Tomorrow, March 31st has officially become the “World Backup Day” thanks to the efforts of a few people behind a web site of the same name.

So, let this post fade on the screen and go backup your data and photos. Now!

A few complementary recommended links:

• Workflow and backup for photo-video
• All about photographer’s backups

1. Always format the memory card in-camera (formatting on a computer may not be right for your camera, same thing about formatting on another camera)
2. Always wait 3 seconds before ejecting the memroy card (or check the red LED flashing on the camera body and wait until it defintely stops blinking)
3. Copy/backup the contents as soon as possible (a portable hard drive is the best option; Do not wait for time in front of your portable PC), then immediately re-format the card (on the camera!)
4. Never apply image selection in-camera (judging image quality is nearly impossible on the camera LCD; Always edit on your PC/Mac)
5. Personal routine: Store empty and exposed cards in separate bags (different sleeves in the backpack, different colors/texture for different card cases or bags)

Travel bags content

Yes! I wrote bags because I strongly recommend having separate bags to split your gear in two categories:

1. Items you need upon arrival; For example, the main DSLR camera body, one or two critical lenses, the battery charger.
2. Items that could be replaced or that would void the trip if missing; For example the monopod, the tripod, replacement cables, the second backup hard drive, some gear bag, etc.

Sorting into these two categories must be less than subtle. It must be draconian and ruthless. Only needed items will go into the first category (the first bag). When arriving at destination, it will be easy to re-organize yourself and spread equipment differently in various bags. Your aim is to reduce drastically the weight of your cabin luggage -it will certainly go other the prescribed limit of the air line. So, before negotiating with the company, you must be able to show that you did your job. And it’s better to sort it out with a cool mind rather than in front of the check-in counter.

For your information, here is my own split (when I go and prepare a photo trip/safari):

1. Essentials:
   • Main DSLR body
   • Long tele-lenses, lenses
   • Battery charger
   • All empty memory cards (they weight nothing!) in a clearly labelled bag
   • Portable hard drive (Hyperspace Colorspace UDMA or similar), a first backup disk and attached connection cables
   • Laptop and charger
   • Invoices of all the gear (You never know when Customs will want added scrutiny)
   • Medical drugs (With prescription, possibly in several languages)
2. Replaceables:
   • My GoPro camera (I mainly shoot pictures; Video is an additional fun, not a priority)
   • Lens bag (like the LowePro Lens Trekker 600AW : The tele-lens will return to its own bag only upon arrival)
   • Extension tubes, optical additions
   • A monopod and/or a tripod (you may want to keep a microscopic Gorilla-Pod in cabin luggage)
   • All replacement batteries
   • The second backup drive (Never keep all your backups in the same bag)
   • The laptop bag
   • Replacement cables
   • Replacement battery chargers and corresponding cables like the 12V car plug connection
   • Sensor cleaning kit, gear cleaning kit(s)
   • A repair kit (neoprene glue, cyanoacrylate glue, knife,scissors, mini-screwdriver)
   • All replacement USB cables (I always have a full set of cables to be able to connect to nearly anything I can find)
   • Most of your clothes
   • Possibly, user manuals (but I prefer the electronic version right on the laptop drive)
   • Headlight and flashlight
   • Gaffer tape
3. Those I can’t decide:
   • Second DSLR camera body
   • Lens filters

Trip Preparation

Some issues are better handled a few days (weeks) ahead. Some are obvious, some may come as a surprise to you.

• If you have a press card from a known newspaper or agency, you may want to contact directly the air company before flying. Some have specific policies (and assistance) to press members, including options to transport expensive gear in cabin (a pro video camera is the first example I would give). But if you only are a well-equipped enthusiast, don’t even try asking…
• Think about country visas for countries you will enter. Two common traps:
  1. If your have a connecting flight, you may have to checkout in a country with different immigration rules than on your destination (even if you stop for only an hour). Check with the airline company beforehand.
  2. Regulations may have changed between reservation and your flight. You’d better check on the Internet ahead of time.
• Some countries accept to establish a visa upon arrival at the airport, but they usually require an immediate payment. Do you have enough cash (in the right currency) ? Is it in your cabin luggage?
• Are your immunization shots perfectly aligned with local regulations? Forget your opinion about the innocuity (or not), local officers will not engage in scientific controversies.
• Some dollars and local cash (spit between different pockets)
• Sun tan
• Non-critical drugs (including drug purse with blisters dressing, burns soothing cream, insect repellent)
• Prepare some reading and entertainment (movies, video games, etc.) pre-loaded on your laptop or iPhone (with headphones to avoid annoying your neighbors and to isolate yourself from the background noise in the plane or the bus).

Finally, it becomes more and more important to ensure that your computer gear and software will work even far from home and without an Internet connection. For example, if you have 2-step validation on your email, be sure to also have replacement safety codes from your service provider (if you are not recognized when far from home or on a different network).

Test your software package without an Internet connection, too. Would your photo software still work when 5000 miles from home? Nothing funny or silly! It happened to me once and this is a real pain in the neck…

Last-minute check

But there are also some last-minute reminders to avoid being caught by surprise. Some items to collect when closing the home door. Check that you have…

• Your passport number (if you lose it, it will be easier to communicate with your consulate); Better, send a scanned copy to yourself or on your smartphone.
• Address and telephone number of your contact upon arrival (not the travel agent at home).
• Address and telephone number of your hotel or lodge.
• Address and telephone number of your rental car company, and the contract number.
• Copies/scans of the tickets and check-in boarding passes on your smartphone.
• Airport parking access code (if you reserved/booked a parking for your car).
• One or more Frequent Flyer program cards (FlyingBlue at Air France, Mileage Plus, or any other similar card program).
• Credit cards (you’d better have more than one in case the main one fails to work, for any reason – It happened twice to me and the failure correction is always waiting for you… at home)

Finally, I recommend to spread dozens of business cards in each and every bag you own and bring with you. If lost, the airport or the company will have no difficulty finding you again, even if the external labels, stickers and attachments are all lost.

Bonus: A free bean bag

Sometime, the airline will distribute a small bag with amenities to assist you during the flight (toothpaste, face mask, ear plugs, etc.) Grab the socks. They are one of the best possible small bean bag, when you fill them with rice or wheat bought on a local market.

Have a nice photo trip!

So, I collected a few excellent guides or tutorials which provide good summaries (I think) of the possibilities of these cameras when it comes to autofocus or AF.

