Posts from the ‘Tuesdays With Nate’ Category

This is a little follow up to my TWN post from last week on macro photography. I figured I’d give everyone a bit of a visual explanation. This may be redundant for some of you, but for those just getting into macro photography and creative ring shots, I hope this helps…

How to macro from Studio222Photography on Vimeo.

PS. We’ve enabled the Facebook LIKE button on our blog which means you can now LIKE blog posts as well as leaving us comments. It’s right below the normal comment box and if I’m not mistaken, if you LIKE our posts, it shows up on your newsfeed. Don’t quote me on that though, I’m new to the feature. So if you’re a man (or woman) of not-so-many words, you can still show us your love via “LIKE”. ;)

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I proposed to Becka with this ring exactly 1 year ago today with this ring

If there is one thing in life that I’ve gotten pretty good at, it’s playing drums. A close second is my macro photography. I particularly enjoy doing ring shots at weddings. We get a lot of people asking how we do it and what we use, and insisting that there is some secret we’re not telling. The truth is, I do most of our rings shots hand-held because time is usually of the essence at a wedding. Our sharpest rings shots usually come from weddings where I had time to do an actual setup for the shots. To do great ring shots, or really any macro photography, there are a few things you need…

Right equipment – There are hundreds of lenses, gadgets, lights, and tools you can use to get great macro shots. They can be extremely pricey, but you can take great macro photos without spending a ton of money.

Lenses- You might be surprised at how well you can do with your telephoto lens. Try backing up and zooming in as far as you can, setting the focus manually to the shortest focal distance, and moving closer slowly until your subject comes into focus. Most photographers have a 24-70 that does pretty well too. However, a true macro lens projects the image onto your sensor at the exact size as it is in real life. That’s what they mean by a 1:1 ratio. We use the Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro.

Tripod – A good tripod is invaluable. Ours can lay sideways, and the legs spread out to nearly horizontal, so I can position the camera close to the ground or a table. Because of the shallow depth of field associated with macro photography, a tripod is essential to keep things in focus.

Camera Remote – No matter how solid your tripod is, even the slightest jiggle from pressing the shutter button can prevent your image from being as crisp as it could be. Also, having a shutter release and a tripod allows you to take long exposure macro shot (good for rings and still life, not so much nature.)

Lighting - A macro ring light, although not a tool I currently use (or an afford at the moment), is a great way to light close up subjects evenly. At weddings, you will very rarely find yourself with adequate lighting for rings. I sometimes use a flashlight, or bounce my flash off of a nearby wall. Also, try putting your subject directly on or near a light source (bottom lit table, lamp, flashlight).

Timing and focus - Once you have your gear picked out, and your shot set up, you’ve got to take the shot. Patience is key.  When hand-holding the shot, you will see your subject coming in and out of focus ever so slightly. Take two or three slow breaths while you dial in your focus to be precisely where you want it, exhale, hold your breath and fire off as many shots as you can until you have to breath again. I’ve come pretty close to passing out at weddings, but it’s worth it.

Setup – Finding unique ways to show your subject can make your shot really special. Take the time to look at your environment and think out of the box. We’ve used champagne, seashells, sandspurs, fruit, magazine ads, bullets, and more in some of our shots. (You can see some of our favorite ring shots from last year here.) Of course, when you feel stuck, you should have some go-to ideas for what you’re going to do. Find unique ways to stack or balance your subject, or something fun to put it on that adds unique elements to the photo, like color or reflection. Details from the reception decor are good go-to inspiration too.

Scale – The most important thing I look for in creating unique ring shots is something that brings the size of the subject into reality. And if you’re taking a super close up picture of something small, other small things look equally as cool under the lens. When I first tried to take a picture of Becka’s engagement ring, my first instinct was to do it with her favorite pair of shoes, with the beautiful red soles. I might as well have taken the picture on red construction paper. When I was close enough to show off the ring, the shoes were lost in the scale and turned into a red blob, when I tried to show off the shoes, the ring was tiny by comparison. Of course if you want to show something bigger off, you can always use a different lens. Becka likes to use the 50mm 1.2 sometimes to take a wider ring shot.

