Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
Tim Wallace is a high-end car photographer, while he is not restricted to cars, you’ve probably seen his work with Porsche, Lotus, Ford, Aston Martin, and others on one media or another. I’ll admit, I stalk him on social media, because he produces stellar images, but also because he is a witty guy, and his insights are fun to read.
This rant of his, caught my eye and I think it’s spot on to the point of epic, so I asked Tim’s permission to share it with DIYP readers:
Last week, as I walked from Liverpool street station to meet some friends, I idly started to muse ‘Where is photography going?’
As a medium, photography has enjoyed a remarkable trajectory, from heliographs to hypo, roll film and Brownies, colour film and instant cameras, and SLR to digital in under 200 years. And the last 30 thirty years have seen a tremendous advancement in photographic technology, from the release of the first commercially viable digital SLR camera and a transition through terrific cultural changes associated with the medium. But it now feels as if we might be stuck in some form of holding pattern. This is especially true after what I felt was a particularly disappointing Photokina last autumn.
[Read More…]
In this photokina we’ve seen most camera makers making it bigger and better. But not necessarily faster. The new Fuji GFX medium format may be the prime example of that. Both camera makers and lens makers are putting full focus on developing features that relate to photos hard qualities: dynamic range, more megapixels, low light performance. But is this what their customers want?
Haje Jan Kamps over at Techcrunch suggests that workflow speed may be more important to photography consumers than almost anything else. As an example he shows the image above taken by our own John Aldred. Rather than downloading the photo from the card, processing it and uploading, John just snapped an image of the LCD so he can get it out there fast enough.
I am a firm believer in the power of the tripod. Tripods let you do wonderful things. You can easily composite, take long exposures, do light painting, it is just an awesome tool. When it comes to video tripods are even more essential, at least if you want to take a static shot.
But tripods don’t all match. And that would have been ok, only switching from one tripod to another is not as easy as it should be.
Most tripods have a separate head, and that head usually connects to a tripod via something called quick release plate. While there are some standards (RC2 from Manfrotto, Arca Swiss), the need to swap quick plates is not that rare. In fact, I own (and use) 4 tripods (6 if you count Gorilla pods), and almost each and every one of them has a different plate.
And I swap tripods quite a bit. I use one for stills (with an RC2 Rapid Connect compatible head), another for video (with a Manfrotto 501PL Rapid Connect Sliding Plate) and sometimes I just need to mount my DR-70 between the head and the camera.
Over the last two years adobe has made significant push to move our creative flow into the cloud and into mobile. In fact, it seems that moving to mobile is a core part of Adobe’s strategy and understandably so.
Creative Brad Colbow took a good hard look at this strategy and his deconstruction of Adobe’s (over 30) new mobile apps is an eye opener. In essence Brad complains that the move into Adobe’s iOS app is nothing like the experience that you would get by using the desktop apps. This is a very interesting claim. Especially with the new iPad Pro coming out. You would expect the iPad pro to give you a smooth desktop-like experience, however, according to Brad, you are stuck with many apps, each only good for one task. In fact, Brad goes as far as saying that Adobe is experimenting on their users, with the iOS apps driving a completely different workflow that their desktop “brother apps”
If opt for a Microsoft’s surface for example you will get similar to desktop experience while retaining a tablet form factor.
Brad does recognize that this experimentation may be good for evolving the way we create using new interfaces, he just wishes he could still use the Adobe Suit the way he likes and used to.
[Dear Adobe, Your Mobile Apps are a Mess | Brad Colbow]
If you’ve been to a wedding recently you’ve probably noticed this; if you make a living photographing weddings you’ve definitely seen it: more and more guests these days watch weddings through their smartphone screens as they photograph and record every moment of it. God forbid Facebook won’t get to see the entire ceremony.
While many photographers have a hard time with this trend, Thomas Stewart posted a rant along with several points for couples planning a wedding to consider. The post has gone viral and could be the boost needed towards unplugged weddings.
“The feedback from the general public has been amazing, and generally very positive,” Thomas told DIYP.
I was scrolling through my Facebook feeds and came across an article featuring a wedding photographer’s rant on disruptive guests who get in the way of wedding photographers who are just doing their job.
Good to note that the photographer who was featured in the article did his best to get good shots by getting around guests and other obstacles.
Well, since some of my Mezfans are into wedding photography, I’ve decided to compile a list that may help you.
Oh wait. Maybe the issue isn’t the photographer but the guests themselves after all!
Here’s a helpful list for anyone on how to be a better wedding guest!
DISCLAIMER: I am not a wedding photographer. I specialise in themed concept portrait photography. These are my (tongue-in-cheek) opinions.
As someone who covers a lot of photoshop action (no pun intended) it was quite interesting for me to see this talk about the equivalent of what photoshop is to stills on cinema. CG (Computer Generated) effects. Pixel peepers and sharped eyed viewers are fast to catch on #failed photoshop disasters, but all and all I think it is fair to say that we are satisfied with how photoshop plays a role in our industry.
CG effects are a complete opposite though. If you watched any big summer blockbuster, you probably have some complaints on how poorly the CG effects are. Heck, Star Wars VII has taken into practical effects because fans were so deeply disappointed with the amount of CG in the 1-3 prequel.
I am not a female photographer.
I am a photographer…who happens to be female.
Together, in this industry, in the year 2015, we are simply “photographers.”
We are not defined by our gender.
I, for one, want to be defined by my talent and ability, not by the fact I have a uterus and my kids call me “Mama.”
After my public response to Taylor Swift’s open letter to Apple, I didn’t quite expect the phenomenal reaction it received. I knew it was provocative, I knew it was going to be risky and could possibly harm my chances of getting access to other concerts in future. but it needed to be said – out loud. When I thought hard about the possible consequences, and restrictions on my access to future work, I asked myself “What point is there in going to work if I can’t be paid for it – yet everyone else gets to benefit from my labour?”. The answer?
There was nothing left to lose. When you’re faced with a choice of working for free to save a millionaire having to pay a reasonable fee, or not working at all. what would you do?
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 THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!