Let me first start out by saying that no one book, no one piece of equipment, having skills in photoshop, having the best camera or all of the advise in the world will not make you a good photographer. It is hard, HARD work and takes a lot of time, studying and soul searching to be a good photographer. Photography is truly an art and we are all artists telling our OWN journey, how we each individually see it.
I want to be able to in a way pay it forward. I have learned a lot and want to be able to share some of that knowledge, but I also want to tell you that you have to willing to put in a lot of hard work, late nights, sweat and tears into it. Learn how you want to share your view and do it! Love it and always continue to learn!
I am not done with the QnA, but wanted to get what I have up. Hope it helps
EQUIPMENT:
Q- What kind of camera do you have?
A- I currently own the Canon 5D, but here is how I got there… I have owned three DSLR’s since I have been a photographer. I started out with the Canon Rebel xti. This camera is great for moms who just want to take better pictures of their kids. After a couple months of using my Xti, I upgraded to the Canon 40D. Why you ask? I felt that the limitations of the higher ISO’s on the Rebel were holding me back. Once you get past ISO 400 on the Rebel you can get a large amount of grain/noise. I was debating whether or not to get the 40D or the Canon 5D. I decided to go with the 40D. I was really intimidated by the 5D and felt that I wouldn’t be able to handle it. haha I really liked the 40D, but again after a few months of using it, I finally got the guts to purchase my baby, my Canon 5D. The thing that really pushed me to purchase the 5D was the high ISO capabilities, but mostly because it has a full frame sensor. This camera is incredible. I love it. I am considering the new Canon 5D Mark II, but haven’t totally decided yet. I am so happy with my 5D, that I don’t know that it is necessary right now…but I am drooling over the video feature on it.
Q- What lenses do you use and why?
A- Again, I have had many lenses since I started photography. But the current ones I own are: Canon 85 1.8, Canon 15 2.8 Fisheye. Just like my kids, I love all my lenses equally. haha Really though, I love them all for different reasons. I love my 85 1.8 for portraits because of the beautiful bokeh it creates. I love my 50 1.4 for again the amazing depth of field you get. Both of these lenses apertures open very wide, which can be awesome in low light situations, or again if you want nice shallow DOF. I love LOVE my 24-70 2.8L for style. This is my workhorse. This lens really helped me discover my style. And lastly, my toy, my super duper funky and awesome fisheye lens. This lens, I love, because it’s just so freakin awesome. ha. My fisheye distorts the heck out of things if you are too close, and has a focal length of 15mm..(psst-that’s pretty wide)
Q- What lens would you suggest for someone beginning in photography who cant’ afford an expensive lens?
A- The first lens I purchased (besides the kit lens that came with my Rebel) was the Canon 50mm 1.8. The great thing about this lens is that it’s small, it’s pretty fast and it’s CHEAP! I got mine for about $80.00 on Amazon. If you bought a camera that came with the kit lens, particularly the Rebel Xti series, which comes with a 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6, this is what I would do….take a picture of it, put it on Craigslist, Ebay or your blog and sell it. It is an okay lens to learn on, but why even waste your time? Sell it and get a better lens. The 18-55 part is okay, but the fact that the widest aperture is between 3.5-5.6 means that depending on your focal length, you might only be able to open up to f/5.6. That’s not very wide at all and does NOT create very shallow DOF.
Q- What editing software program do you use?
A- I use Photoshop Cs3 to edit my photos and Adobe Bridge as my photo organizer. I love Photoshop. The things that you can do with that program really just boggles my mind. I feel that if you are a PROFESSIONAL photographer you really need legit photo editing software (in my humble opinion of course)… Whether it be Photoshop or Lightroom.
Q- Do you shoot in RAW or JPEG?
A- I love RAW. I have shot with it since the beginning. I really like it because it is an uncompressed file (which also makes it HUGE and takes up a lot of memory on your card and computer). If I get carried away at a shoot and get some hot spots (overexposed spots) it has a slider called recovery and you can fix it. If you have completely blown out your image though…it won’t fix that…nothing will. lol
Q- How can I learn how to use my camera to it’s fullest? How did you learn to use yours?
A- I read all three of my camera’s manuals over and over and over and over again. I have read my Canon 5D manual over ten times. They don’t hand those out to just try and fit one more thing in your box. There is a wealth of information in there.
And then I just practiced. I use my camera everyday (well…mostly) but you can’t get better unless you use your camera. Find your camera’s “sweet spot” for exposure.
Q- Do you set any certain settings in your camera for shooting, such as portrait or landscape mode?
A- I have never ever touched any of that stuff in my camera. haha I just do it all myself in shooting and editing.
