Snapshots by Stacy: The Blog

Purists vs. Processors

snapshotsbystacy@gmail.com (Stacy) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:00:00 +0000

Let's just dive right into the week, shall we. I just came across an excellent article this morning about the great debate that has been floating around the Internet a lot this year. And, no it isn't the great Canon vs. Nikon debate.

I have read a lot of articles this year on the topic of weather using photoshop on photography is detrimental to the purity or reality of the image. Darwin Wiggett and Samantha Chrysanthou have an excellent article on the subject over at Nature Photographers Online Magazine, called Photostop and Nature Photography: How Far is Too Far?

"All graphic art should be judged on how well it expresses its subject matter, and nothing else. If the idea or story the artist meant to convey is successfully told, then the image succeeds. If not, well…time to practice some more." - Darwin Wiggett & Samantha Chrysanthou.

I agree with their concept that photography is a graphic art and should be judged as such and not judged on how "real" it portrays a scene, and for me that includes Nature Photography because in my opinion the use of filters is already manipulation as the point of capture, so editing in photoshop to me, isn't that much different. I want to create art, not just capture a scene anyway.

There is, however, a flip side to the argument that affect some forms of photography, like photojournalism. With journalism, there is a sense from the reader of a magazine or newspaper that the images they are seeing are an accurate portrayal of an event or person. We expect those images not to be manipulated and become distrusting of photos when we find they are not "real" in those contexts.

"Photos that are faked are intrinsically tied to photos that are real. They draw much of their power from the public’s belief that photos never lie. Of course all of us know “the camera always lies” and the second you pick a lens or a place to stand you’re influencing the reality of the picture in some way. But, we can’t escape that the public still wants to believe in a photograph’s ability to tell the truth. So, people who take images that appear to be truthful but are really altered beyond reality are at some level destroying this bond." - Rob Haggart

I will direct you now to Rob Haggart's article published in Outside Magazine "This Photo is Lying to You" He talks about the harm that can come from digital manipulation in the magazine world, but also fairly states that even the purists have been known to stage scene prior to clicking the shutter to get a good shot.

In closing, with all things, there is of course a balance. We need to clearly define what kind of photographer we are, making it clear to the public that we are either a journalist or an artist and be careful not to just slap the "fine art" tag onto our work to dance around the concept of photo manipulation. We either use it with intent or not at all, but we should never use it to deceive. I think Ed Freeman, who is a the principal example in Rob's article, says it best,

"What there DOES need to be, however, is a clear distinction between what we photo manipulators do – work that is increasingly an art of the imagination – and the work of documentarians and photo journalists, who record life with a straight, sober and hopefully, not too creative an eye. I'm sure they don't want to be confused with me, and frankly, I don't want to be confused with them, either." - Ed Freeman

For more reading on Rob Haggart's point of view, check out his blog, A Photo Editor, and his breakdown about his article in Outside Magazine here.

For more on Darwinn Wigget, visit his blog here.

For more on Ed Freeman, check out his blog here.

Love Comes in All Sizes - The Mini Album!

snapshotsbystacy@gmail.com (Stacy) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:17:00 +0000

I just met with one of my brides yesterday and handed off her albums to her. I'm always so excited when I see my clients happy. When they see their albums and prints for the first time, their eyes light up and I know that my job is done. There is no comparison to have a real print in your hand. Looking at images online is nice and convenient for desktop backgrounds, and slide shows at your desk. But a real print or album? Priceless. One of the things I love the most about the album manufacturer I use is their high quality of albums. When my clients see them, they just gush over. I didn't think I could top that, but then this year they offered up new mini albums. They are little 4x4 versions of a big album. Same thick pages and print quality, same leather covers - just mini. They are perfect to keep in your purse or your desk at work and show off, leaving your big album safely at home for you.

I surprised my bride with her own 4x4 album and it was perfect because she was worried about handing around her full size album at work in case something would happen to it. I told her I had "a little something that might solve this dilemma". Oh yeah, the cute little mini album saved the day. Even though it is a nice complimentary album to a full size bridal album, it is also perfect for family photos that mom can just tuck in her purse and show off at anytime. Soft, leather, real, and they come in all the same colors as their bigger siblings. Awesome!

For your next session of any kind, think about getting a mini album that you can take anywhere and show off to anyone. I custom design each album personally, so you will get the best images and personal touch. You don't have to have a wedding to have a cute album that is all about you.

They are available in my products online under albums. You can order just one or you can get as many as you want. There is no minimum order.

Just check out how cute these are!

Going Wide with the Nikkor DX 10-24mm

snapshotsbystacy@gmail.com (Stacy) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:40:00 +0000

Ah, wide angle is good. As Joe McNally might say "Mongo like wide". While my lenses with wider ends were in the shop getting repaired, I decided it was a good opportunity to rent a wide angle lens. I've been toying the idea of getting one for a little while for landscape work and I've rented the Nikkor 12-24mm DX in the past and liked it. This time, I opted to rent Nikon's newest wide angle lens for crop sensor cameras - the Nikkor 10-24mm DX. This lens is specifically for use with DX or crop sensor cameras. If you are shooting a full frame camera, then you should look into Nikon's dreamy 14-24mm lens. Drool.

I already own some nice full frame glass that I regularly use on my D300 (a crop sensor camera)but for wides, I really felt like a DX lens, formatted for use with crop sensor cameras, was the way to go. It would really let me get the most wide. 10mm is still the equivalent of what a 15mm lens would be on 35mm format, and folks that is getting pretty wide. If I were to shoot the lovely 14-24 on my DX body, I would get about the equivalent viewing angle of a 21mm lens. Still nice and wide, but not 15mm wide.

