Paul C. Buff Cyber Commander Failure

I was using Cyber Commander at a client location when my Einstein flashes started to fire intermittently.  I thought it must be the batteries getting low, so I changed them, but no change.  I then pulled out my backup Cyber Commander but that didn't help.  I then thought it was the hot shoe on my Nikon D4, so I swapped it out for my Nikon D3s.  Still no change.

So I switched to my backup Pocket Wizards and they worked fine.

While on the shoot it occurred to me that a similar thing happened about a year ago.  Both times I was at a client who was a high tech software consulting and programming shop.  My guess is that these clients have some very powerful wireless networks.  I have used the Cyber Commanders at dozens of low tech clients with no problem.

My assumption is that the heavy radio traffic at these locations was interfering with my Cyber Commander's radio frequency and that caused them to fail.  I didn't try to change the frequency of the Cyber Commander.  So I don't know if that would help.  Fortunately I had a backup system, I also have a sync cord in case all heck brakes loose and neither wireless system works. 

Golfsmith International Grand Opening - Gainesville, VA.

Golfsmith International recently had their Grand Opening for their new store in Gainesville, VA.  ​​I was asked to photograph the event and capture the fun and emotion of the new customers as they shopped the store for the first time.  They gave away a $1,000 gift certificate to one lucky customer.   I love to golf, so this was a great assignment.

They have a wonderful Fitting Studio where customers can swing clubs and see if they like the feel of a club and which club gives them the best distance and trajectory.  They also have a club repair shop, a very large practice putting green, and about everything else a golfer could want from clubs, balls, shoes, to clothes.​  

See some of the photos by going to Washington DC Photographer or to VA Photographer.

Shelby and Chris's May Day Wedding in Fairfax, VA

I had the pleasure of being Shelby and Chris's engagement photographer. We spent a couple of hours around the Washington, DC National Mall and monuments taking some great photographs of the two of them with the majestic memorials and monuments surrounding them. So I knew they were going to be a great wedding couple to photograph. They and their friends and family were great to be around all day.

My assistant and I started around Noon taking getting ready photos of the wedding party at the Arlington, VA Hilton. When we arrived the bridesmaids were ready to go, but the groomsman were still in their shorts drinking a few sodas while watching the Kentucky Derby telecast. Guys have it easy compared to the women when it comes to getting ready. But I prefer when the wedding party isn't ready. It is hard to take getting ready photographs if everyone is all dressed and ready to go when your arrive. Fortunately, the bride was still getting ready and that made for some great photographs. The wedding party road out to the Church, St. Leo the Great in Fairfax, VA, in style in a long white limousine.


It was pretty hot for May 1st, it was close to 90 degrees and humid. So we looked for some shady spots outside the church to do wedding party photographs. We made sure we kept the photograpy light and fun and do it fast so everybody could get back inside to the air conditioning. As a Virginia Wedding Photographer I have seen a lot of Churches in Northern VA. This was my first time at St. Leos. It was a big, beautiful, and bright church. A great location for wedding photography. The balcony allowed my assistant to take some photos from high and behind the main aisle as the bride and her father came down the aisle.

The wedding reception was the the Hilton Hotel in Arlington, VA near the Balston, VA area. I have photographed weddings hear before. The tables were nicely decorated, and the dance floor was plenty big!!! The DJs did a great job of keeping the reception moving. One thing I liked is that these DJs didn't feel the need to turn off the lights to get people to dance. I always complain to the DJs that when they make the dance floor completely dark it makes life tough for a wedding photographer. I was there until the last dance at 10PM. Most of the guests were still around even at this late hour, so you know it was a great wedding reception.

Lightroom 3 Beta 2 Review vs. Aperture 3

What has changed since Lightroom 3 Beta 1?



* IMAGE QUALITY with the new noise reduction is much better. You have to play around with the Luminance, Detail, and Contrast sliders in conjunction with the Sharpening amounts to get a look that you like. I was trying some different settings with the Luminance slider and you can get some very strange looking texture in your images if you tune these things wrong. The sample on the left is from LR 2 and the one on the right is from LR 3 Beta 2. LR 3 is definitely cleaner, but you loose a little detail. The settings were the same for both photographs.

