If magically I could have any lens on the camera at any moment, I would be switching lenses all the time. If I could do this in the blink of an eye, I would. They would probably all be prime lenses, but often this isn’t very practical.

Since magically switching lenses with a blink of an eye isn’t possible, I decided to take my Sigma 35mm ƒ/1.4 Art lens mounted on my Nikon Z6 and then keep the Nikon 28-300mm ƒ/3.5-5.6 on my Nikon D5 as I went through the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden which is just north of Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii.

I think you sometimes will need to read the specs to tell the difference. When shooting the 28-300mm @ 300mm, the compression creates a shallow depth of field even at ƒ/5.6.

Sometimes the shallow depth of field is almost too shallow. So I would shoot some at different apertures and then pick.

I think I like some from both lenses for different reasons. What do you think?

I think that the ƒ/1.4 is a really smooth and silky BOKEH, but the 300mm @ ƒ/5.6 isn’t bad if you didn’t have that one lens.

The more I travel, the more I think if you have to be weight conscious, the Nikon 28-300mm ƒ/3.5-5.6 is an excellent lens.

[NIKON Z 6, VR Zoom 24-105mm f/4G IF-ED, Mode = Aperture Priority, ISO 250, 1/500, ƒ/4, (35mm = 24)]

We often enjoy photographing sunsets and even talk about the Golden Hour of light for photography. The Golden Hour (sometimes called the Magic Hour) is usually defined as the first and last hour of sunlight in the day when the exceptional quality of light yields stunning photographs.

I have found that when it comes to matching the artificial light of buildings within the Golden Hour, it shrinks to just minutes of suitable time for great light.

Now the difference between this photo where the light outside is balancing well with the restaurant’s light was just a few minutes between too much light and too little light from the sun.

The top photo of my wife was shot at 6:32 pm. Right about the time of sunset. This one just above was shot at 6:18 pm.

From my many years of shooting, I have noticed that from the time of actual sunset to when balancing light with artificial lights like here, you have about 15 to 20 minutes tops for good photos. I think there is a 5-minute window for the best pictures.

My favorite shot was done on my Galaxy S10 phone and with a wide-angle lens. That is 13mm, equivalent to the 35mm camera. This is shot at 6:40 pm, 13 minutes after sunset.

By the way, the food and atmosphere of The Fish Hopper in Kona, Hawaii, are excellent. The waitress was one of the best we have ever had. Big shout out to Bridget Kaleki Butler for the recommendation.

The photo above is of Don Senas, Fire Dancer [NIKON Z 6, VR Zoom 24-105mm f/4G IF-ED, Mode = Aperture Priority, ISO 100, 1/320, ƒ/4, (35mm = 75)]

This week I have been teaching how to use studio strobes to help improve one’s photography.

Last night was the only time I have had the class join me for an actual photo shoot that they can watch, take some photos to help remember the occasion, but primarily have the opportunity to watch pros and what they do on a photo shoot using studio strobes to improve the lighting.

My wife Dorie Griggs took a video on her phone of me taking the photos and the students watching. Here is that video:

You can see the strobes off to the side at about 45º from the camera angle.

All those were shot at these settings: [NIKON Z 6, VR Zoom 24-105mm f/4G IF-ED, Mode = Aperture Priority, ISO 100, 1/160, ƒ/4, (35mm = 24)]

These photos are of Brooke Valle Anderson, a Hawaiian Dancer. She is with Island Breeze. They do luau shows on the Big Island.

Brooke also works with a Hula Keiki (children’s) after-school program where the children learn different dances.

Earlier in the day, I taught the class how to use an off-camera strobe to complement the existing light. Here are some of the shots I did to show them how to do this before they each went and spent the afternoon shooting an assignment to do an environmental portrait and use the flash to improve the photo.

They were to hand in a before and after photo like I am showing here.

I also gave them a PDF for the assignment. Here is a link to that project if you want to try this.

