The Camera Obscura Bloghttp://www.cameraobscurablog.com/blog/en-GB2012-02-23T00:03:42ZSquarespace Site Server v5.11.81 (http://www.squarespace.com/)I'm still alive! The July 2011 editionhttp://www.cameraobscurablog.com/blog/2011/7/1/im-still-alive-the-july-2011-edition.htmlCamera Obscura2011-07-01T11:21:12ZBumblebee Colour Macro Macro PAD2011 Picture Pictures flowerErm yeah. Sorry for going under like that. But photography disappeared from my life for quite a few months. I don't know why. But I wasn't feeling creative or motivated to go out and shoot.

In an effort to change this, I've dusted off the camera and lenses and jumped into the July 2011 edition of the DigitalFix Photo A Day. A bit of photographic companionship and peer pressure will hopefully help me jump back into things.

As a warm up, and making use of my free time at lunch; I took a macro shot entitled... Lunchtime.

EXIF data: Canon EF 100mm, 100mm, f5.6, 1/640 of a second, ISO400, No flashNo more excuses! More pictures!

]]>The first roll of filmhttp://www.cameraobscurablog.com/blog/2010/7/7/the-first-roll-of-film.htmlCamera Obscura2010-07-07T15:18:49ZColour Film Film Pictures Processing RollIn 2010, I bought myself a film camera (Canon EOS-30) to use when I wanted to get myself out of the comfort zone of digital. With that camera, I'd have to really think before pressing the shutter.

And I enjoyed it. But as I went into photographic hibernation, I never went past the first roll of film. Here is what my first film attempt looked like:


Time to get back into it and put in that black and white film I bought at the time!

]]>A week in 5 pictureshttp://www.cameraobscurablog.com/blog/2010/6/24/a-week-in-5-pictures.htmlCamera Obscura2010-06-24T20:32:38ZCatching up Macro Photography Pictures light and dark shadows
As I mentioned in my previous post, the past week has been hectic and not conducive to a focus on photography. But I took pictures. And looking back on a selection of 5 of them in this catch up post, a few interesting things jump out at me.
  • I love black and white. The more contrasty the better. 
  • My wide angle lenses remain favourites, but my new 100mm f2.8 macro is a joy to use.
  • The best camera is indeed the one you have with you.

More on these as we go through the pictures...

Underground Nova
EXIF data: Canon EF-S 10-22mm, 17mm, f4, 1/60 of a second, ISO 800
"Underground Nova" was taken on the escalator out of the Waterloo underground station in London. I've taken several shots looking up or down, but hadn't previously thought of using the LCD advertising screens, shadows and the strong diagonals to create an abstract underground pattern. It pays to look around.

The black and white conversion helps accentuate the lines, the pattern formed by the screens and reduce the distracting effect of wall colours and grime.

My favourite toy
EXIF data: Nexus One phone, N/A
This is a simple shot taken as I was bringing back my daughter from her child minder. The evening sun was casting long shadows on the walls and her silhouette was just too defined and interesting not to shoot.

There was a small issue though: I didn't have my camera with me. That is, I didn't have my DSLR. But I had my cell phone. "The best camera is the one that's with you," said Chase Jarvis. Something I always keep in mind.

So I took the picture with my phone. And I'm glad I did. The 5 megapixels camera is up to the job on a bright, sunlit day.

Chinese Shadows
EXIF data: Canon EF-S 10-22mm, 17mm, f4, 1/125 of a second, ISO 200
"Chinese Shadows" is a simple shot. But one where you need to catch the moment. Some days, the sun will reflect just right on the windows on the other side of the street and create soft Chinese shadows from the plants in front of the blinds. The effect lasts a few minutes at most. When you spot something like this, seize the moment and take the shot.

