A while back, I heard Ian Lloyd speak. Here are the notes from the talk…
- The marketing talk was utter bollocks. Trying to sell everyone on the EOS-1D, and basically stating incorrect information about APS-C cameras even (which incidentally, Canon sells!). Basically saying there was no way to get bokeh with the 1.6 crop, but that was FUD
- Mentioned that sensor cleaning can be done by one self. Denied answering me about the warranty voiding. But gurantees that we could get it back within about 1/2 hr if we say we’re a photographer
- Canon apparently thinks that hardware+software = good digital photos. However, we still lack useful software on Linux. We also lack downloads via the Internet, assuming we don’t have our CDs.
- Then we had a tour by a “professional” photographer (Mr. Chua), using a EOS-5D while he was on tour in China, some desert. Some of the shots were quite useful. Then he also showed us the studio shots. Full frame sensors, with his wide angle lens provided some amazing shots in the desert. It looks like there was some photoshopping of the images, even though he never quite mentions it. He zooms in on some of his studio portraits, even when he does things at ISO1600.
- Mr. Teoh came back. Trying to sell the full frame goodness. ISO800 will work in his conditions, its dark, plus he used an IS lense. We can always move back if we wanted to be more .“full framed” assuming that we didn’t want to get a full frame camera. Or get a wider lense – 10~22. Going by Jeff Ooi’s lensamalaysia bit, let the photos do the talking, he did have some amazing shots of the chinese opera thing that he attended and took a few sanps of.
- Shows us the Spirit of Asia AV – slideshow of some of his film based shots that he’s taken over the years (since ~2001 he has moved away to digital). An amazing spread of people portraits, and some scenes, with sound that he’s chosen. Typically National Geographic. Some wide shots, and light effects. Mosques, graves, our local school kids, though I think the slide show on a per shot basis went too fast for its own good. Some of the landscapes were amazing. Water shots really come out well. A very real focus of people exist in his photos. Captures daily life in a candid way. Uses light to his advantage. Properly framed photos. Overall, very good presentation.
- Why use digital? The quality. So much better than film. He does double page spreads in books – with film, he got grain, with digital he doesn’t get grain any longer. Low light exposure and multiple ASA is what is useful – you can handheld interesting things, driving up the ISO higher at any given time. You can walk around without a tripod! “All good pictures happen in unusual situations”. Getting rid of the flash is another useful thing for travel photography – it kills and ruins the atmosphere of the room. You don’t require filters with digital photography. He has heavy use of Photoshop for post-production.
- Are you taking photos or making photos? He makes photos. Use the LCD to take digital polaroids, and let things go better so you get more photos with the subject(s). So people will understand you’re not a threat.
- Digital allows you to shoot blindly. Just place the camera at a different angle (higher or lower) and then snap away. He just wrote an article for an American Photography magazine (its also in Silver Kris last month), and you can get that article in where he talks about “shooting blind”. You can get good, unusual, pictures thanks to this. He then showed a Shooting Blind AV – he did all this without looking at the camera. A lot of cool shots at various angles that are not as normal as we have… Tilt the horizon if required. Capture action in “interesting” ways. Watch out for lens flare if shooting when the sun’s around. You need to use the widest angle possible on your camera. Use AutoFocus. Use AutoExposure as well. There was a picture of a 1.2×1.2m puddle, and he placed it (his camera) on it, so he got a nice reflection of the city! This was in Japan when it was raining.
- You have an instant feedback learning curve, with digital. You shoot 100 pictures a week, and if you do that for a year, he guarantees you’ll all be a better photographer in 12 months time.
- To estimate max file size, multiply camera’s mega pixel size by 3. He uses a 5D now. Divide the TIFF file size by 9, to get the JPEG size. At 8MP, you could make 20×24 prints without issue. At around 6MP, you realise that you’ve usurped print already for printing.
- Computer screens are usually 72ppi or at most a 100ppi. Prints are always 300ppi (even with magazines)
- Use the histogram. On the left, shadows. in the middle is mid-tones. On the right, its Highlights. Moving to the right, brightness increases. On the top, pixels increase.
- Flash photography: use bounce flash to make it look more natural. use slow shutter speeds to allow more ambient light exposure in the background. You want to be invisible however – the person must do what she wants to do, and you should make the image of that happening. Using fill in flash, during the day, somewhat makes sense. You can dial a flash down, by at least -1/3. He is usually working with -2/3, but sometimes he even goes down to -1. He uses a warming gel on top of the flash, when he uses flash indoors. When using flash inside fluro light or even light that’s incadescent. Where do you get gels? From movie supply stores, and look for free sample packs
With flash, if you wrap a piece of paper around it, you can “snoot” the light (cinematographic term), and let it come out very narrowly. - the key to panning and blurring is to get something thats sharp. Flash helps you get something thats sharp. If you’re just blurring with the camera, the center spot needs to be on something or somebody. The flash is ideal for this sort of thing if it happens late-ish at night.
- For 14 days, he shot 7:1 images (threw out 6 images everytime). If he can edit a 100 images per day, he’s really happy and get reward himself.
- Getting White Balance wrong sometimes would make sense. However, this is where shooting in RAW is really important for.
- Showed us the Dawn Mantras AV (photodex Presenter) which is about aboriginal areas while he was photographing aboriginal painters in Australia.
- During the break, lots of folk started getting photographed with him, or asking him to sign autographs. So there was lots of interaction with the audience.
- Travel to Vanuatu and did a photojournalism assignment there – it became a 16 page article in a magazine. Take photos not only of the people. The food, the place, and so on. Its important for the photojournalist to get all these shots, so that the designer/magazine can work
- Get more memory. Think about a digital wallet (portable hard drive) vs. travelling just with your laptop. Epson, Vosonic, and Sony make digital wallets. Also, backup, backup, backup. He keeps 2 sets on DVD/CD – go backup discs. And the magic of off site backup (think Flickr!)
- Hawkes Bay AV – 3 day shoot, in an area where it was destroyed by an earthquake and rebuilt in the 1930’s. Food & wine area of NZ.
- He talks about monitor calibration as well. Recommends using hardware+software to get things going. He’s a Windows user so that in itself is an issue
- Reiterates that National Geographic is still very much based on being a non-digital shop. More than 75% of the photos seem to be taken on film.
- Digital processing – sharpening. Don’t set this in the camera. Do this in Photoshop if you require. If you can afford the time to do the correction, shoot in RAW. If you’re a newspaper reporter, use JPEG . Remember that you want the last thing to do is sharpen (after changing the image already, if required)
- Recommends Noise Ninja for removing noise, has profiles, and works wonders when you have photos at a higher ASA. This is a good way to deal with noise reduction.
- Media Management – he uses iView
- Jackaroo AV was the last that he showed. It was in regards to what he shot in Australia at a place to train cowboys/cowgirls.
- Overall, interesting method of making presentations. Gives one an idea of what needs to be done.