• How to use autofocus with moving subjects (all brands)
• Action photography: AF modes (for Nikon cameras)
• Canon 5D Mark III: Autofocus (AI Servo) for Birds in Flight
• Understanding Canon EOS 1DX Autofocus
• Sony A6000 and A5100 Autofocus Guide
• Sony: Autofocus (AF) modes

Good reading!

1. When? Fog does not appear in any weather conditions but it is relatively predictable. More or less, for a misty morning, you will need to have a relatively warm day before with a cold night without wind. Fog will tend to accumulate in the depressions (like a valley) which will favor night radiation fog and coastal areas will often have a good source of water vapor and a good potential for heat loss over ground.



2. How? Use the light histogram to “shoot at right” or “expose at right”. It’s a fact that the camera will tend to under-expose the picture to try and get a medium grey image while the reality that you want to catch is rather white. In some case, you will probably use a preset over-exposure of 1 EV or 1.5 EV.
3. Back-light: Even if you do not easily see the sun, favor the “back-lit” orientation.

photo credit: 1suisse
4. Silhouettes: Fog is the occasion to sharply cut the silhouettes on a clear background.
5. Surfaces: Mist will tend to draw clear-cut surfaces on the different planes of the picture.
6. Rays: As soon as the sun starts to be available and starts to pierce the last strands of mist, watch for the moment when light rays will appear in the landscape.

photo © 2009 Amaury | more info (via: Wylio)

1. Know the place: You may use maps or scout the location, but be prepared and since there will be a lot of people and moving around is less of an option when the show starts, be sure to know exactly where you want to be (and be there beforehand).
2. No flash: It won’t help for the fireworks, it could only light up some foreground elements in front of the show (and light balance will be difficult to obtain). It’s better/easier to use the shadow of these foreground objects, if it is easily recognizable.
3. Use a tripod: It’s night time, there is light, but not enough. Apertures will be wide and speed will be low. Get a heavy, sturdy one (Avoid being bumped into by people and limit exposure to the wind: All these make blurry photos).
4. No autofocus: You need to focus at the infinity and then go back to manual.
5. Use long shutter speeds: The longer speeds will allow filling the pictures with more light (But don’t over do it; Several light flowers are good, a bunch of colored streaks is probably not right).
6. Experiment with apertures: If there is more than the fireworks to be placed in the picture (a good idea), try experimenting with the aperture to choose the best depth-of-field.
7. Have a flashlight: At night, it will be difficult to find your way around.
8. Have replacement parts ready: Batteries or Flash cards must be in an easily accessible location (without light, it’s easy to reach for your pockets, right?)
9. Don’t check the pictures on the LCD: There is no time for this, shoot, you’ll look later. (Option: Check only 1 or 2 images at the beginning, nothing after that).
10. Frame: Think and try different compositions and frames (panoramic, vertical, etc.)

Happy shooting, now!

1. There is no light: In most small concert venues, light is just not there. As a concert-goer, you make think that the stage is flooded in light. This is really not the case. While lighting techniques may be sophisticated, they are very expensive and even the biggest international-level stages are insufficiently lit. Bring a prime lens with a pro-level large-aperture: f/2.8 is OK, if you can get a f/2 or better, you will perceive the difference. We would recommend to start with a cheap second-hand 50mm or 80mm lens.
2. Always shoot in RAW: The processing software will allow to compensate for the wild color balance of lighting and to use the most sophisticated noise reduction algorithm (since you will use high ISO, you’ll get too much noise).
3. Use either Aperture priority mode (or manual if you feel comfortable with it): You want to use the widest aperture and you want to stick to it.
4. Use the fastest ISO that your camera allows while keeping noise level low enough for you. Anyway, you will feel that it’s not fast enough, so stick to this value.
5. Use central AF: This is the most efficient AF sensor and you will need that to cope with the weird contrasts and low lights that are trying to make your autofocus trip.

Etiquette

There is one little secret that concert photographers do not usually share with you: Live music photography is mostly all about etiquette. Or should I say rules? Or even regulations? It is not immediately apparent to the public, but there are rules to stick to. Know them, use them.

• Don’t be a burden on Security: The security guards are there for a purpose, they need to ensure safety both for the public and the artists. But you are going to be in the way. So, be polite and obedient. One of the worst things would be to continuously move around; Stick to your place an never leave the pit or the security people will perceive you as a pain in the neck.

JerkSystem at Elysée Montmartre
Copyright (C) Yves Roumazeilles
• Don’t be a pain to other photographers: Again, moving around is usually difficult and it will come as unpleasant to the other photographers. Even if they know you and like you, rushing around will get them annoyed (to say the least). Choose you spot and don’t move (mostly).
• Don’t piss off the fans: They paid for it; Don’t get in the way or make it very very short and move out. If there are times when music is very quiet, just don’t shoot. You don’t want your shutter to be heard (no problem during heavy metal live performance, a major issue for classical music and some jazz). It’s quite easy to be forcefully removed from the pit…
• One rule to rule them all: 3 songs, no flash. Some concert may accept exceptions to this universal rule, but NEVER break this one, without an explicit and repeated confirmation from the concert hall management. In most cases, security will come to you at the end of the third song. Just pack you gear and move out. Don’t complain, don’t argue, don’t try to steal one more shot. And be sure that your camera not even has a flash, to be sure not to break the “no flash” commandment.
• Your pit access badge is not a backstage badge. So, don’t try to piss off security walking in the wrong direction.

When you’re done, you may leave politely, but it is usually acceptable if you stay and I suggest you do so. 3 songs of intense shooting is too much for you to take the music in. Stay and share the concert with the fans. You may be one, you may become one.

photo credit: andyspictures

• 60+ Best GIMP Tutorials of 2010
• 30 great tutorials for GIMP
• GIMP tricks to isolate parts of images and more GIMP tricks for doctoring images
• How to make a globe/planet photo manipulation in GIMP. See a nice little example of a planet-photo here on the right.
• Gimp 2.7 released for testing and we are Impressed with the outcome!!, by Ubuntu Manual
• How to make Photographs Vintage in GIMP
• Making a Watercolour-Paint Photograph in GIMP
• Wedding Photo Enhancement using The GIMP
• Gimp Paint Studio expands GIMP with new brushes, presets

Car racing (or motorcycle racing) is assuredly a favorite spot for photographing an exceptional subject: bright colors, shiny metal, technical expertise, intense concentration around competition, everything is present. So, here are a few tips to start motor race photography in the best possible conditions.

