Comments? It's Ray for the win....

Inside joke. No real content here. Sorry. But here's some favorite old photos to while away your time with.....

Fujifilm 14mm f2.8 Lens? Yes, I think I'll keep it. Images in the gallery all shot with the 14mm and an XT3 camera in Jpeg mode.

A mural at one of the downtown Austin Google Buildings.

Yes, we have two or three other Google buildings sprinkled around town...

Here's a short and sweet review of the 14mm f2.8 Fuji lens for the X series cameras. It's sharp over most of the frame at f2.8. It's sharp every where by f4.0 and it's very, very sharp all across the frame at f5.6. I know the camera automatically corrects for vignetting but I don't see any artifacts in the corners due to correction so I'm super happy about that. The lens is deceptively small and light, focuses very quickly (at least in the good light I was given today) and is extremely sharp.

I'd asked a Fuji expert about which lens to buy given that I don't use wide angles nearly as much as various normal and telephoto lenses. I was deliberating between the Fuji 14mm and the 10-24mm. His advice for me was to go with the 14mm for its better "ultimate optical performance." His idea was that the 10-24mm isn't quite as good optically but is a better compromise for people who spend more time mining the wider end of the visual scale. I think he got his advice for me just right. This is a focal length I like to have in the bag for those times while on annual report projects when an art director turns to me after we've done a bushel of wonderful environmental portraits to ask, 'can you get some wide shots that show off: the whole factory, the exterior of the building, the length of the production line, the (cramped) labs and ..... can you make our facility look ...bigger? '

This is the lens that's in the rarely disturbed corner of the bag which bursts into stardom when you just can't back up any further with your next widest lens. The 10-24mm is wonderfully flexible when it comes to dishing out different angles of view but I'm a slow learner; not disposed to keeping good track of wide frames and it's more effective for me to learn the ins and out of one angle of view than to stand around and try to decide just how wide I should go. Give me one focal length and you've taken the guess work out of the equation...

I tried this one in black and white to eliminate potential color contamination of my

evaluation process. I used a yellow filter in Lightroom's B&W conversion. 

See. I'm hopeless most of the time with ultra wide lenses. All the buildings fall over...

Yes. It's true. I tried the Eterna profile on a still photo. I hope Fuji doesn't demand 

that I return the cameras citing misuse of their products.... I'd do the same with any other brand lens. 

So, my impression of the 14mm lens from Fuji is favorable. I'm glad I didn't go the cheap route and get a 7Artisans, or Rokinon 12mm but I could have bought a lot of coffee with the difference in price between those lenses and the Fuji... I guess that's the constant trade off. But I did see a sign the other day that said, "The sting of low quality lingers long after the memory of the money saved...." 

On another note: Still shopping for new cars. The Suburu Forester is still near the top of the list but now I'm also considering the 2019 Honda CRV, the Toyota Highlander and the Mercedes AMG GT C Coupe; it's a bit peppier.  The Mercedes seems like a good candidate for quickly getting on and off freeways plagued with short entry/exit ramps....haven't compared prices yet but they can be too expensive. Right? The only mark against the Mercedes is the lack of trunk space....

New Accessory added to camera bag when shooting with the Fuji XH1 cameras: Duct tape.

Spoiled? You may think I'm spoiled for thinking that every camera should have a wide-ranging, adjustable diopter for the EVF. No, I think it's as necessary as seatbelts in cars.

My FujiFilm XT3 has a nice diopter knob which is pulled out to adjust and then pushed in to lock my setting in place. The XH1s have a knob too but it's exposed, unlock-able and moves at the puff of one's breath.

The XH1 diopter setting seems to change every time I pull one of the cameras out of the backpack or camera bag. Last night at a live theater shoot it was starting to piss me off so I grabbed a piece of white duct tape that I'd stuck on the front of my backpack and tore off two little squares; one for each camera.

I carefully adjusted each diopter and then taped over the control so nothing would move it. I usually keep a  big strip of white tape on the front of my black camera backpack so it's more visible when the house lights go out in the theater. I'd be unhappy if one of the crew accidentally sat on the pack because they couldn't see the black backpack on a seat in the dark.....

The tape did the trick. The knobs didn't move. The cameras performed well. And now I am considering starting up a company to sell customized swatches of duct tape for XH1 diopter knobs.

