what's with the f/numbers anyway?

Ever wonder why the aperture numbers are like that? Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, we had aperture rings on lenses, and they had full-stop markings like 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22 on them. The bigger the number, the smaller the opening. Seems backwards, doesn't it? Well, if you must know, it's because these numbers are in the denominator of the formula for the area of the aperture opening. You know, even though 4 is larger than 2, 1/4 is smaller than 1/2 ?

 

(Consumption of this article may be harmful to your health. Reader discretion is advised.)

flash tips: in the blink of an eye

Remember: that itty-bitty flash will not light up the Grand Canyon.

Unlike with natural light, it is difficult to see the effects of flash before the picture is taken.  You can't meter it the same way with natural light. It seems to have a mind of its own sometimes. It's just, in a word, frustrating! I hope this short article will shed some, ahem, you know what...

Contrary to the beliefs of many a tourist, that tiny flash on the camera will not light up the Grand Canyon.  No, Sir.  So when you take a photo with flash, there's the portion in the scene that's lit by the flash, and the rest comes from ambient light. Balancing the two is the fun part.

TTL flash: a light conversation

Nikon SB-800 with Microwave Popcorn Snoot

Delux Butter Version with built-in barn doors

A light conversation between the camera and the TTL flash

Camera: "Light Infantry, initiate preflash sequence."
TTL flash: "Yes, Sir!  Initiating preflash sequence."

(Flash sends out a series of short flashes, hits the subjects in the scene, light bounces back Through The Lens, hence the name, hits the TTL sensor, onboard computer figures out the flash power required to properly expose the subject...)

Camera: "Give me Photon Blaster at 200%"
TTL flash: "Roger that.  200%"

(First shutter curtain opens, flash fires, second shutter closes.)

Mission accomplished at the speed of light. Sorta. Pun fully intended.

shoot what you love

If there's a piece of advice among my most cherished, it would be "shoot what you love." I've heard this in various forms, from Chase, from Ed, from David...  I met Chase at one of his lectures. When I told him, "I have no intention of quitting my day job," this is what he wrote: "shoot what you love."

bursting technique

San Antonio, 1/10 sec @ f/4.5, Nikon D70

What do you do when the shutter speed gets below what you're comfortable handholding the camera, and you don't have a tripod with you?  Well, you could brace yourself against some object, like a flag pole or a wall, or place the camera on a bench or a short wall, and use the self-timer so you don't introduce more camera motion when you press the shutter. Or use Joe McNally's super-duper hand-over-shoulder-left-eye-dominant technique. I know there are photographers who can handhold down to like 1/4 sec or slower--more power to them.  I have a tremor in my left hand so I won't even try.

making an exposure is like filling a bucket

If you use a garden hose to fill a bucket with water, it might take a little while. With a fire hose, it'll take considerably less time to fill the same bucket.

In making an exposure, a certain amount of light is allowed to reach the sensor/film by some combination of aperture and shutter speed.  Think of size of the aperture as the hose size, and relate shutter speed to the amount of time it takes to fill the bucket. With a small aperture opening, it takes longer to let in a certain amount of light (slower shutter speed).  On the other hand, with a larger aperture opening, it'll take less time to let in the same amount of light ( i.e., a faster shutter speed).

If you switch to an aperture that's twice as big, it will take only half the time.  If you use an aperture that's half as big, it will take twice as long. Pretty straight-forward, isn't it? This give-n-take relationship is sometimes called reciprocity.  For example, for an exposure f/5.6 at 1/60s, we could get the same exposure by using f/8 at 1/30s. (The aperture opening at f/8 is half as big as f/5.6)

inspiration: troy wayrynen

A number of years ago I had the opportunity to photograph a theatrical production by a local company. I had never shot any stage performance before.  A friend of mine was a reporter at the Columbian newspaper, so he referred me to the Photo Editor at the paper, Troy Wayrynen.  Troy gave us some good advice, and over the years I've become friends with Troy as I would update him my progress/struggles in photography from time to time. One thing I appreciate about Troy, aside from being a wonderful photographer, is that he would always take the time to look at my images and give me great advice and encouragement.  Of course whenever I see his photos in the paper, I'd feel like a grasshopper all over again. I have so much respect for photojournalists as they are master storytellers through their photographs, often on short notice.

Here are some advices from Troy:

   "...immerse yourself in it to the fullest commitment you can."

   "Find out what you like about the process and master it."

