18. July 2015 · Comments Off on In Naiveness all things look simple; even in photography · Categories: Mental Process, Philosophy, Practice, Preparation · Tags: , , , ,
Random chaos & order - It was my naiveness that let me do fall colors the first time without a place to stay

Random chaos & order

Sunset, Moon rise. Planning, not naiveness let's us be at the right place at the right timeAs a kid, I read Tom Swift books.  In these he invented all sorts of very reasonable sounding incredible inventions.  I kept wondering if he could do them in the books, why were they not actually invented yet, seemed simple enough in the books…  The naiveness of a child.  How does my naiveness show up today, or where or when do I choose not to be prepared?

Over the years, I have learned, that if things looked simple and had not yet been done, that I was probably naive.  It would be a call for me to dig into what was the reality.

The mass marketing of photography plays to this. ‘It is simple to get a great photo,  just buy the latest technology and hold your finger down on the button until the great photo shows up.’   True, higher end stores like Keeble & Shuchat have a book section, but even many of these seem to promise ‘if only you did this’ you would have great photos.

But the truth is, there is a lot to consistently (as opposed to an occasional lucky shot) getting good (and sometimes great) photos.  Yes, lucky is good, but ” Chance favors only the prepared mind” is still true today, otherwise it is just random chance.

What is the ‘prepared mind’? what do we need to do for ourselves to improve our photos?  Let’s look at some of the things that go into a typical good photo.

  • The photo is sharp (not usually fuzzy).  So technology can help here, if it is used appropriately.
    •  We can use a tripod
    • We can use image stabilization
    • We can use faster shutter speed (what are we trading off for this?)
    •  Do we have the picture focused on the right thing, or are we focusing on the wrong point…?
  • Is the image lit correctly? Do I have the correct exposure?
    • Cameras today have built in exposure systems that are very good at generating snapshot like images.  However, if you want a dramatic image, then you might have to understand lighting; low angle light vs overhead light, or flat even light vs. hard light, or the color of the light (before or after sunrise, or mid day).
  • Composition – There are so many things here, and there is not nearly the help from technology that there are for sharpness and exposure.
    • Do I really want the subject dead center, or do I want it some place else?
    • Remember rule of thirds
    • Don’t put the horizon on the mid line
    • Make sure that there is not ‘extra’ in the photo
      • No strong lines coming out of someone’s head
      • No extraneous lines that are not contributing (twigs, branches, arms…)
      • Make sure that borders and corners are clean and are not distracting
    • Are you or can you frame the photo?
    • Do the lines lead you into the photo?
    • Is the expression on the face  the expression you want? (or is their mouth open?)
    • … and the list goes on ….

And if you can do all of the above in the 2 seconds that you bring the camera to your eye and snap, you are a better person than I.

What is a prepared mind with regard to photography?  For me, and folks that I work with it means that we practice evaluating photos to see what works and what doesn’t work in photos.  We practice enough that looking at a photo on the screen or in the camera or in magazines, until it is second nature to figure out what works and what doesn’t work.  Where does naiveness show up in your photography?

So, we can try and practice with our own photos, but I have found that usually doesn’t work very well, particularly for learning in the beginning.  What I have found works much better is to practice with other people’s photos.   I strongly recommend that you get yourself an account on 500px .  Then force yourself to write reviews of photos.  Having to write a review forces you to evaluate the photo and what works and does not work in it.   After a few hundred reviews you will understand what sorts of things work in photos and what does not.  This is the practice that creates the prepared mind.  And now, taking good photos is not so naively simple.

Oh, and remember,

HAVE FUN

PLP

 

04. July 2015 · Comments Off on Trip Planning · Categories: Plan, Practice, Preparation · Tags: ,

“Chance favors the prepared mind” Louis Pasteur

Most every year my wife, Laurie, and I make a spring trip to the Southwest. It is a time we both look forward to; as she says ‘you drag me to such beautiful places and you don’t rush me once we are there.’  The trips are planned around getting good photos.   How many times have you seen really nice photos and said to yourself, ‘ How come mine don’t look like that?’  Getting great pictures is not particularly a matter of luck (although luck certainly helps in getting dramatic skies, or blue skies as desired).  In this case it is a matter of trip planning.

