popular photography - may 2014
DESCRIPTION
Popular Photography - May 2014TRANSCRIPT
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PERFECT
STORM:NATURE AT ITS
WILDEST
FULL LAB &FIELD TESTS
NIKON
D3300 P.80
SAMSUNG NX30
P.73
TAMRON
150-600MM P.83
Pinhole
Time-Lapse
High-Speed
Photo Booth
Light Painting
Long Exposure
& Much More
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50 STORM CATCHER How one photographer couples the
artistry of a monochrome master
with the courage of a daredevil
weather chaser. The result? A
portfolio that both fine art and
meteorological fans can embrace.
Photos by Mitch Dobrowner;
text by Jon Blistein
5 SUPER PHOTO PROJECTS
68 ANATOMY OF A STUDIO SHOOT How many professionals does it
take to pull off a singleand fairly
simplefashion shoot? We visit the
studio of a very busy clothing website
to find out. The answer may surprise
readers! By Matthew Ismael Ruiz
FEATURES This how-to extravaganza provides practically everything you need to know to
produce great action-stopping, time-lapse, pinhole, paint-with-light, and DIY
photo booth projects. Cant decide which to try? Go for broke and do all five!
By the Editors of Popular Photography
57
HOW TO MAKE GREAT PICTURES MAY 2014 VOLUME 78, NO. 5
POPPHOTO.COM MAY 2014 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY 5
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POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY (ISSN 1542-0337) (USPS 504-890), May 2014, Volume 78, Issue 5, is
published monthly by Bonnier Corporation, 2 Park Ave., New York, NY 10016. Periodicals postage paid
at New York, NY and additional mailing offices. Authorized periodicals postage by the Post Office De-
partment, Ottawa, Canada, and for payment in cash. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Popular
Photography, P.O. Box 420235, Palm Coast, FL 32142-0235; www.PopPhoto.com/cs. If the postal
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NE
WS
STA
ND
AN
D S
UB
SC
RIB
ER
CO
VE
RS
: DAV
ID A
RK
Y (X-R
AY),
MIT
CH
DO
BR
OW
NE
R (S
TOR
M);
TH
IS P
AG
E: B
RA
D J
EN
KIN
S (P
EN
GU
INS
); D
AR
RE
N M
OO
RE
(S
EA
SC
AP
E).
PR
EV
IOU
S P
AG
E: T
OM
SM
ITH
(O
RA
NG
E);
AN
DR
EW
S. G
ER
AC
I/D
ISTR
ICT
7 M
ED
IA (C
ITYS
CA
PE
); A
ND
RE
W W
ATS
ON
(B
EAC
H C
HA
IRS
); H
AR
OLD
RO
SS
(TR
EE
); S
TAN
HO
RAC
ZE
K (G
RO
UP
PO
RTR
AIT
); M
ITC
H D
OB
RO
WN
ER
(LA
ND
SC
AP
E);
PE
TER
KO
LON
IA (S
TUD
IO)
46
6 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY MAY 2014 POPPHOTO.COM
3213
NEXT13 WE WANT THIS The Nikon D4s delivers the highest chip sensitivity yet: ISO 409,600. Now you can shoot by starlight.
14 JUST OUT A Panasonic ILC flagship, Sigmas next Foveon camera, a Nikon RAW converter, and other news.
18 ROUNDUP Flash and strobe modifiers to make your lights softer, fuller, more colorful, or just plain better.
SHARE23 PHOTO CHALLENGE This months winner aimed for the stars.
24 MY PROJECT An Alaskan photographer transforms his bedroom window into a picture window.
26 I, PHOTOGRAPHER She aims her Canon at writers of the literary canon.
28 MENTOR SERIES On her very first trek, this painter fell for the visual riches of Irelandand for photography, too.
29 LETTERS You pelt us with questions about Nikon DSLRs, the Sony Alpha 7R, DIY refractographs, and more.
30 TECH TALK For those wondering how your flashs output compares to the competitions, we have some answers.
32 YOUR BEST SHOT This month, charismatic animal couples prove that two critters can be cuter than one.
HOW37 CREATIVE THINKING Learn how commercial pro David Arky shot this months awesome cover image.
40 TIPS & TRICKS Add humor to your selfies for sure-fire viewer appeal.
41 TRAVELING PHOTOGRAPHER Wend your way to Savannah, GA, to discover the heart of southern charm.
42 SOFTWARE WORKSHOP Try these six tricks to get the most out of the lastest version of Adobe Camera Raw.
46 YOU CAN DO IT Lengthen your shutter speeds for dreamy seascapes.
LAB73 ILC TEST Samsung NX30 With a new sensor, swiveling touchscreen, and unique viewfinder, this is hot!
80 DSLR TEST Nikon D3300 Better bursts, a bigger buffer, and more.
83 LENS TEST Tamron 150600mm f/56.3 Di VC USD Great focal length range and, wow, that price!
DONT MISS . . .8 EDITORS LETTER 10 SHOWCASE 94 TIME EXPOSURE 98 BACKSTORY
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EDITORS LETTER
Little Bits of AdviceAt this magazine, we have a term for our own
tendency to try to tell you everything you need
to know about every aspect of photography:
The Pop Photo Answer. Read this months
Tech Talk (page 30) on how fash is measured
for The Pop Photo Answer at its best.
But while our annual Big How-To Issue
always seems to show us at our most ency-
clopedic, this year the editors decided to focus
on just a handful of really cool photo projects that any photographer
can doand everyone should try at least once. Youll fnd a few of these
in our HOW section and more in the feature on page 57. (Just forgive us
for the cover featuring a photographic technique, X-ray, that you may
never be able to do. You can learn, though, how commercial and editorial
pro David Arky makes X-ray his own in Creative Thinking, page 37.)
In another rebellion against the Pop Photo Answer, I asked Arky and a
few other photographers whose work we love to give us their best tips or
techniquesin 140 characters or less. And the length of a tweet was all
these pros needed. Whether I am shooting an X-ray or conventional still
life, I always make a sketch to help clarify the composition and palette
of my picture, said Arky, whose Twitter handle is @david_arky.
Said landscape shooter Rodney Lough Jr., Move left, move right, a
mere seven inches at a time. When you can see the forest for the trees,
youve got it. Snap the shutter! Ever the maximalist, he sent more.
Heres one: Patience rewards those who wait for the wind to stop. The
not-so-patient will have leftand you will be alone when the shutter is
snapped. You can fnd him on Twitter @rodneyloughjr.
Use all your senses to take a picture. Close your eyes. Hold your
subjects hand. Listen carefully. Smell all around. Then open your eyes,
advised portraitist George Lange (@langestudio). He added another
portrait how-to: Focus on one point. Let your subject walk into that spot
and away. Then have them come so close they can lick your lens.
Sports shooter Brad Mangin (@bradmangin) has Americas pastime in
mind: A clean background, pretty light, great facial expression, and peak
action are all needed in one frame for me to love a baseball photograph.
So hooked am I now on these mini tutorials that Ive decided to start
a new hashtag, #PopPhotoTips, on our Twitter feed, @PopPhoto. Look for
more brief advice from pros there, and tweet your own back at us using
that tag. But never fearwell still
always have The Pop Photo Answer.
NEWSSTAND David Arkys X-ray of a
Canon EOS 1D X with 50mm f/1.4 EF
lens exemplifies the Big How-To. But see
p. 57 for stuff you can actually do.
SUBSCRIBER The same camera,
now fitted a tripod-mounted Sigma
50500mm f/4.56.3 OS lens, also got
Arkys X-ray treatment. See how on p. 37.
