end of the contest I've had to start truly playing with my all of the settings on my camera more so then normal. Out of this contest I've started using my flash in Manual instead of TTL. I've had to become creative in how to place flashes around subjects while shooting at f/1.4 without blowing out my entire frame. I'd started playing with random light sources around my home and the objects laid around. It started out as a game to see who's the better photographer but neither of have called a letter yet. I don't think we will. While we treat it as a contest to out do the other its become more of a creative outlet see what we can do. We might hit clsoe to 20 photos before one of us even gets an H. And you know, I'm ok with that because its all in fun.
30.8.09
HORSE
So remember back when you use to play HORSE with your friends seeing who could pull off the coolest looking shot. Well I've started that same thing. But with Photography. While the idea sounded odd at first but as the contest has gone on we're produced photos that have pushed both of us to see what we can do with out camera. The results so far have been outstanding. From my end of the contest I've had to start truly playing with my all of the settings on my camera more so then normal. Out of this contest I've started using my flash in Manual instead of TTL. I've had to become creative in how to place flashes around subjects while shooting at f/1.4 without blowing out my entire frame. I'd started playing with random light sources around my home and the objects laid around. It started out as a game to see who's the better photographer but neither of have called a letter yet. I don't think we will. While we treat it as a contest to out do the other its become more of a creative outlet see what we can do. We might hit clsoe to 20 photos before one of us even gets an H. And you know, I'm ok with that because its all in fun.
end of the contest I've had to start truly playing with my all of the settings on my camera more so then normal. Out of this contest I've started using my flash in Manual instead of TTL. I've had to become creative in how to place flashes around subjects while shooting at f/1.4 without blowing out my entire frame. I'd started playing with random light sources around my home and the objects laid around. It started out as a game to see who's the better photographer but neither of have called a letter yet. I don't think we will. While we treat it as a contest to out do the other its become more of a creative outlet see what we can do. We might hit clsoe to 20 photos before one of us even gets an H. And you know, I'm ok with that because its all in fun.
17.8.09
Migrating Moon
So this a photo I took a few days back of the moon. Yes that's right the moon. I'm goign to discuss how I pulled off this shot for those of you still wondering how I did this.
First off you will need the following.
-DSLR
-Zoom Lens
-Tripod
-Clear view of the Moon
-Patience
So The first thing I did for this was adjust my tripod so that the camera was at eye level. Once I had my tripod ready I went ahead and got a view of the moon at full zoom on my lens(which was 55mm) and then another view with my lens at its widest(17mm for me.) Doing this allows me to make sure that the moon will be a constant element in the frame. Once I knew the moon would be a constant I checked out how the landscape looked since I knew it would be visible at 17mm.
At this point I have everything framed up so I lock my tripod in place. Now its time to play with the camera abit. I knew I wanted to make this a 30 second exposure. I set my ISO to 100 to insure a nice crisp photo. Now to select my aperture. For this one i chose to go with f/5.6 mainly because it was the highest aperture I had in the range of my lens, and I knew it would give a fairly sharp photo. I set my lens to 17 for the final framing.
ISO, Shutter Speed, Aperture all where set. Now I hit my shutter release and started to count to 20. At 20 I adjusted zoom from 17 all the way to 55 which was done slowly over 5 seconds and with the last 5 seconds the lens sat at 55mm. Now there is a ghost in the image which is something I do often. How that was created will not be discussed.
15.8.09
Social Groups.
"Picking up a DSLR does not make you a photographer. It makes you the owner of a DSLR"
Social groups are a very important tool for new and emerging photographers. It allows us to share information and learn from those who we would never come across in our local market.
Twitter- Using twitter I talk to about 15 different professional photographers from around the world going from LA, to Toronto, England, China, and other countries of the world. I can send them a message asking what they think of my work and get a reply within a few hours depending on timezone differences. And they do the same. I'll log into twitter and see their work posted up asking what people think of it or them just letting people know something new is on their websites.
Flickr- Flickr is in my opinion the best website for anyone who wants to share their photos with the world. Within this website there are a mulitude of groups you can join. Some of them are limtied by region of the photo, lens used, camera used, and etc. I belong to a group where you submissions must have certain colours in them. There are many groups on there also which are run by the Camera companies themself.(I belong to 4 different Nikon groups, one of which Nikon USA sponsers)
Blogspot- Blogspot is a great tool to share ANYTHING with the world. As with my blogspot I post varying information regarding photography. I post samples of my work time to time within my posting and have links to my other websites on the side. I treat blogspot just as equally important as I do my main website.
So always remember that if there is no one in your local area there is always the internet to reach out to, and its waiting to answer.
Social groups are a very important tool for new and emerging photographers. It allows us to share information and learn from those who we would never come across in our local market.
