Category Archives: Photography

Datacolor has announced its next-generation monitor colour calibrators – the Spyder X2 Elite and the Spyder X2 Ultra bringing better sensor performance and a new user interface.

According to Datacolr, the new user interface of the X2 software is cleaner and more straightforward for users of both the X2 Elite and X2 Ultra.

There are recommended calibration presets for novice users while experienced users may wish to use the advanced calibration features, including Video & Cinema targets (Rec. 709, Rec. 2020), Advanced Display Mapping & Analysis, Unlimited Calibration Settings and Studio Match for multiple, side-by-side display calibration.

While the Datacolor Spyder Elite X2 is designed for use with standard monitors, the Spyder X2 Ultra is suitable for calibrating HDR/high-brightness monitors up to 2000 cd/m2 (nits). This makes it a good choice for photo and video use, as well as for calibrating TVs and projectors that are connected to a computer to display HDR/high-brightness images or video.

However, the Spyder X2 Elite can be upgraded (for a fee) to enable it to use the Spyder X2 Ultra software to calibrate HDR/high-brightness screens.

Casey Krugman, Datacolor’s Product Manager said, ‘We’ve designed the Spyder X2 platform, with its re-engineered software and expanded sensor capabilities, to be inherently agile and adaptable to HDR/high-brightness monitor advancements across a variety of digital imaging industries. This helps ensure our users that our products are positioned to grow with them and seamlessly adapt to ever-changing technologies.’

Datacolor Spyder X2 Ultra and Elite price

The Datacolor Spyder X2 series calibrators are available now, price $269.99/£249 for Spyder X2 Elite and $299.99/£299 for Spyder X2 Ultra.

As a professional photographer, your website is your online portfolio. It’s the first impression potential clients will have of your work. But with so many photography websites out there, how can you make yours stand out from the crowd?

In today’s digital age, having a website is essential for any business, including photography. It’s not enough to simply have a website; you need to have a site that is visually appealing, easy to navigate, and showcases your work in the best possible light.

Creating a professional photography website that stands out can be a daunting task, but it’s not impossible. With the right tools and techniques, you can make your website shine brightly and attract more clients. In this article, we’ll explore the key elements that make a successful photography website and provide tips on how to make yours stand out from the rest.

Plan The Design of Your Photography Website

A well-planned design can help you showcase your photography in the best possible way, making it easier for potential clients to appreciate your work and make a decision to hire you.

When planning the design of a photography website, there are several key factors that should be considered in order to create a visually appealing and user-friendly site. The overall layout and design of the website should be carefully considered. This includes selecting an appropriate color scheme, typography, and images that reflect the style and brand of the photographer.

Research what other professional photographers’ websites look like and how they’ve structured the layout of their platforms. Then write down all the elements you want your website to have and plan ways to incorporate your ideas into your designs.

You can use mood boards, spider graphs, or even write down your thoughts in bullet point lists to streamline the process.

Choose the Right Platform and Template

Choosing the right platform and template is crucial when designing a photography website because it can greatly impact the overall user experience and the success of your business.

Various platforms and templates offer different features and functionality. Depending on your needs, you may require specific features such as galleries, slideshows, or e-commerce capabilities.

Choosing the right platform and template that offers the necessary features can help you showcase your work effectively and sell your services or products efficiently.

Your website should reflect your brand and style. Choosing a platform and template that aligns with your brand identity can help you create a cohesive and professional online presence.

Find a Reputable Hosting Service Provider

No matter what platform you’ve chosen to create your website on, you’ll need the assistance of a reputable hosting service.

The hosting service can directly impact the loading speed of the website, which is crucial for user experience and search engine optimization. A slow website can lead to a higher bounce rate, meaning visitors will leave the site before fully exploring it, which can negatively impact the website’s search engine rankings.

A good hosting service should provide reliable uptime, meaning the website should be accessible to visitors at all times. Furthermore, the hosting service you choose should offer adequate storage space and bandwidth, especially for a photography website that requires high-resolution images.

The best option for photographers is Bluehost, especially if you’ve chosen WordPress as your preferred platform. You can learn more on Bluehost Hosting through online reviews, testimonials, or researching what the service provider offers on their website.

Showcase Your Portfolio Effectively

As a photographer, your portfolio is one of the most important elements of your website. It showcases your skills, style, and creativity to potential clients and demonstrates your ability to produce high-quality images. Therefore, it’s crucial to showcase your portfolio effectively on your photography website.