POPPHOTO.COM8 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY MAY 2014
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PH
ILIP
RYA
N
10 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY MAY 2014
SHOWCASE * NIKON D3300
-
POPPHOTO.COM POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY 11
GET DUCKY
Philip Ryan, our technical editor, found these hand
painted ducks in a small shop in Kyoto, Japan. He
captured the intricate paint work using a Sigma
105mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro lens on the Nikon
D3300. He shot with the camera mounted on a Benbo
1 tripod just inches from the left-hand figurine, to
make an exposure of 1/60 sec at f/10, ISO 200. For
our full lab and field test of this DSLR, see page 80.
-
WE WANT THIS
POPPHOTO.COM MAY 2014 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY 13
16
17
THE FIRST-EVER ILC WITH 4K VIDEO
AN EF TO E-MOUNT ADAPTER WITH ND FILTER
OUR ROUNDUP OF FLASH MODIFIERS
18
FOR THE first update to its
venerable flagship, the D4,
Nikon chose to refine rather than
16.2MP full-frame sensor11-fps burstsCF and XQD card slotsGigabit Ethernet$6,497, street, body only nikonusa.com
mechanism to reduce vibrations
from mirror slap. The new
EXPEED4 processor can churn
out 200 continuous shots (with
autoexposure and autofocus) at
a blazing 11 frames per second,
up from the D4s 10 fps.
But Nikon didnt fix what
wasnt broken: The 91,000-pixel
RGB 3D Color Matrix Metering
and 51-point AF system from
the D4 remain untouched.
SPEED BUMPNikons new flagship hits ISO 409,600
reinvent, pushing the cameras
limits in sensitivity and speed.
Nikon says the D4s newly
developed sensor, a 16.2MP
full-frame CMOS imager,
improves on the D4s dynamic
range; the expanded sensitivity
now reaches an astonishing
ISO 409,600. The battery life is
improved, lasting up to about
3020 shots versus the D4s 2600,
and Nikon modified the mirror
-
4K FORAY
PANASONICS GH line of Micro Four Thirds cameras have been video-focused ever since the runaway success of the Lumix GH2. Its newest model,
This f agship ILC is the f rst to capture 4K video
14 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY POPPHOTO.COM
3-Layer DipSigma has always faced a challenge processing the data from the many pixels found on its Foveon sensors. The latest iteration reduces the number of pixels on the red and green layers, using them only to provide color information. This is then added to the luminance information captured on the top layer, which also provides the blue color information. With fewer pixels, processing is faster.
INSIDE TECH
> Getty Images now allows
low-resolution
photos to be
embedded on
noncommercial
websites and
social media for
free. The photos
will have no
watermark, but
will be locked
in the Getty
Embedded
Viewer.
KILLER COMPACTThe next evolution of an unusual sensor
SIGMAS FOVEON sensor has always been a little, well, different, with its multi-layered structure (see Inside Tech, at right) and high nominal pixel counts. And the companys newest camera model with the APS-C-sized Foveon X3 inside, the dp2 Quattro, fits the bill.
Thinner and longer than its predecessors in the Merrill line, the Quattro has a new Foveon that Sigma says out-resolves the old one by 30 percent. The first of three planned models, the dp2 sports
the GH4, takes it to the next levelits the first ILC to capture 4K video
The 16.05MP Live MOS sensor and Venus Engine IX processor can capture video in QuadHD (3840x2160p30) or Cinema 4K (4096x2160p24) at bit rates up to 100Mbps. With regular HD (1920x1080p60), the bit rate can reach as high as 200Mbps. A 10-bit video
stream can be output via the HDMI 1.4a to an external monitor or recorder.
Panasonic also introduced a slew of accessories, including a flash, shotgun mic, and the DMW-YAGH Interface unit ($1,998, street), which sports two XLR inputs, four SDI ports, and a 12V DC power source for use with professional video rigs.
The GH4 comes with built-in NFC and Wi-Fi, a pop-up TTL flash, a stereo mic and external mic input.
Sigma dp2 Quattro
Price to be announced
sigma-global.com
a fixed 30mm (45mm full-frame equivalent) f/2.8 lens. It has a 9-point AF system, and the leaf shutter allows for flash sync at all shutter speeds. The camera is due in stores this summer.
MATTH
EW
IS
MA
EL R
UIZ
(LC
D IM
AG
E)
Panasonic Lumix GH4
$1,698, street, body only
panasonic.net
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One step beyond
SP 150-600mmF/5-6.3 Di VC USD
Capture clear, sharp images all the way to 600mm. With advanced optical technology, Ultrasonic Silent Drive autofocusing and Vibration Compensation, our stylish new zoom can take you closer to the extraordinary.
Model A011
For Canon, Nikon and Sony* mounts
*Sony mount without VC
Hiroto Fukuda Focal length 483mm; f/9 at 1/2000 ISO 800
www.tamron-usa.com
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SMARTPHONE CAMERAS continue to improve, but
until recently they were limited by their tiniest of
sensors. Sonys Android-based, waterproof Xperia
Z1 raised the bar last year with its 1/2.3-inch, 20.7MP
Exmor RS sensor. And now, with the new Xperia Z2,
Sony takes the improvements for photographers
even further, adding image stabilization and 4K video
(3820x2160p30) capture. The high-res LED display
grows to 5.2 inches from 5, and
the processor is upgraded to
Qualcomms newest quad-core
Snapdragon 801 chip.
BIGGER IS BETTERSonys waterproof smartphone gets an upgrade
> Watch out! Its now illegal
to take photos
in Hungary
without first
getting
permission
from each
subject in the
photograph.
Unsurprisingly,
Hungarian
photo-
journalists are
some of the
new laws
harshest
critics.
> The National
Press
Photog-
raphers
Association
awarded
Miami Herald
photographer
Al Diaz the
NPPA
Humanitarian
Award for
assisting in a
roadside
emergency
before fulfilling
his duties as a
photographer.
> The Chinese
government
ordered Nikon
to stop selling
the D600 in
China after
the World
Consumer
Rights Day
television
program
reported on
defects in
the cameras.
Nikon will
cease sales
of the D600
and offer free
repairs.
NEW CONVERT
NEXT * JUST OUT
POPPHOTO.COM
Sony Xperia Z2
Price to be announced
www.sonymobile.com
SIX NEW BRIGHT EYESOlympus filed patents for six new wide-
angle lenses with maximum apertures
close to f/1, four of them in Micro
Four Thirds mounts. They include two
12.7mm designs (f/1.05 and f/0.95),
plus a 14.27mm and 13.99mm, both at
f/1. Its too soon to say whether theyll
come to market, but the news could
mean a bright future for Olys lens
line and competition for Voigtlnders
Nokton 17.5mm f/0.95 for MFT.
THE LOWDOWN
WE LOVE lens adapters
anything that gives old glass
new life is OK in our book. The
Fotodiox Pro Vizelex ND Throttle
adapter will let you mount your
Canon EF or EF-S glass on a
Sony E-mount ILC camera such
as the Alpha 6000, and keep
infinity focus. Heres the twist:
Its blue ring houses a variable
neutral-density filter, letting
you control the amount
of light that reaches
the sensor without
affecting color or
depth of field.
The catch?
With no electronic
contacts, the adapter
loses you autofocus
and automatic
diaphragm control, and you
will have to set your aperture
before mounting it. So its
best-suited for video use, where
shooters prefer manual focus
and apertures remain constant
throughout a clip.
The adapter is made of brass
with a stainless-steel finish and
comes with a removable tripod
mount and 2-year warranty.
