Master or Mastered?

Greetings and welcome to Hohenfels Volks, THE place for our place!

The fact is that relatively few photographers ever master their medium. Instead, they allow the medium to master them...
Edward Weston

I posted that quote Saturday. I often get asked by volks about new gear or which camera is better. There are all kinds of questions about this or that pertaining to tricks to make them better photographers.

The quote goes on to say “… and go on an endless squirrel cage chase from new lens to new paper to new developer to new gadget, never staying with one piece of equipment long enough to learn its full capacities, becoming lost in a maze of technical information that is of little or no use since they don't know what to do with it”

It’s sad to say, but many of today’s beginners, and even those who’ve been around long enough to know better, are always searching for the better or the new. As you can see from the quote, this isn’t a new phenomenon, but has been a constant source of frustration since the early days of photography.

As often as that question is asked, there are answers ranging from try this lens or that camera. People will tell you a larger sensor is better, others that a smaller one is better. Someone will say not to use your on-camera flash and others will say that’s all they use.

The BIG, HUGE, AWESOME secret is simpler than the advices and opinions you’ll receive. But first, a photo…


ISO 100, f/4.5, 1/60
Winged Nike, Victory at Samothrace, at the Louvre in Paris. This statue on marble was made to celebrate a Hellenistic victory at sea. The lines and flowing drapery of her gown are suggestive of a strong sea wind. This statue is considered an example of the Greek ideal beauty. It shows a sense of triumph, even with the missing head and limbs. By knowing your gear, you, too, can experience triumph and mastery of photography!

Here is the big secret- pick one thing and learn it until it becomes automatic. Master your kit lens and camera, and then add a lens. After you’ve mastered that one, add a flash and master single source off camera lighting. Each step building upon the previous, and each step building out your kit, will allow you to gain a mastery that will surpass even the best of the “secret chasers,” those who always go on Weston’s “squirrel chases.”

One method, and probably the best, is to read your camera’s manual. Study it and get to know it. Make up a little sheet that outlines the features you need or wish to use and keep it with your camera. Get with others who own the same camera and discuss the camera. Discussing with others, even if they don’t own the same gear, can lead to a better understanding of the basic elements and can go a long way toward reaching your mastery. Then, start in on your lens. Start using the different modes, color balances, and features of your particular gear. Make photos that combine your vision and the challenge of learning your gear. I’ve seen photographers capable of changing their shutter speed, aperture, sensor speed, and focus, all while looking through the viewfinder. They knew their gear, the settings, and the procedures to get the camera to do what they wanted.

After that, you can begin to pick up more gear and learning it. The process is endless, so is the growth and improvement. It’s really a simple series of 4 steps- acquire the gear, learn the gear, practice the gear, master the gear, and repeat. It’s a loop that never ends, at least while resources or initiative are available. That’s the path for most forms of growth, whether it’s gear you acquire or knowledge. Growth shouldn’t end after 1 cycle through, but should be ongoing, that’s how entire civilizations are built and shaped!

Get out and get making your photos! We’d love for you to share them with us on our Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. We’d love to see your work. You can also send us an e-mail, if you prefer. Our e-mail address is HohenfelsVolks(at)tks-net.com and we'd love to hear from you!

Is there anything you’d like to see here? Do you have a question? Share your thoughts here or at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. Of course, commenting on both Facebook and here is always appreciated, too! Don't forget, we're on Google+, too!

Trinkets or Accessories?

Greetings and welcome to Hohenfels Volks, THE place for our place!

The term accessories has come to include a host of photographic gadgets of questionable value...  Ansel Adams

A sucker is born every minute…  PT Barnum

The first accessory we’re going to look at seems to have some merit. At least, for the maker it has merit. It’s the Camera Clip. This is a clip that mounts to your camera’s tripod bushing. The other piece goes on your belt or backpack strap. The 2 pieces clip together to keep your camera in place for easy carrying. It has a quick release button, and when worn on the belt looks kind of like some space alien stun gun thing. I’ve always found the camera strap to work best at carrying the camera, and being slightly free, a painless way to get the shot. No fussing with a clip or having your belt stretched (or worse, your pants falling down) by the weight of your camera.

Then there’s the SLR Pin Hole Lens. This is the cap from an SLR with a pinhole in it. This allows for pinhole photography without a pinhole camera. It’s a good idea, and may have merit if you wish to combine pinhole photography with digital photography. There’s no way to change your aperture, and no way to focus, so auto focus is out the window. This may not be usable with some SLRs, as the focus point has to be acceptably sharp, even in manual focus. This would apply to many DSLRs, therefore check before using!

Next up is a device called the Super-Secret Spy Lens. This gadget has a hole in the side of the lens and uses mirrors to photograph through the side. It allows you to pint your camera one direction, pretending to photograph something, while actually sneaking a photo of something (or someone) unsuspecting. I can see someone getting into trouble with this really quick! By the way, this little lens add on says right on it “Angle Scope!” It even includes in the ad on Amazon a sample use, on the beach…

Last up, my personal favorite for the no merit award goes to the Bottle Cap Tripod. First, there was the tabletop tripod, which allowed folks to shoot their food in fancy restaurants without having to handhold the camera. Then cam the Gorilla-Pod thing that allowed you to mount your camera to leafy tree branches. The final step (I hope!) in this evolution will be this. It’s a standard sized “bottle cap” that mounts to your camera and allows you to put it on a water bottle, juice bottle, cola bottle, whatever bottle, and take a photo, presumably of yourself or your group.

Of course, no list can be complete. Many gadgets may be useful to you, even when no one else finds them to be. This list is only showing a couple money wasters that actually do nothing to help your photography. Who’s to say the bottle cap is bad, if you can get a family shot when you’re out to a special dinner or something similar. There are so many more items that purport to be useful, when they’re actually nothing more than trinkets to make you feel better about your photography.

The best accessory for any camera, of course, is the manual. Read it, learn your camera, learn your style, and you’ll have no need for many of these trinkets. Some good accessories to have include a multicoated circular polarizer, a UV filter, good storage for digital photography, a good camera bag, a good cleaning kit, maybe some black and white filters if you plan to shoot monochrome, a remote release cable, and a flash with a couple mods. These items will flesh a very nice little kit, and have you moving through your scenes with ease after some practice! A very important piece of gear is a meter. Since most cameras today have built in meters, that can come later, and be a life saver in tricky light! Although, whatever accessories you have or use, you have to keep them ready and practice them to get the most from them.


ISO 400, f/8, 1/30
One of the buildings at the Hermitage in Bayreuth. The feeling of being away from the world, even in the city, is something one can relate to in this age of stress! The feeling of splendor, yet remote contemplation make this place a winner. Shot with nothing but a Wratten #8, yellow, filter over my lens. No fancy tricks or gadgets were used, other than knowing what my camera would do and how the filter would alter the levels.

I hope that this will give you pause the next time you see that “magic bullet” device that will make all your photos super perfect! As any long time photographer will tell you, there are no magic bullets. Practice and knowing your gear is the closest thing to that magic bullet.

Get out and get making your photos! We’d love for you to share them with us on our Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. We’d love to see your work.

Is there anything you’d like to see here? Do you have a question? Share your thoughts here or at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. Of course, commenting on both Facebook and here is always appreciated, too! Don't forget, we're on Google+, too!

Autumn Care

Greetings and welcome to Hohenfels Volks, THE place for our place! Here in Hohenfels, the Sun made a couple cameo appearances but wasn’t able to stir up any kind of significant warmth. The rain put a damper on the spirits, as did the fact that it’s a workday!

With autumn’s brutally chilled arrival, we’re nearing the time to shoot some real color! There’s always some excitement about the colors, shapes, textures, and patterns that accompany autumnal photography. As I mentioned in yesterday’s quote, now’s a great time to think about negative space and the use of color to create tension, balance, and harmony in your photos, and bring about the connection you’d like to make.