I rented the 10-24 from my favorite lens rental place, Borrowlenses.com for 2 weeks. One of the things I noticed right away is just how wide 10mm is. So wide, that things on the edges, get immensely distorted. This is fine if you are shooting landscapes without buildings or people near the edges. Anything that you knew should have a vertical line didn't look that way anymore if it was near the edge. The distortion can be used to your advantage to extend the sky or grassy foregrounds. It has a very nice perspective, you just need to be cautious of what is near the edges of your frame. Also, it is so wide, you need to watch that your own tripod or feet aren't in the shot. I found that while some things really wide looked great, especially if you could get close to some foreground interest, I preferred most of my wides between the 12-18mm range as the distortion was more under control and I found better framing in my shots. As you know, photography is as much about what you exclude from the frame as what you include.

The second thing that came in very handy is that while a lens hood is provided, it is not what I would call a "dedicated" or permanently attached lens hood. It is removable which allow for use with filters. This is something to consider with landscape work and probably the subject you are considering a wide angle for. The Nikkor full frame 14-24mm lens has a permanently attached lens hood as part of its design. There is no way to screw on any type of filter or add any type of rectangular "slot" style system.

I shot the 10-24mm almost exclusively with a circular polarizer attached to the front and then handheld graduated ND filters over the front of the lens. This was possible with being able to remove the petal hood. I didn't have a chance to try a wide angle filter holder like Cokin's P system. I do own their regular P filter holder, but as it is meant to hold up to 3 filter in the slots in front, it absolutely shows up in the frame. In fact, at 10mm, just the very edges of my polarizer showed up and I would have to crop those images just slightly in post process. This was another reason I preferred going to at least 12mm. My circular polarizer does not show up at all at 12mm.

Here are some sample shots taken at Mattheissen State Park in Illinois.

As you can probably tell, I really enjoyed shooting vertical orientation with the wide angle lens. It isn't that landscape orientation can't be interesting, but sometimes it is just wider or more of the scene, not necessarily more interesting. There are exceptions at times however as one of my favorites from the day was a landscape orientation. I personally felt the super wide viewpoint excelled vertically though creating more depth when showing a foreground interest and then a subject in the back of the frame. I'm still learning the best ways to use a wide angle and hopefully when I get my hands on one for more than a week or so at a time, I can learn to create really deep environments. Like all pieces of gear, wide angles have their place, but we must learn when to use them and what their strengths and limitations are. I learned quickly that if you are using a wide angle just to "get more of the scene" in your frame, then you aren't fully using all the wide angle has to offer and probably aren't creating that dynamic of an image. I suggest seeking out good foregrounds and getting in close to maximize perspective and depth and playing with the good and bad of distortion.

Will the 10-24 find a home in my camera bag? I don't know just yet. I may rent the 14-24 before I make a final decision, but unless I feel I can get by without filters on the 14-24, this lens looks promising.

When Bad Things Happen to Good Gear: Part #2

snapshotsbystacy@gmail.com (Stacy) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0000

Let's all just taken a brief second and say "YAY!" with me. "YAY!!!" Okay, that feels so good. I finally have my lenses back home where they belong. It has been a long couple of months without a chunk of my gear that I use regularly. If you are not aware, It all started with my adored 18-200mm lens making bad noises, which was then followed a week later by my beloved 24-70 falling one foot to the ground with a crunch at a wedding. You can read all the details of what happened here.

To sum it up quickly. I sent my 18-200mm lens into Nikon through the local camera shop and then for experimentation purposes, I sent my 24-70mm into Nikon myself directly. In my previous article, I explained how to use both methods if you need to send your gear in for repair.

It has been seven weeks since I sent in my my first lens and yesterday I received the 2nd lens back to me in the mail. Seven weeks is a long time without your babies, I mean, tools.

After rejoicing about my reunited family, I thought I should also share with you all the details of how my experiences were with both methods of getting my gear repaired. I'll start off by saying that I highly recommend that you send your own gear in for repair. I found this method to be the best for several reasons:

#1. It is cheaper. Period. The local camera shop charges $20 to send your gear in for you. The cost for me to FedEx 2nd day with insurance straight to Nikon - $14.00 I'm already coming out ahead.

#2. You have to fill out the paperwork yourself regardless. Yep, you heard me right. You can either go to Nikon's website and fill out the required online form with the details of your repair, serial number, proof of purchase, etc. or you can either tell the clerk and the camera store or worse yet end up hand writing it on their much less clear and more cramped form. I spend far less time typing up my responses to the questions on the form than I did trying to explain it to a sales staff member that hadn't yet been trained on how to handle manufacturer repairs where I ultimately ended up hand writing it on the form myself. I think is is probably much better communication to Nikon repair staff when they can easily read your typed responses than your chicken scratches, don't you?

#3. You know where you gear is throughout the entire process. When you send in the gear directly you get direct contact with Nikon staff when you gear arrives. You are mailed a quote either explaining your gear is covered under warranty or a quote for the repair cost. You are given information to log into your own account and approve or reject the repair work and once payment has been received (if necessary) they will begin your repair. Throughout this process, you can login at anytime and check the status of your repair. I was able to see that they received my lens, processed the paperwork, ordered replacement parts, performing the repair, cleaning and shipping. I even got a slip of paperwork with my lens when it returned listing out what parts had been repaired/replaced. I was always up to date with what was going on.

