Bergen County Camera news, events, products, helpful photographic tips and suggestions
We are happy to fulfill one of our top customer requests — stay open late on Thursday Night. A recent customer survey showed nearly 70% wanted our pre-pandemic late night reinstated. We will be rolling this our starting June 1, 2023. Our store hours are Monday – Saturday 10 am – 5 pm and Thursday evening’s until 8 pm
What is the key to great backgrounds for portraits you ask? Honestly its pretty simple! The key is “less is more” and to “keep it simple”. With Portraits you want to have as few distractions from the background as possible. When you have distractions and a bunch of clutter behind your subject it will take away from the photo rather than adding to it. To make a strong portrait you do not want to distract the viewer and take away the focus on your subject. So try placing your subject on a simple, uncluttered background from the start. If that is not possible. I would suggest to either remove as much as you can from the background. Or if you are outside try to position yourself and angle your camera in different angles so you do not get random people walking in the background and so forth. Another thing that helps when you are shooting around other people outside is to shoot with a telephoto/prime lens that has a fast aperture. That will help compress and completely blur out anyone or anything in the background. So lets recap! The key to great backgrounds is “less is more” and “keep it simple”. This will immensely help your chances of getting “the shot”. Which we all love getting! Keep shooting and stay safe.
Till next time..
All my best,
Jeremy Lebled – Bergen County Camera Specialist
Have you been struggling posing couples? Try this technique! When you pose a couple. You should always tell them to get in nice and close to each other. But when doing this most of the time, they almost always never get close enough to look “close”. There is usually always a little gap in between them where her head is not fully resting on his shoulder. Or there is a gap when their heads should be touching and so forth. I am sure if you go and look through your photos of past shoots you can find a few photos where you wished they were closer together. Luckily I have a quick fix for those issues! Next time you are posing a couple. Take a photo after you tell them to “get closer, get closer” and they move just a few inches but you still see a gap. Then take your camera right over to them and show them the gap on the back of your LCD monitor. Once they see the gap and realize how big the gap actually is when they thought they were already super close. They will instantly get in real close to one another and it literally will makes the entire shot for you. I can’t tell you how many times I have done this over and over and it always works fantastic. Now go out and give it a try! Let us see your images! We would love to see.
Till next time…
All my best,
Jeremy Lebled – Bergen County Camera Specialist
Many Portrait photographers chose to do their shoots early in the morning or late late afternoon for a few reasons. The first reason for shooting early, the light is just perfect! Getting up early to shoot in the morning. There isn’t as harsh of a light yet in the day. Compared to shooting closer to high noon or the early afternoon. Where the sun is higher in the sky and causes harsh unwanted shadows. You can get away with shooting during the day at that time as long as you are in a area with a lot of open shade. But ideally earlier in the morning is when you will get the best beautiful golden light. Secondly, the streets are usually completely empty. So there is little distraction for your model/subjects. You have a very small window of time before the streets or parks start to fill with foot traffic or regular traffic depending on where you are shooting. So make sure you get there early to scout out your location and be prepared! Another great time to shoot is closer to sundown. The lighting will once again be beautiful and golden. But the only thing to keep in mind is there will still most likely be a lot of people and potential traffic. So you will need to work quickly! Just to recap, the best time is the morning. Second best is later in the day towards sundown. But you can also get away with shooting during the day if you have to. Just make sure you find a nice area with shade. Be sure to have your early morning coffee ready, have some fun and take some beautiful images! Till next time..
All my best,
Jeremy Lebled – Sales Specialist at Bergen County Camera
In light of the unprecedented developments posed by COVID-19, we want to share with our community the steps we’re taking during this challenging time to try and remain at your service and simultaneously insure the safety of our clients and staff. We’ve seen and risen to many challenges in our forty years of service to our greater community and it’s together that we’ll overcome this challenge and resume our full schedule of activities when conditions permit.
