Archive for the ‘In Focus’ Category

I thought I knew a lot about photography, but I was completely taken by surprise when some photographers started talking about pancake lenses. What is a pancake lens? Jessica, Jeju Island.

Photographers are strange people. Sometimes photographers like big lenses, sometimes they like the smallest possible lenses. The smallest lenses available are commonly called pancake lenses because they’re flat, like a pancake.

For quite a while, pancake lenses had fallen out of favour in photographic circles. A little while ago Olympus released a pancake lens for its new DSLR cameras. That kicked off a surge in renewed interest in pancake type lenses.

Why are they so popular? Well, the biggest reason is that they’re small. One benefit of their size is that the lenses are light and easy to carry. However the biggest benefit is that the small, flat lens makes the camera much more discrete.

Pancake lenses are popular amongst street photographers for this very reason. A long lens is quite obtrusive. Pointing it at someone can attract their attention or make them aware of the camera. Since photographers want to capture people in natural situations, a big lens is too noticeable. A pancake lens makes the camera appear much smaller and less obvious. It allows a photographer to remain unnoticed while taking photos of people.

Pancake lenses are usually short range prime lenses. Most pancakes are between 35 and 50mm in length and around f1.8 to f2.8 maximum aperture. These apertures are important and one of the biggest benefits of prime lenses - because it means the lens is fast and sharp.

Often, pancake lenses will be manual focus, due to their small size - autofocus pancakes are rare indeed.

The other important aspect is image quality. Short prime lenses are a playground for bokeh; out of focus area. Bokeh is important to photographers because it determines the aesthetics of any area beyond the camera’s depth of field settings. If a lens is poorly designed, it will not render out of focus areas very well. The bokeh will look harsh and flat. A good prime lens will produce great bokeh, much better than most zoom lenses.

The resurgence in popularity has resulted in a number of companies developing pancake lenses. Nikon and Canon both have new pancake lenses hitting the market. Panasonic and Olympus have already released lenses with various mounts. There are also a number of third party lens makers who have pancakes; the two most popular being Zeiss and Voigtlander.

The only real downside to pancake lenses is their price. Usually, a pancake will be two or three times the price of a similar standard prime lens. The higher cost is due to the engineering required to make the technology work in a ‘flat’ lens.

With photography’s recent surge in popularity, camera makers have been outdoing each other to make newer and better equipment. This will probably result in companies also developing many more lens types. Nikon have already released tilt shift lenses to appeal to architect photographers. It’s likely that there will be more pancake lenses on the market in the next few years.

For now, it’s probably not worth owning a pancake lens, unless you want to practice your manual focusing. Save your money and invest in some good standard prime lenses, such as a 50mm f1.8.

Happy shooting!

David Smeaton

What exactly is lomography? I’ve seen lomo cameras, but I don’t understand what all the fuss is about. Joanna, Seoul.

Lomography is one of photography’s happy accidents and is a really funny story. A Russian optics company called Lomo produced low grade camera called the Lomo Kompakt Automat. Due to the camera’s cheap design and parts, they produced photos which were terrible in terms of colour rendition and focus.

The camera was destined to be forgotten when it was re-discovered and used by some Russian students in the 1990s. The students used the camera to pioneer a new style of photography based on fun, casualness and ‘off the wall’ photos. The fact that the camera produced unpredictable results heightened the attraction.

These photos were so popular that major exhibitions were held all across Europe. Hundreds of thousands of Lomo images were shown in a single exhibition. People were attracted to the fun, amateur nature of the photos. The colours were often oversaturated and sometimes quite out of focus.

Since then, Lomo was bought out by an Austrian company and the photographic style has achieved cult status around the world.

The entire concept of Lomography is cheap. Very cheap! Photographers use cheap printing processes, cheap cameras and very few accessories. Lomo cameras are renowned for being great in low light situations. The cameras are easy to use and produce interesting results.

Lomo users often shoot at strange angles, use crazy techniques and get their subjects to use unorthodox poses.

