Beyond Megapixels » Miscellaneous

Pet Photography 101

Tiffany Joyce — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:00:26 +0000

Fans of our Facebook Page heard the news that there would be no Beyond Megapixels article last Friday because my husband and I were in the process of rescuing a dog from our County animal shelter. While I don’t intend to turn this site into a forum for Public Service Announcements, I would encourage everyone who is considering a new pet to adopt from their local shelter, Humane Society, or animal rescue group. Our little girl Bailey was considered “unadoptable” because she was so frightened of the shelter environment that she didn’t display the usual friendly, tail-wagging socialization they consider imperative during their evaluation. So, she was put on the list to be euthanized. Due to the wonderful efforts of Arizona’s New Hope and the Friends of Arizona’s Shelter Animals, Bailey was given a second chance and is now a permanent member of our household.

She seems pretty happy, wouldn’t you agree?

And our Miniature Pinscher, Gadget, is ecstatic to have a new friend!

While I was in our back yard trying to take pictures of the dogs, I thought the subject would make a good article. I’m talking about my dogs here, but the principles can be applied to any pets.

Use a long lens. Like any other portrait, the subject tends to look better when shot from a distance with a telephoto lens. Plus, I found it was a little hard to photograph these characters since they were usually stuck to my side. So, I used my telephoto lens and tossed a ball out into the yard to get them at a distance from me. If you don’t happen to be in a place where you can let your dogs run free, have someone hold the leash for you and walk a distance away. Compose so that only the animal is in the frame.

Use continuous shooting mode for action shots. My dogs NEVER stand (or sit) still. In order to get one shot out of twenty that I considered to be “good”, I kept my camera on continuous shooting mode.

Use continuous auto-focus mode too. For dogs that are REALLY on the go, use the AI Servo auto-focus mode (Canon) or Continuous Servo AF (Nikon). Your camera’s auto-focus will continue to adjust for the moving subject, making your chances greater for a focused shot.

Keep a damp cloth handy. After throwing the ball a few times, it got to be rather slobbery. I didn’t want to handle my camera with slobbery hands, so I kept a damp cloth handy to wipe my hands on.

Catch them at their goofy moments. Yawning, scratching an itch, doing that little bow-wiggle thing they do when they want to play. Not every photo needs to be a head shot for the Westminster Kennel Club.

Get in close. Again, just like portraits of people, you don’t have to get the whole dog in the frame. Focus in on noses, eyes, ears, paws.

Shoot at their level. Get down on the ground and photograph your pet at their eye level. This was hard for me to accomplish since every time I knelt down and aimed my camera, they came charging toward me. So, try this one after they’ve been racing around for a while and are ready to sit still for a bit.

Sometimes the bad shots are actually good shots. Some shots that are composed a bit off or are a bit blurry are actually great shots for portraying action (chaos!) and mood. So take a closer look at the shots that you may ordinarily discard.

We would absolutely LOVE to see photos that you have taken of your pets!! Please share them with us on our Facebook Page.

All photos copyright Tiffany Joyce.

Photography News from CES 2012

Tiffany Joyce — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 07:00:50 +0000

Here are a handful of the items that came out of the Consumer Electronics Show (held in Las Vegas last week, with a crowd of over 140,000) that I found to be the most intriguing:

Fujifilm announced the introduction of the X-Pro1, which sports a new CMOS sensor that is supposed to provide resolution that is equal to, if not better than, a full size sensor. Three lenses, the “XF18mmF2 R”, “XF35mmF1.4 R” and “XF60mmF2.4 R Macro” will be available immediately. Techradar has done a full hands-on review that you should check out if you’re interested in this little gem. (Photo courtesy of Fujifilm.)

Sigma Photo revealed the APO Macro 180mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM lens, which is the first lens of this focal length that maintains a 1:1 ratio with a constant f/2.8 aperture. It’s designed for full-frame cameras, but can also be used on crop sensor cameras for an effective focal length of 260mm. It also has optical stabilization for hand-held shots. I will be VERY interested to try one of these babies out. (Photo courtesy of Sigma Photo.)

