…is the one you have on you. And it does not have to be an SLR with a 70-200 f/2.8 IS Lens, like this one I am carrying here in Sedona:
Even the iPhone takes nice pictures. Even of my morning coffee.
If you use an iPhone, get yourself a great little app called Best Camera, and edit your pics with a few simple filters. That leads to this more punchy image:
Have fun:
And yes, that was also taken on my iPhone, and slightly finished with Best Camera. See – you don’t always need a $10,000 camera.
In my post earlier today I noted that Pocketwizards aren’t always reliable when they have a wire plugged into them. That, and you need to keep them away from 430EX flashes, and point the antenna on the receiving side the same way as that on the sender, ideally.
The “a cable plugged in makes the receiver unreliable” phenomenon is presumably due to some of the RF going into that wire. So a possible solution should have been obvious to a radio amateur/electrical engineer like me:
Yes, that’s is: the little RF choke I put on the cable. And indeed, my testing shows that this type of choke seems to keep the receiver significantly more sensitive. Problem solved (or at least, problem alleviated: the other recommendations still stand).
Actually, it was “Catnip, when do I get thee?”
Two 250 Ws monolights, one each side 45 degrees up, and one 100Ws strobe with grid lighting up the background.
Remember, studio flash shots are sharp shots.
Nah, I exaggerate. Pocketwizards (specifically, the non-TTL model, namely the Pocketwizard II Plus, of which I own five) are great. But I do want to draw attention to two issues to watch out for.
First: what am I doing. I am firing a Pocketwizard, as in my post a few days ago. Meaning I have this setup:
The camera contains a TTL flash, plus from the PC-contact (the X-contact) I am firing an additional flash, set to manual at low power.
I even have three brand-new Pocketwizard-to-hotshoe cables [link] from Flashzebra – recommended, both the equipment and the company. My order arrived promptly via US mail (as did the mounting brackets that you see under the PW – these allow neatly mounting the PWs onto lightstands). No UPS ripoff.
The Gel on the flash above is a Honl Photo blue gel, to add a splash of colour to a photo I was working on.
To my surprise, I have found this Pocketwizard setup to not always be reliable.
When I mount the PW onto the top of the camera hotshoe, no problem. But when I use the PC connector on the side of the camera, and a cable supplied with the Pocketwizard, no go sometimes. I can fire the camera or even press the local PW’s button, and I get intermittent remote flash firing.
I have so far narrowed the issue to the following three causes:
I mean this:
With that cable, whether connected to the camera or not, the sender seems to send out less power than without. This is not surprising: the wire probably affects radiated power and pattern. But it is good to be reminded this is a radio transmitter and radio is black magic (and I am a licensed radio ham, VA3MVW, so I have some appreciation of this).
The moral of this story: Watch out, the rock solid reliability of Pocketwizards, which I had always taken for granted, is not guaranteed. Especially when not using the hotshoe.
But by watching all factors above, I think I have it down to a reliable setup -and when I have issues at least I know what they are and how I can address them.
Update: see the post I wrote a few hours later about RF chokes
Are always good. And surprises. And reflections. And “filling the frame”.
Or all four, like in this picture from Nov. 2, which although it doesn’t work very well at small size, does illustrate the point. Do you like the CN Tower’s reflection?
Juxtapositions can be opposing colour. Or old/new. Ugly/beautiful.Large/small. Funny/serious. Curved/straight. Liberal/conservative. Traditional/modern. Fast/slow. Soft/hard. You get the picture.
Always carry your camera. This was a snap, taken handheld with the Canon 7D. From the car. Another example, of a similar subject:
Old/new immediately occurred to me.
-13C outside. Not a day for outdoors pictures. Back to watching TV and making an inventory of my memory cards.
It is easy enough to think “there is no interest here”, “I need to be in Tahiti to take nice pictures”.
Not so. You can take nice pictures everywhere, even of boring things around the house.
Think long lens, or think Macro (in Nikon terms, “Micro”) lens, perhaps. But open your eyes, get close and fill the frame, and have fun.
Home is where you live and what you do. Twenty years from now you will look at the pictures and remember with a smile.
As a photographer you should always remember that today is tomorrow’s “those were the days”.
A reminder that I welcome questions on photography. From pros or from beginners, or from anyone in between. I shall answer (it may be a while, but I promise I will).
Here’s a recent question, answered belatedy:
What do you look for when you are judging the quality of an image?
Dpreview has recently published some sample images from the “entry level” Leica X1. See http://bkkphotographer.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/leica-x1-preview-samples-gallery-on-dpreview-com/.
I’d like to hear your opinion on how to evaluate the quality of the samples relative to other cameras. One good thing is that Dpreview keep all their samples on their web site going back years. And often they are of similar subjects – e.g. Tower Bridge, London.
Mmm. Tough one.
When I look at quality I compare subject and composition, moment, and light. But that is not what you mean, is it? You mean to compare cameras. Tough, because it is difficult to compare apples with oranges, and since different cameras address different needs, they are not always directly comparable.
And yes, there it starts with using the same subject. DPreview has Tower Bridge and the British museum as frequent subjects. Here’s my version:
Fortunately, DPreview also have their standard studio setup (with the Martini bottle) designed to test the important camera quality items.
I think for me these important items include:
Note that “RAW shows the camera’s actual capabilities, while JPG shows that plus the in-camera processing capabilities”. One of those can be good while the other can be less so, or both can be good or both can be less stellar.
Does that help, at all?
Reader BKKPhotographer asked:
We’re having some lovely clear nights in Bangkok now it is the cool season. The moon often looks great but I have had limited success photographing it. Do you have any tips for good lunar photography?
The moon is remarkably bright, but it is in a remarkable dark background. So it is hard to photograph.
I would start here:
Here’s some exposure settings to start with:
You see, it’s really very bright, the moon.
Try that!
I just wanted to share a fabulous composite picture I just received from reader and student Ray. It’s so much fun I thought I should share it, and use it to wish you all the best of the season:
I recommended recently that you might want to add a splash of colour every now and then. So here’s an example.
Our Christmas “tree”, lit with just a bounce flash. The background is exposed properly (I used -1.3 stops exposure compensation in Av mode). But still: kinda bland, no?
So let’s add a dash of colour. A pocketwizard connected to the camera, and one behind the tree connected via a hotshoe cable to a 430EX flash. The flash was on manual at 1/16th power, and on the flash I had a Honl Photo speed strap with a Honl Bright Red gel conveniently velcro’d on. Now we’re talking!
If I had had more cables (I am awaiting a shipment of hotshoe cables…) I would have added a green one as well. But this is already much better thwanwhat I had before.
Oh and just to show what the flash alone would have done: if I disable the bounce flash, here’s what that same shot would look like:
Bit overly dramatic, but add some more light and it has potential!
Here’s the setup:
(Small note: I have, I must admit, found the X-sync to Pocketwizard contact unreliable and I am not entirely sure why: Maybe the connector itself? But the hotshoe contact is flawless.)
And finally. I wanted red and green, but had only one working flash I could drive with a pocketwizard.
Solution?
Which, after a bit of back and forth with manual exposure, flash compensation, and remote flash power, gives me this:
Or, if you prefer a brighter room, this:
You see how much fun playing with colour and light can be?