OLD AND NEW EXPRESSIONS

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 is a still image from a new film I am working on, using a similar stop-motion animation technique as my film entitled GEIST.
This time I am experimenting with using an old mid-20th century twin lens reflex camera made by Yashica.

Today's blog entry is not a photography lesson, rather an encouragement to start photographing and thinking in very non-traditional ways. For photography as art, don't worry about sharpness and technical accuracy; soul is far more important.

Use materials that have appeared in the past, and mix them with present day materials. With experimentation you should be able to come up with some very intriguing results! With a mind-numbing mass of good photographers around the world, you need to really provide the world with a solid and unique look. This may be the hardest part in any photography career. If you are at this stage, my encouragement is to read old photography magazines, and current fashion, lifestyle, art, and design magazines. A mixture of past, present, and future influences can only help in molding your own individual style.

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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

UNEXPECTED RESULTS

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I feel very grateful that I thoroughly enjoy photographing almost all of the commercial assignments that I receive. This is no doubt due to the trust that my clients have in my abilities, which allows me to experiment and find new ways of presenting normal subjects.

I am asked to photograph wine and food fairly regularly, and I always enjoy the task because it forces me to out-do my last job. This delicious 2004 Argentinian Alfa Crux Malbec had me stumped, as nothing was working out. The lighting was uninspired, and I couldn't seem to go beyond the look of a normal documentary style product shot.

I unintentionally placed one of my umbrellas behind the bottle, rearranging the studio to try for a different light setup. I did a test shot just to make sure my wireless units were working, and to my surprise found out that the umbrella itself worked as a decent (and unexpected) background! I fine-tuned the shot adding an additional frontal fill light, and gave the image to the client, who was very happy with the results.

I will be honest and admit that a good percentage of my best images are serendipitous. I am thankful for this, as I am well aware of my own limited capacities, and enjoy when the "Invisible Hand" takes over for me. I would encourage young photographers who are struggling with finding your creativity to purchase and read the book entitled The Artists Way. It may be a catalyst to take you from cerebral problem solving to right brain (and possibly spiritual) aptitude.

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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

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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

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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

EASY INTERIOR LIGHTING

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It is my desire that these weekly lessons be profitable for photographers who want to make the leap from amateur to professional, but do not as of yet have the funds to buy all the necessary equipment. In this lesson I will show a very simple way to get decent interior photography results with minimal equipment.

Two weeks ago I was asked by a client to help create an ad campaign that involved teenagers doing unwanted housework. While I used studio strobes for this shoot, I could have just as easily used the following inexpensive set-up:

(The first step is to make sure you have a removable camera flash, also called a speedlight. You will also need a very long extension PC Synch cord from your local camera store. Purchase the longest one possible. If your camera doesn't have a PC terminal, ask your camera store clerk for a hot shoe PC terminal adaptor)

1. Using a tripod, compose the photo so window light is acting as the main light source hitting the subject matter. Take a test photo and make sure the subject is well exposed.
2. On a piece of paper, write down the exposure of the photo that you just took (f-stop and shutter speed).
3. Change your camera exposure mode to manual, and use the same shutter and aperture numbers that are written down on your piece of paper.
4. Connect your external camera flash to the PC extension cord, and have a friend place it behind the subject at a fair distance. Do a test shot to make sure the flash fires when the picture is taken.
5. At this point, there is only one variable for exposure, and that is the power of the flash unit. Since your camera is in Manual mode, the majority of the exposure will remain the same from picture to picture. The flash exposure however, may be either too bright, or not bright enough. Ask your friend to increase or decrease the power of the flash unit until the back of the subject is evenly exposed.
6. As you can see in my example photo, the uni-directional back light of the flash unit is balanced well with the frontal window light. Because the flash unit from behind is usually harsh and direct, you will get shadows similar to the one created by the roll of paper towels. I like this look, as it creates a "sharp" and contrasty look to the photo, which is usually required for commercial jobs.

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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

MONOCHROME PHOTOS

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A few tips for creating black and white, or monochrome images:

1. Use Black and White film!
2. If option #1 is not available, set your camera to maximum contrast.
3. Choose a scene that has as few visual elements as possible. The simpler the scene, the more power will be transmitted to the viewer.
4. Keep your photo in color, and create your black and white later within your editing program. You will have many more tonal options within your software, and possibly better quality, than using the "Black and White" option within your camera itself.
5. Turn off Auto ISO in your camera. Because of excessive digital grain (noise) inherent in black and white conversions, it is very important to keep your camera ISO setting at its lowest number (ISO 100 or 200).
6. Shoot in RAW mode if possible. This goes for all types of photography. RAW files allow for maximum flexibility, and if mistakes are made by you in processing, you can always return to the master digital negative.

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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

NIKON D300

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 don't usually mention specific brands on this blog, but one noteworthy product deserves special mention: the Nikon D300.

I bought one just a few days ago to use as a back-up camera body. I didn't expect anything great, just normal Nikon dependability.

My family and friends went to a picnic yesterday, and I took the camera to photograph the kids. I wanted to see how well the camera dealt with skin tones using the on-camera flash. I don't ever use such flashes in studio, but for travel photography situations I often wished my pro camera body had a pop-up flash to capture fleeting, low light opportunities (Geisha in Kyoto come to mind). The D300 is amazing! I have no idea how they were able to do it, but the small pop-up flash creates fill light better than workhorses such as the D2Xs with a Nikon SB800 speedlight. I was very impressed with how well the camera judges exposure.

Usual problem areas with flash photography are blown-out foreheads, noses, and chins. This has always been a problem for editorial or event photographers, as they are almost always using a flash unit attached to the camera. Each flash photo that I took with the D300 was perfectly exposed; no bright foreheads or noses, and the background was always well balanced with the foreground subject matter. When I got home and checked all the images, my first thought was that (among many others), this was a great camera for travel, news, and event photographers. It is light-weight, fast, and exposes intelligently in full AUTO mode.

One of the secrets to creating such a well-balanced photograph is the optional Active D-Lighting. When this is enabled the camera underexposes the photo slightly, to avoid over-exposed highlights on a person's face. It then immediately overexposes the darker areas to create an evenly lit scene.

Some could argue that this is replicable in Photoshop. It is, to an extent. I found however that the D300 does a better job of boosting the shadow area than Photoshop's tools, such as the Shadow/Highlight slider. One could also say that the results of the D300's Active D-Lighting are the same as setting other cameras on Low Contrast. Not so . . . the D300's Active D-Lighting still maintains an acceptable amount of contrast, whereas the Low Contrast setting on other cameras yields a bland, washed-out photograph.

As I am only three days into the camera, I still have much to discover. At this point, at $1800 I believe that for digital SLR's, it is the best value for the dollar.

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