Update

Well, here it is, the last couple hours of St. Patricks Day, and I finally have found some time to update the blog. It has been a busy time between shooting and taking care of my mom after her heart surgery. At 82 years old, and having major surgery like two valves replaced, she just has not recovered as quickly as we hoped. She is getting better, but just slow. About a month ago she took a fall, not bad, but something that caused complications and ended up sending her to the hospital in an ambulance. But she is improving, although, we are visiting the hospital about once a week and she can not be left alone for too long because she can not move around the house without someone here. So, my shooting has taken a back seat. I finished up high school basketball, missing a bunch of the girls games, but I made it to all but one boys varsity game. Thanks to a great member of Fred Miranda, I also have added a Canon 1D Mark II to my arsenal and it is most welcome. I was able to shoot the starts of the 2007 Iditarod, but unfortunatly had to give up my plans shooting along the trail since mom needed a caregiver. Now I sit here watching March Madness wishing I was sitting courtside shooting away. I get to cover a UAA gymnastics meet this Sunday against Ball State, and at the end of March I will be shooting 4 days of the US Ski Team Alpine Championships at Girdwood and Alyeska Resort. I also have some Alaska Aces games coming up and I am also counting down the days until the Alaska Wild start playing indoor football. My biggest job will take up most of the summer though. I have once again been signed to do the action photos for Knik Little League which, honestly, is a blast to do.

As you all know by now, Canon has announced the Mark III version of the 1D... I encourage you to take a look at the Canon USA website for more info. It will be a great camera for any sports photographer. In my opinion, PMA was a letdown, except for the Mark III. Well, Sigma did announce a 200-500 2.8 zoom lens, which tops 35lbs and while cool, is not going to impact our business too much. I was really hoping Canon would release some new lenses like a 200 1.8 IS and a 100 - 400 f4 IS and a couple other things....but guess we will have to wait a little longer.

One of my next projects will be a total website redesign, which I hope to launch in time for football season (high school this fall).

Anyway, I will do my best to keep things coming here...expect more reviews and tips and tricks.....

Later
Carl

Welcome to 2007

Well, first off, let me say to everyone, Happy New Year. I hope all has been good for you so far. While there have been lots of events going on locally, like the Alaska Aces, UAA Seawolves sports, my time and priorities have changed a little, well, a lot.

On January 3rd, my mom went in to have 2 valves replaced in her heart. Surgery went very well, and she is recovering nicely so far, but needless to say, instead of hanging out at the sports arenas, my time has been mostly spent at the hospital. I may be able to swing a college basketball game in this weekend, but I am not counting on it at all. I will be shooting my second high school game come Monday, and then will have some time off to visit mom before she comes home and then again I will be quite occupied while she is on the mend. Thankfully, everything is good right now.

I am, during this off time from shooting for me, scheduling a very big shoot that will more than likely have national exposure. I will not tell you exactly what it is, but it is something that was shown on local news up here not to long ago and after viewing it, I decided this needed national coverage, and off went an email to my agency who is now shopping the idea around to some of the top publications. Once we have the details all lined up, I will share the info with you in more detail, but this could be a very big deal.

My best wishes to all of you for 2007.

Lens or In body IS?

So I am sitting here during some rare free time, and I am reading a discussion on why Canon should put IS in body and I am kind of laughing to myself and decided to share some of my thoughts about IS here. For those who do not know, IS stands for Image Stabilization.

First of all, in my opinion, IS has limited uses. It is absolutely necessary, in my opinion, in long lenses starting at about 400mm. Even on a tripod or monopod, the lenses are so large and heavy that some camera movement is bound to occur, even at higher shutter speeds. Having IS in these lenses helps cut that down greatly. But having IS in other lenses does only two things.

1. Drain your battery quicker.
2. Empty your wallet quicker.

Now, I do very little landscape photography and focus mainly on action and news, but I honestly believe in the 1/focal length rule for the most part. What ever lens you have on, as long as you can keep the shutter speed at least at or above the focal length, a 200mm lens would be 1/200th shutterspeed, you are going to have a sharp photo. Using slower shutter speeds than this can introduce camera shake....if you are not careful. Holding your breath, using a wall, table, or chair to steady yourself, or using a bean bag, monopod, or tripod is going to be cheaper and do a better job. Most landscape shooters will use a heavy duty tripod, cable release, and set their camera up for mirror lockup. People seem to think that in camera IS will solve that problem, but it wont.

In order for the in camera IS to work, the sensor has to move around to adjust for camera movement. While this movement is only a millimeter or two, you are now making your sensor even smaller. What if you are trying to fill the frame with something specific and the sensor shifts that 2mm, and suddenly along the edge of your image there is something that you do not want, or, worse yet, looking through the viewfinder, you can not see that the IS is going to do this because it is no longer OPTICAL. With in lens IS, you can see the IS smoothing the bumps out. In camera, you will see nothing.

