Single-Serving Photo

Seldom do I employ such emphatic punctuation in a blog title, or such bombastic portmanteaus, but it seemed appropriate given the out-of-control creation of panoramas that I’ve been engaged in lately.

As I mentioned in my last post, I’m out here in the great American west—“big sky country,” if you want to call it that—and some of the sights I’ve seen were nothing less than demanding of a panoramic treatment. On top of that, I suffer from a devastating case of technolust and wanted to really put “AutoPano Giga” through the paces. Well, I sure did. I also probably melted the heat sink off my poor laptop’s CPU…

Arthur C. Clarke once wrote that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” In the case of AutoPano Giga, I think he was wrong; I think it actually is magic. I have tried a few panorama tools out there; the free and open-source Panotools, a couple of Mac-exclusive ones, and so on. AutoPano Giga is so easy and so fast and so accurate, it blows them all out of the water. Of course it also costs an arm and a leg, but at least you know why.

After the break, actual panoramas! (more…)

It really excites me that people are out there coming up with new techniques for photographing difficult subjects. It excites me even more that National Geographic has it in their budget.

Over on the right you see a photograph taken by Michael “Nick” Nichols (and his team) for National Geographic, which is on the cover (well, part of it is on the cover, it’s a huge photograph) of the October issue of the magazine.

The image was made by jigsawing 83 separate photographs together (which you can probably tell by the jagged edges), each of which was taken by one of three DSLR cameras mounted on a gyroscope-leveled, pulley-lowered rig that Nichols and his team designed for the purpose. You can check out the photo on Hack a Day of Nichols with his rig; it looks like they’ve got six Pocket Wizards on there (I don’t know what the other three are for) and maybe a couple of bicycle wheels. All in all, a very righteous hack.

This particular redwood is allegedly the “most architecturally interesting” tree in the world, with several forks and bends stretching 300 feet into the sky. It’s only been standing there for over 1,500 years(!!), but now it has been recorded in the annals of photographic history forever.

Via (one of my favorite blogs) Hack a Day, via National Geographic, via NPR

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I am very excited to announce a photography workshop in Death Valley National Park, California, hosted by Christopher Blake and Aaron Bieber (that’s me!), to take place in April of 2008.

This will be a thrilling four-day workshop in Death Valley open to photographers of all skill levels. We’ll spend four days and nights making photographs from before sunrise until well into the night. Aaron and Chris will serve as your guides to aesthetic approach and technical application as you explore some of these breathtaking Death Valley locations:

• Badwater
• Artist’s Palette
• Dante’s View
• Stovepipe Well Dunes
• Eureka Dunes
• Golden Canyon
• Devil’s Golf Course
• The Alabama Hills
• and more!

There will be a strong focus on night photography including work with light painting and star trails. This workshop is designed to coincide with the new moon, giving us nights filled with stars. If you have never done photography at night before, or if you want to get better at it, this is the right workshop for you. Between the two of us we have 12 years of experience making wonderful images at night.

This workshop gives you the opportunity to photograph a famous and unique location with two professional photographers who will help you get the most out of every hour and out of every exposure.

Who should attend this workshop?

Anyone who wants to advance their photography skills and get the absolute most out of a trip to Death Valley. In a limited amount of time we’ll bring you to the best locations at the best times and work with you both in the field and in front of the computer to help you get great results.

Itinerary

Here’s the plan.

Friday April 4th

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We will meet in the afternoon (you’ll be emailed the exact time and place to meet at least two weeks prior to the workshop). Each participant will receive a workshop package including information and equipment (listed below). We will then have introductions, get to know one another, and get a feel for what each of you hope to accomplish during the workshop. We will set out in the early evening to photograph sunset and then do an introduction to night photography.

Saturday April 5th – Monday April 7th

Each day of the workshop will be broken up into three sessions, described here:

Session 1 – Dawn

We’ll meet in an agreed upon location and set out to photograph dawn, then return to the inn for breakfast.

Session 2 – Late morning

After breakfast we’ll get together to review the work we’ve done so far, go over any questions, and plan shooting locations for the remainder of the day. Participants who shoot digital and have a laptop with them are welcome to share their work with the group. Chris and Aaron will be available to do one-on-one critiques and offer guidance.

