Photographers Sally Wiener Grotta and David Saffir analyze David’s midnight Manhattan street scene photo, which was created by engaging his technical expertise, but being guided by compositional instinct.
Image © David Saffir
(Video is part of the Light, Line, and Color series © 2012 by Sally Wiener Grotta and David Saffir.)
Tag Archives: Scenic
Next Segment, New Photo Review Series: Line, Light, and Color with David Saffir and Sally Wiener Grotta
No photographer can plan everything. Sally Wiener Grotta and David Saffir discuss how photographers hone their eyes and minds to take advantage of often fleeting accidents of nature and timing that can lead to momentous photographs. Image © David Saffir
(Video is part of the Light, Line, and Color series © 2012 by Sally Wiener Grotta and David Saffir.)
PS – take a look at the Workshops tab at the top of this page!
California Wildflower Explosion!
It’s Wildflower Season In California! Here’s some tips to help you get the images you want:
1. Do a little research: check in with other photographers, wildflower web sites, weather reports, and the like.
Owl's Clover and Lupine
2. Weather reports can be helpful, but… real-time field reports are even better. Yesterday several of my friends were out shooting, and from time to time one of us would text the others, “this spot is too windy”, “this place is good today, and tomorrow will be even better”.
3. Online sources can be very helpful. Carol Leigh’s California wildflower site is a real winner. The California State Parks sites, such as the Antelope Valley Poppy reserve, are also very good.
4. Take along a tripod – you’ll need it in many cases for your wide shots, and macro.
5. Take along a small light diffuser, like one of those round, translucent nylon gadgets that fold up.
6. Shoot in Aperture priority for depth of focus/depth of field, or Shutter priority if it is windy – moving flowers can make for blurry images. If the flowers are moving even a little, you’ll want to use shutter speeds of 1/100 and up.
7. Think about the direction of the light. Try to shoot into the shadows, when your subject is side-lit, or even back-lit. Front lighting (with the sun behind you) usually looks flat and uninspiring.
8. Use a lens shade, particularly if you are shooting toward the sun. Light coming into the lens will kill the contrast of your image.
9. If you are shooting multi-frame panoramas of wildflower-covered scenes, consider leaveing your polarizing filter in your camera bag. Those filters make merging blue skies difficult.
10. Consider using a photo tour company. Your Photo Travel Guide is running tours for the next few weekends, through May 1.
Places to consider include the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve, Carizzo Plain, Death Valley, Wind Wolves Reserve, Sacramento River Bend area, Little Panoche Valley. Remember to check things out ahead of time – things change day by day, sometimes hour by hour!
New Gallery by April Bielefeldt
April’s published some new images via her online portfolio – take a gander at some fall foliage and other cool imges….
Santa Fe Workshops: Fine Art Digital Printmaking, Feb 28 to Mar 6, 2010
February 28 – March 6, 2010, Santa Fe, NM
FOLLOW THIS LINK FOR MORE DETAILS AND REGISTRATION
Our third year! Make your photographic vision come to life in this Advanced Photography Experience/Digital Lab workshop.
Join two accomplished photographers and fine art printmakers, Jack Duganne and David Saffir for this exciting, hands-on journey from a photo shoot on-location in the Santa Fe area, through high-intensity classroom sessions in image processing and editing, all the way to printing your new color or black and white images on brand-new state-of-the-art HP pigment-based inkjet printers.
We will spend most of our time in the digital lab, and travel out for a photo shoot or two during the week.
Topics will include, but are not limited to selecting vantage points and times of day for shooting, options in image composition, use of on-camera controls to enhance image quality, choice of digital file formats, importing and evaluating your images, processing images to maximize quality and artistic impact, and creating exhibition-quality color and black and white prints. We will wind up our week with an image critique and discussion of preparing for success in print competition.
On the last day, we have a festive evening reception and dinner – AND prints from the class will be shown on exhibition.
This is a work-group style class, with frequent one-on-one work. This limits the workshop to a dozen or so participants, so enroll early and reserve your spot.
Prospective students are requested to bring an open mind and their film or digital camera for a week of exploration and learning. Use of a camera tripod is strongly recommended. Film processing and scanning will be available. Applicants should have a working knowledge of Photoshop. Bring a portfolio box too, because you’ll want to take these images home.