Nikon revealed its new flagship D4, and is one of the few products to come out around the CES to state a price – a whopping $5,999.95 (why can’t they just make it $6k, really?). The ISO expands to 204,800. You read that right, TWO HUNDRED AND FOUR THOUSAND, EIGHT HUNDRED. You could find your way out of cave when your flashlight battery runs out, shot by shot. Other perks include an MP FX-format CMOS sensor, and 10 fps continuous shooting. (Photo courtesy of Nikon.)

Has anyone heard of Lytro? Yeah, me either. But they are releasing the world’s first light field camera, which has got the photography industry buzzing madly. As it is explained on the Lytro website, “…the Lytro camera captures the entire light field, which is all the light traveling in every direction in every point in space.” I am very, VERY interested in this camera. It’s currently retailing at $399 ($499 if you want red). (Photo courtesy of Lytro.)

So, friends! What neat gadgets came out of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show that you’re particularly excited about? Share with us in the comments, or over on our Facebook Page!

* All pictures, trademarks and brand names owned by corporations and entities as noted.

Thoughts on Family Photos

Tiffany Joyce — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 07:00:29 +0000

I don’t think we tend to take pictures with the thought in mind that people in future generations will be looking at them. We figure we’ll always be around to clarify the photos – who is in them, where they were taken, when they were taken, what the occasion was that prompted the shot. Or, we assume that the photo only has meaning to ourselves, so there is no need to jot a note on the back of the print, or throw in some keywords or a description to our on-line photos.

This subject has been on my mind for the past several weeks. My husband and I had to make a last-minute trip to Wyoming – his father passed away in December, and he did not leave a will or any indication of his wishes. There are a LOT of details to be taken care of, when someone passes away. Especially if they haven’t made arrangements first. So, in tandem with the grief that we felt at my father-in-law’s passing, there was also the stress of being completely unsure of how to proceed.

As we were organizing my father-in-law’s belongings, we came across a lot of loose photographs. Some were tucked in books, others were stashed in envelopes. Very few of them had any description whatsoever about the people, places, and things in the photos. We were left wondering who these people were that meant something to this man, that he would take or receive their photos.

Then we came across some photographs that were quite old – my father-in-law was born in the 1930′s, and photos of his childhood were tucked here and there throughout his belongings. There were friends and family members, vacations and homes, that we just couldn’t identify. Even with the input of my husband’s VAST collection of cousins, we were unable to determine any specifics for many of the images.

It made us sad, that the last person on Earth who knew who the people were in these photos had passed away without leaving their stories behind for us to enjoy. I experienced a very similar concern last spring when I visited my Uncle in Maine. As the eldest surviving relative on my mother’s side of the family, I MADE him sit down at the kitchen table with me, for several days in a row. We’d look at one photo after another, and I would scan merrily away type furiously as he told me the stories behind the photos. Even though he knew most of them, he didn’t know all of them, and so the mystery endures.

I can’t stress enough how important it is to KNOW those stories. And it will be important to your loved ones in the future when they come across the photos that YOU’VE taken. So please, take the time to write a quick note on the back of your prints. Keyword and describe your on-line photos. Add information to metadata. Give future generations the gift of your experiences.

Photo (click to enlarge): A wheel from one of the wagons that my husband’s descendants traveled in to their homestead in Wyoming in the 1800′s. Now THAT is a story I wouldn’t have wanted to miss!!!!

Short Tips and Thoughts

Steve Russell — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 07:00:17 +0000

This is another of those times when I want to talk about a few different subjects, none of which alone seem to make an entire article. A lot of these come from questions people ask and even comments made to articles Tiffany and I have written.

View from Bird Bridge

Greg Stephens is a nature photographer I have mentioned before and who submitted a guest article about nature photography and one of his favorite spots for photographing birds and other animals – Paynes Prairie in north-central Florida. On December 30, a photographer friend of mine, Rick Marshall, and I travelled to Paynes Prairie at Greg’s invitation. In addition to the three of us there were three other nature photographers and we all lined up side-by-side along Bird Bridge to capture images of all the birds. Unfortunately, there weren’t very many birds to see or photograph except for three Bald Eagles way over there across the lake, a Phoebe that wanted to stay at the very top of a tree so the only shot you could get was against the bright sky, a cormorant, a couple of herons and egrets and a few assorted warblers that stayed mostly deep in the brush and refused to be still and pose for us. As a result we didn’t get a lot of good photos. However, because of the dearth of birds, we spent most of our time talking about photography, wild life and life in general. We had a great time. There are times when I want to go out alone but there’s a lot to be learned and to experience when a group of photographers get together. If you haven’t had this experience I recommend you give it a try.

