Cyclo-cross... Not Cyclecross.

So I've been saying for the last week that I shot pictures at a cyclecross event last weekend.  I thought it was cyclecross because it's a sport that combines road racing and mountain biking.  You know, a "cross" between road and mountain biking.  Makes sense, right?  Turns out it's called cyclo-cross racing.  You know why?  Yeah, me neither.  I guess it's a cross between mountain biking and cycloing and we all know what cycloing is, right?  Yeah, me neither.

Well, last weekend my brother-in-law asked if I wanted to attend one of his cyclo-cross races and maybe bring my camera and shoot some pictures.  Honestly, all I heard was "blah, blah, blah blah, blah, shoot some pictures," so of course I said yes! :-)   Anyway, I had no idea what to expect, but I figured it would be a nice day outside, I'll get to play with my camera stuff and I might see something cool.  Well, it was awesome.  Lots of riders, lots of dirt, fast bikes and beautiful weather.  Throw in the fact that the backdrop for this whole day was Candlestick Park and it couldn't be beat.  What more could one want on a Sunday morning?  Well, now that I think about it, I guess all the riders could have been lingerie models, but that's probably asking a bit much.

Well, it wasn't all good news.  It actually turned out to be one of the most challenging shoots I've done since last year when I did a photo shoot on a trampoline with a juggling bear and a lady dressed like a clown... and I never did that.  Why was it so hard?  Well, if somebody had asked me to just go shoot pictures at this event and get some good ones of all the different riders, it would have been much easier.  I could have camped out at a few prime locations and taken shots when I wanted to, of the riders that were positioned to have a great photo made of them.  Instead, I was trying to focus on one rider, my brother-in-law, and he as almost NEVER where I wanted him to be.  I'd pick a great location for a shot and when he came around he'd be in a pack with 6 or 7 other people, making a great shot of him almost impossible.  If I could have focused on the riders who were at the right angle to the sun, separate from the group and riding at just the right speed, it would have been easy.  Well, easier.

Another challenge was getting the right shutter speed.  Choosing the right shutter speed when shooting bike races is really important, because you often want to convey a sense of motion.  If you just take a shot with a really fast shutter speed, to get a really sharp shot, you'll freeze the action and won't have a sense of movement in the photo, so it will look like the person is just standing still, upright on their bike.  So you have to decide how much motion you want.  A slow shutter speed will allow a blur of the rider going by, if you hold the camera steady when you take the shot of the rider.  If you pan along horizontally with the rider and have the right shutter speed selected, you'll be able to blur the background and the spokes (for you non-riders, I'm talking about the wheels), but the rider will be tack-sharp.  It's really cool effect if you get everything working together correctly and really conveys the motion and speed.

Photographers usually pay as much attention to what's behind their subject as to the subject itself. When choosing a location to shoot passing cyclists, keep in mind what's across the trail, if possible. The colorful riders will really pop when shot against a dark, uniform background. A bunch of dark green trees are ideal (of course I had nothing but dead grass and shrubs for miles), as are cliffs or open skies. Avoid distracting elements like light poles, ugly buildings, ugly people, parked cars or signs. Anything that competes with the main subject—the rider—is something you want to keep out of your photo.


Photographing outdoors and cycling in particular can be awesome, but be prepared to move around with your camera to get that great shot. You’ll want to become proficient in panning and using a shutter between 1/15s and 1/90s to get dynamic shots with a blurred background. Use shutter speeds of 1/800s or faster to freeze the action or movement. Use a long lens to get tight compositions. Be prepared to increase the ISO when using fast shutter speeds or in lower light situations. Remember that where you position yourself for the shot is critical to ensure those awesome compositions.  Climb a tree, cross over a barrier, get on somebody's shoulders... whatever.  

If you're going to go out and try shooting cycle-cross, have fun and practice.  I can promise you'll have fun and can also promise that the sun, rider, bike, background and other riders will almost NEVER been in the place you want them when you want them there.  So take baby steps... Practice one aspect at a time until you can put it all together.  And if it doesn't work out for you, try cyclecross... I hear that's much easier to take photos of.

 

Drobo Update

So, good news... After almost of month of waiting, My Drobo 5D has finally shown up. Just to remind you how we got to here, last month I submitted my website for a contest where the prize was a Drobo... and I won!  So I had a few weeks to get excited and to prepare for the new arrival in our family and Thursday it came.  I thought I would let you know how the process of setting it up went, because to be honest, so far it's a totally awesome product. 

