Change in Twitter Name

As regular readers of this blog know, I began the Manual DSLR Project in 2010 to chronicle my journey of learning to use my Nikon D300 in manual mode. I also started a Twitter account using the name, manualdslr, through which I shared my post and other photos.

It is now mid-2013 and manualdslr does not clearly describe all that I do. Therefore, after receiving advice from Joe and Trevor at Digital Photography Cafe, I have changed my Twitter, Instagram, and tadaa name to...(drum roll please)...MikeKennamer. Oh well, that wasn't really all that exciting, was it?

My hope is that this new user name will help me to continue to connect with photographers, but also with writers and others that I know through my business, Kennamer Media Group, Inc.

Interested in hearing more about my decision to change user name? Are you considering a similar change? Then check out the Digital Photography Cafe show that addresses my question.

Off Camera Flash on a Budget

I have been slow to post lately, for a variety of reasons, but plan to start posting again as my schedule allows. As a step toward the manual flash part of this project, I decided to purchase remote triggers that would allow me to take the flash off the camera, while controlling it manually.

I have the Sekonic L-758DR Light Meter (Black), which is able to work with a Pocketwizard, so when the Pocket Wizard 801-130 Plus III Transceiver was announced, I thought I might go with those. But it took a long time for those to be in stock. In the meanwhile, I read a post on The Digital Story that reviewed the Cowboy Studio Trigger Set. Derrick was impressed, so I took another look at these wireless triggers. But while looking at this set, I ran across the Yongnuo RF-603 N1 2.4GHz Wireless Flash Trigger/Wireless Shutter Release Transceiver Kit for Nikon D1/D2/D3/D200/D300/D700  that allowed the ability to trigger the camera shutter also.

At a cost of $33.64 I figured it couldn't hurt to try a set. And while I only received them this afternoon, I am impressed. I took a quick photo for my son's EMT license and used these to trigger the flash. It worked like a charm. Over the next several weeks I'll run these through their paces. In fact, I think I will order a second set so that I will be able to run 2 flashes and still have another available to operate the shutter. Can you believe a set of 2 with a synch cable for less than $35? And with Amazon Prime, I received 2-day shipping. Not bad at all!

Here's a bonus. I pulled a dusty old Vivitar flash out of my desk drawer, popped in some fresh Eneloop batteries, and hooked it up to one of these triggers. And it worked just fine. While I have a Nikon SB-600, it's good to know that I can use the Vivitar when I want to add a second speedlight.

So keep a watch out here for more testing of these inexpensive, but functional, devices. There is a link below where you can order these from Amazon.com. Just make sure you get the right ones for your camera.

All the best...Mike


  

Using Someone Else's Lighting: Shooting a Theatrical Production

In the last posting, I discussed natural lighting and how to use the light you have to produce the best results. That same day I had shot a The Prince & the Pauper, produced by Blackberry Little Theater in Fort Payne, Alabama. That will be the subject of this post.

I have shot other plays before, both live as they were happening and in a series of staged shots that the director wanted photos of. The latter is, of course, easier. But shooting a play as it happens is always interesting. The main disadvantage is that you don't have an opportunity to move to various locations as you shoot.

My first suggestion is that you see the play before you shoot it. Since our youngest son was in the play, we had the opportunity to see it before I shot it. I decided to shoot the Saturday matinee and opted to shoot from the balcony to assure that I didn't disturb others. Be sure you obtain permission from management in advance, so that you don't break any theater rules.

Second, you should select the right lens. I used a Nikon 80-200 f2.8 to shoot the entire play. If I owned a 24-70 f2.8, I would have used it. But alas, I have not bitten the $2000 bullet yet. Even so, the 24-70 2.8 is very high on my wish list. While the 80-200 was good for some of the close-up shots, a shorter lens would have been handy as well. As is always a good idea in photography, use what you have in your bag to get the job done.

Now for the camera settings...I set the ISO on my Nikon D300 at 3200, to take advantage of the low light performance of the body. Using Shutter Priority, I set the shutter speed at 1/250 sec, which is the slowest speed with which I thought I could handhold this lens. Here are a few of the results.

This shoot yielded 269 useable, non-duplicated images.

I had intended to post a great deal more by now. However, we have been knee deep in tornado relief work, so this project has been pushed to the back burner. As the summer is almost over, I expect that our teams and work will decline and I'll have more time to work on this blog.

Thanks for reading. I always enjoy your comments.

