Watch The Edges

I don't do art well. If there is anything that governs my selection of subjects, it would be how I respond to their coloration. or how subtleties of in lighting reveal some form or texture. Other times, the subject is visually amusing. And that doesn't take much.

Lately, my primary "morning walk" camera has been a Fuji X-70. It has an 18mm lens, the equivalent to a 28mm lens on a full frame camera. The camera has a leaf shutter that allows me to synchronize flash at exposures of 1/1000 of a second, sometimes less if the conditions are right. It also has a  tilting LCD panel which comes in handy when photographing from high or low camera angles. I also own the dedicated Fuji eye-level optical viewfinder which I could use, but don't from fear of dropping this relatively expensive accessory.

My biggest thrill has been the the X-70's ability to create images where the sky could be exposed to an ominous level of darkness. By adding a small flash, I can properly expose a foreground subject. The ambient exposure for the left image was 1/1000, F11, ISO 400. I needed the small aperture to keep the yellow rose in sharp focus. The one on the right  was shot at 1/1000, F5.6, ISO 100 because I needed a more open aperture to minimize the depth of field, which was a gesture in futility when using an 18mm lens. Still I liked both images because of the color, a bias to which I freely admit.

Halloween: In my neighborhood, Halloween is a big thing. It's a chance to buy plastic garden ghouls and create one's own Danse Macabre in the front yard. One nearby home displays a plastic skeleton that must stand fifteen feet tall.

In years past, I would haunt the Cole Valley neighborhood where the decorations appeared to be seasonal art projects created by local children. It appears to be a very desirable neighborhood for young families due to the proximity of Grattan Elementary School. Way back then I usually carried a camera with a manually focused prime lens, and this required an attention level 110% and both hands on the camera. With the autofocusing X-70, I now had a free hand to hold a small off-camera flash. This, along with my purchase of a Lightpix Q20, made flash-enhanced images so much easier to create.

1/1000, F 16, ISO 100

By way of comparison, this photo was made without flash at the ambient exposure of  1/1000, F 16, ISO 100. These settings are under the standard "Sunny Sixteen Rule" by more than three stops, which is the darkest I can make the sky without resorting to a neutral density filter. The flash (output unrecorded) provided enough light to properly expose my ghostly friend, although the highlights are a bit hlt. Without the camera's autofocusing capability, I could not have used my free hand to hold the flash, a definite disadvantage. By contrast the second shot was made at 1/125, F 11, ISO 100. Compared to the first shot, I added three more stops of exposure to get the details in the sky and the house in the background (below right). It also becomes very clear that if there was to be any foreground detail at all, it would have to be provided by the off-camera flash. 

1/125, F 11, ISO 100

From here on out, the little remote flash did all of the heavy lifting. Working in the digital universe has definite advantages. The instantaneous feedback provided by the LCD screen allow for on-the-spot adjustments to exposure and composition, and when working with a manual flash at close range, one can simply move the flash in or out to achieve the desired exposure.

One problem that comes with the tiny Q20 flash is the coverage. It was probably designed to cover the frame area of a 35mm lens, or longer, a presumption I've never been inclined to test empirically. When working with photos like these this limitation isn't too bothersome if I take the care to "aim" the flash directly at the center of interest. If you look at the skeleton photo, you can see the light fall-off at the lower half of the frame. The only correction is to move the flash farther from the subject and suffer the subsequent loss of light intensity.

So What's The Beef? If one forgives the vapid background and the totally unthreatening blue sky, what's not to like? Well, for starters, the bat-like creature near the upper right hand corner. Had I framed it more carefully, I could have included the entire silhouette within the frame, adding some tiny bit of relevance to the image. 

I normally don't  re-shoot images that proved unsuccessful when viewed in post production. This all points to one revelation that I can't escape: I need to pay closer attention to the overall content of the frame and not concentrate solely on my momentary euphoria that bright colors so often elicit.