Is The Decisive Moment Dead Or At Least Less Decisive?

Good Morning Everybody,

I sure hope you had as good of a weekend as we did around here.  The weather has been unbelievably gorgeous for the last few days - we'll all wondering if we really did skate by most of the snow for the winter.  We're keeping our fingers crossed ;~)

In addition to great weather, I also had a wonderful Bar Mitzvah shoot on Saturday.  It was one of those parties where everything went off without a hitch, the clients were wonderful to work with and everybody had a fun time.  This was actually the third event I photographed for the family and as I said everything went smooth as silk.

The thing that really stood out for me this weekend were the people - not just Charlie's family, but Charlie himself.  I have never seen such a self assured, generous, attentive young man in quite a while. Remember he is 13 years old and he was just a joy to be around.  Mark my words mom and dad, if you are reading this, Charlie is headed to the top of his field at what ever career he eventually chooses.  I captured some terrific images and plan to share a few of them with you this week - so stay tuned.

Is The Decisive Moment Dead Or At Least Less Decisive?

I've kind of a different post from our normal Quick Hit Monday post for you.  Today I want to pose the question: When it comes to photography, is the decisive moment a thing of the past?  OK, do I have your attention?  You're obviously thinking that I must be crazy to even ask the question.  That's what photography, or at least a good part of photography is all about right - capturing the decisive moment.

Henri Cartier-Bresson was a master at capturing the decisive moment as are all good photojournalists, especially sports, and event photographers need to have this ability.  But to accomplish that took skill,  practice, timing and a specially trained eye for anticipating that decisive moment. 

Do we even need that trained eye anymore?  Do we even need to get our timing perfect to get the shot?  My quick answer - I think not.  Technology now allows anyone to capture the decisive moment quite easily and effectively.   Here's why I make such a statement.

Fleeting Moments Are Not So Fleeting…. These Days

Moments are fleeting but it’s much easier to capture those fleeting moments these days. Look at the evolution of digital photography.  We've grown from a few megapixel cameras 12 years ago to 45MP monsters and beyond today.  The new Canon 5D Mark III is pushing 22MP and the new Nikon is pushing 36MP.

Three years ago Canon added decent HD video to the 5D's feature set and the entire movie world went gaga over the camera.  My gosh, the camera shoots 30 frames a second at a 1920x1080p resolution - that's not far from the resolution of my first DSLR, a Fuji S-1 Pro coming in at 2048x1536 – pretty astonishing isn't it.

Why not just shoot a few seconds of video during those special emotional moments, say when the bride and groom kiss, when dad makes the heartfelt toast at the wedding reception, or any other special times during an emotionally charged event.  Heck, at 30 fps, 5 seconds of shooting should net me 150 separate frames/images - the decisive moment MUST be in there somewhere - right?! 

Actually, I think so. OK, the images won't be RAW images but they will certainly be adequate for me to get the one or two images I need to tell that part of the story.  With the image processing capabilities in the new Lightroom 4, I'm sure I could knock out some better-than-acceptable images for the wedding couple's album.  At the 1080p setting on my DSLR, I could easily get the quality I need for a good 8x10. 

If you think I'm still crazy let me tell you about a little test I did – see the above image.  A few years ago after the Canon 5D Mark II was released, I ran such a test. My friend Kent and I did some quick  HD video footage of a high school senior.  I pulled a few frame grabs, made the necessary adjustments in Photoshop and printed them out as 11x14's - and they looked great.  OK, I know a close up of a high school senior is no real test when it comes to a highly detailed subject matter, but for "people" subject matter, the images looked just fine.

Here is the deal - the cameras are getting better all the time.  Take the RED ONE video camera , the RED HD video that started it all shoots the equivalent of a 9.4-megapixel still 24 times a second in RAW!.  You don't think a frame from that camera would make a great printed image. Well it does. The cover of the June 2009 issue of Esquire magazine that was shot with the RED ONE camera - the quality was amazing.  You can read the entire Esquire/RED ONE story right here.

