What is a Sensor?

A visual comparison of the Crop Sensor on a Canon Rebel T4i (left) and a Full Frame Sensor on a Canon 5D Mark III.

Every digital camera, even your point-and-shoot, has a sensor inside of it. In the simplest of terms, all these sensors do is convert an optical image (light) into an electronic signal which can be read as digital information–an image you download and can see, edit, and share. Your point-and-shoots have tiny, little sensors inside of them and for the most part they do a good job of converting light into digital information you can use–a photograph!

Some of you may have heard people carry on about the “size” of their camera’s sensors. The reason they care about this is because dynamic range and low-light sensitivity generally improves as the size of the sensor increases.

Defining Crop Sensors and Full Frame Sensors

35 mm (1.4 in) wide film (36×24 mm). Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

A piece of 35mm film measures approximately 36 x 24mm in size, and that’s the size of the sensor in Full Frame cameras like the Nikon D4 and the Canon 5D Mark III. Full frame sensor cameras are among some of the most expensive DSLRs you can buy. However, you can buy a DSLR camera with small sensor and still experience much greater image quality than you can from your average point-and-shoot. Cameras like the Nikon D7100 and the Sony A77 have APS-C-sized (or “cropped”) sensors that measure about 23.6 x 15.7mm (this varies slightly among manufacturers) vs the average point-and-shoot sensor which runs about 11mms when measured diagonally.

Something else you should know about Crop Sensor Cameras

One of the fun things about advancing from your point-and-shoot to a DSLR is the ability to change out your lens. Lens types are described in two ways: focal length (size of the lens) and max aperture.

The max aperture, the f/stop reading when the lens is “wide open”, stays the same regardless of camera. Shooting at f/1.2 is the same no matter what kind of camera you use. You are letting in more light than when the lens is set to shoot at f/8.

The focal length of a lens, however, is subjective. On a Full Frame camera, like the Canon 5D Mark III or Nikon D800, a 50mm lens is a 50mm lens. That’s because the focal length of the lens is measured based on the standard 35mm film size–a size that lenses are built to accommodate.

However, on a Crop Sensor camera, like the Nikon D7100 or Canon T4i, your 50mm lens becomes, effectively, a 75mm lens (sometimes even 80mms if the sensor is even smaller). Since the sensor is smaller, it’s only seeing a portion of the image the lens is trying to project onto it. In effect, the smaller sensor is “cropping” the image being transmitted to it by the lens – hence the term Crop Sensor. This change in size is not a physical one–your 50mm lens is still a 50mm lens no matter what it is attached to. However, the results are different depending on your camera’s sensor and that is what it means when you hear that a lens of a certain length is “effectively” another length.

Sometimes you will hear the term “Magnification Factor” when referring to Crop Sensor cameras and the effect they have on perceived lens length. The lens isn’t shooting at a focal length that is any longer than what the lens actually is. The image appears magnified on the smaller sensor producing a narrower angle of view. Again, your 50mm is still a 50mm–but the resulting image is not what we think of as 50mms when shot on a Crop Sensor camera.

A Full Frame sensor (35mm) sees the entire tree. The Cropped Sensor sees only part of the tree. The lens remains the same but the angle of view, and what we see in the final image, is different. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

So Crop Sensor Cameras are Worse than Full Frame Cameras?

Not necessarily. Sure, Full Frame DSLRs are receiving more information than Crop Sensor ones are and they certainly make the math on what lens to choose a no-brainer. But some photographers strategically choose Crop Sensor over Full Frame.

For one, Crop Sensor cameras tend to be cheaper but still pack a lot of quality punch, Nikon’s D7100 and Canon’s 60D being notable examples. Also, photographers who like doing telephoto photography enjoy the extra bump having a Crop Sensor gives to the lenses they use. If you are out birding, having a 70-200mm lens read like a 112-320mm (or thereabouts) lens is certainly a good thing! And, above all, even a Crop Sensor DSLR is going to provide a huge jump in quality for the average point-and-shoot user.

I’m Using a Crop Sensor Camera – How Do I Figure Out the “Length” of my Lens?

