We all understand what an F stop is and how it’s a vital component in ensuring we have a properly exposed image, but have you ever heard of a T Stop? While they might not be as relevant to you in your day-to-day photography as F-stops, knowing what they are will give you a better understanding of how your glass works.
When it comes to understanding how depth of field, focal length and other variables are affected by different film/sensor formats, it can get confusing. Fortunately, Reddit user redblue has created an incredibly useful interactive resource that will help you better visualize the factors at play by letting you change variables while swapping sensors sizes and seeing the effect in real time.
If all outdoor photographers only shot on mild days, photography as an art would be shockingly boring. The best outdoor photography brings nature to life by capturing its extremes. Unfortunately, cameras and equipment are sensitive to those extremes.
Karl Taylor has shared a new video highlighting just how important and impactful proper lighting can be no matter what camera you choose to use. In the anecdotal video, shown above, he pits a Canon 5D Mark III against an Olympus OM-D E-M10 in the studio to show you just how similar the results are when the lighting, not the camera, is the focus of the image.
Author’s note: The following video does contain some explicit language and one instance of nudity at 3 minutes. Proceed with caution, especially if you’re at work.
Here's a video that offers a look at the life and work of Joachim Schmid, a Berlin-based artist who is obsessed not with making photographs but with finding them.
There's no shortage of methods for creating the partially animated photographs we call cinemagraphs; however, if simplicity and minimal effort is what you’re looking for in cinemagraph creation, the above tutorial by Howard Pinsky is just what you’ve been looking for.
When it comes to the quantity of lights that one needs, opinions are often heavily polarized and a hotly contested debate often rages. There are those that are staunch supporters of one light while others claim that a handful of lights are needed before anything meaningful can be done. Ultimately neither group is right as there is no definable minimum or maximum number of lights that one should use.
People often tell me that they find it difficult to take good portrait photos when they travel. Approaching strangers and asking to photograph them, usually with a language barrier, can be a daunting prospect. And how do you take a portrait that is creative and meaningful rather than just a simple snapshot of the person? I have developed approaches and techniques over the years to help become confident as a travel portrait photographer.
Conspiracy theorists often point to moon landing photos as evidence that the whole thing was faked by the US government. One of the arguments is that since there's only one main light source in the photos -- the sun -- the shadows should have been much darker and less detailed.
Dr. Hubert Nasse has been working in optics for almost 30 years. A ZEISS master, many of us dream of sitting down with a man of his optical know-how and just having a conversation in which he enlightens us (pun intended) on the basics of lens design.
In a bid to both inspire you and advertise themselves a bit, Nikon Europe gathered a group of 5 professional photographers who presented at this year’s Photokina and asked them to share their advice on what it takes to become a professional in the world of photography.
Photography pioneer Oscar Rjlander captured a self-portrait in the 1850s that is being hailed as yet another ‘first selfie ever.' But whether or not it really is the first (and that doesn't seem to be the case) it can probably claim to be the most valuable selfie (based on what we could uncover) after being sold at auction for over $100,000.
"Smile" is a common command uttered before pressing the shutter and snapping a photo, but it's not always a real smile that gets captured in the resulting portrait. How well can you distinguish a "real" smile from a "fake" one in a picture? …
Did you know that after National Geographic published its first wildlife photographs in July 1906, two of the National Geographic Society board members "resigned in disgust"? They argued that the reputable magazine was "turning into a 'picture book'".
Focus stacking is a fairly common technique used in the world of macro photography, but the process of focus stacking isn’t always a straightforward one. Sure, certain programs can automatically achieve a result for you, but when you’re looking for much more control, getting it done by other means is sometimes a necessity.
Photographer and educator Tony Northrop is stirring the pot again, offering a bit of education on a hotly debated topic. Don't worry though, this isn't about crop factor... it's arguably worse.
This time, he's taking a well-informed, in-depth look at the Canikon debate, meticulously going through the comparisons between each companies lineup of camera bodies, lenses, and flashes, and explaining why he will continue shooting Canon, despite wanting to make the switch to Nikon.
Nowadays, anybody with an Internet connection has seen tens if not hundreds of photographs taken from space. Astronauts tweet them, Hubble sends them down... rovers even putter around planets other than our own taking pictures.
The breakneck pace of photo technology advancement makes it easy to forget how young our industry really is, but we had a reminder yesterday when, not long after 'modern photography' itself turned 175 years old, the very first Canon camera celebrated its 80th birthday.
When you think of colorful ripples of 'stuff' in the sky, the first thing that probably comes to mind is the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights. But while we'll never get sick of seeing those polar spirits dance, the phenomenon above gives Aurora photography a run for its money.
If you're thinking about adding a video component to your portfolio, one of the most important-but-confusing things you'll have to wrap your head around is codecs -- the different video compression/decompression formats available to you. These not only determine the quality retained by the camera, but also affect how you will approach the post-processing of the footage.
So, you think taking your film to the local shop to get developed is a pain? Try being an American spy satellite in the 1960s. Getting your film developed then meant dropping it in a special 'film bucket' capsule from space, which the US Air Force then had to catch in mid-air.
Really want to get the most out of your new GoPro? You're in luck, because GoPro recently turned to their own in-house production team and asked them to create a series of tutorials called the GoPro Field Guide.
This photo isn't actually a photo. From the furniture to the beautiful light falling on the countertops and wood floors, what you're looking at is a CGI rendering that has replaced 75% of the 'photos' in the IKEA catalogs the college kids, divorced men and NYC residents in your life have lying around.
Earlier today, B&H officially launched a new online resource called the Canon Lens Experience. It’s a dedicated microsite that takes a comprehensive look at the various lenses Canon offers, presenting unique and interactive features that demonstrate the various capabilities.
