A PINHOLE OF A PINHOLE

"Topsy-Turvy: A Camera Obscura Installation," was on temporary display in New York's Madison Square Park.

I received a pinhole camera kit for Christmas about ten years ago and remember thinking what a really cool gift it was and that I couldn't wait to build this camera and start taking photographs. However, even before I started building the camera, I couldn't help thinking about what would be the first thing I photographed. And that's where my thoughts stopped.

So the kit was put away in a desk drawer and although I would often come across it during the past decade, I still couldn't imagine taking that first photo.

Then earlier this month I came across a tweet about a camera obscura on display in New York City's Madison Square Park and all of a sudden I realized that I now had the perfect first photograph for my pinhole camera. A pinhole photograph of a pinhole camera. That was it.

Wood pinhole photography kit complete with everything you need to develop your photographs.

Artists Sandra Gibson and Luis Recoder set up this 10x10-foot walk-in camera they dubbed " Topsy-Turvy: A Camera Obscura Installation,” in the Flat Iron district of New York City to educate the public. The exhibit was on display through April 5th.

I retrieved the kit from my desk and started looking through the instructions while at the same time planning my day trip to New York. The kit came with everything I needed to construct the camera, plus everything I needed to develop the paper. I wasn't even deterred when I noticed the developer and fixer had expired in 2008.

The pinhole camera was simple to construct and took about 15 minutes to build. I did make a slight modification to the finished camera by adding a 1/2-inch piece of MDF board to the bottom of the camera so I could insert a1/4"-20 T-Nut so I could attach my camera to a tripod.

Almost complete pinhole camera. Still need to finish the paint job and make additional modifications to the base.

The last thing I did was dig through the attic and find my old darkroom safelight, a Kodak Model B. The kit does provide a red sheet of plastic that could be placed over a light source in case you don't have access to a safelight.

The night before I left for New York I went into the darkroom/bathroom, plugged in the safelight and loaded a 3x3 inch piece of photographic paper into the camera.

I arrived in New York around 10:30 a.m. the next day and walked the nine blocks to Madison Square Park and quickly located the camera obscura at the south end of the park aimed at the historic Flat Iron Building. A couple was just exiting the camera when I arrived so along with the attendant I stepped inside and after a few minutes my eyes adjusted and the surrounding area came into focus. To me, it is fascinating to realize that this is exactly what it would look like if I could step inside the small pinhole camera I had in my bag.

When I exited the camera I walked around the area for a while thinking about the photograph I was about to take. I literally only had one shot and not having used this camera before I wasn't sure what the focal length would be or how long of an exposure to use. The pamphlet that came with the kit did offer suggested exposure times based on the available light.

My pinhole camera all set to take a 45-second exposure of the camera obscura.

I placed the pinhole camera on a light stand I brought along to act as a tripod, took a deep breath, waited for some park goers to get out of the way and then pushed aside the little door covering the pinhole and started the countdown. The pamphlet recommended a 30-second exposure in bright sunlight. I settled on a 45-second exposure because of some open shade in the park.

After I closed the cover I was done. Seemed anticlimactic. I stuck the box back into my bag and went about the rest of the day taking photos of New York City.

I returned home around 11:45 that night and briefly thought that I should wait until the next day to process the photograph, but soon realized that was not going to happen. So once again I set up my makeshift darkroom and went about mixing the developer and fixer. The last time I was in a darkroom was 1997 but when I smelled the fixer it was like I was there yesterday.

Pinhole #1.

I opened the camera and retrieved the paper negative and placed it in the developer and... Nothing! I started to panic and question whether I had put the paper in camera correctly or perhaps not made a long enough exposure. Then I remembered that the chemicals were five years past the date of best use. So after a couple of minutes of not seeing an image appear I added some additional developer and finally Pinhole #1 revealed itself in the miniature tray.

The Flat Iron Building at left as seen upside down and backward inside the camera obscura.

Just like the image I saw on the wall inside Topsy-Turvy, the image you will get is a negative and reversed. There are two options to correct this. The first is to place the paper with the negative image face down over another sheet of photographic paper, place a piece of glass or plexiglass over both sheets of paper and expose them to white light, then process the paper as before. Remember, everything with the exception of turning on the white light must be done under a safelight in the darkroom.

