Peter Oshkai photography

November 8, 2014November 9, 2014

On feedback to and from models during photo shoots

I wrote yesterday about involving other people in photo shoots. A particularly effective way of doing this is showing the photos to models during the shoot and asking if they would like to make any adjustments. The models would have an opportunity to see if there is anything wrong with the pose, the hair, the makeup, etc., and give the feedback to the photographer. I usually show the photos on the camera’s LCD screen, but it can be done on a computer screen if shooting tethered (having the camera connected to the computer by a USB cable, so that the photos are downloaded as soon as they are taken).

Professional models are different from amateurs people in that they know the poses that work well for them and can produce those poses repeatably. They are also used to critically reviewing photos of themselves from the technical viewpoint. For me personally, having the model’s feedback is tremendously helpful, as it allows me to tap into their experience, which can save a lot of trial and error in producing the best possible image.

Even if the subject is not a professional model, it is very useful to show the photo to her/him and ask for feedback. First of all, it helps the model relax and feel more involved in the shoot. Also, most people have preconceived ideas of what the final photo would look like. Showing the photos to them during the shoot can make a difference between satisfaction and disappointment with the final images. Seeing the photos during the shoot adjusts the expectations of the final product, and sometimes all it takes for a bride to be happy with her portrait is adjusting the position of the bouquet so that it does not cover a detail of the dress.

At first, I hesitated to show “unfinished” photos to other people, especially to models and clients. However, in my experience to date, nobody ever complained that the images were unprocessed or not sufficiently polished. At the same time, people were often able to make small, easy adjustments during the shoot, which saved a lot of post-processing work and resulted in much better final photos.

November 7, 2014November 7, 2014

Involving other people in photography

For many people, who start doing photography as a hobby, which later develops into a professional pursuit, their interests progress from shooting inanimate subjects (e.g. landscapes, architecture, stars) to nature to people (first street photos, events, then portraits). This was certainly the progression of my interests, from astrophotography and travel photos to sports and portraits. Naturally, photographing people means communicating closely with them, getting to know them, in other words, becoming involved with the subjects.

However, taking photography to a new level means involving people in your projects in a more general sense. Larger photoshoots require more elaborate production, which means working with more than one photographer, assistants, makeup artists, in addition to the models.

Even putting aside the logistics of production, my photo projects definitely benefit when they involve people. For example, taking the photo above of fishing with cormorants (ukai) was only possible because I talked about my plans to do travel photography around Nagoya with my neighbour on the long flight to Japan. It turned out that she was from Inuyama, and suggested it as a destination. When I got there, I stretched my Japanese ability to the limit to make a reservation of the ukai boat tour. Initially, the tour company was reluctant to take me, as they did not have an English-speaking guide that day, but my willingness to talk to them and explain that I was interested in photographing the fishing action more than having a dinner on the boat convinced them that I would be able to handle a tour in Japanese.

Generally, having other people involved in photo projects adds many motivating aspects:

Collaborating with others boosts creativity.
Having others by my side helps me avoid technical mistakes.
Having others involved creates accountability, which helps me follow through on the plans.
Without the support of other people, many shoots would simply be impossible. For example, my wife is deeply involved in most creative projects, from brainstorming shoot lists and posing ideas to arranging the props and other logistics. Last, but certainly not least, she takes care of our daughter when I go out on long shoots during weekends.

Someone noted recently that all we do in our lives is, ultimately, communicate with other people one way or another. With my photo projects, I plan to do so more actively and consciously by getting people involved at all stages.

November 6, 2014November 6, 2014

Baden-Baden: a Russian town in Germany

Last summer, I had a chance to visit Baden-Baden after my research trip to Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. I was fascinated by the history of this charming spa town (“baden” means “bath” in German) and its deep connection to Russia. The wife of Russian Emperor Alexander I, Elizabeth, also knows as Louise of Baden, was born in Karlsruhe in 1779 and often visited Baden (the double name was given to the town later to distinguish it from other European “Badens”). Over the years, Russian royalty, aristocracy and famous writers, such as Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Gogol used to come and live in Baden-Baden.

