Online Photography Courses: The PERFECT PICTURE School Of Photography

2011-03-01T21:55:00.000-08:00

PPSOP Instructors Chris Hurtt and Kevin Focht do a free live video webcast answering YOUR questions every week. Check out the live feed HERE! When you get to that site keep in mind that this isn't the PPSOP site so you have to create a new login or just view as a guest.

We go live tomorrow at 10am Pacific time! Have a question? Ask on line. If you can't watch live? No worries, we have you covered! Post your questions to our facebook page and we will get to as many as we can. You can watch the episode at your convenience any time after the broadcast.

Hope to SEE you tomorrow!

2010-11-05T14:42:00.000-07:00

New video tip from PPSOP founder Bryan Peterson!

www.PPSOP.com

2010-11-03T14:06:00.000-07:00

Video Tip!

Shooting Pigeons with Bryan Peterson!

2010-07-14T07:48:00.001-07:00

A Different Perspective on Pet Photography by Jill Flynn

If you follow your pets around the house and outside, they will lead you to your next
memorable portrait. Always listen to your animals and take what they give you - it beats a posed shot any day. Whether it's natural light portraits, studio style portraits or outdoor portraits, find or create beautiful light and photograph your animals being themselves. Keeping it simple is sometimes the best idea.

Photos of animals sleeping make wonderful portraits. I don't know any dog or cat that does not like to take a nap. If they have a favorite chair, couch, blanket, etc., position it in a room that has good light. A nice big window with diffused light at a 45-degree angle will illuminate your pet beautifully. Remember you want a room filled with beautiful light not direct sunlight. Patience is key, so keep your camera on hand and when your pet finally takes a nap, seize the moment. A splash of color can make a portrait pop. If you don't have colorful furniture, you can place a colorful blanket on top. My dog, Gracie, loves her afternoon siesta. I photographed her from a slightly high angle looking down so I could show her face being framed between her two paws and to accentuate the long, elegant lines of her nose and paws.

My cat, Murphy, likes to hang out in the bathtub. I don't know if it's because it's cooler in the tub or if it's because it's one of the few places Gracie doesn't hassle him ... maybe it's a little bit of both. Either way he loves the tub and looks so cute in there. Cats are always hanging out in unique places. Photograph your cat in their favorite spot. Bathrooms often have great light and a white tub will provide even more light. Many cats like to sit inside sinks. That is another great spot for a portrait. Get your pet to look at the camera, focus on the eyes, make it personal, and capture their personality. Make sure you illuminate the face with diffused light - that will bring out detail, color and give spark/life to the eyes. It will make all the difference in the world. Positioning your main light source at a 45-degree angle is a good start and will give you flattering results.

My cat, Mister, is a sun worshiper. He loves to bask in the sun. My kitchen gets bright afternoon sun and Mister is always there. Direct sunlight is not flattering light, but it will give you interesting shadows and contrasts. I love Mister's "three legged shadow" and face shadow. I also love the interplay of light and shadow on the tile. The strong contrast makes a visual impact and the window light provides very cool framing. Underexpose by 1 or 2 stops to make the shadows darker or play around with the exposure until you get the look you want. I stood on a chair and shot down so I could take in the whole scene. My cat "gave me this shot,"- thank goodness I was paying attention! Stand on a chair or ladder for unique perspectives and use the environment and shadows creatively to tell your story.

Next time you walk your dog, take your camera and be on the lookout for neat shadows. Shadows are longer late in the day or early in the morning when the sun is low in the sky. I took this picture of my dog, Friday, and me in the middle of the street. The light was behind us and I loved the way it illuminated Friday. Since it was late in the day, the light was warm and the shadows long. It was great. I showed just a portion of Friday's head in the lower portion of the frame to make it personal and add some color and fur. This is one of my favorite and last photos I took of Friday. She loved to go for walks. It will always have special meaning for me because it shows the bond we had and our daily ritual. She passed away a few weeks ago. She was 15 1/2 years old. I miss her dearly and I miss our walks. Try to capture the special relationship between you and your pet. Take pictures EVERY chance you get. They are ALL special. When taking shadow shots like this, underexpose by 1 stop or more to make the shadows darker and more defined. You can also enhance or give your image a boost with Levels and Curves adjustment in
PhotoShop. It's all part of the workflow and the creative process. I added a dark vignette around the edges to emphasize the shadows.

Take cues from your pets and capture those everyday moments. They end up being the most memorable and special portraits ... and always photograph what you love.

Jill Flynn
www.visualharmonyphotography.com

Jill teaches the following courses:
Pet Photography
Photography Adventure Course 2

2010-07-13T23:37:00.000-07:00

Learning to see…

Learning to see creatively is very dependent on what your camera and lens can and cannot see. Captains of ships need to become very familiar with their maps as they navigate the world, making certain to keep the ship pointed in the right direction. In much the same way, your lenses are maps that can lead you to new and enchanting lands. With constant practice, which will only come by placing the camera and lens to your eye, you’ll begin to visually memorize the unique vision of each and every lens—both the pluses and the minuses. The more you do this, the less likely you’ll be hearing yourself ask the question, “what lens should I use?” You’ll learn just how vast an area a wide-angle lens can cover, or how a telephoto lens can select a single subject out of an otherwise busy and hectic scene. It won’t be too much longer until you’ll find yourself knowing, without hesitation, what lens to use as you see one picture-taking opportunity after another.

Then, you can begin to take this new found vision to even greater heights, challenging yourself to view the forest from a toad’s point of view, or the city streets from a sidewalk point of view, or your backyard from a robin’s-nest point of view. (Ladders are not just for house painting.) Lie on your back at the base of a large fir tree and show me the point of view of the squirrel that raced up it only moments ago. Set your camera on the shoulder of the road, and fire away just as the big semi truck comes into view. A composition like this will, for example, make it dramatically obvious why it is so important that the city council build a small underpass for the ducks that cross that same busy road every spring.

Whether or not your compositions are compelling depends not on some magic recipe, but rather on a thorough understanding of lens choice, point of view, elements of design, and final arrangement, or composition. All of these are, as I said, “maps” that require studying, some more then others. Both your fears and preconceived notions will be challenged. How will you ever share with others the robin’s-nest viewpoint if you’re afraid of heights? How will you share the busy sidewalk view if the idea of lying down on the sidewalk is too intimidating? You’ll certainly hit a “reef” now and then, and you may even feel compelled to abandon ship at times.

What If. . . ?

Once you begin making discoveries about how your lenses see, don’t be surprised if you find yourself at times consumed by the question “What if. . . ?” What if you focus close on your toaster that just burnt the toast and, as the blue smoke rises from inside, we see your wife—with the baby in her arms—out of focus in the background, running towards it? What if you focus on a passport lying on the sidewalk and we see an obvious out of focus businessman getting into a taxi in the background? What if you focus on a bottle of sleeping pills with an out of focus woman asleep in her bed in the background? What if from inside the house or garage, you focus close on a broken window-pane with an out of focus solemn-looking little boy, glove and bat in hand, in the yard in the background? What if you focus on just the thumb of a hitchhiker on a busy interstate? What if you focus close on just the used syringe in an alleyway? What if you focused close just on the. . . ?

Our desire to see objects up close is innate- a longing for intimate encounters perhaps. And when we combine an up close and personal view of a given subject, we can in turn control the subjects “visual weight” via the proper selection in aperture. It is the aperture in combination with the close focus that determines the overall sharpness in a given scene. And in both of the finished examples shown here, focusing close and the use of a large lens opening, f/5.6, emphasizes the foreground flowers, and in turn the background is rendered into out of focus shapes and tones. It’s as if the flowers have been given a voice, a voice that says quite simply, “Look where I get to bloom!”

The very small village of Jarnioux, France is listed as one France’s Most Beautiful Villages and for good reason. I have shot in Jarnioux more then a dozen times, during all seasons and I never ceased to be amazed at making new discoveries here. As we can see in the first example, the village boasts an old church and castle, and along it’s nearby fields and roadside ditches one can often find wildflowers blooming in the spring and summer. After shooting the first image:

Nikon D300S-Nikkor 28-70mm F/5.6 @ a 1/800 second, 200 ISO

The thought then occurred to me, “What if I could show the village of Jarnioux from the flowers perspective, as if the flowers wanted everyone to know where they lived?” With the aid of my Nikkor 28-70mm f/2.8 lens I was able to move in really close to a single flower stalk and when combined with a large lens opening, I was able to give the flowers a voice.

N ikon D300S-Nikkor 28-70mm F/5.6 @ a 1/800 second, 200 ISO

As this second photograph shows, it’s as if the flowers are now exclaiming, “Look where I get to bloom!”

The Valensole Plain in Provence France is a lavender shooters paradise. Once you drive up on any number of small roads that lead to the top of the plain, you will be greeted with waves of lavender as far as the eye can see. It’s an area that is truly hard to take a bad picture! However, having shot ‘waves of lavender’ many times already, I was once again looking for something new. It was then I spotted these yellow flowers in a large expansive field of lavender.

N ikon D300S, Nikkor 70-300mm ED-IF VR, f/5.6 @ 1/1000 second, ISO 200

I new I could once again place the visual weight on these flowers and render the waves of lavender as out of focus shapes and tones in the background. Again, I was able to give the flowers a voice.

Nikon D300S, Nikkor 70-300mm ED-IF VR, f/5.6 @ 1/1000 second, ISO 200

As the second photograph clearly shows, “Look where we get to bloom!”

Get to know your lenses and their unique visions and instead of asking what lens should I use, you will soon be asking “what if…”

2010-07-09T11:14:00.001-07:00

MAKING A SPLASH

A tip from PPSOP instructor David Nightingale

One of the hardest photographic lessons to learn is that your camera sees things differently to you. For example, when you shoot a backlit portrait and rely on your camera's meter to determine the exposure, you will often find that you end up with a shot where your subject is too dark and the background is too bright. The problem here is that our ability to perceive dynamic range - the ratio between the darkest and lightest areas of a scene, or 'contrast ratio' - far exceeds the sensitivity of our camera's sensor, i.e. it's just not capable of recording detail in both the brightest AND darkest areas simultaneously. In these circumstances then, we have three choices. First, we can wait for better light, or move our subject into the shade. Second, we can artificially lower the contrast ratio between our subject and background by adding some light using fill-flash or a reflector. Both of these methods will reduce the contrast ratio between your subject and the background, allowing you to record detail in both areas of the image. Third, rather than relying on your metered exposure you can take a meter reading from your subject rather than the scene as a whole. This will lighten your subject, but will probably blow out at least some of the details in the background. Whichever of these methods you use, you can guarantee that it will produce a better image than the metered exposure.

In the example we're going to discuss in this week's tip though we have the opposite problem, i.e. the contrast ratio between the darkest and lightest areas of the original scene is quite low. If you take a look at the original image (a shot of a waterfall at the Dubai International Financial Centre) you will see what I mean - it's a rather dull, flat shot.

If we take a look at the histogram we can see why: the majority of the tones are bunched just to the left of the middle. In other words, we have lots of fairly dark mid-tone values but relatively few bright highlights or deep shadow detail.

In this case then my perception of the scene - as a bright, dynamic composition - is at odds with the reality that my camera's sensor recorded: the contrast ratio was lower than it appeared. Again, there are a variety of solutions. I could have waited for better light, or added some directional strobe light, but I also knew that this would be really easy to adjust during post-production, i.e. by using a couple of relatively straightforward techniques I would be able to produce a much more striking image.

So, let's take a look at the three, relatively straightforward changes that were made to this image during post-production.

Before we do though, if you'd like to take a more detailed look at the various adjustments that were made to this image, you can download a copy of the PSD file (1.5MB) here:

http://www.chromasia.com/.../ppsop_tip_mas.psd.zip

CROP AND ROTATION
The first change I made, as you can see below, was to flip the image horizontally, rotate it 90 degrees clockwise, and then crop the image to 16x9 aspect ratio. None of these changes were strictly necessary, but I decided that I was going to aim for a fairly abstract image from the outset; one that would really emphasise the interplay between the brightest and darkest areas of the image.

INCREASING THE CONTRAST

If you have already downloaded and opened the PSD file you will have noticed that this image was adjusted using just three curves. The first two - Curves 1 and Curves 2 - were used to add a dramatic increase in contrast.

Curves 1
As you can see from the image below Curves 1 is a strong S-Curve (a term that is used to describe this shape of curve) that significantly brightens the highlights and deepens the shadows. In other words, it increases the contrast ratio between the brightest and darkest areas.

Curves 2
Curves 2 is also an S-Curve, and again, it brightens the highlights and deepens the shadows.

If you've familiar with the Curves Tool in Photoshop you may be wondering why I used two Curves when I could probably have just used a stronger S-Curve from the outset, i.e. one adjustment layer rather than two. The reason, in this instance, is that it's often quite difficult to get exactly the right tonal balance when you've making a very large change in contrast, i.e. moving any of the control points on a single curve can have quite a profound effect on the appearance of the final image. If you use two curves, on the other hand, it's often much easier to fine tune the effect and get exactly the right balance of tones.

The net result of these changes, as you can see below, is that the image is now considerably more interesting: the detail within the stream of water is now much more pronounced, and the image as a whole appears to have more depth.

At this stage, I could have stopped - the image is a big improvement on the original - but I decided to accentuate the almost abstract nature of the image by toning it.

TONING THE IMAGE

There are a whole variety of tools and techniques you can use to tone an image, but in this instance I used another Curve, as illustrated below.

In this instance, rather than altering the RGB composite curve, I altered both the Green and Blue curves (to do this you just need to select one of the individual channels using the drop-down menu towards the top-left of the Curves dialog).

The change to the blue curve is probably self-explanatory; by adding a control point to the middle of this curve, and dragging the line to the left, I added some blue to the midtones. By contrast, by adding a control point to the green curve and dragging the line to the right, I removed some green from the midtones. While it's easy to imagine the effect that adding blue will have - the image will be more blue - it's a bit harder to visualize what effect removing a colour will have. What does less green look like? There is an easier way to think about this though, i.e. when you lower the amount of a specific colour within an image you proportionally increase the amount of it's complimentary colour. If you're unfamiliar with this term, take a look at the screen grab below.

If you look around the border of the image in a clockwise direction, starting on the right, you will see that red fades into magenta which then fades into blue, then cyan, the green, yellow, and then back to red. So, the primary colours - red, green and blue - are separated by the secondary colours; magenta, cyan, and yellow. To find a complementary colour, just look to the opposite side of the colour wheel. For green then, the complementary colour is magenta, so by using a curve to lower the amount of green in the mid-tones I added magenta. By the same token, had I wanted to add a cyan cast to the image, I could have dragged the red curve to the right.

SUMMARY
As I hope the above has demonstrated, creating a striking and dynamic image from a rather dull, flat original is relatively straightforward; often requiring no more than two or three simple steps.

FURTHER READING

If you‚ are interested in exploring any of these techniques in more depth, take a look at my online Photoshop tutorials. The two that you'll find especially useful are linked below.

Tonal Range and the Curves tool: this tutorial provides an in-depth discussion of the Curves tool (this is a free tutorial).

Toning Color Images: this tutorial discusses a variety of tools and techniques you can employ to tone your colour images; including the Channel Mixer, the Selective Color tool and the Curves tool. (available to our annual subscribers and lifetime members).

2010-07-03T06:07:00.000-07:00

Back Lighting Foods and Liquids

Translucent foods and liquids are ideal candidates for backlighting. You can really show off colors and patterns with your light shining directly through your subject. It is critical that your light source be intense enough and your subject translucent enough to make this work. If you are using fruits and vegetables as a subject, be sure to slice them thin enough to let plenty of light through. If you are shooting liquids, pick something that is fairly light in color. It's much more difficult to get light to penetrate red wine than white wine or dark beers like porter and stout than something like pale ale.

The setup is pretty simple and just about any strobe, hot light, speedlite, or even natural light will work. A softbox will make a great light source for backlighting fairly thin foods and light colored liquids as well as providing a nice high key background. A diffusion panel will also work as will a thin piece of white Plexiglas. You can place a very large reflector on your strobe, point it straight up and set a piece of Plexiglas on it to make a "light table". You can get thin sheets of Plexi in different colors to make some interesting backgrounds as well. Another alternative is an actual light table or slide viewing box. Colored gels can be placed on these for different background colors.

Whenever you are shooting towards your light source, you need to watch out for lens flare so a lens hood is definitely required and you can even use your hand or a small flag to block any additional unwanted light from hitting the front lens element. Additionally, masking off your light source so that you are only allowing light through your subject and not around it will also really help avoid flare and increase contrast. Black foam core works great for this. Here are a couple of very easy to set up backlighting sources that will work for many subjects. The first one is a softbox with foam core blocking all but a strip of light and the second is a large window with direct sunlight coming through. Again, foam core is used to block out unwanted light from hitting the front element of the lens.

Canon 90mm TS-E w/36mm extension tube

This setup works equally well as long as you have a large enough window with direct sunlight coming through it. Only a thin strip of light is needed to fully illuminate the subject. You really have to be careful when shooting directly into sunlight this bright. Make sure that you don't let any light past the subject or you could hurt your eyes.

