NYCC: Lesson 2

Embrace RAW.

I've shot RAW since day 2 of my photographic journey. Originally this was done solely on the reading of a website that claimed "you should only shoot in RAW". At the time, I had no idea why. I was too bogged down with learning the camera inside and out to bother with post-processing.

Less than a year after I was fully engrossed with tweaking my pictures to ensure they look and feel as I had originally seen them or intended them to feel.

But at certain times I'm reminded of exactly why RAW rules.

While I was rushing to a press event, I happened across this little R2 unit. He was buzzing and whirring in circles briefly while I pushed through to the front of the crowd and in an instant, he was off!

Camera always in hand, I was able to make a few photos before he completely disappeared. however, upon checking the photos on the LCD, I was dismayed at my inability to set the exposure quickly enough. I had dialed-down the flash prior to making this photo, for something else, and had not powered it back up before this picture.

Luckily, shooting in RAW I was able to make a few key modifications. First, I changed the white balance. Although the strobe did indeed fire, and the white balance was set to flash - I was rather unhappy with the apparent amount of ambient tungsten light that made its way into this image. Even at 1/100th, the yellow hue from the lights was blasting the dome of this astromech unit.

Once I cooled the photo down a bit, I was then concerned with the exposure. I used both the overall exposure setting, as well as fill light slider in Lightroom to get the initial exposure where I wanted it. After that, I modified the dark, light, highlight and shadow curves to get it just right. Finally, I popped the blue tones a bit more to bring out the detailed color of the droid.

In hindsight, I really should have avoided the direction flash, as the front panel of the droid is over-exposed. Additionally, I should have held the camera up a bit more and shot downward to avoid the distracting feet in the background. Otherwise, I was ecstatic with the ability to turn this dull shot into something tolerable to look at.

NYCC: Lesson 1

Group Shots Require Finesse.

After the Good Vibes panel (a new show coming on after Beavis & Butt Head), the cast & creators got together on stage for the many, many photographers. As I was in the second row, isle - I was able to get right up front for this one.

Putting the camera up to my eye I made a few photos. I checked after the first one to ensure proper exposure. As I was surrounded by photographers pushing and shoving for a better spot, I had to be quick.

1/100th @ f/4.0

It wasn't until I returned home for my post-processing work that I realized:

When a group is being photographed by an even larger collection of photographers... noone will be looking the same direction.

While there were press hours shortly after this panel (which I missed due to a memory card malfunction), I was led to understand that not everyone from this group attended.

Perhaps some sort of attention-getting-gimmick for the next panel-shot I take. This way each person's eyes will be looking at my camera instead of all over the place!

My One And Only...

... "published" photograph.

Last year I was contacted by a company that wanted to use one of my photographs on their website. It's a travel guide, of sorts - dedicated to following the "buzz" around certain areas.

I was reminded of this a few moments ago when a follow-up email was sent to me from the company, indicating that they had recently revamped their website, and wanted to know if I had any feedback for them.

It was nice to see a little something I've done used online. Hardly a good photograph, and certainly not of any interest other than a visual representation of the location. But enjoyable for me, nonetheless.

Schmap Website - Photo By Jason Newman

Comic Con Meltdown!

Well, almost.

Sorry to say that I only have 3 memory cards. a 16GB, an 8GB and a 2GB. Needless to say, I only ever really use the 16GB.

I brought all 3 just in case I needed some more room. And at one point, the conversation came up to use my camera to record some video for my cousin's show Video Masters TV. I decided I could easily use the 2GB to do this for him, as the quality on my camera would certainly be better than that of his older 720p video cameras.

I swapped the 16 and the 2 for a few seconds, before the case of a new MTV show was ready for a group photo. I decided to swap back into my 16gig'er.

And when I went to focus/shoot - I got an error indicating the card was "not formatted".

There was panic. Having just made about 100 photos at a panel. And the day had *just started*.

Knowing I could recover the files, so long as I didn't do anything else with the card for the rest of the day - thoughts swarmed through my head about what to do.

But, in the end - all I could do was shoot with the 8 and the 2 gig cards. I had to sit on the 16 or risk loosing everything.

Sure enough as soon as I got home, I loaded up some data recovery software and was able to merely copy the files off the fallen memory card onto my desktop and all was well. Performed a follow-up bad sector check and full format on the 16 card to ensure this doesn't happen again.

Pics soon!

NYCC

Heading into the New York Comic Con tomorrow. Thanks to my awesome cousin, and creator of Video Masters TV, we have press passes! I'm rather excited about that, as I've never had a press pass to.... anywhere. As there will be lots of cosplayers & celebrities that will be there, I'm hoping to make a few good photos.

This will be a step forward into documentary/photojournalism, I feel. My goal here is to really capture the "essence" of the convention - and not just take a few snapshots. It's good to plan things out, but making it happen is something totally different.

I've got both of my camera batteries charged up, and both sets of AA rechargeables charged up as well, for my strobe. I'm bringing the actual chargers for everything, just in case. Finally, I'm also going to be packing an external hard drive w/ cable & my CF card reader - just in case I max out the 16GB & 8GB CF cards. I hope to not, but just in case.

I should have some pics up Sunday, if I'm able to get some editing done the night before!

Tell Me A Funny Joke

“A group of artists are invited for dinner by a famous chef.
In greeting the photographer, the chef comments:
I love your photos, they’re wonderful, you must have a very expensive camera. 
The photographer doesn’t reply and walks into the dining room.


After dinner the photographer approaches the chef and says:
Dinner was sensational, very exquisite flavors, a true work of art,
you must have a very sophisticated stove.”

#PHONAR

A few months back I added my name to a list of attendees to an online, open photography course being offered. The class, from Coverntry University in the UK, is being taught by Jonathon Worth, and also published online throughout the semester.

This sounded like a great opportunity for me to really get involved with something that has deadlines, and due-dates for submissions. While they aren't able to give each submission feedback, or grades/credit - per se, the takeaway here is that I'm able to follow the course curriculum and interact with other students through the forum.

