It has been over 1-1/2 years since I posted on this blog ... life has a way of creeping up on us. In that time I have retired from my "Day Job" in IT as the University of California at Santa Barbara after over 36 years and am now a pensioner. And unexpectedly, my life has just gotten busier in most ways. But I find that I am being asked more and more for my opinion on 'stuff', such as Lightroom vs. Photoshop, the Canon 5D Mark III (generally high marks), the Canon 1DX (not such high marks yet!) and the like. I am still the House Photographer for the Entertainment Department (I believe the names have changed but no one is telling me) at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California, where I shoot weekly events.
I have a fan page on Facebook: Dwight McCann Digital Imagery where I tend to post pictures from events in addition to my personal website: Dwight McCann.com that has a lot of images from the past eight years.
I am also beginning on expanding my business. I have unexpectedly found that I like shooting maternity, families, children, portraits and all those things more commonly found in photographers in addition to the concerts, boxing, poker tournaments and VIP events that I have been doing for so long. And I'm still interested in fashion/glamor although it is pretty clear that there is no profit in it in my area ... out in the sticks of the California Central Coast.
Next time I'll start my discussion of Lightroom vs. Photoshop for the neophyte, a discussion that came up at my sixth annual POTN Photographers' BBQ when I was asked which program one should use or was better by one of the newer photographers. The answer, of course, has to do with what you're after, but you have to know what they do to make that decision. I personally use both since they really supply different services as I'll explore in segments. For those who don't like to wait, the short answer is Lightroom unless you need Photoshop! :-)
Travel Safe!
Dwight
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Saturday, January 01, 2011
Strobist Style Shooting on New Year's Eve at the Chumash Casino Resort
Last night I photographed the New Year's Eve Dance Party at the Chumash Casino Resort & Spa in Santa Ynez, California, a free event the casino puts on each year. After some experimentation it seems that they have settled on the Spazmatics and The Boogie Knights, 70's and 80's bands, each of whom does two sets, ending up together on stage at midnight. There is a ton of confetti fired off during the night, hats and noise makers provided, a couple of projection screens of the action and dancing girls provided by Doug Young of Team Dazzle. Here's a view of the Samala Room taken from the back of the room. [Please note: you can click on any image in this blog entry to bring up the full size image that also includes EXIF and IPTC data]:
You can see the two blue people at either end of the stage. They are the dancing girls. And the light they are provided makes getting images tricky, particularly since they are dancing. A couple of years ago I decided to bring strobes and wound up placing them on the corners of the small runway they use, right on the floor. Naturally, the light was shooting straight up their noses and wasn't particularly appealing. So this year I decided to begin experimenting with alternatives. The first thing I wanted to do was get the lights up higher rather than shooting from floor level. And since the base lighting is incandescent I also wanted to warm up the flash temperature a bit.
The first problem, getting the light up higher was complicated by the crowd surrounding the front of the stage and the runways. There was no place to put a light stand where it wouldn't get trashed during the crowd dancing ... and by midnight there's barely room to breath! Fortunately I have some experience with remote shooting and the use of Bogen Variable Friction Arms to mount equipment so that's what I decided to use to hold that flash systems. For each of the two strobes I mounted a Bogen Superclamp on the railing that runs down the side of the the runway. Here's what a Superclamp and Variable Friction Arm look like [please note that this is not a Magic Arm which has a lever rather than the knob of the Variable Friction Arm ... the Variable Friction Arm is much superior to the Magic Arm.] When the knob is released, all the joints of the Variable Friction Arm relax so that the stubs at the ends which are on ball heads can swivel and there is a slot in the side of the casing that allows for 90 degree angles, the ball cases themselves can rotate and the joint where the knobs screws through can swing: this all provides a substantial bit of flexibility.
For strobes, I use Canon 580EX II Speedlites [of which I have three as well as a 270EX.]
Since most use I make of the Speedlites is remote which makes them very awkward to access to replace batteries in mid-shoot, I have a Quantum SC Battery for each strobe.
For the purpose of warming up the light from the flash to approximate tungsten, I have a Lumiquest gel kit that includes CTO filters for this purpose. And since I also mount a FlipIt from time to time I didn't want to permanently attach Velcro to the flash so I also have a Lumiquest Ultrastrap for each strobe.
The big issue at this point is triggering the strobes. I have long used PocketWizards. In my studio I have four Plus II's (I often have other photographers shooting and it is much easier to simply have extras rather than passing one around and taking a chance on missing a shot.) But they don't allow you much control, so for remote triggering of strobes I use a TT1 on camera and a TT5 for each strobe.
The USA version of the Canon flavor TT5's are heavily adversely affected by the radio frequency noise generated by the 580EX II's. This caused significant embarrassment for PocketWizard during the birthing of this product. While their system is conceptually miraculous with all the features it provides, the EMP problem has been huge and they have been slow, first to admit the extent of it, and second to provide solutions. But both issues are now pretty much resolved. The fixes for the problem rely on shielding of the strobe from the TT5. Pocketwizard provided the AC5 soft shield initially and now also provides the AC7 hard shield. While the AC7 provides some nice mounting features, it sadly was subject to significant design errors, particularly if, like me, you normally use the units with exterior power adapters. Without detailing the problems, let me just point out that all three of my AC7's have been modified by Gary McDuffy, Jr., to allow external power and to provide access to the swivel release when the strobe is mounted in the AC7.
On a related note, I experienced a similar problem with the Plus II's and my Bowens QUADX Studio Flash generators. Neither Bowens nor PocketWizard would even respond to my request for assistance with the very frequent firing failures. I was very fortunately to discover online another photographer who had the same problem and did get some help from LPA and the problem is resolved by putting a ferrite choke on the cable from PocketWizard to generator. Since I was also told that Bowens was clearly apprised of the issue and simply said, "Buy our remote triggers!" I am way less than pleased with Bowens. You can read about other major failures by Bowens in my earlier blogs.
The AC7 provides two mounting points as well as an umbrella holder. The Lumiquest Gel system must be attached prior to fitting the strobe into the AC7 due to access restrictions.
Once the strobe with gel kit is mounted in the AC7, a stub is screwed in and tightened. Then a TT5 is attached to the adapter mount as shown in the following image:
And here's an image of the whole setup ready to mount on the rail. The stub (round silver post with inside threading and one flat side) is inserted into the Superclamp at an angle that provides solid support.
Here is an image where you can see the placement of the two strobes, the far strobe mounted out from the top rail and the near strobe mounted on the bottom rail and the handrail:
And finally, the image outcome:
While I thought this experiment was a pretty much a success, I had to dial back the flash exposure compensation over two stops while using E-TTL and expect I would have been much happier if I had used my AC3 Zone Controller and manual flash control, but that was one variable too many for this first field experiment.
All images provided for this blog entry are copyright by me so please don't use them without permission/licensing from me. Please do feel free to ask any questions about anything involved with this entry.
You can see the two blue people at either end of the stage. They are the dancing girls. And the light they are provided makes getting images tricky, particularly since they are dancing. A couple of years ago I decided to bring strobes and wound up placing them on the corners of the small runway they use, right on the floor. Naturally, the light was shooting straight up their noses and wasn't particularly appealing. So this year I decided to begin experimenting with alternatives. The first thing I wanted to do was get the lights up higher rather than shooting from floor level. And since the base lighting is incandescent I also wanted to warm up the flash temperature a bit.
The first problem, getting the light up higher was complicated by the crowd surrounding the front of the stage and the runways. There was no place to put a light stand where it wouldn't get trashed during the crowd dancing ... and by midnight there's barely room to breath! Fortunately I have some experience with remote shooting and the use of Bogen Variable Friction Arms to mount equipment so that's what I decided to use to hold that flash systems. For each of the two strobes I mounted a Bogen Superclamp on the railing that runs down the side of the the runway. Here's what a Superclamp and Variable Friction Arm look like [please note that this is not a Magic Arm which has a lever rather than the knob of the Variable Friction Arm ... the Variable Friction Arm is much superior to the Magic Arm.] When the knob is released, all the joints of the Variable Friction Arm relax so that the stubs at the ends which are on ball heads can swivel and there is a slot in the side of the casing that allows for 90 degree angles, the ball cases themselves can rotate and the joint where the knobs screws through can swing: this all provides a substantial bit of flexibility.
For strobes, I use Canon 580EX II Speedlites [of which I have three as well as a 270EX.]
Since most use I make of the Speedlites is remote which makes them very awkward to access to replace batteries in mid-shoot, I have a Quantum SC Battery for each strobe.
For the purpose of warming up the light from the flash to approximate tungsten, I have a Lumiquest gel kit that includes CTO filters for this purpose. And since I also mount a FlipIt from time to time I didn't want to permanently attach Velcro to the flash so I also have a Lumiquest Ultrastrap for each strobe.
The big issue at this point is triggering the strobes. I have long used PocketWizards. In my studio I have four Plus II's (I often have other photographers shooting and it is much easier to simply have extras rather than passing one around and taking a chance on missing a shot.) But they don't allow you much control, so for remote triggering of strobes I use a TT1 on camera and a TT5 for each strobe.