Now let me start by saying that the Drobo 5D isn't for everyone.  It retails for $699 and that's before you buy the drives to go inside of it.  But for those in the market for an expandable, safe storage system for their files, photos, etc., this sucker can't be beat.  It's so sweet and it has little lights on the front.  Who doesn't like a new gadget with lights!?

The Drobo 5D isn't just super functional, but check out all these lights on the front.  That's the sign of a sweet product! ;-)

The Drobo 5D isn't just super functional, but check out all these lights on the front.  That's the sign of a sweet product! ;-)

So what is it? 

According to the website, the Drobo 5D is basically a fancy storage system "that's built on award-winning BeyondRAID technology with single or dual-drive redundancy, Drobo 5D protects your data without any user interaction, even in the event of multiple drive failures. Drives can be added or hot-swapped on-the-fly for storage expansion with zero downtime. If you’re running low on space, the lights on the front tell you what to do. Just add a drive in an empty bay or remove a smaller drive and replace it with a larger one."

So you can have all your information backed up once or even TWICE with the Drobo 5D

So you can have all your information backed up once or even TWICE with the Drobo 5D

 

So what does all of that mean? Well, basically it's a small box that holds multiple hard drives in it. These drives can be whatever capacity you want, or can afford.  I chose five, 1TB drives to put in mine, but you can use any size up to 4TB (so if you had five, 4TB drives, you'd have a storage capacity of 20TB!) and you don't have to fill all the drives to start out.  You can start with two and upgrade as you need them.  So the box pools together the storage of these drives, so instead of having five, separate, single terabyte drives, the Drobo pools the storage together, so I have basically 5TB of space available.  The redundancy feature means that it's basically backing up your information in the same place as your storing it on your drives.  However, if a drive fails, the Drobo moves the information to the other drives, allowing you to swap out the failed drive and replace it with a new one.  No fuss and you're up and running again in minutes and haven't lost any of your data.

Here is an image from my Drobo dashboard.  It tells me the health and capacity of my drives and I have control over the whole unit from this screen.

Let's talk about how my install went.  First I got home and opened the box and took out the Drobo.  This was literally the hardest part of the whole process as the Drobo comes beautifully packaged in a box that's just big enough to fit the unit.  So slipping it out was honestly the hardest thing I did all night... and it wasn't that hard. :-)   Once it was out, I first had to decide if I wanted to hook the unit up to my computer with the USB 3 or the Thunderbolt cable.  I opted for the Thunderbolt connection as I wanted the fastest possible option.  So with everything out of the box, I proceeded to add each of the five drives.  They slip right in and lock into place.  Then I put the MSATA, 120GB, solid state drive in the accelerator port which is on the bottom of the unit. This optional drive allows for frequently accessed data to be stored on the faster, solid state drive rather than the more traditional SATA drives mentioned above. Again, you don't have to put a SSD in this port, but if your looking for the best performance, you won't want to ignore this option.  Once they were all in, I plugged in the Thunderbolt cable and the power cable and turned on the unit.  While it was booting up, I downloaded the dashboard software for the 5D from the Drobo website.   Okay, now we're cooking with gas!  It's all going great and totally simple.  Once it was all going, I used the dashboard software to name and format the Drobo and drives (which is literally two clicks of the mouse) and then it was ready for use. First thing I did was move all my photos to the unit, as that's what I'm going to use it for.  Photos, photos and more photos!  Now this process was really simple too, but because I archive my photos with Lightroom, I had to move the photos from WITHIN Lightroom!  This is REALLY important.  If you just move the photos without "telling" Lightroom you're moving them, it won't be able to "find" your photos and you'll have problems.  Easily fixable, but you'll have problems.  So let me be really clear because this will help you avoid major headaches later.  If you're going to move your files, you can't just take your photo folder and move them over to a new drive.  Lightroom won't know you did this and won't be able to find the files.  You'll find little question marks on top of all your images signifying that Lightroom doesn't know where they are.  You'll have to then manually relink all of them.  Instead, just move your photo folder to the new drive from within Lightroom.  Then Lightroom will know where you moved the folder to and all will be right with the world.

