if you are a nikonian or radiopopper user, you may appreciate my latest review, pages 18 - 21, in the nikonian's e-zine here.

that's goal #39 checked off my list of 101 photo goals in 1,001 days. a special kudos to tom boné, chief editor at nikonians, for his stellar editing. he didn't seem to mind... too much... that my text was in 'kern-photo' lower case :)

here are a few more favorite shots from a road trip back in april, i just got these back from the lab. if you haven't done so already, you check out holga series of southwestern colorado landscapes round 1 if you'd like to see more.

a roadside pit stop near the top of red mountain pass, colorado, shot with a holga:


canyon of the ancients national monument are well preserved by tax payer's dollars:


wildfires in 1996, 2000, and 2002 burned much of the park. for the first 20 or so miles of driving in, the not-so-green-table looked very much like this, as shot from the fire lookout at park point overlook:


the spruce tree house, among the best-preserved cliff dwelling at mesa verde:


to avoid harsh shadows, i chose to shoot the largest cliff dwelling, cliff palace, at dusk using a tripod and my 70-200 f/2.8 lens zoomed to 200mm for 1/4 sec, f/11, iso 200. sorry, my holga just didn't have the low-light capability that the nikon d300 has. it boggles my mind to think ansel adams pulled some great stuff back in 1941 that still rival what a 100 megapixel camera could shoot today. if you scanned in one of his large format negatives at 300dpi, you'd get the about equivalent of about 100MP image. it just goes to show you megapixels don't matter.


and a 4 second exposure after sunset (f/6.7 and iso 800) was needed for this panoramic perspective using the nikon 12-24 f/4lens. it was super peaceful, quiet, and had the place all to myself for the better half of two hours. now, that is a luxury!


the balcony house, built some 1,400 years ago and 'found' in 1884, is an intriguing place to explore. my imagination had fun thinking about what it was like to live a thousand years ago, without the internet, global commerce, and reality-tv. while i was walking around, the rangers were so patiently answering visitor's questions. i overheard one of the small kids ask the rangers, "why did they built their houses so far from the road" :)

i probably would have asked the same question if i was 5 years old!


while many the the areas have been excavated and restored, there are many reminders of the ancestral puebloans of mesa verde like rock drawings, pottery shards. i enjoyed seeing the tiny foot holds cut into the rock and spaced apart like a grade 5.7 or so at the rock climbing gym! and to think kids ran up and down this rocks all day long carrying water, food, and toys!

ah... the excitement of getting back film :)

it seems those days are long gone for mainstream professional portrait & wedding photographers. however, the giddy landscape photographer hobbist in me still loves to shoot medium format film. perhaps it is a step back to simpler shooting, the greater dynamic range, the "happy light leak mistakes," or just the thrill of not-so-instant gratification of seeing photograph captured months ago.

for a few extra bucks, pictage scans in the images at a decent resolution and allows me to quickly download them directly from their servers via ftp. sure, the whole process of buying film, mailing it in, paying for the cost of developing may cost a bit more than shooting digital. but i will say that the entire process of shooting film medium format film on a low tech camera forces me to think different. creatively different.

talk to experienced film photojournalists: they shoot very differently at the beginning of a roll of 36 than they do at the end of the roll.... especially when they haven't captured a 'worthwhile' moment.

similarly, when shooting with a roll of 12, i find myself thinking long and hard before pressing the shutter. the funny thing i'm discovering, is the "keepers worth printing" are almost at a 90% rate.... waaaaaay higher than the percentage from shooting digital. for personal work, i actually print maybe 2% of what i shot digital. gulp.

chromatic aberations, light leaks, double exposures, and soft vignetting: these are among the hallmarks of the $30 plastic holga. here are a few from my latest 3 rolls of fujifilm fujicolor pro 400h (120mm). you have the option to get 16 images in a 5x6 format, or 12 square images larger in size (my preference).

shot months ago, but posted for the first time below, here's the black canyon of the gunnison national park in colorado, as seen through my holga:



a shooting range just outside the park entrance... gotta love the dynamic range straight out of the camera:


view of montrose from a short hike in black canyon of the gunnison national park


palm trees in avalon, california


love the grain in this photo of nicole, taken after enjoying a bottle of riesling and chocolate cake on a hot day in avalon, catalina island:


nicole gets a "free hug" at balboa park in san diego, california. behind me, the museum of photographic arts, showcases some awesome photographic art and has a killer artsy bookstore and cool photobooth inside. it is a must see if you are in the area!


