Wadda ya know... a new post

Ok, so it's been a few months since I wrote here. I've been busy shooting weddings - none of which I've posted! But I've also been doing a bit of 'soul searching' (oh, sounds a bit deep), and some serious thinking about my photographic future.

It all started before Christmas, when I shot my brothers wedding in Christchurch (which I did post). I met a guy who had been running a wedding photography business in Christchurch ('hi Alan'), but was now running a restaurant instead. He mentioned that he had some wedding albums and other gear left over that I might be interested in, if I wanted to take a look.

Didn't think much about it at the time, but early in the new year we were back in Christchurch, and I contacted him to take a look. Long story short - it's probably changed my life!

Turns out he had an entire studio's worth of gear to 'get rid of', as well as dozens of Italian Leather-bound albums of the absolute highest quality. Did I want them? Does a bear *you know what* in the woods!

Once I got all this gear home, however, I needed to sit down and think seriously about what I was going to do with it all. The most obvious thing, of course, was to start my own studio.

Easier said than done though - right? Of course the big issues are where, and how much. No good if you can't find a space, or can't afford any of the spaces that you do find. And then there's the issues of branding, marketing, costing, selling etc,

It's been a couple of months since then, and I think I've got a handle on most of the questions and issues I had at the beginning. I've finally found a space that will work as a studio, with only relatively minor tweaking, and I'm off to the accountant in half an hour to work through the other aspect of that - can I afford it! I must admit that initially I was very pessimistic about the cost of it all, but my accountant seems to be exactly the opposite, and meeting with him initially was the turning point in my decision to really go for it.

I've gone back and forth with the whole 'name' thing, trying to think of something catchy/cool/funny/relevant. But in the end, I keep coming back to Lorimer Photography Studio. Kinda says it all really. And we, as photographers, get to be known on a personal level with our clients as much as anything else. So why try and brand it as something other than what it really is - me running a photography studio.

My plan is to continue on with the Graphic Design working from my current office at the printing firm who are my major contract, and run the studio almost by 'appointment only'. Perhaps doing an 80/20 split of my time between the printing base for design work, and studio space in town for photography. Of course, I hope that eventually 80/20 will become 70/30, then 60/40, and so on and so forth.

In the meantime, I still have to decide whether or not I can afford any of it. So it's off to the accountant... Wish me luck.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS4 and my new blog

I started a new blog last week: wayne-ayearinpictures.blogspot.com

It's part of my 'creative' new-years resolution to take more pictures. If I stick to it (and so far so good), then I will have to take at least one new photograph every day, for the rest of the year. That's a lot more than I took last year, and although rather daunting, it's started very well.

It has also meant that I now make sure I always have a camera with me. And for the sake of ease-of-use and sheer portability, that was always going to be a compact point-and-shoot. My weapon of choice is the Panasonic Lumix DMC - FS4 (and no, I don't know what all those letters stand for either?!)

But when I say 'weapon of choice', what I'm really saying is that it's the only point-and-shoot I own. I purchased it late last year on a whim (because it was cheap, and came with heaps of accessories), and I'd be lying if I said I didn't experience a good amount of 'buyers remorse' soon after purchasing it.


Don't get me wrong, I think Panasonic make some of the best point-and-shoots you can get. But the DMC-FS4 is the very basic, entry-level model with very limited user control. In fact, it really only functions using 'Scene' modes. Pretty crap, I thought, and left it in the box.


But - now I've got this new blog. And now I need to have a camera with me all the time. And now I have to actually use it. And boy, am I glad I did. Because it turns out the DMC-FS4 is an absolute cracker of a camera. A wee gem. And I'm loving using it. Not to mention the results I'm getting from it!


It may only have scene modes (and dozens of them), but they work brilliantly, and I'm not disappointed by the results from such a cheap camera. It doesn't have an optical viewfinder (they're junk on these wee compacts anyway), but does have a big, bright 2.5" lcd screen, with optional gridlines for aiding composition and keeping horizons straight. It also has image stabilization built-in (Panasonic call it Mega O.I.S.) as well as automatic ISO control - both working together to reduce blurry photos due to camera shake.

