Megan is an ASU Cheerleader (was, now se’s graduating), so needless to say she is a big ASU Football fan.  My wife was an ASU Marching Band musician, so I understand the fervor for the Devils.  Go Devils!  So Megan and I took to the streets in Tempe, Arizona to get some ASU Grad shots.  We were after a mixture of school spirit shots and graduation cap and gown type shots.  Here are a few of my favorite images from Megan’s ASU graduation portrait session.

This location is a parking garage on the ASU Campus in Tempe, Arizona.  It provided the open shade with something interesting in the background.  It is only partially covered.  The roof is a latticework of solar panels.

I love this shot with the GO DEVILS block in front and Megan’s got the attitude, so it’s perfect.

This is one of my favorites.  I know, it is just a close up headshot and nothing super fancy, but Megan looks great in it.

We snuck into the basketball arena.  I like to sneak around when taking portraits.  It turns a normal portrait session into a possible security guard chase, which would be exciting…

We parked in a reserved spot next to old main and ran out on to the lawn to get this last set of shots.  Old Main is the only building on the ASU campus that feels like a old style university.  ASU is more of a modern city.  So, I like the feel of Old Main, it makes the shot feel more collegiate.

So now we come to the end of the day.  The sun is down and we are operating on very little ambient light.  Here is where the Canon 1D Mark IV shines.  I am shooting this image at 4600 ISO and leaving them in color (thanks to Lightroom 3‘s incredible noise reduction).  There is a bit of grain in them, but its manageable grain and looks cool (of course I like grain).  You can’t get a better available light scenario than this, but you have to have a serious camera to make use of this light.

Photography by Jared Platt, Platt Photography

Location: ASU Campus, Tempe, Arizona

Slideshow Music by Mindy Gledhill, Courtesy of Triple Scoop Music

In case you didn’t know, we received a new baby into our family last week.  She is a beautiful and healthy little girl.  Both mother and daughter are doing well.  We have been very blessed.  She is already sleeping through most of the night and has been a joy to us.  I am thrilled to have her join our little family.

A little Tech Talk:

During an infant portrait, it is important to keep in mind that flashes and loud camera equipment can interfere with the portrait session itself. The equipment matters to the point that it does not interfere with the portrait session.

I shot all of these infant portraits with the Canon 1D Mark IV, a pro level camera, that offers an incredible 12800 ISO, which allows for very low light photography.  This ability was absolutely invaluable as I photographed our new little baby.  I hate using a flash during an infant portrait session and especially during the documentation process at the hospital.  It is just a bad idea to use a flash.  So shooting at a high ISO with a fast lens is the right way to photograph an infant.

In addition to the high ISO, one other invaluable option on the new Mark IV is the silent shutter mode.  Those who shoot with smaller, consumer or pro-summer cameras will find that the sound of the shutter is not too loud to begin with, still perhaps enough to wake the baby, but not too abrasive.  However, pro camera bodies have much more durable shutters and they make a lot more noise when they fire.  This is not good for weddings or infant portraits.  If you want the baby to continue sleeping, you can’t start snapping a loud shutter a few feet from her face.  And even when she’s awake, that shutter can startle her.  But the ever so quiet “silent” mode on the Mark IV work nicely.  It softens the noise made by the shutter movement by slowing down the movement of the shutter and by separating out the two movements of the shutter.  Pushing the shutter release button trips the shutter to expose the chip, but the shutter reset movement only occurs after you release the shutter release button.  It is a fairly ingenious system and helps to mitigate the noise coming from the camera.

While the baby was sleeping, I put the camera in Silent mode and when I was ready for her to wake up, I took it out of Silent mode and sure enough, she started to stir as a result of the sharp noise from the shutter on the camera.  So the noisy shutter turned out to be useful as well.

If you have shot with the 1D Mark III, you will have used this feature as well.  They seem to have improved it in this model.  It feels even quieter.  Still not anything like a leica and the 50D and other pro-summer models are just as quiet in normal mode as the 1D M IV is in silent mode, but their shutters are not nearly as durable.

Think snap shot.  Think completely auto exposure.  Not 3200 ISO, not 6400 ISO, but 12,800 ISO.  Here’s what I would expect:

First, this shot is a problematic one for an auto exposure.  It is 100% back lit and as a result, most cameras are fooled into believing that the brighter light is the primary exposure, so the face (the only truly important element in this photo) would be underexposed.  But without any forethought or exposure compensation, the Canon Mark IV nailed the exposure.  The face was exposed perfectly and the highlight on the side of the face didn’t even blow out, and this was a JPG, not a RAW.  I would anticipate even more latitude from a RAW shot.  My first auto exposure expereince with the camera was a very good one.  The camera made all the right decisions and maintained information in every important highlight and every important shadow.  We’ll see how it performs over time, but this was a problematic situation and it got it right.

