Although The Flash Bus has ended it’s 29 city Speedlight mega-fest, the off-camera excitement continues. Joe McNally’s latest instructional DVD, The Language of Light, has just been released, and it looks like a great continuation of everything he’s been teaching for the past few years. [click to continue…]
Chroma key, or Green Screen technology, can be useful for wedding photographers.
Green screen technology, also known as Chroma key, has been an integral part of moving images for many years.
The process itself is simple: photograph your subject against a green background, then use Chroma key software to isolate the background and replace it with any still or moving image you like.
While its association with movie special effects has stopped many photographers from considering it for their work, a growing number of professionals are making Chroma key part of their photographic set-up. [click to continue…]
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Subtle manipulations enhanced this clean-looking image.
Beauty retouching is now within individuals’ reach.
The specialized $10 – 100,000 Barco Creator has made way for Adobe Photoshop, giving photographers a whole new avenue of earning potential, and reshaping expectations of photography. Twenty years of Photoshopping has inevitably created a new “beauty consensus,” within which the manipulated face is an integral part of advertising, celebrity, the music industry, fashion and magazines. Beauty retouching is a big business, and high-end “beautifiers” are in great demand.
Learning beauty retouching will benefit your work. But if you master it, you’ll have created new earning potential for yourself. [click to continue…]
Here’s a lens test between a couple of Tonika zoom lenses and their Canon equivalent. We’re using the Tokina 28-80mm f2.8 zoom lens and the Canon 24-70mm f2.8 zoom. We also put the killer Canon 70-200mm L IS f2.8 zoom lens up against the Tokina 80-200mm f2.8 zoom lens. This was a pretty basic test seeing in which we were really interested in sharpness. We threw in a color chart and a little lens flare to boot. Testing lenses is not the most exciting affair but it does show the difference between them. We used a Canon 5D Mark II in Standard Picture Style at 320 ISO at f2.8 24fps.
First off, the Tokina glass is about one third the price. Both zooms are discontinued so they were purchased used. The Tokina 28-80mm will set you back anywhere between $350-$500. The Tokina 80-200 f2.8 is also discontinued and cost us just over five hundred smackers. They both have manual focus hard stops, which are ideal for video. The Tokina 80-200mm does not have Image Stabilization so we picked it up mostly for tripod work as a “B” camera lens. We used a one-dollar bill to easily show focus and contrast. The US mint does some fine print work. [click to continue…]
A few weeks ago I posted 10 photography sites that you should be following on Twitter. Well, we all know that there are WAY too many cool sites out there to follow than can be included in one short list, so here are 10 more.
Maybe we’ll make this a regular feature, since we keep finding great new photographers, media and tip sites and loads of other interesting content out there in the tweetland that we think you should know about.
And as always, don’t forget to follow The Photoletariat @photoletariats.
1. Lightstalking: One of the most popular photo related Twitter sites around, with over 130,000 followers to date. Put simply, Lightstalking is all about sharing great photography and helping you make it.
2. Craftandvision: Champions of the amateur photographer, they tweet all kinds of great creative and technical tips, introspective and inspirational insight and news about their fantastic eBooks that are written by top photographers like David DuChemin and Mitchell Kanshkevich.
3. BHPhotoVideo: The largest source of photo equipment in the entire galaxy tweets links to articles, gear reviews, sales, new products, and other great ways to explore photography, save money and stay motivated. [click to continue…]
Here is a Quick Take Video we shot while waiting for make up on a commercial production. We had both the Switronix Torch LED TL-50 and Litepanels MicroPro Hybrid on set so we thought we would show you the difference between the two LED lights. The Switronix Torch LED is a little smaller than the MicroPro and seems to pack a bit more punch. At about the size of a small prime lens, it’s quite compact with its all-metal housing. Complete with two ¼-20 thread mounts on the top and bottom of the light, it also features a battery indicator light and is fully dimmable. [click to continue…]
Here is a Quick Take on the brand new Monitor X HDSLR Viewfinder from JAG35. The Monitor X is a great alternative to the standard loupe type viewfinder. It will work with glasses and can also be used as a two-eye viewfinder. The Monitor X can be seen from a few feet away without distortion. This makes it a great tool for both the camera operator and a director or client to view the image while shooting. The frame for the Monitor X attaches to the LCD screen on the back of the camera. The loupe mounts to the frame easily and can be removed quickly. If you wear glasses or prefer to use both eyes while shooting video, this is a great solution. The JAG35 Monitor X HDSLR Viewfinder retails for $159.00 US.
In my previous post about efficiency, I posed a series of questions designed to get you to think about the major tasks that you face in your digital photography workflow and how you can increase performance. Today I’d like to present five quick, but major tips that can help you speed things up even more and get the most out of your time in the office.
Again, I want you to really think about this because a few seconds spent here and there throughout the day can really add up to long minutes, or depending on how much time you “waste,” up to an hour or more per week. In that time, you could write up a bid for a client, make follow up calls on your invoices, edit a batch of photos, prepare an image submission for a client, meet with a customer face to face, go out and shoot some new images, or spend more time with your family.
I’m not saying that I’m the most efficient guy either. I waste plenty of time each week and write this post as much as a reminder to myself as to the rest of you.
Anyway, without any further time lost, here’s the list:
Upgrade your computer: This is the biggest one. A new computer will be fast, snappy and, of course, you’ll be so much more excited to work on it, you won’t be able to resist sitting down and getting the work done. An up-to-date computer will really chew through those processor intensive applications like Lightroom, Aperture and Photoshop. Plus, if you’re one of those non-linear folks who likes to do more than one thing a time, with a fast computer, you’ll be able to keep more windows and apps open at any given time without much slowdown.
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