Tag Archive for: iPad

Always build in a fail-safe even if you think you don’t need it

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Photography catastrophe, when pictures are lost

Over the years we have seen some drama and photography catastrophes. As most of you probably know, Annewiek and I ran an IT company for most of our lives. One of our specialities was building custom machines.  But also being very aware of the risks people experience online and offline. Today, maybe one of the most important pieces of advice I can give to everyone that shoots tethered or just wants his/her images safe.

It’s heartbreaking to see a 70+ year old crying in the store because they lost all their memories. It does give a great feeling when we were able to get it back. But it also happened that there was too much data loss. So having a proper backup system is vital.

The problem is that hardware failure is not something you experience every day. Some people never experienced a hard disk failure (you’re so lucky). So having a proper backup strategy is something that is often neglected till something happens.

Digital has some advantages

One of the great advantages is without doubt that you can make 100% 1:1 copies, as many as you want.
You could also make copies of slides/negatives, but there is only 1 original. Everything else is a copy with some loss.
The weird thing is that with our analogue material we took really good care by placing the negatives in nice holders and sliders so they would stay protected for “ever”. However, somehow with digital we shoot A LOT more, also more memories and…. we don’t treat them with care at all. In most cases, the images are stored on the local drive or on some external drives. But how many of you really have a 100% mirror of your files in a separate location?

But today it’s not about backup strategy,  but something that is just as important. To prevent disaster.

On location or the studio, just as dangerous, or even more

A photography catastrophe does not announce itself. Today I did a photo shoot with a new model, soon more 😀
Of course I’m always shooting tethered in the studio (connected to a large display via an iPad or Laptop/Desktop) but also there a lot of things that can go wrong.

So let’s give some attention today to that workflow.

Photography Catastrophe, when it looks all your photos are lost

Option 1

As you can see, my camera has two slots.
This means you can use 2 cards at the same time. So you could set it up in Video vs Photos. Just as a second card or a mirror solution.
So there we have option 1.

Option 2

When we choose the software to shoot tethered, in my opinion, we must have an option to also store images somewhere else than only the software. For years, we had a problem with certain software solutions that would not store the images on the card but only on the machine you’re connected to. Although this is not ideal, it is pretty safe. But I would always add a small script that makes backups during the shoot to an external drive.

Option 3

Better is software that is designed to be safe with tethering.
I’m mostly using Cascable for tethering.
This is a super handy app that since the last update, runs on both my iPad and MacBook Pro.
The reason I love Cascable so much is “they got it”.
Within Cascable I can shoot into the “sandbox” but also add external folders, for example a folder “tethering” on my iPad which I can use to import the photos into Lightroom or just copy them via my MacBookPro to the NAS.

And, today this actually saved my photoshoot and a photography catastrophe was avoided.
In all the years I’ve been shooting I’ve only had a card fail on me once.
And today was card number 2.
Normally this could mean panic! Since you lost all your images.
But in this case I just grabbed my iPad and copied all the RAW files from there.

And that’s why I want to give some extra attention to RAW.

Why shoot tethered with a cable?

For ever people have been asking me “Why don’t you shoot wireless?”
And over the years I’ve tried many solutions, varying from totally useless to “works like a charm”
The only problem… You cannot shoot RAW. Well ok you can but it’s incredibly slo0000w.
So in the situations where I shot wireless I always shot RAW on the card(s) and sent 2MP JPGS over the air. In all honesty, with a proper system this works great and is super fast. But the biggest problem is….It’s not safe at all! Yes, you can use the double card trick on some cameras but not all cameras support this.

Also, because you’re shooting JPG, using presets for your client or doing quick in-between retouches, are out of the question.
So the cable for me is a vital part (till they solve the speed issue).

Conclusion, avoid a photography catastrophe!

Our digital files are much more in danger of loss than we probably realize.
Always make sure you have a proper backup of your stored files, but also always make sure you build in fail-safes during your photo shoots.
Hope this helps some of you before you find out about this article after losing your images.

