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Anyone who knows me from my writing or has attended one of my photography workshops, knows that I am a bit of a fanatic when it comes to using a tripod.  In fact, I would rather have a good tripod than a good camera.  A tripod is one of the few toys you  can purchase that will instantly make your photography better.  Assuming of course that you actually remember to bring it with you.

Which, of course, brings me to my story of a mountain biking trip to Fruita I recently went on with my wife, Carin, last month.  We were only planning on doing a little mountain biking and heading back to Breckenridge, but an afternoon storm caused us to cut our plans short.  Rather than just give up and leave, we took a drive in to Colorado National Monument hoping to get some photos of the sun setting just as the storm was clearing.  I always have my camera bag in my car, but couldn’t find my tripod.  I tore the car apart before remembering that I left it in the studio.  So here I was, the king of tripod advocacy, without my tripod.  To make matters worse, the weather and light came together for some incredible views.

I realized the only way to get a decent photo was going to be to place the camera directly on the ground, but if I do that, I need to make sure there was an interesting subject in the foreground.  After a little searching I came across a depression in the sandstone that had filled with water from the afternoon rain.  Using my hat, and some nearby stones, I was able to prop the camera up in front of the puddle to compose the shot.  I also used the mirror lock up and self timer in order to minimize vibration.  The image below was the result.

Sunset in Colorado National Monument

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On Photography: Back to the Basics

I’ve only taken two photography classes in my entire life. It isn’t that I don’t value a formal education; it’s just that I learn more quickly on my own. However, I still think back to some of the lessons I learned the first week of Photo 101 at the Brooks Institute. The class was based in black and white film and one of our early assignments was to photograph scenes dominated by shapes, lines, or texture. I think the purpose was to get our minds off of the idea of finding a subject, and get us to focus on good composition. That was years ago, but even today, I look for great light, composition, color, and subject in that order. There is no point in looking for a good subject if you don’t have the light and composition.
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Last week, I mentioned assembling multiple images into a single panoramic image.  After a few people asked me about it, I thought I would elaborate on exactly how to make a panoramic image.  The best way is to use a film camera specifically designed to make panoramic images.  These cameras use 6X17 film instead of 35mm.  However, since most of us don’t have cameras specifically designed for panos, let’s talk about how to make panos with what most of us do have. Read the rest of this entry »

I came across a photographer at an art show this month who had a sign on his booth that read something to the effect of “My images are made using film and traditional darkroom printing.  No computers!”  The message was clear.  There is something wrong with computers.  The subtext was that there was something less honest about digital manipulation techniques compared to traditional analog ones.  Read the rest of this entry »

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