This week, the Challengers and I are photographing “movement.” Capturing movement isn’t hard. Don’t sweat bullets over it. Your execution may become more calculated than other times but after all, this is a challenge.
Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. All I ask is that you try – that’s all I’m going to do too. But since we’re moving into the weekend and I haven’t even tried to snap a photo yet, I thought a little inspiration might get the old gears turning.
Focal Length: 21mm
Exposure: 0.8 sec
Aperture: f/14.0
ISO: 400
Focal Length: 50mm
Exposure: 0.077 sec (1/13)
Aperture: f/3.2
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 21mm
Exposure: 1.0 sec
Aperture: f/14.0
ISO: 400
Focal Length: 31mm
Exposure: 0.167 sec (1/6)
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO: 1600
Slow down your shutter speed. Try a darker setting. Pull out your tripod. Experiment with panning. Shoot from above. Shoot from below. Just push yourself – you’ll be more satisfied in the end.
At Christmas, my parents took the easy route that’s always appreciated: cash money. Their only requirement for accepting the cold, hard cash money was to spend it on something. Our vacation was coming up and I mentioned maybe I’d spoil myself to a massage. Not being what they had in mind, DAd reminded me that I had been talking about getting a new camera bag. I had been talking about a new camera bag… for a while now… hmmm.
With the recent purchase of Mac Daddy (I love my 7D!), the square footage in my Crumpler no longer existed. I could only carry two lenses and the kit lens had to be on the body for it all to fit. I had been shopping/eyeballing/drooling over new camera bags – or camera purses rather – for well over a year but the purchase kept taking a backseat to other things. With my Christmas loot in hand, I started my research all over. And after taking my lunch to work for five straight weeks, I had saved up enough dough to make my research a reality. And now momma’s got a new camera bag. I mean, camera purse.
And it’s green. Thanks to Kelly Moore. Her b-hobo bag was the perfect size for what I carry on a shoot and her videos showing how the bag fit to the body and exactly what all it could hold sold me. It’s comfortable, it feels nice and it doesn’t look like a traditional boxy camera bag. Camera purse for the win.
The cool thing about this bag is it comes with two straps. A cross-body strap (which I prefer) that can be shortened or extended for whatever length you need. And a shorter shoulder strap – when it’s on the bag it really does look like a normal hobo purse. On Saturday, my friend was actually surprised to see me pull my camera out of it. (I took her on a tour after this.)
There are extra pockets to hold my girly stuff, my wallet, my phone – no need to carry two bags or try to cram all my miscellaneous stuffs in my tiny pockets. (What is up with how small women’s pockets are? Men don’t need bags because they can fit a small country into their pant pockets. However, I can barely fit my hand in mine to fetch out a penny. What gives?)
The pockets my hold more than my stuffs – I got one filled with wiping cloths, my handy remote and extra CF cards. But in addition to the two zippered pockets on the front, there’s a large zippered pocket on the back and two open side pockets.
The inside is where it’s at – full on camera bag. Velcro city to help compartmentalize all my camera stuffs. Soft sides offer the protection Mac Daddy deserves. Mac fits nicely in the middle – I have both lenses posted on either side of the bag. A place for everything and everything in it’s place.
While it houses my equipment nicely, it actually has great access for a shoot. I can leave it unzipped and fetch things in and out quite quickly. And I only have to worry about getting grass stains on my clothes because the bag wipes down easily. Being green might also help with that.
But yeah, a lovely new camera purse in my arsenal. It’s been coming to work with me everyday.
It feels nice to have Mac with me 24/7.
I shared last week I ordered a new lens. I just didn’t tell you which one. I researched three primes: Canon 28mm f/1.8, Canon 35mm f/2.0 and the Sigma 30mm f1.4. Not the best glass available by any means but all three were in my price range. I bought one. It came on Friday.
*woohoo*alright*excitedness*
My reason for the new prime lens is because I love what my 50mm offers. I love that lens, how it doesn’t zoom which makes me work around the subject and the colors are always better than my zoom lens. Even if it is the cheaper version of the 50mm – I heart it. But – because there’s always a but – it’s too zoomy.
Mac Daddy (my beloved dSLR) has a cropped sensor. And cropped sensors cause the lenses to zoom somewhat. On a full frame camera, the 50mm is what is see with your eye is what you see through the lens. With a cropped sensor, that isn’t the case. So I wanted a lens that that was wider than the 50mm.
I scoured the forums and I have to say that questions about equipment on forums is a big waste of time. Everyone has their own opinion and will tell you to get what they have (I’m guilty of it too) but it ends up making the decision process harder [and I already have a hard enough time making decisions... ask the hubs]. I instead kept my focus on reviews. And Ken Rockwell’s reviews of the Sigma 30mm and Canon 28mm helped me make up my mind.
I got the 35mm f/2.0.
I wanted a wider lens but not something so wide that the edges would bend. That is why I decided to part ways with the ultra-wide 10-22mm lens – the photos I enjoy taking don’t look great with a curved edge. So the 28mm prime was marked off the list. As for the Sigma 30mm f/1.4… that f/1.4 sounds mighty tasty but I felt more comfortable with a Canon lens even if it meant losing aperture. I marked it off the list and went to my shopping cart to check out.
I haven’t had much time with the 35mm f/2.0 but I do like it. On the cropped sensor, the 35mm is “what you see is what you get” which is going to be so great for when I shoot indoors or in tighter spaces. I don’t feel like I’m losing any DOF with the f/2.0 either – it offers up some yummy bokeh. My only problem so far is that it is loud. The auto-focus is noisy and sounds so mechanical – more so than the 50mm. But I’m guessing that’s something I’ll get used to.
I tried to get the doggins to obey me yesterday and show you some test shots. Of course, they were being animals. But I snapped a decent one of the BDD.
