S+ART

Photographers' Rights

A few weeks ago, I attended the FotoWeekDC lecture about photographers' rights presented by Mickey Osterreicher, General Counsel for the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA), and Richard Kelly, former Association of Media Photographers (ASMP) President.  The lecture covered model releases, explained privacy rights of individuals when in public and in private and how photographers should approach each of these situations, and talked about recent developments in the years following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which have found photographers at odds with security and law enforcement particularly with regard to photographing federal buildings, even passively.

In 2010, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued an official position on photography of federal buildings in response to complaints that photographers were receiving conflicting information please download the bulletin released by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on August 2, 2010.  The NPAA has done extensive work to define, defend, and preserve the rights of photographers of all levels.  To learn more about the NPPA and its advocacy work, please visit their blog.

Photographers may also wish to download The Photographers Right, a flyer explaining the rights of a photographer when stopped or confronted for photography, and keep a copy in their camera bag.

Hopefully these documents will help all photographers to better understand their rights when in certain situations.

- Angela Kleis

The Antarctica Project

 One of the places on Earth where I've always wanted to go is Antarctica.  I've never been anywhere that cold, that windy, or that full of penguins.  Sure, I could take an Antarctic cruise, but that's barely going to get me off the boat.  Alas, the entire continent is protected, thanks to the Antarctic Treaty signed in 1959, so it's not like I can find a flight - there aren't any.

 

Now, I could take some advice from photographer Gaston Lacombe and apply for an Antarctic residency.  He traveled to Esperanza, the Argentine scientific base in Antarctica, from January to March 2012 as an Artist-in-Residence.  When I saw that he, along with Argentine artist Andrea Juan, were showing work created during their stay in The Antarctica Project, Boston University Center for Digital Imaging Arts (CDIA)'s FotoWeekDC exhibit, I immediately got in touch with him to talk about his photographic adventure to the Antarctic peninsula.  And, about all the penguins.

 

Antarctica is a protected nature reserve so everything brought onto the continent must be inspected and no rocks or animals may be disturbed.  Leaving the base is extremely dangerous due to the tendency of the weather to change very quickly, and the perimeter is marked with chains and signs to help keep anyone from travelling too far.  Their closest neighbors are Adélie penguins.  About 250,000 of them, including babies. "It was the most adorable thing I've ever seen in the world", Lacombe described.  #squee

An Adélie penguin glides in freshly fallen snow, at the Esperanza Base in Antarctica. Photograph by Gaston Lacombe.

 

The Adélie penguins are small, standing only about two feet tall, and differ from Emperor penguins in that they are only black and white.  You can't hug them - I asked.  They return to their breeding grounds in the summer, which runs from November through March, to lay eggs and raise their ridiculously cute babies, and then return to the sea ice. While on land, the penguins follow specific roads to and from the water, and they are color-coded:  pink from the colony to the sea and brown from the sea back to the colony. The brown color is dirt and mud, but the pink?  That's penguin poop.  From eating all the shrimp.  And, it can be seen from space.

Lacombe shot over 20,000 photographs of the penguins and other Antarctic life such as birds, seals, sea lions, and algae.  He approached this exhibit searching for life and color in an otherwise stark, barren landscape in a harsh white climate.  Along with the penguin roads, the ice may be colored red or green by algae blooms.  Juan, an installation artists, brightened the landscape with brilliantly-colored fabrics that appear superimposed on the white background.  Her photographs of these installations offer a philosophical look at how the continent might change as a result of climate change, bringing new organisms and resculpting the terrain.

Obviously, the trip had its share of obstacles along the way.  The gargantuan task of editing 20,000 photos was made even more difficult by a broken computer, damaged during the week of travel to the Esperanza Base.  Lacombe and Juan could only take what they could carry, and that included photographic equipment, computers, and Juan's installation materials, along with their regular travel items like clothing and other sundries.  When asked if he'd always wanted to visit Antarctica, Lacombe responded with, "I've always wanted to go everywhere." And that includes returning to Antarctica at some point.

On Sunday, I attended Lacombe and Juan's lecture on The Antarctica Project and their work on the base as part of the FotoWeekDC festival.  In addition to his photographs, Lacombe produced a 30-minute documentary film on the human element in Antarctica (people live there, but not for more than a year at a time).  If you can imagine the adorableness of baby penguins learning to swim for the first time, well, he caught that, too. 

 

The Antarctica Project with work from both Gaston Lacombe and Andrea Juan is on exhibit at now CDIA in Georgetown. 

