Digital Camera POTY 2011

Posted on December 14, 2011 by kahkityoong

Shooting the Winning Image

I received an early Christmas present with the announcement of UK magazine’s Photographer of the Year honour roll. My image “Symphony of a Thousand” was the winner in the landscape category. I shot it this year in the Catlins while leading a workshop around New Zealand. You may recall that an almost identical shot was taken the year before but this time I went for a faster shutter speed to freeze the water action. The atomic sunrise we witnessed was almost a replay of the one I had photographed the year before.

The technical details : Canon 5DMkII, 16-35mm 2.8L, ISO 100, f6.3, 0.3s, reverse GND filter, Gitzo tripod. As you can see from the portrait photo, taken the same morning as my winning shot, I’m standing far enough away from my foreground subject to get away with a fairly open aperture of 6.3, which in turn allowed me to shoot with the fast shutter speed I wanted. With proper focussing it is amazing how much depth of field you can acquire without resorting to small apertures of f16 and above.

Interestingly this year, the judges went for three classic landscapes : not a long exposure, star or moonlit landscape in sight. It was good to see such a strong focus on those good old qualities – composition and light.

Digital Camera POTY 2011

Posted in Awards, Competitions, Composition, Landscape, New Zealand, TCBlog | 4 Comments

Black, White & Shades of Grey – Part II – First Look at Silver Efex Pro 2

Posted on December 10, 2011 by kahkityoong

Hotel de Ville

Panorama of Hotel de Ville stitched in PS CS5 and processed in SEP2. The larger version is well worth viewing here.

The program works as a plug-in for Photoshop, Lightroom and Aperture. After completion of work in Silver Efex, the result is affected through a single layer in Photoshop. There is an informative starter’s guide to the software as well as numerous tutorials on the Nik website. The purpose of this article is not to give a how-to guide but rather to give readers some idea about how it is relevant to my current digital workflow.

Let me start by saying that if you do a lot of work in monochrome, whether at an advanced or beginner level, SEP2 should strongly be considered. Even without reading the guide, I was able to achieve better results than what done in 20 minutes in photoshop the first time I used SEP2. I have already taken advantage of the recent “Black Friday” specials to purchase my copy. In the meantime, the full-featured 15 day demo version is currently installed on my MacBook Pro.

The powerful algorithms used to tweak contrast and bring out details have saved me a great deal of time. Even after only using the program for a few days, I am getting superior results over CS5 in a fraction of the time. I suspect similar results to the conversions done in SEP2 could be achieved using Photoshop alone but it would require greater skills than I possess and a lot more time on my hands.

SEP2 Workspace

Larger version of the workspace can be seen here.

Before applying the plug-in, I prepare the RAW file much the same way as I do for colour and BW conversions in CS5. The SEP2 workspace feels very similar to Adobe Camera RAW and Lightroom, with many of the controls in the form of sliders. There are three main types of adjustments that can be made : brightness, contrast and structure. You can arrive at some very good results just using these three sliders, however each can be subdivided into more sliders which selectively affect different tonal ranges. Local adjustments can be made placing control points on the image.

What SEP2 does brilliantly, mainly through the ‘structure’ adjustment slider, is bringing out detail and textures. This can result in an over-sharpened look when used over-zealously but it’s such a powerful tool when used well, alone justifies the asking price of the software.

The Vigil (triple processed RAW)

The Vigil (Conversion in CS5)

The Vigil (Conversion in SEP2)

“The Vigil” is a classic view over Paris. I prepared the image for conversion by first triple processing a single RAW file and hand-blending them : a darker exposure for the sky, a lighter one for the city and an even brighter one for the gargoyle which was very dark due to the effects of the ND grad filter. The result you see is was achieved in SEP2 after only using the software for the first time. I have deliberately cranked up the structure slider to the point of an over-sharpened appearance to show the sort of details and textures SEP2 is able to pull out. A comparison with my Photoshop CS5 effort (which took much longer to process) is provided and best appreciated in these links to higher resolution versions : CS5 and SEP2. A good area to see the difference is the paving in the square shown at 100% below.

The Vigil at 100% (CS5)

The Vigil at 100% (SEP2)

The presets proved to be very useful; these are found on the left had column of the workspace. In addition to their raison d’etre of being time-savers, these turned out to be invaluable in giving me more ideas. Even though, I would have already visualized the end-point I want, seeing 38 other finished examples allowed me to be more open to other possibilities. A strategy I often use is picking one of the presets as a starting point which I then tweak further till I’m satisfied with the result. This screenshot featuring a street scene from the northern Italian town of Vicenza shows that I have selected the preset “High Structure”. Some of the master sliders (contrast and structure) have been opened up to reveal other sliders to fine tune effects according to tonal range. A cool feature at the bottom right is the ability to display which areas of the image fall into Ansel Adams’ zone system categories.

