Happy New Year!

Thanks to all the readers of LeggNet's Digital Capture for a great '08! Here's to a safe and happy New Year's Eve and a Fantastic 2009.

- Rich -

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/160 second, f/7.1, ISO 100

Mpix.com - Turning Frowns Upside Down

I use the online photo lab Mpix.com for my photo printing needs. I first tried them a few years ago after reading a comparison of online labs in a photography magazine and saw that they were rated the best overall. I have been very pleased with their quality and service. I've often said that it is more convenient for me to use Mpix and have the images overnight shipped (for a very low flat rate) to my home rather than driving to a local lab.

Earlier this month my faith in Mpix was put to a test. I arrived home to find a FedEx package waiting for me that was in pretty bad condition. It's not an exaggeration to say that the box was literally "Run Over". Knowing that the package contained a 16x24 and 11x14 mounted on canvas (in addition to a lot of smaller prints), saying that I was alarmed is an understatement. Opening the box confirmed my fear. Both of the mounted images were goners, though all of the unmounted prints survived.

Since my client was anxiously awaiting the order, I quickly sent an email to customerservice@mpix.com hoping for the best. To my surprise, I received a reply in less than 5 minutes. Without hesitation, Matt at Mpix offered to reprint the entire order and overnight me the replacements. He didn't ask for proof or give me any hassle at all. He simply said he was sorry and that he would take care of it.

This is the kind of service I want to receive from companies I frequent. Accidents and mistakes will happen. When they do, it is nice to have them quickly resolved. This potential relationship damaging incident actually served to further increase my loyalty to Mpix. Nice job, Matt & Mpix.

Elisabeth "On the Bus"

With the typical "busy-ness" that seems to encapsulate the holiday season I haven't been photographing much. This creates a bit of a challenge for meaningful blog fodder, so for today's post I'm gonna feature one more image from last week's School Bus stock shoot.

Tomorrow's post: an example of good customer service from a photo lab.

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/40 second, f/6.3, ISO 200

On the Bus

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/60 second, f/5.6, ISO 200

The Night Before...

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/160 second, f/4, ISO 100

Behind the Scenes - School Bus Photo Shoot

I wrapped up my last stock photo shoot of the year this morning. The shoot involved a group of kids on a school bus. Finding the bus was a little bit of a challenge, and I ended up being blessed to have a local church offer their bus to me at no charge. While the bus didn't look much like a typical "school bus" on the outside (where's the yellow color?!?), it was a perfect location on the inside for my purpose.

For lighting, the bright reflective natural light (helped by the fresh snow) coming in through the side windows worked great. I accentuated this light with a large softbox aimed at the windshield and a smaller softbox inside the bus.

It was a lot of fun working with the 10 models. The fact that the majority of them were kids and that it's two days before Christmas added to the excitement on the bus. Together we created a nice set of images to add to my stock portfolio.

Parka Girl

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens - 1/250 second, f/5, ISO 500

Almost there...

Yup, we've almost arrived at another Christmas. My surprise this holiday season photographically was which one of my themed photos became my top seller. I would have never predicted it back in September when I shot it, but this image of a frazzled looking Alyssa outsold any of my other holiday images by a considerable margin. I guess we can just chalk it up as a commentary of how many people feel during the holiday season.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/160 second, f/4, ISO 100

Recap: Photowalking Temple Square

Photo by Scott Jarvie

Last night's two-part Photowalking Utah event was a success, at least it appeared to be from where I was standing. We had great participation in both segments of the outing.

The evening began with a mini-clinic on Nighttime Photography at the City Library in Salt Lake City. We managed to squeeze 50+ photographers into the conference room provided by the library. It is always a challenge to present relevant information to photographers of such varying skill levels, and hopefully I was able to do so.

I had more than a few requests for a copy of my Powerpoint presentation, so I have uploaded it to the server. It can be found here. The slides were more of a starting point for our discussion, but I hope this can at least help with remembering what we chatted about.

