It wasn’t that long ago that a light meter was an indispensible part of any photographers equipment collection. That was back when people used film and if a camera had a built-in light meter at all it was pretty mediocre. Today digital cameras have more capable meters that do a pretty great job of guessing the correct exposure. Between that and taking a few test shots or bracketing, a separate light meter may seem redundant. There are however still some reasons owning a light meter can benefit your photography that we’ll cover below.

They Save Time
I’ve seen people say things like, "it takes as much time to take a test shot as it does to meter." Which is true, but how often do you only take one test shot in a tricky lighting situation? I tend to average between 3-5 test shots. With a light meter you can take one reading and then recompute settings like aperture, shutter speed and ISO until you’ve got the settings you want without taking another reading.

They Are More Accurate
In general anything that’s dedicated to perform one specific task does that task better than something made to do many tasks. In my experience that is certainly the case using my light meter (Sekonic L-358) which gives me more accurate readings than even spot metering with my Nikon D300s. Aside from that anecdotal evidence, handheld meters can do measurements that most if not all DSLR’s can not do:

• Incidental Metering: Where you you measure the actual light falling on a subject vs. measuring the reflected light like a DSLR does.
• Flash Metering: If you’re using studio strobes the only to measure the light coming from them is with a handheld meter. If you do not have one you must take multiple test shots to determine your correct exposure.
• Advanced Measurements: A common situation I use my light meter for is for balancing the light from a studio strobe to prevent shadows. Say I’ve got the light perfect on one side of a persons face but am getting harsh shadows on the other. I can take two measurements from each side of the face and know exactly how much more light I need to fix the shadows on the darker side.

They Are Separate From Your Camera
Because a light meter is a separate piece of equipment they’re easy to carry around or give to someone else. A good example of when this could be helpful is if you’re assisting or have someone assisting you at a wedding. One person can stand behind the camera and one can call back light readings.

This is a complicated subject so if you’re confused don’t worry. There are a couple of great web videos produced by Adorama that cover these benefits in more depth:

• Digital Photography 1 on 1: Episode 27: Metering Part 3: Using a light meter
• Digital Photography 1 on 1: Episode 28: Metering Part 4: Advance Light Meter

Of course there’s no substitute for hands on experience, especially when it comes to photography. If you’d like to learn more about lighting sign up for our Lighting Basics class!

Written by Trevor Warren
Photo by Wikipedia

Ever since I started calling myself a “professional photographer” I’ve found it very difficult to enjoy taking casual snapshots – my serious amateur friends have the same problem. I cringe every time a friend or family member hands me their point-and-shoot camera and then tags me as the photographer on Facebook. The pressure to always maintain a certain level of quality never goes away. When I got an iPhone a couple of months ago I discovered the app Instagram (now also available for Android phones).

Instagram is an app for sharing cell phone pictures that has “filters” you can use to spice up your pictures. Most of which to be honest, are pretty corny looking, but it does have one of the better black & white filters I’ve ever seen on a phone and that’s what got me using it (grainy black & white from a cell phone camera is okay, grainy color not so much).

After a few weeks I noticed that what began as a simple way to give my ego permission to take casual snapshots was actually becoming a useful learning tool. Because everybody knows the photos that show up on Instagram come from cell phones (except a handful of cheaters) I had no concern for technical quality. Because there are virtually no manual controls on a cell phone camera I didn’t even have the option to worry about aperture and shutter speeds. The only thing I really can influence is the composition – something that I think about when using other cameras, but something I’ve always considered to be one of my weaker spots in photography. Seeing how I compose pictures on my phone when there are no other distractions I’ve seen a lot of positive differences in my composition and I’m taking those lessons back to my conventional cameras. Am I ditching my other cameras for a cell phone? Absolutely not. No matter how sophisticated software becomes there’s no substitute for the optics and controls of DSLR’s. I do think it’s good to shoot with more than one camera though because of the challenges and techniques they may force you to learn without you even knowing it!

If you’d like to learn more about composition sign-up for one of our Fundamentals of Photography classes!

Written by Trevor Warren 

The video modern DSLR’s are capable of putting out these days is nothing short of remarkable. It’s also one of the camera manufacturers favorite new marketing gimmicks. The potential for people to make professional looking videos with an average DSLR really is amazing. There are some major differences between shooting DSLR video compared to shooting stills and even when compared to using a traditional video camera. Below are some tips for getting better better DSLR video.

