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/

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.

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

For the past few months now I have been reading an online newsletter called Photojojo. The newsletter is published twice and week and I would highly recommend everyone check it out. They are constantly profiling new and cool things you can do with your digital photos, whether they be taken on a digital camera or photos you had converted to digital format everyone can find something new to do with their photos at Photojojo. The idea for Photojojo was born when two friends Amit and Kara realized they both had a love for digital photography and knowledge of all sorts of fun things to do with digital photos, but no way to share this knowledge.

“You probably own a digital camera and you’ve probably taken a bajillion photos with it. You may have printed a few. Well, it turns out there’s a whole world of things you can do with your photos and with your camera that nobody ever told you about. We find the most kick-ass photo tips, DIY projects, and gear and bring them to you. Turn a photo into a mural at home in 5 minutes, print your friends’ faces onto cupcakes, or get a bottlecap that turns any soda bottle into a tripod… subscribe and we’ll show you how.”

Topics tend to run the full gambit of digital photography which is something I love about the newsletter. Just in the last week they have profiled such things as major photography exhibits around the U.S., a way to turn your digital photos into a music video and a guide to creating your own photo journal books. In addition to the newsletter articles, you can also visit the Photojojo store and purchase all sorts of great photography related products. The site is useful, but keeps a light fun tone.

One of the best parts of the site is the forum where readers can post and discuss a wide variety of digital photography topics. Congrats to Amit and Kara on a great idea and keep up the good work over at Photojojo!

Yesterday marked anniversary of the original patent for the first roll-film camera and the registration of the name “Kodak”. The patent was awarded to George Eastman in 1888.

I was facinated to learn of Eastman’s story and what lead to the patent.

In his early 20s, Eastman was working as a bank clerk and purchased some photographic equipment for a vacation , but never made the vacation. He was instantly enamored with photography, though he was less enthusiastic about the cumbersome and limiting nature of wet-plate technology. So he set out to find a better solution. Eastman continued working at the bank while devoting his evenings to experimentation. By 1880 he had devised his own dry-plate formula and went into the photographic business full time. As he ran a young company struggling to survive, Eastman began looking for new exposure methods that could bring photography to the masses. Eastman kept experimenting until he hit on the solution: cellulose. It produced a clean image and was easily spooled onto a film roller, making it compact. As we know now, this was the birth of modern camera film. By 1888, he was ready to patent the first camera using that film.Another bit of interesting trivia is the background of the word Kodak, which has become one of the most recognizable brand names ever, there is no special meaning attached to it. Eastman explained its origin: “I devised the name myself. The letter ‘K’ had been a favorite with me — it seems a strong, incisive sort of letter. It became a question of trying out a great number of combinations of letters that made words starting and ending with ‘K.’ The word ‘Kodak’ is the result.”

Source: kodak.com, Wired.com

I have been thinking a lot lately about the impact of digital photography on the development of the social web. Sites such as Facebook and MySpace for better and for worse allow people not only to create online profiles, but what have become full online personalities. These personalities are defined, in part, by what people are writing about themselves, but more often defined by the photos and images individuals are posting of themselves, friends, family and activities. While there is some negative impact that comes from this (college seniors being cut from job applicant pools based on inappropriate photos) for the most part I view the impact of digital photography’s involvement in the social web as a very positive one.

Groups of individuals can link and bond in ways that were never possible before. A couple of weeks ago I finally read Chris Anderson’s The Long Tail, to me the social web really is creating the long tail of socialization. Allowing groups of individuals with very distinct tastes or interests to find each other and share their common bond. Digital photos only help to accelerate the speed at which these groups can develop, both by making it easier to identify new members with a common interest and also by facilitating better information sharing capabilities. This ability to share and community build allows these groups to truly capitalize on the long tail effect.

In thinking about the topic I came across a posting by Dennis Dunleavy on his blog “The Big Picture”, he offers interesting insights to this topic as well. For those that are interested the article can be found here: http://ddunleavy.typepad.com/the_big_picture/2007/08/the-role-of-the.html

As the social web matures, it will be exciting and interesting to see the impact of these new social communities. Let me know your thoughts on the topic!

Amazing developments continue in the world of digital photography. James Hays and Alexei A. Efros of Carnegie Mellon University released a new algorithm today professor and fourth-year PHd student at Carnegie Mellon released a powerful new algorithm today which creates the ability to fill-in blanks or replace unwanted parts of a digital photo. The algorithm draws on a huge database of more than a million images from the internet in order to seamlessly fill in the missing areas of incomplete photos.

Reasons for wanting to repair these photos span from a patch of bright light affecting the image or an unwanted person, shadow or object that is negatively impacting the image.

The algorithm is amazing in that it provides a number of different options to complete the photo allowing the user to select the one that they find most suitable. The example below demonstrates the power of the new algorithm.

More details can be found at the following page: http://graphics.cs.cmu.edu/projects/scene-completion/

Very interesting and ground breaking technology!