So here's my settings window for Backblaze.  As you can see it was easy as checking both the boxes for my hard drive and the Drobo and it was good to go!

So here's my settings window for Backblaze.  As you can see it was easy as checking both the boxes for my hard drive and the Drobo and it was good to go!

So the photos moved over and I was ready to go.  It all worked great and my photos were all safe.  As a reminder, I have all my photos on the Drobo with redundant backup, so that's one safety measure.  I have the additional hard drive with all my photos on it hidden away, in case something happens to the computer, and then if you remember, I use Backblaze, for online backup to the cloud, just as an extra safety measure.  So what about using Backblaze with the Drobo?  Well, that was easy too! Once the Drobo was all set up, I went to my Backblaze preferences and checked the box next to my hard drive AND the Drobo which meant I wanted both my hard drive and my Drobo backed up to the cloud.  It immediately started moving files over and within 30 minutes all of my computer's hard drive and all of the photos on the Drobo were backed up to the cloud.  It was much faster than the initial backup to Backblaze since the files where already backed up... they were just moved from one drive to another.  Now I'm ready for anything...  I think.

So if you're in the market for a safe, expandable storage system, I can totally recommend the Drobo 5D.  Again, it's not for everybody, but for those who have a need, it's a fantastic device and sure to exceed your expectations.  I know it did mine.

And don't forget it has all those cool lights!!!

 

10 Days Free Training on Lynda.com!

Great way to learn photography skills.  Everything from composition to lighting, posing to post processing can be found on Lynda.com!

Great way to learn photography skills.  Everything from composition to lighting, posing to post processing can be found on Lynda.com!

People often ask how I learn about photography.  Well, doing it is definitely the best way, but then there are books, classes and online resources and all are fantastic.  I find it easier to learn by watching, or taking a class rather than reading in a book.  Finding the time to take classes isn't always easy and they tend to be pretty expensive.  A great alternative to being in the classroom is to take online classes.  I've taken tons of them and my two favorite resources for online classes is Kelby Training and Lynda.com.  Although different, both offer tons of classes on everything from composition and how to use Lightroom to lighting and classes on how to use your specific camera.  It's great.  Kelby training is completely focused on photography while Lynda.com offers photography classes but also all types of software and small business classes.  Each has their advantage (if I had to chose one, as a photographer, I'd choose Kelby), but I totally recommend both.  Anyway, now is a great time to try Lynda as they're offering 10 days free.  Both are totally worth it, but you can't beat free! Give 'em a try! 

Never work with children or animals.

So when I write entries for this blog, I try to think of things that might be of interest to my dozens and dozens of... okay, maybe a dozen (hi mom!)  readers and things that I think helped me when I was starting out learning about photography.  Let's be honest, there are so many things to learn it can be a little overwhelming. I still remember picking up my cousins DSLR for the first time--this was weeks before I would get my camera--and taking a shot.  The picture turned out black... just black.  All... black.  So I've learned a lot and I promise, if this all seems a little overwhelming, that it will all start to click real soon.  But other than the technical aspects of photography, there are things you can do right away to help you take better photos.  So I was thinking about what most of us are taking pictures of these days.  If my Facebook feed is any indication, we're all taking just a few pictures of our kids.  I'm just as guilty as most.  There are a few that are worse than me, but they know who they are and there's not point in my singling them out here.  However, if you email me, I'll be happy to spill the beans (Her name might rhyme with Lennifer and Mennifer, but that's all you'll get from me).  So let's talk about how to take better pics of our kids.

Now in fairness, I could have even gotten down lower to her level, but it was important me for to keep the sink visible, as I thought that was an important aspect of this photo.

Now in fairness, I could have even gotten down lower to her level, but it was important me for to keep the sink visible, as I thought that was an important aspect of this photo.

There are a few thins that you can do to improve your kid photography that you'll see on almost any list. “Get on their level” and “Get Closer”, are the two that come to mind right away and they are both great ways to improve your kid shots. Now, just to make sure there's no confusion, we're talking about human "kids" not goat "kids".  However, if you are taking photos of goat kids and by that I mean people that are half human kid half goat, these principals still apply.

