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  • 2017 Buying Guide: Best cameras under $1500

    If you’re getting serious about photography and don’t mind spending a bit more money, you’ll find some amazing cameras in the $ 1000-1500 price range. In this buying guide, we’ve rounded up our recommendations for the category.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • How to Create a Minimal Desktop Background Using Photoshop

    Ever seen those flowy, innocuous desktop backgrounds that to show up on default computer screens? That’s the exact image I thought of when I messing around with Photoshop for this tutorial. Though they aren’t exact, these simple gradients and shapes come together to spur on a little nostalgia.

    This project is pretty straightforward – but it introduced me to a couple techniques I had never come across before. Photoshop has opened up worlds of image-making technology. But when you boil it all down, the culmination of a photographer’s work is in shades of light dispersed within shapes.

    I had a good time putting together this tutorial  – I even tried out a few on my own desktop. It’s a great way to get familiar with Photoshop operations. But it’s just as fun for a pro, with a bit of photographic downtime on their hands. So let’s dig in.

    Getting Started

    First, open a new document in Photoshop. Change the dimensions of the canvas to the average desktop background size – 1920 pixels by 1080 pixels, as shown below.How to Create Minimal Desktop Background Using Photoshop

    Add a Gradient

    Select Layer via the Layers tab on the top toolbar and click on New Fill Layer and then Gradient.

    How to Create Minimal Desktop Background Using Photoshop

    In the pop-up Gradient panel, click on the drop-down arrow and select Simple Gradients.

    How to Create Minimal Desktop Background Using Photoshop

    Select a color from the swatches in the Simple tab.

    How to Create Minimal Desktop Background Using Photoshop

    Choose a color that appeals to you most – whichever one you like best!

    Click directly on the panel for the gradient color and a new panel will pop up. This will allow you to further customize your color scheme.  Click on the white node below the gradient bar. A color picker will pop up, allowing you to change the white parts of our original gradient to another shade.

    At this stage, I would recommend a color similar in shade to your original color. I’m a big fan of pink, so I went with subtle, light shade of pink to complement my overall color scheme. But It’s totally up to you!

    How to Create Minimal Desktop Background Using Photoshop

    Accept the color of the gradient. Select Radial as the style and the scale as 150.

    How to Create Minimal Desktop Background Using Photoshop

    How to Create Minimal Desktop Background Using Photoshop

    Clicking the Radial setting makes the lighter shade emanate from the center of your image.

    Add Another Layer

    Next, create a new layer via the layers tab at the top of the screen. Select New in the drop-down menu and select Layer… Click OK at the prompt.

    How to Create Minimal Desktop Background Using Photoshop

    Add a Shape

    Click on the Elliptical Marquee Tool. This may be obscured by the Rectangular Marquee Tool, so click and hold the mouse over the tool for a moment to reveal the other options.

    How to Create Minimal Desktop Background Using Photoshop

    With the Elliptical Marquee Tool selected, draw a circle that intersects with the top corner of your image. To keep the elliptical tool even on all sides (in other words, a circle), hold down the Shift key as you drag part of the shape over the top corner.

    How to Create Minimal Desktop Background Using Photoshop

    Open the paintbrush tool and select a nice, soft-edged brush. Set the brush size between 200 to 400 pixels and the hardness level to zero. Select a color in a slightly darker shade. I selected a peachy color.

    With the Elliptical Tool still selected, brush around the very outer rim of the quarter-circle with the paintbrush, relying on the softness of the brush to dust the inner rim.

    paintbrush - How to Create Minimal Desktop Background Using Photoshop

    How to Create Minimal Desktop Background Using Photoshop

    Use a slightly different shade to emphasize the edge of the circle you created.

    How to Create Minimal Desktop Background Using Photoshop

    Duplicate the shape layer as many times as you would like to create an interesting pattern.

    Add Dimension

    Next, we’ll add a new dimension to the image by using the Rectangular Marquee Tool rather than the Ellipse Tool.

    How to Create Minimal Desktop Background Using Photoshop

    Create a New Layer and then select the Rectangular Marquee tool from the panel. Stretch the Rectangular Marquee Tool across your image so that about half of it is selected, as shown below.

