Portfoliage

This is one of the coolest gadgets I got — a custom white balance lens cap.  It works perfect too.  Now, instead of using Nikon’s auto white balance, I just keep the cap on the len and change to the Nikon custom white balance menu’s and snap the picture.  Presto!  Perfect white balance for any situation.

Most of the time, Nikon’s auto white balance works pretty good.  The few times I needed to us this were, for example, indoors with mixed lighting (expecially lately with Christmas lights, CFL’s, and incandescent all in one spot) and at the zoo where I was shooting flash through glass and everything was coming out with a green tint.  It comes in different sizes for your specific lens.  Its pretty neat and easy to use.

It’s been awhile since I last posted a photography article.  I was busy with work and the holidays.  But one thing I’ve watched over the last month or two is the website Property Room.com .  And while I am not a Nikon fanatic (or lunatic) I am slightly enamored with the Nikon product lines, especially the low light performance of the D700.  One thing I’ve noticed about Property Room is that there is never a Nikon camera for sale.

For those of you who don’t know, Property Room is run by Police Departments disposing of evidence and other equipment forfeited in drug raids and other kinds of criminal activity.  I keep a pretty close eye on the SLR cameras and Lenses.  Since I’ve been watching there has been 1 Nikon and 1 Nikon lens on that site.  That compares for 15 or so Canon’s up there right now.  Minolta is also a popular brand among criminals coming in at 5 or so.  Why isn’t there any Nikon equipment?  One lousy D40.

Is this because the criminal element in our society does not use Nikon equipment?

Get your senior pictures here

I’ve never mentioned this, but there is a D3 in my family.  My brother-in-law shoots with one.  I’ve also got a D2X and a D70 around that he owns.  My basic post processing flow hasn’t changed because of the Nikon upgrades.  So check out this page to learn about my post processing process which is basically the same for the D70 -> D200 -> D2X -> D700 and -> D3

I’ve heard rumours that alot of people are running into problems with the d700 not being as sharp as they would expect. I’m not too sure about that problem. And let me tell you why.

Everytime I’ve upgraded to a more ‘pro’ type equipment I’ve had to spend a month or so adjusting my technique. I found that the more pro end, the less forgivable the equipment was with my sloppy technique. It happened when I went from the d70 to the d200. It happened when I went from a 70-300 5.6 lens to the 70-200 2.8 (and a 1.7tc). I happened again with the d200 to the d700. So every time I upgrade I end up spending some time upgrading my technique too.

That being said, if your d700 isn’t as sharp as you expect there are a couple things you can do.

1. Take it back (my first d200 had a rear focusing problem)
2. Reset it. The submenu for fine tuning to a specific lens might be screwing up your sharpness.
3. Ensure adequate shutterspeed by controlling aperture and ISO before you decide to take it back.
4. Test in controlled conditions.

I personally do not find my d700 less or more sharp than the d200. It is less forgiving of my mistakes though.

I discovered a couple of things to be careful of with the d700. Certain popular folks on the Internet claim crazy colors with the d700 in vivid more. For the most part this is true. But for stock photography Everything has to be sharp at 100%. We all learn tricks to keep it sharp for stock like using unsharp mask, shrinking the image size (who says megapixels don’t matter), etc…

The d700 (and I’d expect, the d3 too) has a problem that when you put it into vivid mode with too much saturation you start to lose details. It is similar to blowing the highlights, but in this case you are blowing the colors. It is ok as long as you realize it and make sure you get the vivid mode off or less saturated when you start to take photos of very colorful things.

And people….don’t shoot people on vivid. They end up looking sunburned.

Today I added some full frame samples on my site for the 12-24 f/4 DX lens.  Upshot?  Works fine at around 16mm and higher.  See here.

I sold the d200 and got a d700. Check out my experimentation blog page here.

I am back from class.  The class I went was part of the American Photo Magazine Mentor series.   In this class you get a professional mentor as part of the class and the mentor works with you to understand composition and how to see better photos.  Less than two hours spent working out the ins and outs of your camera unless you do it 1 on 1 with the mentor (which the mentor is willing to do if he understands your camera type.

I learned three major areas

1.  Using Fill Flash Creatively – basically I learned to work the flash is such a way to ‘fill in’ the subject without overexposing the subject

2.  I spent some time working in manual mode at the recommendation of the mentor.  I now am shooting almost 100% manual mode.  This allows for more creative options how I want the picture to turn out rather than letting the camera set some of the options.

3.  We had a session on marketing your work.  The mentor gave out tips and the process that she used to perform a career change into photography.

All in all it was a good experience and it was worth the money to attend.  My workshop was 899$ for three days of learning.  In comparison, I’m going to SANS Security training in a few weeks and that is 2800$ for 4 days.

You can check out pictures from the mentor series below.

I thought I’d put up some of my flower isolations. Most of these are made with a 105mm VR Nikon Micro (Macro) lens. I also use the SB-R200’s on a D200 to take these shots.  One was not.

Can you guess which one was taken with a 28-70 and not the macro lens?  How about which one was shot with the macro lens but not the R200’s?

I took none of them with a tripod.  All were handheld.  I like to get all my lenses nowdays with the VR or IS.  Carrying around a tripod stinks when your photography taking time consists of where you can haul the kids around to.  Tripod + Cameras + Kids = Hard to make images.  I got to move fast to keep up with the kids.  I’m thinking about getting a monopod though.

Given that I’m not a botanist I don’t really know what each one of these flower is. If you know, please post the name as I’m trying to figure them out.  I put in what I think they are in the description.  I’m sure about the Gerber Daisy, but the rest I’m up in the air with.  If you know the scientific name that would be even better.  Any suggestions on how to determine the type flower based on a website would be good too.  I’ve tried a couple of online web sites but it really has not allowed me to figure out which flower was which.