Freshly Pressed, high volume and other observations
atmtx on Freshly Pressed
I was pleasantly surprised and honored yesterday when I discovered that my blog post on the Chinese New Year Celebration was “Freshly Pressed”. I’m kinda a new to this stuff and best I can tell Freshly Pressed (FP) is WordPress.com’s way of showcasing blogs on their site. To use the Flickr analogy, it seems similar being featured in “Explore”, though FP maybe a bit more exclusive. But for me, getting in the Freshly Pressed section seems more significant. Unlike the game of trying to make Flickr Explore, I really was not familiar with Freshly Pressed and was not trying to get “Pressed”. I decided to blog and keep posting stuff because of peer pressure, wanting to share my experiences and unexpectedly having fun. Peer pressure? Well I was never forced into blogging of course. It’s just that many of my photographer friends here in Austin have their own blogs. While I posted my photographs on Flickr, I really like the personalization and environment one can create in a personal blog. I made the analogy that posting on Flickr is like renting an apartment while creating your own blog is like owning your own house. Your apartment might be in a really nice neighborhood but the downside is you can’t customize the space. With a house, of course, you are free to make changes, paint it and generally make it your own, unless you live in one of those really restrictive neighborhoods. So it is with this sense of “creating my own space” and friendly peer influence that I decided to create this blog on WordPress.com about a year and a half ago. I don’t think I write particularly well or at least I never considered myself to be a writer. My first posts where short and it took me forever to craft them. But what I discovered along the way was that writing, like other things in life, is a skill that gets easier with practice. I’m not sure if I write any better but now at least I can do it a lot quicker. I’ve discovered that I’ve started to enjoying writing. I also enjoy helping people and getting my thoughts out here. There is a lot of change and turmoil in the world particularly with the rapid improvement in digital technologies and world-wide communications. Whole industries are being transformed and destroyed. But the fact remains that for me and individuals, this is an amazing time. Never before has an individual been able to publish their thoughts, artwork and opinions to a world-wide audience for such a low-cost.
I’ve also been able to make new virtual and physical friends around the world through this blog. Kirk Tuck, a local Austin commercial photographer, is one such friend. I have mentioned him from time to time. He has also been nice enough to point his readers to my little blog. Our blogging relationship is completely asymmetric. Kirk’s The Visual Science Lab blog is extremely popular. It’s a bit hard for me to comprehend how many visitors he gets. I once saw his stats, his visitors per minute graphs is larger than my visitors by week graph. I know readership is not necessarily the most important measure of a blog and I’m proud of what I built here but damn it amazing to see how the other half lives. Kind of like watching the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous in the blogging world. Here are some interesting observations about blog volume. The “hit” I got when Kirk’s mentioned my blog was a lot larger than being Freshly Pressed. This surprised me a bit. Kind of shows the power of what a targeted recommendation from a popular blogger can do. However, equally interesting is that the viewers that came to my blog from the two sources behave differently. A link from The Visual Science Blog created a very pronounced short-term volume spike but very few people subscribed to my blog or even clicked Like on the post. The Freshly Pressed audience, on the other had, have left more comments, clicked Like a heck of a lot more and greater numbers have subscribed to my blog. It’s almost like Kirk’s blog audience is his audience, only a few people cross over, even though we both talk about photography.
Now, I think I’m realistic enough to know that being Freshly Pressed is a short-lived bit of recognition. My 15 minutes of fame in a small corner of the Internet. But, I have to admit that it makes me happy. Sort of a tacit approval or acknowledgement that my efforts in this blog space has some merit. So thank you to all the new visitors and people who have subscribed to this blog. I hope my future content will entertain and interest you in some way. The blog will remain photography oriented but I will mix the technical content, the equipment reviews and such, with my observations of places and events that I attend along with my views of photography and the photo industry.
2012 Chinese New Year Celebration in Austin
Lion Dance, 2012 Chinese New Year Celebration – Austin, Texas
NOTE: I posted an An alternative view of the Chinese New Year for a completely different take on the very colorful images on this post.
In last week’s blog post, I wrote about how I made a mistake and went to a photo event on the wrong day. I made the best of this by getting some interesting and possibly exotic images at a local Asian supermarket. I was also in search for my dragon image that I wanted to post on the Chinese New Year. I headed up to the Chinatown Center again, yesterday, in north Austin for the Chinese New Year’s day festivities. This time, I definitely had the correct day and place. Even at 10:30am the place was jam-packed with cars. I brought the same camera and lens setup as last week, the Canon 7D with the 70-200 F4 and my trusty Olympus E-PL1 with the 20mm lens. If you account for the various crop factors, I had a setup that covered 112mm to 320mm with my Canon and 40mm on the Olympus. Turns out the combo worked out great. From behind the ropes surrounding the performance area, I was able to get closeups with my zoom and use my E-PL1 as a wide-angle. Later on, I also used my Olympus exclusively when I was able to walk up close to the action.
Musical Performance, 2012 Chinese New Year Celebration
Ellen Chang, 2012 Chinese New Year Celebration
Dancing, 2012 Chinese New Year Celebration
Drumming, 2012 Chinese New Year Celebration
The festivities started at 10:45 am with some traditional Chinese music. The two stringed instruments set the mood and the pace and action continued to increase from the opening performance. The music was followed by dancing and then drumming. Of course, there were the usual martial arts demonstrations.
Martial Arts, 2012 Chinese New Year Celebration
More Martial Arts, 2012 Chinese New Year Celebration
I haven’t been to one of these events in a while. Interestingly, many of the performers seem to be from the Austin area, including a large contingent from Summitt Elementary School which is part of the Austin public school system. Back 5 years ago, the performers came in from Houston so it definitely seems like the Asian population is Austin is growing. The dragon and lion dances were the main attractions of the Chinese New Year celebration. After a bit of research I discovered that the participants parade the dragon around on poles. The multicolored costumes worn by two people are the lions.
Dragon Dance, 2012 Chinese New Year Celebration
Dragon Dance Closeup, 2012 Chinese New Year Celebration
Dragon Dance Performers, 2012 Chinese New Year Celebration
Intensity, 2012 Chinese New Year Celebration
Big Head Buddha, 2012 Chinese New Year Celebration
Lee Leffingwell, Austin’s mayor came out as the guest of honor, lighting the fireworks for the finale. The action shifted away from the makeshift stage to the back. The crowds at this point were 5 – 6 levels deep in most places. I somehow was able to escape from the stage and moved over the the backside where the firecrackers were in full force. The smoke and noise were so loud, it started to disperse the onlookers in the back. The people in the know had ear plugs which really is a necessity. Luckily for me, a blog reader suggested that I bring ear protection, something that I definitely would not have thought about — thank you, Jack. I was easily able to slip to the front right, right on top of the small explosions. By this time, I switched exclusively to my Olympus Pen camera. The 40mm lens was perfect for catching the up close action. I probably would have gotten even closer but the lack of eye protection made me hesitate.
