Photography

I have so much crap it’s really not funny.  When it comes to travel & outdoor gear, I can’t resist the American consumerist in me.  But with this trip to Buenos Aires and Patagonia, as with most, there’s the additional question of what camera equipment to bring.

Were I only going to Buenos Aires (or, put another way, if this were a more ‘urban’ trip) I would bring my digital SLR, a good ‘standard’ zoom lens and a smaller ‘walk-around’ lens.  With my current equipment, that equates to the Nikon D300, the Nikon 17-55 f/2.8 zoom and the Nikon 20mm f/2.8.  That would allow me to have good general coverage with the zoom lens with the added benefit of a smaller form-factor for walking around a little less conspicuously.  I would probably consider leaving the 20mm lens behind and just use a smaller pocket camera for when I want to carry around a lighter load.

Which leads me to the next piece of gear – a walk-around pocket camera.  For this I currently use the Canon G10.  It’s not quite pants pocket-sized but it will go in a coat pocket without a problem and it affords me more control over the shots than something truly pocketable.  This is also a handy camera for shooting short videos.  I’m glad to see SLRs including video capabilities these days as moving pictures (and sound!) adds a nice dimension to looking through old trips.

Since this trip includes a visit to Torres del Paine, the situation becomes a little more challenging as that scenery provides for a more diverse set of shooting conditions.  Among the decisions are: whether to take the 70-200 f/2.8 or the 80-400 4/f-5.6 and whether to take the tripod or just rely on the monopod, as well as power considerations and whether I want any specialty lenses like a macro, etc.,

The 80-400 has a great zoom range (especially on the DX Nikon body where it gives me an effective focal length of 600mm).  This is the lens I took to Africa and I was very pleased with its performance and the shots I was able to get with it.  But, ultimately, I think I’ll go with the 70-200 for this trip.  It’s slightly smaller, has a wider, stable minimum aperture, and the optics are slightly better.

Normally for traveling I rely on a monopod since it’s lighter, easier to walk around with, and offers basic stabilization.  For this trip however, I’m going to go with the tripod.  I’m hoping for some great scenic shots and for those (especially when looking to make large size prints) the monopod really doesn’t stand up to the tripod.  (This would be less of an issue of course if I had a nice carbon fiber tripod).

Other equipment I considered, but am leaving behind includes my flash and my 105mm macro lens (even though this is my favorite lens).  I need to cut down on the weight somewhere, and this is where I’ll draw the line.

Since I’ll be spending some time in the backcountry, I’ll be bringing along my portable storage device, which will allow me to offload images from the memory cards, freeing up more space.  In the future I just need to buy more memory cards since they’re so cheap and lightweight, but since I already own the hard disk, I’ll just bring that.

And other odds and ends which will travel with me: a lens cleaning kit; battery chargers and extra batteries; cable release; assorted cases and weather protection; polarizer & graduated neutral density filters; memory cards.

I think this is the right setup but here are my concerns:

First and foremost, I don’t know what to expect in terms of being able to charge batteries while in Patagonia.  I have only 2 batteries for my SLR and with cold conditions, they might not last.

Second, I’m bringing only 1 camera body.  In the past I would have brought a second body (either film or digital) but I’ve never NEEDED one and I want to cut down the weight somehow.  I hope this is not the trip where my camera body decides to give up the ghost.

So, the full gear list looks like this:

• Nikon D300
• Nikon 17-55 f/2.8
• Nikon 70-200 f/2.8
• Nikon 20mm f/2.8
• Manfroto tripod
• Manfroto ballhead
• Spare battery for SLR, battery chargers
• ThinkTank camera cases
• lens cleaning kit
• SinghRay graduated neutral density filter
• Tiffen Polarizer filters
• 80GB HyperDrive Colorspace personal storage device
• three 4GB; one 2GB; two 1GB memory cards for SLR
• generic Remote Cable release
• Canon G10
• two 4GB; one 1GB memory cards for Canon G10

In a pinch I might decide to bring my older Nikon D70 (and associated batteries, charger) and leave the 20mm lens behind.. we’ll see.

I recently made the purchase of a new Epson 3800 photo printer – a purchase that I’ve considered for several years now.

I was really on the fence about buying a photo printer.  I have access to a really good lab locally, who charge reasonable rates for prints.  I knew that it would take many, many prints in order to recoup the cost of the printer.

But there were two really compelling reasons why I considered, and ultimately made the purchase.

