Free Headshot Retouching Tips and Q/A: Creator Office Hours

Hey there, y’all. This week on my lil’ Office Hours, I decided to focus on a particular topic that’s been in my inbox a few times. That’s headshot photography. In particular, headshot retouching. Check it out below. I hope this helps photographers get rolling in their headshot photography journey. Please reshare the video far and wide.

Tools mentioned include:

Wacom Intuos Tablet*

Canon R5 C*













*Affiliate link used. Affiliate links allow me to earn a small commission as a content creator if you purchase items using the affiliate link. Thank you for your support.

Nikon Acquires RED and It's A Good Thing

Recently, Nikon acquired RED Digital Cinema and camera nerds went wild. Nikon being a company that has made some positive noise in the photography side of camera tech made a big push to get RED - a cinema monster in the industry. Some say it was part of getting RED its case regarding a patent dispute. I don’t know, but I do think it’s an interesting move and is going to be good thing for us as the consumer. . .eventually.

I sat down with the dude known as “Ohdoctah” to talk about this Nikon and RED stuff.

I Want the Canon RF 100-500mm Lens

A couple of weeks ago I suffered a loss to my photography kit. My old telephoto 400mm lens’ autofocus motors died. This REALLY bugged me as it was right as baseball season was starting. It was also creeping into the warmer weather which is when I focus on wildlife photography. Pissed off and frustrated, I decided to go rent a new lens to handle an upcoming baseball game shoot. I’m glad I did.

When I went to my local camera/rental shop, I checked out the telephoto options and found that an RF mount lens was available. This meant I could use my Canon R5 C* for the long shots instead of my 1DX II*. The wonderful staff suggested the Canon 100-500mm RF telephoto lens and had high praise for it. I trust these guys, so I gave it a shot.

First impressions

WOW this lens is LIGHTWEIGHT. The size of this lens in its widest focal length is pretty compact at 8-inches. The build quality is great. It doesn’t feel cheap and has the Canon “L” designation for professional-grade build quality. It weighs roughly 3-pounds when holding it in your hands alone. Slap the lens onto a Canon mirrorless body and it’s barely noticeable in the short term.

Image quality

The image quality on this lens is UNBELIEVABLE. It’s such a sharp lens. I’m not sure what Canon has done, but the RF mount lenses are always sharp, but I was surprised at how sharp this telephoto lens is. It’s ridiculous. Having image stabilization built in is definitely helpful. When I shot the baseball game, I started out with the lens connected to my monopod. Just a force of habit. When shooting long focal lengths at 300mm or more, I stabilize my camera and lens with a monopod because you’re much more prone to capturing blurred images at those focal lengths. This is because micro jitters from you or your camera are magnified. Since the lens is so light, I boldly decided to try shooting handheld. Maaaaan did it workout perfectly for me. Again, the built-in image stabilization system in the lens helps a lot. The USM autofocus on this lens is snappy in all focal lengths. My only suggestion would be to make sure your mirrorless camera’s autofocus AI is set to “people” and face detection when shooting sports. I didn’t upload the highest resolution version of the pics below, but they’re still pretty stellar in quality.

Concerns

The weight of this lens is great. The size is “good.” When you zoom to a tighter focal length the lens telescopes to 11-inches. Unfortunately. I wish this wasn’t the case. It’s not a deal-breaker, but it’s something I wish was addressed for the price point. To Canon’s credit, the telescoping functionality can be manipulated to be a smooth, quick motion or your can make it a stiff motion. If you tighten down on the lens for a stiff motion, this will eliminate the inadvertent telescoping issue when you’re just walking around with the lens on your hip or shoulder.

