Two cameras and one is almost a ten

Taken with a Canon S90.

The testing of my two new cameras continues. The Canon S90 still amazes me. I love it. Small, always with me, this is an important feature. An f/2.0 lens and relatively noise-free high ISO images make this camera a keeper. (There is, of course, noise at higher ISO settings but far less than I am used to having to endure. And as a former news shooter, I am more impressed with the moment captured than the little bit of noise.) The baby picture was taken with the Canon S90.

With this little camera, it fits in my shirt pocket, it is see a picture, take a picture.

Taken with a Fuji HS10.

Also, taken with a Fuji HS10.

The Fuji HS10 is solidly built. (I tested it by dropping it.) I love the true zoom lens which zooms not when driven by a motor but when twisted by hand. Nice. And the quality of the images its excellent in my book. Both the images of the geese at Springbank Park with taken with the HS10.

Fuji Finepix HS10

When I worked at the paper, I loved my long lenses. When Fuji announced the HS10 point and shoot with a 24mm to 720mm (equivalent) zoom lens, I knew that I had to have one --- and now I do. It is an amazing piece of equipment. I'm in awe. (Although I must admit that there is another 30Xs zoom, the other is from Panasonic and it too has gotten good reviews.)

Today I noticed a Jay at the bird feeder, grabbed my HS10 and with the lens cranked all the way out, I shot the bird through the dirty, kitchen window. I have cropped the image but not resized it. I saved it as a medium quality jpeg but I did not apply any sharpening. Oh, and I tweaked the levels in Photoshop and hit the image with a little saturation. These are bad habits left from my years of enhancing image files for their eventual printing on newsprint.

I can't wait to shoot some stuff without a dirty kitchen window in front of the lens.

Fujifilm HS10 hits the stores in London

Shot with lens zoomed to a setting comparable to 720mm on a 35 DSLR.

It's here. The Fujifilm FinePix HS10 is in London stores. I don't want this to be an ad but it sure may seem like one. After more than four decades shooting pictures for a daily newspaper and carrying two camera bodies and up to five lenses, I have replaced everything with two point and shoot cameras: a Canon PowerShot S90 and a Fujifilm FinePix HS10.

With all those years of professional shooting, this may come as a surprise but I don't believe in anything but automatic when it comes to cameras --- not completely true but close enough to be true. Auto can fail big time, but generally you're pretty safe sticking with the automatic settings. If you're shooting for fun, that decides it --- shoot automatic.

A few weeks ago, I purchased a Canon S90; Yesterday, I picked up a Fujifilm HS10.

Today's London Daily Photo picture is this chipmunk. This is just the third image shot with my new Fuji. It has a 30-times zoom and it is working at its max here. The camera was hand-held but braced against my kitchen door frame.

Years ago one of Canada's top newspaper shooters told me he always kept his  cameras on automatic in order to be ready to shoot in an instant. Oh, he  might use manual when shooting something that allowed time  for finagling and fine tuning --- a fashion shoot for instance --- but  for a sudden moment it was auto for this prize-winning shooter.

I think the image of my chipmunk, shot on automatic right from the box, says he was right.

Can't shoot it? Direct it!

When my granddaughter fell asleep in my arms, I thought picture. But I couldn't shoot the picture while holding the baby. The solution was to ask my daughter to shoot the picture. She has a good eye and so I had confidence. I coached her along, telling her where to stand, and I told her what to include and what to crop. Still she was holding the camera and made the final visual decisions. The resulting image is a merging of my original vision and her talents.


In photography always remember the most important thing is to get the picture --- even if you can't shoot it.

My instructions? I wanted the sleeping baby's serene face to be featured along with my large arm and hand which are cradling and protecting the child. I wanted a clean, simple picture --- one that makes a "quick read."

Shoot what's there, not what you wish was there.

A common complaint among photographers is that the photograph just didn't happen. If only they had had this or that, or this had happened or that, they would have gotten a great picture. The picture they wanted just wasn't there.

News photographers know one must shoot what is there and not worry about what isn't. News shooters know that photographers make pictures. 

In the summer this is a merry-go-round and it makes an easy picture. Colourful carousel horses and sometimes laughing children, you can't go wrong. But horses or no horses, I needed a picture and I got one. It was posted on London Daily Photo and it got some good comments.

Cheers,
Rockinon

Colour, Texture, Composition

You may have noticed that the companion blog to this one is titled London Daily Photo. Every day a new photo is posted to that blog. It does not have to be shot the day it is posted but it must be shot in London. There are hundreds of sites worldwide with bloggers pulling the same stunt. Some are quite remarkable. Having only a Canon SD10 Digital ELPH, I have limits but I try.

As we have discussed, colour can make a picture. Green leaves or red roses are obvious but if you keep an alert eye you will see more --- lot's more. Now add shapes to your image and strong lines. Often texture will also enter the equation as it is almost impossible to eliminate texture from an image.

These bolts of fabric are actually horizontal but holding the camera at an angle added dynamic diagonals to the picture. The highlight reflections mated with the soft shadows give the diagonal stripes volume and the loose fabric breaks the striped pattern and softens the overall effect. A small burst of fill-in flash makes the highlights pop while cleaning the colours of the fluorescent green of the store lighting. The fabrics all have a similar texture and this helps to tie the image together into one smooth presentation.

Lastly, in Photoshop the highlights and the shadows were placed at the extreme ends of the Levels histogram and the image given a small amount of saturation --- 16.

Always be aware of these ideas when you are shooting any picture. Colour, texture, composition --- compose in camera if possible. If you do, you will have winning images; Trust me.

f/2 and a digital SLR would've been better

Forgive me. I know; I know. It's another baby picture.

Yet, I love the way this little girl is so obviously interested in the puzzle on which her grandmother is working. The little girl went to the doctor for her check-up earlier in the day and the doctor said, "This kid is bright." I'd say he was a bright doctor, very observant.

Note: If you have a SLR digital camera, or any camera that allows the setting of the f/stop and has a large image sensor, use a large f/stop. Something like f/2 or f/2.8 would be good with a 28mm lens. This will help to throw the background out of focus.

I am using a simple, old point and shoot with a small, 4 MB, sensor and so do not have this control. I must take what the camera gives me and that is far too much depth of field. (Note: when I say large sensor, I am talking about its size in area. For instance, 35mm cameras have more depth of field than 120 cameras at the same f/stop.)

Before shooting this picture I turned off the incandescent ceiling light to prevent having a yellow cast staining the image and made sure that the curtains were completely open. I also wiped the little girl's mouth; She is quite into bubble blowing and it does not add to her carefully managed image.

Cheers,
Ken (Rockinon)