In Other News: Adobe Premiere update, win a Canon EOS R, landscape tips, budget portraiture & more
posted Friday, April 16, 2021 at 1:00 PM EST
Adobe updates Premiere Rush and Premiere Pro
The April 2021 release of Adobe Premiere Rush and Premiere Pro arrived earlier this week. For Premiere Rush, the key feature is Apple M1 silicon support. You can now run Rush natively on MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and Mac Mini models with Apple's new M1 chipset. Additionally, Rush adds a new timeline context menu on iOS. On Android, Rush now supports Samsung Note 20 and Note 20+ smartphones.
For Premiere Pro users on Windows (Intel) machines, Premiere Pro (15.1) brings big performance improvements. H.264/HEVC encode performance on these machines is up to 1.8 times faster than Premiere Pro (14.0). For Premiere Pro users on all devices, Lumetri presets now include dynamic previews.
To learn more about Premiere Rush, click here. For more information on the new Premiere Pro update, head over to Adobe.
Win a Canon EOS R kit in this Adorama portrait photo contest
Adorama has teamed up with Emily Teague, alongside corporate sponsors Canon, Wacom, Capture One, Seagate, Tiffen, Manfrotto and Profoto for the 'Create No Matter What Creative Challenge' contest themed around portrait photography. The deadline to enter is May 6, 2021, at 11:59 p.m. EDT and the winner will be announced the next day at noon.
The grand prize package includes a Canon EOS R mirrorless camera with RF 24-105mm f/4-7.1 IS ISM lens, a Seagate 500GB SSD external drive, Capture One Pro 21, a Wacom Cintiq 16 Creative Pen Display, 67mm Tiffen mist special effects filter, 128GB Prograde UHS-II SD card and Profoto A10 off-camera flash kit with flash trigger for Canon cameras. The package is worth more than $3,000. A runner-up will receive the Seagate 500GB SSD as well. For full contest details, rules and regulations, visit Adorama.
Testing Ron Swanson's mystery camera with Mathieu Stern
Okay, so this is a bit of a weird one. Granted, photographer Mathieu Stern has made his name with unique content. He usually tests strange, rare and weird lenses, but his latest video is about Ron Swanson's mystery camera. If you're unfamiliar with Ron Swanson, he's a fictional character from the hit NBC comedy show 'Parks and Recreation,' which aired from 2009 to 2015, which a pandemic-related episode airing in 2020. Ron Swanson is a bit of a curmudgeon, although he often goes to great lengths for his close friends.
In an episode, Ron works to help his coworker and assistant, April. She's enrolled in a photography class, and the assignment is to encapsulate the spirit of melancholy. Ron grabs April's camera, which Stern determines is a Canon AE-1, and goes to work. Outside of his woodworking shop, Ron Swanson is not what one might call artistic or creative, so as you can imagine, his photography skills are somewhat lacking. Check out Stern's great video below, which has mildly coarse language, in which an AI-powered Ron Swanson stops by to judge Stern's attempt at passing April's photo assignment.
Capturing color and texture in the Australian landscape with photographer Andrew Marr
Australian photographer Andrew Marr published a new landscape vlog last weekend in which he explores the Kimberley coast to capture landscape photos. Marr is joined by fellow photographers Matt Fields and Jarrad Parker. Marr's video below features some incredible photography, including aerial images.
The photographer's guide to Instagram in 2021
B&H Event Space recently hosted Fujifilm X Photographer Reggie Ballesteros to talk about Instagram and how photographers can take full advantage of the platform in 2021. Topics discussed in the video below include how to grow your brand on Instagram, understanding content types and optimizing your content for the platform.
Minimalism in landscape photography composition
Photographer Andy Mumford published a new video about how to use simple elements in a landscape to create minimal compositions. The video below discusses how to 'see' the location, isolating subjects, using telephoto lenses, giving subjects space to breathe in a composition, different weather conditions and more. Minimalist landscape photography is about distilling the essence and mood of a scene to its simplest components. It's a great video filled with fantastic photos. If you'd like to do a workshop with Mumford, there are still spots open in a couple of his workshops later this year. You can learn more here.
Creating stunning portraits on a budget
Vanessa Joy published a new video this week for Adorama which will greatly benefit frugal photographers. If you want to capture high-quality portraits without breaking the bank, the video below is for you. Joy uses an entry-level Canon M50 Mark II mirrorless camera and Canon EF-M 32mm f/1.4 STM lens. She also uses a collapsible reflector to help light her portrait. For more educational videos from Adorama, head to its YouTube channel.