January 3, 2008

By Gavin Seim. Updated 06/09: How do they always get super clear vivid images? Most of us have looked at images and thought this. I’ve been there too and thought I would tell you a bit about the secrets behind it. Also check out the companion PPS podcast on getting clear images.

seattle-skyline-space-needleNo matter what camera you shoot with, the question comes out the same. What do photographers do to get tack sharp, vivid, beautiful images? There’s not one magic formula. It’s more of a lifestyle, and how intense and vivid you want to make your images will vary. Either way you should understand the principles, so here’s some good tips to get you rolling. At the end you can post your own tips, and you’ll even find a link to a free Photoshop action that will help you out.

  • #5. Depth of field Thoughts:

This can be easily overlooked, and is crucial. Let’s say you have a lens that goes down to 1.4 or 2.8, or perhaps a long zoom. Depth of field (similar to focus) can be very shallow. You can certainly get great shots, even without a pod and on the go. It just takes some practice. Don’t get discouraged when some eyes are blurry. If you focus on a person 6 feet away who is slowly moving towards you, those eyes might be soft in the time it takes you to press the shutter.

One solution is to raise that aperture setting higher (smaller opening and more depth of field) 5.6, 8.0, etc. That will help give you more focus depth, but will also require a slower shutter speed and sometimes that shallow effect is beautiful. So to help you nail it, take lots of shots and then pick the best ones. When you can, use a tripod help keep that camera still, and remember the focus will be shallow at lower (larger opening and less depth of field) aperture settings. Also try setting the focus point right on their eye (or other desired focus spot) and nowhere else, to get your focus dead on. Practice makes perfect.

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January 1, 2008

Gavin was a guest host for this Monday’s edition of the Totally Cool Tech Podcast, reviewing the Canon Selphy ES1/ES2 Printers. The best on the go 4×6 printers available. At least in Gavin’s opinion.

TCT is a short podcast that talks about cool gadgets, and this printer is no exception.

Check out the show

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December 31, 2007

Well since we here at PPS are cool with some occasional self promotion we’re gonna throw a last plug for the biggest sale yet over at our sister site seimeffects.com. If you want to add some Photoshop actions, or Lightroom presets to your collection you can save 20% on Gavin’s great effects thru today (Dec 31st)

Just enter promo code pps2007 at checkout and you’ll get the discount off your entire order.

On a free note, if you haven’t already you can still download Gavin’s free Christmas Glow Action. It’s a great general purpose glow effect made just for you guys as a Christmas thank you.

The 20% sale is over, but stragglers can still save 10% thru the first

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December 29, 2007

12-29-07-k200d.jpgEngadget today posted an image the the Pentax K200D. Who knows how soon this is coming out, and it’s also possible it’s a fake pictures.

The real question is that while it looks nice do most pro’s really care. Competition is good, and we don’t mind rooting a bit for Pentax but they are way behind in what most serious photographers want. Lenses are more important than bodies too, and Nikon and Canon londa got it cornered.

Times change though and Pentax seems dedicated to increasing it’s dslr market share. More power to em we say!

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December 28, 2007

aaahhh.jpgListener Ben pointed us to a good article over at the Epic Edits Weblog. It’s a list of seven things that we should always keep in mind in or photography, but that nearly all of us have failed to do at some point.

One that I saw on here that I deal with is checking the ISO. I’ll set it at 3200 for something, and then I’ll start shooting and realize I’m getting noisy shots. Thankfully as cameras get better this gets to be less of a problem but we need to watch it.

One that they forgot on this list that’s a biggie is checking your quality setting. Occasionally I’ll lower down to a low setting like 1 megapixel or less to take a few quick web shots for ebay or somethin (Yep I ebay too) The disaster has never happened to me, but can you imagine if I forgot, and shot a whole wedding at 1600×1200 resolution… I don’t even want to think about it, but I need to, so I always remember to kick it back up when I’m done. I don’t lower it very often for that very reason.

Bottom line is no matter how much experience we have we need to always think like newbee’s in the area of making mistakes. We can all do it, and the more experience we have the easier it is to do. Pride comes before a fall!

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