Also, in lens IS is more accurate. IS from a 600mm lens is different than IS from a 400mm lens. The 400mm is tuned to give the best possible results from the 400mm focal length. You put the 400mm IS into a 600mm lens and compare it to a 600mm lens with the 600mm IS mechanism in it, the one with the 400mm IS will be less accurate. Basically, in lens IS is fine tuned for the lens it is in. In camera, you are either going to have IS that falls short compared to lens based IS or you are going to see camera's that either loose some features to make room for the IS software and mechanics. There is only so much room inside the cameras for all the data they need to work, and only so much room for the processors that make this data work. So, you have a Canon 30D. Pretty good AF, quick, accurate. Buffer clears out ok, not super fast, but better than previous models. Suddenly Canon releases a 35D, basically a 30D with in camera IS. You think great! A camera that is killer already, now is even better. You go out and switch that IS on and the first thing you notice is that the autofocus is moving a bit slower, not too noticable, but it is a tad slower, and not locking onto subjects as quickly. Take a burst of 4 or 5 RAW photos and suddenly you notice the buffer is taking for ever to empty as the images are written onto the memory card. Now, I am not saying that this would happen, but in all honesty, the 30D has one main CPU to handle all the cameras processing. 1D series has two, one for AF, one for everything else. Adding in body IS is going to slow down the camera slightly.

Another item that people tend to over look is flash sync. I do not know why this is, but it appears that in camera IS reduces the flash sync. Most Canon cameras are either 1/200th or 1/250th of a second flash sync, with the original 1D at 1/500th of a second. Adding in camera IS will change this. I do not have the specs in front of me, but I remember the Minolta 5D had a 1/160th of a second X-Sync without IS, turn IS on, and that dropped to 1/125th of a second. Shooting in studio and using studio strobes to shoot high school sports, 1/500th on my 1D and 1/250th on my backup XT (I know it says 1/200th, but I have successfully strobed at 1/250th) is a major necessity for me. If in camera IS is going to slow down the X-Sync, then there is absolutely no way in the world I will get a in camera IS body.

I do see how IS can be useful for some sports shooters. Shooting a baseball game under sunlight and having to drop your shutter speed down to about 1/60th to quickly take a shot of someone in the dugout, IS would be a benefit, but for the most part, with the exception of long lenses, my opinion is that IS is a gimmick.

Some of the greatest photographs of all time were taken long before IS, Autofocus, even color film, and to get them, even if it meant having an assistant help you, a good, sturdy tripod was use, and in my opinion, there is no better reduction of camera shake out there than a good, heavy tripod with a very sturdy head.

Have SLR, can I take your picture?

With the introduction of low priced DSLR's this year, and Christmas approaching quickly, I am sure there will be a lot of new photographers on the streets. I want to give you all tips to make your new photographic trek a nice experience rather than one that could get you in trouble.

Just because you have a nice camera does not mean you can take photos where ever you want. Let's say you head out, the day after Christmas with your brand new camera to take pictures of the winter wonderland out there. You head downtown to take photos of the decorations and you have no problem. Suddenly, while framing a nice image of a decorated front of a office building, a security guard approaches you and tells you that you can not take pictures of the building. How do you handle this? Lately I have been reading about photographers who fly off the handle at security guards, screaming about public places, freedom of speech, etc. This is absolutely the last thing you should do. Apologize to the guard and tell him you were just taking a photo of the decorations and was unaware that this was not allowed. Ask him if there is someone in the building you can talk to about getting permission to take a photo. This is the absolute best way to handle this. So you are on a public sidewalk? Big deal. If you were taking a photo of a leaf on the sidewalk, he would have no ground to stand on, but taking the picture of a building, while it might be open to the public, it is owned by someone, and there may be actual restrictions on photography. Crazy, huh? Not really. Just because you have a camera does not give you a license to shoot anything, anywhere, at anytime. Let's say the same situation above occurs, but instead of you, it is a newspaper photographer. More than likely, either the photographer, a reporter, or someone from the newspaper has already made contact with the building management to get permission to photograph the building. Or, when the photographer got there, prior to shooting, they would make contact with the building management on site or with security letting them know who they were and why they were there. Even if they did not do this, if they were approached, they would more than likely have their press ID issued from the newspaper with them, identifying them as someone with a legitimate reason for being there.

Flying off the handle does absolutely nothing for you or other photographers. If you upset this security guard, the next time you or another photographer shows up, they may bypass talking to you at all and call the police. You can throw out all the freedom of speech that you want but, why ask for problems, when it is very easy to just ask for permission to shoot? If they say no, move on. Don't make it an issue. Not being a person with inside information at the building or whatever, means that you really do not know if there are restrictions. If it is a special architectural design, the architect may have copyrighted his design and to protect it, there is a restriction. I know it sounds silly, but it can happen. A while back in the Tacoma, Washington area, at the Tacoma Dome, there was a ridiculous rule about taking photos inside the facility. There was some real bad neon artwork that the artist did not want reproduced in any form. So, any photograph not taken for media use only, inside the dome, was not permitted. If I remember correctly, that did not last long, and I am not even sure if the neon is still there, but it was a rule, and security enforced it. A high school football championship was being televised and the TV cameras could not be in some positions that they wanted because the artwork would be in the background, so they had to shoot from less than desirable positions to avoid breaking the rule. While they were technically media, they wanted to avoid any possible infractions that may come later, like using footage to promote the event the next year and having this artwork in the video.

Basically, you just do not know, so when you don't know, ask. There are many so called public places that in reality are not public. Just because a park is public, there may be a group that has rented the park for a day and they may have restrictions on photography for a event or something.

Holiday Greetings

I am really not sure how many people actually come by and read this, but I want to wish the best to all of you this holiday season as 2006 draws to a close.

My schedule has been interrupted for the next month or so as my mother prepares for open heart surgery. I have been canceling shoots and taking time off each week as I take her to doctor appointments, shopping, and running errands for her. I squeeze shoots in as I can and I hope to be able to get out to shoot some ECHL hockey this week as most of the high schools and UAA prepare for their winter breaks.

