Colorado flowers
It has been a magnificent year for wildflowers in the high country of Colorado. I haven’t been photographing much but I have been spending a lot of time hiking through the beautiful meadows. Most of my time has been between 8000 and 9500 feet elevation where the aspen meadows and wildflowers are magnificent. Here is a shot of one of my favorite destinations taken with my little Nikon Coolpix A. Enjoy!
ISO test
Well, I’ve done it again and I’ve gotten another camera – the little Nikon Coolpix A. One of the main reasons I got it was that it has the largest sensor of any of the small, compact cameras. The sensor is the same sensor that is in the adult-sized Nikon DSLR Dx cameras (the ones with the 1.5 crop factor). But I am not going to write about the camera just yet. I am going to write about what we all should do as soon as you get a new camera- test the quality range of the ISO. Every camera in the world takes great pictures at their low ISO settings- usually 200 to 400. But almost every little compact camera also takes very mediocre pictures at higher ISOs. I have found that anything over ISO 800 is unusable for any of my needs. How do I know this? I take a test series of pictures at varying ISOs and then I take a look at them on my computer at 1/1 and check for noise. Noise is what we used to call grain in the days of film. Noise are those colorful speckles that become increasingly obvious at ever higher ISO. Every camera has a threshold ISO beyond which the noise is so bad the picture is ruined and is of no use. The question is, where is that threshold? Hence the ISO quality range test. I walked outside at twilight and shot a series of shots of the same subject at different ISOs. I started at ISO 200 and then shot the composition at ISO 400, 640, 800, 1200, 1600, 2000, 3200, 4000 and 6400. ISO 6400 is the highest my camera will go as ISO 200 is the lowest it will go. Here are the results: Here is the composition I photographed. Not very exciting, I know, I just wanted an image with some dark tones in it (noise is easiest to see in the dark areas of the image). Both of these pictures are unprocessed in Lightroom. They are just as they were imported, no processing was done when downloading either. Here are the pictures cropped to 4/1 which is a pretty small piece of the overall image. This allows you to clearly see the noise. Look at the blade of grass and see how it is so speckled? that is noise. I had to blow up these images to such extremes to be able to see the noise in a blog post. If you were looking at these images on your computer at normal size you would easily be able to see the image deteriorate as the ISO increased and the noise got worse. And finally, here are the two images with some slight processing- I adjusted the color temperature to get the rosiness out of the image and then a touch of noise reduction and clarity. This was all done in Lightroom and it was done quickly. I’m not much of a tinkerer when it comes to processing. Everyone should know the ISO threshold of each of their cameras. Why? Because I promise there will come a time (probably many times) when the light will be absolutely crummy but the subject you are trying to capture absolutely fabulous. When this happens you need to know how far you can push the ISO and still get acceptable results. If you don’t know this threshold then you will be either shooting at too low an ISO and thus have too low a shutter speed, ruining the shot or you will be shooting at too high an ISO and you will get a shot that is fabulously horrible. Knowing your threshold will give you the best chance to get your best image. So what did I figure out about my new little Coolpix A? I can shoot up to ISO 1600 comfortably and up to 3200 with a bit of noise reduction processing. Now remember, this is for my needs. I am not making large prints. I am shooting for books, magazine and websites. for someone with more demanding needs their threshold will be different than mine. So get off your couch and go outside and shoot a quick series of pictures at different ISOs and then take a look at them on your computer. You will thank me eventually.
