Behind the Glass Eye

DIY Vertical Studio Fluorescent Lights for about $50

2010-05-25T01:27:00.001-05:00

I researched around for bulbs to get, and found that some newer Fluorescent bulbs are pretty reasonable color accuracy and offer the best lumens/watt/$ of about any light source. After scouring the Internet for information, I didn't find much, but found that Home Depot had a selection of daylight balanced bulbs.

I wandered through their selection and found some CFL bulbs that were daylight balanced for $8.00 each, but that is fairly pricey given they are only 27 watts or so (and probably not as bright as an equivalent tube fluorescent with external ballast). I would probably need 6 or 8 of them to get the scene bright enough, and I would have to make a suitable fixture to hold the bulbs by wiring something up.

Instead I wandered the fluorescent fixtures and found a Lithonia Lighting Shoplight for $10 ea, and they each take 2 T12 bulbs, which matched the Philips Natural Sunshine (5000k and 92 CRI, color rendering index) bulbs that they had for about $5 each (40 watts, 2200 lumens). The only other tube T8 bulbs that were near daylight or flash color temperature had to be purchased by the case. I was hoping for a fixture with a nice diffuser, but they were all in the $50+ price range (per fixture), and it turns out the fluorescent tubes are soft enough light without any diffuser.

The only trick was mounting the fixtures, they were designed for hanging so they aren't supposed to be flush mounted. I built a simple stand using some 1x4" pine I had left over from other projects, and hung the lamp at the top using a 30 lb picture frame hanger, and drilled a large hole in the middle right below the lamp to feed the power cord through and keep the lamp from swinging. Very simple to make, I was able to complete the project by my deadline (before the Season finale of Lost), and under my budget of $50. If I had to buy the wood it might have cost more like $60.

The important thing with the base is to make it wide enough that the lamp doesn't tip over, and make sure the vertical is supported on at least one side by a sturdy bracket. I originally tried just the metal L bracket I had laying around, but it wasn't sturdy so I added the wood support as well.

The hole keeps the lamp from swinging around and also keeps the cord out of the way.

I have mine supported only by a picture frame hook. I wouldn't mind adding a sturdier bracket to support it, but build according to your needs. If you have a dog that might knock the thing over you might want to build the base a little larger and attach the light more securely (although my picture frame hook seems more than adequate).

Enjoy. This is useful for still life photographs, misc small objects, etc. I don't think the light color would be up to critical work, but does well enough for my test charts. I am not testing color though. Overall this is a nice setup that produces almost no heat. The lights do flicker a little, not enough to be very visible, but enough that it tricks the camera meter a little.

Eric

A Sad Day

2010-05-23T02:08:00.000-05:00

I dropped my Schneider Kreuznach Curtagon 28mm f/4 on the cement a few days ago. I figured it was fine besides the filter threads, but not so. I ran a resolution test of it today and noticed that it was strongly decentered.

I love some of these older lenses like this as they aren't necessarily large aperture, but they are better corrected than many current lenses. This old Curtagon has virtually no distortion, and very little CA and is fairly sharp.

Notice the blue on the right side of the image? That is really soft, around 800 LW/PH or less. It looks like a ghosted image or something and basically covers the entire right half of the frame.

A sad day, at least I don't have much invested in the lens.

Eric

Last Breath

2010-01-26T00:02:00.001-06:00

Photo 16 of 52:

I finally got around to taking another weekly shot. I got home and had to shovel the drive a bit before I could park my car. The temperature plummeted today and the wind was blowing. I loved the light in front of the car with the blowing snow so I thought why not lay down and look like I was dead ;)

So often I will get an urge like this to take a photo. Usually I don't, as I think something along the lines of looking like an idiot, being lazy and not wanting to get my tripod out, or I will make some other excuse, but tonight I decided to follow through.

The cell phone I added after doing 10 or so shots (I am sure the neighbors think I am nuts) as it draw attention to the shadows in the foreground. I didn't totally like this composition, but it had the main compositional elements I wanted. The others I was too close to the car, too far away, laying at a funny angle, etc. This one seemed the bet compromise. I cloned out the license plate on the car quickly with Lightroom.

And the view as I originally saw the light by itself:

The reason I didn't use this with me lying in front, is I took up too much of the image and blocked the car significantly. It was a bit harder to see what was going on, but I still like the shot.

Eric

Forest of Fire and Ice, Year 2

2010-01-02T22:47:00.000-06:00

The Jet Stream has been pumping cold air into the midwest again, I have a killer chest cold, and the temperature has fallen to only -10 °F (-23 °C), it isn't supposed to be above 15 °F (-9 °C) for a week, what better morning to go out and take pictures?

The last time I came out in such cold I made the mistake of leaving my snowshoes in the car and didn't bring a ski mask. This year I remembered to bring both. I head to my regular spot at Boyson Park, hoping to catch the light at the springs again. I missed some shots last year because I accidentally turned off shake reduction, and I showed up a bit too late.

The air is crisp and calm as I begin my walk into the forest. My jacket becomes stiff from the cold. The snowshoe cleats crunch on the frozen snow and ice. My breath blows regular clouds of fog into the air. A large reddish slash cuts across the horizon behind the trees, separating the dark blue sky from the ground. Each step sounds as though I am awakening the entire forest. I felt out of place; as though I were the harbinger of the day waking the woods from a peaceful sleep.

I walk from the path to the forest deftly avoiding the brambles and deep snow drifts I became entangled in last year, and went out to the corn field. I snapped a few images and quickly noticed the white balance was off. Thinking of course that it was the camera, I quickly set it to CTE white balance and it immediately looked much better. Later I came to realize the tinting on the ski goggles I was wearing was throwing off how I observed the review image, and it wasn't the camera after all.