Lomo is considered a spontaneous and casual style of photography. No real photographic skill is required and the emphasis is on having fun. It’s believed that over half a million photographers world wide regularly use Lomo cameras (or similar replicas). Flickr.com has entire communities devoted to Lomography and it’s also possible to find online tutorials for turning your regular photographs into Lomo-esque pictures.

If you’re interested in getting into Lomo photography, it’s very easy to do. For under $100 you can buy a Lomo camera. Many replica Lomo cameras are less than $50. Buy some colour film and ’snap’ away happily.

Don’t take the photographs seriously and don’t think too much about controlling the result. Ask your subjects to pull silly faces or jump in the air. Shoot from strange angles or try extreme close ups. Take the film to a local, cheap developing store and have them print the shots in an hour. Some photo processing stores will often try to ‘help’ your photos look better by adjusting the mixture. Tell them to print ‘as is’ and let the results be as random as the original photographs.

Lomography is a very unique and entertaining style of taking pictures. The best part is that it is accessible to all photographers of all skill levels and of all ages. Try giving your kids a Lomo camera and watch them create brilliant, random images of the world as they see it.

Next time you plan a trip, grab a Lomo and take it with you.

Happy shooting!
David Smeaton

I’m having a lot of difficulty understanding depth of field. Can you explain it more clearly? Peter, Seoul.

Depth of field (DoF) is difficult to explain without diagrams and charts. It’s more about math and physics than it is about photography. However, I can give you some starting information, which is enough for most photographers.

DoF, simply, is the distance between the nearest and farthest objects which appear to be in focus. This is quite a subjective concept, because it’s difficult to always define the focal range. Further, all photographers have different views regarding the use of DoF.

However, DoF is extremely important to photography and film.

Focal range is controlled by the camera’s aperture. A small aperture (eg f22) will have a very wide depth of field. A small DoF will result in large elements of the photograph appearing in focus. Conversely, a wide aperture (f2.8) will have a much smaller depth of field. As a result, the out of focus area will be quite big. Yes, it’s ironic that these concepts seem inverse (small aperture - wide DoF, wide aperture - small DoF).

When it comes to understanding what parts of the photo will be in focus, there’s a two thirds rule applied to DoF. One third of the area in front of the focal point will be in focus, but two thirds of the area behind the focal area will appear to be in focus. So it’s important to know that much more of the focal range is behind the focal point, not in front. It’s not evenly split (50/50) around the focal point.

There are a few other factors which can make the focal range either larger or smaller.

Firstly, as stated, small apertures give wider DoF.

Second, shorter lenses also create a wider DoF. A 50mm lens will give a much wider DoF than a 200mm lens, if the same aperture and settings are used.

Finally, the greater the shooting distance, the greater the depth of field. This one is logical really. If photographing mountains, DoF can be read in kilometers. If photographing bugs (macro photography) DoF is mere milimeters. So the further away your subject, the longer the DoF.

Generally, photographers have two approaches to controlling DoF. In most cases, photographers prefer short DoF and large areas which are out of focus. This helps control the viewer’s attention by blurring the foreground and background elements, while keeping the subject in perfect focus. Portrait photography is a good example of this. Most portrait photographers use longer lenses and wide apertures.

Small DoF also creates more ‘bokeh’ which is one of photography’s most important attributes.

However, there are many times when a wide DoF is desirable, such as in landscape photography. A good landscape photo should appear to have everything in focus, from mountains at the back to rocks in the foreground. This can be achieved with wide lenses, small apertures and focusing to infinity (which all cameras can do).

Those are the basics to depth of field. The important thing to remember is that DoF is easy to control because the aperture, lens length and focal length all play a simple part. Combine them well and you can be a master of controling DoF, producing great photos with very high impact.

Happy shooting!

David Smeaton

With winter coming, I’m worried about snow and rain ruining my camera gear. Other than leaving it covered with snow, how can the cold weather affect my camera? Craig, Guri.

All photographers secretly fear the weather. When you’re carrying hundreds or thousands of dollars in equipment, weather can easily cause enormous damage. However, that doesn’t mean photographers need to be overprotective.

Most cameras should be able to handle some weather conditions. It is relatively safe to use your camera in the snow or light rain, for example. Too much snow on the camera could cause a problem. If the snow melts from the heat of your hands, that water could run into the camera body or lenses, damaging your gear.