I did receive some nice news recently as I got a check from Icon SMI, one of my wire services. I knew that I had a photo in a recent issue of ESPN the Magazine, but it turns out I also had a shot earlier in 2006 picked up on ESPN.com. Along with that, my other wire, Newsport emailed me that I had sold a shot from the Quad Rugby event at the 2006 National Veterans Wheelchair Games. With not a lot going on in Alaska, it is nice to have 3 sports shots picked up for national publications.

Besides working on a review of my new 120-300 2.8 from Sigma, I am working on a full review of a couple Think Tank Photo products. I was sent a Airport Antidote and a Pro Modulus Speed belt set to put through the ringer for Fred Miranda's Digital Darkroom. Right now, after only using the gear for a short time, I can honestly say Think Tank got everything pretty close to perfect. I do have a few suggestions already, and once high school basketball and other events get going locally, I will be able to give them more of a workout.

I hope you all have a wonderful time during this last part of 2006 and wish you all a great 2007.

Links from this post.
www.thinktankphoto.com
www.fredmiranda.com
www.espn.com

Sigma 120-300 2.8 Review Part One

I recently sold my Canon 300 f4 IS L lens to help fund a 120-300 2.8 lens from Sigma. Moving into the indoor sports season, I needed something fast but longer than my 70-200 2.8. So, in came the 120-300.

I have been wanting this lens for a while, or a Canon 300 2.8 or 400 2.8. The lens I picked up was used, but in brand new condition. Picking the lens up for the first time you are amazed on just how heavy it is. I have had a few Sigma lenses in the past, but this one is the biggest and seems to be built like a tank. Looking at the lens cover/cap, the first thing I can honestly say that Sigma missed the boat on is the design. The cap can only be used in the storage position, or at least used correctly. There is a little notch cut out to lock around the hood knob, but when the hood is in shooting position, forget it. I have heard a lot of complaints about the hood. It is a bayonet style hood. You thread it into a notch set up on the lens, turn till it locks and tighten the knob. I like the stile and think it works well.

So, even before I attached my camera I twisted my monopod onto the beast. Pretty good balance, but if you get an older non DG lens be sure you get the larger lens collar. Mine is on order. This is the same lens collar on the 70-200 2.8 and it is just too small and compact for this lens.

I attached my 1D to the lens and it is a nice tight fit. Headed outside into the snow and started testing out the AF. Seems to focus quickly and accurately, but it will take some testing to figure out how good the AF is, but so far I am impressed. Two days after getting it, I finally had a chance to test it out. High School JV Volleyball. Bad lighting, so I was forced to shoot at ISO 3200 at 1/400th and 2.8. The lens performed great. I missed some shots, but that I attribute to user error. I am sure as I use the lens more, it will perform better and better for me. I have hockey, wrestling, and basketball coming up, so it will get lots of workout.

The view through the lens is great. Bright, contrastiy, and clear.

Honestly, with the exception of the lens hood/cap issue, the lens itself is great.

Now the case it comes with, that is another story. The Sigma Lens case plane sucks. I am looking for a new case for it, and I am leaning towards the Think Tank Photo Glass Taxi, but for now, it fits in my Lowepro MiniTreker Classic along with the 70-200 2.8 second body and some more short lenses. I have not tried it yet in my Stealth Reporter AW650 or my Kata stuff (which is for sale), and of course the Domke is just too small for it. The Sigma case is awkward and falls off my shoulder a lot when just walking along. Not nice if you have the lens in it.

I will update the review of this lens and add pictures as I go....

Take Care

Busy time, lack of posts.

Between moderating the Fred Miranda Sports Corner, shooting and editing everything from football, volleyball, community theater, news, features, and fun stuff, I have neglected my two blogs. My apologies to the few that read this. Let me tell you a little about what is going on currently.

As many of you know, I have been the booster photographer for Eagle River High School football this season. I have shot every game in Anchorage for the Wolves and had a good time doing it. On top of that, I have been working with a local community theater and a church with some photo work. I have been working freelance with a local paper, and I have started mentoring a local high school student. Between editing, file management, shooting and more, it has been a busy time for me. And now it gets real busy. I have the big volleyball match up between Eagle River and Chugiak tonight, the Nye Frontier Classic hockey tournament this coming weekend, along with other UAA sports, and the Kelly Cup Champs, the Alaska Aces, are getting ready to start the 2006/7 season. This will lead me into November and the much anticipated Great Alaska Shootout and right into Eagle River High School basketball.

Also, as we hit mid October, the snow is on its way. I am guessing we will have a dusting soon and I have made the decision that I am going to get back out in the snow this season. My knees are not the best (the main reason I am behind the camera instead of playing the sports I love shooting), but my goal this winter is to get them stronger and get my self in better shape prior to the 2007 Iditarod. I will be getting out as much as I can to do some cross country skiing and I think some sledding. Of course my camera will be with me to document my adventures.

One of the new items I have added to my photo bag is something pretty cool. I have added a Sony minidisc recorder. I will be using this a lot for all my shooting. It will be great for high school basketball and all sports, getting ambient sounds for slide show presentations, and it is going to be priceless during news and feature shooting, freeing me from a notebook and pen and allowing me to record the information for cutlines. I am also working on replacing that great little Digital Rebel Xt with either another 1D or if football sales get better, a 1D Mark II or IIn, but I may actually go with a 30D for the crop and megapixals.

