D300s Video - Christmas - Pittsburgh Wedding Photographers

A few months ago, I added the D300s to my camera arsenal.  I added it for a variety of reasons and this post will discuss the video reason.  Although the camera has been on the market for 'awhile', I waited for multiple reasons.  I read too many reports stating the video quality on this camera is poor.

Will this camera become the end all for video work?  No, but in many cases, it will surpass your basic video camcorder.  With this thought - below is a video I shot of my daughter singing during an event I photographed.  Since the event had 4 showings, I was able to capture the video in one show and photographed her and the others during other showings. 

1. This is directly out of the camera with zero modifications by me.  Vimeo does do some encoding but other than this, nothing was done to the video.

2. ISO 2000-2500 - auto white balance - f/2.8 - Tamron 17-50 non VR lens on a induro Monopod

3. Manual focus and exposure set prior to starting the video

4. Hand hurt after from pressing down on the camera to ensure it didnt move (but it did move some) :-D

5. Eyes blurred from tears - watching - hearing my daughter sing

6. I have used the video setting during a few recent weddings, receptions,  and other events.  I added some of the video clips to the shows.  (My plan is to present them on this blog and discuss them for your use.)

Should you buy this camera just for the video?  It depends.  Since this camera was released, Nikon released the D3100 and D7000.  Reports show the video on both of those cameras are better than the video on this camera.  However, if using CF cards and a few other features that the D300s has that the other two do not, then I would purchase this camera.  With the rebates Nikon is offering now combined with tremendous lenses, the price is very good.  However, the D3100 is less than $1000 and will do a great job for most folks.

Nikon D7000 16.2MP DX-Format CMOS Digital SLR with 3.0-Inch LCD (Body Only)

Nikon D3100 14.2MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S DX VR Nikkor Zoom Lens




Victory Christmas 2010 Stacey from Frank Kendralla on Vimeo.

Why we do what we do Kodak Gallery Commercial (Live Forever)

Holiday Photography Plans Pittsburgh Wedding and Portrait Photography

What a tremendous spring, summer, and fall we had for photography!  I apologize for the lack of posts here and the only reason is an excuse.  - Busy, Busy, Busy with weddings, portraits, and some personal items.

This will be a quick post but as we go into the winter, I plan to return to at least one post per week.

The holiday season is upon us and many photographs will be taken.  Take the time to capture the memories your family will want to hold and cherish.  However, do not forget a few important items.

1. Have fun! - Do not make taking pictures a chore or hindrance to your family events
2. Include YOU in the photographs
3. Print the photographs

Too often the images are posted on-line to Facebook and many other social networking sites.  However, they are never printed.  It almost appears to me that folks believe that these places will be around for our viewing pleasure 20-50 years from now.  Although there is a chance they will be around, I doubt that they will be in the same format that we see them now.

My concern is that many of these memories will be lost if they are not printed.  Please take the time to make prints.  My favorite print for this year is the thin wrap with satin metallic finish (other than albums and brag books - more on these items in the future).  Typically, I use Bay Photo for my prints (both professional and personal work) and ACI labs for my albums and brag books.

The second point is that WE (that take pictures) are not included in the images.  Take the time to have someone else get a photo of you or put your camera on a tripod and fire away.

Below is an image from a recent wedding engagement session.   The great looking background is the interior of a building at a local park.  I constantly look for new places to take portraits and I am amazed how many are available at local parks.  Do the same thing in your area.  As you drive around, notice the lighting, textures and other areas that might make a great family photo. 

I plan to post more over the next few months with ideas and tips for photographing your family at these locations.

The couple was lit with a combination of available side light (camera left) and some fill light from an off camera flash (SB800) through an umbrella mounted on a light stand (camera right).

For many of my portraits I am now using two different lenses.
Nikon 35mm f/1.8 and the Nikon 85mm f/1.8.  The sharpness and speed of these two lenses have made them my favorite portrait lenses.

Typically, shots of more than one individual I am using the 35mm (unless I want the background to blur out and disappear) .  Recently, I did a group photo of over 15 individuals using the 35mm with great success.  I plan to discuss this great little lens in future posts.

Nik Software - HDR Efex - first impression - Pittsburgh Wedding Photography

This is not a full review of the software but it is my initial impression.  - Outstanding piece of software!  Download the trial today and play with it.  The software is well worth the fun time involved and is unlike any of the other HDR software products I attempted to use.  I tried nearly every HDR software on the market from Photomatix to Photoshop CS5's HDR blend mode.  None of them were very intuitive nor did they create a look that I wanted.  For most of my 'HDR' work, I used Topaz Adjust (until now) with good success. 

