Dia De Los Muertos

Opportunistic photoshoots are sometimes as enjoyable and successful as planned shoots.  During this past week’s photo club meeting at the Indianapolis Art Center I saw a flier about the weekend’s 2011 Dia De Los Muertos at the Art Center.  I thought that would be fun, but had other plans.  On Saturday my schedule changed so I decided to check it out.  As I was walking out the door I picked up my camera and headed out.

I didn’t even change the lens.  I was toting my Nikon D300s sporting a Nikkor AF-S 35mm f/1.8G. This is the last lens I used.  In my last blog post you might have read this is a sweet lens. What I like about the 35mm is that the extremely large aperture (f/1.8) allows extremely shallow DOF if wanted and is wide enough (53mm equivalent on a DX-format CMOS sensor) for most purposes.  Therefore, I was able to get street portraits with excellent bokeh, wide shots of dancers and good speed in the shade.  Probably, I could have had better reach and wider at the low end if the focal length if I had brought my AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II.  This is the perfect walk around lens, but hey, you dance with the gal you bring to the party.

I was there for about an hour and saw some colorful Dia De Los Muertos art, temporary sculptures, watched glass blowing for a while, watched cultural dance, talked to another photographer, and listened to some Mexican music.  Oh yes, took bunch of photos.  Good times.

My after action tips:

·         Keep a camera with you ALL THE TIME.  Get yourself a point & shoot or have your smartphone handy.  I keep a Nikon DSLR & 2 general purpose lenses in a camera bag in my trunk…just in case.  In this case I did have my primary camera, but if not I was covered.

·         Keep your “walking around lens” on your camera when it’s not being used.  That way when you pick up your camera you have a general purpose lens always available.  The problem with a general purpose lens like the Nikkor 18-200mm you get just that, general purpose

·         There’s a photography opportunity everywhere.  Every place you go is an opportunity to take photos.  OK, the Dia De Los Muertos was a natural photo opportunity, but you get my point.

Zombies vs. A Human Photographer

Living Dead Girl

I recently photographed the 2011 Broad Ripple Zombie Walk and Prom.  This fun event benefiting Gleaners Food Bank was a mix of costumes, make-up artists, music, dance, food, partying and ZOMBIES.  The event is held a couple of weekends before Halloween in Broad Ripple, an Indianapolis hip suburb.  The event starting in the Kroger’s parking lot includes a food donation drop-off (10 cans of tuna fish earned me a cool t-shirt), zombie makeup by local make-up artist, a Zombie Wedding (yes, a real wedding where the bride, groom, priest, & wedding party dressed the part), dancing to a DJ, a Zombie Walk through the streets of Broad Ripple, a Zombie Feast with participating eating establishments & bars, and Zombie Prom at Tru nightclub.

I met up with several local photographers to shoot the event.  Earlier I had snagged a Media Pass, so I was able to roam with immunity.  It was my zombie shield.  After hanging out with my photog colleagues for the first 30 minutes we set off on our own.

Pie Eating Contest Winner?

You Do Not Have Permission To Take My Photo!

Wow, what an event.  It was PACKED with about 1000 people in all forms of costume and make-up.  Some as basic as some face paint to full on freak-fests of zombism.  Some were truly nasty looking.  It was uber.  You got the sense some people were having way too much fun dressed up.

This Is Wrong At All Levels

Feeling A Bit Green

I brought full camera kit with me as I knew I would be faced with extreme sun, shadows, low light, street lights, and then full dark.  Also, I wanted to reach out and touch with my long lens and get in close for head shots … the only way to take down a zombie!!  Also, I brought a speedlight, diffuser & plenty of spare batteries.  My kit for the shoot: 

·         Nikon D300s

        ·         Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 Di LD (IF) Macro AF Lens

·         AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

·         AF-S Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G prime

·         Tokina AF 12-24mm f/4 AT-X Pro DX

·         Nikon SB-600 speedlight

·         6 sets of Sanyo eneloop rechargeable batteries

The entire night was shot in full manual so I could adjust shutter speed and the aperture.  Knowing I was going to be in strong light with shadows moving to darkness I wanted to manage aperture, shutter speed & ISO myself. I focused on 1/100 shutter speed as my slowest speed throughout the shoot and change aperture to get the desired DOF.  That means I sacrificed ISO (and noise) as my 3^rd variable.  ISO went from 200 early on up to 1250 before it got dark.  It worked out well.  As it started to get dark (when the Zombie Walk kicked off) I popped on my speedlight and moved ISO back to 400.  Throughout the night I adjusted white balance to match the lighting.  I used presets most of the time and a few times used the kelvin setting and set the color temperature based on experience.

Makeup Artist?

My weapon of choice throughout the night was my trusty Nikon D300s.  I started off with my Tamron 70-200 f/2.8.  This lens is very solid in good lighting environments, but a piece of junk (OK not so good) in low light settings.  It doesn’t have VR which limits it to tripod use in low light and it just doesn’t focus fast enough.  I really need to suck it up and buy a Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8 VRII.  After about 30 minutes I shifted to my Nikkor 24-70mm to take advantage of a wider zoom.  Finally, when the Zombie walk started I switched to a Nikkor 35mm prime to take advantage of the wider aperture and the lightning fast focus.  Also, since I was taking extremely close-in street portraits the 35mm (53mm effective with a cropped sensor) focal length was perfecto.  I ended up not using my Tokina extreme wide angle mainly because I wanted to focus on close in shots.

