Every year I take a week off to attend workshops and classes to further educate myself.  In fact, doing this is very critical to my growth and development as an artist.  Trends and technology change constantly, and there is always something you can learn from someone else.  And since it’s so easy for anyone to buy a digital camera, it’s even more important for the professionally to truly set themselves apart.  But whether or not a person is a profession, or a new beginner, continual education is essential.

This past week I enjoyed my time in Cape May, New Jersey at the Mid Atlantic Regional School (MARS), which is a Professional Photographers of America (PPA) affiliate school.  PPA has many affiliate schools, so most people should be able to find one in their region.  You look at the list of instructors teaching for the week, and the topic they are teaching on, and then sign-up.

I saw Scott Robert Lim on the list teaching about creative lighting techniques that are able to be used in any situation.  I’m sure my description isn’t exactly how it was worded, but it was essentially that.  I remember reading an article of his in Professional Photographer magazine some time back about using your camera flashes in manual mode instead of TTL.  I was obviously influenced, but spending a week with the guy was a whole-nother story compared to reading a short article.

We went out into the blazing mid-day sun and pulled of beautiful images.  The two on this post are from that shoot.  We went into a building with tons of windows on a rainy day and combined available light with video LED lights.  Then on the last day we went to an aviation museum and photographed models in a few challenging scenarios, which came out amazing.

The first image is closer to how it was captured, which was about 1 or 2 pm.  The second image is after I finished having fun with it.  For the effects, I just used onOne software.

Of course we learned a bit more on posing in addition to the lighting, but it was an amazing week long class.  I soaked up almost every opportunity I could to assist Scott, which better helped me grasp what he was teaching, as well as gave me better insight on how to help an assistant that may work with me (usually that’s Amanda).  Any photographer that has not had a chance to learn from Scott is missing out on a career changing experience.  (Click HERE to see photos from the class).

The other nice thing about attending a PPA affiliate school such as MARS, or any other, is the vendor support that comes to these schools.  Often times you can get some great deals on equipment and software.  Something was really cool this time was that the Cannon and Tamron guys where they loaning out equipment for students to play with for a day.  In fact, Cannon had a couple of prototype cameras they were loaning out.  And the last night there, our class assistant won a free Canon 1D IV with a lens.

Any young professional photographer not taking advantage of this kind of education is robbing themselves and doing their business an injustice.  It is expensive, but it more than pays for itself as the information as applied.  Every client I have from this day on will benefit from the education I sought and learned.  Next year, I plan on spending my week back at the Imaging USA convention again since it’s been a few years since I was there last.  So don’t look for me in late January of 2013 because I’ll be in Atlanta.

The first image is closer to how it was captured, which was about 1 or 2 pm.  The second image is after I finished having fun with it.  For the effects, I just used onOne software.

This is one of our very special couples. We first met Amanda while working with the Baltimore Blast Cheerleaders. She was always very passionate and enthusiastic about what she did, but that is the kind of person Amanda is. So when she contacted me about her wedding, Amanda (my wife) and I were crazy excited. Of course we also were curious as to what the guy is like that won her over. In my mind, I imagined he was going to be a large muscular football player. Though Justin isn’t a football player, he aparently is a former pro rugby player. So note to self: don’t make him mad. Joking of course.

Justin and Amanda are big about Old Town Alexandria, so that’s where they had in mind to shoot. In planning for it, I suggested we go extra early in the morning so as to get a sunrise photo. The added benefit is that we made up over ninety percent of the popular in the immediate area since everyone else was still sleeping. That or they were participating in the run that took over one of the streets out there.

We really did enjoy Old Town that time of the morning. The street lights, shop lights, tree lights, and traffic lights lit up the streets. Since we were aiming for the sunrise, we were not able to get any of these amazing street views. So that’ll have to be a future session. It really was our first time shooting a couple in Old Town, but you can beat I’ll be taking more pictures out there in the coming months.

Working with Justin and Amanda was tons of fun. They really care about having quality creative photos, and they’re more than willing to do whatever necessary to have them. It really is a pleasure and an honor to be in a position to go into the lives of people in order to reveal their passion for each other, and their playful characters that make them mesh so well together. I think one of my favorite revealing moments during our shoot was when Amanda playfully stuck her tongue out at Justin while he was looking away. As a photographer, you don’t get these kinds of moments until you’ve made some kind of connection with your subject, making them feel at ease, as if they’re no longer being photographed, but instead having their relationship captured.

