See the Light :: { photography class }
Its been a long while since I have posted one of these… so since my 2012 Senior Season is coming to an end (it has been an amazing season btw)… I figured I would post a few cheat sheets for some of you out there that may be interested…. and like Peter always wants to know… “whats my secrete you ask Peter… SAMS Club AA Batteries đ
Check these Cheat Sheets out::
Flash Units were all Nikon SB900, 800 speed lights
Fortographers :: UV Filter or not to UV Filter
Another Fortographers segment:: Okay a debate came up in our Facebook group (JPG – Joining Photographers in GA) about should you put a clear UV Filter on your expensive glass. Some said no because you are down grading the quality of the image, some said yeah because it acts more like protection than anything. Well in a nutshell, about half of photographers including myself add UV Filters to all of their lenses just as protection… that’s why I do and that’s why I was told to do it and it sounded like a good idea… so i thought, BUT after talking to a few in the group I became curious and I am always looking for ways to improve my images. So I set out to put this to the test…..
Items :
Nikon D3s : 70-200 f2.8 VRII : $70 Nikon brand UV Filter : $30 Rocketfish UV Filter : $129 Mongoose Bike (which is for sale and like new =)
The images are SOOC (straight out of camera) meaning no edits have been applied. all pictures were taken under natural light all with in a 2minute window to help in decreasing light quality from the setting sun
this image shows all of the shots taken… i took each shot at the same f/stop, ISO, shutter speed, white balance and focal length.
Right off the bat I noticed a shift in what looks like the amount of light between filters them selves… The $70 Nikon brand (higher priced) filter seemed to come very close to the shot with no filter at all… The Rocketfish seemed to be a little darker… not good, not bad… its just what you prefer i guess…
The Zoom Test:
These are all the same settings just with the different Filters on and off
You make can click on the image and make it a little bigger, but again the Nikon brand filter (higher priced) seems to be more inline with true light coming in the lens. from this zoom test i could not tell a substantial difference in image quality between any of the shots….
My Conclusion (IMO only)
IÂ don’t think there is enough evidence in image quality one way or the other that I found to make me want to remove my UV Filters from my very expensive lenses and take a chance on busting or cracking the end. I will deff keep all my UV filters on, BUT i may look into getting all the same brand as i did learn that different UV seem to let in different amounts of light and or color of the light… so i hoped this help to answer any questions you may have had… I would love to see your test…
Small Lights – Bling Results :: { commercial photographer athens ga }
I love to do small product shots from time to time… Well this past Thursday I had about $47,000 in jewelry in my possession to shoot for Arum Jeweler’s in downtown Athens…. I’ll cut right to it and explain the setup as I go….
Step 1:: My Base Setup
Nikon D3s | Nikon Speed Lights (SB900 & SB600) | PocketWizard PLUS II (2) & PocketWizard Mini | Pull down projection screen | Smith & Vector light tent | Hot glue gun with extra glue stick | 3 rings and 1 bracelet
Step 2 :: Lighting arrangements, 1 with light tent… 1 without
Step 3: To place the rings. This scared me the first that I ever used this method, hot glue on a $28,000 ring is kind of unsettling. The key to this trick is do a drop of glue and set the ring in front of it and back it in to it… that way you don’t have glue at the base on the camera side to edit out =)
Step 4 :: Shooting and settings for every shot
Nikon D3s : 105 mm Macro : f32 : 1/160sec : ISO 200Â |Â Main Flash (front) 1/4 power – Back Flash 1/16 power
I wanted the complete ring as sharp or as much of it in focus as i could… i was surprised, even shooting at f32 and 4″ away from the ring i still got a very shallow DOF… so i had to back up about 12-18″ to get most of the ring in focus
Step 5 :: Post production – consisted of knock the rings out of the background and cleaning up the edges. Here are 4 favorites out of the 16 that I turned in
Step 6 :: Since I saved it out as an EPS file with a clipping path… these can be placed on any color background and i even added a little shadow in Photoshop for fun…
FINALLY…. the ad/billboard that they are going on. May or may not look exactly like this, but these the best choices of layouts from a designers point of view =)
Fortographers: AF Fine Tuning
So every new lens that I buy, I always fine tune it to both of my camera bodies just to make sure I get that extra security that what I lock focus on will be sharp. I photog friend of mine just recently purchased an after market lens (the Sigma 50mm f1.4) great lens, but on her Nikon D700 it just wouldn’t focus like she thought the price said it would. I talked her through how to check to see if it was “back focusing or front focusing”: Back focusing and front focusing refer to the tendency of a lens – or sometimes the camera body – to focus slightly behind (back focus) or slightly in front of (front focus) the intended subject when using autofocus. After the problem was found with the lens, she found that it was back focusing so she compensated for it in the camera and now its as sharp as it should be… Nikon’s have a feature (most Nikon cameras anyway) that allow you to compensate for the front or back focus. There are a few other camera brands out there… one that starts with a C, but I can’t think of the name right off the top of my head…. but I believe it also may allow for in camera compensation. The below instructions are for Nikons but the same applies for that other brand too.. =)
