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TWiP #165 – Photographic Liberty and Tyranny

TWiP #165 – Photographic Liberty and Tyranny

September 6, 2010 8 Comments

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On this episode of TWiP, those Ansel Adams negatives are a false positive, Canon sensors are big and sensitive, and special guest Tom Pickett joins the fray.

Hosts: Frederick Van Johnson, Ron Brinkmann, and special guest Tom Pickett

NEWS & DISCUSSION

Special Guest Tom Pickett Joins the TWiP Crew
A long time TWiP listener shares his experiences shooting for National Geographic and what it’s like to be a photographer on the island of Oahu.

Expert in Ansel Adams Negative Saga Recants
The former museum curator whom supported the authenticity and valuation of glass negatives attributed to being the lost work of Ansel Adams has changed his mind according to an interview with the New York Times. When making the transition from film photography into digital photography this saga highlights many questions on the verification of digital photos for image authenticity versus manipulation.

Canon Develops World’s Largest CMOS Sensor
In addition to the 120 megapixel APS-H sized CMOS sensor discussed previously in TWiP #164, Canon has announced the development of the world’s largest CMOS sensor measuring 202mm x 205mm.

Photoshop CS5 and Lightroom 3 to support Tamron Lens Correction
With the release of Adobe Camera Raw 6.2 and Lightroom 3.2 lens correction is now supported for Tamron Di and Di II lenses.

LISTENER QUESTIONS

Question #1: From DavidPH: I own a bunch of gear.  So far, even with this gear, the quest of making an image where a water drop fills the frame seems to elude me. I’d love to be able to make an image of the world immediately surrounding the drop by shooting into a water drop that reflects/shows/holds the contents (in reverse) of the outside world filling the drop. I’m hoping that if I just laid out the gear I own that would be pertinent to this endeavor, someone could tell me if I already own what would be needed to make this kind of shot.  And if so, what setup to use.  And if not, what would be needed to get there.  I think what I am really after requires going beyond 1:1.

Ron: Visualizing the shot you want to get and deconstructing the composition is the bulk of the battle. Use a macro lens or extension tube to reduce the minimum focusing distance (point and shoot cameras with smaller sensors allow for closer focusing, can be really good macro cameras). Get the technical details out of the way first for the tripod, focusing, and exposure to concentrate on precise timing of the water drop.

Frederick: Search on Flickr for ‘water drop photography’, such as these shots from Mukumbura.

Tom: Really admire the artistic vision on this type of shot, hopefully DavidPH will share his results with the TWiP Community.

Question #2: From Shane: So I often read, and hear people talking about the Fast 50 as a great all around lens, and the 70-200 f2.8 being a great portrait lens.  I own a 50mm f1.4 that I use on my 7d, and love.  My question is specific to the crop sensor cameras.  Is the recommendations for a fast 50mm equivalent (in the crop world probably a 35mm).  And I know the 70-200 is a great portrait lens for a full frame, but at a 140-320 equivalent focal length, it really only overlaps the 70-200 at the upper end. and I doubt a 320mm portrait lens is very useful unless your photographing noses, or have a studio 20 yards long.

Ron: The rules of thumb that a particular lens is best matched to a subject can produce images that all look the same. Using a 50mm lens on the 7D gives similar framing to 85mm on a full-frame camera. The longer the focal length the more compressed perspective will become which can be flattering for portraiture.

Tom: Don’t believe everything you read regarding lenses. The compressed perspective of longer focal lengths is desirable for portraiture, don’t worry about using a telephoto lens on a crop sensor camera.

Question #3: From Brad Lentz: As of lately I have been getting more and more calls to do photoshoots, but generally only get a day or two notice.  (Ex.  Yesterday I was called to see if I could do a shoot tomorrow for a band, they are doing a recoding session and want some shots in the studio while recording and then some shots after that they can use for there CD cover.) How do you go about researching and preparing for these shoots, is there any specific information you try to get before hand? I got the name of the studio they will be at and tryed researching them online to see if I could get a layout or few pictures of there studio are to know where I will be working but cant find anything that would help.  (potential for more work doing a shoot for studio?) Any way what are your steps, thoughts and feedback?

Tom: Check the venue before a shoot to gather as much information as possible on the lighting and how it might change depending on time of day.