So we get all kinds of amazing pictures, we’ve all be up since way too early on a Saturday morning, and what better way to wrap everything up than with a good breakfast. Thankfully they new of a great little place to go. And, in Malone fashion, it was a family affair so we had little Zachariah with us. We left him in his car seat, but had him up high with us. Apparently he was having a great experience since he was laughing excessively for a while before he finally passed out. At least we know everyone had a great time. I can’t wait for the actual wedding day. It’s going to be amazing.

Robert and Tera have kicked off my wedding season for me this year as my first couple for 2012.  The outdoor types that they are, I knew to expect lots of fun, relaxation, and a few crazy guests.  Plus some good food.  I was anything but disappointed.

This was my first visit to the Christ Episcopal Church in West River, Maryland.  It was absolutely beautiful, and full of out door photo options.  The inside was tight, but with the older classic look and feel that you would expect.  The kind that makes you feel like you’re sitting amongst history and it drives a bit of curiosity about who was there long ago.  It is a very well kept church with a great priest, and I loved shooting there.  Of course the cool doors and pink flowers help too.

We were able to get some photos of Robert and his men ahead of time, but that was it before we had to head off to the ceremony.  I love watching a marriage ceremony in small old churches.  Something about the red carpeted isle and wooden structure and hanging lights just seems to add that special touch to a wedding.  Of course I don’t generally get to pay much attention to what’s being said other than certain key phrases that tell me what’s happening next.  But I’m there to take care of the visual capturing of things, so I have to keep my focus on looking for those expressions.  They will be excited with the pictures.

From there we were off to the American Legion in Edgewater, Maryland for the reception.  Again, keeping with their style, they kept things simple so as to focus more on simply having fun.  Most everyone was able to spend time catching up with others, sharing stories, and passing their blessings and best wishes on to Robert and Tera.  And it’s always a good sign when a bridesmaid catches the bouquet.

Robert and Tera have begun their newest life adventure as newlyweds, and like all of their family and friends, I wish them the best.

If you would like to view the photos from this wedding, a link will be posted here once the photos are completed and Robert and Tera have had their first looks.  In the meantime, enjoy the photos that I have included and feel free to leave some comments or stories or anything else about the day that you’d like to share.

Click HERE to view the event site photos.  They are only available till July 1, 2012.  Both prints and digital files are available for purchase.

I wonder if anyone can tell me what the white stuff was that I discovered spilled all over the backside of my pants.

When you have a SLR/DSLR/HDSLR, you have the option to choose different lenses.  Point and shoot cameras require mini adapter lenses to get a similar option.  But we’re going to stay with interchangeable lenses here.

There are obviously tons of lenses options out there varying in brand, zoom, speed, and price.  So what’s the difference and what does it mean for you?  Well, it depends on what you’re doing.

Lens glass:  With lenses, glass is a very critical factor.  Lower end lenses will work out just fine for the average person, but the professional often requires a much higher quality glass.  The difference in glass could be the difference between a clean, clear, vibrantly colored pictured and one that is dingy and off-colored.  Some brands are better known for their glass than others, such as Nikon.  But even Nikon has both higher and lower end glass options.  A brief reading on each glass type will let you know which is better.  Of course so will the price.

Lens speed:  If you have ever been confused when someone talks about how fast a lens is, done feel bad.  I remember when I knew nothing and assumed it referred to how fast the lens focused on a subject.  What it really refers to is the aperture rating of the lens.  For example, a lens may be referred to as a 2.8 lens, or a 4–5.6 variable lens.  The lower the aperture rating, the better the lens, and the more expensive it is.  This is not something the average person will need to worry about unless you are a serious hobby shooter working in low light or needing shallow depth of field on a regular basis.

Prime verses zoom:  Most people are immediately aware of what a zoom lens means.  So the opposite would be a non-zoom lens that has only one focal length.  This would be a prime lens.  Where a zoom lens is convenient, and prime lens is sharper and cleaner.  Most people assume buy one really big zoom lens (such as Nikon’s 18–200) than lug around a bunch of primes.  But be aware that lenses with these larger ranges usually sacrifice on quality.  Again, probably nothing the average person will notice, but will drive the professional crazy.  My personal favorite zoom lens is Nikon’s 24–70 2.8 lens.