Not being inspired by the corn field, I went back to the springs where I arrived a bit late the year before. I watched the sun rise with a pair of leaves, and then I walked around the springs and climbed up on a wall on the far side to avoid looking through a chain link fence.

And was it a sight to behold. As soon as the sun poked through the trees and started hitting the water, large amounts of steam started to rise from the surface, and the light shining through the forest made beautiful rays. The wood of the trees appeared to be on fire. Divine.

After about two hours out in the cold, and the zoom ring on my lens starting to freeze up, I decided to head back to the car. I see a hat hanging in the tree, and think to myself, "why is the hat hanging in the tree? Wait, why is my head cooler? ... ah, that is my hat". I used it as a photo opportunity.

It was a fine morning. I am glad I made the time to go. I wish I had time to see every sunrise and set; like every one of us, each one is different. I only wish the pictures could do it justice.

Eric

See my flickr photostream

Smoky Mountain Beauty

2009-12-17T21:48:00.002-06:00

North Georgia contains some beautiful country. I love getting up in the mountains and immersing myself in natures wonders. The skies cleared up from the heavy rains, and showed the wonder of the smoky mountains.

The sun shining brightly above

The streams form into pleasing waterfalls

and run down to form beautiful lakes, reflecting under the blue skies

and you never know what you will find in the next mountain valley

The path glows with light, illuminating the floor of the dark forest

Trees lie in slow decay

and the sun sets early, casting its long shadow

Oh the beauty of Georgia.

I love the mountains, whether the Great Smokies or the Rockies, there is always something to photograph.

Eric

My Flickr Photo Stream

Cold Times with the K-7

2009-12-09T18:57:00.000-06:00

Having used the K20d in extremely cold weather, I have been waiting for a chance to use my K-7 and SMCP DA★ 60-250mm f/4 in similar. I lucked out today in that work was canceled due to 12" (30 cm) of snow, strong winds, and a temperature of 8 °F (-13 °C). What better time to break out the snowshoes and go for an hour hike in the woods?

The first picture of Luna trying to stay warm. I took this shot because the camera records to temperature inside the camera body in the EXIF data and I needed a baseline shot. Camera had been sitting inside.
Camera temperature: 70 °F (21 °C)

I drove to the park and unloaded my gear and put my snowshoes on. It took me a few minutes to get ready and I had my camera set on the cold ground while I was getting ready. I took a shot near the beginning to get the initial outdoor temperature of the camera. Ambient temperature started at about 12 °F (-11 °C)and ended at about 8 °F (-13 °C).
Camera temperature: 48 °F (9 °C), 3:40 pm (EXIF is off by 1 hour).

Then I walked around for a bit and took a picture of the stream,
Camera temperature: 37 °F (3 °C), 3:50 pm

Held up an electricity pylon to keep it from falling over,
Camera temperature: 28 °F (-2 °C), 4:05 pm

Walked through the forest,
Camera temperature: 27 °F (-3 °C), 4:13 pm

Waved my hands at another pylon,
Camera temperature: 25 °F (-4 °C), 4:17 pm

Left some tracks in the snow,
Camera temperature: 25 °F (-4 °C), 4:24 pm

and finally watched a tree try to blow away, but settled for being buried by snow,
Camera temperature: 23 °F (-5 °C), 4:28 pm

The camera had no hiccups in the extreme cold today, now I can't wait to try it in sub 0 °F conditions, but that will have to wait for a cold day. The zoom ring on the 60-250mm did get slightly stiff, but was still very usable. Focus was perfectly smooth, and I noticed no impact to focus performance. Battery is still showing full after 150 pictures or so in the cold.

I was surprised at how easy the K-7 was to use with ski gloves given the small button size. The worst part is actually the locking mode dial, which I find easy with no gloves (middle and thumb to turn, with index finger depressing the lock). T

Touching a metal camera body with your hands at sub zero temperatures is not so pleasant, but whatever finish the camera has helps a bit. Thankfully you should be wearing gloves if the temperature is below freezing.

What I notice is that this K-7 operates significantly cooler than the K20d, which maintained an internal temperature above freezing in much colder ambient temperatures (about -25 to -30 °F). When the weather gets extremely cold I might do a stress test to see how long the camera will run before shutting down.

Another great cold weather Pentax, but I do need to dress warmer next time as I thought I might freeze :)

Eric

See my Flickr Photostream

Scale Falls

2009-11-25T19:57:00.000-06:00

Week 15: Scale Falls.

Scale model truck (Radio Controlled) sitting in front of a waterfall. The goal was to show the truck an environment that makes the 1/10th scale truck difficult to determine.

I had to climb out into the water fall to get the shot. The water must have been only 50 degrees or less, so it was a bit cold on the feet. Good thing it was fairly warm outside.

Here is the setup shot:

I used the DA* 60-250mm f/4 because it was weather sealed and it provided the reach and background separation I wanted. Don't be afraid to get dirty to get the shot you want.

Eric

Cat Dreams

2009-11-17T22:58:00.002-06:00

These litter-mates lay peacefully, deep in sleep, dreaming about what tomorrow will bring.

How neatly a cat sleeps,
Sleeps with its paws and its posture,
Sleeps with its wicked claws,
And with its unfeeling blood,
Sleeps with ALL the rings a series
Of burnt circles which have formed
The odd geology of its sand-colored tail.

I should like to sleep like a cat,
With all the fur of time,
With a tongue rough as flint,
With the dry sex of fire and
After speaking to no one,
Stretch myself over the world,
Over roofs and landscapes,
With a passionate desire
To hunt the rats in my dreams.

I have seen how the cat asleep
Would undulate, how the night flowed
Through it like dark water and at times,
It was going to fall or possibly
Plunge into the bare deserted snowdrifts.