Canon 180mm macro, f/8, 1/40sec

It takes a lot of light to shine through a subject this dense and the direct sunlight works perfectly. Using a macro lens, I was able to completely fill the frame with the subject.

Another method that works great if you have the ability to shoot straight down on your subject is to simply place it directly on a backlit surface. You can make your own light table very easily out of a softbox, strobe w/reflector, or continuous light and piece of Plexiglas if you don't have any other options available. I have used all of the following methods and they all work equally well. You do need to be careful that your working surface is sturdy enough to hold up your subject.

Light box used for backlighting.

Fluorescent studio light with white plexi used for backlighting.

Strobe w/7" reflector and white plexi for backlighting.

Strobe with softbox and white plexi used for backlighting.

All of these lights/setups are suitable for creating beautiful backlit images. The following are some examples of what can be done. There are hundreds of other subjects that will work equally as well.

Canon 28-70mm w/20mm extension tube, f/11, 1/2sec

Orange slice in sparkling water, sitting on a light box. The light coming past the orange makes a nice high key background.

Canon 28-70mm w/20mm extension tube, f/11, 1/3sec

Switched out the orange slice for a lime and placed a green gel under the glass for color.

Canon 28-70mm w/36mm extension tube, f/5.6, 1/30sec

Thin slice of Kiwi placed directly on light box. The extension tube allowed me to move in close enough to fill the frame.

To learn more about this and other food photography techniques, check out the following classes at PPSOP.com

Introduction to Food Photography Food Photography 201 - Recipes for Success

Ron Goldman
PPSOP Instructor

2010-06-29T15:10:00.000-07:00

If you are in the market for a tripod, I do not know of a better time to buy one then right now! Why? You will find out in a moment, but first when should you use a tripod?

You should use a tripod when you are shooting in low-light, when you are looking to record exacting sharpness, when you are shooting with really long lenses, when you are shooting a family portrait, when you are shooting a self-portrait, when you are shooting a waterfall at a 1/4 second, when you are shooting a city scene at night, when you are shooting with Graduated ND filters.
When you are doing close-up photography, when you want to keep your horizon lines straight, when you need to lock up your mirror, when you are zooming during long exposures, when you get down low to foreground interest and you want a great depth of field, when you shoot in a meadow of flowers and you are isolating a single flower, when you are shooting with rear-curtain sync and your flash.
When you are shooting star trails at night, when you shoot the moon, when you shoot a sunset at the beach, when you want to shoot a panorama.

When you...Finally, when shooting any subject with your tripod, make it a point to use either the camera's self timer or a cable release to trip the shutter release.

So, why is now the best time to buy a tripod? Because the BEST tripod that I personally have been waiting on for the past 12-months has finally come on the market, and at a price that is so darn affordable, you'll be tempted to buy two of them! (But don't! This is a tripod, not a plasma TV!)

Our great friends at Adorama have in stock ready for shipment, the all new Flashpoint Carbon Fiber Tripods with the Adorama Flip Lock designed leg release system which uses a patented process for making the plastic from different polymers at an extremely high temperature to create a lock that will not fail. These non-slip flip locks will keep the legs locked into position. Set up and closing time becomes fast and without effort. A victory for sure for those of us who have loathed the "twist/lock legs"!

The Flashpoint Carbon Fiber material is an all new material and is considered a major break through by combining traditional carbon fiber with latest carbon fiber tube technique-bullet proof fiber complex (patented). The anti-resonance effect is increased by 60% over the old technology. The major benefit to this carbon fiber over all others is greater rigidity, which will prevent tube rupture.

Each leg can be set at multiple angles and the center column can be separated into a low column for ground level use.

They all include a bubble level and have a rubber pads on the bottom of the legs with retractable ground spikes for use in rugged terrain. Leg friction can be adjusted to match the needs of the photographer. And in case you didn't know, Carbon fiber is more than 40% lighter than the same item made in aluminum. You will indeed be feeling a "bit light in your loafers" as you walk those mountain trails with one of these tripods! And now check out the specs and of course you can order by clicking HERE!

ITS ALL ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS!

2010-06-22T15:29:00.000-07:00

Let me ask you, "What is the most important element in a group shot? "

Sure you want everyone to look their best, but the essential ingredient is more than
smiles, eyes looking at the lens, and natural poses.

What makes or breaks the group shot are the relationships portrayed - the subtext, the connections. These nuances require collaboration. The subjects must relax, remove the masks, and be themselves.

As a children and family portrait photographer, I often photograph groups and I always do my homework. I know the environment and the lighting beforehand so that I can go ahead and work with the group and not be tinkering with my camera and the settings.

I also work fast. The nine-month-old in this group photo was cooperating, but I knew
that would change. To accomplish the photo, I had two assistants standing three feet high on step stools and holding a large diffusing screen (a 42-inch translucent zip disc) to cut down the harsh 5:00 PM (EST) September sun. Indian summer sunlight casts a beatific glow, but it is a challenge to work with.

Typically, I shoot on manual exposure mode and select the ISO required to shoot with the aperture/shutter combination I want. For this session, I wanted to shoot with an aperture of f/8 or f/11 (to ensure sharp focus on more than one focal plane) and a shutter of 1/100 since I was handholding my Canon 5D with a 24-105 mm lens (the rule of thumb to avoid camera shake is 1/focal length of the lens). I settled on an ISO of 1000.

To fine tune the exposure, I took an incident reading, placing my handheld under an
assistantʼs chin, pointing to the lens (or where it will be) to get an exposure comparison. I then fired off a few test shots (my assistant as a model) and used the cameraʼs histogram to fine tune my exposure. I was looking for good facial values; the majority of pixels to fall in the middle of the histogram.

This particular client prefers black and white images, but I will shoot in RAW and convert later using NIK Silver Effex or the Adobe Photoshop b/w adjustment layer. Even though my client wants black and white, I would rather have color files in case she also wants color photos.

With group shots, I usually do not use a tripod because I move around so much. I often lie on the grass which is a great way to relax my clients.

Depending upon the age of the children, I will bring one or two, or sometimes three
assistants. With babies, I know I have a very brief window of opportunity to nail the
image. So the more hands the better.

I work with fill flash and sometimes reflectors. I use a "Pro -T" flash bracket and a
Canon Speedlite 580 EX II, with a Sto-Fen for a diffuser. Indoors I use the Gary Fong Cloud.

If the group is stationary, I have more ability to use the reflectors. But my style is to
encourage a certain degree of movement, so reflectors are not always practical. Some times diffusers are the rule, as the bright sun needs to be filtered to block the harsh rays.

I use a "jill-e" black leather camera bag (some people have told me it looks like a Marc Jacobs bag). In addition to my camera, lens, flash, and bracket, I always carry some anti frizz hair gel, mosquito spray, a brush, and some bubbles. In my car trunk I have a step stool and a tripod.

If you are interested in photographing children and families, and are thinking about becoming a child photographer, then join me for a class. Many photographers have begun their careers by photographing their own children. Let me help you learn how to put it all together.

I also teach "All About Color" and "Painting Photos". Feel free to send me a note:
cheryl@cherylmachatdorskind.com

All My Best,
Cheryl Machat Dorskind
Instructor/PPSOP.com

IDEA'S ARE LIMITED ONLY BY OUR IMAGINATION!

2010-06-19T15:34:00.000-07:00

The great folks at Bogen do make a host of fantastic tripods but they also make a host of attachments that allow the photographer to put a camera just about anywhere he/she can imagine. One of my favorite gadgets of theirs is called the Avenger Pump Suction Cup.

With the aid of the Avenger 'Super' Suction Cup, (and boy do I ever mean 'Super Suction') I was able to mount my camera and fish eye lens on the hood of my friend Phillipe's car intent on firing off a number of exposures as we drove through several long tunnels. And to add a bit of 'horror' to this motion-filled idea, Phillipe and I donned masks, (they were having a Halloween close-out sale at the local variety store). I'm the passenger and Phillipe is driving.

Of course I wanted to record the sense of motion that one experiences when driving through tunnels, which meant I would need a 'slow' shutter speed of at least 1/2 if not a full second. And in order to determine what aperture I would need to use at these speeds I needed to take a meter reading under a lighting condition that would be similar to the light we would find inside the tunnel. Getting that meter reading actually proved rather easy, as I suggested that we first drive through the tunnel, without the camera mounted on the car, but rather with the sunroof open, which then allowed me to shoot down onto the hood of the car and take my meter reading. Once we were inside the tunnel I stood up, and with my 17-55mm lens and camera set to 100 ISO, I simply pointed it at the hood of the car in Aperture Priority and found that when I chose f/8 I had a correct exposure indication of 1/2 second and of course at f/11 the correct exposure was now indicating1 second.

After this first trip through the tunnel, we exited and pulled off to the side of the road. With the bright interior dome light on inside the car, I took another reading of Phillpe's face and discovered that also at f/11, I could get a correct exposure at one second. I had the 'numbers' and now we were all set. I chose to leave the camera in Aperture Priority Mode, rather than manual, knowing that if I set the aperture to f/11 the camera would record a correct exposure somewhere in the neighborhood of one second, depending on the varying degrees of brightness as we drove through the tunnel. So, with the camera in Aperture Priority Mode, the fish-eye lens set to f/11 and pointed at 'us', and with my remote triggering device mounted to the camera, we were ready to begin our journey through several long tunnels, but NOT before donning our ghoulish masks. I wanted this to be a 'ghoulish dream' kind of photo. As we drove through the tunnels, I would simply fire the camera from inside the car with the remote sending unit. After making several trips through the tunnels, we pulled over and I began a quick review of the images and it was clear that I had my shot.

I wanted to add that Phillipe's car is actually light blue and once inside the tunnel, it recorded an odd bronze cast that no amount of PhotoShop could repair. But it was also while trying to recover the light blue color in PhotoShop, that I came upon this 'wild' purple color and the more I viewed it the more I liked it so a purple car it is! This color was the result of 'playing' with both the Color Balance and Hue/Satruation controls in PhotoShop.

Here is the set-up with the camera and fish-eye lens suction cupped to the hood of Phillipe's car. Honestly, it was my experience that this Bogen Suction Cup made a bond that was as strong as steel! You will also need a Bogen mounting plate for the camera, which in turn gets attached to the suction cup.

All My Best,
Bryan F Peterson
Founder/PPSOP.com

Every photograph is a 'lie', yet within that 'lie' is a mountain of truth, a truth that is perhaps best defined as "The Sizzle!"

2010-06-12T21:30:00.000-07:00

As you may recall, a few days ago, I raised the question of 'integrity' when it comes to the dramatic alteration of one's photograph via Photoshop. In case you missed it, I have uploaded both of the photographs again and the image on top is the original while the image below was altered via Photoshop; namely I replaced the foreground grasses and distant road with another photograph that included a foreground of a sandy beach.

I received more than 450 emails to my question, "Do we have an obligation to tell the viewer when a photograph has been dramatically altered in Photo-Shop?" and the votes are now in!

Before sharing with you the results of this unscientific survey, many of you made it clear that there is only one area in photography that is deserving of the "death penalty" if one is found to have dramatically altered an image and that is the area of Photo-Journalism/Documentary Photography. But, and to my amazement, 41% of you felt that when a photographer dramatically alters an image he or she is NOT obligated to tell anyone, unless asked. And a few of you even stated, that if asked, you would simply say, "That's none of your business!" There were a variety of reasons why most felt they had no obligation to tell anyone if the image was dramatically altered, but suffice it to say, all of the reasons could be easily quantified as "artistic license".

Personally, I have NO problem with any image that has been dramatically altered, as long as it is 'believable' OR so obviously altered that it's not even a question e.g. fantasy, dream-like photographs. I don't mind the 'lie' that is created from a dramatically altered image, since I have felt for years that every photograph is a 'lie' anyway, but my problem with the dramatically altered 'lie' is that it can lead one to believe that a given landscape or cityscape really does "look like that" when, as it turns out, there is no such place on earth.

Several years ago, I came upon a really beautiful image of a street scene in Paris. It was an image I saw on a photographers website. In the foreground was the street sign, Rue Ravoli. A few weeks later I was in Paris and I tracked down this 'street' and as you might have guessed, the street I vividly recalled in the photograph was nothing like the street I was standing on. There were only two buildings that I recognized and everything else on that street was an obvious composite of other shops and cafes that were probably taken in other parts of Paris. On a strictly personal level, I tipped my hat to the photographer who obviously possessed some terrific Photo-Shop skills. It was clearly one of the best Photo-Shop composites I had ever seen. But, on the other hand, I was disappointed that such a place did not exist, if only because I wanted to see what I might be able to do, photographically, on that same street.

If you know me at all, I am 'old school'; I am a big fan of "getting it right in camera". For the longest time I have taken great pride in meeting the personal challenge of creating unique images and since the advent of Photoshop I have at times felt quite smug, knowing that I got 'that' image without the use of Photoshop. I love it when someone asks, "Did you do 'that' in Photoshop?" and with the biggest smile across my face, I say, honestly and often emphatically, "Nope, it was all done in camera!"
Since last week however, I now find myself thinking about my "get it done in camera" attitude and I must confess, I have now come under my own suspicion!

How many times have I 'dramatically altered' a scene before actually photographing it? In 35 years of shooting that answer would be at least a few dozen times, I am sure! One such scene that I recall vividly stands out more than any other and ironically it also involves a city street, a city street that was dramatically altered, all for the sake of a photograph. I was hired by an advertising agency to photograph a European street scene, complete with a Bakery, Café and a Newsstand. I scouted various locations and hired set-builders, stylists and of course 'European' models and several weeks later the shot of the European street was taken in the early morning hours in downtown Portland, Oregon!

The shoot itself lasted about two hours and by that afternoon, all that was left of the European street scene were 11 rolls of 36-exposure slide film. The 'lie' had been successfully recorded and now that 'lie' would continue as the State of Oregon Tourism Dept. began running two-page spread advertisements in many national magazines, promoting Portland as a European city alternative.

This is of course my most extreme example of being party to a dramatically altered image. Clearly, most shooters don't think twice about dramatically altering the scene before them, as long as any changes are done before they take the picture. Why is that approach any less 'dishonest' than the dramatically altered images done by others with the aid of Photoshop? As for me, I had been struggling with that question all week.

What if I make only minor alterations to a scene before I take the picture? Am I still 'guilty' of altering an image if I ADD or SUBTRACT just a few things? The image above has been altered. How has it been altered? I placed the leaf you see on that rock there, in full view of several of my students. Does it look 'natural', believable? Before answering that there is another part of this story that you need to hear. Within ten minutes of placing that leaf on this rock, several other photographers who were not part of my workshop had arrived in the same area, and myself and several of my students overheard the following remark made by one of the photographers, "Wow, check out the leaf on the rock!" And without hesitation both of these photographers set up their cameras and tripods and fired away. As far as they were concerned, the leaf that on that rock was natural!

The debate over 'natural' or 'altered' images is really OLD NEWS! In fact it can be argued that every lens choice, every point of view, every 'creative exposure', every filter, to name a few from the list, are all guilty of 'altering' an image. As far as I am concerned, you can even add the mere act of framing the image in-camera as another example of altering an image! Let's look at several examples and see if you don't agree.

The image you see here has been altered dramatically, yet I will add that it was altered 100% in-camera and without the aid of Photoshop, NOT that that should matter! It was altered 100% by LENS CHOICE, POINT OF VIEW and a LARGE LENS OPENING. We can all agree that the woman you see here is probably of Middle-Eastern descent, but after that, it's anybody's guess what the rest of the story might be.

One thing is sure. Without benefit of the photograph below, you would have never guessed that this image was made in a nursery next to a trailer, and with the aid of an assistant who is reflecting some warm light onto her face. In addition, the model did not have the right pins to hold her headscarf in place so she had to use one of her hands to hold the headscarf in place while I took the shot! With the telephoto lens and a large aperture, I was able to render a shallow depth of field AND with the right point of view I was also able to avoid recording any part of the trailer in the background. When we consider the subject and the surroundings, there is no question that I have dramatically altered the scene to get to my end result.

One more example and I will then turn this debate over to you. In the photograph below we see a woman in a red sweater, doing her laundry, along with several other women in the background, walking in the shadows. Once again, it's anybody's guess what the rest of the story might be, but rest assured, the image you are looking at has also been 'dramatically altered'. It is an image that was cropped, in camera, by the use of a long telephoto lens and further 'altered' by manipulating a deliberate in-camera under-exposure so the shadows would go black. And again, not that it matters, but this image was also done in-camera.

As you now have the benefit of the 'bigger' picture below, it becomes readily apparent that the above image was indeed altered. Again, with my telephoto lens, I was able to cut through the surrounding 'clutter' and arrive at what I determined to be the much cleaner composition in the photograph above. So, again, by the mere act of LENS CHOICE, I have created a compelling composition of a very small part of the larger scene before me. Like it or not, I am once again, guilty of altering an image.

Every photograph is a 'lie', yet within that 'lie' is a mountain of truth, a truth that is perhaps best defined as a "The Sizzle!"

