Yesterday’s post was all about the lack of contrast and a gray day. Today its all about contrast and its impact, standing out from the background. Birds in flight (BIF) is far from easy and failure is more frequent than success. In this case the bird graciously turned in towards the lens.
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Ye Olde Chicken Farm
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I wanted to keep the grayness in this photograph, rather than brighten it or fix the contrast. The group of photographs of which this is one, were taken in a situation where I felt the lack of contrast maintained the mood. Normally I would post-process that effect away. My eye caught the tattered flag a disconnect given the manicured nature of everything else.
Playing and Playgrounds
This photograph is one of series of seven photographs.
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Camouflaged Assasin
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I have written a lot on macro photography on this blog. The insects, bugs and spiders have not been as present as I would have liked this spring.
However, the other day walking in a reserve something caught my eye. It was about 18mm long. I had no idea what it was, and as usual I had the wrong gear! I took the shot with a very long lens. Then I sent a version to Bugguide.net for identification.
This is a nymph, an immature example of Zelus luridus (an Assassin Bug). Given their size they go after smaller creatures like aphids.
In short this is the process, stumble upon the bug, insect, spider etc., seek expert guidance, learn.
Seriously, this is one odd bug and now part of my collection.
Macro photography of insects has opened my eyes to a new world that never ceases to amaze.
Waiting
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So you want sharp photographs?
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There are several misunderstandings about the word “sharp” in photography. It can refer to focusing the camera, the quality of the lens and the quality of the final product.
We count on the camera’s auto-focus (in some DSLRs you can, fine-tune it). We count on our lenses to be sharp (in some cases vibration can be limited). We also count on in-camera sharpening to be effective. We have to rely on our own skills to choose the right f-stop for depth of field to capture all the important parts of our subject.
Post processing software will assign some pre-sharpening, and we can apply some creative sharpening (or for portraits, softening) to our main subject depending on taste. If we are printing to paper or to the web we will need to apply the appropriate sharpening.
Sharp is how well the light resolves the image on your camera’s sensor above and beyond the photograph being in focus and how well-defined the lines and transitions are in your photograph. Over-sharpening creates new lines and halos.
The process of High Dynamic Range and a close ally, tonal contrast, adds an element of sharpening as well.
While most of us are concerned that our pictures are in focus, without worrying about sharpening, the results will be soft. To get sharp in focus photographs involves properly holding the camera and applying the shutter speeds you need to use with a given lens (and if necessary a tripod or monopod) followed by careful sharpening in post-processing.
Someone commented on one of my photographs and said it was soft, my reply was that sometimes we have to compromise and a bit of softness may be that compromise, that is if/if everything else clicks. In another instance I had done a significant crop and my usual sharpening techniques went too far, especially as the website where I posted it also added some sharpening. In that case I was a bit embarrassed by my offense to a good photograph.
You can spend a fortune in time and money on sharpening, from hardware for your camera, books about it, to software for your post processing; some of it worthwhile, some only reassuring. Its much more important to recognize that sharpening is part of the creative decision-making and practice your skills.
If you truly think you have a problem with a camera lens combination, go to an expert; if it’s a software issue, Google it. For every photograph you should have a tolerance level. No sense worrying about sharpness if the rest of the composition is bad. If it is a great photograph and the sharpness is marginally off perhaps you can live with it. Basically sharpness, involves a number of skills and it is a constant bit of work to keep those skills sharp.
Now look closely at the photograph above, you can enlarge it by clicking on it. Notice how the focus on the feathers and the head is soft. The technical problem is the f-stop, nothing can repair that, although, in my view, it’s not a bad composition. Art over technology.
Puzzling
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Taking a Dive
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Out of Line
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From Dolls and Mannequins
This photograph is one of series of eight photographs.
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A Triumph of Nature
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A Modernist Park
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Some days are better than others…
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A great day in photography usually means shooting one great photograph, if not more, that comes out better than you imagined.
There are other great days that get you to that point. While the photographs may not be stellar, they can achieve a goal. After a couple of months struggling through winter or other challenges to get any photographs, you can get a little stale.
Stale in the sense that you don’t easily anticipate things that would help you get the shot you want, let alone well exposed and focused. This is where getting out when you can to practice comes in. Now this gives no guarantee of great shots down the road, but it will help.
Its like reflexes, you need to think about what your settings need to be so when something happens you can react quickly.
Getting back into a rhythm where choices about ISO, f stop, shutter speed, autofocus mode, exposure mode, and lens are routine is Step 1.