1. Gear: With or without accreditation, you will certainly be far from the track; So, you must get a long focal telephoto lens (200mm mini, 400mm is even better if you want to catch some details).
2. Advanced preparation: Ideally, you must go and visit the place to “take your bearings” (remember that it is often easier to move around the circuit during the officials tests a few days before the race), and you will be able to take advantage of it to shoot some more photos.
3. Competition: This is a race, so try and capture the spirit. Think about shooting not only one nice car, but several of them simultaneously (it’s easier in the curves) possibly during the overtaking phases.
4. Speed: Everything is fast, so you must choose a high shutter speed (at least 1/1000s when the car runs before you, maybe 1/250s when the car comes to you in a low speed curve).
5. Autofocus: Be sure to choose the continuous AF mode or AI-Servo mode ; The cars are fast and this is the most common trap even for fast AF systems.
6. Stands: Look around and don’t let the track keep all your attention. The stands are a place where a lot of things happen. Even better, on most race tracks, the arrival of a car in the pit is announced to the teams (and to the photographer) by a horn.
7. Podium: Of course, don’t forget to shoot the winner, either under the checkered flag or on the final podium.

One additional advice: Accreditation can be a real issue for all major car races. For example, if you are not a pro, with a large set of previous work in the automotive field, and the support of an influential press body, your chances to a photo accreditation is nil in Les 24 Heures du Mans. But it is always possible (maybe even good) to practice in the less restricted conditions offered by less prominent races on major tracks, races on small local circuits, or even kart racing competitions. And entrance fees are much lower, too.

1. Organize your space: A helicopter is a very small space, already quite cluttered. As soon as you climb, set your gear up in a way that will not bother others. Don’t touch the controls if they are accessible, even when handling your bag or its contents. Check before take-off how you can change your lens if you intend to do it in flight.
2. Attach everything: A helicopter moves, bends, vibrates and is far from the ground. Make sure the bag won’t move (better, attach it) and make sure that the camera strap is around your neck..
3. Open the door: It will depend on the model (and on the pilot) but if it is possible, take a jacket (against the wind) and open the door to have no obstacle between your lens and the subject.
4. Watch for the blades: After all, you’ll forget easily about them but the blades can readily go into the frame on a standard or wide-angle shot. Either you want them clearly in (test the shutter speed for better effect), or you want to make sure they do not appear at all.
5. Choose your angle: Avoid shooting flat at the horizon (with its atmospheric haze) and take advantage of the overhanging position to try either slightly high angle shots or perfectly vertical ones right under the helicopter.

More than a tip, an advice: Have fun. Shoot as much as you can but keep also some time to watch and inhale. There is a world out of the viewfinder.

photo © 2009 Autumn & Phill M. | more info (via: Wylio)

So, this month’s Y-tips are all about trying to help us shift to high gear to make our photos as nice as the pets we love.

1. Choose the best time: Take advantage from the proximity with your model to choose the time when it is most available, most cooperative.
2. Climb down to your subject level: As for many other models, an animal is best shot from eye level (its eye!), even if it means crawling on the floor or shooting a pet when it is set on furniture.
3. Watch the background: Inside or outside, the picture background can be quite distracting. Choose an adequate background or use a wide aperture to make it fuzzy.
4. Include its environmental: Choose a beautiful location that goes well with the pet and do not frame too tightly around (include the field, the beach, for example).
5. Close the frame: On the exact opposite, you can go very near a cooperating animal. Why not try to shoot a detail (an eye, an hear, a tail tip)?
6. Compose a scene Once again, since your pet is much more cooperative than the neighbor’s cat, you can try to create a scene. But be sure to prepare everything before you bring the animal in; Pets are less patient than most human pro models.

1. Open a photo book and start looking for what makes these images great to your eyes.
2. Go to a museum (preferably not about photography, but more about old painting or engraving) and study the composition of the displayed works.
3. Open the user manual of your preferred photo camera and discover those operating modes and features that you never use.
4. Go join a photo club and speak to other photographers; They will teach you new things, new tricks and they will open your eyes if you listen to them.
5. Start Photoshop, Lightroom, Aperture, or whatever photo software you use to work again on some of your oldest photos; You are going to rediscover them and you will get new ideas and the will to shoot them again.

photo credit: kevindooley

The cause of digital noise is inside the photo sensor itself. Short of using a sensor at a very low temperature (this is the astronomers solution, though), thermal random moves of the electrons in the sensor material will produce false color values in the sensor. These small spots are corrected (but only up to a point) by the firmware of the photo camera, but we can help it a bit.

• Use small ISO: The higher the ISO sensitivity, the more difficult it is for the sensor to amplify these small useful signals. Be specially aware of the risks involved with the “Auto ISO” mode which will choose (not always wisely) the sensitivity. Some Nikon DSLR cameras like the D7000 allow to fix your own limits to the max ISO values of the auto ISO mode; This is a good thing. The maximum value depends a lot on your camera, but today, 400 ISO are very difficult (too much?) for a compact camera, only the most modern APS-C cameras will safely reach 800 ISO, semi-pro and pro DSLR will go further. But beware: The older generations (last year!) may be limited to one or two stops lower.
• Don’t forget the noise reduction mode of your camera: This is specially true for long exposures (more than 1/10s) and nearly all cameras have a special mode to identify long exposure noise, but it is not always selected in the menus.
• Keep your camera cold: We forget it too often, this is “thermal noise”. The warmer the sensor, the more noise there will be. So, keep the camera cold. If you use the LiveView mode or video capture, give it some time (one minute?) for the sensor to cool down after these continuous and intensive uses before trying to shoot a low noise picture.

After that, there is only Photoshop, GIMP or any other photo repair software which will be able to correct what has been recorded by the sensor.

« 2011, Neiges et Glaces du Monde » (2011, Snows and ices of the world) is a project of Marion Jonchères, French mountaineer, sportswoman, adventurer to the end of the world. During a full year, this frail young woman will face cold and altitude while climbing icy summits all over the world, on all continents.

But Marion is also a photographer ; This is why we asked her to share her tips and tricks with us for a better photography in (high) altitude. They will be applicable under 6000m too, of course.

You can follow her 2011 adventure on her blog at ice-altitude.com.