These days, cameras are quite hardy; even lower end cameras have solid fittings and mounts which are relatively weather resistant. Higher end gear is usually made with metal chassis and rubber seals to further protect the camera. Olympus is probably the best of the bunch as far as weatherproof gear is concerned. They claim that all their lenses and bodies (including the mounting bracket) are weatherproof. So, technically, all dust and water should be kept out of the camera.

For other photographers, a few simple precautions are enough to keep your equipment in good condition.

Obviously, don’t start taking photos in a torrential downpour, or during extremely heavy snow. But that doesn’t mean running for cover at the first sign of rain.

Avoid changing lenses too often. The fewer times you change your lens in the field, the less chance there is of dust, water or other foreign elements getting into your camera.

The most important part of protecting camera gear is a bag. Most bags are fairly weather resistant, but many also incorporate weatherproofing or weather covers to prevent the bag from becoming wet. Lowepro make good bags which have very high weatherproofing standards. Most also have a rain cover built in.

Lastly, try not to move between extreme temperatures too suddenly. Going from an air conditioned room to hot outdoors can result in condensation forming inside the lens or in the camera. Condensation can lead to fungus growth inside your equipment which is expensive and difficult to remove.

The most important thing is to not let the weather get in the way of your photography. Protect your gear and enjoy photographing the weather. Some of your best photos will come as a result of adverse conditions.

Happy shooting.

David Smeaton

I’ve seen lots of great pictures where photographers have kept the shutter open for a long time. How can I get good shots this way? Peter, Seoul.

Shooting with long shutter speeds can be a great way to achieve unique images. It can also be very difficult to accomplish and also takes lots of trial and error to get right.

Obviously, shooting long exposure photographs is a lot easier at night. When it’s dark, you can open your shutter for much longer without overexposing the image. At night there is also a lot of artificial light from buildings and vehicles that can make your shot look much more interesting.

Daytime long exposures are much more difficult. One way to help is adding filters and using smaller apertures. Stack a few filters onto your lens and it cuts down the amount of light the camera receives. Neutral density filters are great for this purpose. Polarizers are also handy. However, when stacking filters, beware of vignetting (the appearance of circular edges in the corner of photos).

With the slow shutter speeds, it’s possible to make water blur for great effect. Waterfalls and rivers can look much more ethereal and tranquil when the water’s detail is blurred out. It also creates a nice contrast with the sharp focus of rocks or surrounding features.

As well as filters, a good tripod is essential. It’s impossible to hand hold photographs for 10 second exposures. A sturdy tripod is better, for avoiding vibrations. Many tripods have a hook in the bottom, so you can add extra weight (like your camera bag) to help make the tripod sturdier.

The third essential item is a remote shutter release. Pushing down the shutter on your camera often causes the camera to move slightly. The remote shutter release (either a cable release or newer infra-red remote unit) will allow you to activate the shutter without touching the camera.

Once you start working with slow shutter speeds, trial and error is a good method of working out shutter times. Many photographers set their camera to ‘bulb’ when shooting long exposures. The ‘bulb’ setting means that the shutter will stay open for as long as you want. It’s a manual way of controling the shutter. Once you press the shutter button (on your remote cable) the shutter will remain open until you release the button. So you can time the exposure using a watch or by counting. If you have very long exposures (such as 30 seconds or more) the remote cable has a lock function to keep the shutter open without you needing to hold the button down manually.

When you master long exposures, you can have a lot of fun. Try photographing streets at night with the cars zipping by, or the Han River with boat cruises and buildings in the background. You can also try writing messages or making ‘light graffiti’ by setting a long exposure then using a light (from a torch) to make patterns in the air. Photograph stars streaking across the sky or waves splashing onto rocks.

Long exposure photography is a lot of fun and with a little practice, some stunning results can be achieved.

Happy shooting!

David Smeaton

I’ve heard a lot of people talking about prime lenses, but I’m not really sure what they are. Are prime lenses better than other kinds of lenses? Mitch, Pusan.

