"Autumn Beauty"

"Autumn Beauty" 
©David A. Ziser

I’ll give you a good walk through of how this shot was set up along with all the other family shots in today’s post below. Here is the rest of the story. I set the camera to a low ISO 100. That’s always my outdoor exposure strategy in a bright light situation. Next I set the exposure at the fastest possible sync speed of 1/200 second.  Next I adjusted the aperture to F6.3 to give me the density I wanted on the trees.  This larger aperture also throws the background well out of focus.  Marc illuminated the bride with his light coming in from camera right creating the very flattering lighting on her. You can see his position in the post below. I think we captured a beautiful image of the bride, in less than desirable conditions. Camera specs; Canon 5D Mark II fitted with 70-300mm IS DO lens at 300mm, F6.3 @ 1/200 second, ISO 100.  Enjoy!  -David

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Lighting Challenge Wedding Wednesday

Good Morning Everybody,

We finally made it to Birmingham yesterday working our way through tropical storm “Ida”.  Man, we pasted several wrecks on the way, car that had hydro-planed out of control and traffic lights fallen across intersections. We fortunately along with all our vendors traveling the show arrived “safe and sound”.

The program went great last night and we head out to Memphis this morning. The good news is the weather is perfect – white, puffy clouds and bright, blue skies. A MUCH nicer driving experience to Memphis.

LaDawn is still looking for a few volunteers to help in Nashville on Thursday during my presentation. If you are available at 3:00 and would like to assist with set-up, check-in, help during the break and tear-down please give her a email shout. ladawn@ziser.com    Remember…. we are traveling all morning so she may not respond until much later today. THANKS in advance!

Hey gang, I think I’ve got a pretty good post for you today so let’s get right to it.  Here we go.

Lighting Challenge Wedding Wednesday

I mentioned that this past weekend we photographed a really fun wedding.  The bride and groom, wedding party, and  moms and dads were nice as can be.

It was an early start – we were on site by 10:30 a.m. – caught up with the bride and her girls getting ready in the bridal suite and captured some great shots there.  I’ll have to share some little lighting tricks I used to create some of the images there too – sounds like another future blog post to me;~)

We caught up with the groom and the guys and got some very nice images of them, too.  Anyway, once we completed the pre- wedding photographs  we were going to head to a park location to capture some nice images of the bride and groom and wedding party outdoors.

Only one minor problem. Most, if not all, the leaves had been blown from the trees in the last storm.  OK, what are you going to do?  You’ve got to get the shots and they’ve got to look great, that’s what they hired you for.

We had another challenge too. I had to photograph moms and dads at the hotel since they were not planning to go to the church. Take a look at the first image below – just a quick grab by my assistant - and you will see what the outside foliage looked like surrounding the hotel – stark trees with no leaves! Hey, like I said you still need to get the shot.  How was I going to pull this off?  I did have two things working for me.  First, the entrance and drive through at the hotel would provide me with a sun free location to place my subjects. That was a really good thing!  I wouldn’t have to deal with the high noon sun. 

I could easily position my lighting assistant, Marc, to the left of the subjects to get the direction of light I wanted on the scene.  I could also get him close enough to the family members allowing me the added benefit of shooting through my Zumbrella to obtain nice soft light on them.

Secondly, I found the only three trees in Northern Kentucky that still had leaves on them, but they were still pretty far away in the parking lot of the hotel. No problem – they still had leaves – and leaves with beautiful fall colors, I might add.  All I had to do was somehow manage to get the leaves and colors to fill the background behind my subjects.

OK, how am I going to do that?  Simple, I needed to use a long lens racked out as far as I could get it.  In effect, that would increase the size of the trees in the back ground relative to the subject's in the foreground. I pulled out my Canon 70-300mm IS DO and placed it on my Canon 5D Mark II.

You can see in this image that I am pretty far away from my subjects.  That’s because I need to use the longer focal length of my zoom lens to achieve the result I wanted – the three trees to fill the background.

In this next shot, Nicholas, who is shooting all the set up shots, took this image right over my shoulder.  It gives you a pretty good idea of how I had things lined up for the shot. You can see that I have everyone lined up with the trees in the far-off background for the shot.

Here is a quick un-retouched photograph of the bride with her mom and dad.  I think we pulled it off very well. We got a great shot of all three with a beautiful fall background behind the three of them.  It was those three trees that supplied the beautiful fall background for all the shots in this location. 

And here is one more of the bride alone which I just love.  See how I brought the light in from camera left defining my ever popular “loop lighting” pattern on the bride’s face.  It’s an easy, relaxed pose that still captures a bit of the elegance of the event.  Bride and parents loved the shot.  See the “image of the day” post above for all the technical specs on the image.

Hey gang, that’s it for me today.  We’ve got a long drive to Memphis today so we are hitting the road early.  I’ll see everybody – well some of you in Memphis tonight and the rest of you right here tomorrow for another episode of Business Day Thursday.  See ya’ then.  Adios, -David

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"First Light Over Stone Mountain"

"First Light Over Stone Mountain" 
©David A. Ziser

This is the scene that presented itself outside our hotel window yesterday morning about 6:00 a.m.  It was incredibly beautiful.  I grabbed the camera, set the ISO to 800 and shot away. Wow, that was a long exposure.  I reset the ISO to 3200 and reshot the image – still a pretty long exposure.  I was hoping image stabilization would work it’s magic and it did.  After seeing the image on the LCD screen, I was amazed with all the blue tonalities in the scene.  The sun’s rays had not yet washed the blue tones away and as a result, I captured this great range of warm and cool contrasts and tones in the image.  I finessed it a bit in Lightroom, but for the most part, yesterday’s sunrise looked pretty much like you see it here – just gorgeous.  Camera specs: Canon 7D fitted with 18-200mm IS lens at 200mm, F5.6 @ 1/8 second (handheld), ISO 3200. Enjoy!  -David