Mayor Lee Leffingwell, 2012 Chinese New Year Celebration
Lion Dance and Statues, 2012 Chinese New Year Celebration
Big Head Buddha and Fireworks, 2012 Chinese New Year Celebration
After the main firecracker lion dance, the performers shifted to several locations around the shopping center. A large firecracker performance occurred in front of the Asian supermarket that I visited last week, intimidating some of the customers. After that, smaller firecracker lion dances erupted in front of the various smaller stores throughout the complex. Between the smoke and fast action, it was a bit of crap shoot to get great images. With all the mini-explosions near me, I didn’t have my usual time to compose the shot. Overall, I was extremely pleased with the performance of the cameras. The lenses I used worked great for me and by having two cameras I didn’t have to change lenses. Certainly a plus in this very smokey environment. Incidentally, my Canon 70-200 f4L and the Panasonic Lumix 20mm f1.7 are my two favorite lenses. It was nice to put them through their paces on the same shoot.
I was a bit out of practice carrying the 7D with the 70-200 and the 430EX external flash. This is my heaviest combination and after a while my back started to feel the weight. I guess I need to work out more since my light weight mirrorless setup is making me soft. I may have look a bit strange with 2 cameras, with a dramatic size difference, around my neck, but it worked for me.
Lion Dance and Supermarket, 2012 Chinese New Year Celebration
Three Lions, 2012 Chinese New Year Celebration
Lion Dance in Parking Lot, 2012 Chinese New Year Celebration
Lion Dance and Fireworks, 2012 Chinese New Year Celebration
I’m not sure how this New Year’s festivity compares to the traditional celebrations in Asia but for a few hours I felt transported to another place. I’ve talked about seeking out other ethic celebrations in your hometown before on this blog. Whether it is the Dia de los Muertos celebration or the Chinese New Year, it is great to be able to shoot a different and diverse slice of American life. For the readers that have such opportunities, I encourage you to go seek out your local celebrations.
The photographs were taken with my Canon 7D and Olympus E-PL1. Please make sure to click on a photograph to see a larger image and hover over the photo to see the exposure details.
Some more information on the Lion and Dragon dance teams. Here are links to the Texas dragon/lion dance team and the Summitt Dragon/Lion Dance Team just in case you are interested in the groups or thinking about partaking in new year’s celebrations.
A trip to the supermarket can be exotic
Catfish packed like sardines, Chinatown Center – Austin, Texas
Do you know that Austin, Texas has a Chinatown? Well not exactly. It is a strip mall called Chinatown Center which does contain my Asian stores and restaurants. I headed up there yesterday to see the Chinese New Year celebrations and take some photographs of dancing dragons and such. Except I messed up. It turned out they were going to have the festivities next Sunday. At least I didn’t miss it. The Asian American Cultural Center in Austin was having a New Year’s event on Saturday so I just assumed that the shopping mall was having theirs the next day. Anyway, I decided that since I’m already here, maybe I can find something interesting to photograph.
I brought my big gun out to the event, my Canon 7D with my 70-200mm f4 and even my external flash, just in case it got sunny (a flash is really useful on sunny days, to even out the shadows). Luckily, I also brought my less conspicuous Olympus E-PL1 with my favorite 20mm f1.7 lens. If I’m walking into a supermarket, I was certainly not going to open fire with my Canon 7D. The Canon may be a bit less noticeable that a real gun but it was sure to attract attention just the same. WIth the small Olympus over my shoulder, I decided to go hunting for some dragons. This year is the Year of the Dragon on the Chinese zodiac, a particularly auspicious year I’m told. I wanted a nice dragon photo to put on mostlyfotos, my one photo a day, photo blog.
Stone Dragon, Chinatown Center – Austin, Texas
In the prominent middle building of the Chinatown Center, there is a large Asian supermarket. A sure sign that the Asian population in Austin is growing. There were also a healthy number of non-Asian customers, a cross cultural mix that is one of my favorite things about this country. I didn’t have to go far to find my dragon. Flanking the entrance were two large stone dragons. These imposing carvings would look good at a temple but with the shopping carts in the background, I found it changeling to get a nice composition. I decided a closeup was best to eliminate the background as much as possible. Once inside, I was greeted by a large, red, multi-language banner in English, Vietnamese and Chinese. I wished I had a wide-angle lens with me, the 40mm view didn’t allow for the best composition. I stepped back as far as I could but the image below is about the best that I can do. The rare times when a simple kit zoom would have worked a lot better.
Chinese New Year Banner, Chinatown Center – Austin, Texas
I found more dragons inside. Trinkets found in the gift area. There were comical hanging dragons, colorful dragon statues and even intensely golden dragons. Nothing too exciting photographically but it will give me something to post on mostlyfotos. The image at the top of this page is my favorite. Something a bit different from the norm. These catfish were alive, swimming in a packed tank, ready to be purchased and become someone’s meal. Turns out the most interesting photos I took during this outing were of dragons and fish. I didn’t feel comfortable taking candid people photos inside a private business, unlike an open air public market. The camera I had didn’t attract too much attention but I didn’t want to blatantly go around snapping tons of photographs, most stores tend to frown up this kind of thing. The point I wanted to make is that potentially interesting photos can be captured in all kinds of places, even in a supermarket. Photograph the world from your neighborhood. In the United States, there are enough ethnic festivals and stores to capture a slice of American life that a bit unexpected. Whether it be a Dia de Los Muertos Parade in downtown or a Asian supermarket, there are opportunities abound to see different things.
On the way home, I stopped at a Vietnamese sandwich shop. Did you know the Vietnamese make great French baguettes? Yup, Vietnam was once a French colony and there was certainly a culinary influence. They also make a ham and pork sandwich on a baguette with fresh vegetables that the Vietnamese usually put on their noodle soups. A tasty end to a mix-up that turned into a short Asian tour. Maybe next Sunday, I’ll get to the New Year celebration, which is a bit late since, today January 23rd is the official Lunar New Year.
Happy Chinese New Year!
May the year of the Dragon bring you success in photography and in life.
Lots of dragons and fishes all shot with the Olympus E-PL1 and 20mm f1.7 lens. Please make sure to click on a photograph to see a larger image and hover over the photo to see the exposure details.
Hanging Dragon
Dragon Statue
Golden Dragon
Stone Fishes
Coffee with Kirk and Frank, Life’s Good.
Cafe Life, Caffe Medici – Austin, Texas
I had a delightful time at the Caffe Medici last Sunday and I’m not even a coffee drinker. Of course, for me, it’s about the people I’m with and not necessarily about the drink, though serious coffee drinkers may disagree. What makes this special is it was all unplanned. It all came about because I decided to change my usual pattern and do something different. As I mentioned in my previous post, I was dropping my parents at the airport and decided to take a photo detour through downtown.
After I captured some contrasting flora, I headed south toward the train tracks. I’m constantly amazed by the pace of change and the new development in downtown Austin. It’s a trend that I like. Now, parts of downtown actually resembles a real city with the critical mass of buildings, people and businesses to make it a living entity. The train situation is decidedly backwards and depressing. Tucked away at the end of the downtown core is a pathetic, small AMTRAK station. Quite understandable since we probably get one or so trains passing through the city per day. Maybe because I’ve grew up in the East Coast and have visited the great train cities in Europe and Japan, but it just saddens me that such a great and growing city like Austin has such a diminished rail presence. Yes, cars now rule the country and Austin is no exception. Stepping over the rails and shooting the newly rising downtown condos, I hear a familiar voice. Well, if it isn’t my friend Kirk Tuck, commercial photographer and blogger from the very popular Visual Science Lab. He was riding his very cool and sleek Bodhi Electric bike and was on his way to his own photo excursion. He was generous enough to let me tag along and we headed east towards the center of town.
