Sunglasses

Hello,

So the other day I went driving for a bit and ended up outside of Red Rock Canyon which is closed due to the pandemic. There were wildflowers all over though so I decided to take some pictures. It started off East of the entrance and close to the road meaning close to my vehicle. I got the pictures that I wanted then drove to see if I could frame things differently. I ended up walking for a few minutes and realized that I took off my CPL (polarizing) filter and left it on the passenger seat. I also enjoyed the way that the sky looked and didn’t want to lose it so I didn’t go back to the vehicle.

This was just East of the entrance with a CPL filter on. More are in the Red Rock folder

So instead of going back and losing the cloud dispersion I took off my sunglasses and put them over the lens. They aren’t as good as a CPL but they can work in a pinch. They can also work as an ND filter.

Taken with sunglasses instead of a CPL filter. If you compare the two images the strength difference can be seen. I deleted the ones I took without the CPL or glasses.

I am not saying get rid of your CPL and ND filters. I am saying that sunglasses can be used in a pinch.

Depending on the camera and glasses it is possible to wedge them together.

There are a few caveats, the polarizing effect only works if they are polarizing lenses, effectiveness is proportional to the size of the glasses and the size of the lens opening, the more scratches on the glasses the more imperfect the image will be, and the glasses probably will change what your WB should be. Those are the major ones.

If you have any stories or images of how you have used something related to photography for another purpose please feel free to share.

~Scott

Flash: Snoots

So with the pandemic going on, I have been staying home more than normal. The pictures of the mushroom that I took not to long ago needed some different lighting that just a flash. A flash was involved but there was a home made snoot on it.

*If you are familiar with snoots you can probably skip ahead to after the picture. If not read on.

So a snoot is a light modifier that contains the spread of the light. Think flashlight versus a lamp. Basically it is to make it so the flash is on one specific subject or even part of the subject. In doing so it can make the subject stand out from the rest of the picture. One can also be used to isolate the subject turning nearly everything else in the frame either in shadow or blacked out.

Now a snoot is basically an opaque cylinder that fits over the front of a flash. I have seen some a while back that had reflective surfaces inside of them. I have seen others that are collapsible and ones where the size of the opening can be changed.

A tiny mushroom I found growing on the side of a seed starter pot. It was less smaller than a 1/4 inch. Marco lens, lit from above on a wooden cutting board, 1/60 second, f13, iso 100, camera was tripod mounted with a timer some I could hand hold the flash.

Today I will show you how I made a simple one with an adjustable opening. First you get a piece of construction paper that is black, next you roll it into tube, then you adjust the roll until it fits around your off camera flash on one side and has the opening size that you want on the other side. Finally if you want to keep it that specific size then tape the paper together. Below is a picture of todays subject.

The conjoined crimson clover that was in the backyard. To give an idea of how close everything is in the coming set of pictures.

First the construction paper wrapper around the flash. The second was actually taken last and is the conjoined clovers with no flash (all the pictures were taken within 12 minutes) to show the lighting that was there. The third image is of a flash with no snoot from nearly were it would mount on the camera. The fourth is with the snoot but wide so it light both flower heads. Finally the fifth picture is with the snoot with a small opening only big enough to completely light one flower head.

It isn’t hard and it can be very useful in the right situations. Given the current situation with the pandemic it is something that can be tried without leaving home. Stay safe and as always I would love to see what you can do with this new information. Pictures and comments are welcome

Less than good weather

Hello,

So in quite a few parts of the US it is cloudy, rainy, and stormy. For some this is the time to figure out something else to do rather than going outside and taking pictures. Catching up on a blog, studying other’s work to figure out how that shot was done, reading a good book, editing pictures, cleaning gear, and a plethora of other things that aren’t going out in cloudy, rainy weather.

Don’t be sad like this little girl because of the rain. Grab an umbrella and enjoy the change from clear skies.

I am going to say go out into that not so sunny day and take pictures. Landscapes come alive with clouds in them, rivers look full of action, cityscapes become reflected, rocky cliffs become waterfalls, car lights double, there is a possibility for lightning  and waterfalls increase in volume.

Granted some of those are only if it is actively raining others are post rain and clouds. One of my favorite parts is that a lot of people don’t go out when it is raining. I have gone to normally busy locations to hike and been alone. Normally there would be hundreds of people and no parking.

