I’ve always preferred hiking more than any other method of finding landscapes to photograph. There’s something to be said for stopping at any point you see something interesting, knowing that only a small percentage of other travelers have taken pictures at the same spot. I recently dragged that philosophy to the extreme, spending nine days on Iceland’s Laugavegur trail and several side hikes. Here, I’ll summarize the best and worst equipment I used along the way.
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Life After Being Discontinued
As many folks are already aware, Nikon has confirmed that the Nikon 1 system has been discontinued. This isn’t the first time a camera line has been discontinued and it won’t be the last, especially given the fact that the digital camera market continues to shrink in size. Whether you are a current Nikon 1 owner or not, there are some things you can do if you feel your camera gear is at risk of being discontinued, or already has…
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Visual Storytelling in Portraiture
If you feel that your portraits lack the “wow” factor or that your viewers don’t feel the excitement you felt while making the image, then you might be just showing a situation rather than telling a story. Showing something that happened might do the job for a news photographer. But for the rest of us, this usually makes for dull, boring images. Today’s viewers are bombarded with visuals every day – they want more than just pure documentation of a…
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What to Photograph in Morocco
Having visited Morocco earlier this year, I made a detailed plan about the locations I wanted to visit in this picturesque country that I have been wanting to sightsee and photograph for many years now. After spending a bit less than two weeks in Morocco and coming back with many images from a number of locations, I thought it would be a good idea to showcase the images, as well as share detailed information about this country with our readers.
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Going Lightweight for Photography Expeditions
It’s the middle of the night and still bright outside. I’m in Iceland a few weeks after the summer solstice, and I just finished the longest hike of my life – a nine-day version of the Laugavegur. I’ll have several photos and articles to publish now that it’s done, including this first post about the process of going lightweight on such a long hike. How do you trim your camera setup for such an ordeal?
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What Is Back-Button Focus?
One of the key areas many photographers often struggle with, especially when starting out, is focusing. Being able to properly acquire focus on a subject or a scene is critical in making sure that the photograph is sharp where it needs to be. In this article, we will cover back-button focus in detail and go over its pros and cons. If you are not yet familiar with this technique, check it out below, as it might change the way you…
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Sigma 85mm f/1.4 vs 105mm f/1.4 vs 135mm f/1.8 Art Comparison
Sigma has been challenging the competition with its Global vision line-up. The combination of “no compromise” image quality and fair price is exhibiting quite a bit of pressure on such brands as Canon and Nikon. And the recent launch of Sony E mount lenses will surely disturb Sony’s glass business as well (might simultaneously drive Sony’s mirrorless business by providing true 3rd party lens support). In 2013, I bought my first Sigma 35mm f/1.4 Art prime and till this day,…
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11 Cityscape Photography Tips for Beginners
Roughly 80% of people in the United States live in metropolitan areas. This means that cityscape photography is one of the most accessible genres of photography. The shapes and intricate details seen in city skylines are attractive to humans because our brains recognize and think in terms of patterns. However, creating an impactful cityscape photograph can be challenging. Here are eleven tips to help you get started with cityscape photography or improve your existing skills.
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Removing Distractions with 3 Content-Aware Tools in Adobe Photoshop
In an ideal world we would all make our photos exactly the way we want them in camera. But in reality, we can’t always avoid distractions and unwanted objects in our frame. Fortunately, Adobe Photoshop has some powerful tools for helping to remove those unavoidable distractions. Today we’re going to look at 3 content-aware tools: the fill tool, the patch tool, and the spot healing brush tool. Each of these tools performs the same general task of removing objects from…
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How to Use a Teleconverter
When using telephoto and macro lenses, it is often desirable to get tighter framing on a subject that is being photographed. One of the main reasons is to magnify the subject and improve its detail in order to show it best to the viewer, but another reason could be related to improved framing and composition – by focusing tightly on the subject, it is often possible to remove the visual clutter surrounding the subject, which ultimately simplifies and enhances composition.…
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Five Advanced Landscape Photography Tips
Often, landscape photography tips are meant for people who are just starting out and trying to get the hang of things. That’s great in many ways, but it does carry a problem – it says to advanced photographers that there is nothing new to discover. But landscape photography is incredibly complex, and there are still techniques for everyone to learn. This article goes through some of the most important ones with regards to creativity.
