damian

@apurcell it is amazing!

Hello, I want to share my adventure with Solar Eclipse, The first time I saw a total eclipse, I decided to go all in and try what I could get. I used a Sony 200-600 with 2x teleconverter and a Sony a7IV, I am so happy with the results. It was shot from around the Bloomington, IN location.

@tonygale thanks this is helpful!

Hello I am searching the internet, but I can't find it anywhere, how do I set up auto exposure for video in Sony a7IV, I want to explore this option and see if that works for me, it would be great to have always same exposure in all my shots! Thanks for help.

@tonygale thanks a lot, that is useful!

Hello, I have a problem, should my camera automatically adjust focus when I point at something in AFC mode without pressing the button halfway? Because it does not adjust focus until I press a button halfway. I have a Sony a7IV and 20-70mm f/4 Thank you

@tonygale thank you! it was a beautiful evening!

Happy New Year! I got a chance to take some photos of fireworks in Naples, Florida. Here I results, I was very happy to see Sony a7 IV performing like this!

@CarolineJensen anything for a good shot! 😄

@CarolineJensen thank you! it was fun trip! still healing poison ivy!

@CarolineJensen it’s beautiful!

absolutely stunning!

Introduction Do you want to learn more about exposure and dynamic range as a photographer? Gaining proficiency with the zone system is a great start to developing a deeper understanding of these photographic aspects. You can read the lighting and tone of a scene with the Ansel Adams zone system. Once you have accomplished this, you can set your exposure with confidence. You will be aware of the photographic rendering of the image. Either in color or monochrome. Why use the Ansel Adams zone system? The zone system can help you improve the art and craft of your photography. It was designed to help photographers achieve the greatest possible tonal scale for their monochrome images. Although its technique was initially designed to work with film that was not as technologically advanced as modern film, its basic approach can benefit all photographers, regardless of the platform they choose. The Ansel Adams zone system The zone system designates brightness values from 0 to 10, where 0 is black, 5 is middle grey and 10 is pure white. These numbers are referred to as zones. To make zones easily distinguishable from other quantities, Adams and Archer normally used Roman rather than Arabic numerals. Ansel Adams and Fred Archer created the zone system, a photographic method for figuring out the best film exposure and development. To become an expert in the field, you must study theory, just like you would in any creative endeavor. When setting your exposures, the zone system method gives you the confidence to take more daring and creative risks. You can more confidently adjust your ISO, shutter speed, and aperture once you comprehend the zone system. Zone Description 0 Pure black I Near black, with slight tonality but no texture II Textured black; the darkest part of the image in which sight details are recorded. III Average dark materials and low values showing adequate texture. IV Average dark foliage, dark stone, or landscape shadows V Middle gray: clear north sky; dark skin, average weathered wood VI Average Caucasian skin; light stone; shadows on the snow in sunlit landscapes VII Very light skin; shadows in the snow with acute side lighting VIII Lightest tone with texture: textured snow IX Slight tone without texture; glaring snow X Pure white: light sources and specular reflections – paperwhite, no detail Ansel Adams’ system of 11 zones was designed to capture the gradation of all the various tonal values you would see in a black and white print, with zone 5 representing middle grey, zone 0 representing pure black (with no detail), and zone 10 representing pure white. In Adam Ansel’s zone system, each zone represents one f-stop exposure. You will also notice there is an 11-stop difference between pure black and pure white and a 7-stop difference between the darkest black with detail and the lightest white with detail. That gives us a good deal of flexibility, which is one of the reasons we enjoy movies. Sadly, it is not possible to adapt his way of photographing to digital photography. When we expose the dark areas of the photo, the risk of overexposure to the light areas will occur. As everyone knows, there is no way to recover overexposed areas in digital photography. We all have heard the phrase for that kind of overexposure: blown-out highlights. The main distinction with analog film is also this. Analog film allows for recoverable overexposure but not underexposure. This is true for digital photography as well up to a point of course. This indicates that digital photography can not use Ansel Adams’s basic rule. Digital photography still can use the Ansel Adams zone system. Instead of exposing for the shadows and developing for the highlights, we need to expose for the highlights and develop for the shadows. It’s a minor adjustment but one that matters greatly. Exposure to the Right (EttR) is akin to this new base rule when it comes to contemporary digital photography. Exposure to the right is simply exposing for the highlights while ensuring that no highlight is blown out. This results in a histogram positioned on the right side of the graph. It is the only way to preserve as much as possible. And avoid having an entirely black image in the process. Without appropriate post-processing, exposure to the right and exposure to the highlights will not produce a usable image. To achieve the ideal contrast, it is imperative to manipulate the shades of gray. Utilizing a raw file format is crucial as it allows you to utilize the digital sensor’s absolute maximum dynamic range. The nine shades of gray from the Ansel Adams zone system can be used once more when post-processing your raw image. Original post: https://coffeewithdamian.com/blog/ansel-adams-zone-system/

