By Varina Patel, on November 28th, 2011
How long does it take to produce a single photograph? It depends on so many factors… we might drive 30 minutes to the airport, travel 4 or 6 hours (or more) on a plane (plus layovers and delayed flights), spend three (or five or seven days) on location (not to mention hiking and waiting for that great light).. and we come home with two or three photos good enough to add to our portfolios. And then there’s the time spent in post-production. Maybe it takes just a few minutes… and maybe it takes a few hours. The point is… it takes a good long time from start to finish, and lots of work.
If I’m going to put that much effort into the photograph… I want it to look darn good when I print it. Jay and I usually print our own photos on our Epson printer. But when we want something out of the ordinary, we have to ask someone else to handle the printing for us. Recently, we checked out the photos to canvas services at Easy Canvas Prints. Here’s what we think…
The website is easy to use and well thought out. You just choose the size you want for your canvas, and then upload your image. There’s a handy automatic quality check built right in – so you can easily see if your photo is going to look good when it’s printed. I also appreciated the little “tip” bar near the top of the screen – it’s great if you haven’t done this kind of thing before. If you need more help, they have a FAQ page with answers to common questions. They have a variety of size and pricing options and they even offer photo retouching, red-eye removal, and black & white or sepia conversion.
You also have some nice options for border wraps – which is great. I usually prefer the mirror wrap option, which works beautifully for landscape images where you don’t want to crop off the edge of your photo. But you also have the option to wrap the image, or add a colored border. The preview window really helps if you aren’t sure what you want.
And the finished product? Beautiful! The canvas arrived in the mail about a week after I placed the order – that’s 3 or 4 days of turnaround time for Easy Canvas Prints, plus a few days for snail mail shipping. (Of course, they have faster shipping options if you are in a hurry.) The colors are vibrant and true to the original, and the details are just right. I chose a print with a range of color and tonality. I also wanted an image that had both fine details and smooth gradients. They handled both very well. You can see the details in the close-up shot below. Keep in mind that a canvas print generally won’t look as sharp as a print on photo paper… but the details in this shot really are very nice.
 The wrapping looks great – clean and professionally done – and the frame is made of wood, not plastic. The canvas is archival quality, so it should look great for a good long time. I tried to damage the canvas by scraping it with the edge of a coin (on the back, of course!) and I couldn’t leave a mark. That means the protective coating is doing it’s job. So, it’s going to hold up nicely to normal wear and tear… though I don’t recommend trying to damage your own prints! :)
So, there you go. We were impressed with the easy-to-use interface, the quality materials, and the lovely finished product.
If you are interested in turning your photos to canvas, check out the Easy Canvas Prints Facebook page, too -they have some great deals going on over there… hit the Like button, and you will automatically receive 50% off of your next order, and free shipping as well. Not too shabby.
Have you used the photos to canvas services at Easy Canvas Prints? Please comment on this post, and tell us what you thought – others can benefit from your experience!
By Jay, on November 21st, 2011
 Last week, we reviewed Canon’s 90mm TS-E lens – one of two lenses we rented from LensRentals.com for our recent trip to Iceland. We’ve been considering purchasing a tilt-shift lens, and wanted to try these our before making a final decision. Renting a lens is the perfect solution, and Lens Rentals does a great job for us, every time.
We posted a video in our earlier blog post that gives a breif overview of how a TS-E lens works. You can view the video at:
http://www.youtube.com/user/DigitalRevCom#p/search/0/0HRYlJUwzYA
Once again in this review we will focus on creative aspects of using TS-E lenses, rather than focusing on technical reviews.
Canon’s 24mm TS-E is a second generation lens. Besides improvement in sharpness, Canon adapted the lens to allow the tilt and shift axis to rotate independently of one another. This allows for an extra degree of creative controls that was missing in the first generation lens… and we love it! Unlike Canon’s 17mm TS-E lens (which has a bulbous front element), this lens can easily accommodate 82mm filters. On the downside, this lens is heavy and requires manual focusing. The lens hood is of limited use because this is a wide-angle lens… but it does come in handy at times. The lens is incredibly sharp, and the build is excellent. There is some reduced sharpness at the edges when the lens is fully shifted.
