Circles of confusion

After posting some of these Christmas pics elsewhere I was asked what I used to get the special bokeh snowflake effects. This is a quick and dirty technique blog on how to create and use a custom bokeh kit.I was going to title it "Custom Bokeh" but last time I did that elsewhere some guy came on telling me it is in fact "circles of confusion" and not "bokeh". For me it will always be bokeh in the background though and C of C is too long winded to use for the rest of this entry so purists switch off now.

So how did I do these? Certainly the stall holder at the German market was curious when I asked if I could take some pictures and proceeded to do so with a camera looking like it had the lens cap on! To the casual observer the set up does look odd.

Camera with filter in place ready for shooting.

 This is my old trusty Nikon D80 with a 50mm 1.8 lens mounted and the snowflake bokeh shaper and the only light entering the camera goes through that snowflake hole in the home made filter covering the whole lens - yes strange isn`t it? Bit like the pin hole camera technology of really. The filter is made by just getting a strip of card long enough to wrap around the lens in a circle shape with another circle cut out to mount on the end of the filter. Some would just cut the required shape out of the end circle but I hit on a way of accommodating multiple shaped filter tools  by cutting a round hole in the end and using a range of shapes attached using velcro.

As you can see I got carried away doing one to fit my 85mm lens as well as my nifty 50 and used a number of shapes using a cheap stencil cutter tool from Hobbycraft. The main thing is that you need a lens offering a wide aperture f1.8 or greater. Sometimes the autofocus might hunt a little with the restricted light so you need to manually focus or get help from your flash if using one that does that focus assist trick for you. My sb800 does it well. As with all good bokeh results the rest depends on getting a suitable subject and the right distance between that and the background to get decent bokeh. A few quick shots to demonstrate trials this afternoon.

No filter in place

Snowflake filter shapes the bokeh or blurred lights / shapes in the background

Why stop at snowflakes - we all love Santa!

Tulips just don`t fit!

Ordinary bokeh

Snowflake filter

These were taken  using Christmas decorations and background Christmas tree lights. Of course you can use natural light or filters on your flash to give differing effects

This one was a tulip (wooden) using dandelions in the background that were shaped with the heart filter.

This rose was taken in front of fairy lights with a red filter on the off camera flash used for a Valentine effort.

Having got the DIY filter out of the cupboard for the first time in a while and slapping it straight on my D700 I remembered that the one I made does not work well with a full frame camera - heavy vignetting but still usable results. I could make another with bigger circles and shapes to allow more light but for the limited use I make of it will maybe just continue to get out my old D80 with it`s cropped sensor when I need it. It`s a plaything rather than a serious tool. Why not have a go and do one yourself if you have the right lenses. Great fun and nothing gives greater pleasure than a DIY item working well for you. Any questions just ask!

Groupon, Living Social , KGB deals - what are they worth? Who wins?

Don`t know about you but I am signed up to all of the above in Leeds and other cities I go to a lot. Downside is I get at least half a dozen or more emails every day offering some pretty useless deals but then again I have got some great ones. Just how do you sort out what is a good deal that you will actually need and use. A few tips based on personal experience and those shared by a couple of businesses that used or were targeted by such as above.

First off - DISCOUNTS. Everybody knows that Groupon and such deals work because the trader offers 50% off their actual costs to introduce you to their business - right?
Wrong! One business I spoke to was telling me that they were asked to provide a slightly different service to their usual work using aspects of it and when asked for a price said " err difficult - not something we have done before", Just make one up they were told and a price was suggested. Lesson - don`t assume the price quoted is really 50% off. Check out the suppliers website and google discounted offers on the product o offer - you`ll sometimes get them cheaper or for the same elsewhere.

Traders - they get 50% of the offer price wit the rest going to Groupon etc - right? Not always. The trader will sensibly bargain for anything from 30-50% going to Groupon etc depending on how much they want to do business with them. I have heard some horror stories where businesses were just not geared up for the increase in business - if not profits arising from a Groupon offer - and either imposing restrictions on availability not stated in  the offer or even gone bust and failed to deliver the service. Make sure you are happy to lose that outlay if it comes to it or get that offer honoured early on! It is reckoned that part of the profit for businesses and the partners is based on the fact that at least 20% fail to cash in the offer - don`t be one of those.

