(Photo is Copyright Nicole S. Young – All Rights Reserved)

Image and Post by Nicole Young – Follow Nicole on Twitter

Tomorrow is Independence Day in the United States, and a large percentage of people will be out celebrating. One very traditional part of July 4th is watching fireworks displays, and if you are like me then you will probably be out with your camera tomorrow evening. Here are a few tips to help you get some great fireworks photographs:

1. Use a tripod. You need to make sure that your camera is as still and stable as possible to get the best shots.

2. If you have a cable release, be sure to bring it! If you don’t have a cable release, you can also try playing with the self-timer feature but your shots and opportunities will be limited. Some camera models have off-brand cable-releases for under $20 … if you are interested in doing any type of night or experimental photography then I highly recommend getting one.

3. Shoot in “manual” mode. Use a low ISO, set your aperture somewhere in the middle (usually between f/8 and f/16) and set your shutter speed to “bulb”. Then, as the fireworks go off, hold the shutter open for 5-10 seconds. Try a few different settings within the first minute of the show to get a good feel for the light and speed of the fireworks. (The overall exposure values are going to vary depending on the amount of ambient light/fireworks/etc; there’s really no steadfast formula.)

4. Plan ahead. Get to your location early and try to find out where the fireworks will be coming from. You want to set up your gear well before the start of the show … many of the displays go very quickly, and if you know the general direction to aim your camera then you are already one step ahead.

5. Don’t just photograph the fireworks. Look at your surroundings and see what else you can include in the photo. People? Bridges? A significant landmark? Additional elements and identifiable scenery in the frame will add a lot of depth to your image.

6. Watch for smoke. If you can figure out which direction the wind will be blowing then try to position yourself upwind so the smoke will blow away from you. Smoke will really light up with the bursts, and if it’s between you and the fireworks then your photos will suffer.

7. Minimize chimping. Fireworks displays go very quickly and if you are always checking your LCD after each shot then you will miss out on tons of great images. It’s a good idea to check your exposure every once in a while (especially right at the beginning), but once you think you have the right settings then try to curb the temptation to look at each image until after the show.

8. Want to see more bursts and fewer trails? No problem! Find a sturdy piece of black (or dark) cardboard and, when the shutter is open, cover up the lens as the fireworks are making their way to the sky. Then, right before they explode, remove the cardboard. Boom!

9. Film shooters of the world, never fear! My best fireworks photos were from my film days (one good example is the image in this post). You don’t have instant feedback like you do with digital SLRs, but you can still follow these tips and get some really good images.

10. Get creative! Getting good firework photographs consists of some planning, a lot of experimentation and a little bit of luck – there’s no way to predict what you are going to get! Just have fun with it and don’t take it too seriously; you’ll most likely end up having a really good time and will probably go home with some great photos, too.

(Photo is Copyright 2009 Nicole S. Young – All Rights Reserved)

Image and Post by Nicole Young – Follow Nicole on Twitter

I am a full-time photographer and camera gear is very important to me. I obviously need a camera, lens, and a few other accessories to successfully take a photo, but sometimes with all the hype of new equipment being announced every other week we tend to forget that it’s not the gear that makes the photograph – it’s the photographer.

The only DSLR I own is a Nikon D200, and in my opinion it is a great camera for the type of work I do, which is mostly portrait & stock photography. Not that I won’t ever upgrade, or don’t want to upgrade, but right now it’s the tool I use to pay the bills. I tend to shoot everything at ISO 100 in controlled conditions with plenty of light, so for the most part I haven’t run into many issues when trying to get the shot I am looking for.

I was recently photographing at a rodeo where, after the sun was set, the conditions called for extremely fast shutter-speeds at high-ISO levels. This is a scenario I’m usually not in, and I was definitely feeling a bit inadequate. I couldn’t compete with my friends and fellow photographers who were sporting Nikon D700, D2X, and Canon 5D Mark II cameras. My D200 only goes to ISO 1600 … and even with an f/2.8 lens I was out of luck. So what did I do? I got creative.

