Socializing is a good thing – we are social creatures, and this is even more true with photographers.  You need to be able to communicate and engage with others.  Even if you are a still life artist, or a landscape buff, eventually, the goal isn’t just to take the shot (or make the shot if you prefer), it’s also to share it with others, and you can’t do that without engaging others.

It’s sometimes seen as an obligation to “get together”.  Our grocery bill this week was certainly painful ($164 of ouch).  And we also had some things to do to get the house ready to entertain.  But, herein lies another benefit of company – getting you off your duff.  The office upstairs had been getting more and more cluttered with “projects” that I have been meaning to get to.  The problem is that projects started to pile on top of each other.  It had gotten to the point that I didn’t know where any project began and another ended.  So, the company forced me to clean!

I know, it’s not the best photographic image, as that was not the intent today – totally a throw away hand held, with very high noise, and probably off white balance, blurred, etc.  But the office is now in a much cleaner space!  I am finding new creative inspiration for things so much more easily now that the clutter is gone.  As the old saying goes, “a cluttered space is the sign of a cluttered mind.”  While the corollary is true about an empty desk, a happy medium exists there, and for some reason, after cleaning and organizing things up…the “projects” that I had in the hopper seem less important or meaningful now.

So, new ideas that are likely better ones are starting to form!  A long-awaited prequel to the DIY Legal kit is forthcoming very soon, as a few other nuggets (think books, contests, and more!)  For now, the suggestion of the week is to regularly clean, organize, and prioritize.  My rule for a lot was “if I’ve not touched it in 6 months, what are the odds I’ll do it ever?”.  If the numbers stacked against me doing it, the project got tossed!

What are your rules for cleaning, organization, and prioritization?  As photogs, we can always use suggestions from every corner, so sound off with your own tips and ideas!  Until next time…

In yesterday’s post, I showed how light can spill over an improperly mounted umbrella. I got a few emails noting that light does seem to still spill over the top of even a properly mounted one.  While that’s right, there’s a couple things to keep in mind.  First off, the flash is mounted to a trigger, not to the light stand directly.  This does raise the flash a tad (about an inch), and while that may not sound like much, it can increase the spill.  Now there are some triggers that are extremely low profile or that can rotate to lower the height of the flash by angling it forward, but there are downsides here too.  If you think about the idea of moving the head of the flash closer to the umbrella, you are essentially decreasing the amount of fill that your shoot thru will get.  The light will be more concentrated, (a.k.a. hotter) the closer it gets to the umbrella.  Conversely, the further away from the umbrella, the more diffused it will be.  Take a look:

Now, again, the terms “wrong” and “right” are subjective, because you may want a hotter light from your shoot thru.  The only thing I would say to that though, is that if you want a hotter light – why use the umbrella in the first place?  A shoot thru is designed to reduce the “hot” factor of the light and make it more even and diffused.  You can best accomplish this by positioning the light as far back on the umbrella as possible.  How far?  I usually leave about a quarter of an inch to an inch just so I can grab the umbrella if needed from the back side.  You can position yours where ever you like – just remember the “hot factor”!

Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for Part 3!  I bet this is one a lot of you will likely say “Now, that is cool!”  In the meantime, keep sharing your own ideas, tips and tricks for getting the most out of your lighting gear!

*****

P.S.  A couple admin notes – the monthly giveaway is almost done (with a 16×20″ print from the folks at ImageWizards at stake), so get your shots in on the Flickr thread before Friday!  Next week is review week on the blog too, with books, gadgets, lenses, even a camera, and of course, the annual Holiday Gift Guide!

If you ask ten different photographers to identify the difference between a photograph, a picture, and an image – you’ll likely get ten different answers.  The truth of the matter is that there is no hard and fast answer to define the distinction between these terms.  With that in mind though, here’s a proposed explanation of what the differences are as I see them:

What is an image?

An image (to me) simply refers to a file on a computer somewhere.  It’s ones and zeros in the truest sense of the word.  Whether or not someone is actually viewing it is up for grabs.  There is no purpose or intent to the file yet because you’re not even sure if it was meant to be seen or if it is even seen at all.  Further, how someone sees it (even if it is on display from a web server somewhere) is a function of their own setup, lighting conditions, monitor calibration, etc.  To me, when I refer to images, I am talking about things in the strictest sense – simply the storage file that represents the picture or photo that I hope to produce at some point.  To me, an image is a file.

