Here is a video slideshow that I created that showcases some of my wedding photography. Have a look.
It is the first video that I have put up on my site, so that is pretty exciting. I am hoping to do more in the future, but this is a start.
Category Archives: Photography
Full Frame Photography Portfolio Launched
A week or so ago, I saw that Scott Kelby had launched a new portfolio with a full screen flash gallery. I thought it looked pretty sweet, but I wanted to have a go at getting a similar, but not the same look using Javascript, not Flash. I think it turned out pretty well. You can see the portfolio here. The Javascript works pretty well. You can’t however take over the entire screen, but the images will fill the browser.
I intend to detail how it works, and provide something for you to download if you want to use it, but that will have to wait a day or two. Check back, I will share.
Tobogganing in Minneapolis
Took a few pictures of tobogganing the other day. Using the Nikon 18-200 VR and panning. Pretty fast shutter, so there is not a lot of blur, but the people come out better.
What is the first lens I should buy?
Well, first go read this post, and if you just bought your camera, I will try to talk you out of buying anything.
 Ok, if you are sure you need another lens, then you need to think about what you need a lens for. I am assuming that you are looking to replace the kit lens that came with your camera. Most of the time, that lens is around an 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6. (In this post I will be talking Nikon, but Canon has lenses that are very similar.)
So, why do you want a lens? Other than that glass is cool. Are you wanting more reach, to get images of birds in the trees? Are you wanting to take pictures of kids in low light? Would an external flash be better? Would you like something with a zoom, or something with a fixed focal length? Do you have $300, or $3000? Do you know what f/3.5-5.6 means?
You need to be able to answer those questions to make a truly informed decision. Reading the Digital Photography Book (post) by Scott Kelby would help with this too.
Ok, lets take a look at some reasonable (for photography) options.
Nilkon 50mm f/1.8
If you are looking for some “fast glass”, the traditional recomendation is the “nifty fifty.” Fast glass, or a fast lens, is a lens that has a very large minimum aperture size. This refers to a small aperture number, such as f/2.8, or f/1.4. The kit lenses are usually of a variable aperture, meaning they are not constant through out the zoom range. Zoom lenses are usually more expensive to make in a constant aperture, so most people look to get a fast lens with a single focal length. What does this do for us? By “opening up” the lens to a wide aperture, you let in more light, so the shutter speed can be faster when taking available light pictures. Also, your depth of field gets smaller, meaning that the area in the photo that is in-focus is smaller. This can be good and bad depending on the picture¬† you are taking.¬†
Nikon 50mm f/1.4 AF-S
The Nikon 50mm f/1.8 that most people call the “nifty fifty” has been a staple of most photographers, and the price hovered around $120 – $150 depending on where you get it. (amazon) There are a couple of issues with this lens though. First of all, your camera may not work with it. Cameras like the D40, and D3000 do not have a traditional motor drive in the camera body. This means that autofocus will not work with the nifty fifty. I used this 50mm lens manually focusing on a D40 for quite some time. Worked great for flowers, not for kids. You need a AF-S lens in Nikon terms to get auto focus. That means that the lens its self has a motor in it. But, it makes the lens more expensive. Amazon has this version for about $440.¬†
- Nikon 35mm f/1.4 AF-S
Problem #2. The 50mm lens is a great lens. It used to be called the “standard lens” and many film era cameras shipped with just this lens (a 50mm). So what’s the problem? Sensor size. If you want to use your new “fast glass” to take pictures indoors without flash, the 50mm¬†can be too long a focal length. You might want to consider the Nikon 35mm f/1.8 AF-S instead. (amazon) ¬†On most digital cameras, the sensor is smaller than a film negative. This makes lenses appear to have a longer focal length, and why the 35mm works better indoors. 35mm x 1.5 = 52.5mm on a APS-C “crop sensor”. (I am not going to get into this anymore today, but there are lots of places to read about this,¬†like¬†here)¬†The good news is that the 35mm lens is cheaper. Amazon has it for about $200.
Nikon 55-200mm f/4.5-5.6
How about if you want to make small, or far away subjects look bigger in the viewfinder? A longer zoom? Or move your feet. Seriously. Many shots can be taken by simply getting closer to your subject. Also, telephoto lenses are not just for “making things bigger”. They also compress the scene. They make the background and the foreground appear closer together. For birds and¬†other critters, you may not be able to get close enough with your feet. If you want a telephoto, you are looking at getting something that zooms to 200 or 300 in a variable aperture, or you are spending really big money.
