Filed Under Photography Articles
I recently discovered a unique photography magazine. This magazine also has reviews and articles but what makes it unique is that, it encourages the readers to be active in making of the magazine. When you flip through the pages, you will notice that most pages are full bleed photographs of the readers themselves! No highly paid professionals here, just the regular you and me — amateurs and advanced amateurs that has some great photograph to share and publish. Actually, anybody can join in, not just the amateurs but this, in my opinion, benefits them most of all.
JPG Magazine does it by offering different themes which varies every month. The last issue (#9) has 3 themes published. So how does an individual participate? By becoming a member, submitting (uploading) your photos then putting them on an open theme. Unfortunately, only one photo can be submitted per theme and that photo cannot be used on other themes. I did not know this at first and began uploading 10 photos (you are allowed 10 per day) for the theme “America”. As I can only pick one photo for that theme, I had a hard time picking just one! I eventually did (shown below). I just hope my friend Doug would not mind as he is the main star! Sorry Doug, I feel strongly about this photo. You look great on it anyway! I guess submitting only one photo has its advantages as well, like making it simple — preventing members from uploading tons of photos. The idea here is to pick your BEST photo for a certain theme.
Anyway, after uploading and submitting your chosen photo, people then gets to vote whether its a “Yeah! it rocks!” or “Nah. Next time.” However, getting a lot of votes does not mean a guaranteed publication. I guess it helps when advertising your photo but in the end, the editors make the final decision. If your photo do get published, you get one year free subscription (6 issues) and $100! Oh, and yeah, you get “bragging rights” too!
On their next issue, JPG Magazine has a theme called America. Now, that seems such a cliche — this theme seems to be awfully broad. However, the authors also posted a description on what exactly the theme is all about.
Bastion of Freedom or Great Satan? Whatever you think of America, there’s no denying its impact on the world. Explore the many faces of America in this theme.
Note: This theme is not about photos taken in America. We welcome photos from anywhere! Also, photos that contain American flags are obvious, but be creative! What else says “America” to you?
I did not notice this at first and I’m sure most participants did not either because I have seen a lot of photos submitted that does not meet that criteria! There are photos of the usual life in America, some shows portraits of themselves or their families but, in my opinion, they do not meet the criteria at all. I do find a couple that do however, and those are the once who gets my positive vote. Since this was my first theme, I was at lost on how to do everything. I ended up submitting a photo that I thought fits the theme. Unfortunately, not much post processing was done on it. I wish I could tweak the contrast more but then again, the authors state that they do not want any major editing done. With that said, I think my photo fits the theme. You decide.. and while you are at it, why not be a member, post your own photos on any theme and notify me.. I’ll be glad to vote on them!
Filed Under Photography Articles
This year’s New York International Auto Show experience for me would have been the same as last year except for two things — there are a few more concept cars and I went there for a totally different reason — I had a DSLR in my hands and I was there to take home great photos; not the usual brochures, plastic bags, calendars and posters. In fact, the only souvenir I got was Scion’s mixed trance audio CD which I like using when I make slideshows. No heavy stuff to lug around and litter our coffee table for weeks!
Boring or exciting? It depends on who you are.
I have seen different international auto shows in the past — in person, television or on the internet. For me, cars are exciting not only for their looks but for their sound and the crowd it attracts. Honestly, I was a little bit disappointed with the NYIAS. There are some exciting cars to look at but — where is the sound to enhance the experience? The eye candy? (for guys only. lol!) The only sound I hear louder than the crowd was the sales pitch of various car agents. NYIAS is definitely more about enticing people to buy cars. I see two major types of people going to the show — children who are enthusiatic at looking at shiny colorful metals, and adults who were there to look at something to buy. No loud rumblings and revs. Kids still love the Jeep event though — me and Tina ignored it entirely.
I’m not either type so why should I go?
