Here are 5 game-changing photography trends

Here are 5 game-changing photography trends

If you’re someone who loves to photograph, you can’t miss these trends to ensure your pictures are timeless yet trendy

Image for representational purposes only. Photo Courtesy: iStock

Today, the art of photography in India transcends beyond the professional photographers and has reached common people. Both Gen-Zs and millennials use cameras with cutting-edge technology, to fuel their passion for framing memories.

If you’re someone who loves to photograph, you can’t miss these trends to ensure your pictures are timeless yet trendy:

AI-Driven capture and enhancement

The fusion of AI with visual photography is revolutionising the photography culture by offering effortless background removal and natural retouching. Especially for on-the-go travel content creators and vloggers with limited editing time, AI is the savior.

Nikon Z 9  has a very unique feature called “Auto Capture “. It works with AI and helps the camera to understand subject, motion and distance, enabling the camera to capture images and video automatically.

Highly advanced cameras like the Nikon Z 8, features high-performance AI-driven autofocus helping to seize the moments seamlessly.

Return of Cinematography

In filmmaking, videographers are reviving cinematic aesthetics with crystal-clear formats like 4K and 8K. This resolution along with HDR (High Dynamic Range), elevates visuals adding intense colors and remarkable contrast. This resolution along with high frame rate, elevates visuals by bringing that intricate detail to life and adding smooth cinematic slow motion.

Cherish Moments by capturing decisive photos

While it’s all about photos, when it comes to pre-release capture, its real magic lies in capturing those critical moments that define a scene. A captured image, let you to re-live the moment, time and time, providing a sneak peek into the scene’s vibe. Likewise, Nikon Z8 preserves ambience by capturing pre- and post-shutter video snippets, adding emotion to shots. This pre-release feature has more to do with capturing those decisive moments.

The Nikon Z 8 promises to be a game-changer while capturing those decisive moments, offering wildlife and sports photographers innovative tools to explore new creative horizons, ensures capturing those action shots and ensures every frame is captured and nothing is missed.

Perfecting Portraits with Skin Softening

If you’re all about those smooth and flawless portraits, then guess what?

Skin-softening feature has got your back with the magic touch giving perfect tones to the pictures designed especially for photographers who do fancy model shoots to make their pics pop and look elegant. The latest Nikon Cameras have AI driven Skin Softening feature which lets photographers capture soft and glowing portraits. The best part about this feature is that it only affects the skin and doesn’t affect the facial hair etc. Skin Softening feature greatly reduces turnaround time therefore enabling photographers/content creators to immediately post to their social media without spending too much time on post-production.

Shooting At Unstoppable Frames

Unleash the power of unstoppable shooting with Nikon Z 8 and Z 9, capturing moments at an astonishing 20 frames per second. Freeze time and capture every moment with over 1000 RAW images in a single, relentless burst. Paint stories through each shot, ensuring not a single detail escapes your lens.

With the technical trends, the Imaging industry is also witnessing yet another interesting shift. Gen Z’s, especially women are pursuing photography as a profession and form of artistic expression. This trend has emerged with increased access to photography equipment, workshops, and educational resources. Their influence spans Metaverse, NFTs, and unique palettes, injecting freshness into the industry. They redefine photography with their distinct twist and creative vision. Nikon’s unique campaigns like “Through Her Lens,” and “Shutterbug” are initiatives to empower professional and amateur women and student photographers in India.

As technology advanced rapidly in the photography arena, the future potential seems massive. This year promises excitement and dynamism for photographers and the field of photography.