The top tip on any list you find is often going to be “Get on their level”. There is a reason that it should be as it is great advice and will make a big difference immediately. If you get down on the same level as a kid to take their photo, you give them power by allowing them to look into the camera straight on. Kneel down so that you become the same height as the child. Chat with your subject and engage them before just going right into taking their photograph. When the time is right, lift your camera and poof, snap the photos.  Try to wait until they're looking at the camera unless that's not the look you're going for.

Photography is a visual language and the angle with which you shoot the photograph is an important part of the story you are telling. Photography is a common language that even kids can understand and when you make the effort to physically go down to their level you allow them to be important and, well, the SUBJECT!

Kids are short and you may have to get on your knees to get their eye level, but now, go further. Come on, you can do it, lie down. You may be amazed at what the world looks like from the ground.  Babies and real little kids don't always cooperate, but if you get down with them, they may even enjoy it more and you can end up with some great  faces. 

If you have a fast 50mm lens, it's great to use it when taking photos of your kids. If they are busy, you will need to use a faster shutter speed to freeze the motion. Using a fast 50mm lens means you will be able to open up the aperture to allow you to use that faster shutter speed indoors and avoid triggering your flash. 

Almost as often, when searching for ways to improve your photos of children, you will be told to “Get closer.” Children’s faces are so cute and soft (does that sound creepy?) that it is great advice for you to fill the frame with them. Isolate the tiniest details by photographing in close on things like baby lashes, toddler lips going in for a kiss or the drips of an ice cream on their messy, smushy faces.

Okay, that's it for today.  Go take some pictures and put them on Facebook.  I'll be watching... even you Lennifer.

Baby got back... up.

So, I was trying to figure out what I wanted to write about this week as I watched my photos being backed up from my hard drive to the cloud with a service called Blackblaze.  I thought about writing about taking glamour portraits, as I'm taking an all-day class on the subject tomorrow, but since I hadn't taken the class yet, that didn't seem like a good option.  I thought about an entry focusing on taking photos of uncooperative adults, but I couldn't find any.  I thought writing on how much I hated the Dodgers and wanted them to fail miserably in the playoffs wasn't a good idea, as that could alienate many of the tens of people who read this blog.  Then it hit me... why not write about the back-up process I'm going through right now... remember Blackblaze?  Come on... I just wrote about it two or three sentences ago.  Now you remember?  There are many ways to back up your photos and some are right for some people and some for others, but whatever you do, back-up your photos!  Your hard drive is going to fail. It's not a matter of if, it's when.  You'll want to be prepared.  I back up my photos three different ways right now and as soon as I get my new Drobo system all hooked up, it will be five.  Well, technically four, because when I hook up the Drobo I'm going to remove the hard drive I'm currently using, but you get the idea.

This is the view I have right now while I'm typing this.  I have over 28,000 files being backed up to the cloud.  I have just under 2,000 to go and then everything on my computer will be backed up and accessible when I need it, in the cloud.

1) You're going to want to back up your photos online, or "in the cloud," as we nerdy guys like to say. Come on, it just sounds cool when you say you're doing things in the cloud!

Storing photos in the cloud means you can access them from any device that has an Internet connection. Your pictures will live online, available on a personal, password-protected website; you can sign in to that website, just like you would your email, to view those pictures or download them onto your computer.

Most cloud storage service sites are free to sign up for, and each service gives you a certain amount of free space before you have to pay a yearly fee. Backblaze, which I mentioned earlier is one of these sites.  You can back up your entire computer... all of it for as little as $3.50 a month if you sign up for two years.  Even if you go month to month, it won't cost you more than $5 a month.  It's totally simple too.  You literally sign up and set up a password and then download their software and push "start."  You're done.  That's it.  It's that easy.  It will initially take a couple days depending on how many files you're backing up, but once you do it, the software will continue to monitor your system, looking for changes and will back-up any new changes you make as you make them.  Then, if something should happen to your computer, all your files and photos will be in the cloud, on this back-up website, waiting for you to download and put on your new computer or hard drive.

Which cloud should you choose to park your ass upon? These cloud storage sites are all easy to use and function essentially the same.  What really matters is that you select one and commit to it. They all do roughly the same thing for roughly the same amount of money.  I did a lot of research before I chose Backblaze, so feel free to email me if you have any questions.

2) Buy an external hard drive.

The other option, which I use in addition to the online back-up system, is an external hard drive.  An external hard drive is a portable storage space that plugs into your computer and can be used to store huge amounts of data and files.

