Shaun Eastin Photography: Blog https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog en-us (C) Shaun Eastin Photography (Shaun Eastin Photography) Tue, 18 May 2021 14:43:00 GMT Tue, 18 May 2021 14:43:00 GMT https://www.eastinphotography.com/img/s/v-12/u925633110-o29323970-50.jpg Shaun Eastin Photography: Blog https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog 120 80 New Branding and Marketing https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2021/5/new-branding-and-marketing eastinphoto-marketmaterial-1eastinphoto-marketmaterial-1

Wow... It has been a long while since I have posted. But I am excited to show off some new branding material that I have been working on. This past January I started studying hard for the FAA Part 107 Drone Certification test and was able to pass with a 97%. I am now able to offer Drone Aerial Photography to all of my agents!

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Over the past month I have been gathering drone images of homes for my portfolio as well as for new marketing material. Above is a brochure and new business cards that I have created to promote and send to potential clients and real estate agencies.

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(Shaun Eastin Photography) akron akron real estate architecture brochure business card canton canton real estate cleveland cleveland real estate Drone Pilot FAA FAA Part 107 interior interior design marketing ohio real estate real estate agent Shaun Eastin Photography tallmadge https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2021/5/new-branding-and-marketing Tue, 18 May 2021 14:42:28 GMT
My Technique to Photographing Your Home Listing https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2016/2/my-technique-to-photographing-your-home-listing There is a multitude of different techniques that can be used to photograph a home and make it presentable. Unfortunately, there is a just as many ways to make a beautiful home look horrendous with poor technique. From using the different types of cameras from cell phones, point and shoots and DSLR's to the different techniques on lighting from using 1 exposure, multiple exposure fusion (HDR High Dynamic Range), 1 flash on camera or multiple flashes off camera. All of this equipment and lighting techniques are very relevant today because all are used in real estate photography by somebody either agent or photographer.

Today I will be talking about the techniques that I currently use to make your home listing awesome. My equipment includes a professional DSLR camera with multiple high quality lens from wide angle to telephoto to be able to capture large and small spaces as well as those great detail shots. All of this is supported by a heavy duty tripod to give maximum clarity and sharpness. To light my scenes I use up to 4 flashes off camera which helps to accurately expose the interior and retain the window exposure. By using flash I am also able to accurately portray color and eliminate any color cast created by lamps and outdoor ambient light.

To give you a better idea of my lighting techniques here are a couple of examples.

 

Base Exposure

DSC_0162Regular Exposure: No Flash

As you can see with this images we have a very high contrast situation where it would be impossible to balance the window exposure with the interior exposure without using either exposure fusion (HRD) or flash. For this scene I use multiple off camera flash units to help balance the window light with the interior light. I first setup a light on a stand from the right to help light the room as seen below.

 

Flash from Camera Right

DSC_01631 Flash added from Camera Right By adding one flash from the right side of the image I have illuminated the whole scene and am on my way to balancing out my window light with my interior exposure. But I feel like the left side of the image is still a little too dark so I add another light from camera left to help balance out my whole scene.

 

Adding Flash from Camera Left

DSC_0167Adding Flash from Camera Left


By adding this light from the left I have illuminated the left side of my scene and under the ceiling fan. Because of the extra light I was able to pull out an even better window exposure and create a nice balance of light to the scene. For extra measure I did add one more light to help open up the shadows under the bed which can be seen in the final image below.

 

Final Image

DSC_0169-EditFinal Image For my last example is a bedroom scene with the same lighting technique to bring out a nice balance between the window exposure and interior exposure.

DSC_0150Before DSC_0153After 2 Flash Setup

 

Conclusion

While photographing your listing I am using professional equipment as well as lighting techniques to make you home stand out over your competition. I prefer to use multiple flashes to better expose the scene while retaining color accuracy and nice balance of window and interior lighting. In a future post I will compare and contrast Exposure Fusion (HDR) and Multiple Flash setups and give you my reasons for choosing to use multiple flashes in my technique.

