The breathtaking sight of lightning splitting the evening sky has to be one of the more dramatic subjects to photograph... and also surprisingly easy.
A vivid burst of purple lightning over this store, framed by the arch of the veranda I was sheltering under, contrasts perfectly with the yellow cast of the artificial light. Of a series of 10 photos I took here, there were 2 usable images with lightning. The strong color cast are from the street-lights, and having used daylight-balanced film.
April '91 .. Colesberg; South Africa
Pentax Super-A; Read more inside...
Directional light from your on-camera bounce flash
Most often when photographers start using their flashguns out of the directly-forward position, they move the flash head to point 45’ or 90’ upward. The idea here is to bounce flash off the ceiling. Even though this is an improvement in most cases over using the flashgun pointing directly forward, this is also most often not ideal. We can improve on this.
If we consider how studio lights are set up, we’ll rarely see a light source directly overhead of our subject. Top lighting just isn’t as flattering as light coming in from an Read more inside...
I've been so inspired by the various photographers at seminars and magazine articles, telling everyone to just look for the light and to find the light.
So many photographers just use available light, and make the rest of us who aren't blessed with perfect light like they have in la-la-land, feel so inadequate. It is our failing as photographers if we can't find the light and use it properly. I felt I had to rise up to this and push myself as a photographer, and just look for the light. It is there to be found!
Inspired like that, I approached Read more inside...
Developing your photographic style - the necessary photo gear
A constant debate that I see online is whether a specific piece of equipment is justifiable. And whether it is justifiable in terms of a business decision. The discussion typically centers around something like the eternal, "What will the 85mm f1.2 give me that the 85mm f1.8 won't? And is it worth $1000 more?"
But I feel that in phrasing the question like that, the real effects that equipment choice have on our style are disregarded. I firmly believe that:
Style should always be evolving, borne from our choices and Read more inside...
You know you've arrived when other photographers start ripping off your images and text from your website. I was double lucky here - my entire website was appropriated by another photographer.
How I discovered this - a friend let me know that when googling my name, there is a link that comes up with another photographer's website. So I checked it, and sure enough - there it is with some of my images, and a copy of the original HTML-based design of my website, One Perfect Moment, as it appeared at the time. My entire website ripped Read more inside...
How to use the camera's histogram for exposure metering
Histograms display the relative levels of the darker to brighter tones. As the histogram stands, it isn't of much direct use to us, since the tonality of the scene that was captured will dictate what the histogram shows us .. without a direct indication of whether exposure is correct.
Some will say that a histogram should have an even bell-shaped curve, but this is too simplistic. A light toned subject against a white wall will show a much different histogram that a dark toned subject against a dark wall .. even though the Read more inside...
Generally, you wouldn't use flash to photography fireworks. But when you have someone in the foreground, then it becomes useful to have your subject lit up with flash, to balance them with the background (the fireworks display.)
Photographing people with fireworks in the background, is just an application of the technique known as dragging the shutter. I had the couple in an area where there wasn't much ambient light, so that I could light them mostly with flash. The strobe was a Quantum T2 with an umbrella, used in manual.
My flash exposure Read more inside...
Tightening the hotshoe on the Canon 1D series camera
If your hotshoe on your Canon 1D series camera has become loose, it is an easy fix! Somehow the 4 little screws that hold the hot shoe to the camera body can wriggle loose over time, causing the flashgun to wobble. This can even lead to poor contact between the flashgun and the camera.
Fortunately, to fix this, all you need is a set of jeweler's screwdrivers. Read more inside...
Since the 580EX has a plastic foot, it is very easy to snap it off in the camera's hotshoe. The photo above shows the typical damage sustained.
The repair is simple, and the cost of the part from Canon's Service Center.
The part nr is: CY2-1227-000
Replacing the broken foot is relatively easy: Read more inside...
This, ladies and gentlemen, is why using a UV filter on your lens is a good idea. Usually. Some times.
The strange thing is, I have NO idea when this happened during a shoot at a reception venue where I was doing room shots and detail shots. Most of the times I was using two cameras, with the other one slung over my shoulder. At some point I lifted the camera to my eye and noticed rainbow colored diffraction patterns across the image. My immediate reaction was .. huh? My lens is THAT dirty? And then I checked and saw the actual Read more inside...
