Tamron Blog: Angle of View

Bethlehem Steel Mill

By Ken Hubbard

At one time the Bethlehem Steel Mill was the second largest steel producing company in the United States. The steel produced from this plant was used in the construction of the Golden Gate & George Washington Bridges, as well as buildings such as Chrysler Building, Madison Square Garden, Rockefeller Center and Alcatraz Island. It was also used to build parts of The Hoover Dam. This once amazing and mighty symbol of U.S. manufacturing operated from the mid 1850's to the early 2000's and was also one of the world's leading ship builders as well.

Today, there is an amazing revitalization to downtown Bethlehem and the Steel Stacks area. A contemporary performing arts center, called the ArtsQuest Center, and the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem have been already built on the site while the 5 blast furnaces have been left standing and serve as the lasting reminder to a forgotten time and a backdrop to the Levitt Pavilion which hosts concerts and shows.

The images I have posted were taken on a very clear and chilly late afternoon where the light got better and better as we walked around the grounds and tried to stay warm. You can see the change in color of light in the images below. The image on the left has a blueish cast and then only 20 minutes later you can see the warmth the setting sun casts upon the furnace stacks. It is difficult to keep straight lines when photographing such tall structures, especially when you are close and using a wide angle lens. To keep the lines straight on the stacks I shoot from further away and with a more telephoto lens (Tamron 28-300mm Di VC @ 150mm), this keeps the angle of your lens more parallel to the stacks and thus straighter in your image.

The image above is all about texture and colors. The yellow gold reflections of the setting sun in the windows against the deep blue fire escape. All three images were taken with Tamron's AF28-300mm zoom lens.

Captivating Hotel

By John VanSteenberg

After nearly forty years on traveling most weeks for business, some things become either invisible or interchangeable to you. Particularly things like hotels. So, imagine my surprise to have been unexpectedly captivated by one while on a trip to Columbia, SC with a stop in Charlotte, NC.

We were to fly out of Charlotte and had to overnight there. I walked into the Embassy Suites and was greeted by two LIONS and an incredibly comfortable and inviting Grecian palazzo, garden and waterfall.

It was exciting enough to make me want to take pictures and with the kind OK from the front desk, and the forbearance of a couple of guests, I made the following images:

While getting ready to photograph, there were two major issues going through my mind. How to capture the natural outdoor flavor and ambiance of this very comfortable area, overflowing with plant life and stone, without seeming too out of context considering that the area is indoors, in the atrium of the hotel? Then, how do I separate the details from the environment and make them seem more natural (like lions in the lobby)?

Technically: Light volume varied from adequate to pretty dim. Therefore, some images had to be made at high ISOs to get the depth of field necessary. Then, with even high ISOs, in the dim light some very slow shutter speeds became necessary. Some shots were hand held at 1/5th second at 1000 ISO.

The surrounding atrium, while not confined, was a little tight. And, as usual, my Tamron SP 17-50 f/2.8 VC zoom provided the most versatile tool. It was great in the limited space. It allowed some detail separation from the background and minimized the impact of the low available light. Yet it did not change the relative perspective so much as to make objects look distorted.

The Creole Plantation Named Laura

By Ken Hubbard

Bourbon Street, beignets with chicory coffee, crawfish, Jazz music and oh those hurricanes at Pat O'Briens! They are all classic visions of the wonderful city that is New Orleans, but there is so much more to experience when you take a trip down to the Big Easy. NOLA is a city that explodes upon every sense of your body with the taste of the food, sounds of the music, sights of multicolored buildings, the smell of Cajun spices & vibrant heat upon your skin. This southern city is an amazingly complex mixture of cultures & beliefs that is rich with history. I am lucky enough to travel down to this bend in the Mississippi river every year, and to see some good friends and to experience all that makes up New Orleans.

