Where Were You on Inauguration Day?

I was at Fort Middle School for a great program that celebrated the inauguration of our first African-American president. Two student choruses sang, the student band played in the school lobby, an interpretive dance was presented, and two guest speakers - Muscogee County Superior Court chief judge John Allen and Georgia State Senator Ed Harbison - gave eloquent history lessons with encouraging words for the kids.

I then watched the inauguration ceremonies with Mrs. Johnson's 8th grade social studies class. At the end we took a group shot. Actually, a young student, Jared Bryant, who assisted me with the video camera took the picture. Thank you, Jared. After all, when someone asks me "where were you for President Barack Obama's inauguration?," my answer is - "with Mrs. Johnson's 8th grade social studies class in Columbus, Georgia."

Stay warm,

Robin

"BUT OFFICER, I PARKED BETWEEN THE LINES!!"

Saw this Tuesday, Jan. 6th, on the south side of the Government Center. It might take a second to notice .... but the car is parked - quite nicely, actually - between the lines of the crosswalk. People were gathered for the public auction of Bill Heard, Jr.'s 18-million dollar mansion (the list price), but the broke-down car with a donut spare tire and its hood taped shut with what looked like packing tape was all the talk beforehand. The mansion was bought by CB&T bank for $7.65 million, and I'll bet this guy got a $15 ticket for parking in a non-parking spot.

HAPPY 2009!!

Happy New Year to everyone! With the the holidays behind us, (oooh, bummer, I love Christmas) life should return to normal sometime soon .. whatever 'normal' is. Don't know about everyone else, but a 'new normal' is evolving in my life.

So how 'bout those New Years' resolutions? Lose weight, exercise, lower that cholesterol, get more sleep? Yep - all of above. And finish painting the interior of my house before my birthday ... clear away some of the overgrowth in the yard and redesign the landscaping ... figure out how to somewhat insulate a 110-year old house ... all on almost no budget. Then, of course, remember to call my mom every Sunday ... respond to emails before they become ancient history ... and reconnect with old friends before any more of them die. Not kidding.

Oh yes -- and get Photo Tip of the Week back on track.

Well, I spent most of December traveling ... and not taking many photos. Gave my achy, gimpy shoulder a rest. But this is one of my favorite recent photos. Me and the stinky stray kitty driving to an assignment at the Hamilton rodeo arena. I had - literally - snatched this kitten off the road and out of traffic the night before while driving north on Second Avenue on the way to shoot the Brookstone football playoff game. I was in the inside lane, and as I passed a dimly-lit cross street, I saw this teeny dark ball in the outside lane and knew immediately that is was a kitten. I JUST SCREAMED IN MY CAR! There was on oncoming traffic, but I made a fast u-turn, zoomed back and made another quick u-turn onto the cross street, all the while flashing my lights. I threw the truck into park, jumped out waving my arms at oncoming traffic - and prayed - fast and out loud - PLEASE DON'T HIT THE KITTY, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DON'T HIT HIM!!!. Two cars slowed as the cat tried to move, but they kept him between their tires. I then reached out and snatched him up as a large SUV approached. My heart was just pounding - it all happened so fast! I tossed him onto the front seat and drove off. He (or she) was just crying away. It's impossible to imagine how terrifying that would be - such a tiny little critter.

I shot the game (the Cougars lost to Turner County), and came back to find him snuggled in that little space on the dashboard above the steering wheel. How cute. He came back to the newsroom with me and charmed all of the copy desk gals, but no takers. So he came home with me and spent the night in the sunroom with my three cats planted at the door sniffing and pacing and looking back at me. No, don't get in a tizzy, he isn't staying.

The plan on Saturday was to find him a good home -- I figured that with all those outdoorsy horse-people types, someone who couldn't resist this cute little guy would also be able to take him home. Sure enough, he slept in the warmth of the the sun on the front seat, evoked a chorus of 'oohs' and 'aahs,' and became an early Christmas present for a couple of young kids.

Photo Tip #10

MOVE IN CLOSER

The famous and amazing war photographer Robert Capa, who covered five different wars, once said, "If your photographs aren't good enough, you're not close enough." Capa was killed in 1954 covering the First Indochina War for Life magazine, having stepped on a land mine while the regiment he was covering was under heavy fire. He died with his camera in his hand. Above is one of his most famous photos, "Falling Soldier," the 1936 image of a Spanish Republican militiaman at the moment he was shot dead.

That's probably too close for most of us. And most of us will be photographing subjects and events far less dangerous to our health. But the idea - 'move in closer' - is on the money. So often, our images lack impact and emotion because we are too far away. Get in there and fill your frame! And discover how joyful super-close photos can be.

