Happy Birthday!

Meet Sophia.  A young, happy girl enjoying one of her first few birthday parties of life.  These are moments that should be treasured.  Kids are difficult to shoot because they have so much energy and emotion they just don’t stand still.  If you’re shooting with a point-and-shoot camera, or an entry-level DSLR and are still trying to figure out the controls, I’ll save you some time.  Most cameras these days have a “kids” mode.  If they don’t, you can simply use their “sports” mode, a mode which your camera will be equipped with for sure.  These modes are basically telling the camera to keep focusing until the actual shot is taken, as the subject moves a lot.  It also tells it to fire off multiple shot if possible to make sure to get the one you want.  High ISO will also likely be enabled.

Often times, despite of these cameras intelligence, you still don’t get your shot.  Sometimes once, or sometimes for the whole event.  It’s important to have an experienced camera-user behind the lens with the right gear to bring in enough light to get your shot.  I have many more photos like these from Sophia’s birthday part and their parents were extremely happy with the photos.

If you need good photos for an important event, and you’re in the bay area, please contact me and I’ll make sure your memories are not missed.  Happy Birthday Sophia (even though you’re probably half-way to your next one by now!) and speaking of birthdays, today’s mine!

Holiday Gift Ideas for the Photographer on Your List

Sometimes, buying gifts for a Photog spouse or relative can by tricky if you don’t understand enough about photography yourself, or don’t know what they already have or want.  This post is designed to arm with you with a little more knowledge about what’s what, what’s hot, and where’s what.

The following are some gift ideas for photographers.  Some are rather simple and straightforward while others are very specific.  Feel free to do your own research too.  Amazon.com has great reviews, and the best online prices on the internet anywhere will be from B&HPhoto.  Their competition, Adorama, is also nice if they have something you can’t get elsewhere.

Keep in mind to also utilize your local camera store.  They are very busy this time of the year (I worked at one this time last year) and though their prices might be a tad higher than online, you are also paying for their knowledge, your ability to get hands-on, and the speed at which you can obtain your gift (usually walk right out with it).  Support your local camera store!!

 

NEW AND UPDATED POCKET CAMERA

There are hundreds of pocket cameras out that all do different amazing things (actually most do 95% the SAME thing) so which one to pick?  Most photo enthusiasts will want a camera capable of shooting RAW (unprocessed photos) which allows for more creative control, and also a camera that has manual controls.  Obviously, a good zoom and a fast lens is a bonus too right?  Without getting into too much detail, I’ll give you a few cameras that come to mind and briefly their “talking points” to give you something to start with.

-  Panasonic Lumix ZS-8 or ZS-10  (excellent lens quality, easy-to-use controls, one-touch movie recording, 720p HD video & 1080 HD video respectively, GPS on the ZS-10)  (also, check out my review of the Panasonic ZS-7 HERE which is very similar)

-  Canon Powershot S100 (fast lens with high-quality optics, RAW, GPS, 1080p HD video)

 

NEW LENSES FOR DSLR CAMERAS

If your photographer gift recipient has a camera with lenses that can be swapped out from the body of the camera, this would be a DSLR.  Generally-speaking, the Canon EF-S mount or Nikon DX mount will be the most popular.  If you’re unsure, ask your local camera store, as Panasonic and some Sony’s use a “micro 4:3″ and other Sony’s and Pentax use their own mounts.

-  Macro Lens   (my Macro photo lens gallery)

Macro lenses are a FUN way to make photography much more interesting!  Primarily they’re used for taking close-up shots of tiny objects, bugs etc… but really their uses are limitless.  Macro lenses are often overlooked for their landscape abilities (quite the opposite of their primary use) and also make very nice portrait lenses (complete with soft, creamy background blur behind your subject)!

I’d recommend the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 L IS USM Macro which is a high-end macro lens for semi-professionals or spoiled photo enthusiasts!

Otherwise, a much more modestly-priced lens that is great for any budget is the Tamron 60mm f/2 Macro.  It brings in twice the light that other macros bring in and since it’s a “third-party” lens, you can buy it for Nikon, Canon, or Sony mounts.  Each mount is incompatible with the other, so make sure you get the one that is right for the camera it will be used on.  I owned this lens for quite a while and absolutely loved it!

 

-  Fast telephoto lens (for sports and low-light photography)

Many people think that megapixel is all that matters in a camera.  Unless you’re printing billboards, it doesn’t really mean much.  One side effect, though, is that you can crop into the image to make parts of the image larger on your screen.  This is silly as the image will never be good quality, especially if it was shot at a high ISO/in low-light.  The answer?  Telephoto lenses!

