The Spyder3 Express

Monitor calibration is a very important task, but it's one that a lot of people either don't get round to or don't think they need. If you have ever printed a photograph and had the colors look different from the screen to the print, then your calibration is off.

The Spyder3 Express is available from Amazon (pre-order in the UK) and retails for £77/$85. There's no excuse to not calibrate when the Spyder3 Express is so inexpensive. If you have more than one monitor, you need to have one of these even more. If like me, you sometimes have to start your edits on a laptop and finish them on your desktop computer, calibration will stop all those annoying readjustments that you need to make after you transfer your images. I'll have a full review on the Spyder3 Express in a week or two when I have a test model.

Shooting In Cold Conditions

It's getting really cold in this part of the world, so I thought I'd share a few tips on shooting in winter.

I keep a pair of black fleece gloves in my camera bag about four months of the year. They're inexpensive, warm and thin enough not to restrict the use of any camera controls.

Batteries drain fast in cold weather, so keep them in a pocket as close to your body as possible until it's time to shoot. Rotate batteries between your camera and pocket frequently to get the most out of them.

If you're shooting in cold weather and you're going to take a break for lunch, leave your camera in the cold if possible. Going from cold to warm will cause your lens, viewfinder and even sensor to mist up and will prevent you from using your gear. Locking it in the back of your car is best, but make sure you keep a watchful eye on it.

D-Town TV

Although D Town TV has now come to an end, I highly recommend any Nikon user, new or old, should watch all twenty-four episodes.

Each week, Scott Kelby and Matt Kloskowski ran through tips and tricks to get the most out of your Nikon gear. There were a few episodes dedicated to lens's and flash and a few guest spots from Joe McNally and Moose Peterson.

So whether you're a beginner or a pro, there's something in D-Town for you. You can download all twenty-four episodes from iTunes for free or see them at the D-Town TV website .

Lastolite Tri-Flip 8:1 Kit

The Lastolite Tri-Flip 8:1 Kit is such a versatile piece of gear that you really shouldn't be without one. The kit consists of a Tri-Grip Diffuser and two Tri-Flip sleeves which are reversible. So although you don't get eight sleeves like shown in the Lastolite photo above, you do get eight sides, seven reflective surfaces and one subtractive (black) surface.

The Diffuser is an absolute must when you're shooting outdoors in bright sunlight and need to get rid of squinting eyes and harsh contrasts. The reflector sleeves are the icing on the cake and the variety in the different temperatures of reflected light is everything you will ever need. From soft silver to gold and everything in-between - if you only buy one reflector, this is the one you should have in your kit.

I have a lot of Lastolite gear, from the small XpoBalance and softbox's, to the fantastic Hilite illuminated background. There is something in the Lastolite product range to suit every lighting situation. My next purchase will be the 100cm Umbrella Kit (maybe I'll do a review here in the near future).

Leave Room To Let Your Subject Breath

Sometimes you need to get in really close to your subject and fill the frame with detail. But don't forget to leave space when it's needed. One of the most important times to remember this is when you're taking a portrait and your subject is looking to the side. Always leave nose room. You can crop behind the head as tight as you like, but make sure that your subject has some space in front of their face.

Take the above photo as another example. A tight shot would look good too, but this photo gives a great sense of how small and agile the aircraft is in the huge vast sky. So whatever your subject matter, the next time you're shooting something, why not zoom out or walk back and give your subject some space.

Help Portrait

Help Portrait is a movement of photographers who are using their time, equipment and expertise to give back to those less fortunate. The date is 12th December 2009 and is open to all photographers, amateur or pro. It's about doing something for other people. It will cost you time and a little bit of money for prints, but you'll feel good about yourself and make someone else feel good about themselves. The movement was started by photographer Jeremy Cowart in the US, but has now gone global.

Watch the video on Scott Kelby's blog here for more info or go to the Help Portrait website.

