Frames per Second

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Sports photography presents some unique challenges. The action is sometimes fast and furious. This requires a quick mind and a mastery of the camera in order to get the shot you want. Preparation is important and knowing the game or sport inside and out are extremely important.

One camera feature that is overlooked is fps: frames per second. This demarcation represents how many frames can be captured for each second the shutter release is held down. My old D70, for example, featured 3 frames per second. This wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t very good when the speed of the action picked up.

Now enter my recently acquired D300, which features 6 frames per second. I anticipated an improvement, but the actual results blew me away. It was impressive not only to hear the rapid succession of the frames being recorded within each second, but the amount of action I could freeze with the camera was amazing!

I am planning on adding the vertical battery grip, which will up the speed to 8 frames per second!

Speed isn’t everything, but sometimes it is very nice to have a camera doing better than keeping up with the action.

Fading Light

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What do you do when you are at a great location taking photos and the sun begins to go down? The decreasing amount of light that is lost in a situation like this happens almost exponentially. Working in such a situation requires quick thinking and some resourcefulness. You obviously cannot stop the sun from fading into the horizon, so what do you do?

I remember an old television commercial where a father and his son were sitting at a beautiful location watching the sun set. It was a gorgeous scene and just as the sun was fading into the horizon, the dad said, “Going… going… gone!” And with that the sun completely disappeared. The little boy looked up at his dad and said, “Do it again, daddy!”

No, we can keep the sun from fading into the western skyline, so what do we photographers do as the sunlight gives out?

I was in this situation this past Friday night at a baseball game. Baseball requires a pretty fast shutter speed and with my 1.4x teleconverter attached the fading light affected me rather quickly. I was able to keep shooting by adapting some settings on my camera both in the computer menu and physically.

First, I could change to a higher ISO. This is the equivalent to a faster ASA in the old film days. By using more sensitive film, the photographer could use the limited available light a little longer. The same can be accomplished by changing to a higher ISO. With today’s modern cameras like my Nikon D300, we can shoot at higher ISOs and still not experience much noise in our photos. This is a great option, but it does have some limits and eventually we are going to get into such high ISOs that the noise is noticeable.

Another option I had was to remove the 1.4x teleconverter and shoot without it. This provided one more stop of light for me and wasn’t a bad solution since I was right by the dugout. This location allowed me to continue shooting the infielders and batters without too much lose of distance. A simple thing like removing a piece of gear like this can sometimes be a very good option.

Another option for me was to use the exposure compensation option on my camera. This works pretty well in Aperture Priority and I use it often to get rid of those troublesome blinkies. This option can help in darkening situations, but again only to a limit.

Dealing with fading light is not easy, but it is definitely worth the struggle. This is, after all, labeled the “golden hour” for a reason!

One remaining option can sometimes be to keep shooting after sunset, depending on your subject. This is not possible for sports photographers, but the sky can reveal brilliant and fascinating colors that can captured well with your digital camera. Try with those big puffy clouds in the sky as the setting sun casts beautiful rays of light throughout the skyline.

There are ways to deal with fading light and having several options in your bag of tricks can keep you shooting longer.

Where Do You Learn?

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School? Home? Neighborhood? Church?

Where do you learn?

I am fortunate to have a solid upbringing in a loving family and was privileged to graduate from both college and graduate school. These 7 years of post-high school higher learning were wonderful and gave me the opportunity to learn a whole lot. I sometimes look back on those years fondly and even wish I could recapture the joy of living in those years.

But I am discovering the joy of learning something new just about every day.

I don’t think it is so much the place that provides learning as it an attitude and lifestyle. How many people do you know who hated school? For all those who enjoyed the process, like I did, there were probably and equal number of students who absolutely hated the learning process.

I had great teachers, too. They taught me not only the subject material but great life lessons as well. I am grateful to them for their dedication and willingness to share these lessons with me. And I will never forget them nor be able to repay them.

Learning now is less formalized in my life. I occasionally attend continuing education events and seminars, but I find myself turning to the internet to learn more. Photographically speaking, I have discovered a wealth of online websites that have literally tons of information on the subject of photography. I will eventually be posting some of these links on my website.

So, where do you learn? Do you even want to learn anything anymore? If so, where will that learning take place?

Field Work and Home Work

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Most of us prefer to be out in the field with our camera taking photographs. We enjoy the creative side of our craft. And so, we would sooner be out and about taking photos than behind a computer doing the post-processing.

However, without this computer work at home, we would never be able to share our photographs with others. The post-processing is just as important as capturing the photos, even if it is not quite so glamorous.

