Sunset/rise Photography - Timing makes all the difference

Timing is key

Tonight I made this shot of a fiery sunset in Austin.  I was about to pack up after the sunset, but I decided to stay and watch the clouds.  Check out the difference in the images below and the times they were taken:

 Taken at 6:48pm

Taken at 6:58pm

The topmost pic is just a crop from this pic taken at 6:58.  I added a little more contrast to make the colors pop even more.  Notice how the colors are so much richer and deeper in the second pic before the edit.  I could have never made the first shot look as good in photoshop if I didn't wait.  

Shooting at Magic Hour - There's an App for that!

I started using an app on my phone called Magic Hour which let's you know when the ideal time in the morning and at night to take pics based on your location.  It also has a reminder 1 hour before the ideal time so you have time to pack up your gear and get to a good location.  Hats off to the developers of this simple app.  Here's a link.  

New Photo Blog Post: Part of your Photos too dark/bright? Graduated NDs to the rescue! #ND #filter #photography

Is my camera working?  Why do some pics have parts that are too bright/dark?
Your camera isn't the problem.  The fact is cameras don't have the ability to "see" the range of dark to light tones our eyes can see.  That said, if you have a scene that has elements that are both very bright and dark, your camera is going to freak out.

The pic above is a perfect example.  The pic on the left is just what the camera said is the "ideal" exposure, no filters, no nada.  This ended up with the bridge being too dark and the sky too bright.  The picture on the right is balanced with a graduated ND filter.  There is no Photoshop done in either.

How is this done?  NDs are your friend!

Okay, here we have the first pic.  I marked up the obviously problems 1) cars are distracting/a pain to get out using photoshop 2)sky is too bright 3)bridge/water is too dark.

Step 1) Get rid of the cars with a solid ND...

check out my previous blog post on sold NDs if you want more info about solid NDs.  The basic idea is that using a slower shutter speed you can essentially make the cars disappear.  This was taken at f/11 at 2 seconds

Step 2) Balance the sky and foreground with a ND grad

Using a Lee 2-stop hard step graduated ND I was able to pull up the exposure, but still retain detail in the sky.  Basically I expose for the foreground and then I cover the sky with the dark portion of the filter.  This exposure was 5 seconds at f/11.

Step 3) Photoshop

The original pic is pretty bland in color, so I thought to convert to black and white.  While I might have been outside a little longer setting up the shot and taking multiple pics, I now have a great starting point for Photoshop.  Rather than editing out cars, and trying to balance the sky/foreground, or using HDR software, I can just get right into Photoshop and do little fixes.  This only took 10 minutes to do in Photoshop.  And think about it, rather than being stuck behind the computer, I was spending more time outside...This is a cool office :)

This is just an example of what can be done with ND grads and solid NDs.  The pic is nothing special, but I want to show what is possible and why things go wrong so often when people get new DSLRs.  In the future I'll do another few blog posts about NDs and more specifics on what I use.

-Morgan

New Photo Blog Post: Moving clouds, How to make it happen with ND filters

Cloud Movement
I think one of the coolest effects a photographer has control over is depicting movement.  With slower shutter speeds you can make clouds move, water will become still, etc.  That is exactly what I did in the pic above.  Some people asked how I did this during mid day, so I thought to write about it.

ND Filters
The main ingredients I use to make this effect are ND filters, particularly 6-10 stop filters.  B+W and Heliopan make a good variety of ND filters that are high quality.  Here are some extra considerations when purchasing an ND.

