Dengrove Studios Blog

As a photographer, I’m often asked by people where they can learn more about photography and techniques to improve their own picture taking. Go to any book store and you’ll find hundreds if not thousands of books on photography. It can be very daunting to figure out which ones are good and which ones will help you improve.

So, in order to help you out, I present to you…..”What’s on My Bookshelf”, a recommendation of some of what I feel are the best photography books for you to further your knowledge and hone your skills. The books I’m going to talk about cover a wide range of audiences from beginner hobbyist to advanced photographer, so there should be something here for everyone! Of course the best way to improve your photography is to get out there and shoot anytime you can. So it’s not enough to simply read these great books, you have to go out and practice these new skills as well.

Digital Photography Book Boxed Set

The first book I’d like to tell you about is actually a set of 3. The Digital Photography Book boxed set, by Scott Kelby actually started out years ago as a single book. As digital photography keeps expanding and changing follow-up books were added to the series.

Scott Kelby is a professional photographer, teacher, and author of countless books on digital photography and Photoshop. He is also the president of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP), this guy knows digital photography! So who better than to write a series of books covering all sorts of topics in digital photography.

These books are geared more towards beginners or people who are new to digital photography, but there are plenty of techniques and “recipes” that even seasoned professionals could use.

The best part about these books is the way they are written. Imagine you’re out in the field trying to shoot a landscape, or composing a portrait shot. Wouldn’t it be great if Scott Kelby were there with you and could give you live tips about the best settings to use for your camera, or where to position your subject? That is just how these books are written, it’s like he’s actually there with you! These books aren’t about theory or jargon, Scott Kelby simply picks a topic such as “Composing Great Landscapes” and then writes about it as if you and he were two buddies out on a shoot together all the while giving you tips, tricks, and real world knowledge for getting the best shot.

To learn more about these books or Scott Kelby visit his website at www.scottkelby.com

The Moment it Clicks

After you’ve finished reading Scott Kelby’s books on Digital Photography I know you’ll be craving more. Maybe something a bit more advanced. My next suggestion is The Moment It Clicks, by Joe McNally. Joe McNally is an internationally acclaimed magazine photographer, whose career spans over 30 years with assignments in over 50 countries. He is also Scott Kelby’s friend and mentor so it’s no surprise that Scott Kelby himself would recommend this  as a follow-up book to his series.

The Moment It Clicks strives to impart photo knowledge through Joe McNally’s unique experiences shooting varied assignments all over the world. He begins each concept with a one sentence introduction that immediately draws you in. Recounting the inside story and techniques of how each of his beautiful images were taken, you can’t help but have several “Ah-ha” moments while reading this book.

I know I had one in just the first couple of pages of this amazing book. In fact sitting here skimming through the pages to write this for you, I really think it’s about time I re-read this great book. You will definitely walk away from it with a greater appreciation of how all those awesome magazine shots you see really get created, for most of them it’s simply a controlled chaos situation where anything can happen. By learning the techniques that Joe McNally discusses and listening to his wisdom, you’ll be able to shoot in any situation that arrises.

To learn more about this book or the author Joe McNally, visit his website at www.joemcnally.com

The Hot Shoe Diaries

If you like Joe McNally then stay tuned, because we’re not quite done with him yet. Let me introduce Joe McNally’s other great book The Hot Shoe Diaries. If you’re a photographer who loves using his or her speedlights like I do, and feels they can be used to light virtually any photograph, then you’re what we call a “strobist”.

Lucky for us, Joe McNally is one too! This book is all about the amazing travels and photographs that Joe McNally has created over the years using nothing more than Nikon Speedlights. As with his other book, he beings by drawing you into one of his gorgeous images and then walks you through step by step on how he created it using nothing more than speedlights. As always there are amazing nuggets of knowledge you’ll pick up along the way from his wide and varied experiences creating these images and meeting people all over the world.