The Equipment Conumdrum
Here is something all photographers have in common- the desire for ever better, ever newer, ever ever camera gear. Whether young or old or ancient, good, great or god awful, outdoor, indoor or sliding door we all crave better stuff whether we actually need it or not. Need has nothing to do with these desires actually. Need implies practicality and a reasoned approach to photography. As soon as you show me a reasonable photographer I will show you a reasonable congressperson. You go first! Back when I started, back when cameras where pulled by horses and dams and windmills supplied their power and we suffered through the inconvenience, the horror of film, the big choices we all had to make was lenses. There were only one or two camera bodies from which to choose and then maybe a dozen lenses. There weren’t small cameras then only not as big cameras and lenses didn’t come in different colors or f-stops or flavors (you know it is just a matter of time). We had a couple of zooms, a couple of telephotos and a few prime lenses. That was it. But the beauty of this limited selection was that you knew what was the best camera and what were the best one or two lenses. this made buying or upgrading your camera gear very easy. Everything was linear back then. All the choices were obvious. Ah, those days are gone now. Nothing is linear anymore. Starting from the gear you have you can go off in any number of directions to get better or different gear. there was no different in my day, just better or not as good. Today we have so many choices of lenses, camera bodies, cameras, camera bags, camera this, camera that it becomes at times paralyzing to make a decision. I am pretty sure that this is how the camera companies want it. Nikon has 15 digital SLR cameras and 24 digital point and shoot cameras not to mention 2 hybrids. That’s 41 cameras to choose from! But wait, there’s more. Canon has 10 digital SLRs and 30 digital point and shoots. Sony has 21 digital cameras and Panasonic has 24! That’s 126 cameras from which to choose from only 4 manufacturers! And I didn’t even get into Olympus or Pentax or Fuji or Kodak or Samsung! Dare I say that there must be well over 200 digital cameras out there to confound and entice us. Yes, I dare! But, here’s the deal- they are all pretty darn good cameras. Okay, let’s toss out the lowest end models, that still leaves us with over 150 to mull over. And even if you have some brand loyalty or loyalties you still are probably looking at well over 50 different cameras. Oye! Here is the trap that we fall into or I should say, I fall into- there is not one best camera. The top of the line Nikon, the D4 (or is it the D800?) and the top of the line Canon, the John, Paul, Luke and MarkII, (or the Mark III 3cpo? or 1D eieio?) are magnificent cameras but they have their flaws. One is that they are huge and heavy. Another is that they are very, very conspicuous. And let us not forget that they cost more than my first car did! All the rest of the Canon and Nikon cameras also have their flaws- the sensors are small, the cameras are small, the features are limited, they are too slow to autofocus, too slow to start, too slow to process, the video is limited, and on and on and on. Here is the bottom line: There is no one best camera generally and there is no one best camera even for you in particular. Every camera has wonderful features you will adore, several you don’t care about, several you hate and several that you really wish you had. It doesn’t matter how much you spend on a camera it is always the same- love some, lose some, loath some, lust some. My Nikon D4 is wonderful but in a crowded market in a third world country it is too big and much too conspicuous. My Coolpix A is very cool and very fun but it is a fixed 28mm. My Nikon 1 is small and handy and very inconspicuous but the sensor is tiny and the controls are sometimes buried in menus. So what is a photographer to do? Well, on any given day you will love, lose, loath and lust after a different set of choices based on how you are feeling at the time, what you are photographing at the time and how you are photographing it. In a crowded market my little Coolpix A is perfect but if a dance breaks out I am going to wish I had my Nikon 1. If I wander into a dim courtyard and find a beautiful elderly man to photograph I am going to really with I had my Nikon D4. Am I going to carry all three? Never. I will make choices. Choices based on my mood and interest at the time. If I miss some shots so be it, such is life. I will probably always carry two cameras with me- a big one and a smaller one but which ones, I can’t say. So don’t get hung up on trying to pick the perfect camera- it is a fool’s game. Pick two or three (cameras are getting pretty cheap these days) that are different that give you different capabilities and then be happy. Two should be enough for most situations, three perhaps a bit overkill. Four? Nikon’s D600sure does look like a great camera. I think it would be perfect for me!!!!