Sometimes it grew so much in sleep
Like a tiger's great-grandfather,
And would leap in the darkness over
Rooftops, clouds and volcanoes.

Sleep, sleep cat of the night with
Episcopal ceremony and your stone-carved moustache.
Take care of all our dreams
Control the obscurity
Of our slumbering prowess
With your relentless HEART
And the great ruff of your tail.
-- Pablo Neruda

Eric

Infrared Photography and Panasonic Lumix Infrared IR Conversion DMC-LZ5

2009-11-14T12:21:00.005-06:00

Taken with the IR Converted Panasonic DMC-LZ5

Our eyes can only see a small slice of the energy radiated from the Sun. We call the energy that we can see "Light". If we look at a rainbow there are the 7 colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. However, there is energy that is high frequency than Violet called "Ultra Violet" (UV) and energy that is lower frequency than red called "Infra Red" (IR).

Thankfully, digital sensors are very sensitive to light in the near infrared spectrum, but the sensors are not sensitive to heat that is far beyond the visible red light (far infrared). Energy with a wavelength of about 10,000 nm is perceived by us as heat, and it takes a different kind of camera to see heat.

However, since digital sensors are so sensitive to IR, the manufacturers install IR cut filters directly on the sensor to prevent the IR from spoiling color photographs (it turns black clothes gray, etc). Because of this it is best to convert the camera by removing the IR cut filter, although you can still take IR pictures without doing this, the shutter speeds will be very long.

You might also be thinking UV, but light in the UV sepectrum is mostly filtered out by the superb modern coatings on the lenses (and the glass itself), but the sensors are sensitive to it. Some older lenses or specialized quartz lenses can focus UV effectively.

The camera sees IR as intensity, with no hue or saturation to it. A true IR picture will therefore be black and white. If an IR picture is B&W, what is the point of using IR instead of visible B&W? Because objects in the world do not reflect IR the same as they reflect visible light.

IR is reflected from foliage in pretty uniform intensity, so pretty much all foliage will appear gray or white on an IR image. Also, a clear blue sky reflects almost not IR energy and will appear nearly black. IR is an excellent way to separate foliage from man made objects, and more. For example, a statue in a flower garden stands out as black against white, a traditional B&W would be lower contrast here.

Non-converted IR camera with 720 nm filter, B&W (Fujifilm S1 Pro)

Similar shot in visible light (Pentax K-2000)

Light has an associated wavelength to it. This wavelength determines if we can see the color of light or not. Infrared is everything above approximately 700 nm, and ultra violet is everything below approximately 400 nm. The smaller the wavelength the higher frequency, so 400 nm is a high frequency and 700 nm is a lower frequency.

Don't worry too much about these numbers, except when buying infrared filters. A 720 nm filter cuts off light below 720 nm, so only IR above 720 nm gets through (these filters look black if you look try to look through them). A 720 nm filter still lets some visible red through, but an 800 nm filter or above cuts off nearly all visible light and will offer a nearly black and white picture.

So how do you get started in IR? Well first, you need an IR filter. If you have an SLR you can just screw this filter into the lens and take a picture. The issue is you can't see to focus or compose, but the AF sensors in the camera should be capable of focusing IR light automatically. If you haven't modified the camera, the shutter speeds will be very long too, several seconds at ISO 100 in bright daylight.

If you aren't handy with tools you might buy a camera that has been converted to IR. This is a camera that has had the IR cut filter removed and replaced with an IR filter on the sensor (or left with no filter and the IR filter is placed on the lens.

What is involved in converting a camera to IR? If you are serious you can watch these 3 videos of me converting a Panasonic DMC-LZ5 to IR. The videos are a total of about 20 minutes (how long it took me to do the conversion).

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

So, if you want to get into IR photography, first you need a filter, then ideally you need a converted camera, and finally, you need to get out and take pictures! It is a blast.

Eric
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28177041@N03/tags/infrared/

Some other IR sources:
http://www.jr-worldwi.de/photo/index.html (a lot more detailed than I am here).
http://www.lifepixel.com/IR.htm (commercial site for conversions)
http://www.maxmax.com/ (commercial site for conversions)

Saving that Shot

2009-11-03T20:48:00.003-06:00

Had an idea for a shot that didn't quite turn out how you expected? Don't fret. Save the day in post processing. The above is how I pictured the shot in my head. A strong contrast B&W with a view outside the window. However, what I ended up with was the following.

I wanted her hand on the window, but when I converted to B&W it was in an awkward position that looked like she was giving a sign in mid air once I corrected the exposure. The initial shot was under exposed by about 2 f-stops from what I wanted. The light on her face wasn't strong enough relative to the outside light, and overall it would appear a dismal failure.

So how did I save the image? An inexpensive layer editing program for the Mac called Pixelmator. Once I learned how to properly use the program by reading Internet tutorials, I exported a partially corrected image from Lightroom that was near the exposure I wanted. I did this because Pixelmator can only develop RAWs with the default JPG setting.

Once in Pixelmator you duplicate the layer, adjust the exposure how you want, put the original layer on top, and then erase the original area where you want the adjusted areas to show through. Once you complete that step, you can merge the layers back into one. You repeat this several times until you end up with an image how you want.

After the exposure was set right I cloned out the awkward looking hand, and applied any other filters I wanted.

The question always remains, why didn't I just capture the photograph how I wanted in the first place? Well, first off, the camera doesn't allow strong enough curves for my B&W tastes, so post processing is required. And sometimes, you just don't see the shot until you get home and start processing. The important thing with B&W conversions is to capture the difference in light with the camera. Processing can be used to tweak it exactly how you want.

