This blog is designed for and about what I call the "Intentional Photographer". That is a person that has been taking pictures for several years and has advanced through the point and shoot years, to their first DSLR, to a stage where they may be professionals and getting paid for their work. Or, they may be photographers that are right on the edge of going professional.
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Worldwide Photowalk in Arizona
I participated in the Scott Kelby Worldwide Photowalk in Litchfield Park, Arizona last Saturday. A photo walk is an organized event held each year where each participant takes their camera and meets at a designated place to link up with other photographers and to venture into the area and take pictures for a couple of hours. After taking the pictures we meet at a neighborhood cafe and compare, share, discuss and tell tall tales of photography. There is a limit of 50 photographers at each location. There is no experience requirement so each walk ends up with a mix of beginners, amateurs and professionals. It's a great time to meet, network and learn more about the craft of photography.
The Litchfield Park walk was one of four planned walks in the Phoenix area and was led by Richard Gross, a local photography instructor, in his second stint as walk leader. We had a full contingent of 50 people signed up with a few on a waiting list. Several area photo clubs were represented with members. There was a mix of Canon, Nikon and Olympus shooters represented along with a few point and shoots. The best part of a photowalk is that you get to meet fellow photographers, make new friends, and have fun.
Richard set us up for a walk in the historic part of Litchfield Park that made a comfortable Saturday morning in Arizona-well if your blood is thin enough to tolerate 100+ degree temperatures. The area south of the renowned Wigwam resort is full of shade trees and grassy lawns and parks. Several old buildings are within easy walking distance that display ‘mission style’ architecture and the early morning light should be flattering to these subjects. There is also an urban lake with fountains and plenty of ducks, birds and turtles for those interested in such things. If you are interested in greenery and ‘vintage’ Spanish style architecture you should find much to photograph.
Over 33,000 walkers worldwide were competing for a small set of prizes. Most of us in Arizona were there for the fun of it. What are the other benefits of going on a photo walk? If it’s an area that you’re already familiar with, being there with a group of creative people can help you see things in ways you hadn’t noticed before. Or if it’s an area you’re unfamiliar with, you can get to know the area with other people who may have lived there all their lives!
We met at the Old Pueblo Cafe in old town Litchfield Park at the end of the walk and the owners not only opened up early for us, but had cold drinks ready for us when we came in out of the heat. Then they assembled a breakfast buffet for us that was enjoyed by all. I got to meet several experienced photographers and got to look at some very cool equipment that they were carrying. I also had the opportunity to help a couple of the newer shooters and helped them set up their camera settings for some fairly complex lighted shots.
This is my version of one of the shots at a small urban lake with a small dock. The sun was coming in from the background behind the fountain, placing the flowers in shadow. I had brought some of my off-camera flash, so was able to use fill-flash to bring the flowers out of the shadows. The new shooter had a pop-up flash on her camera and was able to do just about the same thing.
One of my more unique shots was a tree with a bunch of Cormorants resting in the branches (well that's what someone told me they were). It was quite a site with up to 9 of the large aquatic birds on the branches looking like they were trying to cool off.
I will include several of photos of the birds, not because they are such great images, but because someone might have more information about what species they are.
For all you that joined a walk this year Scott Kelby is hosting an exclusive Lightroom® 3 training Webcast for all 30,700+ registered photo walk participants on Wednesday, July 28 at 10:00am EDT USA! Scott will also be joined by Matt Kloskowski, Dave Cross, and RC Concepcion, commonly known as the Photoshop guys. During his exclusive Webcast, Scott will take viewers through his Lightroom 3 workflow using the photos he took during his Photo Walk. This live Webcast is only available to registered Photo Walk participants.
And secondly, Adobe is extending a 15% discount to Photo Walk participants! Registered participants will receive a unique code via the email address you provided at registration from us to be used for 15% off the purchase of Lightroom 3 the week of July 26th. I have included a link to the Amazon version of Kelby's new Lightroom 3 book that I just received.
Let me know what kind of bird this is in the comments and let me know if there is any interest in having a photo walk in Surprise next year. I think the Phoenix area can support more than 4 walk locations and I suspect that we have more than 50 photographers in the Surprise area that would be willing to walk.
Note: Thanks to Anonymous I now know that:
It appears my fellow photographers were right as usual. I learned something new. I don't know how rare it is to see the Neotropic Cormorant in Central Arizona, but I can tell that there are a bunch (at least 9) on an urban lake in Litchfield Park Arizona.
