A Guest post by Jason Lowry from www.blackandwhiteonly.com.

I have a horrible habit of wasting so much of my present moment time constantly thinking about everything and everyone!  If you are like me, it can be so difficult to focus on what I’m doing right now at this exact moment (just caught myself thinking about something I need to do as I write this article).  I’m constantly distracted by thoughts and most of the time these distractions running through my head are about what has already happened or what may happen in the future.

So, what does this have to do with photography?

Everything!

Clear those distracting thoughts

Try to lose yourself in the present moment by focusing and concentrating  on what you  are doing at that moment as you engage your subject.  Being completely present will allow you to be fully engaged and to see your subject with a new and exciting perspective.  How do you do this?  It takes constant practice, but it can be done!  You must first be aware of all those distractions in your head.  Importantly, try not to stop those thoughts from flowing, just be aware of them and notice them and as you watch them, they will simply fade.  With practice, it does work!  The key is to be aware that you are distracted and that you are not focused.

Don’t over think or try not to think at all

I admit this was difficult for me to understand at first.  We have a greater intelligence than all those thoughts racing through our head.  For example, have you ever encountered a situation where you just reacted in the moment, you knew what to do without obsessively thinking about your next move?  Well, imagine yourself in front of a subject (I know this requires thinking : ), your head is clear, no distracting thoughts, you are fully engaged and you know it’s the right opportunity to capture or you instinctively adapt to what you know will be a better opportunity.  We are more than our thoughts and those distracting ones get in our way and fog our ability to see clearly.

It’s not necessarily about the product

I think it’s important to clarify my philosophy on photography.  For me, it is a life experience and it’s not necessarily about the final outcome although I certainly enjoy sharing and viewing the work of so many wonderful artists.  Our goal as artists should be to get lost in the process of creating, not worrying about making money or whether our art will fit a certain mold or get a certain number of comments.  These thoughts are distractions and keep us from our full potential.   I have not mastered what is written in this article, but I practice as much as possible and I do think it has made a difference in my personal style and I hope you will find this article of value.  

Jason Lowry is from Eastern North Carolina and is obsessed with moody and dramatic black and white art.  His art can be experienced at www.blackandwhiteonly.com and jlowry.zenfolio.com.

Read more from our Other Photography Tips Category

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DigitalPhotographySchool/~3/yGbdmnzD9zo/present-moment-photography

On Monday, Adobe launched its Photoshop Touch application for the iPad. This long sought after app runs on the iPad 2, and not on the iPad 1, and it requires that you have iOS 5 installed. The app costs $9.99 which is at the high end of the price range for photo-editing apps in general but Photoshop Touch seems to have got the feature set about right so most people will probably consider it worth the money.

I use the iPad a lot for working with photos I’ve shot using a digital SLR camera in raw and which I’ve resized, converted to jpeg and downloaded to the iPad. Those images I have on the iPad are there because they are funky or because they lend themselves to some artistic play. So, I looked at Photoshop Touch in this light – I wanted to see if it would be part of my iPad image creative workflow. For heavy duty work, Photoshop and Lightroom will remain my tools of trade.

When you launch Photoshop Touch you get two options, viewing the tutorials or doing some work.

There are 10 tutorials that you can work through each of them is project based so you learn the program by learning a technique not by learning how individual tools work. These are text and image tutorials and not video ones, but they are interactive so you can learn as you go.

The second option is Begin a Project which is where I’ll start. You get the choice of adding an image from your iPad, the Adobe Creative Cloud, the Camera, Google or Facebook. I chose Local Photos then the Photo Library and an image from my iPad.

In the main editing area you’ll find the tools on the left, layers on the right and menus across the top. The program pays lip service only to Photoshop. Some icons are familiar but others are more iPad than Photoshop so Photoshop users may find it a bit confusing where iPad artists will find it more familiar.

You can add multiple images and multiple layers. I wanted to texture this image so I clicked the Add Layer button and selected Photo Layer.

Once you select a second photo you get to size it as you import it – you can also rotate, flip or skew it too. Click Done to proceed to the editing area.

Now, with the layer selected, you can apply adjustments to it.