When Yves asks me about the peculiarities of mountain photography, I ask back: What mountain photography? The pictures of the admiring tourist using his photo camera from an outdoor café facing the snowy peaks? Maybe not… Or the pictures of an assiduous practitioner, whose camera is a part of the mountaineering gear? Of course, this goes with some constrains… Here are the lessons I draw from my modest amateur experience.

• • Focus on a camera body as compact and lightweight as possibleDon’t forget that you must carry the photo gear and that it must not limit your progression. The photo hardware is stored in the backpack or carried, inside the clothes or on a shoulder strap. Forget about sensitive equipment!
    If you leave for a trekking or a long expedition, remember the spare batteries or solar battery chargers. The most farsighted mountaineer will have several memory cards, just as insurance against losing all the pictures in case of the long fall of the camera into a crevice or a river…
  • Use a UV filterUltra-violet (UV) light density will increase with altitude. Snow has a blinding effect. The UV filter (Skylight 1A or 1B) helps moderate these effects. Moreover, it will protect the lens if, like I do to speed up operation, you never cover the lens between shots.
  • Favor a wide-angle lens and leave the telephoto homeA wide-angle lens (up to 18 mm) will allow to step back from the somewhat imposing mountains and will better capture your feeling in front of a mountain range… Sometimes, one would wish being equipped for panorama photography!To capture pictures of your climbing partner in action, forget the telephoto lens except if you intend to check on his ice spikes or his climbing helmet. However, a slightly longer focal length (135 mm) is useful to isolate an individual while keeping some image depth.

    And if you want to track the progress of your partners on a mountain side or define an itinerary, you’d better have binoculars ; It’s less heavy and more powerful.

  • Of the difficulty to capture the actual inclination of a rock / snow / ice slopeThe rock wall is vertical and snow slope is inclined to more than 60 degrees, and your leader, above you, still seems to be crawling on all fours? This is the main difficulty for a picture or the progress of your leader. You’d better try to shoot pictures of a person roughly on the same level as you (be sure to catch his best profile!), the sky or other mountains being a background to highlight the position of your model and the slope he/she’s working on. Some low angle shots may be successful too if you keep composition lines or a focal point (an ice tongue or a moraine…).

• Forget about back-lightingExcept if you want to draw the different planes of ranges up to the horizon, mountain is usually quite ugly when back-lit, crushed in light, rock will become black, without any of the contrasts brought by a more favorable lighting.
• Which is the nicest light?Very personal question… If the sunsets can give you magnificent colors, most notably in rosy tints, still prefer the colors of sunrise. The morning orange will be warmer than in the evening and the atmosphere will be clearer. Also notice with interest the pastel lights so peculiar in a Winter afternoon, drawing into apricot or peach: Quite a treat (figuratively speaking)!
• To dazzle your friendsYou just climbed a snow couloir still somewhat unimpressive? So, climb down quickly and shoot the couloir while facing it from a little distance: Your friends may feel that it is now near vertical!
• Despite all your talent and the quality of all your gear… be ready for frustration!Stopping to get your camera out of your jacket will quickly become annoying when you also have to concentrate on your progress. How many times did I feel I had shot 100 pictures to discover only 30 in the camera when the climb is done and most of them uninterested or not spectacular enough or not worth taking… It is somewhat hard to simultaneously climb, admire and shoot! Choose your partner cautiously: On top of his mountaineering qualities, he must be patient to stop whenever you want and whenever the safety conditions are met (certainly not under a serac or in the middle of a snow bridge…)

Here’s what I can do to help start again with fresh ideas, new energy for photography:

• Open a photo book and start looking for what surprises you and is different from your own work: Different subjects, different compositions, new colors, new places.
• Pop a DVD and watch a movie. Sometimes, you will notice how a director of photography can be a great photograph. I’d like to mention two movies right now: In Cold Blood (by Richard Brooks, 1967; DoPh: Conrad L. Hall) and Desert Flower (by Sherry Horman, 2009; DoPh: Ken Kelsch).
• Go to an art museum near me and check for all kinds of paintings and graphic art.
• Go and visit a local craftsman to see what they do with metal, wood or stone. Art can sometimes start from all kinds of materials.
• Open a photography magazine and skip the hardware/software pages to check the pictures from great photographers: I like the photo agency pages of Chasseur d’Images (in France, Europe) for they present commercial photography at its best.

Usually, it’s enough to go further, not only as a zombie, but as a renewed photographer.

Post scriptum: For those who did not recognize his name, Conrad L. Hall is a director of photography who is widely recognized and participated to many great movies. Just remember American Beauty and Road to Perdition (both of Sam Mendes), or Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

photo credit: mikebaird

As a matter of fact, I count 1 point for each of the following criteria:

• A – Attitude, Activity, Action
• L – Light and Exposure
• C – Composition of the image
• I – Interaction of the subject with its environment, model placement
• D – Crisp Details, no blur

After all, if you want a top photo, you could do much worse than try and fill all these conditions. A good photographer will remember these criteria at shooting time; An excellent photographer will apply them without even thinking about it; For my part, I still need to remember them while sorting RAW files under Adobe Bridge.

This is a very simple web application created by FutureLab AG. Tourist Remover is part of the graphics software suite Online Photo Manager SnapMania.

It works quite simply: You take several pictures of the same location or the same monument. There is always one or more ugly tourists on the photo, but they are never in the same place. The software will identify the partly masked parts and fill them with data coming from images where they were not hidden by a tourist.

If you have enough pictures, if you work with a tripod (to ensure a good correspondence from image to image), it will “wipe” tourists out of the photo. It also works on passing cars or any other annoying mobile object that is tarnishing some of our photos. Technology at the service of solving a real problem.

Via BoingBoing.

