tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19910894807033183872024-03-05T17:05:00.384-08:00Craig's Photographic Journeys and RamblingsThoughts and images along the path of photographic discovery.Craig Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01939203728979223679noreply@blogger.comBlogger146125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991089480703318387.post-57738477818023505502013-03-18T19:08:00.001-07:002013-03-18T19:08:08.536-07:00Persistent Vision - part deuxI am still organizing my thoughts and I still haven't come down from the weekend. Work was just a momentary reprieve from all the things swirling in my head. Kinda like the snow on Sunday.<br />
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The whole event was really inspirational. I've never had a presenter cry and I shed a few tears too. Just a lot of emotion and boy is that stuff ever powerful especially when it finds its way into your photography. David duChemin shared some of his images and I can't think of one image where I didn't feel something. I was either in awe of the beauty of the scene or caught up in the story that was unfolding or sharing something with the people inside the moment that was frozen in time. Never once did I think "nice shot". <br />
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<span class="userContent">I think photographs are one of the few "things" you can love. The reason is that they really help connect us to our memories. And really isn't that what love is? That connection? Photos help us preserve places and people that aren't here anymore except in our thoughts and if they are still with us they aren't the same as when we took the picture. </span><br />
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If you recall from yesterday I wrote that I saw the quote "h<span class="userContent">ow soon 'not now' becomes 'never'". That one hit like a piano from a third floor window. One of the biggest things I got from the weekend and one thing David has said time and time again is that life is just too short to not be doing what you love. That quote really summed that up for me. I don't want to be at the end of my life and say "that's it?" or "but I didn't get to...". I want to say "Wow, that was a hell of a ride." </span>Craig Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01939203728979223679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991089480703318387.post-11533725199411960592013-03-17T20:08:00.002-07:002013-03-17T20:28:18.030-07:00Persistent Vision thoughts (I.e. ramblings)I had an absolutely incredible weekend. The Persistent Vision workshop I attended was phenomenal. We had great speakers including David duChemin, Darwin Wiggett, and Samantha Chyrsanthou. And the panel? Wow. <br />
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Today's shoot out at Vermilion Lakes was indescribable. The weather was absolutely crap and the roads suffered for it. When we got out to the lakes we couldn't see any of the mountains. So that just meant we had to check our clearly thought out preconceived images at the door and put our creativity to work. I have to say that there was a lot of stuff I saw and I didn't get a chance to shoot the way I wanted to. There was also stuff that I was missing but then I had a proverbial "aha" moment and found shots that were right in front of me. I mean literally hitting me in the face.<br />
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I'll be hopefully posting more of my thoughts from the weekend after I organize them but I thought it was eerie that I saw this quote while I was driving today because it was a big part of what I took away from the weekend.<br />
<i><span class="userContent">“How soon 'not now' becomes 'never'"</span></i><br />
<i><span class="userContent"></span></i> - <i>Martin Luther</i>Craig Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01939203728979223679noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991089480703318387.post-78409606068544418672013-03-09T20:46:00.002-08:002013-03-09T20:46:41.319-08:00Funny stuff<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4e/Unforgiven_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4e/Unforgiven_2.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The original Unforgiven poster - ©Wikipedia</td></tr>
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At the beginning of January, I was able to photograph long time FCC member and great photographer Palle Kjar. As Joe McNally would say, the guy has a great face for a picture. When we started the shoot, Palle asked me and the other photographer (Heather Simonds) what we had in mind. We had a few hats and outfits for Palle so I figured we would start off with something simple like a single light setup and add more lights and gradually get more complex. Palle agreed and said he was thinking of doing a parody of the Unforgiven poster. I could sort of remember the poster but I figured I may as well Google it to refresh my memory.<br />
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Of course, that just meant that we had to start figuring out the lighting setup right away. Which meant we may as well set up the lights and heck...we may as well shoot it. So much for starting simple! This was probably one of my most challenging lighting setups I've done yet. It wasn't too hard but there were some obstacles to overcome. <br />
<br />I didn't have any problems getting all the lights to fire but Heather did for some reason. To troubleshoot we turned stuff off and then wondered why they didn't fire later. (Oh yeah! Turn that back on now!) We had light spill on to our background so we had to get some gobos in the mix to keep the light off the back ground. Then our nice little light on Palle's hands was off so we had to readjust. Challenging for sure but darn was it actually a lot of fun. It didn't hurt that Palle was incredibly patient so that made things go a lot smoother. In the end it was a four light setup. Two SB700s to act as rim lights around him. We had to gobo them to keep them from spilling light on the background as mentioned previously. A SB800 to spot light his hands. The pop up flash threw a bit of light over his back to give some more detail. The setup Looked roughly like picture below. <br />
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Like I said, it was a lot of fun. Once we finished with this one we switched to simple stuff but this was definitely the most notable of the bunch. I liked the result so much I entered it into the Foothills Camera Club "Humor" competition where it took first. (And got a few laughs when it was shown at the meeting). I have to give full credit to Palle though. It was his idea and I was just the guy who happened to point the lights and the camera in the right direction. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.crtaylor.ca/Portraits/Palle" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://www.crtaylor.ca/Portraits/Palle/i-CRbV3xJ/0/XL/_DSC0292-XL.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The Unforgiving" - click on the image to go to the photoset</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<br />Craig Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01939203728979223679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991089480703318387.post-57296995610977974032013-03-08T16:55:00.003-08:002013-03-08T16:55:35.913-08:00Let's make some mistakes!<a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8249/8511052305_fc87efd87d_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8249/8511052305_fc87efd87d_b.jpg" width="422" /></a>I've been reading David duChemin's book Vision and Voice in advance of the workshop I am attending next weekend (So excited!). Naturally with a title like "Vision and Voice" he talks about vision a lot. One of the things he mentions is not being afraid to make mistakes and try out new things.<br /><br />Let's think about that for a second. What exactly is a "mistake" in the photographic world? Certainly we have our technical considerations such as exposure and focus. We also have mistakes we can make with composition. (Hello tree growing out of Aunty Betty's head!). But let's assume that as we gain experience and knowledge, those types of mistakes go away. Where do we create our mistakes then?<br /><br />I think that as we move along in our photographic and artistic journeys it becomes harder and harder to let loose and just create. As David duChemin says, a 5 year old with a crayon has no problem finding his vision. And maybe that's where the mistakes are. We get stuck in the rut of capturing images of things as they "should be" and not looking for ways of portraying them as they "could be". Taking the example of the kid with the crayon, he will draw his family as stick figures. Maybe he will vary the heights to show the different people - Daddy is taller than Mommy; The kid is a bit taller than his baby sister. His house might be a basic box and triangle with a door and a window. That's not how it looks in real life though. If an adult were to draw something like that we would say that it "isn't right". But why is that? When you get down to it the crayon drawing matches what the kid sees. You can see immediately why he drew his family and what his vision is. <br /><br />So back to mistakes. What errors can we make in our photography and art? I think that if we're not able to show the viewer our message then we've missed the mark. A pretty picture that is perfectly sharp and well exposed is not as effective as the one that might be technically less sound but tells a story, makes us dream or takes us to another place. And that, gentle reader, is your ultimate goal. Go somewhere and take us with you. Don't worry if you lose us along the way. We'll catch up eventually.<br />
