Cameras or Whatever - Photography Talk: Recent Episodes
Stalman Photography
A podcast for the working photographer. From veterans of iStockphoto and creators of Stocksy United. We take a deep look at running a photography business, the gear we nerd out over, and what motivates us to turn pictures into a career. We talk about stock photography, cameras, lenses, fashion photography, street style, social media and a healthy dose of whatever.
It's been a while since we took inventory of our workflow and a few things have changed. We talk about our memory card strategies, how we use Lightroom, and hard drive management.
VSCO is Discontinuing Its Desktop Film Simulations
Black & white presets Cameron likes
The Stalman Podcast
The DAM Book
The band is back together and we talk about the Nikon Z7, the Sony a7III, and the flaws in HSL sliders.
Sony a7III
Nikon Z7
Canon EOS R
Haunting Hill House
PUP
Spider-Man (PS4)
There lots of ways to shoot a great portrait, but there are even more ways to shoot a terrible one. Let's talk about some of the best/easiest techniques to light portrait photography.
Since he couldn't make it to the last episode, we go over some of Cameron's recent favorite cameras.
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https://www.peakdesign.com/product/straps/slide
https://flowmotion.co/
Jordan Drake of The Camera Store TV is back to talk about one of the craziest years for cameras.
Tyler's NotesBest Camera
- Sony A9
- Sony A7RIII
- Nikon D850
- Fuji X-T20
- Sony a6500
- Leica M10
Phones
- iPhone X
- Samsung Note 8
- Google Pixel 2
Gimbles
- Zhiyun Crane 2
- Moza Air
- Beholder
- CAME-TV Prophet2
Entry Level ILC
- Canon SL2
- Olympus EM10 III
Mid Range ILC
- Fuji XT-20
- Sony a6500
Video
- Canon C200
- Panasonic EVA1
- Panasonic GH5
- Sony A7RIII
- Sony A9
Lights
- Aputure
- CAME-TV Boltzen
- Quazar science
- Digital Sputnik
Audio
- SoundDevices MixPre3 and MixPre6
- Rode Video Mic Pro +
- Aspen Mics Lav
- Aputure Lav
Software
- Affinity for iPad
- pixelmator
- CaptureOne
- Lightroom Updates
Misc
- DJI Spark
- Small HD Focus Monitor
Every year the big tech companies fight over the crown of best mobile camera. Tyler has been testing a few of them and gives his impressions. Cameron has some thoughts on how the format you shoot with can share your creative output.
DxOMark Smartphone Ratings: Explained!
500px, Color Profiles, File Formats and You
Abbey Road 60s Drummer
Google Home Mini
Quasar Science
Digital Sputnik
Aputure Lighting
After spending some time shooting with the mirrorless medium format Hasselblad X1D, Tyler wants to talk all about medium format cameras. We also touch on Lightroom processing techniques and VSCO.
Things have been changing at Hasselblad lately. New ownership, new leadership, and bold new product directions with the X1D. Everyone I know in the photography community was blown away when they announced they're extremely compact and elegance mirrorless design. It hadn't even occurred to me that a medium format camera could ever be in this small.
After using it for a few shoot in Vancouver and Palm Springs, The image quality definitely lived up to my expectations. Tons of dynamic range, very low noise, fantastic colour depth, and incredible sharpness. None of that is a surprise coming from Hasselblad, their reputation for quality is well earned. I also love the 3:4 image ratio of the large sensor, I would always prefer it over 4:6.
I was surprised to see quite a bit of vignetting in the 45mm f/3.5 when it’s wide open. It cleans up fine in post, but it was quite a bit for a normal lens.
The physical controls were very well designed. The control dial that pops out is beautiful and practical, and release mechanism on the batteries feels very sturdy and satisfying. One improvement I would love to see is a physical control for the exposure compensation, and there are some software bugs in the touch screen interface, but I’ve heard they may have recently been fixed in a firmware update.
I don’t want to go too much further in depth without spending more time with the Hasselblad X1D, but I loved shooting with it in the time I had. From one perspective it can seem very expensive, but from another, it’s a very reasonable price such an incredible sensor and beautiful design. I hope it’s a sign of more great things to come from Hasselblad.
TYLER'S SAMPLES FROM THE HASSELBLAD X1DEdited in Lightroom, click for larger size
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CAMERON'S FILM MEDIUM FORMATShot on the Mamyia 7 and Yashica Mat 124G
The idea of a 'full frame' image format is the industry standard we all use, but let's take a second to talk about what 35mm really means for photographers.
It's been a while since we took inventory of our workflow and a few things have changed. We talk about our memory card strategies, how we use Lightroom, and hard drive management.
The band is back together to talk about the Nikon Z7, the Sony a7III, and the flaws in HSL sliders.