Notice: This time, we are no longer on April Fools’ Day…

A few tips and tricks I grouped for you in order to reach the maximum possible sharpness on your photos (and my photos):

• Light: Darkness is not favorable; It brings fuzziness when the subject moves and a difficult automated focus.
• Speed: A fast shutter speed is good to freeze the subject in place.
• tripod: In order to be stable, there is no better solution than screwing the camera to a good old sturdy tripod.
• ISO: Choose a sensitivity high enough for the shutter to stop all movement, but not too high (to avoid blowing the digital noise up).
• Autofocus: An AF finely tuned (for those who have micro-setting of the AF), using the AF in the right mode (according to the subject -moving or not- there are different AF modes on your SLR).
• Autofocus Zones: The choice of the AF zone(s) is also critical (it is all too often to focus on the background rather than the model). It is quite important to focus on the eye of the subject rather than on the nose.
• Subject: If everything else is already optimized (especially in low light), make sure that the subject itself does not move.
• Sensor: Of course, use a camera whose sensor is as high resolution as possible; But do not let figures fool you: The more resolution, the more digital noise. do not use a 10MP+ P&S, or a 18MP+ D-SLR with an ASP-C sensor, for example).
• Lens: It’s always better to use a lens with a pro sharpness (and a pro price, too) but each glass has its optimal conditions for use (hardly the full aperture, often not the most closed diaphragm).
• Filter: shun unnecessary filters (like the Skylights or the UVA/UVB) or low quality filters (who add their own optical defects to those from the lens).
• Software: Do not push to the limit of the noise reduction software settings (while NR crunches noise, it also removes details and image crunchiness).
• Format: Avoid JPEG or use JPEG at a low compression rate (the compression artifacts start by eroding the fine quality of your image). Stay in RAW (or in TIFF)

However, this goes through respect for the rules of the photo Jedi.

1. Learn, Young Padawan

A photo Jedi is not taught, he has to keep learning. He has to keep his eye open for the wisdom of older knights, famous photographers. Always come back to the old masters, search and analyze their pictures for what makes them great. You have to acquire an internal feeling for what will make your photos great.

At first, the photo Padawan is only able to watch and fail. But hard work here will open the path to Jedi knighthood.

photo credit: turoczy

2. Do or do not. There is no try

Don’t try to be a good photographer. Become a good photographer.

The Jedi photographer is all about creating great pictures. The master Jedi photographer has recognized that he must be really willing to be one.

If the photo is not as perfect as you want it to be, shoot again. Now!

If the subject is not there when you want it, come back later to shoot it right.

If the light is not the right one, don’t shoot a mediocre picture, wait for the best light.

3. Beware the dark side

Where the Force is, the dark side is too.
Where the light is, the darkness is too.

Of course, you want to ensure that the dark areas of your digital photographs are well exposed and you should learn how to use the histogram and the blinking areas showing underexposed (and overexposed) of your picture on the LCD of the photo camera.

But also, don’t fear the other photographers. There is no competition. Each photo Jedi has his own path. The photo masters are not there for you to feel small and incompetent. They show what can be done with patience. And, don’t shout if you don’t become a photo Jedi master overnight.

Don’t anger when people criticize your pictures. Learn to hear why they dislike your images. Even better, go and show your photos. Ask for the feedback from other photograph Jedi knights in order to learn even more.

4. May the Force be with you!

While growing from Padawan to Jedi knight, from Jedi knight to Jedi master, the photographer in you will grow and your instinct will put itself in your heart.

On this path, the Force of photography will start flowing through your body and soul. You will start feeling from the inside when the light is right, what pictures will look right when printed, where the focal point should be, what rules can be broken.

This growing perception, this sharpened eye is one of the greatest outcome of becoming a photo Jedi.

5. Don’t be a Sith

A photo Sith keeps his pictures covered and hidden by his coat. The photo Jedi is open and seeking for the others.

Help others grow.

Help other photographers. Who knows who will be the next photo Padawan? Maybe this young guy will grow into a photo Jedi master, if you support his budding talent. Obi Wan recognized the talent in Luke despite his being too old for receiving the Jedi teaching.

Help your public. How many people tell “I’m not a photography buff, I just like this picture?” Don’t look at this person as desperately lost out of the photography heaven. He or she may be helped by offering to show photos of some masters. Many a photography book could become the basis for either helping somebody grow into a photo Jedi assistant or even a photo Padawan. Be generous with your art and photography in general; It’s something to be shared.

The Internet is also a great way to share. Flickr, photo-sharing web sites and photo-oriented forums are the place to be.

6. Show empathy

Photography is not only a matter of technique. You must master your weapon (the camera). But it is even more important for the photo Jedi to be in direct contact with and to relate to his subject. It could be a studio model, a wild animal, a landscape or any object; Your photo must express the story that it was telling you. You must be able to render it perceptible to the people looking at your picture.

The story your photo tells must be the story of your subject and it must be told to your public. What story is your picture telling?

7. These aren’t the droids you’re looking for

It’s not enough to use Jedi tricks to reach your goals. It feels good to use the photo Force mere tricks to make a photo. But you are not looking for bland postcards. You are out for excellence. Don’t stop at the first positive reaction from your viewers. When your friends and some people you respect start to recognize that your photos are nice because there the sunset is orange or Grand’ma is not cut out of the frame, it’s time to aim higher in order to reach a point where people will be blown out by your photographer’s prowess.

8. I know there’s still good in you, I can sense it

Luke’s father was lost to the dark side, but he did not loose hope.

Always look for that image which looks irremediably lost. Isn’t it possible to use the Raw file to recover the additional details in the dark areas?

Isn’t it possible to save a hopeless photo just by cutting out the bad part of it? Why not try to re-frame the picture? It’s time to try framing it vertically instead of horizontally (or the other way), to try framing it in a square, to try cutting a panorama out of it.

9. Beware the clones

The Jedi stands out of the croud. In the battle, his light saber will be cutting through the Empire clones.

While the photo Jedi may take his inspiration from all sides, he is seeking his own path. Look at the work of others, but develop your own eye and create your own photos. Do not be afraid to explore your own personal path. Your photos may draw from all that you have seen, your photos may be incorporating many ideas; You must press the shutter trigger to produce your own images.

10. Be direct

The way of the Jedi is not as tortuous as the servants of the dark side wander.

The photo Jedi will express clearly what is his photographic voice. You seek to make sure that the picture is projecting your feelings and your intent. The image will miss its public if it is not aimed right. So, as a photo Jedi, you must not stop at what you felt when you shot the picture. You must always perceive the effect that your picture will have when viewed out of the shooting location. The picture must stand by itself to forward your exact message.

11. Cherish your light saber

The Jedi knight is one with his light saber. The photo Jedi is one with his camera.

Use your camera, use it often, make it your own. When you will start to forget how to move the fingers on the camera body and when you will concentrate on shooting pictures, you will be well on your way to become a photo Jedi.