Years ago, like many photographers who are just starting out, I needed to have a 'real' job to support myself initially. One of those jobs was selling insulation and storm windows to homeowners and I remember the sales manager's advice to all of us in our weekly sales meetings-"Sell the sizzle not the steak!" In other words, appeal to the customer's emotions (the"sizzle") and when you sell the sizzle, most customers will be quick to buy the steak!

When I think about memorable photographs, images that truly do leave a lasting impression, it's fair to say they all have a common thread. They are images that "sizzle", they are images that excite or ignite the emotions of the viewer.

Your camera's viewfinder, combined with a given lens choice, point of view and an understanding of light, exposure and composition fundamentals, is able to record an image of great emotion, regardless of the overall truth that was surrounding the image.

I can think of countless images I have taken that suggested 'peace', 'joy', 'elation', 'sensuality' or 'sorrow'. Yet, if you saw the 'big picture', your reaction might be quite different. Prior to the digital age we now live in, all photographs were made with film and for those of us who shot color slide film exclusively, myself included, a cloud of suspicion rarely hung over us. (Make note of that word 'suspicion'.)
Since the digital age, and with greater frequency, the emails I receive from readers raise the question, "Did you do that in Photoshop?" It is a fair question, and for the most part, the answer is no, but the fact remains, a cloud of suspicion is a constant in my photographic life today as it is or many other shooters. However, just this past week, I have concluded, that it has been my attitude towards "dramatically altering an image in Photoshop" that is behind this cloud of suspicion because I, like so many others have been preaching for way too long that it is somehow far more noble and far more an indicator of one's creativity if you can get the shot in camera! Yet, as I have just shared with you, I now realize that I have been altering images, sometimes dramatically, in camera for years, but what is the difference between doing it in camera or in Photoshop? Seriously, what is the difference!? I am not only 'guilty' of altering images for years, but also equally 'guilty' of arrogance!

Going forward, I will continue to use the same barometer I have used for years when looking at the work of other photographers; "Does this image make me feel, does it excite or ignite my emotions, does the image sizzle? Whether or not its 'real' or believable is really NOT important, (crime scene photographs, passport and drivers license photographs being the exception!)

And if and when I start dramatically altering images with the aid of Photoshop, I will be the first to answer, "Yes I did!" should anyone ask if I did that in Photoshop. I finally understand that for many shooters, Photoshop is their main tool for creating much of their compelling imagery. And if it's Photoshop that accounts for much of your "sizzling" work I'll still gladly be buying your steak!

To be clear I am a big believer in getting most if not all of my 'dramatic alterations' done in-camera; moving objects, adding objects, subtracting objects, creating blur, adding sharpness, seeking out appropriate backgrounds, manipulating exposure, or the occasional use of my flash to create sunlight and of course focusing on the final arrangement, (lens choice and point of view), which will result in the most effective composition. My reason is a simple one: doing my dramatic alterations in-camera is simply quicker than the hour or so I might need to do the same thing in Photo-Shop.

And finally in closing, I wanted to share with you another example where, truth be told, I have dramatically altered the image. My first dramatic alteration to this scene was adding a seashell, on its side no less, to an otherwise empty oasis of sand. My second dramatic alteration was adding light where NO light ever existed, thanks in large part to a small flashlight. My third and somewhat less dramatic alteration was setting my White Balance to Incandescent/Tungsten. This made the overall scene blue. My fourth and even less of a dramatic alteration was the use of a full frame fish-eye lens. Dramatically altered? You bet, but hey, at least I didn't use Photo-Shop-LOL!

Yes, let me know your thoughts if you feel compelled to share them in the comments below!

A Photographic Challenge

2010-06-03T21:29:00.000-07:00

On a recent workshop in Cape Cod, my students and I had just parked our cars at a beach wayside parking lot and excitement filled the air! All of us would soon be facing one of several challenges that this weekend workshop presented.

When we think of a lighthouse, images of the lone sentinel are often associated with bluffs, cliffs or beach or a rocky out-cropping, often surrounded by pounding ocean surf.

Well, as you can clearly see in the first photograph, this particular lighthouse was nowhere near any beach or pounding surf. In fact, I remember commenting to myself upon seeing this particular lighthouse "Whose idea was it to build a lighthouse in the woods?"

Most of the students walked ahead of me, proceeding across the street and up the small trail to the lighthouse. I and one other student stayed behind, as I felt the ONLY real shot worth taking here would be from the grassy area, where you can see a lone tea cup rose bush-(note the area that I have boxed).

Combining my Nikkor 12-24mm lens with the Canon 500D close-up filter, I was able to move in really close to a single rose bloom and frame up the scene you see here.

My initial reaction to this particular composition was fairly positive, BUT try as I might, I could not find a point of view that would allow me to 'lose' the roadway that is visible in the background. I did choose to shoot at a wide-open aperture, but even at wide open, (f/4) I was still unable to blur out the "unsightly" road in the background.

I did play around a bit with the Clone Tool in PS but that did nothing more than reveal a composition that now looked like I was trying to hide something. What's a photographer to do at a time like this?

At that moment I was struck with an idea as I recalled taking a number of beach landscapes the previous afternoon at a different location. You can see one of those beach landscapes here.

This particular image was also shot with my 12-24mm but at an aperture of f/16 and not surprising, unlike the wide-angle shot of the tea rose above, this image is super sharp, from front to back due to the use of the smaller aperture of f/16.

It was then that I got the idea! What if I were to combine the beachscape image with that of the lighthouse and tea rose? I would of course need to 'blur' the beachscape image so it would 'match' the natural blur of the lighthouse/tea rose image and once that was done, (using Gaussian Blur Tool in PhotoShop) I could then combine them and with the aid of a layer mask, "paint" this blurry beachscape into the lighthouse/tea rose scene and voila-that's exactly what I did!

Here is that image for all to see (If you don't know a thing about LAYERS, get signed up for Jon Canfeld's class-NOW!)

Assuming you have the knowledge on how to do a layer mask and assuming this was your shot, do you feel your viewing audience has the right to know that this image is a composite OR do you feel that it's nobody's business and unless someone asks, no one needs to know? If you have time comment here and let's get the discussion going!

Lensbaby

2010-03-27T15:18:00.000-07:00

Spring has arrived! Temperatures here in Maine have been amazingly warm, such a wonderful and unexpected thing, as March is typically a winter month here. More seasonable weather is expected this week (i.e. cold!!), but I managed to shoot some Snow Drops and Crocuses while it was warm last week. Because I didn't get my hands on the Lensbaby Soft Focus optic until I beta tested it late last summer, I was anxious to see what it could do with the tiny spring flowers in my garden. The optic provides an all-over softness, but you can still control the Depth of Field by manually changing aperture disks, as you can with all Lensbaby optics and lenses. I was easily able to softly blur the backgrounds, yet keep a focal point where I wanted it on the tiny flowers. I love this optic more all the time!

All of these images were taken with the Lensbaby Muse , which is my favorite Lensbaby model. I always advise photographers who are new to Lensbabies to start with the Composer model, . It is the easiest Lensbaby to use, because the ball and socket design allows you to lock the focus. The Muse resembles the original bellows models, it's quick to focus and adjust and works well for what I do. You can use extension tubes with Lensbabies, but for these images I used the Lensbaby Macro Kit

I shot these images with the f/5.6 aperture disk

These images were made with the f/2.8 aperture disk, placed on top of one of the special aperture disks that comes with the soft focus optic. The images are softer, with less depth of field, which is a lovely effect when photographing flowers.

I hope there are spring flowers blooming where you live, go outside and make some photos! Happy Shooting!

Kathleen Clemons
PPSOP Instructor and PPSOP's Director of Student Happiness

Profitable Family Portrait Sessions

2010-03-17T22:36:00.000-07:00

One of the keys in shooting contemporary family portrait sessions is creating a variety of looks in a limited amount of time. Little kids love to have fun, but they get tired and cranky very easily. When I look for a family portrait location, I want a location where I can create a variety of looks in a short amount of time.

Modern clients are looking for a variety of options to show off their family photos. The days of an 8x10 in a frame are coming to an end. Most of our clients are interested in fine art gallery wraps, cool metal collages and custom fine art albums. In order to provide these products we need to give the client a lot of options during the ordering session.

Here is a video of a real family portrait session taken last week. I hope this video gives you some ideas on how to shoot a family session, with the final family order in mind. This particular family ordered a 4 piece fine art gallery collage.

Fundy
PPSOP Instructor

Look for the LIGHT!

2010-03-12T22:29:00.000-08:00

So, there I was....teaching a workshop in Seoul, Korea. We were walking the streets on the way to shoot City Hall at dusk...it was a dusk photography workshop, after all. As we were arriving something caught my eye.....color and LIGHT! There was a large public square in from of CIty Hall and in it was a fountain. For some reason this evening all the lights were on for the fountain, but there was no water flowing.

I made a few snaps as we went by and made a mental note....after shooting the skyline this was the place to come back to! We had light and color and we can make something out of that!

We shot the skyline as planned.

We walked back to where the fountain was and started playing around. My original idea was to lay down on the ground next to the light. What was I going for there? Well, something a little creepy or unsettling. I wanted something to bring out a little emotion from the viewer...something right at home on the cover of a Stephen King book.

This, however, just wasnʼt getting across what I wanted it to. In these, I am using a 4 second shutter speed simply because this is the way it worked out. Then.....as it does OFTEN with photography, a happy accident. I was standing up to set up my self timer again, and someone happened to be exposing as I stood up. What they saw was something they called ʻWindy Chrisʼ. By the end of the evening everyone had a self portrait similar to what you see below.

So, look for the light and then, HAVE FUN!

Chris L Hurtt

A Flash Lesson That Needs To Be Exposed!

2010-03-04T22:13:00.000-08:00

First, let me share with you still yet another example of personal ignorance, and hopefully, after careful thought on your part, I can save you some money! I am the proud, (or shall I say 'stupid') owner of 5 Nikon SB-900 Electronic Flashes. Yes, you read that right-FIVE! And as I have learned, I have on average, 3 too many! I initially bought 5 of these darn things because I had visions of not just lighting a single subject on a darkened street, but rather I wanted to light up entire city blocks! Trouble with lighting up entire city blocks is that they looked exactly like a city block would look like when lit by 5 electronic strobes-ALL LIT UP! Trust me on this: a city block ALL LIT UP by 5 electronic strobes is anything but sexy or moody or ominous. It is nothing more than a city block in daylight, but lit up at night!

Furthermore, in the first few months of working with the SB-900's, I soon discovered that MANUAL EXPOSURE MODE was my only option when attaching them to a Pocket Wizard. I have nothing against MANUAL FLASH EXPOSURE MODE as I often prefer it, but considering the EXORBITANT cost of the SB-900 Electronic Flash, (over $400.00!), one would think that TTL Flash Exposure would be a constant, with or without a Pocket Wizard . It was on this momentous day that I first whispered these words to myself, "What the heck was I thinking? I could have saved a bundle, if I had bought the Vivitar Series 1 285. It's only $89.95!"

Over the course of next six months, this would become my refrain and finally, after a great deal of careful thought I have concluded the following, some of which you may already have guessed, but here goes. My total investment in 5 Nikon SB-900's came to a little over $2,000.00. Combine that with 6 Pocket Wizards Plus II's at a cost of $169.00 each for a total cost of $1,014.00 and my portable electronic flash system has now cost over $3,000.00 and we haven't even added in the Flashpoint portable light stands or umbrellas, and small softboxes nor the Justin Clamps, colored gels and grids OR the roller case from Lowepro that carries it all-YIKES!

Sure, I look impressive - very professional in fact - but truth be told, 95% of what I do with an electronic flash involves the use of ONE or TWO Electronic Flashes, (the other 5% of the time, has found me using no more than THREE flashes). In addition I am often using the flash(es) with the Pocket Wizards which of course means NOT using TTL! So, let's do the math one more time, only this time let's substitute the SB-900 with a Vivitar Series One 285 . Better still, let's just cut to the chase: for the price of ONE Nikon SB-900, (remember it's over $400.00!), you can buy two Vivitar Series 1 285 Electronic Flashes and two Pocket Wizards Plus II and at that point you will be a wee bit over $500.00. And as far as I am concerned you are now fully ready to set the explosive charges to that reservoir of electronic flash creativity that lies inside you! (Someday you will probably realize that having three Pocket Wizard Plus II's is t he ultimate way to go, one for each strobe and one for the camera, but even then you are still well under $1,000.00!)

Forgive me for a moment as I am being distracted by the Nikon purists out there who insist that the SB-900 offers up wireless remote TTL via Nikon's Commander Mode. Right you are, but for the most part, it only works within a short distance AND on the "line of site" principle, which of course means, you too will resort to the use of Pocket Wizards and at least at this writing, that means you will be operating in Manual Flash Exposure Mode! Yes, I also know, that the Vivitar Series 1 285 is a will only operate in Manual Flash Exposure Mode when attached to the Pocket Wizards too, but at least it never purported to be a $400.00+ flash that then acts like a $89.00 flash when attached to a Pocket Wizard!

And, finally, I might add, TTL is not in my humble opinion the "end all to be all!" As many of you have learned from reading my book Understanding Exposure, setting a manual daylight exposure is not only easy, but it affords you a great deal of creative latitude and the same is true of manual flash exposure. Manual flash exposure is not only easy to learn, but incredibly reliable; unlike the few happy 'accidents' that were achieved when I shot in TTL.

Here are several examples of One Light Set-Up.

An overcast day at a park in New Zealand finds me greeting a juggler. Overcast? You bet it was, as the first image clearly shows, but that didn't stop me from shooting him again, with the 'sun' going down beh ind him! Nikon D300, Nikkor 70-300mm at 250mm, Nikon SB-900 and Pocket Wizard on light stand behind him about five feet with Amber gel attached. Flash set to f/5.6, but actual ambient reading of face was used, f/11 @ 1/125 second, resulting in flash exposure being two stops over-exposed. That explains the 'over-exposed' backlit hair-just like the actual sun would do!

Nikon D300, Nikkor 14mm full frame fish eye, f/8 @ a 1/250 second.

As far as the Karate Kid seen here, he came flying out of nowhere! Fortunately, on a light stand, off to my right, my Nikon SB-900 and Pocket Wizard were ready for his surprise visit! The all-encompassing forest was shot with the Nikkor 14mm Full Frame DX Fisheye. (actually a special note of thanks to Ann Worthy who provided the talent and the idea!)

So you say you have a leaky faucet? Well heck while you are waiting for the Plumber, get out your flash and Nikkor 200mm Macro lens and start shooting the steady drip, as it leaves the faucet head! But before you do, grab a colorful piece of fabric, (those Hawaiian shirts work well!) and place it in the background-a 6-8 inches behind the drip and voila, you end up with a composition of water that when FLIPPED looks like a work of art that was produced by the Glass Blowers of Murano Italy!

Below we have examples of a Two Light setup:

In front of me is a large bowl of cream on the kitchen counter and a large bowl of strawberries sits off to the side. One by one, I drop a single strawberry into the bowl of cream with my left hand, while my right hand is hooked up to Nikon's Electronic Cable release firing, hopefully, at the exact moment the strawberry 'splashes' into the cream. Eighteen shots later, I was successful. As you can see, on each side of this bowl, my Nikon SB-900 's with their attached diffuser's, got creamed-LOL! This is one of the few times I used Nikon's Commander Mode, because the strobes were well within "range". (Pocket Wizards would of course do the same thing). As usual, I am in Manual Flash Exposure. Nikon D300S, Micro-Nikkor 105mm, f/13 @ a 1/250 second.

Nikon D300S, Nikkor 35-70mm f/2.8 at f/8, ISO 200, 1/125 second.

For years I would haul out the two large 3X4 foot softboxes, attach the powerful 1600 WS White Lightning Ultra's and place one on the floor facing up and the other on a light stand pointing straight down towards the one on the ground. Atop the one on the ground I would place a large piece of frosted white plexi-glass and over the course of hours if not days, I would place subject matter such as flowers and sliced fruits and vegetables atop the plexi-glass and fire away. The top light and the bottom light were set for the same exposure value, (the same amount of flash output) and I would end up with 'floating' objects', backlit and front lit, thus getting a glowing front lit subject. I don't have to do that anymore. The power of the SB-900, just like the VIvitar 285, is sufficient to achieve the same effect.

No need for a softbox either-an ordinary cardboard box lined with white poster board is sufficient and atop the box you place the white frosted plexi-glass. Inside the cardboard box is one strobe and outside the box, pointed down towards the plexi-glass is the other strobe-both at the same distance from the plexi-glass and in this case an aperture of f/8 was indicated for that distance. With a set-up like this you can let your imagination run with the plethora of subject matter that is available.

All My Best,

Bryan F Peterson
Founder/PPSOP.com

Look Up!

2010-03-02T21:57:00.000-08:00

Four of PPSOP instructors are all lucky enough to be invited back again to teach at Gulf Photo Plus, in Dubai, UAE. Bobbi Lane, Robin Nichols, David Nightingale, and Chris Hurtt are teaching a selection of workshops that range from post processing, to beginning photography classes, to advanced lighting seminars. We had a free afternoon and were able to go out and do some shooting together. This city is home to the world's tallest building and reminded us all of a great tip we are often passing on to our students. Changing your perspective to something that people don't see every day is a great way to make compelling images. One of the things you find yourself doing over and over in this city is looking straight UP! Keep your eye trained UP and there is a whole world waiting for you up there!