I will be liquidating some of my bags and other equipment too. So keep your eyes on Fred Miranda's buy and sell and the SportsShooter classifieds. I have about 3 or 4 bags, including my greatly loved Kata Rucksack, Torso bag, and Waist Pack which will be going on the block along with one more, maybe more. Also, I have collected so many flash cards, I no longer need my portable hard drive, so, my 20 gig FlashTrax will be on its way out. If you are interested in my Rebel at all (just cleaned by Canon), it has the box, cables, strap, body, battery, and battery grip, with box, and since I no longer have the 18-55 kit lens, I am including a 50mm 1.8. I am not ready to sell quite yet, but I may be soon after the 15th of October. I am thinking $625 for the entire camera outfit...oh, there is a cable release too.....might even find some other cool little things to add to it....

Anyway, I hope all of you are enjoying the beginning of winter and remember to stay warm and keep taking pictures.

Let a Pro do it....Please.

I read about it all the time on line. I get asked about it often enough. My honest answer is....Let a pro do it.

"My friend has a wedding this weekend and he asked me to do the photos because their budget is very low. What should I do?" Honestly, tell them no. Please. Weddings, in my opinion, are the hardest thing in photography to do. A photographer goes out on a feature shoot and only needs 2 maybe 3 shots for the newspaper out of 20 to 100 taken. Fashion photographers will shoot hundreds of shots to get just a handful. Sports photographers will take hundreds, even thousands of photos just to get 10-20 great shots. Wedding photographers are expected to take 100-200 shots and have 100-200 great shots. And unlike many things shot photographically (I missed that dunk! No worries, there is 20 minutes left in the game) this is a once in a lifetime event.

"Oh, but I have a Digital Rebel and 2 lenses, and I got a 420ex flash. I have the gear, I just need to know what to look for." Did you know that wedding photographers like to be booked anywhere from a month to a year in advance? They will have meeting after meeting with the wedding party to go over details. Everything from standard group shots to special shots. They will have specific packages, and all the forms and check lists a bride and groom will need. They will make arrangements with the place the wedding will be held to come by and look things over. Talk to the people in charge to find out any photographic rules. Did you know that some churches will not allow flash in the sanctuary at any time? Some churches will not allow a photographer good access during the wedding. Some may not even allow photographs during the service. Preparation leading up to the wedding is big. Most wedding photographers will have 2 to 3 cameras, plus back ups. 2 to 4 light strobe set ups for group photos and 2 or 3 on camera flashes for candids. All the lenses they will need from low light wonders to short and long zooms. And the knowledge. Instead of reading a book on wedding photography a week before the wedding, they will have a number of weddings under their belts already, be well schooled in the art, understand what a bride wants, and most importantly be prepared for any situation. What happens if the place the wedding is being held will not let you use flash? Are your lenses fast enough? What if your camera fails the day of the wedding, or worse yet, during the wedding. Do you have a back up? Anything that could ever go wrong, will go wrong at a wedding, so it is best to know and understand this and make sure the wedding party understands it.

What about the photos? Wedding photos are processed differently than any other photos. A lot of post processing work will go into them to make the bride look perfect and correct any possible flaws in them from exposure, whiteballance, adding special wedding looks to them, and so much more. Many wedding photographers will spend 40 to 50 hours just working on the files alone after the wedding. Then set up proof books for the bride and groom to pick from. The final wedding albums can cost hundreds of dollars and should be perfect, as the books for the parents of the couple should be.

If you are approached to photograph a friends wedding, and you are not a wedding photographer or a pro, urge the couple to find a pro. Help them if you have to. If it is very close to the wedding, they may be out of luck, but if they discuss with various pro's their budget, they may be able to work something out. You could also help them by contacting a local photo club, and see if there are any pro's or semi pro's that could be of assistance. Even check with the local colleges. Students in advanced programs may jump at the chance to shoot a wedding for a lot less than a pro would charge.

Finally, if you absolutely have to shoot the wedding, take as much stress off of yourself as you can. Buy a bunch of disposable cameras and put them out at the reception. Let the guests take a majority of those photos. Go through the internet and find a check list that will cover all the shots you need to get. Bride & Groom, Bride with Bridesmaids, etc. Keep that check list with you and get every shot. Get at least three or four shots. Bracket if you have to. Go to the rehearsal. Go to the place the service is going to be held. Rent the gear you may need, like a back up camera and a couple fast lenses. Look at wedding photographers websites and get ideas from their images on how you should approach specific shots.

As many know, I am a media and sports photographer. But I will do weddings. I do them differently than most, but depending on the size of the wedding, my fees can range from $2000 to $10000. I do not like doing weddings because, while they are only a hour or two long, I will put close to two weeks of work into them. People see a price of $2000 for a two hour wedding and think, Wow...$1000 an hour. I should be a wedding photographer. Well that $2000 breaks down to $25 and that is before I subtract for the wedding album proofs and final prints.

So again, I say....Let a pro do it.

Dual Flash set up

Shot my second game of the season for the Eagle River Wolves Varsity team. Less than ideal shooting situation, but I got to try out a dual flash wireless set up. The first, and probably the last time I use this set up. I mounted a 550ex and 430ex about a foot below the camera on my monopod and triggered them wirelessly. Worked ok, but very cumbersome. I have my second camera back from Canon this week, so if I need flash (which it looks like I will with the rain we are having combined with a 7:00pm start time), I will go back to direct mounting the flashes to the cameras. But this is an example of 2 wireless flashes with football....
Oh...Eagle River dropped this game 0-58. Ouch...come on Wolves...lets get it into gear....

