My photos in Daily Maverick

registration of refugees
Daily Maverick

My photos of the floods

Concern Universal shows the photos I made for them of the floods here in Malawi.
https://concern-universal.org/re-write/international-aid/malawi-flooding-pictures/

Slow sync flash

Sheckly, photo 1

photo 2

In dark situations, you need a slow shutter speed to get enough exposure. (You also will use a wide aperture and high ISO setting to increase exposure). Also you often add light with the flash. But when you turn on the flash with an automatic setting on your camera, usually the camera goes no slower than 1/60s. In many cases that is not enough to get exposure from the background. For this, many cameras have a ”night photo” setting. Usually it has an icon of a building with a moon and/or star above it. This setting combines flash with a slow shutter speed. What happens is: things close to the camera receive flash, but the flash falls off quickly as distance increases, so the background does not receive flash. But if there are lights in the background, they can get exposure, because of the slow shutter speed. I never use this automated setting, I prefer to set the shutter speed manually. Those parts of the subject that are in the dark receive only flash, so they will be lit only very short, which means they will not render motion blur or camera shake. But the lights will be exposing for the full duration of the open shutter.

photo 3

I photographed model Sheckly in the night club Mustang Sally here in Blantyre. Thank you for posing, Sheckly. They have nice laser lights that move and flash and change colour and all that, exactly what you need for crazy effects of this kind. When the shutter stays open for, say, 1 second, the moving lights record as streaks in the image.

photo 4

In photo 1 you see Sheckly sharp, she received flash. On her face you see streaks of light. These green lights are small dots in reality, but because the shutter was open for a second, and they moved during that second, they become lines. In the background you see lights with similar shapes, which is probably camera shake, they all get the same shape lines because that is how I moved the camera in the second the shutter was open.

Photo 2 is a variation on this. In this case the red lines are laser lights moving by themselves. The strong coloured lights on top and at shoulder height are stationary lights, their streaks are caused by camera shake.

In photo 3 and 4 I used a shutter speed of 5 seconds. Here you see Sheckly sharp because she was lit by the short duration of the flash, and during the five seconds I deliberately moved the camera in a weird way to creates streaks of light. You see the lights in weird lines. Different types of camera

photo 5

movement create different types of lines. This is a bit of a hit and miss affair, you see that in photo 5. This photo it went wrong, I misjudged what would happen, and the lights are covering up Sheckly’s face in a weird way. Only good for humour, and here it is not even that great of a joke. Just to show you that it can go awfully wrong. So make a lot of photos when you use this technique, and your chances of being lucky get better.

Wild life

This morning I found some wildlife in my hallway: a scorpion. Being a photographer, I rushed to get my close up equipment ready, while my wife watched the wild life, in case it would move around.

scorpion 1

The first thing you notice, technically, in a macro photo is the limited depth of field: shallow focus. The depth of field depends on two things: the aperture, and the size of depiction. The smaller the aperture (higher f number) the deeper the focus. That is a simple camera setting. The only restriction is that a small aperture needs a lot of light. In this case I used bounce flash, so I had light, but it is limited. I used f8.
The size of depiction is determined by the lens, in this case a tele lens of 200mm. That gives big depiction, so shallow focus. The other way to change the size of depiction is going closer to the subject. I used a close up attachment on the lens to go close,

scorpion 2

so I could show the small scorpion big in the photo. I was about 20 cm from the scorpion. This also gives shallow focus. Put together the focus becomes very shallow. I focussed on what I presume is the face of the scorpion, and the result is that the tail and fangs are out of focus. There are two possible solutions: smaller aperture, but there my flash could not cope. The other is to choose an angle that you do not need deep focus. In photo 2 I photographed straight down on the

scorpion 3

scorpion. Now most of it is at the same distance from the lens, and it is all in focus. You can see a lot of detail. But from so high up it does not look menacing, it looks like a small creature (which it actually is!). I want it to look dangerous so I should be at the same height as it. (Lower would be nice but there is the floor, so that does not go). For photo 3 the scorpion decided to move from the brown tiles to the green floor next to the cupboard. Now I photographed it from the side, so most of it is at more or less the same distance from the lens. I focussed where I presume the eyes are. You see the legs close to the camera out of focus, and the fangs are also not tack sharp. But the sting on the tail is, and that is where the danger is. I am only slightly above it, so this one looks dangerous. The first one has the advantage of facing me, But this one shows more detail, and looks also scary.
After the photo session I put a glass over it, and moved it to the garden where I set it free.

the zoom lens and perspective (again!)

camera about 75 cm from the model's face, zoom at 17mm

I have written about the zoom lens before. Today I return to the subject, because the use of perspective is essential for the rendition of your subject. Very basically speaking: when you zoom out, and go close, you get depth in a photo with large and small: those elements close to the lens appear big, those further from the lens appear small. This can give very dynamic photos, and I use it frequently. Once on assignment in Zambia, the man from the project I was photographing said: you go close to yur subject, don't you? I thought for a moment and I realised it was true. I did not think about that very much, I just created the image in my viewfinder. When you go close and zoom out, the viewer also feels close to the subject, and that draws him in. So for reportage, if you want a subjective feel, a feel that the viewer is on the spot himself, it can be good to go real close.

