Jayphen Simpson

Articles by Jayphen Simpson

Google Unveils 3 Experimental Photo Apps For Smartphones

Google has created a trio of apps that utilize experimental technology in a bid to push forward the possibilities of smartphone photography and videography. The apps — Storyboard, Selfissmo!, and Scrubbies — use techniques like smart object recognition and person segmentation algorithms similar to Portrait Mode to enable creative editing of images and video.

How Portrait Mode Works and How It Compares to an $8,000 Camera

Dual cameras have become ubiquitous in the smartphone world, and with them has emerged a new technique for simulating a shallow depth of field -- the feature commonly called ‘Portrait Mode’. This 10-minute video from Marques Brownlee explains how it works, and it also pits Portrait Mode on an iPhone X, Note 8, and Pixel 2 against the $8,000 medium format camera Hasselblad X1D.

How to Deal With Creative Envy as a Photographer

In his signature story-telling style, photographer Sean Tucker sits us down in this video for a 10-minute talk about handling creative envy and jealousy as a photographer or videographer. As he says, comparing yourself to other creatives can stall your career and breed resentment, and it’s important to know how to identify and check these thoughts.

The Difference Between Vibrance and Saturation

To the untrained eye, the difference between the vibrance and saturation sliders is not immediately obvious. Jesús Ramirez of Photoshop Training Channel explains the subtle difference between these two useful tools in this 5-minute video.

KIKI: Designer Cotton Camera Straps Handcrafted in India

Conventional synthetic camera straps may be either comfortable or attractive, but it can be difficult to find one that's both. Enter KIKI. Photographer Kishor Krishnamoorthi is producing a line of designer camera straps that are crafted in India from a breathable and soft, yet strong, cotton fabric.

Conquering Your Camera Settings in Landscape Photography

Understanding basic camera settings is important so that you know how to react in different conditions such as varying light, moving subjects, or to achieve maximum depth-of-field. In this 10-minute video, Adam Karnacz from First Man Photography discusses his techniques for working his camera while doing landscape photography.

5 Ways to Change the Color of Anything in Photoshop

Changing the color of an object using Photoshop is a typical use case for the software, and there are many ways to do it. This 20-minute video from Nathaniel Dodson of tutvid that examines 5 separate ways to re-color or add color to objects.

Stop Asking About Camera Settings

Photographer Tony Northrup wants you to stop asking photographers about their camera settings. In this 7-minute video, he explains why the camera settings that were used for an image are relatively unimportant and a distraction from the real work that goes into making a shot.

Speed Up Photo Viewing in Lightroom with 1:1 Previews

Ask any photographer their least-favorite thing about Adobe Lightroom, and they will most likely tell you it’s the application’s speed. There are a few tricks to help optimize the responsiveness of Lightroom, and this minute-long Lightroom coffee break video focuses on generating 1:1 previews.

Harnessing the Power of Auto-Stacking in Lightroom

Auto-stacking in Lightroom can quickly organize a huge set of images in to more manageable ‘stacks’, which are small groups of images grouped according to their capture time. This 6-minute video from photographer Anthony Morganti shows how you can use the feature to speed up your workflow.

4 Common Photo Composition Errors and How to Fix Them

When it comes to composition “rules”, it’s important to understand the concepts so that you have them in the back of your mind while shooting. You’re not going to jail if you break them, but you will likely end up with a better image if you follow them! This 6-minute video from photographer Evan Ranft runs through 4 common composition mistakes that photographers make, and how to avoid them.

Are Photographers Ruining Photography For Photographers?

Photographer Brendan van Son recorded this 9-minute video in which he shares his frustration with the current landscape of photography in the social media era. Is the influx of new photographers ruining the joy of photography by crowding locations and behaving impolitely towards others?

Using LAB Color in Photoshop to Add Color and Punch to Photos

The LAB color space is particularly useful for boosting colors and definition in images due to the way it handles colors when compared to RGB and CMYK. Rather than describing how colors should appear on a screen or in print, LAB is designed to approximate human vision. Colin Smith of photoshopCAFE shows in this video how this color space can be utilized in Photoshop to easily improve your images.

5 Dos and Don’ts When Shooting With Models

Photographing a human subject successfully has a lot to do with making a connection, making sure your model is feeling comfortable, and being respectful. In this 10-minute video, photographer Manny Ortiz teams up with his wife Diana (who is a model herself) to talk about the do’s and don’ts of working with models.

Using Focus Stacking on Landscapes for Extreme Depth of Field

Focus stacking is a technique typically used in macro shots to achieve a large depth of field. It’s a relatively simple concept: take many images focused at slightly different distances and combine the sharp portions to a single image in post. This 6-minute video from landscape photographer Mark Denney will show you how to utilise the technique in landscape photography.

How to Master Photoshop’s Pen Tool in Just 30 Minutes

Mastery of the pen tool enables complex vector shapes and selections that can be used for masking or extracting elements from an image. There is a bit of a learning curve to the tool, but this 30-minute video from Unmesh Dinda of PiXimperfect will teach you everything from the fundamentals to real-world use.

Pixelmator Pro to Feature AI-Powered Photo Editing Features

Pixelmator is an image editor for macOS that launched back in 2007 and has since grown into a formidable alternative to Adobe Photoshop in a previously untouchable domain. Now the company has just announced a Pro version of its software, which is set to be released this fall.

Comparing Canon and Sony Full Frame Cameras That Cost Under $2,000

Photographers now have a number of options for full-frame camera bodies that can be had for less than $2,000, but how do they stack up? This video from The Slanted Lens compares three of them: the Sony a7 II, the Canon 6D Mark II, and a used Canon 5D Mark III. They’re all brilliant cameras, but which comes out on top in terms of quality?