This week, Julie Powell explored how to create and use presets in Lightroom Classic, Vanelli taught us about how to get a reliable backup solution on the cheap and Bob Coates got us ready for the big fireworks! Also this week, Kevin Ames presented a live webinar with Drobo, and Bryan Esler talked to us about photography etiquette in public spaces. Have a great holiday week!
Save money; buy cheap hard drives for your backup solution - Most photographers would rather invest in new camera gear instead of investing in a backup solution for their images. I get it — new camera gear is a lot more exciting than hard drives. Nonetheless, you need a solid backup solution. Here’s how you can stretch your budget and save money by buying cheaper hard drives so you can still get that new lens you’ve been dreaming of. Follow the 3-2-1 Backup concept Whether you have just 1 TB of data or 16 TB, you need to follow the 3-2-1 Backup plan. Three copies of your data: Two stored locally and one stored off-site, preferably in the cloud. Creating a backup solution for just 1-3 TB of data is easy and very affordable. Just buy two 4 TB external drives. Having 4 TB or more is a little trickier. You’re at the point where you need to invest in a RAID — Check out “Photographers will eventually NEED a RAID System.” This can get a little costly but I’ll show you how to work it into your budget. Full disclosure, I started as a Drobo consumer and now I’m a Drobo ambassador. I use Drobo as an example. There are other Direct Attached Storage (DAS) devices — Western Digital, Synology and Netgear. The advice I’m giving will also work with these devices. Buy a faster or better hard drive for your main storage When buying a hard drive for your main storage, spend a little extra on a 7200 RPM drive. According to Backblaze — an online backup service that uses LOTS of hard drives — HGST has the lowest failure rate. If you have more than 4 TB of data the 4TB 7200 RPM HGST Ultrastar is on sale and is a good choice, plus it comes with a 5-year warranty. Using the Drobo Capacity Calculator, adding four 4 TB drives to a Drobo 5C will give you 10.89 TB of storage. If you have less than 3 TB, a LaCie 4TB Rugged Mini Portable Hard Drive is a good choice, especially if you plan on traveling with it. If you are attaching the drive to a desktop, the G-Technology 4TB G-DRIVE USB 3.0 Desktop External Hard Drive is a good choice. Before you mention SSD drives, keep in mind, they are much faster but they are also limited in size and they are expensive for a storage solution. A Samsung 860 QVO 4TB is almost $500 bucks. It’s best to have a smaller, less expensive SSD drive as your main drive for your operating system and programs. Buy a cheaper hard drive for your backup Yes, you read that correctly: Buy a cheaper hard drive for your backup if you want to save money. Since you are only using the drive as a backup, you aren’t directly accessing it so who cares if it’s a little slower. I set my system to backup at 2 a.m. when I’m not using my computer, so the speed isn’t an issue. This drive is insurance. If your main drive fails — correction, when your main drive fails — you can use this drive until you rebuild a new one. Currently, the 4TB 7200 RPM HGST Ultrastar is on sale and is a better choice. Once it’s off sale, the 4TB 5400 RPM Seagate Barracuda would be my next choice. If you have less than 4TB, the Western Digital 4TB Elements Portable External Hard Drive is a good choice. Since this is a backup drive, it will stay safe at home so you don’t need to spend extra on a shockproof drive. If you are attaching the drive to a desktop, the Seagate Backup Plus Hub 4TB External Hard Drive offers good performance with a 2-year warranty, two integrated high-speed USB 3.0 ports, and Seagate’s Dashboard backup software. Final thoughts You need to Invest in a backup solution, so save money and buy less expensive hard drives for your backup solution. Use 7200 RPM for your main storage and 5400 RPM for your backup storage. Wise shopping so you can still get that new lens you’ve been dreaming of. Interested in learning more about Drobo? Check out our free webinar this Wednesday, June 27, 2019 at 3 p.m. ET. You can also save 10% at drobostore.com with the coupon code PHOTOFOCUS.