What is a picture?

A picture encompasses the elements of an image – it still has the characteristics of being stored somewhere, but it also (to me) means that an attempt has been made to share it with others, and that there is purpose or intent to it.  Whether that purpose or intent is to capture a moment in time (say from a journalistic perspective), document  a a trip (I was here on whatever date), or even just some candids from a night out with family and friends, pictures are frozen moments in time.  They have all the characteristics of an image, but also add a layer of meaning, and purpose or intent to them.  To me a picture is documentation.

What is a Photograph?

Building further, a photograph encompasses all that we would expect to include in our craft.  A photograph is an image, a picture, and yet also includes something more.  A photograph to me connotes something artistic.  The photo usually means that we’ve gone beyond the simple act of pressing the shutter to capture a moment in time.  The lighting, subject, or angle of view brings an emotional element to the table that is otherwise not present. To me, a photograph is art.

*****

This does not place any importance or relevance of one semantic over another.  Instead, I am defining the terms by means of their respective purpose: storage, capture, and expression being the key elements of each.  This is, of course, not set in stone either.  What about you?  Are there distinctions between images, pictures and photos?  How would you define or classify these terms?  Does it even matter to make such distinctions?  Sound off in the comments!

We all have Circadian rhythms or body cycles that are tuned specifically to us…whether you identify that as being a morning person or a night owl.  This also applies to your creative rituals too though.  Because our body clocks all operate on a unique pattern of restfulness and alertness, we have different times when we are the most creative.  Our mind is able to focus on creative ideas and energies, and the distractions of the rest of the world aren’t nearly as distracting.  The windmills are out there and we tilt away at them with every fiber of energy!  Do you know when your creative zone occurs?

For me, that time often comes right around midnight.  If I am not too sleepy, or I power through the initial desire to just go to bed, my mind suddenly becomes much clearer, my vision focuses, and I get so much done from my creative space, it’s kind of eerie.  Tracy woke up once to find my literally typing a million miles a minute…the thoughts couldn’t get out of my brain fast enough.  After about 3-4 hours of it though, my entire body just shuts down.  The exciting thing though, is that I’ve been able to identify this creative zone.  I know if I need to get some writing done, or some post production work on photos, or anything creative – those are the hours when I get the most accomplished.

We’re all different though, some people have this rush of creativity in the morning, or in the middle of meals or other activities.  I’ve talked to so many people who still are unsure of when they really are at their creative best.  When people attend workshops and get immersed in a creative world, the ideas flow much more naturally.  The same holds for conferences, seminars, and any type of learning environment.  It’s like the mind knows that other creatives are around and the energy for learning and expression is much higher than what we are normally exposed to.  The trick comes in being able to identify when your creative zone normally happens when you are in that daily routine.  Is it right when you wake up?  After that first cup of coffee?  Right before you go to bed at night?  Or is it on those sleepless nights at 2am when your creative juices just start flowing?

When is your creative zone?

Since we weren’t shooting in any sort of “official” capacity, i figured it’d be a good time to kick the tires on this new lens (sorry, can’t reveal it just yet).  Suffice to say, I was not thrilled with the shots.  As luck would have it, I had swapped out between my 70-200 Canon and this lens right before the race, and inadvertently left my 1.4 TC on.  The end result was that the shots were just “off”.  The entire ten second scene was exciting to watch, and a few great shots presented themselves to me, but because of the gear selection and conditions – I got nuthin’!

However, always with education in my mind, this was a great story for two reasons.  First and foremost – it’s a reminder that if you are shooting an important event, always shoot with tried and true gear you know, and have had positive results with before.  Second, it’s always a good idea when testing new gear to try it in various configurations to make sure you know what you are getting before your return period expires.  Imagine if you purchased a lens, had enjoyed it, then past the return window, you decided to then test it with accessory items like a TC, only to get less performance than you expected. Oh well, chalk it up to an expensive mistake (glass is never cheap, and even good glass can not work for your particular style of shooting!).