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Director of Development – New York, United States

Director of Development – New York, United States
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Opportunity to lead the fundraising program at a growing
contemporary photography center as it begins its new life in a new
building in a new community

Overview

CPW seeks an experienced development professional to lead the
fundraising effort at a pivotal time in the history of this
46-year-old contemporary art center. CPW recently acquired an
historic 40,000 square foot building in central Kingston, NY and
will soon start a capital campaign to both transform the newly
acquired facility and transform its mission and programs in its new
home in a new location. CPW’s strategic Plan under development will
be a roadmap for its vision, values and programs, setting direction
for local, national and international engagement. The City of
Kingston has recently developed a master cultural plan and aims to
develop Kingston as a hub of cultural creative activity. With
Kingston’s proximity to New York City, beautiful location in the
Hudson River Valley and recent growth, CPW now aims to join the
burgeoning Kingston creative community by developing a
national-caliber center for photography presenting exhibitions,
maker space, and artist residencies while establishing deep
connections to the Kingston and regional community.

The Best Lens Filters for Portrait Photographers

The Best Lens Filters for Portrait Photographers

Portrait photographers: we know that you’re sick of sterile portraits. And we’re right up there with you. We’re constantly complaining about how dull images are from standard lenses these days. So we’re rounding up some of the best lens filters for portrait photographers that we’ve tested over the years. And we think you’re going to really love these.

How We Chose The Best Lens Filters for Portrait Photographers

  • The Phoblographer’s various product round-up features are done in-house. Our philosophy is simple: you wouldn’t get a Wagyu beef steak review from a lifelong vegetarian. And you wouldn’t get photography advice from someone who doesn’t touch the product. We only recommend gear we’ve fully reviewed in these roundups.
  • If you’re wondering why your favorite product didn’t make the cut, there’s a chance it’s on another list. If we haven’t reviewed it, we won’t recommend it. This method keeps our lists packed with industry-leading knowledge. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
  • We took a look at some of the most requested features by portrait photographers. Some of them want more sparkle and dazzle. Others wish intensely for softer skin that glows. These filters have those. And we’d know because we tested them.
  • The Best Lens Filters for portrait photographers are typically made by a few companies. The photo industry puts a big emphasis on sterile and clean photos so that a photographer can do a ton in post-production. But these lenses give your images the lifesaving water they need.

Prism FX Radiant Filter

In our review, we state:

The second way it works is by playing with light hitting the lens. Any point light source that reflects off a surface or travels right into the lens will get flared. The effect is really beautiful. This isn’t just lens flare: it’s a ton of tiny lens flares. This is a circular filter, and you can rotate it to get different effects. We tried using it with slower shutter speeds and stuff like car light trails. Generally, it’s better to just use it with point light sources. 

Pro Tip: This filter is fantastic when you want random lens flares and have little bits of light in the background to play with. We consider it one of the best lens filters for portrait photographers because of how it presents them with opportunities to play with the lighting around them. If you’re the type that likes to improvise and embrace the beauty of flaws, get these.

Tiffen Glimmer Glass

In our review, we state:

Let’s get something clear: all the Tik Tok influencers who say putting a stocking over your lens to get a film look are speaking complete trash. You can do the same thing with a lower-megapixel camera body and an older lens. Alternatively, you could use this filter to get an even better look.

Pro Tip: Glimmerglass tends to be some of our favorite lens filters around here for various reasons. They’re adjustable by strength and they don’t really take away from the original photo all that much. Instead, they just make it look that much more dreamy. These are some of the best best lens filters for portrait photographers because of the subtle softness they give to skin. Combine it with daylight white balance for beautiful renders.

Lensbaby OMNI Creative Filter System

In our review, we state:

“As a photographer who occasionally likes to introduce distortions and other lighting effects into my photos for added visual impact, the Lensbaby OMNI Creative Filter System allows it with ease, and without having to juggle between different crystals and prisms in one hand while holding a camera in the other.”

Pro Tip: These filters are quite literally prisms that are designed to add special effects to your portraits like light refractions, rainbows, and more. I mean, do we need to say more?

Spektrem Effects Light Speed filter

In our review, we state:

The Spektrem Effects Light Speed filter is a fun tool I’m bound to use over and over again. I’ve bought a ton of prisms and filters over the years. Only a few get used consistently. And this one is bound to be one I end up really liking. 

