Basic Handholding is an essential tool EVERY photography must have not only in their camera bag, but use all the time, correctly! Just worked with a photographer who used LiveView and held their camera like it was an iPhone and they asked, “why are my images not sharp?” Bring your elbows into your sides, cup the lens in your left hand, grasp the camera firmly with the right rolling the finger to activate and fire the camera, use an eyecup and pull the camera into your face. As my buddy Adam captured in this photo in an air to air when I’m photographing him in a T6 (gear, D4s / 80-400VR3), even with feet off the ground, proper handholding is a must if you want the tack sharp image. This weekend, practice, practice, practice until it’s second nature. Then practice some more!
One thing that is really, really, really hard is to see through the viewfinder in B&W. Even harder is to see in your head and heart what the final image will look like when finished in post. And the hardest, seeing and feeling this when just looking out over the landscape or any subject you want B&W. Well, there is actually a way you can help yourself and start to see this all. Cameras like the D810, D750, Df (with WU-1a) along with the Nikon App, can take an image from your camera to your smartphone so you can do a rough finish right when you make the capture, it’s simply brilliant! (This example shot with Df / 14-24AFS)
For this example, we were at Cade’s Cover, The Smokies on an afternoon when with a glance, the skies looked rather bla. I grabbed the Df with the WU-1a, made a click and sent it to my iPhone. I then opened up the Nikon App, brought the photo over to the iPhone, did a quick finish in Photoshop Express and then held up the B&W on my iPhone to the scene to help others to learn to convert what they are seeing with their eyes to the finished B&W they are feeling. The whole process really takes seconds and works! If you are challenged by seeing and feeling B&W, you might just wanna give this a try. It does work!
With the D4s / 80-400VR3 in hand, I wanted to get in some panning practice. I am normally with 200-400 rather than 80-400 doing this. The timing is slightly different in my twist at the trunk so the landing T6 aircraft were perfect. There is no real point to this post other than to say that even I after all these decades, practice panning every chance I get to keep a smooth twist to get that sharp image. You might be wondering why the tail isn’t sharp. That’s because in the landing process, that tail is moving to steer the plane, a movement that is perpendicular to the film plane. You might be wondering about the “crop” of the wing of the T6. The pilot knows what his plane looks like, doesn’t need to see the wing tips. What he wanted was to see himself and with that crop of the wing, mission accomplished. mtc
Last fall when I went to Africa with Images of Africa Safaris, I was very fortunate to have our son Brent as part of the safari. He’s just released another delightful video of his work from there. And if you want to have this experience, I’m going back and you can find out details and reserve the one remaining opening here. Enjoy!
Comin down to one week and we’re so excited! Putting the finishing touches on the presentations (but I’ll be doing that up to the last second), planning the fun and gear to bring. It’s going to be grand! We have a whole bunch of things planned and only a few spots left … we’ve got one for you …
25 April – Passion in a Click – Full day presentation (description below)
(form to register is below, price is $79, held at Hilton London Metropole) 26 April – Warbird / Aviation all day shoot
(Registration) 28 April – Take the Yank Photowalk
(morning and evening event, free) 29 April – Evening presentation in London
What am I going to be talking about at our Passion In A Click presentation? That’s all below. This is a PHOTOGRAPHY day where everything is about visual storytelling. Ya, There will be a couple of Nikon references because that’s what I use but it’s all about photography. You are requested to bring your camera body and a basic lens to the presentation because it is very much a interactive day and you’ll be wanting your camera from time to time. Well, here’s the day:
The pixels have stacked up this month putting me in the position to critique a ton of images. It’s been a lot of fun exploring our vast and wonderful world through other’s photographs. Photography for me is all about storytelling, it’s just that simple. The photographs being put before me though weren’t simply the sharing of memories, the telling of stories, but seeking advice in improving the storytelling. There is SO much information out there right now, it seems many are overwhelmed about the photographic process and its purpose and this creates a storm within. It often begins with the thought, “I’ve gotta have the best!” That’s such a human response and good thing because we are, human, but that just adds to the storm.
When trying to provide assistance to folks with their photography, I often relate the photograph to the written word (pretty funny when you consider my grammatical skills). But the written word like the photograph are both trying to tell a story to the reader / viewer and the one thing they both have in common is, the subject. This seems to be the first frustration for photographers, identifying the subject. With that major stumbling block, lens selection, exposure choice, f/stop dialed in and so much more is left more to chance than passion. Often the phrase that is in print and quoted WAY TOO much, “fix it in post” comes into the photographic process. But without that subject, the frustration at the camera grows at the computer. The storm grows bigger as sliders and filters are moved and applied randomly (or with the well meaning suggestion of another photographer who no more knows what the subject is) which brings up one of my favorite Jon Stewart quotes, “You can’t polish a turd.”
In helping folks in their quest, there has been a common thread in my answer. Embrace failure! And the most common failure is not knowing what’s the subject and using light to tell its story. The goal is to recognize these two primary story elements in the viewfinder and then in post if finishing is required (and understand no finishing in post is a GOOD thing), the same elements at the point of capture are what you’re finishing, the subject and the light. If you find yourself heading into the digital darkroom not knowing what you should be doing, which slider to move or filter to apply, it could be not your lack of digital darkroom knowledge but more, there is no defined subject, no distinctive light and so, not storytelling. In seeking then that “best” photo, perhaps going back to the moment of the original click is where you might find the answer to improve your photograph. This is how you embrace failure and your grow your photography. You might be able to see the light through the storm by simply asking, “what’s the subject?”
