This week, Andrew Ford reviewed the Fotopro T-Roc MAX Tripod, while Michele Grenier walked us through how to bring out HDR details in single image portraits.
Jemma Pollari showed how to use an off-camera flash and long exposure techniques to create a night portrait, Ken Lee told us how he finds interesting foregrounds and locations for night photography and finally, Bob Coates walked us through how to photograph a hummingbird without utilizing a flash.
Fotopro T-Roc MAX Tripod features solid, lightweight construction - When I received the Fotopro T-Roc MAX Professional tripod to review, my first impression was, “Wow, what solid construction, especially considering the light weight and small footprint.” I was looking for a great tripod for travel photography in various terrain, but also for shooting video with a mirrorless camera. This tripod does all that and more. Size Whether you’re slinging the tripod case over your back to take on a hike or setting up in a corporate office, you won’t be inconvenienced with this tripod. Despite the sturdy carbon fiber construction, it weighs less than four pounds and folds up to a compact 19 inches in length. It’s versatile, too. You can go low by spreading the legs out almost horizontally for an 8-inch total height. Or, go tall by extending the four leg sections to reach over 67 inches. Stability The four leg sections have easy-to-use yet secure twist locks. The legs can move independently at different angles and have three lock-in points to prevent collapse. I was worried about the lack of spreaders, but the rubber feet have unbelievable traction. If you’re out in rugged terrain, remove the rubber feet caps to reveal titanium spikes that can really dig in. This tripod is great with rocky or un-level terrain. For example, you can have one leg shortened when on a slope or on top of a rock while the other legs are extended and digging into the ground level that is further below. Strength The carbon fiber body has a firmness, even when fully extended, that some of my video tripods that are 4x the price don’t have. There is no flex or wobble in the legs. No wonder the tripod is rated for a 44 pound load capacity. The thick, textured construction of the rubber pieces seem quite durable. The quick release plate’s 1/4”-20 mount grips securely. G6 ball head The tripod comes with the G6 ball head, which is a simple, effective head. The quick release plate is easy to lock or release and includes a level. The ball lock knob has a large threaded lever to grab and turn. The smaller pan lock knob bites down hard. There is also a friction adjustment. When locked down, the ball head isn’t going anywhere. When released, you’ll find the panning to be very fluid. It’s definitely free and easy. There’s a very fine line to unlocking the ball knob just right to get optimal tilting friction, as the friction adjustment has minimal range. I would appreciate some more range here, but it is definitely workable. LG-7R ball head As I shoot a lot of video, I was also sent the LG-7R head. It comes in pretty packaging and includes a felt bag. At just 1 pound, it’s not a worry to use it while on the road. The beautiful anodized aluminum construction features a removable handle for improved pan and tilt control during video. There is a robust quick release plate lock and a level. Panning is so smooth, I can perform a graceful and even pan with just a slight push of a finger. The main locking knob controls the movement of the ball. There is also a tension control ring for subtle adjustments. If you lock into the hole in the ball, you can restrict your tilting motion to perfectly vertical, which can be handy for certain shots. This feature helps makes up for the lower tilt friction range than I’m accustomed to having. This ball head supports up to 44 pounds. Of course, it handles the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II and its awesome 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO lens with no issues whatsoever. As further proof of its strength, I setup a Sony FS7 video camera on this tripod and head. Normally, I would not trust a tripod without a spreader or wheels with this weight, but the solid construction, locking mechanism and rubber feet held the camera with no problem. I must note that fluid movement of the camera was not achieved and this is not the main purpose of this tripod, but make no mistake that you could support a stationary video camera without issue. It’s a true testament to this tripod and head’s strength in a small package. The verdict After review of this tripod, I feel confident that I have found a capable product for both my wilderness travels and my daily normal use of shooting video on a mirrorless camera. As someone used to using large video tripods, I get the same feel of stability here in a product that weighs 40 pounds less. This tripod gives me versatile setup options for whatever situation I encounter. Perfect.
Bring out striking HDR details with single image portraits! - You'll be excited to learn how HDR editing is now possible with a single image and extremely useful to bring out striking details in your portraits!
