last of the q and a's

Let's get down to it! LOL!!

From Karen: For action pictures, do you use the auto focus on one-shot, AI focus or AI servo? Or do you just focus manually?

Karen, I keep my camera in AI servo almost 90% percent of the time. Since I shot mostly kids, I have to be on my toes because they move around so much. I rarely shoot in one-shot AF and I need to try AI focus, since using AI servo, it works great for me, so I haven't switch over. LOL!!

From Rebecca: I am wondering what camera and lens you use, who your web host (template too?) is and also who you use for your prints. Also, I have Photoshop Elements and am wondering if/when you will have Actions for that in the future? Thanks a bunch for everything!

I promise soon Rebecca for the PSE actions. =) My camera is a Canon 20d and I have 3 prime lenses....30mm 1.4, 50mm 1.8 and the 85mm 1.8. My website template is from Winklet and I host through Go Daddy. =) I use a bunch of different labs for my prints, cards, canvases and all the other stuff between. Certain paper brands pick up or loose color, hence the reason I use a bunch of different companies. =)

From Megan: When shooting younger kids, how do you get them to not notice that you have a camera in your hand? My daughter is just over a year old, and the minute I get the camera out, no matter how sneaky I am, she crawls right up to me, and grabs for the camera.

LOL Megan...and Sam was just the opposite! She would take off or turn away from it. =) When I'm at a session, I don't shoot right away, I get down and play and talk with them first. I do have my camera out so it's not like they don't see it. If they seem interested in it, I let them touch and look at it (I'm holding it of course). If they are older, I let them take a couple pictures (again, I'm holding it) and let them see what they took. That usually works for me....they have such a short attention span, something usually grabs their attention 3 minutes later and they completely forgot about it. LOL!!

From Teresa: I wonder what kind of stuff (props, etc) brenda brings on a shoot.

I think almost every client as ask for me to bring the angel wings (which reminds me I need to get another pair). LOL!! I'll bring my pettiskirt and tutu if I've got little girls booked. That's it....I bring my reflector but usually forget to use it and I've brought fun blankets and baskets too but only to a couple. =)

From Marie: would you recommend(sp?) the sigma 30mm1.4? I already have the 50mm&85mm and i love them both but i need something wider.. and i'm not sure if i should go with this one or the canon 35mm or 28mm... ok so basically what i'm asking is if you can tell the pros and cons of it, etc. thanks =)

I LOVE that lens Marie.....I honestly can't think of a con for it. It did however get some getting use too because I used my 85 all the time. It's a wonderful lens and I got it just for the reason you mentioned. I don't think that you could go wrong with any of the ones you're looking at....it's just a matter of playing with it. You'll love it not only for families but for indoor shots like kids playing in their rooms and you want the full shot of the room. Also for those as I call "peep-hole" shots...like when you're standing above your subject and it looks like something you see when looking through a peep-hole. One thing it does as I'm sure all of the wide lenses do is if you're to close to your subject, it will give you a lens vingette. I actually like it but I know others don't. =)

From Kendra: My question is about black and whites...seems I've been working on mine for about a year...I've been working with your b&w actions, which are great! But I still struggle to get the quality you get in your black and whites...creamy skin tones, real depth, jump off the page kinda black and whites. Any advice?thanks!!!

Kendra, I think that if you shoot wide open, that may help you with what you want. If you close it, everthing will look like it's on the same focal plan but if you open up you aperture, you will almost have that 3-D look. =) I rarely go below 3.2.

With my action, there are so many things that you can do with it. I sometimes will add a curves adjustment layer and click on the blackeye dropper first and go to the box at the bottom (which indicates your shadows) and bring that line down a tad. I then will click on the white eyedropper (this indicates your highlights) and go to the top of the box and bring that up some. And last of all and I don't do this all the time, it just depends on what I'm looking for, I'll click on the gray eyedropper (your midtones) and either bring that up or down. Your goal is to creative a slight S-curve. This will give you some awesome contrast. =) Also, running a vingette is a great way to acheive what you're looking for and I will also burn and dodge areas too. =)

From Sarah Bear: For your process you said you burn a DVD then put all the good ones to a folder and batch them to be resized at 5x7 - then do your post processing. What happens then if a client wants larger images (which of your shots they probably wish they could have wallpaper)? I know I probably misunderstood something, but if you do all your work to a 5x7 then do you have to do it all again to the original that is at a higher resolution?

Sarah, nope, I don't have to redo it. In my info to my clients I have an example of cropping ratios so they know that if they go larger, it will not look like the 5x7 they are shown. And I save all my images as 300 dpi at 5x7. Now, if I get a large print and the crop looks off and I did have extra room in the original, I will go back and use that one....it really depends on the size. I know some people prefer to crop in 8x10 at 300 dpi but the 5x7 crop works great for me. =)

From Pure Expressions: How did you make it so that when you right click on an image on here, it wont allow it?? I LOVE that feature! And would like to apply that to my photos as well!

Well, the wonderful Tiffany told me about this and sent me the code...I hope she doesn't mind me sharing. Tiffany, let me know if you want me to take it off. =)

Opps, blogger isn't allowing me to post it because of the tags. If you just email me I'll send it to you. If you have a Typepad account, I'm not sure how you install it.....sorry. =(

That's it folks...thanks for the questions and hopefully I was able to help out some. =)