Sound Shooters: Telephoto Zoom Lens

Hitomi Dames

By Hitomi Dames

I like a zoom lens because it is very convenient, so I enjoy it more than a fixed lens. There are Ultra-Wide, Standard and Telephoto Zoom Lenses. I use our telephoto zoom lens most when I go out shooting for fun.

Our telephoto Zoom lens, 75-300 mm, is old — you can only buy a used one today — and cheap. But it works pretty well.

A Subject is Far

When a subject is far away, you will naturally use a telephoto lens and want to zoom in, especially with birds.

These Mt. Rainier images are shot from a ferryboat.

A) ƒ/13, 170 mm, 1/320, ISO-250

The focal length of image A (above) is 170 mm; B (below) is zoomed in 300 mm. The longer the focal length, a subject becomes larger but it covers less area (narrow angle area).

B) ƒ/13, 300 mm, 1/250, ISO-250

A focal length is a distance between a lens and image censor (film). The illustration below shows the angle view of focal length.

Focal lengths and Angle of Views

The angles shaded in purple get smaller and smaller, as the focal length in mm gets larger and larger. This Nikon site may help more to understand.

Two subjects – near and far

Experimenting using different focal lengths, when shooting two subjects near and far is very interesting.

This silhouette image C is zoomed in (300 mm). It’s nice because of the sky color and a seagull happened to be flying by.

C) ƒ/7.1, 300 mm, 1/125, ISO-125

D) ƒ/7.1, 75 mm, 1/125, ISO-200

But, image D is more interesting to me —  to see the differences of size and distance of two subjects, and the gradation sky color.

My initial purpose for using a telephoto zoom lens was taking birds, but it is one of my main lenses now.

My hardest experience for using telephoto zoom lens was bar /bat mitzvah ceremonies, where we had to be stationed far back from bima (stage) or had to shoot from an upper balcony. And we were not allowed to use flash. The lighting was usually bad, either dark or too bright and made images contrasty.

Keep these in your mind:

• The longer the focal length, the more shaking; so images tends to be less sharp. Faster shutter speed helps. Turn image STABILIZER on when you are not using a tripod.
• The longer the focal length, the shallower depth of field. Even though two subjects are next to each other,  one may not sharp as the other. So watch your f-stop.

Joel Dames Photography

Photo Booth - Not Just a Tiny (Open with huge background), Portraits, Events, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, Weddings, Albums

See other articles in this series by clicking Sound Shooters under Features on our main webpage.

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Sound Shooters: Tethered Shooting 1

By Hitomi Dames

Since Joel wrote about Tethered Shooting in our last Sound Shooters, I will write about applications for tethered shooting. We have two applications; today I will write about Canon EOS Utility and the other for the next article.

♦Tethered Shooting with EOS Utility

If you are using Canon EOS, EOS Utility comes with camera. So just install EOS Utility in your computer and why not use it? Images will be in your PC as you shoot, so it is very convenient.

So set your camera on tripod and connect camera and computer with a USB cable which also comes with camera.

1 ) Turn on camera and open EOS Utility. Remote Control (fig.1) will appear on your desktop.

fig. 1) EOS Utility Remote Control

Note: if you have an older version, you won’t see this first, but just choose Remote shooting. But updating this is free, so it’s good to update.

As you can see where I outlined the red rectangular box, this is how camera is set now.

• Top row: M for Manual, Shutter Speed (0”6), F-stop (5.6)
• Middle row: White Balance (AWB), ISO (125)
• Bottom row: Metering Mode (You have to choose this in the beginning of session. If you forget, quit application and reopen.) Format (RAW or Jpeg or both), Recording Images – PC or both PC and CF card

Click Live View Shoot. ( fig.1, red arrow )

2) Remote Live View window appears. (fig.2) If the Remote Control disappears, click the button at the bottom left corner of the Live View Window. (fig.2 red arrow) The Remote Control should reappear.

 fig. 2) Live View and Remote Control

3) Focus on the subject and click the shutter button on remote control. (fig.1)

Quick Preview window appears. (fig.3)

fig.3) Live View, Remote control and Quick Preview

Note: If you have another screen such as TV, you can connect your PC with TV, and then move Quick Preview to TV to show it as full screen. This is what we do for our Photo Booth.