NOTHING WRONG WITH BEING A 'LITTLE FLASHY'! NOTHING WRONG WITH BEING A 'LITTLE FLASHY'!

2010-02-24T21:49:00.000-08:00

Now if you know anything at all about me, I am not known as the guy who often climbs to the highest rooftop and shouts to the world, "I LOVE MY ELECTRONIC NIKON SB-900 FLASH!" In fact, even if I was world-renowned for my electronic flash expertise, I could not, in good conscious, shout to the world from the highest rooftop that I love my Nikon SB-900 electronic flash, because quite simply I don't believe it is deserving of such a shout. I do own one, or shall I say, with great humility, I own five of the darn things, but let me be quick to say it is not because of some mad love affair but rather it is because of a combination of impatience and not looking before I leaped.

About a year ago, I decided it was time; time to put away my fears of an electronic flash and simply "go for it!" Needless to say I went for it alright and proceeded to buy 5 Nikon SB-900 Electronic Flashes since I KNEW I would soon be doing all sorts of "tricky, make you stop and scratch your head, kind of flash images and darned if I would be able to execute any of these ideas with a single flash." Well, despite having five Nikon SB-900 Electronic Flashes, I have had most of my greatest adventures with just one of them. I can't say which one, since all five are in the flash case and I just grab one and "go for it", but one thing I have learned in owning these five electronic flashes and it is this: with just one flash, a world of fun and adventure are yours for the taking. It seems everyday, I am discovering something new and a new idea comes to the surface and well, suffice it to say, that is exactly what happened two days ago in this wonderful wintry city of Chicago.

Tom Skilling, weather guru at WGN-TV, was forecasting still yet another "worthy" winter storm and since I missed the last "worthy" winter snowstorm of several weeks ago, (I was in New Zealand, so shed no tears on my behalf!), I was determined to try my hand at being a "little flashy". All I needed was some light snowfall and a willingness to arise before dawn. I had this idea to capture falling snowflakes against the dawn sky that would also include one of my favorite 'naked' trees over at Horner Park, just off Irving Park Blvd.

Now you might be asking yourself-"How is it possible to have a dawn sky of any color when it's snowing?" First of all, I wasn't expecting a clear dawn sky, but the typical grey sky that one gets with snowfall, BUT I also know that at this hour, even a grey sky will record a bluish hue and the bonus on this day was that there was a really small sliver of clear sky on the horizon, somewhere over Lake Michigan, cause I also recorded some subtle magenta near the bottom of my composition.

Okay, so there I was laying in the snow, with my camera mounted on tripod along with the Nikkor 12-24mm set to the focal length of 20mm. With my aperture set to f/5.6, I focused on the tree, and adjusted my shutter speed until a 1/15 second was indicating a correct exposure. All that remained was to fire up the flash in manual exposure mode, setting the flash to f/5.6 at full power AND then setting the zoom of the flash to 105mm. Now why would I set the zoom of the flash to 105mm when I am shooting with my lens at the 20mm focal length? Because I wanted the flash to travel further into the scene with thus illuminating snowflakes that are further away. This in turn created far more depth then if my flash were set to the 20mm focal length. Well, did it work? Seeing is believing and what was most surprising and NOT expected, was the initial reaction of myself and several of my trusted neighbors-at first glance it looks like one of those star-trail time exposures or even a meteor shower. Just another example of having fun with a single flash!

All my best
Bryan F Peterson
Founder/PPSOP.com

Shooting in Bright Sun

2010-02-22T21:28:00.000-08:00

Most photographers, including myself, don't normally shoot under bright sun. The light is harsh and usually not very flattering for your subjects. Ideally, you want to use diffused light from a soft cloudy day or that magical early morning/early evening light. But sometimes you don't have a choice and you have to shoot in bright sun. You may be shooting an event that is outdoors. You don't have control over the time and you don't have control over the weather. So you have to make the best of it. Think outside the box, think perspective and most of all think shadows. Probably the only advantage about shooting under bright sun are the amazing shadows you can capture.

I took the following picture during a bright day at an old Western Town in Arizona. There were people walking around dressed in western period clothing posing for tourists. I noticed the shadows being cast on the dirt. They were fantastic. As I was looking down at the shadows, I saw a cowboy wearing knee high black boots pass by. They made an immediate impression on me. I asked the cowboy if he would pose for a couple pictures. He obliged and said yes. I asked him to turn around and told him I wanted to shoot him from behind. I got a few heckles and laughs from other cowboys. It was pretty funny. I sat on the ground, got very close to the cowboy (more laughs) and got out my wide-angle lens. I wanted the boots to be large in the frame with a strong shadow emerging out of the boots. The bright sun gave me exactly that. When shooting in bright sun, look for interesting shadows and show the connection of your subject to the shadow. The results can be striking. I shot this using my Nikon D2X, 12-24mm lens @ f/5, 1/320, 12 mm.
TIP: Think of the person, animal, object as a supporting actor. Your main character is the shadow.

Don't overlook shadows on walls. I took the following picture of my dog, Gracie. She loves to sit in the sun for a few minutes every day. The light is harsh, but the shadow is awesome and this portrait really defines her. I love how she is connected to her shadow and the contemplative look on her face. Don't overlook unguarded moments. They can be some of your most intimate portraits. I took this picture through my kitchen window. Gracie had no idea I was photographing her. Use shadows to tell your story, make it personal and keep it simple. I photographed Gracie using my Nikon D2x, 28-70mm lens @ f/10, 1/100, 48mm.

I took the following picture at a Renaissance Fair. It was a bright sunny day, so I had to make the best of it. I was photographing a group of dancers in period clothing. I loved their clothing, especially one of the female dancers. I noticed that every time she hopped, her skirt would fly up and expose these amazing bells attached to her shins. The flare and lift of her skirt looked so cool. The bright sun actually shined through her skirt and helped to illuminate the underside of her skirt. I knew I needed to photograph this from a very low angle to capture that and also shoot fast to freeze the skirt in mid air. I lay on the ground and started taking pictures of all the dancers as they passed by. And sure enough, she finally passed by, hopped and I got the picture. I took lots of pictures before I got the one I wanted, but it was worth the wait. Observe your subjects before photographing them. Look for interesting characteristics and ask yourself what you want to focus on or portray. Then take it one step further and think about perspective. Consider lying on the ground and looking up. It's a great way to photograph your subject. I shot this using my Nikon D2x, 12-24mm lens @ f/11, 1/320, 24 mm.

Neat buildings and architecture are perfect candidates for showcasing great shadows. I took this shot under a patio cover in Tucson, AZ. Bright sunny days in Arizona are a common occurrence all year round. The sky was a brilliant blue with patches of clouds here and there. I looked up and saw an amazing display of lines, light and shadows. The contrast of the bright blue sky against the architecture was beautiful. I thought it would look great to fill the frame with the slats of the patio cover and showcase the geometric pattern and interplay of light and shadows. Interesting shadows are not always on the ground or against a wall. Don't forget to look up. I shot this using my Nikon D2x, 12-24mm lens @ f/13, 1/200, 12mm.

TIP: Use bright sunny days to find interesting shadows. Look up, down on the ground, against walls .... every where. Bright light is not always bad, even when photographing people. Find an interesting focal point, think about perspective, tell a story, be creative with light and seize the moment!

Jill Flynn
PPSOP Instructor

Video Tips from Kevin Focht

2010-02-19T21:46:00.000-08:00

Kevin Focht

Photographing Flowers

2010-02-12T21:36:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite ways to photograph flowers is to move in really close, and fill the frame with a single flower, or sometimes just part of one. When I am making this type of image, I'm thinking more about line and color and shape, and less about capturing fine detail. When choosing your subject, look for flowers with great curves and soft color, such as roses, orchids, tulips and calla lilies. (Choose a pristine subject, when you are photographing this close, any flaw will be magnified and prove distracting). Really look at the flower you have chosen, examine it from every angle, decide what you find most interesting and capture it! This type of photography is interpretive, you want to capture what you are seeing and feeling about the subject in a simple manner.

You'll need equipment that lets you move in really close to fill the frame, use either a macro lens, extension tubes, or a wide angle lens with a reversing ring. Extension tubes are great, you can use them individually with larger flowers, or stack a set of two or three for really moving in close to smaller blooms.

Set your aperture to the largest your lens has, these images should be all about romance, soft and sensual, you don't want or need every detail in sharp focus. (If you are using a Lensbaby, use extension tubes or the macro filters and shoot wide open or with the F/2.8 aperture ring). Manually focus on a single petal edge, line or curve, and let the rest of the image go to soft blur. Shooting so close with such limited Depth of Field can create a very romantic image, with soothing lines and curves and relaxing colors. You can do this type of shooting year round, flowers can be purchased everywhere these days! Who couldn't use a little flower therapy in February? If you start practicing now, and you'll be ready when those spring flowers bloom!

Kathleen Clemons
PPSOP Instructor & Director of Student Happiness

Shooting Bird's Nest - Make The Best of Any Situation

2010-02-09T21:31:00.000-08:00

On a recent trip to China, I got a chance to pay a visit to the National Stadium-"Bird's Nest", where 2008 Olympic Opening ceremony was held.
It's a cold week day afternoon in the winter, I arrives at the stadium around 5:00pm, the air is hazy and heavy. To my disappointment, all adjacent areas around the Bird's Nest are closed to public due to a Formula-One car racing event at the stadium that evening. Well, I just lost a great amount of point of views to shoot Bird's Nest as planned. Only one venue is open-the promenade in front of the stadium where tourists gather. I have no choice but going there and make the best of the situation.

As I am walking down the promenade, trying to find a good shooting position, the Bird's Nest went alive-the beautiful red and yellow lights lit up the whole stadium. I am filled with joy at the moment! What a roller coast ride-from disappointment to excitement. Usually, Bird's Nest is not fully lit every evening. Thanks to the car racing event, it's fully lit and I am here with my workhorse Canon 5D II, my 24-70mm and 70-200mm lens. Time to shoot.

I make a couple of wide angle shots, as shown above. To me, the images are just plain snaps, weak on energy and expression. What really caught my eyes is the lines, the curves and of course, the colorfulness of the stadium against the deep blue evening sky. Wide angle lens is definitely the wrong tool of choice to express these design elements in the photo, wide angle image includes too many distractions in the foreground like people, fences, trees, etc.

With the pre-visualized image in mind, I switch to 70-200mm lens and walk as close to the stadium as possible(leaning on the fences). At 200mm, I turn my camera and shoot the above images. You can clearly see the colors, curves, lines and textures. No distraction at all. By twisting the camera, I compose the image in which, the lines and curves run diagonally, making the image more dynamic and energetic. As rule of thumb, never forget to shoot both horizontal and vertical. It's a good habit and practice, particularly if you shoot stock images.

Tip: Although most of our images are shot in color these days, it's a good idea to think about the good old black and white from time to time. Especially, when you shoot a lot of night scenes or high contrast images, these are perfect candidates for black and white conversion. An excellent tool that does black and white conversion easily and gracefully, is Silver Efex Pro from Niksoftware, a plug-in for both photoshop and lightroom. The above images are the result of black white conversion using Silver Efex Pro.

Overall, Although I lost chances to shoot from different point of views of the Bird's Nest, I managed to make the best efforts within the limits of the situation, and got some decent images. As photographers, we have to adapt and adjust to whatever the situation are throwing at us, and make the best of it.

William Yu
www.chinaphotoworkshop.com

2010-02-09T14:20:00.001-08:00

Shooting Bird's Nest - Making The Best of Any Situation

On a recent trip to China, I got a chance to pay a visit to the National Stadium-”Bird’s Nest”, where 2008 Olympic Opening ceremony was held.

It’s a cold week day afternoon in the winter, I arrives at the stadium around 5:00pm, the air is hazy and heavy. To my disappointment, all adjacent areas around the Bird’s Nest are closed to public due to a Formula-One car racing event at the stadium that evening. Well, I just lost a great amount of point of views to shoot Bird’s Nest as planned. Only one venue is open-the promenade in front of the stadium where tourists gather. I have no choice but going there and make the best of the situation.

As I am walking down the promenade, trying to find a good shooting position, the Bird’s Nest went alive-the beautiful red and yellow lights lit up the whole stadium. I am filled with joy at the moment! What a roller coast ride-from disappointment to excitement. Usually, Bird’s Nest is not fully lit every evening. Thanks to the car racing event, it’s fully lit and I am here with my workhorse Canon 5D II, my 24-70mm and 70-200mm lens. Time to shoot.

I make a couple of wide angle shots, as shown above. To me, the images are just plain snaps, weak on energy and expression. What really caught my eyes is the lines, the curves and of course, the colorfulness of the stadium against the deep blue evening sky. Wide angle lens is definitely the wrong tool of choice to express these design elements in the photo, wide angle image includes too many distractions in the foreground like people, fences, trees, etc.

With the pre-visualized image in mind, I switch to 70-200mm lens and walk as close to the stadium as possible(leaning on the fences). At 200mm, I turn my camera and shoot the above images. You can clearly see the colors, curves, lines and textures. No distraction at all. By twisting the camera, I compose the image in which, the lines and curves run diagonally, making the image more dynamic and energetic. As rule of thumb, never forget to shoot both horizontal and vertical. It’s a good habit and practice, particularly if you shoot stock images.

Tip: Although most of our images are shot in color these days, it’s a good idea to think about the good old black and white from time to time. Especially, when you shoot a lot of night scenes or high contrast images, these are perfect candidates for black and white conversion. An excellent tool that does black and white conversion easily and gracefully, is Silver Efex Pro from Niksoftware, a plug-in for both photoshop and lightroom. The above images are the result of black white conversion using Silver Efex Pro.

Overall, Although I lost chances to shoot from different point of views of the Bird’s Nest, I managed to make the best efforts within the limits of the situation, and got some decent images. As photographers, we have to adapt and adjust to whatever the situation are throwing at us, and make the best of it.

William Yu

http://www.chinaphotoworkshop.com

Senior portrait posing doesn't have to be that hard

2010-02-02T21:17:00.000-08:00

One thing that I have noticed that other portrait photographers do, is go way overboard with their posing. They set up the subject and then take a shot, move the subject and take another shot and then repeat this over and over. They are working way too hard. Don't over do it with your poses. Work the poses and make your life easier.

If you look at this first shot, it's a really nice shot, so why go and move the subject again until you get the most out of the pose. You already have her in position, so why not just zoom in and take advantage of the nice pose.

All I did with this shot was zoom in to 200 mm wide open at f2.8 and look at how pretty that same pose is. Without even moving the subject, I have 2 sellable shots, and isn't that what we are after.

When I was shooting her, I noticed a nice red background behind her. All I had to do was get lower and shoot up at her. This did two things, it made the background red and I think this angle worked the best for her face. Shooting slightly up at someone makes them look a little more powerful, as in this shot. So without the subject even moving, I now have 3 shots that would not only sell, but I could group them together and sell them as a grouping! I just made more potential money in less time!

I do this a lot with my studio. First off, the clients aren't natural posers most of the time, and it is the hardest part of the job. Trying to find a pose that makes the person feel comfortable as well as looks good in the shot. Once you find a good pose, work your angles and your focal lengths and get as many useable shots as possible out of it.

If you look at the shots posted here in groups, they are all similar in the way I shot them. I start out long and then move in for a head shot. After that, I start walking around and let the subject stay put. The less they have to move the better. This technique saves you a ton of time and in the senior portrait business time is money. The more time you save, the more seniors you can shoot!

The next time you are ready to re-pose your subject ask yourself if you have worked the shot to it's full potential.

Kevin Focht
PPSOP Instructor

For Compelling Travel Photos: Think Like a Film-maker

2010-01-04T21:08:00.000-08:00

With Christmas and New Year behind us, the summer travel season is only a few short months ahead. It's not too soon to be thinking about the capturing the best travel images of your life. As a photographer, the chance to travel and immerse myself in another culture while working to capture the essence of a place is a challenge I simply cannot turn down. But creating compelling travel pictures is no easy task. I'm sure you have all had the tortuous "pleasure" of sitting through a friend's travel slide show, where each image is accompanied by the phrase, "This is us in front of the [insert name of well known travel icon]".

When a professional travel photographer decides to cover a destination, the first thing they do is research the location. Travel books, Travel web-sites, both commercial and those of the government tourist agencies are all good sources of information. Learn about what may be going on at your destination when you arrive. On what day of the week is the local farmer's market? When are the local holidays? If possible, plan your trip to coincide with local festivals: these are excellent opportunities photograph people when they are out and about. Google your destination to death! To see how professionals cover your destination, search the web-sites of the major stock photography sites: Corbis, Getty and Masterfile.

Now that you have a good idea about what you will encounter when you arrive at your destination, think about letting your images create a story of what the place is like: what it's like to visit there, perhaps even what it's like to live there.