1. Screw-in vs Square filters - Even if you have a filter holder (Cokin or Lee), I would still use a screw in type when working with filters this dark.  I've used square filters (Hitech) and the Lee Big Stopper and they are prone to light leakage (meaning light comes in on the side of the filter and makes an ugly looking exposure) even though they have a gasket that is supposed to block the light...plain and simple, it doesn't work.  Screw in are the way to go in the >3 stop ND range.
2. Composing - My go-to filter is the 6 stop from Heliopan, but I use the B+W a lot too.  Here's why: while most people say you must go to the 10 stop, the problem there is that you can't see anything in the viewfinder!  I don't have live view on 5D, but I'm assuming the problem carries over to live view as well.  If you can't see anything, every time you want to take a new shot, you need to take off the filter, compose, put the filter back on, and if you have a holder kit like I do, then you need to put that on top for each and every shot.  This is a pain!!!  With the 6 stop you can actually see through the finder and compose without a problem.
3. Color Casts - Color casts are a problem with all these filters.  Mine (Heliopan and B+W) have a reddish cast, whereas the Big stopper and hi-tech were very blue!  I correct this in Photoshop or use a Custom WB if I remember to bring my grey card with me.  I have a Lastolite EzyBalance and I like it a lot, but I just wish I used it more.
4. Accessories Needed - A tripod is needed to make the happen.  I know that tons of places say that you need the biggest, baddest tripod around, but this is bs.  I find that if it's so big and heavy, you never bring it with you and it collects dust.  Rather, I have a lightweight tripod that I bring with me everywhere.  It's so light, but I add weight to it if I really need more support or if the winds are really high.  Lastly, once you go past the 30 second mark, you need to get a remote trigger.  They usually have a lock so you can take an exposure as long as you want in bulb mode.

Examples

Here are some simple shots of the same scene to show the difference between the different NDs.  These are original shots with no Photoshop at all.  Remember this is around mid day too.

No ND F/11 1/250th second :

6 stop Heliopan ND F/11 .4 second :

Note the light red cast and a little movement in the clouds

10 stop B+W ND f/11 5 second :

Note the stronger red cast but more movement in the clouds

10 stop B+W ND f/22 20 seconds :

After changing the aperture to f/22 now I'm getting the cloud streaks I want!  Stoked!

10 stop B+W ND + Lee Holder with 3 stop Grad ND f/22 60 seconds :

After changing the aperture, I still thought the trees and lower part of the frame were too dark.  I added a Lee ND Grad 3 stop soft to balance and then further push the time to 60 seconds.  This is the ideal shot to drop into Photoshop and some small effects to make the shot even better.

Side Note on Vari ND - While many of the pros swear by the Vari ND made by Singh-ray I just don't get it.  I've never used one and I bet it's a great product, but what are you supposed to do if you have a filter holder?  This just doesn't work in that case because there would be no way to rotate the filter and work the holder at the same time.  I think if you ever plan to get a filter holder like those made by Lee, the best way to go is with screw in filters and deal with the hassle of having to change out the lenses if need be.  If you don't plan on getting a holder, then this would be your best bet.

New Photo Blog; Remote trigger your camera and flashes (at the same time)!!! @PocketWizard #Photo

Ever wish you had a remote for your camera?
There are many times when you want to take a picture of yourself, or a group, but how do you take a pic if you can't touch the shutter button?  A remote would be a perfect solution. I'm not sure why camera companies just don't make this standard, but as usual the big guys are either sleeping on this or have bigger fish to fry (big mistake).  Enter PocketWizards with an amazing solution, the Plus III.  This little device not only allows you to remotely trigger your camera, but also flashes that are not directly attached to the camera.  This kind of technology has been around for a while, but now they are faster, cheaper and better.

Why timers suck! A simple user experience problem.
Sure, you're probably saying, why don't you just use the self timer that your camera comes with.  Okay, that's great and all, but then your running back and forth to the camera...and that's not fun.  Or better yet, you want to put your camera in a remote/hard to access location (behind a soccer net, on a ceiling pointing down at a crowd, etc), then what?  For the group shot, you know after you finally get everyone together to take that cool group shot, you're going to want to take more than one pic.  Someone's going to blink, hair will be in a girl's face, and someone will be making a silly face, but then you end up running back and forth to take multiple shots and your group gets impatient. Or better yet, you could ask the waiter or random tourist you meet for help.  This is a horrible user experience.  With these devices you can just sit back with the group and shot over and over without leaving (tripod obviously needed).

