AI, Learn To See, Make Good Art, Photography, Post Processing, REVIEW, SCIENCE, technique, Technology, Video
The Artist nerd & the Machine
June 16, 2026
4k Workflow?
The International CES is the annual gathering place for all whose business is a part of the $203 Billion a year business of consumer electronics. Held in Las Vegas every year, it has served as the proving ground for innovators and breakthrough technologies for more than 40 years. It is a primary stage where next-generation innovations are introduced to the marketplace. Over the 40 year history, CES has been where many manufacturer’s dreams have come true. It is also the place where some ideas fail at gaining consumer acceptance, a harsh reality of business. From Engadget, last year’s video review
Read moreLightroom 5 LAB Color Readout
This is a helpful LAB color tip by our good friend and master photographer Charles Cramer. Lightroom 5 now allows for the eyedropper readout to show Lab color values! Lab is a color model that separates the color information from the luminosity. Let me explain why I think this is wonderful. Since I believe that perception of colors and tones on a monitor can be deceptive, I like to move the cursor into the image to see what the numbers tell me. You can’t always trust your eyes, but you can trust those numbers. You can see these numbers only
Read moreCreativity – Our Wish For You in 2014
Creativity is not a destination. Contrary to what many believe, it is also not something that you are just born with or that develops over the years in some magical, unseen, uninterrupted series of creative events. Creativity is not an elusive creature that stalks you in the night, waking you to run to your computer so you can jot down a few more notes before you loose them to the bad idea fairy living under every creative’s bed. Creativity is actually a process. Sadly, not a process that is taught to every school child, though if I had my way
Read moreDon’t Shoot ‘Till The Focus Peaks In Their Eyes!
AeroDrome from TheCameraForum on Vimeo. Some may think me a dinosaur when I express a preference for working with a manually focused lens. When I started in photography there weren’t any autofocus cameras, so everybody either learned to use manual focus or learned to live with blurry snapshots. Over the years, many thousands of photographs later, manual focus has become a personal preference for me. Old habits die hard. I’m not trying to pass judgement on how other people choose to work, nor am I trying to pick fights with those who quite rightly point out that autofocus provides a
Read moreA7R Shutter Vibration – Problem Explained
A7R Shutter Vibration May Be Too Great For Some Uses Unfortunately, Sony has a problem with the A7R which is serious for a significant segment of uses, involving longer lenses on a tripod, and especially lenses which are connected via a lens foot or adapter foot to the tripod. The problem also tends to be worse with the camera in vertical position. The first curtain shutter shake is too great to avoid motion blur in many longer-lens situations. This blur can be slight or severe, depending on several variables. A firmware update to provide options to add a delay
Read moreChanging A Lens – How a Pro Does It
Sony A7R from Simon Hammond on Vimeo. The versatility of the A7/A7R allows a professional photographer many different options for lens choices. Some lens adapters though can be challenging to mount. How a pro changes a lens can be the difference between success and abject failure if the lens gets dropped. Videographer and professional production wizard Simon Hammond brings us a slightly different perspective on how easy it is to change lenses out on the new Sony A7R with the native Sony E mount. Take care trying this method at home ;=)
Read moreSony A7R Report – Day Twenty
Once in a great while, there’s a revolutionary product that changes the conventional expectations for an entire class of cameras. After twenty days of use, I’ve decided that among all of the mirrorless cameras I’ve tried, the Sony A7R is one of those rare products. More importantly, out of all of the cameras I’ve used, tested, and reviewed, I’d recommend the Sony A7R at the top of my list in its price range to my family or a friend . It has been a long time since a new camera has impressed me as much as the Sony A7R has in
Read moreNikon Df: Joe McNally, Angela Nicholson, & Chris Niccolls
The Nikon Df is as important for what it is as for what it is not. What it is is an excellent still photographers camera, if you’re one who likes to twiddle knobs. What it is not is a video creation tool. For some unknown reason, in 2013 Nikon Product Management decided the Nikon Df was to be different. The Nikon Df did not want to be “one of the boys.” It wanted to act like your grandfather’s oldie but goodie. Your grandfather’s Nikon couldn’t shoot video and the Nikon Df does not shoot video either. Very strange. Not
Read moreMoving On: A Story of Love
This story of love is the journey a Cincinnati, Ohio, family is making through life. A complete cycle; from start to finish and everything in between. It is a short story of love but already an epic journey, rapidly unfolding over just four and a half short years. This story of love is about a man and a woman, Ben Nunery and his wife Ali, and their now three year old daughter, Olivia. Ali is no longer with us, having succumbed to a rare form of lung cancer in 2011 – just 31 years young–leaving behind Ben and their one-year-old daughter,
Read moreNew Apple Mac Pro Arrives Today, December 19th!
