Red, White and Jubilee Blues

After last year's Wills and Kate wedding, this year it was the Diamond Jubilee of HM Queen Elizabeth II which tested the nation's media cliches to breaking point...   :)

Once again, it looked like street parties all around if you weren't fortunate (unlucky?) enough to be working for a national or an agency, like Tabascokid. With four days of festivities over the weekend, plus a week-long build-up in schools and clubs, it also looked like a slog. I was allowed the Sunday off, but this was a week of long days and a loooong weekend otherwise. A lot of extra work was done - I personally filed 25% more images per day over the 7 "Jubilee" days.

The problem with street parties, nowadays, is that people don't associate with their neighbours so much (this is a polite way of putting it!). The gut feeling amongst my colleagues after last year's royal wedding knees-up was that it was like turning up to a succession of family barbecues to get pictures... Even with the roads closed, families were just sitting in little groups or in their front gardens.

However, perhaps it's the practice we've all had now but this year didn't seem quite so bad. There was, I think, a missed opportunity for me locally, with an excellent "500 Years of History" parade (yay, not a street party!) from local groups on the Saturday that I should have been able to spend longer at, and get there earlier, but with the piclist I had it wasn't to be. Once again, after the jubilee was all done I wasn't really happy with what I had shot and filed, either.

But, with a week's distance from the actual moment of pressing the shutter release, there's a few images that I'm now warming to, and hopefully you'll like too...

Kids in Schools... With the jubilee a part of the National Curriculum, the primary schools
were all holding events of one sort or another. I'll not put names here, or locations, just in
case. We have to have permissions for photography in schools, and it's a nightmare elsewhere.
I still believe the obsession with kiddy-pix vs paranoid child-protection concerns is a minefield
newspapers (local ones particularly) have not yet properly addressed - not the least because editors
are expecting (demanding) to have them, but you try finding somebody to give
parental permission at a street party...

Face-painted. This school had been making crowns as part of their take on the monarchy
and its history.

Behind a cake at a street party. I had to get her to hold still to line it up, as the wind, light and point of view
weren't co-operating. Luckily, she understood from a distance and held her pose...

At the 500 Years of History parade, a bystander becomes a subject himself. Warwick Neech captures memories in Tunstall Road as the groups go past. I could (should) have spent longer here, and arrived earlier - I got there just as the parade was moving off, but had to leave before it reached it's destination. Note to stewards: a somewhat offhand "Better late than never", when I rush up and ask what the route will be, is not a good phrase to use when my picture list is as busy as it was...

Part of the build-up in the week before; a 40's and 50's - themed jubilee tea party with a singer, Annie Love, at the Leysdown Over 60's club.  Rose Overland as a Pearly Queen sings a duet. Shot at a slow shutter speed with them walking and me moving to keep up; as is the random nature of such things, the singer is sharp but the Pearly Queen has some movement. She's sharp enough, thanks to the flash, for me to like it.

A Jubilee Fish and Chip supper at The Freedom Centre, Sheerness; a meeting place for those with disabilities to socialise and get creative with art and games. Claire Barnes in patriotic garb and gear. 

Young DJ at a Street Party on the Saturday, under a Union flag gazebo. This was the best picture from this job, and pretty much the only one that I took a liking to on the day itself...

A young man makes a draw at a game at another street party on the Monday. 

And finally, the traditional street party table. Not a great pic, but one I was pleased to get, as I wasn't seeing this anywhere else...  Whilst it might jam the kids and food closer together, I think the pics from the 50's coronation celebrations work better as their parties were mostly only one table wide...

"Multi Meeja"

(Updated: corrected some layout errors; and a clarification - this isn't "new" to the world of photography. A/V is what it's been known as in the past (multi-media is just a catchy phrase used by suits and others who want to to appear trendy and cutting edge) but it is new to me. It's also, despite it's trendy title, still rare in local media...)


Apologies for the blog posts being very thin on the ground over the last few weeks. I know that all seven of you ;-) miss these words of wisdom (!!) but I tend to write if I have something to write about, rather than thinking “I must post” and looking for a subject. Perhaps that needs to change.

