I am working on a new layout for the blog as well as some new exciting new posts.

Stay tuned!

SJR

This weeks post is a continuation in the Concept Creation series that I have been working on.

For those of you who are new to the blog you can check out the previous post HERE.

Before I start I would like to extend a special thanks to friend and fellow photog Nick [...]]]>

This weeks post is a continuation in the Concept Creation series that I have been working on.

For those of you who are new to the blog you can check out the previous post HERE.

Before I start I would like to extend a special thanks to friend and fellow photog Nick Bicanic who was a great help during this shoot. You can check Nick out at http://www.nickbicanic.com.

For this shoot I decided I wanted to photograph SMOKE! I have seen images like these in the past and have always found that the have a hypnotic effect on me. They are so interesting and organic that I had to give it a try.

The above is an example of one of the images from the shoot.

The balance of the images can be viewed on the FWIS Flickr group page HERE.

Here is a list of what we used to shoot these images:

1. Backdrop. In this case I used black cloth but anything black would work the same as long as it is not reflective (ie: paper/bristol board)
2. Incense. We used both the stick and cone varieties and found that the cones offered the best results but I would recommend giving them both a try.
3. Lights. These shots were lit with 2 Canon 580EX II Speedlites each at 90 degrees, and triggered with Pocket Wizards. Now it is by no means a requirement that you use speedlites for your shots, we had them so we tried them. Really any light source will work and I can say that a constant light source may have made things a bit easier. The only thing you will have to watch is that you don’t light the background!
4. Tripod. This is a must for a shoot like this. Here’s why…the smoke has a mind of it’s own. Even the slightest movement disturbs the air around the smoke which is useful to manipulate the smoke for more interesting shots, but can make keeping everything in focus difficult.

Here’s how we did it:

Once we had everything set up we had to determine what the optimal exposure settings would be. There were a few issues to consider. Test shots revealed that focus was going to be difficult. I settled on f14, 1/100 sec. at ISO 500 for the most part. This aperture afforded me suitable depth of field to ensure that the smoke would be in focus.

In order to grab focus we held up a target inline with the incense cone and used the live view function to ensure that the focus was on.

Then it was time to shoot!

TIPS:

There are a few things that you can do with the smoke to make the shots look more interesting. One of them is to use your finger (or if you have someone who can help you use their finger) and gently disrupt the smoke stream. As it settles out it will whip and curl in the most unusual ways.

Also, you can change the color of the smoke by either adjusting your white balance (in camera or in post) or using colored gels on the lights.

Experiment, play around and have fun!

If you would like to share your own images with the FWIS crowd feel free to add them to the flickr page or email them to me at qanda@sjr-photo.com and I will add them here!

Thanks for reading,

SJR

I won’t derail the post with the details but let’s just say I haven’t had a whole lot of time to write.

Thank you for your patience.

This week I want to talk [...]]]> Ok so I know I haven’t been as regular with my posts as I had hoped but it’s been a busy summer!

I won’t derail the post with the details but let’s just say I haven’t had a whole lot of time to write.

Thank you for your patience.

This week I want to talk about “Concept Creation”. In it’s essence it is a self assignment that requires you use your imagination to determine what you want your final image to look like, then reverse engineering that to create the image.

For this assignment I decided that I wanted to make an image of my Leatherman Super Tool-300.

I wanted the image to be representative of the features of the tool but display them in a somewhat unconventional manner.

My inspiration for the layout of the tool as it would appear in the image came from the user manual that was in the box. It showed the tool opened with each of the individual components showing.

I decided that I wanted the image to be dark with bright highlights along the many reflective surface of the tool.

Here is the final image:

This was shot using a black cloth backdrop and 2 lights set at almost 90 degrees to the subject (either side) just slightly behind.

I stopped down to f14 to keep the background nice and dark and settled on a shutter speed of 1/160 of a second.

A quick clean up in Photoshop and…VOILA!

I have made several images using this method so far and I find it particularly rewarding. Here are some of the things that I have learned:

1. Spend as much time thinking about the final image as you can afford. This makes creating the image much easier.
2. Don’t give up! This image took over 2 hours to produce (not including the time spent in Photoshop). The purpose of this exercise is to force you to work your way through the road blocks.
3. Don’t be afraid to experiment! It may be that the one off the wall thing you try is what does it.

This shoot gave me an idea. A sort of “Concept Creation” challenge.

