Toddler Angst

My original intention when doing these “making of” posts was to present a tutorial, whether that tutorial gave the technical details of a particular photo, or how to achieve and effect, or even how to duplicate my results; it didn’t really matter. The point was to give a reader the “formula” of the creation of the photo.

What it has turned into instead is the recitation of an anecdote of how the photo came to be. I will eventually start producing proper tutorials, but the anecdotes are a lot easier to write and a lot more fun for me.

The headline photo has become one of my favourites since I took it. I suppose it doesn’t hurt that it is of my son.

We were about to head off to the wedding, Kiran was well dressed and becoming quite restive, he didn’t really like being dressed up but not going someplace. I couldn’t resist taking a few pictures of him, so I asked him to pose. This is often a hit or miss exercise. Sometimes he enjoys posing for the camera, sometimes he seems to feel an unwanted obligation. And sometimes he simply won’t do it.

This I think was one of those occasions where he felt obligated, but didn’t really want to oblige. I think you can tell from the expression on his face, he was quite annoyed at daddy’s request. I am pretty sure he was quite full of himself at being so dressed up too I certainly didn’t ask or encourage the specific pose, I just asked him to stand in the slightly ajar door.

I had done a previous shot in this spot and I liked the defining line created by the dark interior of the house and the largely negative space provided by the white door. I hadn’t gone quite this far with the previous shot though.

As far as post processing (I use Adobe Lightroom) goes essentially, what I did was to ramp up the exposure 1 3/4 stops, increase the brightness to 68 (out of 100) and desaturate the photo. I usually prefer to use Lightroom’s black & white process as it tends to produce a nicer tonal mix than simply desaturating the photo, but in this case I wanted just very high contrast black against white.

I also increased the blacks to 40 (out of 100) which is very high for an accurately exposed photo. I also used a lot of fill light to lighten the shadows. The final step was to crop the image slightly to get rid of the security grill. The high contrast processing hadn’t blown the grill out (like it did the white door) and I felt it unbalanced the image to have another evenly weighted element opposing Kiran.

The bottom line is, as you can see from the completely unprocessed photo below, I had something good to start with and made real drama therefrom.

Angst Begins.

My main reason for buying a Pentax DSLR when I outgrew the previous camera was the value it represented. Compared with the equivalent Nikon or Canon models it was significantly cheaper. And, according to the many reviews I had read, there were a lot of little features that were useful that weren’t present in competing models.

One of the things that I have now learned is of significant value is the number of fixed focal length (prime) lenses that are available for Pentax SLRs. Lenses that were made decades ago for Pentax SLRs can still mount the new digital SLRs that are available now. The Pentax “K” mount is well known and popular and has been around for over 30 years. And lenses from the preceding M42 mount can be fitted with a simple adapter.

The point of this is that, more than any other manufacturer, there are hundreds of cheap, excellent lens available for the Pentax DSLR. Most of them prime lenses. Having such an abundant resource is a major selling point for a manufacturer that always seems to appeal to the hobbyist, rather than the pro.

Zooms have become the pervasive standard but t wasn’t that long ago when the lens you got with your SLR would have been the standard 50mm lens. The ubiquity of the zoom lens sees most DSLR kits being sold with what is now called the “kit zoom”; a lens covering a reasonable zoom range usually from a wide angle to a moderate telephoto. These tend to be made as cheaply as possibly and, though competent for what they are, are not considered “good” glass. These kit zooms tend to be fairly slow also, having a fairly narrow maximum aperture.

Most camera manufacturers make a fast fifty, which is usually modestly priced. The fast fifty is a 50mm lens that has a wide aperture usually between f/1.4 to f/1.8. It is usually made out of plastic and is intended to be inexpensive. The Pentax equivalent is the FA 50mm which is a f/1.4 aperture lens.

Kiran at Kingston Promenade - FA50mm @ f/2.8

The real gems in the Pentax lens arsenal are the “Limited” lens. A series of prime lenses made to exacting standards, with metal construction and aiming to be as good as they can be. They were always fairly expensive, but they have become even more so with the recent popularity of Pentax DSLRs.

I have 5 prime lenses that I used to use quite frequently; the 21mm Limited, the 31mm Limited, the 43mm Limited, the FA50 and the Vivitar Series 1 105mm.

So why would you use a prime lens when zoom lenses are so much more convenient and handy? Firstly because the prime lenses are usually smaller and lighter than the zoom lenses. Pentax in particular advertises their “pancake” primes. Lenses so small that they become almost unobtrusive.

Boating down the Conservancy - DA21mm @ f/5.6

I remember a little while ago going out to take photos with some friends and facing the consternation and agitation (and dismissal) of a friend to whom I mentioned that I was confining myself to just two focal lengths represented by two of my prime lenses. Why would I “limit” myself rather than use the zoom lens I had available? Well apart from the technical superiority represented by prime lenses as against the compromises that are inherent in the design of any zoom (and particularly the kit zooms) there is also the way you see.

Although there is some correlation between the focal length of 50mm (on a full 35mm frame) and approximate angle of view of the human eye we typically do not see precisely the way a camera lens and image sensor combination “sees”. As a result, looking at a scene with your unaided eye is not going to look the way a camera sees it, even when you use the supposedly “normal” lens.

