Ben Cochran
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Tim, I know that you must be getting very frustrated and I feel for you. I am curious though, why are you shooting in green mode? Also, it looks like you or the camera is metering the dark shadows in green mode and it is causing everything else to be overexposed and a lot of spiking. I live by the rule, if you have doubt in your camera, just send it in to be checked as that won’t hurt a thing and is part of the trouble shooting process.
I only shoot in manual mode so, I can’t really help any with the green mode deal I kind of noticed something in your posted images though and it would help if you post comparable EXIF data. I don’t have my macbook back yet and my PS is on there so, I can’t check the EXIF data. In your green mode pics, it seems that they are all metered to the shadows and the manual modes seem to all be exposed to the hot areas. Also, if you look at your very last picture, the detail in the shaded areas has a lot of clear detail in them and this made your hot spots much hotter and even spiked a lot of them. It could be that your camera is metering incorrectly and keep in mind that it appears that you shot that last image in very hot midday sun, do you remember what you metered on? Also, do check the exposure compensation setting, as has been mentioned.
Again, if you feel that something is wrong with your camera,get someone to look at it so that it can either be fixed or so that you can move onto the next step in trouble shooting. Let us know what happens as I, for one, am very interested in helping you get past this hickup.
Quote:is a mildly irritating slang term for, “computer.” ;)quote]LMAO 🙂 Sorry about that, guess I have been talking with the gals to much again lol I’ll go back to computer 🙂
The calibrators really do work well, I can only speak for the spyderII Pro and the Huey. On a lap top, the calibration is very simple as the only way that you can calibrate the display is by using the automatic function. It really does work well on lap tops and, for publishing, it gets very close to the calibrated monitors that the publishers use.
I am a lot like you John, I have little to no faith in my displays and it is getting to the point that I now have very little faith in my post processed images. On my mac laptop, everything appeared much darker, more saturated and the colours were off. What this means is that on all of my processed images, the final was really more flat, washed out and out of proper colour. The bad thing is this. I have been working very hard on aprox. 600 images for a project that is suppose to be published later this year. I have put a little over 2 months into part of the images and they are ALL way to washed out now. So, I have 2 months of work that I have to do again while trying to meet a deadline. I know that I will still be nervous about the post processing, even after the logic board is replaced though. I looked at some of the images that I posted here on this board, on a couple of other “computers”lol and I was truly embarassed about how badly they looked, I processed them all on the mac and thought that they looked pretty good but I was ashamed when I saw them on a properly working and calibrated computer.
Trust me though, calibrating is not that deficult and I know that there are a lot of horror stories written, by a few users, but I don’t get it as the calibrators are easy to use and follow, if done correctly they can make a big difference. Also, the Baby Huey will automatically adjut your monitor to the ambient light, if left pluged in…
There is a lot of logic to Johns reply. The 18-55 kit lens, that comes with Nikon, is a very good lens and delivers very sharp images. Unless you plan on doing a lot of slow shutter shots, I don’t think that the VR is worth the extra bucks. Unless you have trembling hands and do a lot of hand held slow speed shots, the VR is a function that you may not use that often. More often than not, the VR feature is best for those slow hand held shots or for hand held telephoto shots.
Don’t let the price of the lens make your decision, the 18-55 is one of the least expensive lenses that you can get from Nikon but the sharpness is very impressive. If you are just looking at wide angle shooting, for a learning curve kind of deal, get the 18-55mm and save your bucks for future upgrade purchases. I haven’t used the 16-85 but from all that I have read, other than the VR functionality and the slight additional range, the sharpness of the 18-55 is very close to the 16-85.
If you want more range, at an affordable price, I again would go back to the 18-200 VR. It is a bit longer than the 16-85 VR but only a little less than 1/2″ and I have seen some great published images from this lens as well. On the same note though, John makes a very powerful and correct argument. if it were me; I would get the 18-55 and spend a bit more for the 80-200 or if you want journalist wide, the 17-55. if you want to go sweater, the 70-200VR for long and the 12-24 would for wide. Again.. just my opinion.
Matt, I would strongly suggest the 18-200VR. It is not only a great all purpose lens, it is tack sharp and and helps to capture some great professional quality images, a perfect lens to start with. The lens does creep though but this little inconvenience is worth that trouble, simply keep your hand on the lens and keep it from creeping. Fully closed, it may or may not creep but again, it really is a great lens and worth far more than the price, IMO.
Best of both worlds–BW and RGB 🙂
I just noticed that you did the same thing too Kevin lol.. Like the boots idea as well 🙂
I hope you don’t mind that I too tried a few things.. A lot of blown highlights but I know your pain in wanting the original image of
John, I am sorry, I thought that you were talking about shooting the hunt and hunter type of shots. But, keep in mind that everything that I spoke about was to help capture a natural balanced look and not a studio style of shot.. You don’t need to carry umbrellas, stands and can get small hot shoe soft boxes with gels for shots that you may want a softer lighting on. Again though, all of this was more in line with shooting the hunt and hunter and not meant as a general approach to something that you already do great, which is shooting wildlife.
