Nikon D4, 14-24mm, ISO 100, ƒ/5.6, 1/400

During the 1996 Olympics I was reminded of how much people travel from all over the world to my part of the world just to see what we have here.

I have lived in Roswell, Georgia since 1993 and just now did I take in some of the local historical sites almost 20 years later.

BBC sent a reporter to the Road to Tara Museum to film for the special on “Gone with the Wind”  It was rated in the top book favorites of all time for the BBC audience.

During the Thanksgiving holiday our family took in two of the three historical homes on the tour of Historical Roswell.

This is Bulloch Hall built in 1839 and the childhood home of Mittie Bulloch, President Theodore Roosevelt’s mother.

Besides seeing the house we also listened to the cell phone tour and listed as well to the docent.  We learned quite a lot about the history of the house and the founders of Roswell.

Teddy Bears which have their roots with Teddy Roosevelt.

Each room had a president’s theme. This was the Teddy Roosevelt room in Bulloch Hall.

Photographer reasons to visit historical sites

The reason I like to visit locations is to gain a better understanding of visual cues. Historical locations help you understand how things looked during a certain period of time in history. The more you are aware of these visual cues the more you can pull upon this knowledge when helping clients.

Barrington Hall is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was voted one of the 50 Most Beautiful Homes in the Atlanta area. The surrounding seven acres of grounds feature the only public antebellum garden in the greater Atlanta area. With guided garden walks, cooking classes and other special events, the site is a popular destination.

President Jimmy Carter’s aunt lived just down the street from these two homes and would come to visit here as well.  I think for those who enjoy history and want to know more about the history of Metro Atlanta, they need to come to Roswell, GA and take in Bulloch Hall, Barrington Hall and The Smith Plantation.

My daughter now wants an arbor after visiting Barrington Hall.

While Thanksgiving wasn’t the best time of the year to take in the garden, we did see some flowers.

These photos were taken just taking the tour with the family. I may go back another time and do a story on the homes during the spring when the azaleas and dogwoods are in bloom.

Have you taken for granted things closer to your home that you could photograph? Tour groups come from all over the world to see things in Roswell, GA. How about your town?  Have you been there yourself?

Rabbi Greene of Temple Beth Tikvah speaks to the HomeStretch volunteers at their appreciation dinner. (Nikon D4, 70-200mm,  ISO 12,800, ƒ/2.8 and 1/160, Custom White Balance with ExpoDisc)

One of the staples of many professional photographers is covering meetings. Very seldom do these photos end up in your portfolio. Unless you are covering a meeting where they hired a lighting crew you have to work just to get acceptable photos.

This event was in the meeting room of the local synagogue.  They had wonderful stage lighting, but like many groups they choose not to put their speaker on the platform where the stage lighting would have helped. No they put the speaker on the floor where the lighting was the worst in the entire room.

Lucky for me in the first photo that the podium was draped with an off white cloth. It helped to kick light back into the face of the speaker.  I prefer not to use a flash because it can be distracting to everyone. So I did use it sometimes, but tried to use it sparingly as more of a backup.

I wanted to show you this overall photo of the meeting I covered. Now notice how the white tables are kicking light back up into the faces of those people seated. You can see their eyes.  Now look at those people standing around.  The canned lights above are creating raccoon eyes for them.

From this photo I can tell I can easily shoot the people around the tables, but I may need some fill flash on those with the raccoon eyes.

As a photojournalist I was trained to see those things to be sure the photos were useable.

(Nikon D4, 28-300mm,  ISO 12,800, ƒ/5.6 and 1/50, Custom White Balance with ExpoDisc)

I decided I didn’t need the flash for the ladies at the table.  I just cranked the ISO up and shot it.

Here I put a CTO (Color Temperature Orange) filter over my Nikon SB-900 flash. It comes with the flash. I still shot at ISO 12,800 ƒ/5.6 and 1/100 so that the background wouldn’t go dark and look natural. I also did a custom white balance using the ExpoDisc.

