I just signed up as a volunteer photographer for Portraits of Love.  The Portraits of Love Project is an effort put on by the PhotoImaging Manufacturers and Distributors Association (PMDA) and Soldiers’ Angels, a non-profit group.  They have put out a call for photographers nationwide who are willing to volunteer their time to shoot family-portraits for deployed military personnel. The portraits will be delivered in time for the holidays to those in active duty.   If you know of anyone currently (or that will be) deployed, let me know and we’ll setup a time for a photo shoot.  For everyone outisde of my geographic area please direct them to this website to sign up to find a local volunteer photographer – http://www.pmdaportraitsoflove.com/

Canon announced the Canon 60D, which B&H details as shipping in September.    The 60D is the replacement for the 50D, should be cheaper than the 7D by $500, but lacks the magnesium body and has only a single DIGIC 4 processor.  The flip out LCD is ‘neat’, but I don’t think I have a real need for that at all.  I’ll likely pass on this iteration and keep saving pennies for more glass like the one of the lenses below…

Canon EOS 60D DSLR Digital Camera

• 18MP APS-C CMOS Sensor
• 1920 x 1080 HD Video Capture
• SD/SDHC/SDXC Memory Card Slot
• DIGIC 4 Image Processor
• 5.3 fps Continuous Shooting
• Works with all Canon EF and EF-S Lenses
• Vari-Angle Clear View 3.0″ Flip-Out LCD
• ISO 6400 – Expandable to 12800
• HDMI Output to HDTV
• In-Camera Editing Options

Also of EXTREME interest to me is the new 300mm f/2.8 IS II USM and the 400mm f/2.8 IS II USM.          

Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM Telephoto Lens

• L-Series Optics
• Optical Image Stabilization – 3 Modes
• Fast Ultra-Sonic Motor (USM) Autofocus
• Full-time Manual Focusing Functionality
• High-speed CPU
• Autofocus Stop Feature
• Dust and Water Resistant
• Fluorite Glass f/ Improved Image Quality
• Protective Fluorine Lens Coating
• Security Slot for Wire-Type Locks

Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II USM Telephoto Lens

Time Lapse Photography is actually a cinematography technique where a series of photos are taken at one rate and then played back as a video at a much faster rate than they were taken.  In this instance, I programmed the camera to take a photo every 15 seconds. 

This was all shot using my old Canon PowerShot SD 950 on a $10 mini tripod just sitting on the dashboard.  To the best of my knowledge, there are very few (if any) point and shoot cameras that will actually do time lapse photography, and this one doesn’t either.  Thanks to a great group of developers, we have the CHDK!

What is CHDK?

• Canon Hack Development Kit;
• Temporary – No permanent changes are made to the camera.
• Experimental – No warranty. Read about the risks in the FAQ
• Free – free to use and modify, released under the GPL.
• Professional control – RAW files, bracketing, full manual control over exposure, Zebra-Mode, Live histogram, Grids, etc.
• Motion detection – Trigger exposure in response to motion, fast enough to catch lightning.
• USB remote – Simple DIY remote allows you to control your camera remotely.
• Scripting – Control CHDK and camera features using ubasic and Lua scripts. Enables time lapse, motion detection, advanced bracketing, and much more.
• More – read the Manual & explore this wiki.

Then I used Picasa to make the time lapse movie.  Within Picasa, you can select all of the photos that you want to stitch together in a movie.  Click ‘CREATE’ in the top navigation bar, and then select ‘MOVIE’.  A very simple dialog opens that lets you add Slides (text), load an audio track, pick the transitions between videos, and then even publish the video straight to YouTube.

I recently spent another night in Chicago visiting a couple of associations.  Rather than spending the evening at the hotel bar, I decided to walk around in the Theater District in Chicago and work on my street photography.  I went with my Canon T1i and my Canon 100mm 2.8 macro.  I know that a lot of street photography is done with 20-25mm, but I wanted to try something a little different.  It is simply amazing to me how much is going on within a 10 block area.  I was walking very quickly (using it as an excuse to exercise as well), and I snapped about 200 photos.  I would look at each photo, and if I had something that I liked, I took the time to recompose, think about what I was shooting, and reshoot.  I’m pretty happy with a few of the photos.  I’m very happy with the experience.

Sometimes street photography is extremely awkward.  Most people don’t like to have their photos taken, yet some really enjoy being photographed.  My favorite interaction was with Russell.  Russell saw me taking boring photos of a building.  He stood in front of the building and started posing, informing me that it wasn’t a great photo until I had some color in it!  The funniest part of that was that I was shooting everything for monochrome.  Thanks, Russell!

Of course, the other extreme was one of the ladies I took a photo of.  “What the F do you want?”  She screamed at me.  I apologized to her and told her I was just snapping photos of everyone.  She kept screaming at me and told me to get the hell away from her.  I did.

Early Tuesday morning I was walking around in a back alley where a city worker was driving a trash pickup truck.  He stopped and got out to talk to me about my photography.   He said that he sees people taking photos of these buildings all the time and wanted to know why I was doing that.  He said that he understood that it was a famous area, and the buildings are pretty neat, but he just didn’t get it.  I told him that in reality most people just pay too much for a camera and feel obligated to use it so they try to take the same photo that they’ve seen in a magazine.  We talked for a few minutes when I showed him a couple of the photos that I had been taking.  When he saw one of the photos with fire escapes, he actually paused for a minute.  “I see all of these fire escapes everyday and never once thought they were interesting.  That looks really neat.”  I think he got it.