Fotodiox puts an ND f lter in a converter
16 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY MAY 2014
Fotodiox Pro Vizelex ND Throttle
$100, direct
www.fotodioxpro.com
RAW ReviseNikon Capture NX-D (Beta)
As Nikon has steadily updated its line of DSLRs, its premium companion software, Capture NX, has languished recently. But Nikon has finally released the new Capture NX (currently in Beta), with a redesigned user interface. The updated version, called Capture NX-D, includes batch processing, improved multi-monitor support, and a nondestructive workflow that saves adjustments as separate files, but it no longer has U-Point control. Capture NX 2 cost $180, but Capture NX-D will be free.
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POPPHOTO.COM
>Flickrs six-year partnership with Getty Images has come to an end, but Getty told its contributors from Flickr that their contracts remain unchanged.
> Giottos has launched a new line of tripods. The Air series offers four kit options, ranging from 2.4 to 3.3 pounds, with prices from $250 to $465.
> Time named Makati City, Philippines, the Selfiest City in the World, determining that there are 258 selfie-takers per 100,000 people in the Philippines financial capital. It ranked first among 100 selfie-obsessed cities.
> Leicas newest limited edition camera sees Playboy and Hello Kitty joining forces to celebrate anniversaries. The $1,264 Leica C sports a picture of a winking Hello Kitty wearing the famous bunny ears.
WHEN IT comes to storage, bigger and faster is usually better, and with its new UHS-II Speed Class 3 SD cards, SanDisk pushes the boundaries just a little farther.
Designed to handle the rigors of 4K video capture, the new SanDisk cards have a maximum write speed of 250MBps and a maximum read speed of 280MBps, though its unlikely youll ever reach that theoretical limit. A 16GB card will run $75, street, while a 64GB version will go for $245.
In addition, SanDisks new 128GB microSD card ($200, street) has a UHS-I classification, a requirement for shooting 4K video on microSD cameras like the GoPro Hero3.
SanDisks new SD cards
are the fastestfor now
TOOLBOX
128MB
SOURCE: SanDisk
Westcott Zeppelin Deep Parabolic Softboxes $399 When its time for the big gunsstudio strobesthis 39-inch parabolic softbox helps focus and diffuse the light. It fits Profoto, Bowens,
and other strobes but costs much less than comparable models.
RayFlash Universal RingFlash Adapter $140Ring flashes are excellent (but expensive) tools for portraits, flattering
faces with even lighting. If youre on a budget and have a regular hot-
shoe strobe, this RayFlash unit can convert it into a diffused ring light.
Spinlight 360 Gel Collection $40 These gels work with the Spinlight 360 system to color the light from
your flash unit. Included are 20 gels, two clear disks, and a clear storage
case that doubles as a modifier when filled with translucent objects.
Rogue Safari Pop-Up Flash Booster $35 Designed for the built-in flash on APS-C Canon and Nikon DSLRs, the
Safari claims to extend the range of your cameras flash, useful with
lenses longer than 100mm. It mounts to the cameras hot-shoe.
Gary Fong LightBlade Diffuser LB-01 $35This inexpensive modifier for shoe-mounted flash units attaches with a
hook-and-loop fastening strap and softens your strobes powerful blast.
It flips up or down to act as a bounce or shoot-through diffuser.
PHOTOGRAPHY IS ALL about light, and when the sun doesnt give you enough, you bring your own. But not all light is created equal, so how do you make it do what you want? These flash modifiers will help make your light softer, reach farther, change color, or simply just look better.
128GB Storage capacity of SanDisks newly released microSD UHS-I model
Storage capacity of SanDisks first microSD card, in 2004
SD SPEED CHAMP
18 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY MAY 2014
NEXT * ROUNDUP
FLASH MOD
TWO SIZES FIT ALL
One of the two RayFlash RingFlash sizes should fit your
hot-shoe unit.
-
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All other trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners.
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24
32
26
ALASKAN WINDOW GAZER
PHOTOGRAPHERS WRITE STUFF
YOUR BEST ANIMAL PAIRS
MAY 2014 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY 23
SHARECONVERSATION, INSPIRATION, CONTESTS, AND YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED
STARRY NIGHTA reader looks up and shoots for the stars
PHOTO CHALLENGE
DO
UG
LA
S C
RO
FT
IT WASNT hard for Douglas Croft, 55,
to convince his shooting buddy to
drive up to the ancient bristlecone
pine forest outside Big Pine, CA, to
capture the night sky. At the Patri-
arch Grove in the White Mountains,
altitudes reach as high as 11,000
feet, and primordial trees dot the
stark landscape. I wanted something
natural for a foreground, Croft says.
These twisted, gnarly trees are so
old and uniqueperfect to showcase
the ancient light of the Milky Way.
So the fanance manager from
San Jose, CA, affxed an 1116mm
AT-X Pro DX Tokina lens to a tripod-
mounted Nikon D7000. With the lens
set to 13mm, his exposure (20 sec at
f/2.8 and ISO 3200) was fast enough
to keep the stars from trailing but
slow enough to reveal them. And his
composition? A clear winner in a
strong feld. Matthew Ismael Ruiz
In our big How-To feature (5 Super Photo Projects,
page 57), photographer Harold Ross paints an idyllic nighttime landscape with a pair of LED panels. Send us your best light-painted outdoor scenes by May 31you could win $100 and your photo here. For a full set of contest rules, visit PopPhoto.com/contests.
POPPHOTO.COM
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Room With a ViewWHEN MARK MEYER and his
wife moved to Anchorage from
California in 2007, it took a year
to find just the right house. With
its hand-hewn log siding and
old sash windows, the 100-year-
old home stood out among the
hastily developed citys oil-boom
surroundings. And ever since
the couple moved in, the unique
characteristics of their two
bedroom windows caught the
photographers eye. They have
a surprising range in the winter,
from tessellated ice when its
frozen outside to fog with the
humidity, Meyer explains.
A snapshot taken with his
iPhone in the fall of 2012 quickly
grew into an ongoing series, An
Alaska Window, with images
captured roughly every few
days and uploaded to Tumblr.
Even though the series now
An Alaskan photographers picture window
MA
RK
ME
YE
R (9
)
24 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY MAY 2014
SHARE * MY PROJECT
Mark Meyer (www.photo-mark.com) is an editorial and commercial pro based in Anchorage.
-
encompasses more than 100
photos, all taken from the same
window, very few look alike.
As Meyer began to take his
project more seriously, he
experimented with technique
and equipment. He shot not just
with his phone but with cameras
of all sizes, from a K.B. Canham
4x5 to a Nikon D800 to a Fujifilm
X-E1. Taking into account the
weather and small changes in
the window and the landscape,
he varied his creative approach
capturing a blur of windswept
trees or the view through a
condensation handprint.
The limits were, in a way,
what made the project most fun.
My yard isnt special, and its
not particularly active, Meyer
saysa fence-hopping moose
or a moth near the window sash
were equally exciting. His favorite
photos are those that include
a view of the actual window
frame, lending a reminder of the
projects literal context.
For Meyer, the work spurred
a return to a contemplative
form of photography, something
hes rarely had time for amidst
the fast pace of his editorial
assignments. His goal is to edit
and print a selection to show in
galleries. Its brought me back
to the fundamentals, and its
also made me appreciate the
mundane, he says. Looking
out a window is one thing, but
photographing it gives you a way
to notice it. Lori Fredrickson
POPPHOTO.COM POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY 25
Meyer photo-graphed the view from his bedroom window using an Apple iPhone 5, 4x5 K.B. Canham view camera, Fujifilm X-E1, and Nikon D800, with various lenses.
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JON
ATH
AN
LE
VIN
E (TA
KE
N A
T T
HR
EE
LIV
ES
& C
OM
PA
NY B
OO
KS
TO
RE
)
him from his 40th birthday party
in 1973 to his 80th last year in
Newark. Im always trying to get
the definitive shot of him.
