Low Light & Fast Lenses (via Photofocus)

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Low Light & Fast Lenses Post & Photo by Joe Farace – Follow Joe on Twitter Dick Stolley who many consider Time-Life’s best Managing Editor once told People magazine’s Contributing Photographers that a successful photograph elicited a “Gasp Factor” from the viewer. Stolley went on to say that if the image stopped the reader, forced them to take a second look at it, read the story’s headline, and then perhaps the rest of the story, the photograph passed his test. Ofte … Read More

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Free WPPI Trade Show Only Pass (via PWD Labs Blog)

worth the trip!

Free WPPI Trade Show Only Pass PWD would like to offer you a free Trade Show Only Pass for WPPI 2011 (not to be confused with the FULL WPPI registrations we're giving away all this week).  If you plan to be in the Las Vegas area from February 21-23 but don't need the full WPPI experience, you can at least come and see the PWD crew at the trade show. To get your free trade show only pass, click the image below and print the pass from your web browser.  If you prefer, you may al … Read More

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Five Ways To Know Your Photos Aren't Cutting It (via Photofocus)

My favorite statement: 2. Your Photos Aren’t Cutting It if you’re waiting for that next lens, that next camera or that next flash you plan to buy before you get serious about your photography. Some of the most iconic photographs of our time were made with minimal equipment. A few months ago I made salable images in the Grand Canyon area using a $500 Nikon P7000 compact camera. Waiting on gear is a crutch that people use to give themselves an excuse to remain mediocre.

How often do we make excuses to suck? IF I ONLY HAD THIS! Don't get me wrong. I would love to have an H4D, or even a D3s, but the one thing I have always had to keep in mind is that the camera doesn't give me better pictures, just maybe better picture quality. If I can't focus with a D200, what makes me think I can focus better with a Hasselblad?

Five Ways To Know Your Photos Aren't Cutting It I don't usually write stuff from this point of view. I'd rather tell you how to improve your pictures. But someone recently pointed out to me that he didn't know when things were going south for him, so he also didn't know when they were going well. That resonated with me a bit so I'm going to share these tidbits in the hope that I don't offend anyone, but perhaps shake them up enough to want to improve. It's important to note that one man's tras … Read More

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18% Gray, is it part of a balanced breakfast?

Photographers who work with gray cards know how handy they can be. Even though there is some debate, of at which level gray (12%, 15%, 18%)  will allow for perfect white balance adjustment, is perfect white balance ALWAYS what you want? I have a strong belief that when it comes to photography, that STYLE is more important than substance and quality. Our clients want photos that are different from everyone else's before they begin to look at the actual composition of the shot. Please, don't get me wrong, they want high quality images as well, but I have yet to have a client come to me and say "Leighton, I could not believe you were shooting at f/6.3 when that should have been f/4.5!" Right now, there are probably many of my clients, who did not even understand the previous statement.  What they do understand is what they perceive to be a good shot.

Atlanta photographer, Tracey Brown, posted a sneak peek from a wedding that was so beautiful!

To many photographers, they will look at the high level of Tungsten lighting. And many photographers would have adjusted their WB to make the dress perfectly white, and the trees perfectly green, and other aspects. Would they have been wrong, I don't know, but what I do know is that this shot would probably not have the same feeling of regality, or look as heavenly if it was perfectly white balanced.

It is the emotion, and feeling of this shot which epitomizes what our clients demand and ask from each and everyone one of us base on our own shooting styles. They want something that identifies with us. For this very reason, I challenge clients and friends, when they are looking for a family or wedding photographer, while price will always be a component of a decision, it should rarely ever be the deciding factor as much as the budget constraint may be. For when it comes to once in a lifetime moments, you only have a once in a lifetime chance to get it right. And this shot I personally think, captures a once in a lifetime moment. I hope the bride and groom feels the same.

So when we go out there and shoot,  remember that our jobs are much more than just recording information of what goes on, but we are artists, and we determine the final product that comes from our brush. Anyone can take a picture, but it is up to the photographer to create a memory from a moment.

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