Tamron Blog: Angle of View

Long Exposures and Seaside Piers

By Ken Hubbard

One of my last blogs that I posted a few months ago, I was talking about the not so winter I was having on Long Island and having to travel to Montreal to see snow.  Well, that turned out to be a real bad idea, because mother nature decided to finally hit us with some bad winter weather and then follow me around for a while on my travels.  One of the places I was looking forward to was Myrtle Beach. The Carolina Nature Photographers Assoc. was having its annual convention there at a hotel right on the beach.  I thought to myself "boy, this is going to be nice... Beach, sand and warm weather".   The beach was there, and my room on the 12th floor looked over the beach nicely, but as far as the warm weather goes, I don't think it ever went past 55 degrees. A bummer for South Carolina!

No matter what the weather is, and after this past winter I can't believe I'm complaining about 55 degree weather, I still try to find some time to shoot where ever I am. In this case the Apache Pier was within a few hundred yards of my hotel and seemed like a good place to capture some long exposure night images.  I really liked the patterns in the support planks and noticed that I got a mirrored look to them when I put one of the posts directly in the center of the frame.  The image below is a 30 second exposure shot at F/22 and an ISO setting at 800.  I used an LED flashlight to light up the entire inner structure, since there was so much light coming from the pier itself my first few images without it came out very dark.  Since LED lights can sometimes come out a little on the cool side I used one of Rouge Light Modifiers warming gel filters, that normally go onto a speedlight, over my flashlight to warm up the color a bit.  Another thing to remember when using a flashlight on long exposures, always keep the flashlight moving and don't leave it pointing at one spot too long,  this will cause a hot spot on your image that will not look good.

Over Exposure

By Rob Moody

Most of the time when you are rock or ice climbing, you are either climbing or you are on belay with the other end of the rope to manage. This makes photographing these activities difficult if not impossible. On this day, there would be two other climbers allowing me to roam freely while photographing the ice climbing. 

I am myself a mountaineer and have climbed steep ice a few times. I am intimately familiar with all the moves, techniques and equipment involved with the sport. Even though this is the case, it doesn’t actually matter to me whether I am totally familiar or completely unfamiliar with a sport because I do the same thing before photographing. I read and learn about it taking in everything I can. I review past photographs from photographers who regularly shoot the sport to become familiar with the key moments to photograph. Then I actively pre-visualize the key moments and me releasing the shutter at exactly the right moment to get the shot! I do this every day until I am actually there to photograph the event.

One of the things about ice climbing that makes it difficult is the bone chilling cold. Of course, in order for waterfalls to exist, they must be out of the direct sunlight and very cold. For this reason, management of both equipment and personal comfort become the keys to freeing your creative energies for the shoot. I use zippered camera bags for this to manage the extreme change in temperature. As I walked from the warm car to the ice climbing routs in Vail, my equipment had over 30 minutes to slowly become the same temperature as the outside shooting environment. This helps to prevent fogging of your lenses and condensation inside your camera body.

As with snow, the key to ice climbing photography is exposure, over-exposure to be exact. While a modern camera is excellent at auto exposure most all of the time, snow or light sand will cause the cameras meter to under expose images. This is because images composed primarily of snow, ice and light sand are, as a whole, brighter than the gray value a cameras meter is set to base its exposure on. This is why we still need manual settings so we can compensate for this exposure difference. I can shoot it in manual mode, a challenge with gloves. Alternatively, I can use program or aperture priority mode along with exposure compensation to get the right exposure. I prefer aperture priority or aperture value on some cameras. 

To properly expose for the ice, I start at 2/3 (also shown as +0.7) of a stop over exposure and create a test shot of the ice with a climber included. Just as with snow, it is important to over expose enough to make ice lighter, but also to retain detail in the ice. My goal with this is to get the ice closer to its actual brightness without over exposing. Then, if needed, I go the rest of the distance in post production.

