will buy you to the ubiquitous camera lens mug you already have. Those lists are helpful when you’re searching for gifts for a photographer. But what about the unfortunate people around you, the ones who don’t understand this photo obsession and yet still call you first when they need ‘some pictures taken with a good camera, like the one you have?’ Isn’t it your duty to help them share your love of photography?

Not entirely unrelated, since you did end up buying that $ 1500 lens for yourself after all, perhaps you need gift ideas that don’t cost a lot of money. Well, friend, you’re in luck! Because if you’re like us, you already own scads of photo equipment, most of which is probably in a closet or on a shelf or piled haphazardly in a corner next to five camera bags you’ve used once.

We’re here to help you repurpose those gear gems into gifts that every non-photographer on your holiday list is sure to accept politely (and then ask someone out of earshot if maybe you’ve taken this photography thing a little too far).

That’s no light stand, It’s a coat tree!

Send your rickety old light stands to the hallway, because those coats have to go somewhere.

Everyone can use a good coat tree, but few people want to buy one. Coat trees are some of the most useful and ignored furniture pieces around. All that anyone will see is the bottom two feet. That’s pretty much how we think of light stands, right? So why not turn your discarded stands into coat trees?

Grab a handful of S hooks from the hardware store, pop them into the top of that neglected light stand and viola! You’ve got a useful coat tree that will do more than keep clothes off the floor. To ensure that the gift is ready to serve its new purpose for years, be sure to tighten up all of the knobs and joints and peel off those dingy strips of gaffer tape. At the top of the stand, unscrew the post so the open tube will accept the S hooks. If you’re crafty, you can whip up some alternative hooks using any old Manfrotto posts, clamps or pins.

Chef’s helper

They can always use an extra hand in the kitchen, and with some grip gear they’ll have one!

For the chefs on your list, dig deep into that box of old lighting equipment for some creative helping hands. Join a clamp to a gooseneck or Magic Arm then finish with another clamp or clip and you have a cool kitchen tool that’s as unique as it is useful. When cook books and iPads need holding, it will be there to remind your loved one that you care. For the outdoor grillers on your list, a clamp and arm setup that holds a battery-powered light will keep them cooking late into the night. For the bakers in your life, a small clamp that can keep a beloved recipe card in sight and out of the fray will bring a smile to their flour-dappled face.

Lens-friendly fashions

Turn a few dozen of your tired microfiber lens cloths into useful fashion accessories.

Everyone has lenses that could use some cleaning. As photographers we hoard lens cloths and it’s likely you have more than you need. Repurpose some of those little microfiber squares into useful items with a little needlework, and the bespectacled on your list will thank you every time they clean their specs. Sew several into a soft and colorful scarf or get really clever and stitch one into the inside of a jacket or shirt’s hem for a more discreet approach. If you are up to your neck in lens cloths, go crazy and sew a quilt! No matter how you put them together, anyone who has had to clean their glasses on the bottom of their t-shirt will appreciate your thoughtful gift.

Camera Straps as Fashion

That strap you wouldn’t be caught dead using can become a killer fashion accessory.

Your kids, nieces, nephews, and possibly even grandkids love to repurpose old things into fashionable accessories. If a tangled mess of old camera straps is hiding in your closet, it’s time to turn something you will never use into Instagram gold. Your younger VSCO Girl relatives will absolutely love their CANON EOS 40D camera strap belt with body cap/lens cap buckle! Why not turn those garish Nikon D700 straps into suspenders? And don’t forget the wrist straps: that old Fuji wrist strap will look dope dangling a HydroFlask.

Whatever they come up with as they transform your cast-off camera box clutter, you will surely end up being GOAT – the Greatest Of All Time. But you knew that, right? Yes, you are lit.

Hip Beverage Porter

If it will safely cradle thousands of dollars worth of lenses, it’ll do dandy keeping some beer cold.

Never mind that a soft-goods designer spent days obsessing over the dividers in that old camera pack sitting in your closet. Your hip friend or relative will be overjoyed to see how well your retired camera bag holds a six pack of cold brews and some nosh in style. Those carefully crafted padded pockets will keep the chillest of beverages pleasingly cool as your bud rides their electric scooter or one-wheeled contraption to the beach. Larger camera packs can handle growlers, while those dedicated tripod pockets snugly pack gluten-free baguettes for the trip. Why spring for a $ 200 Yeti cooler when your old Think Tank bag will do the trick?

SAD no more therapy lamp

Any daylight-balanced light table or continuous light can make a SAD person very happy.