I have been to some stunning places in my life and not always to photograph. To me a clear blue sky is rather boring. Give me some clouds to break it up, some water on the road or rocks to add some dimension. It could be because I have been in the desert so long that rain and clouds have become something special to me. I believe the Las Vegas area has around 300 days of sunshine a year. The clouds and rain are few and far between.

I know that the pictures above are of foggy, cloudy, and rainy situations. I am realizing that I don’t have many pictures with clear blue skies in them. Not to say that you can’t take good pictures with clear skies I have multiple, the sky is not usually the focus of the image though. We all have our preferences as to how to produce an image, I am just encouraging you all to not discount the less than perfect weather days.

I would enjoy seeing images you all have taken even if they are bright blue skies. As always comments and questions are welcome. I will try not to let so much time go by before the next post.

~Scott

Slumps (10 ft challenge)

Good morning,

So we can all get into creative slumps or blocks or what ever you would like to call it. It is just a time when doing what you enjoy seems boring or pointless because you have “done it all before.” There are various ways to get around this. A common one is to buy some new gear which is always fun and exciting for at least a little while. Now we including myself aren’t well off enough to be able to do that often. So another option is to use what you have but in a different way.

So comes the 10 foot challenge. It is rather simple and doesn’t need to be exact. Step 1 grab your camera, Step 2 look around you in a rough distance of 10 feet to see subjects, Step 3 take a picture of something within that 10 foot radius. For most people this will be indoors, if you generally shoot outdoors then this will force you to change what you do. Then maybe go outside to start this. The main point is to get you out of your comfort zone and take a picture of something that you normally wouldn’t or take a photo of something that you already have but change the way that you capture it. Spend a few minutes to look around and turn a mundane subject into something interesting.

Above are a few examples of things that I did while I was doing a 365 a in 2015 with objects that were around the house. Most were types of photography that I had seen before but either never did it or didn’t have much experience with. Slumps suck and this is a way to get through one. Comments are open and I would enjoy seeing what you come up with.

Scott

Flash 4 (Ceiling bounce flash)

Good evening,

Tonight I am going to go over one of the easy things that can be done with most flashes. Bouncing them. Stop don’t throw your flash on the ground. I am talking about the light off of something else then onto the subject. I slightly discussed this in my first Flash post some months ago. That was dealing with the on camera flash though. For this I used a hot shoe flash, a Sony HVL-F56AM to be precise.

It can tilt and swivel either separately or in conjunction with each other.

So to bounce the flash off of the ceiling you just tilt the head to face the ceiling. It can either be done connected to the hotshoe or not and triggered remotely.

Above we have Grumpy Bear with the flash pointed directly at him. The light looks harsh nearly over bright, detail has been lost in his fur, the high points (cheeks and snout in his case) lost color, and the shadow behind him is prominent.

Again I have taken a picture of Grumpy Bear. This time with the flash pointing nearing straight up at the ceiling. The scene is more evenly lit albeit a bit darker. His fur detail is easily visible, the shadows are more naturally where one would see them during the day (under his chin mainly), the high points aren’t overly bright, and he appears closer to the color that he is.

Neither of these pictures to me is perfect, I was going straight out of the camera and did not adjust them at all. I am sure that if I did I could clear up some of the faults of each. I am a firm believer in getting it right in camera. It would be easier and look better to just brighten up the second image than to darken the highlights. Tilt or ceiling bounce is not hard and with practice it is easy.

Macro and tripods

Good morning,

So I am trying to get back on schedule with these updates and I am finding that it is not the easiest thing. So with it being spring and all I have done my usual of getting a container of ladybugs for the garden to help control pests and to give the girls a couple of days to have ladybugs nearly on demand. They had their fun and I got to take some pictures using my macro lens. If you want to short version of this post here it is “Tripods can make macro photography easier.”

Now the idea for macro seems like it is easy. It did to me when I got my first true macro lens some years ago. After using it for a little while I realized that the closer to the lens one gets the smaller the depth of field gets. I recall taking a picture of my dog tags to test the lens and was not prepared for only 2 letters to be on the plane of focus.

