RSS
 

Photoshop Layers for Beginners – What, When and How to Use them Best

03 Nov

The post Photoshop Layers for Beginners – What, When and How to Use them Best appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Nisha Ramroop.

photoshop-layers-for-beginners

This introduction to Photoshop Layers for beginners will help you learn a great editing habit. So, what exactly is a Photoshop layer? Quite simply put, if you imagine a stack of transparent paper, each sheet is equivalent to a Photoshop layer. When you add/change/remove any of the layers, what you see at the top of the stack forms your entire image.

The first time you open Photoshop, by default, the layers panel is on the right side of your screen and your image opens as a layer named “Background”. Keep this in mind as you read on.

Photoshop Layers for Beginners – What, When and How to Use them Best

Why use Photoshop Layers?

Now that you have an idea of what a layer is, here is why you should use them:

1. It is a way to work non-destructively

Destructive editing occurs when you move and change the pixels directly in your original image. This happens if you edit your original image/background layer when working in Photoshop. While you can undo your changes, if you exceed the number of “undos” you can apply, those changes commit. Also, you may like some changes, but not others, and there is no way to go back to just that change without undoing other changes you have made too.

Alternatively, when you edit your image on separate layers, both the edited image and the original save (they are saved to a .psd file and this maintains all your layers). This allows you to go back to your original image at any time, simply by hiding layers, or deleting them entirely.  This is a form of non-destructive editing.

One thing to remember, however, is that if you resize your entire document (via menu->image->image resize) at any point, that is a form of destructive editing, and you will lose image quality if you try to resize it back to the original size later.

As your editing style evolves, you will appreciate the option of going back to original images at a later date.

Image: Easily add text without affecting your original image

Easily add text without affecting your original image

2. It allows organized and flexible editing

Photoshop is usually a great option when you want more control over your editing process. While you start off with a certain end result in mind, you may change your mind, during (or even at the completion of) your process. Surely there are better ways than undoing multiple changes or starting over from scratch right?

Enter, layers.

Image: Since your original image is unaffected, you can change the text at a later date

Since your original image is unaffected, you can change the text at a later date

Layers allow you to work with your vision without affecting/destroying the original. Since you can work on each layer separately, you have major flexibility. With layers, you can also combine several images into one (composite), These include (but is not limited to), swapping out elements from your image, changing color, tones, and lighting, adding text and resizing, replacing or rotating an object independent of everything else in your image.

Image: You can use layers to replace a plain sky

You can use layers to replace a plain sky

This non-destructive editing style allows you to undo a change at any point in time, and you have control over each individual layer. This means you can work with different objects and elements of your image without affecting anything else.

How to use Photoshop Layers

If you do not see the Layers Panel on the right-hand of your screen, you need to turn it on. To do so, go to Menu->Window->Layers.

As mentioned before, when you open an image in Photoshop, it opens as a background layer. You will notice that there is a small lock icon on the right side of the background layer. This lock is intended to prevent inadvertent changes.

The first step is usually to duplicate this layer. That way, the background layer remains untouched (original).

Photoshop Layers for Beginners – What, When and How to Use them Best

To start, duplicate your background layer:

  1. Open an image in Photoshop
  2. Right-click on the thumbnail image in your layers panel named “Background,” and choose the duplicate layer option
  3. Click OK. A new layer will appear above your original layer with the default name “Background Copy” – you can rename it to anything you want. I suggest renaming it to something that relates to the changes you are making. This makes it easier to find later if you have many layers.

photoshop-layers-for-beginners

As you become comfortable working with layers, you will find yourself making new layers for each change you want to make e.g. if you are retouching an image or replacing a sky. This comes with the knowledge that, later on, you can adjust the intensity of any of those changes independently.

Image: I used Layers for Sky Replacement, with a Layer Mask to recover the top branches

I used Layers for Sky Replacement, with a Layer Mask to recover the top branches

Adjustment Layers

Photoshop also has another layer type called Adjustment Layers. These layers are not a duplicate of other layers; instead, they adjust the information of the layer directly beneath it. Thus you can simply use an Adjustment Layer to effect change on the image without changing the original layer image. For example, you can increase/decrease the contrast or brightness of your layer.

photoshop-layers-for-beginners

Notice how adjustment layers look different from other layer types. These adjust the layer below them.

Adjustment layers do not actually contain any pixels but instead are a series of instructions for Photoshop on what changes you ask it to make. You can access the Adjustments Layer menu at the bottom of the Layers panel or choose Windows and check the Adjustments option.

Layer Masks

A Layer mask is another non-destructive editing technique in Photoshop, used to control the transparency of the layer you apply it to. An even simpler definition is that a layer mask can make a layer visible or invisible. This is done by painting either white (to make it visible) or black (to make it invisible).

photoshop-layers-for-beginners

Blending Modes

At the upper left corner of the Layers panel is the blend modes drop-down menu. These “modes” are set to Normal by default and control how pixels on the different layers interact with each other. An easy way to understand what the different blending modes do is to duplicate your image (as described above) and cycle through them.

photoshop-layers-for-beginners

An example of how different blend modes change the look and feel of your image: 1. Normal 2. Multiply 3. Soft Light 4. Vivid Light 5. Hue 6. Luminosity

Important layering notes for beginners

When there are several layers, your changes only affect the layer that is active or selected. This is why it is a good practice to name your layer (Step 3 above) based on what you are using the layer for.

You can save the edits as a Photoshop (PSD) file, close it and open it at a later date to find all your layers (and changes) as you left it. Of note, saving it this way increases the size of your file. If you are finished with your edits and don’t need a large PSD file, you can merge all the layers (or flatten the file) and save it to a smaller, more compressed file type, such as a jpeg. Of course, in doing so, you will no longer have the ability to access those individual layers later.

Layers work in order. This means that the layer on top “covers” everything below it. You can, however, reorder your layers by moving them up or down by simply dragging them. Keep in mind that the layer on the top will be most visible.

photoshop-layers-for-beginners

Conclusion

The key thing to remember as a beginner is that Photoshop layers are a recommended non-destructive way to work. It is flexible, which allows you to organize your work, effect change in selected areas, and undo changes easily.

When you do not merge your layers, you can open your Photoshop file years later and make changes, all without affecting your original image.

I hope you can utilize these Photoshop Layers for Beginners tips, and if you have any tips on this topic, please share in the comments below.

The post Photoshop Layers for Beginners – What, When and How to Use them Best appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Nisha Ramroop.


Digital Photography School

 
Comments Off on Photoshop Layers for Beginners – What, When and How to Use them Best

Posted in Photography

 

DPReview TV: Sony a7R IV Review

02 Nov

Chris and Jordan pay a visit to friend and studio photographer Rene Michaud to test out the Sony a7R IV. Is it compelling enough to tempt a staunch DSLR shooter to switch to mirrorless? And do Canadians wear parkas indoors during the winter? These questions and more will be answered.

  • Intro
  • Rene and Brooke
  • Studio Shots
  • Shooting in daylight
  • Burst Shooting
  • Shadow Push
  • Would Rene switch?
  • Landscape and Multishot
  • Image Quality
  • Video Quality
  • Who is the a7R IV for?
  • Conclusion

Also, subscribe to our YouTube channel to get new episodes of DPReview TV every week.

Sample images from this episode

$ (document).ready(function() { SampleGalleryV2({“containerId”:”embeddedSampleGallery_8756710484″,”galleryId”:”8756710484″,”isEmbeddedWidget”:true,”selectedImageIndex”:0,”isMobile”:false}) });
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on DPReview TV: Sony a7R IV Review

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Portrait Editing with Luminar 4 – Using Artificial Intelligence

02 Nov

The post Portrait Editing with Luminar 4 – Using Artificial Intelligence appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

In this video by Jacques Gaines, he looks at Portrait editing in Luminar 4 using the artificial intelligence features.

?

Luminar 4 is a stand-alone software or works as a plugin in Adobe Photoshop (which is great if you like working in Photoshop and don’t want to completely swap to new software).

This video uses the plugin version with Photoshop.

Jacques uses a retouched, flattened image in Photoshop and then opens the Luminar 4 plugin and does further editing work on his portrait.

He discusses the different portrait enhancement options that Luminar 4 offers.

Within Luminar, there is a section called “Portrait.”

This is the section that consists of:

  • AI Skin Enhancer
  • Portrait Enhancer
  • High Key
  • Orton Effect

AI Skin Enhancer

Smoothes out the skin on a portrait and does it realistically. You can decide how much you want to apply it from 0-100%.
If you don’t want it to apply to certain sections, you can also mask it out using a brush tool.

