For this post I’m making the grand assumption that you are using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Raw. If you don’t have those two programs and have splurged on a Digital SLR and corresponding kit, you should seriously re-evaluate where you are spending your photography dollar. Like it or not, Photoshop will give you far more control over your final image than any other piece of hardware you can buy. If you don’t believe me, download a trial version here and see for yourself.

Exposure Compensation: RAW vs JPEG

I started off with an underexposed image that I shot last month on the Oregon coast. The image was composed on a Canon 5d with a 17-40L lens and was shot from the balcony of our hotel. Now that it’s 110 degrees here in Phoenix, I sure wish I was back on that balcony. The original photograph was underexposed to ensure I captured the highlight detail of the sky. The trouble is, I lost the beach detail.

Here is the original image and a 100% crop of the cloud detail with auto levels applied. I’m not suggesting you auto level your photos, but I can use this option to apply the same process over all images in my test group and get consistent results. Our goal here is not to make a perfect image, but rather illustrate how changing the exposure setting affects the overall image quality.

Since the shot is underexposed and I shot it in RAW, I have the luxury of correcting the exposure in Adobe RAW processing. I added 1.25 stops in the exposure setting and made no other changes. The following image is the RAW file after the 1.25+ stop adjustment and the corresponding crop with auto levels applied. As you can see in the crop, the clouds are starting to block up a bit, but there is still a lot of information to work with.

Often times I shoot RAW plus a large or medium JPEG for quick previewing. I opened the JPEG file in Photoshop and then selected the Exposure adjustment setting to apply the +1.25 stops. Notice how much detail was lost compared to the RAW image. Also notice the crop with auto levels applied lacks the information necessary to restore any real cloud detail. From this test alone I would not use the Exposure setting on JPEG files unless you have exhausted all other means or are making very small tweaks.

However, while testing different processing methods for this article, I discovered an alternative option for adjusting exposure in JPEG files. Like I said, I was planning to illustrate how much better RAW is, but I was shocked to see how much better Adobe RAW is at altering the exposure of a JPEG. Below I opened the same JPEG as before, the only difference being that the exposure was increased 1.25+ stops in Adobe RAW instead of from within Photoshop. You should notice a significant difference between the two JPEGs when comparing the crop detail. The depth is still nowhere near the quality of the RAW images, but is much better that the JPEG with Exposure compensation performed from within PhotoShop.

Sometimes it pays off to do some experimenting. I’m still going to show you how much better RAW is than JPEG, but I couldn’t help sharing this simple change in workflow that can make a big difference in your JPEG images. Stay tuned for more detail on RAW images.

Last October I was faced with one of my toughest challenges as a consumer – I was getting married and I needed to hire the photographer.  My now wife knew this would be an impossible task and was not going to touch it with a 10 foot pole – no, this one was mine.  Here’s how I went about hiring my photographer, the steps I took, and what I feel is important to know when hiring your own wedding (or any event) photographer.

The Process of Hiring a Photographer

Figure out what you want in a Photographer - My process started with a long period of procrastination.  Periodically I would scan local photographer’s websites, but was often underwhelmed by the stock poses and overwhelmed by the “packages.”  Not that it put my wife’s mind at ease, but all this waiting and perusing allowed me to get clear on what I wanted in a wedding photographer.

To me, wedding photography is all about image quality, style and story-telling.  Our venue was not the traditional pew lined isle of a church, but rather a pecan grove in central Phoenix.  Liz and I both love the outdoors, so it just made sense to make that a part of the ceremony.  We also didn’t have the traditional events such as dancing, garter toss, etc, but did incorporate a string quartette and many other small details.  This set up a great environment to mingle and enjoy the warm October evening, but it also introduced other options and complexities for whomever I hired as a photographer.  I wanted to make sure our photographer would be able to handle the unpredictability of weather, site changes, lighting, and whatever else happens on the day of the wedding.  In a word, flexible.       

Prioritize your list – I determined that our wedding photography needed to be all about image quality, style, flexibility and story-telling.   It’s important to point out that everyone’s list will look a little different.  I have photographed last minute weddings where photographer availability topped the list.  Maybe style or budget tops yours, but no matter the list, you need to be clear on what you want.  This will make a huge difference when negotiating your deal with a photographer.  Figure out what item in your list you can’t live without.  Move that one to the top and continue down your list for the second most important item.  It may help to jot down some notes next to each point that describes what each looks like.  Here is what my list ended up being:

Style – Photographer has a natural style that compliments my overall goals for the event. 

