Yanik’s Photo Blog

On my trip in western Canada I took a few days to connect with nature’s majestic beauty by camping around Kananaskis Park. I borrowed my good friend’s Camping gear and off I went ooing and awing at every turn on the road. (If you haven’t seen my musical slideshow of my trip, you can view it here.) So I get to the Lower Lake camping grounds, find my spot and take out the “2-man” tent. Once up I though they had made a mistake as it should have read “2-infant” tent. The thing was so small that the blow-up mattress had to be blown up inside and once fully inflated was bulging on all sides. I though the tent was going to explode! The great thing about such a small tent is that you can lug it around with Continue Reading »

My favorite camera review site, DPReview.com, has just posted their in depth review of the new Canon Rebel XS 1000D! Remember that “in depth” really means IN DEPTH; 35 pages worth. To read the whole thing just click HERE.

Here are some links to the pages I find most useful: Continue Reading »

I’ve been using the EV (Exposure Value) button on my camera more than any of the other buttons so I thought I would share with you why and when I use it. Remember that I shoot with a Nikon so shutter speed and aperture are controlled with the front and back wheels not buttons ;). But before I get into that, let me briefly explain to you WHAT the EV button is and what it does.

To put it simply, the EV button allows your to quickly underexpose (darken) or overexpose (brighten) your image. How it works is pretty simple. When you’re taking a photo, the camera’s job is to adjust itself by changing the shutter speed and/or apperture to properly expose your shot so that it’s not too bright or too dark. Some cameras do this better than others but that’s another story. When you play with the EV button, what you’re doing is telling the camera to Continue Reading »

Are you always on the go? Do you surf the Web with your Iphone, Blackberry or mobile phone? Now, thanks to technology from Mofuse.com, you can view Yanik’s Photo Blog in a mobile-friendly format! Woohoo! If you’re accessing the site via a mobile device, the blog’s will automatically reformat itself to fit your screen. How cool is that! No more awkward scrolling.

Here’s a sample Continue Reading »

Summer is here and when we say summer, we think holidays, weekends at the cottage and romantic walks in the park. And what better opportunities to take sunrise and sunset photos! You’ll probably be taking quite a few sunsets (and maybe just a few less sunrises ;)) so why not get a head start. Lets go through some of the basics together. Feel free to post your sunset/sunrise photos to share.

I’ve listed 7 steps to make it more “userfriendly” and easier to Continue Reading »

I’m back from Calgary! It was a lovely 2 weeks out West. The best part is that I played a lot with my SB-800s both in nature and in studio setups and it has given me great tutorial opportunities for you! You’ll be seeing them very shortly I promise. In the mean time, try to guess where and how the SB-800s were used and feel free to post your answers in the comments.

Posts will get back to normal now that I’m back and I’ve caught up on my email backlog. So you should be seeing at least 2 post per week with a video tutorial on Mondays.

I had the opportunity to set up and demonstrate a creative lighting studio setup using only 2 or 3 SB-800s at the workshop. I played with colored gels and the effects were very interesting.

I would like to take a few minutes and thank Peter and Roz for organizing the event. They did a great job! The models were Continue Reading »

It was press release day yesterday for Nikon. After the announcement of the new D700 camera, they just announced the new SB-900 off camera flashgun. The SB-900 is the latest off camera flash following in the footsteps of the Nikon SB-600 and Nikon SB-800. It will be available at the end of July and the price will be roughly $500.00.

Major Features

• Multi-step auto zoom covers wide 17-200mm zoom range (24-105mm?SB-800)
• Three illumination patterns (standard, center-weighted and even) are available to match each shooting environment
• Automatically detects Nikon FX and Nikon DX formats and selects suitable light distribution
• Improved booster circuit for high-speed recycle time: Recycle time using four AA-size batteries is almost equal to the SB-800 with five AA-size batteries Continue Reading »

Nikon just announced its long awaited full frame (FX) camera in a smaller body, the Nikon D700. Effectively, it’s the Nikon D3 in a Nikon D300 body. It’s been a long time coming! Many people were waiting for a competitor to the Canon 5D. I personally won’t be getting a D700 as I prefer having a longer reach with my lenses on a DX sensor. Having said that, if you shoot often in low light situations (weddings, concerts…) this is the perfect camera for you! The retail price will be roughly $3000.00. Here are the key features as well as the official press release from Nikon.

Key Features

• 12.1 megapixel full-frame sensor
• Image Sensor Cleaning (vibration)
• ISO 200 - 6400 (with boost up to ISO 25600 and down to ISO 100) Continue Reading »

As promised, here is my video tutorial on my Photoshop™ post processing steps of my windmill shoot at Île Perrot. If you haven’t seen my windmill lighting tutorial using SB-800s, just click here for a step by step walkthrough of my lighting setup.

You’ll notice that I dodge and burn the “traditional way” for the purpose of this tutorial but you can also do it the non destructive way as Continue Reading »

In part 1, I interviewed Microstock Phenomenon and shed the light on what microstock photography is all about. If you missed it, you can read it HERE.

Now lets look at the top four microstock agencies out there and what they can offer you as a photographer. I’ll limit this to photographers since that’s my field of expertise. But you can also contribute illustrations, videos and sound to certain agencies.

Before we get into the nitty gritty of each agency, here’s a bird’s eye view of the top 5 agencies in terms of traffic. Looking at the Alexa graph below, we can clearly see that Continue Reading »