the speedlights: January 2012

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Photography Digest #1

Every now and then we will be sharing links to articles, tips, tutorials, inspiration related to photography. This is the first stop, enjoy reading through what we have shared and gathered to you. It will be beneficial for everyone who is into the amazing world of photography. If you have stumbled a great article around the web, you may share it with us and the rest by commenting through this post.

DIY Speedlight Diffuser

Well Lit Portraits by Tamara Lackey

What Type of Lens To Use For Specific Situations

Dynamic Look at Life: Collection of HDR Photography

Guerilla Food Photography: 10 Tips for Taking Great Food Photos

New Year Celebration: 15 Breathtaking Firework Photos

10 Reasons to Turn off Your Autofocus

An Introduction to Off-Camera Flash Photography

54 Reasons Why YOU Should Be A Photographer

Quick Tip: 5 Tips for Getting Great “Bokeh” Shots

Ten top tips for fantastic food photography

21st-Century China

100 Beautiful Night Scene Photos

45 Beautiful Motion Blur Photos

A Rookie Guide to Digital SLR Cameras

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Nikkor 85mm f/1.8G AF-S Lens Release

Along with the release of the new pro camera, Nikon D4 they've also announced a new lens, the Nikkor 85mm f/1.8G AF-S FX format lens. It is a prime lens with a focal length of 85mm and its widest aperture is at f/1.8. This is also the successor to the previous Nikkor 85mm f/1.8D AF lens.

Adobe Lightroom 4 Beta Released

Adobe Lightroom is an image editing software used mostly by professional photographers. Current version of Lightroom available for purchase on the market is version 3. Recently, Adobe announced and released Lightroom 4 Public Beta for download to try out the new features of the software. You can download the beta and use it until the product expires on March 31, 2012.

Last January 06, 2012, Nikon welcomes us with a bing bang new camera announcement, the Nikon D4 which is the current flagship of Nikon's DSLR lineup. Professional photographers will benefit to this camera as this ISO features is superb, that most were expecting to have rather than the megapixel feature upgrade.

Nikon D4 is a FX-format full frame camera sporting with 16.2MP, EXPEED3 and an ISO range from ISO 50 to ISO 204800. This is just to list a few of the camera's features and specs.

Primary Features of the Nikon D4
1. New Nikon FX-format CMOS image sensor - ISO boosts up ISO 204800 which will be great for shooting in low light situations.
2. New EXPEED 3 image-processing engine with superior, high-speed processing capabilities - New camera image processor built to produce quality images and faster processing speeds.
3. 91K-pixel RGB sensor for the more accurate Advanced Scene Recognition System
4. Faster and more accurate AF with 51 focus points
5. Multi-area Mode Full HD D-movie with three image area options - Current trends in DSLR's is the video capabilities, the the D4 can deliver high quality HD movies.
6. Smooth workflow from initial setup to image transfer

Other notable features and tech specs
1. Extremely durable shutter that has passed testing for 400,000 cycles
2. Magnesium alloy adopted for the very strong, durably body that is very resistant to dust and water
3. Effective sealing using O rings and packing make the camera more resistant to dust and water
4. Silent shutter-release mode for live view photography that almost completely eliminates the sounds of the mirror and shutter operation
5. A time-lapse photography feature, with which the camera automatically takes photos at selected intervals to record a time-lapse movie, which can be played back at 24–36,000x normal playback speed
6. Operation optimized for both horizontal (landscape) and vertical (portrait) shooting
7. Button backlights (illuminators) for increased visibility when working in dimly lit or dark situations
8. High-performance viewfinder, utilizing a glass pentaprism, with a frame coverage of approximately 100% (FX format) and magnification of approximately 0.7x
9. Four image area options for still shooting—FX (36 x 24), 5:4 (30 x 24), 1.2x (30 x 20), DX (24 x 16)—with viewfinder indicator that identifies the current image area
10. A 3.2-inch, approximately 921k-dot LCD monitor with reinforced glass and wide viewing angle; integration of the glass and panel reduce internal reflections
11. A virtual horizon that shows the degree to which the camera is tilted sideways (roll), forward or backward (pitch) with display in the monitor and viewfinder
12. White balance that can be adjusted in units of 10 K; white balance can be specified separately for shooting (white balance applied to images) and monitor display with still-image shooting in live view mode

Hands-on Preview of the Nikon D4

Sample Images of the Nikon D4 on Flickr

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

You Keep Shooting with Bryan Peterson

Photography tutorials on videos is an excellent resource for the visual learnerBryan Peterson is widely known for his simple yet amazing techniques and approach to digital photography. Adorama TV teamed up with Bryan Peterson to produce a handful of photography tips and tutorials (in video) for the photographers. The techniques presented on the tutorials is applicable to all skill levels of photographer, whether an amateur or an advanced photographer can have a full grasp of the video tips. Adorama TV is a Youtube channel that features photography tips, tutorials, reviews and others and is hosted by photographer Mark Wallace.

Playlist: http://www.youtube.com/user/adoramaTV#p/c/C807CCF3F5186201

the speedlights