Warning: math. However, it is very easy math. If you know you have a Crop Sensor camera and it is a Canon, you can multiply your lens’ length by 1.6. For Nikon and Sony, it is 1.5. There are only two exceptions to this rule and that is for the Canon 1D Mark III and the Canon 1D Mark IV, for which you use 1.3.

Don’t panic. Finding your focal length on a Cropped Sensor camera is easy.

Let’s say you have a Canon T4i. This is a very popular first DSLR for beginning photographers. Let’s say you want to use the also very popular Canon 24-70:

24 x 1.6 = 38.4

70 x 1.6 = 112

Your 24-70mm lens just became a nearly 40-112mm lens!

This is good to know because if you are shooting a wedding and you are in a very small chapel, the 24mm would be perfect but having nearly 40mms instead might be too tight to capture the scene. However, if you are shooting from the balcony and need to photograph the couple’s kiss, 112mms is likely more useful than 70mms.

So, in short, as a general rule: Crop Sensor cameras make lenses appear less wide than they say and also longer than what they say. This is one of the appealing things about a Full Frame camera–what you see is what you get in terms of lens focal length.

Conclusion

We hope this gives you a better understanding of what a Crop Sensor camera will mean for your lens selection versus a Full Frame camera. We also hope that this information has better equipped you with the knowledge you will need to help you successfully choose your next camera.

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Nikon D7100 – Cropped Sensor for Night Photography?
by David Kingham

After my previous test The Best Nikon for Night Photography, I was bombarded with requests to test the new contender in the APS-C sensor arena–the Nikon D7100. The initial numbers from DXOMark looked very promising for a cropped sensor. Previous cropped sensor bodies do not fare well with the extremely high ISO’s needed for night photography.

Set Up

I needed a benchmark to compare the D7100 to so I choose the Nikon D600 as a comparison because it’s the closest, price wise, and is the next logical step up from the D7100. The D600 also fared extremely well against the other full frame bodies I previously tested. So I felt this was a fair test of APS-C vs. Full Frame sensors.

For the test, I needed a fast, wide angle lens. For the D7100, I choose the Tokina 11-16 f/2.8, which is a stellar performer when shooting wide open. For the D600, I choose the Rokinon 24mm 1.4. I set both lens at f/2.8 to level the playing field and I set the Tokina to 16mm to match the equivalent focal length of the 24mm.

Build

The build of these cameras are nearly identical. The D7100 is a bit smaller and some of the buttons are moved around but, overall, it felt like using the same camera. I will note that the virtual horizon in the viewfinder of the D7100 is very similar to the D800, with the gray indicators that you cannot see at night. The D600 uses the meter instead, which is much nicer to use in the dark. Also, the smaller viewfinder of the D7100 made it much harder to compose a scene at night.

Live View

Due to the smaller sensor, and its limited ISO capabilities, I was not able to find a star in live view to focus on. Although I use hyperfocal most of the time, it is much harder to achieve with a zoom lens. I took several test shots at different focus points to learn where this lens had the sharpest stars and, eventually, I found that spot to be past infinity, strangely. This would have been much easier to confirm with Live View, but it’s not a deal breaker.

Image Quality

Since the cameras have nearly the same resolution, I did not resize the samples. They are simply screenshots of the raw files in Lightroom 4.

First up are the overall shots with no adjustments applied–except correcting the white balance.

Exposure: 20 Seconds, f/2.8, ISO 6400.

You can clearly see a marked difference in the exposure, even though they were taken with the exact same settings. I am unsure if this is due to the lens or the body. My guess would be a difference in how much the aperture actually physically opens between the lenses. This was unexpected and, in retrospect, I wish I would have used the same lens on both bodies even with the different focal lengths to know for sure. I found the difference to be about 2/3 of a stop, so this is not a perfect side-by-side test. It will give you adequate information to decide if the D7100 is good enough for your needs, though.

Next are 100% crops of the sky and foreground of the previous shot. The sky looks fairly similar, with a bit more color and luminance noise in the D7100. Not bad so far.

©David Kingham

Now we take a look at the foreground.

©David Kingham

We’re starting to see where full frame has a distinct advantage. The D7100 has significantly more noise and the detail in Devils Tower is non-existent. With the D600, you can make out the ‘bear claw marks’ or the rock columns on the sides of the tower.

