When to UPGRADE your Camera, Lens Gear

April 26, 2018 in Equipment, Photography for Beginners, Photography, General

When is it time to upgrade your camera, lenses and other photography gear? In this video, I talk about when I think it’s time to upgrade your camera, lenses and gear. I also share my journey upgrading my gear and my thoughts and reasons behind why I upgraded when I did.

With the price of photography gear today, I think you need to determine your needs and see what will meet your needs. Not everyone needs the best gear out there. But we would like to have it for sure!

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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jayyadlovski/
Website: www.jasonyadlovski.com

My Photography Gear
My MAIN Camera:  http://amzn.to/2G9cvn6
MAIN Camera Battery Grip:  http://amzn.to/2rARJd2
My BACKUP Camera:  http://amzn.to/2F3qGcb
My Favorite Lens:  http://amzn.to/2BnsRF9
The Widest Lens I have:  http://amzn.to/2E2p6Ii
Wides Aperture Lens I have:  http://amzn.to/2rsFSxs
Good Kit Lens for Beginners:  http://amzn.to/2E3aXuu
My Flash: http://amzn.to/2DuUOfY
Rogue Flash Bender Soft Box:  http://amzn.to/2BntjDl
GoPro Hero 5 Black:  http://amzn.to/2E4ZVF7
GoPro Dual Battery Charger + Battery:  http://amzn.to/2Dtgx8a
Wacom Intuos Pro Pen and Touch Small Tablet:  http://amzn.to/2BnzW8K
My Camera Bag: http://amzn.to/2DxA1wG
Awesome Tripod:  http://amzn.to/2DSqvjD

Audio Gear
My Mic for Desktop Recording: http://amzn.to/2rsH2ZQ

Software I Use
Adobe Creative Cloud Photography Plan: http://amzn.to/2BlOhCK
ScreenFlow: http://amzn.to/2Dua2SJ
iMovie

Computer Equipment
Macbook Pro:  http://amzn.to/2DvuPsW (I have a 2015, but this is the new version)
Drobo 5Dt:  http://amzn.to/2Dwt6Qk
Datacolor Spyder5PRO:  http://amzn.to/2BnQJbN
Canon PIXMA Pro-100 Printer:   http://amzn.to/2G8LWib

Before/After - Dandelion in a Bubble

May 22, 2014 in Before/After Images, Photography, Lightroom

In this tutorial I’ll show you my post processing workflow for this dandelion in a bubble image. I used Adobe Lightroom and Perfect Effects 8 for the post processing of this image. In my opinion Perfect Effects is a great tool to use in combination with Lightroom.

The image was taken with my Canon 60D using the 18-135 f3.5-5.6 IS lens at 120mm. Camera settings in manual mode were, 1/250 sec at f8.0, ISO 400. It was a cloudy overcast morning which created a nice diffuse light.

Step 1

Bring the image into Adobe Lightroom.

Step 2

Make some global adjustments in Lightroom. Here I adjusted the exposure, highlights, shadows, whites and blacks. I did not modify the contrast because I knew I wanted to use the dynamic contrast filter in Perfect Effects. With these adjustments complete, I brought the image over into Perfect Effects by going to File – Plug-in Extras – Perfect Effects 8.

Step 3

Once the image is in Perfect Effects I started adding Filter Layers. First, I added a Dynamic Contrast - Natural layer. Under the Filter Options and Detail, I adjusted the settings as follows: Small = 30, Medium = 20, Large = 0.

Step 4

Add a new layer to the Filter Stack. Choose Color Enhancer – Green Enhancer. Using the mask tool, place a mask on top of the yellow dandelion so the effect is not applied to the flower. The green is now a little to much, so reduce the layer opacity to 50%.

Step 5

Add a new layer to the Filter Stack. Choose Sunshine – Glow. Reduce the layer opacity to 20%. Copy the layer mask from the previous ‘Color Enhancer’ layer by using Ctrl + click to drag the mask to the current layer.

Step 6

Add a new layer to the Filter Stack. Choose Sharpening – Amazing Detail Finder. Using the masking bush, mask out the background and foreground of the image. To see where you are masking, press Ctrl + M. Since these areas are out of focus to begin with, they do not need to be sharpened.

Step 7

Add a new layer to the Filter Stack. Choose Vignette – Big Softy. Reduce the layer opacity to 65%.

Step 8

Click Apply to apply the filters and bring the image back into Lightroom.

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Thanks for watching!

Recent Projects - Photographing Joely Rae

April 29, 2014 in Recent Projects, Children, Photography

Recently I had the opportunity to photograph Joely Rae who is about to turn one in May. Joely is a sweet little girl who did an excellent job during our photoshoot! I always enjoy photographing children because you never know what is going to happen. Children also keep you on your toes. Sometimes you get amazingly funny faces and other times you get tears. Regardless of what happens, I'm there to capture moments from our time together and I enjoy every minute of it.

Here are a few tips I find useful to keep in mind when photographing children.

Go with the flow! With children being unpredictable at times, you never know what will happen. Have a plan, but be ready to change directions at any moment.
Use a fast shutter speed. You want to be sure to freeze the moment. Some children are quite fast, so make sure you use a faster shutter speed. Bump up you ISO if you need to.
Focus on the eyes! Yes, the eyes say it all. When photographing people make sure the eyes are tack sharp
Talk and work with the parents. Set expectations so the parents know what you are thinking and how you plan to capture the images. Ask the parents if they had any particular props they want to use or if they have seen photos somewhere else that they like.
Have fun!

Images shot with Canon 60D using the Canon 17mm - 55mm F2.8 USM and the Canon 50mm F1.4 USM — Images shot with Canon 60D using the Canon 17mm - 55mm F2.8 USM and the Canon 50mm F1.4 USM

Here is some technical information about this shoot for those who are interested:

All of the images were taken with the Canon 60D using both the Canon 17mm - 55mm F2.8 USM and the Canon 50mm F1.4 USM.
Images were taken around 3:00 pm using available light. There was a pretty good cloud cover with the sun only shining through occasionally.
Images were brought into and developed in Adobe Lightroom.
The composite image above was created in Adobe Photoshop CC.