Panasonic Lumix G85/G80 First Look

A few weeks ago I got my hands on the brand new Panasonic Lumix G85 and I was really excited to get out and put it to the test! The G85 is the predecessor to the Lumix G7 with a lot of big changes under the hood.  Check out the video below where I go over what I think are the biggest changes from the G7 to the G85.  Granted, I may have missed a few details but I think I covered most of the important things (except the fact that the G85 is Splash and Dust Resistant, I definitely forgot to bring that up!) 

If you have any questions please feel free to ask and I will do my best to respond in a timely manner. 

I hope you enjoyed this little review and if you want to see more be sure to subscribe and also follow us on Instagram @ReadylightMedia and "like" us on Facebook!

Until next time,

Jeff C.

Why I Stopped Using Alkaline Batteries In My Speedlights And You Should Too!

Out with the old and in with the new! 

That's what I said about the batteries in my speedlights not so longs ago.  For as long as I could remember I was using just regular old Alkaline batteries to power my speedlights on location.  Not only was I wasting a ton of money (while definitely getting my money's worth from my Costco membership), I was also wasting a ton of time waiting for my flash to recycle everytime I took a photo!

I decided it was time to make a change... 

The day was Amazon Prime Day 2016, Panasonic Eneloop Pro rechargeable batteries were 70% off so I thought "what harm could come from ordering some?" I also ordered a couple external charge packs for my flashes (which were not on sale but still really affordable.) Once the batteries arrived, they made such a difference that I ordered 12 more at regular price because I knew this would be a complete game changer! Check out the video below to see how different types of batteries effect your flash recycle time.  You'll be amazed at the results!

If you have any questions please feel free to ask and I will do my best to respond in a timely manner. 

I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial and if you want to see more be sure to subscribe and also follow us on Instagram @ReadylightMedia and "like" us on Facebook!

Until next time,

Jeff C.

Lighting Setup (Bar/Coffee Shop Portrait)

I hope everyone has had a great week! In this post I want to help you create some cool artsy portraits in a bar or coffee shop setting.  Everything below will help you get started and then you can take it from there and make it your own.  Click on the "Read More" button below to check out the gear I used as well as a lighting diagram.

Headshot How To: Mixing flash and ambient light (in low light conditions)

Living in Nashville I get the pleasure of working with a lot of really amazing clients.  One coolest clients I get to work with here in town is the iconic Sound Emporium Studios, which if you haven't heard of them it's definitely worth a google search.  I've been working with the Sound Emporium for a little over 4 years now shooting everything from the rooms themselves to product shots of the gear and even taking headshots for the staff.

In this post I am going to explain my lighting setup for the most recent headshot session I had with the staff.  One of the things that the Sound Emporium prides themselves on is the "vibe" of the studio so I wanted to try to capture that in the photos I took of the staff.  That being said, I didn't want to just shoot a basic white, black or grey background headshot and call it a day.  I needed to add some interest to the image which I did by placing the subjects in front of the recording console in one of the control rooms.  After I placed my subject, I used a simple two light setup and a shutter drag technique to capture the final image.  Keep reading to view the lighting diagram and camera settings...

How To: Simple 2 light portrait with no modifiers (kind of)

Here is a simple two light portrait that is sure to make any client happy.  In the title I stated that I "kind of" didn't use any modifiers, which was probably kind of confusing.... All I mean by that is that you can recreate this look with just two bare bulb flashes.  To take it up a notch, I added a blue gel to my backlight to give the image some more contrast.  keep on reading to view the lighting setup for this image...

Getting Creative With Unconventional Lighting Gear.

Today I am going to give a quick little tip that can create some really cool ambiance in your images.  This technique works for all different styles of photography and in all different lighting scenarios.  I will run down how I created the above image in this post but feel free to try out these techniques with your own style.

Are you bringing too much gear to a photo shoot?

If you're anything like me, you probably are...

If I had a mantra, it would probably be "better safe than sorry". It's pretty sound advice for pretty much any occasion.  However, I find myself using it as an excuse for bringing WAY too much gear to photo shoots that in no way require that much gear.  

What lens should you use when taking a headshot?

Do you ever wonder what lens you should use when taking a headshot or a portrait? This is a common question among photographers new and experienced.  The reason even veteran photographers still ask this question is because every single photo shoot has a different set of variables which may effect your decision on what gear you should use.  I recently shot a video that dives into detail what shooting portraits at different lengths will do to your subject.  I started at 10mm and made my way up to 200mm to show how wide angle lenses distort the face and make your portrait extremely unnatural and unflattering.  I want send out a HUGE thank you to my girlfriend Shelby who was nice enough to model for this demonstration and brave enough to let me post some really awful photos of her…. Don’t worry there are some really good ones too!