The Weekly Wrap-up compiles interesting articles published during the week on Photofocus. This week we posted articles on making photographs in falling snow and from a moving train, a technical look at external graphics cards, thoughts on why landscape photographers want to carry telephoto lenses, what is a normal lens and the value of spending time with our fellow creatives. Enjoy.
eGPU: Why you should or shouldn’t get one - eGPU’s, external graphics cards connected over the relatively new Thunderbolt 3 connection, are fascinating pieces of hardware that enable Thunderbolt 3 equipped laptops to use high performance desktop graphic cards. With an entry price point of around $400 for a plug and play system for both Mac and PC, you might want to see if it’s worth the money for your laptop. These devices range in sizes but are typically smaller than the average desktop computer and come either prepackaged with a graphics card or come as an enclosure only. The latter allows you to choose what graphics card you’d like to out fit it with and enabling you to upgrade in the future. An eGPU could be for you if you want … Performance in rendering or gaming Laptops have been known to be underpowered when it comes to video graphics compared to their heavy and stationary desktop relatives. Some reasons include the amount of power necessary to facilitate the demands of a desktop video card, the need to disperse the greater amount of heat generated by the more powerful video card, space for the chips to actually reside on the internal motherboard and connectivity to the logic board for the graphics card to mate to. People typically want laptops to be functional and portable, powerful, light and long lasting — adding a powerful graphics card tends to compromise the latter three. To do so, laptop manufacturers would compensate by either making laptops larger and heavier with a larger capacity battery to offset the power draw (or have shorter battery life), adding more fans or liquid cooling since high performance desktop video cards become hotter, raising the price for adding a low powered video card to the laptop along side the high performance card to help with that battery life, or a combination of the above. While some manufacturers have actually built some beast laptops like that, the mass majority wouldn’t need that kind of performance all the time. This is why many smaller and lighter laptops contain the Intel HD, Iris or Iris Pro Graphics cards. These graphics cards are integrated into Intel processors which don’t require a heck of a lot of power to run which means that manufacturers don’t have to make space for additional cooling and can use smaller batteries without compromising the laptop’s battery life and weight. With an eGPU, Thunderbolt 3 equipped laptop and a monitor, one can have a lightweight portable laptop solution in the day and plug into high performance graphics workstation at night. There are a lot of small details when it comes to specifics of eGPU enclosures, but you can use many of the popular video cards, including: NVIDIA GTX 10 series (1080Ti, 1080, 1070Ti, 1070, 1060, 1050, etc.) Radeon RX Series (590, 580, 570, 560, 550, 540, 480, 460, etc.) Other PCI-e video cards macOS users will have to use AMD Radeon RX 470, RX 480, RX 570, RX 580 and Radeon Pro WX 7100 cards if they’d like to keep their operating system’s integrity, as Apple has created drivers specifically for those cards to work. Otherwise, you could go through the trouble of patching macOS to allow other video cards from NVIDIA and encountering a lot of interesting nuances (believe me, I’ve tried, succeeded and changed paths). Windows users can use all of the above as long as there are drivers made for the video card — which is basically all of them. The performance metrics can be astounding. A 2016 13″ MacBook Pro (my personal machine) with Intel an HD 540 integrated graphics card is massively outperformed by the RX 580 that I have in my eGPU box. Massively being anywhere from 200% to 500% faster. The gains were very dependent on the software I ran them on. I tested on GeekBench 3, some in-game benchmarks, SketchUp for Mac and some editing and exporting of iPhone XR videos and found improvements and gains in all of those scenarios. Gamers will definitely enjoy the large boost of FPS in their games, while videographers and 3D artists can benefit a great amount in rendering, also depending on the software. For instance on my PC workstation, a Lenovo P52s with an i7-8650U processor, 16GB of RAM and a NVIDIA® Quadro® P500 2 GB video card, fun little games like League of Legends ran decently well when hooked up to an external monitor at 1080p at high settings with about 70FPS. I hooked up a Gigabyte RX580 Gaming box and saw the FPS jump to around 300PFS on the same settings — this was a lot more complicated than just hooking it up though, more details below. Multiple high resolution monitors If you desire more than two displays for your laptop without plugging up all the ports for your workstation, you should get an eGPU. The integrated graphics cards have improved over the years, with most allowing for one or two monitors if your laptop manufacturer supplied adequate ports to plug into. If you have a 4K monitor you’ll be lucky to run just one at 60Hz. So what if you want more? With the additional power that an eGPU provides, you can add additional screens to your setup for more workspace and better multitasking. Some eGPU and graphic cards setups allow up to four 1080p displays to a box or up to three 4K displays — depending on the graphics card. If you’re a photographer, imagine having a laptop to go on-site with for a photoshoot, tethering your camera to it then coming home to your three screen setup to edit and do all the other fun things that photographers do. Run Lightroom on one screen, Photoshop on the other and have a tutorial going on the last screen. If you’re a videographer, you could do the same. Perhaps run DiVinci on one screen, Premiere Pro on the other and have a window of a bunch of videos on the last. Perhaps you shouldn’t though … Since this tech is