Good Travel Photography and Film Making share many of the same attributes. This makes sense, since both disciplines are essentially story telling mediums. Film Makers think in terms of three basic types of images: Establishing Shots create the overall view of alocation. "This how the location looks": is it set near the mountains, or the sea? Is it an urban or rural environment? Higher points of view can be useful in creating establishing shots... look for balconies, hillsides or observation towers.

Image 1: Establishing Shots create the overall view of a location

Medium Shots provide the substance of your story; this is where you get right into the locale: street scenes, architecture and portraits shot with normal lenses or so-called "street zooms" are good examples of this type of image. This is also where you should let your compositional creativity loose: use these as an opportunity to look for patterns and colours to enhance the impact of your images.

Image 2: Medium shots provide the substance of your travel story

Detail Shots are in many ways the most important type of travel image: as human beings we are all the same: it's only in the details that we are different from one another. While they need the other two classes of images to provide context, details provide the visual vocabulary needed to define a culture. Without them you're missing the most important part of your story. Used in a slide show, or album of your travels, detail images may not occupy the screen for as long as other images, or they may be smaller and collaged together with other images, but be sure to include at least a few in every show.

Image 3: Details are an essential part of your travel story

With a bit of planning and some thought about what you want to communicate to your viewers, you can tell a story that will convey volumes about your subject; often with almost no need for words. Suppose you wanted to create a story about the life of the small independent lavender farmer in Provence. One of the larger lavender growing regions in this part of France is on the high plateau above Valensole in the Alpes de Haut-Provence. The four images below encompass an establishing shot, (the landscape), medium shots of two brothers in the fields where they work. The details of sun burned faces and weathered hands tell a story of years of labouring under the hot Provencal sun.

Start planning now to make this year's vacation trip the most photographically rewarding one ever, be sure to plan for establishing and medium shots, and keep your eyes open for those telling cultural details.

Best wishes for the New Year to each of you!

Mark English

2009-05-13T21:26:00.000-07:00

2009-05-07T19:21:00.000-07:00

The Joy of Photographing People Using Small Flashes

Last week, I got opportunity to shoot portraits of different people in different settings at Paso Robles, California. Here are some tidbits:

1. The Happy Couple:

As my friend and I were walking in a park at dusk, we come across a young couple cuddling on the chair. They gracefully accept our offer to take couple of pictures of them. I set up a westcott 43" umbrella(in shoot-through mode) and my Canon 580ex II on a light stand, about 5 feet away from the couple, at about 8 o'clcok position to the camera left. I used 70-200mm IS canon telephoto lens to isolate their faces. Both the camera and the flash are in manual mode, and the flash is triggered by pocketwizard transceiver. As my friends were chatting with them, I quickly tested the flash exposure, and made some adjustment. Suddenly, the couple is laughing hard, I seized the moment by clicking away a dozen shots. The above image is one of my favorite.

2. Sophia in the shower room:

This time, my assignment is to shoot a beautiful model Sophia, at the bathroom in a gorgeous Victorian House. After some brainstorm, got an idea. I had her put a towel around the head, standing in the bathtub, pretending just finishing the shower. (Thank God, she didn't mind to mess up her hair with the towel). There is no room for light stand, but fortunately, I had my friend Martin as VAL (voice activated light stand), and he was over 7 feet tall. I put a Canon 580ex II and 43" shoot-through umbrella on a small Bogen Nano light stand, and Martin held it high to the right of Sophia, I took couple shots, the light wrapped around her nicely.

3. Abducted by UFO:

Sean, Steve and I were wandering around in a park at sunset, we found couple of big electrical boxes, and decided to use them as interesting background. After some test shots, an idea came to me, I like to make some cold vs warm contrasty shots. First, I set my camera white balance to tungsten(it makes daylight blue), then I put one canon flash on top of the electrical box with head facing down. The key light comes from a flash(with a full CTO gel attached to the head) on 43" shoot-through umbrella to my right. I also had steve hand-held a snooted flash pointing to Sean's right ear. All 3 flashes are triggered by pocketwizard. Lastly, It's Sean's turn to make some faces and poses, and he was really good at it, you can clearly see the result here.

William Yu

2009-03-10T22:05:00.001-07:00

Nikkor 200mm Macro lens f/11 @ 1/60 second, ISO 200

Following the announcement last week of our February contest winners, we received an unusually large number of emails. Most of the emails expressed an interest in the story behind the photograph taken by our second place winner Angie Wright. Her simple yet striking image of "oil and water" had most everyone shaking their heads with disbelief and of course the question of "HOW" she did it.

Having "been there and done that" myself some years ago, I went out onto my back deck, just yesterday in fact and shot a few images of "oil and water" and as you will quickly see, it is an easy thing to shoot. The 'trick', as I am sure Angie will agree, is deciding what kind of colored background you wish to use AND to be patient! Hunching over this set-up with your camera and lens on tripod, waiting for the right arrangement of oil and water to form will test your patience, but it's truly worth it!

This is NOT a difficult set up. I have used a glass bread pan, placed atop two large drinking glasses. For my background, I have placed one of my 'wild and crazy colorful shirts' underneath the bread pan. I filled the pan about 2/3rds full with water and than simply poured a number of small drops of cooking oil into the pan.

I shot the two close-up images you see with my Nikkor 200mm Macro. You don't need a macro lens to do this shot but you will need a set of extension tubes. When placed between a lens that offers up 60-100mm focal length, you too will soon be enjoying some "unbelievable" images like you see here! And if it's not clear by now, let me end by saying, THIS TECHNIQUE IS NOT DONE IN PHOTOSHOP!

Nikkor 200mm Macro lens f/11 at 1/80 second 200 ISO

Bryan Peterson

Founder/PPSOP

2009-03-04T09:18:00.000-08:00

Orchids

It's been a really long winter here in Maine, so when I was recently invited to shoot at an orchid nursery, I jumped at the chance! Spending the morning in this tropical paradise was absolutely heavenly!

Orchids are not the easiest flowers to shoot, and a nursery provides a very busy background, so isolating a single orchid for a flower portrait was a challenge. When you are shooting a complicated flower, simplifying the background becomes essential. The owner also did not want the orchids moved, so replacing the background with something simple was not an option. Luckily, I had packed my Lensbaby Composer and the macro kit accessory, so I could easily make the background fade into soft blur. I shot many images with a straight lens too, but it was the Lensbaby that gave me the images I wanted.

The day after the shoot, we had a huge snowstorm and lost our power for a few days, so I was really appreciative of the three hours I spent in the tropics!

Here are a few samples of the images I shot, all with the Lensbaby Composer and double glass optic.

Happy shooting!

Kathleen Clemons

Instructor
The Joy of Photography
Capturing the Beauty of Flowers
Lensbaby Magic
The Art of Food Photography

2009-02-03T18:45:00.000-08:00

A "HOT-SHOT"

Have you ever used a fish-eye lens? The fish-eye lens allows for some up close and personal views of the world we live in. It is the lens that often answers the question of "What does the world look when seen from the point of view of the..." Again, due to its really wide and sweeping vision and its close-focusing capabilities, 4", this lens can go just about anywhere and offer up any number of fresh viewpoints of the world.

If you could squeeze into the mailbox what view is offered up when the postman delivers your mail? If you could crawl inside a very large shoe, what view is offered up when the foot enters the shoe? If you could sit on the back shelf of the refrigerator, what view would you see when someone in the family shows up for their 2AM feeding? If you could sit on the end of the spoon, what view would you have when you daughter takes her cough syrup? What view would you see if you were the end of a needle about to give someone a shot of Novocain? If you could crawl inside your oven, what view would you see when someone comes along and takes out the cooked pizza?

Lots of questions here and by no means is this a complete list! What does the office garbage can see from its low point of view, when someone throw's a wad of paper into it? And on and on it can go, but for now let's tackle at least one of these questions, beginning with the pizza in the oven.

Before placing my camera and full frame fish-eye lens on the at the back of the oven, I engaged the camera's built-in flash, setting it to rear curtain sync and set the camera to Aperture Priority Mode, choosing an aperture of f/16 for maximum depth of field, along with pre-focusing the camera to its shortest focus point of 4". (Auto focus has been turned-off as usual.) In addition I had engaged the camera's self-timer to fire 5 seconds after first pressing the camera's shutter release. All that remained was to explain to the model that he needed to just stand there for a few seconds acting as if he was about to take the fresh baked pizza out of the oven. (Getting my model to do exactly as I directed was the easiest part of the shoot since the model in this case is me! The wife and kids had left earlier in the day to head out for the 'spring sales' so my choice in models was truly limited.) Holding the pizza with one hand and firing the shutter release with the other hand, I held the position you see here and five seconds later, this was the result; f/16 at 1 second. For those who don't know about rear curtain sync, here is how it works, in capsule form: Instead of the flash firing at the beginning of the exposure, it fires at the end. With the camera in Aperture Priority Mode, the initial exposure was taking into account the light outside the oven which was the available light on me and the light in our well-lit kitchen and at the end of the exposure time, the flash went off, an illuminated the interior of the oven, along with the Pizza and my hand and oven mitt. Easy stuff, really, it is!

And of course the really more pressing question: DID I ACTUALLY SET MY NIKON D-300 WITH THE FULL FRAME 14MM FISH-EYE LENS INTO A 400 DEGREE OVEN!? Of course not! The oven is actually at room temperature. So how do I explain the RED-HOT COILS overhead? I made a simple COLOR BALANCE Adjustment Layer in Photo-Shop and added RED, thus turning the normally grey oven coils to a "glowing RED!"

All My Best,

Bryan F. Peterson

Founder/PPSOP

2009-01-20T12:25:00.000-08:00

The Village in the Painting

Do you remember the beautiful sceneries in the movie "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". I have recently visited the village where some of those impressive scenes of the movie were shot.

The village name is "Hong", it's about 6-hour-drive away from Shanghai. The ancient architectures in the village are well preserved, and it has been designated by United Nations as World Cultural Heritage Site. The entire village forms the shape of a bull and has unique ancient irrigation systems, providing waters to entire village. It's so gorgeous and peaceful that it is called "The Village In the Painting".

Frankly, this village is photographer's paradise. For portrait photographers, it's perfect place for environmental portraits, shooting local people in their living environment. For architectural photographers, the culturally distinctive "Hui" style houses and interior designs are presenting limitless opportunities. For landscape photographers, the village skyline, the lake at the front and the pound in the middle of the village are a few highlights among endless picture perfect spots. Spring and Fall are the best time for photography here, In late March, the canola plant(shiny yellow) and peach trees(pinky red) are in full blossom all around the village, and in late September, fall colors are surrounding the village. Well, I missed both seasons this time, but to me, no matter what time I come, this village is always beautiful.

I only have 2 lenses with me this time, Canon 24-70mm and Sigma 8mm fisheye. The fisheye is the new member of my camera bag, and I have fun with it. To use this lens properly, I have to focus really, really close to the subject, only few inches away. Another interesting observation of the image taken by this lens on a full frame camera: you will see the barrel wall of the lens in your image!

I will definitely come back to village again. This short trip is just the beginning, I would like see it through my camera in drizzle, in a cloudy day, in the fog, in the spring, in the fall, etc...

This image was shot at early morning with Sigma 8mm fisheye, a lady brought out these baskets of vegetables, prepared for farmers' market. You can see clearly the screw lines on the barrel of the lens.

Early in the morning, someone is drying a basket of freshly made tofu on the side the pound in the middle of the village.

This is the typical courtyard of a "Hui" style house. I took a couple exposures with Sigma 8mm fisheye and created this HDR image.

A early morning shot of withering lotuses, at the lake in the front of the village.

A fisheye shot at the entrance bridge to the village.

Click here for more Hong Village images of this trip.

William Yu

www.chinaphotoworkshop.com

2009-01-15T22:04:00.000-08:00

BACKGROUNDS

A detective will say, What about his background? An employer will say, Tell me about your previous employment. A doctor will say, Tell me your medical history. Background "checks" are the norm in everyday life-except in photographic composition, (and marriage)! How many couples would even make it to the alter if one or the other spouse first did a thorough background check? Ah, but love is often blind, driven by emotion and passion and that same passion is what prevents so many photographers from recording some really great images.

Amateur photographers are often so taken by the subject before them that they fail to look at the background of their composition. And often times they still cannot see the problems with the background, even after processing the image on the computer.

What causes background trouble? Several things. At times it can be the wrong aperture (resulting in too much depth of field), not paying attention to light (resulting in too much contrast between light and dark), the wrong point of view (resulting in that telephone pole sticking out of your daughter's head). And then there are those jarring tones or shapes in the background that are a disturbing contrast to the focused subject (for example, that out-of-focus background of purple flowers makes for a disturbing tonal contrast when seen behind the bright red tulip).

The solution is a simple one, really it is! Get into the habit of asking yourself EVERY time (and before pressing the shutter release) "Does my background help or hurt the foreground focused subject?" Before long, this question becomes such an integral part of the shooting process that many students report that they actually spend time looking for the perfect background FIRST!

PHOTOS-My daughters and I had just returned from sledding at the nearby park, when my eyes caught site of some frozen icicles hanging off of the gareden hose.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my Leica D-Lux 4, making the quick snapshot you see here. Clearly, the image you see here is a 'mess' and by a mess I mean that my one lone hanging piece of garden hose and icicles IS getting some serious competition from the background; competition from all of the other "lines" to be even more specific. The additional curvilenear lines from the garden hose and the horizontal lines from the siding of the house create a chaotic and confusing composition. All of this background confusion and chaos is akin to trying to watch and listen to the television reporter, reporting live from the scene, yet having to put up with the young kid in the background who is jumping up and down, waving his arms furiously, hoping to get his three seconds of fame.

I returned to the house and from the guest closet I grabbed the large red Christmas wreath box and unfolded it and placd it behind the lone piece of garden hose and icicles. I felt that I was now ready to make a much more compelling image.

Hand-holding my Leica D-Lux 4, I was able to compose that much stronger composition as this image shows. Gone is the confusing background, resulting in an image with far more impact, thanks to nothing more than a large red unfolded box. *Leica D-Lux 4 at 5.1mm, (effective 24mmm in 35mm terms) at f/4 at a 1/30 second with ISO 200.

And finally, when is the best time to shoot a vertical composition? Right after you shoot the horizontal composition! *Leica D-Lux 4 at 5.1mm, (effective 24mmm in 35mm terms) at f/4 at a 1/30 second with ISO 200.

*Unlike my 'bulky Nikon D-300, the little Leica D-Lux 4 (not much bigger than a pack of Marlboro 100's) offers up a host of valuable reasons why you might consider buying one for yourself! If you love macro, you will love its ability to focus down to 1/3 of an inch at the wide angle focal length. And speaking of focal lengths, it offers up an effective 5.1-12.8 zoom lens, (35mm equivalent is 24mm-60mm) and captures a 10+ mega-pixel file each and every time. In addition, it offers up the wide aperture of f/2 when shooting at the 24mm angle and f/2.8 when shooting on the 60mm end. That's fantastic news when shooting in low-light and/or when you forgot the tripod. Of course it offers up Aperture, Shutter, Program Modes BUT also full manual exposure and even manual focus! I love this camera! The only downside is that it's not cheap, ($865.00) but than it wouldn't truly be a Leica if it were! To learn more about this camera, click the link below.
http://www.adorama.com/ILCDLUX4BK.html?searchinfo=leica%20d-lux4&item_no=1

Happy Shooting Everyone!
Bryan F Peterson/Founder
www.ppsop.com

2009-01-12T14:40:00.000-08:00

It is here where you will learn how a 1/125 second can provide a lifetime of memories!

I am often asked about the story behind a particular picture of mine, but none stands out more than the story I am about to share with your now.

In 1990, I was living in Bavaria, Germany. It was during the month of June, while traveling the many back roads of Northern Germany, near the town of Bremen, that I came upon numerous farmers who were out and about tending their livestock and fields. It was near one such farm that I actually ran out of gas and it was at this same farm where I caught site of a young farm girl who was at that moment, doing her best to catch a large baby pig that had got out of its pen. A few moments later, I met her Grandmother and learned that the young 'farm girl' was in fact her granddaughter, a 'city-girl' from Hamburg who was only visiting for the next two weeks. (I spoke just enough German to get myself in and out of trouble!)

Over the course of the next several hours, I not only made a number of images around the farm, including the picture of the Grandmother that you see here, but was also given a few liters of gas that would easily get me to the next gas station. After accepting the unexpected invitation for lunch, I found myself sitting down at the dining room table enjoying a very fulfilling German lunch of white garden potatoes in a white gravy sauce with fresh garden peas, fresh homemade bread and the "most tender, freshest chicken breast I have ever tasted!" It was at that moment, that the Grandmother explained, "Well it better be fresh, because it's the same chicken you photographed earlier today!"

Yikes, little did I know that I had immortalized this chicken!

Come join any number of our classes which start tomorrow, Friday January 9th, and we'll help you do an even better job of recording images that will provide a lifetime of memories!

All my best-
Bryan F Peterson
Founder/PPSOP

2009-01-03T11:37:00.000-08:00

A REALLY GREAT CLOSEUP LENS OPTION or ADDITION!

