BetterPhoto Instructor Insights

We Have Newfie Puppies - Part 2!

Greetings from the California countryside! Our Newfoundland pups - all nine of them! - are doing well at 3 weeks old. From a birth weight of 1 1/2 to 2 pounds, they now check in at 4 to 5 pounds. (See my previous post for more details.)

For the portraits below, my "studio" included soft window light (i.e., no flash and no direct sunlight), an old blue blanket draped over a living room chair, and two very appropriate props: a BetterPhoto.com squishy camera and a BetterPhoto.com coffee mug.

I shot each image with a 50mm lens on a full-frame D-SLR, and the settings were f6.7, 1/100th second, and ISO 800. Help was provided by my wife Mary, the official breeder in our family, and my stepdaughter Kristin, the official puppy wrangler - an essential assistant for any puppy photography adventure :-)  The top pic shows a gray male ready for action. In the middle shot, a gray female is barely awake. And in the bottom image, a black male enjoys a close encounter with the (empty) BP mug.

Until my next puppy report, have fun with your own photography!

Thanks, Kerry Drager

Creative Close-ups

We Have Newfoundland Puppies!

Out in the California countryside, we are the proud "parents" of nine healthy Newfoundland puppies! My wife Mary is the breeder, but events like this seem to involve anyone who happens to be nearby - especially someone with a camera :-)

I took the accompanying photo the other day when the pups were 1 day old. The litter includes five black (very common) and four gray (very rare) puppies, each weighing 1 1/2 to 2 pounds at birth ... a verrrrry long way from their eventual 100-plus-pound adult size!

For this image,  I selected a prop - a BetterPhoto coffee mug, naturally! - plus window light as the light source. A wide aperture (f/4) and high ISO (800) provided a shutter speed fast enough  (1/250th second) to easily hand-hold the camera with a 105 macro lens. Of course, it helps to have an expert assistant (my stepdaughter, Kristin), who chose a puppy that was sound asleep - so no squirming, bouncing, squeeking, or squawking! The fact that a gray puppy was selected, instead of a difficult-to-record black one, was no accident either.

With tight close-ups, focusing decisions are crucial. With most pet and people portraits, the eyes have it. But, sleeping aside, these puppies won't open their eyes until they're a few weeks old.  Can't beat the nose as a key focal point.

By the way, Newf puppies do seem to look better with age :-) so stay tuned!

Thanks, Kerry Drager

Creative Close-ups

Shooting the Lunar Eclipse

By Kevin Moss

Once every few years we are blessed with a celestial event, a partial or total lunar eclipse. On February 20, we witnessed the last total lunar eclipse until 2010. I took advantage of the situation, and clear sky’s in southeastern Michigan to put together some cool shots of the event.

Lunar Eclipse, October 27, 2004

The last time I photographed the lunar eclipse was way back on October 27, 2004.

Macro Photography with a Ring Flash

by Jim Zuckerman

Last week I photographed poison dart frogs, as well as some other fascinating creatures, in anticipation of setting up a macro workshop where the subjects will be reptiles and amphibians. These frogs are intriguing. They are very beautiful and very, very small -- one of them could sit comfortably on a dime -- and it was obvious to me that I needed a flash because I'd be shooting at my smallest lens aperture, f/32, for maximum depth of field. The problem, of course, is that my 580 EX Canon flash sat too high on the camera body and the light would go over the top of the frog. Even with a specialized bracket that held the flash right above the lens, I was afraid the light wouldn't illuminate the underside of my subjects and I'd be facing serious contrast issues.

I solved the problem with a ring flash. The Canon MR-14EX has two small flash units inside the ring, and this allows you to actually create a lighting ratio. The flash output is diffused for a soft look, and the only problem I knew I'd face was a reflection in the eye from the ring of light. This would have to be touched up in Photoshop -- there was no way around it.

The photos you see below were the result of my efforts. I was very pleased with the lighting, especially considering how difficult such small subjects are to shoot with artificial light.

The macro workshop will be announced in my free newsletter that I send out every month. If you would like to sign up for this newsletter, visit my website: jimzuckerman.com and on the home page fill in your email address in the appropriate box.

Urban Photography: Light, Line & Reflections

By Kerry Drager

When photographing cityscapes filled with distinctive modern buildings, I'm always on the look-out for strong lines and bold reflections. At the same time, beautiful late-day sunlight helps pump up colors and, in general, makes things look soooooo much more dynamic than in harsh middle-day sunlight.

For the accompanying photo, a telephoto zoom (80-200mm) let me zero in tight on this sunset light-and-color scene. I chose an upper part of the glass-walled building that had excellent diagonal lines and that was catching the evening light. I liked the key focal point too: the reflection of a neighboring warm-lit building.

Searching for graphic-design scenes keeps my shooting eye sharp, provides lots of creative fun, and even results in some satisfying images too. Now that's a combination that's hard to beat!

Note: Check out my Creative Light and Composition and Creative Close-ups online photography courses, and also BetterPhoto's digital photography school.

