Photography Tips
In this week’s photography tip video I discuss the thinking process I went through over 10 years ago in buying a tripod. The big takeaway: buy one good enough so that you’ll only ever have to buy one once in your career/life!
Read MoreIn this video featured on Jason Collin Photography I talk about the proper way to hold a camera, how the pros do it! Next time you see a press conference scene in a TV show or in a movie, look how the “photographers” are holding their cameras. I show you how to at least look more like a pro by holding your camera in a stable way that will help you get better sharpness in your photos.
Read MoreContinuing the new series of video features on Jason Collin Photography, this video features a top photo tip regarding another piece of inexpensive photography gear, the diffuser. For only about $40, you can get a 42” diffuser (and most are also reflectors too). In the video you can see me make the two photos below, which are unedited, the only change is one is made in direct sunlight and the other is made with the diffuser over the flower. The diffuser works its magic not just on flowers of course, also people and anything else you want to photograph in direct sunlight.
Read MoreVideo features will be a new regular blog post category here on Jason Collin Photography going forward. The videos will include photography tips, like this one does, news and updates, as well as behind the scenes of how I make the photos I do. In this photography tip, I show the best and cheapest piece of gear in my camera bag, the air blower!
Read MoreWhen I go out with my camera for personal photography, I like to take just one lens with me so that I am really focused on making one type of photo. For a hike along the Tunnel Canyon trail in Tijeras, New Mexico, on my Sony a7 iii was the Sony 90mm f/2.8 G Macro lens. Before I left the house i was thinking what type of photos did I feel like taking that day, and despite possible being out in wide open space, having distant views, I was feeling getting close up, so I chose the macro lens. That said, there were not that many great macro subjects on the trail, but there were some large boulders with moss on them that caught my eye. The lighting was not the greatest, but the macro lens is about showing small details anyway and getting really shallow DoF.
Read MoreI am often out in very remote areas from late afternoon until sunset and into twilight times here in New Mexico. I love to photograph wildlife, but despite so much time out in nature, I very rarely have the opportunity to photograph large animals, like the mule deer seen here (learn about mule deer). This is in part because when I am done shooting a piece of rural land real estate, I pack up both cameras into a backpack in the back of my Jeep. So if I do happen to see a deer, or other animal, I have to stop, get out, and then get my camera ready. This always results in the animals taking off never to be seen again.
Read MoreIf you asked me, I would tell you that a tripod is a must for making long exposure photos. In fact, I have already shared some long exposure ocean photos from San Diego featuring the Ocean Beach Pier that were all shot with my Nikon mounted on a tripod. That said, if getting a tack sharp image is not needed, handholding a slightly long exposure photo, especially with a lens that has VR (vibration reduction), can produce some very cool shots. The latter was the method I used to hold my Nikon right above the incoming water at Imperial Beach, San Diego, California at sunset. Why do a long exposure? Because it makes the water look like stretched out cotton. In the above shot you might easily think it was taken from a boat in deep water, when in reality it was me in less than ankle deep water letting that few inches of water whoosh past me as the camera’s shutter stayed open for 1/6th of a second.
Read More
