Hey Everyone! Hope you're having a great week! This week I want to talk about 3 smart phone apps that I use while doing film photography. I have fallen back in love with film photography and do it as much as I do digital photography. I love the challenge and the analog machines that I capture images with. But I also like modern technology and use it to help with the older cameras and film.  I have 3 apps that I have that I use regularly to help me. With the cost of film I try to get it as right as I can the first time and not make as many silly mistakes that I often do with digital.  Theses apps help me visualize, properly expose and develop the film that I am using. 

Visualize, The first app that I use is"Viewfinder". This app helps me visualize the scene even before I take my camera out. It's a framing tool that you can put the aspect ratio of your camera , the lens and even the film that you are using. You can program it to act like your cameras for example one of my cameras is a Bronica 645. If I am using Kodak Tri-X film and a 75mm lens it will show you exactly what you will get with your camera. So it's great for Framing and finding the composition before you take out your camera . When you have the composition that you want then you can set up your camera and take the shot. This is a new app for me but I really like it. Especially when I'm shooting black and white film it lets me know what the scene will look like. On my digital camera's I can do this in camera but not with the film cameras. In color it's not as an aid as in black and white but still is useful in framing the composition you want. This is not a free app I think it cost 5 bucks one time purchase and can be used with IOS and Android phones.

Expose, I use "myLightMeter Pro" app. Using a good light meter with
film is a must. Most of my cameras have built in light meters but the cameras are old and don't always give you a good exposure. I have hand held meters that work great but this one in a pinch or as a backup is great. You can calibrate it to your specific lenses and film. You can also calibrate it to a handheld meter to make sure it's accurate. This works great when I'm shooting street or something where I want to be lightweight because I don't have to carry an extra meter just my phone that I have on me all of the time anyway. You can make the app look like an old fashioned meter or a modern meter and you can move the dials around after you have metered the scene and apertures and shutter speeds move around to correspond to your choices. They have a free version I think but I bought the pro version for 10 bucks one time purchase and can be used with IOS and Android phones.

Develop, I use "Massive Dev Chart" to help when developing. You can get this free online website and what it does is helps with measurements and times of all the chemicals used when developing film. The app does the same and also has built in timers to help with the process. I use this mainly with Black and White photography. My color photography process is pretty set in stone and works great. Black and White film is much more flexible and you can use many chemicals, times and processes. This app tells you the developing time, delusion, and other aspects of all of the film stocks and speeds of films. So if you're using Ilford film it has the times delusions and formulas already figured out for all of the types of chemicals you can be using. This app is available for IOS and Android and is free I believe.

I highly recommend all three of these apps. There a many apps out there and I assume all of them are pretty good these are the three that I chose and can recommend. They make life much easier than it used to be before the internet and you had to go to a library or find a book for all of this stuff.  Thanks to these apps my film photography adventure still continues and it's a lot easier. Until next week Get out and Shoot! 

Hey if you want to check out my photography go to my instagram account Max Stansell Photography there are over 2000 post there. Here is the link

 Max Stansell Photography Instagram Link

Hey Ya'll ! How are you doing today? Hope you've had a great week! This week I want to talk about gear you actually need as a photographer. I just watched a great video by Cody Mitchell on this subject.  I'll be piggy backing his video. Please watch the video on this link Camera Gear You Actually Need as a Beginner. It is a fantastic video and explains in more detail than I am going to in this blog. What he says makes a lot of sense and I believe I have touched on most of the items before in blogs but maybe not as much detail as he does. First of all most of us have way too much gear for what we truly need. I am no exception and am trying to pair down my gear but it's very hard because I do love gear so much. As photographers we think that the better gear we have the better photo's we will produce. In the beginning we think this way and buy all sorts of gear that we do not need.  Lenses and the most expensive body that we can afford and all the accessories that every manufacturer is trying to sell us. But to tell you the truth 80% of my photo's are taken with the same camera and lens combo and all of the other stuff I bring is usually just extra weight. In the beginning we bring all the gear we can and we spend most of our time trying to figure out the correct combo of stuff to use. Paralysis by Analysis . The inability to make a decision when faced with multiple options. We think as beginning photographers that the more gear we have the better chance at getting that winner shot but in fact too many choices especially as a beginner slows you down so much that you miss a lot of shots by the inability to make a decision. So as a beginner as Cody Mitchell says you really only need 6 items and that's what we'll talk about today.

Camera. Of course you need a camera but it doesn't need to be the most expensive camera. As I have said in the past I use "Used" cameras that are cheaper and considerably not as fancy as the newer ones. And as far as I am concerned I get great photo's. And if I don't it's not the Camera's fault it is usually mine. Depending on your budget there are all sorts of options available. Cody goes over a list he has compiled in his video and shares links to a spreadsheet he had made with different budget options depending if you're starting in film or digital photography.

Lens. As I mentioned above I shoot almost all of my photo's with one lens. A zoom lens. It's in the focal range I think you should start with. A standard lens 24-70mm. It will cover a wide range of situations that you will encounter as a beginning photographer. This is also where I think that you should invest the majority of your
budget. A good lens last a long time and will outlast any body that you buy. I think the saying is you date camera bodies but you marry lenses.

