Patrick Lynch Photography

Photo Technology – Computational Photography

Thanks to evolving photo technology. Stitched panorama

“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”

― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Thanks to evolving photo technology. Stitched panorama

Where is photo technology going? Computational Photography is changing the nature of photography. Instagram has made computational photography acceptable and brought it to the masses what was once limited to Photoshop. Photoshop can compute what should be in a region through computation, it can bend, spindle and mutilate pixels beyond imagination of a decade ago.

Photo technology can warp pictures and calculate color blending to allow stitching of photos to generate large hi resolution composites. Photo Technology can turn un usable pixels that were too dark or too light in pleasant images. This is now all accepted photo technology, so much that if we it was missing we could comment on the lackluster nature of the photo.

3-D printing is now all the rage and the forefront of printing. Imagine a photo technology that generates a 3-D color relief (bas relief) of an image. Cameras can now take holographic images, why not? This is not really much of a leap as all the technology is here today.

I’m a Harry Potter fan. One of the nifty things are the moving photos in newspapers and on walls.

The type of Photo I like – ready to print

Imagine this pre dawn image slowly or not so slowly changing and ending up at sunset. Is this unrealistic? Maybe not… We already have picture in frames that are really LCD screens showing slide shows that sit on a desk. How much more is really needed? Higher resolution, maybe different display technology so that the image is reflected light rather than transmitted, but we have the photo technology to do this today.

Today is April first, or April Fools, but where does the dreamer end and the fool begin?

Plan, Prepare, Practice, Patience

25. March 2015 · Comments Off · Categories: patience, Philosophy, Plan, Practice, Preparation · Tags: patience, Plan, practice, Prepare

At times those skills were really hard to do because not only was I having to contend with the camera, but I was having to learn these new skills and the ball was always kind of doing what you didn’t want it to do. So it got a little bit frustrating at times but we got there.- Parminder Nagra

Let our advance worrying become advance thinking and planning.- Winston Churchill

Girls Volleyball, Stanford, Volleyball

I have ADHD. For those that know, it is well like DUH! So, for me to write, let alone an article on Plan, Prepare, Practice, Patience is quite something !

Regardless of whether you are an Instagram shooter, shooting for a paper, portraits, landscapes, you name it; Plan, Prepare, Practice, Patience all pay dividends. Seldom do we get a chance as photographers to do over again. and even the ability to do over again, requires planning and preparation.

A product shots requires planning to allow a redo.
I think of my son who posts on Instagram and Facebook multiple times a day of friends, food, activities; there is no redo for those occasions.
Landscape photography, will the lighting be the same, will you be in the same spot, will the landscape be the same?
Portraits, will the person(s) be able to have the same expression, will you have the same lighting?
As an event photographer (think sports) the moment is fleeting and gone forever.

Not all photos, and types of photos require the same degree of Planning, Preparation, Practice, and Patience. My Instagram son, who uses his phone for photos plans, as do every other photographer I know. What do these four “P”s really mean?

Plan

Planning is the process of mentally looking into the future and imagining what is going to happen, and how you will respond. And then, taking notes (mental or otherwise) on what you will do. Here are a few examples:

To take an early morning sunrise photo, I will need a light to see the camera, I will need a tripod for long exposures, I will something to keep me warm.
To get pics of elephant seals fighting I am going to need a longish lens.
What are the settings I need on the camera for what I am shooting.

Most of us do some amount of mental planning, but do we actually pay attention and think about what it is that we want to do? Often, planning is the result of learning from things not well enough planned.

Prepare

This is an action step: This is where I collect what is needed, or the process of getting what is needed available.

Buy gloves and a headlamp for my before sunrise photo
I find out if the elephant seals are visible to public and obtain needed permits
Charge batteries
Pack the camera bag
Get water and munchies for during the day
Clean the camera & lenses
Fresh memory for the camera

All of these types of activities are implicitly the result of planning and recognizing what actions need to happen. I often make a work list so that I won’t forget something, and that I can add to as I remember other things. I set up various categories that I need to deal with such as clothing, camera, lighting, props, batteries.

Practice

There are many times and types of photography where there is not a lot of time to figure something out; kids, wild life, event photography, even landscape as the light is changing from predawn to dawn. I remember, one pre dawn at Mesa Arch, and three guys came in late, but they had a tripod, but they didn’t know how to connect the camera to the tripod. Some types of photography, such as sports or wild life, require a knowledge about the subject if you want good photos.

