Photography.ca

117 — Noise Halos and Chromatic Aberration — Interview with Royce Howland

Marko Kulik — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 13:03:21 +0000

Photography podcast #117 features an interview with fine art photographer Royce Howland where we discuss the ‘junk’ that can get into our photographs. In particular we discuss and dissect noise, halos and chromatic aberration in photography. We talk about how to avoid getting these problems, how to fix these problems and how for some photographers — these aren’t problems at all but rather, deliberate creative choices.

Royce does an AWESOME job of explaining these problems so that they are understandable to anyone.

This is the longest podcast I’ve published to date and it clocks in at around 70 minutes. We spend roughly 20 minutes on each of the 3 topics. We cover halos first, then noise, then chromatic aberration. Each of the 3 issues have very different causes and solutions.

Scroll to the BOTTOM of this post to find the player to immediately listen to the audio podcast.

On the Rocks, Moraine Lake by Royce Howland — An HDR example where Royce controlled the settings to make sure no halos appeared in the sky or water.

Fall at Abraham Lake by Royce Howland — Another HDR example where Royce left the haloing in the sky, and in fact accentuated it a bit more via a Photoshop Curves adjustment, to give a sense of glow over the mountains. So sometimes halos are not a flaw, they’re a creative choice.

Looming, Abraham Lake by Royce Howland — An HDR example involving a high contrast backlit scene. The trees were deeply shadowed. Even on a Pentax 645D medium format camera, there’s noise in those trees in a normal single exposure. Bottom left — A 100% crop of a single exposure that went into the image above showing the level of noise in the trees. Bottom right — A 100% crop of the final image. Using a combination of HDR technique and a touch of additional noise reduction, I was able to subtly boost the contrast in the deep shadows, preserve all of the genuine detail, and also virtually eliminate the digital noise. Without HDR technique, just using a noise reduction filter can take the digital noise down but generally also will sacrifice legitimate detail as well.

Ghost Of Server Present, Jerome by Royce Howland — An indoor shot taken with available light in somewhat dim conditions at a supposedly haunted hotel. I’m using a bunch of creative techniques here including shallow depth of field, a reflection in a mirror, subject motion blur and extra digital blurring. Despite the softening effects of all the techniques used in this image, I also wanted a bit of texture and bit of “vintage film grain” feel. So far from removing all digital noise, I actually controlled it and then added a uniform monochromatic grain layer on top of everything in Photoshop. In print up to 16x20 size it’s difficult to see this grain, but on a nice matte paper it gives a slight feeling of texture; whereas running noise reduction as I would normally do in fact makes the results looking flat and plastic. You can see the noise detail added in the bottom detailed part of the image.

Chromatic aberration example at f/3.5 by Royce Howland — It was a bit after noon so the sun was high, and I shot straight into the light. The tree branches against a darker background show extremely high contrast edges. I was using a Sony RX100 pocket camera, which is a very high quality point & shoot with a Carl Zeiss lens. So a quality piece of kit for a compact. The first composition was at medium lens zoom and the aperture wide open — f/3.5. Bottom left — A 100% crop of the shot shows a lot of green and purple fringes are visible along the branch edges. Even towards the center of the lens, the chromatic aberration is pretty bad. This is a file converted from RAW using the latest Adobe Camera Raw in Photoshop CS6, no chromatic aberration removal. Bottom right — Now here’s the identical file, but using the green and purple fringe removal settings during RAW conversion. Quite strong settings were needed for the green fringes, not so strong for purple. Mostly the fringes were removed.

Chromatic aberration example at f/5.6 by Royce Howland — Now here is the same composition photographed again moments later in the same strong light, but stopping the lens down to f/5.6. Bottom left — Stopping the lens down just over 1 stop has actually gotten rid of many of the purple & green fringes without doing anything else. That’s because a slightly smaller aperture lets through less of the misaligned light rays that contribute to the chromatic aberration in the first place. This is a RAW file converted again with no chromatic aberration settings. Bottom right — And here’s the same file converted with a small amount of purple and green defringe settings, much less than needed in the first example and the results look better.

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:
Royce Howland Photography
Photo realistic HDR podcast with Royce Howland
Wikipedia Chromatic Aberration
DXO Optics
Topaz Denoise
Nik DFINE 2
Noise Ninja
PTLens
Emily Carr Images - She deliberately painted in what we today call Halos. Shoreline, 1936 is an example.

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Thanks to Jared Fein and Enrique Waizel who posted a blog comment about our last podcast. Thanks as well to everyone that sent comments by email about our last podcast. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board. Most of the links to actual the products are affiliate links that help support this site. Thanks in advance if you purchase through those links.

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Thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

116 — Sharpness on Steroids — Focus stacking interview with Michael Breitung

Marko Kulik — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 15:10:13 +0000

Photography podcast #116 features an interview with German landscape photographer Michael Breitung where we talk about why and how to do focus stacking in photography. Basically focus stacking involves taking multiple frames of the same scene but each frame is focused at a different part of the image. Then these frames are blended together using a graphics program like Gimp (free) or Photoshop (expensive). The result is sharpness and depth of field on steroids that can’t be matched by any camera lens combination on a 35mm DSLR camera at the time of this writing. Only tilt shift lenses can compete in this extreme sharpness arena, but those lenses require many saved dollars or a rich uncle. This technique is free if you have the skills and a graphics program.

Scroll to the BOTTOM of this post to find the player to immediately listen to the audio podcast.

Bloody Causeway by Michael Breitung — This focus stacked image blends 4 frames into one. Each frame was focused at a different point and then blended in Photoshop. Check out the sharpness from the closest corners all the way to the end of the causeway. This is sharpness swimming in awesome sauce. The aperture used here was f/9.5

Kraichgau at Dawn — Focus stacked photograph by Michael Breitung

Kraichgau at Dawn Details — Close up comparison by Michael Breitung — Only 2 frames were needed to create the final full-sized image above this one. One frame (left) focused at the foreground corners, gets the corners sharp in the final image. The other frame (right) focused at the midground, gets both the midground and the background sharp. Then the frames are blended in Photoshop to produce the final image. The aperture used here was f/11.

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:
Michael Breitung Photography
Michael Breitung’s (advanced) start to finish tutorial on his (Lightroom/Photoshop) post-processing workflow and how he created the Bloody Causeway image.
Helicon Focus image stacking software
Zerene Stacker
Tilt shift lenses in landscape photography
March 2013 regular Assignment — Wet or Rain
March 2013 level 2 Assignment — Dramatic angles

If you liked this podcast and want to review it on Itunes, this link gets you to the main page

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Thanks to D. Lavoie who posted a blog comment about our last podcast. Thanks as well to everyone that sent comments by email about our last podcast. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board. Most of the links to actual the products are affiliate links that help support this site. Thanks in advance if you purchase through those links.

Thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

115 — Color spaces — monitor settings — recommended hardware — Interview with Joe Brady

Marko Kulik — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 14:03:54 +0000

Photography podcast #115 features an interview with Colour expert Joe Brady who works for Macgroup US.
Joe knows pretty much everything there is to know about getting accurate colour from your monitor and your printer. Joe has recorded 2 podcasts with us already about monitor calibration and those links are listed below in the shownotes. In this podcast, we tackle some colour concepts that are a source of confusion for many people. We talk about monitor settings like colour temperature, gamma, and luminance. Then we tackle the sRGB, Adobe RGB and Prophoto RGB colour spaces and explain what they are, the advantages of each and when and where they are most useful. Finally, Joe recommends some calibration tools, monitors and printers.