attach ruler to light stand or tripod – tilt at a 45 degree angle to the camera lens plaine
i typically move my camera as close to the ruler as each of my lenses will focus. some photogs reccomend moving it back further, but whatever =) Find a point on the ruler and with your camera on a tripod take a picture and zoom in to the point you picked as your focus center… look at the lines and or numbers before and behind it. if they start to blur equal distance from your center focus point then your lens is okay, but if you have blur occuring closer to th epoint either in the back or front then you need to adjust accordingly to your preference.
below is the menu on a Nikon that shows where the fine tune option is and what it looks like… always turn “Fine Tune” ON of course if you are doing this feature =)
I hope this helps if you are having focusing issues especially with after market lenses.
Fortographers :: Cheat Sheets { new segment }
So… as some of you know, I love to teach photography. I am no master of it BUT I do know the fundamentals plus some… or plus a lot =). I am starting this new segment of my blog that I will refer to as P2P or Photographer 2 Photographer. Anyway some of the best seminars and workshops that I go to, they sell these cheat sheet type of cards… it shows the shot then breaks down how it was done. Well for all of my photography enthusiast out there and my friendly local pro’s… ( see regardless of what my self promos promote… i love all you guys =), here is an insight to how I capture a lot of my shots using off camera light. WARNING: all drawings do not accurately represent subjects and or locations ( i haven’t drawn in years =). Check these out and keep checking back in for more to come:
My Gear
So I’m not sure why a lot of people ask me what gear I use… though good gear is a big part of a photographers repertoire but it doesn’t completely make the photographer a photographer. With that being said if you are spending good money on good photography, then maybe knowing the gear that a photographer uses will reinforce the idea that this photographer is serious about his work and it’s just not a hobby… that’s maybe the only reason I can come to that clients ask me what gear I use…. and by all means not every client ask… only a small percentage do. Anybody that knows me knows that I LOVE to talk gear and techniques, so this is for that small percentage and anybody else that would like to know what goes on behind the scenes =)
Camera & Lenses
Nikon D3 (discontinued, Replaced by the D3s)
Nikon SB-800 (discontinued, replaced by the SB-900)
Pocket Wizards Plus II’s radio triggers (4)
Compact Flash Cards â 20GBs
Computers & Software
MAC Book 15″ (2009 model)
Adobe Camera RAW 6.3
Batteries & Bullets… =)
HA! I thought this title would get some attention! I have always been about learning from others and teaching when i can…. I also like to save money when i spend it. So this is to my fellow photographers or anybody that stores AA batteries in bulk. Well as you all know our hot shoe flashes and other various electronics eat up some AA batteries. Well I used to keep all of my batteries piled in a bag and I would draw from the bag when i needed new batteries… well meeting with one of my photographer friends one day at lunch…. I was complaining about now matter how many packs of new batteries I bought, they always seemed to run down a little quicker than normal. He then asked me how I had them stored and I explained my simplistic way of the bag method. He opened my eyes… being stored like that… they are constantly toughing ends with each other and even though there is no actual device drawing energy from them… they are using energy just from the + and – ends touching….. WOW! So that sent me on a mission to find some battery cases… I bought 4 really cool cases from my local camera shop that hold 8 batteries. I was excited when i found these at $7 a piece…. Its get better, read below the picture…
I was all happy with my purchase… I just spent about $30 on cases that will store 32 AA batteries. Awesome right? Not so much… I am a avid hand gun enthusiast as well… I guess i just like to shoot things whether it be cameras or handguns. Well I was at my local gun shop over Christmas break and I just happened to stumble across the reloading section. My uncle does a lot of reloading his own bullets so i was curious to see the equipment and prices. Low and behold the clouds parted and i spotted a small case that had 50 slots and they looked to be about the size of a AA battery. I ran to my truck grabbed a AA and tested my theory. It WORKED… this small case holds 50 AA batteries… now what was the price your asking…. you ready… $3.99. WOW! This cartridge case made by Plano will fit into my gear bag and hold 50 AA batteries at a price of $3.99. So that’s my inside scoop to you!
