Hi from a newbie and Thank you!

Good morning Ladies!  I'm so excited to be here.  Thank you to Ashley for inviting me.  My name is Nicole and novice/newbie really doesn't begin to describe my photography/camera knowledge.  I've owned a DSLR for years and never took it off of the automatic settings (bad, I know!).  With the explosion of the blogging world in the past few years, I've learned just how bad my pictures are and how much better they could be.  So, here I am to learn as much as possible.

Thank you for allowing me to be here!

A little more about me (now that you know I know nothing about photography or cameras!):  I'm married to a great guy and we have three children.  Our oldest is 14 yrs. old, the middle child is 7, and the littlest is 5.  I work full-time  for Hewlett-Packard and I'm beyond lucky that I'm able to work out of my house, with an occasional business trip here and there.  I'm also a paper crafter, mostly making greeting cards and gift wrapping accessories.  My husband works nights, so after the little kids are in bed, I'm making cards and reading as much about DSLRs and photography as I can absorb.

Thanks again for the invitation!

Nicole

How to buy camera gear on ebay!

Get cozy, this is going to be a long one ;)

Buying camera gear is expensive, scary and sometimes really confusing. What do I want and when?! What should I get first, what lens should I get, do I go with a package deal or just a body but then what lens do I get for the body????

Here are some things that might help you girls looking for new gear and those of you just getting your toes wet into gear addiction :)

I started out with a Canon Rebel XT and a kit 18-55 lens. It worked well and helped me learn the basics which is exactly what I needed. Then I grabbed a 50mm f/1.8 lens for about $80 and I wished I had not bought the kit but just the camera body and the 50. It's a great starter lens. From there I rented lenses for fun from lensrental.com. That helped me figure out where my priorities were and I decided I liked prime lenses, lenses that don't zoom, not because I love getting in people's space but because they are SHARP. I liiiiike sharp ;) So I made a list from top priority to lowest; Canon 5D, 85mm f/1.2, 35mm f/ 1.4, 50mm f/1.4, and the 100mm macro. Then I got to collecting :) Oh and I added a flash on there somewhere! I would suggest making a list but if a great deal comes up on something down the list don't just overlook it. At least you know what you want in your bag and you can shop when you've got the money and get the best deal. I didn't start shopping for the upgraded camera body until I knew my rebel inside and out... I mean I knew everything I could about that camera to make it work properly and then I decided it was time and that a newer body and better glass was where I had to go to get better images.

 First of all I am super, super cheap. I coupon, I ebay, I resale, I do everything I can to pinch my pennies so naturally when I realized that camera gear is OUTRAGEOUS I wanted to get the most out of my Fourth Light money. I started searching ebay. Finally I bought that first camera, the rebel, which was a package deal from some camera "shop" and it came with waaaay more than I needed; a tripod, a memory card, a cleaning kit, three filters the camera and two non canon lenses. I thought it was a steal... and I was right. The next day some guy called and said they couldn't ship my stuff until they confirmed what I had bought, and by confirm they meant they wanted to bully me into more stuff. It was a total upsale scam! I hurried off to my computer in a sweat because here I had just given this company my money, a lot of money and they were demanding more and wouldn't send my gear. I went to the better business bureaus website and looked up the company. Much to my horror they were NOT given good ratings and this upsale thing was mentioned a lot. So I canceled my order and went back to searching. I finally found one but man was I traumatized. Now here is what I learned from that terrible experience. It may seem over the top but it's yet to lead me astray and I haven't had a problem since.

There are quite a few questions I ask every potential seller I deal with when buying my gear. Here is the run down;

• how was the gear used (inside or out)
• what was it carried in
• how much was it used (# of actuations for a camera body - 10,000 and less is good for me. Camera bodies should last to 100,000 but I like low actuations)
• what does the person shoot (pro or hobby?)
• are they the original owner (with paperwork), if not how many owners and what was the history of each owner
• If you live by the beach I'd ask about use on the beach (sand sucks).
• then I ask about filters and how the gear was cleaned if ever ( all of my lenses have a UV filter for protection ... all the other filters I don't care for)
• there are also certain marks to look for on camera lenses that will tell you if it was cleaned properly or not if there are big circular scratches on the lens surface it's probably not a good thing... sometimes it's fine but usually it means they've cleaned their gear themselves and done a bad job. Use your best judgment.

