As Simple As It Gets

If you are a keen enthusiastic photographer who wants to know all the possible permutations of lens/camera/computer/tripod/boom arm/studio light/cut lunch as it applies to post-modern iconic parameters of existential thought, rack off.

I am addressing myself to today to people who want to take pictures and see them easily - good pictures of real life.

1. Get a Fuji X 100s. Or another Fuji camera - the X-A1, X-M1, X-Pro1, etc. Suit yourself if you'd like a zoom lens or removable lenses, or are happy with a perfect fixed focal length. I'm happy with the 23mm lens on the X100s camera - it equates to a 35mm lens on an older film camera and that just about sees the world the way I see it when I am just looking.

The X 100s is the kind of camera that you really CAN put on automatic - in this case by turning the aperture and shutter rings to 'A' and leaving the auto focus switch to AF-S. If you've asked it to adjust the ISO itself, all you need to do is look through the viewfinder and press the button. I do this when I am on holiday, and am rewarded with perfect records of what i have seen - and I am amazed that the camera sees it the same way. I can go into an art gallery to admire the paintings and when allowed to take photos, the photos look like the paintings. It copes with whatever the galleries come up with for lighting.

2. Get a Mac. If you haven't got a computer yet, get an Apple laptop or iMac. The people in Apple shops are helpful. They know their product.

If you are already using a Windows PC, carry on. Your comfort and skill with it will help you to succeed.

3. Get Photoshop Elements 12. I bang on about this program a lot because I have used PE  programs for years - all the way from PE 3. I am not a computer wizard, and do not need to be - the Adobe people have made the Photoshop Elements programs easy to understand and easy to remember. I started out doing things using pictograms to help me and have advanced to using keyboard shortcuts - the thing just flies along.

Here's a couple of examples of easy shooting last Saturday at Big Al's Poker Run. It is just what I saw and just what I want to remember. You can get on board with these products too - right now.

Pardon My Pack Shot

I just thought I would get in an pre-empt the secondhand photo market that will be running on Sunday in a couple of weeks. Oh, I'll be there myself, but not with this sort of gear.

Lots of kids and starters want to develop film and prints in the old-fashioned way. Some of them will be at the photo market looking for he gear to do it with, and to be fair, they will find it. But they will find such a crazy mis-matched lot of things from other people's darkrooms that they may well become discouraged. As well, all of the gear will be used and offered on a caveat emptor basis. Not a big deal when you are looking at a set of print tongs, but certainly a consideration on other things.

Here's an alternative - A-P make a complete set of film and print tools for just this sort of customer - brand new. Tank, tongs, wiper, thermometer,  2 graduate cylinders, mixer, film clips, and trays round the back for $ 115.

You'll be able to do 35mm, 120, and odder ex-Kodak sizes. We have the chemistry you need and the darkroom printing paper as well. By all means circulate around looking for an enlarger...likely you'll find one.

Best of all - there are no cracks in this tank...and no residue from past processes to muggle up your first development.

Uncle Dick

Think Safety - Work Safely

Here at Camera Electronic we are committed to safety. We avoid alcohol, tobacco smoke, and soft drinks. We take daily exercise on our very own Stairmaster Model One. All day... Our computer screens have been fitted with crash bars so that when we punch them we do not damage our hands.

Other photographers would do well to take care in their studios and darkrooms. Of course the darkroom is somewhat of a rarity these days, and the colour darkroom even more so, but the chemistry in there can be savage. Half the stuff in a colour developing line will peel your skin off and the other half will kill you dead. But you end up a nice colour...

Turning to the studio, have you noticed that most of the light stands have tripod legs and are black? And they have heavy weights on the top - strobe heads and all. This is a perfect combination of circumstances to allow you to stumble into them in the dark and knock them over. The average amount of light emitted by a studio strobe is enough to render the painting of the stand legs black something of an overkill - wise people wrap some bright yellow or orange tape round the legs and the trunk of the stand so that it can be seen in the gloom. Not as cool and sexy but a whole lot safer.

Likewise the business of putting the rolls of paper up on holders above the subjects. You can suspend them with triple hooks and autopoles and such, but you would be wise to provide additional legs for those poles. If that puppy tilts over and lets three rolls of Superior paper onto the sitter from 3 metres up you got a lot of ' splainin ' to do Lucy. I had it happen once but fortunately we could just wrap up the body in the 11 metre roll of paper and leave it under a railway bridge...

