Homage paid where homage due

Have a look at this!

http://quierofotografiar.blogspot.com/2009/12/prueba.html

Astounding in clarity, composition and probably patience and speed of reaction.

The time has come the walrus said ...

Other horizons beckon folks, and it is time for me to turn this page. This has been a momentous year for me in many ways and the confidence and friendships that this blog has grown are a treasure to me. I am ever so glad that we shared the same compartment for this journey.

"The time has come," the Walrus said, "To talk of many things: Of shoes and ships and sealing-wax Of cabbages and kings And why the sea is boiling hot And whether pigs have wings."

I have been rummaging around in my upstairs attic trying to decipher what direction I am to follow during 2010. The answer is quinessential moi: I am going to undertake a pre-Masters-by-Research year investigating the growth of merchants and shop-keepers in colonial Sydney from 1788 to 1842. If I last the year, and if I find the skill to both research and write at that level, I will endeavour to enrol in the School of History at UNSW for 2011 & 2012.

So, I bid farewell to strangers who became friends.

Steve McCurry's thoughts on portraiture.

Some thoughs on portraiture by possibly my favourite photographer, certainly my favourite portrait photographer.

Thought's on Portraiture

Fresh M.I.L.K.

Do yourself a favour and have a look at these:

Fresh M.I.L.K.

Perspective

What did Cara ask? How has my approach changed and my three favourite shots.

Photography is like history: if you try to show too much the eye does not know where to focus; the brain cannot work out what you are trying to say. I have learnt the value of focussing on a detail and letting that particular illuminate the whole. I have learnt that a subject is different from many angles and that there are 360 degrees in a circle. I have learnt that the least interesting way to photograph a person is to show all of them and to show that front on. I have learnt that to photograph more than one person you foreshorten the distance between them by shooting from the side. I have learnt that you might as well do the cropping in camera. How has my approach to people as subjects altered? I am not shy but I have an inferiority complex. I have learnt that other people cannot see this and really dont give a damn about it at all. I should just get over it, because the photo is all about the subject.

Threee favourite shots: 7 because I head-talked myself into going back to ask him; 50 because I had to overcome my phobia about people thinking that I might want to molest a child; 89 because it showed my favoured working class demographic

Tomorrow: Three photographs where I made progress.

Musing

It struck me at lunchtime as I took my next two strangers, how flattered most people are to be asked. This is something that surprised me. I expected more suspicion or flat out rejection but most people have been pleased to cooperate and surprised that someone finds them interesting enough to want a photo of them.

Ann - Before and After

An old one and a favourite for your viewing pleasure. The camel nose has always annoyed me so I played with it.

Playing with Photoshop

I did it! It was slow but I think it worked this time. No doubt I'll get faster as I get more used to using the tools.

General - a tripod

Here is my large tripod. I think it cost just over $100 from Ted's about 18 months ago. I am only just starting to use it regularly. The photo of the carry case has a shoe next to it to show the size. It does not weigh much and I sling it over one shoulder.

If you get one, practice with it at home for a week or more. You will need to set up quickly and without embarrassment. The legs are involved but easy. You can set it up as hight or as low as you need as the legs come in 4 segments. You can have the back higher/lower than the front. You need to practice inserting the camera into the slot at the top and onto the screw. You dont need the pressure of thinking someone is watchiing you do this as you fumble.

See the twisting handle: this is the biggest challenge. There are tighteners to keep the camera at the angle you select but this is only easy if you practise. The handle swings the camera from portrait to landscape and anything between.

The one thing that would be good with a tripod is a remote rather than having to set the delay to 10secs or even 2secs. To be able to see what is going on and press would be good I think. I have no experience on this though.

We can chat about any/all of this as the day goes on if you are at work and online.

Inteviewing the photographer

Had a long chat with photographer Peter Adams at the Blue Mountains Music Festival. He had an exhibition of his Street Wise Project at the Festival. He said the idea of the exhibition was to look at the people in the streets of the Blue Mountains and not go beyond the shopfronts. What intrigued me was that the photos were each so different. He didn't seem to have a "style". I asked him how he made the decision for each shot and he said that with some he wanted to show them in context, particularly if their work/art was an important or defining part of their life. For others he wanted the character to shine through, but mostly it was intuition. Its the shots of the homeless and those of the residents of the old people's home that really touch me. Each person's story is told by writer, Alan Lloyd. Its a beautiful book. Did I take his photo - no. I was far too nervous and didn't have the SLR with me that evening. I could have gone back but, in short, I chickened out.

RTFM as my ex used to say

I had little choice but to sit down and read the manual (RTM) last night, after I saw what Joan had done with the photograph of Eon. I agree it was washed out. I agree that his face was red. But as can be seen by the washed out reds in the background, I had not post-processed. This was how the camera recorded the image. So what instructions was it following?

In the index I looked up colour, sharpness and contrast: each indicated P. 79 which turns out to be something called "Picture Style" which gave me a choice of standard, portrait, landscape, neutral, faithful and monochrome. This is the list that I get if I hit the set button in the middle of the wheel. It turns out, however, that there is a Picture Style option that is settable from the Menu. I go into Menu, down to Picture Style, hit the jump button and lo-and-behold,I am given options for each of the above Picture Styles: Sharpness, Contrast, Saturation and Colour Tone.

