Over the past few years, I've experienced a number of lenses that were optically stunning. Near-perfect examples of optical technology, lenses like the Sony 135mm f/1.8 (which I reviewed and loved) and 24mm f/1.4 (also loved) along with the Canon RF 28-70mm f/2 or their RF 50mm f/1.2 all exhibited these traits of pushing towards "perfection."
I don’t want to photograph models. They are lovely and beautiful and work with you and do what you ask and most are a dream to photograph, resulting in beautiful images. All this is true, but… I don’t want to photograph them. I don’t.
As camera technology continues to progress, the way in which we operate them is changing as well. Photographers should always use the most familiar and effective technique to get the shot, and to that end I want to be clear about the purpose of this article: I’m not trying to convince anyone to blindly stop using back-button focus.
On December 19, 2019, Flickr (and SmugMug) CEO Don MacAskill posted a letter entitled “The world’s most-beloved, money-losing business needs your help.” MacAskill described how SmugMug saved Flickr from an imminent demise at the hands of Verizon, and how the company needed the photo community to step up to staunch the money-losing operation.
After the Second World War, if you were a professional photographer, then you would have used cameras from companies like Hasselblad and Leica. Photojournalists tended to shoot predominantly with Leica cameras, and they were essentially the standard.
When it comes to image quality, there are very few cameras that can compete against a good medium format system. The resolution, detail, and colors they produce are difficult to match using cameras with a smaller sensor. This is one of the reasons manufacturers can charge what they do for these types of cameras. The issue, however, is that many people tend to romanticize what medium format cameras are. And for the most part, it’s complete nonsense.
I guess we've all been there: people question our images, saying they're "fake" because we edit our raw files.
At the turn of the millennium, veteran photojournalist David Hume Kennerly embarked on a project using a single camera outfitted with a single lens – a medium format Mamiya 7II with a 43mm f/4.5 lens. As he crisscrossed the country, he committed to taking a photo each day, which culminated in his book Photo du Jour.
Yes, it's post-processed. I get this question all the time, like every other photographer on the planet, and it often sparks heated debates that challenge the notion of objective reality and the meaning of photography.
Photographer and YouTuber Matt Granger just released a video titled "The Truth About Sony," but while this might sound like some sort of exposé, it's really not. What we have here is an honest discussion about the growing pains that Sony users have been dealing with for years, and how Sony has addressed (almost) all of those issues over the past couple of years.
I think the question of whether something is or is not "art" is a bit disingenuous, often used more as a tool for gatekeeping than true analysis or critique. There is no objective standard for what makes something enjoyable as a piece of art, whether that's a photograph, music, sculpture, or a blade of grass in a field.
Flickr users received an email a few days ago asking for help to save Flickr by subscribing to the Flickr Pro service. Don MacAskill, the CEO of both SmugMug and Flickr, explained that the platform is still losing money and needs our help to keep it alive.
Quite often when I’m browsing my Facebook photographic communities I see posts from people who are depressed because they have lost interest in their hobby. They usually say that they can’t work up the enthusiasm to get out there and photograph anything and that they haven’t even picked up their cameras in weeks, months or even years. They have lost their ‘phojo’ and they wonder if they’ll ever get it back.
Photographer and occasional PetaPixel guest author Robin Wong recently published a very interesting take on a question that most people thought was settled: why is the camera market shrinking? While most people would just blame the rise of smartphones and call it a day, Wong shares a more nuanced, and possibly more accurate, list of reasons.
Telephoto lenses and landscape photography may seem an odd pairing. Telephotos are more at home in the hands of wildlife, sports, and portrait photographers. They’re used to get close to the subject, help to compress perspective (cue the comments on "lens compression is a myth") and isolate distracting elements.
In a recent interview with DPReview, Olympus VP of Sales and Marketing Aki Murata laid out the company's market position quite eloquently, explaining why (and how) Olympus intends to compete in a camera market that is increasingly focused on full-frame.
