Category Archives: Photography

What to Get for a Photographer’s Birthday

0311 7D 4518
Camera: Canon EOS 7D | Lens: EF-S15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM | Date: 13-03-2011 10:43 | ISO: 400 | Exp. bias: 2/3 EV | Exp. Time: 1/10s | Aperture: 8.0 | Focal Length: 29.0mm (~47.0mm) | Lens: Canon EF-S 15-85mm f3.5-5.6 IS USM

With my half century finally upon me, my wife Frances has excelled herself by commissioning a most wonderful cake, celebrating my photographic passion! This is well up to the standard of “Bear in a Porsche“, from a few years back…

Those of you who have known me for some years will recognise that “Tatty Bear” probably more accurately reflects my shape and condition than my earlier icon, the “Forever Friends Bear”. Ah well, that’s the advancing years for you.

Of course, some of you will also know that it’s a long time since I last shot a roll of film, but somehow I think a row of 1s and 0s around the base of the cake wouldn’t work nearly so well. And I did manage to help expose four sheets of 8×10 on my last visit to Barbados, so I can’t claim to be absolutely 100% digital 🙂

Quick plug: if you need a good cake maker, then the above creation was the work of Jonathan at Simply Cakes in Weybridge. Having now sampled it, I can confirm it tastes just as good as it looks, so I’m happy to recommend him.

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Barbados Portfolio Update

Coral on a shipreck in Carlisle Bay
Camera: Canon PowerShot G10 | Date: 26-04-2009 18:20 | ISO: 100 | Exp. Time: 1/200s | Aperture: 3.2 | Focal Length: 6.1mm (~28.0mm)

I’ve just managed to catch up with some of my shots from recent trips to Barbados, and in particular I’ve added some wildlife, sports, entertainment and underwater shots I’m quite pleased with. Have a look and let me know what you think.

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Don’t Pose, Please, Just Act Natural

Iguana at the Barbados Wildlife Park
Camera: Canon EOS 40D | Lens: EF70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM | Date: 20-04-2010 20:36 | ISO: 200 | Exp. bias: -1/3 EV | Exp. Time: 1/125s | Aperture: 5.6 | Focal Length: 300.0mm (~486.5mm) | Lens: Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM

Those who follow my photography blog will know that my preferred technique for taking portraits is to use my 70-300mm lens towards the long end of the zoom range. It only works as long as the subject is effectively frozen by the available shutter speed, but for a static subject that can be as low as about 1/20s, relying on a combined steady head and image stabilisation technology to keep things sharp.

This technique works for pretty girls, character-full old men, and, as this shows, for those who might not take direction even if you wanted to provide it!

So if you see an interesting face, but it’s some way off, hold the camera steady and go for it. The results may be better than you expected.

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Red Roof Reflections

St. Nicholas Abbey, Barbados
Camera: Canon EOS 40D | Lens: EF-S17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM | Date: 20-04-2010 17:16 | ISO: 200 | Exp. bias: -2/3 EV | Exp. Time: 1/125s | Aperture: 11.0 | Focal Length: 17.0mm (~27.6mm) | Lens: Canon EF-S 17-85mm f4-5.6 IS USM

As my “photographic eye” develops, I find I’m noticing much more readily the colour of light, and how it can be modified by things both inside and outside the scene. This shot of St. Nicholas Abbey on Barbados is an interesting case in point. The porch has a flat roof, and that flat roof is obviously painted red to match the railings and guttering. We can’t see it directly, but its effects are very dramatic. I’ve boosted the colour saturation slightly to make this work on the web, but only slightly – the pink glow was immediately obvious as we looked back to take this shot.

St. Nicholas Abbey, despite its name, was never an Abbey, but a plantation house. It’s recently been revived, and sits at the hub of a busy farming and rum distilling business. It’s also an interesting example of the challenges of architectural re-use. It was built from a set of plans developed and used for a similar manor house in England. These were faithfully followed, including all the fireplaces and chimneys. In nearly 400 years Barbados has never had a day cold enough for any of the fires to be lit!