Use a Tripod
Consumer video cameras over the years got extremely good at coping with camera shake but DSLR’s for the most part do not have any built-in mechanism for compensating for camera shake (except perhaps Sony). While using a lens with "Image Stabilization" or "Vibration Reduction" may help, using a tripod will give you the best shake-free results as you can see in the video below. 

Use an External Microphone
My experience with making videos with DSLR’s is that the built-in microphones in them tend to be pretty poor. Especially on my Nikon D300s, the built-in mic picks up my hands making adjustments on the camera. It, like many other cameras, does have a microphone input and the addition of a shotgun mic like the one pictured to the right is very helpful.

Have a Plan
Unlike taking photographs where you can pick and choose the few that turned out, video requires a much higher level of consistency. If for example you’re recording a wedding ceremony you need to find a place in the chapel where you can set up your tripod and also be sure no one will be able to block your view for the entire ceremony (either guests or part of the bridal party).

Hopefully these tips will help improve your DSLR videos. If you’d like to learn more ways to record video with your DSLR sign up for our DSLR Video class!

Written by Trevor Warren

Night photography is one of those things that can be a lot of fun to experiment with, especially if you’re want to do long exposures to capture motion blur. At night you can do exposures that capture several seconds of activity before enough light has reached the lens to make a proper exposure. Below are some tips for capturing motion at night:

• Use a tripod when taking your picture. This way everything not in motion will look sharp (e.g. buildings, streets, etc…)
• Set your Shutter speed manually. You can’t trust Auto (A) mode in these situations.
• Use a remote trigger or set your cameras timer to take the shot without touching the camera to prevent blur from "camera shake."

If you’d like to learn more about the effects you can achieve in Manual (M) mode sign up for one of our Fundamentals of Photography classes!

Written by Trevor Warren
Photo by: otherescape

Most people think of Adobe Lightroom as a tool to organize photos and to do batch edits like resizing images or converting them to black and white. When you talk about things like softening skin or removing blemishes from portraits most people think of Photoshop. While Photoshop is the tool to turn to for heavy photo manipulation, the retouching methods available in Lightroom would work in most situations. This week we’ll look at a technique of simply softening skin (i.e. diminishing the fine shadows and wrinkles in the skin).

1) To do this open up a photo in Lightroom in the Develop module (click on images to enlarge):

2) Select the Adjustment Brush tool:

3) Under "Effect" select "Soften Skin" from the list:

4) Now place the adjustment brush over the image and click and hold while you draw over the areas you’d like to soften (if you check "Show Selected Mask Overlay" you’ll see where the effect will occur in red):

5) When you’re finished click "Done" and you should see the difference:

Below is a before and after image (click to enlarge):

Hopefully this tip will speed up the process of making simple skin retouches. If you’d like to learn more about the power of Adobe Lightroom sign up for one of or Lightroom Seminars!

Written by Trevor Warren

There’s an old axiom about lighting in photography that says “the larger the light source the softer the light will appear.” One of the benefits of flash guns is their compact size but this is also one of their drawbacks compared to something like natural light or studio lights. Below we’ll cover some techniques that can help you soften flash to make the light more appealing.

1) Bouncing flash off of a wall or ceiling. “Bouncing” basically means a mean your flash at a larger reflective structure like a wall or ceiling.

2) Using multiple flash guns.

3) Use a diffuser

4) Adjust the power of the flash on a

5) Adjust your camera settings to let in more ambient light

If you’d like to learn more ways you can improve your photography with lighting techniques sign up for our Lighting Basics class!

Written by Trevor Warren
Photo by: Christian Fischer

When it comes to getting richly colored photographs there are three main factors that contribute to the overall result. Below we cover these three factors:

Lighting
Having ample lighting is critical to getting good color. One of the easiest ways to get a lot of light is take a photograph on a sunny day, but not all light is the same. Morning sunlight tends to give you cool under saturated colors. Afternoon light tends to give you punchy vibrant colors. The light around sunset produces deep reds and oranges with rich saturation.

Lenses
Camera lenses also have a big impact on the quality of color you get in photographs. Lenses can affect the hue of the color, the contrast and the saturation. The differences depend mainly on the quality of a lens.

Processing
While you’re always better off with good lighting and a good lens, there are things you can do to improve color and photographs with software like Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. My favorite way to make these adjustments is with the "Vibrance" adjustment because it makes it easy to adjusts color saturation without overdoing it.

If you’d like to learn more ways you can improve color in your photographs sign up for one of our Beyond the Fundamentals classes!

