Get a Flash

I often find myself in conversations with DSLR owners who have been shooting for a while. A frequent question that comes up is, “What’s the next thing I should buy?” There are (of course) many options when listing all the potential camera gear and accessories available. However, my recommendation is always the same… get a flash.

Photography is all about light. It really doesn’t matter how expensive your camera body is, how nice your lenses are, or even how photogenic your subject is. Without good light, getting good photos is impossible. I’m not saying that you can’t take good photos without a flash, I am saying that having a flash in your kit will open up many more opportunities to take good photos.

The built-in flash on a DSLR camera provides some help when you’re desperate, but that hot-shoe on the top of your camera body is there for a reason. A built-in flash has the following limitations:

• Low power. The amount of light your built-in flash can produce is relatively small. It might be able to throw light 13 meters (42 feet) at best. A Canon 430Ex II can throw light up to 43 meters and the 580Ex II up to 58 meters (Hence the names 430 and 580).
• Fixed direction. Your built-in flash can only fire in one direction – straight forward. This might sound handy, but it has limitations. Without being able to bounce light of other surfaces, any shadows on your subject’s face will be filled in. This makes a face look ‘flat’ and reduces depth in the image.
• Lens shadow. If you have a long lens on your camera or even a short lens with a hood mounted, the flash may not be tall enough to fire over the top. This can result in a shadow at the bottom of the frame created by the lens blocking light from the flash.
• Red eye. The phenomenon of ‘red eye’ occurs when light enters an eye at a narrow angle in relation to the lens axis. Since a built-in flash fires almost directly in line with the lens direction, light entering an eye bounces straight back into the camera. A separate flash allows you to bounce light into the face from an off-axis angle which removes the red-eye issue.

Using a flash will give you more light when you need it. This means you can use a faster shutter speed to capture action, shoot with a smaller aperture to achieve more depth of field and use a lower ISO setting for maximum image quality.

Another advantage to using a flash is that you can use light modifiers on it such as diffusers, grids and snoots. Eventually, you will want to get your flash off your camera for even more creative opportunities. But I’ll leave that for a future post.

Let us know how your photography changed after getting a flash for the first time.

Canon 580Ex II flash units on a 40D (left) and 50D (right).

Get a Flash

Managing your photos and backing them up

I had no idea when I purchased my first DSLR just how many photos I would have to manage as the months and years went by. It quickly became apparent that I would need a system of storing files on my hard drive and backing them up.

The following principles are important for me when developing a system for managing photos:

1. It cannot rely on special software. This is because software programs come and go and sometimes they use databases to store information. If the database is corrupted, then everything gets lost.
2. It has to stand the test of time. The system needs to be basic enough that it will be relevant now and in 20 years.
3. Keep it simple. There is no need for a complicated system when a simple one will do.

So I store photos in folders on an external ‘master’ hard drive using the following system:

• YYYY


• YYYY-MM-DD Name of Event


• JPEG (This is where I export my CR2 files as JPEGs after editing them using Adobe Camera RAW via Adobe Bridge).

I just use the file name which the camera generates for the photo. However, you can assign a custom file name to images via your importing software. This is ZoomBrowser EX for Canon shooters.

There will invariably be an increase in the sensor’s megapixel count every time a camera manufacturer releases a new model. This is great for image quality, but it means that fewer shots fit on a memory card and that big external hard drive you purchased last year is almost full. The good news is that hard drives are always increasing in capacity and decreasing in price.

I like to use stand alone external hard drives to store my images on. I use 2 of the same model – the first as the master and the second as the backup. I have two 1TB Western Digital external HDDs at the moment.

I sync the master and backup HDDs using Microsoft SyncToy. I like this application because it is simple and seems to work really well. The only problem is remembering to run it on a regular basis. I ‘echo’ the master drive to the backup drive. This means that any changes made on the master get duplicated on backup, but not visa-versa.

I don’t use RAID configured external HDDs to secure my photos. This is because both HDDs are in the same case. In the event that I am travelling or want to take my photos with me, I like being able to just take the master HDD and leave the backup behind.

Do you have a great photo management system? How do you back up your photos?

Managing your photos and backing them up

Think twice before purchasing 'grey' import camera equipment

Photography equipment is expensive. So it’s tempting to look for cheap deals on eBay or other discount websites which sell products imported outside the manufacturer’s official channels. But you should consider the warranty implications before grabbing a bargain.
For example, Canon Australia will only service genuine Australian stock under warranty. So if your new camera gets a ‘shutter assembly’ issue, then it will cost a small fortune to get it fixed if you take it directly to Canon.

Many online grey import sellers have their own warranty schemes. I’ve never had any experience with these, but one potential issue would be the time that your gear is unavailable while it gets shipped around to get fixed.

If you’re the kind of person who likes to take a risk on these things, let me share my experiences with you about Canon gear. In the past 3 years I’ve had to return the following to get repaired:

• Canon 40D – Died in the first couple of days with a reoccurring ‘Error 99’ issue. A circuit board needed to be replaced.
• Canon 40D – Stopped working in the first hour of a conference I was shooting with a ‘shutter assembly’ issue. It kept my camera bag company for the rest of the week.
• Canon 17-55 2.8 IS – The Image Stabilisation system died and made the most amazing noise.
• Canon 580Ex – A wire was pinched (or something like that) and the flash would not fire in sync with the camera.

