Thinking Business While I Wait for a Battery

My Olympus OM-D E-M5 came in today and while I wait for the initial battery charge I thought I'd blog a little about some business that has been ping ponging around my head since yesterday.

My hairdresser asked me a while ago if I'd like to come to the local university where he teaches and be a hair model for a demonstration.  That sounded fun so I agreed and yesterday morning I sat in front of a dozen or so students while he cut my hair and talked about technique and the business of hair dressing.

I found it incredibly interesting as it related so closely to the photography business (as a lot of businesses do) and it re-affirmed for me some of the closely held beliefs I have had the last few months.

Later in the day I went to a friends home who is a local photographer and did a couple of images for her as she was being featured on a website.  She's an incredibly talented and well established pro in our community and we talked business later and about the state of the industry.  It's challenging out there right now to make a dollar in this profession and the thoughts I had while getting my hair cut kept coming back to me.

By the way, as a photographer do you have images of yourself for use?  I mean good ones, not snapshots?  I've been fortunate enough to have a couple of friend photographers make some for me for blogs, websites, etc.  It's been really great and I recommend it for you as well.  How can you sell yourself as a photographer if you don't have polished images that promote you?

Photo by Kelli Etheridge  taken with a Nikon D300

A couple of things came up with the hairdressing students that the instructor talked about.  I found parallels with all of them.  The first being "It's OK to fire a customer."

We all deal with people as service professionals that don't fit well with us as far as personality goes or how we like to work.  In the example the hairdresser used it was a highly critical customer that was belligerent or rude.  I've certainly seen that from customers that are grumpy and may not value photography or enjoy my brand of photography (maybe a more traditional client).

I've also had people that come in and ask for photography cheaply (way below a price where I can make any money) or balk at my quote for services.  I could lower my price in order to get money in the door, but I choose not too.

I think at some point when you are in business you have to value yourself and realize that the customer isn't always right.  If they don't fit into your aesthetic or values then it's really best if you nip it in the bud early on and show them the door.  Try and be polite while doing it, but save yourself the pain of an unsatisfied customer later.  Let someone else work with them that may, for budget or style reasons, be a better fit.

When fellow photographer Jesse Bone found out I'd lost a large amount of weight, he offered to do this photo for me. Canon 5D Mark ii

Another subject that came up with the hairdressing students was referring customers to someone else if they are asking for something that isn't your specialty.  For example, if you don't offer hair colouring, send them onto someone else.

Something I've really come to learn over the past year was how important it is to specialize in your craft.  If you are known as a food photographer (for example) it is so much more valuable than being known as a generalist.  A lot of new photographers I meet have websites that show everything from food to babies, weddings, portraits, sports, puppies, flowers, real estate, products, corporate events, concert photography....everything.  It's a crapshoot.

If this is you, it's time for a reality check.  Frankly a generalist commands no respect, and generic pricing. You are not good at everything.  The instructor made a really good point in his example.  If you go see your doctor and have a mole on your face and they say to you that they could remove it, but would rather refer you on to a specialist that will remove it expertly with no scar and be more qualified to watch for certain skin based disorders, you would respect that.  In fact you would build loyalty with your doctor and trust for making that referral.  You would return to him/her for the type of work they practice.

There is no shame is saying to a potential or existing client "I don't specialize in architectural photography and I want you to get the best product.  Please contact XYZ photography and I know they will take great care of you."  In fact, the next time that customer needs food photography (assuming that's your specialty) then they will absolutely come back to you.

Photography, and the different areas of it, is a specialized craft.  I am not aware of one photographer, no matter how famous that is great at everything.  I know some that are OK at a lot of things.  If you are OK, you can charge OK prices.  If you are a specialist, you can command specialist pricing.  And as a bonus you get to enjoy what you're doing assuming you've chosen your specialty wisely.

Photo of the Vivid Boys by Greg Howard taken with a Nikon D4

The other thing that the instructor at the hairdressing school talked about was developing your craft.  He talked about getting excited for your work.  When he is on vacation for a while he looks forward to returning to work.  He misses it.  His hands are familiar with his tools and when he uses them it's almost an extension of himself.  He looks at others work and gets inspired by it and challenges himself to learn new techniques and styles.

