Wholesale Photo Camera Store News – in Bergen County, New Jersey / NJ

Whether it’s a weekend getaway or a two-week trek across the pond, packing right—and light—is critical to making your trek a success. After all, who wants to lug a bunch of superfluous gear around? Here are a few tips to ensure your gear bag is light, well-equipped and ready to travel:

Think it Through: Imagine your trip for a moment. Think about where you’ll be traveling. Do you need to take your DSLR with you or will your compact camera suffice? Do you really need that extra lens or can you do without it? Making a mental checklist of your itinerary can help you decide which items you need and which can be left at home.

Remember the Essentials: Make sure to pack a lens cleaning kit, extra batteries, your charger and extra storage media. These items alone will help you combat the majority of issues that might occur while you’re on holiday.

Choose the Right Bag: Traveling light means choosing the right bag for the situation. Would a backpack style help you get through the airports more easily, or is something with wheels that can also accommodate your other items be more appropriate? We’ve got designs that fit every need and budget here:
http://www.wholesalephoto.com/bags

Offloading for Longer Trips: If you’re traveling with your laptop, consider offloading your digital pictures on a regular basis. This technique can serve as protection in case your media card is somehow damaged or fails during your trip. Here’s another great solution—take your card to the local photo retailer and print a set or two before your return trip home. You’ll have one less item on your to-do list and your family will enjoy looking at the photos and reminiscing on the return trip. You can even use the pictures as a mini-scrapbooking project to keep the kids entertained while you travel.

Keep Everything Charged: Dead batteries mean an instant end to picture-taking fun and a battery that dies while you’re shooting might even corrupt your digital camera card. Fortunately, we’ve got a great solution! The PROMASTER GO! Charger is a compact multi-function charger that can charge your DSLR batteries and also serve as a charger or power source for your cell phone or music player.

http://www.wholesalephoto.com/Go!

“Look where the sun is coming from – then position yourself with your back towards it so that it light up your subject’s face.”


Cape Gooseberries by Naughton321

This was the very first piece of photographic advice that I was ever given as a child entrusted with the family’s camera for a school excursion.

The intention behind it was good and in many photographic situations over the years it has actually served me well.

However…. sometimes in photography it can be easy to get trapped in a mindset that actually limits the potential of your shots.

My suspicion is that many people are being limited by the above piece of advice – lighting your subject from the front and avoiding back lighting at all costs.

The problem with ignoring back lighting images is that:

I’m not arguing that backlit subjects are the way you should approach every shot – but ignoring it as an option ca leave you potentially missing out on a very powerful technique.

Check out some of the following images that show the beauty of power of ignoring the age old advice of always lighting a subject from the front.

PS: just because your subject is backlit doesn’t mean you need to forget about how they are lit from the front. Using a Fill Flash and/or some sort of reflector is often a great way to get the balance right for a well exposed shot.

Zest by benefit of hindsight

In Her own Place by ‘SeraphimC

Backlit Cattails by Limonada

Horse at Sunset by Serni

The End of an Era

Beautiful colors. A great Paul Simon song. However Eastman Kodak discontinued Kodachrome in 2009 and the last roll ever produced was recently shot and processed.

Kodak’s Kodachrome film was manufactured from 1935 to 2009. It was the oldest brand of of color film being produced. Kodachrome was sought after for its color accuracy and dark storage longevity. Unfortunately, Kodachrome requires a complex processing that cannot be done by amateurs. There is a very long scientific explanation I could expand on but I don’t think many of you would care to here about the subtractive screenplate method.

A general decline in slide film use in the 1980′s and 1990′s and the rise of digital cameras all but caused many Kodachrome processing laboratories to close. With fewer labs processing the film, Kodachrome sales declined further still. In 2009 Kodak discontinued the film and stopped processing it. Dwayne’s Photo, an independent facility in Kansas is the only lab left processing Kodachrome. However, they will stop processing the film at the end of the year. Their supply of Kodachrome has run out as well.

