last night a friend of mine suggested that since i teach photography for the University of Cincinnati that there may be some of you that are interested in some pointers. after thinking about it, i believe that he might have a good idea. so here's my plan; in between posting about what the studio is doing, i'm going to drop in a photographic lesson or tip. some will be photographic and others will be digital, (i also teach digital photography as well). let's give it a try, shall we?
Creating a gadget bag
· Old shoulder bags such as army gas mask bags disguise its contents and do not advertise a bag full of expensive equipment.
· A spare camera battery should be accessory number one.
· A small beanbag makes good insulation in the bottom of the camera bag and can also be used for a low-level tripod. Bean bags can be laid on car hoods or anything else for lightweight easy to carry camera support.
· Carry a large plastic trash bag that is rolled up. This bag can be used to lie on during low-level photography when the ground is wet. Holes can be cut out for head and arms to use as a poncho. In a downpour, the camera bag can be paced in the trash bag for added protection.
· Always use an UV or Skylight filter over the lens. This doesn’t really improve the image much but becomes cheap insurance against potential damage.
· A lens hood should also be used for protection. These do increase the image quality of photographs by blocking extraneous light from striking the lens and causing flare.
· Carry a zip lock sandwich bag. Cameras can be placed in these during humid or cold weather. Going indoors or outdoors will cause condensation to form on the bag rather than the lens. While shooting in bad weather, a hole can be cut in the bottom for lens insertion. Place the camera lens through the hole and tape to around the lens hood. Place hands through zip lock opening and use in poor weather. Remember this is not waterproof, only an umbrella. Don’t forget to use a skylight or UV filter over the lens.
· A wrinkled piece of aluminum foil rolled up in a small ball can be smoothed for an instant light reflector. "space blankets" also work well.
· A kitchen tablespoon can be used with an electric flash. This will create a fill light while using the flash in bounce light.
· A gentleman’s handkerchief can be used with electric flash to reduce flash output.
· A black or a white piece of pantyhose with a small hole cut in the center can be used for a low key or a high key vignetter. Strong rubber bands for attaching to lens hood.
· Clean empty red web onion bags can be filled on location with rocks or other heavy objects to weight down tripods and reflectors against the wind.
· One or two empty 35 mm film cans, the opaque ones, may be used for canning film under emergency conditions or to keep small objects from getting lost.
· A small piece of window screen about 4x4 inches with the edges taped to prevent falling apart and scratching other items will make stars on highlights or diffusion on portrait photography.
· A round magnifying glass can be held in front of the camera lens for close up photography.
· A small piece of gray card, about 6 inches square, for metering.
· Several small pieces of colored gel material. This would be like old report covers and cut to about 6 inches square. Can be kept with gray card. These will be used with electric flash to create interesting colored light sources.
· Small pump spray bottles like the ones used for hair spray can be used to spray water droplets on plants for nature photography.