Flexibility – Photographer is willing to adapt their plans, behaviors, equipment, and style to meet the goals of the event.

Image Quality – Photographer has sufficient equipment and experience to obtain quality images.  (be sure to define “quality image” if you are not clear on what that means.)

Story Telling – Photographer’s natural style (see above) and journalistic approach is sufficient to capture all the critical moments from ceremony to toast.

After building my list, I procrastinated some more allowing myself time to change my mind and alter my list before I started shopping. If you have the luxury of time, I highly recommend walking away from your list for at least a week to make sure you are clear on what you want.

Pairing Your goals with a Photographer

Style of Photography - I started with style because that seems to be the most important to me.  I surfed endless websites and saved links to photographers who had an image style that I liked.  I’m not really into the whole staged photography thing; I would rather my photographer capture the events and emotion as they unfold.  Don’t get me wrong, I wanted some group shots as well, but the need for group shots was a secondary driver for me. 

Eventually, I narrowed the list down to about 6 wedding photographers which had style and storytelling nailed in my opinion.  This is one area where people differ widely, so figure out what you like and don’t let people talk you out of that. 

The hard part for me was to identify who would be flexible and produce quality images.  Let’s break this down a little further.  

Hiring Flexible Photographers – To me flexibility meant that the photographer would not try and shoe-horn us into a pre-conceived package.  The notion that photographers sell event photography by the hour or number of shots is insane to me.  Can you imagine your photographer hitting the four hour mark and leaving before the cake cutting, toast, etc.?   It also drives me nuts that many photographers hold your images hostage.  They charge to shoot the image, then turn around and charge an exorbitant amount if you decide to use the image.  This is hotly debated within the photography community and there are good augments on both sides of the fence.  I just happen to fall on the side that dislikes this practice. 

Good photographers talk to you about your event and craft a package based on your needs and wants.    I however, was trying to hire a photographer in the purest sense.  I didn’t want wedding albums, prints, PhotoShop work, etc., I wanted a photographer who was willing to hang their credentials on their abilities with a camera.  Pure in-camera art – plain and simple. 



Hiring a Photographer for Image Quality - Image quality means different things to different people.  Believe it or not, some people still want film to be shot at their wedding.  I insisted on digital because of the flexibility that it provides, but it also introduces a lot of grey area into the image quality debate. 

Since I know camera gear, I specifically requested details about the kind of equipment each photographer used.  This can tell you a lot about a photographer and what they are willing to invest into capturing perfect images of your event.  It seems like everyone I know now has a digital SLR camera and a Flickr account, but that doesn’t mean they are qualified to photograph your big day.

I have found that a key discriminator between accomplished photographers and those less so is their ability to light a scene.  Ask your potential photographers to explain how they plan to supplement natural light.  You aren’t looking for a step by step on EV compensation, but simply a sense that they know more about lighting than how to slide a flash into the shoe of the camera and turn everything to auto.  If group shots are important to you, have them address how they will accommodate these particularly challenging staged shots.  Do they use studio strobes to get even lighting?  How do they address glare on glasses? 

The bottom line is the photographer should be able to talk simply about how they will prepare for the different lighting scenarios, the quality of their camera gear, backup gear, etc.  If they get defensive, you may want to keep looking. 

Making Contact with Potential Photographers –  Like I said earlier, I picked about six photographers to contact, each with a style that I liked (remember, style was on top of my list.) I emailed each one with the following message:

Hello,

 I recently stumbled across your website in my search for a wedding photographer and wondered if you could provide me additional details on your offerings.  Let me start by saying that I also am a photographer which is both a blessing and curse in this process.  The blessing is that I know exactly what I want, and that’s the curse as well.  I understand that my requirements may not fit into your business model and if that’s the case, just say so.  If you’re interested, here are the details of the event and what I’m looking for :

The wedding date is October 28th, 2007 at the Farm at South Mountain (Phoenix.)  Liz and I will be getting ready on site 1-2 hours prior to the event.   We will have 80 – 100 attendees and the ceremony will start at 4:30.  As you may have guessed from our venue, our setting will be an outdoor event with a garden theme.  The ceremony will be no longer that 30 minutes and the reception will end between 8 and 10.

