It’s the start of a brand new year and I have a new technique for you to try that will revolutionize your photography from this day forward. Get Closer!

Get Closer? Get closer to what? Your friends? Your family? Your camera? Ohhh I bet your camera would love that, take it out to a nice dinner and a movie.

No, get closer to your subjects! One of the absolute most simplest, best ways to improve your photography is to start getting closer to your subjects. Perhaps a visual demonstration is in order…take my Gorilla friend here.

Gorilla Full Torso Shot

As photographs go, it’s not a bad shot. It shows the overall Gorilla, it’s relative size, and some of it’s surroundings. There may be some glare from the glass that was captured, but that can be forgiven considering the fact it was shot at a zoo. However, it is kind of boring and plain when you look at it. It’s basically just a Gorilla standing there.

So what if we got closer, much, much closer like this (btw I highly recommend clicking on the photo to see the full effect)…

Gorilla Face Closer!

Now the photograph has taken on a completely new meaning. It puts us right there eye to eye with the great majestic beast. At this distance we can see every wrinkle, every nuance of character in the Gorilla’s face, and most importantly those big, brown eyes starting right back at us.

There are so many visually interesting things to look at and think about now. Look at those crumbs in his beard…I wonder what he ate for lunch? His eyes look kind of sad…is he going through a rough time in his life, is he trying to express his displeasure at being stuck behind glass, or do his eyes always look like that?

Being so close to him in this photo it’s almost impossible not to connect with him on an emotional level, and think to yourself, wow those eyes really do look so human. All from simply doing nothing more than getting closer to your subject.

Now of course, when we say “get closer” we mean in a safe and responsible way. Certainly, I’m not suggesting that you climb into the Gorilla enclosure and meet them face to face.

There are 3 ways that you can get closer to your subjects when shooting your photos:

1. You can physically walk closer to them when taking your shot; but perhaps not in the case of dealing with Gorilla’s or other wild animals. That would give a whole new meaning to the term “that’s the end of that camera”. It does work amazing when shooting people though, especially children.
2. You can use the zoom function on your camera, or a zoom lens in the case of an SLR camera. This is a great way to get close to subjects that are very far away, or are out of reach, such as if they are a wild animal behind a glass enclosure.
3. You can crop the photo in post-production after you’ve taken the shot to make it appear that you were closer. This is a good option for those times when you forget to get closer to your subject when shooting and decide later on that would be a better composition.

Each of these methods has positive attributes and also some drawbacks depending on the situation.

Physically getting closer to your subject is usually the preferred method if possible. This allows you to better connect with your subject while taking the shot, and also helps you to see your subject from a new perspective as the surroundings often change when you move closer. This allows you some really great options to set up the perfect composition in your shot. So why not do this all the time?

This method has some drawbacks too, which we discussed briefly before. Sometimes your physical location in relation to the subject doesn’t allow you to get any closer. Perhaps you’re behind a barrier of some kind. Maybe getting closer would put you in a dangerous situation such as if you were photographing a fire, or a flash flood. One key to taking great photos is definitely remaining safely out of danger so you can share them with others.

Physically getting closer to this flower, afforded me the opportunity to also capture this pollinating bee in the shot.

Getting Physically Closer - Flower and Bee

If you can’t get physically closer to your subject, you can try using the zoom function on your camera, or a zoom lens to get yourself closer to the action. Using zoom is a great alternative to get closer when your shooting situation doesn’t allow you to physically get as close as you would like. Such as, if you were shooting some people on a boat out on the lake, while standing on the shore. Or perhaps your subject is in a show or a concert, you certainly can’t get right up on stage with them. I mean you probably could, but it would most likely be the last thing you ever shoot in that venue.

Zooming is great, but it has it’s drawbacks as well. If you are using the zoom function on a point and shoot camera you need to be careful not to zoom too far. Point and shoot cameras use 2 types of zoom systems, optical and digital.

Optical is when the lens physically moves to make the image larger and the glass elements arrange themselves closer or further away to zoom in on the action. Digital zoom is when the camera actually does it’s own cropping of the image it’s shooting. In essence it’s not really zooming but enlarging a portion of the scene that the camera lens is seeing. Digital zoom is actually something you want to stay away from because it causes your images to have less resolution and pixelate the more zoomed in that you go.

Most point and shoot cameras use an optical system up to a certain point and then switch to a digital system. For example your point and shoot camera might use optical zoom until your image gets 3x as large, then it switches to a digital zoom up to 10x as large, which will cause pixelation. So as long as you use only the optical zoom function your image should still retain maximum resolution. Most cameras allow you turn off digital zoom in the camera’s settings.

If using an SLR camera with a zoom lens, you don’t have to worry about pixelation  as an SLR uses a completely optical zoom system. However, you do need to be concerned with camera shake. When using a zoom lens each small movement of the camera gets magnified because you’re focusing on a smaller area of the scene in front of you. This can cause blur to show up in your images and make them less sharp.

So how much zoom is too much on an SLR? The rule of thumb is that in order to hand-hold your camera your shutter speed should not fall below the value of the focal length of your lens. So for example, if you are using a 100mm lens on a full-frame SLR camera, you should make sure to use a shutter speed of 1/125s  (1/125 is the closest full shutter stop to 100) or faster in order to hand-hold your camera. Putting your camera on a tripod will of course eliminate camera shake and allow you to use slower shutter speeds with your zoom lens.

By the way…it’s important to remember when using a crop-sensor SLR camera that you want to use a shutter speed that doesn’t fall below the full-frame equivalent value of the focal length of your lens. For example, if you were shooting with a 150mm lens on an crop-sensor (APS-C size) SLR camera, you should make sure to use a shutter speed of 1/250s or faster in order to hand-hold the camera. This is because the full-frame equivalent of the 150mm lens is approximately 225mm. The closest full shutter stop to that is 1/250s.

Using a zoom lens allowed me to get a great shot of the “burning man” at the Lights, Motor, Action stunt show in Disney’s Hollywood Studios while remaining a safe distance away from the flames in my seat at the show.

