Don't fake photographs

I was looking at some images of my old high school in Windsor, Ontario. One image was especially striking. In fact, the dramatic sky with the perfectly placed billowing cloud looked simply too good to be true. My Photoshop sensor was twitching.

I didn't have to wait long for confirmation. The very next picture, taken from another angle, had the same cloud formation soaring above the school. The only difference was that the cloud was flipped and the colour of the sky changed.

Don't do this. It may add drama to your images but it also puts a big question mark over your work. It says, "Don't trust these images." And that is sad.

This castle-like school, approaching the century mark, exists. I know. As I said at the beginning, I went there.

Someday Kennedy Collegiate Institute will be history. It will only be a memory recalled through photography. These images must be above reproach. The memory must be accurate and trustworthy.

If you are having a difficult time seeing that both skies are identical, I have flipped the one and placed it on top of the other. The similarities are now impossible to dismiss.

Don't fake images. Don't make it too easy to dismiss your work. Your images are too important. Treatment your images with respect. And don't do this with the images of others either.

A photograph should be more than a graphic element on a page. Don't cheapen the franchise.

Document the interaction between those you love

My oldest granddaughter, Fiona, 5, is getting pretty good at puzzles. She made grandma Judy promise not to finish the snowman puzzle while she is away on vacation. Grandma Judy agreed. The puzzle will sit undone for the next 12 days.

And my youngest granddaughter, Isla, 21 months, loves to walk a 'tightrope' of colourful numbers. She giggles and laughs as she walks quickly from one end to the other and back trying not to loose her balance and put a foot on the carpet.

Stuff like this is important to document. These are memories. This is the stuff that gives texture to life. Capture it. And don't ask anyone to, "Say cheese."

If at all possible try and capture the moment using available light. Find a spot to brace the camera and minimize the camera shake. I used the table top for Fiona and the floor for Isla. Shoot wide open using the fastest shutter speed possible. This will minimize subject movement.

If you must use a flash, I do hope you have a flash with a swivel head snapped into the hot-shoe of your camera. If you don't have that you are in trouble. It may be impossible for you to bounce your flash.

If the ceiling is white, as it is in most rooms, bounce the flash off the ceiling and let the camera's auto features take care of the aperture setting. In this picture of Fiona, the bounced light would bounce off the white table cloth and help to fill-in the darker shadows. Bounce flash is not needed with Isla.

Sadly, I don't have the correct flash. I must shoot available. On the bright side, my Canon S90 has a maximum aperture of f/2.0 which allows me to take almost full advantage of the room light. I say 'almost full advantage' because lots of normal lens open to f/1.4. That's a full stop faster. That said, lots of lens considered fast stop at f/2.8 and that's a full stop slower.

Pick your angle

When I watch folk taking quick shots with their point-and-shoot cameras, I'm often amazed at how little thought they put into the angle from which they take the picture. All too often, the shooter simply lifts the camera to eye level and fires off a shot or two.

Quick doesn't have to be dirty. One can shoot fast and still tell a clear story. When my granddaughter, Fiona, made a tower of linked markers, I picked a high vantage point for shooting the picture. I wanted to accent the height of the marker tower while getting a good clear shot of my granddaughter. The high angle fulfilled both wishes.

And looking up caused the little girl's eyes to sparkle with highlights caused by the nearby window. Highlights add life to eyes. Highlights should rarely be ignored.

The next time you are taking some pictures, try thinking before you shoot. Try to accent whatever is important to your picture story. Get down low, climb on a chair, move. Release your inner creative self and not just the shutter button.

Capture emotion

I shoot with a point and shoot: a Canon PowerShot S90. When set to take small-file-size images, it can crank off quite a fast burst of shots. This is great for capturing moments like this one. Isla is excited to be doing a puzzle all by herself.

At moments like this, don't intrude. Don't interfere. Don't tell the child, "Say cheese." Just find the best angle, watch how the light plays on the child's face, aim and wait. The moment will come and you will be ready.

Note: the background was terribly sharp in the original file. I softened the background in Photoshop to imitate the look I would have achieved with a high end DSLR. My job isn't perfect. The softening was done quickly and without a lot of craft. I am not out to trick anyone. I don't mind leaving an artifact or two. It is honest dishonesty.

