PERSONAL: 84TH BIRTHDAY + GREEN-EYED MONSTER

I slowly open the door as to not startle her. The scent of peppermint and homeopathic oils greets me. Right away fond memories fill my mind. I smile broadly like the mischievous child I once was.

 “Hi Abuelita” I say to the shadowy figure sitting in a rocking chair in front of me. I wait for my eyes to adjust from the brightly illuminated living room to the dim window light that illuminates her room and softly caresses her face.

“mija, my child” she says as I lean over and tenderly kiss her forehead. She doesn’t look too good. She hasn’t for a while. My grandma is turning 84 this month, and I can tell from the way she moves that the years weigh heavily up on her.  She looks at me knowing exactly what I’m thinking.

“I never thought I would live this long, I’m already living overtime you know? I’m stealing oxygen from the youngsters” She tells me in Spanish and the corner of her lips curl up into a smile. She thinks she is hilarious and I can’t help but to chuckle.

“Grandma, I think you’re going to be around for quite a bit longer” I reassure her as I’m fighting back tears, but more than anything I reassure myself. At that moment Peter walks into the room and my Grandma’s face lights up when she sees him.  I secretly feel jealous that she might like him better than me. 

K~B

Grants Pass & Medford Oregon Wedding Photographers

FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS: WHY PRO GEAR MATTERS

CANON 5D MARK II VS REBEL XTI


This is a post I've kinda been wanting to do for a while now. Before I go any further I just want to put out my little disclaimer that this is just my opinion, but the following pictures really do tell the story. The reason for this post is I hear people say that the camera and equipment doesn't matter, just the person behind the lens. To me they both matter. Skill, vision, technical know-how (the person behind the lens) is extremely important if you want professional results and there is a reason that professional photographers use the "expensive" equipment. Now, I'm not saying that you're not a "professional" if you use a Rebel or equivalent, because if you have a business license and people are paying you for your photography, then you are a professional. I simply wanted to show some advantages that "professional" equipment can give you that consumer grade equipment never will.


A friend of mine happens to have a Canon Rebel xti which I was able to get my hands on. I had about ten minutes to take some side by side shots with it and a 5D mark II and various lenses. The 5D mark II was shot using neutral settings (no sharpening, color saturation, etc.) and the Rebel had "pumped up" settings for color and sharpening in the camera. I applied the same amount of sharpening and color saturation in photoshop. I think this is why the colors are so similar.


These first two photos show how a full frame sensor (5D mark II) shows a much more diffusely blurred background than a 1.6x cropped sensor (Rebel xti) even shooting at the same aperture-in this case f3.5. Just look at the house and Land Rover in the background. 

Shot w/ 5D mark II & 35mm f1.4l lens @ f3.5

Shot with Rebel xti & kit lens @ f3.5

In the next two photos you can see how you're not getting your money's worth by using expensive glass on a crop factor camera. Let me explain. I put the Canon 85mm f1.2l II lens on the Canon 5d mark II and I am using all that wonderful glass to make the image. When I put the Canon 50mm f1.2l lens on the Rebel xti I get basically the same field of view as I do with the 85mm/5D combo. What this means is roughly half of the glass in the 50mm lens is not being used to make the image because of the 1.6x crop factor. Basically you'd be using only half of a lens you payed $1500 for. Ouch!

Shot w/ Canon 5D mark II & 85mm f1.2l II @f1.2

Shot w/ Rebel xti & Canon 50mm f1.2l @ f1.2

These last two photos show how much sharper a Canon "L" prime lens is than a kit zoom lens. The "L" primes have so much better contrast, color, and sharpness than the "L" zooms too (that's kinda why we sold all our "L" zooms except one and bought "L" primes instead). Man, we can't wait to shoot a wedding with all that wonderful "L" prime glass! After looking at our wedding portfolio, we can't help but think how much nicer, more vibrant, and less noisy those images would have turned out if we had our "L" primes back then.


Oh yeah, all these crops are from the center of the frame where all lenses are their sharpest. There is absolutely no comparing the "L" lens and the kit zoom.  

Shot w/ Canon 5D mark II & 35mm f1.4l @ f3.5

Shot w/ Rebel & kit lens @ f3.5

I know some people might be saying that the 5d mark II has the advantage over the Rebel xti because of the extra resolving power of having 21mp, but even if you had a 7D (top of the line 18mp crop camera) the results would still be the same for real world use. Besides, megapixels don't always mean "better" pictures, just larger pictures. In fact, the 5D mark II has so much resolution that it will actually show the flaws in the lenses where a lower res camera won't (kind of why you need to use expensive glass with it to get the most out of it).