The first assignment was to pick 8 - 10 of your favorite photographs that inspire you. Keeping them to a theme, and laying them out as you would in a presentation, or magazine layout. I found the idea very interesting - keeping a "flow" to the images, and relating them to each other.

I chose images of abandoned and decrepit items, left as garbage. These are images I've seen previously and have enjoyed looking at. I made a best effort to locate the original sources & artists, as most of these images I found while surfing the web.


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4082/4764009918_9149e828f9_o.jpg
http://www.lucisfoto.com/lucisfoto/blog/Entradas/2011/5/17_1x.com_BIS.html
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bolandrotor/5657236729/in/pool-333349@N20/
http://500px.com/photo/200557
http://photographers.livejournal.com/15444898.html
http://www.flickr.com/photos/the_defiance/2955181855/
http://www.myconfinedspace.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/aged-keys.jpg
http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/caribbean-photos/#/caribbean-gallant-lady_2899_600x450.jpg

I didn't feel comfortable taking artwork from other people and using them in my own "layout", as if I was building a spread in a magazine. So instead, I just provided the forum with links for everyone to see the artwork that inspired me from a particular topic.

Family Portraits

With the possibility of an upcoming photo shoot with some family friends, I have been taking some notes from previous impromptu sessions I've had with other children. I would love for this shoot to be everything they want, and am willing to dedicate my time to learning the right way to do things.

I'm rather interested in making nice photographs for myself, as well. I've not had too much exposure to entertaining children while attempting to get them to sit still, and perhaps even smile! But I do love a challenge.

Sometimes, I find that just spending a day with them can often provide numerous opportunities for capturing their best expressions. I really love when children aren't "acting their age", and make adult-type faces, or motions.

1/125th @ f/5.0

Daddy was putting Isabella's hair up, and she "struck a pose" for me. It was so cute, and I was glad I had my camera in hand. Bouncing the flash off a white ceiling actually provides decent lighting, without many harsh shadows.

I do still want to move my flash off-camera, however while a $15.00 wire allows me to do this, I'm limited to 3 feet of movement. I know me. The flash and the light stand will certainly fall down.

Holidays & Parades

I really need to take a more proactive approach to planning photographic endeavors. For example. Tomorrow is Columbus Day.

I hear tell, that in NYC every year - there is a Columbus Day parade. Shocking.

Had I had the foresight to plan a photographic outing, I might have been able to put in a day off request from work to make a trek into the city and try to make a few photos.

During the #occupywallst shoot, I learned quite a bit and was interested in a follow-up visit to the "movement". Unfortunately with the group growing so large from the small gathering it was when I was there (on day 5 of the occupation) I haven't made the effort. Especially without press credentials.

I'll have to make a concerted effort, perhaps even a monthly task, to pay attention to the calendar and swap days off at work so that I can attend more city events!

Quick Stabilization

One of my stabilization tricks when I forget my remote shutter release is to set Mirror Lockup to "on", and the timer delay to "2 Seconds". This way I have 2 seconds after depressing the shutter & after the mirror locks in place for the tripod to stop shaking.

Now this certainly can become annoying when you are shooting movement of any kind. I use it primarily for landscapes and photographing the moon.

I'm sure others use this trick, I'm certainly not claiming to have created this. I just haven't read any articles promoting this technique!

Freelance "Audition"

It's been a very busy week for photography. A webinar to a seminar, A meetup and then a possible freelance job "trial". A few weeks ago I was contacted through my Flickr account by a new startup company about a possible freelance photography opportunity. The email briefly indicated that they were looking for photographers to go into NYC and shoot store windows, and close-ups of mannequins.

After a short back and forth I was able to confirm this is something I might be interested in participating in. The shoot was asked to be done at sunset to "avoid reflections". Perhaps they've never been to a big city, but reflections are ever-present in the big city. With all the lights, cars and other city-living distractions it's almost impossible to remove all reflections from the original TTL shot.

They recommended a CPL/Polarizer as well. Now, while on a recent cross-country trip I did learn that a circular polarizer will help reduce reflection present in windows. However, this was car glass that I was less than a foot away from. I had never tried using one a distance away from the glass. And even at a wide 24mm, it was rather troublesome to try to get rid of all reflections.

Additionally, the Tiffen CPL filter I use must take at least 1 to 1.5 stops off my shots. I was continually raising the ISO level the darker it got out, with hopes of just removing the noise in Lighroom during post.

The photographs I made didn't come out nearly as nice as I would have liked. The lighting in most of the shop windows was a mixture of tungsten and florescent, so of course I couldn't adjust the white balance right in camera. Additionally, I learned that I need to take more time to frame each individual shot, as I was cropping quite a bit to get things tighter in post.

Should the trial go well, and they ask me to join the "team", I would certainly considering an early morning shoot instead of a sunset shoot. I honestly hated having to wait for all the 5th avenue tourists to pass by before making my shot!

Meetup!

I recently joined a NYC photo "meetup". A large group of people that routinely participate in photo walks and other photographic opportunities. I was very excited to attend my first gathering. Originally some 130 people had stated they would be joining this particular event. Upon speaking with some of the fellow attendees, it turns out usually about half the people ever show up.

While I did only converse with two other people there, we had an excellent time. Even exchanged some info with one another. I was quite surprised to find out I wasn't the only tech there, either! Both of these gentleman are currently employed in IT as well.

                                      1/15 @ f/3.50                                      1/25 @ f/8.0

                                     5 seconds @ f/10                               5 seconds @ f/18

The event was held on a pier in Long Island City - and our subject was the always beautiful NYC skyline, just at sunset. The magic hour, as it's called. Lots of tripods, long exposures and remotes. It was quite excellent to see all manner of camera. From cellphones, P&S's as well as an array of DSLR's. I think I even caught glimpse of a Leica!

I had an excellent time, and strongly urge all of those in any community to search online for group outings and organized photo walks. I felt very safe in such a large group, and with many people sporting more expensive equipment than mine, much more secure! Plus, the added advantage of being able to talk with fellow photographers was a pure pleasure.