The Litchfield Park walk was one of four planned walks in the Phoenix area and was led by Richard Gross, a local photography instructor, in his second stint as walk leader. We had a full contingent of 50 people signed up with a few on a waiting list. Several area photo clubs were represented with members. There was a mix of Canon, Nikon and Olympus shooters represented along with a few point and shoots. The best part of a photowalk is that you get to meet fellow photographers, make new friends, and have fun.
Over 33,000 walkers worldwide were competing for a small set of prizes. Most of us in Arizona were there for the fun of it. What are the other benefits of going on a photo walk? If it’s an area that you’re already familiar with, being there with a group of creative people can help you see things in ways you hadn’t noticed before. Or if it’s an area you’re unfamiliar with, you can get to know the area with other people who may have lived there all their lives!
We met at the Old Pueblo Cafe in old town Litchfield Park at the end of the walk and the owners not only opened up early for us, but had cold drinks ready for us when we came in out of the heat. Then they assembled a breakfast buffet for us that was enjoyed by all. I got to meet several experienced photographers and got to look at some very cool equipment that they were carrying. I also had the opportunity to help a couple of the newer shooters and helped them set up their camera settings for some fairly complex lighted shots.
This is my version of one of the shots at a small urban lake with a small dock. The sun was coming in from the background behind the fountain, placing the flowers in shadow. I had brought some of my off-camera flash, so was able to use fill-flash to bring the flowers out of the shadows. The new shooter had a pop-up flash on her camera and was able to do just about the same thing. 
One of my more unique shots was a tree with a bunch of Cormorants resting in the branches (well that's what someone told me they were). It was quite a site with up to 9 of the large aquatic birds on the branches looking like they were trying to cool off.I will include several of photos of the birds, not because they are such great images, but because someone might have more information about what species they are.
For all you that joined a walk this year Scott Kelby is hosting an exclusive Lightroom® 3 training Webcast for all 30,700+ registered photo walk participants on Wednesday, July 28 at 10:00am EDT USA! Scott will also be joined by Matt Kloskowski, Dave Cross, and RC Concepcion, commonly known as the Photoshop guys. During his exclusive Webcast, Scott will take viewers through his Lightroom 3 workflow using the photos he took during his Photo Walk. This live Webcast is only available to registered Photo Walk participants.
And secondly, Adobe is extending a 15% discount to Photo Walk participants! Registered participants will receive a unique code via the email address you provided at registration from us to be used for 15% off the purchase of Lightroom 3 the week of July 26th. I have included a link to the Amazon version of Kelby's new Lightroom 3 book that I just received.
Let me know what kind of bird this is in the comments and let me know if there is any interest in having a photo walk in Surprise next year. I think the Phoenix area can support more than 4 walk locations and I suspect that we have more than 50 photographers in the Surprise area that would be willing to walk.
Note: Thanks to Anonymous I now know that:
This beautiful bird is a Neotropic Cormorant (Olivaceous Cormorant). Mainly found in the American tropics, the Gulf and California coasts, as well as Mexico, Central and South America. It dives for fish and has been known to go up to 25 feet deep. This bird has been seen at the Gilbert Riparian Reserve but is not a usual visitor to Phoenix. The photo was a good catch.
This particular bird is probably the subspecies P.b. mexicanus, which is usually found north of Nicaragua. This quote is reprinted in the text of the post from a comment on this post.
It appears my fellow photographers were right as usual. I learned something new. I don't know how rare it is to see the Neotropic Cormorant in Central Arizona, but I can tell that there are a bunch (at least 9) on an urban lake in Litchfield Park Arizona.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Are you "Gelling" yet
With apologizes to the shoe insert people I'm talking about using colored gels on your flash. I have been experimenting with flash lately (as you have been reading) and I picked up some very inexpensive colored gels from Amazon.
Colored gels (from gelatin strips in the old theatrical days) are used to correct light on a scene or to create a special mood for a scene. Let's talk a little about light. Florescent light is not pure white light. It is a sickly green version of light. If you are not placing a green gel on your flash to match it, objects lit by your flash will be white and the ambient-lit portion of your frame will be green under a florescent light. You can't easily fix that with Photoshop. For a reference on colored gels see Wikipedia.
How do you fix it. You place a "Window Green" florescent gel over the flash head. You set your digital camera for shooting in florescent light. You get consistent,almost color-correct photos, with both the flash and ambient light coming out close to the correct color. I say close because all florescent lights are not the same color temperature. You will get color shift depending on the age of fixture and even from the electrical signal feeding it.
