$500 Camera Budget
We are back to that recurring question: what camera should I buy? I am often asked, but having recently put some work into finding the best options for a coworker who was buying a first camera setup for her son, I thought it might be helpful to share what I found and suggested. I worked quite hard to stay within a $500 budget, though some of the options below rely on used gear, and availability certainly can change quickly.
My chief aim was to avoid the kit lens which comes with all of the entry level digital SLRs. Not that they are rubbish, necessarily, but you will constantly be fighting their limited aperture, your photos will have the same feel as everybody else’s, and more than likely you will be more satisfied with a cheap, fixed-length lens with wider aperture. So, here we go… Read the rest of this post »
Love the Music, Record It in Photos
Eric Lenington thumping at that bass
Schoepf’s Barbeque here in Belton, Texas blesses my home with a double dose of love. Not only does that wonderful aromatic fume drift by my house when the winds are favorable, but most weekends, I have the pleasure of falling to sleep to the thumping of the distant bass drum, some indistinct bass guitar, and cheering crowds at the end of every song. I guess that would be annoying to some, but I enjoy it. Read the rest of this post »
Weddings and Culture
The Minister
This is a little take-away from a wedding I helped shoot recently. The focus of wedding photography, fittingly, is the bride and groom, but there is so much more going on: relationships, history, feuds, and innumerable others stories in progress. As soon as I ran across this photo back at home when reviewing the whole set, I loved it. Read the rest of this post »
“Basic Photography” or the “Basics of Photography”
There is a difference. The workshop I am starting up today is not “basic photography”, in the sense of photography for just beginners. Rather, if the word “basic” must be used to describe it, it is the “basics of photography”, in the sense that we may already be highly creative, have an excellent eye for the image we want, and take beautiful photographs on a regular basis, but we still have a weakness in the technical aspects of how photography works.
Photography is intriguing in that way: it is both highly creative and highly technical. You have to have a feel for the image, and eye for what to capture, but you also have to have a solid understanding of the technical aspects of how cameras and lenses work. That technical understanding will unlock knew realms of creativity, or, at the very least, help you mess-up fewer photos. Read the rest of this post »
New Workshop on the Basics of Photography
Do you see good photo ops, but just cannot seem to make the camera capture it like you see it? Photography is half creativity and half technique, and without a firm grasp on the technical side of how our cameras capture photographs, we can only hope our cameras take the photo we want. We will learn about light, how our cameras capture it, and the limitations and creative potential unique to photography. Read the rest of this post »
Stop and Smell the Diesel Fumes
A Man of Few Words
Pumping diesel for heavy machinery, sporting a hardhat and safety goggles, using a unique but most likely purposeful grip, and even providing shipping containers for a background: this is the kind of photo I throroughly enjoy finding. I see them a lot more than I have a chance to capture them. Read the rest of this post »
Darkrooms, Heirlooms, and Kiddy Chopsticks
My daily work in the darkroom back in high school year book class has continued to pay off in all kinds of ways…I just never quite thought of this one. Sure, it helps me understand how to work on my photos in digital post processing. And yes, the love of the negative leaves me with no choice but raw over JPG. And without a doubt, there is something in those chemicals soaking into your finger tips that makes you a better photographer…or at least a more interesting one.
However, I never would have imagined my boss would hand me her one surviving photo of her two parents, faded, cracked into a strange and very non-conformist geometric shape, taped together from a suspicious rift right between the couple, and caked with a darkening grime which had presumably become a part of the photograph. To top it off, she is going to use it on the cover of the book she just finished. Enter Long-Since-Retired Darkroom Man! Read the rest of this post »
Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May
Dead maybe, but not backwards.
A most excellent diversion…wait, no, this is work, right? In one of those rare moments when neither life or wife required me to return home, I had Temple’s MK&T rail depot all to myself at sundown. Read the rest of this post »
Memorize Your Aperture Stops
Aperture is just funky. Well, if you sit around with friends calculating the area of a circle and talk about the next digit of π, then maybe you are just a different kind of normal and aperture is your cup of tea. For the rest of us, though, I highly suggest a time honored method to understanding your camera, though understanding why the numbers are weird will elude you: memorize.
Any of us can calculate that ISO 200 is twice as sensitive as ISO 100, and ISO 400 is twice as fast as as ISO 200. With film sensitivity, a stop of light is easy to figure. Even with the shutter speed, though they inconveniently do not use exact numbers, the key numbers are approximately exponential: 2, 4, 8, 15, 30, 60, 125, 250, 500, 1000. There is a little funny business going on in there, but basically, it is easy to figure a stop of light. Aperture, though? Not so much. Read the rest of this post »
Real Life Produces the Best Portraits
Life itself is a wealth of portrait opportunities. It does not have to be set up to be good.
An excellent portrait in my book has little to do with technical perfection, trick lighting, or a formulaic set up. An excellent portrait is a glimpse at a person, tells a story, reveals something of the subject’s character, or allows you to understand the subject better. As such, a good portrait might well be in a studio, but quite likely will not, because the subject likely will be more comfortable in a familiar setting, and just maybe, a particular setting could bring out something unexpected.
There is, of course, much we can all learn, there are little tips and tricks, but much of portrait photography comes down to just doing it. Trying to make the photo happen, then just letting it happen. Emulating a popular style, then doing it the good old fashioned way. Focusing on technique, then working to capture that one expression.
More than anything else, I hope the upcoming class will be an encouragement to experiment. If interested, classes will be Wednesdays in February, 5:30-7:00pm, all for only $35 for all four classes. To sign up for the class, call Temple Parks & Leisure at (254)298-5740. If you have any questions, just leave a comment below.