 

 

 

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(Shaun Eastin Photography) HDR akron akron real estate architecture canton canton real estate cleveland cleveland real estate exposure fusion flash interior interior design ohio real estate real estate agent tallmadge https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2016/2/my-technique-to-photographing-your-home-listing Fri, 12 Feb 2016 19:35:57 GMT
Family Portraits for the Holidays https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2015/10/family-portraits-for-the-holidays kyer-vadaj_8-2015-58kyer-vadaj_8-2015-58

How long has it been since your family got together and just spent time with each other. With work and school taking up most of our lives we rarely have the time to talk with each other let alone spend time together. Because of our busy schedules family portraits are not on the top of our lists but I challenge you to take a look at your most recent portraits on your house walls and office desks. If you look at them and find that everyone is 5 to 10 years older now than what they were in those pictures than it is time for new family portraits.

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How long has it been since you have had a recent portrait of your family? We try to tell ourselves "hey, I have plenty of pictures on my phone" but do you have any pictures of the whole family together in your phone? Whether you update you pictures every year or every 5 years I can help you create and preserve those priceless memories. I offer studio sessions for those who like a clean and simple portraits that will look great on your walls. For those of you who like a little adventure I offer location sessions, either at your home or at a location of your choosing. 

 

Since Christmas is just around the corner what better gift than family pictures to share with close friends and family. Take some time to spend with your family and schedule your family portrait session today.

 

Studio Sessions starting at $50

Location Sessions starting at $125

 

 

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(Shaun Eastin Photography) Akron Canton Christmas Christmas Portraits Family Portraits Holiday Holiday Pictures Holiday Portraits Ohio Portrait Tallmadge https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2015/10/family-portraits-for-the-holidays Sat, 03 Oct 2015 01:11:41 GMT
Headshots for the Arukah Market Team https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2015/9/headshots-for-the-arukah-market-team

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Arukah Market Health and Restoration is a new organic foods and supplements store that opened in Uniontown Ohio in December of 2014. The store actually started out offering more supplements such as organic vitamins, oils and healthy snacks. But the owner Paul Taylor and very good friend and mentor John Taylor listened to their customers and started to stock and grow their business with Non-GMO and organic foods such as frozen meats, breads, canned foods, sodas and even ice cream. The company is continuing to grow everyday as people discover their store and continue to market. Earlier in the year I photographed Paul and John in a studio in North Canton. 

 

I highly recommend that you visit their store  and check out all of the great products that they offer. They are located 2871 Edison St. NW Uniontown, OH 44685 and also visit their website at www.arukahmarket.com.

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(Shaun Eastin Photography) Akron Arukah Market Food Headshot Ohio Organic Organic Food Uniontown https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2015/9/headshots-for-the-arukah-market-team Wed, 30 Sep 2015 23:04:30 GMT
Should I Use a Professional Photographer or Portrait Studio Chain? https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2015/9/should-i-use-a-professional-photographer-or-portrait-studio-chain kyer-vadaj_8-2015-46kyer-vadaj_8-2015-46
 

As we have approached fall and are in the process of watching the leaves change everyday this very question creeps into the minds of mothers everywhere. With Christmas only 3 months away moms are thinking about pictures that they can put on cards to send out to family and friends for the holidays. With the economy still in a low place people are trying to save money everywhere that they can and with photography not being a necessity than sacrifices may be made.

With the rise of digital photography we have seen a lot of chain studios pop up offering quick sessions and huge coupon offers on prints. You may think of these studios as fast food for photography. Some of these chains boast on offering sometimes free sessions and portrait packages with 50 prints for only $20. If you read the small print on these coupons you may realize that all 50 prints are required to come from 1 image when they give you 100 to choose from. Chain studios don't make their money on the coupon package deals, they make their money on all of those other poses that you loved during the session that you can't live without. So with families entering with only the $20 package in mind, they end up leaving with a $300-$500 print purchase on their credit card.

Now let us keep in mind that these chain studios are the fast food of photography. To keep costs down these studios need to hire people that will work for close to nothing with mandatory overtime during the holidays. You do not need to have any previous experience to work for any of these chain studios, as long as you can push the shutter button on a camera your hired. The studios limit the creativity of their photographers by mounting strobes in permanent locations and locking the camera settings so that their images stay consistent and repeatable. But for the family on a budget the chain studios are great.

