Portugal - Part V - The Road to Lisboa

After leaving the beautiful town of Monsanto I continued heading south on my way to Lisbon, the country's capital. Along the way I planned a few stops at points that I knew would be of great interest to me.

First stop was the small town of Vila Vicosa. With a population of under 10,000 there isn't really much to see or do in this sleepy hamlet but two things drew me to putting this spot on my itinerary. First was that the area is the epicenter of the country's marble industry. The pink marble quarried in this area is world famous and results in most of the buildings being constructed from it. A truly unique and interesting sight to see.

Second was the Ducal Palace (Duke's Palace). The building (pictured above) was started in 1501 and is spectacular. The residence of the Dukes of Braganca it's inhabitants eventually assumed the throne of Portugal and this palace remained a family home right up to their  deposition in 1910. Its opulence is a sight to behold.

I really didn't get to explore the Palace as I was pressed for time and had to make Lisbon by nightfall and the place I really wanted to see was the next stop on my itinerary, the beautiful walled city of Evora. What really drew me to this small city of 55,000 inhabitants was the Roman Temple dedicated to the goddess Diana. This was the first time I had encountered a Roman structure of this magnitude and it was as impressive as expected.

While the construction happening around the temple diminished its appeal somewhat the magical setting amongst this UNESCO World Heritage city definitely made this stop worthwhile for me. After leaving the temple area I strolled through the narrow cobblestone streets admiring the beautiful buildings, many dating from the middle ages. After a quick lunch on a terrazzo overlooking the city I hopped in my car and made my way out of the city in the direction of Lisbon.

After passing through the city gates I was immediately struck with the sight of a huge aqueduct. While at first I thought it was a Roman structure I later learned it was actually a 16th century construction. It was nevertheless still an impressive sight to behold as the photo as left will attest. As I had to make Lisbon by nightfall and was still a few hours away I couldn't linger for long so I hopped back in my car and was on my way.

Lens calibration

For a while now I have felt that one of my lenses (28-70L) was a little soft with regards to focus. Not that the images I was getting were really out of focus but just that when I zoomed in at 100% in Photoshop they didn't seem to be as tack sharp as the images created by my other lenses. As I am going away on vacation this week (tomorrow) and this will probably be my most used lens I wanted to be sure everything was spot on with regards to this issue.

My first test was done a couple of weeks ago when I shot some photos of my better half, hand holding the camera and focusing on her eyes. The results showed the focus to be bang on with no issues. Still not convinced I searched online for a calibration test as my camera (Canon 5D Mark II) allows me to calibrate individual lenses to the body.

I downloaded the scale above (it can just as easily be created on any sheet of paper), and set the camera up for the test as per the image below.

The camera was set up on a tripod and fired with a remote control to eliminate the possibility on any camera shake caused by me hand holding. I zoomed in the lens as far as possible and opened up the aperture all the way to F2.8 to have the smallest depth of field, adjusted the shutter speed to get the proper exposure, set the autofocus to focus on the line in the middle of the scale and took 5 shots for comparison. Each of the images were identical in focus (as they should be). See the sample image below.

While there was a slight difference in the front and back focus the test showed me that this was minimal (and acceptable) and the lens didn't need any calibration. As this lens has no image stabilization (IS) I will make sure I never shoot slower than 1/100 second and will make sure my focus point is set exactly where I want the image focus to be. This is even more critical as I tend to shoot quite a bit in the F2.8 - F4.0 range.

I believe this is a great test that everyone should try once in a while with all their lenses even if your camera doesn't allow for any calibration. Even if it does or if you find something off and don't feel comfortable doing the adjustment yourself take it in to a camera shop and let them do it for you.

To sum it up I feel any "softness" I saw before in any of my images was the result of the operator (me) and more care will now be taken when using this lens to ensure tack sharp images.

Requested Background

I was given an assignment recently to find a green background to undertake an engagement shoot. Being pressed for time I only had about an hour to find something adequate because I was off to my day job prior to coming home in the late evening and packing for an overseas trip and assignment (to be discussed in a later post).

The task was to find a bright, vibrant colour on a background that wasn't just plain and boring. With so little time the task proved more difficult than I imagined.

I did however manage to come up with a few different options. My personal choice is the image pictured above as the colour really pops and while somewhat plain the bricks nevertheless provide a nice textured surface. I know it would allow me to create some truly outstanding images.

I did also manage to find a couple of other backdrops that also meet the criteria but to me didn't seem as interesting and definitely not as colourful yet it did provide an option for the client to ultimately decide. No matter what the ultimate choice, I know that I will make it work to achieve the desired result.

Product Photography II

Another recent product photography shoot that I undertook was for a hardwood distribution company based out of Mississauga called GRS Hardwood Flooring. They needed some shots of their various lines for both their website and also for any print brochures or products that they would like to distribute.

They had attempted to do this in-house with their own point and shoot digital camera but as you would expect the results left a little to be desired. To get professional results that will help them sell their products they needed the help of a professional. That is not to say the same results you see included with this post could not have been attained with a point and shoot, as they certainly could have. What I mean is that the items had to be presented in a professional manner with the proper lighting being controlled to display the items at their best.


As you can see from the included images the final results look exceptional and best of all, the client was thrilled. The detail in the shots really highlight the quality and colour of the wood and make customers browsing on line at ease knowing that what they see is what they will get when placing their orders.

All told I ended up shooting over 60 skews for GRS and have been retained to shoot all their new products as they come in. All because I took pride in the shoot even though it wasn't a "glamorous" item but I undertook it like every shoot I partake in, "I need to produce the best images I possibly can"!

Product Photography

I recently had the chance to do a product shoot for a local Oakville business named Saratina Bridal Boutique. They are looking at updating their website and I offered to take some shots of a few dresses as I was looking for some more images for my wedding photography business Colosseum Productions and this opportunity fit in perfectly.

It also allowed to get back in the studio, something I hadn't done in awhile excluding some recent commercials I had shot on video but I was eager to get my strobes back out, set up a backdrop and create some images I think the owners at Saratina's will be proud to display both online and in print if they so desire.

I pulled out a backdrop I hadn't used in years and I think you can see from the images in this post that it worked our really well. It allows the beautiful white dresses to really pop and stand out against it. I used a 2 light set up shot through umbrellas to get a nice soft evenly lit image with the lights placed more to the sides of the dresses than to the front to highlight the texture and lines of the fabric.

                                                    

I shot at f-4.0 so as to give a slight blur to the background to try and minimize any wrinkles in the muslin backdrop. Exposure was critical as I didn't want to blow out any of the details of the white dresses. Spill from the two strobes only resulted in about a 1 sop drop-off at the backdrop.

I ended up shooting 5 dresses of various styles shooting both from the back and front as well as close-ups of various details, included in this post is just a small sampling of some of the images.

I was quite happy with the results and definitely ended up achieving my goal of creating some nice images to put on my website and also giving the girls at Saratina's something they can use to proudly show the quality of items in their store.