I want cut time at the computer to a minimum, so I believe it’s best to do all you can to create the best image possible in camera during the shoot. I refine all photographic processes to achieve this. Unlike the old days of film, I over shoot these kinds of activities because it doesn’t cost me a thing. I believe that once you own the equipment, shooting is free whether taking one shot or a million. For this reason, I fill my cards with images knowing the worst thing that will happen is that I will have to erase images. The images were created using a Tamron SP 70-300 f/4-5.6 Di VC and a Nikon D800.

Basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal

By Ken Hubbard

 

When you head to Montreal, Canada the week in between Christmas and New Year's you expect a few things like, the streets and shops decorated for the holiday season, tourists who came to see this historic city, cold weather and snow! I know the reason I wanted to go up to Canada in the middle of winter, were the great photo ops in this beautiful old city regardless of challenging weather conditions. Well, with a major snow storm hitting the city the night I arrived and lasting throughout the entire next day, I was put to the test early. For at least the first full day I was there, it was going to be an indoor shooting experience. Which was fine, since I was staying in Old Montreal and there are a number of Cathedrals and other historical buildings to shoot, they just needed to be open!

Luckily, Basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal was open despite the whipping winds and heavy snowfall. One good thing about such a bad weather day is that less people are out sight seeing and what would usually be a very busy day inside the Basilica was now a much easier photographic experience. There was only one potentially bad mistake I made, I didn't want to carry my tripod around in the snow storm, so I left it back at the hotel. I usually depend heavily on a tripod in such low lit places as this, especially when I'm dealing with exposures of anywhere between 1/2 sec & 1/8 sec. even with my ISO set to 1600. Luckily for me the three lenses that I brought were all well suited for low light shooting because of either a fast F/2.8 aperture, Vibration Compensation, extreme wide angle of view or the combination of all three. The three lenses I used were Tamron's SP 10-24mm, 18-270mm VC & SP 17-50mm F/2.8 VC.

Since the Tamron 10-24mm is an extreme wide angle lens, it was a bit easier for me to hand hold my camera at slower shutter speeds like 1/4 sec and still get sharp images. The wider the angle of view your lens is the easier it is to hand hold. For example, if you look through your viewfinder when you have a lens set to 300mm, you can actually see your camera moving all over the place. Now, when you put another lens that is 10mm on your camera, you don't see the camera shake at all. The second Lens that I used was the Tamron 18-270mm, because I used some longer focal lengths it was harder to hand hold. This is where the Vibration Compensation system really helped, I was able to slow down my shutter speed about 4 stops than I normally could and was capturing images down to about 1/3 sec. The last lens I used was the 17-50mm F/2.8 VC. With the added feature of a fast F/2.8 aperture in this lens along with the wide angle of 17mm and the Vibration compensation, all allowed me to capture some images down to 1/2 sec. The images attached to this blog were all hand held using either one of these three lenses and were shot with various apertures, ISO 1600 and shutter speeds between 1/2 - 1/8 second.

Wild Poinsettias

By André Costantini

 

The poinsettia as a Christmas flower allegedly traces its roots to the 16th century in Mexico, it's popularity in America is largely a 20th century phenom. In many parts of the world, such as Mexico, India and parts of Nepal, the flower grows in the wild and is more of a shrub or a tree. And it was on a hike in Nepal, specifically Pokhara, at the base of the Himalayas that we came across a huge plant towering over us with the sky behind. Though I am used to seeing poinsettias in December in America, I was not used to a large plant hanging ten feet overhead. I had my new Tamron SP 70-200 f2.8 VC lens with image stabilization already on the camera and was able to take this image at 181mm at 1/40th of a second hand held. The aperture was f7.1 and the ISO 125. The camera was set in Manual mode.

Depending on the situation, I use my camera in different modes. In this case Manual not only allowed me to control the camera to properly expose the flower, but also to maximize my depth of field and image quality with a lower ISO. In general the lower the ISO the better the image quality but because there is a relationship between ISO and shutter speed, one has to make choices to optimize your picture. Having Tamron's VC (Vibration Compensation) stabilizer in the lens allowed a shutter speed of 1/40 of a second hand held at 181mm. 10 years ago this would have been almost impossible to get without a tripod.

Even though my lens can open to an aperture of f2.8, sometimes you need additional depth of field to get the image you want. In order to get the central poinsettia sharp and the surrounding ones a little soft, at 181mm the aperture was stopped down to f7.1.

