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[Images from the Id] – What a Week or Just Keep Plugging Along.

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Posted by :Terry Mieger On : August 5, 2014
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Images from the Id – What a Week or Just Keep Plugging Along.

Sometimes you hit the wall. Well not literally but you do hit a point where nothing seems to work. Actually, I am talking about is a special situation where your efforts are really working but they seem to be total failures. For me this can be very a frustrating combination of writer’s block and manic depression. I really don’t want anything to do with the world and just want to sleep this off like a bad hangover.

So recapping the week, Last week we setup a photo show for the Club. Looks good, lot of good photographer in the group. Crap, is mine over priced? Mine ended up in front of the Johns. Ha, everybody “goes” there. The other half of the story was I had to hang 20 photos for 3 people and had a dental appointment which expanded into two appointments. Could not get the hanging straight. Oh well, at least I didn’t have any pain.

Sunday, Rocky Mountain National Park, I have a rule never go to RMNP or any NP on a weekend. I have broken this too often. Never get to a shoot after 7 am. Broke this one too.  Big crowds and bad high sunlight. How do I save this one? I shoot a series of landscape images for a focus stacking workshop I am giving in September. Better for the attitude? so..so. Hemming and hawing around and never get any prints or competition Monday night. Lazy? No just funk. Writing a blog, crap- I’ll write this one as “Just wait till next week

The images were all taken at the county fair of dog competition jumping for distance and height. The keys are include humor, action and people in various amounts.

Dog-005 Dog-004 Dog-003 Dog-002 Dog-001

 

[Images from the Id] – How Not to Shoot a Desert or Walt Disney Move Over.

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Posted by :Terry Mieger On : July 31, 2014
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Images from the Id – How Not to Shoot a Desert or Walt Disney Move Over.

In the mid 1950’s Walt Disney had a TV show which in one incarnation or another lasts to this day. I have vague remembrances of some of those early shows. The nature shows were the forerunner of the much of those we see now and in many ways were one of the things that pushed me to studying Biology and eventually photography.  Those were very different times with very different and even simplistic understanding of the world. Native Americans were admired for many reasons but other people did understand or concern themselves with the use of terms and words which the native people felt were derogatory and demeaning.

In a program dealing with American Folklore there was a song which describes how Pecos Bill created the Painted Desert (among other geographical phenomena). To paraphrase and make them slightly more acceptable, The Painted Desert was created by the Native American’s “jumping out of their makeup”. Please don’t condemn attitudes and words taken out of the context of their time. We knew no better and lacked a deeper understanding of the sensitivities of all minorities. It was wrong, but we didn’t know it. Yes, some people did it with derogatory  intent but like, Disney’s TV shows, most of us just did out of ignorance.

Also by the way 1931 Movie “The Painted Desert” was Clark Gable’s first “Talkie” – but with no concern about the origins of the Desert.

Geographically speaking the Painted Desert is huge and much of it on Navaho land. The Desert geologically consists of easily erodible sandstone with a great variety on metallic minerals giving it the colors. Many other kinds of “rock” are present. The area I was interested in is actually part of the Petrified Forest National Park. This area is a great place for photographers. We were coming from the west so we decided to enter the park from the south and meet I-40 on the both end. The Park Office is about 50 miles from Holbrook but there is a lot to see before you get there. The Petrified Forest gets its name from the great number of Triassic Period (Maybe they “saw” a T. Rex.) petrified trees scattered across the landscape. Their colors are amazing.  Don’t miss the huge rock store on this route. A great amount of petrified wood in all sizes and colors.

So what went wrong? Basically the weather! We had some sun at first but it disappeared quickly and then a little rain later. How do you handle the clouds and the color shift they cause? It’s primarily a white balance problem. Shoot a frame of a 18% Gray card. By doing this you can inform your software what gray should look like. In Lightroom 5, I use this to setup a preset I can use on all on the images I took during that time frame. Also don’t forget the wildlife. Best solution is to pick a better day

Petrified Forest-001-2

The iconic Petrified Forest image “Logs” 1/180 sec, f/11 -1/2 EV, ISO 100, 150 mm/225 mm. Worked on extensively in Lightroom 5 for white balance and colors.