Full adventure here: https://coffeewithdamian.com/blog/how-did-i-end-up-on-lombard-st-and-crash-my-drone/ I got a chance to go to San Francisco for one day and test my new a7IV and DJI mini drone, the city is pure magic!

@bmcdonough thank you! It is so good!

My new puppy needs a proper introduction, so I decided to do a nice photoshoot, Ladies and Gentlemen let me introduce Sony a7IV!!!

There are many great techniques that allow us to add movement or other elements of visual interest to our images during capture. Some of these include multiple exposures, multiple flash exposures, or panning photography. Dragging the shutter while using the flash is one such trick and it’s not difficult to use but you must know a few things. Let me show you! What is shutter drag? Shutter dragging combines flash, and freezes our subject with a slow shutter speed to capture motion blur. When shooting in low light conditions, a slower shutter speed allows more light to reach the sensor to create an exposure. It also captures the movement of anything in the frame, which we call motion blur. If we don’t use a tripod while taking long exposure shots, they can also be blurry from camera shake. With the shutter drag, we intentionally introduce a camera shake or motion blur into the shot for a creative effect. Shutter dragging is a two-step process for each exposure. First, the flash freezes the subject in the frame so that they are sharp. Now move the camera while the shutter is open to create a light path with the background light. It’s a great combination of sharp and soft. What gear do I need for shutter dragging? For shutter dragging, we don’t need that much equipment. The important things are given below: A camera with manual shooting mode A speedlite flash ( A wide-angle lens (Sony 16-35mm f/2.8) Editing software Sometimes, we need to shoot in low-light conditions with obvious ambient light in the background. Step 1: Choose the aperture. It should be around f/5.6-8.0 to make sure that we have a wide depth of field. Step 2: Set up shutter speed. Now we need to choose a shutter speed slow enough to allow our subject to move after the flash fires. This is variable, I would recommend starting with 1/6s. Step 3: Set up ISO and flash power. Because it is so dark usually ISO would be around 800-1000, and flash at 1/64, 1/128 as you don’t want to use full power right in front of your subject. Step 4: Choose the subject. Need to treat it like a normal shot because it will be the main focus of my image. Step 5: Take a Photo. When the flash fires, it records the first pose our subject has. After that, move your camera so the lights in the background get blurred. Step 6: Make adjustments. Now that we have a test Shot, we can evaluate how the image looks and adjust our shutter speed, aperture, ISO, and flash power. Step 7: Take some more photo Need to take as many pictures as possible to make sure we get the results we want. Sometimes, magic happens, and get it in the first few frames, but other times it might not. So we should continue taking pictures until we are confident about the results. We can say that shutter dragging is all experimental. Because sometimes we get results that are disappointing or don’t look right. It can happen to anyone. So, if this happens to you, these tips and ideas can be helpful. Light trails aren’t very long If the light traits are too short, just speed up the shutter speed, or increase the movement of the camera. Do the images look a bit blurry and confusing? If the images are blurry or confusing, try using a slower shutter speed first, or increase aperture. Also, remember to have setting of your flash set up to the front curtain! Is your subject blown out? If the flash is a little too powerful, try reducing its power output or decreasing ISO. The light trails are obscuring my subject If you Drag your camera across your subject, it can draw light trails over them. Instead, spinning or twisting the camera can help. Is shutter dragging good for different situations? Flash freezes the subject, which means keeping the camera still but letting the motion in the background do the work. It could be passing traffic or any moving subject with lights.

Hello, I took an awesome photo of a dollar bill but Photoshop won't even allow me to open it! I was surprised, and read some articles about it, it looks like technically we can print it if it is 150% bigger than the original. But I can't find anywhere online anyone selling this type of print. Does anyone have more info on that? Thank you.

