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If you liked our review of the Sun Sniper Camera Strap and you thought you’d like one of your own, now’s your chance to get one for free.  We are giving away one such strap to a lucky US resident for free – you don’t even have to pay any shipping or anything.  To find out how to enter, read the official giveaway rules.  (Hint – it’s not a competition, just pure luck).  Deadline is tomorrow (March 10th) at Midnight GMT.

"Thin Ice" by D. Travis North

Here’s the scenario – it’s a sunny day with blue skies and you’re shooting in a wide open space. The light is harsh, shadows are dark and well defined – a contrasty scene. What do you meter? You could carry around some gray cards, but on a sunny day like this, who needs them when you have something better: Blue Skies above.

The blue sky is dependable and trustworthy. If you meter off the sky, you will see predictable results. It is unbiased by the season – it works just as well shooting in the snow as it does shooting on a warm summer day. It is not influenced by the time of day – it works equally well in early evening, dusk or even high noon. Faces won’t disappear into shadow, nor will they get blown out. Shadows won’t appear too dark or too bright. The blue sky metering method is perfect for any outdoor shooting. Best of all, it’s easy:

1. Flip to Manual Mode – don’t be afraid, it’s painless. Manual mode is necessary so that your camera won’t try to alter the meter between shots. You’ll set it and forget it until you want a different aperture or enough time has passed that the light has changed.
2. Set the Aperture – pick an aperture that is ideal for your subject. Be aware that if you want to change your aperture, you’ll need to adjust your settings: Just return to this step.
3. Point to the Sky – point your camera to the sky to check your in-viewfinder meter. You’ll need to point away from the sun. Pick a point about half-way between the sun and the farthest horizon. This is especially important near sunrise and sunset.
4. Adjust for Shutter Speed – With your camera pointed at the sky, adjust the shutter speed until your meter reads neutral. If you’re not used to manual mode, it’s simple enough – just increase or decrease your shutter speed until the indicator points to “0″ at the center of the scale.
5. Set it and Forget It – Now that you’re metering is set up, you need to forget all about metering until enough time has passed that the light has changed, or until you want to change the aperture setting. Do not trust your meter once pointed at the subject. Try as it might, your camera meter is not as trustworthy as the big blue sky.
6. Reframe and Shoot – you can now shoot in any direction at any subject and the metering should be perfect. I cannot stress this enough: Do not change your settings until the light has changed or you want to change aperture. Don’t trust your meter, trust the sky.

There are some caveats to this method, of course. If you’re shooting a subject that’s completely in shade, this method will not work. You will also need to adjust your settings after a certain amount of time. During mid-day, you can get away with a half our before adjusting. But during the first few hours and last few hours of the day, you’ll want to tweak your settings more regularly; every 10-15 minutes at most.

This trick is especially useful when you have a lot of bright colors or a lot of white (like snow) in a scene. Your camera is biased towards gray, and it will try to find the middle ground. The bright colors will trick your camera, and it will try to meter those things as gray. The result is under-exposed shots. But if you meter off the sky, those colors will pop like they should.  It works equally as well for color shots as it does for black & white shots – there really aren’t many limitations.  So next time you’re shooting outdoors, try this handy trick. It may just be your new favorite metering trick.

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The profits from the Shutter Photo Store help us to continue to provide a quality site to you free of charge.  So if you’re interested in any of the products that we’ve reviewed, please consider buying through our store or through the many links on our site as it will help us ever so slightly to keep Shutter Photo free to our readers.

(Untitled) by Headerjr

Simplicity and repetition is often all you need.  This untitled photo from Headerjr (I do not know his real name) is an example of that.  I do not know what we’re looking at here, I can only assume these are switches on some ancient piece of equipment, but that does not matter.  What do I see when I look at this photo?  I see shapes and repetition.  I am drawn to this image because of its depth.  I am drawn to this image because of the shades of gray that I see.  Perhaps I’m even drawn to it because I don’t really know what it is.

In my opinion, simplicity is the hardest thing to achieve in photography.  We like to over-think things, and it’s difficult to see simplicity in the real world.  You need to be able to recognize simple compositions and visualize them on the 2D photo before you snap the shutter.  We’re just not wired that way, and you’d need to train yourself for it.  But you also need to train yourself to make such simple compositions interesting.  If, for example, this shot were composed straight-on from the face of this switch board, you would have repetition, but it would not be very interesting.  What makes this shot interesting is the use of depth – the apparent diminishing size of the otherwise identical switches – to draw you in.  Relax and view this shot, and you cannot help that your eye is drawn to the vanishing point.  That is what’s interesting.  I would commend Headerjr for recognizing the potential in this panel and capturing it in such a simple but interesting manner.

Now I will be honest and perhaps a little blunt (sorry Headerjr):  There are a few things about this photo I do not like.  I will share them with you, but bear in mind as you read my words that my thoughts are to be taken with a grain of salt.  Overall, I love the shot, but I always look for ways that a photo can be improved (even my own).  If this were my photo, this is how I would improve it:

• Increase the Dynamic Range – this is a black and white photo.  It should have some white.  I suspect that the switches (or whatever they are) are actually red or yellow.  Such shades come up gray in black and white.  That doesn’t mean you have to portray them brighter.  I would tweak the dynamic range to introduce white – bright white.  If the switches are portrayed brighter than they are in real life, so be it.  It’s your photo, you can do what you want.
• Title – Photos, and all works of art, deserve a title.  This is a bit of a pet peeve of mine.  Titles are difficult, and they can make or break an image.  But even a broken title is better than no title at all.  A title is the only chance you have in photography to influence a viewer’s perspective of your photo.  If you’ve tried and you can’t title your photo, at least number them so that another person can refer to it with some identifier.  Which is easier to understand?  “I really like that photo of yours with the thingies disappearing into the distance…” or “I really liked your photo #42″.  I think you get the point.
• More negative space to the left – There’s not much negative space to the left.  I’d like to see the switch that is in focus pushed more to the right and the vanishing point more in the center.  I feel that it would make for a more interesting composition.
• Heavy-bottom framing – A simple compositional rule about framing – if all sides are not equal, the bottom should have the most weight (most space).  If you like the bottom-weighted look, shift the photo higher in the frame and make sure the right, left and top sides are equal but the bottom is larger

Let this shot be an inspiration this weekend as you wander about the real world.  Keep an eye out for simplicity and see if you can make it interesting.  Compose with repetition and work in black and white to keep things simple (but interesting).  Please show off your results to the Shutter Photo @ Flickr Pool and check back to see what others have achieved as well.

"Dead Wood" by D. Travis North

This morning, Jack Hollingsworth (@photojack on twitter) shared a quote I had never heard before form Ansel Adams:

“The single most important component of a camera is the twelve inches behind it”

Adams has left an incredible impression on the photography field and he is quoted hundreds of times a day, I’m sure. So it’s not surprising that this one is new to me. However, this particular quote strikes a fire within me. Adam’s is one hundred percent correct…the most important component of a camera is the photographer. Strong words that could be construed as arrogance, patting himself on the back. But we photographers know the truth:  Photography is about attitude.  We know that we are the ones who create great photos, not our cameras. Unfortunately, many a laymen – those that don’t know an f-stop from a bus stop – would like to attribute your art to the hardware.

At this point, I could easily spin this article into a tutorial on how to deal with such ignorance. But we are not in all cases the victim here. Our actions speak louder than words, and we photographers will drool over nice equipment as well.  Though our reason is vastly different, our actions are misunderstood by the laymen.  As such, based on our misinterpreted love of equipment, our allegedly fancy cameras are often credited for the quality of our work. Doesn’t it make matters worse when we lust after higher end equipment? I am of course not trying to suggest that you shouldn’t long for improved camera gear. As a photographer, you know that a camera upgrade will not make for better photography. Chances are that your next upgrade is because you desire a specific feature, or you plan just outgrew your current camera. The desire to upgrade and add to your hardware set is only natural, but it is often misunderstood by the layman and we need to be sensitive to that fact. When prompted, we should certainly be doing our best to educate, without arrogance, for the sake of the art and for the sake of the community. But the issue goes beyond that.

The issue comes down to attitude – and it starts with you. Long ago, when cameras were expensive and extremely technical pieces of equipment, the line was much more defined. Those wanting to be photographers made great sacrifices to be a photographer. But as gear is now more affordable, we have an influx of those who call themselves photographers because of their gear. For shame. If you truly believe that your camera or the piece of glass between your eye and the subject makes for better photos, then I must say that you are not a photographer. If you cannot create fantastic photos with a piece of junk camera, you are not a photographer.  Photography is an art. That art has rules – rules that can, will and should be broken. But if you’re ready to break those rules, you better know that you are. You better know how and why you are breaking the rules. Dare I say that you should be as versatile within the boundaries of the rules as you are outside. As a photographer, you must have humility. You must be able to admit your weaknesses at least to yourself, if not to the public. As a photographer, equipment should not matter.