READING AND LEARNING TOOLS
Q- Any books you can recommend reading that will help me learn photography?
A- The one book that made everything about ISO, shutter speed and aperture really click for me was the book Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson. Check it out!
Q- How about any websites or forums that will help me learn this craft?
A- Pretty much most everything I have learned about photography technique, skill, business, pricing myself properly and photoshop was at a forum called I Love Photography. If you can take constructive criticism and actually really look at your work, you can become an amazing photographer. They have top of the industry photographers on there that will give advice and cc on your photos. Once you learn the skill part of photography, then you can get into the Biz section (now PrePro) and can learn all about the business side of it all. That part of the forum has been invaluable to me.
The internet is such an awesome place for learning. You can google ANYTHING about photography and learn whatever you need to. I have found many great tutorials online, just by doing a little search on a certain subject.
I have only taken one photography class and that was through our community college. it was after I had taught myself all the basics. I decided to take the class because I didn’t want to miss anything. I loved that class because I was able to be critiqued by my peers. I learned a lot about how other people see my work.
EDITING
Q- What actions if any do you use? Where can I find actions to buy?
A- First of all for those who don’t know exactly what an action is….an action in photoshop or preset in Lightroom is basically a formula of a certain post process method that is recorded and then can be played later on a different image. So say I use curves, levels and hue/saturation on all my photos and they seem to always be around the same values each time. I can record what I do to an image and it will save it. So on the next image I want to open up I can just press play and it will apply whatever was recorded.
So…there are many photographers and “action makers” out there that will create an action or a set and then sell it. The problem with a lot of actions is beginners (I was totally guilty myself) will purchase many actions (which I did) and expect them to “fix” a poorly taken image. There are some really cool actions out there that you can buy and they do some really cool things to your picture. BUT most important is applying them to an already great image. Meaning properly exposed and no color casts. Actions can make color casts even worse and can really RUIN a photo. I think it is SO important to, if you are buying an action, to be able to test it on some of your shots first. Most people who sell actions will allow this. I have wanted to buy actions before, but once applied to my images…it just didn’t work. Sometimes certain actions just don’t suit your style of shooting. Buying actions is okay, but REMEMBER they are not to “fix” or hide faults in images, but to add style and personality.
Another important thing to remember about actions is that this should not be a replacement to learning different techniques in photoshop or lightroom. Know your programs, so that if you for some reason can’t use an action, that you can still produce a great image. Don’t rely solely on actions to be your knowledge.
That being said, I do have a few actions that I own and totally LOVE! I use Totally Rad Actions (I have all sets), Cheryl Muhr’s action set (you can’t buy these. I attended her workshop and these were given), I have many FREE actions that I have found on ILP and different websites such as CoffeShop and Pioneer Woman.
Honestly though, I don’t use actions on every shot. I LOVE to play with my own techniques in ps. Especially on close up portraits, I NEVER use actions then. On fun and funky shots I might, but I ALWAYS will edit the actions to fit my “style.” I never leave an action as is on my photos. I have my own style and it’s important to show that in my editing.
Q- How do you get your images so bright and skin tones right on? Do you use a certain method in photoshop?
A- The only answer I can give to this is properly exposing my images…in camera. I use my in camera meter and know my camera so well that I know right where I want my little ticker in my camera to be. Ya know when you look through your viewfinder and you see a line of dots and then your little ticker? (haha totally NOT the correct technical terms) well that is your in camera meter. This is what you go by to know what your exposure will be. I usually like to go two or three to the right of my middle line. I tend to overexpose just a smidgen. As long as I don’t blow anything out then I would much rather tone down an image in raw than try and bring up the exposure, then adding grain and noise to my shot.
It is so important to get it right in camera and again not try and fix in photoshop. Editing should only take a few minutes on each shot. It takes forever when you have to “fix” an image with photoshop.
Q- How do you get so much light in your subject’s eyes?
A- This is something that did not come right away for me. Finding the right light is something that I have had to work on and just learn to look for. Once I started to find good lighting, I would turn my subjects to see “the light” in their eyes. A good way to get nice light in the eyes is to place your subject in the shade, but have them face the light. That way they will be nicely evenly lit, but have some awesome light in those eyes. Every time you go to place a person in their spot, check those eyes to see if that light is there. If not, I would move locations. Light in the eyes is one of the most important aspects of a photo, well a portrait anyways. I don’t totally worry about tons of light in the eyes in further away or family shots.
TECHNIQUE
Q- How do you get your images so sharp and crisp?
A – Again this is something that I have had to totally work on and get better over time. Seriously look HERE. This is my one year anniversary post. You will see the blurry messes I was shooting at first. But with persistence and a whole lotta practice, I just got better.
