On Thursday 5/20 I joined a couple hundred local amateur and professional photographers at the Irvine Hyatt for an evening of lecture from one of the nations biggest wedding photographers; David Ziser.
If you ever get the chance to attend a Ziser lecture, I highly recommend it. He covered everything from the Inverse Square Law of lighting to the finer points of selling your services and did it all in a way that holds your attention!
David and his wife gave out loads of door prizes and I was the lucky winner of three months of Animoto service. I have already put together a couple of videos and am happy to say that I love the service!!! Look for many videos to come and I can see where it will be a huge part of my business moving forward.
Thanks to David for the event!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Great session today....
Had a great time today working with our new friends. Here are a couple sneak peaks from today's session.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Upcoming shoots
We are going to be very busy over the next couple weeks. On the horizon are a couple engagements shoots and four senior sessions!
Keep a look out for some sneak peaks and updates!
Keep a look out for some sneak peaks and updates!
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Continuing education...
As a busy photographer, husband, dad, coach, and friend one of the things I find hardest to do is keep up on my education as a photographer. While most of what I know is self taught through experimentation and experience, I do turn to the web, books and workshops to keep myself up to date on current trends.
I take my education seriously and only rely on those learning experiences that are either recommended or are offered through a trustworthy site.
Having said all of that, nothing frustrates me more than when I spend my hard earned money on a service to be highly disappointed. This happened recently with a photography learning website that had all sorts of promise but failed miserably to deliver. I can understand that maybe the content does not live up to my elevated expectations, but poor customer service is unacceptable. I have sent email after email (they do not provide a phone number, so email is the only form of communication) with NO responses.
Here is a little suggestion and something I am going to incorporate moving forward. Prior to signing up for any learning site, I will send an email to their support to give it a pre-customer test. If I am treated well as a non-customer, then reason dictates I should be happy with the level of support as a customer.
I take my education seriously and only rely on those learning experiences that are either recommended or are offered through a trustworthy site.
Having said all of that, nothing frustrates me more than when I spend my hard earned money on a service to be highly disappointed. This happened recently with a photography learning website that had all sorts of promise but failed miserably to deliver. I can understand that maybe the content does not live up to my elevated expectations, but poor customer service is unacceptable. I have sent email after email (they do not provide a phone number, so email is the only form of communication) with NO responses.
Here is a little suggestion and something I am going to incorporate moving forward. Prior to signing up for any learning site, I will send an email to their support to give it a pre-customer test. If I am treated well as a non-customer, then reason dictates I should be happy with the level of support as a customer.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Auto Photography
I have become very interested in automotive photography as of late. Weather and schedules have kept me away from pursuing over the past couple weeks, but I had a couple older shots and have been playing with them.....take a look
Hope to have some new photo's soon!
Hope to have some new photo's soon!
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Silver Efex Pro
My wife purchased a copy of Nik Software's Silver Efex Pro for Christmas. I decided to do little comparison of the B&W Conversion tool in Apple Aperture vs. Silver Efex Pro. Below are the photo's in color, Aperture conversion and SFX conversion.
Original Color Photo
B&W Conversion using Apple Aperture
B&W Conversion using Silver Efex Pro
These conversion were done using the default setting of both programs. I have to say that the default from Silver Efex Pro has much better definition and contrast than Aperture.
I will be playing with this software alot in the days to come and will post more thoughts as I complete more conversions.
Happy Holidays!
Original Color Photo
B&W Conversion using Apple Aperture
B&W Conversion using Silver Efex Pro
These conversion were done using the default setting of both programs. I have to say that the default from Silver Efex Pro has much better definition and contrast than Aperture.
I will be playing with this software alot in the days to come and will post more thoughts as I complete more conversions.
Happy Holidays!
Monday, December 15, 2008
Megapixels.....
"I have to upgrade my camera, because the latest model has more megapixels."
Really?
Do you honestly think that more megapixels mean better pictures? Actually, in some cases (most) more megapixels means softer images.
Let's say you have a standard 8.5x11 piece of paper. Now, draw 6 million dots on that piece of paper. Let's take the same piece of paper and draw 8 million dots, 10 million dots, 12 million dots, and so on. What happens as you add more dots? They get smaller and closer together in order for them all to fit on the paper. This is the same concept with digital camera sensors. The more megapixels you add, the smaller and closer together they get.
Smaller pixels = Digital Noise
Digital Noise = Grainy Photo's
Close Pixels = Softer images
Let's talk about how pixels that are close together create softer images. Let's imagine that each of the dots on the piece of paper are actually small cups. When the image is passed through the lens and ends up on the sensor it is presented as colors of Red/Green and Blue. Each "cup" fills up with the color, if the "cups" are really close together and there is any shift in the camera (shake) the "cups" will get the colors of the next "cup". When the "cups" are further apart, there is less chance of the colors filling up the next "cup"
Whew....thats alot to say....
Let me break it down. As I moved from 6 to 10 to 12 megapixels I had to shift on how I photographed to account for the greater amount of pixels.