Which leads me to another point – a pet peeve of mine, in fact. There is snobbery abroad, even within the photography community, with respect to ones equipment. I’m not talking about the quest for the $20,000 USD Mamiya camera. I’m not even talking about the Nikon vs. Canon vs. Pentax vs. your second-cousin’s brother’s favorite brand debates. Such longing and such debates can at least be justified by deep roots in all things geek – we’re gadget heads at heart – and gear lust is ingrained within us. Alas, what I’m talking about are the so-called artistic cameras. I’m talking about the lomography cameras, the Holgas or even the vintage poloroid cameras of the world. The plastic lens bearing cameras or the cameras that leak light onto film. Poor quality exposures with oversaturated colors and poor dynamic ranges are not, in and of themselves, art. And just because you have and use such a camera, you are not necessarily an artist.

Art is comprised of two things: Vision and purpose. Your equipment and your medium may vary, but you cannot have art without vision and purpose. What much of the lomography world does not have is purpose. I was once told by a fan of the medium that a lomo camera makes “every snapshot a work of art”. It does not. True art can be achieved with a lomography camera. True art can also be achieved with your D-SLR, your iPhone or even your five-year-old 1.2 megapixel camera phone – I will not deny that. But without vision and purpose, such art cannot be created.  And what do vision and purpose combined also create?  Attitude.

With that, I will leave you with a story of personal experience. It’s a story about a day that I went to an art museum alone. I was wandering about a photography exhibit when I happened upon a particular piece that captivated me. A bench was set up in front of the piece, and so I sat down and stared. I must have been staring a while as a museum a volunteer approached me and asked me a question: “What do you suppose she was feeling when she took that shot?” I didn’t know.

“Well,” he said, “you must be taken by the piece. How does it make you feel?”

“Calm,” I admitted.

“Then you understand what she felt.”

We spoke at length about the photograph. As it turns out, the photographer – a local, now deceased – was the man’s wife. The piece we were speaking of happened to be the photographers last photograph, taken and developed just before she went on hospice after a lost battle with cancer. The photo was calming to the widower as well, a reminder that his wife had been prepared for her death. Even after their long lasting marriage and their many years together, he admitted that he never understood his wife’s photography until that day. The man is now a photographer himself. To this day, I wonder if the true intent behind that photograph was to once-and-for-all pass her love for photography onto her husband.  Personally, I suspect that may have been the case.  That demonstrates a lot of attitude.

(photo courtesy of Naneu)

The one thing I’ve learned – and have been most surprised about – since we started reviewing products for Shutter Photo is that camera bag selection is a very personal thing.  Each of us is looking for different features and different form factors.  That may be why there are so many manufacturers – there are hundreds, many you’ve never heard of.  Naneu is one that surprised us.  Our good friend, Peter West Carey, introduced us to Naneu.  Recently, Peter reviewed the Naneu Adventure K4L, a photo and computer bag.  While it certainly appears to be a great bag for professionals and semi-professionals, it didn’t seem appropriate for hobbyists.  But Naneu offers a wide range of bags, and a quick survey of their offerings yielded a bag that was well suited for hobbyists with a fair amount of equipment:  The Military Ops Echo-X Messenger Bag.  For the purpose of our review, Naneu was kind enough to loan us a sample.  For the past month, I’ve been using it as my primary bag to carry my camera gear.

The Echo-X is a fairly new product.  It is a larger and slightly different version of Naneu’s popular Echo bag.  Though there are likely many similarities between the bags, please note that this review does not address the Echo, only the Echo-X.  The Echo-X is a sling bag, meaning there is only one strap that you wear across your chest.  The main improvement over the Echo is that the Echo-X has a side-access panel that can be accessed while the bag is still on your shoulder.  Just rotate the bag to the front, and you can grab your camera out of this side access without the risk of dropping any of your other equipment.

Side pocket with shelf divider (camera removed, my petal hood stored)

The side access is actually just another portal into the main compartment, which can also be accessed by a zipper at the bag’s mid-line.  The mid-line zipper essentially hinges the bag so that the top portion of the bag can flop back granting full top-access to the main compartment.  As for the size of the main compartment – this is where I was pleasantly surprised – it’s huge.  Many sling bags that I’ve seen cannot carry a larger camera or a camera with a large lens.  This bag is designed to carry a full-sized camera like a Canon EOS 1D MkIII or a Nikon D3.  For those of you with a mid or small sized SLR, like a Nikon D90, there is a special “shelf” divider that can be used to accomodate these smaller cameras.  Even the full-sized cameras can be accessible through the side access panel.  The camera lays in the bag parallel to your hip, so it can also accomodate a 9″ lens attached to the camera body.  That’s a ton of space to play with.  My meger camera with it’s 185mm lens attached quite comfortably fit in the bag with plenty of room to spare.

From the top access (via the mid-line zipper) you have access to the balance of the main compartment.  The panels are all customizable so that you can accommodate a number of additional lenses.  There’s even enough space to carry an extra camera body.  There are a few minor limitations – the front and back panels are detachable, but you likely want to keep them in place to cushion your camera with lens attached.  And if you have a mid or small sized camera, you’ll most likely want to use the shelf divider so that you can access the camera body both from the side and from the top (though this is a preference).  Otherwise, you can store lenses upright with a total of 7″ to play with.  One feature I really appreciated was that the main dividers and the walls were entirely velcro covered.  This allowed complete customization without limitation.  I was, however, a little disappointed in the shelf support – a padded spacer used to support the shelf if you have a mid/small camera.  The spacer was not fully velcro covered, and it did not effectively install laterally (perpendicular to your back), which I would have preferred so that I could store small things, like spare batteries, directly below my camera.  As designed, my batteries got lost somewhere in the bottom of the case, and I would have to tilt the bag to get them out.  I would rather see some structural support put into the shelf itself than to have to use this spacer, or at least have a way to effectively fasten it laterally inside.

Pockets are all over the place.  Lets start with the upper compartment.  The compartment isn’t padded and it’s tapered, so it is really designed to carry your extras.  I was able to fit a field manual and my moleskine notebook in there.  There would be plenty of room to carry a rain poncho, a fleece or even a small lunch if necessary.  The bottom of this compartment can be removed completely to access the main compartment or to convert the entire thing to a backpack by removing the dividers in the main compartment.  There are also two pockets on the outside of the top portion of the bag, and one larger pocket on the outside of the main camera compartment.  These pockets are where I stored the majority of my extras.  Filters and the like went into a pocket inside the larger of the top pockets.  Business cards and other quick-access items went in the smaller of the top pockets.  In the largest pocket – the one on the front of the main compartment – I stored pens, my eyeglasses and other similar items.  There is also a small map compartment within the back-plate, the zipper for which is conveniently placed at your right hand – so you’ll be able to get those maps out without removing the bag.  There are also two quick-access pockets on the outside of the larger bottom pocket.  I didn’t use either, but these might be good for temporary storage – receipts, train schedules, and so on.  And finally, there is a cell phone pocket built into the shoulder strap.  I don’t carry enough small things to fully take advantage of all of these pockets, but there are a ton of ways to organize your stuff.

Packing List

Everything I packed in the Echo-X (and still room for more)

Here is a list of everything that fit into the bag (you won’t believe how much I could comfortably fit):

• Nikon D80 camera body (digital, with lens)
• Nikon N2000 camera body (film, no lens attached)
• Nikkor 18-185mm zoom lens (attached to the Nikon D80)
• Nikkor 50mm prime lens (autofocus for D80)
• Nikkor 50mm prime lens (manual for N2000)
• Nikkor 200mm prime lens (manual for N2000)
• (3) 52mm lens filters
• (1) 67mm lens filter
• 67mm petal lens hood
• 52mm reverse mounting ring
• shutter release cable
• USB sync cable
• TV output cables
• (2) rolls of film (plenty of room for more)
• SD card case (with two additional SD cards)
• my favorite field guide
• moleskine (5″) note book with pens
• iPod
• Blackberry
• wireless phone
• eyeglasses with case
• A pull-over fleece

Little Details That Make a Big Difference

webbing at corners of pockets, internal pockets, mp3 player pocket (upper pocket)

Little things make a big difference.  For starters, we already discussed the number of small compartments for organization which are suitable for the most obsessive compulsive of the lot.  The upper compartment and pockets of the bag are designed with corner webbing so that you don’t accidentally spill its contents while searching for things.  The main camera compartment is a bright orange color which allows you to find things easier.  I only wish that the other compartments were also orange (they are gray).  For those of you who wish to carry an iPod or other MP3 player, there’s a special pocket inside the larger upper pocket where it can be stored.  There is also a special port where you can push through a headphone cord.  I also really grew to appreciate the “feet” on the bottom of the bag, rubber blocks that keep the bag off the ground in case you need to set it down.  I’ve seen many bags with this feature, and I wonder why there aren’t more that take advantage of such a similar implementation.

Zippers and the iPod headphone port (upper pockets)

The zippers – we need to talk about those.  I have never seen a zipper built like these.  The zipper itself is a typical zipper with teeth and a pull tab.  But these zippers are built so that the outside face is covered in a water-retardant textile fabric.  With the zipper closed, the fabric covering either set of teeth closes as well.  This essentially eliminates any chance of water getting in through the zipper.  Now that’s not to say that water wouldn’t get in if I submerged the bag in a tub of water – but I wasn’t about to test that with or without my equipment (this bag is on loan, after all).  Then again, I don’t expect that any of you are planning on swimming with your camera gear protected only by a bag.  What this zipper system does is eliminates the need for a rain-cover.  At first, I found the zippers a little tight to open and close.  But after about a week, they seemed to move smoothly.