B&H Seminar

While on the Worldwide Photo Walk this past Sunday, the leader of our group mentioned that B&H has an "Event Space" where they host numerous free seminars. This was quite a shock to me as I frequent their website and store rather often, and have never heard of this.

Sure enough, after a single Google search, I found their site:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/find/EventSpace.jsp

This is quite extraordinary, as the classes offered are rather diverse and well rounded. Topics vary in range from composition, portrait photography, equipment usage, software and more!

I was very grateful to have learned about this offering, and immediately signed up for a lecture, of sorts, on composition. The event was led by photographer David Brommer. And interestingly enough, I had read a chapter in a book by him not more than a month ago on the same topic!

The course followed the book chapter rather closely and talked of studium and punctum. This is described by Brommer as most every photo that is "ok" - classified as studium. Opposite of that is punctum. When you make an image works - that you look at and know you've got something special on your hands. He does quite a better job of detailing each, in the book. I highly recommend reading it, as the book is excellent start to finish.

Needless to say I will be signing up for many more of these event space seminars. I enjoy learning more and especially enjoy meeting other photographers. This is a unique chance to do both!

Tuesday Madness!

Yesterday & today have been great. We were up at the family's house introducing the new dog to everyone. I was able to make a few photos of everyone first meeting Hiro, and their initial interactions with him.

One of the skills I think I've gotten good at - snapping the picture at the right moment so that the subject has a pleasant pose. This "skill" is mostly them.

The skill I haven't gotten good at: I tend to think more about the subject(s) than the background, and this often leads to distractions in my photos. For example:

1/125th @ f/7.10

I'm very happy with the subjects in this picture. However, the mostly-in-focus and certainly-angled-lines in the background are quite distracting to my eye. Particularly that colorful hanging cloth on the oven handle. Had I instead moved my own position and allowed the subject to then face me, his back would have been to a darkened room and looked a little better!

In addition to the photographs I made, I also attended an online "webinar" for monitor calibration. The event was run by the manufacturer of the product, and they mainly pitched the features of the high-end model. Every attendee was entered into a contest to win one, but alas I did not. I am certainly interested in getting my monitors calibrated for correct color - however it isn't a rush as I 

a) don't print my own prints

and

b) understand that while the colors may be accurate on my monitor, any photos I post online are certainly viewed by people with uncalibrated monitors!

My foray in the world of photography continues! Sometimes I feel as if I won't be content until I've filled every inch of my brain with knowledge.

WWPW Pictures

Through a mistake in metering the light correctly, I managed a well-exposed bird on a black background. Better than the nasty green water he was really in, actually.

 "Black Swan" 1/250th @ f/22.0

This long walkway over the water had a little person at the other end. I cloned her out. I wish I could do that to more people.

 1/800th @ f/8.0

I like shooting texture. I like shooting garbage. This was the best of both worlds.

1/250th @ f/13.0

Worldwide Photo Walk - Complete!

Spent the day with a local photographer and a not-so-local photographer! The 3 of us were together for about two hours for the 4th annual Worldwide Photo Walk. This was my first photo walk with people I didn't know, and I had a great time!

The group was rather small, but I preferred it this way as it gave me an opportunity to converse with my fellow walkers in depth about the subject we all love so much. Aside from checking out each other's gear and talking about our favorite types of photography, I was able to learn a lot about a subject of interest to me - the press pass. As the leader of our group is a photographer for a local paper, he had some first-hand information, derived from experience, about the job.

Our walk was a little more than a mile, round trip. But with lots of photo ops, we certainly took our time. The leisurely stroll helped me to realize a major problem I have: walking, talking & shooting. I'm rather incapable of paying "detailed" attention to my surroundings while in rapt conversation. I'm still able to be conscious of my surroundings & safety - but looking for the right shot still eludes me. Perhaps this is incentive enough to go on more photo walks, both with & without others!

The HDR Test

High Dynamic Range.

The first HDR shot I saw literally blew me away. I had never seen such an effect before, and I was smitten. Although, over time I did learn to despise them to some degree. So many over-processed images are out there, offending my eyes.

As I spend more and more time making photographs, I am also spending more time post-processing them. And decided recently to re-visit this technique. The though being that with some minor adjustments, and knowing what my eye likes - perhaps I can use the method to my advantage.

First issue - the software. Photomatix on the PC appears to preview via a grainy, unfinished sample of the image. I'm not quite sure why with a high-end  i7, 9GB of low-latency triple-channel RAM & a 10,000 RPM HDD with seek rates as low as 4.2ms - we can't preview a high-quality image of the final product created. This seems backwards, time consuming and a under-productive.

Second issue I've had is that once you "export" the image, that's it. It's done. That sample you edited and tweaked while looking at a low-quality, grainy preview? Gone. Along with all your adjustments. Unless you saved them as a pre-set. Why would you program software that gives you a junk preview of something, and no chance to render, modify, render, further modify.... etc? This is poorly encoded software, and the manufacturer should be ashamed of themselves. Especially since the technique is widely created using their software.

All that aside, the end result can be quite pleasing to look at. Here is a first attempt, using only minor adjustments. For those in the know, this series was created with a single RAW file (against my better judgement), with EV adjustments made in Lightroom 3.5 by creating 4 virtual copies of the original. The exposure slider was set to -2,-1,0,+1,+2 and batch exported into Photomatix.

Untouched Original

HDR Final

Needless to say I'm rather pleased with the end result. My desire to rant & rave about the software is just my personal gripe with the software developer. The second image pops. Moreso than any edit I could have achieved within Lightroom itself. I tried :)

My goal is to utilize this process to create image that you can't tell are HDR. To process them enough to bring out the details, but leave you breathless at the quality of the image. It's not so fine a line between over-processed junk, and art. I'd prefer the latter be my product of choice.

Worldwide Photo Walk

October 1st & 2nd of this year is the Fourth annual Worldwide Photo Walk. I will be attending one of the days, to be determined. As the weather here is a bit rainy tonight, I'll have to make that decision rather soon!

I have been interested in joining a photo walk for some time now. It seems to me a great opportunity to take time composing a shot while out and about with others. And certainly, there is an ability to converse with fellow photographers!