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And because this is a photography blog I thought I'd share my vision of the Albert Memorial. I hope I've taken you with me to the early spring sunset in London where I shot this.Craig Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01939203728979223679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991089480703318387.post-10580258995332293762013-03-01T10:08:00.000-08:002013-03-01T10:08:10.126-08:00So social...Well long time no write. At least here. I know there's a few of you who follow me on Twitter (<a href="https://twitter.com/crtaylor_photo">https://twitter.com/crtaylor_photo</a>), like me on Facebook (<a href="http://www.facebook.com/CRTaylor.ca">http://www.facebook.com/CRTaylor.ca</a>), have me as a contact on Flickr (<a href="http://www.flickr.com/crtaylor/">www.flickr.com/crtaylor/</a>) or have me in your circles on Google+. Throw in 500px, <a href="http://dpchallenge.com/">dpchallenge.com</a>, and the stuff I submit to the Foothils Camera Club and I have pictures and thoughts floating in a whole bunch of different places.<br />
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Then there is this blog. The idea was to have this as the sort of central point where I would post my pics and thoughts and then re-post them in the other places. The thing is that I have been finding the other places so darn convenient to post to. I also have (had?) this weird idea that I need to put up long posts here with lots of words and pictures. <br />
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I guess the question is, what role does social media play in photography? For me, its about getting my images and my thoughts out there. I like to read about other people's approach to photography and seeing the fruits of their labors. Every one of the social media formats I use has a little different audience and a little different offering.<br />
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So back to the blog. I guess initially I felt I was getting my idea out via social media so I didn't necessarily <i>need</i> to repeat myself on the blog. Then I realized that there are a lot of people who read this blog that don't follow me on Twitter, don't like my page on Facebook, haven't got me as a contact on Flickr, and don't have me in their Google+ circles. Then came the realization that I haven't posted here in a very long time. Which strangely became an another reason not to post here. I mean I felt guilty folks.<br />
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To the folks who only see my stuff here? Very sorry that I've left you out. I'm not sure when I put a blog specific gag order on myself but its been lifted.<br />
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<br />Craig Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01939203728979223679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991089480703318387.post-82963913275206759192012-05-25T21:37:00.002-07:002012-05-25T21:37:44.089-07:00The Best things in Life (and Photography) are freeIn my last post I talked about why we buy new gear. In this post? Lets look at working with what we all have. After all, photography can be a very expensive hobby. There's always a new body with new features, a better lens or a fancy contraption to purchase. These things might help get better pictures but the best things to help you get great pictures cost nothing at all.<br />
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Learn what you like</h2>
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This one is huge and its so very very easy to do. Just look at pictures. Everywhere. I mean literally - <i><b>everywhere</b></i>. You can go to photo websites like Flickr or 500px. You can look at magazines. You don't even need an actual image. You can look at what is right in front of you and analyze what you would do if you were to shoot the scene. The moment I started looking at the everyday world around me as a picture I could take was the moment I went from being a guy who took pictures to a photographer. <br />
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When I say learn what you like do more than look at a picture and say "cool" or "nice". Identify exactly what it is that you like. Is it the colors that drew you in? Do you like the soft bokeh in the background? That great composition may have drawn you into the frame. When you see something you don't like, how would you prefer it to be? (I never like to say I don't like something in a shot because we don't know if changing or removing something was an option for the photographer. You can safely say you would <i>prefer</i> it to be different though.).<br />
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Once you start learning what you like you can apply it to your own photography like a chef adds ingredients to a dish - A little dab of this. A sprinkle of that. <br />
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Do it differently</h2>
This one is easy in theory but hard to do in practice. There are certain shots that everyone takes. For example there is the "Ma and Pa" portrait technique where you put the subject smack dab in the middle of the frame. If you do the same thing but slide the subject to one side? Its suddenly a nice shot and that's just one simple thing you can do. Then get higher. Or lower. What the heck...crank that camera at a 45 degree angle. You haven't even moved your feet yet. Get in closer. Or further away. Why even aim the camera at the subject? You can see it in that reflection over there. The person you are photographing is just standing there? Get them to do something.<br />
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The hard part is trying to break through the preconceived notion of how something "should be" shot and trying to invent a way it "could be" shot. <br />
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Practice</h2>
If there is one thing I've found in
photography, its that you have to know your gear inside and out. If
there's another thing I have found its that reading the manual, while
helpful, doesn't actually help you apply that knowledge. That's where
practice comes in handy. Read what you can and learn from others but for
the love of all things pixel related use it! With digital photography you can shoot a lot of images and try different things and it costs you nothing except a bit of your time,. <br />
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<br /><br />Craig Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01939203728979223679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991089480703318387.post-35515262976361349072012-05-08T21:48:00.000-07:002013-12-27T08:01:55.713-08:00Is it the shoes?The title of this post comes from a reference to the game NBA Jam when the announcer would exclaim "Is it the shoes?" when a player did something spectacular. And of course we would all say in our minds "well of course not." After all, its the player's skill and athleticism that allowed him to do that 360 spin-a-rama jam and not a pair of shoes with a swoosh on them.<br />
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Oddly, we debate that idea when it comes to photography. Photographers will always say that its the skill of the person behind the camera that makes a great image. Those who aren't in to photography will often be heard saying "Great shot, you must have a nice camera". I'd love to respond with something like "That's a great cake, you must have nice bowls" but evidently that's considered rude by some people.<br />
