Stay tuned because I’ll be writing soon about some of the lessons learned while shooting my first big video project!

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The final video is only about 4 minutes long and I’ve included it below. This was my first attempt to produce a video with the 5D Mark II and Final Cut Express but I’m pretty happy with the result. Obviously, I have a long way to go before I shoot the sequel to Avatar but, if you stick around, I’ll be sharing more and more videos over the next few months that will, hopefully, get progressively better.

Anyway, on to the video…

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“Pictory is a showcase for people around the world to document their lives and cultures. Anyone can submit one large, captioned image to each of Pictory’s editorial themes. I’m editor, designer, and founder Laura Brunow Miner, and I will select a few dozen of the best items from each theme to appear in each showcase.

“Why just one photo? I want you to pick your best image — and, it’s really interesting to compare work from different contributors on the same topic. Other sites offer photo essays and bodies of work from one photographer, but I want to help a diverse group of people put together collaborative photo essays.”

I was lucky enough to have one of my photos selected in their most recent showcase Danger. My selected photo and caption below…

“Every Friday in the Palestinian village of Bil’in, activists demonstrate against the construction of Israel’s “security/separation” wall. Often, these demonstrations turn violent. The Israeli army fires tear gas, rubber bullets, and occasionally live rounds while Palestinian demonstrators respond with rocks and slingshots.”

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The Brooklyn Bridge

In all my visits to New York, I’ve never actually visited the Brooklyn Bridge. I don’t know why, really. It was just never on the itinerary. This time, though, I made sure to get down there on a particularly beautiful day. I’ve included a few shots, three of which are panoramas, below:

Click on each photo for a larger version…

New York Subways

One of the things that I can never resist taking photos of is the New York subway system. There’s something about them that is distinctly New York. So I started a project that I hope to complete over my next few visits to New York. I want to photograph every subway entrance/station in Manhattan, perhaps even branching out to the other boros. I’ve embedded a Cooliris wall where you can browse the progress of the project thus far. You will need Flash enabled in order to view the wall below.

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You can see the entire set, including a few photos that are Not Safe For Work over at Flickr…

Click on each image for a larger version…

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I’ve barely started editing the shots from yesterday and I’ll probably be editing photos for most of this week but I wanted to grab a couple shots, edit them a bit, and get them up. I’ve included a couple below.

By the end of the week, I’ll be uploading all of the final edits.

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Right now, the attendee list is looking pretty great! I’m looking forward to dusting off some of my lighting equipment and shooting with a bunch of fellow photogs and working with some great local models. Please note: Some of the images in the attendee list may not be appropriate for viewing in an office environment.

If you’re a member of Model Mayhem, you can get more info and see the attendee list for the event by clicking the image above. You can also find me on Model Mayhem by clicking here.

You can also RSVP to the Facebook event here.

I look forward to seeing you there!!

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Shiny Object Syndrome

Shiny Object Syndrome is the desire many of us feel when we see something new or really cool that we weren’t aware of before and, now, we simply must have it. I don’t know of many professions that suffer from Shiny Object Syndrome more than photographers. There’s always a new camera or a new lens that we want. Given the cost of many of these items, we’re not likely to ever get to the point where we have everything we could possibly want. There’s always something cool we can throw our money at, right? How many times have you spent money on something (usually as a result of Spontaneous Shiny Object Syndrome) only to remember shortly afterward that there was something else you’ve been wanting to get as well that may have been more useful or more important? It may have been a workshop you’ve wanted to sign up for or it may have been a new lens that you were saving for. But in that moment of vulnerability, you forgot all about what you really needed and threw some cash at something that, while cool, isn’t as important. I know this has happened to me quite a few times. That’s when I started keeping a Wish List.

What Should be on the Wish List

In my opinion, anything over $100 or $200 should be eligible for the Wish List. Established photographers with larger budgets may want to adjust this but, for most of us, I think $100-200 is a good number to start with. This will allow us to pick up small things that we may want from day to day but will keep us from impulsively buying a new iPad even though we don’t really need one. This shouldn’t just be new gear you want, though that might be the most common Wish List item. It should include anything you want to spend money on. It could be workshops and training, membership fees to professional organizations, or even money you might spend on a personal project.