ISO 800, f/11, 1/60
These flowers were shot at the Hermitage in Bayreuth. A Wratten #8, yellow, filter was used. By using the filter, the green was brought up slightly, and the white flowers separated from both the red flowers and green leaves. By allowing a rich grey-black to fall on the leaves and red flowers, a velvety feeling of negative space results. While fragmented and carrying visual detail, it is by no means the subject, and yet becomes a subject of its own.

Along with the march of color into the dreariness ahead, comes other factors that photographers should take note of. First, is the rapid decrease in temperatures, the drop in temperature can take the starch out of an exciting day. Another factor is the rain, always something to be ready for in our Hohenfels area. Getting your camera wet can lead to issues that no one wants!

One of the biggies, I’ve found, is the increase in static. For the most part, photographers don’t have to worry about while photographing with digital cameras. It’s when the time comes to change cards or clean your sensor, or even change your lens that it becomes an issue. A typical “zap” can have as much as 30,000 volts jumping from one surface to another. Enough to ruin your day if it arcs over onto your sensor. Since most folks don’t clean their sensors beyond a squirt from a bulb blower, it’s pretty reasonable to say that the standard precautions are sufficient.

With film, though, static can be a big problem. Advancing film, rewinding film, activating the shutter, removing a dark slide, all these things can cause an arc that will ruin your shot. The can also damage your shutter curtains if your camera uses cloth. In the driest and coldest weather, it could damage your sensor, but that’s unlikely.

The biggest threat to digital cameras during this time of year is the condensation from thermal transitions. That’s a fancy way of saying going inside from outside. I’ve found one of the best ways to protect anything is a Ziploc bag and 30 minutes. Don’t plug your camera in, put your card in your reader, or power on your camera when you first come in. The temperature change can cause moisture, which we all know, doesn’t sit well with electronics! Think about glasses fogging over when you come in from the cold!

Another awesome tip- when you get in from the cold, make a big cup of hot cocoa, with extra chocolate. It’ll warm you up, and give time for your gear to reach a suitable temperature! It helps if you have someone to share it with. A nice cup of cocoa with my little princess makes for some fun talk time, and 30 minutes is gone before you know it!

Now’s the time get scouting and planning your autumn shots. Figure out where and when, the rest will follow. Then, make your shot and share it with us on our Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. We’d love to see your work.

Is there anything you’d like to see here? Do you have a question? Share your thoughts here or at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. Of course, commenting on both Facebook and here is always appreciated, too! Don't forget, Hohenfels Volks is on Google+, too!

10,000 Revisited

Greetings, volks. Welcome to Hohenfels Volks, THE place for our place! Everywhere you look, you’ll see white! Winter is here for the long haul, and that means it’s time to get some seasonal shots. I hope everyone is getting geared up for Christmas and some great photography.

Earlier today, we had blue skies and some nice clouds, perfect for the landscape shooter in all of us. Of course, things turned ugly quick, and left us in the midst of a dark and icy wall of snow. As often happens, the sun managed to beat back the snow and again we were ready for making some great shots.

Enough weather, that’s not what we’re here for, right? Today we’re going to talk about pride and accomplishment. It’s also a chance for an exercise in good old-fashioned photography. Even though we’re using our digital cameras, and often forget the importance of each shot we make, we can return to the old ways. Remember, as Henri Cartier-Bresson said, “You’re first ten thousand shots are your worst.” In a much older post, we addressed this and modified it to be about 100,000 to 1,000,000 shots. This is due to the inherent nature of instantaneous feedback and automatic cameras.

In the earliest days of photography, folks used glass plates for their negatives. Then film came along. In those early days, your film, or plate, was only sensitive to blue light. This made balancing your light and color very important. With the advent of thinner films and panchromatic emulsions, more sensitivity was added. Then, of course, came color film. When you shot either a sheet or roll, you couldn’t change your ISO or color balance. Film and digital sensors can be thought of as the same thing, and for the rest of this article will be used interchangeably.

Film costs money. It cost money in the old days, as well. When a photographer made shots, he weighed the value of the film and the shot. Every photograph was precious, and had to be made with care. Exposure, color balance, even composition had to be weighed and given some measure of value in relation to the photo. Photography took time, to both master, and in terms of the individual image created. Light meters for measuring exposure, going back to the 1800’s, are available on auction sites all over the internet. Focusing aids, powder flashes, apertures, and even shutters were part of the photographer’s knowledge. In many of the older lenses, the aperture was adjusted using an insert placed in the lens at the time of the photo.

Now that we see how valuable the image was, and the knowledge to make an image, we can see how those early photos, and those that have come down to us through the years, were not the product of guesswork or automation.

For the next few days, try doing an exercise in film. Choose one ISO for your camera, choose one color balance, and only limit yourself to 36 shots per session. Remember, getting your color balance and ISO right will require thought and planning. It will also require learning about your intended shooting situation. If you’re shooting outside, shoot in daylight or around 5200K, and inside shoot at tungsten or around 3200K. If you’re shooting in bright conditions, choose ISO 100, in the dark ISO 800. Finish your 36 shots before changing your settings. Also, don’t look at your images on the camera monitor, or delete any shot. Wait until you get home to see what you have. This will encourage you to value your images, while also helping you improve.


EI 500, f/5.6, 1/60, 56mm
I couldn't resist this shot, the mix of shapes, textures, and tones are intriguing! Shooting manual all day, let me have control of the camera, instead of the camera controlling me. It also allowed me to use my knowledge to get what I wanted.

This little exercise will require you to know your camera settings, it will require the knowledge to get the shot right, and it will allow for a sense of visualization to settle in. Visualizing your image is an incredibly useful tool in photography. This is a great time to undertake this exercise, as our changing weather conditions, and lighting, will challenge even the best without proving impossible with a little effort. As an added bonus, it’ll make every shoot an adventure, and every moment until the photos are loaded like Christmas. It’s a fun way to experience the anticipation of Christmas with a gift in every session! It’ll also make shorter work of getting the best shots, since you’ll be improving with each photo made. You’ll also develop your confidence, which always helps! Remember, a great camera doesn’t make a great photographer, any more than a great kitchen makes a great cook.

Please feel free to share your photos on our Facebook page. Everyone here would love the chance to see your work! Is there anything you’d like to see here? Do you have a question or an idea? Share your thoughts here or at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. Of course, commenting on both Facebook and here is always appreciated, too! Don't forget, we're on Google+, too!

Projecting Your Vision

Greetings, volks. Welcome to Hohenfels Volks, THE place for our place! Lovely weather, beautiful skies, and an abundance of time give rise for photo opportunities and exercises here.

We’re blessed in the Hohenfels area with such a variety of things to cater to all our interests, at least photographically. Many volks find the castles and historic locations to be the ticket for them, others love the country scenes, and still other volks love seeing the cities. We’re located where you can find something to interest you and fuel your creative fire.

Today we’re going to try to throw some fuel on your fire by revisiting the subject of projects. As we discussed in a previous post, projects can get you thinking and lead to some creative ideas and photos. We’re going to do a short post about getting a project going as an exercise this week.

The first step to completing your project is getting together some ideas thinking through an outline. It’s important to have a theme, something that will tie each image to the other images, and to the project as a whole. Some ideas for projects in the Hohenfels area are shooting only trees, shooting playgrounds, a series of stream shots, or even the local Rathauses. Once you have a general theme, narrow it down some. For instance, if you choose to shoot trees, limit yourself to small trees or something to narrow your scope to less than just “trees.”

Decide on what tools you want to use. Decide on what items you’ll be using in your photography, and put together a kit to bring along. Make sure you have the right tool for the job! If you decide to shoot bugs for instance, don’t use a 24mm wide-angle lens, unless your theme is little specks of bugs in a big scene. Planning now can save you some missed shots later.

