Tamron Blog: Angle of View

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.

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.)

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.

The Bristlecone Pine Tree of Cedar Breaks

By Ken Hubbard

After Spending four days in Las Vegas at the Photoshop World Conference, I wanted to get out of town and capture some images of one of my favorite spots to photograph, Utah's southwest region. My normal M.O. is to head towards Zion National Park's Springdale entrance. This time I wanted to check out a new spot, so I ended up driving to the town of Cedar City to check out a different part of Zion National Park known as Kolob Canyon as well as Cedar Breaks National Monument, which is very similar to Bryce Canyon National Park. Cedar City was only about a half an hour away from both locations making it the perfect spot to stay in. The great thing about these locations is that they are both much less crowded than many of the other well known spots in this area.

Many people have heard of Bryce Canyon National Park with it's amazing colors and towering Hoodoos jetting upward from the canyon floor. It's a spectacular place that everyone should visit if you are in the southern Utah region. However, there is another National Monument that is considered the baby brother to Bryce that many people overlook, and it's name is Cedar Breaks National Monument. Even if it is a little bit smaller in size than Bryce it is by no means a "baby brother", it is an amazingly beautiful and spectacular location, minus the crowds. To all of us photographers, less crowds means a much more enjoyable shooting experience. The images of the over 1600 year old Bristlecone Pine tree in this blog where taken along the Spectra Point trail.

You can really capture some stunning images of Bristlecone Pine trees, even though they look like they are dead, they are really very much alive. I guess I wouldn't look so good either if I was a few thousand years old! These trees offer up amazing textures and lines allowing for both close up images of their knobs and veins as well as wide angle images of its twisting turning branches. Even with all the yellows, oranges and reds glowing from the Canyon, I still wanted to present these images in black and white so the viewer can really concentrate on all the tones, cracks and crevices. I feel that color can sometimes take away from images like this by having the viewer looking at the color instead of the details. Trust me, as much as I like B&W, I still took plenty of color images of the canyon itself!

Hot Night In The City

by Ken Hubbard

The High Line on the west side of Manhattan Island runs from 30th St. between 10th & 11th Ave. all the way down to Washington & Gansevoor St. Along the way you pass such beautiful spots such as the Radial Bench, Chelsea Thicket and the Diller - Von Furstenberg Sundeck and Water Feature. The High Line started out as an elevated railway in 1934 and the last train ran atop the the rails in 1980, and was then left abandoned. Until 2005 when the City of New York takes ownership of the railway and after 4 years of construction the first section was reopened to the public as an elevated park in 2009.

I went into this shoot with pretty small expectations, since it was a nice night in the city and it seemed everyone had the same idea as me, to check out the sights of the High Line. I also wanted to test myself and only bring 1 camera body, 2 lenses (Tamron's SP 10-24mm & SP 60mm 1:1 Macro) and a GorillaPod Focus with a Ballhead X. Anyone who knows me probably is laughing really hard and not believing that is all I had with me, but it's true, my new motto is...the lighter the better! Ha, ha, ha, I'll keep trying to say that with a straight face!

The two things I wanted to accomplish on this shoot was to use nothing but available light and try to have as few people as possible in each image. The first part of what I wanted (to shoot only in available light) was made easy by the abundance of great light all along the stretch. Keeping the people out of the images, that was going to be a different story. As I was setting up each shot, I don't think I went more than a second or two without someone crossing through the scene I framed out in my Viewfinder. Since the longer you keep the shutter open the better chance you have of no one showing up in your images, I went with very long exposures. Both of the images in this Enewsletter where taken with 25 second exposures and had at least 8 -10 people walk through the frame. As you can see with such an extreme long shutter not one person showed up in the image. Lastly, using the ultra-wide angle lens and it's dramatic perspective allowed me to create some unique images using the lines of the benches, hand rails and walkway.

In pursuit of lighting bugs

By André Costantini

A few years ago I can recall making my first attempt to try and photograph a field of lighting bugs and it is my recollection that it was a rather dismal failure. Several weeks ago confronted with a bunch of active ones, I decided to make another attempt, utilizing an odd and comical technique that I experimented with shooting butterflies. As fortunately (for me) there is no video of this shoot (maybe unfortunately for you) I can describe the technique to the best of my ability prefacing it with if you feel like you look ridiculous doing it, you are probably doing it correctly.

But let me digress for a moment. The tough part about shooting lighting bugs is that you don't know where exactly they are. So if you try to use longer lenses, focusing is difficult. And the use of wide angle lenses rarely renders the field of glowing insects the way your eye sees it. The luminosity of the insect can vary and the further away they are the less actual light makes it to your camera. Also, they don't take direction very well, so timing their flashing right is also a factor.

In my early attempts I used a wide angle lens, something like a 10-24mm or 24-70mm usually in the 20-24 range and had my camera on a tripod for a 30 second exposure f2.8-4.0 at 3200 ISO with the focus on manual (closer to infinity). Like trying to photograph lightning, because you don't know exactly where or when it will strike, you leave the shutter of the camera open and you hope it all works out. Though I met with some success of some little trails, I still didn't feel like it captured the energy that lighting bugs make me feel.