I wanted to be sure I was getting good skin tones, so I would get a few shots of speakers and people in the room using a fill flash.

In all of these photos I was what I call running and gunning. As a photojournalist I don’t stop people and ask them to do it again. Now when I shoot for a company where we need certain things to look a certain way it is OK to make changes–it isn’t photojournalism it is advertising or corporate communications.

It is due to all my training as a photojournalist that companies need me. They need a photographer that can deliver in any situation with photos that communicate.

The professional photographer needs to get the best possible photo and sometimes that means without taking away from the atmosphere of what you are covering. They need the fly on the wall and not the Hollywood film crew making the meeting a set for their movie or TV show. Sure the photos would look 100% better doing just that, but the reason they are having the meeting isn’t primarily for the photos.

Can you get photos like these of your meetings?  Maybe this is why you should hire a pro sometimes.

I get asked all the time which cameras I suggest people buy.  While I will mention specific models, those can change at anytime, so I will address features to look for when buying a DSLR camera.

I will first cover the different features and then my recommendations for the first time buyer of DSLR suggestions.

List of features:

• Effective pixels
• Sensor Size
• Card Slot/Storage Media
• Shooting speed
• ISO Sensitivity
• Movie
• File format still/video
• Lens Compatibility
• Maximum Auto Focus Points
• Built in flash
• Live View Shooting
• Microphone/Headphone for Video

There are many other features and even in these it maybe more than the nuts and bolts I think are most important.

Effective Pixels

How many pixels per inch does your camera capture?  First of all we need to know that for the most part today’s camera are capable of producing larger size prints than most people will ever need.  However with that said you could read this blog post if you need to figure out how big of a print the camera will produce.

There are basically two different physical sized sensors on the market.  Full framed sensors and cropped size of 1.5 or 1.6 sensors.

While the number of pixels may be the same the larger sensor has less noise as a rule and therefore cleaner images when taking photos at a higher ISO.

The larger full-framed sensor means you need lenses that support this.  The smaller sensor can usually use the full-framed size lenses, but not the other way around.  Lens made for the smaller sensors cannot be used on the larger sensor.

Besides noise differences the physical size of the camera gear weighs more and is heavier with the full-framed cameras.

Card Slot/Media Storage

DSLR cameras take 4 different types of cards. SD, CF, QXD & CFast.  The SD and CF are the two most dominant. The QXD is a new format used in the Nikon D4 and the CFast will be used in some newer Canon cameras.

SD cards are used in most point and shoot cameras and are the card readers are build into most laptop computers. If you choose any of the other cards then you will need a card reader most likely to transfer from the card to the computer.

You also want to read the small print details to see which cards in a format they support.

Shooting Speed

This refers to how many frames per second you can make.  Very important for things like sports photography.

ISO Sensitivity

In the days of film, the film you bought determined the ISO settings on the camera.  Today the digital camera works like having a shelf of film ready and you can change the sensitivity of the camera from frame to frame if you like. You can even let the camera figure all this out for you if you choose Auto ISO.

Basically the higher the second number the less light you need to make a picture. Today’s cameras are usually looking at ISO settings of 1600, 3200, 6400, 12,800, 25,600 or even higher.

The cameras have what they call their sweet range for the camera. It may look like this ISO 100 – 3200 and then state can be boosted to ISO 12,800 for example.  What this means is the ISO 3200 will make acceptable prints and the ISO numbers above this will give you an image, but it may be pixelated.

Movie

Many of the cameras will also take video.  In general there are two formats 720 and 1080.  This refers to the pixel height.  Both of these are really high resolution and if you are showing this video on a TV bigger than 46” you will notice a difference.

What type of movie file the camera makes is useful to know what you need on your computer to open it and or edit it.  Most all will play on any computer, but when it comes to editing this is when you need to really pay attention to the format.  You may have to purchase special editing software.

