The Importance of Insurance

Take a look at this image below.  These are the most expensive items in my camera bag.  It obviously doesn't include things like tripods, props & all the little things that go along with this hobby that seems to always have a wish list attached to it. 

Now imagine that you have all these things in your camera bag.  It's sitting on the passenger seat of your vehicle. You get out- walk around- open the door & the bag tips over & all these things dump out on to the parking garage floor.  How do you feel??  I know how I felt when it happened to me. My heart raced & then fell into the pit of my stomach.  I felt physically ill & was then in tears until I could get up to the hotel room & try out all my gear to make sure it was still in working order. By the grace of God it was all good. 

Or think of this.  You are setting up for a photo shoot with some kids.  You have your bag- full of all these things sitting on the grass & you are watching the kids as you are setting up your tripod.  You turn back around- and your bag & all your expensive equipment is gone.  Someone swiped it.  Devastating right???  This happened to my friend Kim & when she told me- it sent a panic though my veins. Then she tells me that she has insurance & all will be okay. 

So of course I inquire about this insurance because when I first started my little collection in my bag I knew that I would have a hard time replacing it if something happened to it.  I was originally told by my insurance that all they could offer me was that it was covered under my renter's policy.  If there was a fire or theft- in the house- it would be covered. It wouldn't cover anything else.  So Kim told me that she bought her policy through Shelter Insurance.  I visited the website & found that the kind I was looking for is called Personal Property Insurance or more often called Inland Marine Insurance.  Basically any personal property that can be transported anywhere in the world fits into this category.  

When I talked to them though they kept trying to get me to buy a renter's policy from them & insisted that it would be covered under that.  I realize that they don't make a whole lot from an Inland Marine policy so it's so much more desirable for them to up-sell me  a renters policy.  Once I let them know that I knew they were trying to sell me something that wouldn't cover anything I wanted they said that they could only sell me the Inland Marine policy in conjunction with another policy.

So I went back to my broker- armed with all this knowledge I had just gained through all these calls & asked for the Inland Marine policy.  I told her what I wanted & what I knew that it should cover.  I am happy to say that ALL my gear is insured for $5000 (through Travelers Ins & double what it would cost me to replace it all) & it will only cost me $83/yr.  Granted Kim was able to pick up her $6500 policy for $65/yr- but I have heard that NV has some of the highest insurance rates in the nation. So I am considering myself lucky.  The best part is that it covers EVERYTHING.  When I say everything- I mean drops, kids breaking something, falling in the pool, clumsiness, if it gets wet on an amusement park ride- WHATEVER.  No deductible!!  The only exclusion is wear & tear, war, insect, vermin & nuclear. The nuclear could be a minor issue living where I do- or if it goes through the screening at the airport & it damages something that way- those things would not be covered. Other than that- I'm feeling very calm knowing that I have a little protection against things that could devastate me when it comes to my gear.

Look in to it!!!  It offers great peace of mind!

10 Tips for Capturing Lightning

I have long been in awe of images of lightning.  It's such a raw & powerful thing & since it happens so quickly, it can be difficult to capture.  But I think this is why I was so drawn to learning how to capture it. There are some tips from Peter West Carey over on Digital Photography School found HERE that you might find useful.  Some, like the ISO suggestions, I actually disagree with- which leads me to the fact that each photographer does it a bit differently for the situation & their own personal taste.  There are numerous ways, many of which I have either not learned yet or have been unsuccessful at for now- but I am going to share with you the things I do to increase my chances for success.  

1. Start with the sky relatively dark.  I have tried as early as 6-7 p.m. & this still wasn't quite dark enough since the summer nights start so late.  You are going to have your shutter open for a long time- so obviously if it's too light out you will capture nothing but white. I am sure there are ways to capture during the day- I have not looked in to it yet & so I have no solid info on just how to do that. It's on my bucket list for sure. 

2. Use a tripod set in an area with a sturdy surface preferably with some cover in case you start to get rain.  The last thing you want is to have to abort your time capturing because you are getting wet.  

3. Use a wide angle lens.  For these I used my kit lens (18-55mm) because it is the widest one I have.  Because it doesn't have too much range in it's focal length, it's still pretty sharp. You never know where the strikes will hit. I can't tell you how many times I saw one come down & it was just outside my frame.  I was bummed.  

