nz photographer issue 22
DESCRIPTION
GOT A CAMERA? SUBSCRIBE TO NZ PHOTOGRAPHER! Whether you're an enthusiastic weekend snapper, a beginner to intermediate level photographer, or just have an interest in photography, NZ Photographer e-magazine is the free and fun e-magazine for Kiwi camera owners.TRANSCRIPT
1 | www.nzphotographer.co.nz
Helping you take better photos
Issue 22 May 2011
ReadeR’s submission: PhilliP bailey
astRo ComPetition WinneR
sensoRs: to Clean oR to Kill?
landsCaPes: beCKy nunes
2 | www.nzphotographer.co.nz
Contents
4Critique
20 Pic of the bunch 26
Cool stuff
6becky nunes
10Reader submission
Philip bailey
16sensors: to clean or kill
3 | www.nzphotographer.co.nz
editoRial
In July this year NZ photographer will be 2
years old – how time flies! Because there
was so much work involved in setting it up
I’ve been working on our ‘little baby’ for well
over 2 years...
....and now it’s time to move on.
NZ Photographer has been a pleasure
– people have so many nice things to say
about how we inspire them, how they love
the articles, how it’s great getting to know
of other photographers from around NZ
because of our interviews.
Now is a time for a change – my personal
life is getting busier as my wife Jackie is
expecting baby number 3 in August, and
my professional life is heating up with our
GrowBaby business on top of what we
already do with PhotoNZ. My focus needs to
be elsewhere and NZ Photographer needs a
new leader.
So this is it – the opportunity of a lifetime
for one talented, inspired person! Do you
want to be our next editor? Are you good
with deadlines? Do you want to share your
love of photography with people all over the
country?
Apply now to Espire Media, by email
([email protected]) before June the
8th (Issue 23) and we will be in touch to see
if you have the passion and the drive to help
guide NZ Photographer and our readers into
the future!
ABOUT Whether you’re an enthusiastic weekend snapper or a beginner who wants to learn more, NZ Photographer is the fun e-magazine for all Kiwi camera owners – and it’s free!
EDITOR Ollie Dale, [email protected]
GROUP EDITOR Trudi Caffell
ART DIRECTOR Jodi Olsson
ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES Phone Alastair on 09 523 4112 or email [email protected]
ADDRESS NZ Photographer, C/- Espire Media, PO Box 137162, Parnell,Auckland 1151, NZ
WEBSITE www.nzphotographer.co.nz
NZ Photographer is an Espire Media publication
Cover Image: Competition Winner Derek Spender
Follow us on Twitter:
twitter.com/nzphoto
Ask questions and join the discussion on Facebook:
facebook.com/nzphotographer
4 | www.nzphotographer.co.nz
There’s no better way to learn than by having your work critiqued! In this section you get to have your work critiqued by professional photographers Lisa Crandall and Ollie Dale.
Lisa Crandall is a multi-award winning portrait photographer. In 2008 she was named ‘People Photographer of the Year’
at Iris, NZ’s professional photography awards. Her studio, ImageMe (www.imageme.co.nz) is located in Takapuna in Auckland. She also runs photography workshops, and is a Master of Photography in the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photography (MNZIPP).
Ollie has been a professional
photographer for 7 years, and has clients such as the Auckland Airport, Visa, Microsoft, Westpac, Unitec and BMW. He is also a qualified commercial member and Associate of the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photography (ANZIPP).
CameRa: Panasonic DMC FZ35
shutteR: 1/100 sec
aPeRtuRe: f/3.6
iso: 80
authoR: Tuhi Mueller
authoR’s Comments: I recently biked the
Otago rail trail and at one of the historic
bridges I wanted to capture the historic look
of the bridge. I was at one end of the bridge
when I saw a puddle of water from recent
rain and through I would try to get a reflection
shot. I haven’t done anything to the photo; it’s
straight from the camera. I like the way the
photo turned out but I’m keen to know how I
could improve the photo, thanks.
CRITIQUE
sized uP YOUR WORK CRITIQUED
5 | www.nzphotographer.co.nz
ollie’s Comments: I like that you stopped to
capture something you’d seen in your mind –
looking for photos is a good skill to practise.
Apart from the lovely depth of field you’ve
achieved with f/3.6, the first thing that I notice
when I look at your image is the different
sections that make up your photo – the
diminishing railing (A), the distant background
(B) and... this enormous distraction of a
foreground (C).