The ongoing debate about what color space to shoot in and whether to shoot in RAW or JPEG came up that morning at Paynes Prairie and the answer I gave was so erudite I shocked myself. This seems to be one of those subjects that everyone has a strong opinion about like deep dish or New York style pizzas. Kidding aside, I’m aware that if I send an image file to a color lab for printing or if I want to post an image on line and want it to look right I need to make sure the file is a jpeg file and that the color space is sRGB. So the obvious question is why not shoot in jpeg and sRGB all the time? If I shoot in RAW I’m capturing all the information the camera is capable of capturing. If I shoot in ProPhotoRGB, which I do, I’m capturing all the color information the camera is capable of capturing. If I save the file, I’ll always have all that information. I can always reduce the amount of information by converting to jpeg and sRGB but if I shoot in jpeg and sRGB I can never increase the information. Do I ever really need all that information? Who knows, but if I do I have it. If I don’t capture it, I can never recover it.

Image with color space set at ProPhotoRGB

Image with color space changed to sRGB

Frequently I hear people complaining that their images never look the same when they print them as they look on their monitor. There are two things that can cause that problem. One, your printer isn’t calibrated. See my article on printer calibration. Two, the image is in Adobe RGB (RGB) or ProPhotoRGB instead of sRGB (see the two images above). Check your color space settings.

Last Tuesday I posted an article about decorating your home using your own photographs. A reader, Renan Le Caro, posted the following comment:

“Nice idea, but I’m afraid it would feel a little narcissist for a beginner like me.”

Upon reading the comment my immediate thought was, NO! NO! Being a beginner doesn’t mean you can’t take good or even great photographs. It does mean that you probably won’t take good photos as often as someone who’s much more experienced, but you can still take good photos. Isn’t showing off your photography why we do this? If you were a painter and you painted something you really liked, wouldn’t you hang it on your wall or try to sell it? Besides, hanging your work on the wall in your home is a somewhat subtle expression. That is until someone asks where you got the photo and you go into a 30 minute dissertation about it.

While I’m on the subject of last Tuesday’s article, a co-worker brought in a bunch of photos that she wanted to use as decorative art work in her home. The problem is that she had taken a couple of the photographs with the camera too close to the subject and the subject was cropped. When taking photos, especially as a set and especially when you’re photographing similar subjects on different days and you want to display them as a set or group, always give yourself a little room. You can always crop the photos to the image you want if you left some room in the photo but if you crop it in the camera you can’t recover the part of the image that was never photographed.

Lastly, on the subject of comments and questions, Tiffany and I both greatly appreciate the comments and the time you took to make it at the end of our articles and always look forward to reading them. We welcome those comments even when you are expressing a different opinion or disagreeing with us. However, comments that are abusive or written in a manner that is impolite and unprofessional will be deleted. Further, comments that are made solely to “advertise” a product or vendor will also be deleted. We welcome advertising, but only when the advertiser is paying for the space.

All Photos by Steve Russell

Merry Christmas from Beyond Megapixels!

Tiffany Joyce — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 07:00:09 +0000

On behalf of Steve and myself, I want to wish you all a very wonderful holiday season filled with laughter, love, beautiful memories and fantastic photos!

I thought I would share with you all my favorite poem, which I believe embodies the feeling we all want to cherish at this time of year.

“A Note”

Life is the only way
to get covered in leaves,
catch your breath on the sand,
rise on wings;

to be a dog,
or stroke its warm fur;

to tell pain
from everything it’s not;

to squeeze inside events,
dawdle in views,
to seek the least of all possible mistakes.

An extraordinary chance
to remember for a moment
a conversation held
with the lamp switched off;

and if only once
to stumble on a stone,
end up soaked in one downpour or another,

mislay your keys in the grass;
and to follow a spark on the wind with your eyes;

and to keep on not knowing
something important.