Several times throughout the evening I was tempted to put my camera down and just sit back and enjoy the show … how was I going to get anything good with my D200? But the stubborn photographer inside of me kept on going. I walked around the stadium and saw a cowboy perched on a fence facing the arena, so I got behind him, sat down and took a few shots. Yes, I was at my highest ISO and the image is crazy noisy, but it ended up being my favorite shot of the night. I told a story of the entire evening with this one photo, something I wasn’t able to do with the hundred or so other images I took of bull-riders and barrel-racers. I didn’t let my gear get me down; instead I was persistent and did the very best with what I had and ended up with an amazing photograph.

This week I am celebrating the one year anniversary of my switch to Nikon from Canon. After 17 years as a Canon user, I switched – mostly because no Canon camera could come close to the performance of the Nikon D3.

So what have I learned in a year?

That the camera brand wars still rage on. People are actually ANGRY at me because I switched. Go figure. I’ve also learned that the two companies are very different.

Nikon is a bit more forthcoming when it screws up. Canon kept the 1D MK III autofocus debacle a secret as long as they could.

Canon has much more responsive, effective and affordable service. Nikon’s service is slow, expensive and not all that helpful.

There are holes in both company’s lens lineups. The Canon 70-200 F/2.8 is better than the equivalent Nikon. Canon has the 400 DO – a lens I miss. Most Canon lenses have motors built in. Most Nikon lenses do not. The Nikon lens line up includes the 200-400 F/4 VR – a lens most Canon shooters would give their eye teeth for. I could go on, but you get the idea. Neither system is perfect, especially when it comes to lenses.

Canon’s ETTL flash system was better than Nikon’s equivalent in the 90s. Not any more. The Nikon CLS system performs better than the Canon system in my mind, but not by much.

The autofocus and the low-light noise performance are the two biggest stand out differences between the flagship Nikon sports camera and the flagship Canon sports camera. The D3’s autofocus is much, much better than the Canon 1D MK III’s autofocus. The Nikon’s autofocus is quicker and more reliable. The low-light performance of the D3 is nothing short of spooky. I regularly shoot at ISO 2200 and cannot believe the results. They’re publication quality as long as you have at least a decent amount of light.

The Canon high-end bodies offer built-in sensor cleaning solutions. Alas, the D3’s sensor does not and needs constant attention. I’m used to it now, but for this kind of money that’s still something I miss.

The D3 does lots of little things very well, like provide you with a built-in level, allows for better navigation and offers a more robust user experience. The locking flash shoe is just another example of a small thing that makes a big difference. The flash stays put on a D3 once it’s locked into position. There’s a built-in selectable viewfinder grid on the Nikon – not on the Canon. The Nikon allows customizable name and Copyright embedding in the EXIF data from the camera – Canon does not. Ergonomically – the Nikon gets the nod. It’s just my opinion, but since I am the one shooting the camera – it’s the only opinion that matters to me when I am buying my own gear.

I feel lucky to have so many Nikon educational resources available to me. Shows like Scott Kelby’s D-Town, Nikon’s own web site, the Nikonians, and others have helped me get up to speed on a new system. I am completely comfortable with the Nikon system now.

I’m still building out my lens collection. It’s a bit of trial and error so far, but some of my favorites are the 14-24 F/2.8, the 24-70 F/2.8, new 50mm F/1.4, the 16mm Fisheye F/2.8 and the AF-S VR MICRO ED105 F/2.8.

I have other lenses that I like too from Nikon but I haven’t become fully acclimated to them. I am still learning the Nikon system but I do feel like part of a new accepting family of fellow-Nikon shooters.

Ultimately the switch for me wasn’t about which company made a better camera. They both make great cameras. The switch was about which company made a better camera to suit my style of photography.

I’m often asked if I’d ever switch back? My answer is simple. If Canon builds a system that’s as much an improvement on the D3 as the D3 was on the 1D MK III – then yes – unless of course Nikon also ups the ante. The good news is that there are choices. These cameras we can buy today are so much better than ANYTHING we could buy 30 years ago that there’s no reason to worry any more about gear. Now if I could only find a place to order more patience, time for practice and wisdom. Then my photography would really take off.