Zipper Face

Bad Day In The Office

Overall, a great night and tons of fun.  I ended up spending about 5 hours shooting in different venues, different lighting, with / without shadows, and with tons of people dressed the part & really into the event.  What more could a photog ask for?

A few comments / tips:

·         If you have the opportunity, get a press or media pass.  I did and it was extremely helpful.  I was able to get into all venues with no drama and shoot everyone without a single, “I don’t want you to take my photo”

·         Come prepared for all types of light.  I went from uber bright to pitch black with all forms of mixed lighting and shadows mixed in.  Basically, if you know it’s going to be dark bring your brightest lenses.

·         Remember to watch where your shadows fall.  A shadow tends not to show up until you plop your image on the computer and slap yourself on your forehead.  Throughout the event I was very aware of where my shadows fell and what effect I wanted.

·         My general rule of thumb is people who dress up (or have loads of tattoos) want to be photographed.  Take advantage of it.

·         Watch where you’re standing.  I had a big backpack and the setting was tight.  More than a few times I smacked into someone when turning around. 

·         Get in close.  Some of my best zombie portraits were taken less than 24 inches away.

Way Past His Bedtime!

Nikon 1 System Lenses

A few weeks ago I posted a blog post about Nikon's new Interchangeable Lens Compact, ILC, mirrorless camera system the V1 & J1.  I talked about he lenses that would be available, but had few specifics.

Here is a blog post from the camera store I normally visit, Roberts Camera, in Indianapolis that highlights the new lenses.

One comment, with the camera on the new iPhone 4s, point & shoot cameras need to potentially rethink their strategy especially in the higher price range.  One such strategy is the ILC to keep them relevant in the P&S category.  

Enjoy

Roberts Camera Blog - Nikon 1 System Lenses

Photography Podcasts I Follow

Photographers have a great way to stay up to date with the latest in photography, learn new techniques & follow their favorite photographers.  This is through Podcasts, but audio and / or video podcasts.  A podcast is simply an audio or audio/video interview or discussion on a selected topic.  Most of the time the podcast includes “show notes” on the podcast’s website or subscription service that link you to topics, photographers, or other items discussed in the podcast.

Being an iPhone user I have an easy way to access many photography podcasts through free subscriptions using iTunes.  You can also access most podcasts through other online subscription services plus directly through the photographer’s websites.  I’ve become a huge fan of podcasts and regularly listen to them on my way to work or when I have some down time. 

Here are the podcasts that I follow:

·         “The Candid Frame”, host / interviewer / photographer – Ibarionex Perello

·         “Tips From The Top Floor”, host / interviewer / photographer – Chris Marquardt

·         “Chasing The Light”, host / photographer – Ibarionex Perello

·         “TWiT Photo”, host / interviewer – Leo Laporte; host / photographer – Catherine Hall

·         “The Two Hosers”, hosts / interviewers / photographers – Allan Attridge & Adam Schwartz (just started listening to this podcast)

·         "TWiP This Week in Photography", multiple hosts & interviewers

·         “The Photographer & Model Podcast”, host / photographer – Ron Davis; host / model – Shawna Rencher

Also, although this is not a podcast I regularly watch DigitalRevTV on YouTube.  This is a Hong Kong based video review of various photography subjects.

Of the podcasts I mentioned above I probably enjoy Tips From The Top Floor (Chris has a great sense of humor & covers the technical side of photography), The Candid Frame (Ibarionex is a smooth interviewer), & TWiT Photo (amazing guests) the most.   However, to be honest I like them all and listen to them religiously.

Bottomline, if you think about photography as much as I do; now you have another way to fill your photo knowledge jones.  Check out these podcasts.

David Robillard's Video - Time

David Robillard is an Indianapolis based photographer that I know through our Indianapolis Photo Venture Camera Club.  Tonight we had a member photograph review and critique, and Dave showed his video "Timelapse Millennium Park, Chicago, Illinois, The Bean" titled "Time"

People, you have to check this out.  It's great.  Next time I catch up with Dave I'm going to have to have him tell me exactly how he did this.  He did say tonight it was composed of approximately 600 images.

Enjoy,


Timelapse Millennium Park Chicago Illinois The Bean from David Robillard on Vimeo.

My Gypsy Soul

Tormented Soul
f/2.5, 1/125, 35mm, ISO 800

One of my favorite venues to photograph is the Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre. They are a resident dance troupe that recently relocated to the Tarkington Theater at the Center for the Performing Arts  located in Carmel, Indiana.  The Indianapolis based Photo Venture CameraClub gets the opportunity to shoot the GHDT during their dress rehearsals. We had such an opportunity this past week for the showing of “My Gypsy Soul”. The performance “Traced the footprints of the gypsies from India to Spain. Music was featured from Romania, Russia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, India, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, and Africa".