This was shot using the Panasonic's 'macro' setting (make sure the lens is set for wide angle otherwise macro doesn't work), and I'm just amazed that it allowed me to capture the fly, let alone produce a sharp image. This tiny little fly was on the leaf for all of a nano second, yet the result is tack sharp on the fly, and beautifully soft in the background. Wow!

And it was by no means a fluke - I got dozens of useable images, just from half an hour spent at lunchtime chasing insects around the garden. I don't know, but I reckon I'd be hard pressed to do that with my SLR?

But it's not just the macro's that have impressed me. Over the last 5 days I've taken indoor and outdoor portraits under varying lighting conditions, as well as landscapes - all using the various scene modes - and the camera has handled it all brilliantly.


Even in 'standard' mode, the colours are punchy and vibrant - the lens is sharp, contrasty and renders colour accurately. The exposures from the camera have been 99.9% accurate, without any need for exposure compensation (you can set +/- 2 stops), under some very tricky lighting conditions - from harsh sunlight to dark interiors. Check out my 'A Year in Pictures' blog for more examples of what the Lumix has been producing for me over the last week.

For a point-and-shoot camera that I was initially disappointed in due to its perceived lack of control, the Panasonic Lumix has turned out to be a stellar performer - under all conditions. Yes, I'm sure it has it's limitations. I'd love for the lens to go a little wider (it's a 33-132mm equivalent lens), and the ability to shoot RAW - but having said that, the jpegs it produces with its 8MP sensor look gorgeous! I'd also like it to be heavier - not so much plastic - but keep the same size (very pocketable).

Yet despite all that, and much to my surprise, I'm loving using the Panasonic DMC-FS4. And given that I have to take at least one image, every day, for the next 360 days, I hope to become even more impressed by this pocket-sized picture maker. If you're on the look out for a cheap, but very capable little point-and-shoot, then look no further than the Lumix DMC-FS4.

Merry Christmas to me...

Had a wonderful Christmas over in Christchurch with family - ate too much and got heaps of cool stuff.

The only photography related gift, however, was something I got for myself. After watching Joe McNally over at Kelby Training, I thought I'd get his latest book on flash photography - "The Hot Shoe Diaries".

First things first - GET THIS BOOK! There you go, that was pretty easy, wasn't it?

But seriously, if you are at all interested in how to make your external flash give you a decent quality of light - then get this book. If you are scared of external flash (speedlights if you will), then get this book. If you are in any way interested in how great images are made, get this book. If you are a bit of a 'gear-head' and want to know the technical how's, why's and wherefores, get this book. If you like being creative with your photography, and want to learn from the best, then get this book. Trust me here will you - GET THIS BOOK!

McNally is a great teacher, as well as an amazing photographer - and he approaches the 'lessons' in a very readable way that keeps you laughing as well as learning. Yes, that's right - 'laughing'. He's a pretty funny guy (think Scott Kelby's photoshop books) so you never really feel like you've got a text book in your hands - even though that's what this will become. An invaluable text book for any photographer who wants to use their hot shoe flash(es) in a way that will do them (and you) justice.

Joe is a Nikon shooter (yahoo), who uses Nikon speedlights (the SB 800 and SB 900's) pretty much exclusively. Tie this in with Nikon's wireless CLR (Creative Lighting System) and you have a powerful studio-like lighting set up that you can use at almost any location. Throughout the book Joe uses anywhere from one SB 800 on-camera, to a whole bank of them for large group work - and everything in-between. If the resulting images, and their thorough explanation, don't get your creative juices flowing, then you're probably dead and don't know it yet :-)

Can Canon/Sony/Pentax/Olympus shooters get anything out of this book - you betcha! They all have their own speedlights, capable of similar (if not exactly the same) setups, so the same rules apply. He may use Nikon gear, but this ain't a Nikon only book by any means.

