Gadgets That Work: Lowepro Photo Gloves

This is the second post (with the first post being about McClamp) in my thus far short series entitled "Gadgets That Work", which is about relatively low cost items (can anything with the word photographic attached to it truly be low cost?) that work well.

I believe I have mentioned before how much I dislike the cold (and it is below freezing here in Pittsburgh at the moment), and for that reason anything that lets me make photographs more comfortably in the winter is a big help in motivating me to get outdoors. One thing that I had always found very frustrating when trying to photograph in the cold is trying to keep my hands warm. Until recently, my best attempt was to use a thin glove 'liner' under a pair of mittens that was split in half with the finger part flipping back to allow the liner glove to be exposed. It was better than other alternatives I had tried, but there were two problems. First, the liner glove wasn't particularly warm when the mitten opened and, of even greater importance, it was very difficult to grip and work the camera controls with the inner glove. In fact, for that reason, I often found myself having to take the glove off.

Then I discovered Lowepro Photo Gloves. Usually I find myself being very cynical when a company takes what is generally a non-photographic product and attaches the word 'photo' to it. That usually means that it is going to be overpriced and may not be better than the same type of product without the magic word association.

But this is truly a superlative product! What makes it so different? First of all, the gloves are somewhat thicker and warmer than glove liners (but still not warm enough to use solo if it is very cold), but still fit under a mitten. In addition, the palm and the palm side of the fingers have little rubber 'treads' to allow you to grip and work camera controls, including wheels and dials, with the gloves on. They really work! If you are going to be out in cold winter weather you will definitely be glad you have a pair of these. If it is really cold, get yourself some small chemical warming packets to put between the mittens and these gloves and you will be all set for all but truly harsh and dangerous conditions.

Using Flashlights For Macro Photography

I have written before about the photography workshops run by Nancy Rotenberg, Les Saucier, and Don McGowan. They are superb, and I recommend them highly for anyone considering attending an intensive workshop. Just recently, Les Saucier wrote an article on their ‘Photography With Heart’ website that has provided me with some useful answers to questions that I have had about using flashlights for macro-photography.

What? Flashlights? You heard it right. For some time, in addition to using fill flash, I have played around with various flashlights to try to accent or add sparkle to subjects in my photographs, particularly flowers. While fill flash works very well for me in general, at times I would like to more selectively accent edges or portions of the image, which can’t easily be done with fill flash. In addition, if I just want to see what a bit of extra light will do, it is easier to just pull out a small flashlight and play a bit instead of setting up the flash.

But what flashlight to use? Incandescent, xenon, LED? Adjustable or fixed power output? How to adjust color cast.....with a gel or in Camera RAW? Though I have tried two or three flashlights, they have always seemed lacking in one way or another. And yet, in the back of my mind, I have always had the sneaking suspicion that there is a light out there that can do what I want it to.....if I just knew which one to buy.

That is why I was excited when I found out that Les had just written the definitive, up to date article that answered all these questions! The article is packed with great information and can be found here. I am putting in my order for a Fenix L1D and some Roscolux #17. I haven’t gotten them yet, but I am looking forward to giving them a try. Thanks Les!

The Changing Light

Sunrise is one of the things that many people who are not photographers often miss. Even though I frequently do take the opportunity to get up to photograph the rising sun, I still am almost always amazed at how quickly the color, intensity, and quality of light can change at this time of day. These changes are some of the aspects of light that are often missed by folks who are not photography oriented, either because they aren't awake for sunrise or don't pay as much attention to the nuances of light.

Several posts back, I wrote about a recent family vacation I took in Florida, at Sanibel Island. On a few of those days I got up early to photograph the sunrise. Here, in Western Pennsylvania, we often don't get a good view of the horizon because of the rather hilly terrain. On Sanibel, there was horizon visible all around. Being able to see the actual horizon so easily made the changing quality of the morning light even more evident. Because you could see so far 'out', the changes seemed to occur much more rapidly than I had ever appreciated here at home. It was truly an amazing, almost surreal experience.