Twitter- Using twitter I talk to about 15 different professional photographers from around the world going from LA, to Toronto, England, China, and other countries of the world. I can send them a message asking what they think of my work and get a reply within a few hours depending on timezone differences. And they do the same. I'll log into twitter and see their work posted up asking what people think of it or them just letting people know something new is on their websites.
Flickr- Flickr is in my opinion the best website for anyone who wants to share their photos with the world. Within this website there are a mulitude of groups you can join. Some of them are limtied by region of the photo, lens used, camera used, and etc. I belong to a group where you submissions must have certain colours in them. There are many groups on there also which are run by the Camera companies themself.(I belong to 4 different Nikon groups, one of which Nikon USA sponsers)
Blogspot- Blogspot is a great tool to share ANYTHING with the world. As with my blogspot I post varying information regarding photography. I post samples of my work time to time within my posting and have links to my other websites on the side. I treat blogspot just as equally important as I do my main website.
So always remember that if there is no one in your local area there is always the internet to reach out to, and its waiting to answer.
11.8.09
Don't Get Rusty
Recently I've been talking to alot of photographers I've been hearing, "I haven't had time to shoot anything in a while" or "I've just been so busy I haven't picked up my camera in a while. "
Pick up your camera everyday, even if you just take a photo of your lens cap. I do it myself time
to time just see if i can find a different way to get the photo. Shooting at a f/1.4 or f/16. Shoot it macro non-macro, fisheye, super telephoto from across to house to see how steady your hand it. I take my camera with me EVERYWHERE. I'll offer a free photoshoot to anyone who catches me out of my house without my camera. I treat my camera like its my life. I've walked out of my house no wallet, no money, no cell phone, but I had my camera. Take your camera everywhere even if its just to lunch with friends you never know the pictures that will ensue. Everytime I hang out with my friends I bring my camera. Its the best time to not only practice but have fun with your camera. Everyone's house is lit different and setup different you can better understand what lenses you can use, what ISO works best with certain brightness, how slow you can get your shutter before its nothing but blurs. Having fun with your camera is the best way to learn.
Pick up your camera everyday, even if you just take a photo of your lens cap. I do it myself time
to time just see if i can find a different way to get the photo. Shooting at a f/1.4 or f/16. Shoot it macro non-macro, fisheye, super telephoto from across to house to see how steady your hand it. I take my camera with me EVERYWHERE. I'll offer a free photoshoot to anyone who catches me out of my house without my camera. I treat my camera like its my life. I've walked out of my house no wallet, no money, no cell phone, but I had my camera. Take your camera everywhere even if its just to lunch with friends you never know the pictures that will ensue. Everytime I hang out with my friends I bring my camera. Its the best time to not only practice but have fun with your camera. Everyone's house is lit different and setup different you can better understand what lenses you can use, what ISO works best with certain brightness, how slow you can get your shutter before its nothing but blurs. Having fun with your camera is the best way to learn.
8.8.09
Cost of Being a Photographer
Being a photographer without an agent is quite a challenge. Mainly because I don't have someone seeking jobs for me where pay would be 5k+. I have to go out on my own and find clients and convenience them that I am worth the price I market myself at. And i get asked often why my price is where it is. Where I'm going to break down my cost for you so you can better understand why i charge what I consider a fair amount.
Equipment
Software
Computer Equipment
Now while $4650 is a large amount I have other friends who have also started photography companies and their upstart cost are around 8000. They've purchased more advanced top of the line gear and hardware.
Ok i've spent 4700 dollars. I'm ready to start yes?...no. I have to let the local market know about me and show samples of my work. But if I'm just started I can't charge for something no one has seen yet. Would you buy a car if you've never seen it, heard of it, and none of your friends have? So now you have to talk people into paying you for a blind service, or do a few shoots for free to show what you can do on a constant.
So now you're out and you're marketing. You now run into Marketing cost.
Getting into Photography isn't just a quick hey i'm gonna do this and it's gonna be cash cow industry. While yes with the switch to digital the cost of being a photographer has gone down since you no longer need to buy film and pay to process it. But it is still a very costly industry to get into, just like any other profession. You wouldn't walk into a 5 star restaurant and say, "You know this is awesome, but we only wanna pay you this much for it." Just becuase I dont have a set building downtown with a whole staff doesn't mean you can lowball me for what I do. This is what I do and order to try and pay my bills. I don't walk into your job asking for discounts and haggleing prices, so why do you do it to me?