As sort of a bonus tip, I also learned that when shooting sports, always keep your aperture above the minimum for a couple reasons.  First, a deeper depth of field will give a better sense of place, and second, if your focus is even slightly off and you happen to be shooting at a higher number, the chances of getting at least part of the scene in focus is better than if you shoot like I did – at 1.4!  While I normally don’t share bad shots – in this case, it’s helping to serve as an example of what not to do:

As you can see, nothing is really in focus, and my suspicion is that it was due to the presence of the TC as further studio testing produced results consistent with what I would normally expect without the TC.  And with the TC, the oof results also continued in studio – with a lot of difficulty in even achieving focus on objects unless the contrast was especially evident.  Even then, it jiggled a lot betwenn two focusing points, so the lesson I got in all of this is that when using a __________ (thought I was gonna say it, didn’t ya?_, don’t use the TC!

Hope everyone else had a great weekend too.  What did you shoot and what were your lessons learned?  Sound off in the comments with your own thoughts, ideas, tips, and tricks!  Until tomorrow – happy shooting!

Suffice to say, there is something special about black and white photography.  There always seems to be some powerful emotional draw about it.  I’m not sure if it’s the contrast between the bright and dark parts of the imagery, or some other intangible, but many people have tried black and white with varying effects.  I’ve even seen some people take it to a very powerful extreme in the form of IR photography, modifying cameras to achieve the look or going for it in their post production.  For that reason, I’d encourage you to consider adding some black and white to your portfolio, just for a sense of counterpoint from time to time.

I was dabbling a little with it over the weekend, and came out with several striking images myself – just going through various post production techniques.  Here’s a sampling of those images:

His image, clearly thinking “outside the box” of a taxicab in NYC just jumped off the page for me:

So, Miguel, drop me a line via the blog or Flickr to claim your Streetwalker Pro and I’ll get this shipped out to you in short order!  Congrats to Miguel, and thanks to everyone who participated – this was an excellent month with lots of great ideas, creativity, and inspirational types of imagery!

With July in the books, I’ve got a really cool product up that saved my bacon more than I’d care to remember.  it came to me from none other than David Ziser when I attended his workshop here in Denver.  He had mentioned a little product called PhotoRescue and it does exactly what you’d think – recovers photos off a card that were deleted accidentally!  Sheer brilliance in design, and even affordable to the tune of $30 if you end up not winning the giveaway!  Here’s the nuts and bolts:

1.  Two images per person

2.  Work/family safe

3.  Shared via the Flickr thread here

4.  Downloadable by me (so I can announce you as the winner on the blog)

5.  Deadline is August 31st (this is a Wednesday too, so not a weekend as is the norm)!

6.  This is a software product so the key is distributable globally which means – no country border limit!

7.  And the theme is…”SAVE!“

So, enjoy it, embrace it, and win!  Some extra goodies may be added depending on how sponsorships and such pan out in the next week or so! Hint hint – more coming than what meets the eye!   Thanks to the folks at DataRescue for the sponsorship, support, etc.

Today, no such luck.  I had neither the resources to create anything (camera gear is all packed up – you’ll see why shortly), nor the time to really review or research industry happenings.  Instead, just a quick video of what I ended up doing all weekend!  (Trust me, it was not just frogging around and being lazy!)

And for the record – I [b]hate[/b] carpet tack strips!

What did you do this weekend?  Share your own weekend frivolities, photo escapades, or other nuggets in the comments!

Happy shooting, and I promise to be back again with some real content and not this frivolous stuff (although these are usually the ones people seem to enjoy the most – go figure!)

Another added benefit of using the aperture instead of a layer of glass is the optical quality of your images is retained instead of losing sharpness, or even adding distortion on the edges of your shots.  Someone once said to me “Why would you add a $20 filter to the end of a $500 lens?”  At that point, I decided never to add cheap filters in order to produce a desired effect, and the star effect is a great example of this scenario.

