Oppo is teasing an innovative new smartphone camera system it has created: one that offers a 10x optical “lossless” zoom. The latest reports say the module is already in mass production and the first phone packing it will be out within months. GSMArena reports that the 10x zoom will be part of a triple camera module that will hit the market sometime in the second quarter of this year (i.e. sometime between April and June 2019). In addition to the 16mm ultra-wide camera with a 120° field of view and the 48MP camera (with perhaps a 28mm lens), the telephoto camera features a 160mm focal length (in 35mm terms), giving the tri-camera module a total zoom of 10x from ultra-wide to telephoto. Oppo was able to achieve such a telephoto focal length by building the camera with a periscope design that reflects incoming light by 90°, resulting in a compact yet telephoto 160mm lens. The prism used to bend the light also serves as the optical stabilization system for the camera (offering 73% more precise stabilization, GSMArena says). Oppo managed to get the entire triple camera module down to a width of just under 0.27in (6.76mm), meaning it won’t add unnecessary bulk to its host phone. Here are some additional examples of how photos shot with the 10x zoom compare to ones captured with the 1x ultra wide angle: 1x Ultra Wide10x Telephoto1x Ultra Wide10x Telephoto1x Ultra Wide10x TelephotoWe’ll be seeing this 10x zoom appear in the flesh soon, so stay tuned. from https://petapixel.com/2019/02/27/oppo-bringing-10x-zoom-smartphone-camera-to-market/
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Underwater Photographer of the Year has just announced the winners of its 2019 photo contest. Photographer Richard Barnden of the UK won both Underwater Photographer of the Year 2019 and British Underwater Photographer of the Year 2019 for his photo titled “The Gauntlet” (shown above). Here’s the description of Barnden’s winning shot:
Here are the other winning (and a couple of runner-up) photos from the major categories: You can find a larger gallery of 125 winning photos over on the contest’s website. Image credits: Header photo © Richard Barnden/UPY2019 from https://petapixel.com/2019/02/27/the-winning-shots-from-underwater-photographer-of-the-year-2019/
Ever since the Contax brand name made it to the hands of wealthy celebrities (and therefore became a newsmaker in its own right), many of us saw Contax camera prices skyrocket. The T2 and T3 became the first obvious targets. We hate to say we told you so, but it's now spreading to other models -- like the Contax G2 rangefinder camera. Case in point is this unused set that is currently going for a crazy amount of cash.
from https://www.thephoblographer.com/2019/02/27/rare-unused-contax-g2-set/
Photographer Mary Ann Wamboldt is an Ontario based creative that shoots weddings, portraits, and a number of other things including travel photography. She's been published a number of times and has won even more awards for her work. So when she submitted "Pink Kiss" to our Creating the Photograph series, we were very intrigued. The photo doesn't have a whole lot of post-production and instead focuses more on in-camera techniques and lighting to get the look that we see. There isn't any sort of post-production trickery or layer upon layer--instead there is just Mary Ann's own creativity and technical know how. Here's how she got the shot.
from https://www.thephoblographer.com/2019/02/27/creating-the-photograph-mary-ann-wamboldts-pink-kiss/ FIVE TIPS TO CAPTURE AUTHENTIC MOMENTS IN CHILD PHOTOGRAPHYWell Hello! Tracy Sweeney here, owner/photographer of Elan Studio in Bristol, Rhode Island. I’m thrilled to return and guest blog about an absolutely important topic in family photography. Have you ever viewed an image that was so powerfully driven in “something” that it physically stirred you? Perhaps it was “something” so evocative, a single moment crafted from someone else’s time, and yet the picture’s energy mirrored an indelible memory of your own, bringing forth genuine connection? Or possibly there was a level of emotion that resonated so profoundly that it made you just feel “something?” That “something,” that thing that pulls us, draws us in and makes us wonder, anticipate, relive, laugh, cry, gasp, pause, that “something” is authenticity. Authentic imagery is powerful, and because I know that, I approach every photo session with the goal of crafting beautiful images through authentic means. Authentic, in elementary form, is defined as real and genuine. And through this consideration, it might seem paradoxical that my entire aim is authenticity, because, after all, I am a child and family photographer who poses, orchestrates, and directs; I am not a lifestyle photographer. Do I shoot candids? Absolutely, but my style is certainly not photojournalistic. So then, how does one, under these self-imposed parameters (that have shaped my business), create natural, authentic imagery? 