Focal Length 35mm
Aperture f/2.0
Exposure 1/13 second
ISO Speed 640
I’m surprised it’s even in focus with the shutter speed being as low as it was. (Maybe the BDD and I are more steady than I originally thought?) But you can see how her eyes are crisp and the focus starts to disappear about an inch in front and behind of her eyes. The first spot on her snout is out of focus. Just behind her doggin eyebrows, her fur is no longer sharp. Nothing is lost – my gain is having more width – I am winning.
I don’t know much about Photoshop. I’m rockin’ out an older version (7.0) and finding tutorials can be challenging. It’s definitely a “learn as I go” program for this girl. I did discover how to install actions and a new door opened for me. Being able to see what functions and layers went into an action actually taught me more. Granted, I still use actions quite a bit but there are few things I can do without their help.
For instance, I don’t have the greatest skin so I know how to hide a blemish. (I cannot, however, make someone look slimmer. I’m not that advance nor do I really want to. It’s deceiving.) I can ever so quickly lighten and color correct. (I do watch my white balance in camera but sometimes a girl forgets.) And I’ve dappled in using textured layers. But as far as “treating” an image, I have one trick up my sleeve that I’m always pleased with: a vintage blue hue. And it’s so easy I thought I’d share it since I used it this week for my “fear” photo.
How To Create a Vintage Blue Hue with Photoshop
Caveat: The process is probably slightly different between different versions of Photoshop and Macs versus my PC. With this being simple layering, it can probably be achieved on Adobe Elements as well.
We’ll started with my original, SOOC image below.
After giving it a once over, I decided to crop out the white on the bottom left and I lightened the image slightly using Curves. After getting the image to a point I was happy with, it was time to play with layers.
And now bring my screen shots. I haven’t done very much with screen shots so forgive me for anything that looks wonky or horrible or whatever. And I feel the need to repeat I have Photoshop 7.0 – it will look ancient next to anything remotely new.
The first step is to duplicate the layer. Go to the “Layer” drop down menu and select “Duplicate Layer.” A duplicate layer is just that: a copy of the background image.
Selecting the duplicate layer in the layer work box (I don’t know what it’s technically called so I’m making things up as I go), click on the drop down menu and scroll to “Soft Light.”
The Soft Light will make the layer more color saturated and provide more contrast. It lightens and darkens colors depending on the light source. It’s magical.
Side by side we can see how the Soft Light did it’s magical magic thing. It said “Abracadabra!”
The next step is creating a new layer. Go back to the “Layer” drop down menu, scroll to “New” and select “Layer.” And you thought this was hard. Pshh.
In the work box, select the new layer. From the drop box, scroll to “Exclusion.” This is what’s going to make the layer awesome. Because it, uh, excludes color. Or something. I think.
I really have no idea what it does. But I do know it does awesome.
So now we need our blue hue. Go back to the “Layers” menu and scroll to “New Fill Layer.” Select “Solid Color.” A color box will [should] pop up. Your image might look weird now but never fear.
In the color box, move the slide to blue and drag your circle marker down to the dark blues. Like navy. I love navy blue. You’ll see your image emerge and now a blue hue has been applied to the layer. Play around with it to find what you like best.
Try different colors even. I do this sometimes but always come back to blue.
And here I have it: the cropped image with a vintage blue hue.
I liked the end product but it still felt a little cloudy to me. So pulled out Curves again and ever so slightly lightened the image once more and I increased the Contrast +2. And then I was done.
My finished photo.
Last week, a friend from work had his car broken into. In, of all places holy in the world, his driveway. And every last bit of his photography and computer equipment that tucked in the trunk was stolen. (Except for the tripod… if I heard correctly.) A hard drive, among the bundle of electronics, held hundreds of his personal images. All gone. Being that the theft took place on his property, his home owners would cover the replacement of his equipment but not without a rather high deductible. Boo.
I tell you this because we never know when something will happen. That’s why we have insurance to begin with. Home owners, auto, medical – all there “just in case.” We can sometimes forget about our personal effects.
Even after months of Mrs. Rev telling me about insuring her photography equipment, I didn’t do it. Until we heard a story on the news. About a tribe of assholes in St. Kitts who cut down a tree to block the road from a bus of tourist from Celebrity Cruises. This tribe then proceeded to strip them clean of anything of value. At gunpoint.
That was one of the islands we were going to. That was the cruise line we were aboard.
Not my ideal vacation, if ya know what I mean.
Fear set in – I called my insurance agent that week to see what I needed to do. It turns out it was easy. Super easy.
I took out a personal articles policy. Covering personal articles from damage and theft. Meaning that if anything were to happen, they’d try to repair or replace the items under coverage. With no deductible. For less than $50 for the year. In case you missed it: no deductible.
I started pulling out every bit of my equipment. Every box, lens, battery and memory card. Possibly even that little prick of an accessory flash I have. I listed them all out in a spreadsheet. I included original costs, serial numbers if I could find them, provided copies of my receipts. If I didn’t have receipts, I scoured the internet for replacement cost. It took me about three hours to do this. I couldn’t believe the final number. But less than one email to my agent and a $50 premium later, everything was covered.
My dSLRs, Paco, my extra batteries, both multi-gig memory cards, interchangeable lenses. Possibly even that little prick of an accessory flash. All were accepted, inflation coverage applied, no questions asked. I was told that some things could be rejected once reviewed but they saw no problem and gave it a stamp of approval.
Think it over. Call your agent. If you can swing a few hours and few extra bucks, do it. It’s peace of mind. And, I repeat, it’s no deductible.
Note: I do not work for an insurance company. I didn’t even remark the company I use. It’s only the casual passing along of helpful information. It’s how I roll.
Leave A Comment