Jerry Avenaim's Favorite Lenses for Fashion Photography

Here is an excerpt from another photographer's blog. He covers some of his favorite lenses for Fashion. I'm still choosing my favorite, and when I have one, trust me I'll let you know.

Top Lenses for Fashion Photography – My Picks!

24-70 zoom for Flaunt Magazine

Fashion photography is a unique combination of all types of photography. Fashion often includes portrait photography, environmental photography, product photography, macro photography, and sometimes even landscape photography are all included under the required knowledge umbrella to be successful in fashion photography.

In order to deliver a successful fashion photography shoot, you’re going to need lenses that allow you to capture each of these aspects with artistry and creativity. In a perfect world, we’d have the finances and manpower to haul every available lens to the venue; but in reality, we’re limited to a handful of accessible, high-quality, and versatile lenses.

Here is a list (from my camera bag) of must have lenses for any given fashion or advertising assignment. I’m listing Canon lenses since I primarily shoot with 5D Mark II’s when it comes to my DSLR choice, but each lens listed should have an equivalent for other brand name DSLR producers.
Variable Zoom Lenses
1. 24-70mm f/2.8L USM Zoom Lens
This is my favorite lenses. it’s fast and versatile, it allows for quick shooting and it’s razor sharp. I can use this lens while shooting a portrait and pull out wider with it to include the environment when on location.

2. 70-200mm f/2.8L Zoom Lens
This lens creates a beautiful bokeh (blur) at f2.8, and the compression you get when you’re zoomed in from 150-200mm gives your image a look that’s hard to achieve with any other lens. It also allows you to get in close on the subject without disrupting the moment you are trying to capture.

3. 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM Ultra Wide Angle Zoom Lens
Sometimes the 24-70mm lens just isn’t wide enough to capture everything you want. The ultra wide angle helps you capture your surroundings, such as in reportage on the street or in tight spaces.

Prime Lenses
4. 50mm f1.2 L USM Prime Lens
This is another one of my favorite lenses. It can save the day when the light starts to drop and allow you to bring out the backgrounds. It also, makes you less reliant on your flash, creating a softer, more natural look for your subjects. The 50mm also allows you to create stunning portraits, as the low aperture creates the shallow depth of field that makes your subject pop off the page and softens your subject’s skin.

5. 85mm f1.2L II USM Prime Lens
This is a great lens, but not a necessity if you’re happy with the results from your 70-200mm. The nice thing is it is the perfect portrait lens and carries a fraction of the weight of the aforementioned variable zoom.

6. 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM Lens for Canon SLR Cameras
If your shooting beauty and are not able to back up enough to gain the compression you would with a 200mm here is the solution. With the 100mm Macro, you can capture detailed shots with the same quality and detail as product advertisements in magazines. because t is a macro lens, it is a bit flatter, thus giving you the feel of the 200mm compression. In addition, if you want to come in tight for a detail shot such as the lips or an eye, this is your baby.

What are your favorite lenses?

Jerry Avenaim's Website.

Donna McGovern Gets My Vote! (And I don't even have cable!)

I got an e-mail from a friend of mine today, Donna McGovern.

Donna is a super spunky, on-the-go type of woman. She's smart, on point, and straight forward. A real No Bullshit woman, she's honest, but with heart.

She's urging us all to vote for her TV show idea, which would air on Opera's network. Here's the e-mail including a link to her video. VOTE! VOTE! VOTE For DONNA!

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Hi All

  Yes another exciting adventure I have embarked on!!!  I entered the Oprah have your OWN show contest and my video was accepted today and its on the site!!!!!!!!!! Woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now its time to play full out and get as many votes as possible - I started late in the game but you know I believe

ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE.....

So here is what I need from you - I would love for you to vote for me and then send it off to your friends, family, co-workers to vote

I know I could get to 5 million votes within 2 weeks of the deadline July 3rd when voting ends!!!! 

CLICK ON THIS LINK TO VOTE (you can also send this link to your friends and family)

http://myown.oprah.com/audition/index.html?request=video_details&response_id=19005&promo_id=1

I will be sending it on facebook and linkedin and everywhere else I can think of

For those of you who do not know besides working at Pierre Hotel,  I also own an Empowerment Coaching & Training business for the past 2 years with my dearest friend Isha - Its called Interrupt the Ordinary - and wow imagine getting a shot to do our own show on the OWN Network!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Now that is what I call creating!!!!

