NYC revisited

Back in April I had attended a photography workshop in NYC with Bryan F Peterson and had wanted to return to get some shots that I had not been able to do during the workshop. I recently had the opportunity to go back there and shoot again but the weather did not cooperate so I was not able to get all the shots that I had envisioned in my head.






I spent one part of a rainy day at Grand Central Station which is a really cool place to shoot. It is very beautiful inside and is extremely interesting architecturally but there are also lots of people coming and going so its a great place to shoot "ghosts" or to capture the hustle and bustle of the station by using a slow shutter speed and blurring some of the people's movement. This of course requires the use of a tripod and to shoot inside Grand Central Station with a tripod, you must first get permission from the Station Master, which luckily, is not a big deal. The office for the Station Master is located on the lower level and after speaking with him and answering a few questions, you will be issued a temporary pass. This allows you to use a tripod in the grand hall area only. You are not allowed to set it up in the stairways or entrance levels. And you are NOT allowed to photograph any of the tracks. And, even with the pass, you are not allowed to set up a tripod outside of the station either, which I found out later much to my surprise.







I also got a chance to finally walk across the Brooklyn Bridge which I think people need to add to their "bucket" list as it is quite an amazing experience and offers great views of the downtown and waterfront/financial skylines as well as the Manhattan Bridge.







Before I could get all the shots that I had wanted to get - even though it was very gray and overcast - I was overcome by a HUGE parade of people marching in celebration of addiction recovery. I was forced to sit on a bench and wait for over an hour while thousands of people from all over New York State marched by. My disappointment of not being able to shoot was replaced with a respect and humbled recognition of what all these people had accomplished. Some held signs that said they had been in recovery for 30 years, while others held signs claiming victory for only 5 days. Both were equally proud and I'm not sure which person had the more difficult cross to bear.







I also wanted to shoot Times Square at dusk so I would have a beautiful indigo blue sky but it was always gray or raining. Another thing I was bumming out about was that they have re-routed the traffic flow in Times Square such that you can no longer get a slow shutter speed shot with the red taillights streaming down both sides of the square. One side is now filled with tables for people to sit at so the traffic no longer comes down that side. I guess its better for tourists and businesses but it sucks for photographers. Anyway, there's always pretty of interesting shooting at Times Square regardless of the weather or traffic flow...







On the morning that I had to leave, the skies actually cleared for a bit and allowed an opportunity to shoot from the Top of the Rock (the observation deck on top of the Rockefeller Center ). It is open from 830 am to midnight and if you get there before it opens, you can actually have about a half an hour or so before it gets too crowded. There are two decks and the upper one is better to shoot from as you don't have to shoot through a glass wall. It offers a great view of the Empire State building when you face south. Again, no tripods are allowed up there.



There is also a great view of the Empire State from the rooftop bar of 230 Fifth (which is located on the top of the old Victoria Hotel located at 230 Fifth Avenue).

















The rest of the time was spent exploring (and shooting when the rain and wind died down) various parts of the city on foot and slowly becoming more comfortable with getting around on the subway and learning where things are located. I was psyched to finally get a shot of the green benches on the purple concrete at Federal Plaza.

The Art and Craft of Photography

Photography is the combination of both Art and Craft.


Art is the process of seeing and envisioning the final image, one which says something to its viewer.

Craft is the execution of your skills and technical knowledge to create your desired result.

You can have craft without art...
but you CANNOT have art without craft.


The craft part of photography is the easiest to learn. Especially with today's digital cameras. Understanding exposure and metering, depth of field, f stops, shutter speeds, focus plane, white balance, focal length, lens perspective, angle of view, etc. are all relatively easy to learn. It's just a matter of reading about, studying, learning, and practicing these technical aspects of photography. Given enough study and practice, most anyone of reasonable intelligence will eventually learn and master these.

And its absolutely necessary to learn the craft of photography in order to create art. But lots of people get mired down by only concentrating and focusing on the technical (or craft) part of photography. "Yup, I have selected the proper shutter speed and aperture to achieve maximum critical sharpness of the subject. I have stabilized my equipment to minimize any camera movement. And I have metered properly and have the correct white balance setting in order to achieve a perfectly exposed image. It is a GOOD image".

But you have to ask yourself: "An image of WHAT"?

Ansel Adams has a great quote describing this very process: "There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept".


Now, the art of photography - that is a completely different story. Once you have mastered the craft, how do you master the art? How do you learn to see? How do you learn to envision the final results? How do you learn to create images that say something or make you feel something, instead of just capturing something?

That is a difficult question. And the answer will be different for everyone. But this is the fun stuff. This is what takes your photography to the next level. This is what makes photography so interesting and challenging. This is what makes photography a life long journey of discovery and expression.

It is the ART of photography that is truly compelling, not the craft of it. The art of photography is an infinite universe to explore, whereas the craft of photography only offers a finite set of knowledge and skill to master.



So, where do you begin on this new journey?

Well, good photography begins in your own head, not in the camera or lens.

First, you must learn to ask yourself WHY?

