Photoshoot near Quirianopolis, Goias, Brasil

I managed to take a week off while in Sao Paulo to go visit the Fazenda Engenho São Francisco near Quirianopolis. Here are my tips and mistakes made while shooting pictures in a farm.

Here is the equipment taken

• Olympus E3
• Olympus E30
• Olympus Flash FL-50R (Very useful while inside a Barn)
• Sigma 30mm 1.4
• Zuiko 8mm 3.5 (great for cow and calf close-ups)
• Zuiko 50-200mm 2.8
• Zuiko Teleconverter 2X EC-20
• Zuiko 11-22mm 2.8
• ND Filters
• Small Table top tripod
• Hoya Polarizer Filters

Here was my journey:

	Ireland to Brasil
	then to Goiania and Quirinopolis in Goias State
	Fazenda Engenho São Francisco  (click on the link and zoom in you can actually see the cattle)

BTW for Olympus RAW file usage with GPS I recently discovered GeoSetter, great tool that can work with the .ORF files, write the .xmp card or directly into the file to accommodate GPS data. Highly recommended.

 

Most Important tip…

Always talk to the person that runs the place day in and day out. They will give you good tips around the behavior of some of animals, which ones are approachable, and which ones to be careful (I managed to piss off a cow with her calf and it wasn't pretty)

Learn beforehand what kind of animals will you get to see (in my case was mostly cattle but managed a nice surprise to see exotic animals.

For cattle, learn what type of cattle it is you will be seeing, behavior will change depending on the breed and how is managed by the ranch.

If you want cattle to get close to you, as I wanted a very low close-up shot of some grown cows or bulls you need to get into the containment area, get down or sit down on the floor and wait. Cattle can be very curious and only takes one to come closer, for the other ones to follow. Be very careful once they are close, sudden moves can make them jump (very high) and you don't want to get stomped or worse your equipment be crushed

Clothes: depending on where you are going, will vary your clothing, but regardless of weather bring very old dirty jeans. If you can manage some cheap boots do as well, as you have to be ready to step, kneel and sit on cow dong, piss and milk and dirt. Same goes for your camera bag, be ready for it to get dirty and gnawed by curious calves

Bring your equipment for landscape photography, either on hills or flat land ranches tend to be in open spaces and you can capture great sunsets, sunrises and cloud formations.

Get up early, not only because of the great light during that time, farm work starts at 5am the animals are quite awake and is the time before a lot of the cattle is being driven to eat at the grass lands. Also in the case of Brasil is when you can manage best to carry all your equipment with the sun.

If you get to ride a horse: Taking pictures on top of a horse is not so hard if you: a) Have IS on your lense or the camera 2) Shoot either using manual or at least shutter priority mode. The faster the horse, the faster the shutter speed if you want sharp images.

Find out what other ranches around the area you are visiting. We managed to visit a neighboring ranch that sells and raises exotic animals and manage to get great shots. They were very nice and let us walk inside the containment area and take our time on getting to know the animals and wait for the best shots.(So here is a free commercial  :) )

Also depending on where you are you might manage to view animals not very common to your area, I was very intrigued by Pipoca a cateto pork which tend to be very mean, except him.

Missed opportunities:

Some of the shots or things missed:

Not all the cattle behaves the same, while buying and marking some recently purchased cattle, a bull wouldn't come into the containment area, 4 workers chase after him but he managed to jump a fence of at least 1.5 meters, it would have been a great shot.

I should have brought my Manfrotto tripod I missed some good sunset and late opportunities because of not bring it. I have the 190X which is not too heavy but maybe I should invest on a gorillapod or at the very least a smaller tripod I can travel easier

I was so concentrated on the cattle, that I missed some good opportunities for portraits with the workers at the ranches. Brasilians tend to be very open on getting their picture taken and the clothes they wear are very distinct and interesting and could make great portrait subjects.

Same as above, make sure to take pictures for remembering the trip, take pictures with family and friends, not everything is about getting the best shot.

See the rest of the shots here

Macro Photography

Macro Photography

Fruit and Veg

With a vast array of wonderful colors available, fruit and veg can make a great macro subject. Arrange to create attractive graphical shapes and experiment with over and underexposed images

Know your settings

The quality of your close up photography will only be as good as your technical capabilities, so mastering these skills should be top priority. For more amateur shooters get acquainted with your cameras macro mode.

Avoid cliches

Use tour imagination and take note only the obvious shot but a range of images that show your subject in a new light. Changing your angle is the quickest way to avoid  an unimaginative shot

World in focus

The defining characteristic of a successful macro shot is razor sharp focus. A handy trick recommended by professionals is to try and compose your shot so that the camera boy is parallel to the length of the subject, This ensures all areas are of equal distance to the lens.

