Event shooting - Level Up

C4-279, originally uploaded by ted.sali.

Last weekend was the Central Canada Comic Convention, a huge event that I volunteer to shoot every year.
To improve the quality of many of my shots, I carried around a single strobe inside a 24 inch soft box on a really lightweight stand.
I had the strobe manually set to 1/4 power, and set my camera accordingly to have the strobe about 2 meters away from the subject.
Knowing this, I could simply park my stand wherever, and catch much better lit subjects, like this reproduction of a WW2 uniform.
The really great thing about this kind of setup is once you set your light, it doesn't really matter where you shoot from. I shot this fellow full length and up close and personal, and I didn't have to change the settings on either my light, or my camera.
The final result is my floor shots, which would have normally had all the ambiance of a school gymnasium, instead had great directional light, and I could create drama and much more interesting shots.

Bad ideas when marketing yourself

I use Facebook to market myself as well as the website and the blog, haven't quite gotten into twitter yet.
These social mediums are great ways to make contacts and for causal communication to keep your customers and potential customers in the loop with what you're doing and what you can offer them.
There's a dark side to this though, not only can the customers see the positive things you can do, they can also see the negative things you do, those hidden actions that give away your true intent. This morning on Facebook, for example, I got two notices that a couple aspiring local photographers I know have joined this Fan Group.
I was kind of flabbergast at the idea, as one of them works at a retail photographic store here in town and has marked not only myself, but multiple other professional photographers in town as friends, meaning we all see exactly what they now think of the customers that they serve, which isn't very flattering.
Some time ago, a 'new idea' started making the rounds in the world of big business, a concept commonly referred to as 'the waiter rule'. Loosely summarized, the idea is that if you're out to dinner with a customer or vendor, and they treat the waiting staff poorly, then this is probably a person who you may not wish to do business with. The logic is that everyone puts their best foot forward when they want to impress someone, but when they think no one is looking their true nature comes out, and someone who is disrespectful to serving staff will be disrespectful to you when you're not looking.
Back to the groups within Facebook and other social network sites, these particular items are much like a digital date, you get to see what your potential business associate is like when they let their guards down. Certainly, if you have a consultation meeting with the client, they'll be on best behavior, but if you have skeletons in your closet (Halloween reference) on your online presence, well, customers may not be so keen to work with you.
Granted, this particular group is a little less offensive, and anyone who has worked retail, or food service, knows that it can be a very trying experience, but this is no secret to anyone. Revisiting it regularly, and in particular participating in publicly mocking or complaining about it casts a poor light on you as a person, and a glaringly bad light on you if you're trying to market yourself. It demonstrates to the customers that you're only going to be as professional as you need to be, and beyond that you don't feel a need to care.
There are worse groups to join than this one, anyone on Facebook sees them come up from time to time, groups that actively promote hate, distrust, arrogance and social discord, but for the sake of professionalism in this blog I'm not linking to any of those.
The next issue that should be addressed, while I'm here speaking to the point, is netiquette. There are certain rules for posting on the net that are similar to how one communicates in a business environment. Some rules should seem obvious, but they're often ignored, and doing so may cost you credibility in your business venture. In particular, two that are most overlooked are the use of vulgarity and poor spelling.
It's pretty easy to spot the difference between a seasoned Pro online and a young passionate start-up simply by the language chosen. Professionals will keep the language conversational and upbeat, and most importantly, unoffensive. Spelling, which I struggle with, is also important, take the time to try to get it correct, at least that shows an effort to be professional. The worst thing you can do is completely ignore it in hopes that everyone out there will think you're too cool and savvy to care. Keep in mind that often your clients (particularly in Wedding photography) are getting financial help from family members, and if their aunt who has offered to pay for the photographer sees posting where you cite things in text slang an vulgarity, she may be offended or insulted and insist another more professional shooter be contracted.
In summary, online networks are great, they are inexpensive and reach far more potential customers, but they must be used with intelligence and professionalism. Keep in mind that the waiter rule works both ways, as well as the fact that because you and your friends may think it's okay to slap about vulgarity, not everyone feels the same way. These are small details, but as the saying goes - 'the devil's in the details', and ignoring these simple rules could be costing you credibility, respect, your reputation and in the long run, money.

Year one...

Wedding highlights, originally uploaded by ted.sali.

