Tag Archives: digital art for beginners

Sigma 18-250mm OS Super Zoom Lens – 3 Excuses For Getting a Sigma 18-250 For Digital SLR Cameras

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Why purchase a Sigma 18-250mm OS superzoom lens?First and foremost, photographers who use entry level digital SLR cameras are affirming the benefits of the Sigma 18-250 lens. However, not to be misleading, this lens does not top every report by camera techies. Their job is to be ultra critical and there are several attributes to think about before making your final decision to buy.None the less, that being said, nearly each and every Sigma 18-250mm OS review has wonderful things to express about this superzoom device.Yours truly is the proud owner of what I would consider one of the two best pieces of glass I own.While visiting a local art festival this past weekend, I was commenting on one of the vendor’s photography offerings and asking what equipment he used to take his photos.The discussion got around to the question of how he might convince his wife that he needed a new Sigma 18-250 super zoom lens. It seems he carries his camera with him most of the time but does not favor taking his entire camera bag every time he leaves the house.This is where I came up with my “short list” of 3 really good reasons that might just be compelling enough to convince a compassionate spouse of your need:Less Weight, thus, Easier on your Shoulder (or back). Consider this – if you attach a super zoom lens to the front of your entry level digital SLR, you don’t need to transport that klunky camera bag all over with you. No camera bag means no aches and pain in your shoulders and back. If you have existing physical issues, this could be an excellent reason for acquiring a new lens.

When the opportunity is readily available, you are too. Can’t tell you how many times my wife has wanted me to get a particular shot, and I have had the wrong lens on my camera. Her response is usually something like, “What good is the camera when you can’t take the pictures you want. By the time you fiddle around with changing stuff, it’s too late!”
Well, with a super zoom lens, no more mad rush to switch to the correct focal length while your shot walks away, flies away, or fades away. You can get the great landscape shot or the long range photo of a wild critter without having to change the lens.

$$$ – This could be the best, depending on your spouse. If finances are a major consideration, this is a great argument. The glass you place in front of your camera’s image sensor is not inexpensive. And it just makes good sense to get as much value for your money as possible. The Sigma 18-250mm OS lens qualifies as more than just one lens. It really covers the range of 2 or 3 lenses with outstanding top quality glass. Yes, you might acquire less costly, but any time quality is taken into consideration, the cheaper lenses are not always the most cost-effective in terms of hanging on to them for an extended period of time. Frequently, if you spend very little for your camera lens, you wind up not being content with the acquisition and replacing it very quickly. So, pay a few pesos more and get something that will last for a very long time.Pretty powerful stuff, right? My new friend at the festival had not thought about this approach.So you can have a solitary walk around, or “all in one” lens for your Digital SLR camera that will do the job of more than one lens, at least as well as the manufacturers’ own merchandise, save the stress on your body, get quick shots without changing gear, and conserve money in the deal.How can you go wrong?

Fractal Art: Two Great Programs to Create Stunning Images

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Fractal Art is a relatively new form of art which has been making great strides and has been increasingly developing into a more popular and more widely known art form. Sites like Deviant Art have seen large increases in the amount of fractal art being uploaded there and a great community has developed where you can find plenty of tutorials to learn with, and many people to talk to and share your work with. It can be a great tool to add to your design experience and portfolio.There are a wide variety of programs out there that can create beautiful and stunning fractal and 3D images; but two that I would recommend are UltraFractal and Apophysis. Both programs have their own unique styles of images they create, and they both are programs that I have used and continue to use to create artwork. Visit my website listed at the bottom of the article to see some examples of images that are made with these programs.UltraFractal is the more widely known and commercial product of the two and can be found at ultrafractal.com. It costs money to purchase but offers an amazing amount of features in the product. It uses layers like Photoshop does which offers an endless amount of options for how you can combine and create images. Also, if you have experience in Photoshop you can bring some of that into this program, with such techniques as layer masking and blending layers together. There are a large number of tutorials out there which can get you started quickly in learning how to work the program.Apophysis is a free and open source fractal program that can be found at www.apophysis.org. There are also many different versions of Apophysis, but the one I use and would recommend is called Apophysis 7x and it was created by a guy named Xyrus02 on DeviantArt. It is an extremely powerful program as well, though it may be the more difficult of the two to begin with. It is the program I started with though and although it took much work learning and studying the program, after a little while I was able to make some pretty stunning images which really got me interested in Fractal Art and gave me the motivation to keep going. Here is an example of a work done in Apophysis:Both programs are very great and I would have trouble deciding which one I like better, though I would recommend likely UltraFractal to begin with if you have the money to spend as it seems to be the most user friendly and relatable one. Fractal Art is a great new form of art though which can be done without having great skills with arts such as drawing or painting. You can create stunning images with it which you are free to do whatever you want with, such as sell as prints, make wallpapers, or submit to shows and galleries. If it’s something you decide to being doing I would recommend checking out DeviantArt and the amazing tutorials that are offered there, they got me started right away on the way towards learning how to design some beautiful artworks.