Here’s a few sample shots I took with the Sigma 85mm f1.2 lens recently where dialing things down produced this star effect:

By comparison, take a look at a shot of the same sunset, but without the star effect.  Sure, it’s a nice shot too (I like the branches in the upper part that bring a sense of balance to the image), but the missing star effect makes it somehow less magical for me.  What about you?  Do you like the magical stars from shooting at f16?  Sound off in the comments with your thoughts on shooting at f16 for stars, or any other photo tips you’d care to share.  Have a great weekend, happy shooting and we’ll see you back here on Monday!

Nevertheless, since photos have not been at the forefront, I wanted to dedicate an entire post to sharing some photos from the trip here with you.  So, without further ado, some selects from the trip!

To finish things off, a quick reminder that today is Webinar Wednesday!  Kerry Garrison (Camera Dojo) and I go live tonight at 7pm Mountain Time, 6pm Pacific.  If you’ve got time to stop in and check out the show, or even want to share the info with friends, it’s always free to join!  Here’s the sign-up page…see you tonight!

Leave it to the Libra, but for me, I can see both perspectives and understand the pros and cons of each.  To those ends, I’ve not really made up my mind.  Sometimes I waffle one way, other times I go in the opposite direction.  It’s never good to stagnate, but I do think that some photography is timeless, and to that end, some photos are worth keeping in your portfolio.  I’ve got a few that I know will always be in mine, but others I rotate periodically.  Here’s one of my all-time favorites:

What do you do with your own portfolio?

What do I mean by this?  Simply put: a photographer can shoot on-location.  I see many photographers speak to their ability to shoot on-location, and this is an important aspect of many genres ranging from wedding photography, to band photography, and even architectural work.  Heck, last week I did a maternity shoot that was “on location.”  So, why is this such an important thing to be able to stake claim to?  Three key things come to mind for me:

1.  Adaptability – Being able to shoot on location means you can adapt.  If the surroundings are beautiful, you can adjust your composition to include elements of the scene to give a sense of time and space to an image.  If the surroundings aren’t so beautiful, then it equally means you are able to diffuse things so that you can’t tell where a shot was taken – only that it’s a beautiful shot!

2.  Controlling – Yes, being able to shoot on location means you are adaptable, but it also means you can control for a number of factors, and of utmost importance here is the ability to control the light.  You can bring flash to fill shadows, or scrims to bring shadows to harsh light.  If a photographer can control for the light in a scene – the shot will improve by a factor of ten in most instances.

3.  Fundamentals – Given the above two factors are in place, this also usually means that the photographer brings a certain set of fundamental skills to the table.  He or she knows an aperture versus a shutter setting, and can likely tell you whether ISO 100 is better or worse than ISO 32000 (depending on the look of course!).  Although many like to wax esoteric about photography in abstract terms (myself included), there are certain fundamentals that every photographer worth their salt would and should know.  If you can shoot on location, you likely have these fundamentals.

These are just three of the factors that I think about when I see a photographer say they are an “on-location” photographer.  Of course the proof is in the pudding, and while I certainly would not pick a photographer solely on whether or not that term is included in their online presence, the ability to back up statements with a solid portfolio (and yes, an interview if you have the time to talk to a potential photographer!)

While we all like to think we have these traits, and in enough of a capacity to “bring it” for any client – let’s face it…some photographers are better than others.  Either they’ve got a natural knack for it where others have to work harder at it, or they’ve just simply been shooting a lot longer.  Seriously…time means practice, and the more you practice, the better you are at anything!  There are photographers who have been shooting for decades and some of us can’t hold a candle to them.  Meanwhile, others have been shooting for days, and I often stand in awe of their work.  So, consider the above three things when you decide to hang out your own shingle – because people will likely be looking for these traits.  Do you have them?  Do you have more?  Less? Something different? Something new?

What traits do you bring to the table?  Or better yet, what traits do you think are important for potential clients to consider when hiring a photographer?  The above is just my opinion – but that doesn’t mean it’s the ultimate answer!  Am I right or am I way off base?  Sound off with your own thoughts as the conversation is always the best part about this blog!  Can’t wait to hear what you have to say!  Until next time, keep the comments coming – oh yeah, and keep on shooting!