This was at 50mm at f2.8

Because such a small slice of area is on focus, hand holding a camera for macro images can be difficult. So I suggest using a tripod and if you want to get really fancy there are sliding tripod heads that make moving the camera for this type of work easier. I have yet to use one myself because I do not shoot a ton of macro, I have seen them though and they appear to make the process easier.

Now back to the ladybugs. So we let some ladybugs go, it was still a bit chilly out so they were moving slow. This was perfect for taking pictures of them.

The first image was one of them walking and was shot at f4.0 and the small area of focus can easily be seen on the wood. I had multiple images where the ladybug moved just outside of the focus area. The second image is also at f4.0 and the whole ladybug isn’t in focus. The third image is was taken at f13 and a little farther away and now large portions of a leaf are in focus. When working with such a small area of focus and slow of not moving subjects a tripod helps maintain the focused area where you want it.

Hope you enjoyed the blog have fun with the new knowledge.

~Scott

Gear Envy

Good morning,

Again it has been a while and I appreciate your patience.

I am sure that all of us has experienced it we see someone else with something that is better or newer or different than what we are using and there is that moment of “I wish I had that” or “If I had that lens/camera/flash/program I could capture/make that image.” I currently have it in regards to my friend Drew. His camera is tech from 2017 and my newest is from 2012. Now this doesn’t mean that his camera takes better pictures than mine is just means it is newer. Mind you I still would like a newer camera and it will happen eventually. There are advantages on both sides. Newer has better ISO capabilities, lighter, better battery, newer tech. The downside is I would have to buy new editing programs and new lenses or an adapter if I want to use my current lenses, I would need to learn a new camera as well.

Taken with my A77 (2011) on the way to meet up with Drew and his A7RIII (2017)

The main point here is that sure there is always going to be newer or better gear than what we have unless you can buy the newest greatest thing every few months. Sometimes new things are needed other times the gains are minimal and not worth the cost. I say wait until you have outgrown what you currently have then get the new thing that is out. There are photographers out there that are making exceptional photographs with 35mm film. That from the 1900s. The first patent for a 35mm camera was in 1908. So currently I will stick with what I have any quietly envy other peoples’ newer equipment while at the same time honing my own skills by finding work arounds with what I have.

~Scott

Self candids

It has been awhile,

I have been busy with kids school, being sick, kids being sick, currently the wife is, work, looking for more work, a birthday (42 feels the same as 40 and 41), looking into trips, working on a photo album, and just regular life. Looking at the photo album brought my attention back to a problem photographers have myself included. We are behind the camera more often than in front of it. I went through thousands of pictures to catch our family album up to date. I am in maybe 1/10th of the pictures, and that is a high estimate.

There are a few ways around this. First have a significant other that likes to take pictures as much as you do (it didn’t work out well for me in that department), trust strangers to use your camera (more on this later), use self timer, use a remote, use an intervalometer, or teach your child the craft.

If you have a significant other that takes pictures at the same frequency as you then you are one lucky person and can probably stop reading this right now. If you are in the same boat that I am in then read on.

Trusting strangers to take pictures for you can be a little complicated. I have had so many issues with this from the focus being off to things being in the frame to the exposure being way off etc. What I have found that works well is putting it on manual and taking a test shot of who ever else is going to be in the frame then I look at the pictures after they take them to make sure the focus is right and there wasn’t camera shake. It works well but is generally a posed picture.

A self timer is okay in a pinch, the worst part is running back after the shutter is pressed. Again better for posed pictures.

Using a remote is better, I have pulled off some candid looking group photos with them, it was usually trigger a bunch of times to get a single good candid. It is used in place of the camera timer release and is better for posed pictures.

The intervalometer can have great results for candid pictures. The trick is forgetting that it is taking pictures which can be harder than it seems. One of the best results using one like this was picking plums with my daughters in the backyard. There were over 300 pictures in about an hour which got narrowed down to 48. I was in them doing an activity with my daughters. It was worth it. One that I liked it seen below.