I’d love to hear your stories about camera gear warranty issues. Have you had any success with grey importers honouring their service agreements? Has your camera gear ever failed at a critical moment?

Think twice before purchasing 'grey' import camera equipment

Improve your photography by shooting in Manual 'M' mode

You probably know from life experience that the fastest way to learn how to do something is by doing it. Imagine if your parents sat you in front of whiteboard when you were a kid and tried to teach you how to ride a bike by drawing diagrams. You may have gained some useful knowledge, but chances are that you’d be even more nervous about getting on a bike for that first ride.

Many amateur photographers I know keep their DSLR cameras in ‘goof proof’ or ‘fully automatic’ mode. They jump online and start to read about photography in the hope that they will one day be able to turn the dial to ‘M’ and know what they are doing. However, this information dump just ends up producing confusion and fear of getting it wrong.

Just like riding a bike, I reckon the best way for amateur photographers to get their head around shutter speed, aperture and ISO settings is to always shoot in Manual mode. That’s right… always! After all, what have you got to lose? You can always delete a shot that didn’t turn out OK.

If you drive a manual car, then you’ll remember that first drive when the clutch, gear stick, breaking, accelerating and steering all had to be coordinated at the same time. It was a lot to take in and it probably looked rather messy. But after a while, that all happens subconsciously. You get in the car and drive to your destination without even really thinking about what gear you’re in. The same can happen with your photography when thinking about shutter speed, ISO and aperture.

The next time you grab your camera for a party, family event, holiday or whatever, try and shoot all your photos in manual mode. Decide for yourself what ISO, shutter speed and aperture to use. Review photos on your screen (chimp) and make changes as needed to fix any exposure or depth of field problems. It will not be long before you don’t trust your camera to make decisions for you. Your camera can be easily tricked, but if you know what you are trying to achieve and how to get the shot, then you will feel like you’re in control of the camera and not the other way around.

Improve your photography by shooting in Manual 'M' mode

Help-Portrait

A friend of mind sent me a link to Help-Portrait which is a new movement for photographers. I've often wondered how photography could be used for good, and this idea seems to have tapped into something special. The concept is simple:

1. Find someone in need.
2. Take their portrait
3. Print their portrait
4. And deliver them

Help-Portrait

To Grip or not to Grip?

Canon's DSLR camera range (with the exception of the 1D series) have an optional battery grip accessory. This device attaches to the bottom of the camera and has the following benefits:

• Provides space for an extra battery which increases battery life. 
• Provides an additional shutter, exposure lock and other buttons which means that you can shoot vertical (portrait) without having to awkwardly wrap your hand over the top of the camera. 
• Makes the camera easier to hold, especially when a large lens is attached.

To Grip or not to Grip?

Should I get insurance for my camera?

Risk management is one of life's more stressful endeavours. We have insurance for our car, our house and perhaps even our life. But what about your camera gear? Is it worth insuring?

Should I get insurance for my camera?

Which flash batteries should I use?

Using a flash provides a whole new world of creative possibilities when it comes to photography. However, you can spend a small fortune on batteries. I was using Energizer e2 AAs in my Canon 580Ex, but at $20 for a pack of 4, the cost soon added up. Then when I started shooting with 2 flashes, the cost doubled.

You can find Energizer rechargeable batteries everywhere in Australia (Coles, Woolworths, etc). So I gave them a go. The problem is that they lose their charge at a significant rate when not in use. So if I charged them up on Monday, they would only be 50% ready to go by the weekend.

Then came along Sanyo eneloop batteries. These are a game changer. I don't know how they do it, but Sanyo claims that they keep 85% of their charge over a whole year. From my personal experience, this seems to be the case. I will often only shoot on weekends and can go for a month or 2 before having to recharge my eneloop batteries.

Sanyo eneloops tend to die quickly rather than fade away in my 580ExII. This is good, because you want a fast recycle time right up to the point when the batteries need replacing. Some other batteries gradually slow down as their charge get used up.

Sanyo eneloops will cost a little more to start with, but they will pay for themselves in no time. I have 16 of them (2 sets for 2 flashes).

Which flash batteries should I use?

How to view RAW file thumbnails in Windows

I recently purchased a Canon 7D and discovered that the most recent version of the Canon RAW Codec does not support the CR2 raw files yet. This means that when I am browsing raw files in Windows, I cannot see the thumbnails.

What to do? Well, after searching around a bit I discovered a free RAWcodec pack from fastpictureviewer.com which works perfectly!

How to view RAW file thumbnails in Windows

All the gear and no idea

The first thing a person says when I am taking photos is, 'That's a big camera' followed by 'what sort is it?'. Well, to get this blog off the ground, here is a summary of my current camera gear (which is always changing):

• Canon 7D with BG-E7 Battery Grip
• Canon 70-200 2.8 IS
• Canon 17-55 2.8 IS
• Canon 10-22 3.5-4
• Canon 580ExII Speedlites X 2
• Lots of SanDisk Memory Cards (I am well over 50GB now)

There are quite a few other items in my camera bag, but I'll leave them for future posts. Most of what I know about photography has come from blogs and forums. I hope that this blog will be a helpful learning tool too.

But what would a photography blog be without photos? Let's kick off with one of the most cliché photos of all time - a wedding cake:

All the gear and no idea