Some of  you may already have this lens, the Nikon 55-200mm f/4-5.6 AF-S VR. (amazon) Sometimes this lens is bundled in a two lens kit with some cameras. This lens is only $200 Р$250, and for a lens of this price, is really quite good. The VR (vibration reduction) helps to reduce hand shakyness, especially at slower shutter speeds. This was my first lens purchase, and one that I found useful.
What about macro? Fixed focal length zooms? Wide angle? All in one zooms? Take it slow. Learn your camera and the lens you have. See how close¬† you can get with your lens. You can get fairly close “macro-ish” shots with a kit lens. Move your feet and get closer to subjects. The 18mm of most kit lenses is reasonably wide. Learn how to use that. That said, I will tackle some of these options in another post soon.
Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 AF-S VR
If you want a little bit more reach, a sharper image, and have some extra money, the Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G AF-S VR is considered a very¬†good lens for the money. You can find this item for less than $500. (amazon) ¬†At $500 the cost is getting more expensive, but is still reasonable in the world of camera lenses. I don’t own this lens, but many people I respect have and like this lens.
 
Happy Shooting.
What is the first Digital Photography Book I should get?
T
he first book you should read is your manual. I know, I know, that is not what you wanted to hear. But you really do need to read your manual to understand what your camera can do.
What’s after that? What is the first Digital Photogarphy Book you should get? I would suggest, funny enough, the Digital Photography Book, by Scott Kelby. After that, check out the book page here on my blog.
Why did I suggest that book? For one thing, you don’t need a DSLR to do lots of the stuff in this book. It is easy to read, and written with quite a bit of humor. What Scott says, is that he is trying to explain things to you as if you were a shooting buddy that went out shooting with him. Kelby himself says in the book, that this is not the most technical of books, and if you want more detail, you will need to find another book. What you will get are simple recipes and instructions on how to do certain types of photography, and how to get certain types of shots.
You will also get introduced to some new equipment. Do you have to buy it? No, but some things do require some extra gear to get the best results. Photography isn’t a cheap hobby, but make sure that what gear you buy will be worth it for you.
There are two other volumes in this series. They get more advanced and more in depth with each volume. You will get more into flash photography, and using some other gear. Start with the first volume. It will give you a good exposure to what you might want to do with photography, and what gear you might put on your wish list.
You got a DSLR for Christmas. Now what do I buy?
New Shooter: Hey photo guru, I just got a new XBR-43 Mega Ulta Canikon DSLR for Christmas. My first few test shots don’t quite look the same as the ones I see in magazines and online so, what else do I need to buy?
Photo Guru: Nothing.
New Shooter: Uh. Come again?
Photo Guru: Nothing.
New Shooter: Well, it is obvious that you don’t work for a camera store…
Photo Guru: Gear is good, vision is better.
New Shooter: Yea, ok, whatever. So did I get the wrong camera? Your pictures look much better. You must have a better camera.
Photo Guru: Have you looked on flickr or contest by lines to see what camera was used to shoot the photos you like?
New Shooter: No, but I am pretty sure they have awesome cameras.
Photo Guru: They do. Canon Powershots, Canon Digital Rebels, and iPhones. (flickr camera stats)
New Shooter: What? I am sure my camera cost more than those camera’s did!
Photo Guru: Gear is good, vision is better.
New Shooter: That’s the second time you said that, and it still doesn’t make any sense.
Photo Guru: Your camera’s a tool you use to take pictures. You still need to know how to use your tools. That said, even the best carpenter with the best tools can’t build an amazing chair if they have no vision of what they want that chair to look like.
New Shooter: My camera is a tool? I thought I just point and shoot?
Photo Guru: You can. If you are happy with those pictures, then be happy with those pictures, but there must be some reason you thought you wanted a DSLR. If it was just because you thought that you would get better pictures, then learn to make better pictures with a point and shoot camera.
New Shooter: But don’t you need a certain level of camera to take great pictures?
Photo Guru: Check out thebestcamera.com. Those pictures were all taken with an iPhone. Lots of these pictures are really great. But notice, there are no pictures of high speed sports action in low light with the athletes perfectly sharp. If that’s what you are looking for, you will need a certain level of equipment that the iPhone can’t handle. But there is an endless amount of creative possibilities that you can try with what ever equipment you have.
New Shooter: Well, what can I do with my camera?