Colored gels (from gelatin strips in the old theatrical days) are used to correct light on a scene or to create a special mood for a scene. Let's talk a little about light. Florescent light is not pure white light. It is a sickly green version of light. If you are not placing a green gel on your flash to match it, objects lit by your flash will be white and the ambient-lit portion of your frame will be green under a florescent light. You can't easily fix that with Photoshop. For a reference on colored gels see Wikipedia.
How do you fix it. You place a "Window Green" florescent gel over the flash head. You set your digital camera for shooting in florescent light. You get consistent,almost color-correct photos, with both the flash and ambient light coming out close to the correct color. I say close because all florescent lights are not the same color temperature. You will get color shift depending on the age of fixture and even from the electrical signal feeding it.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
4th of July - Fill Flash on a Sunny Afternoon
What a grand 4th of July it was here in Arizona. Our community had a traditional parade around our central parks yesterday. Many of the residents decorated their golf carts (it's an Arizona thing) and the kids decorated their bikes for the quarter mile long parade.
I was asked to provide some photography for the event and I gladly did so. The parade was to take place at 6 PM. While late in the afternoon the sun was still beating down on the spectators and parade entries as they traveled down the tree lined streets. The challenge photographically was to even out the shadows so that we could see under the brims of the hats and the canopies of the golf carts. Did I say the sun was very bright.
I have been working on my on and off-camera flash techniques so I decided to use Canon's E-TTL automatic flash as used in the Canon 430 EX flash. Because I was using E-TTL the camera and flash communicated with each other and could decide the proper amount of flash to use in each situation. I had not utilized E-TTL until recently and can testify that it works great for fill flash.
One of my first shots was of a local resident/celebrity that dresses up in his patriotic red, white and blue several times a year.
This image was shot at 1/200th of a second at f/2.8. His top hat was casting a shadow across his face while the rest of his outfit was lit brightly from the 105 degree sun. The 430 EX fired from an on-camera position placing just the right amount of light on the face.
A fill-flash picture is one in which the ambient light in the background – sunlight outdoors or room lighting in an indoor shot is properly exposed and appears normally visible in the picture. In this image, flash has been used, and subjects in the foreground of the picture are illuminated by this extra burst of flash. With a properly exposed background, and also a flash-illuminated subject that’s got proper flash exposure, the two light sources (flash and ambient light from the sun in the scene) are balanced, and neither will appear overly dark or light. This usually gives us a very natural-looking picture. It can also brighten otherwise subdued faces, lighten shadows from harsh sunlight or those hidden under the brim of a hat.
I was asked to provide some photography for the event and I gladly did so. The parade was to take place at 6 PM. While late in the afternoon the sun was still beating down on the spectators and parade entries as they traveled down the tree lined streets. The challenge photographically was to even out the shadows so that we could see under the brims of the hats and the canopies of the golf carts. Did I say the sun was very bright.
I have been working on my on and off-camera flash techniques so I decided to use Canon's E-TTL automatic flash as used in the Canon 430 EX flash. Because I was using E-TTL the camera and flash communicated with each other and could decide the proper amount of flash to use in each situation. I had not utilized E-TTL until recently and can testify that it works great for fill flash.
This image was shot at 1/200th of a second at f/2.8. His top hat was casting a shadow across his face while the rest of his outfit was lit brightly from the 105 degree sun. The 430 EX fired from an on-camera position placing just the right amount of light on the face.
A fill-flash picture is one in which the ambient light in the background – sunlight outdoors or room lighting in an indoor shot is properly exposed and appears normally visible in the picture. In this image, flash has been used, and subjects in the foreground of the picture are illuminated by this extra burst of flash. With a properly exposed background, and also a flash-illuminated subject that’s got proper flash exposure, the two light sources (flash and ambient light from the sun in the scene) are balanced, and neither will appear overly dark or light. This usually gives us a very natural-looking picture. It can also brighten otherwise subdued faces, lighten shadows from harsh sunlight or those hidden under the brim of a hat.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Buying Photo Equipment on Ebay
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Any purchase on Ebay for camera or computer equipment has considerable risk. While Ebay has programs that protect the buyer from not receiving your winning product, you will still not know the exact condition of the product when you receive it. With risk there comes reward. I gauge my success in bidding against the used product price on Amazon. If I can get a product on Ebay that is less that the cost of the same product on Amazon for a used or new item them I know I have had some success.
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