Talking Shop: Philly SmugMug Meeting - Using Your Camera 101

Okay look guys, I'll tell you straight up.

I'm not gonna lie - I like blogging on here a LOT more now that I've redesigned it HAHAHAHAH!  4 days of blogging in a row - unheard of!  But I will definitely try to blog more consistently from here on in!

Anyway, so yesterday, the Philly SmugMug Meetup Group held a meeting in Calumet of Philadelphia, a photography store which I shop at regularly!  Thank you to Calumet for opening your classroom to us, to my photo buddy Hillary for dealing with all the logistics of coordinating with Calumet, and for SmugMug for allowing us to have this meeting :)

Fred and I gave a brief and hopefully educational introduction on the essential ingredients for obtaining a proper exposure.  It was my first time to ever do a presentation like this in front of... PEOPLE... I'm used to informally helping out and such, but everyone was nice and tolerant of me and my corny jokes, so I think it went pretty swell!  After the overview, we broke down into smaller groups to tackle questions and just talk about our love for photography!

Below are some pictures we took during the meeting, but you can view more HERE.  And if you're in the Philadelphia area, feel free to join our Philly SmugMug group - it's great way to meet other photographers and share knowledge!

First here are a few pics from my photo buddy - Hillary!  Thanks for sharing!!

Apparently I'm very animated - Fred's looking at me funny as well HAHAHAHAH!!

My partner in crime :)

The next few were our 'live' (lol) demonstration on how sometimes our in-camera meter will not give us an accurate exposure.  

The camera meter has been fooled! My hubby is underexposed a little bit!! Oh no!!

When we are reading our camera meter, zeroing it out isn't always going to work if a scene is brighter than 18% grey. "Go back where we came from = go back towards the brightness (+) and expose longer!" The whites are more white instead of grey!  Yay! Excuse the off WB, just no time for that right now LOL!

Now let's take a darker scene..

Oh no! The camera meter told me this exposure would work, but I am overexposed!! The blacks are grey b/c that's what the camera wanted to do = turn me & my surroundings into 18% grey by overexposing!

Take THAT, inaccurate camera meter! We'll show you who's boss, by dialing back towards the (-) side as we look at our camera meter, exposing a little shorter (faster shutter speed) in order to make my black shirt black again!

Now let's break into smaller groups :)

Here's one from my other photo buddy - Dan!!  

His caption for this: Hi my name is Natasha, and, I'm addicted to ... photography :)

HAHAHAH!

And there you have it!! Wedding tomorrow and Poconos and Niagara after that!!

How I Do: Using Flash Indoors (Chapel)

So... a couple of weeks ago I talked about giving your outdoor images more 'umph' by using flash.  This time let me talk about using flash inside of a chapel.  This isn't always going to be the case, but at least I can give you an idea of how I do it and the difference it can make.

Below is an image made with available light inside a chapel that has both flourescent and tungsten lighting.  It's decent, but it's hard to find WB in such a setting with multiple types of light lol.  I believe I went more with tungsten WB in camera and then played with it a bit more in post.

Decent image, but not a wow image right? Still, a good starting point and a solid image to deliver to a client :)

But look at what happens when you add flash in this situation.  It almost puts a spotlight on them.  I definitely prefer this to the first image.

So how was it done?  Same formula as for outside.  For the record, I don't use gels.  Maybe one day, but I like the warmth that the tungsten gives off when I set my camera to Flash White Balance.

1) Expose for the background. 
If you want it to be darker, speed up the shutter speed, just remember to account for your flash sync speed.  I was at f/4, with a shutter of 1/250, ISO 2000.

For the whole ceremony, I was at ISO 2000 b/c I wanted my shutter speed to be high enough to avoid camera shake using the available light.  So I just kept the same settings here for ease. I could have also lowered the ISO for these portraits, which would consequently slow down the shutter speed and have gotten the same result.  I would just have needed more flash power, which is not a problem with my trusty Quantum T5D-R or whatever it's called.

Do you see the relationship here between ISO, shutter speed, and flash power?  