A Clean Wash….2010 Final Post
I hope everyone has had a great Christmas and will hopefully have a great and safe New Years… as I post this last post of 2010… i have been doing a lot of reflecting on the past that is helping me to plan for the future. If I had to sum it up in one sentence…. Remember where you’ve been, don’t forget how you got here and always keep looking ahead. That is pretty much a moral compass that I plan to follow for 2011 and it also makes for a good personal mission statement for any photographer in the business.
The “don’t forget how you got here” part from the above statement can mean so many things to so many people, but for me… one aspect of it other than remembering the advice, help and info that I have received and still receive from other great photographers ( many thanks by the way ) is the fact that I used to carry my camera around with me everywhere that I went. I was always looking for a “picture”. My goal is to try and go back to those roots because I think that’s when I developed my creative eye. Most of the times I shot inanimate objects such as buildings, plants or whatever caught my attention… it is good every now and again for me to shoot for me… meaning just having some fun.
Well with that in mind… a “great mundane” ( oxymoron ) opportunity presented itself. My wife and I had to wash our comforter, well she did because I have no idea how and would probably ruin it. She asked me if I wanted to go to the laundry mat… I was like sure I’ll go not knowing what I would really do there, BUT then I actually grabbed the ol’ Nikon and out the door we went. Yes… I was that weird guy that is now topic of conversation in about three households right now, because i was walking around taking pictures of washing machines and driers. As I started shooting I remembered the times that I used to always be that weird guy with the camera…. I actually liked it and vow to do it more in 2011…. so if your ever within 40 miles of Jefferson, GA… be on the lookout for a weird guy walking around aimlessly with his hat turned backwards and a big camera shooting “stuff”. Here are a few shots and they are by no means anything close to good, but it was just fun for me and I just felt like sharing a little bit of my lazy day today:
P Mode Ramble…
Anybody that knows me can probably tell you that I am one of the most competitive people that they know! It’s just in my nature and most times that’s a good thing… sometimes it can be bad. I’m actually still sulking a bit from my second place finish in the OAAG’s state design contest… oh well I am grateful that I was chosen against such stiff competition….
Anyway I like to break away from the business side of my photography from time to time to go on what I call an “Artist Date” (from the book The Artist Way by Julia Cameran). We all need to break away and have some alone/creative time. We need to do the things that first got us into the biz to begin with…. just pick up the camera and shoot! Well… I am a manual shooter all the way from camera to flash, but when I go on my personal shoots… the camera goes into “P Mode” most of the time… yes i just heard all the photographers scream… but what this allows me to do is not think about anything but the image, the picture, the feeling and the creative opportunity in front of me. It’s a tough transition sometimes for me to just let go and focus more on the composition and elements other than the settings and correct exposures. Not sure if this method of shooting or lack there off can help a lot of you guys connect with that inner innocent young photographer that used to shoot just because it was fun….
I have found that by doing this from time to time it helps to keep my eye pretty sharp, my head clear and these help to keep me on that competitive edge. While we don’t like to admit it… the photography industry is becoming more and more competitive everyday and that can be a good thing for the industry because it pushes us all to push our own envelopes to the edge and I enjoy that aspect of it. So I guess the moral to the P Mode ramble is too just to shoot for yourself from time to time and do what got you here in the first place….