It does not mean that you need to restrict yourself to only one weapon. As some Jedi knights use two light sabers at the same time, the photo Jedi may have several photo cameras at hand. But he must know them by heart and this only comes from practice, possibly daily practice.

Thanks to Sean Platt and David Wright for their inspiring article in CopyBlogger. I’m glad to know they don’t mind my borrowing of their idea.

The first thing to do is to remove all electrical power source. Electricity does ugly things to metal and electronics. So, start by removing the batteries right now. You may be able to dry them separately, but you’d better be ready to buy new ones (the heavy humidity may damage them too much even if they survive).

Next, you need to dry the camera. As soon as possible. First, use sponge, them some absorbing paper (possibly toilet paper, you will find it nearly everywhere in the world). Try to shake the camera a little, but not too much (you don’t want to drop your camera in the water again!)

After that, a little heat will help. Water will evaporate more easily with warm temperature in a dry air. Avoid at all costs to leave the photo camera on whatever heating system you may find. But a few hours in a warm room will help…

But this will probably not be enough. The finishing touch will be to dip your camera into a bag of rice. This is about the same tip as the one used for the salt in your kitchen or on your table: a little white rice will capture the humidity from the salt crystals and leave it dry. Put your camera in an uncooked rice bag for a week; This may not be very elegant, but it will be do the job for a very little cost.

Only then will you try to insert a battery again. You are never sure that it will work, but all these steps will have tremendously improved the odds.

Some of you may be interesting in giving us some information leaks. It may seem that your privacy may be difficult to be kept in the process, but there are a few ways to protect it.

I can give you some information and some advice.

• I would not divulge the sources of my information if you merely ask me to keep it quiet.
• Use the contact form providing a wrong address (please, make it clear in the text).
• If you feel that this is not enough (or if the information you are providing would be really asking for additional protection), you can send email to Yves2006@YLovePhoto.com (just replace 2006 with this year, 2009 or 2010, to make it actual), without leaving traces by using one of the following services:
  • SendAnonymousEmail.net
  • CyberAtlantis
  • AnonymousSpeech
  • Anonymouse
• You can also send us paper mail. It may be very ‘old economy‘-like, but it’s quite safe to understand that I will not keep the document for more than a few hours. And it won’t allow to track you…
• You can also install a system enabling its users to communicate anonymously on the Internet, like TOR which will bring an additional level of security and anonymity, but at the price of a much higher complexity.

Feel free to use or adapt these advices. For my part, I will do my best to ensure that our exchanges will do you no harm.

All that being said, remember that I always prefer a well-known source (if not 100% identified) and I may chose not to publish some leaks when I do not feel sufficiently at ease with its origin and/or credibility.

When you are in a plane of a light plane flying near a mountain range, it is quite tempting to shoot a few landscape photos; But the conditions will stay very difficult for the photographer. There are many traps and the results may loose a lot of quality compared to what you expected.

For example, problems could be:

1. The presence of visible obstacles
2. The atmospheric turbulence
3. The atmospheric veil
4. The vibrations of the plane
5. The optical limitations of the cabin window

First, you must be seated near a window (and on the right side) and you must avoid the presence of the wing and/or an engine which could reduce the view. Choose your seat wisely at check-in time or politely negotiate with the passenger better seated.

The engines of the plane produce a lot of air turbulence that is very perceptible just behind them. Seat sufficiently in front (unfortunately, the more expensive seat are often in the front of the plane).

Air moisture and dust are less problematic at high altitude than at ground level, but you will probably shoot your landscapes from very far. Only when the sky is very clear can you try a flight. Then you would limit the atmospheric veil to its minimum. It’s even better to fly early in the morning (the light is nicer and the air moisture is still mostly on the ground). Chance must fly with you (or you will have to compensate with perseverance).

Then, a plane shakes a lot. Even more when it’s a small plane. Not as much as a helicopter, but it is definitely not stable! So, choose a fast shutter speed. Worse: Those vibration frequencies are not well compensated by the image stabilizer of your camera or lens; They are targeting the smoother moves of the photographer. For an 80mm lens, I would advise faster than 1/200 s; For a 35mm, faster than 1/100 s. You may have to crank your ISO up a little for that.

But the biggest interference will probably be the window itself. Nothing much you can do: It is not a neutral photo filter. It will darken irregularly the image. It is not really compatible with polarizing filters (color shift and forced shading in the sky part of the image). It usually has a lot of scratches and stains (those inside may be cleaned, but going outside is tougher…)

In the end, shoot! Don’t hesitate to shoot twice, think about building panoramas (shoot according to the advice for good panoramic photos at Roumazeilles.net, and assemble them with PhotoMerge in Photoshop or with AutoPano Pro).

The photos illustrating this article are Copyright (c) 2009 – Yves Roumazeilles (all rights reserved)
Click on the thumbnails to see the larger photo.

This is the extremist extension of a solution I already use: In order to reduce the risk of theft, you can use gaffer tape and cover all distinctive marks and logos. Your SLR may still look bulky, but it will not be recognizable. And it has also the advantage of including the protection of small connectors or covers (and locking down some buttons you don’t want to see moving without your explicit intent).

Very good tip for photo travelers.

When you’re traveling far in order to satisfy your complementary needs for exoticism and photography, you will have to go through the Customs and/or boarding controls of the airplane. A few things would be good to keep in mind in order to ensure this is a better experience. Here are mine:

• Pack everything really fragile in your cabin luggage, but only that: Your lenses are fragile, but your tripod is not.
• Make sure that all cameras have charged batteries (if you are requested to prove their correct operation).
• If you still use film, ask for a manual screening to avoid burning them through the X-ray machine.
• Have all invoices in a pocket (not in the bag in order to limit the consequences of always possible robbery). Customs may want a proof of purchase/cost/taxes and this could avoid your re-paying of heavy customs taxes.
• Avoid adding a couple of under-the-counter Flash cards from a tax-free country, that may attract the attention of the Customs officer and make them suspicious. You’ll buy cheap during another trip wiht less sensitive hardware…
• When you are checking-in, politely ask if you can keep the bag as cabin luggage (always ask first, always smile and be polite). You should make it look like a small bag even if it is big and heavy (stand up, shoulders high, bag hung on 1 shoulder only, as if it was empty). If accepted, you win.
• If not, politely inform the person that the bag contains expensive equipment. In the extreme, you should be ready to ask for insurance to cover the cost of your photo equipment (this last step is often enough to bring a closure to a possible confrontation).
• In some countries or on some short flights, it may be possible (or necessary if the plane is real small) to purchase an empty seat for a few bags (share with fellow photographers).
• Be sure that whatever weight, your photo bag stays within the size limits (115 cm adding all sides), it is easier to solve things this way.
• Never fly with companies that enforce brutally the cabin luggage weight limit. The list may be changing in time, but two companies actually stand out: British Airways seems to be the nightmare of heavy luggage (no more than 5 kg even with a pro Id card and pre-organized pro-check-in; I know a couple of pros who will take a longer flight just to avoid them) and RyanAir (and many low cost companies) finds all possible ways to make you pay taxes on top of your ticket cost. In any case, check in advance with the company (or your travel agent if they are used to photo trips and photo customers).
• Always be polite. Remember that the person in front of you has to power to ruin your photo trip.