First, while I had access to a lab, I never used it.  I always had on my to-do list “print photos” and it was never getting crossed off.  I wanted to hang more recent prints in my apartment but just never got around to sending the images to the lab.

Second, and the reason for my delay in using the photo lab, I was uncertain about the printing process.  That’s to say; without having control over what gets printed out – and being able to see variations in the final prints from changed settings, I was hesitant to make any prints.  I knew that there were many things that I needed to consider in my prints – like color, tonality, paper, contrast & sharpness – things that either differed from or didn’t exist in online images.  I felt that there was no real way to get a grasp on these elements without doing the work myself.

So after many years of consideration and some recent diligence in research, I ended up with the 3800.  I purchased it sensing that it was about to be replaced with a newer model (it has – the 3880).  But because this  newer model was about to be announced, I was able to save over $400 from multiple offered rebates making this printer much more affordable then its replacement.  I also liked the idea of owning a printer that had been around for a while with a wealth of information available online.

I set up the printer when it arrived using some of these valuable online resources, including most importantly Eric Chan’s website, which offers many detailed setup guides and links.

And the result?

Wow.

I am really digging this printer.  The prints it creates are just amazing.

But the best part – that comes completely unexpectedly, is what printing is telling me about my photography.  I am learning so much more about my images, just by going through the printing process.  I have a much greater appreciation for the final production work required to create a great printed image.

It seems obvious in retrospect, but printing (or final display) is a vital part of the image making process.  And while I’ve been spending plenty of time in this step in the past, it’s been for online presentation – something that didn’t require as much attention as does printing – or so I’ve felt.  Of course now that I look back through my online presentation I see flaws left and right.  The act of fine-tuning my images for printing has made me re-evaluate the process I use to set up my images for online presentation as well.

And sadly, I see where my image taking has suffered over the past several years, because I haven’t had this view of my own work: Most importantly, in image stabilization.  I see in many of my prints, only when trying to print out in large form, flaws in the details – mostly because of a lack of clarity due to movement.  This has not been evident in web-sized images, but when you try to blow that up into a nice landscape print, it just doesn’t fly.

But I am thankful to have this insight now so that I can re-evaluate my processes moving forward and I look forward to the resulting prints that I’ll be able to make.

A couple of weeks ago I went back East to attend Webb & Liz’s wedding in Greenfield, Mass.  Webb and I have been friends forever, and I wanted to have some images from the event that I was happy with.  I decided to bring along my SLR instead of just my G10 so that I could have more control over the images.

After deciding on the SLR, the next decision was what lens to bring.   While I wanted the SLR, I didn’t like the prospect of having a big honking lens (or worse: multiple lenses!).  After all, I wanted to enjoy the event as well, I didn’t just want to photograph it.  So I brought along the 20mm f/2.8 lens.  This would allow me to reduce the overall bulk of the camera as well as better capture low-light situations.

Next, I opted not to bring an external flash, instead relying on the built-in flash of my D300.  I don’t often use this flash, but it is a great option for when you want it.  In this case, I only used the flash on the night-before events which took place in a really dark bowling alley.

I decided before-hand that I wanted to have black & white images for this event, so I set up my camera to “shoot” in black and white.  Actually, I shoot in RAW mode, meaning that all of the image capture is stored in an unprocessed state, allowing all sorts of fine tuning during ‘processing.’  So what I did was set my camera to black and white shooting mode, so that the rear panel would show the image to me in black and white, even though it was really a full-color image that I was storing.  This gave me the best of both worlds.  By doing so I was able to preview what the image would look like in black and white, while still capturing the raw data, to allow me to do as I please when I generate the image.

Once back at my laptop, I transferred the raw files to Lightroom and applied some basic settings to process the raw files into black and white images.  I have several presets that I have downloaded from across the web that apply different kinds of settings – and in this case, I used some basic ‘film emulators’ settings to re-create the typical settings for a film like Tri-x, a film I’m used to shooting with.  With these settings in place, I then made common adjustments (lights, darks, contrast, etc.,).

Overall, I’m pretty happy with the outcome.  I think the images look decent on screen (especially considering the varying lighting conditions – from a neutral walk around town to a dark bowling alley (with flash) to a challenging-ly lit reception area to an overly-bright outdoor scene).   I was also trying to achieve multiple looks in the images – like blurring the dancing scenes to convey the sense of motion.  Some of these turned out OK but this is an effect that I wasn’t thrilled with this time…

There’s so much possible with digital processing – it’s a lot to get one’s hands around, but I definitely feel like I’m improving over these past few years.