• if buying on ebay I only by expensive things from people with over 100 feedbacks and at least a 99% rating 

• Get the serial number. It will give you a good idea of how old the camera/lens is. Here is a little rundown of how to read the serial number on a lens;
  
  
  Beside the rear lens element of many (but not all) Canon lenses is a date code (as seen above) in the form of "UR0902". This code is also present on many other Canon products including camera bodies.
  
  The first letter, "U", indicates that the lens was made in Canon's Utsunomiya, Japan factory. Prior to 1986, this letter is moved to the last position of the date code.
  
  U = Utsunomiya, Japan
  F = Fukushima, Japan
  O = Oita, Japan
  
  The second letter, "R", is a year code that indicates the year of manufacture. Canon increments this letter each year starting with A in 1986 and prior to that, A in 1960 without the leading factory code. Here is a table to make things simple:
  
  A = 1986, 1960
  B = 1987, 1961
  C = 1988, 1962
  D = 1989, 1963
  E = 1990, 1964
  F = 1991, 1965
  G = 1992, 1966
  H = 1993, 1967
  I = 1994, 1968
  J = 1995, 1969
  K = 1996, 1970
  L = 1997, 1971
  M = 1998, 1972
  N = 1999, 1973
  O = 2000, 1974
  P = 2001, 1975
  Q = 2002, 1976
  R = 2003, 1977
  S = 2004, 1978
  T = 2005, 1979
  U = 2006, 1980
  V = 2007, 1981
  W = 2008, 1982
  X = 2009, 1983
  Y = 2010, 1984
  Z = 2011, 1985
  
  The first two numbers, "09", is the month number the lens was manufactured in. Month 02 is February, month 11 = November. The leading zero of the month code is sometimes omitted.
  
  The next two numbers, "02", are meaningless in determining how old a Canon lens is. This is a Canon internal code (that is occasionally omitted).
  
  You now know the manufacture date for your lens - But - You cannot know how long the lens was in inventory, in shipping transit and on a shelf until it was originally purchased (without having the original receipt or a reputable person accurately informing you). 

So those are the questions I ask each seller when I know I'm ready to buy if they answer correctly :) If they don't, I keep shopping. Also on ebay there is the completed listings feature which is very helpful in deciding what the going rate for each piece of equipment is and what your goal price should be. For instance if you search for the canon 50mm f/1.8 AF lens you get current listings but in the left sidebar under "buying formats" you can select from the "show only" menu "completed listings" and up will pop every canon 50mm 1.8 lens that's sold recently. You can then look through the prices and figure out how low they get and how high they get to estimate what you may want to pay for such a lens.

I also always check amazon.com's prices because they are about the cheapest for brand new things.

If I am buying a piece of software, lets say Photoshop, the playing grounds change quite a bit. Buying software on ebay can be very dangerous and since I'm an honest Abe and like to function above reproach I stick to the rules when there is a lot of options that don't stick to the rules. First I never buy the most recent model of anything. Yes there are some benefits to CS5 over my CS3 but when CS6 comes out I'll probably buy the cheaper upgrade kit to CS5! I do the same thing with gear. I buy used and older then update when the new models come out. Mark II will be mine just as soon as that Mark III comes out later this year or early next :) Okay back to software. There are different versions of photoshop depending on what you plan to do with it. There is Photoshop for students and for everyone else. The student version is cheaper than the regular joe version but the copyright information on a student version prohibits commercial work. Now each person has to assess where they draw the line obviously but I stick with regular joe version over student version and I shop around. To find out if you qualify to buy a student version go here but again it's for non-commercial use. When buying software such as photoshop on ebay here are some things to think about;

1. Read the fine print again to ensure that the software is a full retail version and not a trial CD, beta evaluation, upgrade version or even an OEM version that ships only with the hardware.

2. If the software is old or not sealed inside a box, always ask the seller to send you real photographs of the installation CDs with hologram and software manuals that came along with his purchase. This is to confirm that the seller owns the authentic version of the software.

3. Read the item description very very carefully. Make sure that it is not the academic version of the software which are generally available at significantly discounted prices but only students, faculty members and educational institutions are allowed to buy them.

