Captured by my wife, Peg
There is a close-up image of this sphinx at Allegheny Cemetery in the previous post. The image above, in case you don’t know, is me in the process of capturing that image. On that day in the cemetery, I was consciously trying to be aware of things I normally don’t think about. One of them was Joe McNally’s advice of always trying to put the camera in a place people don’t normally see the subject from to give the image some dynamic attributes. So, there I am, on my butt, looking up at the sphinx. I’ve been reading Joe’s book lately, and I’ve learned a lot from it.
I also tried zooming my lens while I had the shutter open, like this:
This technique was hard for me because ideally, you want to not move the camera too much horizontally or vertically while you zoom, which I found very difficult. I had a lot of crappy images (which I was warned I would), but this was the best of the worst. I figured this kind of effect might work in a graveyard. Spooky and all that.
I also came to an epiphany about why one would want to use ‘EV” type adjustments. I had been exchanging these thoughts with Mark as he and I discuss Joe’s use of Exposure Compensation. I had said I didn’t understand why you would want to dial in ‘EV’ compensation, why not just adjust the exposure manually.
I came across a number of situations during this shoot as well as the day Peg and I spent in the park with the lake they’re draining where I realized why you would want to do EV compensation. The image of the Falcon is a good example, where I wanted to raise the exposure of the bird’s feathers against the sky and the time it would take to switch to manual mode and then adjust the exposure was time I did not have with the falcon perched on top of the pump house (he could fly away any minute). EV (if I knew how to do it, that is) would have been much easier.
Lastly, I visited Pittsburgh Filmmakers last night and I’m going to take some classes there in the winter. I got a tour from friend of mine, saw their darkrooms and their print labs and am very excited to work there. The students’work they had hanging in the hallways was very impressive, and it will be good for me to get feedback. They still do a lot of film work there, and I’m excited about joining their community.
Great shot of the headstone Chris, the times I have used that technique I shot from a tripod.
I am on the road this week and the one book I took along was McNallys HSD I learn something new every time I read it. I shoot mainly in Aperture Priority and live with the EV comp up or down depending on what I am trying to say with the image. It becomes second nature after a while even when not using flash. Sounds like a good thing getting with the Filmmakers I wish there was something like that close.
Zooming with the shutter open seems to have been ideal for this photo. Just the right touch for a tombstone.
I love odd perspectives and getting down on the ground is often a great way to create a great composition. As always, Peg’s portraits of you are terrific as well.
@ Anita: thanks, I was just playing around at this point, but I’m glad it worked.
@ Kevin: yeah, I tend to just stay planed too much too often.
Love love LOVE the headstone shot. Just perfect.
Trying to catch on on my blog readings…sorry I’ve missed your latest ones!