Bike Day In San Carlos

Several community organizations got together to present a kid-friendly workshop on bicycle safety. When I received the assignment, I thought about ways I could visually suggest the purpose of the event. When I saw the "Helmet Fitting" sign, I determined that this would be a good context detail. Now I just needed some faces to fill the photo out.

As luck would have it, a series of children with their parents started to parade past the station, and volunteer Robert checked each one, sometimes suggesting to a parent that it was time to get a new, larger helmet. When little Haley came along, a knew I had my subject. As Robert worked, I made dearly a dozen photos, occasionally changing my position to minimize background distractions. By shooting from a low angle I was able to use the empty sky as neutral background,

I had a chance to talk with Robert about my camera selection. Initially he thought my Fuji T-2 was a DSLR since the Fuji's T series of cameras have that characteristic hump. After explaining that the T-2 was indeed a mirrorless camera, I resumed shooting. When I was sure my shot was "in the can", I thanked the volunteers and headed home.

Read Ken Rockwell's Evaluation here.

Bug's Eye View: On the way home, I thought about Robert's mistaking my camera for an SLR, and consequently, how my approach has changed since switching to the T series of camera. I had used Fuji's earlier E Series bodies when I starting moving away from my Nikon DSLRs. The the real changes came when I moved up to the T series cameras. The feature that most changed my shooting style was the reticulated LCD panel. It allows me to make photos from pavement level to give me a clean, blue-sky background. As you can see, the technique helped me minimize the background clutter while also minimizing the difference in height of the two subjects.

Shadow Reduction: I usually use a camera-mounted flash to fill the shadows. When working with people wearing baseball caps, a shadow from the visor will usually appear across the subject's face ending just below the eyes. In many cases this can be eliminated by having the wearer push the cap to the back of their head, but impractical if one's subjects are active or facing into the sun. The solution is simple: I simply hold the camera upside down so the lighting comes from below. It usually works fine on the first try, but sometimes shadows can be cast in places you wouldn't expect, so you have to be careful.

You can see in this cropped sample that the light neatly filled Haley's face. The only clue to flash placement is the shadow along the top edge of Robert's right sleeve, although I don't think anybody would have notice had I not called it to your attention.

Low Angle Composition: One final trick you can add to your bag: To facilitate an accurate composition when "flying inverted", simply flip your reticulated LCD panel as you would when shooting in the "Hail Mary" overhead position. Now you can easily control your composition and monitor the expressions of your subjects. When I have time, I explain what I'm doing to my subjects, and more importantly, why. This gives me some professional credibility, and allows them to completely ignore my unconventional shooting technique.

Arrived on time, made the shot in ten minutes, then headed home. Good day.