4. If the deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is. If the eBay seller is willing to sell Adobe Creative Suite or Microsoft Office 2003 at rock bottom prices, they are pirated software for sure.

5. Always compare the eBay's price with the retail price of the software. You may also want to add shipping charges, insurance and other taxes / custom duties applicable in your country. Infact, there have been cases when people were found selling freeware software on eBay.

6. Never purchase software from eBay sellers with low feedback scores. Don't buy software from new ebay sellers who are yet to receive a reputation.

7. Try to get the address and phone number of the software seller before finalizing the purchase. Check the items that he has sold in the past and if possible, get some feedback from his previous customers on eBay.

8. Most software titles now require you to activate the installation over internet before you can use them. Also, vendors may have their own policies with regards to transferring ownership of software. You should always confirm these things before the purchase.

9. The EULA document in most cases allows the owner to install the software on two computers though you aren't allowed to use them simultaneously. You should confirm that the seller has uninstalled all copies of the software from his systems.

10. The safest bet is to buy only software that is available in sealed retail boxes.

When there isn't much difference in price between the eBay copy and the retail version, always procure the software from authorized stores only - you are guaranteed to receive a genuine copy of the software with documentation, after-sales-support, warrant and enough peace of mind.

Well I hope that helps you all go out and get a bargain... or be too terrified and overwhelmed to even try in which case sorry! If you guys are ever looking I love to help spend people's money and would be totally willing to help by looking over something before you purchase it. I'm anal. I have embraced that :) It can be helpful!

"Good Light" - shooting in sunshine

So I keep saying good light makes ALL the difference in the world, good light this and good light that but what exactly does good light look like? Hopefully the next couple of posts will help you find better light!

Lets start with what most normal, not photography obsessed people think is good light; sunshine. Now while sunshine is sometimes a key element to good light it is not the end all and lots of times it can actually ruin a great shot. Sunshine can cause harsh shadows, uneven skin tones, glowing ears, over exposure etc.. It can definitely be tricky. But it can be OH SO great! Here are some things to look for on a sunny day and some things to avoid in most cases. Remember, photography is not something you can ever say "always do this" or "never do that", there are always exceptions. That being said I'm going to say never/always meaning most of the time, just so you're good and confused :)

First, never position your subject facing the sun. Not only does it blind your subject and cause some really tense faces but it is a big cause of shadows under the eyes and nose which make people's eyes look heavy and dark and the nose looks much bigger. When the sun is near the horizon you have a much better chance of success with a head on sunlit subject because the sun is shining directly into their face and not shining down from above. Sometimes shadows can have a nice dramatic effect but I find, for my style I like smooth lighting. So how do I find smooth lighting, even lighting with no shadows on a sunny day? Well it depends on the time of year and the position of the sun. In winter I hardly ever face this problem because, well, we don't see the sun for 5 months but during summer months when the sun is high, essentially 90 degrees above the ground at noon then its tricky. It's this time of year that I highly recommend shooting in the morning before the sun gets too high and in the evening as the sun is setting. This allows you to keep the angle of the sun to your subject less than 90 degrees (straight over head is bad!). Why does this angle matter? Because if the sun is right over head, at noon, then its like a flashlight shining straight down on someones face which equals shadows. Even a couple of hours before and after noon will result in shadows because the sun is too high during the summer. Shooting in morning or evening light allows you to put the sun on the back of your subject and utilize something called backlight. In these next two shots I had my sun stand in a sunny spot in my front yard around 3:00. He stayed in the same spot and faced the sun then turned around with his back to the sun;

notice the shadows under his eyes and nose and in the creases of his cheeks... not to mention he can hardly open his eyes! There is so much contrast between the shadows of his face and the highlights. There is little to be done to even out shadows and not have an obviously photo shopped image.

now notice how his whole face is a shadow so there is an even coloration. No super dark areas and no super light spots. Now, when you take a shot like this it's going to look super washed out and gray in camera and SOOC (straight out of camera) but all it takes to spruce it up is increasing the contrast which is a simple curves adjustment or even just an adjustment in a RAW editor.

