During the last few weeks, I have been trying to come up with a good solution for testing lenses that did not require constant movement when dealing with slightly de-centered lenses. The idea was to build a setup similar to macro rails, but one that is bigger in size and...
How to Deal with Light Frequency Issue
When photographing in artificial light, one has to always watch out for the potential light frequency issue. Due to the different intensities and wavelengths of light emitted by fluorescent and other sources of man-made light, there might be severe variations in exposure when photographing at fast shutter speeds. This is...
Raptor Photography Tips
I recently wrote an article on hand-holding large and heavy lenses, which attracted quite a bit of attention and some nice comments and questions from PL readers. I am not really a writer, but a few people asked me about my technique for getting those shots. Let me start by...
Cobras, Cameras, Cures and Karma
The Cobra danced in front of my lens, swaying its porcelain white scales and flaring its hood. This was one of the most alluring and flat-out beautiful animals I’d ever seen. Not the least bit camera shy, the cobra flicked out its pink tongue to sniff the air then suddenly...
Library Module Overview: Image Review and Toolbar
With Library Module holding such a large collection of tools, tabs and panels, there is no other way to write a proper, thorough overview article but to split it into several parts. In the first article, I did my best to talk about the left-side panel (or the Navigation Panel,...
Hand-holding Large Lenses vs Using a Gimbal Head
I recently bought the Nikon 800mm f/5.6E VR (see Nasim's review) and took it out for my first field test. It turned out to be extremely poor light and rough snowy weather, but sometimes that's when you get some great photos. I have some samples to show here and even...
Eye-Fi Pro X2 Review
When testing lenses, I have to make sure that my setup is calibrated and the camera is perfectly aligned with the test chart. The process can take quite a bit of time, since I have to take a picture, make minute adjustments, then take another picture and retest again. In...
Lexar Professional 400x SDHC Card Review
This is a short review of the Lexar Professional 400x SDHC UHS-I Class 10 card, which I have been using for the past 6 months. I have owned 4 of these cards in 16GB capacity and decided to write a review after every single one of them failed. I have...
Lightroom Loupe View Options
In the previous Mastering Lightroom series article, "Lightroom Grid View Options", we learned how to set-up Cells in Grid View so that they display the information of your choice. Grid View options are only available in Library Module, but that is not the only view mode available in Lightroom. In...
Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 DC HSM Art Review
This is an in-depth review of the Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 DC HSM Art lens, world's first constant f/1.8 zoom lens for DSLR cameras that was announced in April of 2013. Despite the recent trend of manufacturers to move their customer base to full-frame format, Sigma took a bold move and...