Ask Ryan Brenizer

Hi Ryan, I am a HUGE fan out of Ontario, Canada. I just wanted to know about DNG files. I heard DNG files are show better than JPEG in terms of quality for Facebook. What are your thoughts about this and how do I get a DNG file?

Sat, 18 May 2013 14:40:29 -0400

I think you mean PNG files. You can save things as PNG in Photoshop or many free apps, like Mac Preview.

You've mentioned a few times that you have a custom tone curve in camera, could you elaborate on that a bit? I've never heard of someone doing that and frankly I didn't realize my camera was capable of such features.

Sat, 18 May 2013 14:39:53 -0400

Absolutely — you can do it in View NX, which is free. There’s a module in it that lets you create custom curves and then upload it to your camera via card. More info here: http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/microsite/picturecontrol/application/application.htm

Apparently the sun also rises. Excited to be headed back to...

Thu, 16 May 2013 06:05:15 -0400

Apparently the sun also rises. Excited to be headed back to Vancouver. (at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR))

How many folks do you have working for you? (Public relations/Emails, second shooters, maybe an editor?) Do you do most of the editing yourself, part, or all of it?

Tue, 14 May 2013 18:24:06 -0400

One full-time employee, who is awesome and worth the Manhattan assistant prices. I generally have one photographer as contracted help at each wedding (usually picked from workshop attendees as I know their personality and abilities), and sometimes two if the couple has paid for extras or we’re having a big wedding with a photobooth. All of the editing is done in-house between Wendy and I.

Hi Ryan, do you leave the default sharpening in acr then output to a jpeg, then use unsharp mask? Or do you zero out any raw default sharpening first? Then use unsharp mask? Thanks.

Tue, 14 May 2013 11:27:23 -0400

Sharpening is always the very last stage of an image, when you know it will be output to a certain size and medium. If I’m outputting my regular files straight from Lightroom I use the normal settings. If I’m making a print I use settings for the size of print and the material. And if I’m outputting to web size then I have photoshop presets for that.

Hi Ryan. Do you use LR & Photoshop? If so, what are your thoughts on the Adobe CC?

Tue, 14 May 2013 11:24:19 -0400

Abstractly, I appreciate the karmic elegance. adobe is doing this to combat piracy. They can only pull off a move like this because they have a monopoly. But they have a monopoly BECAUSE of piracy. It makes an interesting narrative.

But of course it’s one I’m caught up in. It makes me less likely to upgrade for a while, and especially I know I won’t start using InDesign for albums any time soon.

I know you have amazing second shooters that work for you, but, if you could pick any photographer ( dead or alive ) who would you choose and why?

Tue, 14 May 2013 11:22:09 -0400

I’d have Platon run the photo booth.

How many views does your website have & how many mails you get per average per day?

Tue, 14 May 2013 11:20:42 -0400

A lot. I haven’t checked my web site recently because I’ve had hosting issues (which I’m fixing today, huzzah!) but I have a well-paid full-time employee whose primary role is to manage the e-mail stream.

How do you keep track of all your social media sites? Denise

Sun, 12 May 2013 20:04:32 -0400

http://ryanbrenizer.com/socialmedia

Thanks for the reminder to update that with this Tumblr!

Hey Ryan. I've noticed your photos look sharp (but not too sharp) and often not very compressed on Facebook. How do you prep an image for uploading to Facebook?

Sun, 12 May 2013 20:03:50 -0400

I don’t know if this actually helps, but I upload images at 960 pixel PNG files. I do whatever I can to keep Facebook from hacking my shadows and tones apart.

After I shoot a wedding, get home and try to sleep I find myself staying up late getting mad on shots that I forgot to take. Thinking," why didn't I do that?!? How did I forget to go to that location?! Or why didn't I use that technique!?" Does this ever happen to? Or am I just being to hard on myself? Thank you, Joey, CA.

Sun, 12 May 2013 20:02:54 -0400

Well without being so mad at yourself, this is a good process. Review the day and see if there is anything you could do differently next time. Just working a lot won’t do much for you — there are plenty of people who have done 700 weddings and are shooting the same way as their seventh wedding. The important part is learning as you go.

