Vision: The Most Important Skill in Photo Editing
I don’t know about you, but even though I’ve been photographing for almost fifteen years now, sometimes I feel stuck when deciding which editing direction to take with some of my images.
I don’t know about you, but even though I’ve been photographing for almost fifteen years now, sometimes I feel stuck when deciding which editing direction to take with some of my images.
A couple of weeks ago I upgraded from the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II to the OM System OM-1 Mark II. One of the reasons was for the OM-1 Mark II's greatly enhanced wildlife tracking functions.
My hobby is film photography, which involves collecting interesting cameras, taking photos, printing pictures, and so on. Within this fairly common hobby though I have a particular niche interest, which is tracking down and trying out cameras that feature in film and media.
During a short visit to the beautiful redwood forests of northern California, I spent a morning photographing a Pacific Wren. My goal with this outing was to capture this tiny bird in its massive habitat and try my best with a few photos to show the scale of the huge forest.
If you've ever taken photographs with a vintage Barnack Leica, you know that this precursor to modern cameras is considerably more difficult to load film into than pretty much everything that came after it.
My Exmouth eclipse expedition could be a case study on the 'sunk cost fallacy' or proof that even blind persistence can pay off. Either way, it is a saga.
Dune: Part II was recently released in theaters, garnering positive reviews from movie-goers and reviewers alike. Over at Kolari, we were hyped to see infrared photography used in one of its most visually stunning movie sequences in recent memory.
GuruShots, the "World's Greatest Photo Game," has announced the winners of its "Water Wonders" challenge, which received thousands of entries and over 37 million votes. The "Top Photographer" winner of the contest is Fabiano Dos Santos of the United States (whose photo is seen above).
Bill Gates recently posted a photograph on Facebook that one could easily deduce from his sparse captioning was made by him and his team - not the mildly (and formerly) irritated author writing now.
I have stitched many panoramas, including those I took with my Canon 24 mm TS lens by shifting the lens from side to side. The TS lens gives easy-to-stitch frames. One uncontrolled element that remains in that case is the parallax shift because the lens position changes. Although that may go unnoticed in landscape panoramas, it is still there.
Sight was the first of our senses to be technologically shared in a world we did not witness with our own eyes. Photography—writing with light—has historically meant a one-to-one relationship between what was before a camera (defined as a lens focussing light on a recording media) and what came out the other end, created by a human.
This article will review two prototype lenses from Light Lens Lab: the “1966” 50mm f/1.2 lens and the SPII 50mm f/2 multi-coated rigid design lens. Light Lens Lab based in China has an interesting business model. Instead of designing new highly corrected camera lenses, they re-create special lenses from past decades.
While I photograph the Kansas City Chiefs' home games during the season, I don’t go along if they make the playoffs or Super Bowl. But that doesn’t mean I’m finished doing assignments involving them. This year, for instance, I was hired to cover their departure from Kansas City to Las Vegas, then the big downtown watch party the night of the game, and finally the victory parade and celebration that went from ecstatic to horrific.
As I am a commercial photographer in Arizona, I often get the call to photograph baseball players during spring training. This work is unique and different from any other mid-season sports photo shoot -- including baseball. They are the kind that I cherish because of the calmness on set.
“So we love all your cityscape flow motions -- how would you feel about creating them for the natural environment?” 11 episodes later having explored terrains as diverse as the dunes in Namibia, the lush Tambopata rainforest, and the barren Shetland isles, here is what I found out.
In the world of landscape and nature photography, capturing the perfect shot often requires venturing into harsh and unforgiving environments. Whether it's trying to stay warm in the biting cold or attempting to stay dry in frozen rain, photographers need gear that not only shields them from the elements but also enhances their ability to focus on their craft. Enter the Haukland 7-in-1 Parka Pro.
Years of traveling the plains of the Mara have etched countless wildlife encounters into my memory. From the heart-stopping chase of a cheetah to the tender moments in prides of lions.
One of the biggest privileges of being a primatologist is spending time in remote locations with monkeys and apes, living near these animals in their habitats and experiencing their daily lives. As a 21st-century human, I have an immediate impulse to take pictures of these encounters and share them on social media.
Every so often, a photo shoot comes along, and in the middle of it, you find yourself taking a step back and mentally trying to reckon with the idea that you should be paying just to be there. Sometimes, it is the subject, and sometimes, it is the experience; the photo shoot I’m talking about today was a bit of both.
Tucked away in the artists’ enclave of Denton, Texas, Thin Line Fest is an artistic adventure filled with communal celebration and discovery. What started as a documentary film festival in 2007 is now a lively mosaic of artistic expression with seven music stages and multiple photography galleries.
