The book starts out by describing the challenges this sort of photography presents.  It then describes the elementary gear, small, medium and large format, giving pros and cons for each.  The idea here is to help the beginner select gear which matches both the budget and the vision.  A lot of this information was also found in “The Camera”, but this book also includes recommended filters, which I found helpful.

Brief aside.  When I first acquired a DSLR I ended up buying quite a few filters because I was excited by their creative potential.  I didn’t end up using very many of these at all though for a few reasons:  laziness, inability to visualize the effect on the scene, and knowledge that I could do most of what I wanted in post. Shooting film without a darkroom means I don’t really have post, and shooting black and white involves color filters to control contrast.  So – I now have a set of filters which I actually use.

The authors spend quite a bit of time throughout the book discussing the art aspect of photography.  I found this fairly interesting and informative.  Again there was a bit of overlap with “The Camera”, but I definitely appreciated the authors’ perspective.  Like most discussions about the art of photography the topics of mood and intentionality came up, reinforcing concepts I’m already familiar with.

As another aside.  There are some who criticize this book, and books like it, which describe “rules” for photography (or art in general) as being too draconian and stifling.  The argument is that people will find their own way to their expression of art, and if you just follow the rules as they are laid out you are not an artist so much as a technician.  There is an excluded middle fallacy here, in that a text which describes the rules does not necessarily advocate that one follows these rules at all times.  And this book in particular suggests quite the opposite – that one should be aware of the rules and why they exist, so that one may break them intentionally.  This viewpoint comports nicely with my own.

The discussion then swings to composition.  Composition is something I do fairly well, I think, but I don’t really think about it.  On the one hand I am pleased about this – it’s part of what we call “having an eye”.  On the other hand I value intentionality, and it’s hard to be intentional when I don’t really understand what I’m doing.  So I don’t want to overthink things, but I do want to have a basic understanding of what’s going on.  So, I read up on composition and lean on my natural ability to forget things to avoid the overthinking/analysis paralysis issue.

The discussion opens with an overview of what composition is – transforming the haphazard elements into a controlled, ordered work.  It then talks about how the eye sees a scene and how that’s different from how the camera/film does.  At this point the book enumerates some compositional elements: shapes, lines, texture and patterns.  These elements are discussed with respect to their effect on a scene and how they might fit in with the general tone/motif of a shot.  The book talks about the “weight” of an element, a concept I rather like.  As a photographer you can include elements or exclude them – their weight can add to your theme or distract from it.  A lot of print is used to classify the effect of a given element on mood.  It makes sense to me to have elements contribute to a mood rather than work against it – though I can see experimenting with that.

As mentioned in “The Camera” it’s non-intuitive to visualize a scene in black and white.  This book shows that and also tries to relate the various shades of grey effects on mood to the corresponding colors effects on mood.  The concepts of tonality, contrast, lighting and depth are discussed, and all of this was familiar territory for me.

What wasn’t so familiar was talk about design – simplicity vs complexity, symmetry and balance.  I found this information to be quite useful in a “file it away and hope it informs your decisions” sort of way.  The table summarizing design elements and their effect was pretty helpful.

The next section concerns itself with techniques to actually accomplish what we’ve been talking about.  How to focus, expose, effect of depth of field, using filters to increase/decrease contrast range and using the zone system.  All of this was familiar to me except the details of the zone system.  For me this system can be summed up as “expose for the shadows, deal with highlights in post”.  Or, for my film work, “expose for the shadows and cross your fingers”.  Just make sure you don’t blow the highlights.  If I were using large format equipment then the rest of this chapter – camera movements and the specifics of the zone system – would be much more relevant.  I suspect I will get into large format at some point, so it’s good to have this background.  The book makes a point that using my Bronica (medium format) I could still use the zone system in full (expose for the shadows and develop for the highlights) by purchasing 3 more backs and labeling them N-2 through N+2 (I already have 2 backs).  But I don’t care to expose (pun intended) myself to the extra weight, cost, and hassle of this.  The Zone System discussion does emphasize my need to get familiar with my 1 degree spot meter, rather than lazily use the ambient light meter all the time.

The section on darkroom techniques, while interesting, didn’t really give me any useful (in my current situation) information.  I was already familiar with the techniques which can be applied to post processing and the ones that can’t, while interesting, aren’t usable without a darkroom.

