Somewhere at the start of the adventure that is photography, a newer photographer will soon realize that having your subject stand out from the background, really gives the photo a near-3-dimensional effect. Your subject just pops out with the background blurred. The question of how to get blurred backgrounds in photos, is easily answered.
There are two ways to blur the background in a photography - In-camera (i.e., optical) vs Photoshop. Doing it in Photoshop is in my opinion, a boring way to spend an afternoon when you could be out Read more inside...
Flash photography - Changing the background color with gels
One of the biggest challenges when working in a studio, is that you're essentially shooting in a plain rectangular box. When photographing portraits, the two obvious ways out of that is to create an interesting (or complementary) background, and then to create interesting (or flattering) lighting.
The lighting itself need not be complex. For this series of portraits of Olive, I used the gridded 1' x 6' softbox. By swinging it horizontally or vertically (or diagonally), I can change the way the light falls on my subject Read more inside...
Lighting and Design in photography: (de)-constructing an image
For me, Design in photography relates to the way an image is constructed at the time of shooting. Composition and content. Lighting. Every element which forms part of a successful and eye-catching photograph. Some of the elements in the photograph are pre-visualized, some of it a kind of serendipity that is then expanded on at the time. Some of it might only be understood afterwards in looking at the photograph. My latest book, Lighting and Design for Portrait Photography, looks at exactly that thought-process Read more inside...
The moment you hold the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 ART lens (affiliate) in your hand, you know it is a serious lens. It is hefty. It feels like quality. It just feels like they took craftsman-like care in designing and manufacturing this lens!
Sigma has somehow turned their image around from being just a third-party lens-manufacturer, to a company that needs to be taken seriously for quality optics. It started with the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 ART lens, which proved to be a spectacular lens! (Here is my review: Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HMS art lens.)
There's Read more inside...
Full-frame vs Crop-sensor comparison : Depth-of-field & Perspective
When the differences between full-frame and crop-sensor cameras are discussed, there is an inevitable question about whether the crop sensor multiplies the focal length. Whether a 50mm lens on a crop-sensor acts like a 75mm lens (on a 1.5x crop sensor) or 80mm lens (on a 1.6x crop sensor).
The answers given on the photography forums are confusing - yes, the focal length effectively increases. No, it doesn't. Two answers that are polar opposites. The discussion (which tend to devolve into arguments) are Read more inside...
The two things everyone is most curious about with the Nikon D750 (B&H / Amazon), is the auto-focus performance and the high-ISO noise performance. Here's a quick preview of what the D750 does at higher ISO settings. Specifically, 3200 ISO and 6400 ISO. (A more complete comparison has since been posted here: review: high-ISO performance – Nikon D750 vs Nikon D4S / D4 / D810 / D610)
To put the Nikon D750 (affiliate) through its paces for the (upcoming) review of this camera, I met up with NYC model, Glass Olive for a Read more inside...
