You Are Here

Wherever you are at, that's the place to be.
Image copyright Erik Markov 2009

At the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, IL. shooting the NASCAR race for the second year in a row. While up on a shooting platform getting some photos of cars on the track during practice, I saw this jumble. Reminds me of the "You Are Here" on maps. Of course that never seems to help, just because one is there, doesn't mean they know where "here" is.

The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily

reflect those of my employer.

Comments containing off-color or hateful language may be removed.

HDR and Balloons

Apparently it is possible to completely contradict yourself, even within the space of a week. It turns out I proved myself wrong. From 4 days before, the exact quote, "...so good that you can't even tell sometimes it's an HDR image. I think that's what to strive for..."

I spent the first weekend of May down at the Indianapolis Speedway shooting hot air balloons. Before the Speedway was a racetrack, there was a balloon race in 1909. To celebrate the centennial, they had several balloon events over the weekend. Friday night was a balloon glow where they keep the balloons on the ground and light them up, creating some very cool colors. The same thing for Saturday night. Sunday morning there was a balloon race that took off from the track.

I played around with HDR some more and had what I think was some success with it. While also proving my self wrong, or at the very least short sighted.

Balloons wait to launch at the start of the balloon race Sunday.
Image copyright Erik Markov 2009

Like I said before, seeing the images that are going to make good HDR is proving to be the most difficult part of this. If you just want to shoot a series of exposures and make them real gritty, contrasty photos... well that's easy. The software will allow you to do that without a hitch. Trying to take it to the next level and make an image that's unique, that's difficult.

I had 500 image files by the time I got done from all the balloon events of the weekend. That's from shooting with the D700, D70 and my Canon G2 p&s. It was a variety of 3, 5 and 7 series exposures. All told if I made HDR images from all the series, I might end up with 50 HDR images. And of that it's hard to say how many might actually work in reality.

Part of shooting HDR I'm finding very quickly is scouting out your location and shooting conditions. The range of light values, what the weather is like, amount of motion in your subject. The above image was shot with the D70 handheld, 3 exposures 1 stop apart. The balloon on the back right you can see where the software had some difficulty lining things up. Not sure if that's because it was handheld, movement from the balloon or the fact it wasn't the balloon I was focused on and thus the depth of field may have played a part.

I don't think it's enough to drastically affect the image tho. The image is probably entering the surreal area, but I like it. There was room in Photomatix to take it even further, but I felt this was about right. Part of what affects whether an image comes across as surreal or not is what the subject is. I might be wrong about this, but balloons being the subject helps I think because it is kind of a whimsical type of event anyway.

Friday night's balloon glow, shot with the Canon G2.

Image copyright Erik Markov 2009

The above image is entirely surreal, no doubt about it. The desaturation is a result of what I did in Photomatix. The heavy cloud cover also gives it a bit of an ominous feeling. That was shot with the G2 which only allows me a series of 3 exposures. The normally saturated image I didn't like as much, that's why I tried going to the extreme. Granted there are a couple easy ways around the bracket limit, but I wasn't too concerned about what images I would get from that camera, I was more just playing around.

Friday night's balloon glow, shot with the Nikon D700.

Image copyright Erik Markov 2009

This image, shot with the D700, was a series of 7. This is a mixture of the realistic with the surreal. One exposure of this image probably wouldn't yield both a good exposure of the balloons, the pagoda and the sky, but I don't think it looks too unreal. The grass, yes. I used Photomatix to add some contrast and texture to the grass, I could have backed off some more to make it look more natural, but I kinda liked it this way. Someone else might think it's too gritty.

The pagoda at the Speedway Friday night, shot with the D700.
Image copyright Erik Markov 2009

The images of the pagoda are a perfect example of the possibilities with HDR. To expose for that photo typically, there are going to have to be compromises. Expose for the lights along the sides, allowing the sign on the front and the sidewalk to go dark? Expose for the sign to be able to see the historical photo, and completely blow out the same lights causing some massive flare? There really isn't a good option for one exposure.

Image copyright Erik Markov 2009


Image copyright Erik Markov 2009


Image copyright Erik Markov 2009

The sprint cars are something I played around with during an assignment to shoot the season opening of the Kokomo Speedway. I'm not a huge fan of going out there, find it kinda boring really. It's muddy, it's boring watching cars just going around and around.... and around the track. That's why there are so many types of racing, to each his own. After shooting the stuff for the assignment the next day, I played around for a little while with the HDR. Kept my mind occupied for a little bit.