Perspective Control:  Ok, this will be really different to most people.  A perspective control lens (PC lens), also called a tilt-shift lens, is a really cool fun toy.  It can be related to a lens-baby (for those familiar with it), but it’s not completely the same thing.  These lenses are prime lenses that are manual focus only, and are very expensive.  The user is able to rotate, pan, and shift the lens in order to achieve the desired perspective and depth of field.

Ok, so you know a few things about lenses now, now you need to know a little more about how to make the best use of them.  So let me share a few things more for you.

Protection First!  Have a UV or Haze filter on your lens at all times unless you’re replacing it temporarily with a different filer.  Filters protect that expensive glass you just paid for and help give you a better image.  Different filters do different things, so check out websites such as Tiffen and see what kind of fun things you can get to play with.

Be conscience of your shutter speed!  The general rule is that your minimum shutter speed should be the same or greater than your focal length.  So if you’re zoomed out to 200mm, then your shutter speed should also be 200 or faster in order to properly stop motion.  Again, this is a general rule that everyone breaks, but know you can before you try.  This is where faster lenses are handy.

Think about subject compression!  I probably had you up to this point, so let me try to get a simple explanation and some example photos.  Imagine you are photographing two people, and one is standing ten feet behind the other, but you’re only focusing on the individual closest to the camera.  Compression how to do with how close or far apart they appear from each other in the final image.  A wider angle lens (such as 24mm for example) and closer to subject position (say 5 feet) will make the two appear much farther apart.  If you use a longer lens (such as 200mm) and are father away (maybe 20 feet), then the two will appear much closer together in the final image.  This does not mean they will both be in focus, so don’t confuse compression with depth of field.

The image on top was with a 24mm at less than 5 feet from the tree.  The bottom image was with a  200mm at just over 10 feet away.  Same tree and same background, but different compression.

Now you know a bit more than you probably did before about lenses, and hopefully have a slightly better idea of how to choose a lens that will best suite the job you need it for.  Remember the average person that is just taking vacation photos and capturing family moments is probably just fine with a basic low-end lens with a simple range zoom of between 24–80-ish.  Just remember that it is a lower end lens with limitations, and put a filter on it for goodness sakes!

Though we are using a hot shoe mounted speed light flash unit, this will still work to some degree with a pop-up flash as well.  If you want to be advanced, then you can play with your various flash settings, but a standard TTL setting is a great starting point.

Ok, so there is one more camera setting that you’ll need to know about in order for this lighting recipe to work properly.  It’s called a Rear Curtain Flash Sync.  By default, the camera pops the flash at the beginning of the exposure, so changing it to rear curtain means the flash pops just before the exposure ends.  What this does is allow the various lights and colors in the room to hit the sensor before the flash burst, allowing for more natural colors and less washout.  So get your camera manual if you need to and find this setting.  I actually leave my camera permanently set this way, so feel free to leave it there permanently as well.

This image was made using a lower ISO and a faster shutter speed.

The next thing you want to do is adjust your camera settings to pull in more of the ambient light.  If you remember, a higher ISO number will increase the sensors sensitivity to light, which means less light is required to get a proper exposure.  Something around 800 to 1600 will probably work just fine.  The idea is to use more available light and less flash to get your final exposure and the ideal end look.

This image was made using a higher ISO and slower shutter speed.

Now, set your camera to Shutter Priority and choose a slower number.  Something between 1/15th and 1/60th will do the trick.  The slower your shutter speed, the more ambient light and colors you’ll bring in.  If you speed it up too much, like say 1/125th or more, it won’t have enough time to pull much more than the light from your flash.  The would result in a less colorful image.  The trick is to almost even out the flash output with the available ambient light.  That way the flash is mainly freezing your subject and ensuring they’re properly light.

So what should you consider when doing this technique?  Well, since you’re using slower shutter speeds, you’ll need to be conscience of the amount of movement that your subject is making.  If the subject is flying all over the place, then you’ll get that crazy ghosting affect, which is cool if that’s what you want.  If not, then you’ll want to speed up your shutter speed a bit.  Of course, if your subject is not making sudden movements, then you’ll end up with a warmer image.

The two examples below demonstrate the difference this technique can make.