Immediately I want to crop the foreground
out – it’s a third of your image that doesn’t
need to be there at all – in fact, you could
have cropped this yourself by putting the
camera closer to the water when you took
the shot – this would have accentuated the
reflections more, which is what you were
after.
So, having cropped the bottom off
that leaves us with the railing and distant
background. My choice for the crop is a
little bit off each end, to remove some of the
extra space. (OP1)How you treat them is up to you, and
here is what I would have done if it were
my shot (OP2). You may have different
preferences, of course!
Call foR entRies: Get your images critiqued by professionals – send an image to [email protected] with a brief description of how and why you took the shot, and we’ll tell you what we think and if it could be improved. The views and opinions expressed in this section are only two people’s ideas on photographic imagery. You may have different, constructive ideas about how good or not the images are, and what could be done to them. You’re welcome to send those ideas in to [email protected]. We agree that the opinions contained in this critique section are by no means the only opinions that could be held about these images.
oP1
oP2
A
C
B
6 | www.nzphotographer.co.nz
GettinG to know
I’ve been lucky enough to get to know
Becky Nunes over the last 3 years – I part-
shared her studio with her after seeing an
advertisement right around the time I realised I
could no longer work from home.
Last year Becky won the NZIPP
Landscape Photographer of the Year
award, and I thought, with her current role
teaching photography, she’d hopefully
inspire you to greatness, or at least coax
you off the couch and into landscape
photography.
The full interview, with lots of extra bits
I simply couldn’t fit in to this transcript, is
available for download from:
w w w. p h o t o n z . c o m / n z p / c o n t e n t /BeckyNunes_96Kbps.mp3 (18MB),
or
w w w. p h o t o n z . c o m / n z p / c o n t e n t /BeckyNunes_56Kbps.mp3 (10MB)
beCKy nunesNZIPP LaNdscaPe PhotograPher of the Year 2010
7 | www.nzphotographer.co.nz
Becky Nunes: I completed my tertiary
education in Film and Literature in England,
and decided to come to NZ, where I
was given the opportunity to work with
Bill Nichol in the late ‘80s. That was
when there were a relatively small number
of photographers working in high-end
commercial photography in Auckland or in
NZ, and everyone had full-time assistants
and studios - it was a good time for
commercial photography!
I apprenticed to Bill for nearly 6 years,
and did a little bit of freelance assisting. I
graduated on to shooting for myself whilst
I was working for Bill, and by the time he
decided to move to the South Island in
1993 I felt that I was ready to start my own
studio.
I took on what became Studio 3D as an
empty shell, put power and water in and
lived in a mezzanine floor and it was very
much hand to mouth for five years, just
building up my kit. Because Bill downsized
to move to Dunedin I was fortunate that I
could buy a starting kit from him, at a very
good rate, and I was able to set up and
work in all formats from the start, from
35mm to 5x4” etc.
I only had a very basic lighting set-up,
so any money I made in the first five to ten
years went back into buying gear... and
during that time, of course, we transitioned
from film to digital.
Shifting to digital was a terrifying concept
- when you’d spent your whole professional
career getting to understand transparency
film and shooting it in large format, the idea
of moving to digital in 2004 was just “why
would you?” There were lots of doubters,
and I had a brilliant relationship with my
lab, and it was giving up a whole workflow
that had nothing wrong with it, so it was
only when I was able to buy a medium
format level of digital that I considered it,
and I bought a Hasselblad H1, which I still
use today.
When it comes to my business, I’ve
been a victim and a beneficiary of my
approach, which has been really broad all
the way through my career. I’ve worked in
just about every area of photography there
is – shooting live music and bands, food,
architecture, still life and product... in some
ways it’s a bit of a stumbling block when
you’re trying to create a profile and build
a niche. No sooner than I’d start to get a
following in an area I’d find I’d morphed
into something else.
Despite that, by the early 2000’s I had
a consistent profile among the design
agencies, so the relatively consistent
commercial work of a decent budget would
come through the doors. I still find word-of-
mouth marketing is by far the best, and I’m
fortunate that projects walk in through the
door - I wouldn’t recommend my approach
to anyone else!
The two-handed change in my career
in the last few years is having a child I’m
raising myself, and I was offered a full-
time position at Whitecliffe College of
Art and Design where I’d been teaching
part-time for about three years. I’ve now
been full-time for two years, and this year
I was asked to take on the role of Head of
Department, so I’m pretty much a full-time
educator now.
When it comes to my business, i’ve been a victim and a beneficiary of my approach, which has been really broad all the way through my career.
9 | www.nzphotographer.co.nz
NZP: Last year you won the NZIPP Landscape Photographer of the Year - how did you get into landscapes?