Well life is about enjoying the ride - so here goes.............THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT

Donna McGovern
President
Interrupt the OrdinarySM
Empowerment Coaching & Training
www.interrupttheordinary.com (coming soon)
718-812-0863-cell


There is no shortcut to any place worth going.....Beverly Sills

Chipotle Does A Bit of Good.

Chipotle Wants to Turn Your Junk E-mail into Healthy School Lunches

It might not involve any free burritos for you and me (sad face), but restaurant chain Chipotle has launched a new campaign designed to turn your junk e-mail into healthier school lunches for kids.

The program –- called “No Junk” –- encourages people to forward their spam to nojunk@chipotlejunk.com. For every 100,000 messages received at that address, Chipotle plans to donate $10,000 to The Lunch Box, a non-profit organization that provides resources to schools to help them make their food programs healthier.

For Chipotle, the project aligns with the marketing messages you’ve likely seen if you’ve eaten at one of their restaurants, which emphasize the “naturally raised” animals and organically grown ingredients the company uses in its burritos.

Of course, all of that doesn’t necessarily mean your burrito is “healthy” in a caloric sense. A burrito with steak, rice, beans, cheese and sour cream along with a side of chips puts up some pretty massive numbers in the “nutrition facts” department, as you can see in this estimate:

Nonetheless, there is a clear connection between Chipotle’s message and that of The Lunch Box, and the tie-in to “junk e-mail” — which makes up about 90 percent of all e-mail sent according to Symantec — is a clever one that should resonate with people.

Retouch Madness- Grrrrr at Photoshop Abusers.

This is the stuff that gets me as a photographer and an occasional model. Look closer, and see exactly what some people do to make something look "perfect".  This woman's retouched body is an impossibility. Her waist and legs would not support her, and her waist would never bend so much without showing the effort it takes to do so.

This sh*t makes me crazy. And this is SUBTLE retouching? Yuck!

Debenhams Explains Everything That Goes Into a Typical Photoshopped Image of a Swimsuit Model

Before (left) and after retouching. Photo: Courtesy of Debenham's

U.K. department store Debenhams is selling swimwear with unretouched images of swimsuit models. The store's windows display an unretouched shot of a model next to the same shot with typical retouching. Another image details the alterations that would have gone into the usual retouched swim campaign.

As you can see, quite a bit of work was done to make the image look "better." This girl has no armpit, no eye bags, no skin folds, and no thighs. Yet judging by this example, Debenhams doesn't seem like as egregious a retoucher as many other advertisers and media outlets. This model, not being as frail as so many are, didn't need any protruding bones filled in and smoothed over. Debenham's creative director Mark Woods said:

'As a responsible retailer we want to help customers make the most of their beauty without bombarding them with unattainable body images.

'Our campaign is all about making women feel good about themselves - not eroding their self belief and esteem by using false comparisons.

'Not only does it make sense from a moral point of view, it ticks the economic boxes as well. Millions of pounds a year are spent by organisations retouching perfectly good images.

'As a rule we only airbrush minor things like pigmentation or stray hair and rely on the natural beauty of models to make our product look great.

'We are proud to bring the issue of re-touching into the main stream when the likes of Britney Spears and Madonna are using unairbrushed but over-lit images as a shock tactic.'

This is a great move. It all goes to show the model didn't need the retouching anyway! And she's not the only one — that's why they're models, right?

Debenhams bans the airbrush from swimwear ad campaign - and lays bare all the sneaky tricks of the trade [Daily Mail UK]

Ben and Jerry's "New York Super Fudge Chunk" Ice Cream Review

First let me say, I've been tempted to try this ice cream since I first heard about it a few weeks ago. So when I decided to buy some ice cream along with my Organic Milk and Soy Milk purchase tonight at the grocery store, I was super pleasantly surprised to see one lone container of this flavor in the freezer along side the other choices.

I headed to checkout and was shocked that my three dairy items came to $14. Holy Sh*t! But hey, I'd rather pay for 3 organic dairy items than 6 cases of junkie soda. But back to my Ice Cream review.