To insure all remain healthy, comfortable and to limit the spread of Covid-19,
we’re enacting the following protocols until further notice:
Demo cameras and rental cameras will be wiped with isopropyl alcohol at regular intervals.
We will be cleaning all touch surfaces on a regular basis
We will follow best practices for social distancing with no handshakes or close personal contact.
Employees will be required to wash hands frequently and always after customer interactions.
All classes have been cancelled
All focus sessions have been cancelled
Trips and Meetup planning has been put on hold.
As a company, we are asking any employee not feeling well to stay home and
rest. We ask the same of our customers. While visiting our retail store, if you
need to cough or sneeze, please cover your mouth and nose with a tissue, or
your upper sleeve.
Visit the CDC’s Cornavirus page to stay up-to-date on the latest news and hygiene tips to keep yourself and others safe. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV
We will update everyone with revisions to our protocols if future travel and/or social gathering restrictions are enacted.
We have been closely monitoring and will continue to follow the recommendations of the WHO, the CDC and local Bergen County and Westwood government agencies .
We continue to operate under their guidance and recommendations. With the protocols we are taking, our store is safe and will remain open for business. We’re here in person, over the phone and on the web for processing online orders.
We recognize this is a time of uncertainty and unease and we wish for everyone in the community to stay safe. We trust that in our solidarity there is great strength. At the core of this company’s purpose is a desire for service , and we take it to heart in good times and especially during challenging times.
Thank you for your continued support and trust in Bergen County Camera, we’re always at your service!
Tom and Bob Gramegna
and the entire staff at
Bergen County Camera
Leica Boutique Bergen County
Gallery 270
Stop by for a Pre-Inventory Super Sale weekend and catch some great deals before our inventory!
Two weekends full of open boxes, closeout sales and clearance deals!
Read more and see a preview of our pre-inventory super sale!
Click here to shop our online store.
Click here to view other Sales blog posts.
Read more
To celebrate the 35th Anniversary of Bergen County Camera, we’re very excited to announce the next Your Point of View show! The theme is “35 Miles”. We want to see some of your favorite photos taken within 35 Miles of our store! For help with location distance, use this map. This will be our biggest show yet with 30 different photographers being showcased!
The opening will be on Thursday, September 17th from 7-9 pm in Westwood during our 35th Anniversary Celebration and kickoff to the 2015 NJ Photo Expo. Photos will remain on display through the end on September. We look forward to seeing some fascinating work. Good luck!
To prepare for our 35th anniversary, Bergen County Camera is excited to announce the start of “35 Years – 35 Events”. Beginning next Saturday, March 7th at 9:30 AM when Lytro joins us for an in-store demonstration and running throughout 2015. These upcoming events will culminate with a grand celebration on our 35th anniversary. We look forward to announcing many exciting events coming up soon.
1. March 7th – Living Pictures With Lytro Demo Day and Focus Session
2. March 14 – Drones Focus Session with special guest Tom Schiavone
3. April 11 – Nikon Demo Day
4. April 15 – Catch the Shot Photo Event Presented By Canon Sign Up Here
5. May 9 – Nikon Demo Day
6. May 21 – Rockland Boulders Opening Day In The Dugout Sign Up Here
7. October 18th – Lakota Wolf Preserve Sign Up Here
More Coming Soon!
Join us on March 7th as representatives from Lytro will be in the store to discuss the new field of living pictures and their camera, the Lytro Illum. We’ll start the day with a Focus Session at 9:30 am featuring a walk through of the Lytro Illum and a look at what living pictures are. Then stick around after the focus session to try the Lytro Illum. We’ll have cameras available so you can experience light field photography yourself. Don’t miss this chance to experience a new field of photography.
In this day and age when many stores are interested in selling you the box, Bergen County Camera is still selling what’s inside the box – and often priced remarkably close to thebig box stores. An approach that truly puts the focus on you!
Here’s what’s included