Nothing says, "You've made it!" better than a hair net.

deep in the secret basement of the Visual Science Lab world headquarters we're experimenting with some new gear that will replace conventional cameras.  If we are successful all you will have to do is strap in,  think of an image and the cyber-snap 2011 can create it, add beautiful pole dancers in stripper heels to the image, dip it in red hot HDR sauce and then incorporate cat whiskers for SE (sharpness evaluation), shove in some gratuitous backlighting and a gel or two and for only $96,000 you too can sport a masterpiece.  Without ever touching a camera or going outside.

But seriously,  I have a confession to make.  I'm supposed to do an hour long presentation at 10:00 am tomorrow morning at the Austin Photo Expo and I'm totally unprepared.  If you ever wanted to see "major fail" tomorrow might be your chance.  

Usually I'm the guy my friends and clients look to when then need stuff that's meticulously planned, double-checked and fault tolerant.  I make back-ups of everything and I have back up gear for every potential pitfall.  But not this time.  You see, I've been doing the real work of photography instead.  I won't bore you with the details but I went from a hoity-toity (but long and richly nuanced) conference assignment on Sunday-Monday-Tues to a recording studio gig and tons of post production on Weds. to a 4:15am wake up call and drive to San Antonio on Thurs. a.m.  And I've been there ever since.  

The photo of me, above, is from today's shoot.  I'm standing in front of a DaVinci robotic micro surgery machine and I'm wearing a tyvek lab coat and hairnet because I've just come from shooting a procedure in a nearby operating room.  I've documented "preemies" and helicopter rescues and giant machines that stare into your guts (or your brain) and I'm about 1,000 big fat raw files into this project.  

It's stacking up like jets over O'Hare in a blizzard.  Everyone needs their stuff yesterday.  And here I am, at 10:47pm on Friday night, downloading files and applying metadata and captions and wondering what the hell I'm going to say in fewer than 12 hours to a couple hundred people about LED lighting.

Bright spot.  My client, Bryan, reminded me that I am going to talk about Lighting Portraits with LED lights.  And he also pointed out that I'd just written the book on the subject and, given how much I talk, he'd be pretty surprised if I couldn't fill up an hour.  And I'm sure he didn't mean that in a snarky way......

But I have an ace up my sleeve.  Super assistant, Amy, will be there to help.  It should be a wild two days. We have two master classes a day to teach this weekend.  I can hardly wait to tell you what happens.  

Just wanted to check in and tell you that I haven't gone AWOL.  Just doing my other job as fast as I can.

If you are in Austin, check out the expo.  Fun stuff for us photo nerds. (comment about idiots who review cameras by long distance removed)  See you there...

So, why do I keep a Canon EOS 5Dmk2 around if I think the Nikon V1 is so hot?

Mostly because it can do this at 6400 ISO with an 85mm Zeiss 1.4 lens, wide open.  That's why.

Oh, and it can do this too.  Under the nastiest, lowest mixed florescent and tungsten household lighting you can imagine.  I can't quite do this with a V1 and though I don't do this kind of stuff that often I do like to be able to pull it off when I have too......

Rosie and the Ramblers were in the studio today, cutting a new album.  Rosie asked me to drop by and take some images for their website and promo.  She likes "real life."  So I came equipped with some fast glass and a Canon 5D2 as well as a Nikon V1.  I looked at the difference between the Nikon at 3200 and the Canon at 6400 and I put the Nikon away and shot "digital old school."

I'll keep the old stuff around for a while longer.  Is it just me or does that Zeiss 85 look good to you too?

I'm in San Antonio for the next two days shooting a hospital.  I'll be back in Austin Friday night getting ready to do my 10:15 am demo at the Austin Photo Expo Saturday morning.  I'll be the guy trying to juggle two cups of coffee.....

What a fascinating three days! High level conference imaging.

Frame of frames from the Nikon V1 at ISO 800.  In the glow of the stage lights....