The second method and the one that I choose is to photograph the pinhole photograph with a digital camera and then using a program such as Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop, flip the tone curve and rotate horizontally to get a corrected image. I explained this process in my blog post about using your digital camera to copy old negatives. I have some exciting things planned for this pinhole camera and with camera obscuras in the future, so keep reading this blog and be sure to follow me on Twitter.

STAR GAZING - PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS AT NIGHT

Monument Valley at 3 am. Camera settings: ISO 2000, 20 sec., f 2.8.

Much like my recent post offering five tips on photographing in Upper Antelope Canyon, I admit that this post offering my thoughts on photographing stars doesn't come from years of experience. In fact, this was my first real attempt.

So why should you continue reading?

Because with any photographic technique there will always be a first time. And because I come to these new situations with years of photographic experience behind me, I think my approach and the lessons learned can help you as you expand your photographic horizons and explore new areas or genres of photography.

I mentioned briefly in my post about planning for my Arizona trip that one of the things I wanted to do was try shooting at night. Coincidentally, I also realized that I was going to be in Monument Valley during a large meteor shower, so my expectations were high.

What did I learn?

Star photography is much more that putting you camera on a tripod, setting a long exposure and sitting back while the magic happens.

And of course, you already know that you'll need a sturdy tripod, cable release and a flashlight (headlamp works best), right?

Horseshoe Bend at 5 am. Camera settings: ISO 1600, 20 sec., f 3.5.

Probably the first thing I learned was to crank up the ISO. I went as high as 3200 but found that 1600 worked best. Normally when using a tripod, your first thought is to use the lowest ISO available since the possibility of camera shake caused by a lower shutter speed is minimized. But when you consider that the planet your tripod sits on is moving, a slow shutter speed causes the stars to blur, thus making everything seem out of focus.

Speaking of focus, the second thing I learned is that obtaining sharp focus at night is really difficult. While you think you might be able to set your lens to infinity and all will be good, you'd be wrong. If there is something in the foreground such as a tree or barn that you can shine a light on to set focus then you are fine. Absent that, I would set my focus to infinity, then back off just a bit, take a series of photos, go to the laptop and check focus. I was never able to determine true focus using the back of the camera, even when using a Zacuto Z-Finder Pro.

Even though it appeared very dark, lights from a far-off town became visible on the horizon during the long exposure. Camera Settings: ISO 3200, 30 sec., f 2.8.

Monument Valley was dark, really dark, and remember that darkness is your friend when shooting the night sky, despite the focus issues previously mentioned. Light pollution is all around us, so the farther from civilization you can get, the better. Even as dark as it was in the Arizona desert, I noticed bright spots on the horizon from far off towns would appear after long exposures.

I found a shutter speed between 20 and 35 seconds worked best. Anything longer and you will definitely have soft stars. I set the f-stop somewhere between 2.8 or 3.2, which again seems to go against conventional thinking when using a tripod and trying to achieve a deep depth of field with everything in focus from near to far.

However, if you think about it, you need to strike a balance between getting the most light into the camera without too long of a shutter speed, which is why you crank up the ISO. Luckily today's cameras can handle the higher ISOs.

Remember, even if the temperature is warm during the day, it can get really cold at night, so dress warmly, bring extra layers and maybe a thermos of hot chocolate or coffee. You want to be comfortable when you settle in for a long night of shooting the stars.

DEJA VU COVERAGE - SAME PHOTOGRAPHS, DIFFERENT DAY

When Dr. Robert Ballard, probably most known for the discovery of the RMS Titanic, stepped in front of a screen depicting the future of underwater exploration, I knew I had my photograph.

If you are a corporate photographer and find yourself taking pictures in the same location over and over again, then this post is for you. If you are an event photographer that returns to the same location over and over again, then this post is for you. And if you are either one of these photographers and want to create unique pictures every time you are at this location, then this post is for you.

In my case, I am responsible for covering ceremonies, conferences, and speakers in our corporate conference center several times a month. Everyone from famous oceanographers, Nobel Prize winners, four-star admirals and generals, authors and scientists have passed through and while the presentations are fascinating, it is the same venue, same light, same big screens, etc. You get the picture.

