LeggNet's Digital Capture

About a week and a half ago I did a blog post called Share-a-Link Saturday. In the post I asked for readers to submit their favorite photography websites. The response was fantastic. Since so many good links were provided I felt that they needed to be shared. Here, in the order they were submitted, are the reader-submitted links to their favorite photography related websites.

Photowalking Utah – photowalkingutah.com
Epic Edits – epicedits.com
Photography Bay – photographybay.com
Harwood Photography – harwoodphotos.blogspot.com
The Big Picture – boston.com/bigpicture
David’s Photography Blog – www.davidfenwick.co.uk/blog/
Pierre Winther – www.pierrewinther.com
Muenchen – www.muenchenmenschen.de
Magnum in Motion – www.inmotion.magnumphotos.com
2 x 365 Photos – 2x365photos.blogspot.com/
LG Photo – www.lgphotoblog.blogspot.com
DentonImages.comhttp://www.dentonimages.com/
The Strobist – strobist.blogspot.com/
Bryan Niven – www.bryanniven.com/blog/
The Photographic World of Drew Gardner – photography-thedarkart.blogspot.com/
Yuri Arcurs – www.arcurs.com/
Sharon Yanai – www.sharonyanai.com
This Week in Photography – twipphoto.com/
Alex Moore’s Blog – moorealx.com/
orangeblob Photography Blog – www.orangeblob.com/blog/
Foto-Biz.com – foto-biz.com
Jen Murray Photography – www.jenmurrayphotography.com
Myerson Photo – www.myersonphoto.com/
Myerson Photo Blog – www.myersonphoto.com/blog
StudioLighting.net – www.studiolighting.net
Nuno Silva Photography – www.nunosilva.ca
Lens Baby – www.lensbaby.com
Shadow Mountain Photography – shadowmountainphotography.com/
Digital Grin Photography – digitalgrin.com
DIYPhotography.net – diyphotography.net
Pro Photo Life – prophotolife.com
Digital Photography School – digital-photography-school.com/blog/
RomePhotoBlog – romephotoblog.blogspot.com/
Twin City Photos – photoblog.twincityphotos.com/
Beeps and Chirps – beepsandchirps.com/
Bandung Daily Photo – bandungdailyphoto.com/
Oeiras and Environs Daily Photo – oeirasdailyphoto.blogspot.com/
David Terry Photography – www.dterryphotography.com
San Francisco Ed Pingol – edpingol.blogspot.com
Greg Bumatay – bumataystudio.blogspot.com
Dustin Izatt Photography Blog – dustinizattphoto.blogspot.com
Joe McNally’s Blog – www.joemcnally.com/blog/
RobNunnPhoto.com – www.robnunnphoto.com/
ApoChromatic – apochromatic.eu
BURNBLUEDOTCOM – www.burnblue.com/
Zoriah – zoriah.net/
FILE Magazine – www.filemagazine.com/
Flak Photo – www.flakphoto.com/
Joseph’s Life and Photos – www.josephburford.com
Digital Photography Life – personallifemedia.com/podcasts/405-digital-photography-li…
PhotoNetCast – www.photonetcast.com/
hyperfocal – apeture.my-expressions.com/index.html
H-town streets – apeture.my-expressions.com/Htown.html
Photine – www.photine.net/
The Learning Photographer – learningphotog.blogspot.com
Mark Velasquez Photogrpahy – www.flickr.com/photos/markvelasqueztoo/
mikesphotography – mikesphotography.my-expressions.com/
Bert Staphani – www.bertstephani.com/Site/bert_stephani_home.html
Is Steve Still Alive? – www.isstevestillalive.com/the-substance/2008/12/30/random…
Brian Lima Photography – brianlima.com
Peter Lik Fine Art Photography – peterlik.com
Voyages en Images – www.voyimage.com/
Craig Holmes Photographer – www.craigholmes.com
Argos – www.olddogphoto.com
Amy Coffey Photography – www.amycoffeyphotography.com
Aaron Moller Photographer – www.aaronmoller.com/blog
The Online Photographer – theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer…
Little People – little-people.blogspot.com/
Rob Galbraith DPI – www.robgalbraith.com/bins/index.asp
This Urban Life – thisurbanlife.blogspot.com/
The Caretaker’s Concern – thecaretakersconcern.blogspot.com/
The Circle of Confusion – thecofc.wordpress.com/
Magical Places Fine Art Online Photography Magazine – www.magicalplacesfineart.com/blog
Andes – www.magicalplacesfineart.com/andes/

About a week and a half ago I did a blog post called Share-a-Link Saturday. In the post I asked for readers to submit their favorite photography websites. The response was fantastic. Since so many good links were provided I felt that they needed to be shared. Here, in the order they were submitted, are the reader-submitted links to their favorite photography related websites.

Photowalking Utah – photowalkingutah.com
Epic Edits – epicedits.com
Photography Bay – photographybay.com
Harwood Photography – harwoodphotos.blogspot.com
The Big Picture – boston.com/bigpicture
David’s Photography Blog – www.davidfenwick.co.uk/blog/
Pierre Winther – www.pierrewinther.com
Muenchen – www.muenchenmenschen.de
Magnum in Motion – www.inmotion.magnumphotos.com
2 x 365 Photos – 2x365photos.blogspot.com/
LG Photo – www.lgphotoblog.blogspot.com
DentonImages.comhttp://www.dentonimages.com/
The Strobist – strobist.blogspot.com/
Bryan Niven – www.bryanniven.com/blog/
The Photographic World of Drew Gardner – photography-thedarkart.blogspot.com/
Yuri Arcurs – www.arcurs.com/
Sharon Yanai – www.sharonyanai.com
This Week in Photography – twipphoto.com/
Alex Moore’s Blog – moorealx.com/
orangeblob Photography Blog – www.orangeblob.com/blog/
Foto-Biz.com – foto-biz.com
Jen Murray Photography – www.jenmurrayphotography.com
Myerson Photo – www.myersonphoto.com/
Myerson Photo Blog – www.myersonphoto.com/blog
StudioLighting.net – www.studiolighting.net
Nuno Silva Photography – www.nunosilva.ca
Lens Baby – www.lensbaby.com
Shadow Mountain Photography – shadowmountainphotography.com/
Digital Grin Photography – digitalgrin.com
DIYPhotography.net – diyphotography.net
Pro Photo Life – prophotolife.com
Digital Photography School – digital-photography-school.com/blog/
RomePhotoBlog – romephotoblog.blogspot.com/
Twin City Photos – photoblog.twincityphotos.com/
Beeps and Chirps – beepsandchirps.com/
Bandung Daily Photo – bandungdailyphoto.com/
Oeiras and Environs Daily Photo – oeirasdailyphoto.blogspot.com/
David Terry Photography – www.dterryphotography.com
San Francisco Ed Pingol – edpingol.blogspot.com
Greg Bumatay – bumataystudio.blogspot.com
Dustin Izatt Photography Blog – dustinizattphoto.blogspot.com
Joe McNally’s Blog – www.joemcnally.com/blog/
RobNunnPhoto.com – www.robnunnphoto.com/
ApoChromatic – apochromatic.eu
BURNBLUEDOTCOM – www.burnblue.com/
Zoriah – zoriah.net/
FILE Magazine – www.filemagazine.com/
Flak Photo – www.flakphoto.com/
Joseph’s Life and Photos – www.josephburford.com
Digital Photography Life – personallifemedia.com/podcasts/405-digital-photography-li…
PhotoNetCast – www.photonetcast.com/
hyperfocal – apeture.my-expressions.com/index.html
H-town streets – apeture.my-expressions.com/Htown.html
Photine – www.photine.net/
The Learning Photographer – learningphotog.blogspot.com
Mark Velasquez Photogrpahy – www.flickr.com/photos/markvelasqueztoo/
mikesphotography – mikesphotography.my-expressions.com/
Bert Staphani – www.bertstephani.com/Site/bert_stephani_home.html
Is Steve Still Alive? – www.isstevestillalive.com/the-substance/2008/12/30/random…
Brian Lima Photography – brianlima.com
Peter Lik Fine Art Photography – peterlik.com
Voyages en Images – www.voyimage.com/
Craig Holmes Photographer – www.craigholmes.com
Argos – www.olddogphoto.com
Amy Coffey Photography – www.amycoffeyphotography.com
Aaron Moller Photographer – www.aaronmoller.com/blog
The Online Photographer – theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer…
Little People – little-people.blogspot.com/
Rob Galbraith DPI – www.robgalbraith.com/bins/index.asp
This Urban Life – thisurbanlife.blogspot.com/
The Caretaker’s Concern – thecaretakersconcern.blogspot.com/
The Circle of Confusion – thecofc.wordpress.com/
Magical Places Fine Art Online Photography Magazine – www.magicalplacesfineart.com/blog
Andes – www.magicalplacesfineart.com/andes/