For focusing I usually will point my middle focus point right on the inside of the eye nearest to me, then while holding down my shutter half way I will compose my shot how I want it. This will give me a nicely focused image. I also think this really has a lot to do with having good lenses. Some will disagree, but for me…I believe it to be true y’all.
Q- Do you shoot with certain apertures or shutter speeds.
A- I usually will always shoot wide open, or close to it. Wide open meaning, my widest aperture…which is 1.8, 1.4 or 2.8 (these are my lenses widest apertures.)I am a sucker for some good depth of field. I love it when my subject is isolated in focus and the rest is blurry. Some people have asked if I do this in photoshop. Nope, this is all done in camera with a wide aperture.
As far as shutter speeds, it depends on what I want in my image. But mostly I try use faster shutter speeds as it helps to keep your photo in focus. Fast shutter speeds like 200 and above.
Q- Do you use a tripod to help get sharper images?
A – The only time I use a tripod is for my self portraits OR if I wanted to shoot something with a very slow shutter speed to capture movement. Like if I wanted to photograph a river or stream and make it have that dreamy movement. I would use a tripod for that, but otherwise I just handhold.
Q- How do you process your black and white images?
A- See HERE
Q- How do you process your color images and make them pop so much?
A- This is kind of hard to answer as I don’t always do the same things to each image. But for the most part, I like contrast. I do this by making an “s curve” in curves. I also love to play with the selective color adjustment layer. I will move the sliders either way on the line depending on the look I want.
NATURAL or ARTIFICIAL?
HAHA, not me but my lighting…
Q- Do you only use natural light or do you use flash?
A- Up until about a month ago I used completely natural light. I always had an external flash, but only ever used it on my own family snapshots when I was in too dark of a room. I NEVER used it outdoors for fill or anything. This was awesome because it really helped me learn about my style of shooting and how I used the sun, shade and back lighting to define it. Natural light totally ROCKS and I love it. That being said…I was getting annoyed by some of the limitations. You can’t get a beautiful blue sky and expose your subjects at the same time…unless you shoot at certain times of the day. While that’s okay with me most of the time, there are times where I want both. So in came the artificial lighting. I have fallen in love with it.
I also wanted to learn about artificial lighting because photography is my true passion. I want to know anything and everything about this craft. I don’t want to limit myself with knowing just one thing. I want to know it all. I want to be a well rounded artist, who if in a certain situation needed lighting, I could use it. I am just passionate about EVERYTHING photography.
For my flash work, I use the method of OFF CAMERA FLASH. I don’t ever use my flash on camera straight on the subject. I get my flash off of my camera and on a stand. I use an umbrella and different reflectors to achieve what look I want. To learn this method I purchased Zack Arias’s OneLight workshop DVD. If you want to learn about this, I would definitely recommend this DVD.
Q- What do you use for lighting equipment?
A- When I attended WPPI last year, I got tons of equipment for really cheap. My studio light is HERE. My softbox is HERE (the 32″x40″).
I also use speedlights as well. I have my 580 ExII on my camera and use my 430 as my light source. I wish it could be the other way around, but my 430 can’t trigger my 580. It seems to be plenty of light though as long as it’s not midday.
I have an umbrella for my speedlight. I use the Wescott 45″ umbrella. If I were you though, I would go for the 60″. Wish I knew better when I was purchasing my umbrella.
Q- What do you use as your triggers for your lights?
A- I use Radio Poppers. I have the Px System and the Studio Jr. System. I love my poppers!!!
Q- What about reflectors? Do you use those to fill light when indoors or outdoors?
A- Yes. But not always. I have had a reflector since I started, but have only used it a handful of times. Unfortunately, at first, it was due to laziness. Then I kicked myself in the butt and made myself use it more. Especially indoors, I use it a lot. Now that I use off camera flash, I am sure I will be using it more.
WEBSITE and BLOG
Q- Who do you go through for your website and blog?
A- For my website I go through Bludomain. They are rather inexpensive, but they have MANY beautiful templates for you to work with. As for my blog, which I LOVE LOVE LOVE….I use wordpress and use a Prophoto theme. This theme does cost money, but to me…it is well worth the money. There are many free templates out there that you can use and totally spice up. But as for me…I love this becuase it looks uber professional…something I know I can’t do on my own.
Q- Did you buy or make the templates for your pictures on your blog?
A- I made them. You can purchase them HERE!
WORKSHOPS, MENTORING or CLASSES
Q- Are or will you be doing any workshops for other photographers or just anyone who wants to take better pictures?
A- YES! I am teaming up with Diana Palmer with Yan Photography June 2010. Details coming soon!!!
