inside photo edition 8

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INSIDEphotoAugust 2009Edition 8

FUN W AYS TO IMPROVE YOUR DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY

INSIDE ASSIGNMENTS: COM POSITION 102A new series understanding composition

DEADLINES:Corner action with Rally cars

SKILL FACTOR: SHOOTING SOCCER GAMESHow to shoot field games

TRAVELSHOOTER: ON ASSIGNMENTFrom the flightline


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CONTENTS

Page 6

Page 8

Page 20

Page 30

Page 26

Page 38

NEWS: A digital weekend at Wainui

with the NPSNZ

INSIDE ASSIGNMENT: COMPOSITION

Looking at ways to improve your im-

ages through composition 102

SKILL FACTOR: The Anatomy of a Soccer

match and how to shoot it

PROCESS: HAVING FUN WITH SEPIA

using Photoshop to add impact to your

images

DEADLINES: Shooting a car rally from

just one corner, skills for

aspiring news photographers

TRAVELSHOOTER: ON ASSIGNMENT

From the flightline

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PUBLISHER / EDITOR / DESIGNER /

PHOTOGRAPHER S/ WRITERS:

John and Kath Cosgrove

Email:

[email protected]

INSIDE photo e-magazine

is published by:

INSIDE photo114 Wakari Road,

Helensburgh

Dunedin, 9010

New Zealand

Ph: + 64 3 476 2493

Web: www.insidephoto.info

Material published in INSIDE

photo is copyrighted and cannot

be reproduced (or photocopied)other than for individual personal

use only.

www.insidephoto.info

WelcomeTo the August issue of INSIDE photo

This edition produced

with Serif PagePlus 9

Wow what a mission, at times Ithought it would never be fin-ished but firstly let me apologise for

the complete lack of an edition for the

past three months or so. I have had to

dedicate quite a bit of time to starting

my studies at Otago Polytechnic, solv-

ing some financial problems, conduct-

ing a couple of intensive but fun

photojournalism and digital photogra-

phy courses out of town and generally

get my head around being an student

of the arts for the first time.

Sadly the magazine was forced to take

a back seat during those months but

now that I am settled in to my new life

as a Masters student researching the

history of New Zealand Newspaper

photojournalism and other fun bits, it

is all finally becoming organised again

and I can re-establish my monthly

rhythm of producing INSIDE

photo.

It is great being around people again

whose passion for photography is in-

fectious, it reminds me of my years of

fun and excitement in Singapore, hope

everyone is fine up there.

This month as well as continuing the

series on composition I am also look-

ing at things mechanical with guides

on how to shoot car rallys from just

one corner when your time con-

straints dont allow you to visit other

locations, and how to have fun and get

some great pictures from the plane or

of aircraft on the flight line as you

travel around the world. Again many

thanks for your kind patience and look

forward to hearing from you all soon.

JohnC

3

Back editions of INSIDE photo areavailable in the archives section of

the website at www.insidephoto.info


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To see INSIDE photo in

all its glory as a DOUBLEPAGE SPREAD

1: Activate Adobe Acrobat READER 9 or KM

Viewer or in any other PDF viewing software.

2: Under the Menu Item VIEW -

Select PAGE DISPLAY.

3: Select Two-Up Continuous,

4: Select Show Cover Page During Two Up

and then enjoy viewing your free edi-

tion of INSIDE photo as a DPS.


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6

NEWS

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attended including Judy

Ashton, Eveline van Heyst,

Kath Varcoe, Pauline

Syrett, Nick Webb, Ken

Muscroft-Taylor, Jude

Frazer, Lisa Direen, Trish

Brown, Ross Blyth, Sue

Blair and Robyn Owen.

More info about the clubs

activities can be found at :

www.naturephotography-nz.org/

Members of the Christchurch

based Nature Photography

Society of New Zealand recently

joined INSIDE photo Editor John

Cosgrove at the YMCA Wainui

camp near Akaroa for a fun filled

weekend of digital photography.

Here are some of the great

images captured by those who

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ON ASSIGNMENT : Composition 102

8

The second in a series of INSIDE photo assignmentsdedicated to improving your digital images.

We all walk around with an average 5ft 7inch (170cm) high eye point and for many photographers this is the

primary viewpoint of their photography. We all look up and down at the world from this eye point and yet

very few of us take the time to investigate the amazing possibilities offered by altering your camera angles/

viewpoints to show viewers entirely new photos of everyday things.


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By John Cosgrove

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10

ON ASSIGNMENT

O

ne of the best examples of

radically altering your

viewpoint was the work done

by New York photographer and

all round funny man Chip Si-

mons (www.chipsimons.com)

whos I am a dog series was all

shot using a fish eye lens

mounted to his Nikon Camera

which was then attached to the

end of a pole lowered down to

the dogs eye level. It showed usall what the world looks like

well below our eye point. I met

Chip a couple of years ago and

he is indeed a very funny man

with a wicked sense of humor

which he translates well into his

professional photography ca-

reer.

