Better Business Bible for Photographers

By ELLIOT TONKS on May 9th 2013

Found on the ACMP website the Better Business Bible really speaks for itself in delivering the best business practice for commercial photographers.

BBB content include topics such as image licensing, quoting & negotiating, terms & conditions, templates for estimates & licenses plus much more.

'The printed BBB is available free for full and emerging members of the ACMP and can also be purchased online here: http://acmp.com.au/better-business-bible/'

I've heard only positive comments on this bad boy and I will post a full review when I receive mine within the week.

Have you read the BBB?

Lens Whacking

Just the other day, I discovered the new trend of “lens whacking”. On reading the name, I was a bit startled. “Who in their right mind would WHACK their LENS on something?”. It just didn't seem right, so I looked further and found that it is in fact a reasonably simple way to create interesting depth of field in your images, as well as creative light leaks. It can also be used as a tilt shift alternative, as tilt shift lenses can be so expensive.

This is the video I watched to learn what lens whacking actually is, and how to do it:

http://photo.tutsplus.com/tutorials/shooting/a-beginners-guide-to-lens-whacking/

I am yet to try this cool trick out myself, but here are some examples of the kind of images that can be created in this way:

As cool as this may look, there are some cons to go with the pros, as there always are:

Pros:

•           Reasonably easy to do

•          Only requires a 50mm or smaller lens

•          Can be used in the place of a tilt shift lens

•          Creates interesting depth of field

•          Can produce cool light leaks

•          Allows you to be more creative with blur, in camera

Cons:

•          Sensor is exposed

•          Should have sensor cleaned after each lens whacking shoot ($$$)

•          Risk of dropping either lens or camera body ($$$$)

•          Would require a fair amount of practice to perfect

Although there are more pros than cons listed, if the more damaging cons were to occur, you’d be looking at a lot of money for repairs, regardless of saving on a tilt shift lens.

Overall, lens whacking looks like a cool and interesting technique to spruce up your images, as risky as it may be.  I will definitely be (carefully) trying it myself!

15 ways to improve you live music photos

  

                       By ELLIOT TONKS on May 9th 2013

This post is about giving some tips and useful advice to our thriving base of young and aspiring live music photographers. Many will see this as a very niche area of work , though the amount of blooming photographers wanting to shoot the stage is on the rise. Our ever so growing base of artistic youth love their music and photography just to name a couple. They're incorporating both of these art forms to their life and work and essentially, killing two birds with one stone.

I've also included in this post a quick 'what's in the bag' photo and breakdown of all the gear which I use to get the work done.

What's in the bag?

As a live music photographer I often get asked what camera/lens setups I take and to worry about weight and do I even carry my bag during the whole show. Many photographers think it can be a bit over kill. Why? because I never know what's going to happen upon arrival.

The above image is what I take to a gig when a big named artist is playing because, I'm not going to be caught under equipped and unprepared.


-You're going to want a bag that you can fit in all your needed gear and make it all accessible 

- At least one camera (Preferably full frame to handle low light situations well with high ISO). My other camera was used to take this photo. I use 2 Canon 5d MK II's

- A mono pod can be extremely helpful to get that steady shot when you're shooting at least 200m away from the action with a Tele lens. A monopod is preferred over a tripod because of space and setup time.

- Have a flash in your back pocket or even on the camera (If you want to make friends, don't let it fire during the show. The flash is vital for some quick backstage photos.


- Tamron Shoulder Bag
- 2x Canon 5d MK II's
- 70-200mm f/2.8 IS
- 50mm f/1.4
- 24-70mm f/2.8
- 17-40mm f/4
- Canon Teleconverter x2 MK III. This comes in extremely helpful when the photo pass permits me only to the sound desk
- Canon 580ex II Speedlite
- Manfrotto Monopod
- SPARE memory cards, camera and flash batteries.
- A pen, (sadly not every box office will have a pen for you to sign the contract).

15 tips

1  - Pack your bag long before the gig, check everything works and is full battery.