4. I also like to find a wide open spot.  I know that most places are not so open as we are here in the desert- so finding a wide open view that also has cover can be hard. But sometimes capturing what the lightning looks like through trees & having that view of the "whole scene" can really make the shots something special. 

5. I like to set my ISO low so I have a nice sharp image- usually either 100 or 200. 

6. I set my aperture to f/7 or so to make sure I am able to capture everything I see in focus.  I have made the mistake of having it too open & ended up with the foreground in focus & the actual lightning was out of focus.  So this is something I really feel is imperative.

7. Shutter- set to 30 seconds.  For these images I was just pressing the button every 30 seconds- I have just recently started using my remote to set it to bulb & leave it open longer.  That is your choice & depends on the frequency of the bolts.  All of the shots in this post are from the same evening.  The storm was very active & so I was capturing at least one bolt with every 30 seconds the shutter was open. That totally helped & it went on for hours.  So if you are like me & you think you might miss something spectacular if you go inside- have a battery backup charged & ready to go.  I sat outside for 4+ hours with this storm, leaving my shutter open every 30 seconds for the entire time.  I pulled up a stool & just enjoyed the show. 

8. Because of the low light- you are going to want to focus manually.  This can be a pain- but I usually find something to get my focus on in the foreground & do a few test shots.  Then I zoom in to my maximum I can on my screen to make sure everything is crisp before spending all the time capturing for hours only to find out they are all out of focus & should go in the trash.  Once you get that focus- don't move unless you have to. Otherwise you have to start all over with getting your focus & then you might miss something awesome.

9. Be patient.  I can't stress this enough because while I had many captures in this particular storm- they don't all come with multiple bolts within a 30 second period of time.  There is a suggestion in the link I mentioned above that you can layer your images in processing if you like to get the desired effect you might be after.  I have not tried this.  I like to leave my images as true to what it really looked like, so I don't enhance them in that way. Which leads me to my next point...

10. Don't over process.  All of these images I opened in ACR & adjusted the clarity & sometimes the temperature if needed.  Sometimes the lights from houses can come out very orange or yellow when the shutter is open that long- I feel it detracts from the real excitement of what I was out there to capture- so I always try to tone those house lights down.  Other than that- I sharpen & that is it.  Sometimes I will crop in as you have seen in some of these- but for the most part I really like to have the foreground showing to give scale to the storm over the neighborhood.  That is my personal taste though. 

Have a great time 

Gigi Marie the Chic Homeschool Mama  www.chichomeschoolmama.com

Smoke Photography Tutorial

Hi everyone! Let start by saying that I am so honored to be part of this amazing group.  I still can't believe it's real & I am actually posting here today.  I pondered what I would talk about for a while & then it hit me. I have always been intrigued by photographs of smoke.  Learning how to do it has been on my "to-do" list for at least 6 months, if not longer.  So when Sarah asked me to be a contributor here on Paper Heart Camera, I felt it was the perfect opportunity to finally take a stab at it.  

You will need a black background, a spotlight or reflector, off camera flash WITH a snoot, incense & plenty of space.  I tried this in my office. I probably could have used some more room & when I try it again, I will definitely choose a different location. 

The thing to remember here is to keep the light OFF the backdrop. Don't let it shine there & don't let your flash bounce there (which is why the snoot is so important).  The other thing to remember is to be far enough away from your set up so that you are not getting flare in your lens from the flash.  Being that I had limited space where I was- I trashed a ton of images that otherwise would have been great if I didn't get the flare in there messing the whole thing up.  

I set my settings at ISO 200 (probably would take this down to 100 though), 1/160, f/7.1 

I switched back & forth with my 85mm & the 50mm trying to see which one was better for me.

I think all of these were captured with the 85mm. 

I had seen this done before & so I asked my son to insert his hand in there so I could try it out.  As it turns out- this gave the camera an added steady point to focus on rather than the smoke- so I ended up liking more of these with his hand than without.

When processing- I shoot in JPG but opened in ACR & adjusted the blacks to deepen the background, brightness to pop the highlights in the smoke & the clarity.  I also upped the vibrancy but didn't touch the hue/saturation- although I have heard of people really liking the effect.  In this case it would have messed with the skin tone- so I left it as is & I like it that way. 

Don't forget your patience. It's a lot like capturing lightning- you get a bunch that you end up tossing & a handful that are amazing keepers.  Give it a shot!

You can check out the rest of what I captured over at my place today.