Chinese
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Russian
Spanish
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
So you got that new digital SLR camera for the holidays. The one that not only takes pictures, but from the tons and tons of menu items, seems like it's capable of doing your taxes while balancing the national budget. The depth of these menus seems daunting and can quickly become and obstacle to what the camera's main purpose is - making photographs.
So, what's the solution. Simply put, don't go it alone. A professional photographer from Connecticut, Bert Sirkin, has provided his expertise as an educator and photographer. Several years ago, Bert came out with a series of laminated cards called PhotoBert CheatSheets.
have grown throughout the years as newer camera models hit the streets. CheatSheets are currently available for Canon, Fuji and Nikon dSLR cameras, as well as some point and shoot models. In addition, Bert has produced some general photography CheatSheets such as the Digital PhotoCourse on a Card, and the Pocket Edition - Secrets for Great Digital Photography. There are also offerings available covering Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Elements software. in my camera bag wherever I go. The price of this tool can't be beat. At around $10 each, it will provide you with immediate value. They definitely have helped me avoid "feature overload" when trying to flex my camera's muscle.Sunday, January 25, 2009
This past Saturday, I ventured down to the South Street Seaport with the camera in tow. I like the Seaport because it's usually pretty easy to come upon an interesting subject or two.
Since it was windy day, with gusts up to 40 mph, I knew the gulls would be active along the East River. So I strolled out onto the promenade deck at Pier 17 where I was quickly greeted by this Ring-billed Gull. He was approximately 20" tall with a wingspan that looked to be a little more than 4 feet.
Just short of wearing a sign that could have read, "I pose for food," he turned out to be a very willing subject. I really like how the late winter afternoon Sun provided a nice catchlight in his eye. This lighting also allowed me to set my ISO real low at 100 to capture a load of detail. Since these gulls are scavengers and their heads are constantly moving, you need to shoot with a pretty fast shutter speed to freeze the subject.
I invite you to join me up on the LensCapture Flickr Group to view some more images from the day. Feel free to add your images to the group to share with our community.
-30-
Saturday, January 24, 2009
As I posted earlier this month, I signed up for a free workshop at the B&H Event Space in the Manhattan Superstore.
The workshop was held this past Thursday (Jan. 22) on Studio Workflow and was sponsored by Westcott, the manufacturer of the Spiderlite series of continuous fluorescent studio lights. What I liked most about this workshop was the presenter, John D. Williamson, Westcott's Technical Customer Service Rep, did not do a "hard-sell" sales pitch during the 2 hour event.
John, an accomplished portrait photographer from Ohio, presented the attendees with his standard studio workflow. Basic and easy to follow steps for getting the best possible headshots and portraits with a straightforward approach. John's enthusiasm for photography definitely keep the audience engaged throughout the session. And the stunning Julia KochMar, our session model, made it impossible to take your eyes off the action.
John demonstrated the various lighting patterns such as broad, short and split lighting, loop and butterfly, and Rembrandt lighting. While these patterns are sometimes difficult to visualize, the continuous Westcott Spiderlites made it real easy to see how the light falls on the subject. John also demonstrated how easy it is, with just a little practice, to get the proper light to fall "just right" over the face, and how to finesse the light to achieve the look you a going for.
The B&H Event Space staff were on hand to videotape the presentation. Unfortunately, they have not yet posted this workshop session. So, below is a YouTube video by Scott Kelby, president of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals, demonstrating the TD5 Spiderlites by Westcott
-30-
Monday, January 19, 2009
Nikon D300 ISO 1250 18-200mm at 40mm f/4.5 1/15 secA word of caution when shooting outdoors in the cold, watch out for condensation. When you take you cold-soaked camera back into a warm environment, it will begin to sweat. If you take your warm camera out into the cold, I can almost guarantee your lens, viewfinder and LCD screen cover will fog. Worst yet, if this condensation begins to form inside your camera or lens' internal elements, you will probably be faced with a costly repair.
There is a simple way to combat this problem. Just keep your camera sealed in a Ziploc bag until the camera stabilizes with the external temperature. Any condensation that occurs will form on the outside of the bag, keeping the camera and lens nice and dry.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
If you're a new digital SLR owner or considering a purchase of a dSLR, this is a great course to take.
I have attended the Nikon School offerings in the past and have always come away with new and helpful information. This seminar is being offered in New York City on Saturday, April 21, 2009 and runs from 9:30 am until 4:30 pm at the Hotel Pennsylvania.