Petrified Forest-001

 

“Log”  1/2000 sec, f/6.7, 0  EV, ISO 400, 95 mm. Worked on extensively in Lightroom 5 for white balance and colors.

 

Painted Desert-001

“The Painted Desert”  1/180 sec, f/9.5, 0 EV, ISO 100, 40 mm/60 mm. Worked on extensively in Lightroom 5 for white balance and colors.

 

Collared Lizard-001

 

“Collared Lizard”  1/1000 sec, f/5.6, -1/2 EV, ISO 140, 200 mm/300 mm. Worked on extensively in Lightroom 5 for white balance and colors.

 

[Images from the Id] – Doc or What Came First the Motel or the Movie?

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Posted by :Terry Mieger On : July 24, 2014
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Images from the Id – Doc or What Came First the Motel or the Movie?

One the basic requirements of being a photographer is luck. Now don’t get confused, luck has nothing to do with some magical ability to win at roulette. I firmly believe in making your own luck. In photography, this means you have to get out there to find the stories you want to tell and the best will eventually come to you. You roll the dice enough and you will roll a 7.

On the way back from the Grand Canyon, we decided to go through the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert. The bit of luck occurred in Holbrook Arizona. It’s always fun to visit the towns along the old Route 66 highway. These are like small spots of history in the middle of the super Interstate monotony. A surprising amount of the town economy comes from encouraging the Route 66 tourist.  Holbrook is no except. It’s a gem of what the highway was during the 50’s and 60’s before Eisenhower’s great highways chopped the countywide into high speed blandness.

What fun it was to discover the Wigwam Motel. Driving east on I-40 (yes Interstate 40) from Winslow Arizona (Remember the old Eagles song…”Well, I’m a standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona and such a fine sight to see. It’s a girl, my Lord in a flatbed Ford slowing’ down to take a look at me.” I digress. Now knowing the time period of the Wigwam Motel it obviously came before the “Cars” movie but there it was and there was Doc. Now if you don’t get to animated feature films very often you may not recognize my reference but it is a great movie and worthy of watching if for no other reason than Paul Newman’s last roll as the voice of Doc Hudson the Hudson Hornet. Well, there’s Doc in all of his rusty splendor along with gaggles of other rusty “characters”. What a great shoot, the angles and textures. The characterizations of when cars had a certain anthropomorphic presence and people gave the pet names, loving them more than their cats (notice I did not say dogs), stood out all around the motel. Take your time. Have fun. Are you getting the point?

 

Wigwam-001

Image 1 “The Wigwam”

One of the motel’s “units” 1/750 sec, f/8.0, -1/2 EV ISO 100, 95 mm/142 mm equivalent , I removed the top three power wires in Photoshop CC 14

Doc-001

Image 2 “Doc” Old cars are great for HDR (High Dynamic Range) Photography even if the shot wasn’t bracketed. This single image was processed as three images each about 1 f/stop apart. To give a very bright, a normal and a dark result they were then processed in Photomatix Pro a s if they were bracketed. 1/60 sec, f/22 (really need that depth of field), 0 EV ISO 100, 12mm.

Cars 3-001

Image 3 “Pick’um’up Truck” a real HDR stacking of 5 images in Photomatix Pro. I little negative vignette added to hide some edge flaws. Basic normal exposure 1/500 sec, f/9.5, ISO 200 (hand held HDR needs ISO a little higher to compensate for a slower shutter speed at the darker end) 18 mm. When bracketing for HDR change the shutter speed and not the aperture. Changing the aperture would effect the focus by changing the Depth of Field

 

 

[Images from the Id] – The County Fair # 2 or around and around we go

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Posted by :Terry Mieger On : July 16, 2014
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Images from the Id – The County Fair # 2 or around and around we go