Flashersize by Bryan F. Peterson
Manual Flash Exposure
Most electronic flashes now come equipped with a great deal of sophistication â sophistication that is intended to make our lives easier. Ha! If you know me, I hold the same disregard for flash automation as I do toward the sophisticated automation offered by just about every DSLR on the market. The only thing all of this flash automation has done is increase most people’s anxiety towards using it. The manual that comes with most electronic flashes is upwards of 90 pages! Yet, there are usually just three pages written about using your flash in manual exposure mode, and these three pages may be the most useful in the entire manual! Sure, you want to learn how to tilt and rotate the flash head, put on colored gels, and attach a diffuser, but at the end of the day, the most important thing you want to learn is how to use your flash in manual exposure mode.
Most of my students who attend my workshops do own an electronic flash, yet most of these same students well report that they are afraid to use it! But by workshops end, the students are also quick to report that using their flashes in manual mode was such an easy thing to do and with guaranteed results each and every time. They now feel “armed and dangerous” because so many creative doors have now been opened!
I was recently hired to shoot a new band called WaldoBliss. After flying out to L.A., I met the band members and within a few hours, the shoot was underway. From 5:00 a.m. until 8:00 a.m., I shot the band members in alleyways, on the sidewalks, and on the beach. In each and every shot, I called upon my portable electronic flash; sometimes just one flash, sometimes two, sometimes with gels, sometimes without. I always worked with the strobes off-camera since I am a strong advocate of keeping my flash off the camera’s hot-shoe. This also meant I was using trusty Pocket Wizards ! And of course, 100% of the time, I was shooting in manual flash exposure mode.
Arriving at Venice Beach about 30 minutes before sunrise, a dusky blue pre-dawn sky greeted all of us. I was quick to ask all four band members to walk atop these short log posts that bordered a small parking lot at Venice Beach, against the backdrop of the palm trees and the dusky blue pre-dawn sky. With my aperture set to f/5.6, I was quick to adjust my shutter speed until a 1/2 second indicated a correct exposure. I then quickly set up a single strobe, atop a small light stand and after dialing in that same aperture of f/5.6 on the back of my Nikon SB900 flash , the flash to subject distance indicated was 11 feet so I then placed the stand about 11 feet directly in front of them. I asked them to now walk slowly and as they did, I fired the camera and quickly ‘jerked’ the camera upward during the very brief 1/2 second exposure. Since the flash was set for rear-curtain sync, I was able to record a ‘ghosting blur’ of the trees and band members, knowing that at the end of this quick 1/2 second exposure, the flash would light-up and ‘freeze’ the band members in perfect detail. This effect is often referred to as “dragging the shutter” and as you can see (above right) it is an easy effect, but it has been my experience, that it seldom works consistently with shutter speeds other then 1, 1/2 or a 1/4 second. Faster speeds do not allow enough time to record the ghosting effect and slower shutter speeds allow for too much ghosting to take place â so much so that the overall exposure looks muddied. You can click the image above for more detail.
A Tale of Two Strobes
Peter, the Bass’Meister’, from Austria, got his first taste of rock stardom at the age of 16. Austria quickly proved to be too small for this talented bass player and it was soon “America or Bust”. Peter now lives in LA and has played with a host of jazz musicians in addition to doing a great deal of music for radio and television commercials. Peter is truly a guy in love with music and of course a guy in love with his bass guitar. After stumbling into an alleyway just off of Venice Beach, I remarked that the red wall and the gargoyle figure would make a perfect backdrop to shoot a portrait of Peter. While Peter was retrieving his bass guitar from his nearby car, I asked Ray to stand in so I could shoot some test shots of the lighting set-up I had in mind for Peter.
As you can see, in this scene I am using two lights. The ‘rear’ strobe is off camera left and pointed to the wall and the gargoyle in the background. The front light is off camera right and pointed somewhat straight at Ray. Both strobes have diffusers placed over them and also light amber gels placed inside. Since I wanted the wall and gargoyle to remain somewhat ‘soft’, allowing Peter to be the subject in sharp focus, I chose to use an aperture of f/5.6. I than dialed up f/5.6 on the foreground flash and with my front flash being only about three feet from Ray, I was quickly dialing the down the power until 1/32 power indicated a correct flash exposure at f/5.6 from four feet. I then went to the flash at the back wall and determined my flash to subject distance to be about 5 feet, (I wanted to light the gargoyle and a portion of the wall around it) so again, after dialing down the power of the strobe, I found that a 1/16 power would allow me to shoot that wall and gargoyle at f/5.6 from a flash to subject distance of five feet.
