Favorite 4th of July Photos

Nikon D100, Sigma 120-300mm ƒ/2.8, ISO 200, ƒ/8, 19 seconds [Emerald Isle, NC 2004]

I just wanted to share a few of my 4th of July photos through the years. I hope you enjoy them and also go out and make some photos for you to cherish through the years.

Settings and gear are below the images.

Nikon D2X, Sigma 15-30mm, ISO 100, ƒ/8, 19 seconds [The Fourth of July Fireworks over Lake Mohawk on July 3, 2005 in Sparta, New Jersey.]

Nikon D2X, Sigma 15-30mm, ISO 100, ƒ/8, 40 seconds [The Fourth of July Fireworks over Lake Mohawk on July 3, 2005 in Sparta, New Jersey.]

Nikon D3, 24-120mm VR, ISO 100, ƒ/16, 14 seconds [The Fourth of July Fireworks over Panama City, Florida, July 4, 2008]

Nikon D3, 24-120mm VR, ISO 100, ƒ/16, 11 seconds [The Fourth of July Fireworks over Panama City, Florida, July 4, 2008]

Tripod and Cable Release

I recommend using a tripod and a cable release.  This will keep the camera as still as possible during a long exposure.

This is the Nikon MC-30 that I have used for years on different Nikon Cameras.

Camera Settings

• Manual
• White Balance - Daylight
• ISO 100
• ƒ/8
• Bulb Shutter-speed and keep open for two bursts of fireworks using cable release

My exposures were from 6 seconds to about 12 seconds on average. I typically might shoot 75 to 100 photos and only really like about 10 of those shots.

You may need a new camera before a new lens

Nikon D60 announced in January 2008

You may have a wonderful camera that isn't all that old. This Nikon D60 was a great camera in January 2008.

It was a 10.2 megapixel camera and had an ISO range of 100—1600 and you could push it to 3200.

What prompted this blog post was a class I taught today to a group of photographers. After helping them a couple weeks with settings, one student went out shooting and was still having problems taking photos inside without a flash. All the photos had a great deal of motion blur.

The camera settings were ISO 1600, ƒ/3.5 & 1/2 sec.

Sigma 17—50mm ƒ/2.8 $519

Lens Solution

The first thought by many was to get a faster lens. The kit lens was 18-55mm ƒ/3.5—5.6.  We looked at replacing it with a Sigma 17—50mm ƒ/2.8. This would only give her about a little less than a stop at 17mm and at 50mm 2 stops.

So she could have shot only at 1/4 second verses from 1/2 second.

Nikon D3300 Introduced April 2014 $599.95

Camera Solution

I started doing the math in my head.  What if instead we look at today's newer cameras with higher ISOs.

If we buy a camera with a top ISO 12800 we would gain 3—stops. So instead of shoot ISO 1600, ƒ/3.5 & 1/2 sec, we could now shoot ISO 12800, ƒ/3.5 & 1/15.

Ultimate Solution

Buy the camera and the lens. However, if you are on a budget buy the camera first. It will upgrade all your lenses by 3—stops.  I remember going from the Nikon D2Xs to the Nikon D3.  The D2Xs ISO 100—800, but the Nikon D3 ISO 200—6400. Those 4—stops was making all of the lenses in my bag increase by 4—stops.

All my ƒ/5.6 lenses were equivalent in how much light they let in on the D3 as a ƒ/1.4 was doing on my D2Xs.

I can tell you from my personal experience the jump of 4—stops was the biggest game changer I had gone through in all of my gear upgrades in my career.

Photojournalism is a great way to develop social skills

photo by Jeff Raymond

Being a visual storyteller requires you to capture a wide range of information and distilling it down to the essential elements to capture an audience's attention and inform them about a subject.

When starting out in this profession you learn a great deal from your mistakes those first few years. One of the first things most newspaper photographers fail to do early on is getting all the information necessary to write a caption. You cannot do this job like a tourist who just snaps photos as they travel. You must interact with the people you photograph and get some basic information necessary to the story.

Born with Asperger's Syndrome and an Introvert

I am an introvert and also have Asperger's.

An INTROVERT is a person who is energized by being alone and whose energy is drained by being around other people. Contrary to what most people think, an introvert is not simply a person who is shy. Being introspective, though, does not mean that an introvert never has conversations. However, those conversations are generally about ideas and concepts, not about what they consider the trivial matters of social small talk. Introverts make up about 60% of the gifted population but only about 25-40% of the general population.

Asperger’s Syndrome is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and nonverbal communication, alongside restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests.

