Photo.net
Saturday, August 2, 2008
How To Turn a Digital Photo Print into a Beautiful Painting (using water!)
Using a technique I call "reverse painting", you can use a paintbrush and water on a printed digital photo to manipulate the printed ink for different effects! In particular, you can turn a photo into a beautiful and unique painting...Read about it Here
Filter options for digital cameras
Optical filters function in digital photography much as they
do in film work. Properly used, they can condition the light
entering the camera in favorable ways—often in ways that
post-processing can't easily duplicate....Article is...Here
Nikon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S VR DX NIKKOR
Nikon were one of the first camera manufacturers to design digital-specific lenses matched to the DX sensor size, but then seemed somewhat reluctant to produce a true budget standard 'kit' zoom, finally succumbing with their original 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 to accompany the launch of the D50 in April 2005.
This lens was updated to a mark II version with the release of the D40 in November 2006, featuring a new external design and smoother zoom operation. Then barely a year later, they announced a wholly new version, this time equipped with a vibration reduction (VR) unit to combat camera shake; a lens which has now been confirmed as the standard companion to the D60 SLR.
This lens is clearly Nikon's response to the widespread adoption of in-body stabilization systems by most other manufacturers (with the notable exception of Canon, whose own stabilized 18-55mm preceded Nikon's by just a few months), and allows them to offer stabilized dSLR kits at budget prices...Full Review Here
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Win a Nikon - Iconic Britain with Windows Live Search
Windows Live are giving away hundreds of Nikon point and shoot and SLR cameras. Simply vote on images you think are iconic to British culture for your chance to win one. You can even submit your own photos if you think you can do better! Best hurry though, there's only 2 SLR's left up for grabs! Click here to go to the site.
Monday, July 28, 2008
25 Great Photography Tutorials and Links From Around the Web
This time I think you’ll agree that there’s been some wonderful tutorials written. I’ve included 17 from other sites - 5 from our archives (this time last year) and 3 great photoshop video tutorials.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
SensorKlear works…
So what are the available DIY solutions for DSLR sensor cleaning?
- Blower
Done that. This is what I usually do for sensor cleaning. This time it failed me. - Eclipse and PecPad
Expensive, but usually give the best result among other solution. Also seems to be one of the most difficult technique. Some model (like Canon D5) require different cleaning agent, since there are reports that Eclipse can cause irrecoverable damage to the coating layer on the low pass filter. - Arctic Butterfly
Easy to deploy, but very expensive. There are reports this method can cause slight damage to sensor. Spinning brush may also touch shutter grease, and can make the sensor even dirtier. Success rate are moderately high. - Static charged brush
Cheap, and seems to be very difficult to do. And just like any other method with brush, you need not to touch the sensor. Beside where can I find such brush in such a short time? - SpecGrab
Fairly easy method. But you need to be able to locate the dust for this method to be effective, since you can not “grab” the dust if you don’t know where it is. You need some tool like sensor loup, which is.. expensive - Pentax Sensor Cleaning Tool
Not available anywhere I look. And I don’t even know how it looks, how it work, etc - SensorKlear
Made by the same company that gives you LensPen. Actually it’s just a LensPen with head specially shaped for sensor cleaning. There are rumors that canon actually use the original LensPen to clean sensor. Just like using PecPad, this method require you to actually touch the sensor. Some argue, that since the LensPen is save enough for optic lens, it should be good enough for the glass that cover DLSR sensor. But using the SensorKlear require you to actually touch the sensor, and potentially damaging it. But from what I’ve read this method has moderate level of success, and quite save.
The business aspects of RAW vs. JPG mode
To shoot in RAW or JPG mode on your digital camera? Do you really get the extra, fine detail that 16-bit RAW mode purports to deliver, and that everyone is raving about?
Or is it a case of the Emperor's New Clothes, and no one wants to say anything? Or, more precisely, do people even notice?..Full Blog Post Here
-
antron said... 16-bit RAW mode lets you post-process the picture in order to reveal image data you couldn't get without shooting several pictures with different exposure times
Check it out (16 bit RAW section)
http://www.hdrsoft.com/examples.html
Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6DC EX HSM : Review bythom
Most newcomers to wide angle lenses think that the primary thing that distinguishes them is their angle of view: a wider lens gives you a wider angle of view on a scene. Yes, you can see more "width" through the viewfinder, but that's actually not the real reason why pros tend to gravitate towards "very wide angle" lenses instead of "modestly wide" ones. The real issue is depth...Full Article...Here
Sigma10-20mm Group-
Good review by Thom Hogan and vindicates my choice on buying this lens. Thanks Orb keep up the good work.
