A blog about nothing...

Hey everyone! Sorry for the lack of content around here, it has been a hectic and busy 2 weeks. So here is a brief explanation, and promises of some things coming up.

As you all know, I teach 3 nights a week. I have had so many ideas bouncing around in my head recently, and some irons in the fire, that I suffered from some insomnia of late. (Please , no worries, it's all okay) so on Thursday, when I normally do an update, I was wiped out. On Friday, I spent time with the family, as I knew I was shooting a big birthday event on Saturday and I had the David Jay seminar today.

David's site is here:

http://www.davidjay.com/

The event on Saturday was fabulous, and the client was a former student of mine. She is a photographer, and several other students were there also. No pressure, right?

We did a shoot the week prior as she wanted to have some images of herself that were sexy, strong, and beautiful. This student is all of those things, so my job was easy. They came out fantastic, as did her event.

Today, I was at the David Jay seminar, hosted by "Fotografos de Corazon". What a great organization, and they are just starting to take off. They had Bambi Cantrell in recently, and David today. That's who I'm standing with in the image above. David has some brilliant and clever marketing strategies and workflow techniques that he shared with the attendees, and I think we all left his appearance with several ideas that can be implemented easily and quickly into our own workflow and marketing endeavours, making it well worth the $45 and trip to Irvine. If you get a chance to see David Jay, I can very highly recommend him. I'm sure I will be discussing a few of his techniques in up coming classes. One of his core beliefs is a sense of community, networking and service. I am with him 100 %. I try to pass on as much knowledge as I possibly can in my classes, and I make myself extremely accessible to my students and friends. I believe you all know one of several ways to get hold of me, and if not, there are several listed right over there to the right--->

I really like to think that I am not teaching students, but building a community. We all share a common interest, photography, right? Maybe our dreams and aspirations for our photography aren't the same, but surely we can all agree that we want to be better photographers. Maybe some of us want to be better "wedding" photographers, or better "insert type/style here", and maybe some of us are happy doing what we are doing, and are enjoying photography as a hobby and passion. But we all would love to be better. So we want to learn. And I believe we all need to share, nurture, and protect each other. David helped reinforce that for me today. And he shoots Canon. Just sayin... ;-)

There were about 10 Tri students there, I was hoping for more, I think many people missed out. But Fotografos de Corazon will be sponsoring more people in their lecture series. They have Gary Fong and Yervant lined up in the future, and are working on Jerry Ghionis, so stay tuned.

Jeffery Saddoris was at the lecture today too. He and I are in the process of assembling our own photowalk, on August 29th. Please comment below on wether you would be interested in attending. We are considering a beach city to get some sunset shots. Again, please comment below if you have any ideas, and we will keep you posted.

This week in class:

Monday will be a lecture in Beginning wedding

Tuesday we will be shooting

Wednesday we will have some Photoshop instruction, and maybe touch on Lightroom

And a note to my students. I have been very disappointed in the amount of images that are being provided to our models in my Lighting class. Participation has been very high, on both the student and models part. If you would like them to keep coming in, please bring prints. If I don't get images on Tuesday night (all I need is a cd) I will know that perhaps you would just prefer that I lecture the rest of the semester, or you would rather just watch me shoot.

I promise to have a more informational post up soon. I just felt the need to get something up before Monday.

See you soon,

Frank

Scott Kelby's World Wide Photowalk 7/18/2009

I spent 7/18/09 Participating in Scott Kelby's 2nd annual World Wide Photowalk. Our walk was located in Chinatown, Los Angeles California, and our walk was scheduled from 8-10 am.

Many students from our school, Tri-Community Photography Center showed up, so I was surrounded by old and new friends.

To say I had a good time is an understatement. I had a blast, and feel like my photography was re-invigorated and my soul recharged.

These images are in no particular order, as Blogger wasn't cooperating with me, but that's okay, because yesterday turned into so much more than a walk through Chinatown. We walked Chinatown, then we walked to Philippes for food and drink, then we walked to Union Station, then we walked to Olvera St, had some more drinks, then back through Chinatown. It got hot, and our 2 hour walk turned into a 9 hour walking tour.

Along the way, I talked and laughed with some I knew well, and some I didn't. We wandered off in groups, and we wandered off solo. When it was time to move on, we gathered everyone up and moved along. Then we talked and laughed some more. And laughed some more.