-  A 70-200mm f/2.8 lens is what the pros use for portraits, weddings, and not-too-far sports photography.  Now before you say “well my gift recipient is no pro” – hang on.  Usually the lens I’m talking about is $2500 and equipped with the absolute newest lens coatings, image-stabilization technologies, and also is just plain overpriced.  While the pros depend on their gear to get the JOB done, your photog might not require that.  AFFORDABLE 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses include Sigma’s and Tamron’s, the latter is only available without image stabilization but Sigma’s is available in either format (they call it OS for “Optical Stabilization”)

If you are lucky enough, you can even find a second-hand Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L lens with or without image-stabilization for a decent price.  The new version II with IS runs you nearly $2500, but if you shop smart, you can find the non-IS version I for about half that.  Yes, that’s still expensive though!

-  A 70 or 75-300mm telephoto variable aperture lens.  These lenses are much more affordable but for a reason.  They don’t let in as much light (especially at longer focal lengths) and therefore can’t get the same 1/500sec shutter speeds to “freeze” the action like the more professional-grade lenses will do.  Is this something your photog needs?  Maybe this photog will be taking photos of the kids little league or soccer games.  If there is often very good sunlight there, he/she may not need to go up to a pro-grade lens.  Again, consult your local camera store to try some out.  Whereas the 70-200s will run you $1000-$2500, these lenses can be had for as little as $250, though a good quality brand with IS is going to be about $450.  The Canon or Nikon brands are nice, but the Tamron is a great alternative as their lenses are a little lower-priced and just as good.

-  A super-long lens that isn’t large or heavy for wildlife or very bright daytime sports is hard to come by.  There are a few out there but two come to mind.  My first choice is the Tamron 200-500mm and will set you back about a grand.  This lens is rather good quality for being such a long zoom and narrow aperture.  It’s build pretty well and comes with a tripod collar and case.  It looks huge, but it’s really quite light!

My second choice is Sigma’s 50-500mm lens.  I must say that I’ve heard people love it, but I personally can’t imagine the quality is really that good.  It might depend on who you ask or what you call a good-quality photo.  Please do your own research here!  If you click on the link for this lens, you’ll be taken to a very good review site that compares it to a few other similar lenses.  The Canon EF 100-400 L IS is a lens that I actually used to own, and loved it.  I only traded it for a 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS because I needed the ability to shoot in lower-light, doing more weddings and portraits than sports and wildlife.  I would recommend this Canon lens easily over the others, though it’s the only one I’ve used.  Again, please do some of your own research!

 

-  A good travel lens is something everyone wants.  If your photog just got a Canon Rebel or Nikon D3100 /D5000, these are all entry-level DSLR cameras that come with an 18-55mm “kit lens” that is somewhat wide, not very long at all, not fast, and the quality is lacking a bit.  A few nice “kit lens” upgrades if you want quality over anything else would be the Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 L IS USM or for Nikon’s 17-55mm f/2.8, but beware, they are expensive!

A great lesser-expensive alternative would be Sigma’s 17-70mm with OS (I used to own the non-OS version) or one of Tamron’s many great lenses!  For Canon I would highly recommend the better-quality “kit lens” if they dont’ already have it: the EF-S 18-135 IS is a VERY nice lens for the price!  Many photos on my portfolio were taken with it!

 

-  Super-wide angle   (my super-wide angle gallery)

Whether you’re traveling, making art, or shooting indoor parties or concerts, the ability to see the ENTIRE scene is often important.  If your photog has a non-pro-grade camera, he or she will likely be the prime candidate for one of the following super-wide angle lenses.  These lenses are NOT for close-up portraits, but rather for artistic architecture, landscapes, and some street and event photography.  The images made with these lenses are dramatic!

Sigma 10-20mm, Tamron’s 10-24, Canon’s EF-S 10-22mm, and my favorite, the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8.  I’ve shot with both the Canon and Tokina and used to own the Tokina for YEARS and what an amazing lens that was!

 

-  A FAST low-light lens great for portraits too!   (my 50mm prime gallery)

I’ve always said and always will say:  ”Anyone who owns a DSLR should have a 50mm prime lens in their bag.”  Plain and simple.  Luckily, there are several price levels and even the lowest priced 50mm lens will take AMAZING photos.

These lenses will allow you to shoot in light that is about 8-16 TIMES darker at the SAME shutter speeds than other lenses, namely the kit lenses.  That’s insane!  Not only will you be able to obtain higher shutter speeds, but you’ll get a nice soft “bokeh” or background blur behind your subject, and whatever you focus on will be TACK SHARP.  There is ONE drawback… and really only one.  It’s that you can’t zoom.  These lenses are made very simply with very little glass inside, hence, they are sharper and let in more let.  You can’t get everything in one package for photography – you have to give and take.  If you’re okay with “sneaker zooming” as they call it, read on…

For Canon you have three options:

About $120   =   Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

About $350   =   Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM

About $1500 =   Canon EF 50mm f/1.2 L USM

For Nikon, you also have the 50mm f/1.8 option, at about the same price, but the others will run you more than the Canon lenses.

