Jeff Revell's Blog

Big Apple Goodness at the PhotoPlus Expo

I am fresh off a trip to New York and the PDN PhotoPlus Expo. It’s hard to believe but this was my first time attending this show, which is now the largest photo show on the East coast. As far as photo shows go, it was okay, but not really spectacular. There weren’t any big reveals to speak of so mostly it was just getting up close and personal with a lot of gear. The one piece of gear that I did see that was hot off the factory floor was the new Canon Pro-1000 17″ printer. This thing spits out some amazing images and, although they wouldn’t admit it, there will more than likely be some sizes to follow.

The other thing I noticed at this show more than any previous show I have attended is the number of drones. I told a friend that the back of the show sounded like a hive of angry hornets. There were at least 6 different booths showing off a number of drones and lots of netted “fly-zones” for demos. I’m just wondering how long this drone surge will last considering the amount of pressure being put on the FAA to restrict their use. Only time will tell. I also got the chance to attend some good classes and see lots of friends so overall, it was a really great trip.

In my free time I spent some quality time with friends, shooting around the High-Line, which is a 1.5 mile long elevated park along a section of disused New York Central Railroad spur. This is a great urban renewal project and it’s hard to believe it was once a rail line. It has got to be one of the hidden jewels of Manhattan.

I also got the chance to do an early morning shoot with my buddy Scott Kelby in the Morgan Library and Museum. J. P. Morgan had it built in the early 1900’s and used it as his personal office and library. It is a stunning site to see and I felt very privileged to be able to photograph it. If you are planning a visit to NYC in the future you should definitely put it on your must-see list.

I had a great time in the City and even though I much prefer the wide-open spaces, I have to say that New York is starting to grow on me a little. Here’s a couple of other shots I grabbed from the rooftop bar at my hotel. The perfect end to a great couple of days.

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Published on October 25, 2015 21:17

Photowalking and PhotoPlus

For the past seven years I have been hosting one of the Scott Kelby Worldwide Photowalks every year without fail. They are one of my favorite photography activities and I thoroughly enjoy meeting all the folks who come out to participate. Unfortunately this year we had some crazy weather going on here in Virginia to include a Nor’Easter and a hurricane. The combination was enough to cause me to pull the plug on our photowalk that was scheduled for Old Town Alexandria. We didn’t have an official rain date so I scheduled one for this past weekend at the same location where I was joined by several of the folks who had signed up for the original date. We were blessed with some beautiful sunshine and fall colors as we walked along the waterfront, up the cobblestone streets, and over to the Farmer’s Market at City Hall. It was a really fun morning and I appreciate all the folks who showed up to join me.

The photo above was actually shot through the window of the little boat house by Founders Park. I loved the look of the shop and since I am in to woodworking, it really struck a chord with me. It isn’t an HDR shot, just some editing with Topaz Adjust and Topaz Detail. Here’s a few more from the morning.

Next week I will be heading to my first PhotoPlus Expo and I’m really excited about it. Having gone to a ton of PMA shows back in the day, I am looking forward to being back in the middle of a big photo expo and immersing myself in all the glorious photographic gizmos and gadgets that will make my photog life better. I’ll be popping up photos from the show on my Instagram account and maybe doing some live Periscope stuff too (just search Photowalkpro in the Periscope app and follow me). Be sure to follow me and check it out. See you in a couple of days!

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Published on October 18, 2015 21:34

The Importance of Being Earnest

If you visited this blog lately you no doubt found that it was quite vacant. This was due in large part to my negligence. See, I have not been a very good steward of my content over the past few months. I have had a lot of things going on including the possible launch of a new site so this one started collecting cobwebs. Not only that, but since I had not been doing any daily maintenance, it developed some very serious database issues. It got so bad that when I logged into my account this morning, I found that all of my content was GONE! Not a trace. Luckily, with the help of a very sweet, and quite bright young lady at GoDaddy, I was able to restore all of my content.

