 WHETHER AT HOME OR ON THE ROAD, PDN'S PHOTO SOURCE EQUIPMENT GUIDE 2008
is the professional photographers' indispensable pathfinder to the best equipment, supplies, rental houses and production services in the U.S. and Canada, from the top professionals in the business.
The Equipment Guide 2008 features the latest trends and resources, as well as professional photographers' testimonials on the gear they turn to most. In this issue, the feature "Breaking New Ground" takes a look at still photographers who are embracing video as part of their image-making process. We explore equipment concerns, changes in workflow and the creative and financial options that video shoots can bring to your photography business. Our special End Page, "Blogs in Brief", provides excerpts from some of our favorite blogs, offering equipment-related information and valuable tips.
As always, we include our mini-reviews and listings section, supplying the latest information on photo gear, lighting equipment, digital capture systems, retailers and suppliers across the U.S. and Canada.
The compact, easy-to-use Photo Source Equipment Guide 2008 provides everything the professional photographer needs with an eye on future trends, technology and products for producing the best, most profitable and cost-efficient shoot.
—The Editors
 ith the Web and handheld devices offering new platforms for video, clients demanding imagery that can be used on multiple platforms and news Web sites offering more video and multimedia options, the image-making landscape is shifting radically. For photographers who are contemplating a move to motion, the prospects can be daunting. A dizzying choice of equipment, along with inevitable changes in workflow and budgeting, leave many people stymied. But according to our experts, the transition to shooting video offers great opportunities and need not be painful.
STEVEN LIPPMAN
www.stevenlippman.com
 Ten years ago, photographer Steven Lippman was shooting a print advertising campaign for Eddie Bauer when he had a brainwave. "The shoot was going great and I was getting along really well with the creative director, so I said to her, 'Let me bring in a 16mm movie camera, a director of photography (DP) and an assistant, and let's shoot some motion,'" he remembers. The creative director agreed, and the shoot generated a 30-second broadcast ad as well as print stills. "They were delighted," Lippman recalls. So was he; he'd realized that he could market himself as a motion and still photographer.
Since that first broadcast shot with a 16mm, Lippman has shot motion on all kinds of equipment—from Avid 35mm movie cameras to Panasonic 24p and Sony HD video cameras. "It depends on the client and the budget," he says.
A former professional surfer who taught himself to shoot both still photographs and motion picture, Lippman sometimes shoots his own video work and sometimes hires a DP. He always rents his equipment, he says, because "the technology is changing so fast, it doesn't make sense for me to buy anything right now."
Lippman says that for commercial clients, having a photographer who can shoot both stills and motion is an attractive proposition, since it offers an opportunity to cut costs and achieve a unified look for a campaign. He does caution that many clients try to cut costs radically because they're working with a single vendor. "I can save the client money by combining my directing and shooting fee, so they could be paying $150,000 for a motion and print campaign rather than $100,000 for each," he says.
However, when planning a combo still/video shoot, Lippman warns against too much doubling up of other crew members as this could compromise the quality of the shoot. "Aside from my own fee, I always produce two separate budgets because I have two different crews," he says. "I try not to lower standards for the industry by selling myself short."
Ultimately, Lippman believes that shooting motion has given his work a big creative boost. "I'm very passionate about what I do," he says. "I want to work with amazing people and create wonderful art. I feel very strong about selling myself as a still shooter and a motion shooter."
DAVID MCLAIN
www.davidmclain.com
www.mergegroup.com
In 2001, Maine-based photographer David McLain teamed up with movie post-production expert Jerome Thelia to create Merge. Merge literally combines still imagery and video into a stunning new hybrid media form. "You don't need to be a rocket scientist to realize that the entire media landscape is shifting right now, in the most fundamental way," says McLain, who shoots regularly for National Geographic. "Merge has allowed me to come up with creative solutions for this shifting landscape."
 For McLain, the main issue of merging still and motion pictures is compatibility: will the two forms look as if they belong together? To ensure a seamless look, McLain relies on Thelia's expertise.
For example, McLain typically shoots the stills on his Canon 1D Mark III camera and has used the Panasonic HVX200 and Panasonic Vericam HD cameras to shoot motion. But Thelia says, "There's an issue in that video is traditionally not high resolution, whereas the Canon 1D Mark III is, so that when you combine them they can look odd. To get around that, we sometimes blow out the video elements and make the backgrounds soft."
The Merge team is excited about the new Red One Digital camera, which, with its 12-megapixel sensor, 60 fps speed and 12-bit native RAW, can shoot video of a high enough quality that high-definition stills can be captured from it. McLain is particularly excited about the fact that the Red One will accept Canon and Nikon lenses, "so that I can get a more filmic look to my video," he says.
For post-production, McLain and Thelia use Final Cut Pro, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Photoshop and a morphing tool called RE:flex. They have also begun to use a new Adobe application called On Location that allows them to composite two different video images in the field. "Some of our post-production is pretty elaborate, but we still try to keep things loose in the field because we want it to look natural," says Thelia.
McLain adds that he's constantly thinking of ways to push Merge to new levels. "I get a creative stoke from doing this stuff that I really enjoy on a deep, deep level," he says. "I feel as though it's completely new and limitless. It's like being a teenager, back in the darkroom again."