One piece of advice from someone who has been to New Orleans a number of times, please don't spend all of your time on Bourbon Street, get out of the french quarter and experience all that New Orleans has to offer. For me, one of the areas I love to visit is St. James Parish and the plantations along River Road. On my last trip to the Crescent City I was able to take a very quick trip out to a plantation that I have wanted to visit for a number of years. It's name is Laura, and it is a true Creole Plantation with a uncompromising historical tour of its past. It is hard to describe in a short newsletter, the vast history of this amazing plantation, just know you are getting a real account of the history of the area and what really happened on these plantations. For more information please visit their website at www.lauraplantation.com

So, now for the images, and how to create good images while on a guided tour that lasts 1 1/2hrs and does not allow you to walk around on your own. For me, it's about preparation and keeping my gear down to a minimum. On this visit I brought one camera body and two lenses, a Tamron 18-270mm VC PZD and a Tamron SP 10-24mm Di II and in the end I only used one lens, the 18-270mm, you move around the property too quickly to be worrying about changing lenses . Starting with the outside of the building, I usually start with wide angle shots of the entire building, shooting it straight on and then at different angles. I then start to zoom in on specific features of the exterior, taking tighter and tighter images. It's a process I use consistently to make sure I get a variety of images at different focal lengths, start wide then zoom in. Once you go inside, images become tougher because the quarters are tight, people walk in your frame and lighting is usually dark and changes from room to room. Shooting in aperture priority will be the easiest way to capture good exposures and controlling your depth of field. Try to shoot at at least F/11 so your foregrounds and backgrounds are in focus, even if this means bumping your ISO up to 800. Make sure your lenses Vibration Compensation is turned on, even with these settings chances are you will have some slow shutter speeds. Stay to the back of the pack and take a few test shots while the guide is speaking and get your framing and exposures down. Once the guide and main group move on to the next room, you should be ready and able to quickly capture images while the room is empty and not fall too far behind. Pay attention to the lines in your frames as well, for example the bed posts in the image below. Try to keep them as straight as possible in your frame, I use the edges of the frame to line them up, you should also turn on the grid feature in your viewfinder. Remember to look at the small details as well, such as the kneeling bench and small cross image below. Capturing only the kneeling bench without the cross in the frame, leaves you without a reference to what it was actually used for. Lastly, the best way to be courteous and not be a distraction to all others and the guide, is to stay in the back of the group even if this means falling a little behind.

Timing is Everything, but Luck is Good too!

By Ken Hubbard

So there you are in Kelso, Washington and you don't have to be at the airport until 1:00pm the next day, what do you do? Oh yeah, it's also been raining pretty much for the past 4 days straight, I ask again what do you do? Well, if you happen to be with another professional landscape photographer, in this case Ed Heaton from PA, you will convince yourselves it's a great idea to wake up before sunrise and head out to Mount Saint Helen's. Since I've always wanted to see the blast zone area of this amazing place, it didn't take much to talk myself into getting up to see it. Even though the clouds where low and it was raining (of course it was) we still made our way up highway 504 which headed towards the Johnston Ridge Observatory. To tell the truth, for me there is a nervous excitement that surrounds places like Mount Saint Helens, the sheer magnitude of destruction that took place within a few minutes, is amazing to me.

On May 18th 1980, Mount Saint Helens erupted, creating a 5.1 mag. earthquake, collapsing the entire north face of the volcano, then a slab of rock and ice slammed into Spirit Lake, crossed a ridge 1,300 feet high, and roared 14 miles down the Toutle River, and finally a lateral explosion occurred and nearly 150 square miles of forest was blown over or left dead and standing.

Knowing these facts and getting our first few signs of destruction, we continued to march on, hoping the clouds would break. As the altitude started to rise, every now and then we would get a good glimpse of the valley and our hopes would rise and fall with every bit of bright light but then the skies would darken and clouds would impede our view. I was starting to convince myself that this trip was going to end up being a scouting trip, and there would be little to no chance of capturing anything worthwhile. Boy, was I wrong.

As Ed and I pulled into a vantage point just before the Observatory, we planned on stepping out for just a second then continuing on. I stopped my car and we looked out into the valley that led to the volcano, I got a familiar feeling, it was that feeling of being very small compared to mother nature. The clouds were moving extremely quick and in many different directions from the strong winds, slowly a small bit of the volcano started to show itself. Then, all of a sudden a burst of light filled the valley, it took us both by surprise and Ed's exact quote was "I think we better move quickly". We did, grabbing our gear, setting up and trying to fire off as many images as we could before the light disappeared. We were lucky enough to get about 10 minutes of shooting before the clouds took over and covered up Mount Saint Helens once again. If we were there 5 minutes earlier or 5 minutes later, we would never have captured what we did. No matter how much you plan or try and figure out every equation, luck still comes into play every now and then!

What calls to you?

Sometimes, a single image is a great day in image making. I have selected a couple from recent trips that sort of show that.

