Hi Everyone & thanks for joining me for another Q&A Friday! Michelle asks: "I am having the hardest time getting in focus shots when photographing rings at the weddings I do. Do you have any tips on how to achieve sharp focus"?
Well Michelle, I have actually struggled with this for awhile. As some of you may know I am an avid photography blog reader & I am constantly striving to better my skills by trying new things and learning new techniques from other photographers. There is no wrong way of doing things, but I have found some good solutions to my ring shot problems and here are a few things that have helped me along the way.
1. Shooting in a LOT of natural light is key. I know that most ring shots are captured during the reception, meaning usually at night (in some cases) and so you generally have little natural light to work with, which is why I try and do the ring shots during the "getting ready' part of the day.
2. Manual focusing. Trying to have your camera focus for you will result in blurred images most all of the time, especially if you aren't working with a macro lens. I don't own the Canon 100mm L lens, because I really didn't feel I needed it. I have the Canon 85mm 1.8 lens and I feel like it captures ring shots just fine, but again, I need to Manuel focus in order to get sharp ring shots and/or any other small detail shots.
3. And lastly, try lots of different angles and ideas, because in most cases you'll come out with at least one great, in focus shot.
And because a post is always better with an image I chose to take a ring photo as an example for today's post. The ring shot below was captured at around 4pm on a Canon 5D Mark II, 1.8 aperture (85mm 1.8 lens), ISO 125, Shutter 1/320. Again, I manually focused on the ring thus resulting in a sharp ring. Happy Friday!
This week's Q&A post comes from Melanie... She had quite a few questions, so I thought I would take the time and answer a few of them in this week's post. She asks:
Do you edit every image you take and if so, what editing software do you use and/or recommend?
The question is, yes, I edit every image after culling (selecting) through and keeping the images that are good. I shoot RAW only, and if you are familiar at all with RAW you know that you will definitely need to do some tweaking to your image to get your white balance correct. I do all my editing in Lightroom and simply just color correct until it looks the way I want it to. From there, I export my image to Photoshop CS5 to resize & sharpen for my website/blog and wha-la - done! The best editing tip I can give is keep it simple - less is more. Strive to get the best image possible SOOC (straight out of camera), so that your workflow is simple & quick. I generally don't spend much more than 30 seconds to a minute on an image when editing, because I make sure when shooting that my exposure is dead on in SOOC, which means my turnaround time to clients is fairly quick.
What kind of equipment do you use?
I frequently get asked this question, which is why I have it posted HERE. I definitely think that equipment plays a huge role in photography, but I don't think it will make you a "good" photographer. I think you can create beautiful and timeless photographs simply with just a point and shoot camera. Sure, having great equipment is a huge plus (especially for "us" photographers), but not having it doesn't stop you from producing beautiful imagery. Some of my greatest memories told are images of my baby girl when I only had a $60 point and shoot camera. :) My bet advice if you are wanting to dive into photography is practice with what you already have and purchase equipment as you go. I suggest renting lenses & camera bodies beforehand to make sure it's the right equipment for you. Everyone has a different opinion on what they prefer, especially when it comes to focal lengths of lenses, so try it before you buy it - it will save you from purchasing something you don't necessarily like, or need (Barrow Lenses is my #1 choice when renting equipment).
And lastly...Do you use an assistant on your shoots, or is that something you are looking for?
Right now I don't use an assistant on my shoots, because from a business standpoint I represent "Erin Milnik Photography" (self) and people are hiring me to stylize their shoot and produce the type of imagery I display on both my website & blog. However, I do use an assistant on weddings I do if the Bride & Groom have requested a second photographer for the day, which in most cases, they do. I try my very hardest to use the same assistant I am currently using because she's not only my good friend, but is an amazing photographer and her style is very similar to mine. I think it is so important when choosing a second shooter to assist you in a wedding to find someone similar to your style, because that is what drew the Bride & Groom to you in the first place - your style of photography. Of course, I am not always able to use my preferred second shooter because she is busy with her own weddings, but we both ask each other first before hiring or looking for someone else to assist us. If for some reason she is unavailable to assist me I will run an ad for a second shooter position and look at their online portfolio and make sure it's a good fit before hiring them.
Well Melanie, I hope this post answered your questions. And since a post is never any fun without an image, here is one of my husband (Danny) & daughter (Kimberly) up at Long Barn's ice skating rink. Happy Friday!