There are plenty of tools to help ease our pain and even make this part of the process go faster. And once we get our work flow down, it goes pretty quickly. So time spent trying to master this process is well worth the effort and time.

The next time you find yourself complaining about too much time behind the computer, try to find some ways to expedite the process. Think of new ways of doing the routine tasks. With some creativity you can speed up this process and get behind the viewfinder sooner rather than later.

I have to get going now because I have some more home work to do before my photo shoot tomorrow afternoon!

There has to be a Better Way

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For quite a while I would turn on my laptop, connect an external hard drive, and download photos from card reader all while I sat in my recliner in our living room. This was not a very efficient process, but it was the option I choose. Why do we sometimes get stuck in a rut and stay there so long?

Ever since we moved into our new house 7 1/2 years ago, I never set up my computer desk to use properly. Instead, it just served as a table to collect junk. This was not a very efficient process either.

When we were on vacation last week, I could not get the wireless internet connection to work with my laptop. The wired connection worked fine, which forced me to keep my laptop on the hotel room desk. This worked out surprisingly well for me. When I sat in the chair or sofa, I was reading my book or watching TV instead of spending time on my laptop. Throughout the week I really began to enjoy this differentiation between “work” and “relaxation.”

So I decided to make a few changes at home.

I decided to clean up our computer room, clear off my computer desk, reposition it to be more efficient, and start using it. I am still in this process but there is light at the end of the tunnel and I am becoming much more efficient. My laptop is now on the desk in front of my two external hard drives. Connecting them is quick and easy. I also am continuing to clean up the room so that everything has a proper place, which helps me be more efficient. I still have a few piles yet to process and then I have to work on the bookcases and the filing cabinet, but as I said, there appears to be light at the end of the tunnel.

I knew there had to be a better way and I think I am finding it!

Big Print Action

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Today I picked up some 12″ x 18″ photographs that I had printed. They are baseball action shots, most with the ball frozen in place. These larger prints sure are nice! They allow some details to be seen with incredible clarity. The larger size allows for proper hanging on a wall so that passers-by can enjoy viewing the photographs.

Action shots are some of my most favorite subjects. There is one of a base runner attempting to steal a base, while the fielder is catching the ball and about to put the tag on. Portraying action in a flat photograph is not an easy proposition. This challenge is one I enjoy very much. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it. Many just don’t have the patience to work a subject or wait long enough in a game to capture these kinds of shots. I am learning more and more all the time and seeing these larger prints was a great step in this learning process.

I am liking larger prints more and more. Bigger is sometimes better and I think prints fit this category nicely.

These prints will be on display at The Lehigh Valley Baseball Academy walls where many players and parents will be able to enjoy them. I am hoping that they are received well and enjoyed by all those who take the time to look at them.

In the meantime, I will keep going out to the field and try to hone my action photography skills. I have so much more to learn!

Vacation & Photo Display

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Our family has been away on vacation for the last week. It was an excellent time to be away and relax for a while. It’s amazing how fast a week of vacation goes by so quickly.

I did have plenty of opportunities to use my camera, so this was not a vacation away from photography even though I didn’t blog for the week. That was the result of an extremely slow internet connection at our hotel. It was brutal and since I was on vacation I decided not to blog. Sorry for the hiatus.

Today I put my photo display up at the Northeast Pennsylvania Credit Union. Bill Weitzmann was the expert hanger and my son, James, and I assisted. Bill’s experience and eye for photo displays was invaluable and we had all 12 photographs hung in less than an hour and a half.

This display can be viewed in the main lobby, which is located at the NEPA Credit Union on 935 Clay Avenue, Stroudsburg, PA 18360. It is just across the side street from the Monroe County Library. Visitors are welcome to come and see the photo display there in the lobby. I have a brief introduction to myself and a description of the photo display, which is located just after the main entrance and then to the right. The photos hang on three walls and can be viewed within the lobby.

If you get a chance, visit the Credit Union and view my photographs. They will be on display during the months of August and September.

And if you haven’t taken a vacation this summer yet, you only have a month before summer is over!

Passion and Desire

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What drives you to be out there with your camera? What motivates you to keeping going behind the viewfinder? Why do you keep taking photographs?

People have a lot of passions that drive them to do a variety of different things. Passion is defined as “intense emotional drive or excitement” in Webster’s Dictionary. You can spot someone with passion a mile away. It comes pouring out in obvious ways that cannot be missed.