We were busy making our compositions when Kirk remarks, “Is that Frank?”. “You mean, our Frank?”, I responded. Yes, it was Frank, another one of our photo friends. He too was walking along with this camera, practicing his craft. So now, 3 strong, we continue east towards a 2 block area that almost resembled New York City in activity. There were tons of pedestrians, people at outdoor cafes and even a loud siren from a passing fire truck. Of course, what was cooler than the Big Apple was the fact that people could eat outside and stroll around in long sleeve T-shirts in the middle of January. Yes, we suffer through the summers here in Austin, but in winter, we get to enjoy these outdoor café sitting days. Frank had his new Olympus E-P3, while I carried my trusty E-PL1. Ironically, Kirk had his Nikon V1. Ironic because, Kirk, through his blog, had influenced me to get in the Olympus Pen gear and he most likely influenced Frank too. Maybe Frank and I are just a step behind Master Kirk. Maybe in a year or so we too will be sporting the small Nikons. Of course, by then Kirk will be at the forefront of the next big camera trend.
Window Logo, Caffe Medici – Austin, Texas
I knew where we were headed since Kirk and Frank are big coffee drinkers. The Caffe Medici at the base of Austin’s swankiest Condo, the Austonian. And though I didn’t drink the stuff, I knew the company will be interesting and the conversation would be good. Of course we talk about photography, the industry, hardware trends, the photography business as well as about blogging. We shift into other topics, take pictures of the interesting people that surround us and then drift back into conversation. Photography has been a source of creativity and challenge but equally important has been the friends I’ve made along the way. Meeting people face to face during photo walks and the eating and drinking that follows has truly improved my well-being. I’ve greatly expand my circle of friends. I read once that men, unlike women, tend not to have enough friends and social interactions, especially as they grow older. Pre-photography, that was probably true for me too.
Beyond enjoying the photographic craft and making new friends, the quest to make images have gotten me out of my old suburban patterns. You know the one where you get into the hermetically sealed car, open the garage door and drive the suburban loop roads to the industrial park. Very little interaction with real people. Now, I make frequent trips to downtown Austin, where on foot, I get to experience the real life. It is not always pretty or controlled like the suburbs but there is an authenticity that the new simulated pseudo-cities called life-style malls lack. You know these new malls, the ones that are outdoor and have fake town squares in them to give you the impression that they are real urban places. Now I walk the streets of downtown Austin, observing, capturing images and if lucky run into friends and strike-up conversations in cafes — even if I don’t drink the coffee.
Here is Kirk’s post about our chance downtown encounter.
Also, here are a few more images that I shot between our conversation at the Cafe. I used both the 20mm f1.7 lens and the 45mm f1.8 lenses on the Olympus E-PL1. Please make sure to click on a photograph to see a larger image and hover over the photo to see the exposure details.
Drinkable Art, Caffe Medici
Preparation, Caffe Medici
Bethel #1, Caffe Medici
Bethel # 2, Caffe Medici
A contrast in Flora with the Olympus 45mm f1.8
Tulips, Whole Foods Market – Austin, Texas
Agave, Whole Foods Market – Austin, Texas
A quick study in contrasts courtesy of the Whole Foods Market and the Olympus 45mm f1.8 lens. I dropped my parents off at the airport yesterday and decided to take a detour though downtown for some personal photography time. After parking in the cavernous underground lot at Whole Foods Market, I emerged ready to make some urban landscapes when I noticed a display of flora. There was a nice collection of spiky Texas type plants like cactus and agave, as well as the more traditional flowers — decidedly much softer. Both types of plants were on sales right next to each other in two separate rows. I pulled out my Olympus E-PL1 with the 45mm f1.8 that I’ve been playing with recently and decided make some images with my usual shallow depth of field. I really love the pointy agaves, they are so structural and architectural. I also like the subtle silver-grey coloration. The colorful red and white tulips, however, made for a nice striking color combination.
Make sure to click on a photograph to see a larger image. Hover over the photo to see the exposure details.
I’m still enjoying the E-PL1 with my new 45mm. It definitely takes more concentration and accuracy than my Lumix 20mm f1.7. The depth of field (DOF) is a lot shallower so the focusing has to be a lot more accurate. With the 20mm, I can usually, quickly compose and make the image. With the 45mm, I need to slow down and deliberately go though a mental check list to properly set focus. Because the DOF is so shallow, I move the focus point on the camera to the part of the fame that I want to focus. My usual method of the focus at the center point and recompose, which usually works on the 20mm, leads to softer slightly out of focus images with the 45. This is hardly unique to the Olympus 45mm, I use the same technique on my Canon DSLR with large aperture primes. The slight downside with the E-PL1 is that it takes a bit more fiddling with the controls to set the focus point compared to my Canon 7D. This, however is usually not a problem. Often times, while speed and getting the shot quickly is my objective with the 7D, my Olympus E-PL1 is my leisurely camera. Because of the speed (or lack there of) of the E-PL1, I get a chance to pace myself and think a bit more about each shot. It works particularly well when I’m in relaxation mode on a photowalk.
There in lies the difference between my Canon and Olympus cameras. While there is an obvious size and weight difference, the responsiveness of the camera effects the equation. My Canon 7D is a serious machine, built for responsiveness and speed. When I use it, my pace of photography increases. I look through the viewfinder like a hunter looks down the barrel of the gun. I look at my subjects and fire away like they are targets to hit. I think it is no accident that people refer to taking pictures as shooting pictures. This is a behavior I’ve noticed recently. Whether I’m shooting sports, doing event photography or even model shoots, I look though the “scope” of the 7D, quickly recompose and fire. What I have realized is, in addition to the lighter weight of the Olympus, because I compose using the back LCD screen and the camera is not as responsive, the way I shoot with the E-PL1 completely changes. I’m not in target acquisition or shooting mode, I’m in a more creative let’s think about the composition and see what happens frame of mind. That may be one reason, I really don’t enjoy using the EVF (Electronic View Finder) on these smaller cameras. I love to reposition the camera at odd angles and enjoy seeing what kind of images I can make. For these reasons, when I’m doing my photowalks, these smaller cameras are so enjoyable. Neither camera is better or worse, just different. Each is optimized for a slightly different task. And maybe for the same reason that there is different types of photography, it maybe good to have different types of cameras.
The Olympus E-PL1 captures a simple carnival
Spin Control, Parking Lot Carnival – Round Rock, Texas
I took my Olympus E-PL1, my current camera of choice, out for yet another photo event this past weekend. Two weekends ago it was the Dia de los Muertos Parade in downtown Austin. This time, it was something a bit smaller and calmer. One of those simple carnivals that seems to pop-up on parking lots on the outskirts of town or in the suburbs. This one, took place on at the Dell Diamond, the AAA baseball stadium for the Round Rock Express. I wanted to take my friend, Mike, out for his birthday and he suggested a short photography exercise before we went to dinner. Over the last year, both Mike and I, who both own big Canon DSLRs, have being going light. Often times, opting to take just a small camera with us, instead of the bigger iron and the assorted lenses and accessories. Mike’s been putting his Fujifilm X100 through its paces. My lightweight setup is the E-PL1 with very compact Lumix 20mm f1.7 pancake lens. Sunset was at around 6:47 so we met just after 6 pm to capture the golden hour and the equally nice “blue hour” that takes place after sunset.
