MM10 - Lenses I Love, Have Loved, and Will Love

Oh yes, most of us have been there. You come home to find sitting on your doorstep, that most exciting of visitors, the B&H box. The excitement is palpable - a new lens has arrived. As a gadget-hound photographer lenses are a big part of my daydreams. I've decided to share my obsession with glass (in particular, Nikon glass) as this week's MM10. Canon folks, I'm sorry but my love does have limits.

1. Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 - Will Love - The wide end of Nikon's professional, fast glass triumvirate. Regarded as the only "nice to have" as opposed to "must have" of the three.
2. Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 -  Love - The super-sharp, super-fast love of my photographic life. By far the lens that spends the most time on my D3. Middle child of the pro three.
3. Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 - Love - When 70mm just isn't enough, with Nikon's VR (vibration reduction) this big guy has the reach and speed needed to pick off long range shots in low-light. 
4. Nikon 50mm f/1.8 - Have Loved/Love - The first prime lens all of us Nikon shooters fall in love with. At $125 it's hard to argue with trying it out. F/1.8 depth of field is rich and creamy.
5. Nikon 50mm f/1.4 - Love - When you think you love the 50mm 1.8 but decide to see what that extra 2/3 stops does for you - you fall in love with a new lens. Build quality is a step above it's cheaper counterpart, and in my experience, focus speed outperforms as well.
6. Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 - Have Loved/Love - One of two DX lenses that are on my list, the venerable 18-200 gives the prosumer grade shooter an entire arsenal of focal length in a single lens. This one was my first personal experience with Nikon VR and I was impressed.
7. Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8 - Have Loved - Flat out the biggest mistake I've ever made with camera equipment was the day I sold this lens on ebay. I'm still kicking myself. I tell folks it's the DX equivalent of the 24-70mm, ridiculously sharp, and a joy when it comes to autofocus speed. Oh 20/20 hindsight...
8. Nikon 400mm f/2.8 - Will Love - When I convince my wife (and business partner) that I can justify the cost of this massive piece of glass for some future assignment, that will be a sweet day. Anybody want to take me out to shoot sports so I can justify renting one?
9. Nikon 85mm f/1.4 - Will Love - As our studio work continues to increase, I'm yearning for some portrait length bokeh. 
10. Nikon Fisheye 16mm f/2.8 - Will Love - Because more and more of my brides are asking for artsy, fisheye shots - this (or an even wider fisheye) will soon be on my "must-have" list.

For full disclosure, I'm linking these to B&H (one of our sponsors) - you can help support this blog by clicking on the links if you decide to make a purchase.

MM10 - New Year's Resolutions

Welcome back to Towner Jones Photography's little corner of the world-wide web and we wish you a very happy 2011. For those of you who have been with us for a while, my many thanks for sticking with us through a very sparse (blog-wise) holiday season. We were extremely blessed with a load of client work starting in September right through Christmas and are now taking a much needed breath.

We're extremely excited about all the things that 2011 has in store for our business (which, by the way is celebrating its 4th anniversary!!) but we'll save that list for another blog entry. Today, I'd like to take a moment to put down my New Year's Resolutions for the business (mostly so you can help keep me accountable) by bringing back an old, trusty feature... the Monday Morning Ten.

Let's see if I can still remember how these work. :-)

