Timothy Faust Photography » On Photography Articles

Tripod Trepidations

admin — Fri, 28 May 2010 18:19:00 +0000

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

On Photography-Back to Basics

admin — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 22:48:04 +0000

Summit Daily News,composition,photography,colorado,outside

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.

Last fall, I made a trip out to Marble with fellow local photographers, Todd Powell and Gary Soles whom, by the way, both have excellent galleries in Summit County. We spent the morning photographing landscapes around McClure Pass, and after the sun moved to high in the sky to get great light, we ended up heading back to camp. Camp just happened to be right next to this scene in the accompanying image. I didn’t notice it in the dark when we arrived at camp, or in the rush to head out in the morning. Although the sun was high for photographing big landscapes; here in the shade of the aspens, it was just right.

I had played with a variety of different compositions, and at one point even had Todd ride his mountain bike through the leaves while I photographed him from the roof of my car. I think the image shown here was my favorite. I realized afterwards that I had subconsciously applied the techniques of my first photography class when making this image. The image is more about the soft light, the curved line of the road, the texture of the leaves, and the parallel vertical lines of the aspen trunks than it is about any clearly defined subject.

Next time when you are out with your camera, perhaps instead of looking for some “thing” to photograph, you will look for the quality of light and strong compositions containing shapes, lines, textures…

For a more photography how-to tips, visit www.timothyfaust.com. Timothy Faust is an award winning photojournalist and fine art photographer living in Breckenridge Colorado. His work can be seen at Altitude Gallery at 107 North Main Street in Breckenridge. questions@timothyfaust.com.

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On Photography: Panoramic Images

admin — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 19:47:04 +0000

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.The process of combining multiple images into a single panoramic is called stitching. Think of it as stitching multiple images together like stitching patches of a quilt together. So the first question that comes to mind is why not just crop a single image into a panorama? Well, it’s all about maximizing the pixel real estate. Imagine if we had a digital image and we crop off the top and bottom thirds. We end up with only a third of the image left, and if we started with a nice large twelve megapixel file we are now left with only a 4 megapixel image. The alternative is to capture several images and lay them side to side in one bigger image. If we use five of the same 12 megapixel file we end up with an image that is nearly 60 megapixels in size. With a bigger file we have a lot more options including bigger prints.The first step is finding a subject that lends itself to a panoramic image. This is one of the hardest things about creating panos. The image should be interesting and it should lead the viewer from one side of the image to the other. The biggest pitfall newcomers to panoramic photography encounter is trying to cram too much into the image, and it ends up being cluttered and uninteresting.

The next step is in how you capture the image. Regardless of what type of camera you use, it is important to orient the camera perpendicular to the direction of the panoramic. For example if the long side of your panoramic is horizontal then orient your camera vertically in order to maximize your pixel real estate. Make sure to use a manual mode in your camera, and avoid using a polarizing filter so that all of the images have the same exposures. Lastly, try to avoid having both near and far elements in the image. The near object will appear to shift from one image to another. To see how this works, hold your thumb up at arm’s length and close one eye and then the other. You’ll notice how it appears to shift back and forth.

Notice how these images were captured with the camera oriented vertically without about 1/3 of each capture overlapping the previous one.

The final step is to combine the images you just took. Most digital cameras now come with software and instructions for how to create panoramic images. You can also do it manually in Photoshop. If you have Photoshop CS2 or CS3, you can select the images you want to combine in Bridge and then click, Tools>>Photoshop>>Photomerge in order to bring up the merge dialog. Select Auto or Perspective and make sure to select “leave as layers” if you are using CS2. CS3 automatically leaves them as layers. By leaving the images as layers, you can go back in and tweak the transitions to make them completely invisible.

Using Adobe Bridge for CS3, simply select all of the images you would like merged and the click Tools>>Photoshop>>Photomerge :

In the merge dialog, try selecting auto first. If the images lack enough features to allow Photoshop to guess on the arrangement, or if you are using an older version, you will have to choose a manual mode and align the images yourself:

The merge will take several minutes to complete depending on your computer. Once it is done, open up the layers pallette by clicking Window>>Layers or pressing F7. The black and white image next to each layer icon in the pallete is called a layer mask. Layer masks work by showing or hiding the content of a layer without affecting the actual image content of the layer. Clicking the little “eye” icon on the left of each layer will show or hide the layer:

Carefully examine the transitions between the images to look for spots that don’t match. By selecting a layer mask and using the brush tool, you can either paint with black to hide the layer, or paint with white to show more of it. Setting your brush opacity to about 30% will let you blend the layers together more evenly to hide any flaws:

The next step is to flatten the image. Although it may be a good idea to save a copy of the image as in, a flat image will be easier and faster to work with. Right click on the name of any layer in the layers pallette and the click “flatten.” Once you flatten the image you will be unable to go back and change the transitions, so make sure you are happy with them before flattening:

Unless your camera was miraculously straight, a feat I have yet to accomplish even with a level tripod, the outside edges will be uneven. Using the crop tool, select an area that will crop out all of the white background and press enter:

Viola! Now you have an image that has enough “pixel real estate” to print several feet wide. My final finishing touch was a simple black and white conversion:

For a more photography how-to tips, visit www.timothyfaust.com. Timothy Faust is an award winning photojournalist living in Breckenridge Colorado. If you have a photography question you would like to see answered in this column, please send it to questions@timothyfaust.com.

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On Photography: Can Photoshop add Truth to Images?

admin — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:35:38 +0000

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.

This got me thinking about one of my visits to the Ansel Adams gallery in California. If you ever have a chance to see one of his original negatives, you would see very little resemblance to the prints hanging in the gallery. Adams was a great photographer but he was even better at darkroom manipulation. Somehow there is this stigma that one who manipulates an image under the light of an enlarger is artist while one who manipulates an image on a computer is some type of a cheater.

But why? Isn’t it all the same? I think what it comes down to is that it is so much easier to do it on a computer. What used to take years to master can now be learned in a weekend workshop. Personally I see this as a good thing. Photoshop has taken the art out of the hands of the elitists and into the hands of the every day enthusiast. The digital darkroom has allowed every individual to express their own creative vision without having to invest in all of the equipment necessary to operate a traditional darkroom. Power to the people!

But, according to Uncle Ben, with great power comes great responsibility. So with all the power of Photoshop, how much is too much? This is a question that must be answered by each photographer. Personally, I only use Photoshop on my fine art images to add truth to them. But how does something designed to manipulate an image actually add truth?

Take the accompanying image, for example. The panoramic is image you see is actually made by stitching several images together in Photoshop. I manipulated the image by creating it from two different panoramic images and combining them together. I made one that was exposed for the clouds and another that was exposed for the foreground. When I was there, I remember seeing red clouds and green trees in the foreground. However, film and digital sensors lack the range to see both at the same time. Red clouds mean black foregrounds. Green foregrounds mean completely white skies. So in this case, I used Photoshop to actually add truth to the image that the original capture lacked.

Its easy to associate Photoshop with lies, but maybe next time you’ll associate it with truths.

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On Photography: Flash for Landscapes? You bet!

admin — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:29:49 +0000

Flash has a rather underserved reputation for only being useful for indoor or nighttime photography. In fact, nothing can be further from the truth. When the camera’s flash is the only light used to illuminate a scene, the light can look garish and uneven. Flash, technically called “fill flash” is best used to fill in the shadows of a scene to make the light look more natural, not less.

In landscape photography, we are often presented with situations in which the foreground is slightly darker than the background or sky. If we expose for the sky, the foreground will end up very dark or silhouetted. In cases like these, the judicious use of fill flash can help even out the scene. The accompanying image made at the top of Sentinel Dome in Yosemite National Park was made using a Canon Elan 7 with Fuji Velvia film, and an off camera fill flash to highlight the tree’s texture. Because I was shooting film, I made a lot of exposures. I bracketed both the ambient light exposure using the shutter speed, and the flash output. Using digital will allow you to preview your results and adjust accordingly.

It is important to use a flash that will let you adjust its output because full power flash looks fake in landscape photography. Generally turning the flash down by 1½ to 2 stops will yield good results. Not all flashes have the ability to manually adjust the power output. I was teaching a photography workshop last weekend and had a student who didn’t have a manual setting for his flash. I suggested he experiment by placing his finger over part of the flash, and he ended up getting some pretty good results.

If you are serious about landscape photography, a good investment is a tool called an off camera shoe cord. It allows you to move the flash a few feet away from the camera, and still get all of the benefits of through-the-lens flash metering. Moving the flash off camera allows you to slightly sidelight your subject adding more texture to it.

On Tuesday, July 22^nd, at 7:00pm I will be doing a slideshow fundraiser to support Town of Breckenridge Outdoor Education at the Breckenridge Theater, with an opening performance by Leon Joseph Littlebird. $5 suggested donation. Learn more by visiting www.timothyfaust.com and clicking on workshops or calling 970-453-4538.

