Younes Bounhar Photography

Tools of the trade

“Gotta have a big camera, eh?” (yeah, I live in Canada) That’s a question I often hear when people look at my photographs. My standard answer (after several rounds of tongue biting) is somewhere along the lines of “Yeah, it’s HUGE”.

The thing is that the camera is, well, just a thing. It’s true that having a good SLR and a good set of lenses gives you options and more freedom for exploration (unfortunately I am still waiting for the hot models to come flocking my way…I guess that’s what dreams are for). The fact is, though, that the picture-making process is about vision, creativity and conscious decision-making. Pressing the shutter release is just the culmination of the process. This doesn’t mean that I never go snap-happy like Rambo in a shooting gallery, but in general, there is some work involved behind every shot.

Beyond the preparation aspect that I discussed last week on Darwin Wiggett’s blog, every shot involves a set of conscious decisions:

- what is your subject matter?

- which part of the subject matter do you want to reflect, emphasize or present?

- what focal length would better achieve that result?

- how do you frame your subject matter in a story-telling composition?

- how much depth-of-field will be needed to convey your story?

When you have answered all these questions, you can now turn to your camera to record the moment. Your camera comes in handy to measure the amount of light on your subject in order to calculate the required exposure. But even then, it only measures what it perceives as proper exposure. Your sensor/film will take in as much light at f/8 for 1s as it does at f/2.8 for 1/125s, yet the resulting image can be completely different. Similarly, your camera’s meter exposes for midtones (18% gray to be more precise), but is that the proper exposure from an artistic point of view. You may want to underexpose your subject to add more mistery, or to make it stand out from other parts of the image. Overexposing your subject (ah the dreaded blinking highlights), can also be desirable at times. Again, your camera may give you pointers and tools to make your images, but unless you take over and make conscious decisions on what you want in your images, no camera will ever make great images for you (well until the invent the D5billion with the “nocrapimage” button, that is).

Posted on April 29th, 2009 in Gear rant | 7 Comments »

Save the Camera!!

You know how it is, when you are in an uncomfortable position and try to move your legs around your tripod and bump your SLR down into the river, or when you are taking photographs and all the sudden you are surrounded by cold water and you can’t see through the viewfinder? Or may be that’s just me…

I have to say, I am not the world’s most coordinated being. I mean, it’s not my fault. I had a late growth spurt and my brain just never quite got a hold of my final coordinates (c’mon, what do you expect when you gain two feet in as many years!). So it’s not all that surprising, to me at least, that I get into some strange accidents. You add to that the fact that I am somewhat careless, even foolhardy with my gear, and it would not come as a shock to you that out of the three cameras I have owned so far, two have made it close to the bottom of the river. The only reason the third hasn’t is that I have just had it for a few weeks, so there is still hope!

Where is he going with this, you may be wondering…Well, what I haven’t mentioned so far is that while neither camera asked for additional swim time, both have survived and have been working perfectly. One was an entry level Nikon D70s, the other a weather sealed, professional D200 body. This means that I had to do some at extensive research in the “save the camera from drowning” business and have gained significant experience!

Before I go on to the  step-by-step protocol to save your camera from near fatal drowning, I have a few disclaimers: a) this should not be construed as an encouragement to drown your camera, b) this does not guarantee your camera will work again, c) if it’s salt water, sorry, I can’t help, d) I am not responsible for any damage that your camera may incur if you follow this protocol, do it at your own risk (does it show I’ve been hanging around way to many lawyers lately?).

Usually, the question I get after all this (and after “do you ever shut up?”), is : ” Younes, how did you save your camera?” (said with a clear tone of fake concern and interest):

1- as soon as you get out of the river (you kind of have to be alive for the following steps), turn off the camera, take out the battery and the memory card;

2- if you have any dry piece of cloth/clothing try and dry as much of the exterior as possible;

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Posted on March 26th, 2009 in Gear | 2 Comments »

Graduated Neutral Density Filters (GNDs)

While the usefulness of graduated neutral density filters (GND) in landscape photography is widely acknowledged, their use is not very intuitive. In this little note, I will not dwell on the details of using GNDs (soft vs hard-edge, 2 vs 3-stop), but I would rather address a matter of practical utility.

When I bought my first set of filters, I made sure I also got the requisite compliment of filter holders and adaptor rings (one to fit each of my lenses). The filter holders are certainly handy and useful when you have long exposures or when you need to be away from your camera while the shot is being taken (think when you are your only available model on the field).

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Posted on March 12th, 2009 in Gear | 3 Comments »

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