The takeaway from this experience is that, even if you aren’t posting regularly, you should practice good housekeeping with your content. That means keeping files like plugins and blogging engines (WordPress in my case) up to date. Also make sure you have a good backup plan for your database. It should be backed up with some regularity. That could mean daily, weekly, or monthly, but definitely sooner rather than later. If you aren’t sure how to do it, try doing a Google search or contact your Hosting Site for help. The main thing here is that, just like with your digital photos, you need to have a plan for your online presence. Between all the erroneous code, hackers, bots, and operator error, it’s only a matter of time until you go to your website and find the dreaded 404 message.

No related posts.

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Published on October 08, 2015 16:49

Panning for Motion

When you think of photographing a fast moving subject the first thing you probably think about is a fast shutter speed. The faster the subject, the faster shutter speed you need. But have you ever gone the other way with it? Remember that when you are photographing an event, you are also telling a story and one great method for telling the story of a fast moving subject is through the use of panning. The pan shot has been around for decades and is ideal for subjects that move directly across your path. It’s not a guaranteed winner every time but with some practice, you can get a shot that will freeze the subject enough while blurring the moving background behind them and convey their movement and speed to the viewer. Favorite subject for this technique are cars, motorcycles, cyclists, etc.

You can also get good results from things like horse races or even a baseball player running down the baseline.

The actual act of capturing a panning shot is pretty simple. Set your camera to shutter priority (that’s Tv mode for you Canon users) and then start with a fairly slow shutter speed like 1/30 of a second. Set your camera’s drive mode to continuous and your auto focus to continuous. As the subject of your photo starts to approach, lock them in with the focus (usually by pressing the shutter release half way). Once they are close, start shooting as you follow them with your lens. Once they are past you, stop shooting and then evaluate your shots. Depending on the speed of your subject you will most likely need to make an adjustment to your shutter speed. Just remember to follow the subject across your path as smoothly as you can and try to follow through with your shots, don’t just stop once they are slightly past you. The follow-thru will help keep the panning motion smooth. With a little practice you will be telling your story in a whole new way.

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Published on December 02, 2014 21:13

DC After Dark – Another Great Worldwide Photowalk

This year marked the seventh anniversary of the Scott Kelby Worldwide Photowalk and the seventh time I have hosted a walk (eight if you count the two I hosted the first year). Each year I try and find interesting locations. This year I revisited a previous location but with a twist. I had hosted a photowalk on the Mall in Washington DC a couple of years ago and decided I would go back to the same spot but this time it would be an after-dark event. As it turns out, the choice of going at night was pretty popular as my photowalk was full to capacity.

I think one of the big reasons that it was so popular is that a lot of photographers would like to shoot the city at night but the thought of going downtown at night with all that gear was against their better judgement. Shooting with a crowd of other photographers gives a much improved sense of security. The other concern that folks have is the fear of the much rumored tripod police. There are all sorts of stories about photographers with tripods being chased away from the popular photo spots in DC but, as I told my group, using tripods is all about timing, common sense, and common courtesy. The Park Police don’t want you breaking out a tripod on a monument sidewalk or popular location because they are looking out for the safety of everyone and trying to protect the monuments. By going at night, there are fewer people and by avoiding the major crowds there is no reason not to use a tripod. I think the majority of photographers on my walk had tripods and to my knowledge there was not a single incident.

I even learned a few things myself on this years photowalk. First and foremost is that, as hard as it is to wrangle 50 photographers in the day, it’s darn near impossible at night. Second thing is to always take the group shot right at the start because you are never going to get everyone back in one group again, no matter how hard you try. As you can see from my group shot, I had already lost a bunch of folks by the time we reached the World War II Memorial. Once everyone started shooting, the time and group just sort of slipped away from some folks. By the time I had reached the Lincoln Memorial I was down to shooting with just two other photographers. It’s really easy to understand how it happened because there is just so much to photograph at night and everyone was having such a great time from the start that it was easy to get lost in the viewfinder and forget about where everyone else was. Even so, I think everyone had a fantastic time and judging from the photos that I am seeing on my Flickr Group, there was some great night time photography taking place.

