Archive for category photography
Keep calm and carry on (shooting)…
Posted by Michal in journalism, photography, photojournalism on 09/03/2010
If the recent media stories about the threat to our freedom to photograph in public places worry or anger you, don’t let them.
As for every “Photography under threat” headline, there’s an amazing story on how photography changes or at least influences lives .
So, don’t worry, photography is not under threat. It will be, when you stop shooting.
Will mobile phones kill off low-end cameras?
Posted by Michal in kit, photography on 02/03/2010
What is your primary camera? Is it a DSLR? A lower-end pocket digital camera? Or is it a mobile phone?
Chances are it’s probably a combination of at least two devices, one of which is primarily used as a phone. I use a good DSLR, but for projects like The Best Camera I rely exclusively on my iPhone, which as we all know, is not particularly good at taking pictures.
More and more people use their mobile phones as a camera (or instead of one) as the quality of the images they produce has improved dramatically over the past few years. And according to a recent report by iSuppli, the low-end digital camera market is under great pressure from mobile phone manufacturers who release more better quality camera phones boasting, among other things, high resolution image sensors.
iSuppli forecasts that by 2013 the average mobile camera resolution will rise to 5.7 megapixels. Between 2008 and 2009 this resolution rose by 0.6 megapixels, from 1.5 to 2.1 Mp. Within the next three years compact digital cameras will be able to produce images which are, on average, up to 13.9 megapixels in size.
iSuppli reckons that with better image quality management tools mobile phone manufacturers might be able to persuade those who wouldn’t risk “a precious family photo” to ditch their compact cameras for better performing camera phones. It also predicts that Asian and European users will be more willing to make the jump.
It’s all fine and makes sense, but I’m surprised iSuppli in its report ignored one, crucial aspect of the whole issue: the ability to share your photos with the world instantly.
I guess this will be the real deciding factor here. Whether you’re at a gig, witnessing something newsworthy or just want to take a quick photo of something to share, you are probably less worried about the overall quality (which in most cases wouldn’t be that much better if you had a small compact camera on you anyway), but more about being able to share the image.
Mobile phones allow users to do MMS a picture, email it, share it instantly on Facebook, Twitter, other networking sites, upload to Flickr, Picasa, etc. Yes, in theory you could do the same with any camera and an Eye-Fi memory card, but your average Joe probably won’t bother with that. Plus most smartphones – and the iPhone in particular – have some great photo apps like the above mentioned Best Camera app.
So, yes, mobile phones are likely to put pressure and possibly even kill off lower-end cameras (if they haven’t already), but the number of pixels – even though it’s still used as a strong USP in marketing campaigns - will probably not be the most crucial of factors in the future.
Thoughts?
Testing Aperture 3
Posted by Michal in photography, software on 14/02/2010
So I made the jump. I’ve downloaded Aperture 3, the 30-day trial version. Just to see what the fuss is all about.
I’ve been using Lightroom for a few years now and I’m quite happy – and more importantly, familiar with – its workflow, quirks, abilities and shortcomings. But Apple’s generous gesture (doesn’t happen often) of allowing us mere mortals to test drive something for free for a month meant I couldn’t resist. Even if that meant losing almost a gigabyte of space on my hard drive (that’s how big the software is).
So I have 30 days to decide whether all those nice tutorial videos promising fantastic cool features mean much or whether Apple is simply repackaging Lightroom’s existing functionality and applying its usual glossy finish to deliver a shinier, but comparable tool.
I should probably compare the latest version of Aperture with the beta release of Lightroom 3, but to be honest I’m more interested in determining which package copes better with the functions I use every day rather than which package offers redundant functionality, which makes great headlines, but remains unused. I’m hoping to test the extras too (although I do realise that what I consider extras someone else may view as essential functionality), but my aim is clear: I need to know whether for the basic, day-to-day functions it actually makes sense to make the jump.
If you, like me, are also looking for an answer to this question, I’ll post something on this subject in the next, er, 30 days. But hopefully sooner.
If you have however made up your mind already, I’d love to hear what you have to say.
