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Nov 29, 2011

21 Inspirational Natural Light ‘Window’ Portraits

21 Inspirational Natural Light ‘Window’ Portraits:

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Image by Daniel Zedda


One of the most effective pieces of lighting gear ever invented is available to almost every photographer in the world… unless you’re living in a cave (and even then you might have one).


Image by Anna Gay


It’s the window.


Image by Eric Meuller


I hear many photographers asking about what lighting gear to purchase to light their portraits – but I’m a firm believer that the natural light provided by a window can often do the job as well – if not better – than any expensive gear that you might buy.


Image by Meredith Farmer


Here’s a collection of images that were all taken predominantly with natural light – in most cases at or near a window. Enjoy.


Image by Shandi-Lee


Image by Paul Goyette


Image by John Meuller


Image by Mr Story


Image by Beni Ishaque Luthor









Image by Gabriela Camerotti


Image by The Q


Image by Sebastiano Pitruzzello


Image by Gabriela Camerotti


Image by Jay Ryness


Image by Raymond Larose


Image by gabriele fanelli


Image by Sebastiano Pitruzzello


Image by Jay Ryness


Image by Drew Herron


Image by brice hardelin


Image by Lauren Nelson


Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.



Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.


21 Inspirational Natural Light ‘Window’ Portraits




Nov 23, 2011

The Olloclip 3-in-1 iPhone camera attachment: a cool iPhoneography accessory

The Olloclip 3-in-1 iPhone camera attachment: a cool iPhoneography accessory:




Earlier my colleague Steve wrote about the US$249 Photojojo iPhone Lens Dial, an iPhone accessory that gives iPhone photographers access to an array of three camera lenses on rotating dial. For those of you who like the ability to add lenses to your iPhone, but don't like the $249 price, I recommend the Olloclip, a $69 slip on 3-in-1 lens for the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S.



The Olloclip started off as a Kickstarter project and went on sale in May. The body of the Olloclip is made of anodized aircraft grade aluminum and it comes in two colors, red or black. On the front end of the Olloclip is the fish eye lens, which gives you a 180-degree field of view. The rear of the Olloclip houses the wide angle lens, which gives you a greater field of view than what your iPhone 4/4S camera would normally have. You can unscrew the wide angle lens to access the macro lens that gives you about ten times the magnification of the subject of your shot within 12-15mm.



To use the Olloclip, simply slip it onto the end of your iPhone, over the iPhone's camera. The notch in the Olloclip is made of plastic so you don't need to worry about it scratching the glass front or back of your iPhone 4 and 4S. The Olloclip's entire 3-in-1 lens solution is quite small, which is nice when traveling. It easily fits into your pants or shirt pocket. The Olloclip also comes with a small, draw-string bag/case made of microfiber material that also doubles as a lens cleaner.



The Olloclip's primary difference from the pricier Photojojo iPhone Lens Dial is that it comes with a macro lens instead of a telephoto lens. However, if macro shots are more important to you than telephoto shots, the Olloclip is a terrific choice for photographers who want to get more out of their iPhone4/4S camera. The quality of its construction, size, and features can't be beat for the price. You can order the Olloclip from Amazon or directly from the company's website.

The Olloclip 3-in-1 iPhone camera attachment: a cool iPhoneography accessory originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 22 Nov 2011 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nov 21, 2011

New iPad due in March, aluminum iPhone 5 may launch this summer

New iPad due in March, aluminum iPhone 5 may launch this summer:

Apple reportedly plans to launch a slightly thicker (0.7mm) iPad in March with a dual-backlit display and a new high-resolution screen. It may be shown off in January if it’s ready in time, iLounge reports. In addition, iLounge cites its “most reliable source” in stating that Apple will likely launch the iPhone 5 next summer. In contrast to a number of rumors, the site says that the iPhone 5 does not have a tear-drop design. Instead, it will be 8mm longer than the current model and will sport a metal case as well as a 4-inch display. Lastly, Apple’s MacBook Pro line will be updated in 2012 and the new models will be thinner than the current generation notebooks, the report claims.


