When Skies Are Grey
Question from Noel:
Do you ever cancel shoot due to poor light? Grey Grey skies?
Curious!
Grey skies? I have no idea what you are talking about! We have perfect weather and blue skies all the time in Orange County! :)
The only time I cancel shoots is if it’s actively raining or if it’s super, super windy (if you’re from Southern California you are familiar with Santa Ana’s). Or if there is a tornado warning. No joke. I really had to cancel because of a tornado warning once. That same day a couple of people got struck by lightning. I felt horrible because my client had already gone to get her makeup done. But, the weather just got crazier and crazier as the day went on. So, I called her makeup artist and told her that I would pay for my client on the date that we rescheduled. It’s a small price to pay to not get struck by lightning 
If I cancel a session I usually won’t be able to reschedule for awhile. I’m typically booked about a month out and sometimes longer. And if I reschedule how will I know the day I pick won’t be cloudy or even worse weather? In addition, it could be cloudy at my house, but beautiful at the beach. Or vice versa. It’s just hard to know what the weather will do.
As a professional photographer you should be able to shoot in any sort of light that’s thrown your way. Do I prefer to shoot with sun? Of course. I get sad when I have to shoot with grey skies. But, I don’t control the weather! That would be cool if I could though…
This past summer we had “June Gloom” from May through August. Yucky, cloudy, and cold weather. Not your typical So Cal summer. It was depressing. But, I wouldn’t have worked all summer if I would have canceled the shoots. You just have to learn to work with what you have. The great thing about shooting with overcast skies is it’s actually easier. You don’t have to worry as much about shadows on the face and you have more options of where to shoot. You’re not limited by the sun.
Today I was sad because it was super cloudy. I checked weather.com a dozen times and each time it said “cloudy”. I kept my fingers crossed that the sun would come out for my shoot, but as I was driving it didn’t look promising. When I pulled up to our location the sun started to peak out. As we continued to shoot the clouds disappeared and we ended up with this
If I would have cancelled I would have missed out on that yummy light!
A Picture A Day…
Over the weekend I watched a documentary about Annie Leibovitz and someone said “Really great photographers can’t stop taking pictures. They do it like other people eat and breathe. Her whole life is a subject”. That got me thinking. I don’t take my camera with me everywhere. Whether it’s because it’s too heavy, or I don’t want anything to happen to it, or the light won’t be right, or I’m just lazy, it stays at home a lot of the time. But, I have my phone with me all the time. It never leaves my side. And while the pictures may not be the best quality or images that I will want to frame and hang up on my wall it would be neat to see if I could take a picture everyday. And see what I come up with. I just started, but I’m excited to see what I can come up with.
I’m using Project 365 app and will be posting each month I complete. I got the new iphone 4 last week so I’m starting new with the pictures I’ve taken so far on that camera. My favorite photography app so far has to be Hipstamatic. It’s like having my Diana with me all the time! I’ll be sharing more of my favorite photography apps soon!
Are you taking a picture everyday?
Are You Smarter Than A Two Year Old?
As parents of toddlers (and older kids know) getting your kids to pose for pictures is next to impossible. Right before Brayden turned 2 he started saying, “No pictures, Mommy!” anytime I would get the camera out. I would have to do sneak attacks to get any pictures of him.
We’ve been having some normal two year old issues lately. Tantrums, using the word “no” excessively, and doing whatever I tell him not to do. That got me thinking about using the tactic of reverse psychology on my kid. And guess what? It works. Like a charm. It gets him to eat. It gets him to go potty. It gets him to clean up his toys. And it’s even how I get my hugs and kisses. Last night I tried it out at the pool to get some pictures of him and, just like I thought, it worked like a charm again. I’ve been doing this for about two weeks now and I’m really hoping it doesn’t wear off. Please tell me it doesn’t wear off!
Here is, “Whatever you do DO NOT bring Mr. Turtle over here!”
*** All images shot with Canon 5D, 24 – 70 2.8 lens
2.8, 1/500, ISO 125
Here is, “Whatever you do DO NOT splash me!”
2.8, 1/400, ISO 125
And last, but not least, “Whatever you do DO NOT smile at the camera!”
2.8, 1/400, ISO 125
Lens Distortion
Last week I blogged about one of my favorite lenses, the Canon 16 – 35. It’s a great lens, but like with any wide angle lens you will get a bit of lens distortion on the edges. Nicole asked if I had ever tried the lens distortion tool while editing, but I hadn’t. I didn’t even know if Photoshop had one!
Flash forward to this past weekend. The good people at Adobe were kind enough to send me a copy of Adobe Lightroom Photoshop 3 to try out for myself. As it was loading I was reading about all the new features and one of those features was a lens distortion tool. It’s super awesome because you simply pick what lens you were using and it is fixed automatically. The have most Canon, Nikon, and Sigma wide angle lenses to choose from as well as a couple of Sony and Tamron lenses.
Here is the original image taken with the Canon 16 – 35 2.8:
Here is the corrected image:
The change is subtle, but I think it looks great! You can really see the difference when you look at the block wall in the background. See how on the original image it curves up on the sides (on the top and bottom of the wall). On the corrected image it’s just a straight line. Pretty cool and it was so easy!
I’ll be doing a full review on Lightroom when I get to know how to use it and work it into my work flow. But, I am really impressed. Especially with the noise reduction. Wow! It’s amazing!
What’s In My Camera Bag – Lighting
I don’t like flash, but it’s necessary for weddings. I haven’t used a flash for a family shoot in probably three years. For weddings, here’s what’s in my bag:
3 Speedlites (2 580EX and 1 580EXII) – I use one camera flash and two off cameras. If you want to know how to use off camera flash I suggest you take the same workshop that I did this past Spring – Off Camera Flash workshop with JVS. I went specifically for the wedding lighting, which was a very small part of the workshop. But, it really helped me understand my Speedlites much better.
Lots and lots of rechargeable batteries – I think they recycle faster than normal batteries. And it’s also environmentally friendly and more cost efficient in the long run. Make sure you label the batteries with the date you bought them so you know when it’s time to eventually retire them.
3 Quantum Turbo Batteries (one for each flash) – Do you ever have that problem when using your flash where it will take one picture and then it won’t fire again for 10, 15, 30 seconds? You end up missing the shot! And that stinks. With the Quantum Turbo batteries your flash will have extra power and will recycle much faster. It’s a bit cumbersome and you have to wear it on your pants, but the new version is much lighter and it’s totally worth it to not miss the shot.
I love the natural look when using 3 Speedlites for the dancing shots
I don’t usually do a lot of off camera flash for portraits, but when you’re stuck in a dark casino you have to do what you have to do. These were taken at the Wynn Las Vegas last year.
Off camera flash is also great for ring and detail shots
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