Now, I’ve used all three of these Canon lenses.  I started out with the 1.8, and moved to the 1.4 which I own now.  I’ve rented the 1.2 a few times, and though it is a very very nice lens, I wouldn’t recommend spending that kind of money on the lens UNLESS this person makes his primary living shooting photography with a 50mm prime.  It’s also great for people who do a great deal of HDDSLR video.  Since this blog article is about gifts for your photog-friends, and not working professionals, I’ll bet if they need one they already have one.  It’s a lot of money to spend on a gift that isn’t a heck of a lot better than the 1.4.  Then again if you are a millionaire and can afford it, go for it – your friend will be ever-so-happy.  And while you’re at it, throw one my way will you?  It’s pocket-change for you right???  :)

 

CAMERA BAGS

Okay… so now your photographer friend or relative has all this amazing gear, some of which is rather expensive and perhaps delicate.  Where is it all going to go?!  Surely not in a normal backpack and just leaving it around one’s own person can be dangerous and is unnecessary unless actively shooting.  There are many styles and brands of camera bags.  This section could be a mile long, so I’ll let you do your own research, but ad a few of my personal feelings on bags.

First of all, my rule of thumb is that I only buy Lowepro.  This is a “case” where brand matters.  They make bags, cases, vests, straps etc… and they know what they are doing as they’re just about the best thing in the business.  Other name brand alternatives are Tamrac and Timbuk2.  The latter opts more for style than anything else, and you can customize the look of your bags.  They are made in San Francisco and ship around the world, and they have an OUTSTANDING website!  Both Lowepro and Tamrac tend to have more options, though, as they are the main two that make most bags trusted by photographers.  Lowepro also has an amazing website!

 

ONLINE STORAGE

So your photographer-friend has taken all these great photos.  Now how does he become a “famous” photographer??  Well good question – I’m still trying to figure that out!  But… one good step would be to get his work out there online!  What?  Facebook?  Yes yes… Facebook is great for friends and relatives and even marketing for a photography business, but not for a portfolio.  Online portfolio sites are a dime a dozen.  500px, SmugMug, Picasa, Wix, etc… the list is huge.  Personally, I think SmugMug is great, but I use Zenfolio, which is give or take the same.  Zenfolio allows me to upload photos and video, as well as PDF files, and display my works with beautiful slideshows and gives me an incredible amount of templates to work with.  It also allows me to make scripting changes to the site if I know how to program websites.  In addition, I can sell my photos online via direct download and/or printing.  There are many more things that these sites can do.  They’re usually about $99/year give or take, depending on features and specials.  If you decide to go with Zenfolio, I’d appreciate a referral (code KF8-JXS-7KZ during the sign-up process).  I have been with them for many years and have always been treated well and my portfolio isn’t lacking compared to other sites out there.

 

GIFT CARDS

Yeah yeah… gift cards are tacky… but are they really that bad?  Wouldn’t you be hurt if you got your fellow photographer a bag that didn’t fit all his gear, or a lens that is very similar to one he already owns?  How about a near camera only to find out it’s not compatible with some of his lenses?  If you don’t know a great deal and don’t take the time to really research, a gift card is a great alternative.  As a photographer and computer enthusiast, places I would love to get a gift card would be BestBuy, B&HPhotoVideo, Adorama, Lowepro, Canon, Sigma, and Starbucks (whoops… well… when you’re always on the go taking photos, you need something to keep you moving, right?!)

 

OTHER IDEAS

Okay, this blog article is just the tip of the iceberg.  What else does a photographer need?  Tripods/monopods, lens filters, batteries, good shoes, and iPad, flashes, light stands, soft boxes, memory cards etc… (do you like I just slipped “iPad” in there?)

How about a lens bracelet???  Great for a stocking stuffer and you’ll get a good laugh outta’ your photo-friend too!!

 

Well.. if you’ve made it this far then you should have some ideas floating around in your head now.  Google them all and find what works for your Photog.  I think you’ve also earned 10% off fine-art photography on my website.  Don’t you think?!

My Fine Art photography is located HERE and you can use the coupon code:  XMAS-TIME to receive your discount!  If you have any questions/comments/donations.. haha… feel free to e-mail me.  Thanks everyone!

“Dream Hippo Dream” added to the Fine Art section

Are you still shopping for that holiday gift for the art-lover that is so hard to please?  I have the answer!  How about a black and white hippopotamus?  Don’t worry, he’s cute and he sleeps quite a bit too!  FRESH Photography now has new fine art prints available for order!

Here are some other gift ideas for the holidays:

-  A French chateau

-  Some tulips

-  A kitten

-  A authentic roman arena

-  A crocodile

-  A roller-coaster

-  The Eiffel Tower

-  A wonderful statue of the father of surfing, the legendary Duke Kahanamoku himself

…. FRESH Photography has it all!  AND MORE!  Come on in!……

GEAR REVIEW: Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS7

Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS7

Odd isn’t it?  That I would choose to review a camera that came out almost two years ago?!  Panasonic has since released the ZS-8 and I think something newer in fact.  I hear there is one now with a touch-screen.  Unless it’s an iPhone, I’m extremely “touchy” about touch-screens.  I would hate to have a touch-screen point-and-shoot.  Let’s give a brief overview of what this camera features, for those of you who don’t remember it.