The first is with a faster shutter speed while the second one used a slower shutter speed.

Remember this is just one of numerous tricks that can be used to get a specific look for an image.  Not every trick is idea for every situation, so like a good spice, use it only when the occasion really calls for it.  Otherwise you’ll end up overdoing it and be left with a ton of images that have a look not balanced with the subject matter.  Anybody to learn tricks just as anyone can spread paint on a canvas.  It takes an knowledgeable artist to know how and when to use them, and when to leave them alone for another day.  Enjoy playing with your new tricks, and showing off to your friends what you can do now.

So, what are your options then for in home display?  There are tons of new options all of the time, but there’s also the more common ones that only get better as time goes on.  These are things such as Canvas Gallery Wraps, Framed Prints, and Books & Albums, followed by gift prints and wallets of course.  Then you can start moving into other cool things such as metal or acrylic prints, snow boards for the wall, cards for the family, and more.  We even have Canvas Banners and Illuminated Prints for our wedding reception displays.

It really is crazy the amount of options available to us today for displaying our photos, yet most people can’t get past their screens.  The screen is never going to do justice to a memorable professional photograph.  So when you start thinking about having photos taken for a wedding, or of the family, or your high school senior, think also about what you’d like to do with those photographs.  How do you want to preserve those memories and display them in a way you can be proud of?

Below is a short list of some of my common products for weddings and portraits.  Obviously there’s always going to be more options, but I prefer to focus more on the things most people will enjoy.

Wedding Albums

You are going to relive your day and fall in love again as you slowly venture through your wedding album for the first time.  My albums include lay-flat pages with protective coatings to ensure spills and dirty hands never ruin your priceless memories.  This forever keepsake will be treasure for generations.  You can also add a beautiful presentation box for greater protection and display.

Portrait Albums

Sometimes there’s so many wonder pictures from a session that you just have to have them all, but you can’t fit them all on your wall.  So that’s where our portrait albums come in.  Our most popular ones include the 10x4 flip book, the 5x7 book, and the 4x6 accordion book.

Guest Book Album

A favorite among most of our wedding couples is the Guest Book Album.  This replaces the common guest book in which people only sign with an album that displays photos from the engagement session on one side and a faded parchment page on the opposite side.  Guest love looking through the photos of the couple, and then can leave personally written messages on the open parchment page.  This creates a greater wedding keep sake that couples cherish.

Gallery Wraps

Whether using one image or a series, gallery wraps will display them with an art gallery feel right on your walls.  With the high quality and archival production, you never have to worry about replacing them, and can pass them on for future generations to treasure.  For those not familiar with gallery wraps, they are images printed onto canvas that is then stretched around a wooden frame and then treated for protection.

Framed Art Prints

Ensuring that your treasured moments are both presentable and preserved, all of our framed art work is printed on fine art paper and professionally custom framed with high quality eco-friendly materials.  Not only will you forever love it on your walls, but so will those you pass it on to in the future.

Metal Prints

If you’re looking for a uniquely new way of displaying your images, while also ensuring their longevity, metal prints do exactly that.  They can be used as wall groupings or as individual, and can come in some various shapes.  There is also the option of a standard backing that extends the surface away from the way, or using a metal box framing.  Additionally, metal prints have the ability to be double-floated and framed to get an entirely new level of wow factor.

Storyboards

Using the same love and detail as our other framed prints, our storyboards tell your story using multiple images in one frame.  What better way to communicate how you feel than using one beautiful display piece?

The Spread 14x36 (1) 8x10 & (4) 5x7

The Study 20x20 (9) 5x5

The Quad 20x20 (4) 5x7

The Trio 10x20 (3) 5x7

Paintings

One of the special extra touches that can be added to a photograph is digital painting.  This is done by hand and can take a good amount of time.  Each one is unique because of it being hand done. To do justice to this kind of work, they are only printed on certain materials such as canvas or watercolor paper, and no smaller than twenty inches.

Photo Booth

The Photo Booth provides that extra cool-fun factor to your reception.  Using a portable studio set-up and fun props, you and your guests are going to totally love this added experience.

Save The Date Magnets 4x8

These are great for our wedding couples that want something custom and unique, and yet not easily lost.  Your guests can display it right on their refrigerator instead of losing it in a pile of papers.  Plus it’ll continue to stay there long after the wedding.

