Are you taking photos for yourself, or are you feeding the social media algorithms for brief dopamine hits when someone praises your images? In this episode, Kirk and Jeff ruminate on how the endless scroll of images is affecting how we enjoy and make photos. And we ask ourselves: what do we really want to photograph?
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Show Notes:
(View show notes with images at PhotoActive.co)
The joy of taking pictures no one else will ever see: stop feeding the algorithm, Digital Camera World
Snapshots:
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Don’t know what to photograph? No vacation plans? With macro photography, you can get great results literally in your back yard. What was once a style of photography that required specialized gear is now something you can do well with just your phone — though of course there’s plenty of gear available if you want to go deeper into it.
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Show Notes:
(View show notes with images at PhotoActive.co)
I Tried the Nothing Phone 3 and It Definitely Didn't Live Up to the Hype
Macro at Home: My BEST Tutorial for AMAZING Product Photography
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Disclosure: Sometimes we use affiliate links for products, in which we receive small commissions to help support PhotoActive.
Fujifilm’s new X-Half camera is a curious hybrid: a digital camera with analog feel but a modern price. We also discuss news of OM Systems possibly using AI upscaling in future cameras to boost resolution and look at a few changes in the latest versions of Lightroom.
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(View show notes with images at PhotoActive.co)
How to keep your camera safe when using sunscreen and bug spray
OM System Is Considering AI Upscaling as a Solution to Low Resolution Sensors
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It’s the night before you leave for vacation and you need to choose which camera gear goes and stays. Do you reach for the 300mm telephoto, knowing it can get great photos but is large and bulky? Or do you take the smallest camera you can carry to ensure you have it with you at all times? And what else needs to come along? In this episode, Jeff and Kirk think about being on vacation, equipment they’ve taken on past trips, and what they would take now.
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(View show notes with images at PhotoActive.co)
Episode 121: Jeff's European Photo Adventures — PhotoActive Podcast
How the Beatles gave us the CT scan, and what it tells us about innovation - The Long and Short
Snapshots:
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Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference is always the first glimpse at what we can look forward to with new Apple software, including a peek at the photo capabilities of the next iPhones. And with iOS 26 and the Liquid Glass interface, things are going to look a lot different in the fall.
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(View show notes with images at PhotoActive.co)
Subscribe to the PhotoActive podcast newsletter at the bottom of any page at the PhotoActive web site to be notified of new episodes and be eligible for occasional giveaways. If you’ve already subscribed, you’re automatically entered.
If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes/Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast. And don't forget to join the PhotoActive Facebook group to discuss the podcast, share your photos, and more.
Disclosure: Sometimes we use affiliate links for products, in which we receive small commissions to help support PhotoActive.
We know, it seems like we just talked about AI in photography, but the field is moving pretty fast. Google announced improvements to their generative AI models, which are both impressive and sloppy at the same time. We also look at new AI-based landscape masking tools in Lightroom, speculate on what WWDC could bring to Apple’s Photo app, and more.
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(View show notes with images at PhotoActive.co)
Lightroom Landscape AI Masking, Julieanne Kost
Snapshots:
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It’s another photo book! We’re joined by photographer Markus Naarttijärvi and publisher Daniel Agee to talk about Markus’s new book A Surrender. When we last talked to Daniel, he was at photo service Glass, but now he’s struck out on his own to form the publishing company Good Fight, and A Surrender is the first title.
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Guests:
Show Notes:
(View show notes with images at PhotoActive.co)
Subscribe to the PhotoActive podcast newsletter at the bottom of any page at the PhotoActive web site to be notified of new episodes and be eligible for occasional giveaways. If you’ve already subscribed, you’re automatically entered.
If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes/Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast. And don't forget to join the PhotoActive Facebook group to discuss the podcast, share your photos, and more.
Disclosure: Sometimes we use affiliate links for products, in which we receive small commissions to help support PhotoActive.