My favorite thing to find on a sunny day when I can't shoot at sunset or in early morning light is open shade. You can find open shade in LOTS of places, under a structure, in an orchard, behind a tall building or in a foresty area. Open shade is simply shade that doesn't have the splotches all through it.  It's a big 'ol even shadow. Now some areas within this big open shade area provide better light than others. Remember when i told you all to be creepers and walk around looking at your palm in different light? Well it's the same concept as that little experiment. The closer you are to direct sunlight, within the open shade, the better the light source will reflect onto your subject. So in an orchard I would position my subject toward the very end of a row allowing the sunlit area to illuminate my subject whose standing in nearby shade. Mind you, she would not be standing IN the sun but at the edge of the shadowed area, facing the sunlit area. Sunlight can and does reflect off nearly everything so just because you're working in the shade doesn't mean you can just ignore the sun but rather you should use it to benefit the shot. If I'm shooting downtown in the open shade of a building I'll try to position my subject facing a wall that is in direct sunlight. This will bounce a diffused version of the sunlight into their face and brighten their eyes without blinding them or blowing their face beyond repair. Splotchy shade can be used well but often results in a very high contrast background with underexposed spots and overexposed spots throughout. Here is my front yard this evening. There was some open shade and some splotchy shade. I used my son again, who was such a great willing subject!

Splotchy shade

Open Shade

Son in splotchy shade (notice the blown background and just the distraction caused by having so many high contrast areas). Another thing I could have had him do was to just turn around and face the sunlit splotch. This would have illuminated his face and taken out the high contrast because the area in front of him is more unified shade. Notice how he is right on the edge of that sunshine spot. Turning him to face it would have really illuminated his eyes without blinding him. That's GOOD light!

Open Shade, AH that's better ;) Notice how the background isn't distracting and it's within the same lighting as the main subject.

 Since most of my shoots happen in the evening, lighting is usually on my side. It's important to consider lighting as a high priority because it can obviously make or break a shot! Hope that helps and I'll be working on a "shooting in cloudy weather" post as well as a "how to use a reflector" post soon. Any other lighting questions that I can answer would be greatly welcomed!

Finally got Photoshop!!!

I just got Photoshop CS5 Extended. I am super excited and VERY intimidated. Although I have used PC's for office type work, I get overwhelmed with the technical stuff and/or games so I am not sure how well I will do with this. I also do not want it to take over my photography as I have seen it do with some of my photographer friends. However, I am learning that I need to use it to improve my work. All of this to say, what is the best, easiest, and fastest way to learn? I know that there are tutorials and books. However, I do not want to waste time or money on things that are going to be either too advanced, complicated, or not effective. Since it seems many of you have already gone this route before, I would like your advice so as to save time, money, and effort. Thanks, Becca

Tangled

Not real sure there is a certain purpose of this post other than to share. I've worked really hard on a Rapunzel costume for my little Sugar, and we had some fun with it this weekend. After spending hours sewing....and cutting and braiding yarn....it was great to see it all put together.

These were all taken with either my 50mm 1.4 or my 135mm 2.0L lens. It was a very pretty day, and I got some shots both in the shade, and in the sun. I wanted to practice making it work in the sun a bit. Some were a fail when it comes to the light in her eyes....but, I'm her mom, so I love them anyhow.

Sorry for the overload. I just couldn't narrow it down too much.

Tried out Ashley's "Sun Flare tutorial".

one of my favorite scenes in the movie, but she should be standing in the grass.

twirling. ♥

Good times!

My poor girl....she wasn't loving it by the time we were done.

Thanks for letting me share. :)

New Website

All thoughts and critiques please??
Super nervous but really excited to have this as my very own display :)
wix.com/pinkladie_777/kathrynrosephotography

-Kat

Marketing

Hey everyone....got a question....how do you market yourself? I am really trying to figure this out right now. Would love to hear some of the things that you do!! Thanks

Printing Press Questions

I tried getting some prints of some different shots that I like through MPix.com. Most of the pictures looked great. I had one that was cropped funny. I just fiigured it was something I did so no big deal. However, I just was about to do another order. This time I requested prints from two different shoots. About 2/3 of the shots appear to be fine. However, the program is cropping the rest horribly. What am I doing wrong? Why is the program choosing to crop these pictures yet left the others alone? I am only a hobbyist at this point. I am not using the "pro" side. However, I do want my pictures to look the way I intend them. I would love feedback and/or suggestions. Thanks, Becca

