by February 2018 – Welcome again to HDR News. We’ve got a wide ranging set of content for you to discover this
month. The collection spans the Olympics, camera comparisons, a great new “walking around” lens, the dark side of landscape
photography and a look at classic portraiture. Let’s get right to it.
The Best Of 2018 The Winter Olympics
We know you love landscapes and HDR but you have to marvel at the fusion of athletic photographic skill and sheer artistry in the Olympic competition photographs that came out of PyeongChang over the last two weeks. When you’re stuck in a designated shooting pen next to a dozen other world-class shooters what do you do to tell the story you’re assigned to cover and still offer creativity? Look no further than the collections we found on CNN, Time, USA Today and The NY Times.
Click on the publication name to see their Olympic spread.
CNN, TIME, USA-Today, NY Times
Full-frame Shootout: Nikon D850 s Canon 5D vs. Sony a7R III
The Nikon D850, Canon 5D and the Sony a7R III are punching it out at the top end of the DSLR universe. This article is for you folks that love high-end equipment and will consult chat boards and photo website reviews before you even think of making a purchase. What’s most difficult to find in online reviews is a little real-life funk. In other words, the reactions of in-the-trenches photographers actually using the equipment in the field who provide their gut level reactions. Read this piece if you’re thinking of upgrading your current camera or making a switch to another brand. Do you have the nerve?
See the shootout HERE
The Walking Around Lens – Sony Gets It Right
If you shoot a bunch then you may have struggled with deciding on the gear you should take with you when “walking around”. By walking around we mean those situations when you know you’re in the zone to make a great photograph but you just don’t know when or where in your walk you’re going to find that shot. You need to travel light so; do you take a wide-angle zoom? Do you take a mid-range prime lens? Do you take a medium to long zoom? You’re conflicted because a gear bag in tow won’t make you nimble and ready for the ephemeral “moment”. For this very purpose Canon makes the 24-105 and Nikon makes the 24-120 f4. Now Sony has introduced the 24-105 f4, wide to medium zoom lens. Let’s take a look at the review.
Read the review HERE
The Dark Side Of Landscape Photography – Where Do You Stand?
This is a tough article to digest, especially if you’re on the fence about truth in photography. Is that wonderful shot of a bright, saturated Milky Way positioned over a well lit desert rock formation really what the photographer saw? Do you think, maybe, elements from different image files were stitched together like a photo Frankenstein? Is the final image “art” or a “photograph” or what? It’s an argument that will only intensify as imaging software and photo equipment continues to improve.</p>
Read this extensive look at the dark side HERE
Ugly Locations – It’s All About The Skill
A creative photographer will be open to photographic genres outside their comfort zones. Indeed, if you’re known in your circles as a “photographer” then you’ll be enlisted to make portraits from time to time. The Old Dutch masters are indeed masters because they harnessed the light that was available to them in the 17th and 18th centuries. Enter Dutch photographer Gemmy Woud-Binnendikk who, after graduating as a Goldsmith and later as a multimedia designer found her true passion in photography. You can learn from absorbing her photographs.
See the images HERE
Classic Dutch Master Paintings or…
A creative photographer will be open to photographic genres outside their comfort zones. Indeed, if you’re known in your circles as a “photographer” then you’ll be enlisted to make portraits from time to time. The Old Dutch masters are indeed masters because they harnessed the light that was available to them in the 17th and 18th centuries. Enter Dutch photographer Gemmy Woud-Binnendikk who, after graduating as a Goldsmith and later as a multimedia designer found her true passion in photography. You can learn from absorbing her photographs.
See the images HERE
How Apple Created Portrait Lighting
The enchanting photographs of Dutch photographer Woud-Binnendikk may be a stretch to replicate for many of us but Apple appears to have made the entire exercise of making a classic portrait as simple as lifting your iPhone to your eye.</p>
See how Apple did it HERE
Lens Culture Portrait Awards
As long as we’re on the subject of portraits,
if you’re into making portraits and you want to see how you measure up with your contemporaries then you should consider entering the Lens Culture Portrait Awards. The promotional web page for the contest contains a collection of entries that will be informative, if not transformative in your own work. If you want to enter the contest you have to move fast because they stop taking entries on Tuesday, Feb. 27.
Then, if you think portraiture is in your future you should read an interview with Jennifer Pastore, the Director of Photography at the
Wall Street Journal which will give you a behind-the-scene look at what the purchasers of your portrait photography require.
The Lens Culture Portrait Awards web page is HERE
Read the Pastore interview HERE