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On Photography: Wildlife Photography

admin — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 19:20:42 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, I was photographing in Rocky Mountain National Park and witnessed some disturbing although not surprising behavior. I spent about an hour moving into position to photograph a grazing elk. After a few minutes of photographing the elk raised its head in alarm. I didn’t think I had caused it, and when I looked over my shoulder there were no fewer than five people behind me photographing. They weren’t there a few minutes earlier so I can only guess that they had seen me and ran up behind me putting both them, the elk, and me in danger.

There are two big rules for photographing wildlife 1) don’t feed wildlife, and 2) don’t approach or stress wildlife.

Human food isn’t healthy for animals, and animals may become dependent on it and stop foraging on their own. Also, some animals like chipmunks and other rodents can carry deadly diseases like the hantavirus. Animals like bear and coyote can become aggressive once they learn to equate humans with food and may need to be destroyed. Large numbers of Coyotes are killed by cars in our national parks each year while begging for food from passing motorists.

Approaching a wild animal may cause it to become stressed. A stressed animal will use valuable energy it is trying to store for the winter. A stressed animal can abandon a nest or den leaving its young to die. Some animals such as moose and bear may actually attack a human if it feels stressed or threatened.

So without luring an animal with food or approaching it, how do we get good images? One of the best ways to photograph an animal is with a long lens from your car window. Most animals are much less suspicious of vehicles then walking people. If you are very far away and feel it is safe to move closer, never walk directly towards the animal. Move in a zigzag pattern, avoid eye contact, and move very slowly. Keep an eye on the animal. If it looks at you, that is a sign that the animal has noticed you approaching and you are too close.

Another option is to use a blind (camouflage tent) similar to what hunters use. The accompanying image of the sandhill crane was made at sunrise after spending the night in a blind on the banks of the Platte River.

On Tuesday, July 22^nd, I will be doing a slideshow fundraiser to support Breckenridge Outdoor Education at the Breckenridge Theater. $5 suggested donation. Learn more by visiting www.timothyfaust.com and clicking on workshops or calling 970-453-4538.

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On Photography: Happy 4th!

admin — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 19:16:42 +0000

Happy Independence Day! One of my favorite 4^th of July activities has always been watching and photographing fireworks. This week I wanted to share a few quick tips with you so that you can get out there this evening and get some great fireworks shots.

First, always use a tripod. A tripod is necessary to get the “trails” scene in the accompanying image. It will also keep the foreground nice and steady.
Use the lowest ISO setting as possible. If you are using film, use the lowest ISO film you can find (100 or even 50.) This may seem counter intuitive at first, since generally high ISO film is used for low light situations. However since you will be making fairly long exposures, high ISO settings will yield too much digital noise or film grain.
To get the best images possible, use your camera’s manual settings. The f-stop (aperture) controls the brightness of the fireworks, and the shutter speed controls the ambient light and the length of the firework trails. An exposure of five to ten seconds should yield good results. The accompanying image was shot at f/5.0 at ISO 100 for a shutter duration of 5 seconds.
When metering, meter of the sky, and underexpose by 1-2 stops. This will ensure a dark sky. If your camera doesn’t have a manual setting, you can use the shutter priority mode (TV,) or see if your camera has a special fireworks program mode. Check your images periodically in your LCD because it generally gets darker as the firework show goes on.
Lastly, make sure to capture some foreground or scenery in your image. A marina, mountain range, or crowd will go along way towards creating a sense of scale.

This week is the last week to sign up for the Mountain Wildflowers and Waterfalls workshop by visiting www.timothyfaust.com or calling 970-453-4538.

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On Photography – Tripods: A Photographer’s Best Friend

