Fleeting Glimpse Images : Visions in words ~ Sagas in light: Gear Tips

Eggs in a basket

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 19:36:50 GMT

The proverb "Don't put all of your eggs in one basket" is applicable to many things as most proverbs are. If you have read my post Data Backup Goes Awry, then you will know on a recent trip to Costa Rica, I lost a basket. I broke some other stuff and lost still more but this is the story of the basket.

In my former life as a film photographer, the prospect of losing a roll of film was devastating. Normally on a shoot, I would snap the shutter a few dozen times and the loss of a single roll might represent the loss, irretrievably, of a entire day's work and maybe opportunities which would never come again. And, there were times when you had to let that roll out of your custody and let some photo lab do its worst with your precious celluloid.

Memory Cards come in many sizes from
insignificant to critical-if you lose them.

Now, as a digital photographer, I am plagued and blessed by these film surrogates: memory cards. Memory cards aren't quite the same. They cost much more than film ever did and they can hold many more pictures but they offset this by being compact, processable and, most of all, reusable.

"I tend to prefer smaller cards
to spread the risk of
something 'bad' happening."

My errant card from Costa Rica arrived in the mail last week courtesy of Miguel at Target Car Rental in San Jose, CR. Thank you Miguel. He found it and shipped it back to me and when it arrived, there were 165 Images, intact, stored in the matchbook-sized device. The images represented the day of shooting from Breakfast at the Santa Maria Volcano Lodge to early evening at Arenal Volcano. I was shooting with two cameras so I was only missing bits and pieces of the day.

One of the Prodigal Images Returned

This shot of Mincho, the Chestnut-Mandibled Toucan, at the breakfast was among the missing shots. There were many shots of my daughter, churches and anything else taken with a wide angle lens during that eight hour span. This included a shot of my daughter with the toucan and other shots that I had no where else.

Nicole and Mincho

With film, it was difficult to put your eggs in one basket unless you lost the basket with all the rolls stored in it. This is provided you were foolish enough to store all your rolls in one film bag. Digital is another story. I carry 512 MB, 1 GB, 2 GB and 4 GB cards with me now. I use the bigger cards in the larger cameras with more Megapixels so that each camera has about the same 150 shots or so. It seems to work out.

The temptation is to buy bigger cards that allow me to shoot all day and the next and the next without ever having to change a card. A 16 GB card on my biggest camera would typically last me about 5 days in this environment. If I lost that card it would be devastating. Days of work and hundreds of pictures would be gone and I would be in tears.

But, you say, "Rikk, you would be extra careful with that bigger card wouldn't you?"

I would. But it could be stolen, malfunction, be dropped, lost, have coffee spilled on it-any number of tragedies. In those cases, I could still have a card but not my images. And images, after all, is where it is at if you are a photographer. That is why I tend to use smaller memory cards to spread the risk of something bad happening. They are cheaper and your eggs aren't in one basket. The bigger the basket, the more eggs are broken, and the bigger the omelette.

The Church at Fortuna from the missing card

I was lucky. My basket came back. Next time, I might not be so fortunate.

In Defense of Filters

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:10:25 GMT

For those of you expecting a treatise on the use of "Software Filters" I must disappoint. This is about the old kind of filters-the ones made of glass that you stick on the front of a camera. Software filters never have been able to offer the kind of protection I am about to discuss.

Some consider it one of the great scams perpetrated by the sundry photography purveyors and others consider it a way to ensure you will have a lower quality image. Me? I kind of like them.

If you go to a photo retailer and purchase a lens, you will find, that in most instances, the sales person will haggle with you until you agree on a price with which you both can live. Then they start selling the extras. One of the first extras you will see offered is the UV Filter that screws on to the end of your lens. It has two purposes, (aside from increasing the retailer's profit on the sale) to cut UV haze as advertised on the packaging and the second to protect your lens. Me, I've never had a problem with UV haze but I do need to protect the end of my lens.

Yesterday's Boo Boo

I am a dropper. I am clumsy and my mind is often on the pursuit of creation rather than on the mechanics of gravity and grip. Since I was born-again digital, I have dropped many lenses. At least four times I have heard the sickening sound of shattering glass. So far, I have only broken filters.

Many of you may have seen my story on the set of mishaps which befell me in Costa Rica. I broke a filter there. I also broke one in Badlands during my tenure as Artist in Residence in the Spring of 2007. I also broke one on the North Shore in a predawn shooting orgy at Split Rock Lighthouse.

Split Rock Lighthouse the morning I broke the filter.

So far, I have had accidents with three different lenses, one of them being dropped twice. Some have been in the dark, some due to tripod malfunctions, some do to backpacks I thought were zipped but were not and some due to the carelessness of people passing me on the trail. In each case, the lens survived though the filter did not. For some reason, lenses like to land - Glass-Side-Down (just like Jelly Bread). The filter is a great crumple zone to absorb the impact and sometimes it will save you a lot of money.