2006 High School Football

The High School Football Season is here. The Palmer Moose hosted the West Eagles Friday night (yes, 6 days ago!) at Palmer High's football field. West trailed the host by 1 at half time, answering every Palmer TD with a TD of their own, including a 85 yard kick return for a touchdown. But in the second half, Palmer, who went 10 and 2 last season, showed West why they are one of the states best teams holding West scoreless while tacking on another 19 points to win 40-20. Not the first game in the state, with North Pole hosting East Anchorage one hour earlier, but a very good game. For all the highlights of the first games of the High School Football season, and game action photos like above from the West/Palmer game, visit MaxPreps at www.maxpreps.com.

Setting up Youth Galleries Part II

I just wanted to share something with all of you. It looks like I will be able to invite you to Printroom for 50% off the Pro price for your first year. Printroom is an awesome place to sell your youth sports photos and this would make your first year only $49 instead of $99. Not only that, but after you sign up, if you make over a certain amount in sales (I think it is $3000) you get your next year free!

I will let you know how to join Printroom at 50% off soon, but if you are interested, please feel free to contact me and I will email you the info.

More stuff on the horizon.

At the time of writing this, I stare outside watching what looked to be a beautiful week turn into a gray, wet irritation. Why is it an irritation? Well, Alaska High School Football kicks off tomorrow, and I have been contracted to cover the game for MaxPreps with most likely a photo appearing on the USAToday website and hopefully in the printed paper too. What absolutely bites is that the game starts at 7pm, the sun is usually still bright enough to shoot without flash until around 9pm, but with the gray skies, it looks like I will be shooting by the light of my 550ex for the first game of the year.

But, on a good note, I am shooting as the booster photographer for Eagle River High School football and will be posting the Varsity images on MaxPreps.com. As Alaska's only MaxPreps photographer, it is something new for the state to see, and I hope that I am the first of many MaxPreps photographers in the state. The biggest thing this state is missing is quality high school sports photos...I mean, I can only shoot one school a night, and since I am tied to Eagle River High, that leaves numerous schools out of the loop.

If you are a Alaska Sports Photographer and you want to know more about MaxPreps, contact me. I will put you in contact with the guys who will make it happen for you.

I hope to have a few shots from the West - Palmer game up here Saturday, so check back!

Shooting a pitcher

When shooting baseball, there are two constants on who will have the ball. The pitcher and the catcher. There is no guarantee that any other player is going to touch the ball. Ok, so you have a good chance of everyone touching the ball unless the pitcher throws a perfect game, but even then, you best opportunity for action in a baseball game is the pitcher. The photo I posted here is a classic shot. The pitcher is starting his delivery. The ball is back behind him, he is kicking his front leg out and throwing his gloved hand to help deliver the ball. When shooting a pitcher there are really only two places to shoot him from that usually work. One, behind the plate, usually through the fence, or facing him. For a right handed pitcher, that would be shooting from third base, and for a left handed pitcher, that would be 1st base. This shot, from Third base shows the viewer exactly what is going on. While the background is bad with parked cars, you are not drawn to it because of the subject and the peak action of the pitch. Pitchers offer numerous shooting chances. Watch a pitcher deliver a pitch a few times. Watch for leg kicks, followthrough, emotion, little things can end up making for a great photo. If this pitcher would have a follow through that would turn him around after throwing the ball, I could still shoot him from the opposite side and get an interesting shot, and if he has a wide stretch, from the back side can also be interesting to the viewer. But unless there is a runner on the base to his back, shooting a pitcher from his back side is usually not something to focus on. Now if there is a runner on first for a pitcher like this, typically they will look over to first. This can be a great opportunity for a shot from the off side. Also, if he makes a move to pick off that runner, he will have to face you to do that, so that gives you another photographic opportunity. Also, watch for things between pitches. I have seen pitchers walk around the mound, chat with the catcher, and show some great emotion after delivering a strike three pitch, or a pitch that is called a ball that he thought was a strike. While sad, a pitcher can offer great photo ops after serving up a home run ball, or struggling through a inning, so keep your eyes open for those chances. Also, do not focus just on the pitcher. Since he is the one who touches the ball all the time, it can be easy to take too many pictures of them. I will usually approach a pitcher the following way.

Two straight series of him throwing. At 8fps, I will shoot a burst of 4 to 5 images. Then a third series of him doing the same thing, but at a slower shutter speed to look for movement, a sense of speed in his throw. I will then get shots through the backstop looking straight at him, then I will look for pick offs when a runner is on base. That will usually do it for the pitcher for me. This allows me to get photos of the pitcher out of the way and focus on the other players.

A hint for shooting baseball is anticipation and odds. Keep track of what the players are doing. The batters will face each pitcher a few times, so each time up, keep track of where they hit the ball. If the 4th batter hit a grounder to third base his first two times up, focus in on the third baseman and hope he hits it there a third time. Sometimes he will, sometimes he wont. When a runner is on first, anticipate a double play or a steal. I will prefocus on 2nd base and then if it is a double play I am already set for the out at second and the throw back to first. This is the best way to get those sharp shots of a shortstop in the air throwing the ball as a runner is sliding into second. Baseball is one sport that if you shoot, know the game. For little league, keep track of what the batters are doing and where they hit, but for higher level, like college or the pros, typically there is a radio broadcast you can listen to on a portable radio (I will use one earplug) and usually the announcers will say things like;

"The last time up he grounded to second and in his first at bat he hit a line drive to right."

