Happy New Year - Twice

1/8 second, F 5.6,  ISO 1250

Year Of The Snake: Things have been very quiet, photography-wise.  After Christmas, it seems like the world unwinds to welcome the New Year in a post-celebratory stupor. Well, the Peninsula's Lunar New Year celebrations have just started, and for the first time, I photographed a celebration in San Bruno's Centennial Plaza. It is also the first time I photographed the event at night, which is something I've never done before. In many ways, this provides both opportunities and challenges. which is important to remember lest one's work become uninteresting and stale.

1/8 second, F 5.6, ISO 1600

Printing The Honorable Mentions: It's easy for photographers like Joe McNally to offer up entire portfolios of world class images, and as an aspiring photographer, it is an inspiration for my own work. So why would I print my Honorable Mentions? They remind me that at some point in confronted a lighting or composition problem, and scored a charitable near miss. This photo has some future potential. If I had positioned myself in alignment with the triangular formation of the musicians, I would have achieved a more symmetrical composition. Unfortunately, I would have probably stepped on some babies to do so, and besides, these old bones aren't as nimble as they were last year. But taken in total, the photo was a partial success. First, there are not shadows or hot spots on the ground. My flash, held above my head, was aimed towards the rear performers, so only the soft edge of the light hit those in the foreground.

1/8 second, F 5.6, ISO 1600

In addition to the upward tilt of the flash, I had also installed a single grid spot onto my Godox V1 flash.This confines the illumination to a narrow beam, just like a spot light. In this shot you can also see the white balance issues that occur with mixed light sources. 

I thought that I would change the camera's White Balance Preset to Tungsten to get a more realistic rendering of the background. You can see the effects of a Daylight preset (left) to a Tungsten preset (right). If I added a Tungsten gel to my flash I could better integrate the two light sources. Unfortunately, the gel took away too much light, so I took the gel off. It isn't just about increasing the flash output to compensate for the light lost to the gel. This seriously increases recycle time, and that is an important consideration when working with moving subjects.

1/8 second, F 5.6, ISO 1600

Our beloved lion has pulled out a toy stuffed snake from the red tube at the right of the frame, I remember struggling with the camera controls, trying to select the proper focal length with the same hand I was using to hold the flash. Anyway, the magic moment really got away from me this time. This was a new addition to the act, pulling a reptile out of a red tub. Wait a minute. Year of the Snake. Makes sense now.

Technique Vs. Ergonomics: I wanted to attend this evening performance for a number of reasons. 

The Camera: I was using my standard Fuji T2 with the 10-24 F 4.0 zoom lens. I occasionally used in the manual focus mode with the hopes of eliminating the camera's labored efforts to establish focus in this low light environment. 

The Lens: The 10-24 F 4.0 does not have an aperture ring or an external distance scale. When I needed to make an adjustment, I was forced to put down the flash and use both hands to verify my changes in aperture and distance on the LCD panel. 

The Flash: The flash was my Godox V1 with a single mounted grid spot. Adjustments are done using the shoe-mounted controller which was difficult to see and adjust. Again, adjustments are a two-handed process.

1/8 second, F 5.6, ISO 1250

I immediately started to rethink my approach when shooting up close with a super-wide angle lens. For me the trouble started when I needed to change flash output settings when the subjects moved in and out of my preferred distance. If I could stay within a three to six foot shooting distance, all would be reasonably well. But when the distance increased, I was often forced to lay down my flash and use both hands to  make the adjustments.

These two "run and gun" shots required a lot of quick adjustments, which often kept me from paying attention the action. To capture the ambient light, I was shooting at ISO 1600 with a shutter speed of 1/8 of a second. There was lots of blur, not just from my subjects, but from having to grab a fleeting shot. The motion blur is interesting to look, but I must say it would never work in black and white.

1/8 second, F 5.6, ISO 1250

This last shot was made at the conclusion of the performance. I had to move quickly to get into position, and even then only had time for four shots. From an exposure perspective, I am pleased with the results. The narrow beam of the flash highlighted the main center of interest, and the camera's white balance setting to match the flash made the color pop.

Next Time: If I have an a similar assignment in the future, there are some equipment changes that might make everything easier. Those changes would include:

Flash: While I prefer the Godox V1 for its rounded lighting pattern, I'm going to try using a Flashpoint Zoom Li-on flash. They recycle quickly, have a zoom flash head, and most importantly, they were designed for manual operation. Output is controlled with a rotating wheel, which can be adjusted with one hand.

 

Controller: In this case, I would use on older radio trigger. a long discontinued Calumet Wireless Trigger. It's a simple radio trigger that has a hot-shoe mounted on top which allows me to trigger a full-powered softbox for a key light and having the option of mounting a conventional TTL speedlight for on-camera fill. 