In Agile development, the mantra is that you don’t build features you don’t need, but I’ve rarely seen a discussion on what to do if those features come “free with the design”. Re-using an established design has significant benefits, particularly if the architectural effort comes at a significant cost (which was obviously the driver for the decision about St. Nicholas Abbey). Tailoring that design to omit features you don’t need will have a cost, and a risk that by doing so you break some other capability. For example, chimneys tend to be built very strongly, and often have an important structural role in a building. On the other hand, building features which won’t be used is also costly. If you can’t find exactly the right design pattern, you will have an interesting decision – whether to change it, or whether to follow it regardless.

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Hallelujah! High ISO Which Works!

The Fab 5, Barbados Reggae Festival 2010
Camera: Canon EOS 40D | Lens: EF70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM | Date: 24-04-2010 03:38 | ISO: 3200 | Exp. bias: -1 EV | Exp. Time: 1/100s | Aperture: 6.3 | Focal Length: 190.0mm (~308.1mm) | Lens: Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM

As followers of my photography will know, one of my pet subjects is indoor entertainment, photographed by available light. I like capturing memories of enjoyable events, I love the colours of interesting stage lighting, and I like the challenge of trying to capture some of the dynamic nature of a music or dance event in a static image.

By its very nature, this means working handheld in low light levels, typically with long lenses, which in turn means a genuine need for high ISO settings. Even if I can hand-hold my favourite 300mm lens at a shutter speed of 1/25s (which I can, just about, on a good day, thanks to Canon’s excellent image stabilisation technology), 1/25s of a second is just too slow to freeze moving performers. I have several pictures with nicely sharp backgrounds and blurry main subjects to prove this.

With my earlier DSLRs, ISO 800 was about the fastest speed which would deliver a usable image, and that in turn meant speeds of around 1/25s with my preferred lenses. By comparison, my newer Canons should theoretically be usable up to around ISO 3200, giving me a reasonable 1/100s shutter speed, but up until now I’ve always found the resulting images to be just too noisy.

However, I’ve finally found a combination of sharpening and noise reduction techniques which works, and I can do it entirely in Bibble, my RAW processor. The magic mix uses a Wavelet sharpening algorithm, three separate noise reduction algorithms (Wavelet denoise, Noise Ninja and “Pixie”, a hot pixel remover), and a black point adjustment to make shadow areas truly black.

This picture of the Fab 5 is from last year’s Barbados Reggae Festival, and was taken at a range of about 30m. What do you think?

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First Bibble Plugin Published

I’ve just published my first plugin for the popular image processing suite, Bibble. CAQuest manages chromatic aberration correction, so if you find yourself always having to apply correction for “purple fringes”, this is the tool you need.

To find out more, visit www.andrewj.com/plugins.

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Posted in Code & Development, My Publications, Photography | 2 Comments

Cuba Photo Notes

Street vendor, Trinidad, Cuba
Camera: Canon EOS 7D | Lens: EF70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM | Date: 22-11-2010 17:35 | ISO: 100 | Exp. bias: 0 EV | Exp. Time: 1/160s | Aperture: 8.0 | Focal Length: 300.0mm (~486.0mm) | Lens: Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM

“Photographer’s paradise” is probably putting it far too strongly, but Cuba does provide easy access to a great range of material in almost every genre: fashion and international sports might be a bit of a challenge (unless you bring some glad rags with you :)), but everything else is well served.

That said, conditions are not always quite what you’d expect, so I thought it would be useful to round off my Cuba Travel Blog with a few observations on the photography itself, and some advice to potential photo trippers.

A large part of Cuban life plays out on the street, and much of the photography is therefore street photography, focused on the colourful people, cars and buildings. I must admit that before the trip I hadn’t fully realised that.

Now there’s nothing to stop you doing such photography with a full sized pro camera, lenses the size of baseball bats, and a 6′ tripod. A couple of my trip mates did precisely that. No-one takes much notice of tourists with big cameras, and you’ll be perfectly safe. However, it’s an awful lot to carry round all day, it will attract pestering, and some locations and subjects are now starting to charge a “big camera” premium, e.g. 2 Peso rather than 1 Peso admission, triggered usually when they see the tripod.

So I’d advise you to think about travelling a bit lighter. I don’t carry a tripod except when I know I’m going to be working in very low light, and try and have my camera in my hand rather than round my neck. I used my large backpack only when travelling: once at each location I decanted my kit into my ancient Tamrac shoulder bag. Although only 26x20x20cm I found that this could comfortably carry my prosumer DSLR with 3 zooms, a 25-33cl drink, tripod plate, table-top tripod, cleaning materials, filters, 1 cigar (unwanted gift :)) and some soap! To carry my tripod I used a dedicated tripod strap and slung it over the other shoulder.