How to use off-camera flash and long exposure to create a night portrait - I love nighttime photography. There is such a sense of magic in capturing a scene despite the lack of visible light. In this walk-through, I will show you how I created this photo with a long exposure and flash. It’s really pretty simple, and a lot of fun, so give it a go yourself! What you’ll need Camera with a long lens (I use my Canon EOS 7D Mk II and my Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8) Two tripods (I used an SLR Gorillapod for my camera to support it on the slope, and a Vanguard, extended as tall as I could make it, for the main flash) Two flashes (I used a Canon Speedlight 580EX II for the main flash and a Canon Speedlight 430EX II for the in-hand flash. Off-camera radio trigger system for each flash (I used my Godox system, with an X1T transmitter on the camera and an X1R receiver on each flash) Camera remote (I used the Canon RC-6 remote) A white bed sheet A helpful friend who’s willing to wrap a bed sheet around herself in a field, at night, in winter* *Winter optional. Also, it’s Australian winter, so I’m not even asking that much, really. Setting up the scene My goal was to capture my model, Falon, with the night sky behind her. I found a hillside that had the look I needed: High enough to have nothing visible behind it, as long as I got the camera down low. I set my camera up with a long lens on a low tripod, down the hillside from where Falon stood. The first flash was set up on a tall tripod higher up the hill so that the camera, Falon and flash made a triangle. Falon held the second flash, after getting dressed in her stylish bed sheet outfit. Both flashes were bare (meaning no diffusers or modifiers). I used a Godox receiver on each flash and a transmitter unit on top of my camera to set off the flashes remotely. The newer Canon flashes have radio transmitters built-in, but mine doesn’t, so I needed the extra kit. Once we were ready to shoot, I laid on the grass behind her, trying to be like Harry Potter at Dudley’s birthday party. Camera settings to use for long exposure with flash To get your settings right for this, it’s important to understand the lighting logic. First, I wanted the background to show the stars. Therefore, my camera settings needed to expose for the starry sky. I made sure my camera was on manual, and experimented with shutter speeds, ISO and aperture until the sky was exposed to my liking. Then I chose ISO 1000, a shutter speed of 15 seconds and set the aperture to f/6.3 to make sure Falon was in focus. I also set the lens to manual focus: I shone a torch on Falon so my autofocus could see her and bring the lens into focus, then switched it to manual so it wouldn’t try to refocus on her for every shot. Flash settings for long exposure Second, Falon would be “stamped” onto the photo by the burst of rear curtain flash at the end of the exposure. Therefore, the output from both flashes needed to expose her properly. Again, I experimented with test shots and found I was happy with the main flash (in manual mode) set to about half power and the second hand-held flash on quarter power. The power needed depends on the distance from the camera and your exposure settings, so just have a play with it. Instead of experimenting, you could get it exactly right with a light meter, but I didn’t have one, so I tweaked the main flash until things looked right, then added the second flash. Rear-curtain sync Using rear-curtain sync is critical, so don’t forget to set it. Rear-curtain sync means the flash fires just before the shutter closes, instead of when the shutter first opens. To be honest, I always have my flashes set to fire on the rear curtain. It’s great for low light situations like wedding receptions: Set the camera to 1/40 second exposure, flash on TTL (auto) and fire on the rear curtain, and you’ll capture a beautiful atmospheric glow from the room as well as people clearly and sharply exposed with the flash. Treating each part of the photo separately is key to a successful long exposure with a flash photo. The background is exposed by the camera settings, and the foreground subject is exposed by the flash. It’s like taking two photos in one. If all this talk of flash is both confusing and exciting to you, I can thoroughly recommend the CreativeLive class, “Speedlights 101” with Mark Wallace. It was a game-changer for me. How to get the shot Once everything was ready, I laid on the ground behind Falon, with my camera remote in hand. I hit the trigger, started counting out the fifteen seconds, and shook her bedsheet dress up and down to give the impression it was billowing in the wind. Falon held her position, the flashes fired, and I threw a blanket at Falon (did I mention it was winter?) before scurrying down the hillside to check what we got. It took us two hours, 93 photos, a lot of bloopers and at least one accidental selfie, to get two photos that I was thrilled with. These two were my favorites from the set. The first I like because she looks like she’s dashing away into the night, and the second because she looks like an ancient Roman goddess. You can see in all the photos there is an orange haze around the bottom of the sheet. That’s the light from nearby streetlights reflecting off the sheet during the 15-second exposure. Although Falon is being “stamped” in by the rear curtain flash, there was still enough ambient light to expose her a little, so she had to stay motionless for the whole 15
Hummingbird photography without a flash - For ultimate success in stopping hummingbird wings, a multiple-flash setup with speedlights set to a 1/64 or 1/128 power is the way to go. In this scenario, it is the brief flash that stops the wings because the duration is 1/12,000s or faster. The flashes (usually three to four) need to be within a couple of feet of a subdued light area for success. Pro Capture mode Above are six frames of a 25-image sequence using the Pro Capture mode on the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III camera. Pro Capture mode allows you to shoot into the past. The camera records the images with a half button push. With my settings, it is constantly refreshing 25 images. When you fully depress the shutter button the camera then saves those images that were being recorded and continues recording and saving until you let up or you run the buffer, which I have yet to do. This allows for waiting until you see the behavior for which you are looking. You won’t be late with the capture because essentially you are saving images from the past! How many times have you been trained on a bird waiting for it to fly using up your buffer? Or, you have been watching and waiting and you miss the signal that the bird is talking off? With Pro Capture, you can be recording without using your camera buffer and saving once you see the behavior. I highly recommend using back button