We had our equipment recommendation for a travel tri-pod, which we suggested the Benro Travel Angel Tri-pod. This tri-pod is amazing for hiking, traveling, and using your tri-pod “in the wild”. But, now we are turning the corner to the tri-pod of all tri-pods, the Slik AMT Pro 700DX! Sounds like a super robot in its name and maybe resembles a robot in its strong build, but it is mostly just an amazingly built, constructed, and stable tri-pod. These adjectives for a tri-pod are all ideal, especially because you are stepping away from your expensive camera and giving your trust in this tri-pod to securely hold it. Of course, we all know a tri-pod is a necessity in your photography arsenal because it creates a stable hold when your own body and arm strength are not steady enough, or when you want to get in the photo also. Tri-pods are great when using slow shutter speed and trying to capture those slow changes without the shake of your own hand. The Slik AMT Pro 700DX is that incredibly strong and stable tri-pod that you will have forever and this may be an over exaggeration, but I mean for a very very very long time. 


Check out the full BLOG and links HERE

By: Lauren Lopez
San Diego Photographer

We have recently been very motivated to give out equipment recommendations that are geared to protecting your investment. Last week, we did a rain cover to protect your camera from hard rain and dusty winds and today we are recommending a quality bag to store your camera, lenses, flashes, tri-pod, and more. You name it, this bag can snuggle it in (within reason of course). When building your collection of camera equipment it is easy to lose a memory card here or a lens there if you do not have one safe place to store them; therefore, we are recommending the Think Tank Streetwalker bag. This series of camera bags are incredible with durable material, quality construction, reasonable price, and plenty of support on your back and shoulders, which can be the hardest part about lugging around all of your equipment. While Jason has recently received the Streetwalker pro to load up his equipment for the tough terrain of Iceland, he suggests the smallest streetwalker bag because it is a little more compact, convenient, and still fits all of your equipment well. 

Check out the full blog and links here

By: Lauren Lopez
San Diego Photographer

When looking through which camera’s and lenses you want to invest in, one of the features they love to throw out there is that the camera is water resistant. But, the truth of the matter is that the camera body and lenses, while SLIGHTLY water resistant are not waterproof. In San Diego, we do not have too much of an issue with excessive rain, however, there have been cases where even dust, a drizzle or too much moisture has caused a camera to stop working. The worst part about this is that camera warranties usually don’t consider water damage under issues they fix for free. That is why keeping your camera dry is very important not only for the sake of your camera, but your wallet. That is also why we are recommending investing in a rain cover for your camera to withstand horrible weather conditions. 
We are talking about the Think Tank Hydrophobia 70-200!  

Read full blog post and find link here

By: Lauren Lopez
San Diego Photographer

There is always difficulty becoming completely pro at the countless list of different aspect of photography. If we could, we would devote 3 hours to every aspect on that list, but for now we have added two more to the list of outdoors, headshots, portraits, studio lighting, low lights, etc. Due to suggestions and requests, we have added these two new classes to the Right Light Photography Class schedule.  


The two classes are Controlling Action & Motion Photography and Learning the Basics of Editing in Adobe Lightroom. 

Check out our full blog and links to the classes here 

By: Lauren Lopez
San Diego Photographer

Some of the most eye catching photos are those that catch a butterfly on a flower and the detail is so close you can see the ridges on the legs, the hairs on its wings and the pollen on the flower. This type of photography is very popular, most likely because it is hard to catch these moments even with the human eye. Catching a perfect macro photo is sometimes just luck. Luck that the spider decided to pause long enough on its web to snap that great photo. Luck that the bee rested on the flower for enough time to grab your camera, focus, and record the moment. I am talking about macro photography and the wonders and accomplishment you feel when you catch that incredible shot!

This week when choosing a macro lens to recommend Jason was so clear with his answer. He said there were some slight differences in the brand lens (Canon, Nikon, etc.), but honestly you couldn’t beat the 3rd party, Tamron 90mm f/2.8 Macro Lens. “You can’t beat the sharpness of the Tamron lens and it is half the price of a new Canon or Nikon Macro lens.” Sounds good to us, because if there is one thing a photographer loves is quality equipment at a great value. 