Color

If you want to achieve a level of deep saturation of the colors, use front lighting if you would like to bring out the texture of your subject, side lighting is the way to go

In a flash

Be careful when using flash for macro work. Most on board flash systems are too harsh for close up photography and you will bleach out your subject or cause glare. However when used carefully flash will enable you yo use a smaller aperture for greater depth of field and create shots with greater clarity.

Light and color

its easy to get carried away wit ha subjects form when looking for a close up opportunity and forget about light and color as compositional tools. You can find beautiful tones in the most unlikely of places

Fill the frame

When shooting macro you will need to decide upon the technique that will enable your subject to fill the frame adequately. Choose the right lens, zoom, wide angle, or macro. then think about composition

Some simple rules

Sharp focus is a mist. Shoot from the different angles to get more unique images. Think about color, composition and lighting always

Dont rely on autofocusing, always try manual focusing. If you have Live View capabilities, its perfect here for macro work

It is vital to get lighting exact when photographing in macro. If you want to avoid using a flash and are instead going to stick to ambient light sources, the opt for natural lighting first. This will involve the least amount of fuss. Its possible to setup a simple studio environment using your artificial lighting sources around  the hime, but you need to avoid using harsh light lamps that are difficult to angle in order to avoid unsightly shadows. One false move may result in an image needing hefty image editing post capture.

Using your camera flash is a no-no

More tips

Lenses

Its worth looking into purchasing a macro lens, if you own a DSLR.

Steady shots

If you are capturing macro images you will need to make sure that a sturdy tripod supports your camera. A minitripod might be a good idea that you can put on top of your table as a regular size tripod will push your camera away from the object

Exposure tricks

In order to achieve great exposure its a good trick to bracket your shots, Make sure that you take note of which image looks good and what setting you used

Focus

When using creative DOF take a good look at your subject. Pick an area that you want to highlight and concentrate your focus to this point If you are using a large aperture this will throw the rest out of focus

Macro Subjects

Everybody photographs flowers when trying out macro photography. A rose may look beautiful up close but so can everyday objects Be different and try to snap up ordinary in terms in a creative way

Lighting

Bring conditions will cast heavy shadows on your subject. Get rid of this by diffusing the light with tracing paper or a Last olite diffuser. If shooting outdoors you will get the best effects when its overcast

Composition

Try and be creative with your shooting angles. It will give you more scope for a macro shots with punch. If you can place your objects on a glass surface, you can capture your shot from underneath

Out of the ordinary

Concentrate on making your object look out of the ordinary. If you can take a common subject and capture it making your audience look twice, then you know you have succeeded

Lens shift

Don't get addicted to using the same lens and the same setup. Change your setup now and see if you can capture the same object with a different effect

Experiment

Some of the best images come from experimentation. You might want to tweak your composition, exposure and lighting to capture a shot with a macro pizzazz

The kitchen is a good place to start, as there is so much scope for interesting textures and shapes. Take a look at the latest supermarket advertising campaigns or sit in a high street coffee bar and you will see that is  very fashionable  to capture close ups of food and in your home. The key to creating a great macros till life is to keep your shots simple. Try out macro effects on unusual objects such as cross sections of fruit or cutlery/ Don’t try and capture elaborate images, as you will detract the attention away from your subject. Remember its important to keep background as clean cut and fuss free as possible, by using a white cloth or piece of card in the background. You will then be able to clean up your shots easily in your image editing software program.

Visit my pictures at http://www.flickr.com/a207001392

 

 

del.icio.us Tags: macro,shoot,studio,lighting,ideas,home,food,object,household

Visit my pictures at http://www.flickr.com/a207001392

Closer to Home (Macro)

Closer to Home (Macro)

Everyday objects around the home offer plenty of potential for interesting close ups, the key is to keep your eyes open for the possibilities of colors, textures and shapes. Even if you run out of ideas for photographing objects in your home, it is possible to bring interesting objects from outdoors for still life shooting

Consider investing on a mini tripod that will allow you to get closer to your objects, a larger tripod my interfere with the table

Creating a table top studio

• A sturdy table
• A white sheet or selection of large colored cards
• A minimum of two, but ideally three or four separate lamps
• Small pieces of card
• Tin foil
• Two objects large enough to prop up the card or sheets
• A tripod

Setting up your studio

• Lay a well ironed sheet or large piece of card over a table and prop the rear end up so it falls in a curve. Position the object you want photograph in the center of the table and change your lamps in such a position to eliminate any unruly shadows.
• If you have more than 2 lamps this should be easier In a professional studio darker shadows are field with the use of reflectors.
• You can use your cards wrapped with tin foils to create reflectors.

Try using a water spray bottle to add fine droplets to the petals and leaves. By photographing at such a close proximity to the subject you may capture some nice reflections.

The most everyday or mundane subjects can turn into  inspirational photos if you capture their details in abstract.

