Editorial

Benchmarking Performance: Lightroom on M1 vs Rosetta 2 vs Intel

Today Adobe publicly announced native support for Apple Silicon, which means you won't have to emulate with Rosetta 2 to edit photos if you have a new M1-equipped Mac. But is there a noticeable improvement over emulation, or even over Intel-based machines? After testing, we have some answers.

AI Editing Will NOT Ruin Photography

AI is the #1 buzzword in the digital photography world. Skylum, which has ridden the AI photo editing craze better than any company, is about to release Luminar AI. ON1 now offers ON1 Portrait AI. DxO announced DxO DeepPRIME, which it describes as “an artificial intelligence technology dedicated to editing photos in RAW format.”

5 Facts About Vision that Will Change the Way You Take Pictures

One of the best ways to broaden your horizons and inject a little inspiration into your photography is to explore subjects outside the world of photography. To study painting or take a course in graphic design, for example. But I recently discovered a fount of photographic inspiration in an unusual place: a neuroscience lab.

The Problem with the Utah Monolith

Just the other day, a tall metal “monolith” was discovered in the Utah desert. From what I have learned, this tower of shiny metal was placed in a very out-of-the-way location sometime in 2016 (based on its sudden appearance in Google Earth images in that time frame.) In the ensuing week, this object has created quite a public stir and generated even more theories about its origin.

Shooting Portraits Inside a London COVID Hospital

I first came to the hospital back in June, having decided that the stories and experiences of the front line staff shouldn’t be forgotten. We’d all seen inside the Italian hospitals, but when the virus hit the UK, there was nothing coming out of the UK, so I made it my mission to gain access and document the life and death struggles going on behind closed doors.

Why Canon is Winning Full-Frame Mirrorless

When the mirrorless race began in earnest at the end of 2018, nobody knew who would come out on top. Three years and more than 10 full-frame mirrorless camera bodies later, the answer is obvious: Canon is winning big, and they've done it by going "all in" on the RF Mount.

Apple Silicon is a True Game-Changer for Photographers

Late last week, Apple unveiled its most consequential product in at least a decade. 10 years, 9 months, 2 weeks, and 2 days after Steve Jobs took the stage to unveil the first iPad, Tim Cook announced the release of three new Macs powered by Apple's own M1 system on a chip (SOC)... changing the industry forever.

Street Photography Is Not a Crime. Let’s Keep it That Way.

The New York Daily News recently published an opinion piece by a writer named Jean Son titled “When your photograph harms me: New York should look to curb unconsensual photography of women” and I would like to address it here.

Will AI Editing Ruin Photography? And What Is The Solution?

I recently watched a video on YouTube by the very popular landscape photographer Thomas Heaton. The video was titled "AI editing will ruin photography as we know it" where Thomas discusses a new photo editing program soon to be released by Skylum: Luminar AI.

AI and the Battle for the Future of Photo Editing

For photographers, AI photo editing is no longer a fringe topic for ML researchers or a gimmick employed by smartphone apps. With the impending release of Skylum's Luminar AI and Adobe calling the latest build of Photoshop "the world’s most advanced AI application for creatives," it's time for the community to reckon with an important question: What does this mean for photography, photo editing, and creativity at large?

FFS, My Camera Should Be Better Than My Phone…

Dear camera manufacturers, I am deeply annoyed that my phone often takes better pictures than my DSLR (or any mirrorless) straight out of the camera.

What it Takes to Not Fail at Photography

When I was young, I had a vivid imagination but no real inclination towards art and creativity. I distinctly remember having trouble keeping my crayons within the lines of any coloring book I attempted. Fast forward to today and I’m 35 and have been a full-time professional photographer for seven years and a shooter for 13 years.

Michael Sasser Talks About Dealing With Negativity in the Photo Industry

Many of you, like myself, have gone through the journey of putting yourself out there as a creative. It’s a part of the territory that goes into showing people your work: whether that’s having an Instagram profile and networking, or opening up a YouTube channel. Some of us may go even further and begin teaching and becoming a person that others go to for information about our craft.

The Photography Community Joins Forces to Get Out the Vote

An anxiety-ridden nation trepidatiously waits as November 3rd and the 59th presidential election rapidly approaches. And with so many absentee ballots already dropped off in ballot boxes or mailed — not to mention wild stories of hours-long waits for eager early voters — early voting data suggests that voter participation in this election is set to make history.

Apple iPhone 12 vs Ricoh GR3: Street Photography Comparison

Hello photography fans. Today I am going to pit the Ricoh GR III—the reigning champ of street photography—against the new iPhone 12. I want to see if the new iPhone will be able to replace, at least to a certain extent, your camera and if it still makes sense to buy a compact camera if the street photography is your main genre.

What is Photography Without an Audience?

Audience: a broad term, of course. Evokes all kinds of responses. Since this is a photoblog I am referencing the audience that sees our work. In this very odd and terrible of times, I find that having no audience for my photographs is very difficult.

7 Pieces of Advice Every New Wedding Photographer Needs to Hear

Photographer Pye Jirsa of SLR Lounge recently put together a video that every budding wedding photographer should watch. It's basically his version of "7 things I wish I'd known when I first started out as a wedding photographer," and it answers some of the most common questions (and dispels some common myths) about this popular genre.