Introverts are drained by talking to people about subjects they don't have an interest in. People with Asperger's struggle with verbalizing their thoughts.

The most difficult thing that I continue to struggle with even today is empathy. True empathy is the ability to be aware of one’s own feelings and thoughts at the same time you are aware of another person’s feelings and thoughts (or several other persons’). It means having the wherewithal to speak about this awareness. It also means creating mutual understanding and a sense of caring for one another.

I had to learn that I had very little empathy. This took until my 30's to start to deal with this flaw. Since I am not wired to naturally observe other's feelings I needed to work on this skill.

This is where photography became an asset. To make my photos better I had to get better at analyzing situations and seeing those visual clues to pick up on the emotions of people. DING! DING! Eureka moments started to take place once I had training in body language. I first started really studying body language in Social Work, but it was my time with Don Rutledge, my photo mentor, who really taught me to see emotions.

It would take years before I could take what I was being taught and actually start to capture it with my camera.

photo by Ken Touchton

I had to learn I needed to stop expecting that my grasp of the facts should rule. This was a trait that I share with many who have Asperger's.

I couldn't continue to say I was the arbiter of truth and protected by the second amendment when working for all my clients. Social skills had to be developed to navigate the intricate path to gain access and cooperation to tell stories and to get the assignments as well.

photo by Jeff Raymond

Journalist Questions

The formula for getting the complete story on a subject starts with answering the Five Ws.

• Who is it about?
• What happened?
• Where did it take place?
• When did it take place?
• Why did it happen?
• How did it happen?

Curiously none of the answers to these questions is a simple "yes" or "no".  My first experience was shooting for the East Carolinian, the East Carolina University student paper. I remember editors looking at my photos and loving them and then saying they couldn't use them because I didn't have the names of the people.

I learned quickly that if I wanted to get published and paid I had to have the Five Ws. 

I loved doing photography so much that I would do anything to keep doing it—even talk to people about subjects I wasn't interested in at first. What I started to learn through the years was that everyone has a story and that by just spending some time listening and asking questions I found out I was interested in a lot more subjects than before I started as a journalist.

I am critiquing students work with Morris Abernathy and Warren Johnson

Photo Critique Sessions

I went to experts in photography to have them review my work. Each time I learned things that I could do to improve my photos. Then I would work on these recommendations and then come back to those people and ask how did I do in implementing their suggestions.

I did this for a good twenty years with Don Rutledge and never did he not have something that I could work on to improve. I went to the Maine Photographic Workshop and studied with Steve McCurry and took that time to work on other aspects of my storytelling. Over time I got my work in front of the industry leaders. Each time I learned something else that if I tweaked would make my images better at storytelling.

I remember the first time I shared my images with Tom Kennedy. At the time he was the director of photography for National Geographic Magazine. I was terrified. He complimented me about it being solid professional work and then he said that I needed surprises. He expected to see the level of work I was doing, but to grab Tom's attention for National Geographic Magazine I needed to surprise him. It would take a good ten years to really understand all that he meant with that statement and where I started to shoot for a unique and different photo.

I learned that when I started mentoring and critiquing other's work that I started to grow even more. To teach photography means you must understand the subject at a much higher level.

Teaching Photojournalism—Icing on the Cake

What photojournalism taught me was how to listen to subjects and really do a better job of understanding them and helped me to tell their story. When the subjects would contact me and thank me was when I started feeling like I was finally doing a good job.

Teaching made me really start to understand the audience more than I had done before. I could communicate something to them, but unless the message was received and understood then the story would fail.

When students didn't get a concept then I had to think of another way to get the message across. Do this a lot and you start to understand how to do a better job starting off. You start to learn how to do a better job of presenting the subject in the first place.

What I also learned is that no matter how well I do my job sometimes those messages that are really important may need different stories told to reach more of your audience.

Everything to make your photos better with storytelling are all the things that will improve your social skills. One of the best examples is the quote from the famous photographer Robert Capa, "If your photos are not good enough, you are not close enough."

The fastest way to being a great photographer

Fuji X-E2, 18-55mm, ISO 200, ƒ/13, 1/180

The fastest way to become successful is to study the masters. There are a few things involved in studying the masters and it is not just being aware of their work.

Don Rutledge

Don Rutledge my mentor and friend for so many years until he passed away last year knew more about other photographers than anyone else I have ever known. I found out about a scrapbook he put together early in his career and continued to add too for many years.