There are a few locations that can be effective during morning and afternoon sun, such as Golden Canyon, so we may opt to explore one of those locations together during the day. If you wish to explore on your own, you are welcome to.

Session 3 – Sunset

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We will travel to our chosen location to photograph sunset. After night falls, we will commence night photography sessions. It is not unusual for the ambitious in the group to photograph well into the night.

Note: Some of you may not want to join us for the next sunrise session. You can meet us at breakfast, normally around 9-9:30 AM.

Since the conditions in Death Valley change from day to day, it’s impossible to predict the perfect location for each session. Both Chris and Aaron have a good deal of experience with Death Valley and will plan our locations to best fit the changing conditions. Our first priority is making great photographs, no matter what the circumstances.

Though we will be photographing locations as a group, each will offer the opportunity to spread out across a large area. Two-way radios can come in handy, so we’re going to give you one. It’s an effective method for the group to communicate across distances of a mile or more, and we’ll also use the radios to communicate between vehicles while traveling to each location.

Registration

The cost of this once-in-a-lifetime experience is only $1,199 and is open to photographers of all skill levels. To register, please send us an email. We accept all major credit cards as well as personal checks. After you contact us, we’ll mail you our registration package. Workshops are filled on a first-come first-served basis, so don’t miss out!

Workshop fees are refundable up to 60 days before the workshop, less 10% for processing fees. Within 60 days of the workshop a refund is not possible.

Please feel free to e-mail us with any questions.

This workshop will have a maximum of ten participants. Sorry, but no guests are permitted to tag along. We find that the group is most focused and productive when we are all actively photographing, and we don’t want to dilute the experience for any of our attendees.

Important Notes

• This is not an all-inclusive trip and as such does not include transportation, food, or lodging. Your registration package will contain a thorough list of available hotels and campgrounds as well as our advice on staying in Death Valley.
• Though meal cost is not included, we’ll eat at the same time each day and you may wish to join us, or feel free to go out on your own during this time.
• Your registration package will also include detailed information on the trip as well as a very basic questionnaire that we use to tailor the workshop for you.
• We will not be taking any long hikes, but some hiking will be required. This is not a stressful amount of exercise by any means, but you should be in decent physical shape and able to navigate the irregular desert terrain.

Gear

You’ll need some things on this trip…

What you should bring

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Although this workshop is open to all skill levels, you should have at least a 35mm SLR (digital or film) camera and a tripod. You should also have a basic understanding of how your camera works. We would be glad to help you get the most out of your equipment while on the workshop, but it won’t be a fundamental course, so be sure you are familiar with the basics.

If you want to brush up or review, you may want to read these articles (posted here):

• Histograms, Huh?
• Be a Control Freak—Shooting Modes Explained
• Focal Length Reciprocal Rule

And also these assorted articles from Earthbound Light Photography:

• I Bought a Digital Camera But My Photos Are Still Blurry
• Program vs. Aperture Priority vs. Shutter Priority vs. Manual

If you are interested in advice on what to bring (or what to buy), you can email Chris. He has a lot of equipment experience and would be happy to share it with you.

The weather in Death Valley can go from very warm to very cold. You should pack accordingly, keeping in mind that in windy conditions before dawn and after the sun goes down it can feel very cold.

What we will give you

As part of the workshop experience, we will provide you with a few essential items that we have found to be indispensable on these trips. The Death Valley Workshop package includes a GMRS (family band) two-way radio with several-mile range; a bright xenon flashlight for light painting and general navigation; a rugged, waterproof National Geographic map of the park that we will refer to often; and lots of information about the art and science of photographing on location and specifically in Death Valley. All of these items are, of course, yours to keep.

Who are you?

Here’s a little about us and why you’re going to love to learn and explore with us in Death Valley.

Christopher Blake

I am a fine art travel photographer living in the Boston area. I have worked exclusively with digital cameras for the past six years, focusing on traditional fine art landscapes, HDR (high dynamic range), and night photography. I have an extensive background in information technology and I leverage that knowledge to get the most out of my photographs. I am excited to share my experience in travel photography with you in Death Valley!