Hey, Fuji guys! If you are going to make a pro camera body let's make sure ALL the controls lock, not just the ISO and Shutter Speed dials....

I've hit my 10,000th frame with the XH1 cameras.  How good are they? I'm thinking of buying a third one....just in case they become discontinued. But with my luck they'll replace the older model with an even better model that has......you guessed it......a locking diopter adjustment knob. How depressing would that be?

Well, since this is one thing Fuji is NOT going to fix in firmware I guess I'll just stick a strip of tape on the bottoms of both XH1s' battery grips and get on with the process of making photographs.

Imagine, my one complaint is the diopter adjustment. Not the imaging, not the performance, not the color science. Just one knob. Okay. I can live with that...

What we're testing now at the VSL high technology laboratory....

Shark-a-Dillo?

No. We're not doing genetic engineering or attempting to cross breed Texas armadillos with aquatic predators. That wouldn't make a lot of sense....

But I am diving into some deep lens tests to see what lenses work best (for me) on the Fuji cameras. The Fuji 14mm f2.8 lens arrived on Friday but the weekend was too tightly scheduled to allow for any sort of test walk or ecstatic interaction with test charts, or newspaper want ads tacked to the wall. 

As an aside, it used to be a habit amongst professional photographers, when confronted with a new and unknown lens, to tack up the printed "want ads" from the local paper; preferably a double-truck, and photograph the newspaper spread in order to evaluate the performance of the lens from corner to corner. The benefit of printed want ads being the small but consistent type all over the page. A really good lens would also resolve the texture of the paper. The best lenses, the ones used by sharpness freaks, were purported to resolve the molecular structure of the paper and ink.... but that's a digression from the aside...  While shooting newspaper is obviously a test it's one that doesn't take into considerations lenses optimized for parameters other than flat field rendering (sorry Leica, you allowed for field curvature and are now damned by the slow but vociferous...), and doesn't take into consideration lenses designed for different optimum focusing distances, it is, however, a decent quick test to show whether a lens is misaligned, has obvious faults or is a Nikon 43-86mm zoom lens (perhaps the worst lens ever marketed by Nikon...). 

So, as Gannett (large, traditional newspaper chain) gets sold off to a hedge fund and most local newspapers move their "want ads" to their websites, what are photographers going to use as test charts when evaluating their lenses? I suspect that they usual reviewer suspects will continue to photograph whatever cat is handy and pontificate from there......

At VSL we'll continue to use our laser etched beryllium test targets (both curved and flat - back lit and front lit) for our evaluations while clamping the test cameras into 1200 pound vises (top, bottom and side contact points) to guarantee that "shutter shock" or camera vibration is ruled out of our results. To the pendantic: Yes, our vises are anchored on concrete piers that go down 100 feet to bedrock...

In all seriousness, I have the 14mm f2.8 on an XT3 and look forward to shooting it this afternoon. It looks like we're going to have a cold but sunny day here. Should be just right. I'll keep you posted.

A quick blog note: We're trying different configurations of comment moderation this week because we are receiving several hundred spam comments per day. The comments go something like this: 

"Many congratulations on you're fine writing. My sister recommended to you sight for you expert opinion on the subject. Have you thought of adding photos to make your point? Check out my blog at XXXXX. I look forward to reading more here when I had time..." 

I don't know what the end goal of this seemingly endless stream of chatty comments buys the senders but I'm tired of seeing them and moderating them. Any suggestions of what to do about it?

Tis the season for marketing and business promotion. We're focused on that today.

Where's the Beef?

It's more fun to write about a really fantastic new lens but the thing that keeps our business going is the marketing. If people don't know we're here, what we offer, and what our value proposition is, then eventually the income will trickle down to zero, the bank accounts will run dry and we'll have to start boiling our camera straps to make soup. 

Two days ago I bought four tins of Hahnemuhle FineArt Inkjet Photo Cards. They come 30 to a box and measure about 5.5 by 8.3 inches; with rounded corners. The kind I like are the FineArt Pearl finish. They are thick at 285 gsm and they survive their journeys through the U.S. Postal Service pretty well. I printed 120 cards with a color image on the front and a brief story about the project from which the photograph evolved on the back. 