Many things go into a successful photo expedition; and getting them right  makes a huge difference both in the photos, and in the enjoyment.  Mostly trip planning is about all of the various logistics that are involved:

  1. What do I want to accomplish?  What types of photos, what types of locations.  Am I headed for Le Mans and car racing, or in this case the American Southwest.  If you don’t know, then look at magazines, travel guides until you have an idea of what you want to do photographically.
  2. Having decided the what you want, then the trip planning is the logistics of travel and lodging given where and when you want to be someplace for a particular photo.  For example; if you want Mesa Arch at sunrise
    Mesa Arch at sunrise

    Mesa Arch – Island in the Sky – Canyonlands

    , then you need to figure an hour plus from Moab to the arch (maybe longer), and you want to arrive at least half an hour before sunrise.  Arriving at a place at sunrise is better than a couple hours later, but arriving before sunrise is so much better, particularly if you want one of those dramatic photos that you see and wonder why aren’t mine like that?  Oh, and remember to bring a headlamp for walking in the dark, and a tripod that you know how to use for the long exposures.

  3. So, using the Mesa Arch as an example, what else is there to see that could be seen?  Dead Horse State Park
    Road, Canyons, the LaSals from Dead Horse State Park

    Road, Canyons, the LaSals from Dead Horse State Park

    comes to mind, or False Kiva.

  4. Oh, did we get the car gassed  up the night before (most gas stations are not open at O’dark hundred).
  5. How do we get to Moab? Well it takes 2 days driving, need a place to stay along the way as well as a place in Moab. (AAA books are nice).
  6. What are the plans for each of the 10 days?
    1. Drive to Barstow, CA in the evening after work; what are we doing for food & water, where are we staying?  Have I planned to have the car serviced before the trip?
    2. Day 1: Barstow to Moab the next day (I15 to I70).  Do I want to stop, is there time to stop for some rock art photos?
      Rock Art

      On a major byway through the mountains

      If I want rock art photos, what do I need like off camera flash? If I am planning a sunrise shoot the next morning, have I gassed the car up the night before, even if it is midnight?

    3. Day 2: Sleep in, continental breakfast in motel/hotel.  Sunset shoot at Dead Horse, scout other locations.  Maybe get False Kiva.
    4. Day 3:…
    5. Day 4:

What I have found to be successful for planning is asking a bunch of questions and then keeping notes on the answers that I group together .

The questions include

  • What do I want?
    • If I don’t know where or what I want I refer to either the AmericanSouthwest.net or to Photographing the Southwest, both are excellent sources of information about thing to shoot, and how to get there.  Although the parks and BLM have good visitor sites, a good guide book or website can help you find locations, and plan that the visitors centers can’t.  I have found both of the above to be quite useful.
  • Getting There
    • How long to get there?  Do I have the needed maps?  There are places GPS doesn’t work very well.
    • When do I want to be there?  Is there some slack built in for the unexpected? The featured image requires you to be there within a fairly small time window.
    • What do I need?
      • What camera equipment
      • What clothing (Jacket? Sun hat, sun screen, boots, socks, etc.)
      • Food & water (cases of bottled water work very well)
      • What does my wife need (she doesn’t like the cold, and wants to be fed regularly, imagine that…)?
      • Unusual things, e.g. first aid kit,  head lamp
      • Car charger and other electronics
    • What preparation is required?  e.g. servicing the car before the trip, motel reservations, checking out places to eat on yelp.
  • What are alternatives if things don’t work out (e.g. the road is closed).

Asking myself these kinds of questions and knowing how to get answers (see references above) are critical to setting yourself up for success.

One of the things learned through not having done it, is to build at least a partial itinerary (say by half days) of places.  It really doesn’t very well to go oops, I meant to stop at, and it is now two hours away.   So, I might have an Island in the Sky itinerary that looks like:

  • Mesa Arch (leave sunrise -2 hours)
  • Aztec Mesa ( 2-3 hours)
  • Lunch at visitors center
  • Shafter trail long canyon 2 hours (get locations of rock art, and arches)
  • False Kiva for late afternoon (2 hours)
  • Dead horse point for sunset (easy)
  • Return Moab, dinner

Some planning ahead of time greatly enhances the experience.

See more Southwest photos at PatrickLynchPhotography.com/Gallery

27. June 2015 · Comments Off on When I get to the pearly gates, St. Peter … · Categories: Philosophy, Photography, Practice, Preparation · Tags: ,
At the end of the chess match, the black pieces and white pieces go into the same box- Russian Proverb
Shooting the photographer

Lower Antelope Canyon. Slot canyons are a great opportunity to practice composition and see what you learn

Dragon in the town of Joseph

Dragon in the town of Joseph

St. Peter will not ask ‘Did I shoot with Nikon, or Canon?’   My friends were teasing me and said, no he will ask ‘if you shot with Hasselblad?’, or Leica.  Or will he ask, ‘Have you been the best photographer you could be?’

There have been times in my life when I have been badly infected with ‘lens lust’; that is the belief that the next lens, gadget, techno wizzy thing will help me have the perfect photo !  It will won’t it?

