http://www.photochimper.com/forum/index.php?app=blog Community Blog List Syndication Sat, 02 Jan 2010 18:58:31 +0000 Rich@photochimper.com (Photochimper) IP.Blog 60 http://www.photochimper.com/forum/blog/3/entry-26-photo-knowledge/?s=66acba05c40f9ef413f392cbe059602d Photojournalism The Professional’s Approach and The Business of Studio Photography. I came across these two books after an extensive search on Amazon trying to find the best books on their subjects, Photojournalism and running a studio business. I have also been fortunate over the years to own and read a number of seminal books in photography that have helped me advance greatly in my abilities. In the interest of saving some of you time I thought I might list what I consider to be the "must have" books in the field of Photography. All should be easily found on Amazon.com or similar website.

The Basics:
Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson - If you have read my Uber Basics blog entries you have a good idea what this book covers, though Mr. Peterson covers it better than I could hope to. In my opinion this book lays the foundation for photographic learning.
Understanding Shutterspeed by Bryan Peterson - I have not read this but all his other books are excellent so I have no doubt this one will be as well.
The Confused Photographer's Guide to Photographic Exposure and the Simplified Zone System by Bahman Farzad and Linda Voychehovski - I have this one on order, looks to be good. The zone system allows you control over exposure and tone in your final image.

Composition:
Designing a Photograph by Bill Smith - Provides insight into making aesthetically pleasing images.
Learning to see Creatively by Bryan Peterson - An easy read and will boost the quality of your pictures immediately.

Portraiture & Posing
Beyond Portraiture by Bryan Peterson - Good book to get you fired up about people photography
Amherst Books - Amherst publishes a number of good books on posing though they are not inexpensive ($34.95 each MSRP, about $28 on Amazon).

Sports:
Sportshooter.com - excellent free resource.
Digital Sports Photography by G. Newman Lawrence - Of the few sports photography books I've read, this one seemed solid.
Digital Sports Photography: Take Winning Shots Every Time by Serge Timacheff and David Karlins - Decent info and covers some sports the one above does not.

Lighting:
Light, Science & Magic by Fil Hunter, Steven Biver, and Paul Fuqua - I haven't read this one yet, but it is on it's way. Basic properties of light for photographers
The Strobist website - Awesome information resource, and it is FREE!
Amherst books - I recommend reading Lighting 101 on Strobist before reading one of the Amherst lighting books, they are not newbie friendly (in my opinion).

Photography business:
The Business of Studio Photography by Edward Lilley - I'm about half-way through and I have already learned tons. If you are thinking of running a studio, I'd start here (and I am!).

Photojournalism:
Photojournalism The Professional's Approach by Kenneth Kobre - Text used in most PJ classes. Halfway through and finding a ton of interesting stuff.
The Associated Press Guide to Photojournalism by Brian Horton - Another good PJ text, have not read it but the reviews are good. It is on my future buy list.

History of Photography:
I confess, I know little of the pioneers of photography. Occasionally someone asks me who my favorite photographer is or what I think of Henry Carter Bresson's approach to photography and I always feel like I should have an opinion. I guess this is where a actual degree in photography would help. Anyone have any book suggestions that would help me overcome fill this knowledge gap?

Photography is an art and a science, as well as potentially a business. You can improve your images in three ways: practice, education, and equipment. Anyone can luck into taking an awesome image, but luck is hard to reproduce consistently. Your knowledge and equipment reduce the role luck plays in the process and gives you the ability and skill to take advantage of luck when it occurs. Never stop learning and never stop shooting!

