A few weeks ago, my little brother came to Boston to visit and was kind enough to shoot my rock band, RIBS, for a new promo to support our upcoming album release. I basically became a photographer because of Mark, and it was really nice working with him.
We shot it in Downtown Crossing, in the middle of Boston. The concept, our band surrounded by a ghostly figures of pedestrians on the streets, yielded a beautiful final product after editing the band takes and the long-exposures together.
Take a look.
Click for FULL-SIZE!
And if dark, melodic, catchy music is your thing, check out some music at www.ribstheband.com!
Remote Shutter Releases allow you to take photographs using a remote control, freeing you from having to physically press down the shutter.
There are a lot of reasons why a photographer might need a remote shutter release system for their camera. Self-portraits and family photographs, wildlife or bird photography, and landscape or urban photography requiring long exposure times (a remote release will eliminate camera shake from pressing the actual shutter) are all popular uses. Other examples might be wing-mounted aerial photography, automotive photography, and candid or street photography. A remote release will allow you to shoot a subject with multiple cameras as well – one manual, one controlled via wireless remote.
Pictosnap might make one of the best – but little-known - wireless camera remote systems short of much more expensive options like Pocket Wizards. Unlike most other releases in this price range, the camera release uses radio waves, giving it a range of 300 feet and no line of sight requirement – solving the big problems with IR remotes. For instance, Canon’s RC-1 remote costs about $25, but has a dismal 16 foot range and requires line of sight, making it only useful for a very limited array of situations.
Pictosnap makes their release available with three different connectors, compatible with a huge range of Canon and Nikon cameras.
The Wireless Remote Release System
The wireless remote camera release is made up of two elements – a remote control and a receiver:
The Pictosnap Remote Shutter Release System
The remote control is small, allowing it to be easily concealed in-hand for self-portraits. A sliding cover reveals the red shutter release button, keeping it clean in outdoor, travel, or environmental situations.
The receiver unit plus directly into your camera, and the designers have thoughtfully included a Velcro strap to tether the unit to a tripod or nearby object (you do not want it hanging from the camera input – this will likely cause damage to both plug and camera.) A switch on top of the receiver turns the unit on and off (it’s easy to forget to switch this back to “off” when you’re done – I have done this and found the battery dead when I tried to use it again.)
The receiver takes 9-volt batteries, which are much easier to find than batteries used by other remote releases, like the CR-2.
Use and Performance
Using Pictosnap is easy. You plug the receiver into your camera, tether it to something using the velcro strap, and flip the "on" switch. That's it - now step away and hit the red button on the remote to start firing frames.
Pictosnap will even focus the camera for you. If your camera is set on auto-focus, pressing the button on the Pictosnap remote causes the camera first to auto-focus, then to snap the shutter. With the camera set on manual focus, Pictosnap will just fire off frames without re-focusing.
There's very little lag time taking a picture – pushing the button takes a picture virtually immediately. However, multiple frames seem to shoot at just about one every 1-2 seconds. It isn’t responsive enough to fire off frames in rapid succession.
The manufacturers claim a 300ft range. I haven't used it at this distance, so I can't validate the claim. I have however, shot photographs from over 100ft. away, with no problems, which already puts it far beyond the capabilities of similar products by Canon and Nikon.
Because Pictosnap is a radio system, it can also work through walls and other obstacles. Extremely helpful in many cases, but it will significantly cut down on effective range.
Price and Compatibility
Pictosnap makes three versions of their remote camera release - all identical except for the plug.
The PictoSnap 2.5mm version works with
Canon EOS Digital Rebel, Digital Rebel XT, XTi, XSi (EOS 300D, 350D, 400D, 450D)
EOS Elan II/IIE
Elan 7/7E
Rebel Ti/2000/G/GII/X/XS, IX/IX Lite.
Other Canon cameras featuring the 2.5mm stereo plug remote interface
The PictoSnap P3 version works with
Canon EOS 40D/30D/20D/10D/D60/D30
Canon 1D/1Ds/5D
Other Canon cameras featuring a 3-pin remote interface
The PictoSnap N10 version works with
Nikon D100/D200
Nikon D1/D1H/D1X/D2/D2H/D2X
Nikon F6/F5/F100/F90/F90X
Kodak DSC-14n
Other Nikon cameras featuring a 10-pin remote interface
I'm curious as to why Pictosnap decided on separate units instead of one unit with exchangeable plugs, an approach that would give Pictosnap a lot more flexibility. If I upgrade to a Canon 5D MkII I'm going to have to buy a whole new unit.