Have you been saving up your hard earned money for a macro lens? Do you already own a macro lens? Whether you are saving for a macro lens or you already have one, I would strongly recommend that you consider adding the Canon 500D close-up lens to your camera system. Do not confuse this ONE Close-up lens with those much lesser quality close-up filter sets. When it comes to a close-up “lens”, there is but one and Canon is KING!

Canon offers up three close-up lenses (the 250D, the 500 and the 500D) in various filter sizes ranging from 52mm to 77mm filter size. The 250D is recommended for focal lengths from 35mm to 150mm and the 500 and 500D are recommended for focal lengths between 70-300mm. Since most shooters own a telephoto zoom that goes to at least 200mm, I personally would recommend the purchase of the 500D only. (The 500 is a single element glass constructed lens and the 500D is a double element glass constructed lens which translates into a wee bit sharper image.) Depending on the filter size of your zoom lens, you will pay anywhere from $75.00 to $145.00:

http://www.adorama.com/Search-Results.tpl?page=searchresults&searchinfo=Canon&500D&closeup&lens

In the spring of 2008, I bought the Canon 500D, 77mm filters size, initially to use on my Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 zooms. After spending but a few hours in the garden with my 500D closeup filter attached to the front of my 70-200mm F/2.8 Nikkor lens, I was hooked on the practicality of owning this closeup lens. Once I sat down in front of the computer, I could see sharpness that easily compared to the sharpness normally obtained with my Micro-Nikkor 200mm lens. The only drawback that I could find was that the 500D renders only a 1/3 life-size magnification and that is when the 70-200mm lens is set to 200mm. But hey, if you are not all about the itty bitty crittters and primarily a flower and butterfly photographer, this is one option to seriously consider in lieu of buying that $1300.00 200mm Nikkor Micro lens or the 180mm Canon Macro lens. Add into this equation the size and weight of this filter, (pocket size and about the weight of a deck of cards), you are quick to arrive at the same “slam-dunk” conclusion that I did and order one right away. When I find myself heading out the door in one of my “traveling light moods”, I am quick to grab the 500D and put it in my front pants pocket and now I am ready for all those butterflies that may come my way gladly leaving behind the weight (2.5 lbs) of my 200mm Micro-Nikkor lens.

Althought this lens is intended for use with a telephoto lens, (heck it says so in Canon tech-spec sheets) I have made the discovery that the 500D, in combination with a super wide, such as my Nikkor 12-24mm lens allows me to capture even more “up close and personal” compositions. (The one and only word of caution that I can offer when using the 500D on a wide-angle lens is this: first remove your UV or Skylight filter as the combination of your protective filter and the 500D will cause vingnetting in the corners of your composition.)

Focus is also continuous with this filter meaning that when you find yourself shooting at the 200mm focal length at a distance of 7 inches, you can zoom back towards 70mm and the focus distance is still the same, 7 inches away, UNLIKE extension tubes which will find you needing to constantly re-adjusting the focus every time you zoom to a different focal length.

PHOTO#1-#2-There are of course many signs of spring, not the least of which are the return of flowers, bee’s and butterflies and along many a swampy river bank or pond, the dragonfly hatch is well on it’s way, to the delight of frogs everywhere. Lyon, France boasts the largest city park of all French cities and even come close to rivaling New York City’s Central Park in size. There is an abundance of critters every spring at the Park Tete D’Or, including the dragonflies that live on the edges of the several large ponds that encompass the flower gardens. Seated comfortably on the green grass that runs up to the edge one small pond, I spied several baby dragonflies, basking in the warm glow of the morning sunshine. Dawn had just arrived and at this hour, many insects are a bit slow to wakeup, allowing the photographer to work at rather close ranges without fear of the critters flying away. Like many people I know, even bugs and insects are slow to wake up. Hand-holding my camera and Nikkor 70-200mm VR lens at the 200mm focal length and with my aperture set to f/8, I focused as close as I could, adjusted the shutter speed until a 1/320 second indicated a correct exposure and fired off several frames. Needless to say, and I am sure you will agree, I need to get closer and fill that frame! The composition here is much like the guy whose seat is on the fourth level, last row, at a Laker’s basketball game.

Because I left the house in one of my ‘light moods’, I had but one option to get closer and it was right inside my pants pocket; the Canon 500D closeup lens. After threading on the close-up lens, I picked up and moved forward, until the lens was now focusing at its closest focusing point-three feet. With the focal length still set to 200mm, its now clear that this really is and was meant to be a composition of a baby dragonfly at rest.
My exposure here was also, f/8 at a 1/320 second.

PHOTO#3-#4-Silver Falls State Park continues to be one of Oregon’s best kept secrets. It is Oregon’s largest State Park, yet most outdoor enthusiast’s prefer to trek further north, in and around the famous Columbia River Gorge. That’s fine with me too, since I don’t have to deal with any crowds along the 9 miles of hiking trails. Plus, I dont have to worry about being in other people’s way or they getting in my way, when I stop to shoot any of the 11 very impressive waterfalls. Springtime is the ideal time to visit Silver Creek, if you want to see the waterfalls flowing at their peak. The spring run-off of the snowmelt from the Cascade Mountain Range causes the rivers to swell and the resulting water flow fills the canyons of Silver Falls State Park with thunderous roars. As the trail meanders down more than 50 stone steps, you step onto a somewhat level dirt trail and just around the corner you are met with the thunderous roar of the 160 feet tall North Falls. Its one of those obvious wide angle shots where you will be able to record the waterfalls, top to bottom and the surrounding forest, but on this day, I was determined to record an “up close and personal landscape” and I found just the right subject to make that happen, a salmon berry bush that was growing within inches of the trail. As you can see in the first example, and at the focal lenght of 18mm, my attempt at creating an up close and personal composition where the focus would be on the salmon berry bloom fell quite short of an “up close and personal landscape”. With my aperture set to wide open, f/4, and the focus on the flower itself, the resulting visual weight of emphasizing the flower did in fact work, but as I have mentioned, the bush and the flower itself is still too small inside the frame. The solution was an easy one. I reached into my camera bag and placed the Canon 500D close-up lens on my 12-24mm Nikkor lens and voila, I was now able to place the emphasis on the flower, yet do so within the much wider angle of view of 18mm. This is not just a close-up of a salmon berry bloom, but rather it’s a close-up of a salmon berry bloom “in the forest, near a large waterfall”. This kind of close-up photography in my mind is akin to “having your cake and eating it too”, since you not only record an intimate encounter with the flower, but you also record the ‘story behind it’. It is a way of looking at the world that is still very new and the possibilites are, not surprisingly, endless, thanks to the addition of the Canon 500D Close-up lens!

Bryan F. Peterson
Founder of PPSOP

2009-01-03T11:12:00.001-08:00

HOW DO YOU METER FOR NIGHT SHOTS
and WHY YOU DON’T WANT TO SHOOT ‘AT NIGHT’?

Photographing a city skyline at night is a goal of many photographers. And more often than not, this goal is usually pursued shortly after the photographer has purchased their first tripod, since compositions of this type require ‘long’ exposures.

Beyond the need for a tripod, there still remains two important steps if one is going to find the experience of shooting a city skyline rewarding.

IF you make it a point to shoot your city skyline shortly after dusk, you will not only record an exposure with greater contrast and color, BUT you will also have no trouble in getting the correct exposure without the need to “bracket”. Beginning about fifteen minutes after sunset and lasting for the next ten minutes, the exposure time for the sky is now the same exposure time of the lighted cityscape in front of it. And this is true whether it’s a cloudy sky or clear sky. With your camera in Manual Exposure Mode and your aperture set to f/11, tilt the camera up towards the sky, just above the buildings and adjust your shutter speed until a correct exposure is indicated. Chances are with 200 ISO, you will record an exposure time of around 4 seconds. Re-compose the city scene before you and fire away! It is imperative that you get all of your shooting done during the next 10 minutes because the window of opportunity will soon turn to black.

Shooting city scenes against a ‘black sky’ is something you will want to avoid, since the dark, black sky does not offer up the much needed contrast/color separation that the dusky blue sky did. Compare for yourself in these two shots of the Tampa, Fl skyline.

The first image was shot 20 minutes after sunset while the second image was shot 35 minutes after sunset. Both images where shot with a Nikkor 17-35mm, at 20mm, f/11 for 4 seconds.

Bryan F. Peterson
Founder of PPSOP

2009-01-01T20:46:00.000-08:00

Classic Profile

Unlike human subjects, you can’t ask a pet to turn their head to the left or right, not move, smile and look at the camera. Well you can, they just won’t understand. So, it’s important when photographing pets to take a wide variety of shots, be creative and use different perspectives – one of them being a profile. Profiles make wonderful pet portraits. They are regal, classic and owners love them. Dogs with long muzzles look great in profile. Try to include a few profiles in your photo sessions. If you are photographing a pet that has a bad or missing eye, is scarred on one side or just does not want to face the camera, consider taking several profile shots.

Don’t forget the importance of backgrounds in your portraits. Dark, rich tones make striking backdrops for profiles and create a dramatic mood. It’s a great way to showcase a pet. And don’t forget about catch lights. Even though you only see one eye, you still need that catch light. It’s a little “spark” of life!

Pet Photography Course

Jill Flynn
visualharmonyphotography.com

2008-12-24T23:30:00.000-08:00

What a View!, originally uploaded by Chinaphotoworkshop.

China is developing fast by means of modernization and urbanization. However, I saw enough evidence of those, and really hope to find the traditional cultural side of China. During a short trip to China in late November, I visited couple of well preserved ancient towns, Xitang is one of them.

I brought my Canon 5D, and 3 lenses: Canon 24-70mm, 70-200mm, and Sigma 8mm fisheye. It's a day-time visit to Xitang, The Sun is strong and shadow is harsh, the actual dynamic range is beyond the camera sensor's capability for a single well exposed image. You have to either sacrifice the highlight detail or shadow detail (The structures on the left bank would have been very dark if the structures on the right bank are exposed correctly). But this is the perfect opportunity to try out High Dynamic Range image, standing on a bridge, with camera on the tripod and focal length of 24mm, I made total of 7 exposures at with 1 stop difference on each. The darkest exposure shows the shadow detail and the lightest exposure shows the highlight detail of the sky.

At home, I imported all 7 exposures into Photomatix Pro, created a HDR image, then processed it through detail enhancer, and brought it back to photoshop and made some curves tweak, here you go. This is the final image.

More HDR images of Xitang

William Yu
www.chinaphotoworkshop.com

2008-10-31T16:32:00.001-07:00

ELECTION YEAR SPECIAL!
LET'S GET THIS ECONOMY MOVING!
10% OFF ON ALL JANUARY CLASSES!

Next session at PPSOP.net starts Jan 9, 2009

US$ 175 for 4-Week Classes
US$ 355 for 8-Week Classes

10% OFF DISCOUNT ENDS DECEMBER 21ST, 2008

2008-10-02T07:57:00.000-07:00

Bruce Smith Fashion Photography Master Class
DIPLOMA

Each student that reaches a satisfactory level during the online class at PPSOP
will receive a Diploma certificate to show their level of achievment.

Levels of achievment that can be gained.

Distinction - Merit - Pass

2008-09-10T04:53:00.000-07:00

I'm the new instructor at PPSOP and I'm also new to blogging. Come to think of it I'm new to these machines too. (I am taking courses though).

With almost 5,500 jobs under my belt and just short of 50 years as a shooter (5 studios in NYC) I hope my students overlook my spotty computer skills and tap into what I call a career filled with excitement, adventure, travel, creativity, financial ups and downs, problem solving, lasting friendships and I could go on for a page, all good.

Bottom line is that in this highly competitive, over crowded, fickle, fast moving and changing profession/art form, if you love it it will love you back.

I think my job at PPSOP is to turn this love into financial gain and still keep the love fires burning.

Some of the courses I'm working on are: (and I would love some feedback about your interest in them)

ESTIMATING-I'm not talking about the big budget national adds I was lucky to work on but the kind of jobs for small firms like an Italian Restaurant, a Law firm, a Day care center, a small manufacturing firm, a fitness center. I shot plenty of jobs like these and whatever the budget they require production value and that means a well thought out, realistic estimate.

LEARNING TO LIGHT IN THE DARK-For about 20 bucks spent at your hardware store, Staples and/or an art supply store you can put together enough stuff to take this course and ONCE AND FOR ALL learn the basics of lighting. I WILL take the mystery out of lighting with my 4-D's of lighting program.

DIRECTING NON-PROFESSIONAL TALENT-Stock is king and those photographer expecting to make a living on original assignments are unrealistic and if you don't live in a city with a decent supply of models you will have to tap into your local market of farmers, fireman and florists for your stock pictures. I can help you get the best out "real" people.

CHOOSING A SHOOT THEME-My years as a commercial shooter taught me many disciplines, one of which was to focus on the problem at hand. ( the shooting assignment). If Art Directors could shoot their own pictures, they would. I found out pretty quickly in my career that my job was to take their idea and make it better. One of my favorite things to do was to location scout. I was very often too busy to do it and had to hire a location scout to do it for me.

My ability to focus (not the camera) on the job also pretty much closed the door on my interest or ability to do personal projects. About 7 years ago I headed toward Nova Scotia after one of my daughters wedding (in Maine) and spent two week shooting for myself. Never did anything with the pictures and in the fall of '06 pulled them out. 2 images got my attention and I decided to take the plunge into taking pictures after so many years of making pictures. They were images of back (dirt) roads. In January of '07 I took off on the first of 9 2-3 day trips through out New England. My theme was back roads and that's all I was looking for. It was like location scouting without specific location in mind. I had a ball! Each trip yielded between 5 and 15 images. Ended up with about 65 keepers and almost keepers. Narrowed it down to 35 and I don't give a damn If anybody likes them, it was a totally liberating experience. I did it again this last summer ('08). My theme was "boats out of water". Did 2-5 day trips from the Canadian border down to New Haven, Conn. Again about 65 "images of interest" with about 25 or 30 keepers. I had another ball! Why were these projects such great experiences for me, that's easy. No restraints of any kind except the ones I put on myself. TAKE pictures of back roads and boats out of water. I would like to put together a course that would teach students to choose a theme to really focus on and cover it 8 ways to Sunday. I call it "Covering the job" whether it's a personal project or an assignment from a class or a real job for $.

SPECIAL EFFECTS- In this age of Photoshop big productions and special effects have taken a back seat. The last couple hundred jobs I shot were often ended with this phrase form a young Mac-jockey art director, "don't worry Dave, I'll fix it in the computer". I love to do the effects in camera or on the set. Making white clouds w/dry ice, smoke machines, snow machines, sweat a glass, can or bottle that stays sweated for hours, zoom during exposure, fog filter, shaking the camera, twisting the camera. using a camera stabilizer and on and on.

CAR SHOOTING-I shot every car manufactured in the world except Russian and Chinese cars. Once you understand the concept of shooting cars your halfway there. Here's a clue. The most difficult car in the world to shoot is a black VW Beetle and the easiest is the DeLorien. (not sure of that spelling) Anybody got the answer?

Dave

2008-09-09T23:59:00.000-07:00

Hello every one.

My tip for September.

USING FILL -IN FLASH to beat the falling light at the end of your days shoot.

If your shooting late in the day with that beautiful gold, contrasty light but you loosing this amazing light because the sun is goes down.

I am often in this situation but still need to shoot pictures that day.

Like on a shoot I was doing in Western Australia last December for a swimwear catalogue. We were shooting our last collection of swimwear for the day but the sun was going down very fast, I still had 4 shots left and they need to have a consistency with the rest of the shots Id been doing.

This is how I got over the problem:

I had my assistant holding a Californian Sunbounce mini reflector, with the gold foil cloth attached, at an angle pointing towards my model, high up to the left side of my position, I aimed a metz flash gun onto the reflector so it bounced lovely golden light onto my modeI.

I set the flash exposure to be approx 1.5 to 2 stops under the ambient light reading taken from my models position.

This is one of the shots taken using this technique.

Example of camera and flash settings:

My ambient reading (taken from the same position as my model) was 125th sec at f5.6, I adjusted the power output of the Metz flash gun to give me a flash reading, ( taken from the same position as my model ) of f2.8 to f2.8 and a half stop.

If you set the power any higher, the fill-in flash starts to take over the ambient light and starts to look like you have used flash on your shot.

This is why I choose to have my flash out put at 1.5 to 2 stops under the ambient reading. Try this yourself the next time your shooting late or your shooting in the shade..

Click on the photograph to visit my web album, there are c150 images on there. If you want to know how I achieved the images, just drop the images in the blog and ask how did you do this, I will tell you..

Most of not all of my images are lit very simply. NOT ROCKET SCIENCE..

Keep an eye out for my next fashion photography tip.

Why not post your own samples of your fill-in flash and tell us your techniques.

See my work http://www.brucesmithphotographer.com

I would like to introduce myself, I am Bruce Smith, I have been a pro fashion shooter for c30 years.

I just joined PPSOP to teach my fabulous online introduction course to shooting fashion photography.

