Coolpix A, Ya Done Me Wrong!

Photo #1

One morning, I was taken by how the blue sky seemed to peer through the breezeway of my neighbor's home. My own stairwell provided something of a frame for that patch of blue, so I grabbed my Nikon Coolpix A and made some shots. This modestly adjusted photo (Photo #1) was pretty much what I had in mind. But I digress.

Photo #2

Photo #3

The first shot (Photo #2) was Straight Out Of Camera (SOOC). The sky was pretty much where I wanted it, but the walls were too dark (or too light if I wanted something more foreboding). The exposure was 1/500 of a second, F 11, ISO 200.

It seems like I'm pretty much hard-wired to augment all of my photos with flash. And while I could have easily corrected the exposure difference in post-production, I felt flash was the better way to go. Besides, I might learn something new. And I did, but it had nothing to do with flash.

The next shot (Photo #3) was made using an SB-700 aimed directed forward. A few things should be noted. First the color rendition was spot on (the walls are indeed off-white). But notice how the brightness decreases as the strobe to subject distance increases. You can see that the closer left wall is noticeably brighter than the far wall. One other feature is the relative lack of shadows. On-camera flash tends to flatten everything, and I will remember that if that's the effect I'm trying to achieve. The front-to-back variation in brightness does bother me.

Photo #4

When I rotated the flash head and bounced my light (Photo #4), I immediate saw the effects of bouncing from and off-white bounce surface on to the equally off-white background wall, something of a "warm on warm" effect. The light fall-off was are reduced, however, and the shadows, while soft, were definitely there. I was happy with the image until I noticed a dust spot (See arrow)  in the sky.

Bad, Bad, Bad! I had sent the camera off when the first dust spot was discovered, and am now annoyed to find that another seems to have taken its place. I don't remember if I made a test photo to see that Nikon had done what they said (replaced the entire lens unit as it was supposedly sealed and couldn't be cleaned). This make me question whether the designers of the camera took  invasive dust particles into consideration, though it appears they did not. Nikon appears to have been attempting to compete with the then new Fuji X-100 camera (APS sensor, 16 megapixel sensor), and ultimately produced a camera that couldn't cut it. During Christmas 2015, the cameras were selling for less than $300.00, an obvious move by dealers to rid themselves of this white (in my case black) elephant.

I originally bought my camera used for about $600.00 when the $1,095.00 retail price was still in effect. I felt that was a reasonable price, and so far as performance was concerned, was reasonably happy. It had its shortcomings, but I had intended to use it only as a high sync speed specialty camera to carry just in case my usual DSLRs couldn't hack it. It might still fulfill that role, as it can still do some amazing flash-in-daylight tricks when called to do so. Its 28mm equivalent lens gave it the edge over the Fuji X-100's lens' 35mm equivalent, and that was the main reason I gave the camera a chance in the first place. But now there's that darned spot...

http://www.bhphotovideo.com

For now, I don't know what I'll do with the camera, since I don't sell off my less-than-worthy equipment. Since the price reached its nadir last year, there's no hope for recovering anything close to what I now have in the camera. Anyway, I find myself shifting slowly towards the Fuji platform, and really liking it. Now I am on the lookout for a WCL-X100 Wide-Angle Conversion Lens,  which gets the nod from a several photographers whose opinion I trust.

Right now, I'm surfing to see if I can find a reasonably priced unit. Once attached, I'll get that high speed synchronization I wanted in the first place, on a camera platform (Fuji) I appreciate more with each assignment.

February 6, 2016: By the time this is published, I will have received my Wide Angle Conversion Lens via eBay. As I have a Chinese New Year's celebration coming up, we'll see how it performs in the field.

MLK Freedom Train

Photo #1

Photo #1 is Dr. Richard Hutchinson, the first African American doctor to practice in the city of San Mateo. At 92, he still maintains office hours, seeing to the needs of the community that he supported for many years. I photographed him at a luncheon where he was the Guest of Honor, and it was wonderful to see how many of his friends and former patients came to pay their respects. He is a gentleman of the first order. 