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Nov 18, 2011

Printing 101 Notebook: An Introduction to Fine Art Photography Printing by Ron Martinsen NOW AVAILABLE

Printing 101 Notebook: An Introduction to Fine Art Photography Printing by Ron Martinsen NOW AVAILABLE:

After months of hard work, my 90+ page Printing 101 Guide is now available on Trey Ratcliff’s Flatbooks.com web site. Click here to view more details.

This book is a collection of my lessons learned during my massive printing series.


I hope you enjoy it.


Ron


P.S. Don’t forget that you can use the code RONMART15 to get a 15% discount on ALL products on StuckInCustoms.com and Flatbooks.com.


Disclosure


I make a commission on all products sold when you use my coupon code, and on all copies of my book.


Nov 17, 2011

Useful Photography Tip #9: Get the Most Out of Your Mac

Useful Photography Tip #9: Get the Most Out of Your Mac:


Mac users enjoy a level of virus free stability Windows users can only dream of. A poorly written app might crash but it’s unlikely to shut your whole computer down. However, demanding creative professionals (like us photographers) will often complain their Mac is too slow. Here are a few tips on how to get the most out of your Macintosh computer if you’re not ready to shop for a new one. Sorry PC guys, I have no idea if any of these tips work for Windows or not, I’ve been using Macs since my first computer in 1994. If you use Windows and want to but haven’t moved yet, I’m sorry, let’s try again.


Get to know your Activity Monitor. Mine is set to open on launch with the Dock Icon set to CPU History (View>Dock Icon) and it’s the one Application I never close. Several of my tips will serve you better if you learn to monitor open Applications, CPU levels of them, Hard drive space and the other information provided by this small footprint app that comes with your Mac.



Keep a minimum of 20% free space on your hard drives. Every time you open an Application or Document on your Mac the OS will attempt to optimize it – this is a matter of putting all the little chunks of data in the same place on your hard drive so that they can be accessed faster. Your Hard Drive is much like a record player – the less often the needle has to move from one part of it to another the faster it will be. But if you have less than 20% free space this feature automatically turns itself off because when you don’t have enough space moving those chunks around would actually slow the computer down. If you drop below that threshold for long your drive can become a mess quickly and even when you get that space back it won’t be easy to fix. I tend to keep my main drive closer to 40% or more free by keeping all of my documents on fast (FW800, 7200+RPM, Good sized Cache) reliable external drives like a G-Drive or a Buffalo Drive.



Disable Fonts – A lot of people have no idea how much Fonts slow your computer down. If you don’t use a 3rd party Font management program, your Mac will automatically use Font Book. Unfortunately Font Book isn’t very smart and automatically enables all added Fonts and leaves them enabled. I opened Font Book once when my apps were really slow and discovered I had over 1,000 fonts enabled. Disabling them is a bit of a pain if you didn’t categorize them on import because if you select all, instead of just disabling the ones it can or telling you which ones it can’t you get a message that says it can’t do it, without a list of which fonts it can’t do.



While this is about the worst UI design ever, once I figured out which fonts I couldn’t disable and disabled all the rest, my computer was much faster, and if a program wants to use a font it asks me anyway.


Close your browser while using Photoshop – Browsers have gotten better but they’re still hogs. Flash on the other hand is a quick ticket to nowhere. When you need the power of your computer, close your browser, or at least make sure you don’t have any Flash pages open (this is hard since so many ads are served with Flash these days). I love using the web to listen to music, but even the simplest looking sites can bring my computer to a snail pace. If I need the power of my computer, I will usually quit Firefox and other internet accessing programs. Scroll back up and look at what’s second on my list (sorted by %CPU) – it’s not even Firefox, it’s the Flash plugin.


Follow these tips and your Apple Mac computer will stay up to speed when editing the fruits of your photography.


