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This is episode #3 for June 2017 of the Camera and Inspiration show at “PPN - Photo Podcast Network”
Please support our show by using our B&H affiliate link (click here) that will not cost you a penny more than when you are buying at B&H without our link. And the more this link will be used to buy at B&H, the more giveaways we’ll be able to give back to our listeners through B&H. It really is a “win-win” situation :) And please share this podcast with your friends and subscribe via iTunes. We would also love to get your feedback. Is there anything that you want us to cover on the show in the future? And we would appreciate if you could take a short moment to rate or post a quick review about our shows on iTunes. For more information on Scott Bourne follow him on Twitter: @ScottBourne For more information on Marco Larousse follow him on Twitter: @HamburgCam About this show: On the monthly “Camera and Inspiration” episode of the “PPN - Photo Podcast Network” show, Scott and Marco will discuss many topics in the field of inspiration for photographers. The “why” and the “how” should always go together if you want to create meaningful photos with intent. On each show, they will also introduce you to an inspirational photographer and an inspirational photo book of the month. 
AuthorMarco Larousse is a journalist and a fine art, street and documentary photographer, a educator, speaker, and podcast producer of photography related topics - MarcoLarousse.com. Marco has a background in photography of 30+ years.
More Gear Show topic this month: Tripods Follow @Photopodcasts on Twitter Email [email protected] with questions or use the form on our website Special Guest: Sharky James - PetaPixel Photography Podcast - http://www.PetaPixel.com/podcast Fewer people use tripods than ever before. There are several reasons for that. Low-light camera performance has improved, image stabilization (both in camera and in lens) has become widely available and also improved. ISO ranges have become improved. But in my opinion, serious avian photographers should at least carry a tripod. To drive that point home, I think tripods are like lenses. You probably wouldn’t think of just owning one lens. Neither would I consider owning just one tripod. I think I have at least 10 different tripods in my gear closet right now. Here’s what you need to know: BASICS There are many advantages to shooting with a tripod that cannot be overlooked. I believe that owning a tripod may be the single best step you can take to make better photographs. A properly designed (and used) tripod provides the opportunity for sharper images than hand-held shooting does. Camera movement is one of the biggest reasons that people come up with out of focus pictures. When using slower shutter speeds, the slightest camera movement can cause anything from a completely out of focus, blurry photo to a slightly soft image. Camera shake can only be solved by one of two methods. Image stabilization can solve it – although not as reliably as the second way – using a tripod. Another reason to use tripods is increased depth-of-field: When you want to work at smaller apertures, especially for those landscape and macro shots, you’ll need a tripod to hold the camera steady instead for those long shutter speeds. Tripods can also be extremely helpful (if not downright necessary) when shooting HDR or panoramic stitched images. Tripods help you maintain precise registration between frames. The other reason to own (and use) a tripod is that they tend to slow you down a bit and cause you to think; to be more deliberate and contemplative in your photography. That is where art happens. Last but certainly not least for bird photographers, if you’re using a big, heavy, telephoto lens a tripod is a must. I’d rather equip you with the concepts behind what to look for when buying a tripod, but if you just want to see my personal favorites, scroll down for my picks. If you want to think this through on your own, here are some things you need to know. CONCEPTS Tripods are measured by cost, weight, collapsed and extended height, overall size, load capacity, head type, feet, leg locks and materials. You need to know something about all of these concepts to pick the right tripod. COST Let’s start with the elephant in the room. You get what you pay for. The cheap tripod you buy at the corner drug store is always going to be a waste of time. You might as well save your money and go to a movie. Unlike today’s cameras, where just about anything that costs $500 or more will produce incredible results, there are indeed some very crappy tripods out there. My goal here is to give you the basics on what to look for and help you avoid making the mistake of buying one of those crappy tripods and instead, point you to one that you can count on and that will last. WEIGHT You want a tripod that’s strong enough to easily support your camera/lens but not any heavier than you want to carry. Carbon fibre tripods offer the same strength as steel tripods but weigh much less. They also cost much more. You want the beefiest tripod you can afford to buy and carry. Period. COLLAPSED AND EXTENDED HEIGHT If you consistently shoot avian subjects, you may need to get a tall tripod that gets you a better angle. You also want to think about how many leg segments the tripod has. If it has three, chances are it won’t collapse well for travel. If it has six, it may be small enough when collapsed down to fit in your briefcase. Think about all these things when you select a tripod. OVERALL SIZE This one is simple. Get a tripod that is tall enough for you to use. If you are seven feet tall, the typical five-foot-tall tripod won’t work for you. Likewise, unless you shoot from a ladder, there’s no need to buy a tall tripod if you are never going to shoot from that height. LOAD CAPACITY This is a very important statistic to pay attention to. Load capacity is