Let's Show Great Images To Our Patients

I just typed in "Cosmetic Dentist" and visited a bunch of websites that popped up. I did what many patients might do and went to the "smile gallery" to see their work. It became clear to me that most were uninspiring and mostly very clinical. I can't imagine that any patient would get too excited about seeing images of a patient shot while they were in the clinic chair or against the wall of the operatory or a collage of clinical shots. I'm not posting most of the images I saw because it wouldn't be fair to show a patient's face, but suffice it to say that most of the images came up far short of what I would show on a website if I chose to show images on my website.

Do you really think that a patient will see this and say "Wow! This is the right dentist for me?".  Seems more appropriate for a board certification presentation.

Even when just a smile was shown, most sites of the "Best Cosmetic Dentists" (at least according to Dr. Google) showed images taken from incorrect angles.

If we're going to show off our work, let's at least shoot the two images from the same angle.

If we're going to show off our work to the general public, let's get AMAZING images that inspire folks. Honest, simple images that don't require patients having to go to a professional photographer (yes, most future patients can see through that marketing technique).

Click HERE to see a post I once did on how to get amazing portraits to grow your practice.

We all strive to do the best dentistry we can and we should also strive to have our photography match our outcomes.

All the best,
Glenn

Why the Nikkor 85mm lens is a great (lighter and way less expensive) substitute for the traditional 105mm

I originally wrote this post almost two years ago, but I get the question so often that it seems appropriate to repost it.

It kills me every time a dentist writes to me something like: "I've got this great camera and lens setup that I got handed down from my brother when he got a better camera, but I can't get good images. Can you help me use it better?"  More often than not, they have a zoom lens such as an 18-200mm or 55-300mm or something like that. NONE, I repeat NONE of those lenses are appropriate for dentistry. They are not macro lenses, which means that you can never use them up close to the subject. Almost all dental photography (with the exception of portraits) uses macro photography. If you don't use a macro lens, your images will be out of focus.

This Canon 17-85mm lens is amazing to use, but the "-" between the 17 and 85 signifies it's a zoom lens and NOT appropriate for dental use.

All lenses for dentistry are macro, except Nikkor lenses (Nikon's subsidiary that makes lenses for Nikon) which call them "Micro". 

The brand you choose is important for the camera you use. For instance, if you use a Canon body, use a Canon (or Tamron or Sigma) lens. If you use Nikon, you can use a Nikkor (or Tamron or Sigma) lens.  In this post, I'm not going to get into the idea of why I'm not a big fan of using "off brands" of lenses. Buy all from the same brand, so that when something goes wrong, there's no finger pointing by one company to another. Hand it in to the repair center and let them sort it out. It's worth the extra few dollars you'll pay on the equipment.  However, here I am going to briefly discuss the type of lens you should use.

Basically, with Nikkor and Canon, there are only a few choices. For Nikkor, you can go with the 85mm or the 105mm. For Canon, you can choose the 60mm or the 100mm (the less expensive of the two 100mm lenses Canon makes is fine). The 60 mm lens is simply too tough to use in dentistry. The lower the number the closer you need to be to the subject and with a 60mm lens, for a shot of just the front teeth, you'll literally be 3 inches from the patient. Not good. The flash will never be in a position to work well. So, for Canon, you've got only one choice, the 100mm lens.

This Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM is a great choice for Canon users. DON'T buy the more expense $1050.00 100mm Canon lens. You don't need it.

For Nikon, the 105 is an amazing lens, but at almost $1000 I simply cannot recommend it over the way smaller and way lighter  85mm lens , which costs half the price. In case you're wondering, photo quality doesn't suffer at all. I've shot both and can't tell the difference in ANY use of the image.

This AF-S DX Micro Nikkor 85mm f/3.5G ED VR is an amazing lens at a great price for Nikon users.

Shot comparison of 85 vs 105mm Nikkor Macros. I can't see a difference and for an extra $500 I don't see the value.