At the risk of offending the photography gods, I don’t think a lot of the standard advice about the best light applies in photographing Cuba. The narrow streets are like slot canyons: you get good even light when sun is high, but at the ends of the day the streets are dark, or patchily lit with very high contrast unless the sun is directly in front of or behind the camera, each of which brings its own challenges. On the other hand the bright colours work well in any light, even in the middle of the day, although a polariser is usually helpful.

The after-sunset glow does bring up the colours on some subjects, and there are some night-time possibilities, but very much small vignettes rather than big vistas. There’s simply not enough street/building lighting for those. Don’t expect a picture of lights on the Malecon looking like the shore in Montreux or Morecambe!

If you’re one of those people who likes photographing decay, then Cuba is your oyster. Crumbling structures, rusty cars and badly patched paint and plaster abound. If, like me, you’re more of a “glass half full” person then the challenge to find and portray the current beauty is a bit greater, but not insuperable.

Entertainment, in the form of music, dance and art, is everywhere you go, and some of it is very photogenic. The entertainers don’t seem to mind having their photos taken as long as you make a donation when they pass the hat round. Lighting can be a challenge: at night or indoors you will often be right on the edge of high ISO and acceptable slow shutter speeds, and will have to use flash for any action. Any artificial lighting tends to be uneven and strongly coloured, with a tendency to blow out the red channel, so shoot RAW and expect to have to make substantial colour adjustments in your RAW processor.

I took about 90% of my shots with the Canon 7D and 15-85mm IS lens. Most of the rest were with the 70-300mm lens, and I can see the day coming when I don’t need a separate wide-angle zoom, but the 10-22mm did get used a few times. I also took a nice 50mm f1.4 lens, but found I wasn’t using it at all and sold it to one of my trip mates. I’m getting used to the weight of the 7D/15-85 combination, but it is a very heavy solid lump. You wouldn’t lose much capability with something like a Canon 550D and 17-85mm lens, which is what I took as my spare kit, or even something like a Leica or one of the new EVIL cameras.

Although I took most shots with the mid-range zoom, my 70-300 is still my favourite lens. Beyond its proven ability for action work and as a general telephoto, it’s probably the best lens for candid, long-distance portraits (3-20m range), like the one above. Optically it’s excellent, often compared favourably with Canon’s much bigger and costlier “L” zooms, but the small size and light weight, combined with very effective Image Stabilisation, mean that it’s much less obtrusive, and I can hand-hold it down to shutter speeds of a few tenths of a second. And who needs to do all this wandering about business, when you can take shots like the one above sitting at the bar with a Bucannero. 🙂

Make sure you take lots of film or memory. I took an average of 200 shots or 4GB / day. The keen street shooters in the party were filling in excess of 16GB / day!

Finally, I can heartily recommend Lee Frost of Photo Adventures as a tour leader. He got us to interesting places at the right times, led an enjoyable group, and everything under his control worked well. He really can’t be blamed for the Cuban failings on internet access and breakfast crockery :(. Recommended.

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An Uncomfortable Vision

Little girl, Trinidad, Cuba
Camera: Canon EOS 7D | Lens: EF-S15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM | Date: 21-11-2010 18:40 | ISO: 100 | Exp. bias: 2/3 EV | Exp. Time: 1/10s | Aperture: 10.0 | Focal Length: 85.0mm (~137.7mm) | Lens: Canon EF-S 15-85mm f3.5-5.6 IS USM

I took this picture almost on auto-pilot, and was immediately torn about whether to keep it, or delete it. Was I guilty of exploiting the little girl?

However, what happened next was interesting, and a tale worth telling. Another tourist approached the little girl, and offered a coin. Suddenly the girl’s mother appeared and grabbed the coin. As soon as the tourist had moved on, the girl was pushed back out into the window again. This obvious exploitation raises some uncomfortable questions, like whether that was really their home, or indeed was the woman really the girl’s mother? Or was this a Fagin-like exploitation of an innocent youngster in a convenient location on Trinidad’s main square?

