Light, Lines & Color

V is for Vision

Vision is a uniquely individual thing. It's what each photographer brings to the craft of photography; it's the amalgamation of a lifetime of experiences and emotions we apply to an image to express what we think or feel about our subject.

When I began the journey into digital photography, I was a staunch and strict realist or so I thought I was. When I would be processing images from the beach, for example, Peter would suggest that I add a little more contrast or perhaps a smidgen of saturation to give the picture some "pop", as he called it. I argued, loudly at times, that "it didn't look like that" and I would securely park my sliders where they were, rendering an image that reflected what I truly saw with little to no vision added.
If the day was a hazy, slightly overcast day, with lots of people on the beach and in the water enjoying everything the seashore has to offer - I would ensure that my final image conveyed that hazy, gray-overcast look rather than the bold brilliant emotions of families enjoying each other at the shore.

  

Sadly, I maintained this position for way too long.

Over the past several years, I have read a lot about photography and photographers, the craft of photography and the art of photography, and sight versus vision. If there's one thing I have learned it is that the camera is a tool to record an image. It is a piece of equipment and as sophisticated as cameras have become, they will never see what we see, as we see it, with the awesome human eye. It's simply not possible. So, given that, straight off the bat, images we photographers create don't really look like what we saw. Once I accepted that, I became a much happier person let alone photographer.

If you've followed my work for any length of time, you know how much I love the ocean. It's been a part of my life since I was very young and I'm drawn to tidal waters - being an Aquarian probably helps. I have taken thousands of pictures of the ocean's waves, crashing upon the shore, cresting perfectly for a waiting surfer, depositing their foam on the beach, and making patterns in the sands. Many of these images are amongst my favorites but somehow I always knew, although I hadn't truly acknowledged it, that I hadn't yet captured the mystical beauty and power of these waters I so revere ... until this past January.

Peter and I were in Puerto Rico and I decided I would try to get inside the waves. When I saw what I'd captured, I was exhilerated because I finally saw what I feel about the ocean and all its moods. My vision of the ocean and its waves is one of color, texture, character, power, and motion, and I am now learning how to create images that I hope will convey what I feel about this subject to anyone who views them.

Food for Thought: “A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed.” 
― Ansel Adams

 

U is for UV Filter

UV filter vs no UV filter. This is a debate among photographers of all levels of experience. Technically, what does a UV filter do? Well it filters out UV rays to some extent which may make your images look a little better, although I have yet to see it. So why would anyone put a filter on a lens when it's effects are going to be negligable? To protect the lens.

A couple of years ago, I invested in a 120-400mm zoom telephoto lens ... right before we went to Hawaii on vacation with friends, and I had great hopes of shooting surfers and kite surfers off of Maui. After being collected at the airport, we began the vacation with a wonderful lunch at Mama's Fish House right on the beach. Not knowing what we would see from the terrace, I put the long lens on my camera and brought it to lunch with us. To keep it out of the way, Peter perched it on a ledge near an open window and what do you think happened? You're right, it got jostled and fell to the floor much to my horror. I couldn't breath - the lens wasn't insured and it also wasn't even paid for yet. Well, the lens came through unscathed, but the UV filter that was on it was badly dented and the glass was cracked. It cost me a wopping $25.00 to replace that UV filter, which you can bet I did.

Another time, my husband and I were shooting a Mini Cooper Road Ralley in the Hamptons. He was shooting stills of the cars and participants with his trusty Canon 30D as he was also filming the action with a video camera mounted on a tripod. He turned away from the tripod for a single moment and as he did a gust of wind took his video camera down for the count. Once again we were horrified and terrified about the possible expense of such an accident but ... once again the UV filter on the camera saved the day, it was destroyed but the lens was perfectly fine.

The moral of this story should be clear - put a UV filter on every lens/camera you own - it's the least expensive insurance policy you'll ever buy.

