Hold The Eye Images

More Gear Talk, the best landscape, portrait and street photography lenses.

In this podcast Brian and I talk about the best lenses, some techniques and as you might predict, some differences. Have a listen.

 

Sony A7R

This is a very interesting sounding camera that could be a game changer. Reasons, you might ask? Well I have not touched one but from what I have read in DP Review which I will post in this blog, here's some points.

1. 36MP's and the Nikon D800E which I love has a Sony sensor. If the quality is similar, it's a bargain right off the start.

2. Mirrorless, much smaller.....and all the good things associated with small.

3. Zeiss has been the partner for lenses, assuming this will continue, the quality should be top notch.

4. Sony appears to be in the camera business for keeps.

The downside, few lenses, in fact only the 35mm for starters. Secondly, no actual hands on information with images. No intelligence on the sensor quality.

In spite of all this, it really sounds like an alternative to traditional DSLR's. Waiting to see.

 

I'm Sorry, but Adobe Cloud is a MESS!

I have been an Adobe Cloud member since the early offers. It has been a struggle with issues of login, limited assistance and a constant request for serial numbers on software. I attributed all this as startup problems, to be worked out over time. Recently, I have been asked for my password frequently, and even asked within the last few days to change the password. It turns out Adobe was hacked, files taken and who knows what else. So this weekend, my Adobe Cloud ID no longer works. The software requires me to start a trail for something I have already paid for in order to use software that is already downloaded on my computer? So, I call Adobe and guess what? They don't work on weekends!  I can call Apple 24/7, I can even call Comcast the bane of technical assistance 24/7 but I guess Adobe thinks photographers don't work on weekends.

Even worse, I open my account to see why my downloaded software is not being allowed, and my account has no record of downloaded software? It shows my payments but no software? My downloaded software on my computer has the plugins I loaded, so it escapes me why Adobe's records show nothing. Do you think it is possible Adobe designed Obamacare's website under another name?

I could go on, but it is so frustrating to be working and then suddenly be denied access with no recourse for two days, not to mention it's paid for.

The Worst Photo Gear Mistakes I Have Ever Made!

Brian and I talk about bad things with gear. The podcast is below or in iTunes under Hold the Eye Images Podcasting

 

 

 

Writing at the highest level!

 

"Expressions of Love"

I had the good fortune of having Aleksa and Alex at Hold the Eye Images today. One of my interests over the past view years has been to illustrate an "Expression of Love" through a photograph of an embrace. These two very talented models cetainly exceeded my expectations and I wanted to share their expressions.

All photos taken with a D800E, 34-70mm/2.8. The studio lighting - two strip lights, one on each side and a beauty dish directly above the models. The final images will likely all be black and white.

New Podcast "Five Keys to Capturing Great Images"

Brian Tramontana and I talk about five things that will help in creating great images. We also use Brian's New York visit to illustrate there utility. You can find the podcast here.

Tools and Talent

I need to upgrade my camera! Why? In my mind, so I can get better pictures with more megapixels, faster autofocus, and............  If this were not true, upgraded cameras would not sell and people would stick with their current model. On the other end of the spectrum, the phone camera has exploded, staff photographers have been laid off. The world is documented by phone video and phone camera images. The myriad of apps for the phone camera have enabled many options for distribution and image adjustment. On top of all this along comes the mirrorless camera and all those die-hards with big DSLR's suddenly are rethinking the weight and clunkiness and yearning for something smaller. So where is all this going? Hell if I know! My guess is cameras are going to get smaller(brilliant), better in quality(more brilliant), and even more ubiquitous(most brilliant). If this comes about, what does this say about photography? In a word nothing except for the capitalist who make the things we use.

In the end or the beginning, talent trumps tools. Talent is a product of practice, patience, and mistakes. It doesn't matter if you are using an iPhone or Phase camera, without skill they will have no impact on the image outcome. But there is a catch to all this. The camera you have with you is the one you will use. In today's world, it is most likely a camera that's associated some device you carry with you that has more than one function, i.e. phone, ipad, etc. If this is indeed the case, then as photographers we had better embrace these tools and learn how best to use them. If our iPhone is the camera that's always handy, we need to spend time just as we would with a new DSLR and learn the limits and capabilities. This means practice, patience, and mistakes. On a recent trip to Colorado high country with my photography family, I was struck with the number and quality of photos one of my sons captured with his HTC-1 phone camera. He was shooting with a Nikon but I'll bet he took as many photos with his phone. He uploaded to Google+, Facebook and used Instagram. The phone had this crazy app built in that put together a slide show with music combining video and stills. Everyone loved watching these. Following Moore's Law, it will not be too long before the quality of phone cameras gets serious. A footnote to that, Hal Schmitt of Light Workshops recently held a printing workshop at Hold the Eye Images and talked about printing large prints from iPhone images. He even printed some from workshop attendees 16"X 20". They looked good and you have to keep in mind viewing distance for prints(another subject for another time).

I believe there is a serious market for a serious phone camera. I don't think this is unknown to marketers therefore money and innovation will follow. There is no doubt that smaller is an attribute many if not most photographers want. But there is a much larger population that use phone cameras that I would classify new photographers, use the phone exclusively and are enthusiastic. This group is enormous and phone competition is brutal, any edge has enormous consequences. So in my view, it's going to happen.

Here's the conclusion for myself. I have lots of photo gear, have been doing this for a very long time going back to medium format and film. I'm going to spend some time learning how to use a phone camera. I'm going to get good at using this tool with practice, patience and mistakes. Talent trumps tools, but new tools require some attention and learning. Using a fixed single lens is not new, getting to know the limits of a phone camera is new and requires old fashion shooting to master. Upheaval is a continuing state in photography and it's not a zero sum game so big DSLR's have a role, Rangefinder's have a role, and now phone cameras are exploding the number of images captured around the world on a daily basis. I love this, my son caught some images in a bar that were terrific, and guess what my camera was in the truck and even if I had it, the stealth factor would be a bust for that environment. At this point I should drop in a camera phone image from my recent trip to Colorado.

Another one

From my health club, building up motivation to work out.

I would never had taken a picture of the above with a regular camera. This was just a snap without thinking; and that's something special about a camera in your phone. Those legs needed some sun!

Nature's Art

Almost anywhere in nature you can find beauty or at least interesting objects. On my recent trip to Colorado, I was wandering among the Aspen trees and I suddenly realized that nature had created some interesting things right in front of me. Images that I recognized. For example a Ram's head.

Even an Elephant's head with trunk!

And I couldn't believe even a bird.

Even this beautiful sculpture of what I can't describe but it is beautiful. The colors and shapes are wonderful.

And finally, I was looking around for something that would represent the fall, the Aspen colors, the feel of the temperature change.....and it was right in front of me. It was on the ground!

It is easy to be overwhelmed in a beautiful scene of nature but the wonderment  is often everywhere if we just look around.

What Makes A Good Picture?

If this were your family, you would likely say this is a good picture.

If you were writing a piece on the floods in Colorado, you would likely say this is a good picture.

If you were a landscape photographer, you would likely say this is a good picture.

These are all different images, different emotions, so what "makes" a good picture? Brian Tramontana and I talk about this in our latest Podcast which you can find here or in iTunes under Hold the Eye Images Podcasting.