When exposing an image that is back lit, it is necessary to over-expose, from what the cameras meter will tell you. This is because the meter, if you leave it in an evaluative or matrix setting, is looking at the entire frame and does not know you want to expose for a back lit subject. By overexposing, the blue sky turns white and the black flowers turn red. The image below is how the camera wants to expose it automatically. Often, great images are all around you, even if you are not in Nepal, but sometimes you have to manipulate the camera to make pictures the way you see them. Until next year...

Photographing Holiday Lights

By Jillian Bell

Driving around, looking at holiday lights is one of my favorite things to do in December. It's not too late to show off your own hard work. I find to get the best color, photograph your lights after sunset and underexpose the exposure by at least a stop (-1) to keep shadows dark. Also, having an ISO setting at 100-200 will allow for better saturation and detail of the lights. Use a tripod for the best stability, turning your lens stabilization (VC) off in the process. This method is ideal and will create beautiful night photographs like image #1 (F11 ISO 200 2.5 Seconds). Now 2.5 seconds is great, but let's face it, you do not always have time to set up a shot like this. In a more practical situation, the other photographs were taken while caroling the other night. With luminaries lining the streets, and festive garland everywhere, it was hard not to stop in-between houses.

No tripod, no time, how did I capture these photographs?

The secret is in your ISO settings. With a higher sensitivity, you can speed up your shutter speed and take good low light photos on the fly. ISO 1000, shutter speeds closer to 1/4^th or 1/20^th, I am using the Tamron SP 17-50mm F2.8 VC lens wide open. Granted the lights do not stand out as much, and any movement is blurred, but they turn out pretty good. Again with the VC off, I am using a light pole, or park bench to stabilize myself.

Happy Holidays everyone! See more light related photographs on my Facebook page: BellTamronUSA.

I would love to see some of your own holiday displays – share them on my page!

Going With The Flow

By Jeff Allen

Every once in a while a new product comes along that really makes a difference in my shooting, and shooting enjoyment.

My recent revelation is a relatively new design innovation in neutral density (ND) filters, called a variable neutral density filter.

For years, photographers have used two polarizer filters stacked together to achieve the effect of infinitely adjusting the volume of light through the lens, primarily for being able to achieve long exposures even in bright light. Stacking filters is never ideal since the more glass you put in front of your lens, the more likelihood there is for loss of sharpness and in the case of stacking polarizer filters, the possibility of unwanted shifts or variations of color. Another option has been stacking conventional ND filters, but again possible loss of sharpness can occur. Both options also can cause vignetting, or darkening at the edges of the frame due to the protrusion of the filter hardware at the front of the lens. Unfortunately, these effects are not ideal

Now, variable ND filters, available from most major filter manufacturers, which are available at your favorite camera store, offer the benefits previously stacking polarizers or conventional ND’s all in one package and without the detriment of attaching multiple filters. At the twist of a wrist, you and I can now adjust from minimal light reduction to nearly complete blocking of the light through the lens. With one simple accessory. A very handy tool for many shooting situations, such as moving water and waterfalls, even midday allowing more shooting flexibility in a wider variety of conditions, more conveniently than ever. Here’s an example…

Tamron SP 24-70 F/2.8 VC USD at f22, ISO100, 2sec. bright morning light.

Try a Variable ND filter to expand your shooting capabilities soon.

Good Shooting.

Macro Images & Controling Your Depth of Field

By Ken Hubbard

 

A few days ago a questions was asked of me on Facebook about one of the images I posted. The question asked if I used focus stacking software on the posted image of orchids which were taken while conducting a workshop at Parkside Orchids in Pennsylvania earlier this year. For those of you who don't know, focus stacking software allows you to create a larger depth of field than is normally attainable by merging images taken of the same subject with the same cropping, but with different focus points. When the images are merged the depth of field increases. The image above was the image in question, and no, there was no focus stacking done to this image. Anyone can obtain the same look by understanding the 3 things that effect depth of field, aperture, focus point & focal length.