4) Right after you shoot, another Canon application Digital Photo Professional opens automatically. You can check histogram (see previous article)

5) All the images or files will be saved in the image folder on the desktop if you don’t specify where to save in the beginning. (fig.1.under shutter button)

Joel Dames Photography
We serve Greater Seattle
Photo Booth – Not Just a Tiny (Open with huge background),
Portraits, Events, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, Weddings, Real Estate, Commercial, and Albums

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Sound Shooters: 4 Ways to Create Bokeh (blur) Background

By Hitomi Dames

One of our photographer friends loves deep focus. Everything in each one of his images must be in perfect focus.

But wouldn't you sometimes want to focus just on the subject and blur the background? You might even want to blur parts of the subject in a composition? It is difficult to have everything in focus and express it as art, isn't it?

So, what do you to blur the background or create bokeh? Bokeh comes from boke in Japanese, meaning blur.

1. Aperture

An f-stop of 2.8 or lower is great for bokeh. But just in case your lens doesn’t have 2.8 or lower f-stop, I selected f/4.5 for these tests below (fig.1,2,3).

FL 48mm, f/4.5  Starting position for images

2. Focal Length

Remember, I wrote in “Telephoto Zoom Lens”: The longer the focal length, the larger the subject becomes, but the image covers less area. (narrow angle)

So here is the image of zoomed in 70 mm taken from the same place as fig 1. The books in back are more blurred than in fig. 1. ( f-stop is the same @ 4.5).

FL 70mm, f/4.5  Here I changed the focal length to 70mm.

If your lens doesn't zoom to 70 mm or more,  

3. Bring the subject toward you as I did in fig. 3 (or you get closer to the subject).

FL 48mm, f/4.5, I brought the subject (king) closer to me.
Actually, I moved the entire board towards me.

I set all of these shots with Manual Mode (M), but I could have set Aperture Priority (A or Av) since all three shots above are the same f-stop. A or Av keeps the f-stop constant.

Graphic from Wikimedia Commons
Althepal Derivative work: Mehdi (ModeDial.svg)

4. For this last image below (fig. 4), I got closer to the subject and used f/2.8 

to create the most bokeh, making the chess pieces and books in the background the most blurred.

FL 58mm, f/2.8  I got closer to the subject (king). I also opened the aperture to f/2.8.

Bokeh makes all the difference in portraiture. Here is sample of a portrait with bokeh.

FL 100 mm, f/2.8

Joel Dames Photography 

We serve Greater Seattle

Photo Booth – Not Just a Tiny (Open with huge background), Portraits, Events, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, Weddings, Albums

For other articles in this series, select Sound Shooters under Features on the webpage.

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Sound Shooters: The most powerful pictures of atomic bomb victims in Nagasaki

By Hitomi Dames

At 11:05 A.M. on August 9, 1945, an atomic (plutonium based) bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.

On August 9, 2007, American photojournalist Joe O’Donnell passed away at the age of 85. He was in Nagasaki a month after bombing.

“The cause [of his death] was complications of a stroke, said his wife, Kimiko Sakai. She said that he had had more than 50 operations, among them surgery on his colon and his heart, and that he had attributed his poor health to radiation exposure resulting from his visits to Nagasaki and Hiroshima. ” (New York Times)

It’s been seventy years since the World War II ended on August 15, 1945.

"Brothers at Cremation Site"

You can see this image "Brothers at Cremation Site” at Tyge O'Donnell's (Joe's son) flickr site.

This reminds of the anime "Grave of the Fireflies” one of best movies that I've ever seen, that I never wish to see again.

