Blinded By The Light
So far I haven’t made any posts about the technical side of photography, topics like equipment for example. This is actually quite amazing given that I am such a tech/equipment dork. It had to happen eventually so here I am with my first equipment post. And in true tech dork fashion, its a complaint.
I’ve been shooting with the Phase One P25/P25+ for about a year now. Before that I was shooting with a Canon 1DS MkII, which I still have and use for certain shoots. I’ve been mostly happy with the Phase One back, with one major exception: backlit scenes. When shooting into the sun or an artificial light, image detail is lost on a “strip” of the image near the light source. Here is an example:
Here is Phase’s response to the issue:
“the light is hitting the ccd at such a strength that is goes way above and beyond the dynamic range capabilities of the sensor. The anolog electrical signal produced in the pixel is more than it can handle and it gets passed to the next photosite in progression, hence the straight line. A similar thing happens in silver hallide crystals of film with the exception that they pass energy in all directions.”
Not very helpful to someone who likes to shoot with heavy backlight.
The problem I have with the response is, I never experienced this with my Canon 1DSmkII. So, I’ve sent off an email to Leaf to see if their digital backs would exhibit the same problem. I fully expect an email touting how great the Leaf back is and that it will not have the problem. If that is the case I’ll blindly buy the Leaf back and live happily ever after… yeah, right. In reality, if I do get a response saying the Leaf back won’t exhibit the problem I’ll have a Leaf tech come to my studio and prove it does in fact work well in backlit scenes. I’ll keep you posted on the results.
If anyone reading uses a Phase, Leaf, or another MFDB and sees or doesn’t see this problem, let me know.
Can I Get Some Assistants
It seems like talking about assisting on your blog is all the rage right now. It started over on “A Photo Editor’s” blog and now has continued over on “Whats the Jackanory.”I never really did much assisting. A few years ago I got a late start in photography after many years in the tech field. I was 32 at the time and I felt like I was too old to be assisting and didn’t really want to do it. Not because I thought it was beneath me, but rather, I felt the need to get to work on my own career having had such a late start. It surely wasn’t because I felt like I had all the knowledge and skills and was ready to be a professional photographer… quite the contrary. I mean, at the time I had literally only been using a camera for little more than a year. What the hell did I know?I assisted a few San Francisco advertising and editorial photographers on a few shoots but soon discovered that I was a.) really bad at assisting and b.) really didn’t like it. So, partly due to my own stubbornness and largely due to my own ignorance I stopped trying to get assisting work and decided to focus on my own photography. Another reason for my decision not to assisist (aside from nobody hiring me) came on one of my last attempts at working as an assistant. I emailed Timothy Archibald, another great blogger, to see if he needed an assistant. Thankfully, rather than hiring me, he gave me some encouraging words. I hope he doesn’t mind my quoting his response (which I can only imagine having been made while highly intoxicated):
I just got a chance to visit your site, your work is wonderfull. the portraits are very human and introspective, important qualities that are hard to find together in one shot.that said, i would discourage you from trying to find work from me. you clearly should be supporting yourself being a photographer! currently i am not in need of anyone as an assistant, but i will keep you in mind. tho i’m quite sure you will be on your way as a photographer by the time i’d ever get around to giving you a ring. ha.keep up the good work and do not sell yourself short.
Now, maybe this was his way of politely blowing off someone who would clearly be a horrible assistant, but the joke was on him because I took his comments seriously and it helped my push to do my own work.There are some aspects of the photography process that I feel I missed out on by not assisting. Andrew, over at “Whats The Jackanory” pinpointed exactly what it is I feel I missed. Here is what Andrew had to say:
I learnt so much [from assisting], but in the end I was more interested in the process then the technicalities, I enjoyed watching how people worked, their relationship with their subject whether it be alive or still didn’t matter. Everyone has a different approach and it always fascinated me especially my first time out with someone new, how did they tackle things differently from the others; were they calm, nervous, high energy, a talker, quiet, shy, did they like music, silence, were they a screamer, a shouter or were they in total control, was it all an act, a means to an end, or were they for real, what you saw was what you got, how did they interact with the client, the models etc etc.