Also, think of some limitations on your tools. Perhaps shooting without a flash or using only a prime lens. By adding some creative limitations, you boost your creativity by working with what you have. A very important limitation is limiting the edits you can perform in software. Limit yourself to adjusting levels, curves, brightness, contrast, and saturation. Include these limitations in your visualization, or you may be disappointed with your results. Most photo contests you’re likely to enter limit editing to those listed above. For the purposes of this article, we’re going to use those limitations to help us get the most of the tools we have.

Once all the above have been decided, it’s time to make of list of places where we can the shots to work our project. Know where you’re going, research the places and lighting. You should visit a couple times at different times of day. Know the lighting and knowing how we make the most of it gives you the ability to make your image inspire others.

With everything in place, it’s time to get out and start shooting. Add some variety within your theme by shooting black and white, shooting some color, and low light shots. Keeping to your theme will bring everything together.

Projects can be created for the weekend, for vacation, or even for special days and times. One of my friends, Jen, recently did a series of lighthouses. Her shots were great, and although they have edits like vignettes applied, show how beautiful the structures, and more importantly the locations, are. These things are a marvel for anyone who’s ever seen one, and Jen crafted some wonderful images that fit that to a t! Check out her blog, Jennifer O on our links page, you’ll definitely enjoy her work!

I’ll leave you with a couple shots from one of my on-going projects, featuring crosses and small chapels in our Hohenfels Area.


EI80, f/8, 1/60 Developed N-20% to control tonal range and contrast.
Crosses and Crenelations. Shot on film, exposed to bring the range near bright white on the walls and crenelations of the wall and developed to bring that back to a tone that holds detail. Even though that area is pushing white, the tonal range and detail are available.


ISO 125, f/8, 1/30
Castle and Cross. By shooting the sky at about m+1/3, then decreasing exposure by about 1/2 stop and applying an inverted s-curve to the image, the clouds, cross, and castle all add an element to the image, and create a decent balance.

I hope this inspires everyone to undertake a project of their own. A project can take on a life of its own, and can add some inspiration to your time behind the camera. It doesn't have to take all your photo time, but you may end up giving it a more than fair amount! Take care and enjoy the rest of the week!

Is there anything you’d like to see here? Do you have a question? Let us know what project you're working on! Share your thoughts here or at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. Of course, commenting on both Facebook and here is always appreciated, too! Don't forget, we're on Google+, too!

Exercise, Not Just for the Body!

Greetings, volks. Welcome to Hohenfels Volks, THE place for our place! I hope everyone had a great Easter, and enjoyed the weekend, snow and all.

This week’s exercise is going to go hand in hand with our last post. Last week, we shot only on a single prime, or if you only have a zoom, at a single focal length. Keeping that limitation in place, we’re moving on to this week’s.


ISO 400, f/11, 1/50, HP5+ developed normal with tea for slight compensation in shadows.
Looking down the alley between the bakery and St. Ulrich in Hohenfels towards the priest's residence. One of 48 taken at 75mm with the fixed focal length Ikoflex TLR.

Friday we spoke of the golden hour and the blue hour, and the quality of light present during these times. Have you given any thought to shooting at these times? Perhaps you’ve shot a magnificent sunset, but didn’t stick around to see the amazing light after that. Don’t worry; with this exercise, the chance is here to do just that.

This week, you should choose a very narrow window of time during the day, either the golden hour or the blue hour, and only shoot at that time during the entire week. Maybe every day, or maybe just one, but every shot during the week should be at about that same time every day over the course of the week.

Of course, to add depth and a challenge to the exercise, you can, and maybe should, continue using one focal length or prime lens. By learning to use only 1 length or lens, and only shooting at 1 time of day, you learn to see the light and how you can make it work for you.

Learning to see the possibilities of lighting, and equipment limitations can vastly improve your compositional skills and make for some unexpected awesomeness. You may need to use a flash or some other artificial light source, but that’s to be expected. Use what tools you have. Silhouettes work great during the blue hour, and during the golden hour, partial silhouettes can make for some great expressions of your vision.

I hope everyone will be out doing the exercise this week and share the wonderful results that they create. I also hope you’ll look beyond the limitations and see the opportunities.

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Don’t forget to post any of your images you’d like to see here at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. Of course, commenting on both Facebook and here is always appreciated, too! Don't forget, we're on Google+, too!

Reviewing the Basics

Greetings, volks. Welcome to Hohenfels Volks, THE place for our place! Brrr. That’s our word of the day!

Today we’re going to review some of the basics of photography and exposure. This can all be found on our Introduction to Photography page. We should all have a good idea of this stuff, but it always helps to refresh the cup, so to speak.

First, we’ll address our exposure triangle. The triangle consists of 1- ISO or film speed, 2- shutter speed, and 3- aperture. To change exposure, you change any side of the triangle. To keep the same exposure, you have to change at least 2 sides. For instance, we set up on a sunny day at ISO 100, f/16, and 1/100. According to the “sunny 16 rule,” we’re good to go. But we want less DOF, so we need to increase our aperture. We go to f/4 to give us a shallow focus. If we don’t change another side of our triangle, we overexpose and create a mess. We have a 4-stop increase in the amount of light coming in, so we need a four-stop increase in shutter speed or 4-stop decrease in ISO. Since we can’t bring our ISO lower, we need to change our shutter speed to 1/1600. At 1/1600 at f/4, that gives us the same as 1/100 at f/16. If we want to increase our exposure, we can change any 1 side and either decrease our exposure or increase it depending on our new settings. For instance we want to increase our exposure on ISO 100, f/16, 1/100 2 stops, so increasing our aperture to f/8, decreasing our shutter speed to 1/25, or increasing our ISO to 400 will do just that. Remember, when we meter something, or a scene, the meter gives us the exposure for 18% gray, which is zone 5. Knowing this allows us to place the item we meter into different zones or exposure levels.

Next up, we’ll look quickly at depth of field, or DOF. This is a product of our focal length and aperture. The longer our lens’s focal length is, the shallower our DOF. The wider our aperture is, the shallower our DOF. This can be a good way to remove or minimize distractions. A 100mm lens at f/16 has about the same DOF as a 50mm lens at f/4. Focused at 10 feet, both give a DOF running from about 9.17 to 11 feet. Seeing that, you can deduce that a shorter lens has a wider DOF.

Remember, these 2 topics we’ve reviewed go together. By adjusting your aperture for a shallower DOF, you’ll have to change something else to maintain your exposure. If you wish to move into a new zone, you’ll change your DOF if you use your aperture to move zones.

We’ll review composition and inspiration in our next talk. Remember to vote and get your pics in early. I hope you’ll all participate in this week’s theme, solitude. We’re aiming for more votes for our theme, so get involved and let’s enjoy the journey together!

Don’t forget to post any of your images you’d like to see here at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. Of course, commenting on both Facebook and here is always appreciated, too! Don't foget, we're on Google+, too!

Tools of the Trade: Flash Part II

Greetings, volks. Welcome to Hohenfels Volks, THE place for our place! Today’s post is going to deal with using your flash in manual mode.

For some Volks, manual mode and photography don’t seem to go together. They leave everything on automatic, letting the camera tell them when to click the shutter, which seems a bit too much like serving the camera, not the camera serving us. By now, most of you have been shooting manual for a while. Chances are, though, that your flash is doing the majority of your work when you use it. I hope that this post will change that some!