The Panasonic Lumix ZS-7 (aka TZ-10 in Europe, which is actually the model here) is a 12MP digital point-and-shoot with a beautiful 3″ screen, 12x zoom (25-300mm equivalent) and is equipped with an SDXC card slot, image-stabilization, and on-board GPS, which is very nice to have (though drains the battery pretty fast).  I believe this model was one of the first point-and-shoots to have a GPS… now many of them do.  It’s lens is not only a lovely 12x zoom lens, but it’s Leica, so yo u know the quality is good, and though the aperture is only f/3.3 at the wide end, it’s f/4.9 at the long end, which for a 300mm zoom is pretty impressive.  I would think by looking at this, and guessing, that it’s f/2.8-f/6.3, but not so.

As is standard with the Panasonic Lumix line, there are plenty of easy-to-use buttons and menus and everything is very intuitive.  I love the one-touch movie record button, which will start recording with whatever settings you have the camera in currently, and will record 720p HD movies at 30 fps, with other lower-quality options available as well.  I prefer to switch the movie-recording format from the default as I think the MOV is better, but then again I know very little about video, so please do your own research there.

I would like to start off by saying what I DISLIKE about the camera… so we can get that out of the way.  If you don’t feel like reading this whole review, I’ll tell you this:  It’s a great camera for, what is now, a great price.  I would take this camera over the newer 16x touch-screen version for almost twice as much any day!

DISLIKES:

- No RAW option and it oversharpens the JPEGs (biggest dislike!)

- f/3.3 at the wide end is a bit slow

- small point-and-shoot sensor

- battery drains fast with the GPS enabled

- saves a low-quality JPEG of the first image of a movie before every movie file on the card

Now for the LIKES:

- 12x zoom makes it extremely versatile!

- f/4.9 on the long end is impressive when you’re talking about a 300mm equivalent

- great battery life (when the GPS is OFF)

- easy-to-use menus and a good amount of buttons, though not cluttered

- manual exposure options

- though not really small, it can still fit in your pocket with relative ease

- nice build-quality and looks sexy!

- one-touch recording and rather good video quality with two codec options

As you can see above, it’s a very standard looking camera, with a big screen that takes up the entire left two-thirds of the back.  I have a hard screen protector stuck to the back so I don’t have to worry about damaging the screen.  I always recommended this when I used to work at a camera store.  It’s good advice and NOT just an excuse to upsell.

The camera features a toggle switch between shooting and playing.  I like this because it’s a tactile switch that you can feel and see also, versus a “Play” button you push and have to push again or half-press the shutter to get back.  You’ll see the one-touch record button just under the shoot/play switch, and the exposure button is next to it.  In manual mode, that is one of your exposure settings (aperture or shutter speed) and in the other modes, it’s exposure compensation.  Underneath those buttons is your standard 5-way button pad.  The center is the menu and each direction is a quick-control for various things (flash, timer etc…) as on most point-and-shoots.  Underneath is a display button that cycles through two or four levels of what is displayed on the screen, and the trash button for deleting images.

The control dial at the top is well placed and features several modes.  The iA mode (Intelligent Auto I believe it stands for) is the “manufacturers recommended automatic recording mode.”  Each manufacturer calls theirs a different thing.  This is what one would normally leave the camera in when unsure of the correct settings.  You have limited customizing options with this mode, though you can toggle the flash OFF and “auto on” which is nice.  Usually with Auto Mode you don’t have flash options.

The following mode is P (Program) which is basically Auto but with the ability to change quite a bit of settings like ISO, flash, exposure compensation etc…  Next we have Aperture (A) and Shutter (S) Priority modes.  With these modes, you set the aperture, or shutter speed, and it sets the rest of the settings to make the best exposure.  Aperture Priority should be used when you want to focus on something close and have a blurred background, or if you want to force everything in focus.  Shutter Priority would be used for making water silky, like with waterfalls, or if you want to freeze action best as possible.  Otherwise, these two modes don’t get used much.

Next you have Manual (you choose all the settings) as well as a CUST (custom) setting that can be set in the menu (up to three custom modes actually!)  MS1 & MS2 are basically “scene modes” but are two that you’re able to store in those buttons.  It’s almost like having two addition CUST buttons.  They jump to the last setting you used when that dial setting was last used.  SCN is “scene” mode, which brings up a bunch of options like “Food” “Fireworks” “Snow” “Party” “Self-Portrait” etc…  Keep in mind that these modes basically just optimize things like shutter speed, ISO, picture styles (more on that later) and things like that.  If you know what settings you need for your photo, just dial them in yourself.  If you’re truly unsure, these Scene Modes might help.  For example:  the “Starry Sky” setting says in it’s info “For taking pictures of extremely dark subjects like a sky with many stars.  Please be sure to always use a tripod.”  To translate, this means it will use the lowest possible ISO and shutter speed to make a clean image with no blur.  But, in order to use a low ISO & shutter speed with no blur, you’ll need the camera extremely steady, hence the tripod or setting it on something else sturdy.