    How to Create Minimal Desktop Background Using Photoshop

    Rectangular selection.

    With the same technique and color you used on the ellipse, brush along the perimeter of the shape, leaving only the slightest shadow.

    How to Create Minimal Desktop Background Using Photoshop

    With the rectangle still selected, click on Edit > Transform > Warp.  Slowly drag the different points of the rectangular selection to adjust the whole shape of the layer. Try to make gradual edits at first, to keep the line free of sharp angles.

    How to Create Minimal Desktop Background Using Photoshop

    Transform the rectangle.

    How to Create Minimal Desktop Background Using Photoshop

    How to Create Minimal Desktop Backgrounds Using Photoshop

    The edge of the rectangle after transforming.

    Blend Modes

    Now to add a little more depth to the image, you can apply blending modes to bring out highlights in the background. Select a layer and click on Blending Modes usually located above the Layers panel. Select a setting from the list of Blending Modes available. I usually use the Color Burn option, but feel free to experiment!

    How to Create Minimal Desktop Backgrounds Using Photoshop

    Blend modes.

    How to Create Minimal Desktop Backgrounds Using Photoshop

    And there you have it! Not bad huh? Amazing what you can do with a few circles and shadows.

    Liquify

    If you like, try experimenting with the Liquefy tool. It’s found in the Filter tab on the top tools panel.

    How to Create Minimal Desktop Backgrounds Using Photoshop

    How to Create Minimal Desktop Backgrounds Using Photoshop

    Before using the liquify tool on an image I constructed using the steps above.

    How to Create Minimal Desktop Backgrounds Using Photoshop

    After using the Liquefy tool. You can see that the shapes are now a little more organic.

    Over to you!

    Here are a few more of my creations. I’d love you see how your desktop background has turned out, please share in the comments below.

    How to Create Minimal Desktop Backgrounds Using Photoshop

    How to Create Minimal Desktop Backgrounds Using Photoshop

    How to Create Minimal Desktop Backgrounds Using Photoshop

    How to Create Minimal Desktop Backgrounds Using Photoshop

    A minimalist approach created by twisting a rectangular edge with the Warp Tool.

    Now it’s your turn! Show me how it went in the comments.

    The post How to Create a Minimal Desktop Background Using Photoshop by Megan Kennedy appeared first on Digital Photography School.


    Digital Photography School

  • How to Use an On-Camera Speedlight as Fill Flash for Portraits

    Using a flash or speedlight on-camera can be daunting at first. This was certainly how I felt when I first purchased my Nikon speedlight. My biggest worry was calculating all the light ratios involved to get a proper exposure as you cannot take into account the actual flash output when metering in-camera. I was also nervous about using a light meter – all that trial and error and faffing, the thought of it all used to make me quake in my boots and swear I’d forever be a natural light photographer. But that was not to be, thankfully.

    My main reservation about using flash is the harshness of the light. I hate the “flashed” look on people’s faces, the shadows under the jaws, the bright circular catchlights right in the middle of the iris. As well, the flatness of the face with the direct flash obliterating all possibility of sculpting shadows on the face.

    But I live in London where it rains quite a bit, it’s hardly sunny at all, and half the year is cold. All these factors affect natural light and I felt I just had to put aside my reservations and take the leap. And I’m so glad I did.

    How to Use an On-Camera Speedlight as Fill-Flash for Portraits

    Let me share with you how I use flash to help me achieve the look I am after and without having to do the mental calculations of light ratios!

    #1 Put a diffuser on the flash

    It may only be a little plastic thing that goes on top the flash head but I find it makes a difference.  The light is less harsh – I know many will disagree about whether it softens the light or not as that is mainly due to the size of light and distance to subject  – but I notice a softness from a diffused flash head compared to a bare one.

    Left: without a diffuser. Right: with a diffuser.

    I only use a flash bare and pointed towards the camera when I am using it as a kicker light and want starburst effects coming from it.

    #2 Control the flash manually

    Set your flash to manual and choose the power. I’m usually at 1/32 or 1/16 and leave it there. Adjust the flash power only when absolutely necessary. Instead, make the frequent necessary adjustments to your camera settings.