There lots of ways to shoot a great portrait, but there are even more ways to shoot a terrible one. Let's talk about some of the best/easiest techniques to light portrait photography.
Since he couldn't make it to the last episode, we go over some of Cameron's recent favorite cameras.
Jordan Drake of The Camera Store TV is back to talk about one of the craziest years for cameras.
Every year the big tech companies fight over the crown of best mobile camera. Tyler has been testing a few of them and gives his impressions. Cameron has some thoughts on how the format you shoot with can share your creative output.
DxOMark Smartphone Ratings: Explained!
500px, Color Profiles, File Formats and You
Abbey Road 60s Drummer
Google Home Mini
Quasar Science
Digital Sputnik
Aputure Lighting
After spending some time shooting with the mirrorless medium format Hasselblad X1D, Tyler wants to talk all about medium format cameras. We also touch on Lightroom processing techniques and VSCO.
The idea of a 'full frame' image format is the industry standard we all use, but let's take a second to talk about what 35mm really means for photographers.
More about the Sony A9, Tyler gets an ultra wide and Cameron talks a bit about his love Soundgarden just before news had broke about Chris Cornell's passing.
A new Sony is coming, Tyler needs a new mic, Cameron likes instant film, and finding inspiration in unexpected places.
A wide angle lens is a beautiful thing and while Tyler has been traveling he's been wanting to go wider. Cameron has some thoughts on converging lines, and they both regret not getting wider tilt-shift lenses.
There's a certain amount of photo library maintenance that comes around once a year. For Cameron that means creating spreadsheets to organize his binders of negatives, so that he can find them by film and camera type. For Tyler that means creating new Lightroom catalogs and buying new hard drives. Always more hard drives.
We've all heard a dozen different rules of composition, rules of exposure, and rules of rules. Let's try to figure out when they are worth following and when they are better off ignored.
The episode Tyler has been wanting to make for years, the deep dive review of the Canon 5D mark IV.
Cameron talks about his new Nikon D750 and Tyler finds new ways of shooting at shallow depths of field
Newborn at the hospital shoot
The Oh Sees - A Weird Exists
Four Tet - Rounds
First Cameron updates us with his adventures in infrared photography and has some tips to get those cotton candy colors instead of a muddy mess. Then we talk about how many photos we like to shoot in different situations.
Whether you've been a photographer for years or are just starting out, you need to arrive at every job with the equipment you need to get it done. We talk about some of the cameras and lenses that we have learned are necessary for different situations.
Just because there were no big cameras announced doesn't mean there wasn't a ton of interesting details on the show floor. Jordan Drake of TCSTV is back to talk video.
We don't replace our primary cameras very often, but to meet increasing videos demands Tyler went with a new Sony, the a7RII. The long and short is that it's image quality is best in class with super sharp, high resolution images with lots of dynamic range in the shadows. The down side is lots of interface design problems, consumer level build quality and very slow image review.
Samples from the Sony a7R II
Even natural light takes a lot of work, so we discuss the various ways to make any lighting situation work for you.
To start 2016 we are talking about ways to keep moving forward when you are out of ideas, and just don't feel like it. Also some follow up on the Film Toaster and Chris Dowsett sticks around for a few extra minutes to talk Star Wars.
This may not be what you were expecting in your podcast feed, but I put a lot of thought into in a galaxy far far way and recorded a bonus track with Rob Mitchelson. We will be back to talking cameras soon!
Looking back at 2015 we had a funny mix of incredibly innovative and painfully dull camera technology. Most of our workhorse cameras were left unchanged, while whole new genres are being opened by others. Either way, it's great time to be a photographer!
Photography gear isn't cheap, so a lot of careful thought goes into building a camera kit. We give our recommendations for the best cameras and lenses for a new photographer to start with, based on what you want to shoot.
This week we talk about light stands vs c-stands, Tyler's gear wishlist, Cameron's impressions of the Film Toaster, and if there is any reason to consider switching from Lightroom to Capture One.
Tyler & Cameron search for the perfect camera straps and review and compare our new ones. They talk about hands on impressions from PhotoPlus Expo in New York, film scanners, travel and as always some musical recommendations.
Cecilia camera straps
ONA camera straps
Holdfast Gear straps
Black Rapid straps
Barbershop bags and straps
Leica SL
Film Toaster
Tyler is back from his huge trip and has a few stories, Cameron gripes about client woes, we talk about outsourcing post processing, and put out a call for a new type of film scanner.
Review of the Sony a7R II, cameras with soul versus technical brilliance and Instagram aspect ratios.
After a month of working on the road and vacationing Tyler and Cameron finally get to catch up and talk the talk, starting with a review of the Pentax 645z followed by a lot of talk regarding camera ergonomics and vintage rangefinders.
With no set topic we go all over the place, starting with the Tyler's recent big commercial video project.