By hiring a professional photographer you are choosing that you want to spoil yourself a little. Instead of hitting up the McDonald's you are choosing to spoil yourself with the more expensive Longhorn Steakhouse. Just as the saying goes "You get what you pay for", also applies to photography. A professional photographer is not limited to the studio. Most of my sessions are on location in the park, at your home or virtually wherever you want. We can use our knowledge of composition, lighting and posing to make any location work.

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(Shaun Eastin Photography) Akron Chain Studios Christmas Holiday Ohio Photography Pictures Portrait Portrait Studio Professional https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2015/9/should-i-use-a-professional-photographer-or-portrait-studio-chain Sat, 26 Sep 2015 18:11:59 GMT
Slideshow Video Tour for Real Estate Listings https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2015/8/slideshow-video-tour-for-real-estate-listings This video slideshow is of a house that I photographed recently for a client.

I have recently been working on a new project that I might start offering to my real estate agent clients. I have been using some of my past real estate photo jobs to create virtual slideshows that have some pan and zoom video effects to give the images a better presentation than just clicking through them. Eventually I would like to add music to the slideshow video to make it a more pleasant viewing experience. It also may be possible for me to brand the slideshows with the agents contact information so that potential buyers have the ability to contact the seller.

I am also experimenting with different video resolutions for playability. High quality 1080p slideshow videos are very large files and will definitely take longer to load. Lower resolution videos are smaller files but they present the images in lower quality which makes the transitions in the video look choppy. 

My goal for this post is to see if there are any problems with the slideshow. Just like YouTube the video will play at a resolution that takes the least amount of time to load. Because of this feature you may need to choose to play the video in 1080p from the "AutoHD" button in the bottom right corner of the video. I would appreciate if you could watch the video and let me know if there are any loading problems or any bad qualities. I am not looking for a critique of the video itself only the quality in which it plays...whether you are using a computer, iPad, iPhone or Android phone. I want to make sure it plays correctly on all devices. Any comments would be extremely helpful. 

Click HERE to view a page dedicated to presenting this video to potential home buyers. As you can see my website is hosting the video but most of my branding is gone from the page so that the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) should be able to link to the page with no problems. 

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(Shaun Eastin Photography) Akron Android Ohio Real Estate Real Estate Photography Tallmadge YouTube architecture iPad iPhone slideshow video virtual tour https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2015/8/slideshow-video-tour-for-real-estate-listings Wed, 05 Aug 2015 22:43:29 GMT
25% OFF Real Estate Photography for Your 1st Listing https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2015/7/25-off-real-estate-photography-for-your-1st-listing

When searching for a home the first place where a buyers start their search is on the internet. The images for your listings can make or break a chance for a potential buyer to contact you as a real estate agent and visit your home listings. 
 
We offer real estate agents and brokers a professional photographic service to help and potentially boost your online home viewings with the possibility of increasing listing visits. I use professional photographic equipment and software to help make your listing stand out to potential buyers. 
 
I am offering a 25% OFF DISCOUNT to your 1st listing using my photographic services. Contact me mentioning this blog post to receive discount. 
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(Shaun Eastin Photography) Akron Canton Ohio Tallmadge architecture discount real estate real estate agent real estate photographer realtor realty https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2015/7/25-off-real-estate-photography-for-your-1st-listing Sun, 26 Jul 2015 22:25:04 GMT
Photoshop Tip: How to Make Everyone Look Where You Want Them To https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2015/2/photoshop-tip-how-to-make-everyone-look-where-you-want-them-to Wedding, Bar, Kissing, ToastSEP_1357-Edit Have you ever found yourself photographing groups such as bridal parties, families, or sports teams and there is always someone looking in the wrong direction. An easy fix for this is to shoot multiple images. The above image would not have been possible without two images unless I asked them to kiss again. 

 

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In this image everyone was looking at the bride and groom EXCEPT the groomsman on the right. This is a prime example for why you should take more than one image while shooting groups and the same principals can apply when shooting couples or pets. 

 

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This next image is the very next image that was shot in the series. As you can see the kissing is over but my groomsman is now looking in the correct direction. So when this happens I like to use photoshop to create the perfect image. By taking my groomsman from one image and superimposing him onto another image.