One of the attractions when using a zoom lens is the ability to adjust the field of view visible in the viewfinder to try and match whatever it might have been that caught your eye in the first place. On the other hand, frequent use and familiarity with a fixed focal length “prime” lens trains you to see the scene the way it is eventually going to look in the resulting photograph and causes you to be able to compose the photograph even before bringing the camera to your eye.

Bougainvillea Profusion - FA31mm @ f/6.3

The aesthetic consideration is not the only reason to consider prime lenses for regular use. The technical characteristics of the lenses are also a major consideration. It is not as simple an issue as to say that the Pentax FA50mm, f1/4 lens (ouch, I paid about half of what it is now going for) is twice as fast at 50mm than the DA*16-50, f/2.8 wide open. But it does give a frame of reference. By the time you stop the FA50 down to f/2.8 it is very sharp, sharper than the zoom at the same aperture. And 2 stops faster wide open means you can use ISO400 instead of ISO1600 in a dark room (unless you need the greater depth of field).

Not every prime lens is faster than the equivalent focal length of a zoom, but the odds are that a reasonably high quality prime lens will not have been designed with the optical compromises necessary when designing a zoom lens and will thus produce a higher quality photo all other things being equal.

It seems to me also that the bad characteristics, technically speaking, of a prime lens can also become quite desired. Adding a character and personality to photos that you may not easily find in other lenses. My favourite of all the prime lenses I have is the FA43 Limited. Firstly, the focal length often immediately causes a query with people who aren’t familiar with Pentax gear.

Reputedly this represents the diagonal of a 35mm film frame and is therefore closer to a “normal” focal length (on 35mm full frame) than 50mm. Whatever the reason I find it to be an amazing lens when taking pictures of my favourite subjects, my children.

Mira on the Couch - FA43mm @ f/2.2

There is a sublime quality to the contrast and bokeh (out of focus areas) that I cannot explain. As long as the background is not too busy (grass or leaves, for example) the resulting image is just extraordinary to my eyes.

The last of my prime lenses which I use regularly is the Vivitar macro. This one is often a challenge to use because it is very heavy and manual focus (feels like about 6 turns of the barrel from infinity to close focus). Most of the virtues of prime lenses that I extolled above; light weight and unobtrusiveness, are simply not present here. But one outstanding quality is: sharpness.

Even wide open this lens is fiercely sharp. There is no zoom lens made that can match this lens for image quality although many of them claim to have a macro feature. But the lens is not usable only for macros.

Leaves of Grass - Vivitar Series 1 105mm Macro @ f/2.4

Many of the qualities I’ve mentioned before; lightness, unobtrusiveness and others, although I touched only peripherally on them, should not be underestimated. My DA*16-50mm zoom is a huge lens, take it out on the road and point it at someone and they get nervous.

The point of this extended post is to highlight the usefulness of fixed focal length lenses. While they do not have the flexibility in framing that you will get with a zoom lens, their utility and benefits cannot be doubted. If you find yourself stuck in a rut with you zoom, it may be time to explore the pleasures and simplicity that using a single focal length can give you.

I came across an interesting acronym the other day, FDLFSW (Friends Don’t Let Friends Shoot Weddings ). Unfortunately, if any of us used to listen to good sense there would be no need for priests or lawyers (good riddance to both?). Well thank goodness for me good sense has to be the least used product on sale since the birth of humanity or I’d never have been able to afford my hobby.

Well I am, if nothing else, a man of my species, so when my good friends asked me to shoot Joan & Gerard’s wedding as a backup to her brothers, Mike and Andre it took me a very short while to say yes. They are no longer my friends.

Mr. & Mrs. DeFreitas

Nah, I’m just joking. It did teach me a valuable lesson though. Although I had accepted intellectually that weddings are challenging to photograph, it is different to actually do one and realise it for yourself. I did something right at least, I realised right at the beginning that it would be difficult and that I really didn’t know what I was doing.

Key to doing an acceptable job in these situations is to understand your limitations. Without a keen understanding of what you can and cannot do you, are quite likely to make a mess of things. Getting a shot of an important moment, even if not technically skilled (poor choice of exposure, not properly sharp/focused) is better than missing the shot altogether. And while a technically inferior shot is permissible when you are a backup, it is completely unacceptable when you are the primary photographer.

If you take on a wedding and you don’t know what you are doing you are not merely risking losing a client or friend, you are spoiling the memories of what is likely to be one of the most important events in the lives of a number of people.

My favourite photo to date with the 31mm

Knowing all of the foregoing I still decided to confine myself to two lenses (no zoom; gasp!). The first is the Pentax 31mm Ltd which has been described by some as one of the best 35mm lenses ever. What I like best about this one is the absolute pin sharpness and resolution. It is a very fast lens too (f/1.8), and works well in a dimly lit cathedral. This lens is a favourite because it gives a “normal” field of view on a camera with an APS-C sized sensor (smaller than 35mm full frame). This means that it approximates the angle of view of normal vision.

One of my preferred images with the Vivitar.

The other lens I used is the Vivitar Series I 105mm Macro lens. A mouthful of a name for a lens that is far bigger than its name implies. There is very little formal information available online for this lens because it was last manufactured sometime in the 80s! You can find some specifications, if you are interested, here (Kiron made the lens for Vivitar). I got mine as part of the close out sale of a camera shop that had a set of them new in box and paid less than half of what they are going for now, used. It is also a relatively fast lens (f/2.4) but manual focus. And not just any manual focus either; the precise 6 turns infinity to close focus that you need for macro focusing.