File formats

For stills the major thing to look for is if your camera shoots RAW in addition to JPEGs and possibly Tiff.  You have more control of a RAW image, but you need a RAW editing program like Adobe Lightroom or PhotoShop to edit these images.

Lens compatibility

If you buy a Nikon or Canon that doesn’t mean all the Nikon lenses will work on all the Nikon Cameras and the same for Canon.  Read the fine print. In general the entry-level cameras have less lens choices.

Higher end cameras have motors to operate lenses whereas some of the entry-level cameras save money and the lens has to have the motor.

Maximum focus points

Each camera manufacturer addresses this a little differently, but the general rule is the more expensive cameras in the manufacturers line have more focus points and more settings you can choose to help you focus a camera.  This is important to those who want the camera to help them focus more accurately and quickly.

Built in flash

While the top end cameras do not have built in flash there are many reasons you may like to have it. First of all they are not all that powerful, but they are always there if you need it. Second, both Nikon and Canon for example have very advanced flash systems where the built in flash can help trigger an off camera flash wirelessly. For the top end camera you will need to buy an additional piece of equipment to fire the off camera flash.

Live View Shooting

Since most cameras now have video capabilities, this helps photographers use the LCD screens on the back for more than just movie mode. You can often use this to view the subject rather than the viewfinder only.  Can help you when you want to shoot from the floor or above your head for example.

Microphone/headphone Jack

If you want to do some serious video with your DSLR then I suggest being sure it has a microphone jack. To control the recording level with just the camera you will need a headphone jack. If you have no headphone jack you can run your microphone through something like the Juicebox to monitor your recording levels.

First thing that needs to be decided is this for professional use or as a hobby?  I will first address the hobbyist.

Hobbyist suggestions

In general the least expensive camera will do for general all purpose shooting. However, if your hobby is photographing your children playing sports or wildlife for example you need to spend just a little more to be satisfied.

For the most part the number one feature to consider is the ISO. The highest ISO cameras will let you take photos in low light situations and/or situations where you need to stop the action.  ISO 6400 or higher is necessary to really shoot indoor sports and in the woods of wildlife.

If you are shooting sports inside the high ISO will let you make photos without a flash and this is very important for many sports where flash isn’t allowed.  Spend the extra $500 to $1,000 to get the high ISO.

You may also need to invest in faster lenses. Think of the ƒ-number for a lens as a fraction.  The smaller the fraction the cheaper the lens and requires more light to take a photo. In general a ƒ/2.8, ƒ/2 or ƒ/1.4 lens is what you want to photograph sports and wildlife.  This combined with a high ISO will let you get the photo.

The kit lens and low end camera is not going to be the camera for the parent with a kid in sports.  It is a great camera for people who travel and take photos of friends.

You may want to consider the full-framed camera to reduce noise as well if you are needing the high ISO.

In the Nikon lineup I recommend the Nikon 3200 for the person just wanting to take snapshots. If you want to do video as well I think the Nikon 5200 is the model I would look at due to the swiveling LCD.

For the sports shooter I would start with the Nikon D600.  If you have the funds then look into the Nikon D4.  It is the perfect camera for the sports shooter.

Considering going pro

The minute you decide you want to go pro plan on backup for everything. You need an extra body a few lenses and a couple flashes to do jobs. You cannot be caught shooting a wedding for example and the camera dies on you.

Now that you know you need two cameras and multiple lenses, be sure everything is compatible. For example While you can have one full-framed camera and the other a smaller chip, the lenses should most likely all be good for the full-frame or you will be caught if the smaller chip camera dies having to shoot everything with the full-framed camera.

Some of the major differences between the very top of the line cameras and the next level is about how well they are built.

The high end cameras have better seals to help keep out moisture. They are not water proof, but water resistent. Very important for the photojournalist who is called to shoot in all types of conditions. Even if you have the high end camera still buy some rain gear for the camera and lenses.

If you are primarily shooting portraits in a studio, then even the entry level cameras will work fine.  Put more of your money into lights and other gear, than all of it in a camera which is overkill for your use.