Forgotten Summer Fields
This is a terrible time of the year to be a sports fan- basketball season is over, football hasn’t started yet, baseball is in the dog days of summer, golf is, well…golf and hockey (Wait, did hockey have a season this year? Are they still playing? Did anyone notice?) is just too tedious to pay attention to. Professional hockey is like taking your sister to the prom- who cares? Same can be said for photographing in July. the wonderful springtime rush from the first wildflowers is past as is the fresh greening of the farms and forests. Birds have finished migrating and settled down to nesting duties, mammals are also having babies but they are look bedraggled and moth-eaten now, the skies in most of the country are either hazy from summer smog or summer humidity (or summer smoke from wildfires!) and the national parks are jammed with summer tourists, anxious animals and frustrated photographers. So what is an outside photographer to do? Well, you can head to the high country of the Rockies, Sierras or Cascades and look there. The skies are generally clearer, the locations, once you get off the beaten track, are generally less crowded and because of the altitude the summer season is just beginning with its wonderful burst of activity. I’m heading for Colorado as I write this with plans to hike up through the aspens to treelike to catch the first alpine wildflowers and the clear mountain vistas. If you can’t come with me, I suggest you take a closer look around you at the things that you normally pass off or pass by as photographically uninspiring. If you live on or near a coast, go visit a working harbor. If you live in a city go visit an outdoor market or junkyard. If you live in the midwest or deep south go, anywhere, just go! Or if you live near a field, a wild or close to wild field, go there. An overgrown, deserted lot will do as well, as will a neglected garden or ravaged woodlot. Fields are one of the most overlooked habitats for photographers. Fields are places we walk through to get to where we are going or look past to see what is pretty beyond. but there is much to see in a field or any abandoned area. July is the time when field wildflowers (what gardeners call weeds) come into their own. This is especially true in prairie country where July and August are the peak flowering times of the year. Everywhere else though fields and those overlooked weeds are also beckoning and worth exploring. The gallery I have included below was mostly shot this morning on the edge of my lawn where the mower is kept out and the wonder is allowed to blossom. The nice thing about most field flowers is that they are usually pretty tall so you don’t have to get into some back-twisting position to photograph them. This is also the time of year when juvenile insects like grasshoppers and beetles are very abundant and make for easy subjects. In August the spiders become increasingly more common and spider webs, bejeweled with dew are there for the taking. If you want to take pictures of butterflies and crickets and spiders go out first thing in the morning when it is cool. Because they are cold-blooded insects are still when it is cool and when they are covered in dew they have to wait to dry out before they can move. the best way to find these magical subjects is to get on your hands and knees and start crawling around through the weeds and high grass. You will get some very odd looks from your neighbors (not that odd looks are anything unusual for you) but you will also get some great photos. So don’t give up your photography for the summer, go out and explore the nearby passed by whatever it might be. I think you’ll be surprised at what you’ll find. [nggallery id=32]
More Playing!
So I’ve been playing with my new little camera some more. Just wandering around my house and the local environs trying to get to know what the camera can and can’t do. This is important to do with a new camera so when something important comes along to photograph I won’t be disappointed if I try to do something photographically that my camera doesn’t do so well. Photographers often discount play as a valuable diversion. I have found that the more expensive the camera gear the less inclined someone is to play with it…it is too expensive to do silly frivolous things! Expensive cameras should be used only for serious endeavors. “HOG WASH” I say! The best way to get to know all that your camera or lens or tripod or filter or flash or computer program or app for that matter is to fiddle with it. Try different things even if those things aren’t what you normally do or will ever do. See what the custom features are. Check out each icon on your camera to see what happens. Take a close-up with that wide angle lens or try that filter in the rain or at night or inside. Only through play will you really get to know your camera. And only through play will you per chance discover something valuable or interesting or worthy of pursuing. So this is what I have figured out so far with these sweep panoramas that are now so common on point and shoot cameras and phones: Firs, the files aren’t very big. Each of these pics is only 4.4 MP. I couldn’t make a very big print but I think they are fine for presentations. I’m not so sure about how they might do in a book or magazine though. Second, the lighting has to be pretty even throughout the composition or else your highlights will be really bright and your shadows really dark. And third, you have to shoot big (include more that you want in your composition) because when the camera stitches the image together you will lose stuff on the top and bottom of composition. I haven’t found a good situation where I could do a vertical pan yet but I am looking. I also noticed that if you set your camera up for a panorama but do only one frame you get a very tall, narrow shot that might be good for some situations. Basically, you are doing the pan sweep purposefully wrong to get a unique composition you want. That is what happens when you play.
