Tuesday, June 30, 2020

NEW VIDEO: Creating time saving actions and buttons in Photoshop

It is another week and time to roll out another video. With this seemingly never ending shelter-in-place happening, I seem to have a lot more time than I ever have in the past. But even with that free time, it is still great to find simple and efficient ways to help save time in the photographic workflow.

Today's video is all about creating actions in Adobe Photoshop AND turning them into buttons, making them even faster and easier.


I have created my own actions in Photoshop for a really long time, but I remember the moment I learned about "button mode". I was on a press bus at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver back in 2008 and I saw another photographer invoking his actions with buttons and I just had to interrupt him to find out how he did that. He was kind enough to show me the simple way to make this change in Photoshop and I have never looked back since.


To watch the video, just click on the image above.

I hope that you find this trick as useful as I have!

I would love to know what you think of this tip. Have you been using buttons yourself? Did you just learn this and think "That's super cool!! Why didn't I know this before?"  Leave a comment here and let me know.

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If you are interested in purchasing ANY equipment, please click here to go to B&H Photo, as I get a referral from them if you enter this way. It does not change the cost to you in any way, but it helps me keep this blog up and running.
__________________________________________________________________________
Check out my upcoming photo tours to amazing places around the world. I have photo tours to Africa, Costa Rica, Europe, Asia, India and more. And Canon will loan you any gear you want for FREE for any of my tours.
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Tuesday, June 23, 2020

NEW VIDEO: How to photograph a swim meet - camera settings and tips

Years ago, I wrote a blog post giving instructions on how to photograph a swim meet. Even with many years passing since I wrote that, it is still one of my most read blog posts. Since I have been creating short tutorial videos, I decided to create a video that takes that information and more and brings it to YouTube.




You can click on the image above to watch the video.

I hope that the recommended camera settings and tips in this video help you take better photos at your next swim meet.



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Subscribe to the Jeff Cable Photography Blog by clicking HERE!
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If you are interested in purchasing ANY equipment, please click here to go to B&H Photo, as I get a referral from them if you enter this way. It does not change the cost to you in any way, but it helps me keep this blog up and running.
__________________________________________________________________________
Check out my upcoming photo tours to amazing places around the world. I have photo tours to Africa, Costa Rica, Europe, Asia, India and more. And Canon will loan you any gear you want for FREE for any of my tours.
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Wednesday, June 17, 2020

A super fun photo project for you to try at home - photographing water drops!

We are currently in day 93 of the shelter-in-place here in Northern California and I don't know about you, but I am going stir crazy. Two days ago, I decided that I needed to challenge myself with a photo project here at the house. A couple of ideas came to mind, but the one that I was most excited about was photographing water drops. I had done this for the first time about 10 years ago, and then again 6 years ago, but my photography skills have gotten better and I thought it was time to try it once again.

The whole setup only took about 15 minutes (with a frying pan, a ziplock bag, water, my camera and flash) and it was surprisingly easy to get photos like these. It was so easy that I thought "This would make a great video to show you all how to do this at your house." So yesterday I shot and edited a "How-to" video to share with you.





If you like these photos, you need to try it yourself.




I kept changing the objects in the background to get different reflections in the water and drops.



It is fun to shoot images and different points of the water drop.





You might be wondering how I got these colors reflecting in the pan of water. You will have to watch the video to see how I achieved this.





Click on the video above to watch how to create images like these for yourself. 

Ok - the challenge is on for you, your family and friends! I hope that you capture some awesome photos. Post them to social media and amaze your friends. Oh, and make to tag me (@jeffcablephotography) so I can see them as well. Haver fun!