PICKS OF THE WEEK

WRAP UP

Follow us on http://twitter.com/ThisWeekInPhoto

Join the Flickr critique group. You can also join our Facebook group.

Frederick Van Johnson – www.frederickvan.com and www.twitter.com/FrederickVan

Ron Brinkmann – www.ronbrinkmann.com and www.twitter.com/ronbrinkmann

Tom Pickett – www.hawaiianphotographs.net / www.tpickettphotography.com and www.twitter.com/tpfoto

CREDITS

TWiP is sponsored by Audible.com, the leading provider in spoken word entertainment. Audible has over 75,000 titles to choose from to be downloaded and played back anywhere. Visit Audiblepodcast.com/twip for a free audiobook of your choice. This week’s picks from Frederick: Daemon by Daniel Suarez, Ron: Freedom (TM) by Daniel Suarez, and Tom: Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.

TWiP is also brought to you by SquareSpace – the fast and easy way to publish a high-quality web site or blog. For a free trial and 10% off your new account, go to –Squarespace.com/twip, offer code TWiP.

Producer: Suzanne Llewellyn

Bandwidth provided by Cachefly. Intro Music by Scott Cannizzaro

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  • Kasey Black

    On the question on how to verify an image is “original”: I think the general answer is to use cryptographic (digital) signing on your images.

    On some “prosumer” Canon SLRs there is the option to do this when the image is taken. This is a stock option on the 20D and newer it seems. This is set in their “Custom Function Settings” listed as “Add original decision data”. The camera signs the files when the photo is taken. Later, the file can be verified as being original/untouched via the “Data Verification Kit” (Extra software/hardware kit). So you can sign the files for free, but it costs you extra to check them.

    This seems to have been targeted toward law enforcement and strict photo journalism outfits. I have no idea if it’s at all popular.

    I don’t know if any vulnerabilities have been found in their system, but this seems to be the best option for now. If there are, well, chuck this specific Canon solution.

    More at this link: http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/education/infobank/image_verification/canon_data_verification_system.do

  • strandloper

    I’m pretty upset with your sponsors, Audible.com right now. Listening to the podcast I thought that Daemon and FreedomTM sound like books I would enjoy so I logged on to Audible, searched for them and got no result. Coming to this post I found the direct links and clicking them got to the right pages on Audible, but found a message saying “We’re sorry. Due to publishing rights restrictions, we are not authorized to sell this item in the country where you live.”

    I’ve been putting up with this nonsense for years with my eMusic subscription and am pissed off that it affects my audiobook subscription too. Where is this global village we keep hearing about?

    • robnikon

      There is no such thing as a Global Village. Fact is the Global Village is just a dream made up in Happy Land where nobody cares about things like money, rights, power and such. The real world revolves around people getting paid for their work and credit for their efforts. If the publisher of the ebook was just willing to give things away for free… then you would have no problems.

      Sucks huh?

  • caved357

    I, too, went to Audible and looked for Daemon. Unlike standloper, I found with no problem (I work for the US Army in Korea).

    So far, this book is AWESOME!! I am 22 chapters into it now. I went back and downloaded FreedomTM last night.

    Rick Cave

  • http://www.clafra.com Frank

    Jesus… I just listening to Daemon and are half way through just today and may listening the rest tonight.

    What a great book… love it… already downloading freedom tm right now.

    Thank you for the tip!

  • robnikon

    No more Tom Pickett! I discovered TWiP through a new podcast app for my android phone. LOVE the show and I have been catching up (starting with episode 100) over the last few weeks. No idea if Tom is a guest on any future shows… or past shows from that perspective… but I will be skipping anything with his name on it. I looked at his site and I do like his work. Tom just can’t handle the whole audio experience. Frederick and the rest of the regulars are great… Tom made my head hurt!

  • dopler

    Frederick and Ron have been on TWIP for some time now. The newest guest was introduced on #165, his name being Tom Pickett.

    I have known about Tom and his work for sometime. His knowledge of the industry is wide. I have attended many of his workshops. I have the opposite view than Robnikon.

    I will be attending anything that has his name on it and now that he might become an occasional guest on TWIP, the program will have my attention. I like Tom’s attitude and like his delivery. He projects a positive attitude.