For more info about Cascable see www.cascable.se
Want the best tethering solutions? check www.iqwire.nl

Read this blog about adding more storage to your Laptop 

See this blog about my NAS

The difference between modifiers

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Want to know how to predict your light?

And of course how to use the different modifiers to create some images with impact?
Than this is the digital classroom for you.

In almost 2 hours I show you the difference between a lantern, normal softbox, striplights and our new Geekoto Quicky softbox.

You see the setups from 3 different angles, plus all the images I shoot.
And of course there is a boatload with information in there as usual.

So enjoy the brand new Digital Classroom.
With our stunning model Jannaika.

Outside fashion shoot for sunglasses with extreme styling and flash Part II : let’s talk gear

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Because size matters, also outside

Today Part II from the workshop “Working on location in Emmeloord”
In this workshop, the challenge is to use not-so-interesting locations and create awesome shots.
In the previous blogpost we showed set 1 and talked a bit about the gear, today we dive a little bit deeper into the deep reflector. What gear do you need for an outside fashion shoot?

But first, let’s take a look at the setup.

The third set we used during the workshop (set II will follow the next time) was a small house near the beach. This is an interesting location but in all honesty, I had the most trouble with this one to create something interesting. But by using the lines in the location and changing my angles of shooting, I think we got some interesting looks.

For the images, I used our Geekoto GT200 and a large reflector

An outside fashion shoot, gear

Outside my favorite gear is of course Annewiek, but also my iPad in the Ulanzi iPad holder and a large reflector.

Outside Fashion Shoot Gear, the must-have reflector

As you can see this is a pretty large reflector.
And that’s exactly the reason I love using those on location.
The thing is that even with a 200W strobe you are still not “killing” the sun from let’s say 3 meters distance. And when you love those Day2Night shots or love to shoot HSS you will have to run almost constantly on full power. But even with fill-in flash…. ok you get the idea without any reflectors even a 200W hybrid strobe with HSS is not perfect for all day Day2Night photography

However, as soon as we add light shapers, the story becomes different.

When we add a striplight like the Rogue flashbenders or any other brand of course we will actually lose light output compared to the bare strobe.
But luckily we can also add light to the output.

You probably also know from studio use that reflectors can have a huge impact on the light output of your strobes. And the same goes for outside. We are using a Bowens converter to hold our Geekoto and connect the reflector. The reason the reflector is so deep is that it will focus the light more the deeper the reflector (on average, it also depends on the material of course). In usage, this can mean the difference between shooting a strobe on 1/3rd power instead of full power, and that is something you really notice.

As a bonus I love the look of these deeper reflectors, they are not as harsh as some smaller reflectors but they still give a tremendous deep shadow and high contrast. If you order one make sure you also order a grid if that’s available. I’m using a generic brand from AliExpress, if you are shooting with Hensel it’s called the 14″ reflector (which is even larger than this one) and for Elinchrom it’s called the MaxiLight or MaxiSpot. I highly recommend getting one for outside work. The reflector is really my favorite gear on an outside fashion shoot.

 

The iPad solution is another must-have for your shoot on location

As you can see in the image I’m using an iPad on location.
I’ve been using MacBooks for years but the disadvantage of a MacBookPro is that they are very fragile on location, they can easily fall, attract dust like crazy, and have loads of openings to collect dirt. Plus they are very expensive to replace or repair.

The iPad on the other hand can be securely fastened to just one stand with the awesome Ulanzi holder (we got so many questions about it that we added it to our webshop).
The nice thing about the iPad is that it will run all day on one charge and the light output is really nice for outside work, as long as there is no direct sunlight hitting the screen of course.