As photographers sometimes we tend to isolate ourselves. Photography often times is a solo sport. Your out shooting, then sitting at a computer editing, both tend to be very introverted activities

Even as we were shooting in a group, there was a good deal of private moments as each photographer saw something that caught their eye. But then we would head off to our next destination and laugh some more.

I wonder if Matthew got a release?

It was great to see some of my students practicing so many things that they learned in my class, and even teaching other people some of those techniques. It feels really good to know they get it, believe it, pratice it, and pass it on. Thank you for that, it makes me feel good.

It's okay Matthew,I didn't get this released either... ;-)

Did I mention we had fun? What a motley crew we were. And is that Vincent shooting a picture of his iPhone shooting a picture?

Look at that form!

Enjoying the local eatery Phillipes. My first time there, but not my last, and the beer was COLD!

I think each of us on the journey had different images we focused on. Mine became color and umbrellas. I like this one.

The Tri-Community group at the end of the Chinatown leg of our journey.

When in China....

We had beautiful morning light, and I got to show some students how to get those blue sky's by dialing down 2/3 of a stop exposure.

What is this Kodak film you speak of?

The red lanterns were obviously a focus of many of the shooters in Chinatown. I need to come back here soon at dusk.

My favorite image of the day, with the red lanterns reflected in a pond.

Sometimes, it all about the details. I was also drawn to the color of the orange tiles

It's all about contrast here

As it got hotter and hotter, this became a quest to find. ;-) And find it we did

Again, I had a wonderful time, and as I said, it became so much more than just a photo walk. Thanks to all who participated, and hung out with us in the heat. I certainly know it was worth it for me. And a special thanks to Scott Kelby for organizing the festivities. I know it must feel good for him to give back, as I learned how good that made me feel.

Here is a video shot by our walk leader Damon Webster of http://www.photoinduced.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xgl3NUZfWBI

This week in my classes:

Monday night: Portrait photoshop techniques if I can get my laptop working.

Tuesday night: We are shooting up and coming punk band Death Punch

Wednesday night: Wedding shoot in Covina, bring your cameras and flash.

And if you are looking for something to do next Sunday, come join me in attending David Jay's seminar in Irvine. $45 and includes lunch. More info here:
http://www.fotografosdecorazon.com/

We made Scott Kelbys blog! He posted our video on his page from the Chinatown walk. You can see it here: http://www.scottkelby.com/blog/2009/archives/5580

Many familiar faces.

Have a fantastic week, see you all soon.

Frank

What are you doing on 7/18/09?

I will be participating in Scott Kelby's 2nd Annual World Wide Photo Walk on 7/18/09. I will be participating in the China Town, CA walk. More info here:

http://worldwidephotowalk.com/

Why am I participating? Many reasons.

1. I love photography

2. I love meeting new people with similar interests

3. I am participating in a walk with several people I know

4. I love hanging out afterward and getting some lunch and libations and sharing war stories

5. I mainly shoot people. On the walk, I hope to work on shooting places and things, and turning on some creativity

6. There will be Flickr Groups set up to share images to see what everyone else shot

7. July mornings in California don't suck

8. There will be prizes. I love prizes

So are you participating? If so, where? Leave a comment down below. If your not participating, why not? It is free.

Now what gear should you bring? I want to travel light. I will be bringing my main axe, the 5D Mark II.

Lens choices are always difficult. I know for sure I will bring the 70-300 IS.

I want to bring the 17-40 F4 as I hardly ever use it, and might like the new perspective, but I'm comfortable with the 24-105 F4. Or do I want the DOF effects of the 24-70 2.8?

The 50 1.4 will be there.

Flash? Maybe, with the STE-2 transmitter

Lot's of memory and spare batteries

Business cards to help KIT

Hoodman Hood Loupe

Water & comfortable shoes ;-)

Sunscreen

Scott Kelby recently added a special bonus to all registered walkers here: http://www.scottkelby.com/blog/

I wish I had a great hip pack to put it all in, (any recommendations? I'm leaning towards Think Tank) but I do have a decent small backpack that I can fit it all in.

The images here were taken on a photowalk with some friends through Olvera Street earlier this year.

I can't wait! And expect a follow up post on Sunday.

Frank

Always ready

In photography, things happen fast. Moments are fleeting. Opportunities vanish quickly. Life has many similarities. As photographers, regardless of what you shoot, we need to be ready. So what can we do to up the chances that we will be ready? To improve our ability to take advantage of these opportunities?