the manufacturer’s rating for the tripod’s ability to carry and appropriately support a certain weight load. If you put a camera that’s heavier than the maximum load capacity on a tripod, you run the risk of a piece breaking or collapsing, causing damage to both the tripod and the camera. So, it’s important to know how much your camera weighs with its heaviest lens, and buy a tripod that will handle it. Here’s a safe rule of thumb. If a tripod manufacturer says their tripod can handle 16 pounds of gear, assume it can only handle eight. That way you’ll never be disappointed. It’s been my experience that the manufacturers either on purpose or out of ignorance overestimate the weight carrying ability of most tripods. HEAD TYPE Most high-end tripods don’t ship with a head. You can add whatever kind you like. Most of the professional photographers I know prefer what’s called an “Arca Swiss” tongue and grove ball head. Arca Swiss is a brand and it’s expensive. You can choose that brand or a less expensive brand that does the same thing. I like heads from Induro and Kirk Enterprises. These heads require you to get a camera and/or lens plate for each camera and large lens you own (smaller lenses don’t need a plate.) The plate locks onto the camera/lens using a secure allen wrench. This is much more secure and safe than the kind of plate that merely screws on with a thumb screw or a simple slot you can use to lock with a coin. Bird photographers with long, telephoto lenses will want to use a gimbal head instead of a ball head. The gimbal allows you to move a big, heavy lens easily and keeps it in place when you need stability. These are very expensive and require practice to get used to but they are worth their weight in gold if you use 500, 600, 800 or longer lenses. The less-expensive tripods tend to come with their own heads and generally, I haven’t found any that I really like that work as well as the Arca-Swiss style, so that’s what I recommend. FEET Depending on how you use your tripod you may want feet that detach, that are replaceable or changeable. Outdoor photographers often want feet that can be used as spikes to stabilize the tripod’s placement. Indoor photographers may want rubber feet to avoid marring floors or even wheels to move the tripod easily. As usual, the more expensive tripods tend to come with more options. Be sure you get the most versatile feet you can so you can use your sticks in many environments. LEG LOCKS There are generally two kinds of leg locks on tripods. Spiral and Flip Lever. There are pros and cons to both. Flip lever locks are quicker in the field but tend to fail sooner than spiral locks. Spiral locks tend to be slower in the field but last longer. Suffice it to say that the more you pay the better the leg locks will be whichever type you select. MATERIALS This is another big factor in choosing a tripod. If you want to save money, go with an aluminum or steel tripod. You’ll get a lot of bang for your buck this way but you’ll pay for it with a sore back. These tripods will be heavy if they’re large enough to support large payloads. Carbon fiber is lightweight, sturdy and reliable. It’s also very expensive. If you can afford it – go with carbon fiber. You’ll get the same strength as steel with far less weight but for far more money. (MONOPODS) I wanted to interject a quick note about monopods here. There are some places that won’t allow a tripod but will allow a monopod. There are also cases (like using super telephoto lenses) where you just need the monopod to steady the lens and take the stress off of your arms. In these cases you might substitute a monopod for a tripod. Monopods (also called unipods) are usually lighter and smaller than tripods, but don’t offer the same level of stability. Monopods do offer some obvious advantages. They are less expensive than tripods and they are light enough to carry almost anywhere. They allow you to compose and shoot almost as fast as you would if you were hand-holding, where tripods require you to take more time. One way to make the monopod more valuable is to mount an Arca-Swiss style tongue and groove head on the monopod and a corresponding plate on the camera or lens. Kirk Photo is a good source for both. You can also buy less expensive knockoffs on Amazon.com. When using a monopod, I like to wear loose-fitting loafer style shoes and then I anchor the monopod inside my shoe against my foot for added stability. Another popular technique is to use your own two legs in conjunction with the monopod making a three-legged tripod. Many unipods can also be used as a chestpod, or beltpod, meaning that the foot of the unipod (sometimes with a special adapter) can rest on the belt, waist, or chest, of the photographer. The result is that the camera is held more steadily than by hand alone (though not as steadily as when the foot is planted on the ground), and the camera/unipod is completely mobile, traveling with the photographers movements. If you just want to know what tripods I like, heres the list. MY TRIPOD/MONOPOD PICKS NOTE: I am not saying these are the only tripods or monopods I like, or that other tripods aren’t good. I am saying that based on price and performance, these are MY safe picks in each category. I own or have owned, all of these tripods. I have no bias against or for any of these companies since I own and use so many different brands. None of these companies currently sponsor me. Ignore brand loyalty debates. Just pick the one that seems to fit your needs. Also note that many of these are expensive. There’s a reason for that. Cheap tripods either don’t do the job or don’t last so get a good one and get over it. Induro Tripods GIT203 No. 2 Grand Series Stealth Carbon Fiber Tripod, 3 Sections (get the 3 series or the 4 series if you have large heavy DSLRs or medium format gear - get the 4 or 5 section version if you want extra height - they will all be more expensive than the one I am suggesting here.) http://amzn.to/2trmnSb Induro BHD3 Ballhead http://amzn.to/2t6xBfm Really Right Stuff TVC-23 Tripod Really Right Stuff BH-40 Pro II Ballhead (This is the standard ball head I use most of the time) Jobu Design BWG-J3K Junior 3 Gimbal Kit with Swing-arm HM-J2 (This is the gimbal I use most of the time) http://amzn.to/2swLFBN Gitzo GM2562T Series 2 Traveler Carbon Fiber 6 Section Monopod (Black) (This is the monopod I use most of the time) http://amzn.to/2t6ytkm Platypod Max - I use this in place of a tripod when I can. http://amzn.to/2sJI9ng Author