For the majority of people out there, 6-8 megapixels is more than enough. Let's face the truth...how often are your pictures used for anything other than web images, email or prints that are no bigger than 8x10.
So, if you want to upgrade a camera don't do it just because you think you need more megapixels. Do it because you want to achieve higher ISO's or more frame per second or 14bit color depth.
Hope this helps to clear up some of the myths out there about megapixels.
Really?
Do you honestly think that more megapixels mean better pictures? Actually, in some cases (most) more megapixels means softer images.
Let's say you have a standard 8.5x11 piece of paper. Now, draw 6 million dots on that piece of paper. Let's take the same piece of paper and draw 8 million dots, 10 million dots, 12 million dots, and so on. What happens as you add more dots? They get smaller and closer together in order for them all to fit on the paper. This is the same concept with digital camera sensors. The more megapixels you add, the smaller and closer together they get.
Smaller pixels = Digital Noise
Digital Noise = Grainy Photo's
Close Pixels = Softer images
Let's talk about how pixels that are close together create softer images. Let's imagine that each of the dots on the piece of paper are actually small cups. When the image is passed through the lens and ends up on the sensor it is presented as colors of Red/Green and Blue. Each "cup" fills up with the color, if the "cups" are really close together and there is any shift in the camera (shake) the "cups" will get the colors of the next "cup". When the "cups" are further apart, there is less chance of the colors filling up the next "cup"
Whew....thats alot to say....
Let me break it down. As I moved from 6 to 10 to 12 megapixels I had to shift on how I photographed to account for the greater amount of pixels.
For the majority of people out there, 6-8 megapixels is more than enough. Let's face the truth...how often are your pictures used for anything other than web images, email or prints that are no bigger than 8x10.
So, if you want to upgrade a camera don't do it just because you think you need more megapixels. Do it because you want to achieve higher ISO's or more frame per second or 14bit color depth.
Hope this helps to clear up some of the myths out there about megapixels.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Gear - Thoughts and what I use
Not a day goes by that I am asked "Hey, what camera do you use?".
Well, I think it is safe to say that there is a lot more that goes into making a great photo than just the camera. Don't get me wrong, the camera is a very important factor....but so are the lenses, flashes, post production equipment, etc.
So here goes....
Camera Bodies:
-Nikon D700
-Nikon D2X
Lenses:
-Nikon 50mm F/1.4
-Nikon 85mm F/1.4
-Nikon 24-70 F/2.8
-Nikon 80-200 F/2.8
Flashes:
-I am a huge fan of the Nikon Creative Lighting System (CLS). I use the Nikon SB-800 flashes.
Studio Equipment:
-Hensel Integra 500W/S
-Pocket Wizards (essential gear if you ask me!)
-Profoto Ringflash
-Norman 800B portable strobe system
Post Production:
-Apple Computers
-Apple Aperture
-Adobe CS3
-Epson 3800 Printer
Tomorrow, I will post my thoughts on the megapixel myth!
Well, I think it is safe to say that there is a lot more that goes into making a great photo than just the camera. Don't get me wrong, the camera is a very important factor....but so are the lenses, flashes, post production equipment, etc.
So here goes....
Camera Bodies:
-Nikon D700
-Nikon D2X
Lenses:
-Nikon 50mm F/1.4
-Nikon 85mm F/1.4
-Nikon 24-70 F/2.8
-Nikon 80-200 F/2.8
Flashes:
-I am a huge fan of the Nikon Creative Lighting System (CLS). I use the Nikon SB-800 flashes.
Studio Equipment:
-Hensel Integra 500W/S
-Pocket Wizards (essential gear if you ask me!)
-Profoto Ringflash
-Norman 800B portable strobe system
Post Production:
-Apple Computers
-Apple Aperture
-Adobe CS3
-Epson 3800 Printer
Tomorrow, I will post my thoughts on the megapixel myth!
Monday, June 16, 2008
Links, Links, Links.....
Well, I get a lot of emails asking who, what and where I go to get my information on camera's and equipment. Here is a quick list of the sites I visit on a regular basis (in no particular order):
The Strobist - http://strobist.blogspot.com/
Scott Kelby - http://www.scottkelby.com
David Ziser - http://www.digitalprotalk.blogspot.com/
Joe McNally - http://www.joemcnally.com/blog/
Moose Petersen - http://www.moosenewsblog.com/
I go to each one of these sites for a variety of different reasons and they have all inspired me in different ways.
Enjoy the links and I hope they inspire you like they inspire me.
Have a great night and look for more posts!!!
The Strobist - http://strobist.blogspot.com/
Scott Kelby - http://www.scottkelby.com
David Ziser - http://www.digitalprotalk.blogspot.com/
Joe McNally - http://www.joemcnally.com/blog/
Moose Petersen - http://www.moosenewsblog.com/
I go to each one of these sites for a variety of different reasons and they have all inspired me in different ways.
Enjoy the links and I hope they inspire you like they inspire me.
Have a great night and look for more posts!!!
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