View Chris’s gallery, The Curious Lens.

Aaron Bieber

I am an illustrator, photographer, web and graphic designer living and working on the scenic Connecticut coast (I am also the author of this blog). Though I have been very serious about photography for many years, I come from a traditional art background and I have written at length on the topics of photography as an art form and the techniques and practices unique to photography as a medium for artistic expression. My main interests in photography are geometric abstractions and exploring the invisible world as can only be seen through the lens of a camera.

With over ten years of Photoshop experience and as an outspoken fan of Photoshop Lightroom, I do my best work in post-production. I look forward to helping you make the most of a very unique experience during this workshop!

View Aaron’s gallery, Fisheye Multimedia Galleries

Ready to Register?

Just send an e-mail to Death Valley Workshop registration and let us know!

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Having spent most of my developing years surrounded by it, I have always taken for granted many of the fundamental guidelines of art. Perhaps due to the complexity of its technical aspects, formal photography courses tend to focus (no pun intended) on the equipment and techniques of creating images and not as much on their content.

Learning the traditional “rules” of art (or what I would call the rules of design) is important for two specific reasons. First and foremost, to make your work better. Following the rules—as well as judiciously breaking them—will strengthen your compositions, but you need to know what they are before you can do either. Second, to enhance your critiquing ability. By learning the basic terminology of art you will be able to take full advantage of critique from your peers as well as articulate your own.

So let’s get started! Today I’ll be discussing texture. (more…)

The Mystic Aquarium and Institute for Exploration (or MAIFE, as they abbreviate it) is located smack in the center of Mystic, Connecticut, and the area they call Old Mystick Village (that’s not a typo…). The whole Mystic area is one of the hottest tourist spots in Connecticut (it wouldn’t be a reach to say it’s the only tourist spot in Connecticut), and the Mystic Aquarium and nearby Mystic Seaport are popular summer destinations for Connecticut families and visitors from out of state alike.

The aquarium is ripe with photographic subjects. Tank after tank of exotic, colorful fish; beluga whales; touching tanks filled with sea stars, coral, and so forth are all dying to be made into beautiful images. On a busy day like Saturday, the first day I went, you’ll be surrounded by people wielding their point-and-shoot cameras like claymores, blasting their body-mounted flashes directly into the tanks.

The greatest challenge to photographing at the aquarium (this applies only to the indoor tanks) is getting enough light. Even the most brightly lit tanks provide much less light than you think, most often because your eyes have become accustomed to the darkness and your brain is working to normalize everything you see.

For this trip, I brought only my Canon 50mm f/1.4, which I kept at f/1.4 almost the entire time. I often had to push my 5D to its highest sensitivity, the equivalent of ISO 3200, and even then I couldn’t always get a shutter speed fast enough to handhold for the shot, much less to freeze the motion of a quickly swimming fish. The aquarium will definitely put your skills and your equipment to the test.

In an ideal world, such as a sponsored shoot (not to imply that assignments are often, if ever, ideal), much brighter lights and possibly even softboxes might be employed to make the scene more technically feasible. If I had my way, I would place a single softbox or flash with diffuser above the tank where the standard light source is located and fire it with a PocketWizard or similar. Light that comes through the surface of the water has a wonderful, shimmering quality to it that most people recognize immediately.

Of the 180 or so photographs I made on this excursion, only about five of them were good enough to toss up here. The major problem was, as I said before, not getting enough light. Even when the classic “focal length reciprocal rule” indicated that I should be able to handhold the shot, the fish I was trying to capture was moving too quickly. My problems were compounded by the 50mm f/1.4 being a fairly mediocre lens and suffering from a good deal of chromatic aberration and vignette (which I don’t mind too much, but it bears mentioning).

I attempted to use Lightroom’s “lens correction” features to fix the chromatic aberration, but rather than having one of the two “classic” (and somewhat subtle) forms of aberration, the lens demonstrates what is often referred to simply as “purple fringing,” which means you’re basically out of luck. Add to that the fact that most of the images were pretty blurry and you can see where I’m going with this. That having been said, I think these five photos are fairly nice catches (no pun intended) out of a big group of rejects.