Actually this could be any time there is a carnival and carnival rides. The upside says a lot of color and action with many chances to be creative. There are people and the possibility of fun night shots. People and midway shots are best later in the afternoon. Be prepared by controlling your camera for the situation. The camera should not dictate or limit your creativity. The after dark photography, when the all of the lights come on, is some of the most fun and challenging work you can do. As always practice, take a lot of images and learn from your successes. There is no such thing as a failure only a step toward success. You want to work toward that picture you have in your mind and what you want others to see. We call that “vision”.  Turn off the in-camera noise correction. Use software and shoot RAW of course. These images all require extensive exposure, saturation, contrast work in the computer. Use a tripod.

Carnival-001

This is a simple motion shot. Slow shutter to show motion 1/4 sec  (For the motion) , f/22( for depth of Field), -1 EV (these scenes  are brighter than you think) ISO 800 (needed for the f/22), 22 mm/33 mm (pretty wide)

Carnival-002

 

Something different , Three exposures (done in camera-I love these newer cameras), zoom during the second and third exposures. Each exposure was 4 sec (the camera automatically compensates for the exposure overlap) f/32 (actually needed to get the long exposure), ISO 200

Carnival-003

 

This image takes advantage of the repetitive motion of the Ferris Wheel.  Multiple exposures without zooming. Each image 4.0 sec (in this case to replicate the pattern), f/32 (again to get the long exposure) 0 EV, ISO 200 (this is optimum for this camera), 50 mm/75 mm

Carnival-004

 

This is simply zooming during the single long exposure. Remember all of these require a lot of work on the exposure, contrast etc. 4.0 sec, f/32, 0 ev, 50 mm/75mm ISO 200

Carnival-005

 

This one was another multiple exposure (2) each with a long shutter speed but waiting for the ride to tilt during the time between exposures.  3.0 sec, f/11, + 1/2 EV ( I have no idea why), ISO 200, 27 mm/40 mm

Have fun

[Images from the Id] – The County Fair

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Posted by :Terry Mieger On : July 9, 2014
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Images from the Id – The County Fair

County Fairs are one of the best places to photograph. Where else can you get fireworks (Hum, done that), lots of interesting people, activities and the carnival rides.

So let’s go:

Equipment for the trip

Adjustable camera – DSLR is the best just make sure you know how to adjust the exposure settings. You will be shooting in a great number of different lighting conditions and for different effects.

Lens/Lenses –  I like my 18 mm to 200 mm for this. Vibration reduction/image stabilization  can be very helpful. A longer telephoto will be useful for some of the activities (see Mutton Busting below).

Tripod – Hopefully you will have one that is easy to carry or park near the venue so you can go back to the car to get the tripod when you need it in the later afternoon and evening. One year I forgot to put the tripod mount on the camera and actually got some decent handheld fireworks shots.

That is all you need for a great variety of shots.

The Shoot –

I entered the Fair at 2 pm.  I had previously purchased tickets online to save about $4 per ticket. I had also checked the fair’s schedule to find which activities I wanted to photograph. This year, I had some very good choices. Fairs are amazing- you might see rodeos, tractor pulls, demolition derbies, along with the regular fair exhibits, animals, carnival rides and fireworks. I decided on a trained jumping dog act and the Mutton Busters where young kids ride sheep. No need to use a tripod for those. Later in the afternoon and as the light gets darker, I went for the carnival for people shots and the rides and, at last, the fireworks without the city light pollution. As the light goes down the tripod came out. This is a very full day.  Our first stop was the barns and I got a fun shot of a goat eating its Blue Ribbon. Other good opportunities would include interaction of kids and animals. I always like the hugs and kisses. Watch the exposure. The barns can be surprisingly dark.

Next to the jumping dogs. These shots are an exercise in motion. Try stopping the jumps at high points or inverted with fast shutter speed. More challenging is to use slower shutter speed to show motion with panning or blurring.

