Canon 5D Mark II

January 6, 2009 | Comments Off

Today, I’m flying to Argentina to catch a boat to Antarctica! What’s my go to camera for this trip? My new Canon 5D Mark II. On trips like this, I always take a backup camera; things happen. And in this case, I know the shooting will sometimes be so fast that it’s one of the few times I shoot with two cameras around my neck; one long lens (100-400 mm) and one short (28-135 mm). What’s my backup camera? My Canon 1DS Mark III. I’m excited about the 5D Mark II being lighter, 22 mp, high ISO, low noise, and capable of making HD video. When I first got started in digital a DSLR that outresolved medium format film seemed inevitable, but a long way off; it’s been a reality for years now (12 mp). Similarly, it was clear that one day DSLRs would be capable of taking video; that day is finally here. Add to this ISO’s exceeding 5000. And extremely low noise.

This all adds up to continuing to reconsider basic assumptions about how you can make images and what you can do with them; color or black and white, in high contrast situations, after dark, in multiple pieces, print them at extreme scales, post them, post video. It’s a constant

There’s already been a lot said about the new technical specs of the Canon 5D Mark II.

Get the basics at Canon here.

Check out Syl Arena’s 5D Mark II posts here and here. And here.

Check out Ben Wilmore’s impressions of the 5D Mark II.

Category: Equipment, Travel, Workshops
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Olaf Willoughby is one of my workshop alumns with an amazing success story. It’s a testament to how one man with focus can succeed personally and make a significant contribution in a short time.

“It all started with the mesmerising impact of a photographic expedition with Michael Reichmann and John Paul Caponigro. Antarctica was even more dramatic than I had expected. Glowing pink light at sunset. The vivid blue depths of the ice. Drifting sculpted icebergs. It was almost like a fairytale.

But the reality is different. Antarctica is under threat. Apart from the impact of climate change; the accords on land exploitation, whaling and tourism are all on a course of seemingly irreversible change for the worse.

This contrast between splendour and sadness led me beyond a photographic portfolio to produce a 48 page colour book, a work of environmental advocacy. “Antarctica, A Sense of Place”. The images and text contrast the natural beauty with the dark detail of the dangers facing Antarctica.

I produced the book within 6 months of the trip but I was still only halfway. John Cage said he didn’t consider his music complete until someone had heard it and similarly I needed marketing to create awareness and demand.

The World Wildlife Fund endorsed both the book and the images, using them in its web and print marketing activity. They also distributed over 5000 copies of the ebook on CD to help raise money for environmental causes. I have also blogged for the International Polar Year and their web site has featured the images. Additionally an article on the trip appeared in the UK’s most popular photographic magazine, Amateur Photographer, who also gave the book a very favourable review. A selection of images were exhibited at the ‘White Worlds’ exhibition at Nature In Art in the UK, Summer 2008. Prints have also been sold to support corporate environmental marketing programmes.

Through the WWF I have managed to create a good level of awareness, far higher than I might have managed on my own. I am going again in Jan 09 with John Paul and am currently planning the second edition.

JP’s workshops bring together a wonderful collection of like minded artists, rich with different talents. There are many benefits but, for me, the one outstanding lesson has been the expansion of the way I ‘see’ images, both provoking me to push harder and allowing me greater freedom to express my vision.”

Olaf Willoughby is a photographer, writer and researcher who lives with his wife Monique in London, UK. Creator: the WIT test of individualists and team players used in market research. Author: photography & travel books and articles. Values: the need to connect, environmental advocacy. Interests: the rhythms of data, images and words fuse into a long term fascination with creativity and pattern detection.

Check out a recent feature on Ag magazine here.
Find Olaf’s book here.

Learn more at olafwilloughby.com.

Stay tuned for stories from our upcoming January 2009 voyage to Antarctica.

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Enjoy my Antarctica galleries, book, and statements.

Learn more about my workshops here.

Early registrants get discounts at home.

Members get discounts abroad.

Category: Alumni, Books, Workshops
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Ed Greenberg intellectual property lawyer speaks on Copyright online. Ed has had top notch high profile experience in this area - a lifetime of it! Ed’s been making appearances at Photoshop World with Jack Reznicki and helping clear up easily clouded issues for many creatives both amateur and professional. I learn something new every time I talk with him.

Category: Business, Video
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Protect your rights and get greater recognition for your work at the same time. Insert your copyright and contact information in every one of your files and their derivatives. It’s easy to do. Make it a habit.

You can program your camera to insert your name and contact information automatically.
Check out my PDF on how to do this with Canon cameras here.

You can also batch insert metadata to any file with Adobe products like Lightroom and Bridge.

Category: Business, Technique
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One of the things I do at the beginning of each year is register my copyright for my images.

Registering your copyright is easy.

You can even do it online now.

Find out all you need to know here.

You don’t have to pay a registration fee for each image. You can register them in groups. I register my work in groups annually - i.e. new work 2008. If you’ve never registered before, you can register all your images for one fee - work to date.