The USA version of the Canon flavor TT5's are heavily adversely affected by the radio frequency noise generated by the 580EX II's. This caused significant embarrassment for PocketWizard during the birthing of this product. While their system is conceptually miraculous with all the features it provides, the EMP problem has been huge and they have been slow, first to admit the extent of it, and second to provide solutions. But both issues are now pretty much resolved. The fixes for the problem rely on shielding of the strobe from the TT5. Pocketwizard provided the AC5 soft shield initially and now also provides the AC7 hard shield. While the AC7 provides some nice mounting features, it sadly was subject to significant design errors, particularly if, like me, you normally use the units with exterior power adapters. Without detailing the problems, let me just point out that all three of my AC7's have been modified by Gary McDuffy, Jr., to allow external power and to provide access to the swivel release when the strobe is mounted in the AC7.
On a related note, I experienced a similar problem with the Plus II's and my Bowens QUADX Studio Flash generators. Neither Bowens nor PocketWizard would even respond to my request for assistance with the very frequent firing failures. I was very fortunately to discover online another photographer who had the same problem and did get some help from LPA and the problem is resolved by putting a ferrite choke on the cable from PocketWizard to generator. Since I was also told that Bowens was clearly apprised of the issue and simply said, "Buy our remote triggers!" I am way less than pleased with Bowens. You can read about other major failures by Bowens in my earlier blogs.
The AC7 provides two mounting points as well as an umbrella holder. The Lumiquest Gel system must be attached prior to fitting the strobe into the AC7 due to access restrictions.
Once the strobe with gel kit is mounted in the AC7, a stub is screwed in and tightened. Then a TT5 is attached to the adapter mount as shown in the following image:
And here's an image of the whole setup ready to mount on the rail. The stub (round silver post with inside threading and one flat side) is inserted into the Superclamp at an angle that provides solid support.
Here is an image where you can see the placement of the two strobes, the far strobe mounted out from the top rail and the near strobe mounted on the bottom rail and the handrail:
And finally, the image outcome:
While I thought this experiment was a pretty much a success, I had to dial back the flash exposure compensation over two stops while using E-TTL and expect I would have been much happier if I had used my AC3 Zone Controller and manual flash control, but that was one variable too many for this first field experiment.
All images provided for this blog entry are copyright by me so please don't use them without permission/licensing from me. Please do feel free to ask any questions about anything involved with this entry.
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
UPS: Updated Enhanced Tracking Information
I just wanted to advise that UPS tracking information has been enhanced so that when they miss their delivery date rather than have a delivery date days earlier than today without being delivered they now blank out the delivery date so we can't see how many days late they are.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Adorama Fails Again!
Several years ago I submitted a couple of orders to Adorama on the internet. After they took my money no merchandise showed up in the expected time. When I contacted them I was told the items were backordered so I canceled. After two or three rounds of this I realized that Adorama was neither forthcoming or reliable and I stopped ordering from them and stuck to B&H.
About a month ago they had a good deal on a Hensel MPG 1500 battery pack. I debated. I poked around for recent reviews of Adorama. Most people seemed to like them. So I ordered. Then I found out that the image of the item they were selling was meant for Europe, not the USA. I tried to cancel the order. Not possible. But it also didn't ship as advertised, same day, but rather took several days to 'get it from another store.' Same old story, sigh. Misrepresentations.
So, correct power pack arrives. Turns out one battery is defective out of the box. I contact Adorama expecting an RMA and shipping label. They tell me I'm on my own and give me Hensel's telephone number which appears to be just an answering machine. That's the end of my dealings with Adorama.
I now await word from Hensel.
I have never had any such problems with B&H. Reminds me of all the problems I've had with UPS and never any problems with FedEx. Some companies know what they are doing and some just want to maximize their profit.
About a month ago they had a good deal on a Hensel MPG 1500 battery pack. I debated. I poked around for recent reviews of Adorama. Most people seemed to like them. So I ordered. Then I found out that the image of the item they were selling was meant for Europe, not the USA. I tried to cancel the order. Not possible. But it also didn't ship as advertised, same day, but rather took several days to 'get it from another store.' Same old story, sigh. Misrepresentations.
So, correct power pack arrives. Turns out one battery is defective out of the box. I contact Adorama expecting an RMA and shipping label. They tell me I'm on my own and give me Hensel's telephone number which appears to be just an answering machine. That's the end of my dealings with Adorama.
I now await word from Hensel.
I have never had any such problems with B&H. Reminds me of all the problems I've had with UPS and never any problems with FedEx. Some companies know what they are doing and some just want to maximize their profit.
Friday, March 05, 2010
Jennifer Wu is Coming Back to LIGHT! Part II
I just chatted with Victoria, wife of the intrepid Hal, at Light Photographic Workshops in Los Osos, about the upcoming Jennifer Wu macro and field photography and wildflowers: that I will be attending and there are still some seats left. I'm drumming up business for Jennifer because like Kevin Ames at another Light Photographic Workshops seminar I took, Jennifer changed the way I shoot in the field ... and I am very reluctant to change at my age! She turned me into a great believer in using Live View for focusing in the field with the aid of a Hoodloupe for one thing ... I didn't bother with Live View for anything prior to that and now I find myself using it for all sorts of jobs. She also got me much more fluid in my exposure bracketing for outdoor HDR images and panoramas.
Since the last workshop I have acquired a 1DMIV that I will bring along with my 1DsMIII. In preparation for this workshop I bought a 100mm f/2.8L IS macro lens, a 77mm Singh-Ray Vari-ND 2-8 stop filter, a set of Cokin holders and adapters and some graduated ND filters including the infamous Tobacco shade and a Gitzo GT12540EX w/RRS BH-40 Balll Head w/Quick Release to get the camera up close and personal. I'll also bring my 180mm f/3.5L macro to share.
And Jennifer has promised to help me learn to focus my 24mm TS-E lens in the field.
So, if you're an aspiring macro, flower, landscape, outdoor photographer type who loves hands on instruction with the best there is then this is a class for you. And with all the rain we've had there are already tons of wildflowers bursting forth in the central coast. Just hop on out to the LPW Website at http://www.lightworkshops.com/ and sign up or look around.
[Disclaimer: I am not compensated in any way for posts about LPW or Jennifer Wu ... I just like 'em!]
Since the last workshop I have acquired a 1DMIV that I will bring along with my 1DsMIII. In preparation for this workshop I bought a 100mm f/2.8L IS macro lens, a 77mm Singh-Ray Vari-ND 2-8 stop filter, a set of Cokin holders and adapters and some graduated ND filters including the infamous Tobacco shade and a Gitzo GT12540EX w/RRS BH-40 Balll Head w/Quick Release to get the camera up close and personal. I'll also bring my 180mm f/3.5L macro to share.
And Jennifer has promised to help me learn to focus my 24mm TS-E lens in the field.
So, if you're an aspiring macro, flower, landscape, outdoor photographer type who loves hands on instruction with the best there is then this is a class for you. And with all the rain we've had there are already tons of wildflowers bursting forth in the central coast. Just hop on out to the LPW Website at http://www.lightworkshops.com/ and sign up or look around.
[Disclaimer: I am not compensated in any way for posts about LPW or Jennifer Wu ... I just like 'em!]
Friday, January 22, 2010
Jennifer Wu is Coming Back to LIGHT!
I know I have been neglecting my blog again but I have been very busy as well as getting hooked on Facebook, which is a huge time sink. But I have great plans to discuss the tons of new equipment, studio upgrades and projects I'm into, as well as share about experiences.
However, this entry is to make sure you know about Jennifer Wu's upcoming workshop at Light Photographic Workshops in the middle of March. She's coming back, armed for bear, to show us her award winning techniques for doing macros and wildflowers! And in this neck of the woods there are going to be plenty of wildflowers in the Spring given all the rain we're having.
In preparation for this workshop I have acquired a 1DMIV (actually, I got to shoot concerts and boxing, but I'm bringing it), the new Canon 100mm f/2.8L IS macro, Canon MT-24 dual head macro flash, lightweight Gitzo tripod with cross bar (I can't remember the number but I'll post it in another entry), Singh-Ray Vari-ND neutral density filter, Cokin Z-pro filter holder and various size adapters, a Hoodman Hood Loupe (as a result of my last Wu class) and a 24mm f/3.5L TS-E lens (also as a result of my last Wu class.)
If you recall, Jennifer got me into shooting with Live View on a tripod for landscapes, using the Hood Loupe to fine tune focus using the 5x and 10x magnification options. I was really appreciative because I shoot bracketing and mirror lock-up which is a pain unless you do use Live View. So, now I'm ready for her.
"Flowers and Macro Field Photography" will be March 15-19th at the Light Photographic Workshops digital darkroom training facility in Los Osos, California, but I expect we will be off into the field a great deal of that time. I am hoping to remember to take BTS (behind the scenes) photos so you can see more of this superwoman in action.
However, this entry is to make sure you know about Jennifer Wu's upcoming workshop at Light Photographic Workshops in the middle of March. She's coming back, armed for bear, to show us her award winning techniques for doing macros and wildflowers! And in this neck of the woods there are going to be plenty of wildflowers in the Spring given all the rain we're having.