I would like to thank everyone who came out and joined me for another memorable photowalk. I meeting so many great folks and also getting together with some familiar faces too. It’s always one of my favorite events of the year and I am always honored to be a part of it. If you would like to see some of the images from my group, please head over to our Flickr group and have a look at some of he great images that have already been uploaded. I know I am going to have a very difficult time picking a winner this year. While you are visiting Flickr don’t forget to search for WWPW2014 or click this LINK to see more images from some of the other photowalks around the world.

Thanks Scott and KelbyOne for another great photowalking event. I can’t wait for year number 8!

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Published on October 13, 2014 21:00

Just a Few Days Until the Worldwide Photowalk

Hey everyone, just a reminder that it’s just a few more days until the 2014 Scott Kelby Worldwide Photowalks kick off. If you haven’t already signed up, don’t despair, there is still time for you to go to the official photowalk website and locate a photowalk near you. Photowalking is a great way to meet people with common interests, shoot in places you may not normally shoot, and maybe grab a few great shots for your portfolio. My photowalk in DC is completely full (there is a 50 person cap per photowalk) but there are lots more to choose from in locations all over the World. So come on, what are you waiting for? Click on over to worldwidphotowalk.com and find a photowalk and join in on the fun. If you want more information on photowalking be sure to check out my Guide to Photowalking

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Published on October 07, 2014 19:19

Why The Lack of Wifi On The Canon 7D MkII Is Not a Big Deal

Shortly after Canon announced the specs for the 7D Mark II, I started scouring the web to see if there were any reviews from the early beta testers like DP Review. As I was making my way through all of the posts I started to see all of the trolls making their way out from under the bridges where they normally hide, waiting to pounce on any new technology. I read through numerous comments and found a fairly balanced reaction to Canon’s new offering, with lots of people being excited about the new features, and quite a few who did nothing but gripe about what the camera lacked or didn’t do. One of the comments that I found interesting concerned the lack of in-camera wifi. Being an owner of a Canon 70D with built-in wifi I can certainly understand the coolio factor of the wifi. But for this camera, not having wifi really comes down to two things, signal and usability.

First off, from what I have been told by some reliable peeps, the ability to include wifi on a non-plastic body is difficult to say the least. The 70D is a plastic composite body and has no problem allowing for the transmission of wifi signals through the body to a waiting cell phone or tablet. On the other hand, the magnesium armor of the 7DMkII is a very poor transmitter of signals and I’m sure that Canon, like any manufacturer, didn’t want to put out a product that wouldn’t live up to the performance its less expensive sibling. I know, you are saying, “Hey, what about the built in GPS, doesn’t it use an antenna to receive position signals from satellites?” Why yes it does, but it’s not the same kind of signal as wifi and Canon was able to include an antenna on top of the viewfinder where it can point up at all those satellites.

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Notice the GPS antenna in front of the hot shoe.

Even if they could get an antenna to make a decent wifi connection, there’s one more reason why it doesn’t matter for this camera and that is that wifi in a DSLR is just clunky. One comment that I read said that since this camera is sort of aimed at sports shooters that the lack of wifi was really doing the photographer an injustice because they could be using it to send images to their editors from the sidelines Take it from me, if the wifi in this camera was to be anything like the 70D, it would be pretty much useless to any sports photographer.

If you don’t have a camera with wifi, here’s a quick rundown on how it works. First you have to set up the wifi on the camera by activating your own little hotspot. Then you have to connect your device (cell phone, tablet, etc.) to the camera’s hotspot to complete the connection. Now you are free to send images to your device through the cameras interface, which has to be activated and synced up with the app on your device. Then you can mark the images you want to transfer and start moving them from camera to device via the wifi hotspot. Once the images have transferred you would then need to break the connection so that your device can then connect to a 4G connection so that you could actually upload the images to the Internet location of your choosing. So can you see why this would not really be a handy tool for someone running up and down the sidelines? Wifi connectivity is nothing new and there are quite a lot of options but to do it any justice, there needs to be a large device tethered to your camera that allows you to transmit to a dedicated receiver located elsewhere and usually operated by another individual. Certainly not a tool for the common man. Most guys running the sidelines are a solo act and just don’t have time to jump through all of the hoops of wifi transmission.

