Product Photography

Since digital cameras came into our lives like a storm a decade ago we photographers became more dependent on post processing programs and many times prefer to achieve the needed result by retouching instead of using on-camera products and in-camera settings. "I'll just fix it in post" is something we all say to ourselves during photoshoots, but it's not always the right or smart thing to do. This video gives a short overview of some of the less known lens filters many photographers don't even know exist and shows how it can elevate images in no time.

In a recent article by Jaron Schneider about the Metabones Speedbooster on a Black Magic Pocket Cinema Camera, several readers had questions about the model designed for the GH4, whether this one would work with it or not, and other comments. I bought one of these a week ago and wrote this article to tell you what works, and what doesn’t.

Announced this morning to kick off Adobe MAX, Adobe has released a series of applications for mobile devices that are designed to increase productivity, especially when on the move. They were able to show me some of these pieces of software during a briefing last week, and I must say, these look to have incredible potential for photographers, videographers and graphic designers.

I get asked day in an day out; "What is that big black box on the front of your lens?" Well, it's a matte box that mounts glass filters in front of your lens... the LEE Filters System. In attempt to cover the question I recieve so often, I wanted to address it all and explain the system, but my friend and fantastic photographer Dave Kai Piper beat me to the punch! So, instead of writing my own article on the matter, I thought it best to simply share his article...

It seems like everyone and their accountants have known someone who had the inside scoop on the details surrounding the highly anticipated GoPro 4. Every week, Facebook feeds would explode with the latest outlandish rumors,  getting even the most tepid of us excited. Well, these latest rumors may in fact be the real deal. 

The great thing about the program Lightroom is that there are usually a number of different ways to accomplish a task. In this video I show you one fantastic way to create some nice colors in your photo by using a slider tool that you might not have even touched before. As I usually do the video is short - about 2 minutes - and I've provided some samples below to see a before and after as well as steps for those that prefer to read it versus watch a video.

I’ve seen the future of film... and it is bright. In the next few weeks I will be interviewing companies that are pushing the film photography industry forward. As the large film companies cut film stocks from production, these people are pushing forward. Developing new films, cameras, products, and services. This week, I start with CineStill. 

MindShift Gear used the excitement of Photokina to announce two brand new backpacks that will feature the companies award winning technology in a lighter and more compact photography pack. With travel photographers in mind, MindShift Gear has released these new backpacks, entitled the rotation 180º travel away, and the slightly smaller rotation 180º trail.

Hasselblad and PhaseOne are officially flip-flopping as PhaseOne just added its no-WiFi IQ150 following a much earlier IQ250 announcement and Hasselblad is now releasing a WiFi-enabled version of its H5D-50c. In addition to WiFi, the new version brings several firmware-related improvements that will find their way into the current H5D-50c and CFV-50c models via a future update.

Last year, I reviewed the Profoto B1 Strobe, and named it the best strobe on the market today. Phottix is looking to take that crown with their newly released Indra500 TTL, a 500w/s studio strobe with an optional battery pack. What puts it ahead of the competition? How about TTL built in, as well as High Speed Sync.

At a $5,000 "discount" compared to the IQ250, the IQ150 seems almost identical in every way. While we don't currently have much information, we do know that the IQ150 features the same Sony 50MP CMOS sensor that is featured in the IQ250, Hasselblad H5D-50c, Mamiya Leaf Credo 50, and Pentax 645z, boasting the same native and useable ISO range of 100-6400. The only [in]visible difference is the lack of WiFi and $29,990 price tag (compared to the IQ250's $34,990).

In a perhaps not-so-surprising turn of events, Leica has entered the medium format CMOS market with their new Leica S. At 37.5 megapixels, this doesn't seem to be the same 50-megapixel Sony sensor everyone else is using, naturally. This time, Leica means business with a weather-sealed magnesium body capable of 4K video at 60fps and 3.5fps still shooting between ISO 200 and 6400. Looking for the more traditional CCD version? Leica updated that, too, with the new breakout S-E.

Phase One has officially announced the release of Capture One Pro version 8 with a host of new features and a new purchasing model option. More than just minor enhancements, version 8 brings with it truly useful features that allow you to perform more of your work within it and not have to turn to Photoshop or additional plug-ins.

