X-mas, a time for new gizmos and gadgets

Posted by Ryan.McK Saturday, December 26, 2009 at 7:59 PM 0 Comments

The holiday season, well now post holiday season. What a wonderful time, snow on the ground for the fortunate, or unfortunate bunch that live where it falls all the time, freezing temps with sometimes blistering wind chills but got to go and get those awesome sales. NOPE. Not today. I stayed in and played with the new stuff I got to use in my quest for taking better photos, creating better photo essays, and just having a hell of a lot more fun taking photos.


I finally got a good recorder to use, the Tascam DR-07, and it records directly in .wav or mp3 files, none of this .voc file crap that my previous recorder did. It is so much better than anything I could ever have expected. I can't wait to use it in the field and come back and say, "This is an amazing audio recorder." I have played around with it capturing birds at a bird feeder close to a window, talking to family members, and just recording random crap around the house, and this recorder is amazing. It is much bigger than the previous one too, and it came with a wind screen...what a difference it makes!! If on a budget and want a quality audio recorder but want to be able to see levels, then check out this one.

RCA VR5220 vs Tascam DR-07

Next was a 1 terabyte external hard drive. I love external hard drives, and it's a bummer that this is a portable, but at least I can back up one of my Mac only externals. Got to mess around with the Windows only. That's what sucks about some companies, why can't they make these cross compatible? It makes more sense to me and would save me a hell of a lot of money and time. Well now with 1 TB of space, I basically don't have to for a very long time have to worry about space on my computer. The only worry I have is just I need another 1 TB external hard drive, as security for the first and for me. I don't want to accidentally delete something, and it be gone forever, but oh wait, there is a second copy! That is the best feeling in the world...when there is that second copy. Having that kind of space though is something that is awesome, and I highly suggest having an external hard drive. This makes four for me.

A 77mm circular polarizing filter. I have honestly really never used a polarizing filter. I bought one for the 18-55mm that came with my Canon XTi, and used it maybe twice, but never really got into the nitty gritty of understanding it, so now is my turn at it. All I have used is UV filters because I shoot mostly sports, live entertainment, and protest/community actions. Basically, as long as I have something on the front that will protect my front element, then I am all set. With this new filter, it is a new ball game, and I can't wait to use it.

Finally, a Sandisk Extreme III 4 GB compactflash card, the card of choice. The write fast, and at ISO 100 on the Canon 40D they hold 305 RAW images no problem, or 925 large fine JPEGs. They hold up under the worst weather conditions as well, so the Extreme compactflash cards are the cards to use. When shooting sports, a photographer needs something reliable and can write the images fast so they can continue shooting, but also hold a lot so they aren't always changing cards, especially at the key moments of the game. With a card like the Extreme III 4 GB, that isn't really an issue, shooting RAW or JPEG.

I'm sorry if I sounded like, "this is what I got for Christmas," but I like to think of it is as informational consumerism. I have them now, and I want to share what get out of it with you. I know some of them don't directly relate to photography and photojournalism, but think about it. They do, they do. Hopefully I will learn how to use a circular polarizing filter pretty well in the next couple of days and I'll be able post how they turn out.

Live view isn't just for point and shoots

Posted by Ryan.McK Friday, December 11, 2009 at 11:48 PM 0 Comments

Live view, it's nothing super new, but still something worth noting.


Introduced in 2007 in DSLRs like the Canon 40D and 1D Mark III or Nikon D300 and D3, and has been improved upon as technology has gotten better. The ability to zoom during live view alone has made the photo taking curve change so much. Now cameras have the ability to have auto focus, levels for an even horizon, and face detection which is popular in many point and shoots.

A good way to understand how it works and a video is one that dpreview.com put up for the Nikon D5000.

I had to shoot a dance the other night, it was lit only with orange and purple party lights, so I pulled out my flash and started taking photos. As I did, I continued to check my photos and wasn't impressed. Either they were soft or just out of focus. So I took the power of live view and it's ability to magnify to its full advantage. Granted I lost auto focus on my 40D, but my photos were coming out better than they were before. Even with it being poorly lit, I was able to set my camera to a medium ISO and with the flash create photos that were exactly what I was looking for when I was going in there to begin with.

I'm glad that DSLRs now have the P&S live view screen, except it doesn't have to be on all the time, thank god.

VDSLRs capturing the world

Posted by Ryan.McK at 5:10 PM 0 Comments

So, I've been reading about making the jump to a camera that shoots not just stills but video too. Yes, in an earlier post I went on about the Canon 1D Mark IV and the AMAZING things it does and how I want one SO bad, but I really was just talking talking talking about it. Never really going into what makes the ability to combine the two, and then capture the surrounding world so amazing. Well, I think a little redemption is in order.


