Phantom Hack's Photoblog

Event shooting - Level Up

2009-11-08T19:03:00.001-08:00

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

2009-10-29T07:06:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-10-25T20:38:00.001-07:00

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

2009-09-17T18:14:00.001-07:00

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

2009-09-10T19:07:00.001-07:00

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

2009-09-09T20:16:00.001-07:00

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

2009-09-05T08:53:00.001-07:00

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.

Ringflash revisited

2009-08-30T16:10:00.001-07:00

Shooting with Shannon, originally uploaded by ted.sali.

Knowing I had nothing on the docket this morning, I sent out the call to some of the talent I know saying "hey, anyone else want to just go out and monkey around a bit?"
Happily, Shannon was up to the challenge, and we met up downtown around noon.
A few coffees later, we were just wandering up the block on Albert Street, and looking for some graffiti to use as a background, and we found this wall, the whole thing was tagged, so there was lots to work with.
The alley was in shade, with lots of light coming from the street, and in all reality I could have shot all afternoon just like that, it was that cool. However, never knowing when to leave well enough alone, I decided it was time to pull out the orbis and use my ringflash as a fill light.
You know what, I'm glad I did. Granted it does not have a lot of range, particularly when using it against the sun, however it does a great job of giving a nice fill to ease some of the shadows without creating new shadows of it's own.

Let your subjects Frame themselves

2009-08-02T11:05:00.001-07:00

Framed Kids, originally uploaded by ted.sali.

Couple weeks ago I picked up this frame, my wife thought I was insane spending nearly 90 dollars on a frame I was never going to put a canvas in, but as usual, I had a different plan for this frame.
I made sure I got a nice sturdy frame, but one that still looked classy and slightly ornate, but easy enough to grip. Next wedding I shot, I put it to use.
I'd like to say this was entirely my idea, that I was brilliant enough to come up with this on my own...I'd like to say that but I know I've seen other photographers do this, so I used their great idea. And it is a fantastic idea, it worked better than I ever expected.
One of the hardest things to do at the reception is to get good candid shots of the guests, far too often we wind up with candids that wind up never being used, or just included in the batch of photos and languish away on some forgotten CD somewhere. The reason is because they are usually boring, people sitting at a table, or just standing in a corner in their nice clothes smiling without purpose.
However, if you hand them a frame to poke through, and hold at an odd angle, people have something to do, and they all become actors. I had bunches of people, 4-5 adults suddenly crowding close, making faces, posing and generally having a great time making these bits of art for the album, and these images will probably not be forgotten.
The best part is you don't even have to tell them what to do, they come up with it all by themselves, they just need that little catalyst. They also stop being shy, and you can get great photos of almost every guest, because the minute they get the frame, they know exactly what to do with it, hold it up and grin, make faces, act sassy, steal a kiss, or act out a little scene. Even little kids get it, and give smiles that look decidedly un-school photo, beaming and having fun because kids love neat ideas.
It also does something to the photos themselves, because it...well...it frames the subject, making composition a lot easier and more fun for everyone, and I mean everyone. I managed to get shots like this of almost every guest at the wedding, and although some of them are at tables, the photos are not boring in the slightest.
A simple and highly effective way to make really fun memories of a very special day.

Cool Cars, cooler Models

2009-07-26T08:00:00.001-07:00

Driven-1, originally uploaded by ted.sali.

The Driven auto show was happening in Winnipeg yesterday afternoon in the convention center. You could find it upstairs, past the Anime convention on floors one and two.
I got to work with a load of new models for the event, and lots of owners. I expect my inbox to be overflowing soon.
This shoot went particularly well thanks to some new ultra portable hot shoe softboxes I recently purchased. If you're doing off camera flash gun lighting, I highly recommend them. They soften the light nicely like an umbrella, but without that nasty spill around the edges. They're also slightly smaller , so they are easier to carry around, but they are heavier, so you have to take that into account. Also, because the lining is silver coated, they give a slightly creamy quality to the light too, so it seems to wrap a little nicer.
I tested them with both my radio trigger set, and with a Nikon CLS TTL setup thanks to Trevor Johnson (can't wait to see his photos, we had some serious Mojo going on)
The models I got to work with were all amateur, like Cathy here, this was her first car show. Cool ladies, all of them, and very confident because when you shoot at an auto show, you don't just shoot with the photographer you're working with, but with everyone else that sees the lights popping off and attractive ladies in bikini's draped over a performance vehicle. Like I said to Andrew, who got concerned about the crowd we were gathering, it means we're doing it right.
That's about all for today, I've got a BBQ to plan for, so I have to do some running amock and pick up ice, drinks, and the lot yet today.
Cheers!

