Catchlight Studios Photography

Syncing Capture Times in Lightroom 5 for Wedding Photographers

Most wedding photographers use more than one camera to capture the day's events. Often, photographers will utilize a second shooter, who may also have at least two cameras. When the images are brought into editing software, files from these multiple camera are often combined. At this point, if the dates and times of their internal clocks are not identical, the merged images will not appear in perfect time sequence, which can complicate the editing process.

In this article, I will go over the steps we take in Lightroom 5 when shooting a wedding to ensure that our cameras (usually 4 of them) are perfectly time synchronized. Although we usually start doing this prior to leaving for the wedding venue, it could just as easily be done after the event.

Step 1

Using each camera in turn, take a photograph of your computer's internet browser screen showing the current time at www.time.gov.

Step 2

When you return from the shoot and have imported all the images from each camera into Lightroom, use the Library Search function to display only the images from one of the cameras.

In this example, you can see that we used four different models of Nikon cameras. By clicking on one of the camera names, LR will display just the images captured with that model.

Step 3

In the Library Module Grid View in LR, you should now have just the images from a single camera on the screen. If you captured the time.gov screen prior to the wedding, that image should be the first one in the Grid. With that image selected, proceed to select all the images (Cmd/Ctrl A). In Lightroom-speak, the time.gov shot should be the "Most Selected".

Step 4

From the Metadata Menu, select "Edit Capture Time"

The following dialog box will appear. Make sure that "Adjust to a Specified Date and Time" is selected. Now, enter the time shown on the time.gov image as the Corrected Time. Click on Change All, and LR will adjust the capture time of all selected images to match this offset. In the example given below, the camera's clock was just 16 seconds ahead of time.gov. Thus, the time on all selected images will be reduced by the same amount.

Step 5

Repeat this process for each of the cameras used on the shoot. When you have finished, make sure that Lightroom's sort order is set to Capture Time.

And you are done. The entire process can be completed in just a few minutes and is easier and more accurate than trying to set your cameras to the same time by adjusting their internal clocks. Since it relies only on determining how far 'off' each camera's time is, it can also be done after the shoot.

Kaila and Qian's Wedding

I have been a little slower than usual in getting the lovely wedding of Kaila and Qian on the blog - we just returned from a couple weeks vacation in England and Barcelona, Spain, followed by some busoness travel to Chicago.

Anyway, Kaila and Qian were married on March 22nd at the Red Tail Country Club in Sorrento. And what a beautiful day and venue it was! Jaclyn Fraser of At-Last Weddings did a phenomenal job as the wedding coordinator. Flowers were by Lee Forrest Design, the very delicious cake was courtesy of Michael Anthony Cakes and DJ Darrin from Fun Factory made the reception rock!

Congratulations to the happy couple!

Adorama Flashpoint StreakLight 360 Review

Those that follow our Blog and Facebook pages know that we love our Quantum flash units. We use them both on-camera (Quantum Trio) and off-camera (Quantum T5d-R). These flash units are light, recycle quickly with their external batteries and never overheat. The T5d-R models have twice the power of the Trios, which equates to 2-3 times the power of a typical Nikon or Canon flash. For some jobs though, the T5d-R doesn't quite have the power we need, and we have to resort to a much bulkier and heavier studio-type light to do the job. Quantum does have a 400 w/s unit (the model X5Dr) but this is more expensive and requires a special battery pack.

Last week, I was interested to see a new flash unit being marketed by Adorama as part of their Flashpoint lighting range. These two new models are known as the StreakLight 180 and 360; the numbers referring to their power in the traditional w/s (watt seconds) units. This put the more powerful unit as having twice the power of the Quantum T5d-R. A few minutes and a credit card later, and Adorama had one on its way to us.

The StreakLight is very similar to a Quantum flash and can use the same battery packs. although Adorama markets one (significantly cheaper than the Quantum pack) that can be purchased alone or in a set with the StreakLight. The flash comes with a silver parabolic reflector (again, very similar to the Quantum) and a diffusor disk. Annoyingly, however, the diameter of the two reflectors is slightly different, precluding interchangeability of diffusors from the two systems.

