Shutterfinger

Getting It Together

This gentleman is actually a very good guitarist. He enjoyed my taking a picture of him and I enjoyed listening to him play.

You might think that after 40-odd years of practicing photography I'd have it all down. I'd never screw up. My camera would bend to my will. All I'd have to do is spy the faintest glimmer of a photo opportunity and I would capture it in less time than it would take lessor mortals to blink.

The fact is that photography for me is often a struggle, the most constant of which is finding the time to practice it. I'm paid to write, you see, not to take pictures. During my "free" time I'm expected to be a good husband and father, not wandering the streets of Philadelphia taking pictures of perfect strangers for no reason other than my own personal gratification. The occasions when my wife and kids are doing something together that doesn't require my presence and participation don't necessarily coincide with good light and sufficient time.

Don't ask me why I like this composition; I just do.

This Saturday I simply set all that aside and made it happen. Despite a heavy overcast and consistent drizzel of rain, I met up with a fellow street photographer who was visiting for the weekend and went searching for a few photos that might justify the effort. I wasn't optimistic. It was a rainy Saturday morning and few people were outside walking around. The heavy overcast meant I wouldn't see of the dramatic shadow patterns I love so much. Worse, it meant I would have to use larger apertures, slower shutter speeds, and higher ISOs than I prefer. "Gordon," I thought to myself, "this morning is going to be a challenge."

To matters even more interesting, the camera I was using, a Nikon D7000 with a 35mm f/2.0 AF Nikkor, decided to be recalcitrant. It refused to reformat the SD card I was using. It took five times longer than normal to flush some shots through the buffer while others passed through in an instant. I took advantage of the fact that the D7000 has two SD card slots and switched cards. Problem solved. Only later, after I removed the original card and thoroughly cleaned the contacts, did it return to normal.

Although I wish this shot had been sharper I'm not sure more sharpness would make any real difference either way.

There were other annoyances as well. For example, the AF system would occasionally balk. I don't mean it would misfocus, it simply wouldn't focus at all. I still remember how to focus manually, but that's not much help when you've already missed the shot. My neckstrap was also pain-in-the-ass. It has a bulk black rubber strip that keeps it from slipping of my shoulder should I decide to use it as a shoulder strap (my preferred carry), but then it gets in the way and prevents me from raising the camera to my eye in a fraction of a second. More missed shots. Oh, and did I mention the less-than-perfect exposures? The shots with less-than-perfect focus? Or image blur caused by camera and/or subject motion?

Sometimes everything works out just right: subject, timing, exposure, composition... Times like this make it all worthwhile.

Fortunately, I've been at this long enough to know that this is just a normal day of street photography. Nothing ever goes exactly as you had hoped or planned. When you've literally got only a second or two to focus, frame, and release the shutter, you're going to miss shots. On the other hand, there will be times when the gods are smiling down on you, the fates align in your favor, and you capture a once-in-a-lifetime shot you would never have imagined and could never have planned. That's the fun of it all, you see. And that's why I keep at. Because one of these days I'll get it right.

 

Learn to Pay Attention

A photo like this may look like a quick grabshot at first glance, but if you take some time to give it a closer look you may notice that little was left to chance. I hope you enjoy it.

One of my mantras here on Shutterfinger has been the need for photographers to pay attention. In this post I'm going to expand a bit on what I mean by this and how you might go about, assuming you don't already know how.

What I mean by paying attention is not intense concentration. Intense concentration can often be like staring hard at a dusty mirror and trying to make the reflection you see look clear and sharp. You can try as hard and as long as you like and all you'll get for your effort is eye-strain. You'd be much better off if you simply cleaned the mirror, or better yet, turned around and looked directly at what it was reflecting. This takes not concentration but rather an alert awareness. That's what I mean by paying attention.

For anglers it means knowing what bait to use, where to drop the line, and when you've got a bite. For martial artists it's the ability to block and counterpunch by reflex alone. For musicians it's the ability to flow with the music; to know when to lay back and when to step forward.

There's more to it than just timing. It's also about having a sense for when you've got the shot and that shot is as good as it's ever going to be. Sculptors rely on much the same instinct to ensure that they don't remove too much, yet not so little that the piece looks unfinished and ill-formed.