WHY are you taking this picture? Can you state the purpose to yourself? Do you even know? And it doesn't have to be deep rooted. It can be as simple as "I like his shoes" or "I love the colors in this scene". But it does have to have reason and purpose behind it.

Secondly, you must learn to ask yourself WHAT?

WHAT does this scene mean to you? And to do this properly, you must SLOW DOWN. You must allow time to connect to the scene and really think about what it means to you. WHAT does it make you feel? WHAT is it that you want your viewer to feel? WHAT is it that you want to say?

Only then can you ask yourself HOW? This is where you exercise the craft of photography by using all your skills and knowledge to create the image that you have now envisioned in your head. The image that answers the questions of WHY? and WHAT?.


But these are only the starting point of learning the art of photography. They are just a simple answer to "Where do you begin?".

Where they take you will be up to you.

Because it IS a personal journey of discovery and expression.

Portsmouth Criterium Bike Race

While in Portsmouth NH over the weekend, I had the opportunity to watch some of the various races in the Portsmouth Criterium and do a little shooting. Unfortunately, it was midday with very harsh sunlight and lots of strong shadows (and I hadn't packed my external flash to use for fill flash) so this limited the positions I could shoot from as I had to find a section where the riders were front lit. I was hoping to shoot from a low perspective on an inside corner with my wide angle and fisheye lenses, but was unable to because of the light and lack of a flash. Anyway, I had never shot a road race before so it was a good chance to practice a little bit. Needless to say, I developed a lot of additional respect for iconic cycling photographer Graham Watson.

I think I could have had even more compelling images had I been able to stay for the pro race as the light would have been better and the riders would have been grouped tighter and even more aggressive in the corners. Anyway, here are a few of my images:

"Live View" Unadvertised Feature

A lot of the newer digital cameras offer "Live View" which displays the image on the rear LCD screen rather than the viewfinder, much like a regular consumer point and shoot digital camera does. While in this mode, you cannot see through the viewfinder because the mirror which typically redirects the image to the viewfinder is flipped up, thus exposing the sensor to the image coming in through the lens in real-time.

This is a real handy feature for composing and focusing your shots as it also allows you to zoom in on the live image and examine the pixels allowing you to verify critical focus. This is what most people use Live View for. In fact, I use it all the time for this purpose when doing macro work.

But wait, there's more!

It's also a real handy tool for getting your white balance set perfectly.

Yup.

First, all you do is set your White Balance selector to Kelvin mode.

Huh? What's that you ask?

Well, on most high-end digital cameras, the White Balance selection consists of Auto, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Sunny, Flash, Cloudy, Shade, and "K". Well, the "K" is for Degrees Kelvin which is the unit of measure for describing the temperature of light - basically how warm or cold the light is. And it works backwards from conventional thinking: the lower the Kelvin temperature of the light is, the more "warm" (or red) it is; and the higher the Kelvin temperature of the light, the more "cold" (or blue) it is. The typical Kelvin temperature range of light is 2,000 to 11,000 with midday light falling somewhere around 5,500 and 6,000 depending on where you live and what time of year it is. Today's cameras typically support a subset of the full Kelvin temperature range, and may vary between manufacturers and even within models.

Anyway, set the WB selector to K. Now put the camera into Live View mode and compose your shot. Examine the image on the LCD and then change the temperature for the WB "K" setting up or down (typically is done by rotating a thumb wheel or via a menu) until the tone and colors on the LCD image match the real scene. Dial the temperature down to "cool" it and dial the temperature up to "warm" it. Once you are satisfied that what you see on the screen matches what you see with your eyes, press the shutter and capture it.

This is extremely helpful when shooting in mixed lighting situations. Today's digital cameras do a pretty damn good job with white balance, but they really struggle under mixed lighting conditions. Like at a wedding, where you may have sunlight coming in through a side window, some tungsten overhead lights, maybe some lit candles, and also a splash of fluorescent light coming in from a hallway off camera. It's a White Balance NIGHTMARE. None of the Standard WB settings will get it right and you will be left dealing with a bridal gown that is too yellow, or too blue.

Sure, you can just shoot in RAW mode and fix it later during your post-processing, but why not try to get it right in-camera and reduce your digital work flow by a few steps? Besides, when you do finally sit down to perform your post-processing, you may not remember the exact colors and tones in that scene so you may not reproduce them correctly.

You can also get mixed lighting conditions when shooting nature or landscape shots. For instance, it may be cloudy out but the sun is burning through the clouds a bit. Add in the fact that it's late afternoon and there's also some partial shade hitting your scene. Is it Sunny, Cloudy or Shady? Again, none of the standard WB settings are going to get this right.

This just happened to me a few weekends ago while shooting some Lotus blossoms late in the afternoon. I just wasn't happy with the White Balance the camera was producing:

It was very nice, but it just wasn't the velvety deeper green that my eyes were seeing.

So, I used Live View to set the White Balance and was pleased with the final result:

One caveat about using this method:


BE SURE TO SET THE WHITE BALANCE MODE SETTING BACK TO WHERE YOU HAD IT when you are done shooting the mixed lighting scene.

