Techniques – Page 11 – Peter Oshkai photography

March 31, 2015April 1, 2015

Behind the scenes

In preparation for our university’s graduation party photo shoot, my associate, Armando, and I brainstormed possible lighting setups and image processing workflows. We noticed how valuable it is to have a visual record of previous photoshoots. In fact, Armando has been recording behind-the-scenes videos with a DSLR on a tripod during some of his recent shoots.

There is something inherently fascinating in the images that document a production process, whether it is a photo shoot production, a dance rehearsal or the inner workings of the kitchen in a local pizzeria. Glimpses of the stages of the process that are typically hidden from the consumers of the final product (lighting tests, the work of a makeup artist, baking of the pizza bases, etc.) create a sense of an exclusive access to the viewer.

Sometimes, all it takes to capture some interesting behind-the-scenes shots is pulling out a smartphone while sitting at the bar in a pizzeria, but at other times, it requires advanced planning and a dedicated photo/video setup. What often prevents us from seeing the candid photo opportunities in everyday activities is getting caught up in a mental plan instead of being present and aware of the action as it is actually unfolding. Perhaps, consciously documenting the process, in addition to focussing on its results, can help balance presence and productivity – two aspects of everyday life that are often difficult to reconcile.

March 29, 2015March 29, 2015

Focal length and autofocus speed

A fast lens, such as Canon’s 85mm f1.2L II USM, can do wonders in terms of improving noise levels in indoor sports photos. When shooting wide open, at f/1.2, I can regularly use the shutter speed of about 1/800 sec and an ISO of 8000 in very dim light during basketball games or kendo events. For comparison, the same shutter speed at f/2.8 pushes the ISO to 16500 or even 25000. For a Canon EOS-1D X camera body, this increase in the ISO means a step from minimal noise levels to those that require dedicated post-processing.

The problem with the 85mm f1.2L II USM lens is that it focusses very slowly. Its optical elements are so massive that even thought the camera’s autofocus system sends correct commands, it takes considerable time for the motors to physically move the glass into position. The 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens, on the other hand, focusses lightning-fast, particularly if the subject is shot from farther away, at the focal length of 200 mm (compared to 85 mm.)

The advantage of shooting from far away using a longer focal length is that an equivalent motion of the subject causes smaller apparent displacement on the sensor of the camera (think about the classical example of an airplane appearing to move very slowly when viewed from far away, while a bicyclist at 1 m away shooting through your field of view in a fraction of a second.) Because the apparent displacement is small, the optics has to be only slightly adjusted to track the subject.

The bottom line is that a longer but slower (higher minimum f-number) lens will produce noisier images, but will yield a higher success rate in terms of the number of sharp images. Therefore, for a critical photo shoot, I would start with the 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens, and after making sure that I have captured a few sharp images, I would switch to the 85mm f1.2L II USM to potentially get one or two spectacular ones.

March 28, 2015

Shutter speed for kendo

Selecting shutter speed for kendo photography is difficult, because the action is very uneven and explosive. Most of the time, the kendoka are relatively motionless, but the peak of the action is extremely fast and unpredictable (in fact, being unpredictable is part of the game.) The fact that the action usually takes place in a dimly lit gym makes matters even worse, so increasing the exposure time as much as possible is necessary for keeping the noise levels within reasonable limits.

During today’s kata seminar, I experimented with various shutter speeds and found that a setting around 1/650 sec is a reasonable compromise for capturing both the slow- and the fast-moving phases of the action. I was shooting with a 85mm f1.2L and a 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lenses on a Canon EOS-1D X body. The lenses were wide open all the time, and at f/2.8, the ISO, which was on Auto setting, went as high as 25,000. I applied noise reduction in post-processing and even converted some image to black-and-white.

March 26, 2015

Directing amateur models

Having too many options can reduce the overall efficiency of a project. This is particularly true for photo shoots that involve amateur models. In contracts to professionals, the amateurs do not have an a priori idea of which poses and camera angles work best for them and how to adjust their posing during the shoot.

