eBook and iOS App Sales

Just a quick heads up that my two iOS apps: The Wedding Photography Inspiration Guide and The Portrait Photography Inspiration Guide are now on sale for only $0.99 each! For those of you who are on Android devices then I recommend getting my Wedding Photography Inspiration Guide eBook which has been marked down to just $2.99. Download it from the Amazon Kindle Bookstore and open it up using their Amazon Kindle iOS App. This eBook contains nearly 100 pages of informative and helpful tips and tricks to take your wedding photography to the next level.

My apps and book have been a huge success and I want to take a second to thank you all for your support. - Michael

Light Painting - Example

I cannot for the life of me think of why I haven't done light painting before. I believe the first time I actually tried it was when I was in Joshua Tree National Park doing some star trails. The foreground needed some light so I used a flash light to expose them. Fast forward to 2012 and I brought it back to the table for some of my wedding clients.




Here's what I used to get this shot: 
- Nikon D800 Digital SLR Camera
- Nikon 35mm f/2.0 Lens
- Nikon SB-900 Speedlight
- Tripod (any will do really)
- iPhone & Flashlight Type App.
- A dark place.
- A subject(s) that will stand still.

The camera settings are open to interpretation based on where you are. I played with my ISO between 200-400. My aperture was around f/8 and my shutter speed was very slow, around 10-15 seconds until I had something worth while.

The main concept for properly exposing the shot is: 

1. You need stop down the aperture and low ISO so that the light you paint with just tickles the subject. If you are wide open then one hit of the flash will flood your shot.
2. You use your speedlight in manual mode off camera and do a "test fire" so the flash hits your subject. Do this to taste.One hit may be all you need while other times you may need. Other times, you can pop a couple behind your subject. f-stops around f/8 and f/16 start to show this awesome starburst effect with light that can be really cool.
3.  The shutter speed needs to be slow so that you can run around and paint with a continuous light source. In my case, I had my iPhone and some flashlight app that changed my screen color. What you see ghosted in the background is just the light emitting from my iPhone as I ran around my bride and groom. The exposure was so long that I didn't get picked up however. Be creative, you can use whatever continuous light source you want. Even rope lights and kid toys.
4. Always be moving when running through the frame. If you are slow or your flash hits you then you will show up in the shot. Otherwise, with such a long shutter speed you shouldn't even show up.
5. You need to have your camera on a tripod. I set my camera to a 5 second timer so I can get prepared to run around like a crazed lunatic.
6. Your subject HAS to be standing still. If they move, that slow shutter speed will surely pick it up and then you have to re-do the shot. Try to shoot while it's warm out because even cold shivers can get picked up.
7. TRY AND PRACTICE BEFORE YOU TAKE IT TO A SHOOT. No client feels comfortable when you are fiddling with gear and not able to make the shot after you hyped it up.

That should be all. Thanks for your support.
Comment if you have any questions.
~ Michael

Light Painting

Hello everyone. I just wanted to share a shot from a recent wedding that I photographed.

This was all done IN CAMERA! No Photoshop has been used.

Can you believe that the cool swirly blue light was made with my iPhone?

Want to know how this photo was taken? Stay tuned...

My New Wedding Photography Setup

I have always wanted to use a mixture of both on and off camera lighting when shooting wedding receptions. However, I never wanted to "experiment" while I was on the clock so I just kept it on the back-burner of something to research...

Then it hit me, I wasn't using my Pocket Wizards to their fullest potential. See, being a Nikon shooter, I have the bonus of all my Nikon-brand speedlights containing a PC sync jack. (Canon users only have it really on the 580EX II and most likely newer speedlights). Before, I was using one Pocket Wizard on camera triggering 1-2 Pocket Wizard equipped studio strobes or speedlights. These strobes / speedlights were mounted to a light stand and helped light up the reception hall. When I snapped a photo, the Pocket Wizard on my camera would wirelessly (via radio waves) trigger the other Pocket Wizards and tell the lights to fire.