Please click on an image to see a larger version
Many of you might be familiar with the golden hour, the time just before sunset or after sunrise which has a wonderful golden, warm light and makes for great looking photographs. The low angle of the sun and the softer light creates images that are warmer and smoother than the harsh mid-day light. The blue hour maybe a term that is less familiar to most people. And unlike the golden hour which may last an hour in length, the blue hour is considerably shorter and not anywhere near an hour, at least here in Texas. So what is the blue hour? It is the time of day after sunset or before sunrise when the sky becomes a bright and vibrant blue color. I love shooting at this time, particularly in urban environments where there are lots of warm, man-made yellow-ish lights. The blue color of the sky and the yellow lights make an excellent color contrast that, I think, works particularly well. A little research reveals that the term blue hour originated from the French expression heure bleue according to Wikipedia. I don’t know if this gorgeous blue period actually lasts an hour in France but here in the Austin area, it lasts maybe 15 minutes. For me, there is a bit of scrambling during these 15 minutes to get my perfect shots and then the magic is gone. The sky increasingly turns darker and once it turn black, the mood and color becomes completely different.
This simple carnival up in Round Rock and my nimble and light setup with my Olympus E-PL1 was particularly effective to capture the optimum Blue Hour color. First, unlike larger carnivals like the one at the Austin Rodeo, this small carnival allowed me to visit many rides very quickly. It didn’t take me much time to walk from one end to the other. Having the lightweight camera setup without a tripod was also a boon. No precious time wasted setting up a tripod. I can shoot multiple angles quickly and move on to the next exciting attraction. When nature has a 15 minute timer, every minute counts. I’m satisfied with the results. The Olympus and the fantastic Lumix 20mm lens allowed me to record high quality images at ISO 800 and below. Instead of wide-angle, long exposure images I took previously with my larger Canon 7D, this time it was all about seeing interesting compositions quickly. I’m trying to go light and train my eye to see images worth capturing. Some came out great and others were less exciting but with much practice I think I can get better. I feel that the kind of photographs I’m making now has changed quite a bit, especially compared to few years ago — hopefully they are for the better. Having a small camera with a fixed focal length (no zoom) can be liberating, training the eye and allowing the photographer to move faster when necessary. While the carefully composed tripod shots are still important, its nice to shoot in a different way from time to time.
By 7:30, Mike and I were done. The sky was already too dark and there wasn’t enough ambient light at the carnival to take the kind of images we wanted. We packed it in and went to dinner. We talked about life, photography and blogging among other things. It was a nice birthday dinner and a fun time shooting with a good friend.
Here are a bunch more photographs from the carnival.
These first two images were taken during the golden hour, when I first got to the carnival.
As the sun set, the blue of the sky started to come alive. I shot the starship photo at 6:53pm about 6 minutes after sunset. I shot the next image of the ferris wheel at 7pm, pretty much at the peak of the blue hour. The third photo of Crystal Lil’s was a couple of minutes after that. You can tell how quickly the light changes. Of course the direction that I face is also a factor. I was facing north for Spaceship 4000, east for the ferris wheel and roughly west for Crystal Lil’s.
As I’ve done lately, I wanted to take a candid portrait of a someone interesting on the street. Sandy had this colorful mohawk wig that attracted my attention. She was selling the souvenirs at a both in the middle of the action. I find that the 20mm Lumix makes a great environmental portrait lens. Just the right field of view to include the surrounding area and just enough depth of field to emphasize the person and nicely blur the background.
Finally, as the blue hour passed and things got dark, I shifted my photography to capturing shadows or shooting in brighter areas. We didn’t stay too long after sunset but here are two more images that I captured before Mike and I went off off to dinner.
Photograph the world from your neighborhood
Tall Man and Small Dogs, Dia de los Muertos Parade – Austin, Texas
This is a continuation of Dia de los Muertos with the Olympus E-PL1, a post I made a few days ago. This time, rather than talking about equipment, I talk about why I photograph instead of how I photograph.
As I thought about the Dia de los Muertos event that I went to this past weekend, I thought about how neat it is to live in the United States and experience these things. There are certainly may wonderful advantages about living in America but the multicultural aspect is certainly on of them. To experience the food and festivals of the various cultures around the world without leaving the country. Sure, the events, parades and food we have in the US may not by 100% authentic and not all places in the US have a large multicultural population however, it is certainly more convenient traveling maybe few hundred miles and not hopping on a plane to visit another country. Even in Austin, which is a medium size city, we have hispanic cultural events, we have German towns with Oktoberfest, we have Chinese New Year celebrations. Each is an opportunity to photograph. Each is an opportunity to document a world that maybe different from the typical suburban US experience.
Please click on an image to see a larger version
I was listening to a web-based photography seminar this past weekend. The famous photographer talked about how he leads photo tours to Nepal, India, Mongolia, different countries in South America and other photo-enticing world-wide destinations. Exciting, I’m sure and very expensive. By going on these elaborate photo junkets, do you really think this will make you a better photographer? Is going on some expensive and fancy photography seminar on the other side of the planet going to magically transform your photographic eye, allow you to quickly compose and adjust exposures or change your creative vision? Maybe, but I doubt it. It might be fun and it can certainly be a trip of a life time but that’s not the same as practicing the craft of photography. I think constant practice is the key to photography as it is in many other things. Save your money and shoot more often in your own town. Take advantage of the US’s multicultural heritage — closer to home — and shoot more often. Now, I have nothing against traveling abroad. It’s a fantastic way to get to know more people and learn more about their culture. Daily pilgrimages to Little Italy, Chinatown or a Little Tokyo is no substitute for the real thing. But, in terms of photography, practicing often and nearby is going to yield better results.
Consider that if you get really good at capturing events closer to home, imagine how much better you will be if you do finally get to that exotic location. I’m not claiming my photographs are any great shakes but I’m out there often and I practice. And just maybe, If I go out there enough locally, I may even transcend the need to travel to the other side of the world, at least for street and lifestyle photography. Now landscapes, that’s a different story and another blog post.
Here are a bunch more photographs from this event.
Dia de los Muertos Parade – Austin, Texas
Everything is a Photo Opportunity
Hopdoddy Restaurant, Kitchen – Austin, Texas
Last Wednesday, after a downtown photowalk with my friend Mike, we had a late dinner at Hopdoddy. Joining a bunch of restaurants in the trendy SoCo area of Austin, Hopdoddy is an upscale burger bar that also serves beer, wine and mix drinks. Even on a week night at 8:30 the place was packed. I had my current camera of choice, the Olympus E-PL1 with the Lumix 20mm f1.7 lens, all warmed up after a night of photowalking. The camera and lens make a fantastic street photography combination that I’m really enjoying right now. As we sat down to enjoy are delicious burgers, Mike and I talked photography, cameras and the challenges of life. He was sporting his new Fujifilm X100 which I eyed with interest.
