So you want to take low-light pictures right?

In the past years, I've encountered lots of people that needed to take pictures indoors and in low light, and didn't want to use a flash. It may look easy, but it's not really. There is some stuff we need to know about before jumping into the low-light wagon.

First there is the concept of aperture on the lenses (ie. 300mm f2.8). The smaller that f number is, the bigger the "hole" that lets the light pass is. This concept is pretty important in low-light photography.

So by now you probably go like: I'm so buying that 50mm 1.2 lens, but wait! There is another thing linked with a wide aperture, and it's the concept of depth of field. The smaller the number, the thinner the depth of field will get. So getting a nice portrait shot of someone at 6 feets away from you at 1.2 might prove very difficult unless you don't care having one eye in focus and not the other.

So let's jump into a concrete exemple. You are at a show, you want to take your kind on stage with your 135mm f2.0 which is about 30 feet away. Using the calculator (linked below) you have a depth of field of about 3.5 ft, which is a bit too small especially since your kid is moving (let's say). You are at 1/160th of a second and can't really go to f4.0 else it might get blurry.

At this point you have choices. You either can use a flash  - kind of disrespectful for other spectators, plus it's normally not allowed - , bump the ISO  - and deal with noise later but at least have a sharp picture - or just show the motions a little bit and use a tripod to stop your own hand shake.

Most of the time I find the tripod or monopod use is the best approach, but yours may differ. Hope this post helped you!

J. Enno



External Links:
Depth of Field Calculator

How to choose a lens correctly for your use

Hi everyone,

Today I'm gonna talk about a subject you might find really interesting. In the past years, I've been buying lenses and selling them. SLR Lenses are a great way to find what range of your camera you use and like most.

But as most of you, I spent dollars that I could've saved. First because at first I did have a cheap zoom and I decided to buy a slightly better zoom to replace this one, thinking the pictures would be a lot better suddently. At my great regret, I learnt that even though a lens cost more, it doesn't mean it is better - or even as good.

So I started reading review on sites such as
The Digital Picture Reviews (Canon-only)
Fred Miranda Reviews
Ken Rockwell Reviews

Wow! So much choice! I heard all over the internet that "L" lenses were THE lenses to get, so I thought let's go with the EF 70-200 f4L lens. But at that time I had a 30D (crop factor of 1.6) so in fact that lens became a 112-320.

Here's what I thought:

• A bit too long for most of my needs (especially on crop bodies) - I don't do nature shots.
• The f4 aperture was great outdoors, but indoors it was too dark.
• The quality of the image was great though, so I figured I'd keep it for a while (now sold)
• I was addicted to L lenses and couldn't go back

So that made me realize some things:

• Try to find what you PLAN to do with your lenses. In my case it was indoor/outdoor portraits.
• I may need a Full Frame camera because ISO performance is better in low light and my 50mm will really become a 50, not a 85 or so.

So save some time and money and buy what you need, here is a small guide if your needs are the same as mine - ie. indoor / outdoor shooting.

Try to skip the zoom lenses, and go prime. ie: 135mm F2.0L & 35mm f1.4L. This is a great kit, if you only need one of the two, go with the 35 or consider investing in the 85mm 1.2L.

For outdoors-only shooting, your needs are MUCH less restrained and just look at the recommendations on the site I mentionned above.

Thanks for reading!

The most useful Freeware program for a Photographer

Hi all,

Just a quick note to tell you about a small freeware program I found about 10 years ago that made my life a lot easier as a photograph but also as a picture user since then.

It is
...
*drumrolls*
..
IrfanView!
Go now and download the latest version if you don't have it already!

ps. Nobody paid me for this blatant advertisement. It's just a tool I love :)

The Octobox advantage

Hi all,

        Today I'm gonna talk to you about the octo softbox. It's a really fun to use tool. It creates a semi-round catch light in your subjects and lights a big like a spot would like you.

I see it as a compromise between a beauty dish and a rectangular softbox. You can see an exemple of what can be achieved here:

This was taken with a 5D body, EF 85mm at f11 lens, and a White Lightning X1600 with 120cm Aurora Softbox.

A octobox looks like this:

related: http://www.alb.co.kr/image/eng/sub/softboxes/LBOR_120.jpg
Have fun!
Julien
http://www.ennospot.ca/

The all mighty 5D

Hi everyone,

          I just found a used 5D for cheap on Kijiji and I plan on buying it in the next week. So what's the big deal about the 5D vs say a XXD or XXXD camera?

          Well first, it's what we call a fullframe camera. Fullframe as in full-frame sensor size. What it means is that it's pretty much the size of an old film SLR-Camera (24mm x 36mm)*. This allows to have bigger and better cells that can render details more efficiently.

          Second, it doesn't have any crop factor. What it means is that: If I put a 135mm lens on my current 30D camera, it's like having a 200mm lens on a SLR film camera. With the 5D, a 135mm is a 135mm, which in my case, is great.

           Third, since the sensor is bigger, it has better ISO noise handling. No much to say here, except a 5D at ISO 1600 is almost like a 30D at ISO 400. Big difference.

          Fourth, the 5D can have a thinner depth of field. That means a f/2.8 is really a f/2.8, not a f/4.5. This makes for a beautiful background bokeh / blur.

So all in all, I had lots of good reasons to go fullframe, so I did the jump!
I'll try to post some pics soon for you to compare!


*The crop-body cameras are approx 15mm x 22.5mm

Primes vs Zoom lenses

In the last weeks, I was debating over different possibilities regarding my next lenses buying options. I had several criterias in doing so.

First I didn't want to buy EF-S lenses anymore (those lenses are for what we call "crop bodies" only.) because eventually I will want to switch to full frame digital cameras.

Second, I was in a big dilemma on whether I should buy one very good zoom or two very good primes. Zooms are more practical in any situation, but I didn't like the fact that the EF 24-70 was 2.8 only. Plus, for less than it's price, I could have the EF 50mm f/1.4 and the highly regarded 85mm f/1.8.

So I went for the second option.
What do you think?

The Make up Party

Hi everyone,
         This week-end I will do another photo shoot with a make-up artist named Dimitra. It's great to know she lives near me, because it will be easier to meet and make projects together. If everything goes well, I might just have another invaluable contact in this industry.

         In another topic, I want to buy another lens. I am hesitating between the sigma 50mm 1.4 and the Canon 50mm 1.2L lens. There is a big price difference between the two (like; three times the price).

        On one hand I love the Canon L series. I already have the 135 and I'm spoiled by it. Also build quality is addictively excellent. But I find it a bit to long for indoor portraits. Also 1.2 is not really better than 1.4, but I just don't trust Sigma that much having read the reviews on the net. But dammit, 1.6K is so much!!!!

         Though choice to make.

New pictures are up on my site!

Hey everyone,
I just put up some tests I made with friends on my website. Here is the equipment I used for the Kristelle and Max Portraits:


Speedlite 420EX on the side     (Slave)
Speedlite 580EX II in front         (Master)
Canon 30D
135 f/2L
17-85mm f/4-5.6
70-200mm f/4

I took about 200 pictures for the whole 3 sets, and selected the best ones. Be advised those pictures have not been photoshopped.

Go to http://ennospot.ca/ and click Photos at the top to see them !