Personally, I would not mind if there was a basic certification to regulate the industry. The fact is there has been an increased interest from photographers, hobbyists and business owners to integrate into their offering. With the advent of gps in the “drones” it has become easier to fly. But stuff happens, how many pilots will know how to safely react and land without injuring anyone or damaging property? And if you’re flying without FAA knowledge or permission will your insurance still cover you?
I just wish the FAA would do their job and let us get back to ours.
All posts by zphotog@gmail.com
To Tour or not to Tour…
That is the question……
This is the good and bad of being stuck on a tour bus. Patti Zwink and I went to Cuba. We decided we wanted to see Cuba before it was “Americanized” and for a first trip a tour would be the best way to see the country. Over the next few day’s I’ll share what we saw, a mere glimpse. This is from the first day of being in country.
Images shot with an iPhone 6+ and a Nikon D810 with a 24-70 lens.
It’s All-Star Time
Summer for a lot of parents mean a lot of time spent at the ballpark practicing and on the weekend All-Star tournaments. Payton, one of my granddaughters fits into that category. But this isn’t about her story. As they used to say these are “Kodak Moments”. If you spend all that time you need good memories. And not just the team or posed photo. So I’m going to share a couple tips to improve your chance to get good photos.
This is not the big leagues. Every where you look there are fences you have to shoot through. Most of the photos above were taken through fences. If you have a dslr first put your shutter speed on a high setting, 1/320 or higher. The longer your lens the faster your shutter should be to minimize vibration and movement in the photos. Your aperture (f4.0, 5.6, 8.0) on the lens should be at the smallest setting. The ASA should be set as low as possible to get a quality image. But if you need go up to asa 400 or 640 to get the proper settings. These combinations when shooting through the fence will start to give you good results. To improve on that go to the side of the fence where the sun is behind you or totally in the shade. Move the lens as close to the fence as possible. What you want to do is avoid the sun bouncing off the fence into your lens. Remember your pictures that look foggy? That’s what happened. The light bounced into the lens creating flare (photo term). This won’t work all the time but most.
What if you have a iPhone or Android? Same concept. Get close to the fence. Make sure you know where the lens is and carefully place it in-between the wire so you have a clear shot. And don’t forget to use the zoom. As our editors always said, “fill the frame”. Lastly, do you use one hand when holding your smartphone? Unless you’re blessed with ultra steady hands don’t. Two hands will make you steadier and your photos sharper. Below are a couple tips that will give you your “Kodak Moment”.
• Move around. Don’t always shoot from the same place.
• Don’t just shoot the action. Look for reactions. Sports is about emotion, the kids having fun.
• If you have a long (large 200 or longer) lens go to the end of the fence to get different looks. Even if they look small in the frame you can crop in. If your camera has a lot of megapixels use it.
• Learn your camera. Don’t wait till you get to the ballpark to figure out how to use it. You don’t want to miss the action.
• Have fun. Capture the action but always remember, it about the kids. They won’t always be young.
Revisit and Revive the Old
Need something to do but want to be productive? Revisit your old files and take a fresh look at them. Perhaps you missed an interesting image or, it just wasn’t edited right. Here are three images that I shot in 2012 back in Kansas, where I grew up. 
This one I particularly like. I missed originally that it was sitting in a pocket of light shining through the trees. Once I started working on the file I also saw the subtle pink and magenta tone sitting in the low laying clouds. 
I was stoked. I’ve shot thousands of images from Kansas over the years and many views get a repeated look. Different times of the year, different times of the day. You never know where that special light will occur, or if it’s already in your images. Revisit….
My website: www.zwink.com Techy stuff: post production in Adobe Lightroom 5.
Would you still love me if I had a BRAIN tumor?
Charlie
(This is a guest blog written by my oldest daughter Rhianna. “Rana” is our oldest, probably our most unique, well all our kids are Unique. But she has alway seemed to have a very eclectic mixture of friends. I met Charlie yesterday. Charlie just finished treatment for a brain tumor. He seems like a very happy kid. We’re not sure if it was successful yet.)
Allow me to introduce you to Charlie! He is 14 years old, loves soccer & snowboarding and has a heart of gold! How bad do you want to pinch his freckled cheeks?!?! Back in March, after 8 weeks of complaining of headaches and umpteen tests his family received a phone call that would change their lives!
Charlie was diagnosed with a medulloblastoma, a malignant brain tumor! After surgery to remove the tumor and several rounds of chemo & radiation Charlie is on his way to recovery! This poor kid has been through more torture than anyone should ever have to go through let alone a child!!
Charlie is the youngest brother of one of my closest friends, Chelsea!! They are 12 years apart so Charlie is more like a child to Chelsea than a brother. She absolutely adores this kid and will do anything for him! And he certainly looks up to her! Next to Mom, he wants Chelsea there with him for all the bad as well as the good throughout this journey. I am forever in awe of this entire family and their love & commitment to each other and giving all they can to help charlie through this nightmare!!
For more info here is a online fundraiser to help defray the exhorbidant expense of the treatment and surgery. http://www.youcaring.com/medical-fundraiser/help-charlie-our-13-year-old-son-fight-brain-cancer/163010
Is Diversity Good for the Career?