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Technique Tuesday: Just A Spot Of Color, Please; Marketing TeleSummit Back By Popular Demand

Good Morning Everybody,

We had another great turnout and exciting time for our second stop in Atlanta last night. We were stoked with about 165 excited photogs coming by to see the program.  I have to say, it was another pretty wild and wholly crowd. Must be the peaches around here. You know, that’s the official fruit of Georgia;~)

Even though tropical storm “Ida” is heading our way, the storm is not stopping us as we head to Birmingham, Alabama where we will be greeted by another crowd of over 150 photogs. Man, city #56 tonight, I can hardly believe  the tour is quickly coming to an end!

Joy Of Marketing TeleSummit Back Again

That’s right, Sarah Petty, the genius behind the fabulously informative and successful Joy of Marketing TeleSummit [link] has received so many requests for the  audio download of the TeleSummit that they are making it available for a very limited time for only $99.

As you recall, the TeleSummit was 16 hours of marketing creativity, insight, solid solutions to building your business success.  I had the honor of being included in with that great group of photographers.

You can get all the information on the Joy of Marketing TeleSummit right here.  If you missed it first time around this will be one more opportunity to catch the program. The complete 16 hour download will be only available for the next few weeks.

Just A Spot Of Color, Please

Like they say, “There’s more that one way to skin a cat.”  I personally know of no way to skin a cat myself – must have been my sheltered upbringin’  ;~)

Metaphorically speaking though, the same “cat skinning” thing is true for Photoshop and Lightroom.  Way back when, I posted a tutorial on how to add “spot color” to an image using Photoshop.  Here is that link.  Then a few months ago I showed how to do the same thing in a post entitled, “Lightroom in Reverse”. Here is that link too.

Well, today I’m going to show you yet another very clever way to add “spot color” to your images. This technique is courtesy of Paul, one of my Master Class attendees a few weeks ago who pointed me towards the technique. – THANKS Paul.

In this tutorial I’ll show you how easily and accurately you can add “spot color” to an image using the color channels in Lightroom. This technique should probably be your first try when creating “spot color” images.  It’s benefit is in it’s accuracy in defining the outline of the object in which you want to retain the color like the red flowers in the image shown above.  Hit the PLAY button below and enjoy the show.

Hey everybody, that’s it for me today.  The bags are packed and the van is loaded.  We are on our way to Birmingham, Alabama.  See ya’ tonight.  -David

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"Atlanta On The Horizon"

 "Atlanta On The Horizon" 
©David A. Ziser

This image was taken yesterday afternoon from the balcony of our hotel room in the Grand Hyatt in Atlanta.   I arrived yesterday afternoon and LaDawn surprised me with this great room with a view – actually several views from our corner balcony. And the views are amazing. Downtown Atlanta lay in the distance with a soft mist rising from the trees in the foreground.  The scene was quite ethereal looking.  I took several images trying to capture the the impressive scene. The balance of the sky with the beautiful swirling clouds, the buildings, and the colors resulted in a pretty cool cityscape portrait.  Camera specs; Canon 7D fitted with 18-200mm IS lens at 60mm, F11 @ 1/800 second, ISO 200.  Enjoy!  -David

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Quick Hit Monday: A Geek Peek At Perspective Control Lenses, Light Meters, and Canon’s New 100mm Macro Lens

Good Morning Everybody,

I had the honor to photograph a beautiful bride, handsome groom and participate in great wedding this past weekend.  We had an early start – 10:30 a.m. – which put us in a very challenging lighting situation for all the outdoor shots.  Couple the high noon, bright sun with the fact that most of the trees had lost their leaves leaving little foliage to use as a background.

Ahhh, but the bride and groom sure were thrilled with the images I was able to allow them to peek at on the back of my camera. You’ll have to tune back in on Wednesday and I’ll give you a peek at how we handled the situation.

This was also the first wedding where I was able to give the Canon 7D a try as a wedding camera.  It was a joy to use.  I brought all the images with me so I’ll report later on my favorite wedding shooting features of the camera.

I will tell you, shooting the video on the 7D is a “piece of cake”.  That’s mostly because of the still/video button set up on the camera.  I could easily grab a focus, switch to video, and hit RECORD in a matter of seconds. 

The secret of shooting the video with a digital DSLR is to NOT think of it as a video camera, but instead as a tool just to capture short clips of the action.  Once you get you head around that type of functionality, life gets pretty simple when shooting video with the camera.  Again, more information later.

You know, when you leave a wedding and even the guests are commenting on what a good job you did, as my assistant Marc said, “It sure does make you feel good.”  Like I said, we had a great shoot on Saturday. 

Now on with Quick Hit Monday…

Perspective Control Lens – Geek Peek #1

When checking email early yesterday morning before heading for the airport, I opened B&H’s newsletter to see what was new.

They had a short and sweet video peek at Canon’s new Canon's TS-E 17mm/f4L Tilt-Shift perspective control lens.  Here is the link right here. This lens basically turns your DSLR into a view finder camera. The “moves“ this lens makes are pretty amazing yielding results you thought were only possible in Photoshop. The video only about 3 minutes long but it still gives a nice geek peek at this very interesting lens.

BTW, they've got a nice peek at Canon’s new 7D right here.

Light Meters – Geek Peek #2

Those of you who have seen my DWUC tour know that I am not a big fan of light meters mainly since I think the cameras available to us do a great job in assisting the photographer in nailing the exposure.  In fact, since going digital in 2000 I don’t even own a light meter.