Everything is a photo opportunity. When you have a daily photoblog like mostlyfotos you need to take a lot of photographs, all the time, to have ready material to post. Of course, not all photos make the cut so I need to have extra just in case. But my ultimate goal is not necessarily to fill a blog with images but it is to use the chance to practice my passion and craft. I’m hoping that by shooting all the time, I get to fine tune my brain into seeing better. To find interesting things or try to capture a moment in time. It’s the opportunity to overcome shyness and ask strangers if I can take their photograph. I’m not sure I’m getting better at this but I hope I am. Maybe I’m just annoying the people around me or maybe sometimes, in some rare cases, I might come up with an image that makes me happy and brings some enjoyment to others.
Here are some images that I captured at the restaurant. They are not works of art and not all of them will make it into mostlyfotos, however, they do help support this little narrative. I’ll leave my outside photowalk images for another post or you will see them mix in to my stream of photos at a future date. It was a good night. The food was fantastic, it was wonderful to catchup with a good friend and I enjoyed training my brain to see. Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a chance to record the mundane, daily life around you because it’s not only the special events that make a photo opportunity. Everything is a photo opportunity.
Katie at Hopdoddy
Katie Shows Off Her T-Shirt
Hopdoddy Restaurant, Tippin’ Suggestion
Hopdoddy Restaurant, Numbers
Hopdoddy Burger and Fries
Hopdoddy Restaurant, Dinning Room
Nikon Creates a Tablet (Nikon 1) but is it an iPad?
Nikon 1 Cameras (courtesy of the Nikon USA website)
As I ponder Nikon’s announcement of their Nikon 1 line of cameras, I realized that Nikon has created a tweener camera. A photographic device between the large DSLRs and the portable point and shoots. In many ways, it reminds me of the new tweener computing device, the tablet, that recently has become popular. The tablet is an in-between product between the personal computer, which includes desktops and notebooks, and the smart phones. So the big question is, will Nikon succeed with this completely new product line? Does the Nikon 1 have the feature set and ecosystem to become the iPad of the camera industry or will become just another tablet?
There is no question the Nikon 1 has some fantastic technology. The ability to take high-speed movies, fully focused photos at 10 frames per second and a convenient, compact size makes this a potent camera system. Nikon worked hard. They tried to re-imagine what a camera means and what it can do. The Nikon 1 fuses video with stills and blurred the line between the two. Nikon didn’t take the easy route and just slap a smaller sensor into a camera and yank out the mirror and throw the camera out there as another me-to mirrorless (EVIL,Electronic Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens) camera. If they did, their success, to some extent, would have been assured. Nikon has a great reputation and a large fan base. A smaller than DLSR mirrorless camera capable of using legacy Nikkor lenses would have been the easy way to go. The real controversy with the Nikon 1 is the size of its sensor. It is quite small. The sensor is larger than a point and shoot’s but smaller than the micro 4/3 standard. Sensor size is important since its a key factor in determining the quality of the image, particularly when taking photos in darker areas. By using a smaller sensor, the Nikon 1 is at a disadvantage, at least that is what the serious amateurs and pros would say.
But the thing is, the Nikon 1 system is not designed for the professional photographers and serious amateurs. It is designed for the point and shoot crowed that may want to upgrade into something with better quality and more speed. It is also for people who do not want the size and complexity of a DSLR. I have seen plenty of parents at school that have nice expensive DSLRs and they shoot those things in the green auto everything mode. They really don’t know enough to take advantage of a DSLR and I suspect most of them do not have the interest of dedication to learn. A smart and small camera that does take the high speed photos with better quality is what these people need. And for them the Nikon 1 will be perfect. They can shoot stills and take video at school plays and soccer games. They can get higher quality snaps that would run circles around a point and shoot. If you look at the Nikon 1, even the interface is different. Gone are the typical P S A M modes (though accessible from the menu) and all those icons that represent a sport mode or a portrait mode. According to DPreview, The main dial only has four options that contains an auto mode, movie mode and some interesting functions such as a motion snapshot, that combines slow motion movies with stills, and a smart photo selector mode that shoot 20 images quickly and intelligently picks what it thinks are the 5 best frames. This is no ordinary camera. It appears that Nikon has tried to rethink the entire camera interface. To support some of unique smart modes, the camera must be capable of incredible speed, focusing accuracy and data throughput. A true camera for the digital and computer age, something that just is not possible with film. Until now, digital cameras pretty much functioned the same as film cameras except for the addition of a movie mode. The digital sensor replaced the film but the interface and function stayed the same, particularly with DSLRs. In the same way, Apple reinvented the computer interface first with the iPhone and then with the iPad, Nikon has reinvented the camera interface. It seems to me, Nikon’s objective is to do for the camera what Apple did with iPad.
I believe many of the serious camera people were hoping for Nikon to come with a mirrorless, EVIL camera with a sensor the size of the micro 4/3 standard, used by Olympus and Panasonic, or the APS-C size used by the Sony NEX. I have to admit that this is what I was hoping for myself. And while the Nikon 1 may indeed be revolutionary, the sensor size issue and the non-traditional interface is what the experienced photographers are grumbling about. Despite the tremendous effort and years of development Nikon must have spent developing the new system, its success is not assured. There is a concept in computing called the Alpha Nerd, who is the person that has a larger than normal pull in their domain. They are the early adopters and the key people needed for a technology to succeed. The camera industry also have their equivalent of the Alpha Nerd. These are the people who adopt and push the latest technology that interests them. They are the go to people when other, less knowledgeable people ask “What camera should I get?” I believe, getting the support and buy-in from these people are essential for a product to be successful both for computers, cameras and technology in general. They are the influencers of their respective communities. Is the Nikon fan base, the Alpha early adopters, excited about the Nikon 1? From what I read, not so much. They were looking for that large sensored mirrorless cameras that would seamlessly use the existing Nikkor lenses. Something that is small, powerful with great image quality. To be fair, the Nikon 1 has not been released to the public. Maybe as the product gets out there, used and reviewed the Nikon fan base will warm up to the new system. This, I believe, is essential for Nikon. When their friends and family ask what kind of camera should they get, the Nikon early adopter fans are the ones that need to recommend the Nikon 1. I suspect that Nikon, with advertising alone, will not be large enough to get the word out on the street about their wunder-camera. They need the vast army of Alpha camera nerds to be excited about this thing. It is going to be an uphill battle.
What if Nikon were able to create the Nikon 1 with a larger sensor? The buzz from camera and photographic community would have been off the charts. Nikon fans would have sung the praise of the all mighty Nikon and non-Nikon customers would have switched to this system in droves. In one stroke, Sony’s NEX system would be in trouble and the more established micro 4/3 supporters would have to think very hard. I think the Nikon 1 would have been the system to get. A clear and definite upgrade for the point and shoot crowed and a second body for the DSLR crowd. I know that personally, even though I own a Sony NEX-5 and a Olympus E-PL1, I would have jumped to his new Nikon system. There is no question that such a product will kill the low-end DSLR sales for Nikon. But it would also kill the low-end DSLR sales for Canon and every other DSLR vendor. A tidal wave of people would have moved to Nikon. I once heard someone say, it’s better to cannibalize your own product rather than having your product cannibalized by a competitor. When I look at the Nikon 1, I can’t help but think that someone at Nikon was worried about cannibalizing their DSLR line. They figured they can come up with a third line, that slots nicely between their CoolPix point and shoot line and their DSLR line. This, to me, is a big risk and Nikon may end up loosing. By not taking the chance to come up with a truly revolutionary product that can potentially take on the DSLR, they have lost a golden opportunity to redefine the camera industry. While the analogy between cameras and computers may not be perfect, I’m left wondering has Nikon created just a regular tablet instead of an iPad? Only time will tell.
