This is a new video I made as a welcome and introduction for my students at morethanasnapshot.com
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Photography Tips
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Pre-Shot Setup Routine
Friday, July 30th, 2010Another one of my favorite White Mountains shots
Wednesday, July 28th, 2010I don’t know why but I just like this shot. When you begin photography you may become sensitive about what others think of your photos. Just remember the only opinion that matters is your own. With any given photo, some people will love it and others will hate it, so just create art that you enjoy and others will too.
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Exposure 101
Sunday, July 11th, 2010Your camera’s light meter reads the amount of light bouncing off the objects in your scene back into the lens and tries to get an exposure for 18% grey. So what if you shoot something black or white, yep you got it they will look a little grey if you don’t use some exposure compensation.
Here is an example shot in aperture priority mode with no exposure compensation. Of course we know the door is black but its not a nice deep black.
Greyish Door
Here is the same door shot with -1 EV.
Black Door
PS: I have a new class starting July 13 th and I have 3 spots left.
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Using a Tripod
Friday, May 7th, 2010Using a tripod:
Background:
Many people prefer to avoid using a tripod because its means dragging around an extra piece of equipment that is bulky and sometimes heavy. However, there are some huge advantages to using a tripod whenever possible. These include:
- They provide steady support for shooting with long lenses
- They allow for shooting at very slow shutter speeds
- They slow you down so you can be more careful with your compositions
- They free up your hands to work with filters or other photo accessories
- They allow you to shoot more than one image of exactly the same scene
- They allow for a more precise sequence of shots in order to make panoramic photos
- They help you to get your camera into some tough positions that may be very low, high, or at an awkward angle
Photographers like Art Wolfe, from the tv series “Travels to the Edge” carry a tripod everywhere they go because these advantages are so important for making a quality image. I admire his commitment to the tripod because if you watch the show you’ll notice that no matter how far he treks in to the wilderness he always shoots with a tripod.
When purchasing a tripod you should consider certain important features such as the type of material the tripod is made. Carbon fiber tripods are light and rigid but are expensive. Magnesium tripods are a bit heavier and they are strong, stable and rigid. Aluminum tripods are light and not as rigid and they are fairly inexpensive. Also be aware that metal tripods can be cold to handle if you like to shoot in winter or in cold environments.
Make sure you buy a tripod that can handle the weight of your camera and your heaviest lens. A tripod that is too light will not give you sharp images. Most quality tripods don’t come with a head, find a quality head that can also handle the weight of your camera. Even though a tripod can be a bit of an expense, the good news is they usually last a long time.
There are certain types of photography that can really benefit from using a tripod, for example, your compositions can be improved when doing landscape photography. Image sharpness can be improved in wildlife photography because the tripod supports the weight of long lenses. Marco photography usually has to deal with very shallow depths of field and the tripod can help you to be more precise with your focusing. These are just some examples of how a tripod can help to improve your images.
Objectives:
- You should be able to use your tripod for stability and precision.
Activities:
- Use a long telephoto lens or a macro lens and then take a close-up image of something. Then try taking the same image by handholding the camera.
- At what shutter speed did you take these two shots?
- Did using the tripod help you to make a better shot? Why or Why not?
- Was it easier or harder to get a precise focus point and depth of field?
Close-Up
- Use a tripod to make an image at night just after sunset. Find a road with a curve and set up your tripod in a safe place of to the side of the road. Check your camera’s manual to see how to set it to Bulb for a shutter speed on many camera’s this can be done by setting your camera to Manual then turn your shutter speed dial down to the slowest shutter speed and the next one should be Bulb. Switch your lens to manual focus and then focus on something about 1/3 of the way into the scene. Set your ISO to 400 and the f-stop to f/8. Then wait for a car to come by and hold down the shutter button the whole time the care is driving through the curve.
Light Trails
- Could you have taken this image without a tripod? Why?
- Make a panoramic image. Find a location with a nice wide landscape. Use your tripod to shoot about three images of your scene going from left to right. Make sure you overlap each image by about 1/3 of the scene so that the stitching software will be able to stitch your photos in to a panorama. Use a program like Photoshop to stitch together the images into a panoramic picture. Repeat the same steps but without using a tripod.
Panoramic Image
- Which panorama came out better? The one shot with the tripod or without.
Please try these activities and let me know if you have any comments or suggestions to improve this lesson. Also please feel free to upload your images from these activities to my flickr group listed below. Please tag them “gccdesigns” and “ tripod”.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/gccdesigns/
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Using Red Gel to Boost Greens in the Background of an Outdoor Strobist Shot
Friday, March 26th, 2010Using Red Gel to Boost Greens in the Background of an Outdoor Strobist Shot.
This is an interesting idea. I’ll have to try it out. I have used the orange gel (just remember to set your white balance to tungsten or use a custom white balance) to enhance the blue color in the sky and it works well so I would think this would work too.
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Secrets for Shooting Soda
Thursday, March 18th, 2010
Cold Glass of Soda
I recently taught a food photography workshop for one of my students who owns a restaurant ( Luigisgourmet.com )in Johnston, RI. One of the shots that was fun to do was a glass of soda. It seems simple enough but there are a few things you can do to make the soda look better in the photo.
1. Spray the glass with scotch guard or car wax before spraying with water. This will help the water bead up on the glass.
2. Make sure the ice breaks the surface of the class. This shot uses real ice but fake ice could be used instead.
3. If you are shooting a dark soda, fill half the glass with the dark soda and the other half with a clear soda. This will make the soda lighter and allow the light to show through it more easily.
4. Cut out a piece of cardboard that is smaller than your glass and wrap it with aluminum foil. Put this reflector behind the glass so you can’t see it from your camera position. This will kick light back through the soda.
5. The main light for this shot was a 250 watt bulb shot through an umbrella at camera left (side light). There was a second light at camera right pointing at the background and into the little reflector.
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Canon 7D camera_First Impressions & Camera Recommendations
Friday, January 8th, 2010Canon 7D camera_First Impressions « Blue Sky Photography.
This article has a pretty good review of the Canon 7D.
People frequently ask me ” What camera should I buy?”
The answer really depends on what kind of photography you do and how much you want to spend. If you are looking for a pro level camera that is good for wildlife/sports photography then the 7D is a good choice. However, if you mostly do landscape/studio/wedding then the 5D Mark II may be a better choice for you. If you’re more of a beginner and and you want to spend less look at the Rebel line of cameras.
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Photography Lighting – White on White | Jerry Avenaim Fashion Photography Blog
Tuesday, December 29th, 2009I thought this was a cool tip for shooting subjects wearing white that are shot on a white high key background. This is something I’d try. What do you think.
Photography Lighting – White on White | Jerry Avenaim Fashion Photography Blog.
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Blogging Tip: Adding Flickr Galleries to Your Blog
Thursday, December 24th, 2009Here is a sample of a collection I have on flickr called my favorite images:
1. Create a Set of your photos on Flickr.
2. Click on the Set, then click Play Slideshow.
3. Click Share.
4. Optional: click Customize this HTML if you want to adjust the size etc…
5. Copy and Past the Embed code into your blog post.
Let me know what you think about this type of gallery? Thanks!
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