Let’s talk about Sky Replacement. In some circles, artificially removing the sky in photos and replacing it with a more appealing sky is viewed in a very negative light. Others, specifically landscape photographers, seem to view sky replacement as a necessary evil as you don’t always get the sky you were hoping for, and not everyone has the time to go back to an exotic location for a reshoot. So, who is right? Is sky replacement evil, or is it just another tool in a photographer’s toolbox?
One of the main advantages of smartphone photography is the easy access to all the latest computational photography tools. These tools, often in the form of apps, and sometimes directly built into the smartphone camera itself enable the photographer to enhance images well beyond the capabilities of the hardware. In a modern smartphone these technologies perform minor miracles in taking what would be average to poor image and video quality and raising that bar up to near-DSLR levels. But a major question begs to be asked; how can you use these same computational photography technologies to improve your DSLR photos and why would you want to?
To say the new iPhone 11 Pro camera system is amazing simply does not do it justice. This is a major leap forward in smartphone photography with serious implications for professional photographers.
In my never-ending quest to find tools and techniques that make a real difference in the quality of my smartphone photos I have tried everything from add-on lenses, various photo cases, and even a gimbal stabilizer! Learning the hard way what works, and what is a waste of time and money. In this post, I am going to walk through my top picks for smartphone photography hardware you can purchase right now that makes it easy to up your smartphone photography game.
Ok, I admit it. I’ve always had a total love affair with leading lines. Something about how those lines just pull you in, drawing your gaze into the larger composition, just does it for me every time. Maybe that’s why I tend to enjoy photographing buildings so much! Using the sharp edges of a man made structure to create leading lines is a tempting target when exploring urban environments. So what exactly IS leading lines and why do they work so well?
I’ve never been one to make, never mind stick to, New Year’s resolutions. However, I do like to reflect on the past year and then outline my personal goals for the year ahead. A major difference from past years will be this blog post, in the past I usually shared these thoughts on social media (more on this later). So let’s get on with it…starting with my 2018 retrospective.