Marcus and I had been planning a shoot for quite a while, and things finally came together (he was in town, I was in town, and we both had some time) where we could get out and work on promo photos for their album. The trio had a show at Nectar the other night, and yesterday we took advantage of the absolutely fantastic weather. Here’s a few photos of Marcus, James, and Kevin. Location was in/around Seattle, mostly by REI and then in Georgetown. Thanks go out to assistant / second photographer Shelby White… couldn’t have done the shots without him.

Exif: 1Ds Mark II, EF 24-70, f/6.3-8.0, 1/50-1/100, ISO 400-640, two 580 EXs triggered by PWs, & shot through umbrellas.

Marcus Eaton Trio at Nectar 10 Apr 08. Jim on bass, Kevin on drums. Awesome show, over in Fremont. It was an eclectic line up with Bryan Scary & The Shredding Tears, followed by Marcus, then Kris Orlowski closing out the night.

A few words about low-light

Shooting musicians in clubs presents some of the most challenging conditions for capturing images. Photography is about capturing light, and in these settings there is no (well, very little) light! Your options: slow your shutter speed (more time lets in more light), open the aperture (let light in through a bigger hole), boost the signal (raise your ISO). Each of these three options comes with its own individual caveats. Slowing your shutter speed too much will result in motion blur, either from you moving while hand-holding the camera, or more likely from the musicians fast hands. The quick rule of 1 / focal length (i.e. 1/50 sec or faster for a focal length of 50-mm) helps, but I’d recommend faster if possible to stop motion: say 1/125 sec.

Available apertures will depend on your lens; faster than F/2.8 is helpful for low light. Prime lenses are much better suited (and they’re available down to F/1.2 [F/1.0 to be technically correct and included lenses no longer in production for Canon EOS]). A good bang-for-the-buck lens that would go a long ways in this environment is the EF 50 MM F/1.8 II… better still is the F/1.4 version.

ISO is the equivalent of ASA, or film speed. In digital photography it is a way to boost your sensor’s sensitivity (more signal = appearance or more captured light). The downside to raising the ISO is that gaining any signal simultaneously results in higher background (i.e. noise). Digital cameras these days are getting better, especially DSLRs. Most CMOS based sensors have very little problems getting up to ISO 1000 and even to 1600, some go 3200 and higher. Be carful, you’ll definitely run into a noise wall at those upper limits where you are introducing more background than true signal and you will lose detail.

The above photos were shot in Manual mode at 1/60-1/80, F/2.8-F/3.2, and ISO 3200. In the end, do what works for you. =] Continue Reading »

I haven’t blogged on this site in a while, but did something today that I figured should go up. I bought a used Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II DSLR. It was quite the story. I decided a while ago I wanted another camera, initially as a backup to the 5D after I gave away my old 20D. I contemplated and waited. This week I started looking around and found a 5D I was about ready to purchase, and then I saw this camera on eBay yesterday from a local studio / stock photographer, got a hold of him and dropped by to check it out. Wow. I had played with them before at Glazers, but the build is truly amazing. He let me shoot around and download the files to his computer to check them out. They were beautiful. The unfortunate part was that the auction was about to end and he had no way to stop it. We decided that I would just try to win the auction and we could go from there. Long story short, I didn’t win. I went back to work and was in meetings the remainder of the afternoon. I checked the auction late afternoon and it had gone for an incredibly low price (lower than what we had discussed… and I was happy with the discussed price). It sucked to see it slip, but ah well and I moved on. This morning, however, I got a call that the deal had fallen through because the buyer was from Canada (and the auction specifically said no out of country bids) — the camera was mine if I wanted it. Really? OK, awesome.

Tonight I own a new-to-me 1Ds Mark II, Canon’s very recently replaced (by a 1Ds Mark III) flagship. There’s a great review of it (linked above) on Dpreview or another from here.