Here are a couple examples I showed them that are “Environmental Portraits”

Here are some that would also work for this assignment from my photo shoot in a Chick-fil-A. All of these also use a strobe to improve the light.

This was the last assignment of my time here on the Big Island of Hawaii, teaching the students in the School of Photography 1 at the University of the Nations. The last assignment they did is the one that I do more than any other lighting setup.

I am adding just one light off the camera to help light a person’s face to help draw the audience to them quickly in a photo.

“If you want to be a better photographer, stand in front of more interesting stuff.”

Jim Richardson

Settings for photo above: [NIKON Z 6, 24.0-105.0 mm f/4.0, Mode = Manual, ISO 100, 1/6, ƒ/9, (35mm = 24)]

I shoot a lot in restaurants. The hardest part of these photo shoots is that there are four walls, and three are all glass. Just the front counter isn’t backlit during the daytime hours.

I love to hang strobes from the drop ceilings using a bracket.

I just used the Flashpoint XPLOR 600 HSS TTL Battery-Powered Monolight as a bare bulb and pointed the light straight up.

That lets me keep the outside windows from being blown out in the background and gives me great light on people’s faces most of the time.

The light from the window is lighting the employee, and the strobe in the ceiling is lighting the customer in this photo.

The other great thing about using this setup is that the strobes are battery-powered, so there are no cords. I am adjusting the power with the Godox X1T-N TTL Wireless Flash Trigger Transmitter.

I could change the lights’ power even though they were mounted on the ceiling away from the camera. I first check to see what the existing light settings would be and then set the camera to use that ISO and settings so that the flash is just cleaning up the light and where there are shadows [like the man’s face would have been] are no longer silhouettes.

Now to get the photo like the one here and the very top photo, I just slowed the shutter speed to 1/6 and cranked the aperture up to ƒ/9 and ISO 100. As I mentioned, the flash is on the ceiling, and since it is TTL, it just popped in to get a clean light on the face, and then my panning blurred the rest of the photo.

Just getting the flash off the camera is my best tip. Try mounting the moment to the ceiling rather than on a light stand.

Try some experimenting. You don’t always shoot the lowest ISO and at the flash sync speed when shooting with the Flashpoint XPLOR 600 HSS TTL Battery-Powered Monolight.

If you don’t have a good headshot, you need one in today’s business world. For actors they need them for all the shows they are in. For the average person you need one as part of your resume, which many use LinkedIn as the way to deliver a resume.

I have steered away from picture backgrounds because they can look fake. However, recently more and more people want photos outside on location.

So while the traditional solid background works for inside portraits, outside portraits on weather-challenging days are challenging to do with your model.

So this is the setup I used to do actor headshots at Columbus State University in Columbus, Georgia.

Before I shot the models with it on location, I did some testing in my house.

I tried a few lighting setups. I went with the Pall Buff 86” Soft Silver PLM™ Umbrella. It produces a steady, feathered falloff with very soft shadows.

I had two setups. One with an extensive white muslin background that I could make grey or white depending on the light I put on the background.

My wife took a video when I was shooting my daughter in the brick background.

Here are some of those photos:

I did less coaching with Chelle since she had done this many times before and needed no real direction. For others doing this for the first time, I did more instruction.

I shot with my Nikon Z6 with the focus setting on AF-S and Auto Area with the AF face/eye detection turned on. Using the Nikon ViewNX-i software will let you see where you were focused when the photo was taken, as you can see here. This is great for troubleshooting your focus.

I find that actors/models love the freedom to try new expressions and experiment.

This was the setup I finally used after experimenting.

Organist in the Roswell Presbyterian Historic Sanctuary for the 8:15 am Worship service. [NIKON Z 6, 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6, Mode = Aperture Priority, ISO 2200, 1/200, ƒ/4, (35mm = 28)]

Today I photographed three different worship services at my church using my Nikon Z6 mirrorless camera. I arrived early and knew I had to shoot without a flash, but I wanted to see if I could shoot with the silent shutter.