There are two types of lens, primes and zoom lenses. Zoom lenses have a minimum and maximum focal distance and you can zoom between those distances. For example, a zoom lens might be 18mm - 70mm. Therefore the lens can capture any focal length between 18-70mm. This is very convenient for photographers, because you can get close to your subject without having to stand too near. Sometimes it’s impossible to walk right up to your subject. A zoom will help get closer to the action.

Zoom lenses cover various ranges. 12mm - 24mm would be considered a wide angle zoom. 70mm - 200mm would be considered a telephoto zoom. So the type of zoom is defined its range.

Prime lenses are much more simple. Prime lenses have a fixed focal length. So there’s no zoom in the lens. The only way to zoom is with your feet! For example, a common focal length is 50mm.

While it may seem that primes are far less useful than zooms, both types of lens have their advantages. So many photographers keep a combination of primes and zooms in their camera bag.

Thanks to the laws of physics and the wonders of engineering, primes have a few benefits that make them worth using. The first benefit is that prime lenses are often lighter than zooms, because they require less glass and mechanics inside. For the same reason, primes are usually cheaper.

However there are two more important reasons to consider using primes. The biggest reason is that prime lenses have wider apertures. Most zooms (the expensive ones) have a maximum aperture of f2.8. However, it’s easy to buy a prime lens with f1.2, f1.4 or f1.8.

Actually, the 50mm f1.8 lens is one of the most popular lenses that photogrpahers buy. This lens is very sharp and fast. It works well in low light situations and creates wonderful ‘bokeh’ by exploiting the shallow depth of field that results from using wide apertures.

Prime lenses tend to take higher quality photos than zooms. The trade off with zoom lenses is the engineering compromises picture sharpness. Primes are much sharper. Zooms tend to also be less good at bokeh and blurring the out of focus areas. This is also something primes do well.

However, these days zoom lenses are almost on par with primes in both bokeh and sharpness.

It’s worth using both types of lenses, because they give different benefits. Most photographers use a zoom as their base lens (for walking around) and switch lenses for shooting different purposes. I have one prime lens in my kit, a 50mm f1.8, but I’ve chosen to use zooms because as a traveler I need to get more range with fewer lenses.

But every photographer should definitely have one fast sub-f2 prime lens in their kit. It’s a great investment and it usually becomes the photographer’s favourite lens.

Happy shooting!

David Smeaton

Summer is a great time for photographers. The days are long, the weather is hot, and people are outside enjoying themselves.

One place photographers often find themselves is at the beach. So it’s useful to know a few strategies for making the most out of your location, to get the best photos.

Use the horizon to your advantage. The beach is one place which has plenty of horizon. Use it well to make your shots look good. Frame the horizon in the top third of the shot, to include plenty of beach and water in your photo.

Look for good points of focus. Many photographers get the usual cliched photos when they head to the beach. Kids with beachballs might be colourful, but they can also be quite boring subjects.

A good way to do this is try and tell a story with your photo. For example, find some open beach with a lone couple walking along it. Or a child standing in the shallow surf as the waves wash over their feet.

Also work on your timing. Watch the action and see when the right moment hits. It’s great to capture the expressions on people’s faces while they’re in the water. So time your shots for that moment when the wave hits the swimmer and their face lights up with joy.

Another point about timing is when to shoot during the day. Avoid midday by shooting only in the morning or afternoon. This has two benefits: there will be less people on the beach and the light will be much better.

Moving to techniques, it’s good to use exposure bracketing while at the beach. When you work in strong light, bracketing is a useful tool for helping to expose your shot perfectly. It’s very easy to overexpose a photo with so much bright sand and water around. Use bracketing and quick fire bursts to get your shot. Review the images and select the one with the best exposure.

Spot metering will also help. Since it can be difficult to meter the scene well, spot meter off your subject. The background may be overexposed, but your subject will be perfectly exposed.

Also, fill flash can be very effective. That may sound crazy, but on a bright day harsh shadows or shady areas are a photographer’s enemy. Fill flash can remove ghastly shadows. It’s also useful for photographing in the shade, such as under an umbrella, when the area outside is too bright.

