PHOTOGRAPHING SEASONAL CHANGES

While these two photographs are not perfectly "registered" with each other, it is always interesting to take images of the same subject in various seasons. The above two photographs were taken from my old house on Douglas Avenue, Saint John, New Brunswick Canada. Our city has a diverse collection of architectural styles, which makes it a haven for all types of visual artists.

I did not plan out the above photographs to work in tandem with each other, however if I did, this is what I would do:

1. Buy a used tripod that is solid and not wobbly, with a quick-release camera attachment plate.
2. Attach it to your house in a solid fashion.
3. Make sure the tripod head is locked tightly so that it will not move during the year.
4. At the first of every month place the same camera on the tripod, and take your monthly photo.
5. Make sure that all of your 12 images have the same "F-stop" number, preferably f/8.
6. When the year is finished, place the 12 photos into a slide show with a dissolve, and you will have a nice short film to send to your friends!

For more detailed information on any of these steps, or if you have any questions about this process or any other photography question, call me anytime at www.clarity.fm/markhemmings

These two photos are ready for your wall as large fine art prints! Check them out here: www.markhemmings/prints www.markhemmings.com/prints
Mark is available for hire as a photographer or filmmaker at www.hemmingshouse.com

INDUSTRIAL TIME LAPSES

Dear reader, if this entry or my other blog entries don't answer your specific photography questions, you can call me on the phone anytime for advice by clicking here.

In late fall we finished a very cool project where we were hired to do a time-lapse of a Potash Mining tower being constructed. While this blog post may not be of interest to many of you, the great thing about films like this is that it is within every photographer's grasp. The entire production was done on a Nikon D300 and Nikon D90, both cameras being prosumer models, and not too expensive:




As our company grows, we continually desire to stretch our creativity by pushing inexpensive (but good) equipment to the limit. While this philosophy will have its detractors, the bottom line is that so far we have received very favorable responses from our clients. Their desire is quality at a low price, ours is quality with as much profit as possible. This is often accomplished by the balancing act of reducing expenses as much as possible without sacrificing on the technical and aesthetic side. Essentially, if you can do the job with the camera that you have, instead of buying the newest and coolest, save that money and reinvest it into your company. Eventually you will need to upgrade, and at that time you will have the savings to do so.



Mark's photographic prints for your wall can be purchased at www.markhemmings.com
Mark can be hired as a photographer or filmmaker via www.hemmingshouse.com

JAPAN AND THE NIKON 35mm f1.8 LENS

Dear reader, if this entry or my other blog entries don't answer your specific photography questions, you can call me on the phone anytime for advice by clicking here.

I just got back from an excellent trip to Japan, and was fortunate to get this shot of a Maiko Geisha as she entered the famous Ichiriki-tei tea house on Hanami-koji street in Kyoto.

It was dark outside, so I used the new and very nice Nikon 35mm f1.8 lens with a higher ISO. I had no idea what the results would be! Looking at the image now, it could pass for a performance on a stage due to the street lights and curtain.

I have used the Nikon 35mm f1.8 quite a bit now, and I don't have a single complaint. It is great for travel photography, as it is lightweight, inexpensive, great in low-light conditions, has an excellent background blur, and works very well with DSLR video.

Mark's photographic prints for your wall can be purchased at www.markhemmings.com
Mark can be hired as a photographer or filmmaker via www.hemmingshouse.com

BACKGROUNDS

Dear reader, if this entry or my other blog entries don't answer your specific photography questions, you can call me on the phone anytime for advice by clicking here.

An enjoyable client of mine is Happinez Wine Bar. Each month I am asked to do the Wine of the Month photography, which always stretches my creativity. This month's wine was a deep, dark bottle, and was perfect for a high contrast and graphic treatment.

This post is simply an encouragement to try various backgrounds that at first seem ridiculous. This bottle was photographed at our studio, on top of our ping pong table! For those who know ping pong, you will recognize the white line.

When trying various backgrounds for your subject matter, keep in mind that contrast adjustments will usually aid your photograph. In this instance, I set the camera to maximum contrast, for deep blacks and crisp whites.

Mark's photographic prints for your wall can be purchased at www.markhemmings.com
Mark can be hired as a photographer or filmmaker via www.hemmingshouse.com

PHOTO ASSISTANTS

Dear reader, if this entry or my other blog entries don't answer your specific photography questions, you can call me on the phone anytime for advice by clicking here.

This week's blog post is not so much a photo lesson, but an admonition to avoid deleting photos in-camera. During each photo shoot I get my assistant Jon or Jen to stand in for the subject so I can adjust the lighting. In the past I would always delete these test shots, even if I did not need to delete them due to a large memory card. A few weeks ago I decided to collect all the pics of my photo assistants posing for the camera. The results are fantastic, and I plan to put them on my website when I get a few more images.