The benefits of spending time with other creatives - How often do you get together with other photographers or even other artists? Spending time with those who share our passions can be helpful in several ways. Be inspired or inspire someone Everyone is at a different point on their path. Spending time with someone who is further down the path is a great way to learn about what you want to do or learn and it can also help you to figure out what you don’t want to do. Ask questions, ask for help with what you’re struggling with. Most photographers are more than willing to help. The same holds true for those not at the same point in the path as you are. Help them along, share your own trials and tribulations, what worked, what didn’t. Teaching is one of the best ways to learn. Remember we were all beginners once. Get out of a rut Getting out with other artists can help you to see from other viewpoints. If you’re out on a photowalk with other photographers put your camera down for a bit. Take some time to observe, watch how and what the other photographers shoot and see. One of my favorite things about going on photowalks is sharing the images afterward. It is amazing how we can all be in the same place and still see so many different things. Share ideas Have you been thinking of a business idea? Do you have an idea for a photoshoot? Spending time with other creatives is an easy way to get input and feedback. It doesn’t always have to be about taking photos or even photography. Get together a group for lunch, drinks, dinner and just talk about art, life and what’s going on in your lives. By sharing, relaxing and socializing you’ll find that some random topic may spark the solution to what you have been struggling with. Have fun This is one of the most important things to do. Honestly, if you’re not having fun, why do it? As photographers we tend to always want to create that masterpiece, get all caught up in the technicality of the image, the time of the exact sunrise or sunset, and we don’t always just go out taking images for fun. Socialize, hang out with like-minded people, and just enjoy the process of being out and taking photos. You may not even keep any images at the end of the day, but you will have created connections, made friends and probably even learned a thing or two just by being out shooting with other photographers. Watch out for this Keep in mind that we all do things differently, we’re all passionate about photography but some of us are all about the technical aspect and others of us are all about the artistic side of things. Do your best to not compare yourself, your work and how you do things to someone else. It can be intimidating and if you allow it you can get down on yourself for not thinking like or creating like someone who you feel is more experienced or ‘better’ than you. This is not always easy but a really good thing to be aware of. Can’t spend time together in person? There are plenty of photography and art groups online, like the Photofocus Community. From support, technical help and mentoring groups to photo sharing platforms and privately run photography event groups. I would not be where I am today in my work if it had not been for these platforms and the support and encouragement from my fellow photographers.
Photographing in falling snow - In a recent video from LinkedIn Learning, photographer Justin Resnick addressed exposure issues which photographers can encounter when photographing snow. In this post, I’m going to address a related issue I’ve grappled with the last two winters, namely photographing while it is ACTIVELY snowing. Living in Southern California, this isn’t a situation I’ve dealt with much. Last winter, we finally made it to snowy Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost island, where we encountered heavy, constant snow during our one morning shooting Japanese cranes. A challenging scene This was a difficult shoot. My position was behind a fence that limited opportunities to shift position. I was in heavy snowfall. The cranes were quite a long distance away. I used my Fujifilm X-T2 with the XF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR lens plus a 1.4x teleconverter. Depending on the distance of the snowflakes from your lens or the subject, the apparent size of the flakes and position in your frame can be problematic (an issue analogous to backscatter, for those underwater photographers out there). Over the white snow, the flakes blend in. In the plane of the grasses in the background, the snowflakes are small and uniform in size. But in front of the plane of the red-crowned Japanese cranes, the snowflakes are blurry and distracting overlying the black necks and tail feathers of the birds. It would require considerable post-processing to eliminate these blurry flakes. Two more snowscapes Earlier this year, we happened to be in New York during a flash snowstorm, which transformed Central Park in a matter of hours from fall into a white winter wonderland (and was gone again almost as quickly hours later). Finally, we just returned from Antarctica where a beautiful sunny and foggy morning quietly sieged into a steady silent snowfall. Avoiding damaging moisture on the camera and lens These situations favor using weather-resistant camera bodies and lenses. They are better sealed and built to resist some moisture. In light snow or rain, I find camera covers more trouble than they are helpful. I keep a 3M detailing cloth handy and mop up moisture as it accumulates. I learned this from photographic workshop leader Jack Graham, who swears by this product as the best lint