I often allude to the idea that, if not for being a photographer I would never have seen so much of corporate America from the inside out and I would never have travelled as extensively as I have.  And I will say that I have been "inside the gate" at some very, very interesting meetings and events.  I've watched half drunk CEO's throw temper tantrums in Paris and I've been a "fly on the wall" for private meetings of former presidents and billionaires.  In almost every instance of "brushes with greatness" I've been dressed in a suit and tie, shoes shined and fingernails cleaned.  You gain proximity by appearing to belong.

I can't really write about the substance of the conference I've been photographing for the last three days as it was by invitation only and only one media person was allowed to attend.....and then only for a few hours.  But I will say that the conference was both interesting and, in certain regards, scary.  It dealt with issues of world finance and business.  I can say I wore a different suit each day.  And my shoes were shined.....

But what I can and will talk about are the cameras I used over the last 72 hours.  And why I'm amazed at one of my newest acquisitions.  I'm just going to fill in the rough plot here but I'll write a more comprehensive report once I get my client's "okay" to release some of the conference images so you can get a taste of the differences I saw.  Also,  I am photographing an audio session in a recording studio tomorrow so I'll supplement this piece with some photos from that project as soon as I get them processed.

On sunday I shot standard "grip and grin" images at a reception and dinner for 150 people at the conference center.  I used a Canon 1D mk2N with the 24-105mm zoom, in conjunction with a Canon 580ex2 firing into a Rogue flexible bounce modifier. (Which I highly recommend).  Even though I was using eTTL I was careful to use the camera in spot meter mode, lock in the focus and use FEL religiously.  I got a near 98% success rate from the combo.  The finder of the big Canon, along with a split screen makes the camera fun to shoot.

On monday I used the Canon 1ds2, and the Canon 1dmk2, the Canon 5Dmk2 and the Nikon V1.  The 1Ds2 got bagged after twenty frames.  The screen on the back isn't wonderful and you can only shoot raw in the full size format.  I didn't need files that big.  It's also clunkier to use with shoe mount flash.  It doesn't seem as responsive as its stablemate, the 1D mk2N.  Definitely a camera I like using tethered.

For most of the day monday I haunted a table near the main stage and shot images of speakers, presenters and panels, on the stage.  I ended up shooting the 70-200mm on the 1D mk2 and the 24-105 on the Canon 5D2.  I brought the three Zeiss primes but I only flirted with the 85mm.  The light was too low and the people too kinetic to make the 85mm much fun.  It was also too short.  I liked the longer zoom for individual shots and the other zoom for wide stage shots.  So, into the bag for storage went the three Zeiss primes, along with the Canon 1DS mk2.  

After I got into the rythme of the event and realized that each session would last anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half I started pulling out the little Nikon and putting it through its paces.  I had to shoot at ISO 800 or 1600 to get a fast enough shutter speed under the rather anemic stage lights.  (In defense of the guys in production, the room has low ceilings which means lighting truss is lower and that puts lights closer to presenter's eye lines.  That means you need to dial down the lumens to keep people on the stage from squinting...)

By the end of a nine hour shooting day I'd logged about 1300 images on the little Nikon.  Here's what I found out:  You can use the electronic shutter on this camera and it is SILENT.  Not just quiet.  Absolutely silent.  Needle drop silent.  Makes an old Leica rangefinder sound like a hammer on corrugated iron by comparison.

The camera will focus on anything in good light and hold onto it like a pitbull who's got ahold of a brisket.  Even though I am a card carrying luddite I found myself playing with modes like: Scene select and focus follow.  I even had good luck combining face recognition with focus follow.  It was amazing.  

The EVF equals or betters the VF2 on the Olympus (more about the slap down in just a few paragraphs).  Of course, I could change all the menu items in the EVF so I never had to take the camera away from my eye.  I'd done a few tests the week before to see how the EVF and the back LCD match up to my monitor in  the office and those tests gave me the courage to depend on the viewfinder for color and exposure.

The V1 focuses faster than my Canon 5Dmk2 but not as fast as my 1D.

The meter in the V1 is pretty amazing as well.  I left it in evaluative but I did my exposures in manual.  I was rarely disagreeing with the meter by more than a third of a stop in one direction or the other. 