Working the List

When you come across something that activates your Shiny Object Syndrome, put it on the list, along with the cost and maybe a URL where you can get it. Then look at that item alongside the list of things that are already there and prioritize appropriately. Then, most importantly, sleep on it! Give yourself at least one day between adding it to the list and actually spending money on it. If the item is fairly expensive, extend this to two days, a week, or as long as you can. It’s remarkable how things tend to lose their shine after a day or two when they’re placed in a list alongside other things you’ve been wanting as well. After a few days, you may discover that the item should really be at the bottom of the list rather than the top. Or, as I’m almost ashamed to admit, you find out that the item really shouldn’t be on the list at all!

It’s also a good idea to keep the list on you in some way. This could be a small piece of paper in your wallet or something kept on your phone. Remember, the very nature of Shiny Object Syndrome is that it can strike without warning! You need to have your list on you or it may end up being useless. Personally, I use Evernote to keep my Wish List with me on my iPhone. That way when I come across something I think I need, I can simply add it to the list (and even take a photo of it) no matter where I am. Then, later on, I can review it and re-order the list on my computer when I get home.

Reviewing the List

Of course, you’ll want to review the list any time Shiny Object Syndrome sneaks up on you and you feel compelled to buy something but I would also advise taking the time to re-evaluate the list at least once every month. Over time, your priorities and needs will change and your Wish List should reflect that. The “cool new thing” inevitably isn’t going to be as “cool” or “new” one month from now. Or, your photography business may change and you may find yourself not needing that new macro lens as much as you thought. On the flip side, if something has managed to retain a top spot on your Wish List over the course of a month or two, chances are, it really may be something you could really use!

Conclusion

Hopefully, you’ll find that keeping a thoroughly vetted and reviewed Wish List will keep you from making stupid, impulse purchases and will really focus your expenses when you actually do have a few extra bucks to throw around.

By the way, I ended up buying the “Stills in Motion” training DVDs this morning… Hey! It didn’t hit my $100 threshold, right?

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As you may have noticed already, I am in the process of redesigning my blog completely! I’m mostly done but I’ll be making some changes and tweaks over the next few days. As of right now, I’ve had to disable the Disqus comment system since it was causing some problems with the new theme. I’m currently looking into it and hope to have a solution soon. Other than that, if you see something that doesn’t quite look right or you find something that’s broken, drop me a line!

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Over the weekend, I visited the Trumbull County Fair in NE Ohio. While I was there, I had the opportunity to shoot a horse show. I decided that I wanted to capture the motion of the horses and riders and give the sense of movement in my photos. So how did I do it? Well, I’ll explain.

First, the camera and lens settings are key, so I’ll start there:

The Lens

I shot most of the horse show with the Canon EF 70-200mm, f/2.8L IS lens. This is a fantastic lens! You certainly don’t need a high-end lens to capture shots like this but it does have features that help. What is that feature? It’s image stabilization, of course!

On the 70-200mm lens, there are two IS modes, creatively named 1 and 2. Mode 1 is for your normal image stabilization. It will help stabilize the lens and minimize camera shake at slow shutter speeds. Mode 2, on the other hand, helps to keep the lens stable when you’re panning, that is, shooting and moving the lens from side-to-side. There was plenty of panning given that the horses are moving horizontally in front of me.

The Camera

As many of you know, I have been shooting with the Canon 5D Mark II. However, every one of the features and settings I’ll talk about are available on most other Canon and Nikon cameras.

File Type

I love shooting in RAW. It gives me much greater flexibility when editing the photos later. However, in situations where I will be shooting a lot of photos very quickly, I absolutely need to shoot JPEG. When I’m shooting RAW, I can only shoot up to 13 or so before the camera needs to stop and write the files to the CF card. On top of that, RAW files are HUGE so writing them to the CF card will take much longer. In a situation where you’re capturing movement, you’re likely going to be shooting more than 13. When I shoot JPEG, I can fire off over 50 photos before the camera needs a break.