A Year of Blogging, What I have learned
W Hotel Staircase – Austin, Texas
A year ago this month I started this blog. For me it was a bold expansion of my online presence. I started humbly on Flickr two years ago and even that modest step into the online world seemed big at the time. How times have changed for me. Not only do I have this blog but I have added a second pure photo blog called, mostlyfotos and along the way have added an alphabet soup of social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler and more recently Google+. So what have I learned? A bunch of things, I think.
I knew starting out that I’m not much of a writer, never have been at school. At work I’ve written tons of emails and some documentation but I don’t think that really counts as writing. I knew that writing will be a challenge but over the year I’ve discovered that with some effort I can, at times, write some coherent thoughts. At least my photography friends have been nice enough to say encouraging things about my blog posts. While I think my posts will not win any awards, hopefully I’ve been able to write clearly enough to get my thoughts across. I find writing to be way more difficult than creating the photographs that I talk about, including both the capture of the image as well as the post-processing. Maybe that means that I’m either not trying hard enough in my photography or I really need help writing. That said, I am finding it easier to get my ideas down on the computer. Like any skill, even one that has hardly been exercised, repeated blogging has made writing a bit easier.
Before I started the blog, I made a list of 15 – 20 possible topics that I could write about. I really wasn’t sure that I would have enough to say. I found out that finding topics for the blog have actually been quite easy and I find that there are a whole slew of things that I can talk about. The challenge is getting these topics and stories written down. Tons of great ideas, it’s the execution that is the hard part. I takes me a while to write and proofread the post. I’m absolutely terrible at grammar and I’m sure, despite my effort to find my mistakes, there are a bunch that sneak through. Kirk Tuck, an Austin photographer that I’ve talk about in the past, is a prolific blogger. Not only does he take great photographs but he writes wonderfully and quite regularly on this blog. Amazingly he says most of his most of his posts only take 15 minutes or so to write. Now, if I could only do that. I know my pace of blogging has slowed down lately. I know I need to devote more time to putting my thoughts down on “paper”. One of the reasons that I started my other Photo Blog, mostlyfotos, is so that I can post something regularly, even daily, without having to write too much. On that blog, I get to highlight one photograph per day, nice and large, and just write a short caption.
I’ve really enjoyed crafting my online presence with my blog and photo gallery. Flickr is a great place for social interaction as is Facebook and Twitter but they don’t feel like my personal space. On my blog, I can really customize the look of the site. I get to test and play with my design and web layout. I have a few more changes to make but after a year I’m pretty satisfied with the look of my online properties. The concept of an online presence, your own site, really does not sink in until you try it. I remember about a year and a half ago talking to my friend Jim about his blog. I asked him what the advantage of a blog is over just using Flickr. While he probably gave coherent reasons, I just didn’t understand it until I tried it myself. I lacked the frame of reference to see the fun and benefits of creating one’s own space. Having friends and support around you certainly makes the process easier. Many of my photography friends in Austin already have a blog and a photo gallery so I had a lot of people to learn from. I get to see what they have done, ask questions and create my version based on my ideas. I think it would have been very different without the close physical proximity to people who share your photography and blogging interests.
I’ve learned a bit about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) which is the art and science of getting more people to your blog and online sites. I’ve learned that it takes a lot more effort to get noticed on the “full internet” compared to a social site like Flickr. The big trick in photography blogs is to do product reviews. People love to read about equipment and they do research before future purchases. My little review of the LowePro Edit 120 bag and how I use it for my Sony NEX-5 is my most popular post. Also my review on the Sony TX5 (when it was new) as well as my posts on the Sony NEX-5 always seems to draw viewers. If my entire purpose of this blog was to simply attract eyeballs, I would just do a whole bunch of equipment reviews. Now you know why so many photography blogs have product reviews. I, however, want to talk more about photography and sharing what I learned as I created my images. I also wanted to sprinkle some photo-philosphy and observations that I’ve made along the way. Since I now have mostlyfotos, I have moved away from just showcasing photographs on this blog. This blog will focus more on medium and longer form posts – a mix of text content with some photographs sprinkled in. And I probably will add more reviews of the equipment I use. Not just to increase viewership but to give my reviews based on real world observations rather than just simply talking about camera specifications.
The real challenge is to find the time to do all that I want. Of course shooting photographs, post-processing and organizing these images takes a bunch of time. Add to that, the two blogs that I have and all the social media sites that I maintain, something inevitably gets bumped. I see two big camps that compete for my time. The creative tasks vs the social tasks. The creative tasks involve the photographs, taking pictures, post-processing as well as the blogging, writing articles and selecting and posting my daily photo. The social tasks are keeping up with my friends and contact at Flickr, Facebook, Google+ and Twitter. Between the two, I tend to stay more on the creative side. My social media sites have become more of a way to post my creative results rather than socialize. I don’t just want to “post and run” but unfortunately that is what happens given the time constraints that I have. I hope that the creative stuff that I post on the social sites gives some benefit and joy to my contacts and they can forgive me for not being as engaged socially. Balancing my available time will continue to be a challenge and I’m sure things will evolve as time goes on. Also, writing about the use of social media sites maybe an interesting topic for another post.
Please stay tuned, we will see how this space changes over the next year. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to read my ramblings.
Practice and the Zen of Urban Photography
Blue Hour at the County Courthouse – Georgetown, Texas
I practice many different types of photography. You are probably most familiar with my urban landscapes, if you have perused my gallery. I also have taken some portraits, shot some events, dabbled in street photography and acted as mini sports photographer, taking photos of my kid’s soccer game. Each type of photography has a different pace. A different set of techniques are required to successfully capture the best images. When it comes to urban and nature landscape photography, there is a lot of time to sit back and wait. Waiting for the optimal light and color. Unlike some other types of photography, in landscapes you can not control the light or the environment. You have to frame your scene and wait until events unfold, patiently watching for the peak. I’ve noticed that as I get more experienced in photography, I slow down even more and taken in the zen of the place. I was reminded of this recently, as I watched what appeared to be a newbie photographer frantically shoot and adjust settings on her camera. I was calmly sitting there and watched in amazement as she took photographs non-stop of a scene that barely changed. Keep in mind that there was no action, we were both photographing a courthouse at sunset.