London photography from the upper deck
Posted by Michal in inspiration, photographers, photography on 03/01/2010
Every now and then I’ll be chatting to photographers who inspire me or do something unusual with their cameras. This is my first quick chat with a London-based photographer, Przemek Wajerowicz, who some time ago set out to create a project called From the Upper Deck.
Here he talks to me about in more detail about his project and the inspiration behind it:
The project started soon after I arrived in London in 2005. I’m a street photography fan and From the Upper Deck is weird version of street photography. The view from double-decker buses fascinated me from the moment I arrived in London. I’ve always taken pictures from buses, sadly I lost the very early ones when my hard drive died some time ago. (Three low-res images survived here http://plfoto.com/730749/zdjecie.html http://plfoto.com/765776/zdjecie.html http://plfoto.com/777852/zdjecie.html – these were my first pictures from the upper deck.)
After a while the whole idea grew into a project and in 2007 I decided to ride every bus route in London from the first to the last stop. The following year I started my photo blog.
What camera are you using? Do you stick to just one lens or do you change them?
Currently I’m using Canon 5D and a Canon 50mm f 1.8 lens. The 5D allows me to take good quality pictures at very short intervals, which is a great bonus when photographing the street from a moving bus. Plus it’s a full-frame camera too. 99% of all my pictures were taken with the 50mm lens. In my opinion the 50mm focal length manages the task best and is ideal for me. And besides the 50mm is like cheap wine. Why is cheap wine is good? Because it’s cheap and good.
I agree, I love my 50mm f1.8 lens. Incredible quality for such low price. Which aspect of this project do you find difficult, what’s the biggest challenge for you?
I don’t look at it this way. It’s difficult to say what the most difficult thing is. Most things about taking pictures are exciting. The most boring – and therefore the most difficult aspect – is not getting lost in all the information: when and where I’ve been, which route I’ve covered… All that admin stuff (two spreadsheets, calendar) is very ungrateful, but I need to remember where and when I’ve visited. The biggest challenge is getting on every single double-decker route in London from the beginning to the end.
Have you ever met with a negative reaction? Or do people prefer to pose for pics?
Usually people don’t see me. But when they do, they react in various ways – they’re surprised, they smile, they seem reluctant. But there has never been a negative reaction – maybe just surprise. Here are some examples:
http://www.ftud.net/p/494
http://www.ftud.net/p/87
http://www.ftud.net/p/357
Has this project changed the way you perceive London and its inhabitants?
No, although I’ve seen places I never knew existed, mainly on the outskirts of London – places like Purley, Biggin Hill or Hillingdon.
How was the project received by other photographers and the general poblic?
I think the feedback was positive. The project was picked up by the BBC website and other blogs/online publications, including a prominent German site I never knew existed 
How many routes have you got left to cover and how are you planning to cover those without double-decker buses?
I don’t know exactly how many as not all of them have double-deckers. I think I’ll simply ignore those.
What’s the next step for the project?
The main aim is to publish an album then to re-edit and rebuilt the website to allow for easier picture browsing.
You can follow Przemek on Twitter and check his site www.ftud.net
All images © Przemek Wajerowicz, used with author’s permission
26-gigapixel picture – the biggest in the world
Posted by Michal in inspiration, photography on 18/12/2009
Woah! Have I already told you that I’m in love with Canon 5D Mark II? Have I?
Just like Canon 350D made DSLRs more accessible to millions of users worldwide a few years ago, last year Canon 5D Mark II ushered in a new era of high-spec, mid-range DSLR hybrids, capable of taking stunning images up to 21MP in size – even in low-lighting conditions – and producing some superb HD videos at the same time.
Now we have another proof – as if one was needed – of how stunning this camera is.
A German agency AFB Media in association with Dresden-based newspaper Sächsische Zeitung produced what they claim is a record-breaking, 26-gigapixel panoramic image of the city. Done using Canon 5D Mark II, obviously.
How did they do it? It took them almost three hours to produce the picture. Well, not just one picture. The camera – linked directly to a laptop, as there are no memory cards big enough to store such an amount of data – captured over 1600 individual full-format images. Altogether, they’ve recorded over 100Gb of data.