Memorizing the f-stop Table

We've talked about f-stops and aperture control before (see Aperture 101 in the June 2009 post) but I thought I would list out the f-stop tables for you.

full f-stop table
1.0	1.4	2.0	2.8	4.0	5.6	8.0	11	16	22	32	45

Do you have a hard time memorizing these values? Want to impress your photography friends by rattling this number series off the top of your head? Maybe even win some money in the Cash Cab or on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Well, there's an easy way to do it.

You ONLY need to remember the first pair of numbers in the series: the 1.0 and the 1.4.

Then just double each number in this pair to get the next two numbers in the series. Keep doing this to each newly generated pair of numbers until the series is complete.

So you start with the only pair of numbers in the series that you need to remember:

1.0

1.4

Then double each one so the 1.0 becomes 2.0 and the 1.4 becomes 2.8 and add this new pair to the series. So now the series is:

1.0

1.4

2.0

2.8

Now do it again to the newly generated 2.0 and 2.8.
The 2.0 becomes 4.0 and the 2.8 becomes 5.6.
And the series is now:

1.0

1.4

2.0

2.8

4.0

5.6

Now do it again to the newly generated 4.0 and 5.6.
The 4.0 becomes 8.0 and the 5.6 becomes 11 (I know, its really 11.2 but just round it down to 11).
And the series is now:

1.0

1.4

2.0

2.8

4.0

5.6

8.0

11

Now do it again to the newly generated 8 and 11.
The 8 becomes 16 and the 11 becomes 22.
And the series is now:

1.0

1.4

2.0

2.8

4.0

5.6

8.0

11

16

22

Now do it again to the newly generated 16 and 22.
The 16 becomes 32 and the 22 becomes 44. Oops - here's the only catch: this really needs to be 45 so because this is the last one, I just add my first number in the series which was 1 to the generated 44. Don't be too concerned about this though as most lenses don't go beyond 22 or 32 and it's close enough to 44 that you'll recognize 45 as being a full stop.

And the completed series is now:

1.0

1.4

2.0

2.8

4.0

5.6

8.0

11

16

22

32

45

There you have it. You have just generated the entire series from only the seed pair of numbers 1.0 and 1.4. Basically, you are then just doubling every other number in the series. How easy is that!!

This method only applies to the FULL f-stop series values. Note that you can also have partial f-stops in increments of halfs or thirds depending on how your camera settings are configured. These are those funny values you see in the display as you rotate the aperture wheel that are inbetween the full f-stop values. Luckily, its not important to memorize these but rather to just recognize them as partial f-stops because they are not one of the full f-stop values that you now have memorized. Please refer to the following tables below.

f-stop table for camera configured to support 1/2 f-stop increments
full f-stop value	1/2 f-stop increment
1.0	1.2
1.4	1.7
2.0	2.6
2.8	3.4
4.0	4.8
5.6	6.7
8.0	9.5
11	13.5
16	19.6
22	27
32	38
45

f-stop table for camera configured to support 1/3 f-stop increments
full f-stop value	1/3 f-stop increment	2/3 f-stop increment
1.0	1.1	1.3
1.4	1.6	1.8
2.0	2.2	2.5
2.8	3.2	3.5
4.0	4.5	5.0
5.6	6.3	7.0
8.0	9.0	10
11	12.5	14
16	18	20
22	25	28
32	35.9	40.3
45

Early Images from Hubble

Here are some initial never-before-published images from the Hubble telescope shortly after it was recently reconditioned and updated.

OK. So they're not really from Hubble... They are from my kitchen.

Yup! And all that you need to create these abstract images is a macro lens or extension tubes, a clear pyrex cooking dish, water, cooking oil, and something that has a variety of color in it such as a magazine ad, brightly colored fabric, or in my case, colorful holiday & special occasion wrapping papers.

Just place the pyrex pan filled with water 5-6 inches over the colored item of choice, add a few drops of oil, let things settle down a little and then just shoot away. Keep experimenting with different background colors and patterns. You will be amazed at how many UNIQUE abstract images that you can create. You will definitely end up with an image that no one else has or ever WILL have. Not bad for a few household items that you probably already have around the house.

So, instead of searching the world over for that ONE shot that no one else has, you can just create it yourself in the comfort of your own home.

To learn about this technique in detail, either purchase Bryan F Peterson's book Understanding Close-Up Photography, or sign up for his Understanding Close-Up Photography 4-week on-line class at the Perfect Picture School of Photography.

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

We are blessed to live in this country and to enjoy the freedom that we have. So as a photographer, make sure you spend today enjoying that freedom by getting out with your camera and shooting.

Take a walk, drive to a new place, visit family and friends, throw a barbecue, watch a small town parade, see some fireworks, hang a flag on your door, eat a hot dog, sunbath in a park, walk along the ocean, ride a bike, climb a mountain, the list of possibilities is endless. Just do whatever brings you happiness but make sure you bring your camera along to capture it.