The Barnyard - Photography in low light

The ultimate challenge for many photographers is to be able to capture good images in low light conditions. There are generally quite a few factors which count against being able to capture a good image. The biggest problem is generally being able to freeze the action to get a clear, sharp image with enough light to expose it correctly. I have always enjoyed entertainer photography because of the bright colours and the ambiance that can be captured.

The Barnyard Theatre's Story - Where did it all begin?

In 1996 the first Barnyard Theatre was opened by the Möller family on a dairy farm just outside Plettenberg Bay. Louis and Sybel had both been involved in the performing arts most of their lives, Louis as co-founder and producer of, amongst others, Carte Blanche, and Sybel Coetzee as a freelance actress and TV presenter.

In 1989 they took stock of their hectic lives with two young boys and decided that family comes first. As a result they decided to open a dairy farm close to Plettenberg Bay. After a few years of farming they longed for a way to combine their two loves – the footlights and the farm. Then 1996 saw the birth of The Barnyard Theatres. Why Barnyard? Louis had built a beautiful, rustic American-style wooden barn on the farm, which Sybel and Louis converted into a theatre with an old-world atmosphere, heavy wooden beams, a horseshoe gallery, big tables with welcoming lanterns and wood chips on the floor.

In 2003 Louis joined forces with well-known South African musician Duck Chowles and together they formed The Barnyard Theatre Production Company. Having produced, amongst others, the mega-hit Roll Over Beethoven, Louis instinctively knew Duck belonged in the Barnyard stable. Duck Chowles now directs and produces all Barnyard Theatre Productions.

The Barnyard Theatre concept is 19 years old this year. 

I recently had the opportunity to attend 2 different shows at the Barnyard in Gateway, Durban and whilst they do allow photography, no flashes are allowed to be used. This was the ideal opportunity to use my "low light king" camera, the mirrorless Sony A7s. I chose to use the 70-200 F4 lens as this would allow some widish shots from where I was sitting as well as being able to zoom in to the entertainers.  To be able to get shutter speeds of about 1/400 and an aperture of at least F8 I would have to use ISO's of between 5000 and 40 000... Yes, ISO40 000. Of course, not to much of a problem with the A7s. This is the camera that has revolutionized the DSLR Video market. Full frame and the ability to shoot at these incredible ISO's with additional lights or flashes.

Here is a selection of images from the shows that demonstrate this combinations' abilities. No fancy editing or processing, just through normal RAW processor and PP.You be the judge... any good?

From the first show...

  The more recent show...

A picture speaks a thousand words

They say that a picture says a thousand words.. and it does... really.. One picture can save a thousand words of descriptive text which at the end of the text can leave many different images in our mind because we all relate a written description to our own unique imagination and interpret it differently. If we in turn look at an image there is nothing that can be misconstrued or misrepresented... or is there?

Well summer has finally arrived and so off I went and got my Porshe Boxster out from storage. Now you must understand.. men and their cars.. well, that's a story all on it's own. I love this car and have been the proud owner for several years now. I will even let you into a little secret.. the mileage is exceptionally low and the insurance premiums even lower...

I posted this image on some photo groups on Facebook and got some comments like "I'm jealous" and "wow"... 

BUT... is everything what we really see the truth? Do I own a Porsche Boxster? Hell no! Would I like to? Of course!! So where did I get this Porsche from? I cannot tell a lie, directly from my showcase. What? you might say, you keep a Porsche in your showcase? Well actually I do. 

Now this is where the "trickery" comes in. This photograph was not manipulated or "Photoshopped" as many would put it. It is very much as I shot it. I will admit I had to slightly change the colour of the grass under the Porsche because I didn't have the patience to match it up with the grass in the background when I shot the image. Other than that, it is exactly as I shot it.. 

 Aha.... well there you go. The secret is out the bag! I don't own a real Porsche but indeed do own a scale model replica of one. So by using a photographic technique called "Forced Perspective" I was able to achieve an out the camera real image of what seems to be my Porsche in my front garden. This technique has been around since just about the advent of photography and I'm sure has been used many many times to fool the viewer!

So does a photograph speak a thousand words? Yes of course it does.... but seeing isn't always believing is it?

 

Monte Casino with the Sony NEX F3 Mirrorless camera

In today's day and age of everything smaller and better than days gone by, camera technology is changing at an alarming rate. The days of small "point and shoot" Cybershot cameras are nearly gone with every cell phone now having a camera on board. Most people read the amount of pixels as the quality of the images but little do they know that on those tiny sensors more pixels generally means worse quality. So where do we really go if we want a compact camera but we want quality? We know that quality generally comes from sensor size and good lenses amongst other things like good digital processing by the camera and the ability for the camera to perform in all sort of light conditions. Luckily Sony has come up with the answer with the introduction of their small mirrorless, interchangeable lens cameras. These are small and compact but pack punch and quality. The sensor size is exactly the same as their DSLR big brothers and there is an array of lenses for just about every situation available.