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Kidding aside, there must be a reason that people associate great images with the camera used to create the image. You see, great photographers DO often have nice cameras. If you ask a lot of photographers you'll find that they didn't start with that nice camera. They started with point and shoots. They started with their parents cameras. In short, they started with what everyone else has access to. As their skills grew, they moved to a better camera and may have started using off camera lighting and adding accessories such as filters, nice tripods, and started putting some really nice glass in front of that expensive body. <br />
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But why bother with a better camera if its photographer that makes the shot? As a photographer's skills evolve, he understands more and more about what makes a good image. A lot of these things are on the technical side and are affected by the equipment you use. The equipment itself also has limitations. A 2 MP camera is not going to yield very pleasing 40 inch wide prints. So at some point, the photographer felt that his current equipment was limiting his ability to realize his creative vision.<br />
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I myself, recently purchased a Tokina 11-16 f/2.8 lens and it is currently the most expensive lens in my bag. My kit lens (18-55mm f/3.5-5.6) has been giving me troubles but that's not the big reason I purchased my Tokina lens. In fact I could have just purchased a replacement kit lens for considerably less! I wanted something wider and faster though. Wider because I like to take landscapes and faster because I wanted to be able to take quality images in lower light. Are the images "better?" Probably not. Because its considerably wider I really have to learn how to use it to its full potential.<br />
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Like any tool, you need to learn how to use it before you can use it well. <br />
<br />Craig Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01939203728979223679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991089480703318387.post-37240629943128946722012-05-01T13:36:00.000-07:002012-05-01T15:09:17.831-07:00The SlideshowWell, I am indeed back from my vacation. Before I left, I purchased a pair of 8 GB cards to go with the ones I already had. I started slowly in Holland but by the time I was a couple of days into our stay in Scotland, I was snapping shots like crazy. As such, I had to get another card when we were in London. And did I get another 8 GB card? Nope. 16 GB friends. Go big or go home...without pictures.<br />
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So a consequence of this is that I came home with a lot of pictures. Over 2600 of them in fact. I usually like to make a slideshow of some of my images and with the mini-essay contest for the Foothills Camera Club coming up shortly after my return I set to work figuring out how to cram three weeks of images into a 6 minute presentation.<br />
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I toyed with a few idea before I came up with the idea of selecting images that would work in monochrome. Simple and a nice way of show casing some of the sites.<br />
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So after a long effort I finally put it all together with music, nice transitions and heck maybe even a little bit of flow. Sadly, when I uploaded my video to YouTube it made me replace my carefully selected and well timed music.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_zrK3XQE5WI" width="560"></iframe></div>Craig Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01939203728979223679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991089480703318387.post-70374211657314441672012-02-06T21:59:00.000-08:002012-02-07T08:44:10.767-08:00The Medium is the Message...and stuff<i>"The medium is the message."<br />
- Marshall McLuhan</i><br />
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The best camera is the one that you have with you and for most people who enjoy photography that maxim is nothing remarkable. How you approach taking pictures though, is heavily influenced by the camera in your hands. <br />
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My educational experience has a lot of communication in it especially considering that I have a degree in English. (Will that be paper or plastic?) We speak differently than we write. We write differently depending on the subject. If I was writing a formal essay my tone and style would not be the same as how I present my words here. In the ends its just words but the medium still matters.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/crtaylor/6829604117/in/photostream/lightbox/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="280" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7008/6829604117_c2ef81be52_o.jpg" width="400" /></a>The same applies to photography. Oddly enough, this very topic came up while I was learning how to develop film with Heather Simonds and Samantha Chrysanthou under the guidance of Hiroaki Kobayashi. We all agreed that when you're walking around with a roll of black and white in a Holga you see the world a heck of a lot differently than if you were to walk around with ... I don't know...the new Nikon D4? (In case you're just tuning in I shoot Nikon.) <br />
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When I shoot black and white I tend to look for dramatic skies and I like to look for very strong lines such as those found in architecture.<br />
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If I shoot slide film I try to look for bright punchy colors. It might actually be the one time I go out of my way to photograph flowers. <br />
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With Polaroids I tend to take pictures of people just being people. <br />
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So where does my SLR come in? Being digital the result is far more malleable. It can create looks that approximate the film look but it doesn't quite get there. I tend to try to go for a technically sound image when I shoot with my D90. Sharp focus, good exposure. I'm in the driver's seat and I have full control of the whole creation. With film, the creation process tends to end for me with the release of the shutter. With digital, its just the beginning.Craig Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01939203728979223679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991089480703318387.post-57030743617157673502012-01-23T18:27:00.000-08:002012-05-28T11:34:44.691-07:00Battles are War!Two Sundays ago, I was privileged to be invited to help with the shooting of the Battle at F-Stop Ridge sequel. I was just a "regular Joe" out in -25 degree weather with a bunch of the Camera Store staff, former staff members, and a Canon rep. So how did I (a.k.a. "Just a Guy") get in on this? Well, the Camera Store had a contest on their Facebook page where they asked followers to post what they'd like from the Camera Store for Christmas. Naturally a lot of people posted what lens, camera or flash they'd like. I wanted to stand out so I said that I'd like to see the sequel to the Battle at F-Stop Ridge and be in it. Jordan Drake, who directed the last one, contacted me and said that they saw my post and they could make it happen. It seemed like a lot of fun and and a great opportunity to learn so I asked Jordan for details etc.<br />
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Sunday rolled around and I was excited and nervous. I hardly slept the night before and I had no idea what to expect. With camera gear and extra warm clothes packed I headed out to the location of the shoot which was about 15 minutes outside of Turner Valley, Alberta.<br />
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Shooting in the cold always has its challenges and this was no exception. The cold weather drastically shortened most equipment's battery life. Oddly enough, the first battery I had in dropped two bars without even shooting a frame. I swapped to my other battery and after shooting a lot of frames during the action, and doing some video all with my Sigma which is notorious for killing batteries, I only lost one bar of power out of five. Others weren't quite so lucky and there were a couple of times between shots that Jordan had to call for another battery to keep the camera rolling.<br />
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Some people forget what happens when you take cold glass and bring it into a warm room. For myself, I was smart enough to leave my gear outside so my lenses wouldn't fog up but I wasn't smart enough to remember to bring my batteries in. Fortunately it didn't come back to haunt me later but its definitely lesson worth remembering.<br />
