Tuesday, 1 August 2017
How to Photograph Watches in Studio with Speedlights and a Stripbox
Here’s a 7-minute video by photographer Dustin Dolby of workphlo that demonstrates how to photograph luxury watches in a studio setting with entry-level lighting equipment.
The focus here is getting a super sharp shot that would “look good in an Instagram feed.” A black background helps to isolate the watch, creating a canvas to use to paint it with light and achieve a glistening face.
Using a reflector helps to “milk the light” you’re using, filling in the shadows on the opposing and originally unlit side of the watch. The aim is to make sure all edges of the watch are properly illuminated, giving a hard contrast between the subject and the background.
A diffusion disk allows you to create a nice fill light for the watch face, using it as a portable softbox so you can fine-tune the position.
To achieve the ultimate glistening shot, hold a flash close to the watch, at an angle, to make to sparkle.
Finally, mask out the background in post production to create a pure black backdrop.
from PetaPixel https://petapixel.com/2017/08/01/photograph-watches-studio-speedlights-stripbox/
Sony’s Sensor Domination Marches On as Record Profits Pour In
Five years ago, after seeing losses of $2.9 billion, Sony announced that it would be focusing its efforts on dominating three things: games, mobile, and image sensors. Well, the company just announced record quarterly profits and its ambitious plans for global sensor domination are still alive and well.
Reuters reports that Sony just announced a first quarter profit of ¥157.61 billion, or about $1.43 billion. That’s the best first-quarter figure ever reported by Sony, and it beat analyst estimates of ¥133.3 billion. Sales grew 15% to ¥1.86 trillion (~$16.86 billion).
Much of this success has to do with Sony’s ever-growing clout in the world of photographic image sensors, which the company invested $4 billion in to ramp up further in 2015 before spinning the division off as a new company called Sony Semiconductor Solutions.
The latest profit results are great news for a company that was reeling last year after powerful earthquakes in Japan caused severe damage to Sony’s sensor production facilities. Sony says its profit jump can be attributed to healthy recovery of its image sensor factories.
Bloomberg reports that Sony now controls roughly 50% of the world market for image sensors, up from about 40% in 2015. ¥55.4 billion of Sony’s operating profit was from its sensors, with revenue in the division rising 41% to ¥204.3 billion (~$1.85 billion).
One of the major growth areas for Sony imaging sensors is in dual-camera smartphones, particularly those targeting the booming Chinese market. But Sony is playing things safe, cutting its annual image sensor sales estimates by 2.9%, saying that Chinese phone manufacturers are shifting toward cheaper components in lower-priced phones.
Sony, however, is still on track to post its best annual profits in about two decades. It seems that CEO Kazuo Hirai’s bold strategy of focusing on camera sensors is starting to pay off in a huge way for shareholders, whose shares have ballooned in value by over 35% this year.
from PetaPixel https://petapixel.com/2017/08/01/sonys-sensor-domination-marches-record-profits-pour/
A Profile of Photographer Keith Carter
Keith Carter is a Texas-based photographer whose ethereal style and beautiful depiction of “truth and beauty” have often led him to be referred to as a “poet with a camera”. In this moving 15-minute interview with The Art of Photography, Carter discusses his career, how his projects come together, illness, and his legacy.
Keith Carter grew up in South-East Texas, raised by his mother who was the local portrait photographer of the town they lived in. His own photographer career began in the early 70s and focused on the Southern landscapes and its storytelling tradition.
Make the picture. Just make the picture. You’ve got the rest of your life to figure out what it means.
Since the ‘80s, Carter’s photographs have been published in over 10 acclaimed monographs, and he has earned the Texas Medal of Arts and the Lange-Turner Prize from the Centre for Documentary Studies at Duke University.
In 2009 his career took a turn when he was diagnosed with a rare form of melanoma in his left eye, which was treated with a radiation implant that left him with severely limited vision in that side. Once he recovered, he decided to weave his condition into his storytelling. “Why don’t I try to make some photographs about vision itself, or about how I see?”.
Experimenting with chemicals on silver gelatin, Carter went on to create many images with a distressed and dirty style to mimic his own vision.
I think in my mind, I was trying to be brave when I was scared. [The photography] helped me get over that.
When Carter’s wife later fell ill, he turned again to photography to help him get through the difficult time. His experimentation with wet plate collodion was a direct response to his wife falling ill, he said. “I knew I was going to be tied to the studio, and things needed to change,” he said. “So I was looking for a process that would be interesting to do. … It resulted in a project that I call Ghost Land. In a lot of ways, that body of work was like a metaphor for our lives at that time.”
Sometimes you just stand mute in front of the mystery of your own life, or those who you love.
Do yourself a favor and take 15 minutes from your day to watch the interview at the top. Carter is a great artist, and the Art of Photography interview is brilliantly made, providing great insight into the mind and life of a man at the top of his craft.
from PetaPixel https://petapixel.com/2017/08/01/profile-photographer-keith-carter/
Does Camera Gear Matter? Hear What Five Photographers Think
It’s the age old question in photography: how much does expensive photography gear matter for achieving great shots? In this 8-minute video, photographer Erik Wahlstrom puts the question to 5 photographers.
There’s no clear cut answer to the question, according to this group polled. Yes, the photographer behind the camera has massive creative input… but they couldn’t take a photo without a camera in the first place.
So yes, photography gear does make a difference, “just don’t expect it to replace a solid foundation in photography,” says Alan Brock.
“In a lot of situations gear does matter, but probably not as much as you would think,” says popular landscape photographer Thomas Heaton.
The photographers featured in the video conclude that gear does play an important part in what makes a good photo, but it is only one piece of the puzzle that needs to be considered.
“There is no lens or camera body that will transform a bad photographer into a good one,” concludes Wahlstrom. “So does gear matter? Yeah. 100% yes. Absolutely it does. Except, I guess, when it doesn’t?”
from PetaPixel https://petapixel.com/2017/08/01/camera-gear-matter-hear-five-photographers-think/