One of the biggest advaintage of a T/S lens is its ability to control the DOF beyond what a traditional lens can handle. While the exact procedure requires some experimentation, a T/S lens can allow a photographer to get very close to the subject and maintain a sharp focus throughout the image. In this example, I used the tilt functionality to get the foreground sharply in focus, and used the shift axis to compose my shot so that the foreground leaves were only inches away from my lens.
Another creative way to use a T/S lens is to build panoramas by moving the lens along its shift axis between exposures. Here is an example of a panorama captured with Canon’s 24mm TS-E lens. I took three separate shots – one at center, a second shifted all the way to the left, and a third shifted all the way to the right. I blended the three shots in Photoshop.
Canon’s 24mm TS-E F3.5L II lens offers an incredible opportunity to get creative. This is another expensive lens – and it’s different from what you are used to – so unless you are really sure you want it, take the time to try it out before you buy one.
By Jay, on November 17th, 2011
For our recent trip to Iceland, we rented a couple of lenses once again – from LensRentals.com. Their service was excellent, as always. We placed the order a couple of weeks before we left, and the lenses arrived clean and in perfect condition – in plenty of time for us to get them packed up and ready to go. We highly recommend their services – and we know several other photographers who’ve rented from them as well. I haven’t heard any complaints yet! Renting lenses is a great way to get your hands on a lens to try it out before making an expensive purchase.
So, let’s get to it!
A tilt shift lens is a specialty lens that allows the photographer to control perspective without tilting the camera – instead, they can actually tilt the elements within the lens itself. You can also adjust the plane of focus so that everything within the plane is in sharp focus… or so that only a small area is in focus. Here’s a nice little video from Digital Rev TV that gives a really nice, basic overview of what you can do with one of these lenses.
http://www.youtube.com/user/DigitalRevCom#p/search/0/0HRYlJUwzYA
This is a very compact and light-weight lens that comes with an integrated lens hood. It is one of the sharpest prime lenses we have used – it’s beautifully sharp even wide open. The lens is really solid – it’s well built, and made to last… which is pretty important, since it’s selling for about $1300.00. (Yet another reason to rent!)
There’s very little distortion with this lens, and you shouldn’t have problems with flare unless you are shooting directly into the sun. One of the drawbacks of this lens is that the axis of shift and the axis of tilt remained locked with respect to one another….we hope Canon will choose to correct this issue with newer models. And the knobs are also really little! Which makes them a bit difficult to adjust if your fingers aren’t very small.
A T/S lens can be used in variety of creative ways to capture images. Rather than focusing on the technical aspects of how to use the lens, we want to point out some of the creative ways you can use it.
First of all – it can be used just like any other lens… here’s a shot I took using LiveView to manually focus. (It’s important to note that this lens does not have auto-focus capabilities.) Because it’s a compact lens, I was able to sprint a half-mile with my camera and tripod to capture the gorgeous light over the mountains in Iceland.
On of our favorite uses for this lens is in creating panoramas. The process is simple. You set up your first shot as you would normally – and snap a photo. Then, you adjust the lens along it’s shift axis to the left and right to complete the panorama. Here is an example of a panorama series. After the images were captured, we combine them in Photoshop for the finished effect.
Another interesting aspect of the TS lens is it’s ability to isolate a subject by adjusting the plane of focus. The shot you see below shows how tilting the lens axis blurs the area in front of and behind the subject. This is a neat way to isolate a subject within the frame.
This lens is great for photographing small objects – think how cool it would be to shift your plane of focus so that all the petals of the flower you are shooting are within the plane of focus… without shooting the flower from above! We loved it for super-sharp panoramas and isolating subjects within the field of view. We don’t recommend the lens if you don’t feel comfortable with a learning curve. Tilt shift lenses are very different from conventional lenses, and making the most of them requires practice and experimentation! If you are up for a challenge – rent one and see how you like it! I think we’ll rent this one again… it’s entirely too much fun to play with!