With this it is easier to travel and shoot photos. Do you have some other tip to share?

• B&W loves textures and fine grained surfaces
• Check your light
• Use low ISO: Image noise is more visible in B&W
• Check your composition: The lack of colours will make your spectator more attentive to a a bad framing
• Before converting to B&W, do all the cleaning and editing (the results will be better)
• Your photo software may have a better option that just desaturate or convert from colours to grey shades
• Edit again after conversion to Black-and-White
• Even when shooting in colour: If it does not work in colour, try it in B&W

photo credit: Dave-F almost retired

Here are my rules to photography self-improvement:

1. Think about it permanently. You must start seeing the world with a photographic eye, look for, then find photos anywhere you go (with or without a camera): while driving a car, on the highway, in a small street, in the subway, in a family reunion, in the city, in the country, in the zoos, at work, in the plant, etc.
2. Experiment. There are millions of specific photo techniques. The digital cameras allow us to try anything without any kind of expense. You must try and try again: backlight, high-angle shots, low-angle shots, panorama, macro, speed, flash, etc.
3. Pratice. You must shoot a lot and check the results continuously to see what works and what does not. Also, shooting a lot is a good way to learn the inner operation of your photo camera. The first time you drive a car, it’s a bit hard… then it grows on you. And you forget about the moves and stop thinking about it. It’s only then that you can do whatever you want. When I will handle my camera with my eyes closed, I will botch less pictures for my slow reaction.
4. Push the camera aside. Soemtimes an empty battery, a forgotten camera will allow you to shoot pictures in your head only. No technical constraint: Look.
5. Never let it go. Endurance is needed to keep going. Never despair. Keep shooting images. It won’t come in a week.

Finally, when you get this level, what will be left? Profit (or not) from your inner photographic self: There are some “natural-born photographers”.

Click on the thumbnails to enlarge them

If you want to only watch the photographs, you can merely ask for a large format print on RedBubble (or a simple card).

But I think that the story of these three photos is a good example of what I (sometimes) succeed in doing in photography. Let me tell you this story.

The location

The Lake Der-Chantecoq is located in France between Troyes and Saint Dizier, at the gates of the Champagne vineyards. It is a man-made volume created to be hold the high waters of the River Marne to reduce the risk of flooding Paris. Several villages have be drowned in its waters when it was built between 1967 and 1974. Water fauna and migratory birds adopted its 48 km² (the largest artificial lake in France) in their long journeys and its being classified Réserve Nationale de Chasse et de Faune Sauvage provides good protection. So, this became a common meeting point for amateur ornithologists (with or without a photo camera).

Tip: If the specialists go there, follow in their steps.

The time

I wanted to go there for a long time, but only a little whim (“why not go and watch sunrise there? I don’t have anything better planned for the day”) in order to have me moving. Let’s remember that early and late hours provide these lights often named the “golden hour” for they offer richer lights, quieter moments (less tourists). You may have to make some little effort, though (African safaris are not the only time to wake up early).

But, I have to admit that this was a little over my usual limit: Up at 3:30 to drive from Paris in time for sunrise…

Tip: Wake up early (or stay late).

The weather

I should have been checking the Weather Channel before leaving: Heavy fog on the last 60km.

Tip: Check the weather before.

What could I do when light is lacking and colours are gone? (Usually, colours are easier for me and my eye) Let’s choose something completely different: Monochrome. If I had checked the weather, I may have hesitated to wake up early and I would only had had the grey afternoon of that same day.

Tip: Don’t check the weather and use whatever happens to be at hand.

The frame

This is no random chance if those three pictures are framed vertically. Many a photo would look better (would look more “pro”) once in a frame favoring their height. Quite a large number of my best photos are vertical (I have to fill the frame adequately, but it’s often more dynamic).

Tip: Always check if a vertical frame “would be better”.

The composition

Advice is made to be forgotten, but for composition millenia-old rules are to stay. One of them, “the rule of thirds”, requires to cut the image in three identical parts, locating the subject(s) adequately in the frame.

In the picture here on the right, I think I had a little success. The grebe is in the lower third, the bush in the upper third. Let’s not get technical though: I introduced a slight imbalance to compensate for the relative masses of both subjects.

In the case of the backlit grebe, composition is using 1/3 plus 2/3. In the upper part, there could be another object (like the bush in the previous photo), but I chose to leave this space empty in order to let the sun fill it. The rule o fthirds is here… with a twist.

for the duck picture, I wanted to take advantage of the mirror effect in the lake water. I could have built a perfectly symetric image composition, but “it didn’t fly”. So, I reframed it slightly to give a little more space over both silhouettes and let the duck take off.

Here is a centered composition. Out of center.

Tip: Choose your composition before pressing the shutter release.

The final steps

Once the photo shot, it is possible to reach the image development stage (like for a chemical silver picture, but with computer-based techniques). This is not the easier part, but I like it and the computer is forginving: You don’t have to pay your errors and trials with expensive chemical baths and photo paper.

Here, the sky is the limit. The first thing to do, maybe the easiest, is to reframe the image. The grebe on the right was not framed like that on the original image. As a matter of fact, the enormous light contrasts made the autofocus a bit imprecise. So, I chose to focus on the bird with the most sensitive AF sensor (center one for most SLR cameras) and not to reframe immediately but only later. I also used the computer to perfect centering of the glimmer (the bird was always moving around, diving down, and I did not want to risk missing the right moment; I kept some finishing steps for a later stage).

