Click here to view the embedded video.

Readers occasionally write in and ask for specifics about the camera, lens and settings I used for a particular shot.  Sometimes they want to know exactly how far from the subject I was when I took the photo, what the sensor size was, and whether or not I cropped the image after the fact.  At times I feel that some of the questions are overly concerned with the technical.  But I understand why people are curious about that kind of thing;  I enjoy the technical side of photography, too.  For many of us who’ve been doing this for a while, however, there’s a tendency to dismiss much of the gear and technical details as irrelevant.  They are not.  These things are important, even when they become so familiar to us that we take them for granted.

After all, even I enjoy behind-the-scenes footage showing a pro in action.  I paid enough attention to this video to know that Terry Richardson is using a Nikon D3X in such a manner as to get his trademark point-and-shoot style nailed.

He did this first with a Yashica T4, an actual point-and-shoot.  So, why use a $7k+ camera for the same thing?  Well it’s digital, dependable, and that wide angle Nikkor isn’t so bad either.  Tools and style are always linked but sometimes you can modify the normal use of a tool to make it your own.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Something to see and consider.  Filmmaker, Adam Wingard.  Videography is photography afterall.  What do you think?

Yesenia, a favorite model of mine has been participating in several projects over the past year or so with well-known photographers including Nathan Appel and  George Pitts.  She’s also the model on the cover of my book, Taking Your Portraiture to the Next Level.  Recently, she posed for an excellent moving portrait clip (vignette) titled, “Room 1612″ by CafeGlow.  If you’re going to be in the New York area and have a project coming up, you might want to hire this rising star.

CafeGlow is an interesting and stylish site featuring provocative images and video clips that mix fashion and erotica.

Click here to view the embedded video.

More on the model:

• Yesenia featured in the article, The Nude:  Clients and Models Talk About Posing Nude
• See Yesenia in an experimental minimalist moving portrait video in the notes for Podcast #23
• ModelMayhem is the place to contact her for work

A couple of my favorite shots from a session in late 2010:

Yesenia by Ed Verosky

Yesenia by Ed Verosky

Nikon P7000 – My favorite walk-around camera

The Guggenheim, NYC

Submit your best photos featuring silhouettes to the About Photography Group. I’ll post my favorites right here on the blog!

Kenneth wrote in with a question about the sensor size of the cameras I used to produce the example images in my eBook, Taking Your Portraiture to the Next Level.  He wanted to know whether I was shooting with a full-frame sensor or a smaller (e.g. APS-C) sensor.  I’ve received this question from other people, but instead of just answering (it’s usually APS-C), this time I thought I’d ask why the answer to that question seemed relevant.

It turns out Kenneth had very good reasons for wanting to know.

“I shoot with an APS-C DSLR,” says Kenneth.  “If one of your photos indicates you used a 50mm lens and you had been using a body with a full-frame sensor, then I would know that to duplicate your setup, including camera position, I would need to use my 35mm lens.  Also, if you had been using a body with a full-frame sensor, I would know that I would have to use an F-stop about one stop wider to get the same DOF result from the same camera position.”

It took me a moment to wrap my head around such a technical concern. But as it turns out, there are many of you out there who are interested in DOF estimations/calculations.  Under certain circumstances, getting a handle on DOF and having refined control over it might be very important indeed.  I personally don’t worry about it too much in my portraiture, because I simply adjust to taste as I go along.  I have a general idea of what I want, and know, generally, how to achieve it. If the DOF preview doesn’t suffice, I’ll take a test shot or two to make sure things look right to me.  But, everyone doesn’t work that way, and if you’re trying to learn by reproducing what you’ve seen in another photograph, nailing down (and making adjustments for) all the settings, positions, lighting, and gear used in the original can be helpful.  In any event, here was my response, as I thought this might make a good topic for this post:

Let’s start with the idea of a 35mm lens vs. a 50mm lens:

1)  Since images are routinely cropped to improve composition, editorial or album layouts, or for any number of reasons, there is no point in trying to duplicate the “framing,” of an image via the focal length of the lens. What appears to be a tight, close-up position, might actually be a cropped version of a wider shot.

2)  I would hesitate to use a 35mm or wider lens for many of my shots.  Especially as you get closer to the subject.  The perspective distortion might be slight, but might still be noticeable.

Now, about DOF:

1)  With the same lens (same focal length), using the same aperture, at the same distance, I do not see why the DOF would be any different based on the sensor size.  The field of view would be cropped, but the DOF theoretically should not be affected.  Although Kenneth isn’t suggesting this is the case, there is a common misconception that sensor size alone in some way has an effect on DOF (all other conditions being the same).

2)  Given the conditions above, if camera distance were altered in order to make a field-of-view adjustment (move the full-frame camera in closer to the subject to achieve the same in-camera framing as the smaller sensor camera from the original distance), then of course DOF would be affected, because of the difference in distance.

The initial question is valid in situations where the following is the case:

• Smaller (e.g. APS-C) sensor on one camera.  Full-frame on the other.
• Equal camera-to-subject distance.
• Same “framing,” or field-of-view (FOV).  The subject fills the frame the same way in both cameras, on both sensors.
• Same DOF for both images.

The focal length of the lenses would have to be different in order to achieve the same in-camera field-of-view.  And, since the focal lengths are different, but the distance is constant, it’s very likely the DOF will be different without an aperture (F-stop) adjustment.

Check out DOF Master and their excellent explanation of this topic >>

Do you like photographing bands and musical performers as much as I do? I’d love for you to submit your best examples of this to the About Photography Group. I’ll post my favorites right here on the blog!

James Gonzales by patrickleroy

Christian Scott and Eric Gravatt by avbizzguy

Courtney Taylor-Taylor by heyheyjk

Thao by heyheyjk

BodyGroove_CanadaDay_SL_Studiob-6 by Steffi_YUL

I have to admit, I love looking at Macro Photos of small insects and tiny objects, even though I rarely shoot these kinds of images myself. But if you do, I’d love for you to submit your best examples to the About Photography Group. I’ll post my favorites here on the blog!

I want to see your attempts at shooting without concern for camera settings and lighting. Shoot for fun and for emotion. Capture a “feeling” not just a picture. Submit your best examples of this exercise (including shots previously captured) to the About Photography Group. I’ll post my favorites on the blog, too!

I received a question from one of my eBook purchasers today regarding saving and viewing my eBooks on his iPad.  Here is one way to do it:

PDF via Email Method

1. Send yourself an email with the PDF(s) attached
2. Go to the Mail app (Not the browser) on the iPad and open the email you just sent
3. Tap the PDF file listed to download
4. Tap on it again to view the PDF
5. Tap on the “Open In…” button on the top right and choose iBooks
6. You now have the “PDFs” tab in iBooks

Via iPadInsider