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Another challenge was the footing. With the extreme cold, the ground was quite hard and with it being covered in snow it was slippery at times. During one of the earlier scenes, our illustrious director took a tumble while running alongside our group and damaged his gear. (Hopefully not beyond repair!)<br />
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After the initial shooting of the group I was in ("The Attackers"), I hung back and took some behind the scenes video. I had my camera rested on the hood of a truck which should have been relatively stable. With the cold and because I wasn't moving around to keep warm anymore I was shivering badly. I am surprised I didn't hear my teeth chattering on the audio!<br />
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All in all, it was a lot fun to do. If I were asked to help with the third one I would probably do it...unless its -50 next time. :)<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/3PovspE6IVg?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Craig Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01939203728979223679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991089480703318387.post-72277325590229439012011-12-07T21:59:00.000-08:002011-12-07T22:04:02.667-08:00So ...hi?Its been a long time since I posted. It strange how the longer I go without posting the more I feel guilty about not posting and the harder it is to actually post something. Its like I've waited so long to post something it now needs to be monumental. But I also think it ties into how my brain works at this time of year. Its like the movie Groundhog Day where there's this repetition. For me the scene goes like this: The leaves fall off the trees. Everything turns brown. I go into a funk. I get a bit of snow and cold and I hunker down for winter waiting for a shot to magically appear in the warmth of my home. So I don't shoot as much. The quality goes down. My confidence wanes. It gets tough. Its this time of year when I am glad I don't pay my rent with a camera because I'd probably be homeless and hungry if I did. I've probably plugged this Zack Arias video a few times on this blog (edit: Hmm..just <a href="http://craigrtaylor.blogspot.com/2010/06/zack-arias-transform.html" target="_blank">once</a>). Zack pretty much describes how I feel but gives me hope at the same time.<br />
I know I'll get out of the funk but it isn't going to be easy.<br />
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So here I am. The beginning of December and the funk is here with me. But I haven't been entirely idle and I have made shots I have some pride in.<br />
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I had one idea for a photojournalism shot involving coffee beans for a while and I finally accomplished it. Fun idea and I am pretty happy with how it turned out. I'm also happy I learned a few things during the process. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/crtaylor/6398306881/in/photostream/lightbox/" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="352" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7032/6398306881_d6a10f131e_b.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
My wife and I also went to Vancouver for a quick vacation. Its hard to believe that was over a month ago. I'm happy to say that I got a few shots. I still haven't really looked at all of them but I'm happy with a couple I took.<br />
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Not too shabby I'd say. Maybe not my best work but it certainly isn't my worst either. I guess I can shoot and weather be damned I can take some pictures. I guess that's the thing with these funks. They really are all in your head.Craig Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01939203728979223679noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991089480703318387.post-37000072661903368152011-10-25T22:37:00.000-07:002011-10-25T22:41:01.087-07:00Turn aroundMy wife and went to Banff the weekend of September 24 -25 for her half-marathon. It was a beautiful fall weekend and we had incredible weather. You really couldn't have asked for a better weekend. I would have like to go out shooting more but I was there to support my wife in her run. However, we were staying over night in the town so it created an opportunity for me to get out for some sunrise shots.<br />
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Moraine Lake is one of the most photographed lakes in the Canadian Rockies. (Probably only second to Lake Louise). I've shot it a few times but never at sunrise. I got there plenty early, climbing up the rock piles in the gray pre-dawn light. I set up my tripod and took a few shots. Ho-hum. Not a lot of color or dramatic lighting. I took down my tripod and was going to leave when I began a conversation with another photographer who was shooting there. She said that her best shots the day before came after sunrise. (Which somehow seemed counter-intuitive to me but anyways...) I was just about to put my tripod back up when another photographer asked if he could setup right in front of me. I said that I was about to put my tripod there. He decided to use the spot anyways. I firmly but politely indicated that I was going to shoot there. He moved on and I finished setting up. <br />
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The light show I had hoped for didn't quite happen. The light was nice enough and there was a bit of color in the sky. I got my shot. Just like everyone else does.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1073958097" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6173/6188097854_7dcb373288_b.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/crtaylor/6188097854/in/photostream/lightbox/">Moraine Lake - Banff National ParkThe "Iconic" shot</a></td></tr>
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Then I turned around and looked the opposite direction. The skies were a lot more dramatic. The vista was incredible. Added bonus? Though I am probably not the first to take this shot, it would be a lot harder to find one to compare mine to.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/crtaylor/6193729671/in/photostream/lightbox/">Moraine Lake RockpilesThe "Other" Way</a></td></tr>
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The first shot? They're a dime a dozen. Heck, here's the Flickr <a href="http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=moraine%20lake%20sunrise" target="blank">search</a> if you want to compare.There's a lot that look like that first shot.<br />
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Maybe the next time someone wants to take my spot to get their iconic shot I should let them do me the favor.Craig Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01939203728979223679noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991089480703318387.post-17284354669114973852011-09-17T18:47:00.000-07:002011-09-17T18:48:42.480-07:00Ethereal Photographic Art Show<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiKMvViz1IZKztXeiI5-2oF8bKQHcXbRx__-CmRemNXEmJ_omhWpy1NZFf_rTPgR12f063Ip4PP-TM7AS-RNCAqAEZY3HS-3lJkhTZmYrqxHqt4fly4iqHlOfYRL4ut9PnKBJU9kzhAZ4/s1600/_DSC9340.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiKMvViz1IZKztXeiI5-2oF8bKQHcXbRx__-CmRemNXEmJ_omhWpy1NZFf_rTPgR12f063Ip4PP-TM7AS-RNCAqAEZY3HS-3lJkhTZmYrqxHqt4fly4iqHlOfYRL4ut9PnKBJU9kzhAZ4/s640/_DSC9340.jpg" width="508" /></a></div><br />
Sometime this spring, Hiroaki Kobayashi asked if I'd be interested in submitting some prints for a gallery. Naturally I said yes (I mean why not right?). Well its crunch time now and I'm getting prints made, canvasses stretched and basically getting everything together. Sure, the gallery is a few weeks away but like any event the last few weeks are always the most stressful. I've also had a couple of bumps that have added to my stress. I uploaded the wrong version of the one image I wanted to print 16" X 24". It was grossly undersized for a print this large. Fortunately, this mistake didn't cost me as much as I thought it would and oddly enough the print turned out quite well considering how undersized it was. Still, it was something that stressed me out for a couple of days. Hopefully everything else goes smoothly from here on. <br />
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The Ethereal Photographic Art show will be held at the Resolution Art Gallery in Calgary from October 11th though 29th. The opening reception is on Saturday, October 15th from 5 pm to 9pm. Its going to be a great display of emerging and top photographers in Southern Alberta. <br />
