Drone vs Osmo Pocket 3

Tool comparison

Peter: When you want low-level footage a small drone is unbeatable. You just float it where no hand-held camera could reach.
Fiona: But with the Osmo, I can get right up close to faces and details. No rotor wash blowing grass flat or scaring animals or bird strikes.
Peter: Low passes over water are a breeze. Zero wobble from walking or breathing.
Fiona: And when I want a “glide along the footpath” feeling, the Pocket’s gimbal gives me near-dolly smoothness, without worrying about GPS dropout or trees.
Peter: But the aerial perspective adds drama. Even one metre up makes a scene feel bigger.
Fiona: And one metre down creates intimacy. I can kneel down and tuck the camera into corners, a drone would crash.
Peter: OK, indoors drones struggle. Obstacle avoidance. Curtains.
Fiona: Indoors is where the Osmo shines. Stairwells, corridors, kitchens. Instant set-up, no permissions.
Peter: But outdoors, drones win on stability. The drone doesn’t notice if I’m tired. It stays steady.
Fiona: Outdoors I win on spontaneity. The Osmo is in my pocket. No boot-up delay, no compass calibration.
Peter: I envy how you can keep shooting in wind.
Fiona: And I envy how you can float above puddles without getting your shoes soaked.
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Voice-over
Maybe drones often do the impossible, Osmo handles the sensible. And if you want a  cats-eye view, use a floor level dolly. There are filmmakers who are using an Osmo on a stick to achieve drone-like footage. Ian Andersen gives a tutorial.

Photographing Roses

Sun coming in the window… 

Anna: Nice light from behind, yes, illuminates the flowers.

Imogen: Looks a bit flat perhaps?

Anna: Yes, So turn it. Create a vanishing point.

Imogen: Or we could just photograph from the side.

Anna: Right. Changing the angle enhances the lighting effect, too.

__________

Voice-over

There’s a lot to photographing flowers. And it’s not just about lighting and angles. There’s a host of other things like flower condition, arrangement, background, vase and much more. Makes you think. Challenging and rewarding.

The Extreme Serenity of Russell

Manners

Alison: It’s a bit ungracious to put your feet up near the coffee cup.

Richard: Offensive? To the coffee? It gives perspective, the feet suggest a vanishing point.

Alison: And your shoes need cleaning.

Richard: I’ve been hiking. And it gives a feeling of ambience to the scene.

Alison: Still, I mean, it’s unmannerly. It doesn’t harmonize with the serenity here.

 

__________

Voice-over

Russell is a place where serenity is extreme. All photographs look like postcards. It’s remote from the traffic rumble of other Bay of Islands towns. The ferry from Paihia to Russell is for pedestrians only. There’s only one car ferry – from Opua to Russell. It helps to be somewhat isolated.

Archiving old photos

Consistency in naming…

Kordelia: 2000 photos per drawer… Maybe we don’t need to keep the shaky blurry ones. What’s the best way to organize a digital collection?

Kentaro: It’s a big job. Probably huge. There are many ways. Here’s one example: Sort albums into years and months. Then into groups: “A” keep, “B” not sure, “C” throw (eg shaky, blurry). Be a bit ruthless. Start with “A” group: date, who is who, location. Scan photo (300 dpi or better) sharpen and tweak colors if necessary. Name file with a consistent format and version: for example, “220327 Olivia Opera 01.” Store in non-lossy file format, like PNG on external SSD hard drives for portability.

Kordelia: It would be faster to just scan everything; it seems like a good opportunity to declutter.

Kentaro: Using a fast scanner, scan several on one page. Best if you can employ a student, or use a commercial outfit. Dates have to be done manually I guess, but not necessarily for each pic. Group them. Face recognition, you could use software, and tag later. batch processing where possible.

Kordelia: Luckily, my mother was well organised so all the albums are in chronological order labelled with the year followed by a unique identifier.

_______

Voice-over

There are scanners just for this. Ones where you can just load 36 photos into it. Like the Epson FF-680W.

Fashion photography without a model

Making do with what you’ve got…

Archival: Didn’t have a model, nor a dress form so a microphone stand had to stand in. 

Juliet: Ingenious. And how’s your website rebuild going?

Archival: Still rethinking it. Can’t run an online school now. Too much itty bitty stuff to deal with. Want to focus on presentation and pictures and text.

Juliet: Hmm.

Archival: It’s a bit like Kathy. This was thirty years ago. I asked her to join the team. She was such a good teacher. Great team player. Long phone conversation. Said she wasn’t teaching anymore, just wanted to focus on her pottery.

Juliet: She did?

Archival: A year later she was gone. Then I knew why. She hadn’t said. But she was right. Hence my studio and resorting to make-shift and make-do props.

Juliet: And a pinwheel face on a new garment.

Archival: Right. Focus and be a little outlandish.

________

Voice-over

Leave images and statements. They might outlive you.

Taking too many pictures

Throw

 Sigh..

Marie: Too many photos.

Maurice: Take fewer. Wait for the decisive moment, then snap. That’s what Henri Cartier-Bresson did.

Marie: I might miss the moment.

Maurice: Then bracket the shots. Three: one before, one during, one after.

Keep

Marie: And I can never find the one I want.

Maurice: Workflow. End of every day delete the duds. Ruthlessly. Throw 90% and keep 10%. Then date them and put them in folders organized by subject.

_________

Voice-over

Cartier-Bresson eventually gave up photography and took up sketching. He drew the decisive moment. Quantity fell and quality rose.

White Rabbit Photo Contest

Photo by Sam

Photo contest for the best white rabbit picture…

This month’s winner is … SS!

“Westminster Rabbit For Sale”

His prize will be delivered next week.

WHITE RABBIT WHITE RABBIT WHITE RABBIT

Enter the draw, prizes galore,

For the best lapin blanc herbivore.

Modern or Postmodern?

Job Hunters

Discussion on post-modern photographs...

Jean: Why cut the pictures up into fragments? It is a postmodern approach.

Noam: But it doesn’t clarify, it tends to obscure. What are the principles of a postmodern approach to photography?

Blackboard Art

Jean: It deconstructs, and through many fragments we can see more. We can see many spaces, we can sense time passing.

Noam: I’m still skeptical.

Jean: Postmodernism is supposed to make us skeptical, to make us question. To see reality differently.

_________

Voice-over

Modernism and postmodernism are movements particularly found in art, literature, architecture.

Modernism focused on simplification, minimalism and eliminating non-essential elements.

Postmodernism reacts against modernism and revives historical techniques.

Question: Are these pictures examples of modernism or postmodernism?

...

Job interview group photo

What’s this lineup?

Henri: Men and women in black. Holding small white boards. Dressed for job interviews.

Geoffrey: Looks a bit expressionless. Needs a little post-production image enhancement.

Henri: What are you doing?

Geoffrey: There. Looks better as an oil color.

Henri: It’s totally different. Can’t see what they’re doing or who they are.

Geoffrey: Now the picture has passion.

_________

Voice-over

Henri likes his pictures just as they come out of the camera. Old school. 

Geoffrey likes to play around post-production with the images. Photoshop them. Post-modern.

...