Every Picture Tells A Story ( Literally )

I honestly believe there are no bad images - there are lots of images that I really like and lots that I dislike.

When a photographer takes an image, I believe they take it to the best of his or her ability. If they show it to the public, surely that means that they like it. But sometimes, we as viewers just don’t connect to it in the same way.

Anyone can take a picture, with any type camera. It can be a small point and shoot or the top of the line DSLR.

But, there are a few variables that do come into play:

(a) Being there at the right time is a huge factor in any image.

For me, that nearly always means being at my desired location, set-up and ready for the sunrise or the sunset - which for me, offers the very best light situations.

In fact, throughout the day (when the light is boring), I'm usualy out and about scouting for a potential shot to come back to later.

For Mum or Granny or even Aunt Fanny with their point and shoot, being there at the right time can make the photo. For example, at little Debbie’s third birthday party when her sister pushes her head in the cake or at the rink when young Joey gets his first ice hockey goal or just as the family dog Rex comes out the ocean and starts shaking himself and soaking poor old Aunt Fanny Uncle Fred.

(b) Having the right equipment - But only for you and your needs.

Like I already said, a small point and shoot is perhaps the only thing you will need. Especially for typical family shots. They produce great images for recording a second in time.

I have seen some terrific shots taken with the cameras that are built into phones and all mobile phones seem to have them these days. There are a lot of images taken this way, that you see on the social media. Images that only a few years ago, you would not have had a chance to see.

For the type of photography I enjoy, there are a few more pieces of equipment that I just cannot do without. For example: my tripod; a shutter release; a few filters; a couple of lenses and a cold beer a snack.

c) This next one is huge! "LUCK"

Of course this is not essential, and you're not in control of it anyway. If you have checked off all of the above, and this thing called "luck" happens, a nice image can turn into a great image!

Think of all those images that you see and think, "WOW. How did they do that?"

Yes, they were there at the right time. Yes, they did have the right equipment. And, yes, they did have the knowledge of how to take the image. But luck, which we all can have, played a big part in it too!

Oh boy! I can just imagine how some people are going to react to that! But, really? Would you have gotten that little smirk on the kids face or the look in Aunt Fannies eyes at that split second, without the help of "L" word? Really!?

(d) The story before the image.

I think this is relevant to all images. I know for sure, it is relevant to mine.

In this situation, it doesn't come into play until after the shot.

To demonstrate what I mean, I thought I'd tell you the story behind the image above. I sell numerous framed copies of this image in the gallery. But, most of the people who buy it don't not know the real story behind it. They just like the image. For me, the story behind it, makes it very special to me.

My daughter, Emma phoned and asked if I wanted to go out and do some photography. It was about lunchtime and quite a nice day, so I said OK. Emma had an idea to see if there were any icebergs around. This was during the last week in July, which is late for icebergs. But, we figured we'd take our chances. If there wasn't any icebergs, we'd find something else to photograph. Besides, this had been a strange season and I did hear of a few still being around.

We set off to Leading Tickles, which is just over an hour drive for us. As we were driving and chatting, the weather took a turn for the worse. It got very dark and overcast, totally blocking out the sun and threatening to rain. As we approached Leading Tickles, I could see a huge iceberg off in the distance. Knowing the area, I had a pretty good idea where it was. If I was right, the sun would set behind us and we would be shooting South East. If the clouds broke, there was a pretty good chance we'd get a red sky sunset.

Once we arrived and came around the corner on the west side, there stuck in the bay was a big iceberg. It was perhaps 50 feet from shore. From our position on the beach, we could frame it and have the government fishing wharf in the background. We both took a lot of images, but there was nothing startling about them. In our opinion. Being visible from the road, many people had stopped to take pictures of the iceberg.

When we headed back to the truck, I told Emma the bigger iceberg we saw coming in could be grounded at the other end of the park. It was getting late at this point and the sky was very dark and cloudy. In fact, it looked stormy and the end of the park was at least a 40 minute walk through a wooded path - partly boardwalk and alot of steep steps.

We decided to go for it. We parked the vehicle and headed down the path carrying our heavy photo backpacks and tri-pods. As we got towards the end of the boardwalk, we set off on the narrow trail and down a slippery hill towards Hubbards Beach. As we came out of the trees, right onto the shale beach we were rewarded with a huge iceberg grounded perhaps 200 feet away from us.

We were both in awe. It was truly majestic. The light however, was horrible. No sun and huge black clouds rolling over us. By now, it was around 8.30pm so we knew there was very little time left before it got dark. 

As we started to set-up, Emma yelled "Oh @#%&* I lost my tripod quick release somewhere on the trail."

A tripod usually has some sort of quick release mechanism to attach the camera and allow you to take the camera off quickly to move around. They range in size. On the tri-pod Emma was using, the quick release was a small silver threaded bolt. There was no way she was going to find it on the trail now. This meant that she would not be able to use her tripod.

I took a few shots, but could not stop thinking about how disappointed Emma must be in such a great location and no tripod. With it being dark, she would need increasingly slow shutter speeds.

At that moment, the sun shot through the clouds just like a set of headlights. As the sun lit up the very edge of the iceberg, we both gasped. All you could hear was "Wow. Holy S---" and both of our shutters firing constantly. Even the sky at the back turned a beautiful violet and red colour. It was by far the most amazing sight I had ever seen.