As one of the prime composi-

tion tools, camera angle is also

one of the simplest ways of

controlling composition in your

images, and its so simple to do.

The difference between an okay

photo and one remembered by

everyone is simple a step to the

left or right or lowering the

camera down or lifting it above

your head. This change in view-point creates unlimited possibil-

ities for a new image and raises

the obvious question in the

viewers mind of How did they

get that shot.

Photographing from a different

viewpoint or camera angle can

alter the dramatic angle of a

photo of offer a new view of

something familiar that we walk

past every day.


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Simply by changing your viewpointchanges the impact of the image.

The pleasing arrangement of subject matter and elements within the picture area


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ON ASSIGNMENT

12

Whichever way you shoot an

object the camera angle and

unique viewpoint is the first

thing that attracts the viewers

eye. If you have the opportu-

nity you should always walk

around your subject and view it

from all angles. Take your time

and investigate how it looks

from high or low view points,

then get lower, try lying on the

ground and see just how it ap-

pears when you get below it orclimb up a nearby fence or wall

and see how things look from

up there.


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ON ASSIGNMENT

Viewpoint

The camera is held down low on the MTB rider to

give a unique viewpoint not normally associated

with mountain bike racing.

14

While sounding alike, the per-

ception of the phrases

Viewpoint and Camera Angle

are often used to mean the

same thing and while sounding

similar they actually mean dif-

ferent things.

Camera Angle is described as

the angle at which the camera

lens is being tilted. You can tilt

the lens up or down to add

drama to your image. When

using a wide angle you can re-ally bend the perspective to

create wonderful merging lines

images.

Viewpoint is best described as

the relationship of the angle of

the Camera in relation to the

subject so when you hold the

camera above your head or

down below your legs it cre-ates a unique viewpoint.

It always pays to check out

how far you can push the enve-

lope when photographing sub-

ects, just bear in mind the

relationship of your subject to

high or low viewpoints or cam-

era angles. Cars look powerful

and aggressive when photo-graphed from road level, rugby

stars also like being photo-

graphed from a lower view-

point to make them look mean

and powerful to their oppo-

nents. Women on the other

hand need to be photographed

ust slightly above their eye

point so that you get them to

lift their heads slightly and we

dont see any double chins or

nose hairs.

High viewpoints can be fun but

watch the pear shaped heads it

creates and while you can iso-

late your subject better it can

also be very confusing to view-

ers about just what you were

photographing.

There are many movie stars

and self absorbed politicians

who demand that they be

photographed from a slightly

lower viewpoint to accentuate

their greatness and the list

goes on. So always experiment

with your subject and see how

far you can alter the viewpoint

while changing the camera an-

gles. Keep it simple.


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Camera Angle

The camera is tilted upwards to isolate

this road sign against the blue sky

Camera Angle and Viewpoint.

A combination of both Camera Angle and Viewpoint

to make this car appear strong, attractive and unique.


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ON ASSIGNMENT

16

The next compositional fac-

tor we will look at is how to

Balance the objects in your

image.

Balancing your digital composi-

tion is simply the matter of

making all the elements in your

picture appear harmonious

and interrelated. They have to

be there to portray the state-

ment you are intending to

make. Every colour, shape,

shadow, building, person or

line contributes to the overall

effect of the image and if there

are any odd elements in there

that shouldnt be there then

the picture can jar the senses

and cause viewers to become

confused and move on to look

at someone else pictures.

The Placement of your subjectsand supporting elements

within a picture must be care-

fully considered.

Sounds heavy but it isnt be-

cause when we come across a

scene, the juxtaposition of

shapes and colours is automat-

ically coordinated in our brain

and then we get the flash mes-

sage that Hey there is some-

thing to shoot here and off we

go - snapping up a storm.

This feeling of Balance in our

images quickly becomes sec-

ond nature to even the most

novice of photographers as it

comes as the result of experi-

ence and practice something

digital allows us to do a lot of

cheaply. So shoot heaps as it

helps you to compose better

pictures.

To balance the composition in

your images we can use either

of these two methods, either

symmetrical or formal balance

and asymmetrical or informal

balance.

Symmetrical or Formal

balance

This is where the components

in our image are of equal

weight/size so that they are the

same size or shape. This is arather static and boring image

but they can appear dignified

and equal.

A classic analogy of a symmetri-

cal balance is a sunset/sunset

horizon shot whereby the

colour is reflected in water in

the lower half of the frame.

Both parts are the same and it

always asks the question What

was the photographer actually

photography? Top landscape

photographers counter this di-

vision of their image frame by

placing the horizon in either the

upper or lower third of the

frame.

Asymmetrical or infor-mal balance

A much more interesting way

to arrange all the elements in

our pictures. Instead of mirror-

ing objects equally in each half

of the frame as per Symmetri-

cal Balance, try to look for dif-

ferent sized objects with

different colours, shapes ortones to help balance the size

or shape of your main subject.