And on the flip side is;

No photographer is as good as the simplest camera.- Edward Steichen

I suspect that Steichen was correct, that at best we might get 80% out of our camera.  I remember my sister-in-law getting incredible shots with her instamatic camera.  And yet it is naïve to say that technology doesn’t enable us to take photos we couldn’t have taken otherwise.

As much as I love new toys and new gizzies, I know in my heart that quality, stunning photos come from the photographer, not from the camera.  There is a What the Duck cartoon with a person saying to the photographer, ‘Wow your camera really takes nice pictures’ and the Photographer responds with ‘and your lips make nice noises’. This Link is to a humorous article that covers this affliction in detail. And we learn from humor as well…

So, how do I continue my learning to become an ever better photographer?  I read, and I practice.  As I practice, I have to continually review and see what works and what does not work and figure out why that is so.  Here are some of the areas that I practice and learn  in:

  • Camera setup and manipulation; for each of the lens what is the ‘best’ way to change the lens, how do I set the camera up for a time delay shot, how do I choose focus points, how do I do things in the dark?   I was at Bryce Canyon standing on top of a soon to be hoodoo spire of rock that was barely big enough for the tripod legs and trying to change lens. The lens was attached to the tripod (third hand) and in one hand was the new lens, and the other the body when the tripod blew over, lens hits camera & cracks the back, and I nearly go over the edge… a learning opportunity…
  • How do I compose a shot? do I check my corners?  What exposure do I really want? did I get it?  The pic below is an early pic.  It could have been much stronger if the branch were on a diagonal and the pine cone in the bottom right. The white sky background doesn’t really do much for me either.  So, what can I learn? Pay more attention to diagonals, don’t use the sky as a background.  And the start of composition is built, as guidance rather than hard fast rules.

    Pine Cone

    Pine Cone

  • What works for work flow, what better ways could I do something
  • Do I like the feeling in the photograph?  If not, what don’t I like and why?  The pic below has both the rear and the head of the buck, it would have been a better photo head on without the rear.  Additionally the pic is too contrasty for my tastes.

    Butt Head

    Butt Head

  • As I learn new techniques, how would I use them, where would I use them?

There are always opportunities to continue to improve, and yes, some may involve a new toy or gizzy, but the real photographer is me.  Similarly, how do I approach my life, am I learning, or do I hope that the next something out there will magically strike me wonderful?

To see more of my photos visit .

 

20. May 2015 · Comments Off on The day after…. · Categories: Argentina, Preparation, Travel · Tags: ,
Canon 5Dii w/ 70-200mm f/2.8, Sony Nex 6 w/ 18-104 with lens shade, Vivitar 285, lens shade for

Canon 5Dii w/ 70-200mm f/2.8, Sony Nex 6 w/ 18-104 with lens shade, Vivitar 285, lens shade for Canon


“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things”  
Henry Miller

“No photographer is as good as the simplest camera” Edward Steichen

Previously I had written about the pros and mostly cons of a point & shoot (P&S).  Out of that I did some research and bought a Sony Nex 6 for about the price of a nice lens on my Canon system.  I am looking forward to experiments and trying it out….  Here are some of the lessons learned the day after.

What I had forgotten about is all of the other stuff that is needed to go with a new camera…

  • Camera bag of some form to carry it
  • New strap to replace miserable out of box strap that all new cameras seem to have
  • Spare batteries
  • Battery charger (it only came with in camera charging)
  • Arca-swiss plate for tripod mounting
  • SD cards
  • SD card holder (I have one for my CF cards for the Canon)
  • A circular polarizing filter, and UV haze filter for each lens
  • A filter holder / wallet
  • Nex 6 flash adapter so that I can use flash
  • A new large speedlight (possibly)
  • Adapter for Canon lens onto the Nex 6

All of this needs to learned anew.  How to use the camera in manual mode with and without a flash. How to change lens quickly and easily. What is it like on a tripod?

Then there are all of the reasons for moving away from the P&S.

  • Better image quality, no more barrel distortion
  • higher dynamic range
  • Enough pixels that the photos don’t look grainy to my eye.
  • Decreased chromatic aberration

All of these things will take time to validate or learn.  And it all takes time and practice.  I guess I should not plan on shooting a wedding with the new camera.  What will you learn the day after?

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?

 

18. March 2015 · Comments Off on A Prepared Photographer · Categories: Preparation · Tags: , , , ,

 

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

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’

 

 

04. March 2015 · Comments Off on At lunch – what works for learning Photography · Categories: Mental Process, Preparation · Tags: , , , ,

Early morning. Any time, anyplace is good for learning photographyThe 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.

 

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.