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This site is made possible by sponsorship from:
Lensbaby
HONL Photo
ScanCafe.com

I am conducting an experiment – I am hoping that by sharing some of my images for use on iPhone/iPod Touches – folks will respect my Copyrights. Either way – enjoy. It’s my thank you for being a part of the community at Photofocus. Here’s what you need to know:

All iPhone/iPod Touch Wallpapers are provided as it without warranty. Each image is 320×480 pixels @72PPI. All images – Copyright Scott Bourne All Rights Reserved. You are granted a single use, non-exclusive, perpetual license to install this wallpaper on any iPhone or iPod Touch personally owned by you. This license grants you the right to use the wallpaper for non-commercial/personal use only. You may not re-sell, distribute, print or otherwise publish the image without the express written consent of the Copyright owner – bournemediagroup@gmail.com.

1. Right-click or control-click on the image.

2. Select “Save as…” and save the image to your hard drive.

* Mac users can either save the image to a folder or add it to their iPhoto library.
* PC users save the wallpaper into their “My Pictures” folder.

Connect the iPhone/iPod Touch to your computer and do the following:

1. Launch iTunes, click your iPhone icon on iTunes, choose the Photos tab, and select “Sync photos from:”

2. From the pop-up menu, do one of the following:

* If your using a Mac, choose iPhoto or your Pictures folder.
* If you’re using a PC, choose My Pictures folder.

3. Choose Folder, then choose any folder on your computer that has images.

4. Choose “All photos,” or choose “Selected folders” or “Selected albums” and choose the folders or albums you want to sync.

On your iPhone:

5. Launch the Photos app. Browse through the albums or Camera Roll until you find the picture you wish to use.

6. Select the picture so it is displayed full screen.

7. Tap the icon in the lower left corner of the screen. If you don’t see the icon, single tap the picture to display the menus.

8. A menu pops up with three options: Email Photo, Use as Wallpaper, or Assign to Contact.

9. Choose “Use as Wallpaper”.

Alternate Instructions for iPhone/iPod touch:
1. Visit http://bit.ly/10cSwv (this post) in Safari on your iPhone/iPod Touch
2. Touch and Hold on the image.
3. A popup will come up touch Save Image
4. Exit Safari and goto Settings
5. Touch Wallpaper
6. Choose Camera Roll
7. Choose the saved picture
8. Touch Set
9. Apply

This post sponsored by HONL – Expo Imaging

Copyright Scott Bourne 2009 - All Rights Reserved

In the latest Batman movie, there’s a line by the Joker – “I don’t have a plan – I’m just like a dog that spends all day chasing cars.”

Man this hit me right between the eyes. It describes the difference between how I shot as a rank amateur and how I shoot as a pro. When I first started in photography, I never had a plan. I’d just point my camera at anything I passed by. I lacked focus. I wasted a bunch of time. I’d get lucky once in a while, but if I were really honest, I wouldn’t be able to tell you why some photos worked and some didn’t. I was like a dog who spent his days chasing cars. I wasn’t even sure what I’d do if I caught one.

Now, I don’t chase cars. I resist the urge to point my camera at every pretty thing that moves. Instead, I work exclusively on a project. I work a plan. That’s the difference between clueless Scott who didn’t get it and clued in Scott who does. Now don’t get me wrong – there’s always a place for fun and experimentation – but there’s also a time to get serious.

Go out with your camera and have a plan. Plan to shoot colors, or shapes or patterns. Plan to shoot with only one lens no matter what. Plan to shoot only people named Jim. Have a project and focus your attention solely on that – then you’ll be on the path to “getting it.”

Last March, I obtained UDMA 8GB and 16GB Compact Flash cards from Hoodman, SanDisk, Lexar and Delkin. I wanted to test them in a real world setting – over a three month period. While I don’t have an EE degree, nor any fancy test equipment, I do know the difference between a good card and a bad one — a fast one and a slow one. I’m not going to bore you with all the details of each test. This isn’t that kind of post. I’ll mention a few numbers, but this post is really about what I think in general after using all this stuff in the real world AND in the lab.