Framed

Diane sent me an email the other night with this little gold nugget of a website! Hopefully some of you have already seen it because it's seriously a treasure trove of business, photoshop, photog interviews etc.. I seriously about jumped out of my chair over this site! SO SO Helpful!! Might I recommend, for starters, the Oustide the Softbox with Sal and Post Pro with Kevin Kubota (the link Diane sent me was to Kevin's color profile/management video which seriously made me nearly cry! I've been looking for the answers to soft proofing for three years and viole!). Really great thoughts from these two heavy hitters in the photography world. Thanks SO much Diane! Check out FRAMED!

photo backup/storage.....

do I want to buy CD-R  or CD+R  ?
is one better than the other?

do you prefer a specific brand of CDs or DVDs?

thanks

For Rachel

Cute shot Rach! I did my usual on it and then I did the other option that I usually give clients if colors work out right which I did really like with this one. Nothing too fancy but nicely spruced up. I also chose to crop it which I think I prefer. Just a thought;

Original

 

 

 

 

 

My usual ;)

My other usual!

For "my usual edit" I do a lower end curves adjustment like this;

I do this type of curve adjustment to nearly every photo I shoot. It fixes the gray overlay of shooting in RAW. Then I warmed it using a free Pioneer woman action at 30%, ran CJ Springers skin smoothing at 40% on her cheaks, dodged their faces and burned some parts of the trees, and finally I ran glam blur which is another free action that I like... don't use it a ton but I like it sometimes. It smooths and keeps lines clear. Then I ran a high pass layer at 50% to sharpen it up. The End :) Oh except I cropped it very last thing to keep from loosing data unnecessarily. If you're going to crop, do it last thing (ignore the fact that the above image is cropped while my curves window is open :) I was just trying to show you a print screen of the curve). Also sharpen very last before cropping. For the "other usual edit" I ran an action called Lux at about 25% and dodged their faces a little more. Viole! Nothing mind blowing but it looks beautiful and simple!

play...

I love this moment I captured but really want to see it processed through some different eyes. Anyone want to "play" with it?

This is SOCC - I'd gladly get you the raw if you'd like it and I knew how to share the raw file...

Canon 5D
50 1.5
f/ 2.8
1/640
ISO 100

I'll post my take on it.... once I figure it out.

Composition

There are lots of things to understand when beginning to learn photography from lighting to settings to how the camera works and what kinds of files are best for what you're doing. One of the most important things to understand is composition, or what you choose to include and not include in the photo and how you frame it up. It's fairly straightforward and there are several key things to keep in mind when setting up a shot.

-The first thing I learned was the rule of thirds. I've mentioned it before but it's worth repeating. The basic idea is that you take your view finder and divide it into nine squares then align your subject on the intersections so here is a photo I took with the grid laid out so you can see;

The focal point should be the eye/eyes and her eyes are lined up on the upper left intersection. In my view finder I nearly always have my focal dot (the little red dot that tells you where the camera will focus) on one of these intersections rather than the center. However if I am shooting a stationary subject I always have my focal point in the center, because it's sharper than all the others (it's a bit more complex than just being sharper but I can elaborate later if you'd like). I change my focus to One shot and I focus on the eye then re-compose to off center the subject. This is what I do at weddings during the formal images of the Bride and Groom and during senior sessions and engagements.

-Another thing to keep in mind when setting up the image is the background. I personally go for a neutral background most times and I tend to shoot wide open, or at the lowest aperture possible. This results in background blur but if you prefer a more complex background and a higher aperture be sure that it's not distracting from the subject and be conscious of things that may deter attention away from what you want to showcase. Move stuff, shoot from lots of angles and make the shot look like you want it too. Now this requires that you have an idea of the shot you want. I usually have several shots that I've thought of before the shoot and these are the shots that I try to accomplish during my time with clients. Sometimes I even sketch them out or make little stick figure diagrams because I am such a great artist. Early on I'd use inspiration from other photogs but I found myself getting really frustrated that I couldn't create the same feel as the original so I started using modeling campaigns from some of my favorite fashion sites like shopruch.com and nordstroms.com, even Gap.com just to get an idea of how someone who has natural poise would stand/model. I'm no model and I struggle with poise so this helped me a lot. Then I would scout locations for the backdrops. Scouting is so important if you really want to have a great shoot. But that's another topic :)