My first season as a professional is drawing to a close, and it's been a very good learning experience.
My work has developed a great deal, and the learning curve continues it steep grade, but not as steep as it has been.
If I have any pointers for people out there who are thinking of getting into this professionally they are:

Practice, and vary what you shoot. Taking the same kind of shots all the time hones your skills to a fine edge on that particular style, but practice other things on the side. A specialty is good to have, but you need a range to be competitive, and the broader the range the better.

Work with someone else - get on with a seasoned professional and learn from them. They've seen and done a ton of things, and they know tricks to make your life easier.

Don't get hung up on the quality of your gear - fancy expensive stuff does not equal creativity, but soaking too much money into hardware before you can be profitable is a quick road to a failed business.

Set reasonable prices that are profitable for you and fit into the budget of your clients - if you do this, both parties benefit and come out ahead in the long run.

Keep it fun - when it stops being fun and starts being work that you don't want to do, it'll show in your work. The best photographers I've had the pleasure of meeting all enjoy it, even after years of doing it.

That's about it for me for now, I have a few more projects to wrap up in the next few weeks, and then I can turn my sights on next year, which is already starting to shape up to be another productive and fun season.

Color Photography

I’m a Pentax shooter, make no mistake about it. The reason I shoot Pentax is simply because it was the line of camera I was familiar with.

The End of that argument.

Fact of the matter is it really does not matter what brand you shoot with, but how you shoot that accounts for your photo’s success. Granted, better lenses and gear give you more range of options, but if you never master the basics, dumping money into expensive gear is pearls before a swine. But back to the brand argument, brands in photographic equipment is an argument that will rage eternally, like the competition between fans of one brand of automobile versus fans of another brand of automobile, or Windows OS versus Mac OS, it’s pretty much just a waste of time to discuss it.

The simple truth is that any competing products will be similarly featured to those of another maker in the same price range with some very minor differences, the kind of differences that can usually only be seen in a laboratory on equipment that’s far more sensitive than all but the most acutely trained individual, and frankly even the experts are sometimes fooled.

So manufacturers have to come up with different options to set their product apart from the others, and one very easy way to do this is by changing the appearance of the product.

Enter the new K-x from Pentax. Aimed at entry level shooters and designed to compete with the entry level cameras from Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Sony, Sigma, etcetera etcetera. Without doubt this camera will hold it’s own when taking shots, and it’s got the added juicy goodness of shooting HD video through nice 35mm lenses which give a look to short videos that most hand held video cameras simply cannot match.

Beginning and casual shooters are tired of the endless arguments about brand and models, the megapixel wars are over and moot, the HD video battle will be over shortly and there are a lot of people who simply do not want to be bored comparing endless minor details.

So what has Pentax done to set these cameras apart from the pack? The simple yet ingenuous move of giving the consumer a choice of 4 colors – Classic Black, White, Red and Navy Blue.

I fully understand that color on the body and lens in no way impact the performance of the camera, but it will give people a sense of individuality, allowing them to break from the traditional black and silver bodies (colors chosen mostly from practical reasons than design) to being the only person at the event with a bright red DSLR, or the only one on the slope with a white DSLR who can stealth the camera around.

Arguably, Panasonic had this brainwave first with the Lumix G1 line of DSL cameras (not DSLR, no mirror) but they opted for more muted red and blue, nothing as striking as the primary red hue or blazing white chassis of the K-x. Pentax did offer a limited supply of K-m cameras in white and olive green last year, and to no one’s surprise, they flew off the shelves. I never saw a single one in any of the camera shops here in town. This one might do exactly the same thing.

It won’t take the other big names long to figure this out, and I fully expect to see a rainbow of entry level cameras from all makers within 12 months, sooner if these little K-x units start to be the camera of choice to show up under the holiday tree. A lot of this will have to do with the salespeople at camera stores now, many of them are shooters and loyal to their brand, and may attempt to poo-poo the shiny red DSLR. This may sound like a good idea, but these customer service people are supposed to be objective, and if they start dumping on the competition and pulling out technicalities when the customer really just wants something different, they stand the chance of getting a brisk talking to by the managers.

Anecdotally, I remember several years ago a friend of mine was looking at a new camera with his wife. He wanted to go SLR, and spent nearly an hour pouring over the cameras available. His wife got bored and started poking around and found a bright red point and shoot unit. On the way home, while reviewing his opinions with her, his wife finally said “let’s just get the red one, it’s cute.” He approached me with this information and asked me what he could tell his wife to get her to change her opinion, to which I replied “nothing, you’re getting a red camera.”