8:28 AM

2009-07-09T09:52:00.001-07:00

8:28 AM, originally uploaded by ted.sali.

I was almost at work, with a couple minutes to spare, when I look across the street and see this old building lit up by the reflections off the glass of a new building, giving this old building this weird blue and gold light paint job.
Hmmm...be on time, or get this shot....
Anyway, I took one frame, and played with it a little. The result was weird and kinda abstract, the bricks, depending on how much light fell on them, almost seemed to fade in and out of focus, which was needless to say, really weird.
The point here, if there is a point, is that my new habit of carrying a camera almost all the time does have it's benefits. I walk by this building 5 times a week, and although I've seen this pattern before, it never really registered with me. Now that I carry my little camera (that is, my original dslr, I've done some upgradification) I have the tool to take a pretty neat shot whenever and wherever they happen.
Heck, I've almost convinced myself to do a 365 project, but I'm not sure if I'm disciplined enough for that.
There's about 9 or 10 readers a day that hit this site, sound off for me, you can be anonymous but let me know, should I try a 365 Project (that is, take at least one original photo, every day, for a full year)

Topaz Adjust

2009-07-05T12:41:00.001-07:00

Topaz Adjust, originally uploaded by ted.sali.

Hey, how would you like HDR type photos without having to spend all that time mucking about with HDR?
Better yet, how about some very cool and dramatic enhancements on action shots? Kinda hard to get the whole world to stop while you bracket 3 images.
Topaz labs has a stopgap, a plugin called Topaz Adjust that nicely fits that bill.
I've been using the trial version for a month, and decided it was worth the 50 USD to get a liscence key to call it my very own.
Topaz is easy to use, and pulls a lot of detail out on raw files, not so awesome with JPG, but I tend to shoot almost everything raw anyway, even with my "little" camera which is my K110d with the kit lens on it that I have taken to dragging around with me pretty much everywhere I go.
Granted, I can be known to let the saturation get a little out of hand but it's hard to resist those candy-bright colours and electric skies. Sometimes, though, that's what you want, the world of photography is about making people see things the way you want them to see them.
Topaz adjust is just part of a whole suite of plugins available, and I may go back and get more, but for now I've come to rely like the looks I can get out of adjust, especially when I want emerald green cotton candy grass and leaves like this.
Adjust is only 50 USD, and the whole suite is a very affordable 135 USD, plus the trial version is completely functional and free for 30 days, so it's worth a bash.
Available for Photoshop on both Windows (32 and 64 bit) and Mac.

Ahh...unity!

Stobist Boot Camp II Assignment 2

2009-07-04T08:49:00.000-07:00

For years I have referred to technology in casual conversations with my peers as "Amish Porn", as electronic blinky things are forbidden by that particular community.
David has served up, to turn a phrase, what I would like to think of as "Dietitian Porn" for the second assignment within the Strobist Boot Camp II exercise for this summer.
I get to play around with two of my favorite things, cameras and food to enter this one, and my idea hamster has been spinning the wheel for a couple days now trying to figure out exactly what I should shoot.
Of course, my first instinct roars in my belly, literally, a single word that carries so much passion, so much love that it is almost deafening, "Pizza". However, because it's summer, and I'm coming off a week of holidays with my kids, I think I'm going to do something a wee bit more emotional.
For the sake of nostalgia, I'm going to find, and shoot one of my favorite treats from childhood, something that I still enjoy as an adult, but was a really big deal when it hit a the table when I was growing up; Watermelon. I used to be absolutely bonkers about it as a kid, would burrow into huge slice after huge slice while my parents would bark something about leaving something for someone else. I'm also going to do it for the sake of my middle boy, who has taken up the flag of watermelon fiend and was so horribly wronged last week at dinner when the server removed his plate of 2 precious pieces when a bathroom break called him from the table, resulting in a look of pure sadness that nearly broke my heart.
So now I get to find a suitable candidate melon, one with a rich pink flesh and dark black seeds to serve two roles: model for my project and prey for my kids.
Be vewy, vewy, quiet...I'm hunting mewons.