P.S. As always, I love feedback. If you have any photography books you found particularly informative let me know, I'm always looking to expand my skills!]]> Sun, 16 Aug 2009 08:44:00 +0000 http://www.photochimper.com/forum/blog/3/entry-26-photo-knowledge/?s=66acba05c40f9ef413f392cbe059602d http://www.photochimper.com/forum/blog/3/entry-25-basic-composition-i/?s=66acba05c40f9ef413f392cbe059602d So what is the rule of thirds? It is a compositional rule to help you decide where to place elements within a photograph. First mentally divide your viewfinder into thirds both vertically and horizontally like this:
[ATTACH]4[/ATTACH]
Then take an image and overlay the third lines over the image something like this:
[ATTACH]5[/ATTACH]
The horizon is center frame so the earth and sky are balanced, resulting in a very bland image. Now take an image of the same scene placing the horizon along the top one third line and once again along the bottom third line, like these:
[ATTACH]6[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]7[/ATTACH]
With the horizon on the top third line the land is now emphasized and the scene is more dramatic. Conversely, if the sky is the more interesting part of the composition place the horizon on the bottom third line to emphasize the sky.
Also notice how I place something of interest at the intersection of some of the verticle and horizontal lines (such as the trees and the barn).
The rule of thirds also comes into play with people photography, for instance close ups usually place the eyes at the intersections like this:
[ATTACH]12[/ATTACH]
Here is an example of a typical person photo as taken by a novice:
[ATTACH]10[/ATTACH]
You can easily strengthen the composition simply by reframing vertically as your subject is taller than it is wide, so vertical framing wastes less space on extraneous background.
[ATTACH]13[/ATTACH]
You could evenplace people off-center to create 'negative space' such as in this example:
[ATTACH]9[/ATTACH]
The last composition is often used for environmental portraits where a person in photographed in a location that says something about them. You could place the subject on one of the third lines and then a car or other object by the other to create an environmental portrait. This is alos good for another common use, computer desktop backgrounds. Simply place the subject on the right third line so the left side of the image is available for desktop icons.
Thats it for this blog, though there is much more to composition hopefully these pointers will wet your appetite and get you moving in the right direction.
Other compositional topics: straight lines vs slanted lines, the meaning of colors, balancing weighted elements within an image, foreground/middle ground/background interest.
If you are interested in learning more check out "Learning to see creatively" and "Designing a photograph", both excellent books on the topic.]]> Fri, 19 Jun 2009 10:15:42 +0000 http://www.photochimper.com/forum/blog/3/entry-25-basic-composition-i/?s=66acba05c40f9ef413f392cbe059602d http://www.photochimper.com/forum/blog/3/entry-24-exposure-metering/?s=66acba05c40f9ef413f392cbe059602d Two types of light meter There are two main categories of light meter: incidence and reflectance. While they both perform the same function, they do so in fundamentally different ways. Reflected light meters measure the light reflected off a scene where incident light meters measure the light falling onto them. The problem with reflected light meters is that they dont measure the light falling on a subject, they measure the light reflected off of it. As different objects reflect different amounts of light this results in less than ideal images (more on that later). Incident light meters on the other hand measure the light falling on a subject which is the same regardless of what the subject is. The result is in a much more accurate measurement and results in a final image that is closer to reality; the main problem is that you have to measure the light AT your subject. This is easy in a studio setting, more difficult in the field, especially when working with wide landscapes or with wild animals.
Light meter theory 101 The first light meter Ill look at is the reflected light meter as it is the most common, and in fact you almost certainly have one built into your camera.
Reflected light meters work off a simple (though faulty) premise: all scenes average 18% grey in tone. Keep in mind Im discussing tone here, not color. Healthy green vegetation is about 18% grey in tone so this is not a bad assumption to make, in general. So using this premise the reflected light meter measures the light presented to it and calculates what combination of camera settings will result in a final image that is 18% grey in tone. These settings are of course what it presents to you, the user.
This works well for the majority of scenes; however when the scene is a great deal darker or lighter than 18% grey they will not be rendered correctly. Think of a polar bear in a snow storm or a black cat in a coal mine, neither scene averages out grey in life. The polar bear would be considerable brighter than 18% grey, the cat much darker. This is why snowy scenes often look "dirty", and why dark subjects are often rendered much lighter than they are in reality. These scenes require intervention on your part to render the final image properly.
There are a number of ways to correct these issues: 1) use an incidence meter 2) use your camera's histogram 3) eye ball it 4) use exposure compensation 5) vary the exposure settings and 6) fix it in Photoshop. Let me discuss each briefly.
