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Posts Tagged ‘gear’

Event, Photography, Sports, Technology | 0 comment

Nikon 70-200mm F/2.8 – Tech Thursday

Photo with Nikon 70-200mm, www.timelinedc.com
Flower bed photographed with the Nikon 70-200mm F/2.8 lens

This Nikon 70-200mm lens is the first professional lens I had the opportunity to purchase. The above photo is the first I took with it right out of the box. Just a simple shot of the front bed of mums. Truth be told, my mom helped me out with the payment – but I have made good use of the investment.

Professional Gear

The 70-200mm is the most versatile lens in my bag. I have used it on almost every assignment from ballroom dance, to weddings, sports, and portraits. When I first started using the lens, it seemed like it instantly transported my photography to the next level. This was different from other “new” lenses because of two factors. The first is the focal length – starting at 70 and going to 200 means that you cannot take a shot that is too wide.

Photo with Nikon 70-200mm, www.timelinedc.com

Anything you are trying to photograph with this lens has to be a good distance from the camera, and many distractions will be eliminated from the frame. Both of these factors already change how you think about composition, making it simpler than if you had a wider angle lens on your camera. With an isolated subject, now you only need to think about placement of your main subject, and maybe something at the edges that would give some context.

Portraits

Photo with Nikon 70-200mm, www.timelinedc.com

All camera manufacturers make a variant of this lens, so this information is not exclusive to Nikon. The other technical specification of this lens that helps your photography is it’s constant f/2.8 maximum aperture across all focal lengths. There are kit lenses that are sold with cameras that have longer focal lengths, but their max apertures vary getting smaller as the lenses is zoomed out to it longest focal length. Having f/2.8 allows me to photo at lower ISO settings in low light situations like conference rooms, and dance studios.

Photo with Nikon 70-200mm, www.timelinedc.com

For shooting any field sports, the 70-200mm lens would be a minimum for catching action on the field. It was often too short to catch game action for me without extreme cropping. On the practice field or warm ups before the game, however, it was still able to work its magic. 

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

Photography, Technology | 0 comment

Cameras – Tech Thursday

Nikon D4-TimeLine Media-www.timelinedc.com

Equipment Matters

One of the photography mantras that is repeated on blogs and forums has to be “It doesn’t matter the equipment, only the operators behind the cameras that matters in making photographs.” There are so many examples of this from the collection of iPhone photographs, to Instagram superstars that create wonderful imagery with humble, accessible gear. With digital photography you can experiment with angles, lighting, time exposures, almost any variable you can imaging using the controls built into DSLRs or the slides built into smartphone apps. This has helped me to understand the functions of my camera and allowed me to quickly grow as a photographer much faster than I could have with film. This can take you only so far as a hobbyist or advanced amateur.

Nikon D4-TimeLine Media-www.timelinedc.com

Professional Consideration

As a professional, my growth was also tied to the equipment that I was carrying in my bag. My first digital camera was a Nikon Coolpix 5700 that exposed me to RAW file capture, and some exposure control. My first DSLR was a Nikon D100 which I used with old camera lenses my father had from the 1980’s. They still worked on the D100, and I learned about full manual control using these old optics. I secured my first photographic jobs with this body because of my skills in composition, technique, and post processing.

But I soon ran into a technology wall. The Nikon D200 was released, and there had been a jump in quality. Whereas I could be interviewed after showing my portfolio, when my equipment list was discussed, I was turned away. It is not just that your images must look good, but your equipment must look the part as well.

That sounds controversial, but I see its merit especially in a time when everyone has a DSLR and standing out from the crowd is essential for your business. The upgrade to the Nikon D3 really took my images to the top of the heap. There was no comparison between this camera and any previous camera body. The images looked 3-dimensional to me both on the back of the camera, and in the prints. And the construction of the body of the camera with a built-in grip really looked the part. Knowing what to do with the camera in your hand is important, but in today’s marketplace, the kind of equipment you carry with you definitely plays a part in getting you noticed, and in the door.

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208