Blur and Panning

After ten years of shooting weddings I still haven't gotten bored. One of my favorite things to do with every wedding is to try to include some sort of blur into the collection of images. The sense of movement is really fun to play with, plus you never really know what you will get exactly, so it's exciting too. The image on the right is from one of the first weddings I shot when we lived in Utah. Back then I was still using my RB67 medium format camera for all the formal portraits and then switching to 35mm during the reception. Digital was around, but I was still unconvinced that it could match the quality of my negatives. The reception had moved into the later part of the evening and the Bride and Groom were difficult to motivate, so events were unfolding slowly and I was bored. I had one frame left on my last roll of 120 film and I needed somewhere to use it, but the venue was dark and crowded. There was however a spot light on the cake table, and a pretty good looking cake... target aquired.
I set up my tripod and took a 3 second exposure of the cake. During that time the DJ announced the cake cutting and the couple came from opposite sides of the room to the table where I was photographing. At the time I was mad, thinking "They probably ruined my shot." A few days later when I actually got the film back, I changed my tune. From that point on my love of blur became an infection.

Panning, is a technique that keeps a moving object in sharp focus while burring the background. For the next shot, you'll see that the couple are sharp while the blur shows the movement of the car. This is simple enough to do, just move the camera the same direction and roughly the same speed as the subject.
In both cases the story being told in each  image is better represented visually by the addition of blur. If stop action had been applied to any of the photographs in this blog post, just imagine how boring they would be. Two people sitting in a car waving, or a bride and groom just standing by a cake doesn't sound very interesting to me.

To achieve either of these effects you need a few things:

1. Tripod. I always shoot anything I intend to blur with a tripod or monopod. This helps to illuminate human error and helps to keep some objects in sharp focus.
2. Slow shutter speeds. Stop action for people is anywhere between 1/30-1/125 a second (depending on the person, their age, and if they are moving.) I never shoot my kids in available light with shutter speeds lower then 1/125 since they can't hold still at all. 
3. Good lighting. Flash will generally stop action at any shutter speed (depending on it's power and how long the shutter is open- I suggest experimenting if you want to see what I mean) This look can often be very interesting but keep in mind you'll need to use rear sync for your flash so the stop action is at the end of your exposure and not the beginning. I almost always end up using ambient light to get the smooth blur I want.
4. Control the blur. This takes time and a lot of frames on occasion. Think about how much blur you want since too much will render your subject unrecognizable and too little will just make then look out of focus.  The difference between an accidental blur and a great image is simply the intent and then execution. Though having luck on your side like I did with the cake photo doesn't hurt. 
   

I don't think I've gotten the ultimate blur photo yet, so I'll keep practicing at every wedding I shoot. Here are  two more that I like a lot.

Tomorrow: Highlights from my shoot with Salon and Spa Dolche' in Everett WA. I love environmental portraiture!

The Kid in All of Us: photographic toys that make great art

In college one of my professors shot an entire assignment for Starbucks using a disposable camera. The photos were fantastic, you would never have known they weren't taken with a "real" camera. Her point? She wanted all of her students to realize that photography isn't about the equipment you use, but how you use it. Even the most inexpensive camera in the right hands can take images worth publishing in magazines and on billboards. This lesson has stuck with me and I try to always remember that great art is about portraying a vision and showing the world how it looks through my eyes. Good examples of this can be found all over the internet where groups of loyal photographers come to share their images shot with pinhole cameras, Holga and Diana Box cameras, and toy lenses like the Lensbaby.

I own a Lensbaby control freak. This image was shot with it. The control freak is a 50mm that allows for swing and tilts like a medium and large format camera. The basic operation is easy.

1. Choose the aperture you want to shoot using the interchangeable aperture disks.

2. Select a shutter speed (or set the camera to aperture priority and let your camera help you find the right exposure.)

3. Bend, twist and adjust the focus until you find what they Lensbaby people call the "sweet spot".

4. Shoot, play, adjust and shoot some more.

It's my experience that the Lensbaby is perfect for shooting infants (sleeping of course so they don't move) macro photography, and very patient people. Finding the sweet spot can be challenging, especially in low light, but when it works it's worth it!

Pinhole photography is something that every kid and photography lover alike should do.  Due to the nature of photographing with out a lens the images are soft (not sharp focus) and require long exposures, oh yah, and film. I know that's a weird concept in today's world but it's results are unlike anything you can produce in photoshop. (That's not entirely true I guess- you can fake it, but why spend all that time playing in photoshop when you could be shooting?) In college I made a pinhole out of some cardboard, cut film holders, a lot of duct tape and a piece of tin. Quickly it became my favorite camera and for weeks on end I didn't shoot with anything else. It was fun to shoot the long exposures- a few seconds to over an hour in some cases. After writing this blog post I've decided to buy a Holga pinhole camera. Winter in Western Washington is probably not the best time or place to be playing with a camera that needs tons of light to expose anything but if I get something good, the followers of this blog will be the first to know.