For those of us in Northern latitudes, Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is no laughing matter. The winter months bring less sunlight and moods suffer. Fortunately, daylight-balanced light sources, especially really bright ones, can serve as therapy for those stricken with SAD. Locate that long-forgotten light table from your film days and dust it off. Peel off any labels that give away its former life and replace them with fun stickers of cartoon suns. Prop it in a corner, turn it on, stare into its captivating glow, and feel the dreariness of winter melt away. You can do the same with any continuous light sources that reach daylight color temperatures (5,000 degrees Kelvin or higher).

If the light table as therapy lamp no longer does the trick for your beloved gift recipient, they can repurpose it as a trendy place to display their craft liquor bottle collection. The uplighting will lend an air of sophistication and style to the expensive craft whiskey that many turn to when winter’s dark chill becomes too harsh.

Read anywhere with a GorilLED-Pod

Print books aren’t dead, and neither is that adjustable-legged piece of sculpture in your camera bag.

We remember when the coolest-looking piece of electronics was the book-mounted reading lamp. (Yeah, we were nerds.) You could read a book late into the night without disturbing others, and the light illuminated just the pages.

Except… the size of the book heavily influenced whether the lamp was too heavy or not. And the light bulbs heated up and burned out quickly. And you had to either string a cord to a power outlet or deal with replaceable batteries. Although we still spy reading lamps sold in discerning mail-order catalogs, we rarely see them in use anywhere.

Clearly, the solution is to uncouple the light from the book. And you no doubt have just the pieces to do it: attach a small LED panel to a flexible GorillaPod tripod and your favorite bookworm can place that light anywhere. Wrap it around a bedpost. Perch it on the edge of a side table. Heck, clamp it to your skull and you’ll be the coolest, most literary miner in history.

Le Tripod Lampe

Nothing says hip more than a tripod working as a lamp.

We know the sad, all-too-familiar sequence of events: You need a tripod, but the initial sticker shock of most models pushes you into the cloying arms of the Best Buy camera section, where tripods can be had for roughly the price of the latest discounted Adam Sandler movie. But hey, it holds a camera, right? Who needs it to be all bougie and carbon fiber?

And then one of the tripod’s legs slowly and consistently loses its fight with gravity. Or it gets dented because you laid it gently on a soft surface. So you buy another, slightly more expensive tripod, that doesn’t quite do the job either. And then you gradually move up to one you’re mostly happy with, having spent far more than you could have spent in the first place.

Call them “shame-pods” or whatever helps you sleep better, but we all have a few old tripods we shouldn’t have bought but we did. Instead of leaning them against a dark corner of your basement, upcycle them into trendy lamps.

Attach a fixture to the top (we’re sure you have some clamps lying around) and a stylish lampshade (lighting umbrella perhaps?), and you’ve got yourself a lamp with photographic character. The warm light it will bring to a friend will help you feel better about buying that piece of junk in the first place.

iMonoPod walking stick

Pair an old monopod with an iPhone mount and you’ve got a walking stick with a kick.

We photographers tend to accumulate monopods as well as tripods. Turns out, those not-so-handy one-footed unstable camera stabilizers make great walking sticks. Throw a smartphone mount on the top and anyone with a decent wireless plan can stream their favorite shows while they rack up some steps. Now the trekking aunt or uncle on your list can keep up with Downton Abbey while strolling their favorite scenic valley. If you really want to up the wow factor, add a Lume Cube or GoPro rig for live streaming fun.

A Three-Legged Table that Stands on Its Own

Did we say “lamp” earlier? Go with a less-complicated option that can hold a beverage.

When you bought that old tripod, you scrutinized the load limit to make sure it would hold a DSLR and a 100-400mm lens. But did you properly factor the weight of a beer, phone charger, and assortment of TV remotes? Attach a plank of wood to an Arca Swiss plate and snap the whole thing to the half-stuck ballhead on the tripod to create a simple side table. As a bonus, you can pop that tabletop off when you need to press the tripod into service. And if your house or apartment’s floor is uneven, no problem: with three legs, a ballhead, and the little level bubble built into many tripods, you can ensure that your drinks stay slosh-proof.

Adventurous Standing Desk

Mount a small table on a tripod for the ultimate adventure desk.

