Tag: Nikon

Knaresborough

MooredI decided I would go to Knaresborough on Sunday, as I had nothing better to do.

So I hopped on the bus, paid my £3 return journey. I hadn’t been to Knaresborough for some time.

It was wonderfully quiet in the castle gardens. A few people out walking their dogs, a jogger or two, but generally it was eerily quiet.

I started shooting the already cliché views of Knaresborough, the ones you see time and time again, the viaduct, the view from the grounds. It was boring obvious stuff, and the only reason I had done it was for the sake of using the Sigma 10-20mm that often sits unloved in my bag.

I like the lens, but I forget how to use it, each lens has its quirks, and the 10 is no different. It tends to get high contrast wrong, and over exposes. I had forgotten this and a few shots the blowout was way to much and the image had to be rejected.

But I pressed on.

Blind Jack

Blind Jack was still sat on his bench, and I broke out the flash to photograph him. It isn’t often I use flash, but because of the strong back light that time in the morning, I had little choice. I think I may of frightened those people sat in Cafe Nero with the bright flash 🙂

I went down the long steps toward the waterfront, and walked along both ways, trying to inspire or motivate myself.

I found little there that did that.

18082013-DSC_9774So it was back up the long really steep steps to the castle. I was knackerd when I reached the top. I really must work on my levels of fitness..

At the top I saw a young couple, he had obviously done something to really annoy her, as she was blocking him at every move. So of course I took a picture 🙂
Not talking to you..From there it was a short walk around the really small market Knaresborough has on a sunday, there was a Magian putting on a show for the kids as part of Knaresborough Feva, and I took a few images of the crowd and Magian. Nothing spectacular or worthy though.

Back on the bus and away home. I suppose it was good to get out the house for a while.

More Knaresborough images at: http://www.ipernity.com/doc/mikethompson/album/492931

Snapping the snapper

I enjoy, for some unknown reason, when I see people taking images on the street, I have a urge to photograph them.

Its turned into somewhat of a mini project. Its quite surprising to see the amount of Canon DSLR‘s as opposed to Nikon. It does seem that Canon is the more popular brand. Alot of people are also using camera phones. I’m seeing less and less compact cameras.

Anyway, here is a selection of my favourite Photog on the street images. Maybe out there somewhere, is a image of me, taking a image 🙂

Untitled by Michael Thompson (mikethompson) on 500px.com

shh, canon user by Michael Thompson (mikethompson) on 500px.com
shh, canon user by Michael Thompson

Smile Please! by Michael Thompson (mikethompson) on 500px.com
Smile Please! by Michael Thompson

Another Canon User by Michael Thompson (mikethompson) on 500px.com
Another Canon User by Michael Thompson

Your In My Shot! by Michael Thompson (mikethompson) on 500px.com
Your In My Shot! by Michael Thompson

Always one that always looks. by Michael Thompson (mikethompson) on 500px.com
Always one that always looks. by Michael Thompson

Streets

Its been awhile since I wrote about street shooting, but I was out with a friend over the weekend doing some street. She had a huge backpack with every lens she owned.

Generally, for street work I carry three lenses maximum. They are

Sigma 30mm 1.4
Nikon 50mm 1.8
Nikon 85mm 1.8

Those three lenses are all I need. The 85 is rarely on the camera unless I need that extra reach. I much prefer the 50 for street.  These are all kept in my Billingham Hadley, a bag I love for street work. I’d love to do this with a leica, but I don’t have one. 😦 so I use either a D90 or D7000. There is nothing wrong with a D90, and I love mine, and still use it despite having the D7000. My settings are normally

Aperture or P mode
Center focus point only (or others if more cross types)
Spot metering.
Auto focus single.

Don’t listen to those who sing that a DSLR should always be in manual mode, photographing on the street can be over in seconds, and you may not have the time to fart around. Better getting the shot than missing it. By all means, if your used to manual, and your quick, use it. Otherwise stick with aperture.

The other tip I give people is to learn the frame. See the frame before the camera is at your eye. Wait until your frame is there, camera up and expose, camera down. It takes some getting used to, but it is the best way.

