Photo Editing, Tutorials, Photography News, and More
This blog covers a range of topics from Lightroom, Photoshop, Capture One, Fujifilm, Canon, Nikon, iPhone Photography, and more. If you want to see more of my actual photography work, visit my Portfolio and Photo Journal blog.
The Importance of Photojournalism
Over the past few years, or even the last decade, journalism has taken a real hit from the general public. Between prognostications that smartphones and social media would kill off the need for photojournalists, to attacks on journalism in general from political bloviators. But the awful events in Ukraine over the past week show that Journalism and PhotoJournalism are as effective and as important as ever.
My Biggest Photographic Regret - Selling my Canon 5D Mark II
Of all the things - photography related - that I’ve done over the years, I’ve had plenty of missed opportunities, and made plenty of mistakes. However, there’s only really one thing that I truly regret. And that’s selling my Canon 5D Mark II and 24-105mm lens. There isn’t a year that goes by that I don’t regret that decision.
Looking back on 2021 and forward to 2022. A Year in Photography Blogging
What a weird year it’s been. This time last year we were all delighted to see the back of a crappy 2020 and optimistic that the following year would be better. In some ways it was, but in others, not so much. I had hoped to see a return to some kind of normality in 2021 but instead we started the year in another strict lockdown, and from then on it was a rollercoaster of ups and downs.
Capture One 22 vs Lightroom Classic 11 – How do the latest versions affect your choice of photo editing application?
One of my most popular Capture One posts on this website is the post entitled “Capture One vs Lightroom from someone who uses both”. I last updated this earlier this year, but since then, a lot has changed. With the release of Lightroom 11 which brings the new masking architecture, and Capture One 22 which adds Panorama stitching and HDR merging. This changes the dynamics of my previous arguments for each, and so I wanted to offer an addendum.
The Content Creation Paradox
If you’ve ever been involved in creating content for a consuming audience, and you’ve been doing it for some time, you’ve probably come up against the following conundrum:
“My content is getting stale, but I’m afraid that if I shake it up too much I will lose my audience”.
You see, there’s kind of a paradox when it comes to creating regular content….
A Quick Update
You’ve probably noticed that I haven’t posted regularly in a little while, so I wanted to give you a quick update. I’ve been busy with client work, so I haven’t had time to write or blog for the past few weeks. So here is a quick update on what’s going on and what’s planned.
That time I wandered onto a film set
The story of how I was recently at one of my new favourite places to photograph, and I accidentally wandered onto a film set.
A Follow up on Nik Collection 4 - A Problem with Capture One
Just a quick follow up on the recently released Nik Collection 4, which I posted about recently. Since its release I’ve been trying out the various applications, with the intent of writing a review, specifically of Silver Efex Pro, which is the main application I use in the suite. Since the release, and my initial post, I’ve noticed a couple of things.
The Decline in the Quality of Photography and the Real-world Consequences
It's easy to get caught up in various discussion online about all things photographic, both technical and artistic. Some of these discussions are useful, but many are frankly nonsense. Some of the photography tropes that have become accepted in some quarters are doing active harm to the art of photography. The biggest of these is the notion that quality doesn’t matter. I see this over and over again, and while I’ve discussed this before, and why it does actually matter, I wanted to talk about the non-abstract real-world effects of this. The quality of photography used in professional settings is declining, and it's leading to a drop in quality of magazines and books and other publications of all types (not just photography related.)
Instagram Weirdness and Possible Security Issues
Last week I started having some weird things happen to one of my Instagram accounts. Instagram suddenly started sending me emails for my “Streets of Dublin” Instagram account in Russian. At first, I thought it musty be a hack or someone had breached my account, but there is a whole thread on Reddit about it from people having the same problem.
Photography and Coffee, A Love Story
I like coffee. A lot. It’s probably one of my biggest obsessions after photography. I have about 10 different methods of making coffee, including three different coffee machines. I like all different kinds of coffee, and I’ll make a different type depending on the time of day and my mood. At this point, you’re probably wondering what any of this has to do with photography, but bear with me. It’s a bit of a journey, but we’ll get there.
Thoughts on the Fuji X-T4
Having used Fuji X-Series cameras now since the original X100 (which I still have) and the X-Pro1 (Which I don’t) I’m always following what the company does, even if I don’t always agree. Today, Fuji announced the X-T4 and its interesting because I think it represents a maturing of the line.
How I got into Photography, and the lessons I learned on the way
This is kind of a more personal post than I usually write, but it's something that I've wanted to get down on (virtual) paper for a while. Lately, I’ve been reminiscing about how I got to be doing photography as a full-time occupation. My journey to photography was something of a long-winded one, and it wasn't something I considered doing full time until later in life, but my roots in the art started at an early age, though.
Looking back over the past decade, and looking forward to the next
As we start a new year, and end a decade, and I wanted to reflect a little on what has happened in terms of this blog, and my photography over the past ten years. I wasn’t really thinking about it that much, but when looking back through my photo archive, I realise that I did accomplish a lot over the past ten years, and a lot has changed.
I Chimp and I’m Proud
I have a secret. I little secret that I’ve kept for so long. I’m so ashamed and the guilt is tearing me apart. I just have to come clean… Actually, none of that is really true. It’s not really a secret and I’m neither ashamed nor do I feel guilty. You see, when I’m taking photos, I check the shots on my camera’s screen. There, I said it! I’m one of those people. I’m a chimper. And I couldn’t care less.