"High Structure (harsh)" Preset

Link to large version of the above screen shot found here.

Eternal City (SEP2)

The next example “Eternal City” is a view of the Pantheon in Roma. You can make levels and curves adjustments in SEP2 but a more interesting feature is being able to select one of many simulated film types. I’ve plumbed for Agfa Pro 100 on this occasion. There are also a number of finishing adjustments including colour toning, vignetting options, and a wide variety of preset borders.

Film Types and Finishing Adjustments

Link to larger version of the above screenshot found here.

Four-Legged Customer

This next example “Four-Legged Customer” shows a cafe scene from the charming Ile St Louis in Paris. I used the preset “Antique Plate II” as a starting point. Since the dog is the focal point of the composition and story, I wanted to make it stand out more with some additional brightness and definition. Using a control point placed over the dog, I increased the contrast, brightness and structure sliders to make these local adjustments.

Four-Legged Customer with local adjustment

My final example is a landscape photograph of the iconic Moraine Lake in the Canadian Rockies. Here I have applied Silver Efex over my previous monochrome conversion in CS5.

The Winter Fortress (CS4)

The Winter Fortress (conversion in CS4 with additional processing in SEP2)

 

Posted in Black and White, Paris, Reviews, TCBlog, Technique, Travel | 6 Comments

Digital Camera POTY Shortlist

Posted on December 7, 2011 by kahkityoong

I’m not exactly sure when these were released, but Digital Camera magazine’s Photographer of the Year competition has put up a gallery of their shortlisted images. They offer a wide range of categories and there are some terrific images on the list. I personally find it very interesting to view photographic genres that I don’t practice myself which is why I often purchase the annual POTY book. Anyway I’m pleased to see “Symphony of a Thousand” which I captured on our workshop in New Zealand this year made it to the shortlist at least. A few years back, I was placed in the landscape category of this competition with “Moody Moeraki” which had the undesirable effect of getting me disqualified from that year’s Veolia WPOTY competition after initially receiving a commendation :(

A placing will be the icing on the cake adding to my best year so far with successes at Veolia WPOTY, Windland Smith Rice and ANZANG.

Symphony of a Thousand

The large version can be found here.

 

Posted in Awards, Competitions, TCBlog | 5 Comments

Black, White and Shades of Grey – Part 1

Posted on December 1, 2011 by kahkityoong

While I have always considered monochromatic images to be part of my repertoire, my latest work from Paris has seen B&W photography take centre stage. (For simplicity I will include sepia and other monochromatic conversions when I use the term B&W).

Up till now I have used Photoshop to do all my conversions. However with the lion’s share of my latest portfolio being in B&W, I thought it was time to take a look at Silver Efex Pro 2 (SEP2) from Nik Software, a program dedicated to monochrome conversions.

Concorde (conversion in CS5, finishing in Silver Efex Pro 2)

Why shoot in black and white?

When using the digital format, most people don’t actually shoot in black and white. Rather, what we mean is visualizing and post-processing in BW. Standard practice is to shoot in colour RAW files which are then desaturated in post-capture.

My preferred approach is to deliberately conceive the photograph in monochrome before the shutter is pressed. Sometimes I will expose differently or use a heavier grad filter if the end result is destined to be monochrome. This usually results in superior images over those that come about as an afterthought because a shot didn’t turn out so well in colour. Actively trying to visualize a scene in BW allows me to focus on the structure within a composition. Form, contrast and the textures of the subject are emphasized without the distraction of colour. Stripped raw, it heightens the emotion and mood. Characteristics such as nostalgia and timelessness are more easily conveyed.

Montalcino

Nostalgia (processed in CS4)

Nostalgia (processed in SEP2)

This photograph of a lady walking in the rain in the Tuscan town of Montalcino was my first successful attempt at a street shot back in 2006. The colour and BW versions were simple processing jobs in Photoshop, taking several minutes each to complete. The sepia version, done in SEP2 was even quicker, essentially a one click affair using one the preset settings offered as a suggestion. How does the removal of colour from the image affect your perception of the scene?

“When you photograph people in colour, you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in black and white, you photograph their souls!” Ted Grant

The Sacred Heart (processing in SEP2)

There is greater creative license when processing in monochrome since it is a step further away from reality compared to colour photography. This photograph of a crypt taken in 2009 has never light of day until now. Converting it to monochrome has allowed me to manipulate the interplay of light and shadow to an extent that would have led to some pretty funky results in colour. The high resolution version is well worth viewing for its details here.