There are a lot of things that we as photographers can do to increase our chances of capturing fleeting moments. We have all seen amazing photos of things that happened in the blink of an eye. Were they luck? Well, maybe the photographer was lucky that he was there at that moment, but all these images have 1 thing in common. The photographer had a camera. It was on. It was ready. So was the photographer.

So step 1 is to always have your camera. Step 2 is to keep it in a mode that allows you to shoot in an instant. Many of us use manual mode some of the time. A few of us swear that if your not in manual, you aren't really a photographer. I call bullshit. There are no mulligans or do-overs in fleeting moments. If you are just walking around with your camera, or it is sitting by your side in your car, or anytime you put it away, leave it in Aperature Priority mode, or in full automatic. That way if you wander upon an amazing situation, you can pull your camera out and start shooting quickly. The camera will do most of the work for you to properly expose the scene as it unfolds. Don't store your camera away with a specialty lens on it, like a 10mm fisheye, or a 180mm macro. Store it with a normal zoom on it.

Now that is not to say that you should always shoot in Auto mode. Not hardly. This is just for when you need to get a shot quickly. The next helpful hint is to anticipate the action. Know what is coming next. Are you a wedding shooter? Then you should know when the 1st kiss is coming, or the tossing of the bouquet. A sports shooter? You should be able to be prepared and always anticipate the long throw downfield, or the popfly to center. Landscape photographer? Golden light doesn't happen at noon. So as you are anticipating these moments, your camera should be set appropriately to get those shots.

The next helpful tip is to know your equipment, and what things you will need to get the job done. Can you change memory cards and batteries in the dark? Do you know how to change your ISO or shutterspeed quickly? How about your focus point as you change orientation from landscape to portrait? If you are a sports shooter, high frame rates are important. If you shoot weddings, high ISO, low noise are important. What about gear? I'm often asked if someone could shoot a wedding with an 18-200 f3.5-5.6 lens and 1 16 gb memory card. Technically? Sure you could, but not my wedding. The right equipment, anticipating the action, and knowing your gear, will help you get the shot, and improve your success rate.

The next hint is to pay attention. This goes hand in hand with anticipation. Yes, you know the first kiss is coming, but did you also see the father of the bride shedding a tear in the front row? Life is still going on outside the viewfinder, and if you are so focused on that narrow field of vision, you may miss many other amazing opportunities.

This post includes a series of images of my daughter having a butterfly land on her. We were not there to shoot butterflies landing on my daughter, I was actually there to work on some other ideas using my wife as a model. I was practicing some other things, with NON-PAYING family members, so that I could be prepared when a client wanting something similar calls. Another post for those images and about practicing on what you have available will come soon.

Anyway, I had my camera out, and was preparing to do something else when my daughter called out to tell me about the butterfly. This series just fell into my lap because I was prepared. I haven't done any Photoshop at all except to resize them for the web. But I can't tell you how amazed and happy I was as I was reviewing the images, and I could watch her expression change from one of focus, and willing that butterfly to land on her, to shear delight when it did. The rest of the stuff I shot that day? Not nearly as important to me as this series, and it was completely unexpected.

The smile in that last image just warms my heart. Will you be ready when a beautiful butterfly lands on your finger?

Coming up this week at Tri:

On Monday night we will be catching up on the calendar and talking about marketing.

On Tuesday night in Lighting on Location, we will be shooting, and have several models coming in. Bring your camera, flash, and stands if you have them.

On Wednesday night, we will be discussing Wedding album design.

Get out and shoot. Be prepared for something amazing to happen.

Frank

I feel a rant coming on...

Proceed with caution, here comes a rant.

I am often amazed by the cloak of invisibility or anonymity some people feel when posting on the internet.

Now let me preface this by saying that I am in no way famous or well known. Sometimes I'm not even very popular in my own household. But I do maintain an internet presence, mostly photography related, and mostly geared toward the benefit of my students. This blog is one such place I do that. Flickr is another. And maybe what I am about to talk about is something I should get used to if I have any aspirations of watching my veiwership grow, but this wasn't directed at me, it was at one of my students.

So here we go. I maintain a Flickr group only open to my Tri-Community students. It is a place that I have opened up so they can showcase their work, get critiques or be lauded, and hopefully for them to network, grow, expand, and meet new people.

