When to use IS/VR

IS is Image Stabilization.(Canon term)
VR is Vibration Reduction (Nikon term)

The both mean the same thing.  Technology built into a lens or the camera senses camera movement and makes constant micro adjustments to compensate for that shake.  It's a great technology that allows you to shoot hand held is situations that would result in blurry photos if you didn't have it. 

If you have IS/VR turned on and your camera is not moving, such s when it is on a tripod, the IS/VR will actually introduce vibration trying to adjust for movement that is not there.   Under most conditions you want to turn it off when mounting your camera on a tripod.  Don't forget to turn it back on when you go back to shooting hand held or you will be disappointed when you look at your photos later.  Some of the newer lenses can sense when there is no movement and turn the IS/VR off.  None of mine do that so I have to rely on my memory, which is why I get more blurry photos than I should.

5D Mark ii, 300mm, 1/40 second

I recently learned that there is an exception to this rule.   I was in the Palouse region of Washington State on top of Steptoe Butte, which is a quartzite island jutting out about 1,000 feet above the rolling Palouse hills.  Because there is nothing else around to slow the wind it gets pretty breezy up there.   I was shooting with my 300mm telephoto firmly attached to a tripod but the camera was being blown around by the winds.  My fist shots were disappointing because they were blurry.   I then turned IS on and the change was dramatic.   The blurriness caused by the camera motion was gone and my images were sharp.

5D Mark ii, 105mm, 1.3 seconds

5D Mark ii, 300mm, 1/8 second

These are all shot with either a 300mm lens or a 24-105mm @ 105mm on a Canon 5D mark ii with IS turned on.

As with most things, there are exceptions to the rules.  Don't assume that if you are following what you were told you will always get great results.  It's important to be aware of conditions and make the appropriate adjustments to the rules.

The most important photography investment you can make

Photographers know that there is an seemingly endless list of photography things we can buy.  Just browse on over to Adorama or B&H websites.  You can spend hours just browsing the cameras, lens, filters, tripods, memory cards, lights, back packs, software, computers to process and store photos, and loads of other gizmos.   We tend to contract an infectious disease of that spreads among photographers - GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome).  The manufactures of camera gear don't help when they bring out new versions every months.

We all have a budget we are willing to spend on our photography.  For some it is modest and others it may be pretty high but it's not infinite.   If you were limited to buying one thing that would make your photographs better, what would it be?  What one photography related thing would you spend your money on?

For me it's not something you can buy at Adorama, B&H or the local photography store.   It's that thing behind my eyes and between my ears.   My experience is that money spent learning is a much better investment than the latest gizmo, gadget, or software.   There are many ways to improve photography knowledge and skills.  You can take a class in a classroom or online.  You can read books.   For me the best was to learn is to attend a workshop with top notch leaders and other photographers that are interested in improving their photography.   It's like being immersed in a cloud of photography knowledge that you absorb just by being there. 

Before signing up for a workshop you should do a little research.  What is the objective of the workshop?  Some are more guided trips that get you to interesting places at the right time but don't provide any real instruction.  Make sure the instructors are familiar with the places you will be going.  All outdoor photographers know that the weather influences what you can take and when. 

Chuck in A Fog

You need an instructor who knows the area and can adjust the workshop plans to accommodate the weather.   You should learn if the instructor is a good teacher as well as good photographer.  I know some great photographers who are not strong teachers.  Your leader should be both.

I recently attended a workshop with His Light Workshops led by Bill Fortney.  Bill has a great team of instructors that are there to help and make sure everyone gets the most out of the workshop.   This was my third workshop with His Light Workshops and I have already signed up for another in July.   I've known Bill for a number of years and know he is a great teacher that is passionate about photography and teaching others.   In addition to his staff of instructors, Bill brings in special invited guest instructors.  We were blessed to have Matt Kloskowski on this workshop.  

Don't jump guys!

