NZ Photographer Mar

3 1

Issue 11 March 3rd 2010

Helping you take better photos

DIRTY PICTURESPhotographing NZ’s Oil Rigs

How To: Create Smoke Art

Your Images Critiqued

Open Image Winner

New Clubs Section

NZ Photographer

Mar 3

2

CONTENTS4 Creating Smoke Art

10 Pic of the Bunch

21 cool stuff

17 critique

22 The Photographic Community

14Dirty Pictures

16 Sized Up

23 Cool Stuff

NZ Photographer Mar

3 3

14Dirty Pictures

This issue of NZ Photographer marks an historic occasion; in our quest to push the

boundaries of traditional magazine publishing we’ve teamed up with the people

at ISSUU to bring this issue to you as an online turn-the-page edition. As always,

we do it all for you, so feedback is essential!

I really hope y’all get into this month’s how-to – it’s a really good experiment, and

something that not many photographers I know have tried, so you’ll be doing well by

getting your teeth into it, so to speak.

On a lighter note, our Facebook fan page just clicked over 1000 fans, and our total

subscribers now kno--cks on the door of 1800. You guys are awesome.

I was at a lunch recently, and met someone who said they were into photography.

I mentioned I was the editor of an online magazine, and he said “I’m a subscriber!”

Awesome... World domination is only moments away...

On a personal note, I’m proud as punch to announce the birth

of my second child, a girl called Aliyah (most people ask how to

pronounce it, so here you go - AH-lee-a). With a most dramatic

entry into the world, she surprised us all by arriving into my arms

on our bathroom floor after only one hour’s labour, while I was on

the phone to 111 emergency, and 10 minutes after we told the

midwife we’d meet her at the hospital. I may have to do a How-

To on home-birthing in a future issue!

EDITORIAl

ABOUT Whether you’re an enthusiastic weekend snapper or a beginner who wants to learn more, NZ Photographer is the fun e-magazine for all Kiwi camera owners – and it’s free!

EDITOR Ollie Dale, ANZIPP editor@nzphotographer.co.nzGROUP EDITOR Trudi CaffellART DIRECTOR Jodi OlssonADVERTISING ENQUIRIES Phone Richard on 09 523 4112 or

email richardl@espiremedia.com

ADDRESS NZ Photographer, C/- Espire Media, PO Box 137162, Parnell, Auckland 1151, NZWEBSITE www.nzphotographer.co.nz

NZ Photographer is an Espire Media publication

go extreme. there’s no turning back.You go to extremes to get just the right shot, and with the SanDisk Extreme®

line of CompactFlash® cards, you’ll get that shot, every time. Engineered to be

lightning fast with blistering read/write speeds of up to 90MB/sec, these cards

are also rigorously stress-tested for extreme shock, vibration, temperature and

humidity so you can take it to the extreme—no matter what.

90MB/second 60MB/second

For more info contact info@lacklands.co.nz

NZ Photographer

Mar 3

4

The first time I saw some smoke art

images I thought they were a little

corny – reflected patterns, so what?

Then I gave it a go myself. It took a bit of

practise to get the formula just right, but

what I learned in the process was that it’s

fun and extremely creative.

For starters the smoke itself is only around

for moments, then it disappears; photography

is all about capturing moments, and I realised

that using an extremely temporary medium

was a challenge worth mastering.

Secondly, there are some basic

photographic principals in use here

which everyone interested in photography

should practise – angles of light, use of

backgrounds, timing, camera settings.

Adding all that up I decided it was a very

worthy subject as this issue’s how-to.

The other challenge I set myself was to use

an ordinary point-and-shoot camera to take the

photos. It’s all very well setting up $10,000

of camera equipment and then telling you

to copy me – some would be forgiven for

thinking “but I’ve only got (insert your camera

here) – I’ll never be able to do it.”

So, while I will talk about shutter speeds

and DSLR cameras, at the end of the article

I’ll show you how to do it at home with

nothing but a compact camera.

HOW TO

CREATINg SmOkE ARTA how-to for Any cAmerABy ollie Dale

NZ Photographer Mar

3 5NZ Photographer

Dec

2 5

NZ Photographer

Mar 3

6

&The more creative of you can start duplicating

mirroring layers

NZ Photographer Mar

3 7

Firstly, a list of ingredients.