Tow Strap detail

Those of you who have read my other reviews will know that I appreciate a good tow strap.  For many manufacturers, the tow strap is an afterthought.  In practice, however, I find myself using the tow strap a lot.  Putting the bag in and out of cars, moving around a crowded subway, or even for carrying short distances.  It seems trivial, but a well designed and comfortable tow strap is something I look for in a bag.  The Echo-X has an awesome tow strap.  It’s extra long and well padded, so you can fit your meaty hands, or even a gloved hand, in there comfortably.  One end of the strap is fastened to the bag itself, the other is fastened to the shoulder strap.  As a result, the bag carries quite comfortably at your side.  You can also reach the strap with your right hand while wearing it in case you want to use the quick-release on the strap to get out of the bag smoothly.

Not all details are perfect.  There are a few nuances of the bag that I didn’t like.  First is the shoulder strap.  It is fastened to the center of the bag at the top, which makes it lay at an angle across the back.  For many, this isn’t a significant issue.  But the bottom of the bag is flat, and at times I felt that the bottom right corner was digging into my waist.  I admit some hyper-sensitivity issues, however, so this would bother me more than most.  Even so, it’s not a difficult thing to fix – the strap could have been fastened off-center so as to allow the bag to hang more symmetrically.  I also didn’t like the quick release buckle on the strap.  I like that it’s there, but it didn’t seem very secure.  I have this odd habit of having a hand on my shoulder strap when walking about.  On multiple occasions, I accidentally grabbed the clip and nearly lost the entire bag (I never did, but the potential is there).  I would like to see an extra button on the buckle, at least, to prevent such accidents.  My final issue with the shoulder strap was the stabilizer strap.  With my coat off, it worked quite well to stabilize the bag, even to bring it more in line with my spine.  But with my coat on, it didn’t quite seem long enough to wear comfortably.  I’ll admit I’m overweight, but my gut is still an average size.  The stabilizer strap could stand to be a bit longer.  As such, I rarely used it throughout my experience.

The main compartment zipper vs. the front pocket zipper poses an interesting scenario.  Both sets of zippers (four pull tabs in all) have the same type of pull strings on them.  Though the main compartment zipper itself is slightly larger, at a glance, there doesn’t appear to be much difference.  The zippers both run along the mid-line of the bag, about a half inch from each other horizontally, but nearly the same plane vertically.  Normally, I like to keep my pull-tabs at the centers, but in doing so, I often pulled the wrong tabs.  I also found that I would occasionally zip one set of pull strings into the other set’s pocket.  I simply grew into the habit of pulling one set of zippers to one side, and another to the other side – and through such habitual means I was able to conquer the confusion.  But it would be nice of the main compartment tabs were more prominent or at least different to avoid such confusion.  I would consider this a minor issue.

The Echo-X in Action

Main compartment, front pocket and side access (closed)

I can surely attest that this is a bag designed for the elements.  In our area, we had an unusual winter, and we got ransacked with snow.  The week I started using the bag, we had a record breaking storm event just a few days after another big storm.  To really test the bag out, I ventured out into the windy, snow-drifted weather (it was still snowing) with the Echo-X on my back.  I slipped and fell, but my gear was protected.  The snow threatened, but was not able to penetrate the bag, not even at its zippers.  On this same excursion, I wanted to switch up lenses.  With all the fresh snow around, I didn’t have an opportune place to set the bag down, so I experimented:  With the strap on my shoulder as I would normally wear it, I was able to rotate the bag partially around and access the main compartment from the top via the mid-line zipper.  I’ll admit, it was not the most comfortable way to access my gear, but it was possible.  Because of the snug fit of how I set up the dividers, I don’t feel that any of my equipment was at risk to fall out either.

As for wearing for long periods of time, I carried this bag with me on a few day trips and several site visits.  I wore this bag for hours at a time.  It was quite comfortable.  The straps, well padded, didn’t dig into my shoulders much.  The sling design also contributes to it’s comfort.  The stabilizer strap adds to the comfort, but see my note above with regards to its size.  Despite the amount of gear I carried on one of these excursions, the bag remained comfortable.

Final Thoughts

The Naneu Military Ops Echo-X is a great bag for those of you who have a lot of gear, want something a little more rugged and somewhat casual.  It’s a bag you can certainly grow into, but many just getting started in the hobby will find this to be too much bag.  Aside from the quantity of lenses that could be fit into this bag, it can accommodate some moderately large lenses.  So this would be a great day bag for street photographers or even some landscape photographers.  If you have need for significantly larger lenses (something much larger than 200mm) this bag isn’t the bag for you.  It’s a rugged bag that can really stand up to the elements, so I suspect that for many it would serve well as a primary (or only) bag.  It goes without saying that a sling-style bag is a manner of preference.  Some bags accommodate multiple carrying options, but the Echo-X is explicitly a sling bag.  Try as you might, there is only one way to carry the Echo-X:  Across your chest, over your right shoulder.  Sling bags aren’t for everyone, so if you’re not sure, make sure to try it before buying.

As a company, I learned quite a bit about Naneu in this past month.  From my own observations, they make a quality product.  The bag appears to be well built, packed full of features and nice details.  I only used the bag for the last couple of weeks, so I cannot attest to its durability first-hand.  But I did some research and I found that many Naneu owners (not necessarily owners of the Echo-X) find their products to be durable.  In general, I feel pretty good about the brand, and based on my first hand experience, I’d be comfortable recommending any of their products.

I suspect that the Echo-X appeals to a certain type of individual:  Someone who likes organization, someone who shoots a wide range of styles and needs to carry an array of lenses and gear (maybe even an additional body), but doesn’t want to carry one of those massive backpacks.  If that person is you, the Echo-X is a bag you should check out.

I will admit that this bag is a bit too much for my needs.  It’s rare that I carry both camera bodies.  It’s even more rare that I carry all of my lenses (really, who needs both 50mm lenses).  But I would consider this bag if I traveled more often where I might want to have both bodies on the trip, if not at every moment.  I also tend to wear a lot of hats, and I personally prefer to have a bag where I can fit some items from my day job – such as my 8.5″x11″ notebook and a plan or two.  But again, these are preferences of my own.

As of this writing, the Echo-X is not available from our most trusted retailers.  But if you are interested, the Echo-X is available directly from Naneu’s website (naneubags.com) for about $143 (USD).

Things We Liked

• Hinged section design for easy camera/gear loading from the top.
• Rubber feet to protect the bag.
• Side Entry – camera is accessible without removing bag.
• Camera accessible from side and top entry.
• Fully covered velcro dividers – makes for countless configuration options.
• Pockets – pockets are everywhere, and they allow you to organize everything.
• Main camera compartment is a bright orange – easier to find small things.
• Really nice tow strap.

Things We Didn’t Like

• Location of clasp on sling strap – I accidentally grabbed it and nearly lost the bag more than a few times.
• Camera shelf spacer seems more of an after thought.
• Zippers on the front pocket sometimes confused with zippers of the main pocket (minor issue)
• The bag doesn’t lay square on the back (a very minor issue)

"Float Away" by D. Travis North

Your growth as a photographer – as an artist – will benefit from balance.  Balance of time, balance of your skills and most importantly, balance of your spirit.  In order to grow effectively, you need to remain centered.  Centered means that you are staying in the moment; focusing on a small envelope of time immediately surrounding “the now”.  If you focus too deep into the past, you’ll feel resentment or regret for things that you cannot change.  Focus too far into the future and you’ll experience anxiety and apprehension about where you are headed.  Either feeling will stunt your growth as an artist, and your photography will suffer.

Staying centered is important.  I expect that most people realize that.  Where I think many people have trouble is figuring out how to stay centered.    In practice, you probably know how to center yourself fairly well on a typical day.  Life as a teenager will teach you that.  But there will be atypical days.  Some days, frustration will build up and free time will be a limited resource.  It will be difficult to get centered on such days.  It’s these days where you will perhaps need a little guidance.