The light did not last long, but we both got a lot of images. The sun was at the back of us and at the very end cascaded across the very edge of the horizon. The sun went down very quickly and we were both left in the dark. We sat on the rocky beach for a while, talking about what had just happened. In disbelief about our "luck" we started to pack up for the long haul back to the vehicle.

After only a couple of minutes on the trail, lit only by the moon, Emma shouted “Well would you believe it" as she bent down and picked up the tripod release she had lost on the way in.

The walk back to the vehicle, did not seem as long as it was going in. Probably because we were laughing so much about what happened. I could tell by her voice though, that she was disappointed. She did not think she would have any decent images from having to hand hold the camera while using slow shutter speeds.

Now Emma is a very accomplished photographer and I knew that she would have worked out the best way to do the images in the situation she was in. And she had.

She had an image stabilised lens on her Canon 5D and she put up her ISO as much as she could and opened up her F stop just to get a faster shutter speed and the braced herself to steady the camera.

Okay she may not have an image that would have the resolution to print up to 36 x 24 but I am sure if she had anything it would print up to perhaps 16 x 20.

The image at the top is one of the ones I took and I called it `` Ice Berg Gold ``

The image below is one of Emma’s. Notice how she took it vertical to include the moon Smart Hey Lucky.

And she called hers "Iceberg N Moon"

This story I think demonstrates, how the time before and during the image is so important. Like I said, I sell a lot of this particular image to tourists but to me the power of the image is the way everything came together. Including the LUCK when the clouds broke and the sun lit the iceberg. Also, because I was out shooting with my daughter - which I don’t do very often.

I am sure you must have stories similar to this about your images. As always, share them. After all, they are an important part of what we do! Who knows, you may even talk me into telling you more.

Until next time - Have fun.

An Old Dog - "SORRY" - A More Mature Dog Can Learn New Tricks !

I was sitting in the lounge the other night, with my wife and my youngest son, Kris. We had just started to watch a movie, one that we had all been waiting to see for a while.

I looked over at Kris. He was doing something strange with the top of a bag of chips and it got my attention. My curiosity got the better of me, so I stopped the movie and asked what he was doing. He was folding the top of the chip bag onto the inside, just like you would roll up a shirt sleeve. “It stops the bag from rustling and annoying everyone while I eat my chips," he explained.

Wow!! Go figure. It really did work. I guarantee next time you are eating chips, you will try it.

I hope that with that image, I have your attention!

If not, I have a great movie you may borrow.

It got me thinking about all the little things I do in photography that I take for granted. Things that make photography work flow a lot simpler or easier. So, I thought I would pass a few along. I should just quantify this by saying, I did not think of any of these things myself. To clarify, these simple tips are things I have read about along the way or saw on a photography site.

My Canon 5D remote release

One of the items that I use 95% of the time while I am taking pictures, is a remote release – it just makes the job so much easier. When you are using a tripod, it is a must to stop any sort of camera vibration when you press the shutter manually.

Apart from that, you can look up away from the viewfinder and time your shot better - especially if you are waiting for a wave to break or a lull in the wind to stop blowing flowers or trees around.

Anyone who has ever used a cable release knows how the 3ft cord can be a pain. If gets tangled around the tripod legs, and it dangles around when you take the camera off the tripod. This is really annoying when you are walking around looking for a better composition.

The solution is simple and I honestly, could not do without it now.

Glue a small piece of Velcro onto the remote and sew another piece onto your camera strap. Simple right?

There you have it a rustle free bag of chips a tangle free remote.

This next tip is so simple, but oh-so useful. How many times have you been out with you camera and all of a sudden the heavens open up and it starts to rain? When it happens to me, I am often quite a long way from my vehicle or any sort of shelter.

In the past, I've done what I'm sure most of you have done - tucked the camera inside my jacket or put it into a camera bag. The only problem is that most camera bags are not completely waterproof. Plus, in the summertime I very often don’t have a jacket.

FREE - Hotel Shower Caps

What's the solution? Keep a couple of those free hotel shower caps in your bag or pocket. The elasticated band allows the shower cap to fit securely over the camera or lens a treat.

I also once read once about a photographer shooting through a shower cap to get a soft focus sort of effect. He must have been having an real uninteresting type of day.

But to be honest, the images were quite good.

Now, I own a small Hotel, so I will be counting them if you stay here and if
“Mr. Holiday Inn” calls, I will deny it was my idea.

Lastly, this is more of an aid to a technique tip. I do a lot of photography using a huge depth of field. In order to achieve this, I focus using the hyperfocal distance technique.

If you want to understand the science behind hyperfocal distance focusing, this website is a great start: http://www.johnhendry.com/

In a nut shell, if you focus ahead of the nearest element in your image that you want to be sharp by the right amount - which is determined by your focal length and the aperture you are using - you can produce one of those really nice images that you see where the boulder at the front of the image and the mountains on the horizon are all sharp and in focus.

To do this, I have a little chart which tells me where I need to focus using a particular focal length and aperture to achieve this look.

Once I have my shot composed, I look at the chart and see at 24mm and f8, if you focus at 8.44ft your image will be sharp from 4.22 feet to infinity.

You can make one of these charts by visiting the website listed above. Its the same site to read about hyperfocal distance focusing. You just enter your lens details and the information is provided for you. My chart is printed on a 3 x 4 inch card and is laminated. This chart is always in my shirt pocket when I'm out shooting.

I hope you find these tips useful. If you have any of your own, please share them in the comments section. 

Turns out, you can always teach "someone" new tricks.

Until next time - Have fun.