Over the weekend I had the privilege of photographing an engagement shoot in Seven Springs, PA.  The  weather was perfect and the sky was beautiful.  I could have spent all day photographing the scenery (and I am not a typical landscape photographer so this is not my normal photo routine)

The software works seamlessly with Lightroom and all of Nik's other plugins.  I used HDR Efex Pro with the complete collection and added a little touch where needed.  My first recommendation is to download the 15 day trial and watch the many free webinars hosted by Nik Software.

The first and third image is the inside of a beautiful living room owned by 'groom' to be.  Both images are made up of  a five image bracketed shot and processed using the 'realistic' preset.  I added control points on the windows, doors, and a few other places to bring out the outside scenery.

The second image is processed with some stronger controls taking it to the next level in viewing pleasure.  I loved the textures and overall look of the scene.  This image is 7 bracketed stops. Nikon D300 - tripod for stability. (standing on the side of the road wasn't very secure.  :-D )


If you own the collection, call Nik Software and inquire about their upgrade package deals.  HDR Efex pro might even be free, depending when you bought your collection.

So why is HDR important for indoor room photography?  In the past, when I would shoot these types of shots, there were always many challenges.

Lighting - something would get blown out in the scene and getting the windows to look 'natural' was almost impossible under 'normal' circumstances.

Either extreme dark or light spots would be present in the scene and it would be nearly impossible to correct. 

I plan to experiment more with indoor architectural type shots using accent lighting and other methods to enhance the scene. 

All of these were done on a tripod which makes for a nicer, crisper image.  Shoot with the lowest ISO possible and ensure you utilize either manual or aperture priority, keeping the aperture constant throughout the bracketed images.  Changing only the shutter speed or the exposure compensation.  Do not change the ISO or the aperture. 
Before you run the bracketed shots through HDR Efex, I adjusted the white balance and cropping to be the exact same for all 5-7 images.  This will help with the overall image. More of these type of shots to follow.

www.kendrallaphotography.com

Get out and enjoy the beauty of God's creation!

Mixing available light and strobes - Cory High School Senior Portraits

When photographing outdoors, it is critical to take into consideration the available light (ambient) even when using strobes.  In this photograph, I positioned Cory in the shade but utilized the fast setting sun that was behind him.  Since he was in the shade, if I didn't use an alternate light source to light his face, it would have been underexposed.  

There are multiple ways to obtain the proper exposure on the face (when back lit) and my favorite is to shoot in manual exposure.  Although it can seem very daunting at first; shooting in manual exposure isn't as difficult as it was many years ago.

In this case, I metered for the background but overexposed it slighting to eliminate some of the unattractive far background that couldn't be avoided from this angle.  In addition, I wanted the middle ground (barrel and part of the porch post) to be partially scene and not underexposed by too much.  (I was using the pole and side of the house to frame him too and I didn't want it to be too dark.)

Sean's mom held the strobe on a pole camera left.  I adjusted the output of the flash to light his face but not overexpose it.  I used the Nikon SB800 set to TTL and modified the light output of the flash from the commander mode in the camera.  This setting enabled me to dial down the flash output by 1 stop of light. 

The light from the sun acted as a hair light and gave some separation from the rest of the scene. 

If a helper isn't available, then a light stand is an option which works well normally.  (When using a light stand, I use my camera bag on one of the legs of the stand to keep it from falling over on uneven surfaces or in the case of a windy shooting environment.)

Get out and enjoy the fun of capturing God's creation!

www.kendralla.com

www.kendrallaphotography.com

The most important picture part 1 - Pittsburgh Wedding Photography

The most important picture is the one you take and is kept cherished for many generations. This is a picture of my mom and dad from over 50 years ago.  (This post is not to be morbid but is meant to encourage each of us to take photos, share photos, and understand their value and importance in the lives of generations to come.)

My mom died last week (Sept. 2, 2010) at the young age of 73 and this is one of hundreds of photos she kept from our family's history.  She kept photos from her childhood and of people that unfortunately, I will never know.  Sunday, I spent a few hours scanning and cleaning images of her life.  Why did it take so long?  Because I spent hours looking at and crying over each one cherishing their value.  The actual time it took to scan and clean the images (remove dust, scratches, etc) might have been 1/10th of the time I spent with the images.  I could not take my eyes off each image.  It is a part of my families history and I will do everything possible to preserve the images for my children, grandchildren, and future generations to come.  We have pictures from their wedding nearly 56 years ago and other images dating 65+ years ago. 

