Cardinal

Sometimes you just can’t be where you want to get the right angle on a shot. Or maybe you thought you were, but later you need to use the photo in a different way and want to move your perspective around. Photoshop has always offered some tools to do that, but today Adobe added a powerful new one – Perspective Warp. Using it you can shift the apparent point of view of an image around, even creating combinations of perspectives that could never have been captured in a single photo…

I’ve been shooting almost exclusively with the Nikon Df DSLR for the last month. When I crouch behind the retro-styled body and snap off shots that will be captured on the excellent D4 sensor, I feel like it could be the ultimate street photography camera. It is quick enough (5.5 fps), has world-class image quality, and is about half the size and weight of a Nikon D4. Besides, I figure it looks cool, and I certainly get some odd glances as if to say “is that a film camera you’re using?” My euphoria lasts until I need to change a setting. That’s where the retro design gets in the way. Read on and I’ll help you decide if the Nikon Df needs to be in your camera bag or in your collection…

Happy 2014, everyone. I wanted to start the year off right, so for our first review I’m covering a really slick camera bag I had the pleasure of using for nearly a month on my Southeast Asia photo tour. (If you’re in Las Vegas, you’ll see me with it at CES next week too). It is the new ThinkTank Retrospective 7, although many of the points in the review apply equally well to its siblings like the ThinkTank Retrospective 20, or the variety of other sized bags in the product line…

Despite the power of post-processing tools, one area that has always been labor intensive and error-prone is correcting images that have multiple light sources with multiple color temperatures. Since white balance is best set on the raw image, correcting for two or more different light sources has required “developing” the image multiple times and then using layers and layer masking to composite a version that shows each area lit correctly. Fortunately Adobe has changed all that…

After years in the making, the new, sleek, and ultra-powerful Mac Pro units can finally be ordered. Starting at $2994 from B&H the svelte towers are everything Mac-using photographers have been dreaming of since the last Mac Pro models begin to show their age. As always, if you’start out your B&H shopping using our link as it helps support our free photo information site.

Urban legend has it that the women on the Chin underwent the painful process of having their faces t

In the bad old days of early DSLRs, noise reduction was a vital piece of every workflow. With modern DSLRs, and even many smaller cameras, low-noise is the norm for most sensors in most conditions. But no matter what camera you have, there comes a time when you have to push its limits and bump up the ISO until you get visible noise. That’s when a high-quality noise reduction tool is a must.

As regular readers know, I’ve been putting together the pieces of a easy-to-travel-with “digital darkroom” based on a tablet and software. I’ve written about how a tablet with Photoshop Touch can do a great job of processing images, but was still missing a good solution for creating awesome slideshows without a computer. Fortunately, Photodex, makeers of my favorite desktop slideshow software Proshow Producer, has been hard at work at an excellent version you can use over the web.

As a Nikon shooter, I’ve been both tantalized and frustrated for nearly a decade with Nikon’s on-again, off-again approach to WiFi connectivity for its DSLRs. The original WT-1A was an expensive boat anchor in practice. Four generations later, the Nikon WT-5A is a huge improvement, but it is $570 and only works with the $6K Nikon D4. Those with lesser cameras like the Nikon D600 or Nikon D800 benefit from the incredibly small, inexpensive Nikon WU-1b. It’s fun for remote shooting, but is crippled – deliberately or just because of its limited hardware – in not offering remote focusing or camera setting adjustments. Fortunately there is now a middle ground…

For the last year, the Nikon D800 (and especially the Nikon D800e) have reigned as the highest-scoring camera in DxO’s extensive and widely-cited tests. For those willing to carry the moderately large 2.2 pound camera, and shell out $3K to buy one, you get massively sharp, colorful 36MP images. However, the Sony a7R is threatening to knock the Nikon D800e off its pedestal…

Nikon’s poorly kept secret of its classicly-lined Df photo-only DSLR is finally out in the open. The Nikon Df, harkening back to Nikon’s flagship “F"-Series” pro SLRs is now available for pre-order, and the specs are head-turning. It isn’t for everyone, but serious street photographers, classic photojournalists, collectors, and hobbyists should take a look.

I wrote up the camera and its features, along with new 50mm lens for Extremetech, so see what you think. If you decide to buy, you can pre-order in either Silver or Black for $2750, or in Silver with the new 50mm lens or Black with the new 50mm lens for $3000 from B&H. 

B&H, along with Wilderness Safaris, has launched a very cool photo competition, with close to $50K worth of Safaris & gift cards as prizes. It is free to enter, and offers 8 categories, so that every style of animal photographer has a chance to win! You can learn all about the contest online, or I’ll be presenting a session on Creating Award-winning photography & Introducing the B&H Photo Contest next week, at 1pm on the 31st at the B&H Event Space. I’m sure it will be popular, so register early!

Tablets are a nearly perfect companion for photographers on the go. They’re a great way to view photos and handle other tasks. Unfortunately the simple act of getting images from your camera to your tablet (or phone) can be a serious hassle. Best case your tablet vendor has a cable-based proprietary system. Worst case, you can’t. Fortunately Kingston has come up with a very clever product that does three things very well – wireless image transfer, additional mobile storage, and emergency battery charging…

Nikon has continued to push the envelope of what’s possible with DSLRs, by relentlessly taking technologies – especially sensors – from its more expensive models and using them in less expensive versions. The Nikon D5300 is a perfect example. Using the excellent, very sharp, 24MP sensor from the Nikon D7100 and an updated EXPEED 4 processing chip, the Nikon D5300 is likely to make those looking for amazing images in a small package very happy.

Polarizing filters are typically thought of as a shooting solution for capturing images containing glare, and perhaps for “darkening skies.” But there is another great use for them that is often neglected – making up for harsh light. Sometimes it is difficult to get to a location when the light is still soft, or sometimes – like with the pictured Aspen grove – the subject just isn’t lit until the Sun is high in the sky. A Polarizer can help…