All tagged Editorial

Affinity Goes Free, but “Free” Comes at a Price

Affinity Goes Free, but “Free” Comes at a Price

Thomas Fitzgerald
Editorial

Unless you’ve been living under the proverbial rock, you have undoubtedly seen the news about the Affinity suite of applications. Having being bought by Canva, the applications were just relaunched as a single super app featuring all three of the previous programmes: Affinity Photo, Affinity Designer and Affinity publisher. Not only that, but Canva has decided to give this suite away for free. Needless to say, this has sparked a lot of … let’s call it “conversation” online, with some people welcoming the move and others suspicious about it. as there is a lot of commentary out there, much of it overly hyperbolic, I wanted to address two main areas of the discussions. The first that this is going to “Kill” Adobe, and the second, what it means that Affinity is now “Free”.

Another Very Bloggy Update

Another Very Bloggy Update

Thomas Fitzgerald
Editorial, Ireland, News

I’ve been very busy this past week, and so once again I’ve been somewhat bad about posting on the blog. I have been buried in design work with a tight deadline and so unfortunately the tutorials and so on have had to take a back seat. I have so much photography stuff to share too, and it’s just been building up in my to-do list, so I hope you can forgive the short absence. Google’s algorithm, however, will not.

AI is killing the Photography Internet (and the rest of the open internet too)

AI is killing the Photography Internet (and the rest of the open internet too)

Thomas Fitzgerald
Editorial

I know this may seem like a link bait headline, but in my opinion it’s actually true, but it’s not in the way you might think. I’m not talking about generative AI taking photographer’s jobs or anything like that. It’s the “AI everywhere no matter what” that’s making it harder and harder to get traffic to your website or portfolio. It’s also making content on tips and techniques obsolete. Ever since google started doing its (frequently wrong) AI summaries for search results, traffic to almost all sites has seen a steady decline. It’s not just something I noticed, it was actually on the news the other day.

A very “Bloggy” Update

A very “Bloggy” Update

Thomas Fitzgerald
Editorial

I’ve been busy with travel and some other things, so I don’t really have any good tips or tutorials, so I thought I would do a good old-fashioned blog update. Remember when those were a thing? Anyway, here is a random collection of things I’ve been up to (photographically speaking) and ongoing projects and thoughts.

Thoughts on the Canon Powershot V1 (And R50V) and the resurgence in Compact Cameras

Thoughts on the Canon Powershot V1 (And R50V) and the resurgence in Compact Cameras

Thomas Fitzgerald
Canon, Gear

Ever since it was released in the Asian markets a few weeks ago, I’ve been quietly obsessing over Canon’s new Powershot V1 compact camera. The original launch was somewhat muted here in the west, with no-one really getting their hands on it apart from a few Japanese photographers and filmmakers. Now that Canon has officially launched it worldwide, we’re getting more details and coverage, and I have to say, I really like what I see.

Instagram for photographers is dead. Here are some alternatives

Instagram for photographers is dead. Here are some alternatives

Thomas Fitzgerald
Editorial

I was scrolling through instagram the other day - as one does - when I realised, after scrolling for several minutes, that I hadn’t seen a single photograph from an actual photographer. Sure, there were a few still images, but they were either from celebrities, or part of news stories. The majority of what I was seeing was reels and ads. It seems Meta really, really wants to turn Instagram into TikTok. Unfortunately, it’s becoming the worst of both worlds.

Fujifilm Rumoured to Be Developing a Camera with New Sensor Size: Full-Frame on the Horizon?

Fujifilm Rumoured to Be Developing a Camera with New Sensor Size: Full-Frame on the Horizon?

Thomas Fitzgerald
Fuji X-Series

Our old friends at Fuji Rumors haver caused quite a bit of a stir in the Fuji community with a recent rumour about a new camera that Fujifilm is working on. According to the rumour, the camera which probably won’t be released until 2025 will have a new sensor that is of a different size to one that Fujifilm has used before! As you can imagine this has caused rampant speculation on various social sites. The leading candidate for this “sensor size that Fujifilm hasn’t used before” is Full Frame. But if this came true it would upend years of Fuji insisting that Full Frame isn’t something they want to do.

Apple really puts the "Pro" in the iPhone Pro (With the iPhone 16 Pro)

Apple really puts the "Pro" in the iPhone Pro (With the iPhone 16 Pro)

Thomas Fitzgerald
Apple, iPhone, Editorial

A few days ago Apple held its annual iPhone event where they launched the iPhone 16 and 16 pro line, and after trying not to fall asleep after they rehashed the Apple Intelligence stuff from WWDC, I was pleasantly surprised by the new iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max. Strangely though, after the event people on social media were complaining that there wasn’t a real difference between the pro and the normal models. To which I thought: “Were they even watching the same keynote I was?” Because when I watched that segment I thought to myself, this is the most “pro” pro phone Apple has ever released. In fact, I’d go so far as to say, it’s only really now the Pro iPhone has fully earned the “Pro” name.