Written by Trevor Warren
Photo by: Jean Loper

We are excited to offer our first ever Destination Wedding Experience, which takes place on June 30th at Wilstem Guest Ranch, just outside of French Lick, Indiana. If you want to get into wedding photography, whether for fun or as a career, you do do not want to miss this opportunity.

Wilstem Guest Ranch

Imagine the perfect wedding shoot…

• An impeccable destination, outside of French Lick, Indiana. This venue is set in some of the most beautiful countryside in the Midwest, with rolling hills and pastures tucked up against Southern Indiana’s Hoosier National Forest;
• Your scenic backdrop includes country meadows, an abundance of wildflowers, a covered bridge, a winding river and a rustic barn that will host a fun-filled reception;
• Trails with overhanging oak, elm and tulip poplars provide a lovely shade canopy with dappled light;
• A beautiful bride is escorted by a horse drawn carriage, which leads her to the ceremony; and
• A reception attended by 200 people, including lots of adorable kids, all soaking in the fun of a June evening.

This wedding is portfolio perfect!

As usual, this Wedding Experience is only available to FIVE students.

We keep our hands-on wedding workshop small, so that you spend more time capturing the moment and less time standing around waiting for others get their shot. This workshop is the perfect opportunity to gain the experience and portfolio shots that you need, without having the stress and responsibility of handling the wedding all by yourself.

You will be guided through the day by IPC instructor and professional wedding photographer, Sami-Abu-Rumman. He will share tips and tricks for capturing the perfect wedding pictures – indoors, outdoors, in shade and in sun. You’ll gain insight on how to pose individuals, couples and small groups for wedding portrait sessions. Sami will show you how to best capture those important shots such as the bride and groom getting ready, the cake cutting, the first dance, and the throwing of the bouquet.

And, you will come away with a wedding photo portfolio package that will wow prospective clients.

Visit IPC’s Wedding Experience Workshop page for more information including pricing and pre-requisite requirements.

The key to taking great waterfall photographs is having the right equipment and being prepared. Here are some tips that will help you get the shots you want the next time you’re out:

Bring A Good Tripod
Almost all waterfall pictures are taken using very slow shutter speeds to achieve that silky effect. This requires a tripod. Ideally you want a tripod that has some weight to it, which won’t make carrying it much fun but may help prevent the camera from shaking as easily on uneven surfaces. A tripod that’s easy to adjust on the fly is also very helpful. If you’re on rocky terrain you’re going to have to adjust the legs of the tripod pretty much every time you move.

Bring A Cable Release

Using a cable release, which can take a picture without you having to actually touch the camera, can help reduce camera shake allowing you to take sharper pictures.

Use a Neutral Density Filter
Neutral Density Filters screw on to the end of your lens and actually prevent a little bit of light from coming into the camera. If you’re shooting a waterfall on a sunny day this can be a life saver. With less light coming into the camera it’s possible to take long exposures where it might otherwise be too bright.

Be Prepared To Get Wet
Aside from the obvious danger of falling into the creek the waterfall is pouring into, there can be a lot of moisture in the air around a waterfall. Some simple waterproofing like a large freezer bad cinched around the lens with a rubber band can help protect your camera from the moisture in the air. A lens cloth for wiping dry a fogged lens is also a very good idea.

Do Some Bracketing
Try Bracketing shots to ensure you’re getting the right exposure or to do HDR processing later.

Hopefully these tips will help you take some great waterfall shots!

Written by Trevor Warren
Photo by Bernie Kasper

You may have heard of people talking about "Raw files" or "shooting Raw" and wondered what the heck they were talking about and why you should care. Whether you should care will depend upon how and what you photograph.

A Raw file is an unaltered picture file, unlike a JPEG which is altered and compressed by your camera. They contain more colors than a JPEG and do not have the Compression Artifacts that JPEG’s may contain.

These alterations your camera make to an image in creating a JPEG are not necessarily a bad thing. Some would even argue the camera does a great job of this. However for people who really like to tweak photos after they’re taken with a software program like Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. 

Advantages:

• Changing White Balance
• Black & White Conversions
• Brightening or Darkening Images
• Tinting and Altering the Color of an Image

Disadvantages:

• Larger file sizes than JPEG’s Requiring More Storage
• Printing or Uploading Raw Images to the Web Requires Software to Convert the Files First

In recent years software like Adobe Lightroom has made working with Raw files much easier. Whether or not shooting Raw is right for you depends on your individual needs. If you like to play with your photos with software though shooting Raw can greatly improve your results. If you’re interested in learning more about working with Raw files sign up for our Adobe Lightroom class!

Written by Trevor Warren