Alphatracks

If I had used a flash, it would have killed the mood of this Jack O’ Lantern portrait. You would have seen more of the pumpkin, but the eerie orange light would be lost.

(Part 2 of 2. Read part 1 at: Halloween Photos: Break the Rules to achieve Maximum Interest)

Electronic Flash is a great tool, but it isn’t the answer to every application. Well-lit subjects don’t convey creepy or sinister very well. So you can leave the flash home and welcome the dark shadows and eerie blotches of light you get when you shoot after sundown without artificial light.

As a rule, I like the steadiness of a tripod, but this is a case where a tripod will just get in the way. Do you really want to open up a tripod around a group of excited kids (or young-hearted adults) wandering around wearing masks? The mask reduces vision, making it likely someone will trip over your tripod legs. I don’t think it is worth the hassle or the risk.

If you absolutely have to have some sort of support, you could consider a monopod. I prefer to just use the Steady Shot feature in the Sony Alpha. As long as you use a fairly short focal length, you can get sharp images with Steady Shot at shutter speeds of less than 1/8 second. If your subject moves you’ll see blur, but camera shake won’t be a concern. Once again, you can use the blurring caused by subject movement as a special effect. It’s not a drawback…it is art!

You can also try deliberately moving the camera during long exposures to exaggerate light streaks. If your subjects are carrying flash lights or light sticks, there is the ever popular technique of light writing. Take a long exposure and swing the lights to create light trails by drawing in the dark.

Whose afraid of noise?

I’m usually conservative about ISO and I normally avoid the higher ISO ranges. High ISO generates noise, so I use whatever techniques I can to keep a moderate ISO setting. I think this is one time when I might abandon that caution and crank the ISO up to the max. While I don’t watch many horror films, I’ve seen the previews of recent films of this genre. Ever since the Blair Witch Project, Hollywood films have appeared with obvious film grain, bad lighting, jerky camera work and severe vignetting. Why not join this trend (just for one night) and capitalize on high ISO and maximum noise?

I’m not recommending that you shoot all your Halloween images at ISO 3200, but as a creative effect, exaggerated noise might set some of your images apart.

Follow Hitchcock style…less is more

Since we are breaking rules, throw out the idea of seeing everything in your images. Alfred Hitchcock was a master of this. He would only show you part of something. The scary parts would be hidden in the shadows. You couldn’t see anything, but there was…something. You didn’t know exactly what was there, but the hair on your neck started tingling anyways.

You can use this same technique with your still photography. Reveal only part of a scary costume, hiding much of the character in shadow. Use shallow depth of field to partly conceal a ghoul in a dim, blurry area of your image. Use a highlight to display a vampire’s fangs, while the rest of the creature is obscured in darkness.

Play around with the white balance

The auto white balance on the Sony Alpha typically works very well. This is another area where you might deliberately turn off the auto function and experiment with setting the wrong WB for the conditions. Shooting under tungsten lights with the camera set to daylight WB will yield a red cast in the image. Florescent lighting will look green. Set the camera to the correct white balance for electronic flash, then shoot under tungsten lighting without the flash. The result will cast the image with a deep, ice blue.

You can use this to add the appropriate color shift to your photos. Follow Hollywood’s lead. In the movies, space monsters usually display a green cast, while monsters often take on a blue shade.

Hitchcock style self portrait. The shadow was shot at ISO 3200, with the camera held at my waist. The light came from an overhead street light. The streaks came from a second image, shot at a 1/2 sec. exposure and overlaid on the shadow picture in Photoshop.

Of course, if you shoot RAW, you can easily manipulate the white balance on your computer. Still it is helpful to see the effect of WB range on the LCD screen when you shoot.

Consider Black and White Halloween photos

Another idea is to jettison color all together. Some of the most famous horror movies of all time were shot in black and white. Even some modern feature films resort to monocolor to enhance the spookiness. High contrast black & white images can look truly stark and foreboding. While you could shoot in the black & white mode, I prefer to shoot in color and convert to B&W on the computer.

Programs like Photoshop and Lightroom allow you to desaturate an image while leaving a hint of color in the image. I leave it up to you to think of ways you could use this technique to customize your Halloween photos.

Halloween is a great time to play with special effects filters

If you own special effects filters, dig them out for Halloween. You can get some interesting images by combining special effects filters with bizarre costumes and decorations.

When I started in photography, one common special effect was to smear Vaseline on an old filter. You can smear the grease to create weird out-of-focus patterns that strangely distort the appearance of your subject. This will give you a one-of-a-kind effect that will set your images apart from those of anyone else.

If you want to try this, be sure to use an inexpensive filter. Never use anything like this on the elements of your expensive lenses.

Vary effects, don’t shoot too many of the same type

With any special effect technique, a little goes a long, long way. The first time a person see a nicely done effect, their response is “cool!” After seeing several similar photos in a row, the impact starts to wane. If the entire gallery is composed of the same effects repeated over and over, the viewer will grow bored and restless.