free and scratch resistant product out there. There are camera covers designed for shooting in wetter weather. My personal experience in Japan is that these can be a struggle to implement in the field. Many people improvise, using a shower cap. I keep a few inexpensive options in my camera bag, such as Op/Tech’s Rainsleeve. It’s small and light. Dealing with snowmelt on the lens To start with, I’d choose a lens with a deep hood, which goes a long way toward keeping the front element clear. In both Japan and Antarctica, I was using Fujifilm cameras (X-T2 in Japan and X-T3 more recently) with the 100-400mm lens, which has a long, deep hood. It rarely gets snow spots under such conditions. A simple maneuver is simply to keep the lens pointed down when you are not actively shooting. This occurs naturally using a cross-body strap, which I find essential to shooting. It’s like a third hand. I use a BlackRapid strap. Another option to keep both the camera dry and the front lens element clear is to shoot under an umbrella. So far, I’ve only tried this with a hand-held smaller rig in Central Park (Fujifilm X100F paired with a W CL-X100 II wide conversion lens). With a smallish camera in my right hand and the umbrella in my left, this is doable in a pinch. Handling an umbrella with a tripod and a camera bag looks awkward and difficult to me, so I’ve never tried it, but that’s an option. Orca makes umbrellas designed to be paired with a tripod which would be useful to free up a hand. Shutter speeds for falling snow The two basic choices are either to freeze the snow using a fast shutter speed or to accentuate it using a slow shutter speed, turning the snow into streaks. When the snow is steady, I haven’t always been happy with the resulting snow blobs using a fast shutter speed. Depending on where in the frame the snow blobs end up, the results may or may not be pleasing. Fast speeds for snow Above, I used a fast shutter speed (1/500s) during a steady light snowfall. Most of the snowflakes add to the scene. However, above the swans, there are two larger blurry white blobs, presumably out of focus snowflakes closer to me and the lens than the subject. Another snowflake is inconveniently positioned over the rear Whooper swan’s beak. These aren’t fatal flaws and wouldn’t be too difficult to fix in post. Zooming in on the swans immediately after the above scene shows how variable the size and density of snowflakes will be when captured using a fast shutter speed. Slower shutter speeds blur the snow Conversely, getting a slow enough shutter speed to produce long enough streaks to be pleasing can be tricky and may require the use of a neutral density filter, another piece of glass that’s hard to handle in falling snow without spotting. For this version, I used a smaller aperture (f/18) in order to have a longer shutter speed (1/30s) hoping to turn the snow into streaks. Notice the variable thickness of the streaks, due to their different distances from the camera. On our recent trip to Antarctica, I played with both ways, recalling my experience in Japan the prior winter. I used the slowest shutter speed I could achieve without using a filter to turn the falling snow into snow streaks The closer the distance of the snowflakes to the camera, the thicker the snow streaks appear. Finally, I took this even a step further, carefully digging out my Breakthrough Filters 3-stop neutral density filter from my bag on the snow, keeping it vertical once out of the box, shielding it as well as I could from the wind, in
Why landscape photographers should always carry a telephoto - While corporate events and commercial advertising photography are my bread and butter, landscapes are what I love to photograph on the weekends. As much as I love and rely on my wide-angle, sometimes it pays to have something a little different. While you might not think of packing a telephoto lens when you’re shooting landscapes, it can certainly pay off in the end, offering a unique view of the scenery around you. It results in unique photos with an emphasis on a single subject, instead of a wide view. It can help to capture some gorgeous detailed elements that might not otherwise be seen with wide-angle lenses. Why photograph with a telephoto? While a lot of landscapes focus on wide scenes, making a wide-angle lens perfect, I sometimes like to show the details of my photographs a bit more up-close. Whether I’m photographing a sunset behind a lighthouse or capturing a forest scene, having my Tamron 70-180mm f/2.8 — my telephoto lens of choice — makes it super handy for capturing some different perspectives and compositions. What results is a photo with an emphasis on a single subject, making it stand out against a background, versus a wide landscape where there are lots to see. Another reason to photograph with a telephoto is that you can really condense the background, making for a shallow depth of field. The below photograph, taken with my Tamron 70-180mm lens, allowed me to capture a sharp foreground with a blurred-out background. Which lenses are ideal? The options for lenses are really endless, and over the years I’ve tried several. Last year I landed on the Tamron 70-180mm f/2.8 for my Sony. This lets me have a lightweight telephoto lens while still having a range of different focal lengths. And at f/2.8, it’s stellar no matter what lighting conditions you’re dealing with. The fact that it’s lighter and more compact also means I don’t have to deal with a tripod collar when using a tripod. I’ve never been concerned about my setup being too heavy because of the overall compactness and weight of the lens. See a whole new world While having a wide-angle lens is great, I really like to play around with different focal lengths and zoom in. It gives me a different view of the scenery I see and offers a perspective I wouldn’t otherwise have.
