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Instagram releases its ‘Restrict’ shadowbanning feature for all users

Instagram has fully released the ‘Restrict’ shadowban feature it first introduced as a test in July. The tool enables an Instagram user to restrict other accounts from posting content on and sending messages to their own account. As Instagram first explained this summer, Restrict is intended to limit the reach of bullies without fully blocking them, an action that may make the bullying worse.

The philosophy behind shadowbans on Instagram is simple: many users, particularly teens, face bullying from peers they know in real life, such as classmates. Blocking a bully on Instagram may cause that bully to increase their torment of the user in real life, which is why many users avoid blocking them.

In addition, and more broadly speaking, blocking an account that is posting abusive content may simply drive the bully to create a new account after the first one is blocked. For these reasons, blocking is not always the ideal way to prevent problematic comments and messages from being directed at an account.

Restrict is a solid alternative, enabling Instagram users to instead limit an unwanted account in a way that doesn’t alert the bully. Comments published by a restricted account are hidden by default and any private messages sent from the restricted account will be automatically sent to the recipient’s Message Request inbox. These restricted DMs can be read, but the sender won’t be alerted to the fact that their message was viewed.

Restrict is now available to all Instagram users.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

October 5, 2019
The latest iOS 13 developer beta gives us a sneak peek at Apple’s new Deep Fusion mode

Earlier this week, Apple released the first developer beta version of iOS 13 with support for its Deep Fusion technology built-in. Although there’s still plenty to learn about the feature, multiple developers have already taken the camera tech for a spin and shared their thoughts (and results) around the web.

To refresh, below is a brief explainer on what Deep Fusion is from our initial rundown on the feature:

‘Deep Fusion captures up to 9 frames and fuses them into a higher resolution 24MP image. Four short and four secondary frames are constantly buffered in memory, throwing away older frames to make room for newer ones […] After you press the shutter, one long exposure is taken (ostensibly to reduce noise), and subsequently all 9 frames are combined – ‘fused’ – presumably using a super resolution technique with tile-based alignment (described in the previous slide) to produce a blur and ghosting-free high resolution image.’

Although the tests are far from conclusive, we’ve rounded up a few sample images and comparisons shared by Twitter users from around the world. From the commentary shared by those who have tested the feature and from a brief analysis with our own eyes, Deep Fusion appears to work as advertised, bringing out more detail and clarity in images.

Here is a look at the difference #DeepFusion makes in lowish light. pic.twitter.com/V6Cxys2c1k

— Faruk ? ???????? (@iPhonedo) October 3, 2019

Interesting, you can see Apple’s Deep fusion technology being applied in real time to an image. The difference is pretty massive at 100% crop pic.twitter.com/ZSMb3Mywdl

— Benedict Bandersnatch (@_oscg) October 4, 2019

Very first tests of #DeepFusion on the #iPhone11 pic.twitter.com/TbdhvgJFB2

— Tyler Stalman (@stalman) October 2, 2019

In addition to the above comparison, photographer Tyler Stalman also compared how Deep Fusion compares to the Smart HDR feature.

By popular demand, here is Smart HDR vs #DeepFusion. Both shot on the #iPhone11Pro pic.twitter.com/AQqrw97VhF

— Tyler Stalman (@stalman) October 2, 2019

As noted by Halide co-founder Sebastiaan de With, it seems as though the image files captured with Deep Fusion are roughly twice the size of a standard photo.

In my first tests, Deep Fusion offers fairly modest gains in sharpness (and much larger files — my HEICs came out ~2x bigger). pic.twitter.com/ISclMKT1hK

— Sebastiaan de With (@sdw) October 2, 2019

Much remains to be seen about what Deep Fusion is actually capable of and how third-party developers can make the most of the technology, but it looks promising. There seems to be some confusion as well regarding whether Deep Fusion will work with Night Mode, but according to Apple guru John Gruber, the two are mutually exclusive, with Deep Fusion being applied to scenes between 600-10 lux while Night Mode kicks in at 10 or fewer lux.

