Jeff Wignall's "The Joy of Digital Photography"

Use Reflections in Autumn Scenes

Autumn in New England is a beautiful time and a fun time to be a photographer, but photographing autumn scenery has always been a double-edged sword for me. On one hand, I find it to be (visually, at least) the most beautiful and inspiring season. The light at this time of year, with the sun rising lower in the sky and the color of the light softer and more golden, combined with the radiance of the autumn leaves, is a soul-expanding experience.

As beautiful as it is, however, I find it difficult to photograph, partly because trying to capture that beauty in a mere photograph can be overwhelming. I struggle between looking for the quintessential New England autumn shots of barns and covered bridges surrounded by flaming trees and searching out simpler, more symbolic images--a leaf floating in a stream, or a single golden branch against a radiant blue sky. The worst thing to do probably is to just drive around "looking" for pictures. I do, of course, scout around town by car for a half hour or so, but I find that parking, getting out and taking a closer look at simple scenes is often the best way to find pictures. It's really tough to spot winners at 30 mph!

Perhaps because I find fall to be such a reflective time, I often seem drawn to create compositions that include actual reflections. Reflections work nicely with autumn foliage partly, I think, because they double up on the color in a scene and also because we all seem to find reflections interesting, even alluring. By including the edge of the pond in this scene, for example, I was able to include the leaves twice--once in the scene and once in the reflection--while at the same time adding an interesting foreground.

You can intensify the colors in a reflection by using a polarizing filter if you position yourself at an angle of about 45-degrees from the surface of the water. Polarizing filters are set in a rotating mount and as you turn the filter you'll see the reflection become stronger and then (if you keep rotating it) the reflections will largely disappear. If you're shooting scenes that include a blue sky, you can also use a polarizing filter to darken blue skies, though I use them a lot less often now that I shoot digitally because I can adjust the skies more accurately in editing. I will write more about polarizing filters in a future posting, however.

This shot has only had minor editing, by the way. I warmed up it up a tad during the RAW conversion process by increasing the color temperature of the white balance. There is not, surprisingly enough, much saturation going on; just increasing the warmth was enough to intensify the colors quite a bit. Incidentally I'm addicted to using the RAW format now and feel free to post a comment or write if you'd like me to talk more about why I now love RAW so much (and this is a relatively new development for me!).

By the way, there's an interesting historical side note about the pond in this shot: Peck's Mill Pond is just a mile from my house and in 1899 it was the scene of the worst train disaster in Connecticut (and probably New England) history up to that point. A trolley went off its tracks crossing a small bridge over the pond and 36 people were trapped inside and killed. I grew up in this town and have always known of the tragedy that took place at the pond and so there is some element of reflection on that tragic event whenever I shoot photos of that pond.

Tino Wallenda: Life Lessons from the High Wire

I spent a few days photographing the great high-wire performer Tino Wallenda and his famous family of circus performers last week at a state fair in Connecticut. I had the chance to talk with Tino a few times and he is as kind and charming as he is talented and brave. Since I photographed him I've been absolutely enthralled by the entire Wallenda-family saga and I'm hoping to read several books about them (including Tino's autobiography that he kindly autographed for me) to learn more about their amazing history. The Wallenda story is filled to overflowing with tales of incredible talent, courage and tragedy--and of overcoming tragedy. It was a great thrill to see the family this close, to photograph them and to meet them.

As I photographed Tino walking high above the crowds, balanced on a thin wire strung between two cranes, I couldn't help but draw some philosophical and artistic lessons from his performance. (It would seem impossible to me that anyone could watch someone of this skill and courage and not get a few life lessons from the experience.) For one, I was amazed by how relaxed Tino was before, seemingly during, and obviously after each performance. Though there is a net set up for the trapeze artists, it would be of little use to him on the high wire since there is a substantial amount of rigging strung between him and the net. Yet he seems utterly relaxed as he performs. To have such courage and to perform (and he even toyed casually with the audience from his high perch) with such ease is a life lesson in itself: relax and enjoy what you're doing at every moment and especially during the moments when you are living closer to the edge. When you relax you not only perform better, but you enjoy it more (a lesson most golfers, for example, know very well).

