Cinema5D recently posted a video look at the new Manfrotto Nitrotech tripod head, which uses a ‘nitrogen piston mechanism’ to push up against the bottom of the tripod head where its horizontal axis would normally be. You can read the full article along with the video here.
What do you think? Does the Nitrotech head look like something you would use?
Blackmagic’s DaVinci Resolve has a well deserved reputation as one of the best (if not the best) color grading software for film and video editing. But over the past few years, the company has put a lot of effort toward developing Resolve into a full suite of editing tools as well. With Resolve 14, introduced last week at NAB, Blackmagic has now added Fairlight audio editing tools to complement the software’s color and nonlinear editing tools.
NewsShooter posted a video interview with Blackmagic president Dan May, who talks about some of the improvements in Resolve 14. You can see the original story at newsshooter.com.
Would you consider switching to Resolve for video editing? Tell us in the comments.
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| The Canon EF 11-24mm F4L USM is a super wideangle zoom lens for Canon’s full-frame DSLRs, which can also be adapted for use on Sony Alpha a7 and a9-series full-frame mirrorless cameras. |
Even though I’ve been writing for DPReview for over 4 years, I’ve never written any equipment reviews. And why should I? There are far better equipment experts, technical fanatics, pixel-peepers (I mean that in a good way!) and gear enthusiasts out there than me. My fields of expertise are different, and my writing consists mostly of photographic vision, composition, the philosophical aspects of photography and so on. I intend to stick to this line of writing, and for the most part, I’m happy to leave the equipment reviews to the experts.
That said, after shooting with the Canon 11-24mm F4L for a few months, it has proven to be such a game-changer that it has altered how I think about composition. And in a more general sense, it has changed my ability to take control over what is included in an image, and how these elements are arranged.
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Goðafoss, Iceland at 13mm. The extra width allowed me to get closer to the edge and get a wider view while keeping all the elements I needed in the image, framing the waterfall, with enough space around them to avoid a crowded feel. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, Canon 11-24mm F4L |
This will not be your regular gear review. I won’t be discussing sharpness (although trust me that this lens is very sharp), chromatic aberrations or barrel distortion. I will only be talking about composition, which is, in my opinion, the single most important ingredient to a successful photograph. I will present some images and explain what about the 11-24mm made them possible. I’ll also talk a bit about the downsides of this lens and the solutions to the problems it presents.
So why? Why does a landscape photographer need an 11-24mm? Isn’t it just too darn wide? Is 11mm worth the size and the monstrous weight? Is it worth the hefty price tag? I have to admit that before shooting with it, I was in serious doubt. I was sure I’d leave it in the bag most of the time, taking it only on rare occasions when 16mm wasn’t wide enough. I thought that 16mm would be wide enough for 90% of my images, after all, I’ve been producing satisfactory shots until now – what good could a wider lens be?
I knew that when going wider, background subjects shrink significantly in size, which can hurt the composition. Moreover, in cases where 16mm wasn’t enough, I had a 14mm F2.8 which was excellent for night photography and for shooting in confined spaces.
It turns out that I was wrong. The extra width proved to be extremely useful, much more than I had imagined. It allowed me to have much more control, to include more sky when I wanted to, to get closer to the foreground, to reveal more detail and create a greater sense of depth and more dramatic imagery. Let’s look at some examples.
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| An ice cave in Breiðamerkurjökull glacier, Iceland. Getting this composition in one shot with a narrower lens would have been impossible.
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, Canon 11-24mm F4L |
The ice cave pictured above was magnificent, but it was also very cramped. I couldn’t walk upright in most of the spots I shot, and this stream was very small. The ice-crusted rock in the middle was tiny, and its details were so beautiful, I needed to get close in order to expose their intricacies. On the other hand, I needed to frame the different elements well, and in a balanced way that makes visual sense.
The cave’s ceiling is extremely important, since it’s the only subject of the frame which is part of the glacier, which basically IS the ice cave. It also contains wonderful melting patterns, and black, volcanic earth which gives extra texture and detail.
On the bottom of the frame, there are two important elements: the ice-crusted rock in the middle of the stream, which is most definitely the centerpiece, but equally importantly the ice crusted banks on the bottom right. These serve to create the frame to the blurred water and to compositionally counterbalance the rock and the left-running stream.
In addition to the compositional aspect, I strongly feel that including all these elements serves to give the viewer a better sense of being in this incredible cave. This might be the strongest advantage of utilizing such a wide angle of view.