“Black and white photography is a perfect lie. We must not let colour destroy this magic.” Paddy Summerfield

BW Digital Workflow in Photoshop CS5

I have found working with BW to be more labour intensive in the digital darkroom with most images taking 15 to 20 minutes to process compared to 5-10 minutes with colour when using Photoshop.

There are multiple ways of arriving at a grey scaling a colour image. It is also possible to do the conversion in Camera RAW or in Photoshop proper. My preference is the latter and the usual steps are as follows

  • Produce a well exposed file in camera RAW, similar to what I would do with a colour interpretation. This may include double or triple processing a single RAW file to achieve this end.
  • Conversion to grey scale by adding a black and white adjustment layer. This allows manipulation of tones according to colour using the sliders.
  • Multiple levels adjustment layers for contrast either globally and/or localized using masks
  • Sometimes I fine tune contrast further with Tony Kuyper’s luminosity masks.
  • A second black and white adjustment layer is added over the top if a sepia or other tint is desired.

The Shining (processed in CS5)

Larger version here. The majority of my CS5 converted images still benefit from some additional finishing in SEP2. The next blog entry will cover my first look at SEP2.

 

Posted in Black and White, Monochrome, Postcapture, Reviews, Street Photography, TCBlog, Technique | 2 Comments

Beyond 24mm – An Introduction to Shooting Ultra-wide

Posted on November 23, 2011 by kahkityoong

Harbour City

Looking at the array of lenses I have collected over the years, the state of my Canon 16-35mm 2.8L is notable for being particularly well worn. There’s a good reason for this. Ultra-wide angle zooms are usually the bread-and-butter lens for many landscape and travel photographers. For the wow factor, it’s difficult to go past a carefully constructed wide-angle composition that makes you feel as though you can reach out and touch the foreground. The popularity of this perspective also means that it becomes all the more difficult to distinguish oneself from the large number of other photographers who like to shoot wide. Over a series of blog articles, I am going to present my approach to capturing those grand vistas.

Let’s kick off by defining what focal lengths constitute the ultra-wide range. I find 24mm on a full-frame camera to be convenient cut-off. Anything below is ultra-wide while 24mm can be considered merely ‘wide’. This is a convenient classification as many of Canon’s L and Nikon’s FX normal zoom lenses start at 24mm at the long end. I currently own Canon’s 16-35mm 2.8L and 17-40mm 4L lenses. In the past I also owned a Nikon DX 12-24mm f4. Since I now shoot Canon exclusively, I’ll offer my opinion on the 16-35mm and 17-40mm. Please note that I own the first version of the 16-35mm. I chose not to upgrade to the MkII version because the 77mm size is shared by the 24-105mm 4L,70-200mm 2.8L and 300mm 4L, all of which I also own. The advantage is being able to interchange the same UV and polarizing filters. From all accounts, the 16-35mm 2.8LMkII is not a great step forward optically compared to its predecessor. To be frank none of the Canon ultra-wide angle zooms are great lenses. They all suffer from significant issues with barrel distortion, chromatic aberration and corner softness at small apertures. I have found image quality to be indistinguishable between the two lesnes so the much cheaper 17-40mm is a good choice if you’re not bothered by missing out on 1mm of focal range. I can’t ever recall shooting at f2.8 on my 16-35mm but the extra light gathering ability may be of use photographing a night sky with stars.

Mousehole

This image taken at the Cornish village of Mousehole demonstrates numerous aspects that come into consideration when using an ultra-wide lens.

  • coverage of a wide field
  • perspective
  • depth of field
  • distortion
  • controlling the layers within the composition
  • filling the frame

Technical details : Canon 5DMkII, 16-35mm 2.8L at 16mm, ISO 400, f16, 1/60 handheld. The camera was held about 2 inches away from the mooring, so close that the front of the subject fell outside of the focus range of the lens. This is an extreme example of a near-far perspective : getting up close to a foreground subject with objects also in the distance. The low perspective has also allowed me to eliminate an expanse of beach which was interrupting the graphic relationship between the spread of ropes next to the mooring and those in the midground leading to the boats.

Links to large versions of the two images in this article can be found here : Harbour City and Mousehole.

The Harbour City is of course Sydney. This is a high viewpoint over Darling Harbour with the newly opened “Star” in the foreground. It was shot at a focal length of 16mm. There is a wonderful window of time where the last colour of sunset is reflected in the buildings of the CBD, behind which the dark sky is turning into night.