focus to make the most of this feature so you don’t activate/change the focus when starting the capture. The workaround If you don’t have a multiple flash system for making images to freeze wings, fear not. You can still get nice photos of those speedy little critters. If possible, shoot in full sun to get as much light as you can. You can also increase your ISO but then you start to add noise to the image. Noise is not necessarily a bad thing, but many feel it detracts from their photo. You can shoot at a slower shutter speed and almost stop the wings at 1/250s. But, the capture has to happen when the wings are just changing direction. Since the wings beat at 80 times a second this happens often. I’ve found a series of exposures in the fastest burst mode of your camera gives you more chances for success at that shutter speed. Possibilities Hummingbirds are creatures of habit. Study their behavior and patterns before starting to shoot. If you have regular hummingbird visitors coming to a feeder just watch for a while. Each individual bird will tend to take the exact same path to the feeder. Hovering in the same place before drinking. Heading back to the same perch after feeding. This makes it much easier to get more keepers … pre-focus on the perch or the hover zone near the feeder for best results. Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
How I find interesting foregrounds and locations for night photography - What are some good methods for finding fascinating foregrounds and locations for night photography? I’ll walk you through some of the methods I use. A word about composition in night photography My philosophy is that regardless of whether it you are photographing the night sky or not, it’s all about the composition, where the subject matter still counts. Therefore, I regard great foregrounds and locations in much the same way someone who photographs during the day might. A strong composition is a strong composition. The night sky is rarely the subject matter for me. I’m particularly fascinated by the marriage of sky and earth. Astrophotography and deep sky photography hold less interest for me personally. It’s the subject that holds my attention. The night sky is the cherry on top. Going down the rabbit hole I spend hours and hours attempting to find interesting new locations. I also use this time to determine how to approach photographing them by determining how to get there, lighting, where the Milky Way is in relation to the subject, and more. What I use to find new locations I try to gather information about the history of a region. There’s a lot of information available. You could look at old photographs, drive around the area, ask other photographer friends, read blogs, look at old maps or at Facebook groups about a particular subject matter. And of course, there’s books. So many books. For abandoned locations, there are quite a few blogs that seek out abandoned sites. Look at different kinds of websites or blogs. For example, instead of only looking for abandoned sites, consider performing searches about Route 66, urban exploration, history or ghost town blogs or websites. You can also find fantastic locations on Flickr. And it’s not just websites or blogs. YouTube can also be a rich source of information. Sometimes, I pair things together. If I am on a trip and I am mostly doing landscapes, I might look for ghost towns or abandoned houses there too. Narrowing down the location The next step is to try and determine the GPS coordinates from the contextual clues given. Sometimes, these can be approximate streets. Other times, it can be rather vague. Sometimes, you can guess the location from the position of familiar mountains or get a great view from someone’s introductory drone footage. For this, I usually use a combination of Google Maps and Google Earth to locate something. As you might guess, this can take a long time. However, you can also often figure out lighting or approaches as well as how many dirt roads it might take to get there. You can take a deep dive into how I planned out a unique night sky photograph of Delicate Arch using Google Maps, Google Earth and more. The quest for the uncommon I try not to copy other people’s photographs. Also, I don’t actively seek to photograph some locations there despite it having great subjects if 1) I feel like I can’t say anything that hasn’t been said before, and 2) they are too crowded. This isn’t the sort of photographic experience I’m after. Locations like this would include Mesa Arch at sunrise, Kanarra Creek Canyon, the sun shining on Horsetail Fall in Yosemite in February, Horseshoe Bend and Antelope Canyon. This is not a condemnation of anyone photographing these locations. They are stunning locations for photography. Because of #1 and #2, they simply hold less interest for me. Scouting the location Ideally, I hike around the area during the day and return at night. Of course, that doesn’t always happen due to time constraints or life throwing one challenges. When I’m in the area during the day, I usually try to make notes about where the moon might come out, how the foreground subject will be illuminated, or where the Milky Way might be. I use apps such as PhotoPills to help determine things such as this. And of course, I am always thinking about how I might “light paint” the foreground so that I can create visually strong and creative images. “Light painting” is illuminating the foreground while the camera shutter is open. You can be like the director of a movie, determining what to illuminate and what to keep in shadow. This helps the image to tell a story about the place. On the lookout for anything weird or interesting I photograph a lot of abandoned subjects that I find interesting. Anything that’s interesting is something that I love to photograph, including fantastic natural landscapes or unique features. Often, the weirder, the better. Sometimes, I’ll look for something of historical interest. I also love locations that have fires my imagination. Dinosaurs? Absolutely! The house from “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid?” Of course! Safety I also look to see whether there might be streetlights in the area. Also, I look for sharp cactus, floorboards that are about to give way, the potential for animals or people, or homeless encampments. Inspired by themes Finally, I am working on more night photography books on abandoned sites. All these books have themes. Themes are fantastic because they drive you to seek out these things more, and make it a lot of fun! I also record music this way by having this sort of theme. It serves as a guidepost for what one seeks out or does. I often find myself thinking about the approach in novel ways. That can create additional creativity. What foregrounds interest you? What methods do you use to find fascinating foregrounds and cool abandoned sites? Let us know in the comments!