There's something magical about the moment the ground falls away as we soar into the air. The helicopter's engines start to whir, and everything begins to shake. Cameras are ready, everything taped down, lens hoods removed.
At a recent electronic music performance, the English duo Rob Brown and Sean Booth, who perform as Autechre, plunged Sydney’s City Recital Hall into darkness.
The sky is a key element in landscape photography, as it can create mood and depth in your images. However, many beginners tend to overprocess the sky, making it look unnatural and fake.
My name is Martin Bissig and I am a Canon Ambassador and a professional photographer from Switzerland. My previous work has been published in over 30 countries and I work for national and international clients around the world.
In my dream I’m standing on the rim of a deep, verdant canyon. Far below, a river glinting crimson and gold in the setting sun snakes toward jagged mountains dusted with snow. My camera’s viewfinder perfectly frames this epic vista in the wilds of northern New Mexico.
Compared to other professions, photographers have it rough when it comes to the sheer quantity of equipment required. Not just physical equipment – cameras, lenses, flashes, tripods, light stands, and endless other accessories – but digital tools, too.
This landscape image has most of the ingredients that can make it a great photograph. It has a clear subject and focal point, the lighting is great, and a nice edit and mood, but… don’t you have the feeling that there is something off, and at the same time you can’t really tell what it is?
I like wide-angle lenses. So, when Pergear asked me to review the TTArtisan APS-C 10 mm lens, I gladly accepted. In this article, I will share my user experiences and feelings about the lens, construction, etc. This is not a technical review as I am not equipped for that.
Since its official debut in September 2023, the Thypoch Simera full-frame 28mm f/1.4 has sparked a heated discussion among vintage lens enthusiasts due to its rarely-seen combination of 28mm focal length and fast aperture f/1.4 in this market. Its sibling, Simera 35mm started shipping in late November 2023, the manufacturer has ramped up efforts to scale up the production of 28mm as well. Finally, the queue of back orders for Simera 28mm ushers in the shipping period.
After I posted photos from Saturday’s Chiefs vs. Dolphins sub-zero NFL playoff game, I received a lot of messages. Some were from people asking how I was able to stay warm, and the rest were from photographers who all asked the same question: “How did you keep your hands warm?” Short answer? I wasn’t able to keep my fingers warm, but I was able to maintain feeling in them.
A common challenge for photographers using wide-angle lenses is creating depth in their images. The shots may seem flat and dull if they do not have a distinct point of interest and a clear visual path that draws the viewer’s eye into the scene.
Shooting the busiest scenes we encounter while traveling in Asia can be very challenging. After 15 years of running photography tours and teaching in the area, I know that busy markets and streets can either be a photography heaven or a nightmare.
Standing on top of the desolate mountain, 4000 meters (13,000 feet) up on the Tibetan Plateau, our bodies were freezing and our batteries were dying but we needed to get the final shot for the documentary. Nearby, the thermometer read -20 degrees C (-4 degrees Fahrenheit), but the harsh wind chill made it feel much much lower.
This year has been a fascinating one in the world of photography, and like every year, it was full of incredible highs, devastating lows, and everything in between.
Recently, I took tour photos at the Lyric Theatre in Baltimore, Maryland, of my favorite comedian, Nikki Glaser. Nikki's team is using my photos to create graphics that she shares on social media to promote The Good Girl tour.
Like many photographers, I've spent years hunting the impossible combination: a high-quality camera that's also compact. Must haves: a great sensor and a wide aperture wide angle lens. Today, I’ll walk you through the meandering journey that eventually led me to the Leica Q3.
Smartphones are a staple of modern life and are changing how we see the world and show it to others. Almost 90% of Aussies own one, and we spend an average of 5.6 hours using them each day. Smartphones are also responsible for more than 90% of all the photographs made this year.
Breaking a pattern can work to bring attention to that pattern. You may not notice how quiet it is until some subtle noise disrupts that silence, reminding you of the context it is punctuating.
Photographing Sandra Day O’Connor was unlike any other photo shoot I have ever done before or since. It began with a phone call from The New York Times, asking me to meet Justice O’Connor at her house and create a portrait of her against a white background.
Like most photographers, I’ve never reviewed a piece of gear before. Also like most photographers, I tend to voraciously read reviews each time I consider upgrading. Many of these reviews parse through micro-level analysis of pixel detail, noise levels, and test charts but to me fail to answer the simple question: “will this help me get the shot?”