On this #3 “We Shoot Mirrorless” podcast episode, Scott and Marco discuss these new products and mirrorless topics:
Please support our show by using our B&H affiliate link (click here) that will not cost you a penny more than when you are buying at B&H without our link. And the more this link will be used to buy at B&H, the more giveaways we’ll be able to give back to our listeners through B&H. It really is a “win-win” situation :) And please share this podcast with your friends and subscribe via iTunes. We would also love to get your feedback. Is there anything that you want us to cover on the show in the future? And we would appreciate if you could take a short moment to rate or post a quick review about our shows on iTunes. For more information on Scott Bourne follow him on Twitter: @ScottBourne For more information on Marco Larousse follow him on Twitter: @HamburgCam About this show: On the monthly #WeShootMirrorless episode of the “PPN - Photo Podcast Network” show, Scott and Marco will discuss news from the mirrorless camera world related to innovations, trends, gear and accessories. And they will introduce mirrorless camera brands by interviewing the respective managers of those manufacturers. They will also invite pro photographers who make their living working with mirrorless cameras to share some tips and tricks on their workflow. 
PPN Mirrorless Photo & Photographer of the month: Stuart Paton
AuthorMarco Larousse is a journalist and a fine art, street and documentary photographer, a educator, speaker, and podcast producer of photography related topics - MarcoLarousse.com. Marco has a background in photography of 30+ years. 
6/12/2017 0 Comments Q & A #1 | PPN | June 10TH, 2017
Host Scott Bourne @ScottBourne Co-Host Rick Sammon @ricksammon Companies mentioned during the show: American Frame - https://www.americanframe.com Rick’s website - www.ricksammon.com Question 1: We are doing the standard-traditional-old frame + mat + print. We would love to hear what you have to say about display options. Do you always need a mat? What about printing with a large white border instead of a mat ... do suppliers do that ... is it suitable for display? What other display options should we be considering as opposed to the standard old frame-mat-print? From Jim in Vancouver, BC Question 2: I noticed that some of Scott’s photos look like paintings. What software do you use to accomplish that goal? We received this question from several people, thanks to Michael, Glenn, Dave, Wendy and Sam Question 3: I like to photograph people who run hospitals. I photograph board members, etc. I am trying to expand that business and am looking for ideas on how to get hired by more hospitals to make portraits of their execs. From Keith in Sitka, AK Question 4: I have heard many different viewpoints on the difference in DOF/Bokeh on full-frame cameras v. M43/APS-C cameras. Is the amount of light that passes through the lens at say f/8 the same on all formats? From Ellen in Los Angeles Question 5: I know that many of the folks like you have written and published photography books or had your images used in newspapers, books, magazines, etc. How does someone get noticed in today’s world where everyone has a camera? From Barb in Laughlin, NV Question 6: I hear that pros only shoot RAW. Is there ever a case for pros only shooting JPEGs? From David in Brooklyn, NY Question 7: Scott always says as camera to subject distance decreases, so does DOF. Can you explain that a little bit more and are there any exceptions at all? From Russ in Macon, GA Question 8: I primarily do street photography and have just bought my first mirrorless camera, a Fuji X100F. I love it but am experiencing an issue I don't get with my DSLR and that is motion blur. On the street in daylight I try to use 1/200th min shutter speed and have never had a problem with motion blur on the DSLR with people walking past. I have had several instances with the X100F where the person is sharp but a foot or hand blurs. Is this "a thing" with mirrorless shutters ? From Warwick (North Avoca, NSW Australia) Question 9: Should people use electronic shutter or mechanical shutters? I have heard that the use of electronic shutters can cause problems with third party lenses and also can cause what’s called rolling shutter. We received this question from several people, thanks to Jack, Ken, Jim and George Question 10: I’d like to get into digital medium format to shoot portraits. But what I want to achieve is that special look I see in old 6x6 or 6x7 film portraits. There is a kind of look, perspective or DOF to those, almost a "3D" look, that I can not see reproduced by modern digital medium format prints. Why is that so? Is there a way to achieve that look with digital medium format cameras? From Luciano Santo in Brazil Question 11: How important is it to get the flash off camera given the large number of flash diffusers you can now buy that allow flash shooters to create special effects. Is it still important to get the flash off the camera? From Dereck in Portland, OR Question 12: How do you know where to find wildlife - especially birds. I noticed Scott is able to photograph birds just about anywhere. I don’t see many birds where I live - or any wildlife for that matter. Is there a trick I am missing? From Elliot in Memphis, TN AuthorScott Bourne |
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