Pro Tip: These filters are fantastic for what they are. But be careful and always carry them in the box. They need protection for sure. We really like using them for the unique effects they give as they make photos so much less boring. If you’re looking to get a completely different look, then there’s no doubt that these are some of the best lens filters for portrait photographers.

Tiffen Cross Screen Filter

In our review, we state:

This is a fun enough filter to keep on your lens at all times just to see and experience the cool effects that it offers. I caught a candid photo of my buddies at a bar I was hanging out at. And behind them is light. The Tiffen Cross Screen filter made the light render in a completely different way, and depending on where you’re focusing, the lights might play out or look totally unique each time. That’s something I really like about the Tiffen Cross Screen filter, you can’t always predict to know what it’s going to look like.

Pro Tip: The Tiffen Cross Section filter is great on wider angle lenses and for those moments when you get the light in the eye. It’s also an effective tool for emphasizing lens flares. Who doesn’t want sparkle in their eyes without Photoshop? That completely makes these some of the best lens filters for portrait photographers.

Prism FX Rose Filter

In our review, we state:

All this aside, the Prism FX Rose Filter is looking to do two things. First off, it gives the images some haze. This softens the way people look and mutes details. It adheres to the aesthetic that Frank Ockenfels III told Pop Photo years ago about digital being too sharp. On top of that, it adds more gorgeous lens flare. If that isn’t enough, it also tints the images a shade of purplish pink. They call it rose! And be warned that your camera might try to compensate for it, so I’d recommend locking your white balance to Daylight 5200K.

Pro Tip: These filters both soften the image and add a warming effect to it. Except this time around, you’re getting a warming effect and a more purple effect. Embrace it. We love it.

Tiffen Pro Mist Black Filters

In our review, we state:

Adding the extra analog look to Fujifilm RAW files is very nice. But, where I think the Tiffen Pro Mist filters are sorely needed is with Sigma and Sony lenses. The companies have more or less engineered the character out of them. They’re, in my opinion, too clinical. That’s not to say that they’re not good lenses. They’re pretty fantastic. But if your favorite flavor of ice cream grew on a tree in your backyard, you’d go for it instead of milking a cow, churning, adding flavor, etc. Similarly, if a lens gives me a look straight out of the camera, why do I need to spend more time in front of a computer editing? Why can’t I just keep shooting and love what I get?

Pro Tip: These are pretty universally the industry standard when it comes to adding haze or halation to your lens output. We love using them with Fujifilm lenses because of the specific analog look you get. They’re very similar to Glimmer Glass.

5 Star Story: Kong Wee Pang’s Memphis art

5 Star Story: Kong Wee Pang’s Memphis art

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) – Memphis and the Mid-South are full of talented people with a solid musical legacy. But this area is also full of incredible fine artists who make this city even more beautiful.

In this week’s 5 Star Story, in our continuing quest to highlight the things that make us proud, meet an artist who traveled thousands of miles to make Memphis her home and whose public art is already well known to many.

From the “I Love Memphis” mural in the Crosstown neighborhood to the glittering “Love Doves” in Overton Square, Kong Wee Pang is putting her mark on Memphis. Kong Wee, whose native language is Malay, says the glitter is a touch of New Orleans, where her husband is from originally.

Kong Wee Pang's art is on display all around Memphis.
Kong Wee Pang’s art is on display all around Memphis.(Action News 5)

“Sequin is perfect for the space to (make the whole environment more vibrant).”

The “Love Doves” mural was the first public art piece in Memphis that Kong Wee and her husband, artist Jay Crum, created under the pseudonym Taro Pop Studio.

“Because of that piece, we’ve been getting invited to so many different places to install some kind of same material art,” she said.

Those “different places” include installations in Denver, Auburn, Austin and Nashville.

Kong Wee Pang's art is on display all around Memphis.
Kong Wee Pang’s art is on display all around Memphis.(Action News 5)

Since moving to the Bluff City 23 years ago to attend the Memphis College of Art, the Malaysian transplant has transformed mundane city surfaces into things of beauty, like the glittery mural under the Interstate-40 overpass on Main Street.

