All posts filed under: Photography

Off to Yakushima for the eclipse

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On the 22nd of July there will be a total solar eclipse visible from a narrow band across the earth. One place in the narrow band of totality is Yakushima, so tomorrow I’m heading to the island to hopefully witness and photograph the phenomenon. Flights are booked to Kagoshima, ferry is booked to Yakushima, and the camp site is booked in Onoaida. The best information I found on photographing eclipses was at Mr. Eclipse.com I intend to set up the camera on a tripod use 100 speed film and shoot various shots on f8 between 1/30 and 1/250  I am not taking my huge telephoto lens but will instead take my 165, 105, and 45. The lens I use will depend on the location I shoot from, which I am expecting will be the campsite I’m staying at. The big question is what the will weather do? Yakushima is famous for rain, so even more than normal I’m hoping for clear skies. Fingers crossed.

On the bookshelf – A Photographer’s Life 1990-2005 by Annie Leibovitz

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I didn’t study photography at school or university. To be honest, if you showed me a selection of famous photographs and told me to name the photographer I would probably only get a couple right. ( an Ansel Adams shot of Yosemite and the Afghan girl by Steve McCurry) I am however trying to broaden my knowledge of great photographers. Not knowing where else to begin I thought I’d start reading about one of the most famous – Annie Leibovitz. I surfed over to Amazon.com and ordered a big compendium of her work: A Photographer’s Life: 1990-2005 by Annie Leibovitz The book is a mix of commercial portraits, and far more personal  images from her own life. Shots of her family, and pictures from her various travels around the world are woven between photographs of  Nelson Mandela, Carl Lewis, Bill Clinton, Michael Jordan, Brad Pitt. and R2-D2. There is a brief introduction and simple captions. I would have liked to have read the story behind each image, but the focus is kept (and perhaps rightly so) on …

RX-78 Gundam model in Odaiba, Tokyo in HDR

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In an earlier post I talked about the construction of the huge Gundam statue in Odaiba, Tokyo. John Burgreen of Okinawa HDR was up in Tokyo a couple of weeks ago and managed to get this fantastic image of the behemoth. What is HDR? HDR stands for high dynamic range. The photographer takes multiple shots of the same subject varying the exposure so that some shots accurately expose the shadows while other shots accurately expose the highlights. Combine all the photographs in Photoshop and you produce a image which doesn’t lose detail in areas that would normally be too dark or too bright. Read more at the Wikipedia page here. HDR is an exciting development in digital photography. Some people love it, some people hate it. In my opinion, it is a technique that is difficult to do well, and can’t remedy an otherwise poor photograph. But, get it right and the images produced can be stunning. John’s Gundam photo is an example of HDR done well.

Multitasking for Photographers

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The job of a photographer is getting more and more complicated. In the past photographers have had to be their own promoter, accountant, travel agent, porter and therapist. More recently  many photographers have added the role of writer and blogger, but perhaps the biggest change is going to be the increasing importance of both video and sound.  Take a look inside the camera bag of travel photographer Tewfic El-Sawy: * Canon EOS 5D Mark II * Canon G10 (ideal for unobtrusive street photography) * Canon 17-40mm f4.0 * Canon 28-70mm f 2.8 * Canon 24mm f1.4 * Marantz PMD 620 Audio Recorder * Acer Aspire One 8.9-inch Mini Laptop (w/LR2 and SoundSlides) * A 250gb G-Tech Mini G-Drive External Hard Drive  * Blackberry & an iTouch  Along with all the camera gear there is a Marantz PMD 620 Audio Recorder. When I met Guardian photographer David Levene a few months ago I noticed that along with  two Canon EOS 5D Mark IIs and a wide selection of lenses he also carried an Edirol Audio Recorder. …

More waterproof cameras… Pentax Optio W80

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Pentax have just announced the latest model in their popular waterproof compact camera range, the Pentax Optio W80. I mentioned in a previous blog about how good these little cameras are as a worry free point & shoot. My sister, dad and Seiko all have different models of the camera, and yesterday I was given my own W60 so that I’m not always borrowing theirs. The W80 will be on sale from next month for just under 300 dollars at Amazon.com. This latest model has 12.1 megapixels and is now coldproof as well as waterproof (to 5 meters) along with being able to record HD video. This does mean that as soon as the W80 is available there should be plenty of places selling off the W60 cheaply. Right now, at Amazon the W60is $259, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this dropped to $200 over the next few weeks. I won’t be using the camera for assignments, but for everyday events, images for the blog and documenting things the dogs have destroyed the camera should be …

The end of KODACHROME

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On June 22, 2009 Kodak announced it was ending production of KODACHROME slide films.  KODACHROME was an icon in the world of photography. The first professional photographer I talked to said he used nothing but KODACHROME 64. Kodak has however moved on. Not only does KODACHROME amount to less than one percent of Kodak’s film sales there is only one place in the world that still processes the film. I am amazed it has survived this long. Kodak  still produces transparency film. So once again this is not the death of film, but simply a change in the type of film people are using. Kodak’s pro films are the KODAK PROFESSIONAL ELITE Chrome series which I haven’t used, but I am sure are excellent. I however will stick with Fujifilm Provia. It’s what I have used almost exclusively over the past 9 years, and it provides exactly what I want – fine grain and great saturated colors. 

Island Icons – Sanshin Virtuoso Byron Jones

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After mentioning Byron Jones in the previous post I thought I should put up the entire interview for those who didn’t see it in the magazine. Sanshin Virtuoso Byron Jones was born in Quantico, Virginia. In 1985 his father, a colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps, was transferred to Camp Foster on Okinawa. Byron attended high school on base, but developed a deep interest in the local Ryukyu culture. At 19, he started playing the sanshin, a traditional Okinawan three-string instrument, which would become his passion. As his proficiency increased, he gained a reputation in the local and national media as “more Japanese than the Japanese.” Byron now teaches the sanshin at various places including the University of the Ryukyus. What is your musical background? I played the clarinet when I was in the 4th Grade, and in high school, one of my friends taught me to play guitar. I saw a sanshin for the first time while visiting my friend’s house and immediately wanted to learn how to play. It wasn’t possible to rent …