Chris Christoff

Working with Rainbows

Rainbows are one of the most magical of sky effects, elusive, mysterious and colorful. They’re a natural subject for the nature photographer, so much so that they do run the risk of cliche, but they can also can put the final “shazam” on what would already be an interesting image. With a few simple hints and techniques, you’ll gain a better understanding of how to capture and convey their magic.

The first challenge in finding a rainbow is finding one to photograph in the first place. Any rainbow requires two elements, light and water droplets. The light needs to be from small source and very bright, so it’ll usually need to be direct sunlight (although it is possible to find and photograph “moonbows”) they’re very hard to see and even harder to capture well. The need for both sunlight and rain or mist means you’ll usually need to look for rainbows in mixed weather (rainy conditions without complete overcast) or in other places where mists form in broad sunlight (waterfalls, such as my Iceland image above, geysers, and the like.) (more…)

Stand and Deliver

or... Do What You Say. I continue to be amazed at how many businesses are out there with really crappy customer service. Don't be one of them. This industry is…

Working with Tides

Living near the California Coast affords me ample opportunities for photographing the seashore, and an important part of learning to photograph in and around coastal areas is learning a little bit about tides. Low tides often allow fascinating tidepool opportunities, and (at least in the coastal areas near here) often bring a lot of interesting geology out of the water. (more…)

Copyright part 3, Protect thyself

Anyone who’s been in this business long enough has a story about being ripped off. Whether it’s about unpaid invoices, clients who make unreasonable demands, or outright fraud, my experience has been there are two types of professional photographers. Those who have been cheated, and those who will. We’ll talk about invoicing, unreasonable clients and fraud later. Right now – stolen images. (more…)

My favorite piece of gear

If you ask a photographer to name the one piece of equipment that he loves the most, the answer might surprise you. Although I love my camera, my flashes, my lens… they could all be replaced by other brands if necessary. However, there is one thing that I use all the time that I just love. (more…)

Using Your Tripod: Why and How

In my last two articles, I talked about how to select tripod legs and a tripod head, with that gear assembled it’s time to get out into the field and learn how to use your new tripod to best advantage.

One of the primary reasons we use tripods is stability. It is simply impossible to hold a camera steady enough for a critically sharp image as shutter speeds get longer and longer, and longer shutter speeds are often an inevitable requirement of smaller apertures and wider depth-of-field. (more…)

Piece of mind!

Every now and then a device comes along that makes you think, how did I ever live without this? How many of us would ever think of venturing on a long drive without our cell phones? For me, that device is my Epson P-5000. Two years ago, while transferring photos from my card, to my G5, the computer decided to “burp”, okay not a burp, it was more like a projectile vomit!

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Copyright, part two

Part Two – Licensing usage

Now that we’ve determined that artists are entitled to profit from their creations, we’ve got to answer the question of who actually holds the copyright, ie who owns the work. US copyright law was originally codified in 1790 but for practical purposes, the Copyright act of 1976 and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) are the laws that currently affect us. (more…)

Get the shot

Last Saturday I was working a Bar Mitzvah when something happened that is pretty common lately: The lights came down and the glow sticks came out.

Bar Mitzvah photographers know what I’m talking about here. The DJ at a Bar Mitzvah has one of the toughest jobs in that industry because they have to entertain a room full of 13-year-old kids and their parents at the same time. (In fact, a friend of mine who used to hire DJ’s for a national chain of nightclubs told me that he would seek out Bar Mitzvah Jocks because they knew how to play to the whole room.) One of the ways that they make the kids happy is with glowsticks.

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Copyright, Part One

This is the first of several in a series on copyright, as it stands in the US, and how it affects photographers.

Part One – The basics.

Photography is copyrighted intellectual property, just like books, music and software. Like musicians, authors and filmmakers, photographers are paid a fee for creating the work and then residuals or royalties for the subsequent use of those works. An artist’s ability to profit from their creations is a Constitutional right, Article 1, Section 8:

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

Not to get too political here, but… The framers realized that a stable and prosperous society is aided by the ability of the innovative and inventive to profit from their innovations and inventions. This may all seem like political mumbo jumbo, but in the face of those who think copyright is a hindrance to free expression (if you liked Napster, this means you) it’s an important rebuttal. Without the profit motive to, well, motivate us, why create.

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