When I first went there looking for a new look on my (challenging) hair that is super fine and straight he brought in another stylist and they talked about how to cut it, and what products to use.  It was a really interesting experience.  They actually cared about the end product.  For me, if my hair is too short it stands straight up like baby fine wisps in the wind.  Fixed now thanks to good people.

The point is that he pushes himself constantly to get better and to learn, and he has fun doing it.  He gets out of bed excited about his craft.  I think a lot of photographers feel the same way.  I know myself before I shoot a job or personal project I'm often jittery and excited.  Sometimes I can't sleep.  That's how I know I'm on the right track.

I also know some photographers that shoot weddings for example, but hate them.  They never go to training and just keep pumping out the same work they've been doing their whole career.  Then one day they wake up and realize that they are no longer relevant, no longer excited and are on their way out of the profession.

If I can offer any advice that I live by, it's to find one or two areas of photography that get you excited and stick to them.  Then keep pushing yourself to get better.  What you shot today isn't good enough.  Do better tomorrow.  That might sound hard, but I guarantee it will keep you happy.

First photo with the OMD, this makes me a dedicated blogger......I need to use this thing!

Well, my battery is charged and I've got the camera ready so this blog entry has to end.  I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did while waiting for power for the OMD.  First frame.....above.  Now to go out and enjoy it on a sunny afternoon.

Yashica 50mm f1.9 Gets Re-Born on an E-PL1

The Yashica 50mm f1.9 lens......found in a wall

About a month ago my good friend Adam was renovating his attic in his home and found, among other things, an old camera lens buried beneath the sheetrock.  He gave it to me, and of course I cleaned it up, hit Ebay and found an adaptor for my micro-four thirds cameras for $15 including shipping.  Why not right?

I love having little lenses like this to play with, and the size of these old film lenses, that used to come standard as kit lenses with camera bodies, are nice and small.  They were also, usually incredibly sharp.  There is little reason you can't continue to use them on modern cameras with adaptors, provided you don't mind manual focusing.  With cameras like the E-PL1 where you can zoom in on an electronic viewfinder, manual focusing is a snap.  But of course most modern DSLR's have live view that allow for zooming on the screen to check critical focus.

Yashica on an E-PL1

Shooting in aperture priority mode you can control your aperture on the lens ring and let the camera choose a shutter speed based on the ISO dialled in.  It works very well and is incredibly accurate for most instances.  The adaptor is basically a hollow tube that keeps the lens far enough away from the sensor as it would have been if there were a mirror box assembly there as intended when the lens was manufactured.  The whole camera still stays very small and light even with the adaptor, making it a joy to use.

And the real bonus?  These sort of lenses can usually be found in the bargain bins at your local used camera store.  They are so plentiful that you can get them dirt cheap.  No matter the brand, you'll usually find one that is very sharp as well.  Just watch out for fungus or oily aperture blades.  Then again, if you get a bad one, just replace it. Nikon, Pentax, Olympus, Canon, Minolta, whatever, you can find adaptors for them all.  

Shot wide open at f1.9

I always find it super amazing that the people that shoot with "full frame" cameras or larger APSC sensors will carry on about how it's impossible to achieve nice bokeh or shallow depth of field on 4/3 sensors.  It's really a bunch of garbage coming from brand biased, ill informed people.  Often with photography I'm fighting to get more depth of field, not less.  But of course, I couldn't help but to shoot this lens wide open just to see how it would do.  And for the most part I was very impressed.

Throughout the aperture range it maintained a reasonable sharpness.  The biggest issue I had was camera shake.  I tended to zoom in on my focus point using the electronic viewfinder but found myself being kind of shaky while doing so.  This ran me into trouble when I was at or near the closest focusing distance of the lens as I would often tip slightly too close while rocking around.  

