This edition of the Photofocus Weekly Wrap-Up of noteworthy articles published during the last seven days takes us to the Midwestern U.S. for photographing festivals, fairs and carnivals by Lauri Novak. Managing editor Kevin Ames shares his opinion on photography as a career choice, Scott Wyden Kivowitz rants a bit about branding mistakes by Nikon and Adobe. Next, it’s off to Montana with Matt Fey’s guest post on getting started shooting wildlife and finally, we go to Cypress Creek Studios in Florida to learn how v-flats make beautiful backgrounds thanks to Jason Hahn. Learn, enjoy and keep making photos!
Photographer — one of the worst jobs ever? Never! - “You may never become rich financially being a photographer. You will live a very rich life.” -Kevin Ames The photo above is me in 1986 right after completing the photography of one of Atlanta’s landmark buildings. That is the face of a photographer who absolutely loves his job. Contrary to current reports … According to a post in SLRlounge.com, being a photographer as the 25th worst job in America. In the first line of the post, the article cites 24/7 Wall St. as saying that they believe the 2018 Jobs Rated Report from CareerCast makes photography in the top 25 worst jobs for income and job security. Out of 220 total jobs on the list, photographer comes in at the 195th best job, making it the 25th worst — meaning there are 24 more jobs considered worse by pay, stress and work environment/projected industry growth. Taxi driver, by the way, is the worst job on the list. Take a look at the actual report … It’s pretty clear that in this report, choosing to be a photographer has poor expectations for a growing, financially rewarding, low-stress career. This must mean that all of us making a living with our cameras are appropriately disillusioned by our career choice, aren’t we? No, not at all! First, more photographs are being made every year than the year before thanks to the ubiquity of smartphone with good cameras in them. The issue is that the report does not see career growth in being a photographer. There is some truth to that. Here’s what I see: Being a photographer means seeking work that pays Owning a camera and a set of lenses and a flash does not make someone a photographer any more than owning a scalpel makes them a surgeon. Photographers that know how photography works, that can light a scene, pose a portrait and deliver a digital file that is appropriate for a client’s requirements are not a commodity. There aren’t many who can do these things when compared to smartphone photographers or ones who have bought an everything-you-need-to-be-a-pro-photographer kit at the local warehouse club store. Photographers must find projects that clients will pay them to photograph. While this can seem daunting at the outset, there is a lot of work to be had. Satisfied clients come back with more work. Photography is exactly like any other business. It is a business and must be treated as such. For more on this browse Bryan Esler’s marketing column that runs every Monday. There is money — good money — to be made making photographs. About that “job” thing Let’s get this right out front. There are very few full-time jobs with the title of “photographer,” particularly for still shooters. There are some. But they are really rare, especially with the demise of printed catalogs. Working photographers today are employed by themselves. They have their own, independent business. They, hey, WE, work hard. We work hard to find a project that pays us to make photographs. We work hard to produce them. We also work hard at all of the parts of running a small business that lets us be photographers who are making a living making photographs and we LOVE making them. As long as photographers charge appropriately for their work, they will stay in business and prosper. Then there’s being rich Rich can be described as having a lot of money. Rich can also, though not as often, be defined in life experiences. Which is most important? That answer is very personal for each of us. Here’s my (abridged) story. Early days Like a lot of photographers today, my career started when I was given a Kodak Brownie Starmite 127 camera. It made square photos. My first “job” happened by happy circumstance. It was not intentional. I took my new camera on a field trip with my classmates to the Idaho State Historical Museum in Boise. I made pictures of them looking at artifacts of our state’s past. Returning home, I went with my mom to the drugstore to drop off the film to be developed. I was much too young to drive a car at 12, although that did not stop me from driving a tractor on our family farm. Kids then started work young. The film came back. I put the little three and a half inch prints on a piece of poster board and my classmates paid 10 cents each for the ones they wanted. Score! A career began. Living a rich life I have lots of friends and some acquaintances who work at jobs that they really don’t like let alone love. They make good money. It seems like most of them earn a lot more than I make. No matter. I have come through my life with experiences that money can’t buy unless you are ultra (billionaire) rich. Photography has been, with apologies to “Saturday Night