Portrait Enhancer

The Portrait Enhance panel consists of:

  • Face Light
  • Red Eye Removal
  • Eye Whitening
  • Eye Enhancer
  • Dark Circles Remover
  • Slim Face
  • Enlarge Eyes
  • Eyebrow Improve
  • Lips Saturation
  • Lips Redness
  • Lips Darkening
  • Teeth Whitening

Jared shows the effects these settings have on a portrait.

When you apply the changes in Luminar, it makes the image as a new Photoshop layer. You can then use a mask to paint out any areas in the image that you don’t want the effects applied to.

Have you done portrait editing with Luminar 4? Share with us your thoughts in the comments!

 

You may also like:

  • Five Common Portrait Retouching Mistakes to Avoid
  • 5 Must-Know Photoshop Retouching Tips and Tricks for Photographers
  • How to do Portrait Retouching With Luminar
  • Top 10 Luminar 2018 Features That I Discovered by Accident
  • How to Create a Grunge Look with Luminar 2018
  • Your Guide to Understanding the Luminar 2018 Dashboard

 

The post Portrait Editing with Luminar 4 – Using Artificial Intelligence appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.


Digital Photography School

 
Comments Off on Portrait Editing with Luminar 4 – Using Artificial Intelligence

Posted in Photography

 

These are the Red Bull Illume Image Quest 2019 semi-finalists

02 Nov

Red Bull Illume Image Quest 2019 semi-finalists

The fifth edition of Red Bull’s Illume contest attracted a record-breaking 59,551 submissions from around the world. It’s an increase of 72% compared to the number of entries from the last competition in 2016. Partnering with Sony, SanDisk, Skylum, COOPH, Red Bull Photography, EyeEm, and more, the latest Illume offered up 11 categories for adventure and action sports photographers and videographers to submit their work.

260 semi-finalists have been selected and will all be featured in a forthcoming limited-edition coffee table book. A panel of esteemed experts representing top news publications and digital photography brands will judge each entry and narrow the pool to 60 finalists. Those finalists will be invited to the Winner Award Ceremony that takes place from November 18th-20th, and their images will be on display in the Global Exhibit Tour that will commence immediately afterward.

5 finalists from each category, 11 category winners, and 1 overall winner will be crowned during the late November awards ceremony at the LUMEN – Museum of Mountain Photography on top of Kronplatz – a mountain of the Dolomites in South Tyrol, Italy. Winners will receive a set of prizes from sponsors, mentioned above, valued at €100,000 ($ 111,644 USD). Looking at the past winning galleries, it’s clear that Red Bull hosts this competition every three years. Maybe this will change as the competition has made significant gains recently and the promise of a special announcement at the awards ceremony has been made by conference organizers.

We were given the choice of 200 semi-finalist images to feature and narrowed them down, representing at least 1 image from every category, excluding Moving Image which can be viewed in the video above. Anyone interested in developments on winners and future contests is encouraged to follow Red Bull Illume on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube.

Semi-finalist, Wings: Sergey Shakuto

Semi-finalist for the Wings category, Red Bull Illume 2019: Sergey Shakuto, Russia

Location: Russia, Kolomna, Aerograd DZ

Biography quote: ‘Inborn craving for experiments.’

Biography: I was born and grew up in a small town in Russia, but since childhood I was dreaming about traveling the world and doing extreme sports. As soon as I made my first money as a graphic designer, I started to realize my dream. So more than 16 years I’m doing all kind of sports from freediving to skydiving and capturing it with my camera.

My super-power is my insider knowledge about sports and it helps me to speak same language with all the athletes I’m shooting.

About the photo: In Shakuto’s words, ’it was one of the first photos that I took in free fall. I was completely new in skydiving when Eugene [Tarakhomin] suggested taking a picture of him. One day he called and said “Hey Serge, you are a cool photographer, let’s make something together.” I wasn’t sure about that, because had no freefly experience. But I bought a special helmet, took the cheapest camera which I had (Sony A6000), and the cheapest and lightest Sony lens (SEL16F28).

I spent about a month for preparing and training. In total, we took about 10 beautiful photos in two jumps at sunset. This project is a perfect example what can be achieved with a wealth of experience in action photography and good technical skills, professional athlete, and at the same time the cheapest equipment and little experience in sports.’

Gear and specs: Sony A6000; Sony 16mm f2.8 lens; ISO: 100; F-Stop: f/6.3; Shutter Speed: 1/1250 sec.

Semi-finalist, Wings: Tino Scherer

Semi-finalist for the Wings category, Red Bull Illume 2019: Tino Scherer, Switzerland

Location: Titlis/Titlisgletscher/Engelberg/CH

Biography quote: ‘My goal is to capture a moment so that each image fully reflects the energy expelled by its subject!’

Biography: I grew up in a little village in the heart of Switzerland and now call the beautiful city of Lucerne my home. I am a sports and lifestyle photographer who has worked with many brands and customers both in Switzerland and around the world. One of my first jobs was a project for Monster Energy. Since then I have completed multiple larger projects for renown Swiss and international customers such as Audi, Adidas, Leica Camera AG, and Schilthorn Piz Gloria.

The personal and direct exchange with the people I work with is something I highly value about my job. I always strive to understand and implement my clients vision and am fueled by my passion to master the technically more challenging side of photography. My goal is to capture a moment so that each image fully reflects the energy expelled by its subject!

About the photo: Fabian Bösch, from Engelberg, has long wanted to build a kicker at home and reflect the panorama and beauty of the Swiss Alps to the world. Around this time, almost everything is closed with us in the central Switzerland. I mean, in May nobody goes skiing with us any more.

Fabian was able to collect snow through the winter in cooperation with the Titlis railways to organize a shooting after the season, which has never been done before.At 3’020 m.a.s.l., Kobi Würsch, the Freestyle-Pak-Builder of SaasFee as well as of the Corvatsch course, built a kicker that was more than just a show-off. Perfect landing – “I’ve seldom seen such a long landing” – exactly aligned so that the sun disappears just before 9 pm directly into the Alps and an event where riders from all over the world were invited to spend a great session together.

The Titlis glacier was the Mecca this week and I was there spontaneously as a photographer. I had a lot to do during this time and could “only” participate in one day. But exactly this day was the best of the whole week and I took pictures throughout the day looking for my favorite spot.

From 20.00 [8:00 pm], the sunset shooting began and the boys banged out one hammer trick after the other. The light got better and better and I took pictures with 2 Leica Cameras. I had Studio-Broncolor flashes with me and wanted to take some flash pictures with the medium format camera with 1/1000 central shutter shortly before sunset. As it is, it gets more and more great and the atmosphere was really breathtaking.

So I went down and adjusted my flash, which was behind the kicker, but I hadn’t thought about the small radio transmitter not triggering over such distances. So Fabian came and I knew, with that camera i got no series, there are only single shots. Click – No The Flash has not triggered…then everything went so fast and the sun was only about half an hour there and the riders now skimmed out their stylish tricks.

I let the flash completely away and continue photographing and let the silhouette speak the picture. This picture with the very special flare was taken after a run with the same camera but faster shutter speed and I am super proud that I decided against the flash. So the picture has a very nice dynamic and fits perfectly into the scene.

Thanks Fabian for making this shooting possible!

Gear and specs: LEICA S (Typ 006); Hasselblad HC 3.2/150N lens; ISO: 200; F-Stop: f/3.2; Shutter Speed: 1/3000 sec.

Semi-finalist, RAW: Gaston Francisco

Semi-finalist for the RAW category, Red Bull Illume 2019: Gaston Francisco, Spain

Location: Barcelona, Spain

Biography quote: ‘After 25 years of shooting skateboarding photography, Gaston finally got the covers of the two biggest magazines in skateboarding, TWS Skateboarding and Thrasher.’

Biography: Gaston Francisco was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1978. A self taught photographer, he got his first camera in 1995 and hasn’t stopped shooting ever since. He attended the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) for five years where he studied Media Science Communication. This was complemented by a year of Journalism.

In 2002 Francisco moved to Costa Rica where he founded and directed the first ever Central American skateboard magazine, FLOW. After living there for a year he moved to his present home in Barcelona, Spain, to work as a freelance photographer. His work has been published in the most important skateboarding publications worldwide, getting to the peak of this industry when he shot the covers of both TWS and Thrasher magazines recently. A passionate traveller, he has visited more than 70 countries and plans to visit even more in the coming years.