Photo by JM Rosenfeld

While the omission of wifi from the 7D MkII is at first seen as a missed opportunity by Canon, the truth is that the inclusion would have been nothing more than a cute little parlor trick that you could use to entertain your friends with via Twitter and Instagram. DSLR wifi is far from the useful tool that would be used by active sports photographers and until it can live up to the features and expectations of our smart phones, I think it was probably best to leave it to the 70D. Better not to have it than to serve up some less than useful version of wifi that would not meet the expectations of the masses.

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Published on September 28, 2014 19:27

Grab a Bargain on the eBook Version of My Exposure Book

There are still a couple of days left to grab an e-copy of my newly updated book – From Snapshots to Great Shots: Exposure. My publisher, Peachpit Press, is having a special half off deal on this title through the end of the week. If you are looking for a general photography book to help demystify the process of taking better photos, then you should check it out. This book is a non-camera specific guide on the basics of photography and how to utilize different techniques to improve or capture the type of photos you have always wanted. Photography isn’t hard when you know how to make an exposure and why you would want to make changes to the different variables to alter the outcome. Stop being a slave to the auto modes and take control over your images with a little help from my exposure book. To grab your copy, just CLICK HERE to head to Peachpit and secure your copy.

By the way, if you already have one of my camera specific books like Snapshots to Great Shots: Canon T5i then you already have all of the Exposure goodness so there’s no need for you to buy a copy. Shhh, don’t tell my publisher I said that. ;-)

Oh, and if you are more of a fan of the printed word, you can grab a good old fashioned version from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Peachpit, and anywhere they sell awesome photography books.

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Published on September 03, 2014 20:19

Shutter Counts – Why They Matter and Why They Don’t

I was conducting my daily website scan when I saw an article on a new shutter count app that is now available for most Canon digital cameras [credit CanonRumors]. If you aren’t sure what a shutter count is, it is basically a numerical representation of how many times your camera’s shutter has actuated (opened and closed). So what’s the big deal about shutter counts? Well, if you aren’t planning on selling or buying a camera, probably nothing. Most SLR cameras have a shutter count estimate from the manufacturer for the number of reliable shutter actuations you can expect for your camera. Most cameras number somewhere around 100,000 with professional cameras like the Nikon D4 reaching as high as 400,000. As you can see, the higher quality materials and professional expectations drive higher shutter life in more professional camera systems. Of course these numbers are just estimations based on testing of shutters by the manufacturers.

“Focal-plane shutter” by Hustvedt – Own work. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil...

You can probably see how it might be important to know how many times the shutter has been fired if you are buying a used camera. If the body is rated for 100K actuations and the shutter count is at 90K, you might be nearing the useful life of the camera. Trust me when I say that when the shutter goes, you will be looking at a fairly hefty replacement bill (averaging between $100 and $350 or higher depending on the camera). Replacing the shutter is simply not economically feasible for lower cost cameras. Another good reason to know the shutter count would be if you are selling a used camera. The chances are pretty good that someone is going to want to know the shutter count. I have sold a lot of cameras over the years and I can’t think of a single time when someone didn’t ask.

So is this information crucial for your everyday photography if you aren’t buying or selling, probably not. The number of shutter actuations has no effect on how your camera performs (unless it is reaching the end and is starting to fail). Where it might come in handy is if you have had your camera for a very long time and have shot a lot of images. It might be handy to know how high the count is so that you can start planning for that rainy day when it does finally fail. That being said, I know several photographers who have taken their cameras well past the estimated shutter life without problem. You’re also likely to buy a new camera before you ever run out of shutter clicks. As you can see, the shutter count can be important at times but usually never matters, at least as far as your day-to-day photography goes.