Filters are also great at beaches. A UV filter will help cut down the glare from the water. A polarizing filter will control the light as well as give much more vibrant colours. Neutral Density filters, especially ND4 or ND8 can be useful too. Your photo will have better colour tones and the shutter speed will be much easier to control.

Why not surprise yourself by converting some of your photos to black and white. Stripping a beach photo of its colour can change the feel and mood of the shot. It’s also a great way to overcome dull or cloudy weather.

Finally, be careful when photographing on the beach. It’s easy to get sunburned and sand plays havoc with equipment, especially when changing lenses.

Happy shooting!

David Smeaton

Although I love shooting in film, there are some definite advantages to digital photography. One of the coolest benefits is the ability to geotag photos.

Geotagging is, simply, the ability to add latitudinal and longitudinal data to a photograph. This data is usually captured through some kind of GPS device and can be added to the photo’s EXIF data.

For those who don’t know, EXIF data is a summary of the camera’s information for each photo. The EXIF data is stored when the photo is taken. If you view the EXIF data on your computer, you can learn many things about your photograph, including shutter speed, aperture, focal length, metering mode and a lot more. EXIF data also remembers your camera’s make and model, as well as if you’ve edited the photo and what settings you used in camera to adjust the photo (such as sharpening or extra saturation).

So, geotagging has become the latest craze in digital photography. Not only can you geotag your photo, but when you add your images to photo sharing sites like flickr.com, the site reads the geotagged information. The cool thing about this feature is that your photo is now able to be searched via its location, not just from keywords. Your photo can also be added to galleries or maps and compared to photographs taken at similar sites.

Currently, the best way to geotag photos is to carry a small GPS device with you. It requires that, later on the computer, you add the data to photos manually, or via simple software designed to port such data into photographs.

Sites like flickr’s organizr already allow you to add geotagging data to photos as you upload them.

However geotagging has become so popular that many manufacturers are creating geotagging devices for cameras. Some devices are designed to be carried in your pocket, but sync with the time stamp on your camera to update the GPS info through support software. Other devices connect straight to your camera and add the GPS data to each photo as its taken.

The future of geotagging will definitely come through manufacturers including GPS capabilities directly into the camera. Some high end cameras already incorporate this data, but soon it’ll become a standard in digital photography.

It’s definitely worth learning to use geotagging and add GPS data to your photos. Not only will that allow you to sort your pictures based on where you took them, but it will also enable your photos to be categorized, searched, grouped and compared online, since many popular sites already have geotagging features.

Before you know it, you’ll be using sites like Google Earth to search for photos of interesting places. Although geotagging won’t improve your photography, I think it does improve the photography ‘experience’. Not only can you show people where you’ve been, but if you see a fantastic photograph, you can take note of its GPS data and go hunt for the exact same spot.

Geotagging could also be a lot of fun in other ways. It can be a great educational tool, teaching children geography skills. It could also become a great new sport, like a kind of scavenger hunt. You can challenge people to get to certain places, take a photo from a set of precise coordinates, and return with photographic evidence of each place. It could be done on a limited scale (a city) or on a wider scale (nationally or even globally).

Geotagging is definitely something to get involved in, especially while the technology is still developing.

Happy shooting!

David Smeaton

I’m trying to teach myself how to photograph using manual focus, but I’m finding it quite difficult. What can I do to improve my manual focusing skills? Will, Sokcho

These days, thanks to auto focus, manual focusing is less necessary and much harder. One of the problems is that cameras are no longer designed to make the most of manual focusing.

The fatal flaw in DSLR cameras is the lack of a focusing screen. Older SLR cameras, especially ones which only had manual focus, use a special screen mounted into the viewfinder. The screen splits the image so that you can tell whether the photo is in perfect focus or not. My Nikon D200 doesn’t have a focusing screen, and I’m not sure if I could even buy one to fit. However, my 25 year old Leica has a focusing screen. It’s a manual focus camera and obtaining perfect focus is easy.

If you can’t find a focusing screen, there are other ways to improve your manual focus.

A good way is to pre-focus. if you know where your target will be (such as a model in a studio) then you can focus manually and lock the focus. Then all of your shots will be perfect. If you can be certain that the distance will remain the same, you could also use auto focus, then when it finds the exact distance, lock the focus .