Water on set? Electricity on set? 240 V ac electricity? Floor packs? Trailing wires? 24 -hour direct dial to the Coroner? All set.

Drone coverage of the wedding? Or the real estate? Unless you have someone from Omaha flying the thing, be aware that it may impact on your target. If person from Omaha is flying their own drone, you can definitely expect an impact on the target...

Is your flash working? Look into it and trigger it off. Now you know. You won't be able to see for an hour but at least...now you know. Use the time to stumble around until your shins find the edge of the table.

Like the outdoors? Pack 45 Kg on your back and clamber up the the top of Bluff Knoll. the Australian Association of Chiropractors has a pile of cards up there for you. If you like the water, you can balance on the edge of the rocks as the surf comes crashing in. The SES loves an afternoon out...Say hey to my nephew as they load you into the basket.

Great Deals From Shoot!

Hop to the phone and get yourself a bargain!

Jonathan Cousins from Shoot Photography Workshops has some specials for the coming Valentine's day - 20% off all photo courses if you book between now and the 14th. What could be more romantic!

As well, there is a 2 for 1 offer for the following courses:

Tonight's 1st Photojournalism course...11th of February

Astrophotography on the 15/16 February

Off Camera Flash Techniques on the 23rd of February

Please give Jonathan a buzz on 9228 8232 or 0419 956 878 and book in for a bargain.

Note: Planets and stars will be provided for the astrophotography course but only at night...

The Last Puppy In The Pound

We sometimes look at the shelves here and wonder. First we wonder where we are going to put things. Then we wonder where we DID put things. Finally we wonder if anyone will ever buy some of the cameras.

The ones that cause bemusement are not bad devices - they have been purchased by us for sale and will do the job they are advertised to do, and in most cases do it very well. But some of them have been designed by manufacturers that were thinking well outside the trapezoid. With one eye shut. And a cheap haircut.

Unless the buyer is of the same mind, they can languish longer than they need to. Sometimes it is a case of a design that does not have what the competitors have, but sometimes it is just a product that has been wrapped in a strange body shape. It is wonderful that humanity can have such a variety of aesthetic appreciation, but a pity that it sometimes leaves the ugly puppy in the pound.

But there is hope. Every puppy has a friend somewhere. Look at the images taken at the recent Big Al's Poker Run show. Someone once loved the 1957 Hudson and someone still does - enough to have purchased it in NSW just this last year and to have brought it to WA. I don't think it takes pictures, though.

The moral of all this is come on down and look at the shelves. If you see something that appeals to you, for heaven's sake buy it. You might be the only one save the designer that has ever liked it - your reward will be the sense of style and whatever images it will churn out. And the admiration of the staff - always a valuable commodity.

Solving A Printing Problem - Banding

Recently a client mentioned that they were getting a bit of banding on their prints and wanted to know what could have caused it - and indeed what they could do to fix the problem.

My experience is that there can sometimes be micro-clogs in the heads of the inkjet printers that stop the full spray from going through. Sometimes it is a distinct banding, sometimes just a vague lack of definition and/or depth of colour. it is most often seen in dark areas of the print.

The Epson printers have a wonderful set of tools to deal with this. If you suspect the effect in a print, you go into the printer menu and ask for a nozzle check. It will fire the entire set through in a small test pattern and if you see segments of colour missing your suspicions are confirmed.

What to do? Ask the printer for a head clean - it will shake and flush the heads with a bit of ink and then you can re-test. Most times the problem will be gone in one go. You can ask for 3 power cleans in a row, but you have to wait a little between each one so that you do not damage the head.

Most times, if you print one little print each week that exercises all the colours, you never see settling or clogging of ink. Please note that inks do have use-by dates and it is wise to heed them. they do not go mouldy, like the cheese in the fridge, but they can settle out particles.

Please note that is you are getting banding on panoramic photos taken with some of the newer mirror-less cameras you need to set your shutter speed a little slower and move the camera around more smoothly.

If you are getting banding on street photos you are to be congratulated. See attached photos.

Uncle Dick

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...