dav.d wedding photography

Archive for the ‘Photography’ Category

Battle of the 24mm f/1.4 lensesTuesday, February 9th, 2010

Last night Nikon announced a brand new lens – and attempted to throw a wrench in my plans to buy a Canon DSLR. Curse you Nikon!

My primary cameras are Nikon. I have about 10 lenses from Nikon and love them, however, there are a few lenses that Canon has that Nikon didn’t. So I have been saving money and looking forward to a tax return to buy a new Canon 5D Mark II and some fancy Canon glass.

One of these magic lenses is the Canon f/1.4 24mm lens. Nikon did not have an equivalent lens – until last night. But I am still leaning towards the Canon lens – they are on version 2 of their legendary lens while this is pretty much Nikon’s first real version of this 24mm lens.

Nikon vs Canon in the 24mm f/1.4 lenses

Nikon vs Canon in the 24mm f/1.4 lenses

These are prime lenses – they won’t zoom in and out without moving my feet. But because they are prime lenses you get really wide open aperture – which I consider critical to create artistic and almost ethereal photographs.

The Canon lens also costs $1699 and the Nikon is starting out at $2199. And my ultimate plan is to photograph with Nikon zoom lenses and Canon prime lenses.

My plans might change – I won’t be buying the 24mm till at least June – unless I score some serious bankroll.

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There is lust in my heart – for expensive camerasFriday, February 5th, 2010

Hasselblad HD4-40

Hasselblad HD4-40

I just registered for an event at my favorite local photography store, Pictureline. They will be hosting Hasselblad and the new HD4-40 camera. That camera has 40 megapixels!

Now, people will say the number of megapixels don’t matter – that it is the skill of the photographer and the type of lenses you use and other factors. And for the most part megapixels don’t matter – but not all megapixels are created equally. I would prefer a 10 megapixel DSLR camera over a 10 megapixel phone camera or even a point-n-shoot camera.

And medium format cameras have pixels that blow the pixels of DSLRs out of the water. And most every single portrait and wedding photographer shoots with DSLRs. And DSLRs are perfectly capable in photographing a wedding and they are great at photographing in low light situations like wedding receptions and even some wedding ceremonies.

Phase One

Phase One

But in the back of my mind I think it would be so cool to have a medium format digital camera for portraits. Bridal sessions and even engagment sessions where I drag out my big studio lights on location – that would be so cool. Can I do this now with my digital cameras? Yes.

However, the amount of detail that is captured by the Hasselblad or the competition Phase One camera would be jaw dropping. These are the kind of cameras used to photograph models, magazine covers and the high end fashion shoots. So when you see a model’s photograph who has been retouched to within an inch of their life – they were shot with a medium format digital camera.

So I am saving some money for that – well, saving money in general is good. And it is fun to dream of something better but use the tools we have right now.

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Photographing the other photographersWednesday, February 3rd, 2010

I absolutely love to photograph the people with their point and shoot cameras. They may not have the big cameras that I carry but their photographs are just as important. And I don’t mind if people photograph over my shoulder cause I know my version will blow away what they might capture. Just saying.

But I love to focus on the LCD screen of the camera and capture this kind of scene. I think it is artistic, unique, and fun.

Photographing the photographers

Photographing the photographers

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Ordered a new camera bag – the Think Tank Photo Airport Security 2.0Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

Think Tank Airport Security v 2.0

Think Tank Airport Security v 2.0

I have ordered a new camera bag – the Think Tank Photo Airport Security v2.0. It arrives via UPS tomorrow! Anytime I order from amazon.com I always always always get the two-day shipping. It is worth it to me to pay the extra shipping. Cause I dislike the United States Postal Services delivery.

But I am very excited for this camera bag. I think it will replace my old LowePro Roller 2 which is starting to get a bit long in the tooth. I will probably have a full review of the new bag at a later date – and I am excited to use it on my trip out to Newport Beach in March. And there is a chance I will be going out to South Carolina to photograph a remodeled church.

So I want a good solid bag and I am really liking the attention to detail that Think Tank photo puts into their bags.

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Books for Dummies, like meTuesday, February 2nd, 2010

It feels like it has been forever since I have bought a photography book. I love photography books. But I suppose the business books can count as photography business books. Man, I do not envy the job of an accountant or CPA. I know that everyone is unique and everyone has something that interests them. But I don’t see how someone can get excited about assets, liabilities, debits, credits and more.

I would go mad and shoot myself in the face with a bow and arrow! But I think this will be helpful in budgeting, planning and knowing what helps make things profitable. And it’ll help when I meet with my accountant in a few weeks.

I love my audiobooks. And even though Apple introduced their new iPad which would be perfect for digital books – I think I still prefer audiobooks – cause I can’t imagine driving while reading an iPad. ;)

Accounting and Small Business for Dummies

Accounting and Small Business for Dummies

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Salt Lake City through a Holga Film CameraThursday, January 21st, 2010

Imperfection, thy name is Holga!

I received a roll of film back from the lab (they forgot to make prints) and they had the developed film scanned to disk. I’ll pick up the prints tomorrow. And I am really enjoying the photographs that are created with my imperfect film camera. Yes, right now it is a toy – but it is camp, it is old fashioned, and it has it’s own character.

You can even seen that the camera has developed some light leaks – there is some red light that is getting through on the top left and there is some white light on the top right. I might have to seal the camera up with tape to minimize the light leaks – but I also like them. If I wanted perfection I would be shooting digital.

Salt Lake County Building

Salt Lake County Building

I think I need to have a spin with my medium format camera next – I haven’t shot with the Bronica for a few weeks and I don’t want to get rusty. Maybe after the Sundance film festival – cause I won’t have much time photographing while Sundance is in full swing.

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Fight the inversion and have a fun photo shoot just for funSaturday, January 16th, 2010

For about a week or two the Wasatch front has been blanketed in an inversion – aka smog. And it sucks! It isn’t good to breath and it is so thick sometimes you can’t even see the mountains. And it gets so thick that you can almost look at the sun – which isn’t recommended – you can still go blind.

But rather than moping around and watching TV it is important to go be busy and do things. So I escaped the house and took a break from reading Quickbooks for Dummies and I had a fun photo shoot with Steph and her friend Brady. We invaded the Salt Lake Library and photographed outside for the most part – braving the cold.

Salt Lake Library parking

Salt Lake Library parking

These are not engagement photos – they are just friends. These are just BFFs hanging out being cool, hip, and groovy. It was also a chance to use my portable Lastolite softbox which I love. In the first photograph I airbrushed out the softbox – it is giving them light in what would be a very dark parking garage.

Do not stare into the sun

Do not stare into the sun

I am hoping the weather warms up and that the inversion clears – I think we need a real good storm to get us out of it. But it is fun getting out and photographing – even in winter.

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I am going to be teaching a class at Photocamp Utah 2010Monday, January 11th, 2010

I am excited – looking forward to March 20, 2010 – I will be teaching a class in HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography. Below is an example of an HDR photograph I created of the Utah State Capitol building.

Photocamp Utah is a grassroots seminar that is all day and will have about 20 different classes – and to fantastic keynote seminars. Last year they had several hundred photographers – this year in the first 20 minutes there were 120 people register for the Photocamp.

I have no problem with public speaking – and I am excited to teach all I know about the topic. I’ll be working on the my syllabus for the class and hopefully I can teach and inspire 100-200 photographers how to create amazing HDR images.

Utah State Capitol in HDR

Utah State Capitol in HDR

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