an extra cool 'happy mistake' resulting from an accidental sideways double exposure:


stay tuned in a few days for a series of landcapes of mesa verde national park, among other colorado locales also shot with the holga-nator.

no, folks, we're not breeding anything illegal here... just making the minor under-the-hood modification to gary fong's $20 puffer pop-up flash diffuser that is required to safely mount a radiopopper p1 transmitter behind a camera's pop-up flash.

with a little macgyver inspiration, some glue, velcro, and a spare battery cover we're able to do the unthinkable: use our wonderful in-camera pop-up flash as a commander to trigger an off-camera flash using absolute brilliant radiopopper p1 functionality.

paper clips and chewing gum not needed on this mission :)

the radiopopper p1 owner's manual states: "The P1 system was never designed to work with the so called “pop-up” flash on some Nikon cameras, but it does indeed function and activate. Mounting is somewhat “improvised” at the user’s discretion. A mount may be available in the future. Improvised mounting should attempt to place the external pickup sensor directly behind the flash tube inside the pop-up flash."

uh, "may be available," makes me impatient. so, i macgyvered an "improvised" mount to change the phrase "is available." btw, this works waaaay better than the piece of black gaffer's tape illustrated in my full radiopopper review. you all are smart, so with a few photos, you'll be off making your own radiopopper bracket in no time.

the ingredients are rather simple:



here's the skinny:

1. the plastic welder can be found for about $5 at your local hardware store. super glue is not recommended, as the hold is not as strong. you do not want to rip off your bracket while trying to remove your velcroed radiopopper p1 transmitter. schmear it on good. allow plenty of time to dry.

2. the rechargeable lithium-ion plastic battery cover is the secret. it is supplied with any new nikon d50, d70, d70s, d80, d100, d200, and d300 camera which all use the same e-nel3e (if you purchase a spare, it ships with that, too) . i never use mine since my batteries are either in the camera on a recharger. the reason battery cover is ideal: it ain't too big or small, is rectangular, and has a nice 1/4" lip to bolster the surface area you'll want when you are gluing. you have limited real estate on the base of the transmitter and do not want to cover up the screws sealing access to the single AA battery compartment (poor design). using an sharp blade, cut the battery cover 1/3 lengthwise. you'll want to use the remaining 2/3 portion for the mount. if you can think of something cool to do with the remaining end, be sure to contact us and comment in the blog below.

if you do not have a battery cover, those little, clear compact flash card cases work almost just as well. i say almost because they are a little larger and do not make as snug of a fit as the battery cover. you'll want a close fit to ensure a solid gluing surface.

3. industrial-strength velcro... you might as well purchase some industrial-strength velcro while you are at the hardware store. you can buy it by the foot for about $1 or so. don't get the cheap stuff, which picks up lint and over time the strength of the fastener will decrease. adhere the "fuzzy end" on your old battery cover and the "hook end" on your poppers. if you want mounting velcro on another flash, use the "fuzzy end" as well. if you don't , the "hook end" of the velcro will stick to the inside of your camera bag in a big way :)



before & after:


after the newly-cut battery cover was glued to the puffer bracket, i used some black acrylic paint with a small brush and painted the underneath to conceal the "clear" color and the ugly dried paint, making the whole shebang a bit more uniformly "black."

now, it is ready for mounting :)



you can use the puffer as it was intended or remove it. however, if people are paying you to take their picture, i would gently recommend removing the white diffusion dome :)

my initial thoughts on the puffer:

1. you get what you pay for. too bad you spend $8 to ship $19.95 in plastic.

2. the plastic is brittle. i would not use in cold conditions.

3. the puffer doesn't stay secured very well on its own, so it might need some strong glue to adhere it. however, that would make it prone to break if you toss it in a bag. totally up to you.

4. the puffer works decent to diffuse the a puny low-powered pop-up flash and ideal uses might include a fill-light for a close subject. otherwise, i'd turn the flash off (read your owner's manual for details. for nikon users, ensure the "--" marks are shown in the commander menu and not any of the alphabet soup settings, i.e. ttl, aa, m, etc.)

