Alex McClure

I will be in Palo Alto

The photography Diet!

One of the biggest questions I get asked is” how can I take
better photographs”.
Well there are lots of ways to do that but if you’re asking,
then you need to go on a photography Diet!
What is a photography Diet? Well it’s a steady dose of
shooting. You need to shot every day for a month straight. I don’t care what
you shoot as long as you are shooting something.
You need to shoot every day because as humans, we learn from
our mistakes.
Now you don’t have to
check out your work every day you can do that when you have time some day and
go thought several days of work. But you do need to shoot 30 days in a row.
Then when you review your photos, figure out what you like
about your photos.
Figure out what you don’t like and think about what you can
do to make them better next time.
Should I use a tri-pod, learn more about the rules, may be a
different angle, or just wait for the light to change?
Someday you’re not going to have time. Someday you’re not
going to feel great but
Just like a real diet you need to work through it.
If you miss a day you can to start over, this will keep you
thinking about photography.
If you think about shooting on a regular basis you will
start to become more consistent and shoot better photos. This isn’t for
everyone and it won’t change your life, but for the few people that do this,
you will see a different’s in you photographs.
Do you ever wonder
how the Pro’s make photography look so easy, it’s because we shoot every day.
We know are equipment, the settings, the light, the rules of photography and we
put ourselves in great places to get the shot. If the sun, the sky or the subject
doesn’t work out, then we find something else to shoot.
Just remember Shoot, look & learn. If you do this at the
end of the month, you will take better pictures!
For more information on the rules of photography (more like guidelines)
please check out PhotographyMad.com here is the link: http://www.photographymad.com/pages/view/10-top-photography-composition-rules
But most important, Have fun shooting!
~Alex

What would Ansel do?

By John Owens May 2004

When you turn your computer on, does a little voice cry "traitor"?
EMOTIONAL BAGGAGE: A burro named Andy Gump hauls gear for Ansel Adams in the Sierra Nevadas in the mid-'20s. Is this the only way to get a shot such as Adams' '40s-era Jeffrey pine in Yosemite National Park? Chances are, Adams (and the burro) would vote "Nay!"
I'm no psychologist, but I've diagnosed a disorder among photographers that might be termed "digital guilt." Though far from an epidemic, I've seen several cases here at the Pop Photo Clinic. While most of us relish the wonders that have come with the digital revolution—whether we're shooting digitally, or scanning film and then editing and printing digitally—there are others who feel, well, bad about the whole thing. Like they're betraying generations-old photographic traditions. A Sierra Club calendar, or anything showing Yosemite, Monument Valley, or other iconic subjects in glistening black-and-white, can turn some photographers into guilty patients.
Too many photographers believe that they must, as our Senior Editor Dan Richards puts it, "suffer for their art." After all, Ansel Adams wrote in 1980, "When asked what camera I use, I reply, ‘The heaviest one I can carry'....I believe that the greater effort and restrictions of the large camera lead to precision of seeing and a higher level of mechanical perfection."
But Ansel Adams said and wrote a lot of things in his long career as a photographer, author, and teacher. While he was referring to his preference for view cameras with groundglass focusing screens and sheet film the size of legal documents, he also made it clear that his whole purpose was to see clearly, reproduce accurately, and manage the process.
He certainly did. Not just with his camera, but in the darkroom, too, where Adams' devotion to science—and control—served his art.
So for those who lug their view cameras around the American West and labor with developers and fixers, there is no guilt. Just, perhaps, chiropractic visits.
But what about the rest of us who don't have the budgets, backs, or time for the full Ansel Adams treatment? By going digital, are we driving over his footsteps with the photographic equivalent of an SUV?
I say no. If anything, technology can help us be even truer to his credos. It does, after all, give us more control. For most of us, until digital tools came to our desktops, it had been years since we'd had start-to-finish command over our pictures. We'd select the type of film, compose, expose, and shoot with obsessive attention to detail. But what happened after that? Yes, we could follow Ansel Adams into the black-and-white darkroom. But the amateur color darkroom never took off; even Pop Photo's color-processing gear was little used. Custom labs? Sure, but admit it, with the high cost and handholding required, how much have you used them? Slides are great, but how much control did any of us really have when it came to projecting the chromes? As for printing chromes, forget it. Face it, most of our shots were processed and printed by commercial photofinishers. Talk about losing control!
Of course, some photographers (and patients) would argue that, with digital, it's too easy to take this control too far and manipulate the images beyond reality. But remember, Adams often pushed the limits in the darkroom. As his longtime friend Bill Turnage put it, "He used Photoshop even before it existed." In other words, he would understand.
"To visualize an image (in whole or in part) is to see it clearly in the mind prior to exposure, a continuous projection from composing the image through the final print," he wrote. "Visualization is more accurately viewed as an attitude toward photography rather than a dogma. It assumes that the photographer has total freedom of expression, and is in no way restricted by my own, or anyone else's idea of art."
If you've been suffering from digital guilt, consider yourself in recovery.