Canyon Lands National Park,Island in the Sky,Mesa Arch,Southwest,Utah,buttes,canyons,sunrise

Patience

I am in some ways surprised that I am a photographer with my ADHD. Waiting for the moment and not getting frustrated in the waiting and not just clicking frames out of impatience that later have to be weeded out. The elephant seals, and the volleyball practice are both examples of this.

In parting, if you think about it, what would you do more of, what would you do less of: Plan Prepare Practice Patience?

A Prepared Photographer

18. March 2015 · Comments Off · Categories: Preparation · Tags: photography, Photos, planning, practice, preparation

Not so recently I was in Canyonlands National Park for a sunrise shoot through Mesa Arch. There were a number of other photographers there before sunrise. What was a surprise was the degree of not prepared.

Several people didn’t have tripods, so they couldn’t take photos other than setting the camera on a rock.
Others didn’t know how to operate their cameras
Still others didn’t know how to put the camera on the tripod
Only about half had a flashlight or headlamp.

All of the above doesn’t mean that you can’t get nice images, it is just harder to get good images; your options are more limited. Learning to be prepared can occur via the school of problems, or you can get some coaching so that you are more likely to be successful. Being unprepared may mean you miss the shot you wanted, or that it doesn’t turn out as well as you would like.

Take the sunrise shoot at mesa arch; someone who has shot there previously can tell you how long it takes to drive, and then walk to the arch. What lens combinations work from each location. Which locations work for sunrise, what works for sunset. Or you can do like we did figure out the mileage and the walking distance and make an estimate. In our case, we did not allocate enough time and I had to run on the trail in the dark.

Mesa Arch

Ask someone who has been where you want to go and see what tips you can get.

Ask and answer these questions for yourself

How much time will it take me to get setup?
- How long to get there?
- How long to set up?
- Do I know where I am going?
What equipment do I need? (trying to get a shot under pressure, when it is the first time with the equipment is a recipe for failure!)
- Do I have the equipment I need? Is it pre setup? or am I going to fumble when I get there?
- Do I know how to use the equipment?
- Is the equipment ready? (clean, batteries, media, extra batteries for the cold)
Do I have the non camera gear that I need?
- Snacks; an army or an individual marches on their stomachs
- The right clothes; few things are more miserable than freezing (sub zero & breeze) and not having the right clothes.
- Map/directions, permits
Other
- Am I planning on meeting someone? If so how are we going to rendezvous?
- Is the car gassed and ready?

The Boy Scouts really have something with ‘Be Prepared’

Dreary weather – The Cat in the Hat

16. March 2015 · Comments Off · Categories: memory, Mental Process, Philosophy, Uncategorized

“The sun did not shine.
It was too wet to play.
So we sat in the house
All that cold, cold, wet day.” The Cat in the Hat, by Dr. Seuss

North Zion What would the Cat in the Hat do on a dreary cold day?

The Cat in the Hat… and photography? What could the The Cat in the Hat possibly have to do with photography. As with so much of Dr. Suess (aka Ted Geisel), his stories had morals built into them.
It is Sunday of a men’s ski weekend, and it is drizzly rain outside. What can be done? I have been convinced that the rain hasn’t ruined all the snow, so later we will try skiing. What does all of this have to do with photography? or Fall Colors? Well with my passion around photography, this time gives me an opportunity to visualize and rehearse. The technique has long been used by athletes, and studies are showing that the mental rehearsing changes the brain to make it easier or more familiar. So, I use it here as well as with athletic things.

What do I rehearse? The number one thing that I visualize is checking composition; checking the corners, checking to see where the lines are. I imagine myself checking the focus point; is it on the eye?

CSL,Santa

or if it is a landscape, how is the depth of field?.

All of this checking may not be as rewarding as a day in the field but, constructive day dreaming is way better than worrying or being upset with the weather.
This is kind of like the fisherman who organizes the tackle box waiting to go fishing. And when rehearsing gets old, I remember beautiful places and the expectation to visit more of them.

What do you rehearse? Why not rehearse something that is enjoyable and beneficial when you have time rather than the something negative? Try reading Dr. Suess.

“The sun did not shine.
It was too wet to play.
So we sat in the house
All that cold, cold, wet day.” The Cat in the Hat, by Dr. Seuss

Details – Learnings from a workshop

11. March 2015 · Comments Off · Categories: Mental Process, patience, Philosophy, processing photos, Uncategorized

The details are not the details. They make the design. Charles Eames

Success is the sum of details. Harvey S. Firestone

Now this is a laugh! Me with ADHD, the big picture guy writing about details! But maybe that is why this is an important note for me. Four months ago, I took Charlie Cramer workshop on printing. Now I love printing photos, and I already knew most of the techniques that Charlie taught. What I didn’t recognize until recently, was what it was that I did learn. Paying attention to details. In lots of different ways, the message was pay attention to details, not just the big picture; the big picture takes care of itself if the details are observed.

