My Portfolio Site Is Now Live !!!
It’s official !! With the launch of prgphotography.com, I am moving from hobbyist to professional (don’t worry mom, I’m not quitting my day job). I am now available for hire in the greater Los Angeles area and Orange County for portrait work, parties/events, and concerts (for my musician friends).
If you know anyone that is in need of a photographer, please send them my way!
Thank you all for your amazing support and encouragement!
If anyone has any tips that they would like to pass my way, I would love to hear them!!
Portrait Session With My Beautiful Wife
Saturday night I took another shot photographing Miranda with off camera lighting. I used the same set-up that I have used before when making these photographs (SB-600 diffused with a white shoot through umbrella) and I have to say, it went a lot smoother than it did the first time.
The time that I have invested playing with the flash has really paid off. Knowing the shutter speed and the aperture that I wanted to use made it very easy to make some test photographs to dial in the power on the flash. After that, only minor aperture and shutter speed tweaks were made.
Here are a few of my favorite photographs from the evening:
* All of these photographs were made with the D90 and the SB-600 in full manual mode. The flash was fired with Cactus Triggers.
DSLR Shopping? Skip The Nikon D5000 And Buy The D90
A colleague of mine recently came to me expressing his interest in moving into the world of digital photography by purchasing his first DSLR. As a lifelong Nikon point and shoot owner, he started digging into the current line of Nikon DSLR cameras. As a Nikon user myself, I was happy to help him out.
Quickly he narrowed his decision between the D5000 and the D90 originally leaning toward the D5000 from a price standpoint but after comparing the bodies side by side my recommendation to him was to get the D90.
Here are my four reasons that I would spend the extra $150-200 on the D90 over the D5000 and why you should too:
- The lack of a selector wheel on the front of the D5000.
This was a missing feature that drove me nuts when I first learned what I was doing on my D40x. It prompted me to step up to the D80 within only a few months after my original purchase.
- The D5000 does not have a top mounted display.
I know that with both camera bodies you have the option of viewing this data on the LCD monitor on the back of the camera but personally, I don’t like using the LCD to display the information.
- The D90 has a built in motor for non AF-S.
Autofocus lenses that are not AF-S will only work in manual focus mode with the D5000.
- The D5000 feels cheap.
Simply put, the D90 feels much more substantial and sturdy in your hand.
These reasons may not seem as important to a buyer as saving a few bucks but if you are anything like me (I replaced a D40x for a D80 after 5 months), you will long for these features once you get to know the camera and wish you would have purchased the D90 from the start.
Nikon SB-600 : Learn How To Use It
When I first posted about my attempts to learn how to use my Nikon SB-600 I sought out answers on Flickr and on the Strobist Blog. I got some great feedback and tips on how to use it but the bottom line is that these tips and settings do not work in every situation. I, like many others was looking for the simple answer on how to conquer the use of the flash in all situations.
As time has passed, the best tip that I was given was to simply use the thing. Try it out. See what works. Over the past few months (and lots of AA batteries) I have used the SB-600 in various settings with wonderful results. I have abandoned using the Automatic function on the flash and I only use it in Manual Mode. Here are the steps that I take when using my SB-600:
- Set your aperture to your desired setting to get the DOF that you are looking for in the photograph
- Set the power of your flash as a starting point. This will vary based on how far away you are from your subject
- Review the photograph and the histogram on the rear LCD screen of the camera
- Adjust the power up or down depending on what you see
- Keep photographing, checking the LCD, and re-adjusting the power of the flash
This may seem like common sense to some, but for those of us who have bought the SB-600 and have felt totally lost, it is the best place to start. You will find that the flash will be on your camera a lot more and that you will be more comfortable using it.
An Idea to Break From a Creative Drought
It is no lie that I have been slacking lately in taking new photographs. While I have been spending a decent amount of time making some refinements to this site as well as placing a lot of focus on my Etsy shop, I have been at a creative standstill and I am not to sure why. It seems as if I go through cycles where I am either photographing a ton, or not at all.
Seeing as how I am in that “none at all” part of the cycle, it is time for some action. It it is my goal to take my camera everywhere I can with me this weekend and to take at least 1000 photographs by sunday night. For some of you, this may be a very easy task to accomplish. For others, like myself, this could be an opportunity to spend some long overdue quality time with your camera.
So, if you are in the same boat as me, sign on and take this little challenge. Dust off your camera, blow the dust of your sensor, and clean your favorite lenses. Take as many photographs as you can by Sunday night. Tomorrow evening I will share the favorites that I took this weekend here in a new post. I invite you to comment with a link to where we can see your galleries online.
Ok, no more typing. Time to grab my gear and to get to work!
Applications To Help You Get More From Your iPhone Camera
How many times have you been without your camera and you passed on a photo opportunity because you do not like the way the camera in your iPhone captures photographs? For me, this used to happen a lot. I have recently been getting over this reluctance through the use of a few iPhone Applications
that I think are too good to pass up. Here are my 4 new favorites:
- 1. Mill Colour
This application is amazing because it delivers a considerable amount of control on how you edit your photographs. There are ten different ‘looks’ that you can choose from that include Golden and Noir as well as a fine level of control on four secondary settings (Lift, Gamma, Gain, and Saturation). Each of these four setting can be adjusted in all RGB channels simultaneously or on an individual R, G, or B basis through the use of a slider bar that seems to go on forever. The level of control is amazing and gives you a lot of power in getting you photographs to look exactly how you would like.
- 2. Flickr
Finally there is a native application for Flickr. With this application you get all the functionality of your Flickr homepage that you get on the web, but on your iPhone. What I think is particularly great about this application is that not only you can add your title, description, and tags to your photograph but you can also choose the set, image size, and the level of privacy you want for the photograph that is to be uploaded. Again, all the functionality you would have if you were working on your desktop or laptop.
- 3. Best Camera
This one has it all! Not only can you edit your new or existing photographs with a variety of effects and filters, you can also apply vignetting, crops, and a frame to the photograph that you are working on. The fun doesn’t stop there. Once you are done you can share your work on the community of other Best Camera as well as your Facebook and Twitter. I cannot wait to dive deeper into this one!
- 4. Polarize
This easily is my favorite because it is the most fun. Polarize converts your photographs to a representation of what they would look like had they been shot with a Polaroid Instant Camera. The application also gives you the option to “tag” the photograph with text on the bottom as if you had written on the photograph yourself with a Sharpie®. If you follow my Posterous, you will see that I have been using this one quite a bit over the past two weeks.
Having and using all of these applications may seem like overkill, but keep in mind they can all be used in combination with each other for a greater level of control on your inal product. For example, you can make some edits in Mill Colour, crop in Best Camera, and then Polarize before uploading the image to your various sites with either the Best Camera or Flickr applications. Don’t just take my word for it. Download them all and give them a try!
* At the time of this post, Best Camera was the only application that is not free. Even at $2.99, I think that it is a steal!