— Wislawa Szymborska
(Translated, from the Polish, by Stanislaw Baranczak and Clare Cavanagh.)

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Photo credit: “Snowflake and Bokeh” by Brenda Gottsabend on Flickr Creative Commons.

Oh No! Someone Used One of My Photos

Steve Russell — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 05:00:53 +0000

There are times when I struggle to decide on a subject for an article. Many times, to help me get over the “hump”, so to speak, I surf the web and read other photography blogs. Usually I’ll find an article on a subject I like or a comment in an article that pushes me in the right direction. This is one of those times. And, as the title implies, it’s about others using your images on the internet.

Because I’m neither an attorney or an expert in the area, I’m going to steer away from copyright laws and options for enforcement under those laws.

Regardless of what you may take away from this article, this is my position. I fully respect the intellectual and artistic property of others. I don’t copy and paste someone else’s article and post it here although this has happened on other sites to some of Tiffany’s articles and I suspect mine as well. I may write on the same subject but it’s always my own words and thoughts.

I have never knowingly installed pirated software on my computer or watched a pirated DVD. I never copied music from Napster or Lime Wire. If there was a song I wanted, I purchased the CD. Hooray for MP3s and iTunes. Now all I have to do is purchase the one song I like and not the entire CD. I do use images of other photographers for Beyond Megapixels articles, but if you pay attention to the bottom of the article I only take them from Flickr Creative Commons and give credit to the photographer. The photos in Creative Commons are posted there by photographers that have granted blanket permission for others to use them with certain restrictions.

As to what I would do if I “caught” someone else using one of my images, it depends on a number of factors. If the photo was used in a positive way in a blog, for example, no modifications were made to the image and credit was given to me as the photographer, I would probably send a thank-you email. It has been said in Hollywood that publicity is good, even bad publicity. The more people that see my images and are informed that I’m the photographer the better it is for me. This becomes a win for me and a win for the writer of the blog.

If I found a photo of mine being used in someone else’s blog and they didn’t have my permission to use the image and they didn’t give me credit for the photo, I would probably contact the owner of the blog and express my concerns and ask them to give me credit, in their blog, for the photo and ask them to not use my images again without my permission. If they did as I asked I would drop it at that point. I would, however, bookmark their website and check on them from time to time to make sure they carried through with their promise. If they refused to “make it right” you would be reading a scathing article about them. I would also post it on my Facebook page and tweet it to my thousands and thousands of followers (okay, 50 or so followers) so that everyone I know would know how that person operates.

If I opened a magazine and saw one of my images, the rules would change a little. I would contact the magazine and inform them that they were using one of my images and they should pay me the standard rate for the use of the image. I also would suggest that they should look in to their source of the image to make sure that source was actually reputable.

Where I start to get a little agitated is when people use photographs taken by others and claim it for their own. I understand that sometimes it happens out of ignorance on the part of the person posting the image and they don’t intend to actually take credit for the image. For example, there is an area on Flickr called The Commons. The purpose of The Commons as copied and pasted from Flickr is:
The key goals of The Commons on Flickr are to firstly show you hidden treasures in the world’s public photography archives, and secondly to show how your input and knowledge can help make these collections even richer.

I’ve seen where individuals have posted images taken by photographers that are clearly what would be called Masters. Photographers like Dorthea Lange and Ansel Adams. Because the person posting the image didn’t change the settings in their own account, the information on the photo attributes a copyright to the person posting the photo and not to the actual photographer.

The last group of people I’ll mention are those that purposely “steal” an image that isn’t their own but present it as if they photographed it and owned the copyright. I’m happy I haven’t had any experiences with that group yet but I know they’re out there.

Frankly, it’s not a bad thing for other people to use your photographs. Isn’t that what many of us strive for? Wouldn’t many of us love to sell our images? The images should be used with our permission and as it was intended to be used, but we should all be excited when it happens.

For those of you who don’t want anyone to use your photos, in the digital age there’s only about one way to make sure your images are 100% protected. Don’t post them. Anywhere. Don’t put them on Flickr. Don’t post them on Facebook. Don’t tweet them to anyone. Don’t send them by MMS to a friend or family member. Of course, for most of us, not posting them anywhere isn’t very practical. Besides, what good is a photo if no one but you ever sees it?