The options for each of the Pictures Styles are the same four, except for Monochrome which has sharpness, contrast, filter effect and toning effect. Sharpness and contrast were set to zero, filter effect to none and toning effect to sepia.

Sharpness
is a 7 point scale which was set at 0.
Contrast
is a scale with 4 units on either side of 0 which was set at 0.
Saturation
is a scale with 4 units on either side of 0 which was set at 0.
Colour Tone
is a scale with 4 units on either side of 0 which was set at 0.

I am experimenting with the Standard Picture Style for the next 24 hours. Here is a random photo with
Sharpness 5, Contrast 2, Saturation 2 and Colour Tone 2.
Miles too dark.

So tomorrow morning I will try 5, 1, 2, 2.

PS. Had a thought as I slept: what if Picture Style only applies to settings that are not "automatic" in some way, ie to P, Av, Tv or M? And, sure as eggs, this is the case. So I think this revelation may be still-born.



But me being me, I persevered.
Having not broken the bank with the numbers I surmised late last night, I upped the settings for this one to Sharpness=6, Contrast=2, Saturation=3 and Colour Tone=3. I think this is getting somewhere. More later ...

Sonia redux - show me your crop

This is the original and the alternative, and an alternate crop which I rather like now I look at it again.

Peter:
I really like the picture you chose originally, the pen in the mouth says it all I think, and no, I wouldn't necessarily do this (or maybe I would) but thought I'd throw it in for discussion;

Cropping exercise 2

Here is what I started with.

How would you crop it and why?

Peter:

As I commented regarding Ann's photo above, it's all a bit subjective. I disagree with Joan on this one as well, as I don't think the beach in the background adds any relevant context to the portrait. That doesn't mean it has to go, just that it doesn't matter if it does.

I think you are correct Julie, in allowing room for the dog to "spring" within the frame, and my spider sensed tell me that he will grab the bark and jump away (to the right of frame). So here's my "portrait" crop;



or maybe this? Golly it's a hard one!



Red lines are easily fixed:

Ann

Just thought this was one that would lend itself to b&w - black and white dog, dark clothes etc. Possibly too much crop for clarity. What do you reckon. Not the I don't like the original by the way, just wanted to try this.

Cheap Diffusion!

As some of you know it was raining a little bit too hard to go out to play today, so I finally got around to building that flash diffuser I've been waffling on about.

Commercial versions can be bought for $50 or so, but I rather like this one.

I'm not sure if a smaller one would work, I don't see why not. I must look out for one of those little 200 mm bottles of flavoured milk. I did try a white disposable cup, but the plastic wasn't translucent enough.



First take your scissors to the bottle and cut it like this. It would probably be flasher if you took the label off first, but hey I like to look cheap as well!



Bend the little tab and slip it into your camera's flash accessory slot (this is probably not necessary, just slipping the bottle over the flash will do the trick, but it will fall off if you tip it upside down.)

Now it should all look like this:



Before the diffuser, the result with the built in flash was something like this: Actually it was EXACTLY like this: Note the clearly defined shadow and the concentrated light refraction through the spectacles. If this photo had been taken head-on, I would have expected lots of overblown highlights on the cheeks and nose. You know what I'm talking about, I can just sense it!



Now with the diffuser, a much nicer soft shadow, and no harsh reflections!

I think it was well worth the zero expenditure, and will carry it in my camera bag. I've built a different one for the add-on flash gun and they both fit in one of the compartments with a bit of stuff in them.

Perhaps if you wear a Groucho Marx mask in public, they won't notice that you've got the recycling stuck on top of your camera?

Another landmark ...

My post tomorrow will be No.30

It is a long time since I have been knocked-back; but that is more because I choose wisely. Once I hit 50, I would like to think that I will venture into the riskier territory of young women, men outside pubs, Asian lasses and mothers with young children.

Between 28 and 38, I wanted to go for context rather than in-yer-face. The old heart-strings still tug - as 29, 30 and 31 will show. Still cannot always bring myself to post just one image. I am not biting the bullet but continue to expect the viewer to make the decision for me. I am still working on getting a blurred background with a sharp foreground. That is my main challenge now. As for flash, I simply dislike it.

I look at the images on Sally's blog and I drool with envy.

Another plug for processing

I'm not into "trick" processing particularly and it tends to be overdone quite often. If I could get my head around it I'm sure it has its uses occasionally. For these I used a little (free) application called Poladroid which turns your pictures into a fair sort of facsimile of a daggy old polaroid shot. I'm not sure that the world needs any more daggy crook photos, particularly ones that have been deliberately given the treatment, but sometimes it works for me!

I like Julie's family shot particularly.

I'm always fascinated at how the context of a photograph changes with the crop too. Given this treatment, Ann's cloak room girls could be at any party or pub!

Enjoy them for what they now are!

Was it only four days ago?

Step 2: Headshots (20 - 39 portrait)
Take tightly framed headshots, because they are compositionwise easy.

All you have to do is to get your subject relax.

