Brightness and Contrast

Brightness and Contrast are two of the most determining aspects of photography. They are both related to exposure and light difference from dark to bright.
Brightness is an attribute of visual perception in which a source appears to be radiating or reflecting light while Contrast is the difference in visual properties that makes an object (or its representation in an image) distinguishable from other objects or/and the background. In visual perception of the real world, contrast is determined by the difference in the color and brightness of the object and other objects within the same field of view.

tips and tricks while shooting...

This section is full with some dirty tricks mostly discovered through experience. I am open to suggestions, your name will also tag the tip, so e-mail them!

Adobe launches ACR v7.1 and Lightroom v4.1 with X-Pro1 support

Lightroom 4.1 Now Available

Lightroom 4.1 is now available as a final release on Adobe.com and through the update mechanism in Lightroom 4.  The goal of this release is to provide additional camera raw support, lens profile support and address bugs that were introduced in previous releases of Lightroom. 

Canon acknowledges 'light leak' in the EOS 5D Mark III

Canon has published a product advisory notice acknowledging the existence of a 'light leak' issue on the EOS 5D Mark III. Users of the camera have reported that in dark conditions, switching on the top-LCD's back-illumination or shining a light on it alters the camera's metering, suggesting light is leaking into the body and reaching the metering sensor.

Wedding of Ntina Panousi

27th of May 2012 - A Wedding And A Christening

It was one of those times when you have two church mysteries one after the other and you have to be prepared for both situations.  This time I had learned the camera's settings, but somehow I found out that I had to study the camera body some more!  Again, I had not scouted the church before, no test shots, the main photographer had lights with frequency sync, so no worries this time!

He was polite and friendly when he asked me if I was going to be a second-shooter because nobody had informed him.  I replied that I was not going to be his second shooter and he would be the prime photographer of the mysteries, I could understand he was worried about me being an obstacle, but I reassured him that I would be careful not to stand in his way.  He replied that he would try to do the same and he asked me to leave some space before his bag so he could have quick access.  The rest of the day went fine and he did as he promised, I hope I hadn't been an obstacle, too.

30 minute limit on video capture could end if WTO group gets its way

The restriction that limits video recording in digitial cameras to 30 minutes could be abolished if the World Trade Organization's Information Technology Agreement (ITA) is expanded. Several countries, including the USA, have begun informal talks to extend the scope of the ITA to include products that are currently subject to tariffs and duty. At present, digital cameras' video cuts off after 30 minutes to avoid them being classified as video cameras (which attract 5.4% duty into markets including Europe). If the video cameras are added to the ITA, this distinction would no longer matter. (via Nikkei)

exposure - why raw, histogram...

In photography, exposure is the total amount of light allowed to fall on the photographic medium (photographic film or image sensor) during the process of taking a photograph. Exposure is measured in lux seconds, and can be computed from exposure value (EV) and scene luminance over a specified area.

Understanding White Balance

White balance (WB) is the process of removing unrealistic color casts, so that objects which appear white in person are rendered white in your photo. Proper camera white balance has to take into account the "color temperature" of a light source, which refers to the relative warmth or coolness of white light. Our eyes are very good at judging what is white under different light sources, but digital cameras often have great difficulty with auto white balance (AWB) — and can create unsightly blue, orange, or even green color casts. Understanding digital white balance can help you avoid these color casts, thereby improving your photos under a wider range of lighting conditions.

 

Adobe will fix security bug in CS5.x, having originally said CS6 was the fix

Adobe has confirmed that it will fix the security problems with Photoshop and other CS5.x packages, having originally suggested that a paid upgrade to CS6 was the only solution. The security concerns, raised by the company on May 8th, were rated as 'critical,' meaning it could 'allow malicious native-code to execute, potentially without a user being aware.' Despite this, the original solution raised in the company security bulletin was to upgrade to CS6, leaving CS5.x users vulnerable. The bulletin has now been updated.

Nikon D800 wins Camera Grand Prix 2012 award and public 'best camera' vote

D800 (Nikon)

Nikon's D800 has been awarded the prestigious Camera Grand Prix 2012 title and also won the public vote for best camera. 