One thing of note is that the lower the number (85mm vs 105mm) the closer to the subject you need to be to capture the same composition. So, you will need to be a little closer to the patient or, crop your images more when you're working through your digital process. 

Don't fall victim to buying the wrong equipment. As I said, I have DVDs to walk you through the entire process of buying, setting up and using your camera, flash and lens for maximum effectiveness, and minimal problems found HERE.

As always, I'm here for you should you have any questions or problems.

Best Wishes,

Glenn

Have Your Team Shoot Intraoral Images With Their Phone

When I travel around teaching photography and classes, the first question I ALWAYS get is: "Which camera should I buy?" Fair enough question, right? Actually, not really.

As clinicians, we've been trained in all sorts of equipment. We care about the brackets we use, the wire materials, scanners, technology, etc, etc.. Fortunately (or unfortunately for some) the camera you use will have far less of an impact on your images than your understanding of how to properly use mirrors and retractors. I've seen dentists spend upwards of $3000 on a camera setup and not have the foggiest clue about how to retract cheeks, position a patient or which mirror is best.  I've even had people show up to my courses with full camera setups still in the original packaging, hoping that I can show them how to set it up and use it (which I am always happy to do). My point is that it's not about the camera, flash or lens. It's about composition.

There are two components to every image: Lighting and composition. The first is easy to understand. Your image is either too light or too dark. How to get exceptional lighting is more complicated and I've previously discussed the role of lighting and its effect on depth of field on this blog, so I won't touch on it right now. Composition is how the image is set up. Can you see everything you want to see and nothing else?  In short, did you properly use the mirrors and retractors?

Even with this $2500 camera setup, notice that the composition doesn't lend itself to great patient education or case documentation. Truth is, it's really easy to fix.

My contention has always been that well composed images with a cheap camera allow one to capture better images than an expensive camera with poorly composed shots.  If you properly use your retractors, you're getting the lips and cheeks out of the way and light is able to get onto the subject. For instance, here's a shot of a maxillary arch (unedited except for cropping) taken with my OLD iPhone.

Yep, taken with an iPhone 4s, but with proper use of mirrors and retractors and good patient positioning techniques. Sure, the resolution is a little low, but it's a four year old 4s for gosh sakes! Newer cameras would look way better.

Sure, a more expensive camera would have better lighting or depth of field and I'm not advocating that you should use your camera phone for all of your dental images. What I am saying is that if you can get a great shot with your camera phone, without the fancy lighting systems or lenses, it's proof that you're using your mirrors and retractors well. If you're properly retracting the cheeks and tongue and positing your mirror in the right way, you'll allow enough light onto the subject that you'll get a great image with our fancy flash systems. If your image is too dark, it means that you're not retracting properly and you can quickly refine your technique.

Have your team shoot a set of images using their camera phones instead of your normal camera system. It'll make them focus (pun intended) on how to properly use the mirrors and retractors. It's about as pure of a way to shoot as there is and you can't hide anything and together you can objectively grade their images as I discussed HERE. If they can master the camera phone technique, then shooting with any $2000 camera system will be a breeze...if you know how to set it up. But that's another discussion. :)

Wishing you the best,
Glenn

" Which dental camera should I get? "

Sorry it's been a while since my last post, but since my last entry, I still continue to get asked, over and over again, which camera people should buy.

I've covered that topic ad nauseum in other posts here on the blog, but please let me say the following:

If you don't know anything about cameras or what you're looking for, please consider becoming educated first. To simply buy a camera because someone says it's good is pure foolishness and you'll regret it later. Know what you're getting and what each lens means as well as the differences between cameras.

Things like "buffering time" or "FPS" don't play any role whatsoever, so please don't confuse what's important. Additionally, if you don't know how to properly use mirrors or retractors, no camera system on earth can help you.

Please search my 7 years of posts to learn more about lenses, cameras and flashes and consider my starter kit at KriegerContinuum.com.

All the best,
Glenn

Macro means macro....well, almost.