A concern of mine in the past has been the desire to keep pace with my family while walking around, while still being able to make some nice photographs. It would seem to me that a group of people, all stopping to take pictures is an event suited to my current needs.

For anyone interested, as late as this might be, you can certainly check it out and possibly register here:

http://worldwidephotowalk.com/

Again With The Sunset!?

I'm a sucker for an easy photo. And aside from over or under-processing, most sunset photographs are kinda nice. Mine tend to feel the same, but I think it's because I don't do any work in Photoshop, but rather all in Lightroom. Minor color adjustments and such.

1/100th @ f/4.0

I made this picture by the waterfront, same as before. Although this time, I did bring a tripod. The original intention was to get some bracketed shots to play around with HDR, as I haven't previously. Figured it'ed be nice to change things up with the classic shot and add a new-age technique. Much like everyone else! But alas, in the hustle and bustle of the walk, the setup, and the initially lame scene, I plum forgot!

And while en route to our destination, we passed a construction site. Here I had a chance to make a few shots of one of my favorite subjects. Wood. I'm not quite sure why, but be it lumber, driftwood, tree bark, you name it, I love the texture of this all-natural building material.

1/125th @ f/4.0

Luckily, I did also bring my strobe, and was able to get some excellent test-shots done with night-time fill-light. The first shot I made reminded me immediately of my favorite photog's work - Joe McNally. This man can do things with a flash that will blow your mind. The shots weren't perfect, but I was rather pleased with the initial result. Actually forgot for a moment that shutter speed controls ambient light, and left it at 1/200th for a bit there :)

Family Time vs Photo Time

Yesterday, my wife and I went for a walk in the park. Always an enjoyable time, but with the addition of our new dog, even more so. The plan was originally to find a nice open area, lots of grass & sunny, for us to sit and relax for a while. However, the particular entrance to the park that we chose was more lakeside trails with trees and underbrush.

Of course it goes without saying that I brought my trusty camera along for the trip. And while wandering around the water & trails my mind was racing for possible shots to make. My constant mental-framing of landscapes, and visual investigation into quality of light all bubbled to the surface for this excursion.

Now this isn't necessarily a bad thing, right? I mean, as a photographer you would think that would be the norm - searching for the scene. But as often happens, I noticed my wife and Hiro were further on ahead during our walk, while I was still lagging behind trying to get a correct exposure TTL. Or to frame up a shot correctly in the viewfinder.

Even with setting adjustments, it took drastic 

measures to get this shot exposed correctly

Having to deal with this for a little over 3 years now, my wife is rather used to this. In fact, she lovingly encourages my photography. And certainly with the addition of our new pup, she isn't quite as lonely as she might otherwise be. But the question begs to be asked: for how long?

How long before I'm able to make the exposure quickly enough?
How long until I'm willing to pass a shot I've previously made?
How long from now will I say "the light isn't right", without testing the shot first?
How long will I continue to miss spending time with my family because I'm too busy being technical?

I love my family. I love photography. Balancing time has to be done correctly, for everyone's sake. And getting to my end goal surely must happen faster to allow for that.

Editing Process

So after my photos are made, I will do as most photographers and perform some post-processing work. My tool of choice has always been Adobe Photoshop Lighroom, which I just call 'Lightroom'. Rather apt name, as post work is lovingly referred to as the "Digital Dark Room".

Here is an image I took a few years back. The original was shot in RAW, B&W - with zero editing. I was so pleased with the image I had decided at the time to not so much as crop it. Fast forward to today, I reviewed the original RAW and felt I could make a few minor adjustments. Here is a before & after

(To see these images side by side, click here)

 I did try straightening out the vertical lines, but with that I felt the slight cropping of the chair was unpleasing to the eye. However, I think in the end, the trade off of getting rid of the slanted door frame was worth it. Here is the straightened version

The minor adjustments I made in Lightroom, as well as the final histogram can be seen here:

 

The idea of revisiting a few of my older images is rather enticing. I feel as if the experience in post work I've added to my repetoire over the years might help make a few of those images better. I've also joined a wonderful photo critique group on Google+, called "Behind The Lens". An amazing collection of photographers of all levels helping each other out and sharing news/information pertaining to our common interest.

Timing is Everything

Had two excellent conversations today - one with my mother, another later with my wife. The conversations each briefly touched on my photographs of the #occupywallst protests on Wednesday of last week. And during the latter of the two interactions I came to the realization that yes, while I was making photographs for the practice, the experience and the sheer enjoyment I get out of it... the goal was to get "the shot".

Even though I acknowledge that my driving purpose has been to "master" this art form, I do feel that getting that shot is the desired result with each shutter release. I've read in numerous places that it takes about 10,000 hours to master a field. So whenever I pick up my camera, I feel as if I'm making headway towards that desired end-game.

As such, whenever I undertake any photographic trial, my primary goal is to learn from it. But in the back of my mind I feel as if perhaps I might make that one photo that's "it". The one I can post online and will be re-shared, and re-tweeted. The one that will lend some credibility to this hobby as a possible career choice.

Throughout this endeavor I'm constantly asking myself "does this interest me". I still don't know what particular specialization I'm most capable of. Photo-Journalism? Portraiture? Still life & fine art? Not having a background in the arts (in fact, up until a few months ago I could honestly say I loath the general concept of "art") I don't know which direction I'm headed.

Crunch Time!

Sister-in-law recently requested her flash back! So I'm currently limited to a single hot shoe flash to bounce light. But with the upcoming family portrait & engagement photo shoots, I'm more in need of an off-camera flash for use w/ an umbrella & as a fill light...

So I've been spending much time contemplating the options:

1. Purchase an additional strobe to use as a hot-shoe trigger for the off camera flash. More expensive, but very useful in the long run and I can get it w/ no interest for 18 months.
2. Purchase an on-camera remote trigger. Much less money, though no interest free purchase option. Also, same as the 1st option, not always great in bright & sunny situations - i.e. the infrared range is cut drastically.
3. Purchase a wireless RF remote trigger AND receiver. This is the most expensive option, but the best choice. Great outdoor range, nearly infinite expansion possibilities.