Next I edited each file using my standard processing techniques to create the best possible image with the data in the raw file. I did not use the same settings, I processed each uniquely to get the best results possible.

Overall the look of the D600 images are much better. The color and clarity make the image stand out. I simply could not get the image from the D7100 to look as good as the D600.

©David Kingham

This time around I decided to push beyond the manufacturers’ ‘in-spec’ ISO ratings. I set each camera to H2.0, or ISO 25,600 (both of their maximum ISO’s). My expectations were low.

©David Kingham

The D600 was shockingly good! I could actually see myself utilizing this ISO when using an f/2.8 lens. The D7100, on the other hand, is clearly out of its league at this point. Heavy grain and the glaringly obvious purple sensor amp on the bottom of the image is a deal killer–not usable at all at this ISO (but I didn’t expect it to be).

Here is a crop of the foreground. The heavy grain, loss of detail and purple in the shadows of the D7100 are obvious.

©David Kingham

Another crop of the sky (disregard the sloppy focus). Luminance noise is fairly acceptable on the D600.

©David Kingham

Finally, an edited version of each.

©David Kingham

Full resolution jpegs can be downloaded here (all are un-edited):

Nikon D600 ISO 6400

Nikon D7100 ISO 6400

Nikon D600 ISO 25,600

Nikon D7100 ISO 25,600

Conclusion

If you’re heavily invested in the DX format, or you want to get into night photography the cheapest way possible and still have stunning results, the Nikon D7100 is an extremely good choice. I’m stunned that a cropped sensor could have acceptable results at ISO 6400, with 24MP nonetheless. This camera is of very high quality and I wouldn’t hesitate recommending it to anyone who is just starting out. Paired with the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8, you’ll have a killer combo to start shooting the night skies.

It’s still not full frame, though. The D600 blows the D7100 out of the water in my opinion. When looking at the sky, there isn’t a huge difference, but what’s really important to me for shooting night landscapes is having shadow detail in the foreground. Having a great foreground is the key factor to making your night images stand out from the crowd. Having the ability to see the foreground, even on a moonless night, is huge. If you’re serious about getting the best night images possible, the D7100 will not get you there–you need to step it up to full frame.

Bonus Review: Tokina 11-16 2.8

As a bonus I have a small review of the Tokina 11-16 f/2.8 lens. This is the original version of this lens–not the newest model which reportedly performs slightly better (I will be comparing these 2 lenses soon).

The center of the frame is extremely sharp–a bit sharper than the Rokinon 24mm f/1.4. When looking at the edges, though, the sharpness falls off dramatically.

©David Kingham

You can see the extreme distortion stretching out the stars and making them much softer. The Rokinon has a strong advantage here and overall is much better quality.

You must consider that your options are very limited in this focal length for DX lenses that have an aperture of f/2.8. When taking that into consideration, this lens is extremely good with very little coma wide open at 11mms and almost no coma at 16mm. Also, overall sharpness isn’t too bad. The stretching of the stars in the corners is the only issue, which is only exacerbated by using the lens profile correction.

Bonus Review No. 2: Nikon 35mm 1.8G

I had high hopes for this lens with its aspherical elements. I was immediately disappointed when I put the lens on the D7100, though. I was surprised to see there was no focus scale–absolutely no indication of your focus. This lens was meant strictly for autofocus and using this lens with manual focus is a huge guessing game. Since Live View does not perform well enough on the D7100 (even at f/1.8), I had no way to focus except to take a shot, check the LCD, slightly refocus, and repeat over and over again.

I did finally get it in focus to check the quality. If you can get to this point then the lens is fairly good–sharp in the center with only a slight drop in sharpness in the corners and almost no coma at f/1.8. The biggest flaw is significant glow around the brightest stars, which doesn’t go away until f/2.8.

©David Kingham

This lens is the equivalent to a 50mm lens on full frame–not a focal length I use terribly often at night. If you’re looking for some complementary lenses to the Tokina 11-16mm, I would recommend the Rokinon 24mm f/1.4 and the Rokinon 35mm f/1.4. The added benefit of these lenses is that they will be compatible with a full frame body if you decide to upgrade someday. The Nikon 35mm f/1.8G is for cropped sensors only. I cannot recommend this lens for night photography unless your budget is extremely tight and you need this focal length–but be prepared for frustration.

