Photographs you don’t see everywhere!

I recently subscribed to the blog of Jason Metier. This blog is very interesting since it is focused primarily on nude art photography. That’s why I feel obligated to tell you before you click any links that his blog contains full frontal nudity. However i see nude art photography as “most of the time” being very tasteful. And the work of Jason Metier certainly is in my opinion.

So i definitely encourage you all to check out Jason Metier’s blog, if you, like me think nude photography is a wonderful artform!

-JT

What is in my Bag! And what should be in Yours?

It is now time for a little look inside my bag! 

The reason i am making this post is to help you to find your way through the confusing jungle of lens-purchasing.

Inside My Bag! 

First from the left – The first lens is my 18 – 55 semi wide angle – This is good for all-around photography. However it is weak in aperture and therefore it is not very good at shooting scenes with lower light. – However a very good lens and also very affordable, last time i checked it was under 100 dollars. This is a very good starter lens and actually included in a couple of canon starter kits. 

The big lens in the back – This is my Sigma 50 – 150 f/ 2.8. This is a semi-advanced lens that you will need if you’re going to shoot sports or concerts. The reason this lens can shoot concert is because it has a low aperture of 2.8.

The small lens and the one on the Pentax – Those 2 lenses are for my pentax k-1000. It is a 50 mm f/ 2.0 and a 28 mm f/ 2.8.

The lens on the camera that shot this picture - it is a 50 mm f/ 1.8 – and i lens that i encourage you all to choose as the second lens you buy. It is a little over 100$ and well worth the money!

The road of camera equipment! – You want to start by buying a camera of course, And with this camera usually comes a starter lens. If you have a choice of lenses to get with your camera i recommend going with something that cannot zoom to much. By that i mean, get the 18 – 55 for instance, but stay away from getting the 18 – 135. The reason for this is that you do not want to get lazy. The best zoom function is your feet!

So if you can choose something like the 18 – 55 or maybe even a fixed lens like the 50 1.8 if you can get it included in your starter kit!

Next lens! – At this point you can think about getting something a little more advanced like a lens with a lower aperture like the 50 1.8 if you didn’t get it from the beginning. As you should start getting more familiar with aperture and what does what.

A more specific lens! - At this point i got the 50 – 150 2.8 because i found that i liked shooting concerts. So at this point you probably have something in mind that you want to specialize in. But don’t worry if you pick the wrong specific lens. You’ll probably end up getting every kind of lens anyway.

Upgrade! after you got around 3 or 4 lenses, you can start going anywhere with your equipment. BUT the most important thing is to remember, to always upgrade up! never upgrade down or at same lvl. An example could be that if you have a lens that is wide angle then you do not want to buy a wide angle lens at the same price range just slightly different. If your shooting with Canon then you want to get a lens from the “L” series which is top of the line. So just remember! Always upgrade up and your pictures will improve.

Last note! - Although camera equipment is important in the digital photography world. It is important to remember that good gear doesn’t necessarily produce great pictures in the final end it always comes down to the photographer behind the camera.

Don’t be afraid to let me know what you think! leave a comment  

-JT

Thank you! – What do you want to see?

I reached a milestone today and it is all because of you! my readers! It is only 6 days since i started my blog and already i’ve achieved 200+ views and 10+ followers. And for that i would like to say 1000 times thank you I really hope you’ll all continue to follow and read my blog. And i promise in return that i will continue to upload at least one post everyday – With; Tips, Reviews, My photo journal, anything else related to photography.

Again thank you!

As for the second part of the title i thought that now would be a good time to hear you, my readers if you want a post of some specific kind? For instance photoshop tutorials? lightroom? a specific way of photographing tutorial? more tips in general, anything! just type it in the comment section and i’ll make sure to write that post you are requesting

Thank you again!

-JT

My Photowall project has started!

My post today is simply just a quick note; that i started my photowall-project today. I got my 50 prints in the mail and quickly started making the first of three photowalls.

This is the Black and white Digital wall. And this will expand until i haven’t got anymore room on my walls.

I will also make two other photowalls. One with Black and white film photography (the wall i’ve talked about in my about section. And one color digital wall.

I simply wanted to share my excitement of the photowall project start.

Hope you enjoy it

Lenses you should consider adding to your bag – Tutorial/Tip soon to come 

-JT

Looking Inside “Youth”

I thought it was time to show you all a bit more of the work that i put a lot of time into. So i decided to post some of the pictures from my photoproject “Youth”

What i am trying to portray with these pictures is how it is to be a part of my generation. Of course no one except the people living it will ever know exactly what it feels like, but by looking at these pictures I hope people will get some idea of how it is.