Scroll to the BOTTOM of this post to find the player to immediately listen to the audio podcast.

This image shows off the 3 main color spaces. You’ll note that the ProPhoto RGB color space contains the most colors. This makes it the best color space for printing your own images on a quality printer. When posting to the web, the colour space should be sRGB as that is the type of monitor that most people have.

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:
Podcast 62 – Monitor – printer calibration – Interview with Joe Brady
Podcast 63 – Review of the Colormunki and the i1XTreme
Joe Brady Photography
X-Rite ColorMunki Photo Color Management Solution at B&H
X-Rite ColorMunki Display at B&H
Eizo FlexScan SX2262W at B&H
Eizo ColorEdge CG223W 22 at B&H

If you liked this podcast and want to review it on Itunes, this link gets you to the main page

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Thanks to Mikey88 who posted a blog comment about our last podcast. Thanks as well to everyone that sent comments by email about our last podcast. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board. Most of the links to actual the products are affiliate links that help support this site. Thanks in advance if you purchase through those links.

Thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

114 — 360 degree light painting — Interview with Patrick Rochon

Marko Kulik — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 16:36:11 +0000

Photography podcast #114 features an interview with light painter Patrick Rochon who discusses his new experimental 360 degree light painting technique. In a nutshell, Patrick light paints a model who stands in the middle of a ring as 24 DSLR cameras around the ring expose the scene at the same time. The frames are then strung together with software to give the illusion of circular movement. Patrick and I talk about his new work, his older work, and we talk about Patrick’s light painting process as well.

Scroll to the BOTTOM of this post to find the player to immediately listen to the audio podcast.

360 Degree light painting by Patrick Rochon

This is a Gif animation that Patrick created from one of the 360 degree light painting sessions

Light painting by Patrick Rochon — Animated Gif

This is the ‘ring’ where Patrick lit the models:

While I was at Patrick’s place recording this interview, I noticed a gallery of new light painted (non 360) photographs on his wall that were gorgeous. This image below was one that I really liked — Thx for sending it Patrick!

Light painting by Patrick Rochon ©Patrick Rochon

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:

patrickrochon.com
24x360.com — Timecode Lab — Eric Paré
Podcast #82 — Light painting portraits
LPWA – Light Painting World Alliance
Light painting photography
Animated gif photography (AKA Cinemagraphs)
Aurora Crowley Light Painter
– Beginnings — New — is our regular forum assignment for January
– Light painting — light drawing is our level 2 forum assignment for January
Photo tours of Montreal

If you liked this podcast and want to review it on Itunes, this link gets you to the main page

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Thanks to Photo Studios who posted a blog comment about our last podcast. Thanks as well to everyone that sent comments by email about our last podcast. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board. Most of the links to actual the products are affiliate links that help support this site. Thanks in advance if you purchase through those links.

Thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

113 — Six essential photography day trip accessories

Marko Kulik — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 19:38:01 +0000

Photography podcast #113 discusses what I feel are six essential accessories for day trip photography. I just came back from a super-quick trip to Nevada where I did solo day trips on 2 days to Red Rock Canyon and Valley of Fire State Park.

For now, my day trips to national/state/provincial/local parks and other cool places are easy ON-TRAIL day trips and the accessories that I’ve chosen to talk about reflect this. I go into detail about why these 6 accessories are essential in the podcast. The list I’ve come up with includes a tripod, polarizing filter, hiking shoes/boots, polarized sunglasses, a lens cloth and knee-pads.

Of course I’m SUPER-CURIOUS as to any other accessories listeners may suggest, so please feel free to let me know if you think I missed something.

Pharaoh Rock — Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada, USA ©Marko Kulik

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:

REI Las Vegas - Awesome sporting store — Ask for Tommy, he’s awesome.

Tripods for photography Podcast #96

Polarizing filters and other important filters Podcast #77

If you liked this podcast and want to review it on Itunes, this link gets you to the main page

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MY APOLOGIES THAT THE WEBSITE FIELD TO COMMENT WASN’T THERE, PLEASE JUST CONNECT WITH ME TO ADD IT. I’LL GET THIS FIXED FOR THE NEXT PODCAST.

Thanks to Mac Sokulski, Dave Johnson, Enrique Waizel, Bernard Dallaire, JP, Bret Farris and Sylvain Racicot who posted blog comments about our last podcast.. Thanks as well to everyone that sent comments by email about our last podcast. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board. Most of the links to actual the products are affiliate links that help support this site. Thanks in advance if you purchase through those links.

Thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

112 — Why camera bags suck

Marko Kulik — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 18:48:45 +0000

Photography podcast #112 addresses a question posed by Gordon Laing on Google+
The best camera bag — what do you use?

I replied to that question saying that these days I usually shoot bag free and keep my lenses that are in lens holding cases, attached to my belt as per the picture below. In case people are interested, here is a list of the items that I carry with me most of the time without a bag. Gitzo carbon fibre tripod (2540LLVL) also referred to as ‘my baby’. That’s on a Gitzo tripod shoulder strap slung diagonally around my shoulder. It’s an ‘OK’ strap, no better. I’m still hunting for the perfect tripod shoulder strap. Usually I carry 3 lenses; Nikon 14–24, Nikon 28–300, Nikon 50mm and 1 flash, the SB-800.

More details on the exact lenses and lens holders are listed in the affiliate links below from B&H.

I also carry in my pockets a cable release, spare batteries, lens cloth and a hex key for my camera bracket plate. Not shown is the flashlight that I’ll often have with me for night shoots. Not shown are the cokin filters that I sometimes keep in a pouch around my neck.

Obviously this setup will not work for many people carrying very large lenses and heavier gear — but this will work for most people that shoot with lenses that are about as large as an average 70-200mm F-2.8. This setup is also meant to give people new ideas on carrying gear.

I’m also seriously into knowing if other people have alternative gear carrying methods so please feel free to share by commenting.

Although it’s no fashion get up, this set-up allows my back to feel great and it allows me to change lenses quickly.

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:

Lowepro S&F Lens Exchange Case 200AW at B&H - My favourite lens holding case. It’s FAB!

Pearstone Onyx 60 Lens Case — In the podcast I talk about the Lowepro 2S but it seems to be discontinued. This model seems to have similar specs.

Lowepro 50mm lens holder at B&H

Lens Changer 75 Pop Down V2.0 from Think tank for larger lenses like a 100-400mm or for shooting 70-200mm with the lens hood attached. You may need to buy their belt to use this though.

Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5–5.6G ED VR Zoom Lens at B&H — I just love the versatility of the focal range.

Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G ED AF Lens at B&H - This lens and I are having a wonderful relationship, I love her.

Gitzo GT2540LLVL Leveling Carbon Fiber Tripod at B&H - This tripod works well for me. Fairly big but not too big.

If you liked this podcast and want to review it on Itunes, this link gets you to the main page

If you are interested in writing for our blog please contact me photography.ca ( A T ) G m ail Dot co m (using standard email formatting)

Please join the Photography.ca fan page on Facebook

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Thanks as always to everyone that sent comments by email about our last podcast. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board. Most of the links to actual the products are affiliate links that help support this site. Thanks in advance if you purchase through those links.

Thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

111 — My shit weather photo vacation

Marko Kulik — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 18:11:29 +0000

Photography podcast #111 is a personal account of the worst photo vacation I have ever taken and the steps I took to make the experience more enjoyable. I’d love to know how others have dealt with this issue in the past.