My son texted me the other day asking for my meatball recipe. It’s a rarity that he texts me for recipes, so I was thrilled to my toes. About a week later, my daughter texted me asking for my fresh pumpkin pie recipe. Again, joy spread through my body as I thought to myself, “Finally.”
Should you buy an iPhone 11 Pro? That’s a big question many people have had on their minds since Apple recently released their latest flagship smartphone that contains 3 different rear-facing cameras. However, a thorough answer to that question isn’t cut and dry.
I used my Nikon D610 to take the last photograph of my mom before she died. I’ve documented my children's lives nearly everyday. The rubber grip is wearing thin in spots. A rubber tab on the bottom is chronically flapping loose; my fingers push it back into place out of habit. This camera has become an extension of me, and I have grown to love it. But it has not always been that way.
Before I going into this one, let me first share a little recap about my background with Apple. A number of years back, I was in love with the iPhone 4S. I felt it was a phone made for photographers and supported it wholeheartedly, going so far as doing speeches at Apple stores about how their products catered to my workflow.
I want to start this off by saying two things: one, this isn't a review or hands-on impressions as I have not used the computer (PetaPixel's hands-on coverage is forthcoming) and two, I am an Apple power user and have been since I was indoctrinated in high school.
Photography can be an expensive pursuit, and the cost of things (and the pressure to buy them all, buy them new, and buy them now) can get in the way of putting that money in better places.
Yesterday, I was at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia shooting for Flashes of Hope, a wonderful non-profit organization that gets photographers like myself to volunteer their time and create portraits of kids who are literally fighting for their lives. These portraits are given to the families for free. Flashes of Hope is a truly wonderful group.
Over four years ago in 2015, when we were all still optimistic about the Canon 5D Mark IV, Sony released the a7R II. This was a 42.4MP full-frame camera that also offered the ability to shoot 4k video using the full width of the sensor. This camera took many photographers by surprise because almost no one was expecting Sony to release such a camera. Sure, it had lots of flaws and it was somewhat of a beta release; but still, it put Sony on the map.
The Canon 1DX Mark III is shaping up to be one of the most exciting mirrorless cameras on the market, matching or outpacing the current industry standard in the Sony a9 and a9 II. Yes, you read that right: if the upcoming 1DX Mark III only has the features that were teased yesterday, it will be a killer mirrorless camera that just happens to have a mirror.
The release of the Fuji X-Pro3 this morning came as a bit of a surprise to me; not what was unveiled, but the general reception to it. So many comments (yes, I know you're not supposed to read the comments) of ridicule and annoyance were not what I was expecting. And as I read them (which I promise not to do again) I noticed an underlying theme that was a bit worrying.
One of the world's leading independent experts on Leica has announced that he's saying "farewell to the Leica world." He states that because of recent decisions and developments at the company, "the soul of Leica products has been eradicated."
Right now if you head over to Kickstarter and search for "camera bag," three active choices pop up. That's three more camera bag ideas vying for your attention in addition to the tons that have hit Kickstarter over the years and the hundreds more made by larger brands like Lowepro, Manfrotto and Think Tank.
A year or so ago, I wrote an article on why I switched from Nikon to Sony. A few people asked why I didn’t move to the Nikon mirrorless system. And the answer was simple: I didn’t want to risk shooting a wedding with a single memory card slot.
In 2010, the world's tallest skyscraper was completed in Dubai. Standing a staggering 2,722 feet tall, the Burj Khalifa towered over the next tallest building by over 700ft. It was a feat of engineering, and a beautiful and shining addition to one of the most impressive skylines in the world. But they didn't consider one issue: feces. In this way, the Burj Khalifa and the new Nikon Noct lens have something in common.
While reading the reaction to our coverage of the Sony a9 II announcement yesterday, one comment really stuck out to me as an excellent summation of a subject that's been buzzing around my mind for about a month now: "Sony reaching the edge of feasible. Now they don't know what to add anymore."
The latest Sony flagship full-frame mirrorless camera is finally available (I say "latest" instead of just "the" because Sony insists they have at any given time up to three and sometimes four flagship cameras). And yet, I contend that a vast majority of those interested in the a7R IV shouldn't buy it.