All three models are $95. Shipping is a pretty outrageous $10, bringing the total cost of the remote to $105 if you’re in the US. International buyers will need to plunk down $25 to have the Pictosnap shipped to them. Customer service is responsive, though – you’ll generally get an answer to sales- or product-related questions within a few hours.
I believe the only place to get a Pictosnap wireless camera release is to order it from www.pictosnap.com.
Conclusions
While professional photographers working on critical, high-profile projects will want more flexible, powerful, or dependable products, Pictosnap is a great choice for more casual uses, amateurs, or working photographers on a budget. I've used it on trips to China and Japan, for studio work, for long exposures and self-portraits, and I've had great results.
Pros:
Massive range + no line of sight requirement
Able to work in auto-focus and manual focus.
Plug and Play
9-volt battery is great - try finding a CR-2 or some other specialty battery in Fenghuang or San Pedro de Atacama
Cons:
Could be more responsive when firing shots in very rapid succession
A connector instead of different units for different cameras would make this system far more flexible
Carrying one of these in your bag can sometimes make getting through airport security an ordeal.
The receiver unit plus directly into your camera, and the designers have thoughtfully included a Velcro strap to tether the unit to a tripod or nearby object (you do not want it hanging from the camera input – this will likely cause damage to both plug and camera.) A switch on top of the receiver turns the unit on and off (it’s easy to forget to switch this back to “off” when you’re done – I have done this and found the battery dead when I tried to use it again.)
This is a photograph of the gate at Nijo-jo, a massive castle in the center of Toyko built by the Tokugawa Shogunate in the early 1600s. Like much of Kyoto, parts of it have been rebuilt time and time again.
It's still a fascinating sight - the building and architecture were engineered for social control, with sitting rooms and sections laid out hierarchically - but maybe the most interesting thing about it were its "nightingale floors," paneled floors built to squeak like birds when walked over to protect the castle inhabitants from sneaking invaders. They still work.
On our way out, I passed this gate and was struck by all the texture - it seemed a monolith, an impressive sentinel guarding its charge through time. Enjoy (click for a larger file).
The Massive Gate at Nijo Castle, Kyoto (1/40 sec, f/3.5, Canon EF 28-105 at 28mm, ISO 400)
The Grounds at Ginkaku-Ji (1/40 sec, f/5.6, Sigma 10-20mm at 18mm, ISO 400)
This summer I took my first trip to Japan and my second to the Far East (following last year's China trek). My brother John was teaching English in several high schools in Hokota, a small town in the Ibaraki prefecture near Tokyo. Since his year-long stay was coming to an end, my younger brother Mark and I decided to visit while we still had the chance. For ten days we traveled through Japan, stopping in Kyoto, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Tokyo, and Mito.
Kyoto was our first stop, after spending our first night in Hokota. We arrived at Kyoto Station via Toyko after a pretty cool ride on the Shinkansen (bullet train). My Sigma 10-20mm UWA began getting a non-stop workout immediately:
Kyoto Station (1/200 sec, f/4, Sigma 10-20mm at 10mm, ISO 400)
The city itself is amazing. Once the Imperial Capital of Japan, it's now a major metropolitan center famous for its myriad stunning gardens and temples. It's a fantastic city to walk in. It was pouring on the day we visited, but the rain stopped for just long enough for me to press my camera against a wooden rail for support and make this long exposure of a tiny waterfall along the path:
The Gardens at Eikando Zenrin-Ji Temple, Kyoto (1.6 sec, f/22, Sigma 10-22mm at 11mm, ISO 100)
We visited Eikando Zenrin-Ji (above), the head garden for a major Buddhist sect, Ginkaku-ji - "The Temple of the Silver Pavilion," a zen temple built as a place where Shogun could enjoy solitude and respite, and Nijo-jo, a major castle in the center of the city built in the 1600s by the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Here's another shot of Ginkaku-Ji:
The gardens at Ginkaku-Ji Temple, Kyoto (1/250 sec, f/4, Sigma 10-20mm at 10mm, ISO 400)
Generally, it was pretty difficult not to find something to want to shoot:
Trees (1/80 sec, f/5.6, Sigma 10-20mm at 18mm, ISO 400)A scene window along the Philosopher's Path (1/13 sec, f/5.6, Sigma 10-20mm, ISO 400)
It was a great first couple of days in Japan. Fighting jet lag, we stayed up and walked miles upon miles as we explored a city that seemed a microcosm of the meeting point between modern urbanity and tradition that seems to define the country in many ways. We had arrived in Japan during tsuyu, the rainiest time of the year, and we spent much of our two days in Kyoto simultaneously awed by its beauty and trudging through what at times seemed a torrential downpour.
