Common Concerns and Issues When It Comes to Printing

Common Concerns and Issues When It Comes to Printing

More photographers and snap shooters are printing!  Hooray!  A photograph is not finished until it is printed.  With an increasing number of folks realizing that pictures go to die on your smartphone, on your computer and on social media, the volume of prints is going up.  And that has raised some concerns not experienced in the on screen only world.  In this article, we will look at a few issues and propose some solutions for them.

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Photographic Training : Do You Need It?

Photographic Training : Do You Need It?

Just as a musician practices scales to build dexterity, and to open the mind to possibility, the photographer needs practice to make better images.  This brings the questions of what and how to practice, and where to find the ideas, the guidance and the coaching to do so.


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Lens Compression and Perspective Exaggeration

Lens Compression and Perspective Exaggeration

Hello everyone!  This time I want to tackle a subject that regularly comes up in classes and coursework.  It’s also a topic on the Internet with a variety of fascinating ideas. We often hear of lens compression and as Lee Morris recently demonstrated on Petapixel. it actually does not exist.  I don’t agree with some of his terminology, but the approach is bang on.

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Focal Length and Angle of View

Focal Length and Angle of View

I meet lots of newer creatives, whether shooting stills or video and they are rarely concerned about the physical focal length of a lens, which is particularly irrelevant as an indicator when crop sensor cameras get involved as they always reference lenses as if they are full frame even when not.  What real creatives are concerned about is the image and what goes in it and what does not.  This is partially managed by angle of view.

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Revisiting HDR - Returning to Photomatix Pro

Revisiting HDR - Returning to Photomatix Pro

Hey gang.  It's been a couple of years since the boom time of HDR.  You remember those days, lots of electric, oversaturated, haloed images that made your teeth hurt and your eyes burn?  Yeah I thought so.  Fortunately, those days are mostly past, and it might be time to revisit the entire HDR idea, this time with some history under our belts and a better understanding of what we want to achieve.

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Lighting for Headshots : A Repeatable Setup That Works Anywhere

Lighting for Headshots : A Repeatable Setup That Works Anywhere

What you will get in this tutorial is a simple, repeatable, three light setup that you can use anywhere with only a little set up time once you have your configuration recorded and that will deliver superb and consistent results.  If you have a conga line of shots to make, the set up doesn't change, and so you can focus on the human skills necessary to bring out the real person.

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Quick Tip : Guide Numbers and Watt Seconds

Quick Tip : Guide Numbers and Watt Seconds

There is always confusion about the relationship between Guide Number and Watt Seconds (joules) when  talking about flash.  In this Quick Tips video, I try to provide some education on the differences and why you might use this information when making a flash purchase.

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Become a Better Photographer with a Handheld Light Meter

Become a Better Photographer with a Handheld Light Meter

We all want to improve as photographers.  And, the cameras that we have available to us today, provide services unimaginable twenty years ago to help us do so.  But as with all things, there are multiple perspectives to a view, and I've learned through experience, that with advanced automation has come a loss in understanding of how to meter shots effectively.  Time to think more clearly about metering.

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2018 Creative Resolutions

2018 Creative Resolutions

A lot of New Year's resolutions are less resolution and more wishful thinking.  At least many of mine have been in the past.  But I make the effort each year, sometimes later deciding that I no longer want to go that route, sometimes dropping the resolution entirely and sometimes fulfilling it.  Makes me human, I suppose.  Excuses and defences aside for the past, here's what I am looking to do from a creative perspective in 2018.  Perhaps one or more may inspire you.

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All About Noise

All About Noise

As you may know, I provide support and moderation on some different photography forums, and as often comes around, the subject of grain and noise has appeared again, and as is common, the subject is accompanied by an ocean going freighter filled with bullcrap, pseudo science and completely wrong so-called "facts".

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What Constitutes Success?

What Constitutes Success?

On Sunday of the past weekend, I was a guest instructor on a photo day trip.  It was attended by lots of very nice people, with the expected variance in experience and confidence.  I noticed a few consistencies that I found a bit disappointing that I wanted to share with the membership because they are destructive and completely invalid.

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Understanding File Sizes

Understanding File Sizes

Why Are File Sizes Different From Camera to Camera and from JPEG to RAW?  Let's start with a couple of example cameras for which I have either owned or done quick looks.

  • Canon 5D Mark II delivers 21.1 megapixels on a full frame sensor
  • Canon 5D Mark IV delivers 30.4 megapixels on a full frame sensor
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