I can't say the same for the camera shop. I had to call several times just to check in. I didn't know when they shipped my lens after I handed it off to them. They "hadn't heard anything yet from Nikon", and never offered on their own accord to call and check the status for me. I was told "it may be a couple of weeks" before they hear anything. I'm sorry, but what was that $20 for? I ended up contacting Nikon on my own about the lens I had the camera shop send in and guess what? They replied immediately on the same day with a status update. They were great to work with and I always had my questions answered with Nikon. They just reaffirmed my love for their products because they have the customer services to back it up. Thank you, Nikon.

So, to sum up my experience, I can without hesitation say that you should save the money and just ship your gear in for your repair yourself. The process is straightforward, you can get your questions answered easily if you need to and apparently you will have to do the work regardless since giving your gear to the camera shop doesn't mean it is worry-free for you. You aren't paying extra to have them "handle" it. If you care about your gear enough to have it serviced, then you won't be sorry you dealt with it yourself.

Oh, and just in case you were thinking maybe I had it out for the local camera shop. I must say that I am a firm believer in shopping local when I can. I like to support the local economy and local families and am usually willing to pay a little more to do so. However, like any smart consumer, I also expect that shopping local means good customer service just like I would give to my own clients. I've shopped on many on occasion at the local camera shop and they always have the gear I need or want, but Nikon simply had a better customer experience and customer service. If you need to buy something, I can happily say go shop local, they will likely have what you need, but for getting gear repaired I think you will be happier working directly with Nikon yourself.

November Desktop Calendar

snapshotsbystacy@gmail.com (Stacy) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 05:10:00 +0000

Here in the Midwest it has been a wet and dreary fall thus far. There have been moments of nice light and sunshine, but mostly a lot of foggy, cool, and wet days. I haven't been out shooting as much as I would like this fall, and the foggy and wet still make for interesting images, so I have no excuse.

I did, however, make it out for one awesome Saturday assisting David Vernon's Landscape Photography Class from the Peoria Art Guild. We took a group of eager photographers along with some friends of ours, Bill and Tim, up to Matthiessen State Park - a favorite shooting locale for both David and I. And while the wet forced us to get up to our knees to wade through streams to get inside the canyons, I must say it was 100% worth it and all that wetness made for some excellent waterfalls in the canyons up there. I will have more images to post later on our trip and my review of the Nikkor 10-24mm lens I used on that outing, but for November, I am sharing one of my favorites from the day.

This is Cascade Falls inside the "Wishing Well" at Mattheissen State Park in Illinois. The light was dancing in and out from the cloud cover and for a brief moment I got a really nice balance of interesting light on the waterfall during a long exposure. I really enjoy this angle and I hope you enjoy it too all November long. I got a little wet so you all could enjoy this from the dryness of your desk or lap. =)

To get your own, simply click the size you want below and set as your background however you do Mac and PC people. I have 5 widths for you this month.

Lightroom 3 Beta and Good News Friday!

snapshotsbystacy@gmail.com (Stacy) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:40:00 +0000

This week has turned out to be a good one as I've had good news come my way. First and foremost I am happy to report that my beloved Nikkor 18-200mm lens has safely returned to my possession. It came back all clean and new from Nikon. I am thrilled to have it back, as you know I've been whining about my lack of wide viewpoint for over a month now.
I'm pleased to say it works great and has no more strange clicking and rattling sounds. It appears from the tiny slip that arrived with the lens that Nikon replaced and adjusted the VR (vibration reduction) unit. One down, one to go...

The other awesome piece of news is that Adobe has put out a free trial beta version of Lightroom 3. There are many new features to get excited about including; improved noise reduction, exportable slideshows with music, and bi-directional publishing to online sharing sites like Flickr. Yeah, those are all some pretty cool things. There are already a slew of great sites online reviewing the beta version and giving great tips on how to use the new features.

My recommendation is to first watch the video that Terry White put together. He walks you through the new version completely. It is a straight forward video that non-Lightroom users should find easy to understand and follow along with. Then stop over at the NAPP Learning Center where lightroom guru Matt Kloskowski and Photoshop whiz, Scott Kelby have more training videos and walk throughs. If that isn't enough lightroom for you, Sean McCormack has nice screen shots of what the beta version looks like as well as nice explanations of the latest features new to LR3. Check out Sean's blog here. I'm very excited about this as many of the new features aren't just improvement, but are things that will drastically help workflow and sharing that most photographers I think will rejoice about.

Want your own copy of LR 3 beta? It is free for a 6 month trial so Adobe can get feedback from users. Go to Adobe Labs to download your copy.

That is it for Friday. I'll leave you with some fall images. I'll be off to capture more fall color tomorrow and help out with a local landscape photography class at one of my favorite state parks. I'll be sharing images from that next week along with some new gear I am taking with me this time. Until then, have a nice weekend!

Back from Dallas

snapshotsbystacy@gmail.com (Stacy) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:00:00 +0000

I'm back from my big adventures in the land of big -Dallas! I had a nice little getaway with my family even took a few photos of the Dallas skyline. Here is me with my awesome sister posing in front of the Dallas Skyline at sunset from a parking deck. She was patient and kind enough to drive me to a spot to shoot the skyline.

Let me be the first to say that a quality tripod is a must. My Manfrotto tripod would not fit in my carry on luggage, so I had to find alternate methods and while they got me by, they weren't up to par in my book. I ended up purchasing a $15 tripod at Target which later became a bonus gift to my sister for her point and shoot. It just didn't have enough weight to steady a heavier SLR, especially in the wind. There was a lot of wind on the top of the parking deck and as a result most of my shots were too blurry to use. Before it got dark, I set up my camera and focus. Here are some shots my sister took of me up on the parking deck framing up a shot.