So, if you have some dust boxes of Kodachrome in your refrigerator or freezer, you might want to take them out and relive the glory days of past photographers and experience what colors looked like before Photoshop!

After taking your photos...take care of your camera!

Taking Care Of Your Camera At The Beach

During the summer months taking photographs at the beach is some of the most fun you and your family can have. However, the beach is camera UN-FRIENDLY! The combination of elements, sand, salt, water and wind all can contribute to damage to your camera.

Below are a few simple tips to taking care of your camera after a day of fun at the beach.

1. Use a UV filter on your lens – Aside from the protection from harmful UV rays on your pictures, this filter also provides protection for the delicate glass on the lens. It will resist dust and scratches (HGX Filters) as well as provide an extra layer between the lens glass and the sand, grit, salt or anything else it may encounter on the beach. Not only that, but in the event of a fall, the filter will always break well before the lens. The simple question you must ask yourself is: Would I rather replace an inexpensive filter or an expensive lens? We always recommend that anyone who purchases a DSLR camera also invest in a filter to go with their new lens.

2. Protect Your Camera’s Sensitive Insides – It is important when opening any part of the camera to do it extremely cautiously. If you need to change a lens, change a memory card or change a battery, try to keep it to the bare minimum. If you have to change a lens, battery or memory card find a place to do it AWAY from the water and shielded from the wind to prevent sand and grit from needlessly entering your camera. The inside of the camera is its most sensitive area…remember that.

3. Wash Your Hands – You do it before you eat… Do it before you handle your camera after coming out of the ocean. The salt from the water will transfer from your hands to the camera and salt is a corrosive material and could cause damage to your camera.

4. If You Clean Your Hands You Should Clean Your Camera – After your fun swimming and taking photographs at the beach take the time to thoroughly clean the camera! Use a microfiber cleaning cloth to remove any residual salt, sand, dust and grit from the camera body. Also use the cloth to gently wipe the filter if there are any thumb or fingerprints. If there are fingerprints on the filter, the auto focus will not be as effective and you could begin to get Hazy or strange looking pictures. You can also use compressed air to blow out those really lodged in particles of sand out of your lens.

5. Consider an Aquapack Waterproof case – When you’re spending the day at the beach, there is a good chance that EVERYTHING will get sand and/or water on it. One great way to protect your valuables is an Aquapack Waterproof case. These see through cases can be used for anything from your wallet to your digital camera and even protect your stuff if it goes underwater. Use one to protect your iPhone, Camera, iPod, or just about anything you care about.

The most important thing to remember is to have fun and be careful. Your camera is an investment!!

The new Casio EX-S7 is at Wholesale Photo for Mother’s Day. $139.95

For many people, pets are an important part of the family. They provide companionship, affection, protection and a healthy dose of laughter. However, capturing your pet’s personality—or even getting him to sit still—can be a real challenge, but with a few tricks up your sleeve, you’ll find that photo that truly captures your furry friend’s fun disposition.

Keep it Natural: When it comes to lighting, try to shoot using available light even if you’re indoors. Perhaps you can use the light coming in from a nearby window. If possible, forgo using your camera’s flash. In addition to possibly startling your pet and hindering his cooperation, the flash can also keep you from capturing your pet’s coat color accurately. However, if your pet has an all-black coat, a flash or direct outdoor sunlight can be an advantage because it will help bring out subtle shadings and variations that make your pet unique.
Follow Your Pet: When it comes to posing your pet, it’s best to meet him where he is at that moment. If he’s resting, consider taking a few shots from a distance first. Move in slowly and deliberately.

Frame Shots Tight: When it comes to taking pictures of pets, a great zoom lens can work wonders. Whenever possible, fill the frame with your shot and shoot a bit tighter than you’re used to as it will create a more intimate and personal pet portrait. If you’re looking for a new lens, we have a number of PROMASTER models designed to deliver high quality at a competitive price: http://www.promaster.com/digital

Include Your Kids: If you have children, this is a wonderful family project and a great way to spend time after school one afternoon. Enlist your child to help with posing and using toys or other enticements to get your pet to look in a certain direction or to create an ‘action’ shot of him retrieving a toy. You can capture some great interaction between your kids and your pet; just let the events unfold and shoot away. Trying to control the interaction may end up stifling the images and losing the lightness you’d hoped to capture.

