Blog - tysonsugihara.com

Shooting RAW vs JPEG

RAW vs JPEG With how quickly people are understanding digital photography, it's a little surprising how many people are scared to shoot their photos in RAW format instead of JPEG. Why? I have no idea, I was hoping you would know. Alas, the difference between the two formats is important enough that we decided to write about it! JPEG This is what a lot of cameras will default to in order to make doing anything with the photos easier. For example, when you open up an image using your windows preview it's usually in a jpeg format. The image itself is compressed to a smaller size that the computer and user can handle very easily. It's ready to be uploaded for printing, e-mailed, or pretty much anything else you might need to do quickly. The downside to Jpeg is that because it is being compressed it has less information. Meaning if you try to edit the image, you won't have as much information to adjust more than basic settings. RAW Images taken in RAW format will have the opposite of jpeg. They will have more information allowing more possibilities to edit the image. The downside is the size. More info, bigger file size. The great thing about RAW is the ability to take a photo that is underexposed and brighten the image without much of a noticeable difference. Or adjusting the white balance to be color corrected perfectly. The best way to compare the two that someone once told me is to imagine you have this big beautiful hoagie sandwich. It's got everything, tomatoes, lettuce, salami, turkey, cheese; you name it and it's on this sandwich. This is the RAW version of your [...]

By Sugi|2020-11-13T19:29:02-05:00November 13th, 2020|Photography|0 Comments

Amanda

April 28, 2014

By Sugi|2020-11-13T19:19:32-05:00November 13th, 2020|Photography, Recent Work, Studio|0 Comments

The Widow

"The black widow, who had dispatched a lover or two, was sought out for her wisdom. The young spider asked her, "Did you keep his harmful secret under the threat of danger, or did you spin a web so confusing that he didn't know if you were friend or foe? Did you release him from the web and your presence or will you give another the venom in which to finish him?" The black widow was quiet and then said, "All of the above. - Donna Lynn Hope When most people see a black widow they freak out, run away, or do the most logical thing and burn whatever building you are in down. Don't get us wrong we went through that list of things too, but as photographers we also thought "let's get macro shots"! Funny thing is even though she was no longer alive, we still did not want to touch her. The thought of holding her was.....not going to happen. The depth of field on a specialty macro lens like the MP-E 65 is extremely shallow, thus requiring this image to be focus stacked with 15 separate images to get the clarity you see. This allows those big beautiful eyes to remain in focus alongside each terrifying hair. Go ahead, zoom in. I dare you. Technical Info Location: Thin Air Media Studios (Tyson Sugihara Photography) Camera Body: Canon 5D mkIII Lens: Canon MP-E 65 mm Macro Focal Length: 65 mm ISO: 100 Exposure: 1/100 @ f/ 16 Post Production 15 Images Focus Stacked Lighting Elinchrom: Ranger RX 1100 Elinchrom: BRXi 500 x's 2 Elinchrom: 53" Reflector Dish Elinchrom: Strip Box x's2 Assistant Danielle Tyler [...]

By Sugi|2016-10-17T12:10:22-05:00June 29th, 2016|Uncategorized|0 Comments

Macro Photography – An Introduction

Transcript Tyson Sugihara: Hey everybody. It’s Tyson Sugihara here, and welcome back to this week’s blog and podcast. This week we are going to talk about macro photography. I just picked up this crazy new lens—crazy and new for me. It’s the Canon MPE-65 Millimeter Macro, and it is a macro specialty lens. I’ve had other macro lenses in the past that could be used for a wide variety of things. I had one that was 100 millimeter. They call it a macro, but you could use it for portraiture photography as well, which is very popular amongst the macro lenses. This one is specifically and purely for macro photography. The big thing here is that a lot of people confuse macro photography with close-up photography, and there are many lenses that allow you to do close-up photography. However, true macro (meaning giving you a 1:1 aspect ratio) is something that does require a little more specialty use in specialty features on the lens. This particular lens will go 1:1 to 5:1, and you can see the results that I’ve posted here, and that of course, will be on the screen right now. This is just my first couple of weeks with this lens, and I’ve got to tell you, honestly, I don’t know that it’s the first macro lens that I would suggest anybody purchase unless you know that’s exactly what you want to do, that’s all you want to do, and you’re willing to put in a lot of time, effort, frustration, and a lot of “insert expletive here” because this is a very challenging lens to use. Let’s go through [...]