1) Incident light meters. As mentioned previously, an incident meter measures the light falling on a subject not the light reflected by the subject. This is far more accurate as the light present in a snowstorm would be the same regardless of whether that light was falling on a polar bear or a black cat, whereas the light reflected from the polar bear would be much greater than that reflected by the black cat. Studio photographers often use incidence light meters because of this greater accuracy. For those of us who photograph outside the studio things arent so easy. Somehow I doubt most referees are willing to call a timeout so you can walk onto the field and measure the light falling on the players, and I wouldnt recommend walking up to a wild polar bear to measure the light falling on him. So despite the inherent limits of reflected light meters most of us have to make do for a significant portion of our photography, and thus must compensate using one of the other techniques.
2) Histogram. With the advent of the digital camera we photographers have gained a major asset in the war against badly exposed images: the histogram. The histogram is a graphic representation of all the tones within an image with the darkest tones on the left hand side and the lightest tones on the right. Ideally the graph represents a bell curve with the peak in the center and gradually tapering sides. However in the real world scenes vary greatly which results in histograms that vary greatly. The main point to remember is that the left side are the dark tones, the right side light tones, and if you have a wall on one side of the histogram or the other you are losing data. Its hard to give hard and fast rules beyond that, but if you remember that much you are on your way.
3) Eyeball it. Adjust the exposure using the controls or via exposure compensation until the image looks right to you.
4) Exposure compensation. Most cameras allow for exposure compensation, which is a quick way to adjust your exposure on the fly. This is very easy to do: for bright scenes add 1-2 positive stops of expose compensation, for dark scenes dial in 1-2 stops of negative compensation. The easiest way is to shoot an image, look at the histogram and the image, adjust the compensation and look again until you arrive at a well exposed image. If you are wondering why you would adjust this dial instead of changing the ISO-Shutter speed-Aperture light triangle then you are learning very quickly. I believe the answer is twofold: 1) its quicker 2) many photographers dont have a proper understanding of the light triangle/exposure and wouldnt know how to adjust it that way. If nothing in the last sentence made any sense to you I recommend you reread my first three blogs.
5) Vary the exposure settings. In reality all of the above are different ways of changing the exposure settings, method #1 tells you how to get a more accurate exposure measurement, #2 enables you to adjust the settings using the histogram as a guide, #3 enables you to adjust the settings while looking at the image and using your own judgment, #4 is a method for telling the camera what to do if you dont know exposure theory.
6) Fix it in Photoshop. Probably the easiest and the least effective method. Photoshop can aid in the battle against bad exposure, but if you have badly over or under exposed your image you have lost data that Photoshop can never recover. Even if you havent lost the data a under or over exposed image can have excessive noise and color shifts that would not have been present had the image been properly exposed in the first place. Use this technique as a last result if you want to be a photographer instead of a snapshot taker.
Field tips
In the field there are a few techniques you can use to help you out: 1) meter off mid tone objects 2) meter off white objects 3) you guessed it, meter off black objects.
1) Look for objects that are about 18% grey in tone and measure off of those to arrive at a good exposure. At baseball games I often use manual mode on the camera and set the exposure after metering off the grass. This simple technique enables me to get consistent exposures and colors for all the images I take at that game. For those who arent sure what I mean here is the step by step instructions: Use your camera in the mode you normally would and measure the exposure off the grass (the grass should fill the image) and adjust the settings until you arrive at an exposure suitable for your subject (fast enough shutter speed to stop the action, etc.), remember these settings. Now simply switch the camera to manual mode and adjust the settings to match those you just determined in step one above. Once the settings are entered meter off the same patch of grass and the exposure meter should indicate a well exposed image, if not repeat until you get it right. Next, shoot away! You may have to adjust slightly as conditions change, or to prevent blown highlights on white uniforms.
2) To meter off of white subjects simply perform the procedure above but substituting a white object for the grass, then reduce the exposure by two stops (-2 Exposure Compensation). Viola!
3) To meter using a black object, use the same technique but increase the resulting exposure by two stops (+2 Exposure Compensation).]]> Mon, 08 Jun 2009 11:15:00 +0000 http://www.photochimper.com/forum/blog/3/entry-24-exposure-metering/?s=66acba05c40f9ef413f392cbe059602d http://www.photochimper.com/forum/blog/17/entry-21-new-photos-posted-at-my-personal-website/?s=66acba05c40f9ef413f392cbe059602d www.chuckslongroad.info/Trees-1.htm