In general it is harder to make the mistake of buying too good of a camera if you can afford it.  The problem is under estimating and then having to sell the camera and buy a better camera later.  Cameras loose a lot of value quickly as compared to lenses, flashes and other camera gear.  As soon as the next model comes out your camera will drop in value and for every new model introduced since your camera, it will continue to drop.

There are three cameras I recommend for the pro shooter today in the Nikon lineup. Nikon D4, D800 or D600.

The Nikon D800 is the studio camera and for those who remember photographers shooting medium format, unless you are ready to shell out $25,000 for those cameras this is a great medium format quality camera in a DSLR 35mm size.  The D800 is also one of the favorite video cameras of those shooting video with DSLRs today.

If you need a work horse camera to shoot everything from sports, portraits, weddings, to video the Nikon D4 is the camera to get. It does a great job with video. It has microphone and headphone jacks making it possible to monitor sound.

I believe the Nikon D600 is the lower end pro camera only due to the weather seals and body build, but as far as functions, this camera rocks.

Today it is easier to sell your images than ever before.  I wanted to share what I am using to sell images online.

I have been posting images in galleries online for people to purchase since 1993, so from all this experience I chose PhotoShelter as my online gallery.

Here is what my clients see when they go to the home page of my gallery:

I could probably use this as my website.  It has everything pretty much here in addition to the galleries clients want to go to for their images.

Security

Now I can create a private gallery that with just an email and password people can access. I prefer doing this with most clients since they are less likely to pass around their email address with a password.

I can also create a gallery that has access with a password.

What can you order?

There are four things I offer on some of my galleries. Depending on which ones I turn on I have the option to sell: 1) Prints, 2) Products, 3) Downloads and 4) Rights managed Downloads.

This is an example of once a person likes a certain photo and clicks on the +Buy button they will see something like this screen above. The three colored arrows I added to help you see there are three of the four things I offer here with this photo.

Prints are highlighted here by the red arrow. My clients can order just about any size print that my supplier offers. I just go through the form when setting up my price and just those that I put my price on will show up.  I can have as many price lists I want and choose the list for any group of photos. I may have print prices really high since the photos might be rare or they are for fine art work to display in galleries.

The products tab which is highlighted by the blue arrow lets the customer order things like coffee mugs, mouse pads, t-shirts and more things like this. Again, only those item I choose to price will show up.

So many of my customers just want the digital image for usually two reasons. First of all most people want an image they can use on social media. They just want to display it for their Facebook friends for example.  These are low resolution and you cannot do too much with this size image other than social media.  I also offer a full high resolution download as well.  This is for folks that want to make their own prints. Since this means they will not be order a multiple print package and I will loose these sales the price is much higher to offset the sales I am loosing.

Rights Managed Sales

I also have media outlets and companies that want to buy my images to use to help their business. Depending how they want to use them they pay a different price. Now this is where the online website does so much for me that I would always prefer the customer buying online rather than the phone call.

The prices for stock sales go from really small amount to rather high due to how they plan to use it. PhotoShelter has built into their system FotoQuote’s pricing for stock. You can make modifications to the pricing structure. You can lower or raise your rates in different categories by percentage of fotoQuote’s rates.

The client just picks from the pull down menus and when they are done they have a price that they can agree upon and quickly pay and get the download right then.  No phone calls or negotiating.  Of course they can send an email and let me know they want to pay me double the price if they like, or as many will try and do get me to lower my price. Either way they now have a starting price based on parameters. Gives us a starting place for negotiation.

As you can see in the screen grab above, the client made choices and ended up with a quote of $126 for use of an image one time in the magazine and digital version.

What the photographer does to make all this work

I upload the high resolution images to PhotoShelter. I must pick a vendor to fullfil my prints and products. I then set the prices for the vendor.  I setup the prices for download for personal usage and also setup the rights managed prices.

After I upload and set of images then I normally select all the images in that gallery and price them choosing from the price lists I created.