To me, being the typical South African male, a camera has not been a camera unless I have this big heavy chunky traditional camera in my hands. I have however recently being toying with the NEX cameras and find myself using them more and more in everyday situations. They are lighter, smaller, easier to carry and conceal in this crime ridden country of ours but deliver the quality that I require. They can be shot in the normal auto and semi auto modes as well as in my favourite  fully manual mode. They also allow for RAW image capture which is something I would not sacrifice at any cost. (yes, I am a control freak and want full control of my images).

Well it was with this history and the little baby of the range, the NEX-F3 that I found myself driving past Monte Casino yesterday and with a few minutes to spare, I thought why the hell not. Now I know that cameras are not allowed and I have heard of many of my photographer friends being tossed out with their cameras. 

The NEX is small and I held it in my hand with my phone as I was searched by security on the entrance to the venue. They were none the wiser. I first shot a couple of images in the bright sunshine outside and then proceeded into the dark abyss. If you have entered Monte Casino you will know exactly what I am talking about. Here the camera would really be put to the test. I only had the small 18-55 kit lens and nothing special extra. No flash was an obvious so the camera's low light capability was going to be put to the test. I set the aperture on F5.6 to get a little depth of field and to get a shutter speed of 1/40, I had to push the ISO to between 1600 and 3200 to obtain a correctly exposed image.

Looking at the results when I returned to the studio, I must confess that I was suitably impressed. The images were clear and of the standard I expect. Noise was very limited considering the higher ISO's. Colours and the dynamic range is very acceptable with nice detail throughout range. The little NEX will be becoming my little traveling companion from now on!

We even had a blue moon!

Radio Jacaranda's studio gave a wonderful colour splash.

Even police seemed to be off for the day. :)

A did a little processing on this image to give it a more antique look.

Loved the colours, contrasts and textures here

Frozen in time

The greatest achievement for any photographer is when they obtain the result that they wanted. To be able to do this they need to understand the process of light, their equipment and then to have the plan!

So I knew what I had in mind, I know light and my equipment and now I just had to put it together.

I started with some water filled balloons with a twist - the water was coloured with food dye to give a different effect when it was going to explode, Yes, water was going to explode!

So I started with this:

Balloon filled with coloured water.

The next step was to hang it somewhere... mmmm.... okay, the ladder will do. A bit of string and in the sun it went.

Next step was the camera. I mounted a Sony A77 which can capture 12 images per second with a 300mm F2.8 lens on a tripod. I plugged in the remote release and manually focused on the balloon. I set the camera's shutter speed to 1/8000th of a second and was ready... well nearly ready.. I need my trigger man... So the call went out to my son with his toy BB gun.. we would have to co-ordinate pretty well.

So now we are ready... aim, fire and action.....

The first shot

Look at the background - totally black. But we were in full sunlight! Well this is what I spoke about when I said you have to have a knowledge of light and your equipment. At a such a high shutter speed and exposing for the balloon only, all background light is eradicated. Quite a good effect even if I say so myself.

The yellow food colouring turned the water almost orange.

Much prefer the blue water - a nice contrast with the black background.

The mixture of food colouring made this one look like coke!

Cropping Photographs - Aspect Ratios

This is a subject that is at times surrounded in controversy either by the lack of foresight or knowledge as to what seems natural to the viewer. What gets cropped, what gets left behind? Should we crop the image? What is the subject in our image and how should it be placed within the image? Once this has been decided then how do we crop the image? Square? Landscape or portrait orientation? What aspect ratio should be used?

Most DSLR's capture the image in a 3:2 ratio and compact cameras and the odd DSLR having a 4:3 ratio. These are the natural aspect ratios which we are accustomed to seeing as well as being the standard printing aspect ratios. If we think of the "Jumbo's" that we have printed... the actual size being 10cm x 15cm.. a ratio of 2:3 or 3:2.. and those enlargements.. 20x30, 60x40, 90x 60 etc etc

If we at any time want to print our images, it is better to use this 3:2 ratio when we crop our image, either in landscape or portrait orientation.

What about the WEB then? What ratios should we use? Well we are accustomed to seeing images from our cameras as well as from standard prints at this same 3:2 ratio so should we not keep to this? Is it therefore not logical to prepare our images to this crop ratio instead of all the odd sizes that we see being posted? The other alternative of course being a 1:1 ratio.... a square!

There is no fixed rule that we have to apply these ratios but I have found through years of experience that images display better and our subjects in our images have the correct proportions when our images are displayed at these aspect ratios.

3:2 Landscape

1:1 Square

3:2 Portrait