First, we’re going to learn some terms and concepts. Flashes are rated by something called the GN, or Guide Number. It’s a measure of a flash's output. You have to know this number. The YN-560 that I have is rated by the manufacturer for 58 meters at 105mm, ISO 100. The actual rating is more like 35 meters at 35mm, ISO 100, which should give us about 50-55 meters at 105mm. I haven’t formally tested it in a controlled manner, but that seems about right. What that means is shooting at ISO 100, 105mm, and with the flash at full power, my max range for the flash is about 58 meters. At that distance, the light has fallen drastically in intensity, but spread out in coverage. The next thing we need to understand is aperture, or the size of the opening in our lens. A larger aperture means more light and conversely a smaller aperture means less. Aperture is measured as f/stop, a ratio of your aperture’s diameter to the level of light it allows. That’s oversimplified, but you get the idea. You already know about aperture, but will need to understand it for flash work. The last thing we’re going to bring up is distance between the flash and the subject. These 3 things are how you determine a manual flash’s power and set your exposure correctly. A flashes GN is the rating assigned to it by the manufacturer, so you have to be careful to read the specs before buying one. Some makers will call their flash GN58, but if you look at the tiny print, it’s at ISO 200 or even 400. That makes it more like a GN20 at ISO 100. Also, make sure the units your GN is listed in, feet or meters, or both are consistent throughout your calculations. Also remember that we're dealing with light, so sometimes it doesn't seem to make sense due the inverse square law. That's why we use GN!

The 3 things listed above are what you need to know to expose properly for manual flash. We’re going to start this part by giving you the equations to use, then giving some examples.

The first calculation is to determine your GN. First, set your flash to manual mode, full power, and if it has it, full zoom. Then place your flash a measured distance to your subject, say 5 meters. Then shoot a series of shots at successive f/stops. Note the aperture that gives you a proper exposure. For this we’re going to say f/8. Now multiply the distance by the f/stop. For this we’re going to multiply 5 meters by f/8, which means 5x8=40, or a GN of 40 at ISO 100, full power, max zoom, or about 20 at half power.

The next calculation is to determine your f/stop for that GN. If you have a GN 20 at ISO 100 flash, what f/stop do you use for 4.5 meters? The calculation for that is GN divided by distance. For GN 20, that would be 20/4.5=4.5 or f/4.5. Set up the above flash, GN 40 at half power, 4.5 meters and shoot using f/4.5, you should be almost dead on every time!

Last, we have figuring out your distance for a GN with a desired aperture. That is calculated by dividing GN/f/stop. As above, GN 20 at half power, we’ll say f/8. To get that we divide 20 by 8, or 20/8= 2.5, or 2.5 meters.

Here are the calculations listed:

Your GN=f/stop x distance to subject
F/stop= GN/distance to subject
Distance to subject= GN/f/stop

Here are some things to note. The distance is ALWAYS the distance from the flash head to the subject, not the camera to subject or flash to camera. Light modifiers like a Sto-Fen or umbrella lower your flash power by about 1-2.5 stops. Measure with them in place for more accurate readings. The same applies to bounce flash, count your distance as being from the flash to the reflector + the reflector to the subject, or adjust your exposure to compensate. A few times doing this with your calculator and flash manual will give you a great starting point for your flash shots, then before you know it, you’ll be nailing them every time!

Now that you know all that, use your camera's built in spot metering mode, go to AV or aperture priority, set your required f/stop, and meter for the rest of the scene. That shutter speed will allow you to balance your flash with the ambient light to create a nearly perfect exposure. Tinker with it, and you'll make that magic of having your image match your vision that much easier!

Working with your flash off camera in slave mode can also be a trial. The secret to that is point your optical sensor at the camera and rotate your flash head toward the subject. The sensor detects the flash from your camera and triggers the flash. It also has to be where it can see the flash from on camera. For some flashes, this will trigger it before it should go. The Yongnuo flashes have a mode called S1 that trips the flash at the very first blip of flash, and S2 that only triggers when the actual flash goes for the shot. Use S2 to ignore the red eye and pre-flashes your camera sends out. Also, turn of red eye reduction or pre-flash. Having your flash off camera will help prevent this phenomenon from occurring. Of course, you can also buy a wireless RF trigger and receiver from anywhere online for about $30 and avoid slave mode altogether.

A great resource for all things flash related is Strobist. We have a link to them in our links and they can really up your knowledge levels on flash. They put out some good tutorials and lessons in Lighting 101. Give them a read!

You’re probably bored after all that math and calculating. Get out there and shoot something, it’ll wake you back up! While you’re out shooting, don’t forget the milk, I mean your shots for this week’s theme! Complimentary colors with a contrasting subject. Should be something great in there and I can’t wait to see your work!

Don’t forget to post any of your images you’d like to see here at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. Of course, commenting on both Facebook and here is always appreciated, too!

Tech Talk: Candles and Calculations

Greetings, volks. Welcome to Hohenfels Volks, THE place for our place!

Today we’re going to go a little bit into what makes up your exposure numbers and how metering works. It sounds familiar, but we’ll be dealing with more math and other advanced parts of your exposure settings.

Let’s start with your ISO. Back in the old days there were lots of ways to label film sensitivity. There was by DIN number, ASA, Weston, and EV, as well as various others fallen by the wayside. Today we use ISO, which is for the most part ASA. Some folks use DIN, that’s why film still carries the DIN number. Under today’s scheme, 3 degrees DIN are equal to 1 full stop. ISO 100/21 has half the sensitivity of ISO 200/24. The Weston number, another popular standard used to gauge a film’s sensitivity, referencing Weston’s meters, is usually .8 times the ISO. Since we’re shooting today, we’ll use ISO, but there may be times we reference others in our future.

Moving on we come to light and light levels. Without the fancy gadgets we have to meter our exposure built into cameras, folks used external meters. Ansel Adams broke it down in his book The Negative. Meters used to measure light in candles, or candela, per square foot. That was the basis for your shutter speed. This will become important in a couple paragraphs.

Next we have aperture, the size of the opening through which light enters the camera. Each ISO had its native f/stop. To find the native stop for any ISO take its square root. For ISO 100 the native f/stop is f/10, for ISO 125 it’s 11, for 200 it’s about 14, and for 400 the native f/stop is 20. Apertures are measured in f/stop, which is a ratio based on the square root of 2, as each step is doubling or halving the light.

The last part is shutter speed. For a native aperture, the shutter speed should be 1/ the light measured in candles per square foot, or c/ft². If you read 125 c/ft², your shutter speed for a native aperture should be 1/125 second. It sounds easy doesn’t it? Well, don’t give up hope. Things are about to get tricky.

Since most light meters today don’t measure in c/ft², finding that speed may be difficult. Automation has taken away many of the tools used by those who came before us in every arena. You can buy a cheap ambient light meter and use it for your photography. The readings are usually in LUX. LUX can be converted, however, by dividing by 10.764. Just round to 10, and there you have it. 1000 LUX is 100 c/ft². At your native aperture, shoot 1/100 for zone 5 placement of what you just read and you’re cooking with gas. Using you digital camera’s metering, set your aperture to the ISO’s native aperture in AV mode. Then seeing the required shutter speed tells you there are that many c/ft² or 10 times that much in LUX.

It seems like talking about this doesn’t do much for you shooting digital, but knowing it will help you improve your light reading skill without your camera’s meter and make getting your exposure correct a lot easier. Plus, if you decide to go old school and shoot with an old camera or use an old meter it will help you to figure that stuff out. It also comes in handy when working with the zone system. Reading 1/100 at your native aperture, you have the knowledge of how to combine your speeds and apertures to get the right exposure for 100 c/ft². You also have the knowledge that you can move your image up or down a zone without playing guessing games as much. It’s quicker and easier to figure out once you try it a few times. A good example is on a bright, sunny, semi-cloudless day. The sky reads about 300 c/ft² when read usually. So for ISO 125 at f/11 you should be set for 1/300 as a good starting point. Then adjusting your speed inverse to any desired aperture changes, and you should have a decent exposure with the sky at zone 5. You can adjust just your aperture or speed to move the sky and other subjects into different zones and create what you visualized that way.

Ansel Adams described it as the exposure formula. He taught that zone 5 was 1/c/ft² at a film’s key aperture. It still holds true. Some minor adjustments may need to be made, but you should be almost dead on. It helps to spot meter for your highlights and shadows to get the best range in your image, but for quick shooting, try it out! I think you’ll see something very cool!