• The prominent three – The past is for memories, the future is for hope – but now is for now is all that directly impacts your current actions.  How do you know when now is?  (It’s a viable question).  Use the rule of prominent threes:  The prominent three includes today, yesterday and tomorrow.  Do not dwell on anything beyond the prominent three.
• Eat and drink healthy – Food has more impact on your mental state than you’d think.  If you find that you’re having difficulty focusing on the now, consider your diet.  Are you getting enough water?  Are you getting all the nutrients your body needs?  Are you eating too much junk food?  Eat healthy, think and focus better.
• Get sleep – I’ll admit that this is my weak point.  Sleep is so inconvenient.  But it’s essential for your brain to work properly.  So make sure you’re getting enough sleep.
• Meditation – The benefits of meditation is misunderstood by many, and many do not realize its potential.  A few times a day, it might be good to meditate – to clear your mind and think of nothing of consequence.  You can read all about meditation techniques, but try this simple technique:  Sit in a comfortable chair or lay down on a bed or couch – your head must be supported.  Remove your glasses if you wear them.  Rub your hands together long enough to warm your hands and cover your eye sockets with your palms so that no light gets through.  Don’t close your eyes, just stare into the darkness.  Vacate your mind – or think about something unimportant like seconds ticking by or objects that are of a specific color.
• Baby Steps – Goals are not unimportant, and you should have an overall goal for everything that you do.  But the finish line is not of immediate concern.  Instead, these goals should be broken up into smaller chunks so that you can focus only on the most immediate chuck.
• Walk Away – Frustrating moments can quickly spiral out of control.  A bad meeting, a fight with a loved one or a major mistake will throw your day off kilter.  It’s times like this where you need to get away – take a break, take a walk, play a game…do whatever you can to get away from the moment.  This may sound counter-intuitive, especially if you’re on a deadline, but a five minute break will ensure the following chunk of time is more productive.
• Visit Fond Memories – Memories are important, they help us to realize what we have accomplished.  From time to time, it won’t hurt to go back and look at your accomplishments with pride.  Remember how you felt when you sold your first photograph.  Remember the feeling of hanging your own work in your home.  But don’t dwell on these moments – you don’t want to build up resentment or regret.  We simply want to remind ourselves why we are doing what we’re doing.

Realize that you will not be able to stay center every day and every moment.  But don’t let that bother you.  This is where the rule of the prominent three is handy:  If yesterday was bad, today can be better and tomorrow, it’s no longer a factor.  In other words, today is your opportunity to recenter yourself.

So what does all this have to do with your photography?  Prepare for a common theme here at Shutter Photo:  Controlling the left brain.  Your left brain is constantly trying to mess everything up with logic – compartmentalizing your life and organizing it by quantitative factors such as time.  If you get too off centered, your right brain (the creative hemisphere) can’t cope and the left brain takes over.  Being centered gives you the most creative freedom as it permits your right brain to function effectively – free of influence.

"Awakening" by Brian Day

Light is incredibly powerful, and it can be manipulated in a number of ways to create an emotion.  Brian Day reminds us of that fact with his photo, Awakening.  The photo, shown here, appears to be naturally lit with morning or evening sun – despite the photo’s title, it really could be either.  But the power behind the photo are the shadows carved out of the light.  Personally, I love how the majority of the shot is in shadow.  It allows us to see some of the finer details we would miss without such harsh side-lighting, such as the highlights on the edge of the banister or the defined shape of the baseboard molding.  I also like the suggested context.  The window is not truly in the shot, though it is clearly implied by the shadows cast by the window frame.

Let’s back out for a minute and look at the simple composition.  You will note that the darkest portion of the photo is at the bottom of the frame.  There is enough light and detail to imply the bottom two steps and the banister itself, but not enough to throw the composition out of balance.  I would consider the brighter area of this photograph to be the “weight” in the shot.  And the center of the weighted area is roughly a third from the top of the page.  I don’t think that was by accident.  The crop is not an accident either.  One might have easily cropped this down to a 4×5 ratio, but the critical mass of darkness at the bottom of the frame would not anchor the photo.

I feel that Awakening is very playful with the light.  The balance of the light and dark areas creates a creepy feeling.  I love creepy.  The title throws a different perspective:  What, exactly, is awakening?  Maybe I’ve watched too many horror movies.  But regardless of that fact, this shot is incredibly inspiring.  I hope you all have learned something from Brian’s work.

Brian actually has two photo streams on Flickr, so be sure to check them both out:  b.plus and b.plus’ (the latter being the newest stream)

In his book , Understanding Close-Up Photography, Bryan Peterson briefly discusses how he “collects” photos of the letters of the alphabet.  In his collection, he now has several full alphabets of letters.  Letters of interesting colors, textures or lighting.  It’s a challenge to isolate letters in a single photograph, but I would assume that’s part of the fun for Peterson.  Well, Mr. Peterson is certainly to be commended for introducing me to one of the most inspiring practices I have uncovered to date:  Side projects.

The subjects that interest me primarily are architecture, space and the details of either.  At the time I picked up Peterson’s book, I was reaching a stagnant point in my photography.  I was running out of ideas on how to shoot unimpressive suburban structures (I don’t get into the city often enough).  But Peterson’s little game with letters gave me an idea:  Cornerstones.  I live just outside possibly one of the most historical cities in the United States.  There are hundreds of buildings that have been here for decades.  Some are even hundreds of years old.  Many of them have corner stones – its as good as any other subject to shoot.  So I started collecting photographs of cornerstones.  That has evolved into fire marks as well – markings on buildings (typically on or near the chimney) indicating which fire company the homeowner paid his dues to (the fire companies weren’t always public servants – they were businesses).

Most of these photos will never get shared with the public.  Many of them are uninteresting except when grouped with all of their collected brethren.  But photographing cornerstones and fire marks are challenging.  Some are near the ground in uninteresting places, but many are near the top of the chimney, making for difficult shooting angles.  I have but one rule:  The date must be legible.  To accomplish this, I have developed some interesting techniques as a result.    Techniques that I may not have discovered if I hadn’t been trying to photograph cornerstones.

If the alphabet and cornerstones are not your thing, there are a number of other things you could photographically collect:   Interesting doors, flowers, computer parts, mailboxes.  There are thousands of possibilities, and you may find one that works well for you.

Detachable Lanyard on the Luma Loop (photo courtesy Luma Labs)

Like a few other manufacturers who have realized that the traditional camera strap isn’t perfect for everyone, Luma Labs developed their own spin on the Camera Sling camera strap:  The Luma Loop.  A sling-type camera strap is designed to hang on one shoulder, across your chest so that it keeps the camera at your side.  Now the Luma Loop isn’t the first sling strap that we’ve seen (we’ve even reviewed other iterations here).  But the Luma Loop has a few unique features that may make it appealing to consumers.  For the purpose of our review, Luma Labs was kind enough to provide a Luma Loop for our review.  In addition, they provided an additional detachable lanyard for convenience and a PodMount – essentially a bolt that screws into the tripod mount of your camera.  Before I carry on with my review, I’d like to share a video prepared by Luma Labs.  It’s a brief introduction into the features of the Luma Loop – and, quite frankly, does a better job than I could describe with still shots and words:

Using the Luma Loop

For the past few weeks, I’ve been using the Luma Loop exclusively with my primary camera, a consumer grade Digital SLR.  I used it on my lunch-break excursions, and I was able to use it on a half-day trip into the city.  As you can see from the video, you have a number of fastening options.  You can fasten it to any of the strap points your camera has.  You can also fasten it to your tripod mount using a PodMount (not shown in the video), which is essentially a sturdy bolt that screws into the tripod mount.  For the first few days, I used the PodMount and fastened the strap to the bottom of my camera.  Personally, I was not very comfortable with this type of mounting.  I use my tripod a lot, and this method seemed to get in the way.  Of all the mounting options, this does allow the camera to hang in the most comfortable position.  For some of you, this might be favorable.  But for me, with my tripod usage, it was not ideal for me.  I preferred to mount the lanyard to one of the strap mounts on my camera.  At first, I tried it on the grip-side of my camera.  The camera hung well at my side, easy to grab for a shot.  But the mounting point made it difficult to flip the camera to frame up a vertical shot with the grip at the top, the lanyard was being dragged across the camera.  The mounting option I eventually settled into and favored was to mount the loop opposite the grip.  It wasn’t as convenient to grab the camera, but it was certainly better for the many times I like to shoot vertical.  It certainly comes down to preferences, and the unique fabric loop lanyard makes it easy to mount to your camera in a number of ways.

One of the things I liked most about the Luma Loop was it’s relative lightweight design.  The strap is certainly sturdy – it was load tested for about 250 pounds on the strap and on the loop (there is an additional video showing the tests).  But the strap and the shoulder pad are flexible and lightweight.  The shoulder pad itself is made of leather – real leather – with padding underneath made of neoprene.  The nylon strap fastens to either end of the shoulder pad.  In front, there is a quick release clip to aid in getting in and out of the strap.  This is a welcome feature on the days I was wearing a coat.  It was easier to clip it on rather than putting on over my head.  Additionally, there is a quick release clip between the loop and the camera lanyard.  The lanyard quick-release is a nice feature as well.  It allowed me to easily set up my camera on the tripod without ever removing the Luma Loop.  It would also be useful if you had more than one camera, you could quickly and easily switch between cameras (each with their own lanyard).  I do question the feasibility of the quick release clips.  If you were to accidentally grab the clip, you could potentially drop your camera to the ground – something that no photographer wants.  Though I never had such problems with the Luma Loop, I have a backpack that has a similar clip and I have many times accidentally disconnected the clip.  I would like to see an additional safety measure put into the quick release clip.  For example, many child seats use similar clips except that there is an additional button – three in all – that needs to be pressed in order to release the other two buttons.  This would be a welcome feature.