The nice thing about the 2nd option is the resale value of the IR trigger will be decent.

Of course a fourth option is to just get a $15 3' cable, but that is very limiting as it connects from the camera to the strobe. And I'm not even sure it can easily connect to a flash stand with that on...

Always Nice

Sunset here in Brooklyn is often a fairly attractive event to witness - particularly the day after it's rained or a storm is heading out to sea. It's an interesting thought, that the scattered clouds, all wispy through the sky are able to lend a rather dirty city something of beauty.

Trouble is, how many times can I go shoot the same sunset over the bridge? It would seem that perhaps an occasional trip to the shore might be in order. But as the winter draws near, I tend to have much less interest in making photos outdoors.

Had a brief meeting with the couple whose engagement shoot I'll be doing in less than a month. I have to get back into the swing of practicing outdoor shots. We spoke briefly of taking some shots at the bridge here, during sunset, to have the lovely sky in the background. Fill light, umbrella, reflectors? Many options. Will definitely need to try some of test shots before jumping head first into it!

The Lost Art of Reading

Once upon a time, about a month ago, I was reading photography book after photography book. Then, nothing of interest happened, and I stopped.

Perhaps it was the assignments? At the end of a few "learning composition" books, I was presented with challenges to go and shoot. Often times, these challenges were not relegated to the comfort of my home. This is problematic as I do enjoy a good romp around town, but often times I read towards the end of the day. Mostly after work. And always when I am quite ready to stay in, at home.

It seems illogical to me to continue reading the next chapter if I've not completed the previous homework. So, I guess I stopped. I should rather read two book concurrently - one with and one without assignments. This was I can always fallback on another until I've had time to complete the first. This is my motivational post to myself. I shall start reading & completing chapters with photographs.

One of the exercises was to photograph rocks. Not particularly interesting rocks, but rocks that have unique relationships with other visual elements around them. I took this as a play on lighting, as it is the strongest compositional element I've been paying attention to. Rather, the author of the book challenges us to hunt down and 'shoot' a scene that captures our eye.

This seemed quite silly at first, but at my in-law's house I quickly found just such a scene that piqued my curiosity.

1/320 @ f/5.60

This was proof positive to me that there might be something to say about this "learning" everyone's been talking about...

The Interest That Wanes

Things have come and gone in my life. Interest and hobbies that lasted a brief while. Some I've revisited... often numerous times. While others are only discernible in my past through leftover materials, books, pictures and memories.

I've collected stamps & coins. Played guitar (rather extensively through high school), been interested in cars & upgrading them (ever so briefly), computer programming, archery, drawing, video production, plastic model kits/airbrushing, RC vehicles.... the list goes on. The only thing to ever hold my interest for an extended period of time was computers. Building, repairing, troubleshooting, and of course customizing. Both hardware AND software! I could never get enough of... technology.

Until photography.

I'm not quite sure I can pinpoint the allure. I never had any drawing talent. Not that I pressed myself to be much better, mind you. I attempted to write "poetry", as well as a book (does 3 chapters written on looseleaf paper in a history class count?). Was a less-than-average guitarist. None of these interested me enough to keep me at them. To entice me to learn more about, or better myself.

Until photography.

Computers come naturally to me. I started very young, and immersed myself in them. For the past 21 years, there has never been an end in sight for the amount of knowledge I'd be willing to consume about computers. College felt like a waste of time. Not that my school offered any computer-repair-maintenance related courses... but I'm sure I would have turned my nose up at being taught something I already know. Never understanding that there would be things I might learn that perhaps I did *not* know.

Until photography.

I've found myself spending more and more time away from the technology field. I haven't been keeping up with the latest gear. I haven't been reading as many articles, or following as many blogs as I used to. I'm still working in computer repair, but find myself more and more disinterested in the field.

It seems that all I want to do these days is make photographs. I want to get better at making photographs. I want to see other people's photographs, and read about their stories, and immerse myself in the art. I want to capture a moment. Moments. Slices of time that can be reviewed. Analyzed. Studied. Critiqued. Edited.

And throwing myself into it head first has been my solution. I hope that I can take this hobby and do more with it. I hope that I have the ability to work at something not only for the sake of improving my own mastery of the field... but also to make a name for myself within it.

#occupywallst

Spent the better part of this morning in NYC at the #occupywallst protest. I've never photographed a march or protest before, so I was very excited to attempt it.

Started what I hope is the first of many early morning rises. Was up and out by 7am. I arrived on site while most of the protestors were still sleeping. Snagged a few shots I was very happy with of the calm before the 'light rain'. Many of their signs were on display right in front of the camp.

1/160 @ f/8.0

All in all it was a fairly well organized event, with a central station for laptops with power provided. A food and medical section existed, as well as supplies. I was happy to see other photographers still taking an interest in the event, already into day 5. Of course, I'm a gear head, so I assume I was more interested in starting at their equipment and pretty press passes.

I opted to shoot in bracketed mode at +1/-1, to ensure proper exposure. I also stayed full manual, as I often criticize the need for shutter or aperture priority mode. However, while in the thick of it I did start to consider shutter priority. Immediately pondering what issues I might have run into... such as the spot meter adjusting for a black shirt on a bright white background. The last thing I wanted was to ruin an exposure due to uncertainty. I routinely get about ~580 shots on my 16GB card. While I did fill the card, there are 3 exposures of each photo. I so really made just shy of 200 pictures.

Today was a great challenge. I was finally putting to use much of what I have learned. And while the final product may not end up on the front page of a newspaper or website, I can rest easy knowing my next set of photos will be better.

                                                          1/250 @ f/10                                          1/250 @ f/6.30

The Moment That Passed

Even when I'm not actively thinking about photography, I'm thinking about photography.

While on the highway today we passed a construction site for a replacement bridge being built. While the site wasn't terribly active, there was a moment - just as we were driving at some 60mph...

2 large cranes, stationary. As we approached I thought nothing of them. One crane arm painted red, the other bright yellow. Each arm faced the other, pointing in opposite directions.