TS/E lenses offer an incredible opportunity to explore your creative side. What would you do if you get your hands on one? :)
By Jay, on September 22nd, 2011
Jay and I wanted to be able to photograph the wildlife in Glacier National Park – but our lens collection is geared towards wide-angle landscapes and macro photography. For shooting wildlife – especially when you can’t (or don’t want to) get too close to your subject – you want to have a long lens. But lenses are expensive – so rather than purchasing one we won’t use regularly, we rented a Canon 300mm f/4.0 from LensRentals.com. Of course, we didn’t think about renting a lens until the last minute (go figure), so we weren’t sure they could get it to us on time. We emailed to find out if they could do it, and they assured us they could. We put in the order Monday afternoon, requested overnight shipping, and the lens arrived Tuesday afternoon… so it was packed and ready in plenty of time for our 4am departure Wednesday morning.
I have to say, we were really impressed with LensRental.com – the service was excellent, the website was clean and easy to navigate, and the ordering process was simple. The lens was clean and in perfect condition when it arrived. And perhaps most importantly, their prices are more than reasonable. You can expect to pay extra for overnight shipping, of course – but they ship two-day standard… so plan a little better than we did, and you won’t have to take on that extra expense.
So, I know what you’re thinking (because I’m a little bit psychic)… you’re wondering why we didn’t choose a longer lens… or a wider one… or a zoom. Actually, the 300mm f/4.0 is perfect for us. It’s small enough to fit neatly in our camera bag – 22.1 cm long (8.7 in) without the lens hood extended, and weighing in at 1.19 kg (2.62 lb). That’s important since we do a lot of hiking and we don’t want to be lugging around a huge lens everywhere we go. It’s also smaller and lighter than the f2.8 version. As for zoom capability – we just don’t need it. We can use the lens on a full frame body for a 300mm focal length, or put it on our 1.6 crop factor body for 480mm. If we need more length, we can add our 1.4x extension tube – for a total focal length equivalent to 672mm… and that’s more than enough for our needs. When we are on location, we don’t want to bring more than we need. The 300mm f/4.0 was just right.
All right – let’s get down to the good stuff. This is one gorgeous lens. It’s an L-series (L is for Luxury) lens with first generation Image Stabilization capability. It’s beautifully sharp and quick to focus… which is great when your subject isn’t likely to hold still for long. It also has an integrated lens hood – easy to store and no fumbling with the dang thing when you need it. It just slides right into position. Image stabilization has two modes – one for dual-axis camera-shake correction, and one that handles a single axis for use when panning. In the latter case, the lens will automatically determine your panning direction – pretty cool. Minimum focusing distance is 1.50 m (4.92 ft).
Take a look at this shot of a ground squirrel. (No – not that photo… that’s Jay. The one below!) It’s incredibly sharp, and the soft background is a testament to the beauty of shooting with a wide aperture. You can see that f/4.0 is wide enough to get that soft background, but we’re still getting enough depth of field to get the animal in sharp focus. I took this shot from about ten yards away – and cropped a bit to get the squirrel out of the center.
And here’s a 100% crop to show you how much detail we are getting out of this lens… click to see it full size. Keep in mind that this is completely unsharpened. (Image Specs: f/4.0, 1/400, ISO 200) The finished image above has been prepared for web viewing and sharpened accordingly.
Take a look at some of the other photos we took with this lens during the trip…
The Bighorn Sheep were gathered near the Logan Pass visitor center on our first evening in the park. (Image Specs: f/4.0, 1/80, ISO 400) Jay took this shot with a tripod – be sure to turn off the Image Stabilization if you are using an IS lens on a tripod.
A few minutes later, a family of Elk wandered into the area. Jay took a few photographs in the fading light. (Image Specs: f/4.0, 1/160, ISO 1600) Even at a high ISO, the photos look excellent!
You can get creative with this lens, too – it’s not just for wildlife portraits. While waiting for construction vehicles to move aside, we took a few photos of the wildflowers blooming on the mountainsides. (Image Specs: f/6.3, 1/800, ISO 200)
And last – but not least – here’s a shot that just makes me smile. (Image Specs: f/4.0, 1/400, ISO 100) Sometimes the wildlife ham it up for the camera.