If you own a computer, you really should already have a portable hard drive -- backing up your entire hard drive and operating system regularly can dull the pain of any number of digital catastrophes that could otherwise wipe out your data.

You can buy an external 1TB hard drive wherever you buy computer equipment for under $100; a good rule of thumb is to purchase one that is at least twice as much storage as your computer's hard drive. Most external hard drives are easy to operate, as you just plug the drive in to your computer and drag the folders and files you want saved into the folder that represents the drive. There are also several free programs you can download that will automate the backup process for you without changing anything on your computer.  If you use a Mac, you can use the built in Time Machine program, which couldn't be easier to use.  

So what do I do?

I have an external drive plugged into my computer that copies all my files.  I have another external hard drive that I keep elsewhere and once a month I download all my photos to it.  That way, if something bad happens to my computer and the external drive that's plugged into it, I have this one as a back-up.  AND, I'm backing up my whole system to the cloud.  So hopefully I'm totally covered.  If anything happens, I'm covered a bunch of different ways... just in case. 

Unless you have magical powers, you cannot know when your computer will fail, your hard drive will break, you'll be abducted by aliens, a car will crash into your computer, or your dog will piss on your hard drive. Backing up your computer isn't the sexiest or most fun activity, but it just might be the one that saves the all-too-vulnerable bundle of memories on your hard drive.  We all know people who have lost everything on their computers.  It's a horrible feeling and it's relatively easy to avoid if you're prepared. 

Stop putting this off. Back up your photos today.  DO IT NOW!  I'll wait.

 

 

Wow, this place sucks.

So I'm sure this has happen to all of us, oh, I don't know... at least a million times.  You're out trying to take some awesome pictures and you're presented with want could only be called, an environment that is less than aesthetically pleasing. Whether you’re shooting portraits, environmental photos, or just taking some random shots with your iPhone, there are plenty of ways you can work around the fact that you’re in a not-so-interesting location.

1. Shoot From Interesting Angles 

There first thing you need to do, is take a moment to look at the scene, visualizing angles that will make your composition more interesting. Sometimes, shooting from a higher, or lower, angle than you would normally shoot will make all the difference in the world, and will also help take attention away from the aspects of the location that are not as interesting as others.  You'll be amazed at moving just a few feet can reveal or obscure in your photos.  That ugly thing on the wall... move a few feet to your right and poof, it goes away!

An unconventional angle makes this typical (insert "boring") shot a lot more interesting.

2. Experiment with focus

If you are photographing people, try shooting with a wide aperture in order to blur out the background, and bring focus to your subject. If you are not photographing people, look for interesting details in the location, and focus in on the details, rather than the entire scope of the scene.

3. Lighting 

If you have a flash, or any type of light, a little bit of light can go a long way in upping the interest factor in your photos. Experiment with low and high key light, and also, similar to focus, look for interesting details in the location to accentuate with lighting.  Using lighting to highlight an area of your photo is an easy way to direct focus and can be easily faked it Lightroom.

4. Time of Day 

A location may be uninteresting at one time of day, but at a different time of day, it may look completely different. Try shooting in the golden hour – either early in the morning, or late in the evening, to achieve golden, hazy light. Or, think about how the scene would look at night, shot with a long exposure. Heck, you'll probably shoot in the middle of the day and ignore all of this advice, but then I can at least say I told you so!

5. Post-Processing 

When in doubt, you've heard me say it before and I'll say it again (and probably a few times more after that) go to Lightroom and Photoshop! The danger in post-processing photos from an uninteresting location, however, is the tendency to over-edit. This is a situation where you really, really don't need to over-edit, as it will appear as though you are over-compensating, thus drawing attention to the uninteresting location. Keep it simple – see how the image looks in black and white, or try your hand at (extremely minimal) HDR, in order to bring out more highlights and shadows.

If your image isn't working for you, has an uninteresting sky, or you're just not digging the colors, try it in black and white.  What's the worst thing that will happen... you'll have an ugly black and white photo. ;-)

To RAW, or not to RAW... That is the question.