5. i experienced some trouble with quality assurance & control at gary fong, inc's customer service department. after placing my order (initially, shipping was *free*), i got a phone call the following day informing me that their "system" goofed and didn't charge shipping and that i now needed to pay the shipping charges of $8. huh? a few hours later after speaking with a supervisor, they agreed to reduce the shipping charges to $4. cool. then two boxes show up on my doorstep a few days later with two full-priced invoices enclosed. i only ordered one unit. after another phone call, the customer service rep was very kind and professional. they allowed me to keep the second unit at no cost, far more pleasant than a trip to the post office and return postage.

the bracket, on the other hand, is worth the $20. my guess is the plastic mold used in manufacturing cost lots of pretty pennies. it would be difficult to macgyver that from scratch.



overall, this solution seems to work. i would say that this whole set-up is not a bombproof as a pocketwizard set-up, but at least it works. and remember, the "ideal" scenario would be to mount the transceiver to another speedlight and mount that on the camera. but for strobists on a dime, this solution should buy you time until you can afford the complete joe "nikon likes me" mcnally setup for several thousand dollars.
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and for giggles, here is a list of problems solved by the REAL macgyver. if you missed it, be sure to watch last week's SNL pee-your-pants hilarious "macgruber" skit here.
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if you've found this review help, feel free to add your comments below. think of it as our tip :)

*PHOTO GEEK-ALERT*

while the deer pictured above is totally fake, the 1/3000 of a second flash-sync used in this shot is totally real. this is among the first shots taken with the new radiopoppers p1, which now greatly extends wireless "through the lens" (ttl) metering (i-ttl for nikon or e-ttl for canon) capability to wireless triggering using radio signals.

radiopoppers take the road more traveled by using radio signals to transmit a wireless "fire now" signal as opposed to infrared technology. infrared triggering for flashes can be unreliable because the line-of-sight signal can be blocked by a tree, person, or a hopping grasshopper.

the basic idea behind ttl is that the flash on the camera talkings to the off-camera flash and tells it how much power to output. tiny pulses of light emitted nano-seconds before the photo is used to survey the scene to determine "proper" exposure. this functionality is able to work regardless if the camera-strobe is told to "not fire," which has no effect on exposure.

check out more radiopopper reviews here. and if you want to read more specifics about the p1 system and installation guidelines, head over to radiopopper and sleuth out the published owner's manual and Installation video (Quicktime, 6 min, 14Mb). btw, i am not endorsed by radiopoppers and this review simply serves as my first impression of these new creative lighting tools.

as always, read your owner's manual. i actually enjoyed the warmth and humanity of the writing tone in the owner's manual, far better than most manuals written for direct translation into three dozen languages.

this review also highlights the usefulness of high-speed shutter sync when used in wireless off-camera flash situations. before the dawn of the poppers, this functionality was available only with nikon i-ttl and canon's e-ttl wireless flashes that were either: 1) positioned on-camera, 2) tethered by a ttl cord, or 3) utilize infrared technology. the downfall about the infrared is the moment your line of sight is broken, the flash doesn't receive the trigger signal from the camera and the flash fails to fire. i have had countless exposures where this happens which is totally annoying. however, using radio technology, the communication lines have opened up far greater wireless i-ttl metering options now thanks to radiopoppers. party on.

here are a few initial observations:

PROS:

+ high-speed, reliable wireless flash sync up to 1/8000 sec. not just, wow. but, WOW!

+ no misfires, yet. they fired around corners, behind vegetation reliably, shot after shot after shot. they even fired through concrete walls with no windows at a distance of about 200 feet. there is absoutely no way the current line-up of wireless ttl flashes on the market can do that out of the box.

+ simple setup and ease of use.

+ slightly shorter set-up times will help in complicated lighting conditions.

+ we pay so much for the lenses with good bokeh to use wide open at apertures such as f/2/.8 or f/1.4, why should we have to stop down to f/5.6 and loose the "pretty" foreground/background bokeh?  one reason of the whole shebang about using shallow-depth of field lenses is it is easier to isolate the subject by causing the background to have a soft focus appeal. now we can.

+ i intend to use the radiopoppers like pocketwizards (or any other brand of radio slaves) for triggering small speedlight flashes, but with the added benefit of not having to walk over to each slave to change the power output. this is HUGE. this means i can change power either from in-camera or a camera-mounted flash with its own output turned off. this is especially useful if my small flash is on top of a wedding dj's speaker at the reception and i don't want to make an appearance through the dance floor en route to change settings :)

+ if you want to use ttl functionality with ratios and different lighting groups, you can do so from the camera or on-camera flash.

+ the simple design is refreshing to see in a tech world (sorry, equipment measurbators). it has two buttons.

+ "cross-platform" adaptable. this means they play well with both canon and nikon equipment.

+ takes AA batteries.

+ good customer service and support (online, email, and phone). i got a call from kevin king himself ensuring order accuracy. thanks, kev.

+ it is cool to be different.

CONS:

- $360 for one transmitter and one receiver. gulp. evolution has a price, you could say.