    Now I know there are many big fans of ETTL / TTL mode out there. I have tried it too. However, I have gone back to Manual as I find the TTL does not give me the look I want. Essentially, I only want my flash to be a fill light, not the main light and never too strong so that you can see a huge difference between the light coming from the flash and the ambient light. The ETTL / TTL mode is too smart for my needs and increases the output to a pretty high level if it senses that the ambient light is too weak, and vice versa. I felt I’d get an inconsistent output of light for the look I am after although that output may be “correct” in terms of the calculations.

    For portraits, I find that the greater the contrast between the dark background and the illumination of the subject with a flash gun, the more I dislike the image. For dancing shots (like at a wedding), however, where I want to illuminate the subject well and freeze the action, I DO point my flash directly at the subject, stop down my aperture to between f/5.6 and f/8 and lower my shutter speed between 1/20th and 1/60th in order to capture ambient light and light trails or background blurring to give the effect of movement.

    This image was created using a bare bulb flash (no diffuser) located behind and pointing directly at the couple (off-camera flash). I also had a second flash on-camera with a diffuser, and the flash aimed upward.

    This image was created with a diffused flash pointed directly at the couple (camera in front of the couple, flash on-camera) while they were dancing. The motion blur was created by using a slow shutter speed and “dragging the shutter” after the flash has fired.

    What I’m after is always a natural look, which, depending on where the main light is coming from, may not be achieved well without some kind of fill or reflected light to illuminate areas that are too dark for my intentions. This is the reason why I always bounce or angle my flash gun for most scenarios other than dancing as explained above.

    #3 Bounce it

    On some newer models, there is also a little white pull-out bounce card that is extremely useful if your ceilings are too high for the light to bounce off or you just want to point reflected light in a particular direction. When I shoot weddings where the rooms have very high ceilings or dark beams and ceilings. So I pull out the bounce card and use it to deflect the light coming from the flash. The handy swivel action helps me direct the reflected light wherever I want it to go.

    My speedlight with the white bounce card extended.

    As an aside, I use this setup for off-camera flash too. When I’m putting two speedlights opposite each other in a room to provide directional light during speeches, I point the flash heads upwards and pull out the diffuser so that all the reflected light is pointed inwards towards the center of the room.

    #4 Angle it

    The head of most speedlights can swivel right and left up to 90 degrees each way and forward and upward to 90 degrees in incremental angles. It is an awesome functionality that you should take advantage of especially for fill flash.

    In the photos below, bright sunlight was coming from camera right at 45 degrees on a bright day. All I wanted was a bit of fill flash on their shadowed faces, just enough to lift the shadows a tad. What I really wanted to avoid was for the image to look like there was another light source other than that from the sun. To achieve this, I angled my speedlight upwards towards the back by one increment.

    How to Use an On-Camera Speedlight as Fill Flash for Portraits

    Flash as a fill light

    As you can see, these photos below have very strong sunlight coming directly at the subjects and towards the camera, a very strong backlit light. It is extremely difficult to overpower this type of light without using a strong flash.  What I did was angle myself slightly to one side and pointed my flash directly at the subjects’ faces to try and counteract the sunlight.

    This is when I adjust my flash power and increase it accordingly. The result is not as clean and sharp as if I had a big softbox firing at 70% ratio to the sun’s power but it still shows the faces clearly enough with some diffused hazy light in the background, which was also my intention for these shots.

    How to Use an On-Camera Speedlight as Fill Flash for Portraits

    Compare the two images below. The one on the left was taken in a big open space with a dense foliage background which blocked the light. There was enough light here to illuminate their faces that I could have done away with the flash altogether, but I pointed the flash backward to add just a tiny bit of light over my head. I don’t think it made a huge difference but it made me feel better and consistent!

    The image on the right was taken in a shaded open area surrounded by tall trees which diffused the light coming from the background. Without the trees, it would have had the unfiltered effect as above, but despite the trees, this is still very much a backlit position as the background was very bright still. More fill light was needed there so I pointed the speedlight slightly upwards, with one increment down towards the subjects but not directly at their faces.

