How to Photograph Corporate Portraits
I have been getting many requests lately to write an article on corporate portrait photography, after my last corporate event photography tips article that I wrote a few weeks ago. Photographing employees for corporate websites and magazine articles is very different from corporate event photography - it is similar to photographing a portrait in a professional studio. Obviously, the atmosphere is different, lighting is different and the gear you use is also very different. You must be equipped with portable lighting equipment that you can assemble and disassemble in minutes. In this article, I will go through the different types of corporate portrait photography and what you can do to get the best possible results with the least amount of money spent on gear and lighting equipment.
Corporate Portrait
Must-Have DSLR Accessories
Every photographer has a toolbox of camera accessories that are heavily used for photography. While some photographers have a large array of accessories for every type of situation and need, others only buy what they feel is necessity for their photography work. In this article, I will provide some detailed information about what accessories should be in every photographer's bag - I call it a "must-have" list.
1) A good camera bag
As soon as you buy a camera, you buy a camera bag, because you want to protect your investment and easily transport it between locations. But choosing the right camera bag is not always easy - there are so many different bags out there, that it gets frustratingly difficult to make the right decision. Often times, people end up buying a small camera bag, only to replace it in a couple of months with a different one, realizing that they need more room for their camera and lenses. This happens all the time and it also happened to me! I got my first Nikon D80 DSLR, thinking that I wouldn't spend a penny more on an already expensive camera. I bought a compact camera bag that fits the camera and a couple of lenses and thought that I was good to go. Eventually, I ended up buying another lens and extra accessories and my bag was too small to accommodate everything. So I had to go and buy another camera bag with more room. Instead of wasting your money like this, you should buy a good camera bag from the get-go. I personally prefer a backpack, but some people like the convenience of using sling-bags and shoulder bags. It is a personal preference and you should definitely try before you buy...a local camera store is a great place to start. My personal favorites are LowePro and Kata bags, specifically LowePro Pro Runner 300 AW and LowePro Kata 3 in 1 Sling Backpack.
Kata 3 in 1 Sling Backpack
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV Autofocus vs Nikon D3s
Rob Galbraith, a well-known and respected photographer from Canada, has recently posted an article on autofocus performance of the new Canon EOS-1D Mark IV after using the camera for a while photographing various athletes that were preparing for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. After weeks of shooting the camera, he compared the autofocus performance of the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV with the new Nikon D3s.
Here is a quick excerpt from his article:
It's worth noting one other fundamental difference between the AF system in the D3S and that of the EOS-1D Mark IV. When Nikon focus is out, it doesn't tend to be way out. More often than not, peak action frames that are not perfectly focused aren't that blurry, making some of them still viable. That is, if you're of a mind that it's better to have a slightly soft frame of a great peak moment than a totally blurry one. The EOS-1D Mark IV, on the other hand, produces many more frames that are too soft to use for anything, no matter how sweet the moment.
To sum up, our experience with the D3S' AF system is that it's trustworthy and dependable enough for us to be confident using it for peak action sports. Not perfect: it needs to be a bit faster off the line, in addition to the other quibbles we've mentioned. But it does work as needed most of the time, which is in stark contrast to the experience of the EOS-1D Mark IV in the last month.
The above review is pretty much in line with what many other sports and action photographers have said after doing comparisons between the two cameras - the Nikon D3s is currently, without a doubt, a leader in both autofocus and low-light photography (high ISO performance).
When I looked at some sample pictures of the Canon EOS 1D Mark IV, I got a little worried about Nikon D3s future. However, after seeing some high ISO comparisons and hearing from pros on autofocus performance of both cameras, it turned out that D3s is the leader and it looks like it will stay that way for at least another two years! Sure, it is unfair to compare Nikon's full frame sensor with a 1.3x cropped sensor, but poor autofocus performance has been Canon's biggest weakness (especially in 1D Mark III) and despite the fact that Canon re-engineered their autofocus system from scratch in 1D Mark IV, it is still worse than Nikon's legendary 51 point autofocus system.
Nikon D3s wins, end of story.
Business Card Photo Contest
One of our readers was kind enough to send us a link to a free photo contest that is open for everyone. They have a grand cash prize of 1000£ British Pounds (equivalent to approximately $1,560 USD) or a Canon EOS 500D Digital SLR Camera!
Here are the prizes:
- Grand Prize wins £1000 or a Canon EOS digital SLR camera and 500 free business cards
- Second Place wins £100 and 250 free business cards
- The first 15 contestants to submit their photos will get 200 free business cards
- For our UK entrants: The town that submits the most photos will be featured on our web site. We will include local sites, facts and a showcase of the photos you submit.
Understanding Metering and Metering Modes
Every modern DSLR has something called "Metering Mode", also known as "Camera Metering", "Exposure Metering" or simply "Metering". Knowing how metering works and what each of the metering modes does is important in photography, because it helps photographers control their exposure with minimum effort and take better pictures in unusual lighting situations. In this "understanding metering modes" article, I will explain what metering is, how it works and how you can use it for your digital photography.
When I got my first DSLR (Nikon D80), one of my frustrations was that some images would come out too bright or too dark. I had no idea how to fix it, until one day, when I learned about camera metering modes.
1) What is Metering?