As far as how you go about finding your shutter count, there are several different methods you can try. Unfortunately all cameras aren’t alike when it comes to reporting the number of shutter clicks. The easiest way to find a shutter count solution is to simply Google a solution. There are many different websites that allow you to upload your image file and get back your shutter count. I used nikonshuttercount.com to get the results below from one of my images. Be sure that you use a JPEG created in your camera, not one saved from a RAW file because it might have some of the metadata stripped out by your editing software.

I should add that some cameras make finding the shutter counts very difficult. Canon is one of those brands that doesn’t allow for simple uploading of a file and getting a result. If you want your Canon shutter count you will most likely have to download a solution that will run on your computer. My advice to Canon users is to purchase an app from the App Store that will give you this and other information about your camera. Most of the third-party programs that you can find on the Internet can be kind of iffy so it’s worth it to spend a couple of bucks to get something trustworthy from the App store. The EOS Inspector cost $1.99 and requires that you connect your EOS camera to the Mac to get your data.

ShutterCount from DIRE Studio is another app that let’s you gather shutter data by connecting the camera. This offering will set you back about $2.99 but is also offered in a Windows version for all you non-Mac photographers out there.

The bottom line is that, while the shutter count can be useful for heavy shooters or buyers and sellers of photo gear, it’s probably not going to matter much to the average photographer. Now feel free to go forth and count those clicks.

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Published on August 31, 2014 14:04

Join Me For a Nighttime Photowalk in DC

Sadly, I don’t seem to have a lot of time for photowalking these days but there’s still one event that I always make room for. Every year my buddy Scott Kelby puts on a photowalk event of incredible proportions, which draws in photographers from all over. Of course I am talking about the Scott Kelby Worldwide Photowalk that takes place every Fall. I have had the pleasure of hosting one of the photowalks every year and it is a pleasure for me to be a part of it. I am always on the lookout for interesting places to host my photowalk and this year I am trying something a bit different by moving the start time of my photowalk into the evening hours.

I have had a couple of previous photowalks that have ended at night or seemed like night due to weather but this is my first “on purpose” night photowalk. Of course if you are going to be shooting at night you need to have a great location with lots of lighting and interesting subjects, which is why I have selected the Mall area in Washington DC. This beautiful strip of land in DC is host to most of the iconic monuments and memorials and is a great place for shooting at night.

Of course shooting at night usually means using a tripod, which is not normally an option during the daylight hours due to the pedestrian traffic. I have however found that it is pretty easy to use them at night, as long as you aren’t being a real pest and are staying off ofd the actual monuments (for the most part). If you love monuments and night photography and HDR and hanging with other photographers, I invite you to grab up one of my available slots and join us on the evening of October 11th for some great photography fun. Oh, and if you don’t know how to shoot night photos, I will be glad to give you a hand and start you on your way to this great photography technique. Who knows, we might even do a little painting with light as well. If this sounds like your cup of tea, please go to my official sign-up page and register for a spot.

Just one other thing; one of the objectives to running this photowalk is to raise money for the Springs of Hope orphanage in Africa. It’s not required but if you are so inclined, it would be great if you gave a donation at the time of registration to help us reach our goal of raising $30K for the orphanage. Your $1 can really go a long way. Either way, I look forward to seeing everyone on Oct. 11th.

I have around 30 vacancies for my photowalk right now so if this sounds like something for you, please don’t wait to add your name to the list (photowalks for the Worldwide Photowalk are capped at 50 participants per walk). If you can’t join me but would like to find an event location that is more convenient or to your liking then go to the main Worldwide Photowalk page and search for a location where you would like to walk. There are currently over 650 different locations around the World with more being added every day. There’s also opportunities to lead a photowalk so head to the website for more information.