The Visual Science Lab / Kirk: Mar 9, 2016

3.09.2016

Workers hoist the flag to prepare for an event.

Marble Falls, Texas. 2016.

One of the images I liked from my shoot on Monday was this one of three workers helping to suspend an enormous American flag between two bucket trucks. I was working with one of my Panasonic fz 1000 cameras. There was a delicious freedom, during all the unscripted moments at the event, to go from wide angle shots like this (shot at a 24mm equivalent) to a very tight, head and shoulders shot, at a 400mm equivalent focal length. All with one camera and one lens. That, and knowing that even at the longer setting the image stabilization would ensure a much higher degree of sharpness than I could have ever expected when previously handholding a camera and lens at such high magnifications.

I also wondered how the image would look as a black and white so I converted it in Snapseed, just to see:

Marble Falls, Texas.

I think the current crop of one inch sensor bridge cameras is a rich source of tools for journalist, whether they work for media or directly for clients. The cameras are fast and uncomplicated to use, highly flexible, not particularly limited when used to capture events and not cumbersome. The biggest benefits come when you've shot the things on your shot list and the clients also need some video footage for the local news. All in one small package. Minimalist photography.

I keep an fz 1000 in the car. Just in case.

Below are a selection of online classes from Craftsy.com. Click the links to go and check them out.

Thanks!

A link to my Studio Portrait Lighting Class with $25 Off.

Food Photography. by Andrew Scriviani

Off Camera Flash Photography. by Neil van Niekirk

One of the original Craftsy Photo Classes and

still one of the best!

Night Photography. by Lance Keimig

I met Lance a couple of weeks ago in Denver

and found him to be really fun and knowledgeable

this class reflects what he teaches in hands-on

workshops in Ireland and Iceland, as well as

cool places around the U.S.

Narrative Photography: Storytelling with Photo

Essays. by Mike Hill.

How to make what we shoot into a cohesive

train of visual thought.

Perfecting Photoshop Portraits. by Lesa Snider

We were swimming well this morning until that first, big peal of thunder went off like a canon.

Ben streamlining off the wall. Night swim.

Camera: Sony R1

The sky over Austin lit up like a non-stop fireworks display last night. Constant lightning, and thunder so loud that Studio Dog spent the night cowering under my hanging shirts in the closet. I woke up a few times just to check and see if we had any water on the floor of the studio; if I might need to fire up the enormous shop vac to stave off flooding...

When I got up this morning it was still gray and misty outside but the drama of the night before had subsided. My original plan for today was to work in the studio this morning doing droll stuff like billing, and then to head to the noon swim workout at the pool. But the weather reports all pointed to a new front cruising onto our turf by mid-day with predictions of hail, high winds and more lightning. I decided to take my chances with the 8:30 am workout. It's the swim practice we call, "the Executive Workout" because it's filled with people who command their own schedules and make their own time accommodations. Or, who have retired early and well and have dedicated some part of their lives to swimming well.

I drove the two miles to the pool ever mindful of small weather changes but it still looked like everything would hold for a while. I changed into my swim gear and hit the pool deck. Coach, John R., suggested I get in "immediately" and swim fast because he was estimating (using Weather Underground, no doubt) that we'd be calling this practice for lightning in 25 minutes or less.

We pounded through the 800 meter warm-up and were in the middle of a main set when a huge flash of lightning struck a few miles away, and the thunder was so loud you could hear it clearly even when submerged. That was it. Everyone out. The pool policy is to wait for 20 minutes from the last lightning strike before getting in but everyone's weather apps showed that the whole nasty mix was accelerating in our direction. Since then the thunder has been like a continuous sound track in the background.

If the weather pundits are wrong I'll go back and noon and try to do the other half of the workout. If they aren't I'll hunker down and do what I've been wanting to do for a while; write a review of the Sony RX10ii and RX10 cameras. It's about time I distilled down my feelings about that duo.

Here we go....again.