Bracketing Those Shots

Round Bales in the Field

Lately, I have changed my photography process. It started when I discovered that Magic Lantern was available for my Canon 60D. For those wondering what that is, think of a firmware add-on which extends the capabilities of your camera. Near and dear to my heart, it is open source software that the camera reads from the memory card as it starts up, so no concerns about "bricking" my camera ! More importantly, it has added a host of options that I am really starting to enjoy using.

The default Canon firmware has a setting called "Auto Bracket", which allows the photographer to set up a three-shot bracket around the optimal exposure, and the photographer then sets the number of EV (in 1/3 stop increments) between captures. With Magic Lantern, the photographer has a lot more control - either choosing how many shots in the bracket manually, or letting the software determine what it needs in-camera.

On the back end, Lightroom CC has the ability to take the bracketed shots and merge them into one, creating an HDR-style photograph without all of the weird side-effects. There is also a nifty function called "anti-ghosting" which will attempt to eliminate any elements that occur in one of the frames but not all of them - like a truck or bird passing through the frame !

So all the way through, my choices have encouraged me to create bracketed photos, which bring out an added feeling of depth and warmth. These various functions, when properly mixed, have made complex techniques very straight-forward, allowing me to concentrate on the composition more. And that I where I know I need to focus more of my attention !

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Project365 - Wildlife Photography

Introduction

Wildlife photography can be an especially challenging, and therefore rewarding genre within photography. Depending on your subject, you could traipse all over the world in search of an elusive "prey". Then, a skilled photographer needs to understand his subject's behaviours - where do they live? What do they eat? When are they most active ? Understanding the animal's behaviour is key to capturing compelling photographs.

We have been busy with moving (hence so few posts lately - sorry !) and the new house has a beautiful backyard, with trees & shrubs. Further, it is secluded away from any high-traffic streets, making it calm & peaceful - a perfect venue for photographing birds !

I will readily admit - I cheated ! I hung a couple of bird-feeders to attract the local "cheep cheeps". It gave me the ability to get them relatively stationary, as well as attracting a variety of different kinds of birdies.

The Setup

I set my Canon 60D on top of my Manfrotto tripod. The feeder is at the back of the yard, so I wanted all the stability I could get - I even used the shutter-release cable ! Then, in order to get nice & tight, I mounted my Canon 70-200mm f/4 L series lens, but I fronted it with a Canon 1.4X TeleConverter. Some fast math makes it: 200mm X 1.4 (the TC) X 1.6 (the crop factor for the APS-C sensor). That comes out with an effective lens length of 448mm of telephoto goodness.

At that length, camera shake is a real concern. I had already physically stabilized the camera with the tripod, but just to be safe, I made sure to shoot at no less than 1/400 of a second. I didn't want to create any bokeh effects, or worry about Depth of Field issues, so I set up at f/11. In order to achieve decent exposures, I ran the ISO up to 2000 !

Finally, because it is getting chilly out, I elected to stay indoors. Shooting through a window means you have to be careful with reflections & dirty windows, but we made out OK. See for your self !

The Photos

I took about 30 exposures, and kept about half. Of those, there were really only half a dozen which caught my eye. Here they are, for your enjoyment:

I apologize, but I know almost nothing about birds. This fancy little red fellow caught my eye right away !

 

This handsome pair stayed for most of the 30 minute shoot. Perhaps they knew they were being photographed ?

 

 

The little red fellow took turns keeping watch as the other birds ate.

 

 

 

 

W.C. fields made a name for himself & referred to all women as "my little chickadee !" .

See what I mean ? That little fellow kept a silent vigil for the other birds...

 

Finally, he came and are himself, after all the other little birdies ate !

 

 

 

 

Lessons Learned

This was a straight-forward shoot. I would have liked to capture the birdies as they landed, perhaps if I drove up the shutter speed, I might capture some fantastic wing-action ! Next time... The feeders aren't going anywhere... ;-)

 

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Project365 - Two Strobe Portraits

Introduction

In my last installment, I refined my technique for creating a deep black background. In this shoot, I applied that technique, along with two flashes to create more interesting portraits.

 

The Setup

My thought was to set up for a black background, and then light the model from above and to her right. Then, I wanted to place another strobe below and behind her. I was hoping to create a sort of light halo effect. Unfortunately, I didn't get the halo as her hair was as dark as the background. Worse, I had remarkably dark shadows across her face.

I shot the Canon 60D handheld. In the hotshoe was one of the Cactus v5s. I was set for a black background - f/250, ISO 100 and an aperture of 16. One Canon 430EX II was mounted on a Cactus v5 atop a tripod to the kodel's right, while the other was mounted on the trigger and placed on the floor.

The Photos

I am still learning about portraiture. It's not really something I'm very good at, so I was fortunate that my daughter agreed to be my model. It is easy to have a good rapport...

In this first photo, the main light was too powerful. While I had a nice dark background, you couldn't really see any definition between the background and the kodel's hair. And the pose is funny - unnatural, even. It looks like her eyes are pointed in two different directions !

Here, the main light is better, but the secondary is still underpowered. There are very harsh shadows on the models face. Given how pale her skin is, I would've liked to have made her skin tones warmer with a bit of makeup.

 

This one is better. We see a nice cross-lit effect, haloing her cheek and chin. And there is even a hint of catch-lights in her eyes ! But her dark hair is lost in the black background, still.

This is a little bit tighter a shot. I like the effect of the cross-lighting, and the black background.

Lessons Learned

I still need to figure out how to create the halo effect around the model's hair. I suspect my life would be easier shooting at night, when the room is darker to begin with. I'd also like to try to use a reflector to cross-light the face, which would free up the flash for the halo effect !

 

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Project365 - In the Kitchen

Introduction

Pat bought me a slab of Montréal Smoked Meat from Dunn's. It's an extra-special treat, bringing back memories of kosher dill pickles, beautiful rye bread, and tangy mustard. These were all shared with my father, whose laboratory at McGill was just a few short blocks from Dunn's famous delicatessen.

So todays's project was to slice it up & repackage it, so that we could enjoy it over a longer time. Unfortunately, we are also getting ready to move, so our meat-slicer is packed, but I know not where !

 

The Setup

Product shoots require a little bit of planning. Usually, you use a light-box, which helps create evenly diffused light on all surfaces of the product. I didn't want to lose the feeling that we were in the kitchen, so I decided to just shoot handheld, right on the cutting board

I used my trusty Canon 60D, and mounted my 40mm "pancake" lens. While it is capable of a nice wide aperture, I wasn't interested in a really shallow depth of field, so I shot it at about f/8. I also mounted a single Canon 430EX II on a Cactus v5 trigger, so that I could simply wash the ceiling & create a more natural light.

 

The Photos

So let's see how we did:

The smoked meat had a beautiful "marbled" effect. Montréalers will tell you, it must be served fatty & hot, so the fat runs out, releasing the flavour !

When the meat is cured, it is first rubbed with a wonderful medley of cracked pepper, which you can see here. Obviously, this shot is taken before we began slicing the meat.

While I wasn't able to shave it as close as I could have with the slicer, I still got nice thin slices. We then arranged them in stacks, so that they could be repackaged.

Lessons Learned

I spent a lot of time working out the lighting. I took a number of shots that I immediately discarded, as they looked so unnatural. I tried bouncing the light, dialling it down & aiming it slightly away, and I still couldn't get the look I was looking for. Finally, I decided "back to basics !" and washed the ceiling with light at about half power. Finally, it looked natural to me.

 

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Project365 - Second Curtain Flash

Introduction

The kids are over for the weekend, but the continual snow has everybody a little down. So what better to lift everybody's mood than a little RC Car racing ? Since the cars move on a set track, it's pretty straightforward to capture some of the action. It's also a great opportunity to try a new technique called Second Curtain Flash.

The idea is that under normal conditions the flash fires as the shutter opens, freezing the action. Then, depending on the shutter speed, the shutter closes again, finishing the shot. Second Curtain Shutter delays the flash until the shutter is about to close. So in slightly longer exposure shots, the effect is to capture some blur of movement, and then freeze the action with the flash.

The Setup

My trusty Canon 60D, with the venerable 24-105mm f/4 L lens. The Canon 430EX II flash is mounted on the hotshoe, and set to ETTL and Second Curtain Flash. In order to get the blur, the shutter was set to 1/4 second, aperture at f8, and the ISO at 125. I shot handheld, as I was down on the floor, on my belly to achieve the look I wanted.

The Photos

A little racing action sees the grey car passing the yellow car. The blue streaks are actually the Bluetooth indicator lights on top of the cars.

I really like how the yellow car blurs brightly. You get such a sense of speed from this effect !

Taken a little bit wider, both cars are in the frame. Unfortunately, there's not much contrast between the grey car's "blur" and the dark background. So it's not as good as I had hoped.

Lessons Learned

This was a quick little shoot - only a dozen or so photos. I like the effect, but have come to realize that it works best when you have high contrast between the background and the subject.

 

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Project365 - Let's Go For a Drive !

Introduction

I have been thinking about this shoot for a while. I wanted to play with motion, but instead of having the subject crisp & everything else blurry - ala Bokeh - I wanted to capture the feeling of being in motion. After shooting the Auto Strobism shoot, I liked the setup in the car. And this gave me the idea for the shoot !

 

The Setup

This was a lot more of a complex setup than I expected. The idea was to mount the camera (Canon 60D), on the Manfrotto tripod in the back seat of the truck. In order to capture the entire windshield, as well as the occupants of the front seat, I switched to the Canon17-40mm f/4 wide-angle lens, and kept it at 17mm. I was worried about the stability of it all, so I looped the neck strap of the camera over the centre headrest. Finally, in order to get some light in the cabin, we set up the Canon 430EX II flash with my inflatable diffuser.

This photo (taken with my iPhone) shows the camera on the tripod, and the flash mounted in the hotshoe. As you can see, the iPhone camera really sucks in low-light conditions ! With the camera in the back seat, the setup was laborious - pull over, hop in the backseat, make adjustments, test shoot, refocus & start all over again !

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this side shot, you can see the shutter release cable dangling down from the camera body. Unfortunately, the cable is very short, so Pat had to hold her hand back behind her (out of the shot) to take the photos. She was an absolute trooper for staying in that position through 90 minutes and 270 shots !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Photos

Here we are in the driveway. I knew I'd need to have some light inside the cabin, but we spent a few minutes figuring out the placement. At first, I thought off-camera would look good. I really didn't like how this looked at all - very unnatural !

 

 

Here is the first good shot - the cabin of the truck & passengers are reasonably lit, and in-focus. The outside is visible and somewhat blurry. The exposures were taken at 1 second, to enhance the feeling of motion.

This is actually one of my favorites. Most of the outside is blurry - look at the streaky headlights of the oncoming traffic ! But I was keeping pace with the car on our right, so it stayed reasonably in focus. This is the style I was after !

Man down ! Apparently, the rig wasn't as stable as I had hoped. I'm fortunate nothing got damaged as the tripod toppled over...

 

Occasionally, if we paused for too long, the flash would go into battery-saving mode, and not fire on the first shot. So we have about a dozen shots with no interior lighting.

This photo illustrates one of our challenges - how bumpy Calgary's roads are. The streak on the left is an oncoming car. The headlights waver up & down as the truck contends with the uneven road surface. That internal shake ruined quite a few shots entirely.

 

This photo was taken as we drove over the flyover into the downtown core. The exterior is blurred, giving the feeling of motion, while still focused enough to see where we are.

 

 

This is one of my favorite photos captured of the night's shoot. The passing traffic really conveys the feeling of movement. The viewer really feels like they are in the truck with us, driving through the city.