Nowadays, the town is once again a popular destination among rich and famous, as well as just rich, Russians. The streets have undeniable charm with their neo-classical architecture in a beautiful setting of the Balck Forest. If I had any doubts whether it was indeed a very posh town or if it was just a tourism media hype, it was gone after I saw a traffic jam consisting entirely of Ferraris.

For a travel photographer, Baden-Baden offers a wide range of subjects. I shot some street scenes at a chalk art festival, architectural details of the buildings and the famous buildings themselves (the house where Gogol wrote his “Dead Souls” is just a few steps from the central square). I also shot close-ups of some fantastic dishes and desserts with familiar names (e.g. Black Forest Ham and Black Forest Cake), but that are aWorld apart from their North-American counterparts. This was my first trip, where I realized that Canon’s Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L USM lens makes a great walk around lens for street photography.

On my second day in Baden-Baden (the first day I mostly spent at the famous geothermal baths, which are rightly the main tourist attraction, but obviously offer little to a photographer), I took a bus from the central square to the top of Mount Merkur, where paragliders leap off the cliff and catch thermal air currents to soar above the town.

Rick Steeves in his great travel guidebooks tells that a country or a town is like a good novel – it is better when enjoyed the second time around. I am really looking forward to visiting Baden-Baden again some day. I would like to take more street photos and to try to capture the 19th century aura of the town.

November 5, 2014November 5, 2014

Photographing kendo: artistic imaging vs reportage approach

I have been practicing kendo for several years, and it has been a big part of my life. When I photograph it, I often have a conflicting view: as a photographer, I want to create an artistic expression of what I see – an image that would be appealing to any person, even someone who does not know much about kendo. As a kendoka, I want to document the technical aspects of the match (shiai) or practice (keiko).

The latter, documentary approach is relatively straightforward as far as photography is concerned. The image needs to be technically acceptable (i.e. reasonably sharp and correctly exposed) and it needs to show both opponents. Ideally, the photo would also capture a critical point in a particular kendo technique (wasa), such a moment when one kendoka’s bamboo sword (shinai) connects with the target area of the opponent’s armour (bogu). There are other stages of a wasa that are equally important, but for some reason, as someone who practices kendo, I am looking for the moment of the strike (datotsu) in a photograph. I also would like to see the distance between the opponents (ma-ai), positions of their feet and hands, and to have a sense of balance and timing in their technique.

The problem is that photographs like that, which are good reference material for kendo practice, are often not particularly artistic or even visually appealing. It is difficult to define what makes an exceptional image. Recently, I heard somewhere a formula for a great photo (by Robert Capa?), which, being an analytical person, I really like. Here it is:

A great photo must possess at least two of the following three components:

Motion
Emotion
Some other aspect being extraordinary (e.g. colour, lighting, pattern, composition, famous subject, etc.)

For kendo photos, the first aspect, motion, is relatively easy to achieve – after all, the action is very fast and explosive. Capturing emotion is a bit more difficult. Being a martial art (budo) and not a sport, there are no celebrations of victory after matches in kendo. During the matches, the face masks (men) obscure the facial expressions of the opponents. I try to convey the emotion of the opponents by zooming in close on their faces or by focussing on the emotion conveyed by their body language.

Generally, when shooting kendo, I find myself alternating between the “artistic photo” mode and the “technical kendo” mode.

In terms of gear, I use a professional DSLR (Canon EOS-1D X) with either an Canon EOS-1D X (good focal length for capturing both opponents and great in dimly-lit dojos, but difficult to focus, as I described in this post) or a 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens (great flexibility for both overview and close-up shots, but not very wide aperture = relatively noisy photos). Next time, I would like to try a 300mm f/2.8L IS USM lens. It won’t do much in terms of documenting kendo techniques, but could produce some dramatic close-ups.

