Photo by George's Camera

Just in time for a great holiday photo op - fireworks - one of my favorite camera stores in San Diego emailed a guide to photographing fireworks & I wanted to share it. Thank you George's Camera!
How to Capture Amazing Fireworks Photos by George's Camera

Upgrading to Nikon D7100 from D5100

Recently I had this discussion with a friend and a similar discussion appeared in the Nikon Photographers LinkedIn group.
I used a D5100 for several years before upgrading to a D7100 which I use to photograph portraits and events. With the D7100 I have easy access to settings through buttons/dials on the body rather than having to dig through a menu. I wanted the high speed flash sync function which the 5000 series doesn't offer. I also like being able to preset 2 custom settings on the mode dial that I can change quickly. The body feels solid, but not too heavy to hand hold. I have also been very happy with the auto focus system especially during video capture. And I own several older non AF-S Nikon lenses that work well with the D7100. Although at first I liked the tilt/swivel screen feature of the D5100, I found it was a novelty that I didn't really use as much. I rarely use Wi-Fi but I have a wireless mobile adapter that works well for me.
I did my research on the features and rented a D7100 for a portrait shoot before I made my purchase. I like to be able to try equipment before I commit & my local camera store will apply the rental cost toward the future equipment purchase.

Business Photo Tips for Women

Recently I put together some tips for a female client I was photographing for a business portrait:

Clothing & Jewelry 

• Different necklines will change the apparent shape of your face. Please feel free to bring a variety of different jackets/blouses to see what works best 

• For a no-jacket casual look, bring various colored blouses ideally darker than your skin tone. Avoid big prints and busy patterns – solid color jewel-tones work best 

• Blue/green/turquoise shirts/blouses or accents can help emphasize blue/green/hazel eyes 

• Sleeveless tops/dresses can draw attention to your shoulders/arms. Consider bringing items with a variety of different sleeves 

• Turtlenecks tend to crowd the face so I don’t generally recommend wearing 

• Keep jewelry extremely simple - small is better. The photo is about your face not jewelry. 

Most Important: Wear clothes that are comfortable and that make you look and feel great! 

Make-up & Hair

• Make-up should be clean and natural looking 

• I recommend using a generous layer of translucent powder to help your face appear flawless in photos - shine disappears, pores seem smaller, skin looks even, and blush is smoother. 

• Translucent powder also works well along lip line to prevent lipstick color from bleeding 

• Avoid shimmers, frosts, overly bright colors or products with lots of sparkle or shine 

• New hair cuts/styles can be tricky. Best to schedule a hair cut a week or so ahead of photo to give it time to grow-in and to get used to styling a new cut. 

Please bring your own hair brush/comb, makeup and hair products for last minute touch ups. 

Drink lots of water and be well rested (helps minimize dark circles under the eyes).

Happy New Year!

Here's my "toast" to the New Year...

Sad News for fans of Holga cameras

The factory that makes Holga Cameras has ceased operations and will no longer produce the cult toy cameras beloved by many for it's soft focus, wonderful vignetting and quirky light leaks.

In celebration of the Holga camera, the blogger HolgaJen has invited people to submit a favorite Holga photo from 2015 to her blog:

http://holgajen.blogspot.ca/2015/11/call-for-entry-your-favorite-holga.html

I can't wait to see the images posted - I plan to dig out my Holga and submit a photo too!

Flash Photography

Looking for inspiration and help refining my flash photo technique, I recently attended an extremely informative hands-on workshop - Introduction to Nikon Speedlight Flashes - offered through Pacific Photographic Society and led by Larry McDaniel of George's Camera. We worked on various methods for creating better portraits using flash, specifically Nikon speedlights. My favorite was to take the speedlight off camera and bounce the light from walls to create a broader, more diffused light source. I created a cheat-sheet for the setiings to use my speedlight as a wireless remote light source controlled by the pop-up speedlight on my Nikon D7100. I can't wait to try this at my next portrait session!

The Digital Revolution

Digital Abstract © Wolff Studio

All around us we can see the impact that the digital revolution has had on creative endeavors such as art, design and photography.

One of my favorite documentary films,PRESSPAUSEPLAY, explores how this revolution has unleashed creativity and talent while asking the question 'does democratized culture mean better art or is true talent instead drowned out?'

Of course the digital revolution has had an enormous impact on how we access information today by a web search as compared to the past before the internet.

I was talking with a friend about this topic and we both remembered a time when getting information was more difficult. The business practices of professional publishing companies and journalism in general created barriers to entry, only accepted authors/writers got work published. Libraries, universities, and commercial bookstores were also in the role of gate keepers to printed information.

Now anyone can freely write and distribute their knowledge and ideas through blogs and websites. Of course this freedom also results in a wealth of information that ranges wildly in accuracy and taste. In this brave new world we have to work hard to sift and screen the information that constantly swirls around us.

But in my own experience I find that this crowd sourcing of information leads to finding better knowledge faster than my old methods of acquiring knowledge, even accounting for the inevitable need to sift through some drivel and nonsense. My hope for creative endeavors is that overall creativity will be enhanced through crowd sourcing. And enhanced creativity can help to create better art for all.