- ttl is not that smart, especially when you're lighting only a small portion of your photo. ttl flashes evaluate the entire scene, sometimes dark or light backgrounds will make them guess wrong. you can dial up or down the flash exposure compensation to your taste (be the boss over your metering, not your camera!!). that is where the spin-the-dial-with-an-edumacated-guess-and-see-what-works method of trial/error via chimping is useful. i prefer to set the output of each of the slaves manually. the new perk is now i can make changes using the camera in my hand instead of walking over to each flash unit.

- a screwdriver is required to change the batteries.

- some disassembly required to store properly store flash and radiopoppers in camera bag securely. (i.e. unscrewing the antennas). similar prep-time with pocketwizards and their cords.

- limited supplies as of now. they are taking pre-order shipments only and the rest i waited 6 weeks after ordering it to get it in the mail).

- no pc-sync cord to trigger powerful studio strobes (keep your pocketwizards). however, the radiopopper jr. seems enticing for only $25, coming late summer.

SET-UP:

less is more, especially when it comes to lugging around camera gear. that's why i wasn't super excited about using my radiopoppers mounted on a speedlight mounted on a camera. too heavy. a well-balanced camera is very important to me, as i shoot without a camera strap. the vertical grip used with a 70-200 f/2.8 lens balances the camera nicely front to back. however, mount an sb-800 AND a radiopopper and you've added more weight in a different direction, making the camera harder to hold.

that's another reason i dig the pop-up flashes is because they can serve as a commander to other off-camera speedlights. if you got it, why not use it?

and that is exactly what i did with during my initial testing. no problems encountered :)

why else would someone want a big speedlight flash (turned-off) on the camera just to trigger another flash? doesn't that defeat the purpose of an "off-camera" flash?

the preferred option is using some sort of hot-shoe mounted bracket to adhere the radiopopper to such as gary fong's puffer pop-up flash diffuser, which has a hotshoe mount with a nice spot for velcro to adhere the transmitter.  this should provide a nice solution when i quickly and easily remove the transmitter (like mid-ceremony in stealth mode... i don't want to hear the velcro rip). plus, who wants velcro or tape on their camera?

here's the skinny on instructions on how to "macgyver" your own mount using the puffer.

the radiopopper p1 transmitter actually fits into the pop-up flash nicely in between the nikon d-300 and the in-camera flash. in testing, the radiopoppers worked fine using the nikon d-300, d-200, d-80, and d-70 in-camera flash. i opt to turn the camera flash "off"



ok, i agree. a cheap piece of tape on a $3,000 camera outfit might seem foolish... but realize this was simply a temporary solution and experiment for the purpose of this review.


this is a far better alternative... to learn more about this, be sure to check out instructions here on how to "macgyver" your own mount using the puffer as featured below.


featured below are the radiopopper p1 receivers mounted with the supplied industrial-strength velcro. due to limited real estate on the flash body, i chose to mount the receiver on top of the nikon sb-800 and on the side of the sb-600 flash. you can shorten the optical cable using a sharp blade, but i chose to keep the original length, at least for now. notice the direction where the antennae point for optimal reception.


introducing the full 'C3-PO' setup, allowing the speedlight to be safely positioned from just about anywhere, including hanging upside down from a tree branch:


while the joby gorillapod serves as a great lightweight and portable lightstand that can be wrapped around my camera bag when not in use. they are nearly indestructible to dirt, sand, water. wish i could say the same about more photo equipment :)

the nikon as-19 speedlight stand comes with the sb-600 and sb-800 flashes. on the underside, the stand features the standard 1/4" thread that fits most lightstands and tripod mounts. this is a nice little golden nugget for securely locking in the nikon flash.

TEST PHOTOS:
in all flash examples i used a nikon d-300 with a 70-200 f/2.8 lens and a nikon sb-800 speedlight set at full power. the flash is positioned on the ground behind the dark bush just to the right of mr. deer and is using the 'C3-PO' setup pictured above. i was able to obtain 100% triggering reliability, which was an absolute first when triggering wireless speedlights off-camera. that was so freeing!

below: f/2.8 at 1/1500 sec with a focal length of 75mm (notice the "pretty" foreground & background bokeh)


below: f/8 at 1/250 sec, with a focal length of 75mm (greater foreground & background detail makes it more difficult to isolate subject)


here's a closer detail shot zoomed in to 200m (300mm effective focal length on the d-300).
LEFT: f/2.8 at 1/1500 sec (NO FLASH)
RIGHT: f/8 at 1/250 sec (NO FLASH)

to my taste, the image on the left without flash would be preferred. notice what the image on the right brings to the table... more (unwanted) detail.

