Category: photography

It's not the body, it's the glass! (New Canon gear…)

Jason5 Comments

Okay, while everyone is salivating (or slamming) on the new 60D Canon just announced, let’s not forget that it’s not really about the body upgrades – it’s the glass we want to invest in.  And, true to form, there are also a significant number of additions and upgrades to the Canon lens line-up that bear some discussion, so here we go:

Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye USM lens – Touted as the worlds widest fisheye zoom, it’s an impressive feat, but not many shooters really need such a lens.  At $1400 price point, the price point will likely be too high for many to justify.  Cool factor – high, Use factor –  low.

Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM lens – I believe this is the first L lens in this zoom range, and for that reason, the optical quality will likely see a market improvement.  At a price point of $1500, the reach will appeal to many, but the price compared to the 70-200L f2.8 IS will deter more.  You may lose a little reach, but you gain a stop of light.  Not a lot of reach loss for IS gain!

Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens – The 6th in the continuing series indicates that this is the go-to lens for the serious shooters…i.e. the pros of the sports circuit. The appeal? Drop in overall weight will reduce arm fatigue. The burden? $7 large! (Call your boss to see if accounting will approve it and best of luck!)

Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II USM lensThe best of the best – a fixed focal length prime and the bees knees of the profession, SI shooters, NFL, MBL, NHL, etc – if you are looking here for advice on whether to drop the $11,000 on this lens, I want to know why! Buyers of this grade of optics are the companies with budgets larger than my annual salary my many multipliers!

Canon Extender EF 1.4x III & Canon Extender EF 2x III At $500 a piece it’s really just improved optics. For each it also represents light loss – one stop versus two. if optics are important and light isn’t, the 2X is your choice. Add reach and minimize light loss – the 1.4X. A more cost effective approach – neither at this price!

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Hardware Review: Think Tank Airport International V2.0

Jason2 Comments

Many Bags!

We all have camera bags.  Whether you use a Point-and-Shoot, an SLR, or any other type of camera, you are putting it somewhere eventually that could be defined as a bag.  These bags are made in such a variety of shapes, sizes, colors, and straps, it’s really amazing sometimes how many options there are for the photographer today.  But like it or not, if you have a camera – you are gonna need a bag! Continue reading “Hardware Review: Think Tank Airport International V2.0” →

A visit from Andie Smith!

Jason2 Comments

Friend of the blog, Andie Smith has generously donated her time again here to share some insider tricks and tips to get the most out of Lightroom 3 – she shows her work flow, what the effect of various presets are in LR, and how to effectively use them.  Ladies and gentlemen, I give you…Andie Smith

It is no secret I love Adobe Lightroom… the rumors are true, I refuse to edit without it.  As I’ve created my own presets I realized if they are created correctly you can “stack them”.  What is stacking? It is similar to using more than one action in Photoshop. I assume you want samples.

RAW image:

Andie Smith Photography (Original)
This is the original raw file

1. image with Work It-Awesome Portraits and some local adjustments (cleaned up skin and Work It- Pretty Eyes.)

Andie Smith Photography 1

2.   image with Work It-Awesome Portraits +Work It-Meadow. Medow is in the Tints and Tones and just adds some more blues and greens to the image.

Andie Smith Photography 2

3.   The way the presets are created, you can use the Tints and Tones on color or Black and White images.  Here is the same image with Work It- B&W Contrast Dark and then Work It- B&W Contrast Dark +Bobby

Andie Smith Photography 3

Andie Smith Photography 3

4.  But wait there is more! (I hope you read that in your best “info-mmercial” voice) you can use a vintage preset. I used Work It-Vintage

Andie Smith Photography 5

5. Then add a tint and tone on top of the vintage preset. here is Work It-Vintage + Work it- Little Red School House

Andie Smith Photography 6

There isn’t an image that leaves Andie Smith Photography or Eight18 Photography that hasn’t had one of the Work It presets used on it.  It is my work flow.  No matter the presets you are using don’t forget to customize them to make them work for you… “some assembly is required” as the saying goes.

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Editor Note:  Thanks again to Andie for stopping in and sharing her workflow.  If you like the styles, you can purchase the entire preset package from her website for only $89 here:  Andie Smith Photography

She has also generously donated a full copy of her presets to the Lightroom Workshop, so if you happen to be attending, you will get the set there too.  Not attending, sign up and get the whole rest of the day for only $10 more!  Hope to see you there!

3 Years down! What’s Next?

Jason4 Comments

In the blogging community, a year is a significant milestone, as most bloggers don’t make it to this point.  Interests wax and wane, jobs and passions change, and audiences swell and sag as the community of readers often will gravitate toward new topics and content.  The idea behind retention of readership is to change with the times.  Here at CB/LDP, that has not been a problem. From the beginning, this blog has always been about sharing my experiences in photography with the larger community.  So, as new technologies develop, and I learn about them, the writing reflects changes and advances in my knowledge base. Continue reading “3 Years down! What’s Next?” →

Digital Photography: Where do we go from here?