www.chuckslongroad.info/Trees-2.htm

Probably a few more since the last time I was here.

Hope to see you.]]> Sun, 08 Mar 2009 16:05:53 +0000 http://www.photochimper.com/forum/blog/17/entry-21-new-photos-posted-at-my-personal-website/?s=66acba05c40f9ef413f392cbe059602d http://www.photochimper.com/forum/blog/7/entry-18-i-dont-shoot-much/?s=66acba05c40f9ef413f392cbe059602d I dont shoot much but i really like looking around here. great photos and its inspiring Wed, 05 Nov 2008 01:37:03 +0000 http://www.photochimper.com/forum/blog/7/entry-18-i-dont-shoot-much/?s=66acba05c40f9ef413f392cbe059602d http://www.photochimper.com/forum/blog/3/entry-16-recent-activities-non-instructional/?s=66acba05c40f9ef413f392cbe059602d I got some good images of the earlier performers and will try to get some posted soon, though work is sending me on a trip for a week or two so you probably wont see anything from me until I get back. I have come up with my next couple instructional topics, now I just need to take the time to type them up and submit them.
That's all for now!]]> Sun, 17 Aug 2008 13:18:50 +0000 http://www.photochimper.com/forum/blog/3/entry-16-recent-activities-non-instructional/?s=66acba05c40f9ef413f392cbe059602d http://www.photochimper.com/forum/blog/3/entry-15-uber-basics-part-iii/?s=66acba05c40f9ef413f392cbe059602d So here is our formula:
A+S+I=E
For this example let us agree that A, S and I do not equal zero (they are all one or higher). Now let’s say that E equals 10 and make the equation true. With E=10 one possible answer is that A=8, S=1 and I=1, which would look like this:
A+S+I=E
8+1+1=10
With these numbers the equation is true. But let us now decrease A by two units so that it is now equal to 6, with that change the equation is no longer true. To make it true we have to add those two units in elsewhere, let’s say by adding one unit to both S and I so that the formula now reads:
A+S+I=E
6+2+2=10
Once again the formula is true, but it is no more “true” than the first answer, or any other combination that adds up to 10. So what does this have to do with photography? Well if the units of measure are f-stops and A=aperture, S=shutter speed, I=ISO and E=exposure, then the equation is a mathematic depiction of the light triangle, the foundation of photography.
It is important to understand that when you change one of the variables (A, S, or I) you have to change one or more of the other two variables by the same amount (but in the opposite direction) to achieve the same exposure.
Let me restate that in a more practical example: You take an image with your camera in automatic mode and then look at the image data which reveals the camera used the following settings: ISO=100, Aperture=f 5.6 and shutter speed=1/60. Looking at the image you see that it is well exposed but blurry.
Knowing a shorter shutter speed will freeze motion you switch the camera to manual and set the exact same settings the camera did on automatic but increase the shutter speed to 1/250 (this reduces the light to the sensor by two stops). If you took the picture with these settings it would be underexposed by two stops, so you decide to change the aperture setting to f 2.8 (a two stop increase in light). Unfortunately your lens has a maximum aperture of f4, which is only a one stop increase in light. Finally you change the ISO to 200 making the exposure equal to that set by the camera automatically, but with different camera settings.
These two examples ( ISO=100, Aperture=f 5.6 and shutter speed=1/60) and ( ISO=200, Aperture=f 4 and shutter speed=1/250) are equal or equivalent exposures. Both these exposures will result in a well exposed image, but the images will appear different in the amount of noise, whether motion is stopped or blurred, and in apparent depth of field. Your job as a photographer is to recognized when you need to change from the default exposure set by the camera, to a different equivalent exposure to achieve a more creative image.]]> Sat, 09 Aug 2008 21:39:41 +0000 http://www.photochimper.com/forum/blog/3/entry-15-uber-basics-part-iii/?s=66acba05c40f9ef413f392cbe059602d http://www.photochimper.com/forum/blog/3/entry-13-uber-basics-part-ii/?s=66acba05c40f9ef413f392cbe059602d Aperture is the diaphragm in the lens that expands or contracts to let in more or less light. The smaller the number the wider the opening and consequently more light reaches the sensor. This is often expressed as an f number such as f2.8, f4, f5.6, f8, etc.
The maximum width the aperture can open to is usually listed on the lens itself, the Canon EF 50mm f1.4 lens for instance has a maximum aperture of f1.4. Any lens with a maximum aperture f number less than f4 is generally considered a “fast” lens (more on this later).
The maximum aperture on a zoom lens is often expressed as a two number range such as f3.5-5.6. What this means is that at the minimum zoom setting the lens can open to f3.5, while at maximum magnification it can only open to f5.6. Professional quality zooms generally have a constant aperture, such as the Canon 70-200mm f2.8 lens which can open to an aperture of f2.8 throughout its zoom range.
So why does all this matter? Two reasons are foremost:
1) A wider aperture allows you to use faster shutter speeds under identical lighting conditions. A lens with an aperture that opens wider allows in a larger volume of light than one with a smaller aperture. With a larger volume of light you can either reduce the amount of time the light is allowed to hit the sensor (shutter speed, see below for why this is important) or make the sensor less sensitive to light (again, read on to see why this is important).
2) Changing the aperture changes how much of a scene is in focus at one time. This is referred to as depth of field and is primarily controlled by changing the aperture you use. A wider aperture (smaller f number) results in a smaller depth of field, often used for portraits to blur the backdrop behind the subject. A narrower aperture (larger f number) results in more depth of field, often used on scenic images to keep as much of the scene as possible in focus, from the foreground to the horizon.
Shutter speed is the amount of time the shutter remains open, from a fraction of a second (less light) to several seconds or longer (more light). Slower speeds allow you to use creative blur to show motion, whereas faster shutter speeds allow you to freeze fast action. When hand holding a camera a faster shutter speed is often required to capture a quality, blur free image. A wider aperture allows you to use a faster shutter speed.
ISO is the sensor’s sensitivity to light. Increasing the ISO (making the number larger) allows you to use a faster shutter speed to stop motion or a smaller aperture to increase depth of field. A side effect of increased ISO is increased image noise (kind of like static on your tv) and degraded color fidelity. Newer digital SLRs can operate at moderate ISOs with minimal image degradation but point and shoot cameras degrade rapidly even at moderate ISOs. A wider aperture allows in more light enabling you to use lower ISOs and minimize noise, whereas a higher ISO allows you to us faster shutter speeds or smaller apertures.]]> Tue, 05 Aug 2008 22:13:20 +0000 http://www.photochimper.com/forum/blog/3/entry-13-uber-basics-part-ii/?s=66acba05c40f9ef413f392cbe059602d http://www.photochimper.com/forum/blog/3/entry-12-uber-basics-part-i/?s=66acba05c40f9ef413f392cbe059602d I will add to the blog as topics occur to me, and of course as time permits. Feel free to post suggested topics, but please no topics regarding photoshop techniques. On to the topic!

