CalevPhoto

Friends don’t let friends take horrible fireworks pictures

Awhile ago I posted about how to take fireworks pictures.  Every year I see the same thing.  Shortly before the 4th of July I see tons of requests on how to take fireworks pictures, followed by a slew of truly awful fireworks shots after the event.  Let it stop!

Here’s the truth about fireworks shots.  In order to get that truly amazing fireworks shot you need to be familiar both with where the fireworks will be shot off that year as well as the optimal spot in the city to take a shot.  Typically this ‘optimal place’ will not be empty and you will need to set up way ahead of time in order to get the spot.

While you are setup in this spot, you will need to deal with photographers and spectators setting up right in front of you and if you need to use the bathroom you can consider your spot gone.  If you have kids, you’ll either need to not take them or they will get restless waiting hours before the fireworks.

The other thing to consider here in the Seattle area is that all of our fireworks shows suck.  The fireworks companies here simply do not utilize the more creative shells that many companies on the East coast utilize.  The one show I know of not shot by a local company here – the Seattle show shot by Pyro Spectacular – also sucks.  This puzzled me for some time, as Pyro Spectacular has a good reputation in the fireworks industry.  After some digging I found that the city of Seattle is not a fireworks friendly city and is such a pain to deal with in terms of budget and restrictions that the end result sucks.

Part of being a truly professional photographer is knowing when not to click the shutter.  Fireworks are pretty, but the chances that you will get a great shot haphazardly are close to infinitesimal.  If you are going out with the intention to photograph the fireworks show, my recommendation is to not go out at all.

Several years ago I got sick of fighting the crowds and found my fireworks shots no better than the millions of other horrible fireworks shots that plague the ‘Net after the 4th.  Therefore, I decided to go a different route and I now purchase some small fireworks items and shoot them off in our backyard with the kids.

Our kids now absolutely love the 4th of July and count the days before we shoot the fireworks.  As we have a small backyard I don’t buy anything big – mainly sparklers (the wood kind), some small fountains, bees, and pagodas (a yearly tradition – each child gets his/her own pagoda).  I do not shoot any festival ball and we stopped shooting firecrackers after some of our guests complained about the noise.

This year I hope to take some pictures of the event, as last year we used small sparklers that expired quickly and I spent all of my time distributing them.  My shots may not be masterpieces, but they will be far more memorable and valuable to me than the junk I would have taken at the fireworks shows here.

Therefore, please do your part this year and save energy by not forcing servers around the Internet to transfer your garbage among the millions of garbage fireworks shots that come after the 4th.

The Rule of Three Colors

I’m sure most of you have heard of the Rule of Thirds – which states that if you divide a picture up into thirds, the subject generally works best when it is not in the middle third.  I think this rule works quite well, though as with everything in photography there are times when it should be broken.

There are a number of other “Rules” in photography, but one of those I like most is what I call “The Rule of Colors”.  I’m sure it is not new – and there may be a more widely known name for it, but I did notice it myself before anyone mentioned it to me.

To illustrate this rule, what do these two pictures have in common?

Continue Reading…

Why Photoshop Sucks

Well, it doesn’t actually suck, but I am constantly annoyed by the number of people who believe that mastering Photoshop is the gateway to better pictures.  They rush to find the latest plugins that will perform some kind of magic and read tons of books from the latest Photoshop masters on how to improve otherwise boring photos.

Too often I see requests on how to salvage a photo in various forums.  In my opinion, it is simply not possible to salvage a photo.  It is possible to improve a photo, but if you feel the need to salvage it the truth is your photo simply sucks.

One of the key differences between true pros and amateurs is pros understand that some of their photos suck, and live with it.  Rather than trying to bring back a photo from the dead, they focus on improving their skills so they don’t need to worry about it the next time.

Another difference is pro photographers will not waste their time taking a photo of something with the hope that they will be able to salvage the photo later.  Sure, a stray pole or piece of garbage is easy to clone out.  However, if the lighting isn’t right or the view just not that interesting, they won’t bother with the shot.  One thing I have found out is understanding when not to take a picture is just as important as understanding when to take one.

