A fundamental idea in composition is that you should exclude anything from your photo that doesn’t add to your message. An errant branch, footprints on the ground, whatever harms your story – leave them out of the composition, and you’ll get a stronger photo. But… what if you can’t exclude them completely?
Post Archive By Spencer Cox - Page 3
Sony Announces an Ultra-Wide and a Supertelephoto
Announcement season continues in full swing, with Sony announcing two new lenses today: a 16mm f/1.8 G and a 400-800mm f/6.3-8 G. The first is a less expensive (and potentially more practical) alternative to the Sony 14mm f/1.8 GM. Meanwhile, the second is Sony’s longest lens yet!
Welcome Back, Zeiss! 50mm f/1.4 and 85mm f/1.4 Otus ML Announced
Zeiss announced their newest lenses for digital photographers today – and that’s a sentence I haven’t been able to write for six years! It’s no secret that Zeiss took a long hiatus from the photography world, but now they’re back with a pair of Otus lenses: the 50mm f/1.4 and 85mm f/1.4.
Panasonic S1R II Announcement: Faster and More Nimble
Panasonic just announced the long-awaited successor to the original S1R from 2019 – the Panasonic S1R II! The new camera has a smidge less resolution (44 vs. 47 MP), but it features big improvements in other areas. Most of all, the new S1R II is more portable and gains a major boost in speed and performance.
Sigma’s Minimalist Camera and Maximalist Lenses
It’s announcement season, and Sigma made waves yesterday with the unveiling of one of the most radically designed cameras that we’ve seen in a long time: the Sigma BF. This full-frame camera is minimalist to the extreme – although the two lenses that Sigma announced alongside it are the opposite of minimalist!
Nikon Z MC 50mm f/2.8 Macro Review
This hands-on review covers everything you need to know about the Nikon Z MC 50mm f/2.8 Macro, a lightweight macro lens for Nikon’s Z System. As a true macro lens, the 50mm MC is capable of reaching 1:1 magnification, albeit with a short working distance. Here’s how it measures up!
Nikon Z 28-135mm f/4 PZ Announced: Zooming into the Videography World
On February 13, 2025, Nikon announced their newest Z Mount lens: the Nikon Z 28-135mm f/4 PZ. The "PZ" in the name stands for "Power Zoom" - one of many ways in which this lens is meant for videographers or hybrid shooters. At $2600, this is a very specialized lens,...
Tips for Multi-Day Backpacking as a Landscape Photographer
I just returned from one of the longest hikes I've ever done, the famous O Circuit in Chile's Torres del Paine National Park! This eight-day hike goes around the Paine massif itself, circumnavigating these magnificent peaks and showcasing them from every angle. For landscape photography, it's hard to think of...
Tamron 50-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Review
The Tamron 50-400mm f/4.5-6.3 is a budget telephoto zoom which offers an impressive range of focal lengths. This $1300 lens is available both for Sony E and Nikon Z, and as soon as it was announced, our readers immediately started asking me to review it. I’m happy to bring you our full tests today.
Landscape Photography on a Cloudless Day
Photographers may be some of the only people with a negative opinion of blue skies! But who can blame us? Harsh sunlight doesn’t complement a lot of subjects very well – if anything, just the opposite – and an empty, blue expanse usually doesn’t add much interest to the top of a landscape photo.