Pro Techniques

Exactly what is a Platypod Handle? It's a grip for vloggers. It's a tripod tool: a camera riser. It's a versatile attachment point for lighting paraphernalia, microphones, monitoring gear and other accessories. It pairs perfectly with any Platypod tripod alternative and the Platypod Grip ballhead. It's the brainchild of highly respected NJ physician and brilliant inventor, Dr. Larry Tiefenbrunn, CEO at Platypod Pro LLC.

3 Legged Thing (3LT) just announced Freya, an L-bracket designed to fit the popular Fujifilm X-T5 specifically, and Shutterbug received a sample to evaluate several weeks before launch date. Here's our rundown.

We evaluated the Synology DiskStation 1522+ NAS for several weeks and discovered that it does a whole lot more than just store image and video files. It provides secure backups, multi-media server functionality, password-protected file sharing and multi-platform accessibility all rolled into one compact box—and that’s only the beginning.

Proximity was a factor: corporate and advertising photographer Robert Rathe lives about 10 miles from the long-closed Lorton Correctional Complex in Fairfax County, Virginia. So was a fascination with the concept of what constitutes a prison—physical structure or state of mind? And so was the attraction of documenting and preserving a bit of local history.

For Jess Findlay, outdoor photography was a natural. Growing up in British Columbia (BC), Canada, surrounded by lush landscapes, enthralling wilderness, and birds of every feather, nature called to him every time he stepped outside, spurred on by family activities that included hiking, mountain biking, and birdwatching. As a young child, he would buy disposable cameras for family outings, and that only whet his appetite for the photographic arts. Before he knew it, he was thoroughly immersed. Nature and photography were on converging paths, meeting at a crossroads that would mark his future forever.

Some years ago Steve Simon took a leave from his job as a newspaper photographer in his native Canada and headed south across the border on a self-assigned project. “I’d loved photography since I was a kid in Montreal, roaming the streets, inspired by Cartier-Bresson,” Simon says, “but I’d been working 10 years at the newspaper, doing the same things again and again. I was looking for a way to get the inspiration back, to explore the power of what photography can be.”

Hi everybody! I’m very excited to be launching a new Q&A column here in Shutterbug—a magazine I’ve been reading, and been a fan of, for so many years—so it’s truly an honor to be here with you. I invite you to send in your questions to editorial@shutterbug.com, and I’ll do my best to answer them in Ask a Pro. OK, let’s jump right to it.