Friday, August 19, 2011


Hello,
As many of you already know, I've moved most of my blog posting over to a Wordpress based site with the same name: Tony's Photographic Blog.  Here's my latest entry over there while you're here visiting. But go ahead and go there and update your bookmarks and RSS stuff while you're there.
Part of learning photography is to take on new challenges, experiences and projects. As a catalyst to egg me on to keep shooting something different each week, I've joined a group called Focus52 - Shoot at least one new photo a week for 52 weeks. Most weeks have a Prompt for you to follow too.
As part of this weeks Prompt; Water, I thought I'd challenge myself to learn something new and somewhat different. I've seen this trick done several times over the years, and have always added it to my "I'll have to learn that some day list", well today's the day for this line item.

This photo shows the main set-up. First, before you start adding water to the glasses, get everything else in place, experiment with placements, angles and lights long before you start tilting the platform the glasses are sitting on, and especially before adding water to the experiment. I spent a good part of the evening, just trying to figure out the best placement of lights, including the light-table I used as a backdrop. Turns out, it's a bit smaller than I needed, so I had to get the glasses as close to it as possible so that edges didn't show. The rest of it is just moving things around, take a shot, look at your screen, adjust as necessary the props/lights/camera settings, shot again, look at your screen, repeat as necessary.
I was mostly going for the best even lighting with the fewest reflections, especially bright spots in the glass. I don't have any soft-boxes, so I had to make due with what I had. If I had a little bit more time, I would have tried a few other things too.
Once you're pretty comfortable with your set-up, it's time to start tilting the platform that the glasses are on. My first set of test shots didn't have enough of an angle for what I wanted, so I had to tilt a bit more. I just used a cardboard box with a rubber placemat on top. Notice to the side a couple of measuring cups I used as 'technical spacers' to hold the box at the angle I needed. Also, I used a couple of standard 'cereal bowls' to get the light-table up to the the proper height I discovered I'd need once I started tilting things.
You'll also notice a ruler on hand for proper spacing of the glasses - And important - A towel to not only clean fingerprints off the glass, but water spots during the shoot too. Off to the other, "down-hill side" is a larger towel, just in case gravity takes over a little too much.
Once I got the proper angle, then it's a matter of tilting the camera so that it's still parallel and square with the glasses and platform. A ruler helped here too, make sure you're square from left to right also.
Now it's just matter of adding water. I used a small little pitcher that allowed me to pour a bit more accurately, with less spills and splashing. From there, it's must more experimenting as too how much water you'll need. Keep that towel handy, as you're going to need to dab out water spots still.
Every step of the way, I'd fire off a couple shots, just in case. Tweak the lights as needed, play some more and shoot some more.
As for the colored water; I was going to use food coloring (I even thought about using juice at one point, but that's very messy to clean-up and expensive too), but didn't have any, so the colors were added in Photoshop afterwards - Which is another lesson on my Photoshop blog for another day.
Enjoy, experiment, have fun,
Tony

Saturday, May 28, 2011

I've Moved – Follow Me To My New Sites

Hello, first, I'd like to Thank all of you that have followed me over the years. I know there haven't been many of you yet, but I do appreciate those of you that have. And, I know that I'm not real punctual at keeping this site up to date, but I do try, and will increase the posts even more now that I've made some changes. I'm still in the process of learning about all of this blog business stuff, as I've still got a lot of fun teaching about photography to pass on. So read on, have fun and pass the word to all your friends to follow me too.

In order to kind of concentrate my thoughts, messages and/or ideas (I know, those who know me are probably laughing when I said "concentrate"... Ha, go ahead, laugh), I've moved to a WordPress based web-site and have broke things into three different venues of teaching:

Tony's Photography Tips, which will concentrate on camera's and general photography skills in general. Even though photography equipment has made some huge advancements in the last 5 years or so, the basics of photography and how your camera makes an image are all still the same. In order to be a great photographer, you'll need to at least be comfortable with the "tools" that are available.

Tony's Photoshop & Lightroom Tips, which will concentrate on, you guessed it – Photoshop & Lightroom Tips and Ideas. Both of these "Digital Darkroom" packages have come a long ways, and are even more powerful today, providing an unprecedented amount of power to todays photographer that likes to work on their own images after the shot.

