VPW Introduction to Digital Photography BLOG

In Studio with Models

2008-06-18T23:36:00.000-07:00

Today in our photo workshop we worked with models in the studio. I filled up two memory cards! One thing I realize is I take the pictures too quick, when I was on the strobe I was taking shots before the strobe was fully recharged. It was fun but tiring. I have to pick 6 to bring in next week. Here are a few so far I like.

Matt

2008-06-18T15:58:00.001-07:00

We were lucky to have the opportunity to photograph Matt in the studio last night for our model evening. I have to say that he is awesome at creating a believable character. Here I was trying to create the era of Oliver Twist. I love the look, to me it creates the mood and kicks my imagination into high gear. Thanks Matt.

Nikon D-300 $1699.75 update

2008-06-05T00:09:00.001-07:00

http://www.dunneandrundle.com/

$100,00 cheaper than the Nikon Canada websit

http://www.nikon.ca/en/Newfromnikon.aspx

Jay Maisel and Gregory Heisler Talk!

2008-05-15T23:32:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

next week is a BIG one for VPW. We have not one but two Master Photographers from NYC in town. They both will be dong a public talk and presentation at the Ironworks Studios, on Monday, May 19th, 2008.

This will be an exciting and inspirational evening!

If you can, come and check it out.

Here is the link to more info and registration!

Hope to see you all there!

Black and White Photography

2008-04-27T11:56:00.000-07:00

I have been trying lately to take some black and white pictures.. but most of them turned out grey (no subject or color really stand out in the picture, no bright white or dark black. Would you have any tips for me (any tips you may have for BW photography would be much appreciated). Could we get nice black and white pictures directly from the camera (I have a nikon D80). Sorry if my question seem very basic... i am still in the learning process... a! thanks! Julie

Studio Class at Syx's

2008-03-12T10:23:00.000-07:00

Just sharing some photos from our studio class that took place a few weeks ago. It was great having the opportunity to shoot such uniquely different models.

Purple Fringe

2008-03-11T15:48:00.001-07:00

I'm noticing that several of my images have this purple or blue fringe. Is there some technique to avoid this.

Thanks ..... Nancy

Kikon Users

2008-03-10T07:26:00.000-07:00

NIKON D300 body only : $1767.75 (CDN)

http://www.dunneandrundle.com/

Photoshoot at UBC Tower beach

2008-03-09T03:25:00.000-07:00

Just want to share another picture here. Marc mentioned that we can talk about it when we have the flash class. This was shot last summer with my girl friend at UBC Tower beach. We waited for the sunset to capture that orange shade in the middle.

External flash at almost direct angle towards the subject. ISO 500, 1/160, and f6.3. Was using P mode, but could probably use a better combination of these now.

Marc - what's the ideal combination of ISO, S speed and F no. in these situation?

I definitely want to learn more about the settings in the external flash. THANKS.

Fish eye - happy Church's chicken

2008-03-09T03:11:00.000-07:00

Just have to share these pictures - hope you enjoy them as much as I do. Just funny, that's all. Yeah, fish eye lens aren't just for big animal head shots ^.^

Shutter speed plays

2008-03-09T01:36:00.000-08:00

Some shots with various shutter speeds - some old and some are very recent.

Richmond night market - the night was completely dark. 0.8 second and ISO 160. Tant color and the sky created a good color contrast. No edits from computer, straight out of the camera.

The following ones are at night clubs - this is just a still picture, followed by a shot with shutter speed at 1 second while rotating the camera.

Follow pictures are set at 0.4 second while catching people playing with their ring lights....

Looking for some advice on Nikon equipment

2008-03-07T22:48:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some advice on a Nikon film SLR and lenses I have an opportunity to purchase. At present I'm shooting with my Nikon D50 and am quite comfortable with it. I have an opportunity to make an offer on a Nikon F-401X with the following lenses and flash.

Nikon AF Nikkor 35-105mm, 1:3.5-4.5
Nikon AF Nikkor 20mm, 1:2.8
Flash, Nikon speedlight SB-22

I have no idea what to offer for the above film SLR and the included lenses and flash. If any of you can offer some advice I would be very grateful.

Thanks,
Dave

How to kill some time with PHOTOGRAPHY this weekend..

2008-03-07T14:13:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,

Well, it's supposed to be my afternoon off and what do I do....looking at photograhy on the web and letting you all know about my latest find!

I have known about this series for a while, but haven't checked it out lately. This guy, George Jardin, is touring the country and interviews some of the top photographers (being paid by Adobe). He's got a bunch of very interesting podcasts available for FREE download.

I may just kill my whole afternoon listening and watching...