The last option is to teach a child to take the pictures. I am working on this currently. I don’t recommend getting a children’s cameras because they are horrible quality and they usually have games and such on them. My children have had a few and they are only ever okay when outside in bright sunlight. I bought my kids some old film cameras. they loved them. Once they realized they would have to wait for the pictures they weren’t too happy with them. They did have fun shooting rolls of film though. It gave them a taste of what it was like back when I was growing up. They currently share a Canon Powershot that has a neck strap on it. They have taken some good pictures with it and they enjoy it. They have taken pictures with my DSLRs before again with the neck strap. Like seat belts it is a good idea to teach children safe camera handling at an early age.

I think that my 6 year old took this in Yosemite 2016

So do what you can to make it into your photo albums candidly so when you are looking through photo albums in your old age it has some images of you. If you work it out right then the images of you won’t just be selfies and the occasional posed picture at an event.

Fireworks

I hope everyone that celebrates it had a Merry Christmas, or a Happy Hanukkah, Kwanza, Solstice, Yule, Bohdi Day, Pancha Ganapati, or any of the many other holidays celebrated in the Decemberish time. If I missed yours it is nothing personal.

So on to the topic, fireworks and how to capture them. As usual I recommend a tripod and a remote. It can be done without either it is more hit and miss. I will get an idea of where the fireworks will be exploding and if possible set up before nightfall. This is easier to do during the 4th of July than New Year’s Eve. This helps with setting up background and foreground if desired. Generally the fireworks are far enough away that focusing on infinity works well enough, if you aren’t a fan of that then focus on a building nearby the launch site then lock your focus. For aperture I use f8-f11 to keep the focus area large and a low ISO to keep the noise down. Here is where the tough decisions come in. If it is windy then a faster shutter speed will keep the definition of the fireworks better. Notice below the firework trails are being blown to the left and gravity is having it’s hand at pulling them down too.

iso 100 f6.3 11 seconds. I had a larger aperture to get more of the foreground lit.

Now I use a bulb setting so that I can control the shutter better. Sometimes I want a single firework other times I want multiple and often I am deciding while the shutter is open. If a set shutter speed is used the only way to control it would be to put a black card/think paper of the lens during the exposure. The few times that I used that technique I didn’t really enjoy it and took away from enjoying the show. It is an option though.

Another decision that needs to be made is whether a foreground interest will be in place. If so a way to do it is with two separate exposures. One of a properly exposed foreground then one of the fireworks. I recommend taking them around the same time so the blending process is easier. Using a rear curtain flash is also an option depending on how far the subject is.

iso 100 4 secs at f14

Above notice that the lines are more defined, it was at least partially because of the faster shutter speed. I can’t recall if or how fast the wind was that night so that is out of the equation.

If you have the means a reflection adds more interest to the image,

Above I took caught a picture with my Father in law and my nephew watching the fireworks. The first one is the composite, the second is the original, and the third is the orange firework. The same idea can be used with different foreground.

Lighting pictures are not hard once you know how to do them. Reading about it is one thing doing it is completely different. So with the New Year coming in there are usually some fireworks which is a good chance to try this technique out. Have a Happy New Year everyone. I would love to hear some comments or questions.

Car Trails

Good evening,

So I realized after publishing the last blog that I am late on it and owe you all one. So car trails were brought up. Once you know how to do them they are easy and it becomes more placement of the subject and background than anything else.

The main needs are a steady camera, a long exposure, cars, and a darkish location.

Here is an 8 s exposure at f18. The camera was sitting on the median and I used a self timer because I did not have a remote.

Ideally a remote shutter and a tripod will be added. It gives some more control over the image. Instead of being limited to guessing on when a car will come into the frame, like I did in the above image, the shutter can be triggered when you want without disturbing the camera. Having a tripod will let you place the camera where you want for the image you are trying to create.

Below I had a tripod and remote shutter. So I was more focused on other aspects of the image than just when the car was coming into the frame. I knew the Milky Way and Luxor light were in the frame. I also placed the bush, that is illuminated by my tail lights to give the image more depth. On a side note that is not the sunrise, it is the lights from Las Vegas.

A tripod mounted 30 second exposure. The car was traveling relatively slow so I did a longer exposure.

I have not gotten a really good capture of it but keep in mind that flashing lights from emergency vehicles can add a bunch of interest to a car trail image.

While getting ready to pull out I saw the flashing lights coming my way so I quickly grabbed my camera and set it on my dash, no timer and I had to stop it from sliding around on the dashboard. Not a sharp image it does show the lights well though..