Formal balance is where both halves balance e

Great Wall of China. Below this image of trolle

balance as the two at the rea


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The old school but very relevant US Navy photogra-

phers guide to composition has one last point about

simplicity. Tell only one story. Ensure there is only

enough material in the picture to convey one single

idea. Although each picture is composed of numerous

small parts and contributing elements, none should at-

tract more of the viewer's attention than the primary

object of the picture. The primary object is the reason

the picture is being made in the first place; therefore,

all other elements should merely support and empha-

size the main object. Do not allow the scene to be clut-

tered with confusing elements and lines that detract

from the primary point of the picture. Select a view-

point that eliminates distractions so the principal sub-

ject is readily recognized. When numerous lines or

shapes are competing for interest with the subject, it is

difficult to recognize the primary object or determine

why the picture was made.

other as in this photo above of tourists on the

rby competitors in Dunedin employs informal

pport the racer in the front.

This racer could be called both informal or formal

as she has elements to support both descriptions.


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Factors to take into

account when construct-

ing balanced images:

1: An object located far away

from the center of the picture

gives the impression of having

more influence than one

placed near the center of the

frame.

2: Locate an object in the up-

per part of the frame and it will

appear to visually dominatesame sized objects in the lower

part.

3: Isolation in the frame seems

to increase the emphasis of an

object.

4: Intensely colourful or unique

objects always appear to have

more compositional influence.

5: Regular shapes seem to

have more power than irregu-lar shapes.

6: Because we read left to right

components of your image

placed on the right side of an

asymmetrical picture appear to

have more significance than

elements of the same size lo-

cated on the left hand side of

the picture.

7: The obvious directions in

which people, lines or shapes

appear to be traveling within

the image frame are important

to the overall balance.

8: When you sense the feeling

of direction within a scene, it

tends to upset the balance if

you judge it on the size of the

subject alone.

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This garden appeared to scream out for a great photo but where

was it? Change your view point and then change of lens and ap-

erture to alter the cameras view and point of focus, and there

we have it - some interesting photographs.

It is essential for you to learn about the factors that are required

to create pictorial balance in your images. Once you have gained

an understanding of the basic principles of pictorial balance,

achieving balance in your images becomes an easy process.

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Skill FactorsSKILL FACTOR

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By John Cosgrove

Shooting Soccer or any sporting event is all about planning. Plan you shoot well and you will be rewarded

with great shots even from even the most boring of matchs as there is action everywhere and all you have

to do is find it and this is where planning can massively increase your success rate.

You plan of attack is primarily based

on the equipment you have in your

camera bag. Most of us have at least

a 200mm zoom while some even

have 300mm lenses packed away.

What you have to do is work outyour Area of Operation: the space

on the playing field that you can

capture images that will fill the

frame and dont make the players

look like dots in the middle of the

negative.

Most photographers over-shoot

with their lenses. I remember stand-

ing on a rugby field one day when a

women shooter turned up with her

D100 mounted on a tripod and her

stock 18-55mm lens mounted and

then proceeded to shoot the actionwhile myself and the rest of the

photographers watched in amaze-

ment.

We were waiting there with our long

lenses on, waiting for the action to

return to our areas of operation,

while she was happily snapping way

at the action as it happened on the

furthest part of the field.

The mistake she made was that she

could see all the action through the

viewfinder and yet she never once

considered that it was so small inthe frame it was unusable.

We all tend to watch the action as it

happens and forget to once in a

while look around the viewfinder to

see just how much of the sensor we

are using in most cases less than

10% of it.

The quick guide to how far away can I shoot

is to look and see if in either horizontal ( land-

scape) or vertical (portrait) shooting position

are the players standing tall with a small

amount of space above and below them? If

they only occupy less than half of your image

then you are shooting too far away.

Then start to think about your camera angles,

if you crouch down the players look bigger and

stronger and you can really clean up your

backgrounds which can make or break your

images.

Working out a plan of attack

The areas marked in red show just how much wasted space

you can get when shooting too far away, while the yellow

marks shows that you are effectively framing the subject

with enough space to record any extra action such as

another player entering the frame. We all have limited

megapixels so use them all and fill the frame. As the players

get closer turn and shoot in vertical mode.

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SKILL FACTORWhat are your area of operations?

If you stand on the edge of a soccer field with a 70-200 zoom

mounted, then you really only shoot effectively within about a

25m arc from your position. Anything that comes into that arc is

yours, you own it and you should maximize the opportunities.

Suns position

Play with the sun against your

back where possible as this will

give you better exposures with

higher shutter speeds, that is to

say dont ignore the other end

of the field, just watch your ex-

posures when shooting into the

sun. You may have to take the

camera off Av mode and shoot

in Manual to account for the

increased shadow areas.

Stop look and listen

When you get to a game stop

look and listen find out who is

expected to win and then go

and stand on the opposite end

to them so that you can get at-

tacking pictures of them rather

than defensive images. Nothing

is set in stone so look out for a

under rated team that suddenly

takes over the game and domi-

nates play, if the other side rises

to the challenge then quickly

change ends for better action

pictures, dont sit there hoping

they might come back as this is

a waste of your time.