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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UPDATE: I’ve added some images of the pinhole camera on a new blog post here.

My eighth grade daughter chose to make a pinhole camera for the science fair and asked me to help out. With this being the 21st Century and all, we opted to make a digital version.

It was actually fairly simple to create. She, along with a schoolmate, took a cardboard box and covered it in foil tape to guarantee that it was lightproof. For the lens, a piece of aluminum soda can was used with a needle hole punched in the center. In place of film on the inside of the box, she put a sheet of white paper.

To add the digital part, a hole was cut in the front of the box beside the pinhole lens. It was through this hole that the digital SLR was used to record the pinhole image being displayed on the rear of the box’s inside. To eliminate any light leaks around the SLR lens, a combination of a rubber gasket made from a bicycle tube and foil tape was used. The lens was set on manual focus at its closest setting.

For exposure, she did a bunch of trial-and-error test shots (pretty much just bracketed her times). She was eventually able to produce some fairly good images. In hindsight, I would have suggested that she used a smaller aperture on the SLR to increase the depth-of-field to overcome the blurred left side of the frame.

All in all, I like what she came up with. It was pretty cool to see the image the was captured through a pinhole in a soda can.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f4/L lens – 40 seconds, f/4, ISO 3200

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UPDATE: I’ve added some images of the pinhole camera on a new blog post here.

My eighth grade daughter chose to make a pinhole camera for the science fair and asked me to help out. With this being the 21st Century and all, we opted to make a digital version.

It was actually fairly simple to create. She, along with a schoolmate, took a cardboard box and covered it in foil tape to guarantee that it was lightproof. For the lens, a piece of aluminum soda can was used with a needle hole punched in the center. In place of film on the inside of the box, she put a sheet of white paper.

To add the digital part, a hole was cut in the front of the box beside the pinhole lens. It was through this hole that the digital SLR was used to record the pinhole image being displayed on the rear of the box’s inside. To eliminate any light leaks around the SLR lens, a combination of a rubber gasket made from a bicycle tube and foil tape was used. The lens was set on manual focus at its closest setting.

For exposure, she did a bunch of trial-and-error test shots (pretty much just bracketed her times). She was eventually able to produce some fairly good images. In hindsight, I would have suggested that she used a smaller aperture on the SLR to increase the depth-of-field to overcome the blurred left side of the frame.

All in all, I like what she came up with. It was pretty cool to see the image the was captured through a pinhole in a soda can.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f4/L lens – 40 seconds, f/4, ISO 3200

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

When it comes to making a quality photograph, focus is near the top of the list for requirements. Like any rule, there are always exceptions but the general reaction for the human mind when looking at an out of focus image is that something is not right and it feels uncomfortable.

In stock photography, sharp focus is even more important and is an absolute necessity. While a portrait can get by being a bit “soft”, in the ultra-competitive world of stock images this just won’t fliy.

With this being said, I have to say that I have been blown away at the sharpness results I am receiving with my current camera/lens combo. The 5D Mark II paired with the 24-105 f/4L IS lens have proved to be a great duo. I was pleased with the focus I was able to achieve with the lens on the original 5D, but the results I get now are even better.

I have read on the Internet and heard from some photographers that the 24-105 is not a great lens as far as sharpness is concerned. No less than the self-proclaimed “World’s Top Selling Microstock Photographer” Yuri Arcurs stated recently on his blog that this lens is not sharp enough below f/9 for stock photography. This has not been my experience.

Today’s sample image is from a recent stock shoot I did in my studio. The enlarged portion of the shot is a 100% crop of Emily’s right eye. Since I needed a narrow depth-of-field to sufficiently blur the text on the book, I used a near wide-open aperture of 4.5. Note the detail in the eyelashes and the skin below the eye. Also notice that this was not an extreme close-up image, but a fairly wide head/shoulders capture. This eye is definitely sharp enough for my needs.

One more thing to add is the technique I use to achieve focus. Since the majority of my photography involves pre-set models and not rapid-fire shooting, I don’t need an ultra-fast focus system. I have my 5D bodies set for a “center only” focus point. When shooting, I put this point on the line between color and white on the model’s near eye and lock in focus. Once I have this focus, I recompose and release the shutter. I have also taken to using a monopod in nearly all my shooting to further minimize the effect of camera-shake on the image.

The combination of this technique, a 5D Mark II and the 24-105 f/4L serve me well. What about you? What techniques/equipment do you find works best?

Labels: tutorial

When it comes to making a quality photograph, focus is near the top of the list for requirements. Like any rule, there are always exceptions but the general reaction for the human mind when looking at an out of focus image is that something is not right and it feels uncomfortable.

In stock photography, sharp focus is even more important and is an absolute necessity. While a portrait can get by being a bit “soft”, in the ultra-competitive world of stock images this just won’t fliy.

With this being said, I have to say that I have been blown away at the sharpness results I am receiving with my current camera/lens combo. The 5D Mark II paired with the 24-105 f/4L IS lens have proved to be a great duo. I was pleased with the focus I was able to achieve with the lens on the original 5D, but the results I get now are even better.

I have read on the Internet and heard from some photographers that the 24-105 is not a great lens as far as sharpness is concerned. No less than the self-proclaimed “World’s Top Selling Microstock Photographer” Yuri Arcurs stated recently on his blog that this lens is not sharp enough below f/9 for stock photography. This has not been my experience.

Today’s sample image is from a recent stock shoot I did in my studio. The enlarged portion of the shot is a 100% crop of Emily’s right eye. Since I needed a narrow depth-of-field to sufficiently blur the text on the book, I used a near wide-open aperture of 4.5. Note the detail in the eyelashes and the skin below the eye. Also notice that this was not an extreme close-up image, but a fairly wide head/shoulders capture. This eye is definitely sharp enough for my needs.

