King of the world February
I did this a year ago and I thought I’ll try this year too. This is a list of photos in 2009 that taught me a lot, meant something to me, or were otherwise personal milestones of some kind. Hopefully this will be of interest to at least some people. Let me know if you have any comments, suggestions or questions!
The theme of the year for me was mastering the strobes. I started with a simple flash and a Gary Fong dome, and throughout a year I bought a little bit more equipment (second flash, softboxes, umbrellas, light stands, tri-grips, gels, pocket wizards)… and actually put it to some use. The only new lens joining my arsenal this year was the unwieldy (but sometimes useful) 180mm f/3.5 L macro.
2009 also marked the first time I dropped a lens and got it repaired, and when I made a habit out of using polarizers for most of out-doorsy photos.
Without further rambling, this is my 2009, chronologically:
I only had my 70–200 f/4 IS for two months or so, and the fact that I was able to do things like this one still blew my mind. I said it before and I’ll say it again: this is a fantastic lens and a lot of fun, especially on a cropped sensor.
IBM 1402 punch card reader
March
Mostly the aforementioned 180mm macro in action. I like the raw feel of the above photo (clearly, some of it achieved in post) and the entire set — a very different type of computing and a subject I would keep on returning to throughout the year. Some of the photos in the set (with "combined" in the title) also mark the first time I used dedicated software to "merge" focal planes of multiple macro exposures.
I visited the Museum of Natural History in D.C. pretty much because it was just there on the way. I didn’t care much for dinosaurs, and I was about to leave, just before I spotted a little butterfly exhibit — one you could actually go into. I thought “whatever,” and then I emerged three hours later with a huge smile, and I came again the next day too.
I typically shoot landscapes and machinery, and I love this photo because a) it’s everything but and b) it can actually tell you a lot about butterflies. They’re so light they can just hang there on one arm, for instance! Crazy. The rest of the photos are fun too.
Computer History Museum archivists
June
This photo won’t win any awards, but it’s the first time a flash saved my day. Without it, there were nasty shadows on people’s faces. I just asked someone to hold it to the camera right (fortunately, in this pre-Pocket Wizard era I had an extension cable), and this impromptu fill flash made it so much better.
I read in Wired magazine about the guy who takes photos of airplanes, and I thought I’ll give it a shot in San Diego, with its small airport really close to a residential area. The photos aren’t nearly as good as those in Wired, but it was fun chasing the airplanes around the empty parking lot I found — they’re surprisingly nimble. :·) I even got some tips from a security guy watching the lot.
I am fascinated by New York’s High Line and I couldn’t pass an opportunity to check it out (a number of times, actually).
The funny thing about this photo was that I hated it and all of the shots I took during that first day. I wasn’t in the mood, the light seemed wrong… but I kept on shooting. Later, in the hotel, it turned out that many of them were actually salvageable, including this one, which for some reason I like very much.
I really like the whole set too, especially if compared to my earlier High Line set from 2007. I don’t know if it’s better gear, better circumstances, or me being a better photographer — I’m assuming a mixture of all of these — but I was really glad to see the new set being so much better.
Ghosts of the High Line
August
This is from another session, after dark, where I actually brought my tripod. I don’t really do “art” photos very well and I envy people who can. This was an attempt to take one.
Case in the above point — a much more comfortable area for me. Well, comfortable in some sense, since this was the first photo where I spent hours on composition and nuances of light (see other attempts). This was for a Computer History Museum publication and showcased how 50 years ago we had one transistor, and today we can squeeze billions of them in the same area.
Yes, my ugly mug, but this is my first deliberate try to have a high-key photograph… and proper catchlights. I thought this turned out pretty good, considering my subject was such a pain to work with!
This is my friend Melanie. She needed a portrait for some mag interview, and we made a big deal out of it and turned it into my first proper photo shoot — a Sunday trip to the campus alongside my fledgling off-camera lighting collection. I even watched Zack Arias’s lighting DVD the night before. Given how little I knew about it, we were both pretty happy with the results, and the above photo is my favourite one.
The way I cropped this photo I stole from some boring corporate site I saw many years ago. :·)
This seems painfully straightforward, but was anything but; Brandon will tell you how much I laboured over it. The regular room lighting had some nasty shadows. All the attempts to use strobes resulted in even worse shadows and some odd highlights too (this whole thing is metal). My flash (heh) of insight? Ditch the strobes, and ask a volunteer to use a tri-grip and an umbrella… to block two lights immediately above, and get rid of the shadows. This was the day I realized how much fun the off-camera lighting will be. :·)
Computer repairman’s suitcase, ca. 1960
September
The first photo I put a lot of effort into lighting properly. We wanted to show what different beasts computers were half a century ago… without showing a computer. This is the same photo in default room lighting, and I think it’s a world of difference. The funny thing is that I didn’t even have to turn the lights off, I just overpowered them with flashes! (Something obvious for people who do that, but a new thing for me.) I was also happy with another photo from the same session.
Looks straightforward and I pity there’s no document of me trying to pull that off. It included two hours of holding a tri-grip in one hand, a flash in another, the second flash in yet another, and the camera in the fourth one. And a lot of swearing. I wanted a nice highlight at the top, and a reflection on the gold bit at the bottom. It worked, in the end. :·)
Encouraged by the above attempts, I started bringing my off-camera lighting equipment to the Museum after hours. This is not the best photo from those sessions, but one that I couldn’t have even attempted before, given that the robot is in the glass cube that reflects everything around it. Here, you can see the reflection of the naked strobe, but I tried to incorporate it in the photo.
I know there’s a much better way to do this one, but I was glad I could actually get even this!
The second workshop I took part in (both organized at Google by Mike Wiacek — thanks!!!) was so much more fun than the first one, and here’s why. During the first one, with Joe McNally, I only had a limited time with Brittany. And I’m really terrible and uncomfortable with directing a model.
During this one, with Michael Kubeisy, the lighting was fixed, and, what’s even better, the modelling lights were on all the time. That meant that by just bumping the ISO to ~1600, I could shoot even during other people’s turns and had the best of both worlds — candids with great light. I shot hundreds of photos, and tried very many different locations and ideas. While the above is my favourite (a possibly rare example of Brittany’s genuine smile), I was really happy with photos from all three sets.
My big end-of-year lesson is: do not underestimate the power of a simple diffused on-camera flash. I half-heartedly shoe-mounted a 580 EX II, put a Gary Fong Lightsphere on top of it, but I was incredibly surprised with the results and how much fun my whole family had. Without this simple setup, the photos would’ve looked so much worse and blurry or grainy.
The photo of my sister above was a little bit of an accident, but the composition turned out really funny. :·) Somewhere during the year I also started trying different crops in general. For some photos, I go with square, and for others like this one, I switch from the original 3:2 to 6:2 for a panoramic effect (but I try to limit myself to just these three ratios to have some contraints).
A tiger’s natural habitat
December
Yes, I am actually going to wrap up with a cat photo. :·)
I always wanted to practice manual focusing, and this proved to be a great opportunity to do so. Once again, this is the same setup as above, and either a 70–200mm f/4 IS or a 180mm f/3.5 macro, and tons of trials chasing my Mom’s young and very active cat around the apartment. If you zoom in on some of the photos, you can very clearly see the room and the clueless photographer. :·)
I overdid the contrast here in post. Part of my excuse was that I had to use my work notebook which has a stupidly calibrated display… but it’s also a troubling trend for me personally. I guess I already have one thing to work on in 2010…
— January 2010.