Eric

Raging Water

2009-10-18T23:35:00.000-05:00

Week 10: Raging Water and How I Almost Went for a Swim with an Expensive Camera.

This is one of those shots I have to ask myself after I took it, was it worth it? I think so. I almost dunked my K-7 with 16-45mm twice, got my feet soaked and almost sent some kid fishing plunging into the water when I slipped :)

When I was in the water I grabbed the camera release instead on the tripod instead of the ball head adjustment lever and the camera flipped forward and plunged toward the water. Good thing my other hand was in front of the camera and was able to stop its fall.

It is hard to get a good angle on these falls from the shore, so I waded out to the middle and set up my tripod. I needed the tripod for the long shutter speed effect. I don't have a suitable neutral density filter so I set the camera to 1/10th second and multi exposure mode and took 9 successive images which the camera combined automatically into a final image. The multi exposure mode gives the same effect as a really long shutter speed, maybe like 10 or 20 seconds equivalent.

Would I do it again? You betchya, but I might be more careful on the mossy rocks. Crampons or something would help a lot as well as water proof boots. My pant leg is still wet.

Eric

End to my 365 Day Project (a couple months late)

2009-10-15T21:51:00.001-05:00

I finally finished my 365 days project. When I first started I hated pictures of myself and would never dream of taking pictures of myself. Which is why I took up this challenge, and I am glad I did. It was rewarding. I feel like I finally accomplished a year long project. Something I don't do very often.

The main benefit of the 365 was it kept me taking photos every day. I won't lie though, some weeks I just didn't care about it, but I did the pictures anyway and it kept me going. This next year I have something different planned. I want to take more planned/pre-meditated photos, as I think that is a big weakness of mine, I tend to take mostly candid shots.

My thank you goes out to Keitha and Jens that got me started on the project in the first place, and everyone else who has given me support. Especially my wife who is still married to me after the year :)

If you are thinking about doing a 365 self portrait project, and are hesitant to get started because you are afraid of how you look on frame. Don't be. Start today. To get over seeing yourself in the picture, take several shots from several different angles. You will find angles that are more flattering than others. Notice how I avoid the top of my head? The hair is thin and reminds me I am going bald. Same with my belly.

If anyone plans on starting a project and needs the moral support, feel free to add me as a contact on Flickr (follow one of the links below to get to my profile) and I promise to follow your 365 throughout the year :)

I had a great year, and thanks for looking.

I shot most of these with my Pentax DSLR, mostly the K20d, K-2000, and K-7 (since it came out). A couple of the shots below were with the 5d or Pentax 645 too.

Eric

Interesting shot stats:
Black and White 85
Hands/Feet: 57
Camera/Lens Included: 34
Reflection: 32
Silhouette: 20
Dangerous Weapons: 13
Film: 11
Eyes: 9
Martial Arts Uniform: 9
Shadow: 5
Fire: 5
Holding Film: 3
Topless: 2

Some of my favorites:

Kiss the Girl 6/52

2009-09-19T19:55:00.000-05:00

View On Black

Week 6 of 52: ♫ Kiss the Girl ♫

A friend asked me to shoot engagement shots with him, so I needed to find a photographer to model my weekly shot from. Another friend had mentioned a local wedding/engagement photographer name Brian Hall, www.brianhallphotographers.com/main.html.

I looked through his engagement shots and found one I liked. It was a couple kissing in a field backlit so you could just see silhouettes and some definition of figure, so I wanted to replicate something similar. This isn't very close to his shot, but it is where I drew the idea from.

The person I was shooting the engagement shoot with had scouted out the area and took me to a spot with tall grass. It worked fairly well. I worked to define her form with the back-light and her front is defined by his shirt acting as a reflector. If I shot this shot again, I would have moved them further to the left so the tree wasn't behind him and worked on his pose a bit more.

Eric

Week 5: Northward Ho

2009-09-15T20:52:00.001-05:00

Week 5: My plans were simple this week. Take a picture of a star trail with the north star at the tip of an object (a tree is what I had available without too much light pollution). I was limited to about 20 minutes due to park closure time.

Taken with my SMC Pentax-A 35mm f/2 at about f/4 if I recall correctly for this shot. Fujifilm ASA 200 film and a Pentax MX body on bulb. In an ironic twist of fate, I had sold both my wide angle lenses this week prior to doing my planned shot where I needed a wide angle.

The widest lens I have left is the 35mm f/2 until my 16-45mm f/4 comes in, so I had no choice but to put it on the film body to get a 23mm field of view or so. I took a couple shots with the IR Dimage too, but it is a bit difficult to get bulb shots without a remote :)

To make matters more interesting there was some creature by the lake that would grunt and breath deep whenever I got close. I think it might have been saying "Tailypo, Tailypo, give me back my Tailypo" ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tailypo ), and this is the same lake: www.flickr.com/photos/28177041@N03/3892157437/. Seriously though it was probably just a muskrat or something.

Eric

Sept. 11th, 2001

2009-09-11T22:22:00.000-05:00

I don't write poetry ever, but for some reason I did 8 years ago today. Here was what I wrote in my journal. It is amazing how this stuff remains around, it has been moved between about 5 computers and hasn't really been looked at in since I wrote it, but has been floating around in a zip file I made before upgrading my computer.

Journal follows:

The other world changing news today was the destruction of the World Trade Center, part of the Pentagon, and the loss of four US commercial airlines. Could be the start of a war. It is disgusting how cowardly people can be; sending terrorist action against thousands of civilians.

Well, I thought I would have more to say, but I don’t. It is been a long and disturbing day. I need to get up early and go work on some homework.