After the mini-clinic, the group hopped on Trax (Salt Lake City's light-rail system) and headed over to Temple Square where we met up with several photographers that didn't make it to the earlier session. While it was a fairly cold night, the day's earlier snowstorm had moved on so conditions were good for shooting.


Photo by David Terry

This was probably the first photowalk that I didn't take any pictures on. I loaned my camera to one photographer and my tripod to another, so I spent my time just walking and talking with the group. Even though I didn't shoot, I still really enjoyed the event.

The Photowalking Utah Flickr pool is beginning to see the night's captures filter in. Be sure to check it out over the next few days to see a sampling of the participant's work.

Photowalking Utah enjoyed a great 2008. We have had over a dozen events and have seen the attendance steadily increase. I really look forward to seeing where this group can go in 2009.

'tis the season

Photowalking Utah: Recapping the Hill Aerospace Museum

Thanks to everyone who ventured out early this past Saturday morning despite the winter storm warning to photowalk the Hill Aerospace Museum. It was a great time in a great location. Extra special thanks go to Photowalking Utah member Averie for getting our group the VIP treatment! Our tour guides could not have been more accommodating - they were great!

To see a great sampling of images shot by the group, visit the Photowalking Utah pool on Flickr.

The next Photowalking Utah event is tomorrow night in Salt Lake City. It features a nighttime photography mini-clinic (which looks to be standing-room-only at this point) and then a photowalk around the famous Temple Square Christmas displays. For all the details, here's a link to my previous blog post.

Lewis at ISO 800

One of the main reasons for my recent camera upgrade from the Canon 5D to the new 5D mark II was the ability to shoot at higher ISO settings without a significant degradation to the image. In my stock photography, I never went over ISO 400 with the original 5D and typically stayed under 200. While this was fine for shooting in studio, when I shot outdoors with existing light I frequently found myself shooting at a slower shutter speed than I would have preferred.

On a recent outdoor session, I was able to put the Mark II's higher ISO ability to a test. It was an overcast day and I used a combination of reflector and speedlite to accentuate the diffused natural lighting. By pushing the ISO to 800 for this image, I was able to use a shutter speed of 1/250 to eliminate camera shake. Had I used ISO 100 for this image I would have been forced to a shutter speed of 1/30, all but guaranteeing camera shake.

The final test for this image was to submit it to iStockphoto for inspection. I'm pleased to report that the shot passed and is now in my stock portfolio. My next test will be to submit an image shot at ISO 1000.

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens - 1/250 second, f/4, ISO 800

Born in the USA

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 5 seconds, f/22, ISO 200

An Aussie in Utah

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens - 1/640 second, f/4, ISO 500

Happy Birthday Michelle!

A tribute to my wife on today, her birthday. Happy Birthday Michelle!

Behind the Scenes - A Couple Recent Shoots

I'm catching up on some behind-the-scenes shots from a couple of last month's shoots. The above image is from an assignement I did for a magazine featuring high end steak. The below image is from the Fast Food themed stock shoot I did at the end of the month.

The steakhouse image will be appearing in the next issue of the Wasatch Journal, and the fast food image series can be found here in my iStock portfolio.

Photowalking Utah: Hill AFB Museum

Just a reminder that the next Photwoalking Utah event is this Saturday (12.13.08) at the Hill Air Force Base museum in Clearfield Utah. The event features some exclusive behind-the-scenes access for photowalkers. For all the details, visit the announcement page on PhotowalkingUtah.com by clicking here.

14 days with a Canon 5D Mark II

Note: Today's post is a reprint of one I wrote for the Photography Bay photography blog.



I have been living with a production 5D Mark II for two weeks now, and while I will leave the detailed reviews to the professional reviewers, I thought I'd share my thoughts so far.