To read the full profile, view photos, and see links... Check out our blog here

By: Lauren Lopez
San Diego Photographer

Building a photography community has brought the need to acknowledge photographers in their early stages of photography as a business who show exceptional work. Therefore, we have the ‘Photographer of the Month’ chosen by the Right Light Photography giving the spotlight to those in our photography community that deserve acknowledgement for their contribution, photography style, and business. Once a month, we will be sharing a BIO, interview, and everything that is special about our chosen photographer! On that note, we are introducing January’s Photographer of the Month. Congratulations Nicole Keel!  

www.claritybynicole.com

To read the full bio and interview.. Check out our Blog here 

By: Lauren Lopez
San Diego Photographer

By: Lauren Lopez
San Diego Photographer

Starting the NEW Right Light Studios newsletter!

We post equipment recommendations, blogs, and tips multiple times a week all over the internet, but we know how hard it can be to find the information you want when you need it most! We have decided to create this newsletter for the new year that will come once a week and organize all the great content and information we give you to be easily viewed and referenced at your leisure. 

This newsletter will include a new photography tip every week, the equipment recommendation, class schedules, current events, and even a new feature: Photograph of the Week. With this new feature, one photograph will be chosen every week from our archives and/or from new products of recent classes and will be featured in the newsletter to be admired and given credit where credit is due. Sign up now and know that your information will only be used for this newsletter and to make all the amazing photography information we offer available right at your fingertips. . 

Follow the link below to become part of our Right Light Studios Community Newsletter starting January 2012 
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER HERE

By: Lauren Lopez
San Diego Photographer

When taking photos outdoors, the sun can reflect off of different surfaces causing unattractive shadows and discoloring. A simple resolution to reduce these effects and take your photography to the next level is cheap and truly changes your photos from good to amazing. Jason is talking about the cool, compact, and convenient Westcott 301 Photo Basics 40 inch 5 in 1 Reflector. Reflectors give you control of your light source and work alongside the natural sun light amazingly for both head shots and outdoor photos, as well as in studio lighting.

This Westcott 301 Photo Basic 40 inch 5 in 1 reflector has 5 awesome faces that all provide different improvements when used correctly. Therefore, I will go through each 5 faces and what they specifically do (Silver, gold, white, black, translucent).

Silver: The silver face is the trickiest one to use. In natural light it creates a contrast lighting that can sometimes look a little harsh. But, it still is useful in creating a very cool effect. It can also be used in the studio to create a strong reflection to act as either a main light or as fill and shine light onto something that needs more focus. The silver face is beneficial in studio and can be used outdoors also to create a striking catch light and create a cool, high-contrast tone image.

Gold: The gold face creates a beautiful natural tone and brings color to a subject that lacks the liveliness in their skintone. Whether it is someone with a lighter skin tone or the weather/environment drains the color from the skin of the subject, the gold face reflector enhances skin tones and creates a bronze glow. They also call this reflecting the sunset effect because it warms the scene producing healthy and full looking skin tones.

White: White is an amazing reflector because it is responsible for the catch light. Like explained in our video, Jason describes the catch light in people’s eyes that really brings the life and glisten to a person’s eyes and makes your photo pop. This skill is not just from positioning the person’s face towards the sun, it is simply by angling the white reflector towards the subject’s eyes and automatically seeing the difference and brightness it brings to the photo and more specifically the eyes. The great part about this reflector is it keeps the color balance the same, but adds a simple glow to the skin and glisten in the eyes.

Black: The black face reflector does the opposite and absorbs light instead of reflecting it. Like described by Jason, the black face of this reflector actually absorbs the light and adds more depth and shadow to the photo. This stops the light in its tracks and does not allow the light to reflect off of any other surface. Therefore, the black face will absorb or even subtract light from a photo and produce a deep photo with natural shadow contrast.

