I think winter is finally over....

After making it through a snow-filled winter, I know I can't wait for spring. If last weekend did not get the spring fever juices flowing, then perhaps you should go live in Alaska. I actually found a kid who was playing with his snow sled while it was 70 degrees. I thought it actually made for a good photo op. He brought it out to pull his younger brother from his bicycle. The water was a result of him dumping the water (melted snow) from inside of it before his brother (and then my son) got in. It didn't work.

Shooting outside during late afternoon is awesome. Just go outside, no need for flash or assistants. Just shoot with natural light. The sun is your main light and it is coming in from a nice direction (any direction other than directly overhead is a nice direction). It's so nice to just go out and shoot without having to set up loads of equipment. Don't get me wrong, that equipment helps make for some great photos that would never be possible in natural light. Natural light is just nice because there is no setup and you are not carrying a bag of tricks.....just a camera without flash.

I don't know who's having more fun....him or me!

Just having some fun

Every now and then, it's good to keep the creative juices flowing by messing around with some of the capabilities of your camera and trying some trick shots. Clients may not always like what you have done, so if you are going to include these shots into the final selections, try not to showcase them as if to say, "AND CHECK THIS ONE OUT". Let them stumble across these images and see if they comment on them. And make sure you have covered all the safe shots before trying these shots.

I was shooting a birthday party recently in a very small room and I didn't want every shot to look the same as there were only a few different positions I could take and was using up every possible camera angle I could think of. I began to play with a technique I learned from the master David Hobby, aka. "The Strobist ". It is actually not that difficult. The only things you need are a zoom lens and a slow shutter speed. It involves zooming the lens while the shutter is open. The results can sometimes look cool and sometimes not. It is personal preference really. The more you try it, the better the chance of getting a cool shot.

I thought this one came out pretty cool, but some people are just not into this type of stuff.

Gotta go for now, Peace!

Long Island Landscapes

I don't have the luxury of traveling to exotic places to take landscape photos. Some people actually make a living from taking images of some of the most beautiful scenes in the world (Jealous). I do however, really enjoy landscape photography, so my goal is to test out my theories with the scenes that Long Island has to offer. I love beach scenes and we have plenty of those, so it's a good place to start.

There are a few things to think about before releasing that shutter of a landscape. The true challenge is in my opinion is how do I make this image look different from every other image out there. Now, I'm not totally concerned about this when taking the picture. My main goal is to try to make the scene look as close to how I see it through my eyes. When I look at a scene, I try to be aware of exactly where my eyes are focused throughout the scene and I then make sure I focus my lens on that same spot. It is easy to focus your lens to infinity every time you you take a landscape shot, but selective focus can play a large role in the mood of an image, no matter how simple or complex the composition.

Another thing to note is that our eyes see panoramic, and sometimes an image may not come to life unless it is a pano. This is not something you want to do too often however (in my opinion). It takes the novelty away if used too much. But when you stitch together a really nice panoramic image that you took yourself for the first time, you will give yourself a pat on the back. Some cameras these days (I have heard) actually have a pano setting and do the stitching for you in-camera. That takes most of the fun out of it. I guess some shooters want instant gratification by viewing the completed shot in the tiny viewfinder on their camera.

Another thing to consider is the tonal range of your camera. Our pro cameras are only capable of handling 5 sometimes 6 stops of tonal range. On days when the sun is high in the sky and it is really bright, and your subjects may also have some dark tones, your camera my not be able to handle capturing the photo the way you are seeing it through your eyes, HDR (High Dynamic Range) is the answer. How this works is you take more then one bracketed exposure capturing all the tones in the scene and blend them together in software. The result is really cool. Keep in mind that focus point and aperture can not change through the different bracketed exposures, so set the camera on manual and find the exposure bracketing setting on your camera.

HDR ROCKS!

Outdoor Events Cont'd

Air Shows are obviously few and far between. Not a lot of opportunities to shoot them unless you have the time to follow them around the country. Car Shows on the other hand occur every weekend on Long Island. Just grab a copy of the local event newspaper and you will find tons of information on public events that you may never actually hear about because there is a very select crowd.

There are some really beautiful cars on Long Island. You have to appreciate the care that goes into keeping them looking so nice. I like the fact that it is also challenging to shoot on a very bright day when the subjects sometimes have some wild paint schemes and a lot of shine. It is a nice break from shooting people when you are an event photographer.

Most people like to take pictures and they leave their cameras on full auto. This means that they are fully reliant on the decisions that the camera is making to determine the exposure, but do not understand how it comes to make this decision. The fact is, the camera usually does a good job in determining the exposures correctly (or in the ballpark), but the camera can get fooled sometimes. If you do not care to find out and are happy with the cameras decision all of the time, then that's one less thing you need to learn. But if you would like to explore the cameras capabilities to take different types of images with the same light and subjects, then turn the camera on manual and explore.

The first place to start when shooting outdoors on a sunny day is to try the Sunny 16 Rule. Put the camera on manual exposure, set the aperture to f16, and set the shutter speed to whatever the ISO is set to. If your ISO is set to 100, then set the shutter speed to 100 (or 125; it doesn't have to be exact). Take some pictures with this setting and see how they look. Then, make some adjustments based on how the images look.

Next, I will post some landscape from around Long Island.

Peace!

Outdoor Events to Shoot

There are so many reasons to get out there an shoot when the weather gets nice. People flock outdoors as soon as the sun comes back around for a visit and rightfully so. I mean, I do live on an island surrounded by water and have pretty much grown up at the beach.

One event I try to never miss is the Jones Beach Air Show. This event occurs every year during Memorial Day weekend and it gives the word traffic a whole new meaning. I was able to catch the Thunderbirds and Showbirds there last year, the Blue Angels the year before and many other acts to enjoy during the show. Most spectators bring cameras with them and do not have the focal length to get a close enough shot that doesn't just look like a black spec in the air followed by a lot of smoke. Others, I have seen with heavy-duty tripods with thousands of dollars worth of equipment mounted on as if they were shooting the event for a magazine cover. I like getting all different types of shots during these events. I am not getting paid to shoot, so I am pretty loose and it is out of pure enjoyment. I can then go home and look at the pictures with my kids and they can see close up what really was making all that noise.

In the end, this is really what it's all about.

The Groom is THE MAN!

The groom always gets the back seat when it comes to wedding photos. The focus is usually on the Bride and the dress. Well, I try to give the groom a little spotlight of his own. I figure, it's only fair to make the man look like THE MAN!

Almost Engagement Season

Wedding season is almost here. I am so looking forward to the nice weather. I love shooting outside and one of the things I look forward to when I book a wedding is I ask all my clients if they would be interested in an engagement session. Some of them have never even heard of an engagement session (usually the guys).

An engagement session is simply a 1-2 hour session where we go to the location the client selects (or I suggest) and I will follow them around and play paparazzi for a while. This type of session is a benefit to both me and the client. It gives us both the opportunity to test each other out. I get to see how the client looks in front of the camera in a more relaxed setting, no dress, bouquet, tux, limo, wedding party.....just each other.

Some shots will be set up and some are just the couple hanging out, talking, and having fun. Who gets to say they had the opportunity to have a professional photographer follow them around for an hour and get some great relaxed fun images that they can show off to their friends and family. Best of all.....they get to show them off at the wedding. I can design a poster-sized collage that includes several of the images from the engagement shoot and display it on an easel at the wedding reception in a beautiful frame and a light in case the venue is to dark. Every time I have done this, I always catch crowds of people staring at the collage whenever coming in or out of the wedding reception. It is always a big hit.

Looking forward to a great season. I will post images whenever I have the opportunity.

Mark