Without a super wide lens, I could still have included all of these elements. I could have achieved this in one of several ways.
Firstly, I could have moved back a little. This would indeed allow me to include all the different desired elements in the frame, but going backward would change the perspective significantly, shrinking the most important elements in the process, namely the ice crusted rock and the stream itself. That would hurt the composition a great deal.
Alternatively, I could have shot a panorama, using a tilt/shift lens or by moving the camera and lens. This would make the job much, much harder, since (a) it would require multiple stitching in addition to the already-challenging focus stacking and (b) shooting so close to the stream meant I constantly needed to wipe the lens dry, and the extra shooting time would mean much more wiping, Photoshop work and general headache.
The 11-24mm allowed me to shoot this as close to the rock as I needed to, in order to include all the detail I wanted to show while still framing the shot as I desired, all with only three shots to focus stack. I simply wouldn’t have been able to do that before I bought this lens.
Let’s see another example from my Arctic trip earlier this year.
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| The amazing black and white sand patterns of Skagsanden Beach, Lofoten, Arctic Norway.
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, Canon 11-24mm F4L |
Again, this image would’ve been almost impossible without the 11-24mm, which allowed me to get very close and personal with the tree-like sand patterns, while being wide enough to shrink the background and include the whole mountain range in the frame.
The Lofoten Islands are full of fjords with towering mountains rising out of them. Some mountains are so close to a water body, it’s extremely hard to include the entire thing in the frame without a truly wide lens. This is even more so when trying to include reflections.
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Mount Stortinden reflecting in the calm Flakstad Fjord, Lofoten. I was standing about 1 km from this 850m tall mountain. Being so close, I couldn’t have included both the mountain and the reflection with a 16mm. It was easily done, however, with the 11-24mm. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, Canon 11-24mm F4L |
Last but not least, the 11-24 is an almost perfect tool for night photography. The maximum aperture of F4 is a limit, but then again, it’s easier having the foreground in focus at F4, plus the monstrous angle of view allows one to expose marginally longer without getting the stars or Northern Lights blurred.
Let’s see an example from an incredible night of Aurora in Lofoten. The super wide angle allowed me to include a huge chunk of the sky, showing the wonderful patterns and lines in addition to the mountains and the moving waves. I could also expose for 8 seconds, which is considered a bit long for this kind of strong Auroral activity. To be honest, the lights blew up a few seconds before I took this shot, and I should’ve exposed for less time, but the amount of blur is not a big issue and the Aurora is still well defined.
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| Beautiful Aurora in Skagsanden Beach, Lofoten, Arctic Norway. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Canon 11-24mm F4L 11mm, F4, 8sec, ISO1600 |
Here are a few more examples of Aurora shot with the 11-24mm.
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| Stacked from 2 images at 11mm, F4, 8sec, ISO3200 | Stacked from 2 images at 11mm, F4, 13sec, ISO3200 |
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| 11mm, F4, 5sec, ISO1600 | 11mm, F4, 8sec, ISO3200 |
I hope you’re convinced of this lens’ advantages. What about the downsides?
For me, the greatest disadvantage is the inability to fit regular filters in front of the huge front element. I’m used to popping my 100mm system out of the bag and putting it in front of any lens. Not this one.
The only solution I currently know of which covers the whole width of this monster is the Nisi Filters 180mm system (proper disclosure: Nisi gave me the holder and some filters to try out). These filters are not cheap, but they are well made and have superb optical quality. The problem is that together with the mounting system, they are big and heavy, and don’t allow a photographer to be as spontaneous as with a 100mm system. I still like the system very much and I’ve achieved good images with it. If you’re into using filters with the 11-24, I highly recommend it.
As to the size, weight and price – simply put, it is what it is. If you need this type of lens, or if you can extract any type of value out of it, there is not much choice, is there? You need to weigh the advantages and the disadvantages and make up your own mind. You can also leave the lens at home if it’s not really necessary or if the weight is too much for a specific project (for example, on my recent Patagonia hiking trip, I chose not to lug it around due to the weight, and opted for the lighter 16-35mm). In my opinion, the answer is clear: if you’re an avid landscape photographer, don’t wait – get this lens, you won’t regret it.
Erez Marom is a professional nature photographer, photography guide and traveler based in Israel. You can follow Erez’s work on Instagram, Facebook and 500px, and subscribe to his mailing list for updates.