I've been to other workshops with other instructors and keep coming back to Bill's because he is a strong Christian who attract other strong Christians to his workshops.   It's not unusual to have prayer time before heading out.   It doesn't get much better than being in God's creation with great people who love the Lord.

Here's some more photos from the workshop in Palouse Washington,  Mount Rainier National Park, and Olympic National Park.

Looking for the best spot to shoot Palouse Falls

Workshop participants are all outstanding in a field

Going to the edge for the best shot.

What, me worry?

At the end of the week I had to say goodbye to old friends and new friends.   But I know I'll see them again in a future workshop.

The end of the day

I'm working my way through my photos from the workshop and also the prior week when June and I were in vacationing in the Washington and Oregon coast region.  Watch for other blog posts.

Time for the second curtain.

OK, this is a bit of an advanced topic but one that fun to try.   It's called second curtain flash, rear curtain flash or show sync flash.  I mentioned it to a friend and accomplished photographer Saturday night and he had never heard of it.   That made me think maybe I should blog a bog on the second curtain.

First, a little explanation of how a camera shutter works.   There are two halves called curtains and they work just like a curtain would.   Before you click the shutter release the curtains are closed and no light is reaching the sensor.  Imagine a stage with the curtain closed.  The place where the two curtains meet is all the way on one side of the stage.  When you take the picture the first curtain slides open exposing the sensor (stage) to light.  Once the time determined by the shutter speed has been reached the second curtain slides across closing the shutter.  Unlike a theater curtain this all happens very quickly around 1/60 of a second.    But if your shooting under low light conditions you might have a long shutter speed.

First / second curtain setting determines when the flash fires.  By default the sequence of events (first curtain) is as follows

1. First curtain opens
2. Flash fires right away
3. Second curtain closes after a period of time

 When the camera is set to second curtain the events are slightly different

1. First curtain opens
2. Flash fires after a period of time (shutter speed)
3. Second curtain closes

Under most conditions this makes little difference to the photograph.  It does make a difference when the subject is moving and you use a flash.   When the flash fires it produces a bright light for a very short time, which freezes motion.   If you shutter is open longer than the time the flash is on then any movement will create a ghosting effect.  You know, the blurs where people moved while you were taking a longer exposure.   First or second curtain setting determines where the frozen image is in relation to the blur.   With first curtain you get the sharp image when the flash goes off, then the blur.   With second curtain you get the blur then the sharp image.  Confused?  Take a look at this image.

In this image the car is moving from right to left.  I shot from a tripod with a 1.3 second exposure and my flash set to second curtain.  During the 1.3 seconds the car moved across the frame leaving streaks (it was moving slow).  Then the flash fired and froze the car in place on the left side.   To me this seams like a more appealing image than with first flash in which case the car would have been frozen on the right with the blur moving to the left if front of the car.

 Here's a second example with a 0.6 second exposure.  It was much later at night than the first image, which was a dusk where there was more ambient light.

The can see the driver is frozen talking on her cell phone  (not a good idea) but the tail lights create a cool cartoon blur effect.

Want to see more examples?  Do a google earch for second curtain flash images. If you want to read more check out Neil van Niekerk's blog.

 I'm pretty sure most cameras have this feature but it may be down deep in the menu.  Another case where you want to get your camera manual out and actually read it.

Trying New Things

Last weekend I splurged on myself and bought a new lens.  I found a good deal on a refurbished Canon 300mm f/4 L telephoto.   This is the same model I rented when I went to Reelfoot Lake back in February.  I really liked that lens and have become tired of carrying around my heavy Sigma 80-400 zoom.  This is the lens I plan on taking with me when looking for wildlife shots.

Today was the first chance I had to try it out.  I went out exploring the yard planning to use it to get some bird shots.  I filled the feeders and waited.  While I was waiting I noticed our recent rainstorms had knocked the dogwood flowers down and there were several on a shrub in the back yard.  What the heck, I had my camera and 300 lens so I decided to see what I could get.   Now this is not how I would have taken this shot if I had planned it.  I would have had my tripod, macro lens, and cable release to get as sharp a picture as possible.   Being too lazy to go back in the house I shot the flower petals handheld about 9 feet away with a 300mm lens.

