Sony’s Alpha A1 – 50 MP stills and 8K video… Sony and Fujifilm released important new camera bodies the week of January 25, 2021. Both flagships, Sony’s Alpha 1 and Fujifilm’s GFX 100S, are expensive cameras that few of us will buy (although each has a market niche among LuLa readers) – but they show us something about where the market is going. Fujifilm ALSO released a … [Read more...]
“I celebrate life”: Rediscovering Ed van der Elsken’s fearless eye
©Ed van der Elsken The daring vision of legendary Dutch street photographer Ed van der Elsken (1925-1990) has been revived in feest, a new book by Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. After acquiring his entire archive in late 2019, the Rijksmuseum and the Nederlands Fotomuseum in Rotterdam put together this remarkable collection, including many forgotten photographs. A … [Read more...]
Its-all-a-blur (Rediscover)
By Michael Reichmann (Editors Note: Bullfights have been banned (thankfully) almost universally and specifically in the town where this was shot since this was first published.) Rider #3. San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. March, 2014 Olympus OM-D E-M1 with Zuiko 50-200mm f/2.8 @ ISO 500 1/10 sec @ f/3.5 This article is about creating impressionistic images of subjects in … [Read more...]
EVOLVING YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY INTO CINEMATOGRAPHY. Episode 05 – Post Production & Conclusion
https://youtu.be/V3Hvt4Ddzcs The goal of this educational series is to provide inspiration on how you can successfully transition your photography into cinematography. Often, when photographers start working with a video camera, they can misplace the voice they’ve worked so hard to develop in photography. The energy of their typical practice somehow … [Read more...]
Edward Burtynsky revisits nature’s innocence in new collection
Natural Order #33, Grey County, Ontario, Canada, Spring 2020© Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto / Flowers Gallery, London The pandemic-era restrictions on travel and social interactions have prompted everyone to adapt, not least photographers, who can't work from home as easily as some. After all, to take pictures, you need subjects, and the … [Read more...]
The Steller’s Sea Eagle – An Ice Age Relic
The Steller’s Sea Eagle is one of the most fierce diurnal birds on Earth, which is why they are such formidable hunters, having tracked prey through several ice ages. Could you imagine a human-sized or even larger raptor similar to the Steller’s Sea Eagle? Well, they existed, and even today, from time to time, we hear of people sighting a thunderbird. The … [Read more...]
The Year in Review, the Year Ahead Part IV – computers, software and services
The Apple M1 chip – is it the big computer story of the year? On the computer side, Apple’s new chips could be incredibly significant, by far the big computer story of the year for photographers – if they can replicate their results with low-power chips as they scale up. Apple has never built a high-power chip, and the fact that they have some extremely impressive … [Read more...]
Year in Review, Year Ahead Part 3 – Lenses and Printing
Diagram of the new Sigma 85mm f1.4 DG DN Art – a typical (and excellent) modern mirrorless lens design We’ve seen a lot of innovation in lenses lately, and I’m looking forward to more this coming year. The full-frame mirrorless mounts are really coming into their own, as Sony fills many of the last holes in their lineup while Canon and Nikon both build theirs. Sigma gets … [Read more...]
Year in Review, Year Ahead Part II – Cameras
Almost certainly the most important camera of 2020 – who’ll release the most important camera of 2021? 2020 was a relatively slow year for cameras, with the (very) notable exception of Canon’s EOS-R5 and R6. We had a couple of small and light cameras for their sensor size, neither perfect, but both pointing in interesting directions. We had a couple of cameras adding … [Read more...]
Year in Review, Year Ahead part 1
Let’s take a long look forward and back – 2020’s Lens of the Year, the Sony 200-600mm f5.6-6.3, has some magnification 2020 has been a strange year for the camera industry – the pandemic has exacerbated trends that were already underway, and there are new trends emerging. We are probably going to lose a camera manufacturer or two (no, not Nikon or anybody else big like … [Read more...]
2020 Visions & New Horrizons
2020 was beyond easy summation. If our loved ones and we are healthy and alive, we can count ourselves lucky and be grateful. Many people lost family members and friends (for various reasons), their livelihood, faith in institutions, or a sense of sense-making. We will claw many of these back in new ways in 2021. I believe a great opportunity to revision how we prioritize … [Read more...]
Wildlife photography on a reasonable budget
Snow Geese over Dead Creek Wildlife Management Area – Sony 200-600mm Many of us who photograph the landscape have always loved the idea of incorporating wildlife into our photographic practice. At the same time, wildlife is an intimidating photographic genre – big lenses that cost as much as a car, exacting focus requirements, incredibly heavy tripods, exotic locations. In … [Read more...]
Happy Holidays from The Luminous Landscape family to all.
Michael Reichmann 2016 From myself, Irene, our girls, the writers, and contributors here, we wish you all a happy and healthy holiday season. Merry Christmas and happy solstice to our loyal members and readers in the photographic community across the world! May the auspicious conjunction of planets and the new year upcoming usher in an empowering time of peace and … [Read more...]
FIELD NOTES FOLLOW-UP: BEHIND THE SCENES
Looking back on the 8-episode documentary series I made for the Luminous Landscape. Over the last eighteen months Luminous Landscape has published a series of documentary shorts about some of North America’s most inspiring landscapes and the photographers that specialize in capturing them. We started with a profile of Charles Martin in the bayous of Louisiana, travelled on … [Read more...]
EVOLVING YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY INTO CINEMATOGRAPHY. Episode 04 (of 5). – Camera Support
https://youtu.be/pIrm9VfdxUU The goal of this educational series is to provide inspiration on how you can successfully transition your photography into cinematography. Often, when photographers start working with a video camera, they can misplace the voice they’ve worked so hard to develop in photography. The energy of their typical practice somehow … [Read more...]
