Numerous Way Of Shooting

 

Here we are again with an image that has been viewed something like 100 K times on www.nway.org. We will explain, when and how I shot this photo. We will tacked Arial photography.

Location

During my numerous travels to Argentina, I went to a City called San Juan ; North West between Pampa and the Andes. This zone is kind of arid but we can notice here and there green areas like if it was oasis in the Sahara.

Situation

When you are there, you notice that far mountains are blurry. It is not an effect, it is the real deal. Why is that ? It is simply scientific : Indeed, the further you are, the more obstacle the light encounter to get to you. If there are more obstacle, the light looses of its power, sharpness, brightness, color, … This explains this types of landscapes.

Nevertheless, the aim of the photo was more to express the green aspect of the area combined with a holy dimension. To do so, I took a steady photo and I included, on one side, the Sun. Well, to tell you the truth, It is kind of complicated to work with the Sun. I didn’t want any glare but I wanted a little burned area. I had to take something like ten photos to be satisfied by the result.

Of course, I took the photo with a wide angle really close to the ground and narrow aperture. The shutter speed was not important for that shoot.

PostProcessing

I realized that I had some dirt on my lenses after taking a bunch of photo, thus, I had to clean the sky and the mountains.

I increased the green by decreasing the intensity of all the other colors. I tried to be as close as possible to the real result.

Critic

A place where the green is king. Well, it is like the kind had been set in place by a holy power. Nature has done it job right and fulfill us with a feeling of rest and pleasure, like if it was a dream, working on gross running away.

Even if the colors seems like too green, they are natural and give us the right impression. The only default that I can find would be the little plant in the middle of the right edge that should not be there.

 

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When it come to shutter speed, it is easy : A number represents the duration of exposition. But what about aperture ? Why does it change that strangely ? The more, the smaller ?? Don’t worry, it won’t have any secret for you after reading this post !!!

Why is it that important ?
It matter for a lot of reason, among them these two :

• You already bough a lens right ? Well, it is important to compare lenses and to know that F2 opens wider that and F5.6 for example.
• Imaging that you are shooting in manual mode, it is kind of important that you know who to shoot with synonymous exposure, that is to say exposures (Set of ISO-Shutter-F Stop) that let the same amount of light hitting the captor.

In other words: if you shoot a photo at 1/100 second, f/4 and ISO 200, you would get exactly the same brightness in your photo if you halved the ISO and doubled the shutter speed (so 1/50 second and ISO 100) or the other way around (1/200 second shutter speed and ISO 400).

Shutter Speed and ISO
Shutter speed deals with a duration (amount of time) that the shutter should be open. A 2s shutter speed will make 2 times more light enter than 1s shutter speed. Easy hum ? It is the same the 1/100 and 1/200 (Don’t get fooled by divisions)
ISO deals with Captor sensitivity; in the old days, we’d talk about film speeds of a certain ISO. These days, it refers to the sensitivity of your light sensor (or rather, a multiplication factor done by your camera’s processing chips). When you’re shooting at ISO 100, your camera will use the light capture data as-is. At ISO 200, it’ll take your light measurements and multiply them by 2 (because it used half the shutter speed in its exposure calculation). At ISO 400, it multiplies everything by 4 – and so on.

Apertures and F-stops
How can f/2.8 be a larger aperture opening than f/4 ? Why these number are that weird ?
Aperture size is usually calibrated in f-numbers or f-stops. i.e. those little numbers engraved on the lens barrel like f22 (f/22),16 (f/16), f/11, f/8.0, f/5.6, f/4.0, f/2.8, f/2.0, f/1.8 etc. Each of this value represents one time the amount of light either more or less in quantity. Meaning to say, f/16 will let in 1X the amount of light than a diaphragm opening of f/22 and so forth; while on the other hand, an aperture of f/4.0 will let in 1X lesser than that of f/2.8 etc.
The aperture opening is measured in f-stops, which are, in fact, a fraction. An aperture opening is a fraction of the focal length of your lens. So, if you have a 100mm lens set to f/4, what you are really saying is that the aperture opening in the lens is 1/4th of 100mm. That is to say : 1/4th of 100mm is 25mm – or about an inch.
This fraction is why we getter a reverse mode. 1/4 will open for 25 mm whereas 1/2 will open for 50 mm.

F-stop Scale
The F-scale is simple a geometric sequence of number : Sequence of the powers of the square root of 2. It sound like magical. Here after a list of this sequence and you will recognize some number.

 

Choosing the sequence was made on purpose. Indeed, by shifting to a number we either double or divide by two the amount of light hitting the sensors. Well, F-stops increase and decrease go up and down (inverse-) geometrically in powers of the square root of two because when the aperture diameter increases by the square root of two, the size of the area of the aperture.
Some cameras can goes between these scale.