Whats your technique for getting an authentic moment?I try to be as open as possible. I
am not inclined to impose an idea
of some sort. I like to see what I
can discover. It is exciting to work
on location, which usually means
at the persons home, especially if
I can use available light, because
there are so many possibilities.
What equipment do you use?I was very late in coming to
digital for my portraits. I finally
switched five years ago from
my Leicas to the Canon EOS 5D
Mark II. My standard lens is the
24105mm f/4L Canon EF zoom.
I have always used a 105mm
as my standard headshot lens
because I like being close to
my subjects. One thing about
shooting digital is that I can show
people photographs during the
session. At first I wondered if
that would make them too self-
conscious, but they really like
participating in the process.
Do you have a favorite portrait that you have taken?No, I am awestruck by all the
writers I photograph. When you
are photographing someone,
they seem beautiful to you.
What of your own authorship?One thing about my profession is
that a writer might spend years
doing a book and a photographer
spends an hour or two taking a
portrait, so I have found the need
to pull my work together. I did
a book several years ago, and I
have a traveling exhibition. Last
year I sold my first stamp to the
U.S. Postal Service, a photo of
Joseph Brodsky.
Interview by Zara Katz
SHARE * I, PHOTOGRAPHER
POPPHOTO.COM26 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY MAY 2014
Who was the first writer you ever photographed?The first time was in 1971 at a
reading that Allen Ginsberg was
giving at New York University. I
was prepared to take a picture
with my Leica and someone
passed me a note saying, I am
a German journalist and my
camera is broken. Please meet me
at the break. I started working
with him regularly: He would
give breezy interviews with all
sorts of people in the arts and I
would take my picture, and we
would file the story together. But I
consider my first literary portrait
to be the picture that I took of the
poet W.H. Auden in 1972 at his
home on St. Marks Place.
Youve shot New Yorks 92nd Street Y poetry reading series for 25 years. What intrigues you about this job? I took up photography when I
went on a wildlife safari in East
Africa. But literature was my first
love, so it just felt very natural
to me. I never imagined when I
started out that it would lead me
back to literature. At 92Y, I have
had the opportunity to photograph
hundreds of writers. I try to make
the most of limited time backstage
to get a good portrait.
Is there an author whom you shoot frequently? I became Philip Roths official
photographer and photographed
Nancy Crampton (www.nancy crampton.com) is the house photog-rapher at the 92nd Street Ys Unterberg Poetry Center in New York City and author of Writers
(Quantuck Lane Press, 2005). See a gallery of her work at PopPhoto.com/Crampton.
POET PORTRAITISTNancy Crampton has immortalized generations of literary lions
-
New York Institute of Photography
Request a free course catalog at
www.nyip.edu/pop or call 1-800-445-7279
Learn to take better photographs Online education with a personal mentor Study at your own pace anywhere in the world Learn to think and see like a photographer Risk-free refund policy
-
A New Love GREAT PHOTOS often come
from the eye of an artist. And as
Suzanne Trottier discovered, one
great picture can turn a painter
into a committed photographer.
Traveling to Ireland for her first
Mentor Series trek in 2008, this
resident of Portsmouth, NH, had
absolutely no experience with her
equipment. Until then, shed used
photography mainly as a basis for
her paintingsmostly landscapes,
still lifes, and portraits of animals.
It was my first time using a
DSLR camera, she says. I had
everything to learn.
Everywhere in Ireland that she
looked, she saw pictures waiting
to be taken: magical green
landscapes, with rainbows,
lonely trees, stone walls, and
ruins. On one particularly
windy, misty day in September,
the trekkers stopped along a
road. Others were drawn to the
landscape, with its rolling hills,
castle, sheep, and view of the
ocean, but Trottier was drawn to
two horses she had spotted in a
field. I got off the bus first, so I
was first to approach the horses,
she says. I loved the wind in their
manes. They were still curious.
She fired off three exposures
this the only one with both horses
looking at the camera. I wasnt
thinking much, she recalls. I
find that spontaneity works better
with animals in general.
With treks to Egypt, Switzerland,
Lake Como, and China now
under their belt, Trottier and her
husband Tim Parker have no plans
to stop photographing. But for
Trottier, the first trip to Ireland
was special. I fell in love with
photography on that trek, she
says. It became my passion, and it
still is. Matthew Ismael Ruiz
From painter to photographer
SUZANNE TROTTIER See more work by this painter and photographer at www.timand suzanne.com.
Suzanne Trottier captured these Irish steeds with a Nikon D70 and 18200mm f/3.55.6G VR
Nikkor at 120mm, freezing their flowing manes with an exposure of 1/1250 sec at f/7.1, ISO 800.
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2014 Treks: Colorado, California,
Montana, Ireland, Charleston,
Puerto Rico, Long Island,
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SHARE * MENTOR SERIES
28 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY MAY 2014
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Still Shooting I read the article Light Show (You Can Do It, February) and I hope to try the techniqueafter I make a lens with a body cap, an old UV filter, a Dremel tool, and some glue.This will alleviate the dust fears expressed by reader William Ruting (Letters, March). Harvey Morgan II
Santa Fe, NM
REGARDING THE review of the Nikon Df in your March issue, comparing a couple of features of the $2,747 Df to Nikons $6,000 D4 is fine. But how could the article be complete without comparing the Df to the Nikon D800? Its only about $50 more than the Df, and in my opinion a near-runaway current-day seller, with a 36MP sensor? Pete Muller
Fairfield County, CT
EDITORS NOTE: Despite their similarity in
price, the DF and D800 have such different
sensor resolutions (16.2MP vs. 36.3MP)
that we dont see this as a fair comparison.
I AM PUZZLED by Paul Raffelds complaint (Letters, April) on not being able to find frame sizes and mats that fit digital images. I do my own with Nielsen aluminum sectional framesso I can mix and match sizesand board from Blick or an art supply store. A Logan mat cutter is about $100 and stores easily in a closet, and 32x40 board is about $15. I buy glass by the box from the local glass store, and for odd sizes like my photograph of the Tregurtha, the longest ship on the Great Lakes, I cut the mat and glass to fit. A glass cutter, less than $4, and a T-Square, less than $10, make it all pretty easy. The expensive item is a dry mounting press, but you can sometimes find access at schools, or just have that bit done commercially.
Tom Groenfeldt
Sturegeon Bay, WI
IN THE ARTICLE about the Camera of the Year (January) you mention that the new Sony Alpha 7R is smaller than a Leica M, but that tells me zip. Ive never owned a Leica, never even seen one. How about a shot of the camera in someones hands for comparison? Sonys ad didnt reveal anything about it either. The result is that Im interested but have to research further. Eric Meyers
via PopPhoto.com
EDITORS NOTE: The dimensions of the
Sony Alpha 7R (5.0x3.8x1.9 in.) are stated
in the specifications sidebar in the camera
test in that very issue. We find using
hands to be a poor comparison, since it is
impossible to tell how large the hands are.
SHARE * LETTERS WRITE TO US! [email protected]
HOW TO CONTACT US Address your questions or comments on editorial content to Popular Photography, 2 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10016; e-mail, [email protected]. Published letters may be edited for length and clarity. We regret that we cannot answer all letters. Editorial contributions sent by mail must include return postage and will be handled with reasonable care; however, we assume no responsibility for return or safety of photographs, disks, or manuscripts.
SUBSCRIPTIONS Visit PopPhoto.com/cs for all subscription inquiries, call us at 800-876-6636, or email us at [email protected].