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Nov 16, 2011

Six iPhone 4S features you may have missed

Six iPhone 4S features you may have missed:




Despite its superficial similarity to the iPhone 4, three landmark features set the iPhone 4S apart from its predecessor: Siri, the new 8 megapixel camera, and the much more powerful A5 processor. The iPhone 4S also comes with a few more subtle design tweaks that differentiate it from the iPhone 4, and you might miss some of those changes if you didn't have an iPhone 4 and 4S sitting side-by-side for a comparison.



Antenna Improvements



Phil Schiller actually did talk about the new antenna in the iPhone 4S during the most recent Apple event, but the changes to the iPhone's antenna aren't really obvious until you have the handset in your hands. One of those changes literally requires you to hold the device in your hand before you'll see it: the dreaded "death grip" of the iPhone 4 is gone in the iPhone 4S.



A well-known and widely (over)publicized shortcoming of the iPhone 4's antenna design caused it to attenuate wireless signals when held a certain way. Bridging the black gap on the lower left side of the iPhone's antenna band would cause signal strength to drop for some users. This so-called "Antennagate" dominated headlines about the iPhone 4 for months, and Apple eventually addressed the issue by providing free bumper cases to affected users.



Since I use my iPhone left-handed and without a case, with the iPhone 4 I always had to be mindful of how I held it. 3G signal strength at my home wasn't the best with my old wireless provider -- I'd get one or two bars if I was lucky -- so accidentally bridging that gap would cause my signal strength to drop to zero within a minute or less.



That's no longer an issue with the iPhone 4S. In fact, to get the signal strength to drop at all I have to hold the phone in a very unnatural two-fisted grip that requires bridging all four of the black antenna gaps at once. The "death grip" is a thing of the past.



The improved antenna design also equates to much faster 3G speeds, improved call quality, and lightning-fast Wi-Fi signal acquisition. 3G download speeds on my iPhone 4S are anywhere from two to four times faster than my iPhone 4 on the same network, and the murky "bottom of the ocean" call quality I got on the iPhone 4 was replaced with crystal-clear voice quality on the iPhone 4S. The newest iPhone also latches onto a Wi-Fi signal much faster than my iPhone 4 ever did, with essentially zero delay in connecting to networks it's connected to before.



Many critics lambasted the iPhone 4's antenna design in the wake of "Antennagate," but the iterative update of the iPhone 4S antenna shows that Apple has shaken out any deficiencies in the design.



Shifted Controls



One consequence of the antenna re-design is those antenna gaps have been shifted around. Rather than the asymmetrical three-gap design of the GSM iPhone 4, the iPhone 4S has four gaps arranged with bilateral symmetry, essentially identical to the gaps on the CDMA version of the iPhone 4. As a result, the mute switch and volume controls for the iPhone 4S have been shifted downward toward the dock connector by about a millimeter compared to the iPhone 4, similarly to how the CDMA iPhone 4's controls were altered.



As a result, many (if not most) cases designed for the GSM model iPhone 4 won't fit the iPhone 4S, including Apple's own bumper cases. Cases designed for the CDMA iPhone 4 should fit the iPhone 4S just fine. So should "universal" cases designed for both the GSM and CDMA versions of the iPhone 4; these cases feature slightly larger cutouts for the mute switch and volume buttons, so they should fit the iPhone 4S without issue.



Quieter Vibration Motor



Apple has swapped out the old vibration motor in the GSM model iPhone 4 with one that's either similar or identical to the one in the CDMA iPhone 4. The new motor features a smoother vibration which doesn't rattle the phone itself quite so much. The result is a much quieter vibration, one that you might not even hear from more than a few feet away if your iPhone's lying on a table; if you're holding the phone in your hand, you might barely hear the vibration at all.



Depending on your needs, that might not necessarily count as an improvement. If you loathe ringtones and instead listen for your iPhone rattling across a table or other flat surface for your notifications, this change may disappoint you. Personally, I appreciate the new vibration, because the old one always sounded as though it was trying to shake the phone to shreds.