"I saw a boy about ten years old walking by. He was carrying a baby on his back. In those days in Japan, we often saw children playing with their little brothers or sisters on their backs, but this boy was clearly different. I could see that he had come to this place for a serious reason. He was wearing no shoes. His face was hard. The little head was tipped back as if the baby were fast asleep. The boy stood there for five or ten minutes.” 

"The men in white masks walked over to him and quietly began to take off the rope that was holding the baby. That is when I saw that the baby was already dead. The men held the body by the hands and feet and placed it on the fire. The boy stood there straight without moving, watching the flames. He was biting his lower lip so hard that it shone with blood. The flame burned low like the sun going down. The boy turned around and walked silently away.” Joe O’Donnell.

23-year-old O'Donnell was sent to Nagasaki and Hiroshima for seven months as a US Marine photographer, one month after the atomic bombs dropped in Japan. His duty was to document the destruction caused by the atomic bombs. However, he was not supposed to take pictures like these. So he had to use his own camera, too, in secret. He kept them in secret for 43 years, even from his family.

"A Girl in a Kimono"

The deaf girl in kimono

This girl in a kimono became deaf from the sound caused by atomic bomb, the mother of the girl said to O'Donnell after he shot this image. (I wonder if this was on November 15, 7-5-3 festival, as it would explain her formal kimono.)

"Burned Back of Young Boy"

Framed image of “Burned Back of Young Boy [Taniguchi]” is right on wall. 

This screenshot above is at the O’Donnell photography exhibition in Nagasakin in 2008. The man showing his back to Tyge O’Donnell (who continues his father's mission) is Sumiteru Taniguchi. 

While Joe O'Donnell was photographing wounded people at a hospital -- one of whom was Mr.Taniguchi -- he saw a person who had no hair, no eyebrows and ears, and was just a lump of flesh. "You are enemy, aren't you," said the person, "please kill me." O'Donnell only escaped from this person to face another patient. But when he was leaving the room he saw the first shapeless person again, and who once more begged "Please kill me." He saw tears in the eyes of the shapeless face.

Mr. Taniguchi was in the documentary film "Dark Circle” In the film he said (which I can never forget) and this is my own Japanese-to-English translation):

I hated my parents.

I hated all grownups.

Not only was a war hateful,

but every parent 

who didn't oppose the war was hateful.

Later on in life, O’Donnell had backbone pain and he had skin cancer that spread throughout his entire body. He knew it was caused by radiation exposure, as he was present in Ground Zero just a month after the atomic bomb. The military didn't give any information about radiation when he was sent to Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Joe O'Donnell himself was one of the atomic bombs’ victims.

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Watching maple tree blossoms ripen into spinning seeds

Photographer Hitomi Dames, who wrote columns for the Shoreline Area News on photography in 2015 (Sound Shooters) sent in this series on a four day evolution of maple tree flowers.

Photos and notes by Hitomi Dames

The first three were shot on April 20 when I went for a walk.

#1 April 20

#2 April 20

#3 April 20

The maple trees on NE 155th St were all yellow with blossoms on April 20. But soon they turned to yellow green because their leaves opened. 

#4 Samaras forming - April 24

#5 Samaras are well formed - April 24

And if you look carefully the flowers were becoming samaras. The 4th and 5th photos were shot on April 24.

Mature samaras are the winged fruit of the tree which spin through the air by the hundreds.

#6 A different tree at Hamlin Park
April 25

Those flowers on NE 155th St didn’t became samaras completely, but I found this last one at Hamlin Park yesterday April 25.

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Sound Shooters: introducing a new column on photography

Joel Dames

We welcome professional photographers Joel and Hitomi Dames, who will be writing a regular column for the Shoreline Area News.

By Joel Dames

Hitomi and I are Shoreline photographers, shooting all kinds of events: weddings, bar/bat mitzvah, auctions, portraits, commercial /real estate, and photo booths for most of these. We would like to share some of the things we learned over the years with other Shoreline area photographers.