Please allow at least 8 weeks for a change of address; include both your old and new addresses, and if possible an address label from a recent issue. Subscription prices: U.S.: 1 year, $14; 2 years, $28; 3 years, $42. Canada: 1 year, $26; 2 years, $52; 3 years, $78. All other foreign: 1 year, $38; 2 years, $76; 3 years, $114. Occasionally we share our information with other reputable companies whose products and services might interest you. If you prefer not to participate, please contact us at [email protected] or popphoto.com/cs.
REPRINTS AND
EPRINTS For Reprints email [email protected].
POPPHOTO.COM MAY 2014 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY 29
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HOW POWERFUL is your flash unit?
And how does the one youre
considering buying compare? We
often get asked for help with this.
Here are the major methods of
rating flash oomphand their
various imperfections.
Guide number (GN): Probably
the most confusing spec, in part
because it was never meant to
rate flash output. GNs original
function was to set the correct
f-stop for proper flash exposure
at a certain distance or vice versa.
Its the arithmetic product of the
two factors: You divide the GN
by one factor to get the other.
So with a flash with a GN of 80
placed 10 feet from your subject,
you would use an aperture of f/8
(80/10 = 8); at 20 feet, f/4.
The earliest electronic flash
guns were strictly manualmost
featured GN dials or sliders that
showed, at a glance, the correct
f-stop for the distance. Flash
units with a higher GN for a given
film speed clearly had more
output than those with lower GN,
so it became a de facto measure
of flash powerand remained
so with the advent of automatic
flash units that vary output.
But GN tells you nothing about
flash coverage: A flash unit rated
GN 80 that covers the angle of
view of a 28mm lens is more
powerful than one of the same
GN than covers only a 50mm
lens. It varies with ISO, so you
must compare GNs at the same
ISO. And while ISO 100 is usually
a standard, some manufacturers
give GNs at other ISOs.
Then there is confusion about
linear measurementsome
manufacturers give GNs for
meters rather than feet. (Rough
conversion: Multiply a GN in
meters by 3.333 to get it in feet.)
Filters, diffusers, and other light
modifiers will affect the GN.
Zooming flash heads add another
variable; a flash with a GN of,
say, 100 for 28mm coverage will
typically have a GN of about 160
with the flash head zoomed to
100mm coverage. And sensor
format has a bearing here: A flash
that covers 18mm for APS-C will
cover about 28mm for full frame.
Beam candle-power seconds
(BCPS): Used by several makers of
studio flashes, this spec rates the
actual output as measured by a
meter, and so is often considered
the most accurate measure
of flash power. ISO and linear
measurement units make no
difference to a BCPS rating, but,
as with GN, the size, shape, and
color of a reflector or modifier
will change this measurement.
Watt-seconds (Ws): Measuring
actual energy (1 Ws = 1 watt
sustained for 1 second), this
spec, used on many studio
strobes, seems like it should be
the most precise. Actually, it has
essentially no bearing on flash
outputits simply a measure
of how much energy can be
stored in the flashs capacitor.
The shape and efficiency of the
flash tube, color and shape of the
reflector, and all the other factors
that can mess with GN and BCPS
also make Ws a pretty imprecise
measuring unit.
Our advice? Always make sure
youre comparing kumquats to
kumquats and pomegranates to
pomegranates when deciding on
flash units. Dont sweat small
differences in flash output
just focus on the important
stuff: ease of use, build quality,
accessories available, and, for
TTL shoe-mount units, the
compatibility of the flash with
your particular camera(s).
Dan Richards
POPPHOTO.COM30 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY MAY 2014
From the No Free Lunch Dept.: A zooming flash head set to cover a longer lens will provide a higher guide number, and hence allow greater flash distancebut the flash may be inadequate in angular coverage.
WE
SLE
Y F
ULG
HU
M (2
)
Flash Decoder
How to read those electronic f ash specs
Flash head
set to 28mm
GN = 100
Flash head
set to 100mm
GN = 160
SHARE * TECH TALK
-
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Two of a KindWant to enter? Get the official rules and upload your images at PopPhoto.com/contests.
SHARE * YOUR BEST SHOT
3rd Place $100 Prize IWAN SUSANTO, 32, IT SPECIALIST, TANGERANG, INDONESIA
One afternoon in late January, I went shooting in the park near my
house, in a tropical garden filled with wild plants and insects where I
often make macro photos. The wet and muddy terrain was a difficult
challenge, but I was able to find this pair of green frogs locked in a unique,
human-like embrace. TECH INFO: Canon EOS Rebel T2i with 100mm f/2.8L
Canon EF Macro lens; 1/400 sec at f/6.3, ISO 400. Saturation, brightness,
shadows, and highlights adjusted in Adobe Photoshop CS5.
This months winners find charismatic pairs of animal subjects
2nd Place $200 Prize JASON LANIER, 39, PHOTOGRAPHER, MURRIETA, CA The Kruger National Park in South Africa is like visiting Jurassic Park.Its going
back in time.I searched and followed this herd of elephants for a while until I found an opening in the brush, wanting to capture
them in a natural frame. When the adult elephant came to protect the baby and started flapping its ears it made for a powerful
image. Shooting in Africa is not like shooting in a zoo. Its real,raw, and dangerous. TECH INFO: Nikon D700 with 28300mm f/3.55.6
VR Zoom-Nikkor lens at 50mm; 1/1000 sec at f/11, ISO 400. Minor edits in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2; sepia filter added in Photoshop CS3.
32 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY MAY 2014 POPPHOTO.COM
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SHARE * YOUR BEST SHOT
1st Place $300 Prize BRAD JENKINS, 75,
BERNARDSVILLE, NJ,
RETIRED
On a November
morning during a
24-day photo safari
put together by Joseph
Van Os, we landed
on the beach of South
Georgia islands St.
Andrews Bay, home
to more then 300,000
king penguins.
Walking the beach, I
saw the chicks were
all in groups, like a
nursery.There were
usually some adults
with them, and I
wanted to capture
them together. By
9 a.m., 6070 mph
katabatic gusts blasted
sand across the beach,
and we had to leave.
What a memorable
experience.
TECH INFO: Canon
EOS 5D Mark II with
100400mm f/4.55.6L
Canon EF IS lens at
170mm; 1/100 sec at
f/22, ISO 320. Minor
edits in Lightroom 5 and
Photoshop CS6.
34 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY MAY 2014
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POPPHOTO.COM POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY 35
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DAV
ID A
RK
Y
MAY 2014 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY 37POPPHOTO.COM
HOWEXPERT TIPS AND TECHNIQUES FOR BETTER PHOTOS
MASTER ADOBE CAMERA RAW
40
42
ADD HUMOR TO YOUR SELFIES AND ROMANCE TO YOUR SEASCAPES
46
41
DISCOVER SAVANNAHS CHARMS
David Arkys
image of
a tripod-
mounted
Canon EOS-1D
X and Sigma
50500mm
f/4.56.3,
shot for us, is
a composite
of four X-rays
with exposure
times varying
from 30 sec
to 7 minutes.
WHEN YOU see really cool X-ray
photographs like the one on this
months cover by New York-based
conceptual still-life photographer
David Arky, you could be forgiven
for hoping that maybe Santa
could score you an X-ray camera
for the holidays this year.
Thats not going to happen,
says an amused Arky, pointing
out that in the U.S. these mach-
ines are tightly regulated. No one
is allowed to X-ray other people
unless its medically necessary.
His skeletal legs on the next page?
They're just that: from a skeleton.
Still, we thought you might
want to learn how Arky actually
makes these amazing photos.
To that endand as the opening
salvo of this months big how-to
feature (page 57)we asked him to
explain how he uses heavy-duty,
industrial-grade cameras for his
more artistic ends.