Light is photography (which literally means light writing) and to understand how a camera makes an image you have to understand what is happening to the light as it moves through the camera. There are three principle adjustments that directly affect the light: Aperture, Shutter speed, and ISO. These three constitute an exposure.
Let's look at each of these in turn.

Aperture: this is how wide the diaphragm inside the lens opens. The wider it opens, the more light it allows in to the sensor, and vice versa. The smaller the number, the wider the opening, so f2.8 is wider than f4, and so allows in more light.

Shutter speed: This is how long the shutter opens to allow light to fall on the sensor. The slower the shutter speed the longer light is allowed in resulting in more light to strike the sensor.

ISO: A hold-over from film, this is a measure of sensitivity. As you increase the ISO to larger numbers you increase the sensor's sensitivity to light. e.g. ISO 100 is less sensitive to light than ISO 200.

It is necessary to understand these three adjustments and what effect they have on the image and each other in order to make better images than the camera can in automatic mode. Each adjustment changes the appearance of the final image in different ways, and forces an adjustment in one or both of the other adjustments in order to maintain a proper exposure. More to come soon!

Synopsis:
Aperture – Control that increases/decreases the volume of light that passes through a lens
Shutter speed – Control that increases/decreases the amount of time light is allowed to hit the sensor
ISO – Control that increases/decreases the sensor’s sensitivity to light]]> Mon, 04 Aug 2008 22:56:35 +0000 http://www.photochimper.com/forum/blog/3/entry-12-uber-basics-part-i/?s=66acba05c40f9ef413f392cbe059602d http://www.photochimper.com/forum/blog/17/entry-11-in-a-rut/?s=66acba05c40f9ef413f392cbe059602d
Due to an injury and a lack of money I am unable to travel even relatively short distances

Some is due to my humble low end equipment (Olympus C-740 Ultra Zoom).

Some is due to being limited to things very near.

While creekwalking I slipped and fell and sprained my wrist. I also had a very close call with the camera, which did submerge, but has recovered and is shooting just as well as before. Wish I had a video of me flopping around in the water trying to keep the camera dry. I'm sure it would have been a hit on youtube.

I need to go someplace new, shoot through different eyes, different mindsets.

Pre summer doldrums? Bad economy and lack of sufficient income? :confused:

Anyone in the San Francisco area wanna do something new with me? Point Reyes? Limauntaur? Ano Nuevo? Sea Ranch? :dunno:]]> Wed, 28 May 2008 01:53:45 +0000 http://www.photochimper.com/forum/blog/17/entry-11-in-a-rut/?s=66acba05c40f9ef413f392cbe059602d