Not long ago, learning and critiquing photography was done almost exclusively in person. With the rise of the Internet, we saw a fundamental shift in how photographers interact with one another. Yet, even with the opportunities afforded by the web, there is so much more to gain by spending time with fellow photographers in the flesh.
Modern lenses are small miracles. They don’t defy the laws of physics, but they sure come close. Are you getting all you can out of your lens, though?
Being creative can be cathartic, uplifting, and eye-opening, but it can also be a major pain in the neck. When the creativity isn’t flowing, we can spend countless hours searching for inspiration. What are some of the best ways to break through that wall?
Two summers ago, I attended a music festival in Italy, where I had the opportunity to attend a master class given by Louis Andriessen, a prominent figure in new music composition. Classical musicians are known for striving for perfection, so when I opened one of his scores and found the following note regarding the ossias (alternate passages of music), I was struck:
If you’re like most photographers, sharpness is probably near the top of your list of desirable attributes in a lens. A lens that is sharp from corner to corner is often worth its weight in gold (or so the manufacturers tell us). How do we measure sharpness, though?
For many centuries, scientists fought vehemently about the nature of light. Two sides debated a question pivotal to the development of physics: is light a particle or a wave? It wasn't until the 20th century that one of the most startling revelations about our universe came to prominence: light is both.