Live webinar today @ 3:00 p.m. EDT: Preserving digital assets - Digital assets, photos, videos and music are valuable and much more vulnerable than film, tape or vinyl. A hard drive failure can wipe out years of memories not to mention music and movies. Remember, all hard drive die. Learn how your data can survive in this free webinar. Join in one hour at 3:00 p.m. EDT/noon PDT Topics Where assets are currently stored and potential issues Storage options External drives (a.k.a. JBOD) RAID volumes JBOD explained Types of RAID Protected storage and how it works Backups and how it differs from protected storage How to move from JBOD to protected storage This free webinar is sponsored by Drobo. Prizes provided by Skylum. Two copies of “The DAM Book” by Peter Krogh will also be given away. Must participate in the live webinar to win. Don’t have a Drobo? Use the promo code PHOTOFOCUS for 10% off your purchase!
Creating and using presets in Lightroom Classic to speed up your workflow - I am a big fan of using presets in Lightroom Classic to speed up your workflow. I find that you can create a certain look for a series and keep it completely cohesive throughout all the images in that series. Doing this means there is no need to continually compare what was achieved in the previous edit. These can then be saved to use again on new edits and series. The few minutes it takes to create a preset that you really like can save a lot of time in the long run. Presets can still be altered once used — they are not fixed. First step I have a system for cataloging my images and I invariably store images from the same series in the same folder. This way I can select the folder in the library and open the images into the Develop module. There are two things that I do first, camera aberrations and camera lens adjustment settings. I save those as a basic starting point. I often have a Basic preset that I will use on all images. Frequently, I like to add a touch of contrast and clarity as well, but that is a personal choice. On the lefthand side of your screen, you should find a Preset panel. There you can create a folder to store your personal presets by pressing the + button. Right-click on your image and save the preset into that created folder, with a name that has some meaning. Choose a folder name like Basic Camera Adjustments, Reset or something similar. Second step Next, I will do some white balance adjustments and then play with my other sliders, adding or removing contrast, highlights, etc. I work down the list of adjustment panels until I am happy with the result. Then I can create another preset, however, I do not select exposure or anything from the transform tool, as it is possible these may need to be tweaked for each individual image. Once that is done, you can then select all images (Ctrl + A) and using the sync function, apply the edits to all your images. Give it a minute to run through and then viola! All the images have the same settings. I like to just double check the exposure for each image, it is possible that they were set in the presets as well for this series, but may not be suitable for another. I also like to crop each image and to straighten each image with the transform tool as well. Using a preset This is the easy part, open an image and then select the preset from the preset panel. Lightroom does it all for you and you can use it again and again on different images. I would, however, double-check exposure, levels, white balance and anything corrected with the transform tool, in case it changed something you didn’t want. If you don’t like that preset on the image you can use the reset preset you have made, this keeps any crop or exposure you may have previously had.
Photography etiquette in public spaces — what’s allowed, and what’s not? - As someone who regular photographs events in public spaces, I’ve gotten used to photographing people and being asked what I’m doing, who I’m with and where people can see the photos I’ve taken. All that being said, every once in a while I’ll run across someone who simply doesn’t want their photo taken. In today’s social media age, it’s rare, but it does happen. That brings up the question. When you’re photographing in public spaces — whether it’s for a client or not — what’s allowed? What should you avoid? Basic rules to follow While I’ve never come across anyone who has been angry for taking their photo, I’ve heard stories from other photographers who have dealt with this. The truth of the matter is, if you’re in a public space in the U.S. and just taking photos for personal use (not selling them), you can take a picture of anyone. Of course, there’s always a few exceptions to every rule. Reading expressions and movements When I’m in a public space, I try to make note of people’s facial expressions. If they show a frustrated look when I take their photograph, I immediately delete it. If they turn around, I know they don’t want to be photographed. And of course if they come up and ask me explicitly not to take their photograph, I abide. What I find to happen more, however, is that people are curious as to whom I’m shooting for. In this case, I tell them, and then hand them my business card and tell them where they can find the photos I took of them. If I’m not shooting for a client, I simply tell them that “I’m out documenting the event for practice,” or “I’m just out here practicing my photography, and I loved the (clothing you’re wearing, game you’re playing, dancing you’re doing, etc.).” People have never questioned me on this, and oftentimes that leads to a more in-depth conversation about photography in general. Again, it’s another chance to pull out your business card or show people your Instagram feed. Things get even trickier when it comes to kids. I’ve surprisingly not had this happen a lot, but oftentimes parents don’t want