Positioning yourself for the action

Its only at All Black matchs where you will see photographers limited todown the side line. It pays to be considerate of the fans watching the gam

of the way of linesmen. Never stand right beside the goal as you can dist

mouth as this will allow you better shooting opportunities.

22

Your a


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Fill the frame

Allow the subjects to run through your lens and keep on shooting even

if the moment of high drama has happened because the reaction to

the action can be more photogenic than the action itself.

ic or roving positions, at all other matchs you can easily move up andd remember to stand at least 1m back from the line so that you are out

him or the shooter. It pays to stand at 45 degrees away from the goal

On the Field

You will see that you can get re-

ally good shots only around the

goal area , out to the goalies box

or in the middle of the field. This

is where most of the action hap-

pens during a game, in between

these areas the players are usu-

ally sprinting ahead with the ballor kicking it.

23

of operations is about 25m in a semi circle


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The reaction

Top sports shooters always shoot the re-

action to the action and you can too. Sim-

ply keep the shutter depressed and

follow the action through its cycle, dont

lift off when you think you have captured

the ball or players at the peak moment,stay on them to see what happens next,

you will discover a whole new arena of

emotions as players miss shots at goal or

get an elbow in the face.

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to the action

Players wear brightly coloured outfits, its a sponsors fest

out there so learn how to compensate for the bright

colours when shooting a soccer match. I tend to always

use Av (Aperture Priority mode) at a setting of about f5.6

but keep a sharp eye on my shutter speeds and use theISO to boost it when the light falls. Against the sun use

manual mode and check you progress.

You are shooting action so try and stay above 1/500th of

a second to stop the shakes and blurs and freeze the ac-

tion.

Even though Im only using a 70-200 zoom on my Canons

I still mount it on a monopod to increase protection fromcamera shake. It saves my arms and increases the suc-

cess rate of sharp images.

Camera set up

Finally

Protect your gear at all times,

cover it in plastic bags during rain

or snow storms, and remember to

also stay warm and healthy.

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PROCESS

Lets have some fun

Take a good image with a narrow tonal range, here is

one I shot during a recent Queenstown assignment. Its

of the stunning Remarkable's Mountain range and I shot

it on a Canon 20D using a Sigma 120-300mm f2.8 tele-

zoom.

Step 1:

Ctrl+J to copy the layer and then lets turn it into a

black and white image using a gradient map so that the

conversion has more contrast than my usual Channels

Mixing technique.

Set your Foreground colour to Black by hitting the D

key then choose Gradient Map from the Create New

Adjustment Layer pop-up menu at the base of the Lay-

ers Palette.

Now you image is a contrasty black and white image

which should convert to a Sepia toned image quite well.

Using Adobe Photoshop CS or Elements.

START FINISH

Sepia Fun

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Step 2:

Again under the Create New

Adjustment Layer pop-up menu

select Solid Colour.

In the menu window select

Colour Libraries (CS4) Custom

(earlier CS versions) and here I

went to the Pantone Solid

Coated library and select Pan-

tone #142 C.

The image will go one solid

colour so now change the Layer

mode from Normal to Colour

and then reduce the layers

opacity a bit to give a more re-

alistic sepia effect.

Then I would undertake a little

bit of burning and dodging us-

ing the layer method to bring

up the sky and lighten some of

the rock formations.

Step 3:

Now hit the M key to select the

Rectangular Marquee tool and

make a big selection of your im-

age leaving a good sized space

to create a faded border

around your image.

Under the Select menu choose

Modify then Feather and select

a good sized number (I choose

30) to give a nice soft edge to

your image.

Then choose Ctrl + I to inverse

the selection and hit the Delete

key.


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PROCESS

28

Step 4:

Deselect your selection (Ctrl+D)

and we will move onto the next

stage of our creative fun.

Step 5:

Create a new vertical A4 sized

blank document. Then back on

your sepia toned image use the

Move tool (V) drag the layer

containing it over to the newdocument. Ctrl +T (Free Trans-

form) to select the new image

and then Ctrl+0 (zero) to see

the edges of your selection and

holding down the Shift key drag

the image inward to resize it to

fit in to the top half of your new

page.

Now all you have to do is addsome text to make it interest-

ing. I used Papyrus for the main

headline and the body copy is

set in Adobe Caslon Pro.

Try it as a horizontal or a verti-

cal advertisement for the new

airline JetPlanet.com

Enjoy....


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PROCESS


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Every year the VantageAluminum JoineryNewZealand Rally Champion-

ship races around the back

roads of five provinces in New

Zealand. From April to Septem-ber each year they race on

gravel roads considered some

of the very best in the world by

the expert drivers in the WRC.

