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What’s In My Camera Bag?

Post by fotolistic on March 16th, 2009 In Category : DSLR Photography 101, Technical

Regardless if you are a sculptor, painter, or even a mechanic, your ability to create the best work is often determined by the tools of your trade. Even with great ideas and skills at your disposal, it’s also essential that you have the proper equipment to help you realize your creative potential.

As a photographer, my primary tool is obviously my camera. However, my equipment list does not end there. In my collection, there are different lens(es), external flashes, adaptors, cables and cords, and other accessories. Used separately or in combination, these tools allow me to create all the photographic effects in my work.

As a prolific advanced amateur photographer, I’m constantly searching for equipment with the best quality for its value and price. The items showcased below are the pieces of equipment I currently own and use regularly. After numerous hours of online research, reading countless reviews before purchasing them, plus also having actually used the equipment myself, I can confidently tell you this is the best set of photography gear you can own without having to burn too deep of a hole in your pocket.

(NOTE: If I leave out other brands of camera equipment off this list, it’s only because I am an avid Canon user and quite familiar with their cameras, tools, and line of products. Please feel free to recommend any great experiences you’ve had using other brands– I’d like to hear about it!)

My Gear: Please visit my Amazon.com aStore to find your favorite camera products and equipment.

	Canon EOS 50D 15.1MP Digital SLR Camera The newest addition to my camera collection. I’ve had it for 2 months now and this easy-to-use camera gives me nothing but amazing shots.	See this item in: My aStore JR.com Adorama.com BHphotovideo.com

	Canon Digital Rebel XT 8MP Digital SLR Camera My very first digital SLR. Purchased about 3 years ago. Got close to 8000 great photos out of this camera. I’m currently using it as a backup camera since I just got the Canon 50D.	See this item in: My aStore Adorama.com BHphotovideo.com

	Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM Ultra Wide Angle Zoom Lens My first lens. 16-35mm Ultra Wide Angle. Great for landscape and full body portraits. Through using this lens, I’ve learned so many different ways to take better photographs in indoor and low light conditions.	See this item in: My aStore JR.com Adorama.com BHphotovideo.com

	Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM Standard & Medium Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras This is a prime lens (non-zoom). Best NORMAL portrait lens you can get for your buck. Because of its large aperture opening (f-1.4), this superb fast prime lens allows you to easily achieve exceptional out-of-focused foreground and background effects. In addition, it’s an excellent lens for photographing indoor sports and/or in extremely low light conditions– no more depending on your flash to photograph while indoors.	See this item in: My aStore JR.com Adorama.com BHphotovideo.com

	Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras This is a prime lens (non-zoom). The best Medium TELEPHOTO portrait lens you can get for your money. It has an aperture opening of f-1.8, another fast prime lens that gives you excellent output and easily achieves exceptional out-of-focused foreground and background effects. Yet another great lens for photographing indoor sports and/or in extreme low light conditions.	See this item in: My aStore JR.com Adorama.com BHphotovideo.com

	Canon 430EX Speedlite Flash for Canon SLR Entry level flash unit. If you are interested in learning about control lighting, this is a great one to start with.	See this item in: My aStore JR.com Adorama.com BHphotovideo.com

	Canon STE2 Speedlite Transmitter for Canon 580EX II, 430EX, 430EX II Speedlites Works with your camera and your flash unit. This device allows you to control your external flash unit without needing to attach it to your camera’s hotshoe mount. Each time the shutter button is pressed, it triggers a flash. Basically, it uses infrared beams to communicate with the flash unit.	See this item in: My aStore JR.com Adorama.com BHphotovideo.com

	Dot Line RS-0445 ETTL Off-Camera Cord for Canon, 3 ft. Works with your camera and your flash unit. This Flash Sync Cord allows you to control your external flash via a cord that connects your flash unit to your camera.	See this item in: My aStore Adorama.com BHphotovideo.com

	Canon BP511A 1390mAh Lithium Ion Battery Pack for the Canon 50D Battery for my Canon 50D. Always have extra batteries!! One battery for use while the other one charges. I carry 3 of these with me at all times. The last thing you want to experience is to be out of battery on a photo shoot.	See this item in: My aStore JR.com Adorama.com BHphotovideo.com

	Canon NB-2LH Rechargeable Battery Pack for Digital Rebel XT/XTi Battery for my Canon XT. Always have extra batteries!! One battery for use while the other charges. I also have 3 of these.	See this item in: My aStore JR.com Adorama.com BHphotovideo.com

	SanDisk 4GB Ultra II CompactFlash Card Takes more than 1000 JPG images for an 8 MP camera. Never run out of memory card storage space again.	See this item in: My aStore JR.com Adorama.com BHphotovideo.com

	Sunpak 620-092 9002DX Tripod with 3-Way Quick-Release Pan Head The Sunpak 9002DX Tripod is a great economical full-size tripod. Oversized, single action locks with rubber leg tips and retractable spiked feet give non-skid stability. The 9002DX has an oversized leg diameter of 1″, allowing this tripod to handle any 35mm camera with up to a medium telephoto lens or a total weight of 6.6 lbs. The geared center column gives positive up & down adjustments without the worry of slipping.	See this item in: My aStore Adorama.com BHphotovideo.com