Doing the Classic Head Shot

2009-06-21T17:11:00.001-07:00

06-19-2009 Holly-8, originally uploaded by ted.sali.

So what exactly do you need to have at your disposal to to a really good looking head shot?
Well, if you subscribe to the ideology of Joe McNalley and David Hobby, all you really need is a camera, and the ability to fire a couple hot shoe flashes off camera.
That's how I got this shot of Holly Fossen, an aspiring model. I used one flash through an umbrella just off to her right, and a second bare one off to her left just giving a wink of light to make sure she wasn't too dark on the left side there.
To pull that outlandish blue sky off, I used your other best friend, the CTO filter.
CTO have become one of my favorite tools as late, as I have recently really learned how to use them. Basically, you chuck the CTO onto your flash heads (by means of the super expensive dollar store tape) and then set your camera into tungsten white balance. The CTO's make your flash the same color as a tungsten light, that is warm and orange, and that means the camera's white balance shifts to the blue spectrum.
The result is that your lit subject is now nice and warm, and your background, in this case a cloudy sunset, it pushed into the blues much more.
This does a couple nice things to your photo. First of all, it makes your subject look nice and warm, like they are lit by the golden glow of a beautiful sunset, like a nice artificial magic hour going on. The other thing it does is by pushing the background into the cooler spectrum is creates a sense of perspective, known as temperature perspective, making your subject stand well out of your background.
I've recently just discovered the concept of temperature perspective whilst reading one of my books, so I'm knot just making this up.
Turns out there are three very good ways to provide a sense of perspective in a photo. The first being linear perspective - this is what we all think of when we say perspective, parallel lines converge into infinity, closer objects look larger, the stuff we all learn in middle school art class.
The second is called Atmospheric perspective, and landscape shooters use this a lot. You know how on those especially great mornings if you are lucky enough to live in an elevated location, you look out your window and the distant hills get more and more hazy? That's atmospheric perspective, a sense of distance is provided by atmospheric haze, the more haze the more of a sense of perspective, fog can do this too, giving the sense to relatively close objects.
And finally, there's temperature perspective, which is what I exploited here. Basically, if you warm your subject more than your background, the mind separates them and says "oh, I like warm things, so that must be closer" or something like that. If you cool your subject, and warm your background, they will seem to be much closer together. To be honest, I don't really get or care about the psychology behind it, all I gotta know is that it does in fact work, so I use it.
Yay for books!

How much editing?

2009-06-14T17:39:00.001-07:00

Before and After, originally uploaded by ted.sali.

Sometimes, a whole lot.
I said in my post last night that this shot was very boring out of camera. I did want something more memorable, but right out of camera I couldn't pull it off, this one needed editing in photoshop and lightroom.
Now what's really interesting is that it looks like I may have spent a long time on this image, when in reality I only spent a few minutes. Now that I really understand how the orton technique works in the digital realm, I've gone ahead and created an action to perform it automatically. To create the dream like quality in some of my other portraits now only takes a few moments of my time, and to blow it over the top like this only takes seconds more in lightroom.
The result is an image that the client will look at and think "wow, that's amazing" without knowing that it's actually a combination of techniques the photographer uses every day.
Still, saying that it's simple now betrays the fact that getting a really good handle on the orton technique takes some time. I've been messing around with it on and off for about six months, only recently getting a good grip on it. It's simple to do this now because I've done all the work already, and now I know what works.

Orton + Lightroom = Unearthly

2009-06-13T20:50:00.001-07:00

Orton + Lightroom = Unearthly, originally uploaded by ted.sali.