For the advanced version

of this project you will need:

Your camera – lens •

focal length should be

50mm or greater

Tripod, bean bag, •

Gorillapod, something

steady to lean against

Remote or cable shutter •

release (optional)

Incense, any flavour•

Matches/lighter•

Black cloth, preferably velvet and •

lint-free

Directional light source – either •

off-camera flash or window light

Still air, or as still as possible•

To explain a bit more: A tripod is used to keep your camera in

a precise position, plus you’ll be

shooting a lot of experimental shots, so

you’ll get tired of holding your camera.

Using a remote or cable shutter

release will also free you up to handle

the smoke, the light etc.

Incense is the best smoke-producer

for your shoot, as it has a predictable

and constant (therefore attractive)

stream of smoke – I recommend you

don’t use rolled up newspaper!

The black cloth is very important in

keeping your background clean and the

smoke clear.

An off-camera directional light source

is very important – you don’t want to be

using the flash on your camera, which I’ll

explain shortly.

Still air will give you the best results, so

if you’re trying this at home make sure you

close the windows and doors, turn off fans

and air-conditioners etc.

Epson Stylus® Pro 3880

NOW WITHVIVID

MAGENTA

The Professional’s Professional

Introducing the Epson Stylus® Pro 3880 and UltraChromeK3®

Ink with Vivid Magenta. Featuring a three black inkset, the

Pro 3880 delivers outstanding tonal range, especially in black

and white prints. What’s more, the addition of Vivid Magenta

and Vivid Light Magenta expands the colour gamut, making

it easier to reproduce diffi cult colours. So if you’re looking for

exceptional tonal range, an ultra wide colour gamut and

durable photographic prints that last 406 years,* look no

further than the Epson Stylus Pro 3880!

* For more information visit www.wilhelm-research.com

www.epson.co.nz

NZ Photographer

Mar 3

8

Right, so to start with here’s a sketch of

how I set up my shoot:

Note: I’ve used a flash here, but later I’ll

show you how to set up with just window light.

Once you’ve set up in a similar way:

Light the incense and position it in a way

that produces an easy shot of the smoke.

Usually incense smoke will be repelled by

the heat of the burning incense, so it should

travel away from the incense in the direction

the incense is ‘pointing’. If you have a

prevailing wind, due to a draughty room or

a window/door you can’t close, you may

need to rotate your whole set to position the

incense correctly.

The other trick, and why it’s so much easier

to do this with a DSLR camera, is focusing

on the smoke. If you’ve got a DSLR, and your

smoke is behaving itself and always rising

to the same spot, you can pre-focus

your lens and switch it to manual focus,

meaning when you take a photo it’s

simply closing the aperture and opening

the shutter. Compact cameras without a

manual focus mode will try to re-focus

every time you want to take a shot, and

smoke can sometimes be tricky to focus

on!

Compose your image – not long

after the smoke leaves the incense, it

starts to be affected by the turbulence

of the air in the room – this is where

the interesting patterns come from, and

is where you should be pointing the

camera.

Now it’s simply a matter of adjusting

your settings to get a correct exposure. The

off-camera flash will light the smoke from the

side/rear, the black background will make

the smoke stand out, and all you have to do

is take the photos at the right moments. My

settings for the above set were:

Shutter: 1/125

Aperture: f/20

ISO: 800

Lens: 70-200@165mm

Once you have perfected your exposure,

play with the smoke – wave your hand near

the smoke to change the turbulence affecting

the smoke, or hand-hold the incense and

manually create interesting patterns with it.

Alternately, try a different smoke source such

as a match.

As you can see from my images, and

what I suggest you do, the next step is

post production; the smoke looks great on

a white background, so invert the image.

In Photoshop there are several ways to do

this, the easiest is simply to duplicate the

layer and invert it – shortcut keys are Ctrl+J

(duplicate layer) and Ctrl+I (invert layer) on

a PC, Cmd+J and Cmd+I on a Mac. Once

you’ve done that, play around with the

curves or levels to bring out the best of the

smoke. The more creative of you can start

duplicating and mirroring layers, or even

merging different layers into one image.

