Every Monday, Russ Burden (one of my favorite photography instructors) emails his former students instructional tips to help them with their photography skills. It’s one of the most popular features on my blog, and I thought I might share an example with readers here on ODOP.

I have taken several courses with Russ, who is an instructor with the Digital Photography Academy, which offers classes from local professional photographers in 20 U.S. cities. But what I appreciate most about Russ is  that the learning isn’t over when you complete one of his courses.  He stays in contact with all of his students and has been extremely helpful in my efforts to carve out my own professional photography studio. And he leads numerous photo tours to hot spots throughout the nation for added hands-on application. Enjoy the email I got from his yesterday and consider taking one of his tours. I’m desperately trying to save up money now so I can go to one next year:

Image by Russ Burden

“Long Lens Landscapes
ISOLATE DETAILS: With many subjects, you’ll encounter opportunities to 
find an image within an image. For instance, if you‘re photographing 
native people in a market place, a good shot to include in your cache 
is a tight shot of what’s being sold. But sometimes you can’t get 
close to their wares. Out comes the telephoto. Why not apply the same 
principal to your landscapes? Instead of just using a stand of fall 
colored aspens as a foreground element, zoom in to single out a 
uniquely shaped tree that works on its own.

COMPRESS PERSPECTIVE: Telephoto lenses compress perspective. What this 
means is foreground and background objects appear much closer than 
they actually are. This can be used to your advantage if you want the 
compositional elements to appear more closely compacted. The 
quintessential example is receding mountain layers that seem to be 
very close to each other, but in actuality are separated by miles.

EXTRACT: When I run my photo tours, it’s my goal to find at least one 
new shot for my participants at each location on the tour. While in 
Bryce Canyon, the standard lens with which to shoot is a wide angle 
zoom. Shifting paradigms, I decided to photograph an entire sunrise 
with a long telephoto. Shooting exclusively with my 80-400, I began to 
extract portions of the wide angle landscape. Guess what - lots of new 
images!”

- Russ

To learn more about how Russ captured this image, join him on one of his photo tours. Visit Burden’s website to get more information.

Don’t forget to check Take Great Picture for Russ’ most recent tips. On the home page, click on the “Photo Tips And Techniques” button in the left hand column. Additionally, check out his “Digital Tip of the Month” found by clicking on the Digital Photography button.

Within the photography world, as with the rest of the world, there are people driving Ferrari’s and people driving Geo Metro’s. With respect to off camera flash equipment, the Ferrari’s would be Pocket Wizards and the Geo Metro would be the Cactus Radio Triggers - also known as eBay triggers. In fact, there seem to be some different versions of the eBay triggers that all work together. For the purposes of this review, I’ll just deal with the Cactus V2s.

I purchased these in July in anticipation of doing Real Estate Photography here in Lakewood and also for whatever portrait work I might start.

My best test for these was when I was shooting the Ferringway condo we stayed in recently in Durango. The layout of the unit was such that there was an open loft over the main living room. I wanted everything there to be lit well, so I got out the Cactus remote and attached my flash. I put the whole contraption on the included stand and took it upstairs. I bounced the light off the ceiling, so it diffused a little, but you can still see that shadows were cast in the final product.

For the one transmitter and one receiver, I paid roughly $40. I should have gone ahead and ordered a second receiver at the time, and have since acquired another. I have yet to test the full range, but I am suitable impressed with what I have seen so far. If you have been thinking about getting a pair, go for it. At this price point, you can use them for a few years to get comfortable before you invest in the Pocket Wizards.

Exposure Photo Workshop: Develop your digital photography talent, by Jeff Wignall, is part of a new series of books by Wiley. Suitable grouped as Photo Workshop, these books add a modern twist on the classic photography topics we all hold dear. Topics like exposure, composition, lighting, portraits, macro and more, this series will be applicable for years to come.

The reason they will remain applicable is that they have been written specifically for the digital age. In this book, Exposure, the author goes to great lengths not to identify his equipment (at least the body), telling the reader that it doesn’t matter what your gear is, the concepts are the same. One thing I particularly liked about the book (and the whole series follows this pattern) was that, at the end of each chapter, the reader is given a “homework” assignment based on what they just learned. Following this, they are encouraged to upload the photo to a central site where all readers of the series can post and critique photos. For someone too intimidated by places like the dpreview forums, this can be an invaluable experience.

This book covers all the usual aspects you would expect, from light controls, aperture versus shutter speed, depth of field, low light, flash, etc. It even went so far as to talk briefly about off camera flash. There was a lengthy discussion about taking photos of neon at night, which I might use to start a photo book project.