I recently have been experimenting with ways to set up studio setups in my home.  With the small space, it poses some challenges, mainly with the lack of ceiling height.  But once Amanda and I came up with something that works, I knew I needed to get some sessions done to test it out, so I talked with my fitness buddy, Jeff.

Jeff is a fitness instructor/trainer, and he and I had already been talking about getting some fitness pictures of him at some point.  So this seemed like a great time for me.  To play, I set up three different sets.  One was a clean white, one was against red, and the third was in black.  Each gave it’s own challenges when setting up the lights.  My limited space and limited lights made it so I couldn’t get all of the highlights on Jeff that I would have liked to have had, but we still got some awesome fitness photos in the end.

Because I have never done these kind of fitness photos, I found that Jeff and I preferred different photos for different reasons.  I was looking at my technique while he was watching his.  I would love a photo for it lighting and posing, but he loved another more because of his form or muscle sculpting.  Needless to say, I learned a few things about fitness photography.  It was a lot of fun, and I can’t wait to do more in the future.

Amanda and I really enjoyed being able to do the session at Wheaton Park Stables.  It’s an amazing park with way more options that I can take advantage of in one session.  So I was very excited throughout the shoot.  Plus when you combine a great location with a great looking couple, I knew I couldn’t mess up.  We really did leave that day with some amazing photos.

Because the session was so close to Kristin’s due date, we’re holding off on the viewing appointment till after we’ve had a chance to photograph baby Madison as well.  We really do encourage that a couple have both the maternity and baby sessions.  Doing so is like telling the more complete story instead of only one side.  Just think about it, the first experiences of being parents really does start with the development of the baby throughout the pregnancy, so of course you would want to capture those memories as well.

These sessions really are still a new experience for me as well, but I’m really enjoying them.  It’s further reaching into what I love about photography, which is telling stories and creating memorable art work that people can enjoy forever.  I really love my job!

Best wishes to Kristin and Lee as they prepare to meet baby Madison face-to-face any day now.

Why would you want to choose one mode over the other, and what does the ISO have to do with either one?  Well, it depends on what your subject matter is and what look you are going for.

If you want to control your Depth of Field (the distance between the closest and furthers points of focus within your image), then you would choose Aperture Priority.  Nikon just uses an “A” to represent this mode and Canon uses “AV” to do the same.  Remember how last week I related the aperture of a lens to the human eye.  If there is little light around you, then your eyes will be more dilated, which in turns reduces your ability to focus as well.  But if it’s really bright, then your eye’s iris is closed down really small, which in turn makes everything seem more crisp looking than normal.

So here’s the thing to remember with aperture: the smaller the f/stop, the more shallow of a depth of field you will have, and less light is required.  If it’s really bright out, and you’re really wanting that smaller f/stop, then you’ll have to increase your shutter speed to reduced the amount of time light has to hit the sensor.  You can also bring down your ISO to a lower number to make the sensor less sensitive to light.

The two photos of the log below help demonstrate what I’m talking about.  In one, you will see a very think line of focus going across the picture, while the other has almost everything in focus.  I put my ISO to 200 for both images, and set my mode to Aperture Priority.  The first was set to f/2.8 and the other at f/22.

Shutter Speed is for controlling the amount of motion in a image.  No image is completely stopped.  They’re just recorded for a set amount of time.  The less time that light is being recorded, the less time for the image to blur.  Shutter speed also does some other things for us as well, but we’ll get to those in the future.  I just want to ensure basic understanding for now.

The below two images are not the greatest of work, but they are only to demonstrate a difference in shutter speeds with something moving.  There was moving water where we were hiking along the C&O Canal, so that’s what I used.  For the first image, the ISO was 200, and I set the shutter speed to 1/500.  You’ll notice that pretty much all the ripples and bubbles that are within my depth of field are frozen in time for the most part.

The second image required a little adjusting in order to get what I needed for this demonstration.  I wanted to ensure that there was plenty of noticeable movement in the water, so I wanted a shutter speed of 1/10.  The problem I ran into was that my aperture maxed out at f/22 and my exposure was still too bright.  So I dropped my ISO to 100 instead of 200 light the first image.  This helped bring the exposure down enough to work with.  With this one, I did bring down the exposure a bit in post processing, but only to get the overall exposure closer to the first image, so as to get a better comparison of the water.  So looking at this image, you’ll notice that the water is much smoother than the first image.  If you really want to get those crazy water flowing shots, you’ll want to go to further extremes that I took here.  For one, you’ll want a tripod, compared to me balancing my camera on a log.  You’ll also want some filters to help reduce the light coming into your camera.