The rubber focusing ring on my lens has also slacked loose over time so you have to kind of squeeze it together to get a focus movement.  Once doing that though it is as smooth as silk and that's the beauty of these old film lenses, they are made to manual focus and the movement is smooth but still gives ample feedback and feel for accuracy.  

Shot at about f9

The lens itself showed little or no distortion, but of course the E-PL1 was taking advantage of the sharpest part of the glass with the smaller sensor.  I think with a bit more practice I would have been nailing focus much faster.  Often I didn't need to zoom in at all on the viewfinder for focus as the VF-2 is so large and bright that subjects became obviously in or out of focus quickly.  These electronic viewfinders are really nice once you get used to them.  

One of the biggest compliments I can give the Yashica lens is that I just really enjoyed using it.  I found myself just getting into it and having a blast.  It made me connect with the little E-PL1 more than any other lens has so far.  The experience of shooting it, and manually focusing was joyful.  Without the pressure of being forced to deliver a product, I was just running around a campsite having fun and falling into a moment with my equipment that was harmonious.

I even found myself enjoying photographing things like flowers, something I normally hate taking images of.  Actually to be honest, I can't really tell the difference between flowers and weeds, so I'm not sure what I was doing.

One thing was certain, I was having fun and the bokeh was nice and the gear was helping me forget itself if that makes sense.  It was helping me connect with the enjoyment of the moment.  If you don't believe that can happen, you haven't found the right gear yet.

Was I nailing every image and creating jaw dropping art?  No, not really, but I was having a great time doing it.  And all for a lens that cost me exactly $15 to use (by buying the adaptor).  It wasn't a $2600 70-200 f2.8, big honking white or black lens.  It wasn't a 200mm f2 or a fancy dancy tilt shift.  Nope, this baby was found in a wall.

And it's really a testament to the E-PL1 and cameras like it as well (like the NEX7 or X-PRO1 or OMD) that are really built again like the film cameras that this lens was originally married to.  They are small, light, and a joy to use.  No big black obnoxious camera bodies with huge lenses bolted on them.  Are they pro cameras?  No, not really, but they are highly capable, and most importantly they are the only tools out there now that are getting out of the way of photographers and allowing them to re-connect with being image makers in a non-obnoxious way.  You opinion may vary.  The last time I saw an E-PL1 for sale it was in the clearance bin for $150.  So your price of entry for this whole kit is under $200.  How do you beat that????

My friend at our local camera store emailed today and said my OMD by Olympus (in silver thank-you) should be in this week.  I'm really looking forward to that a lot.  I stare at (when I'm not using it) my OM4t at times and keep thinking that that was when they made cameras correctly.  Small, unobtrusive and build solid.  Same with the new digital version.  And with the new image stabilization it should help a lot to steady that image when I zoom in for manual focus through the viewfinder.  I'll be sure to let you know.

One thing that is for certain is that my hand-held video should get better, and that is important because I did a little video for you all with the Yashica lens and I should warn you that it is a little unsteady.  I'm a pretty shaky guy and I had no tripod.  So except for laying the camera on the ground, the IS in the E-PL1 just couldn't make up for Mr. Shaky.

So for those of you that are going to be upset at my bumps and wiggles, please don't click play on the video at the end of the post.  For those of you that are curious about the shallow depth of field that you can get for video with this lens, do click it.  It's only about a minute long.

The use of these small film primes for video on a DSLR or mirrorless camera is really a dream come true. Manual focus is a snap and their size and sharpness wide open is really fantastic.  Plus that shallow depth of field we all love in large sensor filming is easy to attain.  If you are serious about video, I recommend forgetting about a $400 Nikon or Canon 50mm f1.4 in the modern age and digging through the bargain bins for a smaller, lighter, sharper 50mm film lens.  You can find them at f1.8, f1.4, f1.2 or even wider.  It's all good, old-school rocks!

Thanks for dropping by the blog.

Looking at the Canon 14mm f2.8

Taken with Panasonic TS4 point and shoot

I recently borrowed the 14mm f2.8 wide angle prime lens from Canon Canada for a little test drive.  While I'm pretty sure this lens doesn't fit well into my paid work that I use my Canon cameras for, I have to admit I enjoyed having it for a few days.  Extreme wide angle lenses are really a lot of fun.