What about my lens
On one of your lenses you might have seen something like this “18-35mm f/3.5-4.5″ stamped on the side of them. That means that when the lens is zoomed out fully, you can shoot with a f/3.5 aperture. However, when you zoom in, you can only use f/4.5.

In other words, at 18mm, f/3.5 is a 5.1mm opening and at 35mm, f/4.5 is a 7.7mm opening.

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Today we will speak about “how to do a good Photo Critic ?”. Whether you experienced it or not, believe me, give a good feedback on something is not a peace of cake, especially in photography. I hope that these following tips will help you to see clearer.

Giving a feedback, good or bad, is not just about the photograph, which might have been taken years ago. A critic should strive for making its owner a better photographer, technically and artistically.

All your need for that is to push a little further your analyze. For instance, instead of saying : “I love the contrast of your photo”, rather say : “I love the contract of your photo because it shows me that you really worked on the lights”. Well, in that case, the photographer will get proud of himself and know that he did something cool. On the other hand, try to be more diplomatic one bad critics by referring to you. Instead of saying : “I have this box of paper there”, rather say, “To me, the box of paper seems distracting and thus has no added value.”

As you know, there is no right or wrong in photography, it is an art. I can stay hours speaking about “beauty” but let just say that it remains the most subjective concept that exists. Technical pitfalls are to be notified of course, be always keep in mind that any rule can be broken.

Well, looking at the other side of the mirror, if you receive a feedback, try to see your photo as it was seen. In other words, don’t get upset but embarrass every remark.

1 – Precise Overview

First of all, take the necessary time to look closely at the photograph. Every corner of it must be scanned. You mustn’t miss any detail. If you find something really cool, or something really bad say it. Else save your breath. (or your fingers)

2 – Technical View

Then, remember all the technical rules that you have learned :

• Is light ok?
• Is composition ok?
• Is there any dust?
• Is there any flare?
• Is there any disturbing element?
• What about the colors ?
• And the balance ?
• … and so on …

3 – Artistic view

Here is when you should let your heart speak, say what you do like about the photograph and of course what you dislike. “I like how the deep green interact with the light blue of the sky…”

4- Improvements

Take the place of the photograph at that specific time when he took the photo. Imagine that you have the best gear and lights. How would you do ? How would do put the light ? From where would you shoot? What would have been your composition ?
Cross join that with the photo and make conclusion.

5- Conclusion

How did this photo appear to you overall?

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Rules, Laws, directives … or what ever name you want to put on that concept are nice to follow in photography, should not be overused.

Today, we will see, together how we can go further the rules to make a poping photo.

Location

At that time, I was walking on the streets of Princeton, New Jersey. I was just in front of the University, North-East side. Well, it was a sunny but cold day. I decided to go have a walk to enjoy the first days of bright light.

Situation

As I said, I was just walking, looking for something to shoot. Actually, I wasn’t searching but I was waiting for a shot to hit me. I saw these building and I said to my self that something is going on here. I didn’t really know why, but I knew that a shot had to be taken. I don’t know, maybe the colors or the different shapes or maybe the texture.

Post Processing

It is only at home that I tried to work the shot. I realized that lines and shapes are the main Hotpoint of the shot. I had to increase it and make it less “normal” or “common”. Well, against all thoughts, I inclined the photos so that the roof’s line corresponds with one of the diagonals. That is it! That’s what I was looking for!!
I also increased some colors and contrast.

Critic

Warm but strict, this photo give us the impression that we already know that situation, a situation where you have to go over a big step of your life while you are still looking back at your childhood. 

Rules aren’t laws. You can break them unpunished

Grossly over-exposing a photo doesn’t have to mean it won’t look good. (click for bigger on Flickr)

Read the sentence above. That’s all I really wanted to say with this article. So if you’re in a rush, or you think I use too many words to say something simple, then read that sentence a few times, and go check out XKCD for a while.

What I’m trying to say is that while the guidelines are there to help you, there’s no point in following any rules or guidelines unless you fully understand (or grok, if you’re geeky and/or well-read enough to be familiar with that concept) why.

The best reason to understand why a rule is there, is to break it. Some times, you might find that your photos actually come out more interesting – better, even, perhaps – when you break the rules. Other times, you’ll try to take the same photo twice; once whilst following the rule, and once whilst breaking it, and you’ll realise why it’s a good idea.

Just remember: Never follow a rule just because you’ve read somewhere that it’s the ‘right’ thing to do. Follow it because you understand it, and because you know what happens when you don’t.

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