All in all this book is well worth the $29.99 cover price ($19.79 at Amazon) and I look forward to reading more from this series.

Over the past three weeks, I have been trying out a new Kodak All-in-One (AiO) ESP 3 Inkjet printer that arrived at my desk in the newsroom for review. Many of my photography buddies told me it wouldn’t be long before I had two printers in my home office…one for normal printing documents and another reserved for printing photos. So I couldn’t wait to add the ESP 3 into my production work flow.

Overall, I think the ESP 3 is a great printer for the novice photographer to produce prints at home. But for me as a professional, I don’t think the print quality is good enough for selling those same prints to clients.

The ESP 3 (retail $129) is one of the newest models in the Kodak product lineup that prints, copies and scans, and uses Kodak Perfect Touch Technology to enhance less-than-perfect images. Installation of ink cartridges was very easy, and the included instructions were simple to follow. A USB cable had to be purchased separately for under $10, which I thought was a major inconvenience, but once I connected it and installed the software, I didn’t have any other issues printing. The Facial Retouch editing feature in the Kodak Aio Home Center Software that automatically detect faces and enhances facial features with just one click.

I think those features are great for the novice photographer who isn’t yet ready to invest in advanced photo programs or expensive professional photo labs. The designated family snap shooter won’t be able to beat the one-click that reduces the appearance of skin blemishes, whitens teeth and eyes and smooths skin tone, restores color and reduces red eye. Again, as a professional, that’s not a feature I needed, since I do my own post-processing and retouching in Photoshop.

So in order for me to use this printer, the quality of the prints themselves would have to be on the mark. I was disappointed. The photos consistently printed out much darker than what was shown on the computer screen. Even after I tried to adjust the images using the retouching software and resaving the image, the photo was still darker when printed. It may have something to do with the fact that the printer and monitor aren’t calibrated. But I wouldn’t feel comfortable having clients pay full price for the prints from the ESP when it’s clearly obvious that the prints are darker than those images shown on my laptop or desktop. Clients gave in to the impulse buy when I had some ESP 3 prints on hand selling for a reduced price during a presentation. While one client said he thought the photos “were still very good given that they were printed at home,” but he said they were definitely darker than what he had seen during his slideshow presentation.

The Kodak photo paper that came with the printer was very glossy and thick (assuming it would be more durable) and dried extremely fast. But the paper was easily scratched. I had to reprint several photos numerous times and keep them covered with paper to prevent scratches and fingerprints (although if you get fingerprints on them, you can use a microfiber cloth to remove them fairly easily, but don’t rub too hard or you will rub away the ink from the photo paper). I also noticed that several prints had inexplicable pairs of vertical, dashed lines going through them, requiring more reprinting. For now, I will stick with having client package photos professionally printed at Wolf until I can afford a higher quality model such as an Epson or Canon dedicated solely for printing photos.

The ESP did have several saving graces though. I think the prints were great as rough drafts to inspect before sending the final image to the professional printer. There are some things you just don’t notice on a screen that are more evident once the image has been printed. It’s a lot easier to see what needs to be tweaked in post-processing once you have an actual photo in your hand. And I was finally able to print out samples of my work to be displayed on my walls at home. The final display wall is beautiful and eye catching, which went over well with my clients.

This yellow jacket was flying around in my office the other day, and not doing a good job of it. I decided he would be a good subject for a macro, so I put a coffee cup over him. Not sure how long that cup had been sitting in my office, but it must have been awhile. If you look close, you can see all the dust on this thing. But I was happy to have a chance to do a macro of one - I don’t like messing with them when they are alive.

It also gave me a chance to try off camera flash on a macro, using my Cactus Wireless triggers. Always like to get some practice in.

Turn it around, look at things in a different light, a different angle, a different way. Get on the floor, climb a ladder, lean out the window. Find a new and different way of looking at the same old thing. When you go to a shoot take a step ladder with you. Just a bit of height can give you an entirely new perspective. 

That is all, just something simple that we all need to be reminded of occasionally. 

Now get out there and shoot something. 

Upside-down cake.

My issue of  today’s Takegreatpictures.com newsletter had a great article from digital photography guru Tim Grey sharing step-by-step instructions to add a dreamy infrared effect to a regular photograph.  Infrared is a hot look right now in digital imagery, but this article proved that you don’t need costly software to achieve the effect.  Some simple steps in Photoshop will simulate it equally well using adjustment layers and channels. I have yet to truly venture into Lightroom as I’m still having so much fun learning insider Photoshop tricks just like these. Try using this technique on greenery and other foliage in some of your landscape photography.