I added up the cost of the lenses, had I been required to replace them and came to a figure of 3.259.00 at today's B&H Pricing for the lens mishaps. Even though I am insured on my equipment against such incidents, I prefer to pay the 126.00 for the four filters it took me to recover from the incident. Of course, you must thoroughly inspect the lens sharpness, focus, and function before returning it to the shooting rotation.

There is, of course, a list of downsides to filter use.

Filters reduce image quality slightly
Filters enhance ghosting, flare and internal reflections
Filters (on wide-angle lenses exaggerate vignetting)
Filters add two surfaces to the mix which must be cleaned
Filters cost money

If your technique is good and the conditions are rough, filters can save you lenses in the long run. They offer a buffer between your expensive glass and the blowing sand, the swirling mist and the other flying debris of shooting locations. You just need to remember to take them off when shooting the sun, moon, or bright lights or you will see ghost images.

Of course, the best practice is never to drop a lens, let the tripod blow over, anyone walk near you, etc. In 46 years, I have not learned to be that careful.

Data Backup Goes Awry

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 19:59:02 GMT

Sometimes the best strategies don't cover every contingency.

I consider myself a data backup freak. Maybe it would be nicer to say that I am overly cautious when it comes to data backup. Case in point-my recent trip to Costa Rica.

I expect a certain amount of damage, wear and tear, minor blemishes and other annoyances when dealing with expensive camera gear in hostile environments. It is inevitable I will lose, break, have broken, scratch or otherwise damage a piece of gear.

Examples: The above filter is the casualty of an inattentive German Tourist's misplaced walking stick while I was photographing hummingbirds at Arenal Volcano.

I had lost the lens hood for this particular lens earlier in the week and I might have saved the filter had it still been on but alas, I am out thirty dollars for each.

I also lost the tip of my monopod in 12 inches of river muck. I couldn't dig it out between the two boulders. In addition, somewhere on the flight back, my Ipod charging cable jumped out of my projector bag and left me with no way to charge and sync the Ipod.

The digital age has ushered in an era where a Laptop or similar device is an essential piece of gear. To that end I purchased a camera backpack with a laptop slot. It made it to the overhead storage compartment before the seams on the zipper pulled out. It is in now for warranty repair.

The reason of course for the laptop is to backup data, edit in the field and project nightly shows for the participants. My backup regime goes like this. Shoot pictures all day. At night backup the cards to the hard drive on the computer. Load into Lightroom. Backup folder to Passport Drive A. I now have two independent copies so I reformat my memory cards. Then I backup laptop to Passport Drive B. Drive B is variable as I rotate those ever other day so that by the end of my trip I have three passport drives to distribute amongst the baggage as well as my laptop. Do you see the flaw in my plan? I have to get the cards into the laptop.

While shooting the sunset at Arenal, I was 125 km from my laptop. I left it in the cabin's safe for the overnight destination safe in the knowledge that I have enough memory card capacity to last 24 hours. I changed out cards about 5:00 PM on Monday night and put the spare card in my vest for integration into the data stream when I returned to my cabin the following day.

Each day I fastidiously backed up all cards before clearing them of data. As the week wore on, I became aware that I seemed to be short one 2 GB memory card. I couldn't quite figure it out. I remembered trying to loan a card to one of my tour participants but couldn't remember if she took it. Frantic searches through pants, bags, vehicles, and pathways yielded no clues.

When I got back to the states, I disassembled my gear and counted and double checked. Sure enough- the image sequences showed 8 hours of time gap on one camera and about 150 images were missing. I was one card short.

I didn't even get a chance to back it up. The flaw in my overzealous backup strategy was in securing the card from camera to laptop.

A series of phone calls to Arenal yielded little but sympathy. A check of my fellow photographers was futile. Then, my tour director, hearing my plight said, "Did you check with the rental company?" I emailed Miguel and told him my sad story. In an hour, I received an email "I found your San Disk!" Now, this morning it is in an Air Mail Envelope speeding its way to my door. Are the pictures intact? I hope so. Was I lucky? So it would seem.

So here's the final tally:

Lens hood - lost by me

Filter - broken by tourist

Monopod tip - sunk in mud too deep to retrieve between the boulders

Ipod Cable - disappeared mysteriously

Backpack - defective -off for repair

Memory card - lost by me - found by Miguel - Data intact?

The card is inconsequential. The images are not. I wait with eager anticipation for the arrival to see if there is treasure or trash waiting for me in sequestered photons.

All in all, the damage wasn't irrevocable.

The Shakedown

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 15:26:13 GMT

del.icio.us Tags: travel,field trip,workshop,Costa Rica

As I prepare for my Costa Rican Expedition I am keenly reminded of the adage that creation is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration. While the anticipation of exotic venues, stunning vistas and poignant artistic expressions is foremost in my mind, I know I will never get there without the sweat.

Debbie Allen, in the television series Fame , said that "fame costs and right here is where you start paying-with sweat". She's right. For me, prep started a long time ago. I began learning rudimentary Spanish, read about techniques and studied wildlife. Perspiration, for me consists largely of preparation. To that end, I have been reviewing, refining and restoring gear for a month or so now. Nothing is worse than being there and having the equipment fail at the decisive moment.

