Monthly Archives: May 2018

Stop being lazy and use a Tripod    

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      The discussion on whether to use a tripod just keeps returning. One would think photographers doing scenics would realize the value. Oh well, after another time talking with some photographers about why they should, I thought I’d repost this.                                           

In his book, “Backcountry Journal, Reminiscences of a Wilderness Photographer,” Dave Bohn, mountain and wilderness photographer writes, “The trouble with photographers, and anyone else attempting anything creative, and in fact doing anything, is that they get addicted…(and)…I was addicted to the tripod as a necessity for the photography of large landscapes.”

I will admit that there are times when I lazily release the shutter after having aimed my camera at some interesting landscape without using a tripod. After which I usually step back and remind myself that if I really care about that subject and want the best quality enlargement, I should definitely stop being lazy and use my tripod.

This past week I picked up my tattered old copy of Bohn’s book and read for a while. I have had my copy since it was printed in 1974, and I like to reread a few pages every so often.

Photographers that know me are aware that I like using a tripod for landscape photography, and often heard me say, “ If you don’t like using a tripod it means you never have used a good one”.

Today it’s popular to spend extra money on “vibration reduction,” or “image stabilizing,” lenses with the notion that this technology allows one to do scenic photography without needing a tripod. Many modern photographers are of the belief that the difference between a blurry and a sharp enlargement is megapixels or vibration reduction lenses.

I disagree and say the difference is a good, stable tripod.

I’m not saying photographers shouldn’t get image stabilizing lenses. They are great to use in certain situations and conditions when a tripod might be in way of unexpected action. Nevertheless, using a good tripod that allows one to stand up straight, take time to analyze the scene, problem solve, compose, and contemplate, is an excellent experience. In addition, it keeps the camera from moving.

When I select a tripod I want one that extends above my head so I can use it on hills. I don’t like bending over to peer through my camera’s viewfinder. I prefer tripod legs that can be extended out horizontally when the ground is uneven. I don’t want a crank to raise the center column as that is just added weight, and becomes one more thing to get caught on things. I like a column lock so I can easily move it up or down.

I also want a sturdy-enough tripod that is capable of supporting my camera, and I am always amazed when someone buys a cheap, little tripod to hold his or her camera and lens, which are worth well over the thousand dollar plus mark.

The tripod head is another subject completely and my advice is get one that has a reasonable size ball surface and is lightweight. A tripod shouldn’t be so heavy that it’s a bother to carry up and down the hills and backwoods.

I suggest buying from people that have used, or at least can discuss, the tripods they sell. The department store outlets will allow you to bring it back if you aren’t satisfied, but I am sure they are not interested in paying for the damages to your camera and lens that crashed to the ground while using their flimsy bargain tripod.

In recent years more and more quality tripods have become available. All one needs to do is spend some time researching and checking reviews.

Just as photographers spend time researching selecting cameras and lenses, my advice is to also take the time choose a good tripod to go along with them.

Photographing flowers.    

Posted by enmanscamera on

 

Just after I got to my shop this morning I received a text on my phone that read. “ Hi, How’s your shop today? I hope you sell something. What’s your article going to be about this week?”

To tell the truth, at that moment I was walking down the street to get a coffee from Tim Horton’s and I hadn’t thought about my shop, impending sales or my article.

Just coffee. However, when I got to the coffee shop there was a line, so to keep from being rude I returned a text that said, “I dunno, me too, dunno.”

I’ll shorten this story by saying that about four or five hours later I received another text from my friend Jo that said, “I have pictures for you of flowers in your yard. Stop by on your way home tonight and get the USB drive. They’ll be edited to PSDs and ready for your article.”

So the images I am posting this week are again from my photography pal Jo. However, this time she didn’t have to wander around in the rain.

Spring is just beginning and there are many plants in the process of poking out of the ground and blooming. I haven’t taken the time to photograph anything anywhere in the garden yet.

Maybe next week.

For me, photographing my wife’s garden is quite a time consuming process that includes a tripod, an off-camera flash or two, reflectors, and sometimes even a backdrop.

My wife used to complain that I enjoyed the photography more than her garden.

That may be so.

When I opened Jo’s images on the USB drive it was obvious that she was of the same mindset as my wife, and enjoyed the spring garden as much as she was enjoyed pointing her camera’s 70-200mm lens at everything growing there.

I have been noticing more and more flower pictures being shown on our local photographer’s page. I suppose Jo, like most of those that are posting flower pictures, could wander the mountain meadows around Kamloops, British Columbia. However,most of the pictures I see are of the same one or two early blooming wild plants, whereas the large fenced garden at my place has lots of different shapes and colours to choose from and if one is, like me, more interested in the image then the flower, a colourful garden is a great choice.

This is a good time to get out with one’s camera. Whether it’s to photograph plants and flowers in the rain or on a sunny day the growth and colours that spring brings is so stimulating.

The famous Canadian photographer Freeman Patterson, in his book, “Photography and the Art of Seeing” wrote, “ Seeing, in the finest and broadest sense, means using your senses, you intellect, and your emotions. It means encountering your subject matter with your whole being. It means looking beyond the labels of things and discovering the remarkable world around you.”

 

And thanks again to my good friend Jo McAvany.

 

 

 

Photography in the rain     

Posted by enmanscamera on

 

 

Last Sunday was cool and rainy. I had wandered a bit outside, but only long enough to feed my chickens and move some wooden chairs under a canopy so they wouldn’t get wet in the downpour.

Mostly, I just wasn’t interested in the rain or the cool light breeze and by noon I was content to just sit listening to music, and had just started a beer when there was a knock and my door and my friend Jo McAvany’s smiling face appeared through the window.

Some years ago one might have heard, “Can John come out and play?”   I really didn’t, I was enjoying the blues music and my beer on that rainy day. However, Jo had her camera and I knew I didn’t have much of a chance. She said, “How about we wander around, I want to take some pictures in the rain.

Ten minutes later we were ambling around pointing our cameras at features that on a sunny day might not have given us as interesting and creative photographs.

There are some cameras that are almost waterproof. A Nikon advertisement I once read stated that some models are, “splash proof’. Nevertheless, my main accessory for a rainy day is an old kitchen T-towel for wiping the rain off my camera. Every now and then I give my camera a wipe so the rain doesn’t accumulate, and continue on.

Shooting in the rain is one time that I enjoy a modern camera’s ability to use high ISO. Back in the painful days of film we were limited to 400ISO with colour film. There were a few black and white films that were rated at 3200, but their ability to give photographers reasonable image quality wasn’t all that good.

Wide scenic photos aren’t very pleasing in the overcast flat lighting, so we concentrated on more intimate and close-up subjects. Both Jo and I were using 70-200mm lenses that focused reasonably close. Not macro close, but close enough for us to confine and restrict the view.

Cloudy days always seem to be more colourful for plant photography, and there is something about green leaves and grasses on rainy days that attract me.

I once read, “one should embrace the rain’s infinite photo opportunities”. I like that. Photographing in the rain gives the photographer the chance to explore a whole new world that on a sunny, shadow filed day is invisible. The raindrops and the wet subjects are so inviting.

I know those gray clouds can be disappointing. However, keep a positive attitude. Sure there is a strong possibility that your hair and the knees of your pants are going to get wet, but in my opinion, wet knees are certainly worth the voyage. And remember you don’t have to go far, and with a bit of creative thinking and preparation you’ll be out having fun making photos, even in wet weather.