For those who must use computers for work, it can begin to feel like a ball and chain dragging them into lives of sedentary stupor. Standing desks can help, but standing in a cubicle or a basement office is only going to elevate one so far. Why not take the standing desk outside? Way outside! By screwing a base plate onto a simple plywood platform, you can turn any old sturdy tripod into a miracle of modern technology. Be sure the platform or table you create is large enough for the user’s laptop and the tripod reaches the proper height for comfortable use. When you give someone a portable standing desk you give them freedom, and that’s a gift they will never forget. If it turns out they don’t like it, they can always use it as a tripod. Or a tripod lamp!

Repurpose for a good purpose

Being a photographer usually comes with a serious case of GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome). One of the complications the syndrome brings is a feeling of guilt as you accumulate shiny things and deflate your bank account. The holidays are a wonderful time to rid yourself of some of that guilt and a lot of the stuff you shouldn’t have bought. Think of this time as a kind of GAS therapy, because everyone knows it is better to give than to receive (unless you’re talking about that sweet little prime lens no one will ever know you snuck into your cart).

In this world of digital gift cards and two-day shipping of the newest photographic gear, people increasingly value homemade, analog gifts. And by ‘people’ we mean ‘the folks still on your list for whom you have no idea what to give.’ They’ll surely appreciate the time, effort, and sacrifice (‘if only they knew how much I paid for this originally’) that goes into your upcycled creations.

And if they balk at your offerings, remind them that the holidays are times for selflessness, for bestowing upon them the richness of photographic history and the ongoing lineage of Chinese injection molded design. As the old adage goes, ‘One photographer’s old garbage is… someone else’s new, slightly adapted garbage.’

Happy holidays.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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The Art of Black and White in Lightroom and Beyond

21 Dec

The post The Art of Black and White in Lightroom and Beyond appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darren Rowse.

dPS Deal 10

Day 10 of dPS Holiday Deals brings you the Art of Black and White in Lightroom and Beyond by Andrew Gibson.

Save 50% now

Can you recall some of the images that have affected you and stayed with you over the years?

It’s likely many of them are in black and white. 

Monochrome exerts a power over the imagination – highlighting texture, contrast and shadow – which leaves a lasting impact on the viewer.

But there’s more to creating a powerful black and white image than just stripping the colour out of your favourite photos. 

A popular writer on dPS for many years, Andrew Gibson will teach you how to create beautiful black and white photos in Lightroom and Silver Efex Pro 2.

The Art of Black and White in Lightroom and Beyond Video Course comprises 25 video lessons, accompanying PDF guide and 7 DNG files so you can follow along and try out the techniques for yourselves.

Art of Black and White

Whether it’s jaw-dropping landscapes, angular architectural photography, dramatic documentary-style shots, memorable travel pictures or personality-rich portraits you’re looking to capture, the art of black and white can elevate all of these. 

Save $ 50 and get the guide now for only $ 49 USD (usually $ 99)

PLUS receive $ 43 worth of bonuses (10 Black & White Assignments ebook, PowerBlack Presets for Luminar, SuperBlack Presets for Lightroom).

Check it out before the next deal arrives in less than 24 hours.

PS – You can still save big on over 300 presets from dPS, save 62% per set or save $ 100 on the whole bundle. Check them out here.

We receive an affiliate commission when you purchase from our trusted partners.

The post The Art of Black and White in Lightroom and Beyond appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darren Rowse.


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DPReview TV: Hasselblad X1D II 50C Review

21 Dec

Hasselblad is a legendary name in the camera industry, and NASA famously took Hasselblad cameras to the moon. Our budget wasn’t big enough to send Chris and Jordan to the moon, but we did give them a newsletter subscription and a free sandwich. Find out what they think of the camera in their hands-on review.

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

  • Introduction
  • Sample images
  • Landscapes and portraits
  • Body and handling
  • Displays
  • Startup time
  • Autofocus
  • Flash sync speed
  • Continuous shooting
  • Video
  • Conclusion

Sample gallery from this episode

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Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Flickr CEO sends out email asking users to help ‘keep the Flickr dream alive’

21 Dec

In a very candid email sent out to users last night, Flickr (and SmugMug) CEO Dan MacAskill shared the current state of the Flickr platform, detailing the struggles the SmugMug team is facing regarding the financial situation of the photo-sharing network.

The email opens up by saying ‘Flickr—the world’s most-beloved, money-losing business—needs your help.’ In the full email, which we’ve embedded below, MacAskill explains how the SmugMug team has done its best to optimize the platform from both a user and financial standpoint, but it hasn’t been enough. According to MacAskill, Flickr is ‘still losing money,’ despite its new owners’ best efforts to streamline overheard and bring on hundreds of thousands of new Flickr Pro subscriptions.