Here are some of the topics to be covered are:
- Understanding ISO, shutter speed and aperture
- Creative use of exposure controls
- Light, composition and framing
- Image resolution and resizing for email and printing
If you just got your first dSLR this past holiday season, or you have had it for a while and it still seems a mystery, this is definitely a good starting point.
If you're interested, sign up here. Act quickly, these courses fill up quickly.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
I get asked on almost a daily basis, "what camera should I buy?" In order to provide the questioner with reasonable advice, I turn around and ask the following questions:
- What's your budget?
If it's only $150, then the selection is pretty much narrowed to a point-and-shoot digital camera. There are still plenty of offerings to choose from at this price point. If the answer is $500 and up, then there are choices ranging from high-end point and shoots, XLRs and several digital SLR cameras to be had. - What will you be taking photos of?
Family and pets - you'll need image stabilization to get the sharpest photographs of fast moving children and the family dog. If your family consists of large groups, then you'll need a nice wide angle lens to get everyone in the shot. Since the majority of cameras available today provide some sort of self-timer, you can also be in the photo. You'll need a tripod or a steady camera platform for this to work.
Action or sports - here's where the difference between cameras become more obvious. You will need "fast glass" which means a camera, or lens if using an dSLR, which allows for very large apertures (lens opening) such as f/2.8 or even f/1.8 or f/1.4. This will allow you to use very fast shutter speeds to stop the action. Without this, not enough light will reach the camera's sensor and your photograph will be underexposed. - How much creative control do you want?
While today's point-and-shoot cameras come chock full of mode settings such as landscape, portrait, night, macro, etc., these modes usually do not allow for customization. You'll want a camera that provides, at minimum, the following: aperture priority (aka Av mode), shutter priority (aka Tv mode), and definitely a manual mode which allows you to choose the aperture and shutter settings for a particular scene. - What will you do with the captured images?
If you plan on making poster prints (16" x 20" or larger) of the images you shoot, or you plan on cropping, or zooming into something in the image, then you'll definitely need a high mega pixel camera. If you don't plan on printing anything larger than an 8" x 10", or plan on sending most of your images to family and friends via email, then high mega pixels are not a real concern. Nearly all point-and-shoot cameras sold today, have plenty of resolution (mega pixels) to satisfy most requirements.
So what's the difference between a 10-mega pixel point-and-shoot camera costing $200 and a 10-mega pixel digital SLR costing hundreds more?
The size of the image sensor, that's what! The smaller the sensor, such as the ones found in point-and-shoot cameras, are very tiny. The smaller the sensor, the more noise (not good) you experience in your images. These small sensors make it extremely difficult to take acceptable photographs in low light situations such as indoors or at night. Digital SLR cameras have much larger image sensors and can handle these low light situations much, much better.
My #1 recommendation - buy your camera from a Camera Store!
There are plenty of stores to choose form such as Adorama, Unique Photo, Berger Brothers and of course, B&H Photo (see the link on this blog). The sales staff at these stores are knowledgeable about the various cameras available. With the information provided here, and their expertise, you will wind up with the best fit, at the best dollar value.
Don't forget to buy the accessories you'll need for your new camera. A couple of memory cards and a spare rechargeable battery are a must have. You don't want to run out of memory card storage space, or have your only battery go dead. Both will prevent you from capturing that important photo. You should also purchase a camera case that holds and protects your camera and the accessories you plan to carry with you. The other accessories you might want to consider are a tripod, and if you purchased a dSLR, a hot-shoe flash.
Check with your camera store since they usually have accessory kits for your particular camera choice that can save you a few dollars over purchasing these items separately.
Lastly, please share your camera buying experience here by posting a comment. Your experience, good or bad, can help others in our photography community.
-30-
Thursday, January 8, 2009
I ran across this video from Rick Sammon, a pro photographer who has published more than 2 dozen books on photography. Rick writes regularly for magazines such as Outdoor Photographer and PCPhoto. He is also featured on the site KelbyTraining .com with titles like Exploring Digital Photography, Digital SLR Basics, and On Location Photography to name just a few. Here's a great video where Rick goes over his Top Ten Tips.
Pay attention! This is good stuff.
In a future post, I'll devote some quality time to the KelbyTaining site. There you'll find fantastic tutorials from some of the world's top photographers and graphic artists.
-30-
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
I count myself as extremely fortunate to live so close to what could be considered the photographer's heaven on earth. I speak of B&H Photo (oh yeah, video - pro audio, computers, home entertainment, astronomy, and the list grows on). The superstore, at 34th Street and 9th Avenue in Manhattan is a retail marvel. If you get the chance, it is a must stop if you are anywhere near the City!