What I’ve been told is that Deep Fusion applies between 600-10 lux. Night Mode is for 10 or fewer lux. They are mutually exclusive.

— John Gruber (@gruber) October 3, 2019

We’ll know more for sure when we have a chance to test the new feature ourselves.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

October 5, 2019
Weekly Photography Challenge – Triangles

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

This week’s photography challenge topic is TRIANGLES!

Chris Lawton

Following along on our shapes theme for the past fortnight, this week is Triangles. You can see triangles in flags, sails, architecture, windows, rooftops, in patterns and shadows, etc.

So go out and capture anything that has triangles. They can be color, black and white, moody or bright. Just so long as they have triangles in them! You get the picture! Have fun, and I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

Bambi Corro

?????? ????

freddie marriage

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

Tips for Shooting TRIANGLES

Embracing Shadows in Photography – A Lesson for Light and Life

How to Tell Stories with Architecture Photography

9 Creative Architecture Photography Techniques for Amazing Photos!

Tips for Different Approaches to Architecture Photography

How to Understand Light and Color to Improve your Photography

Top Tips for Photographing the Best a City has to Offer in 48-hours

Weekly Photography Challenge – TRIANGLES

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 #DPStriangles 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 – Triangles appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

Digital Photography School

October 5, 2019
Video: iPhone records its dramatic fall from a plane over Iceland, is recovered a year later

Iceland Photo Tours pilot and photographer Haukur Snorrason has shared a video showing the descent of his iPhone 6S Plus as it fell from a small plane located about 60m (200ft) over Iceland. The incident happened more than a year ago; given the height and frozen tundra beneath, Snorrason had assumed at the time that his tiny iPhone hadn’t survived the fall.

Around 13 months after the phone was dropped, a group of hikers discovered the device in a patch of moss, which had cushioned the blow and enabled the phone to survive the drop. The device powered on when tested, revealing Snorrason’s name and making it possible to reunite him with his lost device.

In addition to being nearly entirely functional (only the microphone was damaged), Snorrason discovered that the iPhone had recorded and saved a video of its rapid descent from the plane. The device landed face down on the moss, protecting the display from the elements while leaving the camera exposed to record the bright blue sky and Sun until its battery died.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

October 5, 2019
Sigma’s three new EF-M mount lenses and mount conversion service now have release dates

Back in July, Sigma announced it was working to bring three of its DC DN lenses to Canon’s APS-C EF-M mount. Now, we have an official release date for the 16mm F1.4, 30mm F1.4 and 56mm F1.4 lenses.

In a statement on Sigma Global’s website (translated), Sigma says the lenses will be released on October 18th. An additional mount conversion service will also be offered for those who own the MFT or E mount versions of these lenses who would like them adapted for Canon’s M mount. To start the conversion process, Sigma requests you contact your nearest authorized Sigma service center starting October 19.

Based on the information provided on Sigma Global’s website, the Canon M mount versions of the 16mm F1.4, 30mm F1.4 and 56mm F1.4 lenses will cost the same as the other mount options — $ 399, $ 289 and $ 429, respectively. Sigma also offers kits with all three lenses for both E mount and MFT cameras, so it’s not a stretch to imagine the same kit will be offered for the M mount versions as well.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

October 4, 2019
Canon 11-24mm F/4L Lens Review

The post Canon 11-24mm F/4L Lens Review appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Nisha Ramroop.

Following the release news of the Canon EF 11-24mm F/4L USM Lens, came countless sleepless nights of research and reading reviews. At the end of that process, all I could safely decipher was that it was the new dream lens of the landscape photographer in me.

The build

The moment you pick up this lens, the weight surprises you. It’s quite hefty and you notice every ounce of the approximate (just over) two-and-a-half pounds. The entire build of the lens screams quality too. Like other Canon lenses, the manual focus and zoom rings move smoothly and feel natural. Not a lens you want to be cumbersome with, so this was an important feature for me when working with such weight. You can make easy focal adjustments, as the zoom moves through the entire focal range with a small turn. When behind the lens, the AF/MF is also easily accessible.