One final announcement today before the monthly contest series ends this weekend:  Get your photos in with the theme of “light” to be eligible to win a free BacklitBox print of your own favorite image!  Details here.

1.  Turn and Burn:  So many photogs want to get facial expressions but in doing so, forget that most of the time we never see someone’s full face toward us.  It’s usually more of an angled shot, and that’s why it’s often recommended to turn your model to one side.  Some models will swear that one side is better than the other, but when it comes to photography, my thought is not so much shooting their best side, rather shooting an expressive side!

2.  Breathe! – That’s right, so often when a model poses, the natural inclination is to “hold that pose” which subconsciously puts them in a state where they hold their breath.  Help them remember by even telling them to do so.  “Turn here, great, now chin up, awesome, and just a little to the right, excellent!  perfect!  Hold that pose….!  Oh, and don’t forget to breathe!  Take a deep breath and now exhale…fill those lungs with air!”  Not only will it surprise the model, but you may get a more natural smile – and if you’re lucky, even a laugh!

3.  Encourage the lean! – When people start to get in posing mode, there is a tendency to lean forward.  Leaning into the front shoulder is common, as is leaning to accentuate cleavage for a woman.  If you think about it though, the forward lean does make everything look a little bigger!  That’s not always a desirable thing, so encourage your models to lean back just a tad.  Not too much as you don’t want them to fall over, but at least make sure their weight is shifted to the back leg.

The other thing to remember, (kind of sneak tip for you), is that modeling rules work for both men and women, so even though the ones here are all women, many of the same rules apply!  There ya have it – 3 tips to get you started with subject posing and portraiture!  Got your own tips?  Share ‘em in the comments!  Have a great weekend and happy shooting!

1.  Slow down! – Your shutter speed is the best way to blur water…taking things down to at least 1/4 of a second, if not longer.

2.  Steady as she goes – Use your tripod!  When shooting at slower shutter speeds, it helps immensely to be solidly mounted on a good set of legs.  Without getting into the pros and cons of various features and qualities of various tripods, if you are shooting a 10 second exposure of a beach at sunrise, you need legs!

3.  Control the light – What a lot of people run into when slowing their shutter is an invariably brighter exposure…to combat extra ambient light in the scene use ND filters to prevent those extra rays of light from hitting your sensor.  Polarizers can work too, but they are less effective as they can have some downsides to them including elimination of reflections, casting a specific tone on your entire image, and more.  When in doubt, always use ND filters.

As always, there’s more than one way to skin a can (or blur water)!  More involve shutter dragging with fill flash, and lots of others.  What ways do you use to blur and control waters’ appearance in your images?  Sound off in the comments with tips and tricks of your own! Happy shooting all, and we’ll see you back here again next time with more photo goodness!

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The power of Lightroom has been so well documented from various outlets across the internet and magazines, I often find it surprising that such a small amount of space is dedicated to black and white photography.  This month, I’d like to take an opportunity to delve more into the creative adjustments you can make in Lightroom to bring out more in an image than just shades of gray!

There are two areas in Lightroom where you can make creative adjustments to the color to make things pop.  The first two HSL (for Hue, Saturation, and Luminance) and Color are great resources to use when you want to massage the color palette of your image.  The Black and White “tab” though, is where it’s really at.  When you click this tab, the image will be converted to an automated black and white adjustment, where the colors are converted to shades of gray – with no color tones at all.  This is where I’d like to begin the exploration:

While this can be a powerful way to present an image, the automated method of conversion is not going to work all the time (and for my tastes rarely does the default conversion work).  So, you have to dive in and really get comfortable with adjusting color tones.  To start off, I am using a pretty basic image – a red flower, and you can see that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the colored version of the image.

It’s got some great black and white potential though, so let’s go ahead and take it into the BW adjustment panel tab.  When I do that, the automated adjustments will kick in:

It looks interesting, but let’s see what massaging the colors just in the panel can do.  To start, since the flower was red and made up nearly 95% of the composition, I started with the red slider to see what the extremes would do on each end.  Here’s the image with the red slider taken up to +100 and then to the opposite extreme of -100…

In both cases, for me it’s an absolutely hideous image.  Clearly, there is a balance that must be struck somewhere in the middle – the question is where?  Well, now it comes down to subjective tastes.  For me, the default adjustment had the red a bit too strong – which kind of hid the morning dew of the flower, so I dialed things back a bit, taking the red slider from +22 to -20.  The droplets are now much more visible as they are standing out from the petals!