A good bit of patience went into this photo of Madison Norrell, left, and her friend Morgan Dixon, as they stayed cool and I worked up a sweat. But getting in as close as I could, given their nonstop ballet around the pool with me circling the perimeter, is what captured their fabulous expressions. This was shot with a 20mm lens.

Mom and dad hold little Zachary Adams steady at the start of a race for three to five-year olds during the Georgia State Championships Mountain Bike Race this past spring at Flat Rock Park. I couldn't stand directly in front of him, but again, using a wide angle lens, (and knowing that I would crop in from the left), I filled the frame as much as possible with Zach and his parents' hands.

When Mildred Upshaw died earlier this year, her friends who work at the 13th Street Lewis Jones left flowers and a message at her campsite. The homeless woman was well known around downtown and midtown, and one local artist has painted portraits of her. There was no need to focus on the disarray - it's still obvious from the photo that a homeless person lived here. The focus is the message to Mildred - a message that she was not invisible to the community.

I used a 200mm lens to photograph Sgt. Christopher Alcala, 23, of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team Advance Party and his five-month old daughter Angelina when his unit arrived home from Iraq. Then I cropped in even closer. The soldier from Texas had come home for his daughter's birth, then rejoined his unit to complete the 15-month deployment. Now daddy's home.

When you are thinking 'close-up,' consider CLOSE UP!

Grab your camera and enjoy this beautiful weather -
Robin

Photo Tip #9: Motion Blur

Hello ... and long time no see. Or write, and I do apologize. Is it really October? I nearly missed by Dad's birthday this week ... time flies when we don't pay attention. And there isn't enough of it to be wasting it - time that is.

Yesterday around 5:00, after an afternoon of staring at the computer while the beautiful fall sun was shining something amazing, I grabbed the camera for a quick stroll along the Riverwalk. Now, I know that my colleague Shannon Szwarc does wonderful work on the Chattahoochee with sweet shots of kayakers and skateboarders and birds hanging out on the rocks (see his blog at http://riverwalkingcolumbus.blogspot.com/), but I decided to quickly photograph the kayakers anyway - to show how shutter speed can be used to allow for 'motion blur.'

If you have a subject that is motionless, or you tell your subject to remain motionless, you can slow your shutter speed to allow other elements in the frame to be in motion long enough to create a blurry motion around the subject. These guys weren't quite skilled enough to stay motionless as they surfed the white water -- but then -- that's what they were practicing, so I can't complain.

The first shot was taken at 1/30th of a second. You can see the white water has a smooth appearance. The guys were resting. Go slower though, using a tripod, for an even smoother, almost ethereal feel. I didn't have a tripod with me, and I can't hand hold a long lens at 1/20th or slower.

The second shot is at 1/80th of a second. The kayaker is moving too fast to be 'captured,' or stopped, by that slow of a shutter speed. And the water just looks blurry. The shutter speed is too fast for the water have a smooth feel, and too slow to be crisp. It's too slow to 'stop the action.' And I might have some camera shake.

The third shot is at 1/125th of a second. I caught the kayaker as he is momentarily motionless on the wave. You can see that the water is becoming a bit more sharp. Obviously, to stop fast moving water and capture crisp splashes and droplets and waves, we need a fast shutter speed. The faster the better. Start at least with 1/500, but 1/1000 or faster is better.

Which is the shutter speed that Shannon used to shoot this last kayaker. (Something distracted me, and I didn't go back to shoot at 1/1000. My bad.) Notice the water splashing off of his face, and the streams and drops off of the paddle. Stopped, or frozen, movement.

Now remember, as you increase your shutter speed, you must decrease your aperture to keep an accurate exposure. And as you open the aperture, you lose depth of field -- so stay tightly focused on the subject. Or increase your ISO, which will then give you more shutter speed at small apertures, or a smaller aperture for greater depth of field if you so desire. So, this also became a quick review on how ISO, aperture and shutter speed work together.

Shoot some waves!
Robin

Photo Tip #8: Shoot Vertical

As a follow up to yesterday's photo tip about cropping your photos -- think about shooting vertical. Just turn the camera ninety-degrees and get an entirely different view of things. But don't go vertical just to go vertical. If the image looks awkward, out of context, unbalanced or just plain bad - don't shoot it.

But some visuals are simply suited to be composed, and then experienced, vertically. The obvious example is basketball -- it's a vertical sport. But another obvious shot might be someone whose entire body is the picture -- meet John Bush of Phenix City who auditioned for American Idol in his work shorts and boots. I loved this shot!