The bulbous front element blooms with authority and still makes me nervous enough to cover it almost immediately when not in use. I am not reassured by the presence of the fixed hood that is meant to protect the imposing glass. However, I am glad it is there. The signature red ring around the front always sets expectations of promised image quality and Canon has delivered.

Size comparatives from left to right: Canon 85mm F/1.2 L, Canon 11-24mm F4 L, Canon 135mm F2 L

What works

The Canon EF 11-24mm is benchmarked as the widest ultra-wide rectilinear lens compatible with full-frame DSLRs, since the Sigma 12-24mm F/4.5-5.6 lens. Thus barrel distortion is minimal throughout the range, and straight lines in your subject are not compromised (and appear straight). The most distortion you would find occurs at around 11mm and 12mm and compared to any other lens at this focal range, it is minimal. Of note, distortion seems non-existent between 15-24mm.

By comparison, yes the Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye is wider, but as is the signature of fisheye lenses, it outputs barrel-distorted images and your straight lines curve. The exception is if your line is directly center of your frame.

The lens is quiet and focuses quickly. Most impressively though, it is super sharp, even at the corners! Added to sharp images; the contrast is nice and balanced. If you have used other ultra-wides, you will admire the difference in the output. The image quality is simply amazing!

The angle of view on a full-frame, coupled with the minimal distortion, makes it great for indoor architectural spaces. The need for a lens like this to be F/2.8 eludes me, as F/4 feels more than adequate.

What could be better

If you are looking at this beauty, the two major drawbacks may reside in price and weight. It is an expensive lens and certainly not in everyone’s price range. However, it’s a great investment if you do professional architectural and landscape photography. In these areas, the minimal distortion works in your favor. There is no other lens that performs like this lens at the wider end.

It is a large, heavy lens that will make you think twice before packing it for travel – you know you want it with you, oh but that weight! Even worse, it is front heavy, so you will want to be extra cautious when out in the field.

The front cap feels inadequate, as it struggles to cover the hood. There are also spaces where it clasps (when aligned) that leave room for dust to get into the front. After all the time they spent on this lens, the front cap feels like an afterthought.

There is also a noticeable amount of vignetting at 11mm and also some color fringing. Both are easy to fix in post-processing, without loss of your image quality. For an ultra-wide lens though, the falloff (or darkened corners) is negligible.

Conclusion

The Canon EF 11-24mm F/4L is a truly magnificent lens for a landscape or architectural photographer. It is well-built, heavy, sharp, quiet and expensive. One thing for certain though, it is the only one of its kind and a signature Canon lens.

Have you used this lens? What are your thoughts? Share with us in the comments.

The post Canon 11-24mm F/4L Lens Review appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Nisha Ramroop.

Digital Photography School

October 4, 2019
How to Make a Manual Lens Correction in Lightroom
The post How to Make a Manual Lens Correction in Lightroom appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

The job of a camera lens is straightforward: it bends and focuses light, and it does so through the use of several curved pieces of glass that move back and forth. It sounds simple but is actually a lot more difficult than it might seem. Byproducts of all that glass are anomalies such as chromatic aberration and barrel distortion which can mar an otherwise beautiful image. Lightroom can fix these on its own to a degree, but to really take control of your pictures you can use the Manual Lens Correction panel to fine-tune your image until it’s pixel-perfect.

Understanding Chromatic Aberration

Before wading too deep into manual lens corrections, it’s important to understand what causes issues such as chromatic aberration in the first place. Different colors of light travel at different wavelengths. As a result, when the glass elements of a lens bend the incoming light, it can be quite tricky to make everything line up properly on the camera’s image sensor. This is especially prominent when shooting at the widest possible aperture since it gets really difficult to get the light to behave properly when you let so much in at once.