If you’re getting other shadows in your

background, it may be because your black

background wasn’t perfectly black – either

adjust the lighting, clean the cloth, adjust

your exposure before you take the photo,

or use any one of several techniques in post

production to darken the black background

before you invert the image. Be careful

though – it’s better to correct the background

before or as you take the photo, as trying to

correct it in post production can be difficult

when you want the smoke to look its best.

To do this at home with only your compact

camera, here are the basic ingredients:

STUDIO SETUP

NZ Photographer Mar

3 9

Your camera•

Incense•

Matches/lighter•

Black cloth (preferred)•

Window light•

An assistant (optional)•

Here’s how I set up the basic set:

You need to angle the black cloth slightly

away so that the light from the window isn’t

falling onto the cloth – we want the cloth as

dark as possible.

Light the incense, and watch where the

smoke travels – as above. Set your compact

camera to a preset setting such as Available

Light, Indoor, Night Scene or similar, and

make sure the flash will not fire. Experiment

with which of these presets works best for

your particular set-up.

Zoom in – 2x or 3x should be enough. Don’t

take photos of smoke on a wide angle unless

you have an awfully big piece of black cloth!

Compose your image as above. Once

you’ve perfected

capturing the

smoke, get

an assistant to

delicately wave the

incense to create

different patterns in

the smoke.

If you’re having

trouble focusing on

the smoke, as long

as the smoke isn’t

moving towards

or away from you

(i.e. try to get the

smoke to move

across your image

from left to right) then you will be able to point

the camera at the tip of the incense, push

the button half way down to focus, and then

reposition the camera to point at the smoke

and push the button all the way down.

Finally, send your best creations to

competitions@nzphotographer.co.nz for our

next Single Image Competition!

NATURAl lIgHT - COmPACT CAmERA SET-UP

THIS ImAgE WAS TAkEN WITH A COmPACT CAmERA

NZ Photographer

Mar 3

10

COMPETITION WINNER

Pic of the Bunch Winner - Marcus Kramer

NZ Photographer Mar

3

11

PIC OF THE BUNCHoPen SInGLe ImAGe comPetItIon

Well, that was popular! It

seems the Open category

inspired you all to get off

your chuff and... send in images you’d

already taken... Hopefully we’ll do this

once a year, seeing as it resulted in

so many of you entering your favourite

images. The winner, chosen by me for

no other reason than because I liked it

the best, is:

marcus kramerFabulous stuff – what a landscape! A

nice bit of High Dynamic Range for good

measure, and nicely composed.

You’ve won for yourself a $100

voucher from Giclée Print Ltd., our

new sponsors of the Pic of the Bunch

section. Thanks to Mike at the team at

www.gicleeprint.co.nz, Marcus gets to

Highly Commended - Paola Musumeci

spend $100 on a

canvas print!

There were

several other

images worth

celebrating on the

Highly Commended

page, plus the

best of the rest.

I wish we had

room to publish

everyone’s photos,

but hopefully this

selection will give

you inspiration

to take better

photos! Well done

everyone!Highly Commended - Sean Coleman

NZ Photographer

Mar 3

12

Highly Commended - Richard Burson

Highly Commended - Kirsten Simcox

NZ Photographer Mar

3

13

Bruce Nolan

Murray Lowe

Rick McQuinlan

Mat Whittington

Susan McIntyre

Cath Bonsor

Gene Armstrong

NZ Photographer

Mar 3

14

FEATURE

DIRTY PICTURESPhotoGrAPhInG nZ’S oIL rIGS

Rob Tucker is one of a kind – well,

almost; until November 2009 he

was, anyway. There are now only two

photographers in New Zealand licensed to

take photos on oil rigs, and it’s no wonder.

Not only is it hot, dirty work, but on being

assignment can be a risky business.

“To work offshore you have to do a Bouzait

safety course”, says Rob. “This is a $2500,

three-day course teaching, amongst other

things, how to escape from a sinking helicopter

upside down. Rather a thrilling course.

“It is rather a boy’s own type job, and very

expensive; to hire one of the choppers (a new

$12million machine) is $4500/hr. You have

no room to muck up!

“You have to wear special safety suits (survival

suits) which are real hot in summer, as well as a

lifejacket, gloves and steel capped boots. Before

takeoff you have to sit through a twenty minute

helicopter emergency evacuation movie.”

The good side to all this is the photography.

“It’s easy to get drama. Hard-case guys, hard

hats, oil, grease, heat noise, etc. There’s also

great food in the galley – almost five meals a

day, all cooked!