Yea, it's been a while since my last post. I apologize to all of you for taking as long as I have between posts, but I was busy with my orthodontic residency and seeing that I just graduated, I figured I'd get back to posting.

I just wanted to take a moment to explain something that I see as a common error when teaching clinical photography.

If you've ever visited this blog before, you know that I offer a lot of advice and answer many questions about which camera system to buy. Though I repeatedly discuss the idea of buying a macro lens such as 85 or 105mm (Nikkor) or 100mm (Canon), it seems that even that simple advice can be misunderstood.

Examples of Nikkor 105mm (left) and 85mm (right) macro lenses. These lenses are specially designed to allow in-focus images from extremely close distances

A macro lens such as the 85mm Nikkor, is a fixed lens, allowing the user to get focus at incredibly close distances to the subject. It is NOT the same as a lens such as a 18-105mm zoom lens. Sure, the latter lens has 105mm included within it's range, but it is not designed to allow you to get an image in focus from less than a few feet.

All too often, students or friends will tell me about their friend or family member who is a photographer who told them to buy a certain setup, or they got a great deal at a big box store that included a free zoom lens that they hope to use in the office.

This is the Nikkor 18-105mm lens.  It is a normal zoom lens, not designed for macro photography. If you buy it and try it for dentistry, you may get great portraits, but your intraoral images will be out of focus.

Just remember, if you're not using a macro lens (Nikkor calls them "micro") it is the wrong lens for dentistry.  The free lens that comes with the camera can look tempting, but it simply won't give you what you need.

As always, feel free to email me at Glenn@KriegerContinuum.com with any questions.

Best Wishes,
Glenn

Everything You Need To Know About Dental Camera Systems (Well,Almost Everything)

During the 7 years this blog has been up and running, the most popular posts, by far, relate to which camera systems are best for dentistry. I also get a ton of questions on the subject, and since it's been a year since I last wrote about camera systems, I figured that no would be a good time to revisit the subject (and others).

This is what all of your images should look like, and best of all, it should be fun and really quick to capture them.

I want to make it clear right here, that I do not get paid by anyone to sell their camera systems. So, when I recommend a company, it's because I believe in them from the thousand of students and 15 years I've spent teaching clinical photography.

So, let's start by looking at camera price because that's the most common question.

Mistake #1: Don't try to go cheap. It could actually work against you.


The "sweet spot" for digital SLR cameras for dentistry is in the $900-1000 range. There's absolutely no reason to pay $1500-2000 for a dental camera. Remember, we're talking only the camera. Not with the flash and lens. The more you spend, the more "bells and whistles" you're going to be getting and since you should NEVER take your practice camera out of the office for personal use, you'll never be using the extra gadgets that come on a more expensive and bigger/heavier camera.

The biggest mistake I see is people buying cameras without really knowing what to get or why. That's why I made the first DVD. If you think that a $600 camera like the Nikon D5300 will save you tons of money over a more expensive $1000 Nikon D7100, well, you're wrong.

Buying the less expensive D5300 actually doesn't save what you think it will.

How? Well, how do you expect to get photos using your camera. You need a macro flash system. The best system available now is the R1 wireless system from nikon (See post on flashes HERE) which costs about $450. However, if you bought the D5300, which does NOT wirelessly support the R1 flash, you need to buy the R1C1 flash system instead, which DOES wirelessly support the flash, but costs an additional $250. So, in the end, by buying the 5300 instead of the 7100, you'll get poorer images because of a cheaper camera, it'll weigh much more than the 7100 because of the bigger R1 commander unit on top of the camera to wirelessly control the flash and it now has more to break because of the commander module, all because you wanted to save $300 which turned out to actually be a total of about $50 after the R1C1 purchase.

Look for a great, relatively light and compact camera that gives great images and doesn't break the bank.

My recommendations: If you like Nikon for clinical photography (as I do) the D7100 is an amazing camera that will serve you well for the next decade and beyond. If you like Canon, go with the 70D instead of the T5i Rebel and you won't be disappointed. If you do not own a camera yet, or aren't sure of Nikon or Canon, in my humble opinion, the Nikon D7100 is the best camera on the market (at least right now) and beats the Canon 60D for a couple of reasons. Click Comparison and Flash Systems for Canon vs. Nikon  to understand more.

