MENTORS

Everyone needs someone to critically evaluate their work.  In effect, everyone needs an editor or someone who can look at your images with fresh eyes. This is due to several reasons.  We all tend to get in a rut where we make the same mistakes over and over. I see this from photographers who only shoot landscape or just portrait orientation.  It can be something we do such as chronically making the white balance too warm or saturation too high on our galleries.  On the other hand, it may be something we omit such as the failure to include jube shots or emotional shots of the coaches or fans.  Your eyes may lock on the compelling action in an image and fail to notice that you are not paying enough attention to the cluttered backgrounds.  Mentors can be hugely helpful in these cases.

The role of mentor is not to be taken lightly.  To do this properly, time is required to really look at your photos in detail.  Then the mentor must be willing to take the time and effort required to offer a detailed critique.  When I say critique, understand that I'm not referring to criticism alone.  A proper evaluation should include the positive aspects as well as the negative.  We all have egos and an unrelenting barrage of complaints won't be helpful for long.  This is something to remember when you are mentoring as well as being mentored.  There is an old rule of thumb that says when critiquing, one should start with two things you like about the image(s) before starting in on the items to improve upon for the next shoot.  Ideally, this should be someone with a breadth of experience.  

Where can you get one of these people who will offer their time and expertise for no money?  Surprisingly, there are lots of folks who will do this in the photography community but it may require the establishment of a relationship before you can expect significant help.  There are likely many professional or skilled non-professional photographers in your community.  Do you know any of them personally?  If so, I'd start there.  If not, do you know an experienced employee at a photography store?  How about an editor at the local paper?   Perhaps a person at the high school who edits the yearbook or paper?  I've had the privilege of getting to know several highly skilled photographers just by taking the time to introduce myself at high school events where both of us are shooting.  When you meet and greet a photog for the third or fourth time,  it becomes much easier to engage in a conversation about the art and science of sports photography.  

My mentor is Mike "Chico" LaBarbera.  We became best friends in 9th grade (46 years ago) and he is the one who encouraged me to start sports photography.  I cringe when I think of how terrible my early images actually were and how wonderful I thought they were!  Fortunately, Mike was patient and he knew how to suggest just one or two improvements at a time and he was skilled in suggesting things that were appropriate to my skill level.  We only see each other in person about once or twice per year.  We talk photography once or twice per week and Mike evaluates my images on zenfolio several times per month.  That is enormously useful.

The electronic age offers its own opportunities for growth.  Photography forums are very helpful.  Personally, my current favorite is

photography-on-the.net/forum/  

also known as the Canon forum.  There is a photo sharing forum for sports where you can post images and get feedback.  The critiques can sometimes be harsh but the proper attitude to take is that even an unfairly negative evaluation can contain useful information for future events.  It won't take long before you know who is talented and who is a poseur.  There are incredibly talented folks who post there (and other forums too) and I'm always pleasantly surprised by how these gifted photographers are willing to share their insights.  

This is the best time in the history of mankind to learn photography.  Dive in.  Join the party.  The technology is incredible.  Use it to realize your photographic vision.  Have a mentor help guide your journey.  Make it your task of tasks to do it now.

Phil Zivnuska

Spray and Pray

Burst shooting is a valid photographic technique.  Which one of the following images would you have captured using a one shot technique?

Depth of Field--A Different View

Many photographers have a very limited understanding of depth of field.  That understanding is often limited to the notion that larger apertures (smaller aperture numbers) are associated with a small depth of field.  That's useful to clean up distracting backgrounds but there's more the action photographer should know.  The focal length of the lens has a huge role in determining the depth of field and that fact is both useful and often unappreciated.  

First, let's consider the typical situation, long focal length (300mm) and large (f/2.8) aperture.  Here the combination produces a creamy background that makes the player pop off the page.  

But what if you want the other effect?  A large depth of field.

This is exactly the situation I was in two weeks ago.  My goal was to capture basketball players on the court and include the overhead scoreboard.  Both needed to be in focus.  My mentor Mike 'Chico' LaBarbera was visiting from Eau Claire, Wisconsin and he was using my 1D X and the 70-200mm f/2.8 IS II.  That left me using the 1D IV with a 24-70mm f/2.8 II.  My buddy Mark Weaver had strobe lights set up but wasn't using them for this tournament game.  This gave me control over the two key factors--Aperture and Focal Length.  The first thing I did was to zoom to the wide (short focal length) end of the lens, 24mm.  Then because I was using the stobes, a small aperture was chosen, f/8.0, with only a modest increase in ISO to 640.  I pre-focused on the backboard, about 12 feet away.

Small apertures and short focal lengths = large Depth Of Field.  So, how large is that DOF?

There is a handy DOF calculator on the internet.

www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

Plugging in the values of 1D Mark IV, 24mm, f/8.0, and 12 feet yielded the DOF.

Everything from five and a half feet to infinity was going to be in focus!  

Because the DOF was going to be quite large, I modified my technique to take advantage.  I always use back button focus so once I pre-focused on the back board, I just avoided the back button and my focus would remain fixed at about 12 feet.  There was no need to worry about focusing because everything was going to be in focus.  The camera was set on the ground for visual effect and because the focal length was so wide, aiming merely consisted of pointing the camera toward the area of action with a slight upward tilt.  No looking through the viewfinder.  No focus tracking.  Just rough aiming 'from the hip'.  Not even from the hip since the camera was literally on the ground.

Here is the result.

The Garden City Buffaloes beat the defense downcourt and seal the win.

How far can you take these principles?  Well, if you want to show three wrestlers and the arena where the state championships are held, you can shoot at 12mm (fisheye) and f/5.0 from 5 feet to get a DOF that extends from 27 inches to infinity.  The arena, the crowd and these three top wrestlers are all part of the story.

Let's take a closer look at the role of the lens focal length in depth of field.  Consider the case where a photographer is using a Canon 7D to photograph sports and that he is at f/8.0 at a distance of 12 feet.  I've been alluding to the fact that focal length is important in calculating DOF.  Let's check the DOF at 24mm and at 200mm under those conditions.

24mm focal length       DOF = 286 Feet       From 6 ft to 292 ft.

200mm focal length     DOF =  4 Inches!     Just 12 feet  +/- 2 inches 

Consider focal length before aperture as you plan your depth of field.

Put the depth of field calculator and the principles of DOF to work in your images for your purposes.  The focal length of the lens is a key aspect of that calculation.

Phil Zivnuska

PS  Don't forget that you can often pre-focus and shoot "From the Hip" when necessary at those wide focal lengths!  Think of how you might use this DOF information with a wide angle remote during the upcoming track season to obtain a memorable shot that average shooters won't think to get.