In preparation for this workshop I have acquired a 1DMIV (actually, I got to shoot concerts and boxing, but I'm bringing it), the new Canon 100mm f/2.8L IS macro, Canon MT-24 dual head macro flash, lightweight Gitzo tripod with cross bar (I can't remember the number but I'll post it in another entry), Singh-Ray Vari-ND neutral density filter, Cokin Z-pro filter holder and various size adapters, a Hoodman Hood Loupe (as a result of my last Wu class) and a 24mm f/3.5L TS-E lens (also as a result of my last Wu class.)
If you recall, Jennifer got me into shooting with Live View on a tripod for landscapes, using the Hood Loupe to fine tune focus using the 5x and 10x magnification options. I was really appreciative because I shoot bracketing and mirror lock-up which is a pain unless you do use Live View. So, now I'm ready for her.
"Flowers and Macro Field Photography" will be March 15-19th at the Light Photographic Workshops digital darkroom training facility in Los Osos, California, but I expect we will be off into the field a great deal of that time. I am hoping to remember to take BTS (behind the scenes) photos so you can see more of this superwoman in action.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
LIGHT Photographic Workshops: Canon Field Photography with Jennifer Wu: HDR Follow Up
It's been a while since I wrote about the amazing three day weekend with Jennifer Wu in which I suggested that I might have some material for prints, so I thought I should get back over here and show a couple of examples. The two I have in hand are both HDR versions of images, one published previous as non-HDR and one not. They are both photographs taken at Midnight Cellars where Hal is a winemaker up in SLO county. The first is simply the HDR:
The second image I am going to show first the best single of the seven exposures in the series and then the HDR from the seven exposures combined in Photomatix Pro and touch a bit in Lightroom.
I'm impressed! I expect that I'll spend a bit of time determining how to print them when my new Epson 7900 and 4880 printers arrive.
Travel Safe,
Dwight
The second image I am going to show first the best single of the seven exposures in the series and then the HDR from the seven exposures combined in Photomatix Pro and touch a bit in Lightroom.
I'm impressed! I expect that I'll spend a bit of time determining how to print them when my new Epson 7900 and 4880 printers arrive.
Travel Safe,
Dwight
Monday, September 28, 2009
LIGHT Photographic Workshops: Canon Field Photography with Jennifer Wu
An amazing three day weekend spent with Jennifer Wu [Canon Explorer of Light], Jim Rose [Canon Pro Rep] and Hal Schmitt [Director, LIGHT Photographic Workshops] in and around Los Osos, California, learning about Field Photography ... you know, like landscapes and stuff where you're out standing in a field. As usual with LPW classes, not only did I learn a huge amount of just what the course description promised, but also all those little tidbits and tips that you can only pickup when actually working with the instructors in classroom and field. But Wait! I'm not done yet! There's more! I also captured some superb images that will likely turn out to be my first fine art landscape style prints.
Rather than regurgitate a chronology of events I'm going to talk about things I learned. Right off the top I got caught up in a discussion of the Really Right Stuff Pano kits. I recently bought the pano head and nodal slide (I know Hal doesn't like this name) but when the kit arrived it was clear that I could pop the nodal slide right into my RRS quick release on my ball head and use the panning feature of the BH-55 and didn't see the use of the panning head. Well, Hal steps right in and says, you need the panning head because the BH-55 panning head is beneath the ball head and you would have to level the panning head with the legset of your tripod. But with the panning head from the kit on top of the ball head it is easy. That's when I learned that there is a separate item dovetail that screws into the bottom of the panning head allowing you to use it with the quick release feature. I have ordered one from RRS and will take a few images and make another blog entry to explain it. None-the-less, it was a small epiphany to understand what is needed. It is another topic all together as to what/why the parallax aperture point is important.
I have had my 1DMIII's and 1DsMIII for quite a while but haven't used the LiveView feature. It just isn't too useful in concerts or boxing or shooting models in the studio. But boy is it a game changer for landscape and product work. In landscape work you can see the whole scene much more intuitively than looking through the eye piece. And since you have the camera on a tripod (don't you?) then when you swing it around it is easier to watch the scene change on the LCD. But better yet, with the 5X and 10X magnification you can do pin point focus adjustment. And, when you see the picture you want, you just punch the shutter release ... and you don't need to do the mirror lockup as a separate step ... the mirror is already up!
Better yet, if you are an HDR shooter, you may already know that you can set the camera to bracket, turn on high speed drive and then press/hold the shutter release and it will shoot one bracket's worth of images. But if you like to use mirror lockup, you can't do this ... ya' gotta' depress the shutter for each image and count them to know when you're done. BUT, if you're using LiveView, the mirror is already up and the multi-exposure trick with holding the release down does work! I love it!
We learned about the wonders of the Canon Tilt-Shift lenses and how combined with LiveView almost any idiot can take advantage of the tilt function to get amazing depth of field images in many common situations. Plus we also learned about the standard perspective correcting functions of the shift feature. And last, but not least, a review of what the newest generation of TS lenses does that is so much better than the originals ... the axis of the tilt and shift can be independently rotated and need not even be perpendicular or aligned. I've just started doing some architectural work using HDR but I'm very enthusiastic about trying out the perspective correction features of the tilt-shift lenses ... when there's finally some of them available. And since I have a winery client, I am also excited about trying the DOF correction while shooting vineyards! So I think these lenses will be a double win for me.
I'm not sure why Jennifer threw it in, but she did a couple of little field portrait things where she showed how to use reflectors to put a bit of light in shadows. Then she showed how to do this with a 580EX flash. Almost in passing she mentioned using gels with the flash as she pulled out her Lumiquest Gel Holder that holds the gel over the flash. I know several guys who use gels with their flash ... always taping the gels over the flash lens ... a messy proposition. But Jennifer had this neat little gadget which holds a few gels and uses velcro to put a gel or set over the lens. $12.50 at B&H! Got one in my wishlist!
We spent a lot of hours in the field shooting with Jennifer, Jim and Hal wandering around offering help and shooting. At one point Hal pulled out a Cokin filter set so I wandered over and chatted him up about it. Turns out that he wanted some really long exposures where the waves from the ocean (we were at a beach in Cayucos one time and at Montano de Oro another) and even with ISO 50 and f/22 the exposure wasn't long enough. So, Hal popped two neutral density filters on to get an additional six stops of slowness. I've Cokin filters on my wishlist now, too. But my use will likely lean more toward graduated filters and polarizers.
So, tons of neat stuff followed by image critiques. Then I had to head off into the sunset before they started printing images.
So, in addition to heartily recommending LIGHT Photographic Workshops in Los Osos, California, I am also recommending the amazing Jennifer Wu ... if you get a chance to work with her you'd better take it! She's like an Andy Katz on steroids!
That's it for now. Travel safe!
Dwight
Rather than regurgitate a chronology of events I'm going to talk about things I learned. Right off the top I got caught up in a discussion of the Really Right Stuff Pano kits. I recently bought the pano head and nodal slide (I know Hal doesn't like this name) but when the kit arrived it was clear that I could pop the nodal slide right into my RRS quick release on my ball head and use the panning feature of the BH-55 and didn't see the use of the panning head. Well, Hal steps right in and says, you need the panning head because the BH-55 panning head is beneath the ball head and you would have to level the panning head with the legset of your tripod. But with the panning head from the kit on top of the ball head it is easy. That's when I learned that there is a separate item dovetail that screws into the bottom of the panning head allowing you to use it with the quick release feature. I have ordered one from RRS and will take a few images and make another blog entry to explain it. None-the-less, it was a small epiphany to understand what is needed. It is another topic all together as to what/why the parallax aperture point is important.
I have had my 1DMIII's and 1DsMIII for quite a while but haven't used the LiveView feature. It just isn't too useful in concerts or boxing or shooting models in the studio. But boy is it a game changer for landscape and product work. In landscape work you can see the whole scene much more intuitively than looking through the eye piece. And since you have the camera on a tripod (don't you?) then when you swing it around it is easier to watch the scene change on the LCD. But better yet, with the 5X and 10X magnification you can do pin point focus adjustment. And, when you see the picture you want, you just punch the shutter release ... and you don't need to do the mirror lockup as a separate step ... the mirror is already up!
Better yet, if you are an HDR shooter, you may already know that you can set the camera to bracket, turn on high speed drive and then press/hold the shutter release and it will shoot one bracket's worth of images. But if you like to use mirror lockup, you can't do this ... ya' gotta' depress the shutter for each image and count them to know when you're done. BUT, if you're using LiveView, the mirror is already up and the multi-exposure trick with holding the release down does work! I love it!
We learned about the wonders of the Canon Tilt-Shift lenses and how combined with LiveView almost any idiot can take advantage of the tilt function to get amazing depth of field images in many common situations. Plus we also learned about the standard perspective correcting functions of the shift feature. And last, but not least, a review of what the newest generation of TS lenses does that is so much better than the originals ... the axis of the tilt and shift can be independently rotated and need not even be perpendicular or aligned. I've just started doing some architectural work using HDR but I'm very enthusiastic about trying out the perspective correction features of the tilt-shift lenses ... when there's finally some of them available. And since I have a winery client, I am also excited about trying the DOF correction while shooting vineyards! So I think these lenses will be a double win for me.