My next attempt was to see where the light was and literally chase the insects around, hand held with the shutter open for 30 seconds. See the light, chase the bug; see the light chase the bug. Obviously the closer the bug, the bigger and brighter it appears. In some cases, it is only a few bugs that lit up several times that made it look as though there are more. I also made sure to expose for part of the 30 seconds elements of the sky catching a little ambiance and context.

Unorthodox techniques sometimes yield some interesting results. If your first try at capturing something is less than successful, do something different, as you never know what you may find.

Stalking Ghosts

By Jeff Allen

I travel a lot for work. My travels often take me through Chicago’s O’Hare International airport. It’s a large, usually crowded building. Connecting the B and C concourses is a long underground walkway complete with moving sidewalks. Long ago, it was changed into a bit of an oasis. Instead of a long sterile corridor, whimsical abstract neon and other lighting effects were installed. A variation of a familiar Gershwin tune is usually playing softly in the background. In spite of the large groups of travelers constantly passing through, this corridor is my favorite part of my voyages through ORD. It is also ripe for making interesting images, especially long exposures.

Chances are, your tripod is safely and inconveniently stashed in your checked bag. Mine too…

So I got a little creative to find camera support for the long exposures I was planning. At one end of the corridor is a shoeshine stand. At the times of day I usually pass through, it’s usually not staffed, so I don’t have to interrupt anyone. It’s solid and makes a great impromptu camera stand. Also, there are numerous other spots to steadily support your camera, such as some very sturdy trashcans.

My lens of choice for this challenge is the Tamron SP 10-24mm Di-II. The lens is designed for use on APS-C sensor size cameras.

So, why long exposures, you ask. Simply to make the crowds of people disappear from the image.

 
Tamron SP 10-24 at 19mm, 5 sec. @ f29, ISO 100, camera placed on the shoe shine stand

I found after a couple of test shots that I liked the effect of making people disappear at a shutter speed of 5 seconds. Then it was just a matter of choosing aperture to set the mood and choosing a location. The variation of “Rhapsody In Blue” playing also helped set my mood. It was an unusual version that I can best describe as “Peanuts” character Linus’ plinking at the piano, meets Mike Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells”. Different and definitely haunting. PERFECT!

 
Tamron SP 10-24 at 10mm, 5 sec. @ f10, ISO 100, camera placed atop a trashcan

 
Tamron SP 10-24 at 10mm, 5 sec. @ f11, ISO 100, camera placed atop trashcan on opposite side of walkway from picture above

Abstracts, strong leading lines, great reflections, ghosts. These scenes have everything.

Also remember, zoom lenses zoom and feet move. Remember to do both if you need to, in this or similar locations. Experiment with exposure times, apertures, and ISO sensitivities to find what works best for you.

The long exposure time of 5 seconds makes nearby people walking past, or riding on the moving walkway virtually disappear. People in motion at greater distances appear as ghostlike objects, and those in the far distance have some form but appear so small in the frame as to be almost unnoticeable.

To save time, rather than digging out my release cable to ensure sharp pictures, I simply set the camera self-timer to fire the shutter, allowing any vibrations to fade away.

My inspiration came from a friend, and fellow photographer, after he showed me prints of images he had made from a similar trip through O’Hare. I asked if he minded if I used his idea. He was happy to allow me to share.

Get out, experiment, and create some ghosts. You can always do it in your neighborhood, if your plans don’t take you out of town.

Good shooting.

Focus on Clouds

By André Costantini

The thing about sunsets is that light changes quickly. Just moments apart can appear to be worlds of difference. What can be interesting about that time of day is what the light does and how it's severe angle can create dimension and depth to things like clouds, not to mention the intense colors.

I have always found it fascinating when your eyes try and watch clouds and you get lost in the softness of the texture, not quite being able to focus. And your camera's lens is not unlike your eyes.

Auto focus of your camera works by detecting contrast, if there is little or none, the auto focus may have trouble locking in on the subject. To avoid having to worry about focus and being able to concentrate on composition, all of these images were taken using manual focus.

Have you ever heard of the term infinity when it is referred to focusing? Every lens has an infinity focus point. This distance varies depending on the focal length of the lens you are using. This is the point where everything far away will be in focus. And clouds are generally far away. Far enough away that they are at infinity for our lens focusing purposes.

Because the focus point is tied to depth of field, if I focus my lens (in this case the Tamron 28-300) on infinity and my subject is entirely located at that distance, everything would always be in focus at any aperture. Then all I have to do is make sure my shutter speed is quick enough to get crisp images (somewhere between 250th and 500th of a second in this case.)

Once I have all of these technical things out of the way the "focus" can be on taking images, trying different compositions and catching the quickly ever-changing light. All of these images where taken over a span of only 10 minutes using various focal lengths with the Tamron 28-300mm.