Photo Guru: Learn what you have. That goes to the heart of why I said “Buy nothing.” You need to shoot, shoot, and shoot some more with the gear you have. You need to learn what happens at small and large apertures, fast and slow shutter speeds, high and low ISO’s. You need to shoot in bright light and low light. You need to learn what all the buttons on your camera do. You need to know what types of images you get from the lens that came with your camera at 18mm and 55mm, or what ever extremes your kit lens does.
New Shooter: I thought this “tool” as you call it was a little smarter than you make it out to be. You seem to be suggesting that I have a lot of learning and work to do to take pictures with this camera.
Photo Guru: That depends. Again, what I said earlier, if you have happy with the pictures you take in auto mode, you are done. Be happy. If instead you look at those pictures and say, “There’s something not quite how I want it…” then you have some work to do.
New Shooter: Ok, I am getting kind of overwhelmed by all these buttons and terms. I can’t learn everything at once.
Photo Guru: You don’t have to. Just take pictures. Then read the manual. Every weekend pick a new feature to explore. It will come. Before long you know a lot of stuff.
New Shooter: Ok, I will go work with the tools I have, but where does this vision thing come in?
Photo Guru: That is much harder, and I recommend you don’t worry to much about it at first. You need to have your tools down pretty well before you can envision an image in your mind and then try to get it in the camera. It takes even more shooting to be able to impart a vision into an image that you want someone else looking at your pictures to see. If you want to explore vision more, check out the pixelatedimage blog by David duChemin. He has some great ebooks he sells, and a great book on vision: Within the Frame. I stole his phrase “Gear is good, Vision is better” too.
New Shooter: Ok, if vision is getting ahead of myself a bit, is there something other than a camera manual I can read?
Photo Guru: You can check out this book page on my blog. It lists the books I have read and reviewed, and the ones I have on my list to read.
New Shooter: Alright. I’ll check those out. I try to read that manual too. Ok, see you later… I have to go shoot!
Photo Guru: That’s the spirit. Good luck, and have fun!
Free OnOne Lightroom Develop Presets
I came across some free presets some time ago, but didn’t really give them a try until a couple of days ago. They are the free presets by On One Software, called WOW. These were developed for On One by Jack Davis. There are two sets of presets that come in one installer. One set gives you a bunch of color correction presets and one click tone and other color adjustments. The other set gives effects like Antique and special gradients. I kind of like them. One thing that is nice with how presets work in Lightroom, is that the Navigator gives a fast realtime preview of the effect before it is applied. The downside is that the preview is really small, and I end up trying presets and then “undo-ing” a lot.
The image above shows the ‘Antique’ preset. I toned down the exposure a bit. Added a vignette, and voila.
There are also some adjustment brush presets. Those are really neat. Some of the brushes that come with this set are for skin softening, and teeth whitening. They work pretty well I think. Much faster than doing it in Photoshop. For me, anyway. I found that the preset for lightening the irises was too much on the pictures I was testing with. No problem, you can play with the brush settings yourself and tweak the look after you have painted the brush. Even better, you can “scrub” the adjustment. If you are in the edit mode, hold your mouse over the pin, click, then drag right or left to adjust. This works like magic. Watch the sliders and they will all move in different amount proportional to what is there when you start. This works to push up and down the effect very nicely.
The effect you see above is a brush. The Wow-Background Blowout brush. The brush does quite a good job around the hair and dress when the ‘auto mask’ brush is on. I think if I took more care it could have been even better, but with just a couple of minutes, it cleaned up the window shade background quite a bit. If you haven’t tried brush presets before, you should give them a try.
If you don’t know where the brush presets are… head over to the develop module, and select the brush tool. There is a label called ‘Effect:’ and beside it the effect drop down. There are a few that come with lightroom, but here is also where the Wow ones would show up.
Can an Andrew Bird concert teach us about Photography?
I had the opportunity to attend an Andrew Bird concert last weekend. It was held at St.Marks Cathedral. That’s a fabulous venue for this kind of concert. It just wasn’t particularly my favorite kind of music. Now, don’t get me wrong, this guy is incredibly talented, and the church was full of people that completely loved him. I did like some of his music. But not all.
So, while I was listening, I found my self watching the lighting. I watched how they changed the colors, and went from dim lighting with hard focused spots, to lots of warm glowing amber light, depending on the mood he was trying to convey. I started to wonder if I did the same thing when I lit people. Do I do enough to light someone purposefully to convey a mood to the scene?