He did wind up getting the red camera, but there’s hope for him now. It’s been a few years, and if you’re out there John, I think it’s time to head back to the camera store and show your wife the new line of cute red cameras. With a price tag of about 600 dollars for the kit, maybe you’ll both be happy.

Make Family time Learning time

New gear takes a while to get used to. With the arrival of my super wide angle lens, I need time to get used to the way the lens works, how to think about framing something that really exceeds what we normally see when we look around. Mastering new gear means building new skills, no matter how much skill we already have, and this takes time.

There’s a few ways to make the time to get intimate with your new stuff, for me there’s pretty much 3 choices.

1: Use it with a client: sometimes you have to use the trial by fire method, most of the time you don’t. This is by far my least favourite way of getting to know gear because the pressure is on, you have deliverables due, and if you miss the mark paying clients do not want to hear excuses like ‘I was getting used to the new gear,’ for the obvious reason that they are the ones with money and time on the line. This makes the photographer look very unprofessional.

2: Wander off by myself or a friend and get used to the equipment by playing around. This works, and it’s good to spend time with friends, no one has money on the line. Photographers who are single or don’t have families, this is the better, and more probable choice.

3: Dress up the kids, and make a day trip somewhere to have some fun and try out the new stuff. This is my favourite choice because it gives you time with the family, makes family involved in your business (huge with little kids – I’m helping Daddy/Mommy) and lastly, you may wind up with some great family photos for your own album or wall.

It’s a simple thing to do, it creates good memories, maximizes your productive time, and it prevents a situation that harkens to the old axiom ‘the cobbler’s child goes without shoes’.

Finally, who can resist cute kid photos?

Live Writer

For a while now, I’ve been looking for a new tool to keep my blogs up to date. I know there are plenty of tools out there, but I wanted something simple, clean, and bearing a familiar look and feel to what I’m used to on my workstations.

Today, I discovered Windows Live Writer, and I have to admit, I find it pretty much dead easy to use.

I think the biggest advantage it has for me is the fact that it allows me to update both my blogs from the same interface, this one, and the one for my photography website.

I don’t really have a lot to say tonight, but I’ll certainly be putting it through it’s paces in the near future.

Lens Lineup complete - One more goal complete

Chapel of the Virgin, originally uploaded by ted.sali.

Then I got into SLR photography, I had no idea which lenses to get.
Luckily for me, the good folks who make cameras thought about this and came up with the Kit lens, which is probably one of the most versatile lenses you've got in your bag, and more than once it's saved my bacon. Of course, figuring out what lenses do and how to use them takes time and a lot of knowledge - you'll make some mistakes along the way, but eventually you'll figure out exactly how to design and build your lens lineup for what you want to be shooting.
About a year ago I finally hit this point, and I was lucky in the fact I had not bought a ton of lenses that did not fit into this lineup, so I wasn't stuck trying to offload a bunch of lenses and taking a financial hit there too.
A couple days ago, the final lens for my lineup arrived (after a 9 month manufacturing wait) to round out my lens lineup - I now have a range of lenses that allow me to shoot from 10-200mm with speed relative to the shooting style, or more precisely, MY shooting style.
I do a lot of people and object shots in ambient light or artificial light, with a bit of environmental and telephoto, mostly under daylight conditions, so I built my lineup to match this. To this end, I have built my lineup to put the heavy lifting tools into the range most used to shoot people, that is wide to medium telephoto. The 3 key lenses here are f2.8 from 16-135mm, with a 50mm 1.4 for those really low light conditions.
Sometimes, though, you do need to go super wide or super telephoto, so I've got two additional lenses to cover this range, more or less. These lenses are much slower, 4.5 for the super wide 10-24mm and 5.6 for the 28-200mm telephoto, but since I don't use them a lot, and mostly under daylight conditions, I can escape with slightly slower lenses, as I usually find myself shooting at f8 or higher anyway.
So now, I'm really ready to go, I've got my stuff all in order, I know what lens to use for what conditions, and I can shoot all the stuff I like to shoot with a lot more confidence in my gear. Now the pressure is on me, and me alone to get the shot. This may seem at first blush to be not a less stressful situation, but it's actually a pretty nice place to be in, as I'm sure other pro shooters can attest to.