I won’t even pretend that I can add anything to your wildlife photography as your shots are simply amazing! You mentioned the deer in the headlights look and I was wondering; do you shoot rear curtain synch?
John,
I know that you are not excited about the idea of both using fill flash and the extra cost of more gear, I agree mostly. How ever, when doing the type of assignment photography, that you are now doing, the word fill flash does not apply as it is more of a light balancing approach that you have to meet. Hot shoe strobes are perfect for this and they will eventually have to be a part of your regular gear anyway. Granted no one wants to carry more gear than we need to but I can only say—- Welcome to the world of contract assignment photography. [ch9786]
If you don’t mind, this is how I would set up the shots and to be honest, it only takes very few minutes to set all the gear as well. First would be the gear, along with the camera equipment I recommend several flexible tripods (these are great for placing hot shoe strobes in many odd places). A roll of gaffers tape to help secure the lights but to also make small snoots on the fly and bring your better beamer. At least 2 or 3 hot shoe strobes and wireless or infrared transmitter is a good start. Also, do not forget to bring extra batteries. I know that this sounds like a lot and it does take a small investment but I honestly believe that you will agree, once you get more familiar with this gear, that it is truly part of the essential gear for a professional assignment photographer. Honestly, it really isn’t as much added weight as it may sound.
This is just my thoughts on how I would shoot it but of course, it is just an offering and not meant as the best way possible. For the setting up phase: I would first place one strobe in the trunk or back section of the vehicle, where all of the gear is to be unloaded, and use a gel that WB with the interior dome light. This will allow for a very natural light balance but place the strobe so that the more full light appears as though it came from the dome light or bounced naturally to fill the composition area.
On setting up the blinds, I am sure that the hunter will have some sort of light out for that and again, set your strobe so that it appears as though the fill light came from the hunters personal light. You should use the diffuser, on the strobe, but use some of the gaffers tape on the strobe so that they function like barn doors and control the key light to only lighting up your subject properly. If you are going to use the moon light as a fill light: I would place one light strobe so that you get your subject better balanced lit but make sure that this fill light is WB with the moon light, actually it will work more as a bounced appeared fill light that is balanced to the natural moon light. Still use the other strobe, as described with the flash light, but make sure that it is balanced with the flash light and not with balanced with the fill light. WB your camera to the moon and meter on that as well. Now you can adjust the strobes up or down to get the levels that you want but most important, you get a very natural feel and very few would know that you used strobes at all.. The key light will have the same Kelvin as the flash light and the strobe will have the same as the Moon.
Remember that as long as you don’t have the strobes set up in the line of sight of your subject, they will not suffer from momentary blindness from the flash.
On the subject of action shots. If you are set up behind the hunter: I would place a strobe in the blind that lights up the back of the hunter and then use an on camera strobe for the turkey. I would use the better beamer for the on camera strobe but also, I would snoot and grid this strobe so that it only hits the turkey and lights it up with a balanced light feel.
Hope I wrote this so that it is understandable. Again, welcome to the field of contract assignment photography and I know that you will fall in love with the extra tools that truly are essential and once you get used to them, no one would ever be able to tell that you did use them. Also, practice balancing a natural field of light, in your car, with someone that is willing to stand there while you position the strobes and find the proper gels that you need to WB with the cars interior lighting. Then practice using the gaffers tape as barn doors on the strobes and see what kind of applications you can now do with them but move the strobes around until you find the directional lighting that looks most natural and appealing. By practicing some of these shots first, once you get in the field, some will only take seconds to set up.. Hope this helps [ch9786]
Oh yes, bring some small plastic bags so that you can fire the strobes through them, in case of bad weather…
In documentary photography, the photographer is very limited on what they can do, as you know. The photo’s that I took of the fire, I know they don’t look that good but on images like that, the photographer is not allowed the luxury of extreme post editing or the changing of anything as that does change the reality. One of the best friends of a documentary photographer is, however, a good gradient filter. I think that you would fall in love with that and it won’t get in your way. Fast and easy on as well as off application and the best part, it allows you a much better comfort zone in where and what you decide to meter on as the sky blowouts, will become more muted.
I couldn’t use a filter on the fire pics as I knew that it would mute the smoke and simple wb post editing as they had to be untouched. As you can see, they are crappy in the terms of art but true in documentary.
Also, I was just commenting on this one pic, as a general type of condition.
Zach, I hope that I didn’t come across critical of your skill as I certainly did not mean that nor would do that. I think that you are a very good professional photographer!
Having said that, Like I said, if you have no choice, you have no choice and trust me, I have many shots that I too had no time to set up. Filters and even an expansion tube could help to reduce the amount of light but one thing that I was getting at, if you underexpose the shot a bit, you can then use the exposure blending technique to return some of the highlights that you wanted but still have more detail in the original hotspots by erasing or painting that section out.
Bad thing about the internet is that a message may not always come across properly, no harm meant 🙂
Or you could use the come back in the afternoon filter. HA!
I like that one David 🙂 Is that anything like the early morning filter or the meter filter?
