Photophys.com: The Science of Photography

I was motivated to get the iPad by an article in dpreview.com.  Now after using the iPad for several months, I have some comments.  It is slick, and it does some things well, but overall I am disappointed.[Read More]

This question is often directed to me. Long time readers of this blog will recall that a couple of years ago I produced and sold an eBook edition here. When SCP was sold to A.K. Peters, Ltd., I had to stop selling my eBook version.[Read More]

My review of 500px last week was generally positive, but still it did not do justice to the site. What I missed, and what should be emphasized is the importance of the concept of “community.” When some of my first uploads were only viewed a few times and received relatively few positive votes, I was disappointed. Then some of my more successful shots started receiving comments, and I was prompted to examine the galleries of the commenters. That was a revelation. I found that other nature photographers were reaching more viewers and generating higher ratings than I was with images not obviously better than mine.[Read More]

I welcome reviews of SCP. Reviews from experts are the most helpful to me, but I also learn from readers with different backgrounds and expectations. However, this week an Amazon.com reader listed the book as “Good but lacking” and proceeded to say that “…there is nothing in the book covering aperture or depth of field.” This is so amazing to me that I must comment. [Read More]

500px is not like SmugMug, Flickr, etc. It is a place to get immediate feedback on your uploaded images, and to show your work with great colors and resolution. What the founders want is the best of your best and your portfolio of winners. [Read More]

The trip: After hearing nature photographers rave about the beauty of southern Utah for years, we finally got around to visiting in April. Fortunately, I got a copy of Laurent Martrès’s book, “Photographing the Southwest, Vol. 1,” and we were able to do some planning before setting out. [Read More]

This is a repeat listing.  A list of corrections can be found here.  A complete set of high-resolution photographs can be seen in this slide show.

Forget equivalent, forget crop factor, none of that matters. Just measure the size of the image of an object on your camera’s sensor or film. Use height, width, or any other dimension you like. Then measure the size of the object you photographed. Divide the size of the image by the size of the object and voilà, you have the magnification.[Read More]

The recent announcement from Lytro about their plenoptic consumer camera has stirred up a lot of interest.  However, from the comments in various forums I see that there is confusion about what it is, and what it is not.  This has prompted me to prepare a short (2 page) article describing how such plenoptic cameras work.  It can be accessed here:

Shoot now, focus later - is it for real? (167 KB)

In the February 28 blog I revealed my interest in panoramas and mirrors. Since that time, I have had a few failures and have learned about how to make more robust panoramas. Now I would like to comment on my experiences and to display couple of new results.[Read More]

A mind boggling solar-lunar image is displayed here. The artist is Chris Kotsiopoulos, and his site www.Greeksky.gr is a wonderland of exciting photography. It pushes all the right buttons for those who love art, photography, science, and history. Chris has the knowledge and the photographic equipment, some of it specially modified for his projects, to capture stunning images. Furthermore, he is willing to work 30 hours in a stretch to get all the images necessary for a unique panorama in time and space. Enjoy!

It is easy to get into a rut. Each year I get out my telephoto lenses and photograph seasonal birds, or I switch to wide angle lenses and capture scenes at familiar places. But often I reject all of the recent images because none of them are exciting, and they are no better than those I got in previous years. I get the feeling of “been there and done that,” and I need a change. Nature always provides a great experience, but maybe I should capture it a different way this year. There are a lot of possibilities I hope to explore. My “to do” list contains 3D, time-lapse, video, and extreme panoramas. At present I am concerned with the latter in the form of virtual reality (VR) or immersive photography. This is not a new method and there are many commercial applications, but it is not a common technique for the capture and display of nature photographs.[Read More]

Glacier, Yellowstone, and Grand Tetons NPs are wonderful places and are especially good for photo shoots. We visited them again in September, 2010. Unfortunately, we were rained and snowed out at Glacier and only had one partly cloudy afternoon at Logan Pass. We hiked around looking for Mountain Goats and didn’t find them. However, when we returned to our car in the late afternoon there they were. The angle and lighting were not good for photography, but I still got a few shots. Here is one up close.[Read More]

Because of conflicting fonts, the equations in SCP had to be reentered by the publisher.  That process resulted in a few errors, and in spite of intensive proofreading a very small number of errors remain.  A typo has been found in equation 7.4 on page 29 where "=" and "+" were exchanged.  Also, on page 33 (second column, line 15 from bottom) the first "-" should be replaced with "=".  The updated list of corrections can be found here.

When traveling in the west, I have on several occasions visited Thomas D. Mangelsen’s photo galleries and have marveled at his panoramas of landscapes and wildlife.  These photographs were taken with a Fuji GX617 film (120 or 220) camera.  So the question for me was how to replicate such images at high resolution with my DSLR.  The short answer is to put the DSLR in the portrait orientation and take a number of shots that can be stitched together.  However, for this to be successful and reproducible more planning is required.  I have worked out a procedure complete with step angles and number of shots for efficient capture of 6x17 panoramas with any 2:3 aspect DSLR on a panoramic tripod head.  My discussion and directions can be downloaded here:

High-resolution 6x17 panorama without wasted pixels (pdf:151 kB)