Tamron Blog: Angle of View

Playing With Fire

By Jeff Allen

Try experimenting with flash and without, as demonstrated in these images. When using the flash, “bracket” your exposures – underexposing at a full stop (-1), 2/3rd stop (-.7), 1/3rd stop (-.3) – to see the variations in detail and lighting. By underexposing the flash you can avoid washing out details in the foreground which would cause the flames to look washed out as well. Most DSLR cameras allow independent flash exposure adjustments. Some brands allow settings to be made using controls on the camera body, while others allow the adjustments on the flash (speedlight) instead of the camera. Check your owner’s manual for complete details or ask an expert at your local photo special retailer.

Using ND Filters

By Ken Hubbard

For me the most important filter I have in my camera bag is the circular polarizing filter, this is because of the many uses this for this filter that can help enhance your images.  First, and what most people use this filter for is to help create a more dramatic look to the sky by deepening the blue and brightening the clouds. Second, is to take out the reflections in surfaces such as glass or glare on shiny surfaces like a wet green leaf. Lastly, you can use it to slow down your shutter speed by up to 2 stops. If you are shooting a stream or moving water and your scene is a little to bright and you cannot get a slow enough shutter speed, try putting on your CP filter and using it like a ND filter.  The way a CP filter works is by attaching it to the front of your lenses and turning the filter till you see the desired effect thru your viewfinder.  For maximum effect it is best to have the sun directly behind you or over your left or right shoulder, not directly in front of you.

 

Lens Used: SP24-70mm F/2.8 Di VC USD

Focal Length: 24mm

ISO 200

Shutter Speed: 1/80th

Aperture: F/16

Atmosphere and Backlight

By André Costantini

Dusty or foggy air, combined with backlight, is a great lighting condition for silhouettes of people and other easy to recognize subjects.  This technique creates a mystical, dreamy feeling.  In this case, I waited for the moment that the truck's headlights outlined the child on the bike. There is usually a very short timeframe to get this photo right, and since autofocus works off of contrast, I often switch to manual focus in situations like this where the contrast on the subject is very low to non-existent. I was handholding the camera for this shot, so I turned the VC (Vibration Compensation) image stabilizer on, which helps when you are in compromising lighting conditions that require slower shutter speeds.

Shooting Fireworks Anytime

By Jeff Allen

Firework photography isn’t just for patriotic holidays anymore. In addition to Independence Day, there are shows on New Year’s Eve, at fairs and carnivals, sports team championship celebrations and season openers, business or civic grand openings and dedications, amusement parks and many more throughout the year. There are slightly different challenges shooting fireworks from a distance versus shooting displays nearby.

The photo below was shot at an early New Years Eve event with the Tamron 18-270 Di II VC PZD. As always, dress for the weather. If outside for long periods, keep back-up batteries inside a coat to keep them warm. Choose a spot safely away from the fireworks, and scout locations in advance of the show if possible. Choose a location with the breeze at your back, so the smoke is blowing away from the display for sharper results. Focus manually and leave it set once the distance is determined, so the camera isn’t trying to hunt for focus in the dark.

Use a steady tripod and a release cable, or remote, for the sharpest results. For long distance shots a telephoto lens is necessary. Use a low ISO like 100 or 200, as the bursts are very bright. Try using manual exposure. The best results are usually shot with exposure times from about 5-30 seconds because the camera records everything that happens for as long as the shutter is open. The longer the shutter speed, the more visible the firework trails will be. Try different shots, allowing only one or two bursts, then allow several bursts to expose on each frame. A noise reduction software program in post-production can help eliminate the digital noise seen in shots like this.

