Good Glass is More Important

One of the things that new photographers battle with is gear purchasing. Many photographers on a budget, especially while in school have a hard time deciding on how to buy the gear they need.

One of the primary things new photographers needs to remember is although it’s nice to have the latest, greatest camera bodies, it’s not as much of a necessity as high quality glass. Whether you are a Canon or Nikon shooter, each company has different varieties of glass with different levels of quality, but this is where you should be spending your money as a new photographer. This first image I shot on Sunday March 5, 2017 at the Folds of Honor QuickTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. I did NO post processing, this image is straight out of my camera using the older Canon EF 100-400mm F/3.5 - F/5.6 L USM lens.

Camera bodies get updates almost every year, but lenses change less frequently and when it comes to camera bodies, unless the new model has some new technology that you absolutely need for your photography, you are better off spending your hard earned money on high quality glass. The reason for this is although Canon’s L lenses are really expensive, you can keep using the glass for a long time to come as it doesn’t become majorly outdated in just a couple years.

Even though Canon released a newer 24-70mm F/2.8 Mk II L IS or a new 85mm F/1.2 L USM, many pros are still shooting with the original models as they still take fantastic photos. I know when you look at say the 70-200mm F/2.8 L USM Mk II can sell for $2,000, you can often find the original one used in great condition for $900 and it will still work and make great images for years to come so you are going to get more out of that lens than you will $900-$2,000+ for a new camera body. This second image of Dale Jr's car being pushed from the garage to the pit area for the start of the race I captured with my 50mm F/1.2 L USM lens and again, NO post processing other than the lens profile correction in Lightroom.

There are many sites where you can buy good or even great condition previous model L lenses from reputable companies like KEH, Adorama, or B&H. If you are up on your lens knowledge you can also get good deals on Craigslist or eBay as well. If you want to try out a lens before you buy or be able to use one before you can afford to buy you can go ti sites like Kitsplit or Lumoid.

So, remember, before you spend that tax refund on a new camera body, look at buying newer, high quality glass for your current camera body and you will be amazed at how much better your images can be with high quality glass.



Comments/Questions

Another Way to Improve Post Processing Performance

This week I want to write another article on ways to improve your post processing workflow from a performance standpoint. You'll remember I wrote a blog post about tweaks for Lightroom, well today's post will not only speed up Lightroom, but also Photoshop and anything else you are using for Post Production. How can I be certain this will enhance EVERYTHING you say, well because for my day job, I am an I.T. Professional of 25 years.

Some of you may or may not have heard of SSD's also know as Solid State Disks or Solid State Hard Drives, but you may not be sure what they are or how they can benefit you as a photographer. Well an SSD, unlike a conventional hard drive has no moving parts, there are no metal platters inside and no head that reads them similar to an old record player.

Crucial 500GB SSD MX 200 series

 A Solid State Drive is basically a giant memory card, so it can read and write data insanely fast compared to a conventional hard drive which can only read and write at the speed that it's platters spin at. When SSD's first came out 5-10 years ago they were extremely expensive as most anything in electronics or computers, but over time, they become more and more cost effective in comparison to their platter counter-parts.

How will an SSD speed up your Post Processing and workflow? Well, the latest SSD's are capable of reading and writing data at 6GB/s, that's 6 Gigabits per second compared to platter drive which can only write at upwards of 15,000 Bits per second and that's only if you buy the expensive SAS drives, which are usually used more in servers than home computers.

I went this weekend and bought a used Mac Mini Server as a second computer and bought a 2012 model as it is the last year Apple made them user upgradeable, allow you to add more RAM and to easily swap out the hard drive from the old style platter model that only ran at 5,200 RPMs. I then went to Microcenter and bought a nice Crucial MX200 series 500GB SSD in 2.5 inch form factor. The Crucial is the best in SSDs and they have been one of the leading makers of system memory for decades, so it only stands to reason that they would also make the best SSD's since, again, an SSD is nothing more than a massive memory card that plugs into the hard drive ports on your computer and doesn't erase when the system is rebooted or powered off like RAM does. The model I bought it 500GB @ only $149 and will allow either a Windows or Mac based system to boot from cold start to the desktop in 7-15 seconds!