Since switching to Nikon I was particularly interested in UDMA (Ultra Direct Memory Access) cards since my D3 was UDMA compliant. In my tests, I also used the high-speed, UDMA Firewire 800 card readers supplied by each manufacturer where available.

While the marketing materials for every company were a bit optimistic regarding speed and throughput, it was an apples to apples test – since all cards were used in the same camera, shooting similar subjects and downloading to the same computer.

Then, just to make sure I wasn’t experiencing some abnormal behavior, I switched cameras and computers and tested again – over a period of more than a month with each camera and machine combo. There were very minute statistical differences in the results too small to measure.

Every time the results came out the same. The Lexar Professional UDMA 300x Speed CF card/reader combo gave the best results in my Nikon D3 bodies compared to the other brands I tested.

But speed isn’t everything, so I also tested reliability. We ran 10,000 files onto and off of each card and through each reader multiple times. I am glad to say that most of the cards (from any manufacturer) held up very well. We abused the cards, passing them from camera to camera, computer to computer and back. We formatted them on the computer sometimes (not recommended) and other times in the camera (recommended.) There were only two data failures with any of the cards and even those were recoverable. The Lexar had no data loss in any of our tests. (I’m not going to mention the maker of the card that failed because we tortured it and I don’t think it would be fair to that company to do that.)

I tested transfer speeds and got consistent results in the 27-27.5 MB/s range using the Lexar 300X 16GB card/Lexar UDMA Firewire card reader. That’s slower than they advertise but faster than any other card in my camera. These tests were using RAW files generated by my D3. I got slightly faster transfer rates using the Lexar 8GB, but barely enough to mention.

Transfer to and from the computer was blazingly fast using all of the UDMA card readers with one strange result. We consistently got better results from the Hoodman UDMA USB reader than we did their FIrewire 800 reader. Go figure.

The Lexar 16GB UDMA Card comes with Image Rescue 3. I’d like to note that Image Rescue 3 does NOT work with the latest version of the Mac OS. When I contacted Lexar about this they said they will be addressing this issue in a future version of Image Rescue. That’s not a lot to go on but you may want to keep this in mind if you plan on banking on the Image Rescue software to get you out of trouble in an emergency if you use the latest Mac OS.

The good news is that the Lexar cards were not the most expensive in my test, but were the fastest and the most reliable IN MY CAMERA. If you’re interested in UDMA, you’re probably fine with any major brand of UDMA CF card. I think most of them are OEM’d out of the same two factories – that said, the cards are made to different specs.

This all probably means very little to you if you don’t have a camera that supports UDMA. It may mean something to you (but not as much as it does to me) if you shoot Canon or with a different UDMA camera. Results can vary from camera to camera.

Scott Bourne Contest Update III

From time to time (as in several times a week) I give away prizes of interest to photographers and Mac users. Some of the prizes I’ve recently given away include: FotoMagico, a free year of online backup at Backjack.com, a Rick Sammon Tote from Westcott, a free year of online training at Lynda.com, the RayFlash ring light adapter, copies of my own photo gallery prints, photo books, ScanCafe gift certificates, Lensbaby lenses, and more.

The base rules for my contests are:

a. You must be at least 18 years of age.
b. The contests are void where prohibited by law.
c. All taxes are the responsibility of the winner.
d. Some contests are restricted to US residents.

To be eligible to win, do any one or all of the following: (Doing ALL increases your chances of winning.)

1: Place a link on your website or blog to http://www.photofocus.com..
2: Place a link on your website or blog to http://www.mydl.me.
3. Follow me on Twitter.
4. Send this Tweet out ONE TIME if (AND ONLY IF) you think my contests are a good idea…

“Follow http://www.twitter.com/scottbourne for a chance to win cool prizes for photographers. Details here: http://bit.ly/cnWXt”

If you are already following me and/or have links to my sites, you’re already eligible to win.

