Mish Mash Highlights: 1/24/2018
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Good Morning Vietnam! With the 12hr difference between Michigan and Vietnam Toby's just waking up for another day on tour with McKaylive. This week there's a new DJI drone, a Photoshop update, black and white challenge top picks, and more.While Toby does the Live Show via PEN when not on tour, this is your quick peek at what we're doing behind the scenes, this week's news, our Instagram challenge top picks, and more. Join the Photo Enthusiast Network and watch Toby live when he gets back, you can find out more at Photorec.tv/pen.Quick Tip! As a reminder, with this cold weather try to bag your cameras before taking them inside, this helps protect it from moisture condensation.
This Week at Photorec.tv
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- PEN ONLY Tuesday Tip - Learning to Print - A basic overview to get you started printing your work.
DJI Mavic Air Announced - If you want to buy a drone this is the one. While a bit more expensive than the spark it's smaller and has all the features both Toby and I wanted. You get 12MP Stills and 4K video in a footprint not terribly bigger than a cell phone making it super easy to carry around. Now if I could only get Toby to buy me one?- Apps for Photography - We get asked quite a bit about which apps Toby uses while shooting. We've got the list here for some of the top picks, while PhotoPills is expensive it's still one of the best apps to really push your skills.
- Sony a7RIII – 5 Awesome Features & a Few Complaints - Toby's taken the Sony a7RIII on a few trips by now since the review. He's come up with a few more thoughts that might sell you on this great small camera.
Around the Web
We can't cover everything photography news related but we try. For everything else, we've got the best news articles from around the web.Select Subject is Here: Photoshop Now Has AI-Powered One-Click Selections
A new update to Photoshop this week with 19.1 and the release of subject selection. Going to select>subject lets Photoshop attempt to select the subject automatically using Adobe Sensei. So far in real-world use, it's not perfect but gives you a start at a layer mask. Like always it will likely be improved in future Adobe updates.Also included in this week's update:
- Decontaminate Colors in Select and Mask now is a slider versus checkbox allowing you to control how much of the effect you get for finer control.
- Windows High-Density Monitor Support, if your using monitor scaling the controls should look a bit nicer after the update.
- Support for the Microsoft Dial
- Better SVG compatibility when copying to Adobe XD
Canon Sends Invitation to Dealers for Major Mirrorless Presentation Next MonthVia Canon Rumors so take this with a grain of salt, but it looks like Canon may be announcing a new mirrorless product to dealers and VIPs. They are keeping the entire thing very hushed but hopefully, it's a sign something is coming down the line.Preset Brewery Lets You Use Lightroom Presets in Photoshophttps://youtu.be/91mhvuIxHeQAt least for those with a Mac, Preset Brewery is a neat little program out this week that will convert a Lightroom preset into one that works in Photoshop. This gives those that want it a way to use a Lightroom preset they like in Photoshop without having to manually set all the sliders again. At the moment it only works one preset at a time for conversion but an update is coming soon. If that sounds good you can buy it now at Preset Brewery for $7.90.LibRaw, Creators of FastRawViewer, Release SonyPixelShift2DNG BetaOne of Toby's issues with the new Sony a7RIII was how it handles the new pixel shift photos. Requiring Sony software for all the work. Now thanks to LibRaw pixel shift photos can easily be converted, in batch, to Adobe DNG for easy editing in Lightroom or Photoshop. In terms of workflow, this should save a fair bit of time, if you have the new a7RIII try it out at https://www.fastrawviewer.com/SonyPixelShift2DNG.Other Stories You Might Like:
- One of the Funniest AI Photos Fails We've Ever Seen
- This Epic Action Sports Video Shows a Skier Freeriding Across the World
- Government Seizes Photographer’s Laptop, Photographers Everywhere Immediately Seem Way More Badass
- I’ve Been Sharing My Photography for Free on Unsplash for the Past 4 Years, Here’s What I Found
- Why I Rejected Your Request for Free Photos
- Five Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Give Raw Files to Your Clients
- The Story of the World's First Digital Camera as Told By Its Inventor
- How to Use a Polariser to Remover Glare From Portraits
- Seven Tips for People Looking to Turn Their Photography Into a Career
- Our $3,000 DSLR Was Stolen in Italy and We Filmed It Happen
- How to Use CTO and CTB Gels to Change the Color of Your Background
- Video: Using a $50 lens on a $12,500 5K RED cinema camera
Featured Photos Weekly Challenge
This Week’s Challenge: #PRTV_blackandwhite3
For this week's challenge, black and white let you really focus on a subject while having the option for a lot of leeway for edits. Great job this week with some amazing photos, black and white allows for a lot of variety so it's nice to see some experimenting.Next Week's Challenge: #PRTV_cultureTo go along with Toby's tour in Vietnam and Cambodia next week's challenge is culture. No, that doesn't mean you have to go travel. Capture something unique to your area that's a part of your town. For in Michigan here the one I always forget is most people don't know a Michigan Coney, a type of diner, or how we use our hands as a map (Michigan is mitten-shaped). Not to mention just north of me is a little Bavaria and year-round Christmas town. So try shooting food, people, buildings, something people recognize from your area. You might get a shot of something you otherwise wouldn't have thought of before!
Roy’s Features:
Great contrast in this shot and the little guy in the frame really makes this one.
Black and White shots are amazing at pushing contrasts, the darker scarf and background works well to frame your subject.
A white foreground leading up to that black rock really makes for a great shot!
Rose’s Features:
Love this composition, it's so simple and effective. I love the texture that the fog adds, too.
Fantastic composition, I think that the black and white treatment adds a lot to the image.
Great use of black and white with the high contrast between the left and right sides.
For more info, the schedule, and past top picks go check out photorec.tv/prtv. Try out some of Toby's Instagram Tips. For everything else Instagram, tag those shots #PRTV and #penlive for our daily photo features.
Photos from Space
Pick up a "Major Tom" spaceman LED light for your computer today. Part of Toby's Photos from space segment and it helps support the site. Click here to buy your own Major Tom on Amazon.Want to keep up with things happening this year? Sync your calendar with the solar system
That's all folks! We'll be back next week with even more of your photo news. For PEN members next week Toby and co. will be off to Vietnam so it'll just be me with the highlights. If you guy's like the highlights leave us comments on the social media posts and we'll keep this going!
Sony has announced a major firmware update for the Sony A9 - More about the functions and enhancements, as well as the link to download the update, can be found below along with some quick thoughts about what this might mean for Sony a7RIII users.
PEN ONLY Tuesday Tip - Creating Starbursts - A quick tutorial we put out for PEN members, controlling your settings to create nice starbursts on demand for your photos. These are lens flares that look like little stars thanks to the aperture blades in your camera.
The Inrigo waterproof bag is a neat design new to Kickstarter, or at least a dry one. While moisture damage is a bit rarer here in Michigan, traveling to humid countries or shooting around water can cause significant issues to your gear. The Inrigo is that extra bit of insurance and peace of mind you might want to keep things safe and dry. Designed to be a drybox on the go the airtight Inrigo is IP78 waterproof rated so your gear stays dry while in water up to a meter deep. With its airtight seal, the bag even has the option to inflate to provide a bit more protection for bumps and the ability to float if the worst occurs.Coming in two models, you've got a bit of a choice in how you want to pack your gear. The LitePak acts as a dry spot to carry your normal camera bag, acting as a shell against the elements. The ProPak works as a standard camera bag or the same as the LitePak with two interior storage totes for your gear and a dehumidifier. Both still have the basics though with a tripod mount, water bottle holder, space for a tablet, and more.
While it's a waterproof bag, it's also a smart one, using temperature and humidity sensors combined with Bluetooth. If it starts to get too hot or humid you'll automatically get a warning on your smartphone to see if there's an issue. As a plus, if you're out of range you can also get alerts so you don't lose track of your bag.Find out more on 
Sony has announced the latest addition to the rapidly-growing E-mount lens lineup. The 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 gives an equivalent 27-202.5mm range when mounted on the α6500, α6300 and α6000 cameras and provides Optical SteadyShot (OSS) stabilization.Holy crap it's been over FOUR years since Sony has released an E-mount lens?! Looking back I can't find anything from Sony for their crop sensor line since the 16-70 f/4 Announced Aug 27, 2013. Third party manufacturers like Sigma have filled in some of the gaps but it is clear that filling out the FE mount line(for the full frame a7/a9 series cameras) was a priority. Now we should see a few more e mount lenses for their crop sensor line - the a6000/6300/6500. Sony needs more affordable lenses in this category to compete with Canon.
Based on the quality of recently released lenses I expect this to be a good lens and a strong value, especially for the traveler looking to take just one lens. The compact lens weighs just 325 g (0.72 lb)The new E 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 OSS APS-C Zoom Lens will ship in February 2018 and will be sold for about $600 US and $780 CA
