Let’s not call it “photoshopped”
The Luminous Eye The Luminous Eye

Let’s not call it “photoshopped”

I thought about this after the photograph released last week of Princess Catherine and her children was found to be altered. Some stories referred to it as being “photoshopped” and that made me cringe. It’s just one of those buzzwords that people love to throw out, but has no meaning at all. Possibly the only plus point of the word is that photographers like me will instantly know you don’t know what you’re talking about when you use it.

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Google Pixel 7 Pro Astrophotography Review Part 2
The Luminous Eye The Luminous Eye

Google Pixel 7 Pro Astrophotography Review Part 2

Have you ever wanted to go to Burning Man, to see all the celebrities and talent there? Well… We’re not going to do that. We are going to the Playa where burning man is held though, and we’re going to see stars, lots of stars. This week we’re headed to the Black Rock Desert outside Gerlach, Nevada, for some astrophotography. What? That’s basically the same thing, come on. Let’s roll that intro, and get ready for a different kind of trip into the universe.

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Google Pixel Watch Review: My First and Best Smart Watch
PIXEL 7 PRO, Pixel Watch, REVIEW, PHOTOGRAPHY The Luminous Eye PIXEL 7 PRO, Pixel Watch, REVIEW, PHOTOGRAPHY The Luminous Eye

Google Pixel Watch Review: My First and Best Smart Watch

You can of course receive text messages, notifications, reminders, and the like. The screen is a bit small for responding to them. It’s possible, but you’ll mostly just be reading them. This will also depend on whether you get the Wi-Fi enabled version, or the LTE. With the Wi-Fi version you’ll pretty much have to have your phone with you to get those notifications when you’re out and about, but the LTE can operate independently.

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Pixel 7 Pro Camera Review: Action Pan Action, Man
PHOTOGRAPHY, REVIEW, PIXEL 7 PRO The Luminous Eye PHOTOGRAPHY, REVIEW, PIXEL 7 PRO The Luminous Eye

Pixel 7 Pro Camera Review: Action Pan Action, Man

We all know Action Pan, at least with our own eyes. Think of watching your favorite sport live, in the arena. The intensity is through the roof. You track the player inch by inch while he’s going road runner style across the field. Your eyes are panning along with the subject. It’s now the single in-focus point from your perspective while the world around it stays outside your visual attention, faded. Wish your phone could do the same?

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Pixel 7 Pro Camera Review: Stretch Your Perspective with Long Exposure Mode
PHOTOGRAPHY, REVIEW, PIXEL 7 PRO The Luminous Eye PHOTOGRAPHY, REVIEW, PIXEL 7 PRO The Luminous Eye

Pixel 7 Pro Camera Review: Stretch Your Perspective with Long Exposure Mode

How can a photographer create a sense of motion in a still photograph? Is it possible to give a life and energy to a frozen scene? Well it would be an odd camera review if I told you no, you can’t. Fortunately, we’ve got the long exposure feature of the Google Pixel 7 Pro. If you don’t know where to begin, try to think of a location where there is movement, let’s take a river.

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Pixel 7 Pro Camera Review:                    Reach for the Stars with Astrophotography Mode
PHOTOGRAPHY, REVIEW, PIXEL 7 PRO The Luminous Eye PHOTOGRAPHY, REVIEW, PIXEL 7 PRO The Luminous Eye

Pixel 7 Pro Camera Review: Reach for the Stars with Astrophotography Mode

OK team, today we’re looking at the Astrophotography feature of the Pixel 7 Pro. Out of necessity, this will be a two-part review. In this first video I’ll be talking about textbook usage of the feature, and my so-far failed efforts to use it. Don’t skip this part, and you will not fail as I have.

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Pixel 7 Pro Camera Review: Can you see in the dark? Google can with Nightsight Mode.
PIXEL 7 PRO, REVIEW, PHOTOGRAPHY The Luminous Eye PIXEL 7 PRO, REVIEW, PHOTOGRAPHY The Luminous Eye

Pixel 7 Pro Camera Review: Can you see in the dark? Google can with Nightsight Mode.

