The Digital Insider

In my first semester of attending photography school full time I had a professor who was a very successful working photographer. I actually wondered sometimes why he taught. Especially after visiting his home studio in Venice. There was no doubt that he had done exceptionally well for himself. Anyway, during our first week of class he told us that we had to put together a book with tear sheets from magazines, et cetera that we liked. Now, that was broad yet, specific to the individual. He went on to explain that it could be anything for any reason. Whether you liked the lighting, the colors, it turned you on or repulsed you for whatever reason. It could be a photographer’s work that you admired or hated.

The exercise later revealed his reasoning. He had us take a lupe and look at the eyes of the subject in the photograph; especially studio photographs. By doing this it was a bit confusing at first but then completely obvious. You could see the lighting in the subject’s eyes. By studying the eyes you can generally determine where the light source was coming from and the shape of the light source. You could see if it was round, square, rectangular and the size and angle of the light. His suggestion was to find a photograph that you liked, look at the eyes, determine how it was lit and duplicate it. After recreating it, ask yourself what would I do different and do it.

It was a great idea and learning experience for any beginning photographer and/or student. It’s easy to look at something and think to one’s self that, “I can do that”. Well, this exercise was a way to prove it. I made such an attempt at duplicating a beauty shot I saw and it was difficult but exciting all at once. Nonetheless, it worked.

Currently and forever the only slight problem with the exercise is the blessing and curse of advancing technology in photography especially as it relates to Photoshop. A great tool for so many things whether creative and/or purely maintenance on photographs it can limit one’s learning experience in the aforementioned example. Primarily because the eyes can now be retouched to the extent that it makes it very difficult if not at times impossible to see the lighting scheme in the eyes.

Alas there are still great painters to study. Light is light and it hasn’t changed much over the centuries. Paintings are like photographs in that it takes a 2-dimensional medium and by using or manipulating light creates a 3-dimensional piece of work. The information is all around us. You can look at the way the light falls on your date or mate’s face when sitting at dinner or how the light bounces off a building in the late afternoon creating a warm and soft glow. The information is still in the eyes, your eyes.

As I committed last winter to be the photographer for my friend’s wedding this fall I was almost immediately regretting saying yes. First, although trained/schooled as a photographer, I’ve never shot or even assisted a photographer for a wedding. Nor have I ever had the desire to do so. Second, my friend’s are very simple folks that live in a mountain town two hours south of Lake Tahoe with a population of around 300. Third, I doubted that they could afford to pay a real wedding photographer and they expressed the fact that they didn’t want anything, “fancy”. Lastly, I’m a bit abnormal - a bit is being quite generous - but although there is a ton of money to be made and you are documenting this wonderful event of a bond between people in love, I don’t like wedding photography because of the pressure and the general guarantee of a normal human being turning into bridezilla on the “most important day of her life”. I spend my days playing poker and golf…not too normal.

Anyway, the day finally came and as I expected once me, my girlfriend and our mutual friend drove 5 hours to get there, Bridezilla greeted us with open arms. Forgive me, I’ll get back to the lesson at hand.

Most of my days are spent in relative calm regardless of the chaos around me but when it comes to my photography I’m a bit anal retentive. Hence, when I work I usually have a backup for my backup and my motto is the same as Christian Slater’s character Clarence in True Romance. It’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. Well, the mountain air amongst other things must have gotten to me before I left LA to go forth and be a wedding photography caped crusader. I borrowed a digital camera from a friend and fellow photographer because I haven’t caught up with technology…yes, I still shoot film.