The Nikon D7100 is currently the best valued camera for clinical dental photography-in my humble opinion.

Mistake #2: Don't make a huge investment in a camera system and then not know how to even set it up or how to properly (and easily) use it.

Would you ever buy a piece of dental equipment without knowing how to use it?!?!? Every day, dentists buy a camera and either make the mistake of thinking they'll put it together and "just use it" or worse, hand it off to their assistant expecting that they will somehow channel the energy of the universe and figure out how to get images on their own.

If you've read any of my posts or seen one of my lectures, then you know that the dental camera, when properly used, can change your practice literally overnight.  You can watch your case acceptance go through the ceiling instantly if you shoot a lot of high quality dental images. Emphasis on HIGH QUALITY. This means that your images have no mirrors or retractors in the way, the lighting is perfect and everything is in focus. If you think you're images are already gorgeous, or you're not sure where you rank, please click HERE to learn more about a great way to grade your images.

Learn to properly grade your own images so that you can see where you need to get better.

Leran how to set up and use your camera system and how to properly position mirrors and retractors (the right mirrors and retractors) so that you can get awesome images every time. I've said it many, many times before and I'll say it again here.  Once you learn how to properly use the camera, mirrors and retractors, you'll see how easy (YES, EASY) it is to get great dental images. But you have to learn, and unfortunately, there are very few good resources out there.

Mistake #3: Choose your photography experts carefully. There is A LOT of misinformation out there.

I apologize in advance for the comments that are about to follow. They will seem arrogant, and for those of you who know me personally, you know the respect I have for experts in dentistry. However, there are many out there holding themselves as experts in clinical photography and unfortunately, many of my students have gotten some really bad advice by listening to them. I don't care who you listen to as long as the advice makes sense. I've taught this subject for 15 years, and it wasn't until I was asked to actually teach the clinical photography portion of a class that I was paying to attend that I realized how different (and simpler) my approach to clinical photography was.

I've watched a lot of YouTube videos from "experts" in clinical photography showing the same mistakes that I see students in my classes making. I'm sorry for saying this, but the techniques I've seen from EVERY one of them actually are so wrong and circuitous that I've laughed out loud. Not some, not most, but all. Yep, I said, it. I see people giving absolutely wrong advice on mirror placement, retractor use, patient positioning, assistance. So, you think I'm being a little cavalier in my statements, then consider this first:  As a clinical dentist for 20 years, I want my system of capture to be:
                    Quick-less than 5 minutes for a full set
                    Comfortable-The patient should be 100% comfortable during the process
                    Simple-The words "color temperature" and "white balance" shouldn't be used
                    One person-meaning that the doctor or assistant can shoot without more assistants

...and most importantly (and this is where I see most failures online)...the images should look unimaginably gorgeous EVERY TIME. Period. No excuses.

Take a look at my blog post from 7 years ago HERE. Yep, 7 years ago with an older camera and flash system. Those images took about 2 minutes for all 4. Do you think my patients can see everything I'm trying to point out? Yep. Did I have trouble selling my best care all the time? Nope.

Making my DVD series was neither easy or fun, but I did it because there is simply a huge need to show dentists how to quickly and easily get amazing dental images. Consider purchasing the DVDs  HERE, watch them with your team and you will literally be getting better images immediately afterwards. It will change the way you look at dental photography. Use the code "Thanks15" on checkout and get 15% off everything on the website because you were interested enough to read to this section of the blog.

Mistake #4: Don't expect to use regular mirrors and retractors to get amazing images.

It is so easy to learn how to use mirrors and retractors, but unfortunately, like the myth of the 2x/yr cleaning (which wasn't actually developed by dentists) all traditional mirror and retractor designs seem to have come from a planet where the mouths of patients can actually accommodate them.  On this planet, dentists simply cannot expect to get exceptional images on patients using the "tried and true" shapes and sizes. How do I know? I watched thousands of  students in my hands on courses struggle with their images using the same mirrors and retractors that are being used around the world.