I get home and after a few glasses of milk/soymilk (I mix them- yummy) I pop open this limited time New York special flavor. My first reaction at plain sight..."This isn't anything special". THEN, I tried to put my spoon in! What did I hit? Mounds and mounds of chunks upon chunks of fudge and nuts and sweet pieces, enough to put a diabetic in the hospital in one bite. The ratio of chunks to ice cream was so leaning towards the chunks it was near difficult to eat. It certainly was more like a gourmet desert than ice cream.

Then curiosity killed the cat. Nutrition facts.... First off.... The Ingredients...
Ingredients: Cream, Liquid Sugar, Skim Milk, Water, Cocoa (Processed With Alkali), Sugar, Coconut Oil, Walnuts, Pecans, Almonds, Egg Yolks, Cocoa, Milkfat, Peanut Oil, Guar Gum, Salt, Natural Flavors, Soya Lecithin, Butter, Carrageenan, Vanilla Extract

So we can say this is natural, but when the first ingredient is CREAM, why is the 3rd ingredient SKIM MILK???? Only AFTER.... LIQUID SUGAR!! WTF is LIQUID SUGAR???

Moving on. (It's kosher by the way. lol.)

After about 5 bites I had to take a short break, and for those of you who are like me and eat very methodically- good luck with this one! Every time I tried to get the slightly melted ice cream from the sides, it would only account for half a spoonful, and the end result would be even MORE of a mound of chunks inhabiting the middle of this container. Finally I had to drive the spoon into the middle of the chunk mountain, if I didn't pick axe around for a breaking point I'd never have broken this mound down into edible pieces.

At about 1/4 of the container I had to stop. I told my cousin via Facebook Chat "I can't stomach another bite. It's good, but like eating 6 deserts in each bite."

At 300 Calories per serving (4 servings in a pint size container) and 19 grams of fat per serving, this container weighs in at...

1200 Calories
76 grams Fat
44 Grams Saturated Fat (that's above the daily value by 124%! And that's based on a 2000 calorie/day diet, VERY few people actually come close to needing that many calories in a day).

I'm tempted to throw the rest out. But I won't. Rather I'll give it as super treats to the girls I babysit. After all- they're growing and running around like animals. Let them burn this stuff off.

My final review is this. As good and tempting as the name may be, to this real NYer, I'll pass. Because real NYers are too smart to fall for such a gimmick. And yet... Only NYers like myself, who huff and puff in 96 degree weather, into sauna hot subways, and steep stair wells can even consider such an indulgence. Because of our arrogant NY ways, and our demand for bigger, better, and more, we have earned ourselves an ice cream flavor, dedicated to our need for the best.

For more info on this flavor, visit their website...

Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream- "New York Super Fudge Chunk"

I'm learning, and as I do you can too... Read and Enjoy :): Erika Rachel Presents: The Art Appreciation Project

I'm learning, and as I do you can too... Read and Enjoy :): Erika Rachel Presents: The Art Appreciation Project

Artisans cited Wikipedia

One of my Favorite web pages of the moment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artisan

An artisan (from Italian: artigiano) is a skilled manual worker who makes items that may be functional or strictly decorative, including furniture, clothing, jewelry, household items, and tools. The term can also be used as an adjective to refer to the craft of hand making food products, such as bread, beverages and cheese.

Manufacture by hand and with hand tools imparts unique and individual qualities to artisanal products, in contrast to mass produced goods where every one is nearly identical. Artisans traditionally work in media such as stone, wood, ceramics, glass, common and precious metals, basketry, textiles, esparto grass, leather, fur, wax, paper, and flowers.

Erika Rachel Presents: The Art Appreciation Project

Erika Rachel (ME) presents the Art Appreciation Project.

The ultimate goal to the project is to raise awareness.
About what???
About the 6 questions... Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How.
If you take any one of these questions and apply it to the products we purchase day to day you may be surprised with the answer you find.
The Art Appreciation Project supports young artisans in their many fields, by exposing them to the masses via it's montly newsletter.
Erika Rachel (ME), the TAAP's originator is selling a t-shirt for $1,000,000 in an effort to raise awareness for this project.

Learn more at www.ErikaRachel.com. And don't forget to sign up for the newsletter!

School Bullies, What can be Done?

How to help your kids cope with Bullies...