    How to Use an On-Camera Speedlight as Fill Flash for Portraits

    You can see the same flash angle as above on these close-up portraits below.

    How to Use an On-Camera Speedlight as Fill Flash for Portraits

    Make it moody

    In the same spot as above, I wanted a look that was a little moodier than those close-ups so I pointed the speedlight directly upwards this time. So although their faces are still amply lit up, the image to feels like they are being enveloped by the diffused light behind them.

    How to Use an On-Camera Speedlight as Fill Flash for Portraits

    Tricky situations

    The couple wanted a shot showing the lake and the trees in the far distance. The distance was too great to get the couple and the background sharp enough without using a really small aperture and a lot of artificial light (flash). Note that we were also in the shaded part of the lake which made it more difficult. I decided therefore that I would take a cozy shot that focused mainly on the background. The couple looking towards the trees, although they are not the lit focal point, they are still clearly visible and sharp. I pointed the speedlight slightly forwards to give them just a hint of light and shot with a small aperture.

    Contrast the top image below to the photo directly underneath it where the depth of field has changed massively – the background now is blurry and the couple is in focus. This had the same angle of flash, slightly forwards, but of course, my camera settings changed to a wider aperture and lower ISO to balance the exposure. Now with the couple still in the same shaded spot, the angled flash was clearly essential here. Had I pointed the flash directly to their faces, it would have been too obvious and would kill the natural light ambiance that I was aiming for.

    How to Use an On-Camera Speedlight as Fill Flash for Portraits

    For this ring shot below, we sat on a bench with the sunlight coming from camera left. I put the ring on my phone to get a dark background and a nice reflection. With ring shots, I always stop down to at least f/7 with a macro lens. Therefore I need to make sure there is plenty of light for the shot as macro lenses tend to suck light.

    I also always use a speedlight pointed directly opposite the main light. So in this case where the light is at camera left at 8 o’clock (if you’re looking at a clock face with the diamond at 6 o’clock), I swiveled my flash head to the opposite at around 4 o’clock to give off a bit of reflected light on the right side of the ring.

    How to Use an On-Camera Speedlight as Fill Flash for Portraits

    Likewise, on the photo below, you can clearly see where the sunlight is coming from so I pointed my speedlight slightly upwards to camera left, opposite the sunlight. This angle helped me achieve a gradual decrease of light from right to left as opposed to a dramatic one where you can see a clear cut-off from light to dark.

    How to Use an On-Camera Speedlight as Fill Flash for Portraits

    Your turn to try doing fill flash

    If you haven’t tried using flash like this before, I encourage you to do so. Experiment and see how it could work for you. You don’t need to learn the lighting ratios and calculations off by heart to be able to get images you are after, although that could be handy.

    Sometimes all you need is confidence, common sense, and a willingness to try. I hope you found this little tutorial useful. If you have more tips, share them in the comments below.

    The post How to Use an On-Camera Speedlight as Fill Flash for Portraits by Lily Sawyer appeared first on Digital Photography School.


    Digital Photography School

  • Photo story of the week: The Milky Way over the Dolomites

    Gazing at the Milky Way over Tre Cime in the Dolomites

    I have wanted to visit these mountains for a very long time. The incredible shapes and formations found in the Dolomites are like something out of a fairytale.

    The hike up to Tre Cime was absolutely gorgeous and the location is really accessible. On this night, hiking under the stars wth my girlfriend Serena, who is also a landscape photographer, barely felt like reality… okay, I suppose once the wind picked up, it started to feel a bit real again.

    Once we got up there, we walked around a little bit to check out different views and angles. The night was particularly chilly and we weren’t prepared for it. We hunkered down by some rocks and halfway through the night, noticed an incredible flash of light that lit up the sky for a few seconds. It was one of the brightest shooting stars that I’ve ever seen in my life. The whole evening just felt really magical.

    I used the Sony A7S with Canon 16-35 for this Panorama image, the wide perspective was created by 8 vertical images, stitched together. The orange glow on the horizon is light bouncing off nearby towns and creating light pollution.

    The photograph was processed and color corrected using both Lightroom and Photoshop.


