So the weather man was wrong...

I do not know where he got the idea that it would be +7 degrees celsius today...

It sure felt like -30 with the windchill.

I had planned to go location hunting with my Assistant, Sébastien Lavallée. I wanted to shoot various ideas that have been wrote down for a warmer weather.

Anyhow, here are some various shots from today...

What's in the Bag? - Sébastien Lavallée

Équipement:

Canon 30D with a Canon BG-E2n grip

Canon 17-40

Canon 70-200 f4

Canon 430EX

Ebay wireless triggers

Pc/Pc cord

Rechargeable batteries

Lithium batteries AA

Canon 30D with grip:

Canon's 30D is equipped with a 8.2 MP sensor that creates nice tones and colours.

The ISO range 100-1600 with a possibility of 3200 ISO.

The price was a major factor when he chose the camera body. the second biggest factor was the acceptable level of noise even at the high ISO. The Canon 30D is a great value body for it's price. The 2.5 inch screen is really a great thing to have to properly view the images for focus and other details.

The grip allows for 2 batteries. Sebastien purchased it after shooting with a gripless Canon 30D and a Canon 70-200 f2.8L lens. He found that the weight of the lens was too much to comfortably hold in balance. With the added weight of the grip, the lenses feel more balanced with the camera body. The grip allows for easy and comfortable vertical shooting.

Canon 17-40L

Purchased not too long ago, Sebastien wanted a sharper lens but he wanted to keep the 17mm wide angle possibility that he was use to with the Canon 17-85 IS lens. The 17-40L lens is a remarkable lens especially for it's price value. The lens reacts very well to flares, CA and is sharp wide open at f4. The 17mm is considered  27mm in Full frame equivalent.  The focal length of this particular lens is usefull for landscape, portrait and event photography.

Canon 70-200 f4L

This lens was selected for it's focal length, natural looking portrait capabilities and for the lighter weight compared to the Canon 70-200mm f2.8L lens. This lens sharpness is very surprising. It's one of the sharpest in the 70-200mm Canon family. It's lower weight makes it a dream lens for shooting adventure sports and travel. It's construction is perfect and what is expected in L series lenses. He did not chose the Is version of this lens since in the most situation that he would needed IS, Sebastien opts for using a flash.

Canon 430ex flash

Sebastien chose this flash that went well with his budget. He found that the Canon 430Ex was offering enough power for is needs. He finds that this flash does not restrict his creativity. He doesn't like the locking ring of the flash since he cannot install it fast enough.

Vivitar 285 HV

This second flash is only use off-camera as a main light for outdoor shooting (with the Canon 430 as second light source). This flash is really slow while recycling and can't be set à 1/8 power but it works fine when triggered wirelessly.

Ebay wireless triggers / PC cord

These triggers are only used for off-camera lighting with the 285 HV and the Canon 430. They are inexpensive but also not reliable if the flashes are too far. In these occasion, Sebastien will prefer the long PC cord to trigger that far away flash!

Rechargeable and Lithium AA batteries

Use mainly for the flashes, the rechargeable batteries are a must in every photographer's bag! Sebastien have about 16 of them in his bag. He also use AA Lithium Batteries as a reliabla power back up and for long days of shooting with his Canon 430 EX. These batteries allows about three times the life span and without power drop until the end (although this is not the more ecological way!)

I'm back!

Hi everyone, 

So I decided to take 3 days off from the camera. (26-29 of december)

I went to Montreal to see my brother and some friends. I love that City! The energy, the vibe, the people, the night life and more...

I enjoyed my stay in Montreal with my friends and brother so much that I am thinking once more to move there.

I will go shooting tomorrow with a subject in mind.

What have you shoot over the holidays?

Sébastien

I wish you a merry X-MAS

Hi everyone, 

I am taking a little time to wish you a merry Christmas and happy holidays.

Please be responsible and take the time to love one another, laugh with one another, cry with one another. Of course, take lots of pictures and learn something new about a photography technique.

I'll try to shoot everything with my 15mm fisheye. Let go at it and have fun! What are you going to try?

Sébastien

What's in the bag? - Sébastien D'Amour

Hi everyone, 

Hope you are having a marvelous morning on this December morning. It's a cold morning in Ottawa with a -23 degree celsius temperature. I had some fun shooting in the studio yesterday and then going for a hot chocolate with a friend and some shopping since I had ripped my pants while shooting in the day...hahahahahaha

Anyway, I will be making some "What's in the Bag?" posts since I get a lot of question about equipment, what I carry for portrait and wedding session and more.

I will start with my bag. I will explain why I have each piece of equipment also!