 

In this example my main image is the couple kissing and I want to replace the groomsman. I opened the image of the couple kissing as my Background Layer and the second image as Layer 1. Since the images were shot in the same orientation and many elements are in the same place in both images. I Aligned the layers by selecting both layers and going to Edit=>Auto-Algin Layers. I then used a layer mask to paint in thegroomsman from my secondary image into my primary. The image to the right is how my Layers pallet looked while editing this image.

 

 

 

In this next example the Great Dane "Lexi" was the only subject not looking where I wanted her to. So I used the same principals as my last example and used a layer mask to paint her back in from a different image that I had of her looking good. 

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The only way that this tip will work for you is if you take a lot of images. You never want to walk away from a shoot with 1 or 2 images and hope you have something that you can work with. If you are shooting for a client you should make sure that you cover all of your bases so that you can offer a high quality service and product. By taking multiple images with the same pose I gave myself a chance to create a good image even if I wasn't able to do it with 1 shot. 

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(Shaun Eastin Photography) Family Family Photography Group Kiss Photoshop Photoshop Tip Shot Toast Wedding Wedding Photography https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2015/2/photoshop-tip-how-to-make-everyone-look-where-you-want-them-to Tue, 03 Feb 2015 16:21:17 GMT
Night Photography at Goodyear Heights Metro Park https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2014/9/night-photography-at-goodyear-heights-metro-park DSC_6795DSC_6795Waiting for the sun to go down I captured this beautiful cloud formation.

Shooting at night can be a very peaceful experience but it can also play with your mind quite a bit. Especially when you shooting with $3000 worth of gear in the dark in Akron Ohio. It seems like every little noise kept me on edge as I waited for the stars to come out but the outcome and experience was worth the risk. 

DSC_6835The Calm

My main goal was to photograph the stars over the pond at Goodyear Heights Metro Park. To achieve my goal I had to wait for the sun to go completely down and for darkness to take over the skies. In some of my images you will see light pollution that comes from the Akron city lights. 

 

 

 

DSC_6826DSC_6826I used my Nikon SB700 speedlight to illuminate the bench to help create a story within the image.

Painting With Light

This is the first time that I have ever experimented lighting an object while photographing a night scene. A lot of photographers will first photograph the landscape how they want it to look then take a separate image of the object that they are lighting and merge the two images in photoshop. I didn't want to do that much work...so since I was using a 13 second exposure, I had time to use a Nikon SB700 speed light that I had brought with me just in case to flash the bench. The theme to this image is to give the idea of sitting at the bench and stargazing.  Because of the long exposure you can see the movement in the clouds as the blow across the sky.

 

  

DSC_6829DSC_6829Which constellation do you see?

Captured a Constellation

You will be able to see the light pollution from the city in this image because I was pointing towards the city while shooting. If you look closely at this image you will be able to see the Big Dipper. In a way it looks like the Big Dipper is angled towards the pond and pouring its contents into the pond filling it up. Kind of cool to think about. I really enjoy photographing at night and seeing what kind of images I can come up with.

Have you ever been out at night to photograph the stars or cities? Leave a comment and let me know about your experiences and how you think I did on my adventure.

 

 

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(Shaun Eastin Photography) Akron Big Dipper Goodyear Heights Metro Park Nikon SB700 Ohio cape landscape nights stars water https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2014/9/night-photography-at-goodyear-heights-metro-park Thu, 18 Sep 2014 22:58:36 GMT
A Fun Photography Experiment in the Park https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2014/8/a-fun-photography-experiment-in-the-park pjcompositepjcomposite

This is a quick composite my friends helped me create. To create this my camera was stationary on a tripod and I took multiple shots while my 2 friends posed in interesting positions all over my landscape. This was shot at the Goodyear Heights Metro Park in Akron Ohio. I had them start at the top of the hill and gradually move down the hill while I photographed them in different positions. The portrait of the 2 of them crossing their arms was shot using a Nikon SB700 speedlight with a softbox modifier to soften the light.

After I download all 130 photos I quickly chose which images that I wanted to use for my composite which amounted to just 9 images. This particular composite was about a 3 hour photoshop project.  