The Road to Nowhere — Yukon, Canada
9 out of 10 days had visibility similar to this — Serenity now was my mantra

Due to all the bad visibility in the mountains, I looked to the foreground instead which was often clear. Here I caught logs and tree stumps reflecting in the water at a small unnamed lake in Inuvik, NWT, Canada

Lake Logs — Inuvik, NWT

Details are another fun thing to shoot when the grand scenics are basking in obscurity.
This is the back of the silver pick-up truck we rented after covering 400 KM on the muddy Dempster highway.

Dempster Highway Truck — Yukon, Canada
This truck was silver before it got completely caked with thick Dempster highway mud.

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:

Rain Photography — podcast #88

If you liked this podcast and want to review it on Itunes, this link gets you to the main page

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Thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

110 — Crash course in black and white film photography

Marko Kulik — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 11:59:24 +0000

Photography podcast #110 gives you a full on crash course in black and white film photography in around 30 minutes. Black and white film photography is not at all dead. Many creative photographers are getting their hands wet in a traditional darkroom. If you’ve ever wanted to know what’s involved in black and white photography, I take you through the entire process. We talk about film cameras, film, developing film, printing contact sheets and printing a final print.
Thanks to John Vales from our photography.ca facebook group for suggesting this topic. Please feel free to “Like” that page.

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:

Apug.org — Analog Photography Users Group
keh.com
Film photography podcast with John Meadows
Ilford Delta 3200
Kodak Tri-X film
Kodak T-Max film
The negative by Ansel Adams
Photo tutorial on developing film. Shows normal, under, overexposed negs
Loading film onto a reel

- Circles is our regular forum assignment for Spetember
– Self Portraits in a Mirror is our level 2 assignment for September

If you liked this podcast and want to review it on Itunes, this link gets you to the main page

If you are interested in writing for our blog please contact me photography.ca ( A T ) G m ail Dot co m (using standard email formatting)

Please join the Photography.ca fan page on Facebook

If you are still lurking on our forum,
feel free to join our friendly Photography forum

Thanks to Lucille B and Michael Van der Tol who posted blog comments about our last podcast. Thanks as always to everyone that sent comments by email about our last podcast. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board. Most of the links to actual the products are affiliate links that help support this site. Thanks in advance if you purchase through those links.

Thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

109 — Flash photography tips — Interview with Joe McNally

Marko Kulik — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 16:29:11 +0000

Photography podcast #109 features an Interview about flash photography with well known photographer Joe McNally. Joe has been shooting for decades for well known magazines life Life, Sports Illustrated and National Geographic. He was in town giving a seminar on the variety of lighting techniques you can achieve by using just one or two flashes. After the seminar I sat down with Joe for this quick interview to talk about flash tips. In this podcast we talk about diffusing your flash, triggering your flash and Joe talks about personal projects.

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:

Joe McNally’s blog — Joe McNally’s Dance Portfolio
– Cold Beverages is our regular forum assignment for July
– Opposites is our level 2 forum assignment for July

If you liked this podcast and want to review it on Itunes, this link gets you to the main page

If you are interested in writing for our blog please contact me photography.ca ( A T ) G m ail Dot co m (using standard email formatting)

Please join the Photography.ca fan page on Facebook

If you are still lurking on our forum,
feel free to join our friendly Photography forum

Thanks to Lucille B and Julian who posted blog comments about our last podcast. Thanks as always to everyone that sent comments by email about our last podcast. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board. Most of the links to actual the products are affiliate links that help support this site. Thanks in advance if you purchase through those links.

Thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

108 — Film Photography Rocks — Interview w/John Meadows

Marko Kulik — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 16:03:32 +0000

Photography podcast #108 features an Interview with fine art photographer John Meadows where we talk about the advantages of shooting on film. Although it’s true that film photography is slowly being replaced by digital, it continues to remain VERY popular with fine art photographers for a bunch of reasons. One of these reasons is the incredible quality of the cameras and lenses available to film photographers that can be purchased these days for peanuts.

In this podcast we talk about the advantages of shooting on film, film characteristics, buying film, developing your own film, printing your own images in a darkroom, the hybrid approach of using both film and digital and more.

During this phone interview recorded by Skype, the quality of my voice is mediocre and I apologize in advance for this — Luckily John Meadows’s voice sounds great.

Broken and Unbroken © John Meadows

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:

Royce Howland’s follow up comment on the photo-realistic HDR podcast
John Meadows website
John Meadows on Flickr
apug.org — Analog Photography Users Group
Freestyle film photography supplies
Pocket light meter
Marshal Oils at B&H
Film at B&H
Photo tours in Montreal — Private photography instruction in Montreal

If you liked this podcast and want to review it on Itunes, this link gets you to the main page

If you are interested in writing for our blog please contact me photography.ca ( A T ) G m ail Dot co m (using standard email formatting)

Please join the Photography.ca fan page on Facebook

If you are still lurking on our forum,
feel free to join our friendly Photography forum

Thanks to John Starmer, Lucille B, chris f, Rob S, Royce Howland, Mike Langford and Delbensonphotography who posted blog comments about our last podcast. Thanks as always to everyone that sent comments by email about our last podcast. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board. Most of the links to actual the products are affiliate links that help support this site. Thanks in advance if you purchase through those links.

Thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

107 — Photo Realistic HDR — Interview w/Royce Howland

Marko Kulik — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 17:34:44 +0000

Photography podcast #107 features an Interview with Canadian Nature photographer Royce Howland. In this podcast we talk specifically about how to get realistic colours using the HDR process. HDR (high dynamic range) is a process that allows us to capture details in the highlighs and the shadows of our images by shooting multiple frames of the same image at different exposures and then blending them in software.

Many HDR images that we see on the web have really wonky and unrealistic colours. We pass no judgement on these types of images but this podcast is dedicated to getting realistic colours using the HDR process. We summarize the process from why we do this, to capture, to gear, to using the software to create the images. We also discuss the differences between the HDR process and using graduated neutral density filters.

Old Prairie Church & Storm Front, Mundare Alberta Canada © Royce Howland

That Halloween Mood, Glenmore Reservoir Calgary Alberta Canada © Royce Howland

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:

Royce Howland website
Royce Howland’s feature on Photography.ca
Older HDR article by Royce Howland
HDRSoft — Makers of Photomatix
Oloneo — Makers of PhotoEngine
Red Giant — Makers of Magic Bullet PhotoLooks
HDR Labs — HDR information resource
Topaz Adjust
HDR Efex Pro

If you liked this podcast and want to review it on Itunes, this link gets you to the main page

If you are interested in writing for our blog please contact me photography.ca ( A T ) G m ail Dot co m (using standard email formatting)

Please join the Photography.ca fan page on Facebook

If you are still lurking on our forum,
feel free to join our friendly Photography forum

Thanks to Benny and Delbensonphotography who posted blog comments about our last podcast. Thanks as always to everyone that sent comments by email about our last podcast. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board. Most of the links to actual the products are affiliate links that help support this site. Thanks in advance if you purchase through those links.

Thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

106 — White balance and why snow is blue

Marko Kulik — Thu, 03 May 2012 20:01:11 +0000

Photography podcast #106 discusses the often confusing topic of white balance and why sometimes the camera screws up our images like giving us blue snow. Correcting this is really easy and it just requires a bit of understanding of what is going on in the background. In a very tight oversimplified nutshell, when we see something that has colour, it has that colour due to the colour temperature of the light source illuminating it.

