Get enough coverage

Just a quick tip this week. I went on a trip with my wife's choir on Saturday, and decided before hand that I wanted to put together a little slide show for them when it was over. After we got home, I realized that I didn't have a lot of coverage from early in the day, and because of how I was putting together the video I wound up stretching some of what I had out in the beginning. It worked ok, but I would have liked to have more to cut between.

I could blame myself for being tired, or for not being familiar with the kids and having a hard time taking photos/video of them, but I'm going to look at it as a learning experience. It's better to have too much content and have to whittle down later than to not have enough and try to stretch it when you edit. Waiting for shots to happen is nice and you can get some good candids that way, but in situations like these the "hey, give me a smile!" shots are just as good (if not better).

Despite some shortcomings, I really liked putting together the video slideshow and I will definitely do more of this sort of thing in the future. I will just have to make sure I get more complete coverage of the event so that I'm not limited when it comes to piecing it all together. If you've never done anything like this, I recommend giving it a shot. iMovie for the Mac is an awesome piece of software and makes doing video slideshows a breeze (you can even sync up your edits with the music so that it cuts on the beat, a very nice little professional touch). I'm not sure about an equivalent program on the Windows platform, if anyone has any suggestions please share them for our PC users!

~S

[title of blog] on flickr

52 weeks: Week 18 wrapup

© 2010 Simon Hucko

Still haven't found the charger for my DSLR (honestly, I haven't been looking very hard, been busy with other things), so I decided to give the point n shoot another chance to shine this week. Inspired by last week's photo, I decided to flip it into "macro" mode and go hunting for textures. I walked by this dandelion with its perfect arrangement of fuzz, and immediately swooped down to capture the head. After I opened it up on my computer and did the black and white conversion (with a little tweaking for contrast and sharpness, as the point n shoot doesn't exactly shine in that area) I was greeted by a tiny planet with tall fuzzy trees growing all around it. I've seen plenty of dandelion fuzz photos, but I think this one has something unique going on, and it showed me something I'd never seen before. That's the power of photography - taking people to moments or places that they've never been and letting them explore a scene frozen in time that would usually pass them by.

Photography is also a way to play with time, which I talked about a bit in my post yesterday. My pick this week is "The Speed of Spring" by [Adam_Baker]:


© Adam Baker

The thing that really grabbed me about this shot is his description of how it was made. "It's couple of 30sec exposures layered in PS." I've heard of this technique being used to capture star trails with digital cameras, since it helps overcome the noise issues you get with 30 minute long exposures on a DSLR. It never even occurred to me to use the same technique during the day, and a little light bulb went off in my head which is now exploding with possibilities (mostly related to the fact that I don't own a 10 stop ND filter and can't usually get those long cloud exposures). Beyond the technical wizardry, I really like the motion and colors he captured here. My favorite part is the little bit of motion around the edge of the tree, like it was waving at the camera.

I hope my posts this week have given you something to think about and inspire you with your work. I know I've had a few "ah hah!" moments over the past couple of days, and I'm looking forward to realizing some of the images that are bouncing around my head. Get inspired and go show people a world that they've never seen!

~S

[title of blog] on flickr

Capturing the Wind

© Dan Hucko

My wife and I drove up to visit our families this weekend for Mother's day. Living in upstate New York means that snow in May is not outside the realm of possibility, and we had a big cold front blow through with tree-damaging winds and flurries all weekend. When we got to my parents, we were talking about the crazy weather on the drive up, and my dad said "I tried to capture the wind with my camera this afternoon, I'll post some photos tomorrow."

That struck me as a rather profound statement. Photography is inherently a two-dimensional art form: the end result is a static image on a screen or a page, frozen forever and incapable of moving. So how do you capture something like the wind, which we understand by the motion that it creates in leaves, flags, water, clouds, etc? My dad's answer was to crank down the aperture and lengthen the shutter speed, with some rather interesting results. Not all trees move the same in the wind, and the photos have some great texture and layers to them. The most interesting part to me was the shapes that got etched into the sky around the edges of the moving trees.

I encourage you to spend some time looking at his photos and think about how you can use shutter speed to capture movement or time in your photos. Or think about the opposite - how a short shutter speed or a flash can freeze something in time that we can't usually stop and examine. Use the limitations of the medium to your advantage and give your viewers a peek into a world that they just can't normally see.

See the full set here

~S

[title of blog] on flickr

52 weeks: Week 17 wrapup

© 2010 Simon Hucko

Well, it's been a rather long and busy week for me. We closed on our house last Tuesday, which means we've been painting and doing various other things all week. On top of that, I still can't locate the charger for my DSLR, so I haven't been carrying it around with me since the batteries are basically toast (lesson learned). Tired of my own excuses and not wanting to miss my blogging deadline again this week, I decided to throw together a quick still life type shot on the butcher block I spent all of Sunday working on. I chose a part of it that had some cuts and texture to it, giving a nice earthy contrast to the polished steel of the silverware. I converted to black and white to help bring out the textures and make the high ISO noise from my point n shoot less noticeable (noise is generally much better tolerated in black and white, as we expect black and white film shots to have some grain to them).

There were a lot of great entries this week, so I chose to highlight two. My first pick is "Major Tom" by matt.mendick:


© matt.mendick

First off, I'll admit that he totally got me with this one. I looked at the caption and just assumed that it was a shuttle launch of some sort (especially with the inside knowledge that he was just in the Tampa area). Nope, just a plane. I really like the movement from the clouds to the deep sky. The black and white is a nice trick, too, makes it look like the blackness of space. The placement of the plane at the top of the frame makes it look like it's about to fly right out of the photo.

