FAQ's
2007-12-04
This is the Frequently Asked Questions page which will be updated as needed.
Who writes the green photographer?
My name is Michael Brinkerhoff and I have a healthy obsession with finding cheap alternatives to otherwise expensive photography products. I maintain my own photography website and business at:
www.michaelbrinkerhoff.comI have a degree in Multimedia with a emphasis in photography. I have been published in Calendars, Magazines, and newspapers that have appeared all over the world.
While many of my colleagues cannot understand why I haven't pursued a career in video production I honestly have to say that I have found photography to be the most rewarding. My worst day as a professional photographer is 10 times better than an average day working in the average American job. Do what you love the most!
Why did you start The Green Photographer?
After sitting on the idea for a few months I decided to start this Blog in December 2007. Over the last two years I have searched for alternative ways of achieving professional results on a budget. This is no easy task! While there are bargains to be found, it isn't always easy for new photographers to recognize them.
I also have a fascination for the DIY (do it yourself) community. Corporations have engineers and millions of dollars at their expense for research and development. Without that kind of funding we have to turn to the DIY crowd. The DIY crowd just loves to create cheap alternatives. Sure the product they create is usually ugly, cumbersome, and impractical but it usually does the job and thats the point. Can a $40 DIY ring flash compete with a $2000 ProFoto ring flash? No. Can the $40 DIY ring flash give you and your friends cool photos with the ring flash feel? Yes!
You already have a blog on your photography site, why blog here?
The blog on my website is more geared towards my clients. I keep it pure and simple and I only post about 5-10% of the photo shoots I am on. Clients like to see what you are up to. I am posting here so I can branch out and share the technical side of things. This is something my clients do not necessarily care about and is of course only useful to other photographers.
Blogger is a very simple tool that lets me post topics with very little hassle. I am by far not trying to make this blog flashy or ground breaking. The site is free, the bandwidth is free, what isn't green about that?
Can I advertise with you?
You most certainly can. Feel free to contact me either through this blog or on my business website.
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About a month ago when the christmas decorations started rolling out in the stores, I stumbled upon a few LED lights that looked like they could be modified easily to be turned into a ring light. After a bit of research I stumbled upon some interesting ideas and projects out there...
LED ring lights are nothing new as they have been around for quite some time. The hefty price tag attached has kept them out of our hands and quite frankly off the radar.
Here are a few Retail Solutions:
orled.comstockeryale.comsrelectronics.commektroninc.commightex.comRealize that most of these products are low powered for macro work. Some are powerful enough for cinematography. Price tags range from $100 - $800+. If you think your going to get a comparable product to a 1100 - 2400ws
pro 7,
Hensel, and
lumedyne ring flashes... you will certainly be disappointed.
Please, do not let that stop you!
If your up for the task you may want to look into some LED lights rated for Vehicles or high powered flash lights. You may find the materials you are looking for but consider this:
Those lights are bright! Do you really think you will get great shots of your clients while they are being blinded by a constant light source like that? In this case a flash unit is the only safe way to spare your clients from optical nerve damage.
Consider building a flash based LED unit. Simply put, a flash unit charges up capacitors from a low power source and then it release it at a user controlled time to the flash bulb. LED lights can put out a lot more light than they are rated for. LED lights are rated for thousands of hours and when you turn up the power they become brighter at the expense of their life. A lifetime of flashes from an led light may only lead to about 5-20 hours of total usage. Feel free to add some sort of math equation to back that guess up. If your still using your DIY creation 20 years from now, your either crazy or you should have mass produced them long ago.
Other problems you encounter are:
- LED flash sync time - How high can you sync an LED flash?
- User controlled flash power
- Those dangerous capacitors - Protect yourself and be careful!
- A frame to safely contain your DIY creation - Presentation isn't as important as safety in a DIY prototype.
If your project budget plan some how exceeds $400, you may want to reconsider and simply pick up the
300ws Alien Bees Ring Flash.
Have you created an LED ring light or ring flash?
Share it with us!
If you like this article, feel free to buy me a Beer for only $3. I sure could use the thirst quencher!
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Yesterday I featured a photo from a DIY photographer named Joris van den Heuvel. He put together several DIY ring lights featuring a wide range of ideas including LED, CCFL tubes, and fiber optics. His website contains a lot of information on the steps he took and includes a fair amount of photos to help guide you.
Curious?
Check out his
website.
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Don't let this happen to you!
So your on a budget and only have 1-2 batteries for your camera. At the moment your not ready to spend anymore money on your camera gear. Still you have to be conscious about your battery power before you go into a shoot. You religiously recharge your batteries before hand but then a situation comes up where you forgot, or you simply did not have time to get it done in time for your next photo shoot. What do you do? What are your options?
Be Green!