We walked around the streets for a good few hours while she worked up the confidence. That’s something I struggled with, and still do in a way. But it comes with experience. When you realise everyone is wandering around in their own world paying no attention it gets easier.

One question that did come up, is what to photograph. That’s not a question anyone but the photographer can answer. I did however tell her next time to bring a smaller bag, and think what she really needs 🙂

DNG or NEF?

Well that’s a question.

Just had a conversation on google+ about the RAW vs DNG file formats. For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, DNG is Adobes effort to standardise the RAW file format.

Camera makers at the moment have their own file formats, which can change between camera models. As you can imagine, supporting all these formats is nothing short of a nightmare, enter DNG to sort this out. I shall not dwell on this, but for further information check out Adobes DNG page.

Anyway, my buddy is a staunch supporter of keeping all his RAW data as it came out of the camera. I exclusively use DNG files. Converting all the camera output on import to light room. Why do I use DNG files? Well

  1. Smaller file size
  2. Better future guarantees
  3. No sidecar files
  4. DNG is an open file format.
The smaller file size has led many people to believe it is going compression on the data. Well it is, but is non-lossy. And that small saving in file size, maybe 2-3mb soon adds up to a considerable space-saving when your dealing with 30-40Gb of image data.
The second point is future proofing your images. I doubt Canon or Nikon is going anywhere anytime soon, however when a camera drops out of production, whose to say they are going to keep supporting that cameras output? With DNG, it will be there, always available and ready. And as Adobe has released the DNG file format to the world as an open format, where they will never claim copy right, or intellectual rights (unlike MP3, JPEG etc) Any one can develop programs to read and deal with DNG files. One of the main reasons why the US government and loads of other large organisations has chosen DNG as an archival medium.
No sidecar files, DNG is encased. Ie, all meta data is written direct to the file, no annoying XMP files littering up the drive.
Thats some of the reasons I use DNG files, and will continue to do so. Its very well summed up over on this blog here.

Street Settings

As I’ve gotten a couple of emails asking what settings I use when out on the street, I thought it may be a good idea to make a post.

I use a D7000, so some of these settings may be different for your camera.

  • Focus / AF
  • 9 Point Dynamic
  • Auto-Focus
  • Continuous Focus (AF-C)
  • Camera in A
  • Matrix Metering
  • Playback Menu:
  • Image review: Off
  • Shooting Menu:
  • a5 Focus point wrap around: On
  • a7 Built-in AF-assist illumination: Off
  • c1 Shutter Release Exposure Locking: Off (default)
  • c2 Meter Off Delay: 8s
  • d3 ISO Display: ISO
  • f9 Reverse indicators: -0+ (Becaue +0- Just makes no sense.)
Thats the main settings I use for street work. Lets have a look at the important parts of that list

  • 9 Point Dynamic
Well this one,  alot of people ask about. Why only use 9 points, when the D7000 has 39? Well, those 9, in the center at least are cross type. Also, your subjects on the street, really don’t move that much, much less in a unpredictable way. It is however a easy task to change this.
  • Matrix Metering
Most of the time I leave it in matrix, however, I do set the speed buttons to Spot and Center.
  • Image review: Off
I just dont like the display to light up while the camera is next to my face, as often I take more than one image at a time. It also massively helps battery life.
I also dont tend to “Chimp”. I take the image, and move on. I will often sit down later, to have a drink or something, then look through the previous shots.
  • ISO: ISO 100
Nikons implementation of AutoISO is great, but I much prefer to alter ISO by hand, should I have to.
Setup correctly, AutoISO is great.
  • a5 Focus point wrap around: On
Its just easier to scroll off the edge, rather than all the way back. Dont forget that pressing the “Ok” button will send focus point back to the center.
  • a7 Built-in AF-assist illumination: Off
Its just downright annoying. And it can scare your subjects having a sudden blast of bright white light lighting them up.
  • f9 Reverse indicators: -0+ (Becaue +0- Just makes no sense.)
Seriously, what sense is there in having it +0-? It makes better logic, to have the negative first.I don’t know why Nikon did it like this, but their not likely to change it anytime soon.