As I have said, this year, I have a DSLR in my hands. I had a different motive — to take photos and share. But.. there are tons of similar photos on the internet? Why do something redundant? Well, it depends on how you approach the subject; either stick with the crowd or be creative and artistic. This was also a great learning trip for me. I’ve learned about lighting (more about that later), exposure, camera setup and composition. I am used to nature landscapes and the auto show was a great way to learn how to capture a totally different subject and environment.
Mine is bigger than yours!
I know that the auto show was all about the automobiles and the crowds. This time, i noticed something else… the (D)SLR users! It was a funny thing too because more than a few DSLR user I saw would look at each others gear and see what the other guy is packing. There were a couple of SLRs but mostly DSLRs. Most are camera body only but a very few have an external flash installed. I only saw one guy luging two camera bodies which actually made sense since I had to do TWO passes of the entire show because I was switching lenses from wide to zoom (more of it later too)! There was even one guy hauling a big tripod. I assume that point and shoot users are rising but I actually saw more people using their camera phones particularly with the Motorola RAZR!
A learning experience. Plan of action.
The night before the show, I searched for auto show photos on Flickr. I had a few questions on my mind like, what aperture do I use? ISO? Shutter speed? Do I need to use a flash or natural light? What focal length? What lenses to bring? That night, I had everything setup to what I think I will need. When we got there, I used the Tokina 12-24mm f4. Why the ultra-wide? Because from experience, you get people passing by all the time between you and the subject! That is what happened last year with my Nikon 3100 point and shoot. Either you have people walking by or you can’t get the entire car without backing up. With the ultra wide angle lens, I can go very close but still get the whole car on the frame. Impressive! There will be some distortion on the low end of the ultra wides though which can be corrected on CS2 but I actually like the effect and don’t mind it, but if you do, try to back up as much as possible without having distractions in the picture like what I have said, people or probably the metal barriers that they sometimes put around the car.
On to the show! Exciting? Horrifying!
This was entirely new to me and it did not go smoothly as I have hoped for. First disappointment was when I measured for white balance. I had it right on the first car but I soon discovered that each and every car in the show was lit differently! I was shooting JPG (as opposed to my regular RAW) because I had to maximize my number of shots since I only had one memory card with me so I wanted to make sure I have the white balance right from the start. I knew I could fix any variation on Lightroom but I did not want to waste my time doing WB corrections in post processing.
I didn’t use the flash at first until I saw a guy was using one with a sto-fen. Being this was a learning trip for me, I asked him, as he was looking at my camera, if using a flash was better and he answered, “oh, much better.” So then, I had the SB-600 with sto-fen diffuser attached but then that’s where the next dillema began! Some people love it, others curse it. I had such mixed results on my shots that I couldn’t decide whether to use it or not! I ended up taking two shots, one with flash and one without. Now this is where another question arises, should I change my WB as well? How about the ISO? Since light was a bit low inside, I had my ISO set higher than 200. When I use the flash, should I put it back to ISO 200? In the end, I was frantically pushing buttons and whatnot in every shot!
A merry-go-round
When I first got there, my aim was to get a shot of the cars in its entirety, no cut-out front ends or back ends, no people or other distractions. When we were through, as I was mentally analyzing the whole experience, I realized that almost everybody shoots the same thing on autoshows! Same dull shot of the car. Who wants to see that? When I look at a car brochure, I see the picture of the whole car but what really attracts my interest are the close-up of the details. As hungry and exhausted as we were, I dragged my wife all around again but this time, i switched my lens to the Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 which can do detailed close-ups. I’m glad I did as my favorite shots were taken on this second one! I wish I had it done the first time though because by this time, we were so tired, my body couldn’t keep up… “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak”.
In the end…
Even though NYIAS was almost the same as last year, we still had a great time! Thanks to photography, it made me look at things differently and appreciate the details. Would I go back in 2008? Most probably but it will be about applying what I have learned on this year’s show. It’s all about self-improvement and enjoyment. In my opinion, that is what’s more important. -jbs
Visit www.flickr.com/photos/psilver for updates and archives on my photography efforts.