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When to Use a Lens Hood for the Best Results
One of the most common photography accessories is a lens hood – a piece of plastic or metal that attaches to the front of your camera lens and makes it look more professional. But lens hoods are about more than looks. Just to name one benefit, they can make a major difference in a picture’s image quality. This article covers everything you need to know about using lens hoods to capture the best possible photos.
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MIOPS Capsule360 – A Versatile Motion Control Box
Our good friends at MIOPS have recently announced their latest project Capsule360, a versatile motion control box capable of performing sliding, panning and tilting moves while capturing photo or video. MIOPS engineers were able to use their extensive knowledge from their prior successful product launches, such as the MIOPS Smart Camera Trigger and bring together a single, “do-it-all” product capable of everything from timelapses and 360° photography to panoramas, star tracking for astrophotography and smart object tracking for motion video.
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Canon SL2 Review
One of the smallest and lightest Canon DSLRs is the Rebel SL2, announced in June of 2017 and retailing for $549, body only. The SL2 also goes by the names “EOS 200D” and “Kiss X9” outside the US market. Despite the camera’s small size, Canon packed a lot into the SL2, including a tilt-flip touchscreen, dual pixel autofocus, and the company’s newest 24 megapixel sensor. This detailed review covers everything you need to know about the SL2.
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Recommended Canon SL2 Settings
The Canon Rebel SL2 is one of the lightest and most versatile entry-level DSLRs on the market. However, if you’ve just bought this camera, you might have realized that its menu settings are less than optimal by default. In this article, I’ll go through every important menu setting and tell you my recommendations for setting it properly. Hopefully, this will make it easier and simpler to take great pictures with your new camera.
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Kodak Aerochrome Film Reborn? A Review of the 550nm Infrared Filter
When Ilija, owner of Kolari Vision, emailed me regarding his introduction of the 550nm infrared filter this past winter and shared some of the initial images taken with it, I was intrigued. I had used various models of Nikon DSLRs converted for infrared photography since 2007, relying primarily on the 720nm filter. Over the years, however, I slowly began to develop an appreciation for those filters affording more faux colors. In April, I took the leap and had Ilija convert…
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Nikon Developing a 500mm f/5.6 with Phase Fresnel Element
Nikon just announced that it is developing a 500mm f/5.6 lens with a Phase Fresnel element, which would make it only the second lens in Nikon’s lineup to have such a specialized component, the other being the 300mm f/4 PF. This indicates that Nikon is prioritizing low weight for the 500mm f/5.6, given that a PF element can replace multiple standard lens elements with one that is much smaller and thinner. No price, shipping date, or photos of the new…
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Nikon D3400 Review
This is a detailed review of the Nikon D3400, the newest entry-level DSLR in the Nikon lineup (as of June 2018). The D3400 uses a top-of-the-line 24 megapixel DX sensor, which is capable of capturing very detailed and high quality photos. But it isn’t all perfect – the Nikon D3400 has noticeable compromises, especially in its handling and menu options. Is it still worth buying? Below, we’ll cover everything you need to know to make your decision.
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Recommended Nikon D3400 Settings
The Nikon D3400’s menu is not as detailed as the ones on other Nikon cameras, but it still can be overwhelming to set properly. In this article, I will cover all the most important camera settings on the D3400, including my personal recommendations for every important menu option on the camera. Don’t take any of these suggestions as the only camera settings that will work for the D3400, but instead as simply a good place to start.
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BenQ SW320 Monitor Review
As photographers, we spend quite a bit of time post-processing images. During this process, making sure that we are looking at calibrated displays is extremely important, because it allows us to ensure that the images are edited properly and consistently. Unfortunately, high-quality displays are not cheap, and anything on the lower-end is often too big of a gamble, so finding the right monitor that has a good balance of price and performance is a challenge in itself. Thankfully, some companies…
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