Hopeless souls walking the streets
Unaware of the dangers surrounding them
Fiery death raining from above
The world tumbling to those unsuspecting
Who would have known life’s unfair

Events unfolding, life ever mutable
A foundation, sturdy as stone
Has stood through the ages
Crumbles and falls, touched and corrupted

Fingers are pointed, blame is placed
To no avail, the blow has been struck
Revenge is hollow, remorse deep in heart

From the ashes, a new bird arises
Reborn and anew, as life ever cycles
Such is the fate, of our ill-lucked race

Eric Tastad, ’01, memory of the WTC

Shutter Sounds

2009-09-09T22:34:00.000-05:00

A short video showing the differences in shutter sounds between the Pentax K-2000 and Pentax K-7. The K-2000 is the entry level camera with a coarse sounding shutter, and the K-7 is the top of the line model which adds a lot of refinement. Both are capable of taking excellent pictures. I show this example so a person coming from one of the other Pentax cameras (K10d, K20d, K200d, K-2000, etc) can get an idea of the refinement in the shutter.

Enjoy,

Eric

PS If you have trouble with the flickr video, use this one on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZANU2HCbycw

Washed Up 4/52

2009-09-06T08:50:00.000-05:00

My thought for this photo started during my 365 day project last year. I thought it would be cool to have a picture of me alone in a lake in the middle of the night with a full moon. I thought this would convey a sense of loneliness mixed with fear.

This shot morphed slightly after shooting as I was a little late getting there and the moon was too high in the sky to get the long reflection on the water. Also, at 21mm I am too small in the frame relative to the moon and my face comes out too dark with the moon behind it.

If I shot this shot again, I would do a diptych. One shot of the moon with a telephoto, and another of my face (front lit) by the moon with the moon reflection in the water beside me.

I will say it was a bit creepy walking into a completely calm lake out with no one else around and just the eerie moonlight for lighting. It feels as if you are disturbing the water when you enter it was so calm. I was waiting for a tentacled monster to come out and eat me like in Lord of the Rings ;)

To setup this shot I put my K-7 with DA 21mm on a tripod in the water about 10 feet from shore and it was only 8 inches or so above the water. This had me a bit nervous as the tripod was sinking a bit in the sand, but there were no waves to tip it or anything. Just ISO 100 long exposure shot. Camera was set to interval shooting so I could just float in the water for 5 minutes and hope to get a good shot.

It was an interesting experience to say the least. Trying to sit still in the water is a task when you start hearing noises and start wondering what they are, but you can't move because you don't want to blur the picture ;)

Eric

Week 2 of Planned 52

2009-08-23T08:12:00.000-05:00

Week 2: My inspiration for this shot was Imogen Cunningham. She was a photographer born in 1883 and passed away in 1976. She was well known for her botanical photography, along with nudes and other work.

She was influential in photography, helping start Group f/64, along with Ansel Adams, and 5 other photographers. This was a group that was pushing a new style of photography with precisely exposed images of natural objects found in nature. It was in contrast to the Pictorialism style that had been popular, which tried to emulate paintings.

I based this shot off of some of her botanical work she did in the early 20s or so. In particular I was trying to replicate something like: www.masters-of-fine-art-photography.com/02/artphotogaller...

Doing this shot I realize how much there is to learn about something as simple as a leaf or flower. How the structure of the leaf is formed, each ridge, vein, and the shape of the blade. How the light catches each little ridge and casts tiny shadows.

Often we see a simple picture of a leaf, and think "that is an easy shot to take", but what we forget is often the artist went to painstaking detail, examining the subject from every angle and lighting condition before ending up with the shot that fit their vision.

I went out for 2 hours in the morning, and although I got a lot of good shots, none were what I was looking for. I went back for another hour in the afternoon to a different location, and still didn't find what I was looking for, but I felt this was closest. I could probably spend an entire week photographing the leaf before finding something I was happy with.

I now have a lot more respect for something as simple as a leaf.

Eric

Recovering a Partly Shaded Landscape using Lightroom 2

2009-08-18T22:43:00.001-05:00

I am posting a video blog today. In the following video I use Lightroom 2 in order to create the above landscape from a single RAW file. The main challenge with this image was the heavily shaded bottom portion of the image. This video addresses how to fix the differing white balances between the background in the sun and the foreground in the shade.

I used a technique known as Expose to the Right (ETTR) with UniWB to properly expose the original RAW file to get the most out of the highlights as I possibly could. The UniWB is basically just a setting where the camera balances the JPG to closely match what the sensor sees, so the histograms, at least the dark and bright points match what is in the RAW file. This allows the in camera histogram to be used to accurately expose the RAW to the right without accidentally clipping data. The normal JPG preview doesn't match the RAW data closely at all.

The main issue I had with this image was after boosting the exposure in the shade, the white balance of the shade is drastically different than that of the sun, so there is a color temperature difference between the two areas of the photograph. In the video I show how to correct for that.

My Flickr Photostream

Eric

Vines

2009-08-02T23:32:00.001-05:00

I have been working at getting my Amazon reviewer rank up over the last couple years, for no good reason other than a personal challenge. When I started, I had a couple reviews and was ranked at something like 40,000. I thought that was terrible, I can do better than that. So I wrote more reviews and tried to keep them insightful and on topic. After a while my ranking started to climb. I set a goal to be at 10,000, then 5,000, and now I am at 1,800 or so with a current goal to be under 1,000.

What I noticed recently was some link about "Vine" program and how I should join this to contribute reviews, etc, and get free products. I had seen this for a while on my page, but just thought it was an advertisement and never clicked on it. Well, I finally did last week and found I was being invited to sign up for a program where I can get pre-release books and other products for review with the promise to return reviews (good or bad) for the product.

