I do so many headshots these days that I set myself the lockdown project of trying a self portrait (again). I even bought a remote release to make it easier.
It’s going to take a bit more work.
Apart from the normal ‘oh god do I look like that’ thing (and a few more grey hairs), just being alone is weird: no one to do what I do for everyone else. But I guess that’s in the nature of a selfie.
In fairness there are a few in there that are worth looking at in more detail. I’m not gone on the studio feel but this is where I was today.
But I think I’m not really sure what mood I was going for today – and TBH not really in the mood. And there was no one there to ‘make the magic happen’ except me.
I didn’t realise this was going to be so difficult.
A lot of lens filters pretty much died out with film: all those weird coloured filters you used with black and white film, fancy 1970s effects filters, even gradient filters (for most people). All can be replicated in post production. Doing it in post just makes it easier – and saves wrecking a good capture with poor filter choice.
But one filter still has a place in my bag: the circular polariser. That’s because some of the effects of the polar filter can’t be replicated in post. It works in three dimensions to affect a 2D capture.
It came in handy this week for what should have been a pretty standard external view of an office building. With low sun on the building, the windows had strong reflections that wiped out the branding on the window.
Polarising the light largely removed those reflections. The reflected light as a particular orientation which can be removed by the filter if you rotate it to the correct plane.
Can’t do that in photoshop!
Now we can also now see the crap in the window of the apartment above – and I’ll have to remove the bird poo in photoshop. But the branding is now clear.
The other main use of the Polarising Filter is to saturate your skies. Now that you can do that in Photoshop but the filter gives you a head start.
I do get questions about filters and this is it: just the Circular Polariser. And buy a good one.
People are still sold UV filters to protect their lenses. Hopefully you spent as much as you could afford on a good lens that has coated elements throughout to optimise the image and reduce internal reflections. So why put a cheap bit of plastic (or even more expensive glass) on front and undo all that? Unless there is a real chance that something nasty is going to get on your front element: salt spray, mud, snow – or you are up a proper mountain – use your lens hood to protect your lens.
If you are a serious landscape photographer then you probably should learn to use gradient filters. But for us mere mortals, we shoot RAW and apply a gradient filter in Lightroom.
Social Distanced Family Photo Shoots can still be fun
It’s great to be out and about in Cork out doing Family Photo Sessions again.
On the wall of this guy’s house are pics of him and his Mom and Dad I took when he was a baby. Next to those are pics I did when his sister was a baby. And this week I went back to take photos of him and his little brother (and sis and Mom and Dad of course).
I would be a big fan of letting kids outdoors anyway – and back gardens are the perfect spaces. Plenty of surfaces and things to do. The kids are comfortable out there: really at home. And it’s not so big a space that they can run off and we end up too spread out.
In the New Normal of Covid-19 precautions and restrictions, it’s the ideal solution to a responsible safe session.
As Clients and Suppliers return work next week, I’m looking forward to getting back to the office and starting to work out what the New Normal is.
I’ve had commercial clients cancel, PR work postponed and there have been no Communions and few Confirmations this year.
I have some print orders to fulfill from work shot before the Lock Down and I can get those out to people now that the Framer is back at work. Socially Distanced, safe collections are possible.
But can I conduct a safe, socially distanced photo shoot?
There’s no reason why Product Photography shouldn’t go ahead. So anyone looking for product for their new (or expanded or renewed) web store can get those done.
In general people look better further away and 2m is probably about right for a good headshot. So anyone looking for a profile image is welcome to get in touch. Assuming that their lock-down haircut is presentable!
And in particular the kind of feature session that shows how your business is adapting to trading in the current environment is a really good idea.
A formal family photo shoot is probably going to go OK but I specialise in the informal, intimate portrait and that’s going to be difficult. Especially with younger kids who tend to almost adopt me by the end of the shoot.
I think the biggest hit for most photographer right now is the loss of the Wedding Business. But if you’re planning something more intimate within the new restrictions, feel free to talk to me about how I can be part of that. We can tailor coverage and delivery appropriately to suit your plans
Many ended up coming from my own back garden. It’s probably the most productive time in our garden just because of the range of plants we have that flower in Spring: starting with the jolly primroses, wild garlic and the apple blossom.
Love the dandelions too. A weed is just a flower in the wrong place.
It’s that time again when we are graced with an infection of politician’s headshots all over our streets. Increasingly the general public see this as an invasion. Litter. They make a mess of our streets, obstruct our view of traffic and then have to be disposed of after just three weeks.
But they endure for one very good reason: people engage with images of other people. We look, we familiarise and the candidates hope that we start to like them.
It’s a powerful process (and one that’s pretty unique to Irish Political Campaigning).
So are you harnessing this power for your business? You are the most unique part of your business. Your business will thrive or fail based on your ability to give your customer what they want and they need to be able to trust you on that.
You need a good profile image. Whether it’s on your website, your LinkedIn or Facebook or whatever, people engage with a face on a screen and they will make decisions about you and your business based on that.
My Beginners Photography Course is running again as part of the Ashton Adult Education Programme.
