Recent Posts
Overhead Shooting: Getting the Angle Without a Ladder
Some subjects simply don’t cooperate with eye level. Arches, coffered ceilings, hanging signage, and upper facade details all sit above the natural sightline of a standing photographer, and craning the neck back only gets you so far before the framing falls apart. The fix doesn’t require a ladder or a stepstool. It requires raising the camera itself.
Why Overhead Framing Works A camera lifted above the head changes the geometry of the shot without changing your physical position.
read more
Shooting a Restaurant Open Kitchen in Mixed Light
An open kitchen is one of the least cooperative environments you can point a camera at. The light source is whatever the restaurant installed for cooks, not photographers, and it rarely agrees with itself from one fixture to the next. In this frame the copper hood throws a warm, almost orange glow across the top third, while the stainless prep line below sits under a cooler, harder white. Shooting straight into that split without a plan produces a mess of clashing color temperatures.
read more
Two-Camera Carry: Why Photographers Shoot with a Backup Body
Carrying two camera bodies at once looks like overkill until the moment it isn’t. The setup shown here is a common one: two Sony bodies on separate straps, a longer lens raised overhead for a detail shot while a second body with a shorter lens rides on the chest, ready without a lens swap.
The Case for a Second Body The most obvious reason is failure protection. A dropped body, a corrupted card, or a battery that dies mid-shoot doesn’t end the session if a second camera is already loaded and ready.
read more
Voigtländer APO-Lanthar 90mm f/4 Close Focus Announced for Leica M-Mount at 235 Grams
Cosina has officially announced the Voigtländer APO-Lanthar 90mm f/4 Close Focus, moving the lens from its CP+ 2026 prototype showing to a confirmed product for Leica M-mount. Shipping is expected to begin in August.
The headline is physical. At 53mm in diameter, 54.8mm long, and 235 grams, this is a 90mm telephoto that behaves like a compact prime. That matters more on a rangefinder than on any other body: long M-mount lenses tend to intrude into the optical viewfinder, and a barrel this short keeps that intrusion minimal.
read more
Voigtländer APO-Skopar 75mm f/2.8 VM Announced for Leica M-Mount at 191 Grams
The Voigtländer APO-Skopar 75mm f/2.8 VM is the sibling lens to the newly announced APO-Lanthar 90mm f/4 Close Focus — both shown as prototypes at CP+ 2026 — but it reached market first. Cosina gave the 75mm its full announcement in April, with a Japan launch in May.
The pitch is size. At 44mm long and 191 grams, the APO-Skopar 75mm is closer to a standard 50mm prime than to a typical short telephoto.
read more
Tamron 12-20mm F2.8 Puts a Full-Frame 12mm Zoom in a 570-Gram Body, With No Front Filter Thread
Tamron has announced the 12-20mm F2.8 (Model A084), a fast ultra-wide zoom for Sony E-mount and Nikon Z full-frame mirrorless. The number that matters is the wide end: 12mm on a full-frame sensor is a 122-degree diagonal field of view, and holding F2.8 across the whole range puts this lens directly at astrophotography and cramped-interior work. What makes the announcement worth a second look is the packaging. At 119.3mm long and 570g on the Sony mount, this is not the usual full-frame ultra-wide brick.
read more
Sony RX10 V: One Fixed Lens, 24-600mm, and the Case for Travel Universality
The most interesting thing about the Sony RX10 V isn’t a spec bump — it’s that the fixed-lens, do-everything premise of this camera still exists at all in 2026, and Sony just doubled down on it. While the rest of the industry has pushed shooters toward interchangeable-lens mirrorless kits, the RX10 V is built on the opposite bet: one body, one lens, zero compromises on range, and nothing to swap, drop, or leave in a hotel safe.
read more
Shooting Air Shows: Getting the Shot When Aircraft Move Fast
Air show and aviation photography rewards patience more than gear, but the gear still has to keep up. Aircraft move fast, cross the frame at odd angles, and rarely give you a second attempt — so the difference between a keeper and a miss usually comes down to a handful of habits built before the plane even shows up.
Shutter speed is the first decision, not an afterthought. For a frozen prop disc with visible blade detail, something in the 1/500s to 1/1000s range usually works well.
read more
What We Can Learn From Observing Photographers
There’s a particular kind of education that happens when you stop taking pictures for a minute and just watch other photographers work. Not workshops, not YouTube tutorials — just standing on a riverside promenade at dusk, watching two strangers handle their gear, their light, and their moment in completely different ways.
That’s exactly the scene that prompted this post: two photographers on a bridge-side boardwalk during blue hour, cameras up, clearly working the same scene but approaching it from opposite instincts.
read more
Event Portraiture: How to Find and Shoot Candid Faces in a Crowd
Some of the strongest portraits at a trade show or conference are never posed. They happen in the half-second when someone glances toward the light, or pauses mid-thought while the crowd blurs past behind them. Event portraiture is really about being ready for that moment rather than manufacturing it.
Why Candid Beats Posed at Events Posed portraits at a booth or step-and-repeat tend to look interchangeable — same lighting, same smile, same backdrop.
read more