1/400 second, f/5.6, ISO 640 using Canon 7D

I'm pretty excited about the way this came out.  The best part is I tried something new.  

I've traveled great distances to many interesting places to photograph.  I've attended workshops and learned a great deal at each one.  One thing I have learned is you don't have to go to a workshop or travel to exotic places to improve your photography.  One of the best exercises is to limit yourself to a small area and only one lens.  It forces you to use your eye to look for interesting subjects and compositions right under your nose and to think differently when composing a shot.  It makes you move past the obvious and easy shots.   As with anything else, the only way to improve is to practice.  

It's starting to look like rain again.  I may be back out taking this shot again shortly with rain drops of the leaves and petal.

Are you an iconic photographer?

One of the first trips June and I took with my first DSLR (a Canon Digital Rebel XTi, which I still have)  was to the Canadian Rockies in Alberta.  We've been to a lot of different places since then but the Canadian Rockies is still my favorite place to visit.  I remember taking a lot of photographs, including this one of Spirit Island on Maligne Lake.

It's not really an island, but if you position yourself correctly and compose the shot just right it can appear to be an island.   This is one of those shots everyone takes.  To get the shot you either have to hike for a couple days or take a boat tour.  The boat drops you off right next to the island and gives you just enough time to walk to a spot to get "the shot" before it's time to get back in the boat and head back to the other end of the lake.

Spirit Island is what I call an Iconic Photograph - the image everyone who has been there has taken and you can find hundreds or thousands almost identical copies on the internet.  Try this - go to google.com and type "spirit island maligne lake" in the search box.  When the list of results comes up click images and see what you get.   On one trip to Zion National Park I found myself standing shoulder to shoulder with dozens of other photographers to take an Iconic Picture of The Watchman from the Canyon Junction Bridge.  Even National Geographic photographers give in to temptation and take iconic photos, such as Mesa Arch in Canyonlands National Park at sunrise.  Every place has them and they are not to be missed.  When planning a trip that I may only get to take once I prepare my hit list of iconic photos I want to take while I'm there.   I'm in the final stages of planning a trip to Washington State and Oregon and have created  quite a list of iconic photo spots to hit.

While I will take the Iconic Photos, lately I've become more interested in finding something unique and different and less interested in the images made by hundreds or thousands of photographers before me.  I try to find subjects and compositions that I won't see on other people's websites, facebook, etc.   Here's a quote from one of my favorite photographer/authors:.

"The more I study photographs from the past century -

the incredibly short lifespan of our art so far - the more

convinced I am that everything’s been photographed,

that our challenge now is to manipulate light, lines,

and moments in the frame in a way that expresses our

unique view of those so oft-photographed subjects. "

- David duChemin - Photograph Issue 2

I don't know if everything has been photographed, but it's getting harder and harder to create unique photographs.  Here's some photos I took in 2012 and some suggestions on avoiding the iconic photography rut.

Even when you are at one of those iconic spots, open your mind to different angles or subjects.  On this morning I was in the Smoky Mountains at one of the best places to photograph the sunrise.  When the sunrise didn't happen I had fun taking long exposure photos of cars going by on the road.  Not what I went for but a different take on a familiar location.

Slow down and look for something or someone outside of the main action.  In this case I was taking photos at a Revolutionary War Reenactment and discovered this man resting on a bench outside one of the cabins.   An interesting expression on his face and that red vest and green hat are a great combination of contrasting colors.

Walk a ways off the beaten path.   I was at Roan Mountain with a group of friends for sunrise photographs.  Afterward we walked down the road just a little way and found this just off the road.  People were driving and walking by about 15 feet away and never looking down where we were getting this image.