Crucial 500GB SSD plugged into a Windows PC

An SSD will also allow your applications to load hundreds of times faster such as Lightroom, Photoshop, or even Apple Final Cut Pro X video editing software which I use for my DJI Phantom 3 Professional videos. Ever seen that dreaded hourglass or spinning beach ball in Window or Mac? Well kiss them goodbye with an SSD as those kinds of things never happen again. Even though your Windows machine will still need to be defragmented now and then, image your Defrag only taking minutes instead of hours.

Now I am sure a lot of you are thinking, "How can I get this in my current system?" Well if you are handy with a screwdriver, most people can replace a hard drive themselves and then just restore your Operating System and applications from backups or do a clean install. A Windows 10 install that can take an hour or more on a conventional hard drive can be installed on an SSD in 15-20 minutes! If you don't have the stomach for this work yourself, find a local computer shop that will swap out the drives for you for a reasonable fee. If you do decide to tackle it yourself, Google how to do it as many videos exist on YouTube that will show you step by step how to do it yourself.

Trust me, once you've gone to SSD, you'll never go back to an old style hard drive again and you'll certainly appreciate the boot in speed when doing your Post Production.

Comments/Questions

Don't Let Social Media Stifle Your Creativity

Social media sites like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, 500px.com and others can be a great way to share you work as a photographer, but they are not the end all be all. Many times photographers get discouraged with the results they find on these sites, especially if they don't receive a large amount of "Likes" or "Shares" or "Favorites".

These responses are not an accurate gauge of your creativity or ability as a photographer, they are more the results of Social Media popularity contests. I have talked to and see so many photographers become discouraged with these platforms because they don't gets tons of "Likes" or "Shares", they think their work is not good enough or that no one likes they creative flare.

When it comes to your art and your work, you have to be the one true judge of your creativity and always strive to try new things and think outside the box. I can personally tell you from experience that I have posted photos on 500px.com and even on Facebook that got very little attention, but that same photo on EyeEm.com and Getty Images is selling like hotcakes.

Tybee Island Sunrise - Not liked at all of Social Media, sold 50 copies on Getty Images

 On the other hand, images I have posted that got scored really high or gotten lots of "Likes" and "Shares" didn't sell at all even though they were fantastic images and very creative and visually pleasing. The point is you are the best one to determine your best work and you can also get a more professional, objective opinion from your professors while you are still in college or from other professionals you are friends with or network with in the real world.

Social Media sites and platforms can be great for getting your work out there and noticed by a wider audience of people and perspective clients, but if you go into Social Media with the wrong mind-set, it can also suck the life out of you creatively. I find that a good way aside from the ones I mentioned a moment ago to have your photos honestly critiqued is to join some of the larger photography groups on Facebook that have been around for a while and have a large number of pros and seasoned hobbyists that are very active on there.

I personally created a Photography Twitter account that is totally separate from my personal one and have picked up quite a few professional photographers as followers and some of them are even nice enough to talk to me on there via Direct Message on a regular basis and are even kind enough to give me honest feedback on my work that I post there all the time. Some of your more famous photographers like Chase Jarvis and Zack Arias won't give you the time of day on there and most of them won't even answer emails either but there are still some pros out there that are more than happy to talk to you and even critique your work, such as Jared Polin from FroKnowsPhoto.com, Josh Schmidt from PhotoTipsHQ.com, Ken Rockwell from www.kenrockwell.com and Leigh from www.snapchick.com.

Wall of Light - Got tons of Likes and Shares, was used by AI for publications, never sold a copy

 I have also had personal exchanges by email with David Hobby and Scott Kelby as well, but they are a bit harder to catch up with as they are always so busy and get so much email, and I have never felt like bother either one of them for a photo or portfolio review/critique.

The point I am trying to make is you cannot let these sites pull you down and make you second guess your abilities or creative abilities as a photographer or artist. Take most of the response you get on Social Media with a grain of salt, I don't even let myself get overly excited when people gush over my work posted on there, but I do make sure I always thank them for their comments.

Comments/Questions

How to Make Your Camera Battery Last Longer

Most cameras these days can take quite a few photos on a single charge, but this week I am going to share some tips for getting more life and more shots out of the camera’s battery.