The conversion then accentuated the "parchment" colouration of the shot and added some vignetting but, otherwise, left it pretty much as captured. Not much to distract the viewer in a white blind and a few shadows. :)

The way you look at me
EXIF data: Canon EF 100mm, 800mm, f8, 1/80 of a second, ISO 800

Explosion of colour
EXIF data: Canon EF 100mm, 100mm, f8, 1/250 of a second, ISO 400
The 2 pictures above were shot with my new 100mm lens. I got 2 lenses recently: The Canon 50mm f1.4 and the Canon 100mm f2.8. Both produce superb images, as primes do. But I have to say the 100mm has been spending the most time on my camera. Partially because it opens up the world of macro photography for me. It's a lot of fun to try out this new aspect of photography.

But also because it's a great focal length that I've found versatile enough both for macro close ups and portraits.

It brings its own set of constraints though. You often need to raise the ISO to compensate for the small apertures you have to use to get a depth of field deeper than a few millimetres (I tend to shoot quite close with this lens, taking advantage of its 31cm minimum focusing distance). And it's hard to go high enough on shutter speed to capture sharp plants and insects on a somewhat windy day. It's a good thing the Canon 7D deals effortlessly with 800 iso.

The fact that a fair number of my shots end up in black and white also means I can't wait to use my roll of Ilford in my Canon EOS 30. I finished my roll of colour film yesterday and it's now out for processing. Ah the delicious anguish of waiting to see what you managed to capture. :)

Expect a post on those pictures when I get them next week.
]]>Look after Mr. Bond. See that some harm comes to him.http://www.cameraobscurablog.com/blog/2010/6/14/look-after-mr-bond-see-that-some-harm-comes-to-him.htmlCamera Obscura2010-06-14T14:07:23ZAperture Flash OCF Off Camera Photography Pictures Shutter speed Strobist UmbrellaDo you ever have weeks where everything just piles up on you? Weeks when your passion has to take second seat? Of course, you do. Don't we all? Well, those past 10 days have been like that for me. So my shooting has become more sporadic and my ability to update the blog inexistant.

But fear not. I am back! :)

The shots below are from my second attempt at an indoor strobist session at home. Armed with a few more pearls of wisdom, shared by the excellent Zack Arias during his Creative Live week-end lighting workshop, I set out to capture a few more shots.

The set-up was similar to my previous shoot, but with daylight coming through the blind left of camera and the flash to the side of the camera, facing the subject. In other words, I was mixing 2 light sources, with the flash compensating for the strong directional light. The goal was to keep the watch face well exposed.

With the 100mm macro lens mounted, and considering my distance to the subject, the depth of field could become quite shallow very quickly. So I paid attention to that when setting up the shot.

The other consideration for the first shot was to preserve the shadows on the background. 

Armed with this, I remembered Zack's motto: "You have to start somewhere". And that means getting the non flash part of the exposure right.

I set the camera to manual, set the aperture and shutter speed to a combination that ensured proper depth of field (f/11) and would not wash out the background (1/20th of a second). At that setting, the watch face received little direct light and was underexposed.

I then brought in the flash around 1/16th power, checked what that did to my exposure and adjusted the aperture and flash power to taste.

Watch and shadows

EXIF data: Canon EF 100mm, 100mm, f11, 1/20 of a second, ISO 100, 580 EX-II flash off camera right

A similar approach was followed for the following shots, but with different goals in mind.

5 past


EXIF data: Canon EF 100mm, 100mm, f4.5, 1/100 of a second, ISO 100, 580 EX-II flash off camera right

And the final shot of the day was a playful continuation of my first tentative attempt at lighting toys. I felt more confident this time but realised that, sadly, the soldiers didn't stand a chance...

Uh oh


EXIF data: Canon EF 100mm, 100mm, f13, 1/20 of a second, ISO 100, 580 EX-II flash off camera rightSo there we are. I can now start catching up on the best of the next week. Sporadic shooting doesn't mean no shooting at all. I don't think I can stay away from the camera for that long. :)

What about you, dear readers? Been finding the time to experiment with anything fun lately?

]]>Creepy crawlies meet my new toyhttp://www.cameraobscurablog.com/blog/2010/6/13/creepy-crawlies-meet-my-new-toy.htmlCamera Obscura2010-06-12T23:15:46ZBee Flowers JunePAD 2010 Light Macro Macro PicturesWhen does it become a lens buying addiction?