I've said it before, so I'll say it again. If you are a photographer - GET THIS BOOK!

Going Wide

Still thinking a lot about lenses, since I will be buying one once I have a couple more weddings under my belt. A portrait lens is still on the cards (see last post), but I now have a new frontrunner, which is not a portrait lens in the true sense of the word.


My new 'fave' at the moment is the Sigma 10-20mm f4.5-5.6 EX HSM wide angle - which shocks and alarms even me on so many levels. First, it's a Sigma - and not a Nikkor, so I'm on shaky ground already. I make it a habit of only buying the manufacturers lenses for any body that I own (by and large), so what's with the Sigma? Well, for starters it has some pretty solid reviews (I've even reviewed it myself for DPhoto in the deep dark past), goes out to about as wide as it gets for a 'DX' (digitally designed) lens, and is about one third of the price of the equivalent Nikkor. And yes, now we see the 'real' reason for the change of heart ladies and gentleman - beggars really can't be choosers.

But seriously, I wouldn't be considering it if it didn't have some solid reviews behind it. Yes, I know the corners are a bit soft wide open, but most of the time I'll be shooting it at the 'optimal' f8(ish) range anyway - and besides, soft corners for any wedding/portrait work isn't necessarily a bad thing. And who shoots landscapes wide open? Not me (or you hopefully).

What got me thinking about going 'wide' for my next lens was a series of instructional videos I've been watching at Kelby Training (kelbytraining.com) by wedding pro David Visser. I've been watching him and Joe McNally, for their off-camera flash expertise (more on that soon), but you also get to see lenses used and resulting images taken. And a lot of David's wide angle wedding shots were really cool - using a 10-20mm (Canon) lens.

This thought was rather spookily reiterated on the last wedding I shot (this weekend just gone), where, due to bad weather, I could really have used an ultra-wide angle like the 10-20mm. I had a reasonably large bridal party (of 8), shot in the small confines of a verandah/porch to stay out of the rain! All the family formals had to be shot there too, and I only 'just' made it with the 18mm wide end of my 18-70mm zoom. Going out to 10mm would have been fantastic - but I didn't have that option.

Ultra-wides also give you a pretty cool 'look' to some of your images (don't overdo it though) that the other wedding guests or part-time snappers probably won't have. If you keep the subject placed centrally, then you can make them look fairly natural, but have these very distorted edges. Lots of fun - but again - not to be overdone.

So I may end up with a Sigma 10-20mm as my next wedding lens? And then again... I might not. :-)

Thoughts on Nikon lenses

As the end of my last post would suggest, now that I have the D300 I'm thinking lenses. My primary use for anything I consider buying will, of course, be for weddings. Having concentrated most of my money on buying the D300 body and vertical grip, I've now got a basic starting kit comprising of the 'best' that I could afford. This includes the Nikkor 50mm f1.8 (cheap, but fast and sharp - a must for any camera bag IMHO) and the 18-70mm f3.5-4.5 Nikon zoom - probably Nikon's best ever 'kit' lens - reasonably fast, reasonably sharp - and great coverage for a DX sensor camera like the D300 (equivalent of 28-105mm in traditional 35mm film terms).

I am also 'borrowing' the consumer-grade 75-240mm f4.5-5.6D from my wife's D70 kit (together with the D70 itself as a backup body), and while it can produce some nice images, and gets deservedly good reviews for a plastic lens, it's not really where I want to be for my longer portrait shots of the bride and groom. Ideally I want to shoot these 'wide open' at around f2.8 - so this is probably where I need to start looking.

Next question, then, is what to look at? And with Nikon, this is where it gets tricky - especially if you're looking for the best bang for your buck.