In addition to the interviews, he's also got podcasts with tutarials for Lightroom, also free. Note that he has got an interview with Jay Maisel and Gregory Heisler, both of them are coming to Vancouver in May for Master Workshops.

Here's the link to the site!

Enjoy the show(s)

Playing shutter speed with Toro!

2008-03-07T13:04:00.000-08:00

Took my husky (his name is Toro) to Steveston's fish market last weekend after Marc's talk about shutter speeds. It was a beautiful day with bright blue sky - so I decided to lie down on the floor to capture the background (yes, people walking by were looking at me weird).

First shut - set to S mode and ISO 100. Using 1/200 shutter speed. Realized that because I was quite close to my Toro, 1/200 can't quite freeze his movement. His eye is a bit blurred.

Then I used 1/400 of a second - much better freezing of the actions. Obvious to tell from his eyes.

Just for the sake of it - I decided to use a longer shutter speed - so I set it to 1/4 of a second - eh...kind of lost Toro completely.

Lesson learned - adjusting shutter speed depends on fast your object is moving, this is relative to how far you are from the object. Pretty simple stuff. Also, the picture at 1/200 looks fine on my view finder until I got home and looked at it in photoshop. Another lesson for me to zoom in on my camera to make sure it's clear even if it looks fine on the view finder - it's too small afterall.

ps. D80 and 18-70 kit lens used.

Here is a bad shot on the same day - not sure if it is because of the sun or what - the color looks not exciting. It's under sun light so I didn't adjust for WB - similar image came out even if I adjusted it to "sunlight" WB. Any comments anyone??

Maybe I should just take it from a different background as Toro's color blends in with the rest of the image??

INFRARED Digital taken for a spin!

2008-03-04T11:52:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone,

I hope you all had a great weekend!
I taught my long-exposure BW workshop, and had a great time playing with an Infrared converted Canon 20D that one of the students from the US brought with her. One of the great joys of teaching is letting yourself be inspired by your students, and this group featured many very accomplished photographers. We shot for 2 full days and could not have picked a better weekend as the weather miraculously cooperated and gave us 2 days of sunshine and dramatic cloud formations.

The images I am posting for now are all taken with the infrared converted 20D Canon. I will talk more about this in-class this week, but couldn't wait to share some right away. The following images have received just minor processing, mostly contrast and selective tonal adjustments. They were taken with exposures of up to 12 minutes, which smoothes out the water and clouds as they are moving across the sky. Shooting locations were Point Roberts in the US, White Rock, and Stanley Park.

The conversion of the camera is permanent meaning you have to commit to the infrared look. The conversion of this particular model was done by Lifepixel and costs around $450. Check out their website for more info and to see lots of example images.

And now, onto the photographs:

Best Magazines

2008-03-01T12:12:00.001-08:00

I've been browsing the shelves looking at different photography magazines. Love the read for ideas and inspiration, and occasionally techniques. Anyone have any favourites they would recommend?

Thanks ... Nancy

Showing Motion

2008-03-01T11:58:00.001-08:00

After listening to Marc talk about his use of 1/15th sec shutter speed, I decided to go out to play.

I call this "power walking". ISO 100; F16; 1/10 second; handlheld

I was amused at the "stretched" effect of the bus, and liked the sense of peaking through the windows at what was beyond. I was particularly fetched by the reflection in the bus window that stayed clear despite the bus blurring (you need to look at the image larger to see this). ISO 100; F7.1, 1/15th second; handheld.

This silly kitty was sitting on the counter of a local florist, waving it's paw up and down. I amused the cooperative owner taking this shot. ISO 200, F8, 1/15th sec; handheld.

Fun exercise, and it is helping me learn to handhold the camera for longer exposures.

Cheers ..... Nancy

Photography Club in Vancouver?

2008-02-28T19:08:00.000-08:00

Hello all,

Does anyone know of a photography club in Vancouver? I'm interested in joining a club that does things like field-trips (especially ones where I can get a lift in someone else's car), photo "challenges", talks etc. Does that kind of thing exist here?

Sam

Photographer's Sites to Check Out!

2008-02-26T21:57:00.000-08:00

OK, I admit that I am very partial to BW photography, so here are some Photographers to check out:

Ralph Gibson

Michael Kenna

Video about Michael Kenna's work (really worth seeing)

Josef Hoflehner

Helmut Newton

Check out these free and rare VIDEO Interviews with Master Photographers

The best PhotoBook store (click on the galleries section!)

PDN Legends Online, a great collection of the most influential photographers!

Index of the Masters Of Photography!