Every now and then I concentrate too much on technique and subsequently lose focus on what the assignment is all about. After giving it some thought, I believe that suitable images should incorporate all of what I will call the 4 C's:

• Content: Does the foreground reveal additional details about what is happening?  
• Composition: Does the arrangement of you main subject/s keep the viewer engaged? 
• Calibration: Are the tonal values of the foreground kept within a range commensurate with the background? 
• Context: Does the background suggest the location or purpose of the event your photographing?

Falling In Love With Technique: I was again using my Fuji cameras and lenses. My new X-T1 was my lead body, and definitely a hot-rod when compared with the X-E1 that accompanied it. Only two lenses were in play today: The 18mm F 2.0 and the 35mm F 1.4. I was carrying a new (manual only)  Flash Point Zoom Li-on flash, intending to "dial in" the proper amount of fill on a "best guess" basis. I was happy that I didn't have to carry an auxiliary battery pack to insure fast recycle times in this high-output flash fill environment, as outdoor shooting under sunny conditions tends to be.

Photo #2

Photo #2: Dorothy Boyajian Teacher Award winner Ashley Gray of the Sequoia Union High School District receives congratulations from Honorary Chairperson Dr. James Hutchinson at the 17^th annual celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Monday, January 18 at the San Mateo Train Station. The award is given to teachers who Inspires their students in the areas of justice, understanding, civic engagement and diversity awareness. The presentation was followed by a ride on the new Celebration Train to activities at the Yerba Buena Center For the Arts and Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco.

Simple on-camera flash fill was used for this shot. The highlights are a tad hot, but processed the image straight from the JPG instead of making some exposure adjustments with the RAW file.

Photo #3

Photo #3: Brisbane Mayor Cliff Lentz was among the attendees at the 17^th annual celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Monday, January 18 at the San Mateo Train Station. The event concluded with a ride on the new Celebration Train to activities at the Yerba Buena Center For the Arts and Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco.

This shot was done with the flash connected to the camera with a neutered SC-17 cable. Again, some manipulation with the power output of the speedlight to minimized overexposure. The flash itself was mounted on a Canon Chest Pod so I could get my light slightly above my subject's face from my low shooting position. Incidentally, I made more than 20 images, and was sure to thank the Mayor for his cooperation. I should have showed him my press pass before I started shooting. Oh well.

Photo #4

Photo #4: The Pledge of Allegiance was led  by Cub Scouts from Den 12 and Wolf Pack 22  at the 17^th annual celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Monday, January 18 at the San Mateo Train Station. Attendees would later ride the new Celebration Train to activities at the Yerba Buena Center For the Arts and Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco.

This was an on-camera fill flash shot made at an extremely low angle. The LCD on the back of the Fuji made it fairly easy to get this ground-level shot.The flash head was angled up slightly to prevent overexposure to the lower half of the frame.

Time To Panic: As soon as the first three images were sent, I got a call from the Editor: "Do you have a shot that shows more of the crowd? We need a lead photo."  Actually, my Spider Sense kicked in, and what I heard was, "These shots suck. Do you have anything, I mean ANYTHING that might show more of the crowd?"
 

I remembered I made five shots of the bright yellow banner held up by some event volunteers. I initially rejected them because I wasn't pleased with the Calibration (shadows, improperly filled), and the Composition. There was some Content (The big MLK on the banner) and some Context (the train in the background). I looked them over, and chose this last shot (Photo #5) as the best compromise. I held my breath, and sent it.

Photo #5

I didn't hear back from the Editor, so I assumed that it was suitable.

It ran the next day, above the crease, and a full three columns wide. It anchored the accompanying article well, and in retrospect, spoke to the event far better than the earlier three, in spite of my initial reservations about this image.

My singular mistake was forgetting that it is acceptable to use each assignment as a chance to experiment with equipment or techniques under field conditions, as long as I ultimately submit a photograph that meets the important requirements of context, content, composition, and calibration, something I obviously forgot in my excitement. The first three photos met three of the requirements (content, composition, and calibration), but most important for the purpose, context, was completely missed.