1.) GPS - This is a unique feature that a lot of new cameras have these days, but unless you need to tag your location during a shoot, keep this item off. In the course of a day, GPS can drain up to 20% on your battery.

2.) WiFi - Again this is another neat feature to have on a newer model camera, but unless you need to actually use it, keep it off. The last thing you need your camera doing during a shoot is constantly hunting for WiFi networks.

 3.) Sleep Mode - This is a nice item that is on most camera’s menus. Setting the sleep mode to the lowest time possible will allow your camera to save battery life in between shots and the camera wakes pretty much instantly when you press a button. Turning your camera on and off all the time doesn’t really extend the battery life any more than Sleep Mode but it takes a bit to boot back up and you could miss a shot.

4.) Review Time - If you are skilled at using your camera, you can set the lowest possible review time. I personally don’t use the Review at all on my cameras, and most Pros don’t either.

5.) Continuous Focus - Don’t use this if you don’t need it. It can make shooting harder if you need to recompose, but if you are shooting objects that are not moving, it just drives the focus motor constantly and drains the battery.

6.) Image Stabilization - This feature is very handy at have in your camera system at times, but if shooting on a tripod, it can actually impose movement where there should be none.

7.) Live View - Live view is one of the biggest battery drains on a camera system. The viewfinder is there for a reason, photographers got by for centuries without Live View.

8.) Silent Mode - If you don’t need it for the shooting you are doing, turn it off. My EOS 6D has two silent shooting modes and I love to use them when photographing wildlife as even the newest cameras have some clacking when taking photos. If I am shooting a car show or portraits, I turn it off to save battery life.

9.) Built-in Flash - I am not even sure why any cameras come with this these days because they are a huge battery hog, their performance is crap, so why bother put them on cameras to begin with?

10.) In Camera Post Processing - Again, not sure why cameras even have this as you can do a way better job with Lightroom or Photoshop.

11.) Focus Beep - It does not consume a huge amount of battery life but adds up over time and the beeps are annoying anyways.

12.) Light Optimizer and Noise Reduction - Again, not sure why either of these are in cameras to begin with and you can do a better job in your post production software.

13.) RAW + JPG - I know some people like having this ability but you are writing double images every time you press the shutter so you know this is sucking up memory.

Once you’ve turned these all off, you should see anywhere from a 20% even upwards of 40% increase in battery life and total shots you can take per charge.

Comments/Questions

Back Button Focus

This week I want to talk about a better way to use your AutoFocus on your camera. By default you already know that pressing your shutter button halfway down is how you get your AF lock. The problem is, if you release your shutter, your camera then needs to reacquire focus when you press the button down again. There is an easier way to get your focus and keep it and that method is called Back Button Focus.

The button in this shot circled in white is the one I like to use for BBF on my EOS 6D

Back Button Focus is when you program your camera in the menu to use a button on the back of the body to achieve focus instead of the shutter button. The advantage of this is you don’t lose your previous focus lock when you release the shutter button and then have to reacquire it again to take your next shot. Canon was the first camera builder to add BBF to their bodies back in 1989 and every camera has had it since that time.

To set up BBF on your Canon camera, go into the menu and look for “Metering Start/Meter+AF Start, which I know sounds confusing but that is the option you want. Most photographers that use BBF like myself will us the AF Lock button on the back of the camera. I switched to BBF about a year ago and I personally would not go back to using the shutter button and most pros will tell you the same.

On a Nikon it’s a bit more straight forward in the menu but varies from model to model, but you want to use the AE-L, AF-L button on the back for your BBF, yeah that button that you never use. Now that you know how to set up and use Back Button Focus, give it a try I think once you get used to it you will like it better than using the shutter button.


Comments/Questions

A New Year, New Opportunities

With the start on Friday of the 2016 calendar year we are faced with new opportunities as photographers. This is a good time to reflect on the past year and what worked, what didn’t and what you can do to change things up in the New Year.

Maybe you have an idea for a new personal project, or want to have your first exhibit of your work in a local gallery. Now is the time to be making those plans and working on making them reality.

As photographers, we must alway be learning new things, trying new things and challenging ourselves to be better, more creative and more business minded if we want to do this as our chosen career. Don’t let yourself get caught up in the hype of new camera gear coming out in 2016 with new bells and whistles, remember my earlier blog post about it not being about the camera.

