Photography Education

From the Canon Digital Learning Center:

Halloween is right around the corner, and what a great holiday for photographic inspiration: From cute kids in costumes to spooky haunted houses; eerie glowing jack-o’-lanterns to pastoral pumpkin patches – Halloween offers an endless variety of unique subjects.

Wes Brewer, CEO ProGrade Digital has published a comparison between two emerging memory standards: SD Express and CFexpress.

Recently, the SD Association (governing body for SD card development and standardization) announced finalization of revision 7.0 for the card SD specification. This revision now includes a section 8.0, which adds an NVMe compliant, PCIe interface option. Like the announcement of CFexpress 1.0 made by the CompactFlash Association in August of 2016, the PCIe interface with NVMe provides a scalable path for improved performance in flash-based storage devices, and conforms to industry standards in use for devices such as SSDs.

This white paper provides an objective look at variances between the two standards SD Express and CFexpress.

B&H carries ProGrade Digital memory products.

From the Canon Digital Learning Center:

The term “senior portraits” can mean different things to different people. Some people may think of portraits of senior citizens and others may think about portraits of kids who are graduating from either high school or college. In the world of professional photography, senior portraits generally refers to those who want their portraits before they graduate school. And most of the time, if they are hiring a professional photographer to take their senior portraits, they are not looking for the “cookie cutter” photo of themselves in a fake tux or dress for the yearbook. They (or their parents) are looking for a creative photo to truly show who they are.

From the Canon Digital Learning Center:

When we were little, every summer my Dad would take my sister and I backpacking. He carried all the gear, while we were left to carry the most important things: our stuffed animals and water bottles. One year, driving back at night after a long day of backpacking on our way out of the mountains in the Eastern Sierra, California, my Dad pulled over to watch a meteor shower. We laid on the ground looking up at the sparkling night sky. There were so many meteors, one after another. I was in awe and amazed. When we saw a shooting star, my dad would say, “Make a wish.” I was so happy that night because I got to make dozens of wishes!

From Datacolor:

Making color management simple with an easy-to-follow guide that starts with the basics

Zurich, Switzerland, 1st August 2018 - Datacolor, a global leader in color management solutions, has today launched an extensive color management eBook for photographers and videographers. ‘Spyder5 eBook: Color management can be easy’ is a six-chapter guide providing practical advice to help any photographer or videographer understand color management, from the basics to the advanced. Chapters will be published in three-week intervals and sent to readers once they have registered online. Those who download the eBook will also receive 20% off the Spyder5Pro and Spyder5Elite. The first chapter is now available for download from the Datacolor website here.

"We repeatedly found that even after more than 20 years of digital photography, color management is regarded as a difficult and complex topic and is therefore often neglected. Users often have difficulties with achieving accurate color reproduction and maintaining the brightness of their images in photo books or prints," says Stefan Zrenner, Global Director of Sales and Marketing Consumer Products at Datacolor. "With our free eBook, we want to make our color management know-how accessible to everyone and show that this topic is not complicated at all."

The eBook explores the basics of color management, calibrated photography, and the steps needed to reproduce accurate colors on the monitor, when printing at home and through print service providers.

What to expect from ‘Spyder5 eBook

Chapter One – Understanding Digital Color
The first chapter will walk you through which color measuring instruments you need for color management, and why you should work with RAW data.

Chapter Two – Taking Calibrated Photos
Chapter Two is a guide to the first step in the color workflow – camera calibration. The chapter focuses on the tools available for calibration, obtaining evenly-balanced contrast with the SpyderCUBE, achieving color balance with the SpyderCHECKR, and razor-sharp autofocus using SpyderLENSCAL.

Chapter Three – Monitor Calibration
Discover how to initially calibrate your monitor and find out what a colorimeter can do for you during this process. Chapter three will also teach you how to control ambient light and demonstrate the options a soft proofing tool can offer.

Chapter Four – Fine-adjusting Monitors
Chapter Four delves deeper into monitor calibration, with a focus on making extended calibration settings, and an explanation of what an advanced analysis entails. Learn how to calibrate two monitors, and find out what different elements you need to pay attention to when calibrating a complete studio and a projector.

Chapter Five – Printer Profiling for Accurate Prints
The penultimate chapter teaches you all you need to know about printer profiles, and explains how to check if your printer and printer driver are working properly. Find out what you need to be aware of when working with a Spectrocolorimeter and discover Datacolor’s measuring technology.

Chapter Six – Monitor Proofing and Media
The final chapter deals with your questions on the final stage of your workflow – exploring how to proof your images on your monitor, and what to consider when printing your photos by yourself, on paper, canvas, and foil. The chapter will also tell you all you need to know about monitor proofing during photo printing from a service provider.

Each chapter also contains a detailed glossary of color management terms. The first chapter of the eBook is now available for download from the Datacolor website here.