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(Shaun Eastin Photography) Akron Composite Goodyear Heights Metro Park Nikon SB700 Ohio https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2014/8/a-fun-photography-experiment-in-the-park Thu, 14 Aug 2014 14:00:00 GMT
Visiting Boston on Last Day of Vacation https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2014/8/visiting-boston-on-last-day-of-vacation

The city of Boston can be very confusing to the DSC_5775DSC_5775 people who have never been there,  but like every other city it can be very simple to the people who live and work there. I would say that we spent a good hour just driving around the city  trying to find a place to park because most every parking garages that we came by were full. After finding a place to park we decided to use the  subway and the taxi boats to get us to the locations that we wanted to see the most. The image above was taken while we were on the taxi boat, the boat gave us a good view of the city and all of the sailboats and yahts that were ancored just offshore.

Boston is a very interesting and historical city that I wouldn't mind visiting again. I would definitely need to stay more than a day to experience and photograph all of the great scenes that Boston can provide.

While shooting in the city I primarily used a Tamron DSC_6495DSC_6495 17-50mm F/2.8 VR lens. I shot with this lens because I was planning on using one of the images from Boston in a photo contest that is run by the lens company.  The lens is overall a very good lens but I did have some problems with lens flare, barrel distortion and chromatic aberration.  I recommend if you are looking for a good medium range telephoto to save up for the nicer and better built Tamron 24-70mm F/2.8 VR. I have had great success with the 24-70mm.

If you like the pics or have ever been to Boston and had a great or not so great experience let me know about it in the comments.

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(Shaun Eastin Photography) Boston Massachusetts Tamron architecture boat building city landscape review vacation https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2014/8/visiting-boston-on-last-day-of-vacation Tue, 05 Aug 2014 15:15:49 GMT
New Hampshire Vacation Day 3 https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2014/7/new-hampshire-vacation-day-3 DSC_5758DSC_5758 On day 3 of our family vacation, my family and I visited a beach in Ogunquit Maine. There was a lot of people on the beach and the water was at a freezing 48 degrees, so as you could imagine we did NOT swim. After visiting the beach we were told that we should visit the Nubble Lighthouse in Nubble Maine. Personally I was not to impressed by the lighthouse but it is an attraction to Maine, what made the scene a little interesting and a little harder to photograph was the dense fog that surrounded the lighthouse.

DSC_5762DSC_5762 I wanted a shot that had some of the native seagulls flyingaround the lighthouse so I needed a fast enough shutter speed to be able to freeze them in the air without motion blur. Another scene that presented itself in the same location was a hotel/resort looking out over the ocean.

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(Shaun Eastin Photography) Nubble Lighthouse fog house lighthouse ocean resort water https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2014/7/new-hampshire-vacation-day-3 Wed, 16 Jul 2014 14:13:44 GMT
New Hampshire Vacation Day 2 https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2014/7/new-hampshire-vacation-day-2 DSC_5619-EditDSC_5619-Edit On day 2 of our family vacation to New Hampshire; my family and I travelled along the Kancamagus Highway and hiked along some of its trails. There were definitely some awesome sites to see which are shown in the panorama above which was stitched together in Photoshop CS6 and processed using Lightroom 5.

Along some of the trails were some waterfalls. Since all of these waterfalls are advertised for tourism, I tried to get some different perspectives that would make my images more unique than everyone else.

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For the images of the waterfall, I was standing in the stream so that I could get a different perspective of the scene. Because of my vantage point, I am able to lead my viewers eyes through the image as if you are walking into the scene through the water. I personally like the horizontal image compared to the vertical because it shows more detail in the environment and helps lead the viewer into the image with the walkway.

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This is an image taken of me by my sister while I was photographing the scene. The water was freezing cold!!!

Be sure to visit my Facebook page www.facebook.com/eastinphotography to see some of the other scenic images taken.