The road had a slight bend. And the closer we got, the more the once separate cranes appeared to draw nearer to each other.... converging.

My heart jumped as I knew what was coming - and for one beautiful second - it was a perfectly framed photo of two crane arms, one red.... one yellow, crossing each other.

And me without my camera. Shucks.

"Unlearn What You Have Learned"

Today was quite entertaining. Started with the usual Monday activities - work. Spent the day looking forward to a nice dinner with an old work colleague I've kept in touch with since he left the company. He and his wife invited us over for a meal. And while getting the timing just right took a while, we finally got it together.

We got to meet the beautiful baby Aria for the first time, as well! I brought my 50mm with me, knowing that it might be a bit much to use the flash in the apartment. Even though the ISO was set higher than I normally like (640) I was able to reduce quite a bit of noise in post.

Baby Aria - 1/125 @ f/1.40

Baby photography what it is, it takes some time to get just the right reaction. I kept my aperture wide open at 1.4 to ensure as much light as possible early on, but actually did end up increasing the ISO to brighten some of the later shots. This was really the only one I was happy with - as she was enjoying my performance of the sound "ooooo".

While reading my news feeds this evening, I did happen to read a <A HREF="http://goo.gl/Y1d0u" TARGET=NEW>DPS article</A> about the sharpness of a 50mm @ wide open versus a few stops down. Finding the so-called "sweet spot" for sharpness of a lens.

While I was happy with the depth of field in most of the shots from the night, I will be running some of my own tests to see if I can discern the differences between each f-stop.

Just a Glimpse

Chore day today! After a very late night return from a wedding out of state, we decided to sleep in with the new pooch today. After we finally awoke, it was shopping and dishes and cleaning and such for most of the day. We also managed to find time to get rid of that "new dog" smell Hiro came with from the pound.

1/200 @ f/8

The shot was made while standing over my wife. Darn glass shower doors proved too difficult to shoot around. Perhaps next time I'll loose the trousers and jump into the other end of the tub to get a nice water-level shot.

Tomorrow's a busy day, with work and then a dinner with friends. However they do have a newborn baby girl - and I would like to make a few photos of her, perhaps with my 50mm & a dialed-down strobe.

I'm still entering photos into contests, as time progresses. I tend to avoid ones that require entry fees to be paid, primarily because I am not making any money with photography at the moment. As such, I did consider paying a $35 entrance fee for up to 3 portraits in this one contest... but reneged at the last moment when I read that if your submission are chosen to be judged, you are responsible to send them a physical printed image, FRAMED. Seriously? Too much work. I consider the photos ok, but lets see them win some free contests first.

It's Never Just One!

Watching some old episodes of AdoramaTV with photographer Mark Wallace. This particular episode deals with one of my favorite topics - macro photography.

As I currently don't own a macro lens, I'm always interested in seeing techniques for shooting macro. Sure enough, shooting with his 7D, he uses the lens I'm interested in getting - the 100mm w/ IS. But of course, it doesn't end there!

Through the video he talks of things you might consider to get working. For instance - a tripod. Easy enough. I have one of those. But no no no... due to the necessity for the lens to be very close to your subject (hence: macro). His tripod legs split outward to bring the mounting point closer to the ground. He also added a horizontal bar to get the camera body away from the center of the tripod. And even still, he had a ball head to quickly adjust the position of the camera.

Ring flash for the head of the lens? Yup. Should get one of those as well. Remote shutter? You got it. That's great to have for macro shots as well.

There must be some sort of equation to estimate the total cost of ownership for any single photography product. I'll bet it's something like a 1:3 ratio. For every $100 you spend on a core item you want, there'll be  $300 of additional stuff you should get as well!

Making Due

So of course, yesterday was a missed opportunity. Saw this beautiful sunset from the window and couldn't have gotten ready fast enough. So instead, waited until today.

Today... not so nice. Cloud coverage was a bit much for my taste. Made a few photos, nothing to write home about. This was the best of the batch. Edited down for excess sky and sea.

Handheld 1/60th @ f/6.30

I often feel as if my wide crops (which I do fairly often) break some sort of rules. I don't see people cropping for odd sizes as much I seem to. I guess I never really thought about it until recently.

Had an excellent encounter with a fellow photographer that was also there for the sunset. Got to talk gear & technique a bit, which was quite enjoyable. Further indication that I should invest in a few hundred business cards with website addresses to allow people to see the work I've created. But we managed to swap info nonetheless, and I look forward to perhaps keeping up with his work in the future!

Oh Time, Where Art Thou?

I can't seem to organize all of the minutes in the day correctly. Today was back to work, and another day with the new pooch. As he is still very attached to us at the moment, it's a bit difficult to get him away from the lens of the camera for a decent shot. I'll have to devise some sort of activity to occupy his time while I photograph him here around the house.

Watched an amazing sunset from my window today - and am thinking of taking a trip down to the bay tomorrow to see if I can make some decent landscape photos. Of course with the weather being a cold mix of rain and not-rain... there is the chance tomorrow's scene won't be quite so nice. Only time will tell!

Meet Hiro.

As a 1-year anniversary gift to each other, my wife and I decided it was high time we got a dog! Having been a cat person all my life, this was a big step.

We went down to the a local no-kill shelter and spent a few hours making our decision. After spending quite a bit of time with this one little guy, we adopted Hiro, a 2 yeah old Chihuahua-mix.

He had recently had surgery to remove an infected eye, and was the first dog that caught my attention when we arrived at the shelter. Surprisingly, after visiting with all the other animals, we ended up back at his cage "for a peak". We were smitten. And as we asked more and more questions, and spent more and more time with him, it became obvious he was the dog for us.

Samina & Hero

So, needless to say he has been getting all of our attention! This photo was made quickly, and meant more as a snapshot. No attention was paid to the Sun's location in the sky, nor was a fill flash used. I merely liked the light as it fell on my family and made the shot.

I hope to make and share many more photos of Hiro as time goes on!

Chugging Along!