If you post your photos anywhere on line, there will come a time that you will find someone else using them. Don’t get overly upset, but do consider taking some of the steps I suggested above.

Oh, and be flattered that someone else thinks enough of your image to use it.

Photo Shoot/Edit Music Playlist

Tiffany Joyce — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 07:00:26 +0000

And now for something a little different!

I have a couple of playlists on my iPod, one that I like to play during a photo shoot (unless the photo shoot is of a person, then I let them play their own playlist), and one that I like to play while I’m editing my photos. There really isn’t much of a rhyme or reason to which songs made it to which playlists – I seem to like a mixture of musical genres. Sometimes I play the Photo Shoot playlist while I’m editing, and sometimes I play the Photo Editing playlist while I’m shooting. The upbeat songs get me moving, shooting, trying new things. The mellower songs make me more contemplative, deliberate, and introspective. Either way, it’s a good thing to experience a variety of moods during a photo shoot or post-processing session.

In speaking with a few photographer friends of mine, I found that I’m not the only one who has developed playlists for photography. I thought I would share mine, and I hope you share yours in the comments or on our Facebook Page!

Photo Shoot Playlist

- “Mr. E’s Beautiful Blues” by the Eels
- “Don’t Change” by INXS
- “Dog Days are Over” by Florence & The Machine
- “Let the Drummer Kick” by Citizen Cope
- “Good Life” by OneRepublic
- “Time to Pretend” by MGMT
- “Hang Me Up To Dry” by Cold War Kids
- “Heartbreak Beat” by The Psychedelic Furs
- “Heart and Soul” by T’Pau
- “Nirvana” by Robert Plant
- “Hey Pretty” by Poe
- “Little Lion Man” by Mumford & Sons
- “The Edge of Glory” by Lady Gaga
- “Crawl” by Kings of Leon
- “Strict Machine” by Goldfrapp
- “My Hero” by Foo Fighters
- “Got You Where I Want You” by The Flys
- “Annie Waits” by Ben Folds
- “Waiting on a Sunny Day” by Bruce Springsteen
- “All These Things That I’ve Done” by The Killers

Photo Editing Playlist

- “Empire State of Mind” by Jay-Z
- “My Love” by Justin Timberlake
- “Back Down South” by Kings of Leon
- “Misty Mountain Hop” by Led Zeppelin
- “Iridescent” by Linkin Park
- “In the Air Tonight” by Phil Collins
- “7″ by Prince
- “Thunderstruck” by Sprung Monkey
- “California Love” by Tupac & Dr. Dre
- “Return of the Mack” by Mark Morrison
- “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” by Jet
- “Send Me On My Way” by Rusted Root
- “Read My Mind” by The Killers
- “All I’m Thinkin’ About” by Intervision
- “Burn” by The Cure
- “Seven Nation Army” by White Stripes
- “Word Up” by Korn
- “Bad Company” by Five Finger Death Punch
- “Float On” by Modest Mouse
- “Fast Love” by George Michael

Here are YouTube videos of a few of my favorites:

Enjoy!

Photo Credit: “Guitar” by Sam Foles on Flickr Creative Commons.

Going Pro – How to Prioritize Gear Purchases

Tiffany Joyce — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 07:00:48 +0000

Unfortunately, most of us work with a limited budget when it comes to purchasing photography gear. Once we consider taking our photography to the next level and going pro, having the right gear becomes even more important. Not only is it important to have the right gear to capture the shots, it is also important to have the right gear to present a professional appearance to our clients.

Let’s say you have what you consider to be the minimum amount of gear to begin your adventures into professional photography – a good camera, a couple of quality lenses, and good working knowledge of post-processing. From there, your wish list has grown to epic proportions and includes everything from a back-up camera body to studio lighting and lenses galore. So how do you know what you really need, and in what order do you prioritize your purchases?

1. Ask yourself the right questions.

What kind of a professional photographer do you want to be? Do you want to take studio portraits or work on-location? Do you want to capture landscape or wildlife photography? Are you going to be traveling great distances, or staying close to home? Will you have a home studio or a rented space, or will you be working out of your car? All of these questions are key aspects of discerning what kind of gear you need to prioritize.