Hitomi Dames

I think my first assignment was for “East Magazine.” I travelled to the mountainous hot springs of Niigata, Japan in lovely snowy winter to capture Snow Country of Yasurnari Kawabata’s novel by that name. This was back in 1970 and I was super surprised when the lodge I stayed at put me in a bunk bed with a room full of giggling high school girls.

For about ten years I published feature photo articles for The Japan Times (national daily English-language newspaper). Then I published in newspapers and magazines, including “WAC Magazine”, (Washington Athletic Club), “Islands Magazine”, and an award for best series in “Linking Ring - International Brotherhood of Magicians.”

Hitomi joined me in 2006 and started displaying her work in galleries and winning awards from the get go, nine in all. 

This is our third year capturing events for City of Shoreline including parks, events, housing documentary and Monster Dash Photo Booth.

Now we want to share techniques we have learned over the years that anyone can use for better images.

Joel Dames Photography 

Photo Booth - Not Just a Tiny (Open with huge background), Portraits, Events, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, Weddings, Albums

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Sound Shooters: Camera Flash Off and On

By Hitomi Dames

Our cat is very camera shy and hates to have her picture taken.

When she sees me holding a camera, she usually yawns and turns her back on me. Or she closes her eyes, especially when the flash fires. You can see my old posts from my old blog.

♦No Flash

So I had to approach her little by little.

Flash not fired, ISO 320, FL 57 mm, f-2.8, 1/200

♦ Flash On

And then I turned on the flash and shot. :D

Flash fired, ISO 320, FL 55 mm, f-2.8, 1/200

Then I quickly got at her eye level and got a closeup shot with flash on. :D

Flash fired, ISO 320, FL 70 mm, f-2.8, 1/250

The camera flash and sun light from back made a very nice portrait.

All the images above are not processed at all to show you the difference. Here is the processed image. I  gave it a little warm color. A little makes a big difference.

Processed image

Thank you Momo for not closing your eyes!

Joel Dames Photography

Photo Booth - Not Just a Tiny (Open with huge background), Portraits, Events, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, Weddings, Albums

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Sound Shooters: Histogram

Histogram

A histogram is a graph illustrating whether an image is under, over, or well exposed. It illustrates exposure in the form of a distribution curve; underexposed left of center, overexposed right of center. After shooting an image, we check the histogram and use a combination of the visual image and the histogram.

We always shoot in manual mode. You can shoot in one of the auto modes, but you won’t have full control over exposure. Exposure can be thrown off by sunlight or any bright source of light in the composition.

ISO, Speed, f-stop

If the histogram is weighted to the left dark side, you need to bring in more light. You can raise the ISO, lower the speed, or lower the f-stop. The lower the number f-stop, the wider the iris. So if the image is underexposed and dark, you correct with a lower number f-stop that opens the iris. For an overexposed, too light image, you do the opposite with ISO, speed, or f-stop number (widen the aperture).

Basically, that is what lighting and exposure is about. With practice, you get to know what is throwing exposure off. For example, in this 2004 session, we photographed this portrait of the bride looking at herself in the mirror. The light from the flash reflecting off the mirror caused the iris to close and the bride’s image to be underexposed and dark. We might not have realized this unless we looked at the histogram.

Underexposed

The curve is scrunched at the left dark side of the histogram. The colors show the red, green, and blue pixels ( RGB ).

Good Exposure

We retook the image, this time making sure the flash was not reflected back by the mirror. And the new image and histogram looks more balanced.

Good exposure

Joel Dames Photography 

Photo Booth - Not Just a Tiny (Open with huge background), Portraits, Events, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, Weddings, Albums

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Sound Shooters: EMP museum and Affinity Photo

Hitomi Dames

EMP museum and Affinity Photo

By Hitomi Dames

Finally we went to the EMP museum at Seattle Center when my husband’s friend and his family came to Seattle this summer!

