Rick’s Rants and Raves

I don’t think I want to be a portrait photographer (professional or otherwise), but its one of those photographic skills that I know I’m lacking. The last time I tried to take a picture of my wife for her on-line profiles, I did a mediocre job, primarily because I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.

I’ve read a good bit since then, and I’ve been paying attention to some of the details mentioned in on-line forums and tutorials. I have a better camera, and a better understanding of how to use it. But I don’t have much more than that. When my mom asked me to take pictures at my Grandparents 68th** wedding anniversary party, I assumed she meant candid shots. I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to try my hand at more formal work.

So, I’ve got a DSLR and a tripod. What else would I need? Off camera strobes (snobby photographer speak for flashes) with a wireless trigger, umbrellas or softboxes to soften the light, a back ground and something to hang it on. My budget for the event? Um that’d be $0.

Fortunately, I have a not-terribly-crappy external flash that has a bounce head, so I could bounce light all over the place. Fine, so I don’t need the strobes and umbrellas. Oh, and I found a white sheet all clean and folded in the hall closet. With a couple of cheap clips from the fridge, I could hang the sheet from my mom’s vertical blinds header.  So I don’t really need the background and hanging stand. I also modified an old desk lamp to fit onto my clamp-pod in case I needed some fill lighting.

I started setting up shortly after we got there, when my aunt says “Ooh, I need a picture for my Facebook profile”. Well, sit right down, and I’ll see what I can do.

The sheet is visible in the background, but otherwise I’m pleased with the result.

Barb wanted a picture with her girls, so I sat them down, and started working with them, trying to get them to relax a bit.

This one is pretty decent, but I continued to take pictures, cracking jokes, and letting the girls be embarrassed by their mother. This was a cute moment, and I like this shot better than the more formal one.

Next came pictures of my grandparents with three of their kids.

This one is OK, but the exposure increases from left to right–my flash was pointing at the sliding glass windows just to the right, so my grandmother looks a bit washed out. It would have been better had I closed the neutral color blinds to diffuse the bounced light.

This has got to be the best picture of my kids together in about 8 years. The sheet is a little more noticeable than I’d like, but its not that bad.

Next came Barb’s girls with their grandparents.

This one suffers from the same exposure problem as the other portrait-oriented one above, for the same reason.

Finally, Jim’s family wanted a group shot.

This one turned out very well. Jim put his hand on his wife’s shoulder, and I thought that really added a nice touch.

So, all in all, I feel like I did a pretty decent job for a) my first time really trying formal portraits, and b) investing $0 into my equipment for the job. I also got some fun candid shots. The biggest mistake was not noticing the light bouncing off the windows making the right side of portrait shots more exposed than the left. I might have been able to compensate with my office/fill light.

I’m also pleased that I got an excellent shot of Anne. I used the oldest trick in the book: “Oh, don’t worry honey, its just a test shot.”

My last bit of portrait work for this post was tonight. I’ve been working through ideas for the latest DPS assignment: Shadows. Given my improved self-confidence with portraits, I decided to try my hand at a much more challenging self-portrait. I’ve seen some incredibly striking shots of people lit from the side, so I decided to attempt to replicate this effect.

I like this one best, but there is another possibility for submission. I’ll let it percolate in my head a bit before I do the final submission.

**When I went looking for a card for them, I noticed that the store I went to didn’t sell an anniversary card above 50th. You’d think that every year after that would be an amazing miracle, to be celebrated high and low. 55th card? Nope. 60th card? Nope. 70th? Are you kidding?

I’m currently reading Within the frame : the journey of photographic vision, and it has been a wonderful book for my current skill level photographically and artistically. It “is a book about finding and expressing your photographic vision” and has helped me understand some important lessons.