So I switched the camera to silent mode. Here are the instructions from the camera manual.

After setting the camera to silent mode, I took a picture of the plain wall and got banding, as you can see. So I couldn’t shoot in silent mode. But, the Nikon Z6 is still much quieter than the DSLR.

I was shooting wide-open apertures most of the time. I had the Auto ISO set to @ 1/200 for shutter speed.

In the historic sanctuary, it was pretty dark. For the most part, I was shooting ISO 2200 on the balcony with the organist. A fluorescent light directly over her kept the ISO lowest in the room. In the pews, ISO 22800 is in the middle of the room. I was able to shoot as low as ISO 8000 by the windows.

After the first service, I captured the minister talking to the people outside.

So for the first service, I shot everything with the Nikon 28-300mm ƒ/3.5–5.6. It worked just fine.

With Auto ISO set, go to ISO 51200. I found the shutter speed was dropping to 1/15 at ISO 51200. I ran to my car and got my 85mm ƒ/1.8 and 35mm ƒ/1.4. Even with those fast lenses, the light in the Contemporary Worship service was dismal. I was in a gym using mood lighting. It was dark.

I was still at ISO 51200, but at ƒ/1.8, I could have a shutter speed of 1/125 when photographing the people in the congregation.

I was dropping some room parts to 1/30, ƒ/1.8 @ ISO 51200.

With the 35mm ƒ/1.4, I was wide open at ISO 51200 and shooting 1/30.

There was no way to photograph people in a dark room like this with a zoom lens. So I needed the fastest prime lenses I owned.

The last service was in the brightest room. I could pull out that 28-300mm, zoom in, and capture these two friends enjoying worship together. I love my Nikon Z6 because it lets me focus on moments and people. I had to think and be sure I had the right lens on the camera, but the technology let me capture the moments that will help my church show they are a place where people can be themselves and feel welcomed and bring anyone they know to worship with them.

Savanna Sturkie, a 2017 graduate, is being interviewed by Mark Johnson on Photo Night @ The Grady College of Journalism & Mass Communications, University of Georgia. [NIKON Z 6, 24.0-105.0 mm f/4.0, Mode = Aperture Priority, ISO 25600, 1/200, ƒ/4, (35mm = 32)]

The point of Photo Night is to help learn from photographers. Sturkie graduated from UGA in 2017 and worked as an intern for Food & Wine Magazine in Birmingham, Alabama. She wanted to be a food photographer.

Sturkie was asked how she changed from a full-time job to a freelance. She first explained she was on track for editing and not shooting in her position with Food & Wine Magazine.

She said she doesn’t recommend doing what she did for the transition. Most people, she said, work part-time while building their freelance. She was just so unhappy with her trajectory and needed a change.

She quit and moved to Atlanta, Georgia, from Birmingham, Alabama.

“I emailed relentlessly photographers that I wanted to work with or learn from,” said Sturkie.

Three things she recommends

• Get Coffee with photographers
• Photo Assisting
• 2nd Shooter

Getting coffee with photographers was a way to learn. She said that she never got a chance to work with one particular photographer she had coffee with, but what she learned during that coffee time was some of the most valuable information.

Coffee Time

• Listen – This is the most important thing to do when you have coffee.
• What can I learn from this photographer? It would help if you were focused on realizing you are starting and they are further ahead of you.
• Develop the relationship – The industry is small, and you need a network of people to make it. They may hire you, refer you or be a resource.

Photo Assisting

While you have some skills, you can learn so much by just watching another seasoned photographer. You also get to make some money when assisting. This is doing whatever they need when they are on the job. You may be getting lenses for them. Helping carry gear and setting up is also part of the job. The key is to be willing to do just about anything to lessen the load on the photographer.

2nd Shooter

80% of Sturkie’s work is weddings. When she first helped in assisting, she hated it. She helped a photographer with a style that didn’t feel good, and the lady wasn’t pleasant at all to work with.