Nah. I can stop any time! This was was just a cheap second hand copy of a lens I had been lusting after for a while. It was only 3 months old too. How could I pass up the opportunity? :D

So I'm now the proud owner of a Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM. I've only started using it. But, from what I can see, that lens is sharp! And being able to focus 30cm from the subject and obtain 1:1 magnification makes it quite a different experience from regular shooting.

On the downside, trying it outside on bugs might reduce you to tears at the merest puff of wind. The depth of field is close to non existent at maximum magnification and you have to stop down so much to increase it that shutter speeds can go uncomfortably low. Especially trying to shoot bugs on a swaying flower.

Good thing then that the Canon EOS 7D can handle 400 or 800 ISO without much noise being visible at all. This came in handy.

Here are my early efforts into the world of macro photography. 

Table for one

 EXIF data: Canon EF 100mm, 100mm, f11, 1/250 of a second, ISO800, 580 EX-II flash on camera E-TTL -1Ev compensation

Table for two

 EXIF data: Canon EF 100mm, 100mm, f11, 1/160 of a second, ISO 400, 580 EX-II flash on camera E-TTL -1Ev compensation

Lavender Landscape

EXIF data: Canon EF 100mm, 100mm, f14, 1/60 of a second, ISO800, 580 EX-II flash on camera E-TTL -1Ev compensationFun times. In hindsight, the flash could probably have been left with no Exposure Compensation or less downwards exposure compensation. I overlooked the fact that it ends up so close to the subject that this turns it into a comparatively wide, and thus softer, light source. 

]]>Last thoughtshttp://www.cameraobscurablog.com/blog/2010/6/13/last-thoughts.htmlCamera Obscura2010-06-12T23:00:50ZFeet JunePAD 2010 Pavement Perspective Pictures UnusualFriday was a busy day. Too busy to plan a shoot. But the camera you have with you can create the opportunity you need. In this case, my Panasonic LX-3 and walking back from an evening meal at a local restaurant.

The idea: Go wide angle and make it seem like I'm an insect about to be crushed. Include lots of ground texture and shoot at an unusual angle.

It's a strength of the LX-3 that it can go wider angle and can also open its lens to a wider aperture than many other point and shoots. So I used those strengths for the shot below:

EXIF Data: Panasonic LX-3, 5.1mm, f2.5, 1/1000 of a second, ISO 400.Not much else to say, except that I'm starting to know very well what the pavement and road look like from up close this month. :)

]]>Shutter speed = Ambient Light. Aperture = ???.http://www.cameraobscurablog.com/blog/2010/6/10/shutter-speed-ambient-light-aperture.htmlCamera Obscura2010-06-10T21:44:48ZAperture Diffuser Flash Light OCF Off Camera Photography Shutter speed Strobist Technical UmbrellaIf you have been playing with Off Camera Flash (affectionately called OCF by lazy typists all over the world, including me) and shouted in reply "Aperture  = Flash Exposure, of course!", then this post is unlikely to be for you. :)

As for me, I bought some strobist gear back in December 2009. I unpacked it and admired it.

I also took a few shots with it, through the umbrella and using E-TTL which I rather liked.

For instance:

 

EXIF data: Canon EF 50mm f1.8, 50mm, f2, 1/13 of a second, ISO800, flash through umbrella bottom right (bottom of her bed)

But the pictures were taken with the flash in E-TTL mode (automatic mode where the flash measures how much output is required through the lens) and without any understanding of what was going on.

So, with the help of Zack Arias' OneLight DVD, I decided to really learn how to use Off Camera flash. And, as Zack recommends, that means going manual and controlling every parameter of the exposure.

Scary and overwhelming? Yes, at first. Then you watch Zack shoot and you want to try some of the same things. And if you don't have a model at hand, use toys. I did. ;)

So then, amidst all of Zack's useful chatter in the first hour of his DVD, what pushed me to go an play when I had felt so intimidated by the topic before? 2 things:

  • He explained some rules and principles to keep in mind at all times
  • As mentioned above, he advised me to shoot manual.