The first image is about being aware of the final output and separating what's important from the clutter around it. (Inclusion/exclusion). I was on my way to the Denver airport from Colorado Springs with a little time to spare, so I stopped at the Garden of the Gods. Unfortunately, traffic was intense and time was short. So, I couldn't go into the park. But I decided to stop at the visitors center outside the entrance. From the second floor balcony, this was the scene:

As soon as I saw the scene, I saw the final image in my mind. It just said: "HELLO!". Not the entirety of what was there. But, just what was calling to me, the entrance to the park, backed by Pikes Peak:

Also, recently, while in the Northwest with the 4Cs PSA convention, I had a side trip and found two images that I did not have to search out. They screamed out at me to be explored.

Nothing was done except to remove the extraneous elements in the scenes and some tonal adjustments. All that was done was to be open to not just looking, but seeing what wanted to be seen.

Focal plane and controlling your depth of field on somewhat flat surfaces

By Ken Hubbard

When capturing images with a macro lens, such as the Tamron SP 60mm F/2.0 1:1 Macro, focus is always critical. As with any lens, the closer you physically move towards your subjects the shallower depth of field becomes. Since you can be as close as 9 inches to your subject (measured from your camera sensor to the front point of your subject) with this macro lens, depth of field is extremely shallow. Now, the test is how do you control that depth of field and keep as much of your subject in focus as possible? For this blog I will start with a somewhat flat surface subject, a very small fern growing on a split rail fence. I position my camera and lens so that the front element of the lens is parallel to the flat subject, being the rail and fern. With the lens and subject now being on the same focal plane, no part of the subject (corner to corner) is any closer or further away to the lens, allowing for a in focus image through out. If I was off parallel (Lens to subject), part of the subject would be closer and part would be further away, causing some of the image to be out of focus. See diagram and image below.

Adventure with Tamron: Abstracts on a Gloomy Night

By Jillian Bell

On one of my latest adventures with Tamron, I find myself with an upcoming trip to the sunny state of Florida. Being from Minnesota, any opportunity I have to bask amongst palm trees and poolsides is welcomed. This was not going to be one of those trips. With thunderstorms in the forecast, and wind gusts up to 40mph, it was beginning to feel like home. Don't get me wrong I love thunderstorms, but my boredom in yet another hotel room was getting the better of me. There is one good thing about most hotel rooms, they are filled with a menagerie of colorful patterns and texture. It instantly caught my eye as I walked down the hallway, checking into my room. I'll get to the hallway carpet in a bit, first let's focus on the room itself. The first photo shows the room in its entirety. Bright bold green curtains flank each side of the only window. There was no view..and the rain was steadily pouring down outside, so I got this shot instead. My next point of interest was the interesting frame around the desk mirror. In the next photograph, I was inspired by the reflection of the window, and how the light lit up the stucco walls. Hmmm, I thought, what else lights up? Then I started to experiment with the hanging lamp to my left and got an amazing abstract. Feeling rather cooped up in the room, I will venture back into the hallway. With the next two photographs, I am able to keep stability within an abstract by having a dominant line parallel to the frame. I also enjoyed the detailed swirls within a two color concept. There was SO much going on, but it was not overwhelming, simple in it's complexity. Another neat tip about abstracts, as you can see, orientation is left up to you. Flip it around if you want to, whatever makes the photograph visually stronger. Overall, I did not let a gloomy day ruin my fun. Keep those eyes open and find inspiration wherever you can.

The Pacific Northwest for a day...at the end of Lewis & Clark's great adventure

By John VanSteenberg

Recently, Tamron sent a team of us to the Northwest to work with the Columbia Camera Club Council. I got a chance to spend one day on the coast of the Pacific northwest (where I had not been), around Cape Disappointment, the end of the trail of Lewis and Clarks’ great expedition to the Pacific at the dawn of the westward movement of settlers.

The coast is sparsely populated. The drive along state highway 4 and US 101 west from Longview, beside the Columbia river, is a tale of twists and turns through tiny villages and great scenery. There are thousands of acres of rainforest and rugged mountains. There are tugboats pushing great barges along the river, funky country stores and diners to explore. Eventually, it ends at Cape Disappointment and the Long Beach peninsula, where the Columbia empties into the Pacific. The peninsula runs straight north and south facing the Pacific Ocean. It is bounded by Leadbetter Point State Park covering its north tip, the Willapa Bay on the west and Baker Bay on the southwest. The Columbia River is on the south and is connected to the mainland by a land bridge.

