Proud Photography Blog

Nikon has released a software update for their newly released D3 and D300 Digital SLR’s.
The company has made available “Picture Controls” aiming to emulate the color reproduction of the D2X(s) on the new D3 and D300.
There are three controls, mirroring the original color modes I to III.
These settings may be used as a base point to add further tweaks and should prove a major time-saver to photographers wishing to upgrade their camera bodies and continue with their existing work flow.
The “Picture Controls” are available now via Nikon’s website.
Here are the modifications provided by Nikon :

D2XMODE1
This optional Picture Control simulates color reproduction at a D2X/D2XS Color mode setting of I. Skin tones and gradations are reproduced naturally with rich reproduction of tones.

D2XMODE2
This optional Picture Control simulates color reproduction at a D2X/D2XS Color mode setting of II. This optional Picture Control is suited to images that will be extensively processed or retouched.

D2XMODE3
This optional Picture Control simulates color reproduction at a D2X/D2XS Color mode setting of III. Choose for nature or landscape shots. Greens and blues are vividly reproduced.

The links can be downloaded here:

Windows - DX2 Picture Control for D300
Macintosh - DX2 Picture Control for D300
Windows - DX2 Picture Control for D3
Macintosh - DX2 Picture Control for D3

It is being reported that Pentaxis getting ready to update not one, but two of its DSLR cameras early 2008.Pentax’s K10D and K100D will be replaced by the K20D and K200D.
The new Pentax K20D will include the following features:

  * Pentax Proprietary 14MP CMOS Sensor
    * 14 bit RAW A/D Processor
    * 3″ Live View LCD
    * Improved In-Body Shake Reduction
    * Body Design Similar to K10D
    * Significant Custom Functions (including AF trimming/programming for different lenses)
    * PC Sync

The K100D that is set to be replaced by the new Pentax K200D, will include the following specifications:

* 10MP Sensor from Sony
    * PRIME 12-bit Image Processor
    * 3 FPS (10 Max RAW; Infinite JPEGs)
    * Larger LCD (3 inch?)
    * 11 AF Points
Pantax will officialize everything on January 24th, which is when the company will announce the follow-up to the K10D and the K20D at a press conference.Proudphotography will keep you posted.

The yet-to-be released Olympus’ E-3 DSLR is making quite a stir.
Olympus recently invited the press to Istanbul, Turkey, for the introduction of the long expected successor of the E1.
The professional photographers agreed that after testing that Olympus’ E-3 DSLR under heavy rain that the waterproof construction of the lenses makes it a piece of cake for this camera to function well no matter the conditions.
Under the bad weather circumstances the D-SLR camera was also able to  demonstrate stability and solidness.
It was underlined that an important innovation carried out is the LCD monitor on the back of the camera that is a combination of a 2.5 inch LCD screen with a vari-angle construction which happens to be a joy to work with.
Another great detail is the enlargement of the optical viewfinder with a reproduction area of 100%.
All in all the camera offers features that are of indescribable value to professional and beginners in photography.
The Olympus’ E-3 DSLR is currently priced at $1,700, but availability is not yet known.

Specifications include:
2.5-inch 230k pixel live view display, “World’s fastest autofocus” with 11-point biaxial AF system,Image stabilization, sonic dust cleaning on sensor, shoots up to ISO 3200,3/4 lens mount, takes CF and xD media.

The Guardian’s Prudence Hone revealed some of 2007’s best photography collections. Here are the top five selected:

The first is Steve McCurry’s new collection In the Shadow of Mountains which covers his visits to Afghanistan over the past 30 years, documenting daily life through the ruins nonetheless the book is full with colors.

The second is Mine Eyes Have Seen: Bearing Witness to the Struggle for Civil Rights, done by Bob Adelman, that explains the difficulties faced by black Americans in the mid-20th century with the photos mostly in black and white to stress the contrasts.

Black Britain: A Photographic History by Paul Gilroy gets third place ,it embraces lighter topics from a jolly Jack Straw, Condoleezza Rice and to a football shirt.

An obvious pick is Propaganda: Photographs from the Soviet Archives that lands in number four by Mark Holborn who writes in his introduction:
“If you were to replace the title of this book with ‘Advertising’, it could be reconstructed on the American postwar dream.”