I am not saying this to brag by any means, but I am actually shocked something beyond satisfaction from completing a personal goal came out of upping my Amazon reviewer ranking. I am excited as this will give me the opportunity to read books that I usually wouldn't read, and I love to write reviews.

Here is my first: The Well Let me know what you think, and be sure to vote if you think it was helpful or not. It is one of my first book reviews, so feel free to comment what I could do better.

Bubble World

2009-07-20T12:34:00.000-05:00

I was out enjoying the weather yesterday afternoon when my wife decided to blow some bubbles to entertain our son. I had the camera out, and thought it would be great to capture some photographs of the bubbles. I have tried before, but I have never been very successful. After nearly 100 attempts, this is my favorite.

What I learned in the process is you want to use AF-C (or your cameras continuous focus mode) with all focus points selected. The bubble itself doesn't have very strong contrast, so you will probably need some good reflections to help the camera lock focus on the bubble.

You need big bubbles. This bubble was about 8" in diameter. Search google for "Big Bubble Solution" and you should find some stuff that will work. Most big bubble solutions contain a mix of soap, glycerin, and water. The bubble solution in the colored jugs most of us used as kids does not hold up well for big bubbles.

Close is best. The reflection on the bubble takes on a more interesting perspective when you get up close and personal with it. A close focusing "macro" zoom is ideal. I used the Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-f/4.5 and it worked out well with its ability to focus right up next to the lens surface, but anything with a minimum focus around 1 to 2 ft should be fine.

When shooting the bubbles, I set to continuous shutter release, and follow after the bubble trying to keep it in focus. Tricky backgrounds will sometimes trick the camera to focus on them instead. Just release the shutter button and try focusing again. Obviously wind is not conducive to catching a good bubble shot. Every time a gust hit my bubbles were gone.

The bubble primarily reflects what is behind the photographer, and thankfully, the photographer gets mostly cut off at the center. It seems to use a fisheye like projection, with a mirror image in both hemispheres, especially visible if the sky is much brighter than the ground. If the sky was darker the image might look a bit more like a circular fisheye, I would think.

So get out there, and try some of your own bubble shots. Try various bubble solutions, and different locations. I want to try one downtown by some tall buildings and surrounded by fire. Go have some fun capturing your own little fragile worlds.

All this talk of bubbles has me reflecting on my own life. We all live in our own little world. Our life follows certain patterns, and if those patterns are interrupted by even the slightest breeze, our life can change course. It is amazing how one seemingly small decision we made 10 years ago dominates our entire life in the present. What would have happened if you didn't make that phone call 10 years ago? How would your life be different?

We are driven by small currents that twist, turn, and combine to drive our life. Capturing photographs of bubbles is like capturing one of these small currents. We realize how fragile and delicate our lives can be. I love photography because I can capture these special moments.

Eric Tastad
See the rest of my flickr photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28177041@N03/

The Depth of Infinite Field

2009-05-06T23:15:00.000-05:00

I found a new toy to play with. I have been taking some photographs of flowers lately, and I found I have been wanting a shallow depth of field to blur the background sufficiently, but that leaves too little of the foreground in focus. A friend suggested I try Helicon Focus, a product that stacks images focused at different points into a single image that combines the focused areas from the composing images.

The ability to stack images to make a single image with a deeper depth of field useful for macro or closeup work where the sharpest f/stop for many modern digital cameras is limited to around f/8-f/11 to prevent diffraction from softening the image. Many macro shots might require f/22 or higher to get the desired depth of field.

There is also something known as "hyperfocal distance". If the lens is focused at the hyperfocal distance, everything from half the hyperfocal distance to infinity should be acceptably in focus. In reality though, the closer to infinity or the near range the subject is the softer they will become. Print or view size and distances determine what the true hyperfocal distance is. The problem with hyperfocal distance is it can be a very long ways out for a telephoto lens. You might have to be 200 ft away from your subject.

A solution is to use the Helicon (or equivalent) software to focus at multiple points between the subject and infinity (or the final focus point). These images are then stacked to produce depth of field unachievable by stopping down. A tilting lens/view camera can shift the focus plane out towards infinity, but at the expensive of defocusing somewhere else. This can put the entire picture in focus.

Since perspective is controlled by where you stand relative to the subject (and viewing distance from the print/image), this allows the photographer new ways of achieving differing perspectives. I can use a telephoto/macro lens to photograph a very long object away from the lens and keep the entire length in focus.

The big restriction is you have to take multiple images, so it won't work well on moving subjects. Thankfully they build in some manual retouch tools as well to fix small amounts of movement, etc, but forget it if you are trying to photograph flowers in the wind.

The program is amazingly intuitive to use, and it worked correctly the first time for my simple watch example. On more complicated images where there is a lot of blurring of the background it can be a bit trickier. As an object blurs in either the foreground or background the blur becomes larger the further it is from the focus point. These blurs, for the lack of a better word, can confuse the tool sometimes. Thankfully there is a manual retouch feature built in that works a lot like the selective brush in Lightroom 2 combined with a tool like Clone in Photoshop.

A second problem when focusing on objects progressively further away is the lens focal length changes, and sometimes this is quite substantial, especially with internal focus (IF) lenses. The focal length is measured at infinity. A lens like the Tamron 18-250mm, which is a fine lens BTW, might only be 150mm at close focus, and doesn't reach 250mm until infinity. This causes objects to scale differently and your field of view to change. Thankfully, the tool compensates for this quite nicely automatically rescaling the images to be the appropriate size.

My main lessons learned are to overlap areas of focus a bit, don't use on moving subjects, and watch foreground/background blur that can cause artifacts (see the Iaito, practice sword, above), and use the smallest aperture you can get away with as it limits the problematic foreground/background blur.

I am thrilled to find such a tool, thank you Ryan, as it brings more depth to my photography, horrible pun intended.