To read more from David Kingham, check out his blog here.

If you have any great night photography to share, please include it in the comments below and let us know what you shot with!

Nikon D800e Digital SLR

Leica M9 Rangefinder Digital SLR

Canon EOS 60D Digital SLR

Fuji X100 Digital Rangefinder with 35mm f/2 lens

Remember, if you place your order this week by 11:59 PST, Sunday, May 26th, 2013 you can always schedule your rental anytime this year and STILL get the 25% off on your item!

Happy shooting, everyone!

Our friends over at Custom SLR gave us a gift and we want to share it with you! Put in an order to be shipped out today* and receive a free ProDot for you to keep (while supplies last). Order soon before we run out! Good for local orders, too.

*May 15th, 2013, before 2pm EST if shipping from our East Coast Headquarters (before 2pm PST if shipping from our West Coast Headquarters).

5 Features for Adobe Lightroom 5
by Jay Goodrich, reposted here with permission.

This is Episode 3 of Goodrich’s In the Office series of photography tutorials. See more of Goodrich’s work here and stay tuned for more great videos from him here on our blog! To see Episode 2, click here.

Until recently, Canon’s 800mm f/5.6 lens has been about the longest lens currently in production by one of the big manufacturers. The longest lens on the Nikon side has been the 600mm f/4, which I took out for a spin not too long ago.

Now, Nikonians have their own cannon (yes, pun intended) to play with. The Nikon AF-S 800mm f/5.6E FL ED VR lens is finally shipping, and we’ve got them in our inventory for rental. I took this behemoth out for a test to see just what Nikon packed into it. Last week, I posted sample images from that shoot; here’s the full review.

A Bad Start

My experience with the 800mm began poorly. I took the lens out with a D4, an Induro AT–413 tripod and a Custom Brackets gimbal head to one of my favorite birding spots in the Redwood Shores region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Every spring, these black-and-white birds call Black Skimmers show up around here, and make for some excellent photo opportunities.

Black Skimmer

They gather around the shoreline, and fly low over bodies of water, letting their lower beaks dip into the water as they fly, trying to snap up small fish. Get lucky, and you can walk away with an image of one with its beak creating a wake through water, which is what I was aiming for.

Well, things didn’t start out well. I set up everything, balanced the lens on the gimbal, and started shooting.

Immediately, I noticed that the lens was incredibly slow to focus. For static subjects, it was fine – you could zero in on them and shoot from here to kingdom come. But try and focus on moving subjects – especially fast-moving ones like birds in flight — and I was lucky if I achieved focus at all, let alone keeping it locked on a swooping Skimmer.

Missed focus on a Skimmer

It was an exercise in frustration. No matter how I adjusted the AF settings on the D4, I could not get the 800mm lens to focus properly. I was ending up, on average, with perhaps 30% of my shots in focus.

I knew I was doing something wrong. No way Nikon would let loose such a poorly performing lens. No freaking way.

Dang Computers

As it turns out, I wasn’t doing something wrong as far as my technique goes, but I did figure out what I needed to do. These modern cameras and lenses are veritable computing machines, every bit as they are imaging machines. My D4 needed a firmware update to cope with the new lens. I was running v1.02, whereas the latest firmware was v.1.05, which specifically added support for the 800mm lens.

So, I updated the firmware on the D4, and headed back out.

Hallelujah!

The difference was night and day. Suddenly, the lens and camera was locking and tracking onto subjects moving faster than I could swing that gimbal around to keep up with them, increasing my accuracy to more than I’d hoped.

In the burst of 33 images below, there is one that’s definitely out of focus and only two more besides that aren’t acceptably sharp to my eyes. That little duck was hauling butt while the combo of the 800mm and D4 kept up with it even when it crossed in front of dense foliage might have otherwise fooled an AF sensor.

With a firmware update, the D4/800mm combo locked and held focus beautifully.

Form-factor and Handling

At over 10 pounds, this isn’t a lens you’ll be hand-holding. I tried, once. Didn’t bother doing it again. Even with VR, you’re not gonna be getting many sharp images with it.