One more thing to add is the technique I use to achieve focus. Since the majority of my photography involves pre-set models and not rapid-fire shooting, I don’t need an ultra-fast focus system. I have my 5D bodies set for a “center only” focus point. When shooting, I put this point on the line between color and white on the model’s near eye and lock in focus. Once I have this focus, I recompose and release the shutter. I have also taken to using a monopod in nearly all my shooting to further minimize the effect of camera-shake on the image.

The combination of this technique, a 5D Mark II and the 24-105 f/4L serve me well. What about you? What techniques/equipment do you find works best?

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Today’s image by Photowalking Utah co-founder Bryan Jones

Are you a photographer in Northern Utah? Then grab your calendar and circle the date of Saturday January 24th. The Photowalking Utah group will be doing an indoor photowalk at Cactus and Tropicals in Draper. This will give the participants a chance to do some up-close-and-personal macro photography of the various plant life featured in the location. Here’s the info from the announcement at PhotowalkingUtah.com:

Reserve the date: The afternoon of Saturday, January 24th will be the next photowalk, this time up at Cactus and Tropicals, the Draper location. We are planning on starting at 1:00pm and going up to 3:00pm.

Cactus and Tropicals is a garden center with plenty of indoor space that we can meet in to avoid the cold while having the opportunity to photograph plants, exotic and common. We are planning on having at least one macro studio setup for people to explore the wonders of macro photography as well as having studio lights set up to photograph flowers and plants from the everyday ficus to your more exotic Venus fly traps and orchids.

Location: 12252 S Draper Gate Dr (1325 E) Draper, UT 84020
Meet up at 1:00pm. We’ll have a brief introduction followed by wandering the greenhouse to photograph with at least a table or two set up for studio work.

As always, these events are free of charge and open to photographers of any skill level. This is a great way to get to meet like-minded people in your area.

For more information, visit the official website at photowalkingutah.com and the Flickr group at flickr.com/groups/photowalkslc.

Canon 1D Mark III, Canon 100 f/2.8 macro lens – 1/160 second, f/4, ISO 400

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Here’s an idea: Drop a comment below with a link or two (or three or four…) to some of your favorite photography related websites. This is a great chance to advertise your own site or other photo sites you frequent.

Like many of us, I’m always on the lookout for a new site to add to my RSS Reader.

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Here’s an idea: Drop a comment below with a link or two (or three or four…) to some of your favorite photography related websites. This is a great chance to advertise your own site or other photo sites you frequent.

Like many of us, I’m always on the lookout for a new site to add to my RSS Reader.

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Since I’ve been busy editing images this week and have only done one photo shoot, I thought I’d step “back-in-time” for today’s blog post with a previously unedited image. This photograph was captured in Salt Lake City’s Cathedral of the Madeleine two years ago on a non-commercial Saturday afternoon outing with my friends Harley and Diane. The majesty of the Cathedral’s interior is almost beyond words.

Canon 30D, Canon 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 – 13 seconds, f/22, ISO 100

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Since I’ve been busy editing images this week and have only done one photo shoot, I thought I’d step “back-in-time” for today’s blog post with a previously unedited image. This photograph was captured in Salt Lake City’s Cathedral of the Madeleine two years ago on a non-commercial Saturday afternoon outing with my friends Harley and Diane. The majesty of the Cathedral’s interior is almost beyond words.

Canon 30D, Canon 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 – 13 seconds, f/22, ISO 100

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/125 second, f/7.1, ISO 100

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Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/125 second, f/7.1, ISO 100

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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My neighbor Lee tipped me off yesterday afternoon to one of my stock images being used in an ad on KSL.com, the website of Utah’s NBC television affiliate. I’m sharing this today as another example of how designers will change or modify a stock image to fit their specific design needs.

In this instance, the design called for an ad with the text links on the right side. To make this work with my image, they did a horizontal flip of the shot. This change is virtually unnoticeable to everyone except me and Kylee (the model). I frequently see images flipped to fit design needs. Another example of this happened last year when USPS.com used my image of a graduate (link).

Additionally, for this ad the background was removed and the model isolated. This works very well in my opinion. I particularly like how they matched the ad’s color scheme with the green tone in Kylee’s shirt.

I’ve frequently said that I find roughly 1 in 1,000 of my sold images in “The Wild” (spotted in print, web or television). For me, the most interesting part of these finds is to see the context how the image is used. This is valuable information that I can put to use when shooting future stock imagery.

Labels: stock

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My neighbor Lee tipped me off yesterday afternoon to one of my stock images being used in an ad on KSL.com, the website of Utah’s NBC television affiliate. I’m sharing this today as another example of how designers will change or modify a stock image to fit their specific design needs.

In this instance, the design called for an ad with the text links on the right side. To make this work with my image, they did a horizontal flip of the shot. This change is virtually unnoticeable to everyone except me and Kylee (the model). I frequently see images flipped to fit design needs. Another example of this happened last year when USPS.com used my image of a graduate (link).

Additionally, for this ad the background was removed and the model isolated. This works very well in my opinion. I particularly like how they matched the ad’s color scheme with the green tone in Kylee’s shirt.

I’ve frequently said that I find roughly 1 in 1,000 of my sold images in “The Wild” (spotted in print, web or television). For me, the most interesting part of these finds is to see the context how the image is used. This is valuable information that I can put to use when shooting future stock imagery.

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/125 second, f/10, ISO 100

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Here’s a sample image from the last shoot I did of 2008 which also happened to be the last time I was able to work with Emily since her family is moving back to Australia. I was able to refer her to an outstanding iStock photographer in her home country though, so while I won’t be working with her anymore she will get to continue modeling.

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/80 second, f/5.6, ISO 100

Rich Legg is a commercial photographer based in Riverton Utah specializing in Microstock Photography.
After beginning his photography career in school and working as a studio portrait photographer during the 1980’s, he stepped away from serious photography for nearly 15 years.
After a successful decade working in corporate America, the advances in internet technology and digital photography lured Rich back into the photographic world in the early 2000’s. Working full-time creating images for his stock portfolios with iStockphoto and Getty Images, he has returned to his roots as a professional photographer.
In addition to the commercial photography work, Rich is a prolific blogger, a founding member of Photowalking Utah and a member of the Professional Photographers of America.

Rich Legg, OwnerLegacy One Photography(801) 568-1000 | rich@leggnet.comwww.legacyonephotography.comwww.richlegg.com

I’ve spent some time over the last few days reminiscing about the photos I took in 2008. I wanted to pick my favorite image for 2008. Instead of picking a single image, I decided to put together a few of my favorites from different categories.

OVERALL FAVORITE IMAGE

When I think of the thousands of images I took in 2008, one image stands alone in my mind as my favorite. It was taken on a rainy/snowy day in May when everything came together perfectly for me to capture what I envisioned in my mind. The shot was made at the Salt Lake LDS Temple at the wedding of a young woman who grew up in my neighborhood.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/640 second, f/4, ISO 100

FAVORITE PHOTOWALKING IMAGE

My next favorite is an image that was taken on a Photowalking Utah event in March. The group was riding the light rail system through downtown Salt Lake City and getting off at each stop to photograph. At one of the stops we met this gentleman who kindly let us photograph him. I opted to get in very close and to position him in the light so there wouldn’t be catch-lights in his eyes. I wanted to portray the harshness that is reality when living on the streets.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/80 second, f/4, ISO 250

FAVORITE STOCK IMAGE

It was difficult to pick a favorite in this category. I added over 2,800 images to my stock portfolios in 2008 so there were plenty to choose from. My pick is one I shot back in the spring titled Scary Movie. I love how the girls were each able to portray spontaneous fear as if they were actually watching a scary movie. The fact that the image features my two daughters doesn’t hurt either.

Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens – 1/160 second, f/7.1, ISO 100

FAVORITE PORTRAIT

My favorite portrait is of a member of my church named Leon. What makes this image special is that Leon passed away on January 23rd, a relatively short time after this image was made. Even though the image was actually taken a few days after Christmas ’07, I consider it a 2008 image because that’s when I did the editing. I remember talking to Michelle on the way home after photographing Leon and telling her that I had a strange feeling while shooting that this would be Leon’s last portrait. I’m grateful to have been able to capture his warm smile one last time.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/125 second, f/10, ISO 100

FAVORITE PHOTO SHOOT

My favorite photo shoot of the year took place nearly a year ago in January. Through a pilot friend, I was granted access to a private jet for an afternoon to do a stock photo session. My goal was to create a series of images that portrayed passengers inside an airplane in flight.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/60 second, f/8, ISO 100

Even though the temperature was in the teens (inside of the airplane and out), the models all braved it to help me create a nice set of stock images that have sold relatively well all year. Of the dozens of shoots I did this one is probably my favorite because of just how cool it was to play around photographically in a multi-million dollar jet.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/160 second, f/6.3, ISO 100

2008 will go down in my memory as the year that my photography business took a front seat to my other endeavors and became my nearly-sole source of income. This would have never happened without the support of my family, the willingness of people to open up locations for me to photograph in and the dozens of great models that worked with me throughout the year.

To each an every one of you I issue a heartfelt Thank You!

Now it’s time to quit looking back and to focus on the future. 2009 here I come!

Thanks to all the readers of LeggNet’s Digital Capture for a great ’08! Here’s to a safe and happy New Year’s Eve and a Fantastic 2009.
– Rich –

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/160 second, f/7.1, ISO 100

Thanks to all the readers of LeggNet’s Digital Capture for a great ’08! Here’s to a safe and happy New Year’s Eve and a Fantastic 2009.

– Rich –

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/160 second, f/7.1, ISO 100

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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I use the online photo lab Mpix.com for my photo printing needs. I first tried them a few years ago after reading a comparison of online labs in a photography magazine and saw that they were rated the best overall. I have been very pleased with their quality and service. I’ve often said that it is more convenient for me to use Mpix and have the images overnight shipped (for a very low flat rate) to my home rather than driving to a local lab.

Earlier this month my faith in Mpix was put to a test. I arrived home to find a FedEx package waiting for me that was in pretty bad condition. It’s not an exaggeration to say that the box was literally “Run Over”. Knowing that the package contained a 16×24 and 11×14 mounted on canvas (in addition to a lot of smaller prints), saying that I was alarmed is an understatement. Opening the box confirmed my fear. Both of the mounted images were goners, though all of the unmounted prints survived.

Since my client was anxiously awaiting the order, I quickly sent an email to customerservice@mpix.com hoping for the best. To my surprise, I received a reply in less than 5 minutes. Without hesitation, Matt at Mpix offered to reprint the entire order and overnight me the replacements. He didn’t ask for proof or give me any hassle at all. He simply said he was sorry and that he would take care of it.

This is the kind of service I want to receive from companies I frequent. Accidents and mistakes will happen. When they do, it is nice to have them quickly resolved. This potential relationship damaging incident actually served to further increase my loyalty to Mpix. Nice job, Matt & Mpix.

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With the typical “busy-ness” that seems to encapsulate the holiday season I haven’t been photographing much. This creates a bit of a challenge for meaningful blog fodder, so for today’s post I’m gonna feature one more image from last week’s School Bus stock shoot.

Tomorrow’s post: an example of good customer service from a photo lab.

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/40 second, f/6.3, ISO 200

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Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/60 second, f/5.6, ISO 200

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Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/160 second, f/4, ISO 100

I wrapped up my last stock photo shoot of the year this morning. The shoot involved a group of kids on a school bus. Finding the bus was a little bit of a challenge, and I ended up being blessed to have a local church offer their bus to me at no charge. While the bus didn’t look much like a typical “school bus” on the outside (where’s the yellow color?!?), it was a perfect location on the inside for my purpose.

For lighting, the bright reflective natural light (helped by the fresh snow) coming in through the side windows worked great. I accentuated this light with a large softbox aimed at the windshield and a smaller softbox inside the bus.

It was a lot of fun working with the 10 models. The fact that the majority of them were kids and that it’s two days before Christmas added to the excitement on the bus. Together we created a nice set of images to add to my stock portfolio.

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Yup, we’ve almost arrived at another Christmas. My surprise this holiday season photographically was which one of my themed photos became my top seller. I would have never predicted it back in September when I shot it, but this image of a frazzled looking Alyssa outsold any of my other holiday images by a considerable margin. I guess we can just chalk it up as a commentary of how many people feel during the holiday season.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/160 second, f/4, ISO 100

Photo by Scott Jarvie

Last night’s two-part Photowalking Utah event was a success, at least it appeared to be from where I was standing. We had great participation in both segments of the outing.

The evening began with a mini-clinic on Nighttime Photography at the City Library in Salt Lake City. We managed to squeeze 50+ photographers into the conference room provided by the library. It is always a challenge to present relevant information to photographers of such varying skill levels, and hopefully I was able to do so.

I had more than a few requests for a copy of my Powerpoint presentation, so I have uploaded it to the server. It can be found here. The slides were more of a starting point for our discussion, but I hope this can at least help with remembering what we chatted about.

After the mini-clinic, the group hopped on Trax (Salt Lake City’s light-rail system) and headed over to Temple Square where we met up with several photographers that didn’t make it to the earlier session. While it was a fairly cold night, the day’s earlier snowstorm had moved on so conditions were good for shooting.

Photo by David Terry

This was probably the first photowalk that I didn’t take any pictures on. I loaned my camera to one photographer and my tripod to another, so I spent my time just walking and talking with the group. Even though I didn’t shoot, I still really enjoyed the event.

The Photowalking Utah Flickr pool is beginning to see the night’s captures filter in. Be sure to check it out over the next few days to see a sampling of the participant’s work.

Photowalking Utah enjoyed a great 2008. We have had over a dozen events and have seen the attendance steadily increase. I really look forward to seeing where this group can go in 2009.

Labels: photowalking

Thanks to everyone who ventured out early this past Saturday morning despite the winter storm warning to photowalk the Hill Aerospace Museum. It was a great time in a great location. Extra special thanks go to Photowalking Utah member Averie for getting our group the VIP treatment! Our tour guides could not have been more accommodating – they were great!

To see a great sampling of images shot by the group, visit the Photowalking Utah pool on Flickr.

The next Photowalking Utah event is tomorrow night in Salt Lake City. It features a nighttime photography mini-clinic (which looks to be standing-room-only at this point) and then a photowalk around the famous Temple Square Christmas displays. For all the details, here’s a link to my previous blog post.

Labels: photowalking

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One of the main reasons for my recent camera upgrade from the Canon 5D to the new 5D mark II was the ability to shoot at higher ISO settings without a significant degradation to the image. In my stock photography, I never went over ISO 400 with the original 5D and typically stayed under 200. While this was fine for shooting in studio, when I shot outdoors with existing light I frequently found myself shooting at a slower shutter speed than I would have preferred.

