Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
This past summer I was camping with my family and one of the lakes we visited had a perfect jumping rock.
I knew this would be a great photo opportunity, so I brought my camera to snap a few photos of us jumping off of the rock and into the lake.
What I ended up capturing was a perfect lesson on why you need to look for atmosphere and light to improve your outdoor photography.
When I began posting my photos online, I started getting comments like ‘wow, you must have a great camera’ or ‘anybody can take photos like these with expensive gear’ or ‘I can’t take photos like these because I can’t afford an expensive camera like yours’. It breaks my heart when I hear people say things like this. Or when they feel like they can’t get any better or they don’t have a chance because they have a cheap camera.
So I had enough of these comments and decided to prove them wrong by finding the cheapest camera and lens I could find and take some photos with them!
Normally, if you’re using a tripod, camera shake isn’t something you’ll have to worry very much about. However, there are some obvious exceptions. If you’ve ever found yourself taking pictures in heavy winds, you’ll know the difficulties of capturing sharp photos — particularly if you’re using a telephoto lens. This seems like an impossible situation; what do you do when a tripod isn’t enough to stop your camera from shaking? Luckily, there are ways to improve sharpness even in windy conditions and come away with photos that are completely usable. I’ll cover some of the most important here.
Without a doubt, Instagram is one of the most exciting social media platforms anywhere. It is now ranked the number two most active social media platform (by number of users), just behind Facebook, with over 600 million participants. As a photographer, who has been slowing building a following on Instagram over the last three years, I have a love-hate relationship with the app. “Hate” might be a bit of a strong word choice in that last statement but you get the point. Trust me, I spend way too much time on Instagram. They have me hooked. On the one hand, it is inspiring to see an incredible number of amazing images on my Instagram feed each day. I tend to follow a lot of my fellow pro photographers, who post some top-notch images. In addition, there are a large number of amateur photographers creating incredible work, and in some cases their images are better than a lot of pro photographers.
Let me check the weather report
Uh-oh.
The weather guy said chance of rain and wind tomorrow
I’m not going to panic
He said, “chance” of rain and wind
This means there is a chance there might NOT be rain and wind
I mean, really, how often are they right?
I’m going to think happy thoughts
Pentax is one of the only few camera companies out there that still produces and manufactures medium-format cameras.
Today they they’re announcing their newest medium-format entry, and it is a 51.4mp, (almost) 4k video CMOS sensor beast.
You can find out more about John on his website and follow his adventures on YouTube and Facebook.
can change a lens mid-rappel, swap a memory card while treading water, or use a camel as a light stand.
To see more of his work please visit his studio website blurMEDIAphotography, or follow him on Twitter, 500px, Google Plus or YouTube.
JP’s photography is available for licensing at Stocksy United.
Find my work on My website or follow me on Facebook or My page
