Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
It’s been a minute since we’ve heard anything new about Sharp’s interchangeable lens 8K Micro Four Thirds camera, but it looks like they’re trying to take some of the attention away from the upcoming Canon EOS R5 announcement by adding it to the 8K page on their official website
They haven’t added a dedicated page for the new camera yet, or announced any new information or specs, simply listing it as “under development”, but the timing of the addition is quite interesting.
Photographer Drew Gardner recreates portraits of some of the most famous historic figures, but not with just anyone. He photographs their direct descendants and recreates the iconic portraits to the finest details. One of the latest recreations he made was done with Shannon LaNier, a news anchor, an author, and the sixth great-grandson of Thomas Jefferson.
I haven’t quite made my mind up about this one yet, and I think I’d actually have to try it – or at least see some results shot using it vs a regular Stofen style diffuser – before I’m able to, but Irish accessory manufacturer, Hahnel has released a new speedlight diffuser that’s… Well, it’s interesting, to say the least.
The humble Stofen style diffuser has been around for years and serves 99% of people quite well. The other 1% believe that other products will serve them better. Whether or not this one will, though, I’m not entirely sure. I love the concept and would be very happy to know that it works to diffuse the light while offering better output performance than the existing options, but I’m not convinced.
Sharpness is one of the things most of us want to get right when taking photos. But alas, there are so many things that can mess up our plans. In this video from Adorama, Gavin Hoey will share seven great tips that will help you overcome the obstacles and get tack sharp portraits every time.
Well, a July 9th announcement for the Canon EOS R5 and EOS R6 mirrorless bodies looks to be pretty much confirmed now as Canon websites across the world are putting up pages teasing the event, with Canon Japan even including a countdown timer.
The date had previously been rumoured, but nothing was official, until now. Obviously Canon hasn’t come right and said that this is for the EOS R5 and EOS R6, but given that they’re billing it as “our largest product launch to date”, it probably is – especially given the list of speakers.
In the light of recent Black Lives Matter protests, some photographers pointed out that camera companies should drop the “master” and “slave” terms. And Canon officially did so. When using this manufacturer’s flash system, don’t be surprised if you find different terminology.
According to Sony Alpha Rumors, who say they “got a proof”, the Sony A7S III (or whatever the A7S II successor will be called) is expected to have an insane high resolution 9.44 million pixel electronic viewfinder. This makes it the highest EVF in a mirrorless camera by a pretty wide margin.
Even the upcoming Canon EOS R5 is expected to have “only” a 5-million pixel EVF and other than Panasonic and Sony’s own A7R IV, most full-frame mirrorless cameras around today sit somewhere around 3.7 million pixels or less when it comes to their EVFs.
Zoom has announced the new Zoom H8 Handy Recorder, their newest field recorder which can record up to 12 tracks simultaneously using 8 separate input signals. It’s also expandable through various separately available capsules for recording 360-degree ambisonic audio or to take it up to 12 total inputs.
It features a bunch of analogue input dials, but what makes it particularly interesting is the 2.4″ touchscreen colour LCD and the “app-driven” interface it offers to provide several main modes of operation. There’s a Podcast App, a Music App and a Field App to cover a multitude of uses. And, yeah, it kinda looks like a spider when all the cables are plugged in.
This is probably the dumbest thing I’ve ever read in my life, but Getty Images is apparently going to be the “dedicated in-game sports photographers” for the FIA Certified Gran Turismo Championships. Yes, that’s right, video game screenshots are now “photography”, according to Getty and Polyphony Digital, the developers of Gran Turismo for the Sony Playstation.
And it turns out this isn’t the first year that this has happened, either. Getty says that “the new service was debuted during the 2019 season” and “used its expertise in photographing live racing” to… create better screenshots, I guess.
When taking photos, it’s good to know what you should so, but it’s equally important to know what to avoid. In this video, Karl Taylor discusses eight things that we should avoid in portrait photography, yet we do them so often. Luckily, they’re easy to fix, so check out the video and make sure to have them in mind at your next shoot.
You can find out more about John on his website and follow his adventures on YouTube and Facebook.
His videos have over a hundred million views, have been extensively published by news outlets, and has even received recognition from a few film festivals, such as International Ocean Festival
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