I had never seen the confluence of the Columbia and the Pacific. I have to say, it is amazing. I got to spend an evening and part of a day around Long Beach, Washington. It’s a wonderful village smack in the middle of the longest beach in the world, fronting on the Pacific Ocean. At about 50 miles long, the beach is over twice Daytona’s famed length. And like Daytona, the public is permitted to drive on it. In addition to being long, it is wide, really wide. The surf is often really rough. (Consider that the Columbia forces massive amounts of outflow into the ocean, conflicting with the southbound flow of the ocean’s coastal stream.)

Long Beach Peninsula is a really interesting town to visit. From the funky and fun tee shirt emporiums (like Stormin’ Norman’s) to the ice cream shop, with the HUGE servings (Scoopers) to the fudge shops, to the more upscale eateries, it takes one back in time. Cape Disappointment is home to two lighthouses, though I had to miss them this trip. A side trip to Oystertown produced a great dinner of clams and a few cool photos.

When I left Long Beach for the three-hour drive to the Portland airport, I had the chance to stop in Ilwaco and see the Pacific from just about where Lewis and Clark viewed it hundreds of feet above the shore, after their amazing adventure. I also visited the Ilwaco fishing fleet port, crossed the mighty Columbia to Astoria Oregon and then to Portland.

Then, it was off to Portland and the overnight flight back to Ohio.

50 people, a 150 year old mill and a weekend of learning and photo fun…

By John VanSteenberg

YM Weekend class blog

50 people, a 150 year old mill and a weekend of learning and photo fun…

Recently, we conducted a teaching event in conjunction with YM Camera, in Youngstown, Ohio. Fifty people attended the two hour class and Q&A session on Saturday and about 38 braved the chilly and wet weather on Sunday morning to test out what they learned, experiment and just play around; to see how the class helped them control their images and ‘see’ more photographs.

The accompanying images are from a few of the attendees.

We studied how to control motion (for dramatic effect), depth of field (for emphasis and de-emphasis), the interaction of aperture, ISO and shutter speeds (for total control), composition, light modifiers in nature, unifying backgrounds and foregrounds; and everybody seems to have gotten something good from their work there.

The mill is an exceptional opportunity for many great images, as the results attest. There are multiple good views of the mill, a modern and an old covered bridge, a waterfall or two, ravines, rocks, fall flowers and trails galore.

Remember, 35-40 photographers were at the same place at the same time. Even when they saw the same subject, they each found their own way to communicate it to the viewer. Each, uniquely their own. A few were willing to send some to me to be shared with you.

Mike Briggs usually shoots bike racing and other sports. He loved the 10-24 so much, he spent most of the morning exploring with it. (I’d love to think that I taught him something in the sessions. But, I know that he had to go out there with all of this talent, seeking his own unique way of ‘seeing’ of what was in the scene there). Here are a few of his images:
 

 

Tracy B had just bought her camera 2 weeks before the event. Here are a few of her images:

 

Sam Racketa is a life long sports shooter. "If there isn't a ball in the shot, I don't know what to do with it!" He wanted to explore his pictorial touch. I think he has a very nice one too:

 


Marilyn Wenger sent in a few too. All very different and unique. Great job!

 

We also did a little portrait session and we spent a fair amount of time looking for the light (direction, volume, texture). And the light was fantastic: dark, diffused by overcast and rain and the rain produced great color saturations. Our mandate was to explore and have fun: to let the creative juices flow. And boy did they….

In addition to the images here, you can see a larger collection at: http://tamron.myphotoexhibits.com/exhibits/4206-ym-camera-trip-gallery

We want to thank Jim Yankush and the staff of YM Camera for doing such a great job hosting the event. And we want to thank the fabulous staff at the Lanterman Mill in Mill Creek Park for their great tolerance, advice and guidance.

I need my sunglasses - Using a polarizer

By Rob Moody

As my passion for nature photography drove me to learn more, I discovered tools that I now consider indispensable in the pursuit of quality landscape images. I had all the primary tools in place. I was finally standing behind an expensive setup on an expensive tripod. I had purchased the right equipment and eaten noodles and frozen vegetables for months to own quality lenses. The majestic sunset was painting the most perfect dramatic landscape before my very eyes. I had worked so hard to put all the elements together, just to have the images of the glorious moment be less than I had hoped for.

This was the way my education about fine photographic filters started. I’ve noticed during my travels that many new photographers have purchased filters, but don’t know how to use them. Worse, they leave them at home when out shooting. Having the right filters and knowing how to get the most out of them can really make the difference between getting a good image and a great one!