My last blog post on bokeh, original here: https://coffeewithdamian.com/blog/what-is-bokeh/ Bokeh has become popular among photographers these days because it can make images look more visually appealing. The term bokeh photography comes from the Japanese word bokeh, which means ‘blur‘ in English. In this blog, I will discuss what is bokeh in photography. What is bokeh in photography? Bokeh has two meanings in photography. The first is an out-of-focus area of the image. It is produced when the photographer uses a shallow depth of field, meaning only part of the image is in focus and the rest is blurred. This type of bokeh is generally considered a desirable effect. The second type of bokeh isn’t as widely used as the first, but it’s still worth knowing. This type refers to lens distortion that creates a circle or starburst shape in the out-of-focus region. Some people like this type of bokeh because it gives images a unique look, but others find it undesirable for artistic reasons or because it can reduce image quality. Different types of lenses can produce different types of bokeh, so you can use your camera lens to create images with different effects. What is the bokeh effect? The bokeh effect is a term used to describe the aesthetic quality of blurring produced by a lens in the out-of-focus area of an image. The popularity of bokeh in photography is increasing because it is able to draw attention to specific parts of an image. Moreover, the bokeh effect can be used to highlight a specific part of the image to separate a subject from its background. Bokeh is even defined as “the way the lens casts light outside the focus point”. Due to differences in lens aberrations and aperture sizes, some lenses blur images in a way that’s pleasing to the eye, while others are unpleasant or confusing, producing “good” and “bad” bokeh, respectively. How to get a good bokeh effect? The main purpose of achieving this effect is to use a narrow depth of field to separate the subject from the background. This tutorial will teach you how to get good bokeh for your photos. Bokeh is one of the most impressive effects that can be applied to a photograph, especially portraits. It can make a photo much more interesting and attractive, adding a sense of perfection to everything. Bokeh contributes to creating a dreamy background that gives the image a whole new dimension and depth. There are many ways to achieve bokeh in photography and one of them is the use of shallow depth of field in your camera lens. To get good bokeh, your lens aperture should be as wide as possible so you can experience a shallow depth of field. What to Look for in a Lens? Different types of lenses are available: fixed focal length (prime) lenses, zoom lenses, and macro lenses. Each lens has its own characteristics that will help you achieve different effects. One way to control the appearance of the bokeh is to choose which lens I use for the shoot. For large-scale bokeh, I choose a wide aperture lens with a small f-number and shoot at a short distance from the subject. The closer you are to your subject and the wider the aperture, the bigger your bokeh! For example, if I want more background blur, I need something more like a telephoto lens, for example, 50mm, 85mm, 105mm with aperture f/1.4 – f/1.8. Some zoom lenses can allow this too because they cover a much larger range and can close-up on the subject, but prime lenses are ideal for this purpose. Best lens for bokeh Although bokeh is actually a feature of a photograph, the lens used determines the size and shape of the visible bokeh. Usually seen more in highlights, bokeh is affected by the shape of the lens’s diaphragm blades (aperture). A lens with a more rounded blade shape will have soft orbs of round, out-of-focus highlights, while a lens with an aperture that is more hexagonal in shape will reflect that shape into the highlights. No need to worry even if you don’t have a very fast lens. By increasing the distance between the background and the subject, bokeh can be seen in images shot at small apertures such as f/8. Sony lenses: Sony 50mm f/1.4 Sony 85mm f/1.4 Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 Bokeh photography camera settings First, need to compose the shot. A beautiful bokeh effect does not mean that the composition will be forgotten. Instead, look for colors in the background that complement or match the colors of the main subjects. By blurring the bokeh, background colors will be amplified and diffused so choosing the right background can create a nicer aesthetic and give the bokeh more purpose. Second, when I said that very little light orbs are not the definition of bokeh they look nice in the background. When shooting at night in a city or in front of a Christmas tree I can capture those twinkling little lights that blur the background like magical orbs. Finally, once the frame is created, open the aperture as wide as possible (f/1.4 – f/2.8) to place the focus point on the subject. If the subject is static, use a One Shot AF-S mode and navigate to the focus point to ensure the outline is sharp. Now, bokeh appears in the background as the focus point is set and the DoF is adjusted. If everything is fine – take the shot! Looking to learn more about photography? Check out my blog!

@TrekRover you will love it! There is a guide on my website!

@avmil so true, but they make zoom lenses so good those days too! 85mm is a monster!

My trip to Quito! What should you see when you are in the capital of Ecuador? All shot on Sony A6600! Will be glad for feedback.

