Don't Ignore the Mundane

There is beauty and great images to be found in everything - don't overlook the obvious just because "it's always there".

We can't all live where the fantastic shots are everyday occurrences - but we certainly can get creative with what we do have to work with.  Find what is regular and common in your particular area (for me it's gulls, Canada Geese and squirrels) and work on different concepts and techniques.  Work on identifying and photographing your common subjects on the "perfect" background.  Spend some time with these commoners and look for interesting behavior or quirky composition.

It'll help put the fun back in your photography - and that's the primary idea anyway, right?  Good photography is what you're able to find interesting in a subject - not the interesting stuff that just lays around for everyone to capture.

Who knows, the local squirrel may even give you the "thumbs up" for not overlooking him!

Stay in focus,

Mark

Always Focus on the Eyes!

​Look closer, may not be as good as you think!

At first glance, the image above can look pretty good – but take a closer look at the face, it’s out of focus.  So, did I not achieve a good focus lock on the image?  Not exactly.

Take a look at the annotated close-up below.  I had a great focus lock – but I slipped the focus from the owl’s face to his mid-section.  Yes, it can be hard, especially with a bird in flight – but this demonstrates how important it is to keep your focal point on the head/eyes.  The closer the bird and longer the lens means it’s even more critical as your depth of field becomes smaller yet.

Sure, you can try shooting at a higher f/stop, but that will have less impact the closer your subject is.  Get the focus on the eyes, and the focus that drops off behind the head will not matter so much.  Capture the eyes, and you've captured the image.​

Stay in focus,

Mark

White on Darks

Excerpt from "The Shooter's Blueprint" Series

It's tempting to try and balance the overall exposure on this type of shot - but if you're exposing for the subject, it's pretty hard to accomplish!

Shooter's Blueprint

White Primary Subject on a Darker Background

The settings can always vary, but the chart below calls out the general scenario.

Unlike with a white on white subject, you will not be able to place the majority of the image into the right half of the histogram - you'll be using most of the range.  Since you are exposing for a white subject, you will very well end op blocking out some of the dark elements in the scene - that is the compromise we'll need to make.

Blueprinter’s disclaimer – there is always more than one way to accomplish something, this just happens to be the way that works for me.  All adjustment references are related to Apple Aperture software - other packages have similar adjustments.

Camera Setup:

• Exposure Program:Shutter Priority
  • This is my preference with a subject that could start moving a little more a quickly, but Aperture Priority or Manual will certainly work.
  • Shutter Speed: 1/750th
    • Depends on lens and subject activity.  For the sample image, I would not go below 1/750th of a second.
    • ISO: The lower the better to keep the noise out of your darks
    • Exposure Compensation:0 ev
      • Take prep or sample shots to determine how far you can push it, but ideally,  you don't want to clip any of the whites (you'll see in the original image below that I went just slightly over the line)
      • Focus:AI Servo (Canon speak for continuous focus) with one focus point - varied selection depending on location of the swan and keeping the focal point on the eye
        • This was my choice as I was very close and the subject was swimming around.

These settings resulted in the raw image below:

Original RAW Shot

Original.jpg

Original Histogram

Original Histo.jpg

Post Processing:

• White balance: Adjusted for swan
• Recovery Slider: Adjusted to recover the few areas that were over exposed
• Black point:Left at base adjustment
  • No need for an adjustment here due to dark background
  • Definition Slider: Moderate adjustments (up to half way)
    • Be careful not to blow any highlights out in the process
    • Shadows Adjustment: Moderate to high adjustments here returning depth and detail
    • Levels Adjustment:Basic adjustments as needed for accurate balance.
      • Be careful of a blueish color cast bleeding over into the white's of the subject
      • Sharpening: To personal taste and output goals

The adjustments above yielded the results below.

Final Image

MCT__Finished Swan.jpg

Final Histogram

Final Swan Histo.jpg

Your camera's dynamic range can't match our eyes - so with a contrasting subject like this we have to compromise.  Ask yourself what is the most important element (obviously it's the swan here) but I had to sacrifice a little detail in the darker face to ensure I was able to keep detail in the feathers.  The brighter the light, the more difficult this will be.

One Final Tip . . .

As mentioned in similar posts - don't attempt this type of shot with JPEG, this is a RAW only technique.  JPEG will limit you and yield less than favorable results.

Have fun and stay in focus!

Mark

Slow Shutter with Good Panning

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A Coot in soft green water

It can be hard to use a low shutter speed on a moving object (1/250th) but a good panning technique will leave sharpness in your target and help give you a softer looking background.

Stay in focus,

Mark

Work The "Small" Landscapes

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Some times it's better to not include the sky

Especially when you live in areas that don't provide the grand wide open landscape opportunities, it's time to "think small".

As my friend Rick Sammon would say, "find the picture inside the picture".  Get in close, narrow your field of view and find more creative intimate shots.  One trick to learning how to "see" this types of shots is to purposefully avoid the sky in landscape shots.  It will force your mind to think more creatively and start to see the lines and elements available to you.

Stay in focus,

Mark

Better "Lemonade" With Filters

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A "lemonade shot" is one that's not quite right (out of focus, too much noise, etc) that you improved upon by accentuating the fault.  This King Fisher is a great example.

The bird was not in sharp focus and was very far away which dictated a very deep crop - really making the noise stick out.  So to make some lemonade out to this, the following formula was used:

• Heavy noise reduction, even on the bird, which served to further smooth it out
• A softening filter to smooth it out even more (accentuating the lack of focus on the bird)
• A "painterly" filter even further accentuating the softness of the image.

The final result is an "artistic" image that does a nice job of presentation.  Trying to fight the reality of this shot (working contrasts and details of the bird - followed by selective sharpening) would have resulted in a mediocre shot at best, most likely ending up in the trash.

Here as some great filter packages to checkout and play with.  Give em a try!

• Nik Filters
• Topaz Labs
• Perfect Photo Suite

Stay in focus,

Mark