Readers of my previous posts will know that I am something of a split personality when it comes to cameras. I am an admitted ad-am but I am also a huge fan of point 'n' shoot cameras. While my dSLR is a sophisticated device, it doesn't have many of the cool features my little point 'n' shoot has. One of my favorite features is the video capture. It doesn't replace my trusty camcorder, but it's really fun for shooting little video snippets, the kind of stuff we love to watch on youTube. One of the other great benefits of the point 'n' shoot is the small size and the resulting versatility. I keep my M753 with me all the time. Last, but certainly not least, my M753 cost a whole lot less than my dSLR. While I don't just throw money around (though my wife might disagree with that), I don't feel the need to baby my camera. It gets tossed around and used in circumstances where I wouldn't risk my dSLR.

A trip to the local amusement park is a perfect example. As we waited for our first ride on the rollercoaster, I positioned my daughter and her friend in line to be behind me, in the first seat of the second car. As we started out, I did a really fast test and then started recording as we reached the top of the hill...

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I have a confession to make. I am an advanced amateur. Yes, we can be annoying. Sorry, we can't help it. Before you go somewhere, you toss your little, sleek point 'n' shoot into your pocket. Maybe take it out and get a shot or two of the kids playing or whatever. We Ad-Ams, no way. We're thinking things through. Big, black DSLR hanging around our necks, debating on whether to carry a flash and another lens or not. We're always walking around the edge of things, looking for the best angle.

To that end, I have been amassing a nice little lighting kit. A few light-duty stands and umbrellas, 2 'older' flash units, a set of inexpensive RF triggers, a few homemade light modifiers and such. I may be obsessed, but I am also frugal (read: cheap). My goal is to be versatile and economical as possible. The single most expensive thing in my kit (beside the camera and lenses) was probably the bag it all goes in.

To a snapshooter, this is all far more trouble than it's worth. To a pro, they're toys. For me, it's just right.

(I owe a serious debt of gratitude to the Strobist for educating and enabling me on this journey. Anyone interested in taking the next step, his site is invaluable daily reading.)

Back in the film days, using flash was tricky and results were unpredictable. It's easy to understand why it intimidated amateurs and drove manufacturers to make smaller, smart, built-in flash systems. With digital, it's easy to experiement, Just shoot, review, adjust. Repeat 'til it's right.

I'm always looking for new ways to use my gear. Just ask my kids.

Last week, my daughter was invited to a fashion show / birthday party, complete with runway, outfit changes and an MC. It sounded like fun so I volunteered my kit with the intention of just adding some paparazzi atmosphere to the event. I figured I'd just 'pop' the flashes as they walked the runway. "But why waste all that light," I thought, so I decided I might as well actually set up the lights for real and take the pictures. Of course, this meant I now had to take things a bit more seriously but I had to do it without interfering with their fun.

I made sure beforehand to gather up all the little bits and pieces of my kit, charge up the batteries, clear the memory card, etc. I arrived early, set up quickly, and then waited for the show.

The girls thought it was great fun. Some hammed it up at every opportunity. Ironically, I think I got better shots during the 'rehearsal'. The real show, with music playing, MC talking and audience (parents and siblings) really quieted them down.

I typically set up a shot and can take my time and make adjustments as I go. Here, I couldn't control the environment or action at all. I had to try to anticipate their actions. It was a good exercise and all part of the fun.

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Many newer digital cameras have a cool, new feature for creating panoramic images. The software helps with shooting three overlapping pictures and then it automatically 'stitches' the three pictures together to create one seamless 'superwide' picture. It works great for those scenic overlooks which is how most people use it.

Back when digital was 'new', I'd played around with panoramic images (remember Apple QTVR?), lots of trial and error, and manually stitching the images together in Photoshop. When I discovered that my new M753 did panoramas automatically, I was excited to try it out.  It really is amazing!

I was just shooting test shots at home and my kids, seeing the camera in my hands, kept jumping into the shots. I was initially focused on how the software joined the images, but I quickly became distracted by the striking impression made by the recurring presence of the same person in a single image.

First attempt with Olivia. (click image to enlarge)

We've all become accustomed to questioning the truthfulness of images. Photographic trickery has existed as long as photography itself. Digital photography has made image alteration completely ubiquitous.

Leah's turn. (click image to enlarge) Shifted position  a bit. Note how the chair too close in the foreground is not aligned.

Nonetheless, I was still surprised that seeing the same person appearing three times in a single image made such a striking impression on me, so I started exploring, directing my kids to stand here, smile, now move here, now over there, etc.

Hannah was next. (click image to enlarge) Moved chair out of the foreground. The table edge is still a challenge.

There's a world of possibilities in here. I realized later that the room I was using forced a certain arrangement of the subject being closer (and therefore larger)  in the side shots and further away (and therefore smaller) in the center. This help create a sense of depth in the image.

I tried some images the other way, subject further away on the sides and closer in the middle, but didn't like them as much.

Next day, outside (really windy). (click image to enlarge) No problems with the overlaps, but not as much connection with the subject

Remember, this is digital. Experiement, explore, have fun!

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Recently, the Kodak Gallery Scan Van arrived in Rochester and took up temporary residence in the parking lot just outside my office.

The Scan Van is here!