Now, you're not supposed to be able to shoot moving images and make them HDR. Most of the time, the image layers aren't going to line up properly. That made it a challenge just for the heck of it to see if I could do it. There is a little bleed thru on some parts of the image from one layer onto another, but I was really surprised how well it did turn out. Most of the bleed thru is stuff that could be fixed in Photoshop. Certainly not something you would do for an image that was going to run in the paper and represent what an event looked like. It strays into an ethical gray area. But just to play with, it's a lot of fun.

For moving images there is another option for HDR, which is to shoot RAW. Once in the computer you create your 3 or 5 or 7 exposures, then make the image in Photomatix. This could also be used if you just don't feel like shooting the bracketed exposures. For those that shoot RAW all the time and then convert to JPG, they can choose to do an HDR image anytime they like without having to plan ahead of time. I've tried playing with this some and haven't had much success. I've just found the bracketed exposures to be easier for the time being.

HDR.... is it just for fun, or is it a legitimate tool to add to a photographer's bag of tricks? I don't have the answer to that. I do know that right now it has me thinking about creating images in a different way. I've got a list of places that I want to visit again to shoot in HDR. I think that's the frustrating thing about HDR (in a good way) and photography in general. Just when you think you've shot an image that is as good as it gets, along comes a technique or a piece of equipment that gives you a new idea of how to shoot that image. Oh, well.

Swim Portraits

As part of a two person staff now, my shift is nights during the week. This week I've had two swim portraits to shoot of h.s. swimmers who will be competing at state. I wish I could shoot them in whatever pool SI uses, it must be filled with magic water. Their swimming portraits always look so cool.

The first one was on Tuesday of a sophomore, Julia Walters, who swims for a school in another county. I wasn't positive what I was going to do for the photo, none of the pools around here are really all that cool at first glance. That's what strobes are for I guess.

Sophomore Julia Walters will be competing at state
in the 100-yard freestyle.
Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2009

I set up a Dyna-Lite in the background, thinking I would place the swimmer at the end of the pool, sitting on one of the starting blocks. I put the Dyna-Lite in the background, clamped to a railing on the side of the pool knowing I wanted to use it to light up the ropes dividing the lanes.

I shot a couple test shots without the swimmer and where I was going to place the swimmer on the block, the Dyan-Lite didn't help give the pop of color I was looking for. Time to change plans.

While fooling around tho, i realized where I had the light set up would work well if I wanted to pose her in the water and get the ropes behind her for a little color. When she came out I did some shots of her sitting on the block, then had her get into the pool.

I don't have much in the way of light modifiers for the Dyna-Lites. Actually, even that is probably overstating it. I don't have anything, the only thing I've got are the standard reflectors that came with them. Couple months ago tho, I bought a roll of cinefoil in Indianapolis. For those that don't know, cinefoil is basically heavy gauge aluminum foil that is coated with black paint.

I had looked at prices for good barn doors.... and almost fell over. Most barn doors are $75, and thats just a starting price. Some are $100 or more. Ridiculous I say. I wrapped some cardboard with the cinefoil and used trusty gaffers tape to secure the seams. I bent coat hangers and attached that to both doors as a sort of handle. Using some black binder clips like one finds at an office supply store I can clip the doors to the reflector of the Dyna-Lite, creating a narrow slit of light which allows me to focus it a little more. It's not pretty, but it works.

I was working on the photos back at the office when my boss came in. The first thing he said wasn't, "hey, interesting photo" or "way to work it." No, it was "hey, she looks she doesn't have a swimsuit on." Huh? Uh, she is a swimmer. He was positive this photo, or any of the ones I had from the shoot, would not run because there wasn't a swimsuit showing. It bugged me for most of the rest of the day, it was a good photo, so what if her suit isn't showing? I could understand the argument if I had a photo of a softball player where a uniform couldn't be seen, but a swimmer?

So I get to Thursday. Another portrait of a swimmer, at a different school, this one in Kokomo. I was at the pool, setting up my strobes, going with the Nikons' this time instead of the Dyna-Lites. Variety is the spice of life right?