Finally, the clipboard icon will force the photos to be recorded to the internal memory, rather than the memory card.

The front of the camera is shown here, as in the first image, though the camera is shown here turned on, with the shoot mode toggled.

This image above is the camera in a felt bag with a draw string that I normally keep it in.  I’m not sure where this bag came from, but it’s useful for the camera.  I also recommend the Lowepro Tahoe 10 pouch, which is great for most point-and-shoots.  Keep in mind the ZS-7 is a tad larger that most, so make sure you try it in the pouch you’re purchasing first to make sure it fits.  It just BARELY fits in the Tahoe 10, and it’s best if you don’t have the wrist-strap on the camera when using that pouch.  I highly recommend the Lowepro Tahoe 10 pouch for a smaller camera though, as it’s a very nice little pouch.

What made me choose this camera you ask?  Well first of all, this camera was for my girlfriend.  I had handed down to her my Canon Rebel T1i w/18-135mm & 50mm f/1.8 which she used happily for quite a while.  However, both her and I do a lot of traveling, and she’s not quite the “photog” I am.  She takes great photos and enjoys doing so, but would rather have something small she can throw in her pocket or bag than something large with multiple lenses she needs to cushion heavily and protect.  She asked for a camera that was small but took nice photos and being the great boyfriend I am, well… I just had to give her something good!  I researched a bit online for a while, and decided that since we both travel, a GPS-enabled camera was a good one.  Coincidentally, a couple from the UK vacationing on Waikiki Beach, where I was working at the time, showed me the camera.  I immediately knew THIS is what I wanted to get my girlfriend (THANKS SO MUCH UK-COUPLE!).  I did a lot of research on it, and, other than the price, couldn’t find a reason not to buy it for her.  It was expensive, but I ended up getting her the camera and she couldn’t have been happier!

Now that my girlfriend and I having been living together in the same location for more than seven months, we’ve been able to SHARE the camera and use it very 50/50 because I don’t always want to bring my Canon 7D and all my lenses everywhere.  I am writing this review, two years after it’s press release, to say that the Panasonic ZS-7 is still a great camera.

After researching just now, specifically for this blog post, it seems the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS10 is the newest kid on the block.  The link will take you to DPReview’s info on the camera, which is a great place for press-releases, specs, reviews etc…  At only $300, this newer version comes with a longer Leica lens (16x zoom and 1mm wider too!), 14MP, 1080p movie mode, 3D Mode and high-speed burst at full-resolution.  It “features” touch-screen controls but personally, granted without trying it, I would see this as a hinderance.  When buying a camera, I always recommend going to your local camera store and trying it out.  I tend to buy a lot of things from Best Buy (since I have a Best Buy Card) but usually it’s not a great place to try out cameras, as they often don’t have batteries in them and the people there know very little about the cameras and aren’t photographers themselves.  Support your local camera store and buy from them, or at least have them show you the camera.  If you really know what you like and don’t need to try it out, or already have, BHPhotoVideo.com has the largest collection of photography gear, great customer service, and even better prices!  I buy 90% of my photography gear from B&H!

Whatever you decide, get SOMETHING and get out and get shooting!  Another tip:  If you’re curious about a point-and-shoot’s quality, or a quality of a lens you’re looking at buying, go to Flickr and do a search for it.  Flickr is full of non-professional photogs or casual shooters and so it’s a great way to get a rough idea of what photos look like with some cameras or lenses.  Be sure to read the EXIF data if available and any other pertinent information on how the image was shot!  Also, looking at people’s Fine Art pages will give you an idea.  Some are done with extremely expensive equipment, but many aren’t! Have fun!!!

Here are a few photos taken with the Lumix ZS-7, and clicking below will take you to my Zenfolio gallery of many ZS-7 images.

Clicking on the above image will bring up a full-resolution, unedited copy of the image (4000×3000 pixels).

Here’s our cat, Chico.  Click for full-resolution image.

Here’s an old warehouse in the Old Port area of Montreal, Quebec.  This image is not right off the camera.  It’s a single JPEG heavily edited in Photoshop CS5 & Lightroom 3 for vibrance, clarity/texture, noise-reduction etc…  It’s good to note, however, that even though the Lumi ZS-7 does not shoot RAW, I was still able to do a decent amount with this JPEG.  RAW, of course, would have been ideal for this sort of photo.