3 Degrees of Seperation
This is how things happen to me and quite regularly it turns out. I find it wonderful. So wonderful that I thought I’d share the story. One of my all time favorite movies is The Legend of Bagger Vance, directed by Robert Redford and starring Will Smith, Matt Damon, Charlize Theron and Jack Lemon. It is ostensively a golf movie but it is in fact a movie about redemption and finding one’s authentic place in this world-a lesson that applies to creative souls as well as those looking for a better life. One of my great friends Brenda’s favorite writers is a fellow named Steven Pressfield. He has written several well known books including The Tides of War and Gates of Fire and he is an active blogger with really good insights on the creative process. Brenda, being the avid reader that she is had found Steven Pressfield and read the Legend of Bagger Vance but hadn’t seen the movie. She also discovered his book, The War of Art, and sent it to me. I read the book, didn’t know who Steven Pressfield was but loved the book and it’s message. Another great friend of mine, Lisa, knows the book, The War of Art very well- considers it “her Bible” but had never seen nor heard of The Legend of Bagger Vance, the movie or the book. When she was struggling artistically recently Brenda told her that I was going to ‘Bagger Vance’ her. Being quite alarmed at that bit of news (quite justifiably) she looked up Bagger Vance and found it was a movie but made no connection to her favorite book, The War of Art. So now I know who Steven Pressfield is and I go to his blog every wednesday to read his most recent posts. Brenda, whenever she finds a quiet moment will get the movie The Legend of Bagger Vance and appreciate Robert Redford’s telling of the story. Lisa, having survived the trauma of being Bagger Vanced, is also going to get the movie and, like me, will read Pressfield’s blog every wednesday. So what does this have to do with you? Well if three professional photographers all think that what Steven Pressfield writes is worth reading, especially The War of Art, and that the movie version of his book, The Legend of Bagger Vance, is worth watching then I would think it might be of interest to you! I am not going to tell you why it might be of interest to you. That is for you to figure out for yourself. I don’t recommend many writers or books or movies so when I do it’s likely a keeper. Trust me on this- follow through and discover the words and insights of Steven Pressfield. You can thank me later!
A Cloud Story for you
I walked into the barn the other day and Rob, Roger’s youngest son, was standing in the center aisle waiting for a cow to finish being milked. Rob is here full time now and he often takes over the morning milking allowing Roger to do other, long put off jobs. “Rob, I have a question for you.” “Yes sir?” Rob is ex-military so just to annoy me he acts all official every so often. “I looked at the weather app on my phone this morning to see what was coming our way… “It’s going to rain this afternoon.” …and I noticed that on the map feature I could not only see what the weather was going to be… “It’s supposed to start around 4.” …in the immediate future but it would also show me what the weather was in the immediate past.” “Yes, sir. That is correct, sir.” “Now why would I need to have my phone tell me what the weather just was? Why, when I was your age we used to call that memory- we used to be able to remember what just had happened to us.” “Not these days! You don’t remember anything anymore. Everything is in the cloud.” “The cloud? The computer cloud? Everything in the cloud? No more remembering?” “Nope, no need, everything is in the cloud.” “Well, I’ll be darned.” Roger walks over and being the general snoop that he is but only hearing half the conversation he asks, “What’s this about the clouds?” “That’s where everything is these days, Roger”, I say only half helpfully. “Where?” “In the cloud.” “Which cloud?” “The cloud.” “There is only one cloud?” “Yep, only the cloud.” “The cloud. That’s it? Not a cloud or the clouds? Just the cloud?” He pauses, his brain madly conjugating. “Well, how do you know which one it is?” Roger asks thoroughly puzzled as he takes off his cap and scratches his scrawny head . “You don’t have to, it’s everywhere” Rob interjects even less helpfully. “There’s clouds everywhere and that’s where everything is. Is that what you are telling me?” “Yep” Rob and I chorus together. “Do you think there are cows in the clouds?” Roger asks, getting back to his familiar mischievous self. “Oh, I am sure people have put cows in the cloud. In fact, I have. I have put cows in the cloud.” I say, rather proudly. “You have put cows in the clouds? Huh, do you think any of them need milking?” “Ah… “Because these next four sure do and they are standing right here!” Roger turns and starts to walk away laughing and muttering to himself. Shaking his head he stops and turns back to us saying, “The old man must be turning over in his grave right now. Hugh would never believe there were cows in the clouds.” “He doesn’t have to believe now, Roger,” I say as reverentially as I can. “He can probably see them from where he is sitting.” “Now wouldn’t that be something, seeing cows in the clouds. Do you think he is seeing two guys working as well?” Parting company, Rob quickly steps forward to tend to the milker and I head for the shovel to start the stall clean-up. “It’s a good thing one of us remembered something this morning,” Roger says. “The only things in the cloud around here are your heads!”