Website Reccommendation- Psychology

An incredible, easy to understand website about psychology.
I looked up Arrogance and Stubbornness. What I found seemed dead on and really helpful.

www.2knowmyself.com

Cat Food Analysis- An In Depth Look.

The Posed Question...
Is Max Cat a good cat food brand?

The interesting response from a random answerer...
Not really, no. The ingredients are pretty low quality and Nutro has had numerous problems with recalls of their foods. I wouldn't trust them.Not all pet food is made equally. A lot of it is full of corn, by-products, dyes, unhealthy preservatives, filler grains and all sorts of nasty stuff. A lot of pet food companies are perfectly happy to the dump cheap leftovers and things that aren't safe for human consumption (from human food processing plants) into their foods. Will it kill your cat? No, it has to be nutritionally complete and safe to even be marketed. Is it healthy? Not by a long shot.Corn is a low quality ingredient you never want to see in your pet food. Corn and low quality grains are two of the biggest culprits when it comes to food allergies in our pets.Thankfully, there are some excellent cat foods being made these days that include organic, human grade ingredients rather than trash not fit for human consumption.Examples of low quality foods to avoid: Anything you can find in a grocery store will be low end, Purina, Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Royal Canin, Whiskas, Fancy Feast, Friskies, Meow Mix.Examples of high quality foods to look for: Innova, Wellness, Solid Gold, Felidae, Fromm Four Star, Merrick, GO Natural, Nature's Variety Prairie, Nature's Logic, Artemis Fresh Mix.Although the high quality foods are more expensive, you're getting what you're paying for. Less filler material and higher quality ingredients means more concentrated nutrients... this means you typically need to feed far less of the high quality food than you would of the low quality one. Which also means less poop!Seriously on a budget? Two of the most affordable of the higher quality foods would be Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul and Felidae.Before following your vet's food recommendation, keep in mind that vets get /very/ little nutritional training during their schooling. Besides that, what training they /do/ get is usually sponsored or taught by... you guessed it, the crappy pet food companies! They also often get kickbacks from the companies for pushing their products at their clinics (Science Diet, Royal Canin etc.)A great option is to go with an entirely grain-free diet. Diets high in grain/carbohydrates have been attributed to problems with diabetes in cats. Cats are obligate carnivores, so why should there be grain in their diet? Many of the high quality foods now put out grain-free formulas. Some good grain-free diets include: Innova EVO, Wellness CORE, Blue Wilderness, Nature's Variety Instinct, Orijen, Horizon Legacy, Fromm Surf & Turf, Now!, GO Natural Grain Free, Sold Gold Indigo Moon, Ziwipeak, and Taste of the Wild.Some pretty decent foods can even be found in common pet stores. Petsmart carries Blue Buffalo products (such as the excellent grain-free diet, Blue Wilderness). Petco carries Wellness, Solid Gold, Natural Balance, Eagle Pack Holistic Select, Blue Buffalo, Castor & Pollux Organix, Pinnacle, and Halo. If you can't find a food, most of the high quality cat food brands have websites with store locators on them that will help you find the store closest to you which supplies their products. Simply type the cat food brand's name into Google, go to their website, and type your zip code into their store locator.Another option, if you can't find anywhere around you that sells good foods, is to order your pet food online. Here's an excellent place to do so: http://www.petfooddirect.com/store/Remember that foods should be switched gradually (mixing the new slowly in with the old over the period of about week or so), especially when switching to a higher quality one, so as not to upset tummies. For example:Days 1 & 2: 75% old food, 25% new foodDays 3 & 4: 50% old food, 50% new foodDays 5 & 6: 25% old food, 75% new foodDay 7: 0% old food, 100% new foodAnother option for feeding cats is to feed raw. This is something that should be thoroughly researched before being attempted:http://www.rawfedcats.org/ (Raw Fed Cats)http://community.livejournal.com/rawdogs… (Raw Dogs Livejournal Community [not just for dogs despite the name!], excellent raw feeding information on the profile page and overall helpful community for raw feeding questions.)http://www.rawfed.com/myths/index.html (Myths About Raw Feeding)Now the question is, do you feed wet or dry? Wet is the correct answer. The reason is, in the wild, cats normally get most of their water content directly from their prey items and drink very little. Domestic cats are no different, and because of the fact that they are designed to take in water with their meal, they have a very low thirst drive. Cats often just don't drink enough. This leads to urinary tract infections and crystals. The bit about dry food being better for teeth is a myth and has not been proven in the least (cats barely even chew their dry food and, really, does a pretzel clean /your/ teeth? Cats should have their teeth brushed with cat toothbrushes and cat toothpaste at least a few times a week as well as see the vet for dental cleanings when necessary /regardless/ of what they are being fed). Canned/wet food is better because it more closely mimics the cat's natural diet. More on why canned food is best:http://www.catinfo.org/ (Why wet/canned food is best. Excellent cat nutrition information by a vet)http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?ac… (Why Cats Need Canned Food)http://www.blakkatz.com/dryfood.html (The Truth About Dry Cat Food)http://cats.about.com/cs/catfood/a/canne… (Canned Cat Food: Can Your Cat Afford to Live Without it?)http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.ht… (Max's House: Feline Nutrition)Another option to get cats to drink more would be a cat fountain. Cats tend to like to drink from running water and cat fountains see to that need, encouraging cats to take in more water.Also remember that freefeeding (leaving food down) is the fast lane to feline obesity. Make sure to have scheduled feeding times loosely based on the feeding guidelines on your cat's food. Adult cats are typically fed two meals a day.More on cat food:http://www.petfoodratings.net/cattable.h… (Cat food reviews. Four stars is a good food, five stars is a great/excellent food [click the name of the cat food brand for a more indepth analysis of it])