All the best... Mike

Original Manual DSLR Project: One Year Later

Hello all:

Just over one year ago I embarked on a new project called the Manual DSLR Project. Since it is now time to take the project to the next step I wanted to preserve the original purpose of the blog by moving it from the header of the page to a post. The blog description will be revised for the next chapter in the Manual DSLR project.

Thanks for reading and be sure to keep following my progress as I continue to grow as a photographer.

Best...Mike

Original Manual DSLR Project Description:

Hi, and welcome to my blog. I am an amateur photographer who occasionally takes some decent photos. However, most of the time I shoot in Aperture Priority or Shutter Priority. First of all, there is nothing wrong with shooting in "A" or "S" mode. However, I do not feel that I am using my camera to its fullest since I am not at all comfortable using Manual mode. Learning manual mode will also help me to do some artistic things that can't be done in Aperture priority.

So here's the deal...

Inspired in part by the movie Julie and Julia (my wife made me watch it) and professional photographers like David Ziser (who blogs on Digital Pro Talk six days a week), Kerry Garrison (of Camera Dojo fame), Gavin Seim (Pro Photo Show), and others, I am giving myself one year - 365 days - to learn to use manual mode on my Nikon D300. Rather than taking that journey alone, I am inviting you to join me in this journey. Learn from my mistakes. Celebrate with me as my fingers remember which wheel adjusts the shutter speed and which controls the aperture settings.

My goal is that in one year I be more familiar with the features of my camera than I am now. My goal is to be able to look at a scene and know what shutter speed, ISO, aperture setting, etc. to select.

While I am giving myself a year to work through this learning project, I do not expect to post to this blog every day. I work a full-time job and often work late hours. I am not David Ziser (though I would love to have a small portion of the knowledge and skill he possesses). I expect to post to this blog about once a week.

So join me in this journey. Let me hear from you. What I know right now I learned from some of the awesome photographers out there on the web and on podcasts. I am open to hearing your thoughts.

All the best...
Mike

The End is Near!

Okay, don't panic. Not that end, but...

The first phase of the Manual DSLR Project will end in less than a week. I started this project 360 days ago with the goal of learning how to use my Nikon D300 in manual mode. I had heard others talk about shooting in manual but it seemed like a mystery to me. Wow! What a ride it has been.

I have learned so much in the past year but know that there is so much left to learn. Look for a reveal of the next phase of the Manual DSLR Project in the next few days.

Best...Mike

Happy Valentine's Day! Thinking Spring!

Just a quick post today to wish you all a happy Valentine's day and to share springtime thoughts. What a gorgeous day it was today! I am seriously getting Spring fever. To share that Spring fever with you I dug back into the archives to find a photo of a tulip tree in our backyard, taken in March 2009.

This was well before I started the Manual DSLR Project, so I cannot explain why I shot this as I did. It's almost embarrassing. What was I thinking?

Anyway, this was shot at ISO 1600, f18, 1/160 sec. It was shot with a 300mm macro lens. Oh my!

How would I have approached this differently today? It was shot in the afternoon so I might use ISO 320 or 400 and maybe open up the aperture a bit (probably to f 6.3 on that lens) and use an appropriate shutter speed based on those settings. Oh well. That's why I started this journey almost  a year ago, so I could learn and be better today than I was then.

I did apply a develop preset in Lightroom 3 called PH Soft and Dreamy with a goal of softening it a little.

So happy Valentine's Day to you. All the best...Mike

Published Photos

I recently had a couple of photos published in a trade journal along with an article that I co-wrote with my boss. I'll spare you the details of the article, but wanted to share the photos that the editors chose to use in the article.

The first photo was featured as a full-page spread opposite the title page. It is not terribly exciting, but tells the story of collaboration in using technology that we were trying to get across. Yes, I had to give Apple a little free advertising (like they need it).

The second photo was shown in a smaller format on a later page in the article. Due to the nature of the journal and since I was writing the article I didn't get paid to provide these photos. However, I did get some valuable experience working with the editor and layout person and have a couple more photo credits that I did not have before.

To view the photos in the context of the article, click here.

As this project is about experience and learning, I count this as another experience under my belt. Maybe the next one will be a cover for Vogue...or not. Either way, it was a good learning experience.