The quieter motor in the iPhone 4S doesn't mean the phone's vibrations are weaker than those of the iPhone 4. I held the 4S in one hand and the 4 in my other; the strength of vibrations felt essentially the same, with the only difference being a distinctively loud BZZZZT coming from the iPhone 4.



Audio Improvements



The speaker on the iPhone 4S is NOTICEABLY LOUDER compared to the one in the iPhone 4. In some cases it's almost too loud; high-pitched notification sounds from apps like Tweetbot definitely have a piercing effect on my eardrums with the alert volume turned up all the way, which was never an issue with the quieter iPhone 4. The obvious upshot of the louder speaker is it'll be easier to hear ringtones and other sounds when you're in an environment with lots of ambient noise.



Despite that increase in overall volume, the speaker in the iPhone 4S also seems to produce sounds with higher clarity than the iPhone 4's speaker. Audio that used to overdrive the iPhone 4 speaker and make it sound "clippy" now sounds much clearer on the iPhone 4S speaker. Music and games sound much better on the iPhone 4S, but the improved speaker clarity also means some ringtones or other media may actually sound worse than on the iPhone 4. For example, I sourced some of my custom ringtones from low-fidelity mp3 audio files; while they sounded fine on the iPhone 4 speaker, the flaws in recording quality are much more obvious on the iPhone 4S speaker, with very audible background hiss in some cases.



Audio playback through both the iPhone 4S speaker and attached headphones produces a much less trebly sound than the iPhone 4. Music playback quality on the iPhone 4S also sounds subtly improved even through the included Apple-branded earbuds. Based on these sonic differences in music playback between the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, I suspected the iPhone 4S had a different audio processor; information in iFixit's teardown confirmed that though the audio codec chip is from the same manufacturer (Cirrus Logic) as the iPhone 4, the part number for the iPhone 4S is different. It's likely the updated audio codec chip is also part of the reason the iPhone 4S speaker sounds clearer than the iPhone 4.



Your personal tastes may vary from mine. It's possible we could review the same hardware and come to entirely different conclusions about whether the iPhone 4 or 4S sounds "better" over headphones. There's no mistaking the improvements in sound quality through the built-in speaker on the iPhone 4S, though; it sounds markedly improved compared to the iPhone 4.



Bluetooth 4.0



The iPhone 4S is the first iPhone to support Bluetooth 4.0, a low-energy Bluetooth spec that allows devices to sync via Bluetooth while consuming far less power than traditional Bluetooth devices. This low-power version of Bluetooth doesn't support voice -- headsets and other voice devices still have to transmit over one of the higher-power specs -- but it does support transmission of data from other peripherals like heart rate monitors, watches, and input devices like keyboards or game controllers.



The applications for health and fitness-related gear are virtually endless. As of now, many third-party accessories require a proprietary receiver to send data to an iPhone, or else they transmit via one of the older, more power-hungry Bluetooth specs. Using Bluetooth 4.0 would allow these devices to communicate directly with the iPhone, without the need for an intervening dock connector dongle, and such devices could have tremendously increased battery life compared to those currently on the market.



One example of a device that could greatly benefit from Bluetooth 4.0 is Jawbone's Up health monitoring band. The Up monitors a great deal of user health data, but syncing that data to the iPhone requires plugging a connector into the iPhone's headphone jack. Using Bluetooth 4.0 could theoretically allow a device like the Jawbone Up to be in constant communication with the iPhone 4S without the need for users to sync data manually.



Another possible implementation of Bluetooth 4.0 would be a wristwatch that can display certain kinds of information transmitted to it from a synced iPhone (notifications, for example), and send basic commands back to it, such as controlling music playback. This has been a popular dream of geekier users ever since the current iPod nano debuted; once it became clear the nano could be used as a watch, people almost immediately leapt to the next-level idea of using the nano to control another device and/or display data transmitted to it.



Not many Bluetooth 4.0 devices exist on the market as of yet, but expect to see a lot of them hitting the market once the standard becomes more widely adopted. The low-power spec allows devices powered by standard watch batteries to run with lifetimes measured in months to years rather than the hours to days of battery life current devices get.