Using a Zoom Lens - Burning Man

Which brings us to our last method of getting closer to your subject. Cropping your photo after-the-fact. Cropping is perfect for when you’re back at home reviewing your photos and that “ah ha” moment hits you, I should’ve gotten closer! Cropping allows you to almost create a brand new composition out of an existing photo while directing the viewers eye exactly where you want them to look in your photo.

If cropping is so great and affords you such a high level of control, then why not just shoot all your photos in any haphazard way and worry about cropping them afterwards? Because cropping has one nasty side effect. Think back to zooming for a minute, remember when we talked about digital zoom, and how it doesn’t actually change your lens configuration, but instead magnifies a tiny portion of the image being captured by the camera? Hmm…sounds a lot like cropping doesn’t it?

That’s exactly what it is! Digital zoom is a form of cropping, and why don’t we like digital zoom? It reduces the resolution of the image and causes pixelation. Unfortunately, the same thing occurs when you crop a photo in post-production. Your camera only captures a finite amount of pixels when it takes a photo.

Let’s say you have an 8 megapixel camera. That means when you take your photo it will be made up of roughly 8 million pixels, or tiny dots. You can never get more pixels than what is originally captured…so when you crop that photo the result is only a small portion of the original photo. That means that you have thrown away quite a few of those pixels in the areas of the photo that you cut out. Which means the portion you are left with may only have half the pixels of the original or less. If too many of those pixels get thrown away then your photo will start to get grainy, and pixelated.

So, when cropping your photos make sure not to crop too tightly, or throw away too much of the original photo. That’s why the best way to get a close-up image is to use one of the first 2 methods and not have to crop at all. This will make sure you have retained the highest amount of resolution in your close-up photo and will prevent pixelation.

As you can see in the image below when you crop the original photo too much, it becomes, grainy, blurry, and pixelated. Basically at this point it is unusable.

Too Much Cropping Causes Pixelation

There are so many ways to get closer photos of your subjects, there’s no excuse not to. I guarantee doing this one thing will add a whole new dimension to the photos you take.

How do you know when you’re close enough? What I like to do is get as close as I can, and when I think it looks right to me in the viewfinder and I’ve gone far enough…I go just a little bit further. Then I can be sure I’ve gotten just the right amount of closeness between me and my subject. Plus, if you find that you need just a little bit more after you’ve taken the shot…you can always crop it after-the-fact. Starting out with a close photo of your subject will ensure that you won’t have to sacrifice too many pixels if you feel the need to crop later on.

I have a bit of a homework assignment for you to reinforce this idea and it’s something I like to do from time to time because it really makes for some very interesting shots. You can do this whether you have a point and shoot or an SLR. Set your camera to the highest zoom setting, or if you have an SLR, use your longest zoom lens. Keep it at that setting for the entire day when you go out shooting. No matter what you want to take a picture of, don’t change that zoom setting. Find a new creative way to shoot that subject up close!

You’d be amazed at how it makes you see the world differently, and you’ll get some pretty interesting and spectacular shots. As always please feel free to share the results on here, we’d love to see them!

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 2 exhibits at Cosi® restaurants in New York and Connecticut and a traveling exhibit entitled “America: Coast to Coast”. 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

Well we’ve gotten through another year, the turkeys that made it through the night are all safe once more, and that means it’s time for us to talk about the holidays. Here once again is the Dengrove Studios Holiday Gift Giving Guide for the photo enthusiast in your life. I have some great options for you this year, many of which compliment last years gifts very well. So let’s dive right in to the presents.

Item 1 – Gorillapod Ballhead

Gorillapod Ballhead (photo courtesy of Joby, Inc.)

You know that funny looking tripod that grips onto railings and you see your photographer using everywhere? That’s the Gorillapod, one of the best presents ever, which is why it made our list last year. If your photo enthusiast friends and family members were lucky enough to get one last year, then you know they use it all the time and love it. So, allow me to introduce you to the Gorillapod Ballhead, by Joby.

The Gorillapod Ballhead is an amazing accessory for the Gorillapod. The Gorillapod revolutionized the way we support our cameras, being able to hang them from railings, handles, and even tree branches, but anyone who’s used one has come up against the following problem at least once or twice.

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

Picture it…you’ve managed to secure your Gorillapod and camera to a tree branch for some great night-time photography shots. There’s only one problem, since the Gorillapod is hanging sideways your camera is set up in a portrait orientation, but fireworks are big wide displays! If only there was a way to secure your Gorillapod on the light post but angle your camera so it’s in a horizontal position.

Enter the Gorillapod Ballhead…ta-da! The Ballhead secures onto most Gorillapod models and allows you to then rotate and angle your camera while it’s sitting a top the Gorillapod. Add a while new dimension to your Gorillapod experience.

Now you can pan, tilt, and angle your camera in virtually any direction all while your camera is securely attached via your Gorillapod. Bring on the fireworks, tree trunks, landscapes, railings, group portraits and benches.

The Gorillapod Ballhead comes in several different sizes to fit virtually any Gorillapod. Get yours at www.joby.com.

Gorillapod with Ballhead (photo courtesy of Joby, Inc.)

Item 2 – Strobist™ Flash Gel Pack

Strobist Flash Gel Pack (photo courtesy of Rosco)

Does your photo enthusiast love using their speedlights? If so, I have a great accessory for them. Nothing adds a new creative dimension to flash lit photography like adding a colored gel. With all the different color options out there, the possibilities are limitless.

But there is a problem…most gels are sized for theater lights, not small speedlight strobes. Standard gel sheets are 20″ x 24″ and cost nearly $10 a piece. That’s way too much waste when you only need a small piece of gel 1.5″ x 3.25″ the size of most speedlights. Enter the Strobist™ Flash Gel Pack.

A strobist is a person who loves using speedlights over large studio strobes to shoot all kinds of photography. Strobists routinely push the limits of what can be accomplished with small portable flash light. There is a even a blog site dedicated to strobists founded by David Hobby. It’s with David, that Rosco, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of theater and film gels combined to create the Strobist™ Flash Gel Pack.