Thoughts on the Fujifilm X100VI. The last of the Fuji Rangefinders

Thoughts on the Fujifilm X100VI. The last of the Fuji Rangefinders

Thomas Fitzgerald
Fuji X-Series, Editorial

I’ve been a Fujifilm shooter for quite some time now. The original X100 still sits on a shelf in my office, and I’ve had a total of 5 different Fujifilm cameras over the years. While the original X100 wasn’t my first Fuji camera, it was probably the one I used for the longest. Since then, there have been numerous iterations of this camera, each better than the previous one. I never really bothered upgrading the X100 because my other Fuji cameras pretty much did the same thing, but with the additional option of changing lenses. Now with its latest iteration, is it time to finally upgrade? And what does the X100VI release say about the rest of the Fuji Lineup?

Happy New Year, Plus Two Weeks!

Happy New Year, Plus Two Weeks!

Thomas Fitzgerald
Behind the Scenes, Editorial

I had this great plan to start the new year with a fresh blogging schedule, and a renewed energy. Of course that didn’t happen. It’s two weeks later and I’m only getting around to writing my “new year” post now. Like many a New Year’s resolutions, they crashed and burned on day two! But now that I have a moment, let me update you on a few things that have been happening, and some plans for the next little while.

Capture One vs Lightroom from someone who uses both – Update for 2023

Capture One vs Lightroom from someone who uses both – Update for 2023

Thomas Fitzgerald
Capture One, Editorial

A while ago, I wrote an article on this blog my perspective on Capture One vs Lightroom, as I regularly use both applications. I tried to present a balanced opinion on the advantages and disadvantages of both. I’ve updated that article since the first version of it came out, and since I last updated it, there have been some significant changes in both Capture One and Lightroom. I feel that these changes require a whole new discussion, and therefore a whole new blog post.

I asked Chat GPT to write me a blog post on the ethics of Street Photography. Here’s what it came up with.

I asked Chat GPT to write me a blog post on the ethics of Street Photography. Here’s what it came up with.

Thomas Fitzgerald
Editorial, AI

As an experiment, I asked Chat GPT to write a complete blog post. I asked for ideas on street photography and it suggested street photography ethics, which I then asked it to write a full blog post on. I'm sharing the unedited post as it was written by Chat GPT, along with some thoughts on the result. It's fascinating to see what an AI language model can create, and I invite you to read the post and discover what Chat GPT came up with!

How to make a cup of tea (not actually about making tea)

How to make a cup of tea (not actually about making tea)

Thomas Fitzgerald
Editorial

Many, many years ago (sigh) I did a course in Film and Video production run by the local government here in Ireland. It was only ever run once, but it was actually a great course, and I probably owe my entire career to that course. I learned so much from that and much of the experience still serves me today. But there was one class that I always remembered more than any other, and it’s an interesting story, and I wanted to share it, because I think there’s a valuable lesson in it for everyone.

A few updates - Future Website Plans and More!

A few updates - Future Website Plans and More!

Thomas Fitzgerald
Editorial, News

It’s hard to believe that it’s August already. Here in Ireland it’s technically Autumn now, and already you can feel the change in the air. And speaking of change, you may have noticed that I haven’t been posting very regularly recently, so I want to apologise. As well as being busy with client work, I’ve also been doing some thinking and I’m hoping to make some big changes soon, on the website and in a broader sense.

The Problem with Many Photo Editing Tutorials

The Problem with Many Photo Editing Tutorials

Thomas Fitzgerald
Technique, Editorial

Recently, I was trying to record a tutorial on editing landscape photography. In the end, I didn’t publish it because I felt that the edits I had done weren’t dramatic enough for people to watch. In fact, I even had that criticism about some of my editing tutorials before, that the edits I was making weren’t significant enough. This led me to realise the paradox of photo editing tutorials, especially on YouTube or other socially driven platforms. Unless you’re dramatically changing the image or doing extensive edits, people will find it “boring” and not watch or complain. But the reality is, in most cases, restraint will lead to better images.

Why I think the new Mac Studio is the perfect Creator's Mac - Thoughts on the New Mac Studio and M1 Ultra Chip

Why I think the new Mac Studio is the perfect Creator's Mac - Thoughts on the New Mac Studio and M1 Ultra Chip

Thomas Fitzgerald
Apple, Editorial

I don’t think I’ve ever been as excited about an Apple announcement as I was this week after Apple’s March 2022 event. And all that excitement comes form just one part of the presentation: the announcement of the Mac Studio. For me, the Mac Studio is the ultimate Mac for what I do, and it is something I think many creators like myself have wanted for a long time.

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