Along side the announcement of the much anticipated 7d Mark II, Canon also highlights three new lenses to their lineup - the 400mm f/4 DO IS II USM, the 24-105mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM, and the 24mm f/2.8 STM Pancake lens. With many of them sporting the STM autofocus, it's obvious that Canon is looking to compliment those with video in mind.

Can't decide which lens to take? Why not take them all! With Lowepro's new Pro Trekker 650 AW, you'll likely have to buy more lenses and accessories to fill this behemoth of a camera backpack. I got to test drive this bag for several video and timelapse shoots, so I got a pretty good idea about how it performs. In my full review I'll cover the build, features, and whether it was helpful to have or simply too bulky to deal with.

Perhaps some of the biggest news to come out of Photokina so far this year is the announcement of the Panasonic Lumix CM1 - an Android equipped smartphone with a powerful sensor and even more powerful lens. Showing off it's 1 inch sensor, the CM1 has taken the crown for the largest sensor found in a phone, a size typically found inside the Sony RX100 and Nikon's 1 series. However, the big talking point comes from Leica, with their f/2.8 monstrous lens mounted to the back.

The most expensive and largest book project of the 20th century was Helmut Newton's SUMO, which sold out at $15,000 per copy, complete with its own book stand (the book is about as big as a medium-sized seven-year-old). Now, Annie Leibovitz' SUMO follows in its footsteps. At 476 pages, the Taschen-published art piece comes enveloped in your choice of four different dust jackets and is limited to 10,000 editioned copies, with the first 1000 coming in a leather-bound hardcover with a signed 20" x 20" archival pigment print and all four dust jackets.

Sony's answer to many filmmakers' dreams comes in the form of the refined, lightweight, portable, and ever-enabling PXW-FS7. The FS7 offers internal 4K recording at 60fps and 1080p at 180fps, with a single extension unit and external recorder required to shoot 4K RAW footage. In addition to an ergonomic smart grip with customizable controls and a built-in, four-position ND filter to allow you to shoot truly on-the-go, the FS7 also makes use dual slots for a new 128GB XQD G-series card that supports 440MB/s read and 350MB/s write speeds.

Announced today at IDC, Blackmagic showed off a new Blackmagic Cinema Camera sporting a PL mount (For Arri and Red Camera systems) as well as a series of rackmountable interfaces, monitors and input systems. These additions to their lineup help prove once again that Blackmagic is ready to play with the professional level videographers.

Introducing PowerPole, a GoPro accessory with some pretty cool features. The PowerPole is designed to add extended reach for people using GoPro camera systems; a necessity when filming yourself skiing down a mountainside, or surfing through those ten foot waves. That's not all though, the PowerPole also has equipped itself with one much needed feature in the modern GoPro system - battery life.

Following in the footsteps of the Hasselblad H5D-50c, PhaseOne IQ250, and Pentax 645z comes Mamiya's 50-megapixel CMOS solution, the Leaf Credo 50. Available with PhaseOne/Mamiya DF, Hasselblad H1/H2/H4X/500-series, and Contax 645 mounts, the Leaf Credo 50 opens Sony's latest medium format sensor to a greater range of systems still loved by many. But is it cheap?

As a commercial photographer, I specialize in product, food, and architecture. One of the products we've been shooting a lot of lately is jewelry, specifically jewelry for catalog use. In my opinion, jewelry is one of the hardest things to photograph, and many photographers don't know where to start. Whenever we're tasked with photographing shiny, reflective, spherical objects, our studio sounds like a group of sailors on leave with all the profanity flying around (often times strung together to make complete sentences). 

A lot of my work is on the road, which is why I spent a long time looking for the best mobile storage options before eventually landing on the WD My Passport Pro and the LaCie Rugged SSD. But when I'm not on the road, I'm at my desk editing a wide range of video. It's here that I realized I needed not only a reliable backup, but also a powerful and fast working drive to burn through edits. What I found was the G-Speed Studio, and I love it. 

