Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
I want to talk today about one tool, in Lightroom and Photoshop, that is probably used on nearly every image but is not used to it’s full potential – the Crop tool.
Now, I, like most of us I would imagine, use the crop tool to make minor adjustments to the image – maybe crop out an unwanted tree or post and straighten up the image.
But what if I told you that you can dramatically change the look and feel of your image and even use it to zoom?
Recently, Nikon announced that they were going to be releasing a beta of their new “Webcam Utility Software” that allows certain Nikon DSLRs and Z mirrorless cameras to act as webcams when connected to a computer without any type of capture device. All you need is a USB cable. Well, Nikon has now finally released that software. Well, a beta of it.
It’s compatible with all of the Nikon Z mirrorless cameras (including the new Nikon Z5) as well as some of their recent DSLRs including the Nikon D6, D850, D780, D500, D7500 and D5600.
I think this is the last of them now, but along with the new Nikon Z5, Nikon has also announced that they’re releasing the beta for a “webcam utility software” in August that lets you use “many” of its DSLRs and Z mirrorless cameras. The software will be free, and available initially for Windows 10.
Up until now, if you wanted to stream with a Nikon, you’re relying on 3rd party software like ControlMyNikon and then capturing it with OBS to fake a webcam device to use in Skype, Zoom, etc (similar to Panasonic’s current solution – for now). But it looks like Nikon is going to offer webcam capture device support directly with some cameras.
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.
To keep themselves busy and creative in isolation, some photographers are turning to alternative shooting methods such as video chat. Shane Balkowitsch is one of them, and he did something that I find pretty extraordinary. He didn’t only conduct a portrait shoot online via video chat, which is amazing on its own. He created a wet plate portrait from his US home, photographing his friend in the UK via Zoom video call.
Whatever you do in Photoshop, chances are there are a few ways to do it. The same goes for zooming in and out when you need to work on details of an image. In this video from Photoshop Training Channel, Jesús Ramirez shows you a quick and simple trick for zooming in that you may not have discovered yet.
The Rylo 360 camera was published a year and a half ago, and the company is apparently listening to its customers’ suggestions. With the latest firmware update, the camera brings you two great new features: zoom and timelapse effects within your 360-degree videos. What’s also great is that you don’t have to buy a new camera to get these features. All you need to do is upgrade the one you already own, as it was the case when the company introduced the 5.8K resolution.
Both double exposure and light painting photography open up a whole new world of creative possibilities. But photographer Jason Rinehart has combined the two techniques and created a set of photos that grabbed my attention the moment I saw them. These trippy (and slightly creepy) photos were created entirely in-camera, and I chatted with Jason about how he created them.
This whole “computational photography” thing always felt a little bit weird. But it also intrigued me. The idea that a computer can realistically create things that weren’t actually shown in the original shot is pretty amazing. Maybe it was seeing this scene in Blade Runner as a kid that did it for me. It was pure fantasy back then, but we’re getting there.
A new “computational zoom” technology developed by researchers at Nvidia and UCSB brings us a step closer to Deckard’s reality. Essentially it allows the photographer to change the focal length and perspective of an image in post, but this description barely does it justice. It actually allows you to simulate multiple focal lengths simultaneously. Here, watch this video, and it’ll all make sense.
Hey, guys!
I’ve been working on 4K for the last year, and as such, I have to zoom in quite considerably more than resolutions such as 1080 and 1440 to get to the same level of “zoomed in” view. This extreme zoom-in adds a grid to the view. As a photographer and a retoucher, it can make life very difficult if you’re not aware that you can turn this grid off.
You can find out more about John on his website and follow his adventures on YouTube.
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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