And now my latest addition – Eurisko Adventures. This latest web-site will concentrate more on the specifics of travel and adventure photography. There are those that specialize in weddings, family/senior portraits, pets, food, architectural, etc. Me, I like to travel and explore, which generally includes a little bit of adventure – This is a place for me to tell you how you can too.

As always, go to my Facebook; Tony Locke Photography to keep up with all that's going on, make sure you LIKE it so that you'll receive all the news that news. Also, make sure you go over to Alternative Focus Workshops Facebook (shared with That Photo Shoppe), LIKE it too, and the Blog to sign up for our newsletter and keep up with our on going (and very exciting) Photography, Photoshop & Lightroom Workshops. You just missed a great 2-day workshop on San Juan Island.

So, move on over to the new sites, bookmark them, LIKE them and of course – Tell Your Friends Too! We've got a lot of new ideas, events and other fun things coming up this year.

Thanks again for coming by,
See you at the new and improved places for me to get all of these ideas out of my head,
Tony D. Locke, MM
(still reigning, Master of Madness)

Sunday, February 13, 2011

2.2 of Tony's Tips For Creative Shutter Speed Images

Whether you’re inside photographing family or outside capturing a cowboy at the rodeo, knowing how to capture motion is an important photographic skill to practice. There’s “Normal shutter speed”, then there’s “Creative shutter speeds”.
Sometimes freezing the action is what’s needed, while other times using slow shutter speeds of up to 20 seconds or longer are required to get the right effect. Here are 2.2 techniques which will help you convey or imply motion in your images to your viewers. With these 2.2 techniques, it doesn’t matter whether you want to stop the action or add blur - You’re the one in control of your image.

Tip #1) Those Silky Water Shots. This technique is one of my favorites. Be fore-warned, these require very long shutter speeds - And a tripod. Water is an integral part of many landscape images, and to be creative you need to first ask the question: Will this image look better with the water frozen in place or silky and blurred?

Most of the time, unless it’s wave crashing up over some rocks, I prefer to have my water smooth and silky. These types of shots help set a different type of mood in your landscapes. 

What shutter speed works best? If you’d like to get that soft water effect, start with shutter speeds around 1⁄4 to 2 sec.  
Again, you’ll need a tripod at these speeds. You want everything else in the scene; bridges, docks, rocks, trees, etc. to be rock solid (pun intended). Only the water, or in the case of this train too, should show any motion.






Would you believe that this train was only traveling at walking speed? With a long enough shutter speed, about 2 sec here, it looks like he's moving much faster - The magic of photography!

At these speeds your camera will still retain most of the detail and contrast in the water, it’s just going to be smoother. If you really want to have some fun, try shooting even slower, jump up to 15 to 30 seconds.

Now, in order to get these creative slower shutter speeds without creating an overly bright exposure, you’ve got to employ some other techniques to limit the amount of light that’s able to get to your sensor.
You’ve got several options. You’re first option is to set your aperture to ƒ/22 (Remember - The larger the number the smaller the aperture, the less light going to make it thru that hole). Also, if that’s not enough, adding a polarizing filter will reduce the light another one to two stops beyond that. This combination should allow for a shutter speed of around a several seconds. 
This works even better on overcast, rainy days as the light levels will already be lower than sunny days - Plus, as an added bonus, your colors will be more saturated and the vegetation and rocks will have a nice wet sheen to them.
Who says you can’t have fun on rainy days? Some of my best shots are taken then. Now, when it’s pouring down and the wind’s blowing, sorry, but it’s not fun outside anymore.