All the best...Mike

Creative Ways to Play with Light: Snow Day Edition

My recent blog posts have revolved around a theme of playing...goofing off with light to see what kind of results I could get. When we had some snow a few weeks ago I had a good opportunity to do just that. We received about 6 inches of snow that Sunday night and by Friday afternoon at sunset, the icicles were starting to slide off the metal roof of our house. This provided a good opportunity to see if I could get the light of the sunset to illuminate the icicles. The result is what you see here. Auto focus was going nuts trying to lock on the semi-transparent icicles, so I had to manually focus this one.

Here is a wider view showing how the sheet of ice-encrusted snow was sliding off the roof. It was fun to experiment with light to see what I could do with it.

Hope you enjoy! Mike

Playing with Fire

I've been playing a bit more with light tonight, just using candles then adding flashes and gels. The first one is shot very simply at ISO 100, f5.6, 1/2 second. Not much to say here, just using the natural light of the candle and a bit of ambient light from the room.












In this one I shot at ISO 100, f3.5, 1/8 second with the pop up flash set at -3.0 and an SB 600 overhead with a red gel. I applied a PH Edgy Church preset in Lightroom 3.

I shot this one using the same settings, but applied a PH Christmas Tree preset in Lightroom 3.

The last one was shot at ISO 200, f5.6, 1/30 second with an overhead SB600 with a yellow gel. I tweaked the white balance in Lightroom to cool it off a bit as I got it a little too warm for what I was wanting.

Just like the DVD pictures in the last post I don't expect to hang these on the walls, but I did take some time to experiment with light and got a few pretty cool images.

Hope you enjoy...Mike

My Favorite Photos of 2010 - Number 1 - My Dad

Here it is! I have been posting my ten favorite photos of 2010 and we've come to my favorite. Although I took some good trips this year and got some cool photos, my favorite is little more than a snapshot. It was unplanned with all natural lighting and I just happened to have my camera in my hand.

I had spent the day at my parents' house helping to replace a roof on a workshop that was damaged in a storm. At the end of the day I was at my truck preparing to leave when I noticed one of their kittens playing on a tree that had been downed in the same storm. The tree had been cut but not yet removed from their front yard. As I took that photo I noticed that my dad had walked up to the edge of the carport where the evening sun washed across his face, though he was still very much in the shadows. He was watching the kitten so I turned the lens from the kitten to him. Here is the result.

This photo shows a kind, gentle, hard-working man who dropped out of high school to fight in World War II then returned to complete high school after the war. He retired several years ago but remains very active. At age 84 he and my mom raise cattle, grow a gigantic garden that benefits half of the community and remain very active. You might say that I am prejudiced in selecting this as my favorite of the year. And you would be correct.

I hope you enjoy! MK

My Favorite Photos of 2010 - Number 4 - North Head Lighthouse

I am continuing to count down my favorite images of 2010. This is one from our October trip to coastal Oregon and Washington.

Hope you enjoy.

My Favorite Photos of 2010 - Number 5 - Rock City Barn

This is a continuation of my countdown of my favorite images of 2010. This one was taken at Sequoyah Caverns near Valley Head, Alabama. For many years Rock City has advertised on barns across the Southeast countryside. This one is in better shape than most.

I was at a church picnic when I took a walk and took a pic of this one.

Enjoy! MK

My Favorite Images of 2010 - Number 8 - Little River

I am counting my top ten favorite images of 2010. This is number 8, a shot I took at Little River in the Great Smoky Mountains.

Hope you enjoy!

My Favorite Images of 2010 - Number 10 Midnight Flower

I am counting down my top ten images of 2010. This is number 10. I call it Midnight Flower.

The date on this one says 2009, but it was actually taken in the Spring of 2010. I just made an error when I exported from Lightroom.

Hope you enjoy! MK

Top Ten Photos of 2010 - Didn't Make The Cut - Buildings

As we enter the new year I am reviewing some of my favorite pics from 2010. My plan was to select my top ten. However, I found that narrowing to ten was more difficult than I had anticipated. My ten favorites are still coming, but here are a few that didn't make the cut. In fact, they didn't make the top twenty...but I still like them. I hope you do too.

Check out the captions to learn the story behind each. I hope you enjoy! Look for more to come later in the week.

All the best...MK

This is an old schoolhouse in rural Oregon (or perhaps Washington). We were driving from Oregon to Washington when we drove by it.

This is the Steiner Building in Birmingham Alabama. We had just left the Amtrak Station in Birmingham when we stopped at a red light and I took this out the open window.

This is an old church that we stopped to photograph during our October trip to Washington and Oregon. As we drove around to the back to park I found that sunlight was shining through the back window, providing an interesting glow.