About the Instructors
David Saffir is an internationally-recognized, award-winning photographer, author, and printmaker. He has taught in many venues, including the West Coast School Super Sunday, WPPI, Clear Focus Studios, the Hasselblad PowerPro Tour, HP Dreamcolor Seminars, and the Arles Photo Festival in France (Recontres d’ Arles).
He is also the author of Mastering Digital Color”, published by Thomson Course Technology. He is one of the principals of the Artists’ Showcase of Santa Clarita, and past president of the Santa Clarita Valley Photographers Association. He has written numerous articles for Great Output, Rangefinder, AfterCapture, Professional Photographer, Digital Imaging Tech, and others. http://www.davidsaffir.com
Jack Duganne is an internationally-recognized photographer and a world-renowned fine art printmaker. He is one of the founders of Nash Editions, and now heads Duganne Atelier in Santa Monica, California. He has taught advanced classes throughout the US, and in Europe. His web site is http://www.duganne.com.
Join us in Santa Fe for a week of photographic creativity and camaraderie!
Best regards,
David and Jack :)
Link to Santa Fe Workshops Registration
or telephone: (505) 983-1400 ext 11
Boston, Galleries, and Partnerships
In Boston yesterday and today for discussions about partnerships in a number of areas. More exciting, starting to move forward toward representation from one or more galleries here in the Northeast, and the the Southern US for my work in scenics and images from the natural world. We’ll see how it goes!
Offshore Breeze, San Simeon Sunset
Medium Format Gaining on DSLRs – Part Two
I’ve received a number of emails and comments regarding changing attitudes among photographers regarding medium format digital vs. DSLRs. Seems to me, first of all, that it’s not about the equipment. My daddy used to say, “it’s not the car, it’s the nut behind the wheel”. That said, I find that I can often see the difference between medium format (MF) images I’ve created, and those taken with a DSLR. My own approach has changed quite a bit; I think it is fair to say that I use my MF cameras much more nowadays than the DSLRs.
Some of the things I notice are sharpness, resolution, acutance, dimensionality, subtleties in tone transitions, and detail in shadow/highlights. In some cases, a MF lens will also show a difference in bokeh (smoothness of out of focus areas). In all of these, excluding the last item, I feel it is a combination of factors that makes up one’s perception of “difference”. For example high acutance coupled with low resolution looks much different than a situation where both are high. (a typical look for the former is a so-called “over-sharpened” image with that crispy look with lots of edge halos).
At the end of the day, images I’ve made with my MF cameras usually look quite different than those from the DSLR world – this is particularly the case when I’ve made a large print. The image below communicates some of these in spite of the limitations of computer screens. In print, it has amazing depth and dimensionality, and impressive detail in the leaves and textures in the rocks.
Columbia River Gorge
Hasselblad H-series camera body, P25 back, 100mm lens, f/11, approx one second exposure. It is true that one can make a very “sellable” image using a high-end DSLR. But can one achieve that look, that feeling of a unique image or print that one can almost walk right into? Doesn’t this affect both creative approach and one’s competitive position in an environment that challenges us all? And what about client’s perceptions? Haven’t many of use had the experience of a client choosing a photographer who owns MF digital vs DSLR? Does this set one apart from the pack? Thinking back, it’s made a difference for me – I’ve made far more money with MF than I ever have with my DSLRs. I’m working right now on a tour of seven cities, teaching use of MF digital cameras, high resolution printers, fine art printmaking, and art reproduction. The interest from photographers in MF is intense – something of a wake up call, in fact. More to follow.
Here’s a recent review of the Mamiya AFD III with the Leaf Aptus digital back.
Portrait Workshop Success, Landscape Workshop Scheduled July 26
We had a great session today in our Portrait Photography and Photoshop Retouching class. Great turnout in spite of 108 degree temps outdoors!
Next week, July 26 we have another workshop on landscape photography and image editing in Photoshop.
Workshop Session Two, Photoshop Techniques, Editing Landscape and Scenic Imagery
July 26, ‘09, 9 am-5 pm. Session fee $79 before applicable discount. SCVPA and NAPP members are eligible for discount.
Laptops encouraged. Students are also encouraged to bring their own images to work on.
Topics Include:
- Panorama techniques that WORK!
- Tips and Tricks in Camera RAW – get that image ready for prime time!
- Matching color in multiple images
- Full- Frame Color – fast track to whole-image color control
- Selective Color – adjusting selected colors to make an image “pop”
- Lighting – adjusting luminance of the entire image, or selected areas
- Creating that cool 3D look- dimensionality and depth with two key Photoshop tools
- Recovering highlight detail, restoring shadow detail – two techniques for success
- Poor man’s HDR – combining exposures for extra bounce
- Create front to back depth of field and sharpness – landscapes and close-up shots
- Intelligent Sharpening – crisp details, no halos!
- Converting to Black and White – using color adjustments and filters
- Choosing print media for appearance, longevity, marketability
- Providing a Professional Certificate of Authenticity with each print sold
Location: SCV Center for Photography, Santa Clarita, Calif.
28368 Constellation Road, Suite 340, Santa Clarita 91355
Go here for details and registration link: http://tinyurl.com/pfk6kw
my web site: www.davidsaffir.com
New Series: Getting It Right In the Camera – Managing Depth of Field
We have a new guest author joining us. Ted Dayton (teddaytonphotography.com) has decades of experience as a commercial photographer, shooting celebrities, fashion, stock, product, architectural, and others with great success.
He is one of the best photographers I know, producing work that is distinctive and meticulously crafted. He is also President of the Santa Clarita Photographer’s Association, and a graduate of Brooks Institute of Santa Barbara.
In this article, Ted discusses Depth of Field, one of the key issues surrounding the topic of “Getting It Right In the Camera”.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Popular Myths About Camera Lenses and Depth of Field
There is a myth that wide-angle lenses provide more depth of field than long lenses.
I would like to set things straight, as some readers may still be believers. We tend to use wide lenses and long lenses very differently and our perception of their relative Depth of Field properties is affected accordingly.
Wide lenses seem to have more Depth of Field because we tend to use them in ways that do in fact provide a lot of depth of field. We tend to back away from our subjects so we can see a wide view of things. This distance-to-subject dynamic affects Depth of Field as much as aperture setting does.
The lens is focused closer to infinity than for close-ups, and all lenses and all aperture settings provide greater Depth of Field as the plane of focus approaches infinity. We also tend to stop down when using short lenses in order to include as much information (sharpness) as possible in support of our wide view of things. So, we think of wide lenses as providing the greatest amount of Depth of Field.
With long lenses, we tend to shoot closer to a wide-open aperture for many reasons. Stopping down requires longer shutter speeds, which lead to shaky pictures if taken hand-held. Long lenses are harder to hold still and faster shutter speeds that are accessible when shooting closer to wide-open solve the problem.
And, long lenses are great for isolating distant subjects from other elements, especially if we use them, ahem, wide open. And so we think of long lenses as producing less Depth of Field than shorter lenses because most long lens photos we take do have shallow Depth of Field.
But it isn’t so!
Try this exercise on your own: put some common object like a basketball on the table in the backyard and take pictures of it with lenses of all focal lengths. Shoot all of these pictures at the very same aperture and fill the frame the same amount with the ball in every single frame.
Look closely when you edit and you will see the same amount of Depth of Field in every frame regardless of focal length, because of two things: the aperture setting didn’t change and the size of the ball in the frame didn’t change. This test is easier to understand if you use a fairly large aperture, like f/4. If you focus on the nearest part of the ball with a 28mm or a 200mm, the rest of the ball behind the plane of focus will be equally out of focus no matter which lens you use! (note: we did not provide an image example because we feel it is important for readers to perform this exercise and see this for themselves – David)
Summary
Depth of Field is a function of aperture setting PLUS the distance from the camera to the subject. You will soon discover that aperture setting is not the only reason why backgrounds are nice and soft or too much in focus.
The relationship of the distance from:
- camera-to-subject
- camera-to-background
- subject-to-background
ALL affect how in- or out- of focus the background appears.
Backgrounds far away when the subject is close to the camera will be very out of focus and backgrounds close to the subject will be much more in focus.
Said another way, the closer you get to the subject, the more you must stop down the aperture in order to see a given amount of Depth of Field.
The farther the camera is from the subject in focus, the closer to wide-open you can shoot while still getting deep Depth of Field. As I said before, distance-to-subject has about the same effect on Depth of Field as aperture setting. How we use our lenses creates our perception that they don’t all behave the same way, but the laws of optics and 35 years of experience say that they do!
Ted Dayton, Valencia, CA
NOTE: NEW PHOTOSHOP WORKSHOPS TAUGHT BY DAVID SAFFIR – First session is Turbo Portrait Retouching, July 19, Santa Clarita, California. For more info, go here.
New Workshops For Photographers by David Saffir
Track One: Photoshop, Adobe Camera RAW, Bridge, Lightroom. Image editing, printing, and publishing
Join us in a practical, real world learning environment!
This is a multi-part series that enables photographers and other artists to use Adobe image editing productseffectively and efficiently. I use a goal-oriented, hands-on approach. Sessions are divided into segmentswhich deal with specific issues. You’ll go home and get results!
- Session One, Photoshop – Turbo Portrait Retouching, July 19
- Session Two, Landscape and Scenic Imagery, July 26
- Session Three, Using Adobe Products to Design and Create A Photo Book, August 16
Session cost is $89 per person. Register before June 19 and pay only $79.
Workshop Session One, Track One: Photoshop – Turbo Portrait Retouching™
July 19, 2009, 9 am to 5 pm. Location: Santa Clarita, California (address TBA) Laptops encouraged. Students are also encouraged to bring theirown images to work on.
Topics include:
- Skin – women, men, children
- Eyes – sparkle makes the image
- Hair – dealing with flyaways, trailers, and more
- Lips – developing contours, dimensionality, color
- Contours – the 3-D face, the “gentle nose job”, and more
- Glasses – reflections, dust, eye magnification
- Blemishes – wipe em out in minutes
- Teeth – “you’ll wonder where the yellow went….”
- Clothing – rumples, wrinkles, and colors that go bump in the night
- Coping with group portraits – goofy faces, out of places, blinkies, and missing persons
- Production – preparing the image for the lab or your printer
Register for this workshop link here.
Workshop Session Two, Track One:Landscape and Scenic Imagery
July 26, 2009 9 am to 5 pm. Location: Santa Clarita, California (address TBA) Laptops encouraged. Students are also encouraged to bring theirown images to work on.
Topics include:
- Tips and Tricks in Camera RAW – get that image ready for prime time!
- Matching color in multiple images
- Full- Frame Color – fast track to whole-image color control
- Selective Color – adjusting selected colors to make an image “pop”
- Lighting – adjusting luminance of the entire image, or selected areas
- Creating that cool 3D look- dimensionality and depth with two key Photoshop tools
- Recovering highlight detail, restoring shadow detail – two techniques for success
- Poor man’s HDR – combining exposures for extra bounce
- Create front to back depth of field and sharpness – landscapes and closeup shots
- Intelligent Sharpening – crisp details, no halos!
- Converting to Black and White – using color adjustments to enhance a black and white image, the Black and White Filter, toning, and more.
- Choosing print media for appearance, longevity, marketability
- Providing a Certificate of Authenticity with each print sold
Register for this workshop link here.
Workshop Session Three, Track One: Design and Create A Photo Book
August 16, 2009, 9 am to 5 pm, Location Santa Clarita, California (address TBA) Laptops encouraged. Students are also encouraged to bring theirown images to work on.
Topics include:
- Matching your work to a book design – large or small? wide or tall? and more!
- Creating a theme – subject, color palette, storytelling
- Choosing images
- Matching images that share a page or spread
- Creating the cover, and each page, including layout options
- Image editing for your book – step by step
- Preparing your book for printing
- Managing costs through good design
- Selecting a book printing service
- Distributing your book – as a product, and as your portfolio
Pricing and Registration Information:
- Each session is $89. Pre-registration is required.
- If you register for the first class by June 19, session cost is reduced to $79.
- Register for two or more sessions, register before June 19, cost is $138.
- Use Paypal or Google Checkout.
All content © David Saffir, Santa Clarita, CA all rights reserved.
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