For all the stuff that doesn’t fit elsewhere!
While many of us are forced to spend a good amount of our time indoors this time of year, there are some fun ways to photographically take advantage of this seasonal necessity. One that pops into mind each and every year for me is shooting with Christmas tree lights as a backdrop. With a shallow depth of field, you can turn these bright, blinking, energy bill inflating little guys into a multicolored, bokeh ball explosion. Here’s how…
so it’s like this now huh?
Im not a music reviewer, nor much of a writer, but I do love music and technically this is already written, so it is what it is. In a landscape of too many overly hopped craft beers masquerading as something new, and bands “making art” you may find yourself lost in Portland if you remotely resemble someone craving a time past when keys were kept in your pockets and bikes were what you rode only because you didn’t have a friend who had an older brother with a license, when people hung out, met up instead of tweeting or instafacing each other, and partying was just something you did on a Tuesday. This, to me at least, is what the Mean Jeans, well, mean. Why am I writing about a band? This is a photography blog for crissakes, but the cool part about having a photography blog is all you really need to include is some photography, so I’ll do so. I get asked occasionally how to take pictures of live performances, and all I can offer up as advice with these guys, is hold onto your camera and it wouldn’t hurt if it were waterproof either…
follow me deeper and you shall see (Pana G3 + Lumix 25mm f/1.4)
While the title may allude to a sinister, Imperial-esque characterization of a city known for many a questionable, extra curricular activity, I mean to speak quite literally. For anyone who’s read my blog for more than a year, you may know that I travel to Amsterdam once a year on business. Because of said business, coupled with the late time of year and Holland’s geographical placement, I rarely get to experience it in the light of day. With a +9 hour difference to tackle, and tiring hours spent working while there, my window for photographic opportunity normally falls within about an hour and a half between when I get done working, and the inevitable collapse into a jet lagged coma that prematurely greets the end of each day. Luckily, this year, this window happened to open while the weather was crisp, but dry as it gave me the ability to wander around, camera in hand to document a bit of my annual stay in what has become my home away from home.
From right now through November 26th, all Topaz plugins are 50% off!!! Kind of insane actually seeing that so many of them are already so realistically priced.
Click HERE to see the Plugins that Topaz offers (listed at full price) and enter the code “CyberSavings” at checkout to cut the price in half!
Here are some of the plugins that I’ve reviewed:
Topaz DeNoise5 (a killer noise reduction plugin)
Black and White Effects (very budget friendly B&W processing)
Clean (edge detail and skin softening plugin) which also doubles as a Fractalius like plugin for Mac!
I also love Adjust and would highly suggest any (or all) the Topaz plugins, especially at 50% off!!!
Cheers,
Tyson
The dream of many hard working creative professionals is one born of independence, creative control, self direction, recognition and collaboration with artistic minds enabling a motivating force to push you forward in your craft. There is something to be said about being your own boss, setting your own hours and managing your own business, but this requires you to be a tireless jack of all trades. You must master the business side and all that goes along with it all while maintaining a creative drive, not to mention drumming up business. It is easy to burn out, or fall into a rut, ultimately sacrificing something along the way. What if you could gather great friends, all working in various creative fields with complimentary skill sets to collaborate on projects which benefit greatly from each individual part, making a much stronger whole? I would like to introduce you to the ELK Collective… C’mon in.
A couple years back, Mrs Squeeze had asked me if we could produce a silhouette of our new little guy (Little Baby What’s His Face, or LBWHF for short). I hadn’t done it before, but figured it would be pretty simple and we’ve enjoyed it so much, we just did one for our new little guy (The Amazing Pantso, or just Pansto for short). We shot each of their silhouettes at almost the exact same age (just about 5 months) and it is really cool to see just how different they are, well, how different their physical profiles are anyway. Read on for a step by step on how to accomplish this…
Just a quick comparison pre and post firmware v1.5 update showing the difference that the IBIS (In Body Image Stabilization) makes when using adapted, third party lenses in video mode on the Olympus OM-D E-M5.
The above video was shot using a Canon FD 55mm f/1.2 SSC lens adapted to the OM-D E-M5 with segments using firmware v1.2 to show the lack of IBIS support compared to the same setup after the firmware update to v1.5. I was walking with the camera held out in front of me to further amplify the differences that the IBIS can make for video. I would certainly suggest standing still, IBIS or not when shooting video because nobody wants to watch this type of vomit inducing drivel, with the distinct exception of gear nerds like myself, in small, short doses of course.
To properly engage the IBIS when using adapted lenses for video, you’ll need to manually enter the focal length (just as we have to for still shooting) in the Image Stabilization sub menu.
Along with the added IBIS support in video capture for third party lenses, the update included a muting (or more accurately a disengagement) of the IBIS humming when the camera was inactive prior to entering sleep mode. Unfortunately, we didn’t see some of the other issues we’d raised last week addressed (like focus peaking, high ISO banding, etc) but these are two good changes and hopefully are merely the beginning of the firmware update chain for this camera.
You can find the OMD EM5 at B&H HERE.
Thanks for the read and happy shooting,
Tyson
It’s a hard thing to admit to myself really. Being that I’ve been in love with the Lumix 20mm f/1.7 pancake lens for so long, I never really thought about acquiring a lens for the Micro 4/3 format that provided such a similar angle of view. Now that I have, I must make a decision, which do I keep…
If you’ve been on the fence about any of the Alien Skin plugins, now might be a great time to pull the trigger. Of course, they offer all of their plugins as full featured, free trials to try before you buy. You have about a week, get at it!
I’m a big fan, if you’d like to read my reviews on some of their plugins that I use and suggest, hit the links below:
Exposure 4 (tons of wonderful color and b/w film filters, a personal fave)
Snap Art 3 (instantly turn images into paintings)
Bokeh 2 (replicate the bokeh from high end lenses, or just have fun obliterating the background)
You can purchase any of the plugins, or bundles directly from Alienskin.com
I know this seems a bit like a sale’s pitch, and something I try not to do with the blog, but I love these plugins, the company they come from and both Jeff and Jimmy are really cool guys, so support ’em if you can.
Cheers,
Tyson
As much as I do love this camera, I find myself absolutely frustrated with it in certain situations. While the squeaky wheel is normally the most annoying, it is also the one that gets the grease. Let us become a loud enough wheel so that Olympus may take notice and deliver some updates to make this camera all it can be.
Tyson Robichaud Photo-blography 