I make my living as a stock photographer shooting exclusively for iStockphoto and Getty Images. In addition, I supplement this income with freelance work. My workhorse camera body for the past couple years has been the original 5D, and it has served me well. When Canon introduced the new 5D Mark II in September, I jumped at the chance to upgrade my production camera to this 21 megapixel beauty. Shooting primarily stock photography, I didn't need all the features of the 1DS Mark III (focus points, weather sealing, etc.) but I really wanted to up the resolution of my images. The new 5D fit my needs perfectly.

I placed my pre-order the morning of the announcement in September and waited. Thankfully, my local dealer (Pictureline) was one of the first retailers in the US to receive stock. With my early pre-order, I was able to walk out of the store with the camera on the morning of November 25th.

My initial thoughts on holding the camera after un-boxing was that the body felt more rugged than its predecessor. After further inspection, I believe the main reason for this is the combination of the improved rubber gripping and the rougher finish on the magnesium body. In a side-by-side comparison with my original 5D, the older camera is extremely smooth in contrast to the new textured surface of the Mark II. I do wonder though if the smoothness of the original 5D has been enhanced by wear. Otherwise, with the exception of the larger LCD and a couple new or repositioned buttons, the camera handles just like it predecessor.

After shooting a quick image to post on my blog showing that I had the Mark II in hand, I charged the battery and began putting the camera through some test shots. I received it on a Tuesday and had an assignment shoot the next day so I wanted to test it out thoroughly before putting it into service on the shoot. I ran through several scenarios at various ISO settings then pulled the card to inspect the images on my production Mac. Everything checked out so I moved my original 5D into the backup position and packed the Mark II for the magazine assignment.



The camera performed flawlessly in the magazine shoot. The assignment called for three images from a high-end steakhouse to accompany an article. The first image was a close-up of a filet mignon on a table, the second was a portrait of the owner/chef and the third was a shot of the dining room. For the first two images I operated no differently than I would have with my original 5D. For the dining room shot though, I was able to put to use the Mark II's improved image quality at higher ISO's. I shot the dining room at speeds between ISO 1000 and 1600. This is something I would have never done for a paid assignment before, but the images from the new camera were exceptional at this speed. I would compare them (un-scientifically) to the results I would have received at under ISO 400 on the original 5D. This made me smile.



The next outing for the new camera consisted of an impromptu Photowalking Utah event on Thanksgiving evening in Salt Lake City. I joined up with six fellow photographers for a nighttime stroll around the downtown area. Typically on an outing like this I would have carried a tripod and shot all my night shots with long exposures. Since I was carrying the new Mark II, I loaned out my tripod to another shooter (he forgot his) and opted to go handheld at high ISO settings. Using a 20mm f/2.8 prime for the majority of my shooting, I pushed the ISO to 6400 and went to town. While the resulting image quality at this speed is not something I could use for stock work, the pictures were definitely usable. I found that I was constantly rolling the ISO between 1600 and 6400 to suit the scene I was photographing. I was so encouraged by the results, I pushed the ISO to 25,600 for a proof-of-concept shot in an area that was nearly too dark to see. As can be seen in the image below, while the shot is in no way perfect it did capture detail and color at this ridiculously high ISO setting.



After shooting high-priced steak and photowalkers, it was finally time to put the camera to use on a studio stock shoot. I had a baby girl coming in for a stock session and this would be the first use of the camera in-studio. Everything handled and functioned for me just as it would have with the original 5D, with a couple of exceptions. The biggest surprise for me of a new feature that I didn't know I would use is the "Quick Control Screen". This function mimics all of the settings that are on the top of the camera in the small LCD to the right of the prism, but instead displays them on the spacious color LCD on the back of the camera. I have mapped the "SET" button on my camera to bring up this menu. I find this an extremely useful way to make quick changes to f/stop, aperture, or any of the other shooting functions. In a darkened studio, this came in very useful.