With my camera and lens now set at f/5.6 I took a meter reading of the overall ambient light in the scene and an ambient exposure of f/5.6 at a 1/15 second was indicated. Since I wanted to impart a bit of lighting mood to the scene, I chose to set my ambient exposure about a 1 and 1/3 stops under-exposed, (f/5.6 at a 1/40 second) and as you can see in the actual exposure of Peter, that part of the red wall that is not lit by the flash imparts a somewhat moody feel to the overall exposure. As you can also see in this exposure, Peter is indeed licking the neck of his guitar. Like I said, the guy loves his bass!
Nikon D300S, 24mm-85mm, f/5,6 @ 1/40 second, 200 ISO
A Little Help From a Friend
A blue wall, and a wrought iron fence; what more can you ask for? I asked Ray (Donna Summer’s guitar player among others) to stand against this blue wall, in the corner where the fence and blue wall met and asked Peter to help me with the flash. Help me how? Peter would become a ‘VAL’, (voice activated light stand) and with Peter’s long arms he was able to extend the flash beyond the wrought iron fence just enough so when the flash fired I would record some wonderful shadows on the blue wall as well as some warm sidelight on the wrought iron fence. In effect, I wanted to create the light of an early morning sunrise. (The nearby gate that would have allowed access behind this wrought iron fence was locked â otherwise I would have walked behind the gate and placed the flash on a light stand.)
I had already determined that Peter would be holding the flash about 8-9 feet maximum from where Peter would be standing with his guitar so I simply dialed the aperture wheel on the back of my flash until 9 feet was indicated and noted that the aperture for nine feet was f/11. With my camera now set to f/11 I took a meter reading of the ambient light and a 1/30 second was indicating a correct exposure. But, since I would be combining both flash and ambient light, I chose to under-expose the ambient by one stop in this case, as I felt the colors of the wall in particular would be a bit more vivid if under-exposed. With my camera and 24-85mm lens set to f/5.6 and my shutter speed set to a 1/60 second, I fired a dozen or so pictures, while Peter held the flash, pointing it back towards the wrought iron and Ray the guitar player. This is one of my favorite images of those 12 we shot.
Nikon D300S, 24mm-85mm, f/11 @ 1/60 second, 200 ISO
There has never been a great scientific breakthrough without first doing some experiments, and the same is true with electronic flash â so get out there and start experimenting! Every experiment that doesn’t work moves you one step closer to the experiments that do.
All My Best,
Bryan F. Peterson/Founder
The Perfect Picture School of Photography
LR Presets Easily Added to ACR…
I recently stumbled upon a method by which you can import Lightroom develop presets into Adobe Camera RAW for use with Photoshop. Someone has written this up before, but I have never seen it, as I actually tried it. In retrospect this seems overly obvious and many of you may know how to do this already, but if not read on.
As a die-hard Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) addict I personally never had the need to deal with Lightroom other than a really expensive culling software. I will admit that LR has some pretty cool presets fi your into that knid of thing. I use just minimal presets but Kubota has some cool ones for LR and now any ACR user out there, if there’s any of us left, can take those and make them into a ACR preset… check out how!
1. Open Lightroom, and edit any RAW file in your catalog by applying the preset that you wish to convert over to ACR.
2. Once image is satisfactory, right-click to bring up the context menu. Choose âExportâ in the menu and then the âExportâŚâ option. This brings up the export menu. Setup the export for âFiles on Diskâ. Choose your export location, set naming for custom name and give the file the name of the preset you are exporting. Most importantly, in the File Setting section, change the format to DNG. This will rewrap your RAW file into DNG and include any modifications currently done to the image (the applied preset).
3. You can now close Lightroom. Open up Photoshop, Bridge (or Elements), and open the DNG file you just made. ACR will pop up showing your exported file with all edits intact. Take this time to run through ACRâs options and make sure everything looks right. If so, move on to the next step.
4. Now look at the ACR window. To the right, just under the histogram is the buttons controlling ACR adjustment features. Look for the one on the far right with the three sliders depicted on it. Clicking this leads to the Presets menu. Now simply click the small icon in the right corner of that window, it has 3 lines and a small arrow. It opens a menu, in which you will choose âSave Settingsâ.
