June 2013
Fireworks on the 4th Bring on the fireworks and photography. I have loved shooting fireworks ever since I first got bitten by the photo bug. Like a snowflake, every capture is different and that is the beauty of it. The recipe for a great image starts with a tripod. If you get a good capture handheld it is luck. Don’t ever rely on luck to make a great image. Nobody is going to hire you because you’re lucky. You’ll get hired because you know your craft. I suggest, if your camera
is capable, to use a cable release. This will allow you to take a shot without have to touch the camera and possibly shake it. If you don’t have one you can set the camera’s self timer and let it fire on its own. Most cameras have a choice of two seconds or ten seconds. Set it for two seconds. It is always nice to have some of the scene or location included in the image. If you are shooting at the Roosevelt bridge in Stuart find a vantage point that will include the bridge in-
stead of shooting from the bridge itself. I always look to see where
Snapseed for your iPhone
I started to count how many photo apps there are for iPhone and Android devices. Sorry, you won’t be getting that answer here. You will, however, get an introduction to Snapseed. First, you get the bonus. It’s FREE! I downloaded it when it first came out and believe I paid $10 for it. Since then it has been bought by Google and they are giving it away on portable devices as I believe they are looking to incorporate it into a desktop application like Picasa in the future, but I am speculating
as Google share nothing more than 3 ½ minutes in advance of an announcement. There are about 14 filters of creative enhancements and adjustments. The creative brings you to the B&W, Vintage, Grunge, Center Focus and Tilt/Shift, Retrolux and Frames. The adjustments are and Auto Tune, Auto Correct, Rotates/Straighten, Crop and Details, Selective Adjust. Just because it is a mobile app that doesn’t mean it is
limited to mobile images. I use on my images taken with my other cameras too. The Selective Adjust is probably my favorite filter with iPhone images. See SNAPSEED page 3
the fireworks will appear in the sky or will ask so I can have a good spot ready. See INTRO page 4
As you get more comfortable in the Photoshop platform and work with layers it would be best to get in the habit of naming each layer by double clicking it and then typing in a one or two word description. Trust me, when you have your first 24-layer document you will be glad you did. When photographing an subject (live or inanimate), shoot it from multiple angles and make about 1520 different images. You will be surprised when you see them on the big screen when editing.
How it was made: Ashley in Training My inspiration for images come from new techniques I am always learning, my imagination and yes, other photographers ... especially other photographers. I had seen an image for Vanity Fair of Hilary Swank a few years ago and loved the power of her run. I also found parts of the image I was not happy with if it were my own so I knew there was a way to totally reinvent it as my own. It has been difficult to find the photo credit, but it is believed to be by photography legend, Annie Leibovitz ... but I may be wrong. I often will do a beach shoot with girls and guys. I wouldn’t have been averse to making this image with a guy had the opportunity made itself available. I wanted to localize it with someone here in my community.
I had taken a few images of people each time I did the beach shoot and asked people
to give me a big stride. It never quite gelled. Sometimes my subjects stride was too narrow. Sometimes there was no air. Sometimes they just fell down and we’d have to wait for a total sand wash-off before the next attempt. Then came Ashley Wright. I had a good feeling.
SNAPSEED from page 2
I recently had an image that was well lit in one area, but not in an-
I had photographed Ashley before for wild art I was shooting for a newspaper. Ashley was diving for Lincoln Park Academy in a meet at Indian River State College. I usually stay off to the side and catch the angle as to not be distracting when shooting these meets. After watching Ashley make a few dives, I broke my rule and stood even with the board albeit several feet back. She was in her own zone and didn’t even seem to notice me so I rationalized that I was OK to stay there. The shot I published ended up winning national recogni-
other. With a few screen pinches and finger slides on the screen I had a great balance without overdoing it.
tion with a first place award in a sports photo category for our paper. We went to the beach about an hour before sunset. Being on the east coast we don’t get those riveting ‘sun on the water’ shots, but our subjects look great in the warm, late afternoon glow. I set a remote strobe along the shoreline and ran a few focus and light tests with her just standing there. I balanced the strobes (the other was on camera, but just to fire the remote) to allow a good exposure on the background. There was only a peak of sun coming through some clouds on the horizon so I balanced for that as well. One of the things I wanted to change from the Hilary Swank im-
See ASHLEY page 5
Give it a try and take what you have created in the camera an continue the creative process. It’s FREE!
