Camera Samurai

My friend Scott recently sent me a Twitter message asking where to get a chromakey background and how big it should be. I hope I was helpful, suggesting a few different places I have bought such things. Honestly, just between us, I am a big fan of eBay for this sort of thing. Yeah, I love B&H and Adorama, but the real bargains for things like this, which do not need warranties, is eBay.

The other part is a little more complicated. This goes for any kind of background, not just for chromakey. When I set up a shot, I typically start assembling the equipment with the background. It’s just going to sit there, as the least dynamic piece of the shoot. See the picture below:

The subject goes in front of the background, then the camera and the lights are off to the sides (not pictured in drawing). You want to have about four to five feet between the subject and the background. This will eliminate shadows from your lights. Then your camera has to be some distance back, depending on the type of lens you use and how tightly you crop the image.

Based on all this, you may need a larger background from time to time. For most shots you want a perfect isosceles triangle between the camera and background. Those angles shouldn’t change a bit. All you might change is the distance between the camera and subject.

Here is an easy way to see how large a background you will need for your shoot. Set up your camera where you think it should go and have a friend put markers at the edge of what you can see. Or do it yourself, for crying out loud! Measure between the two points and you have the width of your background.

If your area marked is too wide, move the camera closer or else change to a lens with a more narrow angle. You can also improvise a bit by simply cropping in Photoshop when you are done with the shoot.

On a related note, keep an eye out for an upcoming post on what different types of lenses can do to your picture. We will look at wide angle, normal and telephoto lenses and discuss how they make the photo look different.

Technorati Tags: background, chromakey, shadows, isosceles triangle

I have been working with candy for a few weeks, so here is a video of my latest shoot – photographing candy. As you know, food photography is one of the things I love most. The hardest part is being stuck with all the sugary goodness after I am done shooting. Whatever will I do with it?

Technorati Tags: candy, photographing, food, photography

Have those camera settings been mystifying you? Want to take your photography to the next level? Learn photography in five short weeks with veteran photographer Carl Weaver. Carl has taught photography to numerous others and now you can learn as well.

The schedule is set for five Sundays, starting May 4th and ending June 1st. Two sections will be available, so you can choose either 12-2 or 3-5 in the afternoon. That’s ten hours of instruction. In that time, we will look at the camera as a technical tool and will get practice with portrait, product, food and other types of photography.

You will get theory and practice in a real studio setting, giving you the knowledge and experience to take the great shots you want.

Students should bring their cameras with them to the first class, and if possible should also bring a sample of their work for us to talk about.

Cost: $295

Reserve your spot now before the classes fill up! If you have questions, please feel free to contact me.

What: Introduction to Photography Class
When: Five consecutive Sundays, April 4th through June 1st
Time: 12-2 or 3-5
Where: Carl Weaver Photography, 5407 36th St. N., Arlington, VA

Technorati Tags: photography, Carl Weaver, camera, portrait, product, food, photography, Photography Class

I just got a Nokia N95 cell phone and am delighted with its camera capability. Actually, this post is a might bit premature, as I have not even paid for it yet, officially still testing it out, on loan from my friend Don.

One feature I was especially excited about was being able to connect to ShoZu. ShoZu allows you to directly send photos and videos darn near anywhere you might want them online. I love to share photos on Flickr and quickly got online and signed up at ShoZu.

It didn’t work. I tried again. It didn’t work. After messing with it for a while, I said to heck with it and took it off my phone. As a last-ditch effort, I emailed their tech support. They got back to me today and explained the drill. It took about three minutes to fix. I quickly posted on Twitter about this solution and had more than one person ask me for the solution. Apparently it wasn’t obvious to many people.

It’s wicked easy to fix but not obvious, as their initial instructions online don’t seem to work. Here is the solution. If this helps you get set up, let me know and show some link love!

It sounds as though you may have activated ShoZu
on your phone as a ‘new user’ rather than an ‘existing user’. To see if
this is the case, open ShoZu and click on ‘Options’ -> ‘Go to’ ->
‘Settings’ -> ‘My account’. If the username displayed on the ‘My
account’ screen is different to the one you log into the ShoZu web
portal (http://www.shozu.com/portal/login.do) with you will need to
deactivate ShoZu and then reactivate it using your existing username and
password. You can deactivate ShoZu from the ‘transfer status’ screen in
the settings menu and when you reactivate just make sure you activate as
an existing ShoZu user (this can be done by clicking on ‘Options’, then
‘Sign-in to account’).

If you added Flickr as an upload destination from the phone, you would
have been sent an email with a Flickr authorization link. Clicking on
the link will authorize ShoZu to upload images to Flickr on your behalf.
If you did not complete this step, this may explain why your images
aren’t arriving at Flickr.

And now here I am, happy as a clam that everything works:

Technorati Tags: Nokia, N95, cell phone, camera, ShoZu, Flickr, Twitter

This picture was taken at the Clarendon Metro station in Arlington the other night. Notice the ghosting effect the people have, due to the long exposure. Eight seconds will certainly do that! In addition, I set it to ISO 100 and f13, so I have the best sensitivity and an okay f-stop. I would rather have gone to a smaller aperture to get a better depth-of-field but this turned out pretty well, I thought, for a spur-of-the-moment shot as I was waiting for someone.