Build on the the skills you know, become a master at what you do, but also learn new things. Don’t let yourself become stuck in a rut only doing one or two things when it comes to photography. You need to learn to be versatile and ready to tackle anything new head on.

One of the things I want you to avoid in 2016 is changing gear unless it’s absolutely necessary to your business. I have read article after article on pros who have started out on Canon or Nikon and sold all they had and switched to the other, or to Fuji, or Sony, only to eventually switch back. It’s a total waste of money to do silly things like this, so unless you have tons of cash to burn, don’t do it.

Generally, you are better off once you choose the system you are going to work with, to master it and stick with it. If you invest tens of thousands of dollars in bodies and lenses and then decide to switch systems, you have to sell all your gear at a loss because it’s used and buy all new again. Stick with what you have and learn to make it work for what you need.

You did’t originally choose the platform with the best high ISO, low light capabilities, then get better glass, like F/2.8 or wider lenses to compensate for that. Better glass is always a sound investment as you can use it over and over again for years on body after body.
For me personally, since I was side-lined by a bad car accident in October, I am dedicating my time and energy into drone photography for now. With my back messed up, I cannot walk a lot or stand for hours shooting right now, so I am learning and studying drones as a platform. I have already been working with three different systems to learn and train on and will be buying my first DJI Phantom 3 this coming week, so look for more articles and posts on my work with this new aerial platform in the coming weeks and months.

I can work with the drone platform, especially the Phantom 3 platform as it has the most intelligent systems of any drone on the market for photography. It can be set to basically fly itself so I can concentrate on operating the camera to capture great stills and stunning videos. All while sitting fairly comfortably in a chair, allowing my back to heal from my surgeries.

So, for 2016, I want you to get out there and take the bull by the horns and move yourself forward as a professional photographer and business owner. Expand your horizons, learn new skills, make your clients happy and LOVE what you do!

Comments/Questions

Drones and FAA Registration

So this weekend I wanted to write about something a little different, drones. Drone have become more and more popular especially in photography because they offer a unique new perspective, allowing photographers to photograph from up high or in areas hard to reach by foot.

One of the most popular drones for photography these days are the DJI Phantom series and with good reason. The company that makes this particular drone has done everything in their power to make their drone the most intelligent model on the market. With smart take off and landing capabilities, “follow me” the ability to upload pre-determined way-points for the drone to follow, they have made flying this model kind of “idiot-proof”, so that you can concentrate on taking amazing photos or videos and not worry about keeping the drone in the sky and stable.

Now, of course with drones and their ability to go and photograph basically anywhere, they have caused some controversy, especially when it comes to people’s personal privacy and where drones should and should not be allowed to go and photograph or shoot video. So, now the FAA has stepped in and set up rules and guidelines for the use of drones, also known as Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) for short. For now, the FAA has set up registration for drones that are being used for hobby only via their website. For those that use them for business, you need to obtain a special exemption as they will not have the complete rules, regulations and registration system in place for business use until mid-2016.

Now as far as registration is concerned, it is officially open as of Monday December 21st, 2015 and is fairly basic. All you have to supply to the FAA is your name, address and email address. No information on the make or model of your drone or drones. When you register, you will receive a unique FAA ID number that you must put on ALL of your drones so that they can be identified. They will also email you a certificate that you MUST carry on you at all times when operating your drones, either a printed copy in your wallet, or the ability to pull up the digital copy on your smart phone or tablet is fine as well. The registration is only $5 for three years and if you register by January 20th, 2016, the $5 fee is refunded.

Under the new UAS laws and regulations, you cannot legally fly your drone without having it registered first, to do so you face up to nearly $300,000 in fines and 3 years in prison. Your drone only has to be registered if it falls between the weights of .55 pounds to 55 pounds. You can read more information on the rules and register your drone here,
FAA UAS Registration Page there is also a PDF document with some of the most common models of drones listed and whether or not they meet the registration guidelines.

So, now that you know more about drones and the new FFA registration and rules, get out there and makes some awesome aerial photos and videos and be sure to post them on PSPN!