“Sleeping on board a rig is different. Like

sleeping in a darkened coffin, with the thought of

‘just a wee spark and the whole thing goes up’.

“Lifeboats are launched some 100 feet from

the sea, and you climb in an almost-vertical

craft, strap in and when launched (you’re in the

dark) it goes underwater and bobs up like a

cork. Better than a fairground ride any day!”

Like most photographers, Rob isn’t limited

to just one thing. “Oil work is only a part of

what I do. I also have a publishing company

producing books on NZ. Hunting with Hounds

in NZ sold out 5000 copies.

“I also work in tourism – I’m just back from

a trip to an active volcano in Vanuatu. It was

spewing lava 200m above us, as we stood

on the crater rim watching if a piece was

going to hit us...”

For more, see Rob’s websites – www.robtucker.co.nz and www.tuckermedia.co.nz

NZ Photographer Mar

3

15

NZ Photographer

Mar 3

16

There’s no better way to learn than by having

your work critiqued! In this section you get

to have your work critiqued by a professional

photographer, and our illustrious editor,

Ollie Dale. Ollie has been a professional

photographer for seven years, and has had

clients such as the NZ Herald, Visa, Microsoft,

Westpac, Unitec and BMW. He is also a

qualified commercial member and Associate

of the New Zealand Institute of Professional

Photography (ANZIPP).

Camera: Canon EOS 30D

Shutter: 1/500 sec.

aperture: f/16

ISO: 1000

FrOm the authOr: I changed the original

to black and white because there wasn’t

much colour there anyway, but what I

loved about that picture was the sheer

size contrast between the group of

people and the Pohutukawa. People,

flocking under the giant shadow it cast,

like birds.

CRITIQUE

OP1

SIZED UP yoUr worK crItIQUeD

OP1

OllIe’S COmmentS: First of all, having also

seen your original images I’m pleased to

see you have a good grasp on cropping

your images. In this image I also like the

structure of the image that you mention – the

people and the tree do work well. One

thing I would have liked to have seen was

more depth to the image – your settings tell

me that you had a lot of latitude with the

light, so I would have put a preference on

my aperture settings and reduced my depth

of field. What detail there is in the clouds

doesn’t add to the image, so the clouds

could be out of focus, and I would like to

see the hill slowly going out of focus as it

comes down the image towards the viewer.

The EOS 30D has a flash sync of 1/200

sec, so you definitely weren’t using flash.

With the same light you could have kept the

shutter speed at 1/500 sec, and changed

the aperture to f/5.6 and the ISO to 250

and that would have introduced some of

that depth of field effect.

As it is, I actually don’t mind the colour in

the tree and the grass, although I agree that

the people’s clothes are distracting. Perhaps

you could do something like my Option 1

image? (OP1)

You have a good grip on cropping your

images

“ “

NZ Photographer

Mar 3

18

Camera: Canon EOS 30D

Shutter: 1/500 sec.

aperture: f/16

ISO: 1000

FrOm the authOr: I was with a

group of Auckland Uni Chemists

who I didn’t know, and I really

wish I had sucked up my pride

and actually got down on the

grass properly, but I didn’t because

I was a little embarrassed. I was

trying to capture the bliss of the

swing, and even though I missed

the crucial shot of the boy’s face, I

think this photo still captured that bliss. I’ve

seen the filter that’s been used for singling

out colour – I didn’t know how to do that

so I just selected all the orange of the

t-shirt and kept it bright while making the

rest B&W, because the orange captures

the mood of childish fun, while the B&W

shows the action and shadows and lines

etc.

OllIe’S COmmentS: This image suffers from

the same focus issue as the last one – I

agree that it’s a nice moment, although

it perhaps needs more of the boy’s face

as you suggested (that’s just a matter of

shooting more until you get the perfect

moment), but again, the background is too

much in focus to really bring the viewer’s

attention to the swing and its

occupant. The identical settings as

the last image mean that too much

of the detail of the vines compete

with the detail of the swing. Here’s

a Photoshopped example of how

a narrower depth of field can pull

a subject out of its background

(OP1).

