Category

Photography

Photography

Dedicated

“A great picture is one that tells that story, is technically sound, and that no one else has.” — Robert Beck.

I haven’t updated this blog in a bit because I’ve been literally all over the map doing different things!

But now that I’ve settled down for the moment. I’d like to share some of these things with all of you.

Travel photos from: Spain, Greece and Turkey.

Concert photos from NXNE 2014: St. Vincent, Swans, Spoon and more from the rest of the LiL team.

Podcasts: NXNE 2014 Wrap-up, Anthony Fantano from The Needle Drop, Michael Gira of Swans.

Photography

Twitter IPO, More iPhone 5s, Blackberry Z30

Twitter files for IPO

Twitter, the 200 million user microblogging service, has filed for its initial public offering. Fittingly, the only public acknowledgement came in the form of a simple tweet.

Good for CEO Dick Costolo, this ain’t an easy task. Hopefully, they learned from the mistakes that Facebook made last year. With this, I see Twitter implementing more advertisements in feeds. While this will bring in large revenue, there are many that would like an ad-free premium subscription fee of around $2.00 USD a month. I’d pay for that.

The most forward thinking Apple yet

This article is extremely insightful. There are just too many good quotes in here. But essentially,  Sisir foresees Apple grand long run strategy in rolling out iOS 7, “iWatch” and “Apple TV”.

Why the iPhone 5s’ finger print scanner is the best commercial one ever made

With the new sensors you don’t have to move your finger, just press it against the reader. And like the sensor in the iPhone 5S, the sensors that will be in laptops and keyboards and other phones can detect the ridge and valley pattern of your fingerprint not from the layer of dead skin on the outside of your finger (which a fake finger can easily replicate), but from the living layer of skin under the surface of your finger, using an RF signal. That only works on a live finger; not one that’s been severed from your body.

A bit morbid. But no, a thief will NOT be able to login to your iPhone with your chopped off finger. That’s good to know I guess.

A Photographer’s take on the iPhone 5s

The sensor in the iPhone 5S remains at 8 megapixels, which is a bold choice given that competitors like Nokia are shooting for the moon as far as pixel count is concerned. But, as with many things, the sheer number of pixels is not as important as the quality of those pixels, and that’s what Apple has focused on here.

As a veteran photographer, I think this one of the most accurate representation of Apple’s understanding and passion for photography.

Burberry uses iPhone 5s to capture spring/summer 2014 runway show

“iPhone 5s makes it even easier to take great photos with the world’s most popular camera,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s vice president of iPhone & iOS Product Marketing. “We’re thrilled to see the amazing photos and HD video Burberry has captured with the incredible all-new iSight camera.”

Interesting high-end partnership here. I’m a fan of both brands!

Microsoft posts 7 anti-Apple Windows Phone ads

Getting desperate eh?

Note: As fast as they put them up, Microsoft swiftly removes them.

Microsoft bought Nokia before they ditched Windows Phone

And now, it is clear that a Nokia Android phone was more than a possibility. It was real.

A team within Nokia had Android up and running on the company’s Lumia handsets well before Microsoft and Nokia began negotiating Microsoft’s $7.2 billion acquisition of Nokia’s mobile phone and services business, according to two people briefed on the effort who declined to be identified because the project was confidential. Microsoft executives were aware of the existence of the project, these people said.

Because if Nokia stopped making hardware for Windows Phones, no one else would be.

Blackberry Z30

These are two very opposite analysis: saviour versus 0% chance of saving.

Photographer Notes

Photographer Notes: Taylor Swift

Many people who enjoy my concert photography work like to ask “How do you prepare for each musician you shoot?”

My answer usually involves a little research online with YouTube clips of recent live performances and even other publication reviews.

But before I grab my gear and head to the venue, I typically have a summarized post-it note of what I can expect and will be doing.

However, things do not always go 100% as planned. You will notice that I made notes about Swift doing a duet at the end, but I almost forgot that! By the time I realized and made it to the end of the stage, she was done that brief segment. C’est la vie.

Excerpt:

Photographing Swift was a little crazy as all of the accredited media were put into the pit just left of the main stage with all of her most adrenaline-fueled fans. Trying to take an exceptional photo while avoiding all of the glittered waving hands and signs was tricky yet fun as I could really see how much these people loved her. We were allowed to photograph her during “Holy Ground” and “Red”. In the first song, Swift was sprinting spontaneously around the stage and onto the narrow bridges bringing her even closer to the crowd. She picked up her sparkling red guitar for the feature song “Red” and hair-rocked out with it while working her charm on with everyone holding a camera. She is incredibly photogenic I must say.

You can read my full review with photos on Live in Limbo.

Current Events, Inspirational, LINKS, Photography, Technology

Progress

Sigma announces revolutionary lens 18-35mm f1.8 DX

Most constant aperture zooms, even those targeted at pros, peak at F2.8 – with exceptions including the Olympus 14-35 mm F2. This is why many photographers also have faster prime lenses in their kit bag for when they need those extra light gathering properties or an ultra-shallow depth of field. With its constant F1.8 aperture, the Sigma 18-35 mm F1.8 DC HSM lens could mean you don’t need to carry as many lenses with you.

This is a pretty exciting new development and a first in the photography industry. Never before has any one Nikon, Canon, Olympus etc. made a standard zoom lens with a fixed aperture of a stunning 1.8. But this results in the lens being quite large and pricey for the average joe, who are typically the targets of the DX or APS-C lineup of cameras.

LightRoom 5 Beta is revealed by Adobe

In my tests this week, the Lightroom clone and heal tools were almost as effective as Photoshop — about 95% there. As a photographer who brings 1,000 plus images into Lightroom every weekend, I will greatly appreciate the ability to do this sort of work within the app.

Digital photographers rejoice with the latest significant update to Adobe’s LightRoom editing software. One of the coolest new features for me is the “advanced healing brush”. This tool acts like the clone stamp, but allows you to brush over an area of the photo and then paste a cloned image from another more appropriate area of the image. It actually looks like it works pretty nicely.

Pictures: 2013 Pulitzer-Winning Photos Feature Syrian Conflict 

“It means that history won’t forget them.”

Winners of the Pulitzer prize are always top-notch. Javier Manzano is no exception with his photos of the Syrian conflict. I have always been drawn to the grittiness of war-photography and am sometimes jealous of brave these men and women can be.

Protecting the Right to Photograph, or Not to Be Photographed

“As a rule, I’d say it would be common courtesy to ask people whether you can take their picture,” he said. “But, then again, if you’re doing street photography and you see something going on, you don’t want to alter that dynamic.”

I love street photography and understand how some or many pedestrians absolutely hate having a picture of them taken without their consent. The issue is that technically, if the place the shot is taken is in a “public area”, then anyone can legally take a photograph of anything. What needs to be done is for street photographers to show some more class by learning how to “flow” with their work better. Learning how to “charm” your subjects will make you a better/stealthier photographer overall.

Austin Kleon on stealing like an artist via John Paul Caponigro

“Stealing from one person is called plagiarism, stealing from many is called research.”

This is a revisited talk by Mr. Kleon. But in essences, nothing we do today is completely and 100% “original”. Everything we do is built upon previous generations. And this is NOT a bad thing. This is called progression and an evolution into something even better. Having your work “stolen” or modified should be highly sought after by everyone as it builds on their own legacy.

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