Then we decided we wanted a shot of us in from downtown before it was too dark and quite honestly this one is my favorite. See snapshots are a great thing sometimes. (and yes that is my camera on the edge of the parking deck in the background, but don't worry it wasn't going anywhere.)After the sun went down I started trying to get the skyline with all of the neon and office building lights lit up. As my exposure time became much longer and we had lots of time to kill in between shots, so what did we do? Hoola-Hoop! Oh, yeah (well she did and I merely was trying to learn). We passed the time well, don't you think? I'll leave you with the best shot I got of the night skyline. Until next time, Dallas!

Around the Internet

snapshotsbystacy@gmail.com (Stacy) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:05:00 +0000

Well, even though today isn't technically Friday, it is my Friday this week. I'm boarding a plane and off to visit my sister. It's her birthday tomorrow and her fiance's on Saturday. I'm stoked to be spending some kickback time with them. It is always fun and most likely will involve some good food and drinks. Who could ask for more? I'm also toting along some photography gear. Packing for planes is always interesting even though I am no Joe McNally or Moose Peterson with their MP bags or Think Tank bags. I just don't have enough gear for all that. I do however have to consider carry on size. I'm taking just one camera body and two lenses, my cable release, and some filters. I'm keeping it pretty light. I'm a little sad that I couldn't take my tripod as it couldn't fit in with my luggage, so I'll be looking for alternative tripod options when I arrive.

It is always fun to travel somewhere else then our everyday surroundings and hopefully I come back with some fun stuff. Anyway, as pointed out by a friend of mine, I have been a blogging machine this week. I'll leave you with some good Internet finds this week before I go:

1.) Speaking of packing photography gear and Moose Peterson, he has a video on how he packs his smaller, MP-7 bag for lighter travel. Check it out here.

2.) My good friend, David Vernon is on the Enjoy Illinois blog today. He's a guest blogger there regularly and today has some interests facts about pumpkins in the region (and some nice images to go along with it).

2.) The Peoria Flickr Group has monthly contests, and this month's is none other than "Fall Colors". So stop over, join up, and submit your best fall color shot. By the way, the group is also having their monthly outing this weekend at Tanner's Orchard, so be sure to check that out while visiting the group page.

3.) Since we are on fall with Halloween coming up, there are some amazing bat photographs taken by Kim Taylor. He includes his hand made setup to capture these night creatures drinking from his backyard pond. Very cool stuff.

Have good weekend! Get out and take some fall photos!

When "New" Meets Creativity

snapshotsbystacy@gmail.com (Stacy) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:00:00 +0000

In the world of photography, there is always some new gizmo or gadget out there to buy. It is just one of those things. We must wade through the pile of useless, kitschy, or unaffordable quite often. Most gear is targeted toward the "want to try" part of us and usually doesn't fall into the "got to have" part of us. However, with all the the latest toys out there, we must also realize that there is an ever-changing, rapidly growing technology with camera performance, speed, and capability.

The latest rounds of digital cameras today now do so much more than take still images - they also record video. High definition video. The new world of the video SLR or "VSLR" as I have heard it dubbed has arrived and is here to stay. Whether you need a new camera body or not must be decided for yourself, but there is no denying how cool this new technology is and what creative worlds are opened up by being able to shoot video and still projects together with one device.
Nikon just introduced their new D3s. It is Nikon's top of the line professional camera and boy is it touting some impressive specs. Higher ISO ratings, faster frames per second, and video. It's a monster for sure with a hefty price tag of $5,200. To give you an idea of just how creative and impressive shooting video and still together can be, check out this amazing, must-watch video by Vincent Munier shot with entirely with the D3s. It's not only pretty, but it makes me want video in my next camera.

Can't afford the D3s? There are other alternatives. In the Nikon line up, there are already these VSLRs out there:
D50000 ($680 suggested MSRP)
D90 ($900 suggested MSRP)
D300s ($1800 suggested MSRP)
and the new D3s ($5200 suggested MSRP)

Whether you want video or not in your next camera, it looks pretty clear to me that you are going to get one. It's time to step up again and embrace new technology. This is some pretty darn cool stuff, so it shouldn't be too hard to like. It will take awhile to figure out, however. Just because we can take photos, doesn't mean we are all videographers too. We'll have to challenge ourselves to grow again and see if we can merge these two formats for our own good.

Sharing the Love - Lightroom Style

snapshotsbystacy@gmail.com (Stacy) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Okay fellow photographer friends. Those of you who know me well, know that I am a big fan and user of Lightroom as my digital darkroom. Well, Adobe is sharing the love and letting us current users refer friends to buy Lightroom 2 with a special discount. Yep, now you can save 15% off your own copy of Lightroom 2 if I refer you. If you're interested, leave a comment on this post and be sure to include a real email address and I will send you the referral email with the 15% referral code. You will need to purchase Lightroom through the Adobe Online store and enter the code # when you check out to get your 15% off.

If you've been thinking about getting Lightroom, now you can save a little dough now through December 25th. Rock on! If you've never heard of Lightroom, then be sure to download the 30 day trial.

I'm also planning to start sharing a few of my Lightroom processing tips on here every now and then, starting this fall, so be checking back for that.

*Screenshots courtesy of www.screenshots-artchive.com (yes I was too lazy to screen shot my own Lightroom).

Stealing Art is Not Cool

snapshotsbystacy@gmail.com (Stacy) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Sometimes it is hard for people to realize that stealing art on the internet is wrong. Just a couple of mouse clicks and an image is yours. Most people by now have got the hint that stealing music is wrong and are willing to pay $1.29 a song on iTunes, but haven't yet realized that stealing images is the same exact thing. You wouldn't grab a piece of work off the wall at a museum, would you?

