Monthly Archives: May 2010

Shooting airplanes

Posted on May 25, 2010 by Michael Willems

And I mean with a camera, of course. That is what I did yesterday, with my student and friend Ray, at Pearson International Airport’s runway 24R. Where the aircraft are seemingly about to land on your car: Yes, that is … Continue reading →

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Shooting for fun

Posted on May 24, 2010 by Michael Willems

Which it should always be, of course. Here’s a snap taken just now: Tomorrow, more about this and how you do it.

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Why set White Balance when you shoot RAW?

Posted on May 24, 2010 by Michael Willems

When you shoot RAW (as you probably should if your pictures are important t0 you) then your in-camera image processing settings are not important. Setting like colour space (AdobeRGB or sRGB), sharpening, noise reduction, colour saturation, saturation, white balance, and … Continue reading →

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Filter or hood? Which one trumps?

Posted on May 23, 2010 by Michael Willems

A reader emailed me this question: First of all, I really enjoyed your Travel and Photo Journalism presentation on Saturday, thank you for some great information. Also the Flash Presentation was very informative. I use a Canon XSI with a … Continue reading →

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Favourite lenses: the 35mm prime

Posted on May 22, 2010 by Michael Willems

The 35mm prime is my favourite “event” lens. On a full frame camera it makes images like this, right out of the camera (shot at a corporate event the other day): In other words, this is a great lens for … Continue reading →

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Manual flash or TTL flash?

Posted on May 21, 2010 by Michael Willems

You know (if only because I have discussed it before) that you can set your flash to manual or TTL. I thought I would revisit this, and show you some shots I took Wednesday. Manual means you set the power … Continue reading →

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Ten Portrait Tips

Posted on May 20, 2010 by Michael Willems

Here’s ten important portrait tips for you today: Use the right lens. A lens in the 35-100mm range is best (on a crop camera). A 50mm f/1.8 lens can be had very affordably, and this length (equivalent to 80mm) is … Continue reading →

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Posted in Composition, Learning, Light, Technique | Tagged | 1 Comment

My shoot tonight

Posted on May 19, 2010 by Michael Willems

The second of two shoots: first I shot a politician,and then I shot lawyers. (No – with a camera). I love shooting corporate events. I get to shoot happy people and I even get to eat a snack or two. … Continue reading →

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What should I buy next?

Posted on May 19, 2010 by Michael Willems

As you know, I invite reader questions on this teaching blog, and I try to answer them on the blog. A member of last weekend’s audience at the Photo Show wrote me some very kind words about how he enjoyed … Continue reading →

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Posted in Gear, Learning | 14 Comments

Soon: review of the Honl Softbox

Posted on May 18, 2010 by Michael Willems

I have been using the Honl Photo Traveler 8 softbox, and will post a review soon: in the next week, if I can. Here’s the softbox, packed in its optional traveling case: And here, unpacked, assembled, and attached to a … Continue reading →

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