Quintin Lake traversed the Coast of Britain over several years, photographing and documenting the journey. Now, he’s turned his well-received project into a new photo book called The Perimeter. We welcome Quintin back to PhotoActive not just as a guest, but as an in-person guest with Kirk in his house in the UK.
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Show Notes:
(View show notes with images at PhotoActive.co)
The Book:
The Project:
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The US government has begun to impose high tariffs on goods brought in from nearly every country in the world. Since most camera gear is made in Japan and China, what does this mean for the industry and, more important, for your own purchasing decisions? Since the policies are changing by the day, we decided to release this episode a week early.
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(View show notes with images at PhotoActive.co)
Subscribe to the PhotoActive podcast newsletter at the bottom of any page at the PhotoActive web site to be notified of new episodes and be eligible for occasional giveaways. If you’ve already subscribed, you’re automatically entered.
If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes/Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast. And don't forget to join the PhotoActive Facebook group to discuss the podcast, share your photos, and more.
Disclosure: Sometimes we use affiliate links for products, in which we receive small commissions to help support PhotoActive.
With the bonkers success of the Fujifilm X100VI, it seemed only a matter of time before Fuji made a compact camera based around its GFX medium format line. That’s the recently-announced GFX100RF, a new compact-ish, 100 megapixel, fixed-lens, $5,000 camera. We look at the inventions and the tradeoffs incorporated into this high-res entrant into the compact field.
(Image: Fujifilm)
Hosts:
Show Notes:
(View show notes with images at PhotoActive.co)
Episode 157: Photos at the High End: Hasselblad 907x/CFV 100C
Fujifilm GFX100RF review: one sensor, nine cameras, The Verge
Leica Q3 vs. FujiFilm GFX100RF size comparison, Leica Rumors
Episode 159: Fuji X100VI and the Appeal of Small Fixed-Lens Cameras
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Disclosure: Sometimes we use affiliate links for products, in which we receive small commissions to help support PhotoActive.
Adobe has released Photoshop for iPhone, a bonafide version of real Photoshop, not to be confused with Photoshop Express or other earlier variations. We take a look at this new app with one main question in our minds: Who is this for?
A programming note: Toward the end of the episode we talk about using the Remove tool in Photoshop and Lightroom, but Jeff forgot to take screenshots. When he tried to reproduce the same actions later, he didn’t get the same results as described while we were doing it. So we apologize that we don’t have visuals to accompany what we’re describing.
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(View show notes with images at PhotoActive.co)
Subscribe to the PhotoActive podcast newsletter at the bottom of any page at the PhotoActive web site to be notified of new episodes and be eligible for occasional giveaways. If you’ve already subscribed, you’re automatically entered.
If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes/Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast. And don't forget to join the PhotoActive Facebook group to discuss the podcast, share your photos, and more.
Disclosure: Sometimes we use affiliate links for products, in which we receive small commissions to help support PhotoActive.
Two episodes ago Jeff expressed cynicism about iPhone add-ons that try to make the phone more like a traditional camera. And yet here we are looking at Kirk’s new Leica LUX Grip accessory...and not hating it? Learn about why this could be the camera grip for the iPhone that succeeds where others falter, and how the Leica LUX app does some very smart things in the name of photography.
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(View show notes with images at PhotoActive.co)
Subscribe to the PhotoActive podcast newsletter at the bottom of any page at the PhotoActive web site to be notified of new episodes and be eligible for occasional giveaways. If you’ve already subscribed, you’re automatically entered.
If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes/Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast. And don't forget to join the PhotoActive Facebook group to discuss the podcast, share your photos, and more.
Disclosure: Sometimes we use affiliate links for products, in which we receive small commissions to help support PhotoActive.
