Good News!

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First, the bad news: my eBook will not be available as an Apple iBook. I just found out that Apple requires all sellers of iBooks (even, say, Germans selling to Danes, or Canadians selling to Canadians) to file for a US tax ID:

This would mean a lot of work (forms running pages and pages; “certifying” my Canadian passport and having it approved by US authorities; and so on) and a long delay (months), as well as, wait for it, me then filing US tax returns. No way, José.

So… now the good news:

The book is finished, and is available now as a PDF file!

“Photography Cookbook”, an all-new 109-page photography manual, is available direct from me, the author, now.

This PDF e-book is unique in that it gives you 52 actual “recipes” to use as good starting points for various situations. Outdoors and indoors; from Aerial Photography to Hockey to Travel scenes: how do quickly you set up your camera for these situations?

In addition, the book contains:

  • The photography basics you need to know to be a competent photographer.
  • All about exposure and how it works
  • Camera settings
  • Flash Basics

Much of my photo expertise and experience is captured in this one manual, optimized for viewing on iPad and similar platforms:

Unique about this book is that it gives you many common situations in a quick, one-page-per-recipe format:

Refer to these any time, shoot the situations here or find situations similar to the one you are shooting, and you are good to go. This helps you actually achieve.

Combined with the basics section, this PDF provides the best photo start you could have! And it is available right now. Your personal copy is waiting for $19.95!

Click here to order your book. You can also send an e-mail bank transfer.

Your personalized copy will be shipped as soon as possible; usually within hours.

Enjoy!

 

Design, and a few misses

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It is ever surprising to me how often large companies have obvious design misses. Here’s a few examples of just the last days:

My new TomTom remote cannot say “metres”. Instead, it says “meep” – it cuts off the word. A bug, and a very obvious one: evidently no-one tried this device set to English but metric (there’s only just enough time to say “feet” or “yards”).

That same TomTom no longer turns off when the 12V power disappears (i.e. when you switch off the car). Drained battery every time, then.

Apple left the IR sensor off the new Retina MacBook. Meaning I cannot use it for the presentations I do (a remote control advances the Keynote presentation to the next page) – hence I need to keep the old MacBook around just for presentations. Since Keynote is a key app for Apple, this oversight seems odd, and it is very disappointing to me. The lack of a $1 sensor makes the laptop non-usable for my work!

Talking about Apple apps; iBooks Author is not bad, but it has some pretty atrocious issues. That’s why my Camera Recipe Book is not out yet – it’s 99% there but the remaining 1% will take me a couple of days yet. The good news: the book’s better than ever. Stay tuned here!

And I haven’t even started talking about Japanese cameras, whose User Interfaces are evidently designed by committee.

In the past few weeks I have encountered many other such issues: it is surprising that corporations fail in such obvious ways. It seems to me that every company needs a Steve Jobs around to kick some sense into people.

Back to my book design.

Simple Does It

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Quite often, you can keep sthings simpler than you might think.

Like this demo of a product setup. All I used is a couple of cheap old strobes; an old table; a reflector; and a piece of paper. Like so:

And that gives me images: like this:

This is just one way of shooting products. The points is that you can often use simple means to shoot professional looking shots.

 

Driving it home…

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Today, I drove from Toronto to Montreal and back (that’s 12 hours driving the car – good that I took the 3 litre Bluetec turbo diesel).

Here: for once I’ll make it easy for my Australian and New Zealand readers:

What I want to talk about is this: I brought my secondary photo disk with me, in the car.

Why?

Well… what if in my absence my home had been burgled, or had burned down?

Did I mention backups?

Yes I did: search for “backup” here and read all the posts. And you may really want to do that. Hands up everyone, who has a good backup right now? And who will make one tomorrow?

Thought so.

You know, every hard disk dies, and I keep telling everyone that. Case in point: my own Macbook Pro’s hard disk died in the middle of December’s Santa shoot. I had to go out the same morning to buy a new MacBook Pro with Retina Display.

Fortunately, I had backups of all important files. I make several levels of backups:

  • I use a backup strategy for photos as outlined in posts here (search: two external hard disks).
  • I use DropBox as an additional layer
  • I also use Time Machine as an additional layer.

I know I am preaching, but it’s for your own good. Your hard disk could also die – right now, or in fifteen minutes. Are your files safe?

This is worth stressing especially for photographers.  Once your disk dies, it is dead – and all your images are gone. So please – I don’t want to hear any more readers ask me what to do after their disk dies! Make tonight your backup day.

 

Delays, delays… but for a reason

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Ah, I hear you ask, where are your blog posts?

Coming! I am in the process of finally finishing my long-awaited “Photography Cookbook”. This is taking all my time.. also precipitated by a few new things I acquired:

New 15″ Retina Screen Macbook Pro – the old one had a harddisk failure during  Santa shooting, so I had no option but to buy a new one. First impression: I can never go back to an old screen.. all I see there is pixels. Use a retina screen computer, and never look back. Also, the solid state drive is nice – no disk warm up and slow things down (and make noise).  Quick judgment: recommended wholeheartedly.

iBooks Author – my iBook will be available as a PDF and as an Apple iBook. The latter choice means I am using Apple’s iBook Author. Not a bad app, but with a steep learning curve and with several annoying bugs. I am hoping for a version 3 soon. Quick judgment: recommended with some reservations.

Rest assured I will catch up and answer the outstanding questions (and: keep them coming).