 

T is for Tripod

For any photographer wannabe who is taking this craft seriously, a tripod is a must. Landscape, portrait, food, product, and blue/golden hour photography all require a tripod. The simple fact is that it's nearly impossible for we humans to handhold a camera without some camera shake at anything less than 1/60th of a second and many say it truly should be 1/the focal length of the lens. So, if you are shooting on a telephoto zoom lens at 135mm, you should probably not try a handheld shot at a shutter speed less than 1/125 second (the closest shutter speed to 1/135 second which doesn't exist). Many have tried holding their breath when they shoot slower than 1/60 second, some hold it after an inhale, others like holding it after an exhale and this can work. I certainly recommend trying it, if no tripod is around and you want a shot. But, there truly is no real satisfactory substitute for a nice stable tripod.

Now tripods come in lots of sizes, materials, and price ranges which can really confuse the issue. I recommend that you figure out your budget first and the camera(s) you want a tripod to support, e.g. iPhone vs Nikon D7000, and then look at the options within that budget range. You may think you want the lightest tripod you can find, because lugging it everywhere will become a real pain - well get over it. Stability is key and stability comes with heft, although many tripods do have a feature that allows you to add weight by hanging a hefty camera bag or a bag of rocks on a hook that extends from the center column of the tripod to add stability. Wind, sometimes just a stiff breeze, and uneven terraine can undermine the stability you are seeking in order to capture a tack-sharp image, and can send your camera tumbling to your shock and horror, so get the heftiest tripod you can afford - you will be happy you did. Now for that iPhone or the ubiquitous point-and-shoot, try a tabletop tripod, they're great fun but once again look for stability in order to get those sharp pictures you want.

Inexpensive tripods often come with all their parts, meaning the legs and the head together, and quite honestly I would avoid these. Separate the decisions of stability and sanity. Buy the best, easily-extended, stable tripod you can, and then buy a head that allows you to quickly and easily change the position of your camera AND allows you to lock that "setting" in without creep, meaning without allowing your camera to slowly creep to another position. Ballheads are wonderful, easy to adjust and easy to lock, and are high on my recommend-list for saving the sanity of any photographer.

Manfrotto Tripod & Monopod with Ballhead Attachment

Having said all of this, I must say that the selection of a tripod is very personal. Do NOT order a tripod through mail order. Go to a store with a wide variety of tripods, find your budget range and then try them out. They have moving parts, move them! See if the tripod suits your shooting needs, styles (landscape vs portrait, etc.), and indiosycracies (right or left handed). It's got to fit or you won't use it and that means you'll never have the tack-sharp images of your dreams.

Tripod Ballhead Attachment with a Second Quick Release Plate

One more thing, here's a tip you'll be thanking me for for years. When you buy the head for your tripod buy a second Quick Release Plate. That's what attaches to your camera, and then attaches your camera to the tripod - without one your tripod is rendered completely useless, so why not buy two for your own peace of mind.

 

S is for Shutter Speed

Nikon D60: 1/1250 second at f/4.5 and ISO 100

The third part of the photography triumvirate is Shutter Speed, one of the three primary functions of your camera that you can use to make the image you want. We've covered Aperture and the circumstances under which you would choose to shoot in Aperture Mode, and we've touched upon ISO - the light sensitivity of your camera's sensor, now for Shutter Speed. When would you choose to shoot in Shutter Speed Mode? When you want to control the look of something that is moving. You may want to stop something that's moving very fast like that hungry seagull and thus will select a high shutter speed.

Nikon D60: 1/15 second at f/25 and ISO 100

You may want to give the sense of movement for your subject like the water in this rushing river so you would select a slow shutter speed.

Nikon D90: 1/1250 second at f/5.6 and ISO 200 (lowest on D90)

You could be on a moving vehicle, like a steamship, photographing a moving object like this parasail and want to stop everything including you and the camera shake being caused by the boat's vibration, so once again you'd go for a higher shutter speed.