So mix things up. Try a variety of effects, so your gallery or slide show doesn’t look stale. You can even mix in some more conventional straight portraits. These will contrast nicely with the more extreme images and show off the costumes and decorations without any distraction.

I am not advocating that you use these experiments as an excuse to pass off shoddy work as “art.” When I mess around with this sort of thing, I realize that the bulk of my images will be rubbish. Hopefully, however, at least some of this trial and error photography will result in unforgettable images. Even if I fail to achieve anything successful, I will have learned more about abstract photography and what works and what doesn’t. That will make me all the better when I return to shooting my normal, carefully crafted photos.

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October 29, 2009:Sony Alpha rumors are always thick on the ground, but the latest one seems to have some real teeth. The website Lets Go Digital has a very interesting screen shot from a Sony Style web page that clearly shows an entry for the “new” Sony A750.

You can check out the Sony Style Alpha A750 leak here.

Lets Go Digital further speculates the new Alpha 750 will be a 14.6MP, full-frame dSLR, priced between the current A550 and the new A850. If so, this sounds like a sweet semi-professional Sony dSLR: full-frame, low noise and reasonably priced. Bring it!

If you thinking of buying a Sony Alpha, I wouldn’t let this tidbit stop you. It is probably too late to get the A750 into stores before Christmas, which means Sony will probably hold off on the introduction until early 2010. Of course, I’ve been wrong before…

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The first of two parts

Which image says Halloween to you? The image at top was shot with the popup flash on the Sony A350. It us about as sinister as a Mayberry RFD rerun. The bottom photo was shot without flash. It is filled with dark shadows, the white balance is shifted towards orange and the long exposure caused the people to look blurred. Despite this, the bottom image is the way I think a Halloween photo should look like.

(Part 1 of 2. Read part 2 at: Halloween is a perfect time to try Available Light Photography) Oct. 29, 2009: There are only a few more days until Halloween. This is an wonderful time to explore the creative side of photography. One-of-a-kind costumes, strange decorations, spooky lights and unearthly backgrounds all provide fantasy fodder for the photographer’s lens.

Of course most Halloween activity occurs after dark or inside at some sort of party. Under normal circumstances, this is the perfect opportunity to use electronic flash. However, All Hallows Eve is designed to be spooky and mysterious. The cozy, bright illumination you would prefer for holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas is out of place for Halloween. So think twice before reaching for that flash unit on October 31.

If you must use Electronic Flash

After dark, you may require some artificial light to get an usable shot. Normally, I strongly recommend off-camera flash. The results are generally much more pleasing. Since this is Halloween, however, rules are made to be broken. I think the hot shoe flash might just be the hot setup.

One of the reasons most photographers dislike direct flash from the hot shoe is the light washes away the shadows, making your subject look lifeless and…dare I say it…dead. Hmmm, might this be a perfect light to shoot the undead with?

Another reason most pros shun hot shoe mounted flashes is that placing the flash too close to the lens axis increases the chances of seeing red-eye in your subject. Red-eye is generally a bad thing, but it might actually enhance portraits of creatures such as werewolves and vampires.

Dragging the Shutter

If you are shooting with a flash unit, you may wish to experiment with dragging the shutter. This term refers to the practice of setting a long time exposure when shooting with a flash. The flash freezes the subject, but the shutter remains open and light toned objects in the background appear as ghostly streaks. Yeah, ghostly. How appropriate.

If you have some willing models, you might flirt with panning after dark. Set your camera up so you are shooting at slow shutter speed, something like 1/8 to 1/15sec. Since you are shooting after dark, this shouldn’t be too difficult. If you try to shoot a pan at longer than 1/8sec, you may find the image will be to blurred to be recognized. Have your model run while you track them with the camera. When you feel you are moving your dSLR at the same rate as the subject, click the shutter and continue to track them until the shutter closes.

Sometimes flash can create interesting high-contrast images. Here the Spiderman costume is brightly lit, while the rest of the background fades to black.

You’ll have to guestimate this tracking, since the mirror is up when the shutter is open, so you won’t be able to follow them with the viewfinder. I suggest you try many iterations of this exercise, because it is difficult to get the panning right. Most of these images will probably go directly into the trash can when you see them on your computer, because they will be horribly blurred.

Nevertheless, persistence will usually pay off. At least some of these shots will be outstanding. The idea is to pan the camera at the same speed as the moving subject. If you can do this, your subject will be clear, while the background will be filled with a motion blur.

There is a good chance that your model may be somewhat blurred around the edges, because he or she may be moving at a slightly different speed than you moved the camera. This can actually enhance the image, making the subject look like they are moving at incredible speed. I think you can see how this technique could add interest to your Halloween photos.

Try the Rear Curtain Sync Mode

You can shoot panned photos with or without flash. If you do decide to use flash, I suggest you investigate the “Rear Curtain” sync mode on the Sony Alpha.

In the normal mode, your dSLR will fire the flash as soon as the shutter is fully open. Usually that is what you want. When you drag the shutter, any movement after the flash fires will be recorded as streaks of light. If your subject moves, these streaks will appear on top or in front of the subject, making the subject appear to be moving backwards.