Unlike the Quantum flashes, the Streaklight operates in purely manual mode. This results in a refreshingly simple user interface.

There is a button for a focus-assist light (the StreakLight can also be used on-camera), and a button that turns the sound off that indicates that the flash has recycled. The MODE switch cycles through the various modes available to the user - Manual, Slave 1 and 2, and Stroboscopic - and the SET button confirms your choice. The Slave 2 mode is smart; in this setting, it will ignore the pre-flash when the master flash is in TTL mode. Flash power is very rapidly changed, in one-third stops - via the rotary dial over the range 1/1 (full power) down to 1/128 power.

In contrast, the Quantum interface is more complicated to accomodate the greater number of modes and wireless options these flashes have.

Just like the Quantum, the StreakLight uses a bare flash bulb which is easily and (relatively) inexpensively ($90) replaced, and enables the flash to be used in a straight-up, bare-bulb mode that does a great job at lighting an entire room.

Connections to the outside world on the StreakLight are facilitiated by a pair of sync sockets; one regular sync cord jack, and the other a PC socket, which should accomodate all commonly used cables to radio triggers such as PocketWizard etc. The upper socket looked like a USB port at first glance, but is actually a wireless control port designed to accept a Flashpoint wireless receiver.

Testing with a flash meter quickly confirmed that the StreakLight 360 is indeed twice as powerful as the Quantum T5d-R. The flash recycled very quickly even at full power using a Quantum Turbo 3 battery pack.

As noted above, the Streaklight can be used on-camera and has a hot shoe foot to accommodate that. Remember, however, that this is a purely manual flash - no TTL here - and since (unlike the Quantum) it does not give any distance information on the LCD screen, you will need to resport to old-school Guide Number calculations, trial and error, or a flash meter to get your exposure. The StreakLight does have a High Speed Sync (HSS) mode, although I have not yet tested that. In normal operation, the unit synced perfectly at 1/250 on my Nikon D4, providing a third of a stop advantage over the Quantum in that regard. The foot can be removed and replaced with a plate (included) for mounting on light stands etc.

If you have been using Speedlights for your off-camera flash work, a light like this will probably change your (photographic) life. The additional power and speed of recycling is a huge advantage. If you already have a Quantum flash system, there will be less of a difference, but that additional stop of power will make all the difference in some situations.  

In summary, the StreakLight 360 is a powerful, lightweight and less expensive alternative to the Quantum system. I am looking forward to taking it on the road and putting it through its paces.

 

Whitney and Adam's Wedding

Whitney and Adam got married on January 25th at the Wild Acres Villa in Paisley, FL. This very cool venue lent itself perfectly to their "Lord of the Rings" themed event which was expertly organized by Nicole Gerardi and Nicole Arlotta of Nicole Squared Events. Encore Catering provided great food, and excellent live music was coutesy of The Wholetones. Floral arrangements were by Atmospheres Florist. 

Congratulations to Whitney and Adam. They make a wonderful couple!

Kaila and Qian's Engagement

Last weekend, we were delighted to photograph Kaila and Qian's engagement session at Kraft Azalea Garden in Winter Park. We had a great time with this wonderful couple and are so stoked to be photographing their wedding next March. It's going to be awesome!

Congratulations you guys!

Kayla and Jay's Wedding

Susan and I had the pleasure of photographing Kayla and Jay's wedding in Groveland, Florida a couple of weeks ago. One of the many highlights of this fun wedding was the arrival of the bride at the ceremony in a beautiful convertible Mercedes. Of course, we had to use it as a prop afterwards! Another cool touch was the caricature artist at the reception - he was awesome.

Congratulations Kayla and Jay - wishing you many years of happiness!

Wedding Photography Workflow

As a wedding photographer, it is easy to spend at least as much time editing 1,000-2,000 images from a typical wedding as you did actually shooting it. Although this can definitely be viewed as part of the creative process, minimizing the editing time will make your business more profitable and give you time for other things. Over the last few years, I have looked for ways to streamline the editing process and make it as efficient as possible.  We have long since adopted Adobe Lightroom (LR) as our editing/cataloging software of choice, although Apple users could use Aperture with similar results.