now it is time to compare apples to apples using a flash... this is where it would be impossible to create an image above 1/250 or 1/500 with standard pocketwizards (cameras max shutter sync varies.... the d-70 has 1/500 sec flash-sync while the d-3 and d-300 have only 1/250 sec). check this: compare the background on the u

LEFT: f/2.8 at 1/1500 sec with FLASH at FULL POWER (1/1) which creates less out of focus detail than if we use...
RIGHT: f/8 at 1/250 sec with FLASH at FULL POWER (1/1) and gets greater background detail :(


now here comes a mini-lightbulb experience: notice the two shots below the backgrounds are similar, except one is slightly darker than the other. why? even though they are both shot at f/2.8, the image on the left was shot at a shutter speed of 1/750 (with no flash) and the one on the right was shot at a shutter speed of 1/1500, one stop faster. because they both were shot at f/2.8, the quality of the background highlights out of focus (remember bokeh?) remains the same, especially in the green areas. because these were shot handheld (not on a tripod), slight differences in the blue and black colors in the background result from a slight shift in shooting position. the only difference is one appears slightly darker than the other because of the shutter speed change.

pictured below, bambi serves as a decent lighting model despite harsh overhead sun conditions. however, we can isolate bambi from the background a little easier by overpowering the ambient light triggering our speedlights with radiopoppers shooting at f/4 and 1/8000 sec with ISO set 400 to boost the flash power a tad (flash still set at full-power). notice that the sun is not completely overpowering, as we can still see rim light on bambi and abundant ambient light in the background:


a few more things to think about:
1 - mr. deer & bambi didn't move the whole time, which made it nice for comparison photography for the purpose of this review. however, if we were trying to stop action, the faster shutter speeds would really come in handy, like freezing water drops mid-air or photographing in super windy conditions.
2 - flash isn't always a good thing, especially in real wildlife photography. i'm not sure if i would want to use a flash on a real deer. i might not make it home in one piece. to paraphrase yoda, "know when to use the force, you should."

FINAL THOUGHTS:

if you do not already own a pair of pocketwizards and use speedlights off-camera, then i would 100% recommend radiopoppers for triggering reliability, ease of use, and ttl-metering.

if you fall into the same aforementioned camp and are a strobist, then i would 199% recommend radiopoppers.

if you already own a pair of reliable radio slaves or pocketwizards and consider using speedlights in your off-camera lighting, i would 50% recommend the radiopoppers for the added ease of use in changing power output from holding your camera.

if you do not want use speedlights off-camera (canon or nikon), then save your money.

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ps- for those strobists who just wanna know, here's the lighthing setup for photographing the speedlights: shot sans flash using a single 40" reflector positioned about a foot away with a white sheet underneath. the setup was about 2 feet from western facing window with blinds closed slightly and outside with sun set at full-colorado-power. 1/8 second exposure at f/8 for depth of field using iso 400 on a nikon d-80 with a focal length of 70mm and iso set to cloudy. whew.

'trash the dress, 'the day after session,' and 'hitched to haute' are all terms that have surfaced to describe the experience of a bride / groom putting wedding attire back on after the wedding. while the trend continues to grow here are now websites dedicated and may fade, the intent is to create beautiful photographs that will stand the test of time and will also be fun to look back in 50 years :)

sara & eric's trash the dress session rocked! they both had a wonderful experience and wanted to share their experience with other brides considering doing the same. here's what she wrote:

Before my wedding I don’t think I would have considered a “trash the dress” photo session. I thought of my bridal dress as a pristine object to be cherished. At our wedding we danced hard and truly enjoyed ourselves. My dress ended up soaked in sweat. The underneath was filthy from being drug around the reception all night. Tidbits of food and drink had been spilt on it, and there were footprints on the train left behind by guests. It still looked great, but I was definitely going to have to get it cleaned. When R. J. suggested a “trash the dress” photo shoot, I figured “Why not get it a bit dirtier before I get it cleaned?” He also explained to me that the name isn’t truly fitting of the essence of the photo shoot. It’s not about destroying a dress. It is about capturing the bride and groom in a unique and natural situation doing something different and perhaps wild. If the dress gets a little dirty along the way, don’t worry about it! I loved the idea of being more free for some photos and figured despite what R. J. said that my dress would end up truly filthy. Surprisingly it didn’t get much worse than it already looked. The sand from the beach brushed right off.

