Mesmerizing Long Exposure Photos of Traffic Lights in the Fog

Fine Art photographer Lucas Zimmermann‘s long exposure photographs of traffic lights in the fog are oddly satisfying. At once creepy and serene, his 2013 series Traffic Lights and this month’s follow-up Traffic Lights 2.0 are both worth checking out.

It’s not always a creative idea or “epic” endeavor that produces great fine art photography. In fact, it might be argued that some of the best fine art photos make magic out of the mundane. Traffic lights in a dark corner of Weimar, Germany, for instance.

Each of Zimmerman’s photos are the product of a 5-20 second-long exposure and some color temperature adjustments in post to alter the colors. Here’s a selection of our favorite photos from parts 1 and 2 of the series:

To see all of the images in Zimmermann’s Traffic Lights series or check out the rest of his work, check out his website or give him a follow on Behance, Facebook, and 500px.

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Image credits: All photographs by Lucas Zimmermann, used under CC license.

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Canon 5D Mark IV vs Nikon D810 vs Sony A7R II: Side-by-Side Comparison

If you’re in the market for a high-end full-frame camera, chances are good the Canon 5D Mark IV, Sony A7R II, and Nikon D810 are all contenders. Check out this side-by-side comparison if you’re having a hard time deciding which of the three is best for you.

This comparison was put together by JP Morgan over at The Slanted Lens, who enlisted the help of Kenneth Merrill to put all three of these cameras through their paces using native glass. They tested image quality, autofocus accuracy and tracking, dynamic range, and high ISO/low light performance to see where each camera excelled, or if there’s even a noticeable difference.

You should definitely check out the full video to see the comparison tests and judge the results for yourself, but if you’re in a hurry, you can read our summary below.

Image Quality

Canon really fell short here, but then again it’s also the lowest resolution camera of the bunch at just 30.4MP compared to Nikon’s 36.3MP and Sony’s 42MP. Both the Nikon and Sony came out very sharp, but each exposed the scene a little differently, and the lower res Nikon seems to have generated the highest quality image.

Autofocus

Sony won tracking hands down thanks to the plethora of AF points going all the way to the edge of the sensor and its nifty Face Detection mode. As far as accuracy, Nikon seems to hit the mark more accurately than Canon (the Sony had to sit this test out).

Dynamic Range

Sony takes another win here, bringing in the most detail in the shadows and highlights. More, even, than the Nikon. Is this difference really noticeable in real-world application when you’re pulling RAW files into post? Probably not…

Low Light

In the last test of the day, JP and Kenneth pushed each camera’s ISO to see where the image started to really break down.

All of the cameras held up well to 1600 or even 3200 ISO, but broke down differently beyond that. Canon got noisier sooner, but the noise was more pleasing, giving the image the look of film grain rather than digital noise. Sony added contrast and held up really well right up until it started banding, and Nikon created the most “contrasty” images of the bunch.

Ultimately, it seems like Canon, despite being the newest and most expensive of the three, fell short of Nikon, Sony, or both in every test Slanted Lens put forward. There’s no overall winner here—your choice will (or should) be dictated by preference and how you intend to use it—but there may be an overall loser.

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This Designer Created Adobe-Inspired Chocolates to Win Potential Clients

As a professional photographer, getting noticed by potential clients means getting creative. Don’t just send out postcards or basic mailers to the art directors you want to work with; take a leaf out of designer April Hansen‘s playbook instead.

In a bid to stand out from the competition, Hansen created these fun Adobe-inspired chocolate bars that ensure no interviewer or potential client will toss her CV or mailer onto the “get to it when I can” pile.

The delicious business cards bars are Ritter Sport chocolate bars with custom-made Adobe-inspired icons attached to the front and back. The chocolate bars are transformed into Photoshop (“PSst we’d make great work together”), Illustrator (“I always AIm to exceed expectations”), and InDesign (“I’D love to work with you”) icons with Hansen’s contact info and skills listed on the back as nutrition information. Take a look:

This fun project was published way back in May on Hansen’s Behance, and we’re betting she’s already had some luck finding work. But even if she hasn’t, the press her creative idea is getting this week is bound to help.

To see these chocolate bar creations in high res, head over to Behance by clicking here.

(via My Modern Met)

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Image credits: All photos by April Hansen, used under CC license.

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Quick Tip: Use Lightroom to Figure Out What Your Next Prime Lens Should Be

Have you ever asked yourself what the best focal length for your first (or your next) prime lens should be? If you use mostly zoom lenses, Adobe Lightroom may be able to help.

In Lightroom, select the top folders containing all your pictures. Then open the Grid view in the Library module and select Metadata in the Library Filter bar on top of the grid. This will show you a couple of columns with selected metadata that you can filter for.

Next, you might have to change the displayed metadata by clicking on a column’s header. In the end you should have one column displaying the lens model, and a second column displaying the focal length like in the screenshot below.

From the list of lenses, select a lens with a broad zoom range that covers typical focal lengths—typically your most used everyday lens. In the example here, I have chosen the Canon EF-S 15-85 mm IS USM, which is a great general purpose lens for APS-C crop cameras.

In the column displaying the focal lengths you see how many pictures were taken at which focal length for the selected lens; in my example, we see a few focal lengths that are assigned to a significant higher amount of pictures than other focal lengths.

Naturally, the lower and the upper end of the focal length range can be ignored. You hit the lower end each time you want to have more on your picture and would have needed an even wider lens; however, it was not available at your hand at that time or you just might have been too lazy to change the lens. Same for the upper focal length, where you would have zoomed in more, if more focal length would have been available.

Ideally, you would do this test with a lens that offers a focal range like 8-500mm… if this lens existed.

To visualize the distribution of used focal lengths with the selected EF-S 15-85mm I’ve created a chart that omits the lower and upper ends of the focal length range:

As you can see there are three obvious spikes at 24mm, 35mm, and 50 mm. Coincidentally (or not?) these are standard focal ranges for prime lenses. However we are still talking about APS-C, so let’s convert these focal lengths to their full frame equivalents:

So at full frame we see spikes at the most popular focal ranges I use are:

• 35mm, which is the standard focal length for street photographers.
• 50mm, which is considered as the perfect normal focal length and the focal length of the most popular prime lens, the nifty fifty.
• And, finally, 75mm, which is close to 85mm as a flattering focal length for portraits.

Still coincidence? Maybe not.

As a last step, click on the focal length you want to examine more and Lightroom will show you what kinds of pictures you’ve taken at this focal length.

Depending on your shooting style, your distribution of used focal lengths might look different than mine. That’s the point. It will help you determine the focal lengths you use most—a good candidate for your first (or next) prime lens.

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About the author: Carsten Schlipf is a German software developer and amateur photographer. You can find his work and more of his musings on photography on his website. This post was also published here.

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