Put simply, MacAskill says ‘We need more Flickr Pro members if we want to keep the Flickr dream alive.’ MacAskill doesn’t specifically state how long the ‘Flickr dream’ can stay alive in its current state, but such a letter wouldn’t be written if things weren’t heading towards dire.

In conjunction with the letter, MacAskill also announced Flickr’s end-of-the-year promotion that will get you 25-percent off an annual Flickr Pro subscription, a push to bring even more users on board to support the platform. He wraps up the letter saying:

‘If you value Flickr finally being independent, built for photographers and by photographers, we ask you to join us, and to share this offer with those who share your love of photography and community.’

After reading through the letter, we had a few questions, so we contacted MacAskill with a few questions regarding the future of Flickr. Specifically, we asked the following:

In response, MacAskill responded with:

After the above response from MacAskill, we inquired further about the ‘follow-up contingency plans,’ but are yet to receive a response. We will update this article accordingly if MacAskill responds.

The email is an interesting one. MacAskill is known for his candor, so seeing this transparency is far from out of character for him. At some level, the email inspires would-be Flickr Pro members to subscribe to the premium version of Flickr. However, it also instills fear in current Flickr Pro members, who effectively see this email as the writing on the wall for their images and the network they’ve built on the platform. Proof of this dichotomy is clearly visible in the Reddit thread regarding this email, where users strike a balance of respect for MacAskill and the SmugMug-owned version of Flickr while simultaneously showing concern for the future of the platform in the comments.

Full email:

Dear friends,

Flickr—the world’s most-beloved, money-losing business—needs your help.

Two years ago, Flickr was losing tens of millions of dollars a year. Our company, SmugMug, stepped in to rescue it from being shut down and to save tens of billions of your precious photos from being erased.

Why? We’ve spent 17 years lovingly building our company into a thriving, family-owned and -operated business that cares deeply about photographers. SmugMug has always been the place for photographers to showcase their photography, and we’ve long admired how Flickr has been the community where they connect with each other. We couldn’t stand by and watch Flickr vanish.

So we took a big risk, stepped in, and saved Flickr. Together, we created the world’s largest photographer-focused community: a place where photographers can stand out and fit in.

We’ve been hard at work improving Flickr. We hired an excellent, large staff of Support Heroes who now deliver support with an average customer satisfaction rating of above 90%. We got rid of Yahoo’s login. We moved the platform and every photo to Amazon Web Services (AWS), the industry leader in cloud computing, and modernized its technology along the way. As a result, pages are already 20% faster and photos load 30% more quickly. Platform outages, including Pandas, are way down. Flickr continues to get faster and more stable, and important new features are being built once again.

Our work is never done, but we’ve made tremendous progress.

Now Flickr needs your help. It’s still losing money. Hundreds of thousands of loyal Flickr members stepped up and joined Flickr Pro, for which we are eternally grateful. It’s losing a lot less money than it was. But it’s not yet making enough.

We need more Flickr Pro members if we want to keep the Flickr dream alive.

We didn’t buy Flickr because we thought it was a cash cow. Unlike platforms like Facebook, we also didn’t buy it to invade your privacy and sell your data. We bought it because we love photographers, we love photography, and we believe Flickr deserves not only to live on but thrive. We think the world agrees; and we think the Flickr community does, too. But we cannot continue to operate it at a loss as we’ve been doing.

Flickr is the world’s largest photographer-focused community. It’s the world’s best way to find great photography and connect with amazing photographers. Flickr hosts some of the world’s most iconic, most priceless photos, freely available to the entire world. This community is home to more than 100 million accounts and tens of billions of photos. It serves billions of photos every single day. It’s huge. It’s a priceless treasure for the whole world. And it costs money to operate. Lots of money.

Flickr is not a charity, and we’re not asking you for a donation. Flickr is the best value in photo sharing anywhere in the world. Flickr Pro members get ad-free browsing for themselves and their visitors, advanced stats, unlimited full-quality storage for all their photos, plus premium features and access to the world’s largest photographer-focused community for less than $ 5 per month.

You likely pay services such as Netflix and Spotify at least $ 9 per month. I love services like these, and I’m a happy paying customer, but they don’t keep your priceless photos safe and let you share them with the most important people in your world. Flickr does, and a Flickr Pro membership costs less than $ 1 per week.

Please, help us make Flickr thrive. Help us ensure it has a bright future. Every Flickr Pro subscription goes directly to keeping Flickr alive and creating great new experiences for photographers like you. We are building lots of great things for the Flickr community, but we need your help. We can do this together.