OK, next. In-order to get those really, really slow speeds you see in some of those amazing images, you’ll need more help. You can add a relatively inexpensive Neutral Density (ND) filter or two to block some more of the light entering your lens. ND filters are essentially, dark grey pieces of glass which restrict light without altering colors. Depending on how much light you’d like to restrict for these slower shutter speeds, you could add incremental ND filters rated at 1, 2, or 3-stops each. Again, each stop of light reduction means one more click slower on your shutter speed settings, with each f-stop equaling half as much light as the previous setting. But - And you there was going to be a “But”, as everything has a trade off. These extra layers of possibly distorting glass, stacked on the front of your lens, may not be doing your images justice. 
Next option in the ‘ole tool bag. Everyone that loves long exposure photography loves the Singh-Ray Vari-ND filter. This great little toy enables you to incrementally dial in the amount of light blocked, anywhere from two to ten stops, with one (albeit slightly expensive) filter—How much blur would you like today sir?
With the Vari-ND or other ND filters, you can now photograph at speeds from 20 to 30 seconds in midday sunlight (though afternoon light looks nicer), providing those incredible silky waterfalls, streaks of clouds across the sky and other-worldly looking ocean scenes. I love the look of crashing waves for 30 seconds in the late afternoon, don’t you?
Tip #1.2) If you’ve got an iPhone, iPod Touch or maybe they’ve got one for those Android phones now too, there’s a great little Free app called “Long Time” which will calculate your exposure times for you! (Here’s the: I have no relation/interest/don’t get paid/etc. from Long Time, kinda disclosure inserted here by those fine folks somewhere in some legal dept.). You know me - More cool toys & apps. By the way, just for an odd “did you know?” - I saw somewhere that the word “app” was voted 2010 top new word of the year. Shoot, I make up new words all the time. Most by accident, via the brain not communicating with the speaking parts.
OK, here’s how to use it. Take your time and get your composition all lined up ready to shot (might was well go ahead and take a shot while you’re there in case the long exposure doesn't work), set your camera to Aperture Priority, and set your aperture for the depth-of-field you’d like, then make a note of the shutter speed your meter gives you. Switch over to Manual Mode and set the same Aperture. Whip out your “Long time” app, enter in the original shutter speed and the number of stops of ND filter you’ve added - It will  now calculate the new shutter speed you’ll need. Sweet! 
Now, don’t say I didn’t warn you, but there’s something else you may not have known: This was just as much an phenomenon in the good ‘ole film days as it is today, its just that the physics and the after-effects are a bit different now. There’s no need to go into the hows, whats & whys here, that’s another long boring story. It’s just that, above a couple minutes of exposure, there are a few odd things that can happen. 
Don’t worry, it’s nothing drastic, nothing’s going to explode, the investigators from Fringe or the X-files won’t get called in, you won’t become sterile, and no, time does not stand still. It’s just that at these real long shutter speeds, the math may start falling apart and not produce the type of image or as an accurate an exposure as you’d expected, so you may need to experiment a bit more - 
Which is all part of the fun we have in this exciting hobby we call Photography!

Now - The other fun creative use of Shutter Speed. The Action-Stopper. 
Tip #2)  On the other end of the scale as you pass from long exposure, thru “normal shutter speed”, you get to practice another art of motion photography - Freezing the Action, with blazing fast shutter speeds: Think 1⁄1000 sec., 1⁄2000 sec. and even higher. Your goal now is to eliminate any blur in the image, stop the motion - Many times in mid-air. This doesn’t mean eliminating the perception of motion; just eliminating blur in the shot.









In these images of birds flying and horses playing polo, although the action is stopped, there’s no doubt about motion in the image! To really stop the action, start with a shutter speed of 1⁄1000 sec. This speed should freeze most common action, but you may need to go even faster for, you guessed it - faster action. It’s going to depend on the subjects speed and how you want to convey it to your viewers.

The compromise (yes again, there’s always a compromise) is that you’ll need a large aperture opening to allow enough light in for a properly lit exposure. Now that most of the newer digital cameras are capable of improved low noise, try dialing up your ISO to 400 or 800 to gain extra speed/light.

Now, the other challange is getting sharp focus on your subject. Here are two ways to accomplish this: One option is to use your “predictive focus tracking”, which tracks your subject refocusing while you hold the shutter button down half-way (pull out the manual for your camera to look this up) or prefocus ahead of time at the point that you’d like to capture the motion. Modern cameras are amazingly accurate with their new focus tracking capabilities, so I’ll normally use either one of these methods, depending, not only on the subject, but also, which direction it’s going. 
Many cameras feature a group-focusing pattern, which causes the camera to search for your subject as it moves through the frame - This can be a good thing or it could slow you down and cause you to lose the shot (as the puppy and grandkid go running by). Experiment with your camera to learn the best way to take advantage of each tool it includes. For the prefocus technique, try focusing on a spot where you know the subject will pass through, like jumping horses or motorcycles; practice on the first few that come thru, then lock that focus for the rest. If you can prefocus on the subject as they come up to the jump or point that you’d like to shot them, holding the shutter half-way until just the right moment.
Just remember - Photography is just like any other hobby, be it guitar, bike racing, dance or pottery -  This will take practicing, experimenting, learning more about how your camera operates in each situation, then practicing again, experimenting some more, looking at your results (which is where digital comes in real handy - looking at your experiments right away), learn from them and experiment and practice again. Luckily the practice isn’t as boring/repetitious as piano lessons can be - I know, I’ve been there.
Oh yeah, Remember one more very important tip - HAVE FUN!!