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I Hope you’ll enjoy them. I certainly enjoyed making them

 

-JT

How to Photograph at Night! – A Tutorial

I recently posted some pictures that i had taken at night. They received a lot of nice feedback so i reckoned that i would create a tutorial on how to do night photography, since i think that a lot of people actually don’t know exactly what to do when attempting something like this

When attempting to shoot at night or at very dark places, there are a few factors to consider before wandering into the night with your camera. Here is a checklist!

1. A Camera – Obviously – Preferably a DSLR or a higher end compact camera with adjustable settings.
2. A Tripod – Night photography can be done without a tripod but if you want the most creative freedom i recommend using a tripod.
3. A lens hood – This is the thing you need the least, but if you have one for your lens then by all means use it! The reason for this is that every light source will glow a lot during longer exposures. And if you, for instance, are standing right next to a lamppost, neon sign, etc. etc. then you might experience some light interfering with the picture.
4. Know how to shoot manual! This i the most important part of doing night photography! – When you do night photography you will have to use some settings that your camera won’t recommend by itself. And if you’re already nervous just by hearing me talk about shooting with manual settings, don’t worry. I’ll help you finding the right settings or at least some generally good night photography settings to use as a template.
5. Set a timer - Set your camera on timer. You want the least amount of camera shake you can. And when shooting a 10 second exposure for instance, the camerashake from a press on the shutter will be a lot more visible. So set your camera to something like a 2 second timer. So when you press the shutter the camera itself has 2 seconds to calm down again, and make for a sharper image.

Here is an example of night photography settings.

ISO 100 – High ISO kills quality so why not shoot at low ISO to have the best possible quality. you can do this because you have the option to compensate by increasing shutterspeed length because you are using a tripod. Now if you are shooting without a tripod this is a different story. Without a tripod you’ll probably have to max out your ISO but i got to say the best results will be achieved with a tripod.

Aperture 7.1 - I shot at 7.1 simply to give me a bigger DOF (depth of field) so the image largely was in focus from front to back.

Shutter speed 8.0 sec - I shot a 8 second exposure to really let the light get into the camera. This is no problem when shooting a landscape since it doesn’t move. However my brother (the guy in the image) couldn’t stand perfectly still for 8 seconds so he is a little blurry. Some people don’t mind pictures where some of it is blurry, I for one think that it gives an artistic feel to the image that everything isn’t perfectly sharp.

So when choosing the settings remember these 3 things.

1. Low ISO
2. High Aperture 
3. Long exposures i.e several seconds
4. Look at the light meter (to see when your exposure is about right) 

From dusk till dawn - I couldn’t resist naming this tip from dusk till dawn When shooting night photography it does not necessarily have to be pitch black outside. A lot of night photography is shot around dawn and dusk. The reason for this is that photographing is capturing reflected light. And there will be more colors and more light in general when there is just a little bit of light in the sky. Try all the different times of the night, you might find a favorite.

Spice it up - By shooting some moving lights like cars for instance next to some static lights, you can really spice up your image. When you do that you get something like this.

The effect that happens with the light comes naturally with a long exposure, and it looks awesome.

The last tip! - Remember to edit your pictures. When you take your first couple of exposures at night you may be disappointed, they look very yellow and have little to no contrast. At that point just remember that they simply have to be edited and it is when you edit them that you see the beauty of darkness in photography!

Recap! 

1. Shoot with a camera with adjustable settings
2. Use a tripod
3. know your settings (and use your light meter)
4. Try shooting at different times of the night.
5. Try shooting moving lights
6. Edit your photographs
7. Have fun!

Hope you found this tutorial useful

Don’t be afraid to share your thoughts, your own photographs and/or questions

-JT

How to Save Money on Prints!

"Everything is forbidden" - written in Danish

Prints are expensive. And when shooting digital you tend to forget the gratification you get when you watch your own work on paper. There is just something more satisfying about seeing your art up on the wall instead of on a computer.

Now it is important for me to tell you that this by no means is a referral to a print website or anything. I’m not trying to make money by sending you to some website with cheap prints. This is a post about how us photographers can save a little bit when buying our prints. Because, let’s face it, photography is not a cheap business so we got to save where we can.

I discovered this way to save on prints when i was just casually browsing print sites. What i saw was that many print websites actually offer “x” amount of prints for free when it is the first time you use their service. I was offered 50 prints in 10 x 15 format for free if i just paid the shipping myself. Granted the shipping was not exactly cheap but the amount of money i ended up paying was no where near the amount i would have paid in an actual print shop.

And it’s incredibly easy you just upload images you want printed to their website, place the order and your golden! everything done from the comfort of your own home. The only thing this requires is that you do a bit of research on which of the photography printing websites currently are running special deals.

The good thing about this isn’t just the fact that you save some money on a bunch of prints, but also the fact that you might get around to print some more. And end up having a lot more of your own work on paper – And that’s sweet!

I hope you have enjoyed this tip

Don’t be afraid to share your thoughts i am always open to comments and questions

-JT