Every week, for 8 weeks, each students will receive a simple, clear, and helpful lesson via email.

The weekly lessons will focus on a single topic.

For example, you'll learn how to:
Lesson 1: Research your ideas from magazines
Lesson 2: Put together your team models and stylists.
Lesson 3: Find your locations, interior or exteriors.
Lesson 4: Briefing your team
Lesson 5: Preparation before your shoot
Lesson 6: Shooting your main assignment
Lesson 7: Image selecting and editing
Lesson 8: Some basic techniques in Photoshop.

Go to the PPSOP web site for more details and signing up for this fabulous introduction to shooting fashion course: http://www.ppsop.com/fash.aspx

A New Book on How To Shoot Digital Fashion Photography

In early October my Fashion Photography, A Complete Guide, will be launched in the USA by Watson and Guptil. The book covers just about every topic you will need to learn to get started as a fashion photographer.
It will be a great companion to my Online Fashion Course with PPSOP.
I am looking forward to class starting. 12th September.

You will be able to order your copy via PPSOP.

Bruce Smith

Wednesday 9th September 2008

Bruce Smith

2008-09-09T23:51:00.000-07:00

PAINTING WITH SHUTTER SPEED
Noooooooo Tripods Allowed!

Until recently, the 'rule' of photography has been to "keep the horizon line straight and above all else, make sure its in focus". It was also unthinkable for a photographer to deliberately handhold their camera at a very slow shutter speed without the aid of a tripod. For those who did venture out of this 'norm', they were often scoffed at because the resulting images were of course "blurry and out of focus" and on more than one occasion the photographer was asked "were you drunk when you took that shot?"

Fortunately times have changed and the idea of "painting with a slow shutter speed" has been embraced. But, unlike panning, which is already challenging enough, painting with a slow shutter speed is a real "hit or miss" affair, BUT when everything does come together, it is truly rewarding. (Have you priced 'abstract art" lately? Doing it yourself is not only 'cheaper', but since you 'painted' it yourself, its also that much more rewarding.

Painting with shutter speed is a simple technique really. The challenge is in finding the 'right' subject to paint. Once you feel you have found a subject to paint, you simply set a correct exposure that will allow you to use, a 1/4 or a 1/2 second shutter speed, and at the moment you press the shutter release, you twirl, arch, jiggle, or jerk the camera in and up and down, or side to side or round and round motion; PRESTO an instant abstract painting! Just as Monet discovered with his brush and canvas, flower gardens continue to be the number one choice of photographers for painting with shutter speed, but don't overlook other compositional patterns as well, such as boat harbors, fruit/vegetable markets and even the crowd in the stands at the NFL football match. Also, consider painting with shutter speed in low-light where shutter speeds can range from 2 to 8 seconds-the difference here is that your movements are slower then the quick and hurried 'jiggle' mentioned above, and the resulting effect can look like that of an artist who uses a palette knife as the exposure time builds up one layer upon another.

Not much is required to create some truly exciting abstract paintings with your camera other then a slow shutter speed and the willingness to perhaps look 'foolish' in the presence of others. Defying all the 'laws' of photography, strangers stop momentarily as they find it odd to see you with your camera pointed at a given subject, jiggling, spinning, jerking and/or turning your camera while pressing the shutter release, and they cant for the life of themselves understand what on earth you could possibly be so happy about it. You may even perhaps give the impression that you suffer from a nerve disorder which would no doubt accounts for why you cant obviously hold the camera steady. Like I said, we do look foolish, but do we really care?

PHOTO#1-#2-#3-A roadside flower bed in the heart of the city of Lyon France provides a welcomed reminder that spring has arrived, following a harsh and cold winter. Standing over a portion of this flower bed and shooting down with my camera and 12-24mm lens revealed a most interesting and energy filled composition that was reminiscent of those times I went to the county fair in my youth and gladly paid the man 25cents for a white piece of paper upon which I would squirt various colored paints and than this paper would spin for several seconds and reveal a kaleidoscope of colors. So how did I do it?

A rather simple technique here but you will want to call upon your wide angle zooms first and foremost AND your polarizing filter and/or your three/four stop neutral density filter.

Remember when creating these abstract works of art, we are calling upon these two filters primarily to decrease the intensity of the light, thus allowing us to use slower then normal shutter speeds, while still maintaining a correct exposure. With my 12-24mm set to the focal length of 12mm and fitted with a four -stop ND filter, I was able to set a correct exposure of f/11 at a 1/4 second and as I pressed the shutter release, I did the following:

I rotated the camera in a right to left circular motion, as if drawing a circle, and at the same time, with my left hand, I zoomed the lens from 12-24mm. And keep in mind all of this took place in a 1/4 second so you are right to assume that you must be quite fast in turning the camera in that circular motion and zooming at the same time.

In comparison to the next shot, I was able to slow down a bit as I repeated the same moves, but I had also changed my exposure from f/11 at a 1/4 second to f/22 for 1 second. Of course the choice is yours, but clearly the spiral effect that results leaves a bit more definition in the flowers at a 1/4 second then the exposure seen in the 1 second exposure. Are we having fun or what!?

PHOTO#4-#5-For some people, walls and doorways, covered with grafitti and posters are seen as unsightly, a blight of societies woes, but personally I have found them to be great fields of photographic potential, harvesting them often by the likes of my macro lens. But it was only recently that I discovered they are also a great resource to create 'art' with the principles described above. Again, with my camera and 12-24mm lens set to ISO 100 and equipped with a 4-stop ND filter, I was soon turning the camera and zooming the lens at the same time, moving from one wall or door to the next, shooting with such careless abandon, experiencing once again that feeling of newness that often accompanies every photographers first few days or weeks behind the camera.

A wall of poster covered windows and graffiti is quickly transformed into a swirl of color and textures. F/16 at a 1 second.

PHOTO#6-#7-Just around the corner I went to work on another wall of 'art' and this time, rather then spinning I simply moved the camera in a slow and upward direction, while at the same time, zooming the lens, quickly, in and out, in and out. Note in this exposure the somewhat stair-stepped effect, a layered palette knife painting effect. Again, this was the result of moving up and zooming in and out at the same time, rapidly over the course of my TWO second exposure. Nikon D2X, 12-24mm lens with 4-stop ND filter, ISO 100 f/16 for 2 seconds.

PHOTO#8-#9-Much of Europe's back roads and meadows are turned into carpets of red during the early part of May thanks to the perennial blooms of the red poppy. In fact up in the north of France, near Lille and as far as east as Strasbourg, acres upon acres of red fields can be seen. To many of the French, the sea of red poppies serve as a reminder of the blood that was lost by those who fought during one of WWII's most decisive battles fought in this area, the Battle of the Bulge.

Bringing my car to a sudden stop was quickly explained as I rounded a corner on a small country road after having just passed a lone farmhouse whose entire yard, front back and sides were rich in tall green grass and red poppies. After a quick knock on the door and receiving permission to take pictures on the property, I was soon immersed behind camera and lens. Of the many exposures I had hoped to shoot that morning, creating motion-filled shots were high on my list. From the front-lit side of the house, I made this exposure of a rather ho-hum, somewhat static composition, but it possessed all the ingredients I felt it needed to make a wonderful abstract of line/color and texture and all that was needed was for me to shoot it again at a much slower exposure while simply moving the camera in a steady upward flow. The first exposure was made with my camera and 12-24mm lens with the ISO at 100 at f/11 for a 1/250 second. The second exposure was made with the same camera and lens, but the lens was equipped with both the Nikkor Polarizing filter and my 4-stop ND filter which resulted in a light loss of six-stops. In order to recover these six stops, I simply re-adjusted my shutter speed from a 1/250 to a 1/125, to a 1/60, to a 1/30 to a 1/15 to a 1/8 to a 1/4 second where once again my meter was now indicating a correct exposure. However, I stopped the lens down further by one full stop, to f/16 which meant I now needed again to double my exposure time from a 1/4 second to a 1/2 second in order to return to a correct exposure. I then pressed the shutter release and simply moved the camera upward in a very smooth flow which resulted in recording the streaks of color and texture that you see here.

Bryan F Peterson
Founder/PPSOP
www.ppsop.net

2008-09-09T20:49:00.000-07:00

"YOU CAN DO THIS – I KNOW YOU CAN!"

The calendar says September and for most of us that means the normally sunny days of summer will soon give way to the howling winds, rain and snow of winter. So I thought, what better time to share a really fun, easy to set-up, yet quite challenging photography tip that is guaranteed to end your summer with a "splash"!

Truth be told I have never been a big fan of flash and it all goes back to my early years as a photographer. I just found the use of flash not only unflattering to my subjects but for years, I could never fully understand how flash 'worked'.

That of course had to change, and it did, since it was an absolute necessity to succeed as a commercial assignment photographer, but whenever possible, I will still always opt for AVAILABLE LIGHT! And one of my favorite set-ups finds me in the great outdoors, taking full advantage of MID-DAY light! Yes you read that right, Bryan Peterson shoots during that God awful time of day called high-noon. Yep, these words of 'wisdom' about shooting in the mid-day light is coming from a guy who is quoted as saying that "the only reason to be out and about during mid-day light is to work on your suntan" but you know what? You can actually get some really cool "studio flash-like" exposures when shooting at mid-day, and you can still work on your tan while doing so! Now that's some darn good management of time!

In the first example, you will see my set up for shooting 'food photography". Along with a simple glass vase, filled with bubbly mineral water, (which is sitting atop a small table and an open 5-in-1 reflector, silver side up), I have added a 'seamless' colored backdrop of blue, (nothing more than a large piece of colored poster size paper found at any art supply store). My camera, along with the macro lens is mounted on tripod, set to focus close on what will soon be fruits falling very fast through this water, (strawberries in this case). Set your ISO to 400, I assuming it's a sunny day, you should be able to record a correct exposure at f/8 at a 1/200 or 1/1600 second, both plenty fast enough to freeze the falling strawberries. Also, before you or your assistant start dropping the strawberries into the vase of water, manually take one of the strawberries and hold it up near the glass in the same area where you wish to photograph it as it drops through the water and now focus on that spot, making certain to leave the focus of your camera in manual focus mode.

Now that I was all ready to go, I simply asked my daughter Sophie to drop a single strawberry into the water and fire away with the camera also set to Continuous Mode, (rapid fire mode) and after shooting for just a few minutes, I would stop and take a moment to review what 'luck' I was having and sure enough, I discovered that I recorded far too many images where the strawberry was either not far enough into the composition or it had dropped to far near the bottom of the composition, BUT by golly, in and amongst all of these missed opportunities, 87 missed opportunities to be exact, I found several jewels, one of which you see here.

Why stop at one strawberry when you can try three at a time? (I love the power of THREE which is why I chose three). And after several additional attempts, an image of three falling strawberries was also recorded as they broke through the surface of the water.

Note the lighting in both of these exposures. The strawberries are lit both from the sun above as well as from underneath due to the sunlight hitting the reflector and bouncing up from below. Who says you need strobes?

Obviously too, this set-up is NOT limited to strawberries! Let your imagination run wild and soon you will be dropping most anything that will fit into your vase and IF you can find a large enough vase, try dropping a slice of watermelon! Enjoy!

Bryan F Peterson
Founder/PPSOP
www.ppsop.net

2008-09-07T13:22:00.000-07:00

Beautiful Weeds

As an avid gardener, I try and keep the weeds in my gardens under control. Recently, one of my gardens has been taken over by a strangling, Morning Glory type of weed. But early one morning last week, I looked out the window and saw the weed in totally different light, literally and figuratively. I grabbed my camera with my Lensbaby 3G, ran to the garden and started shooting. I ended up making some of my favorite images of the summer, and was really glad I hadn't totally rid my garden of the pesky vine. Some images are just meant to be, and it pays to seize the moment!

Kathleen Clemons
Instructor of:
Capturing the Beauty of Flowers
Lensbaby Magic
The Art of Food Photography

2008-07-14T11:28:00.000-07:00

Who FRAMED Roger Rabbit?

How many times have we read an article in a photography magazine or book that said to achieve better photographs we should frame our shots using things that are available to us in our own environment? Things like a tree branch or an arch. That’s all fine, but to make your images more personalized you need to explore new ways to frame, out of the conventional .

I must have been an explorer in my previous life. I love the unknown, taking chances, experimenting and finding new ways to approach and photograph things and then comparing the results. I find that this gives me so many more options and choices of images. It allows me to be more artistic and creative. So here is my photography tip of the day; try framing some of your shots and do it with great style. There are so many things right in front of your eyes just waiting to be used as a "natural" frame. Find them and use them to your advantage.

Break some rules! Who said the frame needs to be in the foreground? Who said the frame needs to cover less space than the subject? Who said the subject of the photo cannot also be the frame itself? And lastly, who said the frame needs to completely "frame" the four sides of the subject? Think outside the box!

Here are some samples I have encountered over the years:

What about a rain puddle? Isn’t that a frame?
(see the picture at the beginning of this blog)

Danilo Piccioni © 2008 all right reserved.

Lighting Techniques of the Portrait Masters

2008-05-14T15:28:00.000-07:00

I was recently teaching Studio Lighting at Gulf Photo Plus in Dubai a few weeks ago with other PPSOP instructors and had the opportunity to work with the model Lenka. The goal of the workshop is similar to my online class here, to teach about learning to see light and sculpting your subjects with light.

There is not much difference between what a sculptor does in their art and a photographer using light. The sculptor uses tools to create a 3 dimensional work of art while the photographer uses light to sculpt their subject to appear 3-dimensional in a 2-dimensional medium.

For Lenka, I used a beauty lighting technique called over/under with one light above and the other under to create a key light and a fill light. This is a very nice way for photographing woman in a soft and flat light manner as it hides skin imperfections, blemishes, and wrinkles. In this image I then went further using skin softening and dream glow techniques to work on the eyes, nose, and mouth. These techniques and many more are in my class: Lighting Techniques of the Portrait Masters.

Charlie Borland
www.borlandphoto.com
Blog: www.thecommercialphotographer.net

Great Photography Tips (Flash Videos)

2008-04-14T12:00:00.000-07:00

Photography Tips, covering different aspects of photography, are just added to PPSOP website. These great tips are in Flash video format, brought to you by Bryan F Peterson, the founder of The Perfect Picture School of Photography.

Gone in the rain with the wind

2008-02-11T21:42:00.000-08:00

By Danilo Piccioni
The Italian Eye

September 2006, I was assisting Bryan Peterson in one of his INCREDIBLE workshops. This one was in Venice and under constant rain, definitely not a September Italian kind of weather if you ask me!
Despite the weather, we tried to be inventive, we tried to be creative and make the best of the time we had together.
Sheltered from the rain standing under the colonnades in Piazza San Marco, I spotted an abandoned broken red umbrella inside a trash can, partially sticking out, looking as if it was screaming : Pick me! Pick me! Make me famous!
So I went and grabbed it and I said: let's do something with this.
In addition to the rain, there was a constant breeze that day and all the nearby cafes in the square were closed because of the unpleasant weather.What better chance for me to borrow one of the café’s chairs and place it in the middle of the piazza and ask one of the students to pose for the shoot?

Doug was either a very good sport or he wanted to show off his new expensive rain proof clothing gear, but either way he sat with his boots in the water and held the umbrella against the wind and waited patiently for us to set up our tripods.
The first shot here shows how the image would look from a normal point of view: Standing up at eye level it’s not very flattering; everything is squashed down because of the deformation due to the wide angle lens; these incredibly beautiful buildings look short and fat and Doug sitting in the rain is just one of many things happening in my photo, not the subject.

I immediately changed lens from wide angle to medium tele, a 70 mm did the job quite nicely.
I also shortened the tripod down a lot and noticed that people passing by where causing the photograph to be overcrowded and distracting. I needed to isolate Doug from everything else.
That's when I decided to use a long exposure to create a sense of movement among the crowd and use them only as a colorful brush stroke effect in the background.

Using a long exposure allowed me to keep Doug and the Doge’s palace pin point sharp and blur everything else.
In order to achieve this and not over-expose the frame I had to add a Neutral Density filter in front of my lens. My frame was still over-exposed, so I decided to add my polarizer filter on top of it and increase the time to an even longer exposure.
I couldn't believe my eyes when suddenly a group of colorfully dressed Japanese tourists came along and I triggered away.

The result image?
Breath taking! And it was chosen as the front cover for SouraMagazine’s Nov-Dec issue, an internationally well known Fine Art photography Magazine in the UAE and in the industry.
Thank you, Doug, for being such a sport and a great looking model!

Click HERE to read the article and watch my images.
The Italian Eye © 2008

New Classes Start Soon!

2008-01-09T20:29:00.000-08:00

Don't miss out on the fun as PPSOP kicks off 2008 with a full menu of fun and exciting courses that will surely give you a wealth of information. In addition to our most popular course, Understanding Exposure, we also have a several new and exciting courses designed just for you.

Check out Architectural Photography, Street Photography, A View From The Top, Portraits Unplugged, CS3 Workflow, Understanding Exposure II, Lighting Challenges, Lensbaby Magic, and a fresh and creative approach to Creative Composition. To see these, and all of our classes, simply go to http://www.ppsop.net/courses.aspx!