For the next high-volume photo shoot at our university’s graduation party, my associate and I decided to give very close directions to the students, whom we are going to photograph, which would drastically limit their choices of available poses. Our hope is tat this would expedite the overall process of running the photo booth and improve the experience of the students by eliminating the stress of choice.

With any photo shoot that involves many people, there is a potential for turning it into a sort of production line, without any creative element. To avoid this, we will try to remain conscious of having fun, interacting with the students, and involving them in the process of creating an artistic composite image in just a few minutes.

March 23, 2015

When to quit

There is a psychological stigma associated with quitting, yet most people quit many different undertakings over the course of their lives, from childhood hobbies to New Year resolutions to business projects. Seth Godin, actually wrote a book on the subject, called “The Dip.” He argues that quitting can be a valuable tactic, but it should be done not at the point when most people do it (e.g. the 23-rd mile of a marathon). It is best to either quit early in the project, when it is “cheap,” or to stick to it until the end. The definition of “the end” can vary, but imposing (early in the project) a limit on maximum amount of resources that would be spent can help alleviate anxiety towards the end.

I think that a similar approach can be adopted to photo projects. I wrote earlier about the importance of declaring a post-processing stage completed at some point instead of tweaking the image ad infinitum. Perhaps, additional insight can be obtained by analyzing when most photographers quit their processing projects. Once the typical quitting points in the workflow have been established, it would be best to either quit earlier or push beyond them.

March 22, 2015

Walk-around lens

I decided to follow an example of Alex Ogle, a street reportage photographer who was featured in October 2014 episode of “Pro Photographer, Cheap Camera,” to carry only one lens, namely a 35mm f/1.4L USM, for a family walk in a garden.

The absence of zoom is both limiting and liberating, as no mental energy is wasted on decision-making related to the focal length. Otherwise, the main feature of this lens that distinguishes it from cheaper, consumer-grade lenses is the very wide maximum aperture and excellent sharpness even when fully-opened (at f/1.4). This time, I was shooting in broad daylight, so there was no need to use the lens’s excellent light-gathering ability, but I still wanted to shoot wide open, to produce the subject isolation by blurring the background. To achieve the correct exposure, I had to decrease the shutter speed to 1/1000 s, which had a bonus effect of minimizing camera shake.

The main challenge with shooting at f/1.4 is that a common technique of pre-focussing by half-pressing the shutter button, recomposing and then shooting does not work due to the extremely shallow depth of field. Recomposing would shift the sensor plane sufficiently for the subject to become out-of-focus. Instead, the focus sensor has to be placed precisely on the subject (the front eye, in case of a portrait.) I usually crop the images in post-processing to improve composition.

In my opinion, the results of shooting with a 35mm f/1.4L USM are well worth practicing the shooting technique. The shallow depth of field immediately separates a photo taken with this lens from a mere snapshot.

March 21, 2015March 21, 2015

On training

Training to improve physical fitness not only directly benefits photography by improving work capacity through endurance and enabling certain types of shots that would have been inaccessible for a less fit individual, but it also helps improving one’s skills by developing relevant learning and traing methods.

I wrote earlier about the importance of overcoming self-imposed challenges for developing one’s craft – the photographer’s artistic skill set. This concept is similar to the principle of progressive over-loading used in strength training. Taking the analogy further, it is well know in the world of physical training that continuously increasing the load (e.g. the weight of the barbell) would result in over-training. Increasing the amount of the exercise would eventually lead to the same result: diminishing returns and ultimately, a burnout.

An effective way to challenge one’s fitness level without monotonically increasing the training intensity is to periodically learn a new sport or physical activity, which is known as cross training. I think that in art, such as photography, a similar approach of exploring a new genre or learning a new technique can help in breaking through a creative plateau. Moreover, the habit of regularly trying new things would have a cumulative effect on other related habits, such as involving other people in photo projects, exploring different workflows, composition, lighting, post processing, and publishing media.

March 20, 2015March 20, 2015

Motion in dance photography

Motion and emotion are two elements that can make a photo stand out. Dancing, by definition, involves both of these elements, so it makes an attractive subject for photography.