However, here’s a little something that’s been bubbling under for a while...

Those of us in the photographic section of the media know that there’s been much talk about the growth of video and other media in our job specifications. A growing on-line presence - necessary because of the decline in newsprint itself - means that the Powers That Be have latched onto the moving image because of the web’s ability to play such things.

There is evidence about which shows that things aren’t as simple as “shoot a video, people will watch it”, and I speak from personal experience when I say that I’m not a big web news-video watcher. It needs to be REALLY, REALLY eyecatching or a big story to make me hit “play”. It seems that still images can be assimilated quickly whereas, even with short video clips, the viewer is at the mercy of the shooter/editor for the length of time they must watch to get the gist of the information.

And of course, there are the local issues, such as how are the huge files generated by video actually sent around (if you don’t have one of the TV companies’ satellite vans), who is putting these together, who is posting them and who, given the local snapper is frequently covering many jobs a day, is actually shooting the footage? I personally believe that if I’m shooting video, I’m missing out on stills and vice-versa when my days are so busy. You end up covering neither base in a satisfactory manner.

I’m also not sure every stills photographer is a cinematographer, and every movie cameraman a stills snapper either - there are some similarities but many, many differences. I remain unconvinced that grabbing quick clips on an HDSLR will make the grade, quality wise, sufficiently to satisfy the viewer or the shooter too. Much more time needs to be devoted to lighting, for one thing.

But a SLIDESHOW, a multi-media blending of stills and sound (and maybe those short video clips)? Now, that might be worth trying...

More, including a very-much-Mark-One effort, after the break...

FLASH!! AAaaAarghhh!!!

(Sorry...)

One of the things that puzzles non-photographers, and causes much apprehension amongst new photographers, is the deployment of a flashgun or two, even in "bright light". Watch the frowns and head-tilts as you put a Speedlight on your camera when "it's sunny, what's the problem?"

It's one of the things (I'm told) that isn't taught well, if at all, at colleges, and thus becomes a mountain to climb when faced with the real world and its frequent lack of "good" available light. There's often plenty of light washing about, sure, but if you are trying to make an image for a newspaper, the aim is always to think "tight and bright" first. (Even if we might mentally add "and sh*te!" to that...)

Luckily, the 'net can come to the rescue with a wealth of information now on-line, from people who have made a career from doing good lighting. I certainly owe pretty much all I know about Flash; Use Of, to the blogs of David Hobby and Joe McNally. You can do a lot worse, if you are new to the idea of lighting being something you need to manage, of reading Strobist's Lighting 101 and 102.

And you do need to manage it, as a jobbing pro, because you are expected to come back with something satisfactory from every job.

One of the greatest things to learn about flash is that there are always two exposures taking place; one for the flash itself, and one for whatever ambient may be about. Appreciate this for the first time, and you suddenly open up some creative doors...

A London Marathon runner, Jodie Allchin, photographed at The Leas, Minster. There are two exposures in operation here;

One, the ambient, was deliberately underexposed by one stop, which cut down the glare of the concrete and improved the detail in the sky. This left her face and t-shirt (important because of the charity element) a bit dark - though the bright concrete actually gave back some helpful fill-in through reflection - so an SB900 was deployed, feathered off so that it wasn't aimed straight at her, running at +1.0 EV (I think!). The feathering means the light that hits her isn't quite so harsh, as her face is lit by the more diffuse edges of the flash beam. It's only a small difference, but in the absence of, say, a softbox it does help a bit.

More after the break.

D4 Pondering, Part 2, and more...

(Even less sure, now...)

(Usual Disclaimer: No, I still haven't got hands-on with one. This further ramble is based on what I read from sensible pro-users and commentators around the 'net. I think I'd still like one, but...)

A bit more information has come to light since I wrote my first pondering on the new Nikon D4, though the actual launch date has been pushed back into March since I wrote the post. Nikon have possibly discovered something they want to correct when the pre-production samples were getting their work-out here, and here, for example. Or maybe they wish to build up launch stock availability. Either way, I don't think this is any big deal.