So, now we are getting somewhere fun!  I tested a few more sliders, and ended up with the yellows and oranges slightly higher than the default settings, just to give a bit more contrast.  Here’s what it looks like after the black and white adjustments are made:

Of course there is always a bit of sharpening and noise reduction to make in post production, as well as lens correction, and even a little bit of vignette from time to time to help draw the viewer in.  Once these are done, the final image definitely has a creative look and feel to it:

It’s clearly not easy to decide both when, to make a black and white conversion, as well as how much to massage or tweak it to your tastes.  The ultimate decision is, of course, up to you as an artist and photographer, but you can’t get there by avoiding the Black-and-White panel!  Take some time to explore it!

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There’s more to the article than that, and it has been modified somewhat to make for a better blog post, so be sure you subscribe to the PhotographyBB newsletter when you have a minute.  It is free, after all, and probably one of the best sources of a diverse set of reading material you can find.  Dave Seeram, the editor, has been quite generous with his kindness and patience in my contributions!  Please stop over and give him your thanks as well…nothing but learning and knowledge to gain!

As always though, I end up being more curious than informative!  What types of black and white adjustments do you make?  Do you prefer the neutral grays, or do you like to add a hint of color to your b/w images too?  What methods have you found useful versus not so much?  Sound off in the comments as I love to hear how others are working through their own images!  Happy shooting and we’ll see you next time right here!

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David Ziser, the quintessential wedding photographer did an excellent write-up in two parts (here and here) as a guest blogger over at Scott Kelby’s blog.  Not only is he an incredible photographer, his writing is among the best in the industry too!  I would highly recommend reading these two posts because even if you aren’t a fan of “The Kelby Kool-Aid”,  (although I must admit, I take a sip of it every now and then…) because these specific writings give insights and directions for all of us moving forward.  While the insights and perspective-changing considerations to take into account (including drive, motivation, work ethic, etc.) are definitely helpful, the more serious question that lies at the root of all of it seems to find a cornerstone in one simple question:  WHY DO YOU TAKE/MAKE PICTURES?

Without getting into the semantics of taking versus making pictures – my point here is that we all pick up the camera for different reasons.  And only in understanding those reasons can you really determine where you want to go and how you want to get there from where ever you are now.  We may pick up our camera to capture a moment in time, with dew glistening off the petals of a flower in the morning light:

Does that make us nature photographers?  Absolutely!  But, by the same token, does that define us?  Of course not!  We may also enjoy capturing that beaming bride as she smiles and kisses her husband on their special day!  Or, we may revel in the laughter of children as we capture those moments in time!  By the same token, we may also be pulled on some deep and intangible level by the power of a sunrise or a sunset in some place!  Heck, maybe it’s even the place that moves us.  As David DuChemin says, “…vision is better!”

There are so many scenes and images that surround us every day, but yet so often we do not trip that shutter, because we likely are not tuned in to a particular vision or perspective.  So, the question then becomes:  What is your vision?  Do you see the beauty inside that awkward teenager who only smiles for family?  Or what about the majesty of a skyline timed so perfectly?  The fact is, we can find it everywhere, and while we can blog and twitter, and Facebook until the cows come home about our latest project, or to promote and network across so many sectors of the economy (whether it’s improving or on the downturn), what ultimately matters is what motivates you to shoot in the first place?

When push comes to shove, the foundation for creating photographs (I believe) is something that comes from inside.  You have to want to be there, capturing that moment in time in order to the vision to really come to life.  Whether it’s a sunset, a smile, a skyline or anything, if you’re not true to your own roots, then twittering about it all becomes less than inspirational.

Of course, I could be completely half-cocked, and off base entirely here.  What do you think is at the root of photography?  Is it for the passion, the fame, or the glory?  Or is it something else altogether?  What drives those like David Ziser, Joe McNally, Zack Arias, David DuChemin and the rest to such degrees of excellence?  Time and again, what makes them and folks like them rise to the top?  Share your thoughts, comments, and feedback below!