1. BE YOUR AUTHENTIC SELFThe key to creating natural, authentic images is quite simple: be authentic yourself. That seems rudimentary, right? Perhaps there was a specific tool you were hoping I suggest, or an actual phrase, game, gear, or direction I would give to guarantee that, even in a melange of subjects, you would be able to draw each out naturally, and each of their best selves would shine. Well, in part, that’s true, because your authenticity, your approach that makes you feel so natural and fluid, will attract that likeness, and in other trending words, “your vibe will attract your tribe.” If you are interacting with your clients in a way that feels fluid and true to you, your subjects will respond effortlessly and relaxed, allowing you to capture them naturally. This applies to adults and children. 2. ENGAGE IN GENUINE CONVERSATIONWhen I meet a new client for the first time, it is often at the beginning of their session. My pre-session consult takes place electronically, so the first time they are seeing me in-person many times is right as we begin our shoot. I, as the hired photographer, know it is my responsibility to make the client feel comfortable with me, even before I lift my camera. And so, we simply begin in conversation, pleasantries and again, genuine conversation and questions aligned with my authenticity (the same way I would talk to a new friend or cohort). I begin by talking to the child, often even before talking with the parents. I get down to the child’s eye level and start by issuing genuine warmth and friendliness. Younger children can be very shy, and clinging to parents, but the initial greeting is a way to establish connectivity and ensure the child that the session will be fun and possibly exploratory. I establish mood and also a bit of expectation in regards to our location and upcoming adventure. In doing this, talking to the children first, asking the child questions about his/her day, school, activities, etc. I am opening dialogue but also building an arsenal of material I can use later during the session when I need to recharge the child (ex. “So you were telling me you play hockey earlier, what is your favorite skating rink?”) 3. SET CLEAR EXPECTATIONSWhen parents know that their child is comfortable, they will ease up considerably. The major stress of a family photo shoot (beyond attire and aesthetics) is the concern that the children will not behave. I do truly believe it is my responsibility as the photographer to control the momentum of the session and essentially the behavior of the children, and this is done through establishing very clear expectations with the children, and consequently, the parents. I tell the family my goals for the shoot, different shots I would like to capture and the terrain we will cover. My business is largely repeat clients, those who continue to rebook annually, and I attribute this not only to the quality of the final images, but the overall experience of the session. The success of your business is dependent on the session experience your clients have with you. Cultivating an enjoyable stress-free experience for clients is paramount for referrals. When a client tells her friend about her family session and says, “Oh, It was so much fun. We had such a beautiful night together!” That testament is worth more than anything someone can say about your actual photography ability. What mother or father doesn’t want to have a beautiful night out with his/her family? And that there was a professional there, orchestrating and documenting the evening is where you insert your true value. Notice I said “orchestrating,” because I don’t sit back and just watch. I do have to direct. I have to guide and support to create these authentic moments I want to capture. If I want younger brother to give his sister a kiss on the cheek, I ask him to and shoot away. If he does it without suggestion, fabulous. If he does it, but all I get is the back of his head and miss the sentiment entirely, I ask him to do it again, and point specifically to the temple to show him where to kiss his sister. Again, it’s that power of guidance. Children need direction, and structuring a family session in this way allows you to capture their essence as you, the photographer, see it. 4. HAVE A PLANTalking with my clients at the beginning of the session is so important as opposed to immediately diving in to the shooting of images. In this way, I am able to build trust with little ones creating opportunity for genuine moments. When I begin photographing, I often do not let the children know that is what I am doing. I ask the children if they want to go for a walk, or if they would like to help me hold something, or if they would like to “hunt” for seashells, or special rocks, leaves, etc. anything to get little ones not to think about having to perform, but rather enjoying our time. Even the most hesitant of children, even the really really shy ones, typically will want to discover/find/look/play if encouraged. And this is what I mean by directing, it’s having a plan. Of course I want to photograph a family playing and just being themselves at the beach, but I have to help them to actually do that. Because again, I want authenticity, but this is a staging of sorts. My clients arrive beautifully dressed in corresponding attire and I sometimes bring delightful props to stimulate the story and craft interest. But that is not real of a typical day at the beach. A typical day at the beach is a more beautiful mess than flowy dresses and precise poofing pomade in little man’s hair. And yet, I feel absolutely comfortable knowing that I am still capturing authenticity, because my search is the family’s connection, the subtleties, the tippy toe kisses from children, the stolen glances, the pure joy of a swinging walk, and the thrilling chase of a sibling run-off while mom and dad adore. Those moments are artfully crafted. I instruct, observe, support, suggest, and shoot, typically in that order. 