On the other hand wide angles' distortion can be unpleasant. The opposite is true when you zoom in and take distance: the parts of your subject further fromteh camera don't seem so much smaller than the ones closer to the camera: the perspective is compressed. If you want depth when zoomed in, usually your best option is to open up the aperture, and use selective focus: only the distance from the camera you focus on becomes sharp, everything closer or further becomes unsharp.
Today I got Tinashe to model for me. Thank you Tinashe. (by the way, if you need a great wedding cake in Malawi, contact her, her cakes are delicious and beautiful! https://www.facebook.com/alinafetinashe.kanjanani)

So when you are close and zoomed out the part of your subject close to the camera appears bigger,

the part further from the camera appears smaller. When photographing people, it is often best to keep the camera at eye level, so the viewer will identify with the subject. If you are close and have the camera at your model's eye level, you look down on the legs, and because of for-shortening, they come out short. In most model photography that is not what you want.

camera about 10 meters from the model, zoom at 135mm

 For the next photo I moved back about 10 meters and with a telelens of 135 mm I got her to fill the whole photo. Again the camera is at her eye level. You see now, that her legs come out much longer, here we do justice to her natural beauty.

If you are in a confined space and have no option of moving back 10 meters, often the best compromise is to move back as far as you can, maybe have the model a bit closer to the back wall and hold the camera at her waist level. This is not as flattering for the face, as you look up and that way emphasize the chin, but it is much better for the legs than the camera at her eye level. In a full length photo the face is less important than the whole body, that's the point of a full length photo.

But nothing beats taking distance from your model to bring out the legs to their full potential.

The photos story 3: photo series

In the previous blog entry we looked into the photo reportage. This time we are looking at the photo series. The photo series is different from reportage. In reportage the photos follow the subject through time. In a series, time does not play a role. A number of connected subjects is photographed less or more in the same way. It can be people, or it can be different subjects. A very strict example of the photo series is the work of Bernd and Hilla Becher. You can find some of their work here:

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/becher-pitheads-t01922

http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/95

http://japanorama.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/image-by-bernd-and-hilla-becher-ii1.jpg

http://japanorama.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/becher001.jpg

You see that they specialized in industrial monuments, photographed in very much the same way. The subject totally fills the frame, the camera is precisely horizontal, the angle on the subject is the same, even the weather: it is always overcast. Because the photos are so similar, you are invited to compare the subjects, and see the similarities and differences.

In the photo series variation is usually less than in reportage or photo essay.

A less strict example of the photo series is here, a story by Thoko Chikondi about small scale vendors in Blantyre. They are photographed in a less strict way than the Bechers do, but still you see strong similarities.

A particular favorite of mine is the work of the Zimbabwean photographer Kudzanai Chiurai. Here he photographed the same model in the same way: from the waist up, camera below eye level, with the same background, only the model is dressed differently for each photo.

An example in my own work is this portrait series about the youth and the forest. A series of photos of young Malawians, with some way they benefit from the forest. Some are photographed closer, some a bit further off, but always the young person is the main subject.

The photo story 2: reportage

In a previous blog entry we have seen that the basic challenge with a photo story is the tension between coherence on one hand and variation on the other. We need coherence to give the reader the feeling that the photo story is one piece of art, not a random collection of photos. On the other hand we need enough variation to keep the interest of the viewer.

To create coherence, there are three basic forms used to construct the photo story. Many photo stories do not follow any of the three to the letter, but most successful photo stories do fall in one of the three categories, more or less. Once you understand these ways of thinking, variations will come to mind when you are creating a photo story.

The three basic forms are:

1. Reportage: the story follows the subject through time. Most wedding photography follows this form: the bride dresses up, goes to the church, the officiation, the posed photos in the garden, the reception from beginning to end. Also this form is used commonly in photojournalism
2.  Photo series: in  photo series time plays no role, but a number of similar photos are juxtaposed. Often the style of every photo is the same, but the subject different though related. For instance in a portrait series, we place a number of portraits of people who have something in common together. Then the viewer will see the similarities and differences between the subjects.
3. Photo essay: this form shows the subject in many different ways. Because there is not much formal coherence this form is not easy to hold together: if the style and subject of photos are not similar enough, the story may fall apart into separate photos that together do not feel as one work.

In this entry I will show a reportage. Later we will look into the other forms.

The reportage below is about night fishing in Senga Bay. The reportage is actually part of a larger photo essay about the fishing village there, that is under threat from a project developer trying to evict the fishermen. It is not uncommon for a large photo essay to have sub-stories in the form of reportage or photo series.

In the photo reportage and the photo essay, often variation is achieved by using four different types of photos:

1.     Establishing photo: a photo that shows the place where the story takes place. Usually from a distance with a wide angle lens so you get an overview. This photo is often the first one shown, but that is not necessary. And of course there is no reason for it to be the first one made, even if it is the first one shown. More complex photo stories may have more than one establishing photo for different locations.

2.    Action photos: in reportage these often form the core of the story, how the action develops. They show what is done, and how it is done.

3.   Portraits: we as people are social animals, we like to socialize. This also happens in a photo story, we are interested in the people that are portrayed; a good portrait gives us the chance to see who we are dealing with

4.   Close-up or detail photo shows us something small, depicted big in the photo so we can see the details. This gives visual variation in the story.

There are other ways to create variation, for instance with wide angle versus tele lens (and the perspective they create) or with camera angles, using vertical (portrait format) versus horizontal (landscape format) photos, or even square ones. Different lighting situations can be employed, and a whole lot more. The challenge is to use variation in such a way that the whole story still feels as one.
You can find another example of reportage photography here (by Bonex Julius)
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.108877715955044.15230.106561352853347&type=3

NIGHT FISHING IN SENGA BAY

the beach and the lake (establishing photo)

two of the fishermen (portrait)

fueling the lamps used for the night fishing-(action photo)

When it is dark they set off for the lake - (action photo)

At dawn the fishing boats return to the beach - (landscape or action photo)

a young boy with some of the catch - (portrait)

the catch (close up)

the fish is sold right at the boat on the beach (action photo)