Huge Collection of Images

If you haven't seen our Flickr.com photostream you should! It is a collection of photo strips taken by Photo Booth operators testing the booth before events. Some of them are amazing. You get to see the same people over and over and maybe get a feel for their booth persona's. See more at http://www.flickr.com/fortunephotobooth

Enjoy!

Soren
http://www.fortunephotobooth.com
Portable Photo Booth Sales and Software

New Photo Booth Paper

There is a new photobooth paper coming out for the Sony upcx1 printer we like to use. It is a 4x8 sheet with a perferation down the middle. This will make seperating double strips a snap! Th e4x8 size might allow for some great new layourts as well. I'll let you know when it is available.

vacation photography tips continued (sunsets, how to)

Continuing on my vacation photo tips is, how to shoot a sunset. As you might have guesed the baby is taking her afternoon nap;-)

If your sunsets arent coming out colorfull enough you are probably overexposing them. Try zooming in on the brghter parts of the sunset in P modeand see what the exposure reads. Then use M mode to dial in those settings and see how you like it. I also like to take sunset pics a while after the sungoes down,just keeptaking shots and the colors will get more saturated about 5 -10 minutes after the actual sunset.

Another trick is to include some silouetts in the scene to add extra interest like the example above. I shot this about 45 minutes after sunset hand hald in P mode. I focused on the tree, but this late after the sunset the sky's colors arent ascontrasty so your images are easier to get the right exposure for. If you want people in the shot I'd shoot the scene in P mode, switch to M mode and dial in the P modes exposure info, and then add a flash to capture the peoples faces.

Cheers! Soren
www.fortunephotobooth.com
soren@fortunephotobooth.com

Vacation photo tips continued....

The following is a fun iPhone trick.


So I woke up and had a cup of coffee that Erica had made. "Amazing" I said, t"he coffee here tastes so much better than at home. Let's buy some extra to bring home." the she told me I was crazy, since we brought this coffee from home.

Everything tastes better on vacation. Even cheap beer.

Things look better on vacation too, and it's your job as a photographer to come back with photos that will remind you of how great it is to be on vacation

I was trying to capture the light coming through my beer with my iPhone. And the exposure of these phone pics is fully automatic. This backlit scene needed mor light.


Just taking the shot causes a darkish shot because of the back lighting. What to do? I could switch to my dslr and fiddle with the exposure compensation, but I wanted a challenge, so I was going to fool the iPhone into adding more light to the photo like in the top example.

To do this I simply focused the pic on the table by turning the cam down and getting rid of the exposure, the table was in the shade so it automatically added more light to the scene. Then quickly I brought the camera back up to the position to grab this shot and took the pic before the camera could recalibrate it's exposure. I, in a way, fooled the iPhone into adding more light to the exposure. It's a fun iPhone trick that also works with most fully automatic cameras.

You can also do a similar trick with your fancy dslr. You can lock the exposure, even in an automatic mode, by pointing the camera to a non back lit area, pushing the exposure lock button, then recomposing. It is easier with the dslr because once the exposure is locked you have all the time you need to take the picture. With the iPhone trick you have to be fast, and that takes practice.

Good luck, let me know how you like this tip, or let me know if you think I'm delusional. Email me personally at Soren@fortunephotobooth.com

Cheers!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Be a better photographer #6- vacation photo tips

Short posts about taking better vacation photos. We all deserve vacations, and you all need better vacation photos to remind you to take more vacations. I also believe that how good your vacation photos are reflects on how good a photographer you are. Vacation photos also remind me of wedding photography in a couple of ways. Way 1 is that you don't have much time to think about it, you are busy trying to relax on vacation so you have to be ready and shoot fast, just like at a wedding. 2 is that they can be very documentary in nature.

Anyway, I'm doing this from my iPhone, so I'll try to keep it short. The only reason to have time to do this is that the baby is taking a nap:-)

Tip#1. Go on more vacations. Practice makes perfect. Being in a new place also helps rejuvinate your creative juices and can allow you to see a whole new light.