Look for small details with interesting shapes, lines and colors.  This is a section of McDonald Creek in Glacier National Park.   Although hundreds of people take photos here every day, I bet you won't see this one anywhere else.  It tells a story of how the rocks have been worn smooth and the curve carved by the blue glacier fed river.  Here's another of small details in the same river.

Look beyond the obvious.   I was on the Blue Ridge Parkway for the fall colors.  When I took this the sky was blue and the colors brilliant, but I found the the lake with leaves on the surface and a reflection of trees to be more interesting.  I think I got some strange looks when I was taking pictures looking down when the obvious iconic picture was up.

These are just some examples and suggestions.  You might want to read this article on Lightstalking - Travel Photography - A Different Point of View.

There are interesting subjects all around us.  If you look you will find all God's creations are interesting and worthy of being photographed.  All we have to do is open our minds, slow down, get off the beaten path, look for the details and look beyond the obvious. 

My Photography Was All Wet

All photos can be viewed large size by clicking on them.  The Smoky Mountain photos are available for purchase here.

Kind of a strange title for a blog post.  What in the world is he talking about?   Photography that's not good?  Ideas that are all wet? Developing film? Are you interested yet?

I'm talking about what I did this last weekend.   The forecast was for up to 2 inches of rain in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park Saturday and Sunday with locally heavy down pours and possible lightning.  Sound like a good time to stay in doors and wait for better weather right?   No way!   Time to grab the camera and head to the mountains!

There have been times when I've been out taking pictures on a bright sunny cloudless day and people I meet will say something like "What a great day to be out taking pictures.  It's it beautiful?"  I'll smile and say something like "It sure is a beautiful day" but in my mind I'm wishing for clouds and even a little rain.  You might be thinking my head should be examined.

Bright sunny days are not great conditions to take landscape photos, especially during the hours between an hour after sunrise and an hour before sunset.  At these times the light can make taking photos very difficult.   The bright sunlight can make parts of a scene extremely bright while other parts are in deep dark shadows.  Under these high contrast conditions it is hard to find an exposure that works for both the bright and dark areas.   Expose for the bright spots and the shadows are very dark without any details.  Expose for the shadows and the bright parts are over exposed, sometimes to the point of being solid white with no details.  HDR photography can be used to overcome these conditions but even with HDR techniques it can be difficult to get to a realistic photo that is pleasing to look at.

Stormy days are the opposite.  If the entire scene is in the shadow of clouds then the difference between the brightest and darkest areas of a photo are not as extreme.  You can more easily come up with a single exposure that covers the entire range of light in the scene.   Gone are the dark shadows and blown out bright highlights.   Partly cloudy may not work if you are still dealing with bright sunny and cloudy spots in a scene.  You need a solid overcast day.

Rainy days are even better.  When foliage is wet it can bring out the vibrant colors in the green leaves, brown soil, and colorful flowers.   It's important to use a polarizing filter when there is any water on the subjects, even when it is dark and cloudy.   A polarizer will cut the reflection off wet leaves and other surfaces and allow the dark rich colors to be captured, as in the photo below.  It was really pouring when I took this one, but the 2 1/2 second exposure allowed me to blur the water and make the raindrops "disappear".

So, when the forecast was for a rainy weekend June and I made reservations at our favorite hotel in Townsend Tennessee and headed for the mountains.   I am blessed to have a wife who is willing to go away on a weekend of wet rainy weather and drive around looking for that shot of a flowering dogwood hanging over the far bank of a rushing  stream or the wildflower covered in rain drops.  

These dark wet days are also the best time to take photos of streams and waterfalls.  The low light conditions allow me to get slow exposures that create the silky white water effect that I really like.  In the first photo above, I was able to get a long six second exposure making the water soft while keeping the rocks sharp and well defined.