This book presents a few shots throughout which illustrate poor application of whatever technique is being discussed, and I found that very informative.  Most books show you what success looks like, but it’s helpful to know what failure looks like as well.  At the end of the book the authors present five shots and discuss each of them with respect to the ideas that were discussed throughout the text.  This part was most helpful in, as the chapter title says, putting it all together.

A lot of people out there have used a 35mm film camera.  The last time I did I’m fairly sure I was single digits in age.  So I was a tad rusty.  Unlike 120 there is no backing paper to 35mm film.  With 120 one winds from the supply reel to the take-up reel and then removes the exposed film and places the now-empty supply reel into the take-up reel position.  With 35 one has to rewind the film back into the cartridge.  Also the Pentax SLR doesn’t have the darkslide that the Bronica does (as it doesn’t support removable backs).

As I mentioned in a previous post I’ve had some trouble getting any sort of image at all recorded on a negative.  After successfully shooting a roll of the same image (to test the camera metering) I decided to head out into the world and take some “real” pictures.  My process has evolved into:

1. Meter the shot
2. Frame the shot
3. Set the desired f-stop
4. Focus
5. Switch the dial from “L” (for Locked) to “M” (for Manual)
6. Dial in the desired shutter speed
7. Press the shutter button
8. Remember that I’ve not advanced the film
9. Advance the film
10. Press the shutter button
11. Write down the EXIF data in a notebook
12. Switch the dial back to “L”

I could avoid step 8 by moving step 9 below step 10, but I don’t feel like changing my process now.  So I went back out to Route 66 State park (it has interesting-to-look-at bits and it’s relatively close) and to Howell Island (it’s interesting to look at and on the way home from work) and took a bunch of shots.  All in all it worked out pretty well.  The in-camera meter is not to be trusted.  Sometimes, perhaps even lots of times, it agrees with the external meter.  But often it doesn’t.  I can tell from the lightbox test shots that I should trust the external meter.

The shots came out well enough and I learned a few basic things.

1. Write down the exposure information as soon as you take the shot.  Otherwise you will forget.
2. Switch the knob back to “L”, otherwise you’ll take extra shots of nothing.
3. 36 exposures is kinda a lot.
4. If you accidentally overexpose by a lot (like, 2 s or more) as soon as you realize what you’ve done cover the lens.  The light leaks will hit the surrounding frames.
5. Try to memorize the color wheel.
6. Slow down

Super!

So I picked up the camera body, a 50mm 1.7 and a 28mm 2.8 lens, and a few rolls of black and white film.  I had low expectations and I actually managed to get under them.  Out of the first three rolls of film that I put through this thing I ended up with 2 usable images.  The first roll had a few black frames, a couple usable images and a lot of clear film.  Suspecting metering issues I shot 20-some-odd exposures using my lightbox, 12 from f/1.7 – f/22 using the built-in metering and 12 over the same range using the exposure settings from an external meter.  That roll was completely empty – no images recorded at all.  Suspecting either a shutter malfunction or a problem advancing the film, and after verifying that the shutter opened when I hit the button, I shot another series of light-box-like shots paying special attention to the supply reel’s motion when I advanced the film.  Between observing the supply reel’s motion and the resistance when rewinding the film I was sure that the film had been advancing.  And armed with the knowledge that the shutter opened and the film advanced I was sure I would have *something* on this next roll of film.  But I didn’t, again – clear film.  Not one photon had managed to impact the negative.  Curiouser and Curiouser.

So Karen loaded the next roll of film. I watched, and she did it just like I did.  I then re-took the lightbox shots but this time between the “camera suggested metering” and the “external meter suggesting metering” sequences I held the shutter open 2s and shone a flashlight through the lens, allowing me to stare at the film as I verified that a ton-load of photons were hitting it and bouncing off to then hit my retinas.  When I got the negatives back they looked pretty well as I had expected: 12 slightly under-exposed shots, one dark frame (with some light leaks on the frames just before and after) where my flashlight was, and 12 decently-exposed shots.  So – I still have no idea what happened.

I took another roll (Karen supervised my film loading) and it turned out well.  I Am working on my first roll where I loaded it solo.  I have high expectations.