Light, Line & Reflections - (c) Kerry Drager
Sunset, office building, Sacramento CA; f16 @ 1/15 sec; 80-200 zoom set at 200mm; ISO 200; tripod

Photoshop: composites enhanced by Nik 3.0

By Jim Zuckerman

When I fly commercial airlines, I often have my camera at hand to capture beautiful cloud formations. I hate shooting through double plastic windows, but of course there is no choice. I have still been able to photograph a lot of useful images that serve as backgrounds
and composites for other photos in my files. The picture you see below is a combination of a statue in the Bonaventure cemetery in Savannah, Georgia with a top view of storm clouds at 35,000 feet. To enhance the color and mood of the photos, I used Nik Color Efex Pro 3.0 filters. These offer a phenomenal range of effects that can make a serious impact on your creativity.

In Search of Light, Shadow and Graphic Design

By Kerry Drager

I always enjoy getting out and looking for photos - even when I don't have a specific project or assignment in mind. It's a fun and challenging visual workout. And when a low-in-the-sky sun casts a warm glow and long shadows, then things are particularly inspiring!

On a recent photo quest, I discovered a multi-story parking structure amid a group of office buildings. It caught my attention due to its graphic-design potential - a product of architecture and beautiful late-day light. I used my telephoto zoom to zero in for a very tight composition. No sky, no ground, just a nice light-and-shadow show.

Getting out in fine light is a terrific way to escape the creativity doldrums. After all, just about everything looks better in eye-grabbing light - even parking garages!

Note: See my Creative Light and Composition and Creative Close-ups online courses, and also BetterPhoto's online photography school.

AFTER: Light-and-Shadow Pattern (c) Kerry Drager
sunset at parking garage, West Sacramento, CA - 80-200mm zoom @ 170mm; f22 @ 1/60th sec; ISO 200; Nikon D3; tripod

BEFORE: Parking Garage

Photoshop blend modes

by Jim Zuckerman

I photographed this Chinook military helicopter yesterday as it flew by my house. The sky was white and very boring, so I combined various sunsets behind it until I decided to try something a little more dramatic. I had taken a remarkable explosion at an air show a couple of years ago and I thought that would make an amazing backdrop. The issue, of course, was how to cut out the chopper from the bland sky and make it look real.

Since the background was completely white, the answer was actually very easy. I copied the image of the aircraft to the clipboard (Command/Ctrl A and then Command/Ctrl C) and then pasted it on top of the photo of the explosion (Command/Ctrl V).

In the layers palette, I pulled down the blend mode submenu (where you see the word 'normal') until I found 'multiply'. When this was selected, miraculously the white sky disappeared and all I was left with was what you see here.

In my "Photoshop: Creative Techniques" here at Betterphoto, I discuss how to do techniques like this, and as part of the critique process I talk about technical know-how as well as the artistry that goes into making images with impact.

Jim

The Stock Market

Getting people in your images

by Scott Stulberg

In my course called Stock Photography Boot Camp here at Better Photo….one of the things that I stress the most is the importance of finding people for your images. The best selling photographs at just about any stock agency worldwide usually have people in the images. These are the most sought out images from so many advertisers all over and they need people of all ethnicities and looks for their images. These images, although not always the easiest ones to capture, can produce some of the top money making images for anyone with a desire to make money from their photos.

Probably the top category for shooting people for stock is Lifestyles. Some examples of lifestyle images are of family, work, success, happiness, the future, reliability, trust, food, time, teamwork, winning, competition, money, culture, conceptual ideas, school, education, computers and so many more. It can cover so many aspects of normal everyday life and these are probably the most needed images for so many stock agencies worldwide. I love finding people that have the right look, on the street locally or especially when I travel….and I ask them if they would want to model for me. I let them know that I will pay them or give them photographs in exchange and most of the time they say they would like to. Many of my students express to me how hard it is to get up the courage to ask strangers to pose for them……but in time it gets easier.

Below are a few shots from a shoot I did a week ago on the campus of UCLA , where I also teach photography. I had met these 2 adorable Korean girls and their mother in the video store and fell in love with them. I gave them a card, they looked at my website and then called me and we set up a shoot. They were amazing to shoot and I ended up getting some great shots from the shoot that day. Many of the shots are just typical everyday kind of poses and these kinds of images do extremely well for big and small stock agencies. These are typical lifestyle situations and when you set them up…you try and make them look as realistic as possible and not too posed. You will wind up with many winners if you think of good set ups and locations.

Getting people in your viewfinder is the key to money making images if you ever want to pursue shooting stock. But don’t forget to have them sign model releases or else those images will not be worth as much as they could. Model releases are the key to stock when shooting people. And shooting photos of people of every age and nationality is the key to making real money in stock!

Bird photography: Drama at sunrise

By Jim Zuckerman

Last week I participated in Fotofusion, an annual event in Delray Beach, Florida sponsored by the Palm Beach Photographic Center. Many well-known photographers gather and speak on all kinds of photographic subjects from nude photography to Photoshop and from traveling with a digital camera to butterfly photography. It’s a wonderful event, and I learned a lot of things from the other instructors and I’m sure they learned from me.

On one of the early morning shoots at a nearby wetlands preserve, I photographed this anhinga drying its wings. It was a dynamic shot because the graphic design is so strong and the lighting so beautiful. I enriched the color a bit in Photoshop, but besides that it’s unaltered. The bird posed for me and held this position for at least 15 minutes, so I had plenty of time to get a perfect exposure. I shot this on shutter priority and used the evaluative meter mode. It was taken with a 500mm f/4 IS Canon lens. Canon, one of the sponsors of the event, made quite a few of the super telephoto lenses available for students to try them out, and everyone got amazing images.