The Strobist™ Flash Gel Pack contains 55 of the best, most commonly used gel colors in a small convenient pack which is only 1.5″ x 3.25″ in size designed just for people who love their speedlights as much as your photo enthusiast does. Plus it’s less than $20! At that price there’s no excuse why a new creative world of flash photography can’t be opened for any strobist in your life.

Get yours at BHPhoto or Adorama.

Item 3 – The pod™

The pod

Sounds like a mid evil torture device, “if you don’t do what I ask, I’ll put you in the pod!” Actually, it is yet another tripod alternative. We all love our Gorillapods, of course, but new on the scene this year is The pod™ and it’s quickly making strong headway in the market for alternative tripods. Look out Gorillapod…there’s a new pod™ in town.

As the name suggests the pod™ is a small beanbag, oval in shape, with a screw which fits right into the tripod mount on the bottom of your camera. It comes in 6 different sizes to accommodate everything from the smallest point and shoot up to large video cameras. Each size is noted by it’s color, yellow, blue, red, green, black and silver although the actual color of all the pods™ is black, the colored portion is on the bottom of the pod™.

Green pod

If you’ve ever tried to support an object on a beanbag before, you quickly realize that not all shapes may be compatible. Especially when it comes to different shaped cameras.

The pod™ people thought of everything. The filling of the pod™ is accessible through a little velcro flap, this allows you to remove stuffing as necessary to mold the pod™ shape right to your camera.

Still not convinced? The price will help with that, the pods™ start at just $9.99 for the smallest(yellow) all the way up to $44.99 for the largest(silver). At that price there’s no reason not to give one a try!

I don’t own one yet, but I can’t wait to get one, so if you’re looking for a last minute gift for me…give the folks at The pod Industries a call. The pod™ can be purchased at www.thepod.ca/store.

 Item 4 – Adobe Photoshop Elements

For the first time in our holiday gift guide we have a piece of software. There are thousands of products out there to help the photo enthusiast in your life take better photos, but what happens after they take all those photos?

Photoshop Elements

Sometimes we want to make the exposure lighter, or remove red-eye from your 3 year old cousin, or perhaps the photo needs to be a little sharper. The king of all photo editing software is of course Photoshop, but with advanced editing features and a price tag of over $500 it’s really overkill for most people who aren’t doing professional photo work.

For those others out there who don’t fit the “Photoshop bill” there’s another Photoshop out there just for you, Photoshop Elements. Think of Photoshop Elements as Photoshop’s little brother. With Photoshop Elements you can add all those finishing touches to your photos without the hefty price tag and advanced user interface.

With Photoshop Elements, you can change the exposure, contrast, fix red-eye, even apply artistic filters. Now all of those photos an be picture perfect. Plus at only $99 it’s an affordable gift for any photo enthusiast. Photoshop Elements works on both PCs and Macs plus you can even download a free trial before you buy it, just to make sure it has all the features you’re looking for. Get yours at www.adobe.com.

Item 5 – Lens Mugs

Canon Lens Mug (photo courtesy of Canon Mugs)

Yes, this one is a repeat from last year…but it is still so cool! Plus nobody has gotten one for me yet, so I figured I’d put them on the list again.

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 2 exhibits at Cosi® restaurants in New York and Connecticut and a traveling exhibit entitled “America: Coast to Coast”. 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

Basically the title says it all. Today we’re going to talk about travel photography and the most important rule in travel photography is to ALWAYS HAVE YOUR CAMERA AT THE READY!

When traveling to new places that you’ve never been before you never know what you’re going to see and experience. There could be a perfect photo opportunity lying just around the corner and if you’re camera isn’t out and ready to go when you turn that corner chances are you’ll miss it.

Even a short taxi ride from the airport to your destination can yield photo opportunities. Perhaps the driver will pass a famous landmark building along the way. Or you might see some interesting native folks whose photo would help to show just how different the place is your visiting. Or maybe you’ll pass some wild looking plants like nothing you’ve ever encountered before.

It’s pretty hard to snap photos of these things while flying by them at 55 MPH if you don’t have your camera ready to go and accessible. I knew a guy who loved taking photos out car windows on the way to and from the airport. At first I wasn’t quite sure what the benefit was, but once I saw them it immediately became clear.

To further stress my point let me tell you a story about an amazing, colorful, and eerily bizarre thing that I encountered in the Detroit Airport of all places…the famous Light Tunnel.

In the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (man that’s a really long name) hidden under the tarmac, connecting the “B” and “C” concourses with the Main Terminal building lies the Light Tunnel. An amazing and other-worldly sensory overload of color, sound, and awesomeness.

My first encounter with this strange beast occurred roughly 2 years ago on a connecting flight from Huntsville, AL back to NY. I changed planes in Detroit. During my  first encounter with the Light Tunnel it really snuck up on me and I had no idea it was there or even what it was.

You see the Light Tunnel’s light and sound show is not continuous, so sometimes when you encounter it you may just think “Oh this passage has some cool architecture and I like the way it’s lit” as shown in the photo below.

This is exactly what I saw. So picture it…I just got off my plane with only a 30 minute layover before my next plane. I’m rushing to find it while I’m on the phone with somebody.

I start walking down this passage way not really noticing it too much, when all of a sudden. The lights go out…this really funky new age music starts to play and the passage way explodes into all kinds of strobing pulsing changing colors! I couldn’t believe it. Did I enter some sort of twilight zone? Am I on a bad acid trip? Did I just get smacked in the face by a big rainbow lollypop???!!!

It was incredible, I remember remarking to the person on the other end of the phone “I don’t know where the heck I just traveled to but it’s one hell of a show”. Of course I didn’t have time to really enjoy it or take it all in since I had a plane to catch at a gate on the far end of the terminal in just 10 minutes.

So I rushed through it and got to my plane just as they were closing the doors. The absolute worse part about it is that I DID NOT follow my own advice and have my camera ready. I couldn’t believe what I had just witnesses with no proof or visual reference to show people. How would they believe that I really experienced this and it wasn’t just a bad case of jet-lag.