The Mutton Busters are really fun. Nothing like cute little boys and girls trying to ride sheep. Everything you can imagine can happen. Get down low. Watch your exposure because the depth of field can be tricky. You want the whole sheep and rider in focus. I use my 80 mm – 400 mm Telephoto for this. Plan on taking a lot of shots and try to get some of when the ride and mount separate.

Next week more at the fair.

Oink-001

I’m sorry I like pigs, “Oink” 1/90 sec, ISO 400, -! EV, f/5.6, 80 mm/120 mm equivalent.

Mutton Buster-001

 

From the Mutton Busters fun. “Ohhhhh!” A similar shot won first place the Fair’s Photography Competition  two years ago. 1/1000 sec, 0 EV, f/6.3, ISO 200, 130 mm/195 mm  equivalent

[Images from the Id] So you want great fireworks images? Try this

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Posted by :Terry Mieger On : July 2, 2014
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So you want great fireworks images? Try this

  1. Turn your flash off, Did I have to say that?
  2. Use a Tripod.
  3. Shoot RAW if you can. This allows a greater range of adjustment of exposure
  4. Use Manual Exposure mode
    1. Automatic Exposure will always overexpose.
      1. If you use automatic, the sky will be neutral gray with no color and the fireworks blown out with no detail.
    2. Adjust the Shutter Speed for the length on the trails on the fireworks. This is the base adjustment, aperture and ISO should be varied.
      1. Use a remote release. Watch the trails of the fireworks and use “Bulb” and time your shutter that way or you can vary the camera shutter setting for different results. The trails are easy to expose because they are moving and bright. Remember the longer the shutter speed the longer the trails.
    3. Adjust the aperture for the brightness of the fireworks. They are very bright.
      1. Take test shots.
      2. Look for color with the least highlights blowout. There will alway be some.
      3. There is a tendency to overexpose. Work for colorful fireworks.
  5. ISO will not to be high. Example using ISO 200, 2 sec, f 16 is the same exposure as 2 sec, f 8, ISO 100. Lower ISO is better.
    1. Think about what changing any of the settings mean.
      1. Keep in mind the Exposure Triangle and what happens to one when you change the other) Remember the shutter speed is for the length of the trails.
  6. Turn the in-camera noise reduction off. This shortens time between exposures. Do noise reduction in software.
  7. Experiment with zooming, moving the camera or changing the focus. Be creative to make your images unique. Do some hand held for interesting effects.
  8. Check out the exposure values on the examples. Have fun

Fireworks 2-001

“Burst” – 5.0 sec, f/11, ISO 100, 75 mm Adjusted Lightroom for contrast to get back sky and color

 

Fireworks-002

“The Show” – 2 sec, f/8.0, ISO 800, 22 mm/33mm full frame equivalent, This was handheld at 2 sec WOW adjusted in Lightroom for sky and color

Fireworks-003

“Night Flower” – 5.0 sec, f/29, ISO 100, 70 mm. This is an award winner. The long 5 sec exposure makes it special. Adjusted in Lightroom fro color and contrast

Fireworks-001

“Starry, Starry Night” Another award winner.  1/8 sec, f/8.0, ISO 200, 55 mm/ 82mm full frame equivalent. Adjusted in Lightroom for contrast and color

 

 

 

[Images from the Id] – One in 5 Million or What Makes My Shot Better?

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Posted by :Terry Mieger On : June 25, 2014
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Images from the Id –  One in 5 Million or What Makes My Shot Better?

Every year the Grand Canyon has more than 5 million visitors and if you assume an average of 10 photographs per person that means 50 million images of the national park are taken each year. So how can yours be special and different?

