I have been a photographer all my adult life, and most of my childish life as well.This blog is about my experiences, and experience in the photo world. You can visit my business website at http://www.shuswapphoto.ca . I hope , at the very least, it entertains the reader for a brief moment in time.Oh, watch the birdie and, SMILE!
At a wedding shoot last week I was asked one of the most common questions put to photographers on the job. " What kind of lens are you going to use to shoot this?" The other most common one , of course is , "What kind of camera are you using?"Both these are more or less the same question usually asked by someone who believes that the equipment , not the photographer, makes the shot. If this were so I should buy a Gibson Les Paul. Then I could be the next Jimmy Page!
Here is my answer. If I had the choice of only one lens to work with it would be a 50mm. Canon, Nikon, Pentax , Minolta. They are all the same. They are literally the best lens each manufacturer produces. The standard lens is a simple design that is cheap to make. Therefore a very affordable top end piece of equipment.
A quote from Ansel Adams :""Any good modern lens is corrected for maximum definition at the larger stops. Using a small stop only increases depth..." Ansel Adams, June 3, 1937, in a reply to Edward Weston asking for lens suggestions, page 244 of Ansel's autobiography.
Photographers more than ever are so hung up on equipment that they forget what this profession is. Painting with light. Whether you are using film or using a digital capture, the most important element is light and how you use it. A 50mm lens is fully capable of being part of the image capture in a 100% professional manner, as long as the photographer uses it in a professional manner. 75% of what I shoot is done with a 50mm 1.8 . I can achieve wonderful bokeh in portraits , razor sharp landscapes, amazing low light stage shots and great candids all with a single focal length lens! Not to mention I feed my family doing it, which I would say is the definition of professional. I make 100% of my living doing this. Of course I have a fast 2.8 wide to medium zoom , a super wide 17 , a 105 and a 200 that I use in specific situations. The 50mm, though, is used more than anything else.
If you look at any photo mag, photo site or many other photographers web sites you would think that no matter what, the bigger the lens the better the photographer. Posing with huge tele lenses and ultra range zooms seems to be THE fashion statement for many photographers these days. I wonder if these shooters are afraid to get too close to their subjects! One of the most famous photojournalists of all time, Larry Burrows, recorded the Vietnam War frontline using a 20mm wide angle lens more than anything else!
My point here? Don't worry so much what anyone thinks of your gear. Be concerned about what they think of your work. That's what they will pay you for, as long as it is professional!
I am not one to promise anything without fully backing it up. If I promise a client something, I follow through. That includes meeting deadlines, providing professional , finished images and even showing up not only on time, but generously in advance.
What do we promise you in your Wedding Photography service?
We will be on time. Your day is important. Waiting for the hired photographer to arrive should not be part of the day. We will arrive early to ensure we do not have to rush anything.
We will not become the main event. This is your wedding day. Most of our job is to capture the candid moments quietly in the background. We must also create formal portraits of you and your friends and family. We have done this hundreds of times. We use our time efficiently to get the best shots in the least amount of time. Most formal photography can be done in an hour. That's it. The rest is candid. We follow you, you do not follow us.
We will be prepared. Would you go on a long road trip with no spare tire? Of course not!You would be surprised how many photographers do. The road trip is your wedding day, the spare tire is back-up gear. What do we have as back-up? We bring extra camera bodies , both digital and film. We bring duplicate lenses , duplicate flashes, batteries, cables. We have two and three of everything werequire to shoot your wedding. In case of rain we carry a portable studio complete with backgrounds, just in case. We even bring a spare photographer! Well, actually we always work as a team of two so we can provide a wide variety of images.
We will provide variety. Did I mention we always work as a team of two? We are two professionally trained photographers. We did not stumble upon this vocation after a friend said we take pretty pictures. We actually went to school for this. We have the skill to provide true professional portraits and relaxed candid informal shots. On demand. That's what you pay us for.
