Above the rim

When I taught the photojournalism workshop the other day one of the things I stressed was changing perspectives and viewpoints.  I believe in the motto "practice what you preach" so out on assignment I looked for a different view of a hoop camp.

With a low height basketball rim I had an easy way to make a change of perspective, I would shoot as high as I could near the rim looking down on the action.  I didn't have a chair or ladder handy so I did the standby of stretching the camera as high above me as I could reach in what we call the "Hail Mary" shot-we pray we get something in focus in the frame.  I have no idea what I am shooting as I can't see in the finder.

Some newer DSLR cameras have a fold down view screen which makes this much easier but I just used a wide angle lens, tried to frame the scene a little loose and did my best.  I had a tendency to tilt the horizon but when you have shot like this it sort of adds to pictures odd viewpoint dynamic.  Overall I had a few shots that I really liked and told the story from a different viewpoint.

Holy crap!

A new type of photography was announced with the introduction of the Light Field Camera.  I'm not sure what it looks like details are sketchy but its selling point is "shoot now focus later".

With this camera you can change the point of focus and or depth of field at will whenever you like on a computer.  Sounds too freaky.  I messed around with the examples on their website and I am intrigued.  it sounds like it would virtually make an out of focus image a thing of the past.  Stay tuned when I get more details I will post them here.

The long and short of it

While both of these sports photos have the main subject at about the same size in the frame they couldn't be more different.

The hurdler picture was shot with my 300mm f.4 lens set to the widest aperture.  The long jump shot was taken with a 16-35mm zoom lens set to 16mm and the f-stop around f-11.  I didn't even look through the lens but set the camera down just shy of the sand pit and aimed toward the runway.

At first glance it may look like I held the same distance to the both subjects but I was several dozen  yards away from the hurdler-I was well behind the finish line as she was cross the second or third to last hurdle when I snapped this shot.  For the jumper I was crouched just a few feet way hoping not to get pelted by the sand on the landing.

Two different perspectives with two different lenses that yield a sort of similar shot.  It never hurts to try a different location or lens on assignment and look for that different view.

Try and try again

Shooting this picture of Tracy High's Kevin Speer throwing the shot put seems like no big deal but it took a little time and effort to get the look I wanted. I was trying to get the shot put ball just off the athlete's fingers so I had to shoot a few frames to get the moment I wanted. 90 frames to be exact. 15 throws by different competitors and the last sequence I shot had just the right combination of ball, body and facial expression. Earlier frames either still had the shot put in his hand or two far away or out of the frame completely so I had to work on my timing of when to pull the trigger. I was standing at the very end of the shot put sand shooting with my 300 mm lens and an exposure of 1/4000th of a second at f.6.5 with and ISO sensitivity setting of 800. Looking back at the earlier throws in the shoot I am glad I hung in there and kept working to get the right moment, I think it makes for a nice photo.

Aperture preferred

With all the technological advances in cameras these days I have to admit photographers have gotten spoiled and lazy. Autofocus,matrix metering, program exposure mode, face recognition the list goes on and on. Sometimes all it seems we need to do is show up to an assignment, switch the camera on, press the shutter release and we are guaranteed of a good picture no matter how much thought or effort we put into taking the picture. It is too easy these days-right up until you walk into an assignment like this one.

Shooting the Junior Miss assignment wasn't all that hard journalistic speaking, find a good spot and wait for the winner to be announced. What was hard about this assignment was the technical end or to be more precise was the metering. I think I like to call this type of an assignment a disaster waiting to happen.

The event was held at the Grand Theatre's ETK Theatre, a nice place with good stage lighting. And there is the problem, modern cameras and theatre lighting don't mix well together. Modern camera meters are designed to do one thing, record whatever scene they see as a lovely shade of 18% gray. No matter if the scene is black, white, purple or hot pink the meter will do its best to register the tones of the scene as close as it can that 18% gray standard. For most assignments there is enough variations between light and dark tones that the metering gives me a close enough point where I can fine tune the exposure in Photoshop but take a dark theatre, black background, contrasty lighting and camera meter set for aperture preferred metering and the results will be miserable at best.

Take the stage scene, here is the problem. Lots of dark tones, black drapes and dark tone dresses with the occasional splash of a light skin tone. Lets say the camera is set for aperture preferred metering, I set the f-stop and the camera selects the shutter speed automatically. In order to record the black and dark tones as that neutral gray the camera overexposes the scene. It way overexposes the scene. it is the the correct exposure according to the camera but a dismal failure in reality. The only way to accurately metering something like this is in the manual exposure mode.

No matter what brand of camera or how old metered cameras have a manual metering mode. When switched to manual mode my Canon Eos 1D MK II gives me a scale to one side of the viewfinder. To set the "correct" exposure I have to adjust the shutter speed and f-stop until an indicator is centered in the scale. This is pretty much the same as the old 'match needle metering' systems of old. The concept is always the same though the camera wants to expose all tones to achieve 18% gray. So looking at my theater scene last night in the manual mode I knew I would have to go against camera advice and underexpose. But in reality it is the correct exposure.