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Wildlife

Still in the process of putting together your next lesson, but thought I’d throw in a quick reminder of the day while it’s in my head:

Anything that has nothing to do with elephants is irrelephant.

Have a good day!

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Focus52 Week 5; Theme: Framed


Week 5 of a new challenge I've undertaken on my Flickr site.
If you're looking for ways to motivate you, inspire, give you reason to go shoot, this is just one example.
Join an on-line group, create a project for yourself, find something that will motivate you and/or stir up your creative juices.
Look at other peoples projects. Do they have a theme that you can relate too? Is there one that has a challenge that you'd like to attempt?
Projects can be short, as in something you'll complete today. They can be one new photo every day for 365 days. Or, they can be submitting one new photo a week for 52 weeks as I'm doing in this Focus52 group.
The trick is, to find something and get started. I know, that sounds odd coming from someone like me. Someone that's never known what the word Focus means. But, I'm trying it and so can you.
Join Flickr for starters. It's Free to have up to 200 photos and 3 sets. You can always delete photos as you start to max out or, you could join for $24/year and keep adding all you want.
Then, start a project, a theme, a challenge, something new to learn, something new to show someone else. Post your images on your Flickr site and let the world know.
You don't have to be shy about having shots that don't look professional - That's not what it's about! It's about having fun and learning. Even the best professionals out there started as an amateur too.
So... Get started.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

That Ole Workhorse 50mm lens

Hello again,

Lets talk about that 50mm "only" lens.
For those that have been shooting for awhile, that great little 50mm you once used may have been relegated to the bottom of your camera bag to collect dust, while your more glamorous telephotos, wide angle and other zoom lenses now have all the fun.  
Those of you new to DSLR photography probably figure you don’t need a 50mm, after all, your new camera came with an 18-55mm - “Won’t that work?” 
Long answer short - Yes, but, No!  That “kit lens” is generally a great starter lens, but you’ll soon find that you’ll need to upgrade it... Soon. Look for one or two of the better quality zoom lens, but also consider a 50mm prime lens too - Just for the fun and challenge.
This once popular tool, which came as the “standard lens” for a new 35mm SLR “back in the day”, has now been completely displaced by those inexpensive, distortion-prone mid-range zooms with slow-as-molasses focus, which are now standard stock on most new DSLR’s. I blame the folks in the Marketing Dept. for that. 
But at least that mid-range zoom has gotten better and is a great start for your venture into the world of DSLR photography. Keep practicing and learning more.
The 50mm dilemma - They’re not long enough for some scenes, nor wide enough for others. Not being able to zoom makes them more challenging to use. Then, why bother?   For most modern day digital photographers, spoiled with zooms, the thought of using, much less buying, a  50mm “only” lens is all but forgotten.
Here’s why you should consider either digging yours out or buying one. 
Not only are they excellent for hand-held photography in low-light conditions, but as most have a much wider aperture than many zooms, this allows for excellent selective focus and shallow depth-of-field shots. When stopped down, you can also render a scene tack sharp from front to back. 
And, since most prime lens have superior glass, images taken with the 50mm “only” lens exhibit superb sharpness and contrast found only in the more expensive pro-level zooms. Add in features such as low distortion, compact size and lightweight - Maybe you’ll start to appreciate the value and utility of the standard 50mm “only”.
Don’t worry about whether the 50mm lens you have is of the f/1.8, f/1.4, f/1.2 flavor, or, even  the one I have, the Macro f2.5. They’re all great. Most are autofocus but you’ll work with manual focus often too. Actually, the Macro versions may be more versatile, as a Macro and a standard 50mm. 
I’ve got my eye on one of those f1.4’s though. The f1.2’s may allow twice as much light, faster low-light shutter speeds, shallower depth-of-field & nicer bokeh than f1.4, but - all at a much steeper price.
The angle-of-view of a 50mm lens is about 46-degree (on a full-frame sensor, slightly less on an APC sensor), which is very close to what we see with our naked eye. The problem for most photographers is - 1) it’s not wide enough to capture a large group. 2) it’s too wide for the inside of confined spaces or 3) not powerful enough to bring those distant objects into acceptable image size. 
Yeah, so. Work with it!
Knowing the limits of what this focal length can or cannot do to your pictures will lead to better training of your “photographer’s eye”.
The 50mm Shuffle:
While many will dismiss the 50mm focal length as being “compositionally challenged - This is where the extra work/challenge comes in - You have to move yourself (while looking thru the viewfinder) in order to get the desired results. If your subject is too far away, you just shuffle your feet to get closer to the scene. If the space between you and the subject is too tight to include everything into the frame, then you have to shuffle your feet backwards a bit in order to fit everything in.
I know it can seem tough, I’ve been there myself. But that’s part of the fun!
So dig out your old 50mm or go find one to purchase. I found mine on Craigslist for under $80 (make sure you bring your camera to test used ones).
Next time you leave for a “photo-walk” - Take only your 50mm, you may surprise yourself.
Thanks again for visiting.