    Michael Shainblum is is a landscape, timelapse and aerial photographer based in San Francisco, California. He has been working professionally as a photographer and filmmaker for 11 years since the age of 16.

    To see more of his work, visit his website or give him a follow on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • 2017 Buying Guide: Best cameras under $1000

    More direct controls, better autofocus, and in many cases 4K video capture – they’re a step above ‘budget,’ but cameras in this category provide a whole lot of bang for your buck. Here are our top picks in the range.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Gear of the Year 2017 – Richard’s choice: Sony NP-FZ100

    I wrote, two years ago, that I thought the distinction between DSLRs and mirrorless cameras would disappear. Not that mirrorless would eclipse DSLRs, more that the differences would reduce to the point that the presence or absence of a mirror becomes the least relevant part of a discussion of two cameras.

    As I was writing a comparison of the Sony a7R III and Nikon D850 today, I was suddenly struck by the realization that it might have already happened. I think there are a lot of interesting differences between the two cameras but very few of them have anything to do with the way we’d tend to categorize them.

    With this in mind, my gear of the year is the Sony NP-FZ100. Or, to those of you not obsessed with product codes, the a9 and a7R III’s battery. The simple reason for this is the role it plays in rendering the difference between mirror-less and mirror-full cameras moot.

    Good enough: the threshold beyond which any further excess is superfluous

    It all comes down to the idea of ‘good enough.’ And please don’t misunderstand me, I’m not talking about accepting the mediocre or tolerating the barely sufficient. Instead I’m referring to the threshold beyond which any further excess is, if not excessive, then at least superfluous: it offers no practical benefit.

    Once I have enough battery life to get me through a demanding day of shooting, then any extra left in the tank is all very nice, but not exactly necessary. I recently spent a morning shooting both stills and video of a cyclocross race with the a7R III. Shooting a mixture of JPEGs, uncompressed Raws and 4K video, I comfortably churned out more than the 64GB capacity of my memory card and had to switch to a second. What I didn’t come close to doing was running the battery out. At the end of the racing, I still had more than 27% charge left, despite the sub-10°C temperatures.

    The move to the ‘Z-Type’ battery on the right is the difference between me having to worry about charging and carrying spare batteries and me never having to think about it.

    This suddenly eliminates the constant battery anxiety I’ve always felt with previous Sony mirrorless cameras (and that’s without including the RX1R II, an otherwise fabulous camera whose butterfly-like lifespan prompts even its proponents joke “it’s like shooting film: you need to think about what you’re going to do with your 36 exposures”). Because when I’m shooting, I don’t ever want to be worrying about whether I’ve brought enough batteries, and which ones are charged. I don’t even want to have to think about it.

    In fairness Panasonic got here first, having put a big battery in its GH models as far back as the GH3, but I didn’t notice it to the same extent because I was primarily shooting video with those models.

    This eliminates the constant battery anxiety I’ve previously felt with many mirrorless cameras

    More demanding shooters, be they photojournalists or longer-form filmmakers, can always attach a battery grip for longer duration, but for me, the FZ100 means the a7R III is able to surpass my ‘good enough’ threshold. So, while the D850 can boast a very impressive 1840 shots per charge, for me and my photography, that’s well into the territory of overkill.

    So, as a technology that allows mirrorless cameras (hopefully of all brands) to offer the same practical benefits as their DSLR rivals, my gear of the year is a battery. Because it makes the a9 and a7R III into significantly better cameras, not just because it pulls another leg out from under all those tired ‘mirrorless vs DSLR’ arguments.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Pixelmator reveals Pixelmator Pro, an Adobe competitor for Mac users

    Pixelmator’s new high-end Mac photo editor Pixelmator Pro, which the company partially revealed back in September, is officially live and available to purchase through the Mac App Store.

    In case you’ve forgotten, Pixelmator Pro is a nondestructive single-window application with some editing features powered by machine learning, GPU-based image editing tools, and what the company describes as “an incredibly intuitive and accessible design.” Users get a fully native Mac experience, says Pixelmator, which designed Pixelmator Pro with a look inspired by macOS.

    Thanks to Core ML framework, Pixelmator Pro also features integrated machine learning to power features like automatic horizon detection and layer naming, intelligent quick selection, and realistic object removal.

