Question 1:
Hi Frank

Hope you get better soon, now for my question: I have older cameras one Canon eos 10d and a Canon eos 1n hs 35 mm filmcamera,should I upgrade the lenses for better pictures och by more new cameras? I use canon ef 50mm f1,8 and ef 22-55mm f4-5,6 usm and a sigma 28-200mm f3,5-5,6.

What lenses du you recomend on a not to big budget?
Greeetings
Magnus

Question 2:
This must be the most asked question everrrrrrr
Well next to which glass to by that is
In reality in this case you already have a great lens, the 50mm f1.8 the rest of the glass is ok but not stellar. However this is already an answer that doesn’t make any sense when you are for example into sports photography, the 50mm f1.8 a good lens ???? “Frank I hardly use it, it doesn’t have the reach I need” well ok point taken…. “and the 28-200 ok? pfff I need at least a f2.8 aperture otherwise I can never get my images the way I want it” well ok point taken again….. you see where I’m going

For street photography for example the 28-200 reach is awesome and okay it’s not the fastest lens but there you can use the 50 1.8 so you have everything covered. And indeed the sharpness is not stellar but it’s all about the feeling, a bit of softness can really enhance your images “maybe” depending on your style of course.
So telling you what to upgrade is dangerous. For street style photography I would say get a new body, look at the 60D, 600D etc. and you will see a major boost in performance, especially in high ISO which is great with the slower lens you’re using, however when you’re into sports it’s the wrong advise, get a f2.8 lens second hand and you will see a MAJOR boost in performance and look of your images.

Now if you want some lens advise that I think is solid and works for MOST people that are on a budget…..
I love the Tamron 28-75 f2.8  this is a fast lens, light and cheap and got some amazing qualities, even on the 5DMKIII.
I also really like the 50mm f1.8 which you already own, it’s very cheap and the quality is amazing.
Now for the super zooms I really can’t give you any solid advice because I don’t own one but when you’re happy with the 28-200 keep it (doesn’t cost you anything) and if you DO upgrade body compare the image quality with the Tamron or 50mm and decide if you want to keep it.

Hope this helps you. And always remember “It’s not the gear, it’s the photographer that tells the story”……

Question 2:
Hi Frank,
Good luck with your recovery. Really great that you do this during recovery…you’re really giving back!
Since I follow your blog I force myself too make the picture ‘in the camera’ instead of tweaking in post-proces. Your reading on lightmeter and calibration was a great help.
My question:
What is the best way to create the right white balance in camera before you start a shoot. Gray-card, sheet of white paper, expo-disk? Is it wise/ nessecery to use different methods for let’s say ambient light only or for example portraits with speedlight in combination with ambient?
Al the best,
Jeroen

Answer 2:
To be honest, and this might sound incredibly weird, but bare with me.
I don’t care about whitebalance in the camera before a shoot. You can spend time with whitebalance cards, expos discs etc. but in the end I shoot RAW and I will do the color balance in post processing…… now that doesn’t mean of course that I WON’T take my shots with a color checker of course, but what my display on the back of the camera shows doesn’t matter to me. The image you see on the back of your camera is NOT and I repeat is NOT the RAW file, it’s a jpeg rendering of that file, meaning if you set a color balance in the camera or custom settings like B&W or contrast etc. it will show on the back of the camera but not in the RAW file… some software packages will add a “flag” to your RAW file copying the settings but when you import your RAW files “flat” or with a custom setting this is overruled. I use the back of the camera to see if my image is ok, if the strobes went off, if I like the composition etc. but not ever for color.

Now I think you also meant this, but I just wanted to start off with explaining why I don’t use the back of the camera.
So to get your image color and color balance correct I use a color checker. There are three I have here but most of the time I use the Color Checker Passport. It makes a profile for your setup and you can use that. If you’re using the same strobes and setups you can make 1 profile per modifier, for example “Deep Octa”, “Strip Light” etc. and use that, however when you change around a lot or use different colored backgrounds I would advise to just shoot a color checker every setup change.

When using ambient it’s always necessary to use a color checker because ambient is actually almost never the same.
And on the use of white paper….. don’t.
In every kind of paper there are so called “whiteners” these make the paper look more white, meaning if you balance on those your images will have to little blue (blue is added to the paper).

