We had our first photo meetup tonight, and because of all the varying weather going on (yea, its Michigan) it seemed like a fun idea to use some snow, and why not throw a little fire in there? Long story short, we made a sweet photo, with some post processing that is in the video. Our studio still smells like burnt nylon and lighter fluid, but it was well worth it, and we had a great time. If you are near Northville, make sure to get in touch with us to come hang out and make photos sometime.

This is a short photo retouch video sped up about 800%- packing about an hour of work into 5 minutes. It is a hard lighting setup with two back lights creating that arm and shoulder rim light, and then one small umbrella with a Canon 420ex right overhead. Hope you enjoy it, heres the final product:

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It was one of those days where I had an idea for a photo, knew exactly how I wanted it to look, and only had an hour to go out and take it. Luckily I came back with a set of in-focus shots, no broken bones, and was able to check this one off the list. You can click on the photo below to see it in Flickr, and of course all our EXIF data is pubic domain! In short, I underexposed the background and used a large depth of field to allow for a slow shutter speed, this way I could capture some movement. I then setup my flash so it would properly expose me for a single instant, which is why you can make out certain parts of my body in the photo and it isn’t one big blur (watch the video for more).. you can even tell I am wearing Apple iPod ear buds at full res. It was direct flash so I got the most bang for my buck out of the Canon 420ex, and of course a couple Pocket Wizards making it all wireless. Hope you enjoyed it, thanks for stopping in.

The final additions were a small umbrella to put some fill on the right side of the sculpture (keeping its power low enough where it isn’t creating conflicting shadows with the main [soft box] light), and a ground reflector to bounce some light into the lower cracks and crevices. That’s it! I made some small tweaks afterwards to make it the photo I wanted, and all is done. Hopefully you found it interesting, watch the video for all the intermediate photos, and happy shooting.

1. Edges

Your photo will be sitting on top of some fairly even colored website background, so the last thing you want is the edges of your photo to be a similar color; you want contrast here folks. The two ways to accomplish this is either by taking a photo in a proper setting and working in harmony with the website’s colors, or use the common trick of add a contrasting border to the photo, preferably in CSS.

On the left, you see that a deep colored photo sits fine on the light background. On the right, a border adds some distinction between the website background and the photo’s background.

2. Framing and Context

When taking photos for a website, you have to keep one thing in mind: the place for your photo on the website is most likely very wide, and very short; think “panorama”. On websites, the most important content is placed “above the fold”, which is the first 600 pixels of the page, where your header, and most likely big photo of yours will be. For a full-width image, it leaves you with about 400 pixels of height, and 800-1000 pixels of width. I don’t know about you, but my camera puts out rather square’ish photos, so you MUST keep this crop factor in mind when pressing that shutter button, or else you will lose the effectiveness of the photo in context of the layout. The big sacrifice is depth of field, because you have to move further back from the object you’re shooting to get that wide-angle.

At full size, the image would be cropped to a width of 900 pixels, and a height of 400 pixels. Notice how the photo isn’t that pleasing until it is cropped this tightly.

3. Color and Vibrancy

I have a particular issue with photos on the web that are mis-colored, and/or dull. In general, I like vibrant images and strong colors, but it becomes even more important on the web when the photo is used to grab attention, show beautiful things, and may be viewed by any range of monitor types or devices. Hover over the following image to bring it to life.

Enhancing the saturation, correcting the color temperature, and adding some contrast will help an image pop on the web.

It’s the same, but different

Of course the same photographic rules apply to web photography; there are just some added complexities, and if you’re not careful, you will have a handful of photos that end up looking a bit off once they are put into a web designers layout. My one piece of advice is that if you know the photograph might be used on the web, take one framed how you prefer, and one after taking a step back; this way, you will have a photo suitable for anything. Happy shooting.

We just got in our Black Rapid RS-7 camera strap, and really like all the thought behind this little piece of gear. Like many, the stock Canon strap wasn’t cutting it; it wasn’t comfortable, it wasn’t natural to shoot with, and worst of all, its the same as everyone else’s. After hitting up some reviews and YouTube’ing for a minute, the RS-7 seemed like a good choice, and we want to give people some of our thoughts.

Our first concern was how the strap performed with a massive lens, and if it was really going to improve the comfort factor. It turns out that lens size isn’t really an issue with this type of strap because of the way it falls at your hip (lens points to the ground). With other straps that attach to the primary strap brackets, the body of the camera either digs into your side if your carrying it over the shoulder, or if you are shooting with it around your neck tourist-style it falls awkwardly into your stomach and chest.

Final Thoughts

We found shooting was a breeze, the materials it is made with to be rugged, and most of all, the hardware securing your camera to the strap itself to be substantial. Of course you could make a sling for $15, and then head right to Home Depot and get some 2×4′s for your next tripod, but we think paying for good things turns out for the best. Happy shooting.