Image of a Lady Gaga concert from our seats in the Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec.  This image is right off the camera, and clicking on it will bring up the full-resolution original, to give you an idea of the quality in these dark concert conditions.

Here’s me after seeing some cool wall art (graffiti?) off Saint-Laurent Blvd in Montreal.  This image is edited in Photoshop CS5 & Lightroom 3 for clarity and vibrance.

Here’s a shot my girlfriend took of some fireworks this summer at La Ronde in Montreal.  This photo was taken from our balcony.  I’m not sure what settings were used for the photo, but there was no editing done to this after the shot.  Click for the full image.

MY PANASONIC LUMIX DMC-ZS7/TZ10

SAMPLE IMAGE GALLERY

Sun-Sète is one of the twelve SILVER Project winners!

 

My popular image entitled “Sun-Sète” that was taken of the French city of Sète and has been a big hit on various websites and with art collectors.  Just today it has been announced as one of the twelve winners of the Silver Project’s 2012 calendar!  The Silver Project sells the calendars on their website, with the proceeds going directly to The Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation.  If you’re interested in art and helping people, please don’t hesitate to order your 2012 calendar!  Thank you all!

CLICK HERE FOR THE SILVER PROJECT’S WEBSITE

eBook: The Squirrels of Parc La Fontaine available!

This book is for the Squirrel Lover in all of us.  Featuring 70 beautiful color photographs of squirrels, many up close, with vivid detail on each page.  This book contains no captions, commentary, camera data or any other text.  It will go great on your coffee table as a luster-coated square print book or on the screen of your iPad.

Click on the image below to be taken to a preview of the book and ordering information.  Hope you enjoy!

FRESH Photography eBook now available!

FRESH Photography:  The First Three Years is a 45-page color book available for large printed copies or downloading via Blurb or Apple’s iBooks.  Click on the cover of the book just below to get a preview of the book.  This book looks amazing on the iPad and is only $4.99 for eBook download!

This book is a brief summary of many of the fun photos I’ve shot in the past, a few tips as far as shooting and editing for many of the photos, as well as what gear I used.  This book gives some great examples of how inexpensive gear can produce high-quality photos, as well as showcasing the importance of renting lenses.  Many of the photos in the book are available for purchase on my Wall Photos page, as well as available for desktop wallpaper on InterfaceLIFT.com.

The sections of my book include:

People:  This section includes kids and adults alike, wedding photos, portrait sessions and candids.

Sports:  Action photos from surfing to soccer and beyond.

Animals:  From pets to giant-sized beasts.

Details:  Supporting shots at a wedding, as well as details in nature and the surrounds that are not to be missed.

Landscape:  Nature landscapes as well as cityscapes, this section will interest the travel enthusiast.  Many of the photos are HDR and some are panoramic.

Fun & Random:  Here is my “miscellaneous” category with everything from the beach to mountain tops.

CLICK HERE to see a preview of the book and order your eBook copy for iPad right now!  Happy shooting!

GEAR REVIEW: Canon Powershot S100

I’m excited to share with you my findings of the brand new Canon Powershot S100 digital point-and-shoot camera that was just released, replacing the previous S95 (and S90 before it).  There are many other sites online where you can get technical specs and comparisons, and as not to rip-off their charts, or tell you that same information, I’m instead going to show you my real-world photos and share with you my experience with this camera.

To very briefly describe to you this camera, it’s “creative control” in a small, easy-to-use bundle.  I love the matte black finish (also comes in silver) and the large 3″ LCD display.  It has an f/2 lens which makes it very good in low-light and provides nice background blur when the lens is zoomed out to it’s 24mm full-frame equivalent (nice wide-angle).  When zoomed in, it can achieve a focal length of 120mm, which is great for portraits, though the f/5.9 isn’t exactly “fast”.  My biggest reasons for holding out for this camera, rather than going with the S95, is that is has 1080p HD video (24fps, H.264 & capable of optical zoom while recording) and new JPEG processing which is spectacular!  Normally, point-and-shoot cameras don’t shoot RAW, but this one does, and that’s a selling point for me.  Especially because most cameras (such as my girlfriend’s Lumix ZS7, which IS a nice camera btw) not only doesn’t shoot RAW, but over-sharpens it’s JPEGs by an unforgivable amount.  This is irreversible damage to the image, that even using noise-reduction and sharpening technologies later on in post can’t fully correct.  The S100 not only gives the the RAW option, but it’s JPEG quality is SUPERB.  It’s 12MP, has GPS (finally!), and has a one-touch movie mode (very handy!), and the controls are incredible easy-to-use.  Like most other point-and-shoots, it uses SD cards, and is capable of the largest/fastest ones currently on the market, as well as the use of an Eye-Fi card (which I’ve tested and works great!)

I purchased this camera for $429 at Best Buy.  The store I meant to get it at did not have any in stock, and the next closest store (1 hour away) had only two.  I managed to get one of the two.  I purchased a Lowepro Tahoe 10 case for $9.99 as well as the Eye-Fi Connect X2 card.  I’ve tested this card through my computer, and in direct mode to an iPad 2 (after firmware upgrade) and it works flawlessly!