5. CREATE WHAT MOVES YOUThe most beautiful thing about authenticity is the ability to let go of the pursuit of perfection. Authenticity is an embracement. It’s harnessing the environment and family as they are in their most perfect imperfectness. When I ask the family to go in for a tight hug near the shoreline (directing) and their toddler runs in the opposite direction, I continue to shoot….and to laugh, and to enjoy, and to truly capture what that toddler is. I might chase the toddler a bit and keep shooting, because that feels right to me, it is part of who I am and how I play with my own children. Authenticity is often confused with uniqueness.There is nothing unique about a mother holding her baby in the air juxtaposed against a beautiful sunset. It’s been done before, it gets done all the time, I do it all the time! Because I love that pose, I love that image, as a mother, I wish I had that image of me and my babies. In that moment, with that specific child, unique or not, it is authentic to the subjects. That is what I want to impart to you. Try to create what moves you. Those images I love to create attract like clients who want those images created for them. Do a few of the same things consistently. There is nothing wrong with that. In fact, it helps organize a session in a way that feels purposeful and fluid. And each family’s energy will take on the task/direction/suggestion in a way that is purposeful, meaningful and unique to them. Thank you so much for having me here this week. If you enjoyed my musings and want to explore more of my work, please check out Elan-Studio.com. For additional chats, questions and sharing, join my Facebook group “All Things Child Portraiture,” and follow me on Facebook and Instagram. In light and love, In addition to seeing more of Tracy’s work and following her on social media via the links above, you can also check out all six of her classes, covering newborn, toddler, and family photography, business, storytelling, and a personal interview, on KelbyOne! The post Guest Blog: Newborn and Child Photographer Tracy Sweeney appeared first on Scott Kelby's Photoshop Insider. from https://scottkelby.com/guest-blog-newborn-and-child-photographer-tracy-sweeney/ Whenever the topic of access comes up, we as digital artists love to snipe and gripe. “Man if I shot that (event, celebrity, etc.), I would have done ____, ____ or _____. But whatever, they always give the great jobs to this mope.” Flip the conversation to privilege, however, and see how everyone starts to get uncomfortable. I mean think about it. What’s the last photo related event you were at? What did you see? Cameras, booths, whatever. But what was the crowd like? Let me fill you in: it was a group that skews older, male, and white. Now pause. That in itself isn’t bad, it’s just a reflection of mean income and wealth. Before the emergence of the smartphone, photography was too expensive for the layman to just pick up casually. Cost was and still is our biggest deterrent. The question I wanted to ask with this piece: what happens when that lack of access/abundance of privilege effects our ability to story tell and leaves large portions of stories untold or shot voyeuristically? The skinny: subjects see images that don’t fully resemble themselves. Communities see stories that don’t tell the whole tale. Everyone feels the images aren’t honest to their story. The heavy: It continues to leave stories untold or half-assed ones that are lazily told whilst shutting out photographers who may be able to do a better job. Let’s start with the skinny. You may be in the demographic I described earlier: older, white and male. You are a talented photographer and you want to do more story telling about people of color. What can you do to ensure that your subjects look at your work and get excited? It All Starts With The HairDo you use a hair light? Like a dedicated light for your models in your three light system? If your subject has dark hair, it will absorb a lot of light. Adding a hair light adds separation and helps bring out detail and texture in the hair that could otherwise be lost if only working with a single light. A few of you will chuckle and say of course. Well then great! You’re done, you can stop reading. Nah, I’m playing. Keep your butt here. Okay so you use a hair light. How is your placement of it? Often the hair light kisses the top of a subjects hair. If you are using a crate or grid, do whatever you can to widen the area that the hair light hits to make sure models with textured hair can get details throughout their hair. For example braids, cornrows, etc. may have different patterns and designs on a part of the head. Be Conscious Of UndertonesSkin tones come in warm and cool variations, and which group your subject fits into will determine what colors of backgrounds, outfits, makeup, and accessories will