I chose Curves as this was a texture and I wanted more contrast. There are no adjustment layers so the Curves adjustment is being applied just to the targeted (top) layer. As you can see, you can adjust the RGB composite channel or the individual red, green and blue channels.

With the texture layer still targeted you can apply a filter to it by clicking the FX button. There is a range of filters including Basic, Stylize, Artistic and Photo. Some add things like drop shadows, blurs and glows and others are more artistic.

I chose Stylize Old Photo, configured the settings and tapped Apply. Unlike Photoshop where the foreground and background colors need to be selected before you run a filter, here you can select the colors to use in the filter settings – this really is a feature that Photoshop should have.

To blend the layers you click the Layer icon and you get a choice of blend modes and the chance to adjust the layer opacity.

There are no masks but you can use a gradient to fade the effect – when you do the gradient is applied to the layer and you can only undo it by tapping Undo – you can’t go back and edit it.

You can also add a new Empty Layer and fill it with a gradient.

And then blend it using a layer blend mode as I have done here.

I finished by cropping the image and then saving it.

You can then email it or send it to the Camera Roll or upload the project to the Adobe Creative Cloud so you can access them from there.

There are limits to Photoshop Touch and one is the 1600 x 1600 pixel image size limit. The text tools are rudimentary and, as a long time Photoshop user, I’d like to see editable masks and editable text. That said, for fixing photos and tinkering with creative projects this program is a welcome addition to the Adobe family.

This app will appeal to a range of users. There are plenty of basic tools that are easy to use but also some more advanced features for working with images. The Scribble Extract tool does a reasonable job of extracting a subject from a background and you can tinker with gradients and fades to get some interesting effects. You don’t need to know how to use Photoshop to use the app but your knowledge won’t go astray.

Read more from our Post Production Tips Category

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DigitalPhotographySchool/~3/cl4jBRrcCZw/edit-and-create-on-the-go-with-adobe-photoshop-touch-for-ipad

Today is 29 February (at least it is here in Australia as this post goes live) and we’re celebrating the ‘leap year’ with 29% off our super popular Kids Photography eBook – Click!

One of the team here at dPS HQ – Shayne Tilley our marketing guy – celebrates his birthday today. He only gets one every four years (and turns 8 today) and he’s being telling us tales of what it is like to be a ‘leap child’.

He’s not bitter (much) for missing all those birthdays but he did tell us that it puts a lot of pressure on parents of ‘leap children’ to get birthday parties right.

Can you imagine the pressure to put on those parties and to capture them with the perfect birthday party photo?

Whether your kids are born on that extra day in Feb or not, you probably know how it feels to want to capture their special moments with perfect shots. As a Dad I feel it as I watch my boys grow older – sometimes the days feel like they’re slipping by and I wonder if I could do more to record their early years with my camera.

I know many parents feel that pressure so at dPS we want to help ease the burden today and are taking 29% off Click! – our Kids Photography eBook.

29% Off Click! for 29 Hours

For the next 29 hours, Click! can be yours for just $21.29 USD (29% off).

Click! is all about helping you take gorgeous photos of your kids photos that reflect their big personalities, and capture the spirit of the most precious moments in their lives.

It is about resourcing parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts and anyone else with kids in their lives to take the kind of shots that immediately transport those viewing them to the moment that they were taken.

You can read all about what the eBook covers here but in short…. it’s a pint-sized investment for a lifetime of vivid memories.

This 29-hour offer ends at midnight (US Eastern Time) on 29 February.

Don’t miss out! Get more info on the book here or order your copy directly from the button below.

// ]]

Read more from our DPS Site News Category

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DigitalPhotographySchool/~3/kk-_EA3nNPc/how-to-take-gorgeous-photos-of-your-kids-29-off-today-only

The DSLR Video Fastpack 350 AW is a new addition to the Fastpack line from LowePro. I was curious when the bag arrived as to what I would find. I don’t shoot a lot of video, but I do at times. Would the bag work well for a ‘regular’ still shooter like myself? Which features did LowePro pack into the bag to make it useful for shooting video with an DSLR? And please tell me they improved the zippers.