I’ve had the opportunity a few times where I’ve taken time off between jobs.  I am a HUGE fan of this and I can’t speak highly enough about it.  One of the things that amazed me, though, was people who would ask:

“What do you do with your time?”

These people would admit that were it them, they’d go stir crazy.

This is not something that I’ve suffered.  I find that there are so many things calling for my attention.  In fact, while gainfully employed I often find it hard to make the time to pursue the many activities that I enjoy.

I’ve been making an effort recently to spend more time working on some photo projects, including my weekly photo postings.  The main purpose of this effort is to make sure I’m spending more time examining the photos I’m taking (I’ve taken) in order to improve future images.  I figured, I should be able to spend at least a little time each week on this.  It’s just 1 photo per week, after all.

And yet, I’m amazed at how difficult it’s been.  And so it’s with some amazement that I look at others and what they’re able to get done.  Recently, I’ve been checking in on a photo blog where the author, Dustin Diaz, produces 1 photograph to post PER DAY.  And these are highly-stylized, photos with lighting setups and accompanying tech notes and everything.  I am just amazed that he is able to find the time each and every day to put towards this effort (this in addition to holding down a job, relationship and even pet ownership, from what I can gather).

I’ll admit that some of the photos end up being quite similar and you might fault him for that but remember: each of those photos is going to take a couple of hours (including planning, set up, shooting, tear down, post processing, posting, describing, and then dealing with the comments, etc.,) so one can’t fault him too much for falling back to a similar setup.  Besides, it’s not like there’s a lot of time left in the day for pre-planning these thing and coming up with more differentiated setups.

Over the coming months, where I spend my time is going to be something I’m more consciously thinking about.  I feel like I’m already pretty decent at minimizing time spent on less-important stuff, it’s just that I’ve got to re-draw the line, lopping more stuff into the less-important column.

I’ve finally gotten around to uploading some photos from this summer.

There are a few new albums that I’ve posted, including photos from Michigan, Tahoe and our Idaho road trip.

You can see the photos here:

June trip to Michigan

A collection of photos from the Nichols Arboretum

Some Dylan photos from a hike around Tahoe Donner

And finally, an album of pics from our road trip to Idaho

enjoy!

Today Canon introduced the Powershot G11 – the successor to the G10 (which I own and like very much).

image courtesy DP Review

I have been a big fan of the Canon G- series of cameras and the G11 looks to be an awesome addition to the lineup.  In a bit of a surprise, they’ve reduced the megapixel count from 14.4MP in the G10 to 10MP in this new G11.  This is an excellent decision – realizing that 10MP is more than enough to suit the needs of what most people are using the camera for.  In place of all of those megapixels, they’ve improved the overall image sensor’s sensitivity, allowing for better images in more difficult lighting situations.  From the press release:

Canon’s new Dual Anti-Noise System combines a high sensitivity 10.0 Megapixel image sensor with Canon’s enhanced DIGIC 4 image processing technology to increase image quality and greatly improve noise performance by up to 2 stops (compared to PowerShot G10). The PowerShot G11 also includes i-Contrast technology, which prevents high-light blowout whilst retaining low-light detail – ideal for difficult lighting situations.

The G11 is equipped to deal with any light condition.  Low Light mode enables photographers to shoot up to ISO 12,800 in reduced 2.5MP resolution, whilst a built-in Neutral Density (ND) filter decreases light levels by 3 stops allowing creative control in bright conditions.

My biggest gripe with the G10 is it’s inability (like most smaller form-factor cameras) to capture decent quality images at low light.  The camera is useless at around ISO400.  I Would love to be able to realistically use ISO800 with this camera.  ISO 12,800 is nice and all but not if the pictures are going to be blue.  The idea of dynamically reducing the megapixel count to better render the scene is interesting.  We’ll see once the hands-on reviews start coming in how this all works in practice.

I doubt that I’ll upgrade to this camera – it will be difficult to justify the cost of the upgrade just for improved low-light imagery – but I’ll be keeping my eyes on the reviews for sure.

Regardless of whether I get this camera, it shows that the camera makers are headed in the right direction (no more are we fighting the megapixel wars!) and this should signal similar changes throughout multiple camera lines.

Read More at DPReview