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(Shaun Eastin Photography) Adobe Photoshop CS6 CS6 Kancamagus Highway Lightroom New Hampshire Photoshop landscape mountain panorama river stream waterfall https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2014/7/new-hampshire-vacation-day-2 Wed, 16 Jul 2014 01:39:32 GMT
New Hampshire Vacation Day 1 https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2014/7/new-hampshire-vacation-day-1 DSC_5515DSC_5515 It has been 2 years since my family has taken a vacation and we decided to go to Lincoln, New Hampshire. Lincoln is a nice little town; home to some of New Hampshire's skiing resorts, since there is no snow we mainly came for the scenery. We are staying at South Mountain Resort which is apart of the Bluegreen Resorts time share that my parents invest in.

I am programmed to wake up at about 7 in the morning, so I took advantage of my misfortune and went out to photograph the town in the morning light. My goal was to take images where I could use the mountains to help improve the image or help my images tell a story. I found a good position for the mountains as my background and I stayed there waiting for some kind of vehicle to pass to help tell a story. 

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My first image that worked for my purpose was a Jeep that I photographed against the mountains which helps tell the story of the Jeep heading to mountains to go off roading. The top image I took was lucky; I was ready to starting to leave to go back to my hotel when I saw a bicyclist heading my way. I crouched down so that I would be below the biker when shooting. This makes my subject bigger in the frame and helps to tell the story of the biker heading towards the mountains to go mountain biking.

DSC_5409DSC_5409 My last image was not really made to tell a story but I liked how it looked against the mountains. This corvette was for sale and sitting in a position so that it could be seen from passersby on the main road. I crouched down to be able to make the car more prominent in the frame and the mountains automatically got bigger because of my vantage point. My sister said that It looks like a advertisement for the car. What do you think?

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(Shaun Eastin Photography) Bluegreen Bluegreen Resorts New Hampshire South Mountain Resort Travel Photography bike car corvette jeep mountain mountain bike travel https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2014/7/new-hampshire-vacation-day-1 Mon, 14 Jul 2014 14:20:59 GMT
Fireworks at Portage Lakes https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2014/7/fireworks-at-portage-lakes
Portage Lakes held there fireworks show on July 5th instead of the 4th because Akron had theirs on the 4th. I didn't have a chance to attend the show in Akron so I made sure that I could go to the show at Turkeyfoot State Park in Portage Lakes. This was the first time that I have ever photographed fireworks and also the first time that I have ever been to this park. About 6 hours before the show started I scouted out the location and asked some of the locals that were at the park where the fireworks would be seen. 

I decided that I would try to get to the park a couple hours before the show so that I could find a good parking spot and a good place to setup my camera with a tripod. Luck was on my side and I was able to setup my camera about 5 feet from the lake shoreline and capture some great shots. There are some great articles and tutorials on how to shoot some great shots of fireworks. For the these shots I used the BULB mode on my camera with a shutter release cable; this allowed me to use 3 to 10 second long exposures to capture the streams of light.

If you like what you see or have any experience photographing fireworks; leave a comment and let me know.

 

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(Shaun Eastin Photography) Akron Independence Day July 4th Ohio Turkeyfoot Lake State Park boats fireworks lake portage lake water https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2014/7/fireworks-at-portage-lakes Mon, 07 Jul 2014 14:00:00 GMT
First Attempt at Shooting Stars https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2014/6/first-attempt-at-shooting-stars stars, night, silhouetteDSC_4636This is my first attempt at photographing the stars. Over the weekend we have had some very nice and clear skies in Northeast Ohio. Perfect skies for some night and star photography. This is the first time that I have ever tried to shoot the night skies and I am pleased with the results that I was able to obtain.

With this type of photography the equipment and camera settings are very important to be able to see any results. I have been watching many tutorials on YouTube and reading many articles to understand everything that you need to be able to see results. Some things that you will need is a camera that can use long shutter speeds, has higher ISO capabilities, a tripod, cable release and time. For the image above I was able to use a DSLR set at ISO 400, an aperture at f/2.8, and my shutter speed at 15 seconds.

A tripod and cable release are essential to photographing with longer shutter speeds because the slightest vibration to your camera while exposing for seconds or even minute long exposures can ruin a shot. If you do not have a cable release than you can use the cameras self timer so that you can activate the cameras shutter hands free.

As this was my first attempt at photographing the stars please comment and tell me how you think that I did. Also let me know your experience with shooting at night, either the sky or in the city.

