Techniques – Page 8 – Peter Oshkai photography

October 14, 2015October 14, 2015

Technique vs content

There is a saying that in order to be a good writer, one needs to live an interesting life. I am not sure to whom to attribute this quote, but I came across similar advice to new professors: the key to having research papers accepted to peer-reviewed journals is to have something new to say in them.

This argument comes back to the dilemma that many professional photographers face – whether to specialize in a niche genre/subject or to explore various areas. Specialization allows us to hone the technique, but ultimately, it is the interesting content that makes a unique image.

Very likely, this is true in any creative endeavour: in the end, the substance always trumps the technique. It is true that the technique, the craft, the skill are important. Without them, our ability to deliver the content, to communicate it to the audience, would be limited. Still, it is a common misconception of dilettantes, in photography or other art, that it is the lack of technique, the equipment, etc. that prevents them from creating masterpieces. Tolstoy describes this in “Anna Karenina,” when Vronsky pursues painting out of boredom, armed with knowledge, but lacking commitment.

According to Steven Pressfield, commitment, particularly commitment to showing up and working on a daily basis is the key to generating great content. The skill development takes care of itself – the quantity of practice eventually transforms into quality.

October 5, 2015October 5, 2015

Sports photography: pushing the shutter speed limit

Freezing the motion while shooting an indoor sport like basketball requires a high shutter speed. I used to shoot at around 1/1000 sec with an 1/2.8 lens on my Canon 1D X camera body. The indoor games are usually poorly lit, so the ISO (and the associated noise) increases significantly as the shutter speed increases (the exposure time decreases). Thankfully, the 1D X has excellent low-light performance. Besides, noise in a sport photo is more acceptable than in a landscape, for example.

Stil, there is a continuous pursuit of cleaner ad crispier images, so I have been experimenting with pushing the lower limit of the shutter speed to see when the motion blur would become unacceptable. What is acceptable is somewhat subjective, but in this case, I would like to have start images of the athletes’ faces, while allowing some motion blur in the other parts of their bodies (which actually enhances the visual impact of the photo). Also, I want to have a reasonable success rate of this kind of images. Every now and then, it is possible to capture a sharp photo even at 1/200 sec or so (I have done it by accident), but this happens purely by luck and shooting at such a low shutter speed would not be practical from a professional standpoint.

I found that with longer focal lengths (e.g. shooting with a 70 – 200 mm f/2.8 L IS), the sutter speed of 1/640 sec is a limit, while with a wider lens (e.g. a 35 mm f/1.4 L), I could shoot as slow as 1/500 sec. The difference is due to the shallower depth of field (DOF) of the longer lens (at the same f-number). Actually, the shallow DOF is highly desirable, as it allows to visually separate the subject from the background.

My general conclusion is that it is a good idea to vary the shutter speed (in the range of 1/500 – 1/1000 sec), as well as the lenses, in the course of the game. I would start with the long lens and fast shutter speed to make sure that I capture some “keeper” images and than try other lens/settings combinations in the hope to capture some more unique shots.

September 3, 2015

Deconstructing the process: analytical approach to photography

A very practical, strategy-based way of looking at processes or problems is to start with the desired outcome and identifying the key conditions that need to be satisfied to make it happen. Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn, refers to these conditions as “moving variables”. The actual problem-solving then reduces to propagating these moving variables to the present moment, to the level of the next action (in GTD terms).

It is easy to see how this deconstruction of the problem can be applied in academic research, and particularly in the business-like aspects aspects of it, such as grant applications, for example. In martial arts, the connection is even more obvious. After all, the business strategy principles often originated in martial arts, Sun Tzu’s “Art of War” being the stereotypical example of a strategy guide for a modern person.

I think that in photography, this approach could also be very useful, and not only in the business aspects, but in the creative process itself, where approaching it from the starting point of the desired outcome can streamline the workflow and add efficiency by eliminating irrelevant factors and variables. Perhaps, applying this kind of analytical edge could be one way of differentiating ourselves in the sea of aspiring professional and insanely-serious amateur photographers (to borrow a term from Dan Heller).

August 30, 2015

Action shots with an iPhone

Taking action shots is challenging with any camera, because there are several elements of the shot that have to be done correctly at the same time: focus, exposure and composition/framing. Fast moving subjects present challenges in all three aspects, and they are particularly difficult to manage with a phone camera.

I really like my iPhone 6+ camera. It certainly cannot do everything that my 1D X with a fast lens can do, but when the conditions (mostly, lighting) are right, it really shines. You just need to pick your battles wisely if the iPhone camera is your weapon…

Today, we were flying a kite with our four-year-old daughter on a very bright and windy afternoon. The light was harsh, but the contrast and saturation were excellent, which I find always works well for an action shot. My wife took a few photos of my daughter and me with the kite and the dramatic clouds in the background. I think there are two key factors that make these photos work: good composition (taking many shots really helps – one needs to expect many of them to be throw-aways); very bright lighting (it helps with sharpness, saturation and contrast).

August 29, 2015August 29, 2015

On reading

“To read with diligence; not to rest satisfied with light and superficial knowledge,..”
– Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, “Meditations“

It is commonly argued that in reading, as in any kind of studying and almost any kind of activity, the Pareto principle dictates that 80% of the results (e.g. knowledge) can be obtained during the first 20% of the time (or 20% of the total possible effort) spent on the activity. After the initial 20%, the returns are progressively diminished, so that larger amounts of time spent reading provide only incremental increase in knowledge.