So have fun with it. Grab your gear after nightfall and find some cars hopefully with their headlights on.

PS if you have any questions about photography that you want me to tackle let me know in the comments or through the contact page.

Layer Masks

Good morning,

So a while back I went hiking with my daughters in Zion National Park, we completed the Canyon Overlook Trail. Impressive for a 5 and 7 year old. While looking over the Canyon I noticed the road and thought to myself “that would make a great night shot with car trails.” Since then I have seen pictures of it on photo sharing sites, and my first thought was “damnit I was going to do that.” In October I went camping and got a chance to take one myself. I feel that it turned out pretty decent.

It was a near full moon so the canyon was visible except where the shadow was.

So I went up there with my friend Drew. Sadly I forgot my remote so I was left with 30 second exposures with a self timer. Not exactly what I wanted but it worked. Around 40 pictures were taken and the cars were not cooperating. With the bright moon and about an hour of shooting the shadow of the mountain had moved from covering nearly half of the drive to covering about a quarter of it. So I chose the last shot to use as the background or base layer.

Here we have the base layer.

Then I added the other images onto it complete the light trail for the most part. Below are 4 of the images that I took.

So I cut and pasted each image onto the base layer and chose “lighten” in the blending option for each. I wanted the sky, canyon, and mountains to just be one image. Layer masks is the way to go to complete that task. In the “Layers” window there is a button that is a square with a circle in it called “Add Layer Mask.” Clicking it seems to do nothing except adding a white square next to the layer that you are on (It doesn’t work on the background layer). If we hit the “B” button then we can paint the layer and it will either hide of show what is beneath the layer we are working on. To toggle back and forth between hiding and revealing hit “X.” Alternatively if you want to see through most of the layer below hold “Alt” while clicking the Add layer mask button. You will have a box that is black next to the layer.

To sum up. I cut and pasted the pictures onto the background image, changed them to lighten, added layer masks, then painted the masks to keep the car trails that I wanted. Leading to this image below.

Photoshop is daunting with all of it’s options of what to do. I still only know maybe a quarter of what it can do. Layers and masks are a big part of what I use it for and from talking to other photographers it is a major thing to know and understand. I hope this helps you on your path to understanding photoshop.

~Scott

Flash 3 (flashfoolery)

Good morning,

I recently went back through old pictures and came across some flash photography from when I first started out using off camera flash. I have since put them in the Still Life gallery.

Below we have a jack o lantern. This particular one I was using a slave flash. The flash was inside the pumpkin facing the back. I had a hole in the top toward the back for a chimney as I was still using candles in my jacks back then. The trigger flash was covered with paper so it didn’t flash forward only up, which was enough to trigger the slave flash in the pumpkin. I set it on a timer so I could be by the front and out of the frame spraying a mist with a water bottle. It took more than a few times to get it right. The light on the left was intentional and from a second flash that was out of frame to give dimension to the pumpkin.

places with high humidity might not need a mister

I also played with changing the color of the light as well. I saw the gels that were available and didn’t want to wait for something like that. So I tried putting colored paper over the flashes. It worked the way that I wanted and I never got gels. I put the flashes facing the flowers about 90 degrees from each other.

Blue on the right flash and pink on the left

Photography has been a journey of discovery and experimentation for me. With digital it has become easier to learn, instant results and metadata have made it so much less time consuming and less expensive. Grab your flash, be prepared to experiment, then go out and shoot.

~Scott

Flash 2 (Fill Flash)

Good evening,

So this is just a quick one. Fill Flash or using a flash in bright lit scenes to brighter the dark parts. Most often used in my experience is during a backlit portrait. Nice bright landscape that you want to include in the portrait or selfie except that the subject is too dark so you change the exposure to make the subject brighter then the background is lost in highlights. Fill flash to the rescue.

First one is no flash and the second one is with the built in camera flash. I had to change ISO from 800 to 200 because the shutter changed from 1/400th to 1/100th of a second. The settings in post are identical. If I wanted I could probably have made the non flash one better, I feel that it is better to get it right in camera than to try and fix it later in post.

Until next time. So grab your camera, pop the flash up, don’t fear those backlit portraits, then go out and shoot.