For the inquisitive, this was shot with off-camera flash, using Radiopoppers.  The EXIF data:

Since EXIF data doesn’t record flash settings, I want to say that this was at 1/4 power, bare bulb (no diffuser, umbrella, bounce or anything like that).  The hint of yellow reflection off the background of the stove is likely due to bounce off the yellow color of the teapot itself onto the black metal on the stove.  It was an unintentional but cool side effect, so I left it in!

As the old saying goes: “Keep on shooting!”

Using Flash in the Snow - #1

Using Flash in the Snow - #2

Using Flash in the Snow - #3

Using Flash in the Snow - #4

Now granted, these are nothing that would ever been usable for fine art or stock type work, but it’s always fun to experiment, and this is one such case where on-camera flash works particularly well.  There’s other times when using on-camera built-in flash can also be useful though, so don’t be afraid to experiment.  Where have you had success with on-camera flash?  Share your own thoughts, perspectives and shots in the insight

Lunar Eclipse

What kinds of shots did you get?  How are you presenting them?  I debated on a video showing the movement across the sky, but that was very labor intensive, so decided on the above.  Thoughts, comments, feedback?  Share your shots too!

#1 – the path of the moon tracked almost directly over my house!  Literally!  I took maybe ten steps out my front door, and there it was, beautifully tracking across the sky.

#2 – Let me re-phrase that…beautifully tracking across the cloudy sky. 

At first it was just a few wisps…I started to capture a few shots at 10.  You know, to sort of document the before, during, and after.  But, by 10:30 the wisps were sticky patches of cloud cover.  By 11, even my naked eye could not discern any detail anymore.  It was very disappointing…

So, I put the camera away, began this post and went back out to glance at the sky for a bit before bed.  And as the first yawn escaped my tired body, sure enough, the clouds began to peel away.  At the halfway point, I finally grumbingly ran inside, bundled up, and grabbed the camera/tripod set which were already in place.  I’ve not done much post production on these, but here’s a select few:

Lunar Eclipse - The Start

Full Eclipse

Lunar Eclipse Dark

Late Eclipse

I am sure others will get wonderful views, and the folks at NASA, Roswell, SETI, and all the others will document it quite nicely for the rest of us. But…it’s just not the same as viewing it in real time.  When all was said and done, I was glad I stayed up to watch it.  Not only did I end up getting some nice shots, but I got to see almost the whole thing before heading off to bed.

What about others?  Did anyone else stay up to watch it?  I’ll bet some pretty cool time lapse productions come out of this!  Share your own thoughts and perspectives in the comments.  Would love to hear from you!  Happy shooting, and I’ll likely have a full set posted tomorrow.

Did You Know…?

1.  Fog is about 1 stop brighter than what cameras detect as 18% gray?  To compensate for shots taken in foggy conditions, adjust your exposure settings up by about 1/2 – 1 1/2 stops to compensate, otherwise you’ll get underexposed shots.

2.  Cameras are designed for right-handed people…the ergonomics are made to grip and adjust controls with your right hand.  Left-handed shooters have it twice as hard as the rest of us so double kudos to you!

3.  Pentax was actually the first camera vendor slated to release a full-frame DSLR camera, not Canon or Nikon!

4.  As you move light away from your subject, the output drops off by a factor of almost 2 to 1?  (It’s actually technically “double the distance, 3/4ths the output…)  Which means if you move your subject away, you need twice as much light at double the distance to equal the same output…

5.   To shoot a picture of the moon, use the Moony 11 Rule, just like the Sunny 16, but use f/11 and match the ISO to shutter speed

And since I was in Tucson this past weekend, here’s a couple holiday photos to tickle your funny bone…Christmas Tucson-Style:

Santa Turtle

Cactus Cap

Got your own DYK tips or photo nuggets?  Share ‘em here on the blog.  I’ll likely start doing this as a monthly feature and would love to hear the ideas, tips and tricks that others have to share as well.  In the meantime, keep on shooting, and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