They’ve used a 400mm lens and a special engine to ensure precise movement and timed the whole process to produce a consistent image which reflects the movement of the sun.
If printed, this photo would measure 105×35 metres. That’s almost the size of a football pitch. A great achievement indeed.
You can read all about the process here (the amount of geeky detail is a bit scary). You can obviously see and play with the enormous picture there too.
To really experience the awesomeness of the whole project, make sure you’re fully zoomed out and then click on one of the 11 thumbnails on the page.
Of course, to break this record they could’ve used any other high-end camera, but I think the fact they’ve opted for Canon 5D Mark II says a lot about its status as the most versatile and powerful DSLR on the market now.
If only the price made it more accessible.
Here’s a video from the shoot:
The fox on the tube – and what photographers can learn
Posted by Michal in journalism, photography on 08/12/2009
This is such a fascinating story – on many levels. But for photographers there’s one crucial lesson, which I’ll explain in a second.
A few days ago Kate Arkless-Gray, also known as @RadioKate, took this picture of an urban fox at Walthamstow tube station. It was late at night, the station was empty and the fox ran down the escalator only to be chased back up. And this is when Kate took the picture. With her iPhone. (She took another one with her Canon Ixus, both of which can be seen on her Flickr page).
Within hours of posting the image on Twitter, it went viral and captured the imagination of thousands of people worldwide. I read Kate’s updates on Twitter as she got more and more excited about the prospect of breaking yet another unexpected record number of views.
However, nothing has prepared Kate for the subsequent media reaction to this picture. Everyone, from the BBC to the Daily Mirror, from Metro to the Daily Telegraph picked up the story and ran the picture. Many bloggers – like Annie Mole or myself – picked it up too.
BBC Breakfast presenters had a chat about the fox and Japanese and other foreign media chase Kate for some more details and interviews. You can listen to the whole unbelievable story on Kate’s AudioBoo here:
But as a photographer and journalist I was fascinated by – and reminded of – one thing. It’s not the camera that counts, it’s the picture. Yes, it’s pretty obvious, but often forgotten.
In our endless pursuit of bigger, better cameras we forget that they won’t always necessarily give us pictures which capture our imagination. The tool almost doesn’t matter. Kate’s picture technically is far from perfect, but it hardly matters. Good photographers can take stunning pictures with almost any camera. Sometimes obviously they’re helped by the situation. (Although often even being the right person in the right place at the right time doesn’t help if you don’t trust your journalistic instincts or the sixth sense or whatever you want to call it – or simply can’t use the camera).
Earlier today I was looking at some of my early pictures taken with cheap, sometimes disposable cameras and I couldn’t help, but feel that they made me look at the world in a different way. They almost forced me to be more creative as – unlike all the modern gear, they didn’t offer that many fall-back options, if you know what I mean.
So let’s not obsess about the latest and the best – let’s think about what we can do with what we’ve got.
Kate’s fox also shows (again) the power of Twitter (as if we need another proof of its capabilities) in spreading information and reaching diverse audiences across the globe fast. A lot can also be said about media editors’ insatiable appetite for all things quirky and “fun”, but that’s probably something for a separate post.
The whole story with the picture reminded me of a quote I published months ago on my Tumblr. I cannot remember where I found it, so if you are its author and I can’t credit you – my apologies – but it succinctly captures the essence of what I wrote above:
An amateur photographer was invited to dinner with friends and took along a few pictures to show the hostess. She looked at the photos and commented “These are very good! You must have a good camera.”
He didn’t make any comment, but, as he was leaving to go home he said “That was a really delicious meal! You must have some very good pots.”
Image © Kate Arkless-Gray, used with author’s permission
Chase Jarvis – photographer of the year
Posted by Michal in photographers, photography on 07/12/2009
I’ve been away – hence the silence – but even while travelling (and taking pictures on my ‘grown-up’ camera) I couldn’t help reaching for my iPhone and taking a few pictures here and there.
