Last Light

[Rob C]

Inspired by Chris' shot, remembered one of my own, now rare, clicks with a tripod. I feel my focussing ability is so degraded it hardly matters anymore, so why the added weight and disincentive to do anything as mildly acrobatic as taking a snap? Okay, with some lenses I can't even frame without a 'pod, so I suppose I can't really win that one.

;-(

Rob C

[Richowens]

 Rob,

 I am finding myself usng a tripod more and more the older I get.

Not that I want to, but I must if I want any chance at sharpness.

In younger days I could hand hold about anything down to a 30th of a second. Those days are gone.

Rich

[Rob C]

Rob,

 I am finding myself usng a tripod more and more the older I get.

Not that I want to, but I must if I want any chance at sharpness.

In younger days I could hand hold about anything down to a 30th of a second. Those days are gone.

Rich

I used to shoot almost everything black/white hand-held on the Nikons at 125th sec. unless I went up to the 135mm lens. The reason wasn't only to catch the shot relatively crisp - it also seemed to be a good speed that let models appear flesh and not wax. There must have been a slight, almost imperceptible movement blur that did that as a side-effect. Perhaps it's not too wild to suggest that the obsession with digital, and sharpness that comes from it, has led to a concentration on PSing people beyond just the 'kindness' level of removing spots... and the penalty, in my eyes, is unreality which defeats the point when you are selling to real people in the first place.

A whole industry currently proves me mistaken.

Rob C

[RSL]

I don't think the industry is showing that you're mistaken, Rob. I think the problem is that too many people read "photography" magazines, like Pop Photography and Shutterbug, that aren't really photography magazines, but are equipment magazines. A lot of photographic equipment sells because of it's "sharpness." If you want to see a sharpness cult, go to www.nikonians.org. That's just one of them. I agree that if you're shooting landscape you probably want all the sharpness you can get, but then I think about some of HCB's soft shots that are some of the most wonderful stuff he did.

[marvpelkey]

Rob,

It may be an old one, but it's a good one. Simple, well balanced, well lit and a subtle, appealing, use of colour. I like it a lot.

Funny thing about the tripod. I think, in about thirty years of taking photos (even when I was young with good eyes), I have shot hand-held no more than four or five frames. What some see as a hindrance, others see as routine. Horses for courses, I suppose.

Marv

[Rob C]

Rob,

It may be an old one, but it's a good one. Simple, well balanced, well lit and a subtle, appealing, use of colour. I like it a lot.

Funny thing about the tripod. I think, in about thirty years of taking photos (even when I was young with good eyes), I have shot hand-held no more than four or five frames. What some see as a hindrance, others see as routine. Horses for courses, I suppose.

Marv

Thanks - appreciated comments.

Tripods. As I mentioned, I shot b/white mostly hand-held, but trannies were something else: almost all of those were eventually tripod shots, the 6x6 because of the weight of the cameras and the Kodachromes because I knew that the blow-ups were going to be relatively large ones, and so it was essential to minimise shake problems and maximise use of real estate, a bit difficult when you are swinging around in the breeze with a loose camera!

Doing my own calendar design, it was easy enough to make the images for the presentations/concepts fit the standard 2x3 or square formats, and so shooting was relatively simple. Advertising was sometimes a bit more complicated regarding use of format, but that's where the 6x6 proved valuable with so much potentially spare space for cutting to suit repro. shapes.

Thanks again -

Rob C

[fike]

People talk a lot about getting good black and white with digital, and they talk a lot about toned or duo toned images. I have been thinking a lot about what I have called tri-tone (don't know if there is a more explicit name) where the majority of the image is black and white, very desaturated, or sepia/cyanotype and then one element retains its color more vibrantly. This can be done digitally in post processing or with strobes or, as I assume is the case here, with natural light and composition. 

I like the effect you have here. Generally we think of color distinctly from composition, but in this case it is an effective use of compositional color.

[Rob C]

People talk a lot about getting good black and white with digital, and they talk a lot about toned or duo toned images. I have been thinking a lot about what I have called tri-tone (don't know if there is a more explicit name) where the majority of the image is black and white, very desaturated, or sepia/cyanotype and then one element retains its color more vibrantly. This can be done digitally in post processing or with strobes or, as I assume is the case here, with natural light and composition.  

I like the effect you have here. Generally we think of color distinctly from composition, but in this case it is an effective use of compositional color.

Thanks, it is pretty straight.

I enjoy isolating things with long lenses, but there's the problem of finding subjects that really work.

;-)

Rob C

[wolfnowl]

Here ya go, Rob:
Phil Hansen: Embrace the shake
Travel Photography: The 7 Rules to Take Good Blurred Pictures

Mike.

[nemo295]

I don't have anything to add about tripods and such. I just like the picture.

[Rob C]

Here ya go, Rob:
Phil Hansen: Embrace the shake
Travel Photography: The 7 Rules to Take Good Blurred Pictures

Mike.

Hi Mike,

From the first video I noted two different, but related ideas that stuck: 

1. embrace limitations to enhance creativity;

2. paralysed by choices never had before.


In effect, it's my own habit of going out with a single lens and working - when at all - within its capabilities and my own mental limitations. This, of course, suggests a situation where I have no agenda, unlike a professional situation where that can't be the case.

In a way, it's the blessing behind cellpix photography, or at least if without the addition of optical 'aids' that I think some such 'phones now enjoy. Stay simple seems to be good advice.

Rob C

[Tony Jay]

Just come across this thread now.
I spent a long time savouring this image - problem was it got better and better the longer I looked at it.

Rob, for someone who claims no real aptitude or interest in landscape photography (if I have understood you right, of course) this image and the way that it is composed demonstrates all the right skills and aesthetic judgment for the genre.

If you have anymore like this Rob I would love to view them!

Tony Jay

[RSL]

What Tony said. I've been studying this one for a couple days. It doesn't jump out at you. You need to absorb it. It's worth absorbing.

[Rob C]

Tony, thanks for the kind sentiment -

Well, the thing is, I don't see this as landscape at all - I think it fits into a category more akin to abstract/atmospherics/graphics, if I may use the terminology I became familiar with years ago in the stock world.

You may be surprised, but it fits perfectly in the fashion/pin-up ethic, where the subject is sometimes shot with a long lens to isolate her against a background that's supposed to add a sense of location without distracting from the main subject. Living or inert, the science (?!) of the subject treatment is the same.

Russ -

Thanks for the positive comments!

Rob C

[Tony Jay]

You are absolutely correct that your posted image is not of the landscape genre but as I mentioned it encapsulates many qualities that would translate to landscape photography.

Tony Jay

[Riaan van Wyk]

What Tony said. I've been studying this one for a couple days. It doesn't jump out at you. You need to absorb it. It's worth absorbing.

Yup, I feel the same.