So the next time you look at a picture and are hoping that you can ‘save’ it, just give up and let it go.  Instead, consider why the picture sucks.  What could you have done better?  That way, the next time you will be able to improve.  In this way, you will find yourself slowly getting better as a photographer, rather than spending hours in vain rescuing a photo and remaining in mediocrity.

A trip to the Museum of Flight

For some strange reason, we never bothered to take Eitan and Nathan to the Museum of Flight.  While figuring out what to do one weekend, we decided it was time to take them.

Of course, I couldn’t resist taking my camera and decided to be a bit creative with the shots.

In particular I found the exhausts on the planes to be rather interesting.  The museum itself is very interesting and had quite a few planes for the kids to look at.  We wound up spending five hours there!

Continue Reading…

Equipment that I hope to buy

In my previous post, I covered the equipment that I currently use.  The following is a list of what I am still planning to get.

Canon TS-E 17 – This is simply too tempting, especially for my real estate work.  I am currently saving for this lens, which is good as it is not out yet.  I hope to have it by the end of the year, even though it is quite pricy.

Canon 600mm F4 IS – I will most likely start saving for this lens after I buy my TS-E 17.  I will use the TS-E 17 for real estate shoots that will help pay for this monster.  I’m still debating between this and a microscope, but the around town opportunities to use this are just too tempting.

Canon 135mm 2L – I am a bit conflicted about this lens and am unsure it will truly be on my list.  The issue is that I already heavily use my 70-200 4L IS for pictures of my kids and I’m not sure I will have room in the bag for this lens.

Microscope – The problem is I don’t want any microscope – but a DIC microscope, which will set me back more than the 600L.

Really Right Stuff pano kit – I love doing panoramas and the only thing keeping me from getting it right now is the price and the two lenses in front of it.   I almost bought it a few months ago but chose to buy a monopod instead – which I do not regret.

Singh-ray vari-ND – I haven’t done much landscape work lately, but I hope that will change.  When it does I hope to have one of these to do some long shutter shots.

Confessions of an equipment junkie

I admit it.  I am an equipment junkie.  I want all of the best photo equipment and lenses no matter how much they cost and I love showing my equipment off.  In particular I love hearing now that’s a camera, as people walk by.

You know that you are the same, so it’s best to admit it now and get it over with!  Therefore, with that spirit in mind I will discuss the gear that I currently use.

Camera:

Canon 5D Mark II – I really like this camera and have already discussed it at great length on this blog.

Lenses:

Canon 70-200 4L IS – This is my walk around lens and the lens I most commonly use for shots of my kids.  I bought it over the 2.8 because it is much lighter and the IS is better.

Canon MP-E 65 – This is the lens I use for the majority of my insect shots.

Canon 180L Macro – I use this less often than my MP-E 65, but it is my main lens for larger insects and flowers.

Canon 16-35 2.8L II – This is the main lens I use for real estate and for landscape shots while traveling.

Canon 50mm 1.4 – I rarely use this lens, but it does come in handy for low light situations.

Canon 100-400 4.5-5.6L – This is my zoo and wildlife lens.

Lighting:

Canon 580EX – This is the first flash I bought and I still prefer it in some ways to the 580EX II, which sometimes has difficulties with the Pocketwizards.

Canon 580EX II – It’s nice to control the flash from the camera, but otherwise it is no big upgrade.

Canon MT-24EX – This is the flash I use for most of my macro shots.

Pocketwizard MultiMAX – I love the added versatility over the Pocketwizard Plus II, but I rarely use multiple lights in my shots these days.

Other:

Really Right Stuff L Bracket – IMHO their L brackets are the best.

Gitzo 1348 tripod – The tripod is a bit big, but is extremely sturdy.  It is great for real estate and for around town, but not so great for traveling.

Markins M20 head – Great head for less price than the Really Right Stuff head.

