Monthly Archives: March 2010

Water glass in the sunset

Posted on by
Reply

I really liked this shot from a recent wedding. Maybe it’s nothing great, I don’t know. I had a little time with nothing to really do so I was trying to catch the sunset behind one of the water glasses. I think it would have been better if the sun was even lower in the sky, but I had to try when I had the chance. I had a lot of really great reception shots from this wedding because of the Nikon D700. Even though the lights were really low, that camera is so sensitive I barely had to use flash. I really just used the flash for a bit of fill and to give a little reflection in the eyes. It’s really amazing what you can do with Nikon’s full frame cameras and ED glass lenses. I wish I had this equipment when I was starting out, but maybe the limitations I used to have make me a better photographer when I have no limits now.

Ryan Smith Photography iPhone App

Posted on by
1
Samples of Ryan Smith Photography's iPhone app

Samples of Ryan Smith Photography's iPhone app

I’ve updated my mobile website a bit more.  If you visit http://myrtlebeachphotography.org on your iPhone or iPod Touch you will see instructions to add my mobile website as an application to your homescreen.  After that with one click of the RS Photo application icon you can access my price list, blog, photo galleries and more.  On other devices you can always access the same content by visiting the website in a browser.  The iPhone just gives the extra option to install my web app as an application.  Hope you like it!

New iPhone and mobile website

Posted on by
Reply

I’m working on a new mobile version of my website. I’ve got it almost the way I like it now.  It has special photo galleries that work great on the iPhone and on Android.  It has most of my pricing information as well, just not all the details about my business that are on the main site.  I also got a WordPress plugin so now this blog will also look good on your mobile as well.  Overall you should have a pretty nice experience visiting this site on a mobile phone.  I think I’m about to the point now I must have one of the most functional websites of any Photographer.  A lot of them build fancy sites on flash, but they don’t have the compliant clean html code and have all the really useful information and functionality of this site.

Experimenting D700 high iso, iso 3200

Posted on by
Reply

I’m just experimenting with my new camera until I have a real shoot this weekend. Actually the D700 really won’t make much of a difference over my D300 for outdoor photography in good light. Where the advantage comes in is for example at a wedding reception. It can easily take pictures at iso 3200 with very little noise and 6400 looks clear as well. That is about 4-8 times as sensitive to light as my old camera, and about 50-100x more sensitive than a typical point and shoot. So if you liked my pictures before, for example something taken in candlelight, they are going to look incredible now. This is one of the top cameras there is for taking pictures in low light.

Something I was just thinking about as well.  Cameras like this so far blow away what was possible in the film days, any photographer that acts like they are somehow better because they use film or should charge a premium for this, they are fooling you.  There is just no comparison between the digital camera technology available now with anything that came before in my opinion.

Happiness

Posted on by
Reply
Happy couple smiling at each other in the Myrtle Beach State Park

Happy couple smiling at each other in the Myrtle Beach State Park

I just really loved this shot because they look so happy. Something that always happens with sessions is the first pictures look more posed and stiff, then after a while I can usually get the couple to loosen up and have some fun with it.

Nikon FX Camera

Posted on by
Reply

I’ve finally made the move fully to the Nikon FX full frame sensor format camera. My D300 is a great camera, but I really want the low light performance of the full frame sensor.  I have both the Nikon 24-70 and 70-200mm ED lenses so I’ve been ready for full frame from that end for a while. I just never went ahead with the camera upgrade until now. If you are not familiar with the advantages of the FX format, one huge thing is the low light sensitivity.  This really comes in handy with reception pictures because the camera can almost shoot in the dark even without flash and still get a good image. This camera blows away what was possible in the film days. I’m looking forward to seeing what is possible.

New Client Proof Gallery System

Posted on by
Reply

Ryan Smith Photography’s Client Proof Gallery System.

I’m working on a new client proofing system using TTG Highslide Pro.  When you first go to the proof gallery it might not look as fancy as the old one.  This is because the old gallery worked on Flash and this new system is pure html and javascript.  But it actually has tons of advantages.

First because it doesn’t use flash it can be viewed at work and places where they block flash, as well as on mobile devices such as the iPad that doesn’t support flash.

Another cool feature is the way you can compare multiple images. You can click an image to enlarge it, then click other images and bring them up as well. Then you can drag the images around in the browser window to compare two or more side by side. It’s a really amazing effect.

Finally the gallery just runs a lot faster, I’m still tweaking and working bugs out but it’s just about ready to go. I hope it helps clients out in picking what images they want to order.

The iPad Will Change Photography – Part 3 « Photofocus

Posted on by
Reply

The iPad Will Change Photography – Part 3 « Photofocus.

This article was really interesting talking about using the iPad to show clients example wedding pictures.  I might try that, right now I just move one of my monitors where clients can see it and go through some weddings and things.  It might be nice just to hand them the iPad and let them looks through pictures on their own.  I’ll have to try it and see how it works out.