Your on a shoot and the clouds start to roll in, you feel the moisture, and you know its about to get wet. Don’t be stuck with no options, all you have to do is remember to jam an old, used plastic bag from the grocery into that miscellaneous corner of your camera bag. Use a rubber band and poke a hole for your viewing pleasure. You do know all your buttons by heart, right?

2. Grey Paint Sample Card

If you are moving a lot and really need some control over your white balance, our best suggestion is to make sure you are taking your photos in RAW (and hey, jpeg correcting is pretty effective too) and a cheap grey card. Post process in a program like Adobe Lightroom to fix all the issues. We use free paint cards from Home Depot, “Seal Grey”, and they are pretty darn effective.

3. Fake Credential

Ok, were not suggesting you make a fake passport or start stealing identities, but having something that looks official with your picture on it and “PRESS ACCESS” can help you at least get better parking, or a couple inches closer to your target.

4. Outlet Accessories

So you had some grand plan to use a 2 studios lights at this shoot, but guess what? There is one outlet, 30-feet away, and it doesn’t have a grounding pin. Hopefully you were wise enough to bring an extension cord, but never assume you will be presented with an ample electrical system, and prepare for the worst.

5. Dust Brush

This might be more common than others, but most of the time a lens or filter doesn’t need you to be wiping [scraping] the glass, it just needs the dust to be cleared. Dust can cause some horrible reflections (flaring) and make you pretty mad you didn’t pay attention to it when you start post processing at full resolution.

6. Level

If your trekking across some uneven terrain a level can help make sure your horizon is darn close to level. Some tripods have levels built in, but they are very small and sometimes a little less responsive than we could hope for.

7. Business Cards

You need business cards if your in it to make money, but make good use of them in your camera bag too. We put one in each of our lens cases, a couple scattered in the bag itself, and even tapped to our equipment if we are going somewhere busy. Sure, it doesn’t stop thieves, but if a Lion on your safari drags it 100 miles to another tribe, or if it gets picked up mistakenly by the other media crew next to you, they know who to return it to!

8. Food

You thought this shoot was going to be an hour, in and out, right? If your selling the photos, and need the best ones, you will stay planted until you get them. Not only does it stink to be hungry, but your vision starts to get sluggish, and your reaction time goes down, so dont risk it and bring a snack.

9. Rubber Bands

There are a ton of situations where a rubber band could come in handy, but one great example is to make a bounce card on the fly. We personally use a couple different types of bounce cards, but kicking it old-school and making one from a piece of paper and a rubber band is just as effective (plus you can throw it out after).

10. Flashlight

Whether you need a brighter focus beam for low-light photography, or you are getting your creative on and exploring some old broken-down buildings, a small flashlight comes in handy. Please don’t think this replaces your speed lite, or on the flip side, dont try to use your speed lite to explore broken buildings (flash.. walk 10 paces.. repeat).

It was muddy, and the rain was not going to stop, but there is something that is kind of boring about a blue-sky sunny day in photography. Whether it is a challenge to yourself, or just breaking the norm, pushing into situations that other people wont will keep your photos new and exciting. Try switching the white balance to “cloudy” and picture style to “landscape” for colorful shots on a dreary day.

Depth and repeating geometry, here are some tips:

• Frame the shot so the focal point is not centered, but not at the edge of the frame. (Rule of thirds!)
• Try tilting the camera body to get a different perspective.

Wild animal photography can be a great time, everything from tracking it, challenging your camera talents, and connecting with nature. I have found that the best approach for this is the following:

1. Always respect the animals space, using a zoom lens and common sense are big here.
2. Approach animals in a calm and nonthreatening way; crouch down, look uninterested, and move slowly.
3. Keep your camera ready! If you want great photos, be ready to capture the great moments. If your camera isn’t near your eye, keep it at chest-level as you approach, so when your ready to shoot your movements are minimal.

It was fairly dark out (it was raining) around 6pm when these shots were taking, and a couple things helped a lot here. Increase the ISO to a comfortable level, mine is around 400, which then allowed my exposure time to be around 1/80s. The f/1.8 Canon 50mm (the “nifty fifty” we have talked about before) is great because of the amount of light it lets in, as well as the blurring it provides.

Maybury State Park is home to a lot of wild animals, and I stumbled upon a couple group of deer who were nice enough to let me get close and take some photos. Deer are by nature very timid, but they have sharp hooves and if they feel cornered they are known to defend themselves. My sign that I was too close was when one of the stomped both their feet into the dirt; I slowly got on my way!

Something about a rainy day makes you want to shoot in monochrome mode (black and white), and sometimes there are photos that just look better in it. This bench was a small pit-stop along the trail, and just stuck out as a nice shot.. to all their own!

After what came to be a 22-mile day of biking, returning home in puring rain, it was all worth it. I had my trusty LowePro Slingshot that has a built-in “tent” to keep everything dry, turned out to be a savior. I think next time I will attempt to bring the Canon 70-200mm, maybe try to get some tighter photos, but nothing beat the portability and low maintenance of a simple rig.