I use a Lowepro mini trekker AW. I love this bag. Perfect size for all my gear and price is reasonable. I would have loved to go with Kata bags since they are better design in my eyes and comfort level but they are way more expensive.

I carry:

Canon 5d MarkII

Canon 15mm fisheye 2.8

Canon 85mm 1.8

Canon 24-70mm f2.8L

Canon 70-200mm f2.8L

Canon 580 EXII

1 B&W Circular Polarizer

3 Pocket wizards

30 Sony cybernergy batteries.

1 Canon LP-E6 battery pack.

48 GB of memory. (1-16GB, 3-8GB, 2-4GB) more to come since Raw files form Canon 5d MarkII take lots of memory.

1 Rayflash ringflash.

I chose the Canon 5D MarkII since I need lots of resolution for my stock photography work and I was tired of the heavy weight of the Canon 1Ds MarkII. It has 21.1 MP, High definition video, autoclean sensor, 3 inch 920K pixel screen, same quality build and system that I expect from Canon.

I purchased the Canon 15mm f2.8 fisheye when I went to New York for the Photo EXPO Plus. I wanted a specialty lens to give some of my images a more unique look. 

Sébastien D'Amour, Canon 1Ds MarkII + Canon 15mm f2.8 fisheye.

I have chose to purchase the Canon 85mm 1.8 instead of the 85 1.2LII because of weight and price. Both lens suffer from fringing in high contrast area. I love this focal length for natural looking portraits. I also find the focus to be faster on this lens version of the lens. The optical quality of this lens is superbe and bokeh also. I find that this lens is the best bang for buck portrait lens offered by Canon.

Sébastien D'Amour, Canon 5d MarkII + Canon 85mm f1.2LII(which was rented)

I chose to pack the 24-70 f2.8L lens in my bag because this focal length is very useful for weddings, portraits, landscape or photojournalism work on a Full frame Camera like my Canon 5d MarkII. The lens is big, heavy and fast. Focus is fast and with a maximum aperture of 2.8, control of Depth of field in unbelievably easy. This lens allows me to shoot in low light because of it's maximum aperture value. It suffers some barrel distortion in the short focal length and some Chromatic aberration under certain circumstances. You have to know that when you zoom the 24-70mm f2.8L lens that the barrel extends. 

Sébastien D'Amour Canon 1Ds MarkII + Canon 24-70mm f2.8L

The first  series lens I have purchased is about 2.5 years ago. It his the Canon 70-200 f2.8L lens.

This lens is my baby. I would say that I take about 60% of my images with this lens. This focal length is perfect on any sensor size. I love it since you can take a head shot and a half body shot in 2 seconds. The maximum aperture gives with control over the depth-of-field. You can easily eliminate distracting backgrounds by selecting 2.8 aperture and zooming in all the way to 200 mm. The focus is fast, accurate and quiet. The build and image quality it perfect! I have chose the non IS version since I have found in my testing that this version is faster to focus and sharper. I would maybe chose the IS version today since it would have allowed me to create shots that are not possible without IS. You have to be cautious since this lens is heavy for most users.

Sébastien D'Amour, Canon 1Ds MarkII + Canon 70-200mm f2.8L

I use a Canon 580ExII flash because I find it gives better light, more light and recycles faster then the other Canon flashes. It also sports a Pc connection that allows me to connect it easily with my Pocket wizards.

I use Pocket Wizards because the work above 30 feet in distance. I needed lots of reach since I love to shoot with flashes that are far from my camera. I also find them reliable and easy to use.

My memory cards are either Sandisk Extreme III or Lexar UDMA Professional (300X).

Thank you for reading I hope that the information will be helpful.

Have a marvelous day and got out shooting :D

Sébastien

Results from Isabelle and Joel wedding (20-21 of december wedding)

These are images taken from this w-e at the wedding of a friend. I had such a blast with them!

If all my clients are like this in the future, I will be one happy photographer :P

Thank you again for this amazing opportunity and week-end.

Please feel free to comment!

Last one of 2008.

This is my last wedding in Ottawa for the 2008 year!

What a blast. I had so much fun with the bride and groom. They are so positive, big smile, load of laugh and energy. This is refreshing and reminded me why I love to shoot wedding's. It's the first time that I shoot a wedding in which the bride is pregnant. they always see that pregnant woman look great. They also have an aura around them.

So we started with some couple pictures in their suite form the Hilton at Lac Leamy hotel. We then went down stairs in the lobby for some more images. After that we went to freeze for about 15 minutes outside in the cold. BRRRRrrrr I am still shivering from it!

The wedding was very relaxed, casual and You-nique.

The ceremony was held in the bride's granfather's basement. The family was lots of fun and everybody enjoyed the day and evening.