1. Blog at least twice, if not three times a week. 
2. Work with my buddy Jason Moore to get our collaborative content to you. - Like me, my good buddy Jason added a little one to the family right around the time we had best laid plans for our joint ventures. Here's to making those a reality in 2011.
3. Provide more "meat" when it comes to this blog's content. - I'll admit that this one is a little generic, but the blog has been missing a certain something lately, and I'm determined to get it back. With over 100,000 site visits behind us, I think the blog has established a following worth satisfying. I'll do my best to make that happen.
4. Share client teaser photos with you within a week of the session. - This is actually for two reasons, 1) seeing current photos may help you with shots your currently working on (for instance, the setup of a Christmas photo may not be quite as useful around Easter) and 2) it will force me to get my act in gear and avoid backlogs of client work. Pretty clever, eh.
5. Go into more detail about our major portfolio projects. - With last year's WWII kickback photoshoot, I had every intention in going into much more detail about the behind the scenes. For our upcoming projects, I resolve to actually do it.
6. Provide detailed reviews of the hardware we make use of in our studio. - I feel like I'm pretty good about sharing software reviews (particularly from our fantastic sponsor onOne!) but I think there's some value in seeing the other little gadgets and gizmos that make our business tick.
7. Introduce you to some of the great photographers I've had the pleasure of knowing and working with. - Sure this has been something we've done here in the past, but the Photographer Spotlight feature is one that I think is worth revisiting. I know that the large majority of my inspiration from a creative point-of-view comes from the talented work of others, and I think that broadening our knowledge of each others' work is a great way to grow.
8. Shake up the old monthly contests to make them fun again. - Apparently, you all would like something more exciting than just a basic theme and prize each month because participation in the last couple monthly contests has fallen sharply. I'll see what I can do.
9. Spend more time shooting for fun. - While we've been busy these past few months, I've picked up the nasty habit of only shooting for clients and not messing with my camera for my own enjoyment. For short periods of time, I think this is OK... but I'm not sure I have any photographs of our one-year-old twins... better look into that...
10. Blog at least twice, if not three times a week. - Yes I repeated this one on purpose. It is, by far the most important resolution on the list.

Well there you go. They're a little blog-centric for sure, but as I mentioned before I'm counting on you guys to guilt me into encourage me to stay on track. Thanks again for you support as we begin our fifth year of operation!

A New Day, A New Creative Suite

The day has finally arrived. Adobe is releasing it's much anticipated Creative Suite 5, including an all new edition of our beloved Adobe Photoshop! There's a wealth of information available all over the web about the new suite, so today's Monday Morning Ten Four is dedicated to the best sites to find the scoop of Adobe's new flagship.

Without further ado, the top places to learn about Adobe Creative Suite 5:

1) The Official Adobe Launch Site

2) NAPP's Adobe Photoshop CS5 Learning Center 

3) Adobe CS5 Buzz Hub

4) Kelby Training (subscription required)

Keep in mind that NAPP's site, which is normally subscription only, is going to be offering a free look at all there is to see in CS5. Each day this week, they'll be having a free online webinar where you can ask questions! And, for what it's worth, they're going to be giving away a free copy of the CS5 upgrade each day during the live webinars.

Enjoy the excitement of Adobe's new Creative Suite 5.

MM10 - Cool, Free Downloads

Today's MM10 is going to be focused on some cool, free stuff you should download to try out or incorporate into your workflow. Sorry in advance to my Mac readers, a lot of this is for the PC.

1) onOne Plug-In Suite 5, 30-day Trial - Download the award winning plug-in suite and see for yourself why it is one of the most popular sets of Adobe Plug-Ins available today.

2) Adobe Lightroom 3, Beta 2 - Want to see what all the fuss is about? If you're not a Lightroom user yet - see what Adobe has in store for you in the next few months. If you are a current Lightroom user, download and start to drool.

3) Photomatix 3.2.7, Free Trial - As you'll see when Jason Moore and I release Start to Finish Episode 2, HDRSoft's Photomatix is the tool for generating high-quality HDR.

4) RecycleNow - Yes, this makes the list. I like to keep my computer as neat and tidy as possible, and this application allows for me to set a scheduled task to empty the recycle bin nightly on my PC. Without it, I used to get gigabytes of garbage piled up in the bin, which slows down the machine.

5) Crimson Editor - Nerd Alert. As someone who does a lot of web design in addition to photography, Crimson Editor is a must. This free text editor will open and context color syntax from DOZENS of different programming languages... and it's open source. (If you know what that means, congrats - you're tech savvy. If that excites you - you're a fellow nerd.)