Another “difficulty” is that Guyanese are generally very conservative, and change or the unusual is not welcome. Anyone who has looked at my photos realises that I tend not to like the normal viewpoints for most subjects. I had visions of some low to the ground shots of the bride entering the church and something from a high vantage point obscuring by distance everyone but the bride who would stand out in her gown (since the wedding was at Brickdam Cathedral, I am not sure where I would find this vantage point).

I also wanted to get some photos of the bride getting ready and confusion in the house, the groom stepping out of the car that brought him (car door open, interior obscured by shadow, groom’s foot about to touch pavement , etc. In other words I had a lot of ideas. Unfortunately, reality conspired to knuckle me in the head and things moved quite a bit faster than I had anticipated. I was quite shocked that they wouldn’t stop the proceedings to allow me to get THE shot And no matter how accommodating my wife and the bride, I doubt that either of them would have allowed me to start taking photos from the time the bride started brushing her teeth for the morning.

Wedding Music

I digressed a bit, but the point I was trying to make is that had I the opportunity and time to do what I wanted to do there is a good chance that the bride and groom would not have liked the result. So perhaps a good thing since the photos were not for me, but for the bride and groom.

The challenge of using the two prime lenses was mitigated by the location. The church allowed me to make quick changes in perspective, so if I needed to quickly get a closer view and had the 31mm lens on the camera, I could quickly move closer. And likewise, if I had the 105mm lens on and needed a wider view, I could quickly move back. This works only within limited parameters as the switch was between a wide angle lens and a telephoto lens, but was sufficient if I didn’t have time to switch between them.

At the doorway

The wedding reception after the ceremony was a different situation. No wide aisles and seating arranged in a grid. No space to easily move further away. Plus I got tired and lazy. Too much work to get a good composition with prime lenses, too much work to keep changing lenses. So I switched to a wide angle zoom; the Pentax DA*16-50mm. This is Pentax’s pro level wide zoom and as fast as a zoom gets (f/2.8, but very soft wide open).

Panning shot.

One of my favourite photos of the entire day was taken with this lens. A panning shot of the bride and groom making their entrance across the room. Someone asked me why I used a blurred shot. This one isn’t blurred, at least the bride and groom are sharp, but the background is blurred as I was panning the camera. I like these types of shots because they give a strong feeling of movement. This one came out better than I expected.

I did use an actually blurred shot also. Once again because it imparted a feeling of movement and action to the scene. But the very fact that I was questioned for these choices make it clear how conservative Guyanese viewers are. Aesthetics are bright colours and sharp focus; things like creative composition and unusual angles are frowned upon.

I did assert my own sense of aesthetics to some extent with the processing of the images. Although they appear to be monochrome, they are actually significantly, but not completely de-saturated. The contrast is very soft (although the images are sharp, the sharpness isn’t emphasized) and the tones soft also.

I came away from this experience with one abiding vow. I won’t do anymore weddings. Plus I gained a whole new respect for people who do this for a living (at least the conscientious ones). If the bride or groom flubs a line during the ceremony, they get to do it over. If the photographer fails to take the right shot at the right time, no do overs + very annoyed client. Not an easy job. But looking back at the photos that I consider good, I can see how it can be very fulfilling.

Michael’s photos are here; and Andre’s are here. My full set is here.

P.S. If you want a complete set of applicable acronyms, have a look here. Quite an amusing article.

What it is.

I’ve been trying a new (new to me) photographic technique recently. It is referred to as infrared photography. Most of the people who end up reading this post will probably know that what we see as white light is actually composed of a number of different colours. You can see those colours every time you see a rainbow.

When you see a rainbow the colours you see go from red at one side, to violet on the other. Beyond red is a part of the visible spectrum (of electromagnetic waves) that our eyes cannot see, called infrared (strongly heated metal, like the heating element of an electric stove produces lots of infrared). For the curious, beyond violet is ultra violet which can cause sunburn and eye damage if you go out into the sun unprotected. But to avoid misunderstanding, the infrared photography I am discussing is not thermal imaging, which is photography or videography of radiated infrared. What I am discussing is reflected infrared light.

It is the reflected infrared light that photographers are usually interested in, either trying to block it out completely or to make use of it to provide some very interesting photographs.

The visible spectrum, what you can see in a rainbow, runs from 400nm to 700nm approximately. If you want the gory details, see here. The part of the infra red spectrum that photographers are interested in runs from beyond 700nm to approximately 1400nm. This is sometimes referred to as near infra red.

Why I want to do IR.

My primary reason is because of the surreal, false colour images you can get with IR. Unfortunately I have not yet been able to produce any false colour image that I like, either I am not finding the right scene to photograph or I am not doing it correctly or I don’t have the right equipment. I have taken the liberty, for demonstration purposes of hunting for an example image and found the image below. It was taken by Talke Photography, who I found on Flickr.

Eiffel Tower in Infrared by Talke Photography

This is a great example of false colour IR photography and has the additional benefit of being copyrighted under a creative commons license which allows me to use it as long as I attribute the photographer. I could not easily find a way to contact the photographer, so I haven’t been able to specifically ask permission, but the license he uses allows me to use the image without specifically seeking permission.

