Author: Cooper Strange

2009-02-04

Knowing When to Say No to a Photo Shoot

For those of you who have ever asked me to do a shoot for you, you will know I am not the man to be writing an article about how or when to say no. So, maybe my title is a complete farse. On the other side of that coin, though, something about doing any and all shoots really struck me.

If I only needed to save my time, I would say no to everything. Sometimes, I consciously think this will be a stretch on my time, but subconsciously, I want to say no because I might not live up to the job. That sounds like an opportunity to grow to me.

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2009-01-31

RawStudio is the New Way to Go

I have only begun to use it, but RawStudio has become my new “go-to” program for photo workflow. “Workflow?,” you may ask. Well, let me explain briefly.

The digital age has made workflow an even bigger problem than before. Now, even my mother comes home from a family reunion with a few hundred photos. What happens to so many photos then? For most of us, we put them on our computer, the hundreds become thousands, and by the time we actually want or need to use some of those photos, we cannot build up the motivation to dig through them. Workflow seeks to solve this problem.

Now, RAWstudio (as you can see by the name) is for folks who shoot in RAW format instead of JPG. It is also available for Linux or Mac OS X. So, if you use a PC, I guess you will have to dish out a chunk of cash to get a program that does the same thing. So, anyway, if all you shoot is JPG, you might just tune out now. No worries…catch you next time.

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2009-01-29

Flash Took a Dive Underwater

I have had too few chances to use my umbrella flash set up. Most of my shooting is still natural light (everyday life and such), but this past week, I have had two chances to take photos for a friend of mine who is graduating with his Master’s degree, and I figured that was the perfect opportunity to put my set up to the test in the field. And out comes the umbrella!

The first day, about a week ago, things went ok…not great, but lessons learned. I also wanted to field test a pair of Cactus triggers. “What are those,” you might ask? With those, I can remote trigger my flash via radio (i.e. no cords). Those ended up incredibly frustrating, to be honest. They did not fire very consistently. When you read through discussions about these on Flickr, some folks love them and some hate them. They are consistent for some folks and inconsistent for others. For me, when they are needed, the break. When I am goofing around, they work flawlessly.

Wait, this was about the flash. I will get back to the story.

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2009-01-15

Loud Shutters Work Against the Photographer

Why should we even care if our camera shutter is loud or not? What is the benefit of a quiet shutter? Well, it all depends on your shooting style as to whether is makes a difference or not. Ok, that is not totally true. Let me say it this way, some people care, some people do not. Here are the issues as I see them, though.

Following a comment on a post of mine a few days ago, I have been thinking about shutter noise. I unashamedly like quiet and I really notice when a camera is not quiet, even though that statement is quite relative. I was all excited to see the Sony a900 (this is the camera that brought up the topic in the first place) in the store and I picked it up to give it a few test shots. Ergonomics, handling, buttons: good. Style: very Sony-ish, but I like it (I like it more than the other Sonys). Then, I pressed the shutter release. KER-PLUNCK! Holy cow! That sound alone would take lots of great features and a very low price for me to actually think about buying one.

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2009-01-09

The Joy of Photography

What is the joy of photography? Why do we do it? What is the purpose? Does it even have a purpose?

I was happily oblivious to these thoughts, and the folks over at the Digital Photography Life podcast ruined it all for me. No, it was a good thing; we need to reevaluate the whys of life every once in a while. Scott and Michael, the hosts of the podcast, set “The Joy of Photography” as the theme for their next contest. As I started thinking through how to portray that, I had to think more and more about what the joy really was. Was there any joy? Well, of course, yes.

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2009-01-05

Event Photography Tips

Do you need to shoot an event? A conference? Meetings? Even if you are not a paid photographer for some event, are you just the one folks turn to for that spur of the moment shot of a guest speaker that nobody guessed would be as good as he was?

Here are some tips, gleaned both from experience and a podcast which inspired me to write this stuff down. It has been so long since I have listened to the show, I cannot remember what from my notes was the guest’s idea and what was mine.

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2008-12-30

What Camera Has the Brightest Viewfinder?

The viewfinder is probably the most undervalued component of our cameras. It is the primary interface of the camera, yet most of us put up with a shrunken and dim viewfinder. The rest of the buttons and adjustments are secondary.

Recently, I was reading up a little on “bright” viewfinders to try to figure out what that was all about. I initially thought it had something to do with the percentage of coverage or the viewpoint, which spec sheets (sometimes) state, but I found out it does not. Once I figured things out a little, I decided to go and do some brightness tests on my own with some of the full-frame digital cameras out there (5D, a900, D700, 5DmII). Here is what I found.

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2008-12-21

Learn Light from Great Painters

How did the masters use light? Painters, I mean. I had not really thought about it. I mean, I knew folks like Monet (I think it was him…I cannot quite remember) actually moved house to a new village just because the light there was better. Still it is easy to think, “Hey, it’s paint, they can make whatever light they want!”

Well, I just read a great (mock) Rembrandt interview over at the Strobist. That is right, Rembrandt, in the not-so-flesh, is going on record to help us understand how he controls light to achieve his desired results. Warning: the Strobist is all about off-camera flash photography, so if that is not your thing, it might be too photo-techy. Of course, if photography and lighting ARE your thing, you might hurt yourself laughing! A work of genius! Laugh and learn.

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2008-12-17

Quality Difference Between 6MP and 12MP

Should you set your camera to take the biggest photo size possible? Are more pixels better? You know, I would like to think people are actually asking themselves these questions, but somehow I seriously doubt it. Call me weird. If you are, though, maybe my experience recently in answering these questions for myself might help you toward find the best answer for you. I have even made up some example photos to compare the different image quality settings.

My wife recently bought a point-and-shoot for family use–honestly, it is mainly for videos. When I was setting everything up for her, one of the decisions I made was NOT to use the highest image quality setting. Call me crazy. A few factors came into play: image quality, file size, and how big the photos might be printed.

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2008-12-12

How To Choose a Compact Camera

I went through a process just recently that I see as one of the most common questions asked: “What camera do I buy?” In the last entry, I happened to have answered the same question, but for people looking at entry-level SLRs. This time, I am talking only of compact or point-and-shoot cameras. Of course, we all want something a little different, but I will try to keep this to what I would consider the essentials.

So, that is the first question. What is essential in a compact camera? Honestly, all we wanted was something small to do videos of our children since I am already carrying around my camera for the photographs. I think we can safely put the video issue aside, though, because almost all compact cameras take the same quality of video. What is the most important part of any camera? Image quality.

My search was to find the best compact camera possible, but not to pay a huge price for it. My research labors where not in vain.

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