PhotoActive
A podcast about photography and the Apple ecosystem.
Episodes
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Episode 126: Portfolio Building with William Neill
September 30th, 2022 | 31 mins 9 secs
apple, cameras, iphone, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, lenses, photo editing, photo organization, photo portfolio, photography, podcast, portfolio, rocky nook, william neill
Putting together a photo portfolio doesn’t need to be a daunting task. William Neill returns to PhotoActive to talk about his new book, The Photographer's Portfolio Development Workshop, and share advice on how to edit, organize, and present your best work.
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Episode 125: Gunning the Photonic Engine with the iPhone 14 Cameras
September 16th, 2022 | 38 mins 13 secs
48mp, apple, cameras, cinematic, iphone, iphone 14, iphone14pro, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, lenses, macro, photo editing, photo organization, photography, photonic engine, pixel binning, podcast, proraw, raw
Here we go again: Apple has released the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro, with more camera enhancements including a new 48 megapixel sensor on the Pro. What is pixel binning? Is the Photonic Engine just marketing terminology? Kirk and Jeff break down what’s new…while waiting for the phones they ordered to arrive.
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Episode 124: Food Photography with Lauren Caris Short
September 2nd, 2022 | 39 mins 30 secs
apple, cameras, delicious, food, food photography, iphone, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, lauren caris short, lenses, lighting, photo editing, photo organization, photography, podcast, studio
How do you make mouth-watering photos of food? This week we’re joined by Lauren Caris Short, author of the beautiful new book The Complete Guide to Food Photography to talk about what it takes to be a food photographer. Lighting, food styling, composition... photographing food is a multi-disciplined photo endeavor.
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Episode 123: Learn Your Camera
August 19th, 2022 | 34 mins 42 secs
apple, cameras, iphone, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, lenses, manual, photo editing, photo organization, photography, podcast, rtfm
It’s easy to forget that your camera is more than just a box that records light. It’s a sophisticated computer with a huge amount of control over the light that hits the sensor. In this episode we talk about why it’s important to (gasp) read the manual, experiment with features, and gain a better understanding of the camera’s capabilities. This isn’t just an exhortation to RTFM, but a practical look at what you can get out of it.
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Episode 122: The Photographer's Radar
August 5th, 2022 | 35 mins 46 secs
apple, cameras, iphone, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, landscape photography, lenses, photo editing, photographers eye, photographers radar, photography, podcast, travel
In our last episode, Kirk asked a question that stumped Jeff: While on vacation, did Jeff ever think about not taking a camera with him for a day? Being a photographer of any level means you look at the world a little differently—you develop a “photographer’s eye,” but could that be a detriment? Is it possible to just enjoy one’s surroundings without looking for compositions and dynamic lighting?
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Episode 121: Jeff's European Photo Adventure
July 22nd, 2022 | 40 mins 44 secs
apple, cameras, europe, france, iphone, italy, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, lenses, photo editing, photo organization, photography, podcast, travel
Jeff just returned from two weeks in France and Italy with almost 3000 photos, even though his was a family vacation and not a “photo trip,” per se. From choosing gear to bring and finding time to make photos amid demands of travel and family, it turned out to be an interesting photographic challenge. We talk about what Jeff experienced and learned for the next adventure.
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Episode 120: The Cameras of the Future
June 24th, 2022 | 36 mins 50 secs
apple, cameras, drone, future, iphone, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, lenses, photo editing, photo organization, photography, podcast, prediction, quadcopter, speculation
What do the cameras of the future look like? The ones we use now are vastly different from cameras just a decade or two ago, so it’s reasonable to assume that changes will continue to advance. Jeff and Kirk speculate on what’s coming.
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Episode 119: WWDC and New Apple OSes
June 10th, 2022 | 37 mins 39 secs
apple, cameras, ios 16, ipados 16, iphone, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, lenses, m2, macbook air, macos ventura, photo editing, photo organization, photography, podcast, proraw, raw, watchos 9
Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) wrapped up last week, and with it a lot of news about hardware like the M2-powered MacBook Air and what's coming in macOS Ventura, iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and watchOS 9. In this episode, Jeff and Kirk look at what struck their interest for photographers.