On a recent outdoor session, I was able to put the Mark II’s higher ISO ability to a test. It was an overcast day and I used a combination of reflector and speedlite to accentuate the diffused natural lighting. By pushing the ISO to 800 for this image, I was able to use a shutter speed of 1/250 to eliminate camera shake. Had I used ISO 100 for this image I would have been forced to a shutter speed of 1/30, all but guaranteeing camera shake.

The final test for this image was to submit it to iStockphoto for inspection. I’m pleased to report that the shot passed and is now in my stock portfolio. My next test will be to submit an image shot at ISO 1000.

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens – 1/250 second, f/4, ISO 800

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Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 5 seconds, f/22, ISO 200

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Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens – 1/640 second, f/4, ISO 500

A tribute to my wife on today, her birthday. Happy Birthday Michelle!

A tribute to my wife on today, her birthday. Happy Birthday Michelle!

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

I’m catching up on some behind-the-scenes shots from a couple of last month’s shoots. The above image is from an assignement I did for a magazine featuring high end steak. The below image is from the Fast Food themed stock shoot I did at the end of the month.

The steakhouse image will be appearing in the next issue of the Wasatch Journal, and the fast food image series can be found here in my iStock portfolio.

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Just a reminder that the next Photwoalking Utah event is this Saturday (12.13.08) at the Hill Air Force Base museum in Clearfield Utah. The event features some exclusive behind-the-scenes access for photowalkers. For all the details, visit the announcement page on PhotowalkingUtah.com by clicking here.

Note: Today’s post is a reprint of one I wrote for the Photography Bay photography blog.

I have been living with a production 5D Mark II for two weeks now, and while I will leave the detailed reviews to the professional reviewers, I thought I’d share my thoughts so far.

I make my living as a stock photographer shooting exclusively for iStockphoto and Getty Images. In addition, I supplement this income with freelance work. My workhorse camera body for the past couple years has been the original 5D, and it has served me well. When Canon introduced the new 5D Mark II in September, I jumped at the chance to upgrade my production camera to this 21 megapixel beauty. Shooting primarily stock photography, I didn’t need all the features of the 1DS Mark III (focus points, weather sealing, etc.) but I really wanted to up the resolution of my images. The new 5D fit my needs perfectly.

I placed my pre-order the morning of the announcement in September and waited. Thankfully, my local dealer (Pictureline) was one of the first retailers in the US to receive stock. With my early pre-order, I was able to walk out of the store with the camera on the morning of November 25th.

My initial thoughts on holding the camera after un-boxing was that the body felt more rugged than its predecessor. After further inspection, I believe the main reason for this is the combination of the improved rubber gripping and the rougher finish on the magnesium body. In a side-by-side comparison with my original 5D, the older camera is extremely smooth in contrast to the new textured surface of the Mark II. I do wonder though if the smoothness of the original 5D has been enhanced by wear. Otherwise, with the exception of the larger LCD and a couple new or repositioned buttons, the camera handles just like it predecessor.

After shooting a quick image to post on my blog showing that I had the Mark II in hand, I charged the battery and began putting the camera through some test shots. I received it on a Tuesday and had an assignment shoot the next day so I wanted to test it out thoroughly before putting it into service on the shoot. I ran through several scenarios at various ISO settings then pulled the card to inspect the images on my production Mac. Everything checked out so I moved my original 5D into the backup position and packed the Mark II for the magazine assignment.

The camera performed flawlessly in the magazine shoot. The assignment called for three images from a high-end steakhouse to accompany an article. The first image was a close-up of a filet mignon on a table, the second was a portrait of the owner/chef and the third was a shot of the dining room. For the first two images I operated no differently than I would have with my original 5D. For the dining room shot though, I was able to put to use the Mark II’s improved image quality at higher ISO’s. I shot the dining room at speeds between ISO 1000 and 1600. This is something I would have never done for a paid assignment before, but the images from the new camera were exceptional at this speed. I would compare them (un-scientifically) to the results I would have received at under ISO 400 on the original 5D. This made me smile.

The next outing for the new camera consisted of an impromptu Photowalking Utah event on Thanksgiving evening in Salt Lake City. I joined up with six fellow photographers for a nighttime stroll around the downtown area. Typically on an outing like this I would have carried a tripod and shot all my night shots with long exposures. Since I was carrying the new Mark II, I loaned out my tripod to another shooter (he forgot his) and opted to go handheld at high ISO settings. Using a 20mm f/2.8 prime for the majority of my shooting, I pushed the ISO to 6400 and went to town. While the resulting image quality at this speed is not something I could use for stock work, the pictures were definitely usable. I found that I was constantly rolling the ISO between 1600 and 6400 to suit the scene I was photographing. I was so encouraged by the results, I pushed the ISO to 25,600 for a proof-of-concept shot in an area that was nearly too dark to see. As can be seen in the image below, while the shot is in no way perfect it did capture detail and color at this ridiculously high ISO setting.

After shooting high-priced steak and photowalkers, it was finally time to put the camera to use on a studio stock shoot. I had a baby girl coming in for a stock session and this would be the first use of the camera in-studio. Everything handled and functioned for me just as it would have with the original 5D, with a couple of exceptions. The biggest surprise for me of a new feature that I didn’t know I would use is the “Quick Control Screen”. This function mimics all of the settings that are on the top of the camera in the small LCD to the right of the prism, but instead displays them on the spacious color LCD on the back of the camera. I have mapped the “SET” button on my camera to bring up this menu. I find this an extremely useful way to make quick changes to f/stop, aperture, or any of the other shooting functions. In a darkened studio, this came in very useful.

When it came to editing the large 21 megapixel images on my production Mac, I had to make a few adjustments. My workflow consists of shooting images in RAW mode and using Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) to convert them before editing in Photoshop. Since Adobe stopped updating the ACR converter for Photoshop CS3 prior to the release of the Mark II, this necessitated an upgrade to CS4. The image quality from the new camera is fantastic. I find the color representation of the unedited images to be more true on the Mark II compared to my original 5D. The images are a bit cooler, but I always seemed to be cooling down my 5D images with a white balance adjustment anyway. After one session of working with the large images though, I jumped online and ordered a memory upgrade to bring my production iMac from 2gb to 4gb of memory. I found that I was quickly slowing down my system when working on several of the full-resolution images at once.

There have been some rumblings on the internet forums about “Black Dots” appearing next to blown out highlights on the new Mark II. I have seen no indication of this on my camera and have even tried to recreate the problem by purposely overexposing shots of city lights without success.

So far I am extremely pleased with the purchase. To think that I upgraded from 12 to 21 megapixels and picked up all the new features for $300 less than I paid for my original 5D is amazing. I guess we should thank the new full-frame competition from Sony and Nikon for this. I look forward to continuing to put this camera through its paces and learning more about what it has to offer my photography.

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Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens – 1/125 second, f/8, ISO 100

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Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/125 second, f/4.5, ISO 100

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It’s time again for Photowalking Utah’s annual trek to capture the lights at Temple Square in Salt Lake City. In addition to photographing the beautiful Christmas lighting displays, we’ve added another element this year – a low-light photography clinic.

The event will feature two parts. The first session will be a nighttime photography mini-clinic held at the City Library. I will be facilitating this part as we discuss and share techniques for making great nighttime captures.

After wrapping up our classroom time, the group will hop on Trax light rail and ride down to Temple Square. We will then spend an hour or so walking the grounds and photographing.