Jason6 Comments

I’ve often wondered about the development of technology and the patterns that go with it.  As technology has advanced in other areas such as computing, the World Wide Web, and mobile platforms, cameras have also seen similar changes in recent years.  The difference between cameras and the rest of the industry though is that with cameras, it’s been a very recent development.  Photography has been around a lot longer than the digital world, and the underlying principles and foundations that are the basis for the craft haven’t changed much.  Shutter speed and aperture size are still the dominant forces that control exposure in images (along with ISO – which when combined gives us the exposure triangle): Continue reading “Digital Photography: Where do we go from here?” →

Raquette Lake Rendezvous

Jason3 Comments

Every year, the men in the family (cue Tim Allen-esque Home Improvement style grunts) depart from their women and the rigmarole of daily lives to embark on a quest to re-connect with nature.  We build fire, we eat man food, we emit bodily sounds not allowed in most social circles, tell jokes that are decidedly not PC or appropriate for most audiences and all sorts of other debauchery.

This year I had the chance to attend (I missed a few years due to work), and with a new generation of men-in-training to initiate, it was quite the sojurn!  We also dealt with survival skills in the wild – land navigation/compass courses, intentionally over-turning canoes and kayaks to recover, and all sorts of hair-raising experiences for the single-digit aged crowd.  They learned quite a bit!

In all the ruckus, I did manage to sneak my SLR into the forest for what I anticipated to be some possible chances at some nice scenery.  I was not disappointed…here’s a few sample shots from said trip:

In addition to spending some good quality time with family, some “man-bonding” and such, a few decent shots came out of the trip too!  Plus, with my packing list, and preparations for keeping everything dry, as well as some other trip-specific details, a few posts worth of content will likely be coming down the road later this week too!

In the meantime, don’t forget to set your alerts for the first free webinar that Kerry Garrison and I are hosting tomorrow night from our joint venture with Lightroom Dudes.  That starts tomorrow at 6:30pm Pacific, 7:30pm Mountain, and 9:30pm Eastern(More are coming after that for only $20 a session…)  The Denver workshop is also fast approaching , and there are still seats available.  You can register for only $79 here:  Add to Cart

Hope you enjoy the pics, and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

Where in the world am I?

Jason10 Comments

Thanks to the timely receipt of the Photoshop Guys Q&A sets, I was effectively able to go “off the grid” for nearly a week! That’s right – completely off the grid! No email, no Twitter, no Facebook, no phone, no internet – nada! It was quite the enjoyable experience. While a select few people did have a “need to know” before I left, I did try to keep this on the down low… Continue reading “Where in the world am I?” →

Friday Round-Up

Jason1 Comment

A bunch of news for today – as most of you know, our inaugural workshop was this last weekend in Anaheim, and boy was it rockin’!  Great participation, great input, and super feedback from everyone.  On the anonymous feedback forms, every ranking was either a 9 or a ten (and there were more of the latter than the former)!  Such a rush to see so much appreciation, and Denver is sure to draw an even bigger crowd.  There’s only a few early bird seats left (3 I think), so if you haven’t registered yet – better sign up while the getting is good!

Lightroom Dudes

  • Saturday Aug 28th – Denver, CO
  • Workshop will be held at:
  • Arvada Center for Arts & Humanities
  • 6901 Wadsworth Blvd Arvada, CO 80003

Add to Cart

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Flickr August Giveaway

On the free front – the August contest is underway on Flickr and the prize this month is a 50 sheet pack of Polar Metallic Paper from the folks at Red River Paper.  You all likely know how much I love this paper and this company – here’s your chance to find out why with your own pack of paper to push out some super prints for clients, family, friends, or even your own walls!  Submit your own image to the Flickr thread (the theme is Metal).

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49 Photo Tips - The Sequel

Last but not least, the eBook has been flying off the virtual shelf, and the response there has been overwhelming too.  Read the reviews, and get your own copy from the eBooks page here!  It’s still a super deal at only $4.99 for the digital download – it includes 49 Photo Tips, explained in detail and with accompanying images to demonstrate the effect when appropriate!  Add this one to your virtual library today!  (An iPad version is due out shortly – working on the ISBN now…)

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That’s it for Friday!  Have a great weekend, and we’ll see you here on Monday with the Super Exciting News that I can’t share yet!  Are you ready for some excitement though?  Stop back in to find out!

A bit of Tea, Chap?

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A recent visit to the parental units in upstate New York was long overdue for a number of reasons.  First off, I’d not been back in nearly 4 years!  Second, they had done some pretty extensive renovations and were clamoring for family to come see all the newness of their kitchen (and for the record, it was pretty fabulous), but third, and perhaps most importantly – the maternal unit is quite the avid gardener, and she prides herself on the beauty of her English-style gardens. Continue reading “A bit of Tea, Chap?” →