Taking a great scenery shot

From Samy's Camera Nov. news letter

Walking With Olympus

Olympus Trailblazer Alex McClure just stopped by the Pasadena
store to showcase the company's newest products before taking customers on a
guided photo walk at the Huntington Gardens. Participants were able to rent
Olympus gear free of charge and see what their new OM-D E-M1 and PEN cameras
could do in a myriad of lighting situations. McClure took the photos
above with the E-M1, Olympus' new and much-improved update to the E-M5. The
interchangeable lens camera is getting rave reviews for its exceptional
autofocus system and advanced processor. The 16-Megapixel camera can now shoot
10 frames per second and adds more button-and-dial control, allowing you to
quickly thumb through settings.But the biggest addition is the on-sensor
phase elements, giving the camera two distinct focus modes that allow it to
seamlessly switch between Four Thirds and Micro Four Thirds lenses. For
some the most exciting feature may be the camera's ability to sync wirelessly
with a smartphone. The Olympus photo app makes it so you can hold your camera in
one hand and use your phone as a viewfinder and to manage controls. It's a
pretty awesome feature that caters to a new generation of photographers and
allows pro photographers to more easily share their work while in the
field.The Instagram lover will enjoy the camera's selection of “Art”
filters, ranging from a high-contrast, black-and-white setting to an ultra-soft,
diffused look, which allows you to bypass photo editing and save time.
All in all, the E-M1 is a smart, highly-evolved camera that caters to
the technical demands of prosumers and comes with all the gadgets that make
photo-sharing easy for the new generation of photographers. Read more
about the Olympus E-M1 here.More on McClure:
Alex has been honing his craft for more than 30 years, striving to create
inspiring snapshots of nature. He began his photography career taking
backpacking trips through various landscapes including the High Sierra and
Columbian Ice fields. More recently, he's focused his lens on Arizona deserts,
the Eastern Sierra and the Grand Canyon. You can follow McClure's photography on
Facebook and Twitter.

Photo-walk with Olympus trailblazer Alex McClure

I will be at Samy's Camera in Pasadena On Saturday doing a photo-walk at Huntington Libary. come on down and check it out! It's a special 2-day event at Samy's Camera. From 10-6PM on Friday 11/8, there will be Olympus camera demos in-store, including the new flagship Olympus OM-D E-M1. On Saturday 11/9 from 10-6PM, there will be an E-M1 seminar and then a very special photo walk at Huntington Gardens with Olympus Trailblazer Alex McClure. Please contact Samy's for details and to reserve your spot: (626) 796-3300.

The rule of Thirds

It is often tempting to put the subject in the center of a shot, but in many cases moving it off-center can produce a more interesting image. If the main subject is off-center it needs to be balanced by some secondary element. This can often provide a context which can complement the subject. If a subject that is moving or looking toward the edge of the frame, for example, it is pleasing to have some room for it to move or look into. This is where the Rule of Thirds comes into play. An ideal location for the subject in the frame is often considered to be a position 1/3 of the way into the frame both horizontally and vertically. This is sometimes called a power point. If you divide the frame into thirds both horizontally and vertically the power point would be on one of the four intersections. This is only a general guideline, and won’t work for every image. And on the images where it does work it isn’t something you need to be absolutely precise about. But it’s worth playing with when you are composing a picture.

Keeping it steady

Because of the slow shutter speed required to pick up light at night, a tripod will help you get the best, blur-free fireworks photos. If you don’t have a tripod handy, find another way to keep your camera steady. Try using a flat surface to place the camera. Or, when using the fireworks scene mode, brace the camera against your body as best you can to keep it as still as possible. However, this method may not produce good results in manual mode when setting the shutter speed to greater than one second.