Does all this mystify you? Do you want to learn nighttime photography? Just let me know. Also, sign up for my email newsletter so you can learn more about upcoming classes, workshops and fun educational events. I have a workshop coming up about nighttime photography and all the variables that go into a great photograph.

I know you are dying for a preview, so here are some of the necessary ingredients:

• Stability – A tripod is essential if you are going to be out shooting at night. For the picture above, I improvised and used a newspaper box. Hey – sometimes you have to improvise.
• Depth of Field – Know how to adjust depth of field so you can get the photo you want.
• Remote Control – This keeps the camera from moving as you press the shutter release. This little tool, likely just a few dollars, can save you the headache of getting home, only to find that your pictures are all blurry.
• Creativity – Bring an open mind and the realization that there may be more than one way to get the photo you want. Again with the improvisation.

Please come join me. Like I said, sign up for my email newsletter and you can stay on top of everything that is going on. I look forward to seeing you soon!

Technorati Tags: picture, Clarendon, Arlington, long exposure, nighttime, photography, photograph, picture, photo

Having consistency both in your methods and in your final product is very important in all aspects of your operations, whether you are a professional like me or if you are an amateur simply interested in getting great shots.

I used to do youth sports photography and later children’s portraits in schools. While doing these jobs I got a really good lesson in the importance of consistency. It not only allowed me to have a good looking product but also allowed me to work quickly. Photographing 300-500 people in a day, especially children, really helps a person appreciate being able to work efficiently! The most important thing is that, on the customer’s end, the final product looks best when all the pictures look the same, especially when displayed near each other in a yearbook or directory.

Look at these pictures, for example:

These are officers of a Cherrydale #42 Masonic Lodge in Arlington, VA. I shot them all the same way, one after another, with the same pose, same lighting, etc. Seeing them all neat like that makes the pictures look much better than otherwise. Imagine if some shots were cut at the waist, some at the chest, some with lots of headroom, others uncenetered. That would be a very messy display.

One way I got them to all look the same was by setting up the shot the same way every time. In addition, I adjusted the lighting very slightly for height differences to have a consistent exposure and minimize shadows.

This does something more than make the portraits look great. With so many digital tools available to us nowadays, we can easily make pictures look just fine and consistent with each other. However, as a photographer, I want to be out and about taking more pictures, not spending my time in front of the computer. Consistency enables me to spend less time messing around with the product, or at least allows me to do the same thing to every picture, often by way of a macro in Photoshop.

Remember – do the same thing the same way every time and you will get consistent results.

Technorati Tags: youth sports photography, children’s portraits, consistency, Photograph, Cherrydale, Masonic Lodge, Arlington, lighting, exposure, portraits, photographer, Photoshop

Many thanks to LA-based photographer Lan Bui for posting a video showing how he works. Lan and his brother Vu shot pictures of Ryanne Hodson and Jay Dedman, who are some of the nicest folks in the world, in addition to being very creative people who could appreciate the wacky, dynamic style that Lan has.

Simply watching other photographers work can help you improve your own craft. Photographers are visual people by nature, so don’t be bashful about asking others if they mind you watching them work. Seeing how Lan moves, directs and how close he gets to his subjects is very inspiring and educational for me, on top of being fun. Enjoy the video, borrowed from his site.

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Technorati Tags: Lan Bui, Ryanne Hodson, Jay Dedman, dynamic, photographer, video

I wrote before about slating in the field and in the studio. Sometimes doing such things is a little harder than it appears, especially if you arrive somewhere and know you will never be able to quickly write down the name in a notepad for future reference. Let’s face it – some of these foreign names are difficult to remember to spell, even when sounded out phonetically.

Who would have guessed there were two N’s in this name? I had gone there to visit a friend who told me he was staying at what sounded like “Wat Yanalangsee” but I was able to decipher this well enough to locate the temple. You get used to certain accents when you immerse yourself in them, I suppose.

This linguistic challenge, coupled with the crowd of monks greeting me, made it necessary to quickly snap this slate image instead of triple-checking the spelling in my slate notebook. After that, I could focus on getting the shots I wanted, knowing that I could later reference the photo for any information I needed.

Technorati Tags: slating, slate, photo

On a recent Camera Samurai Photo Tour, I led some folks through a section of Washington, DC to take pictures of monuments. We had a great time experimenting with different setting for various effects. One setting I found particularly fun to play with was the white balance.

As the sun was setting, I had my white balance set to cloudy, as I usually do, and this offered a very nice warm, amber glow, showing the true color of the lamps. I advised the folks on the tour to experiment with their camera settings, including white balance. This provided a great source of entertainment as we all played with different settings and compared results.

Here are a couple of mine. Notice how the amber light gives a warm, inviting glow, compared to the stark coldness of the white, almost bluish light. For the first one I set the white balance to cloudy and for the second one I had it set to incandescent light. Check out the results on these photos I did of the Lincoln Memorial:

Go play with the white balance on your camera to get a sense of the different colors of light and how you can alter the color of whatever you are shooting by simply changing these settings. A simple change like this can greatly affect the mood of a picture.

Post your results to the Camera Samurai Flickr Group!

Technorati Tags: Camera Samurai, Photo Tour, Washington, DC, monuments, white balance, Lincoln Memorial