Comments/Questions

Your Signature & Your Style

One of the things you have to understand about photography when you are starting out is that your style is unique. If I take a pen and sign my name it is my name in the style that I write. It doesn’t matter if I use a pen, pencil, crayon, it’s my signature and unless you are a world class forger you cannot duplicate it and even then a forensic signature expert will be able to tell that it’s not mine. The same is true for photography, my style and yours is unique and cannot be totally duplicated.

The camera companies don’t want you to know this, they want you to believe that a LEICA will make you shoot like Cartier-Bresson, a Hasselblad, or 4x5” will make you shoot like Ansel Adams or a Nikon will make you shoot like Galen Rowell or Chase Jarvis, because if you think like that, you are more likely to buy their camera.

My style for shooting Forgotten Pieces of Georgia

They don’t want you to know that the it’s you that make the image, not the camera. An image is as unique as your personal signature on a piece of paper, when it comes to photography, your images are your signature.

Cameras don’t know what to do and all cameras do pretty much the same thing when it comes to photography. Except for using filters, camera lenses are clear glass, and except for the Holga “toy” lens, all lenses are sharp when properly used by you. On the other hand, pens come in fine point, medium, heavy, gel tip, and so on, so not all pens will write your name the same way.

If I hand you my pen, will your signature look like mine? Of course not, no more than if I hand you my camera will your images look like mine. A moment ago I mentioned Ansel Adams shooting a 4x5” or a Hasselblad, Adams, used large format, usually 8x10” in the 1930s to the 1950s when he shot his most memorable work. But as he got older and maybe lazier, he usually settled for 2 1/4” Hasselblad after the 1950s, but did this make his images look any less like his own? Of course not, an Ansel Adams is an Ansel Adams. 2 1/4” and view cameras are as different as two cameras can be from each other and yet his work, his style stayed the same, because his style is as unique as his signature.

All photographs are reflections of the photographer who created them and good photographers are artists who have a style all their own. Crappy photographers are crappy because they spend their time trying to copy everyone else’s style or don’t think at all before they press that shutter. Buying the best camera in the world and leveling it on the most stable tripod and spending hours working over that RAW file in Photoshop is the best way to make completely forgettable images, but being yourself and showing the world your way of seeing things is how you make truly remarkable images.

Why are so many images boring? Because they lack a unique style and all look the same. Now get out there with whatever camera you have and make the world see things as you see them!

Comments/Questions

Ways to Improve as a Photographer

This week I want to post ways that I think we need to use to always grow and improve as photographers.

Railroad crane shot at Southeastern Railway Museum

 1. Stop posting on photography forums. Too many times when lots of photographers post to the same forum the work starts to look too much alike. We want to always strive to be fresh and different.

2. Begin looking at art sites more often. Don’t always just look at photography sites, spend more time looking at art in other mediums for inspiration.

3. Start going to more museums and traveling exhibits, this is another excellent way to get inspiration.

4. Read and look at classic and contemporary art books.

Prayer bowls at Laotian New Year's 2014

 5. Force yourself to use a different lens each time you shoot. Often we get stale in our photography if we use the same lens all the time as we tend to always shoot the same kind of stuff.

6. Purposely stop taking the same kinds of shots when out in the field, recognize your habits and try to break them.

7. Start personal art projects, even if they aren’t popular with others.

8. Keep your eye on new technology, software and hardware, even if it’s not directly photography related. There might be a way you can use this new tech in your art.

9. Use your smartphone as a whiteboard to spitball ideas and possibly catch ideas and subjects that maybe you had not thought of before.

10. Ask “what if ___?” a lot and try to use your curiosity to come up with fresh, new ideas and projects to shoot.

I, and many others, find lists like this a great way to keep our work fresh and new at all times. Sometimes as artists, we hit a rut and then have a hard time coming up with new ideas for our creative outlet. By keeping a list like this handy, hopefully, we can always continue to come up with new things to shoot and work on and always keep things fresh and new.


Comments/Questions

Scott Kelby's WorldWide PhotoWalk

This week I want to invite everyone to participate in the Scott Kelby WorldWide Photo Walk.

Scott Kelby puts on this photowalk every year for the last few years and it’s basically a chance to get together with other photographers, walk around a downtown area and just shoot. It has a secondary purpose of raising money for The Springs of Hope Orphanage in Kenya.