We’re launching our end-of-year Pro subscription campaign on Thursday, December 26, but I want to invite you to subscribe to Flickr Pro today for the same 25% discount.

We’ve gone to great lengths to optimize Flickr for cost savings wherever possible, but the increasing cost of operating this enormous community and continuing to invest in its future will require a small price increase early in the new year, so this is truly the very best time to upgrade your membership to Pro.

If you value Flickr finally being independent, built for photographers and by photographers, we ask you to join us, and to share this offer with those who share your love of photography and community.

With gratitude,

Don MacAskill
Co-Founder, CEO & Chief Geek
SmugMug + Flickr

Use and share coupon code 25in2019 to get 25% off Flickr Pro now.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Video: The crowdsourced winner of MKBHD’s blind smartphone test might surprise you

21 Dec

Popular tech personality Marques Brownlee has published his latest blind smartphone camera test, this one featuring many of the most popular flagship smartphones from 2019, including the iPhone 11 Pro, Google Pixel 4, Galaxy Note 10+, Huawei Mate 30 Pro, and OnePlus 7T Pro.

Each smartphone camera was used to capture a basic profile shot of Brownlee in a natural lighting environment in front of a partly cloudy blue sky. Assessments of the results came from public opinion; millions of Instagram and Twitter users were asked to choose which images they thought had the best quality.

Brownlee reveals the results from these polls in his 2019 blind smartphone camera test video above. The results from the first polling bracket are surprising: the One Plus 7T Pro smartphone, for example, beat the iPhone 11 Pro in the court of public opinion.

Both the Samsung Note 10+ and the Galaxy S10e took the final two bracket slots, with the Note 10+ ultimately crowned the victor.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Leak claims Apple will use sensor-shift stabilization tech in some 2020 iPhone 5G models

21 Dec

Taiwanese tech publication Digitimes has published a new report claiming that the 2020 iPhone model featuring 5G network support will feature ‘sensor-shift stabilization technology.’ This alleged new feature will only be available on select iPhone 5G models, according to the report, potentially offering better image quality over models that only feature optical image stabilization.

Optical image stabilization (OIS) works by shifting the lens whereas sensor-shift stabilization works by shifting the sensor. Though OIS is now a common feature on flagship smartphones, sensor-shift stabilization technology has been largely relegated to dedicated digital cameras, something Digitimes claims Apple will change starting next year.

Past leaks allege that Apple plans to release four new iPhones in 2020, including cheaper base tier models and more expensive higher-end models. On the high end of that scale, the 2020 iPhone is expected to feature a new 3D camera system for augmented reality applications.

It’s unclear whether the inclusion of sensor-shift stabilization technology would be limited to these higher-end models and whether the tech will play a role in Apple’s alleged AR ambitions. Digitimes itself has a mixed track record in regards to its consumer gadget leaks, though it has accurately published unreleased iPhone details in the past.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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DJI patents land-based vehicle with built-in camera and new gimbal system

21 Dec

Newly discovered Chinese patents hint at the upcoming launch of two new DJI products, including a gimbal or sorts that looks like a smaller version of the Ronin 2, as well as a motorized vehicle with a built-in camera. The latter product may be a land-based alternative to the company’s expansive drone lineup, giving users a way to surveil an area from the ground and capture new types of action shots.

The camera car, which DroneDJ says is listed with the term ‘vehicle’ in the patents, resembles a mechanical rover with a camera attached to the top. Based on the patent illustration, the vehicle appears to have large rugged wheels, hinting at a design that may accommodate off-road use, as well as a series of shocks and dampeners to reduce vibrations.

According to DroneDJ, the patent reveals that the DJI camera car’s wheels can rotate 360-degrees and that the camera’s height can be adjusted.

Joining the camera car patent is another patent detailing a handheld device that looks like a gimbal similar to the company’s existing Ronin 2 product. The patent refers to this product as a ‘stabilizing device’ that includes a ‘handheld gimbal device.’ The product may feature a removable cage that makes it possible to attach the gimbal to different devices, potentially including the camera car detailed in the other DJI patent.

Based on the patent, this stabilizer features two handles, a removable camera, as well as physical controls that include a focus wheel and buttons.

As with any patent, it is possible that DJI will never actually bring either of these products to the market. However, the existence of both indicates the company is exploring an expansion of its product line that’ll appeal to filmmakers and that it may move beyond aerial vehicles to also offer land-based vehicles capable of transporting camera equipment.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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