Wait. And wait some more.

I have heard it said many times that good things come to those who wait.

This is true in photography as much as in any other aspect of life. I was on an assignment the other day and I said to the guy I was following (after being with him for 6 hours) that sometimes the best picture you take is the first one, but you won't know that until the end of the day.

Because sometimes it is the last one which is the best.

But you won't know that until the end of the day.

Wait.

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/22/waiting-and-waiting-for-the-perfect-moment/

Photo Festilval

Some pictures taken at Paraty in Rio de Janeiro last week during the Paraty em Foco Photo Festival.

Shooting strangers.

Photographing strangers is - we all agree - not always easy. Here's a little video which might help. Or not.

http://pixboomba.com/index.php?option=com_hwdvideoshare&task=viewvideo&Itemid=21&video_id=12

Filters

I always always always put filters on my lenses. Simple UV protection filters are a wise investment. Buy good ones, not the cheapest ones - you just spent a lot of money on a lens, why would you then want to put a piece of cheap glass over the front of it? Anyway. Why do this at all? Simple. Filters protect your lens. When you drop it face down on a rock, it's a lot cheaper to replace a filter than it is a whole lens.

Here's a perfect example.


Read about this little accident over on photographer Ian Pack's blog. It's sound advice: http://ianpack.blogspot.com/2010/06/lens-protection-filters-and-why-you.html

fun with geometry

Brooklyn, NY:

and Santa Barbara, CA:

Lightroom 3 Learning center

Some instructional videos can be found here:

http://www.photoshopuser.com/lightroom3/

Ars reviews Adobe Lightroom 3

I found this review very insightful and gives a pretty good breakdown of whats new

http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2010/06/adobe-lightroom-3-review.ars

Concert photos - a little rant

I have photographed a lot of concerts. It's not always fun (especially if the music isn't to your taste) but there are a few things that really annoy me when I go to gigs, and they mostly have to do with the attitude of photographers. I was at one gig a couple of months ago where there were lots of people wielding a variety of cameras. I move around a lot during a gig, trying not to stay in one place and not to get in any one persons way for too long. However, the front row of this gig was bristling with cameras throughout. I spent maybe half the gig down front and moving in and out of the crowd to get different angles, keeping a low profile and only using the flash a few times. One guy was well over 6 foot and spent the whole night in one spot, waving his camera high in the air and in the faces of the performers. This is the reason many clubs have a rule that photographers can only photograph the first three songs and not use flash. It's thanks to selfish photographers that that rule is put into play.

Also, be careful when moving around and taking shots. just as you would if you were trying to get through the crowd to go to the bar. There is nothing more annoying for a paying concert goer than to be jostled and pushed by a photographer trying to get a shot. Move about between songs, not during them and if you can't get through to where you want to go, leave it and try somewhere else, seeing if you can get there at some later point. I've been a fan in a crowd and when you've paid your money, queued up to see your favourite band and then some guy pushes in front of you with a big old DSLR, it is most annoying.

A camera does not give you a license to behave in an arrogant and disrespectful manner. Always be aware of how your actions affect those around you.

Oh and as for holding up your camera in the air and firing off 200 shots....

That's what regular concert goers do. And their cameras don't get in anyone's way and they have way more fun while they're at it.

Brazil at South Africa World Cup

Yesterday was the first match of Brazil at the South Africa World Cup against North Corea. Soccer is our national sport and the game was played at 3:30pm local time. Workers were allowed to leave the office 2 hours before the game and schools and commerce were closed. I took these pictures in the center area of Sao Paulo where a huge TV were installed and around 50,000 people followed the game in this place.

Lightroom 3 book

The official Adobe Lightroom 3 book is available for pre-order from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0321680707/ref=ox_ya_os_product

An alternative guide by a well respected software expert is available here:

http://www.kelbytraining.com/product/the-adobe-photoshop-lightroom-3-book-for-digital-photographers.html

Lightroom 3

Adobe's Lightroom 3 is out. Only $99 with an education discount in Adobe's education store.

http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshoplightroom.


I ordered my copy. I confess, I am a fan.

British Journal Of Photography

The BJP is a great publication. They've just revamped their website and magazine. Check it out online here:

http://www.bjp-online.com

High in the sky

Want to know how this shot was taken? It was done with a balloon and a small point and shoot camera. Check out the article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/technology/personaltech/27basics.html?src=me&ref=technology

Extreme fisheye lens

I love really rare ultra expensive lenses. It's a shame I can't afford any of them. Imagine how much fun you could have with this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=350347707478&Category=3323&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26its%3DI%26otn%3D2

Suhee from Seattle

Hi everyone! How have you been?

I'm in Seattle now, traveling by myself, no, with my Nikon who is much heavier than I thought. My shoulders are killing me... Hope that I have something to share here when I'm back to NY. Take care~

Cheers,
Suhee Kim

Macro photography on the cheap?

I haven't tried this, but apparently flipping your lens around might let you take close-up shots like these.

