photography for everyone
Recently Skylum offered me to take a look at the pre-release version of its HDR Software, Aurora HDR 2019. Since Aurora HDR 2018 is one of the tools I use to create my HDR photographs I gladly took this opportunity. After having developed a few photos with it I am now ready to share my experience with you in this Aurora HDR 2019 review.
The HDR technique is very useful to overcome the limitations in dynamic range of digital cameras. Scenes like sunsets or sunrises as well as night photography with artificial light sources in cities are a huge challenge to today’s cameras and HDR is one way to deal with this challenge. But on the other hand HDR has also been subject to a lot of criticism because the results can be unrealistic and a lot of people tend to exaggerate the HDR effect, making the photograph look more like a painting than a photograph. This is where Exposure Fusion enters the game. In this post I will introduce you to the concept of Exposure Fusion and give you an insight on how I use this technique to create some of my photos.
In this post I’d like to talk about the post processing tools I use to create my night shots. Post processing is one of the reasons I’m into digital photography and the tools available today are really great for getting the job done. Not only do those tools allow to polish an already great photo but they also offer countless options to create your unique style.
Today I’d like to talk about photo management. Every active photographer sooner or later has to deal with an ever increasing amount of photos. In case of digital photography this means thousands of photos on your hard disk up to the point where finding one specific photo can become almost impossible. This is where photo management software comes into play. Over in the Adobe world the solution is Lightroom which manages everything from tagging your photos to RAW development. But what if you, like me, do not like Adobe’s business model and are looking for a high quality alternative? Is photo management without Adobe software even possible? In this post I will talk about two programs that I have personally used and that I can recommend. These are XnViewMP (freeware) and IMatch (commercial). So let’s get started.
As humans we like what we already know and tend to deliberately or subliminally plan our lives so we don’t have to leave our comfort zone. The same thing is of course also true for photography. A passionate portrait photographer who usually takes his photos in a studio is more likely to plan his next shooting to take place in a studio again instead of taking the risk and shooting portraits outdoors under natural light. And a landscape photographer rather photographs another sunset/ sunrise instead of trying street photography in the city. This is where my latest purchase comes in handy: The Lightbox Photography Cards.
Today I’d like to talk about the image editor Affinity Photo by Serif. It is a budget friendly but powerful alternative to Photoshop by Adobe. Let me tell you why Affinity is currently my favorite…
Until recently I used to own the Canon EF 50 mm 1:1.4 USM prime lens. The image quality of the lens is really good but with my Canon EOS 700D I frequently encountered auto focus issues. Sometimes I needed to take several photos in order to get one with the focus being on spot. To avoid this problem I used to focus manually whenever I could. In the end though I was tired of the focusing troubles, contacted Canon and asked them what it would cost to calibrate the lens. They told me it would cost CHF 120.- per lens which is a third of the price of a new EF 50 mm lens plus it would take anything between 2 – 3 weeks before I’d get my camera and lens back. This was not an option so I decided to sell the lens on ebay and get a new 50 mm prime lens. Read in this post why my new 50 mm prime lens is actually a 45 mm.
Continue reading “Why my new 50 mm prime lens is actually a 45 mm”
Hi there
Today I’d like to talk about a fantastic piece of software I discovered recently. The program is called set.a.light 3D and has been developed by elixxier Software, a company based in Stuttgart, Germany. What the software basically does is it let’s you simulate an entire photo studio with models, lights, cameras, different requisites etc. You can even take virtual photos and create lighting diagrams of your setup. This sounds to me like the ideal tool to prepare yourself for a studio shooting.
Continue reading “set.a.light 3D studio simulation software”
Today I’d like to talk about rules in photography. Nowadays rules are everywhere, wheather in traffic, at work, in school, no matter where you go, there is always a rule that needs following. On reason why I’ve started taking photos is because I needed to compensate for all those rules that I need to follow in my everyday life. You know, do something creative and all that… But guess what, photography has rules too!
Continue reading “Rules in photography, should we as artists follow them?”
Check out my new series of night shots of Swiss cities and villages. Switzerland @ night 2017 will evolve during 2017 as I constantly add new photos.
Do you want me to take photos of your town? Leave a comment or head over to the forum to discuss the matter and I might add photos of your town next. And as always, tell me what you think about this series and the photos. Maybe you’ve even got ideas for new series?