Here are the steps:

1. Come up with an idea and email a written description of it. Be as detailed as you can.
2. Shoot the image an upload it to flickr using the tag “FWISconceptcreation”. Deadline will be September 10, 2010.

The top images will be posted here on the FWIS blog.

There are no prizes for this challenge other than the rewarding experience, give it a try…it’s worth it.

I want to say a special THANK YOU to my colleague and fellow photog Nick Bicanic for his assistance with this shoot. Without Nick it would have taken twice as long! lol

As always you can send questions or comments to me at qanda@sjr-photo.com to tweet using the hashtag #sjrqa

Thanks for reading!

SJR

Well I managed to find time to post an entry this week, thanks for your patience, I hope you like it!

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have finally joined the ranks of the technically advanced and picked up and iPhone 3Gs.

For this week’s post I will be reviewing my [...]]]> Hey kids.

Well I managed to find time to post an entry this week, thanks for your patience, I hope you like it!

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have finally joined the ranks of the technically advanced and picked up and iPhone 3Gs.

For this week’s post I will be reviewing my favorite photography related apps so far.

#1 – Hipstamatic $1.99

This app is basically an all in one camera emulator. With the limitations of the camera in the 3Gs using it for photos is a perfect opportunity to do something a little (or a lot) different. This is where this app excels.

The app allows you change different parameters of the “soft-camera” such as film type, lens, and even flash! (just to be clear is does not provide you with a physical flash unit for the iPhone but instead makes an educated guess at how the chosen flash would affect the image, it’s not perfect but it sure is fun!)

Be sure to check out “The Big Hipstamatic Show” this is a theme based contest that the developers put on. Users can enter their best images taken using the app for a chance to win prizes. You can also upload your photos to flickr and facebook as well as email them.

Here are some images that I have posted on my flikr account taken with the Hisptamatic app:

As you can see, there are many different combination’s you can use to get a range of image effects.

#2 – TiltShiftGen $0.99

This app is basically a depth of field emulator that allows you to control the area of your image that is in focus similar to a tilt shift lens. You can choose from a circular or linear blur and adjust the intensity of the blur as well.

It also has some other neat built in effects. The color tab allows you to adjust saturation, brightness and contrast and there is a vignette tab as well that does an excellent job of creating that look.

Here are some pics that I have taken using the TiltShiftGen app:

#3 – Best Camera $2.99

World renowned photographer Chase Jarvis developed this app in support of his book The Best Camera Is The One That’s With You.

It is a set of 14 effect filters that can be combined for a multitude of different looks. These include Jewel, Paris, Slate, Candy, Lighten, Darken, Fade, Contrast, Warm, Cool, Desaturate, Vignette, Square, and Border.

While the filters are fun to use, the real jewel of this app is the built in sharing function. From within the app you can email, export to you camera roll, upload your photo to the major sharing sites such as Facebook, Flickr and Twitter, as well as the dedicated “The Best Camera” site.

Apps like this really serve to promote the creativity that comes along with using the iPhone camera, way to go Chase!.

#4 – Toonpaint $1.99

This app is just plain fun! While the concept is not new, using this app on a touch device such as the iPhone really enhances the experience.

Here are some pics from the Toonpaint app:

#5 – Photoshop Mobile $FREE

I tried this app on suggestion from another photographer and I was not disappointed.

PS Mobile (for short) offers a healthy set of editing tools and effects. They may seem basic but the folks who put this app together it seems really wanted to try and offer a complete set of tools for the iPhone.

Here is a list of what is included:

Tools: Crop, Straighten, Rotate, Flip.

Adjustments: Exposure, Saturation, Tint, Black & White, Contrast.

Filters: Sketch, Soft Focus, Sharpen.

Effects: Vibrant, Pop, Vignette Blur, Warm Vintage, Rainbow, White Glow, Sift Black & White.

Borders: Rectangle, Rounded, Oval, Soft Edge, Vignette, Rough Edge, Halftone, Film Emulsion.

This app also allows you to upload your pics to either Facebook or Twitpic.

Just for fun!

These apps may not be specifically photography related but are ones that I find myself using often either because of convenience or fun.

Sketchbook – As the name suggests this is a free hand drawing app, loads of fun and many features.

Autostitch – A panoramic stiching tool. I haven’t used this one a great deal but from what I have seen it works very well.