X-ray cameras for medical use
are low-voltage and often digital
now, but they produce relatively
low quality, screen-resolution
X-RAY ARTISTTurn industrial X-rays into something fun
CREATIVE THINKING
-
HOW * CREATIVE THINKING
files. When Arky began making
X-ray photographs almost 20
years ago, he realized that while
low-voltage devices might be
fine for things like flowers,
many other subjects required
X-ray equipment found in heavy
industry such as aerospace.
Arky forged a relationship with
technicians at an industrial lab
(whom he regards as creative
collaborators) to gain access to
these devices. I learned there are
many kinds of X-ray cameras,
but I work with five that best suit
my needs, he says. They are
infinitely more powerful than a
dentists X-ray.
In the shot on the previous page
of a Canon EOS-1D X and Sigma
50500mm f/4.56.3 APO DG OS
HSM lens that he made for Popular
Photography, Arky took numerous
exposures to get the best-looking
reveal of camera and lens parts.
His final image is a composite of
four shots. The first step is just
to feel the object and get a sense
of whats inside, he says. You
weight the exposure based on the
heft and orientation of the object.
Relying on notes from hundreds
of previous X-rays, he selects a
voltage and exposure time to
serve as his base exposure. After
processing the film and reviewing
the results, he generally ups the
time or voltage to gradually find
the best look for the subjects guts.
The process is simple, but not
always easy, because X-ray film
is a bit imprecisethe reveal isnt
always what he had imagined.
Its a lot of experimentation, he
says, I made four exposures to get
one shot. He and his retoucher
finally scanned and assembled the
composite pieces, before adjusting
color and contrast for the whole.
Above, left: Levi Strauss used Arkys composite of some 30 X-rays for a Dockers ad compaign.Above, right: The artist stands in an X-ray exposure vault, using a plumb bob to align the subject and camera (in X-ray jargon, the gen er ator).
Arky faces a creative challenge
in balancing the contrasting
densities of a subjects interior
and exterior. Many materials
look more dense along the edges
than in the center. Similarly, this
zooms housing is more dense
than its hollow interior, while in
X-rays, ironically, glass appears
the most opaque of almost all
materials.
Despite his many years of X-ray
imaging, Arky never tires of it.
Every time I learn something
new, and it always rekindles that
a-ha! feeling you experienced
when you processed your very
first roll of black-and-white film.
Laurence Chen
SUPPORT A LONG LENS BY THE LENS
THAT TRIPOD COLLAR on your big, heavy telephoto or tele-zoom lens isnt just for affixing the lens to a tripod. It can also help save you from some very expensive grief.
If you carry a camera with a big lens via a strap mounted to the camera body, the weight
of the lens can bend or even break the cameras lensmount flanges. Its much better to
carry the rig on a strap with a tripod-mount fitting (such as a BlackRapid) attached to
the lens collar. (Some very large lenses have actual neckstrap lugs for the same reason.)
Another nice thing about the collar: its tripod platform can be positioned so as to rest on
the palm of your left hand when youre using the (correct) under-the-lens grip, for stable
handheld shooting. Is the tripod collar an extra-cost accessory for your lens? Buy it!
DID YOU KNOW?
38 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY MAY 2014 POPPHOTO.COM
DAV
ID A
RK
Y (X
-RAY); B
RYA
NT C
AR
MO
NA
(S
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)
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WANT AN amusing kick
for your selfies? Dom Reed, a
40-year old software designer
from Cambridge, England, has
made a career of making funny
photos, mostly of himself.
Better known to thousands
of flickr fans as the absurd
Mr. Flibble (www.flickr.com/
photos/flibble/), Reed has
produced hundreds of wacky
self-portraits that appear in his
improbably successful, crowd-
funded book, I Drink Lead Paint.
Flibbleer, Reedhas the
following suggestions for
making guffaw-full photos:
Dont be afraid to look stupid.
People like stupid.
Shoot with wide-angle lenses.
The wider the better. They can
make your nose look really big,
which viewers also tend to find
appealing in a funny/ugly way.
Get to know the Distort tools
in Adobe Photoshop. Reed used
Pinch here to distort his eyes a
bit. Just dont overdo it.
Dont take your camera too
seriously. Just because you paid
thousands for it doesnt mean
you shouldnt do outrageously
silly things with that DSLR.
Peter Kolonia
Laugh LineReed shot with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II and an 50mm f/1.2L Canon EF lens, exposing for 1/200 sec at f/11, ISO 50. For more of his zany self-portraits, go to idrinkleadpaint.com.
DO
M R
EE
D
QUICK TIP
30-SECOND SOFTWARE
HOW * TIPS & TRICKS
Light Blaster What it is: A slide
or transparency projector, the Light Blaster (starting at $99, direct; www.light-blaster.com) uses a shoe-mount flashs output to cast images or light patterns.
Whats included: You supply a standard SLR lens and the flash, while the Light Blaster provides a slide/transparency carriage, its housing, and a lightstand post. (The pistol grip shown below is an optional accessory.)
How it works: As the cameras shutter opens, the flash fires either in a wired or wireless (e.g. via optical slave) mode, projecting a transparencys image onto a scene. You bring the image to maximum sharpness by focusing the lens.
Put some humor in your photos
FILM IN LIGHTROOM
Plug-ins for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom can be great, but they can also
be frustrating since LR has to make a TIFF, costing you RAW flexibility.
To avoid going to a plug-in when you want to apply a more basic effect
such as an analog film simulation, try VSCOs Film 05 in LR 4 or 5. Load
the presets onto your system and select your camera brand, then the
film type you need. Next go to VSCO Film Toolkit set to choose from
modification presets. You can use those to go easier on the grain, say,
or bring back detail in the shadows. Debbie Grossman
40 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY MAY 2014
BEFORE AFTER
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WIN
TH
RO
PE
HIE
RS
HOW * TRAVELING PHOTOGRAPHER
POPPHOTO.COM POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY 41
IN MAY, Savannahs city parks
are decked out in the brilliant
pink plumes of crepe myrtle and
showy white magnolia flowers,
says local photographer and
history teacher Winthrope Hiers.
And mixing scenic beauty with
history is a Savannah trademark.
Forsyth Park, first laid out in
the 1840s, is a favorite of Hiers.
The north end, its paths lined in
magnolia and live oak dripping
with Spanish moss, is particularly
pretty, he says. The moss
photographs nicely backlit in the
early morning or late day sun.
He recommends photographing
the parks historic fountain.
Installed in 1858, it appears in
photos that a Mathew Brady
associate took during Gen.
Shermans famous march. Best
vantage point: Where Bull Street
meets the park looking south.
Savannah has the largest
historic district in the country
perfect for walkers and history-
History blossoms in Savannahs byways
GOSOUTH
SAVORINGSAVANNAH So much history, so little time! Grab a mint julep and visit some this citys most charming points of interestincluding a great photo exhibit.
OBONAVENTURE CEMETERY www.
bonaventurehistorical.org Described
as part natural cathedral, part sculpture
garden, this cemetery is featured in the
book and movie Midnight in the Garden
of Good and Evil, and photographer
Jack Leigh, who shot the books famous
cover, is buried there. Nothing says
spooky like a 150-year-old cemetery
dripping with Spanish moss. Open to the
public daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
OGEORGIA STATE RAILROAD MUSEUM
railga.com/oddend/roundhouse.html
Largest and oldest existing 19th-century
railroad complex in the countryit
dates from 1850, and 13 of its original
buildings still remain. On display: steam
and diesel locomotives, rail cars, and a
fully operational turntable.
OJEPSON CENTER www.telfair.org
This downtown-Savannah museurm is
showing the work of legendary New York
street photographer Helen Levitt through
September 21.
