About 123photogo

I have been a photographer for many years. Worked in retail selling cameras and accessories for over 20 years. Taught many photo classes, and have even been a judge in several county fairs. Now, I want to share photo instructions and entertainment with all other photographers around the world.

QUESTIONS YOU SHOULD ASK A PRO PHOTOGRAPHER:

Posted on January 10, 2022 by 123photogo

man taking a picture of the ocean on body of water during golden hour — Photo by Pok Rie on Pexels.com

If you had a chance to chat with a pro photographer, or one who you know is a “serious” photographer, what would you ask them? Most people are intrigued to see a real photographer in action. Watch them! Learn from them! And then ask if you can have a few minutes of their time and ask them some questions.

Here is a list of questions that has been put together that most photographers get asked:

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU WISH YOU KNEW WHEN YOU FIRST STARTED TAKING PHOTOS?

photo of man holding camera — Photo by Suliman Sallehi on Pexels.com

First: it’s important to know that a photographer, when they first started, didn’t know anything much about photography. They struggled to learn how their camera works, how composition works, and how to make things work for them.

Answers you might receive are:

Gear
Motivation
And much, much more!
Composition
Lighting
Scouting

These questions related to these answers should help a lot.

HOW DID YOU GET GOOD AT PHOTOGRAPHY THEN:

woman leaning back on tree trunk using black dslr camera during day — Photo by David Bartus on Pexels.com

Just remember that every photographer did not start as a photo genius. What would you think they would say? Would it be: photo courses, reading books and magazines, looking at pictures, or was it just practice, practice, practice?

(Bonus: Plenty of photographers love this question, because it’s clearly flattering! So you’re likely to get a good, long, helpful answer.)

WHAT CAMERA GEAR DO YOU USE?

I don’t recommend you start off with this question, because it comes off as a bit superficial; after all, it’s the photographer, not the gear, that makes great photos.

But there are things you can learn about cameras, and equipment that the photographer may help you with. And I hope they are honest with you and don’t say that one brand is better than another, because there is clearly a great camera you could choose in every brand. But, find out what they would recommend for the type of photography you want to do.

WHICH LENS IS YOUR FAVORITE TO USE?

This is another question that could test the honesty of the photographer. One lens is not a “fix all” lens for all types of photography. If they are a portrait photographer, then they would probably tell you that this particular lens is good for portraits. And maybe another lens would be different for landscapes, etc.

By the way, when it comes to choosing from among high-level lenses, it’s not so much about determining which lens is the sharpest. Instead, it’s about determining which lens fits your particular preferences and requirements, so that you can achieve the shots you’re after. Make sense?

WHEN YOU GO OUT TO SHOOT, WHAT OTHER EQUIPMENT DO YOU TAKE BESIDES THE CAMERA AND LENS?

So many different accessories to complete your photo experience

Most photographers have an interesting accessory or two they can’t live without, like a cleaning kit, a portable charger, or even certain hiking boots.

And these items vary from photographer to photographer, depending on their shooting genre and style.

It can be a lot of fun to ask a photographer about their essentials. Be sure to find out why they carry the items that they do. And pretty soon, you’ll have a handful of items to add to your own gear wish list!

Don’t you just love your Nikon? Wouldn’t you love to keep informed of new Nikon equipment and lenses? Now you can! Subscribe now to the Nikon information subscription here: https://123photogo.com/subscriptions/

WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE SETTINGS?

grayscale photography of person holding black dslr camera — Photo by Md Iftekhar Uddin Emon on Pexels.com

I recommend you leave this question open ended, because you don’t want to know the precise settings that a photographer uses every now and again; instead, you want to know the best settings for specific occasions, as well as the can’t-live-without settings a photographer always needs.

Some things that might be mentioned are:

Aperture
AF area modes
Image style (do they shoot in black and white or do they convert later?)
Button customization’s
Shutter speed
ISO
White balance
Focusing modes

DO YOU USE POST PRODUCTION PROGRAMS?

a woman using computer — Photo by Pavel Danilyuk on Pexels.com

Does the photographer use Adobe or Lightroom? What are the reasons for using them? There is a few more minor questions to ask them here as you can see. Is it hard to use these programs?

Be sure to listen carefully; the key to a photographer’s style is sometimes hidden in the smallest of details!

IS THERE A PHOTOGRAPHER WHO HAS INFLUENCED YOU?

One of the worlds most famous photographers: Ansel Adams

Out of all the questions to ask photographers on this list, the “influence” question is the most difficult to answer – but if you have the time and the photographer is willing, it can lead to outstanding insights into their work.