She did find other photographers doing a photojournalistic wedding style. By being a second shooter she was getting to shoot, but also learn about the business of weddings.

Today

Sturkie is now doing food photography, weddings, and other photo projects as they come up.

Personal Projects

Sturkie also said that you must create your project to keep that creative fire going. The photo above is one of her projects. She wanted to do a 1960s fashion shoot. She paid to get all the clothes and had a studio space for the photo shoot.

Sturkie said, “You need to self-assign.”

While Mark Johnson was interviewing Dave Labelle during Photo Night @ The Grady College of Journalism & Mass Communications, University of Georgia, he joked that this might sound like, “Get off my lawn.”

He was addressing that veteran photojournalist and talking mainly to a room full of college students.

“What would you say is the purpose of photojournalism today?” asked Mark Johnson of Labelle.

Labelle said, “Humans are still the same.” He explained that while the technology to tell stories has evolved, storytelling has always been here. “Visual storytelling has also always been here, ” Labelle said. Storytellers had always used words to paint pictures, even before there were visuals.

Labelle said that with technology as advanced as it has become today, “The Glory Years are now.”

Photo Night was a concept started by Billy Weeks.

The format is where a photographer is interviewed and brings just three images they want to discuss. Many photographers often ramble, and this format works great. Billy and now Mark can help steer the conversation to the nuggets of wisdom the audience will benefit from the most.

Here are some of the tidbits that I considered gems from Dave Labelle worth sharing with you.

Labelle said to the students, “You are acquiring skills now from your classes for a job in the future you don’t even know about.”

“Calm seas never made a sea captain.” He said that if you have a lot of privilege, you don’t learn as much as when you struggle in life experiences.

I asked Labelle if there was a reason they could see the story before they talked to people? He said that he grew up with a father who got angry and would go into rages. He said his wife thinks that his background made him good at reading people and situations from a pure survival mode.

Mark Johnson asked Labelle, “How do you help today’s generation look up and out from their phones?”

“I’m a hugger,” was Labelle’s response. He said he needed to engage with people. The power of human touch is what moves his soul. He said he is never bored because he loves meeting people.

Sharing these stories of people he finds with others is his way of giving hope to people. Hearing and seeing people overcome struggles is his way of showing the world a sense of hope to provide them with purpose.

I see many photographers who play the victim or the villain in their own lives.

They have a client that picks another photographer for a job, which sends them into a tailspin. “Woe is me” is what you hear them saying in one way or another.

Anyone can see there is a reason to be upset, but you cannot be successful living with this mindset. The problem is you are not addressing the anger you feel.

People who feel victimized tend to view events in their lives as happening to them and feel ineffective and overwhelmed. They also operate on the basic assumption that the world should be fair, a child’s way of thinking. You can learn to deal with this in a much more productive way.

You must understand that anger is a simple, irrational emotional response to frustration.

When we examine the loss of a job to another photographer, we often think that the client “should” use us. We believe there is some sense of obligation of them to us.

I started this blog with a picture of the forest, but what we see in the image above. Something within the forest. Often it is just a tree or even a flower.

I think it is essential for you to give up a sense of entitlement and to recognize that you do not inherently deserve to receive anything in the way of good treatment from others.

Too many photographers will talk badly about other photographers. This is often done by those who feel like a victim and now are acting as a villain. They have turned that anger into putting down others to make themselves look better.

Putting those around you down alienates people and drives them away from you. You are now negative energy. Creatives don’t thrive in this environment and will most likely distance themselves from you.

If you have watched professional ice skating competitions, you have seen failure. It is often just one small mistake, but that means they go home without a medal that day.

Skaters will analyze their performance over and over. They will work with a coach to help them nail it next time.

After losing a job, my first go to do just like skaters and look for where I failed.

Today I realize that this is often not the only thing we should be doing.