So for those of you really new to photography, this might not even be a question you have ever thought about.  For those of you relitivley new, you have probably thought about it, but decided it wasn't another thing you wanted to add to the countless things you're already learning about photography.  For those of you who have been shooting a long time, you're probably already shooting raw and if you're not... what's wrong with you?  You're clearly doing it wrong! ;-)  Okay, shooting RAW isn't for everybody but I do think it's for a lot of people.  In this post I'll try to highlight some of the benefits and reasons to make the change.  You may decide it's still not right for you... that's okay... as long as you know.  If you make the conscious decision, knowing the facts, to be wrong, well I won't hold that against you. :-)

First thing we have to ask ourselves is what the heck is RAW anyway?  In some cases, like sushi, it's the most delicious way to eat fish.  I kinda wish this was a blog entry about eating sushi, cause, well, it's awesome, but I digress.  When it comes to photography, RAW is a file format that captures all image data recorded by the sensor when you take a photo. Now you're probably asking yourself... Self, isn't that what happens every time I take a picture?  Well, not in most cases.  Most cameras, if you haven't changed any of the settings, shoot JPEGs.  When shooting JPEGs your photos are compressed and a lot of the information that affects the quality of the image is lost. Because no information is compressed with RAW you’re able to produce higher quality images, as well as correct problem images that would be unrecoverable if shot in the JPEG format.  Don't worry, though, many cameras these days shoot RAW, including point and shoots! So even if you’re using a teenie weenie camera, you might still be able to take advantage of the RAW file format.  No, the new iPhone doesn't shoot RAW, but it is awesome and has a great camera, so go out and get one... I'll wait.

So, let's talk about the benefits of shooting RAW.

 

Get the Highest Level of Quality

This is one of the biggest benefits. When you shoot in RAW you record all of the data from the sensor.  None of the data is thrown away, or loss during the compression process like it is with JPEGs. This gives the highest quality files. And when it comes to your images, you want high quality.  Now that's assuming your photos are awesome.  If you have some sucky ones, feel free to compress those until the cows come home. The problem with letting your camera convert your photos into JPEGs automatically is that the camera does its own processing to convert the RAW information into a JPEG.  However, your camera is nowhere near as smart as you are... or at least I am, nor is it as powerful as your computer. When you shoot RAW, you’re able to do that processing yourself. You can make the decisions on how the image should look, and in my opinion, produce way better results.

 

Record Greater Levels of Brightnes

Levels of brightness are the number of steps from black to white in an image. The more you have, the smoother the transitions of tones. Smooth is good.

JPEG records 256 levels of brightness, and RAW records between 4,096 to 16,384 levels! This is described with the term “bit”. JPEG captures in 8bit, and RAW is either 12bit or 14bit. The effect this has on your images is huge. Those additional steps of brightness let you make more adjustments (exposure, blacks, fill light, recovery, contrast, brightness) to your image without a significant reduction of quality, because there’s more levels to work with!  

 

Easily Correct Dramatically Over/Under Exposed Images

Obviously you want to get the best exposure in camera, but sometimes that doesn't happen and you wind up with a dramatically over or under exposed image. Since there is basically more information in the photo for you to play with.  A photo that's overexposed, when shot RAW, will have a greater ability to tone down the highlights and recover that blown out information, making the photo beautiful again!.

 

Easily Adjust White Balance

When you shoot JPEG the white balance is applied to the image. You can’t just easily choose another option. With RAW the white balance is still recorded, but because you have way more data, it’s way more easy to adjust.  Was that even english?  I don't think so, but I'm trying to make a point.

Great white balance and colour are essential to an awesome image, and shooting RAW lets you make the adjustments easier and faster, with better results.

 

Get Better Detail

When you shoot RAW you'll have access to sharpening and noise reduction tools in a program like Lightroom (uh, have I mentioned how much I love this program) that are way more powerful than those found in your camera.  You have to use a post processing program like Lightroom to work with your photos when shooting RAW and we'll touch on that more in a bit.

 

Non-Destructive Editing

 When you make adjustments to a RAW file, you’re not actually doing anything to the original data. What you’re doing is creating a set of instructions for how the JPEG or other file format should be saved.

The awesomness of this is that you never ever have to worry about ruining an image, not that you would after reading this blog . You can always reset your adjustments, and start over again.

 

 

SO THIS IS AWESOME!  THERE ARE NO PROBLEMS?

