digital photography
Not too long ago, black and white was the default. This was due mainly to limititations with color photography, but today digital photograph has made easier than ever. Color is the default, and black and white is a choice. A creative one.
Many digital photographers don't realize that black and white is an option. In this video, we discuss why it's a good option, when to do black and white, and how.
It's fog season in my hometown, and I'm really enjoy making these little POV videos. Don't miss the first one, if you haven't watched it yet!
I always say that I like to destroy my images: I push film and work on my digital images to add grain, increase the contrast, remove details in the shadows and highlights. I seek imperfection.
It was this imperfection that allowed me to find my own style and to feel more free in my photography.
Read MoreA few days ago during my morning walk, I reached for my RX100 (always in my pocket!) to photograph something I'd seen. As soon as I turned it on I could see the most dreaded message: "NO CARD".
It wasn't the first time I forgot to put the memory card back in the camera. I made that mistake once, and I learned my lesson. Since then, I keep spare memory cards almost everywhere: my wallet, my camera bags, in the car... they are cheap 8gb cards, not the fastest or highest capacity, but enough to make some images.
This little trick has saved me multiple times already, so I'd really encourage any digital photographer to do the same: buy a pack of cheap SD cards and leave them in places where you might need them.
Why I believe that contact sheets can be useful to a digital photographer, and how to create a contact sheet with Adobe Photoshop.
I don’t remember who said it, or the exact quote, but it went something like this: an image isn’t an image until it becomes a print, or that the print is the final step for an image.
This used to be the case a few decades ago, when the only way to create and see an image was in the darkroom in the form of a print.
But is it still true today? With all the ways that today’s technology offers to share our art?
I don’t believe this is longer the case. I don’t think the print is the (only) final step of an image today.
Don’t get me wrong, printing your images is awesome and something that every photographer should do (I myself print some of them) -but we don’t have to print an image for it to be considered art.
Most of my images aren’t going to be printed, ever. They’ll live as digital art here on my website, on Instagram or on YouTube. I don’t think less of them: they are still my work, my art, and they fulfill their purpose as such.
I feel very lucky to live in this day and age when I can use film cameras from decades ago and print my images in the darkroom, and use a completely digital workflow from beginning to end.
I've alway loved technology. I've been playing with computers since I can remember, but it wasn't until the arrival of the Internet that things got serious.
I made my first website back in 1998, when I was 16. Design and technology wise, it was pretty bad. But there was something special about it: I was reaching people from all over the world.
I used to print out the analytics with the visits, I loved to see the entries showing visitors from places as far as Australia or Japan.
Today, we take this for granted, but life would be very, very different without the internet.
I am a full-time photographer thanks to technology and the internet. Had I been born in the 50s, I'd still have my day job. Photography wasn't as affordable back then either, so even if I were lucky enough to have picked up a camera, I wouldn't be shooting as much as I do today.
Today's technology gives us incredibly powerful tools to create and express ourselves, and many options to share that art. I believe this is the golden age of photography: there's a lot of noise but people are creating amazing images nowadays, much better than they used to be, and they are more accessible than ever.
We tend to romanticize the past and we forget that photographers like Ansel Adams lived on the edge of technology, using the latest cameras and film stocks, trying to perfect the medium, always experimenting with new techniques. He didn't idealize photographers or technologies from the XIX century, he strived to improve them.
As a photographer and artist, I consider myself extremely lucky to be able to live in this day and age: my 16-year-old past self would not believe what I'm able to do today from the palm of my hand from anywhere in the world.
The fact that you are reading this, from wherever you are, is proof that technology is pure magic. Embrace it and use it to your advantage.
I went to Venice yesterday. Even though I visited as a tourist and spent little time making images, I still brought my cameras and tripod with me. Just in case.
I also used my phone, of course.
Every time I use both systems for "image making" (not just snaps), I see how camera companies are losing to the increasingly more powerful smartphones. And I can't believe they aren't reacting.
The megapixel race has ended a while ago. Sensors are getting better and better, but it doesn't matter that much anymore. They are good enough, they have been for a while. Today, and in the foreseeable future, is the software that makes the difference.
Read MoreI've used continuous shooting mode on and off over the years. But for the last few weeks it's been the default mode in all my cameras, for both moving and static subjects. I love it!
Read MoreI love my RX100. I use it every single day.
While full-frame gets all the headlines these days, there's no better camera than the one you have with you, and the RX100 fits that bill perfectly.
Despite the small size, this is a very powerful camera, full of features and settings. I like to use it mostly as a point and shoot camera so I try to keep things as simple as possible. These are the settings I use for everyday and on-the-go photography.
Read MoreI hadn't been so excited about a camera announcement since the Zeiss ZX1 (which by the way, hasn't been released yet -who knows if it ever will).
A few days ago Hasselblad announced the X1D II, the sucessor to their beautiful mirrorless medium format camera. New features and a greatly recuded price are always welcome. But for all purposes, it's more of the same. Just with a bigger sensor.
They also announced something else, though, something that got me really excited: the CFV II 50C.
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