-Angela

Gearing up for FotoWeekDC

Friday marks the opening of the fifth annual FotoWeekDC festival in Washington, D.C., bringing nine days packed with events, exhibits, workshops, and seminars dedicated to the art of photography.  This year, FotoWeekCentral, the location of ten full-scale exhibits including the winners of the International Awards Competition, Youth Photo Contest Winners, FotoBooks, and more, is centrally-located downtown in the Warner Building at 1299 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.  In addition to the official FotoWeekDC exhbits and events, many FotoPartners are participating with their own work.  Take a look through the Events Listings to plan your own week-long celebration of photography and discover new work, artists, techniques, skills, and opportunities throughout the city.

-Angela

Conversations with Photographers

Photography is, well, visual.  Except when it's not. 

 

Patrick Onofre's podcast series transforms photography from visual storytelling to audial expression through casual conversations.  Since the start of 2012, Patrick has produced a weekly podcast which provides photographers a unique platform to talk more about their work, projects, vision, challenges, and influences in an easy, informal setting.  The list, currently totalling 41, features both familiar faces and new ones, making it easy to discover new artists and learn more about the ones you may already know.  A photographer himself, Patrick guides the conversation through common-ground topics and interests using specific examples from the photographer's portfolio, making it obvious he's come prepared and has a genuine interest in the work of each one.

 

Last night, I had the opportunity to meet with Patrick about my own work, how I got started, and how, even after more than twenty years, I still forget to change the batteries (or carry extras) and mess up the exposure.  It was a lot of fun and a lot less intimidating than I had prepared myself for, and I look forward to all of his future episodes (I haven't had a chance to listen to it, yet - it's 84 minutes long!).

 

All of the podcast episodes are available for free download from iTunes, or you can listen online via Stitcher Radio (just follow the link on each podcast from his website).

 

- Angela

Chrome

Whether it's describing black and white film or color slides, the word "chrome" is predominant in photography.  My curiosity of word origins and meanings lead me down a rabbit hole to learn more about how the word chrome became ingrained in so many areas of photography, particularly because of its duo-role in both black and white and color films.

 

Film rolls. Photograph by taliesin. Source: MorgueFile.com

 

There are several types of black and white film, orthochromatic and panchromatic, for example, that describe the wavelength at which the emulsion is light sensitive.  However, the names of many color slide films also carry the term, including Ektachrome, Fujichrome, and Kodachrome, as does the process of developing them, called chromogenic.  Single-colored images are referred to as monochromes, including black and white photos, and color slides are commonly called chromes.  Ilfochrome, originally called Cibachrome, is a direct-printing process for color slides or transparencies that forms the image via a dye-destruction process without using an internegative.  And, the element chromium is present as a hardening agent in gelatin emulsions in black and white (silver gelatin) film and several non-silver processes such as gum bichromate that takes advantage of the light-sensitive properties of dichromates, usually potassium bichromate. 

 

It turns out, "chrome" is derived from chroma, the Greek word for color, which also lends itself to chromium, thanks to its intensely-colored compounds. 

 

Now you know, too.

 

-Angela

Cameras & Cold Weather

Snow. Photograph by Angela Kleis.

Last week while on vacation in New England and Canada, I was inadvertently reminded how cold weather affects cameras and film, specifically instant film.  While it wasn't actually winter-level cold (I think it only dropped into the 40s at night), the temperature difference was enough to ruin some film. 

 

I was on a road trip, staying at a different place each night, and usually arriving pretty late.  Rather than hauling all of my bags to the room at night, the bag containing the film stayed in the trunk of the car.  The problem showed up when shooting instant film in the Polaroid the following day; the film simply didn't want to develop and the pictures were all light, faded, and, well, underdeveloped.  Even though I timed them according to the air temperature, I didn't realize that the film had been affected by the cold nightime temperatures and needed longer to fully develop until I forgot that I was counting and several minutes passed.  When I peeled apart the picture, I was certain it would be dark, though it turned out perfectly.  That's when I realized what had happened and altered my developing time accordingly.

 

Even though it's only early October, I wanted to offer some suggestions for protecting your camera gear and film from the cold temperatures to come:

 

Batteries:  Cold temperatures drain batteries, so don't leave them in a cold car. Even a cold day of shooting will drain batteries, so carry extras in your coat pockets or close to your body, if possible, to help shield them from the low temps (and, store dead batteries there, too). When recharging batteries, be sure to get a full charge.  Those fancy DSLRs have a large power draw, so turning off unnecessary features and even turning off the camera when not in use will help conserve battery power, as well.  When not in use, remove the battery altogether and keep in a moderately warm place.

