PhotoActive

Episode 24: Manual vs Automatic Camera Settings

November 9th, 2018  |  31 mins

aperture priority, apple, auto camera mode, cameras, f8 and be there, iphone, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, lenses, manual photography, manual shooting, photo editing, photo organization, photography, podcast, program mode, shutter priority

We (good-naturedly) wade back into the question of “What makes a REAL photographer?” In this case, we’re talking about shooting using entirely manual controls or using the auto or semi-automatic modes on your camera. (Spoiler: Anyone with a camera is a real photographer.) We discuss when each approach works, and the advantages of knowing how shutter speed, aperture, and ISO all work together.

Episode 23: Printing Photos with Rick LePage

November 2nd, 2018  |  33 mins 10 secs

apple, cameras, iphone, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, lenses, photo editing, photo organization, photography, podcast, printing

Do you print your photos? Although we know we should make prints, but getting from screen to paper isn’t always easy. It turns out, though, that printing is much easier today than it used to be. In this episode, we welcome photographer and publisher Rick LePage to talk about printing photos at home, from hardware to paper to inks.

Episode 22: Editing Photos in iOS Apps

October 26th, 2018  |  32 mins 21 secs

We’ve talked about using an iPhone as a camera, but what about as a photo editor? The iPhone and iPad have come a long way since the early models, and they’re now quite capable digital darkrooms. But can you do “real” editing on them? Jeff and Kirk reveal how they use their devices with their photos, and cover some of the top editing apps for iOS.

Episode 21: High Dynamic Range (HDR) Photography

October 19th, 2018  |  32 mins 19 secs

apple, cameras, hdr, high dynamic range, iphone, iphone xs, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, lenses, photo editing, photo organization, photography, podcast

“HDR” used to bring to mind surreal landscapes with garish colors and very few shadows. Fortunately, high-dynamic range photography has matured beyond those early days, and is a useful technique for getting more detail out of any scene. The latest iPhone and other smartphone cameras use HDR liberally to create good shots in all types of situations. We talk about making HDR photos using traditional cameras and techniques and also the new iPhone's computational methods.

Episode 20: The Blur-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named

October 12th, 2018  |  33 mins 37 secs

The recent release of new iPhones that improve the Portrait mode feature spurred us to talk about bok... Kirk can’t say the word. But that’s okay, because neither can Apple VP Phil Schiller (correctly, anyway). Yes, we’re discussing background blur and shallow depth of field, how to get the effect with traditional cameras and lenses as well as the faux version in some smartphones, and why you’d want to in the first place.

Episode 19: Michael Rubin and Classic Photos

October 5th, 2018  |  35 mins 36 secs

arnold newman, black and white, conversation, elliot erwitt, igor stravinsky, magnum photos, michael rubin, photo podcast, photography, podcast

Episode 18: Katrin Eismann on Photographic Literacy

September 28th, 2018  |  39 mins 27 secs

Katrin Eismann has been at the forefront of digital photography from the beginning—literally shooting with earliest-production cameras that, in one case, was tethered to an external hard drive that weighed 12 pounds—which gives her an excellent perspective of where digital photography is today. "Photography is based on technology," she says. "The changes in technology influence the aesthetic and practice of photography."

Episode 17: Prime vs Zoom Lenses

September 21st, 2018  |  33 mins 5 secs

Photographers often focus on cameras, but it’s the lens that can have the most impact on your photos. In this episode, Jeff and Kirk talk glass: lenses. When do you want a prime lens, which has a fixed focal length, and when does a zoom work better? Why are prime lenses often better? And why not just use one zoom lens that hits both wide and telephoto ranges? We sort out an often confusing topic.

Episode 16: Buying and Selling Camera Gear

September 14th, 2018  |  33 mins 13 secs

Do you have a pile of old cameras and lenses stashed in a closet somewhere? Or do you sell your used gear to make way for new goodies? What about buying previously-owned cameras and lenses? This week, Kirk and Jeff talk about buying and selling your photo gear: where to do it, pitfalls to avoid, and more.

Episode 15: Time-Lapse Photography

September 7th, 2018  |  29 mins 57 secs

camera app, how-to, iphone, time-lapse, video

Time-lapse photography can create dramatic short videos - think about clouds zooming overhead throughout the course of a day or flowers blooming in seconds - but creating time-lapse videos turns out to be remarkably easy. In this episode, Jeff and Kirk walk through the process of using the Time-Lapse mode in the iOS Camera app as well as capturing time-lapse photos with traditional cameras.

Episode 14: Chris Marquardt Goes Wide-Angle

August 31st, 2018  |  40 mins 39 secs

chris marquardt, landscape photography, photo book, photo technique, photography, rocky nook, technique, wide-angle

Photographer, podcaster, and author Chris Marquardt just published Wide-Angle Photography (published by Rocky Nook), and he joins us to talk about the time he took only a 24mm lens on a photo tour and fell in love with wide-angle lens photography. We cover composition, thinking in wide-angle terms, and shooting with tilt-shift lenses.

Episode 13: Aspect Ratios and Why They're Important

August 24th, 2018  |  30 mins 3 secs

2x3, 4x3, 5x7, 8x10, aspect ratio, iphone, medium format, photo podcast, photography

Aspect ratios in photography are about more than making prints at 8x10 or 5x7 sizes. In fact, aspect ratio has been key in defining some of the best-known photos in the world. In this episode, Kirk and Jeff talk about why every photographer should understand the importance of aspect ratios.

Episode 12: David duChemin on the Long-Building Vision

August 17th, 2018  |  35 mins 49 secs

"Gear is good, but vision is better," says photographer and educator David duChemin. This week, we talk to David about discovering and developing that vision.

Episode 11: Selective Editing

August 10th, 2018  |  29 mins 18 secs

Most photos can benefit from universal edits to tone and color, but what do you do if just a sky needs to be made more dramatic or you want to add a soft splash of light to a person’s face? In this episode, Jeff and Kirk talk about adjusting specific areas within an image using selective editing tools in apps such as Lightroom, Luminar, and Affinity Photo.

Episode 10: Quintin Lake's Long Photo Walk

August 3rd, 2018  |  44 mins 33 secs

interview

Long walks are great opportunities to bring a camera and make photos—but what about 10,000 km of walking? In this episode, Kirk and Jeff welcome photographer Quintin Lake, who is walking the entire coastline of Britain and taking photos of what he discovers. Our interview talks about the motivation behind Quintin’s The Perimeter project, how it quickly made him realize what gear is essential and what can be left behind, and why ambitious projects like this are worth pursuing.

Episode 9: Instagram for Photographers

July 27th, 2018  |  32 mins 43 secs

cats, instagram, photography

In this episode, we turn our attention to something that often takes too much of our attention: Instagram. It's an annoying time trap filled with hucksters, motivational imagery, and so, so many selfies—while also being one of the world's richest resources for experiencing all kinds of photography.