admin — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 18:17:24 +0000

There aren’t too many quick fixes when it comes to photography. I see a lot of photographers, both professionals and amateurs, buying the latest gadget to make their images better. Unfortunately, I’m a bit of a gearhead myself and am not above the influence of photography magazines showcasing the latest camera, lens, or accessory. However, none of the latest must-have pieces of equipment have really made my images any better, except for one; my tripod. Using a tripod is one of the surest ways to better your landscape images. They work in two ways. First the obvious benefit is that it provides a stable platform for your camera and eliminates camera shake resulting in sharper images. Using a cable release or the camera’s self timer can make your images even sharper. The other not so obvious benefit is that the tripod forces you to slow down, take your time, and really evaluate your composition. Tripods can also allow for more creativity. With a tripod, you can use a longer shutter speed. Conversely, you can use a smaller aperture and therefore get more depth-of-field (parts of your scene in sharp focus.) Longer shutter speeds also allow for motion blur like the blur seen in the waterfall in the accompanying image. When selecting a tripod keep in mind there is a huge range in quality. More expensive tripods are lighter, stronger, and stiffer than the ones you will find in a discount store. Tripods can cost as little as $20, but expect to pay $300 or more for a tripod to support an SLR camera. Try it out in the store with your camera and check for stability, weight, and ease of use with your camera. Lastly, remember a tripod only works if it’s under your camera and not in your car’s trunk. If you want to learn more about photographing waterfalls, there are still openings for the Mountain Waterfalls and Wildflowers workshop on July 11-13.

Timothy Faust is an award winning photojournalist living in Breckenridge. If you have a photography question you would like to see answered in this column, please send it to questions@timothyfaust.com. View his work at www.timothyfaust.com.

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On Photography: Risk and Safety

admin — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 18:16:29 +0000

This year, a new company put on the Teva Mountain Games in Vail. Much of the access photojournalists have enjoyed for the past several years was gone. Photographers were cut off from some of the big events like climbing and mountain biking with the organizers citing safety reasons. It got me thinking about the idea of how I approach risk and safety while photographing.

In my opinion just about all photography involves a certain amount of risk to personal safety. There is always an element of risk versus award in photography. War correspondents put their lives on the line every day in order to reap the reward of a meaningful story-telling image. Luckily for me, my line of work doesn’t require that much risk on a daily basis, but it does have a certain element of danger.

My climbing and ski photography certainly has elements of risk, but even more routine subjects can be dangerous. My wife, Carin, broke her back in a car accident last summer, while accompanying me on a pretty routine and safe shoot for National Geographic Adventure. It just goes to show that even in the most mundane subject there can still be elements for serious risk to safety. In the accompanying in image, in order to photograph the climber, Kevin Kaminski, I needed to free solo (technical climbing without a rope or protection) an adjacent easier, but equally high, route while carrying my equipment.

As photographers we must constantly ask ourselves if the resulting image is worth the risk. How far are we willing to go for the image? What are we risking? How will it affect us and the people in our lives? These are deeply personal questions, and no one can answer them for us. We each have to answer that question for ourselves.

Lastly, I’d like to thank everyone who helped make my print exhibition opening a success. I’d especially like to thank my wife Carin and her brother Steve. And of course, Sandy Greenhut and the Summit County Arts Exhibition Committee for inviting me to display my work.

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Printing is better than ever

admin — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 18:03:15 +0000

Now is a great time to be a digital photographer, especially if you love making prints. Until recently, printmaking has always been one of the drawbacks of digital photography. No matter how hard we tried, we could never quite match the look of traditional darkroom prints. A few years ago, that quickly changed. Not only can digital prints look as good as their traditional counterparts in most ways they have surpassed them.

Compared to traditional prints, digital prints have wider color gamuts (the number of colors that can be accurately represented,) better contrast, longer archival lifespan, and better consistency from one print to another. There are still a few purists out there who thumb their noses as digital printing, but I believe that is because digital printing has taken the creative power of the elitists and put it into the hands of every day people. My favorite thing about digital printing is that it is very affordable for everyone to do in their own home.

There are two main parts to digital printing; the printer and the paper. Printers like the Epson Stylus Photo R1900 (MSRP $549 epson.com) and the Canon Pixma Pro9000 (MSRP $499 www.usa.canon.com) can both print photographic quality images on papers up to 13X19 inches. If they seem a little pricey, consider that you can easily print 11X14 prints for less than $2 each which are far superior in quality to what you can get from a grocery store photo lab.

The other consideration in digital printmaking is the paper. For ease of use, choose a paper manufactured by the same company as your printer. Also, matte and luster papers are easier to handle than glossy papers. If you chose to print on glossy paper, wear a pair of white cotton gloves available in most drug stores to avoid damaging the prints. When you are ready to experiment a little more, pick up a sample pack of fine art paper from Moab Paper (www.moabpaper.com.)

Interested in learning more about digital printmaking? Visit my exhibit at the Summit County Commons at 6:00pm on Saturday, June 7^th. I’ll be there to explain the printing process used in each print on display.

Timothy Faust is an award winning photojournalist living in Breckenridge Colorado. If you have a photography question you would like to see answered in this column, please send it to questions@timothyfaust.com.

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