Julie Powell is a photographer, writer and educator, offers unique photographic opportunities and inspirational ideas to help YOU become the photographer you wish to be.
All tagged Review
The Adaptalux Pod Mini is the latest generation of Adaptalux Pod. It brings you its fully adaptable lighting system in an ultra-transportable, miniature and robust package. I reviewed the main Adaptalux Control Pod last year and really enjoyed using it for macro and product photography. So when the good people at Adaptalux asked if I wanted to try the brand new Pod Mini, it was a simple “Yes please!” from me.
Using a projection unit like the Godox AK-R21 is a technique that can take your studio portraits to the next level.
You can extend your creativity further with the Lensbaby Sweet 80, which allows for a sweet spot of focus and the rest of gorgeous blur.
I have been using the Tamron 28-75mm G1 Sony E-mount lens as my studio workhorse few several years now. So...what’s new in the G2?
I do love the creative magic I can create with the Lensbaby Velvet56. Whether for macro or portraits or even landscape photography.
This new Tamron 18-300mm lens certainly had the versatility to get out in nature with its all-in-one APS-C Ultra Zoom specs.
And when you crop into an image to any significant amount you lose a LOT of detail. Well, the clever people at Topaz Labs have largely solved that problem
Back in October, I was asked to review the new Tamron 70-300mm f/4.5-6.3 for my Sony. I loved it so much I bought it, Seriously! Tamron 70-300mm for Sony really is a nature photography gem.
I recently was given access to a Beta copy of the soon to be released LuminarAI to review, I was just a little bit excited to see what changes they had made and just how well the Portrait Tools section would work.
I was recently asked to review the soon to be released Tamron A047 for my Sony A7Riii, being a fan of the Tamron range I jumped at the chance. The A047 is the smallest, most compact and lightweight telephoto zoom lens, currently on the market.
When I first switched over to my Sony system, I had a basic kit lens which I bought with it. It was great, but had a variable f/3.5-5.6 aperture. I wanted something that would do f/2.8 without breaking the bank.
Not so long ago I wrote a post about Excire Search, a plugin for Lightroom Classic, which allows you to quickly search for faces, people, landmarks and more within your entire Lightroom catalog. But what if you don’t use Lightroom? Well, the people over at Excire have been working on a stand-alone version — Excire Foto. This program allows you to search your entire hard drive for images using similar search criteria.
Do you have Plotaverse on your PC? Do you know there is also a Plotaverse mobile app available, too?
Well, there are some buzz words for you — focus stacking, macro rail … but what does it all mean?
I recently wrote a post on using extension tubes and mentioned how macro ring lights can be very helpful. So in this follow-up, I take a closer look at macro ring lights and the benefits of them.
Skylum just released its 4.2 update to Luminar, claiming even more powerful AI tools. Offering refinements to various AI features — including AI Sky Replacement — the company claims to have fixed many of the bugs that caused unexpected errors and crashes. In addition to AI Sky Replacement, there are improvements to portrait editing as well as a new eraser tool.
From quickly locating landmarks, animals and food, I believe the better I make my search, the better results I have. So in this post, let’s have a look at finding different types of faces, and see how quickly and just how well it works.
I really like to keep my portraits simple, no over-processing or spending hours on the PC. I try to capture everything in-camera as much as I can. Shooting RAW, I find most images out of the camera are a little flat and they need some processing. But again my aim is always to try and keep it simple. So when I was recently asked to review a copy of DxO PhotoLab 3, I was keen to put it through its paces.
I was recently given a copy of Excire Search 2 Pro to review. Let me start by saying I’m NOT a tech-head, but I’m all for something that can make life easier.
The beauty of the printed image, especially when using a frame and print solution system like Xpozer, is hard to beat for any photographer. Not only was it quick and easy, but they are also truly stunningly beautiful. I wrote a post recently about just how quick and easy it was to order my prints from Xpozer.