As is the case with this type of strap, the adjustment method is usually on the back of the strap because the loop has to slide up and down the front.  With the adjustment buckle in the back, it made adjustment a little difficult to do while wearing the strap.  I’m not sure there is a viable solution, however.  Some systems have chosen to move the adjustment system into the shoulder pad, but then you lose the lightweight quality of the system.  I prefer lightweight, so this minor nuisance is one I can live with.  One thing to note is that the Luma Loop’s adjustment system works like a block and tackle.  The strap loops back on itself twice so that between the shoulder pad and the adjustment buckle, the strap is tripled up.  I was curious, so I inqured.  The purpose of this is so that the Luma Loop can truly be one-size fits all.

The sliding mechanism on the Luma Loop is actually the quick release clip for the lanyard.  There’s a slot in the back of the clip that the strap fits through.  For structural reasons, the clip has a fairly wide girth – not too wide, but wide enough to hinder the movement of the lanyard up and down the strap.  On occasion, I found the clip getting caught up on the strap.  It wasn’t hanging up enough to significantly slow my ability to get the camera to my eye.  But it was enough to be annoying.

Final Thoughts

I really grew to appreciate the Luma Loop in my daily use.  The sling type camera strap concept may not be ideal for everyone.  But if you like the concept, the Luma Loop may be a viable option for you.  The lightweight design and the multiple fastening options are appealing.  It’s shortcomings are few and easy to overlook.  In fact, our only serious concern is the safety of the quick-release system.  I’ll admit some paranoia, but there are ways to make the quick release a little more secure and a little less accident prone.

Because of it’s lightweight design, we feel that the Luma Loop is ideal for hobbyists.  It’s versatile enough to be used for nearly any type of photography.  Mounted on the strap loops, it doesn’t impede the use of a tripod.  And the lanyard system allows you to use the same strap for more than one camera (additional lanyards can be purchased).  But in the end, it all comes down to preference.  The sling type system isn’t for everyone, but if such a system is appealing, the Luma Loop is a contender.

At this time, the Luma Loop is not available at any of our favorite sources.  However, you can order the Luma Loop online at Luma Lab’s website.  As of this writing, the Luma Loop itself sells for about $60.  The Pod Mount costs an additional $10 and extra lanyards are available for $10 each.  Visit the Luma Labs Website for further information and purchasing.

Things We Liked

• Lightweight compared to other sling systems
• Lanyard System – the ability to fasten to any carrying point on the camera
• Quick Release system for shoulder strap and for lanyard
• One size truly fits all

Things We Didn’t Like

• Sliding mechanism was as smooth as we’d like
• Quick Releases should have an additional button or mechanism to prevent accidental releases

"Rail Tunnel" by D. Travis North

I have a confession to make.  I sometimes worry about what other people – people I don’t even know – think about my actions.  If I had to pinpoint the biggest stumbling block I had to overcome as a photographer, it would be learning to not care about what others thought.

In recent years, I am finally able to say that most of the time, I can put these thoughts aside and focus on composing a great shot.  I still hesitate sometimes – but I inevitably overcome my fears.  For all the shots I missed, I had to get over them.  Every great shot resulting from an embarrassing moment has made this much easier.  At this point, I can truthfully say that I have essentially kicked this thing.  And it’s a good thing too – for the type of photography that I love to shoot, I’m in the public a lot.  I am around people all the time.  With the type of photography that I do, I would have had to overcome that fear in order to become a good photographer.

I will share with you two true stories…

A Story of Failure

Several years ago, I was witness to a potentially incredible photo – a small family of cats trying to cross Market Street in Philadelphia during rush hour.  For those of you not familiar with Philadelphia, Market Street is one of the main streets – it leads right up to City Hall – and it’s incredibly busy.  I of course snapped some shots, but the angle was all wrong, and the shots turned out poorly.  What I should have done was lay on the ground and shoot through the traffic – get down to the cats’ eye level and really capture the emotion, the danger and the panic in the cats’ eyes.  I seriously considered it at the time.  But all that went through my head was that we’re in the middle of the city, a very busy part of town, I’m going to look like a goofball.  I’m going to look nuts.  I didn’t lay down.  I didn’t capture the cats the right way.  And I didn’t get the shot that I wanted.  That would have been a portfolio shot – I might have even been able to sell a few prints.  But I missed the opportunity because I was so concerned about what other people would think.  All of the shots I did get went to the trash – they weren’t worth anything.  And for the record, the cats made it across the street safely.

A Story of Victory

Fast forward to more current times.  I have (for the most part) gotten over that fear.  I have disciplined myself to care less about those around me.  And as such, I’ve been able to make some great photo discoveries.  Take the shot shown here, “Rail Tunnel”, for example.  Though it may not look as such, this is a fairly busy train station.  This tunnel extends underground below the train tracks.  It is incredibly narrow and uncomfortable.  Train riders are constantly moving through this tunnel and it can get crowded.  I had to wait for several minutes for the tunnel to clear out before taking some preliminary shots (not this one).  I would set up for a shot, and then I’d have to get out of the way of travelers.  I tried several angles, but none were as pleasing.  Then I had the idea to capture the tunnel from this angle, very close to the arch of the ceiling.  I’m not that tall, I had to stand on a crate to do it.  I had to borrow the crate from the cafe upstairs and then I had to set it up in the tunnel, and you wouldn’t believe the looks I was getting.  First of all, I had to build up the courage to borrow the crate.  Imagine asking someone to borrow a box to stand on so that you can take a photograph.  The nice young man let me borrow it…but he hesitated.  I wonder about what thoughts went through his head.  I felt as though he were trying to figure out what my real goal was.  Was I telling the truth?  Or did I have an ulterior motive?  Maybe I had something up my sleeve, or maybe it was a conspiracy to hurt him in some way.  Perhaps I was I setting up to rob the store?  But he gave it to me, in the end.  Then I set up the crate, and a traveler asked me if I was selling anything.  Another traveler asked me about my camera and tried to strike up a conversation.  Believe it or not, he wanted to discuss Canon vs. Nikon (I use Nikon), which as you know is not something I care to feed into.  Then I stand on the crate just as another traveler entered the tunnel and tried to rush through to get out of the shot – all while I’m standing there looking like a nut.  A man following behind her made a few jokes about the “weather up there” and then made comments about the train tracks making for a more interesting photo.  These are all things that made me uncomfortable.  Several years ago, it might have been enough for me to rush a shot – or maybe not even attempt it at all.  But I bear the pressures now.

Be Prepared to Look Silly

So the bottom line is this:  You may look goofy at times.  You may get some funny looks.  But the one thing I’ve learned in my own experience is that those goofy looks rarely amount to anything.  Sure, I’ve had someone point me out to a police officer before, and I was asked some questions.  But that didn’t amount to anything either.  So go out, look silly…and make some great pictures.  A few great pictures later, and you’ll be able to overcome…just like I did.

Our friend, Ari (who you may know as CuriousIllusion) just got a new Camera bag:  a ‘Lola’ by Epiphanie.  For those interested, she posted a review of the bag on her site.  Normally, we don’t link to reviews on other people’s websites, but this bag is unique and deserves some attention.  The thing looks like a purse and it can carry a small D/SLR.  No one would ever think that it’s a camera bag.  Seeing something like that, we knew it would be interested for our readers.  So we had to share it.  To read the full review, pop on over the her site and read the article:  New Camera Bag:  Lola by Epiphanie.

Everything included in the package

The purpose of White Balancing is to find the most accurate color rendition in your photos.  Digital sensors are especially sensitive to the different types of light sources that you may be shooting under (sunlight, fluorescent, incandescent and so on).  A good photographer should not only be aware of color rendering issues related to white balance, but they should have a plan or a process in place to correct the problem.  Cameras will have an auto-white balancing mode which are, for the most part, pretty good.  But they are far from perfect, especially under unnatural light sources.  For the purpose of metering, your camera sees in shades of gray, and sometimes the cast of a light source can throw off such balancing.

The ExpoDisc is one of the many tools designed to help correct the problem in the camera.  The people at ExpoImaging, Inc. were kind enough to loan me an ExpoDisc Neutral to evaluate and review for Shutter Photo.  A Portrait version is also available which adds a bit more warmth to your photos.  The package I received is exactly like the retail package and includes everything you see in the photo above.   Contents included the ExpoDisc, a carrying pouch, a lanyard (with quick-release), a quick-start guide, an instructional CD and an evaluation/inspection card (verification that the ExpoDisc was tested and meets their strict guidelines).  Though I’m sure you will want to read everything I have to say, let me cut to the chase and start off by saying that I am sorry to have to send it back.  It has already been added to my wish list.  But it is not perfect and it is not a device for every application.

The Importance of Getting it Right In-Camera

Before I launch into the review of the product, I want to start off by briefly discussing why getting the White Balance correct in the camera is so important.  I have been witness to many a conversation about whether such a tool is necessary if you’re shooing in RAW – the opposition arguing that you can balance as part of your workflow.  While this may indeed be the case, it’s time and effort wasted when a tool, such as the ExpoDisc, would save you a great deal of time on large sets.  Those of you who shoot in JPEG would have the most interest in White Balancing, because a compressed JPEG may not contain enough information to get back to an accurate white balance.  And even if you want warmer or cooler photos, you need to start somewhere, and starting with an accurate white balance is ideal.  Whether you make money from your photos or not, there are certainly better uses for your time.