First, lets look at aperture (or in other words your F-stop), the larger your aperture (F/1.4, F/2.8...) the smaller the depth of field & the smaller the aperture (F/16, F/22...) the larger the depth of field. This image was taken at f/32, which helped maximize my depth of field. Next is focus point, or how close you are to the subject you focused on. Keep this in mind, the closer you get to your focus point the shallower depth of field and images taken at the minimum focus distance of a lens, the DOF will be extremely shallow. This image was taken with the 90mm Macro lens which has a minimum focus distance of about 11 inches. I did not like the composition when shooting that close so I moved away from the flowers to about 22 inches. As I move away from my subject from 11 inches to 22 inches my DOF increased. Lastly, the focal length of the lens also affects your depth of field, the wider the angle of the lens the larger the depth of field. For example a 10mm lens will have a much larger depth of field than a 500mm lens.

In conclusion, to maximize the depth of field of this image, I stopped down the aperture to F/32, moved a little further away from the subject (22 inches) and used a 90mm focal length lens (instead of the 180mm Macro lens which would have had a shallower depth of field).

Impromptu Portraits

By André Costantini

There was just a moment or two. Well, maybe three. But I wanted to take a quick impromptu portrait. I knew the light was great, but there was not a lot of it. When I say that, I mean I could see it with my eye, but sometimes what I see, the camera can't quite capture. Have you ever had that experience? You see it and you know that it's there but when you try and take a picture, it falls a little short. There is nothing more frustrating then knowing that it's possible but not being able to make it. It doesn't matter what "that" is, but in this case, it was a picture.

It was my brother and I. We had a couple of days together for the first time in a long time and these days there is never enough time to be able to do everything we want to do. He came up for the weekend and we were working on a capital project (AKA rebuilding the side deck.) We came in for a break and he sat down at the table and I grabbed the camera. The light was coming from the sliding glass door in front of him. When he sat down I knew I just had to take it. So I asked him to stay there for a moment as I composed the image. I used the wider angle to incorporate the setting. As I took the first picture, I noticed the window in the background and then asked him to move closer to it. Though the light from the window added dimension to the image at the table, it was really bright when he sat in front of it. In the second picture, he was totally backlit because the light from the door which so nicely illuminated him in the first picture was barely enough to expose his face. In other words, I saw him, but the camera didn’t. It wanted to properly expose the curtain which would result in a really dark figure.

There were two things that I needed to be able to do to get it the way I saw it. The first was the exposure. With so much backlight (the bright window behind the subject), I needed to quickly trick the camera’s exposure. I had to overexpose the camera’s metering system, which gets confused by the brightness. I was using manual mode, so I over exposed what the camera’s meter said (if you are using Program or Aperture Priority use the EV Compensation and go to the + side one or two stops.) The second was using a slow shutter speed. The toughest part about using a slow shutter speed is being able to hand hold them for a non-blurry picture. Fortunately, the lens I was using had a stabilizer and in this case Tamron’s Vibration Compensation (VC) technology. It makes the difference between blurry and clear pictures (unless you always carry a tripod.)

Sometimes, life happens quickly. Both of these images were taken about 90 seconds apart. When I was faced with these challenging photographic circumstances, Vibration Compensation Technology saved the day. Be ready. Be prepared. Capture the moment (or two.)

Right Place, Right Time

by Jeff Allen

I travel a lot for work, as I think I’ve mentioned before.

A few weeks ago I happened to be in Southern California -- the week that the Space Shuttle Endeavour was flown to Los Angeles to be retired as a permanent part of the collection at the California Science Center. The Shuttle traveled on top of a specially-modified Boeing 747 transport aircraft across the country and around California -- much of the time at low altitudes of between 1200 and 1500 feet above the ground -- so it could bid farewell as a spacecraft, passing many of the cities that had something to do with design and manufacture of the shuttle.

I happened to be in Santa Ana, and had been watching the news coverage of the farewell trip.

The shuttle and transporter aircraft were scheduled to pass near Disneyland, several miles away from where I was. I decided to take a chance at getting a keepsake photograph or two if I could see it in the distance. I expected that if I saw it at all, that it would probably be a distant speck in the sky.