I then set the security for the galleries and then send links to the customers I need to see the images.

The only other thing I can do is then also promote stock images I have for sale.

Once they are up I just get notices when an order is made and then payments online to my PayPal account. Now that is super easy for me.

Check out PhotoShelter yourself.

I have found that photography is one of the best gifts you can give. When we get together for events we often like to remember these times with photos.

Pure Fashion’s fashion show at St. Thomas More Church in Decatur, GA.

Making the Photo

When you point your camera at someone you are saying you are important. People do not take picture for the most part of things they dislike, rather they point their cameras to those things they cherish most. While we do not announce to everyone with a megaphone that is what we are doing, the act of photographing someone is giving that person importance.

I have been hired to help a client impress their clients by having a professional photographer to take photos of them at an event. Some clients will even create a red carpet and have extra people their popping the flashes on their camera just to help create that environment that those walking on the red carpet are important.

My daughter at her fashion show. She enjoyed learning how to carry herself and how to look her best.

Just taking someone’s picture is one of the best ways to give honor, dignity and respect to another person.

When we take pictures we are taking them not just for ourselves, but to share. We want to show our friends and family who we met and what we saw.

Professional makeup artists worked individually with all the Pure Fashion models to teach them how to apply makeup that help to accentuate their beauty without making them look over done.

My daughter is having her makeup done while her friend watches.

What I liked about this event was everyone was celebrating each other and learning from each other. They all wanted each other to look their best and it wasn’t about someone looking better than everyone.

Dressing Up

We take time every morning to go through a ritual to look our best. We learn what looks best on us. We are color coordinating clothing so we look not just out best, but the best for each situation.

Designer works with the models to show them how they can accessorize with her scarfs.

Pure Fashion teaches the model how to carry themselves. They know that the way you look and talk will help your self esteem.  The confidence you project helps to draw people to you.

Our next door neighbor and my daughter’s friend is in the program as well.

I tried taking photos of the girls walking the runway with available light, but decided I wanted the best possible light.  I wanted the photos to look their best. If they had taken this much time to pick out outfits and style their hair and put on makeup–I needed to bring my best as well.

I put four Alienbees B1600s with 7″ reflector in the corners of the room bouncing off the ceiling.  They at on 1/8 power so I was shooting at ISO 1250.

One of the most important things to me in a photograph is expression.  Here I feel like I captured the fun everyone was having.

Sharing the Photographs

Giving people photos after they come to your home for a party is a great way to help them and you remember those good times. People may put your photos even in the most honored spot in the American home–the refrigerator door.

Today I probably share as many photos with my friends and family through Facebook as anywhere else.

For the Pure Fashion event I wanted to share the photos but also make it easy for the parents to order prints or just about anything they like to put their daughter’s photos on. I put all the photos in an online gallery.

Here are the photos I shared with the parents.

Once they click on the image and see it larger, they can click on the “+Buy” green button. When they do that this window pops up.

They can see the photo on the left and options. If they click the tab in the top right hand corner they can choose to order products (i.e. coffee mugs, mouse pads, iPad covers, etc) or they can choose download as show below here.

I gave the parents the option to order a small resolution image for use in Social Media (Facebook, Twitter etc) or they could purchase at a higher price the higher resolution image which they can use to make their own prints.

Today I think people want the digital image at least large enough for them to share using their preference for Social Media.

Other Outlets

Since Pure Fashion was hosted by St. Thomas More Church, which is part of the Archdiocese of Atlanta. I have done work in the past for their newspaper The Georgia Bulletin.  I sent an email to the editor and asked if they were interested and they even had a writer already there.

They were very interested in the photos. Now besides having a photos made of each model so they could have a professional photograph from the event to remember it, they were going to be celebrated through the media.

Even if the model’s photo isn’t used in the publication it elevates the event and makes this a big deal. It helps to improve their self esteem.

You can bless someone’s life

One of my good friends started taking pictures and giving them to people. While he was working in Japan his son’s played baseball. They spoke almost no Japanese. He would take action photos, team photos and even individuals of each of the boys on the team.