 Now, at this point, you're probably asking yourself either, "why am I still reading this shit," or, "okay, this is pretty awesome, so are the any reasons not to shoot RAW?  There are always pros and cons to every option, and RAW does have a few downsides. I personally think the pros really outweigh the cons, but we'll talk about the cons anyway... just for fun.

 

NEED TO BE PROCESSED

A common argument against shooting RAW is that because the files need to be processed, it takes more time to shoot RAW than JPEG. If you don’t do any processing to your JPEGs that might be true.  However since reading this blog you all know how awesome, powerful and awesome Lightroom is, that's not really an issue.  Your photos will turn out more awesomer and if you're like me, you'll really enjoy editing your photos.

Then, when you add in the fact that adjustments like white balancing, and recovering highlights and shadows are faster and easier with RAW files, and it almost starts looking like processing RAW can be faster than JPEG!!

Then, with RAW, you can easily export to JPEG, as well as convert to various sizes and other file formats.

 

TAKES UP MORE SPACE

Since RAW files have more uncompressed information they can be 2-3 times larger than JPEG files. This is definitely a concern for many people, especially those who create a lot of images.  However, when you look at how inexpensive storage has become, it's not nearly as much of an issue.  I recently bought a 2TB hard drive for about $100.  Now there's a lot to consider when buying storage, but the point is it's become more and more affordable, so adding space to your computer easy.

Memory cards are the same deal. They’re constantly getting cheaper and cheaper.  I remember a few years ago, spending about $90 on a 1GB SD card for one of our cameras. 1GB!!  A few months ago I bought another 16GB card for a recent trip and spent $30.  $30!!!

Yes, RAW files are bigger and take up more space. But that’s because they’re of higher quality. Go with high quality and get some extra storage.  Its easier, safer and more affordable than ever!

 

SLOWS THE CAMERA DOWN

 RAW files are larger than JPEGs, so they’ll fill up the buffer of your camera faster. The camera will still shoot the same frames per second, regardless of wehther it is RAW or JPEG, but you may have to wait for the camera to write to the memory card if the buffer fills up. If shooting fast sequences if critical for you, you're probably a professional sports photographer, or just cooler than me.  If you want to shoot RAW and you probably do, you can purchase faster memory cards, or a more expensive camera with a larger buffer.

 

IN A PROPRIETARY FORMAT

 RAW files are often recorded in a proprietary format, which means that the camera manufacturers haven’t officially disclosed how the raw data can be converted. Companies like Adobe either need to license software to decode the RAW files or reverse engineer how the files should be converted. (For Canon cameras the RAW format looks like .CR2 and for Nikon it’s .NEF).  So how do we view this RAW files on our computers?  BUY LIGHTROOM!  With a program like Lightroom, Photoshop, Camera RAW, or many others, you'll be able to open, edit and save your RAW photos anyway you like.

 

SO NOW WHAT

So there it is, at least in my mind. Hopefully this look at RAW and it’s benefits has cleared things up a bit! You know have most, if not all of the information to make a decision on how you want to shoot.  Uncompressed RAW images or compressed, poopy, JPEG images. ;-)  Each have their advantages.  Whatever you decide... just go out and take some pictures.

 

I Said a Bud Light! (Photos From the Pigeon Point Lighthouse)

Hopefully, you're all old enough to get that joke.  If you're not and have no idea where "I said a Bud Light" is from, or what it's in reference to, please don't tell me.  I feel old enough already and if you tell me you don't understand my corny jokes referencing lame TV commercials from the '80s, just have a Coke and a smile with Mean Joe Green and go read another blog. 

Okay, who's still with me?  Anyone... Bueller... Bueller? (see what I did there).  For those of you STILL reading, which is probably only my Grandmother and my mom, thanks!  I'll try to move onto something more interesting.  The Pigeon Point Lighthouse.

Last weekend my family was away and I had Sunday to myself.  I decided I wanted to go somewhere to take photos and I decided on the Pigeon Point Lighthouse.  I've always thought lighthouses were cool.  There's something really classy and poetic about a lighthouse, sitting out on a cliff next to the ocean, guiding in ships and preventing them from hitting the impressive rock formations that make up the coastline.  The Pigeon Point Lighthouse is over 140 years old and is the tallest lighthouse on the West Coast of the United States.  It's 115 feet tall, so it can make for some pretty impressive photos. 