Andrew is all about layers. Lots of layers. He uses more audio layers than I have ever used photoshop layers. He starts off by playing a fairly short piece into a looped recorder. This loop replays it’s self, all the while recording the next layer. They keep stacking and stacking. His main instrument is a violin. I have never heard so many different sounds out of one instrument. It was fascinating. Picking, strumming, fingering, hitting with the bow, and of course, playing with the bow as you would expect. He is technically amazing.
So, I started to think… how well do I layer? With flashes. I was at a workshop with Joe McNally, and he did exactly the same thing. Started with one speedlight. Then added a softbox. Then added a trigrip. Then added a light bounced into the floor. Then another. How about more volume with another light behind the trigrip. Lastly, add a hair light. Layers. Always in control. Always adding something deliberately one at a time. Do you do that? Can you build an image one layer at a time?
One of the things that I had a hard time appreciating was toward the end of his songs. At some points, he lost me. Too many layers. They diluted the message. No longer were there discrete layers. Each new layer was no longer complementing the next, but starting to muddy the whole thing. So what would Joe do? Tear it all down and start over. It was one of the things that he talked about. When you get to the point where things are out of control, and you start throwing speedlights around because it doesn’t yet feel right, and more must be better…. just start over. Tear down, turn off, and start again.
I was amazed at how similar this artist was with a photographer. I had never thought in those terms before. If you get the chance, give Andrew a listen. You may learn something about photography.
Portraits of Alex and Arianna
We had some friends come over for dinner before they were headed off to see a play their daughter was in. Since the kids were dressed up, I decided to set up a light, and try to coax them into a picture. It went pretty well.
It is always a challenge to get two kids together, in the same focal plane, with the same expression. Extra light would have helped this.
I had just one SB900 through an umbrella camera left. I gelled it and shot at fluorescent to try to match the compact fluorescent bulbs in the light fixtures. They don’t quite match. It was a bit tricky to try to set the white balance in Lightroom.
Anyway, sometime soon I want to get the whole family together for a portrait. I need to get more light, and get it balanced better with ambient. By the way, notice the much whiter background in the first two. That will be another post…
Holiday Book List
It seems like everyone is putting out a holiday book list this year, so I thought I would be a sheep, and add my two cents. I also thought I would try to be the last one to get one out. So, not in any particular order, this is a selection of what I would recommend this year.
Visual Poetry – Chris Orwig : This is a great book to feed your creativity and spark your imagination. This is not so much a book on how to use your camera, but how to use your imagination and creativity to get the images you want.
Vision Mongers– David duChemin : Case studies with working photographers, and discussion on what it takes to make a living with a camera in a way that feeds your soul. Only read this book it you want to step up from a hobby to the big leagues.
The Hot Shoe Diaries: Big Light from Small Flashes– Joe McNally : Speedlight master shows some amazing photographs and discusses how he lit them wrapped in great stories. Very entertaining, and instructional at the same time.
Digital Photography Book v3 – Scott Kelby : This is a great series with technical tips, tricks and know how, for the the beginning to intermediate photographer. If¬† you don’t have any of the series, get all three. You won’t be lost starting with the 3rd, but they do get a bit more advanced as the books progress.
Lightroom 2 for Digital Photographers– Scott Kelby : If you have been on the fence about Lightroom, buy this book, get the demo and sit down at your computer. Using this book you will be a maser of and convert to Lightroom in no time. Don’t set there wondering why and how people use Lightroom. This book will make you understand it’s power, and become proficient in no time.
Understanding Exposure– Peterson : This is not a new book, but a classic all the same. If you haven’t read it yet, you should to get an understanding of how to use light and aperture to get the look you are looking for.
Hot Shots Flip Books – David Ziser : Great set of little flip books with photos, lighting diagrams, and tech info on how to get the same shot. These are not books in the traditional sense, but worth a flip through to get ideas and how to light them. Keep them in your camera bag for when you are stuck.
A Hands-on Guide to Creative Lighting (DVD) – Nikon (Joe McNally & Bob Krist) : Ok, not a book, but educational none the less. Takes you from how to set up your speedlights in remote, through adding lights one by one in a studio setup, to several location shoots with Joe both indoor and out. Good stuff.
The Craft & Vision Collection– David duChemin (eBooks) These eBooks are great self-contained “chapters” that focus on one specific element of photography. Well worth getting at $5 a piece. There are 5 of them right now.