As big music fans, Cameron and Tyler both started shooting live music events early on and have a lot to say about it. The best gear to bring, ways to shoot, and pit etiquette. Then we also dig in to some great Canadian band recommendations.
Pouring over blogs, forums or camera podcasts is fun for any photography nerd, but is productive? We also talk audio gear and headphones.
With no set topic, we went all over the place this week. Setting photography rates, shooting band photos, the classic Lomo LCA, Tyler's new Canon G7x and his dream point & shoot camera. Also Beastie Boys.
Do you hold your photography up to other peoples standards or your own? Does looking at other photographers inspire you to match their quality or discourage you because you feel you can't?
Selecting images is almost as important as photographic technique. Make poor choices can spoil your portfolio, so we talked about some of the methods we use to narrow a shoot down to it's best photos.
The Canon 50mm f/1.8 II (aka the nifty fifty, aka fantastic plastic) is a massively popular little lens, and since 1990 has been a go to for countless new photographers. Now 25 years later it has finally been update, so we put it to the test.
We have put in some serious research to find the best modern point and shoot film cameras, and both made different choices. We do deep analysis of the Fuji and Contax, with a nod to the Olympus XA.
Tyler spent the weekend with the Sony A7s and it kicked off a conversation about the megapixel race, relying too much on blur and choosing lenses.
Stock photography master Sean Locke joins us to talk about the finer points of licensing photos. We go reminisce about exclusivity at iStockphoto, talk about being at Stocksy, and share tips about managing portfolios across multiple agencies.
Sometimes you carefully craft a photo and sometimes you wonder the streets to find it. We talk about obstacles and techniques to finding great street photography, our favourite lenses for the job, and lessons we've learned.
Camera manufacturors have been battling for the crown of high ISO champion for years. Now that cameras can virutally see in the dark,we take a look back at how we got from relatively slow rolls of film to the incredible low light capabilities of cameras like the Sony A7s.
Tyler, Jordan and Chris report live from Las Vegas about all the great gear at NAB Show 2015, America's biggest video production conference. We got our hands on new cameras, lights and software, and have a lot to say about it.
This week we have the Product Manager of Licensing at 500px (and good friend) Nuno Silva to talk about how Instagram feeds can become a career in photography, even for an inexperienced photographer. Then we have an interview with a new photographer that has experienced some of this success, Chris Amat, who is also part of the Great North Collective.
Tips about keywording your Lightroom catalog for the long term, some random film talk, tracking GPS on non-GPS cameras, and some music recommendations from Cameron.
Chris Dowsett is back to talk to Tyler about NAB coming up, the crossover of photography and video production, and shooting 360 VR video. Behold, the future!
We set out with no direction in mind this photography talk and explore backup, film cameras, flickr and Alien Bees. Actually most of this episode belongs in 2005.
Putting some work in upfront can payoff big time. Kirk Mastin, of Mastin Labs joins us to talk about the value planning before you shoot, looking ahead at the longterm with bigger projects, shooting film and the power of constraints in photography.
Taking a look back at the history of stock photography, how it shaped the photo industry, and where it's going.
Ania & Tyler are fresh off the plane from New York Fashion Week and want to tell you all about what it's like to shoot it. But then stay tuned to the end, because Cameron starts a great conversation about how fashion can fit in to stock photography.
You can take fantastic photos without having a clue what you're doing, but without technical some knowledge you will be limited in so many ways. We talk to guest Jeff Way of Wilkosz & Way about how to use light meters to step up your photography game.
There are so many kinds of photographer to be. We can shoot portraits, weddings, lifestyle, stock, food, video or all of the above, so this week we talk about what is gained and lost in specialization.
Choosing the right gear for the road can be a lot of trial and error. Let's figure out exactly what you need.
Digital photography has an era before presets, and after. They were always around, but recently some high quality filters have become standard for many photographers. We compare VSCO, Mastin Labs and RadLabs Replichrome.
Choosing where to showcase your photography is a big decision, so Cameron Whitman and Tyler Stalman will guide you through some of the different options.
Shooting RAW images generates a ton of bytes, and sooner or later every photographer needs to deal with the long term storage of their photos. We talk about some workflow, best practices, and what hardware to buy to store your files.
Every year brings bigger changes to photography latetly, we take a look at the most interesting gear in 2014 and make some predictions of where the industry is heading.
Using a fixed or zoom has a huge impact on how you shoot, and how your photos turn out. Tyler and Cameron discuss the zoom/prime issue to make sure you leave the house properly equipped.
Is it just me, or are a lot of people shooting on film lately? Tyler Stalman and Cameron Whitman shoot stock, style, and portrait photos and are big fans of film cameras. We discuss why we love it and if it will last.
This first episode is all about us! Get to know Ania Boniecka, Cameron Whitman and Tyler Stalman and how we got into photography.