Live,” very, very good to me. I have met and photographed amazing people and visited equally amazing places that the public can’t access. Photography has taken me all over the U.S. and to many parts of the world. It has provided an all right income at the same time. Looking back In my case, being a photographer also means having access to my entire life’s work. I have negatives, prints and slides going back to my days in university, although it was a state college then. I have slides from the protests in Brussels against NATO receiving Pershing nuclear missiles from the U.S. I have photos of Mass in Notre Dame, a jitney driver in Manilla, commercial pictures I’ve made on pitcher’s mound in two of Atlanta’s three major league baseball fields. These are just some of the images from my life. I could certainly go on and on and be really boring sharing events that I experienced. The take-away is the experiences themselves. Having really good photographs that I own the rights to is a bonus. Here are some of
Two brand mistakes that are frustrating photographers - You might have noticed two companies in the photography industry doing things that are frustrating you. It’s possible one of these companies is even confusing you. Today I want to share two mistakes that I know are frustrating me, and could likely be frustrating you. My hope is that these companies notice some commentary here on Photofocus and respond to your frustrations. Nikon First up is Nikon, but before I dive in, know that I am a Nikon photographer. I have been forever and will continue as such. But when a company does something that I feel is wrong, even if I am a loyal user, I cannot stay silent. If you were paying attention when Nikon first announcement the Z6 and Z7 cameras, then you might also know about the FTZ adapter. The FTZ costs nearly $250 when purchased on its own. But until recently, when you purchased the FTZ along with a Z6 or Z7 kit, the adapter was only $100. Maybe the FTZ wasn’t selling as well as Nikon hoped it would, or maybe they have a second version of the adapter coming out soon. But Nikon decided to make the FTZ adapter free for anyone who buys a Z6 or Z7 camera … in the United States only. Whatever is driving this decision from Nikon didn’t think through the ramifications they were going to have from making a $250 product free for new purchases. Because people who purchased the FTZ adapter (like myself), are now out a lot of hard earned money. I love Nikon. Heck, they’ve been extremely good to me as you will see here. But this makes me mad, frustrated, and I want answers. I want to know how Nikon will make good on this change, and make their customers happy. Adobe Next up is Adobe. Here we are again, so many of us as Adobe users for many years. I’ve been using Photoshop and Lightroom for so long, I cannot even remember a day when I didn’t use it. You might recall that when Lightroom first came out it was called Lightroom. Sometimes it was referenced as Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. I always thought that was odd. But really it was just Lightroom. Then one day, when Creative Cloud became a thing, it was decided that Lightroom was to be renamed. Because a lighter, simpler version of Lightroom was to be released. Now, instead of calling the cloud-based version of Lightroom, Lightroom Elements — like Adobe does for the lighter, simpler version of many other products — they went with a more confusing naming structure. Lightroom became Lightroom Classic CC (where CC stands for Creative Cloud). The new Lightroom (cloud version) became Lightroom CC. This confused users and caused (and continues to cause) problems for developers. Now, when someone is looking to open Lightroom, they wind up opening Lightroom CC. Now, when people want to install a Lightroom (Classic CC) plugin, they get annoyed at developers that the plugin isn’t working with Lightroom (meaning Lightroom CC). That frustration list can go on and on. Here we are again, though, and Adobe has done a renaming to both Lightroom versions. Lightroom Classic CC became Lightroom Classic. Lightroom CC became Lightroom. As you will notice, they dropped the CC from each of the names. For those finally getting used to the change from Lightroom to Lightroom Classic CC, you have readjusting to do. For those just now making the “upgrade” from Lightroom 4, 5 or 6 to the Creative Cloud versions, your Lightroom is no longer Lightroom. it’s now Lightroom Classic. Sorry … Frustrations and confusions I know this might come off as a rant, and it kind of is. My hope is that companies like Nikon and Adobe, and many others, stop making changes without doing further market research. Ask your users, your customers, your loyal fans. Find out if a change you’re going to make will have a positive impact on user experience, emotions and sales. For example, if you have a pack of pre-release testers telling you to keep Lightroom the way it is, and make the new software Lightroom Elements, there is probably a good reason for that. Just saying :-) I’m still going to be a loyal Nikon photographer, and I’m still going to be using Lightroom. But boy is it frustrating, and I feel so bad for all the developers and users who are confused by pointless name changes.