 

 

 

Lessons Learned

This was a complex shoot. I have to give a LOT of credit to my assistant, Pat. She not only fired off the 270 frames, but also had my iPad in her lap (out of sight of the camera) to validate we were getting the shots we wanted. The rigging of the camera in the backseat was OK - we really only toppled over twice in over 90 minutes of shooting. The shutter release cable is WAY too short - I think I am going to investigate a wireless option.

Over all, I am happy with the results. We captured about a dozen really cool photographs, which beautifully convey the feeling of motion. Let me know of you agree ! =D

 

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Project365 - Clouds...

Introduction

Years ago, I worked with a Chief IT Architect who had an odd method of making requests: he would take his brow into his hand, close his eyes, and intone the things he wanted us to contemplate. My personal favorite was "Cloud. I'm thinking of cloud..." This Project365 entry is dedicated to Ron.

The Setup
My simplest setup - my trusty Canon 60D, with the Canon 24-105mm f/4 L mounted. All handheld and outdoors - no tripod or strobes.
The Photos
It's still winter in Southern Alberta, so the skies are a steel grey, and the clouds a stark white against it.

The sky was certainly many shades of grey, looking West over the foothills.

The clouds had remarkable contrast.

Just look at the gradient colour in the sky !

The best photo of the lot, in my humble opinion.











Lessons Learned
Great beauty is all around us, even when it isn't brightly coloured ! I'm pleased that I am learning to see this beauty, and share it with the world.

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Project365 - Just Because...

Introduction

Every once in a while, I like to take photographs "just because". I don't always need to be experimenting with my gear, or trying to learn some kind of new technique. I love to photograph flowers - sue me ! I decided to change things up a bit this morning. Our dining room window had some beautiful light, and Pat's about-to-be-replaced bouquet of flowers were lapping up just that last little bit of sunshine. Most of the blooms were dead or dying, but this one orchid was hanging on for dear life !

The Setup
As always, I shot with my Canon 60D. To change things up a little, I mounted my Canon 17-40mm f/4 L wide-angle zoom lens. I shot handheld, as I like to get in nice and tight. At first, I was using a 12mm extension tube, but didn't get the results I had hoped for, so they were discarded pretty much as soon as I saw them ! Only the first photo below survived.

The Photos

Lessons Learned
None - I like lilies. Sometimes you just need to shoot for the joy of it. =D

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Project365 - Red Sky in Morning

Introduction

While I like learning new techniques, I am also learning to apply techniques I have learned in new and different ways. This helps me grow my "creative" side. So this morning, I was driving south to meet my friend for coffees. Along the way I spied this church which was lit up & backlit by the sunrise. While I liked the colours, I knew that I would struggle with the low light. High dynamic range to the rescue !

The Setup
Nothing especially difficult here - my Canon 60D with the Canon 24-105mm f/4 L lens, all riding atop the Manfrotto tripod for stability. I set up the bracketing function, to capture +/- 1.3 stops. This will give me the dark, medium & light frames required. The scene was still, and the shutter speed was slow (about 1.5 seconds), so no need for setting up the AI-Servo to take three pictures at a time.
The Photos

The "darker" photo, at -1.3 EV

The "medium" photo, at 0EV

The "lighter" photo, at +1.3 EV











Now you'd think why bother with the under and over exposed photos. Isn't the "normal" (0EV) picture going to look the same ? In fact, it does not. I must confess I did post-process the final image slightly, but merely to crop the image. Here is the final product:

Lessons Learned
As you can see, the blues & pinks in the sky are much more vibrant. So while HDR didn't do much for capturing highlights & lowlights - it is often used in scenes where there is lots of shadow - it certainly helped capture the brilliant hues in the early morning sky. Further, the accent lighting on the building seems to "pop" more, adding a bit of drama to the photograph.
All in, I think that was an excellent way to use the technique to capture the photo I wanted. I am pleased with the end-result.

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