"Touched By The Light Of Your Smile"

"Touched By The Light Of Your Smile"
©David A. Ziser

This is an image I made a few years ago while shooting some of the Kelby Training videos. I remember shooting in his beautiful church, Sacred Heart Church [link], in downtown Tampa. It was around Christmas and we had to photograph around the poinsettias. I remember joking to one of the videographers that this could be the first Kelby Training Christmas video;~) I believe that this is the oldest church in Tampa and maybe even Florida as well. The architecture in some of these old churches is just breathtaking.

I chose a wide-angle lens to capture the awesome beauty of the church’s interior. The low camera angle really added to the convergence of the pillars in the church. In next week’s Technique Tuesday I'm going to discuss that exact same topic.

Anyway, the low camera angle, wide lens, the light coming from behind the subjects (my assistant holding my Quantum flash at 1/4 power 12 feet back, 4 feet off the ground and pointing at their shoulder blades created a nice rim light on the both the bride and groom. By balancing the ambient light with the flash exposure, we pulled off an extremely powerful wedding image.

Camera specs: Canon 40D fitted with 10-22mm lens at 10mm, F5.6 @ 1/50 second, ISO 800.  Enjoy!  -David

"Summer’s Last Sunset Serenade"

"Summer’s Last Sunset Serenade"
©David A. Ziser

Here an image I did for one of my Kelby Training videos a few years ago.  It’s still one of my favorites.  I remember we were shooting on the beach very close to sunset.  What’s amazing to me is how quickly the sunset drops out of the sky at the end of the day.  If you don’t work quickly, you will definitely miss the shot.

The other issue with our shoot was the fact that we did not have much color happening in the sky.  That necessitated the use of a longer lens to expand the background of the sunset behind the couple.  That’s why I love shooting with my 70-200mm lens when faced with this situation.  It does a nice job spreading the clouds out around the couple.

OK, what’s the challenge for this image – to capture some dramatic detail in the sky.  The best way to do that is by slightly underexposing the sky.  That should really saturate the colors in the sky and around the sun.  But, I wanted the couple to “pop” from the scene too.  That's easy with my Quantum flash on full power or 150 W.S. acting as a backlight on the couple.  This time of the day made it easy to select the proper F-stop/Shutter speed combo for the shot and I think we pulled off a great image.

Camera specs: Canon 40D fitted with 70-200mm IS lens at 95mm, F5.6 @ 1/320 second, ISO 200.  Enjoy!  -David

Shooting For Fun Friday: How A Pro Shoots His Vacation Pics

Good Afternoon Everybody,

I thought I would be posting this after we arrived home today.  But as fate would have it, we are stranded in Washington National Airport till 4:00 p.m. Ugh, the life of the airlines traveler. Hey, the good news is that I’m watching the British Open and have a view of the Capital Building and the Washington Monument from the Delta Crown Room -  not a bad place to hang out if you get stranded. 

We should finally arrive home about 6:00 p.m. – still time to enjoy a bit of the evening. I've said it once and I'll say it again, even though we had a great time in Boston and Bar Harbor, met some super friendly people along the way, and saw some phenomenal sites, there is  no place like home.

For LaDawn and I vacations are NEVER too restful and relaxing - we just want to see it all and are always on the go. And, we love seeing a lot of the sites on foot too - we logged 32 miles walking this trip. The funny thing is that I never lost a pound either - go figure. So, like they say, we're finally back home and can relax for a few days;~)

Since we're on the subject of vacations, I thought I'd give you a little insight into how I, as a professional photographer, handle "vacation" photography.

Just Shooting For Fun: How A Pro Shoots His Vacation Pics

So if you are a professional photographer, how do you cover your vacations and other leisure times? Do you carry all the heavy artillery - cameras, lenses, flashes? Or do you pack on the lighter side and just take along the bare essentials? Let me share with you how I handle the photographic side of our free time and a few images from this trip.

Packing The Gear

When we pack the bags for vacation we keep it pretty light gear-wise. That usually means my 7D for me and a 40D for LaDawn who loves to shoot too. And we carry spare batteries and chargers for both.