Here’s my question (actually the question is at the end): Photographers are visual artists and their work may not always appeal to everyone while they’re growing/developing as a photographer. Sometimes a visual style isn’t understood (or just isn’t in style yet) but with persistence success is still possible. You’ve been at it for some time and I’m guessing that you’ve had a few ups and downs over the years.
When I think about my personal style of shooting I tell myself that I’m still in the early chapters of a bigger story and that I really need to keep at it. I fully expect my style to change and evolve over time and I know I’m not done learning and doing. I also dream of someday sharing some of what I’ve learned with others (kind of like you do), but that’s still a ways off. I can’t see into my future and sometimes it’s tough to believe that it’s all going to work out when I’m between jobs. I’m a patient guy and I believe in what I’m doing. I’m also persistent and willing to put in as much time and effort as necessary, but sometimes a little doubt still creeps in…

Where do you find the inspiration/willpower to keep at it and not give up on your dreams when things start off slow (or are going slowly) when you really believe in what you’re doing (even if others can’t see the potential yet)?
Thanks and best of luck with your recovery.
- Monico

Answer 1:
This is a problem I think everyone struggles with, in EVERY profession (well ok maybe not every). People I think are by nature insecure (some people excluded), meaning we all need some confirmation that we are doing things right, however if you get too many “wows, great” etc. you will stop your process of growing, so you will need some reflection that will help you grow. Now this sounds logical, but it’s also where some people will find the drive to grow.

For me I have a personality that is driven by performance, this sometimes drives people mad around me, second best makes me feel grumpy, that’s also a reason why I hardly ever compete in competitions, I just hate being second best or worse below average. For me this has forced me to grow within my photography business, but also makes me incredibly insecure. Even when I get a standing ovation from a large crown I will doubt myself “Did I really perform the way I wanted to?, did it really was what I wanted?” I think this is something that you will NEED to grow into the business I’m in, on one part it limits me, because I always feel insecure, on the other hand it pushes me forward much faster because I always want to improve on what I just did. Do you know the feeling that when you make a shot and you think it’s your best one ever, only to realize the next week that in reality the shot really sucked….? well that’s what needed I think to grow quick. And of course there are shots that I still like that I took like 8-10 years ago, but on ALL my images I see something that I don’t like and that could have been improved.

To have this drive inside yourself will motivate you and push you forward in your business.
Now if you have a personality of “just going with flow”, “we’ll see what happens”, “as long as my customer is happy I’m happy”, “well I get my money so what”, “ah 5:00 o’clock let’s go home” you will find it much more difficult to grow and build your career, I won’t say that there aren’t any really relaxed, layed back top shooters out there but I bet you inside they are really insecure.

One day I talked to a really great personality (I won’t say any names) and asked him/her if it was normal that I focussed on ONE negative review I got in a workshop/seminar of 100 where at the end the people rushed to me to thank me for the inspiration I gave them, I felt really good about this seminar until 2 days later I got a negative review in my mailbox (and a brutal one), for me my whole experience of that seminar/workshop changed and I was grumpy for like a week (it still doesn’t settle with me). His/her reply was stunning for me “When I release something and I get 999 good reviews like 5 stars and ONE bad one I’m grumpy for a week, I can only focus on that ONE review and somehow I forget the rest”…… this is 100% how I feel and maybe the “key” to success? I really don’t know….. I do know it has formed me into the person I am today, I try to answer everyone personally because I feel that if someone takes the time to write to me, who am I to not return the favor, even if it’s just a few words. In  my work I constantly change my seminars and workshops due to responses I get from the public. I update my blog every day to keep people interested, not only because I love it (and trust me I do otherwise I would not do it) but ALSO because I’m more than fearful that otherwise people will not come back, forget my work and I’m going downhill instead of uphill.

Now that’s MY approach.
And again it’s not the right one, I think, it’s just one way of doing it.
I know (and you all know them) a LOT of top shooters out there that don’t have a blog, hardly update their portfolio, never respond to emails, don’t do book signings (although they sell them) etc. In other words they distance themselves from their “followers” (just to throw in a popular word) and it seems to work for them?
So giving one answer to your question is almost impossible, find something that works for your character and build on that.
I just can tell you what drives me
I hope it helps.

Question 2:
I have always enjoyed your images, especially the the ones that tend to have a little de-saturation, and a bit of cross processing.  I was wondering how you cross process?

Answer 2:
I think it’s important to know that you can do almost everything within Photoshop. You can use for example the curves to change the channels individually and make your cross processing look with that. However now a days I think we have some great other options like NIK and Alien Skin exposure4 which ROCK when it comes to these kind of looks. So although I know how to do it without filters…. I’m a strong advocate of using the filters and getting the look you like that way.