Light a candle in a dark room and look at a white baseball; it will look orange. The same thing happens with white snow that looks bluish under cloudy overcast conditions because cloudy light is bluish. Our eyes might not notice the blue because our brain compensates for the cast because it “knows” that snow is white, but the camera often gets it wrong. In this podcast we talk about white balance, automatic white balance, the white balance presets that your camera comes with and setting a custom white balance. If you’ve ever wanted to improve the colour accuracy of your images, this photo podcast offers up some fast tips.

Left image — When we see an object that has colour, it has that colour due to the color temperature of the light source illuminating it. This is why if we take a white baseball into a room lit only by a candle, the baseball looks orange. The same thing happens when we take a picture of white snow on a cloudy overcast day and it looks blue. Right image — White light (the kind we see at noon on a sunny cloudless day) is actually made up of equal parts of Red, Blue and Green light. These are the primary colours in photography.

Left Image — The camera’s AWB (automatic white balance) didn’t render this scene properly and the snow looks bluish because the day was cloudy and cloudy light is bluish. Right Image — I corrected this in post processing and the snow looks more natural to the eye.

: If your image has a colour cast, to neutralize it, you add the OPPOSITE colour of the cast.

This image was lit with 2 light sources; the light coming from the stove AND overcast light coming in through the windows. AWB does a very good job here but is a hint too warm. The cloudy preset adds yellow to compensate for cloudy light which is blue. In this case it reproduces too warm. The Incandescent preset adds blue to compensate for incandescent light which is warm. Here it added way too much blue. The custom setting, where you take a quick reading from a grey card or use a tool like an Expodisc was the most accurate and best reproduced the scene.

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:

Spinrite - To recover crashed hard drives
Allan Levene is running for congress!
Grey cards at B&H — Expodisc at B&H — Color meters at B&H
Photography tours in Montreal — One to one photography instruction by yours truly

- Wide open aperture is our regular forum assignment for May
– Texture is our level 2 forum assignment for May

If you liked this podcast and want to review it on Itunes, this link gets you to the main page

If you are interested in writing for our blog please contact me photography.ca ( A T ) G m ail Dot co m (using standard email formatting)

Please join the Photography.ca fan page on Facebook

If you are still lurking on our forum,
feel free to join our friendly Photography forum

Thanks to Rob vE, Yisehaq and Robertv in Edinburgh who posted blog comments about our last podcast. Thanks as always to everyone that sent comments by email about our last podcast. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board. Most of the links to actual the products are affiliate links that help support this site. Thanks in advance if you purchase through those links.

Thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

105 — Four tips to improve your bounced flash photography

Marko Kulik — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 20:48:19 +0000

Photography podcast #105 offers up tips on how to improve your bounced flash photography. Bouncing your flash off of walls and ceilings is easy and really softens the light which is often desirable especially in portraits. You can also achieve a much more interesting lighting pattern versus direct on-camera flash. You can often achieve great results with minimal effort and minimal help; I often use bounced flash when I am shooting alone and need a quick lighting setup.

The images below of my wife Carmy were shot in about 5 minutes against a slightly green wall in my livingroom. The tones in the face and background wall are similar but not identical in all images and I deliberately chose not to match them to see the subtle differences. These differences are due to the different ways that the light bounced around the room. There were windows in the room but the day was cloudy and no direct light was shining through the windows. Images are unretouched.

The image on the left shows direct flash. Note the harsh shadow on the wall and the relatively even lighting on the face. The shot on the right, bounced the flash off the ceiling. The shadow is still on the wall but it is softer. The lighting pattern on the face is less even but more interesting to the eye.

The image on the left used flash that was bounced off of the wall about 12 feet behind me. The image on the right used flash that was bounced off the side wall about 6 feet from me. Note the absence of any shadow on the back wall compared to the left image in the first set. When you try this for yourself make note of how far the bounced walls are from your flash. The farther the walls are from the flash, the harder the flash has to work and you may need to increase the flash’s output.

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:
Spinrite - To recover crashed hard drives
Photo podcast #4 — Fill flash
Photo podcast #47 — Flash sync speeds
Photo podcast #71 Portable flash

- Bright Colour is our regular forum assignment for March
– Silhouettes is our level 2 forum assignment for March

If you liked this podcast and want to review it on Itunes, this link gets you to the main page

If you are interested in writing for our blog please contact me photography.ca ( A T ) G m ail Dot co m (using standard email formatting)

Please join the Photography.ca fan page on Facebook

If you are still lurking on our forum,
feel free to join our friendly Photography forum

Thanks to Neil Speers, Stephen Kennedy, Ken Wolter, Jonathan Ramsdell and Allan Levene who posted blog comments about our last podcast. Thanks as always to everyone that sent comments by email about our last podcast. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board. Most of the links to actual the products are affiliate links that help support this site. Thanks in advance if you purchase through those links.

Thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

104 — Backing up images like a pro versus a bonehead

Marko Kulik — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 16:41:34 +0000

Photography podcast #104 discusses strategies for backing up your images. One of my external hard drives that held tens of thousands of images failed recently. Even though I had a duplicate of the images on another drive, the duplicates were poorly arranged. This got me thinking about better and safer backup strategies. I’d DEFINITELY appreciate hearing about YOUR backup strategies.

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:
– Crashplan.com
– Backblaze.com
– Carbonite.com
– Amazon S3 services calculator

- “Transportation” is our regular forum assignment for February
– Intentional Overexposure is our level 2 assignment for February

If you liked this podcast and want to review it on Itunes, this link gets you to the main page

If you are interested in writing for our blog please contact me photography.ca ( A T ) G m ail Dot co m (using standard email formatting)

Please join the Photography.ca fan page on Facebook

If you are still lurking on our forum,
feel free to join our friendly Photography forum

Thanks to skcazador, amber, cartman75 and Glenn Iguanasan Euloth who posted blog comments about our last podcast. Thanks as always to everyone that sent comments by email about our last podcast. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board. Most of the links to actual the products are affiliate links that help support this site. Thanks in advance if you purchase through those links.

Thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

103 — Photography umbrella for rain and snow

Marko Kulik — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 20:11:54 +0000

Photography podcast #103 talks about a wet weather photography umbrella contraption that I recently put together. Basically it’s a GIANT golf umbrella and a sling.
I’ve been shooting a lot in the rain and snow lately and sometimes you need to have both hands free. This umbrella contraption allows you to keep both hands on the camera and works well in heavy rain or snow so long as it’s not too windy.

This giant 68″ double canopy Gustbuster golf umbrella in a sling gives you close to 30 inches of dry shooting when it’s not too windy.

A close-up of the sling I purchased from brellabag.com — It’s pricey at $30. but works well when the sling is loaded with heavier items like a long lens or bottle of water.

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:
– Golftown.com
– Gustbuster umbrellas
– Brellabag.com
– Podcast #88 — Rain photography
- “Lights” is our regular forum assignment for December
– Ugly ducklings — looking for beauty in everything is our level 2 assignment for December

If you liked this podcast and want to review it on Itunes, this link gets you to the main page

If you are interested in writing for our blog please contact me photography.ca ( A T ) G m ail Dot co m (using standard email formatting)

Please join the Photography.ca fan page on Facebook

If you are still lurking on our forum,
feel free to join our friendly Photography forum

Thanks to cartman75, Benny and Gale who posted blog comments about our last podcast. Thanks as always to everyone that sent comments by email about our last podcast. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board. Most of the links to actual the products are affiliate links that help support this site. Thanks in advance if you purchase through those links.

Thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

102 — Layering images with interesting elements

Marko Kulik — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 20:43:59 +0000

Photography podcast #102 discusses layering your photographs with interesting elements. This involves serious attention to the overall composition of every frame that you take.
If you are taking a shot of a mountain for example, there’s always more to the shot than just the mountain. When you are aware of what’s around the mountain and take the time to “layer” the image with interesting elements, the composition as a whole gets much stronger. We also touch on how to refine those “layered elements” in post processing.

Athabaska River Reflecting Pools at Sunrise by Marko Kulik — Banff National Park — Alberta, Canada. As you can see this shot is about more than just the mountain which is in the background. The foreground, midground and background “layered” elements all contribute to the overall composition in this scene.

Sometimes you feel like a nut — Image by Lisa Couldwell. Even scenes using larger apertures benefit from “layered elements”. Here, Lisa focuses on the nut medallion but the tire in the background is a repeating shape that adds interest to the image. The diagonal lines in the image help to guide your eye. The composition here is very deliberate.

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:
– Improving boring landscapes
- Images that compliment SONG titles or Book titles is our regular forum assignment for November
– Intentional camera movement is our level 2 assignment for November

If you liked this podcast and want to review it on Itunes, this link gets you to the main page

If you are interested in writing for our blog please contact me photography.ca ( A T ) G m ail Dot co m (using standard email formatting)

Please join the Photography.ca fan page on Facebook

If you are still lurking on our forum,
feel free to join our friendly Photography forum

Thanks to Scorpio_e, Melissa Dorner, Josh G, Mathias, Avital Pinnick, Henry. b, and Jill bayer who posted blog comments about our last podcast. Thanks as always to everyone that sent comments by email about our last podcast. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board. Most of the links to actual the products are affiliate links that help support this site. Thanks in advance if you purchase through those links.

Thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

101 — Moving your camera during the exposure — Interview with Michael Orton

Marko Kulik — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 17:51:52 +0000

Photography podcast #101 features an interview with one of my favorite photographers, fine art photographer Michael Orton. In this podcast we talk about deliberately moving your camera during the exposure. Normally, this is FORBIDDEN and you do everything in your power to keep the camera as still as possible while shooting. But Michael has a very unique way of seeing and has again broken the rules. He has created a unique and fabulous new portfolio of one-of-a-kind abstract landscape images, by way of compound camera movements that I now refer to as Orton Compound Camera Movements or OCCM. This podcast discusses deliberate camera movements for creative effect.

Michael Orton is a fine art photography pioneer. First he created Orton Imagery, AKA the Orton effect some 30ish years ago. This technique has been used by tens of thousands of photographers and has become so popular that Adobe Elements 10 now features an action called the Orton Effect. I’d bet hard that Michael’s technique involving compound camera movements also develops a cult-like following in the years to come. Thanks so much Michael!

: Awakening by Michael Orton — The abstract painterly feel to this image was created IN CAMERA by using OCCM (Orton’s compound camera movements).

: Michael Orton at ‘Work’ — Image by Marko Kulik

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:
– Michael Orton Photography
- Michael Orton’s feature on Photography.ca
– 67 – Orton Imagery – The Orton Effect – Interview with Michael Orton and Darwin Wiggett — Podcast #67
– Photographing Creative Landscapes by Michael Orton: Simple Tools for Artistic Images and Enhanced Creativity

If you liked this podcast and want to review it on Itunes, this link gets you to the main page

If you are interested in writing for our blog please contact me photography.ca ( A T ) G m ail Dot co m (using standard email formatting)

Please join the Photography.ca fan page on Facebook

If you are still lurking on our forum,
feel free to join our friendly Photography forum

Thanks to Patrick, Bambi and Glenn Euloth who posted blog comments about our last podcast. Thanks as always to everyone that sent comments by email about our last podcast. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board. Most of the links to actual the products are affiliate links that help support this site. Thanks in advance if you purchase through those links.

Thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

100 — Shoot in any light

Marko Kulik — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 04:38:29 +0000

Photography podcast #100 celebrates our 100th photography podcast and focuses on the tag line of the podcast which is ‘keep on shooting’ in any light.

I’d like to take this moment to thank all our listeners! Your support and encouragement during these past 100 episodes has been awesome. Thanks for all the feedback, all the comments and all the contributions. Special thanks as well to all the guests that have shared their knowledge so freely. More interviews are planned for the future.

In this podcast I offer up tips on how to shoot in any light so long as it suits the subject.

: I shot this image at about 2pm. The light that most of the ducks were resting in was bright and harsh. Had I shot this duck in that direct light, the shadows would have been too harsh. This particular duck though was resting under a shelter that softened the light and the soft light suited this subject far better and holds details in the blacks and the whites. Straight shot — No flash was used here.

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:
– How to photograph with hard light — Podcast #97
– Rain photography — Podcast #88
– Studio lighting for beginners — Podcast #33
– September’s regular assignment on the Photography.ca forum — Yellow
– September’s level 2 assignment on the Photography.ca forum — Macros of any kind

If you liked this podcast and want to review it on Itunes, this link gets you to the main page

If you are interested in writing for our blog please contact me photography.ca ( A T ) G m ail Dot co m (using standard email formatting)

Please join the Photography.ca fan page on Facebook

If you are still lurking on our forum,
feel free to join our friendly Photography forum

Thanks to Rob vE, Rich, Anuj, Photo art cafe and Best who posted blog comments about our last podcast. Thanks as always to everyone that sent comments by email about our last podcast. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board. Most of the links to actual the products are affiliate links that help support this site. Thanks in advance if you purchase through those links.

Thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

99 — Controlling brightness in photography

Marko Kulik — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 19:33:02 +0000

Photography podcast #99 discusses how to control brightness in your images. Our eye tends to follow or rest upon bright objects in a photograph and very often these objects or elements are not the focal point of the image thus causing our eyes to wander.

Controlling the brighter elements in a scene takes some planning during shooting, and some work in post-processing but ultimately your images will be stronger. You’ll also have way more control over the final image where you the creator of the image guide the viewer’s eye purposefully.

Brightness is well controlled in this image. Along with compositional curves, part of what makes this image work is that other bright elements in the scene are not competing with the bride. All eyes are on her as she makes her entrance. Image by Dominic Fuizzotto

Image by Richard Sparey — This lovely image of delicious pears suffers slightly from what I call weak edges. This causes our eye to wander out of the frame. It’s more noticeable on printed white paper or on a pure white background.

The same image with the edges burnt in (darkened) quite a bit to show the effect. This helps keep our eyes from wandering. Thanks to Richard for allowing me to use this image.

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:
– August’s regular assignment on the Photography.ca forum — Numbers — Photograph something with a number
– August’s level 2 assignment on the Photography.ca forum — Creating counterpoints
– Brightness problems and distracting elements — Podcast #44
– Neutral density filters and graduated ND filters — Interview with Darwin Wiggett — Podcast #77
– Dominic Fuizzotto Photography
– Richard Sparey Photography

If you liked this podcast and want to review it on Itunes, this link gets you to the main page

If you are interested in writing for our blog please contact me photography.ca ( A T ) G m ail Dot co m (using standard email formatting)

Please join the Photography.ca fan page on Facebook

If you are still lurking on our forum,
feel free to join our friendly Photography forum

Thanks to forum members Northstone, Scorpio_e, Howard J, Yisehaq, Bill Sorensen and useakme who posted blog comments about our last podcast. Thanks as always to everyone that sent comments by email about our last podcast. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board. Most of the links to actual the products are affiliate links that help support this site. Thanks in advance if you purchase through those links.

Thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

98 — 3 reasons you SHOULD crop photos

Marko Kulik — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 21:36:40 +0000

Photography podcast #98 talks about why it’s OK to crop photos.
Many photographers on the Net and throughout Photography’s history seem to be against cropping and in this podcast I explain why I am NOT one of them.

Guerrillero Heroico by Alberto Korda — The cropped photograph of Che Guevara is one of the most recognizable photos on planet earth. Although the original is still a strong photograph, unlikely it would have become the icon it is without the crop.

Pablo Picasso by Arnold Newman — Arnold Newman was a strong believer in doing whatever worked to improve his photographs. This obviously included cropping out about 65% of this very famous portrait.

Igor Stravinsky by Arnold Newman — Most people would agree that the cropped version of this photograph is much stronger. In this case, less is WAY more in this unusual but extremely effective crop.

Woman at the Door by Marko Kulik — This crop is unconventional and deliberate but I feel it helps the image and that’s the only reason it’s there.

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:
July’s regular assignment on the Photography.ca forum — My city OR my country
July’s level 2 assignment on the Photography.ca forum — Creative use of my country’s flag

If you liked this podcast and want to review it on Itunes, this link gets you to the main page

If you are interested in writing for our blog please contact me photography.ca ( A T ) G m ail Dot co m (using standard email formatting)

Please join the Photography.ca fan page on Facebook

If you are still lurking on our forum,
feel free to join our friendly Photography forum

Thanks to forum members Jimmy, Scorpio_e, and Brendan who posted blog comments about our last podcast. Thanks as always to everyone that sent comments by email about our last podcast. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board. Most of the links to actual the products are affiliate links that help support this site. Thanks in advance if you purchase through those links.

Thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

97 — How to photograph with hard light

Marko Kulik — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 16:13:34 +0000

Photography podcast #97 is a primer on how to use hard light. Hard light is trickier to use than soft light but there is NO reason to avoid using it. It just needs to be used appropriately. Part of using hard light and shadow in photography is being very aware of where the shadows will fall and changing your position or your lighting if you don’t like where they fall.

Here’s a couple of basic points when using hard light in photography:

- Hard light comes from a small light source relative to your subject. The sun IS a small light source in this respect because it is 93 million miles away from the earth.
- Hard light produces hard shadows which are good in many cases especially to reveal form.
- The farther the light source is from the subject, the HARDER the shadows.
- The farther away the light source is from the subject, the SHORTER the shadows.

To prove this to yourself take a flashlight into the bathroom and shut off the lights. Shine the light on your finger in front of the wall. Move the light around and you will learn a ton about shadows.

Hard light demo — The image at left shows a shadow from direct hard sunlight. Moments later some very light clouds diffuse the sunlight to create a softer shadow at right. Had the sky been completely overcast (very soft light) almost no shadows would be present and this image would lose its punch and be totally boring. © Marko Kulik

Image by BzdegaPhotography — The hard light totally works in this image despite the flare.

Carmy Working by Marko Kulik — One hard light at camera left creates a shadow that adds to the gritty flavour of the shot

Their Objects by Marko Kulik — Candle light is hard light. This shot took quite a while to set up due to thinking about where the shadows would fall.

Judy Garland by George Hurrell — 1944. This striking portrait was shot 67 years ago by lighting master George Hurrell. The very dark shadows attest to the hard light used here.

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:
June’s regular assignment on the Photography.ca forum — Breaking the rules
June’s level 2 assignment on the Photography.ca forum — Creative self portraits

If you liked this podcast and want to review it on Itunes, this link gets you to the main page

If you are interested in writing for our blog please contact me photography.ca ( A T ) G m ail Dot co m (using standard email formatting)

Please join the Photography.ca fan page on Facebook

If you are still lurking on our forum,
feel free to join our friendly Photography forum

Thanks to forum members NorthStone, Wicked Dark, Howard J, KawarthaBob and Jonny Hotshoe who posted blog comments about our last podcast. Thanks as always to everyone that sent comments by email about our last podcast. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board. Most of the links to actual the products are affiliate links that help support this site. Thanks in advance if you purchase through those links.

If you are looking at this material on any other site except Photography.ca — Please hop on over to the Photography.ca blog and podcast and get this and other photography info directly from the source. |Subscribe with iTunes |Subscribe via RSS feed |Subscribe with Google Reader|Subscribe for free to the Photography podcast — Photography.ca and get all the posts/podcasts by Email
You can download this photography podcast directly by clicking the preceding link or listen to it almost immediately with the embedded player below.

Thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

96 — Tripods for photography (the good stuff)

Marko Kulik — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 19:56:23 +0000

Photography podcast #96 is a primer on how to buy a great tripod, what to look for in a tripod and why you should buy a great tripod. (In the longrun, if you stick with photography long enough, you will be buying a great tripod eventually anyway)

If you are serious enough about your photography that you save money to buy great lenses, then this podcast won’t scare the crap out of you.

If you are into the cheap stuff, and are more concerned about overall price versus overall quality, be afraid — be very afraid.

Tripods and heads for photography

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:
Tripod article by Thom Hogan — a must read
Gitzo GT2540LLVL tripod at B&H
Manfrotto 055 Tripod plus 3-Way Pan/Tilt Head w/ Quick Release at B&H
The following companies make recommended ballheads — Arca Swiss — Acratech — Really Right Stuff - Markins — Gitzo — Manfrotto
Cheaper Carbon fiber tripods by Induro — Benbo (Remember to research and TRY specific individual models)
April’s regular assignment on the Photography.ca forum — Geometric shapes
April’s level 2 assignment on the Photography.ca forum — Creative underexposure

If you liked this podcast and want to review it on Itunes, this link gets you to the main page

If you are interested in writing for our blog please contact me photography.ca ( A T ) G m ail Dot co m (using standard email formatting)

Please join the Photography.ca fan page on Facebook

If you are still lurking on our forum,
feel free to join our friendly Photography forum

Thanks to forum member Benny who posted a blog comment about our last podcast. Thanks as always to everyone that sent comments by email about our last podcast. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board. Most of the links to actual the products are affiliate links that help support this site. Thanks in advance if you purchase through those links.

If you are looking at this material on any other site except Photography.ca — Please hop on over to the Photography.ca blog and podcast and get this and other photography info directly from the source. |Subscribe with iTunes |Subscribe via RSS feed |Subscribe with Google Reader|Subscribe for free to the Photography podcast — Photography.ca and get all the posts/podcasts by Email
You can download this photography podcast directly by clicking the preceding link or listen to it almost immediately with the embedded player below.

Thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

95 — Larry King family portrait — Interview with Laszlo of Montreal

Marko Kulik — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 18:57:45 +0000

Photography podcast #95 features an interview with Canadian photographer Laszlo of Montreal. In this interview Laszlo talks about a recent portrait session with Larry King and his family. In an effort to illustrate how keeping it simple can yield great results, Laszlo deconstructs this photograph while talking about lighting, composition and technique.

