Getting married?

Then you might be looking for wedding photographers, right? It just so happens that I have a recommendation.

Nate & Jaclyn are a husband & wife team working out of San Diego that do some of the most impressive wedding photography I've seen to date. These people rock. It won't take you long to realize how strong their foto-fu is after spending 10-15 minutes browsing through some of the work they showcase on their blog. Really -- it's worth it. I have a lot of "How Do They Do That?" moments as I look through their stuff. It's pure photogasmic joy. They also have a couple of separate sites set up to showcase their wedding photography and portrait work. I enjoy their blog more though because it's a combination of their professional wedding work as well as their recreational & family photography. Some weeks ago I wrote a post about photoshop textures by Jesh De Rox -- I think they frequently use his textures in their photos for some pretty dramatic effects.

One of the reasons I enjoy their blog so much is because it's obvious that they love what they do. Their attitudes and their photos are dripping with enthusiasm, and I have a lot of respect for anyone who attacks their job with that kind of zeal. I would hire these guys in a second and fly them out for my wedding -- if only I had found them sooner.

Link: http://www.theblogisfound.com/
Link: http://www.theimageisfound.com/

They also have what they call "shootshops", which are basically workshops that they give to share some of their knowledge with the hoi polloi. I missed the last one that took place in San Francisco, but I plan to make it to the next one.

Lens rentals... by mail!

I just found about this place, www.borrowlenses.com. It's a great idea -- you can rent lenses without leaving your house, and just wait for them to arrive in the mail. No driving to the local camera shop, and no dealing with the snobby holier-than-thou camera shop guy. They offer lots of good Canon and Nikon options. It's like Netflix for lenses!

Best of all, their prices are really reasonable. And for those who are local to the SF bay area, they offer local pickups for shorter rental periods if you wish.

They also offer a consignment program. If you have any extra camera bodies, lenses, or other equipment that you aren't using very much, you can make money from them by letting borrowlenses.com rent them out on your behalf.

I haven't tried it yet, but it's got the makings of being a great service.

Link: http://www.borrowlenses.com/

Where to go for lens reviews

Here's where I like to go when I'm researching new lenses:

http://www.photodo.com
http://www.fredmiranda.com/
http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/index.html
http://www.the-digital-picture.com
http://www.dpreview.com/

This isn't a comprehensive list, so if you know any others please feel free to leave a comment.

Taking photos through windows

Sometimes you don't really have a choice -- either take the suboptimal shot through a window (whether it be from a car, plane, or tall office building) or don't get a shot at all. Most people will at least try to get the shot through a window and maybe with some luck it'll turn out well. You typically want to have nothing between the lens and your subject -- extra glass means more possible reflections. That said, there are some things you can do to increase your chances of getting a decent shot.

Quoting from "Through a glass lightly":

1: Some of the best city views are from the windows of tall buildings or tourist attractions. Trouble is most people end up with photos of the window and not the view, so the first trick is to position your camera right against the window itself; the outer lens barrel should protect the actual optics from any scratches.

2: Reflections from interior lighting can ruin photos taken through windows, so even when holding your camera close to the glass, try and shield any gaps between the lens barrel and the window itself with your hands or a piece of clothing. By moving the camera you should be able to see any reflections.

3: Your built-in flash is no good to you in this situation, and if it goes off, it’ll just cause more reflections to worry about. So when taking photos through windows, always turn the flash off.

4: Photographing through a sheet of glass or plastic can fool many cameras’ focusing systems. So if your camera is struggling to autofocus simply manually set the focus to infinity – this is indicated on most compact cameras by a figure 8 on its side.

5: Ultimately the best quality photos are when there’s nothing between you and the view. So before following the tips above, see if there’s an outdoor viewing area or some way to open a window and poke your lens out. Obviously this won’t be possible in some places, such as the London Eye, but it’s worth checking for others.

Using tip #1 in the list above (keeping the lens held flat against the window), here's a shot I took through a window of our hotel room in San Diego:

18mm, F/16, ISO 100

It's nothing groundbreaking, but I think it looks pretty good for being taken through a reasonably thick window.

Photography and real estate

I like this article from the New York Times that talks about the importance of high quality photos for the purposes of selling real estate. They have some before and after shots that nicely illustrate how photos taken with good lighting and thoughtful composition can dramatically affect people's perceptions and first impressions of houses while house hunting.

"Eighty percent of people across the country who bought a new home last year used the Internet while house hunting, and they rated photographs as the most useful tool in their search, according to a survey of buyers and sellers by the National Association of Realtors. The survey also found that 24 percent of home buyers got their first glimpses of their new homes on the Web, up from a mere 2 percent in 1997."

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/11/realestate/11cov.html?_r=1&ex=1329109200

The virtues of the classic 50mm lens

Recently I've been giving my (borrowed) 50mm 1.4 lens heavy use. It's amazing in low-light situations and has really nice looking bokeh to name just a couple of things. I'm enjoying it much more than my 18-200mm zoom lens, actually. Fast prime lenses make you work a little harder to get your shot because you're zooming with your feet instead of with your hands, but you can get crazy with super shallow depth of field. I would never have been able to make this shot with my 18-200mm lens:



Coincidentally my friend Abe just sent me this article by Gary Voth called "The Forgotten Lens", that espouses the virtues of the 50mm prime lens. Gary does a nice job of laying out all the benefits of using fast prime lenses that are very good at what they do as opposed to some zoom lenses which are often more like jacks of all trades but masters of none.

"If you are considering a new camera purchase or already have a camera and would like to make pictures of your family that don't look like snapshots, consider buying a classic 50mm "normal" lens instead of (or in addition to) that "consumer" zoom. This 50mm lens will allow you to make pictures in natural light without flash that share at least some of the qualities of the very finest photographs ever made. As with any new equipment, you will have a learning curve as you figure out how to use the focal length compositionally and achieve good focus. But you may find that pictures of your friends and family begin to exhibit a much more natural and evocative quality."

Link: http://vothphoto.com/spotlight/articles/forgotten_lens/forgotten-lens.htm

Create a set of your flickr 'most interesting' photos

Cool Flickr mashup from dopiaza.org:

"Flickr Set Manager allows you to automatically create new sets on Flickr based on various criteria such as interestingness, date posted and tags, or even from a random set of photographs."

Link: http://www.dopiaza.org/flickr/setmgr/

If you don't know what Flickr's "interestingness" label means, here's their description.