Above is an outtake of our first shoot in the studio. Josh did a great job during the whole shoot. This guy laughed so much, not smiling was pretty difficult! It didn't help that I was cracking jokes every minute during the shoot. But hey, my awkward antics actually worked. Sweet. As mentioned before, this shoot was done the day we moved into the new studio location. We weren't prepared at all! There's always a work-around when it comes to photography, though. We could have used the ambient light from outside or controlled it via portable flashes. I had a feeling we'd need some traditional shots taken care of first before we went on to the good stuff, so I whipped out some extension cords and plugged them into the outlets in the park right next to us. How awesome is that? More awesome than licourice. We pulled off some fun stuff in studio and out at the park. I couldn't have asked for a better subject! It was like hanging out with a friend who's down for anything. If you're down for anything, give us a call. We'll be best friends forever.

 

 

I remember buying my own P&S camera. It was a Canon Power Shot SD750. It was awesome because it was so accessible and convenient. But convenience also has a dark side! I never really thought out my shots. I just wanted to whip this baby out and document what was happening that very moment in the form of a snapshot. Although my photos perceived what I saw when I took the picture, they never really inspired me or lead me to interpret them because they were so blatantly obvious of what was going on.  Take this for an example. You take a snapshot of your friends gathered around. Cool, well how would you interpret this picture? Sure, you could reminisce about your past with them but it's not doing anything for the picture itself! Now, in the same location, you follow your friends around without directing them. They're being themselves in their natural environment. As one of them stares off into space, you take this opportunity to take a candid picture of them. By your surprise, you have not only taken a picture of them but you captured their raw expression. Instantly you think, "what is he/she thinking about?". You are interpreting the picture and not just looking at it, you have just told a story.

 

I could easily go into a technical spew of how to learn your camera, but you have your camera's manual for that. It's very important to know your camera inside and out. With that knowledge, you can set your camera according to the situation you're in which will allow you to anticipate each opportunity with less tinkering and cursing. Sport mode won't work when you're trying to capture the fireworks...etc. Get to know your tool and you'll be able to produce better pictures!

 

Learn the rule of thirds. The human eye follows the subject in a natural way, leaving space on either side of the subject more than the other.  It is an important part of a composition but not a necessity.

 

Macro mode is fun! Use it to your advantage and capture the details you would have missed. Don't focus entirely on the subject but give it some head room to allow the viewer to interpret the whole picture instead of, "okay...that's a bug. Cool."

 

We need more angles! Follow lines, practice vanishing points. Find ways to shoot the same subject but without actually being right in front of them! I want to see where they are, how they look in their environment and most of all, I want you to tell me a story. Don't be afraid to lay on your side and shoot up, force yourself to be creative! It pays off in the end.

 

Composition is very important. It separates snapshots from photos, digital files from fine art. Simply shooting a portrait of someone at mouth level will yield a position of power over someone who is looking up at you. You shoot with digital, if it sucks, delete it and try again!

 

In the end, someone who knows their camera, practices composition, angles and wants to create something more than a snapshot will succeed. It's easy. Point & Shoot cameras are accessible and the internet is filled tutorials at your disposal. You may have heard this a bunch, but the best camera is the one you have with you. Get to it!

 

We had a visit recently by Envirocon Technologies Inc. CEO, Curtis Eggemeyer. He's a nice dude who likes helping the environment by creating products that don't harm it like Lemi Shine. It's basically in every major store. It smells pretty good. So good that I want to use it as deodorant. There's a dog in the studio, what the? I lost concentration. I want to pet that dog now. Anyways, I had the chance to mess around with the studio lights in different ways when I took his pictures. Once we set up our external power source, we'll be able to bring the strobes on location and be able to control the whole shoot.

I finally managed to snag my Mom and sisters for a photo shoot! My other sister flew in from Jersey so everything came together just in time! The whole shoot was pretty goofy. Knowing my family, they didn't want to see any blemishes, wrinkles or any imperfections.... I had my work cut out for me in post processing! The series was shot mostly on white and underexposed to gray. It was a 30min shoot so we didn't have too much time to wonder around Downtown. Maybe next time!

I love digital and I love medium format. So which one is better?? Both have their uses and the argument between both have been going on since digital was created. The gap is closing in on medium format's advantage over digital as newer models are being released to the public.  So let's have a look at both samples.

 

 

The first photo was taken with my Canon EOS 5D of our friend

Jef and his cat Sake. The settings are 1/200sec at f/6.3 ISO 100.

 

After the standard post processing (spot, color, white balance treatment and sharpening) this picture doesn't look too bad!

 

Now here is a medium format photo of Jef. The settings are

near identical with the 5D but the camera's film was ISO 160.

 

This medium format shot was basically scanned and resized for the web. I did a couple spot treatments and that's it. No white balance, color correction or even sharpening! It was plenty sharp! Maybe even too sharp as it depends on how you scan the film. I love how medium format captures such minute details and preserves the highlights!

 

The verdict. Each formats have their strengths. Digital easily has the upper hand in terms of flexibility in every field. It saves time, produces stunning photos and leaves me with files that allow me to edit them without doing too much damage.  So far, the standard for newer DSLRs produce 12-14bit files which capture more detail and tones. For medium format, it depends on the film and the scanner. The higher end scanners can scan up to 48bit and higher which allows for far greater tonal range and detail but leaves you with files reaching hundreds to thousands of megabytes each!

The advantage over digital with medium format is greater tonal range which allows for evenly exposed shadows, highlights and better colors as it prevents clipping. White balance is more natural as well. Most of medium format's characteristics can be simulated in post processing nowadays except for the megapixels. Also, because of the size of medium format film, depth of field is much more shallow which creates a delicious 3D effect that takes hundreds of digital photos merged together to reproduce!

 

In the end, both formats are very similar and also very different. We will be offering medium format in February as an option. Who doesn't love the nostalgic, sharp detailed feel of film?! It's awesome.  Enough nerding it up. Back to work!