Fashion Photography Accessories

The book I read to research this post was Light & Shoot: 50 Fashion Photos by Chris Gatcum which is an excellent book which I bought from amazon.

There are 3 types of flash lighting incandescent which is the cheapest but produces heat & doesn’t mix well with daylight. HMI is more expensive & may have to be rented in a lot of cases but is cool running & mixes with daylight. Fluorescent is a kind of half way although the cheaper ones may not be daylight balanced. A shield called the barndoors shields portions of the studio from the light. A beauty dish softens the light. A boom arm positions the lighting. A fill light fills in shadows. A flag is similiar to the barndoors. A flashmeter measures the amount of light hitting a certain spot. A fresnel or spot is a small focused light. A grid diffuses and/or adds a texture to the light. A light stand is similiar to a boom arm. A radio slave controls the flash from the camera. A slave cell controls the flash from another flash & will work in conjunction with a radio slave. Finally an umbrella reflects & diffuses the lighting.

More Digital Photography

The book I read to research this post was The Digital Photography Handbook  by Doug Harmon which is a very good book which I got from maplin’s an electronics store chain in the UK. Some of the parts on a digital camera are. The wrist strap which is self explanatory. The viewfinder which can be optical which saves battery power or electronic which displays info. Also often there is a screen on the back which helps you compose your shot. The AF assist emitter which helps you photograph in low light and reduces red eye. There is a built in flash which helps in low light. There is a memory card which stores your photos. Then finally there is your lens which is self explanatory.

 

Digital Video Accessories

The book I read to research this post was Digital Video Handbook by Tom Ang which is an excellent book and which I got from the library but bear in mind this book is 5 years old although I am sure there is an updated version but some technologies like category 10 SD cards aren’t mentioned.

Obviously the first digital item you need is a DV camcorder. If you are serious about film making you need a prosumer model. Prosumer stands for professional consumer and while these camcorders have many of the features of broadcast standard cameras they can be obtained for a fraction of the cost.

Then you need a camera bag or preferably a hard case obviously to protect your camcorder another similiar item is a waterproof housing which protects it from the rain. A battery charger and a spare battery are a must. A lens hood protects the lens from bumps and a matte box shields your lens from the sun.  A tripod keeps your camera steady while shooting. A microphone is a must & if it’s windy a windsock will protect it from the wind. If you need to record actors dialogue a boom is needed to position the microphone.

You obviously need a computer with decent graphics card, sound card & monitor also you may need calibration software for the monitor. You may need an external hard drive and external blu ray writer. Finally a useful item is a DAT recorder which records uncompressed sound but the tapes are expensive.

 

Digital SLR Cameras & Photography

Some of what tend to be the cheaper SLR and the standard digital cameras have a light meter that only covers a small portion of what you are shooting. With these cameras what you see on the lcd screen isn’t necessarily how the photo is going to turn out. An option if you have a camera is to use an external light meter that measures the light reaching the subject.

I also want to talk a bit about RAW format it isn’t a single format, in fact there are several dozen and a manufacturer might have several for different models. Contrary to popular belief it isn’t unprocessed either. If you buy a program like photoshop or paint shop pro they contain RAW converters that convert most RAW formats. Some people use a third party RAW converter, some you have to buy and some are supplied free with the camera.

Digital Photography Lighting

I noticed I’ve got a comment so I’ll briefly answer that. If you get a book on the iphone get one on the iphone 4 because that is the latest one and also there is a post on the ipad and it does mention the ipad 2 which is the latest one. For anyone who lives in the UK I’ve noticed there’s a store chain called maplin and they are selling a Disgo 6000 7 inch Touchscreen Tablet which has android on it for £79.99 which I think is a good price.

Anyway the book I read for this post is Digital Photography Lighting for Dummies by Dirk Fletcher which I got from the local library. I have to admit it’s a good book particularly for anyone who is new to digital photography.

Most photographers think sunlight is the best form of lighting. What you should be hoping for when taking a photo is for the viewer to not notice the lighting. When someone is taking photos in the studio and they are a newcomer to photography they should get used to lighting which is always on rather than the type that flashes briefly because they have to get used to seeing the different effects. There are two types of meter there is spot meters which measure the amount of light at a certain point and reflective meters which are the type found in cameras and measure the amount of light as a whole. When photographing a subject it’s often a good idea to slightly blur the background.