If you’re not a strobist, this book might just change your mind about becoming one, when you see all the amazing images that Joe McNally has created without a single studio flash. Whenever I find myself in a tough lighting situation, or even just feeling I’ve hit a dead end, referring back to this book always gets my creative lighting juices flowing and seems to make anything possible.

Photography

The last book I’d like to tell you about is mostly for you beginners out there, and is very aptly named “Photography“. Written by Barbara London, Jim Stone, and John Upton, Photography is the de-facto standard text book on the subject.

That’s why it’s up the ninth, yes NINTH edition! This book is, as the back cover states, the “#1 photography text year after year”. If you’re just a newbie starting out in photography and don’t know your shutter from your aperture, or a more experienced photographer that would like to review the basics then this is the book for you!

To say this book touches on almost any subject in photography would be an understatement. There is even a chapter on film photography and film dark room processing! From basic techniques, to photo lighting and even Ansel Adams’ “Zone System” this book covers it all and does it in such a way that you can’t help but take away knowledge that will make anyone a better photographer.

Although a bit pricey, this is one book every photographer needs to have on their shelf. Wait a min, in doing research for this blog post I just learned that a Tenth edition of this book was just recently released! Looks like I need to get myself a new copy, as should you!

Well these are just a couple of the many many photography books on my bookshelf that I highly recommend. These 4 should definitely give some reading material for the next few weeks at least. Of course I can’t stress enough that the only way to truly learn the techniques presented in these books is to get out there and shoot, shoot, shoot! If you’ve found any photography resources that you enjoy please feel free to post your recommendations, and as always we’d love to see some results of the photos you’ve taken.

Scott Dengrove is a professional photographer from the NYC area. Scott’s work has been featured in many national photography competitions and published in several nationally circulated magazines and publications. In addition, his work can currently be seen in 3 exhibits at Cosi® restaurants in New York and Connecticut. For more information, and to see more of Scott’s work visit his website at www.dengrovestudios.com and connect with him on his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/dengrovestudios

Welcome back all and Happy New Year, I know it’s been a while since there’s been a blog post but I’ve been very tied up with new photo shoots. I thought we would touch on a topic that is fast becoming a “very big thing” in the photo community for both hobbyists and professionals alike. HDR Photography…it’s a term that I’m sure you’ve heard tossed around, but many people aren’t sure what it is, and what it can do for your photos.

HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. Have you ever tried to take a photo of a landscape with lots of trees and a nice bright blue sky only to discover that the photo doesn’t look like the scene in front of you at all? Perhaps the sky is perfectly exposed but the trees are all dark. Or maybe the trees look perfect but the sky is so blown out it almost looks white. What happened?

Perfect sky, dark shadows

Overexposed sky, nice shadows

Think about a night scene, you’re walking along a street, there are very bright street lights, headlights of cars, but when you look up at the sky you can still see the stars and even perhaps a blue tint to the sky. This is because the human eye can actually see a range of over 24 f-stops of light. This range of light is referred to as “dynamic range”. It is the difference between the minimum and maximum amount of light that can be seen at the same time. The very wide dynamic range of the human eye allows us to clearly discern both the bright street lights and the very dim stars all at the same time.

Unfortunately, we’re not so lucky with our cameras. Even the best digital cameras made only have a dynamic range of 10-14 f-stops. This makes our camera’s almost 1000x less sensitive than our eyes. This is why when you try to shoot the same scene with a wide dynamic range of light with your camera it doesn’t look anything like it did when you were looking at the scene through your own eyes. So what can we do to fix this? Do we have to take everyone we know with us when we travel somewhere so they can all see the same scene with their own eyes?

As awesome as that would be, although I imagine it would be tough to coordinate all of those schedules, this is where HDR photography comes in, or High Dynamic Range. HDR Photography allows you to shoot a particular scene with 3 or 5 different exposures and then using special software combine all those photos into one that has the best exposed parts of each individual photo. So now you can shoot that sky and tree scene exposing for the sky in one photo, the trees in another, and all the other pieces in between. Then combine them into one beautifully exposed photo throughout.