But, if you disagree with me, or just want to see what all the fuss is about, there is a great article at Lighting Essentials.com right here. The article really goes into a lot of detail on when and how to use a light meter.  It is also well illustrated with examples along the way. If you are a “clip and save” type of blog reader, this article is a good candidate for your lighting reference library.

Hybrid Image Stabilization – What The Heck Is It – Geek Peek #3

Canon recently announced their new 100mm F2.8 Macro lens.  I own the old version and was always “bummed” that macro lens didn’t have image stabilization.  Looking through a macro lens focused closely on your subject exhibited the same kind of camera shake so noticeable with long lenses.  It was only natural that the feature be built into macro lenses.

I’m a BIG macro fan so I can’t wait to get my hands on this lens. I’m particularly intrigued by the new “Hybrid” image stabilization technology.  Canon is claiming that with the new technology, you can hand hold the lens at a shutter speed 4 STOPS slower that you could with a non-stabilized lens.  Folks, that sounds pretty slow to me and I’m excited to give this lens a try.

Anyway, on an early Sunday morning cruise over to 1001 Noisy Cameras, I found a reference to a hands on post about how this lens and this technology works in the real world.  I’m sending you to 1001’s link right here.  You can click through from there. It’s a very interesting geek read.

Hey gang, that’s it for me today.  We start the last 6 cities of my Digital WakeUp Call tour tonight.  I still can’t believe it – north Atlanta evening, Birmingham tomorrow, then Memphis, and Nashville on Thursday to wrap the week. Next Monday is Las Vegas, and finally on to Honolulu on Wednesday. Once again, here is the link to register. If we don’t see you tonight in Atlanta, I hope to see you at one of our other stops before we wrap. –David

p.s. Don’t forget – We had a change of venue for tonight and we are at the Grand Hyatt in Buckhead [link] this evening for the program.  See ya’ there!  -David

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"A Beautiful Blond At All Angles"

"A Beautiful Blond At All Angles" 
©David A. Ziser

Here is one more image from my Master Class last week.  One thing we try to cover is composition – how the lines of the setting can influence how the viewer can enjoy the image. With the bride leaning over the railing above me, I was able to frame her in the triangular shapes of the architecture behind her.  Also notice how the triangle shape is repeated in the ceiling above and to the left.  You can also find another triangle in the shape of the railing in the foreground.  I still see two more triangular repeating elements. Can you find them? Notice too how I positioned her in front of the light fixture behind her head.  The lighting now creates a nice glow around her head drawing viewer's attention directly to the bride’s face.  Lighting was from camera left with my assistant bouncing my Quantum flash of the wall to my right. Camera specs: Canon 7D fitted with 24-105mm IS lens at 24mm, F5.6 @ 1/50 second, ISO 2500.  Enjoy!  -David

p.s. Once again, gang, look for the rest of the post later today.  I’m heading for a plane as we speak.  See ya’ this afternoon.  -David

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Inspiration Friday: 5 Wedding Photography Sites You Don’t Want To Miss!

Good Afternoon Everybody,

We wrapped city #54 of my 60 city DWUC tour last night.  I can’t believe the tour is nearly over.  We have had such a good time meeting all the people all across America – thank you all for all your support and very generous enthusiast remarks.

As we were driving to Atlanta yesterday, I commented to LaDawn about what we were going to do after we wrap the tour. Her quick response was, “Sleep”. The pace has been fairly hectic, but still a lot of fun.  People are already asking about 2010 – I’ll keep you posted.

I starting this post in the Atlanta airport waiting to board a plane back to Cincy. Back home on Friday, shoot a wedding on Saturday, then back on the plane Sunday to Atlanta for Monday’s program – yep, another busy weekend!

After I land, I’m doing what we call a site survey for tomorrow’s shooting locations.  The client is wanting outdoor photographs. If the weather is willing we should be able to get some good shots.  Look for a few of them in next week’s posts.

But for now, let’s get on with today’s post.

5 Wedding Photography Sites You Don’t Want To Miss!

You know it’s been a while since I’ve done an Inspiration Friday post.  If you’ve been following the DPT blog, I’ve mentioned that I was reviewing several websites for a special project I was working on.  I’ll be able to give you more info soon.

Anyway, in the process of looking at such a large number of site, several offered some standout images.  Today I’d like to share five of those sites with you. Images from the sites are seen throughout today’s post and linked back to the photographer’s website.

Here we go…

1. Bevin Beasley [link] – This is one of the most unusual collection of images I have seen.  That’s all I’m saying – you have to go check it out.

2. Liliya Gorlanova [link] – No music, but still quite fun. Look through several images to find the gems.

3 Life Images [link] – Alex and Tiffany Albojer have taken some of the nicest stylized images I’ve seen – definitely worth the cruise through their site.

4. Tatiana Garanina [link] – Another stunning set of images – extremely creative photography.

5. Tanya Lippert [link]– Wow!  What a nice sense of fashion, line, color and composition.  It’s just a joy to sit and watch her slide show portfolios.

I hope you have time to explore these sites over the weekend.  There’s some really inspiring imagery there. I still think it’s always a kick to look at great wedding photography.  It’s about the best way in the world to give your own creativity a kick in the you know what and really get those “brain juices” flowing.