That info would tell me he likes to hit to the right side of the diamond, so I will focus in on the second baseman and hope for a line drive he has to dive for, or maybe a ball hit softly that he needs to charge in to pick up.

Pro vs Hobbyist

Being a moderator at Fred Miranda, involved with camera clubs, and just being out in public shooting brings a lot of questions to me about gear.

"What lens is that?" or "What kind of lens should I buy to shoot...?"

Most people are looking at taking the best pictures they can and are focusing on the gear to do that. The thing I think is funny, in a sad way, is when people will go out and spend close to $10,000 on gear and then get mad that they do not get great photos and blame the gear because the lens is backfocusing, or the autofocus is too slow, or a number of other reasons. Now malfunctioning gear can be an issue, but in my experience, 90% of the problems hobby photographers have are not gear related, but a lack of photography knowledge. A lot of people come into digital SLR photography from point and shoot film and digital cameras. Going into a camera store and asking "What camera will give me the best results" is not the best way to go. The sales person does not know or really care what your background is, just what you can spend.

Recently, I was asked by a hobbyist photographer to look at his shots. He bought a Canon 20D and had the kit lens and a inexpensive zoom to 200mm. His shots were blurry from camera shake, exposed poorly, and not post processed. Talking to him a little I got some much needed information to help him, but he was not happy with my answers. He had shot for a few years with a Sony point and shoot digital camera, and he did a fine job with snapshots. His chief complaint, although not his main problem, was that the images are not as sharp or colorful as his Sony. He was planning on upgrading his lenses to Canon L lenses to fix this problem. I let him know not to do this.

"Your problem is not your gear. You have a good little set up here that will produce as good or better shots as your old Sony camera. You really do not need to upgrade anything at all right now."

His response to me was "But you use all those Canon L series lenses and your shots are tack sharp. That is what I want."

As I told him, and want to share with everyone is, do not spend the money on equipment to become a better photographer.

First step. Take classes. So my shots are tack sharp? I also have the knowledge learned in numerous photography classes in both high school and college. Just understanding the basics of Single Lens Reflex cameras can greatly improve your photography. Community colleges, high schools, on line, where ever there is a photography class that is available for you to take, spend the money you would spend on the pro series lenses on that. It will help you with focus, composition, camera operation, and if the class is geared towards digital photography, that is even better because it will cover white balance and all those digital goodies.

Second Step. Take classes. Not photography classes, but computer classes. Find a digital imaging course that will cover Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. Most cameras, at least Canon, comes with a free copy of Elements, and for a time, offered a great deal on upgrading to the full version of Photoshop. I tell people to take a digital imaging class because every image from a DSLR camera needs to be processed in some way or another. Exposure, Colors, sharpness. All these things need to be adjusted in some way or another after the photo is taken. Point and Shoot Digital Cameras will do this in camera, but not always for the better. Now learning how to do it correctly will not only make your photos look better, but will make it easy to do. You can teach your self by trial and error, but I find the best way to do it is to learn from those who know. There are some great online courses for digital workflow which will help, but one on one with an instructor is much better in my opinion. One way to look at it is, Point and Shoots are like Polaroids, DSLR files are like negatives and need to be processed. Process them incorrectly, you will not be happy, process them correctly and you will be very happy.

Third step. This is actually a group of things to do. Start off by reading your manual and learn your camera inside and out. The last thing you want to do is have the camera out and be put into a position where a great shot is right in front of you and you have to stop and read your manual to figure out how to set something specific. Read the manual, and re read it. Even though you end up memorizing it, keep it in your bag with you for those times when you go blank. Also, pick up some books. Look at books of photos that are of the same style you want to shoot, or in the same subject matter. This will give you ideas of what to look for when you produce your own photos.

Finally, I suggest getting a very good and sturdy tripod and a cable release. This will help greatly when doing fine detailed shots and will be much, much sharper than hand holding the camera.

One thing to keep in mind, there are very few things you can do well without knowing the basic fundamentals. You can cook from scratch with out knowing much about what you are doing, but to make something that can be eaten and taste good requires you to know what you are doing, and you do this by learning and practice. You can drive a car with little to no knowledge, but to drive a car well and within the law, you must take classes and practice. A team of baseball players may know and understand a game, but before playing it they go out and practice practice practice. Same goes for photography. Anyone can pick up a camera and take a photo, but understanding the abilities of your camera, understanding the art of photography, and understanding the art of digital imaging will make your snapshots look like photographs.

The top pros out there today did not one day pick up a camera and start taking award winning photos. Most of them went to school and learned the craft. Many learned from the top pros of their era, and a few are self taught. But not one of them has stopped learning. Everyday we learn something new. It might be what to do or how to do something to what not to do or how not to do something. But it all boils down to, do you need the top rated pro gear? It really depends on two things. Do you really need it and why do you really need it. As a professional shooting Canon gear, I choose my equipment by what I need, not by the name on it. I shoot 95% with a Canon 1D. Not a Mark II or IIn, but a 4 megapixal 1D camera. Why? Because that is all I need right now. I would really like a MkIIn, but at this time, I do not need it. I shoot outdoors all summer, no need for the high ISO quality of a newer body. I shoot 90% of my indoor sports with a strobe set up, so again, no need for the high ISO quality. When I do need high ISO performance, I use a cheap, Digital Rebel Xt, which I also use for remotes. The images I shoot with a cheap consumer camera and a 1st generation pro body that has seen two upgrades since it was released are regularly published in local papers, used in promotional material for various businesses and groups, and sold through various wire services, like Corbis, in the US. I shoot primarially with a 300 f4. I would like a 2.8 version, but I do not need a 2.8 version. I also shoot with a 70-200 2.8, not the IS version. Do I need the IS version? No. So why buy it if I do not need it. I shot for newspapers with a 18-55 kit lens and a third party 2.8 zoom lens for over a year and sold plenty of photos with this combination. At that time, having Canon Pro lenses would not have made any difference in the photos I was taking, so there was no reason to spend the extra money on those lenses. Anyone can complain about a product, but those who complain the least are those who know what the product is capable of.

