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Canon EOS R3: The art of moving forward

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The tracks begin to ring.

I listen closely with the engine roaring louder and louder as each second passes and ready my camera…my finger resting steady on the shutter.

The forest; the leaves; the freight train tearing by and then slowly fading; everything falling quiet again — it all makes me think of Riley. After his passing, my therapy was walking along these tracks, camera in hand. Many times I would never even take a shot, instead preferring to immerse myself in the stillness and color around me.

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I built a Frankenstein large format wet plate camera from scratch for photographing ghosts

Corrine at Corrine West Photography booked a wet plate workshop with me before the pandemic started. Two years later we were finally able to do it. The main subject was to get comfortable with the wet collodion process and to create images similar to the ones of spirit photographer William H. Mumler. Mr. Mumler created images (probably double exposures) where his clients could take a picture with their deceased relatives.

The photograph of Mary Todd Lincoln with the “ghost” of her husband (Abraham Lincoln) was his most famous one. Corrine found my double exposure wet plates and that was the reason she contacted me in the first place. About two months before the workshop Corrine surprised me with a question: “Can we build a wet plate camera together?”. I talked with a friend and after a long visit to a DIY market, I was sure that we can do it. A DIY Camera and capturing ghosts. That sounds like a fun workshop to me!

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The importance of teaming up with other photographers in your photo walks

Amy Joseph, who has a small gallery in tiny Pismo Beach, California, agreed to go on a photoshoot with me of her amazingly photogenic coastal town and led the way.

No, we weren’t going to photograph the Pier (everyone does that) and when I suggested doing the sunset from the top of the nearby hotel, she said no. “All we would get is a shot of the parking lot,” she said.

Instead, we walked left from the pier, about a mile, and ended up at a butterfly preserve that happened to have really nice trees. A spot she knew, but I didn’t. From this vantage point, we would photograph the sunset that way, through the branches.

And yes, the shot was amazing.

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How to clean up San Francisco from camera thefts

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If you missed the explosive report by KGO-TV reporter Dan Noyes on the theft epidemic in San Francisco, I want to both share his stories, and offer some common-sense solutions to a problem that’s gotten way out of hand.

You know that thieves in San Francisco (and elsewhere) are smashing the windows of cars to rob stuff, sensing that the police won’t chase or arrest them. Photographers have been followed by thieves, had their gear taken, which got quickly resold on the streets. They easily move laptops in broad daylight, and even though they’ve been recorded on video doing so, the city continues to allow it to happen, with few arrests.

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Lighting setup: Indoor swimwear shoot

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Shooting swimwear outside in natural light is nearly always the best solution, after all, the bright, crisp sunshine is an easy-win when it comes to making swimwear look good. But what if an outdoor shoot simply isn’t practical or even possible due to location and of course weather?

In this article I’ll discuss a simple indoor setup that can be created in almost any sized space and with standard kit. This setup isn’t trying to synthesise daylight indoors like I’ve done before, but it is about recreating that feeling of an outdoor shoot and I’ll share a couple of tricks I employ to do just that.

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Make your own DIY trekpak for under $20

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The Trekpak Case Divider System is a beautiful piece of design. It’s simple, it’s clean, and most importantly, you can switch up your configuration to your needs. It’s meant to replace the current pick-n-pluck foam system that Pelican and other hard shell manufacturers use. The problem with the pick-n-pluck system is once you pull out the foam, you’re stuck with that set-up. If you decide to change the setup, your only option is to replace it with a new foam insert. This will set you back at least $30, depending on your Pelican case and size.

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I designed and 3D printed my own grid for the Aputure MC and here’s why

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I love shooting product photos and videos with the Aputure AL-MC. It’s such a versatile and powerful helper compared to its size. I use it on almost every product shoot.

There’s only one thing that is not ideal and that’s the light spill. The MC has a super wide angle of light spread, so you will get light spilling onto your background unless you have a big studio where you can put the background system a few meters away from your scene.

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How I modified a GameBoy camera to take astro and macro photos

This is a Gameboy Camera. A device that turns any Gameboy into a camera.

Released in 1998 and retailing for $50 (equivalent to $85 in today’s money) it was the smallest digital camera on the market at the time.

It works just like any other game for the Gameboy, it just slots into the back. And just like that, you’ve turned your handheld gaming console into a fully-fledged point-and-shoot camera. It was brilliant as the Gameboy’s large screen was used as the viewfinder.

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Camera hack: Snap Focus on Fuji cameras

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Ricoh’s GR cameras and Fujifilm’s X-E and X100 series are probably the most popular affordable street photography cameras. Although both are ultra-compact APS-C cameras, there is at least one unique street photography feature that sets Ricoh apart from Fuji: snap focus. This allows the camera to be set to a fixed focusing distance (such as 3 meters/10ft) for ultra-fast snapping. When Snap Focus is enabled, the camera shoots with minimal delay because the autofocus does not hunt.

In addition, Snap Focus minimizes the risk of misfocusing when a photographer has internalized the right distance between camera and subject and set a small aperture for a wider depth of field. Snap Focus is therefore a direct functional equivalent of traditional zone focusing techniques in rangefinder photography but on a digital autofocus camera.

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