Was asked by a family friend and his wife to shoot the two of them and their baby boy! This is exciting for me, as I've already committed to an engagement photo shoot of my best friend and his fiancee. Add to it this family portrait and I'm very excited and happy at the opportunities to learn!

The diversity of the shoots is also quite appealing to me. With the engagement shoot, plans are to travel to a few different sites here in Brooklyn - locations of interest/meaning to the couple. Whereas the family portrait shoot should be doable in their home, or perhaps on a nice green lawn. I will do a little image research to determine just what might be best & get some ideas.

As a budding photographer, I'm trying my best to research all the variables that must be expected on the shoot. That should make the amount of "unexpected variables" a tad smaller!

And of course, the mind doth turn with new accessories to purchase for this next shoot. I've already got 2 Canon strobes, but currently one is forcible placed in the hotshoe. With a ~$15 cable, I should be able to keep the camera up to 3 feet away from the strobe, giving me more flexibility to use that as a key light, and use the other as either a fill light or hair light.

Let the cramming commence!

Anniversary Day!

One year of marriage to my beautiful wife, and ever-patient subject - Samina.

I decided to leave the camera home today, and make sure my attention was dedicated to her.

I did however, spend the better part of the day mentally framing scenes and imagining what f-stop I would use....

And The Winner Is...

I've been entering a number of photo contests lately, as well as submitting photos to sites that issue 'assignments'. This has allowed me to dig into my older work as well as create ideas for new images.

More and more, I'm finding out that the memories I have of my work are much more graphic than I had thought. I mean, I was the one who made the photo, edited them, and see them occasionally. However in my mind they are stronger representations of the themes/topics of these contests. Of course I break them out and find - not so much.

For example - I will be submitting this image to an assignment titled "Shallow Depth of Field". I really thought that the background was much blurrier than it actually is.

'Useless'

In another contest titled "Shadows", I immediately thought of this photo of my bedroom door at sunset, as seen from my hallway.

'Peeking In'

In my mind, the door & wall were much darker, while the light on the floor was a long stream stretched across the floor. Not that little tiny line you see.

It's amazing what the mind thinks it remembers.

I'm trying to make a strong effort to not only submit my older work to these contests & assignments, but also to imagine up new & artistic ideas as well. Perhaps even to re-shoot some of my favorites to get them exactly the way I want.

Old School Like the Old Fool

August 28th, 2008 - the day I got my first Digital SLR. I lovingly opened my Canon XTi  box and held it in my hands. Getting the card & battery in, I immediately powered it up and starting putting it up to my eye. I pressed the shutter 403 times in that first 24-hour period. Did about ~250 shots the first night, at my in-law's house - and then another ~150 + ~50 at the park & diner respectively.

That was the first and last time I ever shot in automatic mode.

After returning home the night of the 29th, I proceeded to memorize the entire manual for the camera. I read it over and over again until the spine broke. Until I felt I understood every page in it. And after each section I would take the camera out, and test out what I had learned.

Since then I have only shot in manual mode. Controlling my aperture & shutter speed by myself. Choosing the correct ISO I thought was needed, and dialing-in any EV compensation required. I even spent the first 6 months using manual focus instead of automatic.

My goal was to act as if it was an old SLR that had no onboard computer making all my decisions for me. I had decided I wanted to experience what it was like to photograph back in the day. I even went so far as to turn off the automatic on-screen review. I will check my histogram now and again, but only after making major exposure changes. I aim to perfect my ability to make a proper exposure right off the bat.

While recently reading one of the many photography blogs I follow, the author posted a number of tips to make better pictures. Many of my habits were listed. The addition of one I hadn't thought of caught my attention:

Shooting 32 - 36 pictures, as if you were using a roll of film.

Now, I'll be the first to toot the digital-horn for memory cards in excess of 64GB allowing you to shoot to your hearts content. I don't know that I would ever really incorporate this into practice. However, this does echo advice given by many professionals. And that is to take your time. Don't shoot at random. Wait for that moment.

Shoot less, make more. That's how I would describe it. And it's something I will try to keep in mind during my next outing.

Developing a Style

Had an interesting encounter with a client today. While I was in his home, I noticed a Manfrotto tripod (or light stand) bag propped up against the wall. I curiously asked if he was a photographer - and he responded "as a hobby".

Considering I had to move my car before 11:30 lest I receive a ticket, you would think the focus would have been to finish the job quickly. Nope. Everything work-related stopped after his answer, and we started "talking". He showed me a few of his printed pictures, and I loaded up my Flickr profile for him to peruse. Being a local Brooklyn resident, many of his photographs were from the area, in identifiable locations. But the pictures were all excellent - sharp and well compomposed, with a unique *feeling* to them.

While viewing his pictures I had taken notice of a distinct lack of faces. While he does photograph people, they are almost all from behind, or the side - or even at a distance. And not soon after my internal observation he informed me that that was his "style". I jokingly stated "it's great - you don't need them to sign model releases!", to which he laughed. Photog humor, I guess.

But having only met him, and spending less than 45 minutes with him, he really piqued my interest with that statement. Now, I've read many things about photographer's developing a style... and I've always associated the final product I produce with "my style".

Interestingly enough, it's the post-processing that I felt gave my pictures their style. Now I know that can certainly be true - but I almost feel as if it would be better for me to develop a TTL style. Something immediately visible in looking through my work, versus after I'd had my time with each shot in Lightroom.

Clearly food for thought.

Out and About

We had made plans for a trip to the McNally exhibit, expecting the exhibit to take about 45 minutes. We actually found ourselves done with (and emotionally drained) after about 2 hours! An excellent show with the original large-scale Polaroids from 10 years ago, along with many new photos showing a "where are they now" sort of comparison. Very touching, and if you can make it out there before the 12th when the exhibit ends, you should definitely try to.

We then sauntered over to the MAD Museum, which was a short walk from the first location. Well, perhaps "sauntered" is not the correct word. We ran as fast as we could, through the torrential downpour, sharing our one sad excuse for an umbrella. The Museum of Art and Design has a 2 floor exhibition titled "Otherworldly" art. Miniatures and dioramas of buildings, workshops and landscapes. Excellent collection on display - post-apocalyptic, eccentric at time, and just outright inventive.

