June, 2009

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Almost shooting through bars

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

Eagle behind bars

Along the lines of yesterday’s post: what about the times that you can’t quite get the bars to blur out? The only answer is to use them in the composition. Take the photo to the right: I could easily use this to make a point (the U.S. national emblem behind bars? Ooooooh, low-hanging fruit!).

The technique here is no different than the last two days: getting close to the bars, using a long zoom, using as small an f/stop as you can, and hoping for the best.

The cage for these birds is… well, far too small in my uneducated opionion. There certainly wasn’t enough room to blur out the bars.

Posted in Photographs, Technique | No Responses »
Tags: eagle, how-to, photograph, zoo

Shooting through bars

Monday, June 29th, 2009

Wolverine running around his cage

No, not drinking places. Although that would be an interesting experience, too. Shooting through bars in cages is what I’ve referring to. The technique is similar to shooting through glass: you still want to get close to the bars, use a wide-open f/stop… But here’s the rub: it’s much more relative. The closer you are to the bars and the further the subject is from them, the more they’ll blur out.

Witness the wolverine to the right: you can’t tell that there’s a metal fence between us, but you can see the far end of the cage behind this fellow. In this case, I was already about 3 feet from the fence, but this guy was an easy 40 feet away (possibly further – I’m lousy at gauging distances). I didn’t have a top-of-the-line zoom lens with me, but the distance is such that it didn’t matter – Even at f/5.6, the bars are gone.

Posted in Photographs, Technique | 1 Response »
Tags: cage, depth of field, how-to, photograph

Photographing animals in a zoo

Sunday, June 28th, 2009

Alaska Zoo - polar bear

When taking pics of zoo animals (and “taking” is the only word: you don’t “make” them, you “take” what you can get, barring intimate access), there’s a constant struggle with glass, fences, etc. The question then arises: how do you get around the things that interfere with the picture?

As an example, look at this post. This is from the Seward Sea Life center, and there’s a decided green cast. Moreover, there’s low contrast (and what little is there has been amplified in Photoshop). Compare that to the picture to the right: looks like there was nothing in the way whatsoever.

The difference? Technique.

In the latter case, the F/stop has been deliberately held to a wide-open margin, and the camera is close to the glass. Did I say glass? I meant multiple panes of glass with a large barrier in between. Yes, plenty of detail-losing, color-skewing glass. All made irrelevant by a combination of factors.

To pull this off, I got as close to the glass as possible (in a low-defect/not very dirty area). I then stopped down the aperture as wide as I could (f/5.6, in this case). The closer I am to the glass, the less aperture matters. I stepped into manual focus (keeps autofocus from accidentaly grabbing the glass), and shot away.

Or rather, I waited until this guy stopped pooping. Seriously, it was disgusting. I ended up with this one shot.

Posted in Photographs, Technique | 1 Response »
Tags: animals, bear, how-to, photograph, polar bear

NAPP Photoshop world

Saturday, June 27th, 2009

Twice a year, the National Association for Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) hosts Photoshop World. One of these takes place on the east coast, the other in Las Vegas. Last year I went, and… it was a blast! Not so much that it was a non-stop party (frankly, their party-like stuff was kinda lame), but there was soooo much to learn!

I’m debating on whether to go again this year. Last year I learned a lot, but this year it’s even more focused on photography than in prior years, and most of it appears somewhat basic. But even basic classes last year were mighty useful.

If I had a gripe, I would say that the classes were too short – in & out in an hour – that’s barely enough to get a taste of each instructor. I think I’ll hold on to that perspective this year – looking at it as a chance to evaluate instructors for what else I might learn from them afterward.

My only hesitation in going: I’m completely self funded on these operations. Tickets from Alaska to… anywhere are ridiculous (seriously, I think we subsidize cheap flights in the lower 48). And I’ll have to cover room, flight, conference fees…

http://www.photoshopuser.com/

Posted in Observations | No Responses »
Tags: classes, learning, photoshop, photoshop world

Tastes are subjective

Friday, June 26th, 2009

Oh, so subjective. I’ve been watching comments on flickr and Stuck in Customs picking aport one of Trey’s newer pics. It’s not among his technical best, but I’m a bit… amused, I suppose, at the vehemence that people are showing. Like the “If you’re going to post rubbish like this” comment – I guess I just don’t get it, what purpose does that serve?

I suppose I see it from multiple perspectives: first, the whole concept of taste in art – it’s entirely subjective. You may be a highly discerning photographer, so you don’t like this one. That’s you.

Second, what purpose does such a statement make? It’s not like he owes people anything. In fact, I would argue that a large part of the world owes him: he’s effectively introduced the majority of us to HDR.

Fortunately for us, Trey is apparently handling it well. Bigger man than I.