I'm not sure why Jennifer threw it in, but she did a couple of little field portrait things where she showed how to use reflectors to put a bit of light in shadows. Then she showed how to do this with a 580EX flash. Almost in passing she mentioned using gels with the flash as she pulled out her Lumiquest Gel Holder that holds the gel over the flash. I know several guys who use gels with their flash ... always taping the gels over the flash lens ... a messy proposition. But Jennifer had this neat little gadget which holds a few gels and uses velcro to put a gel or set over the lens. $12.50 at B&H! Got one in my wishlist!
We spent a lot of hours in the field shooting with Jennifer, Jim and Hal wandering around offering help and shooting. At one point Hal pulled out a Cokin filter set so I wandered over and chatted him up about it. Turns out that he wanted some really long exposures where the waves from the ocean (we were at a beach in Cayucos one time and at Montano de Oro another) and even with ISO 50 and f/22 the exposure wasn't long enough. So, Hal popped two neutral density filters on to get an additional six stops of slowness. I've Cokin filters on my wishlist now, too. But my use will likely lean more toward graduated filters and polarizers.
So, tons of neat stuff followed by image critiques. Then I had to head off into the sunset before they started printing images.
So, in addition to heartily recommending LIGHT Photographic Workshops in Los Osos, California, I am also recommending the amazing Jennifer Wu ... if you get a chance to work with her you'd better take it! She's like an Andy Katz on steroids!
That's it for now. Travel safe!
Dwight
Thursday, September 03, 2009
PocketWizard: Follow Up!
In the interests of full disclosure I need to confess that there are a lot of good things I could say about PocketWizard, but the best is that they are listening and within unclear constraints on taking full responsibility for their failures they are working on moving forward. I got a very respectful email from David Schmidt of PocketWizard about my recent Facebook posts and blog entry. Let me tell you I have been threatened by large corporations for speaking out in the past and this wasn't that! Interestingly, those large corporations are no longer in business and some of their principals have gone to jail. :-) David offered to let me be minimally involved in some testing. I declined. I have no qualifications. But the effort and offer speak better about PocketWizard than I had given credit for.
So you know, I have had four PocketWizard Plus II's in my studio forever and even when I was shooting in my garage I only used PocketWizards. I did have some radio frequency interference issues with my Bowens QUADX strobes and temporarily abandoned PWs until I learned about ferrite filters and was immediately back. To their discredit, PW knew about the problem but didn't publish the cure on their website. Every professional photographer I know personally uses PocketWizards. I have every intention of being a PocketWizard user until I can't shoot anymore! But I won't be an early adopter as I detect that PW has moved into the realm of Microsoft et alia, feeling the need to make announcements and promises unmindful of any reality to which I am a part. I may never understand why this whole ControlTL business wasn't thoroughly tested by independent photographers with their own equipment before the first PR was sent out.
Also, for the RadioPopper fans, I do have an ST-E2 and did consider RPs, but I need a daylight robust solution to firing cameras where my current Canon LC-5 IR solution isn't working and RP doesn't address that need.
Disclaimer: David Schmidt does not know I am making this post. David Schmidt did not ask me to retract any statements. I am happy with my TT1 and TT5's to the extent that they work within a limited range well below that advertised.
Travel safe!
Dwight
So you know, I have had four PocketWizard Plus II's in my studio forever and even when I was shooting in my garage I only used PocketWizards. I did have some radio frequency interference issues with my Bowens QUADX strobes and temporarily abandoned PWs until I learned about ferrite filters and was immediately back. To their discredit, PW knew about the problem but didn't publish the cure on their website. Every professional photographer I know personally uses PocketWizards. I have every intention of being a PocketWizard user until I can't shoot anymore! But I won't be an early adopter as I detect that PW has moved into the realm of Microsoft et alia, feeling the need to make announcements and promises unmindful of any reality to which I am a part. I may never understand why this whole ControlTL business wasn't thoroughly tested by independent photographers with their own equipment before the first PR was sent out.
Also, for the RadioPopper fans, I do have an ST-E2 and did consider RPs, but I need a daylight robust solution to firing cameras where my current Canon LC-5 IR solution isn't working and RP doesn't address that need.
Disclaimer: David Schmidt does not know I am making this post. David Schmidt did not ask me to retract any statements. I am happy with my TT1 and TT5's to the extent that they work within a limited range well below that advertised.
Travel safe!
Dwight
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
PocketWizard: TT1/TT5/AC7 Behind Schedule and Underperforming!
After months and months of waiting, the PocketWizard TT1 & TT5's for Canon flashes came out a month or two ago. Immediately it was discovered that PocketWizard's estimates of effective distance were illusory, based on really terrible testing protocols and were probably a bit purposely self-serving. A lot of their advertised features also didn't work. But, with plenty of smoke and mirrors they brushed aside all criticism and patted themselves on the back ... after all, it wasn't their fault, it was the Canon flashes radio frequency interference. They didn't seem to care that distances, rather than being 800' or even 300' feet were actually less than 50'.
But the distance problems, among others, just wouldn't go away. They had sold too many units to too many guys who know how to count and measure. So, to quell the distress they invented the AC7, a radio frequency baffle of sorts. Once it was in the product pipeline, they could just refer to it each time they were criticized, once again deflecting responsibility. The trouble is, after months and months and many promised dates, there are still no AC7s! They were supposed to be here in June, then July, then August, then September, but today they were slipped until October. Not credible.
And if you're a Nikon shooter, it's even worse. They've kept the Nikon guys on the hook for months and now it may be a year!
So, I'm very disgruntled with PocketWizard. I was one of the guys who believed their advertising and promises and bought quite a few hundred dollars worth of their new line: one TT1 and Three TT5's ... I thought the PWs would work as advertised and then I thought the new shield would come on time. I was wrong.
I guess you can get away with this when you're a virtual monopoly. Oh, I know about RadioPoppers, but they can't also trigger cameras, which is one of my needs ... the Canon infra-red trigger I own doesn't work well in bright sunlight, sigh. So, I am screwed. I expect thousands of guys are screwed. I suppose PocketWizard will eventually be willing to take even more of our money to make their equipment barely limp along way under specs with their AC7s, but I don't expect them this calendar year.
Hope this saves some of you a lot of expense and disappointment.
Travel safe!
Dwight
But the distance problems, among others, just wouldn't go away. They had sold too many units to too many guys who know how to count and measure. So, to quell the distress they invented the AC7, a radio frequency baffle of sorts. Once it was in the product pipeline, they could just refer to it each time they were criticized, once again deflecting responsibility. The trouble is, after months and months and many promised dates, there are still no AC7s! They were supposed to be here in June, then July, then August, then September, but today they were slipped until October. Not credible.
And if you're a Nikon shooter, it's even worse. They've kept the Nikon guys on the hook for months and now it may be a year!
So, I'm very disgruntled with PocketWizard. I was one of the guys who believed their advertising and promises and bought quite a few hundred dollars worth of their new line: one TT1 and Three TT5's ... I thought the PWs would work as advertised and then I thought the new shield would come on time. I was wrong.
I guess you can get away with this when you're a virtual monopoly. Oh, I know about RadioPoppers, but they can't also trigger cameras, which is one of my needs ... the Canon infra-red trigger I own doesn't work well in bright sunlight, sigh. So, I am screwed. I expect thousands of guys are screwed. I suppose PocketWizard will eventually be willing to take even more of our money to make their equipment barely limp along way under specs with their AC7s, but I don't expect them this calendar year.
Hope this saves some of you a lot of expense and disappointment.
Travel safe!
Dwight
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Getting the Horizon Level
A week ago on Monday Night Lights webinar by Hal Schmitt of LIGHT Photographic Workshops there was a sample image presented during a sharpening talk with a tilted horizon. I made a comment to Hal during the seminar, via the GoToMeeting interface from my computer at home, mentioning it. This week at the start of the Monday Night Lights webinar Hal explained how to correct a tilted horizon ... Hal always takes questions and comments seriously. After a detailed and oft repeated explanation, Hal noted that, "It is always better to get the horizon level in the camera than in post processing." I am a terrible offender with tilted horizons and recently learned that there are bubble levels that slide into the hotshoe. I realized this was a good time to check with Hal for recommendations for such a beast. Without missing a beat, Hal suggested checking with Really Right Stuff, a world famous but local (San Luis Obispo) manufacturer of heads and related devices. Actually, a bubble level won't help me much with my concert photography as I couldn't see it in the dark anyway. But when I'm using a tripod and ballhead I notice I can't always see the little tiny builtin bubble level so this sounds like a good accessory to have in my camera case.
I just went out to RRS, http://reallyrightstuff.com/index.html, and found their RRS-337 Dual Axis level, $33.00. I'll order a couple tonight.
Now I need to recommend MNL with Hal Schmitt at LPW (http://lightworkshops.com/), yet again. That's "Monday Night Lights" at LIGHT Photographic Workshops. Their blog with the links you need to attend the free weekly webinars is http://lightworkshops.blogspot.com/. They use GoToMeeting for their interface which doesn't require you to install horrid software like Silverlight that you just can't get rid of once installed and to which you agree to find no fault! The seminars are approximately one hour although Hal usually runs over five to ten minutes. You can also find short synopsis YouTube videos of the material presented on MNL with the links posted on the blog and/or Facebook and Twitter.