I divide the editing process into six separate phases. (1) Importing the images into LR. (2) Setting up LR to efficiently manage the new images. (3) Reviewing the shoot to decide whether to keep each image or not. (4) Adding keywords or otherwise flagging Images so that they can be rapidly retrieved for review.  (5) Editing as much and as efficiencly as possible within LR, limiting the use of external image editors such as Photoshop. This mainly involves white balance and color correction, exposure adjustments and basic cropping. (6) Final editings in Photoshop of selected images that call for additional “creative control”.

1. Importing the images

Efficiency starts at the time the images are imported into LR. During this process, LR can add shoot-specific keywords (e.g. wedding, location, bride and groom names) and append copyright information to all images. I prefer to use the “Camera Standard” (rather than the default “Adobe Standard”) Calibration Profile in LR, so this is applied automatically to all images via a Develop Preset during importation.

2. Set up Lightroom

Here’s where it gets interesting. Some time ago, I read an excellent blog post by an English photographer, John Beardsworth, in which he detailed a workflow solution that was based on LR’s Smart Collection feature. Basically, a Smart Collection is a way of automatically filtering a Catalog or Folder using criteria that you specify. Once you set up a Smart Collection, LR continually scans your images to see if they fit the criteria; if so, the images are automatically added to the Collection.

Once the images are imported, I take 10 minutes to set up a series of Smart Collections. Once set up, they look something like this:

Each Smart Collection is placed inside a Collection Set (in this case, “Kim and Josh”). Note that when I create each Smart Collection, it gets a number. This ensures that they appear in a particular order inside the Collection Set. The first Smart Collection just contains all the images from the shoot. This one is set up using a single criterion, and just includes all the images in the Library Folder “Kim and Josh” created during image Import.

When I later go through the shoot, images that I do not want are marked by flagging as ‘Rejected’ in LR (see later). By inference, when this process is complete, any images not flagged as Rejected must be the Selects. To separate these images, I create two additional Smart Collections - one for the Selects and another for the Rejects. This is what the Smart Collection for the Selected images looks like. 

Note that the first line will include all the images from the “Kim and Josh” folder, and then include only those that have not been marked as Rejected. The second folder (for the Rejected images) works the same way except that only images marked as Rejected are included.

As I work through the images, I will usually identify a few to include in a blog post about the wedding. I mark these with a 3-star rating (this is the only thing that this rating is used for). These images are automatically captured in another Smart Collection. I do a similar thing to identify images that may later be included in a wedding album. These images are marked with a red label.

The next series of Smart Collections are used to organize the wedding into its component parts - Getting Ready, Ceremony, Formals, Bride, Groom, Reception and Details. If there are additional pieces such as a Rehearsal, First Look etc., I will create additional Smart Collections for those. The example shown here uses the Keyword ‘Ceremony’ to capture those images.

Obviously, accurate keywording is vital to this workflow. For that reason, the final Smart Collection (“Missing Keywords”) only captures images that do not contain a Keyword that puts it in at least one of the other Collections.

As noted above, I create the Smart Collections immediately after the images have been imported. At this stage, Collections 0, 1 and 12 contain all the images, while all the others are empty.

3. Review the shoot

Deciding what to keep and what to reject can be the hardest part of the process for many photographers. At this stage though, I am not actually deleting anything - just flagging images for Rejection. While these may be deleted from the hard drive later on, the immediate objective is simply to hide the poor or repetitive images so that we can concentrate on the ‘keepers’.

LR allows you to flag an image as a Pick (press ‘P’) or as Rejected (press ‘X’). Either method is fine, but I prefer to use the Reject flag. I also set LR’s Flag Filter to show “Unflagged Images”; this way, Rejected images disappear from the screen as I work through the shoot. You can work in the original Library Folder or in the “All Images” Smart Collection. Images are reviewed in LR’s Library Module; I prefer to use the Loupe View, but the Grid View works equally well if you have the screen real estate to see the image well enough to make a decision on it. 

