PhotoActive

Episode 158: AI Revisited

February 23rd, 2024  |  35 mins 26 secs

In five years, will our cameras look anything like today’s cameras? We’ve seen staggering advancements in AI technologies in photography, so in this episode we stretch our imaginations to think about where things are headed.

Episode 157: Photos at the High End: Hasselblad 907x/CFV 100C

February 9th, 2024  |  33 mins 10 secs

100mp, 907x, apple, cameras, cfv 100c, hasselblad, iphone, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, lenses, medium format, photo editing, photo organization, photography, podcast

What would you do with 100 megapixels? Jeff recently had the opportunity to shoot with the new Hasselblad 907x/CFV 100C, a medium format camera in the form factor of Hasselblad’s classic film bodies. This $8,200 (body only, of course) system made him rethink the photographic muscle memory he’s developed over the years, as well as the mental-muscle-memory of how to approach making photos.

Episode 156: The Rescue Mission with Derrick Story

January 26th, 2024  |  39 mins 3 secs

aperture, apple, cameras, derrick story, drobo, iphone, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, lenses, peakto, photo editing, photo organization, photography, podcast

It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking the photos on your old hard drives are perfectly safe. But are they really? Our guest Derrick Story needed to extract 200,000 images saved in Apple’s discontinued Aperture software on an old Drobo storage array. Using a combination of an old MacBook that could run Aperture and modern software like Peakto for organizing the extracted images, he was able to restore them all.

Episode 155: Favorites from The Photo Book

December 15th, 2023  |  35 mins 55 secs

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

To wrap up the year, we thought we’d turn our attention to selections from The Photo Book, a massive, rich collection of photography from some of the best photographers throughout the history of the art form. Out of hundreds of images, we each picked five photos and explain what about them caught our eyes.

Episode 154: Lens Blur

December 1st, 2023  |  35 mins 12 secs

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

It’s time to talk about the B-word again! Jeff couldn’t trick Kirk into saying “bokeh,” but this week we’re looking at a few ways to get background blur using Portrait mode in the iPhone and editing in Lightroom. Technology has improved quite a lot in the last couple of years, to the point where simulated bokeh can sometimes pass off as natural lens blur.

Episode 153: M3 Macs

November 17th, 2023  |  38 mins 5 secs

apple, cameras, imac, iphone, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, lenses, m3, mac, macbook pro, photo editing, photo organization, photography, podcast

The photographer’s dilemma rears again. Not only are we sometimes struck by gear acquisition syndrome when new cameras are announced, we run into it when new computers that can process our images come to market. In this case, it’s the new M3 MacBook Pro and M3 iMac models from Apple. Will the M3 processor make a difference when working with photos? If you bought an M1 iMac when it came out, is it time to upgrade? Kirk and Jeff hash it out.

Episode 152: Android and AI

November 3rd, 2023  |  28 mins 9 secs

ai, android, apple, cameras, google, iphone, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, lenses, ml, photo editing, photo organization, photography, pixel 8, podcast

Google’s Pixel phones are held up as the Android smartphones to follow, and their cameras are often pitted against the iPhone as examples of the state of the art. However, as Kirk discovered when he bought a Pixel 8, the details matter... such as the Pixel 8 not being able to use the full resolution of its main camera. Also in this episode, we check in with some new developments in the generative photography world with Adobe’s release of Firefly 2 and GenAI integration in Photoshop.

Episode 151: iPhone 15 Hands On

October 13th, 2023  |  29 mins 14 secs

On the surface, making photos with the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro is relatively simple: pick a zoom level, pick a format (raw or not), and go. But as soon as you get just below the surface, you’re faced with a surprising amount of complexity. In this episode, we wade into all the megapixels (including from the iPhone 14 Pro) to try to make sense of it all.

Episode 150: Episode 150: iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro

September 29th, 2023  |  37 mins 13 secs

apple, cameras, iphone, iphone 15, iphone 15 pro, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, lenses, photo editing, photo organization, photography, podcast, tetraprism

Who wants to talk megapixels and tetraprisms? In this episode, recorded shortly after Apple announced the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro, Kirk and Jeff look at the specs and possibilities of the newest cameras-that-also-make-calls.

Episode 149: Daniel Agee on Glass Year 2

September 1st, 2023  |  40 mins 39 secs

apple, cameras, daniel agee, glass, glass photo, instagram, iphone, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, lenses, photo editing, photo organization, photography, podcast, social media

In episode 111, we talked to the founders of the photo app and community Glass about their approach to making a social photo service that isn’t exhausting or frustrating like Instagram or many others. For this episode, we catch up with Daniel Agee, the head of Marketing and Community at Glass, to talk about Glass’s two year anniversary, eschewing VC funding, and how community is making such a difference.

Episode 148: Creativity with S J Watson

August 18th, 2023  |  33 mins 40 secs

apple, cameras, creativity, iphone, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, lenses, photo editing, photo organization, photography, podcast, sj watson, writing

“With writing I’m trying to use a story to create images, and with photography I’m trying to use images to create a story.” That’s S J Watson, best-selling novelist of Before I Go to Sleep. In this episode we talk to him about how street photography feeds his writing and vice-versa, and the way different endeavors contribute to creative mindsets.

Episode 147: Is Photo Editing Too Difficult?

August 4th, 2023  |  31 mins 27 secs

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

Is photo editing too difficult? Layers and sliders and specialized apps and lots of options are available to us for processing our digital photos. How much is too much, and are we moving away from photography and getting lost in software?

Episode 146: Tea and Coffee

July 21st, 2023  |  40 mins 35 secs

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

When we record PhotoActive, Kirk is at the end of his day in the U.K. and Jeff has just begun in Seattle, which means we both start off with steaming mugs of our favorite caffeinated beverages. For a change, we thought we’d make this the tea and coffee episode, essential ingredients for any photographer.

Episode 145: Kirk Simplifies with One Camera

July 7th, 2023  |  35 mins 45 secs

apple, cameras, iphone, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, leica, leica q3, lenses, photo editing, photo organization, photography, podcast, q3, simplify

He really went and did it. When Kirk decided to simplify his photography setup, he sold all of his Fujifilm cameras and lenses, put the Leica Q2 Monochrom up for sale, and bought a brand new Leica Q3. In this episode, we talk about the reasons behind such a drastic move and the advantages of simplifying your gear.

Episode 144: Wrangling Libraries with Matthieu Kopp

June 23rd, 2023  |  34 mins 33 secs

aperture, apple, avalanche, cameras, conversion, convert, cyme, iphone, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, lenses, lightroom, peakto, photo editing, photo libraries, photo organization, photography, podcast

If you’re like Jeff and Kirk, you probably have multiple photo libraries spread across your disks. Whether it’s because you use several editing apps, or some libraries are tied to outdated applications (RIP Apple Aperture), you don’t want to lose track of all those photos. This week, Matthieu Kopp of CYME joins us to talk about converting and managing multiple libraries using CYME’s utilities Avalanche and Peakto, and why both tasks aren’t as simple as you might think.

Episode 143: Mike Shaw Wants You to Enjoy the Stars

June 9th, 2023  |  37 mins 22 secs

apple, astrophotography, cameras, iphone, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, lenses, mike shaw, night sky, photo editing, photo organization, photography, podcast, rocky nook

The weather is warming up, the skies are clearing, and we point our eyes and cameras to the sky. But capturing the night sky well requires more than just snapping a photo of the heavens. Mike Shaw, author of the new book The Beginner’s Guide to Astrophotography, joins us to talk about what gear you need—yes, you can do it with a smartphone!—and how to make stunning star photos.