What are the best wedding photography lenses? original post: https://coffeewithdamian.com/blog/wedding-photography-lenses/ Weddings are the most important days in our lives. So people capture this day’s activities on camera to retain this moment forever. They always try to find the best wedding photographer for their wedding. And for the best lenses are very important. There are lots of choices when it comes to lenses, companies are always coming out with new products. Many photographers are attracted to these bright and shiny things and end up with a huge collection of lenses, many of which rarely see the light of day. Based on my experience I want to share a list of what I found most useful lenses for a wedding day. I do use Sony lenses but I will also share Canon’s equivalents. The list is given below: 70-200mm f/2.8 24-70mm f/2.8 85mm prime f/1.4 50mm prime f/1.4 35mm prime f/1.4 90mm f/2.8, a macro lens 14mm f/1.8, super wide angle 70-200mm f/2.8 It’s a versatile lens that creates beautiful bokeh, especially with 200mm and even stopped-down apertures. It gives you amazing sharpness at all focal lengths. This is the best long lens for outdoor portraits. A 70-200mm f/2.8 camera lens is especially useful during wedding ceremonies when you’d rather be far away and out of sight. The camera lens lets you capture candids from tears at the wedding ceremony to smiles at the wedding reception. It allows you to discreetly capture ring exchanges, vows, and kisses. Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 24-70mm f/2.8 The 24-70mm f/2.8 offers focal length versatility when you’re shooting on the go, which wedding photographers need for most of the day. You can use this lens for wide-ranging location shots, candid shots of people, guests arriving, people mingling and chatting while waiting for the ceremony to begin or at the wedding breakfast, and so on. The 24-70mm f/2.8 camera lens can capture wide enough positions. If you need to take a wider photograph, you can take several photos and stitch them together as a panorama in Photoshop. Setting the exposure for a series of shots is the same, it’s easy enough to do by standing at a fixed point, and then capturing a set of images while adjusting your composition slightly. You can also do the same for a photo of all the guests. Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 85mm f/1.4 prime I use this camera lens for portraits of the bride and groom, bridesmaids and groomsmen, individual guests, small groups, and so on. The best thing about this lens is that it is tack-sharp from the sweet spot. Accurate, light-sensitive, with great results; It’s my go-to lens, and it never leaves my bag. As a prime lens, the 85mm is fast, small, and extremely reliable. As a fixed lens, an 85mm prime requires more work on your part; Zoom in and out with your feet. But the extra effort is worth it. Portraits are clearer, backgrounds are creamier and it’s a great lens in very low-light situations. Sony 85mm f/1.4 50mm f/1.4 prime This is another one of my favorite lenses. The 50mm focal length is great for portraits, and it can save the day when the light starts to fade. The wide aperture allows you to rely less on your flash, and it creates a softer and more natural look for your subjects. Sony 50mm f/1.4 35mm f/1.4 prime If there’s one lens I can always count on, it’s this one, the 35mm prime. It’s an ultra-versatile lens that you can use to photograph the bride getting ready, a time when wedding photographers are usually under pressure to capture everything. This includes the location, lots of accessories, any small details, candid shots, dresses, natural interactions between the bride and her loved ones, and group portraits. This lens is super fast and sharp. With this lens, you can get closer, which is very convenient when you are in a crowded place. Sony 35mm f/1.4 Macro lens A macro lens is absolutely important if you want to capture detailed images of the rings You can use your macro lens to photograph jewelry and other accessories while the bride is getting ready. If the bride’s dress is embellished with jewels, a macro lens will also be ideal for capturing detailed images. Sony 90mm f/2.8 Macro Wide angle lens Very useful lens when you want to capture the “environment”. If it is a ceremony in a beautiful church or you want to have your couple in a landscape, that lens will help you have a great visualization of the environment. Also can be used on the dance floor or and other tight places with a cool effect of “fish-eye”. Sony 14mm f/1.8 or Sony 16-35mm f/2.8 Summary From this blog, you will get details information about the best wedding camera lenses. After getting the information, you can now decide which one is right to capture the beautiful photographs of your big day. The first lens I would buy if I start building my set again would be 24-70mm f/2.8, it is the most versatile lens and can be used for almost everything. The second one would be 70-200mm f/2.8, those 2 lenses would give you a range from 24-200mm which is basically all you need! After that start putting together your “prime” set, depending on your style of photography 85mm for classic portraits and 35mm for more environmental portraits. Lastly Macro and wide-angle lenses. Let me know in the comments what is in your bag! If you looking for ideas about wedding poses, check out this article, and this one for a wedding timeline, to stay organized and make it a less stressful day!

It is awesome! Adventure always!

Thank you for that valuable feedback!