See, all photographers have influences. And while most work is original to some extent, by understanding how a photographer developed, you can nail down certain aspects of their thought process, such as:

What they’re trying to say with their photography
How they approach composition
How they think about light

CONCLUSION:

One of the key steps to learning photography yourself, is to ask another photographer. Make sure the photographer is a good one, and not your brothers father-in-law. Get a hold of a good photographer. You usually can tell if they are really in to photography by the equipment they carry.

Don’t you just love your SONY camera? Wouldn’t you love to read about the newest from Sony so you can keep up with the newest products? Now you can! 123PhotoGo now has a subscription to keep you up to date for only $1.50 per month! Just go to: https://123photogo.com/subscriptions/

NEW PHOTOGRAPHY IDEAS FOR 2022:

Posted on January 7, 2022 by 123photogo

KNOW YOUR CAMERA:

Your camera has lots of features that most photographers—including yourself—never use. You might not even know they exist or what they’re for. Aperture, shutter speed, and focus are fundamental and very important, but there are many more features that can help you be a better photographer and spend less time retouching and fixing your average photos. There are functions like multiple exposure, time-lapse, mirror lock-up, and metering, just to name a few. Take your time to learn about them and get creative. Creativity will change your photography. Do you know where your camera’s manual is? Time to take it out, go through it, experiment with each function, and learn what you can create. You’ll be amazed.

THE BEST WAY TO LEARN ABOUT YOUR CAMERA IS TO GET OUR NEW BASIC COURSE ON PHOTOGRAPHY! THIS WEBSITE WILL HAVE AN ALL NEW COURSE TO LEARN ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHY, AND IT COMES OUT JANUARY 20TH. WE WILL COVER IDEAS LIKE: “UNDERSTANDING LIGHT”, “HOW TO BUY A CAMERA”, THINK ABOUT “WHAT KIND OF PHOTOS YOU WANT TO TAKE“! COME BACK TO THIS WEBSITE ON JANUARY 20TH TO GET YOUR NEW PHOTO COURSE!

JOIN A PHOTO CLUB, AND MINGLE WITH OTHER PHOTOGRAPHERS:

Photography is lots of fun when you can share the experience with others. Look for local photographers or a local photo club and plan outings. Going out with several photographers allows you to experiment with other cameras and lenses, learn new techniques, and practice. It’s fun and a great way to learn.

LEARN NEW PHOTO TECHNIQUES

This website, this year, is going to have a lot of different ideas of how to take different types of photos. Different ways to take photos. And also learn about things you can do with your camera you may not realize you can do. Should be an exciting new year of learning here at 123photogo.

Try something here now by going to this search engine and just type in a subject you want to learn about. With over 1,000 different blogs on this website, I may already have something new to try out. Try it here now:

TRY SHOOTING SOME NIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY:

Shooting at night is probably the best way to learn photography. Automatic does not work. You have to learn how to balance ISO, aperture, and shutter speed. You are forced to use a tripod, and by doing so, you learn how to use it properly and reinforce proper shooting techniques. Also learn how to focus on the light. In the end, you will be rewarded with amazing images.

FIND A WAY TO SHOW OFF YOUR WORK MORE:

There is no better feeling than someone commenting on your image and liking it. There are many ways in which you can show off your work. Post it online. For example, on SmugMug you can have your own mini-website. Enlarge and print a couple of your images and hang them at home or at the office. Build a photo page of your work on Facebook. Instagram was originally set up for photographers to display their photos online. Plush, you can learn a lot from photographers there as wellThere are many options, and at the end you will feel proud of your photography and motivated to do better.

123PhotoGo has it’s own “photo group” in which you can share your photos. I find that the serious photographers are trying to post new photos almost every day. It makes you think that you need to take more photos, and as you do so, you become a better photographer. Details below:

THIS IS GOING TO BE AN EXCITING YEAR FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS AS WE CONTINUE TO MODIFY THIS WEBSITE SO WE CAN HELP YOU AND OTHERS BECOME BETTER PHOTOGRAPHERS. KEEP COMING BACK! IT WILL BE EXCITING!

6 NEW PENTAX K3 MARK III CAMERAS ANNOUNCED. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN ABOUT THE FUTURE OF CAMERAS?

Posted on January 5, 2022 by 123photogo

NEW Pentax K-3 Mark III Jet Black (Image credit: Ricoh Imaging)

PENTAX AND LEICA ANNOUNCE NEW VARIATIONS TO THEIR CAMERAS!

Manufacturing of cameras has taken an interesting turn in production. Who would have thought that you could get a camera in a variety of versions of your favorite model.

UPDATE: New reports suggest that no fewer than six different versions of the Pentax K-3 Mark III are in development, including dedicated monochrome and astrophotography models.