I was reviewing some photos of the southwest that I had previously posted on my site. Wander through the galleries and see if you can detect the details that have not been attended to ! In reviewing the photos, I was appalled at the poor quality that I had posted before. I haven’t updated all of the photos yet, it takes time…. Details I noticed that had escaped me the first time around.

Spots, particularly in the sky
Halos
Shadows too blocked up
Horizons not quite flat
Unsharpened photos
Not cropped well
Photos too dark

It is amazing the improvement in quality in the photos from paying attention to the series of details that are available. It wasn’t as if any of these things was new at all, but was new was instilling the eye to be able recognize the series of details that needed attending too!

One of my photographer sons says over and over, when I talk with him (sons are like that, probably learned some place LoL) is that we have to become ‘engaged with the picture’ but I think I might answer back, pay attention to the details, the picture will take of itself..

At lunch – what works for learning Photography

04. March 2015 · Comments Off · Categories: Mental Process, Preparation · Tags: learning, Photo, photography, teachers, workshops

The other day, several of us who are interested in photography, got together and had a beer over lunch (sorry, no photo of the beer). The lunchtime conversation was interesting in that we spent most of it reflecting on what worked for each of us and what did not work. Below is a quick summary of the conclusions we had and the common shared philosophy around teaching and learning photography.

There are good workshops, and not so good workshops
- Not so good have things like:
  - ‘Here is what is wrong with that photo’ followed by a long devastating list
  - ‘Oh, there are no photos or anything to take a photo of here’
  - Where the workshop people are more interested in taking their own photos than helping you with yours.
- Unfortunately it is kind of hard to figure this out without having been on one of these types of workshops….
- Good workshops
  - Instructors are there to help you
  - Interactive question & answer (not pontificated at)
  - Instructors give each person something to work on for their own improvement based on where they are at.
That the learning process takes practice and gentle feedback
That we can learn to give ourselves feedback with practice.

In one workshop that was led, one of the participants was complaining that the sun was in the wrong position and that it was the workshops fault…

Part of what any workshop should teach is how to work with what is there, not what you wish were there. The joke was about a guy who always won whatever bet he make. Life became uninteresting…. Part of what makes photography what it is, is the learning of how to work with what we have.

There was one workshop that we bumped into at Bodie,

Shanty town, Bodie. Learning Photography can occur anywhere

Funniest places to meet people. Learning Photography can occur anywhere

one of the participants of that workshop had a question that the workshop instructor couldn’t answer. We looked up the answer out of curiosity, and then ran into the same workshop group at dinner (there are only a limited number of places to eat). We sat around and discussed the answer with that whole workshop, even though it was not ours. The goal is about sharing, not hoarding.

What type of photos?

25. February 2015 · Comments Off · Categories: Philosophy · Tags: philosophy, What type of camera do you need

A difference of opinion is what makes horse racing and missionaries. Will Rogers

Photography, as a powerful medium of expression and communications, offers an infinite variety of perception, interpretation and execution. Ansel Adams

The type of Photo I like – ready to print

I love printed photos ! I have a large format printer just so that I can print large photos and give them away. A printed photo is much less forgiving than a computer screen; all photos look good on a computer screen.

However, not everyone is the same. How do you like your photos? Do you show them off in Facebook and Instagram, do you make 3″ x 5″ little prints to put in a shoe box? Each of these has a different requirement; I have a son who uses his phone to take pictures of nice meals and posts those to Instagram or Facebook. I have another son who converts photos to Black and White, and thinks of photos in Black & White. I have a friend who is into street photography and he likes 11″ x 14″ size prints, and they publish books with their photos. I have a cousin Pete who is the outdoor writer /photographer for a news paper. He only shoots JPG, and almost never on a tripod, he doesn’t have time with deadlines and all.

For some of us, it is the process of creating the photo that is also important. This is what I started out with for the opening photo. I enjoy the process of creating the picture.

