Here's a list of cool gifts any photographer will love that won't break the bank. I've had a fantastic year of photography adventures both with my family and my workshop students. Along the way I've found some new photo accessories that help me more easily capture the visual stories I'm after.
I just wrapped up leading a workshop to photograph a candlelit festival in Mexico. We went light and handheld relying on the incredible high ISO performance of our modern digital sensors with fast prime lenses. In this video I'll pass along some of the lessons we learned while taking you on a tour of Michoacan and it's Dia de Muertos festival. It was a blast.
When this episode goes live, I'll be teaching a workshop in Michoacan Mexico for Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead). One of my favorite celebrations in one of my favorite places. Choosing what gear to pack for a big trip like this -- it's one of the hardest things we photographers have to do. Here I'll show you what I'm taking with me on a trip that combines handheld, low-light street photography with landscape and travel. All the gear I showcase is linked below.
Lets talk about noise reduction and sharpening. I've had a lot of questions about when to sharpen images as well as how to sharpen and do noise reduction both in Adobe's Lightroom and ON1's Photo RAW. In this video I'll talk about when sharpening makes a difference and show you my workflow in both Lightroom and ON1's brand new Photo RAW 2019 which I'm beta testing for them.
Eventually it happens to everyone, You get back from a shoot and find your images are littered with sensor dust. As an photographer of kiteboarding, mountaineering and desert adventures I have to constantly check and clean my sensor. With mirrorless cameras and their exposed sensors, the problem is even worse. In this video I'll show you how to clean your sensor and then take a question about slotted filters vs round filters.
Sensor Gel Stick (approved for Sony), Sensor Light, and Rocket Blower
If you follow me, then you know I think fluid heads are much better than ball heads for both stills and video. I'm frequently asked whether there is a lighter and/or more affordable fluid head solution. Well — I've found this Benro system that is both. At $350 for the carbon legs, leveling base and head, it's a screaming deal. At 5 pounds, it's surprisingly light for a solid fluid head that goes to eye level without raising the center column. At the end I cover a question about using step up adaptor rings with filters.
Pickup my Pano eBbook.
Sometimes it's impossible to get a single sharp image from the foreground to the background even stopped down to a narrow aperture with a wide angle. That's where focus blending (or stacking) comes in. What is focus blending and how does focus breathing complicate using this technique? Watch and I'll demystify that and show how I overcome focus breathing in the process.
It's fall and the colors are changing here in Portland. I'll work through a focus blended fall color image to show how this technique works while answering some questions and giving a sneak peak of my new Syrp Genie II Linear motion controller.
Skeletons, candles, children on the street late at night -- no this isn't Halloween -- it’s Michoacan's Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration. In this video I'll take you on a tour of this incredible place and cultural event while I cover how I created one of my favorite images of moving subjects handheld in low light. Spoiler alert: I had to leave an incredible margarita melting away to capture it. From equipment choice and settings to having the right state of mind, I'll cover how I approached this scene.
I'm headed back to Michoacan with a very small group of photographers in late October for a special, all-inclusive workshop. A last minute cancellation has left a couple of spots open. If you're interested, more details are here.
Here's how I captured one of my favorite panoramic mergers ever. Getting lost in dark, snowy woods, nearly stepping off a corniced cliff, barely sleeping , scaring my wife to death --- yeah that all happened on this trip and it was worth it. In this video I'll share the story of this adventure with photos and time-lapse while I detail the research, planning, equipment and technique that I used to capture a crescent moon rising over Mount Hood in winter.
About Approaching The Scene: https://www.hudsonhenry.com/ats
Submit a Question: questions@hudsonhenry.com
Links to gear: https://www.hudsonhenry.com/atslinks
Looking for part 1? Click here.
I've had a lot of people asking me how to best attach their still camera to a new fluid head. I created this shorter video to just focus on how the fluid head, tripod and camera connect. Let me know if you have any further questions.
In case you missed it, here is my first video showcasing why I prefer fluid heads to do still photography.
Here's everything you need to get your camera on the fluid head:
To easily flip from horizontal to vertical compositions, you will need an Arca-swiss style L-bracket for your camera. I prefer the Kirk Enterprises L-brackets made for each camera body I have, but Universal L-brackets can work:
To level the head to your own tripod with a flat plate or center column you also need one of these between them:
If you want to have the most optimized fluid head setup possible, then get a bowl tripod and adaptor like these:
