A Looming Problem - The Wide Angle Lens

Those of you who have shot 21mm Super Angulon lenses on Leica film cameras may skip this post. Also anyone who has ever owned an 18mm Hologon. You know the drill already.

I discovered the effects of superwide angle shooting at the Burswood Hot Rod Show in 2012. I took the 8-16 Sigma lens into the Burswood Dome on my Nikon D300 and shot away. The images in the viewfinder had straight edges - the 8-16 does not do fisheye distortion. They looked amazing - despite the fact that the lighting was appalling.

A recent review of those pictures horrified me. Every car shot from the front or rear quarter looms out of the picture like a cartoon monster. It is reminiscent of the worst of the old Linhof Chamber Of Horror articles. I got the cars on the sensor in the crowded conditions, but the images are neither attractive nor accurate.

I tried again with the 23mm lens on the Fujifilm X-100 at the Big Al Show this year and was pleased with the results - as the lens replicates what the 35mm lens saw on a film camera, there was much less distortion. Mind you, it was necessary to back off further on the open ground to get the entire car in the frame, and this might have been difficult in a closed venue.

The compromise between the two seems to be a focal length of 18-19 mm on an APSC sensor. It approximates 28mm on a film camera. I can achieve it on the Fujifilm X-E2 with the 18mm f:2 lens or by screwing the WCL-100 to the front of the X-100. There is more to see, but it does not loom out of the picture - a good balance.

And I can agree with Fujifilm - the WCL-100 does not degrade the image of the X-100 lens in any way.

Note: the Bugatti is a deliberate artwork in the Art gallery of NSW. Marvellous, but not driveable, except in your dreams.

X-E2 - Picking The First Fruit

It has recently fallen to my lot to possess a Fuji mirror-less camera. It is not the first camera of this brand for me - I also use a Fuji X-10 and a Fuji X-100 - but it is the first one that has an interchangeable lens.

It features the new X-trans sensor, and the literature promises great things in terms of resolution and freedom from distortions. I ventured out yesterday to test the camera and to compare it to the others.

At the start, I have to say that the images were taken on jpeg rather than a RAW setting. My current operating system does not support an update of the Photoshop Elements to decode this new RAW. Nor does my Aperture program - but I am not too worried, since I know that the jpegs that come from the Fuji X series are nearly perfect...as long as i do my job and get the exposure right.

Of course if the scenes I take are evenly and brightly lit I can just trust to the matrix metering in the camera to deliver the right settings. Putting the shutter speed and the aperture ring on "A" and just letting them get on with it is totally successful. But I'm a awkward soul - I deal with subjects that are brightly coloured, reflective, and parked in appalling light. Cars are fun, but the lighting isn't.

To defeat this problem, I use a rig made of a Nikon Sb 700 flash, a flash bracket, and whatever camera system i have at the time. Sometimes it has been big film cameras, sometimes big DSLR cameras, and sometimes a small Fuji. The flash on the fuji bodies can be switched to command an external flash and I just dial up the power I want on the SB 700. I also run an outboard SB 700 on a small Manfrotto stand.

Yesterday's cars were veteran and vintage - a majority of which have solid colour paint schemes. This is good - metallic paints can be a pain to photograph as they send back troublesome hot spots from flash. I set the X-E2 to the bog standard settings and blazed away. You cannot say to start with what custom settings might be necessary for each new camera in each category of subject, so it is better to start from a central point.

In the event, I think I will dial down the saturation for car shows in the future - the dull-coloured cars are helped, but if the owner has decided to paint his Maxwell red the result can be a little Mexican...This will also apply to belly dance and Bollywood shows as the dress designers generally turn their colour control to "9" and throw the knob away to begin with.

I noted that there was little need to invoke unsharp masking for the images from the X-E2 in Photoshop. the jpegs seemed as sharp as needed straight up. Indeed there was very little PShopping done to the whole shoot - as long as I dialled the SB 700 anywhere near the correct fill ratio the results were ready to crop and save.

I will experiment next with the X-E2 at a belly dance hafla in April. You get to see the results so make sure you are over 18!

Sand Bags, Shot Bags, And Tea Bags

I bags being in the next photo shoot!

This whole Friday morning footle came about when one of our good clients called a moment ago to pick up some rental lighting gear for a shoot in the city. I must record my admiration for his packing ability - he got more in the boot of a Holden than I could fit into a moving van. I think he will be getting some of it out with a crowbar, but that is his problem...