Raw photo, not the type of photo that I want

So, what does this have to do with you? If you are an Instagram type of photo person, then a nice cell phone, or a small point and shoot is what you need. If you like printing, then you need bigger sensors, which mean bigger glass, more weight, more $$$, more exercise, etc. If you have deadlines you shoot in jpg, If you like being creative, then you shoot in raw. If you just want to shoot and forget about it a point and shoot is for you. If you want something like the above photo of Yosemite, taken before sunrise, then you are starting to look at a tripod, and a camera that supports timed exposure (13 seconds at f/6.3). If you want to think about your photos to make sure that you create good pictures rather than snapshots, then take a workshop or two, signup for Photosig and write critiques.

If you are going to enjoy your photography, then it is important to know yourself and the type of photo you want.

Backup? – How much is it worth?

19. February 2015 · Comments Off · Categories: Philosophy, Photography, Preparation · Tags: Backup, preparation

Mesa Arch - Island in the Sky - Canyonlands

Chance favors only the prepared mind- Louis Pasteur

Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement.- C.S. Lewis

Eastern Sierra,Fall Colors,Sierra,Sierra Nevada,aspens,tree] – I would not want to lose this photo

As a photographer, my photos are important to me; they can’t be replaced ! So, I backup, or so I thought. I also work in high tech and know that computers and storage fail. I thought I was OK with having a RAID 6 was enough backup (requires 3 failures to lose information). I was wrong, a computer crash killed the RAID 6. It took 6 months and $4,700 to recover about 80% of the photos. Lost were some incredible photos of dolphin jumping in the surf, right next to the shore.

After that incident, I acquired a Network Attached Storage (NAS) from Synology that is separate from the computer for backup. The NAS is RAID 6, the files on the computer are on a RAID 5 (2 failures to lose information) with a backup from the computer to the NAS. Is this enough backup?

But, what if there were a fire that took out the house? So, I now, also use Backblaze to back up the photos to the cloud. It has taken 15 months to upload all the files to BackBlaze. I sleep better.

Well I thought that I had backed up enough. The website, Patrick Lynch Photography, was backed up as was the blog site on by the hosting company on a weekly and monthly basis.

Unfortunately an automatic WordPress update played havoc and the blog could not be restored. The backup plan at the hosting site did not work. I have to recreate the whole blog site from scratch!

The moral of the story is that not all backups are the same; just because the photos are backed up, doesn’t mean anything else is….

Because I am having to recreate the blog from scratch I will be republishing past blog articles.

When what you want (Fall Colors) – finding something else (elephant seals)

05. February 2014 · Comments Off · Categories: Locations · Tags: elephant seals, photo locations

…
“And if you can’t be with the one you love
Honey love the one you’re with
Love the one you’re with”

Read more: Stephen Stills – Love The One You’re With Lyrics | MetroLyrics

November through March the elephant seals return to several locations on the California coast; Ano Nuevo, Piedras Blancas. At Ano Nuevo, North of Santa Cruz there are docents and guides, and your time and setting for photography is severely limited. At Piedras Blancas, because there is a low bluff separating the people from the elephant seals there is not a time limit, nor docents rushing you along, however, it is 3 to 4 hours from the San Francisco Bay area.

There are no fall colors right now, only cold and clear, or warm and clear of winter. The elephant seals are a fun alternative. Like fall colors, they occur every year, and like fall colors there are always opportunities to learn.

One of the challenges is that the elephant seal coloration is very similar to sand, and so there is not much color contrast. In Lightroom, it is possible to quickly maximize the color contrast (vibrance) which helps.

Low visual contrast

Another challenge, is finding the visual story to tell. There are lots of elephant seals, but what is a compelling image?

Elephant Seals,Piedras Blancas

Elephant Seals,Piedras Blancas

This year I tried adding a flash for lighting. I use a better beamer. I found that it helps by filling in some of high contrast shadows so that there is more shadow detail. Here is what the rig looked like.

The setup for shooting elephant seals

I use a tripod and then weight the tripod to help hold it steady, in years past it has often been windy and the whole thing has wanted to blow over without the weight of the backpack holding it in place. The wind also makes it cold, so dress warmly.

This year we stayed in Paso Robles which allowed us to be there in the early morning which has better light than the afternoon shooting, and is not as windy.

Patrick Lynch Photography

Photo Technology – Computational Photography

Plan, Prepare, Practice, Patience

Plan

Prepare

Practice

Patience

A Prepared Photographer

Ask and answer these questions for yourself

Dreary weather – The Cat in the Hat

Details – Learnings from a workshop

At lunch – what works for learning Photography

What type of photos?

Backup? – How much is it worth?

When what you want (Fall Colors) – finding something else (elephant seals)

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