Want to make your own pinhole camera? Use the links below for information on making a variety of pinhole cameras, where to buy a Holga like me, and where on earth you can still get film processed.

• How to make a pinhole camera. (this is just one of many ways- search Google for all sort of varieties. I heard of one being made out of an old refrigerator once.)

• Holga Cameras for sale and B & H Photo Video . Swan Labs is one of the only ones I've found that processed and prints true black and white specifically from the Holga cameras. I haven't tried them yet, but when I do, I'll let you know. If any readers have better suggestions please enlighten me!

Next up: We're taking it back to basics and discussing the power of perspective.

What you don't know about your camera can hurt you.

As much as I would love to summarize the entire History of Photography course I took in college in one blog, I want to talk mainly about why knowing a thing or two about optics can change the way you photograph.
Since the advent of the view screen, many point and shoot cameras (thanks to the habits of their consumers) have dropped the viewfinder all together. Even the Nikon D-300 I shoot with has the option of using Live View and skipping the viewfinder all together. This is just one example of how photography continues to adapt to the needs of the user. The SLR (single lens reflex) came from a similar revision that allowed the photographer to see exactly (or at least a more accurate view) of what would be captured on the film plain. Today film has given way to digital sensors and a whole host of people owning digital SLR's. Sadly though, many have fallen prey to the fallacy that by owning a camera with more megapixels, you will instantly take better photos. 

As with all technology, operator error is the main reason for poor results. So for all of you that have said to me "I really like photography, I wish I knew more about it." Here you go. Free, uncensored advice from a pro on how to subtly improve the images you create.  So let's start right now with something simple.

Depth of Field

Since Wikipedia already exists, you'll need to use the link above for a scientific perspective and exact definition of Depth of Field (DOF). Let's talk about the application of this technique.  (And some other more advanced stuff just for fun).

The image you see here is of an twin lens Argus 40. Use the link to learn more about the camera, it's history and see images of a mint condition one (mine is beat up somethin' terrible) and images made by this great little camera. I thought this would be appropriate subject matter since it's one of the precursors to the SLR.  The image was shot "wide open." The exposure is 1/320s @ f2.2 . The lens is a 50mm (Standard) which can actually go as wide as F1.4 but I wanted to make sure I got the entire brand name in focus. My light source was a compact florescent bulb about 5 inches to the right of the subject and a folded piece of white paper for a fill card on the left. The newspaper is shown below the Argus 40; it just felt right to show two antiquated but completely functioning objects together. 

Can you see the isolation that shallow DOF brings? Nothing is in sharp focus outside the words Argus 40, and even there sharpness begins to fall off at the 40 ever so slightly. The newspaper is illegible (which wouldn't be the case if I was shooting at an equivalent exposure like 1/2 sec. @ F 16. At a smaller aperture DOF increases forwards and backwards from the point in which the camera is focused. Depending on your intent, DOF is one of the most important tools in photography. It helps to create a point of interest, is key as a design element, and since it is tied directly to the basic operation of all cameras, crucial for the photographer to know how to use properly.  The simple act of knowing what F-stops produce greater and less DOF will revolutionize any beginning photographer. You should be the one deciding your camera's exposure, not the camera.  So many of the evolutions in photography (internal metering, auto focus, zoom lenses) are wonderful tools for the skilled user, but they have become handy-caps for the novice. Photography is a science AND art. You cannot do one properly if you neglect the other in this medium.

Okay, enough ranting... anyone want to know how to about how to mimic the blue hue in the above image? I use Adobe Lightroom 2.0 to edit my images. As a wedding and portrait photographer I deal in volume and Lightroom has been a saving grace. This year alone I have processed over 64,000 images in record time thanks to this well designed software.

Here is the original image. After importing it into Lightroom I adjusted the settings under the develop tab to these amounts:
Color Temperature: 2100 Kelvin
Tint or Hue: +18 (towards the magenta end of the spectrum)




That's all it takes to fake the look to a tungsten balanced film shot in daylight. You see, the color of light is based on it's Kelvin temperature. Daylight is about 5500K and with the advent of color film came the need for multiple types of film to match the variety of light sources besides the sun. These include your regular 60 watt tungsten indoor lights, your florescent tubes and everything in between. I'm sure it didn't take long  after these films hit the shelves that someone shot them outside and found a profound color shift. It's a fun trick and nice throw back to another era of photographic evolution.

If you plan to do the same thing in Adobe Photoshop here's what you need to do:

1. Create a Hue/Saturation layer
2. Use the drop down menu and select Cyanotype (yet another by gone style of yester-year)
 3. Increase the saturation to the desired level. I chose 47.

 Nostalgia and software aside, photography in all in the application. Tomorrow blog will focus on anther rudimentary element of photography; composition. Until then, please browse the portfolios at Irene Jones Photography Online for examples of how I've used depth of field in my wedding and portrait work.