mercredi 22 décembre 2004

Solar Flair Shoot the Sun for Stunning Shots What two things do you remember being told when you first started to handle a camera and take photographs? Probably the first was, "Always keep the sun behind your shoulder," the other being, "Never look through the camera with the lens pointed towards the sun." These two pieces of simple information are not ill-advised but if taken too literally they remove from the photographer's creative armoury that most evocative, stimulating, interesting and dramatic of subjects... the sun. The sun, as both a subject and a lighting source, is taken very much for granted. It's often there and it's free. It's only a slight inconvenience that it's uncontrollable... and if one day it isn't shining on the next day it probably will be. Most people make the decision to take pictures depending on whether the sun is shining or not. For photographers it's usually the deciding factor on which type of film to use, slow to medium speed in bright conditions or fast film if the weather is dull. We know that in theory the sun is going to appear each new day but what we don't know, although weather forecasters claim to have some knowledge and insight, is whether the sun is going to be visible through breaks in cloud, fog, haze or intermittent rain. In short the sun is predictable in nature but totally unpredictable as a photographic subject. High in the Sky When it is visible the sun has two distinct appearances. During the day (O.K. I know the sun is only seen during the day otherwise it would be night) the sun is high in the sky, bright to the eye, and about as unforgiving in terms of exposure, contrast and subtlety as it can possibly be. During the periods of transition from darkness to light and lightness to dark, the short periods of dawn and dusk, the sun is at its best... big, fiery, colourful and close enough to the horizon and other terrestrial subjects to be worth photographing. Whilst you will have noticed many times that the rising and setting sun often takes on a huge roundness when on and just above the horizon the camera never reveals this true size on the negative. The images of a huge sun seen in the TV wildlife documentaries and in some glossy holiday magazines are produced by long telephoto lenses. To fill the 24mm narrow width of a 35mm negative with the sun's image would require a 2,400mm focal length telephoto lens. The longest lens normally used by serious amateur photographers is a 500mm Reflex or "mirror" lens which produces an image of the sun measuring 5mm in diameter on the negative. If you don't own a 500mm lens but have a 400mm, 300mm or even a 70-210mm telephoto-zoom, which is a very popular general purpose lens, the purchase of a good quality x2 converter will double its maximum focal length and give you something approaching an image you are looking for. All you have to do now is seek the sun! When you're without a camera the chances are you'll be confronted with a glorious sunset or sunrise. The other part of Murphy's Law says that you won't see the sun at all when you're suitably equipped. The only real answer is to carry a camera at all times and be prepared for the unexpected. Not all sun pictures have to be sunsets or sunrises taken through long lenses. There's far more time available during the rest of the day to use the sun, not just for its lighting qualities but as part of the subject itself. Because of the sun's intensity during the day any photography with telephoto lenses is almost impossible and, in this case, certainly ill-advised. But what you can do is include the sun as an intense pin-prick of light in the field of view... so using its "point source" intensity to make its presence in the picture. The wider the angle of lens used the smaller the sun's image will be. A standard 50mm lens will only produce a "disc" of 1/2mm in size compared to a 2mm disc produced by a 200mm telephoto. By using a lens of 24mm or wider the sun's size is almost too small to measure and when enlarged only appears on the print (or projection screen with slides) as a very small highlight. Such point-sources of light can be enhanced by using trick filters. These range from the commonly used 4-, 6- or 8-pointed Star to Diffraction filters. The latter have thousands of parallel lines engraved onto the surface which radiate coloured haloes around the point light source. Creative Enhancement Colour enhancement with orange and red filters (but to a much lesser extent with yellow) can create surreal effects especially with under-exposure which can produce featureless shadows... or silhouettes with the right subject. If the sun is bright enough it will show through a red filter giving a glowing yellow-orange image. For very subtle effects Series 81 and 85 amber colour correction filters can be used as recommended... and for medium enhancement of natural colour Cokin Sunset 1 or 2 and even Sepia filters can work well. Dawn and dusk skies can be extravagantly treated with Graduated filters ranging from (the once popular) Tobacco or Blue or more unusual Purple and Emerald... but caution is advised with these odd colours! When subject clarity is not desired "diffuser" filters can be used to produce unusual effects. Unlike "haze" filters which are designed to see through haze and excess UV, diffusers are more like "fog" filters which create misty effects. It's a bit of a rarity but I still have a Cokin Coloured Diffuser which was sold as a scrap crumpled cellophane with streaks of colour built-in... an used to create an almost uncontrollable misty, abstract effect. The sun has a warm emotional feel... but this can be reversed by putting a cold 80- or 82-series Blue filter on the lens. This effect can also be simulated by shooting out-of-doors using tungsten balanced colour transparency film in your camera. This produces a cool blue cast in daylight conditions. There are many instances where the composition cannot include, or when a wide angle-lens is not available to include, the sun in the picture. One way around this is to look for and use a "spectral highlight" reflected from the surface of a shiny surface such as a mirror, car window or reflective expanse of water. With water, any ripples on the surface will produce a myriad of highlights which are often so bright they reflect off the lens' aperture blades producing a star effect. If these are in sharp focus the star effect is very pronounced but if the spectral highlights are out of focus they reproduce as soft aperture shaped highlights. Their shape is a reflection of the number of blades in the aperture mechanism of the lens. An aperture with few blades, for example seven, will make a seven-sided out-of-focus highlight. A peculiar characteristic or reflex or mirror telephoto lenses is that their out of focus highlights are reproduced as "doughnuts" or hollow circles. Foreground highlights can also be created by using out of focus droplets of water on windows or in tree branches or foliage. Here the highlights are bigger if the lens is used in a close-up mode. The highlights will vary size, large in the background where they're further out-of-focus to pinpricks in size where they're close to the narrow plane or sharp focus. In reality there's always the opportunity of capturing creative and interesting images of the sun regardless of what lens you're using. From fisheye to mirror telephoto and from macro to multiple-prism filters... the possibilities are wide-ranging. One word of warning though... don't try to look at a bright sun through any lens, wide-angle or tele, because it's magnifying effect can and will burn with damage to your eyesight! The main image, of Jodrell Bank radio telescope in Cheshire, was made with a multiple-image prism plus a red filter mounted on a 200mm Nikkor telephoto lens. As that combination was not designed for each other the coverage of the lens produced only two, rather than six, images of the sun... but it works better for that being a simpler image wheras six suns would have been too confusing. If prolonged viewing is necessary use a double thickness of over-exposed and fully developed negative film fitted into a spare 35mm slide holder and use it as a simple viewing aid. This device will give you a fix on the sun's position and show if it's about to be revealed or obscured by cloud. When it does come out... your solar flair can begin. 9:12:51 PM    comment []