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Recently I visited the Wildlife Rescue Center Of The Hamptons Inc. The rescue center is a great non-profit organization that is helping various wild animals and birds in Eastern Long Island.

They have both “show and tell” sessions for general public (up to 20 people) and photographers. They also have a dedicated photographers (4-5 photographers only) session that sounds like a great option. They will use natural perches and allow you up to 2 hours of photography with their owls.

I wish I had brought my 70-200mm or more extension tubes. From the front row, the 300mm was a bit too long (or rather my minimum focusing distance was too large).

Recently I did a photography job at the Stony Brook Staller center.  It was my first time doing a concert — along with the limitations and restrictions that you get along with doing a live event.   With not being able to move around too much I decided to do some creative shots.  Here is the end result:

This is a combination of two separate images, one done with a relatively slow shutter speed and one done normally.

Image #1: Canon EOS 50D, 100mm f/2.8 Macro – 0.5 second @ f/32, ISO 3200, + 1/3 EV

Image #1 - Master Layer

Image #2: EOS 50D, 100mm f/2.8 Macro – 1/400th second @ f/2.8, ISO 3200, + 1/3 EV

Now, to combine the two images, we’ll take them both into photoshop. There are a million ways of doing this, but this is how I usually do it:

1. The “master” is the image that more than 50% of we’ll keep. In this case, image #1 since we’ll keep everything but the violinist.
2. Duplicate the background layer, so that we have a duplicate copy of the background in the master. This is more of a precaution so that we always have an original layer that we can go back to.
3. Click on Image #2, double click on the “Background” layer so that it turns into a regular layer. Drag the layer across to on top of Image #1.
4. I renamed the new layer “Violinist”, and attach a mask to that layer.
5. I tried to use the “Auto-Align” feature of Photoshop at this point, but it didn’t work (and I really had no hope that it worked, just wanted to see if it could).
6. So I used the eraser tool and erased as much as I could on the layer. I really should have done this with a second mask but there was absolutely no information that I wanted to keep.
7. Now that I could see the layer underneath, I reduced the opacity of the layer to 30% and moved it so it roughly matched the original layer. The parquet floor pattern was very helpful in this case. (Zoom in as much as you can, it makes life easier).
8. Increase the opacity back to 100% on the “Violinist”. Now use the mask that we attached earlier with a very soft brush and erase the outline.
9. I also added a Levels adjustment to the “Violinist” layer (clipped it in fact) so that I could lighten up the floor a bit to match the “master”. This way I didn’t have to hide all of the floor.
10. Final result is posted above.

    

    Image #2 – Violinist

I’ve now lived on Long Island for 24 years.  When in High School, my friends and I used to go driving around just to get lost — yes, we had nothing better to do and because we had just gotten our license.   I thought I knew Suffolk Country, most of it anyway.  As I have gotten older I still seem to find new places that I have never been before.

Blydenburgh County Park is one of those places.  I knew of only one side of the Park, although admittedly I had never gone inside even that one entrance.  An entire section with an the old Blydenburgh home and walking area had been not known to me.  Well I have now visited the park twice in the winter, and I can’t wait for fall to come.  It will be an amazing scene with the colors and shapes, a large lake to get reflections, a high perch to be able to get the nice reflection, and I’m sure even more little treasures to find.

I’ve been seeing a lot more Continuous light modules and from what I hear they were all over PDN this year.

I can honestly say that I never thought they would catch on, but I can also see why they would.  Just like not having to worry about learning a Darkroom helped more people use Digital, I can see how someone may not want to learn lighting to use external lights.

You shoot what you see, you don’t have to worry about ratios blindly.  It’s Shoot what you see photography, which is good for some occasions but not all.

What is Continuous Light good for?

• One or two person Studio Sessions
• Product Shots
• Short duration photography as they generate a lot more heat
• Where power is not a concern
• Distance is not great.
• You don’t have to try to over power local illumination or the sun.
• Different LEDs can be used to provide different color lights without the use of gels

What Continuous will not work for

• Mobile situations — such as speedlights
• Where you have limited power.  Even power packs only have so much voltage.
• Large group of people
• Strobes are easier to Gel most of the time.
• Strobes generate less heat
• Small flashes with AA batteries can be mounted/moved just about anywhere.
• A small external battery can give you several hours of shooting capability with a speedlight.

These are just what popped in my head.  I’m sure I missed some in both camps.

Let’s start with what color management is not. Color Management is not proper color, adjusted color, or anything to do with how an image looks in reality.