Those of you who know me will realise that such tactics tend to back-fire dramatically with me. I decided to focus my gifts and tips on those who weren’t asking for anything. I gave away my last bars of soap on an “random acts of kindness” basis, to old ladies on the street. Just seeing their faces light up was reward enough. Much better.

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A Diffraction of Photographers

The Teatro Tomas Terry, Cienfuegos
Camera: Canon EOS 7D | Lens: EF-S15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM | Date: 19-11-2010 22:43 | ISO: 200 | Exp. bias: 0 EV | Exp. Time: 1/100s | Aperture: 8.0 | Focal Length: 16.0mm (~25.9mm) | Lens: Canon EF-S 15-85mm f3.5-5.6 IS USM

I’ve found the right collective noun for photographers: it has to be a “diffraction”, because they do have a tendency to spread out from a point. Like setting a group of small dogs loose in a wood full of squirrels…

The drive down from Vinales to Cienfuegos was long, boring and bumpy, not helped by a driver with the bladder of a camel. What is remarkable is how empty central Cuba is: only a very small fraction of the land visible from the motorway is under cultivation. This is in sharp contrast to every other Caribbean island I’ve visited, where almost every available square foot has some productive use, even if it’s only a couple of goats or banana plants. I expected to see mile after mile under sugar cane or similar, but instead you see a lot of scrubland.

Then, suddenly, about 20 miles from the south coast, things change. There’s rich and varied agriculture, and the architecture changes to what I think of as “generic Caribbean”: small square houses with flat or shallow pitched roofs.

Finally, Cienfuegos is different again: there are sprawling suburbs with the 60s blocks beloved of Communist countries, but the town centre and sea-front have a certain elegance, and are at least a little reminiscent of other Victorian sea-side resort towns, albeit without the big seafront hotels and casinos. It may still be poor, but it’s a definite notch up from Havana or Vinales.

Friday’s picture is of the Theatre in the central square. It’s not a misprint, but a very odd coincidence: Tomas Terry was a dodgy posh bloke who built a theatre, and of course Terry Thomas was an actor who played dodgy posh blokes.

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Cool Cab

Cool cab, Cuba!
Camera: Canon EOS 7D | Lens: EF-S15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM | Date: 17-11-2010 23:43 | ISO: 1600 | Exp. bias: -1/3 EV | Exp. Time: 1/6s | Aperture: 10.0 | Focal Length: 15.0mm (~24.3mm) | Lens: Canon EF-S 15-85mm f3.5-5.6 IS USM

This doesn’t need much explanation. Forgive the slight camera shake, but a 1950s Ford Consul does vibrate a bit. Who cares!

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Bolting Horse Cart

Bolting horse buggy, Vinales, Cuba
Camera: Canon EOS 7D | Lens: EF-S15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM | Date: 17-11-2010 22:06 | ISO: 200 | Exp. bias: 0 EV | Exp. Time: 1/50s | Aperture: 8.0 | Focal Length: 53.0mm (~85.9mm) | Lens: Canon EF-S 15-85mm f3.5-5.6 IS USM

I wanted to use the shot of the old guy with the cigar to illustrate my main post, but this was arguably yesterday’s shot of the day. The buggy had just become trapped on the edge of a building while trying to turn round, and the horse was getting a bit nervous. A passerby freed the buggy, and it shot off like a greyhound out of a trap. Fortunately for once I was quick on the button, and my Canon honoured its sporting roots!

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The Amazing Malay Apple – Follow Up

0410 40D 0586 a TM
Camera: Canon EOS 40D | Lens: EF-S17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM | Date: 25-04-2010 21:40 | Resolution: 2577 x 3866 | ISO: 200 | Exp. Time: 1/159s | Aperture: 7.09 | Focal Length: 22.0mm (~35.7mm) | Lens: Canon EF-S 17-85mm f4-5.6 IS USM

I’ve been playing around with the previous image a bit more, and I’ve come up with this version – taken from a single original RAW file, but processed twice as a sort of “pseudo HDR” to knock back the highlights and open up the shadows slightly.

It conveys a completely different mood to the other version. I’m torn between them: the first conveys a slightly ethereal feel, but I suspect will look too dark on some monitors and prints. The second is a much more straightforward “happy garden” shot, really bringing out the colours, but losing some of the fascinating complexity of the tree’s shadows.

What do you think?

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