If you’d like to experience and shoot some of the most fascinating landscapes on earth with Erez as your guide, you’re welcome to take a look at his unique photography workshops around the world:
Land of Ice – Southern Iceland
Winter Paradise – Northern Iceland
Northern Spirits – The Lofoten Islands
Giants of the Andes and Fitz Roy Hiking Annex – Patagonia
Tales of Arctic Nights – Greenland
Saga of the Seas and The Far Reaches Annex – The Faroe Islands
Desert Storm – Namibia
Breakthrough Photography has launched what it claims are the first-ever neutral density and graduated neutral density filters made with tempered glass. The new X4 GND, X4 ND Square, and Dark CPL filters are being funded through Kickstarter, where both 100mm and 150mm versions are detailed. According to Breakthrough, the X4 GND is the sharpest GND filter ever, while both the GND and ND filters are the ‘world’s most color neutral.’
Both the X4 GND and X4 ND filters are made with Schott B270 tempered glass which, says Breakthrough, results in ‘an incredibly durable filter’ that can withstand drops onto hard surfaces. Both sides of the tempered glass are refined with an MRC16 coating and a nanotec coating, the combination of which cuts down reflections and makes cleaning easier.
Joining the two X4 filters is the Dark CPL, a filter that combines X4 ND and X4 CPL filters. Breakthrough explains that while stacking these two filter types typically produces a vignetting effect at about 19mm with a full-frame sensor, the new Dark CPL version gets rid of that vignette down to 16mm on the same full-frame sensors. The company is offering Dark CPL for Fuji, Leica, Carl Zeiss, Canon, Sony, Nikon, and Schneider Xenon lenses, among others that weren’t specified.
Breakthrough plans for the Dark CPL 46mm – 86mm to retail at up to $ 199, the Dark CPL 95mm/105mm at up to $ 259, the X4 GND 100x150mm at up to $ 199, the X4 GND 150x170mm at up to $ 249, and the X4 ND Square at prices ranging from $ 149 to $ 219 depending on both density and size. The company is offering various discounts on these filters to those who back the Kickstarter campaign. Shipping to backers is estimated to start this upcoming August.
Via: CanonRumors
Scopis, a maker of navigation tools for surgeons, has introduced a new platform that utilizes Microsoft’s HoloLens mixed-reality headset. The benefits are pretty obvious – useful information can be projected in onto a patient, hands-free, and virtual monitors can be displayed within view for quick reference. Take a look at a simulated demo in the video above.
YouTube channel DailyTekk has put together a mockup of the yet-to-be-announced iPhone 8 based on the rumors flying around. What will it look like? Will it even be called the iPhone 8? It’s all pure speculation at this point, but let’s go ahead and imagine life with a bezel-less iPhone.
[ By SA Rogers in Art & Photography & Video. ]
The toll exacted from the earth for human progress is rarely more dramatically visible than from overhead, looking down onto the mines, oil fields, salt flats, recycling yards and other artificial landscapes we’ve created to maintain a population that has exploded since the 1950s. Photographer Edward Burtynsky, who has been flying all over the world capturing aerial images of these scenes since long before the arrival of Google Earth, now sees human activity as expanding “like a rogue species… stretching the boundaries and limits of what we can do in nature.”
How have we changed the shape of the Earth since the dawn of the industrial age? The human population on Earth has expanded by nearly a billion every decade, and in our constant quest for lives of comfort and plenty, we ravenously consume natural resources and radically alter the landscapes we depend on for our own survival. Burtynsky has produced a series of photo collections in 11 categories like water, oil, mines, ship breaking, tailings and quarries to show that our appetites have put our own future in jeopardy.
Accepting his 2005 TED Prize for his stunning work, Burtynsky said he hopes that these images will help persuade millions of people around the world to join a global conversation on sustainability.
“These images are meant as metaphors to the dilemma of our modern existence; they search for a dialogue between attraction and repulsion, seduction and fear. We are drawn by desire – a chance at good living, yet we are consciously or unconsciously aware that the world is suffering for our success. Our dependence on nature to provide the materials for our consumption and our concern for the health of our planet sets us into an uneasy contradiction. For me, these images function as reflecting pools of our times.”
[ By SA Rogers in Art & Photography & Video. ]
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Becoming a master of portrait photography takes lots of patience and practice. It’s likely there are a few mistakes you are making with your portraits that hold them back from excellence. In this article, I will walk through eight tips to instantly boost your portrait photography game and take it to the next level.