Often times in life, opportunities like this are never repeated so that is why it’s super important to have your camera ready to grab that photograph at any time!

Ah but how does my story end you ask? Well lucky I recently had the opportunity to travel through the Detroit Airport again, but this time I was ready! I now knew the great light show that awaited me when I stopped to change planes and I was going to take full advantage of it! I scheduled myself a 2 hour layover…plenty of time.

So now we come to an important rule that’s universal in all photography. “Do whatever you have to do to get the shot!”

This is where I sat when taking photos of the light tunnel

I got off my first plane and headed straight for the Light Tunnel. I unpacked my camera and Gorilla-pod and proceeded to sit on the floor right here in the spot circled in the photograph. What a strange sight I must have been sitting on the floor in a pedestrian walkway in the middle of an airport with a camera mounted on a Gorilla-pod taking photos.

For almost 1 hour I proceeded to take all sorts of photos of the Light Tunnel with it’s crazy psychedelic light show.

All the while I was getting odd looks from travelers as they rushed along hurriedly trying to make their next flight. No less than 3 times did airport workers come over to me to ask “are you ok?” “Do you have a problem?” “Do you need medical help?”

I must’ve looked pretty strange to all of them, but I didn’t care I was getting some awesome shots, and erasing a mistake I made 2 years earlier when I was one of those travelers rushing to my next gate not stopping to see and photograph the incredible sight surrounding  me.

So the next time you guys are traveling learn from my mistakes, and be ready at all times to snap that great photo. Please feel free to share your results with us.

For those of you who are curious about the Light Tunnel at the Detroit Airport here is some more information courtesy of Wikipedia the full article may be viewed by clicking here:

This walkway, known as the Light Tunnel, features an elaborate multi-colored light show behind sculpted glass panels extending the entire length of the walkway, as well several moving walkways. The light patterns are synchronized with an original musical score composed by Victor Alexeeff, which runs for nearly a half hour before repeating. This installation, one of the first large scale uses of color changing LED lighting in the United States, was produced by Mills James Productions with glasswork by Foxfire Glass Works of Pontiac, Michigan. The display won multiple lighting design awards including the prestigious Guth Award of Merit. For passengers who are prone to medical conditions such as seizures, there are buttons at each end of the tunnel that will suspend the light show for five minutes so they can pass through with no adverse effects.

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 2 exhibits at Cosi® restaurants in New York and Connecticut and a traveling exhibit entitled “America: Coast to Coast”. 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

Since nobody sent in any requests for topics for the next blogpost, I went ahead and picked one myself. Although the offer still stands, so if you have any topics you’d like to see in the upcoming future, don’t be shy, just let me know.

We spend a lot of time on this blog talking about how to take better photos, and which equipment to use to take better photos, but we’ve never really discussed what should happen to all those photos after you take them.

Sure you could go the traditional (boring) route of putting them in a frame and displaying them on your mantle, but for those who like to think beyond the traditional there are a ton of options for displaying your photos.

If you haven’t checked out finishing options with your photographer lately or wherever you get your prints made, you should definitely do so! In just the past couple of years alone tons of brand new exciting options for displaying photos have been created, and most are very widely available in a whole range of prices.

I’d thought we’d take some time in this article to go through some of the new cool options for making your photos look their best.

Metallic Print

There are so many great options these days for printing your photos. Did you know there were special papers available to print your photos on? One of the more popular options for Landscapes and any photos with bright colors is printing them on Metallic Paper.

Metallic Paper just as the name implies give your photos a shiny lustre that gives your photos a 3-dimensional quality. And don’t think just because it’s not your standard paper it’s not reliable. Metallic paper is very durable and resistant to curling, and when printed using the proper inks has an archival value of almost 200 years.

To the left you can see the difference between a photo printed on standard paper and one on Metallic Paper. Although I will say that seeing it on the screen absolutely does not do it justice, this is one of those things that when you see it in person will simply knock your socks off.

Metallic Paper isn’t the only game in town though when it comes to special printing, in fact did you know that there are several items you can print your photos on that aren’t even paper?

Metal Prints

Do you love the look of your Stainless Steel appliances? Of course, who doesn’t? Did you know that you can get prints made directly onto metal plates?

They’re called Metal Prints and are really something to behold. These are not just paper prints laminated onto a metal plate, no way, the photo is printed directly onto the metal substrate with special inks.

Talk about durability, these metal plates will never bend, warp, or get destroyed, you couldn’t bend them if you tried! Usually Metal Prints are available in several different finishes so that you can choose between seeing the metal texture bleed through your printed photo, or having a high gloss white finish so it looks exactly like a photo printed on paper.

They’re even available with different hanging options and thicknesses.

Again the photo pales in comparison to seeing the real thing, but it should give you a generally good idea just how amazing these Metal Prints are.

So what’s the difference between a photograph and fine art painting?

Aside from the paint it’s the wonderful canvas material that the painting is painted on. Now you can blur the line between painting and photograph, let me introduce you to Gallery Wraps.

Gallery Wraps

Gallery Wraps print your photos directly onto canvas and then stretch them around a frame, so it looks just like a painting!

Gallery Wraps look great, hung over the mantle or in a family room. They bring an instant look of nostalgic “fine art” painting to any photograph.

A Gallery Wrap hung in any room instantly draws attention, as the canvas is stretched on a frame 1″ or 2″ thick the Gallery Wrap stands off the wall and makes itself known.

From the nostalgic look to the modern. If sleek and contemporary is more your style then you might want to check out Standout Mounts to display your photos.

Standout Mounting

Standout Mounts are a frameless, sleek modern way to display your photographs.

Photographic prints are surface mounted to a rectangular foam box with finished edges. The Standout Mount comes in several thicknesses including 3/4″ and 1/5″ so the print stands out off the wall, hence their name.

I personally love the clean look of Standout Mounts and use them for all my photos displayed in exhibitions.