Color management refers to the transfer of a specific color from one device, to another. What does this mean? Let’s take an example of a head shot. Color management gives you the best shot at making sure that the color of the eye in the portrait in camera, on the monitor, printed, or displayed on a projected are all the same hue and luminosity (it’s the same color). That’s it. Now the question becomes why wouldn’t it the same? The answer is that there is very little chance (almost none) that two devices will produce the same color even close to each other.

I’ll try to make further posts on this subject and what you can do to make sure that you’re images are handled exactly as you want them to.

Which camera?

Right up there with “Why are we here?” and “Who am I?” are “What computer should I buy?” and “What camera should I get?”

There is no right answer, but the typical answer is: “The one that is right for what you want to use it for that fits in your budget.”  Here are some pointers to help you make that decision.

The initial question is Point and Shoot (P&S) or Single Reflective Lens (SLR).  Both camera types can give you fantastic images, and both are capable of producing absolutely trash worthy images.  The SLR camera just gives you more rope to hang yourself with.   So the range of the good and bad is even greater.  The first question you have to ask yourself is: “If I buy a SLR, will I use the Manual mode?”  If the answer is “Yes”, than an SLR is probably the right choice.   If the answer is “No, I rather use the automatic or pre-programmed modes” — than the P&S is the right camera for you.  An SLR on automatic mode is really just a fancy, expensive P&S – for the most part.  The second question is, “If I buy an SLR, will I spend more money on different lenses?  If the answer is: “Yes, I want better and different type lenses,” than SLR is probably a good choice.  Otherwise, P&S have gotten very good with the variety of lenses and modes that can go from 17mm to 300mm — both Landscape and Macro modes.

What SLR should I buy?

Ok so assuming you have made the choice to buy an SLR, which camera is the right one for what you want to do?  The first question is which manufacturer.   Canon, Nikon, Pantex and SONY are all good manufacturers.  Nobody can say that SONY does not make a good camera.  They’re all good and have a great line up.  The tricky part about the SLR world is lenses and accessories.  Canon and Nikon easily become the front runners because of their lens and accessory line of equipment.  They both have 20-50 lenses available for any specific type of photography you want to do.   For me the choice was an easy one.  The Canon lenses, in my opinion, are superior to the Nikon ones so far.  Nikon has taken the lead in the “body” category, but as anyone in photography will tell you, it’s all about the “glass”.  If you already have an investment with a company, go with that one, it’s far too costly to switch and the lead will switch back and forth.  DO NOT get caught up in the media wars.  If you have friends with good lenses go with whatever manufacturer they use, so you can “borrow” or “trade” lenses.

For me the choice was rather easy, my father was a Canon user, I had a Canon myself and the canon lenses have always impressed me.  Here are my recommendations of bodies + primary lenses for Canon.  These are not restrictive, almost any body and any lens can do anything, and these are my personal recommendations on what I would do if I were in that situation.  These are the minimums that I would start with.  A second body never hurts.

Recommendations

Well once again this little gem has come up, so I thought I would write do a short blog on it.

Should you have a UV(0) filter on your lens?

The two sites are:

1. Any extra piece of glass is going to reduce/manipulate/change the quality of the image.
2. The protection offers by the filter out ways any image quality images.

Here are my thoughts on the subject:

Both statements are true.  You just paid $500-$1200 for a nice lens on your SLR to get the absolutely best image you can.  Why introduce something that is going to take away from your image quality?  But also, you just paid $500-$1200 for a nice lens, do you really want to scratch the front element when a small piece of debris get blown into it?  Or while you’re cleaning it, you scratch it?

So what’s the answer?  The answer is to use a filter, but use the best filter possible to reduce the amount of disruption to an absolute minimum.  Multi-coated filters, good name brand filters are the best option.

I personally use Sunpack filters as they are actually made by the same manufacturers as other “name brand” filters but cost half.    When I get a new lens, after testing it and within the first 12 hours I have a sunpack UV(0) filter on there and it doesn’t come off until spring cleaning.   I do my very best not to have to remove the filter.   I have heard of “What about sunflares?”  USE your hood, that’s what it is for. Also, you can use a GND filter on top of the UV filter.  Most non-ultra-wide filtes (< 14mm) will not notice the extra lens.  You should check this on your lens before trying it though.   My Canon EF 24-105mm L f/4 is my main walk around lens and it has had UV(0), and 2 GND (-3 stop) filters on it without it doing any vignetting — so it depends on the lens.

Final word…. I rather break and chuck s $60 filter than have to send in my lens to Canon for a $400 repair anyday of the week.