I'm not one to brag or promote that much one single brand, but I sort of do because it is what I know the most about, so I stick to it, and would rather do that, then sound like a complete moron when I talk about Nikon or Pentax that also have HD video capture, so I like to stick to Canon. There is the disclaimer, even if I read all sides.

Canon has four DSLR cameras that have the all mighty power to shoot in HD video, and they are the Digital Rebel T1i, 7D, 5D Mark II, and 1D Mark IV. Though the microphone on them isn't that great, at all, as you progress from basically anything other than the T1i, there are mini sockets for hot shoe mounted shotgun mics. The mic of the cameras looks like this....

canonrumors.com

Or there is what a shotgun mic looks like that will pick up much better quality audio....

bhphotovideo.com

Ok, so now that that brief little bit is out of the way, what does this mean for real world applications? Where does it play a role in journalism?

Simple answers.

Photography is great as it captures a single frame (get it?) in time, but being able to switch over when something big is happening and needs to have that extra punch that video has with audio and capturing the whole scene, then the role of a journalist has changed. There will always be the ones that carry around the broadcast cameras or miniDV cameras, but DSLRs that shoot HD video, that is the way of photojournalism. It is all photojournalism, still or moving, but with the ability to hold a camera that does both, it is a whole new ball game.

Nobody wants to fumble around with with cameras either. Imagine being out there with a DSLR and also having a video camera, but going back and forth. I've done it before, and it sucks. With the introduction of cameras like the 7D, that has gone out the window and there isn't a need to mess around going one to the other. For some, it is literally a press of a dedicated button and video is being shot. It is that easy. And photos can still be taken while capturing video, with a slight lapse in the video, but this is still very impressive. This is something that can't be taken from any video camera, only as a screen shot.

Here is an example of a real world application.

At a protest and take some photos of different aspects of it. The police, the protestors, the environment it's in, and then some other bits that may add to the story. Then having the ability to switch over to video, capture what it is like to be there in with sound and being able to move with the protest, capturing the same things as were with the stills. Sometimes the most dramatic things have to be captured on video rather than as stills. Say the protest gets violent and the police and protestors clash, having the ability to do two in one gives the photographer great power on how to capture the situation.

Bringing me back to my original point, being able to do both and not have to fumble around with a still camera and video camera is just awesome.

War, what is it good for? Photojournalism

Posted by Ryan.McK Saturday, December 5, 2009 at 10:06 PM 0 Comments

War photography, photojournalism, whatever name it is given tells a gruesome but also human story of what is happening on the front lines of conflict, from the American Civil War when they were using the first forms of photography to now when digital images are sent via satellite phones straight from the front lines like during the push to Baghdad during the first part of the second Iraq War.

One of my heroes was a war photographer by the name of Robert Capa. He took iconic photographs during the Spanish Civil War and World War II, as well as in Indochina (Vietnam for those that don't know) with the French where he sadly stepped on a land mine and ended his life too early.

His most iconic image is probably this one called "Loyalist Militiaman at the Moment of Death" taken in 1936.


War photography is very beautiful in the sense that it captures all the emotions shown by people. Anger, fear, and every once and a while a glimpse of joy. That's what makes the personal story of each solider so amazing, and then that can be transcended as a whole to cover the entire situation, going from creating profiles and focusing on individuals and their experiences, bringing the whole situation into the picture can be just as powerful.

As a photojournalist covering war, it doesn't matter what the subject matter is, for instance, this photo titled "Kerch, Crimea (Grief)" taken in 1941 by Dmitri Baltermants shows the ultimate cost of war, death and the toll it takes on the living.


There is nothing that makes it an easy job. I can't say it is or isn't, it is only from what I have read or heard talking from photojournalists like Nathan Webster who has done three tours in Iraq.

Would I like to go to Iraq, Afghanistan, or some other war torn country in the name of war photojournalism? That is a question that I often ask myself when I go through books and images online, do I have what it takes to go on a tour of duty in a combat environment with the potential of bullets being shot at me?

I watched this documentary and the parts about the photojournalists really hit home to the possibilities of what could happen, but just being embedded in general would be an experience.

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About Me

My photo
Another photographer trying to find his place in media pit to stand out. Sidelines to stage dives, there to make it for the shot.

Essential Equipment List

  • Canon EOS 40D w/ BG-E2 Vertical Grip
  • Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L USM
  • Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM
  • Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX HSM
  • Canon 430EX Speedlite
  • Sandisk Ultra II/Extreme III CF Cards
  • EXTRA BP-511 BATTERIES!!
  • Camera Shoulder Bag or Backpack
  • Tascam DR-07 Audio Recorder
  • Apple Macbook Pro 15"

Twitter / r_mckernan

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