2. Protect your client’s photos.

First and foremost, get yourself an external hard drive to back up your photos. Consider backing up your backup, too! Choose a reputable on-line backup resource like Mozy, CrashPlan, or Carbonite. Since you are now going to be providing a service to paying customers, it is ESSENTIAL that your photography projects are stored safely.

3. Get the colors right.

Make sure you are working with a calibrated monitor and printer – you can’t get the colors right for your clients unless you’re working with properly calibrated displays! Purchase color calibration software and tools, and repeat the calibration process occasionally to make sure your colors continue to be accurate.

4. Develop your Essentials Kit.

Your Essentials Kit should include a selection of memory cards, spare batteries, microfiber cloths, lens caps, white balance cards, UV filters, lens hoods, and other odds and ends. Make up a kit for every camera bag you use, plus an additional kit for your storage cabinet. As you use a battery and plug it in to charge, IMMEDIATELY replace it with a charged battery. As you pull out a memory card for post-processing, IMMEDIATELY replace it with a blank one. By doing this you will seriously decrease the odds of being without an essential item when you’re out in the field.

5. Achieve the bare minimum.

Understand the BARE MINIMUM amount of gear you absolutely need to have, and prioritize those purchases over anything else. For instance:

- Portrait Photography: A basic three-light setup is essential, or two lights and a good reflector. The bottom line is, for portrait photography you absolutely need off-camera flash. Buy quality equipment and resist the urge to purchase cheap, flimsy kits. Get a softbox and an umbrella that can act as either a reflector or a shoot-through diffuser. Purchase with an eye toward traveling with your gear, if that is the route you’re going to take. You’ll also need remote transmitter/transceivers, like those you can get from Pocketwizard. Finally, invest in a quality light meter.

- Wedding Photography: Invest in “fast” lenses that work well in low light – get a wide-angle and a medium-length telephoto (such as the oft-recommended 70-200mm f/2.8). Many wedding photographers swear by the “three lens prime kit” – the 28mm, 50mm, and 85mm. Accompany those lenses with a Speedlight or two, which are highly portable and flexible. Have a light stand and a light modifier for each Speedlight, and remote flash triggering. If you have a full-frame camera body, consider a crop-sensor body as your backup (and vice-versa).

- Landscape Photography: You’ll probably want to prioritize lens purchases to make sure you have a full range of focal length capability. Always purchase lenses with an eye towards quality – the better the lens, the better the photos. A backup camera body is also essential to be prepared for any mishaps. Full-sensor cameras are highly recommended for wide-angle landscape photography. You’ll need a rugged tripod, one that is designed to be used out in the field. Finally, you will need a hardy, weather-proof travel case or two in which to store your gear.

- Wildlife Photography: Once you have a quality DSLR in hand, it’s all about the lens when it comes to capturing photos of elusive wildlife. Start with a high quality telephoto zoom lens, then add on with telephoto prime lenses. Get a rugged tripod, one that is capable of resting on uneven ground. Consider a crop-sensor camera body as your backup – they have the added benefit of adding on to the effective focal length of telephoto lenses. Choose a light weight but sturdy weather-proof backpack for your gear.

- Architectural/Real Estate Photography: Prioritize the purchase of an extreme wide-angle lens, or a tilt-shift lens. Choose a couple of portable strobes and battery packs, with enough power to light dim corners and large spaces. Your tripod should have a ball head and spirit level.

- Product Photography: Get a couple of high quality macro lenses – one with a 1:1 ratio and one with more extreme magnification. Powerful light sources are essential, whether they be constant lights for use with light boxes, or studio strobes. Buy light boxes of various sizes, and consider getting something like a Lastolite 7′x8′ HiLite for larger subjects.

6. Take notes.

As you gain experience in your chosen genre of photography, you will quickly learn about what works and what doesn’t work. Take notes on every photo shoot that you perform, with an eye toward simplifying everything from the amount of gear you need, to the amount of time it takes to set everything up. Figure out the gear that you bring but DON’T use, or the gear that you left behind that would have come in handy. As the essentials become obvious, you will continue to re-prioritize your list of gear purchases to suit your circumstances.