The 800mm is built like Nikon’s 600mm f/4 lens – lots of smooth plastic and rubberized surfaces. There are the standard AF memory buttons and switches to set VR and focus modes and distance limits. The unit ships with both, a standard tripod foot that adapts well to the long plates used by gimbal heads, as well as a lower-profile foot that reduces the mounted height of the lens.

The D4 with the Nikon 800mm lens.

In what is definitely a departure from the norm, the 800mm also ships with a 1.25x teleconverter specially designed for this lens. This teleconverter, which turns the 800mm f/5.6 lens into a 1000mm f/7.1 lens, is not meant for use with other Nikon lenses — or so Nikon says. I didn’t try to test the veracity of that statement.

Performance

Once the firmware issue was resolved, the lens performed like a champ. It was every bit as snappy as the 600mm f/4, and perhaps a hair more so, when it came to locking onto a subject. With the D4 driving it, it nailed focus accurately and kept it locked, even when the subject crossed in front of foliage, which can sometimes break focus.

With the teleconverter, there was a barely noticeable slowdown in focusing speed. Some really fast subjects did cause me to loose focus for a second as the lens compensated, but I soon learned to adapt to that.

The biggest issue I found was that after having gotten used to a 600mm lens, the additional reach of the 800 – to say nothing about the 1000mm reach with the teleconverter – was a bit tricky to work with. Tracking subjects is just a bit harder due to the narrower field of view, and you have to work even harder when the teleconverter is on.

The included 1.25x Teleconverter. Image courtesy Nikon.

Even more important than the reach issue is the depth of field. At 800mm and f/5.6, it’s thin – almost razor thin. I’m glad the lens’ focus is dead-on accurate and fast; if it weren’t, that slim DoF would be a total killer. You can, of course, close down to f/8 or higher, but thankfully, unless your subject requires a deeper DoF, you don’t need to.

Since I had the lens on a gimbal head and was shooting at a reasonably high shutter speed, I turned Vibration Reduction off for the most part. However, it still came in handy when I was shooting the San Francisco skyline from Treasure Island. There, despite locking the gimbal down completely, vibrations from passing cars and the footfalls of large crowds of tourists caused a bit of shake in the setup.

Switching Vibration Reduction on to “Normal” solved this issue for me. The 800mm can detect when it’s mounted on a tripod, and and reduces vibration from shutter release and other minor interference, solving that problem for me. The resulting images were sharp as they get – and, as you’ll see in a bit, sometimes scarily so.

Image quality from this lens is about as good as it gets. To my subjective eye, my shots were, perhaps, slightly sharper in general with the 800mm than they were with the 600mm f/4. That’s a subjective judgement, of course, and it could that the additional reach just helped capture more detail, but I couldn’t find anything to fault with this lens. There’s a bit of vignetting with the aperture wide open, but that’s easily fixed in post.

Adding the teleconverter does, as I mentioned, seem to slow the focusing speed down just a hair, but it’s not all that noticeable. I was still able to lock and track reasonably fast-moving subjects. The max aperture drops by about 2/3 of a stop to f/7.1 with the teleconverter attached.

Cormorant over Redwood Shores.

What surprised me is just how powerful a 1000mm f/7.1 lens can be. Take a look at the shots below. The 800mm shot is on the left, the 1000mm one on the right. These are taken from Treasure Island in the San Francisco Bay and are of the very top of the Transamerica Pyramid building. As the crow flies, that’s a distance of about 2.25 miles.

The Transamerica Pyramid building, shot from Treasure Island. 800mm shot on left, 1000mm shot on right.

From that distance, with a little tweaking, I can see into one of the windows at the top of the building well enough to distinguish the green glow of what looks like an exit sign, some recessed lighting, and a piece of artwork hanging on the wall.

3:1 enlargement of the building.

Yeah. It’s that good.

Conclusion

Nikon has been missing an 800mm lens in their lineup for some time now, which is something Canonistas have been crowing about for just as long. Nikon has responded to those calling for it to make that super tele with a lens that really exceeded my expectations. The 800mm f/5.6 is a beauty of a lens, and is perhaps one of the finest super-tele optics I’ve had the pleasure of shooting with. And, at a roughly $18,000 purchase price, I’m glad that we’re carrying it for rental.

