BetterPhoto Instructor Insights

Flash Photography in an Aquarium

by Jim Zuckerman

On the way home from my recent trip to India, I was waiting to go through the immigration line when I noticed that the New Delhi airport had an aquarium. I had never seen one in an airport before, so I got out of line and went over to see if there was a photo opportunity. I was rewarded with this unique species of starfish clinging to the glass. The dorsal surface, which I could see from the side view through the aquarium, was actually more dramatic than the ventral side facing outward. Unfortunately I couldn’t get a good angle on that. So I contented myself with doing close-ups of the underside of this bizarre yet beautiful creature.

I was carrying a cord with me that allows the use of off-camera flash. It connects the hotshoe on the camera to a socket in the base of the flash. Sometimes I carry the Pocket Wizard as well because it enables the wireless use of off-camera flash, but on this trip I only had the cord. In this instance, direct on-camera flash would have put a terrible reflection in the glass and ruined the shot. Holding the flash at an angle was my only option. I took a few shots holding my Canon Speedlite 580 at arm’s length, but then a man walked up to watch what I was doing and I enlisted his help. He was able to hold the flash further away and at a better angle to the glass – about 40 degrees to the lens axis.

The immediacy of digital technology allowed me to inspect the images to make sure I wasn’t getting any unwanted reflections. It also enabled me to show my assistant what we were accomplishing, and this kept him interested long enough to get several good pictures. I used a Canon 1Ds Mark II and a 50mm macro lens, and I hand held the camera.

BetterPhoto's School of Photography: Focus on Short Courses

Grad Filter - Filters class © Tony Sweet

Hi everyone:

At BetterPhoto.com™, our standard online photography courses run for 8 weeks. And we have so many classes that fit that format perfectly. However, some subjects simply work better in a smaller time frame - 4 weeks. And, of course, for many students, the Short Course fits their own personal schedule best too!

Here's a sampling of some of the terrific 4-Week Short Courses that we have to offer:

The Four Essential Filters for Film and Digital Cameras
Filters are essential tools in one's quest to achieve professional quality imagery.

In this 4-week course, master photographer/author Tony Sweet will discuss the four essential filters: warming; polarizing; graduated split neutral density; and non-graduated neutral density. Info:
http://www.betterphoto.com/photocourses/TNS04.asp

Executive Portraits - Beginning Strobe class © Charlie Borland

Beginners Guide to Strobe Lighting
Do people ask you to take photographs that require lighting and you are not sure where to start? Or maybe you already have lights, but find yourself stumbling around wondering how they work, what they do, and how to use them.

Join award-winning commercial photographer Charlie Borland as he shares his knowledge in a step-by-step approach to making the jump from lighting novice to experienced lighting technician. This 4-week course - Beginners Guide to Strobe Lighting - is especially geared to photographers who have new lights and want to know how to use them for basic photography. Info:
http://www.betterphoto.com/photocourses/CBL04.asp

We also offer many other Short Courses. Here's a rundown:
http://www.betterphoto.com/online-photography-short-courses.asp

That's it for now. Enjoy your photography in the new year!!
Kerry Drager

Photographing with Awe and Wonder

While organizing picture files this past week, I came across an old black and white print from a story I’d done for Sunset Magazine. It was a feature on the north shores exhibit of the Denver Zoo, a new installation at that time, and big draw for the Zoo. The polar bears were the biggest hit of the new section. The underwater window was a great place to watch them paddling around in their pool. In fact, it was very hard to get space at the window most the time, as adults and kids pressed their faces to the glass for an awe-filled look at these wonderful animals. I waited a long time for this image, but it was just what I was looking for - a one-on-one inspection. Was the polar bear wondering what this 'odd-looking' creature was, outside it's environment? Was the child wondering what this ‘cuddly bear’ was doing swimming around? Whatever the thoughts, there was surely WONDER happening in the air when I made this picture.

This got me thinking about how special a life as a photographer really is. I get to go to great places - even just the local marsh, and experience awe and wonder - whether it’s mine, or someone else’s. I experience the beauty of birds, trees, plants, flowers, and animals. I witness the best sunrises and sunsets and full moons, and I feel the cool breezes, the gentleness of snow falling, and yes, even the biting sleet as it hits my face - all while out there, photographing.

I also get to experience great travel locations - and wonderful people, unique cultures; I meet and photograph mayors, hot air balloon pilots, scientists, local cheese makers and farmers. I'm invited to share in a Swiss wedding, a Mexican parade festival, to taste fried grasshoppers and homemade Tuscan olive oil.

I’m convinced that all of those experiences happen because I try to live my life through the filter of Awe and Wonder. And what other job could give me such great experiences?