Get started with animal photography in the wild - (Editor’s Note: We’d like to welcome this guest post from Matt Fey of PrintingCenterUSA. Matt writes for PrintingCenterUSA’s blog and social channels. In his free time, he enjoys taking photos while out and about in the backcountry of Montana. Whether fishing or camping, he enjoys being outdoors as much as possible.) Nothing beats the excitement of photographing animals in the wild — it’s unpredictable and extremely rewarding. But with so much uncertainty is it possible to take stunning animal photographs in the wild? It absolutely is. Below, I’ve put together some helpful tips to help you maintain as much control of your wildlife photography as possible. Choose the right camera Before you begin, it is imperative that you use the right camera. A DSLR camera or mirrorless camera with full control are the best type of cameras to use in wildlife photography. What makes DSLR’s great is the amount of control the user has over each of the individual camera elements, such control is not possible with the camera on a phone. In order to manipulate these individual functions, the DSLR camera needs to be switched over to manual mode. Let’s discuss each of these elements and their ideal settings for wildlife photography. Shutter speed The shutter of a camera opens and closes when a photograph is taken in order to allow light in to capture a photo. If the shutter speed is very slow, the shutter will remain open for a longer period of time while the photo is taken, allowing more light into the camera. When would you use a slow shutter speed? Slow shutter speeds are used in low light settings when the subject you are photographing is stationary. If you photograph a moving subject with slow shutter speed, the resulting picture will be blurry. The dynamic nature of wildlife photography makes slow shutter speeds a bad choice. During fast shutter speeds, the shutter of a camera opens and shuts incredibly quickly while a photo is taken. This is ideal for wildlife photography since subjects are rarely stationary. What about a fast shutter speed? In order to use a fast shutter speed setting it is imperative that you have sufficient lighting in your environment. DSLR cameras take all the guesswork out of environmental lighting by incorporating a light sensor meter. As you change your shutter speed, the light indicator meter will climb up and down. If you are in a highly lit environment, the indicator will be all the way to the right. In a highly lit environment, as you increase the shutter speed, the light indicator will move toward the left. Adjust your shutter speed until the light indicator has settled in the middle position. The minimum shutter speed for wildlife photography is about 1/200s, so make sure your environment is sufficiently lit in order to achieve at least this shutter speed. ISO settings The ISO of a camera is its light sensitivity value. The higher the ISO, the more sensitive to light a camera is. This results in photographs appearing more brighter. However, higher ISO’s can compromise the overall quality of an image; if you want an image to be as high definition as possible aim for the lowest possible ISO setting — ISO 100. If after you have set your shutter speed to 1/200s (at least) your histogram still indicates that your image is too dark, raise the ISO until your lighting is well balanced. Depending on your camera, try not to exceed an ISO of 800 in order to maintain as high a quality of image as possible. Aperture settings The aperture setting in your DSLR camera controls how open or closed your lens is. The lower the aperture, the wider the lens is open, this results in more light entering into the lens to brighten your image. The higher the aperture the more closed your lens is, which results in less light being able to enter through the lens. Sometimes, simply decreasing your aperture will allow sufficient light to enter your camera in order to maintain a low ISO setting. However, this does come with a catch. A low aperture setting creates a shallow depth of field, meaning that once you focus on your subject, only a small (or shallow) area around your subject will also be in focus. This will result in your subject being in focus and its background being blurry. If during a wildlife photography session you want the attention to be focused on the subject you are photographing and not its environment, a low aperture is ideal. An example of such a scenario is shown below. If, however, it is important to contextualize the animal you are photographing, a higher aperture setting will create a deep depth of field and keep, both your subject and the environment it is in focus. If during your wildlife photography you cannot decide whether you should bump up the ISO or open up the aperture, definitely settle with an open (lower) aperture. A crystal clear single frame of motion taken at the perfect moment will supersede any deeper depth of field requirement. See the example below of a photo taken with a small aperture (open lens). Use back button focusing When out in the wild, there often isn’t enough time to change your camera capture settings if your subject starts moving. Sometimes you only have seconds (if even that) to photograph an animal before they are gone. When the back button focus is set up, pressing down on the shutter button will only take the photo and not focus on the subject, even if you push it down halfway through. In this case, the focusing is assigned to another button on the back of the camera. Using back button focus enables you to focus on a moving target with a push of a button without having to waste time changing your camera’s internal settings. Taking photos out in the wild isn’t too different from street photography. With the shutter speed as
