No, not with a gun. I must’ve shot over 500 failed frames trying to take decent photo of my cat, Sweet Pea (yea, Sweet Pea….wanna make something of it?). Why is this so hard? Well, she’s a black cat for one. Black does not reflect light very well, as all you photographers know all too well. Plus, try to get a cat to sit still long enough to compose a decent shot. Go ahead…..I’ll wait. Yea, see? Well, I FINALLY DID IT!!!!!
Archive for the ‘Photography’ Category
Off-Camera Flash
Lately I’ve been practicing lighting technique, using one to three speedlights. I’m gonna attempt to give y’all the skinny on beginning flash photography, and especially why it’s almost never a good idea to slam your subject with a direct flash that is on the same axis as the lens; i.e. straight in their face. I’ll take you through a few setups, and hopefully clear up some confusion along the way. (more…)
Creativity
Do you feel that you aren’t creative? Do you get intimidated by those who you feel are more “creative” than you? I think we all feel that way at times. I know that for myself, months can go by when I feel absolutely bone-dry of any creative energy. Sometimes I feel the pressure of expectations, both from myself and others. Boy I hate when I do that! Well, I have the answer…because I know where creativity comes from and I know how to get it. This will be a short post because the answer is really simple. In fact, as adults we are almost completely unaware of how simple it is. (more…)
D.I.Y. Dome Diffuser
Off-camera flashes are a great way to enhance your photos. There are any number of great flash accessories from from companies like Honl Photo, LumQuest, and Gary Fong (links at the end of this article). The products they offer are very cool and allow you to take you flash technique to “the next level”, to use a cliche’d phrase. Unfortunately, you can spend a small fortune on various light-shaping tools to create the shot you’re going for. Here is my humble offering in the form of instructions to make your own dome diffuser. (more…)
Full Frame Lens on Cropped Sensor
Full-Frame vs Cropped Frame – What’s the Deal?
I often get asked which lens I recommend……as if there exists a lens that can do it all, for everyone, in all shooting conditions. The fact is, you have to decide what kind of shooting you intend to do, and then figure out which lens can help you, and of course, how much it will cost. In the end, I always recommend either the Canon 50mm prime f/1.8 or the Nikon 50mm f/1.8. They are both full-frame lenses, which simply means the image circle they produce will accommodate a 35mm film frame size, which full-frame DSLR sensors are. Only the higher-end cameras have a full-frame sensor, and virtually no one who asks me about a lens has a FF camera. So why do I still recommend them?
