Photocritic photography blog

Hey all! First of all, a quick apology - I’ve been so busy with my day-job that I haven’t had time to update Photocritic nearly as often as I would like. Having said that, it’s practically 2 months since my last update, which is downright embarrassing. I’ll have look if I can’t come up with updates at a more reasonable interval.

If any of you fancy writing a few guest articles (quite a few people have done so in the past), get in touch!

Anyway, I know it’s a dirty little cop-out, but I thought I’d do a top 10 of Photocritic’s most popular articles - you know, just in case you’ve missed any of these gems, until I manage to pull my finger out, and do some actual updates. Read the rest of the article »

It’s that time of year, and all that, so I thought I’d put together something of a christmas list: What can you get your photography-addicted buddy for the holiday season?

But first, let’s help the readers of this post with a poll. Here’s your chance to tell people what you’d really like!

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I think it’s pretty safe to say that I’ve got a new favourite website: instructables! It uses a flickr-style, very web 2.0 approach to doing ‘do it yourself’ guides: Hover-over-image items for descriptions of what you are looking at, and many of the instructables available guide you through projects baby-step by baby-step.

There are a lot of them available already, mostly for geek projects. Luckily, there are some wicked photography DIY projects as well - well worth a peek! Read the rest of the article »

I’m a bit of a Canon kid. I admit it. So when Canon launched their new flagship camera, the Canon 1D mk3, I decided I had to do a bit of a news coverage round-up.

Canon tonight launched what it calls — and really is — the world’s fastest digital SLR (D-SLR) camera, the 1D Mark III. Based upon the current 1D Mark II and the 1D before it, the new Mark III brings a host of new features. The camera will be Canon’s flagship high-speed D-SLR, suitable for sports and types of photography that requires fast shooting speeds. Read the rest of the article »

On Photocritic, I don’t generally bother talking too much about equipment, unless I’m particularly excited about something. My approach towards photography is that a good photographer can take good pictures with bad equipment. A bad photographer can only take mediocre photos with good equipment. In other words: If your technical skills and photographic insight aren’t up to scratch, you’ve already lost the game: No amount of equipment can save you.

Nevertheless, I often get comments and e-mails asking about what type of equipment I use. It’s an interesting question, but asked wrongly. My equipment list is boring. The argumentation for choosing each of these pieces of equipment is what is interesting, because it might help you pick which lens or gadget you buy next! Read the rest of the article »

Whoah, it’s a long time since I’ve heard opinions quite as strong as the ones fired up by my The Holga and why it should be avoided post. My opinion on the matter is clear (Short version: I love the Lomo, but I think the Holga is a waste of space).

I’m not one to push my opinions on people ruthlessly, so here is the other side of the story from the Holga-loving Photocritic readers: Read the rest of the article »

I’ve gone on about PhotoJoJo before, back in may, when they were just starting out but they deserve it, damn it, so here’s officially a re-recommendation of what they do. Read the rest of the article »

We’ve told you what Lomography is, how it works, and we’ve even established that, while the results are rather special, Lomography doesn’t magically defy the laws of physics (aw, shucks).

But what do you do if you cannot be bothered to actually buy a Lomo camera?

Enter the 21st century: What we can’t do with cameras, we’ll replicate digitally! The upside of this is that there are quite a few different ways to Lomotomize* a photo! Read the rest of the article »

It is an age-old adage, but the Rule of Thirds is present in a surprising amount of photographs.

The rule states that an image can be divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines. The four points formed by the intersections of these lines can be used to align features in the photograph. Proponents of this technique claim that aligning a photograph with these points creates more tension, energy and interest in the photo than simply centering the feature would. Read the rest of the article »

Over on Photon Detector, Nicolai has collected a great sample of odd pinhole photography projects:

The great thing about making cameras is that they’re really dead simple: box light detector (film or sensor) hold for light = camera. When there’s no lens involved, there’s heaps of room for creativity. While many people opt for more traditional materials like wood, metal, foamcore, or modify an existing camera, some people go all out.

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