Standout Mounted photos are very durable, especially if you add a lustre coating to them, and since they are printed on photographic paper they are archival, which means they’ll be hanging on the wall long after you’ve left.

As you can see there are a plethora of options for displaying your photos for those that want to look beyond the traditional frame. We’ve just barely scratched the surface here.

All of these options and more are available right here at Dengrove Studios, so if you’re interested in taking advantage of our printing or display services contact us today!

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 2 exhibits at Cosi® restaurants in New York and Connecticut and a traveling exhibit entitled “America: Coast to Coast”. 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

]]> http://www.dengrovestudios.com/blog/2011/08/28/displaying-your-photos-youve-snapped-the-picture-now-what/feed/ 0 http://www.dengrovestudios.com/blog/2011/06/26/the-blue-hour-dont-put-that-camera-away-when-the-sun-goes-down/ http://www.dengrovestudios.com/blog/2011/06/26/the-blue-hour-dont-put-that-camera-away-when-the-sun-goes-down/#comments Sun, 26 Jun 2011 16:36:04 +0000 Dengrove Studios http://dengrovestudios.com/blog/?p=566

Most people have heard that taking photos in mid-day sun is generally considered a bad idea. The high angle of the sun causes very harsh shadows on your subjects, and their faces often end up a squinty, scragly mess due to the very bright light. That’s why photographers do most of their people shooting in the 2 hours or so just before sunset or what is known as “The Golden Hour”.

Golden Hour Portrait Nikon D300 16mm 1/320s f/13

Photographers love “The Golden Hour” because the setting sun produces a beautiful, soft, flattering light with a nice warm glow that makes everyone look their best. Just take notice sometime of how many wedding photographers schedule formal shoots during “The Golden Hour”, it’s not by accident.

Although shooting during “The Golden Hour” is likely to produce some beautiful photos for you, there is a problem. The light doesn’t last very long, and photographers have to work quickly in order to get all their shots done in time before they lose the light to the setting sun. It always amazes me how many people pack up their cameras and go home once the sun has set. Yes, it’s true, your people shots are probably over once the sun sets, but with the warm summer weather you can shoot some amazing landscapes just after sunset during what we call “The Blue Hour”.

“The Blue Hour” is that magic time when the sun has set just below the horizon but there is still some light in the sky. It extends right up until the last bit of light has drained from the sky. If you’ve ever stopped to look up at this time you’ll notice that if the sky is clear it takes on this amazing deep blue color. This is also the time that street lights, architectural lights, and signs start to come on which makes for some beautiful summer scenes for you to photograph.

Restaurant lights during "The Blue Hour" Nikon D300 1/30s f/2.8

Shooting during the “The Blue Hour” is a whole different ball game than shooting during “The Golden Hour”. This is because during “The Golden Hour” you have beautiful sunlight to light up your scene, but during “The Blue Hour” the sun has set and you’re basically shooting at night time. This requires some form of stabilization for your camera, because in order to shoot during “The Blue Hour” you need to use a slow shutter speed in order to be able to capture your scene with the reduced light levels.

Take this photo I shot recently at Disneyland during “The Blue Hour”. I happened to shoot it with a very fast lens, which means it has a very large Aperture. As such, I was able to shoot this photo at a shutter speed of 1/30s and still hand-hold the camera. However, if you didn’t have a particularly fast lens that cost almost $1000 like I do, you’d be using a standard lens with the values below. For more information about Aperture and Shutter Speed, see some of our previous blog posts.

Most standard lenses have a maximum aperture size of f/4. This is one-stop larger than the f/2.8 lens that I was using. Using reciprocity (again see some of our previous blog articles for more info) if I was to shoot this same photo with a lens using an Aperture value of f/4 then I would have to use a shutter speed of 1/15s. This would be too slow to hand-hold to shoot a photo with acceptable sharpness, so I’d have to introduce some form of stabilization for the camera in order to get a good resulting photograph.

There are many options that you can use to stabilize your camera for night time photography. The most common method is to mount your camera on a tripod. However, there are other options as well, you could also use a monopod, a gorillapod, or even just a trash-can or other stabile object to place your camera on.

There are tons of different kinds of tripods available. Some of the many options available are the material the tripod is made out of, aluminum, carbon fiber, or even plastic, how large the tripod extends 2 segments or 3 segments, and even whether the legs fold completely flat or inverted for easy travel. Naturally this means the prices on tripods can vary wildly depending on the options you decide to take, anywhere from an inexpensive $15 tripod you can find in Walmart or Target to large professional travel models costing in excess of $1200.

Velbon DF-60 Tripod (Photo courtesy of Velbon) http://www.velbon.biz/product/cx-df/df.html

I could do an entire article alone on the many different options for tripods, but here are a few things to keep in mind when purchasing one. If you’re going to be traveling a lot with it and weight is a factor, go for a carbon-fiber tripod. Although more expensive you can’t beat the sturdiness, rigidity, and light weight. For flexibility when composing your shots make sure it has at least a pan-head, and for the ultimate in exploiting all camera positions go with a ball-head instead. Plus one of the most important things to look for is to make sure that the first section of leg extensions gets the tripod up to or almost up to your regular height. The first leg sections are the most sturdy so you want to make sure the tripod will be at a comfortable height while getting the most stability out of it.

If the idea of lugging around a full tripod, especially to a theme park, makes you cringe, you’re not alone. It can be very tedious to carry around one of these with you for a full day, plus a lot of places don’t allow them, and when using them at venues that do you need to take extra care that nobody is going to trip over or hurt themselves because of your tripod. So as a great alternative I would suggest a monopod.

Velbon Monopod E64 (photo courtesy of Velbon) http://www.velbon.biz/product/monopod/monopod-geo.html

A monopod is just as the name suggests, it’s basically a single retractable stick that you mount your camera on top of. It gives you extra stability for using lower shutter speeds, but not the full support that you would receive from a tripod. The advantages are they are much smaller to use and carry around, they take up very little space in front of you even when extended and in use, plus they can be used in a lot of places that tripods cannot. If you look up to policies of most places they clearly state “No tripod use allowed”, but they never say anything about a monopod. Sure it’s a play on semantics depending on how you look at it, but it is a valid argument to make if questioned while using one.