From the Canon Digital Learning Center:

Summertime is a great season to create beautiful outdoor portraits. With warm weather and abundant sunshine, summer can be one of the best times of year to photograph portraits on-location. These tips will help you capture a season of stunning portrait images.

From the Canon Digital Learning Center:

by Laura Tillinghast

Photography is all about light, but understanding how to approach lighting for portraits can be intimidating. While there is a lot to learn, these lighting concepts are very easy to grasp once you start putting them into practice. The aim of this article is help you choose where you want to get started with natural light portraits.

From the Canon Digital Learning Center:

Watching a lunar eclipse is an incredible experience and photographing it is even more exciting. Capturing the moon as it transitions into a beautiful and colorful moon is thrilling. When I was photographing a lunar eclipse, I watched the full moon as it slowly darkened, turning a stunning deep orange color. The eerie experience moved me as I observed it transition from a bright full moon into a full lunar eclipse. I will share with you information on lunar eclipses and what I learned while photographing them.

Bryan often notes how just about any focal length can be useful for landscape photography. In this CDLC article, landscape photographer Erin Babnik supports that idea with intriguing landscape images taken with ultra-wide angle lenses, super telephotos and everything in between.

by Erin Babnik

There is a lot of truth to the old idea that we tend to see the world in terms of what we know about it. If we know that a location offers a photogenic vista to the north, then it can be easy to overlook the wonderfully gnarled trees to the south. Similarly, the compositions that photographers see most easily are usually those that fit well within the average field of view of two human eyes at a standing height—it’s the way of seeing that we know best. With only a little shifting or focusing, our eyes at that height can take in scenes that fall within the range of a 24-105mm lens quite nicely, and it is no wonder that focal lengths in this range are most traditional for landscape photography. Nonetheless, compositions that fall well outside these limits have the potential to evoke the more abstract qualities of human perception, such as the ability of our brains to combine certain visual stimuli and to isolate others. For the photographer who would like to emphasize the ‘mind’s eye,’ extreme focal lengths have a lot to offer.

From the Canon Digital Learning Center:

by Jennifer Wu

It is 4:00 am and my chirping alarm clock abruptly awakens me. Heading out to photograph the fall colors at sunrise, I notice the car temperature reading 16°F. With a sudden drop in temperature and stormy weather from the previous day, I hope the leaves haven’t turned black from the freezing temperature.

Arriving at the lake, twilight begins and the deep blue sky just starts to get light. I am anxious to discover the fall color conditions. Walking to the lake, I see a beautiful moonlit image before me of fall colors plus the delight of the first dusting of snow for the season! I’m happy that the snow dapples the mountains and doesn’t cover them completely in white.

Seeing the moon shining on the mountain peaks, I quickly set up to capture the moonlit landscape, placing some rocks in the foreground of the icy lake. I press the shutter for my first shot of the day knowing it will be my favorite and sunrise isn’t even for another half-hour. What a wonderful morning!

From the Canon Digital Learning Center:

by Jeff Swinger

There are few places I’d rather be than sitting on an end line or kneeling on a sideline, as long as I have a camera in my hand.

Some of my favorite moments have been on the sidelines of a football field, in the dugout for a baseball game or with my toes in the sand at a beach volleyball match. But that doesn’t mean it has always been a major league game or an Olympics. Sports come in all shapes and sizes and there is speed, impact and drama at all levels. Some of my most memorable photos were from high school games, which I have shot hundreds of over my newspaper career. I started when I was just 14 years old with a Canon AE-1 Program and a 70-210mm lens, taking pictures at soccer games and of BMX riders in the woods behind my house. I realized then that I wanted to be a photojournalist and really wanted to shoot sports. I got my first job at a small newspaper and shot a ton of high school athletics.

• Canon Outdoor Sports Lens Recommendations
• Canon Indoor Sports Lens Recommendations

From the Canon Digital Learning Center:

by Rudy Winston

There’s no question that the completely electronic viewfinder in some recent interchangeable-lens cameras — think of “mirrorless” cameras, like Canon’s EOS M-series models — brings some cool features to their users. Some of these include the ability to see the effect of changes in camera settings, like exposure or white balance, and to see additional information like histograms and so on, before a picture is taken.

But there’s a lot of benefit to the traditional “optical” viewfinder, used in EOS digital SLRs like the EOS Rebel T7i and EOS 77D. We’ll look at those benefits in this article.

From the Canon Digital Learning Center:

by Rick Sammon

Having just returned from another photo-successful safari to Africa, where I photographed the handsome lion that opens this article, I thought I’d put together some thoughts on how you can make a photo safari a photo success. After all, a photo safari to Africa is an once-in-a-lifetime experience for many travelers; so coming home with a selection of great photographs that tell the story of the amazing adventure is a top priority – in addition to having fun!

