review: RadioPoppers P1
[ click on the photo to see a larger image] Apathy Angel against the backdrop of the Manhattan skyline. The settings for the image above was 1/2000 @ f1.6 @ 100 ISO, and the reason for the wide aperture was that I wanted to have the skyline appear as that dreamlike haze in the background. The bright light though, forced a very fast shutter speed. In this case 1/2000th would let the background over-expose a little and blow out somewhat, but give me some detail. But to control the lighting on my model more specifically than just the available light, I used flash. For the lighting Read more inside...
from the hip …
Here is a simple technique which some of you might already know of - shooting from the hip without looking through the viewfinder. At weddings, when photographing the party and dancing during the reception with a wide-angle lens, I often don't hold the camera up to my eye. Instead I rely on the infra-red beam from the speedlight to show me what the camera is focusing on. Then, using the focus-lock-and-hold method, I keep focus and reframe the shot if needed. This way I can shoot from the hip without looking through the viewfinder, but still have images that are well composed. Here are Read more inside...
broken Canon 580EX II hotshoe foot
One of the most visited pages on this website is the instructional post on how to repair the foot of the Canon 580EX speedlite. Since the foot of the original 580EX is made from plastic, it is easy to break ... but also easy to repair. I broke the foot off my 580EX II some time back, by lowering my camera too fast to the ground by the strap. The camera and lens tilted over, and the flash smacked the ground a touch harder than the gentle soft landing I anticipated. Because the foot of the 580EX II is now made of metal, there is nothing to give, except the body of the speedlight. And this Read more inside...
dreamy goodness: Canon 200mm f2 L IS
Canon 1D Mark III - Canon 200mm f2 L IS USM (B&H) - 1/300th @ f2 @ 125 ISO [ click on the photo to see a larger image] Canon recently upgraded their legendary 200mm f1.8 with an 200mm f2 version which has Image Stabilization. So out of curiosity I rented this lens from LensProToGo, to play with it and test it out. Here is the beast of a lens: the Canon 200mm f2 L IS USM (B&H) This is the kind of lens which is best used (or in a way ONLY to be used) at its maximum aperture. That wide aperture of f2 gives you an incredibly thin depth of field, and hence, that dreamy Read more inside...
Nikon D700 : preview
hands-on preview: Nikon D700
Nikon D700 ..-. 1/125th @ f3.5 @ 32oo ISO. [ click on the image to see a 100% crop ] The Nikon D700 camera (B&H) and Nikon SB-900 speedlight (B&H), were released today, to my great anticipation. I expected to see D3 quality images in a body about the size of the D300, and accessibly priced for what it delivers. This evening I drove in to Manhattan so I could roam around Times Square to test the low-light capabilities of this camera. This after all is what the D3 is renowned for, and the D700 promises to deliver the same image quality. Read more inside...modifying a modifier
This idea of how to modify that black foam half-snoot that I use to flag my speedlight with, was sent to me by Randall Todd. It allows the flag to be attached to the speedlight much easier than my less sophisticated method of using hair-bands. "I have made and used Peter Gregg's ABBC and found it to be very useful. Instead of using his big rubber bands I went with a Velcro design. The attached photos should show if fairly well. It's simply 10-1/4" of the fuzzy side of sticky hook & loop material on the outside and about 9" of "3M" rubbery shelf liner on the inside. I used a Read more inside...
bouncing flash inside large venues
bouncing flash inside large venues - adding TTL flash to ambient light
One of the ideas that has been mentioned here previously, is when using on-camera flash indoors, to approach it with a studio mind-set where possible. Instead of bouncing flash upwards towards the ceiling, or even simply behind you, the idea is to think "where would I have placed my softbox if this were a studio?" Then it is simply a matter of pointing the on-camera flash in that direction, and flagging any spill light from the flashgun. I most often use a piece of black foam to flag my on-camera speedlight. Read more inside...flash and tungsten lighting
flash and tungsten lighting - gelling your flash for incandescent lighting
Flash, for me, is an essential tool in sweetening the available light and improving the quality of the existing light. I often see comments on the photography forums to the effect that with cameras like the Nikon D3 or Canon 1D mk3, where you have exceptional high-iso noise performance, that you don't need flash. The crucial point that is missed though, is that flash is not merely there just to use when the light is so poor that you can't stop any motion blur from your subject, or stop camera shake Read more inside...spotlight interview
Every week James Robinson features an interview on his blog with a photographer that has caught his attention. And this week the privilege is mine - and you can read it here: spotlight interview - photographer Neil van Niekerk. And for no other reason than to spruce up this quickie post, here is one of my favorite images from a destination wedding I photographed in the Bahamas recently. Other interviews with me Read more inside...