Although we have hundreds of images that my mom and others took and thousands that I took, I am looking for more.  Images that never were taken.  Images that I wish we  I insisted we take.  

My sister asked that I create a table top album of our parents lives.  Although it will be a daunting (not because of the work involved but because of the tears involved) task, it will be a work of love.  I encourage everyone that reads this post to understand the value of pictures that we take today for future generations.  No doubt when this image was taken, my parents like the image.  However, there is little doubt in my mind that this image was looked at for years by my parents (their wedding picture is still on their wall) and its value today is thousands times more than the few cents it cost to print this image over 50 years ago.

The walls, shelves, refrigerator door, and any other holding place, is filled with photographs of our lives.  It includes pictures of when my sister and I were growing up, my children, grandchildren, relatives, and people I don't know.  


Many of the images are 'poor' quality that were taken with a Polaroid with a harsh flash or instamatic camera and no flash.  However, there are many excellent images taken with better cameras and by professional photographers.  Regardless of the quality of the image, they are a treasured image and a part of my families heritage.


I am sure I learned the value of a photograph by observing the collection of images (but its complete value was manifested last week when my mom died) growing up and living in a household that took pictures not stop. 


When I cover a wedding or other significant event, I do everything possible to take pictures of everyone that wants or doesn't want their picture taken.  The value of the image might not be known until 50 years from now when their child or grandchild sits with the print in hand (yes print not digital file) and cries with tears of joy laughing at the outfit worn today.  They might sit and be thankful that someone took time to preserve a little piece of their families history by pressing the shutter, preserving a fraction of a second that will have value years into the future.


The value of a print is why I encourage families, couples, and everyone else to make/purchase prints and albums of their special day.  The wedding album isn't just an album but it is an heirloom that will have value thousands times its current value years from now.  

After I complete the album of my parents/grandparents, I will print a copy for each of our children.  Its value to them and their children (my grandchildren) will be priceless.  I can only image what will be said of the images 50-100 years from now when my grandchildren, great grandchildren, sit and look at the albums.  

I lost count of the times that I attempted to photograph someone but they didn't want their picture taken for one reason or another.  I get comments like, "I don't take good pictures".   That's okay.  I am taking the picture (is what I want to say) and the picture is for (fill in the blank - bride and groom, your mom, dad, sister, aunt, etc).  


I was talking to one of my wife's sisters over this past weekend and we both agreed on the same thing.  Regardless of what anyone else says, each family event will conclude with a group/family photo.  We will not care if the kids (big or little :-D ) don't want their photo taken.  There will be no one safe from the camera.  


For the funeral, I went through thousands I images that I took over the years and cried and laughed.  I looked at images of my father in law who died a few years ago.  I looked at images of my grandkids when they were just born or when my grandchildren were dedicated to the Lord.  I looked at images of my bride nearly 32 years ago and how young we were and marveled at my hair.  Where oh where did it go?  :-D


Mom, we will love you forever and a day!


What is the value of a picture?  In some cases, it is priceless. 

Memories Live Forever in a Picture - Pittsburgh Wedding Photographer

This is one of the best videos I ever watched that fully illustrates the power and value of photography. Regardless of the photographers skill level or experience, every photograph is a memory.  Although the primary focus of the images on my blog are weddings and portraits, I enjoy capturing life's memories and viewing the work of others who capture life's memories.  

In my opinion, this video is a classic for every photographer.  

Many will say that after the family, pet, etc, the pictures are next to save in the event of a disaster.




www.kendrallaphotography.com
www.kendralla.com
Pittsburgh Wedding and Portrait Photography

Christy Matt - Pittsburgh Wedding Photographer

 Pittsburgh Wedding Photography

Christy and Matt were married at Victory Family Church in Cranberry Twp, PA.  which is located north of Pittsburgh.  The first image was taken outside the wedding reception in front of One Oxford Centre.  I attempt to create a unique artistic image for each bride and groom and when we walked around the front of the building the interesting light in front on the display immediately caught my attention.  I wanted to use the light to create an interesting shadow with a wild color.  Notice in the middle of the image is a heart.  I wish I could say I planned it but I didn't.  :-D

The second image was taken at the church prior to the ceremony.  For months, I studied this area of the church and thought about the many ways to pose a bride to capture her beauty with the magnificent light that comes through the windows.  The window frame acted as a natural frame and the shiny floor accented the photo.  

The lighting on the second photo is a combination of back lighting from the window and front lighting via an SB800. 

Nikon D300

SB800

Tamron 17-50 f/2.8
Spot Metering