There are two kinds of pictures – part 2

Camera: Canon EOS-1D Mark IV. Lens: Canon 24-105 mm f/4,5-5,6. Shutter 1/250. Aperture f8. ISO 100

This picture belongs to the second category, “pictures you create”.
In the countryside, between Aarhus and Viborg, you find the showroom of CC-Cars, the biggest dealer of classic cars in the country.
I was especially fascinated by the American cars from the fifties, and when I also saw an old Coca Cola machine and a jukebox, the theme was obvious: Grease – the movie.
There was plenty of daylight in the modern showroom and little space between the cars on display. But I was going for a night picture. Partly to hide the other cars in the dark, and partly because the purpose of the day was, to demonstrate some of the possibilities of small flashes and Pocket Wizards.
I used three Canon Flashes for this shot. A Speedlite 580 EX II by the left front wing as my main light. It illuminates the side of the car and the face of the model. A 550 EX by the opposite wing points through the front screen and put a highlight on the far side of the face.
The last 550 EX is placed by the rear wing and mounted with a red gel to give a “street/traffic” feeling.
I used Pocket Wizards and an AC3 controller to adjust the amount of light from the flashes from the camera.
To obtain the right movie look in the final picture I made two versions in Adobe RAW, one “normal” and one HDR like version. I placed the first one as a layer on top of the second one in Photoshop with a 75% opacity. Finally I made the last adjustment in levels.

There are two kinds of photos

Camera: Canon EOS-1D Mark IV. Lens: Canon EF 100-400 f/4,5-5,6L. Shutter 1/500 sec. Aperture f/7,1. ISO 400.

There are numerous kinds of photographers. I just visited at website with around 15 different groups of photographers, and I’m sure there are places with even more categories.
But I have discovered, that all their pictures can be split in two main categories: pictures you are waiting for and pictures you create.
I don’t imagine the pictures in two boxes. More on a sliding scale, like the Gradient tool in Photoshop, with “pictures you are waiting for” in one end of the scale and “pictures you create” in the opposite end.
Allow me to explain. With the term “pictures you are waiting for” I mean pictures where you are waiting for the right moment to press the button.
The press photographer might be waiting for the right person to appear in a certain place, look in the camera or do something else. It can be the action photographer, who is waiting for the runner to cross the finish line, or the racing car to loose a wheel. It can be the nature photographer waiting for the sunbeam to illuminate the top of the mountain or the right landscape to appear in front of him. The family photographer might be waiting for the wife / husband or uncle to stumble over the dog or the child’s first step.
In the opposite end of the scale we have the “pictures you create”. At first you have an idea, and then you create the picture with shapes, colours, light and shadows.
Both main categories have their advantages and disadvantages. But the most interesting pictures are often a mix of the two, with elements of both spontaneity and deliberate actions.
The picture over her is an example of the first category, “a picture you are waiting for”.
But there is a small element of “creating” involved. I have deliberately chosen a spot with good chances for the odd incident. At the end of the straight, just before the first corner the field comes closer together. That increases the risk for dramatic actions – and corresponding photos.

More to follow……

Alternative tripod

I didn’t bring a tripod to El Gouna, as I tried to keep the weight of my luggage on a minimum.
Because of that I was forced to find alternative ways to stabilize my camera when the light was low.
In this case I used a wall and the lenshood. The picture is shot with my old faithful Canon EF 35-350 lens, and on this lens the front of the lenshood is curved, which makes it a perfect support.
At the same time I can adjust the angle by moving the lenshood forward or backwards under the lens.
My composition might look a little unconventional, but I feel it suits the scene.
By the way the mountains are among the highest in Egypt with altitudes over 7000 feet / 2000 meter.