And that made me think of lesson number two: embrace your passion. Whether your passion is to confront your own fate on a wire above a circus audience or just sitting on a beach photographing the sunset, it's important to realize that being involved in that passion--and fully living in that moment--is probably a high point of your life (artistically and spiritually) and it's worth acknowledging the greatness of that opportunity. After a tragic accident in which two members of the troupe were killed and others seriously injured, Tino's grandfather, the great Karl Wallenda, insisted on performing the very next night. He is quoted as saying, "Life is being on the wire; everything else is just waiting." Indeed.

Therein lies perhaps the ultimate Wallenda lesson: spend as much of your life living your passion as you can because if you have a true calling, if you hear a true voice, everything else is just waiting. If your kids are your passion, spend all the time you can with them. If taking pictures is one of your passions, carve out the time for that passion. If it's eating donuts, well...(perhaps just take up baking, instead).

There is also quite obviously, though perhaps less spoken, a lesson in faith in watching a performer whose tiniest misstep could mean a tragic fall: you never see a hint of fear in any of the Wallenda or Cortes faces. In fact, just the opposite: you see a look of total contented joy, call it inner peace, that somehow they know something that the rest of us don't: that when you walk in faith (whether you see that as a religious experience or just faith in your own skills and talents), you are connected to something larger than yourself--or, at least, to the more true core of your being.

The idea that life is not about clinging to safety (or standing "safely" on the ground) but rather to pushing yourself to the edge of your own destiny is one that has always fascinated me (and often only from the comfort of a recliner as I read about it!) and one that I had in my viewfinder while photographing this incredible family. To bring this back (ever so slightly) to photography, I once interviewed the great travel photographer Harvey Lloyd (who often hangs out of helicopters to photograph cruise ships--just looking at his photos gives me vertigo) who told me that his credo was: "If your life bores you, risk it." Do you see a theme here?

I don't think that Tino Wallenda finds anything in life boring, or thinks about the risks involved other than to minimize them, but I gathered in watching his grin of pure joy as he walked the high wire that, by comparison, much of the rest is not just waiting, but eager anticipation of the glorious moments he shares with us from the wire.

And you thought this was just a photography blog :)

"Winning Digital Photo Contests" Book is Published

If you've ever wanted to win a photo contest or would just like to see some of the amazing photos that have won them, you'll love my new book: Winning Digital Photo Contests (Lark Books). It just began shipping from online stores (Barnes & Noble and Amazon among others) in September and a few readers have seen it in Barnes & Nobles stores.

Probably the most unique thing about the book is that it is illustrated almost entirely by contest-winning photos from amateur photographers. The photographs will absolutely blow you away; their quality, diversity and sheer beauty is just incredible. And you'll not only read my thoughts on the photos and suggestions for how to take them, but you'll read comments from the photographers on how they made the pictures, why they chose that particular subject and why they shot the photo at that particular moment. Also, the meta data (exposure, camera, lens, etc.) is included for the vast majority of shots.

I have also included profiles of two amateur shooters that have won enormous numbers of photo contests: Heather McFarland and Robert Ganz. When you read their stories and see their photos you will just be in awe. Honestly, their stories will inspire you. There is also an interview that I did with National Geographic photographer Jim Richardson--who has judged hundreds of photo contests--about what it takes to catch the eye of a contest judge.

I first had the idea for the book about a year ago but I when I approached the publisher I told them that the only way the book would succeed would be if we could use contest-winning photos for the majority of the illustrations. Surprisingly, they agreed (and I'm sure have lived to regret the logistical nightmare that decision unleashed!). We looked at thousands of winning photos from around the world, narrowed them down to the top 100-plus photos and then contacted and interviewed all of the photographers. It was an exhausting process at times, but it was also a lot of fun. In fact, as much as I like seeing my own photos illustrating my books, I couldn't have had more fun or been more excited about choosing the photographs for this book.

You will also find a lot of information about how to find the best contests (picture-of-the-day contests, monthly online contests, print contests, etc.), what sorts of images get judges' attention and just a lot of good picture-taking advice. Entering contests is a great way to motivate yourself to shoot new pictures, it's an excellent way to share you photos with a worldwide audience and, of course, you could win some really cool prizes--trips, cameras, workshops, etc. So don't hide your photos in your hard drive, show the world! And we'll be updating the book regularly, so if you do win, let me know and we'll consider them for the next edition.