A well-organized and visually appealing portfolio can help potential clients quickly identify your specialties and areas of expertise. It can also help them understand your style and the overall quality of your work. This can make a significant impact on their decision to hire you for their photography needs.

Consider placing your portfolio in categories. For example, category tabs for weddings, wildlife, models, or contemporary photos and place all your images under the correct tabs. This will make it easier for clients to find images specific to what they’re looking for.

Implementing E-commerce Options for Selling Prints and Products

Implementing e-commerce options for selling prints and products provides a platform for photographers to monetize their work and generate revenue. By offering prints and products for sale, photographers can turn their passion into a profitable business.

E-commerce options also provide convenience for customers who may want to purchase prints and products directly from a photographer’s website rather than having to go through a third-party vendor or physical store.

An online shop can help photographers establish their brand and build a loyal customer base. If photographers provide high-quality prints and products, they can create a positive reputation and gain repeat customers who trust and appreciate their work.

Final Thoughts

Creating a professional photography website is essential for any photographer who wants to showcase their work and attract potential clients. With a well-optimized website that shines brightly, photographers can take their careers to the next level and stand out in a competitive industry.

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Lexar has launched its latest product – the Lexar FLY microSDXC UHS-I Card. The performance of this card is specifically designed for drone and action camera enthusiasts, allowing users to capture, playback, and transfer media files, including Full-HD and 4K UHD videos, with write speeds of up to 90MB/s.

The Lexar FLY microSDXC UHS-I Card delivers read speeds of up to 160MB/s, ensuring quick offloads, and is available in capacities of up to 256GB, providing ample space to capture all your adventures in high-quality media files. Additionally, the card is rated Class 10, UHS Speed Class 3 (U3) and Video Speed Class 30 (V30), offering stable write speed performance, ensuring smooth and efficient recording without any dropped frames.

The card is designed for durability, even in harsh conditions, making it an ideal choice for adventurers, content creators, and drone enthusiasts. The card is shock-resistant, withstanding up to 200G (1961.33m/sec^2) 3ms and 150G (1471.00m/sec^2) 10ms, from X.Y.Z, 3 directions/3 times each.

Joey Lopez, Director of Brand Marketing at Lexar, stated, “The Lexar FLY microSDXC Card is the perfect choice for adventurers, content creators, and drone enthusiasts, specifically made to endure the elements during drone and action-cam photography. With capacity options up to 256GB, users will have plenty of storage space to capture all their adventures, explorations, competitions, and more.”

The Lexar FLY microSDXC UHS-I Card is available for purchase online at Adorama, B&H, and Beach Camera, with an MSRP of $28.99 for 256GB, $17.99 for 128GB, and $13.99 for 64GB.

The Lexar FLY microSDXC UHS-I Card is an excellent addition to the flash memory solutions market. It offers reliable performance, high-speed data transfer, and durability in harsh conditions, making it an ideal choice for drones and action camera enthusiasts.

For more details check out lexar.com

The Los Angeles Times Monday collected a pair of Pulitzer Prizes — the pinnacle of achievement in journalism — for its breaking news coverage of the City Council racism scandal and for Christina House’s feature photography documenting a homeless woman living alongside the Hollywood Freeway.

The newspaper’s staff was also named a Pulitzer finalist for local reporting for its coverage of the impacts of marijuana legalization in California.

“These prizes reflect careful, sophisticated, nuanced reporting and photography on complex topics important to Angelenos: power, representation, race relations, homelessness,” Times Executive Editor Kevin Merida said in remarks reported by the paper. “The awards are a testament to the consistent high quality of L.A. Times journalism. I am very proud of the winners and of the entire staff.”

It is the fifth year in a row the Times has won at least one Pulitzer. It’s the seventh time the Times has been honored for breaking news coverage, more than any other media organization, according to the paper.

The year’s breaking news prize was awarded to the paper for its coverage of the scandal that erupted at City Hall following the release of an audiotape of a racially charged conversation involving three council members discussing upcoming redistricting efforts. The release of the tape prompted the resignation of then-Council President Nury Martinez and prompted vocal cries for the resignations of council members Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León. Cedillo quietly left the council at the end of his term late last year, but de León has resisted resignation calls and continues to hold his seat.

The scandal has led to an ongoing effort to overhaul the process of City Council redistricting.