But this image also had its inherent difficulties. It’s not too visible in the Internet-sized picture, but it was critical to maintain a perfect quality on large prints and posters; Two dangers loomed in the original file:

• I wanted to keep the extraordinary structure and shape of the glimmering sun: Seen from a very short distance, it looks a lot like hundreds of white-hot metal slabs.
• The violent backlight on the bird created a slight reddish aura that I did not want.

This is one situation where I drop the JPEG file in favor of its Raw counter-part. Thanks to Adobe Camera Raw for its ability to simultaneously work on optical defects like this aura (with a lovely choice of settings), image accentuation and colour balance (it is critical even if the photo seems to be made of only five impressionnist coloured oils).

Raw was also the only way to keep the soft pink colour of the other grebe.

Even if it was simpler for the flying duck, it was worth a small correction using Photoshop curves to bring colours back.

In the end, both monochrome images received intensive care to clean up little details: Each water reflection was checked and evaluated individually and in the context of the overall photograph. Some were promtply removed. Many have simply been tweaked a bit. For example, the future owners of a large print of the duck’s flight will notice a few water droplets flying around the bird and their reflection on the lake surface.

Tip: Never stop before image editing.

But I worked only on these three images. 80 shutter clicks, sorting done by a fanatic. I don’t want to spend my energy on images that would not be worth it. I slowly teached myself that it’s no use trying to control images in the field and that I must drop anything less than perfect. Even with this, all my images are far from perfection and those who are obviously not will never leave Adobe Bridge.

Tip: Remove anything less than perfect. Only keep the best.

It’s easier if you had a clear idea of the photo you wanted to get while releasing the shutter. Your pictures are linked by this common initial aim.

Tip: Decide what photo you want. Do not just press the shutter release.

Luck

Once you have all aces in your game, luck is welcome too. On each of these images, there is a bit of luck.

• I expected a nice light in the glimmering sun, but I did not know that it would happen in long strokes like that.
• The near-perfect monochrome of the “pink grebe” would not have been possible without the 30 or 40 minutes when the sun was masked in the softening fog.
• The duck’s reflection is only a product of the very slight wind agitating the lake’s surface. A little more, a little less, and the picture would have been totally different. I think I would not have liked it.

Tip: Have luck. After all this, you earned it.

Now, if you were not disappointed by the detailled explanation, you may still buy a large format print on RedBubble.

 

Lion – Copyright 2008 Yves Roumazeilles

1. Be ready. Always keep your camera ON. Switching it ON is a useless distraction when you need to shoot something. Nature will surprise you. Be ready for surprises… and to catch them.
2. Be ready. Always keep your camera on your lap or next to you. Nature will surprise you. Be ready for surprises… and to catch them.
3. Be ready. Don’t bother with the LCD screen. Shoot images, look at them later in the lodge. Things happen during your LCD-fetish time. Nature will surprise you. Be ready for surprises… and to catch them.
4. Take your time. Stay with the animal. Don’t look and say “OK. We saw it. Let’s go to the next”.
5. Know the animals you’re supposed to find on the location (ask your guide before) and look for them. Incessantly. Even while chatting with the other people around you.
6. Bring a 300mm or 400mm lens with you. Animals are shy and they won’t let you approach easily.
7. Shoot with a fast speed. Animals move! For birds, keep the speed above 1/1000 second. For larger animals, keep it above 1/500.
8. Frame the subject, avoid putting it in the middle/center of the photo. Moving it to the side and having it walk into it is better. Avoid having the animal “looking outside the frame”.
9. Focus on the eyes.
10. You may be tempted to shoot immediately, don’t. First look at the light on the animal. For example, a walking elephant may have the eyes in the dark. A second later, the sun will shine in the eye. What picture will be the best? The one you waited for. If waiting seems too difficult, shoot one “souvenir”, then look and wait. Then shoot “the right one” (I do this a lot with birds: Get one, then try to get the “right one” before it flies out).
11. Shoot early in the morning, or late in the evening. Hard light at mid-day will kill all subjects with ugly shadows.
12. There is no perceptible difference between a sleeping lion and a dead lion. Would you shoot a dead lion? So, wait for the return of life. By the way, sleeping lions will move, even if only to move out of the sun rays through the tree that hides them. You may have to wait for fifteen minutes (or an hour), but it will move for sure.
13. Look for animal behaviour: drinking, grooming each other, walking together, fighting, jumping, birds landing, etc. Those will make interesting stories.

 

Buffle – Copyright 2008 Y.Roumazeilles

Here is the application with a rather dull image taken from the back of La Défense in Paris.

1st solution: Photoshop

Let’s start preparing the picture with Image > Adjustment > Shadow/highlight.... We’ll start with quite heavy settings! Shadows: amount:50%, tonal width:45%, radius:44px ; Highlights: amount:67%, tonal width:65%, radius:46px ; Adjustments: color correction:+20, midtone contrast:0, black clip:0,01%, white clip:0,01%.

You have one heavily modified “base” layer. Duplicate it and select an interaction of color dodge. Highlights are burnt and totally white. But the colours have been hightened.

Do the duplicate dance again, but with an interaction of linear burn. Now, there is too much black. Set black as foreground color, then Select > color range... and apply a fuzziness of 100. Now add a new layer mask using the little icon with a circle in a rectangle at the bottom of the layers box.

Now, duplicate it again, but with an interaction of Overlay. Press Ctrl-I. You can start playing with the opacity of the last two layers, preferably 40% for “overlay” and 60% for “linear burn”.

Set white as foreground color, then Select > color range... and apply a fuzziness of 100. Select the “base” layer, duplicate it, and move it up the list of layers. Again, use the icon to add a layer mask. You may want to apply a Gaussian blur with Filter > Attenuation > gaussian blur... with a radius of 2. This step is giving the kind of halo that is most visible in most HDR images, so choose the adequate radius value for your image.

last step could be to correct the always-possible color shift (or to create one) by adding an adjustment layer (using the black-and-white circle icon), option color balance.... But it is not often needed:

Source: a now-closed web site at www.hdrphotos.net.

2nd solution: The Gimp

Using The Gimp, you may use directly the plugin from Gimpology.com. It’s propably a little less extreme than my prefered solution.

3rd solution: Photoshop tutorial

I found another Photoshop tutorial on the web at Various Photography Thoughts.

Final Note

CreateHDR which is supposed to do all this for free and online does not seem to work anymore, except -sometimes- for very small pictures. Did they have too much success?