When a Time Magazine cover featuring Albert Einstein appeared on screen I knew that it would make a different photo of Nobel Prize physicist Dr. William D. Phillips.

In this post I'll focus mainly on covering speakers and presentations as opposed to events. So how do I make that interesting or different when I've been shooting in this location for eight years?  Well read on.

On the surface it would appear that nothing changes expect the person and that would seem like the big disadvantage, right? Not really. Your first advantage is that the basics of the environment doesn't change, which means your exposure doesn't really change. I know that I'm going to put my camera on manual with a shutter speed of 100, f-stop around 3.2 and an ISO of 1600. Now that might change just a bit on occasion depending on whether the speaker remains in the front of the room or moves around. But in any case it will only change a stop or so in either direction.

It wasn't until the final slide of his presentation, which featured the cover of his new book, that I felt I had a usable photo of Dr. Peter W. Singer.

The second advantage, and this will save you time in post processing, is you can assign a custom white balance and forget it. As I'm walking up the stairs to our conference center, I set my camera as stated above and make sure that my camera's white balance is set on custom. Now when I enter the room all my attention is on how I'm going to make these images different from the previous ones. All the technical issues were solved years ago.

Which brings us to the title of this post, the fact that you really are shooting the same scene over and over and the changes you are looking for can be subtle.

The dark slide behind former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead provided nice contrast with his uniform.

More than 90% of the speakers have some type of Power Point slides or video they use during the presentation. You can use those slides to your advantage. Since I am able to include a large video screen in my frame whether I'm shooting from the left or right, I wait for a slide that in some way works visually with the speaker. It could be a graphic or have strong color and because you control the depth of field, it is your decision on how much you want the viewer to know. If it's the title slide or has words that help identify the speaker, then a little deeper depth of field is the answer, or if it is a graphic element or strong color, then shallower normally works.

Professor and complex network theorist, Dr. Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, had some complicated slides so I opted for a  shallow depth of field and waited.

In one sense I'm fortunate that I have those video screens to use since they do provide endless opportunities. So what if you don't have anything like that? If that was the case, I would most likely place a colored gel and strobe the background to add some punch. Or maybe place some temporary art on the wall that you are confident you could use as visual elements. That's assuming this is a space that you control.

I realize every venue is different, so the key is to figure out all of the basics first, such as shutter speed, white balance and f-stops. The real point is that if you are required to photograph in the same location, then master that location, embrace that location and most of all, be creative in that location. You don't have a choice, right?

LIGHTROOM & BLURB: PERFECT TOGETHER

Arizona by John F. Williams | Make Your Own Book

I received a copy of my first photo book published through Blurb.com and thought I would share the experience with you. I'll state right up front that publishing a one-off photography book is not inexpensive, but to see and be able to present your art in book form, I believe it's well worth the investment. I've received  positive reactions from everyone who has looked at the book. And not just a positive reaction to the photographs which is the ultimate goal, but also to the quality and printing of the book itself. I've shared many of these photos online, but handing someone a physical book still elicits a very different response.

To back up just a bit, this was the first photo project where I made the decision upfront to use Adobe Lightroom 4 exclusively from start to finish. This was a key decision because in Lightroom 4 a new book module was added, making it only natural that I experimented with that as well.

Screen shot showing the book module in Adobe Lightroom 4.

This post isn't meant to be a step-by-step guide on using Lightroom 4 to create a book, there are already plenty of tutorials out there, including some at blurb.com, but I will highlight a few that I found incredibly helpful and also discuss how I got started.

As I imported my photos into Lightroom, I placed them in a collection I named Arizona. Within the Arizona collection, I created a collection set named book. As I rated my photos, everything that received three stars or more, was moved to the book collection. In the book module I selected a large landscape (11x13) book with hardcover and dust jacket on premium lustre paper. Total cost was $86.19 for the 60 page book, although I did receive a first time publisher discount, so the total with shipping actually cost around $76.00.

The first video tutorial I found helpful was How to Create a PDF Folio produced by Ibarionex Perello of the Candid Frame podcast and it provided a great explanation on using templates and favorites to quickly get started. The only difference with this tutorial is that in the end he exports his book as a PDF instead of uploading to Blurb.