Don clipped magazines for many years and studied those photos that moved him and this was in the early 1950's. Back then the magazines like LIFE and LOOK was on almost everyone's coffee tables across America. He also was looking at magazines like Mirror, National Geographic Magazine, and Sepia to add a few more names.

Don was studying psychology at the time and used many of the skills that he learned about observation and things like body language to analyze the styles of those early photojournalists.

Don was creating sections on different photographers like Eugene Smith and Robert Capa. He noticed many of these photographers had credit lines that showed Black Star a photo agency based in New York City represented them.

Read more about my mentor Don Rutledge here on my blog post about mentors.

Fuji X-E2, 18-55mm, ISO 200, ƒ/13, 1/180

My collection of photographer's work grew and continues to grow even today. My personal library of photographers is larger than most any library I have been.

Don and I would talk for hours about the styles of the masters and how they were able to consistently shoot a certain style and why it resonated so well with the audience.

Inside the Artic Circle, Alaska, an Eskimo family waits for visitors to arrive at their home. My most favorite picture by Don. (photo by: Don Rutledge)

Here are a few tips that I think will help you start your own scrapbook of the masters.

• Find those photographers that are recognized historically as greats in the industry.
• Read their biographies
• Buy books of their work
• Study their composition and figure out how this is so compelling
• Look at those current photographers work that is in fad right now
• Why is their work considered great today?
• Read reviews by critics
• Go hear them speak in person & if you are lucky ask them questions
• Buy their books
• Copy their work. I don't mean to go and copy their work and then try and fraudulently try to sell it as if it was their work. I think unless you can pull off their style or approach, then you may not just understand what they are doing.
• Buy prints of the masters and hang them in your home. This will remind you of what you are setting the bar for your work to match.
• Learn to be a good critic yourself. Learn how to articulate each of the master's styles and distinguish their work from each other.
• Remember even the masters' shoot some crap. Learn to distinguish an artist's own pieces of work from other pieces they produce. Be very careful not to think just because they are a big name that everything they shoot is great. This skill will take many years to perfect for you. 
• Get together with other photographers and discuss the masters. Ask people to share their thoughts.

You see the quickest way to success is to stand on the shoulders of those who went before you.

Two of the most made travel photography mistakes

Batteries

The number one mistake I see most often made by people traveling with their camera is not having enough fresh batteries.

Depending on your camera and flash you may need more than just one extra battery. My Nikon D4 camera can go most of a day shooting still images with one battery, however, if I start to shoot video or spend a lot of time reviewing images on my LCD then I can drain the battery and need a second.

My Fuji X-E2 goes through batteries and I have used all three batteries in a day before.

I recommend having at least one extra battery and before you leave for the day of shooting be sure both batteries are fully charged.

Every evening before you turn in for bed, be sure to recharge all your batteries. That way in the morning they will all be ready for another full day of shooting your travel.

Memory Cards

It is much easier to carry a few extra memory cards on a trip than it is to carry a laptop computer.

When this is a once in a lifetime trip it is wise to keep all the images on cards until you have them all on your computer and backed up in another location as well before formatting your cards.

Memory Card Tip

Always format your cards in your camera and not on your computer. The camera will do a better job of not just clearing the cards but creating the proper directories needed for the card to work properly with the camera.

Common portrait mistake made by photographers

Fuji X-E2, 55-200mm, ISO 1000, ƒ/4.8, 1/500

When making a portrait of a person way too often people end up with a photo like this one above. What they are really looking for is a photo like this one below.

Fuji X-E2, 55-200mm, ISO 1000, ƒ/4.8, 1/500

As you can easily see the background in the first photo is quite distracting and competing with the face of the person. In the second photo some people might even say the subject just "pops" out of the photo.

Notice the camera settings are identical.

The difference is the distance the subject is to the background.  In the first photo the person is right next to the background and the next one the subject is 30 feet away from the background.

If you have a very distracting background like the brick wall, move the subject very far away to be able to throw the background out of focus.

Even if the background is a plain solid color wall, pull the person away from it so you are not seeing the texture of the wall.

Don't be a Naysayer

This photo is of the Mexico/US border in Douglas, Arizona. A record number of children are now crossing the Mexican border without their parents. You can read more about this here. Why? They are desperate to solve a problem they have and even risking their lives in the middle of the desert is better to them than remaining in their situation.

I mention this as to remind us that when people come to you with a problem you are either part of the solution or not.

Naysayers

nay•say•er: a person who says something will not work or is not possible : a person who denies, refuses, or opposes something

For many years while I was a staff photographer I was classified by people as a “naysayer” due to how often people came to me to ask me to do something and I explained why it wasn't possible.

