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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iMac Pro Display Brightness Retaining Issue
If you decide to calibrate your iMac Pro screen, you might be disappointed to find out that there is currently a bug in either display firmware, or MacOS High Sierra that automatically re-adjusts the brightness level of the display to 90% brightness after each reboot. There is a temporary fix to prevent this from happening, but it is a nuisance and something Apple should address as soon as possible, especially considering that this is an expensive display that is specifically…
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Huawei Mate 10 Pro Camera Review
We are continuing our assessment of some of the latest mobile devices from different manufacturers, and this time we are going to dive deep into the photo capabilities of the new Huawei Mate 10 Pro. This smartphone was supposed to be marketed and sold by AT&T in the USA, after the company signed a large deal with the Chinese manufacturer (which happens to be the third largest smartphone maker in the world), but sadly, AT&T withdrew from the deal right…
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Maximizing Your Travel Photography in Crowded Places
In early 2018, a renowned fine art travel photographer David Lazar took up a 10 day challenge – to successfully photograph what many consider to be over-touristed areas of Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. David was keen to open up a Southeast Asia photo tour workshop, (to include Vietnam), convinced it still had a lot to offer and was currently being underserved. Not too long ago, the region was in huge demand by photography enthusiasts, but that demand has waned in…
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How to Calibrate Dell Wide Gamut Monitors
In the past, hardware calibration feature was limited to premium wide-gamut models from companies like NEC or Eizo. Those models offer wide gamut, great uniformity and advanced calibration features…but at a fairly high price. Affordable wide gamut solutions with hardware calibration started in 2013 with Dell and after that other companies like LG, BenQ and Samsung begun to offer “similar” products with more or less success. It is important to point out that LG and Samsung wide gamut models cannot…
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Sony RX100 Series Comparison (I, II, III, IV, V and VI)
Since the original release of the Sony RX100 back in 2012, the company has been pushing updates to the camera and releasing one new iteration every year. Which means that as of today, we have had a total of 6 such releases: RX100, RX100 II, RX100 III, RX100 IV, RX100 V and RX100 VI. Sporting a 1″ sensor and superb optics from Zeiss, these point and shoot cameras have been widely popular among photographers. And thanks to their compact size…
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Amateur Wildlife Photography on a Budget
When I read the recent Wildlife Photography on a Budget guest post, it resonated with me. You don’t need the latest and most expensive gear to enjoy shooting wild life. Although it doesn’t stop you dreaming and thinking “if only” … particularly, when you sit in front of the computer and inspect the results from the latest trip. If only … better sharpness, contrast, out of focus rendering, reach … the enjoyment of a good photo is often tinged with…
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Sony Xperia XZ2 Camera Review
Without a doubt, the photography industry has been shaken by the rise of smartphone photography. The highly competitive market of smartphones has also been overrun by many options from a variety of different manufacturers. The Android platform dominates smartphone sales, having a whopping 87% market share – an impressive number when compared to the 12% that iOS represents. With Android being an open platform compared to iOS, it attracts many manufacturers from all over the world, including Sony. While Sony…
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2018 Guest Post Contest Winners Announced!
If you have been following Photography Life recently, you’ll know that we have been publishing several articles and essays as part of our 2018 guest post contest. The theme of this year’s competition was teach us something interesting, and our readers responded with excellent photographs and tutorials. The grand prize winner of the contest, who will receive his choice of a Nikon D750, Fuji X-T2, or $1500, is Madhu Manicka – congratulations!
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A Simple Way to Improve Your Black and White Prints on Any Printer
The secret to a good black and white print is controlling the dynamic range. The dynamic range is the range of tones, from the blackest black to the whitest white in an image. In a black and white photograph you want to make full use of the entire dynamic range. The problem is that, when printing, the printer usually hits the limitations of its dynamic range long before our eye (and camera, and monitor) stops differentiating detail. As the printer…
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The iPad Pro and Lightroom CC: A Mobile System Worth Considering
In this article, I will share my recent experience of switching from a Macbook Pro running Lightroom 6, to a 12.9″ iPad Pro with the Apple Pencil, running Lightroom CC – and how this new setup has changed my photography workflow. I will discuss in detail my basic workflow, as well as share some images I’ve edited using LR CC.
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How the Lightroom Metadata Panel Can Improve Your Photography
When searching through my photo library for a class I was teaching recently, I found myself turning to Adobe Lightroom’s metadata filter regularly to help me find the examples I needed. But what I discovered was a lot more useful to my own photography than just sample images for a class. It’s easy to mistake the metadata filter for a simple search function, but when you really start to look at the data it provides, it’s an amazing tool that…
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How Photography Inspired Me to Love Science and Preserve the Planet
Science has a way of making heads turn away. The more complex it gets, the more abstract it becomes. And if you’re not constantly putting effort into working out the fine intricacies of it all, you might just get too overwhelmed to commit any interest to it. Science communication has been around for a while, then, trying to work out different ways to bring people closer to scientific issues. Today, we see an impressive production of films, videos, podcasts, lectures…
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The Rise and Rise of Smartphone Photography
Smartphones have come a long way. Over the last few years, the improvements made in smartphone photography have been huge, culminating in the powerhouses on the market toda,y such as the Google Pixel 2, the iPhone X, and the Samsung Galaxy S9. My current handset, the Samsung S7 Edge, can take great-looking photos and even performs pretty well in low light, and this model is now over 2 years old! But despite it being a capable piece of photography kit,…
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Commuting with a Camera
I suspect that a lot of landscape and cityscape photographers, like myself, are not always able to devote the time necessary to wait for atmospheric conditions and astral bodies to be in that “ideal” position for the image you have in mind. Some of the early landscape masters were known to camp out for days waiting for all the variables to line up just so. The realities of needing to make a living and driving to and from work five…
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My Hard-Won Photography Lessons
The old axiom that we should learn from our mistakes is sound, although sometimes those lessons can be a bit on the painful side. As a 15-year-old, freshman high school student in 1960 I was excited to work as a photographer on the school yearbook. Assigned the task of developing a tank of 4×5 inch negatives, I wanted to make sure I got it right – so I set up individual beakers of developer, stop bath, and fixer, pre-measured, to…
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