Tripod. You should have a good tripod. A sturdy tripod that will hold the heaviest camera/lens combo that you will have. This is an item that you don't go cheap on either. You don't want to break the bank and with tripods ( you easily can) but you don't want to go cheap either . Somewhere in the middle. A good tripod will last for years and years. My travel tripod I've had over 10 years and I've just bought a larger tripod that I expect to do the same.

Camera Bag. You need something that will carry all of your new gear. But you also want it protected also. Bags are my weakness and I have bought bunches of them.  You should have a bag that you can carry with you that is comfortable and protects your gear. A sling bag that can carry your new camera/lens combo is a great choice for walking around town. If you are doing more landscape stuff a backpack will come in handy make sure it has a spot to carry your tripod.

The next two items to me are optional depending what kind of photography you are doing. If you're doing Landscapes or maybe using film. I have both and think when you need them you need them. For me and the type of photography I do Landscape/Travel and Film I consider them essential but if you're doing wildlife or portraits not so much.

Remote Shutter Release Cable. The remote shutter release cable lets you fire the camera without touching it. Sometimes at low shutter speeds just touching the camera to press the shutter button causes enough shake to blur your image. And for long exposures you can lock down the release for as long as you want to take very long exposures.  Some would argue that you can set a self timer on your camera to get the same effect and to a point they are right depending on how long the exposure is. They are inexpensive and you must get the one that fits your camera especially digital cameras .  They tend to have proprietary connections on some cameras .

_MSP9577 Hand Held Exposure/Spot Meter for film, Most digital cameras come with very good meters built in to the camera that will give you average meter readings which work well in most situation. But film cameras may have old meters that aren't accurate or not have a meter at all. A good meter when shooting film is essential I think. If you are a portrait photographer and use external lights. Meters come in handy when figuring out the exposure when using strobes. I think that this item should be purchases if you are primarily a film photographer or are going to use strobes. Meters are expensive and if you don't need one I wouldn't spend the money.

So those are the 6 things that were mentioned in the video but I would add maybe a camera strap. A neck one or a wrist strap to keep your camera safe when you are handing your camera so you don't drop accidentally .  Other than that I think that you can make great photography with the items listed above and really learn your craft with only these items. So until next week Get out and Shoot!

Hey if you want to check out my photography go to my instagram account Max Stansell Photography there are over 2000 post there. Here is the link

 Max Stansell Photography Instagram Link

Hey Everyone! Hope your week and day are going well. This week I want to talk about something a little different. Bikes and Photography. If you follow me on social media you know I've been doing a lot of biking in the last few months and posting videos of my adventures. Now I'm not a big video guy but bicycles and video seem to go together quite well. I use a GoPro (an older one) and I use iMovie from Apple to edit my movies. I have taken most of my ideas from Robert my Photography Wingman who is an excellent video maker and story teller. Making video is a lot harder than making a photograph .  There is a lot to it and you must tell some sort of story when making the video. Then there is the audio that goes with it which may me more important than the video. I don't do a lot of talking in my video's mostly music which I try to find music that is free and that I won't infringe on anyones copyright . To me picking out the music is the hardest part because it becomes the backbone of the video. So lets talk about hardware that I use.

Being able to shoot steady video is a must and you should be able to do it safely. If you're on a bicycle and pedaling you don't want anything to distract you so you don't get in an accident. If you are holding your camera in one hand then that hand is not on the handlebars making it more dangerous. So I have my camera/cameras attached to something.  I have one GoPro attached to my handlebars via a snap mount. This mount uses magnets to secure the camera to the mount which makes removing it easer to change batteries or just remove the GoPro at the end of the day. I highly recommend these mount as I tried to do it cheaper with mounts I already had but didn't work nearly as well as the Snap Mounts do. The magnets attach to the GoPro and to the mount itself so they "Snap" together. When you take the GoPro off of the mount you can attach it to any metal surface and it will stick. Like a pole or refrigerator. It also opens up and can be used like a small tripod. The other mount I sometimes use is a helmet mount that goes on my helmet. This gives the viewer the point of view from head high so as I look around the video pans with me.  I can control the one on top of my head either by pushing a button or by using my phone via bluetooth. My phone is also attached to my bike handlebars and use it for navigation , milage and the such so with the tap of the screen I can turn the helmet camera on and off. The one on the handlebars I just use the button on the camera. I don't run the camera all of the time but take maybe 20 or 30 seconds snapshots of the ride along the way. Trying to pick out interesting things to see for the viewer. Then in post I put all of these little snapshots together to make a story.

Software: Like I said before I use iMovie . This is a very simple program that comes with Macs. It is very easy to use and it is drag and drop. You can insert Text and photo's into the movies you make along with the music clips that you are using. It puts everything on a timeline. You can cut and trim the video clips to make them more story telling and you can blend them together so the video is smooth not choppy .  There are much more professional video editing programs out there but for me this is the easiest one for me to use. When your video is finished you can export it out as a file or send it directly to Facebook or Youtube. I usually make a file and then send it to Youtube where I link it to Facebook if I want to . Depending on the quality that you shoot the video you can put out in 4k if you shot it in 4k. I usually shoot in 1080 that works for me. Here are some examples of my biking videos.

Autumn's End, Neuse River Trail 30.5 miles, 1st Bike Packing/Touring Trip

Please checkout my videos. Well that's enough for today on video and bikes. Until next week Get out and Shoot. 

Hey if you want to check out my photography go to my instagram account Max Stansell Photography there are over 2000 post there. Here is the link

 Max Stansell Photography Instagram Link