You may not notice it, but this image shows my different mirror and retractor. There are subtle differences in their design, but they do make a huge difference in composition. Of course, if I weren't illustrating the retractor (yes, only one retractor for this shot) and mirror, I would zoom in closer and only the teeth would be in the shot.

Sure, there are patients here and there on whom you can get great images using traditional designs, but they are really the exception, not the rule.

Having trouble with your lateral arch shots or your full occlusals? Ever had a patient not be able to open wide enough to get the full arch? It's partly patient positioning but mostly your mirror and retractors. They're just shaped wrong for most of our difficult shots. That's why I went out of my way to create new shapes and sizes that I perfected by trying them out with my students at my hands on courses. I tried to get them sold through dental supply houses, but nobody was interested (because there simply isn't a lot of money to be made on mirrors or retractors).

Try my mirrors, retractors and DVDs and I can promise you that your images will look far better than you ever imagined possible.

Conclusion: Buy the right camera for your practice, make an investment in a proper set of mirrors and retractors and learn how to use your camera in the simplest and easiest way possible. I know that it sounds funny to even have to say those things, but most dentists are either using the wrong setup or don't really know how to use the right one that they already own. However, when it all comes together, the results can change your practice...quickly.

As always, I look forward to your questions and comments at Glenn@Kriegercontinuum.com

Best Wishes,
Glenn

My DVD series will make the process of buying, setting up and properly using your camera system a breeze.

Dental Portraits for Better Marketing

Go look on the web at dental websites and you're bound to see a ton of "before" and "after" images. Some good, some bad. The concept of pre and post images for advertising purposes is a long topic unto itself, and maybe I'll cover that in some future post. For now, I'll keep it really simple. The difference between novices and experts when it comes to dental portraits is depth of field.

Collins dictionary defines depth of field as follows: "the range of distance in front of and behind an object focused by an optical instrument, such as a camera or microscope, within which other objects will also appear clear and sharply defined in the resulting image." 

In other words, great depth of field means that an object and its background are all in focus together. This is exactly what we want when shooting intraoral images. We never want anything out of focus. 

With high depth of field, notice how everything from the retractors to the second molars are in focus. It's what we want for intraoral , but NOT for portraits. Note:I never include retractors in my intramural images but did so for this image for illustrative purposes. 

For portrait shots, to make them look really good, consider getting the background out of focus and actually having poor depth of field. The look will be far superior.

Richard Avedon, arguably the greatest portrait photographer of all time, was a master of depth of  field. Notice how the background behind a young Bob Dylan plays a role, but simply fades away.

     

High depth of field means that everything, including the background is in focus. It tends to take the viewer's attention away from the subject and more on things that play no role.  Don't make this mistake in portraits of your patients.

Shallow depth of field is the hallmark of great photographers who want the face to stand out. Combine that with the amazing dental ring flash posted previously on this blog and you're good to go.

So, now you can hopefully see the difference between OK and amazing dental portraits. It's all about the REALLY, REALLY easy task of managing f-stops and lighting. The higher the f-stop, the greater the depth of field. The lower the f-stop, the less the depth of field.

If you want to have fun, see my previous post  HERE about the 18" ring light from Stellar. With the right color background, your images will look like nobody else's.

The 18" Stellar ring light makes all the difference. Note: This has not been processed in any way after capture and was taken with a 20 year old lens at my friend's office on the spur of the moment.

Notice the difference in depth of field between these two images. Which is preferred is all based upon personal preference. They were both lit only with the Stellar light and nothing on the camera.

If you want to learn really quickly and easily how to handle depth of field and lighting, consider our DVDs available HERE.  One covers how to get great patient positioning for all images and the other how to set up and use your camera for optimal efficiency.

As always, I'm here if you need anything.

Best Wishes,

Glenn