Photography Blog DigitalPixels.net

So, we already know that direct flash from your built-in flash gives unflattering results, to say the least. Using your speedlight in the same way won’t change much. I did mention that you can redirect the light by rotating the head of your flash gun and bouncing the light off ceilings and walls but you’re still very limited in your creativity. So what’s a photographer to do? I’ll tell you. Get that speedlight off your camera to unleash its full potential!

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One of my favorite techniques for removing (i.e. make transparent) dark or light areas of an image is to use the blending sliders available inside the Layer Style dialog box within Photoshop. These blending sliders are easily overlooked in pursuit of the more commonly-used Layer Styles available in this dialog box.

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The angle of the sun on the horizon is smaller during wintertime, creating numerous pleasing effects for photographers, such as a prolonged period of the magic hour.

We refer to the magic hour as the time around sunrise or sunset, when most of the light is reflected and the direct light of the sun passes through a lot more atmosphere, thus filtering out the harsh neutral or blue cast.

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Today Olympus announces a firmware update for the following five Zuiko Digital Lenses:

>> Zuiko Digital 28-84mm equivalent (ED 14-42mm Four Thirds) f3.5-f5.6 lens;
>> Zuiko Digital 80-300mm equivalent (ED 40-150mm Four Thirds) f4.0-f5.6 lens;
>> Zuiko Digital 50mm equivalent (ED 25mm Four Thirds) f2.8 lens;
>> Zuiko Digital 70-200mm equivalent (ED 35-100mm Four Thirds) f2.0 lens;
>> Zuiko Digital 70mm equivalent Macro (35mm Four Thirds) f3.5 lens.

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Set the ISO to 400 - this gives you much greater latitude with the strobes.
Set the aperture to f/6.3 as a good starting point. With wide-angle lenses, DOF is not really a problem.
Adjust the shutter speed to expose for the windows. Generally, for a “blown-out” window effect, 1/80th or slower will work. To bring in a view completely, dial up to your camera’s maximum sync speed (usually 1/250th) and only then start stopping down the aperture. Once the windows are exposed properly…

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Notice to customers using Sigma’s EO-ETTL II type flashguns

2008.10.29 - Sigma’s EF-530 DG SUPER EO-ETTL II, EF-530 DG ST EO-ETTL II, EM-140 DG EO-ETTL II, EF-500 DG SUPER EO-ETTL II and EF-500 DG ST EO-ETTL II do not operate properly with Canon EOS 50D D-SLR camera. To overcome this, we will start supplying a free-upgrade service to our customers today.

Please notice that this problem occurs with the EOS 50D D-SLR camera only.

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Canon :

1. Corrects a phenomenon in which an image becomes overexposed when C.Fn.II-3 Highlight tone priority is set to “1” together with other camera settings. (This correction has already been incorporated in the Version 1.0.2 and later firmware.
2. Corrects a rare phenomenon in which “busy” blinks on the camera’s display panel and the shutter cannot be released due to the timing of battery installation.
3. Corrects a rare phenomenon in which “Err 99” appears on the camera’s display panel and LCD monitor and the shutter cannot be released due to the timing of pressing the shutter button.

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Lighting and photographing two-dimensional objects such as framed paintings and prints so that they look professionally rendered can be considerably more challenging than in other types of photography. The challenges have mostly to do with lighting issues and camera perspective, but once you're aware of how to tackle the potential hazards of two-dimensional copy work, you'll be surprised at how easy it can be.

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The presets are available in two versions, one with auto toning and the other one without.
I just show you a preview of the set without the Auto toning, but of course both versions are included in the zipfile you download.

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The Drag And Drop Method To Importing To Adobe Lightroom 2.0.

Why start with just one light? Because you can get amazing portraits, that’s why. Did I mention less equipment, less complication, less cost, and less time? Oh, and once you’ve mastered portraits with a single light, using more lights is pure gravy. I have lots of lighting, but I break out a single light more often than I get out multiples. Many of you reading this have yet to really get into this lighting stuff, so you probably only have one flash. So it makes sense that the first article where we get into lighting setups would focus on portraits with just a single light.

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