How a Cat Speaks With it's Tail.

I know its been about 6 months since I've updated with some cool info. But with the bringing home of our new kittens and their complex introduction plan for meeting and getting along with Stinky, our current cat, I figured it was a good time to spread some info...

Following are some insights into "tail talk".

1. Tail curves gently down and then up again at the tip. Cat is relaxed and all is well in his world.

2. Tail slightly raised with a soft curve. Something has peaked the cat's interest.

3. Tail is held erect but the tip is tilted over. Cat is in a friendly mood with slight reservations.

4. Tail fully erect with the tip stiffly vertical. This is a wholehearted greeting with no reservations. This is a carry-over from the kitten stage when greeting mom and inviting her to inspect the kitten's rear end.

5. Tail fully lowered and possibly tucked between hind legs. Cat is showing defeat and its lowly social status.

6. Tail lowered and fluffed out. Cat is showing active fear.

7. Tail swishing violently from side to side. Cat is not wagging its tail in joy. Often means that the cat is about to attack.

8. Tail held still, but the tip is twitching. Mild irritation. If the twitching increases a swipe from a paw may be imminent.

9. Tail is held erect and the whole length is quivering. Gentle quivering may be seen after a cat has been greeted by its human companion. Same action may be observed when urine spraying is taking place outdoors. The gesture appears to have a meaning of personal identification...yes, this is me.

10. Tail held to one side. Sexual invitation of a female cat in heat. Signal to the male that he can mount without being attacked.

11. Tail held straight and fully bristled. Signal of an aggressive cat.

12. Tail arched and bristled. A defensive stance which may indicate cat will attack if provoked further. Bristling fur makes the cat appear bigger and may deter the enemy.

Our U2 Ticket Locations at Giants Stadium

MC Howie Music Video- Gimme A Slice

Can you find me?

MC Howie (a Lawyer by day) has made another funny video.
I'm IN IT! No Seriously... I'm not kidding... Seriously.

My Binding - Great Find!

Company Review and Recommendation: MyBinding.com

Ryan, my husband, is a very dedicated teacher. He even went as far as to buy a Laminator for our home so he could laminate things then bring them into school. But laminating pouches at Staples or Officemax are outrageously expensive! So Ryan went on a hunt to find them in bulk. What he found was that MyBinding has the best price and is pretty close to bulk. We've used them for a few different home office solutions. They get 4 stars!

Do you have a home office or Want to score points and save your company money? Seriously... http://www.mybinding.com/.

They have great products and a range that fits everyone's budget. We also bought a paper cutter from MyBinding.com. I had a vision in my head of the paper cutter to get. It was a specific model and was just like the one my dad had when I was little (weird memory I know). There were few places that had this level of professional paper cutter in a price range that an average person could afford. But MyBinding.com had it! Go MyBinding.com!

Good find! I know this recommendation will be useful to some of you!