The Photocrati Blog

Nikon 75-150mm f/3.5 Series E Manual Focus Review Round-Up

If you own or have used this lens, let us know what you think! Leave your comments and thoughts below.

Thom Hogan

This is one of Nikon’s best telephoto zoom designs. Wide open, the lens is reasonably sharp, certainly far better than you’d have any right to expect with an inexpensive lens. The large maximum aperture and focal range make this an excellent portrait lens. 150mm doesn’t get you very far into the true telephoto range. If you can live with that as your top focal length, you’ll be happy with the performance. Even if you find an example that’s still relatively stiff, the Nikkor one-touch zooms all had a proclivity to develop lens creep with use. An inconvenience, to be sure, but considering the performance of the lens, one that I can overlook. READ FULL REVIEW

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Food photography – the basics

As a photography student I was encouraged, and in many cases assigned, to many different types of photography. We were given individual assignments on portraits, still life, products, journalism, industrial, architecture, etc. As I progressed through school, individual assignments gave way to elective courses specific to certain types of photography. Of course learning the technical and aesthetic challenges associated with different types of photography is important to any well rounded education, but more important was the ability to learn about yourself and what types of work you are best suited to. It was during these years that I discovered I really enjoy the slow, methodical processes of studio work and as a natural extension of that I gravitated towards food photography. (more…)

Building the Shot

I was recently doing a baby photography session at a friend’s house, and had an idea for a really nice photograph of the baby. I shared the idea with the dad (who was my assistant for the shoot) and he thought it was a good idea. I am not sure he was able to visualize the end result – nor was he able to visualize what the shot would look like until we were pretty far down the “shot setup” process – but he was delighted with the result when we finally got it. (more…)

The EOS Digital Rebel T1i and the shfiting DSLR Market

Two days ago Canon announced the next revision of their popular Digital Rebel line, the ::amazon(“B001XURPQI”,”Canon EOS Digital Rebel T1i”)::, a.k.a. the Canon 500D. Briefly speaking, it offers 15 megapixels, 720i and 1080p video at 30 and 20 fps respectively, and pretty much all the other recent Canon body features (LiveView, dust reduction) as well. ISOs 100-3200 are offered by default, with expanded settings of H1 (about 6400) and H2 (about 12800) available if enabled, the sample images I’ve seen so far are quite impressive. It’s due to ship in May. Very impressive for the new “low end” of the Canon line, this leads me to talk about what I perceive as a narrowing of the DSLR market. (more…)

How US Copyright Law (sometimes) Fails Small Photographers

Photo District News is reporting that US Airways, it’s insurance company AIG and their lawyers have moved to prevent photographer Stephen Mallon from displaying photos of the recovery of Flight 1548, photos which he appears to own the copyright to. Mallon was hired to document the recovery process by Weeks Marine, who had given Mallon (as had the NTSB) their okay for showing the photographs involved. Mallon is asking people to contact US Air and AIG and express their displeasure on the subject. I’ve done that, but in this point, I’d like to talk, maybe even rant a bit, about the problems with the copyright system and the law as it applies to small-shop photographers like myself and Mallon. (more…)

Keywording Again: A Quick Look at Image Keyworder

After putting together Keywording for Fun and Profit I started looking around a bit for tools or services that would help me keyword large numbers of images, and came across Image Keyworder, and have been playing with it for the last day or two. This post will reflect my first impressions of the product. (more…)

Keywording for Fun and Profit

One of the markets I’ve only recently started exploring for my own work is the stock photography market. It’s a challenging and arguably declining market, but in these financial types I can’t afford to ignore any way I can supplement my photographic income. One of the most parts of getting work ready for stock is keywording, putting together a list of search terms that potential customers might use to find your work. In this post, I’ll talk about a few things to remember when keywording images for stock sites. (more…)

Working for “The Man”

I’ll be the first to admit, I see photographers do shoots in exotic locations, shooting beautiful models or covering major sporting events and yes I get a little envious but there is something to be said for being a corporate photographer. First – the steady paycheck and benefits are nice, tuition reimbursement, paid time off is also nice and now and then an interesting assignment comes your way, like flying in a helicopter with the Army or freezing my butt off in the second largest wind tunnel in the country – NASA tops the list. But with all the nice things about being a corporate shooter there are as many downsides to this type of photography.
Where do I begin”¦. (more…)

Begin Rant

I’ve been sitting here for the last 10 minutes trying to think of the best way to write this post. I don’t want to hurt any one’s feelings and I don’t want to come off like some sort of a prima donna. Whether or not I’m qualified to pass judgment on my fellow shooters is not for me to decide. However, I’m going to do just that: pass judgment. If that makes me a bad guy, well, I guess I’ll just have to live with it. (more…)

Theyyams of Malabar: Incarnate Deities

I’ve just returned from Kerala, India where I was leading a 2 weeks photo-expedition to this area whose tourism slogan is “God’s Own Country”. Geographically, the region is called the Malabar Coast, and it includes most of Kerala state and the coastal region of Karnataka state. This is extremely diverse area, with ancient ties to maritime trading routes with the Arabian Gulf and much beyond.

The highlight of the expedition was the unique Theyyam rituals and performances, which are indigenous to a small rural area in north Kerala. This opportunity provided a window into a world of remarkable and ancient traditions, seldom seen (nor appreciated) by mainstream tourists. (more…)