I also like the way they present the different options, I always call them the “clickerdyclickuntillyouseesomethingyoulike previews” (no I won’t claim a website with that name) and it just makes the workflow a LOT faster. If you surf to the gear guide on this blog you can find some cool discount codes for  NIK and Alien Skin and OneOne software.

1.
I have been shooting for a few years now and I believe that I have a pretty solid portfolio. I’ve showed it to several pro photographers and have received very positive feedback.
My question is: What would you do if you were in my position and your goal was to start working professionally in advertising or fashion?Thank you!!

2.
I would love to hear anything on your marketing and business strategies. You are consistently putting out killer work but how did you go about getting the world’s attention with it? More precisely, what are the top two or three methods, disciplines or strategies that you feel have contributed most to your success?

I combined these two because actually they are very similar.
I added the image also for a reason this time, not just eye candy.
Let’s start of by saying that there is NO road to success that will work for everyone, and trust me, I still struggle every day to find new ways to get my work noticed, and with internet now a days you HAVE to, there are SO many great shooters out there that getting yourself noticed is a day job or just plain luck. The problem is that because there is so much out there peoples attention span also has significantly decreased, meaning they won’t look at your work long and if you don’t jump out at ONCE you’re “toast”.

Now let’s start with 1.
First of all, don’t believe all the positive reviews.
If you are REALLY serious about a portfolio review don’t be afraid to pay someone to do a REAL portfolio review, and trust me you will probably not hear wow, good and great. Those reviews can be brutal, but…. they learn you a lot about what you are doing and what to improve. Don’t pay just anyone however, find a really good photographer, not someone who advertises with “now I review portfolio for 10 dollar” (pun intended). OR…. even better go to Photoshop World and let your portfolio be looked at there, you will get REAL and solid advice on how to improve and where you stand. For years I’ve had big problems with portfolio reviews because I wanted to stay friendly, the last few years however I’m more “honest” and will say where it’s not ok and what to improve……. or sometimes advise someone to start looking for another job

Now if your portfolio is really “WOW”
The real work begins, sending your work to agencies is almost throwing away money, they get a million of those a day, everyone wants to shoot for vogue so forget that. Start as we sometimes call it at the post room. Start networking. Shoot for some local model agencies, make beautiful work and GOOD connections, now start using the connections to land some jobs, some will be for free or little pay, but some will be big. Now learn to be a nice guy, network, network, network, network and when you’re done….. start networking. And yeah it sounds like a joke but it’s not, it’s REALLY all about WHO you know instead of who you ARE, it’s a difficult pill to swallow but if no-one knows you you can be the best shooter in the world but you will never land a job, if you are close friends with the editor of a magazine you can be a mediocre shooter and land jobs… that’s why when you look at a lot of magazines the photography is to say the least “not that interesting” some magazines excluded by the way, for example when I look at Vogue I see that as almost a learning guide, it’s rocks. So literally build your way up by producing great constant quality of work, be a nice guy (but not too nice) and slowly keep climbing that ladder.

Now question 2.
For most part see answer 1
Now how to get out there.
Well it depends on what your market is. If you shoot families… Facebook rocks.
Loads of families friends etc, an image can go viral over there and I don’t even want to think about the numbers of people you reach when you make a killer shot of for example one senior that REALLY stands out, you will be working for a year (if you’re lucky).

If like me you aim at other photographers Google+ is the place to be.
If you aim for businesses Linkedin probably.

And now prepare to spend time there, don’t just update your page every month, no be there EVERY SINGLE day, get your voice heard, show people new work. And remember when a website is updated every day, people tend to come back much more than a weekly updated page. When I switched from every 4-5 days to every day my visitor numbers almost tripled and it’s still growing (by the way thanks for that, because you guys spread the word).

However, and this goes for all, and it’s why I choose the image at top.
It’s all about finding your OWN voice.
Don’t just copy someone, don’t switch from A to Z and to C and D and than try some landscapes, make a solid style, make constant quality, and make sure that your portfolio rocks. Start with a killer image and end with an equally killer image and in between make sure that the quality doesn’t drop too much, if in doubt DELETE the image. So break out of the box of standardism and be yourself, make sure people hire you for YOU and not because you’re cheap, a nice guy or whatever.
Hope this helps.