Not because the camera is great, but because of the Best Camera application, which is simply fantastic.
I’ll write about the application itself more in the next few days, but today I just want to mention Chase Jarvis, the guy behind this application.
Today a prominent American photographer, blogger and podcaster Scott Bourne announced Chase Jarvis Photographer of the Year 2009. And I think that this is a well-deserved title. I would possibly modify it to Photographer-Innovator of the Year.
So why does Chase deserve the title? Here’s Scott:
His work is as different from anything I’ve ever seen as it can be. And I admit to sometimes being unsettled by it. Sometimes I don’t get it. Most of the time, I’m blown away by it. But even the unsettling stuff and the stuff I don’t get are very valid reasons to recognize the work. Chase is never satisfied with the conventional or with good enough. He doesn’t rest until he gets what he wants. And he has VERY big vision. It’s probably the key to much of his success. He shoots like a five-year-old. And I mean that as a compliment. There’s an old saying. All children are born artists. The key is to keeping them that way. In the case of Chase Jarvis, it worked. He works with freedom and abandon that is empowering.
And to understand what Scott means you must have a good browse through Chase’s portfolio. Yes, the words ‘different’ and ‘unsettling’ are fully justified. Great man, great photographer, great shots.
Oh, and did I mention The Best Camera…?
Guide to HD video
Posted by Michal in photography, video on 01/12/2009
The excellent DP Review has published what looks like a good introduction to using digital cameras with HD video capabilities.
Beginner’s Guide to HD Video is a good read and definitely a must for those who consider buying such camera or for those who, like me, have been experimenting with HD video for the past several months or so.
Last week I was using a semi-professional HD video camera to film a friend’s wedding, but also used Canon 5D Mark II for the more informal clips too. And I absolutely loved it! The fact that you can use a selection of lenses, including good quality prime lenses, is just fantastic.
I seem to understand the difference between a camcorder and a HDSLR better now and the DP Review article does a great job in listing the advantages and disadvantages of using them. There’s also a short comparison of a selection of HDSLRs, an explanation of the various video resolutions, shooting modes and file types.
There are also some sample videos, but be warned – you’ll need a pretty fast broadband connection to watch them as they are uncompressed and quite big.
They didn’t spend much time talking about editing HD files, but, as they rightly noted, mastering some high-end editing applications like Final Cut Pro is a steep learning curve and actually requires a separate guide.
And – after my initial adventures with HD video – I’ve decided that mastering Final Cut Pro will definitely be one of my New Year resolutions for 2010.
Thinking outside the Wall
Posted by Michal in inspiration, photographers, photography on 16/11/2009
Today I read a blog post by one of my favourite news photographers, Leon Neal, who describes his experience on an assignment in Berlin, working for the local AFP bureau covering the Berlin Wall celebrations.
His blog shows just why you should – if possible – get off the beaten track to capture the real spirit of the moment.
The main event (in this case the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall) produced a number of similarly looking images from the Branderburg Gate area. We’ve seen the giant domino shots and the fireworks in all papers and on all websites last week.
Leon however recorded the ‘extra-curricular’ activities – people walking across the line marking the former site of the Wall, old Trabants taking tourists along the route of the former wall, kids chasing giant bubbles or people crowded on the bridge which years ago was the original gateway to the West.
And this is the exciting bit. Photographing a major event is always thrilling, but you also run the risk of producing images which are similar to everyone else’s.
The best Glastonbury shots I’ve seen didn’t feature a single musician or a stage, but gave me a brilliant idea of what it’s like to be there. The most amazing New York martahon shots I’ve seen didn’t show the usual masses of people, but featured single runners photographed with a flash on a bridge.
I find such pictures much more interesting, particularly when, as Leon says, what you see on TV never really gives you the full picture:
While dignitaries, leaders and celebrities congratulated each other on their success in ending Communism, the public were kept at a safe distance, behind twin layers of security barriers. While I totally understand the need for this during the speeches by Sarkozy, Merkel, Medvedev and the rest of the political heavyweights, once they were tucked up in their bunkers again, the public should have been allowed in to celebrate in their own way, under the famous gates. As is the way with nearly all of this kind of event in current times, the whole evening left the feeling that it was created to be enjoyed at home on tv, with the spectators that did make the effort used as a backdrop for the cameras.