Not much, really. But hearing that E-TTL is wonderful but we want to start manual to understand what's going on was an obvious but liberating first step. It's certainly what stopped me really understanding what was going on when I trusted E-TTL last December. So my camera was stuck firmly on the M setting.

Secondly (and this is where the title comes in), he repeated the following rules several times:

  • Shutter speed influences how much ambient light is caught. Not flash.
  • Aperture influences how much flash light makes it through during the brief illumination. Obvisouly, this goes along with the usual control of depth of field.
  • ISO influences exposure in general and thus both factors above.
  • Your flash doesn't have to give a full blast all the time. you have other settings (1/1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, ...)
  • When you set your flash on manual and go from one power setting to the next, there is always one stop of light of difference between 2 power settings.
  • Another rule you need to be aware of is the inverse square law. You can look it up. But, in its simplest form, you should be aware that it states that the closer you are to the flash, the quicker lights falls off. If you are trying to illuminate 2 subjects, you will have a much easier time getting even lighting on them both further away from the flash than right besides it. The cost being that the flash will likely need to blast more power to illuminate those subjects properly. On the flip side, if you have a model really close to the flash, you can really control how the model is lit with that flash and no interference from ambient light.

From the rules above, you can deduce 3 simple rules when playing with your flash and camera on manual:

  • If you want to influence how much ambient light is caught, change your shutter speed (and/or your ISO if needed).
  • If you want to influence how much flash light blasts onto the subject, change your aperture. If your subject is 2 stops overexposed at f4, go down to f7.1 (f4 to f5.6 = -1 stop, f5.6 -> f7.1 = - 1stop).
  • If your flash illuminated subject is similarly overexposed 2 stops at f4 but you'd like to keep that aperture to maintain the depth of field you chose, reduce the illumination on your flash by 2 stops (for instance, go from full to 1/2 power then to 1/4 power). By doing this, you have reduced subject illumination by 2 stops and haven't modified the ambient light being captured.

That's it. The 6 rules I mentioned and the 3 related principles listed above will get you started if you go manual.

Buying the OneLight DVD to hear the man himself explain the rules and show you how he shoots won't hurt either. :)

That said, you can easily experiment for yourself to see whether changing the shutter speed will affect how much flash light is caught (down to the minimum sync speed, generally 1/250th of a second). Or you can verify that, by opening your aperture 1 stop wider but reducing flash power by one stop, you haven't changed the exposure, only the depth of field.

In other words, those principles give you the keys to go play and learn.

I only had time for a dozen shots that evening. They won't win any awards. But they were confidence builders that I remembered the rules and could use them to my advantage. And if you are feeling a bit overwhelmed by flash lighting, reread the rules and then experiment for yourself. Once the first step has been taken, you will no doubt have the confidence to expand your experiments.

So here is what my set up looked like yesterday:

I bought a cheap flash cord (for when my 7D is not in line of sight of the flash) and a diffuser since December. With the gear piling up, I had to start using it. :)

The first shot was taken without the flash and without the diffuser on top. Just a straight test shot in manual to find my shutter speed for the background:

EXIF data: Canon EF-S 10-22mm, 22mm, f8, 3.2 seconds, ISO100, no flash.Correctly exposed but oh so flat.

So I started playing with the flash. Here are 2 examples illustrating the rules mentioned above:

EXIF data: Tamron 17-35mm, 30mm, f5.6, 1/6 of a second, ISO100, flash through umbrella right at 1/8 power.As you can see, the light from the flash gives a lot more depth and detail to the picture. Is it perfect, not by any means. But it's a starting point. I wanted my depth of field to cover both soldiers though and for the Dalek appendages to be all visible. So I tweaked the picture to this:

EXIF data: Tamron 17-35mm, 30mm, f9, 1/6 of a second, ISO100, flash through umbrella right at 1/2 power.I took my aperture down to f9. that lost me 1 and 1/3 stop of light but allowed me to gain more depth of field to bring doomed soldier number 2 into focus. Then, because I wanted slightly deeper blacks than I had above, I brought my flash power up 1 stops.

Considering I had started at 1/8 power, if you refer to the rules I quoted above, you will see that that took me back to 1/4 power (1/8 -> 1/4 = 1 stop).

