Photography podcast – photography blog – Photography.ca

Polarizing filters reduce reflections

Most people use polarizing filters to reduce the brightness of the sky so that it does not get blown out. However another very useful thing that polarizing filters do is that polarizers reduce unwanted reflections.

This shot below by forum member Travis is an AMAZING example of the same shot with and without a polarizing filter. The top image is shot without the polarizer and the bottom image uses the polarizing filter and gets rid of all the reflections. Thanks so much for letting me use these images Travis!

polarizing filters reduce reflections

3 other links on our forum that talk about how to use polarizers
- Travis’s original post
- Neutral gradient filter – also talks about polarizers
- Filters – also talks about polarizing filters and other filters

Tags: filters, photography, polarizers, polarizing filters, reflections

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54 – Making the eyes sing – Photography podcast

Photography podcast #54 talks about how to make the eyes sing in a photograph. When we take a photo of a person or something that has eyes, we really need to pay attention to what we are doing. The eyes are normally the most important part of any portrait and they need to be sharp and bright. Through a few basic techniques this podcast tells you what you need to do to get your subject’s eyes to ’sing’.

Even in this medium range shot you can see sharp bright eyes

The bulldog's eye (stock) sings because the iris is sharp & bright

Links mentioned in this podcast:
The eyes have it thread from the photography forum
Accessories podcast (check image of the light stand holding reflector with magic arm)
A dodging technique for the eyes described in paragraph 2 of the post
Gary Fong diffuser at B&H
Podcamp Montreal
CC Chapman

Thanks as always to Benny and Susan who posted a blog comment about our last podcast and for her suggestion that inspired this podcast. Thanks also to Ram, Hallow’s maiden, Rabiakamaran, Gatepc, BenH, MikeS, Dabow,  Inukamori, svantland & PKMax who recently joined the photography.ca forum and posted a few times. We LOVE comments and suggestions so please send more.

If you are looking at this material on any other site except Photography.ca – Please hop on over to the Photography.ca blog and podcast and get this and other photography info directly from the source. I Subscribe with iTunes I Subscribe via RSS feed I Subscribe with Google Reader I

You can download this photography podcast directly by clicking the preceding link or listen to it almost immediately with the embedded player below.

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Tags: lighting, photography, photography podcast, portraits

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• Focus on the eyes
• Nikon D80 versus Canon 30D – Photography Podcast 5
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Abstract images in photography

I’m quite a big fan of abstract photographs. I love the way these photos engage the viewer in a game of “What is this? What is going on here? I’d be curious to know if anyone can figure out what’s going on in this image? and…do you like it?

Can you guess what this a photograph of?

Tags: abstract photograph, photography

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Presenting photography to galleries – Photography podcast #53

Photography podcast #53 talks about how to present your photography portfolio to photography galleries. There’s a right way and a wrong way to approach galleries with your work and this podcast offers up a few tips on what the right way is. One crucial tip that I’ll mention right here is to make SURE your work fits with what the gallery is showing. If it doesn’t, don’t waste your time and choose another gallery.

Links mentioned in this podcast:
Robert Miller gallery (New York) – Thanks Karl
Stephen Bulger gallery (Toronto) – Thanks Jessica
Bulger gallery portfolio submission guidelines

Thanks as always to Benny who posted a blog comment about our last podcast and to Spriter who recently joined the photography.ca forum and posted a few times. We LOVE comments and suggestions so please send more.

If you are looking at this material on any other site except Photography.ca – Please hop on over to the Photography.ca blog and podcast and get this and other photography info directly from the source. I Subscribe with iTunes I Subscribe via RSS feed I Subscribe with Google Reader I

You can download this photography podcast directly by clicking the preceding link or listen to it almost immediately with the embedded player below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Tags: fine art photography, photography, photography galleries, photography podcast

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Interview with Kevin Kubota – Photography podcast #52

Photography podcast #52 features an interview with photographer Kevin Kubota. Kevin is probably most well known for his photoshop actions but he is also a wedding as well as a fine art photographer. In this interview we talk about Kevin’s work, his gear, and his workflow. We also talk a bit about Photoshop actions in general and discuss if using them is cheating.