Now, as aforementioned, my friend’s don’t have much in the way of discretionary income and developing a bunch of rolls of film can get a bit expensive. In addition, I felt that I would want to take a quick peek at what I’m shooting during the posed family photos. To make a long story longer, I borrowed the older digital version of Canon’s prosumer cameras, the 10D. I’ve used it in the past and when shooting RAW files it’s more than sufficient. As well as the fact that I needed to borrow one of my friend’s shorter zoom lenses (28 - 80mm) and the lens only works with the 10D. I only have long lenses (70 -200mm and up). There was a 5D available to borrow but that puts me back to having to rent a lens, etc. I wasn’t getting paid for this gig and really just wanted to enjoy the wedding and get hammered with all the locals at the wedding and reception. But alas I lost my mind and thought that shooting the wedding would be fun and a piece of cake.

So, I borrow the Canon 10D with one battery, a 28 - 80mm zoom lens, a TTL flash along with two 1GB flash cards and one 512K flash card. I’m stoked. I can shoot the wedding and pick off candids at the ceremony and the reception as a bonus. They only asked for some ceremony shots - the ceremony lasted less than 5 minutes which is extraordinary in itself but super awesome given the fact that I had just attended a Catholic wedding two weeks before…stand up, sit down, sing, stand up, sit down, have communion, stand up, sit down - and the obligatory posed shots with family members, etc.

Well, after waking up hungover from the after rehearsal dinner party at pretty much the only bar open past 8pm in this small old west town, I checked everything that I had set out and charged the night before. It all was working as we left in the crisp mid-afternoon air to witness my friend’s union.

Let me go back for a second. In the morning as we all stumbled awake it was gray and there were extremely light snow flurries. I’m loving this because overcast days provide the best lighting for photographs especially in the middle of the day when the sun is directly overhead. The clouds act as a giant soft box. The flip side of that would be shooting in harsh overhead sunlight in the middle of the day that creates awful racoon eye shadows. Well, of course, the overcast skies didn’t last long and it turned out to be a beautiful fall day with moderate temperatures and clear skies. A brides’ dream and my nightmare.

As we indulged in the hair of the dog and such in the morning prior to heading to the spa for the day’s event(s) - held on the grounds of the spa where she works, the backdrop is gorgeous with the mountains, waterfalls, cabins and a cute little wedding arch - I double checked the camera gear again and even put the battery on the charger once more to be sure that it was fully charged.

We were all standing outside waiting for the ceremony to kick off. I’m taking some test shots of my girlfriend to dial in the flash as a fill for the harsh eye shadows and was ready to go. Right at that moment, I turned to take a candid shot of my buddy standing with his mom about to walk down the aisle when it happened. As I pressed the trigger the camera ceased up. I look at the display screen to see the camera battery icon flashing saying it was dead. Almost simultaneously, the wedding planner - who I know as this cool local chic and awesome skier who hasn’t had a season pass for years because she hikes for her turns - look at me with her pretty smile and ask me if I’m ready. In a panic that was only noticeable to my girlfriend I calmly ask for 5 minutes. She says no problem and I proceed to faint right there. Okay, I wanted to but I didn’t. I saw one of the locals that I’m pretty good friends with a camera and promptly pull him aside and tell him that I’m having a minor issue with my camera and that I would like to borrow his just as a backup. He agrees and all was still in chaos. I had to use his camera which was a film camera and I kept taking the digital camera battery out and putting it back in the camera. I would get a few shots off then it would give me an error message. I continued to do this through the ceremony and the posed family shots and backing it up with my newly borrowed film camera.

Finally, the lesson. No matter how little or laid back the job, always be prepared and have a backup for your backup. I left LA with only what I borrowed from my friend. I even said to myself before I left that this is a bad idea and I don’t feel comfortable but I went unprepared anyway. I did bring a few rolls of film which in affect saved me even though I didn’t bring my film camera like an idiot/amateur. I have no idea what happened with that battery nor does my friend but the bottom line is that by not being prepared and having backups I jeopardized everything…a one time event. I still wasn’t sure if the film camera worked because it wasn’t mine nor had I done any tests with the film before I shot it. Not to mention that I brought 400 ISO film and used the 10D which was rated at 100 ISO as a reference for my exposure while totally under the gun. Again, no one knew any of this was going on except my girlfriend and still no one knows. I got the film developed and I’m pretty sure I saved myself. But don’t ever, ever, ever do anything relative to photography without being prepared which includes having a backup for your backup.

