I do like digital cameras and the changes that have been made to the way pictures are processed. I've as much nostalgia as the next old coot for the days of the 4 x 5 sheet film holder or the 120 roll of film, but I am realistic about the way the new processes allow me to create and communicate faster. I'd never have had a daily readership in the days when you needed to print broadsheets with a hand-press and do the woodcuts for the illustrations...
Did you eat dinner last night? You did? Good for you. Hope it was nice. You ate off a plate? With a knife and fork? Splendid. Because that makes you a candidate for today's column. It proves that you have mastered one of the most important skills of life - nutrition. It suggests that you can also deal with the business of photography on a similar successful basis. You probably won't be taking pictures with the knife, fork or plate that you used for the eating, but you might be using a camera, lens, or other equipment, that is equally useful. The main key to that utility will be familiarity - just as you are familiar with the use of the eatin' irons. This isn't as fatuous a statement as you might think. Every day in Australia camera shops send clients out of the door with items that are unfamiliar - not just hardware, but new concepts as well. The assumption is that the purchaser will know what to do with it all - in reality they may be bearing away something that...
You must never let me alone with photographic equipment that I haven't seen before. The temptation to paw over it, twist every control, open every flap is overwhelming. I suspect it is the same for other people who are enthusiastic about photography - like kids in a toy store we must just touch and feel everything. We're lucky we don't set fire to more things than we do...
The heading image was taken recently in the front area of the Stirling Street store - it's a pull-up banner made for the Civil Aviation Safety Authority to let you know the bare bones rules for drone flying. It's not the complete set of rules - and doesn't fill all the spaces in the law books - but it should give the prospective dronist cause for thought before they fire up and switch on. The rules do seem sensible - making a set of conditions that protect the public from physical danger whether they are in aircraft or underneath drones in open areas. I should be interested to see whether these same rules are also listed for fixed-wing R/C aircraft as well. Logic says they are also going to be operated by private individuals in public areas. It must have been a bit of a shock for the early adopters of the drone technology here in WA when they started to get good with them and then found that officialdom stepped in to restrict operations. The clear and open promulgation of the rules...
Good morning. It is now officially Christmas Day 2017 and you are awake. If you have young children you have been awake for what seems like a very long time. Brace yourself - the day will go on for a considerable time more. And the children. Will. Not. Stop. If you are reading this on your iPad while sitting at the perfectly-decorated tree and sipping a latte you have our congratulations. You may start unwrapping your new mirror-less lenses and cameras in a moment and ask the valet to lay out your morning wear. The Dom Perignon will start shortly and it is wise to prepare yourself. If you are reading this on your 5-year-old mobile phone while your five-year-old plays "Little Drummer Boy " on a plastic trombone you also have our congratulations. Today will be wonderful, and once the lunch is done and the police leave with the perpetrators, you can settle down to read the instructions for your new action camera. With a bit of luck the kids will not have broken it yet. If you are reading this at...
If you are a dedicated landscape shooter - or and architectural fan - you don't even need encouragement to place a wide-angle lens on your camera and leave it sealed there for a year. You probably do this anyway. But play along with me and then you can tell other people of the advantages of the idea: a. The lenses may be smaller than the other choices - but not necessarily. Some professional wide-angles with fast apertures are substantial tubs of expensive glass. They need care with carrying and deployment as their front surfaces can bulge alarmingly. b. The lenses will make sharper - looking pictures, on the average, than their longer counterparts due to the smaller image placed on the sensor. Oh, you can still shake them into failures, but it is harder to do. You'll be able to get away with hand-holding at slower shutter speeds and lower ISO's. c. The lenses may be surprisingly inexpensive for the smaller sensor lines. But beware: a. The lenses may also be surprisingly expensive for the larger sensor lines. This is known as " the rule...
I rarely enquire into other people's relationships - they are none of my business. Some photographers feel the same way about taking other people's images - they never approach closely. This is neither a good thing nor a bad one - it is just the way some people's personalities deal with the world. If you are one of these shooters you may choose a longer lens for your year's work. Something that allows you to put a distance between yourself and the subject. You'll have good and bad: Good a. There will be less interference between you and your subject. They will be less likely to react to you. There will be less fear on both parts. b. The depth of field for any given aperture will be shallower. If you are trying to isolate your subject with a fuzzy background or foreground, this will happen more readily. c. The background will loom larger in the shot - good if this is the atmosphere you want. d. You'll get less chromatic aberration at the edges of most pictures. e. Your face shots will show less distortion than...
Now that you have returned to consciousness, or back from the pub, you can begin to look at the coming year with a bit more equanimity. I want you to cast your mind back to the bald, skinny Frenchman we mentioned before; Henri Cartier-Bresson. Remember that name, and go to the bookstore or the library and hunt out a volume of his pictures. You may also find essays in some books that he has written. They are fine, in a way, but do not have the impact of his pictures - these are truly universal in their communication, and point you toward some part of your choice. HCB - as opposed to JCB - used standard lenses. Lenses that were prime ( As he was shooting in the 40's and 50s you can presume pre-zoom...
" Oh My Goodness! But, but, but...
" You may have it for a year. It will be attached to your camera - your one and only camera - for twelve months. During that time you will take all your professional and amateur pictures with it. You may adjust the camera as much as you like. You may adjust the lens as many times as you wish. You may use a flash or not - it is your choice. What you cannot do is dismount the lens. You must see the world with the angle of view that this lens provides for the following 365 days. It is for you to choose wisely now - which lens shall it be? " Dream? Challenge? Nightmare? Folly? Well, all these and more for some people - people who have become accustomed to owning and changing a vast variety of lenses and cameras. They would undergo an agony of indecision while they contemplated the year's shooting and all the disparate factors that might make up a lens choice. Some would go instantly to what they want and some would try to wheedle their...