Equipment
- Nikon D40x SLR Kit with 17-55 Lens - $ 600
- Nikkor Prime Lens- $200
- Sigma Telephoto Lens- $ 200
- Nikon Flash- $400
- Basic Filters for 3 lens $60
- Advanced Filter- $35
- Extra Battery for Digital SLR- $50
- Camera bag to hold gear- $80
Software
- Adobe Photoshop CS3- $500
- Adobe Lightroom 2- $200
- Plugins For Photoshop and Lightroom- $300
Computer Equipment
- Apple Imac- $1800
- External Harddrives- $250
Now while $4650 is a large amount I have other friends who have also started photography companies and their upstart cost are around 8000. They've purchased more advanced top of the line gear and hardware.
Ok i've spent 4700 dollars. I'm ready to start yes?...no. I have to let the local market know about me and show samples of my work. But if I'm just started I can't charge for something no one has seen yet. Would you buy a car if you've never seen it, heard of it, and none of your friends have? So now you have to talk people into paying you for a blind service, or do a few shoots for free to show what you can do on a constant.
So now you're out and you're marketing. You now run into Marketing cost.
- Domain name - $20
- Website hosting $100
- Business cards- $30
Getting into Photography isn't just a quick hey i'm gonna do this and it's gonna be cash cow industry. While yes with the switch to digital the cost of being a photographer has gone down since you no longer need to buy film and pay to process it. But it is still a very costly industry to get into, just like any other profession. You wouldn't walk into a 5 star restaurant and say, "You know this is awesome, but we only wanna pay you this much for it." Just becuase I dont have a set building downtown with a whole staff doesn't mean you can lowball me for what I do. This is what I do and order to try and pay my bills. I don't walk into your job asking for discounts and haggleing prices, so why do you do it to me?
6.8.09
Aperture and Depth of Field
So as a beginning photographer the connection between Aperture is Depth of Field isn't always taken into account. As a beginner we mainly think Aperture only effects how much light is let into the lens. I'm going to show you a few photos i took in my home with a static-ish camera never changing focus, only changing Aperture and bumping lighting as needed. For these shots I started at an aperture of f/1.4 and went up to f/16 as that's the range of my Nikkor 50mm f/1.4.
Before I show the photos i want to explain Aperture just a little more to give a better understand of it and how it works.
The aperture of a lens is how wide it opens to let light in. Aperture can range from (on average) f/1.2 to f/32 depending upon the lens. The lower the number the wider the aperture [ f/1.2 > f/3.5] And also the the lower the number the faster. Now when the Aperture is wide open is drastically narrows the field of focus. This happens because of how the images enters the lens and is distorted by the wideness of it[ see this picture taken from wiki for a visual]
Shot at F/1.4 Yoshi is clearly in focus or within Depth of Field. While Mario and the bottle of water are outside of the range of focus
When shot t f/2.8 Mario is still out of focus but you can see he is coming closer to focus with this photo.
f
Here at a wide open f/16 Yoshi, Mario, The Bottle, and all of my sensor dust can be seen.
During all of these photos which can be seen here the camera was never moved, focus was never changed, and the subjects where never moved. The only thing changed was the aperture of the lens. I think my next photo guide blog will be on shutter speed and action. See you guys when i get back from Seattle...if I ever make there.
Before I show the photos i want to explain Aperture just a little more to give a better understand of it and how it works.
The aperture of a lens is how wide it opens to let light in. Aperture can range from (on average) f/1.2 to f/32 depending upon the lens. The lower the number the wider the aperture [ f/1.2 > f/3.5] And also the the lower the number the faster. Now when the Aperture is wide open is drastically narrows the field of focus. This happens because of how the images enters the lens and is distorted by the wideness of it[ see this picture taken from wiki for a visual]
Shot at F/1.4 Yoshi is clearly in focus or within Depth of Field. While Mario and the bottle of water are outside of the range of focus
When shot t f/2.8 Mario is still out of focus but you can see he is coming closer to focus with this photo.
f
Here at a wide open f/16 Yoshi, Mario, The Bottle, and all of my sensor dust can be seen.
During all of these photos which can be seen here the camera was never moved, focus was never changed, and the subjects where never moved. The only thing changed was the aperture of the lens. I think my next photo guide blog will be on shutter speed and action. See you guys when i get back from Seattle...if I ever make there.
3.8.09
I'm Back
So after getting home unpacking, unloading photos, and doing laundry...in that order. I'm here to post up a photo. This is one of my faves from my trip and i named it "うさぎ" which is Japanese for Bunny.[bonus points is you know the reference] i just loved how dark and evil photo looked. Its part of this park in St. Louis full of Sculptures[there is a similar park in Minneapolis] If I don't get Lazy. I'm gotta post up a blog on Aperture in a bit shooting from f/1.4-f/16 to give a better understanding on it.( f/2.2 @ 1/4000 ISO400 Manual Focus)
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