B&H is now hosting free workshops and special events in the Manhattan, NY superstore called "Event Space." I've already signed up for the Studio Workflow presentation by Westcott. Other offerings this month are Better Photographic Composition: Beyond the Rule of Thirds, Intro to the Digital SLR (dSLR), Toying with Plastic Cameras, and The Photo Essay: Learning to Tell a Story Through Imagery. B&H has an online reservation system and an interactive calendars of events. I would highly recommend the RSS feed so you find out about new event offerings when they're announced. The majority of the events are already booked solid this month. Check out bhphotovideo.com/eventspace. The Event Space is located on the second floor of the superstore at 420 9th Avenue New York, NY 10001. Definitely plan to spend some time afterwards browsing through the 70,000 square foot expanse of photo gear.
I"ll try and give you guys a heads-up on events of particular interest. You can't beat free!!!
-30-
Sunday, January 4, 2009
December 21, 2008 Penn Station, New York - Photographer Duane Kerzic was arrested by Amtrak Police for making a photograph on the platform and failing to follow a Police Officer's direction to erase the captured image. Mr. Kerzic was detained (handcuffed) and issued a Criminal Court Summons for Criminal Trespass. According to Wikipedia, the Amtrak Police are a railroad police agency that acts as the security and law enforcement agency of Amtrak, a passenger train system in the United States. Amtrak Police have full police officer powers in the State of New York. As a result of the attack on the World Trade Center, bans on photograph in public places such as bridges, tunnels, airports and train stations are all too common.
While crossing the Triboro-RFK Bridge this past weekend while headed up to Harriman State Park, I spotted the "No Photography Allowed" signage while entering the on-ramp at Hoyt Avenue in Queens. This brought back memories from the summer of 2004 when I was photographing a spectacular sunset in Astoria Park, with the Triboro Bridge framing the City skyline. As I was making some pretty nice exposures, I was approached by a TBTA (Bridge) Officer questioning my activities. It was a bit unnerving since she kept her hand on her weapon as she approached. Since I had numerous dealings with law enforcement (on the right side of things), I quickly and politely advised the officer that I was not a threat and merely photographing the sunset. My approach must have put here at ease since she relaxed her stance and advised me of the ban on bridge photography.
In my discussion with the officer, I told her I thought the ban only applied while traveling on the bridge. She replied that it was prohibited to photograph the bridge from the immediate area surrounding the bridge. I told here it would be pretty difficult to photograph a skyline of Manhattan without a bridge somewhere in the frame. She agreed and ended with "I don't make the rules."
The MTA in 2005 proposed a ban on photography in the subways and buses, which was strongly apposed by the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA.ORG) and numerous other groups. The MTA Board quickly dropped the measure when the opposition was joined by the NYPD and Mayor Bloomberg.
Is there a "War on Photography?" There's even a blog dedicated to the subject. Attorney Bert P. Krages II has published a pamphlet titled "The Photographer's Right - Your Rights and Remedies When Stopped or Confronted for Photography." In the pamphlet he states, there are not many legal restrictions on what can be photographed in the public view. He notes that neither the Patriot Act nor the Homeland Security Act have any provisions that restrict photography.
What should you do if you're confronted? First and foremost, do not become hostile. Remain calm and advise the officer that you were unaware of any photography ban. Do not continue photographing and ask if you a free to leave. As Attorney Krages points out, and I can attest to, most confrontations can be defused by being courteous and respectful. Use good judgement and don't allow an event to escalate into violence. Make sure to print out a few copies and keep them in you camera bag in case you are ever confronted over photography.
Let me know what you think and leave a comment.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Happy New Year
That's the main drive behind Lens-Capture. To see what you see, how you see it, and the resulting images. To help in this, I've created a LensCapture Flickr Group so we can share our images and learn from each other's point of view. Through this venue, we can help each other grow through productive critiques of our collective work.
Some of the other things I would like to accomplish are providing tips and tricks, product and gear reviews, how-to's, and staging some entertaining photo-walks. Photo-walks and meetups are a great way to interact and discover great photo opportunities. Living in one of the greatest cities ( I am entitled to my opinion) offers a wealth of subject matter. From the striking cityscapes, to beautiful botanical gardens, to the aquarium and a world-class zoo, potential subject matter abounds. Besides these locations, I plan to go off the beaten path to the little known spots in the area. Finding a photo op is only part of the adventure, the other is sharing the experiences.