We have received special permission from the LDS Church to photograph as a group on their sacred grounds. Please note that our agreement with them states that we will NOT be using any of the images taken on their property for commercial purposes.

Here are the details:

Thursday, December 18
6:00 pm – 7:00 pm – Mini-Clinic at Salt Lake City Library
7:30 pm – 9:00 pm – Photographing at Temple Square

As always, these events are open to anyone who wants to attend. For those planning on attending the mini-seminar portion, please drop a comment in the Flickr discussion. I’d like to keep an idea of headcount so I know we will fit in our classroom.

Labels: photowalking

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Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/125 second, f/7.1, ISO 160

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© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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I’m taking time today to re-inventory my equipment and send an updated list over to my insurance company. While doing this, I began wondering how many serious-amateur/professional photographers have their gear insured.

I added a rider to my studio/office insurance policy a couple of years ago to cover my gear in case of theft and/or loss. Since I will routinely bring just about everything I have onto a location for a shoot, I figured this was a wise choice. The cost of the additional coverage was only a few hundred dollars a year. That’s pretty cheap when you consider how easy it is for us photographers to gather several thousand dollars worth of equipment that could easily be walked off with by a thief.

At the very minimum, I would recommend that photographers take a moment this week to call their insurance company (homeowners, vehicle, etc.) and inquire about adding coverage for camera equipment. Don’t assume that it’s covered, make sure it is.

I’d be curious to hear from the readers if you have your gear insured. And, if so, please share if you have a great insurance company you’d like to recommend.

Canon G7 – 1/60 second, f/4, ISO 200

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© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Canon 5D mark II, Canon 20mm f/2.8 – 1/40 second, f/2.8, ISO 3200

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

Seven of us participated in the mini-photowalk that was hastily put together on Thanksgiving Day. Though our numbers were small, we had a great time exploring the downtown area of Salt Lake City. With it being a holiday night, the streets were noticeably devoid of Trax trains, people and vehicles which made for a relaxing setting to walk, talk and photograph in.

It is always a lot of fun hanging out with other photographers and this was no exception. It was discussed with the group that we should really add a little advance planning in the future to make the “Turkey Day Photowalk” a regular event.

Be sure to check out the Flickr pool to watch for images from this ‘walk as they come in.

Labels: photowalking

Seven of us participated in the mini-photowalk that was hastily put together on Thanksgiving Day. Though our numbers were small, we had a great time exploring the downtown area of Salt Lake City. With it being a holiday night, the streets were noticeably devoid of Trax trains, people and vehicles which made for a relaxing setting to walk, talk and photograph in.

It is always a lot of fun hanging out with other photographers and this was no exception. It was discussed with the group that we should really add a little advance planning in the future to make the “Turkey Day Photowalk” a regular event.

Be sure to check out the Flickr pool to watch for images from this ‘walk as they come in.

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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(photo by Paul Rohde, Canon 5D Mark II)

In Salt Lake City we are blessed to have a locally owned camera store, Pictureline, that is here to serve the local photographers. Here are ten reasons in no particular order that I support this business and you should too:

Locally Owned
Pictureline is locally owned and operated. You can walk in just about anytime and speak directly with the owner, Jens Nielsen. Your dollars spent at Pictureline are staying within the community.

They Receive Great Manufacturer Support
What better example of this than the fact that Pictureline was one of the first (if not THE first) retailer in the U.S. to have the Canon 5D Mark II in stock. They move a large amount of product and appear to have great connections within the manufacturers.

They Give Back
Pictureline’s annual event, Digitalfest, is one example of their giving back to the photographers they serve. This year’s keynote speakers of Sam Abell and Julianne Kost were fantastic. The event was free to customers. Additionally they offer free classes through their Digital U training program. These classes are aimed at photographers of all skill levels.

Non-Commission Sales People
I have never felt like I was being pressured into buying something. The sales staff has always been more concerned in what would fit my needs rather than the price of the equipment.

They Treat Their Employees Well
As evidenced by the long-time employees at the store, the staff appears to truly enjoy working there. Turnover seems to be pretty low. This means that there are always familiar faces ready to serve.

Personalized Service
The best example of this was when my 70+ year old mother was in town last Christmas. She went into Pictureline by herself to pick up a gift for me (what a nice mother!). She has since raved numerous times about how well she was treated. The young lady who helped her took all the time to answer her questions and make sure she was getting what she needed.

They Stand Behind What They Sell
They recently replaced an out-of-warranty piece of equipment for me without even being asked. I was talking with them about purchasing a replacement, and they asked why. When I told them that it had died, they stepped up and replaced it.

Rentals
They provide a rental service. If I need an additional piece of gear for a shoot, I know that I can make a call and have it reserved. I have rented large lenses (400mm+) and additional Pocket Wizards.

Great Website
The Pictureline.com website not only has great up-to-the-second inventory info, it has a community section as well. I know that if I sign up to be notified when a piece of equipment comes in stock that I will get an automated email the minute it is available. In the community section, they have a free Directory in which photographers can feature a bio and samples of their work.

Berkley
Berkley is my main contact. He is the sales person I have depended on for a few years now. I know that he will do what it takes to help me out. He has gone out of his way on more than one occasion to find a certain piece of equipment for me. The best part is that I was treated the same way from him when I first went into the store and he didn’t know me at all.

I’m sure that there are many other reasons I could come up with. In a recent conversation with Scott Bourne of This Week in Photography, I was telling Scott about Pictureline. He said something that I have heard from many photographers – that locally owned stores that cater to photographers are quickly disappearing in our country. If we want this type of store to stick around, then we need to support them.

p.s. Pictureline neither supports this site or gives me any special deals. I am a fan of their business simply because of the great service I have received from them over the years.

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(photo by Paul Rohde, Canon 5D Mark II)

In Salt Lake City we are blessed to have a locally owned camera store, Pictureline, that is here to serve the local photographers. Here are ten reasons in no particular order that I support this business and you should too:

Locally Owned
Pictureline is locally owned and operated. You can walk in just about anytime and speak directly with the owner, Jens Nielsen. Your dollars spent at Pictureline are staying within the community.

They Receive Great Manufacturer Support
What better example of this than the fact that Pictureline was one of the first (if not THE first) retailer in the U.S. to have the Canon 5D Mark II in stock. They move a large amount of product and appear to have great connections within the manufacturers.

They Give Back
Pictureline’s annual event, Digitalfest, is one example of their giving back to the photographers they serve. This year’s keynote speakers of Sam Abell and Julianne Kost were fantastic. The event was free to customers. Additionally they offer free classes through their Digital U training program. These classes are aimed at photographers of all skill levels.

Non-Commission Sales People
I have never felt like I was being pressured into buying something. The sales staff has always been more concerned in what would fit my needs rather than the price of the equipment.

They Treat Their Employees Well
As evidenced by the long-time employees at the store, the staff appears to truly enjoy working there. Turnover seems to be pretty low. This means that there are always familiar faces ready to serve.

Personalized Service
The best example of this was when my 70+ year old mother was in town last Christmas. She went into Pictureline by herself to pick up a gift for me (what a nice mother!). She has since raved numerous times about how well she was treated. The young lady who helped her took all the time to answer her questions and make sure she was getting what she needed.

They Stand Behind What They Sell
They recently replaced an out-of-warranty piece of equipment for me without even being asked. I was talking with them about purchasing a replacement, and they asked why. When I told them that it had died, they stepped up and replaced it.