Flashes too...
Ever wonder how the pro photographers get such cool looking shots?  They use flashes that aren't attached to the camera.  They trigger them with these devices.  If you want to learn more about flash photography check out http://strobist.blogspot.com/

This device is definitely on my wish list.  I have other triggers, but I definitely need to upgrade soon so I can make some cool pics...I'll keep you posted.

-M

New #Lytro Camera...No more out-of-focus pictures! Possible partnership with #Apple

Disruptive Technology
In business school we are always taught to keep an eye out for disruptive technologies and the camera industry just got one.  This is the Lytro is a camera that you never have to focus; you focus after the picture is taken.  This might sound like a novel concept at first, but just think of all those pictures you've taken that you with the foreground was in focus or the background...and it wasn't.

Is this going to be a partnership opportunity or buyout for the big guys (Canon and Nikon)???
If I were Canon or Nikon, I would be knocking down these people's door right now.  This technology means so much for the camera industry and it should be able to go in any camera body out there.  If Apple gets its hands on it, imagine being able to have this focus-after-the-fact feature built into your phone!  I can't wait to see where this goes in a few years.

Hawaii Panorama

I'm back! For the past few months I've been caged up in the library studying for the GMAT. It was a hard test, but it's over now and I did well! While I was studying I found some time each day to work on photos from my recent trip to Hawaii. Here is one of my favorites pics.

Check your exposures
This panorama was made by combining five separate pics. During the actual shoot, I messed up; I completely forgot to check my exposures. It was a bad move and I paid for it when I got home; I came home to find that the whole sequence was under-exposed. It took a lot of work to correct my mistakes. Here is a copy of the pano before the edits. Big difference huh?
This just goes to show how important it is the get the exposure right the first time. I spent hours with layers to make this photo look right.

Solution - Hoodman
Okay, so I dropped the ball and I paid for it. But what pissed me off even more was the fact that I brought a Hoodman Loupe with me on the trip and I didn't use it. If you haven't heard of these, check them out. They're really helpful when it's super sunny (the display on the back of most digital cameras is usually completely illegible in these conditions). With the loupe you can see everything.

I learned a bunch on this trip. First, make sure that you check your exposures. A few seconds taken to get the perfect exposure is a lot better than a few hours taken to fix a bad one. Next, if you have a loupe, use it! And lastly, Hawaii is awesome! I want to go back :(

-Morgan

First Engagement Shoot

It has been a while since I last blogged, but I've been really busy. I got my camera back from the shop and I went right back to work. My first assignment was awesome; my good friends invited me to take their engagement photos. How could I say "No"? This turned out to be a great shoot, but I'll have to admit, I've never shot an engagement session and everything was done in ad-lib. This gave all the pics a nice relaxed feel which was exactly what the couple wanted. The picture above was their first pick.

This picture was fairly simple to create. Here's what I used:

• 1 flash set to half power triggered remotely
  
• Shoot-Thru Umbrella
• 1/4 CTO gel
• Beautiful assistant

The flash was up high and to my right. It was held by my lovely girlfriend/assistant. She is great and without her help it would have been hard to make this picture. She was holding the flash up high with the umbrella attached for some time before we got the perfect shot. Kudos to her for holding it up in the air for that long (nice guns babe :) ).
Other than that I added a 1/4 CTO gel on the flash to add some warmth. Remember the light coming out of most flashes has a blue tone. This isn't the most flattering color for skin tones so be sure add that CTO.

I know Zack Arias is probably going to lynch me (if you don't know Zack, you need to check out his blog; very inspirational), but I did the slanty Mcslant slant thing that he hates so much but I think it works here. I definitely try to stay away from the Dutch Angle if I can, but there are some instances where it just works and I think this is one of them. What do you think? If you're out there Zack I'd love to hear your opinion too.

Unfortunately I think this will be one of my last blog posts for some time. I've decided to put down the camera and study for the GMAT. This is the entrance exam for business school and I'm hoping this will lead me to a great career. Wish me luck and I'll definitely post again when the test is over.
-Morgan