About the photo: In Francisco’s words, ‘this photo was shot during the filming of a video about Optical Illusions. We did about 8 different optical illusions and even though this one was not one of our favorites for the video, it did come out really good on the photo. The secret for the success of this picture was having [athlete] Vladik Scholz doing the trick over and over, and having an artist like Julian Lorenzo painting the stairs on the ground and shooting the photo from the right angle given that the optical illusions only work when seen from a very specific angle.’

Gear and specs: Nikon D800; Nikon Zoom lens 24-70mm, f/2.8 (this shot is at 56mm); ISO: 4000; F-Stop: 3.2; Shutter Speed: 1/800 sec.

Semi-finalist, RAW: Robert Garo

Semi-finalist for the RAW category, Red Bull Illume 2019: Robert Garo, Germany

Location: Duisburg, Germany

Biography quote: ‘Follow your passion, work hard, and never forget your dreams.’

Biography: My story as a photographer is probably more directly related to the Red Bull Illume competition than many others. After being thwarted by a shoulder injury, I bought a camera and started taking snaps. Nothing was safe in front of my lens. I think my environment was happy, and that changed when I got my hands on the second Illume book at the end of 2013. Exactly those pictures I wanted to do too!Every single image fascinated me and I burned for sports anyway. One thing led to the other and so it happened that in 2016 I was fortunate enough to win the worldwide photo contest of Red Bull Photography by 500Px. It was inspiring to be a guest at the winner’s ceremony in Chicago and meet all the other photographers. Now it was 100% clear where my way should lead. I wanted to be part of this community.

Since that time, a lot has happened. In 2017, I decided to quit my regular job and shortly after that, I became part of the Red Bull Photography Team. I was able to get to know many inspiring people and my job takes me to other countries again and again. I was allowed to work for some small and some major companies and share their passion for the sport. I am very grateful for that!

In the end, the Red Bull Illume has changed my life.

About the photo: ‘The shot was more complicated than you would think at the beginning. It started with the fact that there was only one angle to take the picture. The camera position was not allowed to be a millimeter farther left or right, because otherwise the sculpture was not fully in the picture or had parts in the picture I don’t want. As a result, Frank had only a very small flat surface available for the trick.After everything had been prepared and set up, we could not get started because to our astonishment many people visit the Tiger and Turtle even late at night. In the end, a time frame of under 10 minutes resulted in getting the shot in the box. To capture the triple spin that makes up the trick and expose the background right, I chose an exposure time of 3 seconds and the flash trigger on the second shutter curtain to freeze Frank sharply. Fortunately, the timing was already right on the third try,’ says Garo.

Gear and specs: Nikon D850; 14-24mm f/2.8 lens; ISO: 100; F-Stop: 11; Shutter Speed: 0.3 sec.

Semi-finalist, Playground: Lorenz Holder

Semi-finalist for the Playground category, Red Bull Illume 2019: Lorenz Holder, Germany

Location: Bushmills, Northern Ireland

Biography quote: ‘Walking through life with open eyes and seeing possibilities.’

Biography: I grew up in Munich, close to the Bavarian mountains, and it is those mountains that have always played a major role in my life. Being outside with my friends was always the thing that motivated me most, be it as a snowboarder back in the days or nowadays as a photographer.

I’ve never studied or learned photography but I was so impressed and fascinated, how one single image can describe a whole scene, a whole day or even a whole trip. This power of an image caught me straight away and passion became profession. I’ve finished my university for being a teacher and then went all in – All I wanted to do, is to shoot and create.

The biggest influence on my style of shooting comes from outside the action sport scene. I love to get impressed by creative work from landscape, architecture and fine-art photography. But for me, this was always a little bit too boring to shoot, so I tried to combine those genres with action sport and that’s where I found my true love for what I’m doing. Walking through life with open eyes and seeing possibilities.

About the photo: ‘The story of this image started around 60 million years ago, when lava cooled down, in a very slow way, leaving a vast field of a hexagonal stones behind. There are only a couple of places on earth, where we can see those formations nowadays.

When I’ve seen this location for the first time, I was blown away and I knew I had to shoot something there. Over a year later I was standing there with my camera at the beginning of a very good looking sunset. Everything was ready, I had my angle, wetted the stones in the foreground to get a bit more reflection there, but one crucial element was missing: Senad Grosic.

This was our first stop of a 10 days shooting trip in Northern Ireland. The problem was, that his flight from Vienna was 2 hours delayed and it was never clear if he would make it in time for the sunset shoot. So there I was, alone with a perfect setting sun and a perfect scenery, but no athlete. Senad was about 15 minutes away, when I gave him a phone call, that he should mount his bike in the moving car and hurry up. He got there – no time for a brohug – no time for warm up – just up there and perform in a really beautiful sunset. 5 minutes later we got the shot and what a cool way to start the 10 days shooting trip,’ says Holder.

Gear and specs: Phase One camera; Schneider Kreuznach LS 35mm lens; ISO: 800; F-Stop: 4.0; Shutter Speed:1/320 sec.

Semi-finalist, Playground: Piotrek Deska

Semi-finalist for the Playground category, Red Bull Illume 2019: Piotrek Deska, Poland

Location: Mirów, Poland

Biography quote: ‘Climber and photographer combined in one.’

Biography: I was born in Czestochowa, Poland, on November 20, 1986 – in the city located at the north side of the biggest climbing area in Poland – Jura. It was only a matter of time before I started to climb and explore the outdoor possibilities of the area. During my teenage years climbing became my true passion.

I was inspired by the rocks around and was always eager to climb another eye-catching line. As soon as I got my first camera from my father, who is also a photographer, I found out the great joy in creating long-lasting memories by shooting pictures. Both – climbing and photography – can be symbiotic, and since I was able to get some first good looking shots at an early age, I became more and more passionate about taking a camera at the crag every time.

Nowadays I’m still an active climber trying to spend free time either at the crag or in the mountains. A couple of years ago, I quit my job as a web analyst and decided to take a chance of being a full-time photographer. I’m focused mostly on the outdoor world, trying to picture passionate people doing what makes them happy – be it climbing, mountaineering or any other activity.

With every picture, I’m trying to show something more than just an athlete. As photographers, we have only one frame that freezes just a split of a second, and it’s important to show something more in it. With every shot I make, I always try to create an image that will look great in large format on the wall.

About the photo: In Deska’s words, ‘last climb of the day in the typical Jurassic scenery. The common view of Polish Jura: bone-white limestone and a medieval castle ruins. Just add the climber, and you have a perfect combination for a picture.

While going to Mirów, I wasn’t thinking about a climbing picture. I had only a landscape shot in my mind of that specific frame. But I was lucky enough – even though it wasn’t one of the weekend days, which are usual time for climbing activity, I spotted a climber at the Turnia Kukuczki crag. Every piece came together – the timing (just before the sunset) and the climber, who filled up the frame. I “only” had to hit the shutter and make it a climbing picture instead of “just” a landscape photo.’

Gear and specs: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV; Canon EF 70-200 f2.8 lens; ISO: 100; F-Stop: 11; Shutter Speed: 1/15 sec.

Semi-finalist, Masterpiece by EyeEm: Leo Cittadella

Semi-finalist for the Masterpiece by EyeEm category, Red Bull Illume 2019: Leo Cittadella, Norway

Location: Preikestolen, Norway

Biography quote: ‘Skate or die!’

Biography: Half Norwegian/Italian, but born in Sedona, AZ 1990 – Now working as a freelance filmmaker based in Oslo, Norway since 2009 – I got my first paid film job in high school and got some extra motivation to make it my job. After a few years with tutorials and long nights, things worked out and I got heavily involved with the snowboard scene. Action sports has thought me to be free and that helped me create my own style. Now I do all types of film projects, but with my main focus still on the shred.

About the photo: ‘We went up to film a skate video sequence on the edge of Preikestolen (2000 foot cliff). We got the whole spot to ourselves and wrapped up just in time to snap a photo before all the selfie tourists arrived. First time trying the camera, so the settings were all messed up!’

Gear and specs: Sony Alpha 7S II; 67mm lens; ISO: 2000; F-Stop: 4; Shutter Speed: 1/8000 sec.

Semi-finalist, Masterpiece by EyeEm: Nils Ohlendorf

Semi-finalist for the Masterpiece by EyeEm category, Red Bull Illume 2019: Nils Ohlendorf, Germany

Location: Fruit Bowl, Moab, Utah, USA

Biography quote: ‘The wilder, the better-chasing raw emotion and that magic light.’

Biography: I have always had the travel bugs and the joy of being outdoors. Studying geography did not relieve that; on the contrary, it gave me plenty of excuses for extended trips abroad. Moving close to the Alps for university enabled me to develop my climbing and skiing, and to spend a lot of time getting lost in the mountains with my friends. Regarding work, I was always concerned about a good work/life balance as well as a decent town/mountain balance.