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Episode 118: Scott Kelby's Travel Tips
May 27th, 2022 | 37 mins 53 secs
apple, cameras, iphone, jeff carlson, kelby, kirk mcelhearn, lenses, photo editing, photo organization, photography, podcast, scott kelby, travel, travel photography
Scott Kelby joins us this week to talk about travel photography, using the years of experience he’s gained and now collected into his new book, The Travel Photography Book. We often want to start by figuring out what gear to bring, but Scott makes that point that there are far more important things to consider first.
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Episode 117: John Cornicello on Lens Distortion
May 13th, 2022 | 29 mins 11 secs
apple, cameras, cornicello, distortion, iphone, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, lenses, photo editing, photo organization, photography, podcast
In episode 110, Kirk and Jeff talked about dealing with distortion when you’re editing your photos. Now we’re happy to welcome portrait photographer and educator John Cornicello to discuss distortion when you’re photographing. You know those grids of headshots that demonstrate how wide-angle lenses cause distorted features? They’re wrong, and John explains why.
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Episode 116: iPad Photo Editing
April 29th, 2022 | 32 mins 47 secs
apple, cameras, ipad, ipad editing, ipad pro, iphone, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, lenses, photo editing, photo organization, photography, podcast
Is an iPad good for photo editing? It can be great for slimming your amount of gear on a trip, but what tradeoffs are involved? In this episode, Jeff and Kirk look at using an iPad or iPad Pro in a photography workflow, from importing images to culling and sorting to editing the photos.
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Episode 115: iPhone Camera Tips & Tricks
April 15th, 2022 | 36 mins 35 secs
apple, cameras, iphone, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, lenses, photo editing, photo organization, photography, podcast
Millions of people take billions of photos using the built-in Camera app on their iPhones, so we wanted to do an episode all about the clever and sometimes hidden capabilities of this camera that’s always with you.
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Episode 114: Bryan Jones on Why Color Doesn't Exist
April 1st, 2022 | 40 mins 13 secs
apple, black and white, bryan jones, cameras, color theory, iphone, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, leica, lenses, photo editing, photo organization, photography, podcast, retinal neuroscience
An offhand remark from our guest Bryan Jones when he was a guest on a previous episode stuck with us: “You know color doesn’t actually exist, right?” We had to invite him back to explain! Jones, a retinal neuroscientist, explains that color is really a shared hallucination and talks about how photographers can take advantage of this knowledge.
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Episode 113: Do Photographers Need the Mac Studio?
March 18th, 2022 | 36 mins 36 secs
apple, apple studio display, cameras, hardware, iphone, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, lenses, m1, m1 pro, m1 processor, m1 ultra, mac studio, photo editing, photo organization, photography, podcast, studio display
Apple announced the Mac Studio, a brand new M1-based desktop Mac that smokes the performance of even the Mac Pro. But is it a good machine for photographers? Jeff and Kirk discuss what’s interesting about the Mac Studio and the new Studio Display.
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Episode 112: Dan Bracaglia on Rediscovering Joy
March 4th, 2022 | 35 mins 19 secs
apple, cameras, dan bracaglia, film photography, iphone, jeff carlson, joy in photography, kirk mcelhearn, lenses, photo editing, photo organization, photography, podcast, spark joy
Dan Bracaglia joins us again to talk about that perennial problem: rekindling the joy of photography. Especially in winter, it’s easy to remain uninspired about photography, when in fact we know that there are image possibilities everywhere. We chat about some unusual steps to find fun in photography.
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Episode 111: The Glass App(roach) to Photography
February 18th, 2022 | 35 mins 15 secs
app, apple, cameras, glass app, ipad, iphone, jeff carlson, kirk mcelhearn, lenses, photo editing, photo organization, photography, podcast
Tom Watson and Stefan Borsje created the Glass app as a way to get back to the experience of enjoying photography, without the endless pursuit of engagement metrics and traffic and all the things other apps (cough Instagram cough) do that detracts from it. We talk to them about the Glass approach, the new iPad app, and the upcoming web version.