We will be consistent. When you view our samples, you can be assured that you will receive the same quality. See the above note on going to school to learn our vocation. It's not hit and miss with us. We know in advance what the result will be. That means you always get our very best work!
We will not take photos of just your feet. Unless, of course, you ask us to. Then we will do so professionally. We listen to you. This promise also means we will not take photos looking up your nose, with trees or fountains coming out of your head, no hydro tower crossbeams sticking out your ears, and absolutely no ring shots with three hands in them! Seriously. I have seen these types of images in some "pros" portfolios . We go to great lengths to properly compose and light your photos, both candid and formal. Just because a photo is not posed does not mean it should not be thought through. Those recklessly taken photos are called snap shots. That is not what you are paying us for.
We will provide you with a contract. Now this really should be a no brainer to professional photographers. However, I have known many who do not use contracts. That is dangerous for both the client and the photographer. Our contract specifically outlines what is being provided in both goods and services. All liabilities and restrictions are explained. We leave nothing to be mis-understood by ourselves, or you.
We will keep it light. After all, it is your wedding day.It is a day of joy and celebration. We stay in that spirit. We do this because it is fun. What better job is there than photographing happy joyful people? We get paid for doing what we like to do. That makes us happy.
We will not emblazen each and every final print 2" high in the bottom corner with our name. You know who you hired to take your photos. You do not need to be reminded of it every time you look at them. Studio information is restricted to the back of the prints, where it belongs.
You will be pleased with the results. We know you will be. We always go the extra mile. There is always more in the final results than expected. All our final print images are fully retouched to remove imperfections and blemishes. We produce our own work paying close attention to detail and finishing. We want you to be satisfied. That's what you are paying us for!
We deliver. That's a real promise. Both in images and final product. We will personally deliver or ship the final product to you. Your Wedding Photography should be effortless. We strive to make it so.
Call 1.250.275.4846 , or email info@shuswapphoto.ca today for more information on how we can make certain you have the best of your Wedding Day in photos!
Digital cameras are everywhere now. Cameras that once cost tens of thousands of dollars can now be purchased for fewer than one hundred dollars. Phones have cameras in them. Even key chains can be purchased with a camera in it for those occasions when ones front bumper kisses another’s rear bumper. Almost everything is recorded now.
The cries of “film is dead” ring out everywhere. Is it really so? Actually, no. Film is not dead, and will not be for a long time yet. Film may not be as convenient as digital devices but it is still King.
Film has higher resolution than digital SLRs.
Yes sir, it is true. A 1962 35mm camera bought at a flea market for 5 bucks can out perform that $6,000 Nikon D3. For a very technical example of this, click on this link:
Film has been, and remains usable for over 100 years. I have negatives from when I was a kid that I can still make prints from. Not only can I make prints from them, I can scan them in my film scanner and produce a higher resolution, sharper image than the top of the line Canon, Nikon, Sony or any other brand DSLR. As technology marches on my old slides and negatives will march with it since there is so much detail and information jammed in those films. Sadly, the digital images we produce using DSLRs will remain the same. You will never get more information out of them, RAW file or not.
Hard drives, CD/DVDs, solid-state memory and other storage devices fail or become obsolete. This means we have to make back up after back up. I have backed up my first digital images shot that were stored on floppy discs at least five times now. They are only 15 years old1 I have never had to back up my film images. I can pull one out and print, scan or view it at any time now or in the future. I can even do that with 100-year-old negatives.
These are significant factors to take into account as a photographer. Film is a more stable, archival media as well as being a higher resolution media. So does that mean digital is not the way to go? NO.
Both digital media and film can exist, and should exist side by side if you shoot professionally. It is a sad statement to make, but many professional photographers have no idea how load a roll of medium format film in a magazine or camera let alone use a light meter to determine the exposure. Does this make them bad photographers? No not at all. It just limits their scope and possibilities. It has also limited , in many cases , their understanding of light ratios, and the ability to have full control over the final image. So many simply shoot hundreds, if not thousands of images to get what could be done in one or two hundred images. Even then it’s a gamble for some.