This is an old house in downtown Louisville Kentucky. I took this as we were driving by.

This is a barn located at Sequoyah Caverns in Hammondville Alabama. I took this at a church picnic this summer.

Happy New Year!

It's official! 2011 is here. Wow, I'm feeling old. This time of year is ripe for football, parades, and resolutions. While I am not making a resolution I am beginning to think about what I'll do when the Manual DSLR Project concludes. I didn't start until April, so I still have a few months left. I'm having so much fun that I plan to continue along a similar vein.

Here are some of my ideas for next year's self-improvement project:

• Manual operation of my flash (Nikon SB-600). I could really use this as my knowledge of flash operation is limited. I might even find a reason to get a second flash. :-)
• Working through each project outlined in David Ziser's book, Captured by the Light, something along the lines of Julie and Julia, only I can't have dinner parties and eat David's recipes. The tough part of this one is the models. Anyone have a bride and groom manikin you'd like to donate? I don't think my kids or my cats would tolerate being dressed as a bride and groom. I haven't bought the book yet, but have seen it in the stores and it looks like great fun to work through.
• Really digging into subtractive lighting techniques. When I was a kid I remember riding by Leon Kennamer's studio oblivious to the genius who worked inside. Frankly, I couldn't afford an SLR so my photography was limited to a Kodak 110 and about a dozen cartridges of film per year, so I wasn't thinking much about photography at that time. (In case you wonder, Leon was not a close relative, but all the Kennamers in our area were related, so I can claim him as a relative.)
• A 365 project with specific assignments for different days of the week. For instance, Mondays might be "Outdoor Mondays". Tuesdays might be "Alphabet Tuesday" where I would rotate through the alphabet and photograph something that starts with "A" the first week, "B" the second week...

This is a shot from our October trip to Portland, OR.

If you have other ideas I'd love to hear them. I'm still thinking. Thankfully I have until April to decide.

Though I said I wasn't going to make a resolution I suppose I should resolve to print my photos more often and to back up my images religiously. I use an awesome photo processor called Meridian Pro. They always do a great job, have an excellent selection, and I have received terrific customer service. I am about to try a new canvas print service (Zaza Gallery).  The prices look good. I'll let you know more about the quality after I receive my first order.

So, Happy New Year! I look forward to interacting with you on this blog and through Twitter throughout the next year. I might even break down and do a Facebook page. Or not!

All the best...Mike

One Step Further: Custom White Balance

My last post was about setting white balance manually. Tonight we take it one step further by discovery the wonders of custom white balance. Okay, "wonders" might be a bit much, but custom white balance on the D300 is pretty cool and easy.

The process is quite easy. But let's first talk about why you would use custom white balance.

If you are in a situation where you want your white balance to be correct in camera and you will be shooting in the same location with the same lighting situation, you may want to use custom white balance. I wouldn't use this feature for shooting an event where the lighting would change from one scene to the next. However, if I were doing a product shoot in a studio where the lighting would be the same, this might be an excellent option.

This photo has nothing to do with the post, but since this is a photo blog...

Now the process. First you hold down the WB button and turn the wheel to PRE. Then hold the WB balance down until PRE starts to flash. Then take a shot of your scene. If the lighting is adequate and the WB setting worked, you will see Gd at the bottom of your viewfinder and Good spelled out on your LCD display. Your custom white balance is now set and ready to go. What this means is that the white balance is set from a white or gray object in the original scene.

You can actually save more than one custom white balance setting and select them just as you would any preset.

Hope this helps. Have a safe and happy New Year's eve!

White Balance - Working on Getting it Right in Camera

Today we look at white balance. Like many modern D-SLRs, the Nikon D300 provides an option to select an automatic white balance. Some people like this idea while others suggest that it is better to use a specific white balance setting for the shoot (or portion of a shoot) so that one may batch correct the white balance in post production. While it is beyond the scope of this blog to debate the pros and cons of each, I tend to go for the latter--where I select one white balance setting (as close as I can get in camera) and make necessary corrections in post. So it's time to explore the joys of white balance. My goal here is to learn how to select an appropriate white balance setting for the situation.

So how hard is that? If it's cloudy you select the little cloud...sunny and you pick the sun...

Let's take it a little farther by not only learning what preset to use, but to select the appropriate Kelvin temperature for the situation.

