Nifty Fifty and The Wild West

Spring break was some well deserved time off from school, and despite our teacher's oddly specific instructions to *not* do photography, I did squeeze my stripped down 5dMKII and a single lens into my ski bag. That lens was the lightest, smallest and cheapest Canon lens in production, affectionately called 'The Nifty Fifty'. This all plastic, bare bones 50mm lens weighs next to nothing, has a low profile, and costs under $100, or under ¥10,000 in my case. See the incredible pictures this thing is capable of after the jump.


I've never been a big landscape photographer, and most of my natural outdoor work is quick snapshots while walking around. I'd like to say these were planned and prepared for, but I was either in a moving car shooting through glass, riding a chairlift to the top of a mountain, or hopping from one frozen bare foot to the other on the patio in the early morning.


The 50mm f/1.8 is not world renowned for its quality, but it's a total sleeper hit. Most of these were taken between wide open and f/8, and the full sizes have amazing detail. This one in particular was shot, through window glass, while moving, wide open, and still has fairly good detail in the distance. It wouldn't be my first choice in a lens to use for the rest of my life, but it sure wouldn't be my last.

So if you're a canon shooter and don't have this in your bag, give up your latte for the day (that's one big latte) and grab this lens. It's nearly cheap enough to be disposable, fun to play and experiment with, and gives remarkably stunning results.

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iPhone Madness

I do a lot of cell phone photography, starting way back when the first camera phones came out and gave you mushy, crap pictures that you had no way of getting off your phone without an expensive data plan. The iPhone is several generations removed from that now, and I love the combo of camera/editing software available for download.

I use several programs and I wanted to highlight some of them and why I use them. The pic at the top was taken just a day or two ago on spring break, and it went through 3 programs to edit and upload. Read through the process after the break.

After taking the picture, the first step was Tiltshift, which emulates the narrow depth of field thats been popular recently. It doesn't have to be used to make a picture look like it was a miniature model, you can use it just as effectively for a background blur and some good basic controls that are easy to use.

Next is Camera Bag which is a really cool emulator app. Vintage looks including 70's and polaroid, film looks like 'helga' and infrared and some other one-step edits are great to use.

The app I've been using the most though doesn't necessarily have the best editing or controls over any other app, but has a great uploading and social network feature. Chase Jarvis' Best Camera does editing and uploading to flickr, twitter, facebook, email and its stand alone social site bestc.am, all in one step.

There's no reason to only use one app to edit your cell phone pics, and while you may not be able to sell a book with exclusively cell phone images in it, I've seen some great work done with a cell phone that might not have otherwise been possible.


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Eat, Sleep, Breathe-Photography

When you find yourself up late at night, trolling flickr for some cool stuff to look at, following every photographer you can find on twitter, and have a stack of photo magazines thicker than that other stack of other magazines, you're probably pretty into this stuff.

Welcome to the club.

I'm lucky enough to do photography all day, every day. I don't take vacations, I take trips with my camera. I don't call in sick for work, I do research in bed. And I certainly don't dread waking up every morning, unless it's really really early, and even then I manage to get pumped for the days shoot.

In other words, like many other people out there, I eat, sleep and breathe photography. If you're unsure if you have the symptoms, here's a quick diagnosis after the break.

EAT: Like consuming photography? Do you have bookcases full of how-to books, tech spec, gear pron and specialty magazines? Lists of contacts on flickr, following on twitter, fan of on facebook and every other social media site imaginable for you to check out their work? Are you subscribed to blogs like this one? Then you're a photo consumer, and an active one at that. Consuming photos is almost as important as taking them, it gives you ideas and direction, shows you things you may have never thought of on your own. Just don't forget to go out and try them too.

SLEEP: In addition to being at that age where pulling all-nighters is both necessary and possible, I'll spend more time thinking about photography before I go to sleep than any other time of the day-even when I'm working. Most artists I know keep a journal or notepad next to their bed, just in case inspiration strikes. Since my bed is currently 6 feet off the ground, I have to climb down and get on my computer, but you can use some looseleaf if you want to.

BREATHE: If I've learned one thing about photographers, it's that we love to talk. About photography. All day. While I was running the awesome Ann Arbor Strobist meetups, we talked about tools and techniques non-stop before, during and after our meetings. Even when the discussion drifted away from what we were doing, it would land right back down on another area of photography.

And that's why social media has found a huge amount of success in photography, or vice versa. We all love to share how we create images, what drives us to do it, and what's next on our list to conquer. The internet in general made it that much easier to do so, and moved the discussion out of the camera store and into the homes of photographers everywhere. Everyone from a first time shooter to a full time pro has something they want to share.

So, do you eat, sleep and breathe photography? If you're already here, I think we know the answer.

Phase 3, part 2

My self portrait-mom just loves it.

At what we first thought was going to be the end of phase 3 here at Hallmark, we got a few more assignments or "additional personal submissions" to do before we leave on spring break. A chance to break free, dust off our creativity that we may have left neglected in the corner, and shoot whatever appealed to us, keeping our final portfolio in mind.

My combo sports/action and portrait kept me fairly busy, waiting for the weather to break, which it fortunately did, and scheduling in some people to play the sports I really wanted to photograph. While it's always interesting to go find people online that will follow directions (i.e. please have the equipment required for the sport you want to portray), I did manage to find some great shots, in and out of the studio.

Another big thanks goes to Bob at Bikes Unlimited for continuing to let me borrow equipment to shoot at school. Here's some of my favorites after the break.


This shot was a rehash of my first attempt at shooting a bike in the studio. Going in the opposite direction for the background and then throwing in some props to support it. The first bike was held in place with 20lbs fishing line, which mysteriously disappeared, only to be replaced by 4lbs line for this shot. A whole lot of fishing line was used to make this shot stand up straight, as well as hold the helmet and shoes in their individual shots.


With my career plan wildly adjusted at the last minute to consider job prospects in LA instead of NY, I figured movie posters and celebrity portraits would be a good idea to have in my portfolio. A decidely Max Payne feel to this portrait inspired some cool art and graphics for other shots, but this quietly insane portrait of my buddy Wojo was just right for what I wanted to turn in.







A not so quiet shot, or series to shoot, Mike Esposito got angry for this and had the chance to practice his evil eye. The lighting for this was super simple, just two profoto striplights on the side, and a grid on his face to bring him up a little. I've been trying to avoid doing all low-key shots, a habit of mine from working in areas with less than attractive backgrounds, but I wanted a villain shot to mix things up a little bit.



And since I wanted to show versatility in both indoors and outdoors photography, with and without lights and equipment, this au-natural picture from the Mountain Dew Tour is getting put into the mix. This was during a practice run, when the athletes were more concerned with hitting the spot right in front of us for some face time than getting huge air. This was taken on a borrowed Nikon D3 and a 70-200 f/2.8, the lighting was provided by the curve of the halfpipe reflecting the sun right behind him, giving me some blisteringly fast shutter speeds and perfect sandwich lighting.

The self portrait way at the top was shot with four lights, two striplights on the sides, gridded background light, and beauty dish high right. The $1.20 grape flavored cigar from the Exxon station was lit in photoshop, and the hammer and sickle pin added in as well in post. The love of Vodka was not added in photoshop.

Next is spring break for a week, where I'll be shooting some video in Aspen, CO. and then trying my hand at Final Cut Express to learn editing techniques for an upcoming promotional video I'll be shooting at school on the 5dMKII, so be sure to keep checking back for more posts on what's in the pipe.