As I was looking through some of those images, I recognized two that really brought this point home, as they were of the same subject and taken only about 20 minutes apart, and yet the difference in the quality of light is startling:

Driftwood I
Sanibel Island, Florida
Copyright Howard Grill

Driftwood II
Sanibel Island, Florida
Copyright Howard Grill

Though I personally prefer the first image, partly because of the color of the light and partly because I like the way the slower shutter speed smoothed the water, I feel they each have their own special feel and appeal.

I should also add that I wonder if the image would look 'tidier' or better composed if the upper branch of the driftwood that breaks through the horizon line were cloned out. From a compositional standpoint, and without arguing about whether that type of cloning should be done, what do you think?

At any rate, one thing is clear. Among the highlights of photographing is the chance to be awake to see, experience, and appreciate spectacles like this. Hard to believe that it happens most mornings!

Going Too Far

Printing is tough......it is where the rubber hits the road, so to speak. I may try to make an image look great on screen, but that always pales in comparison to the effort I end up putting into trying to make a print that looks"perfect" to me. By the time I feel the work is done, I have generally gone through many iterations of the image, making local changes in tonality, contrast, and satuaration to get it to look just the way I envisioned it. I have always felt that the print is the 'final common pathway'; that it is where the artist's final statement is made. Much like the old adage that 'if you love it let it go', the final print is where the photographer lets go of his creative effort and lets it loose on the world. Perhaps a little melodramatic, but I put great stock in the importance of the final print.

Ah, but the purpose of this post is not necessarily to talk about my philosophy of printing. It is actually to pass on some advice I took from from Brooks Jensen regarding making prints. It is advice that I have found to be very helpful and that I thought might be useful to others as well.

Many months back, Mr. Jensen made a brief comment in one of his LensWork podcasts to the effect that (and this is not going to be a word for word quote) "you never know if you have pushed an effect far enough until you have pushed it too far". I realized just recently that this advice has been,for some time, in the back of my mind as I work on making prints.

With Photoshop, it has become so easy to add more saturation, more contrast, make local tonal changes etc, that it becomes hard to know before seeing the print on paper (yes, I know about soft-proofing and color management...but, still, while those may be important clues as to how the final print will look, they still don't replace seeing the hard copy and making appropriate adjustments) to what degree adjustments should be made. How far do you go? How much contrast, saturation etc? If some is good might not more be better?

Mr. Jensen's thoughts ring true to me. If you identify where the point is that you have gone too far, you know what the limit is. That is not to say that what is too far for me is also too far for you. That's what makes us all individuals. But once you know when an effect or idea has gone too far for you, then you can work within those boundries to fine tune an image and decide what type of feel you want to give it. It seems more manageable to work within a range or a zone than to work in a sea of endless possibilities.

The Candid Frame: Interview With Rob Sheppard

I have previously written about the superb podcast by Ibarionex Perello entitled The Candid Frame. During each episode Ibarionex interviews a photographer, some well known and others less so. The interviews are always insightful and fascinating.

During the current episode Rob Sheppard is interviewed. I had expected to hear a lot about Outdoor Photographer, for which Mr. Sheppard is editor-at-large. However, this was not the focus of Mr. Sheppard's comments at all.

I found this episode particularly inspiring. Specifically, there was discussion about finding one's own personal vision, the role of Photoshop in photography, and the continued relevance of the craft of photography in the digital world.

I never miss an episode of The Candid Frame. If you haven't listened before, this is a great episode to start with!

Mark Story: Living In Three Centuries

I recently ran across an amazing set of portraits by photographer Mark Story, taken as part of his project entitled "Living In Three Centuries: The Face Of Age". His project started as an effort to photograph people who, because of living extraordinarily hard lives, appeared worn and aged beyond their years. It ultimately morphed into photographing those who have lived during three centuries, the centenarians and 'super-centenarians', whose life has encompassed the end of the 1800's, the 1900's, and,now, the new millennium. I find it interesting that the original idea of photographing those that appear worn beyond their years ultimately turned into making portraits of those who have lived longer than most of us can hope to.