Disclaimer: I am not compensated by LIGHT Photographic Workshops or Really Right Stuff for mentioning or recommending them. I still have to pay for everything. It sucks. But I need to keep them in business because they provide me with two of the few totally reliable resources that I need to keep my own business running.
I just went out to RRS, http://reallyrightstuff.com/index.html, and found their RRS-337 Dual Axis level, $33.00. I'll order a couple tonight.
Now I need to recommend MNL with Hal Schmitt at LPW (http://lightworkshops.com/), yet again. That's "Monday Night Lights" at LIGHT Photographic Workshops. Their blog with the links you need to attend the free weekly webinars is http://lightworkshops.blogspot.com/. They use GoToMeeting for their interface which doesn't require you to install horrid software like Silverlight that you just can't get rid of once installed and to which you agree to find no fault! The seminars are approximately one hour although Hal usually runs over five to ten minutes. You can also find short synopsis YouTube videos of the material presented on MNL with the links posted on the blog and/or Facebook and Twitter.
Disclaimer: I am not compensated by LIGHT Photographic Workshops or Really Right Stuff for mentioning or recommending them. I still have to pay for everything. It sucks. But I need to keep them in business because they provide me with two of the few totally reliable resources that I need to keep my own business running.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
When the Facts Don't Make Sense, Maybe They're Not the Facts!
I own a couple of Canon 1D MIII bodies and a couple of Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lenses. Back in May I sent the bodies to Canon for a hardware "fix" for certain autofocus issues. Then, near the end of July I shot Jewel in concert and noticed a definite autofocus issue that couldn't be corrected with microadjustment ... I did several microadjustment tests with both the failing lens and my backup lens on the body that I normally shoot with using that lens. I sent the lens back to Canon for repair. $180. Seems OK now but they made a note about sending the body with it if there were more problems.
Last week I shot Toby Keith with the same body but using the backup lens ... note that the backup lens is actually newer and is not a backup in the sense that it isn't as good ... I normally keep it on my 1Ds MIII body in my studio. The images were very soft even though when I did my tests earlier it was fine! So, I thought maybe it was the body after all, although that seemed odd since it was just at Canon. What to do? A series of tests. I blocked out an Excel spreadsheet where I would shoot both lenses at small and large focal length on both bodies. Coincidentally, I started with the body that I don't usually use this lens on. All tests on both lenses were good. I thought, "Aha, it is a bad body!" So, I mounted up the "bad' body on the tripod with the "bad" lens and started through the microadjustment process. "Oh, Crap!" There was the problem ... I had left the microadjustment set to +20 for that model of lens. Although I had used the body for another project, I had used a different lens, which had not used the MA, so it worked fine!
So, I corrected the microadjustment for the lens, which turned out to be +4 and will try it out on the Reverand Al Green on Thursday night. Next time, when the facts don't fit I will try to think outside the box. So, I am embarrassed and relieved!
Travel Safely,
Dwight
Last week I shot Toby Keith with the same body but using the backup lens ... note that the backup lens is actually newer and is not a backup in the sense that it isn't as good ... I normally keep it on my 1Ds MIII body in my studio. The images were very soft even though when I did my tests earlier it was fine! So, I thought maybe it was the body after all, although that seemed odd since it was just at Canon. What to do? A series of tests. I blocked out an Excel spreadsheet where I would shoot both lenses at small and large focal length on both bodies. Coincidentally, I started with the body that I don't usually use this lens on. All tests on both lenses were good. I thought, "Aha, it is a bad body!" So, I mounted up the "bad' body on the tripod with the "bad" lens and started through the microadjustment process. "Oh, Crap!" There was the problem ... I had left the microadjustment set to +20 for that model of lens. Although I had used the body for another project, I had used a different lens, which had not used the MA, so it worked fine!
So, I corrected the microadjustment for the lens, which turned out to be +4 and will try it out on the Reverand Al Green on Thursday night. Next time, when the facts don't fit I will try to think outside the box. So, I am embarrassed and relieved!
Travel Safely,
Dwight
Thursday, August 13, 2009
HDR: High Dynamic Range: Architecture
I am in the middle of my first HDR (High Dynamic Range) project at the Casa Cassara Winery & Vineyard Estate ranch-house located just to the west of Buellton, California, north of the Santa Ynez River and Santa Rosa Road and south of Hwy 246 that runs to Lompoc. I expect that anyone who reads this blog is familiar, at least in concept, with HDR. Quickly, it is a technique in which several (generally three to nine) exposure variations are taken of the same frame and then combined into a pseudo image with a huge dynamic range, as much as 18 stops of luminance. This requires special software as the numeric values required to represent this range exceed the standard fixed point arithmetic of most image editing software. In my case, I am using Photomatix Pro 3.2.1 that assembles the base HDR image using floating point numbers.
What is the goal of all this extra effort and fancy software? To produce an image that has detail in both the very dark and very light portions of a photograph. I find this most easily conceived by thinking of taking a photograph in a room with the lights on but no flash. Under normal circumstances this would result in an image with localized pools of light around the light fixtures and very dark elsewhere and perhaps with pretty harsh shadows along with burned out areas very close to the lights themselves. With HDR, both the dark and light areas are generally preserved and have good detail.
I'm not going into much of any detail with this blog entry beyond posting a couple of images taken at the estate using a Canon 1Ds Mark III 21MP body, Canon 14mm f/2.8L lens on a Gitzo tripod with Really Right Stuff ball head and Canon shutter release. The exposures were ISO 100, Av priority, evaluative metering, five brackets 1-1/3 stops apart and mirror lockup for all images.
The first image was shot just as the sun was about to set behind the far ridge. The sky is actually very smokey as a result of the ongoing Le Brea Fire in northern Santa Barbara County. The direction where the sun is setting is toward Lompoc and the Pacific Ocean, about 20 miles distant. To the right of the house is the estate Pinot Noir vineyard, currently netted to protect the grapes from birds. Click on the image to see a larger version stored at blogspot.com.
The second image is the entryway to the house, showing detail in the bricks, the statue in the fountain, nice lighting on the windows and a pretty sky.
The final image of the Great Room shows detail in the wood of the vaulted ceiling, near the lighting fixtures and outside the windows, which is very blue due to the color dominance of the incandescent lighting inside.
In the next installment on this project I will show some comparison images using the "as metered" frames compared to the HDR assemblies.
In the meantime, travel safe!
Dwight
What is the goal of all this extra effort and fancy software? To produce an image that has detail in both the very dark and very light portions of a photograph. I find this most easily conceived by thinking of taking a photograph in a room with the lights on but no flash. Under normal circumstances this would result in an image with localized pools of light around the light fixtures and very dark elsewhere and perhaps with pretty harsh shadows along with burned out areas very close to the lights themselves. With HDR, both the dark and light areas are generally preserved and have good detail.
I'm not going into much of any detail with this blog entry beyond posting a couple of images taken at the estate using a Canon 1Ds Mark III 21MP body, Canon 14mm f/2.8L lens on a Gitzo tripod with Really Right Stuff ball head and Canon shutter release. The exposures were ISO 100, Av priority, evaluative metering, five brackets 1-1/3 stops apart and mirror lockup for all images.
The first image was shot just as the sun was about to set behind the far ridge. The sky is actually very smokey as a result of the ongoing Le Brea Fire in northern Santa Barbara County. The direction where the sun is setting is toward Lompoc and the Pacific Ocean, about 20 miles distant. To the right of the house is the estate Pinot Noir vineyard, currently netted to protect the grapes from birds. Click on the image to see a larger version stored at blogspot.com.
The second image is the entryway to the house, showing detail in the bricks, the statue in the fountain, nice lighting on the windows and a pretty sky.
The final image of the Great Room shows detail in the wood of the vaulted ceiling, near the lighting fixtures and outside the windows, which is very blue due to the color dominance of the incandescent lighting inside.
In the next installment on this project I will show some comparison images using the "as metered" frames compared to the HDR assemblies.
In the meantime, travel safe!
Dwight
Monday, August 03, 2009
Software: I Bought a Bunch of Photoshop Plugins
For those who have followed this blog, off and on, for the last couple of years, it is known that I have had a goal of moving from Corel's PhotoImpact, which I still recommend to amateurs, to Photoshop. I am finally moving right along with the help of LIGHT Photographic Workshops, National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP), Photography-on-the.net (POTN), Kelby Online Training and general professional pressure. I thank and recommend each of the above.
While I still use PhotoImpact X3 (the current version) for my extant workflows such as concerts, boxing and poker tournaments, all new areas such as portrait and glamor are carefully guided into Photoshop. As a consequence, given the amount of time it takes to retouch skin, I finally gave in and bought some plugins: Imagenomic bundle that included Portraiture for skin smoothing. While it doesn't do exactly what I'd like all the time and now that I have used it a bit I need to go back and redo the tutorials, it does well that it saves me from getting overwhelmed. Anyway, I can see the value of plugins, both as time savers and to unleash the minuscule amount of talent I have.