Additional coverage of the company’s online presentation, held in Japan in December 2021, indicates that the Pentax K-3 Mark III will come in six variants: one with a gunmetal finish, a version with a modified shutter release button, a manual focus version, a monochrome model, and an astro model (as reported by Pentax Rumors). And as shown above, a model that is Jet black.

The translated event report reveals that the jet black model will be completely black, including the logo and all engravings. The “shutter stroke change model” is designed for faster shooting with a shallower shutter stroke. The K-3 Mark III MF will be entirely dedicated to manual focus, while the gunmetal model will resemble the base color of the original K-3 Prestige Edition.

New Pentax K3 in Gunmetal finish

ORIGINAL STORY (02 Dec 2021):Rumor has it that Ricoh is considering an expansion of the Pentax K-3 Mark III product line by adding a monochrome camera as well as an ‘Astro’ variant.

It might seem strange to release a black-and-white version of the Pentax K-3 Mark III, which would on paper appear to challenge cameras like the Leica M-10 Monochrom, but an astrophotography version makes more sense.

The news comes from a report by Digital Camera Info, keeping track of several different online events that were held recently by Ricoh Imaging in Japan. The report shows that the Japanese outlet Ten Riff had been tweeting updates mentioned in Ricoh’s Pentax Meeting Online 2021.

It was supposedly announced in the online meeting that Ricoh is “considering a derivative model of the K-3 Mark III equipped with a monochrome sensor… K-3 Mark III Monochrome: uses a monochrome sensor without a color bayer filter… Achieves natural resolution and noise-like image quality without bayer complementation”.

Photo by Miriam Espacio on Pexels.com

The translated tweets may not convey a perfect description, but it is evident that a lot of thought has gone into the design of these potential models. Further tweets tell us that “Pentax [Ricoh] is considering a model for astronomical objects ‘K3 Mark III Astro’… to prevent infrared voyeurism? It is a premise to make a pledge that ‘it will be used only for astronomical photography… general shooting is not possible’.”

The meeting also revealed that a calibration-free update to the K-3 Mark III’s Astrotracer feature – which uses the camera’s sensor shift stabilization in tandem with an optional GPS module to shoot trail-free astrophotography – will be provided in a firmware upgrade expected in spring 2022.

The Astro model supposedly has a Hα (hydrogen-alpha) sensitivity of x10, so it’s likely that nebula will photograph well using this proposed camera. A hydrogen-alpha filter is commonly used among other filters in astrophotography kits to assist in photographing deep sky objects in what’s called true-color or broadband.

Here’s hoping that Ricoh will officially announce these new progressive models in the coming months, but we should probably practice our backyard astrophotography in the meantime.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO FUTURE SERIOUS PHOTOGRAPHERS?

With the introduction of these variations of cameras, it looks like the DSLR market is going to be something that a lot of other serious scientists, and specialized photographers may come out of the woodwork and consider. Meant to do things that other camera manufactures only think about.

And one that I find particularly interesting is their model that only shoots black and white. I have done a special every year showcasing some amazing black and white artists. https://wordpress.com/view/123photogo.com And every year I find this collection of black and white photos, they get better and better all the time. For those who really love black and white, their dream camera may have just appeared from Pentax.

With this announcement, photography becomes even more exciting!

This is a rugged, metal-bodied DSLR with a magnesium alloy body, 300,000-shot shutter life and 12fps continuous shooting. (Image credit: Rod Lawton/Digital Camera World)

This original Pentax model was the first to come out with an ISO range of up to 1,600,000! And shooting at that ISO setting has people realizing they can now shoot anywhere.

Today’s article is compliments of Digital Camera World, and Lanny Cottrell

THE BEST CAMERA OF 2021 IS:

Posted on January 3, 2022 by 123photogo

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

The best camera of 2021 is voted on annually by DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHER MAGAZINE. There were a lot of new exciting cameras introduced to the world in 2021. And it seems like the new cameras took great new strides in developing cameras that are out of this world. The features keep getting better, and the competition is getting tougher all the time, and that only benefits the consumer who uses the cameras.

Almost every brand was represented with a new camera. Fuji, Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Olympus, Panasonic, Leica, Sony, and others all introduced new ideas in cameras, and the world watched as the battle of the camera companies went in to full swing.

FROM DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY MAGAZINE:

Autofocus systems continued to be a key development area during 2021, with greater use made of artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve subject detection systems. Consequently, we’re seeing manufacturers widen the range of subjects that can be detected and tracked. Such features enable photographers to concentrate on capturing the perfect composition at the decisive moment.