Nikon D60: 1/800 second at f/5.6 and ISO 100

And you may have assigned yourself the challenging job of shooting waves one day and you start, as always, shooting at the lowest ISO your camera will allow. On the Nikon D60, that I used this day in Puerto Rico, that's 100. But, with the telephoto zoom lens at 180mm that would only allow a shutter speed of 1/800 second at f/5.6 which was the largest largest aperture the lens would permit. If I could have I would have opened the aperture wider, letting more light in and forcing the camera to adjust by giving me a faster shutter speed, I would have but that wasn't possible. So my only remaining option, using the same lens, was to increase the ISO, thus increasing the sensitivity of the camera's sensor and forcing the camera to increase the shutter speed.

Nikon D60: 1/2000 second at f/6.3 and ISO 400

And look, it worked. More action was stopped at 1/2000 second and I got a boost in my depth of field from f/5.6 to f/6.3, which really helped in this shot of a long wave.

Are you beginning to understand the give and take between aperture, shutter speed, and ISO? Are you beginning to think like your camera? Are you asking yourself what the camera needs to make the picture you want and getting an answer these days?

It's meant to be a pretty nice weekend, get out and try some shutter speed shots. You can always share them in the Light, Lines & Color Google+ Community. If you're not a member yet, just ask, I'll be happy for you to join the party. Happy shooting! 

 

R is for Raw

We photographers and wannabes work hard to create our images, so why would we ever want to throw away significant amounts of data that comprise our photographs? I would argue that, in most circumstances, you wouldn't. 

Shooting RAW means that you are maintaining all of the data that was collected when your camera took the shot. Shooting in JPEG format means that the camera has made decisions for you concerning, brightness, contrast, sharpness, etc. and discarded data that was not needed given those decisions. A RAW file (photo) is unprocessed; a JPEG file is processed. That's not to say you can't do some further processing on a JPEG image in whatever software you're using like Aperture, Picasa or Lightroom, because you can, but you can do more with the original RAW file.

But just like an archer, you'll pull the arrow from your quiver that you think will reach your mark, and by that I mean you may not always want to shoot in RAW, sometimes JPEG could reach your mark. I would suggest that you would want to shoot in RAW when:

• You know you want maximum control over the look of your final product.
• You know you want to process the entire image yourself.
• File size doesn't matter, because raw files are significantly larger than JPEG files.
• You are not shooting in continuous or burst mode, capturing several images per second, as raw files fill a camera's multiple-shot buffer faster because they're larger and once the buffer is full, you're done shooting until the images are written to the memory card and you can start again.
• You want to maintain the original file unaltered (the digital RAW negative) in your archives.

I would suggest that you might want to shoot JPEGs, when:

• Space is an issue, either on your memory card or on your computer - JPEGs take up far less space than raw files.
• You don't mind if the camera makes some processing decisions for you concerning, brightness, contrast, sharpness, etc.
• You are shooting fast moving objects like planes, cars, children and the like, in continuous mode as you will get more images per burst shooting JPEGs because of their smaller size.
• You have no need to preserve the original digital negative in its entirety.

There's a place in this world for both types of files and shooting, but if you remain undecided, you can always set the camera to shoot both RAW+JPEG at the same time - just know that that will take up even more precious storage space on your cards and computers. I must admit when I firsted started working in this digital world, I shot RAW+JPEG. It was like an insurance policy. I knew I'd have a finished picture right away (for the immediate gratification person inside me) but I'd also be able to work on the RAW file to learn the art of post-processing. I will say that I didn't do this for very long because it became very confusing. Now I make a decision at the start of the shoot depending on what I will be doing with the images at the end of the day ... or week ...or month ... or year.

Note: By looking at the control panel on your camera (on the top right of this Nikon D90), you will see the number of images that each Image Quality setting will give you, in this case on a 4 gig memory card:

On a RAW Image Quality Setting, this 4 gig chip will hold 261 RAW images.

 

 

 

 

On a large, Fine JPEG Image Quality setting, this 4 gig chip will hold 534 JPEGs.

 

 

 

On a RAW+Fine Large JPEG Image Quality setting, this 4 gig chip will hold  on 175 distinct images.

 

 

 

 

Check out the J is for JPEG post by clicking here.