Lens: Here's the sticking point. I might be better off if I used a fully manual lens with all manual controls. This way I'll be able to see both the distance and the aperture while looking down on the camera, For this work my Pergear 14mm 2.8 mounted on my  Sony A7 should do the trick.

I believe that these changes in my equipment may make these shots a little easier to make, since all the adjustments can be done with one hand,  and he settings easily seen from above. We shall see.

The 2024 Holiday Train

1/15 second, F 7.1, ISO 1600, Daylight White Balance

The Holiday Train rumbles along its San Francisco Peninsula route twice in one weekend. On the first night, it stops at alternating stations along the Caltrain's route from San Francisco to Santa Clara, and repeats the trip on Sunday and stops at the stations it missed on the first run.

The Nuts And Bolts: This photo relied on a high ISO setting to achieve detail in the background. The rail car was turned into a stage, and was artificially lit. Machines directed artificial snow toward the audience. I was using a Fuji X-T camera with a Godox V1 flash with a diffuser dome with the head tilted to 45 degrees up. The lens was a 10-24mm F 4.0 zoom.

Working The Crowd: It is always a challenge to work a crowd like this. With so many people it can be difficult to get the ideal shooting position, and the rapidly changing lighting conditions force on-the-fly exposure adjustments, especially to the flash output. I love the quality of light the V-1 provides, but my complaints about the control layout are still valid. These units often dedicate a single control point to several different functions, making a simple misplacement of finger an invitation down the rabbit hole of inadvertent control changes. I explored the flash "lock"options, but when activated, it locks everything, including flash output in the manual mode.

Similar problems occur in the Fuji camera bodies. After my experience on Saturday, I deactivated all of the programmable function buttons. This makes it harder to change things like White Balance, but  changes in these settings are infrequent, however tedious.

Visual Elements: When I arrived on location, I try to locate anything that will help "fill out" the story. I was first drawn to the San Mateo train station sign, and experimented with compositions that would include it. I made a few test shots, and found that I couldn't create a composition that would show both the sign and the Holiday Train in any detail. I decided to eliminate the sign and focus on Santa, or one of his helpers. 

Holiday Train in 2023

When I photographed the event in 2023, I was able to the this shot of Santa with the spectators, along with some detail in the train itself. The crowd was held at bay by a police barricade. The distance between the train and the barrier was about eight feet, so the position of my subjects would be critical. And the train could only stop for twenty minutes, and Santa needed to shake as many hands as possible in the 100 foot long reception line. Needless to say, everybody was hustling. I remember feeling lucky to get this shot, as Santa was working the fence line and stayed in this location for only a minute and I was able to get only three shots before he moved to the next group of visitors. Also notice that the shot was made at a 45 degree angle to the train, giving me more background to work with. 

Holiday Train in 2024

Handedness: When photographing a right-handed subject, try to position yourself on your subject's opposite side. This minimizes the chance that a raised arm will condeal your subject's face. In 2024, Santa seems to be a southpaw, and my position on his right gave me an unobstructed view of his face. There wasn't enough context for me to submit the image, but it does illustrate how the photographer's position plays a role in the outcome of the photograph.

Flash To Subject Distance: This is an important consideration when working with on-camera flash. When I mount a diffusion dome, I normally tilt the flash head at a 45 degree angle from the horizontal. This increases the distance from the lens axis to the light source, which gives a bit more modeling (shaping) to the subject. This 2024 Santa shot was taken at a greater distance, so the effect of the higher flash position is minimal.

Since a Santa shot proved too elusive to pursue, I moved away from the barrier and headed towards the sound of Christmas carols. I found that one of the Holiday Train cars had been configured as a small stage, and carolers were already singing holiday songs. I saw kids trying to catch the flakes of artificial snow and decided to work that shot. This first attempt showed that there was enough existing light to illuminate the singers, so I only had to worry about my flash and who to illuminate. The shot definitely had legs, so I started to work my way closer to the stage.

When I got close to the barrier, I found that the children, perched upon their father's shoulders, might make an interesting frame for the train car. This photo was made before the train's departure, and I thought this would be the Money Shot. However, the more I looked at the image, the less I liked it. The singers in red seemed to compete with the two kids reaching for snowflakes at the right edge of the frame. I was happy that the snow was very visible, but the harder I looked at the image, the less enamoured I became. I felt I had created two different images that competed for the viewer's attention. I went back through the images, looking for one that "worked better".

I chose this earlier frame, which placed the emphasis on the singers in the background. The two kids now serve to frame the image, and since they are both facing the stage, help direct the viewer's attention to the train. They are now more a framing element and less a distraction. I also left the spotlight in place to help the view understand why the snowflakes were now visible. The overexposure of the singers was necessary to make the snow more visible, but considering their relative size and the detail obliterating nature of newsprint reproduction, probably not a great loss. When I get down to San Mateo and get a hard copy, I'll know for sure.