Don't ignore window light

Babies are beautiful, especially Seth, and granddad's are proud. A picture is a must. When grabbing such important photos, don't ignore the lighting. A window can be invaluable in such a situation.

I had granddad hold the newborn near the hospital room window. The soft light was perfect. Far better than using the on-camera flash. Remember to steady the camera by resting your hands on some sturdy. Hospital room offer lots of choices and most are on wheels. Ideal.

A picture of granddad with Seth was a little harder. Unless I moved the chair completely around, the little guy was going to be lit by room light. I made sure the glow was warm, green florescent tubes are not acceptable. Satisfied with the colour of the light, I went with the flow.

Once the colour temperature is acceptable, direct your attention to the pose and the background. Try to avoid an all too busy background. I put the background out-of-focus in Photoshop and not in my camera. My point-and-shoot simply cannot do it.

I don't mind folk looking at the camera. I find it an honest admission that a picture is being taken. It this bothers you, don't do it. Ask granddad, or whomever, to look down at the baby. This should have the extra benefit of resulting in a natural, pleasant expression on granddad's face. Again, keep that camera steady.

The picture isn't always where you think

Fiona's shot of a silhouetted gull soaring above The Falls.

I took my 5-year-old granddaughter, Fiona, to The Falls yesterday. She loved it and immediately asked for "her" camera. She has claimed my aging Canon S90 point-and-shoot as her own.

She shot this and that, and here and there, and she even shot almost straight up into the sky. I was puzzled. The Falls were immediately in front of her and yet she was swinging about excitedly shooting pictures.

But Fiona realized there were more pictures to be had than just falling water and a rainbow in the mist. There was blue sky and soaring gulls.  And Fiona shot pictures of these things too. See lead photo above.

I'm sure everyone at The Falls Saturday came away with a shot like the one on the right. The image that was missed  by many was the rainbow in the mist above the falls with soaring gulls adding extra interest.

Fiona didn't miss this picture. Now, open your eyes to all the picture possibilities around you and you, too, can shoot like a 5-year-old.

Fiona also shot The Falls proper. Nice pic but expected.

For reporters taking pictures: the Panasonic Lumix FZ200

I worked for more than three decades as a staff photographer at a couple of daily newspapers in Ontario, Canada. I hesitate to use the term photojournalist. I was a photographer. I was more concerned with image quality -- art and with craft -- than with raw reporting.

Over the years I came to understand that many shooters working in the news business were more photographer than photojournalist. Right from my very first day on the job, I learned newspaper shooters were not adverse to setting up pictures but did so on a daily basis.

The image of the two girls chatting, one topless, ran in a Canadian paper and was distributed by the wire services in both Canada and the United States. It was claimed the image documented the topless look many Canadian women had adopted when relaxing on a Canadian beach. It was a lie. The two girls were models. The photographer hired models when it proved impossible to find topless women on any beach in the area. The photographer illustrated the story and not reality.

Ann Coulter shot with Canon S90.

I am opening this post with this story because newspaper staff photographers use incredible photo equipment. They often have two or more camera bodies complete with lens hanging from their necks. They wear photo vests bulging with extra lenses, spare batteries and at least one flash and maybe two. If they don't wear a vest, they carry a camera bag.

News shooters carry all this equipment because they claim to be photojournalists. (I would put the accent on photo and go light on the journalist.) Reporters forced to take pictures are also photojournalists but with the accent this time on journalist. The demands of a photographer/photojournalist are usually different from than those of a reporter/photojournalist.

Photographers wants the best gear, period. No compromises. To accomplish this, they carry massive amounts of photo gear. Reporters wants simplicity and compromise is often the name of the game.

Since retiring, I have done some work for an online publication and shot some stuff for folk around town as a favour. My photo kit today is essentially two cameras: a fit-in-your-pocket point-and-shoot and a heavier, bulkier super zoom.

What to look for in the perfect camera for reporters:

A fast f/1.8 wide angle and small size makes this a keeper.

1. The lens should be fast -- at least f/2.8 but faster is better. The smaller the f-stop number the faster the lens. Fast lenses let in a lot of light. This allows the use of faster shutter speeds when shooting available light. Faster shutter speeds help stop subject movement. My choice here is the Canon S120. It offers f/1.8 when the zoom lens is set to 24mm (35mm film equivalent).