Query - Photo Organization Software

2008-02-16T17:24:00.001-08:00

I would like to be able to organize my growing collection of images, including labelling, tagging, searching by subject tags, etc. Can anyone recommend a good software package. I'm using the "Picture Project" that came with my camera, and it is cumbersome and slow.

Thanks ... Nancy

High Contrast Problem

2008-02-16T16:59:00.000-08:00

Took this while on holiday in Britain; afternoon with really brilliant light, thus hard shadows; lost all the information of his face. I'd love some suggestions as to how I could have exposed this more successfully. Not looking for an HDR solution, as I haven't explored that technique yet.

White Balance - Unbalanced

2008-02-14T10:06:00.001-08:00

Following up on our white balance discussion of yesterday, I thought I'd post an example of what happens when you shoot in daylight with the camera set to incandescent (tungsten).

I was able to correct the WB, but it would have been simpler to do it right at first. And, it seems to me that there is less information, espcially in the sky.

Cheers .. Nancy

Automatic ISO

2008-02-13T12:04:00.000-08:00

Here's a quick tip for Nikon, Pentax and Olympus users (I think it works on Olympus too). For Canon users, you have to have one of their latest cameras, like the 40D. It does not work on the Rebel or Rebel XTI (unfortunately).

The above mentioned cameras have an automatic ISO adjustment. You can use this to help you take "better" pictures in low light. When the light level drops, the camera will automatically adjust the ISO to compensate for the low light.

With some camera models, you can also specify a minimum shutter speed. This is a great option as it increases the ISO automatically when your shutter speed is getting too slow to guarantee you sharp images. Due to the increased ISO, you may maintain a minimum specified shutter speed automatically even in changing light conditions. I would recommend setting it to 1/30 for starts.

Remember that the higher your ISO, the lower your general image quality, so be 'gentle' with your adjustments.

Pentax camera go even a step further by giving you a dedicated shooting mode that adjust ISO automatically.

Looks like Canon has finally caught on and put this feature in their newer cameras.

It really can be useful. Try it if your camera offers this setting!

Shooting in LOW Light

2008-02-13T11:57:00.000-08:00

OK, let's get this EV and low light problem resolved.

I did post this as a comment to an earlier post in this blog, but thought it is important enough to put it out here as well. Hopefully it will be more visible and help you all!

Sam is right in saying that in low light we often have to select a higher ISO if we want to maintain a fast shutter speed. A tripod is of little help as well, as it only helps you to reduce camera shake but does not help you to freeze subject movement (VR or IS lenses have the same limitations).

So far so good, but let's talk about EV. What Sam refers to is actually not called EV, but exposure compensation. EV simply stands for exposure value, i.e. a specific shutter speed and aperture. Exposure compensation is available by a +- button on most cameras. This will adjust your exposures to look either brighter (+) or darker (-), but in order to do this it has to adjust either shutter speed, aperture or ISO. If all of those variable are maxed out already, exposure compensation will NOT work. Your image will look the same.

When shooting in low light, the most effective 'weapon' really is a 'fast' lens, meaning a lens that is able to give you a wider maximum aperture (i.e. F1.8). This will allow you to work with a reasonable ISO while still maintaining a fast enough shutter speed.

Finally, in really dark situations, you may want to resort to using a flash (when even the fastest lens and highest ISO does not help anymore).

Blog Idea

2008-02-13T11:39:00.000-08:00

I'd like to see some suggestions for exercises; assignments, themes posted on the blog.

Cheers ... Nancy

Playing with DOF

2008-02-13T11:14:00.000-08:00

I just bought myself a 50mm lens and have been experimenting with the wider aperatures now available to me. On the positive side I've already noticed that I can shoot in much lower light. But, the trade-off is that, when shooting close up, it is difficult to get sharp focus, and you have to be really conscious of what will be in focus, especially while shooting close up.

This morning I was attracted to the wonderful light hitting the mini-rose on my kitchen windowsill. So I played with the F-stop. I set each shot at close as the lens would allow (about 19"). No processing, just cropping.

The first shot was made at F1.8. I noticed that only the edges of a few petals of the tiny rose are in focus, even though the blossom is less than 3/4" across.

The next rose was shot at F4. Now the whole rose is in focus. Much easier to do, but already the background is more distracting to me. And, the background is much darker.

This next was shot at F11

And, this at F22 (to complete the range available to me). In this, the whole rose bush is in focus but the background is really distracting.

So, clearly trade-offs to be made.