Furthermore, I would like to point out that at ISO 12800, I was able to shoot an indoor photo with a small 40 watt lamp as a back light with no other lighting and get a nice little snap shot.  1/80 sec shutter speed (fast enough for a 50mm lens) and f2.5.  Any other camera in my bag can’t get that done at those settings.

Second, at an extreamly high ISO, bulky grain structures that would soften the photograph and disrupt the thin lines of an eye-lash or other fine details.  Thus making a sharp focus look soft.  But the Canon Mark IV has a pretty fine grain structure at 12,800 ISO.  Notice in the detail below, the eyelashes are indeed sharp and do not look fuzzy like they might on a 5D Mark II at 6400 ISO.  This is due to what appears to be a much finer grain structure, which describes these fine details far more accurately.

I would also expect major color noise.  In fact, my 5D Mark II at 6400 ISO is always turned to balck and white.  They look nice, but color is problematic.  In fact, as you can see, I initially turned the photo to black and white to avoid color noise.  But again, I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of color noise.  You will recall yesterday’s post, I was impressed with the color noise of the lower ISO settings.  Now I am really impressed.  Using the default color noise suppression settings in Lightroom of 25,  I got absolutely no color noise at 12800 ISO.  This means that I can use this camera at every ISO setting in color or black and white.

I have to admit, I am thrilled so far with the camera.  The lack of color noise and the fine grain structure at even the very highest ISO settings is just short of miraculous.  I’ll be tracking a bunch of moving children with auto focus tomorrow.  We’ll see how it reacts to that rigorous test.  For that matter, we’ll see how I react to that rigorous test…

I looked around my home tonight and still can’t bring myself to take down the Christmas decor.  It will stay up for at least another week.  So I thought I would record my favorite decorations and Christmas elements before we pack them up for the year.  This Charlie Brown Christmas Tree is a recent addition, but one of my very favorites.  I shot it tonight in available light, with just the general can lights on.  As you can see in the info detail later in this post, it is shot a very comfortable 1/250 of a second because I have my 50mm 1.2 and an ISO of 3200.  On my 5D mark II, this ISO is a bit noisy, but just fine in Black and White and on my Mark III was completely impossible.  But the Mark IV does a create job with the grain structure and the color noise is non-existent.  Now, keep in mind, I am using this practically, I am not trying to be a scientist here, but rather a practical user.  I am shooting RAW and using Lightroom to produce the final jpg you are seeing.  I have added a vignette and adjusted the color to suite my taste and I have used the noise reduction in Lightroom, but nothing heroic has been done to the image.  Basic Lightroom noise reduction has produced a file that I would be completely happy showing my clients.  The grain looks good and the color noise is great for such a high ISO.  Tomorrow, I will pump up the ISO even more and see how it fairs at 6400 and 12800 ISO.

In the detail crop you can see all of the basic setting for this Mark IV exposure and see the grain structure and look into the monochromatic background, that is where you should see the color noise, but without heroic noise reduction plug-ins (just normal Adobe Lightroom – Camera RAW color noise reduction) the file is fantastic for such a high ISO.  And I am so thrilled with Canon’s grain structure, both here on the Mark IV and on the 5D mark II.  Both feel so much like film, that I almost prefer shooting at a higher ISO to give my images a bit more depth and texture to them.  We’ve become so sterilized with digital that we almost can’t imagine a world without smooth continuous tones.  That’s why film shooters always “feel” so different.  They have grain, even in the lower ISOs.

Grain is beautiful!  Say it again and again!  Never grow tired of that mantra.

Folks, that’s a Canon Mark IV on my table! Canon has sent me one to evaluate. So, I will be posting photos and reviews of my experiences over the next six weeks. If you are thinking about getting a Mark IV or just curious, tell me what you want to know and I will test it out.

Check back here for new photos daily (yes I will be posting at least one photo shot by the Mark IV here on a daily basis and I will tell you a bit about my experience with it.  I have now taken it out of the box and started charging the battery.  I will tell you one thing, the buttons feel very sturdy.  The multi-controler (the joy stick kind of button on the back) has a very nice gasget on it and feels about as sturdy as I have ever felt on any Canon cameras thus far.  I was never thrilled with the Mark III’s multi-controler button.

So, if you are interested in the Mark IV, send me a note here or on my email and let me know what you would like to see from the camera and I will try to put it into my to do list.