The answers to those questions became clear as I took the bag on a number of trips over the course of four weeks, mostly shorter trips around town as well as flights to LA, San Francisco and Portland form my base in Seattle. One thing became clear; this bag is not for everyone. It does not attempt to please all who use it and that’s a good thing. While I know, marketing-wise, it’s best to go after the lions share of the buying public, it is refreashing to see LowePro concentrate on specific photographer needs, such as video DLSR videographers.

Specifications

From LowePro’s site:

Use In Real Life

I know those numbers often don’t mean a lot without real world use. I’ve tested a number of LowePro and other packs and my expectation for this pack as that I could carry my main body with power grip and longer lens plus a couple of lenses. When I inspected the bags camera compartment, it was clear I would only be able to fit the camera and two lenses. Then there was this longer section on the left side of the camera, where other packs would store additional lenses. I’m not a guy who carries five lenses with him at all times so this appealed to me and I quickly realized I could fit a flash on that side.

The bag is also deep in the camera compartment, meaning my Canon 7D with grip had room to spare, height-wise. This also left space under the flash on the left for additional storage, such as for a smaller microphone. That side compartment has a unique bit of divider that creates a false bottom and it’s good thinking of LowePro’s part because if it was not there, the spot for the flash would have wasted space above it. Or maybe they realized there are people like me that would pile additional gear on top anyway, and decided to maximize the usable area (although you do have to rip through velcro to get to that extra space underneath.

The Fastpack capability of this pack is the same as others; drop the bag off your right shoulder and swing it around on your left shoulder. This brings the side opening the bag into play and makes for easy removal of the camera. If you want to grab another lens, it is best to put the bag down and open it up fully. Here there is a slight hitch because of the size. Take a look at the photos and you will see that the spare lens compartments have a bit of overhang of fabric. In other bags this has been more out of the way, but in the 350 it is fairly stiff (at least when new) and rubs against lenses or knuckles. It makes things a trite bit annoying to remove. Not horrible, but slightly annoying.

The laptop compartment is pretty standard with room for a 17″ laptop in a padded sleeve. It works well but the two compression straps, when buckled, make removing a laptop slightly pinched. Again, not bad by any means, and when the straps are released you can fit a whole hand into the compartment, but just a note. With those straps in place it doesn’t open as fully as other bags I’ve tested. But I do understand why those straps are there and they do help make the pack feel more secure on my back.

Inside the top compartment is a good bit of organization. There is an elastic strap in the bottom to hold down a portable drive. There is a strap near the top especially to hold up headphones used for audio recording and I think this was very considerate. A zippered pocket and some mesh and other pockets make for simple organizing. I noticed, compared to other LowePro packs, that this bag lacks some of the more basic “office” pockets, such as pen holders and a cell phone slot. It does have the all important key-keeper strap (thank you!) and a spot for a single business card in case your bag goes missing.

The biggest addition to the bag is an accessory wallet built for video production. It’s not extensive, but I can see how useful it will be. The bag holds cables and cords in place and has room for two remote transmitters (handy for those using something like the PocketWizard for regular still photography or lav mic for video). It’s thoughtful and useful. On the outside there is a hidden tripod boot to hold a small to medium/large tripod or video rigging gear. The all important rain cover has its tucked away location on the bottom of the pack but is still not removable. It fits well and has kept my bag dry more than once. And lastly, the water bottle holder is available and handy of not employing a tripod on the right side.

For comfort, I found the bag in the middle of the road and it works well for the weight it should hold. The waist strap is meant to hold the bag close more than hold weight and is a bit high for my longer torso. The shoulder straps have enough adjustment to keep the bag comfortable for a few hours, but I would want more adjustment available if I were to wear the bag all day on a hike. The padding is ample and comfortable.

Conclusions

While I don’t shoot video and don’t carry around the normal rigging as such, I did find this bag useful. It is smaller sized than the Fastpack 350 Compu-Photo bag I review before and I like that, because it felt more maneuverable. While it was not as wide as the other 350, the additional depth was welcome as it fit a full sized DSLR and longer lens (think 70-200mm f/2.8) better. If you only need a couple of lenses with you, this bag works.

