Ben Cochran
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Aaron, it is difficult to just give one answer. The 18-200 can work but it is a slower lens and the frustration level can be high, for sports photography. A 2.8 or faster lens is a perfect application for fast action but, as Chad mentioned, you do sacrifice some DOF. A shallower DOF can add some great drama and feel of action to the shots though. Even in extremely low light conditions, the 2.8 will have a higher amount of lower scored seconds than approved. For midday and lightly cloudy days, the 18-200 could serve very well and even into the beginning session of sunset.
For someone new to photography, I would have to suggest a fast lens with an extremely fast AF. The other option is a lot of practice in focusing on the point where the action should take place and setting the focus for the players that are about to come in frame, this allows for crisper images with a better DOF but don’t get caught up into freezing everything as it kills the feeling of action through motion.
I shot this with an 80-400 1/80 f5.3 @ 300mm and used the last principal of anticipating the proper point of shutter release. Nice thing about horses is that there heads run level in full gallops :). For shooting multiple unscripted players, I would of wanted to use a much faster lens, like the 70-200VR. I also have the 70-200 VR and LOVE that lens!!
Phil, have you given any thought to becoming a photog agent for the fly fishing sector? you have all of the contacts, you know how to grade the submissions, you know how the final will appear in publication and you also have contacts on the commercial advertising end. 25% agent fee is the norm and you could actually corner the market for the fly fishing sector. As well, you already have a good data base of qualified photog’s as well.
Sure seems that the publishers would see this as a major plus for them as well, one stop shopping, sort to speak…
Zach, I wish that I could remember the photographers name that took that shot. I have seen the original and he actually shot that in a parlor area, if memory serves me correctly; 2 umbrellas on the side and one softbox overhead. The background has been removed and the new one is PSed in. The photographer actually asked Bill to show some love and snapped this great shot after saying it lol. The hue, along with the background, were all done in post. Hope that helps some.
Also, I remember seeing a B&W transition, that he did, and actually like the B&W even better. Just noticed another thing too: Even the stool is PSed in, Bill was actually sitting in a chair, during the 15 minute session.
Absolutely they are good lenses Phil ! it all depends on how they are used and the application in which they are to be used. One of the best, for the money, lenses by Nikon is the 18-55 kit lens. It is tact sharp, but as the critiques put it, feels cheap as it is made of plastics. I am not one that places the merit on the cost of equipment as much as I merit the performance on my own and ignore such critiques.
As John stated, you may want a wider lens but I am not sure exactly what you plan on shooting. Some of the old manual lenses are GREAT, due to the fact that you are seasoned on the older film cameras, I would suggest some of the older wide angle used lenses. Make your equipment advances self funded and truth of the matter, the only reason why a knowledgeable photographer upgrades their equipment is simply for efficiency, still they can do just as well in full manual though.
For an artistic approach, purchase some of the older lenses that had certain flaws in them, such as soft on the edges and vignetting, they can deliver some amazing artsy photographs.
Don’t get to caught up into the overly tact sharp approach as ,IMHO, the best photographs are not the overly sharp ones; the essence of the mood is in the softness and blurs…
As you already know, for an extreme shallow DOF, as in Johns photo, you will need a supper fast lens. The 50mm 1.4 is amazing and very inexpensive.
For example, the other day he asked could he take a picture with our new G10 – I handed it too him, he took a shot of me and then chucked it over his shoulder onto the patio bricks.
Very cute David…
Sounds like the little man is trying to tell his dad that he is more of a Nikon guy… ;D
Never a problem with me David, I enjoy reading your posts too much for it to be [ch9786].
Matt, some good suggestions have already been made, especially adding a warming gel so that you can better white balance with the ambient lighting. A couple of additional suggestions; I see that you have some posters suspended from the ceiling, you can temporarily hang a white foam board and then angle it down, to keep the bounced light at floor level, and bounce off of that. Another thing that I noticed are the beams, perhaps you can place a foam board on that and use one of the beams to support your bounce board. If you have any stands that go high enough, tape a bounce board on that or, as dumb as it may sound and/or feel, tape a small bounce card onto a hat. In all cases, make sure that the angle is good and that warming gel would still make life a lot easier. If your camera has wireless capability, try placing the strobe in a more favorable area and then use the Stoffen , it may end up in some of your shots though.