By learning to view the world around you in terms of its various patterns, colours and textures rather than the nature of the subject matter itself, you will undoubtedly discover a whole new world of photographic opportunities lurking in even the most unexpected places

Visit my pictures at http://www.flickr.com/a207001392

 

 

del.icio.us Tags: macro,photo,studio,home

Visit my pictures at http://www.flickr.com/a207001392

Tips on...<Reflections>

Reflections

Find them everywhere

The strongest reflections come when a relatively low angle of light strikes directly on the object being reflected, not directly on the reflecting surface. But side-lit reflections give you nice gradations of color, especially with a blue sky and backlighting creates moody results in a limited color palette

Be flexible

A reflection doesn't have to be crystal clear. Muted reflections (sucn as on dishes or polished wood) make great abstractions

Focus into the scene

To preserve the texture or detail of your reflecting surface, focus in about 1/3 of the way. What the surface to be a perfect mirror? Set the focus top infinity

Bracket

Especially in early morning or late afternoon when there can be huge contrast between the lighting of the reflecting surface to its reflection

Use Aperture Priority

DOF can be tricky So set an f/stop that gives you as much or little DOF as you need and let this dictate the Shutter speed

Go Wide

Stymied by the DOF? Use a wide angle lens, DOF is less of an issue and you will have more in-focus latitude

Read right

To correct reversed type use image editing SW to flip the image horizontally

Think Manual

To get both the reflection and reflecting surface (i.e puddle reflection and puddle edges) in focus, switch off AF and manually set your lens to the hyperfocal distance. The point of focus that jeeps the creates range of foreground in focus trough infinity.Stop down your lens with DOF preview button. Focus on a foreground object then move the focus further away until the background point just comes into focus.

Keep yourself out

Wear dark clothing and cover shiny camera surfaces with black gaffer's tape to be as unobtrusive as possible to the shot

Cant find a reflection

Make one. Carry a compact mirror and you can always create reflection image.

Tips on...<Cricket>

• Bring a tripod and teleconverters if available
• Start by setting the lense first, then the converter, then the camera
• A tripod makes sense as cricket has a lot of stops on the game, and gives you the ability to move around
• Positioning parallel to the wicket will allow you to get some cool blur shots of the crowd
• If playing Twenty20 then you get the advantage of having color uniforms and colored wickets which make it easier to stand out
• Depending on where you are positioned, spend some time with each type of player hoping they make a play, spend some time on the bowler, the batsman or hoping a fielder makes a catch
• Some great and classic shots are of those at focusing at the wicket, the batter gets bowled and wait for the bails to fly out up in the air.
• Arrive early on the game, a tripod or monopod should be required.
• Pay attention to the background as there will be lots of crowds and make sure the color doesnt interfere or makes the focal point gets lost
• Be ready for every ball. there is nothing worse than missing a ball and realizing it would hae the best shot of the day.
• Concentrate and try to anticipate what is going to happen. If the batsmen are runing quickly between the wickets then try focusing on the wicketkeeper in case there is a run out. If the ball is hit high in the air try to get a photograph of the ball being caught or dropped by the fielder
• You will need a long lens for cricket. A 400mm is probably the shortest lens that u can get away with. The action will always be 60 to 80 yards away/ Converters are a cheaper way to get this done
• Look around you, there might be a good picture away from the field. Children watching, old men sleeping, people in the scoreboard.

del.icio.us Tags: cricket,assignment,outdoor,speeds,sports,suggested speeds,movement,freeze Action

Tips on... <Fire>

del.icio.us Tags: assignment,fire,ideas,light,sparks

Basic Settings

Focus can be very tricky, one trick is to use an item close to the flame and focus on that

Use a small aperture to widen DOF and capture as much detail as possible

You can get away doing that hand holding the camera, but is much easier using a tripod

Keep it simple

In terms of composition its best to keep things uncluttered. The shadows cast by flames ca be a little difficult to counteract., and more objects in your shot will create more shadoes

The glow from candles and log fires can be invitating, so enhance this with a few props.

Including candles on a shot convey warmth, home feelings.Make sure to enhance this feeling with eartly materials like fruits, colors,etc

A good setting for this type of environment is f 5.6 and a shutter of 1./200 to begin with

Reflectors

Look for natuarally relflective materials in your surrounding environment. For example if you are taking a portrait of somebody on a table with a candle, adding a white tablecloth will increase the light that bounces back, difussing the hard shadows that can sometimes happen

Temperature

When shooting photos by candleliht be aware of the color temperatyre of the light they yield, so you can end up with the most accurate WB. A match flame burns at 1,700 degrees Kelvin, candlelight at 1,850.

Include night skies

If you are shooting outside using a wide angle lense to include some sky can yield interesting results. If you are workign 1hr before sunset you will see a good contrast of the deep blue sky and the orange of the flame. If you are doing late at night, this can cause an interesting red fiery sky.