On this week’s episode we welcome David Young, photographer and author of the new book A Brief History of Photography: From the Very Beginning to the Age of Digital. It may feel like photography is only a little more than a hundred years old, but the principles of the art, from lens design to chemistry, have been around for centuries. We had a great conversation about things that surprised David while researching the book, the long obsession with ultra-wide apertures, and more.
Author photo courtesy of Alex Hurst (Ireland).
Guest:
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Show Notes:
(View show notes with images at PhotoActive.co)
A Brief History of Photography, by David Young (RockyNook.com). Use code YOUNG40 at checkout for 40% off!
A Brief History of Photography, by David Young (other resellers)
Snapshots:
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Disclosure: Sometimes we use affiliate links for products, in which we receive small commissions to help support PhotoActive.
Photographers love to accessorize their cameras, and the iPhone is no different. A case is one thing, but what about other photo-centric add-ons? Should you buy an extra-wide or telephoto lens that snaps in front of the built-in cameras? What about grips and shutter buttons that make the iPhone feel more like a traditional camera? We weigh in with our opinions and experiences with these types of embellishments. (And Jeff accidentally uses the B-word.)
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Show Notes:
(View show notes with images at PhotoActive.co)
Finding Vivian Maier (documentary)
And here’s the AI-generated ode to microfiber cloths:
Oh humble microfiber, soft and true,
A silent savior in all that you do.
With threads so fine, a wondrous weave,
You banish dust and dirt, make surfaces breathe.
No stain too stubborn, no smudge too sly,
Your magic touch makes grime comply.
From glass to wood, from screen to steel,
You polish and shine with effortless zeal.
A guardian of gadgets, protector of screens,
In your fibers lies the cleanest of dreams.
No harsh chemicals, no wasteful spree,
Eco-friendly warrior, you set us free.
Oh microfiber cloth, so light yet strong,
In your service, we find where we belong.
For every streak erased, every speck undone,
You are the unsung hero of everyone.
So here’s to you, oh fabric divine,
A marvel of science and design.
May your threads endure and ever thrive,
For in your care, our homes come alive.
Snapshots:
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If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes/Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast. And don't forget to join the PhotoActive Facebook group to discuss the podcast, share your photos, and more.
Disclosure: Sometimes we use affiliate links for products, in which we receive small commissions to help support PhotoActive.
The recent devastating fires in Los Angeles have created a lot of fire photography, and some of it compelling both for its content and its artistry. We talk about the challenges of photographing such extreme situations.
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Show Notes:
(View show notes with images at PhotoActive.co)
The Gear Photographer Stuart Palley Uses to Shoot Wildfires, Outside Magazine
Los Angeles Fire and Citizen Journalism, The Daily Edit
Snapshots:
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If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes/Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast. And don't forget to join the PhotoActive Facebook group to discuss the podcast, share your photos, and more.
Disclosure: Sometimes we use affiliate links for products, in which we receive small commissions to help support PhotoActive.
We’ve been looking at various AI-related photography topics in recent episodes, such as using the Clean Up feature in the Photos app to remove unwanted items or the bigger question of “What is a photo?” Now it’s time to look broadly at what AI can offer photographers and where we think it’s going.
Hosts:
Show Notes:
(View show notes with images at PhotoActive.co)
Snapshots:
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If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes/Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast. And don't forget to join the PhotoActive Facebook group to discuss the podcast, share your photos, and more.
Disclosure: Sometimes we use affiliate links for products, in which we receive small commissions to help support PhotoActive.
As we wrap up 2024, we’re realizing our photo libraries have grown quite a bit—in Jeff’s case, almost filling his cloud storage. So as we anticipate some holiday downtime, we’re turning our attention to strategies for cleaning up our photo libraries.
Note that we’re taking the next episode off to celebrate Christmas, so our next scheduled episode is January 10, 2025. Happy holidays!
Hosts:
Show Notes:
(View show notes with images at PhotoActive.co)
Take Control of Your Digital Photos by Jeff Carlson
Take Control Books, publisher of fine ebooks by both Kirk and Jeff (and other authors)
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Our recent discussions of AI and the Photos Clean Up tool have brought us full circle to the bigger question: What is a photo?