2  -You’ll probably want to set your ISO level to 800 or 1600 (for a cropped frame camera). At 1600 the images will be getting grainy with digital noise, but that’s sometimes unavoidable. If you’re in a venue with plenty of light set your ISO lower, you’ll get less noise

3  - Have everything at your side and know what pocket it is in

4  - If your camera allows you to change the type of light metering you should set it to spot mode. Always try and focus on the face or sometimes the hair of the artist is backlit and you can get a good focus on that (only use this technique when atleast 10m away from the subject as focusing on the hair while using a wide aperture will soften the sharpness of the face).

5  - You’ll want a lens that has a wide aperture, f2.8 or lower. There are 50mm f1.8 lenses that are quite good and cheap these days.

6  - In a low light situation you’re going to need to shoot at reasonably low shutterspeeds in order to get enough light in the camera. But remember the slower your shutterspeed the more likely your shots won’t be sharp, either because the subject moves or your hands move. (I try and keep above 1/200 at all times and 1/400 if I'm using the 70-200mm with the teleconverter.

7  - You can be technically adept but still take crap photos, the trick is knowing when to click the shutter. Watch the performance for a moment, where is the light on stage? You may have to wait for the performer to move into the light.
My favourite shots are ones that show emotion and energy. Go for a shot when the singer steps away from the mic, you don’t want it obscuring your shot. Try and get one when the singer is “in the moment”, reaching for a high note.

8  - After you’ve taken hundreds of shots at a show, cull them down to the best 20 or 30. Then cull that down to the best 3. If you’re going to show other people your photos don’t show them everything, just the very best. They’ll assume all your shots are that good.

9  -Be nice to those around you. Don’t shove your way to the front, if you want to get closer tap someone on the shoulder, smile and ask if they mind you moving forward to take some photos. If you need to stand right in front of someone ask them if they mind and promise you’ll only be there for a minute. Keep that promise and move on.
Don’t use flash, or if you have to, use it very sparingly. It’s distracting to others and will probably make your photos look crap anyway.

10 - I use one shot focusing for my work because I can get my focus and then reframe the image so 40% of the photo isn't black nothing-ness above the artists head. Sometimes the lighting can have a very eye pleasing effect through the settled smoke so that unwanted 40% could become a whole framed filled and colour saturated photo.

11 - Get creative and try and think of the readers perspective of where the photos will be displayed. If you didn't go to an event but want to read and see the review, would you just want to see a few headshot photos? No, you want to see the atmosphere of the event. The lighting, full stage shot, silhouettes, photos of the backdrop and the set. Capture everything that's there and what had effort put in to be there. Avoid getting up nose shots of the lead singer, get atleast 50 degrees side on.

12 - Try get as much experience at lower level events where it's even darker but you will probably be allowed to shoot for the whole set.

13 - Bring backups of your backups, ALWAYS BE PREPARED FOR THE WORSE.  (Only two weeks ago I went to shoot a big named act only to find out my camera didn't work even though I was using it that same afternoon)

14 - The drummer is well lit 1% of the time, Work with it.

15 -  ENJOY IT, Many times i've been able to stay for the free show, been given drink vouchers and even given extra passes for friends to come along for free. Don't see it as an office.

Conclusion

Some of the above tactics may not work for you but this is my experience in my field of work and how I get by. be prepared to fail in some circumstances. Last week when my camera failed I was only able to get about 8 photos of a 5 piece band in thick green lighting with my battery grip parts between the fold back monitors on the stage. The editor was more worried about my camera being okay compared to giving them about 3 crappy photos in the end.



What other ways do you have to help you shoot live?



Wedding Drama.

Recently I was asked by a friend to photograph her wedding. Since I had never done anything like this before my initial reaction was to say no and run as far away as possible.  The idea put me into a panic. What if I messed up? What If I missed a crucial moment? It was somebody’s big day and I was in charge of capturing all of their special memories and the idea terrified me. If I got something wrong it wasn’t as easy as getting them back into the studio and doing it all over again. This was completely out of my comfort zone.