I got tired of carrying all the big stuff with me so on Monday evening I reconfigured.  Out went the One series Canons and in came the 5D2 with a 60D as a back up.  (the difference in batteries alone was two pounds.)  I also added the Olympus Pen EP3 with VF2 finder, the kit zoom and my favorite old 60mm 1.5 Pen FT manual focus lens.  Now everything got interesting.  And now everything fit in one bag.

Between the two Canons the operation of the 60D was much smoother and, at ISO 2500 the files were pretty darn close.  I shot everything set to 3200K (WB)  after confirming with the show director that we were using naked tungsten lights on the stage.  The Canons both gave me smooth, detailed and low noise files.  No real contest here.  And no teasing:  Both were two stops better in noise handling that the two little cams.

By the end of the day I was shooting 40% of the shots with the Nikon V1 and probably 40% of the shots with the Olympus Pen EP3.  I ended up keeping both cameras at ISO 800 and tried to be careful to catch people at the peak of their actions to reduce blur.  Most exposures were between 1/80th and 1/160th of a second with the lenses used wide open.  The other 20% of the shots were done with the Canons.

Here's how it breaks down today:  Even though I shot the EP3 in raw and the Nikon in Jpeg (with high ISO filter set to low) the Nikon had at least a full stop advantage in observable noise over the Olympus. And believe me I worked the Noise Ninja as hard as I could....  It also consistently delivered a more pleasing overall color balance.  The image stabilization in the Nikon V1 (kit lens to kit lens comparison) is more tenacious and efficacious than the Olympus version.

I give the Olympus points for several things.  First, superior feel in the hand.  Second, built in flash that works without issues.  Third, the ability to use cool, old MF lenses.  Really cool lenses.  When I say one camera is less noisy than another that's not a condemnation of the noisy camera.  It's just a difference.

Both of the smaller cameras were quick and accurate in their focusing.  The Nikon V1 was more accurate in the metering.  The Olympus feels more luxurious.  The Nikon more utilitarian.  Which would I own? Both.

If you had to choose between them you'd have to get clear on what you want from a camera.  At ISO 400 there's nothing to complain about from either camera, where image quality is concerned.  If you shoot sports the little Nikon is hard to beat.  If you like to drop things out of focus in your portrait backgrounds the EP3 with the 60mm 1.5 is pretty tough to beat.  Or you could just go back and forth.

If Nikon ever starts shipping the little flash I'll do my next interior conference with the V1 system and take the EP3 as the back up.  Everything else can stay home and pal around with gravity.  These little cameras are high enough quality to do the job.  As long as the rider is up to the task.

More will be added  here after I shoot the recording session tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone who pre-ordered the LED book.  I think my publisher was shocked that your responses drove the book from obscurity to #3200 on all of Amazon in less than 48 hours.  I was amazed and happy.

Now, let's all get some sleep.

Sunday a day off? Naw. It's a day to pack and organize.

Let's get the crazy stuff out of the way first.  Yes?  Since I picked up the little Nikon V1 I've developed a cup fetish.  I can't stop photographing various cups.  At first I thought it was only cups that contained the creative elixir of the gods: coffee.  The above was shot with the 10-30mm at 18.xmm in the late afternoon, at Trianon Coffee Shop, in west Austin.  The cup contains an extra foamy, double cappuccino.  I thought I'd gotten it all out of my system but we went to lunch the next day at P.Terry's Hamburger joint and the magnetic pull of the cups on V1 was undeniable.  Even on the Catsup Cup.  That little paper remnant of time past.

I meditated and prayed but nothing seems to have helped.  Even strong narcotics haven't lessened the grip of the cup/camera interface.  I thought healthy exercise would heal me but even after swimming thousands of yards on Saturday morning, there they were again.  The holiday cups at Starbucks.