Take some classes. Learn what you are doing and then decide what gear you need and what gear you do not need.

A lot going on, but wanted to share this

I have been extremely busy as of late (hope that will turn into $$ for once) and it looks like I will be even more busy over the next couple weeks. But I did a team photo I wanted to share with you all.

Those of you who know me well realize I absolutely hate standard team and individual photos. A photo that anyone else could have shot really does not interest me when it comes to portraits. I will do them if I have to, but if it is up to me, I would do them my way and make them fun for the kids, parents, and myself. I kind of go started doing this last year a little with the local high school basketball team, but due to conflicts with practices and uniforms, I did not get to do them all the way I wanted to. During the baseball season, usually the only team photo I take is the after championship game photo, and many times I will not do that because every parent out there will have a camera and I will not sell any.

Now do not get me wrong, I know T&I (team and individual) is a great business, but if I am not having fun and the parents or kids are not really interested in what I am producing, why do it. So, the little league I shoot for has a studio that does the team pictures each season, but they did a crummy job scheduling, and a bunch of the teams could not make their appointments because they were scheduled during games or right between double headers (most parents do want clean uniforms for their kids pictures). One of the juniors teams was one that did not have a team picture. On of the parents asked me to shoot one for them. She is a great customer, so I knew I would sell at least one, so I said sure. I got word to the coach that I was going to shoot a team photo and I needed them to show up 1 hour before the game. I showed up about 15 minutes before I expected the team, and I figured the team would not all show up until 30 minutes before the game, so that would give me time to set up my lights on lightstands, take some readings, and go. The field is an ok location to shoot, but where I normally would have the team stand, I now have parents and siblings filing into the seats in frame. The other team wants to take warm ups on the field, so the ump had me move my gear. 30 minutes before the game, not one member of the team is there. Clouds are rolling in, and my mind is racing. So I decide, I will have them stand, facing the fence....I throw my speedlights up onto the fence and meter it. I have some ok exposure going, but the dark clouds are really rolling in and still no team. 5 minutes before the game starts, here they come...the whole team is there and I grab them. The coach yells at them "Come on Thugz, time for a team photo!" Thugz? Yup that was what they named themselves this season...I look at the clouds, I look at them, and it hits me. I tell them that I do not care how they stand, backs to me, sides, what ever, but look tough and if you can not see the camera lens, then move until you can see it clearly. I bumped my flash out put up 2 stops (in Canon's ETTL mode) set the 17-40 at 17mm on the 1D and changed my exposure on the camera to make those dark clouds even darker. A little bit of photoshop work and I ended up with my most popular team photo ever. Not everyone likes it, but the majority do and the entire team and their parents do, so that makes it a winner for me.

Full Frame Myth

I get a lot of emails asking me about lens choices. Some people get so confused. I was recently asked what the best portrait lens was in a specific price range. I responded that the 85mm 1.8 is a great choice. The reply was, well, with my camera, that would make it a 136mm lens, and that is too long I think. That got me to thinking.....it has been hashed out on internet forums, magazines, trade shows over and over again, but no one is grasping it correctly. Your camera does NOT change the focal length of a lens.

There is a lot of talk about Full Frame cameras. I hate to be the bearer of news that will go against what everyone in the world has believed in for so long, but all Digital SLR cameras are full frame. They may just not have the same size frame. There are 35mm sized sensors, there are APS-C sensors, there are sensors between 35mm and APS-C, there are sensors smaller, there are medium format sensors that are much larger than even a 35mm sized sensor. But they are all full frame. Now a few, some of the newer offerings from Nikon (D2X) and from some smaller companies that do, in effect, crop the sensor some. The D2X does this to improve speed. It's APS-C sensor is cropped down to a lower resolution and this increases the frames per second it can shoot. There are new cameras that will adjust the crop of the sensor to give you a HDTV orientation, or a 4x3 or a 5x7 crop. But none of these effect your lens focal length.

Before diving into digital "lens conversion", let's look back at film. As digital was emerging, there were two main consumer film sizes. APS and 35mm. APS was not as popular, and actually looked to be dying, and 35mm had been the standard for so long. The step up from 35mm was medium format. For this story, we will look at the 645 size, or 6cmx4.5cm.

Every camera type had a standard lens. With 35mm, the normal lens was a 50mm. If you kept both eyes open, it was very close to equal what you saw through the camera and with your naked eye (45mm was almost the exact as the naked eye). But you put a 50mm lens on a APS camera, things appeared bigger. Not really. The size of the film is not as big as the size of a 35mm frame, so the view you got was actually coming from the center portion of the lens. In effect cropping the lens. But....it was still a 50mm lens. You put a 50mm lens on a APS camera, it was what you expected. Now put a 50mm lens on a medium format camera and it acts as a wide angle lens. It will show much more area than on a 35mm frame, but it is still a 50mm lens. If you wanted an image to look the same from camera format to camera format, on your APS camera, a 35mm would be a good choice, 50mm for 35mm, and 80mm for medium format, but the lens focal lengths do not change.