Unfortunate part number 2. Monday I mailed out my 5D + all my lenses (yep, all of them) to Canon Irvine for cleaning and calibration. I have a fantastic new camera body and nothing to attach to it to shoot with. Fortunately Shelby let me shoot around at his place after picking up the camera, then my brother stepped in and was kind enough to let me borrow a couple of lenses (his 24-70 and 70-200 2.8 IS). Definitely smiling. =]

Here are a couple of the first few photos I shot while playing around. After the third are some 100% crops. These files are almost 5000 px in greatest dimension straight out of the camera — that’s huge! File size is about 47.5 MB for an 8-bit TIFF and a whopping 97.5 MB for a 16-bit version. Perhaps it is time to invest in some more storage.. Much more to come. =]

100% Crops:

Happy Holidays from Seattle!! I hope your time is spent relaxing and enjoying the time with family and loved ones. See you in 2008! Here’s a sunrise photo from the 24th at the Space Needle. Enjoy!

Ah, the completion of my tripod setup. Tripods are a hard thing to spend money on; they aren’t as sexy as a camera purchase, and don’t necessarily give you more ability or another perspective as a lens purchase might do… they can be, however, almost, if not equally, important for the end result. I have wanted to complete my tripod setup for a long time (eluded to in my prior post about Really Right Stuff). This meant spending money I didn’t necessarily have nor want to spend at the time. Well, I took the final steps: I bought a Gitzo GT2540 tripod to add to my RRS BH-40.

A quick guide for Gitzo tripods I found online when trying to decide between the GT1540 and GT2540. Read their catalog for more information.

1540 is Series 1, up to 135mm under any conditions, 200mm with caution.
2540 is Series 2, up to 200mm under any conditions.

If you shoot in low light, shoot high-dynamic-range (HDR), shoot panoramas, or want to produce critically sharp images then you need a tripod. Inexpensive tripods support the camera, but the short answer is that the more stable your camera is the better and sharper your image will be. More expensive tripods simply control vibration better, while usually being made from more exotic [read: lighter] materials (e.g. carbon fiber). There are a LOT of ways to compromise, and if you want ideas I would be happy to offer advice. I could go into more detail, but will spare you for now.

Here’s a photo of the before, and after. What I gained: a lighter, much more compact setup with the ability to support more weight and better minimize vibration. What I lost: $$$. Eh, I’m satisfied. ;-]

What a perfect weekend. Erin and I took a day trip to Paradise at Mount Rainier and the weather couldn’t have been better. It was absolutely clear up on top, albeit cold and snowy. The snowshoeing and scenery was awesome and beautiful, respectively. A few photos below, or see more on my Flickr.

Dena, Gayle, and I met downtown for some mother-daughter Seattle-Christmas portraits… and fortunately the amazing weather we’ve been having in Seattle held out!! It was very fun time, good conversation, and a beautiful walk outside. =] More photos on my Flickr!

What a wonderfully fun family. Joan & Tyson hired me to take some family photos and photos of Bryn (7 mo old)… Bryn was adorable and the camera loved her. Joan and Tyson were awesome to work for and we had a great time. Here are a few picks! More on my Flickr.

This week I aged officially. I wanted to capture that some how… a current ’state in the life of’ if you will, and this is what came out. A bit moody, dark, dilusional, but hitting themes of contemplation, forethought, and growing stronger. Also on Flickr. Thanks everyone for the emails and calls, they were greatly appreciated!

Problem: You’ve taken all these cool photos, but now you don’t have anywhere to put them.
Solution: The Mike Peck Special.

Kidding… but, this is a seriously cool frame. My friend M Peck pulled out his handyman skills and crafted an insanely cool photo frame that encourages you to keep shooting with its numerous bins. He tells me that it was made for 4×6 prints, but I managed to squeeze in a few 5×7s as well. Mine is a 12 x 3 enclosure (mounts horizontally or vertically [shown]), however, I hear he is amenable to other layout options. If you are looking for that new perfect frame to show off all of your photos, send him an email.