Using the ExpoDisc

The ExpoDisc works like a lens filter in the way that it fits on the end of your lens (or your filter stack).  Unlike a typical filter, it does not screw onto the lens.  It has three spring-loaded ball bearings around the lip so that it can easily snap onto and hold firmly on the lens while you take your measurement.  When I requested the ExpoDisc for review, I was informed that the size should correspond to the filter size of your lens for best results.  I requested one to fit my largest lens.  Ignorantly, I assumed that it would be fine to just just hold the larger ExpoDisc in place while taking readings with my smaller lenses.  But this turned out to be a lot more cumbersome than I expected.  Not because of the ExpoDisc’s design, mind you.  Rather my camera requires me to hold a button with my left hand to put it in metering mode, then I need to take the reading with the shutter button (right hand).  In theory, I could set it in mode before holding the disc in place, but it is still a bit more juggling than would be necessary.  Though the lanyard certainly helped, this was not easy to do while holding it with my smaller lenses.  With my larger lens – the one the ExpoDisc was fitted for – this was not a concern at all because it just snaps into place and stays there until you’re done metering.  So I certainly appreciate that bit of advice, and I would offer the same:  If you choose to use an ExpoDisc, get one that fits your lens.

Taking a reading with the ExpoDisc was quite easy.  Though the process may vary between camera manufacturers, I essentially snapped the ExpoDisc onto the end of my lens, switched to “Pre-set” white balance, pressed and held the white balance button indicating that I was going to take a reading, and took the reading.  About 90% of the time, the reading was accurate, and my test photo yielded results I was happy with.  For the other 10% of the time, I had to take a new reading while aiming the camera differently.  For example, when I was taking a reading outside with snow, I found it more effective to meter from the sky.

The Results

In my experience, the ExpoDisc worked best under natural light.  To be fair, my camera’s auto white balancing also works best under natural light.  I experimented with the ExpoDisc for street photography, and I experimented with it in rural, urban and suburban environments.  I tried it on sunny days, on cloudy days – I even tried it once in the rain.  In all cases, the results were predictable:  The ExpoDisc performed well – but only slightly better than the auto white balancing.  But my eyes were opened after a snow storm that piled close to 30″ on our front yard.  Under cloudy skies with white lawns and salty pavements, I took this set of photos of my front walk.  Please note that I did not make any adjustments to either image.  The auto white balancing was clearly thrown – everything yielded a bluish cast.  The brick of my house appeared purple with drab grout.  The pavement was unnatural and the snow – well, you can tell it’s snow, but frosty would look sickly.  So I snapped on the ExpoDisc and pre-set my white balance.  The results of my photos from that point on were mind blowing.  As you can see, the pavement looks like concrete, the brick is brick colored, and the snow looks white.  Snow is incredibly difficult for the mechanical eye to to get right.  Your camera wants to believe that snow is gray, so the built-in meter almost always gets it wrong.  Experienced photographers now how to expose and meter for snow.  But without some white balancing solution, your camera is not going to get it right.  Gray cards are one thing, it’s an object in a scene that you meter from.  But where I was skeptical of the ExpoDisc was in a situation just like this – I was not expecting a snap on filter to be able to accurately meter a snowy scene.  But it worked well, and the snow storm – if nothing else – would have sold me on the ExpoDisc.

Artificial lighting is always tricky.  Fluorescent and Compact Fluorescent lighting is cool and causes a bluish cast in your photos.  Incandescent lights – especially soft lights and warm lights – will cause a yellow or even orange color cast.  The other problem with artificial light is that it dissipates very quickly – its influence on a scene can change within a couple of feet.  It’s very difficult to balance under artificial lighting, which is why studio lighting is such an important (and expensive) aspect of a portrait photographer’s trade.  Hobbyists rarely have such luxuries, however.  Rarely have I seen a white balancing solution that works perfectly.  I’m sorry to say that the ExpoDisc is not an exception.  Like many other solutions before it, the ExpoDisc was inconsistent under incandescent lighting.  Most of the time it worked, but sometimes, it did not.  One lamp in particular was cause for some problems – a 150 Watt 3-way incandescent bulb.  In the illustration at right, I have provided three photos.  The top was taken with the camera’s automatic white balance, the bottom with the preset form the ExpoDisc.  The center shot was manually adjusted to more closely match the actual color profile.  As you can see, the camera’s automatic sensor overcompensated and made the shot too warm.  The use of the ExpoDisc resulted in a bluer cast, which is odd considering the source casts a very warm.  In this case, I would say that the ExpoDisc yields no clear advantage.  No matter how you spin it, the majority of photos with incandescent lighting will need to be verified in post-processing.  The only possible advantage is that the ExpoDisc provides is to get you closer to the actual white point as a starting point for your corrective measures. It is, in my opinion, much easier to warm up a photo than to make it cooler without loseing fidelity.  The ExpoDisc got me to a manageable white balance.  But it is certainly not the perfect solution for such conditions.

Update (Feb 22, 2010): After conducting a series of additional tests, we discovered that if we removed the lamp shade, the resulting image while using the ExpoDisc for balance was not nearly as blue.  There was still a slight bluish cast, but the resulting image was fairly close to actual colors – much closer than the example above.  We would still consider incandescent light a difficulty of the ExpoDisc system, however, as there would not be an easy way to check – for certain – the accuracy of the color profile before continued shooting.  On the other hand, a good photographer already knows not to trust shots under incandescent light, and likely has a back-up plan in place for such photos.

To be completely fair, the ExpoDisc performed incredibly well under fluorescent and mixed (fluorescent and incandescent) light.  The photo at the top of the page showing off the contents of the package was taken under mixed lighting:  Compact Fluorescent, standard fluorescent tubes and an incandescent lamp.  The ExpoDisc worked perfectly in this case.

Final Thoughts

I was skeptical at first, but a few weeks spent with the ExpoDisc quickly changed my mind.  I’m a believer now.  I had expected the color correction to be inaccurate much more often.  In fact, the only time I experienced any sort of incorrect white balancing was under a 150 Watt warm incandescent light bulb – but it was still fairly close, significantly closer than the automatic white balancing, and still much closer than the incandescent setting on my camera.  The snap-on feature is a nice touch.  When I was advised to select a filter that would fit my lens, my first misconception was that I would have to screw it onto my lens to take a reading – an annoyance I did not want several time throughout a photo walk.  I was happily surprised with the ExpoDisc arrived and I did not have to worry about that.  The pouch and lanyard were also nice touches.  I fastened the lanyard to my camera bag so that it was in easy access, and it was protected from clumsy fingers dropping it to the ground.  It’s also a good length to hang around your neck.

For those of you shooting under the controlled environment of a studio – this may be easier, but it may not be ideal for your fine-tuning minds.  Studio photographers may still favor the over-sized (not as easy to carry) gray cards for their white balancing needs.  But for the rest of you, the ExpoDisc is a fine tool to carry with you.  It’s small, it’s accurate and convenient.  It will also save you time in post processing – and who wouldn’t want that.  I find the ExpoDisc to be more accurate and certainly more easy to use than pocket-sized gray cards in the field.  Anyone who’s tried to shoot in the city will certainly appreciate not having to place a card just right in order to meter for white balance.

As I mentioned earlier, the ExpoDisc comes in two varieties:  ExpoDisc Neutral, which I tried, and the ExpoDisc Portrait, which yields a warmer cast.  Though I did not test the Portrait, it is my opinion that the Portrait iteration is a bit too specialized.  As combined with a preset in your favorite photo editing software, your photos could easily be warmed up routinely since the starting image is corrected.  So I’m not so sure the Portrait version is worthwhile.

To be blunt – I will be purchasing one of my own as soon as my budget allows.  The cost is about $70-$105 (USD) depending on the size of the filter you need.  Without trying one out for myself, I would have said that was too expensive.  But after using one, I’d say it’s a fair cost.  It certainly saves a ton of time and frustration.  So yes, this is on my wish list, and I expect to have one of my own before too long.

If you are interested in the ExpoDisc, it is available at Amazon and at BH Photo. Just make sure to select a size that best fits your lens.

Things We Liked

• Accurate under most lighting applications.
• Easy to use with your camera
• Small – fits in your pocket easily.
• Snaps onto the lens easily without the need to screw it into place.
• Easy carrying options – lanyard and carrying pouch, quick access while in the field.

Things We Didn’t Like

• Not perfect under all light sources, such as some incandescent light

http://www.expoimaging.com/product-overview.php?cat_id=1&keywords=ExpoDisc

As we will be publishing some more product reviews in the next few weeks, I thought that this would be a good time to share with you a quick thought about Ratings.  Our philosophy has changed a little over the past two years.  Our audience and readership comes from a vast range of experience and photography disciplines.  As such we felt that star ratings do not provide enough clarity for such a wide range of photographers.  As always, we will specifically note what we liked, what we didn’t like and our overall feel for the product.  We will also be noting who we think a product is most appropriate for and why.  We expect that you’ll take our reviews with a grain of salt and use our thoughts to form an opinion of your own.  So moving forward, you will no longer see star ratings associated with our product reviews.  (Side note, we have never provided star ratings for subjective reviews of the photographic works of others – this fact played into our decision.

