This week’s image is of one of my favorite pastimes, Legos! It is meant primarily as an example/answer to some questions I’ve received recently.

When I sent the photo of my new daughter out (this one here), I’ve had more than 1 person comment about how good I’m getting with Photoshop. My answer? I didn’t use Photoshop for anything but adding the text. The same goes for this helicopter. With the exception of a slight crop, this had ZERO post-processing work done. The pure white background and reflection were done in the camera. I used a white paper background with a flash pointed at it and set the helicopter on top of a piece of plexiglass, which was sitting on top of a black matboard.

While Photoshop is an amazing tool - and while I use it very regularly - I’d MUCH rather get it right in the camera. Removing backgrounds and other similar tasks can be time consuming when done after the shot. In the time it took me to set up the shot of my daughter, or this helicopter, I could have removed one background. In both cases, though, I was able to take many pictures, all with the background just the way I wanted them.

So, the point I’m trying to make is: Get it as close as you can in the camera. Photoshop should be used for doing things that couldn’t be easily done in camera.

Picture details: Canon 40D, 70-200 2.8L lens at 135mm, f8, 1/60sec, 100ISO