But I think there's light at the end of the caffeine coated tunnel.  I had a coffee this morning and I didn't have the V1 with me, only a Canon 1ds mk2.  I reached for the withering bulk of my professional tool but the magic wasn't there.  The camera seemed to sneer at my weakness for cup-o-graphy.  To taunt me for glorifying mere containers.  And so I've moved on.  It seems that, if I keep the V1 away from cups, and restaurants in general, I can keep this strange attraction at bay.  But.......maybe you should look closer....maybe I'm really on to something here. 

I mean, the P.Terry's cup, loaded with Dublin Dr. Pepper seems like modern art to me....Could it just be a case of misplaced Warhol-ism?  

Leaving the cups behind let's get down to the real topic of the blog today: Organizing for a busy week ahead.  On paper, my week doesn't look very daunting but when I break it apart into discreet, granular chunks I wonder how I'll get it all done and still have time to swim and pursue my dalliance with coffee.  The short answer is:  I won't.  

Here's the deal.  I start a conference project this afternoon at 4pm at the Barton Creek Conference Center.  I shoot until around 9:30 this evening.  Tomorrow and Tues. the conference continues.  I'll be photographing speakers and dignitaries from around the world.  It's dark suits and ties for me for the next three days.  I've even shined two pairs of shoes....

But a bigger consideration is "what to bring?"

I think I've got it figured out so all the batteries are on the chargers and I'm packing up memory cards.

Here's what I'm taking:  Canon 5Dmk2, 1ds mk2,  1D mk2N, 35, 50 and 85mm Zeiss single focal lengths.  Canon 24-105 and 70-200.  I'm also packing the Nikon V1 and the 10, 10-30 and 30-110mm zooms.  I'll stash a Canon 580 ex2 in the bag as well as a 430 ex2 as a back up.  Since I'm shooting raw I'll take 8 - 16gb CF cards and 10 - 8gb SD cards just in case.  I'll spend most of the time shooting presenters under stage lighting but I'll also need to shoot small group shots from time to time.  We did the same event last year and shot around 1800 images, total.  I'm trying to compress that a bit this year and aim for 1500.

I'm also bringing a 13 inch MacBook Pro and a dozen or so flash drives to I can share photos with the production crew.  Every once in a while a speaker's head shot will go astray and we'll need to provide a quick replacement. 

The conference goes long on Monday and starts early on Tues.  We'll wrap around 5pm on Tues. evening and I'll come straight back to the studio to download cards and start processing in Lightroom.  I hate to get behind.

The next morning I'm headed into a recording studio to do a day of "behind-the-scenes" photos with an up-and-coming vocalist and her band.  From the recording studio I'll head directly to the Hilton Hotel on Fifth St. for the Boy Scouts of America, central Texas awards banquet.  It's a big fund raiser and my art director friend, Greg, always buys a table and invites me.  Also a suit and tie function.  The dry cleaners will be happy to see me the following Monday.......  Once the banquet wraps up I'll be in the Honda heading for San Antonio.  I'm booked there on Thurs. and Fri. shooting at a new Hospital.  People, property, professionals and whatever else is on the long shot list...  I'll need to pack three more flashes and some radio triggers for that......

I'll be back in Austin Friday evening putting the finishing touches on my LED Portrait presentations for Saturday and Sunday, the 12th and 13th.  I'm a speaker/presenter at the Austin Photo Expo and I'm planning on doing a live demo of my method of lighting a portrait with LED lights.  It would be good form to both figure out what I'm going to say and do, as well as finding the right model.  It's two presentations a day.

When I finish my last presentation at 5pm on Sunday I'll be rushing to pack up and get out because we're (the family) all going to an awards banquet at the High School for Ben's cross country team.  Starts at 6pm.  No suit or tie required.... 

Inventory of gear for the first two and a half days of the week.  Shot with the little Nikon V1 and the 10mm prime lens.  Handheld at 1/30th of a second.  ISO 400.  Is it sharp?  I think so.

 But once the demos are over and the equipment is cleaned up and packed away there will still be several days of post production for the three major projects of the previous week.  No one talks about the prep time or the post time but it's at least equal to the time spent on location and it's at least as important.  You get most of the stuff figured out while you're packing.  That leaves your shooting time mentally clear.  If it's not in the bag you're not going to use it.  A great incentive to pack smart.