Mousehole, is one of the best preserved fishing villages in west Cornwall. Although it is on the tourist trail, it retains a timeless character and charm.

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Making Hay When the Sun Doesn’t Shine

Posted on November 18, 2011 by kahkityoong
Forlorn

My arrival in southern England coincided with the end of some unseasonably fine weather in the middle of the European autumn. Unlike the New Zealand trips in the past two years where I merely had to show up to witness incredible light shows, I had to work harder for my keepers in Cornwall. When the conditions are poor, I often feel that it may be easier to conjure a rabbit out of a hat. This is a great challenge for landscape photographers. However it is the way we deal with white featureless skies, poor visibility, constant rain, and wind that kicks up masses of sea spray that gives us the opportunity to extend ourselves and the emotional range of our photography.

With 6 years of photography now under my belt, it’s nice not to feel that I have to rush around and add fifty new images each trip. Shooting landscapes is a much more contemplative exercise these days; I set myself the target of ten coastal landscapes over two weeks. In the wash up I did achieve manage to achieve my aim of ten keepers, several of which I eked out on some very dreary days.

My favourite thing is to go where I’ve never been. Diane Arbus

Something I like to do on a continuous basis is to analyze my work to see where it is going. Am I churning out more of the same or is my style evolving? These are important aspects to consider as one’s portfolio grows. The first characteristic that strikes me on assessing my latest collection of seascapes is that not one of them relies on water motion as a compositional element. This is a major departure from my usual style, which usually heavily relies on a variety of shuttered water effects. Whether working coastal scenes with a ‘landscape’ approach signifies an intrinsic change or was merely an (extrinsic) effect of the nature of the Cornwall locations will be an interesting for me to follow-up on. Time will tell.

The important thing that’s important to know is that you never know. You’re always sort of feeling your way. Diane Arbus

Stratification

As usual both of these images benefit from being viewed at larger size so here are the links : Forlorn and Stratification.

“Forlorn” was one of those locations where I really really wished the light had been better. Even so, I’m quite happy with my brooding interpretation, taken as the tide was going out to reveal some interesting pools and patterns in the sand. This was visualized in monochrome and processing it this way allowed me some creative license that would not have been possible in colour. For example a colour rendition would have left the reflecting pool in the foreground unnaturally bright under such a dark sky. In the world of monochrome however, the extra dynamic range adds some much needed drama.

Posted in Cornwall, Journal, Landscape, TCBlog | 2 Comments

Slow Photography

Posted on November 14, 2011 by kahkityoong

Place Vendome

Last week I posted a couple of images that were taken on the spur of the moment and made the following statement. “Some images are an instant in the making while others take years to create. During my two weeks in Paris, it struck me how images evolve over different time lines.”

Today, I’m presenting a scene that has taken me years to photograph. The location is Place Vendome, arguably the most prestigious address in Paris. It is home to the most celebrated hotel in Europe, the Ritz Paris which can be seen on the right. I’ve walked through this square countless times over the years but have never taken a single photograph. Taking a walk through the centre of Paris, I’m always struck by the perfect proportions of many locations such as Place de la Concorde, Tuileries, the Louvre and Place du Trocadero. While the French may not have known about feng shui, the way Tuileries merges into the Louvre, or Trocadero and Champ de Mars flow to the Eiffel Tower, display that they had a good handle on the concept.

I’ve always found Place Vendome, with its elegant lamps arranged to emphasise its spaciousness, daunting compositionally. Hence on previous occasions, I have been contented to sit back and marvel at its perfection. On my final evening in Paris, I had my “Eureka” moment. In the shadows of a fiery sunset, with the ambient light being perfectly balanced so that I could shoot without filtration, I decided only a panoramic format would do Vendome justice. Many of Paris’ grand locations are well suited to this so I have had a bit of practice lately using a normal Really Right Stuff tripod head with decent results.

This stitch of ten vertical frames should be seen in its largest version on the MHT website.

 

Posted in My 2 cents, Paris, Travel | 1 Comment

In the Blink of an Eye

Posted on November 11, 2011 by kahkityoong

Blink

Some images are an instant in the making while others take years to create. During my two weeks in Paris, it struck me how images evolve over different time lines.

These two images are examples of images captured on the fly, fragments of time that may contain beauty, humour and other human qualities which normally pass us by without further thought. Preserved on a hard drive, the web or a print, one has time to admire the elegant sweep of a woman’s skirt as she turns a corner in a dimly lit metro station. Or perhaps sympathise with a man taking the opportunity to have a breather on a bench after a hard day’s work.