The new theme for this week is “Flattery (Not everything complimentary is flattery!)” You may have already guessed that this has to do with colors, right? Your shots should be composed with complimentary colors as a major element of your composition. Another aspect of your image must consist of contrast in your subject, as well as the contrasting complimentary colors. Perhaps age and youth, or hot and cold. I hope that you get the creative juices flowing for this one and get working on it soon! I also hope that we will see everyone out there submitting this time!

Don’t forget to post any of your images you’d like to see here at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. Of course, commenting on both Facebook and here is always appreciated, too!

In the Zone- Zone Focusing

Greetings and welcome to Hohenfels Volks, THE place for our place. I hope you’re ready, Hohenfels, to learn about zone focusing. This is something that can make getting some of those passing moments in the can, as it were, quicker and easier.

First off, let’s explain what zone focusing is. Zone focusing is using a combination of focal length, aperture, and distance to allow for enough depth of field to make a usable print. That’s pretty straight forward, right? Well, there is more to it than that, including knowing your equipment.

Zone focus developed as a way for photographers to focus their equipment, as most older cameras had no viewfinder or way to check your focus. Many of the old time greats used zone focusing to maximize the sharpness and detail in their works. Given the nature of early lenses, high f/stops were often required to get good detail and enough DOF to be worth printing. Remember, sheets of film, and rolls, were costly to purchase, develop, and print, so lots of effort went into taking each shot. Zone focusing grew from the concept and practice of hyperfocal distance, which you use to give you the maximum DOF for each lens focal length. We’ll have more on that in another post.

The technique works best with lenses that have markings on them. A distance scale for focusing opposite an aperture scale with DOF markings as shown in the photo below works best. It’s quicker and easier. Unfortunately, most lenses today are auto-focus, and kit lenses generally don’t have such marking. Higher end lenses do have them, as do pro and manual lenses as a rule.


ISO 200, f/4.5, 1/30, 32mm
Notice the f/stops on the front of the ring. They go out from the diamond marking focal distance, to give you the range, or zone, of acceptable focus.

Referring to the image above, you can see that there is a diamond. That is the distance marker. On the focus ring, there are markers that aren’t shown, that tell you your focal distance. Line up the desired distance, then using the f/stops that radiate out from the diamond, identically on either side, determine your needed aperture and distance. The distance covered will line up with the marks for the desired aperture. It’s that simple, anything in that range will be in sharp enough focus for decent size prints, including 8x10 and 11x14 if your camera has the resolution.

If your lens has a focusing distance scale, much like Canon’s 28-135mm, you can figure out your DOF with a little legwork online. The key when using zone focus, is to turn off your auto-focus. The second factor is to shoot either Aperture Priority or Manual modes only! Any other mode nullifies your efforts!

Know your location, and what’s happening there, and you can figure the ranges you will need. Let’s say for our purposes you’re shooting in a decently lit area at ISO 400 and you need to cover 3 meters and 6 meters, with room to spare. You get you’re framing, that will give you your focal length. You know it’s decently lit and you can get by with f/5.6-f/8. Going with a 55mm focal length, as most kit lenses like to go from 18-55mm, you should be focused at 4 meters for f/5.6 and 3.5 meters for f/8, although 4 meters is adequate, and has the advantage of allowing you to switch over to f/5.6 without losing too much DOF. If your lens doesn’t have a focal distance scale, measure off 4 meters, focus your lens, and mark it. An easy tip for marking your focus, is take 2 fat rubber bands and wrap one around the zoom ring of your lens at the focal length you wish to use, then wrap the other around the focus ring. Mark the one on the zoom ring at the top, focus your camera, then make a mark that lines up with the first mark you made. As time progresses and your lens drifts over the course of events, you always have your focus marked and can return to it in a snap. Then set your aperture and you’re cooking with gas!

A great online DOF calculator that just requires your focal length, camera model, and scale used (feet or meters) is DOF Master's DOF table. They also have some great information on hyperfocal distance and some nifty little software to play with!

If your shooting with a flash, your f/stop will be dictated by the flash when you use manual flash. TTL and E-TTL are great for using flash, but to use it right, you need a sync cable that’s designed for your camera maker or line to get it off camera. You can get a good one that’s about a meter reasonably priced. Add in a Flashbender or Sto-fen to diffuse the light some, and you’re off to the races. This allows you to hand hold your flash off camera and get some directional TTL or E-TTL light in your images that just adds to the quality.

Zone focusing is great for street photography, event photography, candids, and may other things. Try it out in your works and see how it can help you! You can also use it for this week's theme, as it will allow you to appear less obtrusive when shooting work getting done!

Enjoy the rest of your day, and remember to cast your vote for next week’s theme. Get yours in to have a say! Don’t forget to get your pics posted at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. Of course, commenting on both Facebook and here is always appreciated, too!

Classic Shooting

Greetings and welcome to Hohenfels Volks, THE place for our place. As promised, a second dose of photography just for Hohenfels, dealing with old fashioned photography. Before we begin, I need to clarify this week's theme. Your images should be of work being done, not the people doing the work. The bulk of your subject should be the work, not the worker. I hope this helps when creating your shots.

As mentioned previously, we're talking about old fashioned photography. I got some very old cameras this weekend, inspiring me to pick up film again and try out what I've learned. It also inspired me to share pics of them with you and encourage you to pick up your film stuff and shoot that, too. It's a great way to test yourself, using film and what you've learned. It also shows you what you've learned and how well you're progressing.


ISO 400, f/8, 1/25, 37mm
Zeiss Ikon up close. This shows the lens, the "brilliant glass," used to compose your shot, and the speeds available.

This weekend the family and friends surprised me with some gifts. The first gift, from Mrs. Hohenfels Volks and the princess, was an Altissar box camera from 1951.


ISO 400, f/8, 1/25, 37mm
The Altissa box camera from 1951. This beauty is a real challenge, as it only has 4 settings! A great little camera with some great meaning!

Eho-Altissa started in Leipzig in 1892. Founded by Richard Knoll as a photographic shop and studio, they eventually started repairing and then manufacturing cameras. 1910 it moved to Dresden, where it was later bought by Berthold Altmann. In about 1951, Berthold Altmann decided to flee the oppressive and anti-business communist East Germany. In absentia, he was tried, convicted, and his company taken over by the communist run government. They were re-named and finally failed, with the machines being sent to Sarajevo to make imitation box cameras. This particular model of box camera, introduced in 1951, was the last while Altissa remained a free company. That scenario reminds me of Atlas Shrugged, in which all the creators and producers abandon their businesses and creations and disappear, leaving an increasingly corrupt, socialistic, and anti-business society to its own failings. Because of that story, and what I see happening today, this camera has meaning beyond photography to me. It’s functional, still works, and I’m taking photos with it! Once I get some developed, I’ll post what comes out here! This camera had 4 settings, f/8, f/16, B for bulb, and 1/25. The lens was fixed focal length and fixed focus. Using 120 film, it produces a negative that is 6cm by 6cm. Composing your image is through a window above the lens.

The next camera, from our friends, was a Zeiss Ikon 515/2. This little winner was introduced in 1937 as a lower priced Ikonta, with virtually all the features. The one I received has an 11cm lens, which runs from f/4.5 to f/32, and has shutter speeds from 1/25 to 1/125. Outside the shutter speed range is B, for bulb mode shots, and T, where you open the shutter with one click and close it with a second click. It uses standard 120 film, and produces a negative that is 6cm by 9cm. The viewfinder is a pair of metal tabs, and only serves for composition. Focusing is accomplished by adjusting the lens for the zone that should be sharpest, by distance. You can also hold it about waist high, and using the “brilliant glass,” frame up your shot. The brilliant glass is a tiny “periscope” like pair of lenses through which you compose your shot. It only allows for framing and composition. It has a PC Sync port for the flash, should you have one, and has a self-timer for setting it up and activating the shutter, allowing you to enter the scene should you desire.


ISO 400, f/4.6, 1/25, 33mm
The Zeiss Ikon in all its glory. It takes time to set up your shot with this, which helps with getting your composition tidy.