There was an image posted recently that was a very nice piece. It was a production still from a horror movie, and it is well shot. This is EXACTLY the type of work I hope to have entered into the group. It is a work, shot outside the confines of our school, and hopefully the shooter used some knowledge gleaned in our classes to help him create his vision.

Is it to everyone's taste? Probably not. But it is well executed. Someone didn't like it. I can appreciate that.

She said so. I can also appreciate that. And I'd imagine that her response was perhaps exactly the response the OP (original poster) was looking for, as it was an image from a horror film.

Here is the image and the ensuing posts:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sleazycompany/3641132900/

I perhaps made a mistake by posting that the image was a production still. The commenter that didn't like the image went into the OP's photostream to further examine his work. Ahh, just what we are hoping to do!

But she mentioned that she would like to see a description accompanied with the image. I don't think that is neccessary, and perhaps detracts from the initial emotional reaction to the shot. Someone else agreed with me. And she formulated a very articulate and thought provoking argument. And then she started name calling.

I have left the image up in the group. I want my studentsto see the work, and I want them to read the comments.

Why is it neccessary to resort to name calling? Especially with a well thought out response? It no longer appears to be an articulate argument. Again, I am not famous. But in the places where I maintain a presence, I estimate 75% of the people that come across it actually know me in person, so I would not resort to such tactics.

Please people, pretend that these people know you, or could possibly meet you. Or you may become a famous (insert something here) someday. And these people will call TMZ to let them know just what an @ss you may be.

Rant over...

Now on to the haps at school this week.

Monday and Wednesday night night we will cover contracts and other paperwork and catch up with the calendar.

On Tuesday night I hope to have a model or 4, however it hasn't been confirmed yet. But I do have a back up plan.

If you feel the need to name call, I have posted another poorly shot, poorly composed iPhone image of my kids at the top. Please tell me how much I suck, what crappy equipment I use, etc. I have thick skin. But let's not chase off the students that are striving to get better, and honing their skills, and are new to posting work on the internet. I want them to keep coming back.

Frank

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July everyone! I hope everyone is enjoying this major holiday weekend and practicing being "safe & sane". Again, it will be a hot weekend here in California, so please enjoy your bbq's, swimming, and good friends and family, and of course, take lot's of pictures.

I have posted this weeks challenge over at the Tri Community Flickr page, and of course it is shooting fireworks. If you are a student at Tri, please come by and check us out, we are GROWING!

http://www.flickr.com/groups/1081372@N23/

So many people have questions about how to shoot fireworks, so I thought I would use this post to point you in the right direction with lot's of links and info. Of course the main requirement is a tripod. These will be long exposure shots, so to get the image as sharp as possibe, you will have to use one.

Here are some helpful links and information:

http://www.scottkelby.com/blog/2009/archives/5370

http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-photograph-fireworks

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/fireworks.htm

http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-fireworks-guide,0,1751307.story

And don't forget, 4th of July bbq's and get togethers are great memory makers for kids and adults alike, bring your cameras and record them.

There will be another post on Sunday about what we will be working on next week at Tri, for now, I have to go cover this pasty white body with sun screen.

Have fun!

Frank

Welcome new students!

Hey everyone!

Just wanted to welcome the new students and give them some information. Some of my students may already know this, and some may have been looking for it.

First, the ways to find me. I'm here obviously, but I'm also here: http://www.frankwisephotography.com/ which has had some new work posted so please come take a look. And I'm here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/frankwise/ along with many other members of the Tri Community Tribe. And I'm here: http://www.modelmayhem.com/frankwise

And sometimes I'm here: http://www.supershoots.net/portfolio.cfm?ID=368 and of course I'm ALWAYS here: http://twitter.com/FrankWisePhoto but you will probably never find me here: http://www.myspace.com/frankwisephotography. So where can we find you? Feel free to tell us where to find you in the comments below.

I have created an Amazon store which is down to the right over here------------>

that has some helpful links to items we have talked about and things I use and recommend to make it easy for you to find. Now obviously you don't have to buy them from there, but I couldn't think of an easier way to do it.

Now onto some more interesting stuff. Coming up this week in my classes.

Monday night in Beginning Wedding we will be discussing "Shooting the big day"

Tuesday night in Lighting on Location we will be working on getting everyone comfortable with setting their cameras and flashes for off camera flash.

On Wednesday in Advanced Wedding I was asked quite a bit about meters and lighting, so we will cover how to use a meter, and we may have some hot lights to play with, "ala Jerry Ghionis"

As for navigating around the blog, I have included a list of links to places and people that are relevant to our passions, please visit them. They include fabulous photographers, products I use, sites dediated to rating cameras and lenses, and photoshop tutorials and actions.

