Dengrove Studios Blog

Naked in Pittsburgh 2012: Pittsburgh’s premier figurative works show

Dengrove Studios — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:35:31 +0000

I am pleased to announce that one of our photographs, Porcelain Beauty, has been selected to be part of the Naked in Pittsburgh 2012 exhibit. If you think it looks good here wait til you see it in print!

Naked in Pittsburgh is a celebration of nudes in art, a positive reflection of our shared human form. The show will display a variety o media, from realism or abstract, traditional media, digital media, photography and 3D artwork. The opening reception will take place on June 1st, from 6-9 PM. For more details check out the NiP website at http://www.outlawartisans.com/nip2012

Naked in Pittsburgh 2012

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

Kodak: It’s hard to believe

Dengrove Studios — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 19:07:00 +0000

In this article I thought we’d cover something a little different than usual. By now I’m sure you’ve heard that on January 9th, 2012, Kodak, the icon of cameras and photography for over 120 years, has filed for bankruptcy.

It’s hard to imagine a future without Kodak. Just think of all the future generations that will never get to capture a “Kodak moment”.

When asked, most people would say that this came as no surprise as Kodak was primarily a film company, and of course film is not as popular as it used to be. Perhaps you’ve heard of this new fangled thing replacing film called the digital camera….eh, it’ll never work!

Very few people know that’s exactly what Kodak said in 1975, and it’s actually one of the primary factors that led to their downfall 35 years later.

Did you know that Kodak actually was the first to invent the digital camera, way back in 1975?

Now I know what you’re thinking…”Scott you must’ve lost your mind, I had a digital camera in the late 90′s but it was an Olympus, or Sony, I don’t even remember a Kodak digital camera available for purchase”.

You are absolutely correct, in the late 90′s when a lot of camera companies started releasing their first compact digital cameras for consumers Kodak was nowhere to be found.

Nonetheless, they actually did invent the first digital camera in 1975, only the executives at Kodak never saw the potential in it. So they really did nothing with the technology until about 2001 when they released their first compact digital camera for consumers, the Kodak EasyShare.

You see 1975 was a very different landscape when it comes to technology than it is today. There were no cell phones, 10% of all households in the US didn’t even own a regular land-line phone (stephen blumberg). Computers came in the form of mainframes, and nobody had one in their house. Even the way we watched television was different.

Most tv’s in 1975 were still black and white and a small little set cost on average $100 (“Television history- the first 75 years”). By small little set, I mean only 12″, now that’s small. With those prices nobody had one in every room like we do today.

So you can easily imagine what happened when Steve Sasson, an engineer who worked for Kodak showed off a new piece of technology he created in the Kodak labs in a demonstration to Kodak executives called “Film-Less Photography” in 1975.

First a little background on the device. Steve Sasson and his team had actually invented the first digital camera. Of course it can only be called that loosely by today’s standards. As with any prototype it was a far cry from what the digital camera would one day become.

It did use a CCD imager as tons of modern digital cameras still do today, but that’s about where the similarities end.

It took 16 Ni-Cad batteries to run the device, which was made up of parts from other Super 8 movie cameras in Kodak’s line and about half a dozen custom circuit boards. The device recorded it’s images to a digital tape recorder which was attached to the side of the device. It took 23 seconds to record one image on a standard cassette (Sasson).

Kodak's film-less camera (Image Courtesy of Kodak)

So now that Kodak was able to capture a digital image, how were they going to “play it back” and show people? Another device was built that would take the recorded image from the standard cassette and interpolate it for viewing on a standard tv. Of course, the playback device itself was almost the size of a tv.

Kodak Playback Device for Film-Less Camera (Image Courtesy of Kodak)

Now that they had their prototypes, everything was set for Steve Sasson and his team to demonstrate these amazing new inventions to the internal audiences at Kodak. They invited countless Kodak employees to see the demonstration of “Film-Less Photography”.

I should remind everyone at this point that although Kodak did make and sell amazing cameras, they were primarily known as a film company, holding approx 90% of the market-share of film sales.

So when you invite the executives of a film company, to see a demonstration called “Film-Less Photography” you’re not exactly setting yourself up for success right out of the starting gate. Sure everyone thought it was “cool” when Steve took some photos of people in the audience and displayed them on a tv screen, but then came the hard questions…

Why would anyone want to take a picture and show it on their tv? How are people going to store these images? And the most important question of all, the one that probably caused Kodak executives to loose all interest in this prototype and shelve it for years to come, when would these new products actually have any consumer potential?

When the answer “approximately 15-20 years” came back from Steve and his team, Kodak executives saw no use in a product that couldn’t be fully realized until 20 years in the future. In addition, rather than view this a potential “future” of photography they only saw it as a competitor to their film business.

So many times in life, we look back and say “if only we knew”, but never was this more poignant than when you hear the story of Steve Sasson and his team and the colossal mistake made by Kodak executives that faithful day back in 1975.

