It's Funny.

A few friends are going to perform at an "open-mic" type of night at a comedy club in the east Village. Going to be interesting to see them on stage. Everyone knows (hopefully) how difficult it is to get up on stage in front of people. Then to have to make them laugh on top of that... also difficult.

Add onto that the fact that the people in the crowd are you friends doesn't help. And then to think that you'll be both filmed and photographed? I don't think I could get up there and do it.

In any event, it shall be a lighting challenge. I'm already stocked with my 50mm 1.4 & new grip. I'll be dabbling a bit in using higher-ISO and post-production noise reduction, as well as toying around with using AEB to help ensure accurate shots. I've previously bracketed outdoors, where highlights and shadows can often be problematic. I don't foresee a need to leave it on indoors however, unless I just set a single bracket at EV + 1. I wonder if I can set a single AEB point.... I'll have to check into that!

Previous experiences with higher-ISO has been less then stellar. Now granted, that was on a DIGIC-III with my Rebel XTi. But since then I've shy'ed away from anything above 400. Even though my 50D could handle higher ISO numbers I always sought to keep the pictures as clean as possible. After watching a Kelby Training video with Jay Maisel, who speaks about keeping his ISO at 1600 for outdoor shots, I've gotten a bit more comfortable with the idea.

Now from what I've encountered, a higher ISO outdoors will produce much less noise than an indoor shot - perhaps the darker colors found in shadows lead to more visible noise than the white and bright colors do. I hope to get in about an hour on the street before heading into the club. I'll definitely test this out!

The Art of Posing - by Lou Jacobs, Jr.

I just put down The Art of Posing, by Lou Jacobs Jr. Published in 2010. I read this primarily to prepare for my friend's engagement photo session. As a rule, I jump right into a book, based more or less on the name and the cover. Call me crazy, but I break the age-old adage and make my entire determination based on these 2 factors. Primarily because in this busy get-up-and-go world, I don't have nearly as much time to read the back cover of the book, or flip through it as I would like.

That being said... the tagline "Techniques for Digital Portrait Photographers" was a little misleading, I feel. The book has a short 10 pages of tripe, before getting into the main contents of the book. A form of Question & Answer. The "author" chose 10 photographers, seemingly at random, to pose a number of questions to. Perhaps via email, without a true back and forth. The questions can be readily displayed here:

About your background
Describe your studio
Your specialties
Getting acquainted with the client
First portrait poses
Encouraging improvisation
Inspiring good poses
The importance of lighting
Using props
Discussing what you are doing
Facial flaws and excess weight
Teen poses
Posing young children
Posing groups
Clothing for portraits
Digital alterations
Body language
Cameras, lenses, flash and backgrounds

That's it. These questions, asked of 10 different local photographers from portrait studios around the country. Each answer 1 - 2 paragraphs. Call me crazy, but I didn't find the book all that useful. While there was a line or two of interest, nothing really head turning. A few good images from some of the different photographers, but nothing striking. It was somewhat interesting to see a few techniques that all of the photographers do, but certainly that could have been stated by the author as "studies show 85% of photographers believe building a rapport with your client will make them feel more at ease.".

I'm not saying this isn't a useful book. At this stage in my learning, I'm still very green - and while the text deals with quite basics issues, I felt that more attention could have been given to diversifying the material, instead of just having 10 separate people say basically the same thing.

B&H Booty!

Well, with this engagement photo project swiftly in motion, I decided it was high time I acquired the items I would need to make this shoot as excellent for my friends as possible. So, on our way back from upstate New York, we stopped off at B&H in the city to pickup some gear.

I find that, as I hear most starting photographers do, I tend to shoot in landscape mode more. It's just easier on the hand. Having to contort in an odd fashion to shoot in portrait can get to you after a while. So first on the list was an official Canon 5D mkII grip (BG-E6) & extra battery (LP-E6). I had read some poor reviews of some 3rd party batteries - what with the melting and all. So I decided to go official. Additionally, it comes with a battery magazine that takes AA's. So in a pinch, I can swap out the 2 rechargeable ones for off-the-shelf batteries.

The only other item on my immediate list was a Lastolite 2x4 30" 4-in-1 reflector kit (LAR30K). As they seem to be pretty invaluable, the $43 bucks it cost wasn't going to break the bank. There was a house brand Impact kit, a 5-in-1 @ 42"... but it was a single hoop with reversible zipper-reflection (1 side silver, 1 side gold). This kit is a little smaller, but comes with 2 separate hoops, a reflector and a diffuser.

While perusing their fine establishment, the true nature of a brick & mortar store comes into play. I eyeballed a $19.99 Impact brand light stand (6' - IMLS6B). Not sturdy. Low quality. Heavy. But it'll do the job for little ol' me right now. And down the road, I can upgrade. Of course not knowing anything, the salesman pointed out that if I was mounting a flash to this and desired articulation of the angular-style, I would need a shoe mount adapter (PHSMA). Finally, while looking over the adapter I noticed a "clamp-hole". When I inquired about it he said it was for an umbrella. Eureka! I had already "built" 2 soft boxes at home, this could be perfect! Well, when he told me the reversible umbrella was only $12 bucks (IMU32BW), how could I resist. For 53 bucks I got everything I needed for high quality (well, higher than I do now) portrait shots!