Hey gang, that’s it for me today.  I’m back on the ground in good ole’ Kentucky  - got to get those batteries charging – mine included.  I’ll see everybody on the flip side next week back in Atlanta.  Have a great weekend.  Adios,  -David

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"Home Alone"

"Home Alone"
©David A. Ziser

Here is another image captured  during my Master Class last week.  I saw the expanse emptiness of the room, the warm colors, the larger chandelier and thought it might provide a perfect location for what I had in mind.  I positioned the bride in the middle of the room with all the space around her.  The space was further exaggerated with my use of the very wide angle lens. All lines seem to lead directly to the subject.  This is primarily a result of the wide angle optic. I illuminated the bride by bouncing my on-camera flash off the left wall. I really enjoy the finished result. Camera specs: Canon 7D fitted with 10-22mm lens at 10mm, F5.6 @ 1/50 second, ISO 1600.  Enjoy!  -David

p.s. Hey gang, we have a big drive as we head to Atlanta early this morning. So look for today's Business Day Thursday post a little later this afternoon.  -David

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Business Day Thursday: Who’s Your Best Salesperson?

Good Afternoon Everybody,

We had one more rousing good time in Colombia, SC last night.  One of our attendees can back a second time, Jeremy was with us in Charlotte the night before.  Last night he won my audience challenge question worth $99. And then won the $1200 door prize – convention registration for two to Photoshop World!  He was thrilled hugging LaDawn, jumping on stage and hugging me and about 3 to 4 others in the audience. See, it pays to come back a second time to the DWUC tour.  Hey gang, only 7 to go, maybe we’ll see you again in the next few weeks.

Time to get on with today’s post.  Here we go…

Who’s Your Best Sales Person?

  Is it you? Or an energetic studio employee? Who really is the best sales person you could have selling for you?  If you think about it, there is only one answer – a very satisfied past client.  The secret is to make all your clients very happy and satisfied clients, but we all know that.

It’s that satisfied and happy client that generates those “word of mouth” referrals that many of us rely on in our businesses.  But can we leverage that client satisfaction and take it to the next level?  I think so.

Suppose you are planning to participate in one of the local bridal shows. You know what a bridal show is, don,t you?  It’s where 5 florists, 5 bakers, 5 caterers, 5 bridal consultants, and 50 photographers come together to show their wares.  At least that seems to be the case at some of the bridal fares I’ve strolled through.

Anyway, all kidding aside, we all know what a bridal fare is all about.  It’s many times a gazillion wedding vendors coming together, including several photographers, all viding for the attention of the bridal multitudes that attend these weekend shows.

If we stand there behind our booth with our albums on the display table and our wedding images displayed around us, we look and sound pretty much like every other photographer showing their wares at the show.

So, you say, how can you change it up for the next show you do?  My suggestion is to “hire” your best salespeople for the job – your best, favorite satisfied clients.  Would they really be the best salespeople to promote your photography to all those perspective brides?  I think so.

Each year, we can all recall a wonderful experience we have had with one of our clients.  We just get closer to that one client over another for some reason. Maybe it’s personality, chemistry, common interests or hobbies….whatever.

Anyway, why not ask that client couple to share the booth with you?  Why not ask them to be your “front person” for your studio?  Who better to relate to all the future brides attending the show than a bride herself?

How would you go about arranging that for your next bridal show?  Contact several of your happy clients and run the idea past them.  You could easily offer additional photographs from their wedding as compensation for their time.  You may even offer a casual portrait shoot, a Bridal pictorial (trash the dress) session.  The point is to really offer them a nice “thank you” for their time.

Last week during my Master Class I was engaged in a conversation with Greg who had travelled from Hawaii to attend the class. He received the long distance mileage travel award:~)

Anyway, he was telling me about the big bridal show that had just taken place in Honolulu shortly before he left to join us at the class. It seems that one of the photographers displaying at the show was doing exactly what I outlined above.  He said that this photographer's clients were not just standing around to answer questions.  They were pro-actively approaching the prospective bides and inviting them into the studio’s booth.  And, then proceeded to enthusiastically share their own studio experience.  WOW! You talk about “word of mouth” referrals.  Nothing better than having it happen in real time!

I think it’s a great idea that easily let’s you became the cream rising to the top, photographical speaking, at your next bridal show.

Hey gang, that’s it for me today.  We are about 100 miles outside of Atlanta with computer on  my lap.  LaDawn informs me it’s time to fill-up the gas tank and take a little lunch break - so I’m out of here.  See everybody tonight in Atlanta.  Adios,  -David

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"Autumn Gold"

"Autumn Gold" 
©David A. Ziser

I captured this image on the way to Raleigh, NC on Sunday.  Although many of the leaves had fallen from the trees because of the weekend rain, enough remained to splash some vibrant color among the remaining branches of this golden hillside.  You know, every Fall setting looks beautiful.  The season's changes are one of my favorite things about living in the Midwest. The soft change of color usually beginning in very late September, peaking by that third week of October, always carries through to the very end of October. That represents almost 10% of the year for us.  With our travels from north to south with the tour this year were are able to extend our enjoyment of the fall beauty to almost two months. A true blessing - just beautiful!  Camera specs: Canon 7D fitted with 18-200mm IS lens at 130mm, F5.6 @1/1250 second, ISO 400.

Enjoy!  -David

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Digital WakeUp Call Venue Change For Monday November 9 – Atlanta,GA

Hey everybody, please note the hotel location has changed for Monday’s program in Atlanta.  The original hotel dropped the ball and double booked the space – we got the boot, even with a signed contract.  Just part of the trials and tribulations of planning a lecture tour.

The original hotel:

Doubletree Hotel

3242 Peachtree Road NE

Atlanta, GA 30326

404-231-1234

HAS BEEN CHANGED TO:

Grand Hyatt Atlanta in Buckhead [link]

3300 Peachtree Road NE

Atlanta, GA 30305

Tel: +1 404 237 1234

Map and directions [link]

See you at the Hyatt on Monday.  -David

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Wednesday: So Is It Worth It To Shoot RAW?