He made prints and found some nice folios to put the photos in to give to each of the parents. He knew in Japanese culture your presentation of a gift was just as important as the gift.

The families had not ever had this done before and the response was overwhelming. Today some of those families have flown from Japan to visit them in the states.

My friend discovered that his hobby of taking photos was a blessing to those he gave the photos.

Want to be a blessing to others and improve their self esteem–take photos and share them.

My daughter dressed up for Halloween this year as Alice: Madness Returns..

Not a day goes by where I am not hearing or reading some photographer complaining about the new normal for the industry.

What is the new normal?

Here is a list of some of the changes that impacts the industry:

• Instant results – Today the digital camera gives unprecedented quick feedback to the photographer. Before digital you had to wait at least 90 seconds to see an image you just took. Polaroid camera let you create a quick print.
• Auto focus – The biggest area this has impacted in my opinion has been sports. It wasn’t that long ago when you had to know how to follow focus to get an in focus photograph of action sports.
• Matrix Metering – The earliest SLR cameras didn’t have meters built in. Later when they were built in the photographer still had to know how to use it because just pointing at a scene would not give you consistent results. Today’s matrix metering TTL systems allow the camera to take multiple readings through the lens and using very complex algorithms giving extremely accurate exposures. Each time a new camera is introduced, it appears to be even more accurate than the previous generation.
• TTL Flash – We have come a long way since in the days of Matthew Brady where they had to use flash powder to take a photograph in low light situations. You can now control unlimited number of hotshoe flashes within the camera. The accuracy isn’t quite as good as matrix metering is with available light, but this is so much better than we have ever experienced.
• YouTube – Today if you want to know how to photograph just about anything you can search for it on YouTube and there will be many videos teaching you how to do this for free.  There are almost no secrets any more that give some photographers an edge over their competition.
• Online Photography Databases – Flickr is just one example of online database that you can search for photos at incredibly low prices or even for free to use. You can upload images and if you do a good job with key wording your images are visible to the world. In the past you had Stock Photography Agencies that you had to use. The agencies would push those photographers whose images typically sold well. They didn’t have the time or resources to put just any photos into the system for consideration.

It is very easy to complain about your situation. It is easy to talk about how some people are causing you to loose business.

Photographers need to wake up and realize every business is going through this today. Just look at how many professions are almost gone due to the invention of the personal computer. How many secretaries lost their jobs in the 1980s and 1990s when it first came out?

The United States Postal Service has been crippled due to email. We no longer need them to send a letter to someone.

Why stop whining?

1. Complaining about your work is excusing yourself from responsibility. You are only convincing yourself it isn’t your responsibility and no one else.
2. You are annoying everyone. You may find yourself being defriended on Facebook or just not knowing they are no longer paying attention to you.
3. You are wasting time and being nonproductive.

This is a Habitat for Humanity volunteer helping a family improve their situation with affordable housing.

Take charge of the situation

1. Look for solutions – Blowing off a little steam is OK and even healthy to do. Learn to roll with the punches. You need to focus on talking through a situation to look for solutions rather than just talking in circles.
2. Be the hero and not the victim – When you are feeling frustration remember it is rooted in fear. What are you afraid of? Once you have identified your fear it is much easier to then to address what you need to do to overcome this obstacle.
3. Count to ten – When you feel that urge to complain, stop and look for a solution.

Pray

The American theologian Reihold Niebuhr wrote the Serenity Prayer that was later adopted by the Alcoholics Anonymous and I recommend for Whiners.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.

According to a University of Wisconsin-Madison sociologist, 75 percent of Americans who pray on a weekly basis do so to manage a range of negative situations and emotions — illness, sadness, trauma and anger.  What is often happening with people who pray is they are considering another point of view. In the case of prayer they are considering God’s perspective.

If you are unwilling to acknowledge that your perspective is limiting, then you may never get over whining.