 

Condensation:  Just like with hot summer temps, cold weather brings this major annoyance to camera lenses everywhere.  The problem not only affects lenses but sensitive camera electronic components, as well.  When possible, allow the camera time to adjust to the temperature change slowly to minimize or prevent condensation from forming.  Follow the same tips for preventing summer condensation.  If condensation does form, remove the battery and allow the gear to dry out before using or taking back out into cold temps, as the condensation could freeze with disastrous results.

 

Wet Weather:  Snow, sleet, and freezing rain can all damage camera gear.  Use a clean, soft cloth to wipe away moisture as often as possible before it penetrates seals or has a chance to freeze. 

 

I hope these help!  If you have additional suggestions or tips for protecting gear from winter weather, please let us know in the comments.

 

Angela

Exposure Stops

Concepts and terms are often used without really understanding their meaning, and photography is no different.  My knowledge and understanding of photography have come through experience and practice, not necessarily by studying or research, though that has increased since I began writing these posts three years ago.  One term I have used a lot in the past two posts is one that, if asked to explain it before a couple of weeks ago, I probably couldn't. 

 

A "stop" is a standard measurement of exposure and refers to the doubling or halving of light.  The camera's shutter speed and aperture diameter are both designed on this principle, as is film speed (ISO), which was discussed last week. 

 

Shutter speed is the amount of time, measured in seconds, that the the shutter remains open during a shot.  Doubling or halving the shutter speed results in an increase or decrease of 1 stop of exposure.  For example, changing the speed from 1/125 to 1/60 lets in twice as much light, increasing the exposure by one stop.  Going in the other direction from 1/30 to 1/60 cuts the amount of light by half, decreasing the exposureby one stop. 

 

Aperture, or f-stop, is a ratio that describes the diameter of the shutter when it opens.  The smaller the f-stop, the wider it opens, letting in more light (the phrase "wide open" usually refers to the lowest f-stop available, usually f/1.4 or f/1.2).  Understanding the f-stop scale involves a little math and is based on the powers of the square root of 2, which is 1.41, and a little rounding.  For example, going from f/1.4 to f/2 decreases by one stop because 1.4 x 1.41 = 1.9, which rounds to 2.  Going in the other direction, changing from f/16 to f/22 increases by one stop since 22 ÷ 1.41 = 15.6, which rounds to 16.  The rounding is there to help simplify the scale, and I appreciate that! 

 

With film speed and digital sensors, the ISO values represent the sensitivity of the substrate to light.  Higher ISO values are more light-sensitive and require less time for proper exposure while lower ISO values require much more time under the same conditions.  The numbers in this scale are conveniently simple with each doubling or halving equal to one stop.  ISO 200 is twice as sensitive than ISO 100 and half as sensitive as ISO 400. 

 

I hope this helps in your understanding of exposure stops.  In a few weeks, we'll take a look at how they all work together.

 

-Angela

Push and Pull Processing

Film can be flexible and forgiving in many situations, even when the camera is set to the wrong ISO and the film is not properly exposed.  Sometimes, a photographer will find themselves in a situation that requires a high-speed film for low-light events and all that's available is film best used on a sunny day.  Mistakes happen and there are ways to work around them by adjusting the time of development using two methods referred to as Push Processing and Pull Processing. 

 

Push Processing attempts to correct an underexposed roll of film by overdeveloping, either because the film was improperly exposed (the camera was set to the wrong ISO) or when a lower speed film was used in low lighting conditions (ISO 800 rather than ISO 1600, for example).  With mistakes, there's no going back, however when deliberately underexposing a roll of film, there are a factors to keep in mind.  Underexposing the film causes a loss of detail in the darker shadow areas of the image while preserving detail in the mid-tones and highlights, and overdeveloping increases the contrast and grain that can affect overall image quality.  Together, this can result in highly-contrasted images and grain, good in some causes but less than ideal in others.  To get around this, expose the film for the shadow areas.

 

Pull Processing helps correct overexposed film by underdeveloping it.  This option is generally used to correct for accidental overexposure (forgetting to set the camera's manual ISO setting), to reduce grain, or to compensate for high-contrast lighting to control shadow detail.  By contrast to push processing (pun intended), overexposing the film causes highlights to blow out and lose detail.  Underdeveloping adjusts for this by preserving detail in these lighter areas and decreasing the grain in the shadows and darker areas of the image. 