BN: My landscape photography started out
as editorial – years ago I did a series of travel
stories with a writer called Tess Redgrave that
were published in Next magazine. From that
a book came about, and that was my first
taste of going out and immersing myself in
landscapes.
It was all 35mm film, and was mostly
unrepeatable moments I had to get on the fly.
As my career became more commercial,
the landscape stuff has become work on
behalf of Tourism NZ and local tourism, and
much more staged and researched.
Landscape photography is a broad
genre, and in the same way that we live in
a post-documentary world, we’re in a post-
landscape world. It’s very easy to create
“chocolate box” landscape imagery - it’s
extremely prevalent, and it’s very easily
consumed.
I’m not so interested in making “documents”
of landscapes – some photographers make
wonderful documents of places, but that’s not
where I’m at, so much.
We have to make a distinction between
images that we make because we hope
they are expressing something new or
challenging and images we make as
photographers because we are always
attracted to light and form. Often we can’t
help ourselves but make an image if we
see something that’s framed beautifully, or
because the light is perfect.
That goes for any photographer
professional or not, and I think those sorts of
images are valid for the person who made
them, first and foremost as photographers
it feels satisfying to respond visually to the
environment, and secondly because time
is this amazing thing and the value of a
photograph can shift radically 50 or 100
years on.
However, when you take on landscape
photography I ask you to think before you
press the shutter - are you saying anything
that hasn’t been said? Or are you saying
it in a tone of voice that you maybe think
hasn’t been expressed? Are you challenging
the way people think at all? Is there a
purpose to that image? Is there a point to it?
There is an “I have witnessed” syndrome.
“I was here. I saw it”. In which case great,
put it in your album, but don’t inflict it on the
rest of the world; countless images like that
already exist on flickr and beyond.
Landscape Tips:1. You have to train yourself to look and
you need to always be seeing. I know
that some of the best landscapes I have
made are of places I’ve gone back to.
A good landscape photographer has
the knack of driving with one eye on
the road and one eye out the window,
and then you find somewhere and you
think “this is kinda interesting, and it
needs to be first thing in the morning”,
and then you have to come back.
2. Don’t leave the house without a tripod.
3. Usually you do want to avoid noise
and or grain in your landscape
images. You need to think about what
kind of sensor you have or what kind
of camera you are shooting with.
Images in the environment tend to be
quite underwhelming at a small size,
so if you’ve made something you
think is successful it probably wants
to be “bigger”, and that can be
disappointing if it falls apart because
it’s noisy or grainy, or it’s a bit soft - you
need a good quality lens etc.
4. Everybody’s all over HDR in landscape
photography - I find that really dull.
People think it’s a magic wand. “It’s a
landscape therefore it must be HDR”.
Well not necessarily. That kind of
hyper-reality makes me think of real
estate agents photography (laughs). It’s
like a dark room tool. It can be used
really beautifully or it can be used in
an awful way.
5. You kinda need to have a brief in your
mind; almost like you’re working on
a commission. Like, “I want to find a
unique way of looking at rangitoto.
What is rangitoto? What is this
volcano in the middle of the harbour?”
Make yourself a set of bullet point
thoughts of what it actually is to you,
and then go and find that shot. Then
you don’t just default back to other
landscapes you’ve seen. It’s more
about answering your own set of
questions.
6. Loads of research of other
people’s work!
Becky Nunes currently heads the BFA Photography Department at Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design in Auckland. She is also continuing to work on select commercial projects, and has a show of her work, in conjunction with Jan Young, opening
at the NKB Gallery in Mt Eden as part of the Auckland Festival of Photography. For more go to wwwbeckynunes.co.nz
12 | www.nzphotographer.co.nz
I got interested in photography through
a friend of mine. I was searching for
something in my life to focus on to help
me after the passing of my son, so for me
photography means so much to me on so
many levels.
Over the last 18 months I have
been getting into portrait and wedding
photography. My main interests are creative
work and weddings, and moving forward
my main goals are to increase my skills and
knowledge in those fields.
With my photography I’m finding
my direction of choice is more towards
transforming the normal and demanding
a different view point. Over the next 12
months my goal is to focus on creating
more creative artworks like the many I have
displayed here, as i feel it showcases my
ability to capture and digitally enhance an
image, which, I believe, helps me stand out
from many other photographers.