Video Mirroring



The iPhone 4S is the first iPhone to support mirroring to an Apple TV via AirPlay, at 720p resolution. It also supports video mirroring or video out at 1080p resolution via Apple's Digital AV Adapter or VGA Adapter, the same connectors that allow for 1080p mirroring on the iPad 2. Video mirroring to an Apple TV will make it much easier to share content with people sitting nearby, and it also has great applications for gaming.



None of these features are anywhere near as headline-grabbing as Siri, but the minor details that you might not even notice are often where Apple's products excel. The iPhone 4S is no exception.

Six iPhone 4S features you may have missed originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 15 Nov 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tip: How to Make Siri’s Twin, VoiceOver, Read Your Email on iPhone

Tip: How to Make Siri’s Twin, VoiceOver, Read Your Email on iPhone:

When Siri was released on the iPhone 4S I was excited about being able to use the personal assistant while traveling. My mobile office (a.k.a. Saturn Outlook) has a plethora of cords, cables, and speakers and having Siri read a text message from iMessage has been extremely convenient. So when I asked Siri to read me an email, I was startled by her response, “Sorry, I can’t do that Jay.”

That’s odd, I thought, I know I could get my 3GS to read my emails to me! You may be curious how. It’s an Accessibility setting called VoiceOver. So what I tried today is a possible way, though not perfect, to have emails read aloud.

Turn VoiceOver On

You can find the VoiceOver menu and toggle under the Settings > General > Accessibility menu. Instead of turning it on permanently, however, I recommend scrolling to the bottom of that Accessibility menu to Triple-click Home and set it to Toggle VoiceOver as a way to toggle it off and on.

What does it do?

VoiceOver is a tool used for those with impaired vision and who need to have the screen read to them. Once active, touch any item on the screen (say a paragraph in an email) and VoiceOver will read aloud, in Siri’s voice, what is boxed in on the screen. A single finger scroll to the right will move the box to the next paragraph which will be read aloud. A single finger flick to the left will move the box to a previous paragraph.

Putting it together on iPhone 4S

Once the Triple-click Home is set as the toggle to turn VoiceOver on and off, here’s how you can both read and reply to an email aloud:

  • Activate Siri by press and holding the home button, then ask for emails, “Siri check email”
  • When the new emails are displayed on the Siri screen, tap one to open the Mail app and go straight to that message
  • Triple-click the Home button to toggle VoiceOver on
  • Scroll through the paragraphs and have VoiceOver read the email aloud (one finger flick to the right for multiple paragraphs)
  • Triple-click the Home button to toggle VoiceOver off
  • Activate Siri and say Reply to compose a new email by dictating to Siri

There are additional instructions and settings for VoiceOver in the Settings > General > Accessibility > VoiceOver menu (such as rate, pitch, etc.) to personalize this Siri twin to your liking.


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Nov 10, 2011

Stuck on Earth Finally Got Me to Buy an iPad

Stuck on Earth Finally Got Me to Buy an iPad:

Stuck on Earth = Pure Awesomeness


Update Note: Folks, this app is NOT out yet. It’s almost out (think early Nov.) but it’s not available for you to download yet. I am one of the lucky few with private early access. This is an early review. I love the app. You will too. But you can’t get it just yet. Hang in there though!


Ok, it happened. This past week I finally broke down and bought an iPad. I’ve been resisting ever since they came out. I’m not sure why, but I have. The wife and kids have wanted one like crazy. My wife was hinting that she wanted one for her birthday and so I went out last week and bought one.


The biggest reason why I wanted to finally buy one though was to try out the latest app by my good friend +Trey Ratcliff, of Stuck in Customs fame, Stuck on Earth.


What is Stuck on Earth you ask? Well, it’s just about the single best tool ever made for the traveling photographer. I’ve got a trip to Death Valley coming up next month (you are coming aren’t you? — details here) and so I thought I’d put it through the paces as far as helping me find awesome things to take photos of in Death Valley — and boy did it come up with some great places for me to shoot.