By Sugi|2016-10-17T12:10:22-05:00May 26th, 2016|Photography, Podcast, Studio, Weekly Tips|0 Comments

The Meaning of a Portrait

The meaning of a portrait... For a lot of photographers there is a moment that they say to themselves, "I want to do this a lot more." And it's usually because they saw something that meant more then just that pretty tree in the field at sunset. It might have been because to them they felt a moment of self, or relaxation. To others it might be the opposite, that moment they took a shot of a fast moving car at a race and felt the adrenaline go through them. Whatever the reason to a photographer the photo they take extends way beyond just holding the camera and pressing the shutter. So why would that matter to anyone else? Why would whatever brought my photographer to do this as a career matter to me when I hire them? So they like their job, that's great. Well, it actually shows in your portraits when they take them. Let's step back and think of the expression “A picture is worth a thousand words”. My understanding of a great portrait is the image should make you inquire and want to know more about what's going on. Where was it taken? What was happening? Why are they laughing? What was said that made that little boy look up at his parents that way? You stop glancing and really look. A great photographer does that. They capture this moment that is specific to you and no one else. When you look at that image printed big with a beautiful frame hung perfectly with your home decorations you feel more than just “oh we were at the park and took a shot”. You feel warmth and closeness; [...]

By Sugi|2016-10-17T12:10:24-05:00May 4th, 2016|Photography|0 Comments

5 Essentials to Jumpstart Your Photography

5 Essentials to Jumpstart Your Photography With your first camera, be it a point and shoot or a digital SLR, it's very to feel overwhelmed or confused. There are so many options available and each result can be very different. In this post we are going to talk about some photography basics that you can use with almost any camera! 1. Auto vs Manual The most common question I get with manual settings is "If the camera takes a great picture on auto, why would I need to use manual?". Well, the answer is you don't NEED to use manual but you're only utilizing a fraction of the cameras capabilities. It's like buying an airplane but never doing anything other than taxiing around the airport. With the auto settings the camera is doing everything for you. It's metering how much light is available, how many subjects there are (focal points you are aiming at) and what the camera feels the depth of field should be. In most cases this will satisfy the average consumer, but if you are wanting more out of your images then manual will allow you to take control. With manual you adjust three basic features that go together like apple pie and vanilla ice cream. They are aperture, shutter speed and ISO. I'll go into more details further on, but these will allow you to achieve what YOU want in the overall look or feel of your image instead of what the camera thinks is best. 2. ISO For those who are familiar with film this will be a quick review. In the film days you got varying ISO film. For example 100 or 400. If you were outdoor 100 was [...]

By Sugi|2016-10-17T12:10:25-05:00March 30th, 2016|Photography, Weekly Tips|0 Comments

ShellyB

It is never too late to be who you could have been. - George Eliot Technical Info Location: Thin Air Media Studios (Tyson Sugihara Photography) Camera Body: Canon 5D mkIII Lens: Canon EF70-200mm f/2.8 IS II USM Focal Length: 100 mm ISO: 100 Exposure: 1/100 @ f/ 10 Lighting Elinchrom: Ranger RX 1100 Elinchrom: BRXi 500 x's 2 Elinchrom: 53" Rotalux Octa Softbox Elinchrom: Strip Box x's2 Assistant Danielle Tyler Getting your photos taken can be a little nerve wracking for some, not Shelly. Her personality is bubbly and smart. She warmed up to us very quickly which made the rest of the shoot a breeze. We decided that since we are going to get some action shots of her rock climbing that we would keep this shoot clean and simple. Her green eyes caught our light setup beautifully, making editing her images very easy. We are way excited to be working with Shelly again outdoors and seeing her in action.