Image credit Canon USA

The other concern is the aperture. At f/4.5-7.1, many would scoff. At f/5.6 is where most shooters would want to top out on aperture. But even at f/7.1 I found something magical happens with this lens. I really can’t explain it. You don’t lose as much light as expected. My friends at the local camera store said that Canon did something really right or really wrong, because they noticed the same performance. The folks at Digital Picture explains this technicality quite well. Over my head, but it definitely works. Let’s just say that f/7.1 at 500mm isn’t really f/7.1. And no, f/4.5 isn’t particularly wide open, but it’s adequate with today’s high ISO performance in cameras. The background compression looks great in all of my images regardless of the aperture.

You can get the 100-500mm RF lens from Canon for $2899, but at the time of writing this, the lens has a discount* going. I need to save up for this lens. I not only want it, I NEED it.


*Affiliate link used. Affiliate links allow me to earn a small commission as a content creator if you purchase items using the affiliate link. Thank you for your support.

New G-Series Lens Announced From Sony

Sony continues its push of offering great image quality to hybrid shooters be it photography or video. Today Sony announces a new G-series 24-50mm f/2.8 lens for all of its E-mount, Sony shooters.

Image credit - Sony

Why does this matter?

So a new lens is announced. “What’s the big deal,” you ask? Well first, what’s big about this is the focal range and aperture. This focal range is ideal for both photography and video. Being an f/2.8 lens also offers great performance in low-light scenarios.

Speaking of the f/2.8 aperture, the aperture blades are important. In this new lens, Sony is offering 11 aperture blades. In entry-to-mid-level lenses, you’ll get seven aperture blades in most instances. Sometimes nine blades. These additional blades offer a much nicer looking bokeh effect while shooting wide open as well as helps reduce diffraction.

Lastly, the main reason this is big news is the weight of the lens. Sony states that the new G-series lens will come in at 440g, or 15.5oz for us uncivilized folks. One of the primary selling points of a mirrorless camera is the reduced body size and weight. I always thought this selling point was a bunch of bunk because most pro-grade lenses were freakin’ HEAVY compared to camera bodies, so the total camera package would still be considered heavy. But, I’m no marketing genius, so what do I know?

You can request your new lens from Sony for $1099 with delivery set for sometime in May 2024. Let me know if you decide to order one.

Getting The Shot

I recently shot the family holiday photo and asked if anyone would be interested in a breakdown on how the shot was captured. Below you’ll find the list of items I mentioned in the video that may be helpful for you in your shot planning. Thanks for watching.

Dazne Light Kit*

Stella Pro CLX 10*

A-Clamps*

Platypod*

Gels*

*Affiliate link used. Affiliate links allow me to earn a small commission as a content creator if you purchase items using the affiliate link. Thank you for your support.

Sony Alpha Deals For August on Mirrorless Cameras and Lenses

Sony has announced several discounts on its Alpha camera bodies and lenses for its “Summer Sale.” This includes discounts on the high megapixel A7R IV camera. Select lenses are discounted and Sony is also offering a few bundles of bodies and lens combinations.

Image: Sony

You can order from Adorama* as well as the Sony site. Right now, the A7R 1IV is listed at $500 off at $2999.* The A7R IV is the first Sony mirrorless camera I actually liked. The body felt great in my hands and of course the image quality is stellar.

Others on the list include:

  • A7 III (body only) $200 off at $1798*

  • A7R III (body only) $600 off at $2198*

  • 24-70mm f/2.8 G Masters E-mount lens $200 off at $1998*

  • 35mm f/1.8 OSS E-mount lens $100 off at $373*

  • A7R IV with FE 24-105 G OSS e-mount lens $800 off at $4096

See more on the Adorama* site on the main page featuring sales and deals.

*Affiliate link used. Affiliate links allow me to earn a small commission as a content creator if you purchase items using the affiliate link. Thank you for your support.


Nikon Z 30 Announced Focusing on Vloggers

Nikon quietly announced a new mirrorless camera aimed at the vloggers of the world. This new Z 30 is an APS-C mirrorless capable of 20MP images at 11 frames per second capture as well as video up to 4K (UHD) up to 30 frames per second. Adorama has the camera available for preorder*. Get the body and kit lens for $846.95. More on the new camera in the video below.