complement them. You can tell a subject’s undertones by looking at their wrist. A person with cool undertones will have veins in their wrist that appear blue, while someone with warm undertones will have veins that look green. For best results, pair warmer colors with subjects with warm undertones and cooler colors for those with cooler undertones. As you choose environments for portraiture, look for complementary colors that work well with the undertones for a soothing portrait, or contrasting or clashing ones for a more provocative look. For example: I leaned into Jihaari’s skin’s orange undertones by placing him in compositional opposition to a sign with similar colors. And you can see how the subtle inclusion of red in the setting of the photo above goes smoothly with Kelechi’s undertones. Know The Difference Between The Whites vs. Blacks Sliders And Shadows vs. HighlightsThe best advice I can give you is leave your histogram up on Lightroom while you play with these and see how the tonality changes. Resist the urge to lighten someone up…. I’ll say it again for the folks in the back: Properly lighting dark skin is not the same as abusing the exposure slider in Lightroom. How will you know if someone’s skin is exposed properly? It’s the same as it always is. Study the differences in light. Are there highlights and shadows with differing detail? Are the shadows pure black? If you have to, take time to use the Dodge and Burn Tools sparingly to bring up shadows. On to the heavy: If you are shooting a project on a topic or in an area or neighborhood that isn’t your lived experience, why not spend time doing the following:
Thank you for taking the time to listen, if you have any thoughts, questions, feedback, praises whatever, you can find me on instagram as @aundre or email me at [email protected]. Aundre is a former Adobe Creative Resident. You can see more of his work at AundreLarrow.com, and keep up with him on Instagram, Twitter, and Behance. The post Guest Blog: Portrait Photographer Aundre Larrow appeared first on Scott Kelby's Photoshop Insider. from https://scottkelby.com/guest-blog-portrait-photographer-aundre-larrow/
The female form has long been the subject of art, photography, and many other creative pursuits. But there's more to female nudity than the highly erotic imagery typically associated with it. We see the work of Reka Nyari as perfect examples of this, in the way she captures the stories intricately inked on her subjects' bodies. Captivating, raw, and highly creative, her photos celebrate both the beauty of the female form and how her subjects themselves have taken to artful tattoos to transform themselves or immortalize their personal stories.
from https://www.thephoblographer.com/2019/02/27/reka-nyari-tells-four-different-stories-inked-on-the-female-form-nsfw/
There are a ton of services out there that market themselves as the perfect way for photographers to get their work seen by, and possibly even purchased by major brands and organizations, all you have to do is sign up to use, upload your images and then wait for all of that exposure to pay off; only there's a catch. A lot of these services state in the small print that you will be giving up all image rights, and that you can never claim to be the photographer who took the image. Wait. What? The saying 'if it sounds too good to be true, it's too good to be true' definitely rings out here, and a recent report about another image rights grab has just confirmed that this issue is just getting worse.
from https://www.thephoblographer.com/2019/02/27/the-industry-needs-to-stop-taking-photographers-image-rights-asap/
The amazing camera, lens, accessory and software deals continue to roll in, and believe us when we tell you that these are some of the best photography deals of the year so far. If it's cameras your're looking for you're in luck. The monster Nikon D850 can be yours for just $2,759.95, and the Full Frame Sony A7 II is a bargain at just $998!. The Canon 5D4 has a discount of $300, and the Panasonic Lumix GX85 with lens bundle has a massive discount of $502! If you want some new glass you'll be please to hear that are are stunning deals on Canon, Fujifilm, Nikon, and Sony lenses. Save over $500 on the Canon 100-400mm f4.5-5.6, or pick up the excellent Tamron 150-600mm F5-6.3 for just $779. There are crazy deals on storage solutions, accessories, software and guides too. Join us after the break for all of the photography deals.
from https://www.thephoblographer.com/2019/02/26/cheap-photo-tons-of-cameras-lenses-and-more-at-crazy-prices/
Samyang have just announced what is being billed as the worlds widest (apart from fish eye lenses), most distortion free prime lens ever made. Samyang (also known as Rokinon) have always made very affordable, optically sound wide angle lenses, but they have pulled out all the stops with their latest lens, the ultra wide angle XP 10mm f3.5. Read on after the break to find out more about what could become the greatest landscape, architecture, and cityscape photography lens ever made.
from https://www.thephoblographer.com/2019/02/26/samyangs-new-xp-10mm-f3-5-prime-lens-might-be-a-game-changer/ |
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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