So where to start? I suppose it wouldn't be a bad idea to consult the camera manual (Yikes!). The manual tells us to "choose a white balance setting that matches the light source before shooting." As I understand it, the white balance setting on our digital cameras is like the filters we might have used on our film cameras. For instance, if you took a photo in fluorescent light you might use a blue filter to "filter" out the blue tint.

This one was shot with a white balance setting of 2500.

The white balance in our digital camera does the same thing. Here's an exercise to illustrate the point. I shot this first photo of Lane (under protest) at a setting of 2500 Kelvin. It appears pretty well balanced with the incandescent overhead lights, but it could use a little more warmth.

So I repeated the photo at a setting of 3500 Kelvin as shown below, which added a bit of warmth.

Could I have added the warmth in post? Sure. In reality, will I probably just adjust in post? Yep! But this project is about experimentation and learning to use the manual controls of the camera and this exercise is one step in that journey. Just like auto focus, white balance presets are great and I plan to use them. But it's good to know how to add warmth in camera.

To add a little warmth I shot this one at 3500 K.

Heck, I might ever break out some gels for my flash to adjust the color temperature. But not tonight...

Until next time...

Mike

FYI. Settings on these photos: ISO 800; f5.6; 1/5 sec.

North Head Lighthouse, Washington

While visiting the Pacific Northwest recently, we grew tired of the rain and decided to travel north until we found sunshine. We found that sunshine as we crossed into Washington. As I looked on Google Maps on my iPhone, I found that there was a state park called Cape Disappointment on the southern coast of Washington. Among its many great features, there are two lighthouses that are easily accessible. The first one that we visited is called the North Head Lighthouse.

Construction on this lighthouse began in 1896; it was lit for the first time on May 16, 1898. I really did not expect this to be one of my favorite photos of the lighthouse, but a combination of a "PH Dramatic Ocean" preset and a graduated filter both applied in Lightroom 3 gave me a pleasing result--or at least one that I like.

It had been an overcast day but the sun was starting to come out (for the first time all weekend). I selected an ISO of 100 to lessen the sensitivity of the sensor. I shot with my 18-135 Nikon lens at 18mm with an aperture of 7.1 and a shutter speed of 1/400 second. The result was a somewhat "blah" shot with a dark background and little contrast in the sky. However, there was a really nice cloud pattern in the sky which I thought could "pop" with just a little work in Lightroom. I first applied the preset, "PH Dramatic Ocean" which made the sky pop but toned down the brightness of the foreground. I then added a graduated filter to lighten and brighten the foreground, especially the bottom of the lighthouse. A little luminance smoothing finished it off. I hope you enjoy!

Just Having Fun

I haven't had much of a chance to take photos recently but I have had some time to think about what I could take pictures of. One of the ideas I had involved my 14-year-old son, Lane, and his sword. What... Your 14-year-old kid doesn't have a sword? Okay, that's a different story. Let's talk about the picture.

I was looking to do something edgy but I didn't have a clear vision for how it would look because I don't spend a lot of time hanging out in the woods. After some really bad poses initiated by me (not sure how we ever got him out of tree without hurting at least one of us), Lane suggested a spot in a thicket next to a tree. It looked good to me so I told him to pretend that he was all alone with only his sword with which to protect himself, and the bad guys are on the way. Here is the result. 

Lighting was provided from my pickup truck, parked about 75 feet away with the lights shining in from photo left. I simply asked Lane to step forward until his face came into the light. The dirty looking spots on his face and elsewhere are actually shadows. He isn't wearing a hat of any kind; the darkness is just from being outside the light. This was shot in manual mode at ISO 1600, f5.6 and 1/6 second. What you see here is what we got from the camera. I didn't do anything in post except to convert from RAW to JPG.

We experimented with using a small LED flashlight but found the light to be too white. The lighting from the pickup truck was quite warm, allowing it to look a bit more natural. My goal was to take a creepy-looking picture that is a little edgy. Though I probably won't hang a 60-inch canvas of this over our sofa, I deem the experience a success for five reasons:

1. I was able to translate a vague vision of what I wanted to do to an actual photo. All too often I take my camera out looking for something to shoot. This time however, I approached it a bit differently. 
2. I got to experiment with light, not in the traditional way of adding strobes or speedlights, but using available light and adjusting the scene. 
3. It was fun!
4. I got to hang out with Lane. 
5. And most importantly, it almost made the purchase of a sword sound legitimate. (Not really. #4 is by far the most important.)

And who knows, it might make a good Facebook profile picture for Halloween.

Until next time...Mike