AI Servo Trick

What's up guys? I've got a cool new trick for ya!

Ever been out shooting a flower or something in windy conditions when the standard "One-Shot" AF mode doesn't work? You know, that one where it focus and locks until you depress the AF button again? No idea what that's called in the Nikon world.

Shooting in the wind, this mode rarely works. No matter how fast you press the buttons, it won't work 99% of the time.

How do you fix that? Easy. Let the camera's AF system follow the wind blown flower for you. Use AI Servo focus. It's that one that never locks focus....it just keeps focusing on what the AF dots are on. The downside to this is that you have to keep the camera moving too, but depending on the AF system, you'll be able to use multiple AF dots to keep up with it. 

I'm shooting another wedding with Jeff Franks and Steve Glass this weekend. It's in Dahlonega, GA. Should be a lot of fun!

I'm also getting some new octoboxes for my Paul C. Buff lights Saturday courtesy of Jeff. Then some new stands and boom arms next week!

Then I've got something cool to announce. Might say something as early as Monday or Tuesday. We'll see. It'll be awesome. Can't wait!

Until then, later guys!

-A

Spring is Here!

Let the fun begin! Spring is finally here. I love this time of year.....the bugs come out, everything starts to bloom and we start to see green again. 

During this time though, everything goes through stages that you don't see any other time of the year.....some stages last only a day or two. Unfortunately, these can be the most beautiful stages too. So, while we've got the chance, get out and shoot some pictures of flowers growing in! Soon enough, we'll start to see insects come out again too! I can't wait.

Enjoy the spring!

More later when I'm not feeling sick.

-A

Back From Baltimore!

What a trip! It was amazing. My iPhone was stolen at the TSA security checkpoint here in Atlanta on the first day. What a mess. Using Apple's MobileMe Service and the TSA's incredible video surveillance systems, they were able to track down the thief and get my phone back before my flight left for Baltimore. So the TSA isn't Thousands Standing Around as much as I thought they were.

We visited some old friends both Friday and Saturday nights. I visited Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA Saturday afternoon too. I really liked the college.

It rained for most of the trip, but there was a break in the rain and some cool cloud formations Saturday afternoon when we got back from Carlisle, so I had to take a few pictures. I had literally fifteen minutes to do so, and I got some pretty cool stuff.

All is good now....I'm back in Atlanta and noticing some daffodils popping up and a few trees budding out a bit. I hate it. The freeze date is April 15th in Atlanta, so we're likely to get another freeze so it'll hinder or kill the stuff that's already started to grow.

Here's a picture of Baltimore's inner harbor....part of the Chesapeake bay.

Enough for now....more later this week!

-A

Sports Teams!

I did a shoot for my school today. I took pictures of all of the spring sports teams and the senior athlete's individual portraits. A lot of fun.

I had my good friend Cody Snipes helping me out today. He was awesome. I don't think he's ever done something like this before today, but he knew exactly what he was doing....he seemingly read my mind sometimes. I couldn't have done the shoot today without his help. So, thanks, Cody! For the record, Cody has lots of pride. (That one's an inside joke....the students in Ms. Tripp's 2B class (Including Cody) will get it.)

I brought in some of my studio lighting gear. Two Paul C. Buff Zeus lights and one Zeus power pack. Nothing too special with the group shot light. I could have done more with it, but for something that'll be seen in black and white in a yearbook, is it worth it?

I just placed the two lights on stands bouncing into umbrellas, on either side of the camera aimed at the ends of the group. It worked.

For the individuals (which had to be done right after the team photos before we shot the next team), I just moved one light nearer the other and did your basic clam shell lighting. With the background totally black, they turned out pretty nicely.

We took three photos of each team. A serious one, one with everybody smiling and a "Facebook" picture. The "Facebook" picture is the one where they can make crazy faces and stuff. It's a great incentive actually. The line "Stop messin' around dude....let me get what I need to, then y'all can do a fun shot" works really well. For those who still won't comply, baseball bats usually work pretty well.

I did the whole shoot with my Canon 50D and my 17-40 f4L lens.


Later guys.....
-A

The Infamous Canon 135 f2 L USM

The one, the only, the 135L. Yup. I'm going to write an entire post about a lens.

I wouldn't trade this lens for anything (well, maybe if somebody wanted to trade for a Ferrari). This is hands down one of my favorite lenses to use. I haven't found anything it doesn't do well. You name it, it'll do it, and do it well. Landscapes, portraits, sports, events, still-life, cars, lions, tigers and bears, oh my. 

Wait, hold up. Did this dude just suggest that you can use a 135mm lens for landscapes? Yup, I did. I rarely shoot landscapes anyway, but, when I do, I always consider using the 135L. I've got a friend, BoldPuppy, who uses his 135L quite a bit for landscape work. Take a look!


One of my favorite things about this lens is that it makes you think a bit harder about your composition. You simply can't fit as much in the frame as you could with, say, a 17mm lens. But, if you think hard enough, you'll be able to "represent" everything in the 17mm frame in a 135mm frame if that makes any sense.You won't need 17mm for every shot that should be "wide". Nope. You only need 18mm.:)
Try it sometime. Even if you don't have a 135mm lens, you can still try this if you have a 70-200 or some lens that hits the 135mm mark.
Go outside, take a picture (try to make it somewhat interesting) with the widest lens you have. For me, it's my Canon 17-40 f4 L. Now, try to shoot the same thing with a 135mm lens, or a zoom lens at the 135mm mark. 
Let's say you took a picture of a tree. With that wide lens, you'll probably be able to get the whole tree in the shot from (depending on the height of the tree) maybe 20' away. You'd have to be in the next city over to do that with a 135mm lens, right? Yep.
But, let's say you can make the picture you take with the 135mm lens mean just as much as the one you took with the wide lens.
Maybe you'll get a picture of a branch with some leaves on it, or maybe just one leaf, or maybe the bark is interesting. I'll bet you like the picture with the 135mm lens better.
Go on, try it. I want to see your results. Upload them to Flickr or something and drop me a link in the comments.


