Kitsap Frames

Sports photos don’t always get the attention they deserve, so do yourself a favor and click the photo above to see a Meegan Reid gallery of photos she took at yesterday’s state basketball tourney in Tacoma, where the Bremeton Knights, making their first state appearance since 1999, nearly upset No. 1-seed Rainier Beach. There’s some good stuff in there.

The following blank lines are reserved for Meegan to enlighten us on this assignment, and shooting basketball in general:

By the way, the Knights are playing now in the consolation round. Follow sports reporter Nathan Joyce’s live blog HERE.

- Derek Sheppard

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It’s fair to say I’ve been a little, uh, lazy about entering the photo challenges lately.

Prepare yourself for the old two birds, one stone trick.

Bird 1: Spring.

Bird 2: Me to my editors: “Do you have a photo for the Pacific Avenue construction story yet?” Them. “Nope.” Me: “Ok, I have an idea.”

Stone:

Nothing says spring like cherry blossoms. And road construction. Admit it, I’m right.

(And the story it goes with.)

- Derek Sheppard

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In about 20 minutes (12:45 p.m.) the Bremerton Knights kick off the state basketball tourney against a tough opponent, Rainier Beach. Click the photo above, or HERE, to watch the game live.

Nathan Joyce had a preview today on the team, which is making its first state tournament appearance since 1999.

- Derek Sheppard

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I’m a bit late posting this, but I wanted to send some kudos to reporter (and videographer) Steven Gardner on his video profile of Tim Sheldon. That’s Tim Sheldon, Mason County Commissioner. And Tim Sheldon, state legislator.

It’s an interesting duality, which you can read more about in Steven’s story here.

What I focused on, however, was the video. Politicians, and their workaday lives, aren’t exactly a visual goldmine. That said, I thought Steve’s video did an admirable job of capturing Sheldon’s thoughts, and literally showing the process of traveling from one job to the next. The fact that the interview was in the car on the drive to Olympia was part necessity, but also a great element that helped make the video relevant.

- Derek Sheppard

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One more day to show us your pictures of Spring!

You’ll notice in the entries below that Larry Bennett, of the Kitsap Photography Guild, combined last week’s challenge of the triptychs with spring while Don Hein took in a baseball game and a ski sale.

I was kind of expecting to find a couple of angry snow pictures on my inbox…

“A Seabeck Spring” by Larry Bennett (Kitsap Photography Guild)

“Spring Ski Sale” by Don Hein

“OC Baseball” by Don Hein

“OC Baseball” by Don Hein

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“Larry climbed inside the washing machine. Inside the washing machine,” a reporter said this morning. She was talking about the photo you see above, which ran as the lead photo on the cover of today’s paper.

Larry sort of climbed inside. His arm, anyway.

In part two of “How Did Larry Do That?”, I’m here to explain how this shot came to be. He was dispatched to get a photo that would illustrate this story about trading in old appliances. This is one of those cases where photographers are asked to turn something not so terribly visually interesting (shopping) into a photo.

Remember yesterday’s “How Did Larry Do That?” entry? Remember the part about the timer on the camera? Well, there’s the secret. That, and patience. Larry set his camera inside the washer, set the timer and waited for shoppers to pass in front of the appliance, hoping to time the shutter actuation with the shoppers’ pass in front.

It goes to show that you can make mundane tasks look a lot more interesting if you think outside the box. Or, if you’re in an appliance store, inside the box.

- Derek Sheppard

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Yep, the headline was click bait. Nope, this doesn’t have anything to do with THAT kind of streaking in Gorst.

This kind:

I’d be willing to be a few of you saw this Larry Steagall photo of Gorst (Which was with this story.), and though, “How’d he do that?”

Here’s the secret. Photoshop! No, I’m kidding. This is a pretty standard photo technique that looks cool that you can probably learn in a couple of minutes.

What you’ll need: A critical eye, a camera that allows you to manually set the exposure, and a tripod. A cable release helps, too.

First, what makes this photo really isn’t just the streaky lights from the cars, it’s the angle. Larry told me he got up on the overpass heading into Bremerton. It’s one of those little big things in photography. Usually a scene will look more interesting if you shoot from an angle that isn’t what your eye would see if you were standing there.

To do something similar, find a (safe!) place to see traffic or any series of moving lights. Could be a boat, a train, people with flashlights, whatever.

Put your camera on a steady tripod. Attach a cable release if you have one. The camera has to remain perfectly still so the static elements (buildings and such) don’t blur. If you don’t have a cable release, set the timer so you won’t move the camera when the shutter opens and closes. Manually choose an aperture and shutter speed. (This is easy if you have an SLR, and usually buried in menus if you have a point and shoot.) Larry’s was f14 at 30 seconds. You’ll have to experiment with both based on the look you want.

Go ahead, give it a try. (On a related note, there’s “camera toss” and “light painting”. Do the camera toss thing at your own peril…)

And don’t forget, photography is just the art of capturing light. This is kind of a literal example (car lights) but the same process is how you make motion blur. Like this photo of crowds walking along the sidewalks in Vancouver during the Olympics.

- Derek Sheppard

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So our Spring challenge is in full swing…as is the cold and the rain.

I do apologize if I jinxed us all by posting this challenge but in all fairness it was ACTUALLY Sun photographer Larry Steagall’s idea so you can pass on the angry emails his way.

