Build Your Online Photography Portfolio - Squarespace Tutorial

Traditionally, building an online photography portfolio was either very time consuming or very expensive. Squarespace is a service that offers all of the tools that you need to build a professional looking site with no knowledge of coding or design.

I was able to try Squarespace this weekend and decided to migrate my hole site onto it because of how good it looked, and how easy it was to use. Squarespace was kind enough to offer the CamCrunch community 10% off with your first purchase.

To try Squarespace, visit http://www.squarespace.com/camcrunch for your free trial. If you're happy with their service, you can use the coupon code "camcrunch" upon checkout to get 10% off.

Free Trial: http://www.squarespace.com/CamCrunch
For 10% OFF, type "camcrunch" at checkout

My Website: http://www.nicomojica.com

5 Resons I'm excited about the Sony A7 and A7r Mirrorless Cameras

Here are the 5 reasons why I'm excited about the Sony A7 and A7r mirroless interchangeable lens cameras with full frame sensors.

1. Specifications - Regardless of the camera, there is no denying that the specifications of the Sony A7 and A7r are top notch.
2. Size - Sony was able to cram in tons of features in to a camera as small as competing micro 4/3 cameras. A huge accomplishment in itself.
3. Price - The Sony A7 and A7r come in at a fraction of the cost of their closest competitors (in terms of specs), the Nikon D610 and D800e
4. Adapting legacy lenses - The full frame sensor on these mirrorless cameras allows you to use old lenses of a capturing medium that is the same size as the one that they were build for. Your old lenses are no longer obsolete.
5. Effect on the camera market - There is no doubt that the Sony A7 and A7r are going to shake up the camera market. We're going to see new technology, better/more comfortable form factors and lower prices. DSLR manufacturers are going to have to find ways to differentiate themselves from the mirrorless camera market.

Purchase the Sony A7 and A7r

Sony A7: http://amzn.to/1cDw1Ui
Sony A7R: http://amzn.to/GXYZn3

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Wacom Intuos Pen and Touch Review

The Wacom Intuos Pen and Touch is Wacom's newest entry-level tablet lineup. Wacom has slowly made some changes in the way that their products are named. This new Intuos lineup is the replacement for the former Bamboo lineup and the Inuos 5 is now called the Intuos Pro. Though many features remain the same as the previous generation, Wacom has made some physical changes that make this tablet an a appealing option for first time tablet users.

Wacom Intuos Pen and Touch Pros

• Solid build quality and sleek look
• Optional wireless module available
• Erganomic pen
• 4 programmable keys

Wacom Intuos Pen and Touch Cons

• Only two programable keys are really usable because of placement

Full Specifications and Pricing

• Wacom Intuos Pen and Touch (Small): http://amzn.to/1aJAtzg
• Wacom Intuos Pen and Touch (Medium): http://amzn.to/152FdiT
• Wacom Intuos Pen (Small): http://amzn.to/1eYrTBw
• Wireless Kit: http://amzn.to/16WJnFu

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If you found our information useful, consider purchasing your products using our links to Amazon. We get a little commission and you don't have to spend any extra money. Thanks!

Depth of Field in Photography

Depth of field is how much of your image is in acceptable focus. A large or deep depth of field means that a lot of your image, beyond the point of focus, is in focus. A small or shallow depth of field means that very little of your image, apart from your point of focus, is in focus.

Depth of field is controlled by three things: aperture, subject distance from the camera and focal length.

Aperture and Depth of Field

Aperture is the first factor that affects depth of field, and is the one that many people are already aware of. Larger physical apertures, or smaller f-stop values, gives you smaller, or shallower depth of field. A smaller physical aperture, or larger f-stop value, will give you a larger or deeper depth of field. This means that a large portion beyond your focus area will be in acceptable focus.

