This is a simple tip on how you can achieve a better (and more accurate) colors with your images. Mind you, this is for when you are shooting with a speedlight (whether on or off camera) like the Nikon SB-900 or Canon 580EX II or even with studio strobes.

Let’s take this down to the most basic situation where you will be using a flash to help convey my message.

So you are shooting a wedding in a normal sized room that is light with incandescent bulbs. These bulbs are giving off a warm, amber color. If we were shooting without a flash then our in-camera white balance should be set to incandescent or a custom Kelvin temp of something like 3200K or something within that range. That is all fine and dandy so shoot away.

But what happens if the room is dimly lit and you need a flash to help light things up? Flashes are daylight balanced around 5400K so what will happen is that the light from the flash will conflict with the ambient light from the incandescent bulbs and you will get various color casts on your subjects or background. Welcome to Photoshop hell at that point!

All we need to do is gel our flashes with the proper CTO filter so we can essentially modify the daylight balanced speedlight and mold it into becoming about the same Kelvin temperature of the ambient light that is around. In the situation above, an amber filter over the speedlight would bring that 5400K speedlight down to the 3200K range. DON’T FORGET TO SET YOUR WHITE BALANCE TO INCANDESCENT AND NOT FLASH!

If your white balance is still off then that is okay because you are at least in the same realm of light without worries of any serious color cast that would be noticeable. This is a very easy fix if you shoot in RAW.

Nikon’s SB-900 comes with a couple gels to correct for different lighting conditions. These gels even have some intelligence to them and allows the flash to know which one is mounted. If you are shooting in Auto white balance mode then the flash can tell the camera what filter is over the flash so the camera can take the necessary actions for providing you with a fairly accurate image and color rendition. They even include a real spiffy gel filter holder that snaps on to the flash.

So what is the lesson we learned today boys and girls???

GEL YOUR LIGHTS!

I find myself loving textures. It is special to me because I can take a photo and “finish” the image with my computer by adding various textures and elements to it until I can create what I envisioned in my head. Working with textures requires some good knowledge of Photoshop, Layers and Layer Blending Modes in order for you to make the most of them. Simply find a cool image that has nice color and textures to it, drop it on top of your image, switch between Overlay, Soft Light or Hard Light in the Layer’s Blending Mode and then work the Opacity or Fill percentage until it is where you want it. You can also use the Eraser tool in moderation to remove the texture from showing up on your subject because it can be quite distracting and can make the subject’s skin not look too hot. The cool thing is that you can use it however you want and you can be free to experiment.

Here is a quick video on it:

And this is the quick sample of that image that I threw together in a couple minutes. I normally take more time with these images and really fine tune them but this is good to give you a quick sample of how your images can look:

Take a look at the link about the inLIGHTin Workshop from Michael and Anna Costa on their blog:

http://michaelandannacosta.com/blog/2009/07/featured-with-inlightin-workshop.html#links

I will also be doing a Live Chat on their www.PhotoForThePeople.com site so be sure to register with their forum and chime in with any questions you may have. It looks like September 30th will be when the live interview with me will go down so mark it down in your calendars now, register on their forum and check it out!

Enjoy!
Michael

Wow, day two and I am sticking to my guns about daily blog posts… Not bad.

Today’s Workflow Wednesday post is a YouTube video that I did to inform you all about batch processing. Batch processing can be done with various photo editing programs, from Apple Aperture, Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Camera Raw or even Capture One and so on. The list goes on and on. Heck even photoshop has an Automate feature that will batch process an action for every photo that you selected.

So why batch process? What is batch processing even? Batch processing is a real perk and time saving tool. After all, we are calling this workflow and not work-slow… Right? So you just shot a wedding in RAW. You have like 1,500 or more images to go through and edit. Aw man, your white balance was off for a ton of these… Maybe you even under exposed every single shot by half a stop. Batch processing allows you to select one file that is messed up and ten you go ahead and do the necessary edits to pretty up the photo. From there, you can select as many of the other images that are equally messed up and Sync them all so they can have the same settings across the board. That means you could have just potentially have edited 1,500 images in seconds! Wow! Now you still should batch process your images with something if you shoot RAW… Why is that? Well, RAW files do not contain any of the in-camera settings (like sharpness, contrast, saturation and so on) like an equivalent JPEG does. RAW basically gives you a blank canvas where you have to pretty up the file and give the file some pizazz. Usually, this just means some contrast and sharpening. Once you get the feel for what you like in your files, you can just edit one and batch process the other ones so they are all on the same page. OR you could even create a Lightroom Develop Preset and save all the edits that you find yourself doing time and time again. Instead of memorizing everything you do time and time again, you assign them to a Preset and whola… It is right there for you whenever you need it. Making your own Lightroom Presets will be a good topic down the road don’t you think?

So without further ado, here is the video on batch processing in Lightroom:

Mind you, most all other RAW conversion software also have this feature. Just crack open the manual and find out exactly how it is done with your desired RAW converting software.

