HOLY BOOK UPDATE! BATMAN!!! Print version arriving soon.

The Kindle Version is Available here.

Just wanted to update you all on what's happening with my insanely fun, vanity publishing adventure, the photo novel: The Lisbon Portfolio. 

Belinda finished fine tuning all of the interior design and building the print version from scratch. We could have gotten up quicker if we'd just taken the short cut and uploaded the e-version. But we knew it wouldn't look as good. She's done an incredible job but that shouldn't surprise anyone who knows her since she's been the lead graphic designer on countless magazines and books for corporate clients.  Can you say #BrilliantDesigner ? 

So, we uploaded the print version and passed all the publisher tests and formatting double checks with flying colors. I ordered three proof copies today and they should be here early next week. We'll go through and make sure everything from the front cover to the last manuscript page is perfect and then we'll push the magic button and let Amazon.com come publish the printed version (all 472 pages of it) and make it available to an international audience of photo spy book cognoscenti. I'll post the links to the print book the minute after we launch. 

Thanks to my readers for their patience and support with this project. All the help and encouragement behind the scenes has been wonderful. What a nice group of people we've got here!

Have you shot with the Olympus 75mm 1.8 lens? If you have I would love to hear your opinions about it.

I am vacillating between buying one of these

or buying one of the 42.5 Nocticrons.

I can't buy both at once. 

This one is half the price. 

What do you think of yours?

Or the one you've used?

I can read the review sites. 

I might just trust you more.

Comments?

Layers are lovely.

I experimented yesterday with turning things off. I was heading out for a walk and I decided to take a counterintuitive camera and lens combination with me; the Samsung NX30 and the its 85mm 1.4. The general twist is that I set the camera up in manual exposure, center focusing spot, raw, AWB and ISO 200. Then I turned the rear screen completely around to it faced the camera body. I wanted to shoot as we used to shoot with film cameras, without the benefit of instantaneous review of the images I was shooting. I wanted to trust the camera and let it do the work.

I actively ignored the EVF image and tried to just meter each shot using the metering indications in the finder. I think that I've become so dependent on "pre-chimping" and trying to get everything just right in the moments before exposure that I've been losing my connection with the subject and the real reason I might want to take a photograph in the first place. I didn't adjust anything if the screen in front of my eye seemed too light or too dark. I concentrated on using my exposure experience and fine tuning based on a spot metering of a subject and a little dial in of aperture to avoid running out of shutter speed. I find this is a good way to shoot this camera. The EVF never seemed to track proper exposure (or my interpretation of proper exposure) anyway. Juggling screen images was becoming a distraction. 

I found that willfully ignoring the rear screen and squelching the idea of making lots of little adjustments at the time of shooting freed me up to enjoy the process of actually looking for images more. We've talked here before about having a camera with just a few basic controls. One which would shoot to raw files and allow correction from there. This is what I was trying to do. Essentially pushing the ability to recognize something I wanted to shoot instead of focusing on how to optimize a scene.

Was I successful? I was in that the images I captured pleased me and my walk was more fluid and less stoppy-starty. What would it take to really do this right? I'd want to use a camera with an optical viewfinder and put gaffer's tape over the screen on the back. The finder would merely be an indication of composition and whether the camera had hit focus. All other information would be blacked out. Is this a new trend in shooting? Well, judging by the new Leica which does away with a screen entirely, maybe. Will I be shooting this way a lot? Probably not. More of an exercise in re-asserting my visual primacy over the highly addictive interplay of pre-chimping and compulsive correction. 

It has piqued my curiosity though. I'm heading out the door this afternoon with a Nikon F camera and a 50mm lens. Two rolls of generic ISO 100 print film. 72 blind exposures. Should be frustrating and exciting. But to me the "hunt" is always better than the "dissection."

Walk Image #1 and Walk Image #2

Clicking through life. One website at a time.

This image is for visual anchoring. It's a frame from the King and I, 

now playing at Zach Theatre. It was shot with a Panasonic GH4

and the wonderful 35-100mm X Vario lens.