LAUREN GREENFIELD
www.laurengreenfield.com
For acclaimed documentary photographer Lauren Greenfield, the transition to motion photography also happened quickly. In 2005, Greenfield decided to do a project on women suffering from anorexia and bulimia at the Renfrew Center in Florida, but felt limited by her still camera. "Renfrew was a hard place to make pictures because it was very monochromatic and every day was the same," she says. "I felt like there was more I could do."
Greenfield approached HBO and was signed to make a feature-length documentary film, Thin. "It's pushed my photography in a different direction," Greenfield says of the movie, which was nominated for an Emmy award. "These days, I'm making a lot of multimedia stories, recording sound and doing interviews. It's opened up that world for me."
Greenfield has used different formats for her moving image projects. For Thin, she used Panasonic SDX-900 and DVX-100 cameras and hired DP Amanda Micheli to shoot first camera, while she shot second camera (the video was bumped up to 35mm for the film's theatrical releases). For a more recent short movie she made called kids + money, she used a Canon XL-H1 HD camera. "I was really impressed with the quality of the HD," Greenfield says. "We showed it in a big-screen theater and it was fantastic. You can produce really good quality [video] now on a camera that sells for under $10,000."
Of course, changing to a different medium requires necessary changes in workflow, and with film and video, post-production is a major issue. To edit Thin, Greenfield worked with editor Kate Amend and used Apple's Final Cut Pro, which she describes as "totally user-friendly." Since then, she has used the program to create short multimedia projects for GQ, British Marie Claire and the New York Times magazine. "These days, when I go somewhere to shoot, I'll think, 'Is there an opportunity here for a multimedia piece?' Because we can do the post-production very efficiently in my studio," she says.
While shooting motion offers  great new opportunities, it shouldn't be embarked upon lightly, says Greenfield. "Photographers are not discovering filmmaking; it's been around for a while," she says. "We have to gain mastery in these new skills and be careful that we're not just being mediocre."
To any photographer who's thinking of shooting motion, she advises, "Have fun with it, play with it. Collaborate with other people, and don't expect it to be a business right away." She adds, "For me, this is an investment that will pay off later."
Photos from top:
An image from Lippman's Eddie Bauer ad campaign, his first motion photography client. © Steven Lippman
A behind-the-scenes shot of Lippman, videocam in hand
A lifestyle image shot for the client Horny Toad. © David McLain/MERGE Group
Merge shot still and video to produce this multi-media campaign for California-based clothing company, Horny Toad. The images were used in a print catalogue that points viewers to the same images—in motion—on their Web site. © David McLain/MERGE Group
An image from Greenfield's series, Thin, which also became an HBO documentary. © Lauren Greenfield
Add embossed copyright info to your images in Photoshop: Adding text and symbols is difficult for a Photoshop action to automate... Fortunately, there is an easy solution. You can create a custom layer style and then apply it. This lets you drop whatever text or custom shape you like on the image, resize or move them around, and have them appear with a translucent, embossed
effect. Really slick! You can even use a logo from something like Adobe Illustrator CS for your watermark.
—Glenn Mitchell, The Light's Right Studio
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Eliminate dust—before you import your photos: Sure, you can remove imperfections in Photoshop, but when those specks get on your sensor, every single photo will need to be fixed... Here are six steps to ensure a dust-free photo shoot: 1. Keep the body cap or a lens on your camera at all times. 2. Don't mess around when changing lenses. 3. Clean your camera bag. 4. Check your sensor for dust. 5. Use a hand blower to clear out the dust you find. 6. Use a brush or swab to remove any remaining specks.
—Stanley Leary, Black Star Rising,
December 31, 2007
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Rimshot rules of thumb: [U]se your weakest light as a rim light...[W]hen I am rim lighting in close, I usually start my SB-800s at 1/128 power and adjust my working aperture to where that looks good as a starting point... even one stop down is a little hot... I tend to start out at two stops down. (If you work without a flash meter...use your guide number chart to get you close on the first pop.)
—David Hobby, Strobist, December 29, 2007
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Pack lithium batteries carefully next time you fly: If you're [flying] with your cameras and other battery-operated equipment... you may have to plan a bit more carefully how many rechargeable battery packs you carry with you, and how you carry them. ...[T]he main and perhaps only change we'll need to make when preparing to fly is to consistently place spare camera and laptop Lithium-Ion packs into see-through, sealable bags, so as to not give airport screeners a reason to delay the passage of carry-ons through security.
—Rob Galbraith, Digital Photography Insights, January 2, 2008
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Give your LCD some extra bulk-free protection: LCDs are notoriously prone to scratches and dings, but can be protected very simply and inexpensively... InvisibleShield... are basically magical pieces of plastic that you
affix to your screen and you're protected... [T]here's a bit of a texture to it, though its invisible when looking at the screen... [T]hese things...are nearly impossible to damage—you can pull them off, re-apply, stretch, crumple, whatever and they go back to their original shape.
—Ryan Goodman, CameraPorn,
November 17, 2007
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Get a sneak preview of split tone coloring in Lightroom: When you use the Split Tone panel you pretty much have to guess at which color you're dragging the hue slider to... If you hold down the Alt/Option key as you drag the Hue slider, Lightroom gives you a preview of what the image would look like if the saturation were at 100%... you rarely want a 100% saturation setting but at least you can get an idea for the color you're dragging to.
—Matt Kloskowski, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips, October 5, 2007
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