Technology Explained, Practice
Daniela Bowker
Resolution and pixels and image quality! Oh my! ...

When you hear the term 'high-res' thrown about with such abandon when it comes to images for web use, have you ever stopped to think just how big or how high quality and image meant for the web needs to be?

Resolution and pixels and image quality! Oh my! Saving images for the web
Feature Articles, Photography Theory
Haje Jan Kamps
Low-contrast photographs don't have to be boring

There's an assumption that high-contrast images are more dynamic, more compelling, more inviting. Have a go at some low-contrast photography. You might surprise yourself with the results.

Low-contrast photographs don't have to be boring
Feature Articles, Theory
Daniela Bowker
Seeking balance in your photos

Balance doesn't mean symmetry; it means an internal consistency and tension within your photos. And it's a vital element of composition. 

Seeking balance in your photos
Feature Articles, Photography Theory
Haje Jan Kamps
Training your photographic luck

Great photos might be down to a little bit of luck, but most of that 'luck' you make yourself. Don't believe us? Read on...

Training your photographic luck
Feature Articles, Practice
Daniela Bowker
The ups and downs and ins and outs of ...

Photographing buildings doesn't have to mean wide-angle lenses and fretting about correcting for the keystone effect. Any lens, and angle. Don't believe us? Let us show you!

The ups and downs and ins and outs of photographing buildings

widget

Shoot a headline; win a prize!


I loves me a bit of street photography, so when the details of a December-long contest specifically for street photographs landed in my inbox, I sat up and took some notice. Especially when it's a comeptition that respects photographers' rights (the rights remain yours; all yours) and has a decent prize to boot!

It's been organised by Thomas Leuthard, a Swiss photographer whom you might happen to know by his moniker 85mm. He takes some impressive street photos and wanted to inpsire others to have a go, too. So came about the December 'Headlines' competition.

Yep, all photographs need to include a headline of some description. It can come from a newspaper, from a shopfront, from a carrier bag... whatever. Being a street photography contest, they need to be candid shots, which is pretty obvious, really. And it has to have been taken in December 2011, too.

Thomas has also added a couple of extra rules to get you to think about your photography a bit more. All entries need to be black and white and square format.

When you've taken your photo, you submit it to the 85mm contest pool on Flickr, with its EXIF data intact, geo-tagged using the Flickr widget, and without any watermarks. It's one submission per person and then its a case of waiting.

The pool will be closed on 31 December 2011, after when Thomas and the four other judges will choose their favourites, with a $500 prize going to the winner.

All the rules and regulations are up on Thomas' site, and if you've any more questions, he'll answer them over in the discussion threads in the Flickr group.

What are you waiting for? Get snapping!

,

Finding the Fuji that fits

,

Fuji's X100. Gorgeous, but actually I'm not convinced

Those of us who’ve been around cameras for a while pretty much know what we want out of our magical lightbox machines when we come to upgrading or getting a new toy. But if you’re new to photography, or not surgically attached to your camera, buying one is a tricky business. There’s more choice out there than Imelda Marcos faced on a daily basis selecting a pair of shoes, from price, to spec, to how they look and feel. It’s headache-inducing. Small wonder, then, that I love things that can make choosing a camera easier for people, and I got a bit excited when I trundled over to the Fuji website and saw its new-fangled camera comparison widget.

I was all set to find the right Fuji camera for me, or more likely my camera-phobic mother. I was expecting a few simple check box questions, asking about my camera needs, my proficiency levels, and my budget. And then, whizz-bang, it’d spew out a few suggestions. But no, that was a bit too much to hope for.

Instead, you get to compare the specs side-by-side of three different cameras. You can filter your selections by series, zoom, how wide the lens is, pixel count, stabilisation, and even heaven love us, by colour. Once you’ve made your choices, you can see how your three cameras’ of choice resolutions, lenses, sensor types and size, sensitvities, screens, video capbility, and about 15 million other specifications match up against each other.

The Z90 against the JZ500 against the F600

Now that is, in itself, a fairly useful feature. But it assumes that you’ve already a good idea of what you’re looking for. Different types of camera aren’t explained. It doesn’t take into account that people might not know the difference between the X100 and the F600. It doesn’t accommodate people who aren’t sure if a bog-standard point-and-shoot is what they need, or if something a bit more zoomy will suit them better. And price doesn’t even come into it. I can imagine a first-time camera buyer taking a look at it and exclaiming something along the lines of ‘Wuh?’

Seeing as I’m being a bit picky, too, it’s usually a good idea to standardise units of comparison. So I wasn’t thrilled seeing some sensor sizes given in imperial and some in metric.

It’s hard to say that Fuji has missold this widget entirely. The tagline is ‘Find the right camera for you, review camera specifications at a glance.’ It compares camera specs, dead on. But it doesn’t really help people to find the right camera for them. Still it’s a shame. With a bit more thought, Fuji could have a developed something actually useful for its consumers, instead they’ve produced a gimmick that’s vaguely useful for some of us, and doutless overwhelming for a whole lot more.

Pity. You can go judge for yourself on the Fuji website.