Zoom isn’t everything

In one section, he talks about his younger days when he thought a big lens meant someone was a serious photographer. Therefore he spent a lot of time chasing after longer zoom lenses. I’ve definitely felt this draw, and a bit of envy when I see long lenses in the wild. But longer zoom doesn’t help with composition all the time. Sometimes you just have to get closer to the subject. And sometimes a wide angle tells a more interesting story than a close up. For example, I loved the mound of fabric in this picture. A couple of days ago, I might have used the macro on my zoom to get really close to the fabulous colors and patterns. Today, I was trying to look for wide angle shots, and I think this one nails the situation perfectly: big mound of fabric with a bunch of women going through it furiously. The activity and the intensity were just as important as the patterns.

The gear doesn’t make the photographer

When we were in Parry Sound on the Island Queen tour, I went looking for interesting detail shots on the boat. A gentleman at the bow of the boat, almost sounding confrontational, asked if digital SLRs really took better pictures than point-and-shoot cameras (or as one of my acquaintances at work calls them: point-and-wait). I pondered my answer for a moment because I knew that a great camera does not make a great photographer. I know that no matter how good the paint brush, my paintings would look like a four-year-old had just finished finger-painting. I know that a great photo from 2009 isn’t that much better than one from 2008 (Anne and I got the dSLR for Christmas, 2008. Thanks again Maggie!). So I told him that for some people, dSLRs enable them to take better pictures. I personally like the level of control that I get, and the broader feature set. There are certainly some point-and-shoot cameras that rival entry-level dSLRs for features and picture quality. So, though I feel a bit snobby at times with my dSLR, looking to see if anyone in the crowd has a better camera (frequently, yes, but just one or two , I try to remind myself that it is the skill behind the viewfinder that makes the shot.

Today at the India festival, while we were in the auditorium, the mayor came out on stage to welcome the crowd and say a few pleasing words. I decided that although my focus for the day had been on wide-angle shots, it was time to switch to my 70-300mm lens to see if I could get a decent shot of the mayor from our current seats (I didn’t care enough to move my feat). I switched lenses, took some shots, and started to switch back when a coworker, who’s somewhat familiar with my photos, noticed my camera and said “Ah, no wonder to take such great pictures.” I just grinned and thanked him for the compliment. The camera helps. But I know I won’t turn into Ansel Adams just by getting a better camera.

My artistic muse

Within the Frame, mentioned above, discusses at length the concept of a photographic vision, or an artistic muse, if you will. The author’s muse is finding interesting people in interesting places. He is phenomenal at portrait and travel photography (fit for National Geographic). It worried me for days that I don’t seem to have a muse. I enjoy taking pictures of family, flowers, kids, birds, and musicians, as well more technical fun like light box, swinging lights. Where is my muse? Right now, I think my photographic muse is my busy life. We didn’t go to Vermont (twice), Parry Sound, the Dublin Irish Festival, or camping just so I could take pictures. But I enjoy taking pictures while we’re there. Sometimes I shoot just to document, but as often as possible, I shoot to creatively capture the time we spent. My muse is finding and capturing the interesting bits as my life goes flying by me.

Keep the lens cap off

Another recent read was The Digital Photography Book, volume 1. The author provides his advice on the technical aspects of photography in a kind of FAQ format. Its a very fast read and very interesting. One of the pieces of advice that really changed me was “keep the lens cap off”. His argument was that after you take the camera out of the bag, it should be READY to use. And that means take the lens cap off. The risk to the lens is relatively low (it is under your control, right?) and if you have to fumble with the lens cap at the crucial moment, you just might miss the shot. This was a dramatic change in perspective for me, and closely matches with how Anne treats the lens cap. In fact she was relieved when I told her that my attitude toward lens cap use had changed since I was frequently nagging her to put it back on if she wasn’t actively engaged in shooting. I was over protective of the lens at the expense of missed shots. And since two of my favorite targets are kids and birds, that two seconds messing with the cap really does mean a missed shot.

Today at the India Festival, I saw two perfect examples of one of my pet peeves: people who are oblivious to the impact they have on the folks around them.