Auto-Focus Point and Mode

Because I don’t have time to refocus before every shot, I use the camera’s auto-focus mode. And, to make sure that the camera focuses on the right subject every time, I specifically set the center auto-focus point. That way I know that no matter what the camera is seeing, it will focus on whatever is on the center focus point. Otherwise, the camera might randomly focus on something else and I’ve just lost a whole string of shots.

This is also the only time I generally take the AF mode off of one shot focus. In one-shot focus, the camera focuses before the first shot and maintains that focus until you stop shooting and recompose. Well that doesn’t work here. I’m going to be taking multiple shots of a moving object and the focus might need to change from shot to shot. So how do I do that? I set the camera to AI Servo focus mode, also known as Continuous Focus on Nikon cameras. This forces the camera to stay focused on a moving object. Basically, the camera refocuses a split second before every shot even if you never take your finger off the shutter release. This is key when shooting a moving object. Without AI Servo, you would end up with a focused first shot (maybe not if the subject is moving very quickly) and a bunch of unfocused shots.

Light Metering

My light metering decisions are specific to this particular scenario and may not apply to yours. I’ll explain why.

When I was shooting, I realized that I was shooting many horses that were different colors. Some were mostly white while others were mostly dark. In addition, most of the background was lighter than the horse and I had the sun at my back. If I would have used normal evaluative metering, some of my shots might have been fine. But if a black (or dark) horse came up, I might lose detail in the horse itself and have a perfectly exposed background. Not exactly what I’m looking for. So I set the camera to spot metering. Spot metering reads the light in the small circle in the center of the frame and meters off of that. Do I risk blowing out the background? Sure. But I’d rather do that and preserve detail in the horse than end up with a nice background and an underexposed subject.

Shooting Mode

Generally, I shoot in Av (Aperture Priority) mode. I choose Av because it allows me to control the depth-of-field (DOF, i.e., or how much of the subject is in focus). In normal shots, I generally don’t care what the shutter speed is. I pick an aperture that gives me the right DOF and I take the shot. Whether the shutter moves at 1/100 or 1/1600 doesn’t matter. Unless, you’re shooting something that’s moving. If the shutter’s too slow, you’ll end up with nothing but blur. If the shutter’s too fast, you’ll freeze everything. I’d rather err on the side of freezing the movement than blurring all of it but what I really want is to find that sweet spot somewhere in between. So, I’d recommend shooting in Av, but keep an eye on your shutter speed. I’ll explain soon.

ISO

There really isn’t too much I can say about setting your ISO. The ISO is a measure of how sensitive your camera’s sensor is to light. When you shoot with a higher ISO, your shutter speed will be faster. When you lower the ISO, the shutter will be slower. More than likely, you’ll be bumping the ISO up a bit, depending on your light but you’ll end up using your ISO to manipulate your shutter speed. The bottom line is you want to find that “sweet spot”. Read on…

Capturing the Movement or Finding That Sweet Spot

There is no science to making sure you capture the movement perfectly each time. Each subject will move a little slower or faster than the next. Even in this case, I ended up changing shutter speed, aperture, and ISO from one horse to the next. What you’re looking for is the sweet spot for the movement you’re photographing.

Two Types of Movement

When you’re shooting something that’s moving you are actually shooting at least two things that are moving. In the photo above, we see that the horse is moving of course. But what else is moving? According to the camera, the background is also moving but at a different speed. While I’m shooting, I am moving the camera and lens to stay centered on the moving object. As far as the camera can tell, the background is moving and so is the subject. So where’s that sweet spot? The sweet spot exists when your shutter is moving fast enough to freeze most of your moving subject (in this case, the horse) but slow enough to blur the moving background. Make sense?

In the photo above, I shot at ISO1250 with an aperture of f/7.1 (so the whole horse and rider would be in focus) and a shutter speed of 1/100. As you can see from the photo, the body of the horse and rider are (mostly) frozen and sharp in the frame but the background and the horse’s hooves are blurred. The rider and horse body were moving slower than 1/100 of a second (relative to the camera) but I was moving the camera past the stationary background faster than 1/100 of a second.

I hope that helps to explain how to capture motion in your camera. Give it a shot! Right outside your door, you can probably find a moving car, right? Set up your camera and start snapping away!

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