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:

Show us your parks is the regular assignment this month on our photography forum
Macro — closeup is the level 2 assignment this month on our photography forum
If you liked this podcast and want to write a testimonial, it’s a great way to say “Thanks” and it’s super-appreciated

If you liked this podcast and want to review it on Itunes, this link gets you to the main page

If you are interested in writing for our blog please contact me photography.ca ( A T ) G m ail Dot co m (using standard email formatting)

Please join the Photography.ca fan page on Facebook

If you are still lurking on our forum,
feel free to join our friendly Photography forum

Thanks to forum member Glenn Euloth (AKA Iguanasan on our forum) who posted a blog comment about our last podcast. Thanks as always to everyone that sent comments by email about our last podcast. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board. Most of the links to actual the products are affiliate links that help support this site. Thanks in advance if you purchase through those links.

If you are looking at this material on any other site except Photography.ca — Please hop on over to the Photography.ca blog and podcast and get this and other photography info directly from the source. |Subscribe with iTunes |Subscribe via RSS feed |Subscribe with Google Reader|Subscribe for free to the Photography podcast — Photography.ca and get all the posts/podcasts by Email
You can download this photography podcast directly by clicking the preceding link or listen to it almost immediately with the embedded player below.

Thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

94 — Turning day into night

Marko Kulik — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 23:32:45 +0000

Photography podcast #94 teaches how to turn day into night or late afternoon for portrait purposes. This technique is often used by wedding, fashion and portrait photographers. The goal of the technique is to make the sky look darker so that the model pops against the sky. This often adds mood and/or drama to a shot. We discuss 2 techniques; using flash and camera in manual non TTL (Through the lens) mode as well as TTL mode. We also touch on flash sync speeds.

This image looks like it was shot in the late afternoon but it was shot at 1pm. Camera mode was aperture priority using TTL flash. Exposure compensation was set to –3 on camera and +2 for the direct on camera flash. I would have taken the flash off camera for a better lighting pattern but it was minus 15 C and my model only had 5 minutes in her.

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:

Show us your parks is the regular assignment this month on our photography forum
Macro — closeup is the level 2 assignment this month on our photography forum
If you are interested in writing for our blog please contact me photography.ca ( A T ) G m ail Dot co m (using standard email formatting)

Please join the Photography.ca fan page on Facebook

If you liked this podcast and want to review it on Itunes, this link gets you to the main page

If you are still lurking on our forum,
feel free to join our friendly Photography forum

Thanks to kat, Wicked Dark and Shant M who posted a blog comment about our last podcast. Thanks as always to everyone that sent comments by email about our last podcast. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board. Most of the links to actual the products are affiliate links that help support this site. Thanks in advance if you purchase through those links.

If you are looking at this material on any other site except Photography.ca — Please hop on over to the Photography.ca blog and podcast and get this and other photography info directly from the source. |Subscribe with iTunes |Subscribe via RSS feed |Subscribe with Google Reader|Subscribe for free to the Photography podcast — Photography.ca and get all the posts/podcasts by Email
You can download this photography podcast directly by clicking the preceding link or listen to it almost immediately with the embedded player below.

Thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

93 — Black and white photography — qualities that make good bw images

Marko Kulik — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 18:10:20 +0000

Photography podcast #93 is based on a thread in our photography forum by member asnow where he asks about the qualities make a good black and white photo. A number of other forum members help answer the question and I offer up some personal opinions as well. One‚piece‚of good advice involves learning to see in black and white using a digital camera. Most digital cameras can capture the image in colour but SHOW it to you on your camera’s screen in black and white. This allows you to learn how coloured tones under a given light look in black and white. (Look up the word monochrome in your camera’s instruction manual for instructions on how to do this). Live view is also fantastic as it shows you how the scene will look in BW even before you click the shutter. (Many thanks to asnow, raven4ns, Wicked Dark and Andrew for their contributions to the thread and podcast.)

Snow Tracks — Marko Kulik

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:

The Zone System — Wikipedia | The Zone system on Luminious landscape
Wicked Dark’s article Black and White 101
Emotion is the regular assignment this month on our photography forum
Backlighting is the level 2 assignment this month on our photography forum
If you are interested in writing for our blog please contact me photography.ca ( ‚ A ‚ T ‚) G m ail ‚Dot co m (using standard email formatting)

Please join the Photography.ca fan page on Facebook

If you liked this podcast and want to review it on Itunes, this link gets you to the main page

If you are still lurking on our forum,
feel free to join our friendly ‚Photography forum

Thanks to kawarthabob, and kat‚who posted a blog comment about our last podcast. Thanks as always to everyone that sent comments by email about our last podcast. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board. Most of the links to actual the products are affiliate links that help support this site. Thanks in advance if you purchase through those links.

If you are looking at this material on any other site except Photography.ca — Please hop on over to the‚Photography.ca blog and podcast and get this and other photography info directly from the source. |Subscribe with iTunes |Subscribe via RSS feed |Subscribe with Google Reader |Subscribe for free to the Photography podcast — Photography.ca and get all the posts/podcasts by Email
You can download this photography podcast directly by clicking the preceding link or listen to it almost immediately with the embedded player below.

Thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

92 — My damn lenses keep vignetting — solving vignetting problems

Marko Kulik — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 22:25:03 +0000

Photography podcast #92 talks about solving vignetting which is the unwanted darkening around the edges or corners in your photographs. We talk about 2–3 very common reasons why even professional lenses that cost a fortune, STILL suffer from vignetting in certain cases. ‚We also talk about why many people never notice the vignetting in their photographs even though it’s often there.

This is mechanical vignetting of a shot of the sky on my F2.8 24mm wide angle lens and is due to too many filters in front of the lens. Shot at left at F2.8. Stopping down to F 5.6 (right shot) ‚helps slightly. A better solution here is to simply use less filters, or wider ones.

Optical vignetting on neutral subject. Shot at left is at F-5.6 focused on infinity using the 300mm end of my 28–300 zoom. Shot at right is at F-11 focused on infinity using the 300mm end of my 28–300 zoom‚and the vignetting is almost gone. Both images shot without filters of any kind. This type of vignetting can occur in some cases on almost any DSLR lens regardless of price.‚Listening‚to the podcast explains why this happens.

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:

Cambridge in Colour article on lenses
Wider Cokin Z filter holders at B&H
Step up rings at B&H
Adapter rings at B&H
Emotion is the regular assignment this month on our photography forum
Backlighting is the level 2 assignment this month on our photography forum

Please join the Photography.ca fan page on Facebook

If you liked this podcast and want to review it on Itunes, this link gets you to the main page

If you are still lurking on our forum,
feel free to join our friendly ‚Photography forum

Thanks to Jack Label and Sevenwords‚who posted a blog comment about our last podcast. Thanks as always to everyone that sent comments by email about our last podcast. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board. Most of the links to actual the products are affiliate links that help support this site. Thanks in advance if you purchase through those links.

Happy New Year everyone and only the best for 2011 — thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

91 — 3 ways to reduce noise in photography

Marko Kulik — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 16:52:26 +0000

Photography podcast #91 discusses 3 common‚reasons‚we get noise in our photographs and we offer tips on how to beat that noise. For the purposes of this podcast, noise is the appearance of coloured‚specks, ‚monochromatic‚specks or bands/lines that appear in your photographs (often in uniform areas like the sky or in the shadowy parts of the image) that should not be there.

Scene from Oka Park Quebec Canada

This image from OKA Park looks pleasing enough and looking at it here you might not know that the image was underexposed. I boosted the levels in Photoshop so at first glance it looks pretty good.