The result is purple and green fringes when you see hard edges in a picture. It can also produce distorted images that look either squished or puffed out in the middle. Cheaper lenses, or lenses with very wide apertures, don’t have as many glass elements to correct for these issues. It’s also why lenses like the Nikon 105 f/1.4 or Canon 85mm f/1.4 cost (and weigh) so much! They have a lot of special glass inside to correct for the problems that often happens with their less expensive counterparts.

If you don’t have a few thousand dollars to spend on ultra-sharp lenses, you can fix these image issues in Lightroom.

When you shoot in RAW, you can use the Automatic option. This does a fine job of removing purple and green fringes and fixing barrel distortion based on what it knows about the characteristics of your lens.

Click these boxes to have Lightroom automatically attempt to fix lens-related picture problems.

Nine times out of ten it does the job quite well. However, sometimes you will want to tweak things for yourself or just do the entire operation on your own. This is where the Manual option really comes in handy.

Manual Lens Correction

The Manual Lens Correction panel contains three options, each of which you can control separately.
- Distortion lets you re-shape your picture so it’s less puffed-out in the middle.
- Defringe deals with purple and green fringes at areas of high contrast, particularly with a lot of backlighting.
- Vignetting is for lightening or darkening the corners of a picture.
The Manual Lens Correction option gives you full control over lens corrections.

Distortion

This is a common issue with many lenses that isn’t always very obvious. However, once you notice it, you’ll start seeing this phenomenon all the time. Fortunately, the fix is simple. It’s usually just a matter of dragging the Distortion slider to the left or right.

Something’s not quite right here. The composition is fine but the middle is bulging out like a balloon.

As you drag the slider, you will see a grid appear over the picture which can help you get just the right value. Look for straight horizontal or vertical lines in your picture, and drag the slider until they line up with the grid.

The roof of the building gives a nice guide when correcting for distortion. It’s not quite lined up with the grid yet, but pushing the distortion slider a bit more will fix the problem.

The Constrain Crop option makes sure the final image stays within a square or rectangular boundary. If you adjust the slider too far to the right, the image can get a little too warped. However, checking this option will fix this by essentially zooming in on the picture as it’s being adjusted to avoid an extreme pincushion effect.

Final image:

Defringe

This is where you can easily correct purple and green fringes that can show up on your pictures. You can adjust the sliders manually, but my preferred way is to use the eyedropper tool to select specific areas of purple and green fringing that you want to remove.

The picture below is straight out of the camera with no lens correction applied. Notice how the edges of the bench have what appears to be slight purple and green outlines. These are caused by the light being bent and shaped by the camera lens. Once you know to look for these sorts of issues, you start seeing them all over the place!

Here’s a close-up view of the same picture. Notice the purple curve at the base of the seat and the green edges at the knurled edge that goes horizontally across the frame.

To manually correct these instances of chromatic aberration, Lightroom needs to know what range of colors you want to remove. Use the eyedropper tool to select either a purple fringe, a green fringe, or both, and then fine-tune by adjusting the sliders for Amount and Hue.

After selecting your purple and greens with the eyedropper tool, Lightroom will do its best to remove those specific colors around any high-contrast edges. You can fine-tune the defringing by adjusting the Amount and Hue sliders, but I usually find that Lightroom does a fine job just with a few clicks of the eyedropper.

When viewing the full image, you can see these instances of chromatic aberration are now gone, and the picture is much more pleasing as a result.

This operation can be extremely useful with portraits, which are often shot using larger apertures. Even if you don’t shoot close-ups for a living it’s nice to know that this simple, fast fix is available to you.

Vignetting

This option works much like the regular Vignette tool in Lightroom. You can use it to make the corners of your picture lighter or darker, depending on whether you drag the slider to the right or left.

Nearly all lenses exhibit some degree of vignetting, especially when using their widest aperture, but you can easily correct them using this tool.

Original image, straight out of the camera.

Sliding the Amount all the way to the left darkens the corners of the picture. It’s subtle but effective at drawing the viewer’s attention to the subject in the middle.