Night Photography - A Few Idea's on How to Proceed
Taking night photos can be very satisfying. Whether on a warm summer evening, or a winter night when the chill makes all the lights twinkle, taking photos at night is fun, and an excellent way to explore the capabilities of a camera. All that is required is a sturdy tripod and patience...Full Article Here
Studio Lighting - Lighting Diagrams, Planning and Explaining
Sometimes you want to make a diagram of your photo session. (OK, sometimes you don't, but sometimes you do). I, for example, am going to use studio lighting diagrams for explaining about low key and high key studio setups. ... Here
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Noiseware
OVERVIEW
Noiseware is a high-performance noise suppression software tool designed to decrease or eliminate noise from digital photo or scanned images.
Unlike most image processing software techniques that utilize simple methods (such as median filters) to treat digital noise in images, Noiseware features a sophisticated yet fast noise filtering algorithm.
Using the adaptive noise profile capability and sharpening function, Noiseware greatly reduces the visible noise while keeping the details in the images.
Check them out Here
70 Beauty-Retouching Photoshop Tutorials
by Dirk Metzmacher
Beauty retouching is probably one of the most popular application areas in which Adobe Photoshop is used extensively. There are two simple reasons for that.
First, Photoshop offers a variety of advanced tools to smooth out skin and hair, optimize body proportions and emphasize some beautiful details. And second, if you have some experience with Photoshop it is easy to learn the basics and quickly produce very impressive and beautiful results.
Of course, beauty-retouching is a quite deceptive art. The masters of Photoshop create illusions which are hard to tell apart — unless you have both a genuine photo and the final result in Photoshop and can directly compare them.
In fact, every day we consume perfectly retouched stars and models online and offline which just look different in the real life.
Nikon SB-600 AF Speedlight - Reviews
Description:
Guide number (at 35mm zoom-head position, 20 C/68 F): 30/98 (ISO 100, m/ft), 42/138 (ISO 200, m/ft)
Flash exposure control : i-TTL, D-TTL, TTL (film based), Balanced Fill-Flash, Manual
Flash shooting distance range (in TTL auto flash mode): 0.6m ti 20m (2 to 65.6 ft.) (varies depending on the ISO sensitivity, zoom-head position and lens aperture in use)
Power SW: OFF/STBY ON
Recycling time: Alkaline approx. 3.5 sec.
Number of flashes: Alkaline approx. 200 times
Creative lighting system: a variety of flash operations are available with camera's compatible with CLS: i-TTL mode, Advanced Wireless Lighting, FV Lock flash, Flash color information communication, Auto FL High-Speed sync, and Wide area AF-Assist Illuminator
Display: LCD: segment type
LCD back light: LED type
Shoe-lock: One action lock
Battery: 4 x AA-type: Alkaline, Lithium, Nickel, NiCd, Ni-MH (All four batteries must be the same type)
Zoom: Auto 24x85mm, Manual
Dimensions (W x H x D): Approx. 68 x 123.5 x 90mm (2.7 x 4.9 x 3.5 in)
Weight (w/o batter): Approx. 300g (9.6 oz)
Included Accessories: Speedlight stand (AS-19), Soft case (SS-600)
Optional Accessories: TTL flash cable (SC-29), TTL flash cable (SC-28), Color Filter Set (SJ-1)
FM Review
Ken Rockwell Review
Momentcorporation Review
Friday, July 18, 2008
Blog has just passed the 100,000 clicks mark !
Since Dec. 17th 2007 have had over 484 posts with 100,000 Hits.
I never expected it but thanks all for the visits and hope you have found the blog useful.
- Gil said...
That's awsome, thanks for all the info
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I like the analogy with the music industry and digital vs. analog. I'm a huge music buff and within the last year i started collecting vinyl. I have some albums in digital form, in both mp3 and CD format as well as on vinyl. If you were to blindfold me and play the three different formats one after another, I probably wouldn't be able to tell you which is which.
Back to the photography part of it now. For my shooting purposes, I'm not a professional photographer in the sense that I don't get paid to make pictures, jpg format is sufficient. The only time that I shoot raw is when I want to go in and "digitally remaster" the image (sorry for another music industry reference. i couldn't help myself). After I'm done editing, i save as a TIF and delete the RAW file.
I guess it's just a matter of preference at this point. A good picture is a good picture, no matter what format it's shot in. Vinyl is making a comeback in recent years. Who knows, maybe some day RAW will become a desirable format for "photofiles" of the future, giving them a retro feel to their images.
-brian
thewanderingarchitect
July 23, 2008 6:21 AM