5.26 Two Tips for Tuesday

Top Photo:
Long Lens See Thru

by Eddie Tapp
www.eddietapp.com

Using a telephoto lens, try shooting through leaves or any obstacles that might add some mystery to your images. Be sure to use manual focus to keep your subject sharp and your foreground element soft.

This image of Nikki and Renee was created using a Canon EOS 5D Mark II and my favorite lens, the 28-300 f/3.5-5.6L IS USM at 120mm f/6.7 at ISO Speed 100.

Hey, I have a brand new educational DVD from Software-Cinema. If you use this code at checkout you'll get a 15% discount on your order "ETCS4.” Check it out from my website at www.eddietapp.com.

Bottom Photos:
Think “Flashy” Outdoors Pictures

by Rick "RAW Rules" Sammon

Compare these two images, which I took during Carnevale in Venice, Italy. The picture on the left is a flash shot. Notice how well you can see the eyes in that image compared to the natural light shot on the right.

When setting out to photograph people, don't leave home without a flash – and a reflector and diffuser – to control the light.

The key is to balance the light from the flash to the available light – so that your picture does not look like a flash shot. You might get that on the first try if you set your camera to the Av (Aperture Priority) mode and set your flash to E-TTL. However, you'll have more control (over the flash and natural light exposure) when you set your camera to Manual.

For a quick how-to on fill-in flash photography, click here.

Thanks Eddie for being part of Two for Tuesday.

Thank YOU for stopping in. Post a comment if you like this kinda stuff. And, scroll down to the bottom of this page to subscribe to this blog.

Best,
Rick
P.S. Check out Eddie cool book, Practical Color Management. And don't miss Eddie's Photoshop classes on Kelby Training.


Each week I will try to post:
• Monday’s Inspirational Message
• Two Tips For Tuesday
• Where in the World? Wednesday
• Photo Thought for Thursday
• Friday Fun Photo
• Saturday Photoshop Mini-Session
• Sunday Speedlite Secrets

Subscribe to my blog and join the fun.

Interested in Learning How to Shoot/Edit HD Video?

in , , ,
Hi All

I am thinking of adding a HD video shooting/production component to my Croton Workshops.

Emmy Award winners David Leveen, who shoots/directs/edits all my DVDs, and Andy Young, known for his outstanding documentaries, live here in Croton and are interested.

Click on the above links to see their work.

We'd do a two-day, weekend workshop: 1 day shooting, 1 day editing.

Let me know if you are interested.

I'll be the first sign up: with my Canon 5D Mark II.

Rick

5.24 Sunday Speedlite Tip: Diffuse the Light

While working on my studio/on-location lighting book (due out in September) with my co-author,Vered Koshlano, we had a blast creating the lighting setup for the top photograph, taken at the Explorers Club in NYC.

The lighting set-up: one stand-mounted Canon Speedlite 580EXII was fired through a stand-mounted Westcott diffuser that was positioned above eye-level and off to camera right at about a 45-degree angle.

A similar flash/diffuser setup was positioned to camera left.

A third flash was positioned on the red couch (out of camera view) and pointed toward the rear wall to illuminate the background. Our assistant, Hector, held a fourth flash below eye-level and to camera right to light my face.


All flashes were fired from our hot-shoe mounted Canon ST-E2 wireless transmitter. The ST-E2 works great indoors. Outdoors, and indoors when a flash is "hidden" in a soft box, I use the Pocket Wizard.

So the tip for today: Explore the lighting possibilities with camera flashes – and diffuse the light to increase and soften the light source.

I teach stuff like this on most of my workshops. Good fun - no matter what camera system you own :-)

Good news! Joe Brady from the MAC group will be a guest instructor on my Croton Shoot.

More info on Speedlites.

Cool book on flash photography.

And here's a bonus flash tip.

If you have a quick flash tip, post it here. Got flash questions? Post 'em to me/Scott Bourne on Twitter for our PhotoFocus podcast.

Keep a smile,
Rick

Each week I will try to post:
• Monday’s Inspirational Message
• Two Tips For Tuesday
• Where in the World? Wednesday
• Photo Thought for Thursday
• Friday Fun Photo
• Saturday Photoshop Mini-Session
• Sunday Speedlite Secrets

Subscribe to my blog and join the fun.

5.23 Saturday Photoshop Mini-Session: Play With HDR Plug-ins

in , , ,
This week's tip: Play with HDR Plug-ins.

Two of my favorite HDR plug-ins are Photomatix and Topaz Adjust.

Photomatix

Photomatix, a very popular HDR program from HDRsoft, is both a plug-in and a stand-alone application. First, you take several pictures over, under and at the correct exposure with your camera mounted on a tripod (set to the aperture priority mode) and fired with either the camera’s self-timer or a cable release to avoid camera shake.

Then you use Photomatix’s Detail Enhance and Tone Compressor, along with the options in their sub menus, to create images that go way beyond the recording capabilities of a digital camera’s image sensor. I used Photomatix to create the top HDR image.


Topaz Adjust

Enter the Topaz “Twilight Zone.” Topaz is relative newcomer to the world of High Dynamic Range (HDR) image making. It offers an easy, not to mention very effective, method for creating a HDR image.

Topaz Adjust allows you to create an HDR image using only one image (if the contrast range is not too wide), as opposed to most other HDR programs that combine several images over, under and at the correct exposure. I used Topaz Adjust to create the bottom HDR image.

Check out my mini-movie on HDR at the bottom of this post.

Want more HDR info on Photomatix and Topaz Adjust (and on plug-ins in general)? See the Plug-in Experience. Check out the how-to page for info – and discounts.

Love that HDR? I'd be interested to know which HDR plug-is/programs you use – and why.

Best,
Rick
P.S. If you live in the NY area, I will be giving my full HDR presentation at B&H on June 14 at 1 PM: presentation and demo. Link on my workshops page. Yes! I teach HDR on my workshop. Great fun.

Each week I will try to post:
• Monday’s Inspirational Message
• Two Tips For Tuesday
• Where in the World? Wednesday
• Photo Thought for Thursday
• Friday Fun Photo
• Saturday Photoshop Mini-Session
• Sunday Speedlite Secrets

Subscribe to my blog and join the fun.