There’s no need to RT about the contest more than once. It doesn’t improve your chances of winning.

We check our referral logs to find your links. We check my Twitter account for a list of followers. We throw all that information at a random number generator and pick a winner.

I promise to (as in the past) make sure that you get plenty of good content from me here on Twitter in between the giveaways.

Thanks for your support.

Copyright Scott Bourne 2005 - All Rights Reserved

Recently, David duChemin started an interesting discussion on Twitter about photography as art or commerce and how that impacts whether or not someone is a “real” photographer.

David is an artist. I’m not going to represent his point of view here. He’s very good at that and you should be reading his blog at http://www.pixelatedimage.com/blog/ if you are interested in his opinion. Personally, I read his blog regularly and find his posts very thought-provoking.

My purpose for writing today is to say that there is something about photography as art that I aspire to – but that for me – photography as commerce makes more sense.

There are two groups of photographers. (Actually there are more than two groups – but for the purpose of this discussion there are two I will mention.) There’s one group who thinks that if you are an “artist,” your photography is somehow more pure, or valuable than it is if you are a professional who shoots for pay.

The other group of professionals tends to value photographic works based on the money they generate and who are more concerned about getting paid for a photo than they are creating art. I must confess that I fall closer to the latter. I have at time described myself as a “photographic artist,” but the adjective “artist” has always made me feel uncomfortable when I use it to describe myself. I have at times no doubt created art with my camera. But more frequently, I’ve created products. And for me, that works.

David made some fantastic points in his discussion of art versus commerce in photography. He’s far more articulate and eloquent than I am. I agree with everything he said in his post – but for different reasons. You see, I don’t think we should be wasting time defining this person or that as a “real” photographer based on whether or not they get paid. But I also don’t think we should be wasting time defining people as “real” photographers just because they DON’T get paid. There are elitists on both sides. (And by the way David is NOT an elitist.)

What’s it all mean? Who knows. But I do know this. It’s the image that counts, not what you call the person responsible for the image. The picture is what matters. It’s what always has mattered most. It’s what always will matter most.

Go out and make pictures. Charge for them or not. But make them.

Image and Post by Rick Sammon – Follow Rick Sammon on Twitter

Here’s the shortest tip that I have ever given: Shoot!

The more pictures you take, and the more you experiment in the digital darkroom, the more creative you become – and the more creative surprises you’ll get. Here is one example.

I was experimenting shooting panos at the New Croton Dam (five minutes from my house in Croton-on-Hudson, NY) with my Canon G10. My plan was to process these snapshots in Photoshop CS4’s Photomerge (which is about a million times improved from earlier versions.)

Due to the perspective (tilting the camera slightly upward,) I had the feeling that I might get a very strange looking pano. Well, guess what? I did. Photomerge did indeed, produce a distorted image – but it’s an image that I really like. Sure, the dam is not rounded, but for this image, I embraced the distortion.

So get out there and shoot. Experiment – in camera and in the digital darkroom. You may be quite surprised with a newfound creative effect – like I was with my dam pano.

And for all you keen-eye photographers, I did selectively dodge and burn my pano – just a bit.

P.S. If you have not tried Photomerge, give it a try. It’s truly amazing.

Original Photo

Here’s my take on Country Road. It’s a nice photo that offers lots of chances to make up your own story. But like some of the previous images, I think there’s too much info here. One of the posters in our critique group spotted this too. I think by cropping out much of the info on the right, we make the image stronger. I also did something I very rarely do. I changed the aspect ratio a bit to make the photo slightly narrower. Then I converted to a high contrast B&W because those big puffy clouds just cry out for a B&W scene.

Scott's Critique

When you frame an image, ask yourself if you couldn’t exclude something to make for a tighter composition. Then you don’t have to do it in post.

Remember – there’s no right or wrong here – just opinions. The goal of these critiques is to get you thinking about how you can improve your work before you get back to the computer. If you’re not participating in the group, feel free to join here. ScottCritiques Flickr Group.