RAW VS JPEG

I just got a message asking me about shooting in RAW vs. Jpeg. Think of it this way....."The RAW file is your negitive and the Jpeg file is the print". If your print gets old, overprocessed, degraded or destroyed you still have the Raw file and can make more!! The RAW file is superior to a jpeg in every way and when things change 10 years down the road you will still have the RAW file and can reprocess it! So set your camera to shoot RAW & Jpeg at the same time and forget about it. That way if you want the ease of the Jpeg you got it, but when you need the Raw file, you have that to. If your shooting sports and using Sequential shooting sorry your stuck with Jpeg's for a few more years. Hope that helps, Alex.

Photo's for stamps

How to get great family photo’s for the price of a stamp. 32mb or 64mb memory cards have no real use any more except holding Jpegs. You don’t want to toss it out so let's find a productive way to recycle them. Mail your old memory cards loaded with your favorite photo’s on it to you family and friends. It’s not like sending a CD that you have to pack in bubble wrap, and then find a cardboard box to fit. You just drop it in a envelope with a list of people on it and see what happens. Leave instructions to then have them send it to the next person or Family member on your list. If you are sending them to a non techie also send instructions on what to do with it. Let great grandma know to take the card to the photo deptment in Wal-Mart, Target, or Costco, and get help from the person behind the counter. Memory cards are small, most are so small that a stamp can get them almost any were. Once the card has been around the block, have it sent back clean it out and start all over again. So don’t trash the old memory cards send them around the world. What else Are you going to do with it, shim that rocking desk? And If for some reason it does not come back who cares, you can’t really use it any ways. By Alex

Get plenty of soft light

Hard light comes directly from a source, such as a bright sunny day or a bare light bulb. Soft light is obtained when light is scattered by clouds on an overcast day, filtered through trees, through a white curtain, etc. Most photos look best with softer light because they are more detail-oriented and richer in color. To shoot in such conditions, a good rule of thumb is to keep your back to the light. Let the light shine on your subject (not on you) and you'll get crisp, clear photos. Shoot early or late in the day, when the light is softer. Cloudy days are your friend - the light actually intensifies the colors of flowers, trees, and the whole outdoors.

Position your camera on a tripod or brace yourself

Sometimes when the availability of light is very low, such as when shooting in NIGHT SCENE mode, it is necessary to take extra measures.

Use a tripod so your camera remains steady when shooting. Small tabletop tripods can often be found at your local dealer.
Try using the Self-Timer to trigger the shutter while on a tripod or steady surface to lessen any occurrence of camera shake blur. Simply press the Self-Timer button and select ON. Then press the Shutter button to have the camera wait 12 seconds before shooting the subject or scene.

Shooting Fireworks

Here’s a complete rundown of the adjustments yourSLR camera makes in the Fireworks Scene Mode:
Shutter speed is set to four seconds, which helps capture the streaming trails of the fireworks.
Sets the ISO to 100 and the f-stop to f11.
Sets the White Balance to 5300K
Sets the exposure compensation to -1.0 EV. This is a full 1-stop underexposure to keep the firework highlights from burning out.
Sets the color to Vivid, the Saturation to High and the Contrast to Hard, all of these changes help enhance color.
Sets the Sharpness to Soft, which uses minimal sharpening in anticipation of post-processing.

Storing Muslin Backgrounds

Two ways that are recommended to store your muslin background is (1) to fold the muslin like a bedsheet and store in a cool dry place, or (2) go to your local hardware store and purchase a PVC pipe about 1"-2" in diameter and the same length of your background. (ex: your background is 10' wide, you will need a 10' pipe) Run the PVC through the Hem Loop (or rod pocket) at the top of the background. Roll your background around the pipe and store standing up or laying on a shelf.

The second method will help reduce the amount of wrinkling you will have and will speed up your steaming process the next time you pull it out to use it.

It is not recommended that you crinkle or smash the muslin into a muslin bag as this will damage the paint and could cause (over time) cracking in your background. If storing in a muslin bag, neatly fold the muslin to size and then insert into bag.

More picture-taking tips for fireworks

Timing your shutter speed

The traditional method for shooting fireworks is to manually select shutter speed. As you might expect, longer exposure times result in longer trails and shorter exposures result in shorter trails. You can set your shutter speed to a specific duration – you can experiment with 2 seconds, 3 seconds or 4 seconds to see what happens. The key is to time the exposure with the timing of the fireworks streaks so you end up with dramatic light trails in your shots.
The alternative is to set the shutter speed to the BULB setting, if your camera is equipped with this feature. In the BULB setting, the shutter will stay open as long you have the button engaged, and will shut when you release the button.

