All in Editorial

An Open Letter to Apple: Please make the equivalent of Quicktime for Images

An Open Letter to Apple: Please make the equivalent of Quicktime for Images

Thomas Fitzgerald
Apple, Editorial

Quicktime is one of those things that people love or hate. Whatever your feelings on it are, it does do one thing really well, and that provides a way of allowing any application to open any movie file, so long as they have the right codec installed. Instead of an application having to directly support multiple video formats, they can just support QuickTime, and then if there’s a codec for the format installed, they can read that format. Which got me thinking, we really need something similar for images.

The One Lens I wish Fuji Would Make

The One Lens I wish Fuji Would Make

Thomas Fitzgerald
Fuji X-Series, Editorial

While Fuji no doubt has a great range of lenses, and it certainly has some high-quality Primes, there are a couple of holes in its lineup still, in my opinion. There is one lens, that is very popular on some other systems, and it’s the lens I miss the most from when I had it for my Canon 5d. For me, it’s the ideal walk around focal length, and that is a 24-105mm equivalent. For a Fuji X-series system, that would be a 16-70mm.

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to run your own eCommerce store

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to run your own eCommerce store

Thomas Fitzgerald
Editorial

I’ve been running my own eCommerce store for a few years now, for selling my own eBooks and Lightroom presets. It’ always been a bit of a challenge, both technically and logistically, but it's getting harder and harder. The problem is that the EU is tightening the rules on privacy and data, and few if any of the commerce solutions are properly up-to-date on this. Many still aren’t even fully compliant with current VAT legislation.

Which is more important: The Subject or the Photograph?

Which is more important: The Subject or the Photograph?

Thomas Fitzgerald
Abstract & Art, Editorial

This may seem like something of an obtuse question at first, but bear with me and let me explain what I mean. When you take a photograph of something, what is the most important thing to you about that photograph? Is it the subject of the photo - the person, place or object that you captured? Our is it the photograph itself - the art of the image, the style of the photo, or the creative way that you captured it?

How I learned to love Cinematography by watching The West Wing

How I learned to love Cinematography by watching The West Wing

Thomas Fitzgerald
Editorial

Without a doubt, my all-time favourite TV show is Aaron Sorkin’s The West Wing. Every time I re-watch the show, it reaffirms my belief, that for me, it is one of the best TV shows ever made. Aside from the story, the performance of the cast, and its optimistic viewpoint, what I most remember about my first time watching the series when it originally aired, was that it got me interested in cinematography for the first time. 

Negativity in the Photographic Community

Negativity in the Photographic Community

Thomas Fitzgerald
Editorial

I’ve been toying with the idea of writing this piece for a little while now. I have a draft of it going back two years, and every time I try to write it, I stop, for fear of the inevitable backlash. You see, for me, while the internet has undoubtedly been a positive influence on photography as an art form, and as a way to help new and up and coming photographers, it can also be an overwhelmingly negative force. 

Big Speed Boost coming to Lightroom. Hopefully.

Big Speed Boost coming to Lightroom. Hopefully.

Thomas Fitzgerald
Lightroom, Editorial

A couple of sites have been reporting over the last few days about the upcoming 7.2 release of Lightroom. Adobe have decided to focus on performance for this next release, and as a testament as to how important they feel this is, they’ve sent beta copies to various photography websites and news organisations ahead of time to show how serious they are about it.

A Camera is more than the sum of its specs

A Camera is more than the sum of its specs

Thomas Fitzgerald
Editorial, Gear

With cameras constantly being released, I have found that a lot of the commentary around certain brands and models revolves around comparing the tech specs. People argue about things like minute differences in dynamic range or noise response as reasons to pick one camera over another. But there's so much more to choosing a camera. 