The title of the book, and the theme which recurs quite a bit throughout it, is waiting for the light.  The author stresses the point that a landscape photographer has no studio lights which he/she can control and finely tune at will.  Instead the landscape photographer has to take what nature supplies.  And oftimes one must wait until what nature supplies is what is needed.  But, to know what is needed one must have a vision and the ability to pre-visualize a scene.  The ability to pre-visualize a scene is not something which can be taught, but rather comes with experience.  Once the photographer “sees” the scene as he/she desires he/she must then wait for nature to supply the correct lighting.  And once this happens the photographer must be in the perfect place at that time.  This can be something of a logistical challenge.  So a location must be scouted with a pre-visualizing eye, conditions must be monitored for the light required, and steps must be taken to be in the desired place at the time those conditions manifest.  All before the shutter is opened.

The author covers the basics of composition, all stuff I’ve heard before.  But he does emphasize simplicity, and that dovetails with other aspects of my life so I choose to take that away as the central lesson.  As he says, “there should be nothing in the frame which doesn’t deserve to be there”.

The environment list starts with rock.  Mountains are a pretty standard subject, and the discussion was fairly familiar from the mountaineering material I’ve read.  This is followed by sand, and the demands of photographing the desert – which involves heat and sand.  Next we discuss ice, and attention is paid to the texture of the ice or snow.  The section on Earth deals with light on foliage and the importance of location scouting.  The water section deals with the land/water interface and the importance of getting a strong composition even if it involves getting tripod legs (or more) wet.  The next section is wood, but really not much stands out in this section.  The following section is Concrete – and the admonition to go for the non-standard composition/viewpoint when photographing cities.  The last section is Skin.  The advice here is to be patient and get the stories – I like that.

The end of the book is comprised of the Gallery section, which has some great shots, and a section on equipment which is nice but not terribly informative for me.

All in all, a good book to get some ideas from.  I really liked the shots and reading the back stories.

The book starts off with the topic of Visualization.  I can see this skill being quite important to any photographer, but especially so for someone working in black and white.  Visualization, as discussed in the book, is the ability to look at the subject and see the final print before you make the image.  For film work this means being able to look at a scene, envision the effects of the various optical and mechanical systems of the camera on the scene, then envision the effects of the chemical processes involved in developing the film to produce the negative, then envision the effects of the chemical processes involved in printing the negative. Since most of these processes have analogs in the digital workflow the same set of visualizations apply, translating as needed.  The ability to do this well is crucial as it allows the photographer to control all the aspects of the camera (position and settings) to support his/her final vision.  The book presents the reader with quite a few facts about what the effects are of the various systems in a generic camera, then sets up the rest of the book as a reference to explain the effects of specific cameras and accessories so the reader can use this information to perfect his/her visualization skills.  The reason this skill is particularly important/difficult for someone working in black and white is due to the use of color filters to darken/lightencertain colors in the final print.  This change will not be intuitively obvious in the viewfinder until the photographer can visualize the color of the scene translated into shades of grey, and then take the effects of the selected filter into account in the visualization.

So now we talk about cameras.  First up is small-format cameras.  I found the history here rather interesting, particularly the difficulties of using a non-SLR camera and thus the reasons for developing that camera (mainly parallax).  The chapter on medium format cameras covered basically the same sort of information as the one on small format cameras.  I also found this information interesting.  The chapter on large format cameras was particularly interesting to me since a) I don’t own one of these and 2) they are rather complicated and allow much more control of the camera configuration, and thus the final image.  With a large format camera the user can actually change the physical layout of the camera, moving the film plane and/or lens back and forth and tilting either to precisely align the focal plane with the plane of the image which is most important.  These things are set up on a rail system and there is a light-tight bellows which connects the lens to the film back.  It’s very heavy.  Each shot is one negative which is packaged up and developed on its own, which permits quite a bit of control in the development process (as opposed to developing rolls of film which means each negative on a given roll must be developed in the same way).

Next up is a discussion of lenses.  I have a semi-good understanding of the lens, though the technical details of how the optics work out is something of a mystery to me.  I get the relationship between focal length, aperture, distances to subject and film plane, and depth-of-field.  I learned how to read the depth-of-field scales on the lens barrel.  It reinforced my understanding of hyperfocal distance, so hopefully I’ll keep that in mind.  I also got a better picture of the “true” image made on the negative, being circular.  The discussion of what the different focal length lenses looked like compared to the different negative sizes was instructive, as I was under the impression that a 50mm lens was “normal”, meaning representative of roughly  how we see the world.  This is true for a 35mm negative, but on the larger cameras this focal length becomes slightly wide-angle.  The effect of lens extension tubes was also instructive.