Oh! And the zipper question; yes. Yes, LowePro is using better zippers and this bag does not suffer from the I-must-use-two-hands-to-close-the-main-compartment problem of bags in the past. The zipper speeds around the corners and doesn’t bind up like its predecessors did. One other big bonus? The blacked out name/logo on the back. I like a bag that doesn’t completely scream “Camera Bag!” and that subtle change is appreciated.

Photographers with a smaller torso might find the 350 size to be a bit tall, but LowePro makes other bags in this range with the same features that will fit better. I wasn’t planning on liking this bag at first, but it’s growing on me. The main drawback, for me, is pulling out those spare lenses in the cramped side compartment of the main camera storage area. If I can get over that, this bag will be a daily use bag for me.

More details on the pack and a decent video can be found on LowePro’s site.

Read more from our reviews Category

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DigitalPhotographySchool/~3/EYF0JesmMZs/lowepro-dslr-video-fastpack-350-aw-review

Taking good photographs isn’t just about buying the most expensive camera available. Whether you’re a wedding photographer or an amateur looking to turn professional, it’s important that you understand shutter speed and how it can affect the photos you take.

What is Shutter Speed?

The easiest way to explain shutter speed is the length of time the camera shutter is open. Back in the days of “film” photography, this was the time that the film was exposed to the scene. In digital photography terms, the shutter speed is how long the camera’s image sensor “sees” the scene.

Different Shutter Speeds

There are various shutter speeds for various purposes. Measured in seconds (fractions of seconds), speeds are denoted in numbers such as 1/1000 or 1/50. Obviously, the larger the denominator, the greater the speed. The average camera speed is usually 1/60. Speeds slower than this are hard to manage as they almost always lead to blurry photographs.

The most common shutter speed settings available on cameras are usually 1/500, 1/250, 1/125, 1/60, 1/30, 1/15, 1/8 etc. Some cameras also allow you the option of measuring shutter speed in full seconds (not fractions) such as 1 second, 2 seconds, 10 seconds etc. This is particularly useful in low light photography or when you are trying to capture movement.

Of course, many photographers use shutter speeds lower than 1/60 and this does not mean all their photographs turn out blurry. For best results, slow shutter speeds should be used when your camera is on a tripod so your camera is stable and there is no shake whilst capturing the shot.

Picking the Ideal Shutter Speed

Now that you know the technical details, how do you go about picking the right shutter speed so you get perfect photos? Needless to say, the demands of wedding photography will be vastly different to photographing a school sports carnival.

The most important consideration when picking the right shutter speed is movement. How much movement do you expect to capture?

Would you like to “freeze” this movement in order to get a clean, clear photo? In this case, you need to use a fast shutter speed. This will let you capture the moment before it escapes you. Or maybe you would like to let the movement appear blurry (intentionally) in the photos to better project the movement? A slower shutter speed should be used in this case.

The actual numbers for the speeds will depend on how “frozen” or “blurry” you want your images to turn out and a little trial and error in the right situation will help you figure this out.

Considering Focal Length

The focal length of your lens will contribute to camera shake and unless you have in-camera image stabilisation, you should consider your shutter speed depending on the focal length as well. For longer focal lengths, you will probably need faster shutter speeds. Without image stabilisation, you are best to use a shutter speed denominator that is larger than the length. So, for 200mm lens, your ideal speed would be 1/250 for a good quality photograph.
Following these tips will help you choose the right shutter speed and will take you a long way towards taking better photos.

Read more about Shutter Speed at – Introduction to Shutter Speed and Understanding Shutter Speed.

Kevin provides various tips and tricks on wedding photography, portrait photography and family photography.

Read more from our Other Photography Tips Category

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DigitalPhotographySchool/~3/B5yyMDfo3T8/how-to-choose-the-right-shutter-speed

A Guest Post By Kristen Simental

Image by Stian Eikeland

When I decided to get serious about marketing, I did some research and felt that online marketing was the way to go. All right, I saw that everyone else was doing it. In the course of a year, I thought I was paying for advertising, but I was actually buying an education.

I quickly put my business listing on every photographer and wedding directory out there; from the big names to dozens of little guys. I paid to be listed on The Knot, Wedding Wire, WedPlan, and SnapKnot. I also paid for advertising on Facebook. I uploaded photos and wrote a cute bio. I was on every social network you can think of and made an honest attempt to keep them all updated. I felt like I was finally doing something right. I was serious, organized, and I was spending money. What could go wrong?