I achieved this quite well, working mostly based in Germany, and for two years in South America, with plenty of opportunities to explore the Andes. Photography has been a part of my life for a long time. I was 15 when I got my first analogue SLR. But it was until about 4 years ago that I shifted my professional focus towards sports, mountain, and outdoor photography.

The boy in the dark room, developing black and white prints, the love for being outdoors and roaming the world, all the time in the mountains and at that point, it all came together.

About the photo: ‘During a two month climbing trip in the USA, I stayed in Indian Creek when I heard about the GGBY Highline Festival happening outside of Moab. I went to check it out and was totally impressed by the place, the community and the aesthetics of people expressing themselves by moving through space.

Next to the highline area, I had the chance to witness Andy Lewis going for a basejump right into the setting sun above the green river. It was a one-shot kind of opportunity, but everything aligned perfectly.

Gear and specs: Nikon D600; 35mm f/1.4 lens; ISO: 640; F-Stop: 7.1; Shutter Speed: 1/800 sec.

Semi-finalist, Masterpiece by EyeEm: Jeremiah Watt

Semi-finalist for the Masterpiece by EyeEm category, Red Bull Illume 2019: Jeremiah Watt, USA

Location: Arch Canyon, Bears Ears National Monument, UT, USA

Biography quote: ‘Raw, authentic, inspired.’

Biography: In the late ’90s, after a college internship gone awry, I turned to photography as an educational possibility. Years later, after life in a van, following the seasons for rock and snow, my camera and I reconnected. Many cameras later I still love an eclectic crew and a wild endeavor. Currently based in Salt Lake City, UT, my hope is to create authentic, story, and character-driven imagery that places the viewer in the midst of the experience.

About the photo: ‘Pat Kingsbury and Jackson Marvell are true desert choss wranglers. On this occasion they were attempting to free “Hellbitch” – an old aid line ascending 800 feet of freestanding sandstone through everything ranging from bullet proof stone to absolute choss. This was my second visit and I desperately wanted shots of Pat redpointing the crux off-width on the third pitch. We’d shot on the pitch repeatedly and we’d created incredible photos but they weren’t the send. As a photographer bent on capturing authentic experience, being there and capturing the actual moment it all comes together, beginning to end, is priceless.

This trip we had five days to make it happen, however, it was getting late in the season, temps beyond noon were unbearable, and time was limited. The day before this, we’d ran from the heat, and sought refuge swimming in sand filled water with margarita’s in hand. The next morning found Pat barely able to stand, dry heaving in his sleeping bag. Being our last day to work and shoot we couldn’t rest and left him alone to recover.

Hours later, as we began to rappel and clean the tower, Pat showed up in flip flops and shorts, feeling better, but not much. Realizing this was his last opportunity to climb his pitch until after the long desert summer, he borrowed pants (a small women’s were all that was available), tied in, and proceeded to send the 30 feet of nearly horizontal off-width using everything from leading with his feet to jamming with his head. The fact that he went from prostrate and dry heaving to sending one of the hardest off-width pitches in the desert still defies comprehension. This photo is from that send and will be an all-time favorite memory and capture for years to come,’ reflects Watt.

Gear and specs: Nikon D810; Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 lens; ISO: 250; F-Stop: 2.8; Shutter Speed: 1/800 sec.

Semi-finalist, Masterpiece by EyeEm: Ydwer van der Heide

Semi-finalist for the Masterpiece by EyeEm category, Red Bull Illume 2019: Ydwer van der Heide, The Netherlands

Location: Camps Bay, South Africa

Biography Quote: ‘Shooting kitesurfing action in tough conditions can be very challenging. You have to deal with wind, water, salt and sand at the same time. I love to be exposed to those conditions. It puts me in a space where I can capture the reality exactly how I see it. The reward is there when people look at the photo and get the same feeling I had.

In action sports photography you need to be lucky. For a good photo, all pieces have to fall into place. For me knowledge is king. Knowing every button and function of my camera and doing research about my subjects and locations means the chances of having lucky moments are bigger. It gives me room for creativity and I’ll end up with the best possible result.’

Biography: Ydwer van der Heide is an extreme sports photographer hailing from The Netherlands. As a fanatic rider himself, he has combined his early passion for photography and evolved to have one of the most instantly recognizable styles of imagery in kiteboarding. He blends natural elements with the movement and feel of the sport. A lot of people say that the texture of his shots is something else.

Ydwer has been coming to South Africa for many years to shoot with the best kiters in the world. His thrill for photography comes from reacting to the environment, improvising in the moment and accurately portraying the reality of the sports’ best riders braving the most extreme conditions.

His love for travel and adventure makes him criss cross the globe to shoot action sports and capture extraordinary moments of passionated athletes. He’s always looking for a challenge, new angles or locations and innovative ways of showing the sport.

About the photo: ‘During summer season many kitesurfers travel to Cape Town to enjoy the wind and the waves. For me as a photographer specialized in kitesurfing it’s the highlight of the season. I’m able to capture the biggest moments in kiteboarding history with the worlds best riders. These riders have become good friends throughout the years. One of them is Kevin Langeree, an athlete that pushes the sport in his own way.

Most of the people have seen photos from Cape Town and most of the time you’ll see Table Mountain in the background. This year I decided with Kevin to approach it from a different side. We started looking for other spots and angles. We found this tidal rock pool close to the city of Cape Town. It’s such a beautiful place where nature and city merge together seamlessly. I found this angle from above, where the clean pool was so nicely divided from the rough ocean by the typical bolder rocks that you find around Cape Town.’

Gear and specs: DJI Mavic Pro 2; Hasselblad L1D-20C lens; ISO: 100; F-Stop: 6.3; Shutter Speed: 1/400 sec.

Semi-finalist, Lifestyle: Tal Roberts

Semi-finalist for the Lifestyle category, Red Bull Illume 2019: Tal Roberts, USA

Location: Portland, Oregon

Biography: Tal Roberts got his start creating still images by hitting the pause button when the tricks looked just right on the classic skateboard videos of the mid 1990s. Though he didn’t use a real camera until years later the desire to document his passions was still intact. Tal kickstarted his photographic career while exploring the mountains around his home in Ketchum, Idaho and continues to focus on making pictures of his friends having fun.

About the photo: ‘Not much can match the stoke on Willow’s [the dog] face when she see’s we are going for a rip with the skateboard,’ says Roberts.

Gear and specs: Nikon D4; Nikon 16mm lens; ISO: 100; F-Stop: f5.6; Shutter Speed: 1/250 sec.

Semi-finalist, Innovation by Sony: Keke Leppälä

Semi-finalist for the Innovation by Sony category, Red Bull Illume 2019: Keke Leppälä, Finland

Location: Suvilahti DIY skatepark, Helsinki, Finland

Biography quote: ‘Keep shooting, keep exploring, keep doing what you love.’

Biography: I’m a Finnish photographer based in Helsinki. From an early age, I got into skateboarding and snowboarding. I bought my first camera when I was about 12. I shot quite a bit in b&w since my high school had a darkroom, and learned a lot about the “old school” photo development.

For a while in the ‘90s, I was a professional snowboarder. After that it was time for studies, and I ended up working with IT. About 15 years ago I moved to Denmark. We started a local skateboard mag (One Love) in Copenhagen and I got my first skate photo of Sam Beckett published in the Blind Skateboards catalog. From there on, skateboard photography has become a bigger part of my photo work.

2016 I moved back to Helsinki. I work as a freelance photographer but I have also worked with IT for many years now. I enjoy shooting action, wildlife, people and architecture – but skateboard photography combines two of my big passions: it gives me the chance to capture both the fun and beauty of skateboarding and the talent of the skaters.

I enjoy combining visual lines and clean backgrounds with the unexpected perspective.

About the photo: Every year, the legendary Suvilahti DIY skatepark in Helsinki is painted with new exciting artwork based on an idea by the local skaters and artists. In 2016 the theme was ‘Iceberg Ocean.’ During the HELride skateboard event held in Helsinki each summer, Suvilahti DIY has served as the scene for the breathtaking deathrace contest.

‘I am always in search of new unseen angles, and therefore I climbed the sketchy ladder up to 20 meters height of this metal light pole tower located next to the park. In shoots like these, you need to be right at the spot, hitting the shutter just at the right time. I shot many skaters during the deathrace, but my man Roope just got it perfectly aligned when he passed, and I managed to capture my idea into a picture. This angle really twists your mind, and you gotta love the beauty of the background. Artwork design by Laura Lehtinen.