Rentals
They provide a rental service. If I need an additional piece of gear for a shoot, I know that I can make a call and have it reserved. I have rented large lenses (400mm+) and additional Pocket Wizards.

Great Website
The Pictureline.com website not only has great up-to-the-second inventory info, it has a community section as well. I know that if I sign up to be notified when a piece of equipment comes in stock that I will get an automated email the minute it is available. In the community section, they have a free Directory in which photographers can feature a bio and samples of their work.

Berkley
Berkley is my main contact. He is the sales person I have depended on for a few years now. I know that he will do what it takes to help me out. He has gone out of his way on more than one occasion to find a certain piece of equipment for me. The best part is that I was treated the same way from him when I first went into the store and he didn’t know me at all.

I’m sure that there are many other reasons I could come up with. In a recent conversation with Scott Bourne of This Week in Photography, I was telling Scott about Pictureline. He said something that I have heard from many photographers – that locally owned stores that cater to photographers are quickly disappearing in our country. If we want this type of store to stick around, then we need to support them.

p.s. Pictureline neither supports this site or gives me any special deals. I am a fan of their business simply because of the great service I have received from them over the years.

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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What better way to recognize the busiest shopping day of the year than to show one of my images in a Black Friday advertisement. Here’s the original image the designer purchased on iStock. They didn’t make much adjustments from my editing other than the addition of some ornament graphics.

(Thanks to Scott Smith for spotting this and sending it over)

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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I just got off the phone with Harley, and we are planning on doing a mini-photowalk in downtown Salt Lake City tonight beginning at 8:00 pm. If anyone wants to join us, drop me an email at rich at leggnet dot com and I will let you know where we are meeting.

Hopefully the streets will still be wet from today’s rain which will make for some nice reflections. This will be a great opportunity for me to try out some high ISO images on the new 5D mark II.

Update: We will be meeting at the City Center Trax Station (100 S. Main Street) at 8:00 pm

After running the new 5D Mark II through some successful testing yesterday, I opted to make it my primary camera on a shoot I did today for a regional magazine. The assignment was to shoot images to accompany a feature article on a high end steak house. I must say that I am very pleased with the results.

I paired the body with my main lens, the Canon 24-105 f4L, and went to work. I was assigned to get images of steak, a portrait of the manager and an interior shot of the restaurant. The camera performed flawlessly in taking on this task.

On the food and portrait settings I used monolights at ISO 100 just as I would have done with my original 5D, but on the restaurant interior I used existing lighting at ISO 1000. I would have never pushed the speed that high with the 5D but with the Mark II the results were fantastic.

The exposure and color represented in the RAW images straight out of the camera were great. I did very little adjustment in the RAW conversion. On the image shown above, the only editing I have done to it outside of the conversion in Adobe Camera Raw was to add a high pass sharpening layer.

The only thing I don’t like about the Mark II as of now is that I don’t have a battery grip. I have been using grips on my cameras for 25+ years (I had motor drives on my old Nikon 35mm film bodies) and am really accustomed to holding the grip for vertical shots so it took a little adjustment today. The grip for the Mark II (Canon BG-E6) hasn’t arrived yet at Pictureline. As soon as it comes in it will become a near permanent fixture to the body.

Next up for the new camera, submitting some images from it to iStock.

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/160 second, f/6.3, ISO 100

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© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Since the majority of my photo editing is for my stock portfolio, I tend to be rather vanilla with my editing. By that I mean that I keep my images pretty true to how they were shot. For uses outside of stock however, a friend of mine recently showed me a quick way to add edginess to an image by blending layers.

I will be the first person to tell you that I am no master of layer blending in Photoshop (I will defer that title to Ann Torrence, her knowledge on the subject is amazing!), but I really like the look that this effect creates.

In today’s before/after image, I opened one of my shots from last weekend in Photoshop. The sample on the left is unedited other than the RAW conversion. On the other image (right side), I only added this simple process in Photoshop:

1. Create a copy of the original layer above itself
2. Desaturate the new layer (apple-shift-U on a Mac)
3. Set the blending of the new layer to ‘Overlay’

If you want to further tweak the settings, try different blending modes (soft light, hard light, etc.) and play around with opacity.

And that’s it. A quick and fairly easy way to add a more dramatic look to an image.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/50 second, f/4, ISO 100

Labels: photoshop, tutorial

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Thanks to my great friends at Pictureline, I was able to secure one of the first Canon 5D Mark II cameras to be publicly available in the US. I can’t wait to run it through some test work before putting it into production. High ISO, here I come!

November 26 Update

After putting the camera through some simulated production work last night, I feel safe in putting it into actual service. I will be using it today for a magazine assignment (with my workhorse 5D along as a backup of course). One thing to note is that I have discovered how much I use the battery grip on my camera bodies. I hope the BG-E6 arrives soon at Pictureline.

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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One of the photo shoots I did this past weekend was a session portraying a homeless couple. My goal was to create a series of realistic images to be added to my stock photo portfolio.

In the images I had the models dress in several layers of well worn clothing. To further perpetuate the stereotype, I have them a shopping cart filled with belongings. Harley and Diane agreed to model and did an exceptional job in preparing the wardrobe. I was fortunate enough to come across an abandoned shopping cart in a vacant field last month and picked it up in preparation.

For the location, I found a vacant building in an older part of Salt Lake City. This locale suited the purpose extremely well. Parking was close, it had afternoon shade and the sidewalk was a mix of old bricks and smooth concrete.

The primary light source was natural light with fill being provided by an off-camera speedlight shooting through a white umbrella. The off camera light was being triggered via IR from an on-camera speedlight. I shot in Aperture Priority with the fill light set on TTL at an exposure compensation factor of between -2/3 to -1 1/3 f/stop.

I haven’t completed editing the series, but so far I am extremely pleased with the results. The samples shown here have quite a bit more editing/effects than I will apply to the final stock images, but I wanted to give a bit more “edge” to them to see how they would look.

With the current state of the global economy, I have hope that these images will unfortunately be good sellers.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/50 second, f/4, ISO 100

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I came home this afternoon to find that one of my images has been chosen as the “Free Image of the Week” at iStockphoto.com. While this particular honor won’t make me any additional sales (or will it?), it is always nice to have one’s work recognized by peers.

To pick up your own free full-resolution copy of the shot, drop by the image’s page this week at iStockphoto by clicking here.

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Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/60 second, f/5, ISO 100

My friend Udi over at DIYPhotography.net is running an interesting new project. The theme is Sharing. He’s asking his readers to pair up with a friend and share a photography experience. In the project, the participants temporarily exchange a piece of camera gear with a friend and write a review about it. To sweeten the pot, BorrowLenses.com is supplying some great prizes to fit the theme.

Sounds fun. I guess I’ve got to find someone to swap gear with. Hmmmm…. maybe a Nikon shooter?

For the rest of the details on this unique project, head over to DIYPhotography.net.

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© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 3/5 second, f/5.6, ISO 100

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I’ve recently been doing some work for the rock climbing team my wife manages. She is creating marketing materials and is incorporating photos of team members.

Today’s image came from a recent studio session we did with team member Sarah. For this shot we looped the climbing rope over the rafters and had her tie in. I initially took some images from eye level before moving up onto a ladder to get the top down capture shown here. Here’s a shot of the setup I took when I stepped back to let Sarah’s father get her picture.