Keep in mind this doesn't just apply to Canon's 135mm lens. This stuff works with the Nikon version too...bit it'll cost you. :)


I'll do another post soon with some examples.


Later.
-A

Wedding Glasses

Short post today.
If you've never seen my glass series before, get your butt over to Flickr to check it out. It's one of the few things in photography that I think I can do really, really well.

These two shots, however, were created in less than a minute using one piece of Nikon crap SB-900. I can't believe I just admitted to using Nikin gear...even for a minute. The Canon police will be after me now.
In all seriousness, my gear (I still had a camera and one lens with me) was holding Steve's Nikon gear hostage locked in a trunk back at the church (long story). I was at the reception venue with Steve before guests arrived to take some detail shots. There was a risotto bar that had these martini glasses stacked in all kinds of cool ways. I thought "Dang...where's a bowling ball?" "All I need is one light" and I could make a really cool picture. I think I did just that with a speedlight I borrowed from Steve.
Thoughts? Comments? 

Later.
-A

Wedding Rings

I hardly ever shoot weddings. In fact, my first wedding was February 27th with Jeff Franks. I got some decent shots, but nothing was that great. Weddings are very hectic. They require a lot of concentration and planning both ahead of time and during the wedding itself. I admire anybody that can do that day in and day out....it's quite something. 
So, if you're married, or are going to get married, give your photographer a pat on the back....it takes a lot of skill to do what they do. It's just not as simple as pressing a button.


Jeff divides his other photographers into teams. I was on Steve Glass' team. He's awesome. I met him at a David Zeiser workshop back in November. Apparently Jeff was there but we never formally met. Steve then introduced me to Jeff who is one of the most generous and just plain nicest guys I've ever met.
Anyway, getting back to my drivel the original point of this paragraph, Steve has a lot of talent. He knows more about light than anybody I know. He's like a walking light dictionary. It's pretty cool some of the stuff he comes up with. Take a look at his blog (link in my "Favorite Blogs" section on the right).


I came up with an idea (well, I've seen it done so I suggested the idea to Steve) for this wedding. Ever seen wedding rings balanced between the pages of a Bible with a strong back light that creates a heart shaped shadow in the crease? It's very cliche, but very cool when done right.


Steve held his Lowell iD light for me while I shot it. Then we switched places. Mine turned out pretty well however I think his was a bit better because you can see the whole Bible in the shot....you can only see part of it in mine. But, it's interesting how two people can have the exact same scene, the exact same lighting and for the most part, the exact same camera capabilities but get two totally different pictures. 


Anyway, here's mine. I'd love to hear some feedback from all of you. Let me know what you think.

That's all for now, folks. More later.
-A

Walking in Memphis

Hey guys.

Back in January, renowned sports photographer and Andy Roddick's photographer, Ron Angle offered me a one week long internship at the Regions Morgan-Keegan Tennis Championships/Cellular South Cup in Memphis, TN. I've known Ron for a couple of years and have heard a lot about what he does each week when he travels the globe photographing tennis, but never have I really understood what all goes on. That week back in February gave me an idea of what it was like. It was hands down one of the coolest things I've ever done. I couldn't possibly describe everything.

I got to shoot almost every match that week, both men and women, right from the side of the court. I had the opportunity to meet other professional photographers, the ATP and WTA website directors, and many more interesting people. 

I shot almost everything with my Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS or my Canon 135 f2 L lenses and my 50D. (You'll get tired of me talking about that 135L at some point, I promise!)

I took close to ten thousand pictures. I've spent the last two weeks narrowing it down to just a handful of my favorites to put in a gallery to show on my website. It's taken a lot of time. I  have a lot of respect for Ron and all other sports photographers who shoot so many pictures each day and can narrow it down to just a few quickly after a match for a website or article. It's hard work....

Anyway, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Ron again for everything he did for me that week. It was amazing.
I'd also like to thank my secretary mother for helping me plan the trip and make it happen. 

Here's a link to the gallery. Hope you guys enjoy it. Hit me up in the comments if you have any questions or comments about it.

-A

Welcome

Welcome guys. Today is a big first for me. I'm starting my new photography blog. Not sure exactly where it'll go, or what I'll talk about, but it'll always be photography related. Check out my list of "Favorite Blogs" on the right of this page to see some of the people I follow and who I've gotten inspiration from. 

I'll tell you a bit about myself. I'm 17 (for three more weeks!) and an avid tennis player and photographer. I picked up photography about four years ago. I consider my main photographic interest to be commercial followed by sports and nature. 

I was born in Baltimore, Maryland but I currently live in Atlanta. I'm a senior in high school. 

I plan to go to college in the fall and major in International Business then probably get my MBA after that. I'm strongly considering a career in photography, but I haven't made a decision yet. I won't make one for a while.

I use Canon cameras/lenses and Paul C. Buff Zeus lighting gear. I can't stand really like those Nikonians. Some of my really good friends shoot Nikon...it's good stuff.

I'm a member of WPPI (Wedding and Portrait Photographers International). I use Miller's Professional Imaging Lab exclusively for myself and my clients. 

Oh yeah, if you can't already tell, I have a big sense of humor. This is the internet and sarcasm doesn't always translate well, so I apologize if I say something that offends you. I don't intend to offend anybody. Promise.

I plan to create a new blog post at least three times a week, if not more.

That's all for now folks. Stay tuned for my next post about my recent trip to Memphis with renowned sports photographer, Ron Angle and my Memphis Tennis Gallery.

-A