So what have been my best buys / favourite offers so far?
So far I have used 7 Groupon offers:
2 for Photobooks and one for a photo calendar. All costing way less than usual prices and less than special offer prices I am signed up to. 2 were with Photobox who I know well as suppliers of high quality products and get special offer details from.No problems there - great products at great prices that mean I will continue to use them - but then I already did!  One was with Printerpix where I was unfortunate to take up on 2 offers at once (another with Living Social) before seeing their appalling quality with very poor printer profiles as they switch from SRGB files requested to CMYK. So bad that after having emails ignored and three attempts at publishing one book getting worse by the copy I had to resort to lambasting them on Facebook business page before I got a refund for at least one of them! Lesson learned - don`t settle for crap just because it was cheap. Result - I will not be going back to Printerpix and would not recommend them to anyone! Groupon 3 Businesses 1  Me 2(Well 2 really as 2 for Photobox)
A golf day at the KP club in Pocklington which I bought with a mate to see if I should pick up a club in anger after a gap of 30 years. Great day  that included tuition in small group, lunch, coffee breaks and a few holes in foursomes. Lovely course and we both really enjoyed it getting value for money. Result - my strained stomach muscles for the next few days persuaded me that golf after multiple stomach hernia ops might not be the way to go. Even if I did pursue it would I go back to a club in Pocklington - over an hours drive away with such a choice in the Leeds area? No - and nor I feel would the assorted people there from Hartlepool, Sheffield, Blackpool, Manchester etc who had merged it with a break or a day out. Little potential for that business I feel who did not seem to take anything other than an email address and I have not heard from since.Groupon 1 Business 0 Me 1
A few foodie deals - an afternoon tea at the Radisson in Leeds, 2 course meal at the Bay Horse in Kirk Deighton and a taster menu yet to book at Dough Bistro.Mixed bag - the Bay Horse was great but never been back. The Radisson we had yesterday and whilst good value was delivered with such appalling slowness and poor service that we got an extra glass of wine and a coffee free for our wait - but would never return. Dough is yet to come but have heard good reports and the deal stands well against my tastecard price available. So Groupon 2 so far Businesses 0 Me2

Living Social - 2 deals
Printerpix - enough said see above! Living Social 1 Businesses1 Me 1

The Model Experience -  best coupon deal so far for me without a doubt. Wanted to get some model/portfolio shoots in a venue somewhere and this was a great deal. Took place last weekend and whilst there was a bit of a scrum at times with more photographers to models than the ideal- including some who rather bizarrely had compacts with no potential for using the lights!!! Still we got some sound advice from Matt and his colleagues who used the event to introduce us to what seems a well structured company offering sound advice, experience and portfolio building opportunities based upon real experience in the fashion / advertising world. Tempted to go on one of their stately home shoots later when they get back with availability and price as I loved it so much. What was good was that they instructed models only to respond to photographers direction and not give away their easy standard poses based on their experience. made us work for it! Great stuff and I would recommend them. A few examples of my work using natural light,  orbis ring flash and studio light(s)

Of course for wedding, portraits, events and commercial photography work and great prices  I would always recommend myself but if you are interested in their model shoot training check out their website at:
http://www.themodelexperienceuk.com/
So this sums up my experience so far.
Outcome - I can see what I get out of it but only a couple of businesses look like securing me as a future customer and I was already using one of them! Seems the clear winner each time is the middle man who get their cut. Seems to me that if the businesses are genuinely discounting services by up to 50% and then sharing the income as much as 50-50 with Groupon or such it is a potential recipe for disaster business wise. The deal savvy will cherry pick and take advantage and some businesses might well go under if their offer is too good - we`ve all heard stories of photographers buried in one hour portrait shoots for £10 that stop them doing more profitable work, the cupcake business overwhelmed etc etc.
Is this really good for business in these times? Got to say I doubt it in my experience unless you have a service dominated product that you are charging more for than you need to turn a profit.
I think I`ll just stick to giving great professional photographic services at great prices and not get on the Groupon bandwagon for my own stuff - I just know it would all go wrong! Check my website out for great deals - quote this blog or like by Facebook business page and I will even offer some extra discount if you can drill it out of me - always negotiable for tailor made packages just for you whether for weddings,portraits, events or commercial work.
www.photographybypauldishman.co.uk
Facebook business page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Photography-by-Paul-Dishman/246759502008823?sk=app_106878476015645