Passion is what drives you when the going gets tough. Passion keeps you up late at night figuring out how to do better what drives you so much. Passion is what keeps the fire burning.

Too many photographers give up after they have a great start. But passion will keep us going.

There nothing quite like being behind the viewfinder when the action is in full swing. This weekend I photographed 3 baseball games. I cannot believe that some people honestly believe that baseball is a boring sport. The action is quick and if you blink you are sure to miss the shot. Anticipation and preparation are definitely the name of these games–both baseball and sports photography.

As a baseball coach, I learned to instruct the players to always be ready. They could blow bubble gum bubbles or whatever in-between pitches, but when the pitcher was about to go into his windup each player was to take a prep step and present their glove to the ball, thereby being in a totally ready position.

Photographers must be equally prepared and ready for the next action shot. Knowing when and where the action is about to take place can go a long way in helping to capture the action shot desired. There is nothing I like more than freezing the ball in place just as it is about to fielded by an infielder, or as the ball is about to be hit by a batter!

The next action is out there ready to be captured by your camera. The only question is will  you be ready to capture the action?

Checklist

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Have you ever been in the middle of a shoot and realized your camera’s white balance was set in the wrong position?

This happened to me a today. Of course, this is one of the many reasons why shooting in RAW makes so much sense, because you can quickly correct this mistake in post processing. The problem is much more difficult when shooting JPGs.

The scenario is pretty common… you shoot one event with a specific white balance setting, say incandescent lighting. Then on your next shoot you are in bright daylight. After awhile when you are looking at a photo on the back of your camera you see that the photo is much too blue.

Other settings can also be set incorrectly and cause problems in a shoot. This is why a pre-shoot checklist is such a good idea. I’ve decided to make a checklist and keep it n my camera bag, right on top of my camera so I have to see it before I use my camera the next time. Hopefully, this will prevent me from using the incorrect settings.

Shooting Modes

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Which shooting mode do you use: Auto, Program, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, or Manual?

Many people get a new camera and are a little overwhelmed by all the different settings and options. They want to get out there and start taking photographs instead of reading through a boring owners manual. So they set their camera on Auto and go out and capture some nice shots. The only problem is they never get around to learning about the other modes and forever shoot in the Auto mode.

Auto mode will certainly let you capture some nice photos, but I do not prefer to have my camera making all the choices for me. Call me a control freak if you want, but I want to make the critical decisions on exposure, shutter, iso, and so on. After all, this is where the creative side of photography really comes out. You can be much more creative in shutter priority, aperture priority, and manual modes than in auto mode.

Give it a try. For one week or at least one day, set your camera in shutter priority mode and make the commitment to keep it there. Don’t change it! This is not always easy, but the effort is worth it. Shutter priority allows you to predetermine the shutter speed. Let’s say you’re shooting a sporting event. A fast shutter speed is necessary to freeze the action or stop the ball in the frame. So set a fast shutter speed that still allows you to get enough light to take the photo. Or, let’s suppose you are taking photos of waterfalls and you want to create photos that feature a silky waterfall that exhibits the flow of water. Now you will need a much slower shutter speed and a tripod. Set your shutter speed on 1/30 of a second, compose the shot, and take the photo. A cable or remote release can be invaluable for these shots, too.

Aperture priority mode is the one I most often use. This shooting mode allows me to shoot with a wide open aperture and thereby use a shallow depth of field. I like using this mode particularly for wildlife and sports photography. Focusing can be tricky at times, but when it works the subject stands out from both the background and the foreground. Alternatively, let’s say you want to shoot landscapes all day. Now a small aperture is necessary. Set your camera on the appropriate setting, say f/16 or f/22. Now the depth of field will be much larger and keep much more of the scene in focus. Are you beginning to see why these modes might serve you better than the auto mode?

Manual mode is the one I learned on back in my film days. I had a Minolta x370 and used manual mode just about all the time. It might take some getting used to if you haven’t done it before, but the control you gain is definitely worth the effort. Let’s say you are photographing an animal toward the end of the day. Shadows are getting longer and the sunlight is beginning to fade. You can capture the available light more easily in manual mode because you can adjust either the shutter speed or the aperture setting as  you wish. If you are getting close to having too slow of a shutter speed, then you can instantly switch to adjust the aperture. Once you learn the controls of your camera and learn to watch the light meter in your viewfinder, it will become almost automatic for you to make the necessary adjustments.

Give it time and don’t give up. Learning a new way of doing things might take some time and effort, but once you do I seriously doubt you will use auto mode much anymore. And your creativity will be free to take you to new places!

Manual mode