He hired some sand bags to help stabilise light stands. A good idea if you are working in a wind or in the midst of a crowd of tourists. There is a lot of weight on the top of a light stand and if it overbalances... it comes down like a comet. If you stack the sandbags on the  legs you prevent this.

He also mentioned that he had a bunch of sandbags that used to be standard equipment in ambulances. After speculating that these would have been used to cosh the noisier patients...an unworthy thought...I realised that they were the same as the lead shot bag I used to encounter in operating theatres. It was basically a dead pad into which the head and neck could be pressed to prevent movements while the patient was unconscious. As I was sometimes applying pretty heavy force to those unconscious heads, it needed to be solid to resist. I'm happy to say that ALL of those heads eventually became conscious again. Sore, but conscious.

I note that there are also commercially-made bags for lighting situations that are empty with quick-seal flaps. You can carry them empty to a shoot and then fill them with sand, rocks, or whatever heavy at the site. A very good idea.

I have often wondered if there would be a good point in providing a head attachment that would go on the top of a standard 1/2" light stand spigot with three additional rings - you could guy the the thing to the ground if you were sending the flash head up really high. Nowadays the Suberp Profoto Air flashes have wireless adjustment as well as triggering so once it is up you could vary it to suit yourself without having to demount the guys.

Oh, and the tea bags are or after the shoot. White and one for me, thanks.

Headlights

The first thing that we see when we look at people are the eyes - and the first thing that we see when we look at cars are the headlights. Sometimes the first thing that we see when we are looking at pretty girls are the headlights but that is an entirely different story...

Back to he cars. If you are going to capture the essence of  that car you need to feature the lights and some of the grille. Even if there is no grille...like with a VW or Porsche...you need to show the eyes of the car.

The Plodge* that you see on the heading image is a 30's car, and those lights are complex glass sculptures that need careful lighting - no pun intended - to bring out the patterns. Lucas lights and other spot lights may also need extra illumination to show the center bulb structure.

The choice of flash in this case meant that the shadows caused by bright sun light could be filled in. Any dedicated TTL flash works well for this if it is on the appropriate body. You can even use one that is not TTL as long as you can adjust the output somehow and fire it from the camera. This image used a Fuji X100 and Nikon Sb 700 flash and worked fine.

If your car owner can turn on the headlights, and if you are photographing it  at dawn or dusk, so much the better. If not, you can always fudge it a bit in Photoshop.

Go towards the light...

* Dodge with Plymouth components. A particularly Australian variant, made in Adelaide.

Fudge...Oldsmobile fudge...

Just Because You Can...

Don't mean that you should.

I was put in mind of this when  looked at an advertisement on a Facebook link ( in itself a source of nervousness...) that had a man offering to instruct us in studio lighting. I did not open the link - I never do  - but I looked at the advertising image closely.

It appears that the chap has strung four speedlights out on a metal bar and bolted this to the top of a light stand, then pointed it at a paper backdrop. He has another speedlight on a light stand and one on the camera. I can't see what sort of speedlights they are but they might be Canon or Nikon. They might even be a mixed bag.

I am wondering if he intends to use the bank of four speedlights as a flood...and the others as main and fill. Or sort of a general explosion of uncontrolled light. Or he just owns shares in Duracell and wants to sell batteries...

I hasten to add that I am a firm fan of the strobist approach to field lighting - the impromptu studio that you can drag out of the boot of a hatchback - the studio that doesn't need AC mains to run. I do it all the time - but I don't do it with four speedlights perched on the top of a telephone pole. One main, one firing into a softbox, and one if I am feeling fancy for a hair light. 12 lithium batteries - 600 shots for $ 60.

I have a feeling that the chap in the video is sitting on $ 120 of little AA's and $ 3000 of speedlights as well as three light stands.. He could have put less money into an Elinchrom D-lite monolight kit and  a Jinbei portable battery and simplified matters greatly.

Perhaps he has a secret recipe of 11 different herbs and spices  that need the speedlights...and good on him if he needs to buy more speedlights. We SELL speedlights. But remember there are other ways to do the job.

Stop The Clothesline

We've had a couple of blog posts in the past touting Tether Tools computer trays and cords for studio and field work. They have recently sent us pre-packed essentials kits for this purpose. What starts out as an aesthetic choice ends up being a Occupational Health and Safety matter.

