Posts Tagged ‘camera’

Never delete your images in camera!

Wednesday, January 5th, 2011
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This can be one of those very painful lessons to learn if you do it the the hard way. That’s why it needs to be said.

Delete screen of a 5D mark II

Delete screen of a 5D mark II

When you delete your images “in camera” there is always the possibility that you could remove ALL the images off the memory chip. Since this is a possibility, I recommend  to NEVER do it because once the images are deleted they can’t be recovered.

You are much better off to “copy” the image directly off the memory chip onto your computer to make sure you have copied every single bit of information that you can. All decent computers (I use apple products) have multiple ways of recovering files, even if they’ve been deleted, since in a way they really haven’t been deleted until you really say so. Once the photo files are saved on your computer, there is much less potential for wiping out all of your work. That’s not the case when you work from your camera to manage your photos.

Please take special note,  I said to COPY the images and NOT MOVE. Depending on your system, MOVE is a very dangerous function. While copying files just transfers the bits, MOVE does a COPY first, then DELETES the files on the originating system. This is where things can and do go very wrong. If the COPY in the MOVE was not done correctly, the computer will still delete the files in the move…… Trust me on this folks… You don’t want to do this!

card reader and memory chip

card reader and memory chip

Part 2 of this lesson is that when you copy your images off the memory chips, use card readers versus downloading the images through your camera. By copying the images through the camera, you are sending the images back through the camera processor, then though your computer processor, and finally onto the storage device. That is one too many processors for your images to go through since all you’re doing is copying from one storage device to another.

Popularity: 20%

It’s not JUST the gear

Saturday, January 1st, 2011
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bamboo pinhole camera

bamboo pinhole camera

There are a lot of photographers (me included) that are pretty gear crazy, meaning we are always on the lookout for capturing the best image with the best camera. I don’t think that should always be so. Case in point, I carry an iphone4 with me and it does a really nice job shooting photos. Granted, it has it’s limitations but hey, back in the day of film, people were running around with black-colored boxes with little holes in them (pin hole cameras) shooting some pretty awesome stuff.

So just because you don’t have your “baby” with you, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pull out the old camera to grab an image or two!

Those can be the most important images of your life.  Trust me, I’ve been there.

Popularity: 100%

Two bodies are better than one

Tuesday, December 21st, 2010
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There will come a point in your photography that you will just need to buy a second body.

2 5D Mark II bodies

It happened for me when I took my 5d Mark II out on a sailing trip. In a huge amount of bad luck,I got debris in the mirror, sensor and prism during a lens change. Thankfully, the 5D has internal features that helped clean off the sensor, so I was still shooting clear images, but the rest of the camera needed help. There quickly came a point where I started to hate to pick up the camera to shoot because I could see the crude in the prism and mirror. I tried to pick the pieces off with a clean brush and other various tools, but after a point in time I just gave up and decided to send my camera in for service. I figured I should let the professions do what I can’t or even should not…..

A couple helpful notes:
1) Never touch your camera sensor yourself! Let a professional do it.
2) Never fire a can of air into your camera or lens. This could cause more grief than you could imagine.
3) If you can’t clean it off easily…. get professional help.

Reasons for having a duplicate second body: (Not in any order)
1) You can prevent crude from getting in your camera by less frequent lens change outs.
2) You will never have any down time if either body ever “fails” to operate
3) Since you’re not changing out lenses, you can switch your camera quickly for getting that close-up shot or that wide angle you need right now
4) If something strange is happening with what your shooting, you can confirm it with a second body (glare, optical illusions and such).
6) You can get your gear cleaned without any down time. I usually get one of my bodies cleaned or adjusted in a heartbeat now if I even THINK I have a problem
7) You are investing in your craft and yourself.

Oh yeah.. And here is the address to send your Canon camera in for repair:

CANON EXPRESS SERVICE CENTER
15955 ALTON PARKWAY
Irvine, CA 92618
(949) 753-4200

Call the folks first so they can walk you through the process of getting your gear serviced for the first time.

My apologies to the non-Canon folks out there.

Popularity: 16%

10 ways to make your Christmas photos look just like the Pros without all that expensive gear

Wednesday, December 15th, 2010
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10) Bring the Subject closer

Say your shooting a shot in front of the large Disney Hat. Make you subject stand CLOSER to you instead of farther away. By having them stand CLOSER to the camera you will get a better image of them and actually give the background image a better perspective.

9) Remember distance rules with a flash

If your camera has a flash, remember to keep the subject you’re shooting between 1 to 6 feet from the camera. If the subject is farther than 6 feet away when you shoot, the subject will never get lit up by the flash.
Conversely, if your subject is closer than a foot, no matter how dark their skin is, you’re going to seriously bleach them out whiter than Michael Jackson skin.

8 ) Avoid Red Eye

Red Eye occurs when the flash reflects the  back of our retina off of our eye balls and back into the camera. Professionals get around this by moving the flash away from the camera to create more normal looking eyes.
You can work around this problem by shining a really bright flashlight in their eyes thus causing the subject pupils to dilate ( or get smaller). If you have a smaller pupil when the camera fires the area that could reflect back will be much smaller and hopefully less visible.
Another trick is to ask your subject to not look directly at the camera but a point away from the camera thus removing the reflection point.

FYI Dog/cats eyes are extremely reflective so if you manage to get that shot of fido without looking like devil dog/cat consider yourself lucky.

7) Keep the noise out of your shot

If you have a zoom function on your camera this is a real important one to use. Nothing makes a photo more interesting when you take out all the things that the image really doesn’t need. The old saying holds true, less is really truly more!

6) 2 bodies are better than 1

When you can take photos of couple versus of single people alone in a shot. As human beings we love to see interaction and the interaction between 2 people we always find interesting.

5) Play with perspective

Stay below your subject’s eyes. If you shooting an image of a little kid make sure you (if you have to) lie on the ground. Yea you heard me right. Some of the best images are always taken from BELOW your subjects point of view. FYI This is a common mistake I see among regular professionals, If I happen to know how tall the subject was and can always tell you how tall the photographer that shot that subject.

4) Get it right the first time, but if you can’t, KEEP  SHOOTING.

Most consumer grade cameras shoot a JPG image. This image is created using a complex one-way algorithm.  In layman’s terms, what you got in the shot, is what you’ve got. If you attempt to alter the image later on, color shift and clarity will change. So, if you’re not sure you got it right the first time… Take another shot for a backup. Back in the day of film you were always spending money on film but now, you are just reusing usable bits in your memory cards when you fire a shot. So, Keep shooting. You can always delete the extras.

If your not sure you got it, Shoot Again, and Again, and Again.

3) USE PROPS/TOYS

As I say this I can just image what your thinking….. But seriously, If a friend finds a really cool hat to try on, Take a photo of it! If one or your friend is being goofy, take a photo of it.
As you do that your saving the memorable times in your life… So don’t ever forget to leave your house with out your camera…. I don’t!

2) Watch for Closed eyes

No one likes looking foolish in a shot. So when you take photos of groups of people take LOTS of extra shots so you can go thorough them later and delete all the images with people with their eyes closed.
There is nothing you can do about this… It just happens and even I have gotten caught looking goofy in a shot or two.

1) BE CREATIVE

When it comes down to it, just have fun and Be Creative. It’s the shots that are done out of the box that are the memorable ones and heck you just may get it posted on Huffington’s Post.

Popularity: 19%