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Your Best Shot: Photo of the Month October
Yes I am back with the Photo of the Month after not posting the images from September. Not posting the images last month is on me and now I am back with a NEW THEME for October. I wanted to make this one easy on you guys so the theme is “Your Best Shot”.
This photo does not have to be taken in October it can be whatever shot you consider to be your best EVER!!!! You have until October 20th 2013 to post your images in the FroForum at which point I will select the best to be voted on.
The prize for this month will be a FREE Copy of the FroKnowsPhoto Beginner Flash Guide which will be out any day now.
CLICK HERE to submit your images in the FroKnowsPhoto Forum.
Canon 200-400 F4 Unbox and Sniff Test
This lens will run you 1 million 799 thousands pennies. Yes this is one of the most expensive lenses on the market today. The Canon 200-400mm F4 IS with built in 1.4X Teleconverter is $11,799.00.
Please keep in mind this is simply an unboxing and sniff test so there are no sample images that were taken with this lens. With that said I still think you will find it pretty interesting.
If your first thought is that this is a monster lens, well you would be correct in some ways and surprised in others. I was surprised by its size and weight, not that it was overly heavy or large but that it wasn’t what I truly expected. The lens felt fantastic in my hands and I can only imagine how great it must be to shoot.
Nikon has had two versions of their 200-400 lens but none have a revolutionary feature like the Canon. The Canon has a built in 1.4X teleconverter. That means at a simple switch of a button you can have the converter slide in or out. What is cool about the teleconverter is that it’s made out of the same glass that was used to make the elements of the lens. This is what they call “paired” and is meant to give you the best images possible.
When the converter is in place this lens on a full frame camera becomes at 280-560 F5.6. That is a huge range of options that you can get from one piece of glass. Instead of carrying around a 300, 400 and 600 you can simply carry this lens. But keep in mind that prime lenses like a 300, 400 or 600 tend to give sharper results. But maybe the tradeoff is worth it to some people.
There is another difference between the Nikon and the Canon 200-400 and that is price. The Nikon clocks in at $6,749 which is substantially less expensive than the Canon. From what I have heard though the Canon is a much sharper lens.
Speaking of sharpness, you have to keep in mind that fixed lenses will tend to create sharper results over zooms because there are no moving elements. Is this something that the normal person would be able to see in side by side comparisons, I am not sure.
Who is this lenses for you may ask? First its for anyone that can afford it. Full time photographers who make a living day in and day out shooting who want to carry a little less gear but still get amazing versatility. The natural fit for this lens seems to be sports photographers and nature photographers.
If you are interested in picking up one of these bad boys for yourself you can call Allens Camera at 215.547.2841 and tell them the Fro sent you.
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FREE Philly FrotoWALK this Saturday 10/5/2013
I am holding a FREe FrotoWalk in Philly this Saturday 10/5 starting at 10am at the Piazza and Schmitz (1001 N 2nd Street Philadelphia PA 19123) We are going to meet in the central area that you can not miss.
This is open to anyone who can make it and there is no cost, it is FREE. We are going to walk around the city and seek out interesting images and see what we come up with.
Really this is a great time to meet other like minded people and have a fun morning capturing images during a nice day.
I hope to see you there.
My first real photos: Critique from 1994
Back around 1994 I had the desire to step up from a point and shoot camera to my first SLR. The camera shop my mom took me to pointed me in the direction of a Canon EOS Elan and that is what I purchased.
My interest was to capturing sports. So at the age of 13 I set out to photograph my friends who were playing on the Jr High School baseball team. I want you all to pay close attention to what I am about to say. I started in the running man auto mode because that was all I knew. At this point I did not have any mentors so it only made sense to use that mode.
Of course I really didn’t know anything about settings but I could capture a moment. I had this knack anticipating the action and coming out with solid sports images.
What I tell people all the time when starting out is I rather see you capture a moment and have the worst exposure ever then a proper exposure with a terrible moment. I know that sounds strange but I can teach anyone how to get the proper exposure but it’s much harder to teach people how to capture a moment.
These images that I am critiquing were my first attempts and shooting baseball. I knew the sport which made it much easier to know where the action was going to happen. Even back in the day I filled the frame as much as possible.
It is always nice to look back at your old work and see where you came from. All I know is I have come a long way since 1994 and hope you can take something form this video.