The Nikon 105mm VR macro lens is a relatively new addition to my camera bag. It is a very sharp specialty lens that really deserves to be recognized. The 105mm is a macro lens and the way to use it is really different from how we work with conventional lenses. I have to admit, when I put this lens on I thought it was broken. See, I put the lens on and tried stopping down to f/2.8 but couldn’t. Instead, I had a very odd aperture that it was stuck at. I put two and two together and started working the manual focus ring and then figured it out and that it is just how the lens works. Being a macro lens, it is used because it provides you with a close focusing distance as well as the ability to produce 1:1, 1:2 (and so on) reproductions of your subject. This is great for flower photography, insects and stuff of that nature because you can do your cropping in camera and have the subject take up the entire frame if you so choose.

This lens can also be used as a portrait lens since it is very sharp and it is at a focal length that is flattering to your subject without any real lens distortion occurring.

There are two cons to this lens that pose a problem. The first is sort of the nature of the beast and deals with a shallow DOF (depth of field) even at higher apertures. I noticed it when I first got the lens. I started off at like f/5.6 or f/8 with flowers but noticed that the foreground leaves were still out of focus. Sure the part of the flower I focused on was 100% sharp but the DOF fell off way too soon IMHO. To combat this and get the photo that I wanted (i.e. ALL petals in focus) I had to set the aperture to f/11 or f/16… That is great and all but you need a boat load of light at times in order to get these shots. I worked my way around that by using my speedlight to compensate for the loss of light. f/11 is totally doable with a speedlight if it is very, very close to your subject. This is also where the VR (vibration reduction) comes in handy to achieve sharp images even at slower shutter speeds.

The second issue I had with the lens is that it is slow to auto focus. This lens works best when you set your focusing distance and physically move yourself and the camera back and forward until you achieve the sharpest focus. I noticed that this was a pain with a tripod!

Now imagine the trouble I had to go through to get this photo:

These bats were all huddled up and hanging on the wood rafter in a historical building in the Smokey Mountains. There was no light whatsoever. I had to have my associate hold up my iPhone to give me something, anything to illuminate these little critters. That gave my camera enough light to detect the contrast necessary to acquire focus. I had my SB-900 speedlight mounted on my camera and it was pointed directly behind me so it would hit the wall behind me and lit up the little guys… I got a couple good snaps off before I looked down and checked out that bat guano that I was stepping in. lol. Anything for the shot right?

So back to the reivew. The 105mm VR is a very nice (and ridiculously sharp) lens. Remember that photo above? Well here is a 100% crop of the little bat off to the bottom right of the frame.

Yeah THAT’S sharp!

Is is necessary for 99% of the work people do? No… Well unless you photograph flowers and bugs for a living then consider yourself in the 1% range. I personally do not use this lens for portraits often. I bring it out for weddings and baby portraits to capture details. Wedding ring shots work great with the 105mm and I can get those little baby details with this lens as well. Little ears, hands and feet. The other times this lens comes out is when I do the flowers and bug photography.

It is a great lens and I would definitely recommend it.

Here is a nice little YouTube video that I made showing a nice way to use Lightroom’s Brush tool to dodge some shadows in your high key portrait. This is great if you are using a wrinkled white backdrop or sheet and don’t have the light power to completely blow out your background. Take a look:

Enjoy!

Michael and Anna Costa are a husband and wife team based in California. I am lucky enough to call them friends and they have been a great inspiration to me for years. Plus Mike and I have a great time exchanging killer music with one another. I had both the honor and privilege of interviewing them for the website. I know we have a lot of wedding photographers checking in so pay extra close attention to this interview! Be sure to take a look at their website HERE (their Blog is HERE) and I am sure you will see why. So without further ado, here is what they had to say:

Q: Can you tell me a little bit about yourselves?
A: We are Michael + Anna Costa Photographers. We are located in Southern California and shoot mainly in Santa Barbara and Los Angeles with various jaunts around the country/world each year for shoots.

Q: What areas of photography do you specialize in?
A: We are wedding photographers! We have been in business for 4 1/2 years and love what we do. We love the creative control, energy and fun of shooting weddings. Its a VERY rewarding job and it certainly keeps us on our toes. We love a challenge and so this business give us the opportunity to constantly be growing. Not only in our work, but our business as well.

Q: How would you describe your styles?
A: We are fine art photojournalists. We are also hybrid photographers – shooting BOTH digital and film photography. We put a high priority in quality of work and providing our clients with something truly unique. We want them to hang our pictures on their walls not only because its their wedding, but because they consider it a work of art.