The swimmer was on the side of the pool waiting for me as I got the strobes set. One of the coaches for the team came over. "Are you with the Tribune?" Yes. "Is your name Erik?" Yes. "You shot the photo of my daughter the other day in the pool. I love it!! it was awesome, how did you manage to get the reflection like that?"

The mom is a coach of the swim team for the school I was at on Thursday, but her daughter attends the school I was at on Tuesday. And she loved the photo, had no problems with it in the least. Wants copies of it, thinks it's fabulous, wishes her daughter had told her that she was having her photo taken; etc, etc.

Vindication.

Now as to the current photo. Brittany Gauger is heading to state to compete in diving. So of course, it might be good to get a board into the photo. They've got a low board which is what the students use to compete from. But, I decided to use the higher board, as it had the better background.

Brittany Gauger will be heading to state to compete in diving.
Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2009

I set the background light on one of the lower diving boards pointed up towards the wall. Played around with the intensity and amount of zoom until I found something that worked. The light on her is to the right of the frame, down on the pool deck shooting up at her, with a snoot made out of corrugated plastic board. Anyone interested can find out more about snoots at Strobist.

I played around a little with this, having her sit on the board with her feet dangling off, but I decided this looked a little more natural and relaxed. Wildkats is the nickname for the school's athletic teams.

These assignments reminded me of something it's taken me a long time to learn, and still occasionally forget. Don't let anyone else get inside your head. Advice and criticism from others can be helpful, and sometimes it's necessary. One has to learn how to accept it willingly and not be hurt if someone says something not totally positive about a photographer's work.

But... After a decade of shooting, I realized that letting other people get inside my head when I'm working on an assignment is what prevented me from getting really good photos. It's what tells a photographer not to shoot this photo or that angle, because a boss or client or a reader isn't going to like the photo.

Photosynthesis by Bryan Moss and The Great Picture Hunt 2 by Dave LaBelle are two great books to help photographers, particularly photojournalists, understand this. Most photojournalists with a few years under their belt have one or both of these on their bookshelf. If you don't already I highly recommend buying them. No matter how long one takes part in photography, the well of inspiration occasionally runs dry. These books can help fill it up again.

Listening to that little voice inside is what can keep you from stepping off the curb right in front of a Greyhound bus. But it's also what can keep you from being more creative than you thought possible or were allowed to be.

The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily

reflect those of my employer.

Comments containing off-color or hateful language may be removed.

Go Big or Go Home

Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008

Had a couple sports assignments last week that got some big play on the section front which made me extremely happy.

The first one was a story about two triathletes competing in an upcoming event. They weren't actually practicing as the assignment said they would be, so I had to resort to a portrait. Framing the two of them with the front wheel of one of the bikes is an old standby but it works. The strobe made them pop a little and I like how the spokes divide them.

The other assignment was of a football linebacker for one of the local h.s. teams. Again, there wasn't much to work with. An overcast sky eliminated a few of the ideas I had for something dramatic involving a bright blue background. He's the leading tackler for the past two years and looking at the image gives you the idea he's serious about his assignment.

The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Comments containing off-color or hateful language may be removed.

Let's try this again

Justin Kline pops over a wave as he knee boards on the Mississinewa Reservoir. Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008

I was out on a boat again Wednesday. When some of the editors at the office looked at the stuff I shot on Saturday for our Howard County Living magazine article, they realized there was a problem.

No one I shot who was in the water doing any sort of surfing behind the boat was wearing a life vest. In violation of state law. Doh!!

I didn't think of it, I'm not a boat person. Don't own one, occasionally spend time on the water, not enough to remember all the rules though. Showing someone not wearing a life vest in a photo, on the cover of a magazine no less, wouldn't make us look good. Big no-no.

The person doing the story, lifestyle editor Erin Shultz found someone she knew who was out on their boat so we could get some more art. She and I went back to the same area I was at on Saturday to meet up with the subjects.

I shot some kids and adults tubing, and the owner of the boat, Justin Kline doing some knee boarding. And everyone was wearing their necessary life vests. Fantastic!

Even though I wasn't scheduled to work, spending three more hours on a boat isn't a bad thing to be called in to do. And the art turned out great. Got some flips from the tube rides and some big air of the knee boarding.

And we now aren't advocating that anyone should break a state law.