Whew…I need to go hit some golf balls and have a few cold beers.

About the Author:  Al Wortham is a Photo Editor with ScanDigital.  Al brings more than 10 years of professional photography experience to his roll at ScanDigital.  He has worked for years as a freelance professional photographer shooting a wide variety of events from individual weddings to the MTV Video Music Awards.  Al has also worked as a photographer’s assistant for photographers with Sports Illustrated, the Golf Channel and several major architectural firms.  Al also worked as part of the world renowned team at A&I Photography Lab in Santa Monica, CA.  Al has a degree in Finance from American University and a degree in Photography from Santa Monica College. 

When I have a chance I love to watch the Colbert Report on Comedy Central and I caught a segment on the show last week that I found particularly interesting and wanted to share with everyone.

The clip below is Steven Colbert’s interview with Chris Jordan. Jordan is a photographer focused on using photography to demonstrate the environmental impact of the American consumer. The point of my blog is not to necessarily make any sort of social statement, but rather the interview and Jordan’s work really highlighted for me the power of photos, especially in the context of making a social statement. Whether you agree with Jordan’s belief that our consumption is a “slow-motion apocalypse”, it is hard to argue that his photography brings to light something that is otherwise very difficult to grasp in our day-to-day lives. In his own words, Jordan explains his work:

Exploring around our country’s shipping ports and industrial yards, where the accumulated detritus of our consumption is exposed to view like eroded layers in the Grand Canyon, I find evidence of a slow-motion apocalypse in progress. I am appalled by these scenes, and yet also drawn into them with awe and fascination. The immense scale of our consumption can appear desolate, macabre, oddly comical and ironic, and even darkly beautiful; for me its consistent feature is a staggering complexity.

The pervasiveness of our consumerism holds a seductive kind of mob mentality. Collectively we are committing a vast and unsustainable act of taking, but we each are anonymous and no one is in charge or accountable for the consequences. I fear that in this process we are doing irreparable harm to our planet and to our individual spirits.

As an American consumer myself, I am in no position to finger wag; but I do know that when we reflect on a difficult question in the absence of an answer, our attention can turn inward, and in that space may exist the possibility of some evolution of thought or action. So my hope is that these photographs can serve as portals to a kind of cultural self-inquiry. It may not be the most comfortable terrain, but I have heard it said that in risking self-awareness, at least we know that we are awake.

The video is well worth the 6 minute viewing time, as is typical for Colbert’s interviews, the main message is not lost in the humor.

For more on Chris Jordan visit: http://www.chrisjordan.com/

What do you do when someone asks you to take there picture for them. Do you simply point and shoot, or do you create a photograph by framing and directing your new models? Either way, quicly applying a basic knowledge of lighting patterns can significantly help your snap shooting abilities and make
pictures pop.

Lighting patterns have been used in paintings for centuries. Painters and photographers use lighting patterns to give shap to there models with the use of shadows caused by light direction.

Once you have a good understanding of the four basic lighting patterns you will be able to quickly decide which pattern could potentially help your model. Photographically, lighting patterns can help slim or broaden models. For example, a split lighting technique can dramatically reduce the size of a person by revealing only half of the person making the person seem much smaller. Lighting patterns also be used to create a mood or dramatize a subject. The shadow on the face caused by the directional light is what creates a lighting pattern.

The four basic lighting patterns are a Paramount, Loop, Rembrant, and Split.

Paramount:
A Paramount is created when the light source is straight on the subject from above or behind the camera. The light would be at about 6:00. This light direction causes a shadow just under the nose. The shadow resembles an upside down triangle. The length of the shadow depends on the height of the light source. Therefore, if the sun is high in the sky, and almost directly above the subject, the shadows will be long. Remember that if you do have a high light source to keep the models chin up to avoid shadows in the eyes, find a piece of white material to hold under models face to reflect light back into those deep shadows. Paramounts are great for narrow faces, because nearly the entire face is lit making the models face to seem wider.