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Check out the web gallery at <a href="http://www.widebrightpass.com/GalleryExhibition/Ethereal-Photographic-show">http://www.widebrightpass.com/GalleryExhibition/Ethereal-Photographic-show</a> The gallery's website can be found at <a href="http://www.resolutionartgallery.com/welcome.php">http://www.resolutionartgallery.com/welcome.php</a> (our exhibit isn't on their site yet but should show up in the coming days).Craig Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01939203728979223679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991089480703318387.post-13240709135118809722011-09-02T14:31:00.000-07:002011-09-05T18:29:49.076-07:00Lots of stuff happening!Its been "Go! Go! Go!" for me over the last few weeks. Last weekend I went to Dinosaur Provincial Park and got some great shots. The badlands are rugged but also so beautiful.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6084/6098202737_55d8b1a9ca_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6084/6098202737_55d8b1a9ca_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
This weekend I hope to get out hiking somewhere. If I don't for some reason, I still have Lake O'Hara to look forward to. Andrew Petti, a friend from the Foothills Camera Club, had the foresight to get us into the hostel in Lake Louis on Thursday then we're off to Lake O'hara early Friday morning. We'll hopefully get two and a bit days of good shooting there. I had a lot of fun last year and I hope that I can get some great images.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_WBPBEehZzUXAXqYGr8IgPhjiVKQwr6r99jM1NPdPGxAJV3uYrzr3QXqh8mM4Tn0hStwBrKrzfWReb-m49hN5gfnixg32pxpRfqBSyllzUo7AAAQAIg5BkBEpRpiDcqaPYwj5Y_NsMCk/s1024/4978772324_14212c1dd8_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_WBPBEehZzUXAXqYGr8IgPhjiVKQwr6r99jM1NPdPGxAJV3uYrzr3QXqh8mM4Tn0hStwBrKrzfWReb-m49hN5gfnixg32pxpRfqBSyllzUo7AAAQAIg5BkBEpRpiDcqaPYwj5Y_NsMCk/s640/4978772324_14212c1dd8_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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I am also excited to say that I have a link to a great series of e-books on this site now. <i>How to Photograph the Canadian Rockies</i> was one of the best photography /guide books I have ever purchased. The newly updated e-books have more information including GPS locations. By clicking on the link above and buying you'll help support this website and little ole me AND get some great information in the process. Everyone wins!Craig Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01939203728979223679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991089480703318387.post-46485731720323322332011-07-28T19:21:00.000-07:002011-07-29T16:15:28.644-07:00More film fun - Ilford HP Plus<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6029/5986428038_789eed224d_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6029/5986428038_789eed224d_b.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
I have been waiting to get my roll of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ilford-Black-White-Exposures-1574577/dp/B00009V3CG?ie=UTF8&tag=craigsphotog-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Ilford HP5 Plus</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=craigsphotog-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B00009V3CG" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> back from London Drugs so I could share my images and talk about the experience of shooting with it. I got it back on Monday after almost three weeks. In fact, let's maybe talk about the more negative part of the whole experience first before going to the fun. (Pun not intended).<br />
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So yes. Almost three weeks to get my film developed. I wasn't expecting one hour or anything like that but I was expecting it to be sooner than that. Alright, its film so I can probably overlook that. When I got the call and picked up my package however, I was floored by the price. Developing, printing, scanning and the CD for the images with tax was a grand total of $52.42. If I include the price of the film ($7.65 with tax) this takes me to over 60 bucks. I am pretty sure a mistake was made because rolls I have had developed in the past were around half of that. 34.95 of that total is for the prints which they apparently charged 99 cents per image for. I am not sure why they asked if I wanted 1 or 2 prints and failed to mention that each would cost my 99 cents.<br />
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<strike>Then I had a look at the images and it appears that a) they made their prints from the scans and NOT the negatives b) they made contrast adjustments to the images. I can kinda see why they would make contrast adjustments but I am really angry that they made the prints from the scans and not the negatives. Had I known this I would have elected to get no prints and just go with the scanned images. If there was anything I wanted to be printed I'd do it myself or send it in at that point. On this point, I may go in and raise a ruckus and get it done right. Suffice to say I won't be getting them to do any more rolls for me.</strike><br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">Update (July 29th, 2011):</span></b> <i>I went in today to raise my ruckus. It wasn't much of a ruckus I have to admit and I did learn a bit. Am I doing a retraction? Nope. However I cleared up a few things that I'll put in here. First off the prints were from the negatives. Secondly the cost for the prints was indeed 99 cents per print. They used to be 79 cents so London Drugs was kind enough to credit me the difference. I should have realized this before but London Drugs has another company do their black and white prints and processing - <a href="http://www.customcolorprolab.com/" target="blank">Custom Care</a> in Vancouver. What I found interesting is London Drugs charges me 99 cents per print. Custom care will develop my roll for $5.50 a roll and prints appear to be $10.75 for a roll of 36. I'll have to look into this some more. </i><br />
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Which brings me to one more point before I carry on to the happier part of this post. I am going to have to learn how to develop my own film. The only thing stopping me before was a fear of messing up a roll of good shots. However, if I can do it faster and cheaper myself and have control over the process why the heck wouldn't I? If I botch a couple of rolls learning how to develop my film so be it. I guess I need to give myself more credit and know that I can probably figure it out and not botch any too. In fact I think there's a link on this very page to the section of Ilford's website that talks about this very thing. And on that note...I'll put my happy face on again. :)<br />
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Shooting black and white is a little challenging in that you have to try to see your subject in monochrome. Some subjects work well in black and white. Others do not. I find that landscapes and architecture work really well while portraits have a nice classic look to them when shot with black and white film. For all of my shots I used my Nikon N8008S for the body and used my 50 mm f/1.8 (as opposed to my 50 mm f/1.4 I did with my last batch of slide film). For a lot of my shots I used a red filter to try to achieve greater contrast in the skies. <br />
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The results are far more subtle than my digital images converted to black and white. These two images are of the Alberta Art Gallery in Edmonton. There is a slightly different perspective but you can definitely see a difference between the two images. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6011/5986433062_62f4343524_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6011/5986433062_62f4343524_b.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Alberta Art Gallery - Ilford HP 5 Plus</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6060/5896428580_3443826e6c_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6060/5896428580_3443826e6c_b.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Alberta Art Gallery - Nikon D90 image converted to black and white in Silver Efex Prod</i></td></tr>