Eric

To UV or not to UV

2009-04-13T21:45:00.000-05:00

Invariably the store salesman will try to sell you a "protective" filter for your newly purchased lens, and likely your dad always had a UV filter on the lens, so you think why not? It can't hurt anything, right?

Well, besides costing an arm in a leg for high quality filters, or just being overpriced for some others, a digital sensor does not need a UV filter. A UV filter was added to a film camera to prevent hazing of the film in strong UV. A digital camera sensor is not particularly sensitive to UV light, so no UV filter is needed.

Well, if you don't need the filter for UV, what about to protect the front element of the lens from accidental damage? This is up to each individual user, but there are a few points to keep in mind before buying a filter for protection.

A protection filter is a glass (or plastic) element that is added between the image and the sensor. Each air-to-glass or glass-to air surface reduces the light available to the imaging sensor. A cheap uncoated filter could easily cut the available light by roughly 8% (http://www.astrosurf.com/luxorion/reports-coating.htm), and also cause internal reflections that cause a ghosted image to appear on the sensor.

Also, a poorly ground filter could have irregularities in it that defocus light causing soft images. This is especially true in circular polarizers.

So if we buy a multi-coated filter, we can reduce the light loss to a much more reasonable 1 or 2%. This will have minimal impact on image quality, contrast, and sharpness. But at what cost? The B&W and Heliopan filters are very expensive, running from $40-$150 per filter. You almost need a filter protector for your filter protector! These clearly won't help your image quality, but shouldn't hurt it noticeably either.

"What to do? I don't want to damage the front element of my lens". Well, first off, that front element is actually really durable. It will take something harder than the coating to scratch it, like sand, dirt, or a file. Careful cleaning won't harm the front element in the slightest.

Use your lens hood. A lens hood sticks out in front of the lens and helps protect it from getting hit by random objects, and at the same time it prevents stray light from hitting the front element of the lens. This stray light reduces the contrast of your image.

Consider getting insurance for your camera gear. According to Photo.Net it is about $1.50 / $100 of insurance with no deductible, or about $15 for a year for a $1000 lens (http://photo.net/learn/insurance). It would take 4 to 10 years to equal the price of the "protection" filter and it would cover against a lot more than scratches to the lens. Just make sure your plan covers accidental damage, and any other protection you want.

"Well, I didn't use a protection filter, and my lens got a tiny scratch when I was shooting beach volleyball and tried to get a little close to the ground for that great perspective shot when I got stepped on and buried my lens in the sand. What do I do now?"

Don't panic. A scratch on the front element of the lens is not the end of the world. It will only serve to reduce contrast slightly and could possibly cause flare spots when looking into bright lighting conditions. More than likely you will never notice a small scratch on the lens in any of your pictures.

If the scratch is bad enough, the front element of the lens is replaceable. Although this will cost more then the UV filter, it is cheaper than a new lens. Some pro Canon and Nikon lenses even have a built in lens protection element that is designed to go in front of the contoured elements that is relatively cheap to replace.

"Should I use a filter?" That is a question only you can answer. If you are shooting in an unusually harsh environment I would definitely consider it. If you do use a filter, get a quality multi-coated filter. Spending a lot doesn't mean you will get much better image quality, but you do want the coated filter to prevent image quality loss from less light transmission, flare, and ghosting.

A good filter will cost a significant amount of money, so it might be pointless to add one to your kit lens that can be replaced for about the same cost as a good lens filter. Do use your lens hood, and do learn how to clean your lens effectively. I will post a blog post at another date with how to clean a lens effectively and efficiently.

I personally don't use a filter, because they certainly don't help image quality, but I sure like buying used lenses that have always had the filter on. They tend to be spotless underneath, making my job of cleaning them up far easier. No one way is right, but this quickly turns into a holy war on any photo board. Get out there and enjoy your shooting!

Eric

See the impact of a scratched lens element at my flickr page.

Home without a Home

2009-04-03T23:04:00.001-05:00

I am never disappointed when I go on a photo shoot. Sometimes I don't get the photo I wanted, but I always learn something. Tonight was no exception.

We decided to go for a night shoot downtown by an industrial park. We set up across the river, and there was a mixed variety of light at the paper plant across from us. The light was playing nicely off the river, and the night was relatively clear.

We were shooting away from the dike when a gentleman in blue coveralls approached us once he realized we weren't dealing in the parking lot, and asked us what we were photographing. He had been on his way to his home, underneath the bridge and we were directly in his path.

We chatted, or listened, for a while, heard stories about the new federal building they were building and how he had fought in Vietnam, and heard stories about what he does for a living. He enjoyed the outdoors, and didn't mind being homeless much. He suggested we photograph him to show how the homeless live in America.

He invited us to his home, under the bridge, where me and a couple others decided to follow him. He explained he slept in the dry spot up under the substructure on top of the dike, right above a jogging path.

He told us stories about some of the odd jobs he has had, some his favorite grocery store, and about some of the things he has done. He had us take a few pictures of his home, and all he asked is for us to do something nice for someone else (and if we wanted to leave anything for him, just put it under his blanket). I gave him a flashlight I had on me, all I had to give.

He was an honest fellow. His name was Willie, and told us what was on his mind. He said the few dollars a friend gave him was going to be used to buy another beer. He admitted he was where he was because of decisions he had made. He was just happy to have someone to talk to. He said we made his night. That made mine.

This interchange made me realize how much I have. Even a person with an old beat up car, 4 walls and a roof to call home, food in the fridge. How wealthy that person really is. Most people in the world still live like Willie.

I am not saying to feel bad if you have a lot of material wealth, but it is a reminder to not take for granted what you have. What I am saying, is the truly valuable things we have in life are the friendships and bonds we create. Experiences like this are why I love photography.