But she was adamant that she wanted me to take her photographs so I did some heavy research into equipment and spent hours flicking through wedding photographs. I contacted her and asked her if she had any specific ideas in mind and her reply was ridiculously vague and she told me she trusted me and I could do whatever I wanted. She also told me that I had 45-60 minutes to take all of her photographs after the ceremony before she had to head back for the reception. Which was good…but also really, really bad, what If I did something that she absolutely hated? I had no room for error with only 45-60 minutes to photograph her and her wedding party. So again…panic stations.

I decided pretty early on that my best bet would be to rent equipment. I rented EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L USM and the 50mm f/1.8. I won’t lie when I first picked up the 70-200 I was a little overwhelmed by the sheer weight of the thing, and a little bit fascinated by the fact the lens had to be mounted on the tripod as opposed to the camera body. So far so good, I was organized had my bags packed rearing to go….Only problem, The wedding was tomorrow and I still hadn’t received the address from the bride, She had already paid me in full, but had failed to let me know where she was getting married despite my numerous e-mails and texts (AND Lack of invitation) I eventually had to phone one of her bridesmaids and she told me the location and times etc. 

I felt sick to my stomach on the way to her hotel, but as soon as I got in there and started to take the photographs I felt completely fine, I made a conscious effort to blend and not intrude too much and got some really great candid shots that I was really happy with, considering that candid photography is really my least favorite style of photographing. I even managed to chat to the bride a little bit about some photographs she wanted….She told me she would like photographs of her and her bridesmaids together in their dresses before they headed off to the ceremony….only problem was she also wanted me to head down and get the boys getting ready and waiting for them. So I suggested that she would have to be in her dress before I left (Her hotel was a good twenty minute drive to the location where her ceremony was being held) this was something she just did not want to do. (So she wanted me to be in two places at once) Her bridesmaids soon convinced her otherwise and I managed to snap some photographs of her in her dress before heading off towards the boys. 

I’m just going to say it, the Groom was MUCH easier to photograph, less stressed and really at ease around the camera, I found it much easier to get candid photographs of the boys than I did of the girls, Mostly because the girls seemed so ridiculously aware of where the camera was AT ALL TIMES. I was finally beginning to feel confident again when…they had to change locations because the wind was far too strong near the water, so we re-located…to a tiny area (Which I’m going to say on a regular basis is more than likely the smokers area for the tavern) The light was horrendously harsh and all the guests were made to stand, so I set up my tripod to ensure I had enough room. Again things were going smoothly UNTIL the groom’s uncle took it upon himself to literally STAND INFRONT of me with his camera EVERYTIME I tried to take a photograph (He even sat in the middle of the aisle directly in front of the couple at one point during the ceremony, Bride looked less than impressed to say the least)  I eventually managed to completely sidestep him and found a perfect spot to take my photographs. I was pleasantly surprised at how at ease I was taking the photographs and soon felt pretty confident in my abilities. 

Once the ceremony was over all my stress seemed to disappear, I was super excited about the posed photographs, I knew what I was doing and I enjoyed it, yet this seemed to be the most difficult part of the whole day. It took me a good ten minutes to try and peel the bride and groom away (Time was ticking…) the only spot that I could visibly see that would even be remotely suitable for photographs was the jetty…. which everybody BUT the bride seemed excited about. We got down there and began to take the photographs, I had no worries whatsoever, Things were going exactly how I had planned and everybody seemed to be having fun, until about ten minutes later the bride decided she had had enough and was no longer going to stand down there, I had plenty of the wedding party but barely any of just her and her husband, which I told her, and she said she didn’t care and that she just wanted to go inside and sit down. The groom looked how I felt; gutted. I had been so excited about this part of the day, of being able to get creative and take photographs of her beautiful dress and that wasn’t going to happen, I tried my best to persuade her otherwise but she was having none of it.

 

Overall I’m glad that I agreed to do it. It was a fantastic experience, and I’m really proud of how well I handled myself and proud of my images. It was fun to be apart of it all and watch everything happening around me, Although in saying that I don’t know how quickly I would agree to photograph another wedding haha!