The walk generally starts at 10am and lasts just 2 hours and then the photographers usually have lunch at a local restaurant or pub. I personally feel it’s a great opportunity to shoot and socialize with other photographers in my area and many of my photo club’s members are participating this year.

After the shoot, you can upload your best photo to the Photo Walk site and have it judged for possibly winning a prize and you can share all your images on the Walk’s Flickr page as well.

The walk in my area is lead by a local pro photographer in the Covington, GA area and is the only one really close to me as they only allow 50 photographers per group and the ATL one always fills up fast. Since the Covington group is getting to be fairly large as well I am contemplating signing up as a Walk Leader for next year.

It just a great way to socialize and raise money for a good cause as well. He only asks for a $1 donation and hopes to raise $50,000 this year to help the children in Kenya and I am sure you can probably use some of the shots for your class assignments.

You can find out more at Scott Kelby WorldWide Photowalk

Comments/Questions

Do Things That Scare You!

Good morning everyone.

This morning I am not going to be giving you any of my insights and experiences. I am not going to be telling you what you should or should not do. This morning I am going to let you read an article by Pamela Wilson. It was previously published over at Big Brand Systems.

It is more about who you are and what you have to do to get your photographs seen by people and what you have to do as a person to get that exposure. It's more about what you have do yourself to excel and become the photographer that you want to be.

We can show you all the applications, their tips and tricks. We can talk about composition and show you great photographs, but if you do not apply any of what you learn in the real world then we will never know your true greatness.

I hope you enjoy the article.

Lessons Learned From Down Under.

We look forward to seeing your photographs this month. #aipodvolunteer

Using Perspective for Better Images

One of the things that new photographers struggle with is shooting everything at eye level. You walk around taking in the scenery and see something that catches your eye and just point your camera at it and shoot. The problem is this can make your photos bland and boring and everything starts looking the same.

In order to make things for interesting and visually appealing, you need to move around and change things up a bit. Shooting a field of flowers with a windmill in the background? Use a wide angle lens and get down low to the ground, that way the flowers in your foreground are more prominent.

If you are shooting a redwood, get down low and shoot looking up into the tree, it will exaggerate it’s massive size even more and create a more interesting view. Or if it’s a small object like this antique Singer sewing machine, shoot standing over it and shoot downwards.

I shot this sewing machine by getting close and then looking down into it.

You can also shoot buildings or cars at an angle to get more of a unique look to them. I sometimes shoot my buildings for my project at the corner of the building just to make the scene more interesting and if the sky happens to also be really dramatic naturally it can make your image stronger.

For this Impala SS, I got down low and shot it at an angle from the front.

Great photographers never just stand and shoot everything at eye or tripod level, they move around and mix things up a bit to make for more appealing images. One of my favorites, Chase Jarvis, shoots a lot of sports, especially cyclists, snowboarders, rock climbers and he is always thinking outside the box on the view, angle and perspective he wants to get for his images.

I watched one of his shoots he was doing for Mountain Dew, and he was shooting a guy riding on a trail out in the woods and to get the perspective he wanted, Chase and his team made a dirt mount for the rider to go over and get airborne and then Chase actually laid on the ground on his back and shot up into the rider and bicycle to get a better angle to make the kind of strong image he was looking for. Now in a case like this, he could have potentially gotten hurt if something went wrong, but Chase doesn’t worry about stuff like that, he worries about getting the angle and view he is looking for to make that strong, visually appealing image and the folks at Mountain Dew loved that image and plastered it all over billboards, magazines, etc.

For this steam powered saw, I knelt down and got in close to make the blade bigger.

So keep these tips in mind next time you are out shooting. Change things up, make your images more compelling and more interesting. You will get much more dramatic and beautiful shots, and won’t have your professors nagging you to move around and make more visual variety!

Comments/Questions

Post Your Work

 This past weekend I had the opportunity to watch an amazing documentary called Finding Vivian Maiers. This is a fantastic story that I personally think every photographer should watch, I don’t want to give too much away other than to say she was a woman who worked as a nanny and did photography as a hobby. She never showed her work to anyone, which is sad as she turned out to be an incredibly talented artist.