What is you fave lens of all and why?

Sun, 12 May 2013 20:01:39 -0400

I don’t really fetishize gear very much, but there is something special in my heart for the Nikon 58mm f/1.2. I have to keep selling my copies because I’m a user, not a collector, and know I’m going to quickly destroy them.

Hello Ryan, do you have any custom contrast, saturation or sharpening setting on your camera. Please share how do you get the beautiful tones in your photographs. And more importantly how do you get it right in the camera. I have tried best lenses, cameras, lighting and nailed the exposure but still do not get the tones you have in the photos.

Sun, 12 May 2013 19:59:17 -0400

I have a completely custom tone curve (although it isn’t all that dramatic.) Getting it right in camera is more about finding your light and waiting for the right moment than anything else. If I took pictures of a brick wall it would just as terrible as anyone else’s.

What white balance do you use for the weddings. Do you use a grey card before the wedding or custom set on camera. Thank you.

Sun, 12 May 2013 19:58:03 -0400

Auto in RAW, since I go back and forth from flash to ambient quickly. Ideal balancer is the highlight of a tux since there is a lot more off-white out there than off-black.

Hi Ryan, would you consider sharing your SOOC and edited image comparison from any of your weddings or photoshoot and describe what edits you have done on the final image. Just a glimpse would be great:)

Sun, 12 May 2013 19:57:16 -0400

Sure thing! But in the average case the results would be very unsatisfying, as I do everything I can to make sure my out-of-camera images looks very close to my in-camera images, including custom in-camera curves. But I could show how and when I might deliberately underexpose a contrasty scene with modern Nikons.

Hi Ryan, I'm a big fan of your work. Recently i had a complaint about the kind of paper I used to print out the 4x6, Where you print your 4x6 and what kind of paper do you use, i also live in New York City like you do

Sun, 12 May 2013 19:54:02 -0400

I print through mPix online usually and offer a number of different sorts of paper so people can figure out what works best for them. I use Adorama locally for digital prints and LTI Lightside for film stuff.

Hi Ryan! Would you ever work with a lens like the nikon 28-300? If so, why, if not, why not?! Another question, how do you light your venues? A lot of you dancing shots seem to have super soft light on the subjects, is that just from a bounced on-camera flash?! Last question: did you try the new nikon 85 1.8 g lens yet? Thanks a lot, greets

Sun, 12 May 2013 19:52:48 -0400

Haha not really. I used JUST a 28-300 for at least a year at Columbia (on a DX camera even), and I’d rather not go back to it. I prefer that my lenses have a point-of-view. The main professional usage for a 28-300 would be something like red carpet stuff. I’ve only tried the 85mm f/1.8 for about three minutes.

Zup Ryan! When you create a "brenizer" :P using flashes do you keep the flash(es) in the same position? Or do you "light paint" the pic?

Sun, 12 May 2013 19:51:15 -0400

Everything should be the same shot to shot or you’re going to run into trouble. (also keep flash power low) I have combined panoramas with composites for some different purposes, but that’s pretty tricky stuff.

Hi Ryan, love your work. One quick question, have you ever felt insecure about your abilities as a photographer?

Sun, 12 May 2013 19:50:06 -0400

If I never felt insecure I’d be a sociopath. But one reason I shoot so many weddings is to make sure that in anything related to weddings my comfort zone is as big as I can possibly make it.

Okay Ryan am I missing any potential negatives? So I shoot weddings with 2 Nikon d600's and have a d7000 as a back up and for when I set a photobooth as well. I'm thinking of selling the d7000 + my macro 105mm and buying the Fuji X100s. Then for macro shots I'd use the Fuji and if I had a photobooth I would use one of my d600's for that and use the Fuji for some more sneaky reception candids. And then I'd also have a kick ass travel camera. Sound like a plan? Is the X100s good at macro? Thanks!

Sun, 12 May 2013 19:48:06 -0400

Well, a 35 is going to give you a very different sort of macro than a 105. But I have used the x100 as a photobooth camera and it works great. See how you like it for macro first, maybe get a 60G to cover yourself if you don’t like it.