Hope this helps some.
Yes, I agree Juan, great tut and very good photographs. it is so much easier to study a tut when the images are crisp and show good detail, VERY well done!! Nice plus to illustrate that the camera is secondary to how the photographer uses their equipment. I hope this also encourages others to learn there P&S cameras so that they too can see that no one has to purchase expensive DSLR’s, just to get the same quality shots that you did.
Well, sadly my Durango passed away. Family member rolled it and I found it laying on its side, tires sticking straight out like a dead Dingo. Didn’t know if I should rub its belly or shoot it and put it out of its misery… Nonetheless, family member is ok and that Durango is now in SUV heaven, chasing little VW’s… :-/
I’ll keep mine simple: I highly recommend Scott Kelbys book “CS2 for Digital Photographers”. This will give you a very solid foundation and that is one of the most important tools that you will need. There are many different ways to skin this critter but if you have the foundation, the other methods make more sense.
Chad brings up one of the most important tools and safe harbors that PS offers, use the layers and masking layers. The book will teach you how to use all of these things and is VERY easy to follow and learn. Scott is also the president of the “National Association of Photoshop Professionals” with members in over 60 countries, he knows his PS stuff :).
I hate that for you Will! It does happen though but as long as your published shot was printed good, you will gain additional remuneration by being able to add that tear sheet to your book. Make it up with future work :).
Yes Chad, sorry to hear about the little bump in the road. I firmly believe in fate and divine intervention, perhaps the road that you are suppose to travel will present itself now. I certainly do hope the best for you. 🙂
Thanks Zach, it certainly was not my intention to make people feel that they will never be able to get published. Guess my overall message was one of stating that it is a business and as photographers, we are also sell’s people. Best to get the work, if that is what the goal is. That was the message that I was trying to convey and I certainly was not trying to say that anyone else’s approach was wrong. Just sharing some of my own experiences and acquired knowledge for anyone that it may help…
LOL On the Coffee David Anderson ;D The GA’s are easy to get off of the set but the AD’s do get their extra respect. For the ones that want to get to involved during the shoot, make sure they get LOTS of extra coffee: It brings an even better end-of-day chuckle, on remote shoots. 😀 ;D
By the way David, did a concert shoot at the National Theater a week ago… I sure do have a lot more respect for you now mate. 🙂 My left arm for a flag or at least one solid … 😛
An editor’s point of view:
We ask for RAW because we don’t trust photographers to understand our art-direction and printing processes. It’s better for the art director to have too much information (RAW) than too little (JPEG).
PhilTo expand on this comment, from Phil, from an assignment photographer’s perspective: When I first started shooting digital assignments for publishers, they wanted the RAW files for the exact reason that Phil stated. On many of the shoots, the publisher will also send some of their reps to be on set, most often an AD or GA would be on set, even on remote location assignments. I spent a lot of time talking with the AD’s and had one publisher that set up a workstation for me in their Art department, as we had a very extensive and long shoot. What I learned from the AD’s and GA’s are as follows.
A new photographer that cannot follow direction will be an old photographer that they do not use anymore. A photographer that gives us larger unedited files is one that we may work with again, depends on quality and ability to get the shots. We are educated pro’s that studied art and the software that we use extensively! It is considered an insult when a new unknown photographer thinks that they can do our job better. Photographers do not, generally, understand proper workflows and have no idea of what CMYK profiles really are or how the printing process is so much different when we print in CMYK. We hate having to correct edited files, as many are such a mess due to the fact that the photographers do not understand the huge difference from a RGB gray scale and one in CMYK.
Like all things in life, if the photographer is willing to earn our trust we will give it. We have to have the RAW files, in the beginning, as we don’t have time to waste on cleaning the messes that they create. If they also send TIFF’s with the RAW’s and jpeg’s, we will look at some of their TIFF’s. If the TIFF”S are still in layers and done correctly, or require little correction in a particular layer, we will thank them for making our work easier and look at more of that particular photographers TIFF’s first. Caveat to this is: THE TIFF LAYERS MUST BE NAMMED CORRECTLY!!! The photographer that can post edit correctly for CMYK and provides industry protocol TIFF layers that are ready for CMYK; they are the ones that we will want to use first and most often as they make our work easier. On the same note, if they are delivered with arrogance and need a lot of work— we don’t have the time and will move on to another photographer. If the photographer is concerned about their copyright’s then they should learn how to enter it into the metadata, if they don’t know how to do that, we certainly don’t want them messing with what we consider our work.
