If you want your pictures to look like the ones in
Travels with Samantha, here are some opinionated,
oversimplified, overgeneralized tips:
-
- Use Fujichrome Velvia film. This has much higher color saturation than
other slide films. Flesh tones can be a touch pink at times, but for scenery it
is what separates professionals from amateurs. Although negative film has some
theoretical advantages, in practice it is much easier and cheaper to get a
satisfying image out of a slide than a neg. Whatever film you use, burn it. Try
for three rolls/day on a trip. Then make a slide show with three or four pictures
from each roll. Of course, Velvia isn't the right film for every occasion, which
is why you should check out my
guide to choosing film.
Example: Nikon F4, 24/2.8 AF lens at f/11 and 1/4 second, part of
my New Mexico album.
- Use professional lenses. Cheap zoom lenses from all manufacturers
produce low-contrast dull results. Stick to prime lenses or professional zooms
(e.g.,
80-200/2.8) for most of your
photography. Nikon and Canon overcharge for their names, but only maybe 15%. A
$150 Tokina zoom is not a substitute for a $900 Nikon zoom (a $750 Tamron is, but
its resale value isn't so great). The 80-200/2.8, by the way, is a fabulous lens
for portraits. The depth of field at 200/2.8 is so shallow that you can take a
picture of someone in front of a horribly ugly strip of gas stations and it will
all be rendered as a nice blur of color. The cheap zoom lens is f/5.6 at 200 and
will render the Exxon sign nicely.
Example:
Canon EOS-5,
70-200/2.8 lens at f/4 and 1/125, fill flash set
to -1 stop. Manhattan 1995.
- Get dramatic perspective. When going wide, go wide. 20, 18,
15... the wider the better in my opinion. It is tough to take a great picture
that doesn't have a foreground, a middle ground, and a background. With a wide
angle lens that means snuggling up close to something interesting and letting the
wide angle include some other interesting things in back. Here, by the way, you
want to think about spending serious money on a lens with a "floating element"
(called by Nikon "Close Range Correction"). Most lenses just rack the whole group
of elements in and out when you focus. A floating element changes the
relationship among the glass elements as you focus, thus assuring sharp images at
all distances. A good lens, like the
Nikon AF
20/2.8, will take much better close-far pictures like this than a cheap lens,
like the Nikon AF 28/2.8 or most any off-brand wide angle.
- Never take pictures in open sunshine. That's right, if Elle MacPherson
strolls by with a tiger on a leash in front of the Canadian Rockies, just wait
until sunset :-) Unless you want your picture to look like a real estate
calendar, restrict your shooting to an hour around sunrise, an hour around
sunset, and in the deep woods the rest of the time. If you must photograph people
around noon, use an on-camera flash to fill the shadows (this, by the way, is
about the only time on-camera flash should be used for any purpose; if the
flash is your primary light source, attach it to the camera via a coiled cable
and hold it off-camera in your free hand).
- Always carry a tripod. The bigger and heavier the better. I like
expensive ball heads, especially the Arca Swiss (a mere $350) on top of
reasonably-priced Bogen legs. With ISO 50 film and the hours you'll be shooting,
you are going to need that tripod. Most of my exposures are 1/4 to 4 seconds.
Have some backup little tabletop tripods (Bogen makes one for $50 that will
support a Nikon) for when you really can't carry the big one.
- Carry a Yashica T4. So you've followed my recommendations. You've got
an 80-200/2.8 (3 lbs), tripod and ball head (6 lbs.), and assortment of other
lenses. You are barely able to walk. You quote the famous photographer (Edward
Weston?) who said "If it is more than 500 feet from the car, it isn't
photogenic." If you don't have a
point &
shoot camera with you at all times, you are going to have huge gaps in your
slide show. I carry a Yashica T4 or Minolta Freedom Explorer in my front left
pants pocket all the time. The viewfinder seems to get fogged up when I do this,
but I don't care because these things are so cheap (less than one day of film at
Katmai National Park).
- Use a modern camera. I do much of my photography with large format
equipment unchanged since the turn of the century; i.e., I don't need a fancy
computerized camera to get a correctly exposed and focussed image. However,
modern 35mm cameras are so much better than old mechanical ones that I would
never consider using anything other than a state-of-the-art SLR in the 35mm
format. Except for a few Nikons, mechanical SLRs were never especially reliable.
New cameras give you more consistent operation (1/200th of a second will always
be 1/200th of a second), really clever matrix metering when you don't have time
to think, brilliant ambient/flash metering, occasionally useful motor drives,
quicker and more reliable film handling, and a full view of the frame for the
optically-challenged (eyeglass wearers).
After my
Nikons were stolen, I switched to Canon
and am not entirely pleased with the switch. My favorite thing about Canon is the
fact that with the ultrasonic lenses, I can move AF from the shutter release to
the AE-lock button on the back of the camera. The camera focuses only when I want
it to and I can manually focus at any time. I also like the ergonomics of the
EOS-5 with vertical grip.
I wrote a bit about my
initial
experience with the Canon System and then did a complete guide to my take on
the
Canon/Nikon war.
If you've read this far, you might want to look at
photo.net, my on-line photo magazine.