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Interestingly enough (and I admit this grudgingly) London Drugs did rescue one or two of my shots. I had one of the falls at Big Hill Springs Provincial Park that I had grossly underexposed that they managed to get a decent enough image from the negative. It lacks a lot of contrast but aside from that it is a usable image.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6144/5986457046_060ea4944b_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6144/5986457046_060ea4944b_b.jpg" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A better exposed version of the same scene</i></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A salvaged under exposed image</i></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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Overall, I have mixed feelings about this roll. On the one hand I got some pretty interesting shots. On the other hand, it cost me an arm and a leg and some of the results were skewed by London Drugs. I have another roll sitting in my fridge but I think I will wait until I am ready to develop it myself before shooting with it.<br />
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To check out all of the images on the roll check out the <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/crtaylor/sets/72157627180510677/" target="blank">set on my Flickr Stream</a>Craig Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01939203728979223679noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991089480703318387.post-43835634247853052222011-07-13T21:22:00.000-07:002011-07-13T21:22:47.062-07:00iPhoneography<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLZgjnIgWGpM5z6AG0JA6edSM9pvq0wFJNzVZ8EwJvhr1M6lpSz-jkXQ-oI8vUth2vMAK96g5J-XaczDz5U1_LYfnQ_HFierX2e5x4CuPlCIc9D0bAq_L-l18HmFc7MMZbRnSYhddklQo/s1600/Image1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLZgjnIgWGpM5z6AG0JA6edSM9pvq0wFJNzVZ8EwJvhr1M6lpSz-jkXQ-oI8vUth2vMAK96g5J-XaczDz5U1_LYfnQ_HFierX2e5x4CuPlCIc9D0bAq_L-l18HmFc7MMZbRnSYhddklQo/s1600/Image1.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Like many photographers, I pack my camera with me pretty much everywhere I go. Great shots are all around us and you need to be prepared. Even so, there are times when I want to take a quick picture but I don't want to dig my camera out of my bag. For these occasions, my iPhone is perfect. At 4MP I can get a decent shot. Certainly it has a small sensor to stuff those pixels into which affects the quality but sometimes good enough is good enough.<br />
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The other thing I like is that it has integration with photosharing and social media websites like Twitter, Facebook and Flickr. My creations can be shared immediately but they can also easily add a visual element to what I am sharing.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWf3jIRjC84VGQNGxIlJoxZvqpAuqxuu3wGfR8Hx4t7gOxHdB3nzydIQV5Yxj8a_G6luZxUviu_K6LGBlNaHkIkYNLFf5LM_c5pnyL_k0vr84ccFKDWcLfEejO5t-DTmHB8bYg2RPHrP0/s1600/camera%252B.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWf3jIRjC84VGQNGxIlJoxZvqpAuqxuu3wGfR8Hx4t7gOxHdB3nzydIQV5Yxj8a_G6luZxUviu_K6LGBlNaHkIkYNLFf5LM_c5pnyL_k0vr84ccFKDWcLfEejO5t-DTmHB8bYg2RPHrP0/s400/camera%252B.PNG" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Camera+ for the iPhone</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>The iPhone also has a lot of different apps so I edit my shots in creative and interesting ways that I may not even attempt with Lightroom or Photoshop. A lot of the effects tend to replicate old film but some of the effects are more modern. Camera+, Instagram, Hipstamatic, and Photoshop Express are a few of my favorites. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3365/5834439451_c66f4fbbfb_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3365/5834439451_c66f4fbbfb_b.jpg" width="476" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>High Contrast scenes like this one are difficult to capture with any camera. <br />
The in-camera HDR option allowed me to successfully get this shot though</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>I also like the in-camera HDR that the native camera app allows me to use. The iPhone has limited dynamic range so high contrast scenes are hard to capture. The HDR option allows me to compensate for this to a certain extent.<br />
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One small feature, which actually made me decide to get the iPhone instead of the Google Android is the flash. Yes it's right beside the lens so it's not ideal but it does allow me to add a bit of fill light. One knock against the iPhone is how it performs in low light so the flash helps. I haven't tried triggering another flash with it so I am curious to try. <br />
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The iPhone isn't going to replace my dSLR however it's good enough to act as a point & shoot and give me another way of expressing myself photographically.<br />
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Check out my iPhone images on my <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/crtaylor/sets/72157625228109209/">Flickr steam</a>Craig Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01939203728979223679noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991089480703318387.post-64835475323212646802011-07-05T22:30:00.000-07:002011-07-05T22:32:57.724-07:00Shooting babies in front of their moms! Eeek!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/crtaylor/5907884008/in/photostream/" target="blank"><img border="0" height="635" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6021/5907884008_eb694bae98_b.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Catchy title but not as bad as it sounds. Perhaps it would be better stated to say that I took pictures of baby geese instead but what the heck. I may as well go for the cheap laugh.<br />
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All kidding aside, this was a great shoot back in early June. The babies are a lot cuter in the beginning of May but I didn't get out at that time unfortunately. These guys were in their "tweens". Now that we are in July, they are definitely gangly teenagers and are starting to get their feathers so they look awkward and a little ugly. Kinda like human teenagers I would say. <br />
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The goslings are pretty much an annual event for me. To be honest, they all look the same but its hard to resist sitting down and watching them. There are certain subjects that I find interesting to shoot and the goslings are one of the big ones. I haven't tagged all of the shots I have taken of them but I probably have about a thousand or so frames of their fuzzy yellow cuteness.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/crtaylor/5907328315/" target="blank"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6010/5907328315_ca09768e1e.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" target="blank"> <img border="0" height="212" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6053/5907328607_9497ea324b.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Craig Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01939203728979223679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991089480703318387.post-6355186408092448702011-07-03T22:00:00.000-07:002011-07-03T22:16:58.363-07:00Black and White is sometimes right<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5192/5896429144_fe1f7b88cf_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="403" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5192/5896429144_fe1f7b88cf_z.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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I've been shooting Ilford HP5 plus film for the past week or so. Naturally I haven't got any examples because the roll is still in the camera with eight or so frames left. This weekend, my wife and I went up to Edmonton for a run she was doing and it was a great opportunity to shoot some of the buildings in the capital city's downtown. <br />
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Naturally, I also brought my digital camera with me and I was pretty pleased with the images I got. For fun and because I was inspired by shooting black and white film, I processed some of my favorites using Silver Efex Pro. The program does great monochrome conversions and can emulate a number of well known black and white films. While I didn't try the HP5 option I was pretty pleased with the results. <br />
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I always find it interesting how you can get different looks with monochrome by changing a few settings. I remember when I used to process image I would select grayscale if I wanted to do a black and white image. Heck I didn't even know about desaturating to get a black and white! I love the graphic look I get whether its via the channel mixer in Lightroom and Paint Shop Pro X2 or the filter options in Silver Efex Pro.<br />
