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I’ve got friends in snow places

March 27, 2009 Jason2 Comments

Okay, it’s a lame title, but my day has been centered around the blizzard conditions in and around the metro Denver area. With some areas near where I live experiencing whiteouts, we had a fun time of things today wit traffic, early closures, and the whole 9 yards. Tracy actually was the one who took the day off ahead of schedule (smart gal that wife of mine) and then braved the elements to come pick me up after the mass transit shut down service to my parking place.

After a fender bender of her own – we finally got home in one piece (but not the car). Of course, in the midst of all of this, our dog Maggie was just happy as could be frolic-ing in the snow. Props to Tracy for having the idea to take a few snaps!

snowmoo

But, all is not fun and games in Bronco/Rocky Mountain land. I’ve been helping a friend work through a bad time, and things just took a turn for the worse with him a few days ago. Let me set the stage here for hyou. Imagine you are a Photoshop/Adobe guru. You know the crap outta all things Adobe. Working in the industry for roughly ten years. Now, imagine the company hiring some young gun. You’ve been asked to train a new guy, then after four months or so of teaching a wet-behind-the-ears newb how to do things, you get laid off.

You knew that was coming right? Well, now, imagine this: as work becomes more and more challenging to find (despite the fact that you have practically every Adobe certification that exists), your beloved pet comes down with a time-sensitive medical issue that requires surgery to fix. And you have no dollaz to pay it! That, my friends, is no picnic. Yet that is exactly what happened to my good friend David Zarzacki. Finally, after some pushing from me, he’s set up a blog to explain the status with his pet, and Paypal links for donations. He’s had some very generous contributions, but is still only about a third of the way to having enough for the vet bills. (It’s surgery, after all, which isn’t ever all that cheap to begin with!)

So, please, today, take a moment and stop over to the blog to help save Mojo! Make a contribution, even if it’s only a dollar or two. And if you can’t contribute financially, then help spread the word by making a Twitter post, or a comment on your own blog – heck even just comments, thoughts, and prayers are welcome. Every little bit helps!

Anyway, enough of the friends and snow places – I’ve rambled enough for the week. I’ll leave off with the link to Mojo’s site. Happy Shooting all and we’ll see you back here on Monday! Have a great weekend:

Help Save Mojo

Thanks in advance to all that take the time to visit, share their thoughts, prayers, and contributions.

The Crop Factor…

February 6, 2009 Jason5 Comments

First off, my apologies for the absenteeism yesterday. After a really fun photo shoot with some friends in downtown Denver (more on that next week), I got home super late (by working standards – my shift is 7-4 and I need to take a bus an hour to get there…so I leave at 6, which means I am up at 5!), and went almost straight to bed! Hopefully the content today will make up for this, because it’s time to talk about (cue fanfare music)…the crop factor!

Now, before anyone gets all uppity because sensor crop factors have been discussed ad infinitum, just relax, because this isn’t about sensors (well, a little, but indirectly). I am talking about cropping your pictures in camera. We all do it, often to improve composition, or to focus in on one area of an image – but what about those undesired crops? What am I talking about? I am talking about images where it looks really great “in camera” but when you go to print it, the native aspect ratio won’t work for the size you want to print to. See, most SLR cameras (non-full frame anyway) have roughly an aspect ratio of 2:3. This means that you can print at this ratio without losing anything in your image. But, if you want to print at a different aspect ratio, then something has to be cropped out.

So, what aspect ratio will work with the 2:3 proportions? Who all remembers their grade school math? All you have to do is multiply each side of the ratio by the same number. So, prints that work are …

2×3″ prints (2:3 x 1:1 = 2×3)
4×6″ prints (2:3 x 2:2 = 4:6)
6×9″ prints (2:3 x 3:3 = 6:9)
8×12″ prints (2:3 x 4:4 = 8:12)

You get the gist…but here’s the thing – the only “standard” print size that really fits our native camera aspect ratio is the 4×6″ print. What if we want an 8×10″ print? Well, cropping is required then. This means losing some of your image. So, this also means that you need to think about this during image composition in camera – if you like it – and want to print it – remember to frame things so that the crop won’t lose key elements of the picture. Here’s a perfect example:

isla_original

I took the above shot on a trip down in Isla Mujeres. I absolutely love this shot. The problem is that my proportions are lost when I crop to print an 8×10. Take a look at the 8×10 crop:

isla_crop

It still looks pretty good, and I love the colors still, but some of the impact has been lost by cropping out the frame on both the left and the right. See how the brown “framing element” has been lost? I could have cropped less on that side and more on the orange side (even though the orange side is still cropped to a degree), but hopefully you’ll see the difference easily enough because it’s really the orange, yellow and blue that I think are the fundamental colors that hold my eye for this shot. Suffice to say, I still loved it enough to print and frame an 8×10…but that’s not the point here.

The point is to try and remember to frame your composition in camera with “the crop factor” in mind. By taking these measures into consideration, you can really have many more printable memories. So, when you go out shooting this weekend, keep the crop factor in mind. Happy shooting, enjoy the weekend, and we’ll see you back here on Monday!

The Boneyard and the Backstory

January 13, 2009 Jason9 Comments

I realize that photos should stand on their own merit without any back story, but in this case I am making an exception.

This island is called Bull Island, and is most well known for the dead tree trunks on the eastern shore that died from the assault of the Atlantic Ocean. Bleached white by the sun, salt, and sand, the beach area is called the boneyard because they look like bones.

I was organizing a trip to this island off the coast of SC which is only accessible by boat…so to the east of the island is the ocean and to the west is the mainland. We had gone once before during a regularly scheduled transport (10am), so knew the next time we would have to get them to make a special trip if we wanted any light.

Based on our estimated departure time and arrival on the west side of the island (you can’t dock at the ocean side), I suggested to all that they rent bikes in case we cut it close on sunrise…

So, we set off (already 20 minutes behind schedule due to one member tardy – total of 10 of us) in a skiff, because only one of us ended up bringing a bike. About halfway out to the island, the expert tour guide cuts the motor and stops in the murky light and stands up as if to get his bearings. We’re all cold, wrapped in jackets, with probably about $10 grand of gear (not to mention our lives) in this guys hands and he gets lost!

So, he finally gets his bearings, sits back down muttering something like “Sorry, never been out this early before – too dark.” So this has never been done before? Uh oh…
But, we arrive at the west side of the island without any major additional concerns…except light is rapidly gaining on us

As we dock, I realize I have a decision to make – do I stick with the group and probably lose any chance of catching sunrise on the east? Or do I mount my bike and take off like a bat outta hell? Given that this apparently had never been done before (and to my knowledge has not been done since) – this could be a once-in-a-lifetime chance. So, I take the latter and bail on the group.

I make it to the edge of the wooded paths, and have to ditch the bike (no riding on the beach), and start jogging through the heavy sand to reach the shore. As I pull into view of the ocean, I see the sun is already crested. Then, I see where the sun is, and realize it will cross between two “bones” as it rises. So, I set up the tripod to frame that and snap off probably 5-10 different comps before the sun gets too high.

About twenty minutes later the rest of the group shows up and asks “Did you make it in time?” I smiled…

So, does the story help the image? What about others? Anyone else have any compelling images they have some backstory for? Share yours in the comments! In the meantime, happy shooting, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow with a multimedia filled Wednesday! Until then, I hope all your shots are good ones!