To show how stealing art would be in the real world, ASMP New York put together this video and accompanying website. http://www.dontscrewus.org/index2.html

I checked out their website and these are just a few of their points in their manifesto:

#2 Just because a photo is posted on the Internet, it is not free. It wasn't put there so you can simply take it. It was put there to share an idea, promote talent and gain attention. You can't walk into a museum space or a gallery space and walk out with whatever strikes your fancy. Cyberspace is no different.

#4 Professional photographers are just like you. We have families to feed and mortgages to pay. Stealing takes food off the table. Times are tough enough thank you very much.

#7 That photo you are thinking of stealing took time to make. Sure the shutter snapped in a fraction of a second, but there are years of hard work, education and talent invested in it. Stop for a moment and consider that please.

#10 Some things were meant to be free. Human beings, primo parking spaces, unsolicited advice about your love life. And yes, even occasionally photos. Just ask.

By the way, none of this advice was prompted by anything that happened to me. I put my art up for display in the internet knowing full and well that some people don't get this concept. However, there are many people out there that appreciate looking at art and sharing creative works, so I am happy to take that risk and share my work with you all. I just wanted to share this as a reminder so that you might stop and think the next time you want to grab in image "just for facebook" or "just for my blog". I know it seems harmless and most times, photographers will happily let you use an image if you just ask and offer to give proper credit.

Okay, enough preaching - now go enjoy looking at some awesome art out there and hey, why not buy some too? You know that one wall is totally bare at home, right?

Renting Lenses

snapshotsbystacy@gmail.com (Stacy) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:00:00 +0000

It was a dark and stormy night....

Okay, maybe it was more like a full moon or just plain dumb luck, but I have been without 2 of my lenses in my arsenal for a month now. One month ago, I turned my Nikon 18-200mm lens in for repair because it was making bad clicking sounds and the image was jumping in the viewfinder. I gave it over to the local camera shop to be sent in. Then about a week later, I managed to drop my beloved Nikon 24-70mm at a wedding. Trust me, folks, it didn't fall far or very hard, it just slipped out of my lens bag while I was knelt down about a foot off the ground. It fell on gravel. The barrel got distorted on impact and while it would zoom, it was oh so slowly and with much difficulty.

Sigh. It was hard to send it in, but it wasn't much good to me in its current state. So, I shipped it off to Nikon myself bypassing the local camera shop. This in part was experimentation for me to see which method was better, although I already sort of knew the answer based on how little feedback I was getting on the status of the 18-200. I made a few phone calls on my own and I figured direct communication would be better and so far I am right. Working with Nikon has been easy and all of my questions to service and support have been answered thoroughly and in a timely fashion and with access to online progress reporting, I know where my equipment is in the process. I will keep you all posted on the outcome once I get my gear back in hand.

Right now, all I know is that my 24-70 is being repaired and my 18-200 was waiting for a back ordered part which has finally arrived and should be being repaired now.

I've been getting pretty ancy to have them back as now I don't have any wide angle options. I went out shooting landscapes and sunsets with a friend last week and made due with my Nikon 70-200mm (which does a nice job, but required me to think differently for landscapes) and my 50mm lens. So with 50mm being the widest (on a crop sensor) my angle of view, well, wasn't very wide to say the least. While I produced images I was happy with, it wasn't without whining for some wide angles.

To get me through an upcoming trip to Texas and an outing to Mattheissen State Park, I've decided to go ahead and rent a wide angle lens. I'm renting again from borrowlenses.com and based on my previous experience with them, they are easy to work with. I'm renting a Nikon 10-24mm lens. That is a lot of wide! I'm pretty excited about it.

I will be comparing it to the Nikon 12-24mm lens that I rented last spring. I expect a lot of similarities, but I am curious to see if the extra 2mm is worth it for me or not. They are about $200 difference in price to buy with more mm being less money. From what I have read the build quality is where the difference lies. From having already shot the 12-24 I already know it is solid, metal cased lens. Very nice build quality and performance.

I'm looking forward to testing it out. I'll keep you posted on my thoughts and show off some images taken with it.

Flashes & Parking Decks...Oh My!

snapshotsbystacy@gmail.com (Stacy) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Now that's a title to make you wonder what I'm up to, right? Well, last Sunday the Peoria Strobist Group had our fist outing in Peoria. The PSG is a strange combination of the Peoria Flickr Group mixed with David Hobby's Strobist Group. Sprinkle in a bunch of off camera lighting, a few friends, two awesome models, and a gritty parking deck and you had our first meet up.

The idea of the group is to have regular meet ups where we can all practice setting up off camera lighting. A sort of trial by fire while creating some hands on learning. We want to improve our skills and share the knowledge with other photographers who want to learn off camera lighting techniques. So, if you are a photographer who understands photography basics and wants to learn lighting, then you should stop on over to the Peoria Strobist Group , say hello and bring your flash.

Please welcome back to this blog our fabulous models, Stephanie & Josh donning their rocked up wedding attire for this session. Here are a few of my favorite shots from the outing. Also, be sure to check out the group pool to see more shots and ideas from the others who were there and also David Hobby's Strobist website if you are new and want to get your feet wet. His website is a great learning resource.

And for the photo geeks out there - here is the inside scoop on the shot from the top of the post:

Nikon D300 w/24-70mm w/ 4 flash setup.

