Last week I was in Yamasa, Dominican Republic filming a documentary and helping out in any way I could with the Friends for Life group. The group basically has been helping people in poverty for years by bringing medical supplies, testing hearing, educating young students, and getting sponsors for families who simply cannot feed themselves. This is not anything like Canadian welfare where people take advantage of the system. This is along the lines of without the food program, these people would simply die. More…
Photography apps for iOS
The hot topic for Photographers these days is #iphoneography. One of the best parts to taking photographs with the iPhone is the ability to download some apps for a few dollars and make the photo much more interesting. Last week I purchased 6 photography apps that I will review below and that I believe are worth while purchases for the pro or hobbyist photographer.
- iPhoto – If your a Mac owner you most likely know the beauty of iCloud. Apple announced iPhoto for iOS last week and I jumped at the chance to download the app for $4.99. Some people are complaining about the lack of features in the reviews but don’t let this fool you. It’s well worth the $5 and is amazing for a version 1 of an app. It’s syncs will iCloud perfectly, has the basic touch up features you would expect and the brush tool gives you control over really making the photograph look as interesting as you want it to be. Some features that will most likely come in a V2 is vignette/lighting controls and some more brushes.
#iphoneography
If you own an iPhone 4 or 4S you know how powerful the censor is on your camera. It’s a quality censor and you can really take amazing photographs wherever you are with the convenience of reaching in your pocket and snapping a shot. It’s looked at as a fun thing to do for people who like to play with their phones but in reality its a pro photographers dream. Instead of limiting them to only taking photos when they have their 35mm or DSLR with them, they can now snap a shot whenever they see something they want to shoot. More…
Magic Lantern
For those photography lovers out there that also want to shoot amazing video with great sound, I introduce to you, Magic Lantern. A fellow photography friend, Colin Swift, and I have been researching Magic Lantern for quite some time but we were a bit worried about what it could potentially do to our camera. We both own the powerful prosumer Canon T2i/550D. Magic Lantern is essentially a lightweight piece of software that you install on your SD card that you put in your camera. It doesn’t replace your DSRL’s software, but instead runs over top of it. Brilliant. I recently took the leap of faith and installed Magic Lantern on my camera. This is what I found… More…
Black and White Compositions
It’s no secret that I have found a new love in Photography. My wife bought me a new lens for Christmas (Tamron 2.8/f 75mm) and I am currently taking my 4th photography course online. I have learned quite a bit over the past year and after a recent chapter on composition I took to the streets to practice some shots. I have placed a few below that I put up on my Flickr page for the world to see. It’s more for myself than anything else but it’s really neat to see the improvement in your photographs as you gain more and more experience from quality tutorials.
One of the greatest tips I learned recently is simply what to look for in taking a photograph, “how to create a great composition“. Balancing the photograph and always getting closer to make the subject more of the focus goes a long way. Framing the photo with lines or shapes is not always easy to see but if you look for them, you can find a great photograph that you would have never saw before. Lastly, making sure the subject and the background are easily distinguishable is a must. If you look at the basketball hoop below, it jumps out and is the first thing you look at in the photo. The background with the tree, bench, and fog is meant to serve as a balance to the rest of the photo. More…
The iPhone 4S
I’ve been asked by several people how I like the new iPhone 4S and I haven’t brought myself to say one bad thing about it. A mobile device in my world is one of the most important pieces of equipement I own, so I didn’t take this decision lightly. I am constantly on the go and with a 24/7 hour career, being involved with many community clubs, and most importantly a family man, I need to have instant communication and organization in my hands at all times. A time saving mobile device has become a necessity to me in everyday living.
I’ve previously owned flip phones, my wife has a blackberry, (God bless her), and I’ve played with various android devices that many friends and colleagues use. The Blackberry was not even an option becasue they’ve fallen so far behind in innovating for their phones. If I just needed the phone for talking to people and checking email, I would definitely consider it because they are built like bricks and they are sturdy. I like the Android OS and it can accomplish pretty much anything the iOS can, but let me be clear when I say, Android is like a Chevy, and iOS is like driving a Cadillac. You can tell the difference by just driving it. More…
Why I chose the t2i
Photography is my newest passion that I’ve dived into in the past 6 months. I purchased the t2i for 2 reasons. It first shoots high quality video in full 1080p HD, and secondly, it takes amazing pro looking photographs without the pro costs. Here is a bit more detailed info on the t2i if you’re looking at taking the leap into photography.
18 Megapixel camera: First of all, the megapixels is not the whole story. When you’re looking to buy a camera the megapixels should be the last thing you look at. I’ve seem 12 MP camera’s outshine 15 MP camera’s so you really need to do some research and look at example’s online of what your potential camera can take. Many photographers on Flickr and other photo sites list what camera and lens they were using when taking the photo. Canon and Nikon have always been known to be great quality camera’s because of their great censor’s and sturdy builds. More…