Photo credits (in order of appearance):
- “Randi in Wedding Dress” by Walt Stoneburner on Flickr Creative Commons.
- “Monument Valley” by Marco Bellucci on Flickr Creative Commons.
- “Female Great Horned Owl” by Tiffany Joyce.
- “Spiral Stairs” by Icelight on Flickr Creative Commons.

Product Review – Black Rapid RS-7 Camera Strap

Steve Russell — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 05:00:54 +0000

Sometimes I’m convinced that the worst piece of equipment in photography is the camera strap that comes with your camera. Not only is it a marginally functional piece of equipment, you get the same strap no matter how expensive your camera might be. If you purchase a brand new DSLR for $600 you get a $5 strap. If you purchase a brand new DSLR for $2,500 you get a $5 strap.

So what’s wrong with them? The strap is designed to hang around the photographer’s neck. When you walk, unless you hold onto your camera with your hand, the camera bangs against your chest or abdomen, depending on how you have the strap adjusted. When you bend forward the camera swings forward, away from your body, threatening to impact against the closest immovable object. The biggest complaint, though, is that it’s flat uncomfortable. Especially if you’re carrying something like a Nikon D7000 with a 70-200mm lens mounted to the camera body.

I refuse to “wear” the strap that comes with a camera but I do wrap it around my wrist while holding the camera in my hand. That way the strap at least provides a small amount of security. The only problem is that either the strap becomes too tight to be comfortable or too loose to provide that tiny bit of security. You would think that somebody could design a comfortable camera strap that held the camera securely, kept it from banging against your body as you walked, was easy to keep the camera close to your body especially when bending forward and kept the camera within easy reach. Well, somebody did.

Enter the Black Rapid RS-7 Camera Strap . I know a couple of photographers that have this strap, love it and swear by it. I know at least one photographer who doesn’t have it and isn’t willing to try it because he thinks it would be too easy for the camera to come loose from the strap and fall on the ground. (I’ll get to that point a little later in the review.) Okay, there were two people raving about it and one thinking something bad might happen. I decided to give it a try.

Let’s first tackle the issue that one person didn’t like. Instead of attaching to the built-in “rings” on the sides of the camera body like most straps, the RS-7 attaches with a screw type FastenR-3 that screws into the tripod socket on the bottom of your camera, battery grip or lens.

The photographer I know who doesn’t like it is concerned that the fastener will work loose. I’ve used the strap numerous times and the fastener hasn’t loosened any at all. Yes, to be honest, I do double check it from time to time, but there haven’t been any issues.

The strap connects to the fastener using a locking swivel hook to connect it securely to the strap. When using the strap for the first time, once it’s connected to the camera it’s time to adjust the strap. Instead of me trying to explain the steps to complete the adjustments, watch this short video on the Black Rapid web site.

When adjusted to fit, the camera hangs at the photographer’s hip within easy reach. To use the camera think of a Wild West gunfighter reaching for his pistol. It’s that easy and that quick.

I have used the strap in the studio, at indoor events using an on camera flash, at crowded outdoor events like art festivals and while shooting wildlife outdoors. In each case the Black Rapid strap performed better than any strap I’ve ever used.

What I liked about it:

It’s unbelievably comfortable. I can’t imagine any other strap being as comfortable as the Black Rapid. I spent over four hours one day carrying a Canon 5D Mark II with battery grip and using a 70-200 f/2.8 lens and carrying the camera was as easy and comfortable at the end of the event as it was at the beginning.

It’s cool looking. Okay, it’s just a camera strap but it looks different and I get a lot of questions about it.

It’s simple to adjust. I once read a “review” post on Amazon.com saying that it was very difficult to get adjusted to where it fit properly and no one told them about the video I mentioned above. My experience – I purposely adjusted and used it without watching the video just to see how difficult it was to adjust. Trying to be nice here, I had it adjusted, attached to the camera and was using it in less than five minutes from the time I opened the package. Oh, and there was a reference to the video in the package.

What I didn’t like about it:

Actually, nothing. I’ve tried to find something negative to say about it and I keep coming up empty. I don’t think this is a negative at all, but because the camera hangs at your side about hip level when you’re not using it, I advise that you keep your hand on your camera if you’re in a crowd or someone will bang into it for sure.