We would like the traditional groups shots, ceremony, bride and groom prep, cake cutting, etc., but the rest we are looking for a creative photographer with a great eye to frame up the event in the way they see fit.  We will most likely carve out some time immediately following the ceremony for the family to do group shots; have a set time for cake, and then the rest would be photo journalistic.

 Here’s the hard part – the technical requirements:  

Cameras – I don’t care if you shoot Canon or Nikon digital; it just needs to be one of them.  That is unless you are shooting Hassy. If so, you’re my hero.   I only get excited about 4×5 and larger film now, but if that’s what you shoot and you are good enough to shoot weddings, you too are my hero.  I’m looking for something in the neighborhood of 10 plus mega pixels and I would like all the images to be shot in RAW (yes, I know how much room those take up on a compact flash card – I’m sorry.)  Glass needs to be sharp and should be clean – no feathers or foreign objects in the lens or on the sensor;-)  I know as a photographer you understand, so I won’t belabor the point. 

Lighting – Strangely, I’m less picky about lighting.  You just need to have enough of it to successfully light groups of up to 20 at dusk and capture candids later in the evening. 

Video – Uh, no. 

Editing and prints – none.  That’s right, I don’t want any editing or prints, just the RAW files.  My goal is to finds someone who is willing to charge a fair price for the event and not rely on the extras after the fact.  I realize that you may not make a practice of relinquishing the “negatives,” but I’m hoping to hire a talented photographer for the part of this I simply cannot do – capture the imagery of the event.  Besides, if you’re anything like me, the process of shooting the wedding is far more fun that the Photoshop workflow after the fact.  This is your chance to do the fun part, and then walk away with a check and free cake.  What else could be better?

All joking aside, I realize that what I’m looking to accomplish is out of the norm, but I hope that you would consider the opportunity and let me know one way or the other if you are interested in discussing the matter more.  If you can give me a ballpark price range and a quick thought or two on how you approach your wedding photography, it would go a long way.  

Thanks,

Scott Blackburn

My results were as follows: 

Photographer 1 – Booked on that day. 

Photographer 2 – This photographer had a novel approach.  I received a lecture of how I should “understand as a photographer that comparing work is not really like comparing apples to apples because each artists’ work is unique.” 6 Hours coverage $1295 + raw files $600 = $1895 or 7 Hours Coverage $1395 + raw files $600 = $1995.  Flexible?  I’m not guessing so.

Photographer 3 – Good detail of equipment and description of approach to photographing an event.  Unfortunately, the coverage fee was more than I could swallow.  How would you like to earn 4 grand per day ($500 per hour) just to show up and work?  Here is part of the response on the fees.  ”I have a standard price for my coverage and then usually a-la-carte everything else which sounds like it will fit you perfectly!  You will see that I included a PDF with my pricing for you. But to save you a few minutes I would tell you that my coverage fee is $4000 for 8 -10 hours. I charge $800 for the digital negatives unless you purchase an album in which case I cut that price in half.”

Probably very talented, but gave me the feeling that I was ordering off the rack instead of getting a custom suit (but paying custom suit prices.) 

Photographer 4 - Only shoots film.  This was a disappointment because I really liked her style.  Was very polite and offered to scan the negatives, but I had too many plans for the RAW digital files.

Photographer 5 – No Response – Actually, I was surprised this was the only one.

Photographer 6 – This photographer probably did the best job answering all my questions.  In fact, she fired back a list at me and really gave me a sense that my wedding mattered and was not just another payday or cookie cutter shoot.  We talked about lighting, laughed over sensor dust and eventually discussed price, but of all the photographers that responded, we liked Cindy the most.  She was professional and malleable and made sure that here offerings fit our needs.  In the end, we agreed on a fair price that was better than the other photographers and included an engagement session.  If you are in the Phoenix, AZ area and would like her contact information, shoot me an email and I’ll pass it your way.    

Conclusion

Hiring a photographer is never easy, especially if you are a photographer yourself.  I think the key to success is to get clear on what you want and then set out to find it.  Ask lots of questions and see who wants to work with you.  Look for the signs of an amateur photographer and steer clear.  Ultimately, my approach was a bit unconventional but produced good results.  Why not try a similar approach for your wedding or other big event.  Who knows, you may just hire a great photographer.   