Some of the best conditions can be at the end of a storm when the skies start to clear.  If this occurs in the early morning or late afternoon God may put on a dramatic show of sunlight and storm clouds that can be breathtaking.  I didn't get these conditions this weekend but there was a time when the rain stopped and the clouds started to lift.  I took 8 vertical (portrait orientation) shots and stitched them together to create this wide panorama of Cades Cove.  You can see the brilliant colors in the field and some of the fog hanging in the mountains.

There are some conditions where bright sunny days are good for landscape photos.  In this example from Glacier National Park, the sunlight was behind me and evenly lit the field and mountains, without harsh light or dark shadows.  The 6,600 foot altitude made the sky deep blue, which made the mountains stand out.  This shot wouldn't have worked on a cloudy day.

Bottom line is don't let the weather keep you from going out, taking some photos, and enjoying God's creation.  Figure out what works well under the conditions God has given you and shoot it.

Enjoy!

Nail the Focus with Live View

Well it looks like wildflower season may actually arrive here in East Tennessee before summer does.   The day time temps are forecast to be 50 - 60 this week with some sunny days.  I saw my first wildflowers last Friday.  With the wet winter-spring and extended cold weather we've had I expect the blooms to start popping out all over any day now. 

Wildflowers are great macro photography subjects.  I suspect many of you will be like me out in the field (literally) with your macro lens trying to get that great image that is perfectly focused on exactly the right spot to make your composition.  If you're like me, you'll struggle with the focusing.  Here's some tips to help you "nail the focus" on your macro shots.

First, put your lens on a good sturdy tripod.  Good macros can be made hand held, but they can be challenging.

Second, use a wired or wireless remote shutter release. If you don't have one, use your camera's shutter timer so you are not touching the camera when the shutter trips.

Third, turn off auto-focus and set your lens to manual focus.   When you're shooting a small intimate scene like a wildflower your depth of field where the subject is in focus will be extremely shallow.  It is important to compose your shot and manually focus so that the most important part of the composition is in focus.  The auto focus may be great, but it will often focus on the wrong thing, ruining the shot.

There are a lot of factors working against you being able to manually focus a macro shot.   The camera may be low to the ground, requiring you to either lay on the ground or get into a contorted position that makes yoga look easy in order to be able to look through the viewfinder.  I wear glasses with the "no-line bifocal" feature, which means the focus on the bottom of my glasses is different from the middle or top.  If I'm in a position where it's difficult to line up my glasses with the viewfinder then manually focusing through the viewfinder is frustrating because it never appears to be in focus.

Fourth, manually focusing a macro shot involves minute manual adjustments. It's hard to tell when you have the focus where you want it.  Any slight movement of the focus ring, camera or subject can ruin the focus.

The good news is most modern DSLRs have a Live View feature that can help over come the manual focus challenge.   In Live View mode you're seeing what will be in the image before you take the shot, but you're seeing it on the camera's LCD.  Live View enables you to view and compose the shot without fighting to get in position to look through the view finder.  You see the image while you manually focus so you are able to get the focus right and on the right spot.  If you have a camera with an articulating LCD display then you have even greater flexibility.

Both Canon and Nikon DSLRs have a digital zoom feature while in Live View mode which works like zooming in to the image in post processing.  What I do is pick a place where I want the focus to be as sharp as possible then use the Live View zoom to get down to where I can see the smallest details on the LCD while manually focusing.   You'll be able to see how just touching the focus ring on the lens can change the focus.

Of course, to make this possible your camera must be on a tripod.  Any camera or subject movement will make manual focus nearly impossible.  If you are hand holding and/or the subject is moving you might be better off in auto focus mode.

Live View manual focusing is not just for macro shots.  I've been using it to get more accurate manual focusing in my landscape shots.

The way Live View works varies by manufacturer and camera model.  You'll want to break down and actually read your owners manual and then practice a bit before heading out into the fields of flowers, bugs and other subjects in the intimate world of macro photography.

These and other macro flower photos are available online in the flower gallery on my website.

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