Concentrate on this for the next 20 shots. Learn to talk with strangers while taking photos, try different tricks to make them feel more comfortable. Don't be too picky on whom to photograph, it's not the time yet.

Yes, that's all!

What about relaxing myself???

Twice yesterday I had my yack and wandered off with a "look do you mind if I pop back and take a few more, I don't want to interrupt you again... blah blah blah." That seemed to do the trick, but it only works if you know your subject isn't going to be moving, and if you can compose yourself in the meantime. Strangely, it gave the subject "permission" to get on with what he was doing, and I didn't have to go away.

Might be worth trying again.

So ...where to from here ... ?

According to our gorgeous groupies, it is time to take stock: assess how we measure up; plan where to go to from here. Let's start from Tip 9 where the project is divied up:

Step 1: Snapshots. (1 - 19 portraits)
Get used to talking with strangers and showing them the camera. Don't mind how the pictures turn out. Try to build up a routine in approaching the strangers. Don't be too picky about the people you ask.

Tip #1:
Consider the assignment as a learning process. In the beginning it's more important to learn to ask for permission to take pictures than to take excellent photos. Don't give up if your first shots aren't instant classics. For the first ten shots or so, it's all about the contact and none about the picture. Switch your SLR to autoexposure and autofocus or use a simple point and shoot. Concentrate on the essential: the people.
Tip #2:
Shoot several pictures of strangers during the same day, but limit it to 5-6 max. Taking a series of pictures during the same walk helps you to build up your routine in approaching people but too many contacts with strangers in a row can get you exhausted.
Tip #3:
Always approach your subject from a direction where he/she can see you approaching. Sneaking on people makes a bad first impression.
Tip #4:
Print yourself a set of cards with at least your name, email and the address to your photos on the net. They come handy when explaining your project to your subjects and when telling them where they can see the photo. They make you look more professional as well and help you promote your project to friends and family.
Tip #5:
Be brave. When you see a person you'd like to capture, don't hesitate, but go to him/her/them and start a conversation right away. Hesitating too long makes starting a conversation feel unnatural. (This is known as the 3 second rule in seduction manuals)
Tip #6:
Prepare yourself before starting to shoot the assignment. Think about what you're going to say when asking for a photo - what's your pick up line that catches the interest of your subject and makes him/her feel she/he can can let you take a photo without the risk of betting the picture published in a porn website? Develop a routine so you know what you're going to say - it keeps your mind from going blank if you feel tense in social situations. Practice in front of a mirror, if you feel really uncertain.
Tip #7:
Like them to make them like you. Be relaxed to get them relaxed. Be sure that your not abusing them, to keep them from suspecting your just ripping them off. Things are fairly simple, really.
Tip #8:
If your subjects seem to be uneasy in front of the camera, you can train them on location: shoot a lot of frames to help them getting used to the sound of the shutter. You can shoot from the hip and fool around, just keep shooting and talking. Eventually (after 50-100 shots) most people relax as they notice there's nothing to be worried about.
Tip #9:
Make a studying plan for the assignment. There are a lot of things to learn and it's good to concentrate on one thing at a time.

Step 2: Headshots (20 - 39 portrait)
Take tightly framed headshots, because they are compotionwise easy. All you have to do is to get your subject relax. Concentrate on this for the next 20 shots. Learn to talk with strangers while taking photos, try different tricks to make them feel more comfortable. Don't be too picky on whom to photograph, it's not the time yet.

Step 3: Portraits (40 - 59 portraits)
Waist up. Start to pay attention to surroundings. Now start to work on harder compositions. Try to find interesting locations to take photos. You've learned to approach them, how to get them relaxed - now try if you can keep up being social AND paying attention to composing an image at the same time.

Step 4: Composition (60 - 100 portrait)
That's it, you're free to try out new ideas for the last 40 shots. You've built your routine, now start developing on it. Try to talk people into strange poses. Get picky, choose only really interesting people and places to shoot. The sky is the limit. Remember you can always go back to Steps 1, 2 or 3 to do a little bit of repetition to touch up your basic skills.

Tip #10:
A good way to get a nice photo is to find an interesting place/background/setting first and then wait for somebody to walk by and ask him/her to be your model. You can use this in your pick-up line as well: "I've found a perfect place, and now I need you to help me. Would you pose for me, please?"

The obvious thing: we are not exactly sticking to this recipe. Sooo ... no issue from me. This is a free'n'easy forum. Let's not pat each other on the back: we're Strayians!

Where do you think we should go from here? What are we each avoiding? It's achilles-heel time. Everyone - Joan, Letty, Cara, Peter, Ann and Smee: whadyaregon? Three totally different hooman-beans who are chuffed with their own, and each others' progress. We have no interest in being carbon-copies of each other, but we do want to continue the growth that this project is bringing forth.

Your constructive thoughts would be so very appreciated.

The great southland

I am off to Paris-by-the-Yarra for a few days. The usual palaver: a few tipples out at Healesville, a meander through the Dandenongs, "Wicked" at the Princes Theatre ending up with the Quarters out at Kooyong. I fly back v. early on Thursday and go straight to work.

... hee hee hee ... eat yer hearts out ...