Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
Last week we shared a video produced for the car manufacturer Tesla that showed some incredible footage of a first-person view drone flying through the new manufacturing plant in Berlin.
Drone pilot and digital creator Ferdinand Wolf of Skynamic was the man piloting the drone and has shared some of his behind the scenes experiences and explained how they made the video.
This was a curious video to see pop up on my feed last night from Mike Smith. In it, he talks about the marketing hype surrounding most new camera releases and what the camera companies aren’t telling you – basically, that the gear you already own is probably already more than good enough or at least 90% of you. And, well, I think he’s right. I’ve thought it for a while.
Every time a new camera is announced, there’s a massive marketing campaign, with countless YouTubers and yes, websites like this one extolling its virtues and talking about how awesome this or that new feature is (or potentially is). But the truth is, you have to consider context and you can’t rely on just one source of information for whether or not you should buy that shiny new piece of kit.
How do you make $100,000 as a photographer? Start with $200,000! Sorry, jokes aside, it is technically possible. I mean, there are photographers out there earning 6 figures. And I’m sure that even if I was making that sort of money from photography I’m sure I’d still be writing for DIYP! But that aside, how do you even get close to making that sort of money from your passion? It’s something that most of us just dream about. But in this video, Evan Ranft explains not only how he did it, but lays out some very sensible advice that can at least get you on the right path to profiting from your photography, even if you’re not quite getting to 6 figures yet.
Last year, Microsoft announced Azure Space, a tool that brings together the possibilities of space with the power of the cloud. The company has now added a bunch of new capabilities to it, and some of the most interesting ones include “seeing” through clouds and turning blurry satellite images into high-quality photos that look like drone shots.
First spotted back in early March after registration in Russia, and then in Indonesia in July, the unreleased Nikon camera, “N2014” (which Nikon Rumors believes may be the upcoming Nikon Z9 flagship) now has some interesting new news. It looks like it’ll ditch the more traditional GPS system in favour of GNSS according to the latest registration.
The news comes via Nokishita and says that as well as featuring the standard WiFi and Bluetooth, the N2014 camera will also utilise the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), which should offer more accurate positioning data. If true, this would mark the first consumer camera to include GNSS support.
We’ve all either bought or thought about buying used gear before now. We know how much we baby our stuff and we know there are other people out there who take just as much care of their kit and are willing to part with it for a reasonable price. There are plenty of reputable companies out there to buy used gear, like KEH and MPB, retailers like B&H with a used department. But what about private purchases?
You see a deal on eBay, Facebook Marketplace or local classifieds and what do you do? What questions should you ask? Well, this video from Photo Tom gives you a whole list of things to check when buying used to make sure you know what you’re buying.
As 3D printers have become more popular over the last few years, so has the idea of 3D scanning. No longer in the realm of only high-end games companies and movie studios, everybody has relatively easy access to create 3D scans of the real world these days. You can even do it with your smartphone and free software. But it’s still a fairly laborious task that typically takes a long time to process.
SkyeBrowse seems to have solved this time sink problem, though, with an iOS app that processes 90-second videos from DJI and Autel drones into high-resolution 3D models. It uses a patented new technology called videogrammetry – which it says is different from the more traditional photogrammetry many of us have been using for years.
It’s the age-old perpetual question. And it’s one seen daily in photography forums and groups on social media. What camera mode should I use? And, well, it’s not really an easy question to answer. There are those who are of the “manual, always or you’re not a real photographer” persuasion, but there are times when the other modes work extremely well.
In this video, Mike Smith takes a look at the different shooting modes offered by cameras and offers up some tips as to when might be the right time to use each. And while the names might be slightly different for some brands, these modes are consistent throughout pretty much all brands and types of interchangeable lens camera from 35mm SLRs, through DSLRs to mirrorless.
The harsh midday sun is not the favorite light for most photographers. While we talked about it many times in terms of portrait photography, we haven’t often mentioned how challenging it can be for landscapes. Well, Nigel Danson reflects on it in his video. He takes you on a walk through a forest with him, sharing a few simple, but powerful tips for getting striking landscape photos even in the midday sun.
The whole manual vs auto thing for me isn’t really much of a debate. And whether you prefer to use auto or manual, you’re still going to need to understand the underlying principles of photography and how your camera “sees” a scene in order to get the most out of it and the best possible images you can that achieve your vision.
Coming to you from Paul at Photo Genius, this video compares the differences when shooting multiple scenes using both manual and auto exposure controls. It’s a good illustration of why automatic isn’t perfect for everything (or potentially even most stuff, depending on what you like to shoot) and how understanding manual can get you that control you need.
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