Subject Distance and Depth of Field

Subject distance from the camera is the second factor that affects depth of field. The closer your subject is to yore camera, the shallower your depth of field will be (assuming that your focal length and aperture stay constant). This is because the planes of focus get thinner as you get closes to the camera. When your subject is further ways from your camera, it's harder to get shallow depth of field.

Focal Length and Depth of Field

Focal length is the final factor that affects your depth of field. Wider focal lengths give you less depth of field at equivalent aperture and subject distance than a long lens would. Longer lenses compress your scene and push your background further back.

Depth of Field and Bokeh

I often head Depth of Field and Bokeh being used interchangeable, which shouldn't be the case. Depth of field is the amount of image beyond your focus point that is in focus. Bokeh is a Japanese word that literally translates to "blur". Bokeh refers to the actually out of focus area of your image, not what is in focus.


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Using Your Camera's Built-in Light Meter in Manual Mode

Camera's have many tools to help you figure out what your exposure should be, and this includes the built-in light meter. Your camera's light meter helps you get proper exposures when you're taking a photograph.

The light meter is not only operational during your automatic and semi automatic exposure modes, but in manual exposure mode as well. The video above will guide you in using your light meter to get the exposure that you want.

The light meter reads light differently based on the metering mode that you set it to. You can read more about that here.


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Camera Metering Modes in Photography

Your camera has a built-in light meter to assist you in reading the light or a particular scene. The light meter reads the amount of light in your frame, balances that light out to middle gray and give you what it thinks is the proper exposure.

The camera has different metering modes to change the way in which it reads the light. Cameras usually come with three different metering modes and these three modes might have different names depending on the brand of camera that you are using, but they are pretty much standard.

Evaluative Metering

Evaluative metering is what your camera is stet to by default, and it is what I recommend to those of you that aren't comfortable changing your metering modes just yet. The evaluative meter will measure the amount of light present in your entire frame. It will then balance that light out to middle gray to give you what it thinks is the proper exposure.

Center-Weighted Metering

Center-weighted metering only meters the middle area of your scene and ignores the rest of the frame. This is particularly good when you want to meter a subjects and not the background. In situations when you have strong backlight, the evaluative meter gets tricked into thinking your subject is over exposed and end up capturing it as a silhouette. Center-weight metering can be used to make sure that you only meter your subject.

Spot Metering

The spot metering mode meters the very center point of your scene. This metering mode is useful when there is a particular area of your photo that needs to be metered perfectly. If you have a area of a persons skin, for example, that you want ensure that it doesn't get blown out, you can align the center of your frame to that portion of the skin, set your exposure to the given meter reading, and recompose to take the picture. That way, the skin that you metered will be properly exposed.

Conclusion

The three common metering modes in your camera all help you to produces images the way you want them to look, so learning about them is crucial. Once you get comfortable using them, they will become second nature and a natural part of your workflow.


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Autofocus Modes in Photography

There are usually three different autofocus modes available in your camera: Single shot autofocus, continuous autofocus and intelligent autofocus. These three different autofocus modes are there for use in different situations.


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Understanding Exposure and The Exposure Triangle

Exposure

Exposure is the amount of light that is recorded on your image sensor or film. There are three things that affect your exposure when you're taking an image - your aperture, shutter speed and ISO. These three things all affect the amount of light that your sensor capture, but they also have secondary effects.

Aperture controls depth of field.
Shutter speed controls motion blur.
ISO controls sensor sensitivity and noise in images.

Balancing these three things is the key to making good images.


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What is ISO in Photography?

ISO is your sensors sensitivity to light. Low ISO values (e.g. ISO 200) make the sensor less sensitive to light, which means that you would need more light to expose an image than you would need if you use a higher ISO value (e.g. ISO 1600).

Back in the days of film, you could only use one ISO at a time and that was the ISO of the film that you were using. With digital cameras, we have the ability to change out ISO on the go depending on the lighting conditions that we are in.