   "Learn about lighting and explore all aspects of it. Be willing to experiment, whether it's PHOTOSHOP or a different technique at the moment of capture. Don't be afraid to fail (it's the best way to learn)."

   "Network with others and get their feedback."

   "Carry a camera as often as you can."

You can see more of Troy's work at picturesbytroy.

a histogram is just a bar graph

You're in a room with a bunch of people, and you ask them their birth month. 4 people were born in January, 7 were born in February, etc etc. So you make a bar graph of the answers you gather.

You're in a room with a bunch of pixels, and you ask what their gray values are. 0 is black, 255 is white, and all the grays in between. So you make another bar graph.  Except this time the bars are thin, and there are no gaps between them or the graph will go off the screen.

No, they didn't invent this for digital photography :)

(Color histograms slightly more complicated, but that's another blog post...)

"i'm a photographer."

Let's get this one out of the way.  You're a photographer.  Yes, repeat after me, "I'm a photographer."  If you love this craft and you make images with a camera, you're a photographer.  Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.  You don't need to be winning awards or getting paid to be a photographer.  You don't need to know all the full stop aperture numbers to be a photographer.  Or be Spiderman, although Peter Parker is a photographer.  ("I'm Peter Parker.  I'm a photographer.")    I've encountered photographers who had a little trouble identifying themselves as such.  Saying so is the easy part; learning the craft is the hard part.

There, there.

my journey

I was 14, I needed a hobby. "Hey, Dad, I'm thinking about taking up photography." Old man said, "OK," drove me to the camera store and bought me a brand new Nikon FE, an SB-15, two lenses and a tripod. Just like that.

My buddy's Dad moonlighted at the local newspaper as a photographer. He showed us how to work the camera. We used to roam the city in search of subjects. Sunrise, sunset. Used import cars. Whatever.

"Hey, how about taking pictures of lightning?"
"Great idea."

Up the roof we went, umbrella in one hand, and cable release in the other. The thought of being struck by lightning never crossed our minds. Somehow the pictures never turned out the way we wanted. They were all white.

"Wanna try to take pictures of trailing headlights?"
"Yeah!"

We'd set up the tripod in the middle of the crosswalk. Boy did we get some extra bright headlights...

Those were the days living dangerously.

Fast forward a few years, I decided to study digital imaging in graduate school because of my interest in photography, and because I would be able to show the results to my mother. "Look, Ma! Gaussian Blur..."  I worked on projects in medical imaging, computer animation, facial expression analysis and face recognition.  I can tell you exactly how Gaussian filters work, or the difference between bi-linear and bi-cubic interpolation.  But I won't.  For a number of years I was a professional student--they paid me to go to school.

When I got out of school, I landed a job at Kodak Research Labs.  What an awesome place!  I was surrounded by all kinds of experts in imaging and photography.  You show them a picture, and they'd hold it up to their nose and say, "Yep, there's too much magenta and the focus is a little soft..."

Photography sorta took the backseat until years later when my kids were born. So cute yet so stinky... I wanted to capture every little expression. First studio shots were done with a borrowed strobe and a bed sheet as the backdrop. I devoured books and magazines and blogs... bought DVDs and attended workshops... joined online forums and organizations... Exposure finally made sense. Got my head around strobes and off-camera flash. I always have a camera on me, even if it's just the iPhone. Through photography I was able to meet some amazing people, in cyberspace as well as real life.  I hope to feature some of them here too. I've improved a bit since I was a teenager, but there's yet so much to learn.  Ah...  such is the journey.

why breadcrumbs?

Joe said photography is a journey without a destination. It's not about "getting there," but for the joy of the here and now. Whether you're a seasoned pro or a noob, we're all on this journey together. Those before us have left breadcrumbs to point the way. My hope with this blog is to share some of these breadcrumbs I've picked up, in roughly three categories.

Photography.  These include tips and tricks on photography, perhaps a rule of thumb or something like Sunny 16. I'll definitely include some of my crazy experiments, and some "now you try it" too. 

Digital Imaging.  These relate to imaging, image processing and perhaps color science, you know, histograms, color spaces, monitor calibration, etc.

Inspirations.  Ah yes. Inspirations come in many forms. I hope to share some of my sources of inspiration. Many of these are photographers of course, but there are others as well.

This is not meant to be a complete course on photography or digital imaging; there are many other sites devoted to those topics. Just little nuggets here and there, I hope you find them useful.

1/1000 sec at f/2.8, iso 200