Chasing The Light (Fantastic)

Chasing The Light (fantastic) On the constant prodding of Emil G., regarding neutral density filters and their photographic applications to which I replied that “there were hardly any use for it, except to reduce the amount of light in a given scene”, he called my attention to a series of landscape photographs that have been fascinating him due to their apparent complexity over the past half a year or so. These water landscape photographs were mostly done with the assistance of what I surmise to be ND8 strength filters, which will enable the photographer to use shutter speeds three stops slower at the minimum ISO and lens aperture settings, thus resulting in beautiful motion trails for moving bodies of water. As jaded as I have become of photographic styles such as these (you might as well include glamour portraiture, motion-trail night shots, water drops captured on the rebound, sunsets & mystical moons, and the ubiquitous panning shots) there apparently are quite a lot of enthusiasts who are just “discovering” a fascination for images that are never seen in real life. Never, because of the way our brain and eyes perceive the images, such as water coming out of a faucet. Now everyone knows that when photographed at a fast-enough speed, faucet water never really is a continuous “stream”, but rather is just a series of drops. The opposite effect is attained when using a slow-enough speed, at night, on a busy road full of passing cars. Motion trails of yellow (headlights) and red (tail lights) will eventually adorn the scene, such as what was inadvertently photographed by Grace P., along the stretch of the North Expressway. Water trails have their own specific concerns, although the photographic technique still remains the same. Here is what I would do.   1)look at the water movement; assess how fast (or how slow) it takes for the water to get from point A to point B. 2)decide how many “movements” or “cycles” you want to capture. As the movement of ripples and waves are usually repetitive, the effect has a tendency to “build up” or “overwrite” the clarity created by a single cycle. This “building up” results in the “smoke” effect. 3)Number 2 will already dictate what shutter speed you will have to use. Meter on shutter priority using that preselected speed to get the corresponding aperture. Keep in mind that the aperture given should be treated as a “recommendation”, and may be changed by the photographer to suit their “brighter or darker” preferences. 4)Having a failed reading in step 3, first choose the appropriate ISO setting (usually the lowest), or having failed that, then finally use your ND filter to further reduce the luminance. 5)now, already knowing the choice of exposure, take a closer look at the scene, and then choose your vantage point. Motion trails work best when “there is a visual anchor that is still, over which the water gets to flow around”. 6)Level your camera. Whenever possible, use a spirit-level (the one with the bubble and the circle where you align it to) indicator to assist you in leveling. A leveled camera ensures that you do not humanly “add to the distortion” of the scene, and will correctly maximize the plane of focus. 7)Press the shutter button, in the softest manner you can. There are 2 ways I would do it. Number 1, I would trigger the shutter using the self-timer button or through a wired remote or infrared trigger. This is to avoid the physical weight of your finger actually pressing the shutter at the moment of exposure. Number 2, I would, on certain very critical occasions, first lock-up the mirror, and then trigger the shutter in the same manner such as number 1. Mirror-up shots was the norm during the medium format days especially for those who had the Mamiya RBs which had a tremendously strong mirror action. Those of us who were fortunate to use the Hasselblads had the benefit of a very good mirror damping system already which was why we could actually shoot the 'Blads, handheld, in the field. Most (I actually am tempted to say “all”) digital SLRs have very soft mirror mechanisms already owing to the redesigned mirror mechanisms that only move halfway, so I don't think there will really be a need for mirror lock-ups with DSLRs, unless you are doing microphotography, but that is a totally different discussion altogether. Oh, yes, there will always be purists who will “notice” a tiny tiny movement in their photographs whenever they don't lock-up their mirrors. But those guys really need to justify their $9,000 cameras and their $3,000 lenses, even though their biggest print has only been a badly cropped 8x10... One final word. As I have already promised Emil and his PYE batchmates Janneth, Val, & Adrian, that I will help them “chase the light” (even when the technique requires that you actually let the “light go away”) please then consider this as an announcement and an invitation for everyone in the Paul Yan Experience alumni directory to join us sometime immediately following this holy week, as we explore the technical side of photography, in a trek to wherever. Suggestions to destinations are welcome. Just make sure the trek isn't longer than 15 minutes though. :) special mention to Lhor S., for rekindling an interest in all sorts of filters, Cokin and otherwise, that might have nearly found their way into oblivion. Through Lhor, everyone else has had an opportunity to try them out including Gemma, Emon, Ines, Geoffrey, Ayan, and Louie.