At the EMP museum you are allowed to take photos without flash, which is very nice. The entrance of "THE LURE OF HORROR FILM" was cool, so I wanted to get a few shots. But I had set the ISO to the factory default and sadly I didn't remember how to adjust the ISO to high, in order to shoot with a faster speed. So I was forced to use a slow speed handholding the camera.

The shutter speed was 0.5 second for these screaming faces on the wall along the stairs entering to "The Lure of  Horror Film."  (image below) 

  ƒ/5.0, FL-17 mm,  Shutter Speed-0.5sec, ISO-1600

During post processing, I used Depth of Field Blur Filter with Affinity Photo. Affinity Photo is a brand new Mac program that can do just about all that Photoshop can do.

For this gigantic tower of string instruments, you may want to lay on the floor to shoot like Sam, our friend's son was doing (below).

 ƒ/4.5, FL-20 mm, Shutter Speed 1/15, ISO-1600

Left below is the image as I lay shooting.

I created a kaleidoscope image and a fish eye image from the images above A & B.

◊ kaleidoscope - created with image A

 Created this kaleidoscope from image A

1. Open a file in Affinity Photo

2. Rotate the image 90 º anti-clockwise from Document

3. Duplicate the original image

4. Choose Filters > Distort > Mirror (See the drop-down menu below)

5. Pop-up Mirror control: You can choose numbers of mirror; manipulate Input and Output

◊ Lens Distortion (FISH EYE) - created with image B

1. Open a file in Affinity Photo

2.  Click the Lens tab

3. Slide the Distortion until you are satisfied. I stopped @ 72%.

Joel Dames Photography

We serve Greater Seattle

Photo Booth – Not Just a Tiny (Open with huge background), 

Portraits, Events, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, Weddings, Real Estate, Commercial, and Albums

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Sound Shooters: Silhouette

By Hitomi Dames

I wrote about negative space as background in White Space/ Negative Space. 

But you can photograph subject(s) as negative space — just shoot your subject as a silhouette.

♦Silhouette

    Expose for background: The background has to be brighter than the subject.

    You may have to manually focus the lens since the subject is dark.

Canadian geese

Jumping on Richmond Beach

♦Multiple subjects and Partial Silhouettes

December Morning

George Washington and Olympic Mountain Range

The best time for shooting silhouettes is around sunset or sunrise.

Joel Dames Photography

Photo Booth - Not Just a Tiny (Open with huge background), Portraits, Events, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, Weddings, Albums

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Sound Shooters: White Space / Negative Space

Hitomi Dames

By Hitomi Dames

Photos by Hitomi Dames except as noted

I am not a minimalist, but I like using white space or negative space and creating a clean work.

White Space / Negative Space

You can think negative space and white space are the same.

The nothing or empty space in your composition is called:

• negative space in art;
• white space in design.

I’m sure you have seen this “Rubin’s vase“ before. You can see two faces in this image. 

Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons
By Rubin

Negative space itself can be subject. 

• Some artists start drawing negative space first.
• Some start drawing shadow first rather than the subject.

You can't do that in photography, but if you have an eye to see negative space you include it within a frame and shoot.

These are examples using negative space /white space in my photography.

Flower with Negative / White space

I framed this dahlia with the negative space on one side.

Dahlia

The background, petals of amaryllis (image below) has the effect of white space which creates an interesting composition. 

Music notes

Open Space

I sometimes call white space ‘open space’ in images like below. Open space makes your work feel free and light.

Spider in Open Space

If you include sky, you can create white space easily. 

UW Campus

The negative space (sky) image below is broken to 5 pieces by the foreground object, and that makes an interesting composition.

Space Needle and Eagle

Joel Dames Photography

Photo Booth - Not Just a Tiny (Open with huge background), Portraits, Events, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, Weddings, Albums

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