With regards to the colour

treatment, I’ll be happy to give

you lessons on how to create

selective colour images. The way

you describe sounds and looks a

bit blunt – there are parts of the

shirt missing, and parts of the

background still coloured (just

under his left sleeve). A more

subtle approach can be more

effective. (OP2)OP1 OP2

NZ Photographer Mar

3

19Camera: Canon EOS 30D

Shutter: 1/500 sec.

aperture: f/16

ISO: 1000

FrOm the authOr: I guess I wanted to take

a photo of the legs in the vines because it

shows how many people there were (it’s

strange to see that in such a huge vineyard),

but the boy turned around and looked at me

and I thought that was what made the picture

– he’s so little he could still be seen under

the vines! So I made it B&W and got him to

stand out because without him it would be a

boring picture.

OllIe’S COmmentS: Good work on the timing

– it’s definitely more interesting with the boy

engaging the viewer. You’ve also managed

to use selective colour well, even though I’m

not a huge fan – there aren’t any obvious

errors as in the last image.

There are three really distracting elements to

your composition, though, and unluckily for

you they’re not the easiest thing to avoid.

Obviously the timing of the boy looking

means that you wouldn’t have got that

picture without being where you were at the

time, but where you were at the time is what

lets this image down.

The enormous fence post that cuts the image

in half is unfortunate, as is the empty glass

tray to the right of the post. Finally, the big

overexposed patch of sky really needs to

go, as it’s way too distracting for me.

Like I said, not easily fixed. The fence post

could only be moved by moving further

along the row and waiting until the people

had walked past it. Who knows what the

empty glass tray is doing there, but asking

someone to move it only alerts the crowd

to your presence, which can spoil a good

candid moment. Lastly, the sky – there are

two ways to fix this; either drop in another

sky in post production, or change your

angle to the row of vines so that you’re

looking more at it than along it – that way

the amount of sky in your shot is reduced.

As for what to do with the image you sent

in, perhaps something like this? (OP1).

OP1

Get your images critiqued by a professional –

send an image to critique@nzphotographer.co.nz

with a brief description of how and why you took

the shot, and we’ll tell you what we think and if it

could be improved!

NZ Photographer

Mar 3

20

Now you’ve been inspired,

and shown how to do it

on any camera, impress us

with your art. Follow the How-To and

send your best image to competitions@

nzphotographer.co.nz.

Because it’s fun, creative and easy to do

we’re expecting lots of entries, so even if

you don’t win you may still get published on

our Best of the Rest page.

Be in to win the cover of Issue 13 and a

$100 voucher from the good folk at Giclée

Print Ltd. Visit www.gicleeprint.co.nz

Images must be 100dpi, 40cm/1600px

wide, and sent to competitions@

nzphotographer.co.nz by 5pm on Monday

the 5th of April, 2010. Winner will be

published in Issue 13, out on Wednesday

the 14th of April, 2010. (Can you believe

we’re talking about April already!?)

SmOkE ART SInGLe ImAGe comPetItIon

COMPETITIONS

NZ Photographer Feb

10

21

TRAvEl PHOTOgRAPHYPhoto eSSAy comPetItIon

Open Travel Photo Essay – due

5pm Monday the 5th of March,

2010. Your images can be

historical or recent photos, but they must

have a travel (overseas preferred, around

NZ is ok) or exotic theme. Remember too,

essays must tell a story in the images, where

each can be taken as a single image, but

together they convey an overall story of the

subject. Winner will be announced in our

next issue, Issue 12, out on Wednesday the

24th of March.

NZ Photographer

Mar 3

22

CLUBS

We’d like to invite NZ’s

photographic clubs and

societies to be a part of

this magazine. Send us what’s coming up

(usually we need about six weeks’ notice

for upcoming events), your thoughts on a

particular part of the industry, or even just

your contact details. We’d like to highlight a

club or society in every issue, and with only

16 issues a year it’ll be first in, best dressed.

This month we’d like to share something

sent in by Ross Muir of the Images

Photographic Group (www.images.org.nz):

“I am part of an organisation called

the Fungal Network of New Zealand –

an incorporated society whose ‘main’

membership is drawn from Government

scientists, amateurs and photographers.

They study mycology – the fungi of the

world that are an essential part of our

ecology. It would be safe to say that if fungi

were to cease to exist, life as we know it on

this planet would be seriously threatened.

