A fifth mode on your DSLR?

We're all familiar with the usual four modes on our digital cameras: program, aperture priority, shutter priority and manual. Different manufacturers use slight different terms, but that's what they mean. Of course, some cameras also have "helping" modes like landscape, portrait and so on.

I do most of my shooting in aperture priority. I want to control depth of field, and to a large extent, that involves controlling the aperture. And usually, I'm happy for the Nikon to work out what what shutter speed works.

Not a great shot - but sharp and correctly exposed.

Recently, I was trying to photograph a baby bird in a tree in my yard. It was tricky because I was using a
long lens (so a highish shutter speed was needed), but I also wanted a reasonable depth of field, since focussing was occasionally tricky.  So - I needed a smaller aperture.

This sounded like a job for manual exposure!

But to add to my problems, I was moving around, so as the angle to the sun varied, so did the amount of light hitting the camera. Manual was becoming ... inconvenient.

Then it occurred to me that I had another option: I switched ISO to auto, and let the camera work it out while I stuck with my preferred aperture and shutter speed.

It worked! As the light varied, I still had my preferred aperture (hence depth of field), and camera shake was minimised with a fairly high shutter speed - and the camera changed its sensitivity to ensure it got the right exposure.

So, I reckon we have now five modes on our DSLRs now: program, aperture priority, shutter priority, manual - and "semi-manual".

Try it next time you're in a demanding situation. It just might help.

Shane Baker
Canberra

Arranging keywords in Lightroom - a quick tip

If you're like me, your keywords in Lightroom are in a mess.

For instance, I have a "France" keyword. Then, under that, I have some France keywords under "France", while others are at the top level in the hierarchy. Not good - especially if your keywords are in the hundreds or more.

Of course, you can just drag and drop: drag "Amiens" over "France" and LR will move Amiens into the France hierarchy.

But what if you want to drag "Aardvark" under Zoo? That's no so easy if you have more than 40 or so keywords.

I've finally come up with a solution.

Let's say you have the keyword "Black Swan" and you want it under "Native bird".

In the search field under Keyword List, type "swan, native". LR (bless its heart) then lists all keywords containing "swan" and "native" - and no others. You can now simply drag and drop "Black Swan" under "Native bird".

It's not a quick process, but it's do-able!

I'm acutely aware that many/most readers will be quietly muttering something to the effect that everyone knows this. Either that - or why didn't this idiot arrange his keywords correctly in the first place?

Good points - but I'm sure a few people out there have painted themselves into the same corner that I've managed to do. Now I have a solution!

Guess what I'm doing for the next hour?

Have a good one.

Shane
Canberra

PS: As soon as I'd hit publish, I stumbled across an excellent article by Scot Bastion entitled A further look at Keywords within Lightroom.

I think my technique still has its place, but I strongly suggest you read Scot's article before using the Baker Method!

S

On the value of photographs (again)

I know I've written about this before (and probably will again), but we must never underestimate the value of our photographs.

Most people do - and I think this is why they don't preserve them.

It's long been my view that any photograph can have value, for any or all of the following reasons:

• it's a great photograph - well exposed, composed, etc. Photographs by Ansel Adams or Josef Karsh are classic examples; or
• it's a photograph made in time - of an event or thing that's no-longer there. This could be a news event, or an image of a landscape or cityscape; or
• it's of value to you. Photographs of kids or a beloved relative fit this category.

And I must stress, an image can have one, two or even all three of these attributes. 

I recently spent a day in Sydney, and I went to two exhibitions featuring photographs. One was the exhibition of David Moore's photographs of the Sydney Opera House under construction.

Moore was a genuinely great photographer, who was able to turn his hand to pretty much any genre. And his work ticked at least two of those boxes above.

Sisters of Charity Washington

Moore was brilliant at what I would broadly describe as "industrial photography". He could find art in pretty uninspiring opportunities:

Sydney Opera House under construction 2

Yes, he had time and yes he had access - but the images he produced are wonderful.

Sydney Opera House steel reinforcing – c.1962

These photographs are important for a number of reasons including that they are beautiful in their own right, they record the creation of one of the iconic buildings of the world, and because they record a moment in time. 

For instance: the exhibition has images of the men on the construction site balanced precariously on huge assemblies of steel and concrete as they're lifted into place. They're wearing hard hats, shorts and tee shirts - and some at least have safety boots. No doubt, at the time this was normal practice. However these days, I expect (and hope) that there would be a greater focus on safety!

And look what else is in the image: the 1962 Sydney skyline, a ship tied up at the passenger terminal, The Rocks - and the old ferry.

Important stuff - and worth recording!

The other exhibition is Suburban Noir at the Sydney Museum. This is a commentated slide show of forensic photography. Yup - photographs taken by the Police at various scenes covering theft, accidents, murder and suicide. And I was mesmerised!

No, it wasn't the gore (of which there wasn't much, by the way). Neither was it the photographs. They were workmanlike shots, but made for coroners and courts - not for exhibition.

The fascination was the recording of a place that's gone forever: Sydney in the 1940s, 50s and 60s.

It's a place that's as exotic as any third world country today - and unlike Nepal or Amazonia, it's not on any airline's route map. It's gone forever - except in these images - and many others surviving in photo albums around Australia.

So - treat your photographs with respect. They are a repository of people, places, things and events that will one day be gone - except in your preserved images.

Have a happy and productive 2014.

Shane Baker