Thanks so much for sharing your work,
Philip! It’s great to show other people what
you’re up to. Maybe it’ll inspire them to
challenge their reality too! - Ed
FROM THE READER
PhiliP baileyReadeR’s submission:
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PhiliP bailey
18 | www.nzphotographer.co.nz
FEATURE
sensoRsto cLeaN or KILL
You’re correct about a number of things - an electromagnetically charged sensor will
attract dust, and changing the lens increases the chance of dust entering the camera
body, and a dust-free environment minimises the risk of dust.
However, there are several other points to consider.1. Simply taking the lens off won’t directly mean dust on your sensor - remember,
the SHUTTER IS CLOSED! Dust doesn’t magically pass through the metal shutter because your sensor may or may not have charge running through it.
2. Even if you turn your camera off to change the lens, if you introduce dust to the internal chamber then turn your camera back on AND TAKE A PHOTO (i.e. open the shutter) you’re just as likely to have the dust stick itself to your sensor as you would be if you’d left your camera ‘on’ during the lens change.
3. Regularly dusting the back end of your lenses with a lens cloth and blowing out the inside chamber of your camera with a hand pump is a much more reliable way of minimising dust - don’t use compressed air in a can because the propellant can leave a residue, and NEVER use it on the sensor directly!
4. When you change lenses, open the new lens, dust it with a lens cloth, remove the lens on the camera and keep the camera body pointing down, swap the new lens onto the camera and then clean the old lens before putting away.
5. Most professional photographers will agree that “dust-free environments” are a myth, other than in hospitals and the Lexar manufacturing plant and the like. You are working, you need to change lenses, so you do. Better to have 2 bodies and change lenses less!
6. Have a professional train you on how to use sensor cleaning fluid to clean your own sensor, but beware that this is risky! If you don’t do it properly you can ruin your sensor.And even after minimising your dust as above, accept the fact that you will, one
day, need to take your camera in for a professional sensor clean.
Source: Planet5D.com
This first part is from a post I made
online at http://forum.Planet5D.com
– if you like forums and haven’t tasted
this one then you really should – loads of
really interesting and useful info!
The original post asked: “Better to turn
off the camera before lens changing? Is
it appropriate to turn on and off so many
times?”
Several comments were made, and I
thought I’d share my point because it touches
on a few things we should all keep in mind.
19 | www.nzphotographer.co.nz
And staying with the sensor theme, and
also with Planet5D.com, here’s a remarkable
post about the damage that a laser beam
can do to your sensor – remarkable because
I’ve photographed lasers many times and
never knew how close I was to losing my
sensor!
Lasers used in a light show have
damaged a Canon EOS 5D Mark II
(reviews) CMOS sensor and I sure didn’t
know it was possible, but I thought I’d get
a warning out since it appears to have
damaged this guy’s sensor. I would suspect
that all CMOS
sensors are probably
susceptible –
including Nikon,
Sony, Panasonic
etc., but maybe
because we’re using
larger lenses on
the HDSLR cameras
would tend to focus
more of the laser’s
beam on the sensor
(I’m no scientist so
I’m just guessing
here, but it makes
some sense). While it
appears to be mostly
safe and not common to get damage
(you’ll see in the video that several lasers
hit the camera but only one caused the
damage), we thought you should know.
We thought we’d check up on this a bit
and found this page on the International
Display Laser Association’s site which says:
“Lasers emit concentrated beams of
light, which can heat up sensitive surfaces
(like the eye’s retina) and cause damage.
Camera sensors are susceptible to
damage, similar to the human eye.
For large scale shows, such as on a
televised concert, laser show producers work
with clients to avoid TV camera locations
and video projectors (ILDA Members, see this
page for details). However, it is not possible
for laser show producers to be responsible
for all cameras and camcorders which might
be at a show.
Therefore, if you attend a show as
an audience member, you should take
reasonable precautions not to let a laser
beam directly enter your camera lens.”
Source: Planet5D.com
20 | www.nzphotographer.co.nz
This month’s winner is Derek Spender!
Derek’s astro-composite of a lunar
eclipse was engaging, in focus, and
suited our cover the best. Special mention
MUST be made of veteran NZ Photographer
cover winner Melanie Beres, for her beautiful
star-trails image, and of Steve Baldwin’s
image of Omega Centauri, both of which
were images that were debated over long
and hard for the top image. Well done for
making our decision a tough one!
Derek wins this issue’s cover and a
$100 voucher from the fabulous people
at Giclée Print. For all YOUR fine art
and canvas printing needs, visit
www.gicleeprint.co.nz
PiC ofthe bunCh
PIC OF THE BUNCH
COMPETITIONS
After our mammoth interview with
Becky Nunes the challenge is
now for you to come up with a
Landscape image that isn’t just a pretty
picture, or as Becky referred to it, an image
that isn’t “chocolate-box photography”.