Loop:
Loops are created when the shadow on the models face travels to either side resembling a loop effect. That’s caused by the light being slightly off camera at 7:00 or 5:00. Loops are great all face types and add a bit of charm to a photo.

Rembrant:
This pattern was made famous by Rembrant himself. He used this light on nearly everyone of his subjects. Rembrants are used to create a mood or a dramatized effect often used in comic books and old detective movies. This pattern helps slim down broad faces and can look very beautiful if used correctly. Rembrants occur when a loop travels even further across the face connecting to the shadow on the edge of the face near the ear. That means the shadow side of the face is nearly completely covered except for a small triangle of light just under the eye. The light direction must be coming from a 8:00 or 4:00 position off camera.

Split:
The split lighting pattern is the most dramatic of them all. The light is coming directly from 90 degress left or right off camera. At theis point, one half the models face will be completely covered in shadow. Very, dramatic, and great for really broad faces.

Hopefully these tips will help improve the lighting and quality of your next digital photos.

About the Author: Chris Callaway is a Photo Editor with ScanDigital. Chris is a graduate of the prestigious Brooks Institute of Photography. He has worked closely with well-known photographers Roberto de Este, John Russo and Richard Radstone.

A few months ago I received an email from Richard Derks, the co-founder of a new company called Respectance, seeking a partnership with ScanDigital. At that time I had not heard of Respectance, but as I came to understand the company and the service it was providing I was thoroughly impressed.

Respectance is a company that allows its users to generate online tributes to deceased relatives, friends, idols and mentors, basically anyone you might want to pay a tribute to. Respectance has been called “the myspace for the deceased”, while this is a somewhat grim way of describing it, the point is that respectance provides an online social space for individuals to pay tribute to their loved ones. I think it is a fantastic service and a touching way to remember those you love in this digital age. The digital age in which we live is really about using digital technologies to enhance our lives. The ability to be able to access those old photos and fond comments about a loved one instantly from anywhere on your computer is such a step forward from having to dig out an old photo album in a box somewhere to relive these memories.

The company is the first to use the combination of rich media combined with relevant content, to provide an outlet for emotional expression. With emo-social media, Respectance has created a dedicated venue for sharing emotions and memories online, unlike all-purpose social networking sites like MySpace or Facebook, that are inappropriate for personalized tributes. As Derks describes the company:

“Respectance is establishing a new tradition for sharing memories of loved ones. Finally, there is an appropriate outlet for sharing emotions and memories of loved ones for all to appreciate, enjoy and contribute to.”

Respectance contacted us about a potential affiliate partnership because they were finding that many of their users were in need of a quality photo scanning service that could provide the fastest turnaround in the industry and they were particularly intrigued by our online gallery and ability to provide a web-based version of photos to their users. I am very proud to associate the ScanDigital name and brand with companies like Respectance.

In addition to adding Respectance as an affiliate partner, we have recently launched an official program to pursue these type of affiliate relationships. We have built a system from the ground up which allows our affiliates to track users coming to our site through their site and share in the success generated by these customers.

From time to time, I plan to highlight some of our Affiliates that I believe would be of interest to our customers.

For more information on Respectance visit: www.respectance.com

For more information check out the details using this link ScanDigital’s Affiliate Program.

I wanted to share with everyone a great site that I discovered this morning. Earthshots.org is a website dedicated to digital photos from around the globe. Every day the site receives photos from hundreds of photographers and then each day selects the best image to post. Most of the photos are of animals or beautiful scenes in the wilderness, but the requirements for the contest are not particularly stringent. According to the site:

Earth Shots is looking for photographs that exhibit the beauty and diversity of our planet. Any subject matter goes. The most important requirement is that your image is interesting and striking.

