Manual Focusing with a Split Personality.
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Okay…I’ll admit it. I’m not one for a lot of automated camera functionality. I like lots of features and tricks, but I don’t often like auto-exposure, auto-aperture, “Program” mode, or even auto-focus. Sure there are times when all those things are useful, but in general, I find they get in the way. I spend at least as much time correcting or adjusting the camera’s “auto” function than I would just setting it in the first place. So maybe I’m a purist. Or maybe I’m just practical. Or nuts. You decide.
So, I recently bought a Katz Eye Optics split-image focus screen for my Fuji S5 Pro DSLR (based on the Nikon D200/D300 body, but with Fuji’s own sensor). Installation was easy and I managed to not break anything at the same time!
While this is not a review of the Katz Eyes focus screen, I have to say that it was worth every penny (of which there were many…about 14400 US pennies in fact)! I’m now shooting with near 100% in-focus accuracy! There may be other brands that are as good as or better and are cheaper or more expensive, but I can’t comment on any of those.
Katz Eye Optics Focus Screen for Fuji S5 Pro
So far, I’ve only run into one problem, and I’ve just been able to solve that problem. The problem and solution are as follows:
When looking through the viewfinder of the Fuji S5 you can see (and select) the 11 AF points, one of which must always be selected. This image is a composite image taken from the D200 manual showing all AF points selected over top the Katz Eye focus screen.
D200 Viewfinder - Default "Normal" AF setting
Did you notice that in the centre position the AF area nearly covers up the entire location where the split image prism is? Yeah, me too! With this highlighted area over top of the split-image prism, it makes it almost impossible to focus…not good. So my stop-gap solution was to simply move the selected AF point off to the side. Not great, but it worked. The problem was that it was a) distracting and b) made the digital in-focus-indicator useless.
Well, after a bit of searching through the camera’s menus, looking for a way to turn off the AF indicator (with no luck), I came across an option that lets you set a “Wide” AF area. This reduces the number of AF areas from 11 to 7 and changes the look of your AF selector to this:
D200 "Wide" AF mode
Did you notice how the split-image prism is no longer covered up by the centre AF zone? Me too!
Problem solved!!!
Not only do I no longer have a distracting AF zone off to the side of the frame, I also regain the functionality of the digital in-focus-indicator!
So here’s how on the D200 (taken from the Nikon D200 manual):
- Open Custom Setting Menu
- Highlight Autofocus
- Display options
- Highlight a3 Focus Area Frame
- Display options
- Highlight Wide Frame (7 Areas)
- Make selection.
And here’s how on the Fuji S5 Pro:
- Press Setup button
- Open Tab 1
- Select AF
- Select Focus Area Frame
- Select “WIDE (7 AREAS)
Enjoy!
J R Bernstein
Remember your ABC’s – Always Be Capturing!
Lighting Tutorial No. 2
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This is just a quick mini-tutorial.
I thought this would be a good example of how versatile one single lighting setup can be.
The reason I wanted to post this particular photo is because it is using the exact same lighting setup as shown in Lighting Tutorial No. 1! In fact, they were taken during the same shoot. The only thing that has changed is the position of the model and the camera; the lighting and the background are static.
So why bother with a lighting tutorial where I have nothing new to show you? Well, for no other reason but to prove that you don’t have to be messing around with a lot of expensive lighting gear all throughout your shoot in order to create interesting and varied shots. The less you need to concentrate on the technical aspect of the shoot, the more you can focus (ha, ha…) on the quality of your photograph.
Enjoy!
J R Bernstein
And remember your ABC’s – Always Be Capturing!
Getting PAID…the residual way.
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I’ve run into a problem several times now…getting paid residuals for work already done, in the digital age.
Back “in the day”, residuals were easy money, sort of. Let me explain.
Let’s say you do a head-shot. How much can you charge for a simple headshot? $100? And how long does it take you? Well, there’s studio set-up (or workspace set-up if you’re not in a studio), that might take you 20 minutes (more if you need to find a location), there’s time going back and forth on the phone and on e-mail arranging dates, advising what to where, giving direction, blaa-blaa-blaa, that might take another 20 minutes or more, there’s the shoot itself which should last at least 30 minutes if your client is to feel happy about the shoot, and then there’s everything done in post, like file transfer, picking the best shots, doing colour balance, removing dust spots, retouching, etc. That could easily be 90 minutes. So all totaled, that’s 2 hours and 40 minutes…and that’s if nothing goes wrong. That works out to be $37.50/h, or, not a whole hell of a lot! Factor in your costs for your camera, computer, location, etc., and it’s MUCH less. You might even be losing money!