Higher ISO = Faster Shutter speed (since camera becomes more sensitive to light) = Less Flash Power Needed.

Lower ISO = Slower Shutter Speed (camera less sensitive to the light, so gotta keep shutter open longer) = MORE Flash Power needed in that same situation.

Aperture is kind of arbitrary.. at least to me (omgosh, don't take my word as truth okay?).  It's at f/4 in this case b/c.. that's the aperture that accompanied my 1/250 shutter to get my background to be the way I wanted it to be...  I usually start at 1/250 and then adjust my aperture accordingly.  But honestly, it depends on the situation you are in.. how bright or dim the ambient light is... it's just something you get with time.  Sometimes I'm at 1/60th at like ISO 800.  It just really depends.  And I'm STILL figuring it out LOL.

Am I confusing?  If so, I apologize in advance, AND I suggest you no longer read my 'How To's" LOL.

2)  Light your subject!
Assuming you darken the environment a bit for more dramatics, your subjects will also be dark.  So.. now that it's time to add flash, I do it manually since I'm using off camera flash.  I don't care for TTL at this juncture, I just eyeball it.. and feel it's the easiest way to learn anyway.  I start at around 1/8 power on my flash and.. if it's too bright.. I'll lower it.. if it's too dark still, I'll raise it.  Simple as that!

 

Hope that helps ... someone out there.. somewhere! :)

Jerry Ghionis + Roadtrip to Cleveland + Mini How To!

Wow, so this past week was pretty awesome. For my birthday, my loving husband, Fred, treated me to a workshop with world-renowned wedding photographer, Jerry Ghionis, who I believe is the MacGyver of photography heheehe!  He's a genius!  Anyway, I saw him first during The Power of Passion tour with Sandy Puc and was instantly enamored (in a photography sense) with his style, his charisma, and all that he brings to the table when it comes to his friggin' awesome wedding photography.  2 weeks ago I heard about the workshop in Ohio, and next thing I know, I'm traveling in a rented Dodge Charger with my best friend, Grace, whom I am so grateful to for agreeing to come with me on my trip!!  She's my soulfriend, and I love her!  Unfortunately, the hubby couldn't come b/c he's saving up his PTO, but that's cool, we plan to have a trip for his birthday in a month or so! :)

First, a few things about the workshop.  Normally, Jerry doesn't do 1-day workshops, but this was to raise money for Akron's Children's Hospital in collaboration with Skip Cohen who has been nothing but a great help to me when it comes to building my photography business.  He has a podcast with Scott Bourne called "Going Pro" and for you photographers who are just starting out or may even be well established, I think there's something in these free podcasts for everyone... they broadcast 3 times a month and you can find them on iTunes!  Anyway, I commend Skip and Jerry for helping such a great cause and am thankful I got to be a part of it!

Jerry's workshop, while it was only a day, was amazing and definitely worth the 7-8 hour drive!  I already am planning to attend his 5-day workshop next year, I'm hoping there will be one in Philadelphia HEHEHEHE... we shall see!  The things he does with light is amazing... and with posing especially.  The way he is able to bring out certain emotions and expressions is so great, and I hope to be able to do the same as well!  I learned so much.. I didn't take any pics really, moreso video so I can keep watching it over and over again.  It was more about watching him at work and having him explain what hes doing as opposed to us taking pics to build our portfolio.  All the more I just took everything in and thought about what would work for me in terms of what I want to accomplish in my own photography, and new things I'd like to try as well.  Jerry's albums are awesome as well - simple, but the images speak volumes... so he doesn't feel there's a need for all that extra graphic stuff or anything too busy that it would take away from the images themselves.

Anyway, as a result of this, I received complimentary admission for the upcoming Skip's Summer School in Las Vegas, from July 31 to August 3!  I am psyched!!! My fellow photographers, you should definitely go if you can, $279 is really not that much to pay for 3+ days of awesome speakers, top names in the photography industry!

Anyway, here are some images from an evening in Cleveland.

There's also a mini "how to" but I guess it's more about.. what white balance can do to a landscape kind of... See below!

Hmmm... gotta love my hair, this is why I stay behind the camera LOL!