Both cameras are fitted with an 18-200mm IS lenses. The 18-200mm IS lens work very well as "almost macro" lenses too. They focus really close. This is a great all around "walk about" lens because of the wide focal length range and it's close focusing capabilities.

I usually pack a wide angle lens too. I just love the look of the wide angle images. In the past that lens has always been my Canon 10-22mm, but on this vacation it was the wonderful new Sigma 8-16mm super wide angle lens - what a blast to shoot with that lens! I need to take a closer look at my images, but early reports show it to be a real wide angle gem.

And last, if space permits, I also like to pack my 100mm Macro IS lens too. I've been a "macro nut" since my early days as a photo enthusiast and have always loved getting up close and personal. Shooting with the macro just gives you a different way of seeing the world.

Sometimes I'll throw in one of my 580 EXII flashes just in case. And yes, I'll throw in my Quantum radios too. You just never know when you might need some extra light. Add to that a very small and light tripod and my Zumbrella, 4 - 16 gig cards, and we are almost ready to go.

And lastly, I do pack a little Canon ELPH camera if during our travels we want to go "really portable".  A good example is when heading out to dinner we don't want to take the heavier gear.

The Easy Camera Settings

OK, we are ready to go. Next I get the cameras set to their most general settings. That makes shooting really fast and easy. Heck, I'm on vacation - I don't want to think about work.

Both cameras are set on AWB, Auto ISO, and Program mode. The 7D is set to medium Raw and 40D is set to full RAW. Basically that gives me the same size file for storage and post production for both cameras.

Wait, I'm a pro so I set the camera to a few "contingency" settings just in case I encounter a shooting situation that requires a bit more control. I set the Shutter Priority to a shutter speed of 1/125 second just in case the situation calls for a faster shutter speed. Aperture Priority is set to F 5.6 just in case I want to shoot with a much more shallow depth of field.

In Manual mode I've set the camera to the most common settings I need for the time of the day I happen to be shooting. If I need to control how the sky is being rendered or need to open up the foreground, switching to Manual mode and fine tuning the settings assures me that I'll get the result I want.

And lastly, if I'm shooting a scene that happens to "blow me away" I'll switch to large RAW just to be sure I have the best digital file I can capture.

The Shooting Routine

When we travel I'm going to be sure I get all the "record shots". That is, I take shots that document the places and locations we visit. But more importantly, I'm trying to capture some great images that are exciting visually.

Even when on vacation, I'm paying attention to lighting, color, contrast, composition - all the visual elements I need to create a good image. And yes, we will even rise at the crack of dawn to get the shot if that's the time of the day when the light's right.

I love shooting then"urban landscape" images that you see here at DPT now and then. I also love shooting the landscape images too. You've seen a few of them this week as "picture of the day" posts. Detail shots of the locations we visit, wildlife, human interest and "people pics" are all part of the shooting repertoire.

Many times, I like to select just the wide angle lens or the macro and just keep it on for the entire day. That forces me to see differently and makes it fun creatively with that particular lens constraint. It sort of gets the "brain juices" flowing because you must look at things differently before you shoot and then decide how the scene would be best rendered with that particular lens.

As you can see, it's the shooting routine that makes the photography fun and a big part of our travels. We wrapped this trip with about 3,000 images by the time we arrive back home.

Post Production

At the end of the day's shooting - every day is a shooting day, and usually over an adult beverage, I load the cards into the card reader, rename the day's DCIM folder on the card to something like "DZ Boston1" and them copy that folder into a newly named trip parent folder on an external drive.

Next I fire up Lightroom 3 and import the images making standard size previews during the import process. This usually takes a while, but once imported, we give them a quick glance to see and quickly evaluate what we captured and which images are our favorites.

At this point, I may select an image or two for DPT, run it through the LR3 prep and have it ready to go for the next day. This is really the fun part of the day - it's fun just seeing if you got what you were shooting for and tweaking the images in Lightroom 3 for best presentation.

I repeat the process each day so that by the end of the trip everything is nicely organized and ready to be backed up to the server and DVDs when we get back home.

Once we are back at the studio, LaDawn and I will review all the images and select a few for our fine art collection, printing off one or two of our favorites making large prints, sometimes on canvass, for wall decor in our home.

