I have a 42 inch 5 in 1 Photoflex reflector that I wanted to have fun with and share the results with you. I wanted to demonstrate the difference between using the gold reflective surface and the white reflective surface. Here is the setup: a Photoflex monolight aimed at the reflector so the light would bounce and illuminate the side of my subject’s face. A … Continue reading Fun with reflectors
Vacations are here and I felt I needed to talk about a feature that I find very important in a camera: the GPS. Have you ever looked at a vacation picture and wondered “where the heck did I take that?”. Geotagging is the answer. The latitude and longitude coordinates are stored with the picture and you can later use a program like Lightroom to see … Continue reading Camera GPS and Vacation pictures
Going through the garden this weekend, I came across a thistle. Having Scottish origins, I decided to take a picture. Took out the trusty Sony Alpha 700 and an old Minolta 35-70mm F/4 macro lens, set up the tripod and got to work. With macro photos of plants, it’s nice to have some bokeh. For those unfamiliar with the term, bokeh occurs when you have … Continue reading Wireless flash & macro photos
People often ask me, how do I take pictures of sporting events? Usually kids’ events. Here are my tips. You know how we often hear that it’s not the camera that makes a difference; that it’s the eye of the photographer? Sorry, but this doesn’t apply with sports. As I heard Scott Kelby once say: “Gear counts”. The better the gear, the better the pictures. … Continue reading Summer Sports Photography
I’d like to talk about lenses right now. One lens that just about every photographer I know has in his kit is the Sigma 10mm-20mm wide angle zoom. There are two models: an F/4-5.6 and an F/3.5. The first is quite affordable and makes a great go-to lens for indoor shots with an APS-C type camera. I have one and love it. People often ask … Continue reading Some basic kit (my wide-angle lens)
I was at the camera store the other day and came across this neat little gadget. It’s small, fits easily in the pocket and only cost $20! Any clues? It is a Gorillapod micro 800 by Joby. A perfect little travel tripod for a point-and-shoot camera. I’m certainly bringing this on vacation with the kids. I’ll use it for family portraits and night shots. Rests … Continue reading Found a really cool gadget!
Hi all, and welcome to my blog! (takes a deep breath) Let’s get started. This is going to be a place where we can talk about photography, gear, retouching, all the stuff that makes our art so much fun. I live in Montreal so you’ll see lots of examples from my city. For starters, I’ll talk a little about the gear I use. Sony DSLRs. … Continue reading Welcome!
Michael Wood's photography blog 