Good Morning Everybody,

I love the people in this part of the world – and their Barbeque! Once again we had a great crowd last night in Charlotte, NC, one of the loudest and most enthusiastic anyway;~)

Today we make the short trip to Columbia, SC. The weather and the scenery has been a joy to behold on our trip south.  It’s sort of like we are extending the fall colors for another few weeks as we move through the southern states.  Most of the trees in Charlotte haven’t even dropped their leaves yet. We’ve never been to Columbia so we’re looking forward to the visit. Looking forward to seeing everyone this evening.

Today’s post is going to take a slightly different tack than usual.  Give it a read below and let me know what you think. 

So Is It Worth It To Shoot RAW?

You know, this question keeps popping up for me. I was a JPEG shooter for 7 1/2 years of my 9 years of shooting digital.  And, I was a very happy camper. 

I was always able to “nail the exposure” with my tried and true metering methods better know as the Ziser “blinkie” method. I usually shot in larger JPEG but at a tighter compression giving me files in the 1- 2 meg range. I was able to back up a job in no more that 1-2 DVD’s.  I got great images with several on display up to 24x36 inches, many of these images are on display on my DWUC tour.  Life was good.

It was Lightroom 2 that convinced me to convert to shooting RAW.  I was a custom color and B&W printer back in the mid ‘70’s and loved the localized density control I could manage over each print.  Lightroom  2 now gave me that same capability with it’s adjustment brush.  I was sold.

The down side – now I had 40-50 GIGS!!! of data to back up for each job!!! That meant 10 – 12 DVD’s and the hours of production time to burn them – YIKES!!!

There was another issue too.  When I imported the images into Lightroom 2, the RAW images never looked as good as my JPEGS.  The images would load up, look good, and quickly switch to some kind of anemic looking image that was never as brilliant and full of life as what my JPEGS were giving me.

   The root of the explanation lay in the fact that the JPEG was processed in the camera to the presets I had programmed into the camera.  The RAW import process stripped all those settings away from my images leaving me just the RAW data – sort of like the King with no clothes – not a pretty site.

After installing Adobe’s camera profile presets into Lightroom, things improved.  But there were still a number of adjustments to make to hundreds/thousands of wedding images that took hours of time.  Import presets and processing presets did help ease the process.

After installing Lightroom 3 and working with it these last few weeks, some of my frustrations have returned since the camera profiles have gone south.  I know, I know, LR3 is in BETA.  I guess I’m just noting a little of my impatience here.  I’m confident that the shipping version will be just fine.

I installed Canon’s Digital Photo Professional software on my Canon 7D RAW images and, boy, did the look great. They actually looked exactly like they looked in the viewfinder of the camera – a very good thing.  Several of my DWUC attendees have told me they have had the same good results with the Nikon Capture NX software.

The reason for this is the fact that the software from these respective camera manufacturers, and I’m sure others too, are able to read ALL the EXIF data in the RAW file and create a preview that matches exactly what you see on the back of the camera.  It sure would be nice if LR3 could incorporate the translation of that same data when importing the RAW images.  What a time saver that would be! All we can do is hope.

But that’s still only half the problem.  The other issue is the amount of hard drive real estate we encounter when shooting exclusively RAW files.  It’s going through the roof these days!!!  As a wedding shooter, do I really need to shoot every last candid image – 1000’s of them - in RAW mode just so I have to tweak them a bit more in Lightroom or any other RAW conversion software?

I’m thinking not.  Why add to my processing production overhead time and costs and why chew up “gobs” of hard drive space for images that mostly are going to be no larger that 4x6 or 5x7 size in a wedding album!?

I think the answer to his dilemma is for all of us to consider what the subject matter is and to shoot accordingly.  If you are a landscape photographer and need to elicit every last nuance of detail out of that image, than RAW is it.  That would be true for the commercial shooter too.  And, I would say it’s also true for the portrait photographer that is considering producing larger wall portraits.

But for us wedding guys, I’m suggesting a different scenario.  Let’s just shoot the “high profile” wedding images in RAW.  Those images would include the “altar return images, the groups, the special images of the bride and groom, and the key candids at the wedding reception – cake cutting, bouquet and garter toss, etc.

All the rest of the 100’s or even 1000’s of candids could be shot in JPEG mode saving tons of time in processing and gobs of hard drive real estate. Do we really need to put the “ultimate” tweak on each of those images? Working in JPEG mode still gives us plenty of control over the final result without all the RAW production overhead.

The newest cameras make it easy to switch from one set up to the next.  We just need to make the effort to do so.  Maybe I’m “howling at the moon”, but I think we, as wedding photographers – the guys who shoot tons of images on the job, need to rethink how we do that shooting and how we process those images.  Something tells me that we could reduce studio costs considerably if we DON’T buy into the fact that EVERYTHING needs to shot in RAW.

Food For Thought --

Hey Gang, That’s it for me today.  We are southbound and pedal down to Columbia.  See ya’ there tonight! Ol’ Barbeque lips,  -David

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"Point Man"

"Point Man" 
©David A. Ziser

Here is another "urban" portrait I made last week. I positioned the subject at the corner of the building and used a very wide angle lens to accentuate the lines of the building.  The secret here is to not get the subject's head too close to the edge of the frame otherwise you will get get some distortion of the subject's head. Nobody wants to look like Mr. Gumby. Best results are achieved if his head is right in he center of the frame as it nearly is here. The very wide angle lens is what makes the shot. Just be judicious in how you use it and you can get some terrific results. Lighting was created using my “Hollywood Lighting” technique. Camera specs: Canon 7D fitted with 10-22mm lens at 13mm, F5.6 @ 1/250 second, ISO 200. Enjoy!  -David

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Technique Tuesday: A Double Feature - Making Your Slide Shows Sing With Video

Good Morning Everybody,

What a great turnout we had last night in Raleigh, NC - a great crowd with lots of enthusiasm. Of course, it always comes out at door prize time.  You know, I think I'm going to miss door prize time once we wrap the tour;~) Anyway, thanks everybody for stopping by last night. 