I observed this animated scene on the peaceful and historic town square in Georgetown, Texas. Many of my urban scenes are of larger cities and I decided to add a smaller town to my portfolio of urban landscapes. Georgetown is a small town located about 20 miles north of Austin along Interstate 35. I arrived a bit before 7pm and since sunset was at 8:35, I had plenty of time to scout the area. The area of interest is not too large and I spend about an hour shooting the historic courthouse as well as the small Victorian storefronts that form the perimeter of the town square. The time was well spent since I also got to further train my compositional eye with my super-wide lens — a lens that I usually use for these purposes. Right off the square I found an old-time movie theater with some nice lights. Check. This theater will look even better at night. I also mentally noted some nice compositions of the centerpiece courthouse building. However, truth be told, I was there mainly to wait for the best light the occurs just before and after sunset.
Around 8:15, I strolled to a spot on the square that had a view of the courthouse and the coming sunset. A young woman was there with her camera on tripod shooting away. I didn’t talk to her much but I did find out that she was taking a photography course. She was constantly shooting, adjusting the lens and playing with her settings on the back of her DSLR. What fascinated and confused me was why she was going through this frantic pace for nearly 45 minutes. It was a though she was shooting a fashion show or some other action packed event. I setup my tripod, tested a half a dozen different frames of the historic building and settled down for a relaxing wait. Rain has been rare around Central Texas lately and with the worst drought in ages so I knew there weren’t going to be any interesting clouds. Usually without clouds, sunsets are not nearly as interesting. When there are no clouds, the other interesting photograph to make is of the “Blue Hour” which starts around 20 minutes after sunset. The “Blue Hour” which only lasts for around 15 minutes around here is when the sky turns a vibrant and deep blue during the twilight between light and dark. It makes for a great backdrop to urban landscapes. In find that in really large cities with large skylines, a night scene with black skies can also work nicely, primarily because there is so much ambient man-made light. However, in smaller towns and in smaller cities like Austin, I find night, with its black sky, to be really boring for urban architecture. There just isn’t enough buildings that are lit up to make a dynamic image. Hence, I find that “Blue Hour” is the best and last chance to make some interesting photographs of buildings.
During the 45 minute wait, until the ideal blue sky, I peacefully sat there and waited. I took in the calm of the small town. I did shoot a few frames every 10 minutes or so to capture the changing light as sunset approached and passed. But more than anything, I was watching the scene of the maniacal landscape photographer. I was tempted a few times to offer some help or suggestions but she seem too rushed and harried. So much so that I just didn’t want to talk to her. She didn’t seem like she was enjoying the process and seemed frustrated with the situation. To be fair, since I didn’t know her and what she was trying to do, maybe her frantic pace was justified. I don’t think I was ever quite as frantic when I started photography but I do remember that I was not nearly as calm as I am how. Back then, since I didn’t have a good idea of what was going to happen at sunset and “Blue Hour”, I constantly checked my settings and reframed the scene. After some experience and practice, I now have a good idea of what and how I want to frame. I have ideas in my head for the type of image I want to create but I try to keep an open mind just in case something better presents itself. Nowadays, it is a waiting game for the right light and color in the sky. I like the contrast between the man-made, artificial lights and the fading light from nature. As I anticipate the optimal conditions, I begin to take more frames. Maybe once every minute or so. After I got what I think were decent images, I quickly moved to two other locations around the square to capture those places with this deep blue sky. This is where the scouting I did an hour earlier, really paid off. I quickly got another point of view of the courthouse with a statue out front. I also went back to that old movie theater with the nice lights. By 9:30 it was dark and satisfied that I got what I wanted, I headed home.
Note: Please click on the image above to see a larger version.
The Extremes of Photography, from Tintypes to HDR
Tintype Photographs Taken by Heather Curiel
I usually go to a couple of photography lectures on a given month. The CapMac Photo SIG (Capitol Macintosh Advanced Photography Special Interest Group) is one lecture that I go to consistently. My friend Alex Suarez runs the SIG and has done an outstanding job getting great photographers to come and share their knowledge. Something that struck me as the March SIG meeting ended is how wide and varied the lectures have been. Between the February lecture on HDR photography and March’s on Tintype Photography, there are 150 years of photo-technology advances that separate the two techniques. Indeed, Alex has helped us to explore the two extremes of photography in a span of just a month. Alex is quite a photographer himself and you can see his work here on his blog.
The February HDR lecture was given by Dave Wilson, an outstanding photographer that has a wonderful and very recognizable look. Whether photographing architecture, cowboy boots or landscapes, Dave manages to bring out a patina and texture that makes his work so outstanding. You can see his work here. While I’m fairly versed in HDR techniques, it’s always nice to pickup a few new pointers or see a different perspective to HDR processing. One such tip is the use of large numbers of exposures to create a HDR. When I say large, I’m talking about 8 – 12 exposures. I, however, have created 99% of HDRs using just 3 exposures. Dave says that when you use a large number of exposures set at 1 stop apart, the HDR software such as Photomatix does a better and more consistent job creating the HDRs. Noise is supposed to be reduced and there is usually less post-processing needed to clean up the image after the image blending. Also, Dave stressed the proper use of histograms during image capture. You should take enough images so that the darkest image should not have any of the histogram cut off on the right side. Conversely, your brightest exposure should not have any of the histogram cut off on the left side. If you use this simple rule, you can automatically know how many images to shoot, all you have to decide is whether you want to use 1 stop or 2 stop increments. In this way, if the scene does not have a wide dynamic range, 3 photographs may be adequate. If you shoot into the Sun, you very well may need 10+ exposures. I’m thinking of how to incorporate some of Dave’s techniques into my HDR processing. I have a bit of a different HDR style so I’m not planning to use the same exact techniques but I think it’s beneficial to use some aspects of what Dave has mentioned. Either way, its clear that Dave has honed his technique and it is working very well for him.
Jump back 150 years to the time of the American Civil War and you get to see the latest in photography technology from that era. This was the topic of the March CapMac presentation. Heather Curiel gave a fascinating presentation on tintype photography. Tintype is a wet plate technique where you coat a piece of flat metal (nowadays Aluminum is used) with some photosensitive chemicals to produce the “film” used to capture the image. Because the chemicals are wet, the plate must be used within minutes before it dries. The photosensitive plate must be created in the dark (with a red colored safe light), in a large box outside, near whatever your were planning to photograph. Once the plate is created, you quickly need to put his plate in a light safe holder and slip it into the camera. With the equivalent ISO value of less than 1, these plates take a long time to expose, even in bright sunlight. Heather said it usually takes several minutes or longer for the plate to be exposed properly. For every image, a new plate must be created, exposed and then developed within a span of 20 minutes all on site. Some years later, a dry plate technique was finally developed so that the plates can be made ahead of time, multiple photographs can be taken and then developed later at a lab. For someone like me that does not even use 35mm film, this ancient wet plate photography was a real eye opener. It had the feeling of being like a science experiment and art combined into one. Tintypes, however, were an advance from the previous technology in which glass plates were used. The interesting thing is, Heather is a young woman who is drawn to this old technique. She says she really likes that look and feel of these tintype images. You can see a sample here on her website. As an older guy that has completely embraced digital, I think it’s great for the younger generation to look back at times past. I’m left wondering if the younger generation, surrounded by all this instant technology, somehow longs for a slower and simpler time.