Otago always turns on a good

show for the competitors and

this year was no exception, the

rain stayed away almost- and

it was its usual cold and dusty

but rally car racing is all about

chasing the clock. Competitors

often only ever see their fellow

racers at the start of each leg

or at the pre-determined ser-

vice stops, the rest of the time

the drivers and their map read-

ing co-pilots are racing against

the clock to see who can get

through a special stage thefastest without crashing.

Rally driving is also rated as

one of the great photo oppor-

tunities for photographers

seeking impressive action shots

of cars at the limit of adhesion

or sliding around corners,

splashing through river fords or

cresting humps in the road atspeed. Its a chance to get up

close and personal with mo-

torsport and see drivers testing

the limits of their cars from a

Assignment:

22

DEADLINES


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safe position and with the advantage of seeing

some great scenery devoid of messy bill boardsand advertising hoardings.

Because the roads used in a car rally stages vary

in length from a few kilometers to more than 40

kms and are usually located well off the beaten

track out in the farming hinterland, it pays to al-

ways plan your coverage of a rally and for many

it usually comes down to downloading the

course map from the rally website or visiting

supporting service stations to pick up a hardcopy.

One good thing the organisers have done over

the years is to always highlight on the event

maps the prime public viewing points for specta-

tors and photographers to safely see all the ac-

tion from. We are not privy to the course notes

the drivers use so we need to rely on the or-

ganisers to tell us where these prime sites are.

They carefully balance the need for spectators

to see good action and the overall safety of thedrivers competing. The last thing a driver wants

to see as he slides around a blind corner at

speed is a dumb photographer standing on the

wrong side of a corner. So when you get to

these prime sites you will find they usually have

marshals in place to guide you to the best view-

ing positions. This will allow you to shoot good

action pictures from a position thats as close to

action as safely possible. Dont muck these mar-

shals around, they are usually volunteers and

they have to spend hours standing there in the

cold while you can always leave and return to

your warm car, but they have your interests at

heart and its good to see many are also keen

photographers.

Now because the of the great distances covered

by car rally in a day, it is impossible to cover the

whole event as a photographer so you end up

playing this very carefully planned game of leapfrog to try and stay ahead of the competitors.

The best photo opportunities always come from

the open class or top rated drivers in the latest

32

DEADLINES


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model Subaru or Mitsubishi 4WD cars because

they are in a serious competition for the pointsand the overall glory, so they are going for it.

Behind them the supporting drivers are often

less experienced so they take it a just a tiny bit

more careful. Then you have the classic vehicles

racing in classes assigned to rally cars such as

Escorts or Cortinas or RX7s from earlier era and

here you can find some real sportsmen and

women, keen to go fast in older cars that only

have two-wheel-drive so they will give you

some really spectacular photos.

Like I said it all comes down to planning and for

the Otago rally I didnt have the luxury of being

able to spend the whole day racing around the

district chasing cars so I went to just one corner

and shot up a storm there.

On the day I got to the corner about one hour

before the cars were due to arrive and saw it

was a 90 degree left-handed transition corner

with the cars turning from a tar sealed road

onto a gravel road. This meant a high speed ap-

proach into the corner which could offer me

some dramatic photos as drivers mucked up

their approach.

I then spent the time scoping out the layout of

the corner, noting the safety zones clearly

marked off and the different angles offered by

the slightly elevated position overlooking the

start of the corner, I then decided to shoot the

drivers as they turned left into the gravel cornerfrom a position slightly below the road level.

Shooting with my usual 80-200mm zoom I

added on a 1.4x tele-convertor to give me a

closer aspect viewpoint and help clean up the

background.

The cars would speed into the corner then

brake heavily before sliding off the tar seal onto

the gravel then accelerating away. So I selected

a position whereby I could shoot them ap-

proaching the corner, braking heavily, sliding

and turning and then getting a head on shot as

they sped past me.

From a spectator point of view it was a perfect33

1: Always try and get there early on day one to a good photo point

as this is where you will find the most number of competitors alltrying hard to win and providing the better, high drama, action

photos. Day two is usually about just getting to the finish line in

one piece to garner points so there is often less action to photo-

graph from the supporting classes, although you have to listen to

race commentary closely to spot any drivers letting it all hang out

to beat their rivals in a final dash for the finish line.

2: Plan your route well and always arrive early to get a park closer

to the corner. Rallies are usually held in hard to reach places so

you may have to walk into the area to find a better position. Al-

ways think safety and remember you cant just wander about on

the roads so plan your access carefully as it can take hours for all

the cars to race through one spot.


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DEADLINES

corner as it gave people a couple of

good views after the cars had gone

through the corner, you could see

them racing away across the hills for

about three kilometers or so before

they disappeared into the forests.

For the many photographers assem-

bled there it looked like this corner

would initially offer four distinctly dif-

ferent viewpoints, head-on as the

cars arrived into the corner, a slightly

elevated viewpoint, a head on cor-nering shot and a view of them

speeding away but as the rally cars

started arriving I saw I was in the

best angle and I could get two good

shots from where I was standing.