If you would like to see some more examples of false colour IR photographs, the new Google image search works really well.

As you can see, when properly processed, the images have a surreal but dramatic colour that is attention grabbing and very interesting. It is not straightforward to get the picture to this stage because, regardless of which method you use to take the photo, quite a lot of processing is necessary.

Bamboo in a Pond (IR)

As I said before, while I am not getting false colour images to suit my demands, several of the images I have gotten work well in black & white. Characteristic of black & white IR images are supposed to be white foliage, as leaves reflect infrared light, and black water as still water absorbs infrared.

I am not sure though, what is causing my failure to get the false colour images I want. It might be a failure of technique, or I am choosing the wrong scenes to photograph. Or it may be that the filter I have isn’t the correct one.

The electronic sensor in digital cameras is very sensitive to infrared light. In order to prevent this from causing problems with colour rendering (causing the black of some fabrics to render as a purplish/reddish colour, for example) it is necessary to build in front of the sensor a filter to prevent most of the IR light from reaching the sensor.

Over the course of the last few years those filters have gotten stronger and stronger and it now seems like the camera I have is not suited for this particular type of photography as a result of that filter blocking almost all IR light. This is just speculation though, I may be doing it wrong.

Equipment and technique.

If you do not have a camera specifically altered for IR photography (by the removal of the built in filter to block infrared light) you will need a special filter for your lens. I have a Marumi HB700 (because it is the cheapest). This filter blocks visible light to permit only infrared light to reach the sensor. The filter you will hear referred to most often though is the Hoya R72. The Hoya is quite expensive.

As you might infer from the names of the filter IR cut off frequency for the Marumi is 700nm and below and for the Hoya it is 720nm and below. This means that light above ~700nm (699-390nm, which is visible to the naked eye) is mostly blocked.

It is a bit of a kludge (scientific term) because as a result of having a filter in the camera which blocks most of the IR light and a filter in front the lens that blocks most visible light very little light (IR or visible) gets to the sensor and exposure times are fairly long. A tripod is a necessity.

Additionally, to minimize exposure time and the effects of movement in the scene if you are using a filter in front the lens like I am, it is probably best to photograph at midday or the peak of daylight to shorten exposures as much as possible.

Generally speaking, the camera works the same way even if you use a filter. It should automatically set the exposure correctly and also autofocus even though you won’t be able to see through the viewfinder (my comments are specific to digital SLRs). If the camera has a live view feature where it displays the scene on the screen at the back, then it is possible to compose the image even with the filter on.

As the IR filter lets through very little visible light, if you don’t have a live view feature you will be required to compose the picture before attaching the filter.

The other possibility, which is considerably more expensive (unless you are willing to DIY and risk permanently damaging your camera) is to buy a camera with the internal filter already removed, or to send an existing camera to one of the services (here and here) which will perform the necessary surgery. You can also purchase a pre-converted camera sensitive to IR.

The major benefit of these cameras that have the IR cut filter replaced is that you can handhold, see through the lens and switch lenses without worry. Of course, you pay for the privilege.

One last thing that I feel important to mention is the issue of white balance. You cannot judge whether you have the correct white balance merely from the picture as you might in ordinary circumstances. It is necessary to set a custom white balance based on the green of tree leaves or grass, after placing the filter on the lens.

Post Processing.

The other aspect of technique involves post processing. Most of the time the image out of the camera is not aesthetically pleasing. It will have a heavy red/magenta cast. I have seen at least one image where the heavy red cast is actually pleasing, but I suspect that most of the time it won’t be. This is where it gets (even more) complicated. To achieve the false colour look of the image at the top (Eiffel Tower) you have to swap the red and blue channels in photoshop or its equivalent.

I don’t want to go into the process of doing this as I am not sure that I can explain it correctly. This is the best guide I have been able to find that outlines the whole process. I believe that the post processing is simple enough to be achieved by someone with moderate expertise handling post processing software.

Conclusion.

My experiment with this technique is, of course, nowhere near concluded. When I get the false colour image I have been looking for then I will conclude that I am proficient. Until then I will continue to experiment.

I think my major problem so far has been finding the right scene to photograph and I am now fairly certain that I have the right scene in mind. Unfortunately I have not yet been able to visit the scene as either I don’t have the time when the time is right (midday) or the weather has been cloudy when I need a bright blue sky. Ah well, soon enough I suppose.

Unsuccessful Infrared

N.B. I wrote this as a short article to accompany photographs of this trip in a Guyanese magazine called “Apsara”. I can’t recall which issues it was published in and the photographs here are not necessarily those included in the magazine (some are from a trip in the interior in 2005). I’ve also edited the content a bit from the magazine article.

Karasabai Village, we started our drive through the mountains from here

On vacation you are supposed to experience exotic foods, meet interesting people and see unusual sights. I might have expected to achieve two out of three of those on the Pakaraima Mountain Safari 2009, but it never occurred to me that I would have an exotic lunch of curried chowmein after driving six hundred and fifty kilometers over three days into the heart of Guyana’s interior. Curried chowmein is certainly not something I had ever eaten before, but it was an unexpected treat on a journey where lunch is usually a handful of fried plantain chips or crackers.