Think about it, if we are photographing something black we want it to reproduce black. If the camera is going to overexpose it an attempt to get the black to reproduce gray then the correct exposure would be one that gives the correct black tone even if the meter indicates underexposed. I could have stayed in an automatic metering mode and set the camera's exposure value compensation dial or EV dial for short to - 3tops. That makes the camera underexpose three stops even if it thinks it has the correct 18% gray exposure of the scene. That might have gotten me close to the right exposure last night but what happens if I forget to change the EV setting back? Then I might be underexposing another assignment accidentally. It is easier just to go manual mode.

So how much of a difference does the metering really make? The following two photos were shot a couple of seconds apart. the top picture shows the stage area in aperture preferred with the camera assigned correct exposure. The bottom photo was my manual metered shot with a about a four-stop exposure difference. The "correct" exposure isn't necessarily the right one.


So how difficult was this to do last night? Walking into the theatre I knew the problem. it took about two minutes of testing to get the balance between black backdrop and skin tones. I left the exposure a little on the bright side so I could have some separation between the girls hair and background, I figured I could darken any hot spots in Photoshop as needed. Overall I am pleased with the exposures. It was some tricky light that required the right metering to make the correct exposure.

Mark IV

Canon U.S.A. Inc. is personally trying to force me into bankruptcy. They just announced their newest camera the Eos 1D Mark IV.

The camera is their new flagship for photojournalists and professional photographers. It has a 1.3x crop cmos sensor recording at 16 megapixels. The new autofocus system uses 45 AF points is said to have much improved performance over the Mark III which had been plagued by a buggy autofocus system from the start.

The ISO sensitivity range on the new Mark IV is a staggering 100 to 12,800 in normal and in High ISO settings reaches 102,400! In film that would be equal to about a a 12-stop push processing. And like all new Canon Digital SLR cameras it shoot HD video.

The Mark IV is scheduled to reach dealers sometime in December and be sold body only for $5,000. I will have to start saving for this bad boy!

Mission Impossible

Just when you think film is dead and buried it seems to be rising from the grave. A group working out of the Netherlands has persuaded the Polaroid to relaunch a limited run cameras as they develop prduction of the black and white and color instant camera films.
The Impossible Project group is expecting film to reach the public in mid-2010, plenty of time to dust of those Polaroid cameras and put them back into working shape if you haven't sold them off at a garage sale.

I don't know what I found more weird, the fact that someone fought to bring film back (and instant film to boot) or that film now is called "analog photography."

Crushed

The key to getting a good sports photos is all about location. You can't get the photo if you are not in the right spot. I was looking for a defensive photo from the sophomore game so I camped out out about 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage and shooting with my 300mm lens with a 1.4 extender I was was rewarded with this west high defensive player smashing the quarterback to force an incomplete pass on a fourth down play.

G11

Canon has introduced their newest digital camera, the Powershot G11. The camera will replace their popular G10 compact digital camera that has found a niche with both amateur and professional photographers.

The camera has a similar look with the biggest change being the lcd screen on the camera back. It drops slightly smaller in size to 2.8" but is now articulated for a variety of shooting angles. The camera steps down to 10 megapixels but adds improved color management with Canon's latest chip the Digic 4. It has a bevy other features from a 28-140mm zoom to face detection to an improved low-light sensitivity with speeds of ISO 3200. The camera is scheduled to hit stores in October and retail for about $500.00. Stay tuned for any user reports I come across.

Going minimalist

I have a couple of death march hikes planned for this month and I got to thinking about what equipment to take. For my last long treks up the mountain I tried stripping down my six-megapixel Digital Rebel down to just the body with the lightest lens and that worked out ok. But with sizzling August temperatures ahead I decided to trim way down and picked up this little pocket camera.
Made by Canon the Powershot A1100 IS fits in the palm of my hand, weighs next to nothing and still boasts a respectable 12.1-megapixel file size even though it is with a reduced size sensor. It has a simple movie mode (not HD) and should travel well with the pack. The only downside to the camera is it is hungrily fueled by two AA batteries. NihMI batteries will probably last longer but on these death marches it usually turns out I shoot fewer photos. It also has a viewfinder I can use to conserve power instead of composing pictures on the LCD screen on the camera's back. I'll be giving it is first field test in about a week and will post some pictures from the hike

End of an era

After 75 years Kodak announced the end of Kodachrome film. You can read the offical press release here.

Blur

I knew this shot didn't have a snowball's chance in hell of making the newspaper moments after I shot it. The last-second assignment was for a playground picture to go with a story about the equipment being replace. I got the ordinary shots of kids playing on the swings then I went for something creative. I decided on a nice strong panning shot to add a little flair to a boring kids in the park scene. A low ISO sensitivity setting of 50 with an aperture of f.22 gave me a slow shutter speed of 1/13th of a sec, perfect for a nice motion blur panning shot. It gives a good sense of movement and speed and gives a nice flow of colors. To artistic for this group who passed it over as quick as can be.