Kevin, you can try some image blending but paint the better sky back in through the dominant channels, in channels mode. There are a lot of ways of saving this image but the truth is, is the time required really worth the trouble? As David mentioned, you can try adding stormy skies but save the trees as vectors first, then paint the sky in. Either way, it will take a lot of time. If you have to use this image, I think Zach came up with the best solution.
There are a lot of things that could of been used to capture the original picture better but that would be a course in photography. Filters, layered filters, azimuth, relative bearings, key lights, fill flash, commingled underexposing strobes with overexposed key strobes and even metering improperly “properly” would help a lot. But all of these would only come into effect if the shot just could not of been shot at the proper time of day. I know the strobes sound like overkill but they aren’t as 3 remote adequate strobe lights now fit in a pocket and if the photographer is shooting into competing overpowering light, he/she must gain control over it to help prevent harsh highlights. Of course I am only talking about images that are shot specifically for publication.
Hey John, I really do love that shot as it reminds me a lot of Joe McNallys Ballerina shot. He limits the fill, in this shot, by using an umbrella and a flag on the lower part of the umbrella to get the gradient light correct.
A snoot can be used to further limit the amount of light spill but even though it consolidated to more of a beam, it does not increase the intensity of the beam. If you want to get an even more consolidated light flow, glue a lot of properly stacked black straws together and place them inside of the snoot. The snoot can be made with a simple 8.5″ X 11″ sheet of thin black foam and sealed with velcro strips that run the length. The black straw grid works best with black straws as the white forces the light to bounce around to much inside of the snoot.
By adjusting the strobe, the effected gradient is effected for a much better shade blending effect. I hate to see hot shoe strobes on camera’s so, we are in agreement in getting that thing away from sitting directly on top of the lens 🙂
WOW John!! I love the second shot, of the Salmon! Don’t be so afraid of the flash look though as I think that shot is brilliant! I agree with Zach, about how it needs to be closer to the water for sellable but also, it would add even more to the overall image. Only thing that I might suggest, snoot the flash. With the snoot you can close in the radius of the overall flash and also have a much better gradient around the perimeter of the snooted flash. Having less light on the anglers hands and letting it blend to darker, at that point, will better allow you to make this crop work better. n(just my opinion though) I really love that shot though!
Just another thought Zach. Have you thought about placing a gel on a strobe, with a snoot, and shooting it into a black reflective background so that the tight spill comes through your main subject. At the same time, snoot another white balanced strobe into your main subject and let it cast a reflection in front of the subject. I saw this done somewhere but don’t remember where it was, just remember that the images were very impressive.
Love the final image Zach, it would be great to see more and more images like this in fly fishing. Like Kevin said, there are many ways to skin a cat and your process is actually more along the lines of what is called “Exposure Blending”. As you know, HDR requires multiple pics and is most often fully automated. The the process, that you did, is done in layers with just the one original pic, great method of correcting the camera to what your eye saw. I love this process myself as it really does put more reality back into an image that a camera simply cannot process in a sensor.
Kevin, are you a member of NAPP? It really is a great org for both Graphic Designers and Professional Photographers. They also have weekly training video’s that teach some of the newer developing techniques using CS3. I have been a member for a little over a year and have learned so much from there as well as made many contacts around the globe.
It is sad, actually. With all of these types of technical advancements, the value of a skilled photographer goes down. Granted, the value of Graphic Designers will go up but eventually that will fade back down as well…
Kevin-
Yes, I love the creative lighting shots as well. As soon as I get free time and a good model, I want to try some of those shots for fly fishing. With the newer abilities of creative wireless remote strobes, using this approach on the rivers may deliver some truly amazing, nonPSed, shots.
Kendal, I think that I may still have 1 or 2, they were part of the crash that I had and I used to date one of the GA gals so, lets just say that asking for a copy would not be in my favor LOL
It has changed a lot though, they are more current in everything. Once these countries gained their independence, they quickly adopted everything western. Even Russia is night and day from what it was and truly, some of the best photographers in the world are in and from Russia. I am blown away from some of their images. The culture has changed a lot as well and they are truly a very fashionable culture that stay very current on the European trends. Finding beautiful models is very easy, not all are professional, but the skills of the photographer, as a director, can make them appear as though they are well seasoned pro’s. Even the professional models that I have worked with are very humble and respectful to the photographer. I had one celebrity that the publisher gave me a warning on, they said that she has been very difficult in negotiations and had many demands. I met her at a local sidewalk cafe and over coffee, all of her demands were gone and for the entire week she said; “I trust you and will follow all of your direction”. It was one of the most enjoyable weeks, on one shoot, that I have ever had and unless I do another one in Eastern Europe, it will probably be the only one that I will ever enjoy that much. They had also hired a male model from Milan, a professional at that, and he was much more difficult to give direction to.
I am on my way out the door but decided to reply to you real fast as I will be on a shoot until next monday. When I get back, I will see if I can find those product shots, or at least relocate the one that I did find recently. Nothing speculator, just product label but it was kind of cool to see it in the stores 🙂