~Scott

Flash 1 (probably)

Good evening,

Tonight I am going to talk about flash photography. It is a huge subject hence the "1" in the title. There is so much that it is intimidating, at least it was for me. I recall trying to do everything with natural lighting because it was more "real." I was doing it because flashes can be expensive, the flash that comes with the camera isn't good, and it was another thing to learn. Well after learning a little it was fun, I could make the light do what I wanted instead of placing my subject to suit the natural light.

The reason that it is intimidating is because there are new equipment and new terms to learn. For example; bounce lighting, fill lighting, background lighting, wireless, umbrella, soft box, remote lighting, reflected light, catch lights, ring lights, etc. 

It is best to start with the simple and go from there. Mind you I am not going to cover all that I listed in this post.

So the flash that we have built in to our DSLR usually sucks and gives a mugshot type image. See below.

Notice the shadow on the background that is 4 ft away, the flat lighting where depth in my face is lost except at the wrinkles in my skin.

Now this might sound and seem discouraging to the built in flash and that is not my intent. I am just trying to make the flaw known so it can be worked around. There are multiple modifiers out there from mirrors that bounce the light off of the ceiling (doesn’t work outdoors), to softeners that basically turn the flash into a small softbox (more on that later), to filters that change the color of the light, and other items to “fix” the flash.

The camera flash can be used as a fill flash in backlit situations, in documenting subjects, street photography, and my favorite as a trigger for wireless flash photography.

Again this is the same built in flash with a modifier. There is more depth to my face and the wrinkles appear less prominent. The coloring is better in my opinion too but that can be changed in post. The shadow is still there, it not as obvious though.

So in the second image I used an inexpensive modifier, a piece of wax paper set at about a 45 degree angle in front of the built in flash. Some of the light bounced off the ceiling and most of it went through the wax paper. Both of the images were shot in jpeg with the WB set to flash. I will go more into discussing flashes at a later time. So grab your camera then go out and shoot.

~Scott

The Stars

Good afternoon,

More or less back on schedule. So I was at Cedar Breaks with the family a bit ago. If you are not familiar with it, Cedar Breaks is a designated an International Dark Sky park. The night skies are amazing there. After posting some of the pictures I was asked "How did you capture this?" and a response was placed by a friend "Read his photo blog." So I knew that I had to write about it.

For shooting the stars there are a few things. 1st know what you are trying to accomplish. If we are trying to have static stars then a wide aperture is important, star trails not so much. 2nd have a sturdy tripod and for best results a timer setting or a shutter release. 3rd Foreground interest sets a scale. The sky is a big place, if there is nothing but sky it doesn't seem as big. 4th planning helps, I use Stellarium (www.stellarium.org), and Google Star Maps. 5th Having an idea of what you want to capture. And 6th Knowing the Moon and Sun rise/set times.

Tripod mounted, a57 3200 iso 1/6 second 210mm f4 with a cable release. Venus is on the bottom and Jupiter is on the top with 3 moons.

Today I will talk about getting the stars static. So a wide aperture lens and a high ISO are goals here. Focal length can vary greatly with what we are trying to capture. When Venus and Jupiter had a conjunction a few years back I used a telephoto zoom and a high ISO. 

For the Cedar breaks pictures I was using an 11-18mm lens. Again I used a high ISO and as wide of an aperture as I could, to collect more light I used a longer shutter. Now with the higher ISO you risk losing some stars with noise reduction or having noise. I am okay with losing some stars especially if I am in a dark location. Below the noise can be seen and in the second image noise reduction has been applied. ISO 3200, 10 seconds, f4.5. With a focal length like this I have found that 10 seconds in about the longest that I can go and not see streaks or the beginning of trails. If you go and look around you might come across a "Rule" called the 500 rule. I feel that it is bogus, it says to divide 500 by the focal length. In this case it would be 500/11 which would equal 45 seconds. While I was taking pictures I decided to see how long I could go before seeing trails. It was 13 seconds which is a far cry from 45.

So to answer the question of how I took static images of the stars and Milky Way it was using a high ISO, a tripod, a wide aperture, less than a 10 second shutter speed, and just playing around with settings. So find a dark sky, grab your largest aperture lens, then go out and shoot.

~Scott

Again I would enjoy seeing readers photography.