Finding the best images is an on going process from trip to trip. The goal is to continue to enrich our fine art image collection for further projects down the road. I'll tell you, when we go on vacation packing the cameras along, we are far more involved with the trip than regular tourists and I feel more intimately connected with what we see. We love our daily shoots and it's a big part of the enjoyment we get out of travels. Besides at our age we just can’t rely on our memories to revisit the trips.

Anyway, just thought you might like to peek.

______________________________________________________

Hey gang, that's it for me today. It's been a great trip to New England these past several days and we can't wait to take a closer look at all the shots. We have a "huge" week next week so these next few days off back home enjoying our images and just relaxing will be fun.

I hope all you guys and girls are enjoying a relaxing weekend also. Be good and I’ll see everybody again on Monday.

See ya' then, -David

I Don't Think I'm Dumb, Maybe I'm Just Stupid

Most of you know me as a big Jpeg fan. My thinking is that RAW is for sushi and oysters only;~) Well, I did the unthinkable, at least for me, these past few days. Dare I even type the words. I..., I..., I shot a few RAW images at my weekend event. I loaded up each of my Canon 40D with 1Tera-Byte, over-clocked, memory-monster flash cards and I was set to go. I figured I'd get about seventeen shots per card - OK, I'm kidding a bit here. But, here is the real deal.

I did set the Canon's to shoot RAW with large JPEG. You know I just wanted to see what the fuss was all about with RAW. But this is where it gets very interesting. I loaded them into Lightroom and was giving them a peek yesterday and was surprised (shocked) by what I saw. Take a look at the two images below. This is how they looked in my favorite image viewing program, Irfanview. They both looked the same - as I would expect.

Now look at the same images after importing into Lightroom. No adjustment of any kind had been made to either image, yet the RAW image is substantially cooler and darker.

I got the same result in each case of my RAW-JPEG combo shots. Why has Lightroom made the change? I also got the same result in Camera Raw - the RAW image was substantially different in color balance from the Jpeg yet camera settings obviously were the same in both shots. Like I said, "I Don't Think I'm Dumb, Maybe I'm Just Stupid!!"

Now, dear readers, on another note - this is where I may repent and change my life. I started playing around with a few more RAW images in Lightroom and Loved! the results I was getting. I could easily save the highlights, recover the shadows, and pop the vibrance. Check out my fisheye image of the temple ceiling from Saturday morning - pretty cool.

I have to say, the extremely positive experience gave me cause to consider shooting my next gig completely in RAW - all 4000 shots! (Did I really type that?) Boy, if I switch to RAW, I'll have to give up all my Jpeg jokes. Anyway, I'll keep you posted as I walk through that valley of Raw ;~)

More Nikon/Canon Surprises At The Party

So I'm a big fan of Nikon's low noise capabilities - ISO 6400 is the old Canon 1600. That super low light sensitivity on the Nikon is amazing, but that's where I was surprised. I put the 70-200mm VR lens on the Nikon D3 - I wanted to roam the party unnoticed trying to get some great dance candids, etc. My experience here was that I (the camera) was having a hard time finding focus in the low light.

I put the 70-200mm IS lens on my Canon 40D and tried the same thing and all worked fine. Flashes were not attached to either camera as I wanted to check the low light focusing capabilities of both cameras without focus assist. I had much better luck with the Canon.

Anyway, back to the Nikon manual to see if I'm missing something here. If anyone has any suggestions for Nikon camera settings for optimum results in low light focusing situations, please let me know.

"Ellyn"
© David A. Ziser

The was one of the final images I made of Ellyn yesterday evening. It's a nice, easy, soft photograph that I really like. I saved the "pillar" location till last because I thought the sun would be softly setting behind the clouds. Well, that wasn't the case - it was going down in a blaze! I experimented with increasing the shutter speed to see if I could pick up some of the sun's color glinting off the pillars. That's exactly what happened! We got a great shot! Canon 40D, 70-200mm IS lens, 1/320 second (yes, I cheated the sync speed) at F4.0, ISO 250. Off camera flash through a translucent umbrella supplied the direction of light to the subject. Enjoy. --David

Thursday's a'Jumpin'