Translucent: The translucent face is used as more of a diffuser. This “reflector” actually filters the light and decreases the harshness of a light or the sun. It works great when the sun is overhead and a headshot has that shadow under their eyes that look like they haven't slept in weeks. The translucent filter will lighten the harshness of the sun and create an even tone of sunlight to the subjects face. Unlike the other reflectors that are held lower facing up to catch light, this filter is held over the head or at a higher angle in between the subject and the stream of light hitting the subject’s face.

Overall, reflectors are a great value and can truly become alternate light source when used correctly. Reflectors take a natural light, like the sun, or studio light photo to the next level by giving you the option to almost make edits with the lighting and coloring of the photo with the addition of an easy reflector. For all instances, the 5 in 1 reflector is the best and used by Jason himself in his own photography and when teaching his classes.

Find it here on Amazon.com     

By: Lauren Lopez
San Diego Photographer

Introducing the incredible prime 85mm lens as our equipment recommendation this week! Jason describes the 85mm as an amazing portrait lens. You can truly see the fun shoots he has had with his 85mm by the way he talks about the great shallow depth of field. While the fastest and coolest 85mm is obviously the f/1.4, Jason recommends the f/1.8 85mm lens. The f/1.8 is substantially cheaper than f/1.4 and is equally qualified to get all the amazing pictures. So, the 85mm we recommend are the Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM Lens and the Nikon 85mm f1.8 AF Nikkor Lens.  

The best part of the 85mm f/1.8 is how amazing it is for portrait and head shots. These lenses are reasonably sharp wide open and yield great quality images on the lower f stops. The 85mm lens is amazing for these types of photos, but is not meant for macro photography and has minimum close-focusing distance and low magnification. By opening the aperture wide, you create an incredible bokeh effect. Bokeh is the effect of blurring the background and bringing all the focus to the subject of the photo. This is beneficial for you because by throwing the background out of focus, you can remove a distracting background that can take away focus from the main subject. The 85mm makes getting the bokeh effect easy and really makes your photos pop.

The 85mm f/1.8 maximum aperture enables you to catch every moment, without flash, in low light. This lens can capture a shot in light only half as strong as would be required for a professional f/2.8 zoom and light only one quarter to one eighth as strong as would be required for a kit lens. The 85mm ƒ/1.8 is slightly soft when used wide open at ƒ/1.8. This improves as you stop down and at ƒ/2.8 the lens approaches its optimal sharpness. Sharpness continues to be excellent all the way through to ƒ/16.

Another convenient feature of the 85mm is how much lighter it is than your other large bulky zoom lens. The 85mm is also an amazing value! The f/1.8 only loses two-thirds of a stop, but costs only one-third the price of the f/1.4 lens.

Now for the specifics, the Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM lens is an amazing portrait lens for a film or full frame Canon digital SLR and a great portrait lens for a Canon small-sensor digital SLR (Canon Digital Rebel). The Canon 85mm focuses fast and quietly, which is good when taking portraits because it does not distract the subject and with the speed allows you to catch every smile or look posed and in between.

The Canon 85mm lens weighs in at 425g (15 oz.). Like all of Canon’s equipment, it is made simply and with great precision and quality. The 85mm lens is plastic, but rugged with a wide manual focus ring. Unfortunately, the lens hood is sold separately, but the price of the lens is so amazing it makes up for any extra equipment needed to be bought.

The Nikon 85mm f/1.8 AF Nikkor Lens is also built in high quality, covered with a plastic shell for extra protection. Compared to Canon, it weight less than their 85mm at 374 grams (13 oz.). The Nikon 85mm was constructed to stand up well in day to day use with a metal body mount. This lens comes with a round screw-in hood made of metal with a ribbed interior. This hood improves every shot by preventing flare and other harmful effects from the environment.

Overall, both Canon and Nikon 85mm f/1.8 lenses are equally made in great quality and with an amazing value. So, when weighing your options for a new lens consider the 85mm lens to capture amazing portraits and head shots and catch the moments fast and beautifully!

Check out the Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM lens on Amazon.com

Check out the Nikon 85mm f/1.8 AF Nikkor lens on Amazon.com  

By: Lauren Lopez
San Diego Photographer