Wendel Clark was in town tonight, and I shot him tonight for Oakville.com, delivering a large cheque. Pictures here:
http://www.oakville.com/photos/
One sample here:
©2009 Michael Willems
Credit where credit is due: fellow photog Nikki Wesley of the Oakville Beaver came up with the excellent elevated viewpoint, but I will take credit for spotting the Zamboni and waiting until it was behind the cheque-holding gentlemen!
A quick reminder to all of you who shoot events. Make sure, if you would, that you turn off the focus beep in your camera when you are shooting things that like or need silence. Music recitals, weddings, chess: you will be severely dealt with. Turn off the focus beep and you will hardly be noticed.
The same goes for the beep in Nikon i-TTL/CLS flashes.
And the same goes for the shutter: on Canon 1-series bodies you can turn the shutter down to a lower volume “(“silent mode”). It’s not silent but it is less intrusive.
All part of staying out of the way!
OK, that is, for once, I will ask a question.
I shoot with flash – I even teach the subject. My setups are often like this one I used a few hours ago today:
Tht was to shoot an exec portrait.
In a setup like that (three speedlites, one with a gel) E-TTL (or Nikon’s i-TTL) does not work well. No reflecting surfaces in that big hall, and no line of sight, what will all those umbrellas. So, I use Pocketwizards and manual metering. Fine – no problem.
In this setup I have two needs:
So who sells the cables I need, and hwo has mounting hardware that uses those thraeded mount holes? Especially in Canada and of course “now”, not “next year”? My local camera store did not know.
Answers are therefore very welcome, and not just by me, I bet.
Oh and the portraits, for a magazine, were of this type:
Yesterday night I and a few photographer friends watched David Honl’s two-DVD workshop combo, “Light”.
David Honl is a well-known LA-based international photographer whose blog you can see here. His DVD shows him using small flashes to do various professional shots, and he both shows and explains how he gets the excellent results he does.
Disclaimer: I am on David’s Round Table, together with Joe McNally, Lucas Gilman, Ken Cedeno, Cherie Steinberg Coté, and Gavin Blue. I am delighted to be on the Round Table because Dave’s small, light and convenient small flash modifiers have made my life easier, and I am inseparable from them.
Since the roundtable is not a paid position, I feel perfectly qualified to comment objectively on this DVD.
So, the details after the break:
When composing a picture, our proverbial Uncle Fred puts every subject in every picture smack bang in the middle.
Sometimes that works. But usually it leads to an unbalanced composition.
Like a scale with a pivot, I like to think as pictures needing the weight balanced. That leads more to this kind of thing (last week in Sedona, AZ):
The “Rule of Thirds” is one example of such a balanced layout. If you do not know this “rule” (which of course is only a guideline) then please look it up now. Or just click here. And you will conclude that of course I am using that rule in the photo above. I am also using colour contrasts and converging lines.
And all that in one hand from the steering seat of a Dodge Ram. You see, the point is that this is not a conscious decision. Good composition becomes second nature, an automatic reflex. With practice.
Here is another sample:
Another important thing is that any activity, motion, pointers, etc point into the middle. Not usually out of the frame.
Have fun shooting!
How to shoot an aircraft?
If you are a terrorist, use whatever guided weapon you have. If, however (as I assume since you are here) you are a photographer, you want to do something like this:
There are four key points:
I hope that helps and am looking forward to seeing your pictures, if you happen to live near an airport (and not be male and bearded like me).
Oh and the fifth key point? I am showing the big aircraft’s trail in the background, creating a bit of a huxtaposition.
But instead, this is what I get:
Snow and local blowing snow changing to rain showers in the morning then to flurries late in the day. Snowfall amount 5 cm. Wind southeast 40 km/h gusting to 60 becoming southwest 30 gusting to 50 late in the morning then increasing to 50 gusting to 70 late in the day.
Grrr. Why am I here again?
Good thing my cameras are waterproof. Except the “Toe Cap” for my Canon 1Ds MkIII is missing – fell off. Canon “is unable to” (meaning: refuses to. How I hate euphemisms!) sell me one; I have to go to a third party. No doubt $100 for a tiny piece of plastic. But a necessary one.
ADDED:
(It is the “Extension System Terminal” cover.
One tip for you this morning. When you go from a cold area into a warm one (airconditioned hotel to tropical outside – or Ontario day to warm indoors!) wrap your camera into a tightly wrapped plastic bag before going through that transition. Take it out after 15 minuts when it has warmed up. Else, you get condensation.
The other day, in Sedona, AZ. And guess what I used to light the car – well, a flash, naturally, but how did I distribute the flash’s light?
Answer tomorrow. Unless you guess!
A quick tip, today. All about filters.
Oh and do use your lens hoods all the time.
Here’s a polariser picture:
In other words, I slightly darkened the sky by using a polarizer. This brings back the scene to the impressive one that I felt I saw.
Have fun!
I taught a workshop on “Flash” yesterday in Phoenix, AZ.
So yes, they do actually have these wonderful cactuses.
And they also have wonderful photographers. 20 people in a great studio (Studio Moirae, run by Jasen and Christy), and four hours of learning the ins and outs of flash – which once you know it, is great light. That was fun!
As will today’s drive to Sedona be. Better get in the car! Lenses, cameras, polarizing filter… check!