Once a year a ‘Fungal Foray’ is held

for a week, alternating in sites between

the North and South Islands. Around 100

folk (including several from overseas)

gather together in a remote area

(but one with convenient comfortable

accommodation nearby).

The purpose is to go out in small

groups scouring the countryside to locate,

photograph and catalogue fungi.

My wife and I have been part of this

for some years as amateur photographers.

Although the information on the various

fungi is quite fascinating, they present an

amazing chance of photographing them at

close quarters under ideal circumstances

– and in the company of people who

know when and where to find them. I have

attached one of my photos to give an idea

of the possibilities.”

This year’s Foray is being held at Glentui

Meadows near Oxford, just Northwest

of Christchurch from the 2nd to 8th May

inclusive. See www.glentui.co.nz

For any information, contact Petra White

at white.p@xtra.co.nz.

Contributor: Ross Muir, Images

Photographic Group

THE PHOTOgRAPHY COmmUNITY whAt’S new wIth PhotoGrAPhy cLUBS & SocIetIeS AroUnD new ZeALAnD

NZ Photographer Mar

3

23

SOny tX5

Our early info on this diminutive

shooter only indicated it’d be

waterproof, so it’s a pleasant

surprise to see some further optimisations

thrown in for use in less hospitable

environments. You’ll be able to go down

to 10 feet under water with the TX5,

drop it from a 5-foot height, or explore

the tundra at temperatures as low as 14

degrees Fahrenheit (-10 Celsius) without

the camera throwing in the towel. So Sony

claims anyhow. Other features include a

now confirmed 10fps burst mode, a 10.2

Megapixel Exmor R CMOS sensor, 4x

optical zoom plus optical image stabilization,

and a 3-inch touchscreen on the back. The

one thing that doesn’t make the transition

from rumor to reality is the reputed 1080p

movie mode – the TX5 makes do with a still

desirable 720p video recording. Sony’s

also kicking out the DSC-H55 today, which

will have the same video mode, but adds

a 10x optical zoom and a thicker, non-

weatherproofed body.

Source: Engadget

haSSelBlaD h4D-40

Tough though it may be to believe,

Hasselblad’s 39 megapixel H3D II

actually came out in 2007. Yeah, last

decade. In other words, it’s about time we

saw a true successor hit the market, and

with PMA just about ready to get going in

Anaheim, the bold and beautiful H4D-40

is making its grand entrance. Boasting a

40 megapixel sensor, this medium format

behemoth – which we spotted in a leak late

last month – also features a ‘True Focus’ AF

system and ships with an 80mm lens and a

viewfinder. The kit is said to be shipping now

across the globe for US$19,995 (or 13,995

Euros / £12,995), which should make

choosing between a new shooter and a

public college education remarkably difficult.

Source: Engadget

rICOh CX3

J ust like clockwork, here’s Ricoh –

six months after its last CX series

refresh – with a new superzoom

point-and-shooter to tempt us into

breaking open those piggy banks. The

package on offer is compelling: there’s

a new 10 megapixel back-illuminated

CMOS sensor, an enhanced noise

reduction algorithm borrowed from the

GR Digital III, and a 3-inch 920k-dot

LCD, while the 10.7x optical zoom

lens (28-300mm in 35mm equivalence)

is carried over from the CX2. 720p

video recording – fast becoming a

standard feature in compact cameras

– is present and accounted for, with

recording in 16:9 ratio available to

the ubiquitous Motion JPEG format. The

CX3 is arriving soon, with early prices

of NZ$699 matching the cost of the

current generation.

Source: Engadget

The cool stuff in this section comes to you with help from the knowledgeable people at www.engadget.com. Each issue Ollie, our

illustrious editor, trawls through the amazing photographic gadgets and gizmo’s to bring you the best of the best. Enjoy!

COOl STUFF

GADGETS

THE PHOTOgRAPHY COmmUNITY

NZ Photographer Mar

3

24

IN THE NExT ISSUE OF NZ PHOTOgRAPHER…

Underwater Photography

What to look for in a Wedding Photographer

Open Travel Competition WinnerPlus much more...

HAvE YOU SUBSCRIBED TO NZ PHOTOgRAPHER? IT’S FREE!Simply visit www.nzphotographer.co.nz to get a copy of nZ Photographer

delivered straight to your inbox every third wednesday!

NEXT ISSUE