Today we make the short trip over to Charlotte, NC where we will be visiting about 170 for this evening's presentation.  And then on to Columbia, SC and on Thursday to Atlanta. We haven't been to this part of the country for a while so it's fun to be making the trip again.  If I get any good shots from our "drive by shootings", I'll get them up here on DPT.  This view of the Virginia mountains is an image LaDawn took on Sunday.

One more thing – in yesterday’s post [link] I mentioned a nice tutorial by Jeff Revell where he showed how to pull a lot of detail out of an image. Unfortunately, I forgot to include the link.  The post is now corrected, so go check it out – I’ll know you will enjoy it.

Hey gang, I've got a great Technique Tuesday for everybody today.  As I mentioned yesterday - it's a video double feature.  You've heard I'm a big fan of Animoto, but now I'm even a bigger fan.  Why? because of how effortlessly Animoto lets us combine video clips with our still images.  It's way super easy. Instead of me waxing fantastic here about what I've been up too, how about we get on with today's Technique Tuesday post.

A Double Feature - Making Your Slide Shows Sing With Video

I've been planning this post for a few weeks so I hope you enjoy it. Here is the back story.  I photographed Lindsey for her high school senior portrait.  We got some great shots but with the new Canon cameras shooting video, I wanted to augment the images with  video clips.

So last week, Lindsey and I went out in the beautiful fall surrounds – and captured images and video clips only a few seconds long.  I know what you're thinking, "There he goes again talking videos with still images - no way I'm doing that.  I'm not learning any new software."

Everybody seems "scared to death" of the video capabilities of the new digital cameras. Don't be.  In this tutorial I'll show you how, in just a few mouse clicks, you can combine still images with your short video clips.  I'll also show you how simple and UN-intimidating the entire process can be.

Hey gang, I felt the same way and that's why I turned to Animoto to do the job for me. Man, it is a "piece of cake" to do and I love the result.  Instead of me yakking away - why don't you hit the PLAY button below and see what I'm talking about . You are going to love it.

Next, hit the PLAY button on the next show to see the finished result - way cool!!!

 

Remember – Animoto is offering 3 months of commercial access for only $99 and if you use the code from my Digital WakeUp Call tour - Digitalwakeup4 - they will kick in another month for free.  That’s a 25% discount. One more time – here is the Animoto link right here.

Hey everybody, that's it for me today.  We are heading out to Columbia, SC shortly.  How about I plan to see you back here again tomorrow.  See ya' then.   Adios, -David

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"Amber Glow 2"

"Amber Glow 2" 
©David A. Ziser

This is another one of my favorite outdoor images from last week's Master Class.  The rich fall foliage really complemented Amber's super tan skin and blond hair. The image was made in a small city park in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio.  Most of the leaves had fallen from the trees, but the long lens I used disguised that fact pretty well. The long lens and larger aperture also easily isolated Amber from the background which brings the viewer's attention directly to her. The repeat of the arches in the background also help direct the viewer's eye directly to our subject.  All and all, a very pretty outdoor bridal portrait. Camera specs: Canon 7D fitted with 70-300mm IS DO lens at 180mm, F5.6 @ 1/160 second, ISO 200.  Enjoy!  -David

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Quick Hit Monday: Let's Have Some Fun At Mardi Gras 2010; Top 10 Wedding Photogs In The UK; Optical Storage-RIP; Detail, Detail, and More Detail

Good Morning Everybody,

We wrapped my Master Class last Friday, packed the bags on Saturday for the last leg of my Digital WakeUp Call tour, and hit the road on Sunday.  Can you believe it - only 10 cities to go! We made the 8 1/2 hour very picturesque drive down to Raleigh, North Carolina yesterday arriving about 8:00 p.m. and we are ready to go again tonight.

I brought the Master Class images with me and hope to get a show posted over the next couple of days.  I'm planning to mix in a little video too - it should be fun.  And speaking of video, be sure to check out tomorrow's post. Yes, it is ready to go and looks very cool.

Hey, enough already - let's get on with today's post.

Come On Down To Mardi Gras In February 5-7, 2010
I got an email from my buddy, Ralph Romaguera, last week about this great idea he is putting together for next year's Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans.  He wants to put together a float of photography friends every year. 

Ralph has been heavily involved in Mardi Gras for many years in his home town of New Orleans, even being King of the crewe last year. He has informally put together these Mardi Gras extravaganzas for photographers the last three or four years. I've been invited each year and wasn't able to attend because of schedule conflicts.

That is not the case for 2010 - LaDawn and I are both planning to be there. Ralph wants me to offer a formal invitation to all of you. Why not plan to "pass a good time" with LaDawn and I and several other party-going, celebration happy photogs for a very special few days in the great city of New Orleans.

Here is the link for all the info right here. Check the Texas School Mardi Gras link and Ralph's link to get all the Mardi Gras information, costs, agenda, etc.  Leave a message in the "Comments" section if you would like to attend.  Hope to see you there - it should be a blast!