Read (and Believe) the Wildlife Warning Signs!

Recently I've been researching a possible trip to Yellowstone National Park this fall. It's a place I've always wanted to photograph and I need a lot of photos for a new book so hopefully this will be the year. While I was researching the trip I came across a page on the park's official site that gave some very serious warnings (including a video of elk attacking cars) about keeping yourself safe from wildlife and vice versa.

I take those kinds of warnings seriously (and so should you) because I've seen wildlife in parks do some very unpredictable things. Last year we revisited the Neil Smith National Wildlife Refuge in Iowa, a wonderful prairie preserve that has a free-roaming heard of bison. There are signs when you're entering the bison area that warn you that these are wild (and big--they weigh in excess of a few thousand pounds) and unpredictable animals. People take the signs for granted though and somehow think the bison know that you're visitors and they'll remain calm in your presence.

Trust me, the animals will do exactly as they please--always. While we were driving (very slowly) up a gravel road, suddenly we saw a heard of 40 or so bison heading right for us and as they got closer, their pace picked up dramatically. Within seconds they traversed several hundred yards and were heading right for our car (and the car in front of us--see the photo) and in a few more seconds we were completely surrounded by huge, snorting, excited bison. I have no idea what sent them off on a tear or why they ended up on the gravel road around us, but to unexpectedly be engulfed by dozens of two or three thousand pound wild animals (with horns) is a weird and insecure feeling. I have almost no fear (but lots of respect) of most wild animals, but this was still an unnerving experience--and we were in a car! I remember thinking that our SUV probably wasn't much of a match for one of these guys running at full speed. To make things even more edgy, there were a number of babies in the herd and parents are much more unpredictable when there are young nearby.

Fortunately the animals remained very calm and ended up just grazing and feeding their young almost within arm's reach. We sat for about a half an hour watching and photographing them at super close range and wondering what was next. Then, on some secret signal from one of the herd elders, they left as quickly as they'd come.

If you're traveling to a wildlife refuge this summer, pay attention to the warning signs, even if other people don't. And take time before your trip to research exactly what type of animals you're likely to encounter in a particular park. If you're going to hike or go into the back country, be sure to know also what types of snakes and insects you're likely to encounter and how to protect yourself. Can I tell you the dozens of times I stepped off into the brush in various Florida refuges to take a leak before I was reminded by two kids walking along with an eight-foot Eastern Diamondback rattlesnake on a stick that Florida is overrun with venomous snakes!

What Lens Next for Your DSLR?

Other than asking me what camera they should buy, the question I get most from friends (and students) with DSLR cameras is: What lens should I buy next? Most people buy their DSLR as a kit these days and that usually includes a fairly substantial zoom lens that covers a range from moderately wide angle to moderate telephoto. These lenses are typically lightweight, fast-focusing and, for the optical range they cover, offer a lot of flexibility.

The larger issue for me is that these lenses are restricted to a fairly moderate (i.e., creatively safe) optical zone. You get a moderate wide-angle lens through a moderate telephoto lens range and that's it. I much prefer working with optics that are capable of providing a more extreme view of the world--either extremely wide-angle or extremely telephoto. Let's look at wide-angle lenses first and in the next posting I'll talk about teles.

Most consumer-level DSLR cameras have a DX sensor that is about one-third (in terms of diagonal size) the size of a 35mm frame of film. One of the byproducts of having a digital sensor that is smaller is that, because the sensor is only seeing the center of the lens' coverage, the focal length of whatever lens you're using is effectively longer. This magnification is called the cropping factor. Typically you have to multiply the focal length of a lens designed for 35mm by a factor of 150% (it varies by camera and sensor) to get the effective focal length. (And again, I'm only talking here about cameras that have a smaller sensor; lenses used on digital SLRs that have a full-frame sensor provide the same coverage that they would provide on a 35mm film camera.) This is great if you're a telephoto lens user (if you often shoot wildlife or sports, for example), but not so great if you like using very wide-angle lenses.