300mm f6.3 1/500 ISO 400

154mm f5.6 1/500 ISO 400

300mm f6.3 1/320 ISO 400

300mm f6.3 1/250 ISO 400

42mm f4.0 1/250 ISO 400

A Little Post Production Goes A Long Way

By Ken Hubbard

Isn't it amazing how sometimes the image you are envisioning in your head doesn't always translate into the image you end up seeing on your computer screen when you go back to review your days shoot? You did everything correctly (or maybe you thought you did everything correctly) like, using your lens filters, custom white balance, reading your histogram to created a good exposure, and so on... Still, when you go back to review, something went a little wrong and the image looks not quite like what you thought you created. This is where a little help in post can be your best friend. I know, I always preach "do it correctly in the field" and I never make these types of mistakes myself (yeah right, I've made more than my share for sure!), but with today's software you can very easily fix some of those so so images.

When I was at the Grand Canyon taking this image, I didn't have the classic colorful sunset and there was a little bit of haze in the air. I sat there for a few minutes hoping for something better, which I got by way of a nice beam of light when the sun came out from the clouds. The beam reached across the giant expanse highlighting the tips of the canyon wall. I used a Graduated Neutral Density Filter to balance out the highlights in the sky with the shadows of the canyon, to keep detail in both. After checking my histogram and making a few adjustments I started firing away. Unfortunately, the one thing I forgot to do is manual white balance, and I left the camera in AWB! At the time I wasn't too worried, I figured it would be pretty close. As you can see, it ended up turning out kind of green and kind of flat. I was disappointed to say the least, but not ready to give up on the image.

I knew with a little work in post, I could clean up the image and make it look a bit closer to what I saw. This is where Nik Software comes in, and within a few minutes and adjustments using Nik Vivezia 2 & Color Efex Pro 4 (Pro Contrast), I go from a flat off-color image to one with good color, contrast and depth. Using the software as a plug in for Photoshop, I first open it up in Vivezia 2, and make my contrast, color and saturation changes using the global corrections. Then I go in and fine tune all the little details with control points, bringing out the highlights and layers of the canyon's spires, contrast in the clouds and fine tuning the reds, yellows and blues throughout the image. Then next step I go into Color Efex Pro 4's Pro Contrast I make final color corrections and contrast corrections, resulting in the image below.

Image was shot using Tamron's SP 28-75mm F/2.8 Di Lens

UGGIE - "THE ARTIST"

By Hernan Rodriguez

I WOULD LIKE TO SHARE WITH YOU ONE OF THE CHAPTERS OF MY NEW UPCOMING BOOK, "75 PORTRAITS by Hernan". THANKS TO AMHERST MEDIA. THIS PARTICULAR DIAGRAM IS OF UGGIE THE DOG.

One of the most exciting things about being based in Los Angeles area, for me, is the opportunity to work with celebrities. When the phone rings or I’m checking my emails, I never know what celebrity I will be shooting next. Uggie was my first canine “star.” Uggie is most remembered for his role in the Academy Award winning film “The Artist.” He came prepared for his publicity shoot with his honorary “Oscar“. Not bad for a dog!!

These images showcased, were created for Uggi’s book. We did a series of three different looks. One image I really wanted to capture, was a classic portrait of Uggi, to be able to convert into black and white. Similar to the style and time period of the movie he starred. For such an image, I tend to keep the background simple and clean. I used a thunder grey seamless paper roll set four feet behind Uggi. I also needed a platform for Uggi, so we used a variety of set chairs. Both short and tall. Contrast was not an issue, being that Uggi is white. In approaching my lighting setup, I also needed the latitude to allow Uggi to move freely, without missing the light. I created a set that would wrap light completely around Uggi.

For my keylight, I used a large 30” beauty dish with a grid, and on some of the shots created, I taped black gaffer tape around the edges, to narrow my light. I often use this technique as well as black cinefoil around the perimeter of my beauty dish, to shape my light. I placed this light overhead at a high angle to create shadows. My keylight metered F11. For my fill light, I used a combination of two lights. The first was a 36” silver umbrella, set at 90 degrees to camera right. This light was feathered across Uggi. Since Uggi’s coat is white, placing my light forward, would flatten my lighting. This light metered F5.6. The combination of my key and fill, kept depth to the final image. My second fill was an on-camera ring flash. This light was used as weak fill if needed. It metered F4. One small 12”x18” softbox was placed directly over Uggi’s right side and just two feet behind. This light was metered equal to the keylight. It added just the right amount of soft highlights as accent. I also used a flash head equipped with a 20 degree grid, for added highlights, set to Uggi’s left side, 3 feet behind. This light metered 1/2 over the keylight. One last light was a flash head with a 30 degree grid, placed four feet in front of the background. This light was 1/2 brighter than the keylight as well. My final exposure was 200^th of a second at F11. ISO 100.

HERE IS A QUICK VIDEO OF UGGIE'S BEHIND THE SCENES PHOTO-SESSION.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6WduC3xZ1PE