Quick Changes
Stop fumbling with rear lenscaps. Gaffer-tape two of them together, back-to-back. This way, when you change lenses, you can take one in your hand and the other off your camera body, connect the two together, and then twist the new lens off the double cap and put it on the body.
Mike Peters
www.mikepeters.com
Which memory card is full and which is empty? Mark your memory cards in numerical order. Always start a shoot with card number 1, then 2, etc. It keeps you from having to plug them into the camera to see their status.
Alan Farkas
www.alanfarkas.com
Get your proper exposure in aperture-priority mode using your camera’s spotmeter, then switch to manual-exposure mode. Manual doesn’t get fooled by highlights and shadows. And if you need to use fill flash, you can stay in manual but still use the TTL auto mode on the flash.
Roger Duncan
www.rogerduncanphoto.com
Always Prepared
If the AF switches on your autofocus lenses are too easy to switch off while going in and out of the bag (as my Canon USM lenses are), gaffer-tape the AF switch to stay on all of the time.
Mike Peters
Notice how gaffer tape always seems to be back in the car, at home, or in the studio when you need it? Wrap a long piece around a tripod leg so you’ll always have it handy.
Alan Farkas
Keep your cable switch taped to your camera for easy finding and quick plug-in. Tim Fitzharris
www.timfitzharris.com
Improvisation on Location
For shooting on the beach, I cut an X into three tennis balls, insert each leg of my tripod into them, and duct-tape them on. This prevents the legs from sinking into the sand and stabilizes the tripod.
Paul Kline
www.paulkline.com
When I take photos of people in their environments, using a softbox with a strobe for the sitter, I will often drag [slow down] the shutter to balance the ambient light in the room for a natural look. I carry 200-watt household bulbs in my kit to replace the usual 60-watt bulbs most people use in their lamps, to boost the ambient light, lessen the time the shutter has to be dragged, and reduce the chance of blur.
Allison Leach
www.allisonleach.com
Need a lighting setup right now? Get a bunch of cheap hardware store floodlamps and daylightquality bulbs (40 to 100 watts for some variety in power). They clamp to anything and make for flexible lighting that’s inexpensive but pro-looking.
Roger Duncan
You need to shoot a portrait on the road, and want to bounce your fill flash—but you’re outdoors or don’t have a reflector? Always bring along a plain white T-shirt. Put on the shirt, and point the strobe of the camera directly into your body—it’s a great way of creating a nice soft bounce. You can also use it as a reflector for natural light.
Gunther Deichmann
www.deichmann-photo.com
In architectural photos, to make cement look new—or to tone it down as a highlight—wet it with a hose before you start shooting. Then shoot quickly!
Roger Duncan
When in a jam, to make a quick custom white balance, I place a plastic foam coffee cup over my lens, stand where the subject is, then snap a picture with the lens pointed towards the light source (the sky, if outdoors). I then set the white balance from this image.
Paul Kline
Flashy Stunts
I was traveling overseas once and really wanted soft light for a detail shot. So I cut two holes on opposite sides of a tissue box. My accessory flash went in one hole, and I covered the other hole with tissues. It worked really well, and I didn’t even have to make a light reading, because my camera’s TTL flash measurement took care of the exposure.
Paul Kline
I use a cardboard tube from a roll of paper towels as a kind of spotlight. I wrap the tube in Rosco’s black Cinefoil and attach it to my accessory flash head, covering the rest of the flash tube, and aim it at whatever I want to highlight.
Susana Raab
www.susanaraab.com
In my “Nightlight” series, I use a combination of available light, strobe, and handheld lights. But with my Nikon SB800 Speedlights, the remote strobes need to be in the line of sight with the master unit to fire. In some cases, this means the strobes themselves would be in the image rather than in a hidden location. The solution: a five-and-dime-store mini mirrored disco ball (2 inches in diameter) that I position in a location to reflect the light from the master strobe to the remote.
Ken Fischer
web.mac.com/kfstudios
Means of Support
Use the camera bag as a tripod for long exposures. I do a lot of 30- second exposures and all I use is the camera bag to hold the camera.
Raul Touzon
www.touzonphoto.com
Carry some removable sticky putty (Blu Tak, EZ Tak, etc.), which you can use to stick things on the wall, or secure wobbly objects in a tabletop setup. It can be used over and over again, and doesn’t leave any marks.
Gunther Deichmann
Keep a big, heavy-duty, resealable plastic bag in your camera bag for an instant beanbag support for your camera. Fill it with sand or dirt on location, and just empty the bag out when you’re done.
Elizabeth Stone
www.elizabethstonephoto.com
I use a monopod to raise the camera above eye level for many situations. At a football game, above a huddle or goal post, or just to create a different perspective.
Wesley Hitt
www.hittphotography.com
Uncommon Knowledge
Need caption info on the location of your photos? Photograph signs as a reference—street names, highway numbers, etc. It’s faster and easier than writing.
Raul Touzon
How much time do you have left to shoot? Take your fist and extend your hand completely out and close one eye. Now rest the bottom of the fist on the horizon line (or the building or mountain range where the sun is going to set). Put one fist on the other until it meets the bottom of the sun. Each fist equals 1 hour until you lose your light.
Karen Kuehn
www.karenkuehn.com
If I am traveling, but staying in one place for a few days, I figure out where the sun rises and sets to optimize shooting time for the best light. This way, I can shoot a facade on one side of the street in early morning, and the other side of the street late in the day.
Scott B. Rosen
www.scottbrosen.com
When taking family portraits that include a dog, don’t use the dog’s name or say, “doggie, doggie” to get its attention—the dog will trot over to you. Instead, call out “kitty, kitty.” The dog will perk up and look around for a cat.
Marco Secchi
www.marcosecchi.com
You can use a MacBook Pro laptop as a both a reference gray card for exposure and for custom white balance.
Alan M. Thornton
www.amtproductions.com
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