We got a Demb Flip-it (upper right), a clear diffuser (lower right), a couple filters, and the case for all of it- not too bad for $54! The build quality worried me form the photos online, and even though the materials seem “cheap”, the design has been well thought out and after some use I actually enjoy how it pieces together. To test this thing we just set up some of our books from the bookshelf on a table, this gives us some color, reflective surfaces, and shapes to access shadowing.

Photo Test #1

Photo Left: Flash Straight-on
Photo Center: Flash Pointed at Ceiling
Photo Right: Flash at Ceiling with Demb Flip-it Straight-up

We can see the harshness of a straight-on flash, and confirm that it is a horrible idea to take pictures like this. The middle image is a lot better, using a common ceiling bounce (with a nice 12′ white ceiling). The last image uses the Flip-it to bounce the light a little, and you notice a little more reflection on the shiny material, and a subtle lightening of the shadows. Here we use the Flip-it as a simple bounce card, but the nice thing is we can graduate the angle very easily (try THAT bounce card); putting it more forward pushes more light, leaning it back means less, hooray for variable light modification!

Photo Test #2

Photo Left: Only Demb Diffuser
Photo Center: Demb Diffuser and Demb Flip-it
Photo Right: Demb Diffuser and Demb Flip-it Bounced off Left-side Wall

We try a couple different techniques here, utilizing the easily attached diffuser. Diffusing essentially takes the light and spread it out a little, creating a bit less intensity, but with the trade-off of a lot more uniform light (this is usually a good thing). You can see a subtle change in shadowing between the first two images, the diffuser helps bring more light onto the books. The last image just shows a common wall-bounce, using the Flip-it to easily control intensity.

You can even add some filters on-top of the flash unit to modify the light color. Overall, we have enjoyed using the Flip-it, it has a nice case, some cool add-ons, and is easy on the pocket. The Flip-it combines a diffuser with a bounce card, each having their downfalls when separate, but making a nice team when put together. We will continue to put it through it’s paces, and hopefully get our hands on some of the other light modifiers. If your on the prowl, check some of these out too:

A-Better-Bounce-Card

Gary Fong Products

Sto-Fen Products

Tackling the first audience, prospective or starter (I hate the word “beginner”) photographers, I would recommend this lens as the first lens you buy. The one thing the nifty-fifty will contradict is the phrase “spend more on your glass than your camera body”, and while that is insanely good advice, unless you know exactly what type of photography you will be doing, look at your budget, subtract $100 for this lens, and buy a nice body. Now if we were to really get into it, I would make sure I had an external flash, and some other small accessories before I got that 21mp body and had to rely on the pop-up flash, but thats another subject in itself. Suggestions are no good without some backup:

1. Aperture

The nifty-fifty’s f/1.8 will have a shutter speed of 1/160s, versus a lens with f/2.8 having a shutter speed of 1/60s. If your not familiar with these, those shutter speeds are the difference between having to be very steady (1/60s) and fast enough for some sporting events (1/160s). Long story short, it will let more light it, so you can shoot in darker situations without bumping up the ISO and introducing a bunch of noise.

2. Size

This thing is light. Sure, its made of plastic mostly, feels like a toy, but it still takes a darn good photo! A 50mm lens will frame a persons shoulders and head very well from about 5ft away, so if thats a range you can work with slap this sucker on and enjoy a light camera you can toss around.

3. Fixed or “Prime” Lens

If your just starting, playing with a zoom lens takes away from really learning how to operate a camera. You will learn more about framing, proper camera settings, and creating the shot than you would if you were messing with zooming. Also, the nifty-fifty is fast! It isn’t an ultrasonic motor, but it snaps into focus extremely fast and not loud at all. The sharpness of a zoom vs. a prime lens (single focal length) is becoming debatable for expensive lenses, but a cheap prime lens like this kills anything zoom in its class when it comes to a quick focus and clarity.

So whats the only thing in the Canon lineup that rivals the popularity of the nifty-fifty? Well most photographers would say its the Canon IS USM 70-200mm f/2.8 (or even the f/4) telephoto lens.

The Canon 50mm and 70-200mm

This bad-boy would be a great number-two lens for any Canon owner looking to get a little more serious, and the duo could arguably cover 85% of all photo work. So why stack these up next to eachother? Well, simply because the results are similar, and they have about a $1,600 price difference! Any professional knows the differences, and why they are priced like this, but they are both sharp, and produce some clean results. Random Mission: to snap a photo with each lens of some headphones,  no prep, no editing:

Nifty-fifty 50mm Canon f/1.8 1/60s ISO200 Canon T1i

70-200mm Canon IS USM Telephoto f/2.8 1/100s ISO800 Canon T1i

So I switched up the framing a little (thats why we use different lenses in the first place), but you can see we got an almost equally gorgeous photo from both situations, and this was just a random shot of a random item. Moral to the story is, if you are just getting going, dump the kit lens PLEASE and get a nifty-fifty instead, or if your already caught in the trap of photography, try to get your hands on one of these things as soon as you can! Below is a gallery of some recent images we have taken for Alexander Customs and Sweet 220 with the nifty-fifty.