Lens Love

October. The magical month. It has been a year since my photography took a huge lunge forward, last October. I will love this month forever! and it is all because of two marvelous creatures: the 50mm/f1.4 lens and the 50mm/f2.5 compact macro lens.

I knew I was missing something in my photographs. Something in the way I was able -- or more precisely, not able -- to translate what I was seeing into tangible results. I see details. Little pieces of light or shape or texture that catch my eye and draw me in. but I wasn’t able to convey what I saw.

I saw it in other photographs. In food photography, still life photography, in magazines, on blogs. A serene beauty in having all but the smallest piece of the image softly out of focus. Shapes. Colors. Hints of information. Dreaminess. 

If they can do it, why can’t I do it? What IS it?

You see, I used to be a photojournalist, and the pictures I made were all about spreading information. Not that photojournalists’ photos aren't artistic, they certainly can be. But the widest aperture I used as a photojournalist was f2.8. 

Having put photography aside for many, many years, I returned with fresh perspective, less of a photojournalist's hat on.

One day, it just clicked. Ohhhhhhhh, I need to use an even wider aperture for even shallower depth of field.

So last October, I bought the 50mm/f1.4. Then in June, I bought the 50mm/f2.5 compact macro. And my photography, and therefore my life, hasn’t been the same since.

Now I use these two lenses almost exclusively. I’m still learning what aperture works well depending on the subject, angle, distance from subject, all that. Sometimes I don’t get the focus point where I want, or don’t have enough depth of field. Sometimes I even remember to bracket. But often, I’m able to show what I see in a way that feels right. Finally! And I love that with both of these lenses, there are often stunningly beautiful surprises in the image that I wasn’t able to see through the viewfinder.

It’s true what they say, that it's not the equipment, it's the photographer. But having the right gear can help a photographer express herself and show the world her unique viewpoint, what and how she sees. And we all know how it feels when we express ourselves just as we intended. Magic.

Image and words courtesy of guest blogger/honorary sister Hillary Sloss of Eyechai.

sunday school: going slow

There is a time for going slow, and there is a time for moving fast.  And then there is a time for going slow when all around you is moving fast.  I recently realized this when I found myself in a crowd of downtown tourists whizzing by me on all sides from all directions.  I am not a fast walker.  I am a stroller, an ambler, a meanderer, a wanderer, a dilly-dally-er of the highest order.  This is especially true when I have a camera in my hands and music in my ears.

Instead of picking up my pace to keep up with the crowd, I decided to slow it waaaay down, and just stand around as everyone rushed past me.  It was a bright sunny day, and I could have easily snapped sharp images of people as they walked by, but I decided to capture the sense of being surrounded by motion by using a slower shutter speed.  To do this, I decreased my ISO to 100, narrowed my aperture to f/16 and was able to get the shutter down to 1/10 of a second, which was plenty slow to capture all the commotion of the moment. 

Sometimes (or always, in my case) it's a good idea to slow down and let the whirlwind swirl on by.  Your life won't pass you by because it's not in that whirlwind.  It's with you, however long you may dawdle, in this moment, in this place.

Do you like to slow down in the midst of a fast-paced world?  Show us how.  Guide us on a little stroll through your images.

imperfect love

Some are happy accidents, and some the reward of patient study. Others are entirely improper, theoretically speaking. But there's a place in our photographic lives for satisfaction of all stripes.

Internal heckler: The foreground's out of focus.

Creative voice: True, but...

Internal heckler: When am I ever going to learn to tighten up a couple of stops on the wide-open aperture? It's not always appropriate.

Creative voice: Yeah, but...

...

Creative voice: Lemme run this through some processing anyway. See what I can make of it.

(ZING)

Internal heckler: Oh... a different skin. Look! They're a crowd. They've gathered. It's not just a blundered foreground. It's a part of the story. It is their depth.

Creative voice: I could have told you that.