Also, an old Canon 40d crop camera (and the Rebel xti used in this post) will give better overall image quality than a new 7D crop camera because the pixel density is at a better ratio to the size of the APS-C sensor. The original 5D will also give better image quality than any crop camera hands down. But, if you want the ultimate in image quality from Canon, go with the 5D mark II. It is an awesome camera with image quality that no other Canon camera can match.


Something else about the more pro-grade cameras is that you don't have to search through menu after menu to change your camera settings. I must have tried for like five minutes to adjust both the aperture and shutter speed in manual mode on that Rebel. Definitely not a camera I would want at a wedding.


One last thing, I wasn't able to use the Rebel's lenses on the 5d since they are made specifically for the crop cameras. I am going to get my hands on a top of the line Tamron zoom lens to compare it to a Canon "L" prime and I will also compare a Canon "L" zoom to a Canon "L" prime just to show how awesome the primes really are. That way I can shoot everything with the 5d at neutral settings instead of "pumped up" settings with the Rebel to give a more accurate representation of how the lenses render color.


I know this post is probably my longest yet, but I hope some of you found it beneficial. Once again, I'm not knocking you if you use Rebels and kit lenses, I'm just showing that there is a difference between expensive equipment and affordable equipment. I'm curious to hear what you all thought about this post.


~Peter~


Grants Pass & Medford Oregon Wedding Photographer

PERSONAL: CREATIVE COOKING

I am covered in flour, it smells like something is burning, and I am not sure I have all the ingredients for the recipe I endeavor to complete. It’s my first time making brownies from scratch; they are supposed to be a “surprise” for Peter. So far though it’s looking like the only surprise he is getting is coming home to find his wife trying to put out a fire while covered in dough. Oh, and that burnt smell, yeah, that is the chocolate chips I attempted to melt in the microwave to replace the cocoa powder in this recipe. Yes Internet, I am that amazing. I call it creative cooking.

As we are speaking the brownies are in the oven and I’m crossing my fingers so that they turnout some what eatable. Whish me luck!

K~B

Grants Pass & Medford High School Senior Photographer

FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS: BIG LIGHT VS SMALL LIGHT

28" WESTCOTT APOLLO VS 50" WESTCOTT APOLLO JS

You know what they say, "photography is all about lighting", so here is another post on lighting. Actually I was so stoked that someone commented on my last "FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS" post (thanks JT), that I decided to answer their request comparing these two softboxes. 

As always I am stating my disclaimer that this not the way it is or should be, just my opinion. We'll leave it at that and get on to the good stuff.

Oh yeah, one more thing.  I asked Kenya to pose for me since I was doing an experiment. She didn't know I was going to post these for everyone to see, otherwise I'm sure she would have done herself up. OK enough talkin'.

Actually just one more thing -I promise. Inside each Apollo was a single Canon 580ex II speedlight. I used the awesome Canon 5d Mark II and the even more awesome Canon 85mm F1.2l II lens. The images you can produce with that combo are drool worthy!

This first one is with the huge 50" Apollo

This is with the smaller, yet nicely sized 28" Apollo

Here is an awesome size comparison shot!

CONCLUSION: Do you want softer, wrap-around light (50" Apollo) or do you prefer more of the sculpted look (28" Apollo)? For me it depends on the situation. 

I thought it interesting that the background in the first image (50" Apollo) looks brighter than the second image (28" Apollo) even though neither the camera settings nor flash settings changed. Subject to light to background distance didn't change either. The only thing I can guess is that the 50" Apollo is a much larger light source, thereby causing more light to "wrap" around Kenya and reach the background instead of a smaller light source like the 28" Apollo which would cause less light to "wrap" around Kenya and therefore cause the background to be darker. The background may have been only 6 feet away by the way.

Any how, you can definitely see a more "sculpted" look (harder more pronounced shadows) produced by the 28" Apollo. The 50" Apollo has a "softer" look to it with less pronounced shadowing since the light can wrap around the subject, eliminating shadows.

If any of my fellow photographers found this helpful (I know there has got to be at least a few reading this) then let me know please. It makes me feel like I'm not the only gear-geek out there.

If anybody has any requests, leave a comment at the end of this post and let us know. We will see what we can do. I'm planning on a review between pro grade cameras and lens versus consumer grade cameras and kit lenses next week. If anyone has ever told you that equipment doesn't matter, just the person behind the camera, I'm here to tell you they are dead wrong. I will show you next week. Until then...