So, I have this ho-hum photo of the bridal gown from a wedding a shot a few weeks ago. It was hanging in front of a sheer curtain and wasn't doing much for me.
I decided I'd try a few things with it, using the Orton technique to see if I could bring some life to this otherwise drab and very ordinary photo.
So I take my boring photo into Photoshop, make my layers, overexpose them, add the blur and blend them.
Okay, so that worked pretty well, so I take it back into lightroom, crop, straighten...much better but still not really amazing.
Then I start playing with the presets. I mouse over the cold tone and WOW! Now that's what I'm looking for!
The straps hanging the dress disappear, the window blows way out, and the detail in the corset becomes a magnificent pattern of cool blue tones, all with a near angelic feel courtesy of the Orton Technique.
Oh ya, this one is going in my portfolio now.

Details

2009-05-31T10:23:00.001-07:00

Details, originally uploaded by ted.sali.

Here's how my week goes:

Sunday - Multiple model and photographer shoot in a downtown studio. Got some great shots, but have not had time to process them. Got some engagement shots done, have to get them to client.
Monday - Thursday: Day job and Soccer in the evening.
Friday - Company Golf Tournament - spend all day shooting that. Evening event: Winnipeg Caribbean Carnival fundraiser & fashion show - I'm a sponsor so I was there all night. Great group of people, BTW.
Saturday - 10 AM phone call from my friend Jerry, frantic that his second shooter has called in sick hours before a wedding. I really enjoy shooting alongside Jerry, so of course I jump in with both feet.
Back to Sunday. The sun is shining, and I'm going out with the family to do some geocaching...

Can it get any better than this? Don't think so.

Timbit #24: Fenton

2009-05-20T20:54:00.001-07:00

Soccer-1, originally uploaded by ted.sali.

Sometimes it's just enough to have a camera with you to catch moments like this.
Half time in the Mini Soccer game, and my guy was heading in for his traditional snack.
Fenton is almost 5, and loves to play the game. As you can see, the skies were pretty clear, and there was only a mild breeze (by Winnipeg standards) tonight, so faces were rosy from the game and laughter, not from biting cold wind.

Oh, and they scored big at snack time, someone brought Creamsicles.

Hot shoe flashes in the Studio and Death of a favorite tool.

2009-05-14T10:45:00.001-07:00

Lighting Workshop #2 - small strobes, originally uploaded by ted.sali.

I recently attended a lighting workshop put on by my friend Dan Harper. It was a good session, and excellent for those new to off-camera light and using Hot Shoe flashes for lighting subjects.

Of course, I'm not exactly new at this, but I've always professed that it's never a bad thing to get a refresher on what you already know, just in case there's something you've forgotten.

As it turns out, the one thing that I really picked up from this is the knowledge that I could really make use out of a small HSF softbox. These particular little units have a front baffle size of only 15" per edge, which may not seem like a big light source, but in reality, it's a very functional size.

Your average flash has a window of about 2" X 3", giving a total of 6 square inches. Not a really big working space, no matter what kind of diffuser you put directly on the camera. This is why I use umbrellas a lot, because they expand the light surface from 6 inches to around 800 square inches, almost 100 times the surface area. However, umbrellas have a flaw, particularly shoot through, because they are not enclosed, and they spill light around the edges. This is a real pain....

Now, a small 15" softbox has 225" of surface, which is still nearly 40 times as large, but the real advantage is they are enclosed, and have no spill. It may not be quite as soft a source as a large umbrella, but as we all know you can control that by controlling the relative size by moving the light source in closer.

There's another big plus that became apparent while I was at that workshop, softboxes are more rugged than umbrellas. About a year ago I had the wind catch one of my stands and yank my umbrella down, it bent the arms a bit, but I forced them back with my hands, and got another year of use out of it. Sadly, though, when I opened this particular brolly at the workshop, it folded as fast as it opened, the arms had lost all strength. Luckily, I had two with me, and a bunch of grids so I could still pull off a good shot, but I was down to a single brolly.

Don't get me wrong, I'll still keep the brollies as part of my everyday drag around gear, they're cheap and light, but a softbox would be great, and I think that might be my next little gift to my mobile gear.