They have done an fantastic job of compiling amazing shots from all over the globe. Keep up the good work. This four minute video slideshow is amazing and will give a good idea of the winning shots over a 100 day period.

I came across this article today on photojojo and thought it would be very interesting to our readers. Hope you enjoy these tips!

From Sunny 16 to Moony 11, 8, and 5.6, these facts, formulas, and photographic rules can get you out of a jam and help you get good shots when nothing else will.

By Jason Schneider
September 2007

What happens when your systems go belly-up, when all of that cutting-edge technology dies and you must rely on (gasp!) your own knowledge? It pays to have these basics in your head. They can get you out of a jam and help you get good shots when nothing else will.

1. Sunny 16 Rule
The basic exposure for an average scene taken on a bright, sunny day is f/16 at a shutter speed equivalent to one over the ISO setting—that is, f/16 at 1/100 sec at ISO 100. From this you can interpolate, and try f/22 at the beach, f/11 on a cloudy-bright day, etc.

2. Moony 11, 8, and 5.6 Rules
There are many different rules that work well when shooting the moon. One favorite for a proper exposure of a full moon is f/11 at one over the ISO setting. For pictures of a half moon, use the same shutter speed at f/8, and for a quarter moon, use the same shutter speed at f/5.6.

3. Camera Shake Rule
The slowest shutter speed at which you can safely handhold a camera is one over the focal length of the lens in use. As shutter speeds get slower, camera shake is likely to result in an increasing loss of sharpness. So, if you’re using a 50mm lens, shoot at 1/60 sec or faster. Not enough light? Use a flash, tripod, or brace your camera against a solid object.

4. Anatomical Gray Card
Metering off an 18-percent neutral gray card is a good way to get a midtone reading that will give you a good overall exposure of a scene. Forgot your gray card? Hold your open hand up so it’s facing the light, take a reading off your palm, open up one stop, and shoot. (Various skin tones rarely account for even a full-stop difference.)

5. Depth of Field Rules
When focusing on a deep subject, focus on a point about a third of the way into the picture to maximize depth of field, because the depth-of-field zone behind that point is about twice as deep as the depth-of-field zone in front of it. This works for all apertures and focal lengths, but the smaller the aperture and the shorter the focal length, and the greater the distance you shoot at, the greater the depth of field.

6. Largest Digital Print Rule
To calculate in inches the largest photo-quality print you can make with a digital camera, divide the vertical and horizontal pixel counts (see your manual) by 200. For critical applications, or if you want exhibition-quality prints, divide the pixel counts by 250.

7. Exposure Rules
The classic advice is, “Expose for the highlights, and let the shadows take care of themselves.” This works with slide film and digital. But with negative film, especially color negative, you’re better off overexposing by one stop.

8. Quick Flash-fill Rule
When using an automatic flash unit that doesn’t provide auto flash-fill ratios, set the flash’s ISO dial to twice the ISO you’re using. Meter the scene, select an f-stop, set the autoflash aperture to the same f-stop, and shoot. The resulting 2:1 flash-fill ratio will produce filled shadows one stop darker than the main subject.

9. Flash Range Rule
Want to know how much extra flash range you get by going to a faster ISO? The rule is, “Double the distance, four times the speed.” For example: If your flash is good to 20 feet at ISO 100 (film or digital), it will be good to 40 feet at ISO 400.

10. Megapixel Multiplier Rule
To double the resolution in a digital camera, you must increase the number of megapixels by a factor of four—not two. Why? The number of pixels in both the vertical and horizontal dimensions must be doubled to double the pixel density across the image sensor.

11. Action-stopping Rules
To stop action moving across the frame that’s perpendicular to the lens axis, you need shutter speeds two stops faster than action moving toward or away from you. For action moving at a 45-degree angle to the lens axis, you can use a shutter speed one stop slower. For example: If a person running toward you at moderate speed can be stopped at 1/125 sec, you’ll need a shutter speed of 1/500 sec to stop the subject moving across the frame, and a shutter speed of 1/250 sec to stop him if moving obliquely with respect to the camera.