In car rallys its all about capturing

the moment and unlike circuit car

racing you only have one chance,

they dont come around for multiple

laps and if you wait until another

stage later in the day they could have

crashed out of the rally so it pays to

shoot heaps at the start. The trick is

to use the road clearing official cars

as crash test dummies. There are two

of them and they come though every

stage first with sirens wailing and

lights flashing at speed just moments

before the actual race cars arrive tomake sure it is safe to compete

there. They are looking for safety in-

fractions and animals or spectators

on the road. They are usually ex-rally

drivers so they dont hang around

and they give you an idea of how the

cars will attack the corner in front of

you.

Rally equals speed so its all about

your auto focus and capture rateworking fast enough to freeze the

action. Set your camera to the run-

ning man scenic mode or select Ai

Servo AF and High Speed continuous

capture rate.|

Next plan the exposure for your area

of operation (the corner you are

shooting). Rally cars are often

brightly painted to display sponsors

logos well and this can fool your light

meter, the trick here is to manually

exposure for the mean average or

middle gray tone values (the gray of

the tar seal road or the grass nearby

or even your hand). This sets thecamera to exposure properly and not

be tricked by a white or black car.

Use your LCD to confirm the result,

bear in mind its all about speed so

aim for the highest shutter speed

with the lowest ISO you can get away

with. This means you dont automati-

cally select ISO1600 and hope the

camera will give you great results. I

always start on ISO 100 and then only

increase as the light diminishes. As

the day was quite dull and overcast I

eventually ended up shooting at

ISO1600 as it gave me the 1/1000th of

a second shutter speeds I wanted.

The depth of field was about f5.6 as

this allowed for the car nose and

driver to be in focus but the back-

ground would blur out nicely.

Remember the higher the ISO, the

more you have to fill the frame with

your subject to reduce the impact of

noise and graininess on the overall

image.

Todays DSLRs offers very good Ai

Servo AF that is capable of easily fol-

lowing the car as it turns making cap-

tures easier and your sharp image

success rate much higher, so select a

single middle frame point rather than

the wide area selection mode as

stray objects in the foreground will

often cause the AF to hunt.

SHOOT heaps - digital allows us to

keep the finger on the shutter button

for longer so pick the car up as it ap-

proaches the corner and keep on

shooting until it has left your field of

view. Dont worry about whether you

got the action or not as you will see it

as it happens through the viewfinder,

just keep on shooting because if the

car is going to roll you will capture itall happening rather than missing it.

Once the first car has gone through

you only have a minute or two to

check the results then plan for the

next car. As the cars race through

your positions you will notice which

competitors are trying hard and

which are just motoring through the

stage.

I quickly noticed that the top guns

would cut the corner greatly, driving

across the grass and gravel berm as

they sought to cut precious seconds

off their times. As they drove into the

area their front air dams dug in dra-

matically showering the road ahead

with gravel and earth so this was my

prime shot and I concentrated on

capturing the action, freezing therocks as they showered out from the

car.

Later in post I was also impressed

with the number of facial reactions I

caught of the drivers and navigators

in each car its something you cant

see out there when you are shooting.

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Look at ways to frame your shots tighter.

Look for ways to vary your camera angle.

Vary your shutter speeds.

Try panning and flashing, to create new images.

SHOOT heaps.

Think safety at all times.

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28

DEADLINES

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29

Summary:Plan your day well,

ook for unique angles and viewpoints to

help you create different photos,

oot tight or wide to accentuate the speed

or moment,

nally always think safety - yours and the

competitors.

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38

A grab shot of British Airways Boeing 777s queuing up at

Heathrow at the start of the summer holidays.

Canon 30D, 1/1000th sec at f3.5, ISO 100


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37

Ive lost count of the number of airports I have transited while traveling this lovely planet, and I am

sure there are many readers out there, like me, have experienced some trepidation at the thought

of spending hours waiting for a flight to leave or arrive. Such large amounts of wasted time that

could be used constructively tackling other more enjoyable pursuits like photography.


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Carrying cameras around the world is my stock intrade and if you spend any time in an airport everysecond passenger has one around his or her neck.

Some time ago I discovered that I suffered from a condi-

tion, no its not terminal but it does at times get irritating

to others I love and care for, its one that causes me to

always aim to arrive hours before departure at an airport

so that I can indulge my passion for all things aviation.

Aviaology is an affliction infecting thousands of keen

aviation buffs around the world, many graduated to

planes after years spotting buses and trains. Sites such as

www.airliners.net or www.jetphotos.net, all service

their addiction for stunning images of planes in action.

Unable to get up into the cockpit to shoot images of the

caliber I have seen on the various sites I visit regularly, I

am forced to shoot from the observation windows at

airports or out of the cabin windows as I fly along at

35,000ft.

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41

The view from the cabin window from an Air Asia Boeing737-300, enroute from Singapore to Bangkok as we flew

over the coastal Islands east of Malaysia.