In case you didn't know, the Scan Van is a customized van equipped with high-speed scanners specially designed to turn those shoeboxes full of old prints into spiffy, new digital images. In addition to taking advantage of this service from the Gallery, I was curious about how it all worked so while they scanned a pile of my prints, I asked a whole bunch of questions.

Truc and Erine

The first thing I discovered is that while the ScanVan was being run by several people, only two of them had been on the job for more than a few days. Truc Nguyen from San Jose and Erine Sato from Louisville have been with the Van since it first hit the road in March of '07 but the other 'scanners' are local and only with the Van here in Rochester. Truc and Erine have driven the ScanVan over 15,000 miles from its 'birthplace' in Ohio, to Southern California, across the southern U.S. to Florida then up to the East Coast.  Aside from getting lost once, they've had no problems to report though it's scary and shakes when it gets windy. Along the way, Truc has gotten to see and take pictures of all sorts of things, both the usual and the unusual in the cities they've visited.

The Van has a bunch of 'scanning stations,' each equipped with a Kodak s1220 Photo Scanning System, a laptop and a wireless network card. The hardware all sits on shelves attached to the side of the van. An awning overhead shields the crew and the gear from sun and rain. Another shelf and display area attached to the back of the van provides a place for customers to organize their pictures. A small generator sits alongside and provides power for the whole operation.

Every morning, they set it all up and every evening, they take it all down again. Amazingly, it only takes about a half an hour. Everything stores neatly in special compartments inside the van.  When they're at an indoor location, like a mall, they leave the van there, but when they're at an outdoor location like here, they take it home for the night. On the road and around town, they get lots of smiles and waves and occasionally someone comes running their way to ask about scanning pictures and getting prints.

Since its launch in March, the Scan Van has scanned more than 700,000 images. On an average day in a busy location, each scanner does about 10,000 images, at about 2 seconds each. Most people seem to bring a few hundred images, but some people really get into it. Truc had a single customer bring in over 10,000 images. When they get really busy, the images just fly through the scanners, but when things slow down, they actually get a chance to see some of the pictures streaming by. Occasionally they're surprised by what people bring in but also equally amazed by some of the pictures, particularly shots of wildlife from photo safaris.

I was primarily interested in the logistics and the technical aspects of the Van but I hadn't realized the powerful emotional impact the Van and its crew could have. Truc related story after story of how enthusiastic and excited people had been. Some were actually moved to tears as their images were scanned and restored using the Perfect Touch algorithms, revealing details never seen or long forgotten. When you see images by the hundreds streaming by day after day, it's surprising to see how important a single picture can be to someone who remembers the day it was taken or suddenly discovers a hidden detail in a picture they've known all their lives.

If the Scan Van comes to your town, be sure to stop by to say hello, digitize some memories and maybe make a few new ones while you're there.

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Like countless other families, summer is soccer season in my house, so I now spend several evenings a week sitting out in a field chatting with other parents as our kids mob together around the ball and learn important life lessons. One of the highlights of the season (at least for my kids) are the photocards. Each girl, standing proudly in her jersey, soccer ball casually tucked under an elbow or trapped under a cleated foot. Somehow during one of these chats, I ended up volunteering (or did I get drafted?) to take the pictures this season. 'Yeah, sure, I can do that.' I said, 'And it'll be free!' they all replied.

The seriousness of what I'd committed to finally set in and I started planning. I knew that I'd have to shoot the pictures before a game to have everyone looking their best. I said I'd need to have everyone there about half an hour before game time. What was I thinking? 30 minutes to shoot 17 kids, plus the team shot.

I arrived at the field early to scout out a location: somewhere out of the way with an uncluttered background but close by. It was a cloudy day, which meant flat light and no shadows, so I set up a flash to provide some depth and contrast to the setting. (I'll talk more about my gear in a later post) I did some test shots so I'd be ready as soon as the players arrived.

And then it started to rain.

When the rain stopped, I had 15 minutes to game time. I set up again, rechecked everything, dispatched a few players to gather the rest, crossed my fingers and started shooting. 

I first shot each girl's jersey number so I'd have some way to match the images against the roster later. I shot each girl in the 'standard' soccer pose (foot on the ball) and then gave them a quick chance to do something different and then onto the next. Zip zip zip, about a minute each.
 


Two minutes before gametime, the whole team had arrived. I stopped shooting individual players and set up the group shot. I knew I wanted it to be a little more casual and less posed than the typical team shot, so I just let the girls arrange themselves for a few moments, pushed the groups into place, made sure everyone was visible and shot about 10 fast shots. Always shoot more than you think you need with big groups of kids.

I managed to shoot a few more individuals as the game got started but never got through the whole roster before they were rainsoaked and ragged. Using the preview function on the camera, I determined who was still missing and arranged for them to be early at the next game.

Two days later, same time, same location. Totally different lighting conditions. Now instead of using the flash to provide contrast, I used it to soften the harsh shadows of the summer sun.
 

As my missing players arrived, I pulled them over, shot them and crossed them off my list. I even got some reshoots of the others.

All the photos shot and transferred to the computer, I selected the best images, cropped, color balanced and saved the files with the player names and numbers to keep the printing process organized. I also created a cool border design with the team name and their names and numbers and made cards for each of them.

Now, you might think all of this sounds like crazed, stress-filled anarchy and you'd be right, but it's not unexpected and it's what makes taking pictures like this interesting and fun.

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