Months passed and my interest in these sites began to wane because nothing was happening. If you build it they will come, right? Well, I built it, but they didn’t come.

My biggest mistake was thinking I knew how to market. I didn’t go to school for it and frankly, I’d never done it before. I was just copying what I saw others doing. How could it fail? Wouldn’t someone accidentally land on my profile page, see my work, freak out with excitement, and call me immediately? Turns out, it doesn’t work that way.

I began reading books on selling myself and everyone was saying the same thing: Your best business comes from referrals, your best clients are your current clients. I’d heard this before, but I wasn’t living it. However, when I thought about it, it was true: My best business did always come from referrals and while I was great at customer service, I wasn’t exactly making my clients feel like the rockstars they are. I was so focused on looking for new clients, I wasn’t taking care of the ones I had…at least, not as well as I could have.

My second biggest mistake was thinking clients would come to me. If you visit these directory sites, you’ll find them as overwhelming as I did. Thousands of photographers all hoping the same thing you’re hoping: Bride sees your page, loves you instantly, picks up the phone, you’re hired, all is right with the world. The problem is, vendor directories work for those that can afford to place their profiles at the top of the list. If you’re just starting out, you’re anxious to get working which means you’re willing to make a few financial sacrifices, convinced that since everyone else is doing it, it must be working. In any other case your work will absolutely speak for itself, but when it’s jumbled up with 10,000 other photographers frenzied for the same potential customers, it becomes eat or be eaten. It’s an over-saturated market and you become the proverbial needle in a haystack.

It became crystal clear that these directory sites make their money through advertising, selling higher tier plans to vendors, and getting you to buy more of their services. It stands to reason that if you’re hovering at the bottom rung, you’ll get less attention from potential clients – if they can find you. Furthermore, if you’re able to buy top tier plans, it kind of means you’re already making the money to afford it. And when you do finally pay for the top tier…guess what? You’re not alone. So what do the rest of us do? Cross our fingers?

The online marketing system seems to be feeding itself on rookies like me who are offering themselves willingly into a massive, dark sea of obscurity. It ended up costing me thousands of dollars I could have put back into my business in the form of new equipment or hey…how about new shoes?

Does this mean these sites are worthless? Just because they didn’t work for me doesn’t mean they won’t work for you, but I don’t recommend spreading yourself thin the way I did. Pick one or two directories you respect and do your research. I particularly like the ones created for and by photographers. You must also realize, you can’t just upload a few pics, write a cute bio, and walk away. You get what you put into it. Keep it updated, tell your network about it, offer deals, give it your all. At the same time, if you’re just starting out, you can’t expect to compete with XYZ Photographers who’ve been in business for 10 years, have a massive portfolio, and have the cash to put into advertising. While you’re building your way up to that point, treat your clients like Kings and Queens, but don’t do it because you want more business from them. Do it because, as paying clients who chose you out of thousands, they deserve it.

Whenever I try something and fail, I ask myself:What could I have done better? In this case, I put all my faith into online advertising and less faith in myself. Never forget, this is a service industry and the best form of advertising is the kind you don’t pay cash for.

Kristen Simental is a wedding and portrait photographer based out of Los Angeles. You can see her work at www.kristensimental.com

Read more from our Other Photography Tips Category

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DigitalPhotographySchool/~3/qL2k39UzxkA/online-marketing-for-photographers-the-lessons-i-paid-for

French landscape astrophotographer and astronomy journalist Laurent Laveder created a fun series of ‘moon’ images with a twist. Using a few simple props and the human form he’s transformed the moon into all manner of objects. He’s also pulled together a small book – Moon Games – featuring some of the images and some poetry (it’s in French).

See the full gallery of images here (via Bored Panda).

Read more from our Digital Photography Case Studies Category

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DigitalPhotographySchool/~3/AcVRreU9DTs/moon-games

We had a great discussion last week on our Facebook page about this so I thought I’d ask the question here on the blog too:

Is your photography done in sporadic bursts or are you a steady shooter?

