a conversation on capturing light
Be alert to opportunities that arise. As Yogi Berra said “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”
Try something different. When everyone else is looking in one direction, look the other way, literally and figuratively.
Be there – Be present – Be ready
There are a few things to keep in mind when you travel to “exotic” places.
In most cases the people are as interested in you as you are in them and their country. Most of the people you will meet are very polite, but don’t push it.
Your safety and that of your companions and your gear is paramount, no one wants to get mugged or robbed. Most places I have visited are no less safe than parts of our big cities. Thieves and pickpockets are everywhere. If you’re going to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, be aware of light-fingered bystanders. Big cities in the height of tourist season require vigilance.
Your primary and best defence is situational awareness, be aware of everything that’s happening around you, particularly from behind.
Don’t let your handbag or camera hang loose at your side or on your chest, hold on to it with at least one hand like the young lady in the center of the picture above (it would be better is she had the strap across her body.) A favourite technique for thieves is to cut your camera or handbag strap and run. Get and use a slash-proof camera strap, PacSafe makes a good one that is very resistant to slashing. Using a Spider Holster in lock mode is another good deterrent.
If you’re wearing a backpack, move it to your chest when you’re in crowded areas.
Stopping to enjoy a street band is part of the enjoyment of travelling, just make sure that you don’t loose track of what’s going on around you.
Don’t hang your camera on a chair back while you eat, leave it in your lap. If you are at a buffet, take your camera with you when you load your plate. Don’t rely on someone else to guard your gear, their situational awareness may not be up to the task, especially if they are not used to packing gear.
As I said before, most places are safe. Don’t get paranoid about it, if you look scared, you become a target.
What do you take with you, what do you leave at home? It depends on what your purpose is.
Tripods are cumbersome and hard to pack, I prefer a monopod because it is easier to pack and suits my needs. If you rely on a tripod, consider a lightweight carbon fiber unit, they are expensive but they are light and stable enough for most needs. I have a tripod that converts to a monopod. If your purpose is to capture images of the Northern (or Southern) Lights or the Milky Way, consider a heavy tripod for its greater stability. Alternatively, you can hang a weight under your tripod to make it more stable.
You will need something to carry all of your gear. A good backpack-style camera bag works for me, but choose something that works for you. My experience is that there is no perfect camera bag, choose carefully.
I travel with a light-weight laptop, lots of memory cards, a card reader, and an external hard drive or 2. Depending on your camera and your chosen file type, 16GB to 128GB cards will provide lots of room. Doing your initial processing each evening saves time when you get home and gives you images to share on social media if you like.
Don’t skimp on batteries and carry a few freshly charged ones with you when you go out to take pictures. There is nothing heavier than a dead camera.
Location, location, location
Going to hot sunny places? You should consider:
Going into cold?
Travelling with a camera and bringing it and lots of memorable images home is one of my greatest joys. To get the most out of a photo journey, we need to think about a few things before we go.
Planning
Before you go, find out all you can about where you are going and what you might see while you’re there. Having this information will help you decide what equipment you may need to have at hand to make the most of your journey photographically.
Use the internet, read books like Lonely Planet and other travel guides. One caveat here, these travel guides are written by travellers. That can be great if you share a common interest with the authors otherwise, you might get a lot of information about the best surfing in Portugal and little to no info on historical landmarks.
Look for existing pictures of places you might visit. Just because someone took a picture of it doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t, yours will be different and personal. Analysing existing images can help you determine how to approach your journey. It may be the case that the place you thought you wanted to see isn’t as good as a lesser known location.
Planning is good, but don’t be tied to the plan, serendipity can drop opportunities into your field of view. Your plan is only a rough approximation of where you need to be and what you think you’re going to record, you can be flexible with everything except transportation and lodging reservations paid in advance.
How a picture is composed determines whether the image captures the viewer’s attention. What defines a great image is hard, if not impossible, to put into words, but we know it when we see it. A good picture elicits emotion, a great picture even more so. Emotions or reactions to good or great images include smiles, crying, cringing, laughing, remembering events, people or places.
We may have differing opinions of what makes a great composition, we don’t all process images the same way.
There are lots of “rules” of composition, the “rules” are only guidelines and guidelines can be bent, broken and ignored when necessary. Ssome broken rules have become fashionable.
A picture can be technically perfect but fall short of being great or even good.
An image with technical flaws can still be good or even great.
In the beginning, we think it’s all about the camera.
Then we think it’s all about the lens.
Eventually, we know it’s all about the light.
The bottom line is this, we need light to make an image. Everything else is technique, it’s all in how you use the light.
We can use light to enhance your composition or we can use light as your composition.
Light has different qualities at different times of the day:
Direct and indirect light have unique qualities. Direct light, say on a sunny day, throws distinct shadows increasing dynamic range, shade or indirect light is softer, throwing muted shadows.
The golden hour begins. The silver hull of the fishing boat has taken on a golden hue.
Intense golden hour light illuminates a train near Winnipeg, 2012. The golden light is so intense that it overpowers the colours of the containers.
Evening on the Mississippi River in New Orleans, 2012. The golden hour giving way to the blue hour. Still some of the golden glow.
The blue hour. Looking to the west near Winnipeg, we can see the remnants of sunset colours in the lower part of the sky.
The creative side of photography lives here. Side light brings out texture, direct side light gives deeper, longer shadows, indirect side light softens and flatters in portraits.
Side light can be the most dramatic light, but we need to be careful how we use the tool as it can emphasize flaws.
Father Cam, 1968. Shot on Ilford HP4 film with one flash in front of the subject.
Side light at Yosemite Valley emphasizes the rugged landscape.
Diffuse side light flatters the subject with soft shadows.
Back light is popular for creating drama and makes for good silhouettes. Indirect backlight can add depth and dimension to an image. Drama lives here, but we need to be careful with exposure to avoid overexposing the light source, a blown out sun never looks good, meter carefully to expose for the highlights.
Like any other light source, backlight can be direct, indirect, or diffuse.
Evening in Bagan, Myanmar, 2016. Diffuse backlight.
Sunset sailing in Tamarindo, Costa Rica, 2017. Strong direct backlight overwhelms foreground objects throwing them into black. Good silhouette potential in these conditions.
Silhouette tree at Kin Beach Park near Comox, 2017. Indirect backlight illuminating distant clouds and airborne smoke from forest fires.
Monk contemplating many things, Myanmar 2016. Direct backlight illuminates the monk without causing silhouetting.
jnicklin photography 