5. This will open a dialog with all the controllable options for the preset, and is much like what you see in Lightroom when making or editing presets. Place a check by every option you want the preset to adjust. Uncheck any boxes you want the preset to leave alone. If you check âApply auto tone adjustmentsâ or âApply auto grayscale mixâ then the preset will override any of your Lightroom edits in those areas. I would not use it unless you know what you are doing.
6. Once done, click on âSaveâ. Then you are offered a Save dialog box with the filename of the DNG in the window. If you named your DNG for your preset, just click âSaveâ, if not change the filename and click save. Your preset is saved to the presets dialog in ACR. Open another RAW file and test it.
Now you can use your favorite Lightroom presets inside of Photoshop, or make a preset for a friend with Photoshop but no Lightroom. Let them see what they are missing.
I hope this helps anyone who was curious as to how to carry out this process. Hope it helps you and your workflow and long live ACR…. i hope!
Lightning Photography… IS EASY!
Some of the most beautiful and most amazing pictures that I have ever seen have had lightning in them and before i started shooting lighting i just could not fathom the idea of how someone catches lighting, BUT it’s actually easier than you think. NO you do not wait patiently with your camera in burst mode and see a strike and then turn to machine gun it with frames…. FAIL! This is the season to catch these types of shots, especially here in the south because storms can pop up without notice. Things you will need to begin….
Camera with self-timer or remote release and manual mode, tri-pod, wide angle lens, and some type of image software….
1) Ideally you want to be in front of the storm… meaning that it is headed towards you… that way you see the lighting but the rain hasn’t gotten to you yet.
2) mount your camera on a tripod… the wind can be strong and when it comes to lightning camera shake is not an issue unless you want the landscape to be fairly sharp. plus you will be dealing with longer exposures
3) wide angle lens… since we have no idea in the horizon where the next strike or strikes will appear…. you want to cover as much “sky” as possible. you can go in later and crop down
4) set your camera in manual mode…. best settings that i have found for a good starting point is…. ISO 200, f16-22, shutter speeds anywhere from 3 to 10 seconds (depends on how dark it is) you have to remember that when and if you catch the lighting… it acts as a big ass flash…so if your missed shots are looking very dark then that typical b/c when you do catch it…. it will light up everything
5) self timer or remote release…. i recommend a remote release that you can set off from a vehicle…. self timer can work to… you just have to press it to start it unless your camera is equipped with a timed shooting mechanism to where it just shoots on its own over and over…. you will get a lot of empty frames, but if its a big storm and lighting a lot..you will be surprised at what you will catch.
6) image processing software… yes you may need to “tweak” the lightning a bit as most of the time it is very bright so you may need to pull the levels down a bit, but that’s about it
My very first strike that I have ever captured…. i was soooo excited you can ask my wife and she was soo mad…she took out a life insurance policy on me…lol. At this point i realized just how easy this was.
This one is just amazing…. this is not the same bolt… this was 3 separate strikes in about a 8 sec time frame. I never knew i caught all three until i checked the image after the shoot. this acted like a strobe light with a long exposure. Have someone walk slowly across a room in the dark with a strobe light flashing and a long exposure… how ever many times that the strobe light goes off while the shutter is open… you will have that many images in one frame…. i call this one the Trinity….
With these concepts and understanding in place… you can then start to get a little creative with portraits, foreground subjects and such… same principles just use an off camera flash and set it to rear sync flash (meaning that it flashes right before the shutter closes) so that it gives your subject plenty of light while the lighting will do the rest. Continue to use your wide angle lenses and just crop down or not depending on where your subject is and where the lighting strikes….
Happy shooting, good luck and PLEASE BE CAREFUL.. and BE SMART ABOUT IT!
How Many Snaps… attn photographers
ATTN PHOTOGRAPHERS: if you ever want to know how many snaps any particular camera has on it… i can tell you how to find out real easy. so if you want to buy used or sell used now you can tell how many pictures a single camera has taken. I found this on accident when Bridge first came out in CS. Some of you may have already know about this, but it has proven useful to me on several occasions. FYI… cameras today are rated for about 100,00 snaps +/- a few hundred
Take a picture (doesn’t matter if its in focus or not as long as it takes) / Open up Adobe Bridge / find the picture and just highlight or click on it (don’t open it) / right click on the thumbnail / go down and find file info / click on advanced at the very bottom / find the “http://ns.adobe.com/exif…..” arrow / your cameras total snap number will be the ( aux:ImageNumber: )… see images below.