Tip#2. like the iPhone pic of a limes in a cup above, capture the small things. Food is a natural subject, try a few still lifes to remember the food. Details can often add spice to anyones vacation album. Which brings up tip #3.




Tip #3. make an album. Not some cheapo album, but one of the really cool new press printed books. My favorite company is Blurb http:www.Blurb.com .try out their premium paper, and wrap around photo covers. They are not only easy to make and affordable, they make really great looking books. They are also fast. I normally get a book in my mail slot less than a week after ordering.

Tip #4. I'm not able to show you an example from my phone, but use a flash for shooting people in brightly lit situations, even a built in flash can help. If you are vacationing in the sand or the snow, a flash can really fill in those shaddow areas. If you are using a point and shoot you may have to set it to force the flash to fire every time. Please figure out how to do this. I've been watching people on this trip, and no ones camera is flashing on the beach. They will be disapointed in their photos of people with dark shaddowy faces.

Now, I'm always writing tips about using a flash, and in truth most flash pictures you see look awfull right? I think I should explain it a bit more. Flashes can ruin photos, but I think it is solely because people (and cameras) choose the wrong times to flash. Use a flash when your are shooting people that are back lit ( like a sunset) or when it's so bright the sun makes harsh shadows on them. Also use a flash when it's too dark to really see, there are some dark shots that just require that. Other wise try to shoot without a flash and see how your high ISO settings can make good pics in mist darkish situations. The problem with this advice is that cameras in dummy modes, or point and shoots, always get this wrong, except the really really obvious people in a cave scenario.

#5 kids still asleep, I might have time for #5. Carry your nice point and shoot or dslr, but don't worry about mixing in some cell phone shots, sometimes it just makes sence to shoot a candid shot with the phone.




#6 Give the kids a simple camera to take shots they think are cool. Obviously don't give them something too nice. Set it up to force flash i'f it's really sunny, or reasly dark, and set it to higher ISO and no flash for medium and darkish light, P mode if you got it. You might find they take pictures of things that really help you remember a trip.

#7 still no crying baby, I'll keep writing. Here is a tip I've never tried, but always wanted to. Buy a water proof camera. Of you know of a good one let me know. I once stopes a point and shoot full of pics into the ocean. Erica and I had just spent the day kayaking and snorkeling in Mazatlan Mexico and were just coming back in to shore, when we realized the mainland surf was much rougher than when we left. The wave that snuck up behind us must have been a 6 footer, and we were in a 2 person tourist grade kayak. We surfed that wave right into a perfect front somersault, a complete endo. The most amazing thing is that the camera was around my neck on a strap, so we didn't lose it. The camera was busted, but as always those memory cards are almost industructable, so we had all the photos. I actually also sent the camera in, and the manufacturer fixed it for much less than a new camera would have cost.

I'll work on tips 8+ tomorrow during nap time. For now just remember to contact me personally for guidance or clarification of anything I've written. I also take requests, so bring on the topics you'd like me to cover next. Soren@fortunephotobooth.com

Cheers from fortunephotobooth.com





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Photo Booth Song

http://tinyurl.com/yfyfyxb Death Cab for Cutie "Photobooth" song on youtube

Be a Better Photographer- #5 manual exposure

This is a series of articles geared towards becoming a better photographer, with emphasis on wedding a portrait photography. I am Soren Coughlin-Glaser Photographer and owner of http://www.fortunephotobooth.com and and since my photo booth sales clients are usually wedding and event photographers, I am writing these articles to help you all become better photographers. I always value your opinion, so please email me if you need clarification or have a great question you would like answered here. You can contact me personally at soren@fortunephotobooth.com .

Today on Be a Better Photographer I am going to talk about how you can use manual mode on your camera to get better photos in difficult lighting situations.

I'm a big fan of the auto exposure features of today's DSLRs, I use P and AV modes for 90% of my candid wedding shooting. I shoot Raw (see #3 in the
series) so I know I have some latitude for exposure adjustment in post processing, and the auto modes of the cameras really helps you get a shot quickly without thinking about it.