I’m sure some of you readers have noticed that we have a long-distance Photo Challenge participant, Steve Johnson, who has been sharing his photos with us all the way from Iraq.

Of course springtime looks a little less green and colorful in the deserts of the Middle East then it does here. Yet it is still a beautiful and picture worthy season wherever you are.

~ Meegan M. Reid

“Springtime in Baghdad ” by Steve Johnson

***note from the photographer: “Seed pods proliferate on a scrawny acacia tree. Shadows are soft because the sunlight is filtered by the approaching sandstorm.”***

“Springtime in Baghdad2 ” by Steve Johnson

***note from the photographer: “The mud from the winter rains is quickly baking. Windblown acacia seeds proclaim spring is in the air.” ***

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It’s good to be back in the friendly confines of the Kitsap Frames blog after my time covering the Olympics. Glad to see Meegan didn’t burn the house down or have too many rowdy parties.

Alas, I’m here to talk to you about video. Specifically a video/camera. Yes, the slash is intentional. When we were in the press center in Vancouver, Canon had a booth set up for repairs and equipment loans to photogs. It’s a marketing fest for them when working shooters get to try the fanciest, snazziest new gear. So Larry was getting his camera worked on one day and asked me if I wanted to try the new Canon 7D. That perked me up considerably, indeed.

If you’ve been following the evolution of DSLRs, it’s gone something like this: Look, digital SLRs exist! It’ll cost you a second mortgage, but aren’t 3 megapixels amazing! Look, digital SRLs are cheaper by the minute! More megapixels, more megapixels, more megapixels!!! Full-frame! And now, HD video!!!

It’s that last bit of marketing hype I was interested in, as the videographer. Yep, the 7D shoots 1080p HD video.

Here’s something I shot with the 7D using only the onboard mic:
The ergonomics of the whole situation felt remarkably similar to junior high PE class when you’re forced to dance with girls. It felt awkward and I wasn’t sure when to put my hands.

Holding the camera at eye level to see the image on the back of the camera was a little funky, and led to some shaky footage. If you own one, get image-stablized lenses, a tripod or a video-specific contraption to hold the camera. It’s worth it. Also, be mindful of when it’s recording. I had more than a few accidental shots of my feet as I walked around, unaware it was still recording.

An external shotgun mic would improve the sound quality immensely as well, though the on-board mic wasn’t nearly as bad as I expected it to be. In addition, the autofocus mechanism can’t hold a candle to a real video camera – even the cheaper HV-series Canons we use.

So, you ask what the big deal is. Sounds like a lot of compromises. True. But when you’re a photographer or videographer, there are two properties of physics and optics that congeal to form one tasty, tasty dish. Bokeh, and depth of field. Specifically, shallow depth of field.

In layman’s terms, a lens with a large aperture (Expressed as a small number, like f1.4 or f2.8) lets in lots of light, but creates a very narrow plane in which the subject is in focus. The background melts into a matte canvas of color and light, making that shallow area in focus appear to stand out. Some say it gives films and photographs a “professional” look.

Here are a couple of stills I captured from the 7D video I shot. Notice the one on the right? Instead of the background being a jumble of kiosks and shoppers (which it was) it’s a pleasantly blurred, um, blur.

So, the 7D and cameras like it have limitations. Audio, ergonomics, space (The files take up a lot of space on your memory card.), battery life suffers and the footage isn’t easy to work with in Final Cut.

If you’re in the market for a new DSLR, there’s a good chance the one you’re looking at will shoot HD video as well. It’s pretty, but be warned, it’s a lot of heavy lifting to do anything with it once it’s on your computer.

But it’s just so pretty it hurts. Can I have one now? If you hear that chuckle, it’s my bank account mocking me.

- Derek Sheppard

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Maybe it’s just because I grew up in northern Michigan and spent the past 5 years in the snowy mountains of northern Utah but I am AMAZED that it is already spring outside and it’s ONLY March!

That being said, this week’s challenge is……

Kitsap Frames Photo Challenge #7:  Spring

Whether it’s a standard shot of flowers in bloom, people out walking in the sunshine or umbrellas on the sidewalk. as long as it says “Spring” to you I say shoot it and share it with us.

You’ll have till March 10, 2010 to show us your images of spring.

Here’s a shot to get you thinking about it:

Jason Olivas, Jr. ,2,of Silverdale drives his electric tractor  at Silverdale Waterfront Park on Tuesday. It’s  an early spring as the daffodils and tree blossoms are in bloom.  Larry Steagall  | Kitsap Sun

***To recap: Every week we will post a new photography “challenge” to help build on all of our current photography skills and to encourage everyone to get out and get shooting (cameras not guns). While we encourage you to shoot the challenge in the week that it is assigned, we will however accept entries taken prior to the challenge assignment date.

When you’ve got your favorite shot, login to the Kitsap Sun Your Media Site (if you don’t already have a login, you can quickly set it one up) and upload your image to the Kitsap Frames Photo Challenge Channel (the channels run along the left hand side of the page, again if you can’t seem to get it into the channel just upload it normally and send me an email and we’ll move it).

We’ll post the entries as we get them and pick a few “winners” (again you only win bragging rights as of now) at the close of the challenge week.***

~Meegan M. Reid

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