Vignette amount -100

Conversely, sliding the Amount all the way to the right makes the corners lighter. This is often useful to correct for the vignette that is inherent in many lenses at wider apertures.

Vignette amount +100

Conclusion

While you can use Lightroom’s automatic lens corrections, it’s nice to know how to correct for things like chromatic aberration, distortion, and vignetting on your own using manual lens correction. The best part is that none of these edits are permanent and you can undo your changes any time due to the non-destructive nature of Lightroom. So if you just want to try these out and see what happens, go right ahead!

The post How to Make a Manual Lens Correction in Lightroom appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

Digital Photography School
October 4, 2019
Polaroid Originals discontinues Spectra film due to the condition of aging cameras

Polaroid Originals has announced that it is discontinuing production of its wide-format Spectra film. The reason, CEO Oskar Smolokowski said in a statement on the company’s blog today, is due to the degraded nature of existing wide-format cameras.

‘Jamming and frequent breakdowns are now affecting the majority of these cameras,’ Smolokowski explained, ‘and unfortunately, this is not something we can influence with our film.’

In addition to selling its Spectra Color and B&W film products, Polaroid Originals also sold refurbished Polaroid Spectra cameras that were restored to full working order by specialists. This restoration process is no longer possible, however, and the company’s website now lists its refurbished cameras as sold out.

In his post, Smolokowski said, ‘After extensive testing, we have concluded that we cannot support these cameras any longer.’

The company will sell off its remaining batch of Specta film through its website, where the Spectra Color and B&W products are sold for $ 19.99 each; a triple-film pack is also offered for $ 55.99 USD. Smolokowski said the film will be on sale for a few months.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

October 4, 2019
How to Take Epic Sunrise Photos with a Zoom Lens
The post How to Take Epic Sunrise Photos with a Zoom Lens appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

Taking a beautiful sunrise picture might seem simple: just point your camera or mobile at the sun as it creeps over the horizon and you’re good to go. While this can certainly result in an interesting image, you can take sunrise pictures to a whole new level with a zoom lens and a bit of camera knowledge. If you have a lens with a longer focal length that goes to 200 or 300mm, you can get some epic sunrise pictures with a zoom that showcase the majesty of nature in the morning.

200mm, f/11, 1/500 second, ISO 100

Seek the sun

Before you can take a good sunrise picture, you need to do a bit of planning, so you know when the sun is going to come up. It also helps to know where to look so you’re ready when the moment hits. A quick internet search with your location and the words “sunrise time” will help you know what time to take pictures. As far as where to look, that’s up to you.

Of course, the sun always rises in the east, but it’s necessary to know exactly where it will come up relative to your specific location and time of year. To get the best results, you want to snap your pictures right as the sun appears on the horizon. If buildings obstruct your view, you’re going to need to find a location that offers an unobstructed view in the right direction.

To show how precise this process is, look at the picture below. I shot it as the sun was coming up, but the result is boring, bland, and entirely unremarkable.

200mm, f/6.7, 1/500 second, ISO 800

This was shot precisely one minute and 48 seconds before the picture at the top of this article. Why is it so boring? The answer is a simple truth of the business world: location, location, location. While I looked east for the sun, I didn’t realize it had already crested the horizon behind a grove of trees. I was able to take a vastly improved picture just by repositioning myself 100 meters from this point.

When you go out to take sunrise photos, make sure you can actually find the sun!

Expose for the sun

Nailing the exposure on a sunrise picture is quite tricky. Imagine taking a picture of a flashlight in a dimly-lit room. You’ll end up with one of two results:
- The room will be properly exposed while the flashlight is super bright.
- The flashlight will be properly exposed while the rest of the room will be entirely dark.
It’s nearly impossible to get a properly-exposed flashlight and a properly-exposed room.

200mm, f/8, 1/30 second, ISO 280. Aside from being hidden behind the trees, this is also a poor shot because the sky and sun are just too bright. The foreground is fine, but all the color detail in the sky is mostly gone.

