I was at the British museum yesterday ...

and I noted some strange behaviour from the people there.

There were the usual types with their smart phones and point and shoots, using flash on everything. This was not only distracting for the rest of us, but they were also using flash while shooting through glass.

No doubt, they will get home and curse their cameras for producing fuzzy, wildly over-exposed images - not realising that they would get better results (and longer battery life) with the flash OFF. The green setting is NOT our friend.

Unfortunately like the poor, or politicians, the flash brigade is always out in force, but there was another group: people photographing everything - and I mean that quite literally.

I watched one man with a moderately good point and shoot. He saw nothing there except the back of his camera. He would stand in front of an exhibit for as long as it took to pull focus, shoot, then do the same to the next object. He wasn't experiencing the Museum - he was making a visual collection to look at later.

Now I'd be the last person to object to photography. I'm the one carting my D800 and two heavy lenses in my Kata backpack, and I like to photograph things. But photography isn't a substitute for experience - it's a means to help preserve our memories.

While I was there, I made three photographs. Others were making hundreds.

I'll bet I had the better experience.

Good (and appropriate) shooting.

Shane

It's worth looking back on your images

Last Saturday, I went out for a dawn shoot with my friend Rod Burgess.

We weren't quite sure where we were going, but were looking for a spot with the rolling hills typical of parts of the ACT - bathed with dawn's golden light.

We stopped at a spot, and got out our gear.

Canberra sunrise - looking towards the Murrumbidgee River.

I recently heard a photographer describe landscape as being like sports shooting - and it's certainly true that at dawn and dusk, the light changes so fast that one can't relax for a moment. The light's changing, meaning that exposure changes and so do opportunities.  You've gotta keep ducking and weaving!!

I'd chosen not to use any filters was was relying on the D800's raw files and Lightroom to get the details I wanted.

I was also deliberately "exposing to the right". (I remain to be convinced on the advantages of that strategy - but that's another issue.)

During the shoot, looking at the 3" display on my Nikon, the shots had looked pretty ordinary.

Anyway, I got home and loaded the images into Lightroom - and was pleasantly surprised.
There were a few that made me feel it had been worth getting out of bed at 05:45 on a Saturday morning when there was frost on the ground! The shot here is a case in point. Nice range of colours, textures. Yeah, I was happy with that.

I put this and several other shots up on Smugmug, and relaxed.

Later that day, after tic tacking with Rod, I went back into Lightroom - and was surprised to find this:

Canberra sky at sunrise.

That's typical of the great clouds we often get in Canberra - usually when far from a camera, I might add. I was glad I was able to capture it - and more pleased that I'd gone back to look again.

Mind you, this process of revision works both ways. I had this on my Smugmug site for quite a while:

No, I don't know what I was thinking, either!

And this was posted for two or three days. Yes, it's a photograph of a platypus - but it doesn't make it worthy of inflicting on visitors to my web site.

I take slight comfort from the fact that some very well known, and very good photographers post duds too. I guess the advantage of the web is that when such a blunder is realised, we can make it go away.

So ... the lesson is to look again at your shots, hours or days later. You'll probably have more pleasant surprises than nasty shocks.

Keep shooting.

Shane

In praise of the nifty 50

Yesterday morning, I went out with a group of friends from the Southside Camera Club here in Canberra for a "Murrumbidgee River Ramble".

I came away with some acceptable images - and more importantly, neither my camera nor me fell in the drink! (If you miss the significance of this statement, please read my past couple of blogs.)

Eucalypts at sunrise, Canberra.

Anyway, after some landscapes, we repaired to the home of the Club members who had arranged the photo walk, where they provided us with a scrumptious breakfast. (Yes, life can be tough in a camera club!)

Not only did they go above and beyond in the catering department, but they allowed those of us who were interested to use their home studio gear for a little impromptu portraiture and still life work. I wandered in to see Len, the generous and patient husband of one of our members, being photographed.

Well, I couldn't let this pass - but as my semi-aquatic 24-70 is in transit from Nikon, I plonked my "nifty 50" (Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 lens) on my D800 and had a try.

I'm delighted with my results.

Len

The images are sharp, have true colour and good contrast - and were made with a Nikkor AF 50mm f/1.8D, a lens that sells in Australia for  $A127. Even its up-market brother, the AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8G sells for $A250 - which is a fraction of the price of my admittedly wonderful 24-70 f/2.8.

Len

The message is clear. As much as I like three or four of my landscapes from yesterday, I love a couple of the portraits of the long-siffering Len. I hope he does too.

Clearly, I have to get off my backside and do more portraiture. And I've got to use my cheap, light and unobtrusive little nifty 50 more often, as well.

If you haven't got a 50, think about getting one. They're a steal!

Shane

To buy a point and shoot - or not?

Olympus is pulling out of low end point and shoot cameras - and I can see why. We don't need them.