Looking back I am so grateful that my husband and I did this extra photo session after our wedding. Our pictures from the wedding day are beautiful (different photographer) but they are also very stiff. On our wedding day, as the bride and groom, we were preoccupied with the stress and emotions of the “big day.” Our time was very restricted with all of the events, the guests, and the celebration. Our focus wasn’t on capturing quality photos with everything else going on. A “trash the dress” photo session was a chance for us to relax, just to focus on each other, to feel beautiful and to have fun getting our photos taken. We weren’t thinking about anything else. My husband and I chose a six hour package. We are so glad we went with such a large package because the time flew by so quickly. We ended up with a great variety of shots even after the sun went down.

R. J. is very friendly and really comfortable to work with. He’s the kind of guy you feel like you’ve known for years. He is full of energy and extremely enthusiastic about his work. He made my husband and I feel very pampered and appreciated. The photo shoot is a whole experience and not just about the end product. He truly made us feel like models, and I have never felt more beautiful. We have wonderful memories from the day of our shoot, along with all the gorgeous photos.
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want to learn more? contact us to learn about pricing and availability. also, be sure to check out trash the dress, a website dedicated to sharing some of the great work in this growing niche of progressive wedding photography & portraiture.

we're major procrastinators when it comes to purchasing big-dollar toys camera equipment. but when the nikon d-300 was announced in november of 2007, we were expected a something good was on the horizon. after plunking down the dough a few weeks back and shooting a few weddings with the nikon d-300 digital slr, we can safely say it kicks the former nikon d-200 and $5,000 D2Xs square in the pants.

is it worthy of being named the 2007 camera of the year?

yes, and here's why:

- 12.3MP is about all we will ever need, unless nike wants us to shoot a billboard
- greater dynamic range helps retain important highlight and shadow detail
- faster auto focus (51 points)
- much better weatherproofing
- higher ISO performance (ISO 1600 looks like 400 on the d-200)
- bigger & badder LCD monitor... we're talking star wars movie theater screen huge!
- better battery performance (shoot all day & night)
- 100% view finder coverage which means we now get what we see and not 95%
- 8 frames per second responds like a v-8 ford mustang
- the self-cleaning sensor cleans up after us :)
- batteries included.... the d-80, d-200, and d-300 batteries and chargers play nicely together.
- the rubber pc-sync leash prevents loss to the little screw cover, which has always been annoying on our d-200

the list price of $1,799 (or a tad over $2,000 w/ vertical grip and extra battery) isn't cheap, but for the cost of ONE $5,000 d-3, you could can have TWO d-300s and an extra $1,000 for a decent vacation for two anywhere southwest flies (vegas, baby!).

the 1.52x digital crop factor on the d-300 may be a negative consideration to some, especially when using a 50 f/1.4 or a 85 f/1.4 where you may want a tad wider angle of view, say, with the nikon d-3. however, we embrace the digital crop :)

get this: some of our favorite lenses actually work better on the d-300 than either the d-3 or the d-200. call it better reverse engineering or luck, but the nikon 10.5mm fisheye f/2.8 has less chromatic aberrations, the 12-24mm f/4 holds superior sharpness and color for those scenics, and the 70-200mm f/2.8 becomes a 300mm monster, a perfect weapon tool for shooting in stealthy ninja mode (a.k.a. wedding photojournalism).

the handy pop-up flash comes in handy to trigger those nikon's wireless i-ttl flashes, which means we don't need to have an sb-800 on camera to trigger another off-camera, which the d-3 requires. our mini-flash will get used far more once we receive our radio poppers, which production shipping starts today :)

sexy accessories for the nikon d-300 include the mb-d10 power grip, which now has one battery in the grip and a second battery in the camera. sa-weet. no longer do we have to remove the camera's battery compartment cover to add the grip.  as an added bonus, the vertical grip can be added or removed from the camera quickly, which is great for traveling incognito. 

with grip, the d-300 exudes confidence that it won't slip out of my hands (knock on wood), which is important since i hate shooting with a neck strap. in fact, the neck strap hasn't made it out of the box yet... and won't.  the vertical grip does add some nice weight and bulk to the camera, which helps to balance out monster lenses, but is also good for pulling off slow(er) shutter speeds 100% hand-held. 

an extra bonus: it comes with a battery clip holding AA batteries which serves as an extra battery back-up and boosts the frame-rate to rip 8/second.

for a more thorough write-up of all the nitty, gritty details, sleuth out the nikon d-300 review by our favorite ken rockwell.