In the rear curtain sync mode, the camera fires the flash just before the shutter closes. As a result, the camera records the streaks first, then fully illuminates the subject. The streaks appear behind a moving subject, making the subject appear to be rushing forward.

Having said all that, I suggest you consider dispensing with the flash all together.

In the next installment, I’ll look into available light Halloween photography.

To be continued tomorrow

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Bar Camp Charlotte returned to Area 15 in Charlotte’s NoDa district last weekend. Last January I wrote about my experiences shooting the first Charlotte Bar Camp with a M42 telephoto lens. This time around, I hauled along a wide selection of lenses, including the 70-210mm Minolta “Beer Can,”  the Minolta 50mm f/1.7 prime lens, 16mm Rokkor and of course, the old Vivitar 135mm M42 telephoto.

Forty years young, the Rokkor 58mm f/1.4 is a delightful lens to shoot under available light. It is manual-focus only and requires a adapter to fit it to the Sony Alpha.

For a lark, I tossed my old Rokkor 58mm f/1.4 lens into my bag. My idea was to determine if the small increase in aperture opening (f/1.4 vs f/1.7) would offer any real advantage.

Of course, using the old Rokkor on the Sony Alpha requires a MD to MA (A-Mount) adapter, which has the same limitations as the M42 lens adapter. The MD to MA adapter also includes a glass element that is required  for any Rokkor to focus at infinity on an A-Mount camera.

Rokkor lenses require an adapter to mount on the Sony Alpha

This is the first time I had actually mounted the 58mm f/1.4 lens on an Alpha A-mount dSLR. Typically I use my MD to MA adapter to allow me to use my Rokkor 16mm or the Rokkor 500mm f/8 mirror lens. Since I have the excellent auto-focus Minolta 50mm f/1.7, I have never felt the need to play with the f/1.4 on the Alpha.

Still, when shooting under available light conditions, even a partial increase in f/stop openng can make a huge difference. Shooting at f/1.4 also reduces the depth of field, allowing the subject to pop out of the background.

The f/1.4 stayed in the camera bag for the morning, as I used the other lenses to record the AM Bar Camp sessions.  I used a flash to capture most of these images. In the afternoon, I finally dug out the Rokkor adapter and clicked the f/1.4 in place for a little available light shooting.

Lens is older than the subject matter…

My copy of the f/1.4 lens is used, so I don’t  know it’s early history. I know it is an early model, because the focusing ring is a star shaped metal grip. The later models of this lens use a rubber grip surface, rather than metal. The kit lens on my first Minolta, purchased in 1973, had the rubber grip, which tells me the f/1.4 version I own is older than that. I’m guessing the lens dates from the late 1960s.

Minolta Rokkor 58mm f/1.4 lens mounted on the Sony Alpha A350. You can see the adapter inserted between the silver aperture ring and the orange marking on the Alpha lens mount.

Bar Camps attract all ages, and I was by no means the oldest person in attendance. That said,  most of the attendees looked to be in their twenties and early thirties. That means that when the Minolta assembly technicians screwed together my old Rokkor,  most of the people I photographed were yet to be born.

So how well did the old warrior work on the Alpha? I loved it! Originally I thought I would snag a few images with the Rokkor, then shift back to one of my other lenses. Instead, I left the 1.4 glass on the camera for the entire afternoon. It felt comfortable and well balanced. This is a manual focus lens — there are no auto-focus Rokkor  lenses — but the focusing grip is smooth and precise.

You can check out my Bar Camp Charlotte 2 gallery here. You can compare images from the 50mm f1.7  A-mount lens to the Rokkor 58mm f/1.4.

Which lens is better: Maxxum 50mm f/1.7 or Rokkor 58mm f/1.4?

I can’t really say the 58mm f1.4 lens is really superior to my 50mm f1.7, either in sharpness or light transmission. On other hand, it was a joy to shoot with, and looking through the viewfinder really made me appreciate that big f/1.4 aperture.

One thing that surprised me was that the bokkeh (the appearance of out-of-focus elements in an  image) on the Rokkor was slightly harsher than I am used to with the Maxxum 50mm f/1.7. There isn’t a huge  difference, but it is noticeable. It may be the lens, on the other hand it could be the adapter. I intend  to investigate and will publish some tests  in the near future.

Of course, I have no attention of giving up my Minolta Maxxum 50 f/1.7. It has a number of advantages…auto-focus and fully automatic exposure to name two. So I will continue to use the f/1.7 lens in the future.

The Rokkor 58mm f/1.4 has no auto-focus capabilities and until I get around  to buying a chipped adapter, it can only be used in the manual exposure mode on Alpha dSLR’s like the A350.

Despite the obvious drawbacks, I have a feeling that the old Rokkor f/1.4 hasn’t seen the last of the Sony Alpha. When the lighting conditions are right, that big aperture opening trumps the A-mount len’s better features.

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