Step 2 is focusing on your technique to get sharp/focused photographs.
Step 3 is finding your eye for composition.
It is not an incremental, linear or balanced equation. Step 1 and 2 are technical, the less you have to think about them the more you can focus on Step 3 which is where the magic happens.
So when people tell you the secret is to take more photographs, they do not mean take anything, they mean take enough pictures to be able to get the technical to be instinctive and give you the time and space to be creative in deciding on subject and composition.
And yes there will be times when none of it works and fumbling is the rule of the day. But sooner or later the technology and technique gets comfortable and you can focus more on what counts, crafting photographs – light, composition, perspective, the conversation.
A Keen Eye
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Blending In
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Any Monday Morning
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Suburban Gothic
This photograph is one of series of eight photographs.
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A Solitary Pursiut
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A Fine Balance
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The Seven “Sins” of Photographers
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It is wonderful writing about something you have a passion for (translation: obsession). So it will come as no surprise to see a somewhat satirical post on the seven “sins” of photographers (not including obsession) not a few of which the author is himself guilty of.
- The sin of restraint, wherein we continue to believe that there is a cost per click, rather than taking all the possible angles of a shot and ensuring we make the photograph we want.
- The sin of lost perspective, wherein every shot is taken with the hubris of our own eye level without testing all the angles and perspectives.
- The sin of misplaced emphasis, going overboard on the latest technique rather than adapting and seeking our own style.
- The sin of omission, forgetting to take a camera with you whenever and wherever you go.
- The sin of illiteracy, not reading the manual, not being on a consistent and constant learning path.
- The sin of self-doubt, not sharing your work, getting criticism and learning from it.
- The sin of tunnel vision, not trying new things.
Now that probably only touches the highlights of how we can misuse our carefully chosen camera and lenses, but you get the drift.
Cocky not Angry Bird
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A Nod to Nature
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The Blues Shine Through
David Maxwell
A Great Blues Pianist
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Waterfront Perspectives
This photograph is one of series of ten photographs.
Click to Enlarge.
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Mischief
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Some Views on Photography as a Conversation
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Photography involves many kinds of dialogue, the most important conversation is the one with a living entity at the other end of your lens.
When photographing animals, birds, insects etc. our subjects often notice us. Sometimes they flee and sometimes they stick around. While we should not ignore our tendency to ascribe human emotions to animals (anthropomorphism), it remains true that we often have the attention of our subject. The dialogue may be complicated by the lack of sophisticated communication, nonetheless something is being communicated.
At its best there is a common curiosity. Try as we might to avoid disturbing our subjects we probably do so more than we would wish to. Hence the need to move slowly, ensure our subject is comfortable and avoid any appearance of wanting actual contact.
At a distance any creature acts naturally and capturing them untainted by communication is an option. With large and dangerous animals this may be the only option. However, you might like to experiment and make your own determination of how much more impact a conversation can have. That is not to say birds in flight, mass migrations and may other events also have impact, but a connection electrifies a photograph.
The picture above is of a juvenile Muskrat that looked up only a few times as he mowed his/her way through the foliage.
Resilience in the Face of Adveristy
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A Modest Car
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Three’s Company
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Gosling
This photograph is one of series of nine photographs.
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Odd Man Out
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Steely Determination
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A Decided Lack of Consensus
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Photography is a two way conversation?
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Well Seen: The Art of Improving Skills
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The expression, “well seen” captures an important element of photography.
Perspective in all of its meanings is important in photography; as important as light. Looking down at people is almost never a good thing, nor necessarily is staring up at anything. Note the qualifiers.
Photography can involve assuming awkward positions to capture the best perspective as well as the best light.
If you want to improve your photography, simply take lots of photographs while trying out every angle, setting of lens/camera, and make the best use of the available lighting. To quote Aristotle “the whole is greater than the sum of the parts”.
Well seen is the product of something catching our eye and taking the time to craft that into a photograph. It is the idea of making not taking a photograph. Get out and do it, you can read about photography, you can study photography, but more than anything you need to experiment.
If you take one picture of everything you see, you are not doing it right, nor are you doing it right if every picture is taken at eye level. You should be coming home wishing you took more photos of a given subject rather than less.
School Yard
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Ottawa Winter Landscapes
This photograph is one of series of six photographs.
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Window Shopping
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Will this Winter Ever end?
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The Lichenologist
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I was on a nature walk at a local school board maintained nature site, when I met a Lichenologist. As we walked and talked my first and only hurdle was my mispronunciation of lichen. Clearly not a good start especially as I kept making the same mistake.