Camera: Canon EOS-1D Mk IV
Lens: Canon 35-350 f3,5-350 mm zoomet ind til 65 mm
Aperture: F8,0
Shutter: 8 sekunder
ISO: 640

When the starting point is the object

I always had problems separating working hours and spare time. I can forget time and space when I work with pictures. At times I can start process pictures at odd hours, and when I on rare occasions travel on holiday with my wife, I always try to include a more or less official photoshoot.
It happened last time, when we went to El Gouna in Egypt. This place is not enriched with pyramids, temples or traditional folklore. The entire area is build within the last 13-13 years in an attempt to create en exclusive holiday environment by the Red Sea.
But the architecture is fascinating, and was to be my main subject this time. The Sheraton Miramar Hotel is designed by the architect Michael Graves, who was inspired by Nubian architecture, and I found he did a fantastic job.
I was especially impressed by the way he has worked with light and shadow effects everywhere in the buildings.

The entire area is build on small islands surrounded by manmade lagoons, but this part turned out to be the biggest challenge for me, as I didn’t had access to a helicopter. But during a swim in the lagoon I discovered the solution could be the opposite, a picture from sea level. Therefore this picture is made with my small, waterproof Pentax Optio.
The curve on top of the bridge is not caused by the lens. The bridge is part of a big circle on the island, and it’s actually bending towards the camera.

Winter Wonderland

For the past three years I spend the first weekend of the year on Helgoland, a tiny German island in the North Sea, together with a small group of photographers.

The attractions this time of the year are the seals and especially the white or yellow babyseals.

The seals are here all year, but in the winter, when there are very few tourist, they are more relaxed, and you can get very close with your camera.

But never forget seals are wild animals, and not all of them will love your company. And believe me. They may look clumsy, but some of them can actually move very fast, and I don’t think it’s a particular good experience to have 300 kg seal on top of you.

By the way they are equipped with sharp teeth as well.

Helgoland is a birds paradise as well, with more than 400 species. With a little luck we see Northern Gannet and Common Murre on the steep cliffs.

The weather can change very sudden. We have experienced both sunshine and mild temperatures, fog, snow and storms during our visits.

I am planning a new photo tour/workshop 7.-8. of January 2012.

We normally meet in Büsum on the German mainland early Saturday morning and travel by plane to Helgoland, to maximise our time on the island. We return Sunday afternoon. The plane only have 9 seats in total.

The price, which include plane and stay in a shared double room is 2.995 Danish crowns or around € 400,-.

Send me a mail to info@trebbien.dk if you want to join me on this very special tour/workshop.

Second time lucky

It was the last rally of the season. I really wanted to finish the season on a high and I drove through all the special stages the day before to find the best photo locations.
I found some gravel parts and a small jump but unfortunately all the best locations was far away from access roads. But I recognized one spot on stage three from another rally years back. It was a sharp left hander where the cars turned from gravel over tarmac to gravel. As far as I remembered it was a tricky corner for the drivers, and I decided to start my shooting there the next morning.

But the following morning the mist was hanging low over the stage, and there wasn’t too much light. The whole scenery called for high ISO, if I was going to have any chance to catch the action in the corner.
At first I was running as high as 3200 ISO and I was shooting 1/320 sec. to freeze the cars in the corner. But I soon realised there was even more action in the very fast corner that was leading up to the narrow corner, and here I could use a slower shutter speed of 1/200 sec. because I was panning whit the camera.
But I still wasn’t happy with the results, and decided to come back, when they were running the stage the second time.
This time the light was stronger, and I lowered the ISO to 800 and the shutterspeed to 1/160.

I also changed my camera point a little. These adjustments made a hell of a difference, and I was much more happy with my pictures now.

Remember plan B

Do you cover my back?

Nature can be unpredictable. That’s why I try having a plan B, when I go to work away from the comfort zone of a studio, like when I arrange a workshop with birds of prey on an island.
Plan A was to shoot the birds I natural surroundings. Plan B was to shoot indoors with flash.
As it happened we did both. And what started as plan B turned out to result in some of the best pictures of the weekend.
The setup is simple. I used black velvet for the background. The light comes from two Canon Speedlight flashes. One equipped with a Honl Traveler Softbox from the left, and another behind at the right with an umbrella.
The falcon and the puppet were familiar with each other since birth, but reacted quite different in this new environment. I didn’t like this picture at first, but could not forget it either, and after a few days it became one of my favorites.