Plans for 2018

Plans for 2018

Thomas Fitzgerald
Editorial

It’s something of a new years tradition to look aead for the new year and set goals, while also keeping in mind where you’ve come from over the past 12 months. Last year was a really interesting year for me. In this post I want to outline my pans and goals for the next year!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year

Thomas Fitzgerald
Editorial

It’s two hours to midnight here in Dublin as I write this, and it’s hard to believe that 2017 is nearly over. It was a really interesting year for me and my photography. The average visitors to this site increased significantly over the past year, and I’ve gained new audiences in areas I hadn’t expected. I started my Patreon Project and I also re-started my YouTube channel.

My Mixed feelings about Lightroom CC

My Mixed feelings about Lightroom CC

Thomas Fitzgerald
Editorial, Lightroom

I have to say, I’m having somewhat mixed feelings about Adobe’s new Lightroom CC. When I tried it initially I didn’t like it at all. I thought it was way too limiting and I didn’t really see the point of it. My mind has shifted somewhat, after the most recent update, and now I just don’t know what to think anymore.

The Current State of Lightroom Alternatives

The Current State of Lightroom Alternatives

Thomas Fitzgerald
Editorial, Software

There has been a lot of talk lately about Lightroom alternatives. Much of this has been amplified by disquiet over the recent decision of Adobe to go subscription only, although there have been grumblings about this for a while. A lot of people are looking for alternatives because of this, and many people are making claims that x software will replace Lightroom and so on. Unfortunately because of the internet echo chamber, many of these claims are either untrue, out only true for specific purposes. 

 

Calling for an open source camera profile database

Calling for an open source camera profile database

Thomas Fitzgerald
Editorial, Software

With more and more new RAW conversion applications coming out from small and independent developers, many suffer from the same problem. Cameras aren’t profiled properly or poorly, and as a result when you open a RAW file in many of these applications the colours look a bit flat or different than you would expect. So I had an idea. Why doesn’t someone come up with a way to create an open format for profiling and an open source database.

Initial Thoughts on Lightroom CC and Lightroom Classic

Initial Thoughts on Lightroom CC and Lightroom Classic

Thomas Fitzgerald
Lightroom, Editorial

Unless you’ve been living under a rock the last few days, you’ve undoubtedly read about the updates to Lightroom, specifically the split into two versions. I’m swamped with a client job at the moment (some design work) and so I haven’t had the time to devote as much to checking out the new versions as I would like. With that in mind, I will have a more detailed analysis on the Adobe announcements next week, once I’ve done thorough testing, but for now I wanted to give you my first thoughts.

 

Editorial: Elitism in the Online Photographic Community

Editorial: Elitism in the Online Photographic Community

Thomas Fitzgerald
Editorial

The internet has certainly helped democratise photography, as it has many other fields, but it also has its downsides, with misleading information and social issues ranging from the semi innocent to the extreme.... There's one unsavoury aspect that seems to be specific to photography, and I’m really sick of it. It’s about camera gear. In case you think you know where I’m going with this, you don’t. I’m not talking about people who like gear or are into gear, or like new technology. No, I’m talking about the people who constantly give out about the people who like gear.

I’m not sure what to think of PixelPeeper.io

I’m not sure what to think of PixelPeeper.io

Thomas Fitzgerald
Editorial, Lightroom

If you follow photography news at all, you’ve probably read about this new site called pixelpeeper.io (not to be confused with Pixelpeeper.com). It’s a web application that lets you see what Lightroom edits were done to an image, just by uploading a Jpeg to it. Now, on top of that they’ve added the ability to see what Lightroom preset was used on an image (if it was something like one of the VSCO presets), again just from uploading a Jpeg. I have mixed feelings on whether or not this is a good idea, and I’ve gone back and forth in my mind as to whether I agree with what they’re doing or not

Who do you take pictures for?

Who do you take pictures for?

Thomas Fitzgerald
Editorial

This may seem like a relatively obtuse question at first but bear with me. I found myself wondering if people actually consider this when reading some online commentary. Who is your audience? Obviously, if you’re a professional, then you are shooting for you clients. But for amateurs and enthusiasts: do you take photos for family or friends? Do you take them for yourself? Do you take pictures for the general public or certain interest groups?

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