	Sony VCTMTK Travel Tripod for Compatible Sony Cameras & Camcorders Not the best pocket tripod in the market. But it is small enough to use at locations where a larger tripod is not allowed. Extremely useful when you need to travel light.	See this item in: My aStore Adorama.com BHphotovideo.com

	Crumpler 6 MILLION DOLLAR HOME Shoulder Photo Bag Other than the fact that it gets very heavy at times, it protects and carries all my gear and then some.	See this item in: My aStore Adorama.com BHphotovideo.com

Read 1 Comment for this post or Add a Comment

Find Camera Equipment says:

March 17, 2009 at 6:14 am

[...] Camera Equipment Yello77com Blog Archive Whats In My Camera Bag More infos are available here: Yello77com Blog Archive Whats In My Camera [...]

A Photograph’s Life — Before and After Photoshop

Post by fotolistic on February 13th, 2009 In Category : DSLR Photography 101, Photography, Technical

You know the old saying "a magician never reveals his secret". Well, thank goodness I’m not a magician. I’m simply a plastic surgeon for photographs.

I’ve always being ask about the "how did you get such effect?" by visitors to yello77.com. I’m always so eager to share, but too lazy to write about it. Finally, I’ve got some time to put something together. I’ve selected a handful of photographs from a variety of albums from my own collection that best illustrate how Photoshop processing can greatly enhance a mediocre photo into something that is picture-frame worthy. Here’s some of the before and after photos along with some simple explanation about the procedure that have been perform to it.

21mm f-2.8 1/400 ISO 200
– Slightly tighter cropping
– White Balance for Tungsten
– Color Balance for a greenish bluish tint
– Clone in background on the lower left side
– Increase exposure by 25% to make it brighter
– Lowering the contrast by 15% to lighten and even out detail
– Recovering shadowed detail around the face and eyes area with the Highlight/Shadow Recovery tool
– Skin retouching around the face and under the eyes with Blurring filter, High Pass filter, Noise filter and Mask
– Lightening of the eyes with Level Adjustment Layer so it sparkle a bit
– Lightening legs for a glowing look with Level Adjustment Layer
– Sharpening ONLY around the face area with the High Pass filter and Layer Mask
– Apply a streaky texture layer set to Overlay for more of an artist effect
– Added snow flakes to filled in negative space
– Vignettes around the edge and corner

35mm f-2.8 1/250 ISO 200
– Really tighter cropping
– White Balance for Tungsten
– Color Balance for a greenish bluish tint
– Increase exposure by 5% to make it brighter
– Smoothening the skin around the face so it looks more even
– Lightening of the eyes with Level Adjustment Layer so it sparkle a bit
– Sharpening ONLY around the face area with the High Pass filter and Layer Mask
– Apply a dirty texture layer set to Overlay for more of an artist effect

35mm f-2.8 1/500 ISO 200
– Slightly tighter cropping
– White Balance for Tungsten
– Color Balance for a greenish bluish tint for the highlight area
– Color Balance for a dark reddish tint for the darker tones
– Increase exposure by 25% to make it brighter
– Recovering shadowed detail around the face and eyes area with Level Adjustment Layer and Mask
– Skin retouching for a smoother look
– Lightening legs for a glowing look with Level Adjustment Layer
– Sharpening ONLY around the face area with the High Pass filter and Layer Mask
– Added snow flakes for a more snowy effect
– Vignettes around the edge and corner

50mm f-1.4 1/1000 ISO 400
– White Balance for Overcast
– Color Balance for a Yellowish tint
– Slight facial retouching for the blemish
– Increase exposure 10% to make it brighter
– Increase saturation by 15%
– Recovering shadowed detail around the eyes
– Skin retouching for bags under the eyes

50mm f-1.4 1/100 ISO 200
– White Balance for Daylight
– Increase exposure by 25% to make it brighter
– Increasing the overall contrast by 20% with Level Adjustment Layer and Mask
– Increase saturation

35mm f-2.8 1/500 ISO 200
– White Balance for Daylight
– Increase exposure by 25% to make it brighter
– Increasing the overall contrast with the Curve Adjustment layer 15%
– Increase saturation by 15%
– Bringing out additional detail in the eyes by the curve tool 10%
– Sharpening of the eyes, eyelash and lips with the High Pass filter and Layer Mask
– Vignettes around the edge and corner

50mm f-1.4 1/50 ISO 400
– White Balance for tungsten
– Color Balance for a slight yellowish tint
– Extensive facial retouching with Blurring filter, High Pass filter and Noise filter and Mask
– Sharpening of the eyes, eyelash and lips with the High Pass filter and Layer Mask

35mm f-7.1 1/80 ISO 200
– Slightly tighter cropping
– White Balance for Daylight
– Color Balance for a yellowish tint
– Color Balance for a dark reddish tint for the darker tones
– Skin retouching around the face and under the eyes with Blurring filter, High Pass filter, Noise filter and Mask
– Slightly blurring the entire image for the slight out of focus look.
– Apply a worn out texture over the image to give it a more vintage polaroid effect