The last time I was at Disney’s Animal Kingdom I took these 5 photos of the “Tree of Life”. Each one is exposed slightly differently so that the set covers the full dynamic range of light present in the scene.

Tree of Life -2 exposure

Tree of Life -1 exposure

Tree of Life 0 exposure

Tree of Life +1 exposure

Tree of Life +2 exposure

Tree of Life HDR Photo

As you can see this photo now shows everything from the sky to the ground to the tree perfectly exposed. I’ve actually just started toying with HDR photography and it takes quite a bit of practice to get good at it. I’ll be the first to admit that I have quite a ways to go. Like with anything else though practice makes perfect! So the next time you find yourself shooting and the scene doesn’t look quite the same in your camera as it does in person, think about creating an HDR photo.

I’ve barely scratched the surface of HDR Photography in this blog post. It was really meant to be an overview of the process rather than an in-depth how to. There are many people who do this type of work better than I so it would be worth it for you to check out some of their pages and their awesome photography.

The website “Stuck in Customs” is an awesome site created by Trey Ratcliff with a great free tutorial on how to create HDR photos. Don’t forget to check out his awesome gallery as well here. After looking at these photos one thing is clear, you can’t help but be “wowed” by a good HDR photo.

As always please feel free to post your results, leave comments, and ask questions. Happy Shooting!

Scott Dengrove is a professional photographer from the NYC area. Scott’s work has been featured in many national photography competitions and published in several nationally circulated magazines and publications. In addition, his work can currently be seen in 3 exhibits at Cosi® restaurants in New York and Connecticut. For more information, and to see more of Scott’s work visit his website at www.dengrovestudios.com and connect with him on his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/dengrovestudios

The Holidays are fast approaching, which means you probably have a list of loved ones, or not so loved ones who you need to buy gifts for. If any of those people on your  list have an interest in photography, whether it’s a hobby or a profession than this guide is for you. Even if you are the photographer yourself, reading this, I’m sure you’ll find something on this list that you’ll want to add to your arsenal. I’m going to walk you through 5 must-have gadgets for every photographer, and the good news for you is none of these items will break the bank!

Item 1 – The Gorillapod

Gorillapod Family (photo courtesy of Joby, Inc)

Sounds and looks like something out of a science fiction film, but the original Gorillapod has become so popular that it has spawned a whole Gorilla family of devices. So  what  the heck is a Gorillapod? Made by Joby, Inc. the Gorillapod is the ultimate mini-tripod. With it’s flexible legs and great accessories there’s no other tripod in the world like it.

Say you want to take a night time photo of  a city skyline from the top of a tall building, such as the Empire State Building or Willis Tower. You look around, but find no place to rest your camera to steady it. Enter the Gorillapod, with it’s flexible legs you can secure your camera right to the railing on the side of the building, making your camera rock-steady to take the shot. You can’t do that with a traditional tripod.

The Gorillapod comes in several different sizes to accommodate all cameras from compact point and shoots, to the largest DSLR’s. They even make one for video cameras. With prices ranging from just $19.95 for the original, the Gorillapod makes the perfect present for any photographer. Get it here at www.joby.com. I use mine ALL THE TIME!

Gorillapod on Rail (photo courtesy of Joby, Inc.)

Gorillapod on Tree (photo courtesy of Joby, Inc.)

Digital Calibration Target (photo courtesy of Photovision)

When digital cameras came along we all had to learn about a new setting that traditional film cameras didn’t have, white balance. White balance tells the sensor of your digital camera what color the light is in your scene. For example, when shooting indoors the light tends to be more orange. While shooting outside on an overcast day the light will tend to take on a blueish color. Setting your white balance properly allows your camera to get the colors in your image correct no matter what color the light is.

