Best Features of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom

How to Calculate Depth of Field

A big stumbling block for many new camera users is how to figure out how much depth of field a particular image will have it in given the focal length of the lens, the aperture used and the distance to the subject. Trust me on this, trying to do the algebra to figure it out is not something most people want to try to do in their heads. In this article we will cover all of the math involved and then make it real easy with an Excel spreadsheet and some links to some free applications to help you out.

RAW vs. JPEG – Deciding which is best for you

Yes, RAW vs. JPEG, the seemingly endless debate, almost as bad as Mac vs. PC or Film vs. Digital and people have been asking me to write up an article on this based on my opinion and experience and I have really put this article off for a long time as I wanted to be as unbiased in how I write this given that this is a very biased topic.

Learning to shoot in manual mode

While today’s cameras do a pretty good job when in fully automatic mode, in order to make the most of your camera you should learn how to use your camera on the manual setting. To go full manual you will need to have an understanding of shutter speed, aperture settings, and ISO speed. In this article we will get you going and get you shooting like a pro.

Kerry guests on Aaron Dieppa’s The Big Picture

For those of you who haven’t heard about Aaron Dieppa, he is an Orange County photographer who came up with an insane idea to try to do a daily video blog for an entire year. To say that he has taken on quite a challenge is an understatement but he has been doing a great job so far. Be sure and check out The Big Picture at http://www.aarondieppa.com for all the back espisodes. This week however, I am thrilled that Aaron asked me to be a guest on the show and we talked for quite a while about Camera Dojo and the industry, so much so that he needed to break it up into three shows.

Giottos Camera Screen Protector Review

I have always been a proponent of keeping my cameras looking brand new. A big piece of keeping your camera new is protecting the screens. This has been an age-old issue that affects all modern, digital cameras from point and shoots to professional SLRs. With typical protectors seeming overprices at $10 to $15 for a piece of plastic film smaller than the palm of your hand, why would you spend quite a bit more than that for the Giottos Camera Screen Protectors? We needed to try these out and see if they were worth the extra cost.

Join Scarlett Lillian for a Vegas Workshop at WPPI

Join Scarlett in Vegas for a hot night shoot at WPPI!

From Scarlett:
“I had so much fun last year shooting a sizzlin’ bride and groom session in the glamorous lights of Vegas with Ross of Flosites.com and his bride Leysa, and this year, I want to give you the same opportunity for some rockstar portfolio pieces too!

Photo Contest – Converging Lines

While it may be the middle of winter for some of you, we are going to launch a new photo contest based on an idea from a recent podcast host, Roberto Valenzuela. This contest is going to be about ‘Converging Lines”. Since an image with converging lines adds a nice dimension to your images, it seems like good practice to go out and shoot some images with this as a theme.

Canon Releases EOS 40D Firmware 1.1.1

Firmware update Version 1.1.1 incorporates the following fixes and improvements.

1. Fixes a malfunction that in rare occurrence causes a low battery indication to be displayed when using the EF 85mm F1.2L II USM lens. Depending on the battery check timing of the camera, the battery level displayed on the camera’s LCD data panel may shows Battery will be exhausted soon or Battery must be recharged, even though the battery capacity is sufficient.

VerteX Light modifer by Presslite

We have seen every imaginable type of light diffuser product you can imagine and have even built different ones yourself for specific purposes all in the name of finding just the right combination of bounce and diffusion. Every device we have seen will work great in some specific situations but will not be ideal in every situation. When we saw the VerteX for the first time, while it may have looked more like a gimmick at first glance, I soon realized the potential and just had to try one out.

OnOne Software’s Focal Point

Focal Point is OneOne Software’s newest Photoshop plug-in that allows you to create images with selective focus and edge vignette effects. Using these techniques you can guide the viewer’s eye to the spot in the image that you want them to look at. Using an easy to use “focus bug” you can control the sweet spot, the amount and kind of blur. These types of effects have only been possible with expensive specialty lenses before. Does Focal Point deliver on the goods? We decided to try it out for ourselves and see what we thought about it.

Nikon announces D3X

MELVILLE, N.Y. (Nov. 30, 2008) — Nikon Inc. today announced the D3X, an FX-format digital SLR featuring extreme 24.5-megapixel resolution and superb low-noise capabilities, which provides professional photographers with commercial-quality image performance in a familiar and extraordinarily versatile D-SLR form factor. In conjunction with the groundbreaking Nikon FX-format D3, the D3X tops off a collection of flagship level, rugged, professional caliber digital single lens reflex cameras engineered to excel in all types of professional photographic disciplines from photojournalism and sideline sports, to commercial in-studio applications.

Canon Releases several software updates

Canon has posted updates to Digital Photo Professional, EOS Utility, WFT Utility and Picture Style Editor for Mac and Windows, bringing new features as well as support for digital SLRs up to and including the EOS 5D Mark II. They’ve also released a new version of Canon RAW Codec for Windows, which also adds support for the EOS 5D Mark II.

Canon PowerShot line in SX1 IS with 1080p video

Move over Nikon with your piddly 780p D-Movie, Canon attacks back with a consumer grade camera that can do 1080p! The new SX10 IS features a 10 megapixel CMOS sensor, face detection, motion detection, and a plethora of outstanding features.

Canon announces EOS 5D Mark II

Canon’s update to the wildly popular full frame EOS 5D is here, and it’s better than ever. The EOS 5D Mark II has a stunning 21.1-megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor with DIGIC 4 Image Processor, a vast ISO Range of 100-6400 (expandable to ISO L: 50, H1: 12800 and H2: 25600), plus EOS technologies like Auto Lighting Optimizer and Peripheral Illumination Correction.

Using manual flashes with PC Sync

We have done a number of articles with different flash heads but we have never gone into the detail of how to set them up and make them work, this results in emails that we sit and explain all the details to people. So today I am going to go through how to setup these studio flashes and connect them to your camera to get the results you want.

Wolverine ESP Digital Photo Album and Multimedia Player

I have been a fan of Wolverine products for almost four years now and my trusty Wolverine FlashPac was in need of an upgrade. Not that the FlashPac didn’t do it’s job, its just that it was pretty slow and didn’t have a display that could be used to view the images. Without hesitation I turned back to Wolverine to see what they had available and I found the new ESP Digital Photo Album and Multimedia Player.

Recover your lost camera and memory cards

While the odds of ever recovering a lost camera or memory card are probably still less than your odds of winning the lottery or getting struck by lightning, a new site offers a glimmer of hope and has helped almost a dozen people recover their lost memories already. If you have found a memory card or camera, please go to IFoundYourCamera.net and post some information and pictures from the camera and hopefully someone who lost it will be able to recover their lost treasures.

Worldwide Photowalk Day – August 23rd

A Photowalk is a group of people walking around a specific area for about two hours taking pictures of the area. Popular photowalks occur in Washington DC, New York, and even in small towns. On August 23rd, in over 100 cities around the world, people of all kinds will be participating in photowalks in their area.