Now, before you all go and quit your nice salary-producing positions, you can experience the same things, by being an inspired photographer, a passionate photographer. Whether it's weekends or on vacations, you can have the same awe-inspired experiences. You just have to get out there and put yourself in places that interest you. With photography as your passion, you can have the greatest experiences outside the walls of your office. So in this New Year to come, make a resolution to get out there more, to explore new places, and revisit old ones, to see Nature and Life more deeply through the lens of your camera. Share you work, your experiences, with others around you, share the Awe and Wonder you have. It's catching, and it's the very thing that can deepen other people's lives, too!

Happy New Year, everyone.

Inspiration from a Student

by Jim Zuckerman

In the many courses I teach at Betterphoto, I am privileged to see a lot of amazing photography. In my recent Photoshop course, one of my students, Khawla Kelly Haddad, produced some outstanding pictures with birds. I was so inspired by her work that I revisited my own collection of birds to put together a new series of images based on her ideas. In art, we all use the work of others to get ideas and to be inspired. I know that my students use my work for that purpose, too, and then they go off on their own tangent and create images that come from within themselves. In this instance, I used a wonderful idea and then combined images from my files that had been sitting dormant for many, many years.

The original photo of the gull was made by luring the bird to crackers I was tossing in the air on a California beach. The bird was photographed against a pale blue sky, and instead of cutting it out of the background with the pen tool in Photoshop, which would have been very difficult because of the blurred wings, I used a blending mode in the Layers palette (soft light) to combine the photo of the gull with a picture of stormy clouds. I then used the Photoshop plug-in ‘Flood’ to create the reflection. Flood allows you to adjust the horizon line; I chose to place it in such a way to suggest the gull’s foot was beneath the water line, as if its immersion into the water was the cause of the ripples in the surface of the ocean.

Traveling Easily with Camera Gear

Makin' a list, checkin' it twice....

Salesman, Cairo, Egypt.

As I prepare for a trip to Florida for Fotofusion, and then on to Egypt, my mantra has become “think light, travel light”. With both the airline restrictions in carryon weight, and my own self-prescribed limits of what I’m willing to carry, I’m reevaluating everything that goes into my camera bag!

By default, photographers are often pack rats when it comes to putting things into the camera bags. It makes sense - we don’t want to get caught without enough batteries, or memory cards, or film; we want that macro lens in case we find some cool close-up subjects; and you never know when the elk is going to cross Main Street - so we have to have the 300mm or longer lens for that, too. But in reality, just how much do we REALLY need to do our creative job? Would one or two lenses serve the purpose of three or four with a little accessorizing? These questions and more are worth asking when you have to pack a bag that will not only be within the limits of the airlines’ rules, but will also be comfortable when traveling about.

Here are some thoughts and tips on bags and equipment to carry:

1. Assess the style of travel on your trip. Will you be walking around a lot through village streets, cities, Egyptian ruins? Or will you be trekking on trails to mountain views, and exploring forests or meadows for nature images?

• If it’s the cities or villages, a shoulder style bag is more useful as you can quickly change lenses and grab a flash unit from the bag even while walking. I use Lowe Pro's Street and Field System of bags; the Reporters have slots to add a hip belt, and this takes the weight off the shoulder completely and disperses it. It also adds extra security and the belt has slots for attachable accessory pouches.

• If it’s the mountains or forests, a backpack-style bag is great - it keeps your hands free for walking sticks, and simply balances the load on your body in a better way. It’s also nice to lay out on the ground and have the gear easily accessible when working on nature subjects. I use Lowe Pro's Trekkers for this type of travel.

Sometimes, I’ll travel on the airplane with the Trekker bag, and stuff the empty Reporter bag in my luggage for later use. It allows me to comfortably carry my gear through the airports and on/off planes, and allows me more gear storage, too.

2. What lenses do you really need the most? If it comes to making a decision between your array of lenses, think about the types of images you’ll be encountering or creating on this trip. If your trip is about cultures, places, etc., a wide angle to medium telephoto range is perfect - and you can do that with one to three lenses! I’m planning on my 16-35mm, 24-70mm, 70-200mm and the tele converters to lengthen that 70-200mm to a 400mm if needed. Macro lens will stay home, but extension tubes will come with me to allow all my lenses to get closer if needed.

3. To Flash or not to flash? I simply can’t leave home without it. There are too many times that not having a flash meant not getting a good picture, so it’s a staple in my camera bag.

4. Accessories. My mother used to say “a girl can’t ever have enough accessories.” So I make sure I have a lightweight battery charger, remote release, hurricane blower, notebook and pen, extra memory cards, eyeglass repair kit, small roll gaffers tape, allen wrench (for tightening tripod legs) rubber jar opener (for stuck filters), mini-flashlite and a few other odds and ends that change according to where I’m traveling.