Read the rest of his post and see his brilliant pictures here.
Image © abhijeet.rane via Flickr, used under Creative Comons licence
How to photograph people?
Posted by Michal in advice, photography on 05/11/2009
Or to be precise: how to photograph strangers in the street? And why would I illustrate this post with an average picture of a sad-looking dog? I’ll explain in a moment.
One of the reasons why I set up this blog is to be able to share with whoever is interested in photography things that I’ve learned myself.
I never had any formal photography training, all I do and all I know I’ve learned myself (and there’s I’m sure a lot more to learn). But in recent years it’s been much easier to find inspiration and sources of knowledge through the internet.
Without photobloggers, without pro photographers sharing their knowledge via podcasts, Twitter, numerous iPhone apps, or micro-blogging sites it would be much harder to learn and compare.
This abundance of various sources of information can be overwhelming, yes, but it’s important to define exactly why you need them and what exactly you want to learn from them.
I’ve got a few photographers I follow, who inspire and encourage me, but that’s probably something for a different post altogether. What I have learned however is this: many photographers, pros and newbies alike, stumble upon the same problems on the long road to being slightly more than just a casual snapper. And one of the most common problems is photographing people. Strangers, to be precise.
How do you do that? Do you ask? Do you sneak up behind them, shoot and run?
I don’t have a definitive answer. But here’s what I’ve learned so far about photographing strangers:
1. Don’t be shy
This is the number one reason why many of us prefer to take a picture of a building rather than of a person selling popcorn just at the foot of it. If you see someone you want to photograph, come up to them and ask. In 9 cases out of 10 they will agree to have their picture taken.
I took the above picture while walking through New York. I noticed this lady driving the car while holding her dog and thought ‘Damn, that would be a nice picture’. But then immediately I also thought ‘No, no point running after her, she’ll probably say no, it’s embarrassing.” No, it isn’t. Pluck up the courage, go for it. It might be your only chance to capture something unique. I eventually ran after the car when it stopped on red, asked her, and she was more than happy for me to take a picture. It might not be the best one I’ve taken (and in fact it’s probably more about the dog than her face), but for me this was my breakthrough.
2. Be polite, smile
In other words, break the ice. People will warm up to you when they are assured you come with good intentions.
I once photographed a flower seller in Central London and her stand – there were plenty of flowers and leaves on the floor, it was messy, but colourful. She initially didn’t want me to take pictures. Why? I didn’t ask for permission. She thought I was from Westminster council taking pictures of her for some environmental report. A smile, a quick apology and a brief explanation helped diffuse the tension and she was happy for me to carry on photographing her.
3. Show them the result
Quite often when people see the result they are positively surprised and want to pose again. They are also likely to be more relaxed, so grab that opportunity and get some more portraits. If in doubt, see 1 above.
4. Observe local customs
Taking pictures of people in big, cosmopolitan cities like London or New York might be relatively easy. But don’t assume the same rules will apply everywhere else. Particularly in countries which have gone through some sort of political turmoil people might be more suspicious of someone trying to take a sneaky picture of them in the street.
It pays to do a bit of research beforehand, ask others and use common sense. Don’t insist if you encounter resistance.
5. Share the outcome
Always have a card on you with your website, if you have one, or at least some contact details.
Sometimes, although different photographers will have different opinions on this subject, it’s nice to simply email a jpg to someone you’ve photographed. Just to share it with them. The guy above was photographed last week in Covent Garden, I walked past his shop and wanted to take a picture of the mannequins in the window, but ended up photographing him. Although my partner took a much better picture (see above), which we later emailed to the guy. He was delighetd.
If anything, this will help you promote yourself and your photography.
So that’s it – five simple tips, but really the crucial thing is: don’t be shy, give it a go.
But I’m sure you have your own experiences and advice – I’d love to know what you think.
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