One extra thing that I want to point out about this part of the experiment is how the color shifted with an extreme exposure.  It is important to have your white balance properly set before you shoot, but exposure will effect your image color balance when not properly exposed.  Using the internal light meter is very helpful, but it will be effected by what is in the view finder.  A hand held light meter would be more accurate.  But if all else fails, use the sunny 16 rule, while I’ll cover in a later post.  For now, I just wanted to ensure that you have a better understanding of your most basic tools and how to use them.

Happy shooting!

Photography is similar to cooking.  There is still a combination of the tools and the knowledge of how to use them to get the desired result.  In photography, our most basic ingredients are the means to getting a simple, well exposed image.  Without light, you don’t have a picture.  So learning how to play with light in the most basic way is the foundation when it comes to learning photography.

There are three things on a camera that affect and control the light necessary to get your picture.  These are the ISO, the Shutter Speed, and the Aperture.  I generally refer to these as the combination of How Much (aperture), How Long (shutter speed), and how sensitive (ISO).  Each one plays a very critical role, and once you understand them, you will then be able to learn how to use each to gain the desired look of your final image.  The labels for shutter speed and aperture can vary between camera manufacturers, but ISO is usually the same for each.  Shutter speed is TV on Cannon and S on Nikon, while aperture is AV on Cannon and A on Nikon.

Most people still remember the days of shooting with film.  A roll was generally rated by an ASA or ISO, which indicated the level of sensitivity to light.  In film, there was a difference in film grain size that affected this sensitivity.  The larger the grain, the more sensitive the film, meaning the less available light required to gain a proper exposure.  An example would be 800 speed films.  The trade-off was seeing the grain in your images sometimes.  The finer grain films (say 100 speed) required more light to get a proper exposure, but gave a much cleaner image, and could be blown up much larger as well.  Now days, it’s all ISO, and there is now longer the consistency between numbers that there was with film.  One camera’s 800 can equal another camera’s 400, and can equal another camera’s 1000.  That’s when you start getting into the technical talk of camera sensors, which I’m not going to do here.  The main goal is to simply learn that ISO is what controls the level of light sensitivity of your camera.  The lower the number, the more light required.  The higher the number, the less light required, but also the more noise (grain with film, noise with digital) you get.

The shutter speed controls How Long the light hits the sensor for.  Thankfully, this is always the same regardless of the camera.  Shutter and aperture are both based on fractions, so the math keeps them reliably the same across the board.  When the camera shutter opens, it does so for a fraction of a second.  So when you see a number like 250, it really means 1/250^th of a second.  You can take your exposures to one second or longer, but it’s not recommended without a tripod.  It opens and light comes thru the lens, and then the shutter closes again and ends the light exposure to the shutter.

The aperture is what controls How Much light at a time is hitting the sensor during exposure.  The lens aperture is similar to the human eye.  The larger the iris opens, the more light comes thru at a time, and the smaller the opening, the less light at a time.  As I said before, this is a fraction.  It’s also represented by an f/stop number.  In film days, we had whole f/stops.  With digital, we have various f/stops in between how.  Knowing the whole f/stops is very useful.  Here’s the list for you: f/1, f/1.4, f/2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22, f/32, and so on.  Every time you jump from a lower number to a higher number, you’re cutting your light in half (ie: f/11 to f/16).  Every time to jump from a higher number to a lower number, you’re doubling your light (ie: f/11 to f/8).  So if you jump two f/stops, then it’s now four times instead of double.

So now you have the basic ingredients necessary to get the correct amount of light in order to have a properly exposed image.  Most cameras have a built-in light meter to help you.  Try putting your camera in Manual mode (M for most cameras) and play with these settings till your light meter tells you that your exposure is about where it needs to be.  Obviously there’s a lot more to cover, but I wanted to make sure you had the ingredients to start with.  In a future post, I’ll start giving you more insight on how to better make sure of each of these ingredients.  But for now, enjoy your new knowledge.