Oh ya, so getting back to the workshop...so what did I learn? Well, it may not have been technique or vision, but I did learn something, and the really great news about this is that my axiom about always leaning something still holds water.

Getting my Mojo Back

2009-04-08T19:52:00.001-07:00

St. Ignatious HDR, originally uploaded by ted.sali.

Something bad happened to me over the winter months.
Aside from the fact that the short days and very cold weather keep me away from shooting environmental work, which I think is my best stuff, I started getting far too technical.
Now, don't get me wrong, being technical is great, but when you start fretting over the math more than the final feel of the shot, you loose something in the creative aspect.

That was bad....

The good news, I'm starting to swing myself back into more creative mode, letting the light talk to me more, and worrying about what the light meters say less. Seems my images look better when my light meter isn't so happy.

The funny part is that about a week after my revelation that I was getting too hung up on numbers and whatnot, I borrowed the Strobist DVD collection from a buddy of mine.

And what does Mr. David Hobby say right in the first half hour? Pretty much the same thing.

So, here's what I gotta do, I have to have fun with my camera again. Last summer and fall I was having a blast, I didn't know as much as I would have liked, but my images were fun and exciting. I was happy, my clients were happy, and my images were happy.

The weather is starting to break, I have some new contacts that want to work with me, and I plan to have some laughs.

Please stand by, fun stuff is gonna start happening real, REAL soon.

As you can see, I kinda have my hands full...

2009-03-29T21:07:00.001-07:00

Rolling Thunder Talent, originally uploaded by ted.sali.

3 Fashion shows...check
1 wedding..check
1 private portrait session to edit...check
1 lighting workshop to attend...check
1 more private portrait session to set up...check
1 kids birthday

Oh, and maybe an early spring rainstorm to find out if the downspouts are frozen...oh good, they are.

Yep, that was 7 days.

Vista 64 - 48 hour Later

2009-03-13T22:22:00.000-07:00

So, after a five year run as my main workstation, I finally retired my old friend, my P4 2Ghz Gateway machine.

....Good times...

Okay, on with the new...

I've been watching the prices on Dell Studio computers for close to a year now, keeping a keen eye on things like processor speed, included ram, and last but not least, the OS. A friend of mine picked up an XPS system last year and it came with Vista, it was pretty fast, but it really started to perform when migrated the machine to XP64, plus it started using the RAM more efficiently. I wanted to go 64 bit at well, but I wasn't so sure I wanted to have to track down a version of XP and go through the whole compatibility thing with drivers.

Dell stepped up in the last few months offering more of their mid range models with Vista 64, and a couple weeks ago a pretty much ideal system went on sale. Armed with my firm's Employee purchase program's code in hand, I called Dell and ordered my new system, a rocket machine with a quad core processor, 6 Gb of RAM and a whopping Terrabyte of storage - I'm one of the people that actually has the ability to back up a Terrabyte because of my Network Attached Storage devices, so that saves me a large chunk of issues.

Since I phoned in the order, and had time to speak with my representative, Sai, I made some minor alterations in what I purchased, mostly removal of stuff I didn't want, trial antivirus, MS works, and so on leaving myself with a system that was pretty much just the hardware and the OS.

From there, the tweaking and setting up began. I had fully backed up all my data earlier in the week to external drives and NAS devices, so there was very little to the process of importing that data to my new machine (except, of course, I still have not gotten a Gigabit switch, which is on the map for today). Beyond that, installing my own antivirus, productivity tools, and of course, communication tools.

The biggest complaint people have with Vista is all the popups and security warnings. Since I know all my software is reputable, it does get a little annoying fast, so I jumped over to Lifehacker.com and turned that off pronto.

I did run into a minor snag when I tried to install my monitor calibration system, the Spyder 2 Express that I got from a very good friend for Christmas, does not come with the 64 bit drivers on the CD. A few minutes of downloading later, I had the newest 64 bit supporting software on my drive, and a quick reinstall allowed me to continue. That was probably the biggest frustration I had. Seriously.