__________________________________________________________________________
Subscribe to the Jeff Cable Photography Blog by clicking HERE!
__________________________________________________________________________
If you are interested in purchasing ANY equipment, please click here to go to B&H Photo, as I get a referral from them if you enter this way. It does not change the cost to you in any way, but it helps me keep this blog up and running.
__________________________________________________________________________
Check out my upcoming photo tours to amazing places around the world. I have photo tours to Africa, Costa Rica, Europe, Asia, India and more. And Canon will loan you any gear you want for FREE for any of my tours.
__________________________________________________________________________ 

Tuesday, June 16, 2020

Zoom call with special guest, Terrell Lloyd, this Thursday



I am doing another Zoom get together this Thursday at 11am PST, with special guest, Terrell Lloyd. He is the team photographer for the 49ers and an all around great guy. If you have not signed up to be on the Zoom invite list, you can do so HERE.

We would love to have you join us.

Come with questions about sports photography, the NFL, the team or whatever else you might be curious about.

See you there!


Saturday, June 13, 2020

New photography video: Get out of automatic mode

I just released another photography video to my YouTube channel. This video is aimed at the novice camera owner who still has their DSLR camera in automatic mode. Believe it or not, most people who own DSLR cameras do not know how to get the most out of them. A high percentage of those camera owners leave the DSLR in automatic mode, which does not help them get great photos. In this video, I encourage those people to get out of automatic mode, explain why this is better, and help them take control of their cameras. This will help those people get better photos and have a lot more fun taking them!


You can click on the image above to launch the video.

__________________________________________________________________________
Subscribe to the Jeff Cable Photography Blog by clicking HERE!
__________________________________________________________________________
If you are interested in purchasing ANY equipment, please click here to go to B&H Photo, as I get a referral from them if you enter this way. It does not change the cost to you in any way, but it helps me keep this blog up and running.
__________________________________________________________________________
Check out my upcoming photo tours to amazing places around the world. I have photo tours to Africa, Costa Rica, Europe, Asia, India and more. And Canon will loan you any gear you want for FREE for any of my tours.
__________________________________________________________________________ 


Wednesday, June 10, 2020

Keep busy during this pandemic - capturing senior / graduation portraits

If you had asked me back at the beginning of March if I would be bored during this time of year, I would have laughed at you. I had most weekends booked with events, photo tours to Costa Rica, Scotland and Ireland. Oh, and we can't forget the Olympics which was supposed to be starting next month.

But with the pandemic, all of that changed!

I have to admit, when all this shelter-in-place started, I took it in stride and welcomed the down time. I figured that this would be a short-term issue and that we would be back to normal within a month or two. As things progressed, it became obvious that this would not be the case. Now, months later, I have to admit that I am not always my normal happy-go-lucky self. It seems that every morning I wake up to another event postponement or client asking about our future photo tours. But I think the hardest thing to deal with is the lack of client interaction and the lack of creating images for those clients. Basically, I want to get back out and be creative again!

The good news is that, with the shelter-in-place loosening up a little and graduation season in full swing, it has given me a chance to get out and capture images for my clients (while maintaining a safe distance). And boy does it feel good to shoot, download, build galleries and retouch again!

I thought I would share some of those images (with camera settings) with all of you.

(Canon 1D X MKIII, 70-200mm 2.8 lens at 150mm, ISO 400, f/4, 1/125th sec, Canon 600EX-RT flash at -1)

This photo was taken about 3 weeks ago and it was the first time I had gotten out with my camera since March 7th. I photographed Allie in her front and back yards and it felt great to get back on the horse!

(Canon 1D X MKIII, 70-200mm 2.8 lens at 105mm, ISO 160, f/4.5, 1/200th sec, Canon 600EX-RT flash at -1)

A week and a half ago, I was asked to photograph a graduation party in one of my client's backyard.

(Canon 5D MK IV, 24-70mm 2.8 lens at 35mm, ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/320th sec, Canon 600EX-RT flash at -1)

They did an awesome job of throwing a grad party with each family having their own table 10 feet from the next. We had to do a group photo of the boys with their masks on, as it tells the story of the time.

(Canon 1D X MKIII, 70-200mm 2.8 lens at 135mm, ISO 100, f/4.5, 1/100th sec, Canon 600EX-RT flash at -1)

Last weekend I photographed for another client in front of their house.

