The Accidental Photographer » Action

Finding the Light in Night Photography

marsha — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 22:37:38 +0000

My husband and I were in the Australian Outback, watching a night presentation of Aboriginal cultural dances and ceremonies that began with sounds from the digeriedoo. We were sitting up high and back a little from the presentation, which allowed me to view the whole scene and think about the light. Flash photography here was out of the question. Besides being ineffective because of the distance, the flash would have disturbed everyone else present.

Fortunately, the spotlight was on the presentation. I turned off the flash, found the ISO settings – those control the light sensitivity of the digital flash card – and set it for a high sensitivity level, pushed my telephoto out to the maximum to get the reading and frame the shot, and went for it.

The light sensitivity reading was high enough to cause the camera to set a fast shutter speed. That froze the action. There was enough light on the people surrounding the presentation to give a good sense of what was going on. The internal light meter in the camera read the light on the demonstration, so that stood out.

In order to do this, you need to find three topics in your camera manual and learn how to use them: the icon settings – chosing one that will give you a fast shutter speed, such as sports or portrait, the telephoto controls, and the ISO controls in the menu options. Those three options will allow you to take control of your camera.

Looking for Contrast

marsha — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:15:04 +0000

In the spring of 2005, Death Valley National Park was experiencing an explosion of flowers. Thanks to a very wet winter, wildflowers that had been dormant for decades were blooming. We had scheduled our trip as a tag-on to a family visit months before, and were able to experience this natural event first-hand.

Taking photos of flowers seems like it should be easy. After all, don’t you just drive along the road, stop when you see a pretty scene, and get out and shoot? Well…..yes…. driving along and noticing pretty scenes is certainly what gets you there. When flowers are this prolific, though, getting a shot that has interest and dynamic qualities takes some observation.

Look at this scene for a minute. What do you notice? Here’s what I saw. The contrast of yellow flowers against the white salty field and blue shadows on the hills certainly makes the flowers stand out. Still, though, as a sea of flowers, they looked flat and uninteresting. I could see a few curves in the floral landscape, but nothing strong enough to stand out. I could tell if we drove down the road to look for angles in the pattern of flowers, I was going to lose the light and the shot. I studied this scene for a while before I saw the one yellow flower sticking up above all the rest, standing out against the white background. That lone flower added the dynamic quality and interest I wanted. That was the shot that told the story of the flowers.

Making Lines and Angles happen

marsha — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:58:06 +0000

Boy, did we luck out. One spring, we were visiting family in Bakersfield and decided to make a short visit to Death Valley National Park. Fortunately, we made the arrangements three months in advance when we set the trip up. Thanks to the ensuing wet winter, we happened to hit one of the most prolific flower shows the Park had seen in years. People were coming in droves, and by March, when we arrived, NO rooms were available inside the park.

Along with a few hundred other people that spring, my husband and I went on a wildflower search. We were doing roadside photography to get an overview of the Park, and weren’t walking on any trails for our views.

No flower shot is simple, but this one was especially challenging. These are tiny white flowers that grow close to the ground. We had been photographing the flowers spread across the valley in front of the hills when I spotted them. I tried several ways to photograph them, but they were too tiny to stand out against the brown hills. Finally, I decided to see if I could position myself close enough to create a line of flowers against the blue sky in the background. I set the camera for landscape shots, laid down on a blanket I had spread in front of the flowers, and tipped my camera up until the hills in the background were spread along the bottom of the frame and the flowers were positioned against the blue sky. Lines create a sense of motion, and angled lines create the strongest sense of action. I wanted an angled line of flowers against the blue sky to bring out the delicate flowers and create a strong sense of action.

When you are looking for strong nature shots, looks for lines and angles. If you can’t find them, position yourself so you create them.

Hands Still Tell the Story

marsha — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:40:22 +0000

We had a field assignment in the photography workshop at Sutter’s Fort one very sunny day one spring. The assignment was to tell the story of the people who lived and passed through this California Gold Rush provision stop on the way to the gold fields from San Francisco during the 1850’s. Our objective was to show the detail of the activities as well as the scenes and environment. Living history docents were there to make our job easy. Or was it?

A group of women were in the shade catching up on their knitting, an important task when stores weren’t available to provide warm socks. Full length shots didn’t get the detail of their handiwork. After several attempts to show the “whole person,” I decided to use the telephoto to frame the hands at work. The exercise taught me a valuable lesson that I have practiced many times since when trying to photograph what people were doing. The craft itself is a big part of the story. I also made sure she was in even light. The light created some texture and deminsional shadows, but theydon’t distract or cover her work.

This workshop took place many years ago, before the invention of digital cameras. All of our work was with slide film, so we could show it in the workshop. Slide film is quite sensitive to exposure errors and therefore a very unforgiving teacher, and we couldn’t evaluate our results until we got the film back. Today, I might crop this further, to remove the neck and hat strings and just show the hands. However, I didn’t do that for this commentary because I wanted to demonstrate that many interpretations are possible.

Telling the Story: Action

marsha — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 19:01:48 +0000

One summer weekend, my husband and I decided to get out of the California valley heat and visit San Francisco. We found what we expected – one of San Francisco’s winter-in-summer days, complete with wind and fog. We wandered down to the beach at Chrissy Field and found a kite surfing competition going on.

Clearly the subject is the kite surfing. Or is it? Maybe the subject is the contestants waiting their turn on the beach. Or is it the surfers plying their skill against the backdrop of the Marin coastline, skimming across the cold, foggy bay? Or do the two interpretations tell the story of the day?

In the image on the left, I have used the color and mass of the kites to emphasize the action – clearly groups of people waiting to launch, most likely to compete in a contest of some kind. I kept the kites on the ground at an angle to the water and bottom of the frame, and I timed the shot so one kite surfer was coming in for a landing with his kite still in the air.

The lone kite surfer out in the water also caught my attention. I followed him with my camera, keeping him and the kite stretched across the frame, as seen in the image on the right. The outline of the Marin peninsula in the background muted by the fog enhanced the feeling of isolation. I used the telephoto and shot as he skimmed across the frame.

Which one is better? Neither. They both tell a story. The question to answer is this: which one would you as the photographer like to tell?

Catch That Action!

marsha — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 16:17:51 +0000

Child sliding

Hot days and water slides are made for active children. We were enjoying our grandsons, and I wanted to capture the action. I set the camera for a fast shutter speed. On a point and shoot camera, that would be the sports icon. I stood off to an angle so I could see the approach and set the telephoto for the frame I wanted. I kept my eye on the frame and my finger on the shutter button. As my grandson entered the scene, I tripped the shutter. The action froze, along with the water and his expression.

When you do this, take lots and lots of photos and then take some more, There are many variables in a shot like this, and a good photo rarely happens on the first try. You can always select the best photo from the many later on. And with digital media, it’s only electrons.