But, I also use the auto modes as a cheater light meter to help me get better manual mode photos in tricky lighting situations. Sometimes you do have the time to fix your exposure so you know all the shots will be well exposed. I shoot a lot up at Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood see:
http://www.timberlinelodge.com It is an amazing destination wedding spot.
It is right at Timberline, which means if you look up at the mountain, there are no trees in the way to block your view, and if you look down the mountain its nothing but tree covered hills for miles and miles. The scenery is amazing. And, it's a photographers nightmare! Its cold, its sunny, and shady and hot, and snowy, and glary, all that in the same shot sometimes.
Automatic exposure modes just give you blown out mountain, or have your subject's faces in the deep dark shade.



To fix this sort of back lit problem and crank out 100 different portraits that are well exposed with very little thought I use manual mode. It may be easy for me to say because I cut my photo teeth on film and completely manual cameras, but you too can do it, and your camera can help you. Manual mode makes things easier in these situations, because you set it up correctly, and then everything you shoot will be well exposed, as long as the lighting stays the same.



So imagine 16 wedding attendants facing you with the sun behind them. If you set your camera to P mode and take a shot, chances are that their faces will be too dark because the cameras meter will be fooled by the bright background. If you could just get the exposure correct for their faces and lock the camera to that then you'd be set to shoot away.

So here is the trick. Set your camera to P mode (or AV if you are comfortable with selecting your own aperture. Zoom in on the subjects, allowing very little background, or no back ground to show. You can zoom in or walk very close. You may have to warn your subjects that you are "Just getting an exposure" if you are invading their personal space by getting too close. Look at the photo on the back of the camera, and see if the exposure is acceptable. If it is, your cameras review screen can be set to tell you the aperture and shutter speed it used. Then remember those two numbers and switch your camera to M mode and enter those numbers. Then you are done, you know that exposure will give you good results. Get out of your groom face and shoot away knowing your camera won't be fooled.

Now even if 10 brides maids walk up with white dresses, or 10 groomsmen in black tuxes you know what exposure to use. This is an amazing feeling, knowing the shot is going to work before you shoot it. Just don't forget to change back to P mode if you change locations.

Now sometimes you can get a perfect exposure for the back lit group, but then the background is important too, and if you expose for the people in the shade, your background will get blown out! This happens at Timberline, because everyone wants the mountain in the background of their shots, which always puts their faces in the shade. The only way to solve this is to use M mode with the camera set for the mountains exposure, and use your flash to fill in their faces. So... First go to P mode and snap a pic of the mountain, if it is a well exposed shot you can remember the settings and set them in your camera while it is in M mode. Then compose your shot with the mountain and the shady group and have your Camera flash on. Shoot and see if you like it. I bet you will.

(warning advanced procedure below which may require you to read your cameras manual. Oh nooooooooooooo!!! Not reading the manual!!!) One caution to this method is that the flash is probably set to an auto mode too. You can go to a manual mode for it too, but for this article lets do something different if the people still aren't bright enough, or they are too bright. Follow the steps above and see what the group shot looks like in M mode with the flash on. If the people are still too dark you can adjust the Flashes exposure compensation feature to give you more flash. I do this all the time and I consider this a must have skill. Knowing how to brighten or darken your flash for individual shots is critical. So learn how to do it, and adjust the flash up or down as much as needed for each shot.
Its not easy but take your time and do it in practice first, once you are comfortable adjusting your flash compensation there is no stopping you from getting great exposed subjects and backgrounds.

Try it you might like it and it will certainly make you a better photographer. I use this with my DSLR all the time, and point and shoot cameras also have this feature. In my Photo booths http://www.fortuenphotobooth.com the background is white. If I didn't use the flash exposure compensation on the cameras the subjects would be too dark. So boosting the flash exp. Comp. gives me better results. So if you like it with your DSLR, try it with your point and shoot too.



As always feel free to contact me directly with questions or comments. I am here to help, and I actually like talking about this stuff. Email me at soren@portlandphotographer.com

Cheers!

Soren Coughlin-Glaser


www.FortunePhotoBooth.com