So, yesterday I bought HDRSoft's Photomatix Pro, OnOne's suite and TopazLabs bundle. I know what each does. I don't know how to operate them, yet. Fortunately I am not a purist. In fact, I don't mind copying things that I see others do. To me, saying, "I did this without any Photoshop Plugins!" as a matter of pride is pretty silly! If you could say, "This is straight from the camera!" then I might be impressed. But once you're in Photoshop, all is fair and only the end result is of interest, even if it was done by an unlimited number of monkeys sitting in front of an unlimited number of keyboards.
I have an architectural project for which I wanted Photomatix. I am hoping to get into using textures and wanted OnOne Mask Pro to extract some models. And I like the effects I've seen with TopazLabs Adjust. I also like several of NIKs plugins so I'll likely snatch them up, too.
Anyway, my plan is to explore these different plugins with respect to my projects and share the results here. Sharing will help keep me more organized. As Marcie likes others to take point and start off on a project, I need help keeping organized. Besides, if I come up with something good I have place where I can sell prints! :-)
Travel safely,
Dwight
While I still use PhotoImpact X3 (the current version) for my extant workflows such as concerts, boxing and poker tournaments, all new areas such as portrait and glamor are carefully guided into Photoshop. As a consequence, given the amount of time it takes to retouch skin, I finally gave in and bought some plugins: Imagenomic bundle that included Portraiture for skin smoothing. While it doesn't do exactly what I'd like all the time and now that I have used it a bit I need to go back and redo the tutorials, it does well that it saves me from getting overwhelmed. Anyway, I can see the value of plugins, both as time savers and to unleash the minuscule amount of talent I have.
So, yesterday I bought HDRSoft's Photomatix Pro, OnOne's suite and TopazLabs bundle. I know what each does. I don't know how to operate them, yet. Fortunately I am not a purist. In fact, I don't mind copying things that I see others do. To me, saying, "I did this without any Photoshop Plugins!" as a matter of pride is pretty silly! If you could say, "This is straight from the camera!" then I might be impressed. But once you're in Photoshop, all is fair and only the end result is of interest, even if it was done by an unlimited number of monkeys sitting in front of an unlimited number of keyboards.
I have an architectural project for which I wanted Photomatix. I am hoping to get into using textures and wanted OnOne Mask Pro to extract some models. And I like the effects I've seen with TopazLabs Adjust. I also like several of NIKs plugins so I'll likely snatch them up, too.
Anyway, my plan is to explore these different plugins with respect to my projects and share the results here. Sharing will help keep me more organized. As Marcie likes others to take point and start off on a project, I need help keeping organized. Besides, if I come up with something good I have place where I can sell prints! :-)
Travel safely,
Dwight
Sunday, August 02, 2009
Model Mayhem: Don't Expect Much!
Based on seeing a few of my fellow photographers use models found on Model Mayhem, I created an account, added a profile and uploaded images. Then I started contacting models and MUAs. I checked their profiles. The number one thing these girls put on their profiles is that they don't do nudity. They really want you to get that. NO NUDITY! They aren't going to take their clothes off. I have never asked a model to take her clothes off. I don't need to be told over and over that a girl won't take her clothes off. But that seems to be their biggest issue and they are going to flog it until all us perverts get it. The only nudes I've ever shot were girlfriends and wives. It is hard. Why would I want to subject myself to that again? But, of course, I have also noticed nudes of these very same models show up. So, I guess they have the Sarah Palin Abstinence program for nudity: deny, deny, deny ... and then do exactly what you say you won't do!
Which leads right into the second Model Mayhem pronouncement: I AM NOT A FLAKE! This comes right after the "I won't take my clothes off. I won't even pretend to take my clothes off!" Yup, and not only are the models flakes, the MUAs are flakes, too. I have had nine Model Mayhem contacts, models and MUAs, in a row cancel or not show up. And that is 100% of my Model Mayhem transactions. I recently arranged for a model to do TFP for a photographic social gathering. She was absolutely committed. Was even going to bring her own MUA. And then she had a friend that was going to come and model also. I arranged this three months in advance. When I didn't hear from her after two months, I messaged her. That's when I found out her sister had to get married and had chosen the same day. Girls used to be able to plan for their weddings a year ahead, but under the Sarah Palin rules of abstinence the pregnancy will dictate the wedding date! But she arranged for another, "I AM NOT A FLAKE" girl to come instead. I exchanged messages with this girl and then didn't hear from her. So, I messaged her and got back, "I got laid off so I will only be doing paying work now!" Like I'm going to pay someone who just in the same breath demonstrated she operates on the Sarah Palin model .... oh, did I mention that she has a daughter but no mention of husband! Is that sexist? I thought it was just practical to have a partner before getting pregnant!
And this hasn't just happened for TFP gigs. Marcie and I had a paid agreement with an MUA who decided at two days before a shoot we put together that she'd make more money if she did a teaching seminar and could we move our shoot to some other time for her? Not a thought about the commitments the other three people had made!
So, I am ranting about it. It is stunning. I would never pay a model that I hadn't worked with or done a test with. And since these Model Mayhem girls don't ever get to me, I will never pay them! I will use an agency model ... which won't be these girls because agencies won't put up with flakes and that's all there is at Model Mayhem. Of course, I'm laughing as I say all this because after all, Model Mayhem is free and we all know what you get for free! NOTHING!
But I guess I am no better. I keep promising to blog something useful and I keep getting overtaken by events, too. But, the blog is free so I guess that's OK! :-)
Travel Safe!
Dwight
Which leads right into the second Model Mayhem pronouncement: I AM NOT A FLAKE! This comes right after the "I won't take my clothes off. I won't even pretend to take my clothes off!" Yup, and not only are the models flakes, the MUAs are flakes, too. I have had nine Model Mayhem contacts, models and MUAs, in a row cancel or not show up. And that is 100% of my Model Mayhem transactions. I recently arranged for a model to do TFP for a photographic social gathering. She was absolutely committed. Was even going to bring her own MUA. And then she had a friend that was going to come and model also. I arranged this three months in advance. When I didn't hear from her after two months, I messaged her. That's when I found out her sister had to get married and had chosen the same day. Girls used to be able to plan for their weddings a year ahead, but under the Sarah Palin rules of abstinence the pregnancy will dictate the wedding date! But she arranged for another, "I AM NOT A FLAKE" girl to come instead. I exchanged messages with this girl and then didn't hear from her. So, I messaged her and got back, "I got laid off so I will only be doing paying work now!" Like I'm going to pay someone who just in the same breath demonstrated she operates on the Sarah Palin model .... oh, did I mention that she has a daughter but no mention of husband! Is that sexist? I thought it was just practical to have a partner before getting pregnant!
And this hasn't just happened for TFP gigs. Marcie and I had a paid agreement with an MUA who decided at two days before a shoot we put together that she'd make more money if she did a teaching seminar and could we move our shoot to some other time for her? Not a thought about the commitments the other three people had made!
So, I am ranting about it. It is stunning. I would never pay a model that I hadn't worked with or done a test with. And since these Model Mayhem girls don't ever get to me, I will never pay them! I will use an agency model ... which won't be these girls because agencies won't put up with flakes and that's all there is at Model Mayhem. Of course, I'm laughing as I say all this because after all, Model Mayhem is free and we all know what you get for free! NOTHING!
But I guess I am no better. I keep promising to blog something useful and I keep getting overtaken by events, too. But, the blog is free so I guess that's OK! :-)
Travel Safe!
Dwight
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Julie Morgan: Makeup for Photographers
I've been very busy as usual. This week I attended a 1/2 day makeup demonstration, photographed Liza Minnelli at the casino, attended a 3/4 day makeup hands-on workshop and spent ten hours photographing a poker tournament. I have a zillion images in my post processing pipeline. Busy, busy.
Anyway, I thought you all might be interested in makeup adventures! I had a photosession with some of the Team Dazzle promotional models a month or two ago. One of the models had gotten separated from her makeup and I didn't have any. Somewhere on a DVD or tutorial from Jason Cole, the Australian Wedding and Glamor photographer I recalled mention of his BOB ("Bag O' Bras) [Actually a bag of bras, panties, bikinis, etc.] and of having makeup on hand, 'Just in case!' So I decided I needed to get some makeup to have on hand. Well, as a 64 year old male I knew less than nothing about makeup. I asked my wife and she had no idea what I should have in a backup kit. So, I asked my intrepid collaborator, Marcella Kligman, who has since moved off to Sacramento, and she pointed me to Julie Morgan. So, I contacted Julie and asked about one of her makeup kits. She sent me her brochure. There is a lot of stuff, packaged up in two or three graduated kits: basic, advanced and ultimate! I told her to give me everything.
Well, Julie is an amazement. Since it was clear that I had absolutely no clue, Julie said, "How about if I meet you with the stuff and go over everything with you?" So, a couple of weeks later when Julie flew into town for a client she made time to meet with me at Starbucks in Goleta with a box of makeup and tried to go over it. There's no way! We finally sorta laughed it off, I took the box of makeup and we parted.