Hillside House at Kato

Started in 2003, the rather unfortunately acronymed (my own word ) Pakaraima Mountain Safari (PMS) was intended to honour the opening of the first road route which connected several remote communities in the interior of Guyana, from Karasabai to Yong Peru in Region nine to Paramakatoi and Kato in Region eight, by traveling the roads connecting those communities with the eventual aim of reaching the Orinduik Falls in Region eight.

Pioneers of the safari included Mr Harripersaud Nokta MP, then Minister of Local Government and Regional Development and Dr Bheri Ramsarran MP, now Minister in the Ministry of Health.

This year’s safari began on a sad note when the participants were told, just before driving off from Georgetown, of the death of Mrs. Janet Jagan, a former President of Guyana.

Traveling as a group were my friends and fellow photographers, Michael and Andre Lam, as well as Nicholas Lam and Frederick Low. We used two vehicles and traveled along with fifteen other vehicles, two motorcycles and a four-wheel ATV. This year’s safari attracted the largest group of vehicles to attempt the drive to Orinduik Falls so far.

For us intrepid amateur photographers, this trip was long anticipated. Traveling through some of the many breathtaking areas of Guyana, which untravelled coast dwellers would find it hard to believe existed here, we expected an abundance of photographic opportunities; and were not disappointed. Interesting people, unusual sights and, apparently, even exotic food.

Our first day was, at the same time, the least interesting and the most tiring. We began driving from GUYOIL’s Regent Street Service Station, in the centre of Georgetown, at just about twenty minutes before two in the morning on Saturday, 28 March. We did not end that day’s driving until ten minutes to six in the night when we drove into Karasabai, nearly six hundred kilometers from where we started.

Driving off the Kurupukari Ferry in 2005

The drive from Wismar to Karasabai can be a wonder of sights and experiences. But even this well traveled road is rarely visited by the most of the Guyanese who make their homes on the Atlantic Coast of Guyana.

Among the attractions on the way from Wismar to Karasabai is the magnificent Iwokrama Rain Forest Reserve and its Canopy Walkway. The three hundred and seventy-one thousand hectare Iwokrama Reserve described in their own words is an “extraordinary ecosystem encompassing a range of habitats which…contains an extraordinary biodiversity, including over four hundred and seventy-five species of birds and the highest recorded number of species of fish…for an area of comparable size”.

Canopy Walkway taken in 2005

The Canopy Walkway, which forms part of the Iwokrama Reserve is a series of suspension bridges and decks which are as high as thirty metres and as long as one hundred and fifty-four metres in the forest canopy (right at the top of the jungle). This is an experience which ought not to be missed, even if you are afraid of heights, since you can join the high-fliers like the harpy eagle in the rainforest tree-tops.

To complement your experience and to give you a change from the forest, you can spend some time on the savannah, which you meet after leaving the Iwokrama Reserve. The remainder of the way to Lethem is through Annai and the savannah. There are a number of hospitable facilities in the savannah where you can stay, including Rock View, a resort facility located at Annai. It is an experience that travelers will find impossible to regret.

Small waterfall at Kato

Our journey, however, took us off the main road to Lethem into the Pakaraima Mountains. This part of the journey defines off-road driving and should not be attempted, without a local or experienced guide, by anyone who has not driven off road before. It is quite a challenging drive through savannah, forest and mountains and drivers have to be very careful so as not to allow their vehicles to slide off the dangerous sides of the mountains.

First dangerous ascent

Mike and I were forced at one point to imagine ourselves being immolated in flames as our vehicle started to slide off the edge of the “road” carved out the side of a mountain. Fortunately, after a few seconds of screaming like teenage girls (and Mike permanently affixing his handprint on the passenger side grab handle) I remembered how to drive, goosed the throttle a bit and pulled the vehicle out of the slide.

The vistas and scenery of the Pakaraima Mountains must be seen in person to be believed. A common question, accompanied by raised eyebrows, among fellow travelers was whether we were still in Guyana.

Villages such as Karasabai, Monkey Mountain, Paramakatoi, Kato and Kurukabaru and others all have airstrips and are accessible by airplane. Experienced tour operators can arrange packages via air which would require less time and effort but provide an outstanding experience. In my opinion, though, the only way to properly experience the magnificent sights is by hiking or driving.

Orinduik, one of the more accessible waterfalls

Although my primary purpose was to take photographs, I enjoyed the drive and the opportunity to simply sit in quiet contemplation of the views around me. I think that our group of travelers all agreed that this was a fantastic trip with something different to offer each of us. And while we each had very similar reasons for participating I am certain we each had a unique experience.

The organiser of our safari this year, and for many years previously is Frank Singh of Rainforest Tours. Frank is the man who makes sure that participants have a good time safely. Unless you have been making trips like this for 10 years or more, Frank is the man to listen to if you want to avoid tears. Disregard his advice at your peril. It is a tribute to Frank’s experience and professionalism that everyone returned from the trip safe. It is also a tribute to him that everyone I spoke to thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

I know one rather large young man will never forget his experience. Frank stopped the convoy and walked down the line of vehicles telling everyone that the way forward was flooded and for safety the passengers would have to continue on foot to climb an extraordinarily steep trail while the drivers braved the flood waters. Andre, the lunatic, immediately announced that he wanted to climb on top of the vehicle to get the best vantage point to take photos.

