Dear subscribers
(C) Steve Schapiro - David Bowie The Man Who Fell To Earth
Just a quick note to let you know that this week's post on our new site -Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up - is the last for 2017.
Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up will be back on 19th January 2018. If you haven't come over to the new platform, pleaseclick here to subscribe.
Wishing you a happy and safe New Year.
Cheers
Alison Stieven-Taylor
Creating Macro Photos with Camera +2
Camera +2 by Late Night Soft S. L. is a great iPhone app for making sharp macro photos without a tripod or lens attachment.
Anyone who’s tried handholding the iPhone when making macro photos knows that getting sharp macro images this way can be challenging.
Camera+2 has three features that help make it possible to create sharp macro images while handholding the iPhone:
With Focus Peaking on, green iridescent lines appear around the subject when you have the camera at the correct distance, indicating that the image is in focus.
With Stabilization on, when the shutter button is pressed, the camera will not fire until the camera is still, preventing motion blur.
To let you know stabilization is working, Camera +2 plays a melody until the camera is still and the shutter fires. You may turn off the stabilization sound in the app’s settings.
Here’s how to turn on Macro Mode, Focus Peaking, and Stabilization.
Turn on Macro Mode
First, tap the icon at the top center to display the menu. Then tap to select Macro Mode.
Activate Focus Peaking
To activate Focus Peaking, tap the slider icon in the upper left corner to display the menu, then select Focus Peaking.
Note: Focus Peaking is not as “sticky” as I’d like, and it turns itself off unpredictably. You may need to reset it periodically.
Activate Stabilizer
The stabilizer lets you know when you are moving, and will not fire the shutter (even when you’ve pressed the shutter button) until the camera is relatively still. It helps to brace yourself and hold as still as possible when you press the shutter.
I used Macro Mode, Focus Peaking, and Stabilization for this image of the rose, then processed it in SnapSeed, adding a slight glow with the app, Enlight.
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Until next time, keep on creating!
Best,
Rad
Dear subscribers
It appears that migrating to Wordpress didn't include bringing my subscribers with me! So in case you would really like to maintain to get hold of Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up to your inbox each Friday, please click on in this link. At the bottom of the home web page at the righthand side is a "observe" button. Click on this and voila, you'll in no way pass over another put up!
Wishing you a satisfied and safe New Year.
Cheers
Alison Stieven-Taylor
Clearly the American cars from the 40’s and 50’s are a novelty and a tourist attraction in Cuba. But they represent so much more.
The fact that these cars are even running at all today is testament to the ingenuity and mechanical engineering and devotion needed to keep them running. Each is an historic capsule from the past, preserved as much as possible, and behind each preservation is a resourceful Cuban who is making it all work.
I once had a classic car owner in Cuba tell me,
Making the parts we need is the easy part; it’s making the machines we need to make the parts that’s challenging .
There are those who take pride in sharing that their car is completely original, while others can’t hide the clatery sound that’s a dead giveaway to the Russian diesel under the hood. I’ve even seen boat motors used to run these tanks, and I have a good friend who powers his classic Dodge with - are you ready? - a Hyundai engine!
Regardless of the efforts and methods employed to keep these cars running, there’s no doubt in the pride of ownership.
Seeing old US cars from the 40’s and 50’s on the streets of Havana and on the roads connecting towns throughout Cuba is as much a part of Cuba today as her native music and dance. Cubans have taken something created elsewhere long ago and made it uniquely, iconically, their own.
It speaks volumes about Cuban culture.
I lead trips to Cuba several times each year, often partnering with Cuban photographer, Ramses Batista. If you have an interested in joining me on a future trip, email me here to be notified when new experiences are available.
Hello loyal readers
I hope the glitch with Wordpress is now solved and this week's blog post will be uninterrupted! You should have been automatically signed over to the new platform, but if not the link is below. I hope you enjoy the new look. As always, I am grateful for your support in reading my blog. If you like it, please share it around.
https://photojournalismnow43738385.wordpress.com/2017/12/01/photojournalism-now-friday-round-up-1st-december-2017/
Cheers
Alison Stieven-Taylor
Last June I traveled to the Calabria region of Italy — the toe of the boot — for the first time to scout for a photo tour that I’m leading there in the fall of 2020. A local friend showed me around and I made this photo of the Santa Maria dell’Isola Monastery, an icon of the small city of Tropea, Italy.
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| Santa Maria dell'isola Monastery, Tropea, Italy |
(Stay with me... this is where this story takes a turn!)
Fast forward to last week when I was on another photo adventure in my home state of Indiana. My friend, fellow photographer, Sally Meyer Wolf, and I, were doing what we love: driving country roads in rural Indiana looking for photogenic barns, scenic landscapes, and old towns.
We stopped at Dawn’s Diner in tiny Coatesville, Indiana, population 546.
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| Dawn's Diner, Coatesville, Indiana |
We learned from the owners that Dawn’s Diner is in what used to be a bank.
“Check out the bathroom,” said our waitress. “It used to be the bank vault.”
Dutifully, I did check it out and sure enough, the thick vault was visible in the entryway. “Cool,” I thought.
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| The walls on either side of the entry are part of the thick metal vault. |
The bathroom itself was roomy, clean, homey, and nicely decorated with paintings of far away beaches and other pleasant scenes.
I was washing my hands and admiring the art when it hit me.
There on the wall, the largest picture in the room, was a painting of the Santa Maria dell’Isola Monastery, of Tropea, Italy, very similar to the image I made a few months earlier in a place 5,141 miles away!
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| Painting on the Wall of Dawn's Diner in Coatesville, Indiana |
I don’t know about you, but I find that extraordinary.
Happy Holidays everyone. May the season be filled with intrigue, and especially the joy of family and friends!
If you plan to take picture outdoors in bright sunlight, you may find the LCD display screen difficult to read. When this occurs, changing the camera to Outdoor mode often allows you to view the screen, even in bright conditions. In addition, you may see lines or spots on the LCD display when you aim the camera toward the sun or another bright light. However, these screen abnormalities are due to direct exposure to the light and do not appear on the photograph.
Shutter SpeedYour camera’s shutter speed may affect the appearance of the pictures you take. For example, a slower shutter speed may diminish the quality of the photos taken in bright light. Using a higher shutter speed, if possible, often resolves the problem. Refer to your owner’s manual for detailed instructions on your Epson camera’s shutter speed options.
FlashMany Epson cameras offer multiple flash settings. Selecting the mode that forces the flash with each picture may diminish the quality of the image taken when used in sunlight. These pictures often appear too light, with the image distorted. Turning off the flash or setting the flash mode to Automatic often improves the quality of the pictures taken with your Epson digital camera. The Automatic flash mode allows the camera to determine when to use the flash, simplifying the task of taking the perfect picture for novice photographers, regardless of the lighting.
Other ConsiderationsPhotographing subjects in the daytime sun requires special attention to the surrounding light and shadows. For example, when photographing something up close, such as a flower, you must pay attention to where your shadow falls. Often, you can use your own shadow to reduce the glare of the sun. However, the colors of your photograph may appear off if your shadow only partially covers the subject. In addition, the photo quality varies depending on whether you take the picture facing toward or away from the sun.
Related SearchesReferencesEpson: Epson PhotoPC 750Z Megapixel Zoom Digital Camera User GuideEpson: Epson L-500V Camera BasicsEpson: Epson Rangefinder Digital Camera R-D1 User’s GuidePC World: 5 Common Photo Problems, Avoided or SolvedResourcesEpson: Welcome to Epson SupportRead Next: Print this articleCommentsFollow eHowFollow