Normal operation of your camera does drain battery life however there are many ways to control just how long your battery will last. Lets start by identifying possible causes of battery drain. I will use the Canon 400D as an example:
(Note: Some of these options will have only a negligible effect on your battery life giving you 1-5 extra shots in the end. Other tweaks will allow you to squeeze off 50 - 400+ more shots)
LCD - Yes, you love that 3" LCD display on your camera but that beautiful display draws quite a bit of power. The XTI is a good example of this problem. Other cameras have a color LCD and a limited character LCD display. The limited character display which can usually be seen on the top of of most SLR cameras. These LCD screens about as much power as your digital watch. The boys at canon got rid of this display to save some space and included it in the color LCD layout. While this method has its benefits, it also has its drawbacks. The display is always on! As long as your camera is on its slowly sucking the life out of your battery. To minimize the power draw I highly recommend simply clicking the DISP. button. This will greatly limit your ability to change settings on the fly of your camera but if your not using it.
You may also want to reduce the brightness on your display. Reducing the brightness may make things more difficult to see, but it will prolong your battery life. This could mean the difference between telling a client: "I'm sorry, my battery ran out" or getting the job done and making the client happy.
Decreasing your brightness settings is the best way to to prolong your battery life.
If your a preview addict who needs to see the photo the second after the shot was taken then there are some options for you to help accommodate with both your power saving needs and your urge to chimp.
Lowering your photo review time after the photo has been taken can greatly reduce LCD power consumption. If you have faith in your photography skills, turning it off all together can do even more.
Shutter speed - Your camera's shutter speed can directly relate to more power consumption. DSLR cameras move the mirror up and out of the way of the digital sensor in order for light to be gathered. When the Mirror is released it drops back down. Some DSLR cameras such as the 40d have both the mirror actions motorized. On the plus side, this cuts down on the amount of noise produced by the mirror. Unfortunately it also requires a little more power. In this case, the trade off is a good one.
Photographers with an interest in Astronomy know all about the power drain of long exposures. The longer your exposures are the more power is going to be used from the mirror flap mechanism being in the up position. Power drain is negligible for standard operation.
Flash - Your on camera flash uses a lot of power. So much power that it can cut the amount of potential photos you can take on one battery by half. The Canon XTI can take an average of 500 photos (depending on camera settings and usage) before the battery dies. Using your flash on about half the photos you take will reduce that count to about 370 shots. Using your flash on all of the shots will reduce that number to roughly 250 shots.
Internal Image Processing - Your digital camera has a lot of work to do to get the image you see in your viewfinder to your cameras internal data buffer and finally on your flash card. During the time it takes to do all of this, your camera is having to use power. Using a fast flash card 120x or above will cut down on the time it takes the camera to write your images on the card. Photographers who shoot in raw format know the difference between using a 60x and a 300x flash card. If your on a photo shoot and you have a choice, always choose the fast flash card in order to save battery power.
Your camera is on! - If your shooting a subject and he or she is not ready yet, go ahead and turn that camera off. This is especially smart if your power is low and your just getting started. If your in the habit of simply putting your camera in the camera bag without turning your camera off you should take advantage of a neat built in setting that can be found in your camera's menu system.
Automatic power off can save your cameras battery life from common human forgetfulness.
Once you understand your photography habits you can then figure out what setting works best for you. Personally I set my xti to 4min and my 20d to 2min. both cameras have different settings because they are used for different purposes. If you are concerned about your battery life you may want to select the lowest time available.
Battery Grip - While most battery grips do not use more power, I have included this in the article because it is a very useful accessory. Battery grips allow you to store two batteries. This basically doubles the amount of shots you can take before having to change your batteries. If changing your batteries bothers you, (especially if your in the middle of a photo shoot) a battery grip might be a good accessory to consider. Some battery grips also have the option of replacing your standard batteries with standard AA batteries. AA batteries can be found just about anywhere. If your already packing around some portable flash units, you already probably already realize the importance of keeping spare AA's with you.
The Battery - Your battery has a behavior of its own. DSLR cameras tend to perform better at warmer temperature than in the cold. There is certainly a limitation to how much heat a Camera will take before its performance is effected but the cold is what you need to be most aware of. Batteries are also affected by the temperatures.
Third party batteries may have an attractive price and mAH rating but be aware that some brands do not perform very well. Some times you get lucky and find a 3rd party brand that works a lot better than the Nikon / Canon / Pentax name brand batteries. I recommend asking around via photography forums or as local photographers.
Bottom line: While maximizing your settings for long battery life can save you from unfortunate circumstances, they are a mediocre replacement for being well equipped with spare batteries. These tips will make your life a lot easier when things are looking down. Stay the course and you will be amaised at how much longer your battery is lasting.
If you like this article, feel free to buy me a Beer for only $3. I sure could use the thirst quencher!
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Joe Holst a DIY kind of guy has an old yet useful post about a excellent way to build a product photography light box. His article is complete with instructions, images and price quotes. Not bad for $30-40
If you already have flash units, I would suggest sticking to those instead of the clamp on lights.
You can find his article
here.Hungry for more?
Want softer light?
You've got it!
Strobist.com has an article about a $10 macro photo studio. The price of course assumes you already have some portable flashes. If you do not, this should be your next purchase!
Curious what the professional equivalent is?
Light tents and domes typicaly run around $50 - $400 depending on how large a tent you need.
Here are a link to help:
Tents and Domes
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