The trick to all of this is that no one can really teach you how to do it. You have to teach yourself. The best I can do for you is to give good directions. It's up to you to look, and only you will know when you've found the right address. As for the directions, here's what worked for me:

1. Study the masters, especially those whose work interests you most. Let them open your eyes to the possibilities for location, lighting, color, tonality, framing, timing, and printing. If someone's work bothers you, don't dismiss it too quickly. As yourself why it bothers you. You may discover that the artist wanted you to be uncomfortable--and was successful.
2. Learn to meditate, to play a musical instrument, to play chess, or to play a sport. Any practice that requires you to focus your mind and use it differently than you do in everyday life triggers a new awareness and a sense of new possibilities. You become aware of how much your everyday awareness (or lack of it) is a distraction and illusion in and of itself.
3. Set a creative goal and standard of quality, then reach or exceed them. Unless you have some idea of where you're going and what you're trying to achieve then you're basically just wandering in the wilderness hoping to find a hot meal and a dry place to sleep.

This isn't meant to be an all-inclusive list; in fact, if you have anything of value to add, please feel free. Trust me, I'll be paying attention to whatever you have to say.

How Is This For Irony?

A few months ago a marketing rep from one of the large online photo retailers called to sell me on the idea of joining their affiliate program. This would involve me posting a banner ad for his company and providing links to their website whenever I wrote about equipment they sold. I would then get a percentage of any sales this generated. Apparently I've attracted a large enough following that companies like his were seeing an opportunity to profit from my readership.

As wonderful as this sounds in theory, I was reluctant. Other bloggers I know had advised me that any revenue from affiliate links would be minimal, especially because my posts are more about photography than photo equipment. Readers like you are more interested in using the equipment you already have than buying more. You're even less interested in arguing over whether some camera or lens you don't own is better than some other camera or lens you don't own. I also suspected that adding a banner ad to Shutterfinger would generate more brand attention for his store than dollars for me. Although I initially made a half-hearted effort to link a few equipment references to his store, no one bought anything through the links and I eventually stopped doing even that.

So imagine my amusement when I received an e-mail announcement from him two days ago that because the Pennsylvania state legislature had passed a law that would tax them for any affiliate sales in Pennsylvania (I live just outside of Philadelphia), this New York state retailer was cancelling all of its PA affiliate contracts. Gee, I'm sure glad I didn't waste hours of my time trying to scrape pennies out of that program.

Forgive me if this bores you. My main point is simply that you're in no imminent danger of seeing Shutterfinger flooded with affiliate ads and product links. I don't depend on blogging to make ends meet and God help me if I did. Instead, I write for the pleasure it brings and the comments you share. If you're occasionally moved to drop a few bucks in my tip jar to show your appreciation, well, that's just icing on the cake--delightful, but not essential.

What Type of Photographer Are You?

 

You don't just happen across a photo like this, you have to set it up, from start to finish. Some photographers wouldn't know where to begin. Others know but don't choose to.

 Ever wonder why some photographers are attracted to street photography while others work exclusively in their own studios? Or why some love landscapes while others care only for portraiture? It has to do with more than a simple preference for one subject over the other. Based on years of personal observation I believe the root cause has to do with personality type. Allow me to explain.

Broadly speaking, photographers who are, shall we say "control freaks," want their photographs to turn out a certain way. They have a vision in their minds and they want their photos to reflect that vision. They therefore prefer to shoot in situations where they have almost total control of the environment--in other words, a studio. A studio allows them to control every aspect of the lighting, from direction and degree of diffusion to intensity. They can control the subject and its positioning. They can control the camera position. If they shoot digitally they can control, well, you name it. Although they might admire the mindset it takes to venture out into the wild and wooly world with their only controls being location, time of day, camera settings, and when to release the shutter, the idea of actually doing it themselves is horrifying.

Street and the sports photographers tend to fall at the opposite end of the spectrum. They give up the bulk of their control in exchange for the joy of the hunt and the miracles of serendipity. The difference between them is that sports photographers are generally extroverts. Although some street shooters are extroverts who think nothing of walking up to perfect strangers and either engaging them in conversation or snapping a few quick frames outright, others are introverts who prefer to be on the outside looking in. The last thing they want is to be noticed and the less attention they attract the better.