Monopods are also usually cheaper than tripods and do not require pan or ball-heads as since it is a single stick you can basically tilt it in any direction that you need to. In addition they are much more compact to simply fold up and stick in a bag than a tripod is. Plus as an added bonus they actually can help you carry a very heavy camera rig as you are now supporting it with your hands on a stick rather than hanging it around your neck. Basically the options on monopods are more limited than tripods, simply a choice of what materials it’s made out of and/or how high it extends.

Still think a monopod is too large to carry around? Don’t want to be accused of carrying a cane? No problem, I have one more stabilization alternative for you, and it’s one that I highly recommend and use myself. Why not choose a gorillapod?

Gorillapod (Photo courtesy of Joby) www.joby.com

A gorillapod is in essence a mini tripod with segmented and articulated joints covered in rubber, this makes the legs flexible and actually allows you to wrap them right around any railing, tree or other oddly shaped stable object, to give your camera a rock-solid platform to shoot from.

They make several different models depending on which camera you are going to use with it, including ones for the smallest point-and-shoots all the way up to large professional video cameras. For the ultimate flexibility in mounting your camera, don’t forget to add the ball-head made specifically for your gorillapod. This allows you to pan and tilt your camera on top of your gorillapod for an infinite number of mounting combinations.

I use my gorillapod all the time, it’s so convenient to throw in a bag and then poof have a mini tripod that you can mount almost anywhere at a moments notice.

Now that the weather is warm and the light is perfect, get out there and start taking some “Blue Hour” photos! You’ll be amazed at some of the results, as long as you have some sort of stabilization for your camera. With the plethora of choices out there you shouldn’t have too difficult of a time finding the right solution that will be convenient and user-friendly for you.

Paradise Pier at Blue Hour Nikon D300 16mm 1/4s f/11

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 2 exhibits at Cosi® restaurants in New York and Connecticut and a traveling exhibit entitled “America: Coast to Coast”. 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

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

Welcome all, with Thanksgiving just around the corner and other many holidays not too far behind I thought we would spend some time talking about how to take some decent photos of your friends and family during these happy gatherings.

The first hurdle that we are faced with is all of these holidays occur during the Winter time, which means indoor photos, which also means FLASH.

Flash can sometimes be a dirty word amongst photographers. It can conjure up images of super bright blown out blown out faces with harsh unflattering lighting that can make even the most attractive person in the world look like Frankenstein. So let’s discover some ways that we can minimize the negative effects of flash lighting and still capture some awesome photos of your friends and family this holiday season.

Let’s discuss those of you using a point and shoot camera first. With these small compact cameras the flash is so tiny that the light it produces is always very harsh. In addition due to the small size of the flash it can only provide illumination for just a couple of feet in front of you.

Pretend you’re shooting a photo of some family members in a room at your house during Thanksgiving. Everyone has 5 foot tall mice in their family right? Although the room looks well-lit to you, to your camera it’s a very different story. Your camera decides that flash is needed. You snap your photo and your family members end up looking like a disjointed faces and torsos floating in a sea of dark murkiness.

Family Photo with regular flash

This is despite the fact that they were actually standing in what you would consider a well-lit room. Come on admit it, how many of you have photos that turned out this way, but you never knew what to do about it? It’s ok you can raise your hand, I’ll look away.

So how can we prevent this. The first and one of the simplest things you can do is increase your ISO. Even the most inexpensive digital cameras have a function to increase ISO.

As we learned in a previous article, ISO determines how sensitive your digital camera’s sensor is to light. The higher the ISO the more sensitive your camera will be to light, which means it can perform better in low-light situations such as when shooting inside your house. In fact you might even be able to raise the ISO high enough that you won’t even need to use the flash at all.

There is a side-effect to be aware of, however. As you increase your ISO setting you also increase the amount of noise or grain that will be captured in your photo. This is an undesired effect and something you need to keep in mind when increasing your ISO setting. Most recent digital cameras will perform reasonably noise-free to ISO levels of 800 or even 1000. Some of the newest digital SLR (DSLR) cameras will even peform well at ISO levels  of up to 6400.

You can learn more about ISO from this previous article on the Dengrove Studios blog.

Now that we have our ISO set properly; high enough to allow make our camera more sensitive to the low-lighting conditions in the room, but not high enough to cause excess noise, what else can we do to make our flash photos better?

We can also change the mode of our flash. Most cameras allow you to change the way that the built-in flash operates by changing it’s mode. There are usually several to choose from.

There’s Standard Flash Mode, which causes the flash to fire when the light meter in your camera determines it’s necessary. There’s Fill Flash Mode, which causes the flash to fire every time you take a photo. Red-Eye Reduction Mode which is supposed to prevent subjects in your photo from getting those nasty devil eyes. More often than not it simply just annoys the heck out of people because they get blinded  with 3-5  flash bursts before taking the photo.

But the one we want to look for  is Slow-Sync Flash Mode. Some point and shoot cameras refer to it as “Night Mode” or “Party Mode”.

Ordinarily, when shooting with flash the camera chooses a fast shutter speed in order to “freeze” the action in the scene. Slow-Sync Flash allows the camera to use a slow shutter speed when shooting with flash. As you may recall from a previous article, shutter speed controls the length of time that ambient light or the available light in the scene is allowed to enter your camera and hit your camera’s digital sensor or film.

By using Slow-Sync Flash more of the available light in the scene or ambient light will be allowed to hit your camera’s digital sensor or film. Allowing you to capture not only your main subject which is illuminated by flash but also the background of your scene which is being illuminated by ambient light.

Remember that floating head photo you shot of your family members earlier? When we take that same photo again using Slow-Sync Flash just look at how much better it comes out! Now, not only is your main subject visible from the flash light but we can now see the actual room they’re standing in versus the scary abyss of darkness from before.

