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- Face Detection on Digital Cameras: Empty Marketing or Must-Have Feature?September 18 2008
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With all the new models of digital camera releaased at Photokina this week, I’m noticing a trend in the consumer-level digital cameras: face detection on digital cameras seems like it’s here to stay. Designed to automatically recognizes faces in a frame, face detection adjusts the autofocus to keep them as sharp as possible and the exposure to ensure they come out in the final frame. At least in theory. How well does it actually work?
How does it work?
Face detection tehnology is basically just a very specific form of pattern detection. Not all systems work the same way, but most use an algorithm to locate the faces in a frame and give some sort of preview on the LCD screen. Some cameras give you the option to turn off face recognition; others have enough confidence in their algorithm to leave it on all the time.
What are the limitations?
It’s important to remember face detection can’t work miracles. It’s not going to magically change your optics to keep two faces in focus that are dozens of feet apart or compensate for terrible lighting conditions. It’s important not to become overreliant on face detection and forget the principles of good exposure or composition.
How well does it work?
From most studi
- Canon Shooters: Good Low-Light 50mm Lens for Cheap with CouponSeptember 15 2008
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Sorry for the rush of Canon-specific deals lately, but it just doesn’t seem like there are as many good savings out there for users of other systems at the moment.
We talked a while back about 50mm 1.8 lenses as being one of the first upgrades an SLR shooter should get. Optics at 50mm aren’t too difficult for camera manufacturers, so a 50mm lens is usually a cheap and bright addition to the kit lens that came with your camera. It’s particularly well-suited to indoor photography, as the wide aperture lets in several more stops of light than the average kits lens.
Abe’s of Maine has the Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens on sale for $89.95 with free shipping and no sales tax. And if you enter the coupon codes FRIEND10 or LOYALTY10, you can knock another $10 off. At $80, this lens is a great addition to your kit and give you a little more versitility with the light you can shoot in.
- Resizing and Resampling for the Web - How to Best Show Your Work Off OnlineSeptember 12 2008
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There are plenty of good personal photography sites out there, and odds are that if you shoot a decent amount, you’ll want to start a Web site to show off your work as well. But so many personal photography Web sites are ruined by a few mistakes and missteps when editing photos for the Web.
Photographers learn to value quality in a photograph above all else, and that’s why working on the Web can be a frustrating experience: you have to make compromises. In general, resized images for the Web:
- Are less sharp
- Introduce compression artifacts that reduce image quality
Pros will debate very specific editing techniques to prepare photos for the Web, but I wanted to give a guide for beginners. Here are some basic steps you should be following to make sure your images display correctly online.
Choose the right file type.
This goes without saying, but you’d be surprised how often photographers still make this mistake. In 99/100 cases, you should be saving your photographs as JPG files for the Web. JPG is a file type that’s optimized for displaying photography online, and it offers enough compression without compromising image quality.
Chose the right file dimensions.
Full-resolution photographs never cut it on the Web. You’re going to want to downsize considerably. Consider this - the average width of a Web site today is right around 800-900 pixels. Today’s digital cameras are capable of t
- Tips and Business Insight from a Sports Illustrated PhotographerSeptember 8 2008
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We’re back after our end-of-summer vacation, and I wanted to share with you a great blog I found during some downtime in the last week. We’ve linked to the personal blogs of professional photographers in the past, and indeed, this whole blog thing seems to be catching on with the pros. So many photographers are writing blogs and giving great insight that you can learn from as an amatuer shooter.
I don’t think there’s a much more marquee placement in the business than the cover of Sports Illustrated, and David Bergman earned this week’s spot. That’s only one reason you should read his photo blog. The other is that he is generous in sharing a number of his different shots and he isn’t stingy with the details on how he shot them.
Bergman also gives you tons of insight on what it’s like to shoot for one of the biggest magazines in the world, so if you harbor any dreams of being a pro (or just like to live vicariously), check out his articles like this one on the kit he travels with and the burden it often proves to be. Budget it defintitely is not.
- Cheapshooter’s End-Of-Summer Photography Reading ListAugust 29 2008
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Summer’s coming to a close, and fall - with all its gorgeous photo opportunities - is fast approaching. We’re going to be giving you all the guides you need to take better fall photos, but we wanted to give you a reading list for the last of the doldrums of summer. Here’s our slide show of your recommended reading list - hover over it to read my comments and to see the complete list.
Happy reading!