* TETHER SUPPORT - this worked with my Nikon D700 for a few frames and then I couldn't get it to work again. I am sure they will work the bugs out of this before it is released. The implemenation is clean and simple and will be a great new addition. Aperture 3 Tether left a copy of the images on my CF card as well as downloading them to my laptop, Lightroom 3 does not.
* VIDEO SUPPORT - this is definitely a reaction to Aperture 3 video support and it shows. All Adobe did was allow you to import the video file into your Lightroom catalogue ... that is it. What a joke. You can't edit it, you can't include it in a slideshow. If you click on the thumbnail it will play in your default video player. I hope a lot more is coming in the final release.
* IMPORT - Adobe broke the import function in Lightroom 3 Beta 1 by adding to much functionality and slowing it down from Lightroom 2. Lightroom 2 import was clean, simple and fast. LR3B2 import seemed quicker, but I still like the LR 2 interface better.
* PERFORMANCE - Beta 3 does seem to be a little quicker overall than Beta 1 or even Lightroom 2. This is where Lightroom just punishes Aperture 3. When you make a change in this new release, the image is changed immediatley.

Compeition is good. Adobe is definitely reacting to Apple's Aperture video and tether support. They have a long way to go to catch up to the Aperture 3 video support. Aperture also has book designing, faces recognition, location (GPS) support, and a slideshow feature with video support that puts Lightroom to shame.

Better Family Photography Part 1

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to give a presentation to MOPS, Moms Of Pre-School children group at Vienna Presbyterian Church in Vienna, VA, on how to take better family pictures. At first I thought this would be easy for a professional photographer. It turned out to be harder than I thought. I had to put myself in their shoes and not make any assumptions.

I opened up the presentation by taking questions from the moms.

* my pictures are blurry, my son is one big blur across the photograph
* there is always a big delay when I hit the shutter button and I miss the shot
* my kids always want to see the photographs right after I take them
* how can I get them all to smile at the same time?

They also sent me some photos ahead of time and had me analyze them. What I saw was harsh lighting, boring composition and little emotion. Over the next few days I will post here on my blog what I recommended. It was fun.

Read the whole article at my website WASHINGTON DC PHOTOGRAPHER LEN SPODEN.

Conference Board Diversity Conference Event in New York City

The Conference Board has their supplier diversity conference / event in New York, NY in January. The conference included represenatiives from a number of large corporations, such as Cisco, GE, Hilton, and Northrup, as well as from a number of government agencies. It was interesting to see and hear how companies are using supplier diversity to affect their bottom line profits. I was their to take photographs of the event and to take portraits of their executive team.

WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, just announced that Len Spoden Photography has been selected to receive the 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards™ for Wedding Photography!

Vienna, VA - January 18, 2010 - WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, just announced that Len Spoden Photography has been selected to receive the 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards™ for Wedding Photography!

The annual Bride’s Choice Awards™ recognizes and celebrates excellence in quality and service within the wedding industry, as determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 500,000 newlyweds.

Len Spoden Photography is among the top five percent of all vendors in the WeddingWire community, which includes over 100,000 wedding professionals across the US and Canada. Awards were given to winners across 19 different service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers.

“We are excited to recognize and honor the success of the top wedding professionals within the WeddingWire Community” said Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “The annual Bride’s Choice Awards™ program has given us the unique opportunity to highlight the best wedding professionals in each region as reviewed by brides and grooms who have utilized their services in the past year.”

We are happy to announce that Len Spoden Photography is among the very best Wedding Photographers within the WeddingWire Network, which includes WeddingWire and Martha Stewart Weddings. We would like to thank our past newlyweds for nominating us for the 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards™.

Barboursville Winery

As a wine lover I always like when I can combine business with pleasure. I recently had the opportunity to photograph the 1804 Inn at Barboursville Winery near Charlottlesville, VA for The Washington Post.

The 1804 Inn is the owner's, Gianni and Silvana Zonin, residence, made from two two-story brick buildings, since connected.

Each building had two large rooms per floor, but getting upstairs required outside staircases. Winery manager Luca Paschina doesn't know when -- the two buildings were connected by a shallow "hyphen" containing not much more than a foyer and a staircase taken from another old house. Architect Henry J. "Hank" Browne, who also carved out modern bathrooms for the house, flanked the upstairs foyer with two proper sitting rooms, each of which leads to its own bedroom.

It was a pleasure to photograph. My daughter attends nearby University of Virginia (UVA), I am hoping the next time my wife and I visit overnight we can stay at the beautiful Inn and winery.

You can read the entire article in The Washington Post by clicking on the title above.

Vanessa, John, and Ava Family Portraits

I had the pleasure of spending a couple of hours with Vanessa, John, and Ava at their home to take some portraits of their family. Ava is 13 months old and really wanted to play so we just rolled with it and took the camera to her instead of trying to get her to pose. It actually made it a lot more fun and we got some great family photographs.

Shelby and Chris's Washington, DC Engagement Photographs

I will be photographing Shelby and Chris's wedding next May. We took a couple of hours around the Jefferson Memorial, Washington Monument, and the Lincoln Memorial to take some engagement photographs. What started out as a cool and cloudy late afternoon ended up with some late day sun .... but still cool. You can't beat the Washington, DC monuments for a background.