Horizontal

Capturing the decisive moment is all about active observation, anticipating when it’s going to happen and then recognising when it has arrived. In the context of wildlife, sports, reportage and street photography, these can come and go in the blink of an eye. The ability to nail these sort of images requires quick decisions regarding composition, choosing the best vantage point and sufficient practice technique that operating the camera controls to make exposure and depth of field becomes second nature.

A larger version of “Blink” can be viewed here.

 

Posted in Paris, Street Photography, Travel | 1 Comment

An Overdue Update

Posted on November 7, 2011 by kahkityoong

The Vigil

I apologize for the lack of updates on the website and blog over the last couple of weeks. When a photographer goes AWOL it usually means either he has lost his inspiration or else he has been busy making images. I’m happy to report that it is former. In fact, as a travel photographer, I feel like I have been reborn.

Just to recap what has been happening over the last couple of months : 2 weeks in Paris, 3 weeks in Cornwall and a week in London attending the Veolia Wildlife Photographer of the Year events and the Wild Photo symposium. As you may have noticed, my Paris portfolio is being reorganized into a single gallery comprising two submenus separating colour from monochrome images. Over the next few weeks, expect to see these fill up in addition to our best work from Cornwall hitting the website. There will be plenty of blog stories too, collated from my trip notes.

This brooding image depicting a gargoyle watching over the city Paris is one of the latest additions to the website. The larger version is a must. It’s a classic view and not a particularly original idea at all. However to make the best of the situation, I timed my visit to Notre-Dame with some heavy clouds. This is a single exposure. Since I visualised this in black and white at the time, a polariser and 2 stop hard GND filter were used to make the sky more dramatic. The single RAW file was triple processed : one of the city, one for the gargoyle’s head where it was darkened by the grad filter and one for the sky. Conversion to BW was using the black and white adjustment layer in Photoshop CS5. A further adjustment layer was added at the end to add the sepia toning.

Posted in News, Paris, Postcapture, Travel | 3 Comments

Veolia Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2011

Posted on October 20, 2011 by kahkityoong

2011 WPOTY Yearbook

I’ve just returned from nature photography’s night of nights, the awards ceremony of the joint Veolia and BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year, held at the British Natural Museum in London. While I’m proud of being able to be at this event for the second year in a row, that is not why I travelled thousands of miles to be at this event. It’s the shot in the arm you get from being inspired by other photographers, hearing their stories and seeing the images presented in the best way possible, on large backlit screens.

The format of the evening was similar to last year – a champagne reception followed by the announcement of all the prize winners and special commendations. Those who won first prize were invited to give a short speech. After dinner, the overall winners of the Veolia WPOTY were announced. The grand prize winner is chosen from the category winners. We were all then treated to a private viewing of the exhibition.

A few thoughts on the images. The standard seemed a notch higher than last year and as you would expect many were simply incredible. Innovation and originality were once again well rewarded. It never ceases to amaze me how many successful photos are captured in the photographer’s backyard or very close to home. I thought there were three main contenders for this year’s main award.

The first was from last year’s winner, Bence Mate. As usual he got off to a flying start by picking up the Erik Hosking portfolio prize. “Pelican Perspective” shows the inside of a pelican’s mouth from the viewpoint of the water surface. He achieved this by building a floating set-up with a fisheye lens and flashes, operated from a boat. The result is the kind of shot that nobody has seen the like of before.

Joe Bunni’s “Polar Power” was a big crowd favourite. Obviously it’s a risky shot with the photographer using a fisheye lens to get up close and personal with a polar bear. Amazingly the bear’s nose came into contact with the underwater housing. The beauty of the split level view and diagonal wave is harder to appreciate on the web size version. Some beautiful textures in the water as well as the bubbles and swirls are the icing on the cake. I also like the effect of the right paw seen through the wave.

And finally, the painterly beauty of Daniel Beltra’s “Still Life in Oil” moved the judges to award it the overall winner. Surely this portrait of pelicans covered in crude oil in the first stage of cleaning at a bird rescue facility will become an iconic representation of the Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010. In fact the whole portfolio of images, Daniel won the Photojournalist of the Year with, is very special. While his winning image may be less original than the other two contenders I mentioned, when you view this print at the exhibition, it is certainly a striking result and stirs the emotions.

I will report back on other images when I get a chance to speak to more photographers over the next couple of days. The results can be found on the Natural History Museum website now.

Posted in Awards, Competitions, News, TCBlog | 5 Comments