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(Shaun Eastin Photography) long exporsure night night photography silouette skyscape stars trees https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2014/6/first-attempt-at-shooting-stars Mon, 02 Jun 2014 14:56:13 GMT
Goodyear New Blimp Unveil https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2014/5/goodyear-new-blimp-unveil Goodyear BlimpPhoto taken at the Goodyear unveiling of their new blimp in Akron, Ohio.

I had the opportunity to assist Ty Cole, a photographer that shot a magazine spread for ESPN Magazine for the unveiling of the new Goodyear blimp.  It was a very cool experience given that we had 1-2 hours all to ourselves to photograph the blimp without other photographers and news crews in the room. The overall experience was awesome and I learned a lot from Ty. Check out his work at www.tycole.com.

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(Shaun Eastin Photography) Akron Akron, Ohio Blimp ESPN ESPN Magazine Flying Goodyear Goodyear Blimp Ohio https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2014/5/goodyear-new-blimp-unveil Mon, 19 May 2014 14:00:00 GMT
Shooting Birds https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2014/5/shooting-birds You are not imagining anything, I am talking about shooting birds with my CAMERA! DSC_4102DSC_4102

One of the most popular subjects to photograph for amateur photographers is birds. I only have experience with shooting birds that pretty much stay still; like at the zoo or the geese from my previous post "When the Clouds do Not Cooperate".

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The best time of the day to shoot birds would be when the sun is high in the sky, the more light the better. Usually when shooting outside, bright sun light is the last thing that you want because of the high contrast and sun spots that can sneak into your photographs. But while photographing subjects that can move pretty fast, the bright sun can give you the ability to use high shutter speeds between 1/1000 of a second to 1/8000 of a second depending on what kind of camera you have. Higher shutter speeds allow you to freeze a bird in the air and avoid motion blur.

I also set my camera to record at its maximum FPS (Frames Per Second). The benefit of using faster FPS is so that you have a higher probability of keeper shots. Such as the image where the bird has its mouth open or the cover image of the bird in flight. If you have the capability then switch your camera to continuous focus so that your camera will continue to focus on moving objects. Make sure you turn it off when your object is stationary or your may focus on something you didn't intend to focus on.

One of the most important equipment when photographing birds would be what lens you are using. I used a Nikkor 70-200mm on a Nikon D300, with the cropped sensor the maximum zoom equals 300mm. Since birds tend to stay farther away from you, the extra distance that you can get with a good zoom lens makes all of the difference. But if you are using a lens with ("VR" Vibration Reduction for Nikon, or "IS" Image Stabilization for Canon) then turn that feature OFF! The mechanism will work against you when you are panning your camera to get those shots of the birds in flight. The same goes when you are shooting motorsports, other fast paced sports "football", and airplane shows.

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I am satisfied with the results that I was able to get being the first time shooting birds. I really enjoyed the experience and definitely intend to continue photographing birds, the only challenge being where to find more interesting specimens than the robins in my backyard. 

Let me know what you think of the images. If you know where some interesting birds can be found around the Akron, Ohio area post and let me know where.

Click on the images to enlarge them...

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(Shaun Eastin Photography) Birds Flying Hiking https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2014/5/shooting-birds Fri, 02 May 2014 17:00:00 GMT
When the Clouds do NOT Cooperate https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2014/4/when-the-clouds-dont-cooperate DSC_3805DSC_3805 DSC_3824DSC_3824

Just about every landscape photographer would be able to agree that the weather will not always cooperate with you. In my instance, I specifically hiked to a location to replicate a sunset photograph that I had taken last year. I have recently purchased a better lens meant for landscape photography and wanted to try it out but the clouds did not cooperate. All day the sun was shining with very minimal cloud coverage but when I go out to get the photograph I want the clouds start to roll in as if they know what I want.

When this happens it's good to have a back up plan. So luckily I had my 70-200mm lens with me and could get some shots of the geese that favor this particular location. Geese are not exactly the hardest animal to photograph. Since these geese are frequently fed by people they have absolutely no fear of us and as a result I was able to be within 5 feet of them while photographing them.

Has the weather ever ruined your photo plans? If so comment and let me know about it.