The discussion then turns to shutters.  I had the general idea of how a leaf shutter and how a focal-plane shutter worked, and I have a basic awareness of how different shutter speeds affect the subject with respect to motion.  But the extra information about the effect of motion of the subject when using a focal-plane shutter was both interesting and useful.

The chapter on image management deals with camera settings.  For all cameras this means choosing camera position and what focal length of lens to use.  I found the comparison of what happens when you move closer to the subject to what happens when you use a longer lens to be pretty interesting and enlightening.  The discussion of how to hold the camera, how to use the tripod and how to focus wasn’t of much interest to me, and while I found the view-camera (large-format) adjustments chapter to be really interesting it wasn’t easy to relate to since I don’t have a large-format camera.

The balance of the book was a discussion of various accessories, starting with meters and going through to flashes and underwater gear.

By and large the entire book is geared to giving you the information needed to pre-visualize a print given a scene.  To actually acquire/improve this skill, however, one needs to actually practice it.  Which involves a concept that I’ve been fond of for some time – intentionality.  Rather than just grabbing an  image by pointing a camera at it and using an f-stop/shutter speed which yields a correct exposure, one should think about the final print, and think about what the compositional elements are, possibly what the mood is.  Then one should intentionally select all aspects one can, from camera position to f/stop, to support the final print.  And being able to pre-visualize that print from the scene and the camera settings is critical for that capability.

However, we did get a little snow in January, so I struck out for a semi-close sculpture garden.  I had been to this place before with the Holga, but I had seen some shots that a co-worker had taken which let me know that there were parts of the place with which I was not familiar.  And I thought one of those parts would work well with the cold, snowy day.

So I took the camera with my walking-around lens, buttoned up my coat and went looking for shots.  I got the one I was looking for, and a few others presented themselves.  By and large I was looking for something that would work with the snowy day and I didn’t exactly know what that would be.  It turns out the darker pieces worked well, which isn’t too surprising.  I didn’t really care for the colorful sculpture as it didn’t go with the mood I was looking for.  I composed shots on the fly without a tripod or much real thought, typically by going wide angle and getting close to the subject.  I looked for interesting lines and contrast.  It was a nice exercise – but the cold did make me rush.

Thing is, I’ve been to this park a few times, so there weren’t a whole lot of shots I didn’t already have, especially in the area we had selected.  But that forces me to look around more, which is a good thing(tm).  I picked up a shot or two of reflections in water, because I have a thing for reflections in water.  And a dead tree presented itself.  But then Steve showed up and we started work on the Christmas Card shot.

I have very little experience taking pictures of people, but I’ve seen quite a few Christmas Card shots.  So I set about recreating that.  Because of the relationships between the subjects I decided a Tallest-to-Shortest ordering (rather than Tallest-in-the-Middle) was appropriate, so we did that.  I found it difficult to find angles which looked natural but didn’t have things growing out of a subject’s head or shoulders.  The shot that ended up being the winner was the three lying down on a blanket, on their stomachs looking at the camera.  Add a bit of bokeh and voila, Christmas Card shot.

Steve’s girlfriend’s daughter is involved in some sort of modelling thing, and required a head shot.  I took a few random shots while waiting for Steve to retrieve things from the car.  They selected one of those shots to be the one she uses for her head shot, which was flattering.

Nothing new learned from this excursion.  Getting more comfortable posing people and telling subjects what to do (or, suggesting, rather).

Caddo Lake is a bayou and the site of the world’s largest Cypress forest.  The parts on the Texas side look like something out of “Gator” or “Swamp People”.  I pulled in a bit late to get to picky about sunset shots, so I grabbed a few shots of opportunity and decided to take a tour in the morning.

I managed to get out into the lake around 8a, a little later than I had thought.  But it was an overcast morning so that was ok.  Captain Billy took us out in his john boat and it was just he and I.  He was a colorful fellow, and most entertaining.

I had decided to take just my Rebel and one lens, as I didn’t think switching out lenses or installing filters would be practical on the little boat.  In retrospect, even though I don’t think I needed anything else, it wouldn’t have been a problem using stuff had I taken it.  I selected the 17 – 85 IS and left the circular polarizer, as it was overcast.  Again in retrospect I think this was the best option.

I took basically four kinds of shots.  Wide-angle vistas of the lake and the sky, usually shot forward with the path through the water lilies forming a leading line; Close-up shots of the water lilies; shots of trees with Spanish Moss and wildlife shots, which meant birds.  We saw an alligator nest (at least that’s what Captain Billy told me) but no alligators.  Captain Billy was sensitive to my photographic needs, even contributing some creative ideas of his own.  The lake was quite beautiful and, given the somewhat un-inspired weather and time-of-year I was happy with the results.