Which leads me to number five which is Ralph Lauren by Ralph Lauren that is mainly one huge advertisement, showing the master-seller’s glamorous campaigns through the years, interspersed with more personal shots of the Lauren family at home or on holiday.

Here are the other photography collections that made it on Prudence Hone’s fancy list:

Song Without Words: The Photographs and Diaries of Countess Sophia Tolstoy by Leah Bendavid-Val
The Faces of World War I by Max Arthur
Africa by Sebastião Salgado
Tribes of the Great Rift Valley by Elizabeth L Gilbert
The Genius of Photography by Gerry Badger
Edward Steichen: Lives in Photography by Todd Brandon and William A Ewing
Women Seeing Women: A Pictorial History of Women’s Photography, edited by Lothar Schirmer
Dior: 60 Years of Style, from Christian Dior to John Galliano, by Farid Chenoune and Laziz Hamani
Lanvin by Dean Merceron
I Love Pictures! by Tim Walker
New York Noise: Art and Music from the New York Underground, 1978-88.by David Byrne, Cindy Sherman, Glenn Branca, and Robert Longo
Tiffany Colored Gems by John Loring

Here is an idea for women who are looking for a great gift for themselves or to share with someone they love.
What about a photography session? A pin-up photography to be precise.
Angela Karen who works in Birmingham has opened her studios for that purpose.
Karen is a photographer specialized in making everyday women look like  glamorous 40’s era models explains:

“Some women work all day and they just kind of have to come out of their shell and play.”
“Its all about the lips and the liner and the eyelashes.”

Karen insists that her start in photography wasn’t with pin-up work, but it evolved towards it as the style became more mainstream again.

One of the photographer’s recent client, a Birmingham businesswoman named Angela Turner who had trendy photos taken of herself said she’d do it again and added:

“I thought how great would that be when I’m 80 years old to have something like that.  I thought it’d be a lot of fun so that’s why I did it,”.

Karen hopes by giving women a chance to get all dolled up and have their picture taken, they will realize how beautiful they really are.

She said that she has always wanted to make women feel beautiful,and as long as she is able to do that she will consider that she has accomplished her goal.

Angela thinks every woman should do it because it’s a unique experience for a lady to look at herself in a new way and see different parts of her personality.

The photography session starts at around $500 a day.

For more information, log on to her website by clicking here.

When you can not leave your house to photograph the beauty of nature due to harsh weather or geographical issues,focus your attention on indoor documentary or still life photography better known as “tabletop.”

Well known photographer Paul F. Moloney explains that you should set up a table to avoid working from your knees.
Then arrange the elements you want in the pictures, and exploit your creative notions.

Moloney reveals that he still employs the basic compositional and lighting practices meaning that you should compose the elements for eyes traveling from left to right to the primary subject.
Paul admits that he personally prefers positioning the light at a 45-degree angle to the subject that will be photographed.
The photographer insists that you should not take his recommendations as rules,you should also explore your ideas and imagination.

When taking still life photographs it is better for the pictures to remain quite simple and close-up.

He advices you to begin with few elements, simple composition and carefully placed light, either electronic or ambient.

The more intense the light you use, the smaller aperture and greater depth of field you can achieve.
The closer the light, the more contrast it gives. The farther it is from your subject, the more diffused, less contrast you will see in your photograph.

Depth-of-field also is an important tool in this type of photography. The closer you are to the subject, the less the depth of field. Distance from your subject increases the depth-of-field.

After understanding the basics, you can integrate more elements into your photos. Multi-element photographs can be very rewarding and exciting for the viewers.

Bill Collins found his old Canon Powershot that was submerged under ice and snow for two years in a Nova Scotia river.
The digital camera retrieved had its body in fairly deplorable shape but the memory card tucked within seemed to be relatively unharmed.
Upon testing it out, the employee found some 300 pictures taken on the day in which Mr. and  Mrs. Collins nearly perished during a canoe accident.
Bill and his wife Lori were canoing in Nova Scotia’s Kejimkujik National Park in 2005 when they capsized, spilling themselves and their belongings into the frigid Autumn waters of Little River.
Collins returned to the park last August to hike and mentioned the incident to Charlie Hearn who is a park maintenance worker.
“We didn’t have any expectation that it would ever be recovered because it was really off the beaten track” Mr. Collins said.
Nonetheless Hearn took it upon himself to find the camera.
Kejimkujik, is a breathtaking national park of Canada in the Maritimes,known for its abundant lakes and rivers ideal for outdoor photography.