Here’s a quick snapshot of Parc-Lafontaine where a little visitor came to say hi while I was recording the intro and conclusion to this podcast. That’s right, my outdoor sound studio includes wildlife

Links mentioned in this podcast:
Kevin Kubota’s Actions
Assignment forum on Photography.ca
Adobe Photoshop tutorials and workflow
- http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/tutorials
- http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/video_workshop
- http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/cs3/pdfs/CS3_Web_Workflow_Guide.pdf

Thanks as always to Susan who posted a blog comment about our last podcast and to the following people that recently joined the photography.ca forum and posted a few times; pslove, JoeMezz, natalieyoung, nekken, bhvijaykumar, ret, sweetoblivion, scalespeeder, mindforge, bear, sealhunter, PaulaLynn, Wayne, reijo, fire209, Dwayne Oakes, trueartsphotography, BunD, easypickings and Disrupt Studios. We LOVE comments and suggestions so please send more.

You can download this photography podcast directly by clicking the preceding link or listen to it almost immediately with the embedded player below.

If you wanted to review the podcast in Itunes it would be most appreciated. You’ll need to download Itunes for free and you can search for the podcast if you don’t know where it is. You can search the itunes store for photography podcast – photography blog and you’ll see my name (Marko Kulik). You’ll see the icon with the word photography.ca and under that, you’ll see customer reviews with a link to post a review. It takes a few minutes to do this (and you’ll need register for an apple ID) so I thank you in advance for taking the time. If you know itunes well, you can also do a power search from the quick links menu on the front page of the Itunes store and it will be faster.

If you are looking at this material on any other site except Photography.ca – Please hop on over to the Photography.ca blog and podcast and get this and other photography info directly from the source. I Subscribe with iTunes I Subscribe via RSS feed I Subscribe with Google Reader I

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Tags: actions, kevin kubota, photography, photography podcast

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Portrait from the Plateau – Julien Smith

I took this shot of my friend and fellow podcaster/social media expert Julien Smith a few weeks ago in Parc Lafontaine in Montreal. Julien needed some promo shots and so we talked about what he wanted and took a variety of shots in the ‘good light’. As I do with all my shoots, after giving the client what they request, I always try a few shots of what I think ‘works’ for their look and personality even though it might not be their first instinct. Although there were many excellent shots from this shoot, this shot is my fave of the lot. I like this shot because Julien’s pose is very casual and the pose in the setting which I scouted beforehand has a teacher/guru like feel, which for me is in keeping with how I see Julien.

Portrait of Julien Smith

On a technical note, Julien has wicked good eyes that reflect a lot of light so my fill flash was set to minus 3 stops lower than the ambient light. The ISO was 400 shot at F2.8 at 1/250.

Tags: Julien-Smith, photography, portrait from the plateau

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Cleaning camera lenses – cleaning cameras – Photography podcast #51

Photography podcast #51 talks about how to clean the outside of your camera, your camera lenses and the inside of your camera. I also share some tips on avoiding all this dirt in the first place. Special thanks to Kate from our photography forum who suggested this podcast.

NOTE: When I talk about UV lenses I’m actually referring to a screw on UV filters. My bad.

Links mentioned in this podcast:
Kodak lens cleaner
Zeiss cleaning fluid

Thanks as always to Rifter, Susan, Jon, LanceJ, and scorpio_e, Beginner, candyman123, trotters, Natanis and dclark  for recent comments and suggestions. We LOVE comments and suggestions so please send more.

You can download this photography podcast directly by clicking the preceding link or listen to it almost immediately with the embedded player below.

If you are looking at this material on any other site except Photography.ca – Please hop on over to the Photography.ca blog and podcast and get this and other photography info directly from the source. I Subscribe with iTunes I Subscribe via RSS feed I Subscribe with Google Reader I

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Tags: camera cleaning, cleaning camera lenses, photography

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