At the end of Heather’s presentation, she made a comment that I found amusing. She indicated how bummed she is if an image didn’t turn out properly since it takes about 20 minutes to create the image from start to finish. The funny thing is, for many people, to create an HDR with the latest digital technology usually takes longer than 20 minutes of work. Some of my friends take up to an hour of post processing to create a single HDR photograph. Sure, post processing digital files is different from mixing chemicals and exposing a tintype however, I still found it ironic that in the era of modern digital captures and powerful personal computers, the high-tech HDR still may take longer to create than a photograph back 150 years ago. If you are in the Austin area, check out the CapMac Photo SIG, it usually takes place on the 4th Thursday of every month. You can find information about up coming topics here. It a great group of people and I believe it will broaden your photographic horizons. It sure has for me.
HDR is a Process, Not a Specific Look
Control Room #1 by atmtx
The Control Room by Van Sutherland
HDR, High Dynamic Range, photography has especially been popular these last several years. It tends to be a polarizing photography topic or technique that either people seem to like or dislike. Making broad generalizations, I find traditional photographers tend not to like it as much while the general public seems to enjoy it more. The point I wanted to make in this blog post is that HDR, while some equate it with a particular look, it really a process or technique. Some maybe surprised to learn that there isn’t one style or look to HDR but there are many variations. HDR photography is the technique of combining multiple images, usually 3 or more photographs taken at different exposures into a single blended image. This is usually done is post-processing though there are some new cameras and even the iPhone that creates HDRs in camera. How these images get combined is part of the skill and artistry and like anything else there are good example and not so good example of this photography technique.
If you have followed my blog or looked at my gallery, you probably know that I use HDR in a bunch of my photographs. While my HDR blending technique has changed a bit over these last couple of years, in general, I tend to have a light touch. I go for a more natural look that does not have super bright colors or heavy textures. This, of course, is my choice. Some choose to dial-up the HDR process to create an image that looks more fanciful. Neither style is correct or incorrect. This is Art after all and it really is up to the artist to execute in the style that they like. The people can decide what artistic execution they personally like better.
I recently went on a tour of the old Holly Street Power Plant, that I wrote about here. One of my fellow HDR photographer friends, Van Sutherland, and I ended up in the control room and shot the photographs above at the same time. He was standing next to me on my left. Although the angle and framing are slightly different, the lighting conditions where identical — it was very dark. I love how, given almost identical conditions, we came up with very different photographs. Much of the difference is due to the HDR processing. This shows how HDR is not a specific look but really a process that people can use to create a look they have in their head. Van does some spectacular HDR photography and I’ve long admired his work. You can see more examples of his work here, on his blog. He has honed his technique over the years to come up with his style. I have also developed a different style over the years. Two styles, very different, both HDR. So if you are already using HDR techniques yourself or want to get into it, I would encourage you to develop your own style. Remember, HDR is merely a process, a way to develop your own look. People who think all HDR looks the same may have not seen the variety that is out there.
Why Photography is Like Bowling
Bowling Alley, University of Texas – Austin, Texas
“That’s a great picture, what camera did you use?” How many times have you heard something like that before? I realize it’s meant to be a compliment, but I can’t help but interpret that statement in another way. To me they are saying, “Wow that is a great picture, it must be a special camera that created such great image”, implying that any skill the photographer has was not a factor in the making of the photograph. Some people are in that constant search for the magical camera or special lens. They come up and ask “Which camera should I buy?” This is not going to be a post about equipment vs. vision — that’s an interesting topic that I will leave for another post. Suffice it to say that I am in the camp that believes that equipment does make a difference, it’s not purely a vision thing. However, I can’t help but wonder how often cooks hear a question like “Wow that was an awesome meal, what cookware did you use?” “Don’t you think the Le Creuset is so much better than the Calphalon or the All Clad?” Does the painter get asked what kind of brush they used to create that painting? My guess is that cooks and painters don’t get asked those questions, at least by the lay person. If you have evidence to the contrary please post a comment. I don’t take the possibly backhanded compliment, personally anymore. I’m too used to people asking the same questions. So why do photographers get such inquires about their equipment when other creatives don’t? As I pondered this question, it struck me about the similarities of photography and bowling. What am I talking about? Read on and I will try to explain.
There is no doubt that there is an element of luck to photography. I’m not talking about the expert photographer catching a lucky shot, which I know does happen from time to time. I’m referring to the luck that a complete novice picture taker has if they happen to capture a great photograph. They may not know anything about photography or the camera but they happen to take a picture that turns out to be great. They may not know why it’s great or be able to recreate that image again but they were lucky and they got the shot. I believe this element of luck makes people think that taking more great pictures is easy. After all, you can’t create a painting by pure luck or randomly chisel at a block of marble and get a statue. Those art disciplines take years of devoted practice, right? Photography, that’s easy since I was able to take a great picture even without any practice. If my theory is correct, I think people believe, “Since it’s not really that hard to make a great photograph, all you need is an expensive, fancy camera to make excellent photographs all the time”.
Bowling is one of those casual sports for some that also has an element of luck. Most people, I believe, don’t take bowling seriously as a sport. It’s something kids do during a birthday party or a bunch of adults do to have a fun night — bowling and some beers. People might think “Bowling can’t possibly be difficult and be a serious sport since the first time I played, I got a strike”. Heck, that 6-year-old at the birthday party even got a strike. I must admit, at one time, I was also guilty of thinking this way. When I was a teenager, I didn’t play any sports seriously. The occasional baseball or touch football in the neighborhood as well as a little tennis with the family. When I got to high school, my friend Frank and I wanted to find a sport in which we could get a letter. I don’t know if they still do this in high school but it was a big deal to have your school letter on your jacket back then. It meant that you were on a team. We figured, how hard could bowing be? We could get on the team, get the letter and it would be easy. So freshman year, we went to the bowling team orientation meeting. We were shocked when the coach said to not even bother trying out unless you had at least a 140 – 150 average. At that time, I was lucky to get a 140 on a single game. The prospect of getting a 140 average seems daunting. Frank and I became fast friends and we joined a weekly bowling league. By the senior year we were ready for the tryout. We both got on the team and If I remember correctly, we both had about an average of 160 or so.
I think what people tend to underestimate the difficulty of consistent performance. Just because you get a lucky photograph once in a while or get a few strikes, it does not make you a great photographer or a great bowler. It also does not mean photography or bowling is easy. A professional photographer or dedicated amateur can make great photographs consistently. A varsity bowling team member or a professional bowler can consistently get strikes or spares. It takes dedication to excel in both activities. The lucky accident makes people underestimate and potentially look down on that activity. Some think “Photography is not a real art like painting or sculpture” or “bowling is not a real sport”. This, I think is a mistake. My dedication to Bowling ended when I graduated high school. I ended on a high note, though. One of the last games I played, I was in a county-wide tournament and I scored my highest game ever, somewhere around 230. The few times I’ve played afterwards, my skill level was never the same and my score has fallen back to the regular, casual player range. Now, my passion has shifted to photography. I don’t claim to be a great photographer but I am increasingly able to create images that I pre-visualize before taking the shot. Situations that used to be challenging to capture have become easier with much practice. I know that I still have a lot to learn and master but I will continue to hone my craft. And someday when someone compliments my photograph and makes an equipment inquiry, I may simple respond, “Yes, it’s all due to the camera.”