I have already suggested that a strong contender for my next 'portrait' lens is the Nikkor 85mm f1.8. At $750NZ new, this lens meets the bang-for-the-buck criteria, as well as the large aperture for nice out-of-focus backgrounds shooting at f2.8 or below. It's solidly built, is sharp, contrasty, lightweight, and renders very neutral skin tones. It's definitely top of my list at the moment - since I'm not even considering its even faster sibling, the 85mm f1.4, at almost three times the price (about $1900NZ)!

Although I really enjoy the light weight and portability of a prime, what about a zoom for more flexible composition when working in the confines of a church? Good question - but slightly problematic as a Nikon shooter on a tight budget. The lens every wedding/portrait photographer who shoots Nikon pulls out for this scenario is the 70-200mm f2.8 VR - and I have no doubt on a cropped DX body like the D300 it's a beautiful lens. But it's also $3500NZ (and there's a newer version that's even more expensive at $4200NZ.) I just won't have that kind of money anytime soon.

And I think this is where Nikon lets the 'semi-pro' shooters down, and where Canon is ahead of them in the game. And no, this is not a 'I hate Canon/Nikon' rant, it's merely an observation because I'm needing to think about these issues at the moment. If I were still shooting Canon, I would have no less than four different 70-200mm pro grade lenses to choose from, depending on my budget. The entry level (but still amazing) 70-200mm f4L at $1350NZ, the 70-200 f4L IS at $2150NZ, the 70-200 f2.8L at $2250, or the 70-200mm f2.8L IS at $3250NZ. This is a fantastic selection that allows you to pick and choose the features you need, matched to your budget - and ALL under the asking price of the only one Nikon offers. Quite simply, in terms of Nikon's poor showing, I don't think that's good enough.

There is another Nikon alternative, and fortunately it is well worth considering in the 'newer' version - and that's the Nikkor 80-200mm f2.8 (the older version was a push-pull type zoom, whereas the newer version has a rotating zoom). It's around $2400NZ, which makes it a better prospect (and comparable with the Canon 70-200mm f2.8), and is a solid pro-series lens, although its design is a little on the tired side. It isn't silent focusing (using Nikon's older camera-based screw-driven focus system), isn't internal focusing, and doesn't use as many ED elements as the 70-200 VR lens - but it is considerably cheaper - and more importantly is probably just in my ballpark budget-wise (after I've shot a few more weddings).

When the time comes for me to upgrade the 18-70mm Nikkor zoom, the prospects with Nikon are just as grim. Yes, there is the superb 17-55mm f2.8 - BUT (wait for it) it's priced at $2800NZ! Canon also has a 17-55mm f2.8 for their cropped sensor format cameras, and at $1900NZ it's almost a full $1k cheaper. I have no doubt the Nikkor is better built (it's an absolute tank), but it had better be for almost $1000NZ more. I've owned and used the Canon 17-55mm f2.8, and it's a beautiful lens that produces stunning images. Again, for the end user, I think Canon has got it right.

It doesn't get any better when you compare apples with apples in a 24-70mm f2.8 showdown. In this instance, both are built to last under professional abuse. The Nikon is $3500NZ, and the Canon retails for $2250NZ. That's right, the Nikkor is $1250NZ MORE than the equivalent Canon. The same is true with almost every other Canon/Nikon pro-series lens comparison. Are the Nikon's in many cases actually worth twice more than Canon lenses. I think not. Are Nikon taking advantage of working pros? Maybe.

The simple fact of the matter, as a Nikon user who wants to shoot Nikkor glass, is that the prices are what they are - like it or not. The 85mm f1.8 and 80-200mm f2.8 are mighty fine lenses, comparable in price with Canon's offerings, so I guess that's where I'm heading. Replacing the 18-70mm zoom later on will be a tougher assignment... but that's a decision for another day.

Wedding 1 - Barry & Lisa

Yahooo - the Wedding Season for 2009/2010 is underway, with a pretty special start to the season! On November 28th, my brother Barry married Lisa at The Old Stone House in Christchurch. Needless to say it was a special day, and I was thrilled that I could be a part of it in an 'official' capacity.