5. Tripod or Monopod? Perhaps the most celebrated love/hate relationship with photographers is with their tripods. I hear so many people complaining about carrying one, yet later making excuses for why they didn’t get a sharp image! It’s a dilemma - you want the sharp pictures, but you get so tired of carrying the tripod, so you lose your creative energy by the end of the afternoon. It’s just ‘one more thing’ to carry that often gets left behind at home - or in the hotel. So here’s some alternative ideas to the rescue:

Buy Kirk’s Strap Pod for that extra support that packs small into your bag or pocket.
This little product has two types of mounts for cameras and is a very versatile idea!

Buy image stabilized lenses - they still give you more stability than you’d have on
your own...

Bring a bean bag - they make great cradles for your cameras and wrap around many
surfaces for support - thought that support may not be in position where you want it!

Consider a monopod - lightweight, compact, and sometimes even a combination walking stick/monopod, this is a great solution for when you can’t carry around a full
tripod but need some support.

Of course, if you really want rock-solid sharpness, it has to be a ‘serious’ enough tripod to give you the stability you need, but even a very lightweight tripod can do the job if there’s no wind, and you use a remote release and your camera has mirror lockup.

Well there’s some ideas for traveling light, yet complete. It’s a work in progress for me, each time I go, I become more efficient in the gear that I take and the ease at which I travel with that gear.

Have a great week! And the happiest of holidays to you all...

Learn All About Our Online Photography Courses

The lineup of online photography classes at BetterPhoto.com™ is quite an extensive one ... more than 50 courses in all! But with so many classes to choose from, it's not easy picking the right one. Plus, if you've never taken one of our courses before, you might want to know some of the basic details on how our online courses work. Here's more:

What Is a BetterPhoto Class Like?
- Take an illustrated tour of the online course concept.
- Read a rundown of how these photo courses work

How to Pick the Best Class ... For You
- Check out our Guide to Categories ... in which all 8-week courses are listed by subject. Be sure to check out the links to the Course Outline and Course Q&A at the bottom of the main course page.
- See our list of Short Courses - specialized subjects in a 4-week format.
- You might want to choose a course that best fits your ability ... if so, don't miss our Guide to Skill Levels page.
- We have a talented group of instructors - each highly skilled at photography and teaching. Most are published authors of photo how-to books. All are extensively published. Check out the instructor bios page.

Have a great holiday season!
Kerry Drager

Photographing Dancers at Night

By Jim Zuckerman

During my recent photo tour to India, my group and I had the opportunity to photograph a spectacular display of classical dancing at night. The background was the 13th century Sun Temple at Konark, but depending on the angle of shooting and the movement of the dancers, more than likely the background was the night sky. I got permission for the group to stand at the edge of the stage, below the audience, so we could get top-notch shots without the heads of other people in our pictures.

I explained to the eight people in the group that the main challenge with this kind of situation is exposure. As the dancers move back and forth across the stage, the artificial lighting changes – depending on their distance to each light. In addition, the night sky will fool the camera’s meter into underexposure. What happens is this: meters are programmed to interpret every situation as medium gray (middle toned). When much of the composition is black, the meter wants to do the only thing it knows how to do -- make the picture lighter so it’s middle toned. Consequently, the dancers will be overexposed.

Things happen very quickly during a dance performance. It’s really impossible to access the exposure each second because it changes constantly. Automatic exposure is a big help, but it’s important to understand what will happen if we don’t use our brain to override the meter. I suggested to everyone that they set their exposure compensation dial to minus one f/stop. My rationale was that this would prevent overexposure, and if a dancer was taken full frame with little black sky in the background, then the picture would be somewhat dark – but in the RAW converter, this is an easy fix. With a digital capture, it’s easier to fix a picture that is underexposed than overexposed, so I wanted to err in the direction where we had a simple solution. This is one reason for always shooting in RAW and never jpeg.

Another problem we faced was keeping the dancers in focus. Most of our shooting was done with medium telephotos, and the dancers moved so fast that they would go in and out of focus very quickly (we couldn’t use tripods because it was impossible to follow the action on a tripod, being so close to the stage). Therefore, I suggested that we shoot on continuous focus (also called AI servo and Sports Mode), rather than one-shot. Just like photographing a flying bird or a kid playing soccer, the camera keeps the subject in focus as it moves. This is what we did, and this technique made it possible to capture many wonderful dance poses.

These images look like the dancers were posing for my camera, but in fact very few of them held still for more than a second. All of these images were taken with the Canon 1Ds Mark II and a 70 – 200mm f/2.8 IS lens. I didn't use a flash because I didn't want to destroy the effective stage lighting, and on-camera flash is not flattering at all.