And if I sometimes forgot to document our own experience, my little brother Mark - my inspiration in photography - was around to capture it. Here he has grabbed my camera and fires off a frame of John and I, taking cover in a temple's foyer as we rest our feet.
My brother John and I resting and taking cover from the rain (1/20 sec, f/4, Canon 70-200mm L at 70mm, ISO 400)
WIRED has just reported that the iPhone has beaten out the Canon Digital Rebel XTi as the most popular camera on Flickr. The new iPhone 3GS (which I own - actually a first for me given my aversion to phones that make me a little too reachable) is equipped with a spartan 3 megapixel auto-focus lens and no flash.
What can it do? Well, it's a camera that can also upload photos instantaneously into the cloud. Makes sense to me. But at least a few commenters on the post were aghast: "This is just pathetic." Or, "It’s sad that the iphone is considered a camera at all... as an avid flickr user and canon 5d mark ii owner (21 megapixels)... i would not have a contact on my stream with just iphone photographs because of the crap quality."
Sorry - we can't all own $2,700 cameras. But just for kicks, I thought I'd upload a shot I snapped with my iPhone 3GS to my computer and take a good look at it. Here you go:
Landing in Fort Lauderdale after my JetBlue flight from Boston. Taken with my new iPhone 3GS.
So what does this iPhone 3GS "victory" tell us about photography? To be honest, I think it says more about Flickr than anything else. Flickr is what it is - a repository for people to share images they have created. Like the old MP3.com - a site ahead of its time - it is full of all kinds of content because there are no quality filters. And that's what it's designed to be. Let the purists whine and cry - we've always got Photo.net.
I'm more interested in what this tells us about mobility, the pervasiveness of the the connections we're forging, the ubiquitousness of access. A camera that fits in your pocket and let's you surf the net? Here's to happy moments rescued from the ethereal fading of time, injustices captured and shared for the world to see, inside jokes spotted and sent to faraway friends. I'm down - go iPhone.
Well, my first post in quite a few months. I was surprised today to see that the last post I made on Aper(cul)ture was in January, not actually as long as it has felt (who am I kidding? Eight months is eons in internet time!) The good news is I've got plenty of photography to share.
A little while back, I was hired by Boston T-shirt designers Brivia Sky to make some photographs of models wearing their inaugural creations.
I opted to go for a very clean feel, shooting the models at close range against white seamless. The following shots were all taken using two Canon 580EX speedlites on floor, lighting the background, and a single 580EX shot through a white umbrella in front of and slightly above the model. (I moved the light around for different photos, so experienced readers will notice the key light coming in from the model's right in a few of these, or almost directly in front.)
(1/400 sec, f/8, Canon EF 28-105 at 30mm, ISO 200)
(1/400 sec, f/8, Canon EF 28-105 at 30mm, ISO 200)
(1/400 sec, f/8, Sigma 10-20mm at 18mm, ISO 200)
(1/400 sec, f/8, Canon EF 28-105 at 28mm, ISO 200)
Before you praise the impossible lighting on the background, I'll let you in on a secret - it's cut out. My speedlights, unfortunately, didn't put out enought power to completely blow out the paper, especially given it's texture after that horrible day.
Rather, to simulate the high-key-ish feel here, I simply took the images and carefully cut out the subjects, placing them on a background layer of stark white. Once the background was taken care of, I applied some curves adjustments, saturation, and spot dodging, plus fixing small details like reflections on the sunglasses.
The result is a high-key simulation that doesn't seem too polished, a nice balance of sophistication and edge.
(1/30 sec, f/4.5, Canon EF 28-105 at 28mm, ISO 800, three Speedlites through various diffusers and bounces)
... an experiment in simulating vintage film feel here.. shot using my DSLR triggered via radio remote and lit with three off-camera Speedlites through various diffusers and bounces. Plenty of post-processing to get film grain and that old-Ektachrome style Magenta color shift..
I think I'd like to do a series of portraits like this.
Sunday, October 18, 2009 at 8:58PM 
Click for FULL-SIZE!