While tis is probably true, I believe, or at least would like to believe, that striving for deep, fundamental knowledge is what separates true experts from lay people. Of course, the question of whether it is wise to focus on obtaining expertise in a narrow field (i.e. “niching down” in photography) remains open. However, if this niche is learning itself, and the skill that we are mastering is our ability to learn new skills, the rules start to change. Learning, according to Naval Ravikant, among others, is a wild card, a joker, in a sense that learning can be traded for any skill that is needed at any given point in life. From this perspective, it is easy to agree with Stoics, who taught that “Of all men they alone are at leisure who take time for philosophy, they alone really live;..” (Seneca, “On the Shortness of Life”).

August 28, 2015

Journalling

Journalling has many benefits, as has been pointed out many times by various illustrious writers. Blogging, which is very different from journalling in that it is a public expression of thought, while journalling is private, is also very useful. It provides an opportunity to practice formulating and publicly expressing an opinion with the full understanding that this opinion will be permanently recorded somewhere in the proverbial cloud.

Another way of journalling, which is somewhere in between between private journalling and public blogging, is keeping a diary as a record-keeping activity. Today, I heard an interview of Robert Rodriguez, who made a strong case for this habit. Having a daily record of the significant events of every day makes a powerful tool for parenting, personal development, work, etc.

I think that taking family photos on a regular basis (ideally daily) serves the same purpose. In my personal case, I find that having a large, easily-accessible database of images that commemorate the significant events in our family’s life is very valuable. Looking through these photos with my four-year-old daughter (I have the images from my Flickr photo stream scroll as a screensaver on the TV in our living room) shows that I tent to over-estimate both my daughter’s and my own memory span an ability to recall small details and events that seemed significant at the time they were happening, but vanished from our minds just a few weeks (not to mention, months and years) later.

August 23, 2015August 23, 2015

Sweet tooth

Physical conditioning, and endurance in particular, is important for photographers. Recently, I came across an interesting discussion of the role of hydration plays in endurance. Basically, it is important to be hydrated, and more specifically, to have sufficient amount of electrolytes in the body, to avoid muscle cramps and exhaustion during physical exercise.

Having a sweet tooth may actually be beneficial from the hydration standpoint, because carbohydrates help retain water in the body. Not related to sugar per se, but I had been given advise by a kendo sempai while practicing in Kanazawa in the heat of a Japanese summer to eat more rice, bread, etc. to avoid dehydration during practice.

So, people who fight cravings for sweets by eliminating sugars from, may find themselves at the risk of dehydration. One counter-intuitive way of battling this effect is to increase the intake of salts. Which one of the two evils is the lesser one, is the question that remains open…

August 17, 2015August 17, 2015

Rats!

Showing motion is a great way to add interest to any photo, and I particularly like when it is skillfully done in pet photography – dogs in mid-jump, for example. That is why our friends asked us to take care of a couple of pet rats when the owners were away, I thought it would be interesting to try capturing these little creatures in motion.

It turns out that rats move too much. They are extremely fast and unpredictable in their movements, and even if I could sometimes frame the photo, using a flash to stop the motion was not an option – it turns out that the rats are sensitive to all sorts of things.

Since motion was elusive, I resorted to trying to show the second best (or, arguably, the best) thing – emotion. In this case, the delight of my daughter at being able to play with the furry little creatures.

August 14, 2015August 14, 2015

Taking notes

It is well-known that taking notes while talking to someone is signalling to that person that you are paying attention to the conversation. However, the manner in which the notes are taken is important. Typing on a computer may seem intimidating or create an impression of distance between the conversation partners. On the other hand, writing in a notebook generally perceived very positively.

I often take pictures as a form of note-taking, particularly in museums or during tours of laboratories, etc. Perhaps, in these settings, the impression that I leave during the process of taking notes is less important, but in the spirit of being aware of what one looks like from the outside, it is good to be at least conscious about it. The note-taking process has other important aspects that not only streamlines the workflow, but also makes notes themselves more useful.

Phil Libin, the former CEO of Evernote, points out that it is crucial to process and catalogue the notes immediately after they have been taken, and to do it in the same geographical context. He is referring to the ability of various note-taking apps, Evernote in particular, to geo- and context-tag the notes, but I think this concept of processing and cataloguing the information soon after it has been acquired also applies to photography in general.

August 7, 2015August 7, 2015

Being a third-person shooter

Some computer games can be categorized as either a first-person or a third-person type. In a first-person game, the player sees the virtual world through the eyes of the character and is not aware of what the character him-/herself looks like. In a third-person game, the player looks at the environment over the character’s shoulder or from above, but in any case, the character is a part of the picture tat the player sees. In other words, when we play a third-person game, we are aware of what we look like in the virtual environment.

Phil Libin, the former CEO of Evernote, mentioned in an interview with Tim Ferriss that different people tend to go through life in either a first-person or a third-person mode. According to him, there are advantages and disadvantages to being aware of one’s own image. I think that even if self-awareness can be distracting from the point of view of pure experience, having the ability to invoke the third-person mode at will is a tremendously useful skill. Taking photography as an example, it is not only important for the photographer to know what image he/she projects to the client, the models, etc., but it is also crucial to make the models aware of what they look like through the lens, so that they can adjust the pose, the makeup, etc.

I wonder what Velázquez, who included himself in the already busy composition of “Las Meninas,” thought about self-awareness and the image he projected in the presence of his royal models…

Being a “third-person shooter” is different from being a slave to the opinion of others, against which there are many warnings, including Hugh MacLeod’s “Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity,” for example. It is important to be focussed on the task and the experience at hand, but it is also important to realize that the proverbial big picture includes ourselves in it.

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