FroKnowsPhoto RAWtalk 210: Only Hire Photographers With Nikon Or Canon? + a 2,000,000 Gig Photo
First things first do you notice anything different about the location? If you guessed it’s a new location, you would be correct This is the first show to be recorded at the FroFactory and we could not be happier to be in the space. I am looking forward to what we will create over there.
Brides magazine wrote an article that has since been changed but originally made the statement that you should only hire photographers to shoot your wedding who have either Nikon or Canon cameras. Yea, that’s an interesting statement to make, we discuss at 24:30
It’s a NEW year, a NEW location and we have a NEW mentality and direction for where the content is going to take us this year.
00:00:16 Where Are We?
00:05:40 Stephen and Todd Got New Cameras
00:09:39 Plug of the Week
00:11:43 A Gift for the Empty Loft
00:15:49 Photo News/365 Calendar Challenge
00:20:00 A Clever Proposal
00:21:35 The Largest Photo…EVER
00:24:30 “Pro Tips” from Brides.com
00:30:31 New Free Lightroom Plug-in
00:32:04 Magic Lantern DNG Break Through
00:34:44 Aperture Wrench
00:36:59 A Post Wildfire Photo Story
00:37:59 Turn Your DSLR into a 360 Camera!
00:40:26 Gear of the Week: Amazon Dot
00:45:12 Flying Solo
01:21:17 Wheel of Fro
01:26:23 Memes of the Week
01:32:01 Hashtags of the Week
Here’s all of Stephen’s photo news stories in detail:
This 365-Day Calendar Gives You One Photo Idea For Every Day of the Year
With the new year comes a new challenge: photoblog.com put together a calendar that offers a new kind of 365-day challenge. The new photo calendar offers one photo idea to try out for each day of the year, based around what’s popular that month. For example, the 4th of July recommends fireworks, Sept. 21 suggests a “goodbye Summer” photo, in the Spring it recommends flowers and rain drops, where the Winter calls for cold, snowy, icy photos. Download the full-res calendar that you could print out for yourself here. Will you follow along? (via PB)
Photographer Proposes in the Darkroom with a Hidden Print Message
A Spanish photographer named Paul Fehr proposed in a darkroom to his now-fiance. The duo picked up photography as a hobby and created a DIY mobile darkroom half a year ago. Paul wanted a unique way to propose, so he figured why not in the darkroom through a “secret message.” Here’s what he did: the day before the proposal, he printed the words “will you marry me”—but in Spanish—on a transparency. He then used that as a mask and burned in the text on a blank print. The text will not become visible until it hits the developer obviously so he did a test print and it worked just fine. He went on to do another without developing it for the actual proposal. The couple went for a photo shoot the next day, with photos taken by his sister. They then began to develop the images together. Paul took out the sheet he prepped the day before and as she was developing it she gasped, thinking there were spots on the print, and then the full words appeared, and his plan worked. She said yes. Check out Paul’s behind-the-scenes video documenting the proposal below: (via PP)
This is the Largest Known Photo of the Universe
The largest photo of the known universe officially weighs in at two million gigabytes. Over a four-year period, the University of Hawaii’s Pan-STARRS1 (the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System) has been taking photos of the sky from its location on top of a dormant volcano in Hawaii. 500,000 images later with each shot being captured 12 times in five different wavelengths, the data has finally been stitched into a single image which comes in at two million gigs; whoa. If printed at full resolution, it would be 1.5 miles long and feature over three billion stars. The camera used to take the photo is the most powerful astronomical camera in the world, featuring a 1.5 billion pixel sensor. That photo along with countless others which they’re calling “a bonanza of data” are now available to the public, which you can find here. (via DIYP)
Brides.com Says to Make Sure Your Hired Wedding Photographer Shoots with Nikon or “Cannon”
Brides Magazine is at it again, offering sound advice on what brides should look for when choosing the right photographer. In their article entitled “Essential Questions You Need to Ask Your Wedding Photographer,” one of their “pro tips” note that the bride should review the gear their photographer is using, and it should be either a “Cannon” or Nikon camera “which are the most readily available professional cameras available.” The author, photographer Tiffani Matsuura, also says it should be a “full format” camera—now does that mean large format? full frame? Hmm… Brides.com has since updated the article to now read that “your photographer would use the most readily available professional camera…” The author has also since apologized publicly saying, “To the photographers who felt disrespected through this article, I can only offer my most sincere apologies. I respect every photographer’s personal preference which is what makes our industry and craft great. We are able to be innovative, creative, and have a unique voice all to our own. Regardless of whatever equipment a photographer chooses to use, their photography business is ultimately built around their unique vision and artistry.” (via PP)