Some time ago, I attended a seminar by Jared Platt, an excellent photographer and teacher, where he demonstrated the use of a programmable keypad (the Shuttle Pro 2) to automate many functions within LR. I have set mine up with different settings for the Library and Develop Modules. This keypad makes it very quick to go through the images one at a time. A single key press with my left hand advances to the next image or marks the current image as Rejected. In the event that an image needs significant color or exposure correction in order to make the Accept/Reject decision, other buttons are programmed to apply Auto WB or Auto Tone corrections.

At the end of this process all the images will be neatly sorted via the Smart Collections into ‘Selects’ and ‘Rejects’. If you don't mind spending a bit more money (well, a lot a actually) you can get the even more capable RPG Keys unit.

4. Keywording

I confess that I have not always been the most diligent keyworder. However, the efficiency of this workflow depends on the assignment of appropriate keywords. Fortunately, LR makes it pretty easy by allowing you to create Keyword Sets which group all the relevant keywords in one convenient area. Now it is a simple matter to select individual - or groups of - images in the Library Grid View and apply the appropriate Keyword by clicking on it.

As you work through the images, applying Keywords, the various Smart Collections will be updated appropriately and in real time with no further intervention from you. By the time you get to the end of the shoot, all the images should be in one or more of the Smart Collections that utilize the Keywords. If you happen to have missed any, the non-keyworded images will remain in the “Missing Keywords” Collection, and it is a simple matter to review those and add appropriate keywords. This Collection should be empty when you are finished.

5. Final image editing in LR

I typically run through the final image editing process in two stages. The first stage is entirely in LR and will include final exposure/color adjustments, cropping and removal of unwanted objects with LR5’s new Clone/Heal tool. Additional image effects including black and white, sepia etc., are applied with appropriate Develop Presets. Many of LR’s Edit functions are programmed into the Shuttle Pro 2 for maximum speed and efficiency. In order to be as efficient as possible at this stage, take full advantage of LR's ability to adjust multiple images simultaneously.

6. Photoshop

The last step is to take selected images into Photoshop for more detailed editing, retouching etc. Typically, this will only be performed on a few selected images, although most images later selected by the clients for their wedding album will also receive the “full treatment”. While outside the scope of this post, I maximize efficiency within Photoshop with the use of plugins from Imagenomics, Nik (Google), Topaz Labs, RadLab and OnOne Software.

Of course, there are many ways to develop an efficient digital workflow. Even this one is a work in progress.

 

 

 

 

 

Sonya and Kai's Wedding Day

Last Saturday, we had the great pleasure of photographing Sonya and Kai's wedding at the beautiful Bella Collina. Fortunately, we had great weather for this fabulous outdoor wedding and the entire event went off perfectly. 

Thanks to Heather of Weddings Unique for creating such a spectacular event. Floral design was by Floral No. 5, and The BuzzCatz provided great music throughout the reception. Transportation in the form of a gorgeous classic Cadillac was provided by Cole's Classic Cars.  

Finally, we would like to thank our assistant for the day, Stacy Pierce, and of course, Sonya and Kai for being such an awesome couple to photograph. We wish them both many years of wonderful happiness together.

Wireless Tethering

Shooting directly to a computer (tethered) has long been a favorite technique for the  studio photographer. In its simplest form, communication between the camera and the computer has been a one-way affair, providing only for image transfer to a nearby computer. Nikon and Canon have both provided software that has allowed a level of two-way control, facilitating not just image transfer, but remote control of camera functions also. Software applications such as Apple's Aperture and Adobe Lightroom also support direct tethering of many DSLR cameras, via a USB connection.  While convenient for the studio, this method has serious limitations in the field.

Truly wireless methods for image transfer have also been provided by both Nikon and Canon, but these solutions are very expensive (Nikon's WT-5A transmitter, for example is over $550) and typically rely on having an existing wireless network. This is problematic when shooting in locations where a wi-fi connection is not available. A cheaper solution exists in the form of the Eye-Fi card. These wi-fi aware SD cards are compatible with a wide range of cameras and permit transfer of images both to computers and mobile devices. The obvious disadvantage of the Eye-Fi card is that it will not work with cameras that lack an SD card slot. They also require a pre-existing wi-fi connection.