Doesn't matter what I say or do, the steamroller just comes along and flattens everything down to the same level. Every day I get e-mail messages that guide me to sites. Some sites are touting medium format cameras. Invariably the images are of models or race cars. These images are all sharp and contrasty and grainless but uniformly safe and boring. One site shows me "new talent" (which means young photographers) that is selected by "anonymous" art buyers and editors but all the images look like they were shot by the same person. They're all casual lifestyle scenes that seem as though they were shot by someone who has never even see a lighting instrument, let alone read the instructions about how to turn one on. How many images of wandering millenials in quasi (dispassionate) love do we need to see? How unlit can an image be? Do we need to even recognize the person being portrayed?

I get e-mails guiding me to sites that tell me how to shoot models. But all the models are lit the same way and all of them seem to have gone through the same retouching car wash that scrubbed all the detail off their faces. Are we still at all even mildly amused by tattoos and piercings? Do all video cameras have to slide during every take? Help me, Jim Jarmusch!

Sometimes it makes me just want to put my camera down and go for yet another walk. To see what real people are out seeing and to see what real people, with lives and jobs and kids, are doing. How do people look when they are walking through their reality trying to balance a cellphone on one ear, a cup of coffee in one hand and a messenger bag in the other? What does beauty feel like for unattractive people? Can anyone pull off looking cool as they climb into their ten year old mini-van? Can anyone not look like a sociopath as they climb into a Ferrari at the grocery store? Do men really still wear gold chains around their necks in 2014? Are small children being parented while their parents look into the vague middle distance and chatter inanely on their phones.

I have other questions that vex me as I "learn" more about the "importance" of creating visual content for the cellphone screen. Here's one: Why do we give a crap about huge, wonderful video cameras or "4K" if 65% of the population will "enjoy" the content on the screen of a phone? Is there any correlation between the sheer, enormous, corpulent size of people and our new addiction to the web?

I thought of all this as I was taking images in a very high end tech company a few weeks ago. One person asked another if the web was systematically destroying all jobs. "No." replied the other, "technology has been doing that for a long time." They went on to discuss the recent protests by fast food workers. One person said to the other, "If they push this wage thing too far we'll just put an app on a bunch of iPads and automate the fast food front counters. People can handle ordering and paying for themselves..."

And, for a second I imagined that this would only flatten the finances of the poorest people, but someone else had just finished telling me about decision tree software for psychiatry that may be at least as effective as talk therapy performed by a psychiatrist/analyst. Most psychiatrist have long since been relegated to prescribing pills instead. This next step will allow their jobs to "migrate" down to trained nurses. And then we'll automate mental health care and what next?

What does any of this have to do with photography? Well, nothing and everything. A life that goes from screen to screen to screen. Perhaps photography is one of the things that actually makes people go outside and see for themselves. That's a start.

"The King and I." The latest Zach Theatre Project ramps up. We catch the dress rehearsal.

I mentioned yesterday that I'd be covering the dress rehearsal of The King and I, at Zach Theatre last night. I showed up with a bag full of toys. I took along the Nikon D7100 which I used for a large percentage of the images. I brought the GH4, fitted with a 35-100mm, which I used and a GH3 fitted with a 12-35mm lens, which I did not use. I also brought the black EM-5 fitted with the Sigma 60mm DN "art" lens-lite which I used and wished I'd used on everything.

I'll cut to the chase here, on paper the D7100 is the best of the cameras. Biggest sensor, highest resolution, fastest focusing (?), and a real live optical viewfinder. In practical use, doing theatre images under constantly changing light the GH4 and the EM-5 just kept kicking its big jelly-bean-Ford-Taurus-bubble body around the block. From a sharpness point of view the Panasonic 35-100mm, stopped down one stop, and the Sigma 60mm 2.8 wide open are an even optical match for Nikon's 85mm 1.8G lens. Especially so when you consider that the two mirror less camera/lens combinations hit focus 100% of the time while the Nikon was....variable. 