I set out to capture an image of Black Skimmer just as it dipped its beak into the water, creating that cook wake. With the D4 and the 800mm lens at my disposal, I did just that.

Black Skimmer fishing.

—

All images, except where stated otherwise, are © Sohail Mamdani, 2013.

• We start this week with a dizzying look down from 1,776 feet up – specifically, from the spire that sits at the top of the new World Trade Center tower. Say it with me now: OMGOMGOMGOMG!!!!
• The guys at DigitalRev are back at it again. This time, they take to the streets of London with two cameras per photographer — one film and one digital.
  
• This video is all kinds of awesome. Alex Chacon rides from Alaska to Argentina in 500 days, and documents the whole thing. Here it is, condensed down to 9 minutes.
• The guys over at DIYPhotography.net have a really nice rundown of what it takes to shoot tethered – and why you would do it to begin with.
• And finally, we end this list with a bit of inspiration. Ian Ruhter talks with our friend Chase Jarvis about life, work, and what drives him.

A couple of quick company-related cool things.

• A number of the photographers working here at BorrowLenses.com were featured on the SnapKnot wedding website. If you haven’t already, you should really check the site out.
• The most diminutive SLR we’ve ever seen is here. Rent the Canon Rebel SL1 now.

That’s it for this week’s Cool Stuff. As always, questions and feedback are welcome in the comments below.

Get your free day when your order is delivered on:

3 Day Order: Friday, May 24th

7 Day Order: Monday, May 20th

10 Day Order: Thursday, May 16th

Good for local orders, too! Keep your rental until Tuesday, May 28th!

Nikon D7100 Digital SLR

Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 AF-S ED

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 IS USM II

Canon EOS 1D X Digital SLR

Remember, if you place your order this week by 11:59 PST, Sunday, May 19th, 2013 you can always schedule your rental anytime this year and STILL get the 25% off on your item!

Happy shooting, everyone!

Images © Sohail Mamdani. All rights reserved.

Seán Duggan is a fine art photographer, author, educator and an Adobe Certified Photoshop Expert with extensive experience in both the traditional and digital darkroom. His Lightroom Viewfinders series provides photographers with the tools they need to effectively use Lightroom for organization, editing, and printing. In this episode, Duggan explains the under-the-hood settings and options involved in “round-tripping” JPEG files–that is, editing in Lightroom, then sending your file to Photoshop for more edits and then sending it back again without losing image quality or your layers.

The Lightroom-Photoshop Connection, Part 2
by Seán Duggan (reposted here with permission, click here to see Part 1)

Want to see more Lightroom tips? See Duggan’s tips on how to recover lost files, merging catalogs, and more!

SnapKnot’s 10 Recommendations to Kick Off Wedding Season Right: Tried and True Methods from their Experienced Photographers

1. Choose a wedding photographer you get along with.

“This might sound strange, but look for someone that meshes with your personality. When a client and I share much of the same personality and interests, the wedding day goes that much smoother because it becomes a much more intimate affair rather than just a business transaction. Meeting in person, or even just on Skype, is a great way to get a feel for the photographer. If the meeting is awkward and forced, you can bet it will be that way on your wedding day and the same is true for if you feel comfortable during the meeting.” -  Daniel Aaron Sprague

“Don’t just look at price and pictures. Be sure that your photographer’s personality and ways of interacting will mesh with yours and with your bridal party and family. Remember, this is a person who is going to be following you around for 8+ hours on your wedding day. He or she will see you in your underwear (or less). Make sure it is a personality that you will not get weary of a couple hours in.” - Deborah Hurd Photography

2. Know what kind of photography style you are looking for.

“Think about what style of pictures you are looking for on your big day. Are traditional shots important? Don’t choose a contemporary photographer. Are the candids most important to you? Don’t choose someone who is all about the posed pictures. Every photographer has a vision; make sure it matches yours. Remember, what worked well for your best friend’s wedding may not be right for you.” - Deborah Hurd Photography