~Peter~

Grants Pass  & Medford Wedding Photographer

PERSONAL: PART OF THE PLAN + CREATIVE WRITING

I never dreamed of becoming a photographer, it wasn’t part of the plan. To be honest I never considered myself a creative person. In school I was the kind of kid that would rather take a writing class than art (which you can probably tell by my awesome spelling skills).  I remember sitting in class with nothing but a pencil and a notebook as my companions; I was the only one taking writing as an elective. Can you say dork? I would rather write a report than draw anything.

     In a way I was confused about the word “creative”. In my mind “creative” people were the ones with amazing artistic talent, the kids that could paint like Picasso, the one that always had fresh innovating ideas for their project. I was not that that kid. So I thought: I must not be “creative”. No one ever told me otherwise, I was allowed to believe I had a lack of creativity. I find it funny now that I think about it because those writing classes I chose to take were “creative writing” classes.  Creativity existed within me but in a different form than I had imagined. Writing was my passion as a kid. It was a way to escape into a fictional world. I loved creating characters and making their stories come to life, but photography was never part of the plan.

     With his camera Peter showed me a world of possibilities and I traded my pencil and notebook for a camera and a lens. My passion is still telling stories, but now I do it from behind the lens. I am a memory catcher. I am a photographer. I am creative.  I dare you to do what you love and inspire others along the way.

Photography was never part of my plan yet here I am doing what inspires me and hoping to inspire others….

K~B 

Medford & Grants Pass High School Senior Photographer

PERSONAL: ITCH ON MY TRIGGER FINGER + REFINING "NSP"

I had been sick for about 4 days straight, I was getting a little stir crazy, and both Kenya and I were dyin' to get out and shoot. You could say we both had an itch on our trigger finger. I feel sooo cool when I say that, but Kenya just thinks I'm a dork. As much as it kills me to admit it, she's probably right-(just don't tell her I said so). 


Any how, I was feeling better Saturday afternoon so we loaded up some gear (yes! gear!), picked up Kenya's sister Ailin, and headed out in search of a cool location (hopefully dry). After about 1/2 hour of driving back and forth we finally found "the" spot, much to the dismay of Ailin. It took a little persuasion but we finally convinced her this really would be an awesome spot, and started setting up.


Kenya's sisters are like our own little guinea pigs that we perform all sorts of photographic experiments with. We love our little guinea pigs! In 2010 all of our sessions were done using only available or ambient light and we only broke out the flashes for like 10 minutes at the end of two sessions because there simply was not enough ambient.


So, you guessed it! Time to REFINE "NSP" (that means "Natural Style Photography" :)  If you don't say each letter like N, S, P but instead you pronounce "NSP" out loud 4 times in a row (as if it was a sound,  like nsp nsp nsp nsp) it kind of sounds like a sick techno beat! Yeah, I know, I'm a dork.


Enough rambling. Basically we have some really awesome lighting equipment and we are going to REFINE our style using everything we got this season, bringing it all to the plate. We feel it is going to give our clients the most bang for their buck (and the best photos too!).


So here are a few of our first results using some of that awesome gear:

This is how I felt getting to use some new gear!

One of my favorites

Ailin is laughing at my funny jokes ;)

Kenya's not sure, but there is something about this shot that she really likes.

~Peter~
Grants Pass and Medford High School Senior Photographer

PERSONAL: "PEOPLE" PICTURES + NEVER SAY NEVER

    I know, I know. I said I was going to get to this post about a month or two ago, but you know what they say ,"better late than never." For those of you just tuning in I wrote a blog post here about the reason I loved shooting landscapes and the friend that started my interest in photography in the first place.

    Well, one day he was talking to me about how interesting portrait lighting was and that he wanted to practice taking some portraits. I said, "Why would you want to do that? I'll never take pictures of people, it would be so boring." I guess I'm eating my words now, huh? I actually really love doing portrait photography -even more than landscape photography (gasp!)

    So what changed? Put simply, Kenya. You see, when we were still dating we went to Hell's Gate Canyon (it's one of Kenya's favorite places) with her sisters, and of course I had my camera. But the unexpected happened and I thought to myself, "I guess I could try taking some portrait pictures." You know what? I actually liked it and the portraits weren't half bad either! It probably helped that those girls love posing for the camera.

    Even though I said I would never do "people" pictures (or get married), look at me now. I absolutely love being married to my wonderful wife and photographing amazing people with her. Just remember to never say never, and don't be afraid to give new things a chance, you might just like it (:

    I wasn't able to find those images, but here is the next best thing; my second attempt at portraits with a beautiful model ;)

~PPB~

Grants Pass & Medford Wedding Photographer