100% true to heart of the artist inside is what this post is all about. it's been over 6 years since i've shot film, which seems way too long. here's what can be done with the simple love of photography, a $30 holga medium-format camera, three rolls of ilford sfx 120m film, a psuedo-infrared filter, and some 'old skool' inspiration:

pueblo de taos church (taos, new mexico)


pueblo de taos village 1.


pueblo de taos village 2.


pueblo de taos village 1.


reservation dog.


cemetery at pueblo de taos 1.


cemetery at pueblo de taos 1.


pueblo de taos home front 1.


pueblo de taos home front 2.


pueblo de taos church 1.


25 minutes prior to speeding ticket (salida, colorado).


ranch in salida.


bandeleir national monument 1 (colorado).


bandeleir national monument 2.


bandeleir national monument 3.


nicole on trail in bandeleir national monument.


i'd like to think each of these 16 photos could stand alone printed on a 30" x 30" gallery canvas, thanks to the wonderful resolution of medium-format film :)

last fall i was topping off gas at costco and met howard hall who neared completion of 6.5 year restoration of his 1931 ford victoria (355 chevy engine with 700 r4 transmission, gulp). just as i was about to drive off, i noticed he was having car troubles so i offered to help. it was one of his maiden voyages and the car wouldn't start. i felt for him, gave him my card, and offered to shoot his car just 'cause. he called me a few months later and took me up on my offer. sunday night we made guys night all about photos and cars (and a few beers).

howard's 6.5 years of patience invested in his beautiful restoration shows. gotta love that painted tangelo pearl color, too!


shot in broad daylight in a mini-cave at red rocks amphitheater. photo stats: f/2.8 at 1/125, using a 70-200 at 140mm, ISO 400, handheld


i love the sunset appearance, juxtaposed nicely with the tangelo :)


and from the rear, showing off the agressive forward rake (a trait of hot rods in those days :)


and here's howard with his toy: (shot in broad daylight. f/8 at 2 secs, 200mm, ISO 400, on tripod)


a little artsy shot to spice things up:


then we added a little flash flavor:


the secret formula for the shot above goes something like this: red rocks at night + 1 strobe manually triggered about 8 times + 1 mini soft box for diffusion + nikon d80 at f/13, iso 200 + 30 seconds = our favorite shot. for those inquiring minds, here's the shot straight out of the camera (note remnants of my light painting):


this mini-project also happened to to be #12 on my list of 101 photo goals in 1,001 days. inspiration for the light painting came from the video featured below. if you are interested in getting your car shot, contact us by clicking here.

armed with lighting techniques proselytized by the strobist, we think of interior design photography as a natural blend between landscape and portrait photography. architectural and interior design photography is something that is rather new for us. in all reality, techniques are similar which include nailing exposure with multiple off-camera flashes, diffusing light, balancing various color temperatures, and most importantly, working fast with minimal equipment.

many of the images found in expensive interior design catalogs are created by photographers using large studios and tons of lighting equipment to mimic the look of natural light. however, when photographing the interior of homes, one may still accomplish a similar look with a minimal footprint.

key ingredients to obtaining simple, clean interior design lighting include using a sturdy tripod and learning to use flash to light interiors. with proper tools, you can shoot with little ambient light and still create an image that looks creatively different. striving to keep it simple and do more with less, here are our top ten tips to photograph interior design and architecture:

10. hide lights with a small tripod. we like the cheap 6-8 inch ones because the small footprint makes them easier to conceal.

9. higher ISOs give flashes more power. 400 seems to work well.

8. think about sharpness and depth of field. you probably knew that, however if you stop down too much, say to f/22, you risk diffraction (bending of light) that can lead to softer images. using a 12mm lens on digital body (18mm on film camera) you do not have to be stop down as much to obtain a workable depth of field than say that of a 50mm lens. if you want an extreme shallow depth of field good for isolating details, shoot wide open (f/1.4) with a medium telephone lens (like in the range of 85mm to 200mm) and move close to your subject. getting close to your subject to further decrease depth of field.

7. diffuse your flash. don't go for the deer in the headlights look which will result in harsh light with deep shadows. experiment by using a small softbox or umbrella bounced against a white wall, which can create wonderful, clean light.

6. bounce light off of a wall. if possible, the wall bounce creates a much larger apparent light source and yields softer shadows. a little light source from a small flash head will create harder light. a bigger light source bounced off a wall will yield softer light, similar to that of a soft-box. when you walk into a room, look for walls that may not show up in the photo.... those will be perfect for bouncing.

