One of the most frequent questions we are asked is what tools or software we use to create our awesome, spectacular, truly brilliant images. Ok, maybe it's not exactly stated like that but you get the point. So with this post we are going to give full disclosure on everything we use, how we use it, and why we use it. Or something like that.
Let's begin with a bit of history. When we started this thing we had a Canon S5 (I think), a flash, and big dreams. We thought hey, we'll start taking picture professionally, how hard can it be? Ok, the long pause there was me picking myself up from falling out of the chair with laughter. Looking back IT'S NOT THAT EASY!!!! Not to discourage any aspiring photographers but we had no idea what we were getting into. So anyway, with that said, click on the link below to see the official, quintessential list of what we use to do what we do (in no particular order):
Computer Hardware
- Mega powerful computer with loads of RAM and hard drive space (in other words, expensive)
- Very big, high quality monitor because, of course, a regular monitor won't display colors accurately and you'll end up with prints back from the lab that look nothing like what you wanted.
- Monitor color calibration device to again ensure that what you see on the screen is what you'll get back from the lab. We use the Eye-One Display 2 from Gretag Macbeth.
- Pen based input tablet because trying to use a mouse to brush away great-aunt Trudy's
wrinklesexperience lines will leave you with wrist cramps and a strong urge to throw the aforementioned mouse out the window. We use the Intuos 3 tablet from Wacom. - Highly secure backup device since, if and when your hard drive crashes, all those pictures aren't coming back...and that's a bad thing. We use a Lacie d2 Quadra with two 500GB drives running in a redundant Raid configuration. In plain english this just means that a duplicate backup is created simultaneously on each drive so that, if one drive goes out, the other still has all of the data.
- Something to organize and manage all of the Raw (or jpeg, we prefer Raw) files your going to have. We use Adobe Photoshop Lightroom as it's a great tool to do everything mentioned above plus much more.
- Image enhancement software. This is the stuff that makes great-aunt Trudy look like she's ready for her high school prom again. The de facto standard is Adobe Photoshop which is what we use. Extremely powerful but not for the faint of heart!
- Unless you want to spend hours and days on end in Photoshop, you're going to want some plug-ins (which of course aren't free). These take the power of Photoshop to a new level by automating certain tasks giving you many more options and making you much more efficient. We use Viveza and ColorEfex Pro both from Nik Software, the Plugin Suite from On One Software, and Noiseware Professional from Imagenomic.
- Lots and lots of books, videos, and time in front of the computer to learn how to use all of this stuff. Anything powerful is not user friendly and this stuff is no exception.
So now we finally get into the meat and potatoes. If you have a very rare gift for photography first of all I'm very jealous. Secondly most of the stuff mentioned above won't be required. All that you will need is some or all of the tools listed below and you'll be on your way. However, if you're like the other 99.99% of the population, you will need some of the tools mentioned above. Now to the equipment list:
- Somewhat high quality DSLR camera. The best is not a requirement but it really needs to have the ability to accept a variety of lenses, accept an external flash, and have a relatively high quality sensor inside. Expect to spend at least $800 to $1000. We use a Nikon D80.
- The best quality lenses (which you'll want to call 'glass' if you want to be a true profession...lol). Arguably, the quality of your lenses is really more important than the quality of your camera. Lenses can cost anywhere from $100 up to many thousands of dollars. As always in life, you get what you pay for but there are ways to save a little. If you own a Nikon camera you don't have to use Nikon lenses. Similarly, if you own a Canon, you don't have to use Canon lenses. There are a few other vendors who make lenses which can be used on these cameras at a much reduced cost. You will sacrifice a little bit of quality but, unless you're doing work for Cosmo or something, you'll probably never notice the difference. Some of these are Tamron, Sigma, and Tokina. There's many more out there but these are the only ones I would trust.
- Flashes, flashes, and more flashes. Big flashes, small flashes, round flashes, square flashes, strong flashes, weak flashes, and flashes that go boom! Ok, got a little Dr. Seussy there. The point is, aside from a photographer's ability to naturally find the perfect location and pose, the proper control of lighting is absolutely critical to getting good pictures. I won't get too in depth here because I could write all night on lighting (maybe in a future post), but flashes and the ability to properly use them is to photography what calculus is to math. We currently have two Nikon SB-800 flash units and are looking to purchase more.
- All of the other stuff. This will include a high quality tripod and head, stands for your lights, adapters to connect your flashes to your stands, backdrops, lots and lots of backdrops, a backdrop stand, light modifiers to diffuse the harsh light from the flash (umbrellas, softboxes, etc.), enough batteries and spare batteries to power the sun, something to carry and protect all of this mega expensive gear, props, things to make children laugh and eventually smile (THIS IS CRITICAL), and candy for the kids who actually do smile WHILE you're taking the picture. Oh, and I almost forgot...more books, videos, and time in front of the computer.
So that's it, friends. Photography in a nutshell. Feel free to leave us a comment to let us know what you think or if you have anything to add from your own experiences. Until next time...
God Bless,
Michael & Sheena
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