3.  Price is important- but it is not everything.

 “If photography is in the top 3 of your most important vendors, look online for a photographer and DON’T even glance at their pricing yet. Pretend you have no budget and JUST view their work. Then, select 3 photographers whose work you LOVE. After they’re chosen, go back and look at what they charge. You may go into shock or be delightfully surprised.” - Trish Hadley

 “Compare packages, not prices. One photographer may have a package that has a price you like, but then you discover that you have to pay extra for an album or prints or the proofs. Look at the big picture. A larger package may save you money in the long run if it includes invitations or thank you notes or albums. Do remember that the price advertised may not tell the whole story.”- Deborah Hurd Photography

4. Communicate your ideas and preferences to the photographer.

“Your photos are a permanent record of the biggest day of your life – make them special. Discuss with your photographer portrait locations that are meaningful to you, such as your first-date restaurant, the park that he proposed to you at, and other memorable locales. Consider using meaningful props, such as an important letter from your fiancé or your wedding invitation. Be creative – have fun!”- Angelica Roberts

“Don’t be afraid to ask! If you have your heart set on a certain pose, think something might look really cool, or have a creative epiphany dab smack in the middle of your wedding- tell your photographer! We can’t always stand on our heads while juggling, but we like to try. Sometimes the idea you throw out there leads to something pretty darn cool.”- Kimberly Sauvageau

“Be sure that you and your photographer are on the same page in regards to style before the big day. For instance, if you don’t like images of yourself from a particular side, tell them!”- Rachel Rausch

5. Use your engagement session as a “dress rehearsal”.

“Most likely your engagement session is being done by the same person that is doing your wedding photos, so take this opportunity to iron out the kinks in your relationship. Try out different poses that you’ve seen online (you know you’ve looked)–do they look natural to you? How does it feel to do that pose? Is your photographer giving you the direction you need? Too little or too much? Think about these things after your engagement session and discuss them with your photographer after your session so you are both on the same page and, most importantly, that you have zero concerns going into your wedding day.”- Joanna Moss

6. Create a shot list.

“The most important thing you can do is create a shot list. Your photographer should supply you with one to which you can add your special requests. Start adding to it shortly after your engagement and as you think of them!”

“If you will be wearing any family jewelry that has sentimental meaning, be sure to specifically tell or show your photographer the piece of jewelry and, by all means, add this to the shot list.”- Cindy of Blue Room Photography

7. Formal photos are important, but understand how timing works.

“Know who you would like to include in the ‘formal’ family photos after the ceremony and have a family member in charge of gathering them together for the photos. Limiting the number of formal traditional photos will allow you and the photographer to have more time before the reception. This also allows the bride and groom some time to catch their breath, relax and enjoy time with one another before getting caught up in the reception.”- Rich Burkhart

“If possible, arrange to have your formal photos taken prior to the ceremony (formally called a ‘first look’). Getting these out of the way early in the day frees up the rest of your time to spend with your guests. You can then also go straight to cocktail hour and catch up with family and friends and have peace of mind knowing that all of your formal photos are done with! It’s a new age, so it’s no longer considered ‘bad luck’ for the groom to see his bride before the wedding.”- Sean Michael

8. Know how to handle “Uncle Bob.”

“We all have an Uncle Bob. Ask your wedding party in advance to be mindful of looking directly at the photographer during the group photos regardless of what wedding guests are snapping photos all around them. This ensures fabulous group shots where everyone is looking at the camera, while still allowing ‘Uncle Bob’ to shoot his little heart out.”- Kimberly Sauvageau

“The new trend is for guests to bring their own cameras, smartphones, and tablets and snap away during your wedding. Gently suggest that they refrain from taking photos while the photographer is working. This practice adds time to your photo sessions, which will cause you to get annoyed with the process. You’ve invested a tidy sum for your professional photographer to create and capture gorgeous images. Your guests should just come and enjoy the day!”- Rachel Rausch

9. Have a planned exit.

“Having an organized ‘send-off’ from the reception gives family and friends an opportunity to see the couple. Whether you have sparklers or just a line of well-wishers, it often makes for great photos.”- Rich Burkhart