Hosts:
Sponsor:
Nitro from Gentlemen Coders
Currently featured by Apple as an “App We Love,” Nitro is the new photo editor and manager for Mac, iPhone and iPad from the developer of RAW Power. And now, Nitro is on sale for the holidays. You can get Nitro for 50% off until December 2nd, 2024, and 20% off after that.
Designed for every photographer and every photograph, Nitro combines flexible storage options, unmatched camera support, and professional editing tools. If you liked Aperture or RAW Power, you’ll love Nitro and its beautiful user interface.
On the editing side, Nitro includes full masking support with AI masks, gradients, and brushes. Remove dust blemishes and other imperfections using Clone and Spot Removal tools. And, just like RAW Power, you can apply raw-specific tone and tuning adjustments. Nitro gives you more control over Apple's RAW decoder than any other app. And, it’s great at editing JPEGs and HEIF images too!
For organizing, your photos can live in Apple’s Photos library or in the file system, with support for XMP sidecars and synchronizing metadata and edits with iCloud Photo Library. Nitro also supports more cameras and formats than Photos, Darkroom, or Photomator, including compressed Fujifilm RAW files and the Nikon HE format. And while comparing shots, synchronize pan and zoom of up to 16 images at a time. Integration with ExifTool on the Mac lets you see and compare all of the metadata in your images.
Try Nitro for free for 7 days without any obligation. No subscription signup, no nonsense.
And remember, you can get Nitro for 50% off until December 2nd, 2024, and 20% off after that.
Check it out at [https://nitrophoto.app](nitrophoto.app).
Show Notes:
(View show notes with images at PhotoActive.co)
Subscribe to the PhotoActive podcast newsletter at the bottom of any page at the PhotoActive web site to be notified of new episodes and be eligible for occasional giveaways. If you’ve already subscribed, you’re automatically entered.
If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes/Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast. And don't forget to join the PhotoActive Facebook group to discuss the podcast, share your photos, and more.
Disclosure: Sometimes we use affiliate links for products, in which we receive small commissions to help support PhotoActive.
Aimless pedestrians wandering in the background of your photo? Trash on the ground in the foreground? Apple can help. In this episode we're looking at Clean Up, the new Apple Intelligence tool in the Photos app that uses generative AI to remove areas of a photo.
Hosts:
Show Notes:
(View show notes with images at PhotoActive.co)
Episode 60: Machine Learning with Andrius Gailiunas and Pixelmator Pro
You Can Use Clean Up with a Clear Conscience, Six Colors
Apple vs Adobe: One is Clearly Better at AI Photo Clean Up, PetaPixel
Subscribe to the PhotoActive podcast newsletter at the bottom of any page at the PhotoActive web site to be notified of new episodes and be eligible for occasional giveaways. If you’ve already subscribed, you’re automatically entered.
If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes/Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast. And don't forget to join the PhotoActive Facebook group to discuss the podcast, share your photos, and more.
Disclosure: Sometimes we use affiliate links for products, in which we receive small commissions to help support PhotoActive.
In our quest to better understand the often-confusing changes and additions to the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro photo situation, we’ve decided to tackle the photo file formats. HEIF, ProRAW, JPEG-XL... there are a lot of options to choose from.
Hosts:
Show Notes:
(View show notes with images at PhotoActive.co)
Subscribe to the PhotoActive podcast newsletter at the bottom of any page at the PhotoActive web site to be notified of new episodes and be eligible for occasional giveaways. If you’ve already subscribed, you’re automatically entered.
If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes/Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast. And don't forget to join the PhotoActive Facebook group to discuss the podcast, share your photos, and more.
Disclosure: Sometimes we use affiliate links for products, in which we receive small commissions to help support PhotoActive.