This weekend it's the New York Photo Festival in Dumbo, Brooklyn. I have a small contribution which was put together with several other photographers. Come along and check it out:

Sombra Projects is proud to present its inaugural exhibition, a collaborative effort dedicated to showcasing social documentary photography within a fine art aesthetic.

May 12-16, 2010
Location: Tivoli Room, Café Bar, Dumbo General Store. 111 Front Street, Brooklyn. NYC.
Hours: Wednesday – Sunday, 10 am – 6 pm (Bar open till late)

Contributing Photographers:

Jason Andrew, Richard Ashe, Lyric Cabral, Francesca Cao, Tiffany Clark, Christina Clusiau, Julia Gillard, Chiara Goia, Lucy Helton, Yo Imae, Shiori Kawasaki, Yasutaka Kojima, Tiana Markova-Gold, Shizuka Minami, Kathryn Obermaier, Christina Paige, Pax Paloscia, Elizabeth Rubincam, Deidre Schoo, Gabriele Stabile, Nicole Tung, Tom White, Tadej Znidarcic.

Ed Kashi

Ed Kashi is a great photojournalist and a really nice guy too. Check out this slideshow of some of his work and listen to him narrate.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/interactive/2010/may/06/ed-kashi-niger-delta-madagascar

He shoots entirely with digital. He does video work too. He doesn't extensively retouch his photos and he doesn't push for style over substance. His work is a good example of how to take a great photo just by using the equipment simply and effectively, exploring the subject you are photographing and responding to what you see in front of you.

http://www.edkashi.com/

Telephoto F2 lens

Got a spare $14 000?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330429653113

NYC Skyline

I took some night shots from Hoboken of the NYC skyline. I was playing around with multiple options and these turned out to be one of the better ones.

Here the camera was at ISO 800, F4.0 and 1/5 shutter speed. I did a little bit of post production on this one using LightRoom














For this one I placed the camera on a tripod and exposed for 3sec at ISO 100 and f4.5

I did some experiments in low light conditions for two concerts at Blue Note using the 18-105 zoom lens for Madeleine Peyroux's concert (I was a little bit far from the stage) and a combination of 18-105 and a prime 35mm at the Chick Corea concert, this time I was extremely close so the 35mm didn't work very well. I also did a few experiments with bulb mode at the brooklin bridge. Please don't take the concerts by my pictures. Both were great!

Night photography & manual control

Usually you would want to use a tripod if you are doing long exposure photography, but it is possible to get good results without one. For this shot, I was inside a bar photographing through the window. I propped my elbows on the table to steady my grip. This is shot at ISO 200, Aperture F8 and a shutter speed of 1.6 seconds. The focal length of the lens is 17mm (equivalent 25mm).

Using F8 gives me a good depth of field so the flag pole in the foreground is in focus and I also get some focus on the buildings in the background. I took 3 shots and this one came out the sharpest with the least camera shake. (The beauty of digital means I can check straight away to see if it's in focus!).

Because I was using a mid way closed down aperture of F8 and I kept my ISO low at 200, then the slow shutter speed was required. This was a deliberate choice as it allowed me to see a bit of movement in the flag which was blowing in the wind.

This is an example of when my choices allowed me to control the exposure to get the exact effect I wanted (large depth of field for the buildings and a slow shutter speed for some movement from the flag). The camera's auto setting would have read the fact that it was a dark night scene and would probably have chosen a wide open aperture to keep the shutter speed as high as possible (in order to avoid any camera shake). In this case I chose to do the opposite of what the camera's auto setting would have suggested.

Nikon's f/1.8 35mm lens

I just picked this lens up today from B&H Photo (which you have to visit if you haven't already, just for the experience). It's super cheap and loads of fun to play with. Working with a prime, I completely forgot what a zoom lens and started moving all around the room and crawling on the floor snapping pictures and enjoying that nice big aperture (the kit zoom lens you get with the Nikon D90 is f/5 at 35mm; this lens lets in almost 8x as much light!). I won't inflict any photos of Gus the 16lb cat on you guys, but here's a nice depth-of-field shot I took in the apartment I was visiting tonight.

Getting started

From a November trip to a market in Peru. My wife's aunt took us shopping, and when we got home she gave us a cooking lesson. I built a website for her and now she gives cooking lessons to tourists for a nominal fee. Visit www.CookingClassInPeru.com if you are interested.

Welcome to Intensively Digital

Those of us posting to this blog include a Brazilian who came to New York City on a sabbatical, a Bulgarian, a fashion marketing manager, a Columbian, a Hawaiian with a passion for social justice, a motorcycle commuter, a nuclear trained submarine officer, and several others, led by a British-born photojournalist.  We're united by our common desire to improve our knowledge and mastery of digital photography, and we met in the two-weekend Digital 1 Intensive workshop at the International Center of Photography.

We started this blog to share our work with each other during the course of the class as well as after we graduate.  Thanks for visiting - we welcome your comments.