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

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.

Mesa Arch, being prepared

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?

 

16. March 2015 · Comments Off on Dreary weather – The Cat in the Hat · 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?

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. Laurie in large lupine 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

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

 

11. March 2015 · Comments Off on Details – Learnings from a workshop · Categories: Mental Process, patience, Philosophy, processing photos, Uncategorized

The Courthouse from main streat

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..

25. February 2015 · Comments Off on What type of photos? · Categories: Philosophy · Tags: ,

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

 

Ready to print type of photo

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

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.

 

 

19. February 2015 · Comments Off on Backup? – How much is it worth? · Categories: Philosophy, Photography, Preparation · Tags: ,

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]

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.