Metering is how your camera determines what the correct shutter speed and aperture should be, depending on the amount of light that goes into the camera and the sensitivity of the sensor. Back in the old days of photography, cameras were not equipped with a light "meter", which is a sensor that measures the amount and intensity of light. Photographers had to use hand-held light meters to determine the optimal exposure. Obviously, because the work was shot on film, they could not preview or see the results immediately, which is why they religiously relied on those light meters.
Today, every DSLR has an integrated light meter that automatically measures the reflected light and determines the optimal exposure. The most common metering modes in digital cameras today are:
- Matrix Metering (Nikon), also known as Evaluative Metering (Canon)
- Center-weighted Metering
- Spot Metering (Nikon), also known as Partial Metering (Canon)
You can see the camera meter in action when you shoot in Manual Mode - look inside the viewfinder and you will see bars going left or right, with a zero in the middle, as illustrated below.
Metering shown in Nikon Viewfinder
Continue reading 'Understanding Metering and Metering Modes'
Corporate Photography Tips
There are two types of corporate photography - event photography and portrait photography. Event photography means taking pictures of employees and guests in corporate events such as conferences, birthday parties, Christmas parties, receptions and sales events. Corporate portrait photography means taking formal pictures of employees for websites, magazines and other various publications. In this article, I will provide some tips on how to photograph corporate events.
What is Bokeh?
Bokeh, also known as "Boke" is one of the most popular subjects in photography. The reason why it is so popular, is because Bokeh adds depth and dimension to a photograph, making it visually appealing and forcing us to focus our attention on a particular area of the image. The word comes from Japanese, which literally translates as "blur".
1) What is Bokeh?
Basically, bokeh is the rendering of out-of-focus areas by a camera lens. It is the background blur that we are so used to seeing in photography, that separates a subject in the foreground from the often busy background. This subject isolation adds depth to an otherwise plain, two-dimensional photograph, pleasing our eyes and our perception of the image. Bokeh has infiltrated not only photography, but also motion picture. You might not have noticed, but next time you watch a Hollywood movie, pay attention to how they intentionally separate the main character and blur the background, so that we know where to look and focus our eyes on.
Bokeh
How to buy a DSLR camera – DSLR Purchase Guide
This is a detailed guide on how to choose and buy a DSLR camera. Some of my friends that visit my blog regularly ask me questions about photo gear. The questions range from "what should I get to create good-looking pictures?" all the way to "should I buy Canon or Nikon?" Since I went through the pain of researching on what to buy for myself long time ago and have been constantly keeping track of the developments in this industry, I decided to write this small "FAQ" or "how-to" on buying DSLR cameras.
1) I have never owned anything more than a "point and shoot" camera and want to buy a professional camera to create professional-looking pictures. What do you recommend?
This is probably the most frequently asked question I have gotten so far. First of all, there is a common misconception that one can only create professional-looking pictures with a professional camera. This is absolutely not true. Some of the best photographs out there are shot with point and shoot cameras. People even manage to take awesome pictures using their phone cameras! I recommend reading a very good article by Ken Rockwell, titled "Your Camera Doesn't Matter". My wife also wrote a really nice article, comparing DSLR to point and shoot cameras.
Digital photography, first and foremost, is about light. Beautiful light creates beautiful photographs. Once you learn how to manage light, you can start taking stunning photographs and your gear won't matter that much. Knowing your camera functionality and technique are second. Most people that shoot with point and shoot cameras don't even know their own cameras! They just put it in "Auto" mode and don't bother to figure out important camera settings and modes. True, "Auto" modes are great, but if you look back at all your photos, did your camera produce great photographs every time you took a picture? I'm sure it didn't! There are three common reasons, which apply even to professional cameras:
a) Bad light
b) Bad technique
c) No creativity
If you take all of your photographs and sort good ones versus bad ones, I'm sure the majority of the bad ones will be the ones taken indoors (birthdays, parties, etc) and the majority of the good photographs will be the ones taken in bright sunny days. Wonder why? Again, it is because of light. In low light conditions, a point and shoot camera increases the sensitivity of its sensor (ISO), resulting in a lot of noise (remember those grainy pictures that you wish were a little bit cleaner?), while in bright conditions with good light, a point and shoot automatically decreases camera sensitivity, stops down the lens (aperture) decreasing noise and resulting in beautiful and sharp photographs (good tips on using a point and shoot).
But point and shoot cameras have limitations. Even if you master the light and know your point and shoot inside out, the camera will not be able to do some of the things a DSLR can. So, here is a list of advantages DSLR cameras have over point and shoots:
1) Ability to change lenses and depth of field. A point and shoot has an integrated general purpose lens, while you can get a wide range of lenses for a DSLR. If you are wondering why you would need different lenses, take a look at this shot:
Captured with a telephoto lens to separate subject from background
You would not be able to get this shot with a point and shoot (unless you had digiscoping gear) because the coyote would not let you get that close. Even if it did, it would feel threatened and run away or perhaps even attack you. I used a long telephoto lens to produce this picture and you cannot mount a lens like that on a point and shoot. Ability to mount different lenses is quite powerful, since you can capture anything from landscapes with wide lenses to little birds with long telephoto lenses. Another big advantage is something called "depth of field". See how the background is blurred on the above photo, while the coyote is sharp and in focus? A DSLR allows you to change the depth of field and you can control the background blur on your photographs (also known as "Bokeh"), from smooth to harsh.
Continue reading 'How to buy a DSLR camera – DSLR Purchase Guide'
