Photography : Gear, Programs, Tips, and Tricks

I love taking pictures. The only problem is that I take so many and I don’t have the time to edit them. When I do find the time I really enjoy using all the great software and digging in. Here are some of the gear, and programs I use and recommend for any photography folks out there.

Gear I use and love

Canon 5D MKII

I got this camera for the birth of my son and planned on incorporating it into my wedding films however for me it has turned out to be so much better than I expected that I end up using it almost everyday. Photos, and video look amazing on this guy.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II 21.1MP Full Frame CMOS Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)

Tamron AF 28-75mm f/2.8

While Canon makes great lenses you don’t have to only buy Canon lenses to get great quality. I use this lens as my walk around lens. It is a very sharp lens and the colors I get are really awesome.

Tamron AF 28-75mm f/2.8 SP XR ZL Di LD Aspherical (IF) for Canon Digital SLR Cameras

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8

It’s cheap and it takes great photos. I tell friends all the time who want to get into photography on a dime to get a decent camera body only and pick up this lens to start. I also think prime lenses are great lenses to learn on. It’s just easier to understand apature, ISO, and shutter when you only have to deal with one focal length.

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens

Timer Remote (intervalometer)

I really love making time lapse videos. Tom at Timescapes really does the best time lapse videos I’ve seen. I wanted to get into this, but again I’m cheap and have a newborn so I didn’t want to through down a wad of cash for something I wont use very often. I found this remote via Joe Simon who gave a big recommendation for it. It works just as good as it’s more expensive brothers but it is very reasonable.

JJC TM-A LCD Timer Remote Shutter

Tamrac 3385 Photo/Laptop Backpack

I picked up this bag almost 2 years ago when I went on vacation to Hawaii. I wanted a backpack so we could do some hiking. I also wanted this to be my carry on so I needed it to hold a laptop as well. This backpack was great for that. It has all the storage I need for my camera, with extra room for any other camera gear and electronics. The laptop area was a no brainier. I’ve had this for 2 years now. I’ve been on hikes in Colorado with it as well and it has been great. The shoulder supports are nice and comfortable.

Tamrac 3385 Aero Speed Pack 85 Dual Access Photo/Laptop Backpack (Black)

Gary Fong Lightsphere

I avoid using flash like the plague, but there are lots of time where you absolutely need it. The Lightsphere is the key to making your flash photos look much better.

Gary Fong LSUSTART Lightsphere Universal Starter Kit

Orbis Ring Flash

Another cheap alternative to the more expensive ring flashes is the Orbis ring flash. I actully only use it for a funky effect on portrait photography. I love the halo look it give you as well as the blight highlights you can see in someones eyes.

Orbis Ring Flash Attachment, for Use with Existing Flash / Strobe,

Programs

Lightroom 2

A must for any photographer out there. Lightroom makes it easy to quickly edit lots of photos with really great results. For a typical wedding could I end up with around 1000+ images. I usually go through those and grind them down to around 100-150 great ones. Then I can easily adjust the 100+ photos really quickly in Lightroom. I have control over just about everything in a photo, including adding masks, spot removal, and brush. If they added filters, it could almost be a direct replacement for Photoshop.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2

Photoshop CS4

Unfortunately we just can’t get around it. Photoshop is still the best photo editor around. My work flow is initial adjustments in Lightroom. In Lightroom I’ll get the photo looking very good but not overly saturated or contrasty. Then with one click I’ll open that photo in Photoshop and start doing some real work. Nothing much really to say here. Photoshop is a must have.

Adobe Photoshop CS4 [Mac]

Totally Rad Actions

Totally Rad Actions are a set of actions presets for Photoshop. They are the essential editing tool photographers have in their bad to turn good photos into unbelievable ones. Almost every photographer I know uses them. No matter what kinda of photographer you are their is an effect or look for you. And what is the most cool part about TRA is the fact that any look you can dream of is possible. You start with one, add another one, then another one, tweak all the settings and you’ve got a look that no one has. Another cool part is they run an awesome recipes website, where anyone can submit a photo and the recipe they used to achieve it. That makes it super easy for you to pick out an effect you like and try to replicate it on your photos with out really knowing exactly what each effect does. Great for TRA beginners.

GetTotallyRad.com/

iPhone

TiltShift Generator

Hey we can’t always lug around our DSLR’s. Sometimes were stuck using what ever we got on us. For me it’s my iPhone. TiltShift Generator makes taking photos on the iPhone bearable. In fact you can get some pretty great results out of this app. Just look at this flickr group. With TiltShift you can add a gradulated blur or tilt shift effect and control the settings all through touch. Then play with the contrast saturation and brightness.

Download TiltShift Generator

Pano

This is a really fun app and again you can get some pretty sweet results through this app. I found it most definitely works best on landscapes and not so well on close up panos. You won’t want to use this to create a virtual tour pano. Just snap a photo, then line up the corner of the previous photo with then next one and snap again. After you’ve captured the entire area you wanted pano stitches the photos together, pretty seamlessly. From what I can see pano will automatically adjust each photos brightness so sky’s, and the stitch seem is invisible.

Download Pano

Tips & Tricks

Lightroom Presets

With great presets like these you almost don’t even need to launch Photoshop. mcg studios Lightroom Presets For more presets like these do a search on Adobe Marketplace Exchange for Lightroom Presets.

Textures

I found this site beacuse they give away alot of great assest for web design. However they also offer tons of free textures with can be used in your photography to make your photos dirty. Check out BittBox.

Tutorials

Here are a couple of good resources for photo editing. First begin Digital Photography School and their tut over sharpening in Lightroom. This site is also another great source for all things photography. If your looking for advanced tutorials over Photoshop and Lightroom, check out PhotoWalkThrough.com