But I don't really care if one sensor is just a bit better than another sensor if the instantaneous feedback loop of a great EVF (or even just a good one) can help me nail color and exposure with a higher degree of accuracy every single time. Big sensors do everything well that their proponents talk about. And EVFs do everything well that I talk about. I'm not a small versus big sensor guy. I don't care. If all things are equal I'd probably stick with a 24x36mm sensor because, logically, it should yield a higher quality file. But to make that file you have to nail exposure and focus and color. You can tell me you never chimp with your D800 or Canon 5D3 and I never do either----under continuous, consistent lighting. But if you are telling me you don't chimp under constantly shifting light sources; light sources that are also changing color, then you are either lying or stupid enough to want to spend ample, quality time in post production. Hey, I get it. Some people like to sit around and stare at their computers and the need to individually post process every few files is as good an excuse as any. 

Comparing all three camera files at the same ISO I saw pretty much the same amount of noise. The nice thing is that all three cameras have "nice" noise. Small, black grains. No big, out of control color splotches. The Panasonic was the least noisy of the three. The Olympus had the highest appearance of sharpness and over all quality of the three and the Nikon.....well, since the files are bigger when you compare all the files at a 16 megapixel size it does have the appearance of slightly smaller noise artifacts. Nothing exemplary to write home about. I shot raw on all three and developed them side by side in Lightroom. No big variances. 

How was the play? It was one of the best performances of live theater I've ever seen. Mel and Jill (the King and Anna) were just flat out amazing. The cast of children was delightful. The stage sets were magnificent. The music (directed by Alan Robertson) was perfect and the choreography was tighter than a moon landing. 

If you have a spouse, significant other or friend who says they "hate" live theater, this play, done by Zach Theatre, will convert them to big time fans in one pleasant evening. It's like curing vegetarianism with bacon. 

I'm shooting another performance in the next week or so to capture images of the backup group of children who are in the play. I wouldn't call them understudies as I think they cycle the two groups so no one misses too much school or homework. At any rate, when I come back I'm coming with the two EM-5s and the two Panasonic X zooms. The files impressed me that much in this application. 

Smells like that EM-1 is getting closer and closer.

All images ©2014 Kirk Tuck

All rights reserved.

Getting back into balance. Mulling over the offerings at Photokina. Packing up for assignments.

A week and a half of sustained photography work really cuts into one's swim time. I dragged my lazy self out of bed at 6:30 am for the first time in too long and just about crawled to the pool. Coach Kathleen was on deck all alert and chipper. "Haven't seen you here in a while..." she remarked. After great hesitation I finally threw myself into lane 3 and started the warm up. I felt like a old car left out in the cold too long, just trying to crank over into some sort of virtuous idle. Eventually I got back some feel of the water but when we exited the pool 3400 yards and seventy five minutes later I felt like going back to bed. I'm on a more manageable photo schedule of the rest of week and in the interest of accelerating the process of getting back into shape I've sworn off the occasional glass or red wine or refreshing cocktail for the rest of the month. Same with queso, chips, chocolate and puff pastries (the standard munching fare of corporate shows...).  Oh hell, in the interest of being fit I'll even boycott Pistachio Almond Ice Cream for a while.

Mulling over the stuff on display. I'm sure everyone is reading the same blogs and websites and marveling over the new stuff on offer at Photokina. There are a few products I want to discuss just because I either find them interesting or because I don't.

Canon 7Dii. I'm partial to EVF enabled cameras and cameras without flappy mirrors but I don't mind what Canon announced with their 7D update this week. I owned the original camera and I found that in almost every regard it was (at the time) one of the very best APS-C cameras I've used. It was the right size and pretty much bullet proof. The finder was very good for a smaller format camera. I like the solid improvements in video on the new camera and the one thing that baffles me is the sensor technology. Canon obviously knows how to make a great camera body. They also know how to make great lenses. They seem to be a little behind on the sensor tech, especially when you compare their cameras to Nikons on DXO. But here's the deal: Nikon isn't a hotbed of genius sensor making. They are smart enough to turn to Sony and Toshiba for better tech where it makes a difference.

Canon seems to be focusing on focusing instead of stuff like dynamic range, color and low read noise. Their new chip might be an aid to amateur videographers who like the camera to do their focusing but most of the aspiring video pros who will buy this camera will probably use it in manual focusing mode. Canon would have been better off skipping the upgraded phase detection points on their new chip and instead concentrated on where the rubber meets the road= image quality. But I guess we'll have to wait and see how the newer Canon sensor performs...