Frank, realizing the type of people he was dealing with in our vehicle, immediately admitted that he was just pranking us and went to the vehicle behind us looking for more fertile ground for his prank. Approximately 30 seconds later, we saw this . . . bountiful young man, wearing a pair of slippers, taking off at a determined pace towards the mountain, jiggling all the way. 5 seconds later we see Frank, also a bit bountiful himself, trying to walk quickly behind the young man while doubled over laughing. I bet that young man won’t soon forget the trip.

So what about our group of intrepid, amateur photographers? We returned to Georgetown with over three thousand photographs. It was a successful and thoroughly enjoyable safari.

Enthusiastic Photographer

Villager

Masked Men

Early Morning at Karasabai

Navigating Kato Falls

Orinduik, handheld long exposure in the evening

Orinduik from afar

NOTE: This is republished from a note I posted on Facebook on May 20 (with minor edits here), before I started this blog.

Afternoon Repose

The picture on the right is a good one. No point in false modesty. It is good not only because the composition is good, but because the exposure is exactly right and the focus and sharpness are perfect. Seen full size it looks far better than the little thumbnail on the right.

How did I spot the shot? Most people (non-photographers) would just have walked past it. I spotted it because I have been working hard at improving my photography for the year so far. Not only actually taking photographs, but looking at photographs from good photographers and reading voraciously.

Do what I have been doing and the odds are, you will never walk past a shot like this; or an equivalently good scene for the various different types of photography.

There is an unending supply of talented photographers around and the ubiquity of cheap digital cameras has allowed a vast number of people to explore their talent. It is hard these days to make your voice heard in the huge volume of good photographers now trying to be heard at the same time.

There are a few things that are key; lots and lots of practice, lots and lots of superior photographs in your portfolio and knowing the rules (and when to break them).

This one photograph, good as it is, is not going to get me anything. A few people will see it, a smaller number will like it, and nothing much will come of it. This is the reality of competition.

What will get me recognition (and you too if you are interested) is relentlessly producing good quality work, recognising that any kind of success can take a while and lots of self promotion.

Have a look at my photographs here.

And while I consider my picture above to be good. Have a look here to see what I consider to be a great photograph (photographs that can change the world). The depressing nature of that scene and others he had to witness were thought to have contributed to Carter’s despondency and later suicide.

NOTE: This is republished from a note I posted on Facebook on April 22, before I started this blog.

People are always asking me if I edit my photos. The answer is a qualified “no”.

To a photographer, editing a photograph means altering the image to either put something into it that was not there, or removing something that is in the scene, but unwanted.

Even then, it is a matter of degrees. Famous portrait photographer Ann Leibovitz (pregnant Demi Moore on the cover of Vanity Fair) often produces composites.

She takes the photo of the person in front of a neutral background while her assistants look for and photograph suitable backgrounds. The portrait of the person is then placed on the background. There are opinions that while the result might be art, it is not a photograph. Opinions are divided.

The vast majority of my photographs are processed, but not edited. The images that are produced by my camera are in a special format called “RAW” or digital negatives.

Digital negatives, like negatives from a film camera, cannot be used as is. They have to be processed, like a photographer would have to process film from a film camera.

Serious photographers, in the film days, would have had their own darkrooms (and there are still a significant number of photographers who still use film and have darkrooms) and done their own processing and printing.

I use software to process my digital negatives (called “Lightroom” in a brilliant bit of naming by Adobe). The process is entirely analogous to the “washing” of film to produce negatives, and subsequent printing of the negatives.

A modern digital cameras, that you might carry around in your pocket is more like a Polaroid instant camera than a regular film camera. The processing of the image to produce something you can put online, on facebook or print is done within the camera. So you have a usable image milliseconds after releasing the shutter.

All the things that I might do in Adobe Lightroom or a film photographer might do in his darkroom are done for you, by the camera itself.

Because all the decisions as to how to process the image are done by the camera itself a lot of the flexibility is lost, but you get an image that can be used immediately. The convenience of having the usable image immediately, outweighs the processing flexibility of having the digital negative, for most people.

Even professional photographers, sports photographers or photo journalists, often prefer to have the finished photo straight out of the camera as deadlines have to be met, and the subtlest nuances of a scene are not of great import. Their need is to have a usable image as quickly as possible.

When I photograph a scene I will often take a significant number of photographs that have only the subtlest differences in composition and lighting. I then take all the images into my lightroom see which one(s) I think is best. If more than one I then process them to see which looks best as representative of what I want the photograph to say. And it is that final selection that I might print or put online.

Processing decisions I might make include adjusting the contrast, cropping the image, changing the white balance (if the camera got it wrong, or if for aesthetic reasons I prefer the image warmer or cooler), sharpening the image (this is a requirement for digital images because of the way the sensor captures the image) or converting colour to monotone.

I’ve seen negative reactions when I have tried to explain this to people in the past. But what I do is no different from what the average camera does automatically in order to produce a pleasing JPEG. The difference is that I make all the decisions myself for reasons of control, whereas most people prefer the speed of allowing their camera to make the decisions automatically for reasons of convenience.

I’ve had people look at a monotone image of mine (black and white) and commented favourably, then looked at a nicely saturated colour image and asked if I’ve “edited” the image. I’ve always wanted to ask if that person sees in black and white and how come I didn’t get the dreaded “edited” question when they saw that photo?