My first impression of Jeremy was that he was a real person, not someone who just “plays” the part and thinks something else. During that PSW I also got one of his “LifeFinder DVDs” a DVD I highly recommend. It’s not a DVD that is 100% aimed at the technical part of photography but more on the creative part and the way to build a good portfolio with images that are different and will let you stand out. Normally I always feel the need to fast forward instructional DVDs and videos because I’m always in a hurry and I don’t have the “rest” to watch something from beginning to end, exceptions are for example the great videos on KelbyTraining with Jay Maisel and……. the LifeFinder DVD so make sure to check it out. Don’t get me wrong by the way, I watch a lot of the stuff on KelbyTraining and I love it, but I will often divide it into “watching sessions” when I watch more than an hour in one sit it’s really special

So why a blogpost about Jeremy out of the blue….?
Well it’s not really out of the blue.
First off all we are starting up Help Portrait in the Netherlands again in the coming days with our first meeting, if you want to join make sure to visit www.help-portret.nl for the Netherlands and www.help-portrait.com for abroad. I tell you right away it’s the best thing you can do, trust me.

But also because last week I got a link with a video that shows you a side of Jeremy that you might not know.

And finally because Jeremy is doing an interesting tour at the moment that you might wanna visit (I would advise you to do so ), see more information here : http://jeremycowart.com/2012/04/lifefinder-tour-revamped/

I have a question about small flashes. What do you think, I have 2 Nikon flashes SB600 and SB800. What is the best way to trigger them. Buy a Nikon Commander or use Skyports. With the commander I can control the flashes, if I use skyports I’ll have to set them manually. Advantage with skyports is that I can use my RangerRX and maybe use the Nikonflashes as well (just to give some accent light if needed). Also I do have multiple transmitters and receivers already, just need 2 universal receivers for the Nikonflashes. The skyports are working with a radiosignal and the commander is working with infrared.  My first tought is go for the skyports, maybe you have some arguments not to?

Regards, Marc

Hi Marc,
If you already own the sky ports, it’s not that expensive to go that route.
You just need a hotshoe convertor and a small cable which is delivered with your sky ports. And of course the universal sky port which will trigger the hotshoe.

If you have a bit more budget I would however advise the Pocketwizard TT5 and TT1. I use that system for the Canon and it simply ROCKS, it’s operated by radio so no sight issues plus it also transmits E-TTL signals, has Hypersync and High speed sync and is updated regularly by Pocketwizard. For the Netherlands you can get them from http://www.mamiya.nl and for people abroad get them from B&H (Pocketwizard link). The nice thing about these is that you can also control your Elinchroms with it and you have some nice options with “linking” the Elinchroms to your aperture settings which is really cool when you work a lot on location and are changing aperture but you don’t have the time to also adjust the strobes. For that “trick” you will need two more devices the Zone Controler for Nikon (also available for Canon) it’s called the AC3, and you will need the ST4 for the Elinchroms in total it will cost more money but the system is rock solid and works like a charm, I love it.

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I would like to ask you about the setting that you use usually for the skin tones in your images. how do you do to get this skin tone in PS or using any filter?

Another question is related to Photoshop. if I use a color calibration for the monitor (called it ABC ), I will get a new profile. this profile is different than the profile in the camera (SRGB for example). if I change the profile for the picture from SRGB to ABC i will get totally washed color how can I fix that?

thank you for this chance to let us ask you some questions.

Regards,
Mohammed

Now I have to fill you in on some of the history and you understand why I waited so long.
I started out with the 100-400L, but replaced it by the optical better 80-400OS from Sigma, which was replaced after a year due to the weak AF (slow and often hunting), I decided to try the 150-500 from Sigma because at that time I was more into zoos, birds etc. but that one also fell through, to soft at 500 and also bad AF. So I ended up buying the Canon 100-400L for the second time….. you would think I would stay with it, and I did for a while, but now with the 120-300 f2.8 I think I finally found a replacement.

Let’s first look at how they look next to each other, because beware the Sigma is not for the weak….

So to say it’s a HUGE lens is not a weird thing, although after reading about it on the net I have to be honest that it was not as bad as I thought. It’s a heavy piece of glass but not TOO heavy, although after shooting with the 120-300 the 100-400 feels like a lightweight piece of glass (which it is not). So if you are in the market for the lens, make sure you test/weight it before buying. But for me it’s no problem.

Now some samples….
I have to say that this review was literly written at the test day, because I now have both lenses next to each other (thanks to www.cameranu.nl). Don’t except a test chart, some nice models etc. I decided to test the lens as I always do for myself. shoot something shiny and transparent wide open and with the convertors and see what happens, and I think the results talk for them selves.