This term we’ve extended each class to a full 2 hours to allow more hands-on practical work. There will be more time on practice and I’m also offering the chance to do a practical workshop outside the course.
Otherwise the course structure is the same – spread over 8 weeks and it covers a wide range of image-making with whatever camera you’re have available to use.
So here’s what it took to upgrade my working camera system (in chronological order):
Computer: A new camera will produce larger files. To move all that extra data around effectively I needed more processing power and more memory. Otherwise there’s going to be a lot of waiting around. Now this was actually forced on me with my old one dying but in fact doing this first makes a lot of sense so you’re ready for the files when the new camera comes.
Lightroom Upgrade. I was getting by with an older version with one-off purchase. I need an upgrade for a newer camera RAW files.
New Main Body – obviously. I chose a Nikon D850. Second hand from a large dealer in the UK. Reasonably low shutter actuations and 12 month warranty.
XQD and SD cards. New camera takes different cards. And bigger, faster cards to manage those larger files.
XQD card reader. I prefer to download cards from a reader rather than connecting the camera to the PC every time.
Spare cards. So having got one to start off with, I shopped around for spare cards. With the costs of the XQD cards I’m only carrying limited spares. With the D700 I had a bank of CFs available.
Screen protector for the LCD. I use the thin ground glass, stick-on ones.
Spare Battery. I bought a third party spare which came with a USB charger which allows me to charge at home and at work as a bonus.
L-Bracket for the tripod. The ability to mount the camera vertically on the Tripod is really useful. L-Brackets are fitted to each body so you need a new one for a new body.
Upgrade my 50mm. So this was always my weakest lens (although not a bad one) and the higher resolution and faster focusing of the new camera has shown it up to the point where I can justify the upgrade. The others look good for now but the 50 needed to be changed. Again, take advantage of a good second hand market across the EU. Lots of people buy these lenses and end up not using them much (unless they take portraits professionally).
Battery / Vertical Grip. I used the vertical grip the whole time on the D700 but I am enjoying the reduction in weight not using it on the D850. I rarely needed the extra battery. So I wasn’t going to bother. But for jobs when I’m shooting a lot of head shots the vertical grip is useful. Then I got a deal on a third party grip in the US so I got it just for those jobs where it helps, rather than to be permanently attached.
File Backup / Archive. Those larger files are now eating disc space as well. I Archive all the original RAW files as well as maintaining an archive of the finished client files. I made some changes to the way that works to make it more cost effective per GB and bought more disc space.
Backup / Second body upgrade. Initially I just used the D700 but it’s very different to the D850 (and uses different cards and batteries). As I get more used to the new camera, the D700 is a less effectively back-up / second camera. Ideally you’d buy an identical body as backup but that’s a lot of cash. In the end I bought a D500 second hand. Same cards, same charger, very similar functional layout, same focusing system. Crop sensor!
More cards. My two bodies now use the same cards and batteries so I need another spare.
Another screen protector for the D500.
I think that’s it. For now!
Do I need a couple of DX lenses (including a standard zoom) for the D500? Maybe but I’m not yet convinced. I have an old 17-70 DX which will do and the 17-35f2.8 sits quite well on it too – for the uses I have for it.
Otherwise my existing lenses cover me and are all good. Most have a replacement which is ‘better’ but also is going to cost me considerably to upgrade – even if I sell the old one – and realistically the benefits are pretty marginal. The most obvious is my 85f1.4D which is a little battered and not optimised for modern high res digital but it’s not a main lens (I use the 105f2.8 a lot).
After nearly 12 months, my equipment update cycle is pretty much complete.
My old D700 bodies were still going strong but they were reaching end of life and I decided to go for a controlled upgrade in advance, rather than facing failure in the field (even though I have backups for everything) and having to do everything at once in a hurry.
I also decided to go largely second-hand. With Nikon on a major upgrade cycle itself right now, there is an opportunity to get well looked after second hand gear – from reliable sources – from the previous generation of cameras. That’s plenty for me and the savings are significant. The risks are minimal if you’re careful about who you buy from. Worst case it goes back to the seller or needs to go to repair (so some contingency is set aside for that ).
The best second hand buys need patience: waiting for the right one to come up at the right price. So having time to shop around is also good.
Finally I decided to upgrade and not switch. There’s a lot of talk amongst photographers about switching camera brands – especially to Sony mirrorless.
There’s a lot of good tech there but nothing really I need that I can’t get from the current (and previous) iterations of Nikon DSLRs.
The biggest reason not to switch is the cost of replacing the supporting equipment: I have a lot invested in lenses, flashes etc. The new ones and ones from different manufacturers may be marginally better in specific circumstances but again, is it really worth spending a considerable amount of money to change everything?
Remember this is a business that fundamentally needs to feed my kids. A lot of camera gear is bought on a ‘want’ basis. Much is bought on a ‘might be useful’ or ‘if X happens then I’ll need this’. These days I look at everything from a Return on Investment basis. If I spend €1000 on an upgrade which makes no tangible difference to my client or my workflow, then that’s money I can’t spend on my family.
In the next post I’ll go through the full itemised list of what the upgrade took.