What makes motion attractive is that it represents something impermanent. Even though the instant is frozen in a static image, the lack of static balance in the dancer’s body implies that this moment is fleeting and therefore precious. Thus, the viewer subconsciously realizes that this photo is an opportunity to observe something that ceased to exist and cannot be recovered. This imbalance, the hint of the impairment nature of the subject is what resonates with the viewer’s emotions. As Allan Watts puts it in his “Wisdom of Insecurity“, “In sculpture, architecture, and painting the finished form stands still, but even so the eye finds pleasure in the form only when it contains a certain lack of symmetry, when, frozen in stone as it may be, it looks as if it were in the midst of motion.”

Incidentally, I generally find “frozen” motion images more appealing and interesting than those with (intentionally) blurred motion. As an engineer, I can speculate that this might be because motion blur implies averaging over time, which is a steady-state component of the motion. The emotional connection with the impermanence of the movement is thus lost in the blurred image.

Recently, I have been working on post-processing of photos that I took during a performance of a local dance school. There was no particular agenda for the photo shoot, i.e. I did not have to capture portraits of all dancers or even cover the entire performance. In that sense, it was the best possible scenario, where I was free to choose what and how to shoot and how many images to deliver.

I found that some types of dances were more photogenic than others. For example, I had far more interesting images of hip-hop than of tap. I think this has to do with the amount of large, exaggerated motion that happens during a articular dance. While hip-hop dancers are almost acrobatic in their movements, the tap performers rarely appear to be out-of-balance at any given instant.

March 19, 2015

Fitness for photography

Some types of photography require the photographer to be physically fit, to a certain degree. Shooting extreme sports, such as rock climbing, for example, naturally requires one to be proficient enough in the sport in order to be able to keep up with the athletes (if they are climbing in the actual mountains and not in a gym, where a photographer does not have to do any climbing.) Underwater photography is another obvious example, where physical ability is crucial.

However, even in less obvious situations, such as travel, street or action photography, physical fitness is a definite asset. Endurance, in particular, enables one to cover larger distances on foot, carry more gear and minimize camera shake while hand-holding heavy “fast” lenses. There many ways, of course, to compensate for the lack of strength or endurance, for example, by using some form of transportation, carrying less or lighter gear, shooting from a tripod, etc. (BTW, in my experience, a carbon fibre tripod is a must for travel use.) Over time, however, there would be certain situations where lack of endurance would result in missed shots.

I have recently heard an interview with Kelly Starrett, a trainer of high-profile athletes a the author of “Becoming a Supple Leopard.” He mentioned that the key element in improving endurance and physical mobility in general is to improve one’s posture. According to him, there are several fundamental postures and basic movements that are common in many types of activities (e.g. standing, squatting, etc.) Training to improve (or correct) these postures allows one to utilize the skeleton, rather than muscles, to absorb most of the stress of the motion (or lack thereof. )

Following this advice, I try to be conscious of my posture while hand-holding a 300mm f/2.8L IS lens during a soccer game or shooting from a sitting position at the side of a basketball court.

March 18, 2015

Daily practice

I recently read an excerpt from a relatively old (1992) article published by All Japan Kendo Association (Zen Nippon Kendo Renmei) about the status of kendo practice in foreign countries. One of the differences between kendo in Japan and abroad that the author pointed out is the frequency of practice. While kendoka in Japan practice every day, many European kendoka, for example, do not understand why it would be necessary.

Setting aside various dogmas about “the right way” to do something (there are many of them in the martial arts world in particular,) I think there are many advantages of doing some core activities (e.g. exercise, writing, kendo, reading, photography, etc.) daily. The benefits extend beyond simple quantity of practice, which is obviously important in its own right. Frequent engagement with challenging tasks reduces the psychological significance of a single event. Working on a particular task regularly, even if the length of a single session is rather short, has also been shown to be effective in the long run in the academic research and teaching.

Incidentally, blogging is considered an effective practice of overcoming a subconscious anxiety of creating a permanent public record of one’s opinions. Personally can subscribe to this idea, even though I am not particularly keen on receiving feedback on my opinions.

Of course, daily practice of any activity is the classical example of something that is easier said than done. The good news is that after a short while, a regular activity becomes a habit, which is self-sustaining by definition.

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