So, armed with my trusty Tamron SP AF 200-500mm lens, mounted on a sturdy tripod, I ventured outside to see what I could see. I had already set my camera to a shutter speed of 1/1000sec, and set the ISO to 400 so I was assured of getting sharp images. I was out for just a few minutes, when I heard the sound of a large aircraft approaching from my right. I looked and saw the Shuttle atop the transporter, probably less than a mile away. I quickly pointed my camera and started shooting. The aircraft were traveling fast and I only got a couple of shots off before they went behind some trees.

So, today’s tip is -- always be ready with your camera. Be familiar with your camera, lenses and how they need to be set for a given situation. Practice regularly so when the time comes, you will get the shot you were hoping for, when that speck in the distance turns out to fly right by.

Tamron SP AF 200-500 @500mm, Shutter priority @1/1000sec, f7.1 ISO 400

Mounted on a tripod for maximum sharpness

Making Lemonade

by Jeff Allen

It’s about that time of year again for many of us. You know, fall color photography season. Time to head for the hills, the woods, the local park or maybe just your backyard. There are lots of ways to get great leaf peeping photo results. But what happens on your outing if the weather doesn’t cooperate?

That is exactly what happened to me once when I was mentoring at a fall color photography workshop.

The morning started out great -- bright, sunny, warm and calm. Our group met at a local park. We shared some last minute thoughts and suggestions, then set out photographing the gorgeous colors that hardwood trees can produce: rich gold, vibrant red, even some saturated orange. Many sets of tripod legs were spread across the grounds, and attendees were getting good lessons and making some great shots. A small stream flowed through the park, and images of leaves floating and swirling in eddies were being captured, too.

We knew we had some potential weather issues looming as the forecast had predicted a storm front to come through. It was expected to arrive in the evening, so we weren’t too concerned about the workshop being affected.

Well, sometimes nature throws a wrench into your plans. About 90 minutes into the shoot, a breeze came up. No big deal. Simply set higher shutter speeds to stop motion. Of course, the breeze became steadily more intense until after just a few minutes we were getting strong gusts, branches were flailing and leaves were being blown away.

What to do, what to do?

Time to make lemonade from the lemons falling around us. I suggested we start shooting abstract photos. Everyone had already experimented with leaves swirling in pools on the stream, which requires a steady camera on a tripod making long exposures of the swirling color on the water.

So why not try shooting hand-held?

I had everyone take their cameras off their tripods. First, they used the zoom lenses to shoot long exposures handheld, zooming their lenses in and out during the exposures. Then I showed them how – with a wide-angle lens on the camera -- to rotate their hands like a clock during a long exposure. Both techniques made for some really unique, beautiful and colorful abstract images.

Day salvaged, smiles all around.

If you want to give it a try, here are some basic settings for your camera and lens to start:

Use a fairly low ISO setting like 100 or 200. Set the camera to aperture priority (AV) and use a small aperture like f16 or 22. Switch the autofocus off, and focus on the tree you want to use. You may want to experiment with using stabilization if your lens or camera has that feature. Try some with stabilization on and off. Back-lit or side-lit leaves will likely give better results than front-lit ones.

Below are a couple of examples that I captured that day to give you an idea of where to start. So when you get out to shoot this fall even if the weather isn’t great, or if you miss the peak of color in your area, or you just want something a bit different, you can try this approach, and maybe come home with a smile from drinking that lemonade.

Good shooting!

Shot with Tamron 18-270 VC PZD lens, while zooming “out” from the telephoto end of the range to the wide end of the lens zoom range at ISO 200. Aperture set at f22, the exposure was 1/20 sec. Try zooming both directions to see which results you like best.

Manual focus used. For best focus results zoom all the way in, then focus on the point of your choice. Try experimenting with focus point, also.

Shot with Tamron SP 10-24mm, at 18mm, while turning the camera counter clockwise, but not zooming the lens. ISO 200. Aperture set at f22, the exposure was 1/15 sec. Again, try turning your camera clockwise and counter-clockwise, to find the shot you like best. Focus set at manual, focus point was set at middle of the tree.