Looking for something new to experiment with for your film photography? It's exactly what we now are set to have with the launch of the RETO3D camera on Kickstarter. As its name suggests, this new contraption is set to bring back the craft of 3D magic to the film photography world.
from https://www.thephoblographer.com/2019/02/28/the-reto3d-is-a-brand-new-3d-film-camera-on-kickstarter/
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New Zealand photographer Luke Riding was hiking around the base of Angels Landing in Zion National Park when he stumbled upon a smashed-up Fujifilm camera that had clearly fallen from atop the 1,488-foot-tall rock formation. The memory card was intact and Riding found a number of photos on it. After trying and failing to find the owner through posts on Instagram and Twitter, his friend (and fellow photographer) Ben Horne got involved with the search. On February 20th, Horne shared this 3-minute video in an effort to track down the owner to return the photos. Here’s the camera that Riding found: And here are some of the photos that were discovered on the memory card: Amazingly, the owner was identified less than 24 hours after Horne published his YouTube video. “I posted the video at 6am Pacific time, and it was in turn posted on Reddit by a third party,” Horne tells PetaPixel. “On the Reddit page, a guy named Patrick recognized one of the girls in the photo as a high school acquaintance from nearly 10 years ago. “He remembered her name, saw he was still Facebook friends with her, then reached out to her. The girl confirmed that it was indeed her sister’s camera, and by 7:30pm that same day, I got a message from Sarah on Instagram. The whole thing took place in just over 12 hours.” It turns out the camera’s owner is a gal named Sarah Salik who had been hiking Angels Landing with her sister in mid-2016. Upon reaching the top, the pair stopped to have lunch, at which time Salik accidentally knocked her camera over the edge. Luke is now working to send the camera and memory card back to Sarah (seen on the left in the photo of the two sisters) so that she can be reunited with the gear and photos she lost nearly three years ago. “It’s a pretty simple story really, but it shows how interconnected we all are and the power of social media,” Horne says. from https://petapixel.com/2019/02/28/photographer-finds-owner-of-camera-that-fell-1500ft-in-zion-3-years-ago/ Leica has announced the new APO-Summicron-SL 35mm f/2 ASPH prime lens for the L-Mount, which is found on Leica’s SL mirrorless camera as well as all cameras that are launched as part of the L-Mount Alliance between Leica, Panasonic, and Sigma. “Innovative production methods and new technologies paired with impeccable imaging performance make the latest lens of the Summicron-SL series the new benchmark for the classic reportage focal length,” Leica says. The company says it paid particularly close attention to preventing stray light and reflections in the lens. Thanks to the optical and mechanical design as well as the coatings on each lens surface, the lens provides a high level of image quality from corner to corner, even at f/2. The front lens element features a hydrophobic Aquadura coating that repels dust and moisture. “[T]he lens can be used without a second thought to perform in almost any weather conditions,” Leica says. “By design, the Leica SL-System and its lenses instill confidence in the user that they will always be able to get the shot regardless of extreme environmental elements.” Inside the lens (and all Summicron-SL lenses) is a powerful Dual Syncro Drive (DSD) stepping motor that can travel the entire focus range in just 250 milliseconds, ensuring ultra-fast focusing that won’t cause you to miss moments. The new Leica APO-Summicron-SL 35mm f/2 ASPH will be available starting in mid-April 2019 with a price tag of $4,595. from https://petapixel.com/2019/02/28/leica-unveils-the-summicron-35mm-f-2-asph-l-mount-lens/ If you donât watch entertainment industry awards shows, perhaps youâve never heard of E!âs Glambot, which has been hitting the red carpets at major shows (e.g. Oscars, Grammys, Emmys) to shoot stunning 1000fps slow-motion portraits of celebrities. The man directing the Glambot at each of the shows is Canadian filmmaker and photographer Cole Walliser. The Glambot itself is well-known Bolt high-speed cinebot by Camera Control holding up a Phantom 4K Flex camera with a Leica Summilux lens mounted on it. Hereâs an epic shot of singer and actress Sofia Carson that Walliser captured with the Glambot at the 2018 Academy Awards (you can find more shots from this show here): Whenever a celebrity shows up at the booth, Walliser only has about 30 seconds to explain the Glambot and 1-2 minutes total for the whole shoot. The robot itself has about 12 pre-programmed moves that Walliser chooses from based on the subjectâs position, attire, and movement. âThe pressure is on because you only ever have ONE take, and this is a dangerous rig that can knock you out,â Walliser writes. âI get good at explaining things, but sometimes the environment is so frenetic you canât really hear me or focus.â Hereâs a 5-minute behind-the-scenes video Walliser shared last year showing how he ran the Glambot at the Oscars: Here are a couple of behind-the-scenes looks at shots Walliser made during the Oscars this past weekend of J-Lo and Lady Gaga:
And here are some of the best Glambot shots from the night: âItâs quite a unique process thatâs half live show, half beauty spot directing, have movement coaching, nothing else I work on a director comes close,â Walliser writes. âWe shot about 140 takes at the Oscars this year and a lot make it into broadcast.â from https://petapixel.com/2019/02/28/this-robot-shoots-stunning-slow-mo-portraits-on-red-carpets/ When I first began dabbling in the world of landscape photography, I was enticed by the instant gratification of purchasing Lightroom presets. I was originally drawn in by the fact that I could instantly download these presets and I could instantly import them into Lightroom and instantly “improve” my own photos. I spent the majority of my first year of photography fussing around trying to make other peoples presets look good on my photos and eventually threw in the proverbial towel. It wasn’t until last year that my mindset surrounding presets began to change. In this 13-minute video, I discuss three reasons why I think everyone should create their own Lightroom presets. 1. Better Workflow EfficienciesI found that when I began my editing process I would repeatedly start by applying the same “robotic” edits to my images – Enable Lens Profile Correction > Boost the Vibrance > Reduce the Saturation > bring down the Highlights > bring up the Shadows and so on. I thought to myself why not create a preset that would allow me to apply all of these initial edits without having to select each individual adjustment. With that said, I created a series of “quick start” presets that have proven to be an incredible time saver for my Lightroom editing workflow – I just apply them at the start and then make the fine adjustments after that. If you have your own set of mundane steps you habitually apply to your photos, then a quick start preset might be beneficial to your overall editing workflow. 2. Find Your Own Creative StyleIn the past when I would purchase presets I felt that I was suffocating my own creativity as I was leaning on someone else’s creative style as a way to “improve” my own photos. I ultimately ended up constructing my own creative presets where each individual preset contained a singular edit like a split-tone combination or a specific tone curve that I liked as opposed to an entire edit contained within a single preset. I consistently struggled when applying purchased presets to my photos as they always contained an entire edit of an image and the odds that an entire edit is going to look good on any photo is slim to none. Once I built my own creative presets, I would apply an edit to a specific image and then apply a split tone or tone curve preset or both on top of my original edit – this approach is when I began having success with presets. 3. Practice Practice PracticeI know it sounds cliché, but it’s true – practice makes perfect. When I was using purchased presets I never took the time to dig into the specific edits that were used to create said presets, I would just apply them, spend about 20 minutes trying to make them look good and then export them – that was my workflow. But, it wasn’t until I started making my own presets that I began to understand the specific edits that I liked and what worked well and what didn’t work well on my own images. Putting the block on purchased presets is one of the best choices I made not only from a creative aspect but also from a post-processing stance — plus saving a few bucks along the way is always a good thing as well. P.S. If you enjoyed this video and article, you can find more by subscribing to my YouTube channel. About the author: Mark Denney is a landscape photographer based in North Carolina. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. You can find more of his work on his website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. from https://petapixel.com/2019/02/28/3-reasons-to-create-your-own-lightroom-presets/ Everywhere you turn in the photographic press you see the same kinds of articles over and over. Such-and-such a competition or service is just a rights-grab! You have to give up your rights to your images! Total party foul! Everyone steals everyone else’s pictures which is totally illegal! Lame! Losers with weak cameras are undercutting professionals left and right! I have a sad! Phone cameras are terrible but everyone keeps using them! #dslrs4lyfe, yo! Sure, fair enough. These things are all sad, and some of them are illegal. So what? You’re standing around in rising waters already hip-deep, whining that someone oughta fix the levees. Stop it. This is the situation on the ground, and another angry blog post about how unfair it all is is not going to change that. Stop complaining and start building a raft. How are you, as a photographer, going to accomplish whatever it is you have a yen to in this world? Do you want to make money taking pictures? Well, too bad. Photos are too easy to take, too commodified. Sell your clients something they can’t get from their phone or some rando from craigslist. Sell them an experience, with photos. Sell them a book, with photos. Sell them a “personal branding campaign,” with photos. If you have to, sell them a coupon to a local restaurant, with photos. Figure it out. Do you want to play the photo competition game? Well, competitions are going to take your rights. Put your grownup pants on, and make some photos for competition that you’re willing to kiss goodbye. Make other photos for your portfolio. They can be real similar, it turns out. You don’t want people stealing your pictures? Don’t put the ones you want to keep online. If you need an online presence, put some other ones up. Photos you’re willing to kiss goodbye. And so on, on and on. This is the world, people. Pull your socks up, quit bellyaching, and start figuring out how to live in this world. Stop complaining about the levees and start building a raft. Or, you can put your camera down and take up needlepoint. I hear that’s a thing too. About the author: Andrew Molitor writes software by day and takes pictures by night. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. Molitor is based in Norfolk, Virginia, and does his best to obsess over gear, specs, or sharpness. You can find more of his writing on his blog. This article was also published here. Image credits: Emoji by Vincent Le Moign and licensed under CC BY 4.0 from https://petapixel.com/2019/02/28/photographers-quit-bellyachin-and-build-a-raft/ Tony Northrup recently decided to create a video celebrating photographer Steve McCurry’s most famous photo, the iconic “Afghan Girl” portrait featured on the cover of National Geographic. But upon researching the shot, Northrup learned the other, more disturbing side of the story that’s more hidden from public view. In interviews that Sharbat Gula (the “Afghan Girl”) has given over the years, Northrup learned that she wasn’t a willing subject in the portrait McCurry shot when she was around 10 to 12 years old. As a Pashtun, she wasn’t supposed to be in the same room as a man outside her family, make eye contact, show her face, have her photo taken, or (especially) have her photos publicized. Through his translator at the refugee camp in Pakistan, McCurry asked Gula’s teacher to tell the girl to remove her burka and show her face. After the photo was shot, Gula, who says she was scared, ran away immediately. In publishing the photo on its cover, National Geographic stated in the issue that the girl’s eyes were “reflecting the fear of a war.” “Not true,” Northrup says. “Her eyes were reflecting the fear of an unfamiliar man. The fear of her personal boundaries being breached and her beliefs being trampled on. She had nothing else to be afraid of that day except for Steve McCurry. She had been living in that camp for a couple of years. She was in school.” And while McCurry would go on to become internationally celebrated as the photographer behind the portrait, Gula’s life has been marked with extreme hardship and suffering. In addition to losing her husband and one of her children, Gula was arrested in Pakistan in 2016 for using a fake ID card and living in the country illegally. She was then deported by Pakistan to Afghanistan, which celebrated her return. “Sharbat believes that if this picture had never been taken, she’d still be living in Pakistan, which she considered to be her home,” Northrup says. from https://petapixel.com/2019/02/28/the-disturbing-true-story-behind-the-iconic-afghan-girl-photo/
Open up Instagram and type in the name of any landmark, or any iconic place anywhere in the world and you will see hundreds of thousands, sometimes even millions of images that all look the same. Travel photography is nothing new, in fact capturing images of the places we visit is a favorite pastime of many, but why do we feel the need to copy images that have already been taken before? A new app has just been released that makes us ask this question, and we have to wonder if services like Instagram, and apps like Explorest are killing the desire to make original content. Lets explore this a little further after the break.
from https://www.thephoblographer.com/2019/02/28/stop-copying-and-start-being-original-with-your-travel-photography/
10 years ago or so, if someone had said professional photography will die due to ultra affordable cameras and powerful smartphone cameras, professional photographers would have roared out with laughter so loud it would have been heard in camera shops and studios around the globe, but here we are in 2019 where everyone with an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy something-or-other can take really great quality pictures. Couple this with the fact that cheap, yet powerful DSLR and Mirrorless camera kits sold at big box retailers all seem to come with a Facebook page entitled {insert name here} photography, and you can begin to see why some think the role of the professional photographer may be against the ropes. Join us after the break as we explore this a little further.
from https://www.thephoblographer.com/2019/02/28/is-professional-photography-dead-or-is-the-profession-alive-and-kicking/
The Konica Hexar in itself is already quite a coveted item among film photographers and vintage camera collectors, and can go for a substantial amount of cash when sold in mint condition. Enter the even more valuable and rare half-frame version of this iconic 35mm rangefinder camera: the Konica Hexar 72 in mint condition. If you're a half-frame fan seeking a premium shooter to squeeze more out of your film rolls, this might end up on your wishlist.
from https://www.thephoblographer.com/2019/02/28/rare-mint-konica-hexar-72/ |
Paul DeckerHi I Paul Decker,32 years old from Arizona,AZ,USA,working on 3D animation from the last 4 years.Here I am sharing tips about it. Archives
April 2019
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