Lessons

Lesson Info

Pismo Beach Walk Gear

I'm gonna show the guys that scare video and then we're gonna have a quick minute in between and what we'll do is we will go to another video so by the way this fizzle up here this is the location where I started basically taking pictures is where I would like wake up in the morning go out shoot photographs and and we had a chance to have a couple of guys there to go over that stuff and kind of look at this location and we approaches from a couple different perspectives from like if this is a brand new shoot and we were going to go see this place how would I approach it what gear would I bring I brought all this gear with me so you guys can play with it touch it and check it out fondle it whatever you want to do um and and see kind of how it can apply but obviously what I brought here it would be a limited amount of what I'd bring internationally or if I was going out and shooting something really quick right so um here we go let me know if anything turns volume up first things first i...

f I was to approach situation and this location I really want to kind of go over like a lot of logistics of what I would be looking for right and what I would be you know basically trying to how I tryto approach this place in terms of shooting and obviously we can see the sun it's literally rising directly behind us which makes life really easy but if I if the son hadn't risen yet I'd probably use an app there's a couple different ones I think I used one called sky safari has used some of those abs where you can kind of see where the sun is so I'd probably put that app and you know if I got here at like six a m like like I did you know I'd look around okay where is the sun rising right now well it's rising right there so basically that means that the pier on this side south side is going to be perfectly front let the other side is going to be in the shade so I'm kind of trying to base like where am I going to be shooting what location are gonna be picking if my if my sort of objective today is to shoot surfing off the pier or shoot any type of action sport um then I really want to approach it based on where the best light is gonna be um and you know in addition to that I think one of the most important things that's really important to kind of just consider when you approach anyplace first of all to be there with plenty of time to scout it out right so this morning we're here well before the sun rose um I know this location so I didn't have to kind of you know meander about but typically if I was to approach this place it was new I had to be here for a client I was shooting personal work or whatever this thing is thiss job would be I would try to check this place out within three hundred sixty degrees right meaning if this is kind of my subject this is where the waves of the best I would be down the beach that way looking up into it see what it looks like this way I would go down the beach that direction looking up this way see what it looks like that direction I would walk out to the pier look down on both sides and that way I've got like a really unique three dimensional look at what this subject is going to be like you guys have any thoughts or questions on that kind of how it makes sense right I mean like I think you understand like we're here at the beach today this is sort of an example of really any location that you might approach it doesn't matter to me if it's a wedding venue or if you have to shoot portraiture and you're going to a new place never been it's always good to just you know look at it from every perspective and I'm not just talking about walking you know with your legs but also just you know getting on your belly on the ground seeing how it looks from that perspective getting oppa's high as you can well I'll tell you what the least interesting angle is probably the one where you're standing like this right is that that makes sense yeah and so a lot of times it's like you know I'll be I'll be out in the sand and I want to get some foreground someone get really low on the ground or I'm gonna you know I'm gonna walk down the beach because I can then compress some of these you know lifeguard towers into the shot or I can compress the mountains into this peer into the shot right so a lot of these you know they you know we're kind of kind of go over this stuff but a lot of these have to do with the different tools you're using whether you brought to the beach you brought to your chute that day you know telephoto a wide angle lens you know working within the parameters of what gear you have so I think that would be a good speaking opportunity to really kind of go through really quickly what I brought to the beach today just so we can kind of see what um for a typical assignment like this I might have on him and one big disclaimer I want to put on this entire session is two things first of all everything I say take away the ground assault because I'm really only here to explain to you what my experience has been in photography and the way that I approach things I'm not here to say it's the best method or it's the most tactful or most useful you know smartest way of approaching it but for me this is what I've found teo to be the most applicable and secondly you know it's always important to consider that uh you know when I'm when I'm really approaching these locations I'm trying to think of it like it's anything like I could be shooting you know I don't care if it's you know rollerblade e or if it's you know uh you going shoot portrait on the beach or you're shooting for a commercial client where you're shooting for just on spec editorial or whatever that might be I would feel like I would be approaching in the same way right so I want to use this as an example is sort of an example because everybody here comes from different disciplines right and one of my initial disciplines was shooting surfing and shooting action sports okay so I want to kind of use this location as an example of how we could sort of apply those different types of ta gra fi too you know this one place right so just just in your you know mine think about thinking about ok this might not apply to me because I'm not gonna be shooting the beach well you know use these sort of the things we're talking about as a way to apply to your own style of work I just want to pull out my bag and kind of show you guys what I brought and this is this is going to be an excessive amount of gear because I just kind of want to show you the logistics of what of what I might need but this is a this is enough stop bag and basically just uh it's kind of like a waterproof more rugged material you know if you're hiking around with bigger lenses or stuff like that it's really nice to have something that can kind of endure the elements a lot of times when you're at the ocean you're dealing with a lot of salt water spray that's hitting the your camera in your bag so nice