Good Morning ( I mean afternoon) Everybody,

My client just showed up before I could get the post up. Boy, we had a busy day yesterday and today is shaping up to be the same. I'm sending PhotoTalkRadio my images for Saturday's show - be sure to tune in. The Senior sessions went great yesterday, in fact today's pic of the day features one of the images from yesterday's session. Read more above. I shot the sessions with my new Canon 40D, and I have to say that with "Highlight Tone Priority" turned on, the shoot went great - most of the "exposure fiddle" disappeared and that is great for a JPEG shooter like me - please no debate here. I'll bear my soul another time on this topic. Yesterday, I did a little market research with my client's to see how they liked the MTV like show (using Animoto's website) I put together for Katie. The response was overwhelmingly positive!! Hey, senior shooters out there, this might be a nice add-on for your services. Anyway, on with some quick news flashes....

Technique Tuesday

First things first - A great big "Thank You" for all the very kind comments on the articles and the images these past couple of weeks. Thanks again.

Here is what is in the works for upcoming posts. Next week I will be doing an entire review of that little known Canon camera feature called "Highlight Tone Priority" available on Canon's three new cameras. We will take an in-depth look at just how it works, why it works, and why you want to shoot with it "Enabled" regardless of whether you shoot JPEG's or RAW. Also, in development is an article on "Specularity" - when you want it, and when you don't, and how it can be controlled. Other topics include; high ISO shooting and noise reduction, more "flash" techniques, and more Photoshop tutorials. Stay tuned - a lot of "good stuff" is on the way.

We wrapped the first day of my Digital Master Class yesterday and are off to a good start. More on-location shooting today. The only downside is the weather - 95+ degrees here in Cincy, again. August proved to be record setting and it looks like September may also break all high temperature records. Another "hot" 95+ degrees scheduled for today. But heck, no problem - we are starting today's class with a hypnosis session where the suggestion will be that every time we are outside, we are to think Alaska - "...you are getting sleepy..."

How about a little news and then a little technique - "off to the races."

Yes Virginia, It Was a Canon Day All Day Saturday

I had the wonderful opportunity to shoot two of Canon's brand new cameras all day at my wedding this past Saturday - the EOS 1D Mark III and my newly purchased 40D. I have to tell you what a joy it was. Both cameras were quick and nimble hitting the exposure just about "on the button" each frame. What I loved most about the experience was Canon's new "Highlight Tone Priority" setting that I could dial in on both cameras.

For a wedding JPEG shooter, this is a "God-send". It reduced the amount of exposure "fiddling" to almost nothing. Basically what happens at this setting is that the camera keeps the highlights from "blowing out" (within a certain range, of course.) It was a very bright sunny, cloudless day Saturday, but when the bride came out of the house into the direct sun, I was able to just keep on shooting with out any worry of overexposing her gown. The cameras worked perfectly in this regard all day long.

Next week, I plan to run an in-depth article on the little discussed "Highlight Tone Priority" feature of Canon's new cameras, so be sure to check back. I think I'm in love.......again!!

A Big Canon Weekend

I'm getting my Canon 40D in today and can't wait to give it a try!! Mary Mannix, our regional Canon Rep, has been out of town so she told me to just hang on to her Mark III till her return next week - no complaints from me - thanks Mary. It should be a kick this weekend shooting Canon's latest and greatest - I'll post a few observations and comparisons about the cameras next week.

Thursday News

Good Morning Everybody,

To the readers of Digital ProTalk - have you noticed the news stories on the right side of this page change several times a week. I've been using this blogging resource to get additional interesting items on the front page. So be sure to check out the RED STUFF >>> to the right of this page.

In addition to keeping this page up to date, LaDawn and I have also been tracking our trip to NYC this week. Hey, I know there are so many hours in a day - so who wants to look at travel pics - but, heck, some of them are pretty cool. Think of it as a "Vacation" resource. Anyway if you want to check it out here is the link to Dave and LaDawn On the Road - just click here.