I have long been a pursuer of the ancients.  Maybe because these relics of the past add complexity and rhythm to the landscape.  Be they old cars dissolving into the ground, a half collapsed hotel, or a sagging barn; my camera inevitably drifts towards the past. They gage our past and our progress, and serving as reminders of where we’ve come from.  They provide endless textures, muted colors, and forms that defy convention.   These modern day monuments tell stories of an ever mobile society carried on the winds of change.

So in honor of these weather beaten-buildings and bullet ridden jalopies, I present the Decayed Earth Project.

]]> http://blackburnimagery.com/wp/decayed-earth-project/feed/ 0 http://blackburnimagery.com/wp/nikon-bellows-pb-4/ http://blackburnimagery.com/wp/nikon-bellows-pb-4/#comments Sun, 11 May 2008 23:53:28 +0000 admin http://blackburnimagery.com/wp/?p=13




If you’re like me and enjoy the shallow depth of field and graceful lines of macro photography you have undoubtedly explored ways to extend your macro capabilities.  My quest to improve my macro work started out as a quest to gain Tilt and Shift capabilities on my Canon Digital SLR. While that goal has remain elusive, I have improved my macro capabilities in the process.   Enter the macro bellows.  Similar to a large format view camera, the bellows attachment give you the ability to increase the distance between the sensor/film plane and your choice of optics. None of the lenses that I had for my camera did a particularly great job with the macro, so adding extension tube, while an option, would not be a complete solution for my dilemma.  One of the primary purposes for the macro bellows was to duplicate slides.  A secondary attachment to hold a slide or film negative would be mounted in front of the lens and the bellows  would allow for the focusing on the image.  Snap a picture, and now you have a duplicate.  Keep in mind that these were popular in the days before drum scanners and other digital reproduction solutions.  But with the duplicator attachment removed, the bellows opens up a whole world of larger that live photography. 

Styles of Bellows

I started off my bellows journey with 50 era modified Pentax version.  This was about at basic as it gets; two knobs to adjust the camera and lens position and a lock knob.  Conversion to Canon EOS was simple as all I needed to get was a t-mount which is commonly used in astro photography.  Mounted with a 100mm Asahi lens, I was able to capture reasonably good images and gain respectable magnification, but the overall build quality of this system was just not very good.  With the weight of a Canon 20d and later a 5d, the system was just not stable enough for my liking.  After several months of looking, I settled on a bellow system made by Nikon – Model pb-4.  I know that some Nikon or Canon die hard is going to flame me for doing this, but I believe you should use whatever gear you need to get your images.  I like Canon’s gear better, but Nikon really hit a home run with this system. 



 
This system is well built. Strong rails and locks, geared adjustment, and the ability to tilt and Shift the lens.  This was a big plus for me since this will allow you precise control over the focal plane.  It did, however, require me to make a few more modifications to get it working.  the first thing you need to do is find the right lens adapter.  In my case, I was looking for an EOS to Nikon F mount.  It really doesn’t matter what you are shooting, just make sure you can locate the correct adapter before buying the bellows.  The second modification was to mount a lens.  I didn’t have any F mount lenses, so I picked up a $5 Nikon body cap and drilled a hole just big enough for a nice Schneider lens that I had.  this works pretty well and allows me to switch out the lens easily.  For slide duplication, the 55mm micro is the recommended lens and is still available from time to time in collector shops and on Ebay.  

Using the Bellows

Once you have all adapters finished, you should be able to start shooting.  I don’t mess with any double cable releases that are available.  These will stop down the lens at the same time you fire off a shot.  I find my self moving slowly when I shoot macro work, so speed is not as important.  I compose and focus wide open, stop down the lens as needed for depth of field, then take my picture.  Your camera is missing a lot of info that it normally would get from the lens, but this is all manual baby. Just ignore your meter and fire off a couple test shots and review the histogram.  If you are shooting film, use a handheld light meter or use your camera’s meter to get close.  Remember to bracket if you use the camera’s meter since I find it off as much as tow stops at times. Conclusion So far, this is the best bellow that I’ve tried.  I’m sure you could jump into the medium format space and find a better system, but for 35mm and APS size sensors, this is just fine.  Pick up a cheap one and give it a try.  You will be shocked at all the details you’re missing with your tubes.  But don’t toss the tubes, stick them in your back packing gear.  While the bellows system is flexible, it’s not light or particularly packable.  Great unit for in the studio, near the car, or on the patio, but you wont want to lug it very far.