Then Julie gets back to me and says, "How would you like to come to Brooks and learn how to apply makeup?" It turns out that Julie works with Paul Meyer. Paul Meyer has been teaching a "People" class for advanced students at Brooks since Christ was a corporal. As part of the class, Julie does two sessions: a three hour demo to prep the students for a six hour hands-0n workshop that includes makeup application, photographing their models and doing an analysis. Julie had gotten permission from Paul for me to audit the two sessions for this group.
At the first session, the demonstration, I was a bit overwhelmed ... I had no clue that there was so much "stuff" involved: cleansing, sub-foundation (matting), foundation, concealer, mascara, eye liner, eyebrow powder, contouring, shimmer powder and on and on. I got four pages of notes and was lost, lost, lost. Paul was laughing. He said when he first started teaching at Brooks that there were ten guys to each girl. Now, of 23 students in this People class, there were 16 girls and it made the makeup section much easier.
So, the following Friday, at 9:30 am at the Jefferson Campus of Brooks Institute of Photography I had the opportunity to slather makeup on Carmen Kuchera, local life coach [www.lifenotescoaching.com] and jazz flautist along with twenty or so Brooks students. It was hilarious! On the first pass I applied contouring that was so thick that pale delicate skinned Carmen looked like a Polynesian warrior! Julie brought a mass of makeup wipes and suggested removing it all and starting over. Meanwhile, of course, all the other students were zooming right along as though they did this every day (I guess most of them do), sitting in student desks facing each other in pairs. But, once back on track and with Carmen, Julie and Julie's model (Carmen's sister) telling me continuously how wonderful I was doing (and making me grotesquely aware of how poorly I was doing) I managed, with lots of intercession by Julie, to get a face onto Carmen ... and it actually did look OK.
I learned a huge amount despite being inept. I will certainly never look at makeup the same again. I will have a much better appreciation and ability to judge MUAs. I will never simply ignore the makeup process and leave it entirely to the models and MUAs. I will never be afraid to look at the model after makeup has been applied and say, "I need this fixed!" I will know if there is too much shimmer, too little matting, if the the makeup is caking or the skin too oily! I now know about Lip Tox and Lip Lock and Lip Gloss. I know you don't apply lipstick with a tube of the stuff. Oh, I know so much and so little at the same time. But I know that I don't know and hopefully that will keep me safe. :-)
But now I have one last amazement to share. I had met one of the students previously at a seminar put on by the Gold Coast Professional Photographers Association (of which I am a member) by Jim DiVitale, master product photographer of Atlanta, Georgia and Santa Barbara. She is Courtney Miller and is a rising star. Courtney does underwater glamor (my words, not hers) ... you can see her stuff at CourtneyMillerPhotography.com. So, I decided to see what the other students had come up with. I got to Courtney's model and my jaw dropped. She was certainly a beautiful model. And the makeup was very nice and sultry. But, Courtney, not to simply 'do the work' had added a stunning stripe of black dots running down one side of her face from above the eyebrow to the upper outer cheek. And later, I watched Courtney take this model through some of the light setups in "The Cove" and see how powerful her vision was when put to the test of actual photographs. I have no pictures of Courtney's work. I did tell Courtney I would love to work with her but haven't heard back ... I have a feeling she is even busier than I am! :-)
So, guys, if you get a chance, learn makeup! :-)
Travel Safe!
Dwight
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
More Monday Night LIGHTS!
Well, I know I keep writing about LIGHT Photography Workshops but I do have some other stuff in the pipeline, honest, and I will get to it. But, yes, once again, I want to spread the word about MNL from LPW. Every Monday at 6:30 pm Pacific for an hour or more. Costs less than $5 per session. Stunning value for the money. Hal Schmitt, fighter pilot turned photography pilot and amazing instructor. But enough of that.
Last night covered two curves topics I have been anxiously awaiting for a while: adjusting color casts separately for highlights and shadows, and ensuring that white seamless backgrounds in studio shots are white and consistent. This was the third or fourth curves adjustment layer evening, and each has been a revelation on my pathway from Corel's PhotoImpact (that I have used for ten years) to Adobe Photoshop.
We all know about the midtone color adjustment eye dropper in curves and what it can do for color casts. But there is also a technique, although a bit more involved and using the separate color channels that allows color cast correction that differs between shadows and highlights. It involves dropping color samplers onto representative areas of the photograph and then adjusting the curves endpoints for the respective color channels to bring the three channels into equality. Hmmm, a little hard to summarize, which is why tuning in is so helpful.
The other technique covered was the white background issue. Same deal, but this time using the builtin layer mask automatically generated on new curves adjustment layers. Makes perfect sense in retrospect! And produces much more pleasing results.
Well, I'm off to a meeting.
Disclaimer: I am not compensated by LPW.
Travel safe!
Dwight
Last night covered two curves topics I have been anxiously awaiting for a while: adjusting color casts separately for highlights and shadows, and ensuring that white seamless backgrounds in studio shots are white and consistent. This was the third or fourth curves adjustment layer evening, and each has been a revelation on my pathway from Corel's PhotoImpact (that I have used for ten years) to Adobe Photoshop.
We all know about the midtone color adjustment eye dropper in curves and what it can do for color casts. But there is also a technique, although a bit more involved and using the separate color channels that allows color cast correction that differs between shadows and highlights. It involves dropping color samplers onto representative areas of the photograph and then adjusting the curves endpoints for the respective color channels to bring the three channels into equality. Hmmm, a little hard to summarize, which is why tuning in is so helpful.
The other technique covered was the white background issue. Same deal, but this time using the builtin layer mask automatically generated on new curves adjustment layers. Makes perfect sense in retrospect! And produces much more pleasing results.
Well, I'm off to a meeting.
Disclaimer: I am not compensated by LPW.
Travel safe!
Dwight
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Light Photographic Workshops: Monday Night Lights
Last night, Monday, was the first of the Monday Night Lights (MNL) webinars that I have attended and it was well worth it ... well, yes, it was a free demo session, but I mean it was worth the effort to download and run the software which can be brutal for some applications and I won't put Silverlight on my system (it is a Microsoft product that apparently doesn't allow removal) which so many doing online classes want to use so I skip them. Anyway, GoToMeeting wasn't onerous at all and the software was flawless although it requires a little getting used to where things are, but no big deal.
The session was an introduction to PS "Curves", targeting mainly CS4 but with legacy discussion for previous versions, taught by Hal Schmitt, the soon to be legendary Digital Photography Instructor. Hal ran through most of the controls on the Curves Adjustment Panel using provided images (in case you wanted to do the exercises along with him.) He missed a couple on the bottom as we sorta ran out of time. But as always with Hal, he revealed two or three little tidbits that just wouldn't have occurred to me ... things as simple as dragging control points off the histogram to get rid of them, using the pencil, using the luminosity blending mode (which I should know but keep forgetting) when there is crossover coloring and a few others that I don't recall at the moment. This, of course, in addition to demonstrating the power of curves for adjusting contrast in images in RGB, explaining how the slope of the curve correlates to that contrast, how to use control points and how to mask when using the adjustments panel.
Normally, this hour long session, as part of a weekly series, would cost a whopping $5 (paid monthly ... ). What is it that you can get for $5/hour these days? And watch in the comfort of your own home while sipping on a gin and tonic and maybe a fancy chip or two? [I know Hal and Victoria would probably sip wine, but my wife hordes Hal's wine.]
So, a couple of other little items: MNL (this series) doesn't have an itinerary ... you can't really know what's coming! I thought this was bad. Now I see the added power ... if something really striking comes along there is no more than a week wait before Hal can share it. I mean there's a ton of stuff in the waiting queue, some of which I have requested, so it's not like there's nothing to talk about, but if there is a new update to Lightroom, new NIK filter, some cleverness with Imagenomic Portraiture or a hot new feature of Photomatix, it doesn't have to wait three months to get onto the end of the schedule!
Also, for those who prefer more structure in their lives, even in the online world, there is a schedule of more conventional webinars at LIGHT here. I'm considering Wednesday's Retouching People if I can get through some paying work tonight to clear the decks. I am hopeful that this schedule will be expanded significantly.
So, if you are feeling like you've lost the muse, are bored with your work, need to find some zippy energy by learning something new but don't have time to take a class or pore over a magazine article, then I'm suggesting MNL.
Usual Disclaimer: I am not compensated by LIGHT for these reviews (except by Victoria's gorgeous smile.)
Travel Safe!
Dwight
The session was an introduction to PS "Curves", targeting mainly CS4 but with legacy discussion for previous versions, taught by Hal Schmitt, the soon to be legendary Digital Photography Instructor. Hal ran through most of the controls on the Curves Adjustment Panel using provided images (in case you wanted to do the exercises along with him.) He missed a couple on the bottom as we sorta ran out of time. But as always with Hal, he revealed two or three little tidbits that just wouldn't have occurred to me ... things as simple as dragging control points off the histogram to get rid of them, using the pencil, using the luminosity blending mode (which I should know but keep forgetting) when there is crossover coloring and a few others that I don't recall at the moment. This, of course, in addition to demonstrating the power of curves for adjusting contrast in images in RGB, explaining how the slope of the curve correlates to that contrast, how to use control points and how to mask when using the adjustments panel.