A new line of manual-focus lenses, designated with the Loxia title, have been announced by Zeiss. The initial compact lenses to be released later this year, a 50mm f/2 and a 35mm f/2, are crafted specifically for Sony’s E-mount full-frame α7 cameras. Christophe Casenave, product manager at Zeiss, says there is “growing desire for a digital manual-focus experience” on Sony Alpha 7/7R/7S cameras and that the Loxia line is “ready to exceed those expectations.”

You might have heard of Stu Maschwitz before, possibly from his work on these Red Giant video projects, or perhaps the Plastic Bullet app he made a few years ago. His latest creation is a custom set of presets that integrate with Lightroom, and gives the user a set of vintage photo looks to choose from.

As senior portrait photographers, we are often plagued with the decision of what to offer and what to sell to our clients. For those doing in-studio sales, the goal is to sell products that people desire and want in their homes. Below are five products that sell like hot cakes in my studio to high school seniors and their families.

Olympus announced the successor to the successful micro four thirds E-PL5, creatively named the E-PL7. It has a few new features that MFT photographers will like, but the flip down screen will be getting most of the attention. Olympus designed the screen with optimal selfie composition in mind. The styling of the camera screams "vintage modern," the oxymoron of choice for many camera makers in that market.

Fujifilm announced the replacement for the X20, today -- the X30. While the camera still features a 12-megapixel 2/3" CMOS X-Trans sensor combined with the EXR Processor II, the X30 almost doubles battery life, continues the X20's quest for snappier performance, features numerous refinements to the controls and body as a whole, and offers full 1080p video recording at 60fps.

Today Leica announced a complementary upgrade to the Leica M, the M-P 240. As in the past, the 'P' designation here implies features are catered toward that of the press photographer. The M-P's virtually scratch-proof sapphire crystal display with anti-glare coatings provide for better outdoor viewing, a doubled memory buffer size now at 2GB allows for longer continuous shooting, and a viewfinder selector displays bright framing options for various focal lengths that help make composition and lens-choice decisions before changing lenses.

As one might expect (though perhaps not quite so soon after the H5D-50c announcement), Hasselblad has taken to Instagram to announce the H5D-200c MS, a 200-megapixel, multi-shot variant of the H5D-50c. The camera, which can still produce normal 50-megapixel stills at 6200 x 8272 pixels, also ads 4- and 6-shot capabilities for applications such as fine art reproduction, product photography, and more. At its highest resolution, the 200c MS produces massive and glory-clenching 600MB, 16-bit TIFF files.

Maxell Professional Media, in an effort to continue diversifying from its well-known CD/DVD manufacturing business, announced it will release various camera accessories including three-way power shoe adapters, USB and other power connectors, and an interesting shoe clamp that will let you add a cold shoe just about anywhere.

Magnanimous Media posted a video detailing some of RED's newest technology as they go through the performance of the sensor in the new 6K-capable Epic Dragon. In what is perhaps one of the most interesting and visually appealing ways to display RAW and ungraded vs. graded footage, Magnanimous Media's video shows quite some promise for the new sensor that promises better color, dynamic range, and low-light shooting with clean video at ISO 2000.

There are two things that immediately come to mind when we talk about the new Sigma dp2 Quattro: the new new Foveon X3 sensor (the book), and the shape of the camera (its cover). Do either matter? Are either necessary? Why do/don’t I like it? And overall, should we all go out and buy this camera today? I had some time to myself with the camera for a preliminary review this week. Here are some thoughts.

Last month, Apple announced that they were ceasing development of the beloved Apple Aperture. While the software is still usable and available for purchase and download, it has a timeline on how long it will work, as new camera profiles will no longer be supported. Fortunately, Adobe has made the transition a little easier, with a simple transition guide.

Western Digital makes some of my favorite hard drives, and one drive in particular recently caught my interest: the My Cloud Mirror. The idea of the My Cloud Mirror was appealing: managing my own cloud network that could be accessed from anywhere and also shared out of, but without a monthly fee. Basically, it is a personal DropBox. I had a pretty set-in-stone process for working remotely and delivering content which has included DropBox, but I decided to give a wholly WD workflow a shot and see if it could do the job just as well, if not better. 