Street events like this one make for easy opportunities, yet for some photographers it's just not their style.

Landscape, location, travel, wedding, and architectural photographers tend to fall somewhere in the middle. They understand that they are often at the mercy of mother nature, time, and logistics, yet they're often willing to do whatever it takes to get the shot, whether it be waiting hours or days for the light to be right, or adding unseen lights, shims, and reflectors to a scene. They can certain recognize and take advantage of a serendipitous moment when they see it yet they are perfectly willing and able to seize control if the need arises.

As for me, it's no secret to loyal readers of this blog that I love street photography. You've also noticed that I have no problem setting up lights, reflectors, and backdrops. So yes, I'm one of those guys who falls in the middle. Ask me what I enjoy most though, and the answer will be street photography every time.

What about you? Is your idea of a good day one where you spend hours alone working on one image or one where you return from wandering aimlessly and sort through the day's catch? There are no right or wrong answers here; I'm just curious to know  photographic mindset describes you best.

The More Things Change...

Mass market retailers such as Target, Best Buy, and Wal-Mart have recently begun complaining to their suppliers that their customers--you and me, that is--have been using their stores as showrooms. We supposedly visit their stores primarily to get a first hand look at the merchandise and then do a price comparison with an online retailer. If the price plus shipping is less than the price plus sales tax, we go with the online retailer. These retailers have asked their suppliers to create products exclusively for them; products you can’t find elsewhere and therefore can’t comparison-shop.

There’s nothing particularly new to this. Back in the day when photo retail chains and shops were common they would offer special kits that would typically include an off-brand lens or two, a camera bag, a strap, a lens filter and so on, all to persuade you that  you were getting a better deal from them than you could get somewhere else. The twist is that the big box stores and the decline in film processing have steadily been putting the smaller photo retailers out of business. These photo retailers were where we used to go to fondle the latest equipment. Now they’re as scarce as hard-core Republicans at an Obama campaign rally.

This doesn’t necessarily mean we photographers now do all our camera shopping at mass market retailers. For one thing, mass market retailers only sell mass market cameras. If you’re looking for something more esoteric, such as a Pentax K-5 or Fuji X100, or more pricey, such as a Leica M9, Nikon D700, or Canon EOS 5D Mark II, you had best look elsewhere. For another thing, the salespeople they employ are poorly trained and, shall we say, “ill-informed.”You’re not likely to get much useful information from them.

So where else do we buy if not at mass market retailers? Increasingly it’s at even larger online retailers such as Amazon, B&H Photo, Adorama, Calumet, and others. Handling the equipment is not an option with online retailers, at least not until you’ve bought it, at which point your options are either to keep it or return it.

I suspect the fact that so many of us have little choice except to buy expensive equipment sight-unseen explains why we scour the Internet for reviews and log onto forums to ask perfect strangers what camera or lens to buy. Others simply embrace the new zeitgeist and buy-to-try. As long as they can use a piece of equipment for a week or two, return it, and pay nothing more than shipping charges and perhaps a small restocking fee then what have they got to lose?

My fear is that as more sales become concentrated into the hands of fewer and larger retailers we will lose the very thing that has caused so much of the shift from large to small: competition. That could mean higher prices and fewer options—until a few retailers and manufacturers with an entrepreneurial spirit broke away from the pack to offer local showrooms stocked with real equipment, face-to-face customer service, expert advice, and reasonable prices. To quote the original French expression, “Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.”

Mark Your Calendars

On August 24-25 of this year Rocky Nook, the publisher of such excellent books as Bruce Burnbaum's "The Art of Photography" and George Barr's "Why Photographs Work," will be hosting photoact2012, a photography art, craft, and technology conference with workshops in sunny Santa Barbara, California.

Among the speakers and educators will be Bruce Burnbaum, Dan Burkholder, Uwe Steinmuller, Ken Rockwell, and yes, me. Those of you who've never heard of any of these gentlemen (alas, there are no ladies among the speakers) might want to Google or Bing their names, if only to see what you could be missing. My workshop will be on street photography, which seems to be experiencing a renaissance these days. Please click the link I provided (here's another one) for more information.