Exciting times! Apple have announced the following prices: Not cheap, but no information on what the upgrades will cost until the store opens up for custom configurations. However according to the estimated guess of Lewis Hilsenteger, of Unboxed Therapy, the maxed out Mac Pro could cost as much as $25,000! Here is how Lewis calculates this cost: Just a few hours from now Apple will open up the ordering on the Apple Store for the new Mac Pro in all of its configurations, so we shall see then just how close to the truth Lewis guess is. I am certain
Read moreSnowflake Photography
Russian photographer Alexey Kljatov certainly knows a lot about snow. Most Russian photographers likely do, as the brutal winter months of their homeland provides plenty of first hand experience. But how many of them have taken the time to learn how to photograph an individual snowflake? Certainly not many. There aren’t a lot of people I know of in the world doing macro snowflake photography. It’s a shame, as it is another one of the marvelous wonders of nature that make for beautiful photographs. For Alexey’s snowflake photography effort, he first had to construct a macro lens setup, as his
Read morePhoto Geeks
Modern photography is incredibly complex. We like to pretend that our mastery of cameras and digital technology has made photography easier or better, but in reality it has never been harder to simply create photographs. Above all else, cameras and digital technology give us choices, and more choice means more complexity. Thirty years ago, photography basically consisted of loading film, processing film, and darkroom printing. D76 or Dektol, Tri-X, and an Omega enlarger were the state of the art tools. Over time, new materials were mastered and new tools devised (computer controlled exposures, autofocus lenses, plastics, computer chips, digital sensors) — and
Read moreDream Animation
Dream from Vaya on Vimeo. Master CG Architects at Vaya Studio in Sofia, Bulgaria, all got together one cold winter’s day and decided to have some fun with dream animation. Above is the short dream animation movie result done at Vaya Studio. When the dream animation gets so good that it fools even professional photographers into believing the original source was film, you know the animators have nailed it. This level of craft work goes far beyond just understanding how to use the software tools, it encompasses a comprehensive understanding of the rules of art, composition, light, and design. The lighting
Read moreCon Found ‘Em
ConFound ‘Em from TheCameraForum on Vimeo. With “Con Found ‘Em,” Performing Artist Suzanne Birrell teaches us the dramatic reality of our modern times. I love you babe! PLEASE RATE THIS STORY! [ratings]
Read moreThe Sony A7R – Day Three
Chuck A7R Report from TheCameraForum on Vimeo. The Sony A7R Day Three Report I am primarily a portrait, music, and event photographer. Since I have never considered myself much of a landscape photographer, I asked Pham Minh Son to join me in testing the A7R for a detailed sunset landscape. Son has lived in this area for several years and knows some good landscape locations. Each with an A7R in hand, we tag-teamed a local Los Angeles area lake just before magic hour. A beautiful location, but spoiled by the proximity to a local airport with the constant aircraft traffic noise
Read moreThe A7R – Day Two
Day Two: I begin testing lenses and learning the camera setting options for the new Sony A7R. The A7R with its high megapixel count should be capable of producing professional level advertising imagery. Does it? Short answer: With the right lens choices, yes it does. The video and all of the still photographs on this page were made using the Sony A7R. To learn a new camera system takes me some period of time. I approach it a bit differently than many. I rarely crack the instruction book until convinced it is a camera worth my time to invest in
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