Category: Photography

Equipment, examples, history – all matters photographic

Final Boston photos

After much procrastination and delay, I have uploaded the last of the photos from my trip to Boston with Sasha.

These are pretty much all straight from the camera, whether the camera in question is a dSLR, a point and shoot, or my iPhone. I definitely get more photography done when I keep post-processing to a minimum. Unaltered photos are probably more informative anyhow, though perhaps less beautiful or technically perfect.

Boston was a thoroughly welcoming city and a place which I really enjoyed my time in.

It would be nice to get the chance to live there at some point.

Demonstrating British Columbia’s beauty

One of the big reasons for opposing the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline is because of how 200 oil tankers a year would threaten the coast of British Columbia.

I think everyone who has seen that coastline understands its beauty and ecological importance. At the same time, I suspect the idea can be made more salient for people by showing them photos and video of the areas that could be affected if the pipeline goes through.

It’s not clear what the most effective approach would be for reminding people about what is at stake. Really there is a spectrum of possibility, ranging from fantastic shots taken by talented photographers on top-notch gear and shown in magazines and galleries to amateur shots taken by visitors and ordinary British Columbians and uploaded to Facebook or Flickr.

In all likelihood, many approaches will be tried simultaneously. For my own part, I have been thinking about a potential photo show that would incorporate photos of the B.C. coast as well as photos from the successful protests against the Keystone XL pipeline, which took place in Washington D.C.. Toronto may not be the most appropriate venue for that, since people here don’t have much of a personal emotional stake in the integrity of west coast ecosystems.

Perhaps I should try and find the time to set up yet another website, where people could contribute photos from B.C. and explain why they oppose the Northern Gateway pipeline…

Photography in changing light

When trying to photograph a city, one basic step to avoid missing good photographic opportunities is to have your camera out and ready. Camera bags and lens caps are useful for transportation between cities, but they are not things that you should have between you and the subjects you are hoping to photograph.

In a similar vein, it is wise (and good practice) to adjust your camera settings whenever there is a major change in the light around you. When you leave your hotel, for example, you might want to switch to a low ISO setting like 200 or 100 because it is bright outside. Along with that, some suitable settings might be a medium aperture like f/8 or f/5.6, with shutter speeds set automatically via an aperture priority mode.

If you then move from the bright day outside into somewhere indoors and dark, you probably want to open up your lens to f/4 or f/2.5 (or even f/1.8 or lower if it is really dark) and bump the ISO to a level that provides acceptable shutter speeds.

Changing your settings whenever the light changes accomplishes two useful things. In the short term, it sets you up to immediately and effectively photography anything you see. In the longer term, it builds familiarity with your equipment and with photographic settings. Once you have that, you can change settings on the fly more easily when truly unexpected circumstances suddenly arise.

Night of Dread

Yesterday, I participated in the novel, engaging, and pleasantly pagan festivities at Toronto’s Night of Dread. Put on by the Clay and Paper Theatre Company (whose work I have photographed before), the evening involved both small and gigantic representations of fears including ‘corruption’, ‘nuclear war’, ‘selfish leadership’, and ‘lack of stability’.

Accompanied by drummers and brass instruments, a parade marched out from Dufferin Grove Park and out around the neighbourhood before people assembled to see some of the fears burned atop a massive bonfire, followed by more music and special bread. I can’t explain exactly why, but seeing families and children at the event was comforting and encouraging. It may have something to do with the act of physically coming together within a community, making art, and participating in a non-commercial spectacle together.

The sense of history that accompanies gathering around a fire is also a comforting reminder that humanity has always had troubles. It is easy to look at woes from nuclear meltdowns and tsunamis to wars and currency crises and think that we are living in the worst of times, or even the end of times. Gathering in a manner that would have been recognizable to people from thousands of years ago drives one to think about all the fears, misfortunes, and tragedies that have afflicted the world across that span, and it kindles a hope that we might overcome (or at least continue to contain) the dangers and sorrows that exist now.

The symbolism may not be sophisticated, but it is rather satisfying to see enormous representations of fears marched around and eventually burned. The pyrotechnic element reminded me of Luminox.

Should I switch to Aperture 3?

I now have a Mac running OS X Lion and, unfortunately, it cannot run my old copy of Photoshop CS.

Buying Photoshop CS5 is awfully expensive. Even the student and teacher edition is more than $300, while the Creative Suite is more than $500.

Aperture is only $80 from the App Store. What’s more, I would be allowed to install it on any Mac I own.

From what I have read, it definitely has better native RAW support than Photoshop CS (I don’t know about CS5).

It would mean learning some new software and probably losing some capabilities, given the degree to which Photoshop is a more comprehensive and sophisticated piece of software. Still, it might be worth trying in the interim. If it turns out to be unacceptable, I can start saving my pennies and waiting for Photoshop CS6 to be released.