We need to think of things from a higher perspective. It would be best if you thought of this from the client’s perspective.

Sometimes you may lose the job because:

• They have a friend who is a photographer
• They have been asked to try a new approach
• Someone offered to do it for free
• They want to see what someone else can do for them
• They want some variety
• A new person is now doing the hiring
  • They hire their friends
  • They have a photographer they worked with in the past
• A person in the company has someone they recommended they use, and that person is someone with political power

Wakeup Call

• Let this be something to make you try new things.
• Ask yourself, on the last job, was I listening to the client
• Go and produce some new work to send to that client
• Work on updating your portfolio
• There are seasons with clients, and maybe the season has changed
• Time to market yourself and find more clients

The Hero in a story faces challenges. It is a moving story when the hero must go into a burning building and get someone out. It isn’t interesting as a story if they take the elevator to the 2nd floor, meet someone, and go to lunch.

Heroes in stories face challenges and overcome them.

Play the Hero. Remind yourself that this is a hiccup, and you need to embrace it and learn from it. Find a way that this can make you a better person and not a bitter person.

Be the Hero of your story and not the victim or the villain.

Professional headshots are not just for actresses and models. Every person in business needs a professional headshot.

A first impression is what a person thinks of you when they first meet you. It is the feeling they get or the initial evaluation that a person does of you when they first meet you. It can be done during a glance, in conversation, or even from a distance when someone looks at your body language.

People will judge you as a warm or cold personality very quickly. They also will evaluate your competency in how you present yourself.

Your headshot makes you real in the virtual world. Yet some people continue to leave their headshot blank on places like LinkedIn, or they don’t take it seriously when they do upload one. 

• Don’t use a selfie. Using a lousy headshot, you are making your first impression suffer.
• Don’t use images where you’ve cropped others out of the frame; it’s weird.
• Don’t use images with multiple people in the photo. 
• Don’t leave it blank – this makes you less accurate and more suspicious in the virtual world.

Your headshot should be just as polished as all your marketing materials if you want to leave that great first impression that portrays you as the sharp and competent expert you are.

As part of your branding, a photo of you that communicates your professionalism and approachability improves your messaging.

If your current LinkedIn headshot is from 10 years ago, it’s time to upgrade.

Believe it or not, a professional headshot can be quick and painless. If you work with your photographer to plan out all the details, it should take no time at all to capture the perfect headshot.

I posted this photo on my Facebook page and got a lot of comments. I thought I would write here about my setup.

My first camera, which I am not using but only this camera, is straight on and shooting a little loose—always shooting interviews on 4K. Let me crop in and do some Ken Burns Effects. The Ken Burns effect is a panning and zooming effect used in video production from still imagery. The name derives from the extensive use of the technique by American documentarian Ken Burns. 

This first camera lets me get some gestures when the subject moves their hands.

I position the subject on one of the 1/3 vertical spots in the frame and typically look to the side with more space.

I usually put one camera to a much tighter side. I like the second camera to be tighter where I focus more on the subject’s facial expression.

Here you can see the setup from the subject’s perspective. I have one light off at 45º to keep me from getting raccoon eyes due to the top lighting. I like having good Rembrandt-style lighting on the face for interviews. I keep the cameras all on the shadow side of the light to give me some modeling on the face.

Then the three cameras are what I call the sizzle camera. Here I am using a motorized slider constantly moving on a loop.

Couple quick tips

• FOCUS – I am trying and shooting on manual focus. To keep the person focused when they move, I typically shoot around ƒ/5.6.
• FOCUS SETUP – Once I get the composition set, I zoom in to check the eye’s critical focus. I do this on my Cameras by pushing the + button on the back of the camera. Since both the Nikon Z6 and D5 have touch screens, I can pinch them like you would with your smartphone.

My primary microphone is typically a wireless lavalier Omni directional microphone put on a shirt near the subject’s breast bone. This is always manually adjusted using closed headphones and the audio meter on the camera.