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(Shaun Eastin Photography) Duck Geese Lake Pond Reflection Water https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2014/4/when-the-clouds-dont-cooperate Fri, 25 Apr 2014 17:00:00 GMT
Hiking in the Gorge https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2014/4/hiking-in-the-gorge Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio The Gorge Metro Park I love to hike and explore new things. Whenever I go hiking I always make to sure to bring my camera with me. Today I am sharing the best image from my adventure. The image was shot with a Nikon D300 w/ a 17-35mm mounted on a Manfrotto tripod. Let me know what you think.

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(Shaun Eastin Photography) Black and White Hiking River The Gorge Waterfall https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2014/4/hiking-in-the-gorge Mon, 21 Apr 2014 16:46:11 GMT
Snapseed Smartphone App https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2014/4/snapseed-smartphone-app Before After Before After Before After Before After

If there was only one photo editing app for my Iphone that I couldn't live without it would be Snapseed. Snapseed is created by Nik Software, Inc. which is one of the most well known creators of plugins for Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom. With this app you can enhance your images taken with your smartphone with common editing tools such as Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, and Sharpening controls. Even make selective adjustments to help draw your viewers eyes to specific details in your images. If you are feeling really creative than apply some of the many different effects that are built in to the application. I highly recommend  this app for all smartphone photo enthusiasts who would like to get a little bit more out of their phone images. You will be able to find the app for FREE on both Google Play and Apple's App Store. The images above are just a taste of what you can do with this app.

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(Shaun Eastin Photography) Nik Software, Inc Snapseed photo editing https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2014/4/snapseed-smartphone-app Sat, 19 Apr 2014 19:16:50 GMT
Alive Christian Music Festival 2013 https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2013/7/alive-christian-music-festival-2013         
 
 
 
On Saturday June 22nd, I attended the Alive Christian Music Festival and enjoyed some great music and time with friends. Of course being a photographer I definitely had my camera with me to take some photographs of the bands and sharpen my skills with focusing and high speed photography. The hardest thing about photographing bands is the many different lighting scenarios that you can be presented with, where having a camera that can handle high ISO and a fast 2.8 lens can make the difference in a keeper or a throw away photograph. Visit the my gallery of Alive 2013.
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(Shaun Eastin Photography) https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2013/7/alive-christian-music-festival-2013 Thu, 04 Jul 2013 11:15:00 GMT
Grace Church Softball (Rootstown, Ohio) https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2013/6/grace-church-softball-rootstown-ohio
I had an early church softball game this past Monday in which my team won, but after the game some of my teammates and I decided to stay and watch a couple of friends play their game which started later. I just so happened to have my camera with me and decided to take some pictures while they played. These 2 pics were shot with a Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 and I definitely used the lens to its maximum capabilities. I was shooting at about 8:45pm where I had very minimal light, so I needed to use ISO to boost my light sensitivity to be able to capture these images without camera shake at 1/100th of a second with VR on.
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(Shaun Eastin Photography) https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2013/6/grace-church-softball-rootstown-ohio Thu, 20 Jun 2013 20:18:00 GMT
Fun with Macro https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2013/6/fun-with-macro
After I got home I was in the mood to shoot some macro photography and during the warm season flowers were an obvious and immediate choice. I shot this image with a 24-105mm macro Nikkor lens on a Nikon D300, my settings were f/4.5 at a 20th of a second mounted on a Manfrotto tripod.

I did some post processing in Lightroom 4 to bring out the color and sharpen the image but I did not take any of the imperfections out of the flowers because I believe that they give the flowers more character. Let me know what you think.
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(Shaun Eastin Photography) https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2013/6/fun-with-macro Thu, 13 Jun 2013 19:31:00 GMT
Summer 2013 https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2013/6/here-is-image-to-help-remind-us-what-we
Here is an image to help remind us what we have to look forward to this summer.  I took this panoramic image in Myrtle Beach in 2009. In photoshop, I added the plane with the Hooters sign and the parachuters from different images to make this image even more interesting.
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(Shaun Eastin Photography) https://www.eastinphotography.com/blog/2013/6/here-is-image-to-help-remind-us-what-we Wed, 12 Jun 2013 17:11:00 GMT