Low ISO (ISO 100) - Accurate colors and free of noise

ISO also affects the amount of noise that you have in your image. Digital noise are the random specs of colored pixels that you see in some images. The higher your ISO is, the more noise you will get in your images, which is why it is not ideal to raise your ISO more than you have to. Using higher ISO values will also skew how your colors look, making them look a lot duller than what is actually there.

High ISO (ISO 3200) - Noise is introduced and colors are not acurate 

When given a lot of light, you should use the lowest native ISO that you can. Increase your ISO when your shutter speed and aperture are at the point where you do not what to change them anymore. The ISO is usually that last thing that you'll change out of the three things that affect your exposure.

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What is Shutter Speed in Photography?

Fast Shutter Speed (1/500th of a Second) - Action is Frozen

Shutter speed is the amount of time in which your exposure takes place for. The longer your shutter speed is, the more light hits the sensor. The faster your shutter speed it, the less light hits your sensor.

Shutter speed also affects motion blur in your shots. To freeze action, you'll want a fast shutter speed. Using a fast shutter speed will ensure that your subject will be tack sharp when you take your photo. Using a fast shutter speed will also ensure that any camera shake is not recorded because of how quick the exposure is.

Slow Shutter Speed (25 seconds) - Car Light Trails

Slow shutter speeds will show motion blur. While most people will want to get tack sharp images with their subjects frozen, there are times when slow shutter speeds can be used to create successful images. When you want to show movement in a shot, you might want to slow down your shutter speed a little so that you can see the motion of your subject. Other popular techniques using slow shutter speeds include capturing light trails and making water look silky smooth. When you slow down your shutter speed, camera shake will be introduced. To avoid this, a tripod is recommended for those longer exposures.

Slow Shutter Speed (1.3 seconds) - Shows Movement

Of course, you'll also have to take into account your aperture and ISO when taking a photograph.

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What is Aperture in Photography?

Aperture is the physical opening of the lens

Aperture is defined as the physical opening of your lens. A large aperture lets more light into your camera than a smaller aperture would. The aperture is measured by f-stops. Larger f-stop numbers (f/16) signify a smaller physical aperture. Smaller f-stop numbers (f/2) signify larger physical aperture. F-stops and aperture size can be a little bit confusing at first, but you'll get the hang of it pretty quickly.

Large Aperture / Small f-stop (f/1.8) - Shallow Depth of Field

Asides from controlling the amount of light that enters the camera, your aperture also helps to control your depth of field. Depth of field is how much of your image is in acceptable focus. Larger physical apertures, or smaller f-stop values, gives you smaller/shallower depth of field. This means that less of your image beyond your focus area will be in focus. A smaller physical aperture, or larger f-stop value, will give you a larger/deeper depth of field. This means that a large portion beyond your focus area will be in acceptable focus. 

Small Aperture / Large f-stop (f/7.1) - Deep Depth of Field

Of course, you'll also have to take into account your shutter speed and ISO when taking a photograph.

NEXT - What is Shutter Speed in Photography?

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Wacom Intuos Pen and Touch (2013) Unboxing and First Impressions

Wacom has made a lot of changes in the naming of their products and this includes the introduction of the new Wacom Intuos line of tablets, replacing the former Wacom Bamboo Tablets (the Bamboo name has now been designated to other products). This new lineup of pen tablets includes two Intuos Pen and Touch models (a small and a medium size), a Pen only model that comes in the small size and an Intuos Manga model (Pen and Touch bundled with different software). The new Wacom Intuos line is very similar to the outgoing Bamboo models, but Wacom has made a few changes in build quality and in features that make these new tablets appealing to those that are getting their first tablets.

UPDATE: The full review is available here.

The New Home of CamCrunch

Welcome to the new home of CamCrunch! After numerous problems with Wordpress, I've decided to come back to Blogger. I'll be developing the website over here for now. If the site ever grows to the point where Wordpress is needed again, I'll move it back over to that platform. For now, I think Blogger will be mere than enough to keep this site moving forward.