2. A viewfinder and not just a large screen on the back of the camera is a plus. Unfortunately, the Canon S120 does not have a viewfinder, which brings us to the Panasonic FZ200 which does. This super zoom has an f/2.8 lens. This is one and a third stops slower than the Canon S120 but this lens has another trick up its sleeve. It offers this fast speed right across the zoom range. Set to wide angle or zoomed to the max, this lens offers a fast f/2.8 when set to wide open. When I was a working pro, my lens kit held a number of constant f/stop zooms. Not one of which was faster than f/2.8 at its fastest.

FZ200: f/2.8 offered at all lens settings

Sadly, with most amateur cameras zoom the lens from wide angle to telephoto and the maximum f/stop gets progressively slower. At the long lens settings many amateur cameras are just about unusable unless the pop-up flash is activated. If you didn't know, pop-up flashes pump out ugly light. I have always tried to stay clear of these built-in strobes.

The Panasonic FZ200 is heavier and a little slower than the Canon S120 but the f/2.8 setting available at all lens settings is a real plus. If the FZ200 weight is not a deal breaker, it tips the scales at little more than a pound (588 grams), then the FZ200 is the camera.

3. Note the pop up flash with the Canon S120. Not good. The Panasonic offers a hot shoe. This is another nice, pro-shooter touch. Panasonic offers three external flashes for this camera and these flashes are all TTL -- through the lens metering. I always looked for a flash with a rotating, tilting head. The more it can be adjusted the better. This makes bounce flash photography easy. A high guide number is also good. No one wants to get back to the newsroom without the picture. Lots of power is good insurance that your flash will be up to the job.

I've read some complaints about these Panasonic flashes. They can take too long to recharge between flashes. I assume that if one uses TTL and a wide aperture, like f/4.0 or wider, the recharge times will be shortened. With TTL the flash only pumps out the light needed to properly expose the image. Any energy not used to create the flash is recycled back into the battery.

External flashes are heavy and expensive. For these two reasons, amateurs tend to shy away from these flashes. I shake my head in disbelief. Buy a good flash, one with adequate power, and keep it handy. It does not have to be on the camera at all times. It just needs to be near by. A reporter can sling a small camera bag stuffed with a camera, a spare battery, a small charger and a flash and be set to tackle anything needed for the paper. (This assumes that the really tricky stuff requiring super fast response times and ultra-short shutter release times will still be handled by a staff photographer.)

A long lens and ability to fire a burst of shots makes this easy.

4. Any camera that has a fast lens, a good zoom range, a viewfinder and a hot-shoe for a TTL external flash will meet the needs of most reporters. The Panasonic FZ200 has a 25-600mm lens expressed as a 35mm SLR equivalent. This is a range that should never let a reporter down. In more than three decades working as a pro shooter, I almost never needed a lens longer than 600mm.

The ability to fire off a burst of five or six pictures is also a plus. But this feature should be offered by any camera that answers the first three demands. Check to make sure that I am not wrong but I'd be surprised to learn otherwise. The FZ200 can crank off up to 12 frames per second. If auto-focus tracking is needed, the maximum rate drops to 5.5 fps.

What I would carry if I were a reporter forced to take pictures.

• a small camera bag holding . . .
• a Panasonic Lumix FZ200
• an external rotating, tilting head TTL flash
• two extra Panasonic Li-ion Battery Packs plus a charger
• a cable to download photos (this will come packaged with camera)
• one extra SD card
• a small umbrella for those hard to light shots (I'd keep this in the trunk of my car most of the time. I'll post a link to instructions on hand holding a photo umbrella.)
• a small tripod. Must be strong enough to carry weight of camera. Keep in car trunk with umbrella.There are little wire-legged tripods that will do quite nicely in a pinch.

I no longer have an expensive DSLR from Canon or Nikon. I get by with a point and shoot and a super zoom. I have yet to fail to come back with a picture. I am no longer shooting hockey, a tough sport even using the best equipment, so I cannot say my replacement kit does all my previous $25,000 kit did. But, for under a thousand dollars, my present kit delivers.

A super zoom using a short burst of shots quickly delivered this image.

The small sensors in amateur cameras mean one must fill the frame for good reproduction.

Dancers shot with Fuji FinePix HS10. A Panasonic FZ200 would have done even better.

Shot of fireworks at a neighbourhood park taken with simple Canon SD10.

A zoom lens can almost do it all. A camera bag full of lenses is no longer necessary.