We did discuss more interesting subjects, the what, why and where of lichens and more specifically the photography thereof. I had seen some incredible microscopic pictures of lichen at a local museum that looked like modern art, it turned out that these were photographed for a book he authored.
The Lichenologist, had a little jewelry magnifier with a battery-powered light. At 10x magnification he showed me how the most common of lichen were extremely beautiful (texture, form, color, shadow and an infinite variety of shapes). It makes you think what else we miss when we walk around.
A few months later he held a seminar on lichen where the participants used microscopes and books of “keys” to identify types of local lichen. This was fun and very interesting and shortly afterwards I went to have a look at what microphotography might involve.
I doubt that I will be doing much microphotography, the complications and costs of getting down to magnifications below 5X, at the moment defeat me. But here’s the key point. I met an interesting man, who taught me something, and I now have another photographic challenge on my shelf that I know is doable just not quite yet.
P.S. Based on one of the comments I received the photograph above is apparently of moss, which hows you how much I have to learn!
Not Another Brick in the Wall
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Birders and Photographers
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Earlier this week I posted some photographs of Shore Birds, this is the back-story.
You meet great people when out with your camera. I met a birder one day on the beach. He was among a group of birders and he stopped to chat.
Like many photographers, birders carry binoculars and guides to their subject. Birders often carry spotting scopes on tripods. In general the scopes are much more powerful than the very long telephoto lens.
As we were chatting about the beach and what birds could be seen there, we noticed a woman photographer off on small pier. I remarked that I knew her and she was quite fond of bird photography. My new birder friend and I were now alone, as his group had moved off.
He made the point that birders and photographers to do not necessarily see eye to eye and that therefore there can be some friction between the two enthusiasms. The unspoken rule is not to rush off and scare birds away. He offered to introduce me around let me look through his scope and ask questions.
When we met up with his group there was obviously some disquiet. My friend, the photographer on the pier, was now surrounded by many photographers with longer lens, some on the pier, some in waders off to the side all concentrating on the same birds she had had sole view of a short time before.
One of the birders turned to me and asked if there is any etiquette among photographers, and clearly not expecting a response wandered off.
When things settled down the birders gave me a short lesson in the shore birds they were tracking and some ideas of how to circle around to get as close as I could to the birds without ruining everyone’s fun and scaring off the birds. One of the photographs is above (the rest are at the link).
I have once inadvertently scared off a bird someone was photographing and felt terrible about it. I have had birds I was focused on scared off by bird tours.
These things happen, but being aware of the potential for problems is step one and recognizing when the field is too crowded and changing your plans is another possibility.
Seems Like Yesterday
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Shore Birds (2012)
This photograph is one of series of six photographs of very tiny birds who don’t like being looked at closely.
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Working the Line
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Old Heels on the High Street
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Why you should never ask me which DSLR to buy.
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You see a lot of questions about which DSLR to buy, and comments from those trying to help people. Here is by far the best answer I can come up with.
You might get a camera similar to your friends or family’s so you can work together and help each other.
You might consider that the more you spend the more complex and generally heavier, the camera.
Does the camera and its controls fit comfortably in your hands. Comfortable fit is not ergonomics, although that is certainly an issue. The important question is can you reach the dials and buttons you need to?
You also need to know whether the brand you choose has sufficient options for growth.
Brand X makes the best macro and birding lenses, but if you find it hard to hold and difficult to control than it’s probable that the disadvantages outweigh the advantages.
So there you have it – what your friends own, the cost, the weight, the feel, the ease of use, all are personal questions someone else cannot answer for you. Weigh any advice you’re given, bearing in the mind that is it very likely others advising you have their own preferences (oh and the local camera store has incentives to sell one camera over another too, if only because the vendor himself is a fan of one brand or another).
Signs of Popular Culture
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Entropy and Photography
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All photographers experiment, with HDR, software, perspective, textures, and light etc. Sometimes we are so delighted by the results we cannot help but share them.
We know what we like, or do we? The fact is that our views will vary over time. Our skills improve; our judgment is altered by experience.
Nothing is static and everything is subject to entropy including our feelings and judgments about our photographs.
This may sound negative, but it is also a reflection of our maturity, as time goes on our taste and sensibilities change. A few photographs pass the test of time, but do not expect all of them to do so.
The photograph above was taken a long time ago; after the transfer from film to digital (not always a gentle process) the only post processing adjustment I made was removing a black spot on one side of the tree. Everything else is natural. Years have passed and I still like it, others have disagreed and the statistics on my website show it.