To nail perfect color every time I use and recommend a Digital Calibration Target from Photovision. The Digital Calibration Target acts like a neutral gray card allowing your camera to measure the color of the light in your scene. This allows your camera to set proper white balance. This function alone would be worth it, but Photovision’s Digital Calibration Targets do so much more! They also allow you to check proper exposure.

Exposure Histogram (photo courtesy of Photovision)

Since each one is colored with a black, gray, and white stripe, you can use your camera’s histogram to make sure that your exposure is perfect every time. Not only that, they come in several different sizes depending on your application, and fold down to 1/2 their size. If that wasn’t enough in a pinch you can flip your Digital Calibration Target over and use it as a reflector. With several different sizes, prices, and even money saving packages you’re bound to find a Digital Calibration Target that’s right for the photographer on your gift list. Get yours here at www.photovision.com. I use the 14″ size and keep it in my camera bag all the time.

Eye-Fi wireless memory card (photo courtesy of Eye-Fi, Inc.)

When you’re done shooting photos with your digital camera for the day, there’s always an annoying chore that follows. You have to hook up your camera or memory card to a computer and copy all those images. Wouldn’t it be great if your photos could magically get sent to your computer as you were shooting them?

Why limit yourself to a computer, with the Eye-Fi wireless memory card from Eye-Fi, Inc. now you can transmit your photos directly from your camera to your computer, laptop, iPod, iPad, Facebook, Flickr, and tons of other places right as you snap the photo! The Eye-Fi wireless memory card replaces your cameras regular SD card. It will both store your photos and transmit them in real-time as long as you have a Wi-Fi connection.

There are several models to choose from which perform everything from transmitting your photos, to geo-tagging them, to creating their own ad-hoc wireless network for transmitting to your computer. But, what if you have a DSLR that only takes Compact Flash cards?

You may still be in luck, although Eye-Fi does not officially support it, many people have had great success using their Eye-Fi wireless memory card in their DSLR’s with an SD-Compact Flash adapter.

The best news is all of this functionality starts at just $49.99. The Eye-Fi makes a perfect gift for anyone who uses a digital camera, amateurs and professionals alike. Get yours here at www.eyefi.com.

How Eye-Fi Works (photo courtesy of Eye-Fi, Inc.)

Item 4 – Tri-Grip Reflector

Tri-grip Reflector (photo courtesy of Lasolite, Ltd.)

It’s been said time and time again that the best way to photograph portraits is using diffuse natural light, such as in the shade of a tree. The problem when dealing with nature is the sun and your natural light don’t always appear where you need it to. This is where a reflector comes in handy. Reflectors can be used to bounce the light right onto your subject where you need it. They usually come in many sizes and also with several different covers depending on what type of light you are reflecting.

So how is the Tri-Grip Reflector from Lasolite Ltd. different? It’s unique triangular shape allows you to hold and position it with only one hand. This is a huge help as normal round reflectors usually require a dedicated assistant or a bulky light-stand with an extension arm to hold them up and keep them properly aimed. With the Tri-Grip Reflector you can now hold your camera in one hand and your reflector in the other to take the perfect portrait wherever you are.

Shoot the photo and hold the reflector (photo courtesy of Lasolite, Ltd.)

Selling for around $65 with a plethora of add on accessories including different reflective surfaces and a full money-saving kit, the Lasolite Tri-Grip Reflector is the perfect gift for a photographer that shoots in natural light with minimal assistance. You can get more information about the Tri-Grip Reflector including where to purchase it at www.lasolite.com.

Canon Lens Mug (photo courtesy of Canon Mugs)

Alright, so this is not a product that you use while shooting photos but I think it is the most awesome one on the list and something that any photography enthusiast would love. Lens Mugs are travel thermoses in the shape of a Zoom Lens. They come in both Canon and Nikon versions depending on which side of the debate you’re on and the detail in them is simply amazing! So much so that they actually have a big disclaimer posted on their website that says “This is a lens mug, not an actual lens. Don’t pour coffee into your real lens!”