I’m not talking about when you’re on a shoot and shooting fast – I mean do you do no photography for days or even weeks and then go through a burst of heaps of it in a day (a Binge Photographer of sorts) – or are you the type of photographer who shoots a few photos every day (a Snack Photographer)?

Or do you have another pattern?

Read more from our Reader Questions Category

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DigitalPhotographySchool/~3/EfUj_7V9qD4/are-you-a-binge-photographer%E2%80%A6-or-a-snack-photographer

My experience with binoculars has mainly revolved around visits to motor sports, surf carnivals and performances like musicals or opera.

So I can, without fear of contradiction, say that we can safely discount use of the DEV-5 in theatres and the like: for one thing you’d quickly get tired of sitting it on your lap or wrapping it around your neck — it weighs over a kilo and is nearly the size of a shoe box; for another, it looks suspiciously like a recording device — for stills and video — which of course, it is!

Outdoors? Ideal! And, because the gear looks like high end binoculars you may evade the piracy police!

Sony DEV-5 Features

The DEV-5 is/are the world’s first digital binoculars with Full HD video recording (in AVHCD), zoom, autofocus and SteadyShot. And, of course, 3D movie capture.

You can also capture stills up to a maximum size of 3072×2304 pixels, or as a 26x20cm print made at 300 dpi.

The DEV-5 offers an on-board GPS receiver that automatically geo-tags video clips when on the move. Tagged clips and images can be viewed after shooting on online maps (using compatible software).

The binocs rely on a ‘stealth’ design, the outer covering using an elastomer material which gives a reassuringly firm handling. Most external controls are over-sized, so gloved hand operation is not a challenge.

As I said, the gear is heavy and bulky but well-balanced in the hand. One of the first things I did was to remove the plastic twin lens cover … it became an annoyance every time I put the DEV-5 down. Removing it made life a lot easier.

Memory card loaded, the power was applied and the binocs quickly came to life in about a second. The power slider is set amidships and clearly picked out in green.

First: I needed to set the local date and time, using the viewfinder menu. Done.

Using the finder display and a set of cross lines I next adjusted the interocular or inter-pupillary distance. This is easily achieved and you then just hope that any co-users have the same eye-to-eye distance! Following this you need to adjust the dioptric setting separately for each eye.

As you will most likely spend much of your time with eyes glued to eyepieces be thankful the control points are easy to find finger-wise: choice of mode (stills or movies) and shoot buttons are at the right with the zoom lever slightly for’ard; a second shoot button is found at left, suiting southpaws right down to the ground.

Possibly a pre-production unit, the review DEV-5 was hobbled to a degree by an inability to shoot stills … only movies.

In rough figuring, at a distance of about 12 metres you could pull in a tight head shot. Initially, I was a little disappointed at the image quality in the eyepiece: whilst sharp, it was murky. If you’re an inveterate binocs user, you may find the DEV-5 heavy going, become annoyed at the display and find pleasure only in its shooting abilities. If so, you may be better off using a digicam with an eye level finder: just view and shoot mono not 3D!

The task of writing this review was a tricky one: to investigate such matters as the menu options I soon tired from holding the DEV-5 upright and pushing my eyes into the viewing eyepieces, so I resorted to mounting it on a tripod next to my desk.

Charging is a accomplished by hooking the binocs up to mains power; a separate stand alone charger is an optional extra.

Apart from the supply or non-supply of a stand-alone charger, another question I had was: why is there additional space and an additional terminal in the battery compartment?

The answer is to allow fitting of a larger capacity battery, able to run the device for 390 minutes, as against the supplied cell which has enough power for 195 minutes.

Sony DEV-5 Verdict

Quality: I could shoot only video but the frames I took looked OK — nothing brilliant, sharpness adequate but perhaps a little subject to flare (the test shots were made in backlight).

Why you’d buy the DEV-5: you get binocs plus a digi camera.

Why you wouldn’t: too heavy; menu difficult to navigate.

You may also need to buy a separate charger if you want to use the binocs and charge a second battery at the same time.

I feel there is a major flaw in the DEV-5′s design: the viewfinder menu should be accessed via an external LCD screen (just like a digicam!), perhaps sited on the top deck.