The problem with my setup was that every once in a while I would get some bad shadows cast from people dancing and blocking the light from hitting my subject... It was annoying and required me to have a few "choice" places to stand and whatnot.

Then I read the Pocket Wizard manual and noticed that I could easily mount a speedlight on-camera, hook up a Pocket Wizard to that once and be able to fire both my on-camera light AND off-camera lights. I knew it could be done, I just never investigated it enough (Having two kids and crazy work schedule will do that to you).

Products Used:
- 3x Pocket Wizard Plus II Transmitter/Receivers (One for on-camera speedlight, two for off-camera lights)
- 3x PocketWizard PC-1 Miniphone to PC Cables: These connect your Nikon speedlights to the Pocket Wizards
- 2x Impact Sync Cord Male Phono to Male PC (16"): These connect my studio strobes to the Pocket Wizards. Your strobe's input jack may be different.
- Light Stand: Creative¤Light 8' Compact Light Stand
- Light Modifiers: Photoflex Convertible Umbrella-60" / Bare Bulb
- Camera: Nikon D700 SLR Digital Camera
- Lenses: Doesn't matter
- Speedlights: Nikon SB-900 AF Speedlight i-TTL Shoe Mount Flash
- Speedlight Accessory for D700 & Nikon SB-900Nikon WG-AS3 Water Guard for D700 Camera's Hot Shoe when used with SB-900 Flash (keeps your flash sturdy when mounted)



RTFM,
Mike

Going Prime

Yes, I am a Nikon shooter... Yes, I am using prime lenses... and yes, Nikon does make fast prime lenses.

Believe it or not, you don't have to be a Canon user to enjoy prime lenses. Yeah you got me on the fact that Canon has some gorgeous f/1.2 lenses out there but Nikon is no slouch either!

As you may or may not know (or care) my wife and I work together and she has been my associate shooter for quite some time now. She was always used to using primes since way back in the day so she kept with that while I shot with almost all zooms... If you are married, and are lucky enough to work with your significant other, then you should REALLY be familiar with the saying; "What's mine is yours."

So, long story short she was a prime hog ;)

That was all fine and dandy until Rebecca took a year off to brew and raise our son, Cameron. It was during that time that daddy got to play!

I fell in love with primes all over again and passed the zoom lenses to the wife for the rest of 2009 throughout...

They are lighter, sharper (yeah that's possible, even with Nikon's über sharp zoom lineup) and allow me to really utilize my camera's amazing low-light shooting capabilities. The shallow DOF (depth of field) is also a great way to help tell a story as well. Take this shot for example:







So you may ask yourself, do I still use the zooms?
Yeah... I do. The only time you will be seeing me with zoom lenses is typically during the wedding ceremony's processional / recessional and at the reception when I am shooting the cake cutting and guest's when they are dancing. I still break out the 70-200mm zoom as well since I still don't have that 135mm prime (can Nikon beef up stock on these please??). So at this time I am probably using prime lenses 75-80% of the time.

MY CURRENT EQUIPMENT LINEUP (As of March 2010)

Cameras:
(2x) Nikon D700 DSLRs
(1x) Nikon D300 DSLR

Zoom Lenses:
(1x) Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
(2x) Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
(1x) Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR

Prime Lenses:
(1x) Nikon 24mm f/2.8
(1x) Nikon 35mm f/2.0D
(1x) Nikon 50mm f/1.4G
(1x) Nikon 85mm f/1.4
(1x) Nikon 85mm f/1.8
(1x) Nikon 105mm f/2.8 VR Macro
(1x) Sigma 300mm f/2.8

Speedlights:
(3x) Nikon SB-900
(2x) Nikon SB-800
Alienbee Studio Lighting
PocketWizards
RadioPoppers

I'm still looking for that Nikon 135mm f/2DC Lens and am eying up the Nikon 200mm f/2.0 VR lens to add to my lineup.