If shooting landscapes, the best method is to use an infinite focal depth. Most cameras are only able to focus to about 10 meters, beyond that is effectively infinity. Many lenses have distance marks and the far right mark should be an infinity symbol. Set your camera to infinity and landscapes will look great.

While on the topic of distance marks, most photographers don’t make full use of these any more. Distance marks are useful in most situations. if you can guess the distance, or measure the distance accurately, then the camera’s distance marks will be very helpful for setting your focus.

Also keep in mind aperture does play a part regarding focus. Using large apertures (such as f2.8) provide a very narrow depth of field and focus. However small apertures (f18 or f22) have a much wider depth of field. While your focus still needs to be accurate, using a smaller aperture, even f8 can be sufficient, will help retain your focus, especially when the subject is moving.

Most importantly, you need to practice focusing manually. Without regular practice, the skills and speed don’t develop.

The need for manual focus definitely hasn’t disappeared, great macro photographers still rely on their focusing skills get perfect shots. Manual focus is also useful for portraits. If the camera focuses on the nose, then the eyes may look soft or out of focus.

Action photographers use manual focus a lot too. Often the subject is moving too fast for the camera to focus on. The photographer picks a point in the frame that will be perfect, locks the focus, and shoots manually.

Finally, in low light, or when shooting through distracting foreground objects (such as fences or cages) the auto focus may be fooled or not work at all. Here too, manual focus is the key to success. Moments like this definitely make manual focusing worth the effort to learn and practice.

Happy shooting!

David Smeaton

These days, a lot of cameras are coming out with full frame sensors. My camera has a cropped sensor, so it’s not full frame. Is full frame better? - Matthew, Seoul.

The concept of ‘full frame’ is something of a misnomer. Every frame is a full frame. However, the standard for full frame is based on 35mm SLR cameras, which were the most popular cameras before digital came along.

A full frame camera, then, is a camera with an equivalent of a 35mm sensor. Most DSLR cameras, however, have smaller sensors or ‘cropped sensors’. The reason for this is that DSLR technology is still being developed and full frame sensors were very difficult to make, had numerous technical issues, and were quite expensive. So manufacturers decided to offer cropped sensors instead.

Full frame sensors have two distinct advantages. The first advantage is that old lenses, which have very high build quality) are designed for SLR cameras. SLR cameras use 35 mm film, upon which the standard full frame is based. So full frame SLR lenses are perfectly suited to full frame DSLR sensors.

The second advantage is that a full frame sensor is bigger. Simply, the bigger sensor has more photosites (the small buckets that collect light). The bigger sensor collects more light than a cropped sensor. Cropped sensors, therefore, have more difficulty collecting light to make the image. So the camera amplifies the signal from the sensor. As a result, cropped sensors create a lot more noise.

These days, manufacturers are very good at making cropped sensors, so the noise factor is less of an issue. It’s very easily solved with software. Also, due to the popularity and affordability of cropped sensor DSLRs, camera makers are producing a lot of cropped format lenses. These lenses are specifically designed to get maximum benefits from a smaller sensor.

Cropped sensor DSLRs actually have one cool advantage over full frame. They receive a magnification bonus on full frame lenses. Because the sensor is smaller, the range of a full frame lens is altered.

For Nikon, the camera receives a bonus of 1:1.5 for a cropped sensor with a full frame lens. This means that a 100mm lens is actually 150mm. I have a 70mm – 300mm lens for my Nikon D200. The lens is full frame but the camera has a cropped sensor. In effect, my lens has a range of 105mm – 450mm. That’s an awesome range for a lens. For Canon, the bonus is 1:1.6 and for Olympus, the bonus is 1:2 because they use a unique four thirds sensor system.

This bonus, however, doesn’t work the other way around – such as cropped lenses on full frame cameras.

Don’t be put off by the whole ‘sensor size’ issue. Full frame DSLRs are still expensive and new technology. Cropped sensors and lenses are affordable, practical, and very high quality. If you have a cropped sensor DSLR (as most people do) then stick with it. In the future, when full frame is ubiquitous and affordable, make the switch.

Happy shooting!

David Smeaton