November 4, 2014November 5, 2014

Carrying a DSLR with a long lens

During some sporting events, photographers are not allowed to move along the the side of the playing field, as it is the case at the MLS soccer games, for example. In such cases, using a monopod or even a tripod (if it is allowed at the stadium) is a great idea, as it reduces the camera vibrations and helps to keep the frame level with the horizon, not to mention that it reduces the stress on your arms, as telephoto lenses are quite heavy.

However, if moving around is allowed, it can add great variety to the shots and often makes the difference between a rather boring and an exciting photoshoot. In my experience, hand-holding a lens longer than 400 mm is simply not feasible due to the weight of the system and the amount of camera shake. Attaching the system to a monopod is the solution in this case.

I often shoot sports with a Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM lens, sometimes combined with a 1.4X tele-extender, attached to a Canon EOS-1D X body. I also carry a second camera body (5D Mark II) with a shorter lens, such as a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM, which I switch to if the action comes close. I carry the 1Dx-300mm system on a Black Rapid Y-strap over my left shoulder, so that the camera is at my right hip when not in use. The second camera with a shorter lens is on my left hip, attached to a SpiderHolster. My Spider carrying system has another holster on the right side, but the 300mm lens is too heavy for it. In fact, my friend tried to carry a 300 mm lens in a Spyder and found later that the pin that attaches the camera mounting plate to the belt became bent because of the weight. I suppose, this is not the worst that could have happened. At least, the pin did not break and the camera did not fall!

Initially, I was not keen on using the SpiderHolster, but I really like how the camera that is attached to it rotates and does not hit the ground if I crouch to take a low-angle point of view, which, by the way, almost always works better for sports than shooting from a standing position.

As an alternative, sometimes I use only one camera and lens at a time. I would switch lenses couple of times throughout the game to take a variety of view angles. In this case, I carry the camera on a Y-strap. It gives a good combination of mobility and weight distribution.

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November 3, 2014November 3, 2014

Using highlight tone priority in a Canon DSLR

Recording only JPEG images during a long photoshoot has many advantages over keeping the RAW images, but the main drawback is the loss of flexibility in adjusting the exposure in post-processing. When shooting RAW, even if the photo is incorrectly exposed, it is often salvageable in Photoshop or Lightroom. With the JPEG files, if the photo is over-exposed, the highlights cannot be recovered after the fact. I usually enable the highlight alert in my camera, so that any over-exposed areas in the photo appear as blinking white/black light when displayed on the LCD screen. By monitoring the highlights, I adjust the exposure as I shoot.

Sometimes, the dynamic range of the scene (the difference between the dark and the light areas) is too large for the camera too handle, so some loss of information in the recorded image is inevitable. This was the case during the first day of the Canadian University Rowing Championship last Saturday, when the bright sun was reflecting off the surface of the lake, and the rowers appeared as dark silhouettes. To minimize the over-exposed areas, some image processing can be done in camera, at the time of shooting.

In Canon DSLRs, such as my 1D X or the very popular Rebel T5i or 70D, there is a function called “highlight tone priority”, which accomplishes this. Nikon DSLRs have a counterpart called “active D lighting”.

Screenshot 2014-11-03 22.24.35

The highlight tone priority can be activated as follows (the instructions are also on page 156 of the 1Dx manual):

Press <MENU>;
Select the second tab in the Camera group of menus (see picture above);
Select [Highlight tome priority] and press <SET>;
Select [Enable} and press <SET>;
Take the picture.

As a side note, the JPEGs can still be adjusted, to a degree, in post-processing. For the rowing pictures, I used a combination of in-camera- and post-processing. The photos ended up being contrasty, but I think it generally works well for sports images.