However, what seems to be clear (or becoming clearer) is that the overall image quality is a "D3s but with more pixels". I did ponder this and decided that it was a possibility (though I bottled it and plumped for "more like D3"...!!!!), though Nikon still don't say this outright. But various commentators who have seen images side by side from the D3s and D4 say they couldn't be more similar.

Which strongly suggests two things: one; that Nikon have managed to increase the resolution without increasing noise and other issues with their flagship sensor, and two; just how extraordinary the D3s sensor was at launch in 2009, and how good it remains.

Nikon D3s.
I've not much use for Nik Color Efex Pro 3; I have it because it was cheaper to buy the complete set of products than pick the ones I do use (Dfine, Sharpener and Silver Efex) but here I've had a play around to be a little creative with what is, really, a dull image to illustrate the page. Shot on my D3 with 60mm Micro, the raw is processed with the Polaroid Transfer preset, then the Pro Contrast preset, in Color Efex 3. There's a small levels adjustment to lift the whites slightly.

More after the break...

D4 Ponderings...

Talking myself out of one (or not..?)

(Disclaimer 1: yes, I do want one. There are the usual Internet freaks chipping into forums with their usual stupid comments about price-point, resolution, touch-screen and other such nonsense. Ignore them. They aren't photographers.)

(Disclaimer 2: This is based on specs and rational articles published on the web, plus familiarity with the D3 series, but not hands-on experience - as yet*)

*I've used Nikon for over 30 years, but I was first introduced to a modern Pro body by my local camera shop when I was part-time snapping. This was the very excellent F5 and my retailer knew his man. I'd popped in to see about some used lenses and he just put one into my hands. Two weeks later I had one...

That was '98; I added another in 2000, and it was the experience gained making good and full use of them - plus the fact that F5's were far more capable than the typical local press snappers issue - that helped get me the full-time job.  Since then, Digital has matured, and I've had D1, D2 (H, X and XS) and now D3 and 3s. Sadly, the issue kit didn't keep up. After D1, D2X/XS it dried up; although the two D300 I had were nice cameras the D7000 I also have now, as I have mentioned elsewhere, isn't in the same league. Image-wise it's fine. But then, so were the pics out of my F90X back in '98...  The body can make a difference.

More after the break

A Merry Christmas...

...And a happy New Year to you all.

A Fungi to be with...

(Sorry..)

I finished at a job in a church hall a couple of weeks ago and, with nothing else on the list, went looking for Pics of the Day.  I get a bit jaded by Pic of the Day, especially on the same patch year after year, but today inspiration was looking for an outlet and churchyards are a good place to start. Then I looked down in all the leaf litter and saw this...

In many ways this is a simple picture, but I deliberately went looking for a less conventional way to shoot it than I would normally (60mm macro etc etc).  Out came the 70-200, I opened it up to f2.8/f4/f5.6, crawled around in the leaf litter - fortunately it was still dry! - and did a little gardening of a few blades of grass between me and the subject.

I'm no wildlife photographer, unlike my local colleague Rob Canis, but I think this is a Shaggy Ink Cap, Coprinus Comatus.

Shaggy Ink Cap, Coprinus Comatus (I think!), peeking through the leaf litter in St Michael's churchyard,
Sittingbourne, on 24th September 2011. Autumn, season of mists and mellow fruitfulness?
Nikon D3, ISO 800, 70-200mm lens at 200mm, 1/800th at f2.8, raw image processed in Aperture.

The D3 was left on what is its near-default this time of year of ISO 800, but it could have been pulled down to base ISO of 200 if you're really worried by image "noise" (though ISO1600 doesn't make a D3 even sweat..). I handheld, flat on my stomach but a  bean bag would be the thing to rest the camera on with a reduced shutter speed. In Aperture I added 0.35EV exposure - on the JPEG the Ink Cap wanted to start "blowing out" at the metered exposure. There's a curve to add some "snap" to the contrast, then a little Highlight Recovery and Highlight Protection to make the Ink Cap look right. I could have gone with the meter reading and added more recovery to the raw, but decided to stop the "blinkies" flashing on the monitor on-site.