Wish you were here!
More on my little friend
Here is the update on my thoughts on my new little Nikon J3 camera. I used it last week while I was in Tofino, carrying it around in my pocket or in a small fanny pack (how do you carry these little cameras and three lenses around easily? I have have three polarizing filters, extra battery, etc. How can a camera that is so small take up so much room?) mostly hand-holding it while I happy snapped and my workshop participants took great photos. Here are my thoughts: Any little camera is not a substitute for a real full sized camera. This is an obvious statement but it hides a seductive notion we all tell ourselves. We all know that a little camera can never be as good as a full sized camera but we then go out and look for and eventually buy a little camera because it is ‘just as good as my normal camera.’ That is our expectation and we get frustrated when the little camera doesn’t perform as well as our real big camera. Don’t believe me? Just read the reviews on any camera website and you will see that every one of them compares the handling, picture quality, and features to their big camera and then acts disappointed when the results are less than what they wanted. IT’S A LITTLE CAMERA! It is not a big camera! It has a little sensor, tiny buttons, teenie dials, little batteries…It is LITTLE! All of these cameras are the same, it doesn’t matter the make. Don’t bother looking for a little pocket camera with the same features and same quality of a full-sized camera. You will never find it. Know why? BECAUSE IT IS A LITTLE CAMERA! That being said you can still get wonderful pictures if you remember the limitations. Shoot at low ISOs. I shot at 400 and liked the results and dabbled at 800 but was taken aback by the increasing noise. I didn’t bother with any higher ISOs. The noisy ISOs are not a Nikon issue but a little camera\little sensor issue. If you didn’t need to publish your images you could probably get away with ISO 800 but I wouldn’t recommend anything higher. Anyone who says their little camera can shoot at ISO 1600 or more doesn’t know what noise is. There is no viewfinder so composition is a challenge for those of us who are used to looking through a viewfinder and framing carefully. My solution was to shoot big and then crop precisely to the image I wanted later in my computer. This is not easy to do for those of us who are used to framing up exactly what we want but it is a worthwhile effort. Little camera with little dials and buttons makes anyone without little fingers at a bit of a struggle. So keep it simple- shoot in aperture priority, auto focus on stationary or slow moving subjects, don’t try to spot meter and just have fun. I guess the secret is to keep your real camera close, don’t get lazy and settle for the little guy and when you do set your bar low. For serious photography use your big, adult camera. For silly or unexpected photography or I-don’t-want-to-carry-my-big-camera photography use your little camera. Just don’t compare them. Little is little and it’s okay to be little. At least that is what I’ve been told.
A bit out of the ordinary!!
So I was wandering around on the docks of a small working harbor out here in Tofino, British Columbia and this floated by- it is an gasoline slick on the water. Being the whimsical guy that I am I took a picture, 8 pictures actually and then cranked up the saturation on my computer. Remember, photography is supposed to be fun!