But why, in this age of free e-mail blasts, do I both to spend the money to use expensive paper, even more expensive ink, and then add fifty cents each for postage? My answer would be that I keep a list of my top 100 prospects and clients and I make it a point to send them a printed, hand addressed direct mail, with a personal note, at least four times a year. I want to stay at the top-of-mind with the people who help most to keep my business in business. 

A large, printed postcard, instead of an e-mail, shows that you have at least a little skin in the game. That you are willing to spend resources to reach the people you value. Given my company's track record in retaining client over decades I think it's time and money well spent. As more and more competitor advertising heads for the web I'm planning to continue expanding my "A" list and get printed pieces in front of more people every quarter. My quick research (calls to my friends who are also clients) shows me that direct mail from photographers has dropped by about 90% in the past few years. That means each piece that arrives now has less competition for attention. That's a good thing. 

Once we got the postcards printed and out the door I created a web gallery with 20+ consistent images from a big job we completed in Q4 2018. All of the images are environmental portraits and all were done in remote locations around the U.S.A. We'll direct targeted art directors and marcom people to the gallery by sending an e-mail blast to about 600 people I've identified as persons I'd like to work with or persons I'd like to work with again. The e-mail will tell a short version of my story about the job and the embedded link will lead them to the gallery to show more scope. 

The other leg of our current marketing that I'm finding to be more and more effective is our presence on LinkedIn. (Please don't ask me to join your LinkedIn community if you are a photographer; I won't even accept invitations from my closest photographer friends --- ).  I posted a public article about photo stacking last week, with an example photograph, and the post has already had over 2,200 views. Followed by 85 profile views. All it costs is the time it takes to write interesting things for an audience of advertising and marketing professionals... That, and picking the right connections to add to your network. We currently have over 1,000 1st connections and often get referrals from them. 

My goal in marketing is to keep reminding my current customers of how well we deliver on own promises while inviting potential new customers to contact me for a consultation or to give me a shot at one of their projects. After the marketing my biggest and most important job is retention. Keeping customers and collaborators happy. 

A few suggestions (not all of which I'm current on...): 1. Keep your website fresh. Ignore advice to use your website only as a quick and shallow portfolio and use it to help your clients get to know who you are, what you've done and how you would do  business with them! 2. Create an "A" list which has the people you love to work with and the people you would love to work with. Keep it manageably small and make sure you reach out and touch the people on this list with quality information on a regular basis. 3. No one should receive marketing pushed out from you more than once a month. The only exception is if you just did something absolutely incredible in your field and needed to share while the information was fresh! 4. You need to reach clients by multiple paths. Some passive, like blogs, and LinkedIn but you also need active marketing like e-mails, lunches with recurring clients and a healthy dose of direct mail. As more content heads to phones you also have to make sure that your media is small screen friendly. In my mind that means more video as well. 

It's a lot to think about when the only thing you really want to do is go out and take great photographs! But if you want to make art for a living I think you have to master the marketing. 

You may have other ideas for marketing. Share them in the comments if you'd like.

The changing face of corporate portraits. Why no one cares about your cameras and lenses.

This is the portrait of a CEO for a tech company headquartered in Austin. Over the course of three years we photographed nearly all of their far flung, senior staff. Our approach was always consistent; natural light through the 23rd story, floor to ceiling windows; natural light leavened with judicious amounts of fill flash to clean up the color and add just the right amount of "openness" to the shadow side of the face.

While the look and feel of the photographs was consistent from beginning to end I was surprised, when I reviewed the catalog of portraits, to find that they were done with three different camera sensor formats, ranging from micro four thirds to full frame. The image above was done with a Samsung NX30; an APS-C camera (far from the mainstream brands....). I chose that camera because the while the company was initially hamfisted at making cameras they did a great job on longer lenses; like their 60mm macro and their 85mm f1.4 lens.

Our initial portraits were done with Olympus EM-5.2 cameras and, usually, the Panasonic 42.5mm f1.7 while our final set of portraits was done with a Nikon D810 and an 85mm f1.8 lens. But even when viewed side by side on the client's website I'm hard pressed to tell you which images came from which systems, unless I cheat and look at the Exif info.