Using geotag information from Flickr’s most interesting Death Valley photos, Stuck on Earth easily pulled up some of the most breathtaking places to shoot in Death Valley. From each photo I was able to add them to my map for my upcoming trip to be accessed later.


Stuck on Earth = Pure Awesomeness


Why not just use Flickr for this directly you ask?


Well, for one, at the Atomic Inn, where I’ll be staying on this trip, they probably don’t have wifi. In fact, I’m sure that much of Death Valley will not even have internet access even for my cell phone. It won’t matter with Stuck on Earth though. All of my locations will be saved and I’ll be able to access them even offline. Also when I’m on the road shooting the valley, it’s a lot easier to carry an iPad around than a laptop.


Using Flickr geoinformation is just the start for Stuck on Earth though. What I’m even more excited about is the idea of curated lists on the app. I contributed one of my own for the app which is called the top 50 secret photo spots in San Francisco. They are not all so terribly secret (well some of them are), but they are some of the very best spots to shoot the City of San Francisco from coming from a seasoned local’s (that would be me) perspective.


Stuck on Earth = Pure Awesomeness

My 50 Secret Photo Spots that I curated for Stuck on Earth


There are also curated lists like the top 50 waterfalls in the world — or the top 50 bridges in the world. So there are both inspirational curated lists as well as geo city specific curated lists.


By the way, if you have unique knowledge about a special geographical area or photographic subject matter and are willing to share your locations, get in touch with Trey’s Chief Editor Topher Martini.


With curated lists, Stuck on Earth will pull together some of the most amazing photo opportunities on the planet. With Trey’s large following and especially the way he’s positioned this app as a community gift (it’s free and there are not adverts or upsells) alot of people will end up contributing special local knowledge to the app. From a photographer’s perspective, these special map points will be even more invaluable than all of the flickr geodata it’s already pulling in. There’s a lot in there now, but there will be even more in the future.


I think the app will especially be a good tool for photographers looking to explore future travel plans because it will spark so many great ideas in terms of beautiful places to shoot in the world — so it will also be sort of an idea generator for the travelling photographer.


For the casual traveler the app will be very useful as well. The app (with your permission) gets your current geolocational position and can show you lots of great things to shoot right around wherever you are. In Madrid and have an hour to kill before your conference starts and want to see the cool stuff near you to shoot quickly — now there’s an app for that.


In terms of the design, the app is elegant and beautiful, offering you up full sized amazing versions of the various places that it discovers for you. You slide around the app and move easily from area to area as you put together your great new travel plans, both the immediate and the “somedays.” The voiceover work in the app is especially sexy. ;)


Trey launched the app last Friday officially at Launch Live. People really liked it there. It actually won the audience award which is very cool. It’s not coming out for a couple of weeks still though — it should be available at the Apple Store as soon as Apple approves it (likely early November). Also if you want to learn more about the app, be sure to join the flickr group for the app here.


Anyways, I love the app. I’m sure you will too. It’s super slick and I’m glad it finally got me around to joining the iPad revolution. Nice work by Trey and his team at Stuck in Customs and congratulations on what will I’m sure be a runaway hit and one of the best selling iPad apps very shortly.

Nov 2, 2011

Anamorphic video test by Seb Farges.

Anamorphic video test by Seb Farges.:


LisboAnamorphic in CinemascopE from Seb Farges on Vimeo.


Our friend Seb Farges posted another nice video using the GH2 with the tiny Berthiot anamorphic 2X lens and the C-mount Fujian 35mm f/1.7 lens. Well done Seb! Also Andre Reid from EosHD is a big fan of anamorphic lenses. And you should absolutely check his newly written EOSHD Panasonic GH2 Shooter’s Guide!


P.S.: Search links for the Berthiot anamorphic 2X on eBay (Click here) and for the C-mount Fujian on eBay (Click here).