Canyon 1-001

 

Sunset with rich saturated colors from the especial light. An HDR of 5 images done in Photomatix Pro. Shutter form 1.5 sec to 1/3 sec F/22 ( don’t vary in HDR) 0 EV, 100 ISO

First: The light is the most important. Plan for at least one sunrise and one sunset. Your best light, as I say many times, is one to two hours before sunset or after sunrise. You cannot  fix this in Photoshop or anything else for many reasons. The color of the canyon is total different at other times, this is where the beautiful warm reds and oranges come from that we like so much. Really serious? Get the smartphone app “The Photographer’s Ephemeris”  I will not only tell you the time of sunrise and sunset for different dates but the location on the horizon of the Sun and Moon rising and setting. These all can be significant in picking the place on the rim to shoot from.

Second: Use a tripod- this gives much more versatility. It is important to be flexible with your exposure setting and depth of field. It also open the possibility of shooting exposure brackets for High Dynamic Range (HDR) images. These images show detail over a large range of “brightness” and sell.

Third:  Look for composition. Try using trees, bushes or structures to give a landscape a partial frame. Some times that isn’t needed just another tool

Fourth:  Look for different subjects. Try macro-landscapes, taking a telephoto image of a small part of the scene.

Fifth: Take a lot of shots and practice new techniques.

Canyon 2-001

 

Even noon light can work by letting us into the inner canyons HDR saves the shot. 5 images done in Photomatix Pro. Shutter form 1/30 sec to 1/500 sec F/11 ( don’t vary in HDR) +2 EV, 200 ISO

[Images from the Id] – Secrets of the Secret Garden

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Posted by :Terry Mieger On : June 19, 2014
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Images from the Id – Secrets of the Secret Garden.

Let’s talk about flowers and other things in the Garden. Everyone likes to take flower pictures and with a little education and practice you can good from the ho-hum OK shots to the impressive special image. If you want something special plan ahead. The biggest problem is the light. Light is the foundation of any image and even more so here. Noon-high sun and the shadows it throws are the enemies of good lighting in any situation. The camera can not handle the high contrast range. In most situations, this means getting up early or starting late. The best light is about 2 hours after sunrise or 2 hours before sunset. This is the “Golden Hours” and many experienced photographers will not shoot any other time if they can help it. This true for the flower shooter but there are some other situations where we can improve on nature. Equipment to bring to the garden.

1-I prefer a DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex camera.) I like the DX (Nikon) or APS-C (Canon) sensor because it adds 50% magnification and is easier to get good blurring of the background, both are nice for flowers.

2 – Good Macro Lens – I like the Nikkon 105 mm f/2.8. Sigma makes a similar 105 mm. There are many others. They all let you get closer to the flower and that’s good.

3 – A round, folding 22” reflector which has a black side a grey side, a diffuser, silver, gold, white and black sides. This reflector is essential. It is used to reflect light into the shadows and create a false diffuse shade. The grey side is great for setting the white balance in difficult situations (a future topic?). This  is a must item for even shooting with point and shoot cameras. You will be amazed by its simplicity and value. I use the gold reflector because it gives the early morning, warm look to the image that I like. The color of flowers looks better in the shade with a little reflected light and good white balance correction in the software. Lightroom makes this easy.

4 – Extension tubes allow any lens to focus closer. They come in sets of 3 which can be stacked in many variations and allow some choice as to what length to use.

5 – Tripod– some people use them some don’t. Sometimes when I don’t use a tripod I use a flash-next item.

6 – Flash- a ring flash is nice but don’t use your o camera flash. Better is a duo of flashes on a bracket each about 6 inches to the right and left sides of the camera. Nikon makes a nice one but this can be homemade. I saw some good results with and on camera flash set at about 20% and a second flash hand held a foot or two to the right or left. Used correctly flash can be great. Try using it to blacken, way under expose the background.

7 – Backgrounds are as import as the subject be a piece of non shinny black hobby foam, Other colors work too. Even an old photo can be cool.

This setup will work well with a  flower shot or closeups (Macro) of insects and arachnids. As usual testing and practice will get results

As always go ahead and twist the rules!

Try backlighting and or shooting from the back. Add an insect for fun. Bees are tough sots but worth all of the effort.