And now.. my quick beginners’ lesson for the day:

If you are still having trouble understanding exposure, try this analogy:

Exposing correctly is like filling a bucket (=the sensor) of a given size (=its ISO) from a faucet (=the aperture), by holding it under the stream of water for a given time (=the shutter speed).

Think this through and try to understand how the three variables, duration, faucet size and bucket size, contribute to filling a bucket to the top, no more and no less. Just like shutter speed, aperture, and ISO.

Too little water and the bucket is too empty (“underexposed”); too much water and it spills over the top (“overexposed”). That should help you understand how these variables interact.

___

Today is dedicate to my late father, Eddy Willems, who would have been 83 today.


Point of view: yours for the choosing.

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New photographers often ask me “but how do you compose?”.

I give them the simple rules (and they are simple – like the Rule of Thirds), but I also point out one very important thing: where you are, and where and how you are looking, is everything in defining what your photo will be.

Take this scene I shot on Lake Ontario a few months ago:

Impressive, no? All you have to do is be there!

(Oh, and know how to expose. oh, and know when to – I had about thirty seconds of this sunset. Oh, and see the possibilities. Oh, and have the right lens.)

Can you see what kind of lens I used? Yes, a very wide angle lens (16mm on a full frame camera, corresponding to a 10mm lens on a crop camera).

Now look at this shot:

Ah, a different scene altogether. But guess what? Same time, all within those thirty seconds. This time I used a 200mm lens on a crop camera, and aimed at the ship in the bottom right.

Yes, one moment can result in two entirely different shots. It’s all in how you look at the world. And that’s what photographers do: show their vision. A photograph is more about you than about the subject!

With that in mind, a very successful 2013. Take some training (you know where to find me!), have your work reviewed, and especially, practice. Have fun – this blog will continue to help you in many ways. All I ask is: share (the little clicky thingies above each post) and tell your friends!

 

Happy New Year!

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Happy New Year to all my readers!

Let me start the new year with a very simple diagram; one that is at the basis of all exposure:

There are three, and only three, variables that define how light or dark your image is. ISO, shutter speed, and aperture. Get that straight and you can start using the camera, knowing what it is doing and why. Want brighter? Increase ISO, use slower shutter, or use larger aperture (lower “f-number”). Darker? The opposite.

In the  next year I will continue to mix basics like this with advanced techniques, often centered around flash and creative light. Keep reading and keep learning – and keep having fun!

 

New Camera?

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Did you receive a new camera for Christmas?

In that case, I suggest you now learn to use it. Learn, first and foremost, to operate it in manual exposure mode – this is the same on all cameras. Learn all the menus – this is camera-specific. Also learn all the extra functions that make your camera great.

It’s what I teach (for all cameras), and as the new year approaches, if you would like to try coaching, portfolio review, or any other type of private training, give me a call or drop me a line. I have special offers for the start of the year.

Learn also to avoid common misconceptions. Misconceptions like “flash pictures get warmer backgrounds if you use second (or ‘rear’) curtain sync”. This is nonsense.

Normally, a flash picture, with your camera in its default setting of First Curtain Sync, works like this:

  1. The shutter opens
  2. The flash immediately fires
  3. The shutter stays open for the set time
  4. The shutter closes

This is fine, but if your subject moves forward during a slow exposure, and that subject has light other then the flash this happens:

The subject appears to be moving backward!

If we select Second Curtain Sync (or Rear Curtain Sync), now the sequence becomes:

  1. The shutter opens
  2. The shutter stays open for the set time
  3. Just before the end of this time, the flash fires
  4. The shutter closes

Now we get this:

…which at least looks like the phone leaves a natural light trail.

Other than that, “front/rear curtain” has no effects on anything else. Myth dispelled, I hope.

 

Darkness…. can be good

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Advice: don’t “correctly” expose all your photos!

Two examples here; first, “Beginnings and Continuity”, Port Dalhousie, ON:

Followed by “Continuity and The Now”, Brugge, Belgium:

Both these images use darkness as a device. The top one does this in order to saturate colours and to silhouette the pregnant couple. The bottom one, in order to emphasize the stone and the stark cold strength of buildings built to last many centuries, as well as to anonymize the people who come and go in the “now”, while the “continuous” lasts.

In all these cases:

  1. Look for strong back light, and a subject that is not lit by that (or any other strong) light.
  2. Expose for that back light (e.g. spot meter off the sky).
  3. Adjust to taste.
  4. Do any remaining work in post producrtion – but if you do this well, there is little or no such post work to be done.

And Bob’s your Uncle.

Try it now!

 

Lens Caps, Hoods, Filters, and Bags.

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For all my new readers, here’s my quick take on those items:

  • Lens caps are not needed except when a lens is packed away. They are great picture-preventers. Amateur shooters always nervously replace their lens caps after every shot; pros never use them. ‘Nuff said?
  • Lens hoods: definitely, and always. Indoors, outdoors, day, night. The lens hood protects from damaga, sticky fingers, and flare. Do make sure it is the right hood for the lens you are using, and do make sure it is on fully, until the click (else, vignetted corners will result).
  • Filters: nope. Except when it is snowing, raining, etc. As you know if you are a frequent reader here, filters can give you more flare. They are only needed if the lens could otherwise get dirty, wet, etc.
  • Camera bag: Nope. A picture preventer also. A lens and accessory bag, sure, but the camera is better off not hidden in a bag.

So. All these are useful items to own, but you should use them judiciously. Which often means, “not now”.