ProPhoto Coalition.com: Bruce Dorn's Studio B

As stated earlier, the 5D2 is natively ISO 100 at its lowest setting. This equates to a shutter speed of 1/100th at f16 in bright sunshine. That’s a lot of stop! We can’t drop the ISO any further and we can only elevate the shutter speed by a third of a stop to 1/125th of a second. That means we’re looking at an f14 as the widest aperture we can use in midday light. Can you say sayonara to shallow depth-of-field and yummy bokeh?

Depth of field for a given stop ranges widely depending upon focal length. A manually focused super telephoto like a 600mm could definitely benefit from such a stop but a short portrait length like an 85mm would suffer badly. On the plus side, a hand-held and zone-focused moderate wide or short zoom would find great utility in these conditions. Preset the manual focus to something like 8 feet and let massive depth-of-field save the day. “F8 and Be There” could be your mantra as the 5D2 effectively becomes a super-duper point and shoot.

But what about those times when a combination of shallow-depth-of-field and bright sunshine is the only answer? What do we do then? Simple; we look to those most skillful of image-makers - the motion picture cinematographers – and dip into their bag of tricks for a classic accessory, the Neutral Density filter.

Neutral Density filters neatly reduce the amount of light transmitted to the sensor without introducing any color-cast. ND filters are most commonly offered in full stop increments:

It doesn’t make too much sense to “sneak up” on light reduction so I suggest that you go for the higher density iterations if you want ultimate control of depth of field in bright light conditions.

I think that the Vari-ND from Singh-Ray is a clever solution. Available in both 77mm and 82mm thread diameters, this variable neutral density filter can infinitely adjust between two and eight stops of light reduction. I misspoke in the linked video clips when I said that it varied between three and eight stops. Singh-Ray also offers a companion filter called the Mor-Slo that reduces the transmitted light by five stops. Combine these together and one has a total reduction of thirteen stops. That’s a bunch….

Canon “L” lenses use filters ranging from 82mm to 58mm with 77mm and 72mm being the most common. I suggest acquiring ND filters in the largest thread diameter you anticipate needing. A filter that is too small will vignette on a larger diameter lens so remember; you can always go down but you can’t go up. Step-down rings are available to reduce the thread diameter to fit the smaller sizes.

In the linked video clip, I show a Lee Filters Wide Angle Lens Hood with two filter slots. This represents the best commercial solution I have found for using optical flats. Lee rectangular filters can be acquired as Neutral Density, Neutral Density Grads, or Color Effect filters. Threaded adapter rings are shown in the same link; order one for each thread diameter that you commonly use. Most Canon lenses use 58mm, 72mm. 77mm, and 82mm.
Follow This Link to my website for specific recommendations.and several illustrative video clips…

LIGHTING STRATEGIES: Exploiting a Single Light Source

Art Adams | 01/28

Sometimes all it takes to make a beautiful picture is placing one light—as long as it’s the proper light source. This still photo shows an example of one style of soft lighting that’s been in use for centuries, and for good reason: it works.

There are few things more elegant than lighting a shot with a single light source. It doesn’t always work, but when it does—it’s magical.

Canon Cinema EOS C300: A Dissenting View

Bruce A Johnson | 11/06

Disappointed is a weak word…

I know, there have been a million opinions shot over the Internet over the last three days regarding canon’s new Cinema EOS C300 camera. About half point out it’s great feature set, and about half seem to point out every flaw it has in comparison to RED Epic. Whatever, all that’s fine. Me, I’m dissapointed for an entirely different reason:

Where’s the killer Canon camera for the tens…

Blue Nile Shines Thanks to the Canon 5D and Apple Color

Art Adams | 09/19

One more chapter in my “It’s not the camera, it’s the creativity behind the camera” series.

One of the best things about this business is that greatness lurks around every corner. If you are resourceful and creative you’ll find it well enough.