First the Canon 100-400L
And the 100% crop (400mm wide open)
Now because the Sigma is not 400mm I decided to do the following, first test it on 300mm wide open (so f2.8 vs f5.6) because this is what people do if they use both lenses in the same situation (not being able to zoom with your feet).

And the 100% crop

Now to be honest this already made me happy, seeing that this f2.8 and stopping down increases the sharpness a lot the result is more than ok.

For the next shot I used the Sigma 1.4ex convertor and stopped the lens down to f5.6 making it equal to the Canon 100-400L on 400mm.
And finally I added the Sigma 2x convertor (also EX) and stopped down to f8. Making it a 600mm lens.

Now remember this is straight out of the camera, a 5DMKIII handheld.
If we use just a little bit of sharpening on the last file it looks like this.
Now one would say, yeah but they are all a bit fuzzy… well yes that’s true, but as mentioned this object is not easy for the camera, so I also did a quick shot from Annewiek and this is a 100% crop of that image on 300mm wide open, and to be honest not even at my best luck does the 100-400L render an image that sharp.
So why exchange the 100-400L for the Sigma and take the chance when the differences are not staggering…..
Well actually they are to be honest.
Do remember that we are comparing a 100-400 f4-f5.6 lens to a 120-300 f2.8 lens.
This means that wide open there is at least 1 stop but very quickly a 1.5 and 2 stop difference between the lenses, meaning more playground with DOF (ideal for sports) but also better tracking with continues AF (tested that also) so also ideal for sports, this is mainly due to the more light hitting the sensor of course.  The added advantage of a constant f2.8 lens is that you can add a 1.4 convertor without loosing too much quality (even wide open it looks more than ok for most work and stopped down 1-2 stops it’s very good), but you can even add a 2x convertor without loosing your AF, and stopped down to f8 the quality is without a doubt usable for most if not all work.

I do have to add that I’m not a pixelpeeper that will look at 200-400% enlargements and will not buy a lens because it’s 1 pixel less sharp, when looking at the bigger picture I wanted a lens with a constant f2.8 so I can play more with my DOF during the soccer/sports I shoot, but I also wanted more reach during the occasional zoo visit, and with 600mm I get that, and remember that when adding the 2x convertor I end up with a 600mm f5.6 lens which is pretty good usable. And with todays high resolution sensors (yes 22MP is high enough) you will never ever see a problem on most prints you make, unless you’re doing fine are prints you will be just fine on all lengths. So for me the reason to switch lenses was not just for sharpness (which is better on the Sigma from what I can see now), but most of all versatility.

The cons of the lens are also there.
AF lock on is slightly slower than with the Canon in the sunlight, however as soon as you get a bit darker the Sigma is much faster (logical due to the f2.8) and on 400mm they are about equally fast, so this is very close, however while tracking an object in motion I got more keepers from the Sigma than from the Canon and that’s what I find very important. And finally it’s a very heavy and large lens, make sure you can handle it, have room for it, and learn to carry a monopod if you’re not that strong in your arms.

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For me smoke is always a magical ingredient. When ever you’re stuck in a location (or creative) add some smoke and voila in 90% of the cases it’s the thing missing. Sometimes we will use smoke as “mist” and sometimes as you can see in these shots as real structures.

Also adding strong backlighting with smoke works like a charm, and for me I love to include the strobe itself as you can see in this shot. The last two shots by the way were all done with strobes, however I also wanted to test some with the Canon 5DMKIII and I decided to shoot a few images on auto drive ISO3200 and see what happens. The nice thing about the MKIII is that the noise on ISO3200 is really low (I think ISO4000 is about as good as the old ISO1600). The following images were my favorite shots from the MKIII, this one was shot with just the modeling lights. We let the model dance and shot until the buffer was filled up. The nice thing about doing this is that you get totally different shots than just posing the model, and I’m a big believer in letting a model move during a photoshoot.

And finally two shots from the outside set we did during that day. Light source is natural light and the first image was shot with an Quadra added.

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For the next two weeks I will answer one question a day from you guys, this can be a technical question or a personal question, everything goes (well …..).
So whatever you want to know about me, my work etc. ask here and every day I will answer one of the questions.

Looks like a black image where the strobes didn’t fire…. but what if you raise the brightness ??

ps
I hope you all have a good sense of humor.
As soon as I’m allowed to show final results I will of course, and trust me they are “SICK” in “AWESOME”.