The portraits are haunting and extremely expressive. They are accompanied by fascinating text that tells the viewer a bit about the subject. Well worth having a look. Once you are there, I bet you stay awhile, as I found myself somewhat mesmerized going through the images and reading about each person.

Mark Story's website can be found here. It is worth taking time to read about the project before going right to the images.

By the way, "Motivation" was one year old yesterday. When I started this blog, I wasn't quite sure how long it would last or where it would take me. Now, 156 posts in and going strong, I am very glad that I undertook it and am particularly thankful for the opportunity to have 'met' a good number of people who have contacted me along the way. It has also served to 'motivate' me to continue my photographic journey. I hope you have found it of some use as well.

Photographing With Flatbed Scanners

Lately, I've been reading about and have become fascinated by the use of flatbed scanners for photography. I am not talking about using them to scan film, but rather to produce primary images by placing objects on the glass and scanning them. Using this technique with today's scanners, one can make extremely detailed high resolution images.

That could open whole areas of exploration in and of itself. However, what I find even potentially more interesting is the ability to scan objects that could be used as background textures to be blended with camera generated images. These would be things that are easy to scan. Think about it....old, weathered paper, cloth, wood, metal etc.

So how many of these types of scans have I made. None! I did say that I was merely at the reading and learning stage. But it does seem to me that there could be a great deal of potential here and it is something I plan to experiment with.

I thought there might be some interest in the background information I have been reading, as well as in seeing some of the artwork that has been produced by others using this technique. Therefore, I thought it might be useful to post some links to resources about using flatbed scanners for photography, much as I did for experimenting with Holgas and pinhole cameras.

So here we go:

1) This article by Vincent de Groot is perhaps the best general article on the subject I have come across.

2) Another source of general information can be found here.

3) Flowers may or may not be your thing, but prepare yourself for what may be the most three dimensional appearing images you have ever seen by photographer (yes, I do think that 'scanographers' should be categorized as photographers) Katinka Matson.

4) Marsha Tudor has also made some beautiful images, I just wish her website would allow one to view them at a larger size.

If anyone reading this has had the opportunity to do this type of imaging, please comment, as I would love to hear what your experience has been!

Serendipity

I made an image about two weeks ago that made me smile. I smiled not only because I was on vacation, not only because I was happy with the decision to get up before sunrise and do some photographing while everyone else was still asleep, and not only because I was outside in the midst of an unbelievable sunrise. Sure, all those things played a role, but what really intrigued me was the role serendipity can have while photographing.

There I was on the beach at dawn with a most amazing sunrise unfolding. Suddenly, and out of nowhere, a Great Blue Heron flew up to me and landed a very short distance away. This in itself fascinated me because near my home in Pennsylvania there are some areas where an occasional heron can be seen, but they are very skittish and hard to approach closely. In Florida, where the birds seem much more accustomed to human presence, close approaches are not uncommon.....but, in this instance, it was the bird's choice to land right nearby.

After he landed, we sort of looked at each other, and then the heron seemed to look out at the sunrise as well. I know that is anthropomorphizing, but that is just what it seemed like despite the fact that, in reality, it was probably looking for fish in the water.

I had my 24-70 mm lens on my camera, and quickly racked it out to 70mm. The heron was still a bit small in the frame, so I slowly moved in a little closer while swinging the camera around towards the heron. He let me get a bit closer before I felt like I better stop the approach. Once he knew where I had stopped he didn't seem to pay much attention and let me shoot away. I tried to isolate his dark silhouette against the reflected colors of sunrise which seemed to emanate from the water.

'Sanibel Sunrise'
Sanibel Island, Florida
Copyright Howard Grill

He ultimately flew away, but it was an experience that really ingrained that unbelievably beautiful morning into my memory. When I returned back to our condo everyone was still asleep and I very contentedly crawled back into bed to catch a few more z's myself.