Congrats!  To One Of England's Top Wedding Photogs

I just got news that fellow blogging buddy, and great wedding photographer, Crash Taylor, from England was just  being named one of the Top 10 Winter Wedding Photographers. [link]. 

I've pointed you to Crash's site many times for his very interesting series of interviews he features with wedding photogs from around the world. Here is the link to Crash's interviews right here, and his outstanding wedding photography right here. 

Look for Crash to do an interview for us here at DPT once both of our schedules settle down - should be pretty cool.

Optical Storage:RIP

Yep, that was the title of the story I read over at the ZNet blog right here. What, no more CD's, DVDs, Blu-Ray disks?  Hey gang, I'm not going to over react on this piece.  Things change and I think for the better mostly. I point you to this article because as we move up to higher powered, more mega-pixeled cameras, our storage needs are going to change.

I had one photog point me towards a $3,500 tape backup system, but that's not practical for the smaller studios. I admit, I'm a bit paranoid about backup at my studio with everything on DVDs and duplicated on 2 sets of hard drives going back to 2000.

When I shoot a job now, it's usually 40-50 gigs of data I need to back up to something very permanent. Backing up that much data to DVD's takes lots of time.  Is Blu-Ray the answer - for me, not at $25/disk! So what is the answer?  We are sticking with DVDs at this point, reconsidering shooting strategies to reduce job storage, and keeping an eye on storage options and the price of those options.

Thanks to fellow blogger, Jeff Revell, where I first saw the story.

More Detail Than You Could Ever Need

And speaking of Jeff Revell, you've got to check out his tutorial on how to get the maximum detail out of the shadows [link].  Jeff's PhotoWalkPro Blog is one of the best out there and I always like to make the visit when I get a chance.

Anyway, check out Jeff's 5 minute tutorial right here - you'll pick up lots of nice Lightroom tips and tricks along the way.

Hey gang that's it for me today.  LaDawn has already headed down to set the room for tonight.  We have over 200 excited photographers registered for tonight's program.  Hey, if you are a DigitalProTalk reader, come on up and say HI.  Hope to see lots of smiling faces this evening at the program.

And, by the way, be sure to check back tomorrow for a Technique Tuesday double-header video segment - one of my favorites to date. See you soon,  -David

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"A Day At The Park"

"A Day At The Park"
©David A. Ziser

This is one of my favorite images of the week. Not just because it’s a nice portrait of the bride but, because of how the bride was illuminated.  One of the class members held a Quantum Trio directly behind the bride to add the accent light to the veil. The Trio was fired remotely with my FreeWire radio attached to my camera.  Here is where it gets interesting.  I had another class member hold a 42” Westcott Illuminator to camera right.  I zoomed my flash to 105mm, pointed it at the reflector and fired away.  The illumination on the front of the bride is the result of the flash bouncing off the reflector and coming in at just the right angle to create the beautiful and flattering light on the bride. Nothing like a little
“Photon Ricochet“ to light the subject. Camera specs; Canon 7D fitted with 24-105mm IS lens at 82mm, F4.0 @ 1/200 second, ISO 200.  Enjoy!  -David

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Friday: Wrapping Up The Week

Good Morning Everybody,

I’m at the keyboard early this morning because I know that after we wrap my Master Class today LaDawn and I are just going to
“chill” a bit and enjoy the beautiful fall scenery we are experiencing this year.

I have to say, we have had a great class this week.  Feedback from the class is that everyone really liked the new format.  We will read all the comment sheets from this week’s attendees, gather additional input from the “coaches” at our wrap up meeting early this afternoon. Then we will tweak where necessary, and see if we can make the upcoming Spring Master Class April 26 –30, 2010 - even better. My thanks to everyone who attended this week’s class, my team from the studio, the coaches and assistants that  shared their knowledge and expertise to further enhance the Master Class experience and made it such a good time.

Next week look for a image wrap up of the week too. BTW, don’t you love the picture of the class this time around.  I thought, heck, the class is mostly about lighting so let’s really show all the strobes firing;~)  Our class picture was taken by Jesica Bruzzi from B&H who came by as a consultant for a few days this week. Thanks Jesica for a great shot.

I hope out DPT readers didn’t mind me veering off our normal topic agenda too.  I just thought a peek into what was going on this week with new cameras and LR3 betas could be pretty darn helpful. We’ll get back to our normal schedule next week – including the MIA Technique Tuesday episode.

And speaking of next week, can you believe it, we head out on our last leg of my Digital WakeUp Call Tour.  We are heading to Raleigh, N.C. on Monday, Charlotte, N.C. on Tuesday, Columbia, S.C on Wednesday, and wrapping the week in Atlanta on Thursday. 

We have 10 cities to go. Here is the list of remaining dates right here. We hope to see you there!

Hey gang, I do have a few items I want to remark on today, so let’s get right to it.

Just A Few More Notes On The Canon 7D

After Wednesday’s post [link], I received lots of comments about the camera’s dark previews in Lightroom 3 Beta.  Thanks to all who commented and offered insights into the issue.

I too believe it’s a LR3 issue.  Class members were having the same problem this week with the LR3 beta some were using in class.  I heard comments like, “It looked good coming in then the preview turned dark.”  That indicates to me that LR3 beta is just posting a preview that represents it’s best guess as to what the image should look like.

The Lightroom team has literally built version 3 from the ground up so when running the beta I don’t expect things to be perfect.  Adobe did a good job with LR2, so I suspect when LR3 ships we are all going to be quite happy.

I’m going to give some of the suggestions from our readers a try and see what happens. BTW, I found it most interesting when I read Wink’s comment referencing the link to The-Digital-Picture.com site. [link] Their review reports that their testing shows the camera is exposing 1/3 stop darker than other camera bodies. Hummm…  We’ll see what the next firmware brings.