One of my wok colleagues asked what camera she should buy in the $100 - $200 range. My reaction? Don't.

Why?

She has a good quality mobile phone - which means she has a good basic camera already. Apart from a zoom lens, I can't see what a $150 compact would offer that her "camera" doesn't already offer.

What I suggested she do is spend her lazy $100 - 200 on software. She's not running a Mac at home so she doesn't have iPhoto - meaning she needs something like PhotoShop Elements or Lightroom to:

• do "post" on here images - crop, contrast and maybe some colour correction, and
• more importantly ... catalogue her images.

People are generating images all over the place, and then what? They sit on the device until it fails or they're deleted. If they're downloaded to the computer, they sit there without keywords or meaningful names until the disc fails.

Either way, they're not accessible. And if you can't find the image, it's just a waste of disc space.

My advice to anyone without suitable software is to get either Elements or when it's released: Lightroom 5 or start using your copy of iPhoto. Then, catalogue your existing images - which is, I will admit, a horrible job.

However! Once that's done, your work flow could be something like mine: First, download the images from the camera, using just a basic preset - to add a little contrast - or whatever your camera needs.

Then - keyword your images. Right away! Then and there. Before you do anything else. Pronto.

Seriously, it will take maybe 5 minutes to do a heap of images and once done, they're done forever - and they can be found!

After that, you can do your "post":

1. Crop and straighten
2. Remove stuff that shouldn't be there - rubbish, idiots, that kind of thing.
3. Do any more tweaking of brightness, colour balance, contrast - that kind of thing.

It amazes me how few people look after their images. Almost everyone over 12 has a camera these days and they use them to capture images. Then, for most people, it stops there. At least in the film days, the film would be printed at the local lab. Now? Who knows?

Photographs augment and even preserve our images. They are precious and deserve to be looked after.

Here endeth the lesson.

Have a good one.

Shane

A week after I dropped my D800

And a week after I dropped my D800 - with disasterous results, the reason is starting to show.

When I fell, I obviously made first contact with my left elbow - which was the arm holding the camera!

It could have been worse - but I keep thinking about and missing my knackered Nikon.

My wife tells me that I'm a bit dangerous with a camera, because I tend to become focussed (no pun intended) on the shot and oblivious to my surroundings. She's probably right.

Mind you, I'm not exactly alone in that respect. Look at the horrific casualty rates among war photographers. 

And my friend Claude was telling me about stopping in the middle of a street on his recent trip to Vancouver when he saw a shot. He's standing there surrounded by traffic and shooting with his new Fuji X-E1, when he suddenly realises what he's doing.

Still, we've all done stuff like that. It's part of the magic of photography, I guess - and we usually survive!

To to follow-up on my sad tale of the aquatic D800 ...

Nikon Australia gave me an answer within 72 hours - which I think is good service. The good news is that they can fix the 24-70, albeit at a price. I'll have that back in about a week.

The bad news is that my beloved D800 was already showing signs of corrosion. It wasn't economic to fix.

Sob ...

Back to the trusty D300 for the time being.

So the lesson learned from this - at a price - is that when you carry camera gear in a situation where it could get damaged, put it in your bag.

And by the way, the people I work with have pointed out (rather forcefully I might add) that things could have been worse. I was alone, out of sight and had a heavy fall onto rocks in a river. I could have been injured - or even drowned. I certainly have the bruises to prove that point, although they're nothing that won't heal.

All true, of course - but my D800 is no more!

Sob ...

A tale of disaster

So I went out to "do some photography" yesterday morning.

The reason? I hadn't made a photograph in weeks and I was feeling withdrawal. And it was foggy and I thought there might be something in it. I got some shots at the National Arboretum here in Canberra - and a couple weren't bad, either.

Trees in fog, National Arboretum Canberra.
© Shane Baker

Anyway, I was heading home, and I thought it might be worth making a diversion to the Murrumbidgee River to see if there was anything to shoot. The sun was up and something might be there, right?

There was. A nice flat surface on a pool in the river with reflections. I just had to get down there.

So, I picked up the Nikon and the tripod and my camera bag and headed down towards some rocks. Slippery rocks.

Next thing I know, it's like someone has kicked my legs out from under me. I hit the rocks like a safe, get back on my feet - and can't see the Nikon. Some frantic looking around and I see it - my D800 with 24 - 70 lens attached literally submerged in the river!

The lens was full of water, so I let it drain and headed home. Once home, I separated the body and lens and placed them into a home-made dehumidifier - where they remain until I can send them to Nikon Service in Sydney tomorrow!

I feel sick just thinking about this beautiful gear submerged in a river. God knows what the service bill will be.

The take away from this? If you've got a bag or a case or whatever, use it if there's the slightest chance of something going wrong - like walking on rocks in a river.

The tale of the repairs waits for another day.

Sigh ...

Shane