The boys got ready out at Barry & Lisa's place at Tai Tapu, about 20mins outside of Christchurch. I had told Barry that this was my first wedding with the Nikon D300, although I did have a pretty good play with it before the big day (obviously). Needless to say, the Nikon performed flawlessly. Any problems were due to human error, and fortunately there weren't too many of them either :-)

Lisa got ready at Steph's (one of her bridesmaids), which gave me the chance to use the 50mm f1.8 inside, reasonably wide open, with natural light. I've also set the D300 to shoot on 'Auto" ISO within a 100th sec shutter speed and 1600 ISO limit. This means that within these two parameters, the camera will automatically change the ISO/shutter speed combination so that it stays above 100th of a second shutter speeds (to limit camera shake) but no greater that 1600 ISO. This worked perfectly throughout the day, and saved me from those 'gotchas' where you set the camera to ISO 1600 for low inside light, and then forget to reset it to ISO 200 when you go outside. Cool.

Most of the time I was using the Nikkor 18-70mm f3.5/4.5 zoom, and I remain impressed with this general 'kit' lens, even on the higher resolving sensor of the D300. Shooting in RAW, the images straight from the camera are a little 'soft', but a basic overall sharpening in Photoshop and the photos snap into crisp, sharp, clarity. This image of Lisa arriving at the wedding is one of my favourites from the day.

It's not usually the case that I'm also required to be 'in' the wedding photos, but this was my brother's wedding afterall, so there's me on the extreme right, next to my wife Joanna, and our two kids, Joshua and Emily. My Mum and Stepfather are next, then Barry and Lisa with Barry's daughter Libby, and finally Lisa's Mum & Dad on the left. Again, with its 28mm (equivalent) wide angle capability, the 18-70mm lens was ideal for these large group shots. I even managed to get up high and cover an overall group shot of the 80 or so guests who attended the service.

One of the reasons I choose to go back to Nikon with my wedding kit was so that (early on at least) I could 'use' my wife's Nikon D70 and lenses as a back up to the D300 on the day. This image was taken with her 'cheap' 75-240mm f4.5-5.6 Nikon zoom, which, although it might be cheap, can also take some pretty sharp images wide open. And you still get nice background blur as long as you get plenty of separation between your subject and background.

We had great locations within a stones-throw from each other (literally), and they were a lot of fun to photograph. It made my first wedding using the D300 a breeze, even though I did fumble occasionally with the command dials. Overall, though, I'm very happy with the day, with the images, and with the Nikon D300. I'm sure I'll play around with lens combinations eventually - I would prefer all the lenses to be constant 2.8's - but that will have to wait a while.

Just as I had hoped it would, the Nikon D300 passed the wedding test with flying colours. The battery grip allows me to shoot with two batteries, easily handling an all-day shoot (I probably could have covered it with just one battery), and adds a nice heft and portrait shooting support to the camera. The lens combination worked very well, and I continue to be impressed with the versatility and sharpness of the 17-80mm Nikkor. The 50mm f1.8 should be a given in any photographers bag, while the cheap and cheerful 75-240mm is good enough to shoot hand-held wide open in good light to produce crisp, tight portraits.

Having said that, I'm pretty sure my next lens purchase will be a Nikkor 85mm f1.8 for tight portrait shots on a wedding. I loved that lens on my Canon, and am looking forward to using Nikon's version on my D300. Can't wait...

New Season, New Kit

It was only 8 months ago that I wrote about getting my 'new' Canon 400D kit from New Zealand's online auction site - Trademe. A lot can happen in 8 months, and during that time technology has not been my friend.

First, my iMac developed a problem with its firewire port so that my external backup drive stopped working. My local Mac technician had a look, but in the end decided it really needed to go back for repairs (fortunately under warranty). Unfortunately, it had to go to Auckland, and to cut a long story short, it was there for a good couple of months!