Here are some interesting things I have come across this week:

http://www.pixelatedimage.com/blog/2009/06/a-question-of-definition/

http://my.alltop.com/frankwise

http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2009/06/someones-got-to-be-first.html

http://strobist.blogspot.com/2009/06/on-assignment-hcac-dancer.html

Many of you know the model at the top of the page as Wendy. This is from a shoot we did in a very interesting location that has a funny story about it, but that will be saved for another date.

Stay tuned, I hope to update again before next weekend.

Just so you know, most of the blog posts are much more focused, but I try and do something like this at the beginning of every semester t get everyone new up to speed. Hope it helps, and see you in school!

Frank

1st month with the Canon 5D MKII

I have had the new Canon 5D MKII for a month now, and let me just say, WOW! I will preface this by saying that I don't shoot test charts, and I have only used the camera in real world photographic situations. It has been used for engagement shoots, several studio shoots, a Star Wars characters shoot with my class, and chasing my kids around. It continues to impress me with it's low light capabilities, and obviously it's large file sizes are a pleasure to work with. Here are my impressions:

The low light capabilities are awesome, and I haven't even utilized them that much. See my prior blog post of model Rachel Rankin and Star Wars images for the proof, they were shot hand held, and after 8:00pm. With just a slight tweak to the white balance, I was able to create what I feel is an otherworldly appearance, exactly what I was hoping for. For a Canon shooting wedding photographer, this camera has got to be high on your list of must haves.

I have had my old 5D for over 3 years, and one of my biggest complaints has always been the poor LCD screen and it's very blue tint. That has finally been resolved, the new LCD screen is beautiful, and much better and accurate for judging color tones in an image.

The large file sizes are a blessing, and a curse. If you tend to shoot loosely, they leave a lot of room for cropping. But when opened in Photoshop, they open to 60mb's. Add a layer or 2, and you better have some serious horsepower to work on the images, or expect a painfully long wait while filters or actions are running. And expect to add hard drive space quickly and often. But the images will handle a bunch of manipulation.

This camera is also very critical of the lenses you use with it. As a father, when chasing my daughter around at soccer or her horseback riding lessons, I like to use my 70-300mm IS lens. It works amazingly well on the old 5D. On the new MKII, the camera out resolves the capabilities of the lens. Expect to need L series lenses. The 24-70 2.8, 70-200 2.8 IS, and 135 F2 all work beautifully on the camera though.

I have not experienced the low light hunting that many have been complaining about on the net, although that could be due to my familiarality with the old 5D. I will say that this is probably the weakest part of the new 5D though. I really wish Canon would steal a page out of Nikons book, and upgrade the 5D series autofocus to it's sibling 1D series system.

Another feature that I would love to see is the ability to remotely fire your speedlights from the camera without having to buy a master unit or the STE-2 trigger. Just sayin...

I didn't get this camera for it's video features, so I can't speak to that. I only shot 1 small video, and it looks impressive, but I am in no way an expert there.

I also didn't get this camera for it's speed. This camera is not a speed demon, Canon has other models for that. It is not the camera you will see on the sidelines at sporting events, it doesn't do 10 fps, this is a portrait shooter or studio shooters camera.

You can see alot of images I have shot with it here on my blog, (Star Wars, Brian & Michelle Engagement) and on my Flickr site, here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/frankwise/

As a special note for iPhone/Canon users, you can get your camera manuals on your iPhone through iTunes, a handy feature while your out in the field with a new camera.

Another feature I love is the ability to assign custom settings to the command dial using C1, C2, & C3. Like to shoot b&w's occasionally, but don't want to dive in to the menus? Set up C1 with your favorite B&W set up, and it's a dial turn away.

I am still undecided on the high light priority setting, I have shot several samples with it on & off, and haven't pixel peeped deep enough to see a noticeable difference, and it locks you in to using ISO 200 as the lowest setting.

Expect this post to be added to in the future.

Pros: Low light, better screen, large files, great color rendition, beautiful skin tones, easily customizable.

Cons: Autofocus system hasn't been upgraded, requires use of L glass (is that really a con?)

I also have a barely broken in 40D for sale if anyone is interested. It has only been used as a 2nd body during wedding shoots. If interested, send me a shout.

Frank