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<iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=craigsphotog-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=1579907075&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><br />
A great book to learn about digital black and white photography is Michael Freeman's<span style="font-size: small;"> Mastering Black and White Digital Photography. You can also check out the eBook <a href="http://craftandvision.com/books/the-power-of-black-white/" target="blank">The Power of Black and White</a> over at Craft and Vision for $5. </span><br />
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Some of my other images from this weekend can be found <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/crtaylor/sets/72157627103299692/with/5896428740/" target="blank">here</a>.Craig Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01939203728979223679noreply@blogger.com1Edmonton, AB, Canada53.543564 -113.49045253.3833415 -113.7112415 53.703786500000007 -113.26966250000001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991089480703318387.post-67174093355031493632011-06-19T22:24:00.000-07:002011-06-19T22:27:42.825-07:00Velvia - I made a prediction but how did it turn out?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5102/5851924338_bf1b64f792_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5102/5851924338_bf1b64f792_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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Last week I made a <a href="http://craigrtaylor.blogspot.com/2011/06/digital-i-dont-need-no-steenkin-digital.html">prediction</a> about how my Velvia slide film shoot would go. And in terms of what I wrote, all three predictions were correct. Sorta. The first 16 were indeed keepers. I did end up tossing a couple of shots that came after I wrote my prediction though. Apparently shooting 50 ISO film with a telephoto at dusk isn't really doable at least hand held. Despite this there were only 2 that didn't make the cut. You can check out the set on Flickr <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/crtaylor/sets/72157626848513523/" target="blank">here</a>.<br />
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My exposure did turn out to be pretty good and there weren't a lot of noticeable exposure problems which I am quite pleased with.The images did indeed have rich colors. I don't think the digital version actually does the slides justice but then again I got the low res scans. If you compare the image above to the <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/crtaylor/5838536930/in/set-72157626848513523/" target="blank">one</a> in the set you can somewhat see what I mean.<br />
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Overall, I was pretty happy with the results. The old 50 mm f/1.4 I used for most of my shots is pretty soft especially wide open but it seemed to suit the images I got. I think I am going to try using my 50 mm f/1.8 next time as it is far sharper and its only 1 f-stop slower.Craig Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01939203728979223679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991089480703318387.post-5723355609671414922011-06-12T19:14:00.000-07:002011-06-12T19:14:10.653-07:00Digital? I don't need no steenkin' digital!Following a personal trend that I have been following the last few weeks, I went out shooting today. My wife was at the spa in Kensington and she suggested going to Riley park to photograph the flowers. What a great idea! I had a roll of slide film I wanted to use and bright colors tend to work well with slide film. Interestingly enough, though I packed my dSLR with me the whole time I did not shoot one frame with it. Every shot I took was with my film camera. So right now I have nothing to show for today. Very sorry about that. I know it sucks coming to a photo blog and there's no pictures but they are coming. For now I want to predict what I got though.<br />
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First off, as mentioned previously, I think the slide film is really going to show off the colors well. I was using 50 ISO Fuji Velvia which is legendary for how much it makes colors pop. Of course, the subject matter doesn't hurt either.<br />
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Secondly, I think that despite the bright day, I handled the exposure well. There is no way of knowing until its developed but I was extra careful with the exposure. Certainly, slide film doesn't have the latitude of dynamic range that color negative film has but I made sure I didn't have any excessively contrasty situations. I shot in the shade when I could and made sure there wasn't anything overly bright or dark when I couldn't shoot in the shade.<br />
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Thirdly, I shot about 16 frames today and I think that I am not going to have to junk any of them. I got my exposure correctly and I careful with focus. There were a couple of frames I shot where the wind was moving my subject but I was patient and I waited for the wind to die down. I took my time to get interesting compositions too so they should definitely be more than snapshots. <br />
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Its interesting but when I shot film back in the days before I shot digital it was pretty much a crap shoot. I'd load a roll of film and snap until I ran out of film. Most of the time I got an OK shot but a lot of times it was just plain bad. There were even a few times where I hadn't even loaded the film right so I got nothing. It just goes to show that taking the skills I've developed with a digital camera are certainly applicable to the film world.Craig Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01939203728979223679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991089480703318387.post-7144557576620986482011-06-06T12:03:00.000-07:002011-06-06T12:10:01.958-07:00Commitment to the ShotOne of the photographer's in the Foothills Camera Club made reference to being committed to the shot - doing whatever it takes to bring your vision to life. It makes sense because that it is probably the biggest difference between a snapshot and a great image.<br />
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The best shots are the result of planning, preparation and committing to getting everything in place to give your camera the best chance it has to get the image the way you, the photographer, want it. And really is this much of a surprise? With any endeavour the more you put into it the more you get out. Whether its scouting a location or finding the perfect model or getting up with the sun you have to not only want to get the shot but you have to put effort into the getting it. Just because the actual exposure is often measured in tenths or hundredths of a second, doesn't mean you can't measure the effort of getting the shot in terms of hours, days or even weeks and months.<br />
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An example of this was a shoot I did yesterday. I have photographed Vermilion Lakes a number of times, at different times of day and at different times of the year. On one level its kinda "been there done that" but I still find I can get markably different and unique images so I keep heading out there. Thus far, for all the times I have been out there I haven't shot the lakes at sunrise. The challenge, however, at this time of year is that sunrise is especially early. Try 5:29 am local time. Added to this is the fact that I am about an hour and a half or so from Banff and of course a sunrise isn't something you want to arrive "just in time" for. So in light of this, my day started at about 2:50 am.<br />
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So my personal commitment to this shot meant getting up extremely early and driving a fairly long distance to get the shot. I even got my feet wet to get my tripod and camera in the position I wanted. The image I wanted deserved this commitment though.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/crtaylor/5802518525/in/photostream/lightbox/"><img border="0" height="410" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5102/5802518525_aa51753fa0_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>Craig Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01939203728979223679noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991089480703318387.post-81330033045074762582011-05-29T12:00:00.000-07:002011-06-06T11:42:40.955-07:00Yousuf Karsh: Regarding HeroesI finally got to check out the Yousuf Karsh exhibit at the Glenbow Museum here in Calgary. I have to say I was amazed and its unfortunate I didn't get to see it sooner. Like most people I have seen a number of his images but to see them in person, full sized on photo paper was unbelievable.<br />