+++

Today, share with us a capture that is, technically, a bit of a photographic fumble -- but that speaks to you, regardless. 

sunday school: flashdance

shutter speed: 1/5 sec; ISO: 400; aperture: f/5.0 

After years of turning up my nose in the general direction of my flash--built-in and speedlight alike--I've come to a strange realization: I. Love. My. Flash.  There, I've said it.  Why the change of heart, you ask?  I've got four little words for you: slow sync flash mode.  Google it, y'all, and prepare to be amazed at the images you'll find.

So what exactly is slow sync flash?  It's basically dragging the shutter (which Tracey enlightened us about a while back) WITH flash.  In other words, it's using your flash with a slow shutter speed.  I'm sure most of your cameras have a setting for your flash that's either called SLOW (a.k.a. front curtain flash sync) or REAR (a.k.a. rear curtain flash sync).  Both are types of slow sync, the difference being when the flash fires (beginning of exposure for simple slow and at the end of the exposure for rear).  Most cameras will automatically set the shutter speed at 1/60 or faster when you turn your flash on, and that enables you to freeze a specific image blur-free. Setting the flash to one of the slow sync modes, however, changes the shutter speed to something that's usually slower than 1/30th of a second.  Using a slower shutter speed in ADDITION to flash enables you to freeze the image at the point the flash fired with the added bonus of what I call the ghost trail, or the blur of action that occurs during the entire exposure either before or after the flash fired.

The cool thing about slow sync mode is that it looks cool with just your built in camera flash if you don't use a speedlight.  It's great for parties where there's a lot of action such as dancing, especially when there are funky lights that make swirly patterns depending on how you move the camera during the slow shutter exposure.  So the next time you find yourself and your camera at a dimly lit party wishing they would crank the lights so you can get some decent shots, set your flash to slow sync or rear curtain, set your ISO at 200 or below, your aperture at f/4ish or narrower, your shutter at 1/15th of a second or slower, and click away!  Try experimenting with different shutter speeds or by giving the camera a little shake or twist or what have you during the exposure.  Remember to avoid overexposure by adjusting your ISO down or making your aperture narrower if you slow down your shutter speed.

If you happen to try this, please share with us your results.  Or if you've done other funky things with flash or other lights, we want to see those images too!  For more inspiration, take a look at these cool slow sync shots!

sunday school: because the night belongs to us

Way back in the very tail end of my 20s, I found myself single again, living alone for the very first time in a tiny attic apartment in the heart of my city.  That's when I fell in love with the night and spent countless hours walking the city by streelight and capturing what I saw with my little Nikon Coolpix.  Back then, I knew nothing about white balance or aperture.  I just knew to hold really still and that sometimes my photos would come out a bit blurry and kinda orange, but what the hey;  I still loved it.

To this day, night photography remains a nostalgia-soaked event that I try to do every chance I get.  There are several variables that come into play that you don't get during daylight--moving points of light, streetlight flare, blur, deep indigo blue skies, strangers who seem even more mysterious in the night than during the day.

If you'd like to try a little night photography like the one I photographed above, here is a play by play of what I did to get the shot:

1. I set my ISO to 200.  The lower the ISO, the less noise you'll get.  In Aperture Priority, I set the the camera to f/4.5.  The narrower the aperture, the longer the shutter speed you'll need for proper exposure.  Since I wanted the people to be relatively in focus, I set the aperture narrow enough to make the streetlights flare, but wide enough for the shutter speed to be a reasonable 1/3 of a second.

2. I placed the camera on a stable surface.  I happened to find a ledge that was built into the wall of the building I was next to, and I set the camera on that.

3. Looking through the viewfinder (or Live View or LCD screen), I framed the shot the way I wanted it.  I knew I wanted streetlight flare, so I tried to get some streetlights in the shot, and I knew I wanted the the girl in one half of the shot, and the guy in the other.

4. I also wanted to capture the streaking blur of passing vehicles, so I waited until two cars were passing in opposit directions at the corner, and I clicked.

5. In post-processing, I played with the white balance and various color saturation to get the look I wanted.

So are there any other night owl shutterbugs out there?  I'd love to see what you capture in the night.