A friend of mine in the industry once described what he believes will be the ultimate digital camera. It will have a location mode on it. No matter where you are in the world, you will be able to point the camera at your scene , say the Eiffel Tower, and the camera will produce a perfect image by retrieving it from the millions of images stored in it's built in memory. The ultimate would be wifi retrieving the images from a central storage facility via satellite. Sound ridiculous? Take a look at where we are with cameras now. Full automation complete with anti vibration. Consumer cameras, which I see more and more pros using, have vast scene modes that do everything but tell the subject to smile. When you use film in a manual camera, you have to make the settings . You have full creative control.
To make big prints you need big media. You can buy a $25,000 Hasselblad H-3D and shoot images that rival medium format film, or, you can use medium format film and get professional scans done and produce images that will blow the digital files out of the water. Step up to 4x5 sheet film and there simply is still no comparison. You can buy cameras for under $1,000; even under $500 that will out perform the $25,000 medium format digital camera backs.
Okay, that said digital has one huge advantage. Immediate gratification. The McDonalds syndrome. You have your image right away. A pretty darned good one at that. Even low cost point and shoot digital cameras can produce images as good as their higher priced DSLR kin. There is also the cost factor. Film, processing and pro scans all cost money. You buy memory cards usually once and re-use it over and over. You even keep them when you sell your gear and upgrade, which you will have to do. At least that’s what the TV tells me.
I have a medium format system that I have had for about 20 years. I have not had to upgrade it once. I have 35mm Nikon gear that spans 25 years. Nikon has been kind enough to allow use of their old lenses on the new pro and pro-sumer bodies. The Nikon film bodies I have range from 12 to 20 years old. I will continue to use them with no upgrade either. The film gear was made to work a human lifetime and more, not advertisers proclaimed lifetime like digital. My oldest digital body is one and a half years old. I will need to upgrade soon in the digital department so say the Internet chat room “experts”.
What’s that? An advertisers projected lifetime? The advertisers for the manufacturers of digital cameras have done an incredible job of convincing the consumer world that digital cameras become obsolete in a very short time. About a year seems to be maximum. Check it out yourself on eBay. Perfectly good, 4 and 5 year old pro level digital cameras sell for half to one third their original price. I can sell my medium format gear for what I paid for it 20 years ago!
Every year the manufacturers add more megapixels to their camera lines. Even low cost point and shoot cameras come with 10+ megapixels. So you run out and buy the newest latest greatest. Oh oh, now you need bigger memory cards because of all those megapixels. Megaexpensive is what this is, and megaprofitable for memory and camera manufacturers alike. The fact is you don’t need all those megapixels. In small cameras 6 megapixels is more than enough. It is sad that camera gear has now become a sort of “bling” for many people. Save your money for a trip where you can actually use your gear! If you really feel the need to upgrade a 3-year-old camera and lose 2/3s the value, please call me first. I will likely buy your old one and use it to make beautiful photos,
Film and digital need to live side by side. When shooting a wedding it makes sense to photograph the ceremony, reception, dance and other candid shots in digital. More photos for less money. Most of these are going to be viewed electronically, or at best in 8x10 size print. By the way, any image looks better on a computer monitor. Print is where the difference is seen. If there are going to be prints done for display that will be 11x14 or larger film, and more specifically, medium format film WILL give a sharper, clearer image hands down. It will also last longer and be usable in it’s native statelonger. Period.
One should note that I have not even mentioned B&W film, the true archival media. You cannot duplicate the image sharpness, clarity or resolution of properly exposed and processed B&W film. You can come close, but not match. Again, check out this link:
That man is far more knowledgeable than I. He has likely forgotten more about film and photography than I know!
Don’t be surprised when we offer a film alternative, or supplement to our photo services if you book us for an event! We strive to deliver the whole package, not just part.