Normally, this hour long session, as part of a weekly series, would cost a whopping $5 (paid monthly ... ). What is it that you can get for $5/hour these days? And watch in the comfort of your own home while sipping on a gin and tonic and maybe a fancy chip or two? [I know Hal and Victoria would probably sip wine, but my wife hordes Hal's wine.]
So, a couple of other little items: MNL (this series) doesn't have an itinerary ... you can't really know what's coming! I thought this was bad. Now I see the added power ... if something really striking comes along there is no more than a week wait before Hal can share it. I mean there's a ton of stuff in the waiting queue, some of which I have requested, so it's not like there's nothing to talk about, but if there is a new update to Lightroom, new NIK filter, some cleverness with Imagenomic Portraiture or a hot new feature of Photomatix, it doesn't have to wait three months to get onto the end of the schedule!
Also, for those who prefer more structure in their lives, even in the online world, there is a schedule of more conventional webinars at LIGHT here. I'm considering Wednesday's Retouching People if I can get through some paying work tonight to clear the decks. I am hopeful that this schedule will be expanded significantly.
So, if you are feeling like you've lost the muse, are bored with your work, need to find some zippy energy by learning something new but don't have time to take a class or pore over a magazine article, then I'm suggesting MNL.
Usual Disclaimer: I am not compensated by LIGHT for these reviews (except by Victoria's gorgeous smile.)
Travel Safe!
Dwight
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Light Photographic Workshops: Online Seminars
LIGHT Photographic Workshops (formerly Lepp Institute) has started a new service: Online Seminars. They seem to come in two flavors: specific topics with one time subscriptions and Monday Night LIGHTS (MNL) with unannounced topics. The MNL series is amazingly cheap: $5 a shot for once a week paid either monthly or annually. [Please note that you must verify all this information yourself ... I am only reporting what I believe to be the case.]
As an introduction to this service LIGHT occasionally offers "free" seminars and one of those is coming on next Monday night, June 8th. You can sign up at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/208559489 as well as find system requirements and time. My inside tip is that this seminar will be about curves for all you folks fearful of this adjustment.
Their website, after rebranding from Lepp to LIGHT is still available at http://www.leppphoto.com/index.html for more detailed information.
Hope to see you there!
Travel Safe.
Dwight
As an introduction to this service LIGHT occasionally offers "free" seminars and one of those is coming on next Monday night, June 8th. You can sign up at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/208559489 as well as find system requirements and time. My inside tip is that this seminar will be about curves for all you folks fearful of this adjustment.
Their website, after rebranding from Lepp to LIGHT is still available at http://www.leppphoto.com/index.html for more detailed information.
Hope to see you there!
Travel Safe.
Dwight
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Los Olivos Dance Gallery Centre Stage 2009: 300 Ballerinas
Last week I shot 300 ballerinas during the Los Olivos Dance Gallery Centre Stage 2009 annual performance recital in Solvang, California's Festival Theater. This was the third year I have done this as a volunteer in support of Artistic Director Maggie Mesikep. It is an awesome experience to watch these girls (and a few guys) perform ... sometimes I am so moved that I forget to press the shutter release. 
My daughter, Anna, age seven, just completed her third year as a dancer-in-training. I got involved when Mike Mesikep, husband of Maggie and Chief Photographer and Technical Director for the shows, lost his primary volunteer photographer as the result of a family tragedy and came to me as a possible participant. I agreed to shoot the dress rehearsal. It was a mistake ... but only in the best way: after that first experience I took vacation from my day job and shot for four days straight.
OK, now let me go back and correct a couple of things. First, it isn't just ballet ... I just say that because it appeals to me. There is ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop, flamenco and I expect others that I am totally ignorant about. I am not a dance person. As for the shooting, Mike pretty much just says, "Come and do your thing" and I do. Many of you will know that I am the house photographer for the Entertainment Department at the Chumash Casino Resort and have a lot of experience shooting world class performers ... and my boss at the casino, Wayne Hurte, gives the same kind of management ... "Go do what you do!" I am quite comfortable shooting what amounts to a continual stream of "One time only and just for an instant" captures for which my 'Best in the World' Canon cameras work wonders. It is a gift many, many years in the making.
Festival Theater is almost a Theater-in-the-Round ... similar to what I think of as the Shakespearean setup with a stage that projects out into the audience but with a tall facade off one edge where lighting and dressing rooms exist. It is nestled almost in the middle of Solvang, California, which is a pseudo-Danish tourist trap. The images from my 'Eye-in-the-Sky' (this year a Canon 5D Mark II with 24-105mm f/2.8L) are from as high in this facade as they will let me go.
This year I spent my hours sitting on a cold hard concrete step with a wool blanket as padding and no back support. Next year I'm getting a seat! I'm too old for this.
The performances include the dress rehearsal day with both juniors and seniors. The public performances are by juniors on Saturday morning and by seniors on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings. It is a huge production involving about half the little girls in the valley and their families ... there is a lot of family participation as Maggie and Mike make everyone feel essential and loved.
I shot using two Canon 1DMIII's bodies and a variety of lenses from 14mm f/2.8L to 70-200mm f/2.8L IS and including 16-35mm f/2.8L and 24-70mm f/2.8L. Selecting some example images to include with this blog entry is almost impossible. I have 1236 "Keepers" that I will provide to Mike on a DVD and from which I must select for here. I hope they are representative! You can click on the images in the blog post to see larger versions. For the technically inclined, the larger versions contain both EXIF and IPTC data for your persual.
I am already planning for next year. Mike and I are going to try to put a second 'Eye-in-the-Sky' camera in one of the very high lighting towers that sit up behind the amphitheater style seating ... the lighting provider says I'll have to wear a harness to climb the pole to the tiny little platform where the ellipticals are positioned, but it'll be worth it to capture images from directly above and from a high angle out front at the same time. I do have to remember to use bigger CF cards. This year I used 8GB and ran out of space. Next year I'll use 16GB or bigger. There's always something new to learn! The following photograph is a three frame panorama stitched together by Photoshop ... there's "errors" near the middle:
Below are Maggie and Mike with their daughter Hannah.
Travel safe!
Dwight
My daughter, Anna, age seven, just completed her third year as a dancer-in-training. I got involved when Mike Mesikep, husband of Maggie and Chief Photographer and Technical Director for the shows, lost his primary volunteer photographer as the result of a family tragedy and came to me as a possible participant. I agreed to shoot the dress rehearsal. It was a mistake ... but only in the best way: after that first experience I took vacation from my day job and shot for four days straight.
OK, now let me go back and correct a couple of things. First, it isn't just ballet ... I just say that because it appeals to me. There is ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop, flamenco and I expect others that I am totally ignorant about. I am not a dance person. As for the shooting, Mike pretty much just says, "Come and do your thing" and I do. Many of you will know that I am the house photographer for the Entertainment Department at the Chumash Casino Resort and have a lot of experience shooting world class performers ... and my boss at the casino, Wayne Hurte, gives the same kind of management ... "Go do what you do!" I am quite comfortable shooting what amounts to a continual stream of "One time only and just for an instant" captures for which my 'Best in the World' Canon cameras work wonders. It is a gift many, many years in the making.
Festival Theater is almost a Theater-in-the-Round ... similar to what I think of as the Shakespearean setup with a stage that projects out into the audience but with a tall facade off one edge where lighting and dressing rooms exist. It is nestled almost in the middle of Solvang, California, which is a pseudo-Danish tourist trap. The images from my 'Eye-in-the-Sky' (this year a Canon 5D Mark II with 24-105mm f/2.8L) are from as high in this facade as they will let me go.
This year I spent my hours sitting on a cold hard concrete step with a wool blanket as padding and no back support. Next year I'm getting a seat! I'm too old for this.
The performances include the dress rehearsal day with both juniors and seniors. The public performances are by juniors on Saturday morning and by seniors on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings. It is a huge production involving about half the little girls in the valley and their families ... there is a lot of family participation as Maggie and Mike make everyone feel essential and loved.
I shot using two Canon 1DMIII's bodies and a variety of lenses from 14mm f/2.8L to 70-200mm f/2.8L IS and including 16-35mm f/2.8L and 24-70mm f/2.8L. Selecting some example images to include with this blog entry is almost impossible. I have 1236 "Keepers" that I will provide to Mike on a DVD and from which I must select for here. I hope they are representative! You can click on the images in the blog post to see larger versions. For the technically inclined, the larger versions contain both EXIF and IPTC data for your persual.
I am already planning for next year. Mike and I are going to try to put a second 'Eye-in-the-Sky' camera in one of the very high lighting towers that sit up behind the amphitheater style seating ... the lighting provider says I'll have to wear a harness to climb the pole to the tiny little platform where the ellipticals are positioned, but it'll be worth it to capture images from directly above and from a high angle out front at the same time. I do have to remember to use bigger CF cards. This year I used 8GB and ran out of space. Next year I'll use 16GB or bigger. There's always something new to learn! The following photograph is a three frame panorama stitched together by Photoshop ... there's "errors" near the middle:
Below are Maggie and Mike with their daughter Hannah.
Travel safe!
Dwight
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