Me on PocketWizard

OK, maybe it’s not LOVE, but they seem to like my photos =). I get the honor of having one of my images showcased on PocketWizard’s website. As a photographer, the use of PocketWizards has really enhanced my style and allows me to get images that I wouldn’t normally be able to get. This image was shot with one off-camera flash and one on-board flash. I used PocketWizards to trigger the external flash. The benefit here is that you get subject separation from the background. Without using an external flash, you will have a “flatness” factor in the image. Using an external flash creates a three-dimensional effect that you can see by creating visible texture in the bride’s hair (hi Jamie and Marcus!) and variance in skin lighting. This off-camera light effect offers depth to the image which makes it more pleasant to view.

When shooting wedding photographs, I try to use off-camera flash when it I can, typically during the reception as the lighting there can be kept uniform, meaning that the flash is the main source of light so I can control its effect on the image. Keep an eye out here for more off-camera flash images and tips in the future. Thanks again to PocketWizard for a great product and for using my image.

Aperture or Lightroom or Both?

I have to say that I’m pretty comfortable with Adobe Lightroom™ which I’ve been using since the early betas; however, I just received a legal copy of Aperture 2™ as a gift from a friend who works for Apple. At first, I wasn’t sure if I would even install it since my internal hard drive is pretty full already. Then I started wondering, what benefits would I gain by using it?

So, after thinking for a few minutes, I loaded it up on my Mac, and Aperture found some images that I had sort of forgotten about. Cool. These are some of my earlier photos that were stored away in iPhoto in an album that is not easy to find using the regular Finder in OS X. I also found that I can integrate Aperture with my Apple TV that I use to show slideshows to my clients instead of trying to build it all in iLife and iTunes. This seems like it would be easier to do although I haven’t tackled it yet.

Lightroom will still be my primary tool and maintain my image library and metadata, but to be honest, Aperture will see some use as well in displaying slideshows. Do any of you use Lightroom or Aperture? Do any of you use both? I’ve decided that Aperture has gained a place on my harddrive and during the slower upcoming months I’m going to try to see how I can integrate it into my regular workflow. Let me know what you think.