Overall, a superb day. Happy to have picked up some essentials for a moderate price. And the salesman was excellent. I don't often go out of my way to provide feedback, but I absolutely will be filling out a survey for this guy!

Welcome Suprise

Got an excellent phone call last night from my best friend, Danny. The topic of conversation was whether or not I would be interested in shooting him and his fiancee/wife's engagement photographs. They were married a few months back in NYC - a quick official service to make everything legal. The actual ceremony is this coming November down in Disney, Florida. However I did, at their request, bring my camera with me to the event and photographed the proceedings. They seemed happy with the results, although I tend to be very critical about my work and had a number issues.

I was honored to have been asked. But had to think seriously about it for a few moments. In particular, I don't know if I would be comfortable with the possibility of ruining their pictures. I told him straight out that I was not the best with portraiture, as I have zero ability to correctly direct people on how to act/behave/stand in the frame. The few times I've shot people I feel like I'm just taking snapshots.

All that aside, they were still interested in having me do this for them. How could I say no? A chance to practice, and the thought of possibly getting some great shots of my best friend and his wife.

I'm gonna finish up (and review) this last book on composition, and then quickly move into a few books on portraiture and wedding photography. Perhaps pickup a few items to help ensure the shoot goes as planned... a Lastolite diffuser, stand, Justin clamp.... I'm sure I can shop for enough to make this work!

Post-Hurricane Photo Walk

It's been a busy few days here, in Brooklyn. The landfall of Hurricane Irene has affected many people in this area. Current count on the East Coast is 1.4 million without power. Many others are dealing with downed trees, floods and lack of transportation. The city has done an exceptional job of getting everyone prepared for the destruction that *could* have ensued. Thankfully, it wasn't worse.

I took a short journey around my immediate area yesterday to see how businesses and homeowners were prepping for the storm. Some of the pictures were well received - which is great. It's why I'm struggling to get better. I enjoy when a photo makes someone stop and think about it. I myself can quickly breeze through a number of photos without a second glance. But on occasion, one hits me and I have to stop and really "look" at it.

Here are some pics from today's walk, which was much more extensive. I found that while there wasn't much in the way of destruction, there was certainly a lot of activity. Hopefully I've been able to capture some of that here.

Pics from Brooklyn, NY

Post-Hurricane Irene

Pre-Hurricane Photo Walk

Threw some pics I made up on Google+. Mostly just documenting the stores closing early on a Saturday. Check them out!

Pics from Brooklyn, NY

Pre-Hurricane Irene

Review: Composition - From Snapshots to Great Shots by Laurie Excell

Having stepped on the brakes of my "learn-by-doing" method, I've been power-housing through a multitude of photography books as quickly as possible. Most recently, I picked up the book 'Composition - From Snapshots to Great Shots', by Laurie Excell, with chapter contributions by various other author/photographers.

Suffice to say this book was an excellent breakdown of the art. Good for both beginners, or 3-year veterans like myself with no book-knowledge about the subject. The first six chapters are written by Excell, and we jump right in with a chapter on equipment & gear. Mainly focused on what she carries and why - the author provides excellent examples of the different lenses and how they work. Included is a full > cropped sensor comparison image for those interested in knowing the difference.

Chapters 2 and 3 focus on the components that make up exposure, which she refers to as an "exposure triangle", and then light itself. Obvious talk of quality and quantity, this chapter is rather straightforward for anyone who has read about light before. Descriptions of the different kinds of light provided by nature are dominant, with excellent examples of each.

Chapters 4 and 5 get into the nitty-gritty of composition - focusing on lines, shapes, patterns, and all of chapter 5 being dedicated to color. These chapters were exactly what I was looking for in a book, and easily convey what draws the eye in a photos. Leading lines, patterns and framing, as well as orientation of the camera are just some of the topics expertly covered in this section.

After a brief chapter on spatial relations including scale, perspective and depth - we begin our guest-author chapters. Covering the topics of B&W, Sports, "Beyond" the rule of thirds and a so-called compositional dance, these chapters really bring the book home. Each author spends a chapter talking about their topic, with excellent storytelling and visual content.

Included at the end of each chapter are exercises to get your mind in place to understand the concepts and hone your technique. Of the ideas, keeping a camera with you from start to finish and detailing your day is one of the projects I think I'll be working on quite soon!

In a nutshell, for anyone interested in learning some of the basics of composing an image, this book is perfect. I felt the book really enforced the idea of "waiting" for that perfect shot. Oh-so-often I find myself yearning to make a photo quickly and expecting it to be the stuff of legends. Just to come home and reveal poorly-timed, shaky, out-of-focus and boring photos.

Added to the collection, this is definitely a book I will be reading again.