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Karsh emigrated to Canada from Armenia as a teenager at the age of 17. After working for his uncle in his studio, Karsh apprenticed to H. Garo in Boston. In 1931, Yousuf Karsh opened his own studio in Ottawa and ten years later, he photographed Winston Churchill creating an image that truly ignited his career as a photographer.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/5f/Winston_Churchill_1941_photo_by_Yousuf_Karsh.jpg/432px-Winston_Churchill_1941_photo_by_Yousuf_Karsh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/5f/Winston_Churchill_1941_photo_by_Yousuf_Karsh.jpg/432px-Winston_Churchill_1941_photo_by_Yousuf_Karsh.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Winston Churchill - Image from Wikipedia.org</i> </td></tr>
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Karsh's images draw heavily on film noir atmosphere and dramatic lighting. Looking at his images online you see the deep shadows and the simple non-distracting backgrounds. Seeing it in person you get an even better appreciation of this.<br />
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I was also struck by the prominence of the subjects hands in his portraits. It was interesting how much importance he put on them and you really got a sense of the character of the person. <br />
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This exhibit is definitely worth checking out before it ends on June 15th.<br />
<a href="http://www.glenbow.org/exhibitions/">http://www.glenbow.org/exhibitions/</a>Craig Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01939203728979223679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991089480703318387.post-890287703121008262011-02-21T20:10:00.000-08:002011-06-06T12:18:24.936-07:00Shooting for the Special FiveEach year the Foothills Camera Club here in Calgary has a competition called the Special Five. You are allowed to enter one picture for each of five themes. (You could theoretically enter one shot that conveys all five themes and though it has been suggested its never actually been done). I had some shots in my collection that could serve but I wanted to get something unique for the competition. Here are three images that I shot this weekend for the competition. <br />
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<b>Abstract - "Lyrical Destruction"</b> <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/crtaylor/5466745069/in/photostream/"><img border="0" height="435" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5138/5466745069_73958032e7_z.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
This was probably the most interesting shot and despite the work, it was pretty easy. I took a dead CD and beat it with a hammer and cut and scratched it with a pair of scissors. Next I put a couple of drops of grenadine and olive oil on the reflection surface. My SB600 to camera right provided a flick of light which showed off the crazy colors. I got in nice and tight with my macro lens to (hopefully) disconnect the viewer from what the scene really is and transport them to this place.<br />
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<b>Eye(s) - Mechanical Iris</b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/crtaylor/5466745571/in/photostream/"><img border="0" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5139/5466745571_0fac4917bb_z.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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Again, I had a macro in mind with this. This shot actually had a few incarnations in my head but eventually I decided to go off the beaten path and hope that the judges were open-minded enough for my interpretation. To add to the idea I decided to color the aperture blades in Lightroom 2 to make them look more like an iris. <br />
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<b>Isolated - "Inmate for a Day"</b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/crtaylor/5467343530/in/photostream/"><img border="0" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5292/5467343530_88c074704a_z.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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This was another quick setup. Hudson gets put into his kennel each day when my wife and I go to work. Suffice to say he really doesn't like it. I wanted to convey <i>his</i> feeling of isolation in this shot and wanted to make it look prison like. (Now I feel guilty for putting him in his kennel.)<br />
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I put my SB600 to camera right near the kennel and more or less killed the ambient light I had in the room. In Lightroom I cooled the shot off and boosted the contrast to really give it an edgy look. I was going to remove the water dish but as soon as I opened the kennel Hudson made a run for it. My dog is nothing if he isn't smart.Craig Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01939203728979223679noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991089480703318387.post-43481829644142702322011-02-13T22:47:00.000-08:002011-02-13T22:53:40.151-08:00My latest iStockphoto reject and what I (and you) can learn from itI submitted an image to iStockphoto a few weeks ago that I thought would possibly be a good seller. Sad to say, it got rejected. I've shown the image to a few people and generally people wondered why it would get rejected. When you look at the image at around 25% there's not a lot wrong with it. At least not from the layman's perspective. <br />
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Reviewers look at images a 100% though. Unfortunately if there are any issues they will be glaringly obvious at 100%. The first item they mention is artifacting. In the case of my image it was from digital noise. I believe I shot the image a 1600 ISO. If you click on the image below you can see that there is a fair bit of noise. <br />
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The other issue they had was with focus. I had to disagree a little with this one but once again when I viewed the image at 100% I could see that my focus was not on the candy or even the fingers but rather on the upper part of the hand. That being said, I recall that the writing on the candy itself was blurry which might explain why the reviewer thought the image was out of focus. Regardless of whether it was because of being out of focus or bad printing by the candy maker the bottom line is that the part that needed to be sharp was blurry.<br />
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The last issue was with the "overall composition" of the image. That I couldn't disagree with. Their explanation went more with the shadows and the overall exposure. I have to admit that while it wasn't bad it certainly wasn't great. I also think that the background, while not distracting also wasn't useful in most applications. It had a definite color cast to it (pumpkin orange - yuck) and there was some odd shadows in the background that limited the image's usefulness. I also had my subject just below dead center in the image. <br />
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So naturally there is a lesson to be learned here. Simply stated I need to start thinking like a reviewer. Now in hindsight, I personally thought this was just an okay image and nothing more. I did however get a few hits for this image on my Flickr stream from Google searches which was a big reason I decided to upload it. While it conceptually it was good, though, the execution was suffering. All in all however it was a good image to learn from.Craig Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01939203728979223679noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991089480703318387.post-66359504621591742011-01-29T21:23:00.000-08:002011-01-29T21:23:09.027-08:00The Challenger Disaster - 25 years laterSometimes I find it amazing what events have occurred in my life time. One such event was the Challenger space shuttle disaster. I was in grade six at school at Ponoka Elementary when I learned about the shuttle explosion. I remember feeling stunned and shocked. Being a 12 year old boy I was fascinated by the space program and for some reason I thought that NASA was infallible, that there was no way a shuttle could simply blow up. But it did. The 7 crew members died that day on January 28th, 1986.<br />
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<a href="http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/01/challenger_disaster_25_years_l.html">The Big Picture </a>website as some pictures that really hit home for me.Craig Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01939203728979223679noreply@blogger.com0