If you can avoid deleting photos in-camera, who knows what kind of jems you will come up with. I realize that it takes extra time during post-processing, but I have found that many of my favorite shots through the years have actually been the test shots, that I normally would have deleted.

Mark's photographic prints for your wall can be purchased at www.markhemmings.com
Mark can be hired as a photographer or filmmaker via www.hemmingshouse.com

INTRODUCTION TO LAYERS

Dear reader, if this entry or my other blog entries don't answer your specific photography questions, you can call me on the phone anytime for advice by clicking here.

For those of you who are already well versed in Layers, you may find this information of little value. However, if you are just now starting to learn the value of Layers in Photoshop or other programs, I would encourage you to keep learning!

I created this sample photo to give you an idea of what is possible utilizing layers:

#1. This is the base exposure, which also included the cobblestone road. At the time, there were no people walking on the street.

#2. As my camera was firmly fixed on my tripod, I took photo #2 of the person walking down the sidewalk. The camera exposure remained the same as the first photo, which is essential (manual exposure for this process is very helpful).

#3. I waiting a little longer for this next group of people to walk into frame. Again, they were exposed with the same amount of light as #1 and #2.

#4. This fourth photo was of a horse and carriage that went by. That part of the photo seemed empty, so the addition of the wagon was very much welcomed.

#5. This part of the photo was incredibly overexposed. It was too bright and too harsh, so I underexposed the photograph to even things out.

In Photoshop, I now had 5 separate photographs available to cut and paste. The final image is a well-exposed, relatively dynamic travel image. There are many great on-line resources on how to actually create Layers in Photoshop, so do a search and start opening up your horizons! I have found that the greatest advantage of Layers (for me) is the ability to get even exposure throughout the whole photograph, and add people to the photograph in a very natural way.

Finally, for those of you who are valiantly protesting in your mind regarding the ethics of this type of photo manipulation, it is time for you to realize that almost every advertising image you see in the entire world is manipulated to some degree. If you don't don't ascribe truth to advertising photographs to begin with, you won't have those ethical questions to deal with.

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Mark's photographic prints for your wall can be purchased at www.markhemmings.com

Mark can be hired as a photographer or filmmaker via www.hemmingshouse.com

ELIMINATING EMPTY SPACE

Dear reader, if this entry or my other blog entries don't answer your specific photography questions, you can call me on the phone anytime for advice by clicking here.

If empty space in a photograph is not needed for printed text, why not get rid of it? I find that horizontal photos can be given more power simply by cropping the relatively useless strips of space above and below the main action.

I just took this interior for a client, and I knew ahead of time that the ceiling was a distraction because of the fans, and the extra empty floor made the tables and chairs less visually potent.

Greater authority is often possible when photographs in standard aspect ratio are given a slight panoramic crop treatment. I always admire dedicated Panoramic cameras, and how the thin, long slice of image holds one's attention slightly longer than our normal print sizes. I have seen it done very successfully with Nature photographers, and in my experience slight panoramics work equally well with horizontal Interior/Architecture photos.

Exceptions: While I am sure that many photographers have been successful at creating vertical panoramic crops, it has never worked out quite right for me. As for art directors, it may be wise to give them the un-cropped AND cropped version of the photo. If they need to add text to the image, they will have the space to do so at the top or bottom of the image.

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Mark's photographic prints for your wall can be purchased at www.markhemmings.com

Mark can be hired as a photographer or filmmaker via www.hemmingshouse.com

PHOTOGRAPHING THE SUN

Dear reader, if this entry or my other blog entries don't answer your specific photography questions, you can call me on the phone anytime for advice by clicking here.

I took this photo last week while walking through the woods. In this day of digital manipulation, I have witnesses to attest that this is exactly what we saw in the sky! It was a magnificent "sundog", a ring around the sun that happens on rare occasions.

When photographing the sun, for any reason, here are a few tips:

1. Manually focus your lens to infinity. The brightness of the sun may confuse your autofocus sensors.

2. Set your exposure to Aperture Priority, and underexpose the photo by using your Exposure Compensation +/- dial. The camera's exposure computer will automatically underexpose the photo anyway, as a result of the incredibly bright sun. However, for more dramatic effect, you can use your exposure compensation to varying degrees.

3. Do not look at the sun through your camera viewfinder, as this can cause eye damage. Wear sunglasses, compose and shoot quickly.

4. You can experiment with different white balance settings (for digital) or colored filters (for film). Each change in color temperature offers a different emotion for the viewer.

5. Caution: I have experienced first-hand certain digital SLR's that have a very difficult time handling the extreme brightness of direct sunlight. If the resulting photo looks extremely off, without smooth tonal gradations, it may be best not to submit your camera's sensor to such abuse.

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Mark's photographic prints for your wall can be purchased at www.markhemmings.com

Mark can be hired as a photographer or filmmaker via www.hemmingshouse.com