Let it Go: Photographing pets can be challenging at times, and if your pet isn’t cooperating, put the camera away and try another time. After a nice long walk or a game of catch, your pet may feel more cooperative and you can try again.

You can almost hear the squeals of glee coming from kids and adults alike when Spring Break arrives. After plodding through winter weather, school, work and family commitments, the promise of a few days of freedom is enough to boost anyone’s spirits. If you’re one of those lucky souls with a getaway planned during Spring Break week, here are a few tips to help you prepare to return with some fantastic photographs:

Pack the Right Gear: Make sure you’ve got the right equipment for your trip. If you want to travel light, you may find it best to choose your compact camera in lieu of your DSLR; however, if your destination includes some amazing scenery and landscapes, you may find it’s well worth taking your DSLR to ensure you are prepared to capture the grandeur of your location. And remember to pack the battery charger, a lens cleaning cloth and an extra memory card. It will only take a few minutes to properly prepare and it will be time very well spent. If you need to pick up a memory card for your trip, we carry some of the best on the market: http://www.promaster.com/memory

See the Signs: While on your travels, make sure to photograph any interesting signs that display the uniqueness for your location. Clever street names, signs displaying unusual warnings (Javalina crossings, anyone?) and mile markers can add a very local and interesting element to your vacation library of photographs.

Define the Essence: Each location has its own personality, its own attributes and distinctive markers. While on vacation, think about what words you’d use to describe your vacation spot. Having that clarity will help you with your storytelling and assist in identifying those sights that articulate your vision.

A New Twist on Famous Landmarks: If you’re traveling to a well-known landmark, park or destination, take the opportunity to photograph it in a new and interesting way. Look at corresponding architecture, foliage and surroundings to see how to take a familiar sight and uncover a new way of viewing it. Experiment with zoom, distance, angle and lighting to unearth an interesting new perspective.

Maybe not… Read on:

Corrupt Memory Card

Bryan Peterson has written a book titled Understanding Exposure which is a highly recommended read if you’re wanting to venture out of the Auto mode on your digital camera and experiment with it’s manual settings.

In it Bryan illustrates the three main elements that need to be considered when playing around with exposure by calling them ‘the exposure triangle’.

Each of the three aspects of the triangle relate to light and how it enters and interacts with the camera.
The three elements are:

1. ISO – the measure of a digital camera sensor’s sensitivity to light
2. Aperture – the size of the opening in the lens when a picture is taken
3. Shutter Speed – the amount of time that the shutter is open

It is at the intersection of these three elements that an image’s exposure is worked out.

Most importantly – a change in one of the elements will impact the others. This means that you can never really isolate just one of the elements alone but always need to have the others in the back of your mind.

3 Metaphors for understanding the digital photography exposure triangle:

Many people describe the relationship between ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed using different metaphors to help us get our heads around it. Let me share three. A quick word of warning first though – like most metaphors – these are far from perfect and are just for illustrative purposes:

Shutters – Photo by Liisa

The Window

Imagine your camera is like a window with shutters that open and close.

Aperture is the size of the window. If it’s bigger more light gets through and the room is brighter.

Shutter Speed is the amount of time that the shutters of the window are open. The longer you leave them open the more that comes in.

Now imagine that you’re inside the room and are wearing sunglasses (hopefully this isn’t too much of a stretch). Your eyes become desensitized to the light that comes in (it’s like a low ISO).

There are a number of ways of increasing the amount of light in the room (or at least how much it seems that there is. You could increase the time that the shutters are open (decrease shutter speed), you could increase the size of the window (increase aperture) or you could take off your sunglasses (make the ISO larger).

Ok – it’s not the perfect illustration – but you get the idea.

Sun-Baking – Photo by Sanchez

Sunbaking

Another way that a friend recently shared with me is to think about digital camera exposure as being like getting a sun tan.