Frame your shot

Composition is the name of the game. Pay attention not just to your subject but also to what surrounds it. Is there a tree branch in the background that looks like it's coming out of your subject's head? Move your subject or your camera before you take the picture so that the tree branch is at the edge, framing the frame. Frequently, photos turn out better when the subject is off-center, because centering the subject can make it too static. Don't be afraid to move around. View your subject from different angles - up, down, left, right - until you find an angle that pleases you. Or try turning your camera vertically to catch a different perspective.

How to Photograph Fireworks

If fireworks are a feature of summer activity in your part of the world, I thought I'd share my tips on exposing for fireworks. This technique works for fireworks at a good distance away - not for close-up shooting. 1. Mount the camera on a tripod and point the lens toward the area where the fireworks will explode.2. Use a telephoto lens or set the lens you have to the longest telephoto zoom setting.3. Focus the lens on infinity - the furthest point at which the lens will focus. For setup, focus on a distant tree or rock or star.4. Set the camera to M (Manual) mode. Then set the exposure thusly: ISO: 200 ... Aperture: f/11 ... Shutter Speed: 1/3rd sec.Now it's a matter of timing to catch the explosions at their peak before the smoke begins to form. Take some practice shots, and you'll soon ge t the hang of it. Then you can take a seat next to the camera, pressing the shutter button once in awhile as you enjoy the show!You can also capture multiple bursts on the same frame by setting the camera to Bulb and using a black card to cover the lens between bursts. When a burst happens that you want to capture, remove the black card from the lens for a few seconds, and then replace the black card until another burst happens. This takes some practice, but can result in great shots! It's also advisable to use a cable release instead of pressing the shutter button with your finger.

Lens Flare

Lens flare happens when non-image-forming light enters a lens and falls on the film or sensor. If the light is well diffused it lowers the contrast of the image. If the light isn't diffused, it can appear as bright spots, arcs, or other shapes. Flare is most problematic when there is a source of bright light (e.g. the sun) just outside the frame.If your lens doesn't have a lens hood attached, light anywhere in front of the lens can get into the lens, bounce around, and produce flare. A lens hood shades the lens from most of this light, allowing only the image forming light to enter the lens. Shading the front of the lens from direct sunlight with a hood greatly reduces flare, right. Lens hoods don't always provide optimum shading of a lens. This especially applies to zoom lenses used at longer focal length settings. When using a fully-extended zoom, don't be afraid to add extra shading with your hand. The effect is often visible through the viewfinder and as long as your hand doesn't show in the frame, you're safe!

What should I pack for a vacation?

There are two essential accessories you should give thought to when packing for a vacation: media cards and a power source. Unless you are bringing a laptop with you, you're going to need enough media cards to store your images until you can download them. Most digital cameras come with a 32mb card which usually only stores about 20 shots in standard quality. However, cards up to 1GB are now available, typically giving you about 700 shots in standard quality. Most likely, thisshould more than cover you for at least a week's worth of shooting, depending on how often you shoot.
Most digital cameras use rechargeable batteries There's nothing like arriving at the top of the Eiffel Tower and having your battery run out. Purchase an extra battery set for your Ni-MH charger and charge them the night before. You can also get an extra lithium-ion battery if your camera uses those, instead. Going to a country outside the U.S.? Chargers will automatically convert the voltage up to 240 volts, 50-60 Hz, but you will need the appropriate plug adapter for the country you are going to. Many travel or luggage stores sell a set of plug adapters. Don't confuse plug adapter with voltage converters, you only need to change the physical plug type, not the voltage.

Alex McClure

Thursday, July 29, 2021

Cruising for a snack!

Don't mess with Momma bear!

Morning Mr. Moose!

4 month old cubs!

Tuesday, September 22, 2020

There is a storm brewing in DC.

Let the light be your guide.

Thunder birds

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Sky-Watcher Esprit 100mm

The International Space Station in front of the moon.

Sunday, February 23, 2020

Orion Nebula M42

The Horsehead Nebula (also known as Barnard 33)

Mars and the Moon occultation.

The Pelican Nebula also known as IC 5070.

That little dot is Mercury! This transit of the Sun happened on 11-11-2019.

Friday, August 16, 2019

Lagoon Nebula shot with an Olympus OM-D on the Sky-watcher 8" Quatto

How To Buy a New Telescope!

See more at,
www.skywatcherusa.com

Monday, July 22, 2019

Bears gone Fishing

The 4th of July from DC.

A pair of Harlequin Duck