10. Enjoy your wedding day and leave the rest to the photographer.

“Let your personalities shine. The day is all about the bride and groom, have fun! Your photographer knows how to capture moments that are not pre-planned, it’s these moments that separate your wedding from the rest. Here’s where your style plays an important part to the photographer. You’ve given him/her the time now make use of it by inserting your personalities into your images.”- Simply Dorine Photography

“Breathe. Allow yourself to relax as much as you possibly can and try to enjoy yourself. It’s your wedding day, after all, and come what may, it will be absolutely beautiful, delightfully unique, and completely yours.”- Kimberly Sauvageau

About SnapKnot:  The exclusive wedding photography resource for Nordstrom, SnapKnot helps thousands of wedding photographers connect with more brides online and grow their businesses. Learn more about SnapKnot and join the community today. Are you photographing a wedding or engagement session soon? Try out one of our new wedding package rentals! Want more great tips? Check out SnapKnot’s blog here.

• First, from our friends over at PetaPixel, this one gave most of us butterflies just thinking about it. Actually doing this? No thank you. But we’ll watch the video anyway.
• Our tablets (like the iPad) are getting increasingly powerful, and Adobe has a plan to put that power to good use. The fun stuff starts at 18:09 in the video below.
• Budding photojournalists, heads-up! The folks over at Fotopedia have launched an iPad app that lets you create and view stories on the go. If you haven’t checked out Fotopedia, you should – they have a pretty nice platform for telling photo stories.
• We love our timelapses, but this one takes the cake. Two months of an Antarctic ice breaker’s journey, compressed into 5 minutes.
  
• And finally, to those who have a hundred questions about photography, here are your answers. Zack Arias, photographer and educator extraordinaire, has taken the best of his Awesome “Photography Q&A” Tumblr and turned it into an awesome book.

 And now, for the BorrowLenses.com Roundup!

• To anyone who doesn’t live close to a pickup location, this one’s for you: We have new shipping rates that make it even more affordable for you to rent gear.
• The Canon 800mm f/5.6 isn’t the only game in town anymore! Nikon’s 800mm is finally here…
• A big thanks to everyone who came by and said hello to us at Photo Video West last week!

That’s it for this week’s Cool Stuff. As always, questions and feedback are welcome in the comments below.

Sony NEX-FS700 4K Sensor Camcorder

Nikon D600 (Body Only)

 Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM

Remember, if you place your order this week by 11:59 PST, Sunday, May 12th, 2013 you can always schedule your rental anytime this year and STILL get the 25% off on your item!

Happy shooting, everyone!

Exposure Blending Using Adobe Photoshop CS6
by Jay Goodrich, reposted here with permission.

This is Episode 2 of Goodrich’s In the Office series of photography tutorials. See more of Goodrich’s work here and stay tuned for more great videos from him here on our blog! To see Episode 1, click here.

BorrowLenses.com was able to renegotiate shipping rates and we’re passing the savings on to our renters! Our new base flat-rate shipping price is now only $24.95 (round trip).  Note that some bulky items may incur a surcharge. Extra money in your pocket means more resources for gear rentals and your great photo and video projects!

Overnight orders now start at $37.95 round trip. If you’d like to add another item to your overnight order, it is only an additional $7 per item.

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Micro Four Thirds Digital Camera Body

Nikon 18-200mm AF-S f/3.5-5.6G DX VR II

Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T*

Canon EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM

Remember, if you place your order this week by 11:59 PST, Sunday, May 5th, 2013 you can always schedule your rental anytime this year and STILL get the 25% off on your item!

Happy shooting, everyone!

Seán Duggan is a fine art photographer, author, educator and an Adobe Certified Photoshop Expert with extensive experience in both the traditional and digital darkroom. His Lightroom Viewfinders series provides photographers with the tools they need to effectively use Lightroom for organization, editing, and printing. In this episode, Duggan explains the under-the-hood settings and options involved in “round-tripping” raw files–that is, editing in Lightroom, then sending your file to Photoshop for more edits and then sending it back again without losing image quality or your layers.

The Lightroom-Photoshop Connection, Part 1
by Seán Duggan (reposted here with permission)

Want to see more Lightroom tips? See Duggan’s tips on how to recover lost files, merging catalogs, and more! Want to see this same process done with JPEG images? See Part 2 of this series.