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Jaron Schneider
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Articles written by Jaron Schneider

3D Award Finalists Announced for  2013 Sony World Photography Awards

The finalists for the 3D category of the 2013 Sony World Photography Awards were announced today. Selected by the judges from the World Photography Organization, the three finalists are: Michele Abramo Puricelli (aka Michael Abraham) from Italy, Matjaž Tančič from Slovenia and Nick Saglimbeni, USA, who won the 3D Photographer of the Year title in 2012, the award’s inaugural year.

Adobe Launches Photoshop Touch on Smartphones

Previously only available on tablets, Adobe just announced that their mobile fully-loaded editing software is now available on both Android and iOS smartphones. Though there are a number of mobile photo editing choices like Snapseed, Camera Awesome or Instagram, the paid Photoshop App has many of the functions you've grown to love about Photoshop, but in the palm of your hand.

Making the Perfect Shot of Whiskey (Photo That Is)

Patric Bergkvist is making a strong case as one of the better Swedish liquid photographers with his fantastic handle on the ideal lighting in very humble shooting spaces. We featured his exploding coffee and milk photo tutorial in early February and now he is back showing how to make a perfect shot of Whiskey. Photo that is.

Fstoppers Reviews the Fotodiox Wonderpana System for Wide-Angle Lenses

Some people love filters. I personally really like neutral density filters and I know there are those who swear by UV filters. For those of us who love these little glass lens enhancers, we have to separate from that love when we use ultra wide-angle lenses. That is, we used to. Not anymore thanks to Fotodiox’s Wonderpana system which is designed to give us the freedom to use those filters even on convex front elements.

Sony Releases Three New Lenses

In addition to the five new cameras released today, Sony has also released three new lenses: the Sony 70-400mm f/4-5.6, the 50mm f/1.4 Carl Zeiss Planar, and the DT 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6. These three lenses span across different uses and customers and it's a nice mix. What's not so nice is the pricing, which could leave a few of you sticker shocked.

Sony Releases New Cameras, Including Mirrorless and DSLR

Sony has had a busy morning, with the release of five new cameras including three Cyber-shot point-and-shoots, a new mirrorless in the NEX-3N and a new 20.1 megapixel DSLR in the SLT-A58, the last of which is priced incredibly competitively at just under $600.

Pricing of Sigma's DP3 Merrill Announced

Sigma has just released the pricing of the DP3 Merrill announced in January. It is the third and final installment of their Merrill line, Sigma's high performance compact camera series. The DP3 is equipped with a 50mm f/2.8 lens and packs Sigma's 46 megapixel foveon sensor. If you're looking to complete your Merrill set, the camera will be available in March for $999.

Sigma Introduces Photo Pro 5.5 Software, Focus on Monochrome

For those of you with Sigma cameras, today is a good day: Sigma has introduced Sigma Photo Pro 5.5 software, which includes upgrades and updates for both Mac and Windows platforms, as well as a new Monochrome Mode processing interface. This updated software is now available for download for both Mac and Windows operating systems.

The Story Behind the Mashup Photo of Pro Athletes and Angry Birds

Early in February of 2013, Rovio announced a new side project called "Angry Birds Superstars," which juxtaposed athletes with the hugely popular Angry Birds imagery. Though there likely are more on the way, Rovio has started the project with NHL Stanley Cup champion Anže Kopitar and NBA All-Star Veteran Andrew Bynum, both photographed by Jere Hietala. The point? Because it’s fun and awesome.

[NSFW] CGI VFX Breakdown for Final Scene of Game of Thrones Season 1

I'm kind of a huge fan of fantasy novels, and Game of Thrones (along with The Name of the Wind) is probably my favorite modern fantasy epic. I also greatly enjoy the television series on HBO. In this video you can see how the visual effects artists rendered the 3D for the final scene of Game of Thrones Season 1. Please note, this scene does have nudity. Also, SPOILERS.

Photographer Clashes with Weddings Unveiled Magazine Over Same-Sex Marriage Ad

At Fstoppers, we do our best to stay away from topics that are strictly political in nature. Generally speaking, it's not our place. We are a blog for creative professionals, not any number of sites that poke at hot button issues for the sake of sensationalism. However, once in a while, a situation arises that directly affects photographers and their decisions. One such situation occurred when Weddings Unveiled Magazine rejected a photographer's paid advertisement.

Objectively Analyzing the Adobe Creative Cloud: Should You Want It?

When Adobe launched the Creative Cloud more than a year ago, it was not met with much fanfare from actual users of the software. Those around me heard about it, shrugged and moved on. I’m pretty sure many of us didn’t really fully understand what it exactly was. Fast-forward to today, and Creative Cloud has turned into something that is obviously Adobe's future, begging the question, "Is it good for Adobe, good for consumers or both?"

Adobe's CEO Deftly Dodges Questions About Unfair Pricing

The Verge and Gizmodo have featured a video found on Youtube that shows Adobe's CEO, Shantanu Narayen, masterfully avoiding answering a very direct question: "How can Adobe justify selling the Creative Suite for $1400 more in Australia than in the United States?" Rather than talking about the pricing of the Creative Suite, Narayen continually deflects to the Creative Cloud.

Shooting a Martin Schoeller Inspired Portrait

Martin Schoeller is a very successful portrait photographer whose work has been featured in The New Yorker, Outside Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, Time Magazine, GQ, Esquire, and Vogue. The style of these portraits is beautifully simple regardless of the nature of the person in front of the lens, and the guys at PHLEARN wanted to try and recreate his unique style.

Making a Composite Image That Is Larger Than Life

I really like the team at PLEARN because they consistently come up with great photo shoot concepts, but they don't just leave it at that. They also show you have to make those images yourself in a casual yet informative manner. This week they show you how to create a composite that takes a woman and puts her in a room that's just a little too small.

Preview of Sigma's new 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0 Contemporary Lens

Sigma's latest addition to their new lens lineup, the 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, became available for purchase today from B&H. Along with the release, Sigma published a preview of what you can expect from the lens in terms of performance. If it is up to snuff, it will be a great option for those in the market for a wide-angle APS-C lens.

SanDisk Memory Card One-Day Sale & Other Deals

B&H is having a SanDisk 1-day sale that is offering some pretty good prices, like a 64 GB SD card for $41. Also you can grab a refurbished Nikon D600 or D800 for a bargain. Rounding out the product news, Sigma's new 17-70mm f/2.8-4 lens has arrived in stock for $500.

FS Review: Custom SLR's Unusual Finger Ergo Upgrade ProDot

Ah the ProDot, tied for the win as recipient of the most baffled and confused responses from photographers along side Tiffen’s confusingly expensive flashlight. Many of you laughed aloud when you saw this product hit the market, and even more after you watched the launch video. But is it possible that you might actually like the ProDot? Actually, yes.

Creating an Exploding Coffee and Milk Photograph

So much is done as computer graphics these days that I've grown to really respect photographers who still want to truly make an image. Last week Fstoppers twitter follower Patric Bergkvist asked us to take a look at an image he made, and I'm glad we did.

A Technique to Bring Back Lost Details Out of Shadows

Sometimes your favorite shot out of a series would be perfect if only one little thing was fixed. For me, that is often shadows obscuring details I really wish were more visible. PHLEARN has released an extensive tutorial on how to get those shadows to reveal details in a way that doesn't look super fake, which an issue I have with other methods I have seen.