    Ultimately, the company is hoping that Pixelmator Pro will represent the perfect marriage between pro-tier features and accessible design.

    Other notable features include full Mac integration, including support for iCloud, compatibility with Adobe Photoshop, support for raw images and multiple raw layers, HEIF compatibility, and vector tools, among many other things. And if you feel that a major feature is missing, you’ll be happy to know that multiple free updates bringing major new features are already in the pipeline for release in the near future.

    Until then, you can pick up Pixelmator Pro 1.0 is through the Mac App Store for $ 60 USD.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • The new HDMI 2.1 specification (and cable) adds support for 10K, 8K HDR, and 4K at 120fps

    Originally announced back in January and slated for a mid-year release, the HDMI 2.1 specification is just now making its debut on the world stage. Announced by the HDMI forum yesterday, the new specification offers users the ability to deal with 10K video resolution, as well as other data-intensive formats such as Dynamic HDR, uncompressed 8K HDR video, and 4K at 120fps.

    A new Ultra High Speed HDMI Cable standard has also been announced that carries up to 48Gbps, and which is said to have ‘exceptionally low electro-magnetic interference’ to avoid conflict with other devices in the vicinity.

    HDMI 2.1 is backwards compatible with earlier versions of the standard, as is the new high speed cable. For more information, visit the HDMI forum website.

    Press Release

    HDMI FORUM RELEASES VERSION 2.1 OF THE HDMI SPECIFICATION

    A Huge Leap Forward Supports Resolutions Up to 10K and Dynamic HDR and Introduces New Ultra High Speed HDMI Cable

    SAN JOSE, California – November 28, 2017 – HDMI Forum, Inc. today announced the release of Version 2.1 of the HDMI® Specification which is now available to all HDMI 2.0 adopters. This latest HDMI Specification supports a range of higher video resolutions and refresh rates including 8K60 and 4K120, and resolutions up to 10K. Dynamic HDR formats are also supported, and bandwidth capability is increased up to 48Gbps.

    Supporting the 48Gbps bandwidth is the new Ultra High Speed HDMI Cable. The cable ensures high-bandwidth dependent features are delivered including uncompressed 8K video with HDR. It features exceptionally low EMI (electro-magnetic interference) which reduces interference with nearby wireless devices. The cable is backwards compatible and can be used with the existing installed base of HDMI devices.

    Version 2.1 of the HDMI Specification is backward compatible with earlier versions of the specification, and was developed by the HDMI Forum’s Technical Working Group whose members represent some of the world’s leading manufacturers of consumer electronics, personal computers, mobile devices, cables and components.

    “The HDMI Forum’s mission is to develop specifications meeting market needs, growing demands for higher performance, and to enable future product opportunities,” said Robert Blanchard of Sony Electronics, president of the HDMI Forum.

    HDMI Specification 2.1 Features Include:

    • Higher video resolutions support a range of high resolutions and faster refresh rates including 8K60Hz and 4K120Hz for immersive viewing and smooth fast-action detail. Resolutions up to 10K are also supported for commercial AV, and industrial and specialty usages.
    • Dynamic HDR support ensures every moment of a video is displayed at its ideal values for depth, detail, brightness, contrast and wider color gamuts—on a scene-by-scene or even a frame-by-frame basis.
    • The Ultra High Speed HDMI Cable supports the 48G bandwidth for uncompressed HDMI 2.1 feature support. The cable also features very low EMI emission and is backwards compatible with earlier versions of the HDMI Specification and can be used with existing HDMI devices.
    • eARC simplifies connectivity, provides greater ease of use, and supports the most advanced audio formats and highest audio quality. It ensures full compatibility between audio devices and upcoming HDMI 2.1 products.
    • Enhanced refresh rate features ensure an added level of smooth and seamless motion and transitions for gaming, movies and video. They include:
      1. Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) reduces or eliminates lag, stutter and frame tearing for more fluid and better detailed gameplay.
      2. Quick Media Switching (QMS) for movies and video eliminates the delay that can result in blank screens before content is displayed.
      3. Quick Frame Transport (QFT) reduces latency for smoother no-lag gaming, and real-time interactive virtual reality.
    • Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) allows the ideal latency setting to automatically be set allowing for smooth, lag-free and uninterrupted viewing and interactivity.