Light is one of the most important elements to keep in mind when taking portraits – specifically how the light looks on your subject’s face. Proper lighting, or lack thereof, can make or break your image. Direct the person you are photographing to turn their head towards the main light source, whether it’s a street lamp or the sun. If you’re having them look towards the sun, tell them to look in a direction that won’t cause them to squint or be unpleasant for them. You don’t want people going blind on your shoot, right?
While the golden hour is a fabulous time to photograph portraits, you won’t always have the luxury of perfect lighting thanks to the whims of Mother Nature. In these situations, you need to adapt to the available light to maximize your portrait opportunities.
Keep in mind, there is no such thing as bad light. It can all be used to your advantage if you know what you’re doing. Here are some basic tips for different natural lighting scenarios:
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Let’s face it, most people are not confident or even comfortable being in front of the camera. Providing gentle directions to the person you are photographing can help them relax. Keep your directions simple and positive. If you don’t know any poses, focus on one thing to improve each shoot. Perhaps you ask your subject to lift their chin to provide a more flattering view of their face. A little positive direction goes a long way.
Backgrounds are extremely important in creating pleasing portraits. The key role of the background is to provide context to the environment the person is occupying and make them stand out. Finding a clean background that provides contrast with your subject is crucial.
Some things to be mindful of:
This is particularly important if you’re shooting with shallow depth of field. Be sure to focus on the dominant eye of your subject, the one that is closest to the lens. If the dominant eye is out of focus, your photo will end up looking slightly off. This can ruin an otherwise good portrait.
Crooked horizon lines can give your portraits a weird look, so make sure to keep those lines straight. The same goes for environmental elements like doors and the edges of buildings. If these types of lines aren’t straight, it can give your portraits a tilted look that isn’t flattering. Of course, you can straighten important lines in post-production, but this will involve cropping, which may ruin the composition. Focus on getting it right in camera.
Hey, I get it. Sometimes you don’t want to frame up a full body shot of your subject. Maybe you want to pull in closer for an upper body profile or headshot. In these cases you will be cropping a portion of your subject’s body out of the frame, so be very careful where you crop their extremities.
Some tips about cropping:
Look at the hand here, it appears somewhat cut-off or missing.
This is better, it includes her while arms and hands.
If you’re shooting portraits on the street, get that trash can out of the corner of your frame! Or at the very least, make sure it’s out of focus and blends into the background.
When you’re photographing a person, it’s easy to have all your focus on them to the point where you lose track of the outside of the image. But having distracting elements on the edges of the frame can ruin your portrait. Make the proper adjustments in framing before you press that shutter and keep those edges tidy.
If you really want to take your portrait photography game to the next level, it’s important to think outside the box and get creative. A lot of portraits can be boring and look the same; properly exposed pictures of people just standing there.
To spice up your portraits, try incorporating some interesting props or environmental elements. Now, you don’t need to grab onto Instagram trends, like wrapping your subject in LED lights, but including props can help your portraits stand out from the crowd. Get creative and start mastering your portrait photography game.
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Follow these eight tips and see how your portrait photography improves. Please share any comments or questions you have in the section below, as well as your images.
The post 8 Tips for Mastering Your Portrait Photography by Dan Bullman appeared first on Digital Photography School.
NASA’s Mars Rover recently spent some time on the Red Planet’s Ogunquit Beach, studying the area’s dunes that stretch for miles. According to NASA the image above was stitched together from 115 individual images taken between March 24th and 25th. Color has been adjusted to represent how it would look in daytime Earth lighting. To fully enjoy a quick trip to Mars, be sure to play the video above in a browser that support 360-degree video.
Go on! You know it is good for you! Let’s have a laugh! This article is about using humor in photography.
Clearly, somebody has something to laugh about – even in the rain.
This article is not so much Five Handy Tips, as it is more a case of Three Gentle Nudges. Maybe you are like me and can be a bit too serious about your photography. I am suggesting that you let go a little. Even one photograph which makes you smile has got to be worth letting go, relaxing a little. It may be that it is only you who is caused to smile, but I absolutely think that is worth it on its own. Then again, you might make tens, hundreds, even thousands of others smile. That has got to be a good thing, hasn’t it?
Please notice that above that I said smile, I did not say laugh.
You think you’re funny, don’t you?!
