PhotographyBanzai.com

Usually I write a summary at the bottom of my articles that are primarily meant to update viewers about new photographs. This time I’m separating the technical into its own article so that I can go into a bit more detail. On Friday I had attended a small photo session at Cantigny Garden in the morning and afternoon. Once that was finished, I had around 1.5 hours to spend at Chicago Comic Con. I made the most of it and ended up with around 100 photos of cosplayers and costumers. Friday at the convention: Pentax K-5 camera Pentax FA* 24mm f2 lens Sigma flash, diffuser, green flash gel placed in the diffuser. Time was limited, so I used one camera and lens with a focus on covering what cosplay I ran into. I was pleasantly surprised by the level of activity so late in the day. There were plenty of people cosplaying, even more so than I remember seeing on the Sunday of Comic Con 2011. My intention with the flash gel was to equalize the color of the flash light to ambient. The gel ...

I don’t often do private photoshoots. I generally like just walking around and randomly asking for photos of cosplayers. However, I don’t mind and will usually take them on if someone contacts me. ACEN wasn’t a definite plan until very soon before the convention started, so I only really had two people contact me within the time that I knew I was going. Revy from Black Lagoon The reason I don’t do private shoots very often? I don’t like carrying around a ton of equipment. It’s usually expected that a private shoot should be more involved and result in images that are something more than the average convention picture. That means more elaborate gear than I normally use. This time I kind of took the middle road and brought just enough to get more variation to the private shoot photos compared to the hallway cosplay photos I normally take. The negative was that I carried around more than I needed 90% of the time.  Female Fujimoto From Ponyo Equipment for hallway photos this year:...

When thinking practical photography, the first thing that comes to mind is convenience. The less that gets in your way, the better you can accomplish what you have in mind with as little hassle as possible. While using convenient equipment is important, using what you have to do the job is important too. Use the equipment you have on hand. Don’t waste time looking for the perfect piece of camera equipment, because it probably won’t truly make that much of a difference. Use and bring as little stuff as possible. Sometimes I’ve not brought something and later though it might have been useful, but it isn’t the end of the world (take note: I’m not talking about professional photography where you should duplicate and cover all possibilities). Seeing as I use prime lenses most of the time, I’m use to managing with what is available. It’s actually much more fluid and experience when I don’t put much thought into gear while out in the field. Avoid extras if you can given your goals for the ses...