Fly-001

The Fly A winner in a competition for “Animals in their Environment” Backlit and direct sun but early in the day. 1/640 sec, f/5.6, 0 EV, No flash,  ISO 200, Nikkor 80mm-400 mm G lens (hum a telephoto) at 400/600 mm, Nikon D7100

Flower 1-001

Burst – Taken in the shade with white balance correction etc. 1/320 sec, f/5.6, 0 EVC, No flash, ISO 100, Nikkor 105 mm prime (not a zoom)

Sunflower-001

 

Sunflower – shoot something different 1/1000 sec, f/6.3, 0 EV, ISO 800, Nikkor 80mm -400 mm G Zoom again

spyder-001

 

Spider- Something to do when you are tried of orchids. Another winner.  1/180 sec. f/13 (needed depth of field bad)  0 EV, No flash, ISO 800, Nikkor 105 mm Macro, 105 mm/157 mm Nikon D300. This is an extreme crop yet still worked well. It was about  1/4 inch long. At the LA Arboretum.

 

 

[Images from the Id] – To the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo how about you?

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Posted by :Terry Mieger On : June 11, 2014
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Images from the Id – To the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo how about you?

The next stop was the San Diego Zoo and its world famous collections. Zoos cause mixed feelings for me  Seeing confined species after species in conditions which, in most cases, are far from their natural environment. I majored in Zoology, which should be pronounced differently and really has nothing to do with confining animals. Now, I understand the important part the zoo is playing in the preservation of species and the growth of human affection and positive attitudes toward animals. I think it doesn’t help some of the animals that need it the most. Bats, snakes and others don’t get the press of a cute baby Giraffe. Well, I have this buddy who’s taking a trip to Tanzania next April (actually 2 trips) and it’s only $10,000. Let’s see for my wife and maybe a new mortgage would work? Ha, not in this life. The kicker is I have other friends who will go with him and he will have no problem filling in the trips. For the rest of us, there are zoos. We won’t get the natural environment or natural behavior but we have our imagination. When I was younger I loved zoos because I was and still am fascinated by animals especial the strange, weird or rare. I will never see a Tuatara (look it up) in wild New Zealand but I have seen several in a conservation site in Invercargill, Southland NZ. Where can you see Great Pandas? (More on that later) I am in my glory in the Reptile House. A positive note: most larger zoos are converting to more natural habitats which are better for the animals and photographers

Zoo photography starts with the right zoo and all zoos are not create equal in the eyes of the photographer. Of the four zoos I have photographed I would, in terms of photographing, rank the Albuquerque Zoo first. It is a comparatively new zoo and most is accessible without a lot of wire screens or bars. They do need to re-think how the  in zoo transportation runs. It is located in a Bio-Park with the Aquarium and Botanical Gardens which are both great photography. Atlanta comes in second for the accessibility to the Great Pandas and red elephants (from the Georgia clay). San Diego is third because of the inaccessibility of the Great Pandas, the miles of climbing the terrain and a lot of it is still the old style cages. A good point for SD is the easy to “shoot” Koalas and a decent and photo-friendly Reptile House (not great but better than other zoos-more light). Last is my home town Denver. Every time they do something they get more wire or netting. It can be frustrating. They have a new Africa area and it’s not very natural or photogenic. I forgot The St. Augustine Alligator Farm and Zoological Park. It is a whole different category. No wire or nets around the main attractions , alligators and in the spring the totally natural rookery is fantastic for the Roseate Spoonbills and other large Florida birds.

Panda-001

Featured Image: Giant Panda Atlanta Zoo 1/320 sec; f/9.0; 200 mm/300 mm; ISO 800; EV 0  Atlanta is the best place (outside of China?) to photograph Giant PandaNext week Shooting the zoo and making the best of the situation

mangabeys-001

The rare Mangabey San Diego Zoo; 1/180 sec.; f/5.6; EV0, ISO 800; 400 mm/600mm Of interest  because of its being rare which is a strength of San Diego.