my First photo shoot

This post will not have any photos, and that’s cos I didn’t take any. I was an assistant to a photographer who was hired to shoot for a promo for a clothing line, targeting bikers. It was a fun shoot (hush, no details!) and had a ton of learning opportunities — both for the artistic aspect as well as for the trade aspect.

• You need to know a lot of equipment
  When you are a “photo journalist,” all you have is the camera and maybe a flash. The equipment in a photo shoot is much much more — stands, lights, soft boxes (light diffusers), gel papers (for the colored light effects), chargers, so on and so forth. Since this was my first shoot, neither did I know any of the terminology nor I knew how to operate them. Luke, the photographer was kind enough to show me the ropes as I set his expectations that I was just going to be a “warm body.” His words were “Don’t break anything and make the photographer look good” — I sure did the first, but not sure of the second.
• Lighting is everything
  As a photographer, this is a known fact, but this fact gets emphasized a lot in a photo shoot. For one, photo shoots are mostly commercial, so getting the right pictures is critical. Second, you need to get the right pictures in a short time — especially if you plan to shoot in the available light or in day light. The shoot gave me an opportunity to see how you can manipulate lighting to get the right shots — I was asked to move the lights around to get the right amount of light in the scene. These lights, for all purposes, are just bigger light sources — similar to a flash in your camera. However, when combined with reflecting surfaces, diffusers, day light and composition, they can produce amazing pictures.
• Camera is (almost) nothing
  Let’s just say that Luke shot with a “prosumer” camera, similar to my Pentax K10D. At first, I wondered what the pictures would look like, and if they would be any different than say the ones you take from a $5000+ camera. After seeing the final pictures (the unprocessed ones), I have no doubt that it is all in the lighting and the artistry, and less in the camera. When I say camera, I don’t mean lenses — as lenses are almost as important as the lighting.
• Have an imaginative mind
  If you are going to take 400+ pictures, of which maybe 25% are lost owing to lighting/lens flare, you are still left with 300 pictures. You need to have an imaginative mind to set up the scene, add props, pose the people and change the lighting. Just knowing how to shoot with a camera just won’t cut it.
• You need to take a lot of photos
  This is no different if you were simply point-and-shoot photographer. I am sure the photographers are thanking the digital cameras where you can get an instant feedback on the lighting, composition, etc.
• There is a lot of preparation
  A lot of time at a photo shoot is spent preparing the models, the scene, light sources, camera lenses, and so on. As an assistant, I had to be very patient, and I was — basically taking my orders from the photographer, without questioning. To me this is similar to my primary field of software building — where a great discipline can produce great results. I am sure there is as much preparation from the client point of view — choosing the right photographer, location, models, props, etc.

Now that I have been involved in a photo shoot, I am no longer surprised by the quality of pictures one can take if you have an artistic mind, right lighting and right preparation.

Capturing fireworks

…is easier than creating them (no pun). The proof is in the pudding; the following picture was taken in Evanston, IL on July 4th, 2007. I wanted the picture of the fireworks but with a sliver of horizon and the buildings/lights below.

For one, I am no professional photographer. And two, it was my first time taking picture of fireworks with my Pentax K10D. I have tried taking pictures before with my point-and-shoot (Olympus C-755, a great camera in itself), but not very successfully.

The concept is simple — you need a (very) long exposure to take the picture effectively. There are a ton of resources on how to take shots of fireworks, but I will summarize all of them here.

What you need:

1. A good SLR camera with a B setting (or a point-and-shoot with custom exposure)

2. A tripod (absolutely a must!)

3. A remote control (I used a Pentax Remote Control F, other cameras have counterparts). The idea is to not shake the camera even when it is on tripod.

4. Good distance from the fireworks — a frontal, unobstructed position is the best.

5. A black card (enough to cover the lens)

How:

• Find yourself a good spot to take the shots — get to the location early to scout for good spots. When I took the above picture in Evanston, I was sitting close to the edge of the lake. If I had planned better, I would have moved closer so that people wouldn’t be running/standing in front of my setup. Remember, it will be dark, and people will hardly notice your setup or you. There is a good chance they might even trip over your camera — so mark your territory!

• The camera settings are easy — set yourself on the B-setting, with aperture open to f/8. If you want to frame the picture with surroundings like buildings/trees, etc., you might want to stop it one lower. (or, in layman’s terms – f/11) 

• Switch the camera focus to manual and focus at infinity. Some point-and-shoot cameras come with a “Fireworks” setting, and I couldn’t tell you if this had the same effect as an SLR. In any case, you want to focus on a distant object, and lock focus.

• Set the camera on the tripod.

• Set the camera to be triggered via remote control.

• Wait until the fireworks starts. Recompose your picture now that you have a clear understanding of the coverage of the fireworks.

• Press the remote control button when the fireworks is “taking off” and keep it pressed until you get enough displays in a single shot (5-10 seconds, generally).

• Take a preview of the first shot, and this should give you an idea of how much longer your exposures should be.

• Turn off the instant preview, relax in your chair, and shoot away! Turning off the preview does two things — one, it speeds up your shots, giving you the ability to shoot quickly, especially when you have a slow memory card. Two, you don’t now have to worry about how the shots have turned up — your first shot with preview should give you enough feedback.

One trick I learnt from one of the sites was to have a black card handy. This way, you can block your lens periodically. This way, you can eliminate the streaks of light during the launch and just capture the burst. When I did not have the card, I have used the palm of my hand with equal success.

One thing you may notice is the “smoke” that you will also capture. Depending on the wind speed, your picture might have little or a lot of smoke. I have been told that the professional pictures of fireworks have the smoke “photoshopped” away. If you are not shooting for commercial purposes, don’t worry — the smoke adds to the effect. If you are very picky, shoot in RAW mode, and you can manipulate the images later.

Either ways, have fun shooting fireworks! Let me know how your pictures turn out.