The Canon Digital Learning Center recently posted tips for photographing different events: graduation, bridal and baby showers. Check out the links below for more information.

CDLC Articles

• Tips for Great Graduation Photography
• Tips for Photographing Bridal Showers and Baby Showers

I really like Ian Spanier's use of lighting diagrams to help explain the various setups covered in this presentation. The diagrams alongside the captured images make following his lighting descriptions very easy. [Sean]

From the B&H YouTube Channel:

Award-winning photographer (and author) Ian Spanier shares his techniques for capturing great photos through proper lighting and storytelling; preparing for shoots by outlining sketches, setups, and lighting concepts; and adjusting on the fly when things don’t go according to plan. This video contains a wealth of useful information for aspiring and professional photographers alike.

From the Canon Digital Learning Center:

By Jennifer Wu

In awe of the spectacular colors, I dreamed of seeing the northern lights and photographing them. I called a friend, asking him to go with me to Alaska and though auroras were on his bucket list, he wanted his first trip to Alaska to be in summer. I promised rugged Alaskan landscapes with fall colors like summer, but with even better colors and he agreed! I hadn’t been to Fairbanks, Alaska before, but I was sure it would be grand. Arriving, we were greeted with a snow-covered landscape. “Where are the fall colors?” he asked and I quickly promised him that the northern lights would be spectacular.

The first two nights were completely overcast with no sign of the lights. By the third night we could only see a hint of green color through heavy clouds. With a promising weather forecast on the forth night, we drove north along the Haul Road to a mountain pass and waited in the bitter cold, hoping for clear skies and auroras.

The moon had set below the horizon, darkening the star-filled sky. At 1 a.m. the clouds finally cleared and the auroras appeared! They were dim at first, but at least visible. We photographed the light show as it danced in the night sky. It was more than I could have imagined! Curtains of light formed, swaying with rhythmic motion, dimming and then glowing more intensely. Excited, I watched a dream coming true. Now, my friend can’t wait to return to photograph more of these "fall colors!"

From the Canon Digital Learning Center:

By Loren Simons

For years, I’ve been searching for the perfect camera. Now, as a disclaimer, I don’t actually believe such a thing exists. Rather, there is a perfect balance of technology and physical size for my own intended purpose of everyday carry.

I categorize myself more as a cinematographer than a photographer, but I’ve always wanted a camera I could utilize as a director’s viewfinder for location scouting, as well as something that had the capability of capturing stunning candid photos for use in a look book or simply to share on social media. At the end of the day, I firmly believe that the best camera is the camera you have with you. Some may say, just use my trusty smartphone. However, I’ve rarely connected emotionally with an image produced by a small sensor the same way I do with images captured by more traditional cinema or larger format photography sensors. Aesthetically, achieving the shallow depth of field on a small sensor camera is much more difficult with current technology. I’ve used all of the fancy depth mapping and dual lens tricks that very smart people have built to try to simulate the depth of field achieved by a proper camera. However, whether it’s strange edge artifacts or just a much less pleasing focus roll off, those images just never felt right to me.

This same small-sensor aversion is also what kept me away from Canon’s original G Series and other PowerShots. However, with the introduction of the larger 1” sensors in cameras like the G Series, XC10, and XF400 I saw the beginning of a move in the direction I had always been hoping for.

Canon PowerShot G1 X Mark III – B&H | Amazon US | Adorama

I find macro photography to be very relaxing because subjects are plentiful and photographing non-live subjects allows you to slow down and work methodically to achieve pleasing results. [Sean]

From the Canon Digital Learning Center:

No macro lens? No problem! Although it may seem like the world of macro photography is out of reach and a world apart from our own, shooting macro is more accessible than you might think. From rigging your current gear, to creating DIY setups that tackle challenges like lighting, I’m here to be your guide for all things macro! My name is Matthew Cicanese (sick-uh-knees). I’m a National Geographic Explorer, documentary artist, and Canon USA Photographer who leads EOS Destination Workshops specializing in macro photography. I shoot macro subjects all over the world, from my own backyard to the rainforests of Sri Lanka! I’ve been a macro photographer for over ten years now, and have evolved along the way to overcome different challenges in macro and produce award-winning photographs. My goal with this article is to teach you how to accomplish more using less – less money, less frustration, and a drop of ingenuity.

Are you looking to add a macro lens to your kit? Check out our Macro Lens Recommendations.

From the Canon Digital Learning Center:

The term “cross-type AF” has been used since the late 1980s in the camera industry, but perhaps not always with supporting information to clearly define what is meant by it. In this article, we’ll attempt to explain more clearly what the term means, and why it remains an advantage in SLR AF systems to this day.

Want to know how many cross-type AF points your camera has? Check out our Camera Specifications Comparison Tool to find out!

The University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland (HES-SO Valais-Wallis) has posted a behind-the-scenes look at capturing its latest class picture.