Photography Life

Although the megapixel race has been going on since digital cameras had been invented, the last few years in particular have seen a huge increase […]

The Promise Of Exposure

Let me first be clear. Anyone who knows me well would tell you I’m not a materialist and money is not my primary aspiration. I […]

Resolving To Resist Resolution

Just as the market is once again graced with higher resolution cameras, so too is the Internet awash with salivating consumers desperate to lap them […]

Camera Modulara: The Perfect Camera That Does Not (Yet) Exist

Having spent quite a bit of time talking to many other photographers, one of the discussions that comes up every once in a while has […]

Canon 7D Mark II Review

A comprehensive review of the Canon 7D Mark II DSLR with image samples, detailed analysis and comparisons to other cameras by Nasim Mansurov

How to Use a Tripod

When dealing with slow shutter speeds, a solid tripod is a must-have tool for eliminating camera shake and capturing sharp photographs. Although setting up a […]

My Announcement

November 5, 2014 By Nasim Mansurov702 Comments

This long overdue announcement was something I had been unintentionally delaying for too long this year. I started this letter months ago on an airplane and I am now sitting again at an airport, waiting for my four hour flight to Denver, in hopes that I will be able to finally complete my disarray of thoughts in one piece. Without a doubt, the last 12 months have been rough, packed with a number of life-changing events that have had a huge impact on my personal and professional life. One event led to another and I found myself going back and forth, questioning my actions and intentions over and over again, until I finally made a decision: I decided to pursue my dream to become a full time photographer, writer and educator.

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Insights From a Nikon 1 User

November 5, 2014 By Thomas Stirr88 Comments

I would like to preface this article by saying it is not intended as a “do this, don’t do that” sermon from the mount. To me, using a camera is akin to playing a guitar. It is simply an instrument that a person uses to achieve a particular outcome. And, like a guitar, there are many styles and approaches in how to “play it”. What works for me may not work or feel comfortable for you. So, if this article provides a few useful tidbits for some readers, it will have served its purpose.

There’s quite a bit of text in this article so I will be showing a range of images shot with my Nikon 1 V2 to provide some visual breaks, and also to help illustrate the capability of the Nikon 1 system.

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Playing Your Strengths, Resolving Weaknesses

November 5, 2014 By Romanas Naryškin12 Comments

It has always been very hard for me to judge my own work. No matter what I do, more often than not I end up not liking it. I find flaws, things I could have done better, almost all the time. The worst sort of case is when I just feel there is something missing, something I can’t quite put my finger on. But here’s the funny bit – I am betting you feel me. Because it’s the same with most photographers. I often ask Nasim if he thinks the photographs I show with my articles are “good enough”, he does the exact same thing, too. Self-critique and uncertainty is a very important and inseparable part of being a photographer, a sort of an “engine” that drives us forward. Or stalls us.

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Negative Space in Photography

November 5, 2014 By Romanas Naryškin21 Comments

You already know a great deal about the composition choices that I make. You know my thoughts on what matters most in photography, the rule of thirds, central composition and element placement at the edges of the frame. Whichever preference is yours, I certainly hope you’ve learned something from reading those articles. Now, I am about to share something else with you, and here is where we start: regardless of where I place the important elements in my photography, whenever I have the chance I always, always surround, enhance, bathe them in negative space.

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Explore the Edges

November 5, 2014 By Romanas Naryškin18 Comments

If we see the rule of thirds as the default, “bread and butter” sort of composition guide, I can think of at least two ways to break that rule and distance your work from it. The first one is to use, against the advice of many photographers, central composition. It is a very natural, simple way of composing an image and generally results in a very “open”, peaceful, calm photograph. You could say it is classic. As I mentioned before, it is also one we instinctively learn first. The second way is completely opposite and perhaps much less “natural” to our eyes, yet one I adore at least as much as central composition. You see, if one naturally expects to find something of importance at the very center of a frame, the very edges of it might be the last place they’d look. And that sense of unexpectedness is perhaps the best part about it.

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A Beginner’s Guide to Choosing a Mirrorless Camera

November 4, 2014 By Guest Poster24 Comments

Have you ever traveled to the shopping mall in search of a product, only to be met by dozens of similar options to choose between? Lowest-price vs best-value, long-lasting vs quick-acting, eco-friendly vs cost-effective: we are drowning in possibilities that years ago didn’t exist. Perhaps nowhere is the epidemic of choice more prevalent than in the digital camera world today. Since I began reviewing mirrorless cameras a couple of years ago with my partner Mathieu Gasquet, I’ve been surprised by just how many models exist for each brand. For instance, in the six years since mirrorless cameras first began to appear on the market, a total of thirty-six Micro Four Thirds system cameras and nineteen Sony E-mount cameras have been released, an astonishing number if you consider that new film cameras would be released only every two or three years.

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Sample Bird Images Using 1 Nikon CX 70-300 Lens

November 3, 2014 By Thomas Stirr38 Comments

In advance of my upcoming hands-on review of the 1 Nikon CX 70-300 f/4.5-5.6 telephoto zoom lens I thought readers may like to see some sample bird images. It is late in the season in Southern Ontario and many birds have already migrated. Never-the-less I was able to get a few different species captured in flight.

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Voltaic Solar Battery Charger Review

November 3, 2014 By John Sherman5 Comments

What to do when you are out in the field with amazing scenery to shoot, a handful of exhausted camera batteries, and no electric outlets in sight? Self-disembowlment comes to mind, but wait, there are better options. I was recently on an 18-day Grand Canyon rafting trip and faced with the above dilemma. One option I utilized was a small waterproof solar charging system from Voltaic. The unit I tested was a beta version as far as the waterproof housing went, but other than the housing, it used the components of Voltaic’s 17 Watt Solar Charger Kit ($265 MSRP).

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A Shot At Fireworks

November 2, 2014 By Alpha Whiskey18 Comments

So this time of year in the United Kingdom, many people will be enjoying fireworks displays and bonfires to celebrate Guy Fawkes Night. For those who aren’t familiar with the night, Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the Houses Of Parliament (Westminster Palace) on the 5^th November 1605, but he was caught and executed. Thus every year on that date he is burned in effigy (less so nowadays due to health and safety concerns) and a fireworks display usually accompanies.

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Turn Your Photo into An Artwork

November 1, 2014 By Robert Andersen30 Comments

Have you ever wanted to do something a little different with your photographs? Not stop with the simple click of the shutter and turn it into an actual digital painting? That is what I am going to teach you in this article. I know not everybody is a painter and while painting skills would be beneficial, you really don’t need to be an artist to do this. The photo below is the result of me using Corel Painter to turn one of my photos into a digital painting. This tutorial contains some creative ideas and methods a photographer can use, even if they are not artistically inclined or have access to the same software as me. The idea is to open your mind to the possibility of using your images in an artistic manner. I am using a bird in this tutorial, but it could be a pet, your friend, a family portrait or anything else.

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