31mm f-6.3 1/160 ISO 200
– Tighter cropping
– White Balance for Daylight
– Color Balance for a warm and yellowish tint
– Increase exposure by 20% to make it brighter
– Lowering the contrast by 10% to lighten and even out detail
– Increase saturation overall by 15%
– Recovering shadowed detail around the entire body (face, arms, blouse, jeans) with the Highlight/Shadow Recovery tool plus Layer Mask
– Blurring around the body to create that soft glowing effect with Blur Filter and Mask
– Applying blur on the background to enhance that out of focus effect with Blur Filter and Mask
– Vignettes around the edge and corner

35mm f-3.5 1/1000 ISO 200
– Skin retouching around the face and under the eyes with Blurring filter, High Pass filter, Noise filter and Mask
– Sharpening of the eyes, eyelash and lips with the High Pass filter and Layer Mask

21mm f-2.8 1/800 ISO 400
– White Balance for Overcast
– Color Balance for a slight greenish yellowish tint
– Color Balance for a slight dark reddish tint for the darker tones
– Desaturation 10%
– Skin retouching around the face area with the Blurring filter, High Pass filter, Noise filter and Mask
– Sharpening of the eyes, eyelash and lips with the High Pass filter and Layer Mask
– Recovering some highlight detail on the sky and tree area with the Highlight/Shadow Recovery tool plus Layer Mask
– Vignettes around the edge and corner

55mm f-20 1/100 ISO 400
– Increase exposure to make the photo slightly more exposed
– Increasing the overall contrast with Level Adjustment Layer and Mask
– Saturation just a bit
– Apply lens flare effect with the Lens Flare Filter
– Vignettes around the edge and corner

35mm f-2.8 1/800 ISO 200
– Increase exposure by 10% to make the photo more exposed
– Increasing the overall contrast by 10% with Level Adjustment Layer and Mask
– Saturation by 20%
– Recovering highlight details in the background with the Highlight/Shadow Recovery tool plus Layer Mask
– Vignettes around the edge and corner

16mm f-2.8 1/50 ISO 200
– Lower exposure by 10% to make a little bit darker
– Color Balance for a slight greenish yellowish tint
– Increasing the overall contrast by 10% with Level Adjustment Layer and Mask
– Saturation by 20%
– Recovering highlight details in the bottles with the Highlight/Shadow Recovery tool plus Layer Mask
– Vignettes around the edge and corner

50mm f-1.4 1/1600 ISO 200
– White Balance for Overcast
– Color Balance overall for a yellowish tint
– Color Balance for a darker yellowish tint on the background
– Increase exposure by 10% to make it brighter
– Increase the overall contrast by 10%
– Darkening the background by 20% with with Level Adjustment Layer and Mask
– Desaturation by 10%
– Recovering highlight detail on the dress with the Highlight/Shadow Recovery tool
– Sharpening ONLY around the dress High Pass filter and Layer Mask
– Apply a crackle texture layer set to Overlay for the rustic effect
– Vignettes around the edge and corner

26mm f-3.2 1/1000 ISO 200
– White Balance for Overcast
– Color Balance overall for a muddy yellowish tint
– Color Balance for a dark reddish tint for the darker tones
– Decrease exposure by 15% to make it darker
– Increase the overall contrast by 20%
– Desaturation by 20%
– Recovering highlight detail on the sky with the Highlight/Shadow Recovery tool
– Vignettes around the edge and corner

50mm f-1.8 1/250 ISO 200
– Tighter cropping
– White Balance for Overcast
– Color Balance overall for a light yellowish tint
– Color Balance for a dark greenish tint for the darker tones
– Increase exposure by 10% to make it darker
– Increase the overall contrast by 20%
– Saturation by 10%
– Recovering highlight detail on the sky with the Highlight/Shadow Recovery tool
– Apply an old and dirty photo frame layer set to Overlay for a more vintage effect

50mm f-8 1/320 ISO 200
– White Balance for Overcast
– Color Balance overall for a muddy greenish tint
– Color Balance for a dark purple tint for the darker tones
– Increase exposure by 10% to make it darker
– Increase the overall contrast by 20%
– Saturation by 20%
– Recovering highlight detail on the sky with the Highlight/Shadow Recovery tool
– Vignettes around the edge and corner

Read 4 Comments for this post or Add a Comment

fotolistic says:

July 24, 2009 at 5:30 pm

Kool. Glad you find it helpful.
Shooi says:

July 21, 2009 at 10:20 pm

WOW! THis is very very good. I have been looking for photoshop tips for DSLR. Thanks for sharing!
psychopooch says:

February 14, 2009 at 2:15 am

i love what you did with the photo of amanda. she looks dreamy
Lois says:

February 13, 2009 at 11:36 am

Nice work. you really made some not-so-interesting photos really interesting and beautiful. I guess you are in a way like a plastic surgeon for photographs.

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A Photograph’s Life — Before and After Photoshop

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