I'm pretty happy that they left all the good stuff alone. The camera itself was in need of a total make over it just needed imaging tweaks. I like APS-C cameras. It's a zone of very good compromise.

Panasonic LX-100. What's not to like about this camera? Saucy big sensor. (Mandatory for me) EVF.  4K video.  All wrapped up in a small and inconspicuous package. A nice competitor for the Sony RX100iii camera. But maybe even better...

Nikon D750. So they announced a little early. If you are into traditional and you really crave the full frame thing this is the camera that the 600 and 610 should have been. Mostly because we hope it won't leak oil and dust and tiny pieces of its own shutter mechanism all over the sensor. That's kind of a standard and expected bar to jump over in the field of camera making and you'd think that Nikon would have figured that out long ago... But, the camera is the perfect blend of IQ, performance and price for traditionalists of all stripes. That body, with a 35mm and an 85mm would be a nice set up for someone who does photography just of the unalloyed joy of it.  I'm happy they worked on this niche until they got it right. The reason it spiked my interest lies in my recent purchase of the 85mm 1.8G for the D7100. What a lovely, happy lens. If only Nikon would make me a mirror less D750. That would be a sweet system.

Olympus. Panasonic. Yes, yes, I am happy that both companies are upgrading their firmware to allow for easy tethering. Makes perfect sense if you want people to take your flagship cameras seriously as professional tools. The silver paint job? Not so much... Although I must say this for the silver bodies (which probably speaks more to the aging of my eyes that anything else...) and that is that in big, dark theaters (like the ACL/Moody) where the walls and ceilings are painted matte black and the room seems to suck out every random photon, the silver EM-5 I was using made it easier to see the buttons and the controls. I am thrilled to see the 40-150mm everything resistant fast zoom from Olympus. But all I really hanker for is that Nocticron. If only the boy had decided to go to trade school instead....

One more thing! Panasonic GM-5. They got that just right for its target audience and I am so happy that the EVF was added. It actually makes the little camera a potent, stealthy contender for a place in every Panasonic shooter's camera bag. Or jacket pocket.

Fuji. Circling back to the Canon comments...I am happy that Fuji keeps doing evolutionary improvements to existing products rather than changing direction at every cycle. To wit, the X100T. It's a camera based on incremental improvements of an already well loved duo of instant classics.

Samsung. Most of the camera (NX-1) and its specs look really good but I'm withholding final judgment until I can shoot that camera's 4K video. The new codec features pretty insane compression. If it works then we all cheer but like pros everywhere I have an innate fear of the unknown....

Packing up for two shoots.  When it rains it pours. We're busy and getting busier as the season roars on. Today I'm packing up for two shoots. One project is to take four different executive portraits via available light on the 26th floor of a downtown hi-rise. That shoot calls for a stout tripod and some reflector panels but I'll fudge by taking along two flash and a trigger along with a big umbrella and a light stand in case the ambient light throws me a curve ball. This is an extension of  a project we did last month. I'm packing the Nikon D7100 along with an 85mm 1.8G, a 50mm 1.8G and the 35mm 1.8 G. It's 1.8 in the afternoon. I'll do most of the shooting with the 85mm but I might go a bit wider on some of the variants, just for fun.

Then I come back to the studio and get re-packed for the dress rehearsal of The King and I, at Zach Theatre, starting at 8pm. I'm feeling whimsical so I'm packing the GH4, the GH3, two EM-5s and a brace of lenses, including the 12-35mm X, the 35-100mm X, the 60mm 1.5, the 45mm 1.8 and maybe even the Sigma 60mm f2.8. I have no reasoned plan but that's never stopped me before. Efficiency kills passion and passion kills efficiency. It's just something we always try to balance.

Obviously, no lights or tripods for the dress rehearsal. And a major reason for using the m4:3 cameras is the quietness of their shutters.

Well, that's where I am on Tues, the 16th of September. Hope you are having fun doing your own thing.