-Back to composition. The next thing is to think of your picture as a story with a beginning, middle and end only these things appear as layers rather than words. So in the above photo, I am missing a middle. There is a beginning, her cute smile, and an end, the blurry background but no middle of the road, no layers. Layers create a story throughout the photo and lead your eye naturally to each aspect of the photo. Here is a better example of a layered photo;

The rocks make up the beginning. My main focal point is the middle (which for me is often the case... actually I should try and move the focal point to end or beginning... I feel a challenge coming on!!!) and the trees finish the story as the ending. Here is another example, but notice in this one how I didn't get down very low, in line with the beem and so the beginning of the story is a bit weak;

The stronger you want your story to be the more angle you'll need to establish for each piece. For instance, if I had wanted the above photo to have a "grandeur" I would have laid down on the beam so that a larger portion of the frame had blurry beam. For this photo I wanted an understated beginning and end so I positioned myself above the beam at about a squat and still got the beginning of the story but allowed it to transition into the middle, my main subject, more smoothly. Again, this was thought out and I shot at several heights to achieve the shot I finally wanted. Sometimes it takes trial and error to get the exact proportion of beginning, middle and end but keep trying and don't let the shot go until you've achieved what you had in mind. A client or even a kid can be distracted long enough to snap a couple of extra frames most of the time.

-Along the same lines as considering the background is considering how much of your frame is blank. On an overcast day it's important to remember that the sky will usually turn white in a shot and result in a lot of blank space. Filling that space with color by simply tilting downward on your subject resolves much of the issue and sometimes have blank space can be a non-issue. Sometimes I like the white space or have no choice but that comes back to having scouted and prepared for the location you're choosing. Also some people like to put clouds in the sky after the fact. I'm not a huge fan of that but it can be done. Here are some examples this concept;

First a photo with too much white space for my linking (And they are perfectly centered which I don't love ;)-

I could have easily fixed this by either standing up (I was squating) or by moving in closer and still coming up higher (which would have also fixed their central orientation slightly)... I think I was trying to get low enough to frame my subjects with the tall foreground grass but I sacrificed filling the frame with color and depth in keeping so much sky and I didn't even get much grass! Oh well :) They're cute people so that makes up for my blunders! And here is a photo with a full frame in a similar setting with overcast skies;

It makes a lot of difference to the over all tone of the photo, the warmth and depth of field. This is a biggie for me that I'm always trying to work harder at. When I first started out I was attracted to the simplicity of the blank space, not realizing that it was creating a cold image. I often times would get so frustrated thinking why do my photos look so plain but other photos look so amazing and this was one of the main things that made a world of difference. Just fill in the space! texture and color are two big components of photography, much like interior design and we've all got our own style so figure out what your composition style is and work on filling in that space.

-Composition is a lot about angle. For every one photo there are thousands of angles you can take in approaching the composition. Usually, the most flattering shots are from above looking down on the subject but sometimes I like shooting up noses :) I know, I know it's not all that correct and if I ever had the desire to enter any competition I would certainly loose but I don't care. I like it sometimes. That being said when you approach a shot its a good idea to take lots of angles. No one person is perfectly symmetrical so capturing both sides and a multitude of angles gives you assurance that as you pick your favorites you'll have all of the best shots possible. I have this down to a little dance! For each pose, unless I have the exact shot thought out in my head, I circle the people. I have them look over their shoulder and shoot from the back sometimes too. Then I go up and down while I do this making sure I'm assessing the angle of the photo. Now I'm not taking a thousand photos while I'm doing this but it's a fast process that allows me to see all the angles possible and assess/pick which ones are the best for the client. Usually they don't know their "good" side, but I'm sure they'll like certain angles and not others.

I'm sure there are lots of other components to composition and if you've got some that you'd like to share please do! And to say it again and again, photography is an art form and art forms break rules lots of times. These are just a few things that helped pull me out of compositional ruts when I felt I hit a wall or couldn't figure out what the problem was in my photos. These are some guidelines and principles, not the end all rule to composing a photo! I've taken many a shot where the subject is dead center, flatter than a wall with no color in the background and I like that a lot sometimes... just a simple photo. But if you're trying to make a more dynamic image and challenge yourself on composition this list will help get you started! And if you're beginning this list will help you develop an eye for setting up a frame.