I also feel the sensor capture figure should be higher, maybe 10 megapixels minimum; this way you could crop worthwhile images to a still reasonable size.

Sony DEV-5 Specifications

Image Sensor: 7.1 million effective pixels.
Metering: Auto.
Lenses: Twin f1.8-3.4/23.7-660mm (35mm equivalent).
Sensor: 4.5mm Exmor R CMOS.
Stabiliser: Optical SteadyShot.
Minimum Illumination: 11 lux (1/60 sec shutter speed: 60i; 1/50 sec 50i).
Interpupil adjustment: 55-75mm.
Audio: Dolby Digital two channel stereo.
Memory: SD/SDHC/SDXC and Memory Stick PRO Duo cards.
Image Sizes (pixels): Stills: 3072×2304 to 640×480.
Movies: 1920×1080 (AVCHD), 1440×1080 (MPEG4xxx).
Viewfinder: 2×1.1cm LCD (1.23 million pixels).
File Formats: JPEG, AVCHD.
Interface: USB 2.0, HDMI mini, composite/component/S-Video AV, headphone, microphone, DC.
Power: Rechargeable lithium ion battery, DC input.
Dimensions: 219x155x88 WHDmm.
Weight: 1.2 kg (body only).
Price: Get a price on the Sony DEV-5 Digital Recording Binoculars at Amazon

Read more from our Cameras and Equipment Category

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DigitalPhotographySchool/~3/NuzhEoA1Yj4/sony-dev-5-digital-recording-binoculars-review

Visit any of the retailers who offer user-operated printing of digital images and you’ll think that everyone does it that way. Nup!

Despite the radically cheaper print cost at these sites (10c and lower!) there’s plenty of digital photographers out there who prefer to do it at home on their own printer. The benefit is the extra control of the output and, to be realistic, the home printing cost is far less once you reach an output size of A4 and larger.

Author Rob Shephard has now revised this book five times and the new edition is very welcome, containing ‘almost all new material.’

What has happened in the interval is the arrival of high end DSLRs, able to capture image quality in excess of the previous ultimate standard — medium format film cameras.
Another factor is the introduction of refined and enhanced printers, now capable of deep and rich black output as well as the use of sophisticated and enhanced multiple colour ink cartridges that provide subtle shading that will reproduce even the trickiest images.

The question, Shephard poses, is ‘What is a good print …? One answer is a good print is one that matches the monitor display. His response to this is to point out that ‘a print is physically a very different thing than the image on the monitor.’ For one thing they each are very different display technologies.

Additionally, the original capture is only the beginning of an image. For many, this is the starting off point and the rendering of the final print the end of the journey. The book suggests you make an initial ‘work print’ and use this to determine what is the final ‘look’ you seek. Does it need warming up or cooling down? More contrast?

Brighter? Diffusion? Lower colour saturation?

An early chapter discusses the choice of a printer: whether you need a dye or pigmented ink printer; if you’re ambitious you may need a six or eight colour printer; fast or slow printer; a need to print with thicker papers using a printer with a straight-through paper path; larger output, up to 43x56cm.

The point is made that most times a good print begins with the taking of the picture. Such matters as image sharpness, depth of field, precise exposure and correct white balance must be attended to so that you have a ‘full image’ to work with. Don’t snap the shutter with the thought that if anything is wrong ‘Photoshop will fix it!’

Other topics covered: printing workflow; image software; resizing and sharpening; choice of appropriate media; print permanence; BW and panorama output; printer maintenance.

There are gallery pages showing the work of a number of master photographers; their work and the other images gain from the large size of the book: 22x28cm.

The book is heavily Epson-specific, especially when it comes down to the listing of the various output media but the overall messages apply to all makes of printer.
Highly useful!

Author: R Sheppard
Publisher: Pixiq
Distributor: Capricorn Link
Length: 182 pages
ISBN: 10 987654 321
Price: get a price on New Epson Complete Guide to Digital Printing at Amazon (currently 38% off)

Read more from our Digital Photography Resources Category

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DigitalPhotographySchool/~3/euDg5qrAsHQ/new-epson-complete-guide-to-digital-printing-book-review-2