The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Comments containing off-color or hateful language may be removed.

The Need for Speed (On 2 Wheels)

Niccolo Canepa gets a little air as he accelerates leaving the first s-curve at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during rookie open testing.
Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008

Got a chance to shoot one of the Moto GP practice days at the Indianapolis Speedway this week. Very interesting experience.

After five years of shooting the Indy 500, I am definitely a converted gearhead. This wasn't always the case.

When I was at Ball State, I was able to do my required internship experience by shooting for Reuters wire service the summer of 1996, before my senior year.

It wasn't an exciting experience. As interns (unpaid) we were basically cannon fodder for Reuters. We were assigned to a turn and spent all day there shooting cars as they went by. For much of the time that meant we just got photos of cars passing by. If a car happened to wreck in our turn, then that definitely increased our chances of seeing our picture used in some way.

I didn't see a wreck the whole month, not that one is ever happy to see a wreck, but when that's the only thing one is assigned to do it can make a photographer stir crazy. And that was back when the month seemed stretched out much more, now practice and qualifying is much more compressed.

My memories from that month were hanging out with the other photographers and the heavy, HEAVY rain that we got. I remember sitting in my car in a flooded field, eating ding dongs and drinking MGD (there's a taste combination).

The first few years I was in Kokomo, I wasn't interested in shooting the Indy 500. I thought it was just standing in a turn. More of the same, how wrong I was. The 500 brings out several hundred thousand fans just on race day alone. It's an interesting study of humanity on such a huge scale, to me it transcends the sports aspect of it. I've been pretty successful in the five years I've shot the race, improving my images each year I think, which always makes a photographer happy.

All of this experience has made me look forward to the upcoming inaugural Moto GP race this September. The last cycle race at the Speedway was in 1909, the year the track opened. That's amazing, 99 years ago. And the cycles move much, much quicker than they did back then.

The track was open for several rookie competitors in the Moto GP circuit to learn the track and get some time in on their bikes.

The speeds are little different from the Indy cars, the cycles going a little slower on some parts of the track, particularly going through the s-curves. But considering the cycles are a smaller target, it makes it just as difficult to shoot as a larger car.

I shot the above image as the cycle came out of the s-curve near turn one and Niccolo Canepa gunned it heading into the next curve. Nearly all the riders got a little bit of front tire air which always looks pretty cool. I stood and waited as each rider came by because I knew I wanted a good shot of a cycle, with the "flying wing" on the wall behind it as a possible centerpiece for the article. And I got lucky that Canepa popped a good one right in front of me.

Head to my Sportsshooter page to see more images from the practice session.

As I sometimes say, I'd rather be lucky than good. Shooting 10 frames a second certainly doesn't hurt either.


The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer. Comments containing off-color or hateful language may be removed.

Do softballs get soggy?

Krista Weber, far left, of Cass High School hugs Shyla Moss as Jennifer Berlet and Emily Watkins celebrate in the background after winning the Indiana 2A softball semi final against Southwestern Monday, June 9, 2008. Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008

I originally was supposed to shoot the softball championship on Saturday in Indy if Cass had won Friday night. The games got rained out on Friday, to be played on Saturday. The games got rained out on Saturday, to be played on Monday.

Finally the semi final game between Cass and Southwestern started at 3pm Monday. In the fifth inning, about 4:30pm.... we got a rain delay. It seemed these games were destined not to be played... ever. Some of these girls would be in college before these games would be played.

After two hours of rain, it finally let up enough that the grounds crew could get out to try and fix the field conditions. At what point does a puddle become a full-fledged flood? The field was flooded by my definition, but a lot of dirt was used and the teams got back to it.

And there were no runs at this point. And there was more rain threatening the area. After a two hour delay Cass still seemed fresh and managed to score two runs, while Southwestern had none.

Cass celebrated their semi final win, and had about 45 minutes before they were scheduled to play Bremen High School in the 2A championship. After another rain delay in that game, Cass won the championship at 11pm.

As late as it was, I wasn't able to shoot the championship. I had to head back to Kokomo to get my images in. I think this image sums up well tho how happy the team was. Of course it didn't run in the paper, the favorites never do. It ran in the paper's online gallery... and of course here.


The opinions expressed on my blog are mine and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Comments containing off-color or hateful language may be removed.