Every camera owner is a photographer, right?

Is every hammer owner a carpenter?

As a Photographer I've had this conversation many of times to educate clients of the work behind a photo shoot and why they can't simply just do the job themselves on their mobile phone or point and shoot compact camera and expect professional results. We're living in an era where image is everything and the average viewer will give you 2-3 seconds of very temporal captivation to evaluate your product by the image you have.


Many corporate clients are forgetting this and going for the cheapest possible option and quantity over quality. The Courier Mail has recently sacked most of their photographers and now the reporters will take a point and shoot camera with them to location. We're living in an age of digital imaging manipulation where the original image isn't the same as the end product. We are all in need of accurate information of the world we live in and replacing professional photographers isn't a professional way to go about it.

Why we charge what we charge and how we spend our time

Just a few to give you an idea of our work

- Have you walked into a camera shop lately? our gear is expensive

- Commercial shoots can very rarely be shot solo, we need assistants

- Days are spent preparing and planning what we will do for your photo

- Studying fees (if we studied)
- Editing a single photo can take hours
- Do you have a creative eye?
- Have you been shooting for years to optimize how you work?
- Ever tried to use a camera in manual mode?

Here is a perfect chart to help you understand how we spend our time

Conclusion

You really get what you pay for and if you're wanting to upgrade the appearance of  your product/service, get a professional because image is everything.


Your comments, likes and shares are most welcome

Cedric Delsaux

Cedric Delsaux - Genius or piggy backing off a well known franchise's success? 

There's no doubt that Cedric Delsaux can take a great photograph, especially of urban landscapes but upon a closer look at his work, I found myself wondering if his images would be getting a second glance if they didn’t contain well known characters/ships from the Star Wars franchise.

Here's the cherry on top... Pierrick Gueneugue ringing any bells? No? It's rare to find any articles ACTUALLY crediting Pierrick, when In fact this is the man who does all of the CGI (Photoshop) for Delsaux's images. So not only does Cedric Delsaux incorporate George Lucas' original ideas into his images but he is (possibly unknowingly) receiving all the acknowledgement when Pierrick is adding those 'finishing touches' that his audience love and remember to his images.

Cedric Delsaux will be the first to admit that the original intent of his series 'Dark Lens' was not in fact Star Wars related, But it was instead intended to be an exhibition of our modern world, from the rise of skyscrapers to the decay of urban fringe. But Delsaux found things were amiss when he had finished his grand surveys of urban landscapes. He found that his images were too monotonous, they were simply too plain and normal. So in other words they had NO stand out qualities, no WOW factor, nothing to make the viewer remember his images and want to continue viewing them time and time again.

It's true. For example if you remove the Star Wars characters from the following images, they cease to have the same 'feeling'. Yes the images are sharp, 'edgy' and are well shot but they cease to have any stand out qualities.

Would Cedric Delsaux have the same recognition and fan base if he had (or should I say had Pierrick Gueneugue) not incorporated Star wars into these images? Which leads me back to my original question : Is Cedric Delsaux a genius or is he simply piggybacking off a well known franchise's success?

Smell O-Vision

Ok, so I know this isn't directly related to photography, but it doesn't mean we can't benefit from it. As we know, our photos relay on the elements and principles of design; Line, Space, Colour, Size and so on. Now imagine that you can add a new element of design to your photos, SMELL. Yes that right, with this new technology this will soon be an actual possibility. Your photo of the beach landscape can now enhance the viewers experience not only with a stunning photo of the beach, which can now transport them to believe they are standing on that beach by breathing in the smell of the ocean.

To find out more about this follow the links below:

‘Smell-o-vision is real! A team at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology in Japan has invented a 'smelling screen' that makes smells waft from the spot on a display that their corresponding objects appear’

 http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21729105.900-smellovision-screens-let-you-really-smell-the-coffee.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2302414/Real-smell-o-vision-TV-unveiled-Japanese-team-NOT-April-Fool.html