Adding more light

If your setup looks a little bit dim, introduce artifical light, but try to avoud flash as it could ruin the warmth feeling of yout fire source. Try adding a small lamp that can be dimmed or a torch lioght that can be focused to certain areas of the exposure

Fire placement

Unless you want to create silhouttes you will need to place your source close to your camera, but putting it below the eye line it will create a spooky scene. Moving the light source close to the face at eye level will create a more smooth soften even light on the face

Occupational fire photos

A good opportunity to take advantage of fire, are jobs that work wih fire, such s a blacksmith or welder.

If you want to get shots of welding , setup the shoot before the welding commences, prefocusing on the work area, use a tripod.

Tips on...<Motorcycle racing>

• Get a map of the race track and scout a location, get a program this will also tell you where fences are, corner names, overtaking curves, etc
• Attend qualifying rounds, less people more freedom of movement
• As raiders accelerate out of a corner bikes often lift the front wheel making for great shots
• Fences along the trail can be problematic a good suggestion is
• Set Aperture Priority an F8 or 10 on a 600mm lense and move the ISO to get the shutter speed sloe enough to capture movement in tires and disk brakes
• Wait for the bike to arrive at the spot you have selected.
• Try a different spot on the track so shots dont get boring and repetitive
• Try your panning skills
  • Go to shutter priority
  • 1/125 and 1/250 secs shutter speed
• Equipment
  • 600 mm lens
  • 70-200 mm lens (in case you are close to the action in the curves)
  • 1.4X teleconverter in case is needed
  • Monopod could be useful for added stabilization

del.icio.us Tags: bikes,motor,motorcycles,panning,races,shooting ideas,speed,suggested settings

Tips on...Capturing DJ's at work (Dance club)

• Include lost of subjects (A bouncer, bar staff, dancers, crowds and DJ's) fast food vendors outside.
• Use an off-camera flash this will give you better directional control over the shadows.
• Shooting people dancing
  • Each nightclub will have different lighting setups so there are no hard rules around this, here are some tips
  • Set your flash to manual sync at around 1/60 with an f 6.3. This works well when shooting a meter away from the crowd
  • From a longer distance, set aperture to f5.
  • For wide angle crowd shots raise ISO to 800 set to f5 and change the flash to sync to 1/30
• Your pictures on a dance club should reflect movement and be dynamic, play with the flash setting to show light trails
• Also your settings will be different on the dance floor from the DJ Booth. Remember if using flash the light will bounce now from the ceiling.
• Shoot light trails, if you are shooting a dance club include movement on the shots by using longer exposures to add light trails. Use first curtain sync to freeze the image, after the flash try either rotating or moving the camera or zooming out to add some great colored motion

Tips on...<Classic Cars>

What to take

• Camera and a 70-200 telephoto lense (or close to that range)
• Walking boots and hat
• Food and Water
• Sun block
• Get a program to assess the circuit

Tips

• Approach static classic car as you would human portraits. Use a zoom lens and an aperture of around 5.6 or 8 to throw the background out of focus and keep the car the focal point
• Shooting from a low angle adds impact
• Soft clouds make give smoother shadows and texture to the metal shapes and curves while early lighting is much more flattering than the light of midday
• The small details on a classic car are often exquisite. Bonnet mascots, dashboards, lights and bodywork curves are all great reasons to bring a macro lense. Use an aperture of f/8 at close quarters to give a smooth out-of-focus background, while keeping the main subject sharp.
• Be aware of people wondering in the shot, unwanted reflections can ruin a great composition
• If there are some racing involved, get early to the pits to get shots of mechanics these make for great B&W shots,
• Also on racing, get to the circuit early and keep an eye on the sun direction (be prepared to move around as the sun does)
• Pack enough memory cards to really practice that panning technique and vary shutter speeds between 1/1250 secs and 1/500 secs depending on the speed of the car.
• For dealing with crowds a good trick is to work with them, bring a tripod with a shutter speed of 2 secs and at f/22 will make the car stand out from the blur of the crowd
• Ensure you take pictures of clean cars, they are much more photogenic that even the midly dirty ones.
• Shoot details early in the day before dust and fingerprints appear
• Get to know the owner they might be open to the idea of a separate photo shoot later, outside of the event
• Understand what you are shooting, do your homework and get to know the famous or historically important cars seek out rare cars as your pictures can make it part of historical records
• Work with available light, early morning light is very flattering for the metal on the car.
• A cloudy day with a touch of fill-in flash is preferable to direct sunshine.
• Fill in the frame with color and detail. Simple frame filling shots are often the most striking. Concentrate on one detail, color or shape, with classic cars most details are exquisite and well worth a shot)
• Take care when shooting reflections -look for shapes and textures reflected in shiny paintwork and mirrors

Be aware of reflections

Focus on the details