Although some outdoor photographers prefer to shoot everything by available light, electronic flash can be surprisingly useful. In the past, it was difficult to produce a natural looking effect with flash in outdoor photography without a bit of expertise. All too often the results appeared to be artificial, with a harsh effect caused by flash becoming the primary light source.
One of the mysteries of photography is Depth Of Field (DOF). It combines various factors, including camera to subject distance, focal length of the lens and aperture in use. You calculate all of the above and know what will appear sharp and unsharp in the image. Those who use fixed focal length lenses have had the advantage of having a DOF scale on the lens, which yields...
This issue is dedicated to lighting with reviews, how-to articles, and roundups of gear, all intended to get you thinking about the best way to illuminate your subject. At the most basic level exposure is about aperture and shutter speed--that's how light is controlled. But it is in shaping light, using modifiers for existing light and various types of bulbs, controlled...
"Life is like an ice-cream cone, you have to lick it one day at a time."--Charles M. Schulz
On October 2, 1950, the first Peanuts comic strip appeared in a daily newspaper. Coincidently, October 2nd is also my wife Mary's birthday, although she's a bit younger than Snoopy and the gang. As a lifelong Peanuts fan, it's kinda fitting that...
Digital Help is designed to aid you in getting the most from your digital photography, printing, scanning, and image creation. Each month, David Brooks provides solutions to problems you might encounter with matters such as color calibration and management, digital printer and scanner settings, and working with digital photographic images with many different kinds of cameras and...
There are two real reasons to use a flash bracket. The first is to raise the flash high enough above the lens so that shadows just drop behind the subject instead of off to one side. When keeping a suitable distance from the background, the shadow will usually just disappear. The second is to eliminate the dreaded "redeye" caused by the flash being too close to the...
Some 15,000 visitors attended the 29th Used Camera Show sponsored by ICS (Import Camera Society) at Matsuya department store's convention hall, in which 19 leading used camera shops in Tokyo participated earlier this year. According to the show's organizers, the show generated some 15 percent more traffic compared with last year, despite a predicted decline in the...
A 27-year photo veteran, Gil Smith (www.gilsmith.com) is an internationally-recognized advertising photographer specializing in high-action automotive and sports-industry images. Smith is currently one of Canon U.S.A., Inc.'s prestigious "Explorers of Light," a small group of professionals chosen to push the...
Bowens, a leading provider of lighting equipment and related accessories, is adding two new lights to its Esprit Gemini monobloc line: the Esprit Gemini Digital 250 (GM250) and the Esprit Gemini Digital 500 (GM500), which was the one tested here. While they are called digital units, they aren't targeted specifically at photographers who shoot digitally and are just as...
The World Of Lith Printing: The Best Of Traditional Darkroom And Digital Lith Printing Techniques; by Tim Rudman; Argentum, 160 pages; $24.95; (ISBN-13: 978-1-902538-45-7) Most photographers are fascinated by Lith printing process because it produces amazing results. In this book, Tim Rudman explores recent developments in techniques and materials...