Photography Classes…. In J’town!
So I have always had a fear of speaking in front of people… the worst college class that I can remember was my speech class, because I had to get in front of the whole class once a week and talk. With that being said I am teaching a photography class in Jefferson at the Rec Department. I know… weird right, but I have found that when I actually talk about something that I am passionate about…. well you can’t shut me up. So for all of you moms and amateurs that have the digital SLRs and really are not sure what they are capable of… well i am here to help. Below is a rough early bird draft of what is going to go into the Fall Rec Dept’s schedule book… check it out and let me know if you have any questions…
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Digital 101
| About the Class: $75/person
6 classes 1 night a week : 6:25 â 7:30 Tuesday evenings : January 12th â February 16th Learn everything you need to know about your digital camera and how to take great pictures in this fun and informative six-week workshop designed exclusively for the amateur to novice photographer. This is a basic camera course and photography class for those using a digital-SLR* camera. Through lecture and demonstration you will learn about:
Weekly assignments and an in-class critique will augment the class discussion and help you to improve your photography. Bring your cameras and a “jump drive” ** to every class and your manual to at least the first class. Prerequisite: None Class limit: 20 people
** A “jump drive” (otherwise known as a flash or USB drive) is an inexpensive portable storage device that allows you to transfer your images from your computer to ours for in-class critiques. Visit any computer retailer to purchase one. $10-$15 Email any questions to: scott@greeneworks.net About Me âUncommon Images of Incredible Peopleâ is the philosophy of my work. My name is Scott Greene and I am a local professional who enjoys teaching, talking, shooting and sharing tips and tricks about photography. I majored in Graphic Design and minored in Photography at the University of West Georgia. While I am a full-time employed creative director, my passion lies within photography. I enjoy shooting all different types of pictures but my specialty is in portraitures and weddings. I learn something every day about photography and I hope to pass some of this essential information on to you! You can also find me on the web at: |
The Gear Bag…..
Hey everybody… thought I would share a little bit about what gear and equipment I use for different shoots and stuff. I always like to peek in to what other photographers choice of equipment is; so I think its only fair if I share whats in my bag of goodies. I don’t have any real format for this… I’ll just list and tell a little bit about each piece as needed.
Camera: Nikon D300 (primary) Nikon D200 (backup) – I am still getting used to the D300 but it is working out to be a great camera, the D200 is a workhorse – great camera
Lens: Nikor 50mm f1.4 (great for low light conditions and very fast) Nikor VR 18-200mm f3.5-5.6 (my most popular used lens, good for wide angle and zoom shots. a little slower than i like but great if there plenty of light. used on all shoots also has the vibration reduction feature) Nikor 70-200mm VR f2.8 (gaining my favoritism quickly… this lens is great for portraits b/c of its depth of field. it’s a very fast lens: my main lens during a ceremony and concerts plus it also features the vibration reduction) Nikor 17-55mm f2.8 my new favorite lens of all time… extremely fast also with the wide angle and medium zoom. Great portrait lens.
Flash: Nikon SB800 (2) (great flash for all situations, on camera and off) Nikon SB600 (good entry level flash, mine is for sale if anyone wants to buy it… i have just out grown this one)
Miscellaneous: Pocket Wizzards (4) (this has single handily revolutionized my photographic experience. radio transmitters that i can connect to off camera flash units to produce a nice light to the subject. they are real handy for wedding receptions. great great addition) Sekonic Light Meter (i use this for portrait and studio shoots with controlled and constant lighting. helps to get the exposure right.) Lexar 4GB 133x (3) Lexar 2GB 133x (2) (i prefer the Lexar brand memory card, just have had good luck with those… very important, i would never go over 4GB on anyone one card b/c if one did happen to corrupt…that a lot of pictures that i just lost) Portable Studio Set with 2 hot lights – 2 8ft light stands – 1 boom light and 8ft stand : 2 12ft backdrop stands that can be adjusted from 7ft wide to 12ft wide with two backdrops (black and white)
Well people… thats about my equipment in a nutshell. Not sure if it interest you, but i enjoyed writing this!
Scott Greene Photography 