to have something that's not going to like deteriorate or get really crappy um just from you know kind of being around salt saying all that stuff also too if you're on the beach all the time you're setting your bag on the ground right you don't want to have a front opening bag or your zippers and everything are getting on with sand this goes for anywhere like I said dirt any of you know snow all that stuff it's really nice to have a bag that can withstand that that that type of condition on the front right and all your camera year is accessible from the back so open up this bag my mock assignment for today would be basically going to the beach to who know shoot the sunrise shoot some landscapes shoot a surfer if there's if there's surfers out right now typically if it was sort of an assignment or editorial thing I was working on I would I would have like talent there you know I have a surfer there somebody I know or or someone like that and I would set it up more now this is kind of one of those scenarios where I don't know what I'm to see at the beach amazing you know sunrise with epic skies so I might have brought a camera okay for landscapes that's not you know could be really really good surf so I might have brought my telephoto so I'm prepared for any situation right and keep in mind that um like I said you know you're approaching this location like it could be any type of assignment you know but for me today it's really just a matter of kind of waking up knowing the weather's sunny and clear and wanted to kind of bring any type of equipment I could capture that you know whether it's an epic sunrise whether I'm shooting some surfers you know out in the waves whether I'm gonna you know really anything so I want to be kind of ready for whatever comes our way and that's sort of what I've what I've really prepared today and starting with probably this would be the lens that I would um and the camera that I would shoot anything of action with its the sony a seventy seven to uh with the seven to four hundred lens and this kind of basically this camera this whole kit is ninety nine percent of what I would need a shoot action wise from the beach not from the water this is what I would use so if it was it doesn't really matter who was bullshitting bike racing if I was shooting whatever and I want to get that telephoto perspective that compress perspective this is the camera you use so in addition to you know if I'm gonna be walking down the beach that way we're going to be walking on the beach that way this is the perfect camera for that cause I can just get back there and compressed some of these objects into the frame I can compress the pierre and the mountains together I could compress these cool little lifeguard towers into the shot and this is private the main tool I would use for that um this camera not to spend too much time talking about it but I just I like is a lightweight it can shoot eight twelve from the second I think as well and um it's just super quick fast focusing and something that you know I love you just the whole kit I mean there's shot with like six hundred five hundred four hundred you know prime isn't stuff in the past and I just I love the idea of having a zoom it's lightweight and allows me to be kind of free without a tripod I can move around there's no ball and chain and one thing you'll notice about me is that I really like I really like the idea of lightweight systems that allow you to create to be to move around and I feel like what you gain from those is greater than what you lose from not having like a big fixed prime lens that's gonna be a little sharper and a little brighter right um for me like this is as good as it gets uh in addition to that I would also pride bring a seventy two hundred um you know this this lens like covers the same lens like this just a little bit lighter set up and if I know I'm going somewhere where the waves are little closer or if I'm shooting off the pier this isn't even mohr mobile set up to use right and this is just the sunny seventy two hundred now um if you know I get to the beach and basically I'm like wow there's an amazing sunrise you know I want to shoot some landscapes or I want to shoot some my wider perspectives from some uh you know landscape photos of the pier of whatever it is I would you know be definitely using a sixteen thirty five or a wide angle lens this is problem I go to this is the sixteen thirty five zeiss lens made for sony er this is a a seven to which is basically just the you know marylise a seven series you guys familiar with these cameras all yeah so great camera has really good internal stabilization and this is basically my go to for shooting anything that's daylight uh landscape work anything like that um if I could I would shoot everything on this um absolutely but the reason I have this guy because it has a faster frame rate and it is a little more optimized it's a lot more operates for these lenses same mountain right so this is a mouse in this email right they have adapters it'll go from female to a male but really it's just this idea of like you know for me right now keeping them separate this easier think this lens for me is just like it's my go to it's my all around use it ninety percent of the time this is what's on my camera right um and I find like that most landscapes most you know stuff where I'm shooting you know really close to my subject even a lot of action I can shoot with this as well when I have the ability to get close now is shooting surfing or shooting a lot of sports you don't have the ability to get close unless you're in the water this is kind of my my other goto so really all I need is these right this is pretty much if it was any other scenario I just bring these two to the beach and the one beaut of having lightweight cameras is the fact that you can have two cameras for the size of kind of one right so I could have this thing ready to go on my neck and then this thing sitting on a tripod or in a bag or whatever and you have the ability to kind of go between both on and that's that's what I love about that system uh so I brought a couple other a couple other little units with me here as well I have a twenty four to seventy and this is just a lens that I use a lot it's kind of my secondary go to when I'm shooting any like kind of landscape or or any type of just nature stop or anything really any assignment I would say these two to sixteen thirty five and twenty four to seven year my two favorite pieces um on a day like today it's not really needed because I know that I know what I'm shooting I know how large or how far away these objects are so I don't really quite need that I would say if there was one camera had to be stuck with you in private just a six thousand um and it's it's brian interesting choice but what I love about it is how small portable it is when I'm backpacking through you know the sierras whatever or if I'm on in a