Ellis Vener reviewed the Nikon D3X for the April issue of Professional Photographer magazine. He took this 30-second exposure in San Antonio using the D3X with no tripod, braced by hand against a stair landing, aperture at f/10, ISO 100, camera long exposure noise reduction on, Active D-lighting set to extra-high. NEF to DNG processing in Adobe Lightroom v2.3. Click image to see a 900x600-pixel view.

Click here for complete Nikon D3X features and specifications.

Professional photographers are gearing up for the busiest time of the year, and companies are vying to attract business special incentives. As a special treat for Web Exclusives readers, here is a convenient one-stop list of current product and service offers from our advertisers.

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By Erica Velasco of Vision Photographs

The first article in the Tips for Greener Photography series offered tips to make your photography office greener. This month the focus will be on incorporating green practices into your business. There are simple things you can do right now to change your business practices and workflow, make your business greener, and offer greener products.

Here are some ideas to inspire you to make your business more eco-friendly.

Greener business practices and workflow

• Go paperless by leveraging the power of the Internet and uploading client information and forms to the Web. Your client can book her wedding, sign her contract, and pay invoices online.
• Utilize online Web galleries to proof your sessions and albums. In-person projection proofing is also a great way to reduce the need to provide your clients with paper proofs.
• If you provide your clients with digital images, use portable or reusable hard drives to deliver the images instead of a CD or DVD. It is always more desirable to provide a client with a reusable versus a disposable option.
• Choose online banking, have your bills sent via e-mail and pay them online.
• Print all of your paperwork double-sided, then recycle your waste paper.
• Use recycled paper for necessary printing, including marketing collateral, business cards and sample products. Many printing companies offer printing with soy- or wax-based inks and recycled paper; check out the list at Greener Photography (greenerphotography.org/links.html).
• It is better to reuse than to recycle. Reuse cardboard boxes to ship client orders. Donate extra cardboard boxes to local preschools, art classes, or shipping stores. Reuse shredded documents as packing material.
• Recycle ink cartridges, CDs and DVDs. For more information on recycling CDs and DVDs check out cdrecyclingcenter.org.
• Try to eliminate sensitive paperwork that requires shredding.
• Use short-run printing when it is appropriate. For example, print a small quantity of brochures, then order another small quantity when your inventory is low.

By Jeff Lubin, M.Photog.Cr.

One of the most interesting and challenging but least-taught studio lighting patterns is the double profile. All effective portraits attract the viewer’s attention to where the artist wants to draw the eye. In the case of this portrait of 5-year-old twins, we want to enjoy the great expressions and interaction of the subjects.

In most portraits the photographer wants to light the mask of the face. When the subjects are in profile, the mask is a very slim area showing the forehead, outline of the nose, and chin. Because the subjects are facing each other, a single key light can’t outline each face, and the scene will require lighting from separate light sources. Let me take you through the setup and settings to achieve this high-impact but subtle result.

We are using four lights for this setup, a 60-inch Larson umbrella, a 36-inch Larson strip light and two Photogenic parabolics with white diffusers and 16-inch barn doors. The camera is a Hasselblad H2 with a 39-megapixel digital P45+ back by Phase One. The background was painted by Ron Dupree.

©Jeff Lubin