I just spent the week going thru my Hawaii archives….and I came across a folder from a trip back home a couple years ago. Not sure where it is exactly, sometimes I just drive. As a documentary photographer I’m drawn to places like this, to get a glimpse into our past. I think then I’m partially a historian.
But in my day to day life I promote myself as a architectural and corporate photographer. Can I do both? Not if I want the big boys to take me serious. This was a concept I struggled with mighty in the past. I was trained as a photojournalist. As such you had to learned to be good in several specialties. The more diverse, the more value you were to the editorial brand. I took pride in being able to venture into unknown situations and produce, it’s what we did.
As a “commercial” photographer the more you specialize, the more value you bring to the table, the more you can charge. The perception is that your image as a specialist will bring more value to their product, brand and reputation. It isn’t always who is the best image maker, who is perceived as such.
In my financial portfolio, I diversify, as a business owner I’m an Architectural Photographer (and don’t tell anyone, a darn good documentary, travel and corporate one also).
My work: http://www.zwink.com My editorial archives: http://www.bigstudioz.com
Is it Art, Pt.2?
I wrote this post a little over a year ago on a different site. I have spent a lot of time since then thinking about the topic and then expanding it to what is photography? I’ll let you savor on the post for a couple days and then I’ll share some thoughts.
I was in SF last week on an extensive corporate photo shoot for Swinerton. When I was leaving I decided to take the Treasure Island exit on the way back to the airport. The last time I was on TI was in 1975 when it was a Navy Base and I was a naive young seaman in Electronic Warfare school. So many memories…… I first decided to do a quick photo shoot of the skyline which was etched in my memory. I first shot it with my Nikon D3 and then decided to try my iPhone on Hipstamatic mode. Ugh…… it looked as flat and hazy as the skyline. So then I opened my new favorite app. Snapseed. With a few adjustments and then a frame adjustment the above photo is what I ended up with. I know, it looks grainy and it does. But, the end result is that I’m going to print it on watercolor on my Epson inkjet printer. A few years ago I did a similar series that I printed on the watercolor paper and it looked great. Now, we’ll find out how IPhone photos hold up.
The techy stuff: camera: iPhone 4 (the 5 is on order)
Apps: Hipstamatic and Snapseed by Nik
My real work is at: http://www.zwink.com
Birthday Girl
My three Gds (l-r) Payton, Natty and Parker
This post is actually for my Granddaughter, Payton. I hope someday she spends some time and reads my blog to see what “PoppaZ” did and thought. But I’m a little ahead of myself.
Payton Jo Rohrer was born seven years ago yesterday. It has been a crazy time. Having a grand daughter is the best reminder that you’re not young anymore. I’m not….
I was very blessed to have been invited to see the birth of Payton. I was there documenting the experience until the doctor told me to get out. A short time later we heard the newborn cry. And there she was.
Payton created a lot of fun even before she was born. Her mom, Tiffany, and I had several heated discussions about the choice of Payton as a name. My argument, it’s a boy’s name and as a Charger’s fan, it’s the same as Payton Manning, our arch nemesis, on the football field. I lost the argument, and Payton Jo it was.
Personally, I was hoping she’d be born on the 4th of July. It would be special imagining her sharing a famous holiday as PoppaZ does (Cinco de Mayo). But once again true to her Mom’s stubbornness Payton arrived on the 3rd instead. She wasn’t going to share here birthday with anyone….. Happy Bday Pay.
A New View from Above
I have done a lot of aerials for clients the last several years. But as clients tightened their budgets the number of aerial assignments drastically decreased. As an alternative we invested in a DJI Phantom Vision + and are in the early stages of testing. They are several potential issue ranging from the paranoid uninformed public, insurance and future FAA regulations. The plus side is being able to achieve lower level views than from a $650 per hour helicopter, work within tighter budgets and product creative imagery. The times are changing but change can be fun.
More of my work is at: www.zwink.com
How I get a week’s worth of Work!!!!!
GO ON VACATION…… SERIOUSLY!!!
I have a phobia of losing clients by going on vacation. So I try and be the good communicator and notify my clients of upcoming trips and vacations so they don’t (hopefully) schedule or plan anything during that time frame. This way clients know and I have a few days to pack or relax before heading to the airport.
WRONG…. I don’t know if it’s the law of attraction but 90% of the time I end up shooting during the week and finishing the post production just before the early morning trip to the airport. I end up catching up on my sleep on the flight to our destination.
The last time I failed to send out my obligatory email was when my father died and I flew back to Kansas. My primary client at the time called me the day of the funeral and asked if I could do a major rebranding shoot in two days. No, I replied my father just passed away, can we reschedule the shoot for a week later. No they replied. That week I lost two very important parts of my life. One can’t be replaced.
btw, I’m going on vacation next Sat. and I sent “the email”. I’m shooting for four days, doing one day of post production and then off to New Orleans. I hope your thoughts of vacation are as productive.
Some of my vacation photos are at: www:zwink.com