During this workshop I shot wireless to the iPad but in 99% of the cases I’m using an IQwire USBc-USBc 15meter tether cable to shoot to the iPad using CasCable. I’ve been using this combination for a while now and it never disappointed me. If something goes wrong the advantage of the iPad is that you just close an app and start it again and it all works fine again. But to be complete I’ve experienced a super smooth workflow so far with little to no problems. This is also the main reason you see me using the iPad more and more during shows. Especially with Adobe releasing great updates to their Lightroom and Photoshop apps which makes the iPad a real workstation nowadays.

Especially on location, you want gear you carry around easily and don’t have to be afraid that something falls during the hike to the next location.

 

The results

Ok let’s take a look at the results from the third set during this workshop (next time set 2)

Model/Styling: Nadine
Sunglasses: Sparks
www.fotografie-workshops.nl for the Dutch workshops
www.frankdoorhof.com/shop for my gear

Outside Fashion Shoot Gear

Just a bit more light on the model’s face with the reflector

Outside Fashion Shoot Gear

 

 

A great new addition to the iPad ecosystem

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The iPad ecosystem gained another great app

When I bought my first iPad Pro I was deeply disappointed. It was nothing more than a blown-up iPhone at that moment. But a few years later I bought the new iPad Pro.  And man,  did the ecosystem change over the last few years. So this blog is about the new addition to the iPad ecosystem: Luminar.

The M1 generation

I strongly feel that with the release of the M1 chipset Apple changed the playing field forever.
At the moment I was editing some drone footage on a Dell XPS i9. And although H264 went smoothly, for the H265 I needed to use proxy media (a sort of smart preview because the system can’t handle the original). To my surprise, my iPad Pro had no problems at all with the material… I was surprised but also motivated to find the perfect workflow on the iPad.

The main advantages

Let me start by saying that it’s no laptop replacement for me.
But it’s so much more.
I’m using Cascable to shoot tethered to my iPad Pro. Which means I can now bring my iPad on location (or in the studio). The advantages are numerous.

The iPad Pro runs forever on the battery and still has more light output than my MPB 14″ (MacBook Pro). The MacBook Pro is great for outside, but also the protection against the elements is much better on the iPad. With my laptop, I’m always worried about my keyboard or card reader catching dust or worse. Now I can leave my laptop at home and do the whole shoot with the iPad Pro.

The iPad Pro is also much easier to mount on a stand.  I’m using the Ulanzi myself which makes carrying around the iPad (still on the stand) much safer than dragging around an expensive laptop. Check out this video about tethering to the iPad 

But there is a limitation.
When I’m teaching I also like to show some retouching tips, and this is where the iPad always was rather limited with many apps for example not being able to output full resolution images or for example a Tiff 16bits ARGB. But things change.

Lightroom and Photoshop

Adobe released Lightroom and Photoshop on the iPad a while ago and in all honesty, they both work great. Recently Adobe even added generative fill to Photoshop on the iPad.

And even if you’re not in the Adobe ecosystem there are some really good alternatives such as Darktable, Procreate, and for example Affinity. I’ve tried most of them but I still keep going back to the Adobe suite. This has also everything to do that the link between the desktop versions and iPad versions is absolutely seamless with Adobe, and that makes my workflow a lot easier. Check out this tip where I turned the lights on in Photoshop for the iPad

New addition to the iPad ecosystem

So why this “news update”

Over the years I’ve tried several ways to tint my images, in short, give it my own look.
And although I love Lightroom a lot there are still some things I can’t do with Lightroom and I need to dive into Photoshop.

On the desktop, I’ve been using products from Skylum since they were called MacPhun and I always loved their approach to making something standalone but also fully incorporating it into the Adobe ecosystem. Nowadays you probably know them best for Luminar.

And man, am I excited because Luminar has now been released on the iPad.
I still have to test everything and see how it will integrate into my workflow with Lightroom. But for “looks” in my images, I can’t wait to start building new presets.

So if you’re like me also working a lot in the iPad ecosystem make sure to check out Luminar for the iPad, I think you will love it, and this is just the first version 😀 Keep following me for my experiences with this new addition to the iPad ecosystem