November 2, 2014November 3, 2014

Photographing rowing from a boat

Today, I was shooting the second day of the Canadian University Rowing Championship at the Elk Lake. Armando and I were the official photographers of the event, so we had a dedicated boat that took one of us close to the racing boats (the other was shooting from the dock). Together with me in the boat was another photographer named Kevin, who is a former rower himself, and not just any rower, but no less than a national team member and a gold medalist. He has been shooting rowing for a while and had a very specific idea about types of shots he wanted to get, but a bit concerned about falling out of our little catamaran. The previous day, I was sharing a boat with another photographer, a young lady from Netherlands, so I knew that the boat was perfectly capable of carrying two photographers. I was also happy to learn more ways of making a series of rowing photos less boring – after all, rowing motion is very repeatable, which does not give a lot of variety of poses (although facial expressions of the athletes vary quite a bit!).

Over the course of several races, we refined a strategy that allowed us to capture a variety of shots. As the race started, we would wait at the side of the course at the half-distance mark. As the boats rowed past us, followed by the boats carrying the officials, then, we would cross into the middle lane and follow the rowers. Kevin and I positioned ourselves on both sides of the boat driver, shooting, literally, over both his shoulders. We both had Canon EOS-1D X cameras. I used a 300mm f/2.8L IS USM lens with a 1.4X tele-extender and Kevin had a 600mm f/4L IS II USM. The key point, which took us couple of runs to figure out, was to drive the boat between and just behind the two official’s boats, but in front of the point where their wakes intersected. This way, we avoided most severe wave vibrations. Another note is that men’s 8+ boats were fast enough to actually outrun our motorboat, which was kind of cool to watch.

As the rowers approached the finish line, we would ask the driver to kill the engine and drifted to take the shots of the athletes celebrating their victories. Then, we followed them to the dock and took some shots of the coaches greeting them after a cool-down lap.

Later, I shot some moments of celebration by the winners from the dock. Most notable was the throwing of the coxswain in the water by his grateful teammates.

It was long weekend, but an interesting experience of learning the dynamics of the rowing race and following it from the athlete’s perspective.

November 1, 2014November 2, 2014

Best Canon lens for basketball photography

During today’s basketball games, I experimented with four different L-series lenses. I used all of them on a Canon EOS-1D X DSLR with ambient light (no flashes). I shot them wide open, i.e. at the maximum opening of the aperture (minimum f-number). Here is the breakdown of their advantages and limitations.

1. Canon EF 85mm f1.2L II USM lens
(see photo above)

This is the fastest lens of the four I used, and it is my top choice for shooting indoor basketball for this very reason. It gathers enormous amount of light at f1.2, and thus allows shooting at moderate ISO even when the shutter speed is quite high (around 1/1000 sec). This, in turn, results in low noise. Another nice feature is the ability to separate the subject from the background due to incredibly shallow depth of field.

The main disadvantage of the 85mm f1.2L is that it focusses very slowly compared to the other three lenses. It takes a lot of practice to learn how to follow the subject by continuously “riding” the focus button. Because of the slow focussing, this lens produces the highest number of outtakes. However, when it does focus, the result is spectacular.

2. Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L USM lens

This lens is also very fast, and it offers a unique, wide-angle perspective with little distortion. It also focusses very fast.

Te main disadvantage is its short focal length. It is simply impossible to photograph close-ups of the players with a 35 mm. Another related limitation is that the depth of field is quite large, even at f1.4, so subject isolation from the background is not as prominent as for the other three lenses.

3. Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM lens

This lens is the opposite of the 35mm f/1.4L in that it only allows the close-up shots. The focussing speed is superb, and the background blur (bokeh) is very pleasant.

The main limitation is that the field of view is so narrow, that it is quite difficult to frame the moving subjects. Like the 85mm f1.2L , it takes a lot of practice to achieve useable results, but the few successful photos are impressive.

4. Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM lens

The main advantage of this lens is its zoom range. It is incredibly easy to frame the action. The lens also focusses lightning-fast, and it is very sharp.

The main drawback of the 70-200mm f/2.8L is that, like the 300mm f/2.8L, it is not as fast as the other two lenses (max aperture is f2.8), and therefore produces relatively noisy photos.