To sum it all up – this is a beauty of a lens. Relatively lightweight, great for wildlife and other creative shots, and so so sharp. What’s not to love? And once we were home, we packed the lens back up in the box it arrived in, slapped on the shipping label LensRental.com provided, and dropped it off at UPS for shipping. Now, I’m ready to rent a couple of tilt-shift lenses for Iceland! We’ll write up reviews for those when we return!
By Jay, on August 29th, 2011
The Mike Moats Macro Light Control Kit includes a 24-inch Wimberly™ Plamp and two 14-inch Westcott™ Illuminator Reflector Panels – one is silver on one side and white on the other, and the other is a translucent white diffuser. It also includes the Finding Character in Nature ebook by Mike. I went out for a leisurely “test drive” on a lovely – and hot and humid – July morning.
At first, I felt like I was carrying around too much equipment. Tripod and camera in one hand, plamp and filters in the other – useful or not, I had to find a way to carry everything more easily. So, I clamped the Plamp onto my tripod, and hung the reflector panels from it. Now, I could carry everything with one hand. Problem solved. I chose a small thistle, and got to work. Lucky for me, I had my trusty side-kick along to document the process – thanks for helping out, Jay!
First, I set up my tripod then put the Plamp to work positioning the chosen thistle just where I wanted it. I’ll go into more detail about that fabulous little tool later – for now, indulge me while I go into some detail about controlling the light.
I deliberately chose a location in the sun because I wanted to put those illuminator panels to work. The backlighting was delicious but the intensity of the light made it difficult to capture the entire dynamic range with a single exposure. I wanted to capture good detail in the shadow areas without blowing out the bright areas, and that’s tough to do with a shot like this unless you happen to have a handy little reflector panel hanging from your tripod! The silver reflector bounced light from the sun onto the front of the thistle, enhancing all those prickly details. The back-lighting outlines the plant, without blowing out the highlights. Perfect.
I took a few comparison shots to show the dramatic difference a reflector or diffuser can make – take a look at the images below.
 Natrual Light  Natural Light + Reflector
 Natural Light + Diffuser
Here’s a shot taken without any reflector or diffuser. Notice the dark background. The camera can’t handle the entire dynamic range, so the photographer has to choose between capturing detail in the highlights, or capturing detail in the shadows.
For this shot, I used the silver reflector to bounce light onto the flower and the shadowed background. You can see quite a bit more detail back there, and the shadows on the flower aren’t so dark. You still get the backlit effect. This reflector is great for dramatic lighting.
For this last shot, I held the diffused panel just behind and to the right of the flower to filter the strong, directional sunlight. I also increased my shutter speed slightly to get the exposure just right in the camera. Notice how soft and even the light is in this image. The diffuser is perfect when you want a more subtle lighting effect.
The best thing about these little panels is that you can really extend your shooting options and expand your time frame for getting good photos. It’s no longer necessary to confine your photography to times when the light is perfect. And there’s no need to purchase an expensive flash unit for spotlighting your subject. (Of course, if you already have a flash unit, you could use the diffuser panel to soften it and remove harsh glare, or the reflector to bounce the flash for softer, indirect light. The options are endless.)
Now, let’s get back to the Plamp. This deceptively simple little tool is enormously helpful. Any photographer who has tried to capture a plant portrait knows how hard it is to isolate a subject in a weedy field or an overgrown garden. For a clean composition, I needed my pretty yellow flower to stay just the right distance from my lens, at the just the right angle. I also needed to separate it from its brothers so that I could isolate it with a shallow depth of field. I’ve abandoned shots like this in the past because I couldn’t get the plant to stay where I wanted it… this time, it wasn’t a problem. You should have seen me grinning like an idiot out there.
The padded clip did no damage to any flowers I shot that morning, so the birds and the butterflies weren’t offended and the Plamp can be used to hold a reflector or diffuser too – you can even use it to hold other plants out the frame. For those who like a shorter arm, the Plamp snaps apart pretty easily. You can actually remove some of the little ball-jointed sections to shorten it. Personally, I like it as it is.