*Affiliate link used. Affiliate links allow me to earn a small commission as a content creator if you purchase items using the affiliate link. Thank you for your support.

Sony's "Imagine and Create Week" Deals

Beginning June 13th through June 19th, Adorama* and Sony have partnered up to give photographers and creators deals on select Sony products. This also includes a trade-in option towards select Sony Full-Frame mirroless cameras and lenses. In addition to the sales, Adorama is offering FREE Sony Sensor cleanings at the store on June 15th.

Image: Adorama

Below are some of the deals for “Imagine & Create Week”

Sony Alpha a7R IV Mirrorless Digital Camera Body (V2) with Accessories Kit* - $2,998 (Instant Rebate: $500)

 

Be sure to check out other deals at Adorama* all while helping support me and my content by using my affiliate link here and above.


*Affiliate link used. Affiliate links allow me to earn a small commission as a content creator if you purchase items using the affiliate link. Thank you for your support.

Adobe Lightroom Adds Video "Editing" And More AI

Adobe has announced new updates for its Lightroom photo editing software. It’s the time of year where the children are out of school, vacation and travel time is picking up and more images will be snapped with your favorite camera of choice. Perfect time to get the most out of your photos and videos with updated editing tools. Here’s a quick look at some of the Lightroom updates announced.

Image: Adobe

Video Processing

You’ve been able to add video files to Lightroom for a handful of years now. Granted, I didn’t see much use for it, personally, but the capability was there. You couldn’t really do an “edit” to the video file if you needed to. Even something as simple as shorten the video. Makes sense considering Adobe offers several other video editing options with its Premiere Pro,* Premiere Rush* and After Effects* software. Now you can import video files to do some very light retouching as well as trim the video. You can’t create video with multiple clips are anything like that, but if you’re trying to retouch a single file, you can do so. This of it how you’d use the native photos app on your iPhone or Android device. There’s usually a simple video touch up option in it. This is the same as that, just with Adobe tools and AI included. This update is available for Lightroom, Lightroom on mobile and also Lightroom Classic.

AI Mask Controls

Adobe’s Sensei AI has continued to get better over the years to help speed up the post-processing workflow. The mask tool in Lightroom is useful for doing selective adjustments. Now you can create a mask in a photo and apply the same type of selection as well as the parameters to another photo in your group. So if you’re trying to do a selective adjustment on a person to, but would like to apply the same processing to a product shot, you can with copy and paste. The AI will recognize the subject of each image and process accordingly without you needing to adjust your selection.

Image: Adobe

GPU EXPORT!!!!

Also in this update, Lightroom Classic has been rewritten to export utilizing the GPU on your system where applicable. This is BIG and should give a boost in performance.

More information about the updates such as adaptive presets, red-eye removal and more can be found on the official Adobe blog post. Get the Adobe Photography package for just $9.99 a month* with my affiliate link to step up your photography processing game as well as help support me and my efforts.



*Affiliate link used. Affiliate links allow me to earn a small commission as a content creator if you purchase items using the affiliate link. Thank you for your support.

New Platypod Extreme On Deck

The squad at Platypod has announced a new product for photographers and content creators. The Platypod Extreme is the next iteration in the Platypod ecosystem as it offers some updates to be more portable, versatile and even easier to use.

Image: Platypod

I’ve used the Platypod and Platypod Ultra (the smaller one) quite regularly in my workflow. Whether for mounting my camera against a tree to capture hummingbird photography, to shoot low-angle landscapes, or mount a floor light for a photoshoot, the Platypod product line has been ridiculously useful. The new Extreme has me interested as it now has the pegs integrated with the platform. No more of me carrying a pouch with the pegs in it for a field shoot. Good thought, team.

You can find out more about the product and see the successful campaign on Kickstarter. Yes, they’ve already met their crowd-funding goal. There’s a reason for that.