I remember the moment when it finally hit me how negative I was being when my co-worker jokingly said that I always was saying no. While I was hurt by the comment I realized he was right.

Are you a Naysayer?

My experience has been there are more naysayers on staffs than freelance. You cannot grow your business by saying no. You must learn how to say yes. Those freelancers who say no too often are soon looking for another career. However being on a staff their is a little more protection to being negative. However this has a time limit as well.

A good clue that you might be a naysayer is other people are starting to do what you perceived as your job.

“Why are they bringing in an outsider to do what I am suppose to be doing?” is a question that you might be asking if you are a naysayer. While working as a staff photographer for a college I couldn't understand why the admissions office was hiring freelance photographers to shoot their recruiting catalogues.

This is not always due to being a naysayer. Many colleges around the country have staff photographers who do most all the work for a school. However, when it comes to the advertising of the school, they are looking for a particular style. As long as you are offering to help them and the photographer coming in to shoot then you should be fine.

If you feel threatened by this outside photographer take a deep breath. Ask yourself has anyone come to me and I answered them with reasons their request isn't possible. If you did then you should feel threatened.

Too often people take the attitude that is their job and the rules say I have this responsibility. You do have this until you start becoming an obstacle to people in the company trying to get their projects done.

Be an Optimist

The opposite of the naysayer is the optimist. When people come to you with a request learn how to turn their request into a reality. While someone's request has some really huge problems look first for something positive. Big clue if nothing seems good about their request at the bare minimum you can start with being excited that they came to you with their idea.

“I am honored that you thought of me to help you with your project,” is a great way to start on a positive note.

When talking about an obstacle that needs to be addressed be sure to talk about a solution. Let's say you don't have a particular piece of equipment to make that happen. Tell them if we can rent or buy a piece that you don't have that it would make it possible. Maybe you just need an extra hand to make it happen. You know for me to move the couch from this room to another I just need some help carrying it, would you or can you find someone to help? I am more than willing, but am busy at the moment and could use some help to find another person.

The trick is to let them know from your experience that we need to address something for their to be success.  I am more than willing to help you, but my boss has me working on these projects. While I can ask him/her to let me help you it would be better for you to make the request for my time.

Remember Storyline

If you look at the elements of storyline it will help remind you why you need to be the optimist and not the naysayer.

The person coming to you has a Conflict/Task and they are looking to you to help them as a Guide/Resource. If you say no, their issue didn't go away. Like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz she will move on down the yellow brick road to find the solution to her problem.

The difference between the Optimist and the Naysayer is the Assignment they give to the person. Give them the solutions [Actions] that will help their story turn into a Comedy and not a Tragedy. You saying no is just not an option to someone who needs to solve a problem.

When someone proposes a new program that will compete with your program tell them how you want to help and really need to understand their goals. Also ask for their critique on how the present program you are doing isn't meeting those needs. DON'T be quick to defend your program.

If you listen you may learn that your program isn't serving all the needs or maybe you need to just tweak the communication about your program to show how it is addressing those needs. Either way there is a perception that is not meeting the needs of the audience.

Your role may change going forward, but by learning how to listen and adjust you make yourself more valuable to them and the organization.

As long as you are helping the organization address the new issues facing it then you are part of the solution and will have a job in the future. If you try and protect and keep things the way they are you are not growing and slowly helping the organization die.

The most under utilized setting on a camera

Your photos may look a great deal better if they were in focus in the viewfinder. This is how you make sure they are in focus.

Most cameras today have a diopter adjustment dial near the viewfinder. This arrow is pointing to the diopter adjustment on the Fuji X-E2.

The camera is equipped with diopter adjustment in the range –4 to +2 m–1 to accommodate individual differences in vision.  Rotate the diopter adjustment control until the viewfinder display is in sharp focus.

Fuji covers this in the basic setup of the camera, right after you set the date and time for the camera. It is more important than all the other settings like: ISO, Aperture, Shutter Speed and Focus settings. Why? You need to see the subject and know if it is in focus and also read all the information that they provide you in the viewfinder.

First Steps 

1. Attaching the Strap 
2. Attaching a Lens 
3. Charging the Battery 
4. Inserting the Battery and a Memory Card 
5. Compatible Memory Cards 
6. Turning the Camera on and Of  
7. Basic Setup 
8. Choosing a Display 
9. Focusing the Viewfinder 
10. Adjusting Display Brightness

The great advantage of the mirrorless Fuji X-E2 over a conventional DSLR is when looking through the viewfinder you can do everything through it. So once you adjust the diopter you don't need your glasses to review images or change settings in the menu, just use the EVF instead of the LCD screen.