The isolation was a bit more difficult than usual, due to the fact that I could have easily used 2 more lights on the shot for the lower portion. To complete the isolation I had to spend a bit of time in Photoshop cleaning up the bottom of the frame.

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© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/50 second, f/8, ISO 100

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I had a friend spot this in Avionics International News and give it to me. Here’s the original image that was used. I like how they integrated it into the ad’s design.

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© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/10 second, f/5.6, ISO 100

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LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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When I began this blog back in 2005, it marked my return to the photography world. I had been out of it since selling my film gear in the mid nineties. It has been a fun journey over the past three years and I look forward to keeping it going well into the future. I’m frequently asked why I do it. Since the ads on the blog only generate around $15 a month, it’s not for the money. My answer would be that of the 1,500 or so daily readers (via site visits and RSS), I hope that maybe I can encourage a few readers with my photos and occasional writing.

Yesterday was a day for confirmation. Within 30 minutes of each other, I received two separate emails from blog readers. These letters both motivated and encouraged me so I thought I’d share them here today:

Email #1

The first time I saw your blog was when you had the light bulb that was burning. I bookmarked it immediately and read through all of your older posts.

I emailed you when I was buying my first DSLR and took your advice and ended up with a 30D. I watched you grow as a professional photographer and realized I could do the same thing. I dropped out of college and pursued my dream. Four months later I talked my way into a position as an assistant for a wedding photographer and really started learning the trade.

I’m now the second shooter at all the weddings and soon to be leading my own second shooter. Recently I got accepted for a stock agency and am building up my catalog. I’m still working my day job as a graphic designer, but am slowly fading out of that and focusing on photography full time. I catch myself thinking about ideas for stock while I’m driving and looking at ads and products differently to help me think of things to shoot.

I wanted to say thanks for the blog, the inspiration, and the ideas. I still read your blog every day as it gives me a different perspective on things sometimes and motivates me to sell more stock. Keep up the good work

Email #2

I LOVED your recent story about the spooky image of your daughter being chosen for movie image. Actually I really liked that image at Halloween and thought it was a 2008 image.

I admire your success and again such a good inspiration, cause I think it’s pretty difficult figuring out the secrets and acceptance tricks here at istock…but I love stories like yours to keep my faith!

I sent that story to my husband, neighbors and friends that are all supporting my istock path.

Keep it up! and Thanks!

I guess the moral of the story is that you never know how your endeavors, whether big or small, can affect others. Maybe we should all take a moment today and write an email to someone that has encouraged us.

Just a thought…

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Yesterday afternoon I received an email from fellow photographer Thad Lawrence saying that he recognized one of my images when it popped up in his RSS reader. The shot of the buried child (kinda creepy, I know) was the sole element on the movie poster advertising The Alphabet Killer. I did a quick Google search to find out that this was a movie that was filmed a couple of years ago and is just now being released.

This was a cool find for me for various reasons. One of the biggest being that the subject of the shot (kinda creepy, I know) is my daughter. Finding out that she was on this poster was a big deal to her. She immediately started calling and texting her friends. This made me smile.

Another reason is that I shot this image back in 2006 before I began taking stock photography seriously. This was not intended to be a “stock” shot, but rather was simply taken while I was playing around in some leaves with my daughters. I uploaded the shot to iStock half expecting it to be rejected for “over filtering”. But it obviously was accepted.

Upon seeing what the designer did with my original image (kinda creepy, I know), it took me a second to even verify that it was my shot. The enhancements that were made to the image, especially the face, are fantastic. Here is the original un-edited image as they purchased it on iStock:

I don’t usually go out of my way to get copies of my work in use, but I made an exception with this one. I sent a few emails to the contact information from the film and distribution company’s websites. To my surprise, I soon received a response and they are sending me a few posters.

Don’t be surprised if you ever drop by my little studio and see this image (kinda creepy, I know) framed on the wall.

Canon 30D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/60 second, f/5.6, ISO 100

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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A few months back I received an email from a designer who was interested in using one of my images on a billboard campaign for Catholic Social Services of Montana. She had found the image in my iStock portfolio, but considering the nature of her advertisement was concerned about some of the language in the iStock licensing agreement (emphasis added) and whether this use would be a violation:

…use or display any Content that features a model or person in a manner that (i) would lead a reasonable person to think that such person uses or personally endorses any business, product, service, cause, association or other endeavor; or (ii) that depicts such person in a potentially sensitive subject matter, including, but not limited to mental and physical health issues, social issues, sexual or implied sexual activity or preferences, substance abuse, crime, physical or mental abuse or ailments, or any other subject matter that would be reasonably likely to be offensive or unflattering to any person reflected in the Content;

After contacting iStock, she was told that the contributing artist (me!) would have to consent to the image being used in this context. When I received her email inquiring about the use of the shot, I gave her a telephone call to get all the details.

Once I had the details the decision was simple for me, I would let the model in the photograph make the decision. I felt this was the best way to go, even though the original image did not require a model release to be included in my portfolio.

As can obviously be seen by the inclusion of the billboard image on this blog post you can see that the model agreed. The designer was kind enough to email me a photo of one of the final billboards.

I like this story for a couple of reasons. First, the designer actually read the license agreement and acted accordingly to be sure she was in compliance. Second, I had the opportunity to decide how I would handle a potentially sensitive image use situation and can use this knowledge in the future.

Your thoughts?

(please keep any pro/con discussion on the billboard context out of the comments and limit it to photograph usage)

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My daughters’ wanted to get some images of themselves and a few friends in their costumes before heading out for tonight’s activities, so they dropped by the studio for a bit this afternoon. It was fun to create lighting setups to accentuate their looks.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/100 second, f/4, ISO 100

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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My most recent stock photo shoot was a revisit to a previously used theme. Regular readers to this blog will recall that back in May I did a shoot featured around a White Bedroom set that we created in the studio (original blog post here). The series of images that I created in that session have sold reasonably well in my stock portfolio. For a background, I used white seamless for the original shoot. Now that I’ve repainted a portion of the studio with white walls, I decided to redo the shoot with the more natural looking background.

Just like last time, I set up a bedroom in the studio. In addition to the bed and nightstand, I added a desk to the mix this time. This gave me some more options on what to shoot.

With Kylee as the model, we created a nice collection of images to add to my sales portfolio. I like the look of the resulting images with the more natural looking background compared to the original seamless background. The added depth adds quite a bit to the shots.

Watch for the images appearing soon in my iStock portfolio.

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

One of my best friends (not to mention a fellow photographer) Harley is at Microsoft’s Professional Developers’ Conference this week in California. While there, he spotted a mock movie poster advertising for one of the conference sessions. He immediately recognized the image that was used for the poster as one of mine since, after all, it was his own hand coming out of the computer screen.

Take a good look at how they altered my original capture.  This is another example of how a designer will use a stock image as a starting point and then edit it further to fit their project’s specific needs.

Thanks Harley for sharing this with me.

Labels: stock

One of my best friends (not to mention a fellow photographer) Harley is at Microsoft’s Professional Developers’ Conference this week in California. While there, he spotted a mock movie poster advertising for one of the conference sessions. He immediately recognized the image that was used for the poster as one of mine since, after all, it was his own hand coming out of the computer screen.

Take a good look at how they altered my original capture.  This is another example of how a designer will use a stock image as a starting point and then edit it further to fit their project’s specific needs.

Thanks Harley for sharing this with me.

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.