Well looks like we have the specs for the Canon 1D Mark IV to wet our appetites for a while.   Surprisingly the unit will be released around December in time for the superbowl most likely — starting street price body-only — $4,999.00!

Here are the specs:

• 10 FPS
• 16.1 MP APS-H CMOS censor
• ISO Range Native: 100 up to 12,800 in 1/3 or 1/2 stop increments, with ISO Expansion: 50 and 25,600, 51,200, and 102,400. [Editor: Native is really the only one that should be looked at]
• Dual DIGIC 4 Processors [Editor: 16x more processing power than the DIGIC 3 system]
• M-RAW and S-RAW [Editer: Medium and small sized RAW files]
• Better Noise control
• Enhanced Custom Functions [Editor: Ok, now they're just reaching for more points, really? how enhanced are they? ]
• [Editor: Something about 1080p and 720p video as well .... ]

What I’m really impresssed with so far are:

1. The new AF tracking system, here is a quote from the Canon website: “As an example, with an EF300mm f/2.8L IS USM lens, the EOS-1D Mark IV can track a subject approaching at 50 kph/31 mph up to about 8 meters/26.2 feet away. This is the same specification as the EOS-1D Mark III. However, with the 39 cross-type AF points, the Mark IV’s subject detection and tracking performance have improved substantially over the EOS-1D Mark III’s. This combination of hardware and software (AI Servo II AF algorithm) improvements enables a more stable AI Servo AF control.”   Which translates to locking and tracking a subject without having to keep the AF point on the subject.   The system will actually track the subject and select the proper AF point as it needs to.
2. Noise Control!  How molly it looks nice at ISO 2000.

Sample movie and images can be found on the Canon Japan site.

For more information please visit the Canon Digital Learning Center.

There are no magic bullets on getting a knife’s edge sharp picture.

Here are some steps that you need to get you 50% there, the rest you’ll have to do…

1. Use a tripod, monopod, or anything else.
   Before you even ask — YES, you need one.  The best one that you’ll actually carry with you.
   • Be it, a $450 carbon-fiber Manfrotto, or a $12 Walmart special.  Having it and using it better than having it and not using it.
   • This includes a ziplock full of rice that you can slap down and use as a bed to place your camera on, to using the side of a building to push your camera against.
   • A proper stance is the last part of this.  Left hand underneath against your chest, cradling the camera on your palm, your fingers spread out being parted by the lens.
2. Use a fast shutter speed.
   The general rule of thumb is that if you at 100mm focal length, you can hand hold up to 1/100th of a second or faster. I would not tell anyone to hand hold anything below 1/80th — as your blood pressure, heart beat, and simple act of breathing can introduce movement in the image.   This goes double for longer focal length.
3. Use good glass.
   You have to do your research before buying your glass.  Almost all main lens manufacturers have your “regular” or “consumer” lenses, and also a “professional” series.  The main difference is the construction and optics that are used in the lens.  Canon has the “L” series, Sigma has the “EX” series,  Tamron well they don’t but they claim all of their lenses are professional.
4. Use the proper depth of field — good focus
   A whole lot of images are in fact very sharp — you just don’t like where the sharpness is.  This is because of poor focus, because the subject moved, you moved or you just mis-focus.  This plus, a small depth of field puts all or some of your subject out of focus, and not very sharp.  Using manual focus is obviously idle, if possible.  Using a larger depth of field (smaller aperture) would also help.  If you camera has a “auto-keep-focus” such as the Canon AI Servo that will lock and keep focus will also help if the subject is moving.
5. Use a short focal length
   Now this one is my personal note, I think most people try to zoom too much.  Most your feet and get closer to your subject and fill the frame.   Use the shortest focal length you have (without going into the wide range [< 50mm]).
6. Proper post-processing
   Unlike film, almost all digital images need some post processing.  Specially USM (UnSharpen mark) — opposite to it’s name it’s actually a tool that sharpens your images.  It is not a tool to sharpen a blurry image, but if you have done everything else this last step will give you that extra pop of sharpness.

As always, there are dozen different answers to every question, but I am hoping that these small points help someone get a sharper image.

The prize winning, Nature and Wildlife Photographers of Long Island (NWPLI) has teamed yet again with Castello Di Borghese Winery for an Autumn Exhibition of Nature Photography.  The show runs from November 14th, 2009 until December 12th, 2009.   There is also a meet the artists reception at the Winery will be Saturday, November 21st from 12-3 PM.  Please come and see the amazing Nature and Wildlife photography at its very best.