When it came to editing the large 21 megapixel images on my production Mac, I had to make a few adjustments. My workflow consists of shooting images in RAW mode and using Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) to convert them before editing in Photoshop. Since Adobe stopped updating the ACR converter for Photoshop CS3 prior to the release of the Mark II, this necessitated an upgrade to CS4. The image quality from the new camera is fantastic. I find the color representation of the unedited images to be more true on the Mark II compared to my original 5D. The images are a bit cooler, but I always seemed to be cooling down my 5D images with a white balance adjustment anyway. After one session of working with the large images though, I jumped online and ordered a memory upgrade to bring my production iMac from 2gb to 4gb of memory. I found that I was quickly slowing down my system when working on several of the full-resolution images at once.

There have been some rumblings on the internet forums about "Black Dots" appearing next to blown out highlights on the new Mark II. I have seen no indication of this on my camera and have even tried to recreate the problem by purposely overexposing shots of city lights without success.

So far I am extremely pleased with the purchase. To think that I upgraded from 12 to 21 megapixels and picked up all the new features for $300 less than I paid for my original 5D is amazing. I guess we should thank the new full-frame competition from Sony and Nikon for this. I look forward to continuing to put this camera through its paces and learning more about what it has to offer my photography.

Little Miss Happy

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens - 1/125 second, f/8, ISO 100

A Father's Love

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/125 second, f/4.5, ISO 100

Save the Date: Photowalking Temple Square

It's time again for Photowalking Utah's annual trek to capture the lights at Temple Square in Salt Lake City. In addition to photographing the beautiful Christmas lighting displays, we've added another element this year - a low-light photography clinic.

The event will feature two parts. The first session will be a nighttime photography mini-clinic held at the City Library. I will be facilitating this part as we discuss and share techniques for making great nighttime captures.

After wrapping up our classroom time, the group will hop on Trax light rail and ride down to Temple Square. We will then spend an hour or so walking the grounds and photographing.

We have received special permission from the LDS Church to photograph as a group on their sacred grounds. Please note that our agreement with them states that we will NOT be using any of the images taken on their property for commercial purposes.

Here are the details:

Thursday, December 18
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm - Mini-Clinic at Salt Lake City Library
7:30 pm - 9:00 pm - Photographing at Temple Square

As always, these events are open to anyone who wants to attend. For those planning on attending the mini-seminar portion, please drop a comment in the Flickr discussion. I'd like to keep an idea of headcount so I know we will fit in our classroom.

Rustic Family Portrait

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/125 second, f/7.1, ISO 160

Is Your Camera Gear Insured?

I'm taking time today to re-inventory my equipment and send an updated list over to my insurance company. While doing this, I began wondering how many serious-amateur/professional photographers have their gear insured.

I added a rider to my studio/office insurance policy a couple of years ago to cover my gear in case of theft and/or loss. Since I will routinely bring just about everything I have onto a location for a shoot, I figured this was a wise choice. The cost of the additional coverage was only a few hundred dollars a year. That's pretty cheap when you consider how easy it is for us photographers to gather several thousand dollars worth of equipment that could easily be walked off with by a thief.

At the very minimum, I would recommend that photographers take a moment this week to call their insurance company (homeowners, vehicle, etc.) and inquire about adding coverage for camera equipment. Don't assume that it's covered, make sure it is.

I'd be curious to hear from the readers if you have your gear insured. And, if so, please share if you have a great insurance company you'd like to recommend.

Canon G7 - 1/60 second, f/4, ISO 200

Blue Bridge

Canon 5D mark II, Canon 20mm f/2.8 - 1/40 second, f/2.8, ISO 3200

Recapping the "Turkey Day" Photowalk

Seven of us participated in the mini-photowalk that was hastily put together on Thanksgiving Day. Though our numbers were small, we had a great time exploring the downtown area of Salt Lake City. With it being a holiday night, the streets were noticeably devoid of Trax trains, people and vehicles which made for a relaxing setting to walk, talk and photograph in.



It is always a lot of fun hanging out with other photographers and this was no exception. It was discussed with the group that we should really add a little advance planning in the future to make the "Turkey Day Photowalk" a regular event.

Be sure to check out the Flickr pool to watch for images from this 'walk as they come in.