Articles written by Usman Dawood

2018 is coming up fast and Tony Northrup has uploaded his latest video with his camera predictions. Although predictions can very often be wrong, it doesn't stop us from trying. On occasions, many of us, including myself, tend to make predictions based on what we hope to see in the future.

You may have read my review of the H6D 100c where I demonstrate how several of Hasselblads high-end lenses are being outperformed by regular full frame lenses. You may have also seen some reviews on YouTube where reviewers weren't too happy with the lens line-up or performance of said lenses for the Hasselblad X1D. I still maintain that there isn't a single lens from Hasselblad currently available, that can outperform the top full frame lenses. Well, what happens when you couple one of the best full frame lenses currently available on the market with the X1D?

Buying a new camera can be a very exciting thing, and most of us probably can't wait to see how good images from the new camera are compared to the old. The problem is whether or not your current raw editing software supports your new camera. Fortunately, ACD systems have released a great new update to their photo managing and raw editing software, ACDSee Photo Studio. The new Ultimate 2018 software is a fantastic alternative to some of the other raw editing platforms, and provides some very intuitive and useful file managing features. The latest update to this software further improves it and makes it a very viable option for working professionals.

In 2016, David Strauss wrote an article on Fstoppers about how purchasing an ND filter holder set might be a better option. I, being the smartass that I am at times, left the following comment, "Or you can be really cheap and just mean stack exposures :P, plus it prevents long exposure noise." Without doing any actual comparisons between the two, I had made up my mind about filters and decided against them. Recently, however, a close friend of mine, Imran Mirza, asked me to keep an open mind and give neutral density filters a try. For that reason, I have been testing some filters from NiSi over the last few weeks. In my latest video, I compare using neutral density filters to using Photoshop techniques such as mean stacking.

Peer-to-peer services have become very common these days with companies like Uber, Airbnb, and even eBay demonstrating how popular and huge those respective markets are. Platforms such as these have become a major part of daily life for many of us and the trend for growth seems very positive. The photography and videography industry is another that has seen immense growth in recent years, due to the number of new individuals joining the profession.

The HERO6 is the latest action camera from GoPro. Although it boasts some pretty cool features and specs, it's missing some much needed optical stabilization. Currently, it only has digital stabilization available which crops the footage slightly, and even then this feature is only available when shooting at 4K 30fps. If you intend on shooting at 4K 60p, which to be fair is the main attraction of this camera, then, unfortunately, there is no internal stabilization available, meaning the footage from the camera can be very shaky and not pleasant to look at. This can be corrected in post with some potential adverse effects or, you can use a 3-axis gimbal.

Working for free can be a little controversial and I'm sure there are many creatives out there that completely disagree with it. There are plenty of reasons as to why someone shouldn't work for free but the debate continues. I, on the other hand, would consider working for free depending on a number of factors. Sometimes making money isn't the objective for me and working for free can be very fulfilling. For instance, offering free work for a charity is something I've done regularly and felt very good about. On other occasions, however, I have worked for free as part of a strategy. This is a more risky method because it doesn't always pay off, but, when it does, it can pay off really well.

When it comes to filmmaking, a really popular look is the cinematic look. This is something that can be really difficult to perfect especially when you're first starting out in the industry. Fortunately, Armando Ferreira, a YouTuber and filmmaker has provided some techniques that are relatively easy to implement. The great thing about the techniques outlined in this video is that they're either completely free to do or may only cost a small amount, making them very viable. Personally, what I love about the techniques Ferreira discusses is that they're so simple to do and even a complete beginner shouldn't find them too difficult.

Before it starts to seem like I'm galloping around on my high horse, I'd like to say that this article is more of a reminder to myself than anyone else. I have made the mistake of dismissing someone as a troll just because they disagree with me. In many cases, It's much easier to simply dismiss someone as a troll if they criticize your work instead of taking it on the chin. This could be due to a number of reasons but when we do, we are breaking one of the cardinal rules.