Now am I implying that this one event, almost 35 years ago, was the cause of Kodak’s downfall and filing for bankruptcy? Of course not, but anyone can see clear as day how this certainly did have a major impact on Kodak’s future. Further, one can’t help but image where Kodak might be today had they actually taken advantage of their 20 year head start on digital camera technology.

stephen blumberg, Julian luke. “Wireless-Only and Wireless-Mostly Households: A growing challenge for telephone surveys.”www.shadac.org. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Health Statistics, n.d. Web. 21 Mar 2012. .

“TV Set Prices.” Television history- the first 75 years. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar 2012. <http://www.tvhistory.tv/tv-prices.htm>.

Sasson, Steve. “We Had No Idea.” Plugged In. N.p., 16 O. Web. 21 Mar 2012. <http://pluggedin.kodak.com/pluggedin/post/?id=687843>.

A Tour of the New Dengrove Studios Website

Dengrove Studios — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 05:31:42 +0000

Today marks the debut and launch of the brand new Dengrove Studios Website! The site has been updated with all new content, of course, but we didn’t stop there. We took into account user feedback, and features that our customers have been requesting, to create a 100% redesigned site from the ground up. An all new layout, new navigation, and new galleries are just a few of the great features you’ll see when you visit the new site.

Join me now for a guided tour of the new website.

The new website was built and designed solely with our customers at the forefront and the type of information they want to see when looking for a photographer. This is immediately evident upon visiting the new homepage. The first thing you see are people.

New homepage...people first

Gone are the fine art photos of lakes and plants, replaced with revolving images of real people, just like you, our customers, representing all the different photo galleries you’ll see on the new website. Be sure to take a few minutes and let all of the beautiful images scroll by. Then feel free to click on any of them to be taken right to that photo gallery.

Homepage Gallery Samples

All the galleries have been updated with tons of new photos from recent shoots, but rest assured your old favorites are still there too. Not only that, but with the brand new image control system, custom programmed just for our website, you’ll notice how much simpler it is to scroll through and jump right to your favorite photo. Click the thumbnails in the left column to see a larger view of that image appear on the right.

Click a thumbnail on the left to see a larger image on the right

Want to take a closer look at a photo? Prefer to see it full-screen? No problem, just click on the large image in the right column to zoom into it at full-screen. While the photo is zoomed, feel free to browse all the other photos in the gallery this way by using the convenient navigation arrows that appear in the lower portion of the photo.

Click to view an image full-screen. Use the arrows to browse all photos in the gallery at full-screen size

Make sure to visit all the galleries to see the latest photos from all our shoots. Want to get more information about having your own photo shoot? Check out our affordable photo packages by clicking on the “Pricing” link. Each package includes your own custom designed photo shoot, prints, and unique items to display your beautiful photos. Want to learn more about a specific product? Simply hover over the item to receive a pop-up with more info.

Hover over a package item to see a pop-up with more info

Now that you’ve seen all the great options we have to offer, I know you’re dying to shoot with us. Simply click on the “Shoot with Us” link at the top of the navigation bar and fill out the form with your information. A representative will contact you right away to schedule your shoot.

Simply fill out the form to schedule your very own shoot!

Don’t forget to “Like” our Facebook page to hear about special discounts and receive the latest news and information from Dengrove Studios. A convenient “Like” button can be found on almost every page of the new website on the left-hand side. Or simply click here to be taken to our Facebook page.

Thank you for taking the tour of our new website with me and all the support. Please feel free to share it with your friends. If you have any questions or would like to discuss your photo shoot further, please contact us at anytime!

Get Closer! A New Year’s Resolution You Can Keep

Dengrove Studios — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:05:02 +0000

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:

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.
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.
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!

Another year…more gift giving opportunities!

Dengrove Studios — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 20:13:44 +0000

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.

Thus concludes another Holiday Gift Giving Guide. With all of these great products, you’re bound to find something that the photo enthusiast on your list will love. All of these items are readily available and you’ll have no problem getting them in time for the holidays. You may even be able to get some Black Friday or Cyber Monday Deals on them, so keep an eye out.

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.

Travel Photography: Always have your camera ready!

Dengrove Studios — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 01:24:36 +0000

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.

Displaying Your Photos: You’ve snapped the picture, now what?

Dengrove Studios — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 04:18:07 +0000

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.

: Standard Print

: 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!

The Blue Hour: Don’t put that camera away when the sun goes down

Dengrove Studios — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 16:36:04 +0000

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

What’s On My Bookshelf: Some photography books I highly recommend

Dengrove Studios — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 06:06:51 +0000

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

HDR Photography, does it have something to do with my tv?

Dengrove Studios — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 02:05:57 +0000

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

You think perhaps something is wrong with your camera? Or those damn kids tinkered with your settings again? Rest assured your camera is working just as it should. The real problem is eyes. “The kids have been tinkering with my eyes?” No, you see the human eye is the best camera ever invented. It can see and properly expose a very wide range of light. Wider than any camera ever made.

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

When we combine all of these together using software capable of creating HDR photos such as Photoshop or Topaz Adjust, the software picks the best exposed parts of each photo to create a single one that represents the entire dynamic range of light that was in the scene. It makes a High Dynamic Range photo which looks like this:

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