I once asked the teenage daughter of a friend of mine why she liked a particular teacher. She said that the teacher was funny. She gave the example that he would lean against the board, put a piece of chalk in his mouth, and pretend to smoke it as if it were a cigarette. Even 20 years ago, this was a bit dodgy, but the thing which really struck me was … it was NOT that funny! Mildly amusing, worth a smile, but not really what you would call funny.
Captions for a postcard, please.
That may be the first lesson which we need to learn in respect to seeking humor in photography. It is unlikely that you will ever, in your whole life, take a photograph which is going to cause people to roll on the floor, kick their legs in the air, and clutch their ribs with laughter. You will have done very well, to even cause a mild chuckle.
Much more likely is that you will raise a smile. But, frankly, that is enough. I think you should relax about it and be happy to raise one single smile. Surely, if you manage to make just one other person smile, that is a good thing.
Though I have admitted above that I can be too serious about photography, I have long been a strong advocate of the snapshot. That is a photograph, taken quickly, with little premeditation, with no great artistic pretensions, with any camera which is at hand.
Those girls do!
If you have a daughter, it is very likely that you have an image like one the above. I wonder, though, is that image in your mind, or did you actually take the photo? Whether it is your big “proper” camera, your phone, or pocket camera, I would encourage you to abandon all other thoughts. Just get on with it, and take that snapshot.
Pink Cadillac? Taken through a window, with whatever phone I had 10 years ago.
I would have thought that the above meets most peoples’ definition of a snapshot. It certainly lacks any artistic pretentions. But, a pink Lamborghini has got to be something which makes most people smile, even if they have very little interest in cars.
The fact that it is parked in handicapped reserved parking is only funny because the evidence would seem to be that there was, in fact, plenty of parking available. The whole thing is also somewhat of a reflection of the culture of the location in which it was taken.
One of my favorite quotations was born in ice hockey, but very applicable to photography.
I think this is a good thought to have in your mind for any type of photography. It is especially pertinent in respect of these type of snapshot photographs. Just for a moment, abandon your aspirations as a serious photographer, and simply take the shot. There is almost zero chance of any downside, no negative consequences, and you might just manage to create an extra smile or two in the world.
This is an extension of the above point. It is consistent with saying, “take the shot”. However, can I urge you further in that direction?
Do not question the process of taking the photograph in any way at all, please. Don’t think about it, just point the camera and push the button. I think we are in the territory of sports again, and the Nike slogan “Just do it” applies here. Take the shot. (Is anybody else hearing Judi Dench as M, from a recent James Bond film, or is it just me?).
Al-fresco hairdressing.
You should not overthink it. If you see something which pricks your interest even slightly, which even starts to elicit a smile … raise the camera and take the shot. You don’t know why it might be funny, you do not even know for sure that it is funny. Again, my advice to you would be, take the shot.
Do as you are told!
I took the above photograph a few years ago, in Malaysian Borneo. It is not printed and displayed on my wall, nor is it of great importance to me. But it does pop its little head up now and then, and when it does, it makes me smile. Does it make you smile at all? If so, why does it make you smile?
It makes me smile because of what I assume is the obvious reason, the irony of telling people to walk by means of a notice on a motorbike. That is why I took the shot. Years later, I realized that it is also the declamatory nature of the exclamation mark which makes me smile. You are not being asked, you are being told to walk, by someone from the comfort of sitting on a motorbike.
Yes, of course, in this context, “walk with” has a different meaning, but you should not worry too much about letting the facts get in the way of a bit of humor, should you?
Relax!
I did not think about anything like all of the above as I was taking these photographs. As I suggest, if you see something which even makes you think about smiling – photograph it! It is not likely to be that funny anyway, the humor might only fully reveal itself later, so take the shot, it’s only a digital file.
Which way are you going?
I would like to talk about unguarded moments, juxtapositions, discovered photographs, constructed photographs, kids, smiles eliciting smiles, distortions of reality, and the strange things people do. But for now, can you please just take this article as a firm nudge to be open to possibilities.
Let’s dance!
Go on! Have a go! I hope you have been nudged in the right direction. I don’t think I am alone in wanting to see something of a humorous nature from you. Please share your humorous images in the comments below.
Editor’s note: keep it clean, please. No nude or partial nude photos, or images which are disparaging, disrespectful, or hurtful to any other person.
The post Let’s Have a Laugh! – Using Humor in Photography by Richard Messsenger appeared first on Digital Photography School.