Some tips for you:

1. Study your airline regulations and determine what must go in Carry On and what must go in Checked Baggage. Keep abreast of rules concerning things like Fluids, Lithium Ion Batteries, tools, etc so that you don't have to discard a crucial piece of gear like a spare battery, sensor cleaning materials or a screwdriver.

2. Separate your equipment into Carry On and Checked piles and and do a dry run on packing. Weigh and measure your bags and make certain you are within the airline's limits. You don't want to have to leave your gear bag with the attendant rather than keeping it under your watchful eye.

I discovered during packing that my laptop was just smidgen too large to fit in my new backpack-in spite of the manufacturer's specs. I had ample time to procure a smaller laptop for the trip and prep it because I started early.

3. Review your batteries. You should have a batter in each piece of equipment and either a spare battery or a method to recharge your existing battery, preferably both. Charge each battery a couple of days in advance. Some charges take hours so don't leave yourself short of time. Package and store your batteries in accordance with airline requirements. Don't forget little back up batteries-those coin-sized items that keep date and time functional.

4. Clean sensors if needed before you go. Don't rely on cleaning them midstream because the conditions will be less favorable in the field. Clean lenses, filters and other optical surfaces as well. Put protective film over LCD display surfaces. Wipe down the camera and the exterior surfaces in accordance with your camera manufacturer's guidelines. Don't forget to take some basic cleaning materials with you on your trip. Things like air blowers, optical cloths and solution are great ideas to brush up equipment in the field.

5. Memory cards should be offloaded and reformatted so that you have the maximum amount of image storage. A back up plan should be available to ensure that you don't loose images and you can offload images in the field. You should carry twice the memory you expect to use in one day at the minimum.

6. Review your camera's manuals and documentation and review the menus on your LCD screen. Make sure you know how to change modes, format memory, active flash and other common functions. If the guide is too bulky to carry, photocopy a couple of key pages and cut them out and keep them in a pocket for reference. That way you won't be fiddling unnecessarily with the controls when you should be shooting a picture. This goes double for DSLR owners. Manuals are complex, thick and have much information you might need in the field.

Try out unfamiliar techniques like shooting flash on manual, syncing with the rear curtain, using a reflector, unusual tripod configurations, self-timers, bracketing and anything else you might be tempted to try while in the field. Having done it once with the manual and no pressure will go a long way toward repeating the process in the field.

At this point you can start sealing up the gear bags and getting ready to board the plane. That perspiration and preparation will pay off when that 1% inspiration comes to call.

Long Exposure Panning Tips

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 00:21:43 GMT

Shots like this long-exposure pan are becoming popular. This picture was taken at Badlands National Park in May of 2007 during my Artist In Residence tenure. I was trying to illustrate the speed of the fastest land animal in North America,the Pronghorn. I decide to try a handheld pan of 1/2 seconds using a 300 MM Canon F4L mounted on a Canon 20D.

I used Neutral Density and Polarizing Filters to help increase exposure time on my brightly lit scene. The image was captured at F32 and ISO 100.

The problem with shooting long pans like this is that your mirror on your DSLR flips up, blocking the viewfinder, in order to expose the sensor. When this happens you lose the ability to hold your target in frame.
A quick search through my gadget bag yielded a solution. I carry a hot shoe-mounted bubble level for use in panoramic and landscape images. By mounting it on the camera and peering through the clear plastic, using the level lines as a targeting guide, I was able to hold the camera on target as I panned across the long exposure.

I was very happy with the image overall. It conveyed exactly what I'd hoped when I originally conceived the shot.

What gratified me most was that in a subsequent issue of Outdoor Photographer in September of 2007, featured the technique in an article titled "Seeing in Slo-Mo". The article even featured a photo by Art Wolfe of, you guessed it Pronghorn. It is nice to occasionally be ahead of the curve.

Rikk Flohr - Fleeting Glimpse Images

Sodium Vapor Lights Solution?

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 15:25:19 GMT

Saturday, I had the opportunity to shoot a boy's high school swim team under the unfortunate lighting circumstance of sodium vapor lights. If you've ever shot pictures you will know that this type of lighting produces a greenish hue and lack luster colors. It defies most efforts to adjust the white balance and the tints. A happy accident intervened however giving me an unexpectedly good result.

Image taken with Auto White Balance - Uncorrected.

Image taken with Intensifier Filter with Auto White Balance - Uncorrected.

The last time I was out shooting with my Canon 17-40 F4L lens I was shooting the waning remnants of fall colors here in Minnesota. I had placed upon the front of my lens a Hoya Intensifier filter to enhance the fall hues. Unfortunately, or rather fortunately in this case, I neglected to remove it until I discovered my mistake halfway through the shoot. When processing the RAW images in Lightroom I was pleasantly surprised to find the images before I realize the filter was in place were color temperature balanced much better than the images with no filter.

This turned out to be a happy accident and more testing is necessary to determine if this is a new technique I will be adopting or if it was a one-time deal but it does show promise in this unique instance.

Rikk Flohr