Also, as Phil mentioned; it is easier to stretch a 16bit (Raw equivalent or DMG)TIFF or PSD than it is an 8bit jpeg with a bicubic softener. One can take the equivalent RAW file and stretch it out 700-800% before any major distortion may be noted, a jpeg will not touch that.
Bottom line here is this: Getting to hand in TIFF’s and having them excepted is a sign of respect from the AD and GA’s. It is one that MUST be earned and once a photographer has a book of published shots and a good reputation with other publishers, then they can submit TIFF”S and some even JPEG’s. As Phil stated, rename the files and folders properly as the bottom line is this: The easier a photographer makes their work, the more that they will want to use that photographer. As David Anderson put it best; it is better to get the work.
I can’t really speak for smaller publishers as they do vary from one to the next but again, I would follow their direction while giving them choice. If their publications generally print badly, move onto another publisher as the photographers reputation is vital in this industry.
Very Nice Cameron!!! You did a very good job photographing these flies and they are some great looking ties as well!
I agree with everything mentioned but thought that I would add this for you. First off, I am not a big fan of light tents but yours did return better shots than what most do. In your very last shot, of the Heddon fly, you may notice that you had a lot of fall off on the fly and the WB is off. If we were to analyze the light in your tent, the trend seems to be better light at the elevation of the jaws on the fly with much better WB. So a better solution may be to build a platform that is at the same level as the jaws and then try reshooting the Heddon fly on a sheet of white paper. If you get on the inside of the fall off range of your light sources, you will have better lighting effect and better control over the WB.
Can’t stress or agree enough with what David Anderson said about preplanning a shot! Mapping it out first does open up all kinds of opportunity!
Very nice shot Al, I like it a lot!!
Dusty, part of using light is learning how to control it. As David Anderson stated, keep it simple or at least try to keep it so that it appears simple. Part of controlling light incorporates the process of redirecting it, shaping it and controlling the intensity of it.
A lot of the so called secrets are solutions that are so simple they are sick. Not really a secret as much as it is just a simple tool for redirecting light. I thought that I would toss the solution your way: Due to the fact that you do not get direct sunlight through the door, use a large mirror and place it in an unencumbered spot outside of the door. You can now redirect the sunlight through the door and aim it at your bounce boards. I like Davids suggestion of tracing paper diffusion and you can even overlap them to give a nice window grid pattern, just make sure that the lines compliment the subject and do not distract from it. Adjust your bounce cards for better lines between the darks and hot spots while paying very close attention to how you position the shading on the face and body.
I almost forgot, I wanted to add this for you to help simplify the study process:
Kelvin is measured in the heat temperature as the temperature gives off a frequency of color. The lower the number, the warmer the color (yellow’s and red’s). The higher the Kelvin number, the colder the color (blue’s). The midday sunlight is considered the base line and it can be measured at around 5500 K and 6000 K. Granted the suns surface is considered 6500 K but by the time it is diffused through the ozone, it generally hits the earth midday at 5500 K. (Caveat: I say warmer for the yellows and reds and colder for the higher kelvin of blue, due to the fact that we associate yellows as warm and blues as cold: the opposite is more true when we talk about actual temperature. Don’t let this confuse you though. )
One additional add and a very important one: The azimuth or relationship to the sun and location on earth will also have an affect on the midday Kelvin. One cannot travel long distances and expect the same kelvin in different hemispheres. The midday Kelvin in Morocco is not the same as it is in Siberia and will not be the same in the southern Gobi. The same will be noticed south of the equator. Topography, season and environmental elements will also effect both Kelvin and hue, through bounce, refraction and reflection. Humidity levels will also have an effect when it comes to adjusting for WB.
As an additional study tool; physics and geometry is invaluable when it comes to using strobes and creative lighting technique. This is the reason why I cannot point you to any one book.
Hope this encourages you as photography really has a lot more to teach than just pointing a camera and saying, smile :). The real joy is when acquired knowledge all comes together, in a shoot, and you nail it!!