One of the things we always hear about is that changing your perspective is a great way to see a new angle on things.  Many common methods of changing your perspective include things like

1. Shooting from a higher position looking down
2. Shooting from a lower position looking up
3. Renting a lens you’ve never used before and only using that for a week
4. Try shooting portraiture or product photography – something you’ve not done before.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, but imagine taking even one of these to as much of an extreme as you can!  I recently had an opportunity to shoot from #1 – a higher position than most get to see.  It was from a helicopter!  The generous folks over at Rotors of the Rockies agreed to take me up for a few shots in exchange for some shots of their fleet to use in their own marketing and promotional work.  It took a great deal of planning, scheduling and coordination to get all the logistics together, but in the end, the venture was totally worth the experience.  I learned quite a bit, and a full-length journal article is likely going to be out shortly after the first of the year.

Here, however, I wanted to share a few of the experiences and my thoughts with the listening and reading audience as a sort of “primer” on what’s to come soon.  First off – the learning experiences:

Shoot the Fast Glass

Use the fastest glass you have and shoot wide open!  I had two lenses with me, my Caon 10-22 and the Sigma 50-500.  Wide open on each was f4 and f4.5 respectively.  While the latter had IS to combat the helicopter vibration, I still had to crank ISO pretty high in order to be confidant in avoiding camera shake/blur.  The end result was mostly stills of the blades in the other chopper that was airborne, which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what you are going for.

Expect the Unexpected

While I was aware of the concept of shooting “doors off” in a helicopter, the experience is nothing you can really prepare for, so you just have to go into the situation with an open mind.  I must admit I had a few butterflies on take-off.  But, by the end of the flight, the pilots (there was another trainer getting some air time) said I was leaning about as far out the side of the bird as my harness/belt would let me go.  The upshot – expect the unexpected.

Don’t Try Too Much

Believe it or not, while I only went up with two lenses, I only changed lenses once, and quickly changed back to my first lens (the 50-500).  Shorter range lenses just won’t be able to capture much detail.  Now if you are going for panorama shots, then use your shortest lens, and leave the long glass at home.  But in these types of situations, changing lenses only decreases your shooting time, and with so much to capture, having to shift gears going from tight zooms to sweeping panos mentally is very challenging.  On your first trip, just pick a “subject” and stick with it – don’t try to get too much.

You have many things to think about – your harness, your gear staying safe, the wind whipping all around you, staying in constant communication with the pilot, then there’s your composition, and much much more.  If you mentally try to shift gears from one set of shots to another by switching lenses, you are likely to miss something important in the process (and I did – I missed an aerial of Invesco Field, one of the ones I wanted!).

And now, as promised, the shots.  Due to licensing restrictions, I am limited in what I can show here (many went to the folks over at ROTR).  Some of the shots will also be exclusive to the forthcoming complete journal article that covers every detail of the event from beginning to end.

Taking Off

First View from Above

Aerial Shapes and Patterns

What "Doors Off" Really Means!

Skylines and Sunsets

As you can see, it was quite a blast to be up to get a new/angle and perspective on things.  Not only can you get some great shots, but it can also give you a jolt of creativity when you need to “break out” of your familiar routines.  This perspective went higher than the average, but there’s other ways to go too.  Imagine going way lower than most.  Consider spelunking!  Silhouettes in caves would be cool too, not just in the air!  Finding a new vision or perspective is what it’s all about…and like the familiar phrase from David DuChemin:

Gear is Good, Vision is Better

Where is your vision going to take you today?

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(Also would love to have feedback on the content especially for this post as the writing and imagery will be similar to what goes into the journal article!  Like it?  Hate it?  Needs more?  Needs less – please share your thoughts via the comments or email!)

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Editor Note:  I would like to give special thanks to the folks out at Rotors of the Rockies.  Not only were they open and receptive to the idea, but were totally cool to work with and they have kept superb lines of communication open.  I would definitely recommend them for those interested in taking an aerial adventure.  Rates are available for 30 minute and 60 minute sessions on their website:  http://www.rotorsoftherockies.com

For the rest – a rather comical look at my own memories from serving in our Armed Forces:

Me - much younger...

Happy Shooting!