Photo.net Blog

No, the iPad isn’t out yet. But after reading one billion news stories and blog posts about it over the past week, I thought I would look at it from a photographer’s point of view. It has some really cool possibilities, but drawbacks as well. Read the article and argue with me to your hearts content.

The most obvious use for a tablet computer like the iPad for a photographer would be as a portable storage device. You download your cards while traveling or out on a photo job and you have a backup that actually allows you to view the images on a decent screen rather than the tiny LCD ’s that many portable storage solutions have. In addition, as an actual computer, the tablet also would have the advantage of allowing a photographer to do some image sorting or editing and even email images to editors or friends/family via wifi or cell data connections. A tablet would be lighter than virtually any other mobile computing device, save for smartphones, and would probably be physically smaller as well. All together this would make a admirable traveling companion for the traveling digital photographer. You would be taking the best parts of smartphones and laptop computers to create a new sort of hybrid device.

Full article here: http://photo.net/equipment/apple/ipad-as-photography-tool/

Congrats to the winners who were selected in the 3rd Bogen Giveaway Contest (held from Nov-Dec 2009) on Photo.net!

• Johnny Barrett [Elinchrom Skyport Universal Trigger Set w/ Trigger and Reciever (EL19360)]
• Karl Beckett [Manfrotto Modo Pocket (797)]
• Caleb Carpenter [Metz 28 Cs-2 Digital Slave Flash With Easy Mode (MZ 52822D)]
• Jonathan Chatten [Manfrotto Compact Tripod W/Alu.3-Way Head and New Leg Angle Selectors (7301YB)]
• Amanda Cheng [Lastolite 18" Mini Trigrip - Silver/White (LL LR3531)]
• Sandy Cornell [Manfrotto Modo Pocket (797)]
• Kristy Husband [Kata Bags DR-465; Digital Rucksack - Black (KT DR-465)]
• Andrew Kyle [Manfrotto Modo Pocket (797)]
• Liz Loera [Lastolite Ezybalance Grey/White Card 12" (LL LR1250)]
• Navjot Marwaha [Lastolite Ezybalance Grey/White Card 12" (LL LR1250)]
• Melissa Meade [Manfrotto 190Xprob Tripod + 804Rc2 Head (190XPRORB, 804RC2)]
• Eric Rinehardt [Kata Bags 3N1-20; 3in1 Sling Backpack (KT D-3N1-20)]
• Scot Rosenberg [National Geographic Tundra Tripod with Ball Head w/ Quick Release Plate 785Pl (NGTT1)]
• Stephanie Rutledge [Manfrotto 190Xprob Tripod + 804Rc2 Head (190XPROB, 804RC2)]
• Susannah Stevens [Kata Bags DR-465; Digital Rucksack - Black (KT DR-465)]
• Massimo Strazzeri [National Geographic NG W2021; Small Holster (NG W2021)]
• Bina Sveda [Kata Bags 3N1-20; 3in1 Sling Backpack (KT D-3N1-20)]
• Roy Swander [Gitzo Series 3 Aluminum Monopod 4 Section Long with G-Lock (GM3340L)]
• Brian Thomas [Manfrotto Compact Tripod W/Alu.3-Way Head and New Leg Angle Selectors (7301YB)]
• Caitlin Thomas [Lastolite 18" Mini Trigrip - Silver/White (LL LR3531)]

Many photo.net members have Facebook pages to keep in contact with their friends and family. Some even use these pages to promote their photography businesses. Now, with the photo.net Facebook application it’s easy to keep your friends, family, and fans updated with your most recent photography while not having to worry about uploading to Facebook itself. Not only that, you will be exposing your photos to people who might not typically see your PN images unless you specifically tell them to go there.

The Photo.net Facebook application looks to see if you have uploaded any new images to your photo.net gallery. If it finds any new images, it posts a thumbnail on your Facebook wall that links back to the full sized image on photo.net.

Photo.net Facebook application instructions, click here.

Have questions about the application? Please visit this thread on the Photo.net Site Help forum.

Shooting runways at Fashion Week NYC is hard work. The hours are absurdly long particularly if you attend any of the afterparties and have a 9am show the next morning. The job is physically demanding—you’re on your feet almost non-stop and when you’re not standing still (or figuring out how to squeeze into that 3”x3” space on the riser), you’re lugging your gear up and down subway steps. Theano Nikitas has been shooting Fashion Week, NYC for the past 6 years, and shares tips and advice on how to break into this particular area of photography.

Get lost in reading Photographing Runway Fashion Shows [Fashion Week, NYC]. Fashion Week NYC is coming up in February, so start making connections and you may get a chance to try your hand at Runway Photography.

Questions about shooting bands, especially in clubs, pop up regularly on the forums on Photo.net. Several of us that have a lot of experience in this area have contributed to the forums but posts on forums sink in the listings. This article offers tips and suggestions on club photography based on Jeff Spirer’s experience, along with some input from other photographers living in this environment.

Check out Club Photography: Photographing Bands, Musicians, Performers in Low Light, and then make a point of getting permission to go shoot a live show or performance. It’s quite exhilarating.

photo by Harold Davis

Harold Davis’ new column on Creativity in the Photoshop Darkroom, brings to light many of Harold’s techniques for how to post-process your images to the best effect. This month’s tutorial is a continuation of last month’s Creating HDR Images by Hand [Part I], in which we learned about the process. Part II covers a very detailed step-by-step process as to how Harold layers in the HDR magic by hand.

Take a look at Creating HDR Images by Hand [Part II] and try your hand at this powerful technique.

Flip UltraHD Camcorder

The Holidays are a time for indulging your nieces and nephews in some new pursuit [perhaps photography, what else is there?] that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives, a time for helping dad reach his ultimate dream of getting a coveted pro DSLR or rangefinder camera, perhaps a season for stuffing your own stocking with a gift certificate to your favorite photography store [might we suggest Adorama] and then pretending it was from grandma.

On that note, let photo.net show you what’s hot this season, organized in price categories so you don’t go overboard, or underboard, for those on your holiday list.

Read the Photo.net Holiday Gift Guide.

Presenting…the D3S, Nikon’s first FX-sensor DSLR with HD movie mode. This camera is an upgrade to the D3, announced two years ago. Many of the features are the same, with some improvements. Nikon has improved the 12MP CMOS FX sensor for the new D3S so that its rated ISO is extended by another stop to 12800 with additional Hi 1, 2, and 3 ratings all the way to a whopping ISO 102,400 equivalent!

Other improvements:

• New 12MP CMOS sensor, FX format
• 5MP DX-crop mode (same as D3) and new 8.4MP, 1.2x crop mode
• Rated ISO from 200-12800, with extended Lo 1, Hi 1, 2, and 3 ranges
• 14-bit A/D conversion, 16-bit image processing
• 12-bit or 14-bit RAW (Nikon NEF) files
• Multi-CAM 3500 FX AF module, 51 AF points (same as D3)
• Movie Mode: 1280×720, 24fps HD AVI recording with contrast-detection AF, and stereo microphone jacks
• Extract 1280×780 JPEG basic still images from movie
• Dedicated Live View button and Info button
• Sensor Cleaning with 4 vibration frequencies

Read the complete Nikon D3S Preview.

I ran the Sigma DP2 through it’s paces recently.

The results? A mixed bag to say the least. There was some real potential there in the lens and the sensor. But the end results were more frustrating than I would have liked:

Photo.net Sigma DP2 Review

http://photo.net/equipment/sigma/dp2/review/