That is precisely what it’s like to take a picture of the sunrise, especially with a telephoto lens. What you want is a picture where the bright parts (i.e. the sun and sky) aren’t too bright, and the dark parts (i.e. the foreground) aren’t too dark. Basically you want an HDR image, but rather than shooting on a tripod and combining multiple exposures in post-production, you can do it with a single image by shooting in RAW.

Since RAW files capture much more picture data than JPEG files, you can fix many issues in Lightroom, Photoshop, Luminar, and other editing applications. The trick is to make sure you don’t lose any data to clipping, which happens when bright things are so bright that it doesn’t record data. The same can happen with dark areas too, but it’s usually not as much of a problem.

200mm, f/8, 1/1000 second, ISO 280. Exposing for the sun gave me a lot more wiggle room to fix the darker areas of the picture in Lightroom.

There are a couple of ways to expose for the sun so it’s not too bright. You can set your camera to Center-Weighted metering, which ensures the middle of your picture is not too bright or too dark. Another method (and the one which I prefer), is to have your camera evaluate the entire scene but use exposure compensation to under-expose by roughly two stops.

Regardless of how you meter the scene and set your exposure, the end result is the same. In your resulting image, you want the sun to be visible and not too bright. This means the foreground will be dark, but remember that you can recover everything you need when you process the RAW file.

Use a small aperture

If you have a high-end zoom lens like a 70-200 f/2.8 or a 300mm f/4, you might be tempted to shoot sunrise pictures with the largest possible aperture. Blurry foregrounds and backgrounds are great, right? So why wouldn’t you shoot wide open?

Contrary to what you might think, smaller apertures are better when taking sunrise photos. First, it helps make sure your entire picture is sharp. Bokeh is great on portraits but not so desirable on most landscapes. A blurry foreground (thanks to a wide aperture) can distract the viewer and leave the scene feeling kind of mushy as a result.

200mm, f/11, 1/250 second, ISO 100

Another reason to use smaller apertures, like f/8 or f/11, is that it gives you more control over your exposure. Remember, the sun is really bright, so you don’t need to worry about not getting enough light in your picture! On the contrary, you actually want to limit the amount of light, especially since you want the foreground to be underexposed. A small aperture helps with this.

Use a fast shutter speed

The sun moves fast – really fast. Or, rather, the earth spins fast. That’s what is actually happening when you see the sun come up. And just like any time you want to capture motion, you need to use a shutter speed that’s up to the task. Slower values like 1/30th and 1/60th will not only make exposure tricky, but result in a blurry sun as it speeds upwards on the horizon.

200mm, f/2.8, 1/4000th of a second, ISO 100. I broke my own rule about small apertures here, specifically because I wanted the vehicle in the foreground to be out of focus. The trade-off for such a wide aperture was a very fast shutter speed.

I recommend a minimum shutter speed of 1/250th, and even faster if possible. 1/500th is even better. If you are exposing for the sun, you might even use ultra-fast shutter speeds like 1/1000th or more. Of course, the foreground will be dim, but that’s fine since you can recover those shadows in post-production.

One nice thing about this is it means you don’t need to use a tripod. So that means one less thing for you to bring with you to your sunrise photo shoots. Handheld will work fine, even when zoomed all the way in. That’s because you should have a shutter speed that will compensate for any motion blur due to camera shake.

Be patient, but act fast

Once you have the technical aspects figured out, and you know where you want to position yourself to capture a sunrise, the final piece off the puzzle is patience. I recommend arriving early so you can make sure everything is situated properly. Bring some music or a podcast because you might be waiting a little while. However, it’s better to arrive early than scramble at the last minute.

190mm, f/2.8, 1/180th of a second, ISO 250. The sun wasn’t up yet, but I really liked the rich purple and blue colors of the sky – an added bonus of arriving early and waiting. Note the large aperture. It was required to let plenty of light in since there just wasn’t much light available.