At last, smudgy noisy night photos are memories of the past. The AI on Pixel 7 Pro does a very good job of making photos more crisp, clear, and sharp in low-light conditions or even straight up night time. For that you need to access the Night Sight Mode, swiping to right from the Camera button.

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Pixel 7 Pro Camera Review: Where did it go? Magic Eraser, that's where.
PIXEL 7 PRO, REVIEW, PHOTOGRAPHY The Luminous Eye PIXEL 7 PRO, REVIEW, PHOTOGRAPHY The Luminous Eye

Pixel 7 Pro Camera Review: Where did it go? Magic Eraser, that's where.

One of the best Google Pixel 7 Pro camera features is the Magic Eraser. It does what Photoshop allows you to do, only so much faster. In moments, you can remove unwanted objects, with no additional software or apps. You've taken a beautiful photo at the beach, but there's an unsightly piece of litter in the background. The Pixel 7 Pro has you covered. Just draw a circle around the unwanted object with your finger, and poof, it's gone! Editing out unattractive elements of your photos has quite literally never been easier. There are some limitations of course, objects that are too large, or set against a complicated background, can leave behind smudgy artifacts when removed. But things like telephone poles, a car on a highway, a person standing in the background, even a person standing in front of the Lincoln memorial, all disappear like magic. It's just another example of how Google's AI helps to make you a better photographer. From framing to post-production, the Pixel 7 Pro is a photography cheat code.

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Pixel 7 Pro Camera Review: Embrace the Fog with Cinematic Blur
PIXEL 7 PRO, REVIEW, PHOTOGRAPHY The Luminous Eye PIXEL 7 PRO, REVIEW, PHOTOGRAPHY The Luminous Eye

Pixel 7 Pro Camera Review: Embrace the Fog with Cinematic Blur

If you know and love Portrait Mode for stills, good news for you, Google brought the same effect to video recordings. It’s called Cinematic Blur - what it does is tracks a subject in the frame and creates a blurry, out-of-focus background behind it. You might be thinking Sena! you just explained how to unblur a blurry photo, what’s with blurring again? Good question.

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Pixel 7 Pro Camera Review: Lifting the fog with the Unblur Tool
PIXEL 7 PRO, PHOTOGRAPHY, REVIEW The Luminous Eye PIXEL 7 PRO, PHOTOGRAPHY, REVIEW The Luminous Eye

Pixel 7 Pro Camera Review: Lifting the fog with the Unblur Tool

I’m not anti-blur. I’m an artist, I’m open to different techniques, expressions, I’m all for breaking rules in photography. When used properly and with purpose, you wouldn’t think there is anything wrong with a blurred composition. Like this one - (B-rolls here: I will show a video of me taking a long exposure shot with google pixel. I’ll be moving my head around, my body will be still. Then, I’ll post the result as an image) You wouldn’t think there’s anything wrong me, would you? Come on, it’s a good shot.

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Pixel 7 Pro Camera Review: Real becomes Surreal with Macro Lens
PIXEL 7 PRO, REVIEW, PHOTOGRAPHY The Luminous Eye PIXEL 7 PRO, REVIEW, PHOTOGRAPHY The Luminous Eye

Pixel 7 Pro Camera Review: Real becomes Surreal with Macro Lens

It’s great to be able to reach out and capture objects from afar, but what about what’s right under our nose? Often with attention to detail, the colors, patterns, and textures of everyday objects can become art, you just have to be able to get close enough. The pixel 7 does have a wide angle close-up lens, but the magic of their macro capability is the processing ability to focus on something, from as little as an inch away.

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Pixel 7 Pro Camera Review: Man, can this thing Zoom!
PIXEL 7 PRO, PHOTOGRAPHY, REVIEW The Luminous Eye PIXEL 7 PRO, PHOTOGRAPHY, REVIEW The Luminous Eye

Pixel 7 Pro Camera Review: Man, can this thing Zoom!