It was a particularly fun experience that day because I wasn't the only one out at that 'crazy hour'. There were three types of people up for sunrise that morning: the serious photographers, the serious shellers, and the serious fisherman. As I have frequently told my wife, I never feel more alive than when I am out photographing sunrise and have the opportunity to watch the world wake up.

The B Side

One of the things that I have been thinking about lately is how to deal with the idea of making photographs that I know ahead of time are not likely to be among those that I consider to be my best, or even likely to make it into print. I found myself wondering about the importance of making images under these circumstances and, in my mind, ended up comparing this situation to other fields of artistic endeavor, particularly music.

I found myself realizing that this situation surely occurred with even the best of the best. Didn't The Beatles and The Rolling Stones know that the songs they put on the “B Side” of their singles were not their strongest work. (For those too young to remember, ‘back in the day’ bands would release their hit singles on 45rpm vinyl records which had a song on both sides. Typically the ‘A Side’ had the hit single that was played on the radio and the ‘B Side’ had a lesser known work.) Even on full album releases it seemed, at least at the time, pretty clear what the ‘weakest’ songs were. So why put those on the album? Why not wait until a few more ‘good’ songs were written? If it were as simple as this, however, there would be no album that contained ‘filler’.

I think the answer goes far beyond the obvious issue of it being difficult to predict what will become a hit. And I think the answers are directly applicable to photography as well. It just somehow seemed clearer to me when I thought about the issues in the realm of music, perhaps because I am an ‘outsider’ to the field.

Surely there must be times when a musician is pleased with a piece they have written, only to find that most listeners would not categorize it as being among their best work. Similarly, I recently posted about how difficult it can be to predict what images people will find most appealing.

I am sure there are times that a musician feels a need to change something about their style: to experiment a bit, as it were. For me, this immediately brings to mind The Talking Heads and Joni Mitchell. From a photography standpoint, even though landscapes, for example, might be your strongest point, when you are feeling in a creative rut you might well want to do macro or street photography. Does that mean that this 'experimental' work should not be shown? Of course not.

What about the creative process in general? Maybe it simply isn’t possible to collect 14 ‘A Side’ songs at once. What if to generate that many hits you simply have to work through all the other tunes going through your mind first? What if you have to keep ‘practicing’ in order to make hits?

As I have been working through these issues and ideas in my mind a few things have become clear to me:

If you don’t keep practicing photography with vigor, then when the opportunity to take that ‘killer shot’ comes along the results will surely not be as good as they could have been.

If you don’t change your style, at least transiently, in order to climb out of a creative rut, you are doing yourself a creative injustice. Try macro, landscape, street…try playing with a Holga or pinhole camera. And don't hide the work.

Sometimes, to tell a story, not every image will be a ‘Best Of’ shot. (Not every song on The Who’s “Tommy” was a hit.) But each image may well play an important role, acting as a chapter, in delivering a complete and autonomous tale.

Even though you may not be going to a beautiful location, you can never tell when something will catch your eye and the subsequent photographic exploration may turn up something unanticipated.

It may well be that a passing texture or pattern that you make an image of might not stand on its own, but, at a later time, that image might well play an important role in a montage, as a texture blend, or other use.

I am not advocating showing your photographic ‘outtakes’ or what you consider to not be your best work, but surely there are many images that might merit that ‘B Side’; work that might not be one’s “Best Of” but still occupies an important spot in your creative history!

Quick Quotes: Albert Einstein II

"Creativity is more powerful than knowledge"
Albert Einstein

Unquestionably one of the greatest physicists and thinkers the world has ever known, I have always been fascinated by what Einstein has written and said outside the world of physics. It initially seemed unusual to me that a man as steeped in knowledge as he was would have deemed the value of pure creativity to be so high. After thinking about it some more, however, it became clear to me that those that truly bring a new level of understanding to any field generally do so by thinking 'outside the box', an endeavor which often requires the rejection of commonly accepted knowledge and the application of creative thinking.