Before I get into it, I've been thinking about gear talk on this blog and all the gear talk I read on the web, see in magazines and hear about on podcasts.  I wanted to add a little caveat to my participation in this phenomenon and that is just a little nudge for you to remember that this (photography) is a business.  A big business, and while the gear is cool just remember, you are the customer and whether someone (like me) is writing a review or talking about gear, or someone (like Canon) is selling equipment they aren't necessarily always doing it for pure love.  Sometimes they are doing it for (or for the hope of) profit.  

If you are a pro, before you buy equipment, consider if it is going to make you money in return.  Is it a worthwhile investment.  If you are doing this for fun consider if it is something you really need to advance your craft and art.  Remember you can't buy skill, you have to earn it.  And the lens you already own is probably not the barrier to getting where you want to go.  Whatever you do, if you have to borrow money (pull out that credit card) to buy equipment, then stop and seriously consider if it's worth it.  

OK, that is enough of that.  Now, onto the awesomeness of a lens.  

Taken with Panasonic TS4 point and shoot (review of that camera coming soon)

I really just borrowed this lens because I wanted to try it.  I don't think that a 14mm lens on a full frame camera fits well into my wedding and portrait business.  Then again, a 14mm lens on a crop sensor is a bit of a waste isn't it?  My Canon cameras are really my work cameras for a very specific type of work, my Olympus cameras are my fun cameras, and this lens is all fun.

Canon 14mm f2.8 version II on 5D Mark ii at f22 ISO 100 1/25 of a second

First up, I just want to explain that when I look at lenses or equipment I don't feel the need to get overly technical about specs because that information is so readily available from people that are way more qualified than I am to pixel peep and study the slight variations of photography equipment.  I'm more interested in the functional use of equipment and the feel of it in practical use.

I had the lens for 3 days and took it out 3 times in total.  One on a walk through downtown Nanaimo, another a walk around a swamp and once more on a family portrait session where my partner in crime used it for a couple of images.  I will say right away that this is not the ideal portrait lens, and one that you don't need if that's your bread and butter.  But we couldn't resist since it was in the bag anyway and, like a fisheye lens, it can give a fun alternative look for your client for a couple of images.

f22 ISO 100 1/15 of a second

Given that this lens is so wide you can hand hold it at incredibly slow shutter speeds even without image stabilization.  The shot above was done without a tripod much slower than I'd try with a long lens.  The small size of the lens (I was using the newer version, version II) feels comfortable on a DSLR without a battery grip.  It isn't tiny or light, but it's a nice medium size similar to the 35mm f1.4.

The really large front element is curved in an extreme way (see the photo on the top) so using screw in filters is out of the question.  Given that this would seem to be a great architecture and landscape lens this is a rather serious limitation.  I do know that the Nikon version of this lens has some expensive glass filters that can be added on by Lee but I don't think there is an option for the Canon except for the 31mm gel filters that sit on the back of the lens if need be.  

f14 ISO 100 1/40th of a second

While distortion is evident with the lens in that it exaggerates everything close to the edge of the frame while making what's in the middle appear considerably smaller the lines are kept straight due to the rectilinear nature of the lens (it's not a fisheye) Once you get used to it, it's a fun lens to use.  I wouldn't say this is a lens to use when you're just wanting a wide field of view, it's more of a lens to use when you plan on bringing the subject of interest close (like the parking meters above) and releasing the background around it to stretched out awesomeness.  That seems to me to be the most engaging way to use the lens.

Keeping the camera reasonably level helps to keep things looking as normal as possible, if that is what you are going for, but the drama of the edge distortion is kind of fun once you get used to it.  Adobe Lightroom 4 doesn't seem to have a built in correction profile for the lens, though I'm sure there would be one to download if you looked for it (I didn't).  The auto correct in stock lightroom treats it like the 15mm fisheye and does bad things.  See the corrected and uncorrected versions below.