If you are using a Digital SLR camera (or even some of the higher end range finder cameras like the Olympus Pen or a Leica), you should know your camera’s crop factor.  If you do not even know what a crop factor is, this may be a bit of a rude awakening.

A crop factor is simply a comparison of your camera’s image sensor to standard 35mm film.  Unless you’re using a full-frame camera (and even some full frame cameras have a slight crop factor), your camera’s sensor is likely smaller than 35mm.  In order to make things work on the technical side, many of your lenses may be specially marked for digital sensors.  Here are some of the typical designations:

• Canon: ‘EF-S’
• Nikon:  ‘DX’
• Sigma:  ‘DC’
• Tamron:  ‘Di-II’
• Sony:  ‘DT’

These lenses will refract the light a special way to cast a smaller image circle onto the smaller sensor.  In theory, these lenses are optimized for the smaller sensor.  Regardless of what lens you’re using, the crop factor directly impacts its apparent focal length.  The focal length of a lens is listed based on it’s 35mm equivalent.  But on a sensor with a crop factor, it may actually increase the apparent focal length.  To figure out the effective focal length, you simply use this formula:

[focal length of lens] x [crop factor] = [adjusted focal length]

For example, my camera – a Nikon D80 – has a crop factor of 1.5.  If I’m using a 50mm lens, taking the crop factor into account – the effective focal length is 75mm (50mm x 1.5 = 75mm).  Warning, not all cameras are the same, and not all cameras of the same brand will have the same crop factor.  Most Nikons (except full frame cameras) have a crop factor of 1.5.  Some of Canon’s cameras, like the 40D or the 50D, use a 1.6 crop factor while others, like the 1D Mark III, have a crop factor of 1.3.  You will need to check your camera manual, or the manufacturers website to be sure.

A crop factor is not necessarily a bad thing.  Many professional sports photographers and wildlife photographers like using the smaller D-SLR cameras simply to take advantage of the crop factor – to get a little extra focal distance out of their lenses.  Just think, your 200mm lens would function as a 300mm on a Nikon camera body.  There may be a slight loss in image quality, but often not noticeable to the untrained eye.  As these lenses are expensive, it should save a lot of money.  But many photographers working up close may like full framed cameras for the finer detail and to get the shorter focal lengths.  A 10mm focal length is nearly impossible with a camera containing a cropped sensor.  If you plan on upgrading to a full-framed camera in the future, you need to be careful as your optimized lenses (the DX, EF-S and so on) most likely will not work on the larger sensors.

In the end, the biggest take-away of this article is that you really should know your crop factor.  As a photographer, you need to know that when you’re using your 50mm lens, it functions as a 75mm lens, or that your 35mm could function as a 56mm lens.  Knowing that fact makes comparing photos and your learning much easier.

We are pleased to announce our first giveaway here at Shutter Photo.  Last week, we reviewed the Sun Sniper Alternative Camera Strap, and now we’re willing to share it with one lucky winner (US Residents only).  If you would like to read more about the Sun Sniper – please feel free to read our review or visit the official Sun Sniper Website.

How to Enter: All you have to do is post a reply to this post on the website (e-mail subscribers, you’ll have to visit the website, e-mail replies won’t be counted) and say that you’re interested.  That’s it.  Please make sure that your contact information (e-mail address – not shared publicly) is accurate.  We will need to get in touch with you via e-mail.  Please do not include personal information in your reply.

Bonus Entry: If you use twitter, you can earn an extra entry by following @shutter_photo and tweeting the following (verbatim):

Sun Sniper Camera Strap Giveaway (US only) -  Enter at @shutter_photo magazine: http://tinyurl.com/spgive-01 #spgive_01

Drawing / Announcement:

On March 10th, we will randomly select a winner from the valid entries and make a formal announcement here on Shutter Photo.  We will contact the lucky winner via e-mail (again, make sure your e-mail is valid) to confirm shipping address.  Shipping costs will be covered by Shutter Photo, the winner shall not be responsible for any costs.

Rules:

1. This giveaway is available only to United States residents only.  We apologize to our foreign readers, and we hope to be able to include you in the future.
2. A maximum of two entries are possible per person:  one entry for replying to this post, one entry for tweeting the message above.  Additional tweets and additional replies to this message will not incur additional entries.
3. If tweeting, please only tweet the message once.  We do not want to annoy your followers.  Please note that if you are not following @shutter_photo at the time of the drawing (March 10), your tweet will not count.
4. If we are unable to contact the winner via e-mail after 7 days, we will be forced to select another winner at random.
5. The strap offered as part of this giveaway was used for our review for a period of about 7 days.  The strap is otherwise in mint condition and has not be altered in any way.

Special Thanks: We’d like to thank the Bron Imaging Group, the distributors of the Sun Sniper and the wonderful group that provided us the Sun Sniper for review and of course for this giveaway.

Finally, we’d like to thank you all, our wonderful reader base, for following us these past two years and helping us to get where we are today.  If you’re new to Shutter Photo, I encourage you to take a look around, read a few articles or participate in our Shutter Photo @ Flickr Group.

"Bright Sides" (Self Portrait) by D. Travis North

Red eye – the demon eye effect – is the bane of candid portraits everywhere.  You see it in party photos, off-the-cuff candids and unplanned portrait attempts.  You’ll notice that red eye is not present on professional studio portraits.  Why?  Because they’re using proper lighting equipment:  soft boxes, umbrella reflectors, and a bunch of other equipment you may not have heard of.  I won’t get into all that, because that’s not for common folk.  But I will tell you how to eliminate it in ways that won’t hurt your wallet or your arms (some of that stuff is heavy).

What Causes Red Eye?

Before I go on, it’s only fair to discuss what causes red eye.  In short, it is the light that is reflected off of the retina – the curved surface at the back of your eye.  The retina is filled with blood vessels, thus the cause of the red color.  The effect is most common when you are photographing someone with a flash that is mounted very close to the lens.  This is especially going to be noticeable with pocket cameras, but is also common with consumer level SLRs with on-camera flashes.  Red eye is also common when shooting portraits in low light – the eye’s iris opens wide to allow a person to see more light, and there is a much larger area for the light to enter the eye, and in turn exit the eye on rebound.  This can all get very technical, but the technicalities aren’t going to make it any easier to understand, nor will it help you correct the problem.  The important thing to note is that if you have a camera-mounted flash, you have the potential for red eye in your portraits.

Correcting the Problem

If you must use a flash, there are two essential ways to control red eye:  Reduce the pupil or control the light.  I will discuss each separately as each has its own set of benefits and problems.

Reducing the pupil is easier than it sounds.  All you have to do is increase the amount of light long enough before the shutter snaps open so that iris will naturally contract yielding smaller pupils.  You can do this by increasing the amount of ambient light – no on-camera flash portraits in dark rooms.  The additional light will not only decrease the pupil size, but it should provide additional light for your exposure.  If you cannot increase the ambient light, you could trick the eye.  You can trick the eye by shining a flashlight in the subjects eye a few seconds before snapping the photo, or even by using your red-eye reduction flash.  The latter simply pulses a flash one or more times before actually taking the shot so that the subject’s pupils contract.  The idea is that by the time the eye reflexively tries to adjust, you will have already snapped the picture.  There are four very important caveats about red-eye reduction flashes.  First, people have a tendency to blink when the first flash is fired.  Especially with groups, you’ll be hard pressed to find a shot without some closed eyes.  Second, sequence of flashes will slow your shooting rate.  This may or may not be a problem, depending upon conditions, your preference and the environment.  Third, people may not expect the extra flashes and may begin to move out of their pose after the first flash.  As always, you should communicate such aspects with your subject.  And finally, the psychological consideration:  Small pupils are perceived as unwelcoming, so this may not be desirable depending on your intent.  If you want a welcoming shot, you’ll want wide-open pupils.

Light control is the best and most desirable method of avoiding red eye.  The name of the game is big angles – the angle created between the lens, the eye and the light source.  The wider this angle, the less likely you will see the red eye effect.  hot-shoe flashes are a start.  This adds some distance between your lens and the flash, but it’s not always enough.  If you bounce the light source off the ceiling or a nearby wall, you’ve maximized the angle and red eye is not going to happen.  You can un-mount the hot-shoe flash and trigger it remotely – either with a remote cord or a triggering mechanism (there are many ways to trigger a camera flash that I won’t get into here).  Alternatively, you can use a diffuser on the flash.  A diffuser splits the light source into several angles – a cloud, if you will.  There will be direct light into the eyes, but not enough to cause problems.  But this is somewhat of a side-effect as the real reason to use a diffuser is for light quality.

If you don’t have an off-camera flash, don’t worry.  There are plenty of ways to compensate.  You can carry a pocket mirror to bounce the light.  In fact, we reviewed a product designed specifically to do just that.  There are also products available to diffuse your on-camera flash.  But you don’t have to spend much money.  I find that wax paper, index cards or parchment work nearly as well.

