Did you know that 99% of people can stop caring about how many megapixels their camera has? It’s true! The number of megapixels in even your most basic $100 digital camera are more than enough for most people’s printing needs. I’ve printed great looking 11x14s with an 8MP DSLR. When’s the last time you printed bigger than that? Probably never unless your a photographer too. The take home here is that you should focus on something other than megapixels when buying your next DSLR camera. Save your megapixel pennies and instead buy a better lens.
The one exception to this rule came to mind this weekend when I had to do a severe crop (more than 50%) on a photo to give it more of the macro look my client was looking for. Cropping is where having all those extra megapixels comes in handy. The end result is an image my client can still use in their print projects.
The first photo is the original and the second is the cropped.
Posted in Craft, Photos
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As the last post mentioned, I’m trying to shoot myself out of a slump, learning new things as I go.
This is my daughter who recently read some book on ninjas and made up this costume using one of my t-shirts. I can’t count how many times I’ve been punched and kicked this week. She’s fierce.
This shoot made me think how much fun it would be to photograph kids in costumes. Not cheapo costumes like this but really nice costumes. Find out what a kid likes and spend a couple hundred dollars doing something awesome that would make a photo they could have forever. They would be super excited to have their picture taken and the photos would be interesting too. Win, win.
If you’re looking for a photographer for your kid’s birthday or special event let me know. Definitely contact me if you want to build an amazing Buzz Lightyear costume.
I’ve been in a bit of a creative slump lately and have decided to try and shoot myself out of it by giving myself a new personal project each day this week.
This idea came to me while I was laying in bed at 8:30 am on a workday feeling like there wasn’t much reason to get up. It was raining, again. My wife and I have jokingly self-diagnosed ourselves with Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.). One of the great symptoms is a desire to consume large amounts of carbohydrates. It sounds funny but it’s a real symptom and the inspiration for this photograph.
Needless to say, I didn’t have to give the model, my wife, much direction in how to look really bummed on the weather. Spokane is dreary in the spring.
In keeping with the theme of a dreary day, everything that could have gone wrong while setting up in the rain did. I had planned on a 2 light strobe setup to practice my lighting technique and use some new gear. None of it worked and after 15 minutes of messing with it while my wife complained I gave up and shot natural light. Very frustrating but that’s life at times.
Self Critique
I like the concept but am bummed on the lighting. I don’t know if my eye is just beginning to prefer the look of strobe light or what but I’m not satisfied with this shot overall.
Also, if I hadn’t taken all of our time trying to get the lights to work I would have liked to get her soaked to really show how wet it was out.
I recently got to shoot the 20th Annual Friendship Dance held here in Spokane. Tribes from around region gather together to celebrate and remember their heritage. It was a really enjoyable experience. I’ve never been to anything quite like it. My experience as an American is so detached from my long-term family history that to be around people who cherish the past the way the native americans do was cool. You could tell it brought them both joy and pain as they performed the various dances remembering events and people.
The Inlander article can be found here.
I was part of the Inlander’s stable of photogs who ventured out into the dark to shoot for the annual night life issue. My task was shooting the tiny and fun Lantern Tavern in the Perry District. This shoot was on the outer limits of what my Canon 5D can handle ISO-wise as I wanted to avoid using a flash in such a small space. The key was my tripod and a wired shutter release to avoid any shake. The people are mostly blurred but this was intended as part of the shoot to make the point that people are doing things in Spokane at night. I’m not, but some are.
The Pacific Northwest Inlander article is here.