5. gel your flashes. save time in post-processing by balancing your light temperatures in-camera. for example, if you are shooting a room with incandescent ambient light, use an orange gel on your flash and change your camera's white balance to incandescent (the one that looks like a light bulb). this will trick the camera and will make your flash and the ambient light look the same shade of white. read your owner's manual to learn more. experiment using blue gels and mixing up the in-camera white balance for some creative effects.

4. avoid color casts. if you bounce off a blue wall, expect your light to be cool and blue. bounce off a red wall, expect the bounced light to be unnaturally warm. also, expect to use more power in rooms with dark walls and ceilings, since the light won't be bounced around as much.

3. start small first. if you’re accustomed to shooting with one on-camera light, the best way to ease into shooting with off-camera lights is to start small. try a small bedroom, turn off your on-camera light and use only the remote one, placed a few feet away and bounced off the wall, to get used to the idea. then discover tricks of “hiding” the light source from the camera like under a table or behind a big chair. then, add in the on-camera light with a diffuser for fill.

2. place off-camera strobes a foot taller than furniture. this creates a more natural feeling for lighting and shadows and can closely mimic window light. bouncing off the ceiling creates a less-natural effect, kind of like the ceiling is one giant room-sized skylight.

1. expose for the exterior. start with ambient-only exposure and meter manually. this means if you want to make the light outside the window appear natural, you may need increase exposure time to 2 or 3 seconds if you are shooting at twilight or to 1/60th if want to make the light outside the white "blown-out" window look like daylight. the next step is to use your off-camera lighting (strobes or flashes) to bring the interior or main subject to a similar exposure level. do not be afraid to chimp to see if your effect is working. while it may seem counter intuitive to expose the outside light first, by doing so, you allow for far greater lighting freedom of your subject.

ps- triggering lights via the wireless nikon and canon setups can be problematic as the signals will not bend around corners, as they are line-of-sight only. radio triggers like pocketwizards or other brands of radio slaves are generally far more reliable.

extra credit: one of the most difficult concepts for first timers to wrap their head around is this: shutter speed will control the windows/ambient light and aperture will control the strobes. this same philosophy may be applied to many different styles of photography.

teri carr at atmosphere homestyle proudly displays some of her interior design work. teri invited me last week to photograph some of her interior design work. as part of our time together, i shared with her some of our lighting tricks. we also produced a small body of photographs for her interior design portfolio.


here, a small flash with an umbrella was bounced off a wall to the right. notice the outside light closely matches with the inside light. in addition, a orange gel was placed over the flash to balance the incandescent light from the lamps. camera wb set to incandescent.


this shot was taken with a tripod with 3 second exposure and a flash triggered remotely around the corner to make the green wall pop in the background. notice the stairwell shadow in the background and shadows cast by the chairs at the table. our nikon 12-24 f/4 lens was used to capture the wide-angle of the kitchen.


a flash isn't always necessary to use inside. this shot was taken with no flash and no tripod using only available light found in an overhead fixture. we like the simplicity of the green background and the single white orchid.


using shallow depth of field (f/1.4 on an 85mm lens) makes it easier to blur out the background of this flower lit from a north-facing window to the camera right.


one of the nice perks to interior photography is the comfort of being warm and dry, a pleasant perk compared to landscape photography our soul and gear are up against rain, snow, and wind :)

hey, photographers, if you haven't yet seen becker's quick tips featured on iTunes, they are awesome. becker has spent a good bit of time building these little short episodes illustrating behind-the-scenes [b] magic of how his biz flows. this is another example of why we love wedding photography 2.0: the sharing of knowledge and paying it forward.



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back in the days of film photography, the negative was the starting point for a good photograph. a good negative was important for a good print, but the photographer had to work 'darkroom magic' to ensure the final print was worth hanging. these skills often took years of practice to perfect. a good print often relied upon 'behind-the-scene' techniques like re-touching dust specs, selective lighting (dodging) or darkening (burning), contrast adjustment, sharpening, and cropping. these techniques allowed the photographer to create an image reflecting his/her creative intention just before the shutter was clicked.

with digital photography, while the technical processes of picture-taking hasn't changed much, but the workflow has. just because a photo is taken, doesn't mean it is ready for printing. our creative post-processing techniques are an important component of our 'fresh. modern. fun.' style. any final print undergoes scrutiny before headed to the printer. that means stray hair removal, minor blemish retouching, contrast-adjustment, color-correction, sharpening, etc are all completed before a final print is made.

each image is different and requires a different artistic touch to refine. similar to food, if you pu