Suvilahti DIY has been designed and built by skaters for skaters, expanding and evolving since 2011. The park, with a size of over 1000m2 [square meters], is one of the biggest of its kind in Europe. Sadly, it is under the threat of being demolished. An association called “The friends and supporters of Suvilahti DIY skatepark area” has been founded in order to save and develop this unique specimen of urban culture,’ says Leppälä.

Gear and specs: Canon EOS 5D Mark II; Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L lens, IS USM @100mm; ISO: 100; F-Stop: 5.6; Shutter Speed: 1/640 sec.

Semi-finalist, Innovation by Sony: Vegard Breie

Semi-finalist for the Innovation by Sony category, Red Bull Illume 2019: Vegard Breie, Norway

Location: Numendal, Norway

Biography quote: ‘Hard work pays off.’

Biography: Vegard started his career, as many others, shooting friends on skis and bikes. From then he has been very fortunate to do projects like going to Kabul with special forces, shooting cars in Hollywood to TV promos on beaches of Mexico. He always returns to the action sports, though. Hard to change what you love!

About the photo: ‘Anders [Backe, the skier] is the most hardworking athlete I know and always has some crazy ideas. We tried something similar a few years back that didn’t work that well. But when he came across this pool in an old school he knew about, we knew this was a go!

It’s done with a smoke machine in the pool, the temperature of the landing makes the haze stay down there. And I have one flash behind the jump with a blue gel, and one to my left aiming at him. There was a really minimal innrun, but Anders has incredible pop so he still made it look really good,’ explains Breie.

Gear and specs: Nikon D850; 14-24mm, f/2.8 lens; ISO: 500; F-Stop: 4.5; Shutter Speed: 1/250 sec.

Semi-finalist, Innovation by Sony: Dominique Daher

Semi-finalist for the Innovation by Sony category, Red Bull Illume 2019: Dominique Daher, Switzerland

Location: Col de l’Isoard (Isoard Pass)

Biography quote: ‘The more you pedal less, the less you go faster,’ – Coluche.

Biography: I was born in 1976 in Marseille, Southern France. I live and work now near by Geneva in Switzerland. I’m a former photo editor for a press group, specialized in mountain and counter culture sport, and have been a freelance photographer for more than 15 years. My photography journey is clearly inspired by the world where I grew up. A world of athletes from frozen water to melted snow, more often call boardculture.

Since a bit more than 3 years ago, I co-founded neufdixieme.com, a website focused on behind-the-scenes of outdoor sports, with a photojournalism vision where the words are as important as the pictures as well as the graphic design.

Neufdixieme is also a photo studio dedicated to the athletes. My passion for photography is so strong that I’m only working on this medium. My other interests are in contemporary art, minimalism, design, and architecture. Sport is not in my interest as it’s 100 % part of myself.

I believe cycling can save the world.

About the photo: ‘The first idea was to document the behind the scene of a little funny internet movie called Mountain Skiing. When I did my research with the team, we decided to work in a way called American Night, like Zorro back in the days. You shoot during the daylight and darken it in post. I thought it could be a good idea to do the making of and to try my little project on the side. I order[ed] a blue filter as it was mention[ed] as an important part of the process. The filter never came on time but it worked out,’ says Daher.

Gear and specs: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV; 50mm f/1.2 lens; ISO: 50; F-Stop: 2.8; Shutter Speed: 1/1250 sec.

Semi-finalist, Energy: Michael Clark

Semi-finalist for the Energy category, Red Bull Illume 2019: Michael Clark, USA

Location: Little White Salmon River, Washington, USA

Biography quote: ‘With my work I am looking to push the envelope with the technology and the photographic possibilities.’

Biography: Michael Clark is an internationally-published outdoor photographer specializing in adventure sports, travel, and landscape photography. He produces intense, raw images of athletes pushing their sports to the limit and has risked life and limb on a variety of assignments to bring back stunning images of rock climbers, mountaineers, kayakers, big-wave surfers and mountain bikers in remote locations around the world.

Clark uses unique angles, bold colors, strong graphics, and dramatic lighting to capture fleeting moments of passion, gusto, flair and bravado in the outdoors. Balancing extreme action with subtle details, striking portraits and wild landscapes, he creates images for the editorial, advertising, and stock markets worldwide.

As a former physicist, Michael has worked on both sides of the technical revolution – helping refine the technology and using it for his current profession. Michael has worked as a professional photographer since 1996 and added digital photography to his repertoire in 2003. While Michael still shoots some film, mostly medium format, the lion’s share of his images are now produced with high-resolution digital cameras.

He has been featured in Digital Photo Pro (December 2011), Outdoor Photographer (September 2001), Nikon World Magazine (Summer 2006), Digital Photographer (UK, 2010), Rangefinder Magazine (May 2010), and New Mexico Magazine (2007) for his work with extreme sports. Digital Photo Pro proclaimed Michael a ‘Master of Adventure’ Photography in their 2011 Masters issue.

About the photo: In Clark’s words, ‘Rafa Ortiz dropping over Spirit Falls while whitewater kayaking on the Little White Salmon river near White Salmon, Washington. This image was shot as part of the Elinchrom ELB 1200 battery-powered strobe launch, named “Lighting the Spirit.”‘

Gear and specs: Nikon D810; Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 lens; ISO: 400; F-Stop:5.0; Shutter Speed: 1/400th sec.

Semi-finalist, Emerging by Red Bull Photography: Theo Burette

Semi-finalist for the Emerging by Red Bull Photography category, Red Bull Illume 2019: Theo Burette, France

Location: Cergy Pontoise, France

Biography quote: ‘It is so inspiring to be around people that have so much passion for what they do.’

Biography: I was born in Paris in 1996. At 18 years old, I received my first camera and began taking photos.

At 13 years old, I took up skateboarding. I have always loved taking photos of my friends at the skatepark. At that time, I was always hanging out outside. I’m a big fan of extreme sports. I skated for 8 years. In France, we are lucky to have some of the most beautiful ski resorts in the world. Since I was a kid, I go up to the mountain to snowboard every year.

I also fell in love with surfing. My parents have taken my brother and I surfing all over the world (Morocco, Sri Lanka, Lanzarote, the Maldives, Japan). We’ve always had this love of extreme sports in my family. With photography, I have always evolved in my style by practicing and trying different things.

I will never stop learning – that is the richness of photography. I particularly enjoy following athletes and working with them, discovering new styles, new kinds of sports, and coming to understand their personal vision behind their practice. I love translating this through photography. It is so inspiring to be around people that have so much passion for what they do.

About the photo: ‘A couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to meet Jonathan Viardot.
He practices Martial Art Tricking and I immediately asked him if he would be interested in working on a photography project involving this relatively unknown sport – Martial Art Tricking is more than a sport, there is a whole culture of tricks behind it.

I wanted to translate the beauty of the movements, the energy that we feel coming off of the athlete, that moment in the action where time seems to stop. We decided to do the photoshoot at night in a space that is familiar to both of us – we are both from a town outside of Paris called Cergy.

The amphitheater of Cergy was the perfect place for the photoshoot because it possesses a principal light source coming from the top of the bridge. We wanted to play on the human silhouette to reinforce the movement by isolating the background subject,’ explains Burette.

Gear and specs: Nikon D7000; Nikon Objectif AF-S DX 35 mm f/1.8 lens; ISO: 2540; F-Stop: 1.8; Shutter Speed: 1/1250

Semi-finalist, Creative by Skylum: Evgeny Pavlov

Semi-finalist for the Creative by Skylum category, Red Bull Illume 2019: Evgeny Pavlov, Russia

Location: Saint-Petersburg, Russia

Biography quote: ‘Explore, stay wild, creative and passionate.’

Biography: I was born in Saint-Petersburg, Russia, and was crazy about traveling and extreme sports since childhood. I started skateboarding at 15 and after few years tried snowboarding, which I fully felt in love with right away. A few years later, while competing in a snowboard contest, I got injured and had to hold on with a board for a while. In this period my girlfriend gifted me the first camera – a fully manual 35mm Zenit ET.

So I started learning photography by scrolling tonnes of web pages during the night, while during the daytime I had to combine my work at an architectural bureau with my diploma in the University. I tried to practice with roll of film every free minute.

As a photographer, I grew up working with different film cameras and it was something very special. Enjoying the process of getting the shot and a magic moments of waiting until you develop the film. In that time I discovered the pleasure of photography and decided to change my hobby into a part of life.

I’m also keen on urban exploration and rooftop climbing. In my photos I wanted to create something unique that no one had done before by combining that skills with photography and action sport. Different pictures that would really impress peoples minds. Traveling around the world, exploring new territories, climbing on the roofs, up trees and electricity poles, to get the best possible location and angle for the shot was my underlying goal.