House received the Pulitzer in the feature photography category for her work telling the story of Mckenzie Trahan, a 22-year-old homeless and pregnant woman living beneath the freeway. She documented the woman’s struggles living in a tent through her pregnancy, along with the birth of Trahan’s daughter.

The post LA Times collects Pulitzers for breaking news, feature photography appeared first on Hey SoCal. Change is our intention..

The Los Angeles Times today won its 50th and 51st Pulitzer Prizes. The Times staff received the Pulitzer for Breaking News Reporting and Staff Photographer Christina House received the Pulitzer for Feature Photography.

The staff of The Times won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News for its reporting on a leaked audio recording that exposed L.A. City Council members making racist comments and plotting to consolidate power during the redistricting process. Coverage of the scandal began with a story by David Zahniser, Julia Wick, Benjamin Oreskes, Dakota Smith and Gustavo Arellano and grew to include reporters and departments from across the newsroom. The judges noted that they awarded The Times for “revealing a secretly recorded conversation among city officials that included racist comments, followed by coverage of the rapidly resulting turmoil and deeply reported pieces that delved further into the racial issues affecting local politics.”

The Times’ House won in the Feature Photography category for her work on Hollywood’s Finest, a collaboration with Times Reporter Gale Holland and videographer Claire Hannah Collins that chronicles the journey of a pregnant woman living on the streets of Los Angeles. As the judges noted, House’s photojournalism provided “an intimate look into the life of a pregnant 22-year-old woman living on the street in a tent – images that show her emotional vulnerability as she tries and ultimately loses the struggle to raise her child.”

L.A. Times Photographer Christina House, center, is applauded by Times Reporter Gale Holland, left, videographer Claire Hannah Collins, right, and newsroom staff after winning the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

In addition, The Times staff was recognized as a finalist in the Local Reporting category for the series Legal Weed, Broken Promises which examined California’s dysfunctional and corrupt recreational cannabis market, and exposed regulators’ failure to protect the state’s cannabis workers. Following reporting by Paige St. John, Brian van der Brug, Marisa Gerber, Adam Elmahrek, Ruben Vives, Robert J. Lopez and Kiera Feldman, state lawmakers began incorporating measures to address the investigation’s findings in proposed legislation.

Today’s announcement marks the fifth year in a row that The Times has won at least one Pulitzer, and the outlet has now won seven breaking news Pulitzers, more than any other news organization.

The complete list of Pulitzer Prize winners and finalists can be found at pulitzer.org. For a listing of Pulitzer Prize-winning work from The Times, visit latimes.com/pulitzers.

My name is Masha Sardari and I am 18 years old. I am a self-taught, fine art photographer and I have been creating art since January of 2010. I began with a 365-day project that challenged me to capture a photograph every day for a year. As the year progressed, I developed my own style involving a square format, deep colors, and mysterious events. At first, my work included mostly self-portraiture, but eventually, I incorporated other models. This shift allowed for additional freedom as I was able to manipulate composition and concepts more effectively.

I draw inspiration from a number of sources from childhood memories to Renaissance paintings. My photography includes painterly effects and psychologically oriented lighting to create high drama and tension. My photography provides a window into the inner world of my mind.

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You can find Masha Sardari on the Web:

Copyrights:
All the pictures in this post are copyrighted to Masha Sardari . Their reproduction, even in part, is forbidden without the explicit approval of the rightful owners.

• In Womanhood, dancer Xie Yin shares her journey of self-discovery, while GisEle Tchitchiama presents multimedia art exhibition Luminaria
• Xyza Cruz Bacani’s A Mother’s Day Exhibition photography show looks at the struggles faced in Hong Kong by migrant domestic workers who are mothers

Being a dancer gives Xie Yin more reason than most to keep tabs on how her body has changed over the years. For this year’s Mother’s Day, the Hong Kong-based choreographer is presenting her journey of self-discovery in a new work.

Womanhood, described as “a dance of ‘herstory'”, will be performed by four female dancers from the Hong Kong Dance Company (HKDC) from May 12 to 14 at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui.

“I have experienced pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding and nurturing, and have seen various changes to my body during the repeated trials of endurance,” Xie says.

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.

A former assistant artistic director of the HKDC who recently became a freelance choreographer, Xie says she wants to explore these transformations and the lives of everyday women.