If your work is published (or made public) consider registering more frequently. How frequently depends on you and the kind of work you do. Some photographers register their copyright when they deliver a job - every job.

You don’t have to register copyright to have ownership of your rights, they’re yours automatically. Registering your copyright is useful if your rights are infringed - in negotiations before going to court offenders are much more likely to settle out of court and if you go to court you’ll be able to recover your legal expenses as part of a suit.

Seth Resnik offers fantastic resources online to help you cut to the chase with this process and get it done exceptionally well in minimal time. Get them here.

Category: Business
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Happy New Year!

January 1, 2009 | Leave a Comment

See live coverage of the new year’s ball drop above or at this link.

Happy New Year! May it be a healthy, happy, successful year for you all!

Category: Event
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Here’s a simple formula for scanning black and white originals (film or prints). Scan in Grayscale (there’s no benefit to scanning in RGB), in 16 bit, and at the native resolution of a scanner (upsample in Photoshop only if needed, not during scanning). Make sure sharpening is turned off. Test a scanner’s lookup tables for negatives; if they clip shadow or highlight detail scan negatives as transparencies and invert in Photoshop.

Get my free download here.

Find out more about black and white in my DVD Black & White Mastery.

Find out more about black and white in my Workshop Black & White Mastery.

Special discounts are available until January.

Category: Technique
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The simplest and most powerful way to add color to black and white images is to color adjust them - using Curves. Then print the image as you would any other color image.

If the toning solution you’re looking for is monochromatic and uniform, use the toning option in a printer’s driver. This will generate a better black, increase longevity, and reduce metamerism.

Get my free download here.

Find out more about black and white in my DVD Black & White Mastery.
Find out more about black and white in my Workshop Black & White Mastery.
Special discounts are available until January.

Category: Technique
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Looking for an infrared effect? Two options; capture in infrared or post-process to simulate infrared. Either way, the results can be compelling.

Here’s an excerpt from a statement I wrote on infrared techniques sometime ago.

“It looks like another world, yet it’s not. By opening a window into a spectrum we can’t see with the naked eye, infrared photography shows us our world in an extraordinary light … The effects are often unpredictable and almost always surprising. Perhaps, that is why this effect is so compelling.”

Read the rest of my artist’s statement here.
Read other artist’s statements here.

Find out more about black and white in my DVD Black & White Mastery.
Find out more about black and white in my Workshop Black & White Mastery.
Special discounts are available until January.

Category: Technique
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Some images are better in black and white. This is one.

“Dangerous Passage was a compelling image. But something wasn’t working. The thorns were red. The stalks were green. The water was blue. They were not subtle. The color was garish. In many ways, the color was too literal. The drama of the composition was competing with the drama of color. The two were at odds. Their moods were incompatible. One was harsh and edgy. The other was bright and cheery. Color was the problem. So I removed it … The message was clarified. The image carried a much greater weight. Less became more. The image was somber in black and white. That much suited the mood. But it was ashen, cold, and remote. I missed the emotional power of color. So I put it back. I converted the image back to a color mode and introduced new color into the image.”

Read the rest of my artist’s statement here.
Read other artist’s statements here.

Find out more about black and white in my DVD Black & White Mastery.
Find out more about black and white in my Workshop Black & White Mastery.
Special discounts are available until January.

Category: Statements
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Photographer Gordon Hutchings weighs in on the creative process in three insightful videos.

Read my conversation with Gordon Hutchings here.

Category: Artists On Art
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The blackest black in print is achieved with today’s inkjet materials. Epson Exhibition Fiber printed on Ultrachrome K3 or UltraChrome HDR produces a 2.65 dmax; silver gelatin selenium toned produces a 2.35 dmax. You get this extraordinary black when printing through the printer driver’s Advanced Black & White mode; print the same image through a standard color color management route and you’ll only get a 2.4 dmax. Also, matte papers yield weaker blacks, roughly 1.85 dmax.

Get my free download on Epson’s Advanced Black & White mode here.

Find out more about black and white in my DVD Black & White Mastery.
Find out more about black and white in my Workshop Black & White Mastery.
Special discounts are available until January.

Category: Printing
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New member? Old member and skipped over a few issues? You’re missing free content! As a member of Insights enews you get over 100 free downloads. Actually, the number far exceeds 100. I stopped counting after 100. More resources are added every month.

Tell your friends! Give them these same resources free!

Category: Website
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Handling color is an integral part of achieving the best black and white images. Today we start with color originals, convert to black and white (neutralizing and redistributing the tonal structure), optionally add synthetic color (uniformly or selectively), and typically print with color inks (though output to historic processes is an option).

Here’s an important tip for preparing a file for conversion. Start with optimized color. Clear color casts and keep saturation high before converting to black and white.

Find out more about black and white in my DVD Black & White Mastery.
Find out more about black and white in my Workshop Black & White Mastery.
Special discounts are available until January.

Category: Technique
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