To grow as a photographer you need constructive criticism

Fuji X-E2, 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/3.6, 1/210

Team Photo Story?

Today I saw the work of seven teams who were assigned themes and had to find a story on the Big Island of Hawaii to do as a team. I have never seen this done before. Usually in photo schools they give each person a story and they work on it alone.

The purpose of this class is giving young people a Discipleship Training School where they spend a month preparing to go to another country to work on a project. Some of these projects are orphanages, sex trafficking and a few other social justice issues.

To help teach everyone how to engage with people cross culturally they are using the camera to help teach this skill. Most of these Discipleship Training Schools do not use photography.

Paul & Suzi Childers [Fuji X-E2, 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/4, 1/160]

Paul and Suzi Childers had this vision of using photography for a DTS. Suzie is a professional portrait photographer by trade and saw this would work to help teach cross cultural skills and help the students make connections.

What I taught this week was how to get permission in cross cultural settings to take photos and how using photojournalism techniques would help them to really get to know people.

Fuji X-E2, 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/4, 1/250

Working as a team they were able to potentially shoot different angles and also let one person concentrate on doing most of the talking. Another person could take notes and gather content using a recorder or video on their camera.

One group let the subject tell their own story and they used photos that they set up to help illustrate some of the concepts.

One group used an illustrative/conceptual approach of photography and combined this with them reading to the group the story.

A few of the groups wrote captions and put those up on the screen and then put the photos in a sequence that was more photojournalistic in approach.

Fuji X-E2, 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/3.6, 1/220

After each group presented, their peers then gave feedback. The leader asked they give some positive comments as well as things that they could improve. Please don't say you just don't like the photo, tell them what they could have done to make it better.

Earlier in the week I put up a coverage of mine, which I didn't tell them until we were quite a ways into the critique. I asked each person to look at a photo and tell me what they see as something wrong with the photo. Each person was given the microphone and each got a new photo to look at that the others had not commented on.

Manny, one of the students, said one of my photos looked amateurish. Well the point of the critique session was to teach them how to give constructive criticism. I didn't let him off without him taking the time to tell everyone why it was amateurish and what he think would make it better.

Some of the students at first thought we were arguing. What they all learned was sometimes you have to ask someone to clarify their comments. Even when they are saying your photo is crap. Why is is crap?

Fuji X-E2, 18-55mm, ISO 5000, ƒ/3.2, 1/500

I would offer to them if they paid my expenses and make up for all the income for the next two months to join them and critique every day, but that just isn't practical. What made much more sense was to help them understand how to look at photos and talk about why a photo worked or didn't work.

What they really were learning was how to listen to feedback in life. Hopefully this process will teach them how to build community with each other and grow in maturity as they learn how to serve one another.

I can't wait to see their work from around the world. They divide up to go to Panama, Turkey, Germany, Thailand and China.

Low light can be sometimes the best mood light

Fuji X-E2, 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/2.8, 1/6

Last night some of the students from the PhotogenX were sitting around outside working on their projects that they are presenting this morning. It was well past sunset and just the lights from the court were in the background, but we were sitting where if it were not for the light from their laptops we would be pretty much in the dark.

Fuji X-E2, 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/4, 1/13

You need a camera that has an ISO 3200 or better. I shot these on the Fuji X-E2 using AUTO ISO with the peak setting at ISO 6400.

I opened up the aperture to the widest setting and since the lens is has a variable aperture, as you go to more telephoto the aperture gets smaller, I was shooting between ƒ/2.8 and ƒ/4.

Fuji X-E2, 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/3.2, 1/20

As the subjects got closer to the laptops the light from the screens would get brighter on their faces. So the exposure changes just slightly when they lean it to see something.

What you will notice is the shutter speed is slower than normally recommended. 1/6 of a second is pretty slow. The subjects were not moving that much, which really helped. Had this been some sporting activity I could not have done this.

I am not using a tripod.

Fuji X-E2, 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/3.2, 1/20

The vibration reduction system designed into the Fuji X camera and lenses lets me hand hold images almost 4-stops darker than without this system.

What all this means is as long as you remain as still as you can the small movement caused by your breathing and your heart beating will not blur your image.

If you have an older camera that the ISO goes no higher than ISO 1600 this is a great reason to go out and buy some of the newer technology.  If you do look for cameras that will shoot at ISO 6400 or higher. My Fuji X-E2 will go up to 25600, which I have used a few times.