The kit contains a gloriously orange USB cord that goes between your camera and your computer. There is a jerkstopper clip on either end to make sure that neither you nor any part of the connected gear part company unexpectedly in the dark.

To help you find the keys on the laptop keyboard in the dark, there is also a small LED lamp on a metal gooseneck that plugs in to a USB port. It works - I just plugged it into this laptop and I can see the keys as clear as day. Actually, it IS day, but let's not get fussy.

The real life saver is that orange cord. Studios are dark in the back and light in the front and strung with hazards. One day I will be found crushed under a light stand after pulling it over on myself with the black power cord that I could not see. It will be a fitting end - Elinchrom fitting, actually.

But if I have yellow power cords and this orange USB cable strung out in the dark I may be able to avoid the fate. You might wish to join me and live...I'll be back...

The Humbrella

The humble umbrella. Gene Kelly danced to stardom with one - apparently under a rain of diluted condensed milk ( It showed up better in the Klieg lights on set...wonder what the sound stage smelled like a week after the filming?) and they have featured in French films and Japanese paintings for centuries.

They also feature in some of the smaller ready-made flash systems. The Elinchrom company make a number of two-head kits that feature theses light modifiers. They are inexpensive, easy to carry, and foolproof.

Strobist kits also carry them - you are enjoined by the makers to fire your speed lights into them and reflect the light onto your subject as a wide, soft illumination. By and large they work every time.

The heading image is possibly the laziest product shot I have ever taken, as I did not move from the editorial swivel chair to do it. It shows the rack we have dedicated to Promaster umbrellas. These have a standard diameter shaft ( As opposed to the slightly smaller Elinchrom umbrellas) and are suitable for all sorts of studio monoblocks and speed light brackets. You can get quite large ones - up to 72 inches.

There is quite a variety of construction as well - the basic black outside is standard but you can get the interior with a white or a silver finish. The white has a softer illumination - the silver harder and more specular. There are shoot-through umbrellas that are a very soft modifier and some that amount to a soft box. Admittedly it works backwards as you fire your flash into it away from the subject and depend upon the reflective surface and a diffuser panel inside the umbrella to spread the light.

Best of all with any of them is the fact that you can go out to a job in the field with them collapsed and rolled up and then erect them in a second when you are in position. Soft boxes are never this easy - you either have to assemble them on he site with much bending of arms and puffing and cursing, or take them assembled in the car. They never fit easily in any car...

They are cheap, compared to soft boxes. If you have a need for soft light anywhere I can readily recommend one. In store now.

A Money-Making Opportunity On The Road

I couldn't put my finger on it yesterday, but I think I have it now - what was wrong about the British Classic Car Day at Pinjarra.

Don't bristle up - or don't Bristol up, as the case may be - it wasn't the cars, or the raceway, or the visitors, or the enthusiasts, or the food, or the fly-over by the Aero club. It was one of the stall holders who missed out on a good thing. As it happens, he was the chap with the photo business booth.

He did a good job of setting out his booth - a mini studio and advertising for all the services that he provides - weddings, glamour, commercial, portrait, etc. And he had signs and a computer  and printer and a soft box set up and a chair to sit in. And no customers.

I sympathised with him - I've been in precisely that position at other field events where the photo business wasn't what they came out for and the punters walked by as if I didn't exist. Indeed, we had that happen a couple of times when the shop sent out a sales display - at least I was getting paid overtime for that one - overtime and all the lizards I could eat. But the chap at Pinjarra might not have had lizards, so his day would have been long and hot.

The thing that hit me today was he was trying to sell the wrong thing to the wrong people - he had no need of that stall at all, either, unless it was to house a busy minion tending the printer. You see his customers weren't the farmers lurching by unheeding - they were the enthusiasts out in the center field with their cars. He should have been out snapping cars and owners.

I did. Got some great car pictures for my personal blog. Could have posed any number of proud Poms with their cars and passed out my professional card - and would have likely got a number of orders for prints or image files. Didn't, because I went there for my own purposes, but the market is definitely there.

People who spend money on their cars want recognition of their cars and themselves - they have their own audience of other enthusiasts at these things but in most cases that are not good enough photographers to organise good record shots of their vehicles. They ALL secretly long to be on the cover of Classic Cars or 4WD Driver or Car Kulture Deluxe and if you provide them with images that are based upon this idea you have a winner.