If Photoshop isn’t your bag, try using an IR filter such as a   HOYA R72, which was used to capture this image from discoversomething.com.

Get more inspiration from checking out this “Beauty of Infrared” gallery by J. Andrzej Wrotniak. It was fun for me as a portrait photographer to learn from Wrotniak that the technique can also be used when shooting people, transforming skin into blemish-free porcelain.

One year ago I was browsing through the images on the Rocky’s website as I kept up what my friends and colleagues were up to and I came across images made by one of classmates, Evan Semon, about a non-profit organization that makes portraits for families whose babies will never make it home. 

The organization is called Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep  and what they do for bereaved parents is simply amazing. When a photographer is called to volunteer they go to a hospital on a parents worst possible day, the day they’ve lost their child. The photographer is expected to create stunning portraits of the baby so the parents have something to help them remember and memorialize their child. 

I share this with everyone for the purpose of getting the word out to photographers who are looking for something more to do with their talents. If you are interested please contact them through their website. 

The parents of this beautiful baby have given me permission to share this image with people for the purpose of educating them about Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

Photo by Karl Zemlin
Ever since I got an external flash for my Canon Powershot G5, I have been researching and building home made light modifiers. Some are more elaborate than others, some look better than others, but they have all had the desired effect. Here is a rundown of the ones I have tried, with links to instructions (some might go to videos). The DIY softbox above is one I have not made yet, but you can get the plans here.

Milk Jug Diffuser

The milk jug diffuser is one of the simplest ones to make. Lop off the end of a milk jug, slot the edges so it will wrap around your flash head, and presto chango - instant diffuser. Not as pretty or professional looking as a Gary Fong Lightsphere, but it will get the job done. I haven’t made one of these yet. We have our milk delivered, and their jugs are much heavier gauge than the store bought ones. Hmm, that might make for better diffusion though. I’ll have to see if they are so thick as to not be pliable enough to fit on the flash.

MuzzBounce™ Ghetto Flash modifier

The MuzzBounce™ Ghetto Flash modifier is similar to the milk jug diffuser in that it uses a translucent jug (mine was from windshield wiper fluid). The effect is different though. It is designed to redirect (bounce) the light from a flash, while at the same time diffusing it. It works quite well in portrait and macro photography. I built my first one shortly after I got my new Olympus E-510 and FL-36 flash. My wife made a comment immediately, something about spending so much money on a camera only to put a jug on it. I thought it was a funny comment, but it didn’t stop me from using it around the house. Certainly doesn’t project a professional image though. Not really sure what the “professional” (store bought) equivalent would be, but if you spent enough time on this one, you could make it look professional.

DIY Reflector-Diffuser

I have a slightly different version (cannot find the site it was on now) of the DIY Reflector-Diffuser. It is on;y slightly different, and the results are pretty much the same. I like it so much, I keep it in my camera backpack all the time and use it fairly frequently. Construction is very easy, using craft foam from a hobby shop. The DIY Reflector-Diffuser site also includes plans you can print and use as templates when cutting the craft foam. This is a “must make” for the do it yourself light modifier. Other alterations I have seen include cutting a honeycomb pattern (with large hexagons) into the modifier to let more light escape vertically.

A Better Bounce Card

This was one of the first thing I tried. A simple bounce of light from my flash, that allowed enough light loss to spread the remaining light out properly. It worked OK, but I certainly liked the results from my Muzzbounce better. The plans for A Better Bounce Card have been updated to use craft foam. I think the original may have been something else, as simple as copy paper. It certainly served it’s purpose though.

The Finn Bounce

For those of you with a P&S camera that has a pop-up flash (or even a DSLR like my E-510 that has a pop-up), the Finn Bounce is an easy to make light reflector (bounce card) that, given it’s size, has a tremendous impact on the quality of your pics. Don’t take my word for it, find a piece of cardstock, rubber cement and aluminum foil, then follow the 9 easy steps to make it. You will be glad you did.

This covers the ones I have tried. Below is a list of ones I want to try, along with the softbox that led this article. Hope this has been worthwhile to you.

Miscellaneous Others I Have Not Tried

Here are some highlights of projects I plan to try at some point:

• DIY Softbox
• DIY Ringlight (Flickr groups, particularly the Strobist one, are a great resource for DIY light modification projects.)
• A different ringlight idea
• Homemade lightbox for product photos
• Inexpensive Light Tent for product photos