Oh, one more feature I love on the 7D! THREE, count them, three custom settings that the user can set.  The 40D had 3, the 50D only had two, but the 5d Mark II had 3 so I’m glad to see Canon put 3 back on the 7D.  This feature comes in real handy when you need to change to a completely different set of settings during the heat of the wedding shoot.  It’s like having 3 cameras in one. I love it!

Another great feature on the 7D is the “My Menu Settings” feature.  The camera lets you add your most used menu choices all in one place so you can get to them quickly when need be.  No more drilling down through all the myriad choices to get to the one you want.  Now everything you use everyday is listed in just one place. Another – very cool!

More On Lightroom 3 BETA – The Dreaded Import Feature

This is a quick one folks, I took a peek at the import function once again and still am not impressed. I decided to add 4300 images from a wedding to my catalogue.  As usual, LR3 beta wanted to populate the screen with all the previews.  My best guess it that it would have taken several minutes to accomplish the task. I waited 15 minutes and LR3 still had a long way to go.

While it was populating the images, I hit “Select None” then had to scroll endlessly to find the blank icons that represented the 3 images I wanted to import.  I checked them and in a short while, they popped into my catalogue.  All I want to see is the file list – who cares about seeing 4300 thumbnails! On a real job, they are all coming in anyway!

I then tried to import just one image from another folder.  LR3 spent minutes creating the file list telling me it was “Finding files.” Then it was “Loading dates…”, then it was “Loading dates and thumbnails…”  Stop, stop – just pull out my fingernails, it would be less painful.

Maybe I’m over-reacting a bit, but the new import functionality is just no fun, time consuming and nearly impractical for day-to-day use. Don’t get me wrong – I know I’m coming across maybe slightly negative ;~) but I still love the new features in LR3.  And, yes, I plan to hang in here with LR3 a bit longer, dig under the hood, and just see what this baby will do.

Hey gang, that’s it for me today.  We wrap the class today and, can you believe it, we pack the van tomorrow and head out Sunday for Raleigh, N.C. Yep, we’re driving . LaDawn and I love seeing America.

Everybody have a great weekend.  I hope your little pixels get lots of goodies on Halloween.  I’ll see ya’ Monday in Raleigh. 

On the road again, -David

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"Amber Glow"

 "Amber Glow"
©David A. Ziser

Here is another image made during yesterday’s shoot.  I found this great location where the textures and colors of the grasses proved a perfect background for this shot.  There were a lot of beautiful spots in the park for pictures but this one turned out to be one of my favorites.  I had to shoot around some large power units which the park had disguised in these grasses, but that was not a problem.  The image is a straight forward outdoor portrait of a bride.  I balanced the light – a strobe through my Zumbrella - coming from camera left with the ambient.  I underexposed the ambient just a bit to bring out the flattering direction of light on my subject.  The grasses not only added texture and color to the background, but a little implied motion as well.  The large aperture softened the background substantially so as not to distract form the subject. All these elements came together for a beautiful portrait of our bride. Camera specs; Canon 7D fitted with  70-200mm F2.8 IS lens at 85mm, F3.5 @ 1/200 second, ISO 100.  Enjoy!  -David

P.S. I’ll get the rest of today’s post up early this afternoon.  -David

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Thursday: More On Canon 7D and Lightroom 3 BETA

Good Afternoon Everybody,

Man, it’s a little tougher to get the blog up during Master Class week, but I’m still giving it a try today. 

The dubious weather cooperated yesterday and we had a great day shooting at the park and the Drees Pavilion overlook.  It was a long day with us beginning at 9 a.m. and wrapping about 8 p.m.  The models were troopers, too, and we got some fantastic images.

Looks for lots of material for upcoming blog posts.  Anyway, let me push on with some more observations about the Canon 7D and Lightroom 3 BETA.

More about Canon 7D

That’s for all the comments on yesterday’s post trying to explain the darkness of the Lightroom 3 BETA previews from the Canon 7D.  I think it’s a Lightroom/Raw issue, too.  The previews on the back of the camera are small JPEG previews that don’t carry over to LR3 Beta – all we get to see is the RAW data.  I’ve found that pushing the Brightness to +75 and reducing the Contrast to 0 helps.

It got pretty dark on us last night and I was impressed that the 7D nailed the FOCUS – thumbs up on that one!

I found a much easier and quicker way to shoot video as well.  While looking through the viewfinder, I focus on the scene I want to video.  As I pull the camera from my eye, I switch the 7D into Video mode and immediately hit the record button. This is much quicker than switching the camera to video mode, finding the focus, and then shooting.  More on that later.

I’m also very satisfied with the low noise performance of the camera. Any noise you see is nice and tight and almost film like.

And Now On With Lightroom 3 BETA

Now on to Lightroom – has anyone else found the cropping to be a little quirky?  The crop rectangle jumps around a bit even when I hold down the ‘Shift’ key.

My biggest gripe about Lightroom 3 BETA is, hands down, the NEW IMPORT procedure.  Under Lightroom 2 you just headed to the image folder, selected the images and hit IMPORT.

It took me 10 minutes last evening just to get 150 images into Lightroom 3 BETA.  The new version wants to load all the file structures, populate the screen with preview images, which take forever, makes me deselect the ones I don’t want to import, an on, and on, and on.  What a time waster! 

Adobe will need to fix this one quick.  I can see trying to load up a 3000 image wedding!!!!

Hey gang, I just checked the clock and I’ve got to fly – class starts in a few.  See ya’ tomorrow.  -David

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