If, for example, you're using a 24mm lens--which provides a stunning wide-angle view on 35mm--you're working with what is effectively a 36mm lens on a DSLR. That's only a moderate wide-angle at best and is actually closer to a "normal" lens. In order to get really wide-angle effects with your DX-sensor DSLR you'll need a much wider lens. I recently bought a 10-20mm Sigma ultra wide-angle lens and I love it. In terms of 35mm lenses it provides the angle of view of a 15-30mm lens and so restores the ultra wide-angle view that I'd get with a lens in that focal-length range. Nikon makes a 12-24mm lens that provides coverage equal to an 18-36mm lens on 35mm and Canon's EF-S 10-22 USM is approximately the same.

The beauty of a really wide-angle lens is that it exaggerates spaces like crazy and can elongate shapes and provide a much greater feeling of depth in all kinds of photos from landscapes to still lifes. I shot the photo of the old freight train show here (shot in Greenville, Maine) using the Sigma 10-20mm lens specifically to exaggerate the shapes and length of the train cars. Look at how that near car seems to be looming over the rest of the train and really draws the eye into the composition.

If this type of visual exaggeration appeals to you, you might want to consider adding an extreme wide-angle lens to your DSLR kit. I would suggest getting something that offers a minimum focal length in the range of 15-22mm (in terms of 35mm coverage), so 10-15mm in the DX lens format. (I wouldn't go for a "fisheye" lens as your first ultra-wide lens, but I will talk about those in a future posting.) In the next posting I'll talk about the advantages of adding a more extreme telephoto lens.

Big Photo Print Sale: Blow Yourself Up

If you're never seen one of your photos blown up big--really big--you need to try it. Seeing your photos as an 8x10 is fine, but when you see a 20 x 24-inch print, or better yet, a 30 x 40-inch print, it will blow your mind.

My friend Dave Z who owns ConnTech Imaging here in Connecticut has just announced a summer print sale that will let you see beautifully made color enlargements of your work at amazingly low prices. I've been using Dave's lab for years to make both personal and commercial client enlargements and the prints are the best you'll see anywhere--and I'd say that even if he wasn't my friend.

All of the prints are made from digital files on lustre finish Fuji Crystal Archive photographic and they will probably outlive your kids. I had Dave make some prints for one of my clients last summer and the client (an oil company) was blown away--they immediately had the prints framed for their office lobby. All that you have to do to get a print made is send a 300 dpi file (they'll help you set up an ftp for file transfer) sized to the size of the enlargement you want. Color corrections aren't included at this price--but the lab will match your file colors precisely. (They do, of course, offer color correction and other lab work for additional fees, but if you send them a great file, you'll get a great print.)

The lab will print from jpeg or TIFF files and they'll ship prints for $5 priority mail to any address in the United States. Here are the sale prices (the sale ends July 31st, so don't procrastinate!).

16x16 $7.00
16x20 $8.75
16x24 $10.50
20x24 $13.10
20x30 $16.40
24x30 $19.65
24x36 $25.90
30x30 $26.60
30x40 $32.75

As I've said before, I don't like to promote anything commercial in this blog, but this is a great print sale and worth knowing about. You can call the lab if you have questions: 203-878-8100. Or just go to the ConnTech site and get more details.

Exploit Lighting Contrast for Dramatic Images

One of the most difficult issues in getting a good exposure is contrast. The problem is that both digital sensors and film have a limited dynamic range--the range between brightest and darkest tones. When you go beyond that range you start to lose detail in either the highlights or the shadows (depending on which exposure decisions you make). If you expose for the bright areas you end up with shadows that are pure black with no detail, and if you expose for the highlights, you get whites that look very washed out.

Does this mean you can't shoot in very contrasty situations? No! You can actually exploit those contrast limits to create very dramatic images. Since there's usually not that much visual information in shadows anyway (there are exceptions to that), what I tend to do is to expose for the brightest areas where I want detail and let the shadows go dark. That's exactly what I did in this shot of daffodils: I took a reading (in matrix mode) with the flowers in the center of the frame and then shot at that exposure. I knew that the flower stalks and the greenery around the blossoms was going to go dark, but I like the way the lighting spotlighted the bright yellow daffodils.

I shot this photo in the late afternoon, by the way, just before the sun disappeared behind a hill. That late sun is very low angle, of course, so it helped with the spotlighting effect. The light, while it was fairly intense, was also very warm, so that helped too. By exposing just for that highlights though, it saturated the warm lighting and the colors in the flowers.

Next time you're faced with a contrasty situation that seems impossible to expose for, try taking a reading from the brightest object where you want detail and let the shadows go dark--it's a contrasty look, to be sure, but sometimes also very dramatic.