 

Since situations, film, developers, exposure, and photographers are all variable factors, push and pull processing guidelines are offered as starting points, only, and differ by film manufacturer and other published data tables.  A general guideline to establish a starting point is to underexpose by 1 stop and overdevelop by 1 stop.  Kodak recommends to increase the development time by 2 minutes for each stop of underexposure (pull processing) and to decrease the development time by 1 minute for each stop of overexposure (push processing).  Digital Truth offers factors by which the normal development time should be increased for each exposure stop. 

 

Before attempting push or pull processing, be sure to check with the film manufacturer for recommendations. And, remember that push or pull processing affects the entire roll of film even if some frames were exposed properly. 

 

-Angela

Film Speed Scale (aka ISO)

A film's speed refers to its sensitivity to light and is indicated by a value based on a standardized scale.  The establishment of the current ISO (International Standards for Organization) film speed system is the result of several evolutions of sensitivity scales invented since photography's earliest days to measure and standardize the characteristics of a film's light-sensitive emulsion.

The first scale used a series of highly-pigmented squares which expressed sensitivity in degrees, known as the Warnerke system, named after Polish inventor Leon Warnerke.  As new emulsions and light sources were developed, new systems of measuring emulsion sensitivity were created.  Most involved mathematical formulas based on logarithmic scales derived from the minimum exposure required to produce a visible darkening of the emulsion when developed.

 

In the 1930s, Weston Electrical Instrument Corporation and General Electric introduced film rating systems, both of which applied to the photo-electric exposure meters they manufactured.  These two systems led to the development of the ASA (American Standards Association, now ANSI) scale, which established both an arithmetic speed scale and logarithmic grades of film sensitivity representing the doubling of a film's speed with each full exposure stop.

 

Also established during this time was the DIN scale, a German logarithmic measurement of sensitometry, which used a base 10 logarithm multiplied by 10, and expressed in degrees.  According to the DIN scale, a 3-degree (3°) increase doubles the film's light sensitivity.

 

In 1974, both the ASA and DIN systems were combined to form the current ISO standard, which defines scales for speeds of black and white (ISO 6), color negative (ISO 5800), and color reversal (slide) film (ISO 2240) using the arithmetic and logarithmic scale combination.  The ASA's arithmetic scale corresponds to a doubling of film sensitivity by a doubling of the film speed number value (on the box and film canister).  The logarithmic scale of the DIN system also indicates an emulsion's light sensitivity, is expressed in degrees, and often accompanies the ISO rating (and, has nothing to do with temperature).  The two scales are expressed together as follows for a film with a speed rated at ISO 100:  100/21° (ASA/DIN)

 

Comparing films of different speeds, we can see how the scales work together and represent two historical methods of measuring the light-sensitivity of photographic emulsions:   50/18°  versus  100/21°  versus  200/24°  versus 400/27°  (the arithmetic value doubles as the logarithmic scale increases by a factor of 3 to indicate a film's speed).

If this concept seems overwhelming and cumbersome and difficult to absorb, think about it this way:  just as we use measurement systems to quantify weight (ounces, pounds, grams), volume (pints, gallons, liters), distance and length (inches, miles, meters), temperature (celcius, Farenheit), and even time (seconds, minutes, hours), the film speed scale offers a standard way to express the light sensitivity of photographic emulsion so we can properly exposure our film for beautiful pictures. 

-Angela

Hipstamatic

Although I've never used it myself, I am familiar with Hipstamatic through photos posted by my friends on social media.  Like last week, I wanted to learn more about the actual film processes behind each of the app's effects.  And, like with Instagram last week, I didn't have to look far or actually research anything myself. (Phew!)

This handy Hipstamatic Field Guide details all the lenses, "film", flash, and effects bundles (aka HipstaPaks) at your disposal. 

Photojojo, PuglyPixel, and iPhoneography both have charts showing lens and film combinations used on the same image, helpful for finding the types of effects you may wish to use on your own photos (there are so many choices!).  Schmutzie has taken it a step further and broken down each of Hipstamatic's "film", lens, and pak options in separate categories. 

I am a little disappointed that I was unable to learn about the actual film processes which inspired each of the effects, but I am confident that I can duplicate each of them using film, lens, and camera combinations.  If I had the time, it would be a fun project.

 

-Angela