Alrighty then, on with quick news:

The Top 10 Best Places to Take Photographs:
I know this is a combo National Park/Ford Promo, but that's OK with me. I started taking my kids with me to National parks many years ago. My son, loved it nd said, "hey Dad, why don't we do this once a year." We had a pretty good run at it while they were young. That's why I have added these recommendations. So here is what is happening. This year, the National Park Service and the National Park Foundation teamed with Ford Motor Company for the official “Share the Experience” photo contest. So not only do you get great pics, but might win a car too. Here is the link.

Fireworks Tutorial - Or Where Did the Black Tones Go?
When I first saw this come up, I thought we are way past the 4th of July - what good is this? (kidding) but then I took a closer look. The guys over at Watch and Learn Photoshop have a nice little tutorial here. Look beyond the "fireworks" part - the best part is seeing how certain "Layer Modes" work with blacks in the image. Check it out here.

Hands On With the Canon 40D over at Luminous Landscape.
OK, I admit it - I'm a Canon 20D then 30D, now 40D nut. I can't believe they get so much stuff into that camera - Highlight Tone Priority to save my highlights, full screen "blinkies", fast focus, etc. As a matter of fact, I ordered the new Canon 40D from B&H last week at Photoshop World. It's just a lot of "bang for the buck." So when I caught yet another "hands on" experience, especially from a really well respected source, I wanted to share it with you. If your a Canon shooter or just thinking about becoming one here is the link for some great info.

Finally - Batteries That Hold a Charge
Tired of the constant "drain the recharge" cycle with the AA NiCads, or are you like me and never drain them so six months later after about the zillionth recharge, you end up with no charge. This story came up the other day over at our buddies at 1001 Noisy Cameras. It's talks about this new kind of battery (AA and AAA) that hold their charge for quite a while. Check out the whole story here.

Hey Gang, got to go - I've got an early appointment today - see ya tomorrow. --David

Early Tuesday News

An early good morning to everyone,

Here are a few interesting news items I thought I would try to post before LaDawn and I head to the airport . I also promised a recap of my wedding over the weekend - look for it later today - some cool stuff.

On with the news:

Sept. 4, 1888: Photography Leaps Into the Late 19th Century
Yep, today was the day - 119 years ago, that George Eastman received a patent for the first roll-film camera and registers the name "Kodak." This article is a nice read for the photo-history buff. Here is the link.

Vincent Versace - Podcast - Nikon D3/D300:
With all the new camera announcements over the last few weeks, I thought I would point you to Vincent Versace's podcast on the Nikon D3 and D300. Vincent Versace, Photographer, Trainer, and Author. One of Nikon’s “Legend Behind the Lens” and premier product beta tester joins host Scott Sheppard for a first hand look on Nikon’s newest digital SLRs. I'll be seeing Vinney at Photoshop World this week - what a terrific photographer. Here is the link to the podcast.

In Depth Canon 40 Review:
Let's give Canon equal billing here. I just saw this review of Canon's latest and greatest 40D. I had my hands on one this weekend - Sweet. Click here for the link.

Which Batteries for digital and How to Make Them Last:
I just replaced some of my NiCads before the wedding this weekend. Want to know which batteries are the best? The Strobist had a nice piece on just that topic. Give it a read right here. Now that you've made the battery choice, how do you make them last. Here is the tell - all article - right here - posted over at John Nack's blog that gives you the low-down. I feel so recharged already.

World’s Fastest-Shooting Digital Camera:
This story has been popping up all over the web lately so I thought I would post it more as a - "Look to the Future" item. Just where is all this technology going these days? Just when we think we hit the megapixel sweet spot and all is perfect, new technology points our imaginations into a new direction. Here is the news piece. Casio has just revealed plans of an as yet unnamed twelve times zoom, six megapixel CMOS based digital camera which can capture a burst of full-size six megapixel images at sixty frames per second and VGA AVI movies at an astonishing three hundred frames per second (obviously shutter speed allowing). Exact specifications and details are currently a little vague but we do know that it has a 2.8" wide-screen LCD monitor, electronic viewfinder and sensor-shift image stabilization. You say so what? the "so what" is this - things are moving fast, think of the posibilities. It's great to be along for the ride! Click here for the story.

Hey Gang, that's it for now - got a plane to catch. Check back for the wedding recap story later today. See you in Vegas! --David