As soon as you start to see the sun peek over the horizon, you only have a few minutes to get your shots. Remember to use a small aperture, expose for the sun, and shoot in RAW, and you should be fine. Go ahead and snap a few pictures with your mobile phone too. You’ll be amazed at how much more dramatic and impactful your pictures are with a zoom lens!

200mm, f/8, 1/1000th of a second, ISO 100. The sun isn’t in this picture but you can clearly see the morning light on the clouds. I liked the silhouette of the tower against the glowing morning sky too. You can’t get this shot with a mobile phone!

Do you have any other tips for sunrise photos with a zoom lens? Share with us in the comments. Also, I’d love to see your sunrise photos, and I’m sure the rest of the DPS community would also, so please share them in the comments too!

The post How to Take Epic Sunrise Photos with a Zoom Lens appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

Digital Photography School
October 4, 2019
Leaked Pixel 4 photos show new and improved astrophotography, portrait and Night Sight modes

The Google Pixel 4 is just around the corner, expected to be announced at the Made by Google Event on October 15. We’ve already seen what the Pixel 4 will look like, thanks to both Google and third-party leakers, but today we’re getting more than a hardware leak. 9to5Google has obtained exclusive images that it claims Google will use to promote the new camera capabilities of its impending device.

9to5Google has kindly given us permission to share the full-resolution images directly from their source and only saved once with a watermark over them. The images, as you’ll see below, are a combination of images captured with the front-facing selfie camera and the rear-facing cameras (rumors point to there being a 12-megapixel main camera and a 16-megapixel telephoto camera). The images appear to include photos shot in multiple camera modes, including the improved Night Sight mode and a new star-shooting mode that’s been rumored for some time now.

First up are a few photos that appear to show off the portrait mode of the front-facing camera onboard the Pixel 4. Interestingly, these photos measure in at 4.5-megapixels, nearly half the resolution of the 8-megapixel onboard the Pixel 3, so we’re not sure whether these are simply resized or from a larger sensor that’s been supersampled, but whatever the case is, they look impressive. The faked bokeh looks both realistic and smooth, while the outline, even around hair, seems to be precise, with only a few notable exceptions (specifically the arm on the white jacket).

Next up are more portrait mode shots with what we presume to be the rear-facing camera on the Pixel 4. These shots measure in at 7-megapixels and were taken with the main camera (the Pixel 4 will feature multiple camera modules). Like the previous shots, the fake bokeh appears to be incredibly accurate, even on difficult subjects, such as a long-haired pet and flyaway hairs.

Moving along, we have three photos (two 9.2-megapixels and one 5.2-megapixels) that appear to be taken with Google’s Night Sight mode. Based on the EXIF data embedded in some of the images, the photos were taken with the main 27mm (35mm equivalent) F1.7 camera onboard the Pixel 4. The actual lighting scenario in the scene isn’t known, but the images appear both bright and vibrant with nice dynamic range, even in the images that have multiple light sources at different color temperatures.

Along the lines of Night Sight, it appears a pair of photos showing off the much-rumored night sky camera mode expected to be onboard the Pixel 4. Based on the EXIF data, these images (the header image of this article and the below image) were also captured with the main camera unit and the GPS data reveals the shots were captured at Pinnacles National Park in Central California along State Route 146. For being captured with a smartphone, the amount of detail captured in the night sky is absolutely incredible. It seems as though stars get lost around the silhouette of the trees in the frames, but the rest of the sky showcases countless stars in the Milky Way.

The remainder of the photos showcase a number of scenes, but it’s not clear what specific camera modes are being used to capture these images. As noted by 9to5Google, it’s been rumored there will be a ‘Motion Mode’ with the Pixel 4, but that’s not yet confirmed, even though a few action-style shots are seen in the following images.

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Plenty still remains to be seen, but with the Made by Google Event less than two weeks away, it won’t be long before we know just what the Pixel 4 is capable of. 9to5Google has also detailed a new ‘Dual Exposure’ mode that’s believed to be avaialble on the Pixel 4.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

October 3, 2019