News and Commentary | Photocrati

Announcing $5000 Photocrati Fund Grants for Photographers

Hello Photocrati Readers,

We’re proud to announce the formal opening of our first Photocrati Fund Grant Competition. The Fund will give away one $5000 grant this year for a non-professional photographer to undertake a an important humanitarian, environmental, or social photography project. Photocrati is excited to have some of the most celebrated environmental and cultural photographers in the world acting as board members and judges for the competition:

Steve McCurry
Michael “Nick” Nichols
Art Wolfe

The Need for Photography of Important Humanitarian, Environmental, and Social Issues

I’ve interacted with a lot of photographers over the years, and I’ve come to believe that photographers, as a group, are more inclined than the average population to want to harness their hobby/profession (depending on your status) to promote important causes. Like most photographers, I also believe in the profound impact that great photography can have by creating awareness and motivating others to take action.

Unfortunately, the most important stories and causes are often the ones that are least likely to provide compensation, so they often go uncovered, unphotographed, untold. (more…)

Technology doesn’t define us…

...but it is a part of our identity. I got my first job in this business because the photographer that hired me didn't understand the concepts behind digital imaging. He…

Why a Tilt-Shift Lens may be in Your Future.

decker-joe-tse-1 — Canon TS-E 24/3.5L (1st generation)

For many years, 35mm camera users have often been able to safely ignore the subject of camera movements. Not so for the large format folks, the relatively large film plane of a 4×5 view camera requires photographers to go to lengths even in the simplest images to get a deep depth-of-field, lengths that often include both camera movements and enormously tiny apertures (e.g., f/64). Our smaller film (or digital sensor) areas come along with a comparatively deeper depth of field. For better or worse, we may not wish to maintain our ignorance much longer.

If, like many photographers, you keep a close eye on gear announcements, you’ll have noticed the trend. While Canon had been selling three tilt-shift lenses for years, more recently they updated the 24mm tilt-shift with the ::amazon(“B001TDL2O0”,”Canon TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II “):: (greatly improving it’s optical quality) and added a ::amazon(“Canon TS-E 17mm f/4L”,”17mm”):: to the lineup. In the same time frame, Nikon announced and began to ship ::amazon(“B0013BEEUW”,”24mm”)::, ::amazon(“B001BTG3NW”,”45mm”):: and ::amazon(“B001BTAZHM”,”85mm”)::. What’s behind this new excitement? (more…)

Hey photography’s legal again, uh, not so much

A while ago I wrote about the NYPD being re-informed of our rights to take pictures of, well, whatever we want. It seems Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano didn't get…

Hey, photography is legal, how about that!

Anyone who’s ever tried to do some serious photography in public places has had to deal with curious, and on occasion, concerned people interested in what you’re doing. At times some of those interested parties have badges, whether official government badges, or private security badges. Sometimes those badges come with demands that you stop shooting, explain yourself, move on, hand over images, get on the ground, etc. (more…)

PMA 2009: Great New Photo Equipment

Peter Burian reports on the best of the new gear at the Photo Marketing Association’s extravaganza in sunny Las Vegas, Nevada

The largest annual photographic trade show in the world, PMA 2009 was held in Las Vegas, Nevada in March. While touring the show floor and meeting with exhibitors, it quickly became clear that many were aggressively developing their line of cameras. As usual, a vast range of compact models were announced, many with HD video modes and more “intelligent” automation than in the past. I found fewer digital SLR models than expected, but two companies showed interchangeable lens cameras without a reflex mirror and these are just as versatile. In this report, I’ll briefly cover the most significant cameras (including two DSLRs announced shortly after the PMA event) and lenses as well as the most significant new printers.

Held in Las Vegas earlier this spring, the Photo Marketing Association's annual trade show attracted numerous retailers who wanted to check out the latest equipment.

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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…)

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…)