Putting a smile on a shooter's face

A Canon S90 proves it worth.                                                                    © Ken Wightman

I've enjoyed taking pictures all my life. I have a shot from my childhood showing me taking a picture with an old Kodak Brownie Autographic mounted securely to the top of a tripod.

In high school I bought my first SLR kit: A Pentax Spotmatic body with three prime lenses. My 300mm f/4.0 was my pride and joy. I used that stuff through art school and continued to use it at my first job as a photographer for a little, Northern Ontario daily.

Over the years I went through a Nikon stage, doesn't everyone, and finished my career deep in my Canon-shooter period. My 200mm f/1.8 was the last love of my professional life. When I left the paper, I left my camera gear behind. The paper owned my photo kit.

Today I shoot with a Canon S90, a small point-and-shoot, teamed with a Fuji FinePix HS10, a super-zoom amateur camera.

Do I miss my top-end Canon stuff? You betcha. Am I happy with my present camera kit? You betcha again. My heart is poor, my back is weak, my ability to carry a large, heavy camera bag is but a memory. If I had to shoot with my old stuff, I wouldn't be shooting. Period.

My picture of the Kestrel falcon displayed by a birder at Hawk Cliff before its release to continue its migration south is only possible because I am shooting with a small, light, take-anywhere camera.

Purists may shutter at the photographic image quality. I don't. I'm pleased to have the image and the memory-reinforcing photo. If you can handle a big DSLR, go for it. The results will put a grin on your face. If you can't, get a good point-and-shoot. The results will still put a smile on your face.

Minimal photography

Some would argue this image is too complex. Too much is going on for some minimalists.

Recently I joined a Facebook group, Abiotic Minimal Photography. I'd encourage you to join and contribute images but unfortunately the site has been closed. I believe it is now only open for viewing. Being a member, even for a brief time, exposed me to the minimal photography concept. Without knowing it, I've been shooting minimal images for years.

The AMP site had a few rules. One was that images based on flowers or other vegetation were off limits. I expect this was because it is simply too easy to shoot great minimal photos with a flower as the subject.

That said, a colourful wall featuring a colourfully painted window is a pretty obvious subject as well. I see no reason to declare vegetation an unsuitable subject for minimal photography. If it works, for it.

Now, in the spirit of minimalism I am going to keep my writing for this post to a minimum. I'm simply going to supply a good link: 8 Tips to Become Excellent at Minimalist Photography.

If this concept interests you, google 'minimal photography.' There's a lot posted on this movement. Now, get out there and enjoy.

Experimenting with RAW

I tried my first shot with my Canon S90 set to RAW. There are clear advantages to using RAW but there are also clear disadvantages -- especially if the jpeg artifacts don't both you.

This RAW image was not print ready in the least. The highlights were light and the colours lacked density. The image was soft but then it hadn't been given any automatic sharpening in the camera.

If I'm asked, I'll post some of the intermediate images. There are two. The original as it came from the camera and the one showing the result of the conversion from RAW to jpeg. The above image is the third whack at correcting the image.

Here is where the embarrassment comes in and the reason I took a couple of day to post the intermediate images. There was a woman in the background off to the side of the engineer. I removed her. I found her distracting and removed her. This was a firing offence at the newspaper where I once worked. I felt, and still feel, like I have sinned.

But, this isn't journalism as has been pointed out to me by those who have read this post and looked at the picture. So, here are the two intermediate images.

This is the way the original RAW image appeared when I first opened it in Photoshop. The major problem was that it was incredibly burned out. In Photoshop I darkened the highlights of the RAW image, deepened its shadows, sharpened it overall and adjusted its colour. When I was done, I saved the corrected image as a JPEG which can be seen below.

Next I yielded to temptation and removed the woman using Photoshop tools. I thought the woman, seen here off to the side of the engineer, was a distraction. Then I darkened the image a bit -- maybe a bit too much.

The result of the experiment was that, using my simple, amateur equipment, the RAW image has the potential to make a better quality image than the JPEG. With expensive high end DSLRs, this experiment is not valid. Those cameras can make fine images while using the JPEG format. Almost all newsphotographers, whom I know, use JPEG for its ease and speed.

Shooting jpeg? You must be a little generous.

I have been shooting jpegs with my Canon S90 and RAW with my Fuji FinePix HS10. This has made me acutely aware of the in-camera affects that can muddy an image. Shooting RAW circumvents all this automatic image enhancement. Unfortunately, the bigger RAW files take longer for the camera to process and save.

If you are going to shoot jpegs, you are going to have to be a little generous with the image quality that you are willing to accept. Just note the hair in the little girl intently colouring. The hair is smudged in some areas and exhibits overly powerful highlights in other areas.

If you cannot accept the software enhancement flaws in your images, do not shoot jpeg -- consider shooting RAW. Discover whether you are more comfortable with images produced using that approach.

I have excused the processed look by hiding behind the it's-artistic-excuse. The excuse is growing thin.

Always keep your camera handy

My granddaughter is saving for a toy that she saw in Toys R Us. I decided to drive over to the mall and check out what this little three year old is salting away money for. I was not thinking about photography.

When I saw the white horse down by the pond I temporarily forgot Toys R Us. I stopped thinking about toys and thought about pictures. I saw a picture moment and had to pull over.

I like to keep my camera handy at all times. I keep both my little Canon S90 and my larger Fuji FinePix HS10 in a small, padded camera bag which I carry with me most of the time. I also always have spare batteries for both cameras at all times. A camera without a working battery is worthless.

I used my Canon for this picture. I like it but I'm beginning to feel I should be shooting RAW rather than JPEG. Point and shoot camera software plays nasty games with image quality. I don't believe this would be an issue if I were shooting RAW.

No matter. I'm still rather pleased with this "slice of life" moment. So here's the tip: Always keep a camera handy. Today's pocket sized point and shoots are perfect but some cell phones are beginning to give low end point and shoots increasing competition.

Catch those catch-lights

Watch for the catch-lights. They can make or break a photo.

Little Isla is distorted by the wide angle I used to take her picture. Without the catch-lights attracting your attention, her smaller-than-should-be chin would be more distracting.

The catch-lights give her eyes life. They add real sparkle to her expression. They make everything right in this photographic world.

Remember to note where the windows are in a room, note where the light is coming from, and then work with that knowledge to capture those all important catch-lights. The extra effort is worth it.

Capture painted face before it melts in heat

Little kids love to have their faces painted. My granddaughter is no exception. She wanted a picture of her painted look. It wasn't going to last in Sunday's heat and I think she knew it.

For a family picture, the lady doing the art is not all that important. I got in tight and cropped out the artist. I only included her hands to frame Fiona's little face

Shots like this demand one fills the frame. I used the 105mm setting on my Canon S90. This allowed a frame-filling composition but done at a comfortable distance. You can't be shy when shooting pictures but you can't be a boor either. You've got to do what works best not only for you but for your subjects.

I had two choices when taking this image. I could shoot from the right side or the left. I chose the backlit side. The rim lighting on Fiona's cheek gives the image a nice sculptural quality. The soft, almost shadowless lighting on her closest cheek gives the skin a look quite in keeping with such a young child.

As a portrait, I like it. As a moment captured for the family album, it's absolutely wonderful.
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You may notice that I don't make a lot of the exposure: The f/stop in use and the shutter speed setting. I don't make a big deal because it is not a big deal. Up close, with your lens zoomed out to a mild telephoto setting, you know that in such diffuse lighting the f/stop will be open to its maximum and the depth of field will be limited. That's all you've got to know. That's enough. Let the camera choose the exposure settings and free you to concentrate on capturing the best image, the best moment.