By Sugi|2016-10-17T12:10:25-05:00March 21st, 2016|Photography|0 Comments

Get Fit

One of the greatest moments in life is realizing that two weeks ago, your body couldn't do what it just did. - Unknown Technical Info Location: Thin Air Media Studios (Tyson Sugihara Photography) Camera Body: Canon 5D mkIII Lens: Canon 50mm f1.4 USM Focal Length: 50 mm ISO: 100 Exposure: 1/100 @ f/ 5.6 Lighting Elinchrom: Ranger RX 1100 Elinchrom: BRXi 500 x's 2 Elinchrom: 53" Rotalux Octa Softbox Elinchrom: Strip Box x's2 Assistant Danielle Tyler Here's some bad asses from Wolf Creek Resort Fitness in Eden, Utah. I've been assisting them with new websites, photography and video recently, and we wanted to get some new images for their new website. It's photos like this that make me really appreciate a large cyclorama to shoot on.

By Sugi|2016-10-17T12:10:25-05:00February 16th, 2016|Photography, Studio|0 Comments

Winter

Where words are restrained, the eyes often talk a great deal. - Samuel Richardson Technical Info Location: Thin Air Media Studios (Tyson Sugihara Photography) Camera Body: Canon 5D mkIII Lens: Canon 70-200 f2.8 IS II USM Focal Length: 70 mm ISO: 100 Exposure: 1/125 @ f/ 3.2 Lighting Elinchrom: Ranger RX 1100 Elinchrom: BRXi 500 x's 2 Elinchrom: 53" Rotalux Octa Softbox Elinchrom: Strip Box x's2 MUA Brittney Nicole Assistant Danielle Tyler This is Winter. This shoot is the first time I have worked with her, but we do have mutual friends, and had heard about each other previously (all good). Winter came to my studio for a test shoot, and knowing that we were looking for a model for upcoming promotional materials for Valentine's Day.

By Sugi|2016-10-17T12:10:25-05:00January 11th, 2016|Photography, Studio, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Alan

The wrinkles she's trying to smooth out might be under my shirt. Technical Info Location: Thin Air Media Studios (Tyson Sugihara Photography) Camera Body: Canon 5D mkIII Lens: Canon 70-200 f2.8 IS II USM Focal Length: 125 mm ISO: 100 Exposure: 1/180 @ f/ 9.5 Lighting Elinchrom: Ranger RX 1100 Elinchrom: 53" Rotalux Octa Softbox Here's my shot of the day. Meet Alan, a new yoga instructor at 70 years young. He started practicing yoga a few years ago, and decided at the age of 69 to become a certified instructor. While sitting cross legged on his yoga mat he told me that one of his favorite things about practicing yoga is what his grandchildren say. "Look how grandpa can sit like that!" As my assistant was adjusting his shirt he claimed that "the wrinkles she's trying to smooth out might be coming from under my shirt". Alan was quick to admit that yoga was not easy for him to begin with. Practicing with people half his age in "hard core" classes, he was determined to learn the art by attending classes several times per week over the course of three years. Yesterday marked the day of his own class after being a substitute for other instructors for several months. I know we can all learn something from people like Alan. It's never too late to accomplish your goals and dreams. Keep going, even if it's against the main current, and more than likely you will reap true rewards and self accomplishment. There's no greater feeling that I can think of than succeeding when the majority says you're too old, not talented or smart enough, or just plain crazy. Keep pushing, learning, [...]

By Sugi|2016-10-17T12:10:25-05:00January 6th, 2016|Photography, Recent Work, Studio|0 Comments