Now I’m surrounded by 2 of my life passions – snowboarding and photography, still sponsored as a rider in Russia and able to shoot around the world for worldwide brands and top snowboard magazines.

About the photo: ‘Inspiration comes from everywhere. Sunday morning I went to the supermarket for groceries and while was walking through the rows of shelving – saw a little nameplate next to the canned fish, where was written “boneless”. I found it funny, because it was the same name as a skateboarding trick and just a moment later had an idea to create the shot with a skateboarder doing boneless and a pair of opened tins full of boneless fish.

Most of the time you can see riders doing this trick in a bowl, so nice curved “radius” out of the metal cap suits perfectly for that. [That] same day, I called my friend Alex, who’s pretty good at concrete bowls and explained him my idea. He found this artistic experiment interesting and few days later we’v made this photo.

I used 2 sheets of white paper to make a mobile studio straight in skate plaza, and made a shot of the tin straight away after snapping the trick, with the same light conditions as it was with the rider,’ explains Pavlov.

Gear and specs: Canon EOD 5D Mark III; Samyang 12mm f2.8 fisheye lens; ISO: 640; F-Stop: 4; Shutter Speed: 1/2000 sec.

Semi-finalist, Best of Instagram by SanDisk: Hamish Frost

Semi-finalist for the Best of Instagram by SanDisk category, Red Bull Illume 2019: Hamish Frost, United Kingdom

Location: Bidean nam Bian, Scotland

Biography: I’m an adventure and mountain sports photographer based in Scotland. My journey into photography began capturing images of the Scottish backcountry skiing scene. However since turning professional three years ago, I’ve expanded into shooting climbing, fell running and basically any sports which allow me to spend as much time out in the mountains as possible.

I find the creative process of trying to produce exciting images in tough and inhospitable environments really appealing. If it’s a particularly cold or wet day, then you’re fighting the conditions trying to look after yourself and keep your camera kit working; if the best position for a shot is half way up a cliff face, then you’ve got to work through the logistics of getting to that position. I also love the physical challenge – being fit enough to lug lots of camera gear around and stay motivated to keep pushing the shutter button even when you’re exhausted, maybe also a little scared, and overall would probably rather be anywhere but there. I think the combination of all these aspects is what draws me to this genre of photography over anything else.

About the photo: ‘Guy [Robertson] and Greg [Boswell] had invited me along to get some photos of them trying a new winter route on Bidean nam Bian. They’d been casually vague about their objectives for the day – ‘we’ve got some unfinished business on Bidean nam Bian, get you at the car park at 5.30am!’ It’s nice to be able to do a bit of planning before photographing a climb, however I also enjoy the challenge of having to improvise on the hill. Reaching the foot of the imposing Church Door Buttress just before first light, their “unfinished business” became apparent. The summer line Lost Arrow Direct – an impossibly steep looking series of cracks and roofs leading up the cliff.

The weather that day had been poor for photos, however I knew that if the clouds were to clear slightly, then the west face of Stob Coire nan Lochan might come into view in the background. I waited patiently for a few hours and sure enough, just as Guy was making good progress on the third pitch, the clouds broke momentarily and I was able to get the shot I’d hoped for. Four hours later, Guy completed a sequence of grade 10 moves (in the dark!) to pull through a final roof section and top out on the route,’ explains Frost.

Gear and specs: Sony A7RII; Sony FE 70-200mm f4.0 OSS lens; ISO: 250; F-Stop: 7.1; Shutter Speed: 1/250 sec.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on These are the Red Bull Illume Image Quest 2019 semi-finalists

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Xiaomi teases Mi Note 10 penta-camera smartphone with Samsung’s new 108MP sensor

02 Nov

Xiaomi has officially teased its new Mi Note 10, an upcoming handset, first teased in early August, that packs Samsung’s 108MP camera sensor inside.

The Mi Note 10 is the first smartphone to offer a ‘penta camera,’ according to Xiaomi, which has also included a 12MP portrait camera and 5MP 50x zoom camera in the same module. The model also features two other cameras on the phone’s rear that are isolated from the other three sensors: a 20MP ultra-wide-angle camera and a tiny 2MP macro camera.

Xiaomi published an image (above) of the Mi Note 10 and its five cameras on Twitter this week, teasing the handset that will be detailed at an event later this month. The company has shared a couple of sample images captured with the 108MP camera on its Twitter account, as well:

Xiaomi also tweeted a brief video clip, indicating that it demonstrates the 5MP 50x zoom camera’s capabilities:

A pair of dual-LED flash modules are expected to accompany the five cameras. GMS Arena notes that the Mi Note 10 is a global version of the China-only Mi CC9 Pro model set to launch on November 5, which packs optical image stabilization for two of the cameras, as well as a 32MP front-facing selfie camera.

Other official details about the handset are lacking at this time, but based on a previous leak, the Mi Note 10 may feature a 6.47in Full HD+ OLED display. Xiaomi will fully detail the CC9 Pro variant on November 5 and the Mi Note 10 will be fully introduced on November 14.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Xiaomi teases Mi Note 10 penta-camera smartphone with Samsung’s new 108MP sensor

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Leaked EXIF information suggests Leica is working on a 41MP Monochrom M10 camera

02 Nov

Leica Rumors has shared a screenshot of EXIF data from what it claims to be a Leica M10 Monochrom model. The leak suggests past rumors about a 41MP sensor may have been correct; the EXIF data shows a 40.89MP resolution at 7864 x 5200, as well as a 50mm focal length and 12500 ISO.

The new EXIF data leak follows a report that Leica Rumors published in late August that claims the camera will feature the same body as the Leica M10 model and that it will launch with a limited edition ‘celebrity’ variant. The speculation about an official launch in September didn’t pan out, however; the model remains unconfirmed and it’s unclear when Leica may release it.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Leaked EXIF information suggests Leica is working on a 41MP Monochrom M10 camera

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Lens Rentals celebrated Halloween by testing its rental gear for ghosts and good vibes

02 Nov

In the spirit of Halloween, the team over at Lens Rentals decided to do a little experiment to see if any of their gear was haunted. However just one item in, the plan took a very Roger-esque turn, pivoting from a ghost-hunting endeavor to tearing down the very pieces of gear he was originally using to look for paranormal activity.

After someone had remark that some of its photography gear was used to record various paranormal shows and another individual showed concern of whether or not any of Lens Rental’s gear was haunted, Cicala and his trusty sidekick Aaron decided to put their gear to the test unlike they’ve ever done before.

The array of paranormal-detecting devices Roger and Aaron purchased.

After hunting down an array of various paranormal-detecting devices (and purchasing a dozen 9-volt batteries), Roger and Aaron got to work setting up their testing area. At the suggestion of those more familiar with the paranormal, the duo set up what was supposed to be a pentagram (looks more like a random geometric shape in our book) with multiple ‘Ghost Detector’ modules around the perimeter and burned a candle in the middle to get the paranormal juju flowing.

Clearly someone used that mic pack under sketchy circumstances.

After letting the candle work its magic, the pair put a Sennheiser microphone in the center and used both the ‘Ghost Detectors’ and the EMF detectors to see which how it reacted. Sure enough, the wireless mic pack was haunted (according to the two detectors, at least). The pair also tested their microwave (definitely haunted), as well as their coffee maker (which was thankfully spared by the spirits). It was even discovered that Aaron was haunted too. As a result, it turned out their previous testings couldn’t hold up, as there’s the chance Aaron himself was causing the bad vibes.

So, Roger and Aaron decided to instead direct the various paranormal-detecting devices they purchased to test out the Lens Rentals gear. We’ll let you see the full teardown of the gadgets over on Lens Rentals’ blog post, but suffice to say the Ghost Detector Array, EMF Meter and Ghost Magnet were all relatively cheap pieces of tech that mostly consisted of random PCBs and (in the case of the Ghost Magnet) motors.

The inside of one of the EMF detectors Roger and Aaron purchased.

Considering all of the paranormal devices are now torn down, it’s safe to say Lens Rentals will no longer be offering a spirit-cleansing add-on for future rentals. So you might want to be careful and bring a Shaman along with you on your next photo shoot just in case.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Lens Rentals celebrated Halloween by testing its rental gear for ghosts and good vibes

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Weekly Photography Challenge – Black and White

02 Nov

The post Weekly Photography Challenge – Black and White appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

This week’s photography challenge topic is BLACK AND WHITE!

Image: Photo by Jim Hamel

Photo by Jim Hamel

Inspired by our Black and White Photography e-book sale, I decided to make this weekly photography challenge Black and White. Black and white offers so much depth and emotion and has a timeless nature to it.