One SB600 on stand camera left gelled 1/4 CTO at 1/2 power and one SB800 in SU-4 mode camera right on stand gelled 1/4 CTO at 1/4 power. Camera was set to tungsten white balance to match the gelled strobes. The ungelled strobes are a Vivitar 285 at 1/32 power via Paul C Buff remote on a short stand pointed at wall and an SB800 in SU-4 mode on ground behind the couple pointed back at camera. The blue color comes from using tungsten white balance which shifts the daylight corrected flashes even cooler and more blue. Setup was fired using a Paul C Buff trigger. (and focusing efforts were aiding with headlights from a car).

October Desktop Calendar

snapshotsbystacy@gmail.com (Stacy) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Wow, is it seriously October already? The pros: football season, tailgating, bonfires, sweaters, and fall color! The cons: 2 months until Christmas (get shopping), snow boots need to come out of the closet, watching leaves fall to the ground. =(

This month I am hooking you guys up with with a shot from fall of 2008. This was taken at Banner Marsh in Central Illinois. I was searching for right image and while this isn't a standout, the colors really sold me for the month of October. I hope you enjoy it and I hope you can get out and see some fall color yourself (don't forget your sweater!)

To get your own, simply click the size you want below and set as your background however you do Mac and PC people. I have 4 widths for you this month.
1280x1024
1200x960
1024x819
800x640

I'm also throwing in a bonus size for you super wide screen peeps.
1680x1050

I Do! Nicole & Dan

snapshotsbystacy@gmail.com (Stacy) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:57:00 +0000

Okay, where do I begin? Let's start with how absolutely gorgeous Nicole looked. She was glowing and beautiful and when I first saw her, I think I just said 'wow'. Her dress was one of the best I've ever seen. Dan seemed cool and easy and ready to get married. They both were surrounded by laid back friends and family.

The ceremony was at St. Joseph's church in Peoria and I can't say enough how pretty this church is on the inside. It is classic and the ceiling - woah baby, just check it out. After the ceremony and a quick stop downtown for some shots with my favorite wall (yeah I have a favorite wall, haven't you noticed? But come on, it was perfect with the wedding colors, so I had to go there) we headed off to the reception at Wildlife Prairie Park which was decorated both in and out with nature's fall colors - perfect! It was an amazing day and I can't say enough good things about Nicole and Dan.

I couldn't have done it all by myself, so here is a big thank you and shout out to Lily. She was a big help throughout the day. You rock girl!

Congratulations Nikki & Dan! I've been excited about your wedding for long time and it was just as amazing as I thought it would be. I wish you both a lifetime of happiness and then some. Okay, I'm sure Nicole is just dying to see these already, so lets get on with it.

Nicole & Dan Sneak Peek

snapshotsbystacy@gmail.com (Stacy) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 04:39:00 +0000

Just a little taste from Saturday's wedding... more to come soon. I'm busy working on this gorgeous wedding while I hope they are living it up in Jamaica! (Jealous? yes I am!) Congratulations to you both!

Wedding Day for Nikki & Dan

snapshotsbystacy@gmail.com (Stacy) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 12:00:00 +0000

I'm off to shoot the sure to fabulous wedding of Nikki and Dan. You remember them from an engagement session last year, right? It's going to be a blast. I've got my good photographer friend, Lily coming along to shoot with me and I can't wait for an amazing day ahead.

Here are a few shots of the two a year ago.

Stay tuned for shots from the wedding.

Italy

snapshotsbystacy@gmail.com (Stacy) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:21:00 +0000

I was so fortunate to visit some amazing places this summer. We visited Naples, Rome, and Pisa. I've been promising to post some of my photos for quite some time now. I won't hold out on you any longer. Here are some of my favorites from Italy (Italia).

Naples (Napoli)

Pompeii

Rome (Roma)

Livorno

Pisa

Tuscany

September Desktop Calendar

snapshotsbystacy@gmail.com (Stacy) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:25:00 +0000

Okay, first of all, I owe you faithful blog readers a big apology. I realized yesterday that it was 09/09/09 and I hadn't uploaded a desktop calendar for the month and then I realized I hadn't actually blogged anything in a month!! That is just terrible of me. I've been editing photos from our trip like a mad woman and doing some painting and redecorating around the house and I let you all down, my blog friends. Boo to me! If I was Jasmine Star, I would be giving myself a diss this week. (She blogs weekly Kisses and Disses).

To make it up to you, I'll be sharing some of my favorite photos from the trip in another post this week and if you really missed me, you can stop on over to the Central Illinois Photoblog and read my woes with some gear I am having troubles with. One of my lenses is on the fritz and I sent it off to Nikon yesterday to get repaired. So, if you are photographer and want the low down on what you need to go to get your gear serviced, then hop on over and check out my article, "When Bad Things Happen to Good Gear".

Okay on to the goodies (better late than never, right?)This is a shot of a cool doorway at the Field of Miracles in Pisa, Italy. I'd already taken the necessary shots of the leaning tower and I turned my attention to this doorway (I couldn't get enough of door and windows over there). My husband said it was humorous to watch other tourists take interest in the door after watching me photograph it. They must have thought it had significance, while I just thought it was cool. Chalk one up for the photographer noticing something that other people don't see.

To get your own, simply click the size you want below and set as your background however you do Mac and PC people. I have 4 widths for you this month.
1280x1024
1200x960
1024x819
800x640

August Desktop Calendar

snapshotsbystacy@gmail.com (Stacy) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:59:00 +0000

Hey guys! I am back from my amazing vacation. I bet you wondered where I was and what I was up to. No? You missed me a little though, right? =)
I went on a fantastic cruise of the Mediterranean with my husband to celebrate our 5 wedding year anniversary (It's not quite our anniversary just yet, but you've got to go when you can).
We had stops in Spain, Italy, and France and I can't wait to show you all more.