    The HDMI 2.1 Compliance Test Specification (CTS) will be published in stages during Q1-Q3 2018, and HDMI adopters will be notified when it is available.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Video: Using the RGB tone curves in Photoshop, a crash course

    Photographer Conner Turmon has put together a quick video tutorial that will get you up to speed on using the RGB tone curves to post-process your photos in either Lightroom or Photoshop (although this info will work with any photo editing program that gives you access to the tone curve).

    The video will only take up eight minutes of your time, so definitely give it a go if you want to see tone curve editing in action, but the key takeaways can be summarized in two points:

    1. Know your color wheel. This way, you understand what tones you’re ‘adding’ and ‘subtracting’ when you pull or push any particular combination of Red, Blue and Green.

    and

    2. Focus only on the area you’re editing. If you’re editing in the shadows, look only at the shadows while you’re doing it; if you’re editing the highlights, same thing, look only at the highlights.

    As far as how you should approach each individual photo, Turmon shared a solid tip on Reddit:

    I find it super helpful to either do complementary colors (e.g., Purple-Yellow, Red-Green, Blue-Orange) or emulate a film type that you like! For example, Fuji is notorious for green shadows and blue highlights (at least I think).

    Another good tip: download photographs you like (tone-wise), pull them into Photoshop, and use the eye dropper tool to inspect the shadows, midtones, and highlights to see how they’ve been edited. This will give you a better idea of how you might approach editing your own work.

    But before you do any of that, check out the video above to get a quick breakdown of how RGB curves work; and if you like what you see, check out Turmon’s website, Instagram, and YouTube channel for more.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Astrophotography lens shootout: Samyang 14mm F2.4 vs Sigma 14mm F1.8

    If you’re thinking of picking up a great ultra-wide astrophotography lens, chances are good you’ve looked at the three 14mm primes featured in this video. The old Samyang 14mm F2.8 is a classic and affordable choice; the updated Samyang 14mm F2.4 is faster, higher quality, and not prohibitively expensive; and the Sigma 14mm F1.8 Art is a lens astrophotographers have been drooling over ever since it was announced in February.

    So which do you pick, and why?

    NatureTTL’s Matthew Saville took all three lenses into the middle of the desert to shoot some nightscapes and compare the performance of these extremely popular choices.

    You’ll definitely want to check out the full video if you’re deeply uncertain about which to choose—there are some great side-by-side sharpness comparisons that should satisfy the pixel peepers out there—but Saville manages to break the trio down into a very neat categories:

    The Sigma 14mm F1.8 Art is your choice if you absolutely need the extra light over the F2.4 and don’t mind spending a bunch more money to get it. It’s extremely sharp, and will deliver exceptional results… even wide open… even in the corners.

    The Samyang 14mm F2.4 is hard to beat as an overall choice when you look at performance-to-price ratio. To his eye, it’s a tiny bit sharper in the corners wide open than the Sigma—even when you stop the Sigma down to F2.4—and it’ll cost you half as much. You are, of course, sacrificing AutoFocus over the Sigma, but many nightscape and night sky photographers shoot in manual focus all the time anyway.

    The Samyang 14mm F2.8 is by far the most affordable of the bunch. This classic lens will cost you as little as $ 250 on sale, making it less than half as much as the Samyang 14mm F2.4, which was already half the price of the Sigma 14mm. But that drop in price comes with a significant drop in performance. Saville labels it a great choice for those just getting into nightscape photography, as a time-lapse lens if you’ll be displaying your footage in 1080p, or as a solid backup that is so cheap it would be silly not to own one.

    Check out the full video up top to hear all of Saville’s thoughts on these three popular 14mm primes. And if you want to find out more about why the Sigma 14mm F1.8 Art lens just might be worth spending that bundle of money on, click on the big blue button below to read about why DPReview’s Dale Baskin named it his Gear of the Year 2017.

    Gear of the Year 2017 – Dale’s choice: Sigma 14mm F1.8 Art

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)