Losing irreplaceable images might just be every photographer’s worst nightmare. Fortunately, there are a few easy steps you can take to help prevent image loss. Almost all of these steps can be implemented right away with little to no cost or change to your overall workflow. While they might seem a little excessive, the resulting additional protection for your images should outweigh any inconvenience or minor cost. [Read more…]
Minimalism in Photography: The Good and Bad
As people look at photos on smaller and smaller screens, there has been a growing trend towards taking photos that are more and more minimalist. Especially on platforms like Instagram, minimalism is exploding; it’s everywhere, and it has been for a while now. There are some pros and cons of minimalism, and I have mixed feelings about how common this trend has become, but there’s no denying its popularity. In this article, I’ll cover some of the main reasons you’d want to capture minimalist photos, along with some tips for using this style of photography as effectively as possible.
The Blue Mosque at Sunset
I am in Istanbul for a short while with my family and I could not resist shooting the Blue Mosque at sunset earlier today, especially once I saw the potential for some color in the sky. I only took the Hasselblad X1D with two lenses (45mm f/3.5 and 90mm f/3.2) with me, since I have been using the Fuji GFX 50S quite a bit and this time I wanted to shift my attention to the Hassy. So far, I have been pretty frustrated with the Hasselblad for a number of reasons, mainly due to very slow startup, firmware instability and poor battery life. While I really enjoyed the Fuji GFX 50S as a travel camera, I cannot say that I would recommend the X1D as one. I have missed so many moments waiting for the camera to start up – sometimes it does not properly start up, giving me all kinds of strange errors.
Partying with 14mm? Thoughts from an Ultra-Wide Holdout
Five months ago, I bought my first ultra-wide lens — the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 — after holding out for years. I’ve always flirted with the idea of such a crazy perspective, but I kept finding reasons not to purchase one myself. A 24mm lens had worked well as my widest angle for years, and I rarely found myself wanting anything more. Now that I’ve seen the other side, though, Have my attitudes changed? After going on two major trips with the 14-24mm f/2.8, the insane perspective has started to grow on me, but I still have plenty of reservations. Here’s how I’d sum things up, including my recommendations for anyone else considering making such a leap for themselves.
How to Take Sharp Photos in the Wind
Normally, if you’re using a tripod, camera shake isn’t something you’ll have to worry very much about. However, there are some obvious exceptions. If you’ve ever found yourself taking pictures in heavy winds, you’ll know the difficulties of capturing sharp photos — particularly if you’re using a telephoto lens. This seems like an impossible situation; what do you do when a tripod isn’t enough to stop your camera from shaking? Luckily, there are ways to improve sharpness even in windy conditions and come away with photos that are completely usable. I’ll cover some of the most important here.
Personal Style: The Pros and Cons (Part 3 of 3)
This is the final article in our “personal style” series, which, so far, has introduced personal style and covered the two different ways to form one. Here, I’ll cover a slightly different topic — the pros and cons of seeking out a personal style in your own photography, including how to do so without compromising your unique vision on the world.
10 Places to Photograph in Athens, Greece
In this article, I will recommend 10 most scenic places to photograph in Athens based on my three trips to the Greek capital. Everybody associates Athens with ancient temples – notably the Acropolis. I will give you a few tips not only on how to get the best shooting angles for Acropolis but also recommendations on many other subjects that you should not miss. This article is complementary to a great guide on photographing in Greece, where you can find further tips for attractive photographic locations in this country.
Pushing a Small 1″ Sensor to ISO-12800
Like many photographers I like to experiment with my camera gear and push it to see what will happen. Today I went to RaptorFest 2017 in Grimsby Ontario to view the displays and catch some of the animal presentations. The indoor lighting was less than ideal and I decided to do a little test with my Nikon 1 V3 and push its small 1″ sensor to its limits by shooting at ISO-12800 (please see the Reader Note at the end of this article)
Personal Style: Method and Personality (Part 2)
If someone is very familiar with your style of photography, it’s not outlandish to think that they could pick out one of your photos in a crowd — even if, for example, you’re a macro photographer, and the crowd includes nothing but macro photos. I’ll frequently see a shot on Instagram or 500px and recognize who took it, even before I see their name appear; that’s the power of personal style. At the same time, when I try to do this, I’m often wrong. It seems that certain “styles” are adopted by more than just one photographer, often very convincingly. In this article, continuing the other personal style discussion, I’ll try to pinpoint the ways in which someone’s style can arise, as well as the problems with replicating another photographer’s personal style.
How to Create a Panorama in Lightroom
Without a doubt, Lightroom is a powerful software package for editing images. But did you know that it is also one of the most preferred tools to stitch panoramic images? Ever since Adobe released Lightroom 6 and CC, the capability to stitch images into DNG files has been integrated right into the product core. If in the past one would have to either use Adobe Photoshop or third party software such as PTGui to stitch panoramas, with the latest versions of Lightroom, one can easily stitch single row and even multi-row panoramas directly from Lightroom. In this article, we will demonstrate how one can successfully stitch panoramas in Lightroom and explain why the use of Lightroom specifically might be a preferred method when compared to other third party tools on the market.