I did see where one person complained that it didn’t work very well for left-handed people if you wanted to wear the camera on your left hip instead of your right hip. Maybe so, but the last time I checked, my camera didn’t work left-handed either. The shutter release button is on the right side of the camera as is the grip for holding the camera.

The strap was provided by Black Rapid for me to try and review. When a product is given to me to use and review, I always try to use it as much as I can and in a number of different situations so I can give a fair review.

I also got a Black Rapid bumper or back window sticker for my car. I wonder how many people have looked at the sticker and wondered what new rock band was named Black Rapid.

Tiffany has the model of the strap that is made for women that she will review in the future. I’ll let her explain why there’s a special model for women.

I give this strap my highest recommendation, so if you’re looking for something to buy for the photographer in your life during the holidays or if you want a hint to give to someone buying for you, this is an excellent product from my perspective.

Photo Credits:
All photos provided by Black Rapid

*The Author received complimentary products in exchange for mentioning the Provider’s products and/or services on this website. Such compensation received did not and will never influence the content, topics or posts made on this website. We will only endorse products or services that we believe, based on our expertise, are worthy of such endorsement.

Ten Photography Goals for 2012

Steve Russell — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 05:00:20 +0000

Last week Tiffany invited everyone to grab a cup of coffee and get comfortable. I thought I would suggest something a little stronger as I list my goals for 2012. So grab a cold one and get comfortable. To be very honest, I rarely write down goals but usually have them accessible in my head. Tiffany’s insistence that I write this article forces me to do something that we should all do if our goal is the same or similar to hers – learn, grow and push our boundaries.

1. My goals for this year are being driven by some upcoming major events in my life and photography is playing a very large role as these changes occur. At the end of January my wife and I are retiring and leaving Florida to move back to Texas. So, goal number 1 is to establish a successful photography business in our new location.

2. My second goal, which is a critical part of number 1, is to complete the updating and redesigning of my portfolio. I’ve been working on a new portrait portfolio for the last few months and I’m almost to the point where I’m ready to finalize it. I still need to photograph two or three more subjects but that’s on the calendar for January.

3. The first objective of the photography business is to support my photography habit. Goal number 3 is to make and save enough money to purchase my dream lens, the Canon 500mm f/4L IS II USM. Hopefully the version II will have been released by the time I’ve saved the money needed to purchase it.

4. In November of last year I posted an article called Photography Bucket List. Goal number 4 is to start checking off some of the places on that list. In turn, I’m sure I’ll have to add to the list as well. I already plan to travel to Albuquerque, NM in early October. There I’ll watch and photograph the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. From there it’s an easy drive to Shiprock, New Mexico and Monument Valley.

5. Re-join and re-connect with the nature photography club I belonged to in the 80s. I’ve written before that photography or camera clubs were great places to meet other photographers and learn from them. This relatively small club has monthly field trips, meetings and an annual contest that attracts many nature photographers. Here is a link to the website of the Heard Nature Photographers club

6. Attend seminars. There are people that own and use cameras and there are photographers. I believe that one mark of a photographer is the thirst to learn more and more about photography. I attended two live seminars in 2011 and walked away from both with more knowledge about photography than I had when I arrived.

7. Make more and better use of my Kelby Training membership.

8. While Tiffany and I are business partners with this blog, we’ve never met in person. Goal number 8 is to meet Tiffany and her husband, Bill, and go on a photo excursion with her. Tiffany, see my goal #4.

9. Find a location where it’s dark enough to photograph star trails. It’s something I’ve never done and I really want the experience.

10. Make plans and arrangements to attend Photoshop World in 2013. There is no way I’ll be able to attend in March 2012 with everything that will be going on in my world at the time, but getting a head start on 2013 is a good thing.

Tiffany was able to set twelve goals for herself. If I can accomplish all ten of these I’ll be a very happy camper or photographer if you will.

I hope that Tiffany’s article and this article inspire each of you to set your own photography goals for 2012. Whether they’re modest or somewhat grandiose as mine may be, setting them will give you a direction for next year.

Photo Credit:

Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale by KajJr on Flickr Creative Commons