The prices are reasonable. The speakers, location, and weather will be excellent. Mark your calendars accordingly. Better yet, be there. I'd love to meet you in person.

My Perfect Camera

Before the advent of digital photography and before I needed a few more pro features, the Pentax ME was pretty close to my "perfect" camera. The Pentax MX, which had manual shutter speeds rather than full automation would have been even better. Even today I would find a digital equivalent hard to resist.

Every photographer has a different idea of what constitutes their “perfect” camera. Here’s mine, with the features listed in no particular order:

1. It weighs no more than a pound (a half-kilo) without lens.
2. It fits comfortably in my hands, with no more or less gripping area than necessary.
3. Every essential control is right where I expect it to be and functions the way I expect it to.
4. The main controls have the same function no matter what mode I’m in.
5. It features a large, bright, TTL eye-level viewfinder that shows at least 98% of the full frame.
6. Menu-diving is kept to a minimum. Once the camera is set up the way I like I will rarely if ever have to open a menu.
7. It’s whisper-quiet, with virtually non-existent shutter delay or mirror-blackout.
8. Shutter and mirror-vibration are a non-issue.
9. Manual focusing is quick and accurate, should I decide to do so.
10. The exposure meter is consistent and predictable.
11. The rear display (assuming it’s a digital camera) has high pixel resolution and has no obvious color shift.
12. The flash-sync speed is at least 1/125 second.
13. The lenses are small yet fast, sharp, and durable. It can even have a fixed lens if it meets these specifications.
14. Low light performance is respectable up to ISO 1600.

That’s about it. I don’t want video. If I did I'd buy a video camera. I don’t care about high frame rates because I seldom shoot sports. Even when I do, I go for peak moments of action rather than a sequence. I’m not interested in image stabilization, vibration reduction, or whatever because it adds complexity and frankly, because of past experience I don’t completely trust it. I'd rather take my chances with a fast aperture and a reasonably fast shutter speed, or better yet, a tripod.

I have yet to own a digital camera that meets all of these requirements. Every camera I’ve owned, however, has met most of them or I wouldn’t have owned it. For what it's worth, the camera I’m using the most at the moment is a Nikon D7000. I could be equally happy with a Pentax K-5 with the in-body SR off.

Please don’t write to tell me why I should trust IS or VR or to ask why I didn’t include some feature you find essential. This is, after all, my perfect camera. What’s yours and why? (For the sake of brevity you might want to simply add or subtract from my list rather than create an entirely new list of your own.)

I Want To Be Alone

Spontaneous yet purposefully composed photos like this are hard to get with having the luxury to move at your own pace while instantly reacting to what's going on around you. In other words, they're easier to pull off when you're working solo.

A recent article in the New York Times posited the idea that creative people are more productive working alone than in groups. I doubt this is true in every situation but I'm sure it's true for me when it comes to photography. I produce my best work when I'm either alone or working with a single subject.

This is mostly because I mainly do either street photography, family candids, events, or portraits; however, I wouldn't be enthusiastic about having company around even if I was shooting a still life or landscape. I feel the same about working with an assistant. I rarely need one. Even when I do, it's hard to find someone who knows how to avoid being a distraction to either me or my subject.

I need to be able to relax and concentrate on the task at hand, without worrying about having to listen to someone else, carry on a conversation, keep up with them, or force them to wait while I'm "working a scene." They don't understand why I'm taking so long, why I'm not paying attention to what they're saying, or where I disappeared to. Company also makes it hard to be unobtrusive, especially when your companion(s) don't feel any particular need to be unobtrusive themselves.

My impression is that most photographers feel this way. On the other hand, I've never asked, so that's what I'm doing now: Do you prefer to work alone? Are there situations where you are more productive working with one or more other people. If so, when, how, and why? It would be interesting to know whether I'm alone in this attitude or in the majority.

Four Tips for Great Portraits

You can tell I used a large softbox to light this by the highlights in her eyes. The reflector opposite the softbox is less obvious. I placed it just close enough to keep the keep the shadows open but not so close that I would lose the three-dimensionality of the lighting.