The second video was Creating Your Own PhotoBook in Lightroom 4 by Scott Kelby. This video is part of the Kelby Training series and is available as a $9.99 rental if you are not a subscriber. And while I'm sure there are many free options, Scott is just a great instructor and he really saved me with his workarounds for creating a custom front cover.

A variety of templates makes it easy to customize your book.

One thing to point out is that there currently is not an option to upload custom templetes, which some see as a frustration. At first I was a little frustrated by this as well, however there really are hundreds of page templates available and I'm not sure I would have designed anything better for the interior pages that was not already available.

Designing the front cover was another story however. This is the one place that I thought there could be more custom options available. That is until I watched Scott's tutorial and saw that from Lightroom he opened the image he wanted on the cover in Photoshop, created his custom design, the saved it back to Lightroom. Then you just drag that image to a basic cover template and it's done. In my case it took one or two tries so that I could get the alignment right for the wrap-around of the dust jacket.

If you have photos you have always wanted to share or present in a different way, I would encourage you to spend time in the Lightroom's book module and let your creativity flow. And please, feel free to share your Blurb books with me.

HISTORICAL ASS?

I'm sure the president of the University of Richmond was unaware of what television viewers saw behind him during a C-SPAN3 broadcast of a panel discussion on History in the Digital Age, but it sure caught my eye. Also, I'm sure that no one who was present in the audience that day was aware. And just maybe, if I hadn't put it in the title of this blog, you too would be wondering why I posted this picture?

In all things photography, both still and video, you must always be aware of the background. In this case the Historical Association's banner placed behind the speaker would at first seem like a good promotional idea. But did anyone check what the background would look like when viewed at 16:9 on television? I'm pretty sure they didn't.

In most cases a photographer scans the background looking for a pole or tree branch poking out from behind a head. In other cases it is making sure nobody is flipping the bird or photobombing during an interview.

In this blog I'll talk about photographing a conference, something I do quite often, where having a dynamic background, preferably with the conference title, can add interest and help tell the story, and where a poorly designed background can present all types of problems.

Same conference background viewed from two different angles works equally well in both instances. Bill Nye the Science Guy, left, and Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus speak at the Naval STEM Forum in 2010. This background presented many interesting possibilities regardless of the angle I shot from.

Tips for those designing backgrounds.

1. Take into consideration all the angles that photographers will be shooting from.

2. In backgrounds, size does matter. If too small it will look strange when photographed using a wide angle. Too big and the speaker will get lost.

3. The speaker will get lost if the background is too bright, either by color choice, or over lit by the production crew. If the background is too busy, it could detract from the subject.

4. Keep in mind that the video camera is probably on a riser in the back of the room shooting straight on, while still photographers are shooting from a lower angle.

Video screen showing presentation in background adds graphical interest to otherwise static photograph of Mr. Thomas Kalil, Deputy Director, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Tips for photographing backgrounds.

1. Work with the background by varying your angles to add interest. Make it work with the photograph by incorporating or isolating portions. Be selective.

2. If there are video screens off to the side, see if the imagery or graphics can be used to enhance interest. Emphasize patterns in these slides by using a shallow depth of field.

3. If possible find a way to elevate yourself, such as shooting from a riser or using a ladder, to put yourself at eye level. If the background was designed to be viewed this way without many options, then put yourself in the same position.

4. If the background does not work at all, or if there is no background and just a curtain, do your best to avoid leaving a black hole behind the speaker. Shooting from an extreme low angle to include overhead lights or spots can add interest, or shooting from slightly behind the speaker and including the audience is a good idea.

Besides presentations, video screens often will show the speaker, especially in large venues. In this photo the screen on left was directly behind the speaker and just didn't look right if photographed straight on,  however when taken from the side and including another screen, I think it frames the speaker, Rear Adm. Matthew Klunder, chief of naval research, nicely while adding interest.

Whether you are designing a background, have input into the design, or are the photographer assigned to cover a conference, take into account all the possibilities and most importantly, if your organization or company's title includes the word "Association," BE CAREFUL!