their kid’s photos plastered all over social media for the world to see. Typically the parent will ask me politely not to take their photograph, and I tell them I’ll delete it right away. They thank me, and we go our separate ways. Kids in public Things can be tricky when it comes to kids. Understandably, oftentimes parents don’t want photos of their kids plastered all over social media for the world to see. If it’s a posed photograph I’m after, I always ask the parents if I can jump in and take a quick photo. If it’s something candid, I usually give a smile to the parents to let them know I’m going to probably photograph their kids in a few seconds. In the rare case they don’t want their kid’s photograph taken, they usually ask politely. If they’re just hesitant to make sure I’m not some creeper out there, they just ask who I’m with and that’s the end of it. The homeless I have a self-imposed rule that I never photograph a picture of homeless people, unless I’m specifically working on a campaign for, say, a homeless shelter or religious organization. In the case you do want to take a photograph of a homeless person, give them a buck or two. It’ll show you appreciate them as human beings, instead of trying to take advantage of them. If you don’t want to hand out money, check with your local homeless shelter to see if they offer gift cards of sorts that you can purchase in advance to hand out. One of the shelters in my area offers this, and I know several people hand these out when they see people struggling, so they can get a free meal, a bed or a cup of coffee. Be prepared Really, having photography etiquette in the public is all about common sense. If you feel uncomfortable taking a picture, chances are the subject will be too. Be friendly. Have business cards ready to show that you’re an actual photographer (even if you don’t consider yourself a pro). Be professional, but still have fun with it. And most importantly, be prepared to walk away in case you have to. If you have any questions on what is and what isn’t allowed, check out this great resource, “The Photographer’s Right” by attorney Bert P. Krages II. I carry this in my bag whenever I’m photographing in a public space, just in case.
Get fired up for fireworks - Fireworks come but once a year for many of us. It calls for specialized settings in order to get the most out of our 30-40 minute opportunity each year. I know I’ve always got to go back and review the previous year’s camera settings in order to improve my crop of good ones each time I shoot. Gear An absolute must is a tripod (or, at the very least a bean or rice bag on which to rest your camera). Stability is important. Almost any camera will work, preferably one with manual settings. You want to be in control of almost everything, as the camera will be seeing all the dark sky and try to over-expose your scene. The camera should have a remote shutter release, or as many of the newer cameras have, a WiFi connection with a phone app like the Lumix and Olympus cameras. This ensures the camera is not jostled when starting the exposures. Wild and crazy I take my fireworks shooting to an extreme. Since there are only one or two opportunities each year I try to get the most out of it. Here is a setup I use for multiple cameras. A Tripad supports several iOS devices. I’m using an iPhone and two iPads. Each device is paired with a camera. Because of the Lumix Image App I can see what each camera is viewing on each device and fire frames at will. Each camera has a different lens and some slightly different settings of shutter speed and/or aperture. Note: For those that haven’t seen a Tripad it makes a table using your tripod for legs. Unfortunately, they are no longer made. You might try Tether Tools for pro-grade accessories or cobble some sort of stand for support. If you are using a single camera a table is not necessary. Number one shows the Peak Design camera strap clasps that allow a camera strap to be added or taken away very quickly. All of my cameras are so equipped. That way I can also mix and match the size and type of straps depending upon the shooting day. Settings Here are some settings that have worked for me. Depending upon your type of camera you may need to make some adjustments. For example, since I photograph with micro four-thirds cameras, my preferred ISO is 200. I recommend you shoot with the native ISO for your camera. For most full-frame cameras the native ISO would be 100. Check with your camera manufacturer to confirm. I’ve had photographers in the past ask me to review why they had less than stellar results and part of it is too high an ISO that was set because it was dark. Remember that we are photographing the burst and not the scene in front of us. One thing for those with Lumix or other advanced amateur cameras such as the Lumix FZ2500, Lumix G7, etc., be sure to look in the Scene Menu for Artistic Nightscape (as a former Lumix Ambassador Lumix cameras are the ones with which I am familiar). This setting will allow you to have a longer exposure with a smaller aperture. Test this before you go out because you will have to tweak settings just a bit and you don’t want to not be ready for the big show. Get out at night and choose the setting and change the front dial until you get a shutter speed of two to five seconds. The aperture should be f/8 or above. If you are in a dark area, you can practice a bit with car trail lights to get an idea how things are working. Then you can keep an eye on the live view image and adjust the exposure compensation to tweak your captures to taste. Post production There are a number of ways to get the best from your fireworks files and different ways to use them. I’ll share some post production tips and tricks in a future post. Have fun getting your images! Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