HOWEVER, this 100% crop from the same image reveals the noise (colours in the snow) due to underexposure.

Snow detail crop at 100% shows colour noise

TIP — Don’t automatically underexpose. Underexpose the scene only when necessary.

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:

Cambridge in Colour article on noise
Noise Ninja
Dfine
Topaz Denoise

Shiny‚is the regular assignment this month on our photography forum
Ton sur Ton is the level 2 assignment this month on our photography forum

Please join the Photography.ca fan page on Facebook

If you liked this podcast and want to review it on Itunes, this link gets you to the main page

If you are still lurking on our forum,
feel free to join our friendly Photography forum

Thanks to rabs, Lee Sacrey, Las Vegas Weddings, Charles binns landscape photography, and Michael Van der Tol who posted a blog comment about our last podcast. Thanks as always to everyone that sent comments by email about our last podcast. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board. Most of the links to actual the products are affiliate links that help support this site. Thanks in advance if you purchase through those links.

Happy Holidays everyone and only the best for 2011 — thanks for listening and keep on shooting!

90 — Tilt shift lenses for landscape photography — Interview w/ Darwin Wiggett

Marko Kulik — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 17:21:21 +0000

Photography podcast #90 features an interview with Canadian landscape photographer Darwin Wiggett. It was recorded on a photo tour in the Alberta Rockies led by Darwin. In the interview Darwin discusses why he often uses a tilt shift lens in landscape photography. For those that have never heard of a tilt shift lens, it’s a lens that has the ability to tilt and/or shift while attached to your camera. The tilting aspect of the lens allows you to get amazing depth of field (REGARDLESS‚ of aperture) because the lens can tilt in the same direction as the plane of focus. The shift aspect of the lens allows you to correct non parallel lines in camera when photographing a building for example. It also allows for easy panoramas. Darwin is a fabulous teacher so take a listen and it will all make even more sense. We also talk a bit about testing your lenses, resolution, aperture, depth of field and image circles.

An example of a tilt shift lens

Note how the image on the right has SUPERB depth of field because the tilt shift lens was TILTED into the plane of focus. Image at left uses a regular wide angle lens. ‚©D. Wiggett

Note how the lighthouse is straight in the shot at right due to the SHIFT correction on a tilt shift lens. Image at left uses a regular wide angle lens. ‚© D. Wiggett

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:
Workshops and photo tours with Darwin Wiggett
Jay Maisel Documentary for inspiration
Show us where you live is the regular assignment this month on our photography forum
Time (No clocks) is the level 2 assignment this month on our photography forum
Nikon’s 24mm tilt shift lens at B&H
Canon’s 24mm tilt shift lens at B&H

Please join the Photography.ca fan page on Facebook

If you liked this podcast and want to review it on Itunes, this link gets you to the main page

If you are still lurking on our forum,
feel free to join our friendly ¯¿½Photography forum

Thanks to IceCreamMan and Benny who posted a blog comment about our last podcast. Thanks as always to everyone that sent comments by email about our last podcast. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board. Most of the links to actual the products are affiliate links that help support this site. Thanks in advance if you purchase through those links.

If you are looking at this material on any other site except Photography.ca — Please hop on over to the¯¿½ Photography.ca blog and podcast and get this and other photography info directly from the source. |¯¿½Subscribe with iTunes |¯¿½Subscribe via RSS feed |¯¿½Subscribe with Google Reader |Subscribe for free to the Photography podcast — Photography.ca and get all the posts/podcasts by Email
You can download this photography podcast directly by clicking the preceding link or listen to it almost immediately with the embedded player below.

89 — Interview with Joyce Tenneson — Michael Grecco — Notes from Jay Maisel

Marko Kulik — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 15:41:56 +0000

Photography podcast #89 features 2 interviews that were recorded at the PDN Photoplus Conference and Expo in New York last weekend.‚ This conference and show happens yearly and is one of the largest photo shows in North America. It’s an AWESOME show/conference with all the latest products and fabulous seminars from some of the best photographers in North America. This post/podcast will cover some of the seminars and other posts will cover some of the products.

Interview 1 is with fine art photographer Joyce Tenneson. I’ve been following her work for close to 20 years so it was a real treat to interview her. In this interview we talk about finding a personal style.

Interview 2 is with well know portraitist and celebrity photographer Michael Grecco. In this interview Michael shares some of his lighting secrets to achieve a dramatic portrait.

Finally I share some of the notes that I took in a seminar led by master photographer Jay Maisel.

Thanks again to Joyce Tenneson, Michael Grecco and Jay Maisel for allowing us to feature their work and for their wonderful seminars.

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:
Joyce Tenneson — feature on Photography.ca
Michael Grecco — feature on Photography.ca
Jay Maisel — feature on Photography.ca
Jay Maisel Documentary
Light tools — for modifying light
Dynalite kit at B&H
Show us where you live is the regular assignment this month on our photography forum
Time (No clocks) is the level 2 assignment this month on our photography forum

Please join the Photography.ca fan page on Facebook

If you liked this podcast and want to review it on Itunes, this link gets you to the main page

If you are still lurking on our forum,
feel free to join our friendly ¯¿½Photography forum

Thanks to Sean G, Robertv, Shant M, Michael Van der Tol, IceCreamMan and Glenn Euloth who posted a blog comment about our last podcast. Thanks as always to everyone that sent comments by email about our last podcast. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board. Most of the links to actual the products are affiliate links that help support this site. Thanks in advance if you purchase through those links. In the interest of full disclosure, I did not actually pay to go see the seminars, I had a press pass. That said, if I did not think the seminars were great, I simply would not have written about them.

88 — Rain photography

Marko Kulik — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 21:16:57 +0000

Photography podcast #88 talks about rain photography and is based on a suggestion by Mad Aussie, Thanks MA. ‚ In the podcast we talk about how to go about‚ protecting yourself and your camera so that you can enjoy rain photography. We also talk about subject matter, technique, after the rain camera care and we touch on lighting as well.

Puddle-drop and Reflection by Marko Kulik Rainsleeve and Flash rainsleeve Links /resources mentioned in this podcast: Rainsleeve for your DSLR and flash (at B&H) Rainsleeve for your DSLR (at B&H) Please join the Photography.ca fan page on Facebook If you liked this podcast and want to review it on Itunes, this link gets you to the main page My Facebook profile — Feel free to “friend” me — please just mention Photography.ca My Twitter page — I will follow you if you follow me — Let’s connect — PLEASE email me and tell me who you are in case I don’t reciprocate because I think you are a spammer. If you are still lurking on our forum, feel free to join our friendly ¯¿½Photography forum Thanks to Yisehaq, Jack Label,‚ Robertv and Glenn Euloth who posted a blog comment about our last podcast. Thanks as always to everyone that sent comments by email about our last podcast. Although ALL comments are appreciated, commenting directly in this blog is preferred. Thanks as well to all the new members of the bulletin board. Most of the links to actual the products are affiliate links that help support this site. Thanks in advance if you purchase through those links. If you are looking at this material on any other site except Photography.ca — Please hop on over to the¯¿½ Photography.ca blog and podcast and get this and other photography info directly from the source. |¯¿½Subscribe with iTunes |¯¿½Subscribe via RSS feed |¯¿½Subscribe with Google Reader |Subscribe for free to the Photography podcast — Photography.ca and get all the posts/podcasts by Email You can download this photography podcast directly by clicking the preceding link or listen to it almost immediately with the embedded player below.