Adobe Photoshop Camera Raw 7.1 Release Candidate

New camera and lens profile support for Camera Raw plug-in users

Welcome to the Adobe® Photoshop® Camera Raw 7.1 plug-in release candidate on Adobe Labs. A "release candidate" label indicates that this update is well tested but would benefit from additional community testing before it is distributed automatically to all of our customers. The Camera Raw 7.1 update includes support for many new cameras and lens profiles. A release candidate build of DNG Convertor 7.1 is also provided.

The rule of thirds

The rule of thirds is a compositional rule of thumb in visual arts such as painting, photography and design. The rule states that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections. Proponents of the technique claim that aligning a subject with these points creates more tension, energy and interest in the composition than simply centering the subject would.

photo basics

First of all, artistic skills cannot be taught, so do not get disappointed too fast. You have to learn how to "see" things rather than just watch or copy. If you take a photo and then give it to 10 people you will get 10 different interpretations and approaches meaning 10 pictures!

If you ask a photographer how to photograph things, he will certainly describe you the technical details, but he will fail to make you feel the same he felt when he released the shutter. These things are rather felt than taught. 

Full Moon has passed

09 May 2012

It’s been a while since I bought my Canon EOS 60D and I have been striving to use it effectively from the time it arrived.  I feel I must not waste it though on average shots (something that I am sure can not be avoided in the future) so I somehow want to prepare my shots in advance.  I previously owned a different class camera (a 12 Mpixel Canon EOS 450D) and whenever I felt pressure from daily issues of life and work, I took it with me and disappeared for a few hours.  This is what I plan to do in a few days, time and work permitted, since I also want to discover the new limits of my 18 Mpixel camera in combination with the high ISO value I can use (apparently up to 1600).

2002 The last shots of my analog camera

Sometime after 1993 I stopped shooting as I was very worried about what to do with my life, what job to follow and what to learn in achieving what I wanted to do. Job prospects were not good, but were much better than today. Unemployment was an a good 17,5% rate although the true rate was around 20% since most of the jobs were part-time or for specific time frame. In addition to this the time came for me to join the army for my duty, so almost two years were “lost” for my life and everything I learned before joining were not so fresh after becoming a citizen again.

1993 Getting interested

The year is 1993 and I was still getting to know the dials and buttons of my camera, I learned that the little needle inside had to be within the circle in order to achieve best exposure and I had certain limits when "strecthing it".  In order to achieve this I had to consider 3 things:

•          The aperture dial
•          The shutter speed
•          Film sensitivity

If all of the above reached the lowest allowed limit, my best chance was a flash. But one by one all of these ways had some limitations to consider.

Nikon Investigating Issue of D4 and D800 DSLRs Locking Up During Usage; Offers Temporary Fix

MAY 03, 2012

By Dan Havlik

Nikon says it's working on a "permanent solution" for a problem where its professional D4 and D800 digital SLRs may lock up or "freeze" during usage, causing the camera to become unresponsive.

UNDERSTANDING CAMERA LENSES

Understanding camera lenses can help add more creative control to digital photography. Choosing the right lens for the task can become a complex trade-off between cost, size, weight, lens speed and image quality. This tutorial aims to improve understanding by providing an introductory overview of concepts relating to image quality, focal length, perspective, prime vs. zoom lenses and aperture or f-number.

Adobe issues ACR 6.7 - final version of Camera Raw for CS5

Adobe has released the finalized version of Adobe Camera Raw v6.7, the last update that will work with Photoshop CS5. The final version include support for Canon's EOS 5D Mark III, Nikon's D800 and the Olympus E-M5, as part of a list of 21 cameras added. The update includes the most recent NX cameras from Samsung as well as coverage for a range of Fujifilm models. No support is yet included for the Fujifilm X-Pro1, however.

Christening Of Elena

29th of April 2012 - Christening of Elena

My first christening with my newly acquired Canon EOS 60D. New camera, I had not scouted the church before, no test shots, the main photographer had lights without frequency sync, so everyone with a compact camera could trigger the flashguns!  Very kind and aware, the main photographer asked me not to use my flash since I triggered the flashguns.  After a while she understood I was not the only one with a camera flash in the church.  The only thing I could do for her was to wait every time until she took the shot she wanted, to shoot mine.