Posted in Observations | No Responses »
Tags: hdr, philosophy

Shooting with both eyes open

Thursday, June 25th, 2009

I read recently on Jim Goldstein’s site his post on photographing the unexpected. The thing that jumped out to me was he recommended keeping both eyes open when shooting:

One of the most common mistakes I see photographers make is to get lost looking solely through the camera viewfinder. If you are only seeing the world through your viewfinder you in essence suffer from tunnel vision… literally. Rather than only looking through your viewfinder be sure to use your other eye to survey your surroundings. Is anyone on the fringe of your photo that will either detract or add to your photo?

While I freely admit that I’m not sure about this all the time, it’s certainly something I’ll be trying. Follow the link to his “Photography, the art of being prepared” post you’ll notice he comments on photographing a child. I’m sure that’s where my practice will be taking place.

Posted in Observations | 1 Response »
Tags: Technique

Overpowering the sun with flash

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009

When we talk SLR, I’m a Nikon shooter. That means that I have the capability of doing pretty cool things with my flash. While yesterday’s photo may have been a bit on the weak side (it was a spur-of-the-moment photo), it was made possible in the first place by Nikon’s remote flash system. How I pulled this off:

Positioning

I was in a hurry, before the backlighting on the flowers left (lots of clouds), so I only had time to grab one flash. This was an sb-600, and I slapped on a flash-mountable softbox to keep light from spilling away from where I wanted (note to self: use barndoors in the future). This was positioned to camera left, about 8 inches from the flowers. I’m standing facing the flowers, and the sun is behind the flowers, leaning towards camera right. This gives me backlight, but the tree itself keeps lens flare away.

So, if I’m at 6 o’clock and the flower is at 12 o’clock, the sun is roughly at 2 o’clock and the flash is between 7 and 8 o’clock. It’s a light sandwich.

Equipment

The flash is an sb-600. Set to channel A, it’s at an even 1:1 manual power setting. No choice: the light is cut in half (to 1/2, so literally) by the softbox. If I kick into high-speed sync (which I needed, as it turned out), then it’s going to be much weaker – like 1/16, effectively. The camera: a Nikon d200 with high-speed sync enabled. The sb-900 is mounted as a flash to control the sb-600, and I have the 105mm macro lens mounted.

The process

Start by setting f/stop. I know, it’s a little backwards – but I kinda need it for controlling the flash. Tighten down the iso as far as I can (100), and move the shutter speed up until I can control the backround. Once I get the clouds looking OK, I then speed up the shutter until they’re coming through extremely dark. I I’m at f/9 and 1/4000th at this point.

Fire off a shot. Pretty dark, but that’s expected. Open up the f/stop, ending at f/6.3. Find that it works, as a balance between depth of field and letting in light from the flash. Still on the dark side, but OK.

the post-process

Thank you photoshop! Using post-processing, bring up the light on the flowers slightly. Quick pass of sharpening, and I’m done.

Posted in Observations, Photographs | No Responses »
Tags: how, how-to, photograph

Overpowering the noontime sun

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009

Well, not so impressive in Anchorage – not on an overcast day. Still, there’s a semi-decent impression:

Flowers, strobist-style

The strangeness of the image is due to using flash to overpower the ambient light. More on the tech side tomorrow. Some resurrection of light in photoshop, too…

Posted in Photographs, Technique | 1 Response »
Tags: flowers, photograph, strobist

Alaska is a part of the united states, dammit!

Monday, June 22nd, 2009

Pardon me, but I’m tired of trying to purchase things online & getting shafted with a giant “2nd day” shipping charge. FedEx, UPS… doesn’t matter. Shoot, even when they charge the “ground” rates fo those guys, it ends up costing as much as the air rates. What, we’re not in the US? Hell, it’s still the same continent.

A couple of days ago I was mumbling about wanting a new photo bag. Today I finally managed to make a decision, only to be thwarted with… a $35 charge for Ground delivery (UPS). I’ve ordered bags before & they’re large – the shipping rate is usually a little higher because of that. But 1/3 the total price? Drives me nuts, when USPS will ship for far less.

So no thinktank for me, and no cash for them. It’s a deal.

Posted in Gripes | 1 Response »
Tags: complaint, gripe

Clouds in the sky

Sunday, June 21st, 2009

Clouds in the evening - 10pm

Look at the angle of the light on the clouds to the right. It’s at quite an angle, and yet it’s not yellowing. You know, the yellowing that you see as it gets closer to the golden hour? Not yet – it’s too early. This is 10pm last night. It’s probably two or three hours away from a colorful sunset.

There were great textures though, and the sky was unusually clear. These clouds are probably over the inlet or, at the closest, over the open fields at Elmendorf Air Force base.

Classic for my situation, I noticed them almost too late – I had to pull out my good 80-200 f/2.8 lens & handhold at f/8 (1/250th sec.) to get this. This is fully zoomed out (200mm), so there’s an effective zoom of 300mm.

Posted in Around the House, Photographs | No Responses »
Tags: alaska, anchorage, clouds, photograph, sky

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