You will notice that my shutter speed and ISO never needed to change during those experiments. It was all about flash exposure and thus aperture and flash power. Simple, eh?

Oh, and if you look at the Dalek head, you can spot the lighting setup mentioned above quite easily:

Camera in front, diffuser on top, umbrella and flash to the rightIt's often the case in models' eyes too. Always nice for the curious. :)

So there you go. I haven't produced any award winning photography, but I've started to understand the basics of using a flash and now I can build on it. What about you? Are you ready to jump in and learn off camera flash?

]]>Add a background image to your Google homepagehttp://www.cameraobscurablog.com/blog/2010/6/10/add-a-background-image-to-your-google-homepage.htmlCamera Obscura2010-06-10T10:28:43ZBackground Cool stuff Google Homepage Image PeekabooNow this is cool. Google is giving us the opportunity to customise our google homepage with an image. It can be one they supply, or one of your own. 

You can find more details here: Features: Add a background image to your Google homepage

As it happens, I've got the perfect Google background image. Until I tire of it, that is. :)

Here is the one I chose:

 

 

What's yours going to be?

]]>Unusual perspectiveshttp://www.cameraobscurablog.com/blog/2010/6/8/unusual-perspectives.htmlCamera Obscura2010-06-08T22:33:04ZCatford JunePAD 2010 Low Perspective Photography Pictures Unusual Vantage ViewEver fancy taking a picture but feel like you need to travel? Ever think that you have seen everything there is to see around your house or that there are no subjects worth photographing there?

If you have, you probably need to look around again. But do so from a different angle. Look up. Look Down. Crouch on the floor. Find the angle that shows you something new. And chances are that you will keep getting surprised by what is there to shoot.

I know I keep finding new shots in my neighbourhood, even though I often go out thinking I've seen and shown it all.

Here then are today's shots:

Dowanhill

Exif Data: Panasonic LX3, 5.1mm, aperture of f4, 1/800 of a second, ISO 100. Torridon 

Exif Data: Canon 10-22mm, 12mm, aperture of f11, 1/30 of a second, ISO 100.

Electric 272

Exif Data: Panasonic LX3, 5.1mm, aperture of f4, 1/2000 of a second, ISO 100.

One interesting learning from those shots is that the LX3 might not have the choice of lenses or the sensor size that go with my 7D, but it excels at shots near the road surface. Because it's smaller than a DSLR, the lens gets even closer to the road and accentuates the surface for a cooler effect.

What are you going to spot in your neighbourhood?

]]>Mignonne, allons voir si la rose...http://www.cameraobscurablog.com/blog/2010/6/7/mignonne-allons-voir-si-la-rose.htmlCamera Obscura2010-06-07T21:02:24ZGarden JunePAD 2010 Pictures flower roseThis post is titled after the eponymous poem by 16th century French poet Pierre de Ronsard. It means "My love, let us see if the rose". In it, Ronsard exhorts Cassandra to go see if the rose which was so beautiful that morning still is in the evening. It's a warning to enjoy life and beauty while you can. A French Carpe Diem.

But enough poetry; onto photography. The reason this title came to mind is because I decided to shoot around the garden today. A rose in particular caught my attention and, as you will see below, by the time I took the portrait of a rose late in the day, it had lost some of its sheen. 

First of all, here is a very dreamy flower I shot around lunch time. It came out nearly like that out of the camera, and I simply reduced the contrast and sharpening a bit more to enhance the slightly unreal look.

Perchance to dream

Exif Data: Sigma 70-200mm f2.8, 200mm, aperture of f3.2, 1/1250 of a second, ISO 200. 

And now onto our rose. So beautiful and luminous even on a cloudy day...

 

Framed rose

Exif Data: Sigma 70-200mm f2.8, 146mm, aperture of f4, 1/640 of a second, ISO 200. 

 

Portrait of a rose

Exif Data: Sigma 70-200mm f2.8, 175mm, aperture of f4.5, 1/400 of a second, ISO 400. 

 

Ronsard was right. Carpe Diem. :)

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