Nikon D100, 1/750th of a sec at f7.1, ISO 200


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42

Shooting through glass

Windows are horrible things to

try and shoot through. On

many a flight I have arrived at

my seat to find that the previ-

ous occupant of the window

seat had used it as a restingspot for their greasy head and

had smudged the glass making

it almost impossible to see

through. Then there are those

airlines who dont bother to

wash their planes that often

(washing saves money by re-

ducing drag from the accumu-

lated dirt and grime on the

aircrafts outer skin therefore

saving the extra fuel needed to

push the plane through the air)

and the windows are covered in

streaks and scratches. Then

when you arrive at your desti-

nation and the difference be-

tween your aircrafts freezing

cold exterior and the hot humid

local conditions cause the win-dows to immediately fog over

rendering any chance to shoot

as you taxi in, impossible.

But getting past all these hin-

drances you can find many

unique views can be achieved

from the window seat as long

as you get to plan your seating

in advance. Julieanne Kost,Adobes famed expert trainer

even produced a fine coffee ta-

ble book of photos she shot

from the window seat titled:

Window Seat: The Art of Digital

Photography and Creative

Thinking in 2006.

Obviously there are only a set

number of window seat avail-

able on any flight and your

chances of securing one of this

is dependent on a: whether the


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4143

Clockwise from above: Shark Bay looks spectacular from 33,000ft above North Western Australia, the sun sets as we

cruise along high above the South China Sea, another stunning sun set above the Gulf of Thailand, I managed to

catch thunderstorm activity one flight high above Malaysia on my way back to Singapore, and Manila fades into the

distance on a flight from there to Hong Kong.


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flight is a code-share continua-

tion flight from an earlier origin

point, ( then you are loaded in

the back and middle because

they got the good seats first) or

b: how early you check in be-

cause the terminal staff seat

according to a weight distribu-

tion plan that starts from the

middle of the plane outwards in

economy (business and first

class photographers dont suf-

fer the same sorts of problems

we suffer in cattle class, and c:

in the case of LCCs (low cost

carriers) how fast you can run

when the terminal doors open

to grab a window seat up front.

Thats right the further up the

plane in front of the wing the

better your chances of attain-

ing good clean aerial images.

Wing root seats are useless and

ones near the back can be af-

fected by the jet efflux

(exhaust) which limits their visi-

ble area.

The next part gets a wee bit

tricky and it is all governed by

your level of cheek. Remember

as your flight taxis out or is po-

sitioning itself to join the land-

ing pattern at your destination

you will hear the broadcast that

tells you that all electronic de-

vices must be switched off andyet as we take off or coming

into land you can often get

some of your best images. So

ignoring this PA message can

put you into conflict with air

hostesses but remember they

are strapped in and wont want

to get up to tell you to switch

off your camera. I was once on

a flight from BKK to SIN and I

am sure half the passengers

were aviaologists as there was

a veritable symphony of shut-

ters firing off as we taxied, took

off and later landed.

Back to the problems of shoot-

ing through cabin glass.

Window Glass reflects, refracts

and generally isnt a good me-

dium to shoot through. But its

all we have between us and a

slow death from instant frost-

bite, hypothermia and oxygen

starvation at 30,000+ft.

On the Ground

On the ground the large airport

terminal observation windows

are often grubby and tinted.

To stop the reflections firstly

plan to wear darker tops when

you are sitting in the window

seat, then get your camera lens

as close to the glass as possible.

Then I want you to remember

to manage your aperture so

that the lenses hyper-focal dis-

tance factor doesnt bring into

focus anything on the surface

of the window. As I shoot most

of my images at f8 in Av mode I

have only struck problems

when using the standard zoom

on really wide settings to try

and get the wing in the frame.

Then I have had to reduce the

depth of field aperture setting

to stop the scratches appear-

ing. The last control element

for shooting through glass win-

dows is to always try and shoot

directly out and dont shoot at

an acute angle as light refrac-

tion will cause large areas of

blurriness in your final image.

When shooting with a wide an-

gle zoom through a cabin win-

dow in a plane if you focus on

the wing tip and shoot at f11

or greater then, the hyper focal

Children watch a Cathay Pacific B777 from the

observation window at Changi, Singapore.

Haneda Airport and ANA planes in Tokyo

(Above) while new Air Asia planes wait for pas-

sengers at Kuala Lumpur KLIA LCC base (below).

Baggage trolleys move around at Hong Kongs

new airport, Chek Lap Kok.


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Hyper-focal distance

In photography, the phrase

hyper-focal distance refers to

the distance beyond which

all objects can be brought

into an "acceptable" focus.

One way to describe the con-

cept of hyper-focal distance

that if your focus on an ob-

ect then there is a certain

amount of the foreground

(between you and the sub-

ect) and the background

(beyond your subject) that

will also be in focus depend-

ing on which aperture youuse. Think of it as a fancier

name for Depth of Field

(DoF).

The wider open the aperture

the shallower the depth of

field, select an aperture of

f11 and above and you will

start to pull objects in front

of your subject into focus.