One of the reasons you love your sunglasses is because they are most likely polarized. They reduce glare making everything you look at rich and colorful. You may also have noticed, when you rotate your head from side to side, it changes the reflective qualities of the things you look at. If you have noticed these things, you now know how a polarizer filter can be used to do this same thing in nature photography. Even if you haven’t noticed this about your sunglasses, keep reading. A polarizer is why the best nature images you see in post cards, calendars and fine art are so rich and colorful.

A circular polarizer either reduces or maximizes the reflections in your scene. As you look through a circular polarizer and adjust it, you will notice reflections getting stronger or weaker as you turn or adjust the filter. It can best be noticed in scenes with lakes, streams and white clouds against a blue sky. It is important to understand that a circular polarizer works best 90 degrees from the sun’s path in the sky. This means polarization will be really evident when composing images facing north or south.

In this example, I’m using a circular polarizer to force the reflection on the water. My lens choice is a Tamron SP 17-50 f/2.8 VC for this image on Independence Pass in Colorado. High quality lenses like these have special coatings on the optics that enhance lens performance. When purchasing filters, it’s important to get multi-coated or MC filters instead of the cheapest priced filter. This will insure that the coatings on the filters are the same as or similar to your lens coatings. While the differences between filters can seem minimal to some, I believe that having quality filters is essential to getting the best results. So, I invest in the best quality that at the very least matches the quality of my lens.

 

These images were taken using the Tamron 18-270 VC PZD lens. In the example, the first image was taken without a filter and the second image was taken using a circular polarizer. Note that the polarized image is not more saturated, it just has reduced reflection. Notice how you can see through the water to the bottom when the reflection is reduced. Also, while subtle and hard to notice, the foliage can also reflect the sky. This too can be reduced using a polarizer. There is a whole other world out there photographically speaking when you have the power to dial the reflection on, or dial it off.

 

These images were taken using the Tamron 28-300 VC lens. In the example, the first image was taken without a filter and the second image was taken using a circular polarizer. Even though you can’t see it outright, there is a lot of dust and particulate pollution that can reflect light back into your camera. The circular polarizer can reduce the reflected light from these particles allowing you to see through to the blue sky. Again, the polarized image is not more saturated, it just has reduced reflection.

In the example here, I purposely created an image to show you two undesirable issues you will encounter using a polarizer. If using screw-mount filters, just use the polarizer and resist the urge to stack filters. In the example, you can see blacked out corners, called a vignette. Complicating this, some cameras have less than 100% viewfinder meaning you might get blacked out corners even if you can’t see them through the viewfinder. If possible, you want to avoid rather than crop this problem. For these reasons, test your equipment at home in the back yard before going somewhere to seriously shoot. Put your intended filter on and make images of the sky and review them. For wider angle lenses, you may have to buy a thin filter to avoid this.

With extreme wide angle lenses and a polarizer, a second problem will present itself. Remember that a polarizer works best at right angles to the sun. With an extreme wide-angle lens, your view is so wide that it includes this angle and much more. This means that the part of your image 90 degrees to the sun’s path will have the maximum effect of the polarizer, while the part of your image that is not 90 degrees to the sun’s path will have a less polarized effect. This results in a very dark banding near the center of the image as you can see in the example image. It looks like a very dark or black cloud. For me this is undesirable and unnatural. This doesn’t mean you can’t use a polarizer on a wide-angle lens, it just means you have to be careful to dial the effect just a little instead of a lot.

This image was created with the Tamron 18-270 VC PZD lens and a circular polarizer. In my opinion, circular polarizer filters are a must have for general landscape shooting. Also they work great for creating images of rainbows because you can reduce reflected light from the raindrops. When you have the power to remove the reflected light from the scene, you can create some spectacular images. One final tip to getting great images is using your over/under or +/- exposure compensation to fine-tune the exposure. I’ve noticed that my cameras expose reliably using my in-camera metering for most shooting situations. This being said however, I have found that these same cameras, in my opinion, tend to over-expose landscapes. I have found that under-exposing my images 1/3 to 2/3 of a stop tend to render the overall look I’m after. You will have to play with this to get it right on your camera and practice before it counts! Don’t forget to set the +/- exposure compensation back to 0.0 after each shoot.

These days, I wouldn’t leave the house without my sunglasses or my polarizer. Enjoy!