As always I need to check my settings before hitting the button.  There were quite a few shots with too high an ISO, and quite a few that were under/over exposed.  When shooting from a boat that’s moving with any sort of speed you need to pick a subject far away and in line with your current motion.  Close up subjects will blur, especially if it’s ninety degrees to your vector.  When shooting wildlife, especially moving wildlife, bump the ISO up to get the faster shutter speeds.

By the way, the morning after I checked into the hotel I discovered that I didn’t have my camera bag.  It’s hard to describe the emotions that I felt when I realized this.  Equally difficult to describe is how I felt when the front desk clerk told me that she had it.

Anyway.  We headed to Niagara Falls and I took a series of relatively typical tourist shots.  The shipwreck at the top of Horseshoe Falls, the full view of Horseshoe Falls and one emphasizing the mist coming from it, the Maid of the Mist below the American Falls, bridge in the background, the Maid of the Mist near Horseshoe Falls.  They came out well enough – nothing spectacular but still nice.  It was a relatively overcast day so exposure was pretty easy (no hot spots) but the lighting was rather boring.

I took a walk about with the 50mm dialed down to 1.8 (for the challenge and the possibility of getting some interesting DoF).  I found myself fixating on reflections in windows on the larger buildings.  This carried over into the next day when we wandered around downtown as a group, and then later as I wandered around Casa Loma.

Casa Loma is a castle of relatively recent vintage, with recreations of rooms set up.  I used the shallow DoF at 1.8 to isolate objects and was pretty satisfied with the results.  Fifty millimeters on my small sensor camera is a little zoomed out from “normal” vision, so it’s not the idea “walking around” lens, but the 1.8 means I don’t need the flash and I can get the bokeh I want.  Also it means I get it even if I don’t want it, but it’s a trade off I don’t mind making.  Plus the glass in that lens is really good (even though the lens itself has the cheapest build ever).

So nothing new this time out – more practice with the 50mm prime.  At some point I’ll go wander around with the 75mm prime from the Bronica and see how that experience compares.

I went into this with very little photo-shoot experience.  What little I had was from taking pictures of friends and family and those sessions were so informal as to not really be counted as “experience”.  But this time around the subject had some expectations (though I had set it low) and I had a vision.

One thing that I had going for me is that my aforementioned friend Charlie is a photographer, so he brought experience and a large safety net.  As well as some nice gear.

Going into this I had a vision of a series of shots whihc were high-contrast, black background shots which would paint the subject’s rather interesting muscle patterns.  You may recall that I played around with this idea earlier by using a slit to illuminate Charlie’s wife Jacinda’s face.

I forgot all about that about five minutes in and didn’t remember until the drive home.

We showed up at the site and set up some gear.  Initially we just used my little umbrella in reflective mode but eventually we stepped up to Charlie’s softbox.  Pushpak would start a pose and we would try to get some interesting shots of it.  Eventually things evolved into looking at a pose and deciding if it would best be served by the softbox providing broad illumination or using a grid spot for targeted high-contrast light (see how close I came to realizing my initial vision?) (I might go back in post and see if I can do something to come closer to that).  We took turns grabbing the pocket wizard transmitter; whoever had it would have the lights and the other would shoot natural light.  That’s about it.

Things I had problems with:

• I forgot my vision almost immediately and just started taking nothing but shots of opportunity.
• I went too fast.  I didn’t check settings (even when Charlie admonished me to)
• I also didn’t check focus and corners
• I also didn’t stop to think about the light or any of these considerations before a pose would happen
• I had no direction for the subject.  Luckily he was doing his thing and didn’t require hardly any direction, but when I saw a potential shot I should try and help that along with a little suggestion, but I remain too timid.
• I underexposed a lot – and not always because I forgot to check settings (though often that was the case) I just wanted the faster shutter speed and thought I could get away with lightening things in post.  Bad idea.

Almost all these problems stem from getting in a hurry and not stopping to think.  I need to be more intentional and take my time.  But there’s a time and place for that – and that’s before your subject has gotten into a pose which severely restricts his intake of oxygen.  I need to adopt Charlie’s outlook which is to think of making the most of the opportunity given to you and of producing “portfolio worthy” images.  Just hitting the button and hoping isn’t going to cut it.