Auto corrected in Lightroom 4 for distortion

The image appears blurry, and out of sorts.  A manual correction would work better to control the bulbous horizon.

No auto correction applied.

Given the extreme wide angle nature of the lens you will also run into issues where the exposure variation throughout the frame makes it impossible to capture both highlights and shadows without clipping.  Not having the option to use filters doesn't help.  It's nice that the Canon files out of the 5D have so much latitude in post processing to ease this pain, but some use of bracketing exposures is going to be helpful if you are a regular user of this lens.

f7.1 ISO 800 1/40th of a second

Each time I took the lens out I had a hard time adjusting to it's use.  I found that I had to get really close to my subject to compose what I wanted and often I was challenged in reconciling the framing between what I thought I wanted and what I was being shown.

f2.8 ISO 160 at 1/20 of a second

Once I started to get the feel for it though I noticed I was smiling a lot.  The lens was a challenge, but brought me some enjoyment that I haven't had in a long time with a single lens.  It was a bit like trying to control a puppy on a leash while strapping a pair of coke bottle glasses on your face.  But in a good way.  The lens absolutely forced me to consider what I was doing and to experience my surroundings in a way that my eyes did not agree with.

The box the lens came in from Canon.....and some feet

Like a fisheye, you have to be aware of what you are including in the frame.  Your feet, people or objects beside you and other things will appear in your frame constantly forcing you to reconsider your composition.

A cottage straight out of camera

I think for architectural photographers this lens would be a dream in that even with the elongating perspective all lines are kept ruler straight.  Regular use and some judicious correction in post (along with using a level tripod) would provide for a very nice lens for capturing urban buildings.

f22 ISO 100 1/30 of a second

For a walk around street photography lens though, this is a blast.  Once you get used to the field of view and decide that the people and objects that are important are best captured very close to the lens, it will begin performing for you in unusually fun ways.  I found myself when I was downtown wishing the weather was nicer and more pedestrians were on the street so I could stand still and photograph them walking around me.  You can pretty much set your scene with this lens and wait for your subjects to walk right into it.  Despite the size it makes for a surprisingly ninja-like street photography experience where people assume you are pointing at things other than them.

f22 ISO 100 1/6 of a second

And so for me, a photographer that primarily uses his Canon gear for weddings and portraits, I was left with a bit of a regret that this lens wouldn't fit into my workflow.  Mostly because I found it to be a lot of fun.  But at about $2040 in Canada the lens isn't going to give me the bang for the buck that I need for the couple of fun images it might provide for my clients.  If I were a landscape or architectural photographer I'd be all over it in a minute.

f22 ISO 100 1/8 of a second

Interestingly though it had me thinking about the Olympus 7-14 mm f4 lens which at about $1800 new (it's easy to find at about $1200 used) is a similar beast with the 2X crop factor and just as legendary on sharpness and control of straight lines.  Given Olympus is used more often as my fun camera it seems like a better fit for a few hundred dollars less.  The slower aperture isn't really an issue either as I found myself preferring to shoot the Canon pretty much closed down all the way and only shot it wide open to test it for this post (the auger photo above).

f22 ISO 100 1/15 of a second

The bubble like front element did make me nervous a times as it seems like it would be easily scratched and the lack of ability to use filters is a small problem (saved by the use of HDR or bracketing).  The lens also takes some time to get used to, certainly more time than I had with it.  But it was a blast to use.  It was one of the most joyful pieces of equipment I've had in a long time and there is no arguing it is also purpose built for a specific audience.  If that audience is you, then I say jump on it.  If not then try and borrow it for a walk around your town.  I think you might enjoy that.

f22 ISO 800 1/8 of a second straight out of camera

Most of the images in this post (though not all) were shot right from the camera and resized for this blog.  I shot them all in jpg as well.  I hope you've enjoyed reading this post and if you decide to buy the lens I hope you enjoy it and buy it through one of the links on this page so I can be rich and famous.

Mostly, thank-you for stopping by.  I appreciate your visit.  I'm now off to get all my plug-ins to work in CS6 which I just finished installing.  Wish me luck.