How often have you found yourself wishing, geez, I wish I could get a better view of what my neighbors are doing? I mean… I wish I could actually film the detail in the moon. (good save). Well the Pixel 7 pro has your back. This camera has a 5x optical zoom, but digital magic gets you 30x closer. Thanks to that next-level Skynet style AI, you really don’t lose much quality even at that range.

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Google Pixel 7 PRO Overview and First Reactions
PIXEL 7 PRO, PHOTOGRAPHY, REVIEW The Luminous Eye PIXEL 7 PRO, PHOTOGRAPHY, REVIEW The Luminous Eye

Google Pixel 7 PRO Overview and First Reactions

Thinking about upgrading to the Pixel 7 Pro? This is the first video in a series of 8, which will review the real world applications of Google's new camera tech. Statistics and specifications are a bit boring, so I'm going to keep my focus on how this camera will make your photography better in real world terms. The goal is to help you decide if the PIxel Pro 7 is right for you, but only in terms of the camera. A phone is a phone. If you've used Android tech before, you'll be familiar with the apps and functions, so no need to get into that. Each episode of the series will examine a different feature. You'll want to subscribe to the channel, and find the Pixel 7 Pro playlist, so that you can get the whole story.

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A good look in the mirror to improve my art - photography review
The Luminous Eye The Luminous Eye

A good look in the mirror to improve my art - photography review

Last week I critiqued some photos from some of my competitors. This time, it’s time to turn the lens back on myself, and take a look at some photos I’ve taken. Spoiler alert, they’re not all great. I’d like to use some of my better photos to discuss the direction I want my art to go, to help narrow in on my niche, and build some ideas for future shoots. It’s something I strongly suggest all artists do. I’d also like to take a look at some photos that were not so successful, to help me and you get a feel for what to avoid. It’s a hard fact of life if you want to be an artist: The only way to improve is by constant self-criticism. If you don’t do it yourself, you’ll be at the mercy of the type of critic you saw in the beginning of the video. So let’s do this.

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Photographer reacts to excellent vs. average light painting photos. (Trying not to be too judgey!)
The Luminous Eye The Luminous Eye

Photographer reacts to excellent vs. average light painting photos. (Trying not to be too judgey!)

Hello friends and neighbors. Thanks for joining me again this week. And this week, it’s not about me. Last week we discussed my competition from all the smart phone photographers out there. This week I want to talk about what my colleagues are out there doing. I’d like to give you my reaction to a sample of light painting photography. You’ll see some new things, and I’ll show you some styles I love, and some that I’m not as wild about. Here we go.

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Is amateur photography dead?     In a smartphone world, are we all professionals?
The Luminous Eye The Luminous Eye

Is amateur photography dead? In a smartphone world, are we all professionals?

I’ve got some serious competition. According to Phototutorial.com, the average smartphone user in the US takes 20.2 photos per day, and around 1.72 trillion photos are taken each year around the world. That is an insane amount of pictures. So the big question is; does taking all those photos make you a photographer?

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Can art photography pay the bills, or should I give up the dream?
The Luminous Eye The Luminous Eye

Can art photography pay the bills, or should I give up the dream?

I’ve done gigs. I’ve done opening night at an opera, I’ve done a film festival. It’s respectable work, it makes people happy. One of the photographers I admire most, well two actually, are the couple who photographed my wedding. They were professional, their equipment was super on point, they had a drone even. They brought a joy to the evening, and literally gave me memories from an incredible night. They had been doing the circuit for years, and seemed to really enjoy the interactions with the bride and groom, and the guests.

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What's the best investment I can make?
The Luminous Eye The Luminous Eye

What's the best investment I can make?

Last week we talked budgets, and got a pretty good idea of just how expensive this epic road trip is going to be. So, now we’ve got to figure out how to pay for it all. We’re talking investments. Before we get started I have to say though, I am not a financial expert, and none of this is financial advice. Don’t buy or sell anything based on what I have to say, find someone in a suit. I want to give you some idea of what we’ve been doing to try to grow our money, and maybe get some ideas from you all as well.

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