FIREWORK from page 2
You don’t want to be pointing one area of the sky and have them launch somewhere else. It is too difficult to scramble in the dark when the show has already started and the crowds have formed. Now that you’re set, let’s set up the camera. Set your ISO to a low number. The sample photo of the bursts was at ISO 200. Set your camera to Manual (M) and then adjust your shutter speed to half a second and the aperture to something in the f/8-f/11 area. Remember, the shutter speeds are already in fractions of a second (60 = 1/60 of a second) so you will want to go to the number 2 which will equate to ½. Having a digital camera takes a lot of the guesswork out because you will see immediately on your screen how your exposure looks. If the image is too washed
I was recently asked how to place text on a curved line to make a more dynamic look to their advertisement. With the simple arc of a line drawn with a pen tool you can flow your text in a number of ways. Start by making two anchor points on your document and then click in the middle and drag until you get the curve, or path, that you desire.
out and your black areas look grayish in tone then adjust your aperture smaller to f/11 or f/16. If you want more bursts in your image set your shutter speed to be open longer. Maybe two seconds? Four seconds? Try different exposures. One of the techniques I like on a long exposure is to start with your lens zoomed in close and while the shutter is open zoom back to its widest setting before the shutter closes. You will get and interesting movement of the bursts. Remember that it is pretty hit-or-miss depending on your guesswork timing of when to open the shutter in correlation of the bursts they fire. If you would like a bit of inspiration visit 500PX.com and type ‘Fireworks’ in the search window. If you have any questions before the 4th please email me at mitch@mitchpix.com.
When you bring your cursor to the newly drawn path the icon will change to a standard cursor icon with a curved line to indicate it will start laying your text on the path.
Start typing your text on that mark and remember to adjust your fonts, kerning and any other sizing the same way you would on any other text doument you create.
If you’re feeling creative you can write out words with sparklers while leaving the shutter open. If you keep moving in the image your body will not appear. I look forward to seeing your images after the event you attend. Upcoming Fireworks Events on the Treasure Coast: Weds, July 3 in Tradition Following the Food Truck Invasion there will be a display over the lake at 9:00. The Port St. Lucie Civic Center will end Freedomfest with fireworks at 9:00 (weather permitting) on Thursday, July 4. The St. Lucie Mets usually have fireworks following the game. Regrettably every
game I attend goes into extra innings and we have to wait. The stadium makes a beautiful foreground. For the good of others, I will not be there this year. Stuart Main Street hosts what has always been a great display over the St. Lucie River in downtown Stuart. So many good vantage points on both sides of the river, also, Thursday, July 4 at 9:00pm. Main Street Fort Pierce will host Stars Over St. Lucie with fireworks at 9:00pm over the river in downtown Fort Pierce.
Now that you have the text you want remember to pretty up your image with a non-distracting background and ass some layer styles
with drop shadow, stroked text, inner glow or an assortment of styles to make it pop off the page. Email your questions to mitch@mitchpix.com for the next edition of MitchPix Monthly to find out how to make your designs stand out from the rest.
ASHLEY from page 3 age was the exposure (I prefer my image to pop a bit brighter) and I since she was running I wanted there to be a hint of motion. You can capture a bit of motion blur with a relatively slow shutter speed and pan the camera with your subject while they are moving. All set at 1/64 second shutter, aperture at f/14 and my ISO at 125 I literally drew a line in the sand to show Ashley where I would make the capture. I didn’t do the dreaded ‘Spray-n-Pray’ photo technique of shooting 50 images at one burst. I think that takes away from the professionalism and enables photographers to rely on luck. Ashley stepped back about six steps and started her run. I fired my shot on the predetermined mark. I looked at the back of the camera and was shocked that we nailed it on the first image! Ashley took that direction perfectly and owned that shot. We took a few more so not to waste the light. but it was the first image that ended up being shown publicaly. I was thrilled with the finished product. but my excitement means nothing if my subject hates the image. It made my day that Ashley shared my excitement so we released the image for all to see ... maybe even Nike?
A portable flash was placed behind and to the right of the spot where Ashley would make her leap allowing a bit of light to light her on the edge and sepaprate her from the background a bit more. Words from Ashley about the shoot: When this shot was presented to me by Mitch, about a week from the shoot date, pretty much every night before I actually fell asleep I would picture myself doing the same exact stride that the model in the picture was doing. I would picture in my
Next Month ...
head the position I would have my arms and how high I needed to jump to be completely off the ground, and how high my back leg needed to be. As being a retired gymnast I had confidence in myself that I would be able to perform the shot that Mitch really desired. On the shoot date Mitch described what he wanted me to do once more so we could nail the shot within the first few pictures. We
then did the lighting test and he drew a line in the sand on where he was going to capture the picture, then I took a few steps back and visualized what Mitch described to me before he said he was ready for me to start my steps and when I landed the jump we both were shocked because I honestly didn’t think I would get it in the very first shot of the shoot.