Eric

See the rest of the pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28177041@N03/tags/willie/

Smoke and Lights

2009-02-17T21:06:00.000-06:00

I have always been fascinated by the little things in life: each grain of sand at the beach tanning under a beautiful summer sun, snow flakes falling and swirling on their long descent only to land and melt in my mouth, and watching wisps of smoke curling and winding their way through invisible currents in the air.

This week's special was smoke. Both from burning incense and light bulb filaments. After seeing a few shots from a few friends we decided it would be fun to try, but we wanted to add something to the mix. Why not add smoke rings?

The first task was to figure out how to make a smoke ring, and based on a demonstration in a Physics class I decided we needed a Vortex Cannon. A simple device that creates a smoke vortex (ring) and sends it flying through the air. A quick search on Google revealed several designs, but they basically all consisted of a tube with a venturi at one end and a diaphragm at the other.

Now we needed to generate some smoke so we bought some light bulbs, incense, and an old lamp from Goodwill. The use for the lamp and light bulbs will be clear in a minute. We setup our black backdrop and wireless flashes to the side, and lit the incense to generate smoke. We filled the Vortex Cannon and fired off some nice smoke rings, but quickly found the design of the cannon to be weak. The rings were small, and too hard to achieve well defined rings. When we did capture the rings they were really bland and looked like a white circle. Back to the drawing board for a later date.

With the failed smoke rings we decided to just photograph the incense smoke. We tried various color gels and flash positions until we had some shots we were happy with. The biggest problem we experienced here was with the flash point back at the lens we had some serious flare from dust particles floating through the air.

Finally, we come to the lamp and light bulbs. A light bulb is a simple device developed well over 100 years ago. It is a tungsten wire in a sealed glass shell that is filled with an inert gas. Tungsten is used because it has a high melting point (high enough to radiate a lot of light), but as a downside it will burn at those temperatures in an oxygen atmosphere. That is where the inert gas comes into play; it prevents the filament from burning itself up.

So what happens if you break the glass shell and let all the protective inert gas out and light the bulb? Well, the element burns bright for a second or two before dying a horrible fiery and smokey death! (don't try this at home without proper precautions). A great fleeting moment to photograph. So with the same setup as the incense we flashed our way through a dozen light bulbs.

Even though I didn't capture any smoke rings how I wanted, I was happy with the results from the light bulbs and the incense smoke. The smoke rings will have to wait until another time. We found that not using colored gels on the flashes and just doing any color adjustments in post processing was an easier route, and far more flexible. The smoke takes color well in front of the solid black background.

Smoke is such a little thing. A fleeting moment that is ever changing, like the sand at the beach or the snow blowing in the wind. Each of these moments draws my complete attention. Day to day thoughts slip into oblivion and my mind is focused. Nothing else matters but the sand beneath my feet, the snow hitting my face, or the smoke in the air. I love photography because of this. I use the camera as my tool to draw me into the Zone and capture these special moments.

Eric

In the Forest of Fire and Ice

2009-02-03T20:34:00.000-06:00

Bitter cold swept the mid-west. The forecast indicated a record -33 F, but clear skies. What better weather for photography? I packed my Pentax K20d and DA* 50-135 f/2.8 mm, the only gear I trusted in the extreme cold. I set out my cold weather gear: 3 layers of clothing, snow pants, face mask, wind resistant jacket, water proof boots, and arctic mittens. I was ready for a cold morning.

I awoke before dawn the next morning, dressed, and packed my gear. The temperature had fallen to only -29 F, and the truck reluctantly fired up. I drove to my shoot location, and found the path had been groomed so I didn't need my snowshoes. The sun was just about to rise, so I grabbed my gear and headed down the path to catch the sunrise.

The path lead by a field, and I thought that would be the perfect place to snap a shot of the sun rising above the horizon. I quickly cut off the path, and immediately wished I had worn my snow shoes. My feet plunged knee deep into the snow, and I had to trudge across fallen logs. Halfway through something grabbed my arm and tore at my jacket. Those weren't ordinary bushes, they were brambles!

When I finally got to the field the sun was just starting to poke above the trees. I quickly snapped a couple shots and setup my tripod for something better. The light was playing across the small snow dunes created in the wind swept field. Like ripples on a lake created by a light breeze, dead corn stalks poked through where they once stood tall and proud from the previous harvest.

I still had an hour that the light and peacefulness of the morning would hold out. I knew of a warm water spring nearby that might make for some interesting shots. Steam and ice with the strong morning sun might mix nicely. I quickly set on my way, cautious of the brambles this time.

I arrived at the spring and was in luck. Billows of vapor were rising from the spring water. Even though the spring water could still be considered cold, it was more than 60 F warmer than the surrounding air. Ice had formed on everything near the water and the sun was diffracting through the trees creating brilliant rays piercing through the fog. It was a moving experience. I did my best to capture its glory, but fear no effort ever could.

Time had no meaning, even in the extreme cold. I noticed the camera was frosting over; fields of soft white crystals covering the black plastic. The sun was climbing in the sky. I reluctantly trekked back to the vehicle. The temperature seemed to drop as I left the spring, and the warmth was ripped from my body. My eye lashes froze shut, and needles were piercing at my cheeks. My toes were getting numb. It was time to get back in the truck or suffer frostbite.

Only when I was back in the truck did I realize 90 minutes had passed since I first arrived, and I was going to be late for work if I didn't get moving. I fired up the old Dodge and headed off to work, where the magical world of fire and ice quickly faded into reality. Did I just imagine everything? That is why I love photography.

Eric

See the rest of the images at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28177041@N03/sets/72157612625918040/