“So hopefully, this mural that is gonna help connect these two bridges together, the South Main and North Main, and revitalize that North Main area‚” Kong Wee explained.

Just steps away from that mural inside the Renasant Convention Center is another Taro Pop masterpiece representing what Kong Wee called Memphis’ endless growth and music history.

“Then we still want to capture the music. […] So we’re using the Memphis Mississippi River bridge to form the reflection, to form the blue guitars,” she described.

Kong Wee Pang's art is on display all around Memphis.
Kong Wee Pang’s art is on display all around Memphis.(Action News 5)

Kong Wee also created the 2022 River Arts Fest poster and just this year, she was invited to showcase not only her talent, but also her country of origin for the 2023 Memphis in May poster.

She explained what that painting represents: “Malaysia is a rainforest, so every morning you wake up, you will see the rainforest, the water drop, drop on the ground. So that kind of reflects my past. So when you squint your eyes you start to see that the city of the twin towers, famous Malaysia from the west. So the east side is more like a rainforest, very natural, so the hummingbird is part of… the element. Our national flower is hibiscus.”

In addition to public art, Kong Wee is a fine artist whose work has been shown in galleries around the world. Her current medium of choice is watercolor, a sort of metaphor for life.

“And so the watercolor that I use and also is part of the, kinda like Chinese idiom (speaks Chinese) means that remember where is original, the water that you drink, where you come from. So, that watercolor is kind of like opening up the abstract-like thinking; sometimes you don’t know who you are but you’re thinking you know. Water is kind of the medium that you want to control, you always want to control, but (you can’t). So what is in between that control and not control?” she theorized.

“Sometimes, I don’t even know that one stroke will form something, but there might be too much water. That means I have too much thought behind the painting.”

Kong Wee is also a design artist for companies like Planned Parenthood, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and FedEx, to name just a few.

Sometimes she immerses the technology from that aspect of her work to create fine and public art. The Summer Arts Garden in front of the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, on display until October, is a great example.

“I spent so many times in Overton Park so I wanted to do my best to create this art garden piece. So when I create this piece, I also inject some AR (Augmented Reality) you can scan so the creature comes out from the umbrella,” she explained.

Kong Wee Pang's art is on display all around Memphis.
Kong Wee Pang’s art is on display all around Memphis.(Action News 5)

But whether her art is digital, three-dimensional or on canvas, Kong Wee’s Memphis masterpieces inspire us all to open our hearts and imagination, like a painting she created that, on first look, appears to be a large flower.

“So for the piece, the bird is hidden, the hidden bird in the flower but you see the first thing is like, ‘Oh, there’s a flower.’ But, if you’re using your heart to see something, you will see even more the hidden message,” she said.

Kong Wee Pang makes us proud she’s made Memphis home.

To learn more about Kong Wee Pang’s art, click here.

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Fort Wayne Arts Festival

Fort Wayne Arts Festival
Located in center court! Founded in 2000 by local independent curator, Teri Marquart, The Fort Wayne Arts Festival at Jefferson Pointe is known for featuring masterful creations executed in an array of mediums. Offerings from 40+ local and regional fine artists include wood, glass, clay, fiber, oil/acrylic, watercolor, printmaking, sculpture, jewelry, assemblage, encaustic, photography/digital, drawing, mixed media and is traditionally held the first weekend after Labor Day. On hiatus for 10 years, 2017 marked the successful return of this prestigious juried outdoor show. Located in the lush Courtyard throughout the Jefferson Pointe Shopping Center…Fort Wayne’s only upscale lifestyle outdoor mall. An estimated 10,000 people each year enjoy this intimate setting which allows for easy interaction between artist and Festival-goer. With so many wonderful one-of-a-kind works of art to choose from, the Festival caters to the gift-giver as well as the serious collector. From established, award-winning artists to newly emerging and aspiring artists…selections are vast and varied! So, some to the Festival! Spend an hour, spend the day. Enjoy the best of what art festivals have to offer!