My second pick this week is "Squeaka" by irv_b:


© irv_b

I love that the musician is in silhouette but his instrument still shines through. It's a great effect, kudos for noticing this and capturing it so well. I like the narrow crop, too, and the natural framing that the tunnel provides. Great photo.

That's it for this week. Keep up the great work, I'll continue trying to locate my charger, and probably give the point n shoot more attention between ripping out wallpaper and carpet...

~S

[title of blog] on flickr

Hard Work is Hard

Well, the title says it all. I spent my Sunday this weekend sanding down an old butcher block table that we were given by my in-laws. It's a gorgeous old table, hand made by my wife's grandfather. However, over time it had built up some grime and blemishes from use (and from sitting in the basement for a few years), and needed some TLC. I got the idea to re-finish it. At the outset, I didn't realize how big a job it would be. I spent most of the day bent over that table scrubbing and sanding it down, going through sheet after sheet of sandpaper as it got gunked up. It was hot, sweaty, dirty work. But in the end, when I wiped it down with mineral oil and stepped back, I was really happy with the result.

My point here is that often times, to get the result we want, we have to get dirty and do some hard work. You have to get up at 5am to get out there for sunrise. You have to hike up a gorge with your heavy gear to capture a waterfall. You have to get down on the ground and crawl around to get wonderful shots of kids playing. You have to approach a stranger to get that street portrait you're after. Part of what makes a great shot so great is that you were willing to go the extra distance to get something unique. If we all went for the lowest hanging fruit, our photos would all look the same and would lack any sort of "wow" factor. Next time you're after a shot and that little voice tells you "that won't be easy," smile and know you're headed for something unique. Hard work is hard, but the payoff is usually worth it.

OK, so this is also a thinly veiled excuse as to why I don't have a real blog post this week, and why my photo this week is a "look what I did" shot with my point n shoot. But I hope the point is well taken and that you'll think about the implications for your photos.

~S

[title of blog] on flickr

52 weeks: Week 15 and 16 wrapup

© 2010 Simon Hucko

Life has been rather crazy for me lately, and things here on the blog just got away from me. I apologize, and thank you guys for posting photos last week and this week even though I wasn't keeping up with things. The good news is, my wife and I closed on our new house on Tuesday! The bad news is, we're living out of (a lot of) boxes and I can't find the charger for my camera. Lesson learned: I should have grabbed the charger before the move and stuffed it into my bag. C'est la vie.

On to the photos! My photo for week 15 was slightly different for me. I don't get a chance to shoot street photography much, but it's something I'm interested in and would like to shoot more of. I was walking around Cornell and came across this message spelled out on a fence. Students were walking to and from campus, so I framed the shot and waited for the right mix of people in the frame. I'm pretty happy with the shot, a nice little slice of life at Cornell.

My pick for week 15 is from newcomer garycollins2:


© garycollins2

I love the rich red color in the sky and the great silhouette of the leaves (especially the two that are nudging up against the sun). Lucky accident or no, that little detail really makes this image. Wonderful first entry, I'm looking forward to seeing more. :)

Week 16


© 2010 Simon Hucko

Week 16 was unofficial Earth Day week. I originally set out to do something special for Earth Day, but considering I couldn't even get the normal wrapup post out on time, it just wasn't going to happen. Thanks to those of you who embraced the idea and posted something Earth Day-ish anyway. (And no points lost to those who didn't). My photo this week was a panorama of the town that I live in. I recently discovered a nice vantage point for this, and thought it would be a fitting photo for my Earth Day submission. I have plans to go back up when we get a nice colorful sunset and take another one, possibly even have it printed and framed.

My pick for this week is "Lincoln-3" by djhucko:


© djhucko

What can I say, I'm a sucker for symmetry (especially black and white symmetry). Wonder where I get that from... I also like that this was captured with his cell phone - I always like getting a glimpse into how people see the world around them, and phone cams tend to provide the most organic way for people to share that.

I want to mention MairinJean's Earth Day entry as well:


© MairinJean

I thought this was a very interesting rule breaker, and I can't stop looking at it. It feels "wrong," but I also really like what's captured here and how it keeps me thinking about the image. Thanks for the head scratcher :)

Ok, that should get me all caught up. I promise to keep up with things from now on. Thanks for being patient and sticking with it despite my absence. Deadline for week 17 is coming up Sunday at midnight, so get out there and get shooting!

~S

[title of blog] on flickr

SuperLame is Super Awesome

No meaty post this week (still busy with the house), but I thought I'd throw up a link for you guys to play with. SuperLame.com hosts a web app that lets you add speech/thought bubbles to your images. It's fast and super easy to use, and lets you fully control the size and position of your bubble (even extending beyond the photo). I believe they have a facebook app, too, although I haven't played with it yet. I may have to set that up, because those are the types of photos that will get the SuperLame treatment most often. Earth shattering? No. Fun to play with? You bet. Happy Monday :)

Thanks to Aaron Mahler over at TWIP for the link.

edit: I did a little digging into the facebook app. Turns out that it's pretty lame (pun intended). As far as I can tell, you still have to upload a photo from your computer (rather than having it interface with your facebook photos). It will let you save your finished photo directly to facebook, which is good.

~S

[title of blog] on flickr