Original Article:
Updated Article:
New Lightroom Plugin Displays Your Active Focus Points Used
There’s a free Lightroom plugin now available called Focus Point Viewer which does just that, visually shows your active focus point on photos when browsing through Lightroom. Similar to how it would appear on the back of the camera if the focus point setting was enabled in your review settings, a red box appears where the focus point was locked in on in that particular photo. Created by underwater photographer Joshua Musselwhite, the only caveat is that the plugin first only works with a Nikon D7200, which is Josh’s camera of choice. Users will have to go in and map their own camera to the plugin, which takes some time and is not very easy but instructions are included in the download which can be found here. Adobe, please build this directly into Lightroom! (via Reddit)
Magic Lantern Figured Out How to Shoot 14-Bit DNGs in-Camera
Magic Lantern’s latest breakthrough offers lossless 14-bit DNG still-shooting in-camera. The man behind the hack, ML’s own a1ex, has figured out how Canon decodes their CR2 RAW files in the camera. He was then able to create a mod that encodes a DNG file that Adobe accepts in their software. This means that DNG RAW video may soon be possible, which would offer a much smaller file size. Also, this could be helpful if someone is still using an older version of LR but has a newer camera, like the 5D Mark IV. in terms of still shooting, this may offer a high DNG RAW burst rate and obviously more data storage on your memory card since the file size is much smaller. It’s still in it’s “proof-of-concept” phase, so no official public build has been released just yet, but it shouldn’t take too long for that to happen. (via PP)
The “Aperture” Wrench Closes and Opens Like Real Aperture Blades
Introducing the Aperture Wrench, which was clearly designed by a photographer. It features an aperture-like diameter that adjusts just like the blades of a real aperture. “Inspired by the apertures in cameras, the idea was formed to create a wrench to fit any size nut,” says the guy who designed it, photographer Jordan Steranka. There’s a simple scroll wheel on the side which opens and closes the aperture. Once the desired bolt size is reached, there’s a locking button on the side to lock it in place. To make it even more photographer friendly, another photo idea was implemented: a ring light was added around the aperture opening for those bolts in dark areas that need to be tightened. Unfortunately for us photo nerds, it’s only a concept design right now… Someone please make this! (via PP)
Photos Series Captures Birds-Eye-View of Wildfire Victims Lying Down in their Burned Down Homes
A new photo series featuring drone shots of wildfire victims lying down in their burned down homes is now online. In November of 2016, wildfires blanketed Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the town of Gatlinburg, Tennessee, taking 2000 homes with it. Photographer Jeremy Cowart took to the skies to create this new series called “Voices of Gatlinburg,” to raise money for the victims and bring awareness to devastation of wildfires. He had the victims lie on a mattress where their bedroom once was, on top of the rubble and debris of their burnt down homes. Cowart also took portraits of the victims and shared their personal story from the day they lost their home. Check out the birds-eye-view images here and consider helping the victims get their lives back together. (via PP)
New Bulbous Lens Turns Your DSLR Into a 360-Degree Camera
A new lens turns your Nikon DSLR into a 360-degree camera. Called Sphere, the lens captures 360 degrees horizontally and 180 degrees vertically, so the seem is at the top and bottom of the image. To use the lens properly, you need to point the camera straight up to capture a full, omni-directional view that doesn’t require any stitching in post. Specs for this include an f/8 aperture so you’ll need a lot of light when shooting. They note that optimal focus is at only 40 inches and it weighs in at a heavy 4 lbs. Check out a demo video of the Sphere in use below. Those interested can either rent it or buy it, but they don’t list the price, so I assume it’s an expensive piece of glass… (via NS)