"Canoe Tree Nine" by D. Travis North

Too often, the snobbery of photography equipment gets in the way of our common goal as photographers:  To create and share great photos.  I’m talking about the equipment debates: Canon vs. Nikon, Prime lenses vs. Zoom lenses, Film vs. Digital, point-and-shoot (pocket cameras) vs. SLR, .  With fear of potentially starting such a debate, I want to say that it’s all nonsense.  It doesn’t matter how you take the photo.  What truly matters is your intent.  Now I’m specifically going to address the point-and-shoot vs. SLR debate.  I am going to say flat out that I would gladly carry around a point-and-shoot camera at all times, many times in lieu of my SLR.

First, a full disclosure.  I do have a point-and-shoot camera, and I have always had one since the digital point-and-shoots became affordable to me.  Currently, my point-and-shoot is at home always so that my wife is able to capture precious moments involving our children throughout the day.  If I had the money, I would purchase an additional point-and-shoot right now, and I would probably carry it more often than my SLR.  But that takes little away from my point, so I will move on.

I’d like to discuss a bad title.  “Point-and-shoot” is a term that doesn’t apply anymore.  This might still apply to the fixed-focus cameras that were popular back in the 80’s (does anyone remember Kodak’s Disk film?)  But modern cameras can do so much more.  You can zoom, you can shoot in different program modes.  Some of the more advanced cameras even allow you to play with aperture settings.  We’re still not talking about SLR cameras.  Yes, these things are possible with your so-called point-and-shoot camera.  So much is possible that I think it’s a bad title filled with misconceptions.  I prefer to refer to them as Pocket Cameras.  That should alleviate all the bad misconceptions and implies none – other than the obvious….a camera that fits in your pocket.  So now that we’ve settled that….

I am certainly not the first to say it, nor do I believe that Chase Jarvis coined the phrase -  though in recent history, he is most recognized as popularizing the phrase:  The Best Camera is the one that’s with you.  Now Jarvis uses it to promote his book and the iPhone application and the community surrounding photos taken with iPhones.  But the philosophy is one that many have taken to heart beyond the world of iPhones.  If you think about it, an iPhone is (among many other things) just a pocket camera.  It’s not the best quality camera, it’s not even the most feature rich camera.  But it’s a camera, and chances are that you’ll have it with you.  The same can be said about any pocket camera.  If it’s easy to carry, you’ll have it with you.  And if you have it with you, you’ll likely use it.  And since you’re using it often, you’ll get accustomed to it and probably take some great pictures, despite its limitations.

So lets dispel another myth:  Image quality.  Image quality isn’t everything.  Sometimes a photo is coveted and appreciated simply for what it is, a unique perspective, a rare moment or an emotion that strikes many of us.  Think deep into the past.  Many of the most recognized photos, especially those in photojournalism, aren’t technically perfect.  Most of the most recognizable archival photos aren’t even great image quality, especially by today’s standards.  But they capture a moment in time, and they help to illustrate the intent.

Wait – I’ll say that again:  Illustrate intent.

Your photo will not amount to much if intent is not implied.  In fact, I think of this as the main prerequisite of a camera:  Can you imply intent with this camera?  Since every single camera ever made can do that, it really doesn’t matter, does it?  No.  Back to image quality.  Some of us make money off of selling poster sized prints of our work.  To you, things like pixel depth matter.  But to the rest of us – the great majority of us – we share the bulk of our works online, not for printing, just for sharing.  Most of you probably reduce the size of your photos to do so – reducing from your 12 megapixel input to an output somewhere closer to 4 or 5 megapixel, if that.  So that stuff doesn’t matter as much as the sales staff at the local camera store (or big box store, God forbid) would like you to believe.  They want you to spend more money because it affects their bottom line.  I have nothing to gain by offering advice, so trust me – pixel depth matters little anymore.

So what does matter?  I have a very short list of things that would matter:

1. Having the camera with you.
2. Having comfort with the camera.
3. Having the ability to convert the images to a sharable medium.

As you can see, this is a very short list.  And there is not a single one of these items that cannot be achieved with your pocket camera.  Some might say shutter-delay (or lack-thereof) is a big item.  This may be so for some types of photography, but if you’re comfortable with the camera (point #2), you’ll be ready to anticipate the delay.  For that matter, you can alleviate the delay by dropping the image quality, or changing the way your flash works.  Spend a little more money (still well below buying a DSLR system), and you can get a faster shutter-delay (not to be confused with shutter speed).

Having the camera with you is the most important point there.  Your SLR is not going to be as easy to lug around.  And you certainly won’t want to pull it out at certain circumstances.  When traveling on business, or in a crowded unknown city, you may not want to lug all that gear around.  You may not want to attract attention of would-be thieves.  Your pocket camera is easier to carry to and from work, for walks around the neighborhood and for trips to the grocery store (I’ve seen some lovely photos taken in grocery stores).  You will draw less attention to yourself with a pocket camera, and you may even get better, more natural candid shots with it as well.  But having your camera with you is the first step to capturing great photos.  And if you’re not comfortable lugging around your bulky $1200 camera, the pocket camera serves a wonderful purpose.

As a photographer who has been shooting for around 16 years with an SLR camera, I have yet to see a reason to get rid of my pocket camera.  In fact, I’m on my fourth one to date.  I have yet to meet a professional photographer that does not also have some sort of side-arm pocket camera.  As hobbyists, you should consider what the professionals do, and consider having a side-arm pocket camera.  If your primary camera is a pocket camera, don’t give it up when you upgrade.  Even if you only capture a few shots per year with that camera, it makes it worth it.  After all, you wouldn’t have that photo if you didn’t at least have your pocket camera ready and waiting in your pocket.

I would, of course, love to hear your thoughts.  Even though I said at the beginning of the article that I was afraid to start a debate, some part of me wants to see that debate unfold.  If you disagree with me, and you think that the pocket cameras don’t have their place, I’d love to hear from you.  Of course, if you are a pocket camera user (be it as your primary or secondary camera), please share your stories as well.

(untitled) by D. Travis North

You pretty much know within the first few minutes of your morning – today is not going to be a photo taking day.  Maybe you woke up with a headache.  Maybe you’re lacking energy.  Maybe your son, who just turned four yesterday, is up early – ready and excited (and hyper) to play with his new toys, as if it were Christmas morning.  Whatever the reason, the motivation just isn’t there.  Your mind is not geared towards creative thinking, and no matter how hard you try, you cannot convince yourself that you’ll make a great shot this day.

Accept it.  It’s a part of life.  It’s a part of being a photographer.

If you’re not obligated to take any shots during the day, don’t force yourself.  But don’t forget about photography either.  On days such as this, I find that it’s still good to stay in touch somehow.  There are plenty of ways I can take advantage of the mood.  Here are just a few options:

• Edit Down - We all have a bunch of shots sitting in our digital in-box – photos that may have been on your hard drive for months, maybe even years.  Since you’re in a poor mood, this may be a good time to get rid of some of those that don’t have potential.  Grumpy moods are good for this…you’ll be able to be more objective about your work (and delete weaker shots) without much care.
• Browse the Web – We’re spoiled in this day and age where a lot of great photographic examples and inspiration are within a few key-presses.  Browse the web for new inspiration, new photographers, whatever.  It will help you tomorrow, when your son might decide to sleep in.
• Clean – clean your equipment, clean out your photo bag.  Take the receipts for the coffee you bought at the Starbucks on the way to your last shooting destination.  It’s been a week, you’re probably not going to return that coffee.  It’s cluttering your bag, and it smells like stale coffee beans.  Get rid of it.
• Criticize Your Work – Be the grumpy critic that doesn’t like anything and find at least one thing wrong with your recent completed photos.  Not only will it be a dose of humility, but it serves to generate a list of things to improve when you pick the camera up.
• Shop – Assuming you have some dispensable income, it might not hurt to browse your favorite camera store (physical or online) to see if there are any fun gadgets that you can acquire.  If that isn’t going to inspire you to shoot, then you should go back to bed.  If you don’t have any money, it doesn’t hurt to dream (and make a wishlist).
• Read Shutter Photo – Alright, I deserve a slap on the wrist for that shameless plug.  But we have hundreds of articles here about technique and inspiration.  I’m sure you missed a few.  Go back and read a few of our older articles – you might be inspired.  If we’re missing something, tell us what you’d like to see.  We’ll also gladly accept articles to fill in the gaps as well.  Just contact us if interested.

Just a reminder – we’d still like to hear from you with regards to our first contest.  We would like to improve our submission process – and even if you didn’t enter the contest, we’d like to hear from you.

The First Shutter Photo Ribbon Photo Contest is now officially ended.  Now that it’s complete, we’d like to hear your thoughts so that we can improve future competitions.  Whether or not you participated, we respect your opinion and want to hear what you think.

The survey is being hosted by an off-site vendor, Survey Monkey.  So you will exit this site to take the survey.

Click here to take survey

Thank you very much for helping to improve Shutter Photo.