It was easy enough to use the lenses paired with the small sensor camera at wide apertures and get a very similar effect to that of the full frame sensors. The secret is that there's a limit to how shallow a depth of field you can get and still have the client accept the images. They like to see their senior staff in focus as much as they enjoy seeing the background go out of focus.

But here's the interesting thing; if you get the CEO to look like a warm, happy, compassionate and effective leader most clients wouldn't care if you did the assignment using the camera in your phone.

I'm settling in with the Fuji cameras right now for this style of imaging but I DO NOT FEAR using my Lumix cameras interchangeably. As long as I can establish the right rapport with the subject the camera is as secondary as which brand of printer you use to print out your invoice.....

In the three years that I've served this client I've never been asked about my camera selections. Not by the marcom people at the company and not by the (award winning) advertising agency that guides their brand. I think the only people who care about what kind of camera or lens you are shooting with are your competitors, and various other photographers. Just get the essentials right and you can shoot with any camera you like. Honest.

No one else cares....

A fun, silly, crazy, wonderful afternoon spent at Esther's Follies; Austin's premier comedy and political commentary venue. Right in the middle of Sixth St.

"Would you like to come over on Wednesday afternoon and make many zany promotional photographs with us at Esther's Follies?" Yes. As much as I would like my bank to give me free samples of one hundred dollar bills. Esther's Follies is a comedy nightclub that's existed in the center of downtown Austin for over thirty years. Democrat or Republican, your party is sure to get equal time as the butt of a never ending series of skits, musical numbers, jokes and other forms of political commentary. But Esther's doesn't just do politics they also excoriate weird Texas stuff. They riff on Whole Foods Market and Amazon. They filet the latest Austin trend: Austin has become the #1 national destination for bachelorette parties. Imagine limos full of just post teenage brides-to-be and their entourages drinking until they throw up on their own shoes and then going back for more.....

In short, Esther's is bawdy, biting and right on target. The continuously funniest live show I've ever seen.  Just my cup of tea. I've been going to their shows for years and one Summer even did a Comedy Driver Training course there to get a speeding ticket expunged from my permanent record....

So, I've been photographing for their marketing materials almost forever; since the beginning of the new century, and I've always had a blast. These folks can bang out irreverent comedy at the drop of a hat. And they do it on a tight schedule with weekly additions and modifications to their routines. Some parts of their shows change almost daily!  I show up, set up three or four electronic flashes with umbrellas and sufficient kick to flood the stage with enough light to get me f5.6 or 7.1 @ ISO 400 and then we just sail through routine change after costume change and half the time I have trouble focusing because I'm laughing so hard...

Today I headed down to Sixth St. for a fresh dose of humor and photographs. I parked in one of the close by garages and dragged my equipment over on my multi-cart. I set up three of my Neewer battery powered monolights ( which kick out up to 300 watt seconds for 700+ flashes via their lithium batteries..) put a big umbrella in the light on the left side the stage, a medium sized umbrella on the right of center light, and another medium umbrella on the far right side of the stage. The main light comes from the big umbrella on the left and its monolight was set at half power. The other two monolights were set at one quarter power. Altogether they provided a nice wash of light across the stage with a bit of directionality. More importantly they froze the action and helped me absolutely nail the color balance.

I used one of the new Fuji XH1 cameras and the 18-55mm XF lens for the entire shoot. Everyone in all the different format camps can theorize about quality all they want but I know that when I zoom in to one hundred percent I'm seeing super sharp eyelashes and striations in the actors' irises, and I don't know how the troupe can use better than that. At ISO 400 the files (when shot correctly=exposure and color balance) are razor sharp and noiseless. 

The system nailed focus on about 98% of all 1200+ shots from our session. The 2% that weren't tack sharp were plagued by operator error as I laughed and waved the camera around instead of being tightly disciplined. It was a great way to get a large number of almost perfect shots in a short span of time. 

I was still laughing as I dragged the cart into the elevator of the parking garage.... too good.

If you spend much time in downtown Austin on weekends you'll not be able to avoid the onslaught of drunken bachelorettes. They're as invasive as electric scooters. I think Esther's has this particular subject matter down pat....

At the end of a marketing photo session we always do a group shot. Here's the one we'll use to start out the new year and the new season. A different way to shoot theater than the way we do it at Zach Theatre. Viva la Difference!

Let me tell you about shooting opera sometime......