Friday, January 28, 2011

How To Chose An F-Stop, What They Are & Why You Need To Know

As part of our "Basic Core Fundamental" classes that we produce thru Alternative Focus, we always cover the 4-Fundamentals; Shutter-Speed, ISO, Composition & today - Aperture - What it is and how, along with why to use it.


Aperture settings are an important tool that you'll need to learn when you want to control the 'Depth of Field', which is, how much of the scene, from front to back is in focus - or actually, is out of focus, drawing your viewers eye to part of the scene that is important, while creating a soft diffused background.


From time to time, in order to provide you with some variation from my writing, along with different ideas, I'm going to start testing the idea of including articles written by others in my blog. I'm also combining my writing between this and my Alternative Focus blog as practice to when we expand our services, which will include newer web-sites, newer workshops and new services - Stay tuned to learn more as we unfold all of these new ideas.


In the mean-time, to read more about F-stops go here:

http://alternativefocus.blogspot.com/2011/01/how-to-choose-f-stop-and-why.html

Intimate Detail in Outdoor Photography

Hello again,
From time to time, my posts will include links to other articles that I find educational, informative and/or of course, humorous too.
Comment below or on my Facebook, your thoughts on this or anything else about this site - Pros & Cons, so that I can make it even better.
Here is one of my first links:


The process of making an image of magic and mystery

Intimate Detail - Outdoor Photographer

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Ratios, Fractions and Light Balance

Hello,

I was thinking of putting together a quick post on how to balance Flash vs Ambient light, as that's one of the things I've been studying.

Turns out there can be a lot of math involved, which is fine for me as I excelled in my Math & Science classes.

But then I came across a study that shows... "4 out of 3 people have trouble with fractions".

I think I'll wait.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

White Balance Tools

Hello again,

I did a post on my Flickr page recently and one of my images still had my Spyder Cube in it as a Grey Card" reference - Which prompted questions on: "WHY?"

So, here's a quick explanation.

All lighting sources have different color temperatures to them. From warm sunlight to yellowish/green fluorescents and blueish tungsten incandescent bulbs. You want to get your White Balance set so that white colors in your image are actually white and not tinted to some other yellow/green/blue shade. With your camera on Auto White Balance, it's going to try and do this for you - Notice I said "try". Generally they do OK, but for accuracy you use a Grey Card. And shot RAW if possible.
Essentially, you're using the black, white and grey areas as a 'known reference' colors in a scene. Most photo processing software such as Photoshop and Lightroom have an Eyedropper tool that allows you to click on a "Grey Card" to set your White Balance - You're telling the software that this is a known, calibrated 18% Grey color, it will then calibrate the rest of the colors to match. You can also use in either Levels or Curves the Black, Grey and White Eyedroppers to set what are called "Black Point & White Point".
Once you've done that for the image with the cube or grey card in it, you save those settings, then when you open up any of the other images with the same lighting, just paste those settings to them (depending on which software you're using) and this allows you to batch process photos for proper White Balance and Exposure.
Now, in this image I've not only left the Spyder Cube in (just for fun), I've also done some extra tweaking of colors too. Go to my Flickr link to see the rest of the set - Playing with toys.
Here's a link to DataColor's tutorials on how to use the Spyder Cube. 
spyder.datacolor.com/learn_videos.php

Next post, which is coming up soon, will be on Night Photography.

Thanks again for coming by and reading my blog.

And Now, For Something Completely Different - 101 Photoshop Tips In 5 Min By Deke