Shoot-Through vs Reflective Umbrella

One of the first pieces of kit that you will want to invest in when you start to do off-camera flash work is a nice umbrella. The umbrella is a type of modifier that can change the way the light from your flash looks like when it hits your subject. The reason why the umbrella is one of the first modifiers that people buy when they are starting off is that umbrellas are versatile, fairly compact and easy to use. There are two types of umbrellas - shoot-through umbrellas and reflective umbrellas. This short guide will run you through the two basic types of umbrellas that you will run into, what the benefits are of using one over the other and my personal recommendation as to which type of umbrella you should get as your first umbrella.

Film Photography: 5 Tips for Beginners

I have been shooting film for almost a year now and wanted to share some of the thing that I have learned to those of you that are also starting your journey with film photography. Here are my 5 tips for film photography beginners.

The Benefits of Larger Camera Sensor Size (Crop vs Full Frame)

I always say that "bigger isn't always better" when it comes to photography equipment, but camera sensor size is something where I think that the opposite of this saying is true. In terms of image quality, bigger is always better when it comes to camera sensor sizes. There are a few benefits to moving to a camera with a larger sensor, including increased dynamic range, increased lowlight performance and a higher resolution at equal pixel density. 

Yongnuo YN560 Slave Mode - No Flash Triggers, No Problem!

If you have a Yongnuo YN560 Speedlight, but do not own any wireless transmitters, you can still fire your flash off-camera if you have a built-in flash on your DSLR camera. The Yongnuo YN560 (and version 2 and 3) have 2 optical slave modes that allow you fire the flash using another flash. When the optical slave on the Yongnuo YN560 sees another flash fire, it triggers itself simultaneously.

Using Your Window as a White Backdrop

When I first posted my high key off-camera flash tutorial, the question that was asked the most was whether or not you could achieve the same look using a singe flash. One way you can achieve the same effect is by using your window as a white backdrop and using your flash to light your subject.

Aperture, ISO, Sutter Speed: Which Settings Do You Change in Manual Mode?

One of the biggest questions that I get is how do you know what settings to change when you're using manual mode on your DSLR. Aperture, shutter speed and ISO all change the amount of light that your sensor will capture, but they all have secondary effects as well. It's these secondary effects that will determine which setting you will need to change to get the photograph that you want.

Aperture is the setting that controls depth of field. If you know you want a certain amount of depth of field for a certain image, set your aperture first.

Shutter speed is the setting that controls motion and subject freezing. If you need a certain shutter speed to either freeze or blur your subject, change your shutter speed first.

ISO is the setting that determines how much noise or digital grain there will be in an image. ISO is that last think that you'll want to change. It will be the setting that will allow you to use the aperture and shutter speed that you want. You'll want to keep your ISO as low as possible to get a clean image.

Start with 1 Flash! - Off-Camera Flash Photography Tip

I see a lot of people who into off-camera flash photography, and the first thing they do is buy multiple flashes. While this may not necessarily be a problem for you, especially since off-camera flash photography equipment is very cheap nowadays, I still recommend only buying 1 flash when you're starting off. There are two reasons why I recommend starting off with 1 flash.

Not Everyone Likes Off-Camera Flash

The idea of off-camera flash can be appealing to many, but not everyone enjoys it once they have tried it. Buying only 1 flash means that there is less gear to sell if you decide that off-camera flash photography is just not for you.

You Are Forced to Learn the Basics

I see a lot of people that get into off-camera flash assuming that you can copy what someone else does and get the exact same results. Buying one flash forces you to learn how off-camera flash photography works. The number of different shots that you can pull off with one flash is countless. By using only one flash, your creativity gets pushed to its boundaries, and you well know exactly when something can't be done with one flash. At that point, you can add your second, third and fourth flashes.

Some people might get there second flash sooner than others, but I highly recommend committing to 1 single flash when you're first starting off.