My brief testing setup was an impromptu walk through Parc La Fontaine (Montreal, Quebec), a place I love taking my DSLR equipment to and photographing the squirrels, birds, trees, people, and architecture.  I stuck by the corner of the park nearest to my apartment as I really wanted to get a feel for dynamic range in JPEG processing, speed of AF for squirrels and birds, image quality at various ISO levels, and the ease of using the menus for simple tasks.  I did not go into too much detail of all the camera functions, but dabbled in a few of the simple and more common functions.

The menu system is rather intuitive and the newest evolution of what has been in the previous Canon point-and-shoot cameras.  I find Canon’s menu system to be easy-to-use, though I believe Nikon’s to be just a touch better (from my experience with the Nikon S8100 and S6100).  It’s very simple to change the AF mode, file type (JPEG/RAW) and file size (full, medium small etc…)  Video is so much better now that Canon did what others have been doing for the last few generations of models:  put a video button on the back of the camera for one-touch recording.  It will use the settings of whatever mode you’re currently in.  For testing purposes, I used primarily Program mode, but went to Full Auto and Aperture Priority (Av) for a few times here and there.  I didn’t do much manual, but I’d imagine that’s the way to get the best exposures if you know what you’re doing.  This is because I found the exposures to be very inconsistent.  This is the same on my Canon 7D, and is just a product of the environment:  blown out bright skies.  It really throws off the AE (Auto-Exposure) systems of even the higher-end cameras.  I usually use Av or Manual modes on my 7D, but I was trying to stick more with the program and auto modes on the S100 to give an idea of what most people can expect.

The full-resolution, completely unedited JPEGs (unless specified in the review here or in the comments of the photo) are available HERE.  Please keep in mind that all photos, though are un-watermarked and available for full-resolution download are still property of FRESH Photography and may not be reproduced or sold in any form.  The photos are being made available so you can examine the photos on your own machines at 100% and have all the EXIF data available to you to make a decision on whether this camera is for you or not.

One thing I was very excited about is the HDR mode.  This is for maximizing the dynamic range of an image, usually by taking multiple exposures.  My HDR mode findings were a bit disappointing.  I found that the camera took several photos so quickly that camera shake was inevitable (not so on my 7D when I exposure bracket).  If the images aren’t PERFECTLY aligned, then it won’t blend them well.  This method of HDR blending isn’t as sophisticated as Photomatix or Photoshop.  Also, the resulting HDR images didn’t seem to have much more dynamic range than a single RAW, or even a single JPEG for that matter.

Below I will show a few select shots and give you a little commentary on the photo what I thought about the camera for each shot.  Click on the photo to be taken to the FULL RESOLUTION (4000×3000 pixels) version of the file.

The above photo was the very first photo I snapped with the Canon Powershot S100.  The colors seem a little dull (it was shot as a JPEG with the picture style set to “Standard”… “Vivid” could improve this a bit or of course RAW).  I do like that the image is not too oversharpened… I find the balance between sharpening and noise-reduction is acceptable versus what most point-and-shoots these days do.

This photo, would have been great, had the AF system focused on the squirrel’s face.  I know he was close, but it was well within the limits of the lens/AF system and dead center in the frame.  However, the AF system chose to focus on the cars in the background or the woman walking on the other side.  The following two photos in the set show that it was no different afterward.  This was a bit disappointing.

Perhaps it’s just me, but these leaves don’t seem to have the warmth they should have.  Now I’d imagine if I shot this with my Canon 7D & EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L II USM, the colors MIGHT look the same, but I’ll bet they’d look better.  Also, I could easily change them to be warmer in post, even with this photo, however, I think the camera’s intelligence should do this for me in a point-and-shoot, no?

In this photo, I’m not sure what happened to the white balance in the camera, but it turned out TOO warm, and not in a realistic manner.  Everything is red.  Now in the following photo, the colors look great and the dynamic range has been expanded as it was the first test of HDR mode:

However… I held the camera extremely still while taking this photo, but I did notice the slightest amount of camera shake between exposures.  The camera’s HDR combination process, I believe, only performs exposure blending.  It does not align images (which shouldn’t be hard at all) or go the extra mile to remove ghosting!  The following photo in the album will show similar results.

Camera = Good:

The S100 pleases me very much with this photo.  I shot this in Av mode (f/2) and in large JPEG, but otherwise let the camera do the rest of the work.  Upon close inspection in Lightroom 3, I can tell that the bird’s eye is TACK SHARP (this may, however, be luck).  The rest of the photo appears to contain decent detail, the exposure that it set is perfect, and I was surprised by both of these two facts, considering the bird was flying quite fast and the frame was dark at the middle & bottom but bright at the top.  Nonetheless, this photo is what I was expecting all my photos to be from the Canon S100.  More like this would make anyone who purchases this camera extremely happy.