10 Tips For Shooting Live Music

1. Don't use flash. Flash kills the colors of the stage lights and you will just end-up with smokey dull photos.

2. Use a high ISO, at least 1600, but it will depend on how good your camera is. Most medium to high end Canon and Nikon's will shoot great photos with little noise at 1600 and above.

3. Use a fast lens with an aperture of at least f2.8. Use one with image stabilization if possible.

4. Most gigs have a three song rule. Photographers can shoot as many photos as they like but only have until the end of the third song to get what you need.

5. Try to get access to the side of the stage for some of the time (like the shot here). You will also get closer to the guys at the back (keys, drums, backing singers).

6. Try to get a rapore going with the band. It will help your shots and the band will go out of their way to give you some good stuff.

7. Take plenty of shots. When you shoot in low light with energetic musicians, there's no way that all of your shots will be in focus and have no motion blur.

8. If you use Lightroom or Aperture for your post processing, add black to get rid of most of the noise. Levels will work wonders in photoshop. Try some noise reduction filters too.

9. Drummers are the hardest to photograph. They are at the back and not always in the best light. Plan ahead and come up with a way to overcome the problems. Sometimes you might need to get the drummer to play on his own before or after the gig, so you can stand on stage and get some cool shots. Keyboard Players are the next hardest ones to shoot.

10. It helps if you know the music that the band play, so you can be ahead of the game and know where the songs build up and when the action will happen.

The Candid Frame

If like me, you love photography podcasts, I really recommend you check out The Candid Frame. I like my photo gear as much as the next technology hungry photographer, but it's very refreshing to hear people talk about the art of photography and like the theme of recent shows says "living the photographic life".

I've been listening to The Candid Frame for a while now and I get real inspiration from the wide variety of guests that appear on the show. Host Ibarionex Perello has a nice laid back style and a fantastic smooth voice for podcasts. Ibarionex really makes his guests feel at ease and you feel that you're almost eavesdropping on a couple of photographers having a conversation over a coffee in a hotel bar. If you haven't listened to The Candid Frame, you should check it out at iTunes and start from the earliest ones and work your way up to the latest one.

Adobe Lightroom 3 Beta

Adobe Lightroom 3 Beta is available for download here. You should also watch the three tutorial videos at AdobeTV while you are finding your way through the new version. This is a Beta version for testing, and not the official release. At first glance there doesn't look as though much has changed, but when you start to poke around, you can see that there's quite a lot of new features.

The Library Module: As soon as you click the import button you will see a full new section that can be set to full screen mode for initial set-up and then reduced to a thin bar for day to day imports. A great new feature here is the ability to save import settings as snapshots. Unfortunately the import page keeps causing Lightroom to freeze all the time (it is Beta). Another great new feature in the Library Module is the ability to upload directly from Lightroom to Flickr.

The Develop Module: The big changes here are in the sharpening and noise reduction. There is a new Effects panel that revamps the way that post crop vignetting is applied. The Grain slider is a very welcome feature too.

As I've only downloaded L3 Beta today, I haven't had time to go through the full application, but I like what I've seen so far.

Find Great Light

Photography is about light. The most mundane and boring scenes can be transformed into fantastic shots just by the time of day that you shoot them. Photographs taken in the middle of the day tend to be uninteresting and more like snapshots (although there are exceptions). But the best light tends to be the first and last hour of daylight (known as the golden hour). Now I'm not saying don't take pictures at any other time, just don't miss the very best light there is, get up early or head out late. Winter is upon us, so sunrise is not that early and sunset is not late at all.

I'm lucky enough to be able to see up to six sunrises and sunsets per week, which is probably more than a lot of people see in a year! The shot above was taken yesterday at 7am with a Canon G9. The photo is straight out of the camera, with no editing whatsoever. The G9's meter overexposed slightly because the scene was quite dark, but I couldn't be bothered fiddling in the the menu to adjust the exposure compensation. I switched the flash on to fool the camera into bringing the exposure down. The foreground was far enough away that the flash had no effect. Go on, get out of bed and see what you're missing!