The Connected Camera – Internet of Photography

March 21, 2020March 21, 2020

Focus Stacking

Depth of Field

As you’ve learned in basic photography, depth of field is manipulated using the aperture setting. As the iris stops down to a smaller size, letting less light in, more of your subject comes into focus. The tradeoff? Your shutter speed must be longer to compensate for the loss of incoming light. If the shutter speed gets too long while handholding, your photo comes out blurry. A good rule of thumb to reduce camera shake is don’t let the shutter speed go lower than the focal length of your lens.

For instance, if you’re shooting with a 200mm lens, you may begin having problems around 1/200shutter speed. With a 24mm lens, you might be able to get away with 1/25 shutter speed. As with all rules of thumb, it’s a guideline. As you approach the limits, zoom in on a photo to check the quality of the image before you commit to the settings.

March 15, 2020March 15, 2020

HDR Photography

HDR Output from Adobe Lightroom – Tim Dennison

Because I took a break from photography for a dog’s age, I’m catching back up with technology. First, I added a new camera to supplement mine made two decades back. Second, I updated Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom to the new CC and Classic versions. Resisting the software subscription model for years, I finally gave in.

Dynamic Range

A camera’s sensor has nowhere near the dynamic range of the human eye. Step into any room, let’s call it a bedroom, on a sunny day with the curtains drawn. You have no trouble seeing a shoebox under the bed. At the same time, you can see what’s happening outside in perfect detail. Take a photo while you’re standing there. The light coming through the window will be blown out to nearly pure white, while you see nothing but darkness under the bed. Your results may vary depending on the cost of your camera, but even a $7,500 camera’s sensor can only do so much.

March 8, 2020March 8, 2020

Where Am I?

One benefit of connecting a camera to your smartphone is grabbing and displaying location information. Depending on the photographer’s needs, geotagging is a popular use-case of a connected camera.

Making the Connection

When connecting the M6 Mark II to an iPhone using the Canon Camera Connec t app, each photo can be associated with a location, but it doesn’t happen automatically. It takes a little work when you first turn on the camera, but once connected, it’s relatively stable. After turning the camera on and opening the app, it connects immediately to Bluetooth. The GPS indicator on the camera shows as “OFF” until you connect via Wi-Fi. At this point, the GPS indicator is solid, meaning it’s actively collecting location data. Now each photo you take will be location tagged.

March 1, 2020March 8, 2020

It may be time for some updates

The Right Tool for the Job.

I refuse to spend money on tools that don’t bring value, but if they do, I’m all in. I’ve been using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom since almost the day it came out and love it. It’s the perfect complement to my style of photography. What I need is a way to catalog, “develop”, and print photos.

Lightroom’s functions limit the amount of manipulation you can perform, but I don’t need much more than spot removal and local corrections. My focus is on the lighting and color balance of the output. Adobe Photoshop is a powerful tool with nearly unlimited capability, but with that power comes complexity.

February 26, 2020March 8, 2020

Welcome to The Connected Camera

There’s a new age of camera entering the fold. It doesn’t manifest as a disruptor of photography as we know it today, but as an incremental innovation. In fact, the technology piggybacks onto cameras looking no different than those coming before. If you chose to ignore it, you wouldn’t notice any change in how you’d take photos. I’d bet many folks don’t even know wireless connectivity comes with their camera.

But you’re an early adopter. You wouldn’t be here if you weren’t. You’re ready to take advantage of your new, or soon to be new, connected camera.