Fun in the Snowstorm

by Miserere


I was very envious of Yvon the other day, driving around the snow taking pictures, so I decided I wouldn't be left behind in the snow picture-taking department. Of course, I was missing a few a things. There are no deserts around Boston, I don't have a fancy red jeep, and my wife just laughed at me when I asked her to come take photos with me in the cold. Oh, and there was no snow. That last one really foiled my plans.

As luck would have it, the same storm that dumped a few inches of snow in the Mojave Desert kept working its way across the United States and eventually made it to Boston last Friday, December 19. It started snowing around 13:00 and by the time I left work to head home a little before 18:00 we had several inches of snow. The worst part was that it was still snowing and the wind was blowing quite fiercely, making me wish I had snow goggles.

I'm not one to turn down a photo opportunity, so I bundled up, put my K10D inside my jacket, and went outside. Taking pictures was tricky because I had to keep snow from blowing onto the front of the lens...and my fingers from freezing. I was using an old manual-focus Kiron 24mm f/2, so focusing was also challenging. Most of the time I just kept the lens at the hyperfocal setting or guessed the focusing distance. Have I ever mentioned how much I enjoy using old lenses?

Here are a few photos taken during my trek home. You'll be happy to know that I didn't lose any fingers in the process and the K10D performed admirably. Note the snow flying sideways!

Thanks for reading.

Miserere

Using multiple exposures on the K10D instead of neutral density filters

Both pictures were taken with multi-exposures. I recall 5 multi-exposures for the top picture and nine for the one above. The greater number of exposures, the blurrier the moving portion of your picture are, in this case...the water.

I read all kind of questions on various forums and blogs about using neutral density filters. The use of neutral density filters can diminish the light reaching the sensor, and in turn, allowing a slower shutter speed during bright daylight. I assume that you know why this is useful, but here is a brief scenario. It’s mid-afternoon with the sun directly above the scene. The scene is of a water fall or of water rushing in a river. You want to capture the water with a slow shutter speed so that it will have that soft velvety look to it. In order to do that, you need a slow shutter speed of around 1 second to 1/30th of a second, depending of the speed at which the water is flowing. At such a slow shutter speed, even with smallest aperture, it often is still too bright to capture the photograph. What do you do? Well the common answer is to use one or more neutral density filters. A polarizing filter also helps. That creates another problem. You have several lenses with different filter sizes. Your current lens has a 77mm filter size and you just don’t have the money to spend on several 77mm neutral density filters that may only be used once-in-a-while.

Again, the top picture was taken with 5 multi-exposures and the one above with 9.

If you are lucky, you have a Pentax K10D with multiple exposures (up to nine exposures to be exact). You don’t need any neutral density filters to take the same type of photographs. You don’t even need to shoot at slow speed. You can use whatever aperture you like. You will however still need to use a tripod, just as you would have with a 1/10th of a second or longer shot. How’s that possible?

Well it’s simple. You set your K10D for multiple exposure (I use at least five exposures) and also allow the camera to automatically adjust the EV. It’s best to use a remote control, wired or wireless, they both work fine). That’s because you don’t want the camera to move from one take to another. You press the shutter release once, and then a second time, and so on until you have taken the five shots or the number of shots you have chosen. Everything in the image that was not moving is crystal clear. Everything that was moving multiple images of it impregnated on the overall shot. The flowing water now has that smooth velvety appearance, all without using neutral density filters.

This picture captured in Yosemite National Park shows the velvety effect. It was shot with the Pentax K10D using the multi-exposure method. I believe I used 9 exposures here.



Do not confuse the multi-exposure method with the panning method. Multi-exposure will not work as it takes too much time between each exposure.

Here’s how to set your camera. Press the menu button. Go to page 2/2 of the Rec. Mode menu. Using the four-way controller, move the cursor down to multi-exposure and then right. Now move the cursor down to the number of exposures you want. Press the OK button. Next, go down to Auto EV adjust and move the cursor right until it is checked. Press the OK button twice and you are ready to go.

P.S. Recently, other photographers have discovered that better results (less noise) were achieved in taking pictures at night or dark scene by taking multiple exposures of the same scene rather than using higher ISO. The results are debatable, however, try it for yourself and you be the judge.

This is the basis of the multiple-exposure mode:

Multi-Exposure Mode

The Multi-Exposure Mode is the old double exposure or multiple exposures tech­nique used in the film cameras era, when there was no Photoshop® with layers to work with. Essentially, it is a creative tool allowing stacking up to nine images on the same frame or file. Using a tripod for instance, you can have a person move up to nine times within the viewable area of your image and at the end; it will look like the same person is at 9 different positions within the picture, although they would appear like ghosts. With double exposures, a person could mimic having a twin with him or her in the picture, etc. In the old days, you had to calculate the exposure for the total number of exposures, and for the most part, it never worked properly. Kids will love the effects of them being in the same picture several times. You can put a moon in the night sky, enlarged by a zoom lens if you want, over a City or landscape or whatever, giving the impression of a large rising moon.