Nikon Lens Mug (photo courtesy of Canon Mugs)

Starting at about $45 there are many different sizes and options to choose from and each one is simply incredible. They even offer 10-packs so you can get one for every photographer on your holiday list. Get yours right here at www.canonmugs.com. Yeah I know, it seems to make them a bit Canon bias but they have really cool Nikon stuff too, I promise, go look.

As always if you have any questions about any of the products mentioned or own any of the products discussed please feel free to leave comments, reviews, and endorsements. I wish you all the best and a great Holiday Season to you and yours.

Scott Dengrove is a professional photographer from the NYC area. Scott’s work has been featured in many national photography competitions and published in several nationally circulated magazines and publications. In addition, his work can currently be seen in 3 exhibits at Cosi® restaurants in New York and Connecticut. For more information, and to see more of Scott’s work visit his website at www.dengrovestudios.com and connect with him on his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/dengrovestudios

We’ve been talking quite a bit about technique lately, so I thought we might take a break from that and talk a bit more about digital photography in general and what to look for when buying a new camera. This one is aimed more at the beginner to intermediate crowd.

So you’re in the market for a new digital camera? It seems everyone is these days and there are more choices than ever! So how do you choose the one that’s right for you?

The first question you need to ask yourself is what type of shooter are you? Are you looking for something small and compact that you can throw in a purse or a pocket for just general use, or are you looking for a more professional camera with interchangeable lenses?

There are 2 main categories of digital cameras point and shoots and SLRs (Single Lens Reflex). Point and shoots are aimed more at everyday photographers who stay on Automatic settings most of the time and simply want to be able to quickly pull out a tiny camera from their bag and click off a few photos. SLRs are aimed more at the intermediate to advanced crowd that wants the ultimate control over their photos.

Point and Shoot Camera (Nikon Coolpix S570)

SLR Camera (Nikon D90)

In today’s digital camera market the line between these 2 categories is actually becoming rather blurred as new hybrids come out all the time such as the new “Pen” type cameras that have the body of a point and shoot but can use interchangeable lenses like an SLR. Not to mention the fact that a lot of digital cameras can also take HD Video that rivals some video cameras.

Once you have decided what category of camera you’d like to buy there are still a number of different features to consider. The first thing everyone asks when looking at a new camera is “How many megapixels is it?” But, do megapixels really matter, and just what is a megapixel anyway?

When your digital camera takes an image it is made up of millions of very small dots. Each one of these dots is called a pixel. Mega means million, so if you have a digital camera that shoots at 8 megapixels, that means the camera is capable of taking an image made up of 8 million pixels! That’s a lot of dots, so just how many do you actually need, and is more better?

Digital Images are made up of pixels (Photo courtesy of pixelkids.org)

Well as it turns out the importance of megapixels really comes into play only if you are printing your digital images. You see all websites and computer screens display images at a very low resolution. An average image that you see on your computer screen is only made up of a couple hundred thousand pixels.

Wait? only a couple hundred thousand pixels to show an image on a screen? Yes, that’s what I said, so if you’re the type of shooter that mostly displays their images on a digital device such as a computer, tv, ipod, or digital photo frame and doesn’t do a lot of printing of images, then getting a high megapixel camera will most-likely be a waste of money for you!

Even if you’re the type of shooter that prints every image they take you still probably don’t need all of those megapixels. An 8×10 printed image actually only contains about 7.2 million pixels, so even if you’d like to blow up that cute picture you took of your dog to an 8×10 you would still only need an 8 megapixel camera!

Then why is everyone so obsessed with megapixels? It’s just one of those industry numbers that everyone has heard of so they want you to think more megapixels = better images = buy this camera! Now if you’re looking to print larger photos such as 11×14, 16×20 or even posters, than sure go out and buy that 10, 12, or 14 megapixel camera, but if you’re only printing smaller photos or not printing at all and only sharing online then you can save yourself quite a bit of money when buying a new camera.