OSAVANNAH NATIONAL WILDLIFE
REFUGE www.fws.gov/savannah
On U.S. Highway 17, six miles north of
Savannah, the refuge offers more than
29,000 acres of freshwater marshes
and tidal rivers, with critters including
ducks, wading birds, shorebirds, and
endangered species like wood storks
and manatees. The refuge has alligators,
too, so watch your toes!
lovers, says Hiers. He suggests:
Bull Street. Starting at City Hall
on Bay Street, head south on
Bull to pass through picturesque
squares and admire historic
homes and Civil War-era sites.
Streets around Forsyth Park.
Classic ginger bread homes line
three of the parks four sides.
Factors Walk. Between Bay
Street and River Street, this
offers striking stone archways
for warehouses that have been
linked to slave auctions.
Talmadge Memorial Bridge.
It dominates the skyline. Go at
sunset and add a well-lit river-
boat as a fore ground focal point.
Jeff Wignall
Winthrope Hiers shot these houses along the 400 block of Savannahs East Hunting-don Street using a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828. Exposure unrecorded.
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HOW * SOFTWARE WORKSHOP SIMPLE COMPLEX
PH
ILIP
RYA
N
IF YOU have Adobe Photoshop,
you already have a great RAW
converter on your hands in the
form of Adobe Camera Raw.
Because it maintains feature
parity with Lightroom, its new
tools keep piling up. But because
its interface hasnt had an
overhaul in a long time, you may
not know a lot of them are there,
42 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY MAY 2014
SIX RAW TIPS Creative Clouds ACR has all kinds of cool features; we used the interactive histogram to fix this photoss exposure.
and even if you do, you may have
some trouble locating them.
Getting familiar with the
intricacies of ACR can be esp-
ecially important if you dont like
the RAW software that came with
your camera (or if it didnt come
with any). And it can be even
more important if you dont use
an application like Lightroom,
Phase One Capture One Pro/
Express, or Apple Aperture to
organize and process your RAW
files. So follow along to make
sure youre getting the most out
of Photoshop CCs version of this
stalwart converter. Even if you
use it all the time, youll likely
pick up something helpful.
Debbie Grossman
How to use Adobe Camera
Raws best new features
-
1
2
3
Tip 1If you double-click on a
RAW file in Bridge, the
program will, by default,
run ACR within Photoshop.
To avoid opening that app
if it isnt necessary (or tying
it up if you need to work
on another image), run
ACR through Bridge. Go to
Bridges Preferences, then
check the box for Double-
Click Edits Camera Raw
Settings in Bridge. Click
OK. If you prefer to open
RAW files in Bridge only on
demand, you can highlight
your file or files and then
type Ctrl (Command) + R.
Tip 2In Creative Cloud, youll no longer find
resolution options under the Crop tool.
Insteadand even betteryou can create
custom presets for output. Directly below
your image youll see a summary of the
settings by which your image will be
processed when you open it or save it.
Click on these, your Workflow Options, to
adjust. To make a preset for web sharing,
for example, set your Color
Space to sRGB, and choose
an appropriately small Image
Size. You can adjust Output
Sharpening here, too. When back
in ACR, right-click or Ctrl+click
on the Workflow Options to
choose the preset you need.
Tip 3One of ACRs fun (and useful) features in
CC is the interactive histogram. Instead
of guessing which slider represents which
range of tones, you can just click and drag
on the histogram itself. Grab the midtones
and drag them right to brighten your
image; its respective slider will move
accordingly. If necessary, do the same with
Shadows, Highlights, Whites, and Blacks.
POPPHOTO.COM POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY 43
Print Preview Now you can soft proof
via ACR. In Workflow Options, set a paper
profile and intent under Color Space.
-
Tip 4Spot removal was never one of
Camera Raws strong suitsif you
had something long, like a telephone
wire, to remove, you had to keep
adding spots. But now you can paint
on spot removal. Type B to access the
tool, or just find it in the toolbar. Use
the left and right bracket keys to
shrink or expand your brush to
a size slightly larger than what
you want to remove, and paint
the offending area out. Note
that the tools options now
include Feather; use this slider
to fine-tune your brush edge.
Type B again to exit the tool.
Tip 5To reduce color noise in a new way,
head to the Detail panel. Zoom
in to 100%. After you make your
adjustments for Luminance and Color
noise reduction, minimize the colored
patchiness that sometimes occurs in
areas where there should be smooth
tone. Move the new Color Smoothness
slider to the right. If it desaturates too
much, pull it back to the left until the
effect is just barely noticeable.
Tip 6The Radial Filter is a quick way to
focus an adjustment on a specific
circular or oval-shaped area. This
can be useful when you want to add
a vignette but dont want it centered,
or as a shortcut when you dont need
to paint on your selective adjustment.
Get it by typing J. Use the crosshairs
to draw a circle around the area you
want to affect, and move the central
red dot to reposition if necessary.
Adjust your feathering (or make any
other adjustment youd like), and
choose whether you want the Effect
to happen inside or outside the circle.
44 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY MAY 2014
HOW * SOFTWARE WORKSHOP
5
4
6
Adjust the SampleAfter painting, youll still need to grab
the area, circled in green, and move it to
a sampling spot that works.
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46 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY MAY 2014
DA
RR
EN
MO
OR
E
DREAMSCENE
HOW * YOU CAN DO IT
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POPPHOTO.COM POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY 47
Moore shot with a tripod-mounted Nikon D7000 and 1770mm f/2.84 Sigma lens with 10-stop ND filter; 79 sec at f/11, ISO 100.
Step 1Gather your gear. Start with a
camera that allows bulb
settings, a sturdy tripod, and
neutral-density flters (with or
without a holder) for your lens. A
telephoto lens will give you a deep
working distance that lets you
shoot far from the waters edge.
Also, a remote shutter release will
let you fre the camera without
jogging it.
Step 2 Find the right beach. You will
want a sheltered location with
a gentle surf and a minimum of
swimmers in your background to
clutter it up.
Step 3Wait for the right conditions.
Moore went early in the morning
of an overcast day to take
advantage of its soft light, hazy
horizon, and lack of crowds.
Step 4Make your (long) exposures.
After mounting your rig and
composing the scene, ask the
model to hold absolutely still for
the duration of the exposures,
which could be a minute or more.
The pose should be natural,
have some visual interest, and
be easy to hold. You may want
your model to turn away from the
camera to avoid a blurred face.
Final StepFinesse the scene in software.
Moore wanted to exaggerate the
dreamlike quality of the scene by
getting rid of background detail.
This included the horizon line,
which he eliminated by selecting
it with Adobe Photoshop CS6s
Marquee tool and applying a
Gaussian blur to the selection.
SIMPLE COMPLEX
TO FLIP mundane seascapes
into something more magical,
the secret is simple: lengthen
your exposure times to a
full minute or more. Darren
Moore, a photographer
from Surrey, England, has
mastered this technique. As
you can see in his dozens of
hauntingly beautiful images
(www.darrenmoorephotography.
com), his seascapes are more
like dreamscapes, free of the
clutter, grime, and boring detail
of everyday scenes.
The cool thing here is that you
really can do this yourself. All it
takes is a camera that lets you
set long exposure times, a tripod
to hold your camera steady, and,
assuming you want to shoot in
daylightand not in the dead of
nighta neutral-density filter to
thread over your lens.
Neutral-density (ND) filters cut
the light reaching your cameras
image sensor or film without
affecting overall color balance.
They let you make accurate
daylight exposures that are
measured in minutes, not the
more usual fractions of seconds.