Gitzo GM-5561 monopod – Expensive but amazingly small and strong for a monopod.  I almost always have this on me.

Really Right Stuff Tilt head – Works great when tracking birds or other things.

Kirk Macro Rail – I shoot most of my macro shots handheld so I now use this mainly for panorama shots – to adjust the nodal point of the lens.  It’s not a bad macro rail but I would probably buy the Really Right Stuff one if I had to do it over again.

Lumiquest 80/20 system – I almost always have this on my flash.

Wimberley macro brackets – When I am using a flash with my 180L, these are always on.  I also use them for drop shots.

In my next post I will cover the gear I hope to get.

A hike at Twin Falls State Park

As those of you who have kids will know, a chance to get out and take some shots around town is a real treat.  Therefore, when a coworker asked if I would like to go hiking at Twin Falls State Park and my wife said OK, I jumped on the opportunity.

The park is not very far from Seattle and is one of the many nice waterfalls we have around here.  This is one of the great benefits of living here.  While back East we had Niagara Falls (which I have seen perhaps a hundred times but never photographed) after that the waterfalls taped off a bit.  Not that case here – as we have a good number of waterfalls over a hundred feet tall.

Ironically, I feel that the best shots from the trip were not of the waterfalls itself.  They are nice waterfalls, but I believe it is necessary to get down to the waterfall level for a truly nice shot.  Unfortunately conditions were not favorable that day towards doing that. Continue Reading…

A so so photograph, but interesting story

As some of you know, each Friday I organize a small photography shoot by three ponds that are next to the building where I work.  Although small, there is a good deal of wildlife here and it is interesting to see how the area changes as the seasons go by.

This isn’t a particularly interesting picture of a millipede.  I have much better millipede shots and it was one of a handful of shots I got that day.  This particular millipede is quite small and I had placed it on some moss nearby for a more interesting shot.

However, the story behind the shot is a bit more interesting.

Continue Reading…

Another trip to the zoo

Now that I have my 100-400 lens, going to the zoo is all the more a pleasure.  I enjoy taking pictures of whatever animals happen to be photogenic that day and of course the kids don’t mind it either.

This shot I got of a male gorilla that did not seem to be in a good mood.  The gorillas at the zoo almost always provide some interesting shots.  I have to admit that this is one of my favorite shots from the recent trips to the zoo.  The following shot is from a different profile. Continue Reading…

Congrats to Canon on the TS-E 17!

Recently it has been a bit of a bummer being a Canon user.  Granted, the 5D Mark II is a great camera and competes very well with the D700, but every other camera in their SLR line seems to take a back seat these days.

Therefore it was nice to see Canon still has a bit of ingenuity up their sleaves in the TS-E 17 F4 lens.  One area where Canon still has an advantage over Nikon is in their lenses.  Canon simply has far more lenses and far more good primes specifically.  Nikon has a few lenses Canon doesn’t – such as the 14-24 and the 200-400, but the Canon lenses I use most often – the 70-200/4 IS and the MP-E 65 – have no equivalents in Nikon.

Still, Canon has the tendency lately to sit back on their laurels and let Nikon catch up.  That is what happened with high ISO capabilities and I expected the same to occur for lenses – where Canon’s strategy lately has been to upgrade existing lenses.

This is not the case with the TS-E 17 – which is the ultimate interior photography lens.  Already I am salivating at the thought of taking real estate pictures with this lens – though I’m having more than a little trouble convincing my wife that it is worth it!

I had planned to buy the TS-E 24 at some time, but I wasn’t crazy about it.  I had heard that the lens was not great optically and 24mm is a great distance from my 16-35 that I normally use.  I did use a friend’s TS-E 24 briefly in a house I photographed, but I put the lens away because I needed something much wider.  The TS-E 17 fits the bill exactly.

I hope that this is a sign for the future – that Canon will keep innovating.  They now have another lens with no equivalent in other systems and I suspect a good number of interior photographers will buy a Canon camera if they are not using one just to be able to use this lens.

Now if I can just figure out where to get $2500.