What else should you look for when buying a new digital camera? One feature that I highly recommend is optical zoom. Be careful not to confuse this with digital zoom. What is optical zoom? Optical zoom means that when using the zoom function to get closer to your subject the lens actually moves and that is what makes the image appear larger.

This is different from digital zoom, which is when the computer in your camera does the zooming in order to make your subject larger. This can cause your photos to be less sharp and will reduce the resolution of the photo.

Some cameras use a combination of both optical and digital zoom to make your subject larger. Try to look for a camera that has just optical zoom or both optical and digital. Stay away from cameras that only have digital zoom. You will get much cleaner and sharper photos from an optically zoomed image.

Digital vs. Optical Zoom (photo courtesy of bobatkins.com)

Another feature you want to look for in your digital camera is how well it will perform in low-light. This is super important because what you consider to be a low-light situation is very different from what your camera considers to be low-light.

This is because the human eye can see much better than any camera ever invented. Our eyes have no problem seeing a person perfectly clear in a dimly lit room or even by candle-light.

Your camera on the other hand can sometimes have trouble seeing clearly. Even when it is in what a human might consider a reasonably well-lit room.

Try to take a photo by candlelight and you’re likely to wind up with a blurry mess if your camera doesn’t have the right features! Now of course you could always turn on your flash, but that would ruin the mood wouldn’t it.

What you need to shoot low-light photos is a camera with a very fast lens. When purchasing a point and shoot camera or even a lens for an SLR camera you want to look for one that can open very wide to let the most amount of light in. This is called the aperture of the lens. Being this is an article aimed at beginners I’m not going to get very technical about the aperture here, to learn more about it you can view our previous blog post, A-Mode, Would You Like Your Depth of Field Deep or Shallow.

How do you know if a camera has a fast lens and will perform well in low-light? You need to make sure the camera or lens has a wide aperture. The size of the aperture is measured in f-stops. So it will look something like this “f/4″.

Or it may be written as a range if it’s a zoom lens such as “f/3.5-5.6″. Or possibly it may be written in an abbreviated format such as “1:3.5-8″. Either way, you should  look for a camera whose lens’ smallest number  is f/2.8 or smaller. So if you see a smaller number such as f/1.4 or f/1.8 that would work as well.

Having a camera with a fast lens (wide aperture) will allow you to capture much better images in low-light while other people without a fast lens will have to use their flash to get the same results.

The largest aperture size on this lens is f/3.5 which means it won't perform well in very low-light you want to look for f/2.8 or smaller

To summarize, we have reviewed a few things that you should keep an eye out for when shopping for a new digital camera. Cameras today have all sorts of bells, whistles, and especially features. They come in every size, color, shape, and price. It is not as important who makes your new camera, as it is that it has the particular features that you are looking for.

We were only able to cover a few in this article, as covering them all would require me to write a book, but I hope I’ve given you some things to look out for, and some options to consider.

If you have any questions or would like some further advice on purchasing your new digital camera please feel free to post a comment or get in touch with us.

Welcome to the brand new blog for Dengrove Studios. I have jumped on the interactive bandwagon My goal for this blog is to discuss what’s going on here at Dengrove Studios, new projects, existing projects, and photography in general.

I would also like to use this blog to discuss how you can become a better photographer in your daily life. It will be aimed at beginning and intermediate photographers; everyone from dear sweet grandma taking occasional snapshots of the family vacation, to the aspiring photographer who just bought his first DSLR camera.

I would like this to blog to be a place for interaction and discussion so please feel free to register and post comments. Do you have something you’d like to let people know related to photography? You could be a guest blogger or regular contributor, just let me know if you’re interested.

Thank you for visiting our new blog. I have resisted starting one for a while because they very easily can turn into a boring life history of the person posting. I promise to keep this blog on track with the goals I’ve discussed above, and if I should happen to veer off course, which could happen from time to time, just post a comment getting me back on track

-Scott

Scott Dengrove
Dengrove Studios
www.dengrovestudios.com