Paterson Photography Ltd.

The long weekend is just about here, following are some tips to help you get the most out of your long weekend.

Remember drive carefully, have a great time and don’t forget to take the camera and take a lot of pictures!

Some quick camera tips:

Remember to charge your batteries

If you use a DSLR – check for dust on your sensor (and clean) before you head out

Download all your images to your computer and reformat your memory cards before you head out so you have lots of storage space.

Don’t forget a tripod or a monopod – it is getting darker earlier and you can get some great sunsets this time of the year.  Plus, you do not have to stay up till 11pm for them.

Keep an eye out for wildlife, they are getting ready for winter and are easier to spot this time of the year than in the summer.

Irrigation at Sunset

I have been asked this question many times over the past week, month, years even.  I covered this off once before but thought that I should do it once more as the questions keep coming.

The question “why is it when I get a 5×7, 8×10, 11×14 or 16×20 print made of my digital file I have some of the image cut off”?

The answer ~ a digital camera sensor is NOT the same proportions as the prints mentioned above ( a little history is that the sizes above where used for photographers that shot 645 medium format ~ these sizes fit this format perfectly).  Most sensors are proportioned to 4×6, 8×12, 11×16, 12×18,  16×24 ~ only these sizes will give you the full image file and you will not have to crop off any of your image.  The cropping can be a good thing, it can allow you to get closer to the subject and eliminate “extra” parts of the picture.  For some pictures it is a killer,  imagine a picture of a large family and the people are from one edge of the image to the other.  Then the client asks for a 16×20.  Well you now have to choose who in the family that you are going to cut out, or do a lot of editing to add sky or foreground to the image.

Full frame image with no room to crop

Crop lines showing a 16x20 crop, notice part of subject will be cropped off.

So what should you do?  When shooting images imagine that you have crop lines in your viewfinder (or do like many did in years past and draw the crop lines in – if you so dare or are crazy enough to try).  Leave space around your images for the cropping to the common sizes.  If you want to do something artistic, like a 24″x8″ inch print make sure that you let your client know that is what you did so when they order they won’t ask for a 8×10 from that print.

If you do mess up and crop too tight for the print size, add some space using Photoshop. If you are unsure of how to do this give me a call and I would be happy to show you.

Had a chance to go through the lower park of BC in the last two weeks looking for locations to take tours and groups to, found some great locations.   Here are some pictures from this trip.

The Ferry at Kootenay Bay BC

Hedley Mine

Hedley Mine #2

Turtle

Jelly Fish

Jelly Fish 2

Jelly Fish 3

Portuea Cove

Just saw the itineraries for some of the adventures, expeditions and trips that are coming up that I have been asked to accompany ~ WOW!!  These trips have everything, great locations, food, accommodations, meals and photography.

First trip is Banff, Yoho, Jasper – stops at Johnson Canyon, Ice fields (Snow coach tour) and a lot more

Next is Calgary for Christmas – Heritage park and ZOO lights!

Then we have individual trips to Yellowstone, Yosemite, Sedona Arizona and a sea kayaking trip to Vancouver Island.

If you, or anyone you know, are interested stay tuned to our teaching website as they are confirmed they will be posted there.  These courses are perfect for all levels of photographers, even just for the occasional shooter or someone that wants to travel to some great locations to get pictures.

Buyer beware – I have had a couple people contact me in the last month about photography courses.  They mentioned that they had tried other “teachers” or had called them and where VERY upset with the information that they got.

Some of the people that are teaching are not professional photographers (some have just started to take pictures and decided to start teaching at the same time),  some only have basic cameras (just bought an amateur kit camera), some are my previous students that are repeating what I have taught them  and it seems that some are giving out some misleading information.

Before taking any course do your research, make sure that you are getting someone with some knowledge to share, not someone that is quoting from a book.  Anyone that is teaching should have a very good base to start with (has used a number of cameras, lenses, flashes, etc., shot hundreds of thousands of pictures, many years of experience shooting for a living (not just snap shots when they have the time) and a very strong working photography knowledge!

If you have any questions about course, adventures, expeditions or more drop me an E-mail or call the office 403-327-1114