We know you will enjoy these and all of the great courses we offer, and look forward to meeting you "online" at The Perfect Picture School of Photography.

PPSOP Holiday Special-10% Off Any Class!

2007-11-23T21:40:00.000-08:00

IN CELEBRATION OF THE AMERICAN HOLIDAY, THANKSGIVING, PPSOP IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE A THANKSGIVING PROMTOION ON ALL OF OUR FOUR AND EIGHT WEEK CLASSES THAT ARE BEING OFFERED IN JANUARY 2008.

SIGN-UP FOR ANY FOUR WEEK CLASS BEFORE DECEMBER 21ST AND SAVE $20.00

SIGN-UP FOR ANY EIGHT WEEK CLASS BEFORE DECEMBER 21ST AND SAVE $40.00

A BRAND NEW COURSE AT PPSOP!

As photographers, amateur and professional alike, we have all ventured down many a road, both literally and figuratively, and at one time or another, made the magical discovery of a hidden treasure and felt that intensely satisfying feeling of having just recorded a truly compelling image! These are the discoveries that certainly fuel our passion for image making.

As you move yet towards other hidden treasure's that lie in wait along life's many paths, roads, avenues, and streets, I want to strongly recommend that you also consider traveling down at least one lane and NOT just any lane I might add. The lane I am suggesting is truly an extra-ordinary LANE; a LANE that will in fact, lead you towards even richer roads, paths, avenues and streets!

The Lane I am speaking of is Bobbi Lane, one of America's greatest teachers on the subject of photographing people! Bobbi Lane is truly a gifted photographic artist and no one even comes close to teaching the art of Photographing People-Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere than Bobbi does with Portraits Unplugged! What amazes me most about Bobbi Lane is that she creates her stunning and often times mesmerizing people images WITHOUT benefit of any electronic lighting equipment. The entire class that she will be teaching here at PPSOP is based on nothing more than using available light and reflectors. (In this day of Global Warming, it can easily be argued that this is a "Green Photography Course" since no electricity will ever be used by you as you record what I know will be some truly electrifying images!)

Bobbi Lane is truly a Master of capturing available light and making the light that is available work towards flattering her subjects to the highest of levels. She is also a consummate professional in dealing with the often-complex nature of what some describe as the most difficult subjects of all, 'people'.

People photography, perhaps more than any other subject, is what all of us wish we could excel at but... Whether you wish to create compelling images of just friends or family or wish to gain the knowledge and courage to approach and shoot compelling images of people you hardly know, your wish can now be granted thanks to the genius of Bobbi Lane! PPSOP feels incredibly honored and lucky to offer a class taught by Bobbi who was recently handed the award for education on the 25th anniversary of the APA!

Bobbi Lane's course, Portraits Unplugged begins on Friday January 11th. Click here to learn more and to get to the sign-up page.

One final thought!

"Can our turkey jump higher than the Chicago skyline?"

"You bet it can! The Chicago skyline can't jump at all!"

November 2007 Photo Contest Announcement

2007-11-02T15:46:00.000-07:00

We are thrilled to announce our October winners of PPSOP's monthly photo contest. The winners are:

1st Place - $500 - Rod Cordsen
2nd Place - $250 - Connie J. Bagot
3rd Place - $100 - Robert Hammar

Thanks to all that participated! Since a lot of us find ourselves in fall colors with winter fast approaching the November theme will be 'Orange'. Have fun with it and we look forward to seeing your entries. Contest will close November 31st. Good luck and happy shooting! Remember ANY current or past student can participate in the ONLY contest with cash prizes!

Happy Shooting!
Chris Hurtt
PPSOP

PPSOP Photo Contest Has Returned!

2007-10-12T19:49:00.000-07:00

Where in the world will you find a photography contest that offers $850 each month in cash prizes? Only here at PPSOP! Beginning today, every current and former student of PPSOP can participate in our monthly photo contest and have the chance to win a cash prize of $500.00 for 1st place, $250 for 2nd place or $100 for 3rd place. And the contest theme for the month of October is FASHION/BEAUTY (No Nude). Just log in, choose "Contest" in your class list, upload your ONE image by October 25th, and on October 30th the winners will be announced and displayed for all to see! Good luck to all of you!

Want to stay informed about future contests? Sign up for Email Updates and not only get the latest news, info and happenings at PPSOP, but also stay informed about new courses, and our new monthly photo contest!

Can a Picture Really Tell a Thousand Words?

2007-10-08T21:37:00.000-07:00

We all have pictures in our mind’s eye of who we think people are. These images often define how we see. What is the purpose of a photographic portrait if we already know what we want to see? Can a picture really tell a thousand words, or is that picture already inside your head?

I dove into the world of the men-in-blue and opened my aperture, my eyes, and my heart. In a three part photo essay for The Southampton Press, eye on the viewfinder, inspired, I focused — macro style — on the Community Response Unit (CRU), a flagship division of the Southampton Town Police. I quickly realized that a group portrait would not say enough so for four months I traveled with each member individually and here's what emerged.

By Cheryl Machat Dorskind
Copyright, 2007
All Rights Reserved

Flying with camera gear

2007-09-30T11:13:00.000-07:00

A question that I am frequently asked is how I carry my camera gear when travelling by plane. With all of the delays, missed connections, and damaged, stolen, or lost luggage these days, it can be quite stressful getting to your destination even if you don’t check any baggage.
The solution that has worked for me is coming up with a “travel kit” of gear that takes up very little space and will cover 99% of anything I ever want or need to shoot. I pack that gear into an “Airport Addicted” backpack made by Thinktank Photo along with most of my clothing. The airport addicted bag was designed to hold the maximum amount of gear possible while still meeting most airline carry-on restrictions. You would be amazed at what I can stuff in this bag and along with my expedition 5 backpack (loaded with the rest of my clothes) carried on as my one “personal item”, I can fit everything I need for a 5 day trip without having to check a single piece of luggage.
When I arrive at my destination, I simply move all the camera gear into my smaller backpack and move all of my clothes into the large one until I’m ready to head back to the airport.
The only down side to this is that the bag can get quite heavy, usually around 40 pounds fully packed, when you have a long way to walk! They have since come out with a “roller” version of this bag and if I traveled a lot more, I would seriously consider getting one.

Now that I’ve covered how I get my gear from here to there, I’ll share what I take and why I feel it’s such a good balance of function and space savings.
99% of what I shoot is between 17-200mm focal length. This includes macro work but a dedicated macro lens is fairly limited so I choose to carry a set of extension tubes to use with my 70-200mm lens. Throw in a 2X tele-converter and that one lens lets me shoot from extreme close-ups all the way out to 400mm. (That in itself is the most practical combination in my line-up.) I then bring a 17-40mm, and a 28-70mm and that’s it! They all share the same filter diameter which cuts down on accessories needed as well. My tripod, with the ballhead removed, attaches to the outside of the bag, my flash cards, spare batteries, and assorted filters are all tucked away in separate zippered compartments inside.

Here are some images of this set-up I quickly shot today while packing for my upcoming workshop in Maine with Kathleen Clemons. We will be driving the coastline of Maine for 4 days, shooting everything from lighthouses to lobsters, and I know that I have all the gear I need for anything that we find along the way.

Ron Goldman

As you can see, there is plenty of room left for clothes in the main compartment, and there is a laptop compartment on the reverse side as well.

All of my accessories fit nicely in the top flap compartments.

My "travel kit". Small, lightweight, and very functional.

Both bags packed and ready to go. My small travel tripod is attached and the ballhead is safely stored away inside.

The Great Power of NO Color

2007-09-05T11:24:00.000-07:00

by Danilo Piccioni

When thinking of black and white photography, the worst thing one could think is that B&W is a photograph without any color. It would be just as bad as thinking that a color image is a B&W photograph infested with colors. There are sixteen million shades of gray in the B&W world; trust me when I say that's a lot. There is no reason to think that a B&W picture is in any way inferior to a color one.

Typically a non-digital B&W shooter would use a colored filter attached to the camera; the filter allows the photographer to see the scene in B&W through the viewfinder so that he can decide how to shoot reality at its best using a different-color filter, e.g. yellow, red, green.
Today’s mid-range digital cameras have the option of shooting directly in BW or in color.
Now you just shoot and then decide later, and if you want, you can have them both.
If you are serious about B&W photography, you want to capture your exposures in color first, then convert it into B&W later in your Photoshop darkroom.

There are many different ways to create a B&W photograph in PS from a color shot. The worst thing you could do to your photograph is to chose the one-click method, to convert the color photo to grayscale.
These sample photographs show you the difference between a photograph that was converted with this automatic PS feature and the versions achieved by working with other methods in PS.
This and other tricks and techniques will be explained in full detail in my B&W course here and only here at Perfect Picture School of Photography.

Danilo Piccioni © 2007

Calla Addiction

2007-09-05T04:01:00.000-07:00

Many of you already know that I have a calla lily addiction, I love them! They are my favorite flower to photograph, I find their lines and curves fascinating and so elegant. When you have a favorite subject, the challenge becomes photographing your subject in new and interesting ways. I'd get bored in a hurry taking the same shot over and over, and I do love a challenge!

When I planted my callas this year, I added a new garden for some of them, now I have callas in 4 different areas of our property, which gives me a variety of light to choose from, and I can shoot them at just about any time of day. I'm always looking for new varieties, and add a few to my collection each spring.

Here are a few images I've taken over the summer. The good news for me is that I still have callas blooming, so I'm not finished yet!

Happy shooting!
Kathleen Clemons

Some new ideas...

2007-09-04T03:13:00.000-07:00

Hi all!!! Well, the ole' brain's been working on overtime lately and I have a bunch of new ideas. I also picked up a sound trigger that allows me to do some funky things. It hooks up to the camera and when the attached microphone here's a noise it trips the shutter. Here's a few examples...

Also, on the standard still front I found these amazing glass syringes that I've been searching for. I've had this idea for an image for ages but needed the right hypo's to work well... They backlight so well...

And to show that my photography isn't one sided, I went to Hawaii on a shoot recently and clicked this one...

Well, that's what I've been up to. Hope you enjoy lookin' as much as I enjoyed clickin'...

Dave

Photopaintings: A Collection of Handpainted Photographs-Cheryl Machat Dorskind

2007-08-31T18:55:00.000-07:00

I have spent the last few weeks preparing for a gallery exhibition,“Photopaintings: A Collection of Handpainted Photographs.” There are 30 images in the show. The reception for my exhibit is Friday and I am looking forward to a lively event.

For those who do not know me, I am a fine-art photographer known for my handpainted photographs and personal approach to children’s portraiture. I have written two books, The Art of Photographing Children, and The Art of Handpainting Photographs. For more biographic information, please visit my web site at www.cherylmachatdorskind.com.

I have been exhibiting my Photopaintings for over eighteen years. I will attach a few pictures of my fine art. Each photograph is printed the traditional darkroom (wet) enlargement method. The prints are custom hand printed onto fiber photographic paper and then enhanced with layers of oil paints.

This week also kicks off the third year of my newspaper column, “Picture This,” for The Southampton Press.

I teach Painting Photographs at PPSOP and will be teaching a two day intensive in Westhampton Beach, New York this fall (September 16-18). I also teach Photographing Children at PPSOP, another passion of mine. I hope some of you will join me.

Best regards,
Cheryl Machat Dorskind

Prague and Chicago

2007-08-31T18:51:00.000-07:00

Last month I was in Prague doing a workshop and in early June I was in Chicago doing a workshop. Workshops have always been and will always be "surprise parties" as far as I am concerned at least the workshops I teach, since I honestly have little idea of what to expect and often times an even smaller idea of what we as a class will be shooting over the course of the workshop. This approach may seem a bit "unprofessional" but I know most if not all of my students have benefitted immensely from 'impulse' versus an orchestrated and planned shoot. Case in point was upon showing up in Prague, we learned of both the Kayaking Championships and the Prague Marathon. It was never my intention to shoot either prior to booking Prague as a workshop location, but as the students will tell you, both of these venues provided some welcomed and unexpected surprises photographically speaking. As we all lined the 'blue carpet' at the start of the race, (we arrived an hour before race time) we were all presented with the opportunity to shoot some great marathon photos. Casting some great shadows onto this carpet were other spectators behind us and to the sides and WOW what a GRAPHIC opportunity this presented and as the runners came through this scene, I was ready with my 12-24mm, cropping the feet of one group of runners whilst the 'long' shadows add a graphic element as well as lead the eye to the running feet.

It was several weeks later while in Chicago, that another group of students and myself were on a 'mission' to shoot some of the most interesting 'head shots' of the many people who were attending that day's Gospel Festival being held at Millineum Park.

I told each student to focus their attention soley on frame filling compositions that showed ONLY the back of a person's head.

Shorlty after suggesting this 'assignment', it started to rain HARD and the umbrellas came up quicker than the Crocus on a warm February day! Switching my attention to the crowd I back off with my 70-200mm and frist made an image of 'pattern' at 100mm as you see here but was also quick to adjust my exposure, (f/16 at a 1/4 second with the help of a 4-stop ND filter) and then I went to work on this same colorful and patternly scene choosing to ZOOM the lens during my 1/4 second exposure and voila, another worthy stock shot of "inclement weather". Enjoy!

Bryan Peterson

Swallowtail

2007-08-31T18:46:00.000-07:00

I had a great, unexpected photography experience a few weeks ago. I came out of the grocery store to find a beautiful swallowtail butterfly walking across the parking lot near my vehicle. I stood and admired it for a bit, noticing that it didn't seem to be able to fly. I put my hand down onto the ground and it climbed aboard so I decided to take it home with me. I put him down on the passenger seat and headed home. When we arrived (at this point I found him inside my purse, lol) I placed him in the shade on one of the irises in my iris garden. For the next day and a half I photographed him in the garden, watching for changes in the light, moving him to different flowers, using different lenses, angles and points of view, really working the situation. I knew this was a rare opportunity. Around mid-morning on the second day he was gone when I went out to the garden. I like to think that he gained the strength he needed during his visit with me to continue on his journey. I made over 350 images while he was here, I'll attach a few samples (all of these were made with the Lensbaby 2.0 and macro kit).

The moral of my story is to grab shooting opportunities when they appear and to really work them!

Kathleen

A wedding photographer in OZ!

2007-08-31T18:37:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share with you a few images from my recent trip down under to Australia a couple of weeks ago. I am primarily a wedding photographer for the past 34 years, but am very passionate about photography period. It is my hobby as well as my work. I enjoy seeing images no matter what the subject. My longtime favorite is chasing the light down the road...This is Landscape photography to me. Exploring areas where I may have never been before, but led there by he light.

The first pair of images that I'd like to share with you were taken 3 weeks ago in Australia. I was chasing the light as it made the rolling hills landscape just jump at me with depth and dimension. I was amazed at its simple beauty. All that I needed (in my mind) to complete the composition was a foreground, an element to be able to stop your eye from wondering around the scene. I pulled up into a small driveway off of the main road and walked up to the fence. I was wrapped up in the beauty of the scenery when, as I put the camera up to my eye, my shoulder was nudged. I turned and looked behind me to the left and there was a goat that had climbed up on the fence and was looking at me from eye level. Hi Billi! I now had company. I said hello and excused myself to continue shooting. the result was the next frame posted here. After the images were captured, I stayed and talked with Billi (Goat) for a while before having to head down the road as the light was only getting better.

I hope that you might consider joining me for either my Wedding class here at PPSOP or my course on posing people.

Cheers,

Ken Sklute
Canon Explorer of Light
www.KenSklute.com

"You can't please everyone, so you've got to please yourself!"

Shut-up and SHOOT-UP!!!

2007-08-31T18:29:00.000-07:00

Some of you may remember that time in the Venice-Workshop: despite the season it was cold and rainy. Who said it never rains in Italy?(LOL)

We were all bundled-up and heading out in the rain at 6 o’clock in the morning, but with an optimistic smile printed on our faces thinking, the sun will come out later, (yeah, right!)

As Bryan always points out, even unexpected and less-than-good weather conditions in a workshop can actually be an unexpected blessing in disguise (read: creative, unique photographs).

White, gloomy skies, not a single human being walking around in Venice’s Calle’ Venice (narrow streets), just us, the gondolas and the old buildings.

Think about it! What a great opportunity to concentrate on composition and unleash our creativity without for a moment being concerned by someone walking into the picture the moment we trigger our cameras. Can anyone ask for anything more?
Sure, a cappuccino and croissant, grazie!

In the first shot you can see me trying to stabilize the shot leaning against the arch and shooting-up. (No, it s not a stoned homeless person leaning against the wall in the vain attempt not to fall in the canal, LOL ).

I shot this closeup of the gondolas' ferro (the decorative front piece made of iron on this unique Italian boat), intending to isolate them graphically and at the same time include a soft (not in focus) background to give a little hint of the environment, making sure not to include any white sky, but still aiming up.

Although there is a bit of PhotoShop work in this photo, this is another good example of what getting on your knees can help you to achieve. Imagine how different this image would have looked if I was shooting from my natural viewpoint instead.

Remember, it’s all in your point of view!

Danilo