A few other minor preference changes like disabling the Dell Dock and the Side Bar tools because they just get in my way, and I was off to the races.

And race this machine does, no question about it. The Vista Home Premium 64 is quick, but when you load software that is also 64 bit, like Lightroom, strap in for an amazing ride.

Lightroom opens and is ready to work in about the same time it takes to say "Adobe Lightroom version 2 64 Bits". I don't just mean the splash screen loaded, I mean it's up, the library is ready, and I can start working. Since lightroom is my main workhorse for processing photos, I was delighted to see the rocket speed it runs at. I'm having to adjust to the performance, no kidding, having to get used to jumping from tool to tool rather than having that couple seconds to think.

There are a lot of complaints about Vista, and let's face it Apple's Vista bashing campaign has not helped. Primarily, though, the complaints have come from people who like to game a lot, which I don't have a problem with, but I just don't game a lot which eliminates that issue for me. Another thing I don't do is download a bunch of desktop enhancements and media sharing tools (Ahem: Limewire) which rob you of system resources and clutter up your machine like a 3 year old with a crate of lego in a small room. Left clean and optimized for productivity and output, Vista is a performer, and the pure advantage of 64 bits just adds an aggressive edge to that fact.

There's one more little detail that I'd like to put on the table in defense of Vista to the Apple bashing campaign. Adobe and Apple have had strained relationships the last few years, not sure why, but Apple has managed to step on Adobe's toes enough that when the new shiny version of Photoshop with 64 bit support was released which promised (and delivers I might add) 6 to 10X the performance of the 32 bit version, it was only released for Vista 64. OSX may be a full 64 bit OS, but Mac users are running at 32 bits in Photoshop, and now having seen it run full speed, you guys are seriously missing out, sorry.

Concept shot

2009-03-05T19:25:00.001-08:00

Contrast Exercise 2, originally uploaded by ted.sali.

Yet another concept shot.
I do this kind of thing to my poor family all the time, come up with an idea and have to test it to see how well it actually works before I try it with a client.
As with many of my ideas, the initial attempt was not bad, but now I have an idea what to do with it in real application.
Most of the real magic in this kind of high contrast photo happens in post production, there simply isn't nearly this much contrast in camera. Lightroom works very well doing this kind of simple post production, and the nice thing is that if you shoot in manual as I did, you get a bunch of different poses and simply synchronize the same settings onto each image to get the same look at the end.

See, really I am back!

2009-02-22T20:10:00.001-08:00

Fibre Optics, originally uploaded by ted.sali.

Sometimes you walk by your kids room, and suddenly you think that hey, that dollar store fiber optic lamp they picked out really is cool!

My photo club is having a contest this month for Macro work, anything small or close up is the theme. As a judge and moderator of the club, I'm not eligible to enter, but I chucked this into the gallery none the less.

Everything, save the camera, in this shot was picked up at a dollar store, the lamp, the batteries, even the cheap foamcore background.

How much fun can you have for 3 bucks?

I'm Back, Baby!

2009-02-21T17:19:00.001-08:00

Manitoba Ledgislative Building Dome HDR, originally uploaded by ted.sali.

Ya, ya...I know I've been slacking, but now that the weather isn't nearing absolute zero on a daily basis, and the sun is in the sky for more than a few hours a day, I've been getting out and having some fun.
Today had nothing on the agenda, so I decided it was time to go some place I had never been before, and I visited the Manitoba Legislative Building. It's still kind of a thing for me to live in a provincial capital and have access to buildings like this, I've never been inside a legislative building before.
I was not disappointed. The building is grand, ornate and the air hangs heavy and thick.
Sadly, the widest lens I have at the moment is only 16mm, which is complicated by the fact that my 10mm is still on back-order. Man, I could have used that lens today.
Also, I made a major faux-pas and forgot to bring my tripod with me. Not so bright since I wanted to do some HDR shots like this one, and a tripod just makes it all so much easier to do. I still managed to pull off this particular shot handheld by jamming myself into a corner and using the stone to support me, minimizing shake.
All that said though, I had a fun few hours at the 'Leg, and I got some interesting shots, even if some of them are the standard touristy-type snapshots.