Lucky shot

Sometimes I guess I'd rather be lucky than good. I was assigned to shoot a pair of baseball games as Tracy and West High schools played in the first round of playoffs. That means shooting two baseball games back-to-back. The trick is to try and make the pictures look different form each game.





I really lucked out on this one. West high was the second game and the falling light was going to be a problem. I tried to get enough shots before my light disappeared altogether. I got my usual shots, pitcher, batter, and then locked on to the second baseman in case he made a play on a groundball. This is a manual follow focus shot as he dove at a sharply hit grounder that just passed by his glove on the diving attempt on the stop. There is one more frame in the sequence but the ball is just too far out of the frame for my liking. For all you camera techies this was shot with my Canon Eos 1D Mk II camera with a Canon 300mm f.4.0 lens with auto focus off but image stabilization on. Exposure was 1/1600 of a sec at f.5.0 at the ISO sensitivity setting on 1600.

Better one, better two?

This is one of those times where I have to make a happy choice, which picture works better. I was covering the Tracy High baseball game against Golden Valley of Merced when I caught a series of the Bulldog’s Kyle Moses stealing second. I had two shots I really liked but which one to use?

The first shot above has a lot going for it. Nice action, good focus and it tells a story. The ball is not quite to the mitt and Moses hasn’t reached the bag so there is some good movement there. The player in the right sort of detracts from the image but the action is still nicely centered.

The second picture taken probably a second or so later is also a good image. The runner has made the base, colliding with the leg of the player with a good facial expression. The ball is still tight in the frame but you can see the player missed the throw making a more complete storytelling image. It is a little tighter framed in the composition and if need be I could crop in even tighter.

Which image did I choose? The first one. I think it has more action in it with a better visual flow and motion. I would have been happy with either shot making it to the paper but the top shot just has a better feel.

Plasma

This was the first attempt at using my new macro lens. the subject was a plasma ball in my living room.

Point and shoot

This is Canon's newest camera in their Powershot series of point and shoot cameras, the Powershot G 10. It features 14.7 megapixels, a 3" rear color LCD screen, real image optical viewfinder and built in optical image stabilization. It has a f.2.8 maximum lens speed and focal length equal to 28mm to 140mm with it's built in flash it tips the scales at just over 12 oz and is expected to retail for $500 in October.

I love my Canon G3 point and shoot I used it on my solo hike up Mount Diablo and I love the convenience of a small point and shoot. This is the latest in the G series upgrades and will probably have a place in my camera collection sometime in the future.

What I find sad is that only about five years separates the $500 14.7 megapixel Canon G 10 and the Tracy Press' first digital camera purchase, the Nikon D1 which recorded a whopping 2 megapixels and sold for $5,000. Yep we even bought two of them.

Behold the future

This is Canon's latest and might be greatest camera, the Eos 5D MK II. It was just announced and will replace the oldest camera in their digital line up. It features a 21.1 megapixel full-frame sensor, a 3.9 frames-per-second drive and a 3"inch rear LCD screen. But the thing I think is most intriguing about the camera is it will capture full HD video with HDMI output. It will capture 12 minutes of video in the HD 16 :9 letterbox setting or 24 minutes in the standard resolution.

Also the camera has ISO sensitivity from 100 to 6400 as standard and with custom settings can reach from 50 to an insane low light level setting of 25,600!

Due in November the body only is expected to retail for $2,700.

Altitude

They say you should always change your perspective when taking pictures for a fresh view and different take on your subject. I perched atop a desk to get a shot of this summer science camp project and didn't relaize I was going to be the subject of someone eles's camera. Worst thing is they caught me chimping on the job.

Crowd control

Busy backgrounds are a killer in most photos. That is usually one of the ways you can tell the difference between an ameture photograph and a professional's work, how well they control the background.


Now not all photos and scenes are going to be plain and simple and a lot of the time you are going to nned to exercise some crowd control on those busy backgrounds to isolate your subject.



My favorite method is the shallow depth of field affordered by a long lens used at the widest possible f-stop. Mostof these pictures were taken with a 300mm telephoto with a 1.4 extender shot at f5.6. The result is a pleasingly plain background.

It is alive

It may look like an alien creature out of some science fiction movie but it is actually my latest piece of camera equipment. It is a compact moldable tripod called a Gorillapod from Joby.

This is the SLR-Zoom model and is rated to support 6.6 pounds. It has articulated plastic knobs that can be formed around objects to support the camera securely on a variety of surfaces.

I have been testing it on my Digital Rebel to see how it well it works. I am not too sure yet about wrapping it around a fence post but I do think it will come in handy on hikes for slow shutter speed shots. The Gorillpod weighs 8.5 ounces and should be easy to pack.

I am not enamored with the tripod screw and will invest in a quick release plate down the road. I picked up mine from REi.com for about $45.