We were in the Veterans Memorial auditorium watching some performances. I’m not sure who was there first, but two people unwittingly conspired to significantly interrupt traffic in one of the aisles of the auditorium. One was a self-important dork with his video camera on a tripod. His tripod was half in the aisle, half in front of a seat, and he had his butt sticking into the aisle as he tried to determine if he could get some video of the ladies dancing on the stage in traditional Indian dress. His butt alone took up about 1/3 of the aisle as he messed with his video camera.

The second person was a mother who’d brought her kid into the auditorium in a stroller. That was bad sign number one. She evidently had missed the areas outside of the doors where EVERYONE ELSE was parking their kid carriers, and decided that her wittle bumpykins would be better served by sitting in a stroller than in a seat like the other kids (he was probably about 4). So where is this stroller parked? Right next to Mr-Tripod-In-The-Aisle. HULLOOO? I watched as a dozen or so folks turned sideways and stepped gingerly so as to pass between these two. The mother was just sitting there as they went by, not thinking that perhaps her stroller was causing an obstruction. His butt, of course, didn’t notice a thing except the video camera.

I secretly hoped for a minor oopsie when he left the video camera (still atop the tripod-in-the-aisle) to take his dSLR down closer to the stage. Some kids nearly tripped over one of the tripod legs as they went scampering up the aisle. Alas, he returned to find his video camera still intact, and his tripod legs unbent.

Today we visited the India Festival. I’d been given complimentary tickets by a coworker who is on the executive committee. In recent years, Anne and the kids and I have been really enjoying exploring Indian food around town. Indian food tends to be more expensive than Chinese or Mexican, but not quite as pricey as Japanese, so as a result, we usually reserve it for a treat. The exception however is that I can get a very nice Indian lunch for $6 at work every Thursday thanks to Cuisine of India, who brings in some excellent chicken tikka masala and saag panir, among other things.

So I looked forward to visiting the India Festival, but didn’t really know what to expect. As we pulled into the parking lot and didn’t see another Caucasian, I knew we were in the right place.

We stepped inside and were immediately hit with the smell of curry and garlic. We wandered the aisles looking at the vendors’ wares.

The vendors could largely be lumped into four broad categories: food, clothing, Indian DVDs & CDs, and mystics/spiritualists. One of the clothing vendors was tickled by Emily’s curiosity in the saris and helped her try one on.

The aisles were frequently packed such that it was difficult to move through without being bumped. It felt a lot like a bazaar, at least to my limited experience.

However, we spent the majority of our time sampling the food. We tried dishes from four different restaurants (Udipi Cafe, Bayleaf India Bistro, Taste of India, and a vendor from Virginia), most of which I don’t even know the name of. The food from Bayleaf and Taste of India was excellent. One of the dishes we got from Udipi would have been better had it been fresh and hot.

I especially appreciated Bayleaf’s $3 sampler plates. They were reasonably sized and perfect for sharing a variety of interesting dishes.

The best part was that the kids tried everything! And then came back for more.

Years ago, Anne and I ran into some acquaintances at a local Japanese restaurant and we were jealous that their daughter was with them. At that time in our lives, our kids were picky eaters at home with grandma, and we didn’t realize just how soon that would change. Today our kids ate a lot of dishes that were entirely foreign (in nationality) but not so foreign to their experience.

We sat in on a few performances in the auditorium. One was a really adorable childrens’ song expressing unity although we have different names and faces. When the final girl, face painted orange, white, and green sang “I am Bindia and I come from India”, the crowd roared.

As we went home, Anne and I agreed that it was fun and interesting, but perhaps not worth the $6 per person it would have cost us if it were not for the free tickets. The India Festival was geared toward the Indian population of our city, as a celebration of their culture by them, not so much as outreach or education of the non-Indian residents. So although it was interesting, I don’t think it was worth $29 (tickets plus parking) to us to have a bunch of Indian restaurants in one location.