Cheers ... Nancy

Beau Photo

2008-02-12T23:02:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,
I wanted to write a quick note to encourage you all to go rent stuff from Beau Photo. I rented a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM Lens from them over the weekend, and had a great deal of fun with it. The staff were very friendly and helpful, even when my nasty UK credit card refused to accept the enormous deposit I needed to put down for the lens. It cost me under $40 to rent this lens for the weekend (Fri PM to Mon AM), which is just fantastic.
Here are some photos I took (with my Canon 400D aka Digital Rebel XTi). Any comment/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Sam

Bald Eagle - it would have been great if I could have gota full reflection here, but nevermind.

Short-eared owl

Northern Harrier - I was trying to get a shilhouette

Struggling with EV

2008-02-12T21:46:00.001-08:00

I think I just haven't got it yet! I am still struggling to get the correct exposure for my pictures in dark surroundings, for example inside my apartment when I don't want to use a flash or even outside on one of those fabulous Vancouver days we had recently.
If my aperture is open to the maximum but the shutter speed selected by the camera is too slow to hand-hold the camera, is my only choice to increase ISO or is there any impact by changing the EV value (in program mode, for example)?
And I guess second part of my question, if EV is not going to change the exposure in my above example, do I only use it when there is still room in the aperture but I actually don't want to change aperture as I want a specific depth of field?
Thanks!
Petra

Selecting the 'right' shooting Mode

2008-02-12T16:20:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,

below, please find some images that will hopefully help you to understand when to choose the 'right' shooting mode on your digital camera. I will go over these in class as well, so note down any questions you may have.

I have shot these last week, on a brief walk through downtown.

The first image was taken in program mode, meaning the camera selected an aperture and shutter speed at random (based on the camera's computer evaluation). As you can see, the car driving by is slightly blurry.

When looking at a photograph, I encourage you to try and pin down exactly what it is you would like to change. Now that you are learning and getting experience with your camera(s), you may want to take an image in Program Mode first, so that you can see what the camera is choosing for you.If you like what you see, then move on to the next scene. If you don't like it, then adjust your camera settings accordingly. In this case, I did not like the fact that the car was slightly blurred, I wanted it rendered sharp instead.

So I switched to shutter priority (TV on a Canon, S on a Nikon) as this gives me control over what shutter speed the camera will use. I selected a faster shutter speed of 1/500 of a second which froze the car and rendered it sharp.

For the final image, I decided to use shutter priority mode again. This time, I felt a bit more creative, and wanted to blur the cars a lot more. Program mode showed the car neither completely sharp nor blurred, so using shutter priority gives you the control to go either way consistently. For this image, my shutter speed was slowed down to 1/4 of a second.

I did these two images to illustrate when to select Aperture Priority Mode (AV on Canon, A on Nikon) on your cameras. As discussed in class, the creative job of aperture is to control DOF (depth-of-field, or the area of acceptable sharpness in your image). I wanted to limit sharpness and only have the sign in front in focus. So I selected the largest aperture (which equals the smallest F number on your camera) using aperture priority mode. Program Mode would not have given me this precise control. As above, you can see that the same scene can be recorded in different ways. You just have to pick the look you want, and whether shutter speed or aperture can get you there.

Remember, select shutter priority to control movement in your photographs.
Select aperture priority to control DOF.
See you in class!

From the top

2008-02-07T09:08:00.000-08:00

There's been many times where I would be out and about in the city, shooting this and that, and thinking, hmmm, I wonder how the scene would look from a higher vantage point and I bet it would be a great perspective.

Can anyone suggest places in Vancouver where there's public access to higher floors? I don't supposed hotels would let you up? :) What about carparks and roofs? I'd appreciate any suggestions.

"Performance" Gallery Show!

2008-02-05T17:12:00.000-08:00

Don't miss thiis opportunity to see Photography in Vancouver!

This Friday at 8pm at the Exposure Gallery located on 754 East Broadway.

Exposure Gallery is one of the only galleries in town solely dedicated to photography. The shows are famous for great turnouts and energy- you really get a feel for the community the minute you step through the door! This gallery supports emerging photographers, so if you'd like to see your work on the wall come and see what they have to offer. Exposure Gallery is run by a non-profit society and works exclusively on a volunteer basis. I am on the board of Directors, and have been in 20+ shows. Don't miss this great opportunity. See you there!

For more information about the gallery, please visit their website: www.exposure-gallery.com

Hello Everyone!

2008-02-05T14:28:00.001-08:00

Welcome to this new blog.

It is our hope that you will use this blog to post images, exchange feedback, ask questions and generally connect with each other outside of class time. In contrast to many other similar services out there, this blog is for the exclusive use of you and your fellow class mates only (think of them as a great resource). Ask questions and post comments as you all venture through this course together. The potential is there for this blog to be a great addition to your learning experience. I welcome any and all of your posts.