More recently, two devices have appeared on the market that appear to circumvent many of the problems of wireless tethering. The CamRanger and the HyperDrive iUSBportCAMERA.

CAMRANGER

I first saw the CamRanger at Photoshop World in Orlando earlier this year. I had read about it on several photography blogs, but when I saw it demonstrated, I had to have one. The CamRanger is essentially a wireless modem that generates its own wireless network. The device connects via a short USB cable to the camera and works with a good cross-section of Nikon and Canon DSLRs. The necessary software is currently available for iOS and Android devices and Mac computers. A PC version is currently available in beta form.

When the CamRanger is switched on, it generates a local wireless network, which the accompanying mobile device or computer needs to join. Each CamRanger has a unique serial number which also acts as the network password. Initial setup was very easy and only took a few minutes.

Since getting the CamRanger, we have used it at numerous shoots. In the studio, it provides a quick and easy way of assessing the quality of our lighting, as well as giving the subject some near-instant feedback of how they appear on camera. It has proved just as useful on commercial location shoots enabling a client or art director to see and approve the images as they are shot. In the image below, we are shooting to an iPad which can be seen on the counter. More recently, we used it at a junior karate school photo session, and it proved invaluable in helping the parents pick the images they wanted, saving us from having to post images on line later and increasing our sales.

We have also found the CamRanger to be very helpful in our classes and workshops, enabling the students to quickly see what we are getting in our cameras - much better than passing round the camera while everyone strains to see a 3" LCD. The excellent portability of the CamRanger and an iPad are particularly helpful in these situations. For the iPad, we strongly recommend the accessories provided by TetherTools.

Some previous reviewers of the CamRanger have criticized the speed of transferring raw files. Frankly, I don't really understand this objection as there is really no need to transfer them. One of the strengths of the CamRanger is being able to shoot RAW + JPG and being able to transfer only the JPG version of the image. I set my Nikon D4 or D800E cameras to produce Small, Basic JPGs and these files transfer very rapidly and are entirely sufficient for the purposes of proofing the image. One huge advantage for Nikon shooters is that the images are still saved on the camera's CF/SD cards, unlike direct camera tethering to Lightroom, for example. You can choose to have the images actually download to the remote device or just stay displayed on it until the session is closed (which is what I typically do on the iPad, for example).

It is also possible to use the CamRanger with Aperture or Lightroom by setting up the program to Auto-Import from a "watched folder", which will be the folder that CamRanger is using to house the images. Again, I do this with the Small, Basic JPGs just to save time; the RAW files can be downloaded separately via a card reader to my main computer later.

The CamRanger has true, two-way communication with the camera. Thus, it is capable not just of transferring images, but enabling quite extensive remote control of the camera. All the exposure controls (shutter, aperture and ISO) can be changed via the software, as can more sophisticated changes such as focus mode and exposure compensation. More significantly, CamRanger works with the camera's Live View mode - both still and movie.  Not only that, but you have remote control over where the camera is focusing just by tapping (or clicking) on the screen of your iPad or laptop.

As a result of the sophisticated control that CamRanger can exert over the camera, it is also possible to perform interval shooting, HDR bracketing and (my favorite so far) focus stacking. In the latter mode, you decide where in the scene you want to start to focus, and the number and size of focus increments to want to shoot. The software then takes over and fires the camera automatically, adjusting the focus between each shot. You can then use appropriate focus stacking software (e.g. Photoshop CS6) to assemble the individual images into a final version with much greater depth of field than is possible in a single image. This is especially useful in macro photography.

This series of images were produced automatically by CamRanger and were assembled in Photoshop CS6 to produce this composite:

My only gripes with the CamRanger are (1) the supplied USB cable is a little short if you have the unit almost anywhere else but affixed to the camera; (2) that options to attach it to the camera are very limited; and (3) You can only attach one device at a time. Tether Tools do supply an adhesive fixture that permits mounting on the hot shoe, but this is not particularly useful for those of us that frequently have a radio trigger on the camera. My solution has been to use a longer cable and drop the unit into my pocket. Even so, it is not uncommon for the USB cable to become disconnected inadvertently. Fortunately, this does not disrupt the shooting session too much as the software reconnects automatically after a few seconds.