... the hyper-focal distance

setting ... is simply a fancy

term that means the distance

setting at any aperture that

produces the greatest depth

of field.

How to Use Your Camera, New

York Institute of Photography, 2000.

When you shoot at f11 and above the Hyper-focal effect of the lens pulls into

focus the scratches on the glass above forcing you to spend quite a bit of time

using the Healing Brush tool or Cloning Tool in Photoshop. To stop effect this

shoot at about f8 or f5.6. It wont matter too much as you are shooting on a

wide angle lens and the DoF is huge.

effect of the lens will bring into

focus all the scratches on the

window in front of you. Some-

thing we dont want.

Exposure and shutter speed

relationships

Aircraft are often painted white

or light gray so they reflect a lot

of light and are extremely

shiny, this will affect how your

light meter provides exposure

readings for your final image

capture. As I said earlier I shoot

at f8 in Av mode but I also dial

in minus 1/3rd exposure com-

pensation which solves most

exposure problems when

shooting out an aircraft win-

dow or out onto the tarmac. I

also try and shoot at a fast

enough +1/250th of a second

or better shutter speed to re-

duce any shake cause by myself

or the movement of the plane.

White balance is always bestkept at AWB but when you are

shooting a sunset/sunrise it

pays to switch it over to cloudy45


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to bring up the yellows. Shoot-

ing RAW also helps.

Legal's

Now comes the fun part. There

are many legal constraints, es-

pecially in these times of in-

creased security, to shooting at

airports around the world. On

any flight passing over or land-

ing in India you will be advised

that it is illegal to photograph

at airports or from a plane in

India. In France most of the air-

ports deny permission to use a

camera inside their terminals,

British airports have varying de-grees of security and currently

the police there and also in the

US of A are being decidedly of-

ficious about anyone pointing a

camera in the direction of their

terminals or planes.

In Asia it varies so you just have

to be carefully and look around

before shooting to see whatothers are doing. At Bangkok

one day I watched a whole tour

party of brits sitting there re-

cording or spotting plane num-

bers and later shooting from

the terminal windows and no

one was bothering them but at

Singapore they have removed

any chance for visitors to watch

ramp operations by relocating

or removing viewing areas en-

tirely.

In Japan its the opposite

many airports there have dedi-

cated viewing platforms with

large lens chunks cut out of the

security fences to allow you to

shoot through using a big lens.

At Zurich they have even takenit one step further and opened

up whole sections of the termi-

nal roof for visitors to view the

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action at their airport. They charge

for it and other more exciting avia-

tion viewing services but it is really

worth it and it makes the airport one

of the countrys premier tourist at-

tractions, even bigger than the Mat-

terhorn.

In New Zealand major terminals have

viewing areas and you can get close

to the approach runways to shoot

planes coming in over your head.

Queenstowns tight and dangerous

approach to its airport is very similar

to the famous St. Maarten - Princess

Juliana (SXM / TNCM) in the Nether-

lands Antilles, where planes come in

right over your head at low altitude

to land at the short runway.

But always remember that if anyone

objects simply smile, pled ignorance

and move along, it saves any aggra-

vation or arrest. Once I walked

through Mumbais airport carrying a

600mm lens as it was too valuable to

check in and all the armed guards

queued up to look thorough it,

mainly at the pretty ladies and stew-

ardess there.

Angles and Viewpoints.

Try and vary your angles whenever

possible. From the terminal roof its

often very hard to apply any variance

in your shots so look for ways to use

different compositional elements to

make your images more interesting.

You dont have to show the whole

plane just the tail can be enough

sometimes especially if it is framing

another plane.

Look for lines, curves, colours, scale

and repeating patterns or patterns

with breaks in them to add interest

to your shots. Visit the website's

mentioned earlier to see how others

are shooting great images.

From the cabin window do the same,

look for ways to maximise your

unique viewing angle to show how

the world looks different for you.

Yann Arthus-Bertrand had an amaz-

ing photographic exhibition that trav-

eled the world recently showcasing

his stunning aerial views of the world

we live in.

I once snapped some great aerials

while circling in traffic above Tokyo,

it was a rare day when the pollution

levels were low enough to see cars

on the freeways there. You too can

shoot images like that if you remem-

ber to carry your camera aboard with

you and have it nearby when you are

flying the friendly skies. Take your

time, plan your shots, have fun and

stay safe.

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(Above) Another rainy day at Narita airport, 60km outside Tokyo, Japan. Even if the weather packs up still look for

odd shots. (Below) Zurich airport in Switzerland is amazingly supportive of photographers allowing you unprece-

dented access for a fee. Here a Delta B767 departs for Boston while and El Al B737-700 arrives from Tel Aviv. Look

for scale to aid your composition at airports.


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Two images captured out the window on an A330 Garuda Airlines flight from Bali to Sydney. Sunrise was captured

over the Simpson Desert and the nice shot of the Sydney harbour bridge was snapped as we prepared to arrive at

Kingsford Smith International.


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inside photo edition 8

Documents