So things will have to wait until the following week to get taken care of.  For instance, the semiconductor shoot from last week.  The images have all been delivered but the three LED lights need to be taken down and packed away.  The stands put back in their place and the copy stand disassembled.

And then there's the office in general.  It could use a new coat of paint, a thorough cleaning and some re-organization.  Maybe we'll get to that after Thanksgiving.   But only if nothing better comes along.

(In the foreground is my Bodhi Electric Bike.)

There's so much more than photography that needs to be planned.  Since Belinda is working on a big project downtown I've hired a dog sitter to come in and assuage the pack separation for Tulip the wonder dog, and Ben will have to walk home from school.  The delivery service will get the disks from last Thursday's shoot over to the client sometime monday morning.  We'll get billing done at night.  The transition between my different jobs means different packing and different lists of gear.  Any free time means more work on the presentations for the Austin Photo Expo.  And somewhere in all this I'd like to get in four long swims during the week.  Might have to head to UT for the 5:30 am swims, yikes!!....

I know what they say on the news about the economy but it's sure starting to feel "Pre-2006" around here.....and I love it.

BOOK FIVE NOW LISTED ON AMAZON. YIPPEE.

I am very excited about this BOOK.  I didn't know my publisher had already submitted the cover and details to Amazon.com but I'm delighted to know that we're finally official.  This is my fifth book about photography and was easily the most fun to create.  (For those of you who are unfamiliar with my books I write and photograph and illustrate each one of them.  Takes twice as long as doing the writing alone but it makes more sense).  It took some arm twisting at first to convince the publisher at Amherst that LED lighting will be an increasingly important topic in the next few months and certainly in the next few years.

So, why do I think LEDs will become increasingly important and why did I want to be the first person to write a book about it for photographers?  The answer to the first part of the question is as simple as the shoot I did for a semiconductor manufacturer during the days on Thurs. and Fri. last week.  I was shooting small objects with a mix of shiny and matte surfaces and I needed complete control of the lights.  The combination of continuous lighting and live view on the screen of the Canon 5Dmk2 gave me a level of control and immediacy that I've never enjoyed in the "bad old days" of still life photography.

I've used "hot lights" in the past but having three, five hundred watt tungsten lights in close proximity to your camera and your subject quickly becomes an uncomfortable working situation.  With live view engaged there is no mirror slap.  With the LED panels I use there's lots of light and very little (if any) heat to deal with.  One simple custom white balance and we're all set.  Earlier in the week I photographed my friend, Natalie, and she ( a Brooks Institute graduate ) remarked about the wonderful light quality, the lack of flash (she'd always been a "blinker" before) and the fact that her pupils were not overly dilated which can happen with dark rooms and low powered modeling lights on flash.  The LED lights are energy efficient, bring relief from thermal torture, are totally WYSIWYG and can actually be cheaper to buy and use than flash.  Best of all, the meter in your camera is all you need for total control.
The final (and to many), most important consideration:  If you do video you NEED a good set of LED lights.

But why did I want to write the book?  Well,  I've been photographing for a long time and I'd become used to all the lighting rigs that dominated our market for so long.  The LEDs are a near total departure from everything I learned and grew up with.  They represented the new challenge to master.  And there's no better way to learn technique than to commit to new technology, dive in and test, test, test.

The book has in depth examples of interior and exterior portrait work done with the LEDs as well as an extended and well diagrammed food shoot at one of Austin's premier restaurants.  You'll be able to take advantage of my learning curve in selecting and using the most cost effective LED panels.

The cost of the book is less than some magazines.  If you like what I write here I think you're a natural for this book.  And buying copies of the book will help support my writing here.  I'm rarely so blunt or so marketing driven but I'd love it if you would pre-order a copy of the book.  I'd love to see this one do as well as the four previous ones.  The delivery date on the site says April 1st but I'm betting it will be here in early March.

It feels so good to see it as a finished piece of work on Amazon.  I lived with the information and practice for six months.  Count me as very happy today.