In conclusion… A good macro lens, a tripod, lighting, and creativity are all you really need to pull of some incredible macro images. Here’s a few shots of Becka’s garden showing my simple setup. Just substitute rings for flowers and you get the idea…

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I’m back! It’s been a few weeks since I’ve been able to write a full bodied TWN post but I’m excited to be back and I’ve got some cool stuff to talk about. Hope you don’t mind geeking out with me for the next few minutes. If you know us (or have ever read our blog before) you know that we (or at least I) are complete fanboys of Apple, not to mention how grateful I am that for so long the company has taken care of us. People ask us all the time about our iPad (most people ask us before asking if we bought one, just assuming we would, and we did… so I guess they assumed correctly). We’ve had it for about a month now, and it’s about time I shared with you my thoughts on it. However, there are thousands of reviews out there about this thing, so I’m just going to highlight how we, as photographers make the most of it.

It’s a beautiful mobile portfolio
We love to be able to show our work to people we meet, but it’s so impersonal to hand someone a card and hope they remember to come by your site later. The quality of the pictures on the iPad is amazing. And it’s a huge visual difference from viewing them on an iPhone. We set up a few albums of our favorites (wedding favs, details, photo booths, getting ready etc…) and two complete weddings to show potential new friendclients what we give back. We also use the photo frame feature to play through our favorites as a slideshow when we are in meetings.

Great mobile email
We both love the email on our iPhones, but when it comes to longer correspondence, having a larger keyboard is great. The email interface is beautiful and fast, and after a little getting used to, typing is a breeze.

Documents
Document creation is a simple (after that typing learning curve that I mentioned earlier). The notes app that comes with the iPad is nice and syncs up with your mail app, but two other apps are a MUST for iPad users. One is Pages, the app on which I’m typing this blog entry, which allows for word processing and transfers files back to your computer, or can be exported as a PDF or Microsoft Word doc (if you’re into that sort of thing). Another crucial app is called Goodreader, which allows you to save documents locally and browse and organize them on your device. It also allows you to save from mail or transfer via USB.

Entertainment
Ok, not a professional use maybe, but busy photographers also need to be able to lay back and enjoy their “free time”. ;) The best example of this for me is the Netflix app, and a close second is Stumbleupon. Both apps are free, and provide hours of entertainment, or are handy if you throw your back out and just need to lay down and watch Arrested Development for a couple hours. It’s also much easier to watch movies and TV shoes on the iPad than the iPhone. Bigger screen, and you can set it to sit up on it’s own. We have yet to take it on a plane but we’re really excited about using it while we travel! The battery life is much better than the iPhone so you can actually watch movie after movie without worrying about needing to recharge.

Potential ideas
There are lots of people talking about what the iPad might do for them, I’ve heard everything from album design and proofing to new apps for studio management. Perhaps some are more practical than others. One idea I’ve been toying with is using the iPad to control your Mac via a program like Mobile Mouse, and creating hotkey shortcuts to quickly edit and sort pictures in a program like Aperture. (See video below.) Another thing we’re looking forward to is using the camera connection kit to quickly import some of our favorite pictures for a same-day preview for our couples at wedding receptions. Not only will the camera connection kit allow you to individually select the images you want to import, but it also imports RAW and video files directly to the iPad. If you want to get really fancy you can even run them through an editor like Photogene or Photoshop Mobile.  Some other things we’re excited about include digital versions of our client’s wedding albums pre-sized for the iPad so our clients can have a complete mobile version of their album to show to friends and family. (Clients, this service is now included with our largest album and available with any album. Ask us about it if you’re interested.) If you’ve got any other ideas, suggestions, or recommendations please let me know!

Final thoughts
It is not a replacement for your main computer, but it is much more than “glorified” iPod touch.  It won’t replace your Macbook Pro. It is easy to use, and amazingly powerful, but the thing that really makes me excited is its potential. The first iPhone blew me away, even before the app store, before the ability to send mms, and before the screen would rotate in every app. This is the first implementation of an amazing device. There will be lots of new apps, new changes, and we will find new uses. For now, don’t sell your computer and try to run your business with an iPad, but if you can get your hands on one, try it and enjoy it!

Watch below…. the iPad as a control board for Adobe Lightroom…

A New Idea for the iPad from Studio222Photography on Vimeo.

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