Ramon Portelli | Architectural Photography Almanac

After Modernism: Through the Lens of Wayne Thom – Opening at USC Pacific Asia Museum

by Ramon Portelli

After Modernism: Through the lens of Wayne Thom – an exhibition highlighting the prolific career of Wayne Thom is being held at USC Pacific Asia starting October 14th to January 22nd, 2023. One of the leading architectural photographers of our time, Wayne Thom photographed more than 2,600 projects across the Western United States, Hawaii, Bali, Fiji, and Singapore.

Why This Mouse Has Kept Me From Switching to a Tablet for Editing

by Ramon Portelli

It’s my favourite and most indispensable piece of gear. My Logitech MX Master mouse. Now granted, I probably spend a lot more time editing than out shooting than most but still, if I had to judge the most worthwhile investment by the amount of time I’ve used any piece of gear, this would be it by far.

Capture One’s Newest Release Brings Long Awaited Features

by Ramon Portelli

Capture One has just released the latest iteration of its popular tethering and editing software, Capture One 22. The new release sports some long-awaited new features including: Panorama stitchingHDR mergeImproved performance, especially on Windows PCsAI-driven auto rotateWireless tethering for Canon cameras This latter feature is sure to interest anyone using Capture One as their tethering app of choice.

Hélène Binet Retrospective Opens at London’s Royal Academy

by Ramon Portelli

Tasked with photographing and documenting spaces and structures mostly for commercial purposes, a lot of what is produced in our genre of photography will be hard pushed to be considered a work of art, especially considering its technical and sometimes rigid nature.

Save Time When Filling Out the Photo Copyright Registration Template

by Ramon Portelli

For U.S. based photographers, registering your images with the US Copyright Office will put you in the best possible position to claim any damages for any illegal use of your images. Submitting images in this way will register your claim to their copyright and then record your claim to its public database.

Luminosity Blending With Blend-If Sliders

by Ramon Portelli

Like I’m sure most of us do, I use luminosity masks constantly in my retouching process – both through manual selections and plugins like Raya Pro, Lumezia, and so on. However, another way of selectively blending layers based on luminosity which I’ve been using more often is by using blend-if sliders.

Fujifilm Announces the GFX 50S II and an Upcoming Tilt Shift Lens

by Ramon Portelli

Fujifilm has just announced a huge list of new cameras and lenses for their GFX medium format and the more popular X series. Undoubtedly the most exciting and relevant bit of news for architecture photographers is the announcement of the GFX 50S II.

Canon RF 14-35mm f/4L IS Unveiled

by Ramon Portelli

Canon has just officially announced the RF 14-35mm f/4L IS. This new lens brings ultra-wide capabilities at 14mm and native compatibility with Canon’s popular R-series cameras. At $1,699 and 544 grams, it’s a cheaper, lighter and slightly wider alternative to Canon’s other RF wide angle zoom lens, the 15-35mm f/2.8L IS (priced at $2,299 and weighing 840 grams.)

Working With a Retoucher – An Overview

by Ramon Portelli

Lurking in the shadows of the photography world, retouchers are the hidden muscle behind so much imagery produced nowadays. Hiring a retoucher is ultimately a personal choice. It’s an approach that many photographers take, but just like outsourcing any part of your business, there are pros and cons.

Custom Actions and Shortcuts: My Biggest Retouching Time Saver

by Ramon Portelli

One of the biggest steps I made in speeding up my editing workflow was learning Photoshop’s shortcuts and keyboard commands inside and out. It took me a while to get to the level of muscle memory I’m at today, but once I did, the time savings were quite significant (which means less time in front of your computer and potentially more time relaxing by a pool somewhere.)

Adding Light Trails and Removing Objects With Exposure Stacking

by Ramon Portelli

It’s no news that we’ve all been subjected to various levels of lockdown thanks to COVID-19. Restrictions on routine activities have given many of us plenty of time to learn new skills and techniques. APA reader Roy Engelbrecht used his spare time in the pandemic to try out exposure stacking to satisfy a particular client request.

Enhance… Enhance… New “Super Resolution” feature coming to Adobe Software

by Ramon Portelli

Adobe has just announced a new feature called “Super Resolution” which is now available in Camera Raw 13.2 (that includes the Camera Raw filter in Photoshop) and will be coming soon to Lightroom and Lightroom Classic. According to this blog post by Adobe, “The term ‘Super Resolution’ refers to the process of improving the quality of a photo by boosting its apparent resolution.