The Sigma Corporation recently announced the launch of two new lenses ,the first one is the 4.5mm F2.8 EX DC Circular Fisheye Lens .
It is the first time that the camera company is marketing a true fisheye optic for crop sensors, projecting a circular 180° image onto APS-C sensors.
The new lens provides a focal length of 4.5mm and maximum aperture of f/2.8, HSM silent focusing and SLD low-dispersion lens elements. Pricing and availability are not yet announced.

Specifications include:
Lens construction : 9Groups 13Elements,Angle of view : 180 degree, Number of blades : 6pcs, Minimum Aperture : F22, Minimum Focusing Distance : 13.5cm/5.3in, Maximum Magnification : 1:6, Filter : Insertion-type gelatin filter into rear of the lens, Dimensions(Diameter x Length) : Ø76.2mm X 77.8mm/3in. X 3.1in.,Weight : 470g / 16.6oz.

The other other one is the 10mm F2.8 EX DC Fisheye HSM which is the diagonal variety which squeezes a 180° angle of view into a standard rectangular format.
It captures a true 180° vista only when mounted in front of a Nikon DX sensor.
Nonetheless Canon and Sigma DSLRs users get 167° and 154° respectively.
Additional features include the built-in lens hood and HSM focusing that allow the lens to focus down to 1.8cm (0.7 in),from the front surface of the lens giving a reproduction ratio of 1:3.3.

Specifications include:
Fisheye lens designed specifically for APS-C digital SLR cameras,13.5cm minimum focusing distance and 1:3.3 maximum magnification allows close up photography,Equipped with HSM allowing full-time manual focus override,Equisolid angle projection system is possible for art and scientific use.

EDGE Tech Corp has launched the 12″ Digital Picture Frame with MP3 Player something that could be hot, this holiday season.
The frame measures 13″ x 2″ x 10.5″ with a 12.1″ screen size putting out an 800×600 resolution of your favorite digital photos.
It is equipped with USB connectivity, support for AVI, BMP, JPEG, MPEG1/2/4, WAV and WMA files, and flash card inputs that play nice with SD, MMC, Memory Stick, MS Pro, CompactFlash and Microdrive.
The 12″ Digital Picture Frame also handles automatic slide shows and comes with a set of A/V cables allowing you to hook it up and output your pictures and music to your home entertainment center.
The 12″ Digital Picture Frame with MP3 Player can now be pre-ordered and will be available on November 16th and is priced at $129.95 after a $40.00 rebate.
The EDGE 12″is the one device to have in an office or kitchen that scrolls through your family photos as well as plays back some of your favorite tunes therefore making it the perfect Christmas gift.

Specifications include:
Remote Control:Lightweight, about the size of a credit card,Warranty & support:1 year warranty & toll-free technical support,Computer:Simply insert your memory card or USB flash drive in the back of the Digital Picture Frame,Media:SD Memory Cards, MultiMedia (MMC) Cards, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, IBM Microdrive, and Type I/II Compact Flash (CF) Cards, USB Flash Drive devices.

Zeiss has recently introduced the Distagon T* 2.8/25 ZF-I series which is a new line of high-quality lenses that gives a professional feel to any photographer.
The photography company usually aims at the industrial and scientific sectors nonetheless has decided to now captivate the general  photographic community with their high performance and retro styling.
Zeiss has chosen to release these new optics with Nikon’s F-mount which is considered the most commonly used standard camera adapter in the technical area.
The first available designs will be the 25mm f/2.8, 28mm f/2 and 35mm f/2 and eventually more models will follow.
The Distagon T* 2.8/25 ZF-I series has a satin chrome design and is sealed against dust ingress and water spray.
Additionally the lenses are supplied with five locking screws which enable reliable locking of the adjustments once they have been set.
The Distagon T* 2.8/25 ZF-I. is said to be able to measure inaccuracies and errors are thus reduced, and there is no need to waste time checking the settings.
Prices and availability have not yet been announced .