The reason I am bringing this up is not only because it is an awesome story but to also encourage all photographers to always post their work. I understand that not every photograph is perfect, and I encourage you to be your own critic first but when you do have your best images ready, you need to share them with the public. Post your work on your own site if you have one, join some of the good photography groups on Facebook, join sites like 500px.com or even the newer www.dashburst.com, which has just recently started as a new photography and creative artist site.

Blue Moon from July 31, 2015

You want to not only display your work but also be willing to take constructive criticism about your work. By that, I mean people who are willing to give you honest, accurate critics on how to improve your technique when it comes to your art, not some of the nasty people who just poopoo everything that is not their own. Another reason why I recommend 500px.com is you can actually sell your images on this site and retain 75% of the profits, which is nice and they have a very large list of legitimate, paying clients that will buy your work for various projects they have.

I also recommending putting your best work out there on Twitter, Instagram, with proper hashtags to get more exposure and it doesn’t hurt to have a Flickr account as well. I know it sounds like a lot to keep track of, but luckily, most of these sites will allow you to cross-post on the others. If you are not already familiar with Instagram, with their app on your phone or tablet, you can post an image with Instagram and then also share it on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr and Foursquare.

My point is, you will never know how good your work is or get discovered as an artist unless you actually share it with the world! Now get out there and make some great images!

Comments/Questions

Black & White Photography

I have had questions from students about the best way to do B&W photography. Is it better to do it in camera or using post processing software such as Photoshop, Lightroom or another similar program?

Different people will give different answers to this question, and there is no “right” answer to this question. Anytime you can do things in camera, it is considered the “ideal” way to do it but you have more flexibility using editing software.

Your camera can make fantastic B&W images but there is a catch, you have to shoot in JPEG only, because if you shoot RAW, the images will appear B&W when viewing them in the camera but once downloaded to your computer they will revert back to full color because RAW format records ALL details and pixels. I’ve had students ask, “what if I don’t have or cannot afford editing software?” Well, first of all, if you are a student at AI, you should have editing software as part of your degree program.

Shot in JPG using Monochrome Picture Style on my Canon 6D

Shooting B&W in camera will give you beautiful B&W images but since you are shooting JPEG, ALL extra data for your image will be discarded and gone forever, you cannot get that back. I, and most professional photographers will tell you it’s best to ALWAYS shoot in RAW for the very best image quality and then convert them to B&W. This gives you the most creativity and best detail in your final image. By editing to B&W in say Lightroom, there are a couple ways you can do it. You can use the Black & White option under the development module, or I prefer to use the Saturation tool and de-saturate the colors from the image, then tweak the contrast to create a more dramatic effect.

Shot in RAW on my Canon 6D and de-saturated in Lightroom

There are also nice third party apps and plug-ins you can use and I personally use quite a few of them to get my images just the way I want them. The NIK Collection is one of my favorites and comes with a great B&W plug-in called Silver Efex Pro 2. This software has a nice set of “recipes” for making different types of B&W images with varying looks, from High Key to Low Key and heavy contrast just to name a few.

Shot in RAW with Canon 6D and then converted using "Antique Plate 1" using NIK Collection

For any friends you have that are into photography and cannot afford Lightroom or Photoshop, there is a free, Open Source photo editor called GIMP, which is available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. http://www.gimp.org GIMP is nice as it has ALL of the capabilities of Photoshop with no cost.
Now that you have more information on how to make great B&W images, get out there and make some great ones!

Comments/Questions

Should I Only Buy Name Brand Lenses?

Another one of the questions I myself and many other photographers get from students is this one, “Should I only buy Name Brand lenses”, i.e. Canon, Nikon, Sony, etc.

To be honest there are no straight yes or no answer to this question. Some of it is personal preference, some of it is your budget. I am a Canon shooter and I love my Canon gear, but do I only buy Canon lenses? Absolutely not! Why, well for one thing, I have an I.Q. higher than 10 points and another, I am NOT rich!

In the past you would usually hear the old adage you get what you pay for but this is no longer the case. Over the last few years third party lens builders have gotten better and better at putting out quality equipment. Tamron, is in my humble opinion, the King of third party lenses, outside Carl Zeiss, who’s lenses are priced so ridiculously high, for manual only lenses, I will never own one.