Since I did little assisting I’ve never really worked with or watched other photographers at work. I always had this feeling in my mind that maybe I’m doing something wrong. Maybe the way I’m interacting with the subject isn’t right. “How would ‘so and so’ do this?” Is everyone looking at me and thinking “this guy has no idea what is going on!!!!” Do I need to be more talkative, do I need to be more outgoing, do I need to shut up, do I need to be funnier, do I need to be more serious, and on and on and on.Over time this has passed, but I will admit to having the thoughts pop in my head every once in a while. I’m finally getting to the point where I realize that I just need to do what I do and go about my business. Its when you start trying to be like someone else or do things the way another shooter would, rather than the way you would do it that the results aren’t as good as they could be. If you were hired to do a shoot its because they liked YOUR work, so don’t try to be someone else, just do your thing and the results will be good.I’m still fascinated by how other photographers work, so any chance I get to hang out on a shoot and watch another photographer working I take it. But now I’m there as a peer rather than an assistant… which means, when they have me take in their dry cleaning after the shoot, I know no starch on the collars.
Bob Loblaw
The other day I was talking to someone about junk mail and I couldn’t remember the name of Greendimes. I knew I had mentioned it here recently, so I said something like “oh, its on my blog.” Right as I said it, I thought to myself, “how lame does that sound?” I mean really, who the hell am I to have a blog? Who in their right mind would want to read my blog (Hi Mom).Ok, if I constrain my blog to photography then I have some (small) reason to have a blog. I read other photographers blogs all the time and find some of them interesting. They range from the self aggrandizing to the completely pointless to the downright informational. I will say that I’m not that thrilled when “photography” bloggers start talking about non-photography related subjects (no Mr. Photog, I don’t want to know your opinion on the Republican candidates for the 2008 election). Admittedly, I’m somewhat guilty of this myself.Oh well, you know what they say: “opinions are like ass holes, everybody has one.” Unfortunately, unlike ass holes, people have way too many opinions.I’ll try to keep things on topic… starting tomorrow. Bonus points if you know what the hell the title of this post means.You can stop reading now Mom.
Always On The Lookout
Miguel Migs is a San Francisco based DJ I photographed for Remix Magazine. This shot is actually an out-take from the shoot that the magazine didn’t use. The magazine wanted shots of Miguel in his studio, but I knew there was an opportunity to get some great shots of Miguel on the roof of the building where his studio is located.I immediately knew I wanted to get a shot with the sun going down behind the buildings in the distance with Miguel in the foreground. It was too early in the day to get that shot so we got all the indoor studio shots done while waiting for the sun to set. Of course, the indoor shots took a bit longer than expected and when I casually wandered outside to check on the sun I was surprised to see it was already beginning to set behind the buildings.I yelled to Miguel and my assistant Emily to get up to the roof NOW! Emily grabbed my gear and Miguel got up there just in time to get a few shots off before the sun went completely behind the building. Half blind from looking into the sun through my camera it was hard to tell if I got the shot, but I was pretty certain I captured what I was looking for.Any time I do a shoot I’m always looking for the best shot that the client is looking for. But, I’m also on the lookout for shots that I’m interested in. As it turned out, the magazine ran with the shot of Miguel in the studio but also ran some of the rooftop images as well.On a side note, I just read about a service that will stop junk mail… not SPAM, but actual physical junk mail coming to your home. Check it out and sign up. Its only $15 and they will even plant a tree in your honor. The website is GreenDimes.Here are some more pics from the Migs shoot:
Dancer
I recently photographed a dancer at my studio. This was the first time I’ve photographed a dancer so wasn’t really sure how to go about doing it. I’ll admit I’m not the quickest at pushing the button, especially when shooting with larger formats. I generally like to work slow and methodical, so if something springs out of nowhere in front of my lens, chances are I’ll catch the tail end of it by the time I’m in focus and ready to push the button. If I were a sports photographer, I’d likely get “The Celebration” rather than “The Catch.”Having finished the shoot and gone through the images I already know what I’d do differently. I can see that I didn’t get enough movement in many of the earlier photos from the session. A lot of the images look like she is either posing or doing Yoga even though she was actively dancing. My favorite of the dancing shots is one above that showed movement. I like how the hair is covering her entire face and just one eye is focused right on the lens (although in the low res version it does look like her eye is closed). It shows movement and a connection to the viewer. I like a lot of the other images, but this would be my select for the dancing images.Let me know what you think of the images and if you have any tips for shooting dancers I’d love to hear them.Here are some more of the dancing images:
Photo hair/makeup: Veronica Sjoen