So, what was the best camera of the year? According to our friends at Digital Photographer magazine, the choice was obvious…

Camera of the year 2021

SONY A7 IV

While it doesn’t have the 50MP resolution of the Sony A1, the A7 IV’s 33MP sensor puts it ahead of 24MP rivals at an attractive price. With a CFexpress type-A card and the file format set to anything other than uncompressed RAW files, it can also shoot at 10fps until the card is full or battery expires, however, you are then ‘limited’ to 828 uncompressed RAW files.

There’s also a brilliant AF system with 759 phase-detection points, real-time tracking and Eye AF for humans, animals or birds. Also, thanks to 7K oversampling, the A7 IV can shoot super-quality 4K video, making it a solid all-rounder. It’s great value,
and the camera likely to sell in the biggest number.

Runners up:

CANON EOS R3

Canon introduced the R3 as its flagship mirrorless camera to sit below the EOS-1D X Mark III. It has a 24.1MP full-frame BSI stacked CMOS sensor combined with a Digic X processor for 30fps shooting for up to 540 JPEGs or 150 RAW files, or 6K 60p video. The tracking system can detect vehicles, humans or animals.

What’s especially exciting is that the subject can be set by the photographer’s eye at the viewfinder. It’s a feature that we first saw back in 1992, but this is the first time it has appeared in a digital camera and it has benefitted from a huge amount of development to make subject selection quick and intuitive.

NIKON Z-9

Nikon created a new 45.7MP stacked full-frame CMOS sensor for the Z 9 and paired it with the brand new Expeed 7 processor to enable blazing-fast responses and 8K video recording at up to 60p, or at 30p for up to around 125 minutes. And if you switch to stills, you can shoot at 20fps for more than 1000 uncompressed RAW files or 30fps if you swap to shooting high-quality JPEGs.

There’s also a high-specification AF system that allows simultaneous detection of up to nine different types of subject. When we got our hands on the Z 9, we were blown away by the responsiveness and stickiness of the human eye detection.

FUJIFILM GFX 50S II

Measuring 43.8 x 32.9mm, the 51.4MP sensor inside the Fujifilm is 1.7x the size of those in full-frame cameras. It means that each of its pixels has huge light-gathering potential, which helps it to deliver superb-quality images. It relies on contrast detection, so the focusing system isn’t the fastest, meaning that it’s not particularly suited to shooting sport, but it’s perfect for still life, street, landscape, macro and general photography.

For a medium format camera, the GFX 50S II is compact and blends in with full-frame DSLRs. It’s weatherproof and the body weighs 900g, so is easily carried on a shoulder strap, especially when paired with the Fujifilm GF35-70mm F4.5-5.6 WR lens.

SONY A1

In terms of its features and specifications, Sony has thrown the kitchen sink at the A1 camera, giving it a 50.1MP full-frame stacked Exmor RS CMOS sensor and the ability to shoot at up to 30fps for a total of 155 full-resolution compressed RAW images or 165 JPEGs. Meanwhile, in video mode, it can shoot 8K 30p 10-bit 4:2:0 footage or 4K at up to 120p.

The A1 also has 759 phase-detection AF points, covering around 92 percent of the sensor, plus Sony’s advanced Real-time Eye AF that can track human, animal or birds eyes in stills mode and human eyes in video mode. All of these features add up to make the A1 a great tool for professional content creators.

Thanks to “DIGITAL CAMERA WORLD” For use of this article. And most photos were taken by: Rod Lawton/Digital Camera World

CHANGING YOUR APERTURE, AND IT’S EFFECTS

Posted on January 1, 2022 by 123photogo

petals plant flower macro — Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

First of all, I hope you like our new format for this website. Now you have access to more information that is available on this site.

Also note the two new items in the menu: Shop, and Complete Photo Courses. These we are still working on, but, want you to be looking for those items to fill in soon.

The last blog we did was on shutter speeds and the effects you can do by changing the shutter speeds. Now we will talk about what you can do by changing the Aperture setting (commonly called F-Stops, or F-numbers).

When you change the aperture on your lens, you change the depth of field in your photos.

Notice how the background changes as you change your F-Number on your lens.

The ideal times to change those to create the effect you want is on close-ups, like the main photo at the top of the page (the flower). Notice how the background is very blurry, and you can see how it makes the main subject stand out more than ever.

To go the other way, and use a higher F-stop number, such as F16, F22, you will primarily use that on photos you want almost everything to look sharp. The ideal time to use that aperture setting is usually for scenery photos:

photo of railway on mountain near houses — Photo by SenuScape on Pexels.com

Notice how the above photo seems to be so sharp from the foreground to the background.

NOTICE HOW THIS IS SOMETHING YOU CANNOT DO WITH YOUR CELL PHONE

Watch for our next blog coming on Monday.

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