Over the past few weeks, two separate pieces have been published here on PetaPixel attacking YouTube photographers and camera reviewers. Whether it be this video from Mik Milman, or this latest piece from Bob Locher, the low hanging fruit seems to be the idea that the "general YouTube camera reviewer" has no idea what they're talking about. This is ridiculous, and wrong.
As for many other things, YouTube is a wonderful trove of opinion and information. This is certainly true for photographic interests. And a huge percentage of photographers are particularly interested in still photography, as opposed to videography.
Dear Live Nation, …
After going back and forth for months (read: years) between Sony and Fuji, never being entirely happy with either one, I ended up with... a Nikon system.
If you want to piss off a majority of professional photographers, show them a smartphone camera rig setup and explain how great it is. Better yet, show them an article about an iPhone-only wedding photographer. I've seen this reaction countless times, and it's especially prevalent when you look at smartphone photography accessories.
Sooner or later, every professional photographer runs into similar situations. Situations that are uncomfortable for the photographer and the client. One is the topic of post-production and retouching. Some clients might tell you that your retouching fee is too high. Others might tell you to not do any retouching. And then some others might ask you to send them all the pictures.
Professional event photographer and photography teacher Mik Milman recently published a video that's bound to receive some mixed reactions. In it, Milman laments the dearth of experience of many photographers who pass themselves off as "experts" on YouTube, earning thousands of followers and possibly misleading beginners by offering bad advice and unqualified critiques.
Photographer Ted Forbes of The Art of Photography recently published a well-reasoned and logical response to the Mirrorless vs DSLR debate that recently peaked with the announcement of the Nikon D6. In his video, Forbes offers a much more nuanced take than many of the arguments you've probably seen in various corners of the Internet.
Landscape and travel photographer James Popsys has noticed a troubling habit lately: he's posting things "for the dopamine hit," and he doesn't believe he's the only one. The result, says Popsys, is a "photographic groupthink," caused by social media, that encourages people to post the same thing over and over, just because it's popular.
When I was a little girl, I lived in Incirlik AFB, Turkey. We lived for a year off base on the third floor of a very large apartment building. My parents spoke no Turkish and the landlady spoke no English, but somehow, they managed just fine.
Photographer, YouTuber, and educator Serge Ramelli must be a glutton for punishment, because his most recent video reveals his opinion on a very controversial question: is retouching cheating?
I normally don’t write articles discussing new camera bodies like the Sony a6600, nor do I often get into fine detail on camera specs in general. But since I have been shooting with a Sony a6300 for a few years already, and have been eagerly wanting to upgrade to a newer Sony camera, I feel it is a good time for me to jump in on the subject.
Photography is an art and a commercial business. As a black-owned, woman-run business, Judah Avenue is both a passion project and an entrepreneurial breakthrough for me. I quit corporate America to pursue my art. As a girl who was born and raised in Ghana, that simply wasn’t something that was ever presented as a viable path for me.
I believe all artists experience “blocks” every once in a while. Feelings of discouragement or lack of motivation, inspiration, and will to do something we know we love to do.
I’ll begin by saying that I don’t only shoot with zoom lenses. I should also add that what I’m about to say is perhaps most relevant to other wedding photographers, particularly those shooting in a documentary style like myself.
Before the rise of social media and the ubiquity of apps like Instagram, photographers established and flexed their brands through their personal website and blog. The photographer website supplanted the printed portfolio, for the most part, offering photographers a way to showcase their work with a remote audience of photo editors, customers, and fans.
Is noise in photos always bad? It might seem like a rhetorical question with an obvious and universal answer: yes. But landscape photographer and YouTuber James Popsys begs to differ in an opinion video that will no doubt spark some debate.
I was excited when Canon and Nikon finally stepped into the mirrorless game seriously more seriously, releasing their full-frame mirrorless cameras in 2018. Nikon launched their Z6 and Z7 with the new Z-Mount, while Canon released the EOS-R with a new RF-Mount.