Let’s see; low light photography - check, contemporary music - check, motion & movement - check, vivid colors - check, challenging photography setting - check. You guessed it, I was in photographic heaven.

Red Leap Three
f/2.5, 1/100, 70mm, ISO 800

Flying Blue Three
f/4.5, 1/100, 70mm, ISO 1250

As you probably know from my blog posts and photo sessions (non-studio based) I migrate to after dark or low light settings.  This was no different.  I was shooting in full manual for this shoot.  I did research prior to the shoot to best determine the white balance to us.  As I’ve mentioned previously, even if you shoot RAW I don’t advise using auto white balance.  Shooting in auto white balance may require an extra step in post processing to correct or tune.  For this shoot I knew there would be lots of mixed color lights accompanied with a single or multiple bright, focused, white spot lights.  Therefore, I set my white balance at 4760K (kelvin).  All shots were taken with this white balance.  I think I hit the sweet spot with this white balance setting because I didn’t have to make a single white balance adjustment in post processing.

In Flight
f/2.8, 1/100, 70mm, ISO 800

Also, because I wanted to get as much freeze action during this shoot I had my shutter speed set at 1/100 of a second in almost all shots.  On a couple of shots with my brighter lens I did go to 1/80, but also at times I shot at 1/125.  I did set my exposure compensation at +0.7EV on all shots.  This allowed me to brighten the photos a bit.  Also, what is a bit unusual for me, I shot at center weighted metering.  Normally, I shoot matrix metering, but tonight I wanted to meter off my subject knowing there was going to be lots of dark negative space.  I didn’t want to blow out (over-expose) my subjects of focus.  Finally, I set my ISO last.  I started off setting my camera at ISO 2500, but found with the mentioned settings, the distance from the action, the quality of the lighting I was able to quickly move to ISO 1600 for most shots, and believe it or not with my f/1.4 & f/1.8 lens I was able to get to ISO 800.  I have shot LOTS of low light images before, and I have never been able to hit 1/100 of a second with ISO 800.  This says quite a bit for the quality of the light.

Finally, I shot most of my photos with my AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED lens (I think I’ve told you before this lens is UBER), but I also used my AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G prime (also UBER), and my AF-S Nikkor35mm f/1.8G prime (oh yes, UBER as well).  I found the 35mm was more useful focal length than my 50mm for this shoot since I wanted to get a bit wider angle and I was shooting with a DX sensor.

Silhouette on Orange
f/3.2, 1/100, 70mm, ISO 2000

Leaping Blue
f/2.5, 1/125, 50mm, ISO 1000

With these settings I was set up about 20 feet from the stage but eye level with the dancers.  On stage the dancers were probably no less than 30 feet away.  All shots were hand held, and I spent most of the night either focusing on the entire stage or following and panning on a specific dancer.  I also wanted to capture images of dancers at the top of their leaps.  I ended up taking about 1,600 images over approximately 2 hours.  All images were processed in Adobe Lightroom 3.5 and a few had additional processing in Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended.

Bottomline, I really enjoyed myself and have lots of images that I will share with the GHDT.

Scott Kelby Worldwide Photowalk

We are from Indiana

I Participated in the annual Scott Kelby Worldwide Photowalk this Saturday.  There were two photowalks organized in Indianapolis.  I went to the one arranged by the camera club that I am a member, the Photo Venture Camera Club.  About 20 photographers showed up on the bright and cold Saturday morning.  A perfect day for street photography.

Most of the group walked up and down Massachusetts Avenue (called Mass Ave by us locals).  It’s an area of trendy restaurants, bars and shops.  It’s also becoming one of the fashionable places to live.  For this reason it’s a great place for urban photography.  However, since this was the weekend for the annual Circle City Classic, there was also a big parade going on at the same time.  A few of the photographers, including myself decided to shoot around the parade.  A good choice.

Cotton Candy Man

You Looking At Me, You Looking At Me?

For this shoot the lighting was very bright with clear skies.  Lots of shadows from the buildings and floats.  I decided to sit right on the sidewalk so I could shoot from a low perspective.  I spent about ½ the time sitting in the sun and then about ½ moving into a shadow of local buildings.  I shot all photos with my Nikon D300s and my AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II.  This is a good lens choice for this type of setting since there was plenty of light and I wanted the flexibility to use both ends of the zoom range.  All shots were with my ISO set at 200, Aperture priority, WB set at either sunny or shade presets.  The only variable was my aperture normally around f/3.5 to f/8 depending on the DOF I wanted.

Working Up a Sweat Dancing

Kentucky State Marching Band

Obviously there was NO shortage of things to photograph in the parade, but I focused on shooting people.  I tried to get up close as I could and frame my subjects as close as possible.  I ended up with about 600 shots over the course of 2 hours.  Got lots of really fun shots.  All shots were processed in Adobe Lightroom 3 and a few additional processing in Adobe Photoshop CS5.

SERIOUS Cymbals

Tuba Player

We ended the photoshoot after about 3 ½ hours all meeting up at a local restaurant for lunch and of course to talk about photography.  I can’t think of a much better way to spend a Saturday morning.