Mike’s kit is perfect for macro photography. The illuminator panels can be used together or separately, and when I fold them up, they take up very little room in my camera bag. They’re extremely lightweight and easy to carry, too. I store the Plamp in my bag by folding it into a tight little coil. Everything in the kit seems to be very sturdy, and I don’t see any reason why these tools won’t last for many years to come.
My only regret? I wish I had another kit. Two Plamps are better than one – one to hold the reflector, and one for the flower. And Jay and I are already fighting over those reflector panels.
The Mike Moats Macro Kit is available at the NPN/OPG Store.
By Jay, on August 1st, 2011
I was skeptical about this one – I have to admit it. I already have a camera strap that I really like. It has great padding and little pockets where I can keep a couple of extra memory cards – so why do I need the Black Rapid SR4? But I’m game. I said I’d try it out, and write up a review if I liked it. If not, I’d just send it back. Well – I was wrong… this thing is great!
First off, it has a pocket. So what? My old one has two pockets. Well – the pockets on my other strap are just the right size for my memory cards. Which is great – if that’s the only thing you plan to put in there. They’re too small to fit anything else. The Black Rapid has one slightly larger pocket with a small zipper – it’ll fit a couple of memory cards– or you can do what I did. I usually use a tripod – so my camera has a quick-release bracket screwed into the bottom. Rather than risk losing the bracket, I put it in the pocket – along with its easy-to-lose screw, and my allen wrench. When I want to switch back to my tripod mount, I know exactly where those small parts are. No fishing around in the bottom of my camera bag trying to find them. That may not seem like a big deal, but if you are primarily a tripod-shooter, it means a lot. The pocket was just large enough to fit a spare memory card in there too. Nice!
The other thing that was pretty important to me was the ease with which I could attach or remove the Black Rapid. When I’m shooting wide-angle landscapes I almost always use a tripod – and I nearly always use it for close-up and detail work as well. But the Black Rapid strap screws into the tripod mount on the bottom of the camera. It is meant specifically for those who hand-hold their cameras. Since the tripod quick-release needs to be securely screwed into the base of my camera, I’m not likely to remove it unless there’s a darn good reason to do so. I guess I just found my reason.
It took me less than 10 seconds to remove my bracket, and attach the Black Rapid strap firmly to my camera. The swiveling clip makes it easy to screw in, and a rubber gasket provides a strong grip while also protecting the base of the camera. It’s secure enough that I felt completely comfortable letting go of the camera to let it hang at my waist.
Now, the idea here is to be able to carry the camera comfortably while leaving your hands free – and to be able to grab the camera at a moment’s notice and pull it up to shooting position. At first, I thought the shoulder pad would slip off my shoulder and I’d end up fiddling with it all the time. That didn’t happen. In fact, the shoulder pad stayed right where I put it. If it did slip, it would take nothing beyond a quick tug to set it right again – but the little clip slides so smoothly that I didn’t have any problems at all.
The strap is also easy to adjust. A couple of locking clips keep the camera from sliding beyond the range you’re comfortable with, and the strap adjusts to fit any body type. The shoulder pad is comfortable, and its position helps balance the weight of a heavy lens.
I didn’t think I’d be interested in keeping the Black Rapid – but I’ll be using it regularly… whenever I’m not using a tripod. It’s perfect for photographing the kids playing soccer, for shooting a wedding, for detail photography when you are using a flash, for bird and wildlife photography with a long lens, or for shooting in-studio. I’m looking forward to having both hands free when I need them!
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Beyond Exposure Workshop
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The wrapping looks great – clean and professionally done – and the frame is made of wood, not plastic. The canvas is archival quality, so it should look great for a good long time. I tried to damage the canvas by scraping it with the edge of a coin (on the back, of course!) and I couldn’t leave a mark. That means the protective coating is doing it’s job. So, it’s going to hold up nicely to normal wear and tear… though I don’t recommend trying to damage your own prints! :)
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