Monthly Archives: December 2009

Lights… camera… action!

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A quick reminder for those of you who shoot action shots: shots where the subject is moving.

For anything where the subject is moving, you may want to:

  1. Use Tv/S or manual mode (or Av/A mode with a large aperture) to set the exposure time to 1/200th sec or faster – the faster, the better, typically..
  2. Use a high ISO (in hockey arenas and wedding dance halls, you may well need 1600 ISO).
  3. Use the center focus point
  4. Set the focus mode (the “how does the camera focus) to “Continuous” (AF-C/AI Servo).
  5. Set the drive mode to continuous.
  6. If you are moving with the subject,  turn off your lens’s stabiliser, unless you have a “mode 2” for panning.
  7. You may want to try JPG shots for these.

And finally, do think about how you want to show or freeze motion. It is not a given that all motion must be frozen. A hint of motion blur can show the viewer that something was actually happening, and that they are not staring at a statue.

Anthropomorphing nature

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Just like I recently described how the snowflakes fell here like silent little torturers, in Arizona I was struck by how the cactuses stand and watch you, like silent accusers. Somehow that is the analogy I see. They stand and watch like hundreds of silent accusers. View large by clicking, to see what I mean:

I guess that makes me pretty weird. But at least it is a good thing for a photographer when nature speaks to him. Whatever nature says to you, see if you can capture it in your images.

Tethering

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So I worked out a somewhat workable method to connect my Canon 1- and 7-series bodies to my Mac for tethered operation.

First:

  • Install Canon EOS Utility
  • Install Canon Imagebrowser
  • Then connect the camera to the USB port on the computer.
  • Before turning it on, run Image Capture app and tell it that this camera, when connected, should start up Canon EOS Utility.
  • Now start, and set up, EOS Utility. Tell it to save captures to, for instance, “Pictures”. Tell it that its action upon connection of a camera should be to start Imagebrowser.

Now you can turn on your camera. Take a shot. The first time, because imagebrower is not yet running, the EOS viewer starts, but this is not “updating live” so it is not the browser we want. Close it.

It will not start again. Instead every subsequent image you take now pops up in Imagebrowser. You get a live image as soon as you take it on the camera. Clicking on any image, and using left and right arrows, allows you to scroll through images taken and set zoom levels.

Not ideal and a lot of work, but it does work well enough for me to use for tomorrow’s Santa shoot.

There are better ways, I know it!

Vision

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I have pointed out before that camera makers have no vision. There is irony in that.

One example of this lack of vision is their software. Because I am shooting kids with Santa tomorrow, I am looking for a good tethering solution, so I can attach my 1Ds MkIII to the Macbook Air and see the shots immediately – so the parents can choose.

So I download install Canon EOS utility, which allows tethering my camera to my computer, and doing settings, shooting remote, and so on.

Except I can’t. You can download the software, but to install you need to have a prior version installed first.

Why on earth is that a requirement? This software is only useful if you have a Canon camera. Why would they want to prevent a non-camera owner from installing? It won’t do them any good.

Now I need to go find my DVD drive (the Macbook Air does not have one built in), I need to go find the CD that came with the camera (wish me luck). Canon, why do you insist on making my life more difficult with these idiotic and unnecessary restrictions?

Turn baby turn

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One thing that snappers often ask me is “when do you turn your images”?

There is no one answer, but it is almost certainly “more often than you do”. I turn my picture diagonally when:

  • I think it makes a nice composition
  • I want to turn diagonals into horizontals and verticals
  • I simply want to fit more in
  • I want to introduce a more dynamic feel

Here’s a few recent examples:

So while for the sake of your viewers’ stomachs I would not recommend you turn for every picture, I do think we could all do this a lot more than we do today. For that professional look.. or just to get everything into the picture. Which still gives it that professional look.

Flash

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Yesterday, I spent the evening with six pro and emerging pro shooters who spend their time shooting weddings and similar events. I taught them both basic and advanced techniques for using flash, including small strobes, i-TTL/CLS/eTTL, modifiers, and creative techniques. I love this stuff, and I get taught to teach it. Can you imagine? Pinch me!

Kodiak

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As of today, you can see and buy some of my prints (some of the nudes) at the Kodiak Gallery, in Toronto’s historic (and artistic) Distillery district. Ask Gregory Talas, the gallery’s owner, to show you my work.

I must say I highly recommend Gregory as the consummate pro. He is not just a gallery owner: he is a very experienced award-winning photographer and artist himself. And a nice guy.

So a trip to this gallery is worth it not just for my prints, but for three other reasons. One is to chat with Gregory. One is to see the distillery district – you’ll see a lot of artistic things and people, and many photographers. And the final reason is to see Gregory’s own work. For instance, his series of the Jewish ghetto in Vilnius, some of which is now being restored (post Nazi- and post Soviet-era), is outstanding.

Red Green

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Here is my Canon 7D with a few of my speedlights (pro speak for “flashes”), pocketwizards, and cables:

Sometimes I use them for standard lighting. Sometimes I use effects -more often than not colour. Here’s four of them firing at once, with some of those excellent (try them) Honl gels:

I try to add a splash of colour every now and then. Like here in this outtake from a recent shoot (see the slight green on the subject’s left, our right?)

And I recommend that you try this, also. Recommended.

This season, think “red ” and “green”. Seasonal family pictures, but add some splashes of green and red light to the fun.

For this, I would use manual and pocketwizards. But here’s the key: I would still use TTL for the main (bounced-off-the-ceiling-behind-me) flash. So the normal flash is on the camera (or with the 7D, off the camera), while the “effect” flashes are fired with PW’s from the x-synch socket, and set manually to, say, 1/4 – 1/16th power.

That’s what is happening th that “four flashes side by side” shot above: the two left flashes are fired by the 7D’s popup flash using e-TTL, while the right two are fired by Pocketwizards that are driven by the sender PW on the camera’s x-synch contact. Yes, that works fine!

And wide again.

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Wide angles. Have I told you I like those? Here’s a snap taken with 16mm on a full frame camera (equivalent to 10mm on a crop camera):

MVWS0656

Downtown Toronto on November 12, 9AM.

Here, it is the otherworldly light reflections plus the Infiniti’s red LED brake lights that do it for me. Do you agree?

Here’s another one, from a wedding earlier this year:

You can see it is wide, partly by looking at the ceiling lights and at the floor. Gives it that “vast” look.

Bright sun = flash

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The brighter it is, the more you need your flash.

Huh? That sounds counter-intuitive?

Not when you think about it. Bright sunlight means harsh, contrasty sunlight.  Contrast means that part of your picture will be too dark or too bright.

Here is Sedona, AZ, last week:

Not bad. But can you see how dark the foreground is?

“But you can use exposure compensation, Mike, plus one or two stops”, I hear you say.

Yes, but then the entire picture goes brighter, so the background would be all washed out – too bright.

So the only way is to turn your flash on. And now you get this:

And that is why you should always carry a flash – even on the beach, even in Mexico, and even in Arizona. The brighter it is, the more you’ll be likely to occasionally (or more than occasionally!) need it.