6 Lessons Henri Cartier-Bresson Can Teach the Modern Photographer

I love looking in detail at another photographer’s work. To immerse yourself in someone else’s creativity—to see what their ideas spark inside of you, what excites you, what makes you sit up and think 'Wow, that’s really cool!'—that’s all great fuel for your own photography.

Hands On: Street Photography with the Ricoh GR3 in Japan

I've always tried to create visual content with the highest possible quality and resolution, paying a lot of attention to detail and composition. In the beginning of my career that meant using large and medium formats, but lately, one of my favorite cameras is quite the opposite.

How Richard Nixon ‘Stole’ This Photo and Twisted It Into a Campaign Slogan

American people standing up to the Soviets! America needs Nixon! These were some of the tag lines attached to this photo during Nixon’s presidential campaign in 1960. But behind every picture, there is a story. And this is one of those photos where the story is just as good as the picture.

The Best Gear for Storm Photography

I first became interested in storms when I was a boy growing up in Texas, the only state in the US that experiences tornadoes, hurricane and blizzards on a regular basis. I built a scale model of a supercell thunderstorm inside a clear plexiglass box using cotton and a light bulb for lightning, and won first place in the weather category at our local science fair. Then I got permission from my mother to climb onto our roof and build a weather station.

How Yelp Scams Photographers (and Other Business Owners)

If you’re a local business owner, you know that your number-one priority, day-in and day-out, is marketing your services and finding new customers. And in this digital age, the available options for marketing are surprisingly limited.

4 Reasons Not to Switch Camera Systems

Do you want to switch from Canon to Sony? From Sony to Nikon? From Nikon to Panasonic? From Panasonic to Fujifilm? Well, I’m going to ask you to stop, take a deep breath, and consider doing the most boring thing: absolutely nothing. Instead of switching camera brands, you should probably stick with what you have.

Infrared Ghouls and Goblins: A Fresh Take on Halloween Photography

A couple of years ago I was shooting Halloween yard scenes in a street photography kind of way when I realized that I wasn't really satisfied with what I was getting. Over the last two decades, Halloween has been transformed into a major U.S. holiday focused on lavish front yard displays that often look boringly the same down street after street.

The RF 28-70mm f/2 L: Canon’s Bag of Primes

It’s heavy, expensive, does not have image stabilization, and is impractical for most photographers. It also happens to be one of the best zoom lenses ever made.

Fujifilm X-S10 Review: The Welterweight Challenger

Fujifilm is considered by many to be the champion of the APS-C sensor space. Heavyweights like the X-T4 and the X-Pro3 dominate the ring with first-class features – for an equally heavyweight price. So, what is available to someone with a more modest budget who still wants to get in the ring?

Photographing Every National Park in Victoria, Australia

As a weekend photographer and keen explorer of our natural spaces, I recently(ish) set myself a photo project of capturing every land-based national park in my home state of Victoria, located in the south-east corner of Australia. Visiting all 45 of them took two years of regular trips, outside work and other travels.

4 Things I’ve Learnt About Photography in 2020 (so far)

What a strange year this has been, right? Yet, curiously, this has also been a year in which I have probably taken the greatest leaps in my photography for some time. Because when you are doing something new, or have been pushed into a new way of life, you can either freeze and panic... or you can use it as an opportunity to try new things. To innovate.

Akaka Falls by Moonlight: How I Got the Shot

Summer and Fall are wonderful for photographing the Milky Way here in Hawai'i. We have many locations with dark skies and breathtaking scenery too. In October, the brightest part of the Milky Way (galactic core) is near the horizon at sunset; by November it'll be below the horizon when it gets dark.

The Building Blocks of Artistic Portrait Photography

Of the many creative photographic genres, it is perhaps portrait photography where two camps—the representative and the artistic—can be most clearly observed. Whilst the former requires context through captions and backstory to elevate it, in the later, the absence of such requires creative aptitude. Attempting to merge both camps in one photograph can often diminish its effectiveness.

Is There Anything Nikon Can Do to Keep Up With the Competition?

On the 14th of October, Nikon is set to announce its latest cameras. These are due to be updates to the Z 7 and Z 6 mirrorless cameras. There are a lot of expectations, but the biggest expected update for these cameras is... the second card slot.

Why I’m Still Using Picasa in 2020

Google’s Picasa was first released in 2002 as a quick way to catalog and edit your photos en masse. In 2015, Google released its last update and has since replaced it with the now ubiquitous Google Photos.

How COVID-19 is Impacting the Commercial Photography Set

Has COVID-19 impacted the look of ad campaigns? Maybe, but probably not by as much as you might think. What is impacted, however, is the way that a commercial photography set operates for the foreseeable future.

Gear Doesn’t Matter? Actually, It Does

There is a phrase that I see regularly pop up on photography forums that I think is horrible advice for emerging photographers or anyone getting started in the image-making business. It is repeated over and over again and while the intent might be good, I think it does a disservice to beginners who don’t know any better.

Social Media Injustice?

Social media is always an uproar, there's no way around it. Photography social media is much the same, and mostly it's mostly harmless fun. I want to draw attention to two recent episodes that were not harmless fun, and which I worry point toward a larger trend.