Even though the bulk of the photos I shoot these days are candids and street photography, I can shoot a professional quality portrait when the need arises. In the even that you get called upon to shoot one yourself--for a friend's LinkedIn page or website for example--or you'd simply like to improve your portrait skills, here are a few tips that should come in handy.

1. Think about the background first.

In a classic headshot your subject is in the foreground while the background is, well, somewhere in back. It's generally best to choose a background that has neutral color, tone, or pattern; one that won't visually merge with your subject, yet not so bright and colorful that it becomes a distraction. A pure white background can work as long as it's not so bright that it causes lens flare.

Also think about the distance between your subject and the background. The greater the separation between the subject and background the greater your ability to use depth-of-field to control how in focus the background will be. A telephoto lens and a wide aperture can do wonders to blur away a distracting background. Separation between the subject and background also allows you the option of lighting or shading the background separate from the subject and thereby prevent tonal mergers.

2. Start with one light, preferably large and close.

A common mistake portait beginners make is to overlight the subject. There are too many lights coming from too many different directions and most of them wrong. I find it's a lot easier to get the light right when you start with one light and then move either the light or the subject until the highlights and shadows look good to the eye. This obviously takes some judgement and the best position with vary with the subject. Generally speaking, you want the light off to one side or the other, otherwise the lighting will look flat and one-dimensional. You also want to raise it a bit, so there's a slight shadow under the nose.

The size of the light and how close it is to the subject will determine how soft and diffuse the light will appear. If I'm using a 42-inch diameter umbrella or a 48-inch wide softbox  I generally place it no further away than 36-inches from the subject. If I'm a large, north-facing window, I place the subject as close as possible without getting the window into the photo.

Here the light source is smaller and the shadows darker. There is still some light filling in the shadows though, as you can see from the detail in her black shirt. As with the first photo, the background was a simple roll of white backdrop paper, lit to reproduce as a shade brighter than her skin.

3. Fill in the shadows to taste.

If you use one light you will have one shadow area. How dark it is will depend on the general reflectivity of the room or the area you're in. If you're shooting digital you have the luxury of being able to tell right away just how dark the shadows appear in a photograph. If the shadows are too dark, place a large white reflector, such as a piece of foamcore or matteboard, opposite your light source. The closer and/or brighter the reflector, the lighter the shadows will be. If you're looking for darker shadows, try a sheet of black foamcore or matteboard.

4. Be relaxed and relax your subject.

Remember that you're dealing with a human being, not an inanimate object with no insecurities and limitless patience. The more attention you pay to making your subject feel relaxed and confident, the more these feelings will show in their expressions. Even the most beautiful and "perfect" lighting will be wasted if your subject looks tense, confused, apprehensive, or annoyed. So keep the mood light. A few compliments, a few jokes, a few clear directions ("Turn your face toward the light a bit. Ah! That's it. Perfect.") and frequent clicks of the shutter when everything falls into place will do wonders for their confidence and yours.

Dozens of photographers have written entire books on the subject of how to light and pose portraits, so there's obviously more to learn than just these four tips. Nevertheless, if I were to boil what I've learned down to just four tips, these would be them. The rest is just practice, experience, knowing what you're look for, and paying close attention to what you see happening in front of you. If any of you have anything of value to add, either advisory or precautionary, feel free to add a short comment. None of us, myself included, knows so much that we can't learn a thing or two.

Upgrade Update

Adobe has decided to modify its previously stated upgrade policy for its Creative Suite products, which includes, among other things, Photoshop. In December Adobe announced a policy that would basically require you to upgrade to Photoshop 5 or 5.5 to qualify for a discounted upgrade to Photoshop 6. This policy was, ahem, not well-received by Adobe's customers.

The new policy is a lot like the original policy: You still qualify for a discounted upgrade price if you own CS versions 3-5, at least until December 31, 2012. (What happens after that is anyone's guess.) The difference is that the upgrade pricing is tiered. The more recent the version of Creative Suite/Photoshop you own, the greater your discount. Feel free to click this link for more details.

Isn't it nice to know that even companies as big as Adobe listen to the voices of their customers--or should I say "howls of protest?"