Portraits can be beautiful either horizontal or vertical -- but when shooting horizontally, you must consider every single detail that is in the frame, because it either adds or detracts from your subject. Environmental portraits tell a story. Vertical portraits tell a story as well, with beautiful, tight, images of people. It's cropping in the frame -- ridding the image of all the nonessentials.

When thinking artistically -- think of the vertical frame like a vertical canvas -- and paint away!!

Robin

Photo Tip #7 - Cropping Your Photos

First -- my apologies for missing two weeks of photo tips. We'll catch up this week, and start with tips for CROPPING PHOTOS, and discuss why we crop photos.

Cropping a photo is about composition. Whether you crop a photo to get rid of extraneous material (cut out the visual junk), or you crop a photo because you later see that it turns your good picture into a stunning picture -- we're talking about the composition of the image. Like good writing or good music, the first draft is rarely the last draft. Initially, we want to shoot the best negative (or digital file) that we can - exposure, depth of field, focus, etc. - but seldom is the raw image the final image (unless you're taking snapshots to hang on the refrigerator and not the living room wall). Among other darkroom techniques (old-school or digital), cropping is one of the basic tools used in composition. Your photo can become an entirely new picture. It can draw the observer's eye to the essence of the image.

Let's start with cropping out the junk. First, try to take out as much of the unnecessary and unwanted distractions as you can while you shoot. Crop within your camera as much as possible. Move in closer to your subject. Look closely at what is creeping into the sides (including top and bottom) of your frame. Find a different angle, shoot from higher up, shoot from down low, shoot vertical, seat your subject, whatever it takes to keep odd stuff from creeping in. (As well, you want to clean up the background -- more on clean backgrounds later.) Moving closer or using a longer focal length lens, using your zoom, is a good start.

Often we make shots knowing full well that we'll be cropping the image, because there is no in-camera solution. Perhaps the moment is too quick and immediate, perhaps we just can't get closer, perhaps we're caught with one lens on the camera when another would have been more optimal. Like UGA's Michael Moore standing before the fans after he scored against Oklahoma State in the 2007 home opener. When shooting sports, you often make a best guess on the lens you have up and ready, and hope you can switch to another camera with another lens quickly if necessary. I was along the end zone shooting with a 70-200mm, and was holding it horizontally. I knew immediately that I would crop this image vertically to enhance Moore's body language and the referee's touchdown signal. That's the storytelling piece of this frame. (And I didn't get a good shot of the catch. Oh well).

Although this Tuskegee/Morehouse photo is okay full frame, cropping it emphasizes the running back's face as he plows into Morehouse defenders. The eye is inside the action.

Sometimes the desired crop is subtle, sometimes it's more bold. The pigeons along the A-frame out-building is a tight crop to bring all the lines of the image into play. Anything else in the photo would have taken away from the composition.

Above, cropping out the sky brings us closer to McKenzie Johannes' wingspan. I could have cropped in even more, but it began to look awkward to bring the birds' tail too close to the bottom of the frame, and to crop in any more on her legs. But the longer horizontal composition accentuates the horizontal nature of the image.

Now, our Russell County High School marching band drummer was a happy accident. I was shooting very tight with a 300mm lens, wanting to focus on individual musicians as they moved around the field. This got too tight, but I liked it. It might have been a good shot if we could see his eyes, but then again, we can really feel his concentration just as it is.

Let's look backstage at the 2006 Miss Georgia rehearsal. This image is intentionally cropped in the camera - completely. Full frame. No accident. I saw Miss Cobb County Lauren Halford watching the other contestants as they prepared to go onstage. I stayed on Lauren, and took several photos as the other women moved around her. I chose this one because I liked the shoe adjustment and the colors that surround her. We get a good feel for what's happening.

After making several portraits of Russell County pitcher Kasey Kiker (when he was drafted by the Texas Rangers and came by the office for an interview), I got to looking at this series of frames, and decided to make a deep crop - to some extent because I just wasn't satisfied with the pictures that I had made. I tilted the image a bit, and cropped in tight. Not the best way to plan a photo, but I liked the end result more than the original frame.

Last but not least -- here is a series of crops that were just fun to play with. You can see the many possibilities. In the first photo, we can barely see the cat asleep on the middle boat - yet she (or he) was the subject of my photo. The cat (I have three) is what caught my eye and I just loved it, sunning and sleeping. But she's tough to see in the full frame photo, so I kept playing with the crop. Fortunately, the original file size is large enough to handle so severe of a crop (but it probably would not hold up so well in making a large print).

Anyway, you get the idea. Find the cropping tool in your digital darkroom photo software ... and play around with it. Notice that you can tilt the crop box to straighten out a crooked horizon line, or to totally change the perspective of your image.

As always, have fun!
Robin