Saving the World One Pixel at a Time

Since many people who read this blog do not live in the United States, I wanted to give today’s photographs a brief introduction: Memorial Day is observed on the last Monday of May and until 1882 was known as Decoration Day . It originated after the Civil War to commemorate fallen Union soldiers. By the 20th century Memorial Day had been extended to honor all Americans who have died in all wars. On Memorial Day the flag is raised briskly to the top of the staff and then solemnly lowered to the half-staff position, where it remains only until noon. It is then raised to full-staff for the remainder of the day. On June 28, 1968,  Congress passed the Uniform Holidays Bill, which moved four holidays, including Memorial Day, from their traditional dates to a specified Monday in order to create a three-day weekend.

On a Snowy January in 1944 in the Ardennes Forest on the German/Belgium border, a US Army medic much like thus young man was involved in the “Battle of the Bulge.” In this battle there were more than one million soldiers —500,000 Germans, 600,000 Americans and 55,000 British—including my dad. It was a Army medic who pulled my Dad from a mortar crater where he had been wounded and patched him up so he come home after the war to my sisters and me. This image is an homage to all the brave young men and women of our armed forces and was made in black and white to look like it too could have been made in 1945. ©2012 Joe Farace All Rights Reserved

January 1, 1976, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…

Today I want to introduce you to one of my favorite photographic subjects: Barns. I was introduced to the idea about 15 years ago by my my old friend, fine arts photographer Bill Craig. Now whenever I see a barn, I start looking for my camera. all images ©2012 Joe Farace

I like to photograph barns—the older the better and as the Colorado landscape has become ever more urbanized, I’ve been forced out onto the eastern prairie in search of old farm structures to capture using film and digital cameras. The above structure was photographed in digital infrared and, in the exception that proves the rule,  is located near my former home. Today that barn is surrounded by fences and all of it’s outbuilding have been demolished.

When shooting my series of barn photographs I keep a few internal rules that keep me put of trouble.

Rule number 1 to always ask permission before making a photograph and don’t just walk onto someone’s private property  as if you own it. Look for “No Trespassing” signs and honor them if found. You can always make shots like the above from the shoulder of the road, as I did in the below photograph.

Rule number two is follow the press photographers adage of “f/8 and be there” and use the smallest possible lens aperture to get the greatest depth of focus. In photographing landscapes (See “How I Photograph Landscapes“) I like to shoot at the smallest possible apertures, preferring f/11 or smaller. I also like to use a polarizing filter for color photographs or an (in-camera) red filter in direct monochrome capture for black snappy, contrasty images. Remember that the total area of acceptable focus is one-third in front of the (focused on) object and two-thirds behind it. Keeping this rule in mind will help you capture all of the important details in the scene in clear detail.

Rule Number 3. I prefer to use the slowest possible ISO setting and when used with a polarizing filter this combination produces slow shutter speeds so I always keep a tripod in my trunk. Even a car as small as my MINI Cooper has room for a tripod. Using a tripod also slows the pace of photography and I use the extra time to make sure that the composition is exactly the way I want. One of my oldest compositional tricks is to first glance at each corner of frame before snapping the shutter. This eliminates unpleasant surprises—stuff that seemed to come of out nowhere to ruin an image—when I finally look at the image files on my 23-inch widescreen monitor.

Rule Number 4. If someone challenges me or wants to talk, I used to bring prints along to show them what I do. Now the photos are stored on an iPad and I let the person flip through the images while they hold the iPad. Most times when they see that I’m trying to make pictures that they can appreciate, they become friendly and let me make pictures I might not otherwise be able to make. With photography under fire in so many areas, take the time to make a friend.

Exposure in Shutter Priority mode was 1/160 sec at f4/7 and ISO 400

caption: This photograph of these two pals and their dog was made on one of the girl’s front lawn and the photographer was lying on her stomach to get the shot. This puts the camera on their level and helps minimize background clutter. Shot with Olympus E-420 and FL-50R flash  (with diffuser in place.) ©2011 Mary Farace

Some digital point and shoot cameras even have a “kids” mode some of which boils down to the same advice I’m gonna give you:

• Keep shutter speeds approaching or matching the highest flash synch mode your camera offers. Your small subjects are not going to stay still all that long and a fast shutter speed will freeze those few moments of repose or capture action.
• Use flash. That’s the second reason for keeping the shutter speed at or near the camera’s synch speed. Flash adds some additional sparkle and illumination to have the kids “pop” out from the background and fill in shadows because you won’t always be in the most perfect position to catch that special moment The small pop-up flash built into digital SLRs is a good place to start, but don’t be afraid to use a larger speedlight that’s part of your camera system.
• Pick a modest aperture. Select one that’s closer to wide open to minimize depth-of-field and soften the background. I always say that “if you take care of the background, the foreground will take care of itself,”
•  Select an ISO that’s a bit higher than you might otherwise for the conditions. An ISO of 400 is going to give you more flexibility with choosing shutter speed and aperture as well as squeeze a little more output from a pop-up flash.
• Choose Shutter Priority or Aperture Priority mode. Program mode, while tempting to use, might not be a good choice since it tends to favor increased shutter speed over aperture and by selecting either Shutter Priority or Aperture Priority mode you will be able to manage which of these two controls seems more appropriate for a given lighting and shooting situation.
•  Get down on you subject’s level to shoot at them not down on them. You’ll get better pictures and your small subjects will relate better to you if you get down on their level. That’s means you might have to sit on the grass or get down on the ground so be sure to wear your grungies.
• Don’t pose your subjects. Let them be themselves. They’ll put themselves in this position, often for only for the briefest moments so you’re gonna have to work fast and capture the image the microsecond you see it. Sometime you will only be able to get two frames and sometime just one. Don’t wait! Snap the shutter now.