We went to a restaurant name Mama Theresa in Ottawa. WOW! what a discovery. Everything was first class form the food, reception, wine and service!

More text to come and pictures also!

My top 5 2008 Wedding shots!

Hi, 

Following this paragraph are what I consider my top 5 images from the 2008 Wedding season. They have been taken either in Ottawa, Montreal or Toronto.

They are not in any particular order...What do you think of them? 

To be noted is that only the last one is posed in all of these images.

Thank you for your input! and keep it coming!

Stock photography (Oh NO!)

Hi, 

Just to let you know about my stock photography experience and what I have learned.

I have started shooting stock photography in June 2008 for a Stock agency.

At the beginning, I had no clue what was required to make a good stock image or a sell. I was fortunate enough to learn from various people like Yuri Arcurs, Lise Gagné, Chase Jarvis, Elena Elisseeva, Andres rodriguez and more...

When I speak with amateur photographers about stock photography, the same debate is always coming up. I will not be debating this here.

You can take the decision to be against stock or making a revenue from stock photography.

I have chosen to make a revenue from it. Beware since Stock photography is not for everyone since it takes time, passion, hard work and good knowledge of every aspects of photography.

Here are my top five tips:

- Think of a concept and exploit it from all angle and think in marketability terms.

- Only shoot good looking people and take your time.

- Keep it simple.

- Take alot of photographs and keep only the best 100% sharp images.

- Do not confuse quantity with quality.

I have read numerous sites, blogs, books about stock photography. I have even attended some seminars about it.

I have switched my equipment around to insure that I have sufficient resolution for the high stock demand. I am reading and still learning about lighting, retouching and the biggest hurdle of them all, KEYWORDING.

If you have a stock photography experience or question, feel free to share it!

Have a good day, 

Sébastien D'Amour

Michele

I love going to shoot at this spot!

I am a natural light lover. I find this spot allows me to shoot some amazing portraits in natural light in all conditions.

This bridge can be found in Wakefield, Qc, Canada near the city of Ottawa.

The only issue with this spot is that the light reflect on the doors that are in the opening and create a red rim light...

I will be going to shoot some stock images over there on the w-e. If you want to join the fun feel free to do so!

I should be there at around 2 pm unless weather is really scrap like the 40 cm of snow that is predicted...

Here's is the story of this shot:

Michele and I met at her place to grab her stuff and drive 30 minutes to the spot. This allowed us to bond and talk so comfort was of no issue! I will never stress this bond/relationship enough. It needs to be there we your client's, model's or art director's.

Anyway, we get to the spot and realize how much colder it's at the bridge. The result above is my first shot. We did some images for about 45 minutes before the nose and ears became red (which is no good for pictures).

I came back with some 50 shots of her. We looked at them and picked a top 3. I edited these 3 images in DPP since LR2 did not support the Canon 5D mark II raw files and then  proceeded in LR2 with the jpegs. These are non commercial shots but just some testing of the Canon 5D mark II.

What do you think of this shot?

2009 coming up!

Picture: Sébastien Lavallée(www.untrentieme.com)

Hi everyone, 

My name is Sébastien D'Amour and yes I am french. It's also my real name...Lucky ME!

I am a professional wedding, portrait and event photographer in Ottawa. I have been at this passion of mine for a big part of my life and I have been in business for 14 months now!

I just wanted to take some time to talk about 2009 that is coming up. I cannot believe the pace that my life is taking right now. I am shooting at Ola interactive agency on Mondays, Tuesday's and Thursday's. I still shoot form my personnal client's on wednesday's, friday's, saturday's (YAY wedding days!I love them) and sunday's! I hope that 2008 was my worst year ever since I want to grow and touch people with me photography! I am learning on a daily basis and I will post what I have learned everyday here!

Today, I am making special letters for my Ottawa weddings that I have shot in 2008! I will post an image of them a little later in the day to show you.

I wanted to wish everyone a Happy new year and lots of terrific photograph's and memories that last a life time!

I also wanted to invit you to ask question's about photography, lighting, living from a passion or any other interest you have!

I will take the time to answer you.

I would like to learn about more about you.

Here is a little about me.

I love photography.

I love wedding photography.

I love portrait photography.

I love sports especially hockey.

I love my family and friends.

I love my city, Ottawa and Gatineau!

I love to travel, going in Mexico in Januray.

I love to eat good food and cook!

I love to spend quality time with my friends! I am so blessed to have them.

I love the human body, the human mind! I was always interested by the human! I can also say that it's my favorite photography subject.

I love honesty, trust, joy, romance, determination and like most people would say, I love to have fun!

Did I mention that I love wedding photography?

So what do you love?