ND filters are calibrated
logarithmically, however, which
can lead to some confusion. An
ND filter that blocks 1 stop of
light, for example, is commonly
labeled 0.3; a filter that blocks 2
stops is labeled 0.6; and so on up
the line. The maximum-strength
3.0 filter will dim down a scene
by 10 full stops.
You can buy screw-in ND
filters of different densities to fit
each of your favorite lenses, or
get a kit with a standard holder
(such as the Cokin) that works
with a variety of lens sizes.
Variable ND filters, such as those
from Hoya and Tiffen, let you
dial in up to 9 stops of neutral
density. Peter Kolonia
Conjure up some scenic magic
To capture his model as sharply as possible Moore used a Pixel TW-282 wireless camera trigger (A). His 10-stop 72mm B+W Neutral Density filter (B)and Vanguard Auctus Plus 283AT tripod (C) allowed the long 79-sec exposure that blurred the motion of the surf.
A
C
B
-
David Roman - RomanDA Photography
FOLLOW US ONMentor Series Ultimate Photo Adventure
David Roman - RomanDA Photography
Jason Barnette Bonnie J. Cameron
-
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.QRZQIRULWVEHDXWLIXOYLHZVDQGODLGEDFNYLEH)ROO\%HDFKLVDJUHDWSODFH WRSOD\ LQ WKHZDYHV FROOHFW VHDVKHOOV DQGZDWFKD OD]\VXQVHWRYHUWKHVKRUH:HKDYHVHOHFWHG)ROO\%HDFKZLWK LWVVFHQLF ILVKLQJSLHUDQGOLJKWKRXVHYLHZVIRUDZRUNVKRSIRFXVHGRQSRUWUDLWXUHDQGOLJKWLQJWHFKQLTXHV
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50 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY MAY 2014
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Mitch Dobrowner merges the artistry of a monochrome master with the daring of a weather chaser. Heres how does it.
Photos by Mitch Dobrowner; interview by Jon Blistein
Howd you get started?As a teenager in the early 1970s,
I was mainly about fast cars,
motorcycles, women, and getting
in trouble. Hoping to get me on a
different path, my father gave me
an old Argus rangefnder cam-
era. It worked. I ended up with
a scholarship to Pratt Institute,
which I passed on because I didn't
want to drive from Long Island to
Brooklyn every day. My parents
said, Do something, so I went to
Manhattan and started assisting.
At one point I was working
for Hashi; Canon was one of his
clients. I showed someone from
the company my personal work
and they gave me some funding.
I used that to get the heck out of
New York. I had been exposed to
a lot of Ansel Adams, and, hav-
ing grown up in New York, those
landscapes just blew my mind.
They looked like another planet to
me, and I had to go see them.
I experimented with shooting
tungsten flm in daylight, using
infrared, taking Ektachrome and
developing it in C41, reversing
things and using different types
of fltersit was all so much fun.
I was taking red, green, and blue
flters and using triple-exposures
and coming out with things that
looked like they were exposed cor-
rectly but were multiple exposures
on a single frame. That taught me
about learning the fundamentals
but doing my own thing.
Then I met my wife and I
dropped photography for 20 years.
We had our own design company,
doing images for the TV networks.
What led you to storms?I was shooting landscapes and
always found myself in the worst
weather because the light was the
most interesting. [Storm chaser]
Sean Casey lived behind me; he
recommended someone I could
go out with. I had this vision in
my mind of what I wanted to
shoot; Caseys friend recom-
mended I go to South Dakota.
POPPHOTO.COM POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY 51
-
The next year I upgraded to a
Canon EOS 5D Mark II. I really
like live view for shooting storms
and landscapes. I come from a
view-camera and wet-darkroom
background, and composing in
live view looked like ground glass
to me. I dont understand why
people still use optical viewfnd-
ers for landscapes. Now I shoot
with two lenses: a 24105mm and
a 70200mm. You give up a bit of
sharpness with a zoom but you
can compose on the fyyou dont
have time to switch lenses or cam-
eras because it all changes so fast.
Do you use flters?Yup. I have two 5D Mark IIsone
thats modifed for full spectrum
(the IR and anti-aliasing flters
have been removed) and another
that is not modifed. I think,
Whats the environment look like?
Whats the light look like? Then I
choose how to flter based on
what I see. In a lower-contrast or
overcast situation without a lot
of directional light, Ill use the
body without the sensor flters. It
gives me the opportunity to add
screw-on flters to the lens. I can
block parts of the spectrum based
How has your technique evolved over the years?Shooting storms is kind of a
hybrid of shooting a quiet land-
scape and a sports event: Compo-
sitions are constantly changing,
the lights changing, theres wind,
theres noise, theres a lot going
on and you have to stay focused.
I used a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-R1
when I started in 2009, which
wasnt the optimal camera for
storms. It was really limited to
landscapes, but I did get some of
my best shots that frst year, and
it was great for lightning strikes.
GALATIA, KANSAS
Arm of God, 2009. Sony Cyber-shot DSC-R1, 1/4 sec at f/8, ISO 160.
52 POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY MAY 2014
LAKE
POINSETT, SD
Previous
page: Storm
Over Field,
2010. Canon
EOS 5D Mark
II, 24105mm
f/4L Canon
lens; 1 sec at
f/8, ISO 100.
-
ground the pictures, but I think
everybody has to have their own
vision. Its OK to go and use the
rulesAnsel Adams has obviously
infuenced me a lot but thats a
foundation to deviate from.
Why monochrome mode?I shoot in RAW but in mono-
chrome mode so I can see a pre-
view of what Im shooting. Unlike
with a flm camera, I dont have
to imagine what it will look like
in black-and-white, I can actually
on the way the situation looks. I
dont like the camera manufac-
turer telling me how I should see
or expose. I like the freedom to
pick and choose the way I want
to do things. I also use flters with
digital the way I did when shoot-
ing black-and-white flm. Red
(25), green, and blue flters are
still important components in my
arsenal. If I want to darken a sky
Ill use a red flter or a polarizer.
Do you adjust on the fy?When I drop my tripod, Im usu-
ally set up at 50mm f/8 and half
a secondand focused at infnity.
Sometimes you drive 500 miles
and drop your tripod and the
perfect composition happens the
second you drop it, sometimes a
half an hour later. I dont shoot
much. In a 10-day trip I might
fll up two 16GB cards, but I only
shoot sequentially if Im trying to
capture a lightning strike.
I dont use rules of composition.
The main thing is just what looks
good to me. A lot of my shots have
a horizon in them, which helps
NO. DAKOTA & NEW MEXICOFrom top: Rope Out, Regan, ND, 2011. Canon 5D Mark II, 24105mm; 1/6 sec at f/8, ISO 100. Shiprock and Cloud, Navajo Nation, 2013. Sony R1; 20 sec at f/6.3, ISO 160.
POPPHOTO.COM POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY 53
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see it. When I convert my RAW
fle, all I do is take saturation and
turn it to 0 and it looks very, very
close to what I originally shot. Part
two is prints: My fnal product
and vision is the print. I print on
Epson Stylus Pro 9900 printers
using Epsons ABW driver. After all
the experimenting Ive found that
the ABW driver gives me the most
neutral black-and-white prints.
How do you prepare for a shoot?When I hear music I see colors,
and when I do photography most
times I see the picture in my brain
before I go out. I do a self-check
and see where Im at, what Im
looking to do, think of what I want
to capturewhats my goal? Like
that tornado shot: Before I went
on that trip I knew I wanted to
capture an iconic tornado. The Wiz-
ard of Oz made a big impact on me
when I was a kid, and I just always
envisioned this iconic tornado
shot and then it was there. All of
a sudden I was standing in North
Dakota and theres this thing.
How do you deal with the weather itself?I found that a cotton