Family photo with Slow-Sync Flash

For those of you shooting with Digital SLR cameras there are even more things you can do to make your indoor flash photos look better. One of the absolute best ways of improving flash photos is to get the flash off the camera. This is because the built-in flash of your camera is actually in the worst possible position it could be in for making people look their best in photos.

The built-in flash rests nearly at eye level and right in front of your subject. This causes a bright harsh burst of flash light to fall on your subject from directly in front of them. So how can DSLR cameras help with this situation? Because, when shooting with a DSLR camera you have the option to use an external flash unit instead of the built-in one.

Nikon SB-900 External Flash (photo courtesy of Nikon)

Using an external flash compared to the built-in one is the difference between night and day! External flash units, when used properly, can simulate overhead lighting, side lighting, and even help to improve your photos in natural daylight. Since all of these types of light are what you find in most everyday lighting situations your flash photos will come out looking very natural, almost like you never used a flash at all.

Even using an external flash unit in it’s simplest configuration, mounted directly on the camera, it is still a vast improvement over the built-in one because it adds 1-2 inches of height. This means that the flash is no longer at eye level of your subject which makes the light softer and more flattering. It also helps get rid of that nasty red-eye.

For  even better photos you can rotate the angle of your external flash which you can then use to “bounce” the light coming from the flash off of a wall or ceiling. When “bouncing” your flash off of a ceiling it simulates the look of your subject being lit from overhead lights. This is excellent, now we can light our subject using flash but have it look more natural.

Nikon SB-900 External Flash rotated for bouncing light off the ceiling (shown with diffuser) (Photo courtesy of Nikon)

For the ultimate in natural looking flash photos you’ll want to get the external flash completely off the camera. “Why is this” you ask? Moving the flash off the camera allows you unlimited possibilities in positioning and directing your flash when taking a photo. This even allows you to light your subject from above at a 45 degree side angle, simulating natural daylight from the sun.

In order to make this work you can purchase a sync cable for your external flash unit which allows you to connect the flash to your camera while still being able to move it around. Some external flashes will even communicate wirelessly with your DSLR camera allowing you to position the flash on the other side of the room and still be able to set it off.

So as you can see no matter what type of camera you’re shooting with there are a number of simple techniques that you can employ to get better indoor flash photos of your friends and family. Most only require the turn of a simple switch to activate. With the holidays just around the corner I’m sure you’ll find plenty of opportunities to use these new techniques. Feel free to post your results, we’d love to see them and get introduced to your families.

As always, please feel free to leave comments, ask questions, and share some of your results on this blog post.

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

Picture it…(already he’s starting in with the puns?) Yes, Picture it….a lovely day, a good friend and a photograph. Let’s say you and your friend are out at a park and you decide what a lovely setting it would be to take a photo of your friend.

Remembering a tip you read somewhere on the internet about how portraits look better when the sunlight is diffused, you decide to have your friend pose under a big, leafy, shaded tree.

You shoot *click*. One more time just to be sure *click*. Then you look down at your lcd screen to see the gorgeous image you just captured…WHY THE HECK IS IT BLUE???!!!!!

Photo with blue color cast

Well now that you’ve destroyed the peace and quiet in the park, and scared your friend off, let’s examine why the beautiful image you were trying to capture came out with a horrible blue color cast.

It all has to do with something called White Balance. White Balance is a camera setting that allows the camera to adjust or compensate for color differences in the surrounding light of the image you are trying to capture.

“Now wait a minute Scott”…you say. Go ahead say it, I know you’re thinking it. “I just shot this photo on a nice sunny day under a tree, trees are green, sunlight is white, where did this blue color light you speak of come from?”

Well you’re only partially right, trees are definitely green, but sunlight isn’t always white. In fact sunlight is rarely pure white. You can check this for yourself, put on a white shirt and go out in the sun at various times during the day.

You’ll notice that at sunrise your white shirt takes on a pinkish hue. As you approach early morning it turns into a bit of a cream color. At sunset it turns into a nice gold. And if you happen to go under a shaded tree you’ll notice that it does indeed appear to be a bit blue.

Shirt Color at Sunrise, Mid-Day, Sunset

This isn’t only limited to sunlight. Go into various rooms in your house, if you have incandescent lights you’ll notice your white shirt takes on an orange tint. Fluorescent tube lights, those appear kind of green.

So how come we don’t notice these color changes all the time? Well as we’ve said many times before the human eye is the best camera ever invented, and it can compensate for this differences in the color of light very well.

Think about it, a lot of us work in offices with overhead fluorescent lighting, but do you spend your whole day at working saying “gee, everyone looks so green in here today”? Of course not, because our eyes and brains compensate for the color shift.

Our cameras are not so lucky they record the color of light exactly as it appears. So when you took that photo of your friend under that shaded tree,  the camera recorded the blue color of the light that is cast by the shade of the tree.

You may ask why this doesn’t happen every time you take a photo? Your camera actually has an automatic white balance adjustment built-in which automatically compensates for the differences in the color of light. Since it is a machine though it can sometimes be fooled by an object in your scene and actually choose the wrong white balance setting. Hence you get a photo with a blue color cast.

The auto white balance adjustment on your camera does a good job most of the time, but for the times that it gets confused, that’s when you switch to manual white balance. Most cameras will have a couple of manual settings that you can choose from:

– Sunlight  - use this setting when shooting in bright sunlight

- Overcast – use this setting when shooting on a cloudy day, it will add a little warmth (orange tone) to the photo

- Shade – use this setting when shooting in shady conditions, it will add quite a bit of warmth (orange tone) to the photo to counteract the blue cast caused by the shade

- Tungsten – use this setting when shooting indoors with tungsten lighting, it will add coolness (blue tone) to the photo to counteract the orange cast coming from the indoor lighting

– Fluorescent – use this setting when shooting indoors under standard fluorescent lighting, it will add a reddish tint to your photos to counteract the green cast caused by the fluorescent light

Each of the settings above will allow you to achieve a nice proper white balance when shooting under those various conditions. Luckily since you have a digital camera you can instantly see what effect each setting has on your image right after you capture it.