So, which lens would I choose if I could only bring one to a basketball game? It depends on the level of experience. For a novice photographer, I would recommend (if cost is not a factor – all this lenses are very expensive anyway!) the 70-200mm f/2.8L. It would give the highest success rate and flexibility. My personal favourite right now is the 85mm f1.2L , despite being the most challenging lens to shoot.

October 31, 2014November 1, 2014

Shooting portraits by the bonfire

It is Halloween time, and tonight we visited the huge Oak Bay bonfire organized by the local firefighters. Photographing people by the fire is challenging, and the camera settings depend on whether the light source, i.e. the bonfire, is in the frame or not.

If the fire is not in the picture, but simply shines the light on the subject, such as in the photo above, the basic concepts of shooting in low light apply. One needs a fast lens (one with a low minimum f-number) and a camera with good low-light performance. My wife used a Canon EOS-1D X with a 35mm f/1.4L USM lens. I usually just let the camera expose correctly for the subject and not worry about the background, which will come out either over-exposed (if it is still twilight) or under-exposed, if it is already dark. In either case, it can be ignored if it does not contain anything of interest.

On the other hand, if the fire is in the background, in other words, if shooting against the light, the dynamic range of the scene (the difference between the lightest and the darkest parts) is too great for any modern camera to handle. There is no choice but to add artificial light to the subject. An on-camera flash is far from ideal light source, but it is often the only choice in a given situation. This is what my wife used to take the image below. In manual mode, if the aperture and the ISO are fixed, the shutter speed can be used to control the exposure. When checking the exposure, it is important to look at the histogram, since images on the camera LCD screen appear much brighter than they really are.

Another challenge of shooting with a flash, with fire in the background, is that the colour temperature of the two light sources is very different. The flash is daylight-balanced, while the colour of the fire is very warm (red-orange). One way to balance the image is to correct the colour of the subject in post-processing. In Lightroom, this can be done using a local adjustment brush, which is what I did for this image. In Photoshop, this can be done using adjustment layers applied to a part of the photo.

An alternative to correcting colours in post-processing is to use gels on the flash. A gel is, basically, a piece of a coloured plastic, which is attached to the flash by a rubber band.

Personally, I prefer leaving the colour correction until I can see the photo on a computer and can experiment with various effects. After all, the warm colour of a bonfire creates a special atmosphere that is worth preserving in the final image.

October 30, 2014

How to deal with closed eyes in Portrait Pro

I have been experimenting with Portrait Pro retouching software. It speeds up the process of skin smoothing and other retouching adjustments as an alternative of doing them in Photoshop.

The workflow in Portrait Pro is very intuitive and the learning curve is not steep at all. However, there are a couple of features that took me some time to figure out.

For example, sometimes the subject has closed eyes, such as in the shot of my friends’ newborn daughter (see above), whom I met a couple of days ago. The problem is that Portrait Pro insists on creating the outlines of open eyes once you have followed the directions and identified the position of the corners of the eyes.

The solution is to follow the step-by-step guide and specify the corners of the eyes (this defines the general outline and the angle of the face) and skip the eye outline adjustment steps by pressing Spacebar repeatedly. After finishing refining of the nose, the mouth and the overall face outlines, simply toggle off the Eye Controls group of adjustments at the bottom right panel.

Another feature comes into play if you want to retouch a skin area, which is not a face. In order to do this, press “Enhance Skin Only” button at the initial interface, below the gender and age selection buttons and paint in the skin area. However, this button is not shown by default. In order to activate it, you need to start Portrait Pro not as a Photoshop or Lightroom plugin, but as a stand-alone application. Then go to Portrairpro > Preferences > General and check the “Show “Enhance Skin Only” Button” checkbox.

In general, I find that Portrait Pro works very well, but to avoid a cookie-cutter, filtered look, I prefer to apply its adjustments selectively, only to certain areas of the photo. This can be done either by using layers in Photoshop, as I described in this post, or within Portrait Pro by using a Restore Brush.

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