How to make beautiful backgrounds with v-flats - Taking a lesson from my nature photography roots for my studio work, I always try to compose my background first. With wildlife, this is often a split second decision in terms of positioning and adjustment. In the studio, you can be much more proactive and finely tune your background to fit your vision for the image. While I use a variety of different materials and scenes for backgrounds, I often use v-flats as a tool to control the look of my background. In this article are tips and techniques on how to use a v-flat either as the background, or a way to “clean up” the background area that will appear in your image. Outside a window for “clean up” I am fortunate to have a huge window in my main studio, seriously this thing is 7 feet tall by 8 feet wide. It provides rich beautiful natural light throughout the day, but when shooting from inside, at some angles the outside view can be a little “busy.” While you can change your angles to some degree, I use V-Flat World v-flats as a fast way to block off the view, while still letting the light in. You can face either black or white toward the window, it’s up to the photographer in that regard. Personally, I often use the black for my reflection images, it intensifies the look and clarity of the reflection, removing unwanted distractions in the background. Just be careful that you don’t place the flat to close and block the light coming in, especially later in the day when the sun is lower in the sky. Control hot spots and shine In this image, the light is a blend of natural and strobe light to fill in the shadows. However, the glossy floor picked up shine from another window in this room. Setting up a v-flat, a few feet in front of the window allows a great deal of the light to come in the room, but stops the reflection of the window from appearing in the floor. I place it so the black flat faces into the room, with the white toward the window at an angle so it bounces the light into the room instead of absorbing it Impromptu backdrop support If you don’t want a flat featureless texture, you can drape fabric over your v-flat to give it some contours. Using just a couple of clothes pins to hold it in place, its quicker and easier to set this up than a full backdrop support. Any colored fabric works. I keep a supply of black, white, and various colors on hand just for this type of use. Keep an eye on craigslist or other marketplaces, you can often get used ones in fairly good shape from restaurants or caterers when they swap them out for new or different colors. Taking it a step further, experiment with using different colors and translucence of your fabrics. Here I used a sheer red cloth under a sheer black cloth. A flash aimed at them from below in the background produces this fiery effect, with just a minor adjustment in Lightroom to shift the reds toward orange. This is a great trick for when you can’t set real fires on the set! Negative fill with one v-flat and a tablecloth Here is a tip on how to use negative fill in your images using only one v-flat (get them at V-Flat World) and a tablecloth. Position your v-flat in a “V” shape behind your subject, with the point of the V furthest from your subject, and with white facing in so it becomes the background. Position your light. In this case, I used a Godox AD200 strobe in a large strip softbox, at about 45 degrees to the subject. Put an opaque fabric, like the black tablecloth I mention above, draped over the side opposite your light, and clothespin it into place. Optionally, add a second light on the floor pointed at your background, flagged so it doesn’t hit the black background. Credits: Model Nova Amour shot at Cypress Creek Studio
Festival, fair and carnival photography - As life begins to open back up here in the U.S., festivals, fairs and carnivals are being added to event calendars. Attending these events with your camera can be a lot of fun. There are plenty of people, bands, games, rides and food to take photos of, and a lot of different things you can experiment and try. Music and bands One of the advantages of local festivals is that the stages are usually easily accessible. You can get right up front or sometimes even a few steps up the side of the stage to get shots from the wings. I would suggest checking with the crew or festival staff first before just jumping up on stage though. Music tends to happen throughout the day and into the evening so be prepared to capture bands and performances in all lighting conditions. Bright daylight and stage lighting at night. Carnival rides This is a great one to experiment with. It can be a fun challenge to capture people’s expressions and reactions while they are on the rides. Try to capture the excitement, joy and sometimes fear as the rides are moving and spinning. Maybe start slow with a merry-go-round and work your way up to roller coasters and other fast-moving, spinning rides. The rides themselves offer many photographic opportunities. Fun colors, characters and shapes allow you to create a wide variety of images. Think motion as well — slow down your shutter and show the motion in the ride. Again, be prepared for lighting changes between day and night. Nighttime at a carnival is a whole other world. Bring a tripod and set up to catch the Ferris wheel lights in motion. Capture the people as they move through from game to game. People at festivals So many people to take photos of. Sitting around enjoying the sights, the music and the food and the whole festival atmosphere. People riding rides as mentioned above, playing the games of chance, interacting with the animals in a petting zoo or at a fair in the 4-H exhibits. So many opportunities to capture emotions at fairs and festivals. People dancing, old and young. There are also employees. I’ve found that many carnival and fair workers have stories to tell. Interact, talk to them and ask if you can take their photo. Many of them love to tell their stories and share a little of their lives with you. Make a project out of it, the people of the state fair type of project. Photographing them in their environment … take a few shots, portraits and of them operating the ride they are in charge of, of them interacting with customers in the games aisle, taking money, creating the excitement they create and giving prizes. All of these details will tell the story of that particular person. Festival food Want to practice your food photography (and likely get a stomach ache in the process)? OK, you may not have to test every type of food there is in order to get some good food shots. Think about not just shooting the actual final product but also the processes. How fun to get images of cotton candy being made, corn dogs being dipped in batter and of course the ever-present and growing list of “any food you can think of” on a stick. Have fun This is the most important bit of advice, have fun. Don’t forget to put your camera down and join in the festivities. Listen to the music, ride the rides, eat the food and enjoy yourself. By relaxing and taking in the experiences yourself will translate to better, more meaningful images.