Hundreds of bird were congregating behind the building on the left!

Mini How To! 
To give a sky more blues/purples - you can try setting your camera's white balance to Tungsten (light bulb) instead of cloudy or daylight. 

This is cloudy WB:

This is tungten WB:

 Big puddles are fun!

Cloudy WB:

Tungsten WB!  So .. it depends on your taste!

Everything was closing around 10pm in Cleveland and we were like - that's lame!  But then we turned a corner and saw this on E. 4th Street!  RANDOM!!

Cliff Mautner's Bootcamp - Day 2 & 3 | Taking whatever comes my way

Wow, I'm so late!  Lot has been going on, which is great, but I'm finally going to finish talking about my workshop with Cliff Mautner.

Day 2 was great.  We ventured back out into the city for a couple of hours and were able to utilize natural light to create some dramatic images as well as off camera flash to make our subjects pop :)

Natural lighting..

Off-camera flash outdoors..

That evening, we got to sit in on an actual client meeting which was VERY enlightening!  All I can say is, Cliff is the man!

Day 3 we were able to learn more about the business side of photography.  It was so awesome that we could just pick Cliff's brain as well as the brain of his studio manager, Noelle who is a beast at post-production.  I learned so much, and I hope to streamline my workflow so I can do more in less time.

Going to this workshop was definitely worth it.  For me, I feel like it was a game changer.  I feel so much more confident about how to tackle harsh light and about how I can best utilize my flash.  It's made me examine how I do business and helped me to decide what direction I want to take this business in.

I have to say I really met such great and talented photographers who continue to be a support group that I can go to and I am so very thankful for that.  We all really formed a close bond and I hope that we will all be friends for many years to come!!

Hmm, what else?  That's what I get for not blogging right away, I think too many things go into and out of my head that I can't retain memories for very long hahahaha!

These past few weeks in general have been great.  I have been stepping out of my comfort zone and taking risks, and I'm glad that I am because I feel it has helped me to grow as a photographer, and more importantly, as a person in general.   I don't know what's ahead, but I'm ready to take whatever comes my way with a fresh and positive outlook.  As long as I get to continue doing what I love, I am happy.  And if I have the things that matter most to me in this life (God, love, family, friends, laughter, and good pho), then I know everything is going to be just fine.

Cliff Mautner's Lighting and Skillset Bootcamp - Day 1

Today was amazing.  Just amazing.  

I'm currently taking a workshop with Cliff Mautner, who is an amazing wedding photographer.  I've been wanting to go to his workshop ever since I first found out about it, and that was over a year ago.  I've checked his website and blog every few months to just READ about the workshop, thinking that I'd never be able to save up enough money to go.  It was kind of pathetic actually,  the description of the workshop never really changed or anything, yet I would read and reread it, daydreaming about one day being able to go hahaha!

But the day has finally come.  It's really happening.  I'm really here.

Today was Day 1.  I'm so thankful not only to be in Cliff's presence, but also to be in the presence of so many other awesome photographers, some newer like me, and some who are more experienced.   We're so diverse.. there's people from all over the US, as well as from Canada, Brazil, Mexico, and Japan!  Imagine!  So you KNOW this is THE workshop to go to :)

Cliff really is down to earth.  He'll tell it to you straight.  He's honest.  Sincere.  Practical.  Everything is simple with him.  It was one thing for me to watch some of his videos online to learn - it helped a lot and has gotten me to where I am today.  But it's a whole other thing to be able to learn from him in person.  To pick his brain.  To have him personally critique my images and to offer insight.

Here are some images from today.  I was able to get the exposures right in the camera and just add some contrast or turn it into black and white.  I'm really not big on photoshop and being able to get things right straight out of camera is a big deal for me.  Besides, one quote that stuck with me from today was,  "There's no 'unsuck' filter in Photoshop".  HAHAHAHA!  If only - lol jk!  But I do believe that Photoshop can be used to enhance photographs that already kick butt in the first place :)

Anyway.. here we go!  I'm really looking forward to Day 2!!

"There are no rules. Only good pictures."