Here’s Becky’s comment that really sums
up what we’ll be looking for in a winning
image:
“When you take on landscape photography
I ask you to think before you press the
shutter - are you saying anything that hasn’t
been said? Or are you saying it in a tone
of voice that you maybe think hasn’t been
expressed? Are you challenging the way
people think at all? Is there a purpose to that
image? Is there a point to it?”
So, try not to submit pretty pictures of
mountains and fields and flowers –
challenge yourself to think outside the
traditional-landscape box!
One last quote from Becky to save our
inbox from crashing under the weight of a
million sunset images: “There is an ‘I have
witnessed’ syndrome. ‘I was here. I saw it’.
In which case great, put it in your album,
but don’t inflict it on the rest of the world;
countless images like that already exist on
flickr and beyond.”
Thanks again to our sponsors of our
competitions - for all YOUR fine art and
canvas printing needs, ask for Mike at
www.gicleeprint.co.nz One entry per person, and you must be in
New Zealand or hold a NZ Passport at the
time of entry to qualify to win.
Images must be 100dpi, 1600
pixels wide, and sent to competitions@
nzphotographer.co.nz by 5pm on Monday
the 27th of June, 2011. Winner will be
published in Issue 24, out on Wednesday
the 13th of July, 2011.
25 | www.nzphotographer.co.nz
Last month we decided to hold another
one of our Open Competitions – only
this time there’s a twist... your image
needs to have been taken in 2011!!
So, the subject matter, post production
techniques, composition and theme are
all up to you, but the photo needs to
have been taken recently. Rather than
encourage a trawl through your photos
from 2003 we want to see what you’re
all creating NOW.
HINT: Go back to Issue 20 and read
our article on how to win our competitions!
Thanks again to our sponsors of our
competitions - for all YOUR fine art
and canvas printing needs, visit
www.gicleeprint.co.nz One entry per person, and you must be
in New Zealand or hold a NZ Passport at
the time of entry to qualify to win.
Images must be 100dpi, 1600
pixels wide, and sent to competitions@
nzphotographer.co.nz by 5pm on
Monday the 23rd of May, 2011.
Winner will be published in Issue 23,
out on Wednesday the 8th of June,
2011.
26 | www.nzphotographer.co.nz
Cool stuff
liGhtRoom 3Are you still debating whether to upgrade to
Lightroom 3? Are you absolutely certain that
your combination of Photoshop and Bridge
is the best workflow you can have?
Then you need to check out Scott Kelby’s
“100 Ways Adobe Lightroom Kicks Adobe
Bridge’s A$$ for Photographers” – I’m sure
you can guess which side he’s on!
Source: www.photoshopuser.com/lightroom
PX 680 ColouRshadeFortunately for photography buffs,
Impossible’s mission to revive Instant Integral
film hasn’t proven, well, impossible. And the
company’s latest film stock, PX 680 Color
Shade, reminds us of those Hipstamatic
and Instagram shots the kids like so
much these days. Except, you know -- the
aforementioned apps simulate old school
photographic processes and equipment,
while the new film achieves the same effect
by using time-honored methods that remind
us of the new school smartphone apps that
ape time-honored photographic processes
and equipment. Just thinking about it makes
our heads hurt! If you’ve been waiting your
whole life for the perfect Polaroid 600 color
film, it’s available now for US$22. Hit the
source link for more info (and some pretty
awesome sample shots).
Source: Engadget
27 | www.nzphotographer.co.nz
50 Red ePiC-m CameRasLooks like another director’s been on a
shopping spree lately, as RED’s Jim Jannard’s
just announced that he sold another 50
EPIC-Ms to one generous customer. Who’s
this, you ask? Why, it’s James Cameron of
Avatar and Titanic fame, and he’s probably
just blown US$2.9 million on his latest stash
of cinematographic toys -- it’s US$58,000 a
pop for these hand-machined professional
cameras. Details are scarce at the moment,
but any educated guess would point at
the upcoming Avatar 2 due end of 2014,
meaning our favorite blue aliens will be
returning in a healthy 5K resolution. Keep an
eye out for Jannard’s official announcement
later this week for the full lowdown.
Source: Engadget
28 | www.nzphotographer.co.nz
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Issue 23, Out June 2011
A Final Hurrah – we say goodbye to the best Editor we’ve ever had!
How To: Creative Portraits
Getting to Know: Niki Coates