© Provided by South China Morning Post
Lam Yin-yi, one of the dancers in

The idea for Womanhood was shaped by her involvement in “As Flower, As Mother, As Water”, a 2020 research project by Hong Kong theatre director Ho Ying-fung comprising interviews with 100 mothers from different socioeconomic backgrounds.

Xie was deeply touched by the conversations. “After listening to the stories of more than 20 mothers, I understood that their descriptions of the mundane and trivial occurrences of daily life are actually a vivid portrayal of everyone’s lives,” she says.

‘This essay has influenced a lot of artists’ – and 2 Hong Kong gallerists

The dancers in Womanhood are no exception.

“There are no heroines with strong martial arts skills, no gentle beauties and no exquisitely gorgeous women,” she says.

“They will choose things from their lives that they may have forgotten, and use their dialogues, bodies and words to respond to the most ordinary things in daily life.”

For details visit Hong Kong Dance Company’s website

© Provided by South China Morning Post
A migrant domestic worker walking in high heels in Hong Kong, in a photo from Xyza Cruz Bacani’s

Photo exhibition puts migrant mothers in the picture

Hong Kong has more than 350,000 migrant domestic workers, most of them Filipinos and Indonesians, many of whom have left their children behind.

Xyza Cruz Bacani has experienced first-hand the struggles they face. Bacani was eight when her mother, Georgia, left her family in the Philippines to find work in Hong Kong. Bacani followed in her footsteps, working as a domestic helper in the city for almost a decade before carving out a career as a photographer.

As a tribute, Bacani is hosting “A Mother’s Day Exhibition” at Gig, the exhibition and event space at the Ovolo Southside hotel in Wong Chuk Hang, from May 12 to 14. Focusing on migration and motherhood, the exhibition – with support from the Hong Kong NGO PathFinders – comprises photographs from Bacani’s photo book, We Are Like Air, the title a reference to how the city’s domestic workers are not always seen.

© Provided by South China Morning Post
Award-winning photographer Xyza Cruz Bacani worked as a domestic helper in Hong Kong for almost a decade. Photo: courtesy of Xyza Cruz Bacani

“I’m grateful to the migrant community for allowing me to be the conduit for their stories,” Bacani says. “It is a healing process, and it bridges the gap created by years of separation.”

Bacani hopes her photographs will bring mothers and children closer together and foster better communication “so that they may never feel alone”.

Catherine Gurtin, chief executive of PathFinders, says We Are Like Air pays tribute to the sacrificial love of mothers who are migrant domestic workers. “It also pays tribute to the courage of the children they leave behind, who grow up without their mothers by their side,” Gurtin says.

© Provided by South China Morning Post
Migrant domestic workers have been helping Hong Kong for the past 50 years. Photo: Xyza Cruz Bacani

“It has been 50 years since [migrant domestic workers] entered our homes in Hong Kong, making significant contributions to countless families across our city. We hope this exhibition will inspire a greater sense of gratitude, appreciation and care for this often invisible workforce.”

Bacani will attend the event to sign copies of her book.

Tickets, sold through Eventbrite, start from HK$100 and include entry to the Affordable Art Fair, which starts May 18.

© Provided by South China Morning Post
An artwork from Gisele Tchitchiama’s exhibition

Creative chain reaction results in multimedia show

In summer 2022, Hong Kong-based French painter and collage artist GisEle Tchitchiama took a photo while travelling from France to the British town of Dover.

The blurry landscape image set off a creative chain reaction. First, it inspired a song. Later, Tchitchiama worked with filmmaker Joanna Bowers to create a short film around the song. Then Laurent Perrin, assistant principal cello with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, wrote a score for the film.

Together they have created the multimedia exhibition “Luminaria”, which “frames a quest for illumination through encounters with light, fragility and the ephemeral” and runs from May 5 to 17 at Hart Haus in Kennedy Town.

© Provided by South China Morning Post

Tchitchiama says her artistic collaborators understand the delicate emotional landscapes of her vision. She adds that her multiple identities – French, African, woman, wife, mother, daughter – all influence her creative process.

“Being a mother and an artist is having the privilege to witness and embrace the dimensions of what creation means, both physically and psychologically, echoing the infinite aria of life,” she says.

“Luminaria”, Hart Haus, 3/F, Cheung Hing Industrial Building, 12P Smithfield Road, Kennedy Town, May 5-17, Mon-Sat 10.30am-6.30pm

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This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), the leading news media reporting on China and Asia.

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