How to Buy the Best Tripod ... for You!

A tripod is such an important accessory - not only for the best in image quality, but also for fine-tuning compositions when photographing stationary subjects. I use a tripod for virtually every non-action, non-candid scene.

But picking the right tripod is such a personal decision. For instance, ask a dozen serious photographers what model of tripod they use, and you'll likely get at least 15 answers ... or more! (Some shooters, like me, have more than one tripod ... one a hefty carry-in-the-car model, the other a lightweight, go-anywhere one.)

In the market for a tripod? Here are some guidelines:

Be sure to choose a model (both legs and head) that will easily support your camera system - especially crucial if you own a big telephoto or zoom. And, if you do a lot of low-to-the-ground work (flowers, macro, etc.), you'll need one that goes down reeeeeeally loooooow. More thoughts:

In-store shopping: Take your heaviest lens/camera combination, set up the tripod that looks most promising, and see how it performs with your gear. Be sure to swing the camera into a vertical orientation, which is always the ultimate test for a tripod head ... i.e., does the head "lock" into position and stay there? Or does the camera slowly slip downward even though you locked things tight?

Shopping online: If you don't know the weight of your largest set-up, then consult your camera/lens instruction manuals or the manufacturer's Web site for the specifications. Next, see how that total weight matches up against the recommended maximums for the tripod/head model you are thinking of ordering.

Incidentally: The tripod sections of some camera store Web sites are set up so you can see all tripods that meet your weight requirements. Not surprisingly, generally the heavier the camera/lens you have, the more expensive the tripod/head you'll require!

That's it for now. Have fun shooting!
By Kerry Drager

A Season for Creativity, Reflecting, and Rest

I finally finished my intensive schedule of field workshops and photo tours in early November, and was very excited that all of November and December were 'mine' to do as I pleased. And oh, did I have big plans. I was going to completely gut the office and clean up the messy piles of stuff that had been neglected in all my wanderings. I was going to attack the garden and weed out the overgrown plants and prune back the roses and maple trees. I was going to process the 25 GBs of digital images that have been waiting for the new Apple G5 computer I needed to process them efficiently. On the home front, we were going to paint, install flooring on the first floor, and clean out the garage. Oh, and did I mention go out regularly and make photographs? It doesn't take a high-level mathematician to figure out that there wasn't enough time in these two months to do all the above, not when you include time with a partner, a dog, reconnecting with some old friends, getting the annual medical appointments out of the way, and some well-earned rest.

© Brenda Tharp. All rights Reserved.

About the first of December, I panicked - only one month left and I still hadn't been out the door much to photograph, or finished reorganizing my slides, or processing my digital files! Even though progress was being made in many directions, I was feeling overwhelmed with the piles of work still ahead. That's when I stopped myself and took a deep breath, and let it all out again. I had to reframe things. I looked around me and saw that the time was being used to recharge my internal batteries. Walking the dog daily was good for my body and my soul. And sorting through the piles of stuff in my office, rather than being daunting, meant revisiting pictures I had made and put aside during my busy schedule. Those pictures inspired me and new ideas for projects developed. As I got to the bottom of each pile, I felt new energy to tacklel the next. Rather than looking forward with a pressing deadline, I got lost in the "now," in the creative ideas that were spread before me on my light table and my computer screen. I created the image here by playing around taking one digital image, copying it, pasting it as a new layer, flipping it horizontally, and then running curves to lighten the two layers. Some might call all this playing around procrastination, but I'd prefer to call it creative exercise! In spite of all that I have to do, I am enjoying the time off and know that somehow it will all get done when it needs to be.

Have a great week,

Impressions of a Place

by Jim Zuckerman

I just returned from conducting a photo tour to India, and one of the techniques I shared with the eight people on my trip was how to create an impression of a place, rather than interpreting it literally. With the immediacy of digital technology, I showed them that slow shutter speeds used from moving vehicles at night can result in abstractions that are quite pleasing. Depending on the speed of the vehicular movement, the lens choice, and the light available, the shutter speed is chosen for its ability to artistically render a scene as an impression instead of a sharply defined image. The bicycle rickshaw in Varanasi was taken at 1/4 second from a slowly moving vehicle at night. I’ve enhanced the color with hue/saturation in Photoshop so the colors of the lights are much richer than in the original capture.

I did the same thing in the daytime in the Calcutta flower market and when my group and I took a short rickshaw ride into an area of the city where cars couldn’t park. The bright ambient light required a small lens aperture and a low ISO, but this enabled me to use 1/6th and 1/8th seconds, respectively, to achieve the effect I wanted. Not all blurs work out. It often takes several attempts to get one that looks good, but it’s fun trying.