In the digital age, that is the same. So you have an Olympus system that states 2x lens conversion. Incorrect. The frame is smaller than a 35mm frame, but it is not magnifying the lens at all, so a 100mm lens is still a 100mm lens, but compare a shot from an Olympus E-300 to that of a Canon 1Ds with a 200mm lens on it, you will at first think, that the Olympus really is doubling the lens. But it is not. The 100mm lens is acting like a 100mm lens from telephoto compression to DOF. What is commonly known as Field of View Crop, which is close to accurate, the smaller sensor is only using part of the lens. Now some manufacturers have made lenses that take this into account, but they are not "new" lenses. In fact, they are the same type lenses that were made for film cameras, but ground down to a smaller physical size. This makes them smaller and lighter and unusable on cameras with larger sensors. What makes a 50mm lens a 50mm lens is the fact that a certain part of the lens is 50mm from the sensor or film plane. So, if you could cut your lens and camera in half and measure from a specific point in the lens to the sensor you would find it the same distance in mm as your lens focal length. It does not matter what lens or what camera. On a 1Ds, a 30D, a Rebel Xt, a 50mm lens will always measure 50mm. So when you throw that 300mm lens on your Rebel, do not think that you are effectively shooting a lens that is 480mm. Your 300mm lens is still just a 300mm lens.

A New Blog coming soon

Well, my personal project is off and running, so far with only one client. But, I am going to be working on setting up a new blog specifically for my personal project. PhotoBag will keep going, but the still to be named blog will specifically target things to do in the Eagle River, Alaska area. From clubs, to recreation, to what to do on a Friday night, and the likes. I hope to have something new posted to it once a week. So, stay tuned.

Personal Project - The Start

I have started my long and big personal project. Last night I visited the Eagle River Fencing Club to take some test shots and get some ideas for my main shoot there over the next few weeks. I am also working with a new Photoshop technique that can give photos an old, film like look. I applied the process to this test image because with fencing being an old world sport, I thought the old film look worked with it.

Digital Fix Myth

Back in the days before digital cameras and Photoshop were common to everyone, when you bought a lens, you dealt with what ever characteristics the lens had. If it was a wide angle, you lived with the way it could distort images. If it was a super telephoto, you could see some distortion sometime known as barrel distortion. But when shooting film, people lived with it. Now with digital and Photoshop, everyone seems to want to fix these "flaws" where in reality, you are not making your image any better. Once you decide to remove a WA pincushion look to an image, or fix barrel distortion, you now have an altered image. Let's say you take a photo of some newsworthy event with a wide angle or fish eye lens, you captured the moment, but before you try to sell it to a newspaper, you run it through Photoshop and you slightly adjust contrast, color and sharpening. Fine. 99.9999% of the pro media shooters do this and it is an accepted practice, but you do not like the effect the wide angle lens did to people in the photo away from the center of the photo? No worries, run it through a Photoshop lens correction filter, or DxO labs plug in and you are good to go, everyone is straight, and the scene is just like you saw it with your naked eye. Wrong. This is now an altered image. While minor adjustments to color or contrast are accepted, physically changing the image with a third party plug in like this is not acceptable. You now have a computer altered image. It would now be unethical to try to sell this as a news image. It is fine for people doing art prints, landscapes and the like, but for news photos, no way. Do not alter an image beyond what you could easily do in the darkroom with film. Levels and contrast or curves is the equivalent of how much light you give your negative when printing it. Cropping is basically the same, although should be used on a very limited basis and never to purposely crop something relevant to the story out. Color can be determined with the film you used or paper you printed on, so color adjustments, again, lightly, are fine. Sharpening or USM is similar to focusing the enlarger. Anyone with basic film darkroom experience can do this and you can easily do this in Photoshop, but to physically change the way your gear captures a scene is not right. If you captured it with a wide angle lens, then you should understand that any pincushion effects it may have caused is normal and should be left alone. Live with it. Learn how to use your gear to lessen the effects like this. Do not get into the idea or mind set that you can fix it later in Photoshop, because you are no longer a photographer then, you are now a digital artist.

Touching base on Personal Project

I had a meeting this last weekend that should get my personal project rolling. I actually have come up with some interesting ideas too to go along with it. This week I will be checking out a local Fencing Club (not white picket, but actual swords) and next week I will be photographing both the club and the school.

As I said in a previous post, I want to show people new to Eagle River, as well as people who have lived here for a while, all there is to do in our small town. That there is no need to complain, or sit at home because there is just nothing to do around town. Clubs, groups, and organizations are one of the things I want to focus on, and will probably be my first set of photos I do. My project is going to consist of activities, food, church, entertainment, etc.

Originally I had the idea that I would put together the photos and search out someone to print it and sell it. Now, I think what I will be doing is putting together a blog, for Eagle River activities and each week try to add something new. I am hoping to have the local paper also participate by running a photo a week or at least a month on one of these fun or little known events.

Once I feel it is near completion, I want to put all of the info onto a interactive CD and distribute to local churches, Realtors, visitor centers, etc. Kind of a welcome to Eagle River deal. Included in the CD will be coupons from local businesses profiled on the CD (advertising to help pay for this). I am real excited to get a chance to do something like this. It is going to be a long, hard run putting it together, but it should keep my busy.