One of the more interesting stories we ran across this weekend was an initial update from a small group of scientists who claim to have successfully extended human vision into near infrared. Their data seems to show that they have, indeed, managed to do this simply by altering their subjects' diet by restricting vitamin A1 and supplementing with A2 in order to create a certain protein complex. You can read more about this here.
It’s no secret now that modern cameras have taken photographers to new heights with their ability to shoot at and above ISO 1600. Personally, I can now shoot in situations where previously, I ‘had no choice’ but to use flash or put the camera down, so it’s no surprise many photographers are taking advantage of high ISO to be able to shoot in poor existing light.
Filmmaker Richard Michalak has spent over 30 years behind the camera, and in the video above by Hugh Fenton he condenses all of that knowledge into a set of tips, techniques and concepts that will prove to be incredibly useful whether or not your interests involve moving pictures.
To paraphrase the great Oprah Winfrey, "You get a photography eBook, YOU get a photography eBook, EVERYBODY gets photography eBooks!" Except in this case it isn't Oprah you have to thank, but the folks over at Light Stalking who have put together two great lists of 23 free eBooks each.
It’s not news that lighting makes or breaks an image, particularly portraits. But in Perception Is Reality by photographer Sebastian Petrovski, we get a better first-hand look at just how influential lighting can be when trying to accurately and most pleasingly capture the face and features of individuals.
There are times when capturing portraits that you’ll notice the skin tone of the subject varies between their face and their body. It’s a rather common occurrence and by no means out of the ordinary. Caused by a number of factors, including makeup, tan, skin quality, lighting quality, etc.
Photoshop actions can be a critical resource in any photographer’s workflow. Turning otherwise monotonous tasks into an autonomous utility, actions are created by manually performing a series of steps and recording them as an ATN file. This ATN file can then be ‘played’ in the future, when you’re looking to repeat those actions on future images, without the hassle of repeating the now-recorded workflow.
If you’re looking for a dead-simple product shot setup that will yield impressive results, this two minute tutorial is just what you’re needing.
Here's a fascinating little photography history lesson for you, and it'll only take up two minutes and fifty seconds of your time. Put together by Engineer Guy Bill Hammack, the video above tells the remarkable story of George Eastman, and how he revolutionized photography.
When people are browsing around online for photographs to use, be them for an article, a project or something else, it’s vital to know whether or not they’re allowed to use the image. Even if they’re allowed to use the image, it’s important to know what all can be done with it.
Erik Almas is here today to share his personal perspective on what a composition is and where he believes it falls in the world of photography. Beyond sharing his thoughts on digital compositions though, he also takes a BTS look at the making of one of his more recent compositions, using images captured while in the deserts of Namibia.
As photography technology continues to improve year in and year out, the ISO ranges we’re capable of pulling quality images from are getting truly ridiculous. But as amazing as the improvements in ISO are, it's important to have an understanding of what ISO actually is and how you can make the most of these growing numbers.
We've said this about a few other wedding photography resources, but this infographic is the kind of thing every bride and groom should be shown before they embark on the harrowing journey of hiring a wedding photographer. If they did, maybe they wouldn't be so shocked at what are, essentially, perfectly reasonable prices.
A couple of days ago, we republished a short tutorial by talented photographer Justin Ng that explained how he uses the Expose To The Right (ETTR) method to capture milky way photos in the heavy light pollution of Singapore.
Who Pays Photographers? is a Tumblr dedicated to demystifying at least some of the compensation standards held by many editorial clients throughout the world.
Only NASA could turn photography into literal rocket science. As Reddit user truetofiction points out in a resource-rich post, NASA meticulously decided upon a number of factors that determined the fate of the space-bound Hasselblads and the resulting images.
If you’ve ever been interested in developing your own film, but don’t know where to get started, this comprehensive video by YouTube user Photography_Bloke might be just the resource you’ve been looking for.
When you drop hundreds or thousands of dollars on a new piece of fast glass, it’s natural to want to shoot it wide-open until the focusing ring falls off. But, the idea that for all portraits you want to be wide open and for all landscapes you want to be stopped down isn’t true. Here to explain in the above video is photographer Matt Granger.
There are many of us who sigh at hearing the dreaded acronym, HDR. Oftentimes we associate it with oversaturated, cartoon-like compositions put together from half a dozen worth of frames. But that’s not the only way to approach HDR. As with everything, it’s a variable, not definitive.
A few weeks ago we shared with you the first part of a series Karl Taylor created, explaining the inverse square law of light. That is, the intensity of light given off from a source is inversely proportional to the square distance from the source. In the video he shares a number of examples, using a model and his own setup as a demonstration. Now, he’s back with part two.
It’s not news that RAW files have a far greater latitude than the same JPEG photographs. However, many beginners only understand this difference on a theoretical level.
As much information as we’re able to pull in through the Internet, there is one thing that can never be obtained through words or pictures on a screen: experience. Through time and experience, information turns to knowledge, and we begin to wrap our heads around the complicated concepts that baffled us in the beginning.
It was 45 years ago, yesterday, astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins took on what is without a doubt one of the most important endeavors in the history of humankind. Packed together into one of the most incredible pieces of engineering to ever exist, the astronauts of Apollo 11 left Earth’s atmosphere, with hopes of being the first humans to ever step foot on the Moon.
It’s not unusual for colleges with large open-source programs to put out a number of courses free for the world to browse through online. In the past we’ve featured courses from both MIT and Stanford.
Exposure bracketing is the practice of taking several exposures – at least two, usually more – of the same scene. With each exposure taken, the goal is to vary the exposure time, effectively giving you more range to work with in post when all is said and done. Nowadays such capability is implemented into the firmware of cameras, allowing you to automatically set this up and capture all of the exposure with only one press of the shutter.