(Canon 1D X MKIII, 70-200mm 2.8 lens at 95mm, ISO 250, f/3.2, 1/250th sec, Canon 600EX-RT flash at -1)

Sarah was graduating that afternoon, but we got together in the morning to capturing these photos of her. For almost all of these photos, I used the Canon 1D X Mark III, Canon 70-200mm lens, and Canon 600-EX-RT flash.

(Canon 1D X MKIII, 70-200mm 2.8 lens at 70mm, ISO 1600, f/5, 1/000th sec)

This photo really cracks me up. Her family wanted to a jumping shot in front of the house. I put the Canon 1D X Mark III into high speed burst mode and captured many images of them jumping. After we took their photos, I asked them if they could get their dog to jump as well. Knowing where the family was placed in the previous photos, I had them get the dog over to the right side of the front door for his jump. I then composited the images (one for the men on the left, one for the ladies on the right, and one for the dog) in Adobe Photoshop CC for this final image.

(Canon 5D MKIV, 24-70mm 2.8 lens at 59mm, ISO 250, f/4, 1/160th sec, Canon 600EX-RT flash at -1)

In a recent blog post, you saw the image I took of our neighbor Jeffrey, who graduated from high school. His family threw him a graduation party on his driveway, where many friends drove by and celebrated with him from a distance.

(Canon 1D X MKIII, 70-200mm 2.8 lens at 135mm, ISO 160, f/5, 1/80th sec, Canon 600EX-RT flash at -1)

A couple of days ago, I had the pleasure of photographing Rachael for her graduation photos. The last time I photographed her was 5 years ago for her Bat Mitzvah.

(Canon 1D X MKIII, 70-200mm 2.8 lens at 142mm, ISO 400, f/3.2, 1/200th sec, Canon 600EX-RT flash at -1)

We met at a local park to get these photos of her.

(Canon 1D X MKIII, 70-200mm 2.8 lens at 160mm, ISO 400, f/3.2, 1/160th sec, Canon 600EX-RT flash at -1)

This was one of the last photos we took of her. She reached up to reposition her cap, and I liked the pose. I asked her to hold that for a second and captured this photo, with that big smile. Just being able to shoot again and socialize put a smile just as big on my face.


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Subscribe to the Jeff Cable Photography Blog by clicking HERE!
__________________________________________________________________________
If you are interested in purchasing ANY equipment, please click here to go to B&H Photo, as I get a referral from them if you enter this way. It does not change the cost to you in any way, but it helps me keep this blog up and running.
__________________________________________________________________________
Check out my upcoming photo tours to amazing places around the world. I have photo tours to Africa, Costa Rica, Europe, Asia, India and more. And Canon will loan you any gear you want for FREE for any of my tours.
__________________________________________________________________________ 

Friday, June 5, 2020

Two more photography videos released to YouTube

As part of my new short video series, I have released two more videos which will hopefully be of interest to you.

The first video shares one of my favorite Photoshop tricks, showing you how to create a brush out of your logo or signature, and then using those brushes to easily watermark your photos.


You can click on the image above to watch the video.

The second video talks about the importance of shooting photos to both memory card slots in your camera (assuming you have two). Yes, I always shoot RAW files to both memory cards, to make sure that, in the event that one card fails, I still have the photos for myself or my client. Having spent many years of my life in the memory card business, I know many of the things that can go wrong between your camera and your memory card, and want to protect you from catastrophic problems as best I can.


You can click on the image above to watch the video.

I hope that you learn something from the videos and that you all have an enjoyable weekend.


__________________________________________________________________________
Subscribe to the Jeff Cable Photography Blog by clicking HERE!
__________________________________________________________________________
If you are interested in purchasing ANY equipment, please click here to go to B&H Photo, as I get a referral from them if you enter this way. It does not change the cost to you in any way, but it helps me keep this blog up and running.
__________________________________________________________________________
Check out my upcoming photo tours to amazing places around the world. I have photo tours to Africa, Costa Rica, Europe, Asia, India and more. And Canon will loan you any gear you want for FREE for any of my tours.
__________________________________________________________________________