So the first question I had to ask myself was if I wanted to go at sunrise or sunset.  My first inclination was to go at sunset, because if you go at sunrise, it means you have to get up BEFORE sunrise and that kinda sucks. ;-)  The problem with this particular spot is  it's location and the direction it's facing.  It's on the West Coast and from where you can stand (assuming you're not in the ocean) it's facing east.  So, if I went at sunset, I would have had beautiful golden light shining on the back side of the lighthouse.  I may have had a beautiful sunset to look at, but I wanted good light on the lighthouse itself, so that meant I had to get up at the ass-crack of dark-thirty to make it in time for sunrise.  Again, if I wanted the light of the golden hour to hit the lighthouse, I had to get the sun rising in the east to hit the east-facing side of the lighthouse.  So I made my coffee, threw my equipment in the car and made it to the lighthouse 30 minutes before the sun came up.  I knew when the sun was coming up, because I'm using a really cool app called the Photo Sundial, which tells you not only when the sun sets and rises, but also where the sun is throughout the day, so you can plan your shots really accurately. I pulled up to my spot and could already tell, with no light, that there was a lot of fog and that was really going to impact my shoot.  I also knew I was going to be taking some black and white photos, because when you have a dull gray sky, black and white photos don't know that the sky isn't a beautiful blue and you can make some really interesting photos.  Because there's not a lot of light at this time of the morning, a tripod is necessary.  I was taking exposures in excess of 20 seconds most of the time and that would be impossible without a tripod.  Anyway, below are some of my favorite shots from the day.  What do you think?

 

Making this photo black and white meant it didn't matter that it was totally foggy and the sky was really gray.

Sometimes the fact that it's foggy helps make for a really interesting shot. 

When you have a single subject, don't just stick it in the middle of your shot and call it a day, try moving around and getting other interesting aspects into your shot.  Putting something in the foreground and the lighthouse in the upper right makes for a more interesting shot that hopefully looks different from all the other shots taken at this popular location.

Lots of cool pictures to take here... Not just the lighthouse.

A Steady Camera = Sharp Shot

So, I'm just about to head out to a class I'm taking on studio portrait lighting.  What better way to spend the day when my girls are out of town?  Turn on sports, invite the guys over, hire some professional dancers and get some fireworks?  Nope... I'm taking a photography class. Wait until you hear what my plans are for tomorrow morning.  I'll give you a hint... it involves getting up at sunrise and a lighthouse, but that's all I'm saying for now.

I  wanted to dedicate this post on taking sharp photos.  It's really important when you're taking photos, if you want them to look good, to keep them sharp!  When shooting at shutter speeds that are lower than the focal length of the lens you're using, you have to keep the camera as steady as possible to avoid camera shake.  So, what does that mean.  We'll if you're shooting with a 200mm lens, it means shooting at a 1/200sec or faster, or if using a 50mm lens, it means shooting at 1/50sec or faster.  So if you're using at 85mm lens and shooting at 1/20sec, you run the risk of camera shake. If you're wondering what camera shake is, it's simply movement of the camera and lens that's captured when the shutter is released and a photo is taken.  The resulting photos look blurred even when the subject is focused and you haven't been drinking!   For the record, if you have been drinking, all your photos will probably appear blurry... this is not from camera shake.  This is from eyeball shake and a lack of focusing ability and it will go away within a few hours.

Many lenses have a feature known as image stabilization (IS) or vibration reduction (VR). This is a mechanism inside the lends that counters movement, allowing the you to shoot at shutter speeds lower than normal.  So, if you're shooting with a 50mm lens, to be safe you might be able to shoot with a shutter speed as slow as 1/30sec.  This feature is pretty amazing.  If your lens has it, you'll notice when you're looking through the viewfinder that you're image will stop shaking right before your eyes, once the feature if activated.  The thing you have to remember about image stabilization is that even though it will help you to shoot at shutter speeds slower than normal, you still have to keep the camera as steady as possible.  This lens feature can be very effective, but it can't perform miracles. 

The best way to shoot at slower shutter speeds is to use some form of support.  This can be a tripod, but it doesn't have to be.  You can use rest your camera on a car window if you're inside a car, a rock if you're outside, or even a half eaten, beached, whale carcass if one should happen to wash up on shore while you're shooting on the beach.   Using a support will illuminate camera shake and will allow you to take pictures will as long of a shutter speed as you need.