The Traveling Photographer: Photography from a moving train - Is it possible to make good photographs from the window of a moving train? If you asked me last month I would have said absolutely not. The windows are blotchy with dirt and watermarks. Reflections abound. And what about the speed you are traveling at? I have since realized I was wrong. I actually got some decent pictures on a moving train. Amtrak Coast Starlight A couple of weeks ago I traveled on the Coast Starlight, an Amtrak train that journeys from Los Angeles to Seattle, with many stops in-between. Photography was the last thing on my mind for the reasons I mentioned above. I just packed my little Fuji X100F, a fixed focal length camera, thinking the only images I would be taking on my short vacation would be of friends and family in Seattle and Los Angeles. The Coast Starlight traversed incredible scenery, from ocean cliffs and beaches to rugged mountain wilderness. The train ride did not disappoint. I made the trip in winter on purpose, hoping for snow in the mountains. I was blessed. There wasn’t just snow on the ground. There was a giant snowstorm, with flakes swirling through the air. It was absolutely breathtaking. Pristine mountain wilderness blanketed in soft winter white. Although I doubted good photography was possible, I whipped out my little camera and decided to figure out a way to capture the beauty whizzing by. At least with a digital camera, it is very inexpensive to take lots of bad images amid the “keepers.” Basic settings My basic camera settings as the train zipped along were a shutter speed of 1/4000s, an aperture of F 2, and an auto ISO with a maximum ISO of 12,800. A slower shutter speed just didn’t seem to work. I was shooting at very high ISO’s most of the trip. Fuji cameras perform well in low light with high ISOs. It is one of the reasons I love my cameras. The less-than-ideal shooting conditions opened the door to creative options. Noise and loss of resolution blended into the subject matter. In some images, I reduced noise in processing. Since noise reduction softens images I will often add grain, simulating the look of film. I use software by Imagenomic. Noiseware to reduce noise and Realgrain to add in grain. Messy windows As I had surmised, windows were blotchy and had reflections, I just kept looking until I found a spot on a window that looked pretty clear to shoot through. My plan was to clone out dirty spots and reflections in Photoshop, if necessary. Standing close to the window, I used my body as a tripod with my elbows tight against my chest, keeping the camera as steady as possible. Different views There are lots of window choices on a train. My bedroom, on the second level of the train, had a huge picture window. I could stand where ever I wanted and move around with ease. Comfortable as I was, I also checked out the windows on the opposite side of the train and in other cars, for different perspectives. This train had an amazing observation car, with floor to ceiling windows. The views were spectacular, particularly as we moved through the snowstorm. Photographing from the very last car of a train is also a great idea. It may be possible to catch a picture of the engine as the train curves around the bend. The back window is a view unlike any other, with the tracks stretching back through the frame. On this trip, it happened to be full of water drops due to the snowstorm. I was able to create some interesting effects shooting through the drops. Sunrise viewed from the observation car after we had just passed Mt. Shasta in northern California, was memorable. At 6:50 a.m. only one other person was in the car with me. Afterward, I walked through to the dining car and enjoyed a pancake breakfast with mountain views on either side. As I drank my coffee I promised myself I would return to the Coast Starlight in the summer, when the days are their longest. Anticipating the train’s movement Anticipating a train’s movements is also important. As the train slowed down or came to a complete stop, I was ready to instantly reset my camera to a lower ISO, slower shutter speed, and smaller aperture. I knew this would improve image quality if the window I was shooting from wasn’t too dirty or the reflections too great. Manual focus When the train was moving quickly I set my camera on manual focus. I was concerned autofocus might not react fast enough to the fast-changing light and scenery. Even if the background of the image was sharp, at times the foreground was not. My feeling is that a blurred foreground can always be cropped out, if necessary. In addition to using manual focus as the train zoomed along, I set my camera to continuous shooting mode. I could then fire away, taking many images at once. At least one image in the group would hopefully turn out OK, particularly since miscellaneous telephone or lamp poles seemed to creep into my photos unexpectedly. More than a train ride Train travel north to Seattle isn’t just about a beautiful ride. It is a total experience. Meeting and talking with diverse people. Sharing stories while eating a meal with new friends. It is about slowing down and having time to read a book, watch a movie on an iPad, or do nothing. Next time I travel the Coast Starlight, hopefully in the summer, I will pack my Fuji X-T3 with a few lenses, giving me a greater range of focal lengths. I will add depth to my storytelling, taking photographs of people, stations, the train interior, and food, as well as scenery. I will again travel south to north, preferring the daylight views. Traveling the train can definitely be a photographic journey, and easily shared with friends and family. Amtrak has routes throughout the country, for