12. Sunset Rule
To get a properly exposed sunset, meter the area directly above the sun (without including the sun). If you want the scene to look like it’s a half-hour later, stop down by one f-stop, or set exposure compensation to minus one.

Originally published November, 2004.

It has been about 2 months now that I have been working on posts for The Digital Insider. I am constantly scouring the internet for new and interesting topics and asking the team here at ScanDigital what they think our customers and readers would be interested in reading about. More often than not it is someone here on the team that has an interesting idea that lead to my posts, so I thought it was time to bring in other contributors and authors.

Our staff here is a group of highly trained individuals, with a diverse background within a variety of niches in the photography and digital photography field. For most of these people working with digital photos and technology is not just a job, its something they love. Outside of the office they are generally keeping up with the latest and greatest innovations which makes them ideal contributors to our blog. I’m excited for them to share their thoughts with you.

For a number years now cameras have had the ability to time and date stamp photos, soon another dimension will be added to your digital photos - geography. The practice of stamping images with a geographic location is known as “geotagging”. This is currently available to those who wish to do it manually through sites such as Flickr; however, the integration of digital photography technologies, online photo sharing systems and GPS tracking technologies are rapidly making it more feasible for the average shutterbug to geotag his/her images.

“Every photo was taken somewhere. That’s almost always part of the story of the photo,” said Stewart Butterfield, general manager and co-founder of Flickr, which now houses 36 million geotagged photos–roughly 3 percent of its total archive.

As the cost of integrating GPS chips with digital cameras decreases, more and more people will begin to not only have a chronological record of their images, but also a geographic record. Before the advent of digital photography people often invited guests to view their slideshows, but today in the era of photo sharing online many viewers lack an in-person guide. Geotagging is just one more way to provide a comprehensive story about someone’s photos. Imagine touring through the Alps or Italy and upon returning being able to pinpoint the exact location of a particular favorite restaurant or hotel and then recommend it to friends. Geotagging simply is an additional enhancement that increases the usefulness of your digital photos.

It is estimated that on a scale of 1 to 10, geotagging is only a 4 in terms of maturity. Clearly there are future advancements that are being developed to make geotagging a user friendly, simple experience. It will be very interesting to watch this new technology develop.

The image below demonstrates a set of geotagged images and their appearance on a map.

Sources: Flickr, CNET

I came across this story earlier in the week and wanted to share it with everyone. It really demonstrates the power of digital photography and the internet to do good when used correctly. (Apologies to all my friends in Southern California that are die hard USC fans for writing a favorable article about the Buckeyes’ fans).

On September 1st, the Ohio State Buckeyes opened their season at home facing the Youngstown State Penguins. A long time Buckeye fan, Michelle Montgomery was thrilled to attend the home opener and witness her beloved Buckeyes dominate the Penguins, winning 38-6. On the way into the stadium before the game, Michelle found a digital camera in the parking lot. She viewed the pictures on the camera’s digital display and saw photos of a father and son meeting Brutus Buckeye, the OSU mascot. Reluctant to trust campus lost and found to find the camera’s rightful owner, Michelle decided to take matters into her own hands.

Michelle took the camera home, downloaded the images to her computer and then emailed them to 14 of her closest friends and fellow Buckeye fans. She asked them to view the photos and if they did not recognize anyone to pass them along to other friends and Buckeye fans. Hundreds of emails later, John Montgomery opened his email, opened the photos only to recognize himself and his 10 year old son, Noah, posing with Brutus. He was estatic to learn that his camera was safe and Noah was thrilled as well to have the proof that he did meet Brutus Buckeye.

“It shows the power of the Internet, e-mail and the Buckeye network. It’s amazing how many Buckeye fans are out there,” said John, a 1986 Ohio State University graduate.

When I read this story I thought it really captured how good people combined with technology can achieve things that would have not been previously possible.