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Long Shots Photography bio picture

Kevin Long, Photographer

Long Shots Photography specializes in family and senior portraiture and serves the Harrisburg and Cumberland County area. I strive to develop a relationship with my clients, enabling me to better understand your needs. Whether you seek a family portrait taken in your home, a senior portrait at an outdoor location, or a baby portrait in the studio, I can provide the service you require. I offer a variety of products, including wall portraits and custom albums. Please contact me today to schedule your next session.

Five Years Proud

I’m a big fan of Studio families, so I worked hard to complete this year’s recital DVD in record time. If you don’t want to wait for summer lessons to pick yours up, contact Ms. Jennifer. If you haven’t yet ordered a DVD and want one, let me know.

To hold you over until you can watch the DVD, I’ve posted a number of photos from the recital and dress rehearsal (same password as spring photos). Prints are specially priced through the end of June. A few highlights appear below.

Thank you again for a great year.

Finale

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Light Factors, Part I: ISO

ISO 200 is generally a safe bet outdoors

ISO 200, 200mm, f/6.3, 1/200

This is part one of my series on using your camera in manual mode.

There was a time when your camera’s ISO (light sensitivity) was determined by the film you loaded. Once you had your roll in place, you were stuck with that ISO for 12 or 24 or 36 exposures (or you had to waste exposures when you loaded a new roll). A digital camera—which captures the image on its sensor rather than a frame of film—allows you to change ISO as often as you like.

What’s important about ISO? A high ISO (400, 800, 1600) is considered fast, and it allows you to shoot in darker conditions. The trade-off is that your exposures are more likely to be grainy, at least on close inspection. That is becoming less of an issue as many of the latest cameras (e.g., the Canon 5D Mk II or Nikon D700) can shoot at those ISOs (and even higher) without much loss of quality.

The same may not be true of your camera, and by going manual you’ll learn more about its capabilities. If you’re shooting in full auto mode, your camera will choose the ISO. Don’t let it. Try setting the ISO yourself and see how that affects the speed and f-stop at which your pictures are taken. In general, you’ll want to use ISO 200 when shooting outdoors, ISO 400 when shooting in a reasonably-lit room, and ISO 800 or 1600 when there’s not much available light.

To experiment, try setting your ISO to 100 when shooting indoors. Your camera will have to compensate by using its widest f-stop (to let in as much light as possible) and a slow shutter speed in order to capture the picture. That slow speed will probably result in some blurring. Try also shooting at your camera’s highest ISO in that same environment. When you look at the picture later, zoom in and check its quality.

Shooting frames at different ISO settings isn’t much fun, but it’s an essential piece of the light factor puzzle. The next two posts, which will cover shutter speed and f-stop (aperture), will complete the picture and illustrate how manual control of your camera’s settings can give you more creative control of your pictures.

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Caitlin and my new favorite barn

Caitlin and her mother arrived at the studio thinking they were having a few simple standard portraits done, but I talked them into accompanying me to a new location I’d scouted near the studio. They were both good sports, with Caitlin postponing a shopping trip and her mom aiming my reflector for me. They both did a fantastic job.

Don't worry - we didn't pass the sign

Don't worry - we didn't pass the sign

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Going Manual

If you’ve purchased a camera in the past few years, be it an SLR or a point-and-shoot, it’s probably pretty smart. In most situations, it’s going to make good decisions about where to focus, how much light to allow onto the sensor, how long to open the shutter, and whether to fire the flash (recall that flash isn’t always a good thing). At other times, however, you may need to exert some control over your camera in order to capture what you want in a given scene.

The good news is, many of those aforementioned cameras sold in the past few years also include a few buttons and switches that allow the kind of control you need to take more creative (or just better) photos. I’m not talking about general settings with names like “landscape”, “portrait”, and “sports”; rather, I’m referring to the same settings you would have found on your grandfather’s camera 40 years ago.

In my next few photography tips posts, I’ll be discussing some of those settings. And since light is the most important element of photography, I’ll begin with the settings most closely related to light: ISO, aperture, and shutter speed. I hope you find them worthwhile.

Sometimes you're a better judge than your camera

Sometimes you're a better judge than your camera

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Jen & Dave & [TBA1] & [TBA2]

To say that maternity photography can sometimes be a bit over the top would be an understatement. (There – I said it.) Jen and Dave knew that, too, and I think we were able to approach this special time in their lives with a sense of fun that came out in their portraits. They’re great to work with, and we’re really looking forward to meeting their little ones.

Dave is a numbers guy

Dave is a numbers guy

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