Most, or all of the processing that I might do in lightroom were (and still are) done by film photographers save that film processing is a lot more difficult, time consuming and expensive.

I do edit (by my own definition) my photographs from time to time. I have no easy way to check, but by recollection, of the fourteen or fifteen thousand images I’ve taken over the last four years I’ve edited less than five. The edits usually consisted of removing (cloning out) electrical wires from a scene.

Unedited

I’ve put two versions of a photo I took yesterday, below. The first one [to the right] is the original straight out of the camera without any additional processing by me. The top of the image is overexposed because I exposed it for the reflection in the water. You can see the result of the overexposure in the City Hall tower. It is very white and little detail of the windows or the wood can be seen (its “blown out” in the parlance). The white balance is also incorrect. This was after 4 p.m. so the light was very warm, golden afternoon sunlight. What is white in the image, should really be yellow.

The second image results from my processing [below right]. I’ve applied a -1ev gradient (graduated darkening, more darkening at the top, less darkening towards the middle), raised the black clipping point (made the deepest shadows pure black rather than just shadowed, very subtle) and some slight sharpening. This processing was done in less than a minute and the result more closely matches what I saw through the lens.

Although the white balance is inaccurate (the camera made the wrong choice), for aesthetic reasons I’ve not corrected it.

Edited

I’ve also edited the image. I cloned out the electrical wire at the top right.
I take photographs for strictly aesthetic reasons, I am not an archivist and not overly concerned with accuracy. What I want to achieve when I take a photograph is to convey the impact that the scene made on me. Usually, in order to convey that impact it is necessary to compose and/or process the image in creative ways.

This will be the last of my five best of series to mark my passing the 6 month point of my project to take a picture every day for a year. This one was actually the hardest of the the set to choose. To pick a five best in a specific category was not difficult because the potential choices were fairly limited.

Choosing a five best overall though was difficult; in part because there are so many I really like and there are also quite a few that even if they aren’t very good, have an interesting story to go with them.

Anticipating

Only one part of judging a photo is assessment of outright technical merit. Often the photo taken with consummate technical perfection is the least likely to please viewers and obversely a photo which is technically flawed will win compliments.

Far more important to judging whether a photo is good or not is the viewer’s own preferences and prejudices. The photo of my wife (on the right) was taken just 2 days before she delivered our daughter, Mira. Any expectant mother will know that look on her face and will probably like this shot.

I deliberately boosted the contrast in this photo to give a harsh feel to the photo and accentuate Sharon’s distressed and uncomfortable look. The blown highlights are mostly deliberate, but degrade the technical aspect of the photo.

She was very annoyed at having to pose for me when she was so uncomfortable, but I expected that and used it to my advantage. I didn’t really want a photo of her where she looked comfortable and relaxed.

Shelter on a rainy day

Next up is the best shot in this post. On the left is an image that won a challenge on DPReview (one of the premiere camera review websites). Nothing major, but gratifying nonetheless.

I reached to work a little after 7 a.m. on a rainy day. There were several large puddles of water and I went out to try and get some nice reflecting shots. On the way back to the office I spotted him out the corner of my eye and stopped and asked to take a picture.

He was reluctant at first, but eventually obliged. I was in two minds about stopping and asking, not really an easy thing to do, but I am so pleased I did.

Because of the soft, even lighting resulting from the heavily overcast sky, the colours were very saturated, almost cartoonish. I did like how it looked initially because I like bright colours. But the bright colours didn’t really suit the mood of the image. One of the largest changes I made was to reduce the saturation of the image.

Brothers

If you have had a look at my photographs you might notice that I really like to take photographs of people. It doesn’t really matter much to me what situation they are in; posed, candid, street photography or any other situation you might find people.

I think there are cases where people can be intrusive; landscapes and architectural for example. And there are specific types of photography which cannot include people. But I think almost any scene can be livened up by having some people in it. One of my favourite albums to post to is my people album. I am always happy when I have an image to post to that album.

The point is, of my top five images for the past six months three of them are of people. It is no coincidence.

In this case I tracked the brothers for a while, as they were walking down the sidewalk. When I saw them about to cross the street I was almost hopping up and down in anxiety hoping for them to cross where I wanted them to. The next issue was for their steps to synchronize. I must have take a dozen photos of them in the 10 seconds or so it took them to cross the street.

Knotted

I had to include this image (to the left). Quite apart from the fact that I do think it is one of my best for the year so far a lot of thought went into constructing this one. I am certain that I would not have been able to take this photo had I not started this photo a day project.

I did a comprehensive “making of” post on this image a short while ago and don’t propose to repeat that.

I didn’t find the scene having looked specifically for it. I just saw the juxtaposition of the knotted rope set against the diamond pattern lattice wall and recognised the potential.

It is an enhanced ability to recognise this potential that taking a photo per day for a year has brought me. I started taking photos seriously early 2007 when I got a new camera. I had that camera for nearly 3 years and took about 8,600 pictures in that time. Since I sold that camera and got the new one (and thanks partly to my photo a day project) I have taken over 11,000 in nine months.

This quantity comes not only because I have to take at least one photo each day, but because I am recognising more interesting scenes and actually stopping to take a picture, when in the past I might have moved on.