Q: So where do you draw your inspiration from?
A: There are so many amazing photographers out there that are truly inspirational. Mostly commercial photographers are who we like to follow the most. However, we’ve found that in this stage of our career we have to really have to look inward for inspirations so as to set ourselves apart artistically. However, on the business side we’ve found inspiration from legendary authors such as Napoleon Hill and Dale Carnegie to great leaders in business such as Robert Kiyosaki or Tim Ferriss. We find countless inspiration from reading books pertaining to our business and find that it may be one of the most important things in separating ourselves from the masses long term. RIF (Reading is Fundamental)

Q: What is it like being a husband and wife team? Any pros and cons?
A: We absolutely love being a husband and wife team. We joke that our marriage has been put on hyper drive a bit since we spend about 3x’s as much time together as most normal couples. The draw backs are that we have to treat each other with more respect and consideration then we might an employee. As a wife, I try to not nag Michael about things – and as a husband Michael tries to be mindful of not hurting my feelings when giving feedback. We’ve worked out many kinks in the beginning and it only helped our relationship become stronger overall. We now really hate spending too much time away from each other, since we aren’t used to it!

Q: Back to you both shooting film. Can you tell me a little bit about that? What you are using? What got you back into it and so on?
A: Film is a really important component to our style and work being set apart from the crowd. There is a texture, feel, depth and look to film that is unique and unlike digital. Our clients don’t necessarily know that we shoot film until we tell them – but they do know that they like whatever it is that we are doing. The more we shoot, the more we want to shoot film. Digital is amazing too, and we shoot that as well. Especially in a digitally saturated market, a bride is used to being offered a ton more photographs than even 5-6 years ago because of the “unlimited” capacities of digital. So its great to use both tools for different uses. Digital is also amazing for low lighting situations and creates amazing shots in its own right!

Q: Has shooting film benefited you from a niche market or workflow point of view?
A: Shooting film has benefited in terms of niche marketing, although most brides don’t know that we shoot film until we tell them. Once they know and are educated about the look of film its much harder for them to choose someone else who doesn’t provide that luxury. As far as workflow, there is an extra step in getting the film processed and scanned so we can add it to the digital files. But its worth it and an extremely simple process. We just mail out the film and it get’s mailed back to us process and scanned onto CD’s. In general, shooting film is about US being stoked about our work . You have to do what you love and are passionate about. If you do that, the work will follow.

Q: Who handles your film processing?
A: Color Services in Santa Barbara does our processing and they are simply amazing. A big component in our business is customer service and they exceed our expectations on a regular basis. They have never let us down in terms of rush orders or quality.

Q: What would you say a typical day in the live of the Costa’s would involve?
A: We are pretty nuts most of the time. We juggle our photo shoots, with everyday office workflow (getting events online, emails, business building tasks), blogging/online presence, managing our forum photoforthepeople.com as well as preparing for speaking presentations that we have a few times a year or more. We outsource most of our photo color corrections for our digital images and all of our Album Designing. We also outsource our print orders which are handled completely by Pictage.

Q: Can you talk to me about some of your favorite images and why they mean so much to you?
A: One of our favorite pictures is of a grandpa at this wedding sucking down his stoggie! We also love this shot of a little red headed ring bearer who was just too unique and adorable looking for words. We shot a wedding in Mexico awhile back that was literally a photographers dream. We have a bunch of photos from that wedding we love. We love NYC and have so many photos from there that we really love. Most of the work that stands out is because our clients allowed us the time to really play. When we are rushed on the wedding day, we will get great shots. But when the client puts a priority on photography and gives us time – that’s when the magic happens!

Q: Can you go through what equipment you are using…
A: We shoot the Contax 645, Canon EOS 1V, Canon 5D and have all the lenses/flashes etc….We are having fun playing with our new pocket wizards!

Q: Do you have anything special in the works or coming up that you would like to talk about?
A: We are working on a tool that we are hoping will automate our workflow and marketing. We are hoping to share it with others as well, so hopefully it will be up and running soon!

Q: Do you have any workshops or speaking engagements coming up?
A: We are speaking at the WPPI 2010 Business Institute. We are excited for that! We love speaking in Vegas!

Q: Would you like to give some props to your sponsors?
A: Of course! We LOVE Fuji Film, Queensberry Albums and Pictage!

Thank you very much for taking the time out of your busy day to speak with us. Keep up the great work guys!

I recently picked up a Hasselblad H3DII-31 Medium Format Digital SLR.

Here is a YouTube video review of it:

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I will post some sample pics and resolution examples in a bit so check back shortly.

I picked up my Hasselblad over at www.hotwire-digital.com. Be sure to check them out if you are in the market for a Hasselblad and want a support staff to help you out with the camera anytime! They are a great group of people and I would highly recommend them.

Download Skype:
Mac: http://www.skype.com/download/skype/windows/
PC: http://www.skype.com/download/skype/macosx/

For more information on how to use Skype click here:
Got Skype on the inLIGHTin Forum

This is a FREE webinar! Register quick because it is limited to only 25 seats.

I will be available from 7pm (till whenever) Eastern Time to talk with you all, answer any questions you may have. I plan on talking a tiny bit about photography and how to take your photos to the next level no matter if you just picked up a camera or if you have your own studio and do this for a living.

The conference call is limited to 25 people so first come first serve. Email me at mike@inlightinworkshop.com and pre-register for the webinar.

Once again, thank you for your support and I hope to see you there!
Michael