So go out and capture anything in black and white. You can use Monochrome Mode on your camera, or turn them into black and white with your favorite post-processing application.

They can be street photography, landscapes, architecture, patterns and textures, automotive, or use creative techniques such as slow shutter speeds, night photography, or intentional camera movement. Whatever you decide to photograph, just be sure they are black and white!

Check out these inspiring pics by some of the dPS writers, have fun, and I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

Black and white photography

Photo by Andrew S. Gibson

Image: Photo by Simon Bond

Photo by Simon Bond

Check out some of the articles below that give you tips on this week’s challenge.

Tips for Shooting BLACK AND WHITE

A Beginner’s Guide to Doing Black and White Photography

Avoid These 5 Common Mistakes in Black and White Photography

How to Make Brilliant Black and White Photos with Dramatic Composition

How to Use Color Temperature in Black and White Conversions

Mastering Monochrome Mode

Black and White in the Outdoors: Learning to see in Monochrome

The Pros and Cons of Black and White Versus Color for Street and Travel Photography

Experimenting with Low Key Black and White Photography

How to Use a Black and White Filter to Improve Your Photos

How to Create Silky Split Toned Black and White Photos Using Luminosity Masks

How to Enhance your Black and White images with Infrared Photography

Weekly Photography Challenge – BLACK AND WHITE

Simply upload your shot into the comment field (look for the little camera icon in the Disqus comments section) and they’ll get embedded for us all to see or if you’d prefer, upload them to your favorite photo-sharing site and leave the link to them. Show me your best images in this week’s challenge.

Share in the dPS Facebook Group

You can also share your images in the dPS Facebook group as the challenge is posted there each week as well.

If you tag your photos on Flickr, Instagram, Twitter or other sites – tag them as #DPSblackandwhite to help others find them. Linking back to this page might also help others know what you’re doing so that they can share in the fun.

The post Weekly Photography Challenge – Black and White appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.


Digital Photography School

 
Comments Off on Weekly Photography Challenge – Black and White

Posted in Photography

 

Review: What it’s like to scan film on the Epson Perfection V600

01 Nov

Film continues to be a popular medium among photographers today, and whether you’re an active or former analog user, the easiest way to share your treasured moments is by digitizing your film through scanning.

Many photo labs offer scanning as part of their services, often using large scanners able to process a full roll of 35mm film in a few minutes. But, just like developing at a lab, having a lab scan your film costs money, which is why many people like the idea of scanning negatives themselves. There are a lot of options when it comes to digitizing film yourself (including simply using a digital camera), but some of these methods require complex setups, some have huge equipment costs, and some just aren’t very good. Others, meanwhile, are actually pretty good and affordable. Meet the Epson Perfection V600.

Epson Perfection V600 key specs:

  • Compatible with 35mm and medium format
  • Max film scan resolution: 6400 x 9600 dpi
  • Dust/scratch removing technology
  • 48-bit color
  • USB 2.0
  • MSRP: $ 229.99

The Epson V600 retails for $ 229.99, although there were several deals around the web for under $ 200 at the time of writing this article. In the box you get the scanner, two plastic film holder inserts, a power cable, a data cable and an Epson software CD.

Outside of the film holders, this is a really straightforward out-of-the-box experience.

Before I get too deep into breaking down what using this scanner is like I want to give some context. First, while the Epson V600 can be used for a variety of scanning applications, I’ll only be talking about using it to scan film. Second, I’ve been scanning my own film for several years using all sorts of various film scanners, and let me tell you there is a steep learning curve. Everything can be done right, but it just takes time to piece together each element and make sure you’re processing things in a way that works for you.

There are, of course, many different approaches to getting a desirable image from scanning film; the opinions in this article are just based off of my experiences. Film negatives are a lot like Raw files; how you process them can make a big difference to how they end up looking (particularly in the case of color negative and black and white films).

Getting the V600 set up

The V600 can scan normal documents as well as negatives. To scan film, remove the white cushioning bit from the top of the scanner bed and set it aside. Now you’re ready to load up the supplied film holders. You can scan either 12 35mm or 4 medium format images at once.

Once unboxed and set up, using this scanner is pretty straightforward: you lay your film in one of the supplied plastic holders, snap it shut and place it in the scanner so that your negatives are centered on the scanner bed. You’ll be able to scan up to twelve 35mm photos or four medium format photos at once. The scanner also comes with an additional film holder for mounted slide film.

I wish the plastic holders were made of something higher quality. I’ve used other scanners that have magnetic strips for their holders and I prefer those by a long shot.

Once your negatives are in place, it’s time to get scanning via the included software, ‘Epson Scan’. Depending on which scan mode you choose (more on that below), you simply set your desired scan quality, make a preview scan and select your scan area with a marquee tool (except in Full Auto mode). Then you commit to the final scan, which can take a long while or a short while depending on your quality settings. Sound simple? Not necessarily…

On my Windows 10 desktop the scanning software was completely unstable

When I initially set up the V600, I had it connected to my Windows 10 desktop and quickly found the software to be unstable, crashing frequently during the preview scan. Eventually I couldn’t even get my computer to recognize that the scanner was on and connected. This is apparently not an uncommon problem either (I tried all the fixes in the link to no avail). I ended up following a bunch of tutorials online to fix the problem and still wasn’t able to get it to work reliably.

So, I switched over to my Apple Macbook which, though generally slower than my PC, had no issues at all running the software. Once I finally got it up and running, I actually found it fairly user-friendly. The design looks dated, but the operation is straightforward.

Scanning modes

The software has four modes, the specific options of which you can see in the images below (I’ve omitted the “Office Mode” because I’m not covering document scanning in this review).

Full Auto Mode

Full auto mode is the easiest of the modes to use, but will be too dumbed-down for most users.

Home Mode

Home mode is the mode I’d recommend as it offers just enough options without being overwhelming.

Professional Mode

Pro mode offers the most options but it can be overwhelming, with so many scanning quality windows that unless you really know what you’re doing, you’ll likely feel claustrophobic.

If you’re using the Professional Mode, the desktop can get crowded real fast with the different modules. There’s actually an additional Color Palette module in Professional Mode that you can use to alter the hues of colors in your photos that isn’t pictured above because I couldn’t fit it alongside all the other windows. If you’re up for it, the Professional Mode offers a ton of control, but I think Home mode will likely suit most users just fine.

‘Home’ vs. ‘Pro’ mode

Home Mode offers just enough control to get a good scan so that you can then make the rest of the adjustments to image quality in whatever photo editing software you prefer. You’ve got DPI, Brightness scale, and a handful of intelligent options like Color Restoration. The V600 also includes Epson’s ‘Digital ICE technology’ – available in all scanning modes – which automatically removes dust and small scratches (though I still advise dusting with canned air or a rocket blower before each scan).

Home Mode offers just enough control to get a good scan

Professional Mode, on the other hand, offers a full slew of adjustments and filters including Grain Reduction and additional dust removal alongside exposure and color adjusting tools like histograms, curves, white balance sliders, and so on. One other really nice feature is that you can change the bit-depth of your scans, with the option of 8- or 16-bit Grayscale and 24- or 48-bit Color. The DPI setting goes all the way up to 12800, so if you’re planning on making big prints this will set you up right for that.

Home Mode Professional Mode

Above you can see a comparison of the same shot scanned in Home Mode (left) and Professional Mode (right). The Home Mode scan has noticeably less dust and hairs while the Professional Mode (with dust removal turned off) has more dust but is a bit closer to how I think the photo should look after some slight white balance, tint, and contrast corrections. Photo was shot on Portra 400VC with a Hasselblad 80mm F2.8 and a Proxar macro filter.

Quality compared to photo lab scans

More important than how this scanner stacks up against itself is how it stacks up against scans done by professionals in a photo lab. Below is a gallery comparing photos scanned on the Epson V600 to ones scanned by the professionals at Panda Lab here in Seattle, WA.

The Epson scans were all done in ‘Home’ mode at 4800 DPI (for 6400 DPI scanning you’ll need to switch to ‘Pro’ mode) and saved as Tiffs. This resulted in files ~6600 x 4400 pixels. For the sake of comparison we’ve downsized them to match the Panda Lab scans and saved them as JPEGs. Other than that, no additional adjustments were made to either scan.