Then, if that wasn't bad enough, my Canon 5D stopped working - the viewfinder information and top lcd readouts simply disappeared. It will still take an image, but you can't see any of the settings to know what the camera is shooting in! And unlike my iMac, the Canon 5D is out of warranty. With only a couple of months before the new wedding season, this couldn't have happened at a worse time - and I've gotta say I'm not impressed.

Not long after owning the 5D kit combo with the 24-105mm f4L the lens developed a problem with the zooming mechanism. It became so stiff it would hardly move. And now the 5D has gone down as well. It hasn't exactly had a hard life - I'm very particular with my gear - so both items having major problems concerns me greatly.

So much so that, with the new wedding season looming, and a reasonably full season booked, I've decided to drop Canon like a hot potato and make the switch 'back' to Nikon. I've sold my 400D, flash and lenses - and have 'upgraded' to the Nikon D300.

This is it, as sold to me yesterday (again on Trademe). It's only done around 6000 images, so it hasn't even warmed up yet - it's been a photographers back-up studio camera, so it's had very little use. It's Nikon's top-of-the-tree DX format (cropped sensor) body - 12.3MP with a 51 area autofocus system, live view, excellent low-noise response up to 1600 ISO, 8 frames per second shooting with the vertical grip attached (6 frames per second without it), not to mention an amazingly high resolution 3 inch LCD screen - with almost 3 times more dots that you're average screen. Wowser!

Even before I got the body, I bought a 50mm f1.8 (basically brand new) that on the D300 will become a 75mm f1.8 portrait lens for my wedding work. The sensor size on the D300 adds x1.5 to the focal length of the lens, so the 50mm become a 75mm. Nice.

But of course that won't be enough to shoot a wedding with, so I have also just snapped up (excuse the pun) a Nikkor 18-70mm f3.5-4.5. This was a tougher decision, as my budget was pretty much blown on the D300. I had intended to get a D90 - about $1000NZ cheaper than the D300, but since I was changing to Nikon to get a more reliable kit, I figured in the end I needed to go with a more 'professional' grade body. So contrary to what I always maintain when buying a system, more money was spent on a body - leaving me not much for a lens. Which is not to say I didn't get a decent lens with the 18-70mm, because it is a decent performer. One of Nikon's better 'consumer grade' lenses. But it ain't no 17-55mm f2.8 either! (Nor should you expect it to be at around $2000NZ cheaper). I have used the 18-70mm lens before, since it was the kit lens with my first digital camera, the D70. It's a very good performer for the price, has quick and quiet silent-wave autofocus, and is sharp - and reasonably fast for a kit lens. My Canon 24-105mm f4 is only just faster as a constant f4, and this was my main wedding lens last season.

An SB600 speedlite rounds of my 'new' kit (again off of Trademe), and although I shoot mostly in natural light and prefer to boost the ISO before using flash, it will come in handy for the 'cutting of the cake' type inside shots. If I can get my head around Nikon's wireless flash system (where you can use the small on-board flash head on the D300 as a 'commander' unit to trigger the SB600 off-camera), then I may end up using the SB600 more than I think?

All the gear should be arriving in the next few days (the 50mm f1.8 is already here), and then I'll have a week to get to grips with it before I shoot my brothers wedding! No pressure :-)

I'll obviously have more to say about the Nikon D300 on this blog in the future - but for now I'm very excited about the new gear, and the new season. Will post initial impressions after the gear has arrived and I've taken it all for a spin.

I've still got the Canon 5D body (I haven't finished paying for it yet) and 24-105mm f4, so once I get the body fixed I may even end up shooting with two different systems on the same wedding (if I can work that way?). Or I may even alternate? We'll have to wait and see. But it will be Nikon all the way for the first few, until I get the money together to fix the 5D. No matter how you look at it, it should be a good wedding season. I'm certainly looking forward to it.