Zeiss Ikon started in 1926 by the merger of several camera manufacturers and financial backing from Zeiss. Soon several other companies joined the Zeiss Ikon syndicate. Located in Dresden, with plants in Stuttgart and Berlin, Zeiss Ikon split into a West German and an East-German part after the war. Stuttgart became the headquarters after the division of Germany. Later they merged with Voigtländer, who made higher end cameras. In 1972, they stopped producing cameras. After the reunification of Germany, the East and West German divisions re-united into a single company.

The third classic I acquired was a Voigtländer Vitomatic II. This little beauty is a 35mm Rangefinder with a fixed focal length 50mm lens. The lens runs from f/2.8 to f/22, and 1 second to 1/300 second. It uses, like the Zeiss, a leaf shutter, and has no mirror. This feature allows flash to be synched up to the lens’s maximum shutter speed, in this case 1/300. The camera came with 2 filters, a UV, and a green for B&W. This allows for brighter greens, darker reds, and greater separation of greens in your monochrome images. Also included were a lens hood, leather case, and leather strap. Again, through PC sync, my flashes can be remoted off camera and fully controlled. Voigtländer, as you read above, was a very upscale camera maker. They started in Vienna in 1756 as an optics company. Later they introduced the world’s fastest lens at that time, in 1840, it was f/3.5. They were also the first to introduce the zoom lens and the first 35mm camera with a flash built into the camera.


ISO 200, f/4.5, 1/20, 29mm
The Voigtlander Vitomatic II from 1958. In the upper left corner you can see the selenium meter in the camera. Used to help judge your exposure settings.

The cool thing about these cameras is that they show you that even though technology has improved, it hasn’t changed too much since the times represented. Using what we’ve discussed about exposure, composition, and other tips, you can get a great shot, even with old cameras. Don’t give up the learning just because digital means you don’t have to do it. I’ve used my 7D to meter the light for my desired aperture, and then set the old timers accordingly. Remember, being able to sync with your flash means you can do anything with these guys you can do with your digital. I hope this will inspire you to learn more manual applications, so you can put your old film stuff to use again. You’ll be surprised how much you can do with it!

Enjoy the rest of your day, and remember to cast your vote for next week’s theme. Get yours in to have a say! Don’t forget to get your pics posted at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. Of course, commenting on both Facebook and here is always appreciated, too!

Tools of the Trade- More on Lenses

Greetings, Hohenfels, welcome to Hohenfels Volks, THE place for our place. Here’s hoping today sees you starting on the downhill run of a great week!

Today it’s time to talk a little about lens attributes and traits.

We’ve already talked a little about lenses, so today we’re going to concentrate on some of the quality issues and features of your lenses. It’s a little long, for which I apologize.

One of the first things most folks need to know is that your old film lenses will work on digital cameras. They may have a crop factor, for instance 1.6X for APS-C, but if they can mount on your camera, you can use them. On the other hand, your newer digital lenses are unusable on full frame or film cameras. When you put a film lens on an APS-C sensor, the crop factor comes from the distance from the back of the lens to the sensor. The film lenses cover a larger area than the sensor; this in turn causes an apparent increase in focal length and the crop. Canon’s recent systems, the EOS cameras, use EF lenses, which have a 1.6X crop on your APS-C sensor. Their digital line of lenses for the EOS system is the EF-S line. They require no crop factor and apparent focal length is actual focal length. The reason the digital series of lenses don’t work on full frame or film cameras is due to their smaller projection of the image onto a smaller sensor. They won’t fill the frame or film, and most likely won’t even focus properly even if they could be mounted.

Another concern about your lens on zoom lenses is often the aperture. Less expensive lenses read something like 28-135 f/3.5-5.6. This is because the aperture size doesn’t change during zooming, that is the largest it can go. The area of the aperture remains constant, requiring a change in f-number. If you remember, your f-number is a ratio of focal length and aperture. It represents the focal length divided by that number, that’s why it’s written f/2, f/5.6 etc. The longer a lens is, the less light reaches the sensor. That’s why the f/number changes throughout the range of zooms. If your area doesn’t change, your f-number must. The reason for this is the cost and weight added to vary the aperture size throughout the zoom range. That doesn’t mean a constant aperture means a cheap lens, it doesn’t mean less quality, it just means less light as you zoom in.

A great feature of lenses over the past few years is the addition of IS. The affordability of technology has made it possible to use feature that used to be unavailable to the hobbyist. IS allows slower shutter speeds when enabled. Using it hand held, you can get down to about 3 stops lower that the handheld limits. The systems work by compensating for motion with motion in the opposite direction. When hand holding your shot, using proper shooting styles, with arms tucked in etc, will enable the IS to really slug it out with vibration. The most important thing to remember is turning it on for handheld, and ALWAYS turn it off for tripod shots. When on a tripod, the IS searches for motion in the lens and can cause vibration rather than reducing it. The big drawback to IS is that it uses your camera’s battery for power.

The last thing I’ll bring up for now is a quality issue. The problem is chromatic aberration or CA. This is distortion caused by different colors, or wavelengths, of light focusing at differing areas on your sensor. There are several types and names, but we’re not going into it that deep here. It often causes the purple fringing that you see along borders with bright highlights and dark shadows together. Using a smaller aperture can help mitigate this, as can a longer lens. Low dispersion glass and good coatings can combat this effectively. There seems to be many complexities involved in CA, including the types and calculations. The best practice when purchasing a lens, if possible, is to take a test shot using that lens of a high contrast area, and zoom in looking for fringing. CA can also cause blurriness in Black and White photography, so keep that in mind. You can see examples on Google to get more information and some idea of what to look for. According to the reviews I’ve read, Canon makes the most advanced software correction to mitigate CA and other distortions available. Because Canon’s EF lens system is actually all electronic, and records the information on individual lens models, Digital Photo Pro can compensate for it. Yet another advantage of shooting RAW!

Whenever you look to purchase a lens, make sure you read a variety of reviews, and look at loads of test photos taken with that lens, it could save you some headaches! If you have a lens that you favor and would like to write it up here, let me know, and I’ll get it posted for you!

Now on to other things, remember to get your votes in for next week’s theme. This week our theme is “Morning Moments.” Dazzle me with your work! Get shooting and start posting at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. Of course, commenting here is always welcome, too!

Tech Talking

Greetings, Hohenfels, welcome to Hohenfels Volks, THE place for our place. Here’s hoping your week is off to a good start and Tuesday didn’t turn in to Monday part 2.

Today we’re going to introduce the concept of “Dynamic Range.” If you remember our introduction to the Zone System, there are 11 zones, 0-10. Ansel Adams considered this the full range, zones 1-9 were the dynamic range, and 2-8 the textural range. Zone 2 is the lowest value that retains discernable texture, and zone 8 is the highest value retaining usable texture, and in both cases the values where detail is preserved and recorded.

When we speak of dynamic range today, this still in some ways holds true. Metering from a gray card, it’s how many stops of exposure above and below middle gray that are usable. For instance, the EOS 7D has about 8 stops. Its range consists of 5 stops below gray before clipping to black or solid noise, and about 3 stops above middle before blowing to white. This means it runs from about zone 1 to zone 8, maybe a little higher. Each camera’s range is different; so don’t use one camera’s range to guess another’s. "Dynamic Range" determines the amount of contrast an image can have and how sharply that gets applied. It also can effect how you change the sides on your exposure triangle, based on your intention.

When you know your camera’s range, you can adjust your exposures appropriately. If you wish to increase middle gray, zone 5, to zone 6, you have to know your limits before the higher zones blow out. Taking 5 to 6 brings zone 7 to 8, and anything starting at or above 8 will be blown to solid, textureless white.

A camera’s range often times is limited by the size of the photocells or photosites. These are the individual receptors on the camera sensor. A larger frame sensor will usually have larger photocells, allowing more light to be received and detail retained. There are millions per most of today’s sensors.