Taking on passengers

With respect to this final image of my top 5 I think I may be biased because it happens to be one of the more recent of my favourites. There is a good chance that it may not survive in my top photos list, but at the moment I really like it.

At least part of that liking comes from the fact that it is an accidental photo. I had intended to take a photo looking up the street. I set my tripod and carefully waited until the traffic lights at the corner (out of frame) said go, so that I would get some light trails as the vehicles drove past (see here for an example).

Unfortunately (or fortunately) this minibus pulled up right there to offload his passengers. At the time I thought it was a disaster. Had he moved off quickly enough the bus would have faded to a ghostly shadow as he would not have been in the scene long enough to firmly expose on the camera sensor. I was so annoyed when he refused to move.

It was not until I got home late that evening that I decided that this totally accidental shot was the one I liked best. It just goes to show that in photography, as in anything else, luck can often play a big part.

Given the difficulty I’ve had picking my top five for the last six months I am not sure I am looking forward to repeating the exercise at the end of the year to chose my top ten.

Today is the 183rd day of the year, there are now 182 days left to go. I am officially past the halfway mark of my 365 project. As the project has continued I have been finding it harder and harder to continue. While everything was new, there was an excitement to getting a good photo in a category I had never explored before. Now, although I am producing consistently better photographs than I was before I am feeling a sameness to my photographs which is not motivating.

Anyway, one of the areas I have been exploring significantly more since this year started, is photography of people. Not only posed portraits and semi-casual portraits, but street candid photos or candid photos generally. By “candid” I don’t necessarily mean photos taken surreptitiously (although that is a part of it) but photos where people continue what they are doing even though they know they are being photographed.

Birth

The first of what I would consider my five favourites is this image (to the left) of my daughter, minutes after her birth under the warming lamp, being examined by the doctors.

There are a lot of things I like about this one; firstly I did a decent composition considering the circumstances, it was fairly well planned. Everything from the suction machine in the lower right corner to the silhouetted doctors on the right were intentionally in the scene.

Secondly the intensity of the light on her pushed everyone else (except the doctor who delivered her) into deep shadow. It is fitting that she should be completely the focus of everyone, including the camera.

Midday in the Arcade

This (image to the right) is one of my absolute favourite photographs of people. My friend Michael and I went to the new vendor’s arcade on Water Street (opposite Republic Bank). I had been refused permission to take a photograph by one pavement vendor, but others had seen us. One vendor from the arcade asked us to come take some photos and this lady added her consent to take photos of her also.

This scene is so typically Guyanese that the second I snapped it I knew I had a winner. The place was very dark the exposure was fairly long, so I crossed my fingers all day hoping that when I saw it on the bigger screen I wouldn’t see the dreaded blur of hand shake.

I was so happy that I printed her picture and a couple other people who I had photographed distributed the photos to them. They were so pleased that I have a standing invitation to return and take more photographs of them. I fully intend to, but haven’t gotten around to it as yet.

Kite Vendor & Child

Another favourite is my photo of a kite vendor set against her wares. I actually intended to take photos of the kites only and asked permission to do so. But after taking the kites, she was rather taken aback when I made no move to photograph her also. I was all too pleased to mollify her by taking her picture. She is very photogenic and what I had initially assumed was shyness was just her trying to be unobtrusive.

The photo is surprisingly contrasty considering the very bright midday sun directly overhead. Usually in these circumstances, everything is washed out and flat. I did help thing along is post-processing, of course. I am no great believer in either “natural” results or in true from the camera results.

Just the conversion to a monotone completely subverts any argument about natural results. I’ve never met anyone who sees in black & white. But you can see surprisingly passionate arguments on the internet on how “right” the rendering of a particular black & white film is.

Longing for Home

The next of my favourite people shots is not quite candid, but not quite posed. The gentleman was among a group of friends/acquaintances on the pavement on Water Street, just in front of Guyana Stores.

They were waiting to make delivery of rice loaded on their trucks. I think the wharf was not ready to take the rice so several heavily laden trucks were parked on the street waiting.

I asked if I could take a picture and initially several of the men, who were all sitting next to this one, or congregated in the same spot, initially said yes and as soon as I raised the camera they scooted out of the area. Mike and I are often taken for newspaper reporters/photographers. After all who else in their right minds would be walking around in the hot midday sun taking pictures?

So he didn’t pose, but he knew his picture was being taken.

Finally, everyone knows that Guyana is a country rich in colourful characters. This is one of the main reasons it is so enjoyable to photograph people here. In fact, I think you would be hard pressed to avoid meeting someone on the street who isn’t worth of a great photograph. If I were restricted from every taking anything other than photographs of people, I can make a decent go of it here.

Stepping Orange in the Afternoon

I took this photo from the top of the new Chief Office of the New Building Society, currently under construction. I was on the rooftop, about 6 or 7 stories above the street and one glance spotted this goodly gentleman. He was impossible to miss in the afternoon sun.

I promise I have not altered the saturation or colour of this image in any way. In fact, I used a colour calibrator (X-Rite Colour Checker Passport) to make sure that the colours are absolutely accurate for the light conditions.

It is fairly heavily cropped because I was so far away, but no other work done on the image. Another technical flaw is that the bright sunlight on the back of . . . suit, cause the orange to overexpose. I rather like it though, technical perfection does not necessarily a great photo make.

Like I said, I could happily photograph Guyanese for the foreseeable future.