I’ve always been enthralled with first person movie scenes, games and music videos. Clocking countless hours with Duke Nukem 3D in my parent’s basement on an old Packard Bell PC planted a seed that forever changed me. To this day I think The Prodigy's breakbeat electronic hit “Smack My Bitch Up” is one of the greatest first person videos of all time.

DigitalRev Tv review and compare the latest standard prime lens from Sigma, The 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art lens, to it’s Canon and Nikon rivals, the Canon 50mm f/1.2L and Nikon 58mm f/1.4G.

Pentax has had a long fall in the industry since the digital era of photography. Once a major player in the film industry, Pentax now only touches on about 6% of the entire DSLR market and under 2% when you account all digital camera purchases in the last few years. But they did get one thing right, and that is the Gunmetal-Grey Pentax K-3 Prestige Edition.

I have only been shooting photography for a little over 3 years now. Things have progressed so quickly during that period of time that I haven't really had the chance to look back at the evolution of my photography. I had to think thing long and hard about the investments I have made over the 3 years and the things that really changed the game for me.

Today, Hasselblad launched the CFV-50c -- a medium format back using the same 50-megapixel CMOS censor in the H5D-50c that can be attached to any existing V-system camera. With no external cables required to connect the backs, the back is incredibly well priced at €11,000. While we're not quite sure what that means for the US market, the new back seems poised to be an incredibly affordable 50MP CMOS medium format system.

In short, no it is not. But a few minor dealbreakers are all that stand between leaving this camera on the shelf, and making it best digital camera in its class.

After nearly a month of capturing video, stills, and timelapse media with the Panasonic GH4, I laughed, I cried, and I almost threw it off a mountain. At times it was a joy to shoot with, and other times it wouldn’t even power on with a full battery. I’ll give you a complete, unbiased rundown in my full review, complete with video samples.

Created for the creative, MIOPS is a promising new accessory used to easily trigger your camera or flash unit for high-speed photography scenarios. The MIOPS team have launched a Kickstarter to acquire funding for their new high-tech device in which they declare is “not the first trigger in the market, but it is going to be the best.”

As a wedding photographer I am always looking for tools that make my job easier and the experience for my clients better. For years one of my least favorite parts of my job was getting feedback and approvals on wedding albums I designed for my clients. Fortunately all that has changed since I have started to use AlbumDraft. There are a number of programs that compete with AlbumDraft as software for album proofing - I've just found theirs to be the most convenient and easy to use.

The Sony a7S has been the subject of a hotbed of conversation for the past four or five months as a camera with a lot of potential to really shake up the cinema world. This of course was extremely interesting to me as a videographer. I've finally gotten my hands on the camera and after a few days shooting with it on set, I'm not quite ready to write a review, but I do think it is important to address a feature about which I feel lied to: 4K.

We said it was coming, and now it's here: Nikon Capture NX-D is available for download completely free of charge. If you're a Nikon shooter just starting out and don't have anyting you love for RAW processing, it certainly doesn't hurt to give this a try.

While the beta has been out since February and can still be downloaded here, according to a June 26th press release, Nikon will be releasing its new Capture NX-D software July 15th for free. The previous version of Capture NX-2 still goes for $140, so it's nice to see more value added to Nikon's products for us Nikonians out there.

I’m always one to preach the importance of prevention and preparation before walking into a photo shoot, but there are some things you just can’t prepare for. The more you shoot the more you come to find that gear will tend to fall apart after a excessive number of uses... and abuses.

Manfrotto has refreshed two of its popular tripods; the 190 and 055 series. Both adding a few nice improvements that many will find useful. The most convenient of which is the new Easy Link plug. This allows for instant connection of accessories, such as LED lights or on-board video monitors for video playback.

Happy Independence Day! As with every holiday, companies roll out some of their best discounts for the year on gear and electronics. I have been researching to find the best deals for the Fourth of July, and have came up with a comprehensive list of websites and offers you should take advantage of immediately. If you are looking to pick up a new camera, stock-up on memory cards, finally get a new camera bag, or splurge on a new TV, this list has something for everyone.