Does your photo look a little too blue? Try the Tungsten White Balance setting, that will add a bit more orange to it so your whites will look perfect. (Such as the image we shot above)

Tungsten Setting-cancels blue color cast

Subject looking a bit too green? Use the Fluorescent White Balance setting, it will shift the color a bit more in the red direction so your whites will look just as they should.

Did you happen to notice before how I said “since you had a digital camera”? Why is that? Remember when you used to shoot with film, there was no white balance setting on your film camera was there? That’s because when shooting with film the white balance setting is controlled by the film itself.

Actually the everyday, standard film you purchase at CVS or Walgreens is balanced mostly for sunlight. However, there are many specialty films that can be purchased which are white balanced for shade, tungsten, or even fluorescent.

So when shooting film you never had to worry about setting your white balance for each shot. If your camera was loaded with film balanced for shade you were pretty much stuck with it until you used up that roll of film. So with digital unlike film we have to worry about white balance for every shot, but it gives us better control and therefore better looking photos.

Now that we know how to set our white balance, what happens if you have a mixed lighting set up? For example, you’re shooting some photos indoors with both tungsten and fluorescent lighting, which setting should you use?

Well in this instance your camera can easily get fooled into using the wrong white balance setting. So the best way to deal with a situation like this is to calibrate your camera using an 18% gray card. “Hmm…” you say, “I seem to recall something about 18% gray when we learned about exposure a while back”.

Yes you are correct, when we talked about exposure we mentioned that your camera’s light meter tries to make everything in your image even out to a nice 18% gray. Your camera not only does this for exposure, it wants to do it for white balance too. Thus enters our 18% gray card..stage left, TA DA

There are many different companies that make gray cards for making sure your white balance is properly set. Below is an image of the one that I use from a company called Photovision. It not only helps you with your white balance but it helps check exposure as well.

Whichever one you choose to buy, make sure it is calibrated for digital cameras. Older gray cards, or ones made more for the film age are usually calibrated at 13% gray and will not work well for your digital camera. So you went out and bought an 18% gray card…now what do you do with it?

Aside from the white balance pre-sets we talked about above, most cameras have a setting that allow you to measure the white balance from what the camera sees. Sometimes this is called a manual white balance, custom white balance, or measured white balance. In this mode your camera will take a photo and then choose a white balance based upon the scene that it sees.

So to use your 18% gray card simply have your subject hold the card and then zoom in real close to it with your camera. The subject should hold the card under the same location and lighting conditions where you will take the final photo. Set your camera to the measured white balance setting and then snap your photo.

Since we know that our card is 18% gray, and your camera wants to make the white-balance of the scene in front of it measure 18% gray this will allow your camera to choose the perfect white-balance setting.

For example let’s say you’re shooting under shade. When your camera takes it’s measurement photo, the gray card will come out with a blueish color cast as we learned earlier. Therefore, your camera will shift the white-balance more towards the orange or warmer setting until the measurement photo measures 18% gray. Since the photo just happens to be of an 18% gray card we know that this will be the perfect white-balance setting for the scene we are about to shoot.

You only have to perform this calibration once for your scene. As long as you don’t change locations or change the lighting your new white balance setting will work perfectly for each and every photo you shoot under the same conditions. If you decide to move your subject somewhere else or your shade turns into sun, then simply re-calibrate your white balance with the 18% gray card again and you’re ready to shoot!

Some of our more advanced readers may be wondering if there is a way that they can set their white balance after they take their photo. Perhaps you’re not sure which white balance setting will work best for your scene. Or perhaps you have to shoot your subject very quickly and there’s simply no time to perform the calibration before you take your shot. Is there anything that can be done?

The answer is yes, if you shoot RAW. “Scott you’re talking crazy, these aren’t vegetables this is photography, what does RAW mean?” Shooting RAW means that the images that come out of your camera will look exactly the way that your camera’s sensor captures the scene.

Most digital cameras save their images as JPEGs. When this happens the camera does some processing of the image before it saves it to make the image look its best. But this is all very subjective, whose to say that the way your camera processes your image is truly the way you wanted it to look. This is where RAW comes in.

RAW means that the camera will save the image in it’s native format without any processing at all! This gives you unlimited creative possibilities with your photo. The down-side is that often times RAW images don’t look very good right out of the camera because no processing has been done to them. This requires you as the photographer to add some processing to the images to make them look their best. This can be a bit time-consuming.

RAW photo (left) vs Processed JPEG photo (right)

However, the upside is (and this is a good one…) that since no processing has occurred to the image, your image does not actually have any white-balance setting applied to it. So what does that mean in terms of our discussion. Basically it means that you are free to choose whichever white-balance setting you would like for your image, after you have shot the photo!

This is great, it means that you can try different white-balance settings to see what would work best for your scene. It also means that if you happened to choose the wrong white-balance setting when you shot the photo, you can get a do-over!

Let’s say when you shot that photo of your friend under the shade of that big tree you accidently had the white balance set to Tungsten. You will recall from our discussion earlier that a Tungsten white-balance setting will actually add more of a blue color-cast to your photo. This isn’t what you wanted, your photo already had a blue color-cast due to the shade of the tree; now your photo is really blue.

Of course if you shot RAW this is no problem at all! You can simply change your Tungsten white-balance setting to the Shade setting after you’ve transferred your photos to your computer. Your photo is saved, yay! You definitely can’t do that with a JPEG.

In conclusion exploring the many white-balance presets built-in to your digital camera will allow you to virtually eliminate any color casts you may find when shooting your photos. To nail the perfect white balance every time you should pick yourself up an 18% gray card and use it to calibrate your camera’s white balance before each scene change. And for those of you advanced shooters who want the ultimate in white-balance control, shooting RAW will not only allow you more control over your photos but also give you the opportunity to correct your white-balance mistakes long after you’ve shot the photo and gone home.

As always, please feel free to leave comments, ask questions, and share some of your results on this blog post.

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 2 exhibits at Cosi® restaurants in the New York area. 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