Corin Bishop Photography also owns and runs Commercial Photography IrelandWe’ve revamped the website and put more up to date information, examples and clients on the website and we’re adding more all the time. Please check out commercialphotography.ie and pass the URL on to work colleagues!
Five Ways To Know Your Photos Aren’t Cutting ItArticle by Scott Bourne from photofocus.com Excerpts from the Article: “I don’t usually write stuff from this point of view. I’d rather tell you how to improve your pictures. But someone recently pointed out to me that he didn’t know when things were going south for him, so he also didn’t know when they were going well. That resonated with me a bit so I’m going to share these tidbits in the hope that I don’t offend anyone, but perhaps shake them up enough to want to improve. It’s important to note that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. You may have different opinions, but try to focus on the general idea. 1. Your Photos Aren’t Cutting It if nobody is attacking your work. 2. Your Photos Aren’t Cutting It if you’re waiting for that next lens, that next camera or that next flash you plan to buy before you get serious about your photography. 3. Your Photos Aren’t Cutting It if you don’t use your camera at least weekly. 4. Your Photos Aren’t Cutting It if you think your Flickr gallery should be getting more views and comments, but you’re not doing anything to earn that traffic and response. 5. Your Photos Aren’t Cutting It if you yourself haven’t spent any real time studying the work of other successful photographers.” Read the full article here 1 comment Nice artcle writen by Mark Dubovoy @ The Luminous Landscape website.Excerpt: “One of the questions I get asked the most is : Why are my pictures not sharp? Sometimes, the question is asked by budding photographers that have bad habits, like using flimsy tripods and no mirror up mode in their SLR’s. Other times, however, the question comes from experienced photographers that have excellent technique and very good equipment.” Read the full article here luminous-landscape.com 1 comment Canon 85mm 1.2L II – Practical usage report.In my previous article ‘A Quick test of a Canon 85mm 1.2L II‘ I did a quick test/review of this lens. I concluded that this lens has some wonderful properties. Bokeh (background blur) is fab along with great control over depth-of-field. It is very sharp and has great contrast. However it’s focusing is slow, it’s heavy and it’s take a lot of understanding to get the best out of it. In this article it’s more of a practical report rather than a technical test. It’s real-world stuff. I borrowed this lens with a specific task in mind. I was photographing a wedding in New York and I wanted to really isolate the subject using the narrow depth of field this lens is capable of. I wanted nice background blur. Below are a few random extracts from the wedding New York using this lens. There is a mixture of sunlight/overcast/street light. ISO100 to ISO6400. All we’re shot at either f1.2 or f1.8.       Full wedding report can be found here New York Wedding What I foundGood stuff:
Bad Stuff:
Notes:As mentioned above, the focusing using my 5D2 was excellent. Awful on my 5D1. I believe that in order to get the best out of this lens you need a really good focus system. This lens shows some quite extreme image qualities at f1.2. Heavy vignetting being the most significant, even the centre of the image is effected. As auto-focus occurs when the lens in wide open I believe the focus system needs to be very good to cope with the extreme characteristics of the lens. Interestingly I found the lens focuses much better when using ALL the focus points. This isn’t a mode I use much as I prefer centre point focus (like most photographers) and I’m relying on the camera focus system to focus on the correct bit of the subject – but I actually found it surprisingly accurate. Again, as this lens is extreme at f1.2, by using more focus points gives the focus system a more accurate overall view of the subject. This is not a scientific theory, just pure experience. My theory is backed up by using it on the 1DMK2 which gave very accurate (and much faster) focus using either full frame focus or single point. Aperture. You can use this lens at f1.2 as long as you’re taking into account the extremely shallow depth of focus. I’m talking the difference between focusing on someones eyeball or on the tips of the eyelashes. It’s REALLY narrow! I found f1.8 or f2.0 to be the best compromise in terms of getting all the qualities I want from the image while reducing the risk of mis-focus or the extreme vignetting. For most of this wedding the lens was left at f1.8 and I was very happy with it. Heavy lens. I found it a little too heavy for extended use. You need a fast shutter speed as there is no image stabilization. Focal length. I find 85mm on a full-frame camera to be a little too long for me. If I we’re going to get a wide aperture lens then I would probably be more comfortable with 50mm. As soon as I find someone with a 50mm 1.2L I’ll be giving that a try too! (I’ve tried the 50mm 1.4 but I’m not fan). Last note:This is a fab fab lens. I really like the extreme depth of field and vignetting. I love the sharpness, contrast and overall image quality. However… it’s a complicated lens. There is no such thing as a perfect lens (I believe that a lot of people expect every lens to be perfect). Every single lens has it’s own unique characteristics. To get the most of out of this lens you have to really understand what it CAN and CAN’T do. You need to understand how it works at different apertures. You need to know it’s limitations. You need to make sure it suits your photographic style. Oh, and of course you must have a good camera to get the most accurate auto-focus! I hope you found this little article useful. As I said before it’s not scientific. It’s just based on my experience using it. Comment appreciated. Anyone got a 50mm 1.2L I could borrow? 1 comment Interesting Article from Roger Overall @ The Documentary PhotographerWhat Is The Point Of Wedding Photography? – Part 1: Crossing The LineExcerpt: “Imagine this: you are the father of the bride. You will only get one opportunity to see your daughter in her wedding dress for the first time – that moment on her wedding day that she appears in front of you, utterly magnificent, before you set off for the ceremony. Imagine what must go through your head. Your little girl, whom you most likely cradled in your arms straight after she entered the world. You have seen her grow and flourish. Now, you are on the cusp of giving her away. Here she is, an adult and more beautiful and confident and vulnerable and amazing than ever. This is what she will look like as you walk her up the aisle. And you are seeing it for the first time. This is a very special moment. Recently, I saw that moment ruined before it had even happened. The father was waiting at the bottom of the stairs and the videographer jumped in the instant the bride’s foot appeared at the top. I can still hear his voice: ‘Come down to him now. Step towards your daughter. Give her a kiss. Tell her she looks beautiful. Look at the camera.’ I think that is very disturbing. A moment of that significance obliterated so that he could record a fake, staged, utterly meaningless version. Worse still, he deprived the father and his daughter of the genuine experience of the moment.” Text (C) Roger Overall 2010 Read the full article on Roger’s Blog here no comments |
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