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Video Tutorials
Controlling Focus: the Scheimpflug Principle
In this video you will learn how to liberate yourself from controlling what is in focus and what is not with only the f-stop. Instead you will be able to place the plane of focus anywhere and at any angle you want by using the “tilt” adjustment of the view camera.
Amateur Photography at the Start of the 20th Century
The invention of the dry plate revolutionized photography and created a new type of photographer: The Amateur. In this video I replicate the experience of being one of those early photographers using dry plates and a camera made in 1902.
Perspective Correction: Distort vs. Perspective Warp
An example of using Photoshop’s Edit:Transform:Distort tool and the Edit:Perspective Warp tool are shown. The difference in the two interfaces is emphasized.
Using Photoshop’s Adaptive Wide Angle Filter
Extreme wide angle lenses, particularly fisheye lenses, add distortion to images. Even in the extreme case of a fisheye lens, Photoshop’s Adaptive Wide Angle Filter can be used to remove essentially all of the distortion. This video will show you how.
Kitchen Sink Photography
Tired of spending all of your time in front of a computer screen? Want to experience the physicality of photography? Want to make unique, hand-made photographs? Don’t want the hassle of a darkroom? Then Kitchen Sink Photography is for you! Episode 1 starts with the simplest thing you can do. Each subsequent episode adds just one additional technique, so you an continue to grow your skill and experiences at a comfortable pace.
Text Tutorials
Fixing Perspective Distortion from a 17mm Lens using the Adaptive Wide Angle Filter
While widely promoted for its ability to straighten lines curved by the distortion of wide-angle lenses. I found it extremely helpful in correcting perspective and removing distortion in faces.
Removing Lens Flare, or Sunrise over Half Dome
A two-frame panorama and selective masking can eliminate lens flare when shooting into the sun.
Impact of mirror lock-up on image sharpness in a DSLR
I’ve known that my SLR cameras have had the capability of locking the mirror in the open position. This feature is intended to allow any vibration caused by shutter movement to die away before the shutter is opened. However, I always believed that the effect would be subtle and have no practical impact on the type of photographs I take.
Until now.
Pinhole Pro and the Optics of Pinhole Cameras
Pinhole Optics Revisited
Pinhole Optics Revisited – the Modulation Transfer Function
In Pinhole Pro I review the Pinhole Pro product, compare a pinhole to a lens and use the product to explore some of the subtleties of pinhole pinhole photography. I eventually get into some pretty geeky physics stuff. I create a model of the optics of a pinhole, which produced pretty good results. Theory and experiment predict an optimum pinhole size for maximum sharpness. But my theory is fundamentally wrong. Turns out I am in the company of some pretty famous physicists in this regard.
In Pinhole Optics Revisited I really geek out and use rigorous optics theory to predicts the performance of a pinhole camera. I predict some strange results: a pinhole camera can resolve some small things better than bigger ones! Guess what? The data shows this effect! I (and everyone else, apparently) overlooked this, because, obviously, it can’t be true.
How to blur an unwanted shadow that is close to the subject
Photographing a subject in a cramped space may result in a sharp shadow on the background. Just bluring the background can result in unwanted colors being introduced. This tutorial shows one way that can be avoided.
Use the Moonscape technique to add drama to photographs of glassware
The Moonscape is a post processing technique similar to the Orton Effect. While usually used on landscape, it can produce dramatic effects when applied to glassware.