Now getting a suntan is something I always wanted growing up – but unfortunately being very fair skinned it was something that I never really achieved. All I did was get burnt when I went out into the sun. In a sense your skin type is like an ISO rating. Some people are more sensitive to the sun than others.

Shutter speed in this metaphor is like the length of time you spend out in the sun. The longer you spend in the sun the increased chances of you getting a tan (of course spending too long in the sun can mean being over exposed).

Aperture is like sunscreen which you apply to your skin. Sunscreen blocks the sun at different rates depending upon it’s strength. Apply a high strength sunscreen and you decrease the amount of sunlight that gets through – and as a result even a person with highly sensitive skin can spend more time in the sun (ie decrease the Aperture and you can slow down shutter speed and/or decrease ISO).

As I’ve said – neither metaphor is perfect but both illustrate the interconnectedness of shutter speed, aperture and ISO on your digital camera.

Update: A third metaphor that I’ve heard used is the Garden Hose (the width of the hose is aperture, the length that the hose is left on is shutter speed and the pressure of the water (the speed it gets through) is ISO.

Bringing It All Together

Mastering the art of exposure is something that takes a lot of practice. In many ways it’s a juggling act and even the most experienced photographers experiment and tweak their settings as they go. Keep in mind that changing each element not only impacts the exposure of the image but each one also has an impact upon other aspects of it (ie changing aperture changes depth of field, changing ISO changes the graininess of a shot and changing shutter speed impacts how motion is captured).

The great thing about digital cameras is that they are the ideal testing bed for learning about exposure. You can take as many shots as you like at no cost and they not only allow you to shoot in Auto mode and Manual mode – but also generally have semi-automatic modes like aperture priority and shutter priority modes which allow you to make decisions about one or two elements of the triangle and let the camera handle the other elements.

Sometimes autofocus can be really annoying. For some shots it’ll focus on the right part of your subject, but then the very next shot it may choose to focus on something far and away into the background.

Sure, you could avoid this problem by always using manual focus, but autofocus is great when you need to focus quickly or when you’re photographing a landscape and you need to focus on a certain spot in the scene.

Well, autofocus doesn’t have to be annoying anymore, because here are three ways to get better control of it:

#1 – Press your shutter button half-way to activate autofocus and then recompose

Set your autofocus point to the center spot, then point this spot where you want to focus and press your shutter button half-way (don’t press it completely yet) to initiate autofocus. Then, while still holding down the button half-way, recompose your shot and press the button completely down to snap the photo.

#2 – Switch to manual focus after autofocusing

Use autofocus as you normally do, but once it focuses on the right spot, just switch off autofocus on your lens to manual focus. Your lens will keep the current focus when you do this. This method works well when your camera is on a tripod and you’re taking multiple exposures from the same spot, like when photographing a landscape.

#3 – Use back-button autofocusing

Normally, your camera will autofocus when you press the shutter button, but with back-button autofocusing, you have to press a button on the back of the camera instead, giving you complete control of when autofocus is initiated.

With back-button autofocusing, you can just set the autofocus point to the center spot, then point that where you want to focus, and finally press the back button to automatically focus on that point. Now for all the shots you take from that position, that focus will be maintained (the camera won’t randomly focus into the background anymore).

You can do the same thing without this back-button autofocusing by switching to manual focus after the camera focuses properly, but using the back button saves time and this way you don’t have to constantly switch back and forth between manual and autofocus (which can inadvertently move the camera sometimes).

Back-button focusing is especially helpful for photographing moving subjects, like birds in flight or other wildlife: just switch on the continuous focusing mode, set the autofocus point to the center spot, and hold down that back button. Now you don’t have to worry about accidentally hitting the shutter button while you’re tracking the subject in your viewfinder.

How to enable back-button autofocusing: Unfortunately, this feature is called something different on each camera, so you’ll probably have to do some digging around in your camera’s manual and “custom functions” to find it. If it’s not labelled clearly on your camera, try changing the settings of the different buttons on the back of your camera (like the AE lock button).