Q&A, Tips & General Cheekiness

1. Are you a professional photographer?

Why, yes. I'm also a trapeze artist and a Fulbright scholar. Actually, I'm just a published author who enjoys taking photos. Am I good at it? Not particularly, but my goal is to keep getting better.

2. Why take a photo every day?

I bought a new camera, and wanted to make sure I learned how to use it. Demanding a half-decent photo every day seemed a good way to do that.

a) You don't seem to be taking a photo a day anymore -- what happened?

It's true, it's true. See here for details.

3. Wow, you must have a lot of time on your hands.

ROFLMAO.

4. What are you shooting with?

Nikon D80 with a 50mm/1.8 lens

5. What made you decide to buy a DSLR? Was there something wrong with your point-and-shoot?

Absolutely not! I've had my Canon PowerShot A80 for 4 years, and it still takes great photos. If I were to buy a new point-and-shoot, it would definitely be another Canon PowerShot. But point-and-shoots have their limitations. I really wanted to play with shallow depth-of-field (that's where a portion of the image is in focus, and everything else is blurry) and you just can't do that with a point-and-shoot camera. I also wanted better low-light/indoor natural light performance.

6. But your point-and-shoot is a Canon and you chose a Nikon DSLR -- what's up with that?

Believe me, I agonized. I did a lot of research, the best of which happened here. Nikon and Canon DSLRs both take amazing pictures -- technology being what it is, picture quality is almost a non-issue. For my price point, the main variables were features and comfort. I had it narrowed down to the Nikon D80 and the Canon Xsi Rebel.

I chose the Nikon for a few reasons: a) great consumer reviews: people who owned it were thrilled with its performance, b) lens access: friends have offered to lend me their Nikon lenses, c) warranty & service: Nikon offers a longer warranty on camera bodies and lenses, and their service depot is right in my neighbourhood, and d) performance & handling: I was still unsure about my choice when I purchased the D80 (all big dollar purchased make me neurotic), and I had two weeks in which to exchange it. My main concern was the weight and handling of the camera.

During those two weeks, I carried my D80 everywhere, and shot hundreds of frames under various conditions. I even took my camera down to London Drugs where the friendly camera department fellow let me do an in-store side-by-side shooting comparison with the Canon Xsi.

Conclusion? The Nikon was more comfortable for me -- more balanced and easier on my hands, the auto-focus also seemed slightly more accurate. And, let's face it, after all that intensive time together, the D80 and I had developed a bond. (cue the Celine Dion soundtrack)

7. But why the 50mm/1.8 lens when you could have got a zoom?

Even before I had decided on a camera body, I knew I wanted the 50mm/1.8 (or nifty fifty as fans refer to it). I've admired many a photo taken with this lens, and for what I would be shooting -- yarn, dogs, people, indoor, natural light, etc -- it seemed the best fit. Using a prime lens forces me to think more about composition and framing. I can't recommend this lens enough -- it's cheap, useful and very sharp. And it does have a zoom function, you just have to move your feet to activate it.

8. What format do you shoot in and what post processing do you use?

I started out shooting in JPEG (fine, large setting) and doing my post in iPhoto, mainly because that's what I had been doing with my little A80. All the Jaine photos prior to April 6th, 2009 are JPEG/iPhoto.

On April 6th, 2009, I took an amazing (and I mean AMAZING) free (yes, I said FREE) all-day DSLR seminar at Langara College. The scant write-up on this course does not do it justice.

Instructor Christopher Morris (he was awesome -- I would take ANY course taught by him) explains what you need to know about DSLR settings: white balance, colourspace, exposure, reading histograms, and how to post process in both Lightroom and Photoshop: white balance and exposure correction, using curves, sharpening, etc. He also covers managing files, backing up, printing...I could go on and on. Did I mention this course is FREE!?!?

Okay, so where was I? Ah, yes, post processing. Hmmm...this feels like it needs a bit more unpacking...


a) What is post processing?

Remember when you used to take your film to the one-hour photo lab? Well, post processing (or PP) basically means that now you're the one-hour lab for your own digital photos -- correcting mistakes, improving the look of your image.

b) What was wrong with iPhoto?

The more control and precision you have in PP, the better. iPhoto is great if you just want to load your photos onto your computer and enjoy them with minimal adjustment, but for advanced PP iPhoto is a pretty blunt instrument.

c) So, what do you use now?

Lightroom, baby. And it's awesome. Adobe offers a free 30-day trial, and also a special educational rate for students and teachers.

This site offers, well, killer tips on getting the most out of Lightroom.

d) Do you still shoot in JPEG?

No way. If I learned anything at that free workshop, it's this: adjustments made to a JPEG permanently destroy the quality of your image. The more adjustments you make, the worse the image looks. Shooting in RAW and doing PP in Lightroom allows you to make adjustments, but never actually alter the original image file. You can play around to your heart's content, and not worry about doing damage.

e) I don't quite understand that, can you show me an example?

Sure. Take a look at this JPEG/iPhoto image of Jaine from April 5th. It's over-processed in iPhoto. If you look at Jaine's back, you'll see that it's starting to look a bit cartoony (that's my non-technical term), more like an illustration than a photograph. Now look at this RAW/Lightroom image of Jaine from April 7th. Not perfect by any stretch (I am still learning, after all) but do you see how her fur looks, well, more like fur? That's the beauty of shooting in RAW and using Lightroom.

f) But both those images are JPEGs -- I thought you said you shoot in RAW?

RAW images are huge, so in order to post them to the web, they need to be converted to JPEG -- Lightroom does it quick and easy.

g) Your photos look like crap on my computer, what's up with that?

One of the frustrating things about posting photos on the internet is that not all web browsers are colour managed. What this means is that photos that look amazing in your photo program (be it iPhoto, Lightroom or Photoshop) can look like crap on the web (be it a website, blog or on Flickr).

Firefox, my web browser of choice, has a colour management option, but it slows down browsing considerably, so most people don't both activating it. To get the best results possible, I've got Lightroom set to export in sRGB, the most recognized internet colourspace. I also double-check the image on: my laptop, my external monitor, my husband's laptop and his external monitor.

Barring coming to your house to check your monitor settings, there's nothing much else I can do until web browser developers decide that colour management is an important component of the internet experience. One little tip I do have: if you have a Mac, you may want to adjust your gamma and white point settings for optimum image colour accuracy. If you've ever printed copies of your photos and been disappointed by the results, you'll understand why this is a good idea.

9. What mode do you shoot in?

Before the Langara workshop I was shooting mostly in program mode (P), since the workshop I've been shooting in manual mode (M). Still using auto-focus, though I hope to practice my manual focusing skills soon.

10. Do you make any money from this site?

See my answer to question 3.