I consider Tamron the King of third party lenses because I have personally never had a bad Tamron lens nor read any bad reviews on any of them. I have had Sigma lenses that threw all kinds of weird errors when I tried to use them and the image quality had been really weak on some of them I have used but I have read that lately Sigma is getter really good as well. Just like Canon or Nikon, both builders have their low end lenses and their high end lenses. For Tamron, their high end ones are the SP series, and many photographers compare Tamron’s SP series as being nearly as good if not sometimes better than Canon “L” series glass. Image quality, build quality, all on par or better than Canon’s “L” glass, the catch is, Tamron’s SP lenses cost WAY less money.

Monarch butterfly shot with Canon 70-200mm F/4 L USM

What is the most popular zoom lens in photography? The 70-200mm lens is by far used by more pros than any other zoom lens every made. Why, well it has what is known in the industry as the “sweet” focal lengths. 70-85mm is popular for portraits as is 135mm and having a max of 200mm is good for most all around shooting, sports, events, etc. Now Canon makes four versions of the 70-200mm “L” series lens. There’s the 70-200mm F/4 L with or without IS (Image Stabilizer) and the 70-200mm F/28. with or without IS. These four lenses vary in price from $800-$2,100 for the new F/2.8 IS II. As most people will tell you, if you want the best lens, go with the F/2.8 with or without IS depending on your wallet. The reason is the faster F/2.8 lets in more light so you can use it in lower light shooting, like if you specialize in shooting bands at concerts or bars as those are very low light situations.

Not everyone wants to spend $2,100 for a single lens, enter Tamron. Tamron offers the same 70-200mm F/2.8 Di VC (Di means fits full frame as well as crop bodies, VC means Vibration Compensation, same as Canon’s IS) for $999-$1,499 depending on who you buy it from. That is considerable savings for the most popular lens in one of the best apertures. I currently have the Canon 70-200mm F/4 USM but plan to pick up the Tamron 70-200mm F/2.8 Di VC as one of my near future purchase.

Hopefully, this article will help you decide where you want to put your money when it comes to lens purchases. Now get out there and make some great images!

Comments/Questions

Freezing Motion

One of the coolest things you can do with your photography is to freeze motion of a moving object so that you can capture all the details. There are two ways to freeze motion, the first is to increase your shutter speed and the second is to use a strobe light.

Freezing motion using the shutter is an easy way to stop motion for objects such as cars, planes, humming birds or even water. To stop motion just turn your shutter speed up to at least 1/1000th of a second, but the thing to keep in mind is you need sufficient light to pull this off. When shooting outdoors, it’s easy especially if it’s a nice sunny day but when the light is weak you may need to turn your ISO up higher or use a fast lens such as a F/2 or F/1.4 if you have one. In my example here I used my Canon EF 100mm F/2 Macro lens so freeze the water in my kitchen sink the image is a bit dark but I also shot this at night so all I had were the kitchen lights.

Water frozen using 1/1000th sec shutter

The second method I mentioned for stopping motion or freezing objects is to use a strobe light. Now if you are testing as I am by shooting running water in your house it might not be fun dragging out your studio strobes but you don’t need to. Lest we forget, Speedlites are also strobes, just smaller and they run on double A batteries. Now, grab your Speedlite and set your ISO to as low as possible (I used ISO 50) and then set your shutter speed to the same or slightly faster than your focal length (I used 1/125th of a second since I used a 100mm lens). Aim your Speedlite at the water and snap your image, when the playback shows on your LCD you will see that the water is perfectly frozen in time like my example below.

Water frozen using Canon 580 EX II Speedlite

Now how fast you set your shutter depends on what you are trying to stop. 1/1000th of a second is plenty for a car or plane or water but let’s say you want to freeze the flap of a humming bird’s wings and get the best possible detail. I would recommend 1/2000th of a second as it will give you better results. Now, just as in my example you can use a strobe, but how often can you catch a humming bird with a strobe? The ones around my house are too flighty for that, they often won’t stick around if I am even holding my camera, but it has been done. I saw an article on a photography blog where a person used four Speedlites posted around a flower that humming birds were really drawn to and he got a fantastic capture that way so it can be done.

Well now you know how to freeze time or stop motion with your camera. Now get out there and put this new information to use and please, post your results on PSPN.

Comments/Questions