An excerpt from the Macro EBook

By Jillian Bell

Flowers are the most common macro subject.  I use a 90mm or 180mm macro lens for the furthest working distance.  Macro photography is all about the parts of a whole that inspire you.  When I find flowers, I am looking for defects or other attributes to make my photographs unique.  Push yourself to study the same subject for an hour or so.  Your best images will come after all the traditional angles have been covered.  For a flat more even look, use a straight on flash.  To find drama, use a strong side light.  For a softer look, use natural diffused light.  Whenever I find great leaf veins it works well to position a back lit flash for a transparent feel.

Check out the other Macro tips at: 

http://tamron-usa.com/lenses/assets/ebooks/MACRO_ebook.pdf

Shooting Motion with Panning

By Jeff Allen

 

A great way to photograph “night light” subjects is to follow, or pan, with the subject as it moves past you. The best results are achieved when using the continuous shooting mode on the camera, so there are more frames to choose from. Experiment with shutter speeds, but the results are generally created with shutter speeds ranging from 1/10 sec. to 1/60 sec., depending on how fast the subject is moving and the amount of available light. When panning, leave a bit of room in the frame for the subject to “move into”. This shot of a carousel horse was the third frame of a of five-shot burst shooting as the horse approached and passed by. Good results can be achieved with this technique whether hand-held or panning on a tripod.

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.

SHEDDING LIGHT ON MEN!

 By Hernan Rodriguez

Whether shooting images for a commercial client, or to further my portfolio, I like to begin my images with a visual concept, drawing ideas from everywhere such as dreams, movies and just about anywhere. With my background as an Art Director, I illustrate most of my ideas on a sketchpad including diagrams, to illustrate where I would place my lights, and maybe what I want to portray in the final images. I find this technique to be a good practice and highly recommend it because it eliminates the guesswork. Even if I don’t use that particular idea, I save the notes and refer to it later, as a ‘tried and tested’ archive. It also comes in handy when I have a client wanting a specific look, which I might have already perfected.

A question was recently brought to my attention – ‘Do you ever photograph men’?

After reviewing my portfolio, I realized from my body of work that I do, however, probably not enough. I put a casting out for men, tested for hours, and finalized the shoot. It turned out great! So with that said, here is one of my approaches to photographing men. 

LIGHTING

First objective in this next lighting diagram was to have the largest wrap-around light source I could attain. I wanted to come up with a new approach in creating an image with a commercial feel and good transitions throughout the skin tone.           

For this reason, I chose to start my light set-up with the placement of my fill light. I decided to use 2 large 86” white satin Westcott oversized umbrellas. I placed both of these umbrellas directly to the left and to the right of my camera, feathered towards my subject. The umbrella from camera left coming across the front of the subjects left shoulder, and the umbrella from camera right coming across the front of the subjects right shoulder. Almost a type of criss-cross. Each light was close to six feet infront of subject, and each light needed a reading of F4 individually with a combined reading of F5.6 together.This gave me a beautiful wrap around fill which cannot be attained by just one light source.

Second objective was adding a bright accent on my subject’s face with quick fall-off. I wanted to highlight the upper region and let it graduate to darker.

For the key light, I placed a 22” beauty dish fitted with a honey comb grid and a sock (diffusor) over it to cut down the light further. This also allowed me to place the light closer to the subject for quicker fall-off. This was placed on a boom directly over camera approximately 36” above subject with a reading of F8 1/2.

Third I added two more lights from behind and on each side of my subject as accent. One was a 7” reflector with a 20 degree grid set at F11, and the other was a small 16x20 soft box with little diffusion set at F11.5.  A cyan Rosco gel was added for effect.

One last light 7” reflector with a 30 degree grid was used for the background. As these were a series of images, the background light metered between F11 and F16, depending on the “look”. 

TIP: When photographing men, this light setup creates contour, shape and shadows.

LENS CHOICE

I used a Tamron SP 90mm macro which allowed me some compression even at a small aperture. You can see where the focus falls off in the close-up of the hand. The distance from my lens to my focusing point was about four feet.  Elements behind that point would quickly fall off focus.

The overall exposure was set at 125th sec at F8 1/2 ISO 100

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.

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!