More on the AF system here… I held the camera in portrait rotation with the pigeon dead center of the frame for both the first and second photo, and one is in focus and one isn’t.  These photos were taken in single shot mode, but when I saw the first one was out of focus I just half-pressed again and get good focus, then finished the press for this photo.  Why wouldn’t it pick up on it in the first shot?  Again, it’s not very intelligent here.  (Sorry I tried to get these photo next to one another but I couldn’t figure out how to do it so you’ll just have to scroll to view).

Here is the zoom range of the camera (optical only):

I think the 5x zoom range is acceptable given the fact that’s f/2 at the wide-end.  I’m certainly spoiled with the Panasonic Lumix ZS7‘s 12x zoom range, but then again, it won’t shoot RAW and it oversharpens all it’s JPEGs.  Do you want quality or versitility?

Speaking of quality… here’s a very nice image of a small flower.  I took this in Av mode (f/4) ISO 80 so as to get the best image quality possible.  Indeed it is good.  Look at the gradient of the orange on the flower.  Stunning!

For this, I wanted to see the close-focus quality.  I took one photo (previous one – see album) and then, took another and the AF system focused on the lamp behind the mouse.  That thin piece of metal instead of the HUGE chunk of plastic right in front of the lens.  I refocused about eight more times after this photo and every time it would focus on the lamp.  Why is that?!  I didn’t manually set any focus points (I don’t even think you can) and it was just drawn to that in the background.  Very disturbing….

This image was shot in Av mode (f/2.8) ISO 800 (forgot to turn the ISO down… something that isn’t as easy as I’d like on the S100, though there is a customizable button and the control ring that could be set to ISO change if desired.  I love the detail and dynamic range of the image.  Please note that the previous image in the album is the same one, but not focused properly.  That one was shot in HDR mode, and I don’t know if it just mis-focused, or if HDR mode makes focusing harder, but you can also tell the image doesn’t have as good detail and doesn’t pop as this one does.  It’s a rare case where I prefer the non-HDR image.

Speaking of HDR… see these next two images.  First one is just a JPEG snapped in Full Auto.  The second one is an HDR (the camera was perched on the side of the balcony and so did not move between exposures, hence it’s lack of blurriness.

If you look carefully at the sky and the bottom corners of the photo, you’ll see that the HDR image (the bottom one) has much better dynamic range.  It’s no doubt that the processing of the HDR works, but again, I think it’s more subtle than other HDR routes.  Also, you must keep the camera insanely steady.  It even pops a message that tells you to have the camera on a tri-pod when taking HDR images.  Side note:  On my 7D I have my custom 2 dial set to take three exposures, each one stop apart, ISO 100, f/4 (which I often change) high-speed continuous mode and two-second timer.  This means when I press the shutter button down all the way, it will wait two seconds (for me to get a good grip) and fire off three shots VERY fast.  Even still, the photos are not always aligned, and so I use Photomatix Pro or Photoshop CS5 to align them and process the HDR.  As I mentioned above, this is something I feel is very lacking with the S100.  It will not realign photos in the HDR so if you don’t have it PERFECTLY aligned, you’ll get an HDR you can’t use.

Ghosting….

Here is another HDR where I had the camera on the balcony side secured well.  The dynamic range of the photo is fantastic, but as you can see, there are “ghost cars” everywhere.  Keep this in mind when taking HDR photos with the S100… it will not correct for this and it’s a HUGE pain to remove in post-production.  The image after this one in the album is the same scene, but with the camera set to Full Auto, just to show you the dynamic range comparison.

I ended my shooting with an “arm-cam” photo of me.  I think the quality is quite good (well maybe not the subject!) but keep in mind, I was BATHED in soft, diffused light here on the balcony.  If you have good light, the image quality is amazing.

Personally, I think I’m going to be returning the camera as I just don’t think it justifies for what you get.  I took two 1080p HD videos with the camera, but also didn’t see much improvement over my girlfriend’s 720p video she gets on her Panasonic ZS7.  Sure it’s JPEGs aren’t professional quality, but if you’re gonna spend $430 on a camera, I’d spend $600 instead and get a Rebel, or else keep it under $275 and get a different pocket camera.  That’s my two cents….

Mike & Linda: Wedding Portrait Shoot

Mike & Linda recently took their vows to each other against the beautiful vista of Lake Placid in upstate New York.  It being fairly warm still, and the colors changing and all, I was so excited to do this shoot.  Leaves, water, and beautiful skies are a large part of this shoot.  Mike and Linda were extremely fun, kind and had some great ideas for some of the photos.  Congrats on your recent reunion and I’m glad I was there for it!

Parc Mont-Royal landscapes

Two new Fine Art Wall Prints available for order!

CLICK HERE TO BE TAKEN TO MY FINE ART PAGE!