LEGO Photo – Trust me just try it!

Magic Hour - Special thanks to Martin Bailey for turning me on to this one! This app tells you when sunrise, sunset, civil twilight, etc. will occur for any area in the world.

That’s all folks!

That’s it for this week, I hope you will check out these apps and enjoy them a much as I have.

Thanks for reading!

SJR

I thought I would check in with you all so you know that I am not dead just super busy! Over the last few weeks I have been hard at work on the house so I haven’t had much time [...]]]> Well I should start by apologizing for not getting a post out sooner than now.

I thought I would check in with you all so you know that I am not dead just super busy! Over the last few weeks I have been hard at work on the house so I haven’t had much time to shoot or post.

I did recently join the ranks of iPhone owners around the world with the acquisition of an iPhone 3Gs. I am enjoying it very much and I am very impressed with the camera! I will be posting soon my favorite apps for the iPhone but here is a link to some of the images that I have made with it since I got it:

iPhone 3Gs Flickr set

While you are here you might as well check two of my fav photo blogs as well.

Have a look at Nick Bicanic and Peter Mickinnon.

More to come soon, stay tuned!

Thanks for reading,

SJR

I figured I would share with you some experiences that I had recently and what I learned from them, I hope it doesn’t bore you to death!

Model Shoot [...]]]> It’s been a busy week this past week and I don’t have much time to get a lengthy post together for you guys (perhaps that’s better??).

I figured I would share with you some experiences that I had recently and what I learned from them, I hope it doesn’t bore you to death!

Model Shoot For Tissh

I have been hard at work going through images from a recent model shoot for clothing designer Gloria Lee for her Tissh line of clothing. You can check out her website HERE.

Check out the end of the post for the 1st thing that I learned this week!

Vaughan Bridle Show

Had an opportunity this past week to help out my friend a fellow photog Nick Bicanic at the Vaughan Bridle Show. It was a 2 day event and we had a blast! Shot the fashion show at the end of day one along with Nick and Pete.

On day two the show was fairly slow (felt bad for Nick). Nick was shooting the fashion show again so Pete and I decided to do some exploring. I got these to captures while we were goofing off (or should I say roofing off!?!):

So the second thing that I learned this week is that no matter where you find yourself there are always good opportunities to make images.

So what is the 3rd thing that I learned this week?

Well since I started this blog I have managed to get a post up every Friday until this past week. At first I was pretty bent about it, but now I realize that the things that I was doing this past week were just as important as getting a post up, it just didn’t feel like work because I was having such a great time!

A parting shot:

I have one last image to share. It is a image from the Tissh shoot:

The shoot was quite a bit of fun but also challenging. Circumstances did not permit using a studio so we had to make do with what we had. Here is one of the images from the shoot (posted in black and white at the request of my pal Peter Mckinnon, this one’s for you Pete!)

As you may be able to tell from the image, it was a very tight space and a VERY tall model. So since this post is titled “The 3 things I learned this week…” here is the 1st thing that I learned – regardless of what photographic situation you may find your self in, more often that not you can make it work! In the above shot I am literally standing 40 feet from the model.

Thanks for reading.

SJR

It would be plain cruel to keep you in suspense so here is how to get your free Apple iPad.

This coming Tuesday and Wednesday I along with friend and fellow photographer Peter Mckinnon will be at the Vaughan Bridal Show representing our good [...]]]> That got your attention didn’t it??

It would be plain cruel to keep you in suspense so here is how to get your free Apple iPad.

This coming Tuesday and Wednesday I along with friend and fellow photographer Peter Mckinnon will be at the Vaughan Bridal Show representing our good friend Nick Bicanic. Nick is a experience and energetic wedding photographer and I am proud to be able to help out at this special event!

Yeah, yeah yeah…WHAT ABOUT THE iPad???

Ok relax. If you are engaged and are still in the market for the perfect photographer then come by and see us at the show. The booth number is 430 and in addition to a special “show price” on your wedding photography package, everyone who books with Nick at the show (the deposit is only $100!!) will receive a FREE 16 gigabyte WiFi enabled Apple iPad!

Your iPad will be delivered after your big day, complete with all of your image proofs for you to review.

That’s it! Just pop by and see us at the Vaughan Bridal Show, register and the iPad is yours!

Can’t wait to see you all there!