Unfortunately, due to the forthcoming rain, I decided to leave the camera and strobe at home. No reason to bother getting us both drenched for a simple practice shot. Once the weather clears up, hopefully around Friday, I plan on working with the flash in manual mode instead of ETTL to try and obtain accurate fill-flash shots on a sunny day.

Tomorrow is another night at the comedy club to watch my friends up on stage working on their sets. I hope to bring my 5D out, weather pending, to grab a few more shots of them. If it's as dead as it was last week, perhaps I'll bring the strobe and try to get some appropriate headshots of them.

Outdoor Light Testing

Spent a few minutes with my wife yesterday, outside her parents house, playing with ambient light.

The Sun was completely covered by some thick clouds, giving us a very soft light to work with.
We shot a bit with the Sun side lighting her, no flash, no reflector.

Then I turned on the flash to fill in the dark parts of her face. The lighting improved dramatically with the fill flash used in a portrait situation. However, it still presented an unflattering appearance as mentioned in my post How to Shoot in Natural Light. Perhaps I'll review the video prior to departing for NYC & the Joe McNally exhibition @ Columbus Circle, where I will shoot some more outdoor w/ fill-flash shots.

I then removed the flash and added a gold reflector to the scene. She held the reflector under her face a bit, trying not to blind herself in the process. The gold gave her face an amazing warm glow, as pictured below.

All in all I was very pleased with the way I was able to use the knowledge I learned from all the books and videos. I do need to continue with this through the entire month of September, though. In preparation for the engagement photo shoot in October, I've got some ground to cover before I'm anywhere near ready for it. But, pushing myself to the limits - I think I can accomplish this.

Joe McNally Presents: A 9/11 Remembrance, In Pictures

Joe McNally Presents: A 9/11 Remembrance, In Pictures

"When someone agrees to have you make their picture, even a quick snap, there’s an exchange, or the beginnings of a relationship, however cursory or fleeting. The subject is out there, in front of a lens, which is a very vulnerable place to be. Effectively, they give you, at the camera, a gift. It’s up to us as photographers to take care of it."

I can't quite recall when I first introduced to his work, but I have since then been enamored by his photographs. Joe McNally is my favorite photographer. His photos always make me stop and really think. Not many photos do that. Especially the "classics".

I am going to see this exhibit tomorrow, in NYC.

How to Shoot in Natural Light - AdoramaTV Episode # 46

How to Shoot in Natural Light - AdoramaTV Episode # 46


I happened across this 13 minute video while surfing around various photography contest sites. Surprisingly appropriate considering my upcoming assignment for outdoor photography!

The host, Mark Wallace, covers 5-in-1 diffuser/reflector usage as well as fill flash with an on-camera flash and finally - placement of the subject in various light.

The re-iteration that cloud-cover affords a photographer a giant "soft-box" in the sky is displayed with a few photos. To brighten up the images, the photographer uses an on-camera flash, aimed directly at the subject, to achieve fill light. He points out that when using fill-flash, the flash must be in 'high speed sync' mode, to achieve shutter speed sync over 1/200th of a second. The flash is aimed directly at the subject. ETTL takes over to determine the appropriate power of the strobe.

1/250th @ ƒ/11

The photo above was taken at my sister-in-law's college graduation about 2 years ago. The fill flash was used precisely as dictated in the video, with the sun under a slight cloud cover at camera right. However, this particular shot has some very unflattering light within. A few photos from later in the day, group shots namely, came out OK. If memory serves, I was actually playing with the flash's EV compensation, and powering the strobe both up and down as I shot to achieve the correct exposure.

I'll need to make a concerted effort to test out fill flash in a variety of lighting situations in the next day or so.

Knowing and Doing - Different.

I had a great time seeing my friends put their pride on the line getting up in front of a crowd. But they did. I give them credit for that.

All the while I got to make a few photos! Dim lighting, lots of movement - this was a fun test. While I didn't get quite as many pictures as I would have liked (set times for open-mic were very, very short) - I was happy with the way my 1.4 performed.

Funny how even after watching an entire Kelby Training video on concert photography, I still managed to make a few mistakes when photographing someone with an instrument at a mic. I let the microphone block out the entire mouth of the subject! Made for an odd photo, IMO. Next time I won't sit dead center of the stage!

Today's been a long day, so I'll leave with a sample shot from the show:

Joe

Prospect Park

Played around with some different outdoor lighting situations today - namely side-lighting, back-lighting and front-lighting. My wife was kind enough to stand still while I blinded her with the sun, and then myself.

The interesting thing is, while the side-lighting provided the nicest of the 3 choices, it was certainly still very harsh light. The blown-out highlights on the lit side of the face were hard to overcome on location - but also with the wonderful tools in Lightroom 3 (see below). Today's test was a pre-diffuser trial. I hope to be returning to the glorious light within the next 2 or 3 days to try this again with the Lastolite. Perhaps at that time I'll realize I should have bought a tri-grip diffuser with a handle...

                                                       Before                             After

                                                    

The front-lit shots felt a bit warmer than the others, though that could easily be corrected in post. Of course, as all the books state - your subject will squint. Correct! I found this light to be harsh, but not unbearbly so. Perhaps the position of the 5 o'clock sun was better than a lower-on-the-horizon shot would have ben.

The back-lit shots of course yield a shot loaded with lens flare. No matter if the hood was indeed on, those spots were all over the images. While I could have swapped out the UV filter for a CPL (would that have even helped much?) I thought of removing the filter alltogether, but that wasn't the purpose of today's exercise. I was concerned with the quality of light. And back-lighting is rough. My subject was dark, the entire image was washed out and dull. Certainly not high quality light.

Truth be told, these tests are about getting the shot right, in camera, the first time. I want to leave the least amount of work to be done in post. I have been using Auto Exposure Bracketing quite extensively these past few days (and learning that the AEB setting disables itself when the camera is powered down and need to be re-enabled the next time you power up). This trick from Jay Maisel has helped quite a bit when I am worried about obtaining the correct exposure values TTL.