you know intense travel scenario were like I can't really bring a lot of year or I'm just you know shooting people in sort of a crowded place I love the ability to have this camera and be able to just shoot eleven frames a second you can shoot sportswear that you treat action stuff you can also uh you know oscillated screening and be ableto get perspectives where you can shoot portrait but still be looking your subject it has really it has ultimately exact same quality is this camera it's just a different package like this completely marylise so with this camera what I brought was a sixteen a seventies ice which is kind of just amazing all around lens for this camera as well as uh as well as a ten eighteen wide angle right so this is a great little lens all using a housing gets me an epic wide perspective I need a chute action really close if I need to shoot the water and the reason I choose this in the water is simply because it's so small and when you're swimming around with a camera above your head or like this the last thing you want is a bunch of weight holding you down right so size truly matters in that scenario it's really crucial that's important and what I find is that that that cameron that package is one of the best systems for using in the water it's actually in a lot of ways revolutionized being able to shoot in the water because in the past t give you some perspective in the past in order to get eleven frames a second out of a twenty four megapixel camera you would need competitors camera that was twice as big twice is having almost three times heavy with the lens in a system that makes the whole entire package massive but now you can fit this all in something that's this small it's really been incredible because you can take this out in scenarios and situations that you would never really feel comfortable in the past right so that has been a lot of ways game changing so what kind of go over water housing systems a little bit later today but now that you kind of know the gear that I have you sort of scene you know that the uh products that I'm basically bringing down to the beach for for you know any normal day we can kind of go check stuff out and one thing I wanted you know reiterate is like what I really need to get by is probably just you know one set up like this if my objective was just a suit surfing this is all I need to bring you know keep it lightweight keep it simple I brought kind of a variety here really just to show you the different things that I could shoot you know I've got my sixteen to thirty five I want to go shoot some landscapes in the pier underneath the pier was with water moving if I you know if I want to go shooting water I've got that set up so it kind of changes one thing I also had always bring that I love about you smaller cameras is that they can actually charge through like a small portable usb charger because they can because they don't take a lot of amps to basically charge the battery so I could charge it through any like I think two point four in up small little a little device like this so this is basically what I would bring us a backup as well as batteries you know but just in emergency scenario I could always charge my cameras with something this this is just a goal zero little venture thirty it's like waterproof shockproof little charger as well as the phone write such a crucial part of like be ableto communicate with who's down here and stuff a cz well so that's that I guess let's head kind of out towards the pier and sort of look it some different perspectives what we could shoot cool so we have that was the first video we have quite a few more coming up but we have a couple minutes and I'm gonna show you one more and that was just basically like I said packing for you know if I was going wake up in the morning like I'm going to go to the beach take some pictures this all depends on what you're shooting you know I mean maybe you're objective is not to shoot surfing maybe rejected his chute amazing sunrise the pier you you'd bring in a different you know different types of gear okay so the packing stuff is really just kind of give you guys an insight so there's no mystery as to what I'm using or what cameras or what stuff and uh I am a sony ambassador but let me tell you have used nikon and cannon and everything in between every camera works they're all create they all take amazing pictures uh thank the technology of what you're using is probably the least important things when it comes to creating good imagery I would say for me um yeah I would just say this is a disclaimer stating what you guys think I'm trying to hawk what I'm using but I think for me the lightweight lightweight cameras just they they really I love the way they work right I love the the fact that I can bring you know a handful of of lenses in a camera somewhere on location and have it you know I barely notice it right really barely have it register um so I've brought pretty much everything that I have here that I showed you the video is my you know seventy four hundred on the seventy seven to this thing shoots twelve frames of seconds a great camera my a seven two by a seven s which will get into for the night photography you know I've got like a specialty lens on here which is a twenty four one four I would use this mainly on ly for night photography because I really want to get really you know a wide angle and you know tons of light in there um here's my six thousand a cz well brought some water houses were going over that I also brought some goal zero chargers which you know what like I said these things are great because of one of the beauties of using these small tiny little lightweight cameras is that when you're on the road and you because they don't need a lot of power to power them I can basically take something like this plug it in to something like this and charge like that well I'm on the road not every camera does that right not every battery could be powered by something as small as this another aspect of what I love about these is simply the fact that if I want to get a unique perspective where I want to be super you know incognito I can put my camera down like this and shoot on the screen I love utilizing that screen because especially shooting portrait's for shooting people you know you can kind of keep that I contacted eyes and I can't stress enough the value of if you want to interact with your subject the less objects you have between you and your subject the more intimate experience is going to be the more intimate the experience is going to be the more intimate the photographs are going to be so if you're shooting somebody machine portrait so you're shooting whatever and you have the ability to keep that eye contact and communicate with them and snap off frames it's it's really nice to have that as well as if you're looking kind of from from below all this stuff is going to hear if he gets to play with as well