Thanks for reading,

SJR

This week I am re-posting an article that I wrote for the popular photography blog Photography Bay. It’s a great site and I recommend checking it out.

Enjoy…

Finding the sweet spot!

First let me say a special thanks for Eric Reagan for the opportunity to share with [...]]]> Hi gang!

This week I am re-posting an article that I wrote for the popular photography blog Photography Bay. It’s a great site and I recommend checking it out.

Enjoy…

Finding the sweet spot!

First let me say a special thanks for Eric Reagan for the opportunity to share with the Photography Bay community!

The focus (no pun intended!) of this article is how to find the “sweet spot” of a lens. The sweet spot refers to the aperture setting of a given lens that yields the best overall sharpness from the center to the edges. Most good quality lenses will give you good sharpness at the center regardless of what aperture you use, but for the best edge-to-edge sharpness we need to dig a little deeper.

Testing each of the lenses that you shoot with will give you a better understanding of how your lenses work and knowing where the sweet spot is will help out in the field.

Now, just to be clear, I am not recommending that once you determine where the sweet spot is that you shoot at that aperture exclusively, what fun would that be? Instead just add that bit of knowledge to your tool belt and in the field when you need it you’ll have it.

This test should only take about 30 minutes to complete.

So, here’s what we’ll need:

A digital SLR camera with the lens that you want to test.
A tripod.
A piece of newspaper (try and choose something that has a lot of text like the classified section).
4. You may also need a light source of some king depending on the area you have access to. If that is the case any constant light source will do, we are not going for accurate color here so don’t worry about white balance. We just need it to be bright enough, and desk or table lamp should work fine.

Now, tape the newspaper up on a wall ensuring that it is as flat to the wall as possible. If the light is required then set it up and shine it on the newspaper.

Next, set up your tripod with the camera on it at a distance that will allow you to fill the frame with the newspaper.

Set your camera on aperture priority mode and set your ISO to 200 (this will allow for the best quality images for review).

Set your aperture to the maximum that the lens will allow.

Depending on the lens that you are testing the minimum and maximum aperture values will differ. For the purpose of this article I will be using the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Lens.

The maximum aperture of this lens is f1.8 and the minimum aperture is f22.

Next, focus the lens on the newspaper. Autofocus should be sufficient for this but, if your camera has a live view function you may want to take advantage of that to ensure that the focus is exact.

TIP – If you are having difficulty focusing, ensure that you are not too close to the target. Every lens has a “minimum close focusing distance” if you are too close, it won’t focus. Our subject lens has a minimum close focusing distance of 1.5 feet or 45.72 centimeters.

It is imperative that we remove any additional variables from the test to ensure the most accurate results. For each exposure we will us the 2 second timer function to prevent there being any issue with vibration from pressing the shutter (this will become more important as we get closer to the minimum aperture).

DON’T MOVE THE CAMERA! If for some reason the dog or one of the kids happens along and hits your tripod while you are in the process of testing don’t despair, just reset and reshoot, this test doesn’t take that long (not speaking from personal experience here!).

Next we want to take a series of images carefully adjusting the aperture down by one stop on each subsequent exposure (example – f1.8, f2.8, f4.0, f5.6, f8.0, f11, f16, f22).

Once we have completed each of the exposures it’s time to download the images and have a look!

The above image shows 100% crop examples taken from the bottom left corner of each of the images.

Upon review we can see that the image taken at f1.8 is downright smarmy!

Sharpness improves at f2.8 but is still soft.

f4.0 is much better.

f5.6 better still!

f 8.0 OUCH! That’s sharp.

f11 softening a bit.

f16 still softer.

f22 softer still.

And the winner is???

Well based on the above examples, this particular lens offers the best overall sharpness at f8.0, but the anywhere between f4.0 and f11 is more than acceptable considering that most of the images that I would use this lens for would be posted online or printed to a maximum size of 5×7.

When I shoot this lens I tend to keep around f4.0, but I will often drop down to f2.8 or even f1.8 as the center of the image is still quite sharp at that aperture and sometimes the soft edges can lend to the effect of the shallow depth of field, particularly in portraits where the focus is on the subject’s eyes.

I have tested all of my lenses and it has paid of on more than one occasion. As a general rule, most lenses offer good edge-to-edge sharpness at around f8.0 but it is important to test all of your lenses, the results may surprise you!

Thanks for reading,

SJR

Thanks for reading,

SJR