$ (document).ready(function() { SampleGalleryV2({“containerId”:”embeddedSampleGallery_7267226613″,”galleryId”:”7267226613″,”isEmbeddedWidget”:true,”selectedImageIndex”:0,”isMobile”:false}) });

When viewed at 100% or on a large monitor, the lab scans show more detail and significantly finer grain than the Epson scans. They also do a much better job reflecting the tonality of the Fujifilm Pro 400H film they were shot on. With the Epson scans, the color is OK, but there’s a need for color-correction.

The corrected Epson scans are certainly good-enough for social media sharing or small printing

The image below and to the right is an Epson scan edited in Lightroom to match the tonality of the Professional scan. With a little fussing, you can get the colors close, but the professional scan still looks sharper, more detailed and less noisy than the Epson. But depending on your intended viewing size, that may not matter; the corrected Epson scans certainly look good enough to me for social media sharing or small printing.

Professional lab scan. Lightroom-corrected Epson V600 scan.

Of course, the lab scans cost money (~$ 10) and the Epson scans cost you time, after initial investment. It took about 3 minutes to scan each 35mm frame, which means if you’re shooting rolls of 36 exposures, that’s 108 minutes of scanning. So if you purchase the Epson for the retail price of $ 229.99, you’d theoretically have to scan 23 rolls before saving money versus the cost of lab scans, which would take more than 41 hours.

Medium format hiccups

Note the slightly darker band in the highlights in the upper left quadrant of this photo (120 HP5+ Pushed two Stops and scanned with the Epson V600). This appears in several of my images.

Sure, the V600 can scan at high resolutions and high color depth, but unfortunately some slight banding can be an issue when working with medium format film – I didn’t notice this issue with 35mm. Banding is not an uncommon issue for flatbeds, but it is something to be aware of.

For those who don’t know, banding looks like what it sounds like: a portion of your photo will have a straight band of a slightly different exposure along the line of the scan. This is something that can sort of be corrected using Photoshop but depending on the complexity of your image it can become a huge pain to deal with.

Below you can see a full gallery of that same roll of HP5+ all scanned using the Epson V600 and edited to taste in Lightroom.

$ (document).ready(function() { SampleGalleryV2({“containerId”:”embeddedSampleGallery_4117815188″,”galleryId”:”4117815188″,”isEmbeddedWidget”:true,”selectedImageIndex”:0,”isMobile”:false}) });

The wrap

The Epson V600 has some flaws, like flimsy film trays and dated-looking software. But assuming you can get everything set up successfully (sorry Windows 10 users), it’s relatively easy and straightforward to get decent-looking scans using Home mode, especially if you’re only looking to scan 35mm. However, for the highest quality scans, you’re going to spend a lot of time waiting around for the V600 to do its thing.

Ultimately I think this product is a good option for amateurs and enthusiasts looking for a decent way to scan their current work, or for those looking to bring new life to old negatives. But for those desiring both high quality files and painless turnaround, your local lab is still your best bet – if you have one nearby.

What we like:

  • Good price
  • Easy-to-use
  • Decent scan quality

What we don’t:

  • Flimsy film trays
  • High-quality scans take a long time
  • Banding can be an issue when scanning medium format
  • Dated-looking scanning software
  • Hiccups with software on some Windows 10 machines

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Review: What it’s like to scan film on the Epson Perfection V600

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Are Photography Competitions Good for Your Soul?

01 Nov

The post Are Photography Competitions Good for Your Soul? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Charlie Moss.

are-photography-competitions-good-for-your-soul

Are photography competitions good for your soul? The idea of diving headfirst into the promising ocean of photographic competitions is one that can be appealing. Imagine yourself surrounded by admirers – fame, and accolades aplenty for your work. The thought is pretty appealing, isn’t it?

Are-Photography-Competitions-Good-for-your-soul

But for most of us, that cool blue water of success turns out to be little more than a dream. Most competitions for most photographers and artists end with little more than a rejection letter, or a place on the shortlist if you’re very lucky.

What is there to gain?

Well, to be quite frank, there’s an awful lot to gain from entering your photography work into competitions. And pretty much all competitions will help you grow and improve as a photographer if you put some thought into the images you’re selecting.

Image: Internet competitions can be a good way of working out which are your better images.

Internet competitions can be a good way of working out which are your better images.

You can use competitions for different purposes. For instance, local club competitions or some of the online competition sites can be good for working out which variations of images appeal to people more. If you’re a little stuck with an image, then entering a local club competition might help you see some of the flaws in your shot.

Prizes, notoriety, or self-improvement?

At the top of the scale, there are huge cash awards and even residencies to win through photographic competitions. Of course, you can’t just make a living by winning competitions with your photos, but the kind of cash prizes that some competitions award will certainly pay a good chunk of your living expenses for a while!

Are-Photography-Competitions-Good-for-your-soul

But for most of us, what we gain is a wider audience and a better sense of our work. And these things are both important to photographers in their own way.

Having an audience isn’t just important for pros, it can open all kinds of doors for amateurs too. Plus, as much as we sometimes loathe to admit it – nice comments and ‘likes’ can go a long way to making us feel good about our work.

The process of selecting images to enter into a competition can be extremely powerful for your work. Trying to narrow all the photos you’ve taken into just a small handful that fit a brief is a difficult process. But this process should tell you something about yourself and your work, and perhaps even push your future work in a particular direction.

Entering competitions can be a great learning experience.

Protecting your mental health

We don’t always win competitions. Of course, it would be impossible for everyone to win every competition that they entered. Not placing in shortlists time and time again can be tough on our mental health.

Are Photography Competitions Good for Your Soul?

You must make sure you’re entering competitions for good reasons, and not those that end up lowering your mood when you face rejection. Finding these reasons can be difficult even for seasoned photographers.

So how can you change bad reasons to good?

Think about why you’re entering competitions

Every now and then I like to reassess where I am with my competition goals to make sure I’m on track, and I invite you to do the same right now. Take a notepad and a pen and spend no more than five minutes jotting down the reasons that you might want to enter competitions.

Once you’ve taken some time to make that list, grab a coffee and review it. Take particular note of reasons that relate to your self-esteem. They could be reasons such as “I want to win competitions to prove I’m not a bad photographer,” or “I want to win competitions to show that time spent on my hobby is worthwhile.”

By framing your ambitions in this way, you’re dangerously close to resting your photographing (and personal) self-esteem on the result of the competition. Screw up the competition, and your photographic self-esteem drops. Photography should be pleasurable and fun to participate in, and competitions should support that.

Setting better goals

Instead, try to focus on goals that aren’t tied to your self-esteem. Hone in on more positive reasons to enter competitions such as “I want to enter competitions to help me develop my photographic voice” or “I want to enter competitions to encourage me to shoot a wider variety of subjects.”

Are-Photography-Competitions-Good-for-your-soul

These goals are not only much more achievable, but we don’t face the same kind of mood drop if we end up not winning. We have met our goal because our goal was simply to refine our work or shoot more variety. Anything additional, like placing on a shortlist, is a bonus.

Don’t forget to be kind to yourself

It’s important when entering competitions to be kind to yourself. Winning a competition can be a glorious feeling, but allow yourself to fail too. Failing is a very human trait, and it’s not something you will be able to escape.

Have compassion for yourself when the lows happen. Treat yourself to something you enjoy photographically and then go back out and get those goals on track.

Ultimately, you mustn’t allow competitions to have power over you. If the results of competitions become tied to the worth of your photography, then you’re on a rocky path that could end up with you falling out of love with photography. And you wouldn’t be here on this site if you didn’t love taking pictures.

Finding competitions to enter

If you start building your network of photographers who also enter competitions, you’ll start hearing about opportunities via word of mouth. But that’s not the only way to find new places to enter your photographs.

Are Photography Competitions Good for Your Soul?

I use a service by Google called Alerts to keep up to date with what competitions are opening for entries. All you need is a Google account, and you can set the service up to send you regular alerts every time it picks up new content using the keywords you define.

These alerts have led me to hear about some interesting photography competitions that I wouldn’t have otherwise found.

So are photography competitions good for your soul?

In my opinion, they certainly can be. I feel that they help me develop my practice as a photographer, allow me to experiment freely, and allow me to be judged amongst my peers. Those three things are very important to me.

Competitions can also be a great chance to meet new photographers and discover new work. Going to your local camera club, or even the exhibition from a larger competition can be both productive and exciting!

But you must take steps to understand why you want to enter competitions with your photography and if you’re entering for good reasons. When stepping into the competitive photography arena, you first of all need to take steps to protect your mental health and ensure you’re not putting yourself at risk.

Do you think photography competitions good for your soul? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!

The post Are Photography Competitions Good for Your Soul? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Charlie Moss.


Digital Photography School

 
Comments Off on Are Photography Competitions Good for Your Soul?

Posted in Photography

 
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »