The Phoblographer

The All Out Photo Award offers a voice for the LGBT+ community.

Attacks on the LGBT+ community are sadly not uncommon. Members of the community often share their stories of abuse, discrimination, and violence. Amongst the LGBT+ community are photographers, and many of them tell their stories through visual documentation. Now, alongside MTV, global movement All Out is giving them a platform to share their stories in the form of a 2021 photography award.

The All Out Photo Award is accepting entries until June 11th. Winners will receive $1,000 and a host of media opportunities to show their work.

Before the deadline, we caught up with one of the judges, Mengwen Cao. They are a Chinese queer photographer and artist based in New York. Cao was more than happy to answers our questions about the up and coming award.

Phoblographer: What does it feel like to be part of the judging panel for the All Out Photo Award?

Mengwen Cao: I feel honored and excited to be part of the judging panel with other talented queer photographers and artists.

I admire what All Out does for the LGBTQ community, how they connect local stories to the global audience. I’m curious to see the submissions from all over the world and from all the different perspectives, literally and figuratively.

Phoblographer: What kind of imagery and visual storytelling tend to catch your eye?

Mengwen Cao: The ones that feel authentic, nuanced and unique. I believe our lens is an extension of our eyes and our hearts. I am always looking for the heart-to-heart connection when I see work. It usually shows in the intention and care put in the work. That, for me, is more important than technical precision.

Phoblographer: The categories the All Out Photo Award are Resisting, Supporting, and Healing. What do all three represent for you in regards to the LGBT+ Community?

Mengwen Cao: For me, these three are interconnected. We are creating a healthy and generative culture of love, compassion and resilience. Resisting means recognizing the global reality and fighting for what we believe in.

Supporting means building a supportive and diverse network and root daily practice in care. Healing means recovering from past trauma and actively building a future we want to live in with thoughtfulness, patience and imagination.

Phoblographer: From your perspective, why do you feel this type of photography award is important in our current time?

Mengwen Cao: Because images can be a powerful common language to connect with the global audience on an emotional level, to raise awareness of love and equality, inspire people to ask questions and imagine what’s possible.

Phoblographer: The award will naturally attract photographers who are part of the LGBTQ community. But how do you feel about the way the community is currently represented across the photo industry?

Mengwen Cao: I think the media industry has changed a lot, but we still need more multifaceted and nuanced representations of the LGBTQ community. We see a lot of extreme stories of our community in our highest or lowest point. It’s nice to see us being glamorous at parties. It’s alarming to see us in oppressed situations fighting for our rights. What about all the space in between? Being queer is one layer of our identity. We are human beings just like everyone else, who are going through this complicated thing called life. So I also want to see how we live and how we love assuming our existence is normalized and valued.

Phoblographer: You identify as non-binary. Can you please tell us how this impacts your own experience in the photo industry?

Mengwen Cao: As a Chinese queer immigrant living in the United States working in the photo industry, I learnt the importance of self-respect and embracing change. I often find myself to be the only one with my specific identity in a room. At the beginning, it was easy to feel trapped in these labels and question my sense of belonging. But over time, I learnt to wear these labels proudly because they a...

These cameras whispered sweet sounds into your ear when you shot with them.

The past two decades of photography showed photographers constantly asking for quieter shutters. It went hand-in-hand with the requests of wedding photographers, street photographers, and photojournalists. And like those shutters, the voices of some echoed really loudly throughout the internet. Then manufacturers developed the silent shutter. Photographers who needed it used it, but some of us miss the romance of the beautiful shutter. Digital photography lacks the sensory stimulation of film. You can’t smell the sensor, and the sounds are that of a soulless machine. But these cameras had beautiful shutter sounds. Hopefully, camera manufacturers will bring that back.

Olympus Pen EP1: Inspired by an Old Leica

Sweet Nothings: The Olympus Pen EP1 is arguably the camera that got folks interested in mirrorless to begin with. It boasted exquisite looks, but it also had a beautiful shutter sound. Back then, folks cared a lot about quiet shutters. This one has shutter sounds like an old Leica camera, according to reports I read. There’s something about a satisfying click muffled by the lens that’s just so right. It’s a pity Olympus never gave this camera a proper electronic viewfinder. That would’ve changed things so much.

Sony a7: The Loud Clank

Sweet Nothings: The Sony a7 was one of the first autofocusing full-frame mirrorless cameras. I still own one, and the shutter always does something for me. The Sony a7 has two modes. With the electronic front shutter curtain, the sound is a bit more muffled. But when you take it off, it sounds like the slap of a medium format film camera. It’s very satisfying, and unlike anything I’ve heard in modern digital.

Canon 5D Mk II: A Beautiful Shutter

Sweet Nothings: The Canon 5D Mk II is one of the most revolutionary cameras of the digital era. Known for bringing about cinematic video, it also had a distinctive shutter sound. Like a few other cameras on this list, it was a bit muffled. This helped make it better for photojournalism, weddings, events, etc. Make no mistake, you could surely hear the shutter sounds in a wedding hall. But for a photographer who cared, the sound was very pleasing. This camera helped me build my career, so there’s a special place in my heart for it.

Nikon D700: Shutter Sounds That Echoed

Sweet Nothings: The Nikon D700 can be likened to a cartoonish slapping sound amplified and made menacing. This camera was a big, formidable beast that photographers took into low-light weddings. At the time, when photographers shot with it, you knew exactly what it was. I always remember it being loud. During a concert, I found that I still could hear the shutter even over the loud sound of music.

Leica M9: Nice Shutter Sounds and a Mechanical Recock

Sweet Nothings: In retrospect, I realize the Leica M9 was misunderstood. But honestly, it also had a few problems. Some folks found the shutter sound to be thunderous. Even louder was the control mechanism that recocked the shutter. Imagine the sound of a cookie being loudly broken, followed up by the sound of a microwave. That’s what it was like shooting with the Leica M9.

Panasonic GF1: Like Closing a Plastic Lid

Sweet Nothings: The Panasonic GF1 was the first compact Panasonic mirrorless camera. Like the EP1, it had a distinctive and beautiful shutter sound. In fact, the whole experience was enjoyable. If you held it, you shot using the LCD screen. But if you used the optional electronic viewfinder, you heard the shutter more clearly. Back then, there was a huge emphasis on the rangefinder aesthetic, and this camera embodied it very well–even down to the shutter.

Olympus OMD EM5: To This Day, It Has Beautiful Shutter Sounds

Sweet Nothings: The Olympus OMD EM5 was the first earnest Olympus mirrorless camera. It boasted weather-sealing, fast autofocus, and it was small. Most importantly, it looked beautiful: I still admire it. I remember shooting with mine very o...

Let’s explore the topic of street photography.

From opinion pieces to tutorials, we’ve written a lot about street photography. It’s one of the most accessible genres there is. Naturally, there’s plenty to say about the art form then. We decided to go through our archives and put the best of what we’ve written into one piece. Whether you’re a newbie, enthusiast, or seasoned pro, you’ll certainly take something away from this article.

Street Photography Makes You a Better Person

This year we wrote an article on why street photography makes you a better person. It requires specific skills that go along with certain virtues. And with continued practice, you’ll start to see plenty of transferable life skills. See the article here.

Manual Focus Lenses for Street Photography

We know some of our readers are purists. And we know they love using manual focus lenses! We did a round-up of three of our favorite lenses for shooting street. Of course, all of them give you full focusing control! Take a look here.

Should Street Photography Cover Breastfeeding?

What you should and shouldn’t photograph on the street sparks plenty of debate. The topic mainly focuses on the vulnerable, but as society changes, a new type of subject appears. Take a look at the photographer who documented breastfeeding. Is it ethical? Read here.

Mobile Street Photography

Street photography seems to be the only genre to truly embrace the smartphone camera. Many photographers only use the camera in their pocket. When Sony released the Xperia 1 II, we saw a phone camera with unbelievable quality, making it the perfect tool for street work. Take a look here.

The Uncertain Photographer

Being confident isn’t easy when your shoot street. It takes a lot of guts to make photos of strangers. Because of our combined experience at The Phoblographer, we can tell when someone lacks confidence just by looking at their photos. Here are four signs you need a confidence boost! Read here.

Shooting at Night

It’s a different ball game when it comes to shooting street at night. The earth’s darkness forces you to approach your shots differently. Thankfully, we wrote an article that tells all you need to know for making awesome photos at night. Read it here.

Dealing with Confrontation

If you shoot street long enough, you’ll most likely encounter confrontation. Some people just don’t like strangers making a photo of them. And while most will give you a disgruntled look, some will take it a step further. This article gives you all the tools you need to handle – and overcome – confrontation. Take a look here.

Read from a Pro About the Law

Continuing on the topic of confrontation, Jonathan Higbee shared one of his more memorable experiences. Confronted by a gang of security guards, he was forced to debate the law relating to street photography. What happened? Find out here.

Back to Basics

Naturally, street photography has evolved. What was once a genre of pure documentation is now a genre of coincidences and cliche. Sometimes it’s a good idea to return to the fundamentals of a craft. They are, after all, the foundations of the photography we love today. Read about it in more detail here.

Why Did Street Become Cliche?

There are several factors to why street photography became cliche. But one of the driving forces is certainly social media (more so, Instagram).

Instead of being authentic creators, photographers started following the likes. They see popular photographs on Instagram and think, “if I create a similar photo, I’ll get likes too.” Originality went out the window, and the quality of the craft decreased. Take a look here.

Take Inspiration from Other Photographers

We have featured many street photographers over the past 11 years. People from all over the world have shared their stories and culture with us.

Check out the work of Kuo-Chico Lin, Miguel Valencia, and Tom Souzer. And if you want something from someone with legendary status, check out the work of Daido Moriyama.

All That’s L...

We found a bunch of gear that KEH has listed on Amazon, so you know it has to be quality used gear.

KEH has long been known for having great used camera gear. They evaluate everything and let you know the quality and condition of it all. Some of the gear gets listed on Amazon in an effort to sell it. And we found some of it listed on Amazon at the KEH Store. Take a look at some of the good gear we found.

Leica M for $3,299

Leica S for $6,999

Fuji GFX100 for $8,199

Sony a6300 for $739.99

Fujifilm GFX 50r for $3,349

Panasonic S1 for $1,899

Fujifilm X Pro 2 for $1,299

All images by Melissa O’Shaughnessy. Used with permission.

“That it was—and will be again—full of energy, diversity and truly quirky moments,” writes Melissa O’Shaughnessy. She adds, “It’s well worth paying attention to the variety and beauty of the millions of people who crowd its streets and avenues.” O’Shaughnessy is referring to New York City. It’s the place she calls home, and it’s also where she created her excellent photo book, Perfect Strangers.

Melissa O’Shaughnessy Shoots in New York City

New York is known for its diversity. With a variety of people, culture, food, and philosophy of life, the Big Apple is the perfect hunting ground for a street photographer.

For seven years, O’Shaughnessy observed all of the above. And with that, she turned everyday happenings into compelling images that tell a complex story.

The images in the book focus on the individual: A man living in his own thoughts, a woman on her way to work. But while each person is in their own unique world, O’Shaughnessy highlights how everyone is connected.

Perfect Strangers is the perfect portrait of New York. A city of individuals, from all corners of the world, coming together as one large, united group of New Yorkers.

We caught up with O’Shaughnessy to learn more about how the book came together and the story behind it.

Phoblographer: In your words, what is a perfect stranger?

Melissa O’Shaughnessy: I imagine the term “perfect stranger” means the same thing to me as it does to everyone else: a person that you’ve never met nor have any connection to. But as I was sifting through possible titles for the book, I liked the double meaning implied by the modifier “perfect”. All the people in the book were strangers to me, but I fell a little in love with every one of them—if only for a fraction of a second—when I took their photographs. They’re all perfect to me.

Phoblographer: What was it about this body of work that made you feel it was perfect for a photo book?

Melissa O’Shaughnessy: Though I photograph wherever I find myself, I spend most of my time in New York City, so that is where I do the bulk of my work. There are many New York street photography books, but relatively few of them are by women. I hope my book adds a new perspective to the genre.

Phoblographer: Through your observations, what did you learn about the mentality of the people who flood the streets of New York?

Melissa O’Shaughnessy: I’m a photographer, not a psychoanalyst, so I can’t say I’ve learned much of anything about the mentality of the people I photograph. My photographs surely say as much about me, or at least about the people and the moments I’m interested in, as they do about the people in them.

Phoblographer: Talk to us about the image placement in the book. How long did that take, and what was your creative thinking when putting it together?

Melissa O’Shaughnessy: The sequencing of the book went on for some time. Before approaching publishers, I had put together a maquette of my New York photographs, and when I signed on with Aperture we started all over again. From a pile of hundreds of photographs, my editor and I honed the sequence to tell a story about the city and its people: I wanted everyone who saw the book to feel like they had gone on a walk with me through Manhattan.

It was also important to me to make strong and confident women a recurrent motif in the book, along with families, twins, a few dogs and the occasional gust of wind to animate it all.

Phoblographer: The intro of the book is written by Joel Meyerowitz: what does that mean to you?

Melissa O’Shaughnessy: It means the world to me, of course. I am honored by Joel’s incisive introduction to my work. He started out as my teacher and mentor. Over the years he has become a true friend. The latter I value most of all.

Phoblographer: The work is a seven-year journey. How has your relationship with street photography evolved throughout that time?

Melissa O’Shaughnessy: I hope that I’ve become more observant a...

The 85mm lens is essential for landscape, portrait, and street photographers.

There aren’t many lenses that can as versatile as an 85mm lens. We learned a while back that it’s a great choice for basketball. And we’ve known for a while that it’s great for portrait photography. But 85mm lenses also help landscape photographers focus on specific details really well. And for street photography, it can make a cinematic-looking image. But you’re on a budget, so we dove into our Reviews Index to find some of the best 85mm lenses for under $700. Here are the best of the bunch.

The Phoblographer’s various product round-up features are done by our staff. 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 thoroughly reviewed. 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.

Tips on How to Make the Most of an 85mm Lens

The 85mm lens is great for portrait photography. Here’s how to get the best image quality from one:

An 85mm is a great option for portrait photography, but your street photography will also look more cinematic.

The best way to use an 85mm lens for portrait photography is to use eye-detection autofocus.

Try to work with a set white balance rather than automatic: it will mean you’ll edit a lot less.

Some 85mm lenses are sharper than others. For what it’s worth, some folks don’t like seeing their pores.

You still need light. Give your subjects some frontal lighting with off-camera lights. That’s the only way you’ll see the details.

If you want lens flare, then remove your lens hood. Point your lens at a light source, and shoot.

Sony 85mm f1.8 FE: One of the Best 85mm Lenses

“Images from the Sony 85mm f1.8 FE are beautiful in many ways. This lens offers very sharp image quality though arguably more muted than what Sony users are used to. Sony’s 85mm f1.4 G Master is the most saturated, while the Batis follows after that, then the Loxia, and then the standard Sony FE. In a word, it’s pretty perfect for portrait shooters. And if you’re a fan of something like Kodak Portra film, this lens is for you.”

Samyang 85mm f1.4 RF: A Surprising Choice

“95% of the time, the Samyang 85mm f1.4 RF is a godsend to the Canon RF system. It focuses quickly and accurately. Canon’s face and eye detection are fantastic. And luckily, this lens utilizes it very well. It works in high contrast situations and even in low light. Personally speaking, it just means that you can keep shooting with a model over and over again. The flow of a shoot becomes more normalized. This is in contrast to Samyang’s manual focus lenses. I like the autofocus lenses from Samyang so much more. They somehow still retain their character and accuracy. Any problems that we found are the same that you’d get with any other camera system.”

Tamron 85mm f1.8 Di VC USD: The Most Vivid

In our review, we state:

“For what it’s worth, the Tamron 85mm f1.8 Di VC USD wipes the floor with everyone else’s lenses except for the newest offerings from Zeiss. It doesn’t have micro-contrast but instead, it has a couple of things that have made me change my editing workflow. I generally don’t need to do anywhere as much of a clarity increase and instead what I tend to do when working with this lens is work with the shadows and the individual color channels.”

Buy Now

The BenQ SW271C is big and beautiful, but the price is big too.

The colors in your photo edits are only as good as the monitor you adjust them on. The BenQ SW271C boasts 10.7 billion of them. The HDR monitor, designed specifically for photographers, is a 4K beast with an SD card and USB ports, and even doubles as a sort of docking station for photo edits.

The BenQ SW271C shares several features with the older SW271. The newest monitor adds HLG to the previous HDR 10, as well as more native frame rates. Adding a C to the end of the name also adds to the price. And, at $1,599, the BenQ SW271C isn’t cheap. Is the 4K, 10-bit color, extra ports, and added features worth the price? I spent two weeks with the BenQ SW271C to find out.

Too Long, Didn’t Read

The BenQ SW271C has print-like color in sRGB mode, plenty of resolution, and a great anti-glare shading hood. As part of the SW series, it also has dedicated SD card slots and two extra USB ports to connect external hard drives. But, for $1,599, it’s a hard price tag to swallow.

BenQ SW271C Pros and Cons

Pros

Print-like colors in sRGB mode

Excellent shaded hood

Glossy surface, with anti-reflective coating

Sturdy stand with height adjustments

Hotkey puck for quick color mode swaps

Cons

$1,599

Set up was a bit more involved

The base ended up with a scratch

Gear Used

I used the BenQ SW271C with my 2015 MacBook Pro. I used the monitor with Capture One, Lightroom, Pages, and Safari. I tested the monitor as shipped without custom calibration.

BenQ SW271C Tech Specs

These specifications are taken directly from BenQ and shortened for brevity:

LCD Size (inch): 27”

Aspect Ratio: 16:9

Resolution (max.): 3840×2160

Display Area(mm): 608.8 x 355.3

Brightness (Typical): 350nits

Native Contrast (typ.): 1000:1

Panel Type: IPS

Viewing Angle (L/R;U/D) (CR>=10): 178/178

Vertical Refresh Rate: 60Hz

Response time: 5ms (GtG)

Display Colors: 1.07B

Color Gamut: 100% Rec.709/ sRGB, 99% Adobe RGB, 93% DCI-P3

DCR (Dynamic Contrast Ratio) (typ.): 20M:1

Backlight: LED

Special Features: Gamut Duo, Hardware Calibration, PIP/PBP, AMA, HDCP, Black Level, Flicker-free Technology, Video Format Support, 3D LUT, VESA Wall Mounting, Slim Bezel

Color Temperature: 5000°K/6500°K/9300°K/User Mode, OSD Hotkey Puck, Card Reader, K locker

Tilt (down/up): -5°/20°

Swivel (left/right): 45°/45°

Pivot: 90°

Other Accessories: Shading hood, CD, QSG, Individual Calibration Report, Hotkey Puck

Signal Cable, USB type-C cable (1m), mDP to DP 1.4 cable (1.8m), HDMI 2.0 cable (1.8m), USB 3.1 cable (Gen 1)(1.8m)

Software: Palette Master Element

Support OS: Win 7 32/64bit or above , Mac OS X 10.6.8 or above

Support Calibrator: X-Rite i1 Display Pro / i1 Pro /i1 Pro 2 , Datacolor Spyder 4/5

Color Gamut

100% Rec.709/ sRGB, 99% Adobe RGB, 93% DCI-P3

Height Adjustment (mm): 150mm

Dimensions(HxWxD mm) (without shading hood): Landscape 504.49-610.95×613.8×213.43 Pivot: 733.4×380.66×223.15

Net Weight (kg) (without stand) H: 6.3 Pivot: 6.4

Net Weight (kg): 9.3

Gross Weight (kg): 16.4

Dimensions(HxWxD mm) (with shading hood): Landscape 504.49-614.25×626.8×334.83 Pivot 744.55×381.1×334.61

Ports.

USB Type-C: 3.1(Gen2, no Power Delivery Function) x 1

USB: 3.1(Gen1) x2 (downstream), x1 (upstream)/ 2.0 x1 (only for Hotkey Puck)

HDMI: 2.0 x 2

DP Input: 1.4 x 1

Headphone Jack: Yes

BenQ SW271C Ergonomics

The BenQ SW271C is a large, 27-inch monitor. The monitor ships with a sturdy stand that has a good height range, positioning the bottom of the monitor at about three inches above the desk at the lowest setting and about nine inches at the highest. That allowed me to set up the monitor at eye level, which is the most comfortable position. I still had enough room to place my laptop underneath it and use both screens.

The monitor houses an SD port and two USB pass-through ports on the left-hand side in the back. That means you can skip the dongles with this monitor and plug an SD card and an external into the monitor itself. When every laptop seems to be elim...

The Panasonic 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 is an affordable telephoto that L mount camera owners should consider.

The L mount lens library is finally starting to grow thanks to Panasonic, Leica, and Sigma. Until recently, all Panasonic lenses were designed for pros who needed top quality. That’s fine, but they came with top-quality prices too. However, this is starting to change. The Panasonic 85mm f1.8 has been released (review coming later), and now an affordable telephoto option is on the market. The Panasonic 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 is looking to sit alongside the Sigma 100-400mm f5.6-6.3 as a telephoto lens for the masses. At $1,249.99, it’s an attractive option, but does it produce the goods? Find out in our full review.

Too Long, Didn’t Read

A solid performer across the board, the Panasonic 70-300mm Lumix S f4.5-5.6 Macro OIS is a fine telephoto choice for all L mount camera owners. It’s sharp, focuses fast, produces gorgeous colors, and has fun macro capabilities. At $1,249.99, it’s a no-brainer for wildlife, bird photographers, and even landscape photographers.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Weather-sealed

Very sharp

Gorgeous colors

Great ‘Macro’ ability

Fast, silent autofocusing

Reasonably priced at $1,249.99

Cons

None to write home about

Gear Used

We used the Panasonic 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 with the Panasonic Lumix S5.

Panasonic 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 – What’s Innovative

There’s nothing innovative about the Panasonic 70-300mm Lumix S f4.5-5.6 Macro OIS from Panasonic. It’s a telephoto lens that performs well. The 0.5x magnification at 300mm is great, but otherwise, it does nothing different from others lenses like this on the market.

Panasonic 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 – Tech Specs

All of the technical specifications were taken directly from the official Panasonic website:

Works with all L mount cameras

This lens can shoot images, video, and macro

0.5x magnification at 300mm

5.5 stops of image stabilization (Dual IBIS)

Suppressed focused breathing makes it ideal for video

Splash, dust, and freeze resistant

11 bladed aperture design

17 elements in 11 groups, including 2 ED, 1 UED, and 1 UHR lenses to minimize aberrations and ensure superb resolution

Panasonic 70-300mm f4.5 -5.6 – Ergonomics

As you can see in the image above, the Panasonic 70-300mm f4.5-6.3 is relatively compact for a 70-300mm telephoto lens. When at 70mm, the lens measures just a hair over 6-inches. At 300mm, the lens measures 8.5-inches. Stick the lens hood on, and you can add another 2.5-inches. The zoom ring is large and provides a nice place to hold the lens. The manual focus ring is much smaller. Both are covered in a ribbed rubber grip, which feels nice. The lens is also very light, weighing just 1.74lbs, which makes the lens easy to take on walks and hikes.

Side Controls

The left side of the Panasonic 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 houses all the lens controls. Here you’ll find a barrel lock, the image stabilizer control, autofocus, manual focus switch, and the focus limiter. The right side of the lens is bare. The switches on the left are well-spaced and easy to reach and use.

Front Element

The front element on this lens has a 77mm filter thread. Keep this in mind if you plan on using filters with this lens. The lens hood that twists onto the front is just a standard hood. It doesn’t even have a window that will allow you to adjust filters. Overall the Panasonic 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 is a nice lens ergonomically. Nothing really stands out about it. It feels nice in hand, and really, that’s what matters the most.

Panasonic 70-300mm f4.5 -5.6 – Build Quality

The Panasonic 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 is quite deceiving. When you pick it up, you’ll think this lens probably won’t be rugged due to how little it weighs. However, Panasonic has done a top job when it comes to the build. Yes, this lens is a plastic-fantastic affair. It doesn’t feel cheap by any means, but it certainly doesn’t feel premium either. The four controls on the lens click into place nicely. The focus and zoom rings offer just the right amount o...

You think that automatic photo editing can’t bring good results – think again.

Here you are, back from your latest photography gig, exhausted and wired. But hey, those pictures you took aren’t going to edit themselves, right? So you sit down and work till the wee hours of the morning because the photos are due soon. Don’t you think there is a better way to edit photos that wouldn’t include overstraining yourself? Well, good news – there is. If you don’t want to toil for hours while post-processing your pics, consider switching from a manual editing approach to auto.

Editor’s Note: This is a sponsored blog post from PhotoWorks.

If you are ready to trust an artificial intelligence to edit your images, then give a go to PhotoWorks 10.0. This is an automatic photo editor that is easier than most popular softwares, but still possesses enough features and instruments to give them a run for their money. Powered by neural networks, this program is very intuitive and will accommodate both newbies and pros. Besides, PhotoWorks is quite affordable – even more so, since our readers can get it at a discount price. So let’s have a gander at how this image editor can aid you in your work.

Auto Correction – Fix Most Flaws in a Click

In a perfect world, pictures would always turn out fine. But since they don’t, we usually need a little help with them. In PhotoWorks, this help comes in the form of the Auto Correction button. This automatic feature instantly improves your images’ color balance, dynamic range, exposure with just a click. The program’s content-aware AI recognizes all common flaws of your images and fixes them accordingly. All you’ll have to do is to choose the settings you want to improve further and adjust the intensity of all the changes. Bear in mind that the quickness and easiness of this editing method does not imply that you’ll be sacrificing the end result. This automatic photo editing software has been trained on thousands and thousands of images to be able to bring out the best in them.It all makes the Auto Correction feature a true time- and resources-savior for those who have too many photos to take care of.

Batch Processing – Mass Edit Photos with Ease

And speaking of. If you indeed have tons of images that could use some enhancing, then direct your attention to this image editior’s batch processing feature. As its name suggests, this feature allows you to edit multiple images at once – fix their color balance, exposure, contrast, sharpness, and many other aspects. These edits might be performed either manually (with intuitive sliders) or automatically (with the aforementioned Auto Correction). Apart from basic enhancement, PhotoWorks also lets you stylize a group of your pics with various artistic filters, 3D LUT presets, and HRD effects. What’s more, you can brand all your images with a watermark in one sitting. Just create a logo right within this picture editor, save its style and position as a template then apply it to your photos.

While no novelty by any standard, PhotoWorks’ mass picture editing has a few distinct qualities that differentiate it from its closest competitors. First off, the Auto Correction feature does not apply the same unified settings to all the images in the batch. Instead, it analyzes the photos’ flaws and comes up with individual – and most beneficial – solutions for every picture. Besides, while in the batch processing mode, you can preview all your edits in real time, meaning that you’ll see the changes in the preview mode right away and will be able to control them.

Portrait Magic – Retouch Faces Automatically

If you primarily focus on portrait photography, you know that retouching faces can be a pain in the neck – almost literally. Thankfully, PhotoWorks has a specialized module devoted solely to portrait retouching. It is aptly called Portrait Magic and is comprised of dozens of beautifying presets. With just a click of a mouse, you can make the model’s skin smoother, add a slight t...

Nik Collection 4 offers more realistic film grain and an improved user experience.

DxO is back with the most recent iteration of its Nik software, Nik Collection 4. It’s lacking the pomp and circumstance of the complete overhaul it received after being acquired from Google. Instead, the revamped Nik Collection 4 is more like a soft crescendo. It is similar to an S-version release with the subtle refinements we’ve come to know and appreciate. But, it has a whole lot of room to improve. Before you download it, be absolutely sure that you’ve got a lot of hard drive space. You’ll see why.

Too Long Didn’t Read

Nik Collection 4 includes a modernized interface more akin to the Adobe workspaces we have become accustomed to working in. Silver Efex Pro has gained even more black and white film-like capabilities. But, the suite still has room to improve.

Pros And Cons

Pros

Updated interface is more user-friendly

UI is more reminiscent of Adobe LR and PS

39 new black and white film grains for Silver Efex Pro 3

Ability to access last recipe and save with control points

Cons

Non-destructive workflow still requires .Tiff files, thus not truly non-destructive

Control points, while intuitive, are not as precise as layer masks

Time-consuming working between platforms

No Capture One integration

What’s New in Nik Collection 4?

Silver Efex Pro 3

DxO’s newest Silver Efex Pro 3 is hands-down the top selling point of this release. It boasts 58 black and white presets and 28 black and white film types. The plug-in now includes 39 film grains that Nik claims to produce images that look more like analog film than ever before. DxO has spent a significant amount of time researching and developing these various grains and emulsions.

They do not indicate what factors were considered when they produced the film grain for use within the plug-in when they made this claim. For example, Kodak Tri-X can look different with Rodinal vs. some other developers. The same can be said for Ilford and Fuji and the various developers. Our Editor in Chief pressed DXO on this in a press demo, but they weren’t able to provide a clear answer. It sounded more like marketing fluff, which we’re trained to see though. As such, this may be more of a marketing ploy than an actual representation of the most realistic film looks.

If you’re curious, we’ve reviewed a ton of film emulsions. You can see our guides to Lomography, Cinestill, and Kodak films. These have a lot of our reviews on individual film emulsions.

Various monochrome renderings are made possible to please multiple aesthetics while local adjustments are fairly customizable with the updated U-point technology. The control points are now easily incorporated into personalized presets.

In contrast, these control points are not nearly as precise as the layers and masks they are attempting to avoid. As a result, they are not nearly as convenient to achieve the desired result. It would be quicker to pull the image into Photoshop as a layer and mask off the appropriate areas. I still enjoyed browsing the various film types I fell in love with at the onset of my photography journey.

Additionally, Silver Efex Pro now includes the same Clearview technology that was originally offered in DxO Photolab. Better suited in a non-portraiture environment, it instantly enhances local contrast and removes haze from an image.

Viveza 3

Viveza continues to define its role within the Nik creative suite with its third release which now includes 10 native presets designed by professional photographers. The presets are geared towards landscape, cityscape and portrait photographers. The color and tonal presets change the time of day from golden hour to blue hour and remove color casts effortlessly without the need to put multiple control points. However, with the exception of the tonal correction preset, they aren’t ideal for portraits.

In contrast, the skin softening and eye sharpening presets work well enough for basic adjustments. If the goal ...