Check out the best of the photos from this session on my Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stovereffect/4791641675/in/set-72157624365278889/

I’ve heard some photographers say that using a flash is for people that don’t understand how to use available light.  I’ve heard other photographers say that a flash is an available light.  Some photographers think that people that haven’t mastered using a flash is exactly because of that – they haven’t mastered using a flash.

I personally think that extremism is, in nearly all cases, a lack of openness.  Particularly in photography, there is no ‘always’ correct answer.  There are so many photography best practices that literally hundreds and thousands of books have been written.  However, the best photographers that keep evolving with their science are constantly changing and reinventing their art form.  A strong tree will break in a windstorm, but the blade of grass that will bend with the wind will survive the strongest of wind.  

Photography without a flash is one such example.  Many photographers use a flash when there is a lack of ambient light, and don’t use a flash if there is plenty of light available.  There are perfect reasons to use a flash on the brightest and sunniest of days, and there are perfect reasons to put the flash back in the bag when it is dark.  Some venues won’t allow a flash.  If you are photographing a friends wedding, you may be asked to shoot without a flash.  Plays, dance or music recitals, concerts, museums, aquariums, and many other facilities may not allow flashes. 

So how do you take a great photo without the flash in low light?  It’s simple – practice.  Shoot.  Evaluate.  Adjust.  Shoot.  Evaluate.  Adjust.  Shoot.  If you have an event that you are shooting and can practice ahead of time, take the opportunity to go practice and determine what settings you will use for the event.  If you can’t practice in advance, then shoot a few photos and review carefully.  Adjust quickly and keep shooting.  With memory cards cheaper than every, you can just keep shooting, evaluating, and adjusting.

Photography is part science and part art. Photos are taken in wildly varying scenarios with equally varying equipment.  While it’s very easy to replicate the equipment (you and I both have the same lens and the same camera body), the scenario in which we’ll be taking photos will be very different.  Regardless of whether you are taking photos indoors or outside, if you can’t use your flash then you may be looking for some tips to help take better photos in low light. 

1. Buy a new lens.  It’s funny to me, but the top list on most professional photography site recommendations is to use a faster lens.  Simple, right?  While you can get relatively inexpensive faster lenses (like a 1.4, 1.8, 2.0 etc.), it is beyond the budget for most casual photographers to purchase a variety of lenses.  It is also beyond convenient to carry around 4 lenses everywhere.
2. Try SPORTS mode.  Most modern cameras have a variety of settings, some automatic and some manual.  The SPORTS mode on most cameras does a couple of things very well.  SPORTS mode may set the shutter to a continuous shooting mode, opens the aperture wide open (which will allow more light in), and set the ISO to auto (which will help in low light scenarios).  Most cameras do not use the flash in SPORTS mode.  If you aren’t yet familiar with the manual or creative modes on your camera, then SPORTS mode may give you good results.  You can also try NO FLASH mode – another automatic camera mode that may get you good results.
3. Don’t zoom in.  While a professional lens may have a consistent f-stop across the entire zoom range, most consumer lenses have smaller apertures as you zoom in.  To allow the widest aperture, stay zoomed out.
4. Switch to Aperture Value or Aperture Priority mode.  The priority creative modes will generally let you manually set one or two variable and then adjust the other values appropriately.  Setting the camera in Aperture Value mode will allow you to open the aperture wide open (lowest number possible).
5. Increase the ISO.  Cameras are very good at determining the appropriate ISO, but in very low light conditions you will likely need to increase the ISO as high as possible.  This includes 1600, 3200, 6400, beyond.  While you’ll read that higher ISO settings will introduce noise, most of this noise won’t be an issue if you are resizing for smaller files being shared on the web.  Also, there are some great software tools for post processing noise reduction (many of which are free).  Some cameras, like my Canon T1i, allow you to turn on High ISO Speed Noise Reduction feature.  If yours has it, turn it on.
6. Use a tripod.  Manually setting the ISO and Aperture Value will likely result in longer shutter speeds.  Image stabilization will help tremendously with slower shutter speeds, but if you are anything like me you will not be able to hold the camera still much beyond 1/30 of a second.  Tripods may not be useable everywhere, so try a monopod for a more usable camera stabilizer.  If using a tripod – turn off the image stabilization.  It can (and will) introduce movement – particularly in longer exposures.  I typically also recommend using the timer or a shutter release (cable or remote) so you don’t introduce unncessary vibration by pushing the shutter release button as well.
7. Shoot RAW.  This one really only makes sense if you are going to do post capture processing.  If you are looking to shoot and share – then shooting RAW may not provide any further use.  Otherwise, you can definitely use post processing to do more with a RAW file than a JPG.

There are many other things you can do, such as moving closer.  If you are in a concert or recital where flashes are not allowed, you may be able to work your way up to the stage or get backstage and shoot from there.  You can set exposure compensation down a stop.  You can shoot video and then pull stills out of it.  Use a manual focus instead of the AF.  You can shoot in full manual and control the shutter speed, the ISO, the aperture, the exposure compensation, and fully control what your camera is capturing.