As I am sure you can imagine, I took a thousand photos. No, literally, I took over 1,100 photos that now I am sorting through and editing (like living my vacation twice, only with a more work attached to it). So, there will be plenty of European love to share here, but in the meantime here is a little taste one of the amazing stops.

This month's image was taken right off the coast of the French Riviera in a seaside resort town called Villefranche, France (Villefranche-sur-Mer). It was a breathtaking combo of colorful buildings, green seawater and blue sky for days. This one of my favorite stops and I thought this stop really captured the first moment stepping off the boat into the beautiful place.

To get your own, simply click the size you want below and set as your background however you do Mac and PC people. I have 4 widths for you this month.

1280x857
1200x803
1024x685
800x535

Enjoy!

Cleaning up Shop - Vacation

snapshotsbystacy@gmail.com (Stacy) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:19:00 +0000

Hi my Internet, blog-loving friends. This post is just a little cleaning up shop before I lock the doors and take a little "vay-cay". I'll be out of the Internet world for the next week without access to email or Internet. Please feel free to email any inquiries to snapshotsbystacy@gmail.com, just please be aware that you won't get a response until I return and then I will do my best once I get settled to respond.

I do apologize to any of you who inquire through my website. You won't receive my automatic 'out of office' message. That message keeps going back to my web hosting provider and not to the inquirer's email and I will be honest, I wasn't savvy enough to find a quick solution. I hope you got curious as to why I was lame and didn't write you back and checked out the blog only to find I am not totally lame, just not IT department awesome. =)

See you all on the flipside with vacation photos to boot! Enjoy some pretty flower photos from Luhty Botanical Gardens in Peoria until then.

Happy 4th of July (Photographing Fireworks)

snapshotsbystacy@gmail.com (Stacy) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:57:00 +0000

Hey guys! I hope you are all ready for a fun weekend of grilling, family, outdoor games, pool parties, sparklers and of course fireworks!

I'll be riding my bicycle a crazy 120 miles this weekend with my hubby, my parents, and some bike friends. It should be lots of fun. I won't have a chance to photograph any fireworks this weekend, but for any of you photo buffs out there who want to try it, here are some settings to try.

Tripod - you will want a tripod so that you can use slow enough shutter speeds to capture the firework trails.
You will either want a cable release or remote trigger so that you don't bump the camera during your long exposure. Don't have one of those? Some camera have a 2 second delay so that when you push the shutter button you have 2 seconds before the shutter releases or if you don't have that you can always put your camera on the self-timer (this is a little slower and more random, but it will work.) Bulb mode works great if you have that as well.

Think about what lens you want and how you want to frame your shots. I like mine zoomed in without the crowd around me, but you if you want to capture the surroundings, then you may want to shoot a wide angle.

Shoot in Manual at a low ISO if you can. Too high of an ISO and all those black areas of the night sky can really show noise.
Focus at infinity and turn your auto focus off. Auto focus is not your friend in the dark. It is just going to hunt for a focus point. (Personal note - I'm not a fast manual focuser, so I kept my autofocus on, and since it needs something to focus on, I would focus on the fading previous burst, but I wouldn't release the shutter until the next burst started so that I had a full 4 seconds on the burst I was photographing.)

A good starting combo is somewhere around f/11 and a 3-4 second shutter speed. (If 4 seconds looks over exposed, back off to 3 seconds, etc.) Remember, you want long enough to capture the full burst of the firework, so if you need longer time, then you will need to increase your f-stop.

Practice the timing. You want to catch the firework at the beginning of the burst for the best effect. I've learned that shooting when the first set of fireworks goes off is the best. Toward the end of a series, there is so much smoke in the sky, it really shows up in your shots. I wait until it clears again and then resume shooting.

Don't forget you can make fun long exposures and light paint with sparklers as well.

Be SAFE!!! (Especially with those sparklers, peeps!)

Here are shots I took at last year's fireworks display in Peoria. These were all taken at ISO 100, f/11, and 4 seconds.

July Desktop Calendar

snapshotsbystacy@gmail.com (Stacy) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:58:00 +0000

Is it really July already?! Where is this year going? Seriously, time is just flying by.
Well, July is a busy month with fireworks, cookouts, and vacations. I've got all those things coming up, plus a little bike riding to boot.

This month's image was shot just a few weeks ago along the Peoria riverfront. If you are in the area, you will surely recognize the Murray Baker Bridge and downtown Peoria in the background. It was a moody evening with fast moving clouds and water as a storm was rolling in. This is one of my favorites this year and I thought the mood was perfect with all of the summer storms we get here in the Midwest.

Truth be told, on rare occasion I will actually print my own work just to see what it looks like printed. I printed this 12x24 on metallic paper and let me say it is gorgeous! If anyone wants a print, email me at snapshotsbystacy@gmail.com and I can arrange a special price just for you, my blog readers.

To get your own, simply click the size you want below and set as your background however you do Mac and PC people. I have 4 widths for you this month.

Enjoy!

Chicago: Photowalking the Windy City

snapshotsbystacy@gmail.com (Stacy) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 07:23:00 +0000

This is like sharing day in kindergarten and I'm sharing some fun I have with some other local photographers when I am not shooting fabulous couples. I usually hang with this fun and motley crew known as the "Peoria Flickr Group". We get wild ideas sometimes to attack an area with our shenanigans and take lots of photos in the process. We've made the rounds around Peoria before so we decided to take this trip on the road. Yep, we hit the rails and choo-choo'd our way up to Chi-Town for a day of fun and photography.