The same might be said for boating enthusiasts - remember that yachties may easily forget the ages of their children but they can nail to the day the time they bought the fore-deck wing for Saucy Sue II. If you can stand them, they have money.

Airplane enthusiasts might be the same, but getting to meet them is tougher than the car people. they have to be where the airplanes are and anything that aviates is hemmed round with regulations. Research your venues before you try.

As for me and the chap at Pinjarra - we will be wise little photographers if we get a good little portable field flash rig ( and I do ) and some good cards ( and I don't ) and go schmooze the drivers. Automotive ego ain't a bad thing!

" What do you mean you can't make a decent dashboard, Man. Make it out of wood - we'll tell the buyers it is a luxury item. That stuff doesn't grow on trees, Y'know..."

Man Conquers Sun - Pictures To Follow

A few posts ago I showed photos taken at the Vauxhall Car Owners Day and whinged about the sunlight. They were taken in the broad light of noon and had the unpleasant sort os shadows that obscure detail. Of course, when you are looking at Vauxhalls that can be a blessing...

Warned by this, I went out to take photos of the British Classic Day at Pinjarra Raceway yesterday. I knew it would also be out in the open in full sun - and thought out a different rig to tackle it.

Where the first foray had been with the trusty Fuji X-10, yesterday saw a run with the equally trusty Nikon D300, Nikon SB 700 flash gun, and Stroboframe PRO-RL flash bracket. And a hat.

Well, Pinjarra did not disappoint - smelly oval, smelly cars, and smelly owners. ( Horse poo, petrol leaks, and sweat...doesn't get better.) Broads sun and enough fill bouncing back off the freshly mown infield to act as a partial reflector. And the SB 700 to fire into the rest.

The Stroboframe rig lets you do landscape or portrait with a quick flip of the camera while keeping the SB 700 way up the top out of trouble. The flash can be angled down 30º to drop onto closeup subjects. No lousy shadows crossing the subject to break a good line.

The great part about day shows is you can run the ISO low and the flash fills beautifully. No fiddling with reflectors and diffusers either - belt it out. The subjects are colourful enough to repay the bright light. If you are going to be worried about reflections on the side of the car you can always throw a handful of dirt on it...

Note also that many owners at car shows open the bonnets of their prize vehicles to show off the wonderful engines. In the case of British cars they open the bonnet to show off the wiring and gain the sympathy of the crowd. I always like to stay for the ceremonial burning in effigy of the designer of the Lucas electrical system - one year they tried to set it off by electricity and we were reduced to rubbing two boy scouts together...

Boom boom.

Curse You Western Australia - Curse You For Your Fine Weather

Did goe to the parke yesterday and was greatley amused.

The Vauxhall Owners Club was having their annual " Show and Shine " display. The venue was a local riverside park and the area was coated with picnickers, little dogs, and aged British tin. It was also coated with the bane of the photographer - bright noontime sunshine.

Perth does not have the advantages that Melbourne has - if you are a photographer there and you find that the light conditions are unfavourable for your subject, you can go have a cheap cappuchino and come back in a half hour and it will have changed. We get neither the cheap coffee nor the convenient scrim of cloud. We have intense bright sun blasting down on us.

Witness the shadows on the Vauxhall cars - I've softened them up a little with photoshop Elements but they are still black as an ironmonger's heart. As the sun was overhead - it WILL do that at noontime, despite repeated requests - it makes for some pretty unflattering lighting. Had I included scantily-clad models with the cars it would have been worse - dark eye sockets and shadows under all the prominent features. Ick.

If I was using the Nikon D300 outfit with the the SB700 flash on-board or at the end of a coiled cord I could have directed light into the undersides of the cars and all would have been well. The Little Fuji X-10 I used has a small fill tube but it would never have done anything outside.  It did improve interior shots for one of the Vauxhall drophead coupés but that is close range stuff.

Answer in the future? And an answer that you might like to pursue for your own field photography...a Hahnel Combi-TF set. The radio signal from the transmitter on the Fuji would go to the receiver with one of the Nikon SB700's. Putting this onto a small Manfrotto studio stand would allow me to step away and have the fill come from wherever I wanted. It is not going to be a TTL connection, but a quick test for the power level should sort that out.

A little more gear to take with me, but a pretty good way to cope with Old Sol.