Another way to expand your “Dynamic Range” is to always shoot RAW, as your camera records more information. You can add up to a stop and a half shooting RAW. Shooting automatically and in JPEG mode can cost you that latitude in your exposure. Keep that in mind when shooting in very bright or low light conditions.

Well, that about wraps up our discussion. Try to keep that in mind when you’re out capturing the beauty of Hohenfels, our area, and your holidays. The results will amaze you.

On to other things, I’d like to remind all of you to get your votes in and get working on your photos for this week’s theme, “Morning Moments.” I can’t wait to see what you amaze me with!

Shoot for the love, of photography, your subjects, and your art, it really will show! Get shooting and start posting at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. Of course, commenting here is always welcome, too!

Gear Day- Pop Goes the...

Greetings, Hohenfels, welcome to Hohenfels Volks, THE place for our place and our Volks. Another day, trees covered in white and ready for the icy grip of winter, closes around us.

Today we’re going to talk about flash. Learning to use flash is one of the major steps you should take in getting your photos gallery ready.

Today’s electronic flashes work amazingly well and can put a great deal of light right where you need it. The secret to using flash to get the right exposure is knowing how to meter and knowing how to balance your lighting.

First, let’s talk about several terms and features of an average flash.

The first term to know is Guide Number or GN. This is an indication of your flash’s power. It means your flash can provide light up to that distance at maximum zoom, for ISO 100. It’s usually measured in meters. The Canon 580EXII has a guide number of 58, as does the Yongnuo YN-560. This is used to calculate manual flash settings for your camera.

The second term is zoom. Your flash can often zoom to a preset distance to match the zoom of your lens, allowing it to throw light more in line with what you are shooting. This is extremely useful in auto flash; the drawback to that is the camera must be connected to the flash. The longer the zoon, the further the light will travel, and the less it will spread out.

The third term is sync speed, or shutter sync speed. On most higher end cameras, like the EOS 7D and 60D this is 1/250. For the lower end cameras, like the Digital Rebel series, this is 1/200. Some cameras won’t sync above 1/125 to 1/160. The slower the maximum sync speed, the slower you have to shoot. At speeds above the sync speed, either you will need a flash with high-speed sync, or you will get dark bands on your image.

The fourth term is rear or front curtain sync. In rear curtain sync, your flash fires at the end of the exposure, and in front curtain it fires at the start. This really only applies beginning at 1/30 – 1/60, depending on your model.

The last term I’ll introduce is TTL. Most of today’s automatic flashes are capable of being controlled by the camera, provided they are mounted to the camera. Today’s cameras meter through the lens, and pass that information to the flash to set output power and zoom. Many cameras use a more advanced feature called E-TTL, which is electronic metering through the lens. Using this method can improve your flash exposures. The downside is using your flash on camera can be disappointing, as it flattens the light and removes depth and character.

The range of a flash is limited by inverse square law, which states that light drops off from a source rapidly. For instance, a flashlight shined into the dark starts out quite bright, but ends up not even visible beyond some distance based on its power. This law states that doubling the distance from a subject to a source reduces light to ¼ its original level. Almost all light sources follow this rule.

When using your flash on camera, use your E-TTL features to get the best exposure. To correctly expose flash manually, you will need to adjust your aperture to control exposure for the light from the flash and your speed to control ambient light. To find the required to take a photo of a subject use this formula- f-stop number = GN/distance to subject. To figure out the distance to place your flash for a preset aperture use this formula- distance = GN/f-stop number. These are usually measured in meters, so remember to set up accordingly. Guide number is at ISO 100, so any change in ISO, must be accounted for.

A couple points- on camera flash gives a hard light, which results in a loss of shadows in the image making the subject appear flattish. On camera, or flash on the axis of the lens, gives red-eye effect, which is when the eye reflects red light straight back in the direction it came from.

Another thing to mention about off camera flash, besides adding depth, character, and bringing out detail, when used properly it can bring out the eye colors and make them stand out a little. This is especially true in brown and dark eyes. It takes some practice, but the results are worth it!

I like to use the YN-560, as this a nice, inexpensive, and powerful manual flash, paired with my with radio triggers. This allows for shots on camera can’t get, and it creates a nice direction to the light. Having directional lighting on a portrait really adds to the magic. That’s why you see it even in the paintings from the old masters. Next time we talk about flash, we’ll discuss fill, main, and lighting ratios. We’ll also discuss basic lighting patterns for portraits, and how to take the guesswork and mathematics out of getting your manual flash exposures.

I hope this information brings you another tool in our quest for the perfect picture. Let me know if it has! Remember to share your pics and post your questions at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page, and or by commenting here!

Tools of the Trade, Powering Up

Welcome to Hohenfels Volks. I hope Monday was good to everyone. I was off and went to Regensburg to buy some gear and a hamster for the princess. Of course, time limits prevented getting the gear, so I’ve ordered some online. The weather was extremely nice today, and made for some great photo ops. Tomorrow should be some great autumn pics coming! I’m hoping to get out and check out some areas between Hohenfels and Regensburg I discovered today.

Speaking of gear, today we’re going to do a paragraph about battery grips and their benefits.

DSLRs use rechargeable batteries, and those batteries are good for somewhere between 300 and 900 shots usually. I’ve gotten 600 in one night, and 300 more the next. It sounds like a lot, eh? Sometimes, though, the extra power comes in handy. If you chimp a lot, then that extra bit helps. It also helps when shooting bursts, as the buffer can clear a little faster.

Another advantage of the battery grip is that using 2 batteries means half the charging. If you have either 2 chargers or a dual charger, you have the same time to charge them, but get twice the shots between charges.

The other big advantage is the addition of controls to portrait mode shooting. You have full access to your camera controls from portrait orientation, allowing for continued shooting without rotating your camera to make changes or view settings.

An unsung plus is the weight. For some volks, the extra weight is too much. The reality is that having the extra weight, adds anywhere from 1/3 stop to a full stop of stability to your handheld shots. It’s a trade off, the choice is yours to make. I like the thought of extra stability. If you’re using a string-pod, it’s even better in low light!

Well, that’s it for today. Thinking about traveling? Check out the battery grip for your camera and keep shooting longer.

Keep shooting, both Hohenfels and beyond. Remember to share your pics and post your questions at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page, and or by commenting here!

What's on the Menu?

Welcome back, Volks! Autumn in Hohenfels is really starting to pick up, moving us faster and faster to winter. Let’s hope it’s not as rough as last year!

Today we're going to start a multi-part investigation of the camera menu. Since most of us shoot Canon, I’m going to use my camera’s menu for this series. I’ll break it down into the pages of my camera menu, but most cameras either have the same or similar menu settings. Some of what we discuss you may not have, and you may have some I don’t. For the purposes of this article, it’s assumed you have set your basics. I hope you’ll follow along in your manual and with your camera.

Press the menu button, and you should be on the first tab. It has a camera symbol with one dot. Your settings are Quality, Red-Eye on/off, Beep, Release shutter without card, Review time, Peripheral illumination correction, and Flash control.

The Quality selection allows you to choose your resolution. I shoot RAW, but you can select your desired resolution. You should be able to select RAW, RAW+JPEG, or JPEG and select the JPEG resolution. Since I shoot full Resolution RAW, I selected the RAW ICON and saved the setting by pressing the menu button.

The Red eye on/off is just what it says. Since red eye is caused by flash that is too close the lens and along the same axis, selecting this to on causes a series of pre-flashes to be emitted by the pop-up or on camera flash. Since we NEVER use the pop-up flash, and most on camera use of a flash should be from bouncing the light, you can leave this off.

Beep allows you to set the camera so that focus will beep, as will timer functions. It’s your choice!

Releasing shutter without card should be off. Having this turned on can lead to some serious disappointment when you’re out shooting. No card, no photos!

The review time sets how long the LCD displays the image after shooting.