6) SyncBackPro, 30-day Trial - Download the backup software that has become the cornerstone of my backup routine and see how easy and reliable it is.

7) ImgBurn, CD/DVD Burning Tool - I despise the big, bloated CD/DVD burning packages that come bundled with most new machines or new CD-R/DVD-R drives. With ImgBurn I've finally found a small, reliable tool to get the job done... and best of all, it's free.

8) Dropbox - Want to share files and folders with friends and colleagues over the net? Dropbox has become my favorite, convenient method for doing so.

That's all for now gang... hope you enjoy.

MM10 - Studio Portraits 101

It's been a while since I've delivered any real photography content - so I've decided to push myself a little bit and provide my take on studio portraiture. First, let me say, it's not my intent to use today's MM10 as a discussion on detailed photographic technique. Getting things under your belt from a technical point of view will only be accomplished through thorough study and practice. Instead, I've picked up some things through experience and from the wisdom of some other great photographers which make success in the studio more likely. Today I'll share these concepts as the MM10.

I shot a couple studio sittings this past weekend and that's what inspired today's list - these all came into play...

1. First Impressions Count - when you're meeting with a client or model for the first time, remember that how you carry yourself, your demeanor, your greeting, everything will translate into the photos that you're getting ready to take - there's no getting around it.
2. Your Confidence - along with first impressions, maintaining control of the set is key to getting good photos. The best way to maintain control of a set - particularly when you have assistants, hair and make-up artists, and others "helping out" - is by portraying confidence. This also usually serves to put the model at ease because when you provide direction (and more importantly, positive feedback) they are taken as fact, as opposed to opinion.
3. Their Confidence - the subject's confidence in front of the camera is the most important consideration in the studio. There does not exist a high-end camera, strobe light, filter, lens, etc. that can take a good picture of someone who feels like they can't take a good picture. It's funny, but I've found, that even those people who think they can't take a good picture usually have it in them when they're confidence is supported by a caring photographer. Whenever I'm asked by a client, what should I wear to the shoot, I always respond the same way - "Whatever you feel the most confident in."
4. Physical Contact - this I got from Joe McNally, and it always works... after asking permission, whether you need to or not, walk up to the model and put your hands on them. (Move their chin, their shoulders, whatever) It's been proven that physical touch establishes a bond between people. Every little thing that you do to establish a connection with your subject will increase the quality of the photos.
5. Have a plan - in my experience, unless you're dealing with professional models, you have around 5-10 minutes of shooting in the studio before your model is going to start getting tired. When you've got folks melting under hot lights, it's essential that you have a plan of action. This includes preplanned poses, how many shots of each you hope to capture, wardrobe changes necessary, prop changes necessary, etc. etc. This isn't to say that you can't be spontaneous, but if you're client is waiting on you to come up with what's happening next, then they have the opportunity to realize that they're tired...
6. You control the environment
7. Smiles - 9 times out of 10, your model's real smile is better than their fake smile. Duh? Well, that may be obvious to most folks, but if you're like me, you almost always shoot a couple dozen frames before seeing that real smile for the first time. So before you start shooting, spend enough time with the model/client so that you've caught that real smile - so you know what to look for in the photos.
8. Find your connection - As mentioned earlier, before I start a shoot I like to take a little while to just chat with the model and get to know them. What are there likes and dislikes, hobbies, etc. - all of this information plays into what you can use to direct them during the shoot. It also continues to help in the establishment of that ever important connection between subject and photographer. This past weekend, Rose and I found that bond with our client over America's Next Top Model. (Yes, I've admitted before I watch the show regularly - don't give me a hard time) When we started giving her direction similar to what she had heard on the show, you should have seen her light up. 
9. Have Fun - if you've established a good rapport with your model, by all means, have some fun. I've found in many cases that I'll shoot a couple dozen frames all of mediocre quality. Then, noting that I only have say 12 shots left before needing to change cards, I'll direct the model to just be silly and goof off while I finish off the card. Many, many times - the best shots from the session come during those periods of just having a little fun.