Photoshop Hue & Saturation Fun: Leave Reality Behind

I have a friend that is a DJ at the FM station where I do a monthly music and interview show (WPKN 89.5 FM) who is always quick to remind me that, in art at least (and lots of other things), reality is far overrated. And when it comes to playing around in Photoshop, he's certainly right. While I use image editing largely to enhance reality and make my images appear more like they appeared to me in person (but even that is a bit of an abstraction since the way your eyes/brain see a scene and the way the camera sees them are two different things), but sometimes leaving reality far behind is a lot more fun.

The simplest way to alter reality in a photograph is just to turn the colors inside out. Changing the colors of familiar objects is fun because while people recognize what your subject used to be, they have to view it in a brand new light. And in Photoshop (and most editing programs) altering color is a piece of cake. In fact, I only used two tools to turn this normally blue and green peacock in a shocking mix of red and blue. The first thing that I did was to simply play wiht the "hue" slider in the hue-saturation tool. As you move that slider left or right all of the color relationships change. Once I had a color combination I liked, I used the "saturation" slider in that tool to really intensify the colors. Next I used the curves tool to heighten the contrast (by making the darks darker and the bright areas brighter) and further saturate the colors.

While I played with the image for 20 mintues or so, the actual work only took about five minutes. Remember that there is no right or wrong when it comes to mixing up colors in an image--whatever looks good to you works.

Visit My Photo Tip of the Day Blog, too!

You may have noticed that I haven't updated this blog in a few months and that's partly because I've been busy writing a new book for Lark Books (on how to win digital photo contests). I've also had an unusually high number of photo assignments for some reason. No complaints!

But the real reason that I haven't updated this recently is that I've started yet another blog (my third) called the Photo Tip of the Day blog. I began the blog about three months ago and, miracle of miracles, I've actually been able to keep up with the daily postings (well, OK, occasionally I'm a day or two behind!). So please visit that blog, especially if you're just learning photography or want to move to a higher level of shooting. I think you'll find the daily tips both useful and interesting. And I'm always open to suggestions for topics, so feel free to write!

I will keep this blog fresher from now on and will probably use it more for industry news, equipment reviews, longer shooting tips, etc.

By the way, the shot here is of my girlfriend in Monument Valley in Utah and the photo is the subject of one of the tips on the new blog: when it's OK to break the rules of composition.

And by the way, as of this posting date, I'm still looking for contest-winning photos to illustrate my new book (the entire book is being illustrated by contest-winning photos by amateur photographers), so if you've ever won a photo contest, send me the details and the photo and we'll see if we can't work it into the book. You'll get a small fee, a free copy of the book and your name in lights :)

Photographing People at Work

Every day we're surrounded by people at work: men putting a new roof on the house next door, people selling produce at the farmers' market--even just the crossing guard that gets your kids across Main Street safely. But how often do you stop and capture these bits of daily life with your camera? In large part all of these people who keep the fabric of our life together go unnoticed and undocumented. We tend to develop a blind spot to everyday events, but the things people do for a living are often quite interesting visually.

More importantly you never know just how valuable those images might become--particularly to the subjects themselves. Recently I had a big old maple tree taken down in my backyard and I got so fascinated watching them work I decided to document their amazing skills (and courage--the tree was nearly 90-feet tall). These guys swung around the tree tops with a four-foot chain saw like ballerinas on an aerial stage. I probably shot 100 or so images during the several hours that they worked.

Once the tree cutters had the tree down, I went inside, downloaded the images and printed a few of the guy that did most of the cutting. When I gave him the prints he was pretty shocked and I thought it was because I was able to hand him an 8 x 10-inch print in a matter of minutes. But the story was far more interesting: It turns out he'd never seen a photograph of himself at work and--even more incredibly--his mother back in Central America hadn't seen a photo of him in the 12 years he'd been living and working here. I was stunned. In all the time he was living here--and living here legally--he'd never had a photo taken of himself to send home.

Of course I gave him a set of prints to send to his mother and he was overwhelmed and very grateful. Here I was just trying to pass the time and put some more images into my library and those photos became a connection between a mother and son thousands of miles apart. Everyone has a story to tell, as a photographer it's your job to help them tell it visually.