This picture of my daughter was achieved with two exposures. One of her with a prime lens and the other with a telephoto, while I remembered where to put the moon.

It’s a creative tool and as a creative tool, it’s only limited by your imagination. It’s nice to know that you have that option already imbedded in the electronics of the camera. While taking the multiple exposures, each frame will be displayed temporarily on the LCD monitor showing the combined results. If you don’t like one of the frames, press the Erase button and that frame will be discarded. Once the pre-selected number of frames is reached, it will be saved as one picture. Try it, it’s a lot of fun and you may be surprised by some of the results, all without using post-processing.

Thank you for reading,


Yvon Bourque

Pentax announcement of the K10D replacement.

If you are in Digital Photography and haven’t heard of the following, you must be dead or from another planet.

Last week, Nikon announced a new DSLR, the D300, that will be in direct competition with whatever model Pentax replaces the current K10D with. Just a while before, Canon announced the EOS 40D. The Nikon will have a new 12.3 megapixels DX-Format CMOS Sensor, a 3” color monitor, live view shooting and an astounding 51 points autofocus system. Canon new EOS 40D has a 10.1 megapixels APS-C Format CMOS Sensor, 9 points autofocus, a 3” monitor and has live shooting modes as well. Nikon will undoubtedly step ahead of Canon in sales lead with this camera. Both cameras will have little or no noise at high ISO.

Being a diehard Pentax fan, I can’t deny my envy. I was hoping for an announcement from Pentax, and indeed, they did have an announcement. They announced that the long awaited 645 Digital was no longer a priority for Pentax. In this fast changing digital world, “no longer a priority” simply means that it will never be a reality. I am sad to hear that.

So, we just have to wait for Pentax introduction of the replacement for the K10D. I have a suspicion that they will have a new sensor as well, (hopefully full size and in the neighborhood of 12 megapixels), the live view has been a rumor for quite a while, the 3” monitor will likely be available and the number of AF points is okay the way it is with 11 points autofocus with 9 being cross-type. The Nikon D300 and the Canon EOS 40D will be selling around $1,500.00. I anticipate that the new Pentax will be less expensive. Mister Hoya-Pentax, please don’t make a fool out of me.

Just for fun, I altered the K10D with PhotoShop with what I would like it to be. THIS IS NOT REAL. My version has an 18 megapixels full frame CMOS sensor, a 3” color monitor that can be rotated in all positions and has live view shooting. A maximum ISO of 1600 with little or no noise is attainable. All of the important controls, Aperture, Shutter Speed, ISO, AF point selection, Raw button, Exposure bracket, Shake reduction and more, are accessible through buttons or switches instead of cumbersome menus. Hey…some of these advanced features already exist on the K10D. Could the K10D be ahead with some features? Watch for its replacement, it should be interesting. I do think that my K10D will serve me good for quite a while.

I hope that in the weeks to come, Pentax will once again surprise everyone with a new and pleasant bombshell.

Remember that the camera is just a tool. It's the person behind the viewfinder that counts. Ansel Adams took some pictures that are still astounding today, with "old school" equipment. Can you imagine what he would have done with the digital technology? If you don't know who Ansel Adams is, it's like saying that you never heard of the Beatles!

Yvon Bourque

Take your time and get it right to begin with.

A little while back, Anne and I took a few days off and drove to Sequoia National Park for a retreat away of the daily grind. We rented a small primitive cabin with no phone and no TV. Our cell phones were also out of range. Of course, we did have our Pentax K10D and a few lenses and tripod. The idea was to get away and spend some time with Mother Nature.

We got up early the first morning and headed toward the park. The giant sequoia trees are found scattered, mostly along the west slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, between elevations of 5,000 and 7,000 feet. We got to the top about twenty minutes after sunrise. Morning mist and fog were present all around us. We took advantage of the situation and took many pictures. In some areas, the sun was piercing through the thick fog, and projecting rays of light. The atmosphere was almost magical. Of course, with pictures, you can capture the visual, but the birds chirping, the wind whistling through the trees, the smell of fresh mountain air cannot be expressed with any pictures. For us, every time we look at the photographs, we hear the sound and we smell the smell in our minds.

The lenses used were the Pentax DA 16–45mm and the DA 18-55mm. All photos were taken with the camera mounted on mu Giottos tripod. I know …the Pentax SR system allows you to take hand-held pictures at low speed without blur. But, if you have the time, always use a tripod. Not only does it produce clear pictures, but it allows you to scan the scene while the camera is stationary. I find that the composition is less spontaneous that way, which is a good thing with landscape photography. Why rush?

We did the same trek two days in a row and brought home many memorable pictures. It’s tempting with digital cameras to take hundreds and hundreds of pictures, without taking the time to compose. The law of average certainly produces at least one good shot for every 100 clicks. The problem with that is that you don’t learn the fundamentals of photography and it is also a lot of pictures to edit once back home. Why not take the time to get the best possible pictures to begin with. Keep the machine gun shooting for sport photography.