Weshoot.com

The Official We Shoot Blog

  • Home
  • About
  • To Comment

Archive for March, 2012

Video And Animation . . .

Sunday, March 18th, 2012

I think that video and animation is something that stills photographers have to become more aware of in order to be competitive.  One of the areas is simple animation of still photographs.  Fortunately, Photoshop CS5 has an application within it to take your still photo and make a short animated video that can keep on running on your web page to attract attention.  Older versions may have this capability also, but since I no longer have any of them available, I can only speak to what I have.  (See the image below to get an idea of what can be done.)  I have used the header image from our We Shoot Facebook page at http://on.fb.me/kH0Ozp to make a flashing “Eat at Joe’s” type of billboard for this purpose.  There are three transitions: First, just as a collage; second, “Call Now” is added; and, third, our phone number is flashed over our name.

I won’t go into how to make such an animation except to say that you go into the menu at the top of Photoshop and pick Window>Animation.  You can look up how to use this in the help menu, or go to Vimeo or Youtube to get step-by-step instructions on how to carry this out.  If you already have a knowledge of timelines in slideshows or video editing programs, you are already on your way.

BTW, the file size can be made relatively small, and take almost no time to load.  The animation will not work on some web pages, such as on Flickr, but will work elsewhere, and unless you have it blocked on your own website, it will probably work there.  As you can see, it works on this blog.

Have fun.

-Gary Silverstein

We Shoot

Tags: animation, fun, http://weshoot.com, photography, Seattle commercial and advertising photography, stills, video
Posted in How To, Marketing, Tips | Comments Off on Video And Animation . . .

Megapixel madness . . .

Tuesday, March 6th, 2012

First, let me say that I have nothing against technology.  I, as a professional photographer, use it every day.  The problem with the newest and greatest technology is determining what you really need, and secure that for your business.

New cameras have come out with incredible capabilities.  These include the Nikon D800 (in two forms) and the Canon 5D Mk III.  The former has 36.6 megapixels, and the latter has around 22.3.  Both shoot HD video.

Let’s look at what is needed.  I have been a photographer for a long time.  I currently shoot for various companies on assignments that include food, products, services, architecture, and lifestyle images.  I cut my teeth on event and consumer photography.  One thing I can tell you is that it is folly to show up with only one camera to a professional shoot, especially if reshooting it is difficult or downright impossible.  Let’s take a wedding photographer, for example.  Let’s say he has $3K-$3.5K to spend on a camera or cameras.  Should he buy one new Nikon D800 or Canon 5D Mk III to shoot weddings, or should he buy two Nikon D300s or Canon 7Ds?

I would say he should buy 2 of either of the latter 2 cameras.  First we usually buy the brand that will accept our older lenses.  That usually dictates the brand.  For weddings these days, how many people will be buying or making anything larger than an 8X10?

You don’t need over 12 megapixels for anything under 30X40 (and you might even be able to push it to 40X60).  Most images are printed smaller, and even wind up on the web, where a sub- one-megabyte image has sufficient size.  The only photographers who need such a large megapixel camera are those who produce images in excess of 30X40, or severely crop an image from the original size.  An 8X10 from a D800 won’t necessarily be better-looking than one from a D300!

Let’s also look at logistics.  A 12.2-megapixel D300 Nikon produces a tiff file around 35-megabytes (8-bit).  A D800 is said to produce a tiff image at around 76-megabytes (8-bit).  In Photoshop, professional photographers regularly make layers to enhance their images.  Each layer adds multiples to the size of that file, and unless you have a pretty robust 64-bit computer system, it may create delays in workflow, or even give you dreaded “out of memory” messages.

The second argument for buying two of the same camera is that you have a backup for the first camera.  The lenses are interchangeable.  A wedding couple and their families don’t want to hear that your camera failed during their wedding and you didn’t get the pictures.  When we did weddings during the days of film, we used to show up with no less that 3 medium-format camera bodies, 3 lenses, and multiple film inserts or backs.  We also had two shooters, and this allowed broader coverage.  If you are hired to shoot, and you do not deliver, you may be in breach of contract, will possibly get sued, and will definitely generate bad will.  This is very bad in this modern age, what with Facebook and Yelp.

My advice is if you are considering going pro, buy affordable cameras in pairs, or even use an older camera to back up your newer one.  Never turn up for a pro shoot with just one camera.  It can be a recipe for disaster.

– Gary Silverstein

We Shoot

Tags: Canon 5D Mk III, commercial photography, enlargement, megapixel, Nikon D300, Nikon D800, weshoot.com
Posted in Tips | Comments Off on Megapixel madness . . .

  • Categories

    • How To (20)
    • Information (547)
    • Learning (30)
    • Lighting (179)
    • Marketing (291)
    • Photographs, Images (544)
    • Tips (38)
    • Uncategorized (2)
    • video (13)
  • Archives

    • June 2025
    • May 2025
    • April 2025
    • January 2025
    • December 2024
    • November 2024
    • September 2024
    • August 2024
    • July 2024
    • June 2024
    • May 2024
    • April 2024
    • March 2024
    • February 2024
    • December 2023
    • November 2023
    • October 2023
    • September 2023
    • August 2023
    • July 2023
    • May 2023
    • February 2023
    • January 2023
    • October 2022
    • September 2022
    • August 2022
    • July 2022
    • March 2022
    • February 2022
    • January 2022
    • December 2021
    • July 2021
    • June 2021
    • May 2021
    • April 2021
    • March 2021
    • February 2021
    • January 2021
    • December 2020
    • November 2020
    • October 2020
    • September 2020
    • August 2020
    • July 2020
    • June 2020
    • May 2020
    • April 2020
    • March 2020
    • February 2020
    • January 2020
    • December 2019
    • November 2019
    • October 2019
    • September 2019
    • August 2019
    • July 2019
    • June 2019
    • May 2019
    • April 2019
    • March 2019
    • February 2019
    • January 2019
    • December 2018
    • November 2018
    • October 2018
    • September 2018
    • August 2018
    • July 2018
    • June 2018
    • May 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • January 2018
    • December 2017
    • November 2017
    • October 2017
    • September 2017
    • August 2017
    • July 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • April 2017
    • March 2017
    • February 2017
    • January 2017
    • December 2016
    • November 2016
    • October 2016
    • September 2016
    • August 2016
    • July 2016
    • June 2016
    • May 2016
    • April 2016
    • March 2016
    • February 2016
    • January 2016
    • December 2015
    • November 2015
    • October 2015
    • September 2015
    • August 2015
    • July 2015
    • June 2015
    • May 2015
    • July 2014
    • June 2014
    • May 2014
    • September 2013
    • June 2013
    • March 2013
    • February 2013
    • January 2013
    • December 2012
    • October 2012
    • July 2012
    • June 2012
    • May 2012
    • March 2012
    • February 2012
    • December 2011
    • September 2011
    • August 2011
    • July 2011
    • March 2011
    • December 2010
    • October 2010
    • September 2010
    • July 2010
    • June 2010
  • Meta

    • Log in
    • Entries RSS
    • Comments RSS
    • WordPress.org

Copyright © 2025 - weshoot.com | Entries (RSS) | Comments (RSS)

WordPress theme designed by web design