It’s the 50th anniversary of the publication of US author Susan Sontag‘s essay Photography (link to PDF) which was later re-edited and renamed “In Plato’s Cave.” This renamed essay became the first of six essays in her book, “On Photography.” In Plato’s Cave is probably the most well known of the six essays.
Continue reading →
Washrooms and Photographers
This is something they definitely did not teach you in photography school. How do you go to the washroom when you’re doing event photography?
Continue reading →
Camera Bag Security
A photographer friend recently had their camera gear stolen while shooting a corporate event at a hotel. They put their fully loaded camera bag down for just a couple minutes . . .
We all know to never leave our gear unattended when in public. But that’s often easier said than done.
I use a wheeled case as much as possible not only because it takes the weight off my shoulders but also because it’s easier to secure a wheeled case than an over-the-shoulder bag. A Pelican case or similar is best because there are no zippers and you can lock the lid. Zippers are relatively easy to poke open with a screwdriver, a fork or even a ballpoint pen. Some zippers are made more puncture-resistant than others.
I have several homemade, plastic-coated steel cables of various lengths and matching padlocks. These cables are used on location, in my car trunk and in hotel rooms.
Continue reading →
Portrait Photography Studios of Yesteryear
Sky High Photography
Cameras have a changed a lot over the past hundred years. They got smaller and lighter, became more electronic, film gave way to digital sensors, and we now have flying cameras commonly called “drones.”
Aerial photography started at least as early as 1858 by Gaspard-Felix Tournachon (aka Nadar) who photographed from a hot air balloon in France. But most photographers didn’t have a hot air balloon handy so they had to find other ways to get a high camera angle:
Photo Gear Purchases 2021
I’ve always wanted a panoramic tripod head to do real estate photography. A stitched panorama will have much less lens distortion than a single image shot with a very wide-angle lens.
High-quality panoramic heads are priced from about $400 to $900 and they have many features. But I only need to occasionally shoot a horizontal row of photos which can be stitched together.
Before buying an expensive panoramic head, I bought a 240mm nodal rail with a sliding camera mount for $35. There are shorter rails but a longer nodal rail can work with a wider range of lenses.
It turned out that this cheap, little attachment works perfectly for what I wanted to do. Did I mention it was cheap?
Balancing Act
There are three types of colour photographs: those with bad colour, those with accurate colour and those with pleasing colour.
If the skin tones in your business portrait don’t look good or if your pictures have an overall colour cast, then your photos have a bad colour balance.
Accurate colour is required when the colours in a photo must match the real-life colours. For example, clothing colours in a catalog should match the actual colours.
Pleasing colour is for pictures that have to look nice rather than be absolutely accurate. Portraits often have pleasing colour because a nice skin tone is usually preferred over accurate skin colour.
Continue reading →