Peripheral illumination control, if available, allows the camera to append data to the image that allows for the lens’s light drop off at the corners. Your lens has to be registered in your camera. If it is, setting this will allow corrections to be made by the camera. A good idea to have on. You can register and check which lenses are registered using your EOS utility.

The last control on this tab is the Flash control setting. This is a power full setting. When selected there are more settings available. Let’s explore them!

First up is Flash firing. If this is set to disable, not even an external flash will fire. Maybe you should enable this one!

Next is built in flash function. Unless you have the EOS 7D and use it to control off camera flash, or you use your pop-up, this should be disabled.

Then we have External flash function settings.

You have your flash mode. ETTL, manual, multi flash, TTL, automatic, and manual external flash settings. If your flash is mounted to your camera’s hot-shoe, E-TTL is a good choice to start.

Next is Shutter Sync. Selecting first will fire the flash when the shutter curtain begins to open. Setting it to second will fire the flash once at the start of the exposure and again right before the end. It only works at speeds slower then 1/30.

Then is FEC, or flash exposure compensation. This allows you to adjust the flash output to either brighten or darken the flash exposed areas.

E-TTL II should generally be set to evaluative

Unless you are using a Canon 580EXII or a 7D, the wireless function should be left alone.

Finally, there is the clear all flash settings function. Do you really want to clear your settings?

We’ll be exploring more settings in another post. I hope this has been of some help to you. Reading your manual will give you all you need in the menu areas and operations of your particular camera, so check it out!

Enjoy your week and enjoy the autumn colors, scenes, and events ahead. Keep shooting, and capture that masterpiece! Don't forget to share your pics and questions by posting at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page, or by commenting here!

Color Balance

Welcome back, Volks! Today we're bringing the subject of white balance to Hohenfels Volks.

Generally, white balance is an adjustment made to an image to make your neutral colors, neutral. What we really mean when we speak of white balance is color balance. Color balance removes colorcasts, or imbalances, caused by shooting in light of differing temperatures. Color temperature theory is a little too much for me to explain, so simply put; blue light has a high temperature in degrees Kelvin, as it requires more heat to create. Red requires less, so it has a lower temperature. Who knew engineers would create such a complex way of thinking about colors?

The sensor in your digital camera measures the temperature of the overall light to create a general color balance when set to automatic. It then adds or removes colors that remove the colorcast. In single lighting conditions, automatic can do a good job for you.

The difficulty comes in when we realize that we really don’t shoot with one color light. If you’re shooting on a nice sunny day, there is still light that is differently colored than the sunlight. This is caused by the nature of light. Light has no respect for your boundaries, and doesn’t stop only on your subject. Light tends to reflect and bounce everywhere. So, on this bright day, you’ll have light from the sun, light bounced off buildings, trees, grass, windows, and many other sources. Yikes, time for “white balance.”

When you use a preset white balance, you are telling the camera what type of light you used. The camera then adjusts for that type of light. For tungsten, it removes yellow and/or adds blue. For fluorescent, it adds green and/or removes red. You may end up with a bad colorcast if you have multiple color temperatures that vary by too much.

Shooting in RAW mode allows the most control, so what I describe will work best on images shot in RAW format. There are several options to deal with color temperature in RAW images. The first is to use a preset, as mentioned above. The second is to adjust your color temperature manually. The third is to click a neutral color. This last one can do a good job if you have a large enough neutral area. It samples a variety of pixels around your selection and applies the adjustment to the entire image. There are 2 more that I will mention here. The first is to use an Expodisc, or something similar. This fits onto the end of your lens, and then you take a photo of either your light source or your subject, and apply the resulting image as a custom white balance to your camera. The other and probably better way, at least for most, is a white card. You can use plain white paper, but it tends to have variations in the tone and colors, even between sheets. Your best bet is to get a white balance card. They are made to ensure your neutrals stay neutral. When using a custom white balance, if the lighting changes, you must do a new custom balance source to ensure accuracy.

For best results, take your white balance card and place it with, or near, your subject. Ensure the lighting is the same you will use for your subject, and fill your frame with the card. Make sure there are no colors in the frame, and click your shot. Then go into your menu and select custom white balance. You will have to choose the image you just created, and then apply it. All your shots taken in that lighting will be properly color balanced.

You can also batch color balance in your RAW conversion software by selecting your white card shot and selecting the source, then applying it to all your shots taken in that lighting.


The order of white balance settings in this sample chart is from left to right; as shot, Daylight, Flash, Shade, Cloudy, Color temp 5800k, Click on white, Tungsten, Fluorescent, with the last square white for reference.

There is a lot more to color balance, but this should get you going. Just remember that getting it right takes some practice and knowing your camera.

Thanks to Jennifer O for the suggestion for today's topic. I hope to hear more suggestions and comments! Your input will make this thing of ours great!

Here’s hoping the rest of your week is filled with loads of photos of Hohenfels, and lots of joy! Don't forget to share your pics and questions by posting at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page, or commenting here!

Tools of the Trade

Today we’re going to talk about the tools used in photography. It doesn’t need to be expensive to get good images!

Camera

Let’s start with the camera. There are lots of options in this area. From the Canon ELPH and Powershot at the point and shoot category, through the Digital Rebel T3 and the EOS 1000d in the entry level DSLR, to the EOS 7d and the EOS 1d at the pro end, options abound. The important thing is to get one that allows you the option of manual control.

Canon’s S95 and PowerShot SX230HS make for great models in the point and shoot area, with manual modes. The 1000d and Rebel T3 are quite reasonably priced beginner DSLRs. Although they seem to have the features of higher priced cameras, you may outgrow most of the lower end DSLRs before too long.

The mid-range DSLRs, like the 50d and 60d, are something that will make your time behind the camera even more enjoyable!

The important thing to remember is that you can take shots that are breathtaking, even with a point and shoot. Don’t become trapped in the technology pitfall. So many people are fooled into thinking that a more expensive or higher level camera means better photos. The fact is, the higher-level cameras require more knowledge and experience to get it right. The higher end cameras usually don’t offer the automated modes, other than P, which is fully automatic.

The most important thing in the camera is the user’s manual. Read it, study it, and learn it! If you know your camera, you can make images that stand out.

Flash

The first piece of gear you should get, after a camera, is a flash. Even with a point and shoot, you can use a flash. Most of your lower priced flashes have a slave mode that will trigger the flash from your on camera flash. Getting your flash off camera is the first step to getting good light.

You can get a great flash from Yongnuo, for less than a cheap OEM flash, with most of the features. The YN-560 is a fully manual flash that costs around $70.00, and has the power of Canon’s 580EXII flash. It doesn’t offer TTL or HSS, but gives some great light to your image. Their YN-565 offers E-TTL and a modeling light for around $200.00, and it will work with the built in flash remote control on the 7D or as a slave to a canon 580EXII with full E-TTL.

Another good thing to get at the same time is a flash RF trigger. You can get a set of two receivers and one transmitter for around $50.00. This increases your range and allows you to use the flash in interesting places and ways. It’s also more reliable than using a trigger from a flash or your on camera flash.

Tripods

A good tripod is a requirement for long shutter speeds. Without one, your images will be blurry when handheld at slow speeds. The high end ones can run several hundreds of dollars, but even a $30.00 tripod will produce what you need.

You can also use your tripod for holding your flash, so a second one is a great investment.

One more thing to get is a remote shutter release. They come in wireless and wired varieties and are reasonably priced. When you set your camera on a tripod, it’s necessary to use one, as it will reduce camera shake quite visibly.

What I wrote above is just a basic intro to getting your kit together. Look for more articles on tools and accessories for photography in future posts. I’ll also try to provide some reliable reviews. If you have a favorite piece of gear and would like to write a review, let me know. We’ll get your review on here.

Should you have a question, post it to our Facebook account. Also post it here as a comment on the related post, I’ll review it and get back to you! If you have a photo you’d like to share, add it to our wall on Facebook, and we'll try to get it up here!

Have a great day!