In summary, the CamRanger is easy to set up and use, and works very well with our cameras and devices. It has become a regular occupant of our camera bag. The lack of reliance on an existing wireless network is a huge advantage, as it literally enables wireless tethered shooting in the middle of a field!

iUSBportCAMERA

In many ways, the iUSBportCAMERA is similar to the CamRanger. It is a compact unit that connects to the camera via a USB cable and creates its own wireless network.The iUSBportCAMERA is secured to the camera via the hot shoe. This is not for communication, but simply to fasten the unit on the camera. While it is nice to have this option built into the unit, it is of limited utility when shooting with a flash or radio trigger. In that event, a tripod screw attachment is also provided which will secure the unit underneath the camera.

Like the CamRanger, the iUSBportCAMERA can transmit images to an iOS or Android device via a specific app. On our review sample, this worked quite seamlessly once I had downloaded the (free) app from the Apple App Store, and it provided most of the functionality of the CamRanger. 

The app quite happily downloaded the JPG from the RAW + JPG that the camera was producing. On a computer, however, the iUSBportCAMERA communicates via a web browser, unlike CamRanger which uses a specific application. In practice, this took a while to figure out - the manual is rather technical on this point - but once set up, it functioned quite well for both receiving images and controlling the camera. In comparison to CamRanger, however, the interface appeared more rudimentary.

One nice feature of the iUSBportCAMERA is the ability to connect two devices simultaneously. Cleverly, when the second device is connected, it enters 'CLIENT' mode automatically, thus preventing the second user from changing any camera settings. Another nice trick is the ability to capture images to an internal flash memory which can then be accessed, via various standard protocols by several other users.

The iUSBportCAMERA's battery is a rechargeable unit that provides up to 8 hours of use. This is longer than that predicted for the CamRanger, although we have used the latter quite vigorously for periods over 4 hours with no problem. CamRanger ships with an AC charging unit, while iUSBportCAMERA utilizes the USB cable to charge from a computer. As a result, the time for iUSBportCAMERA to charge is quite long at 7 hours.

HOW DO THE TWO DEVICES COMPARE?

Overall, the features of these two devices are pretty similar. They both allow:

• Remote tether (via WiFi) to a native iPad app
• Remote tether to a native Mac/PC application
• Remote shooting
• Seeing what the camera sees via live-view
• Touch-focusing of a DSLR by tapping on the screen
• Control of many functions of your DSLR (ISO, aperture, shutter speed, white balance & more)
• Remote “Client” view to limit user control
• Remotely start and stop video recordings
• View live video during recording
• Stream and/or transfer recorded video to mobile device
• Intervalometry
• HDR Bracketing

The CamRanger also allows:

• Focus Stacking

The iUSBportCAMERA provides:

• Streaming media from a USB flash or hard drive and transfer files from that device
• Operation with two devices

To be fair, I have spent much more time with the CamRanger and am very comfortable with its operation. However, the ease of setting up - especially with the Mac, the better interface and the ability to perform focus stacking, would have me leaning significantly towards the CamRanger in any event. Price-wise, they are identical ($299) and there are no significant differences in the form factor, although the CamRanger is slimmer, if somewhat longer. The iUSBportCAMERA scores points with its built-in flash memory and the ability to use two devices simultaneously (although that advantage is tempered by the need to use a existing wireless network). Both devices offer a more cost-effective and flexible tethering experience than the Canon/Nikon wireless transmitters, and are excellemt additions to the gear bag of any professional photographer.

Stefanie and Jon's Engagement

A couple of weeks ago, we had the pleasure of shooting Stefanie and Jon's Engagement session at Baldwin Park in Orlando. We are also looking forward to photographing their wedding in August, not just because they are a really nice couple, but also because they are getting married at the same venue that Susan and I did - BiCE Restaurant at the Portofino Hotel in Orlando.

Congratulations guys!