There were 10 of us in total: Dave, Tim, Connie, Lynn, Lily, Bill, Laura, Maria, and Ivan, and yours truly. There are actually some fun shots of everyone from the group that Dave took, you can see them here. Here is Lily, Dave, and Lynn below.

We started off the day at Union Station. It has some fantastic architecture (duh! It's Chicago, after all!)

Then we hit the streets around the Board of Trade area. The morning sky was still grey and threatened rain drops on us. We had the companions of hungry pigeons when we visited Federal Plaza and just one of Chicago's lovely sculptures. This is "Flamingo" by Alexander Calder, which was installed in 1974.

We stopped for a quick lunch break and then made a few of us made a mad dash for a sweet camera shop, Central Camera. I was on a mission to buy 620 film for a gifted Argoflex 75. After playing in the camera store and a quick lesson on how to properly load my new 620 film. We headed out to see Buckingham Fountain. After some shots with both my digital camera and the Argo, we all posed for silly "jumping" group shots. Then Bill got kissed by "Big D" the horse. Ha!

We meandered on to the Chicago Institue of Art on our way to Millennium Park. Here is a front view and a little pretty nook on the side of the building with a fountain.

Then we stopped at a more modern Sculpture at Millenium Park. This is "Cloud Gate"by Anish Kapoor, also loving referred to as "The Bean" for it's shape. The sculpture was completed in 2005.

And a quick shot taken with the Argo 75.

We spent a lot of time here taking silly photos of ourselves in the reflective surface both on the outside and underneath the bean. Then we got together again for a group "phoon". It was fun to watch all the people taking silly photos of themselves in the bean. We even saw a wedding party. I'm sure it is a popular photo op spot. I took a few more downtown building shots from here and then we wandered on again. As you can see that blah morning sky turned into gorgeous blue skies with big white, puffy clouds! I loved it!

One more Argo shot. =)

We stopped over by Wacker Drive and the Chicago River again. Here is a very cool clock on 35 East Wacker Dr. Followed by a view of the Wrigley Building and Chicago Tribune simply by turning around 360 degrees.

One of the last shots I got before we finished up the day at P.F. Chang's for some good food and conversation was this shot looking down the Chicago River. Chicago is such a cool city.

It was a really fun time and a great place to photowalk. I hope we do it again soon, maybe even at night. I'd love to capture the skyline at night and visit Buckingham Fountain again at night! I, of course, have many more photos, and if I get a chance, I will upload a few more to share.

It's All About Style

snapshotsbystacy@gmail.com (Stacy) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:30:00 +0000

I’m guest blogging today over at Central Illinois Photoblog about the importance of finding and knowing your own photographic style. So, if you are a photographer and don’t mind listening to my food though thought (that and $4.99 will buy you a cup of coffee at Starbucks), head on over there and check it out.

But, for my current brides and for any potential brides of the future, I think it is important that I share with you my photographic style. You will meet with several photographers and look through their websites and albums, and yes, you will get an idea of what to expect your own images to look like on your wedding day, but after you’ve scoured the Internet, things all start to look the same and knowing what style you want can really help narrow down your choices.

There are several factors in choosing your wedding photographer and style should be one of them. Knowing what style you want as a bride, can help you pick out a photographer that will produce the kind of end result you want and you’ll be happier in the end too. Photographers spend their lifetime developing a style and are always more engaged and produce their best work when it is their own style and something they love. You should pick a photographer who produces a look that you love as well.

In my opinion there are 3 main categories of wedding photography and many photographers actually blend a combination of these styles:

Traditional – a classic posed look where the bride and groom as well as the bridal party take direction from the photographer. This style the photographer will set up specific shots for your album and may even pull you aside during certain times to get shot. This look is very formal.

Photojournalism – this is an ever-growing, popular style of photography today. Like its namesake, it's about creating a photo journal of your day. There would be little to no posed shots and mostly candid images and honest interactions with little direction or interruption from your photographer.

Contemporary – this modern style creates more of fashion look, taking poses and cues from contemporary fashion magazines. I would consider this to be an updated version of the traditional look with the photographer posing you, but the end look is more fashion than family portrait.

So what is my style?

I am a mix of Traditional and Photojournalist. Let me explain. I do take formal portraits of the bride, the groom, your families, your bridal party, all with the intention for these to be beautiful, well lit portraits that you want in your album and framed on display around your home. I don’t think these have to be boring and blah. I always try to find interesting settings and backgrounds for these shots and I will desperately try to pull you outside to get away from all indoor portraits. I will guide you to where I want you to sit or stand, but I don’t pose every little bit of you down to your toes. I want your portraits to be beautiful, but very relaxed. I hate formals that look stiff and uncomfortable. I'm talkative and a little goofy, which is fine if that is what it takes to get a genuine smile from you while I do it.

For the times where there is already action going on, I am more of a fly on the wall. My goal here is to observe your day and catch candid moments of you getting ready, interacting with your family and friends, stealing a quiet moment with each other and trying to capture the little nuances of your day. This part is all about telling the story of your wedding. I do not interrupt the flow of your day to take a photo, I am just there to catch it as it happens. The only time I get involved is during your portraits.

I love albums, because I think of them as storybooks for your wedding. To me, an album is complete when it has both story telling moments, details shots, and relaxed family portraits. This is why I encompass both a little traditional and a little photojournalism. I need a name for my blended style. Just think of it as a modern storybook, if you will. That is what I am aiming for when I am shooting.