Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Geeking out about photography tech...

Technology has taken us to new places with photography. The most obvious of them is digital photography but there are some other simple things that make our life easier as well. Recently, I shot a wedding and as used some of the toys in my bag, I realized just how much technology comes into play with photography.

At this wedding, I didn't have a second shooter so I was only going to get the shots from the two cameras strapped around me. I then remembered that I had a remote trigger for my flash that DOUBLES as a remote shutter release. I set up one camera on a tripod behind the officiant and therefor I was able to get shots of the couple with their guests behind them. It didn't work as well as I would have liked because I got a bunch of shots of the officiant's back but the technology worked well. I just have to pick a better spot next time.

I was also able to place that camera back there and know that, if I did pick it up in one of my images, the technology also existed where I could very easily erase it as if it were never there. That process used to be laborious and splotchy at best in the past. Not it's ridiculously easy.

Speaking editing software, wide angle shots are now easier to create. I happen to own a Fisheye lens which has an 180 degree range. That means that I can take a picture and capture almost everything from my left and the right peripheral sightline. The problem is that as you get to edge of the image, everything gets warped. The easy solution is to take a bunch of pictures and stitch them together in an editing program. Everyone looks normal and you have a nice wide angled shot.

There are many more examples but you get the point. Photographers used to show up to events with their cameras and shoot and then a week later hope that the images turn out the way that they wanted them to. Now there are so many ways to fix or augment your shot that shutterbugs are allowed to be creative, even at a stress filled event like a wedding.

That's my focus...see you in the next frame.

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