So, as I was saying, back in the day, the “real” money would be made in prints because guess what, you keep the negative!. You could charge $15-$25 for a single photographic print! Someone needs 10 prints, that’s 150 bucks in your pocket with a cost of only about $10 (including chemicals). And if that person is really looking for work, they’ll be coming to you ever month or more for more prints! If you’ve got only 10 regular clients that need prints every month, that could easily be an extra $1500 for you every month!
But things change.
Now I’m asked for the files so my clients can do what they will with the image.
Recently I was asked (by two separate clients) for digital versions of their letterhead I did for them, so they could fax letters without using their expensive letterhead. Great idea! But this poses a huge problem for me because of the industry accepted pricing structure for letterhead design. That is, generally speaking the price you charge for letterhead is subsidized by the price you charge for printing (the residual). The result is, the price ceiling the market is willing to bear for design is fairly low. The market is expecting the price of letterhead in their hand to cost them $x and that the design should be $y/x. This same formula can be applied to headshots, flyers, ads, etc.
When you’re printing, this traditional pricing formula works beautifully. Everyone wins. Your customer has the option of deferring their costs to when the printing is required and the creator is able to accumulate residual payments from work already done. It’s a bit of a long-term credit situation…creative layaway if you will. But when we introduce digital files into the picture (no pun intended) the creator gives up all those residuals without gaining appropriate creation fees (because of the already-established low market rate).
So what’s the solution?
In my view, the only fair and viable solution to this problem is via licensing. A monthly (or yearly) fee to use the product of my creation. However, this brings up copyright ownership and value vs. price. But I’ll save those for another post.
So the next time a clients asks for a digital file, consider what you’re giving up and the precedent you’re setting for yourself and your colleagues.
Enjoy!
J R Bernstein
And remember your ABC’s – Always Be Capturing!
The power of the RSS feed…
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There are three feeds I read regularly…sometimes multiple times throughout the day.
I think that if you’re going to do something well, you have to immerse yourself in it; be-it fashion photography or basket-weaving.
To be a fashion photographer, not only do you need to know something of photography and lighting, but you also need to be well versed in business, photographic style trends, the technical aspects of digital photography and digital work-flow, and you need to know what’s in style, out of style, and what will be in style down the road. (Plus about a million other things!)
Enter the RSS feed to the rescue!
There are LOTS of great web-sites and weblogs out there and they each have something useful to offer (the good ones do at least). The problem has always been keeping up with all your favourite sites and checking them religiously to see if they have been updated. This usually results in skipping the sites that don’t get updated on a regular basis. Well, check-no-more my friends!
Through the use of an RSS feed reader, technically called a News Aggregator, (I use Microsoft Outlook 2007 at home and Viigo on my Blackberry), I’m able to have all my latest information sent directly to my Inbox…no searching and surfing required! Just click the bright orange Subscribe button on the site you’re interested in and that’s it, you’re subscribed! For more technical information, do a Google Search for RSS+Feed+Reader+Subscribe.
So, with that, here are my three must-read feeds:
Enjoy!
J R Bernstein
And remember your ABC’s – Always Be Capturing!
Lighting Tutorial No. 1
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Lighting Setup
This was a fairly simple 2-light lighting setup, but was able to deliver the impact that I was after. The hardest part of this type of look is getting the light-source relatively large enough to give those smooth gradients and narrow shadows. To achieve this your light needs to be very large or very close to your subject. (Remember, the relative size of your light to your subject is inversely related to its distance from your subject. Further=smaller.) I also made use of some “negative fill” to the right of the frame to make sure those shadows were very dark, creating contrast. Finally, a small amount of light was kicked off a reflector onto the background in order to give it some texture. Visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/worldwidephotographic/3762213033/ for the full image.
Enjoy!
J R Bernstein
And remember your ABC’s – Always Be Capturing!