The frame grabbing technique to pull the images for the Esquire cover works the same for our new digital wonders like the newly introduced Nikon and Canon cameras.  And, YES, we can get good looking 8x10 images from those grabs. The HD DSLR cameras once again give us the technology to capture more effortlessly than ever before those decisive moments.

So to answer the question, Is the decisive moment dead? No, never – it’s just far easier to capture than ever before!

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Hey gang, that’s it for me today. We spent the night in Lexington, KY – got an early PhotoPro Network meeting today to discuss our upcoming 2012 events and put a little planning into the 2013 convention.  A busy day then back to Cincy tomorrow and another wedding this coming weekend. 

Have a great rest of the day and, all the pixels willing, I’ll see you sometime tomorrow for another Technique Tuesday.  The topic – Just How Far Can Your Push Your Images In Lightroom?

See ya’ then,  David

Quick News Notes

Real quick gang, then I'm out of here. DPReview just posted their full review of the Nikon D3 (which I still have in my hot little hands.) Here is the link. If you are a high ISO speed freak like me, you may just want to jump to the discussion about the usable ISOs up to 12,600 right here. And so we don't leave out the Canon fans, check out the full review of the Canon 1Ds MarkIII over at LetsGoDigital right here.

That's it for today everybody - clients arriving in minutes so I've got to get going. See everybody tomorrow, David

And Now For The Rest of the Story

If you have not seen Rob Galbraith's articles on the Canon Mark III focus issues - and they have been extensive articles - here is his last installment to date as to how it relates to Canon's new fix. Here is the link to his 6500 word article right here. Hey gang, got a late start today, and client on the way, so I'm out of here. See you tomorrow for a very special "Technique Tuesday." Have a good one. --David

The Best of the Best

Our friends over at Luminous-Landscape.com have two "First Impression" articles on the two top of the line cameras from Canon and Nikon. Anybody reading Luminous-Landscape knows there articles are goods hands on, anti fluff pieces of information. So whether you are a Nikon or Canon "hottie", check out their articles. Here is the Canon 1Ds Mark III link here. And, here is the Nikon D3 link right here.

That's it for today, gang. Got to get back to the real world, check my emails, and head to Tampa. See you tomorrow for Technique Tuesday. Adios, --David

Technique Tuesday

First things first - A great big "Thank You" for all the very kind comments on the articles and the images these past couple of weeks. Thanks again.

Here is what is in the works for upcoming posts. Next week I will be doing an entire review of that little known Canon camera feature called "Highlight Tone Priority" available on Canon's three new cameras. We will take an in-depth look at just how it works, why it works, and why you want to shoot with it "Enabled" regardless of whether you shoot JPEG's or RAW. Also, in development is an article on "Specularity" - when you want it, and when you don't, and how it can be controlled. Other topics include; high ISO shooting and noise reduction, more "flash" techniques, and more Photoshop tutorials. Stay tuned - a lot of "good stuff" is on the way.

We wrapped the first day of my Digital Master Class yesterday and are off to a good start. More on-location shooting today. The only downside is the weather - 95+ degrees here in Cincy, again. August proved to be record setting and it looks like September may also break all high temperature records. Another "hot" 95+ degrees scheduled for today. But heck, no problem - we are starting today's class with a hypnosis session where the suggestion will be that every time we are outside, we are to think Alaska - "...you are getting sleepy..."

How about a little news and then a little technique - "off to the races."

Yes Virginia, It Was a Canon Day All Day Saturday

I had the wonderful opportunity to shoot two of Canon's brand new cameras all day at my wedding this past Saturday - the EOS 1D Mark III and my newly purchased 40D. I have to tell you what a joy it was. Both cameras were quick and nimble hitting the exposure just about "on the button" each frame. What I loved most about the experience was Canon's new "Highlight Tone Priority" setting that I could dial in on both cameras.

For a wedding JPEG shooter, this is a "God-send". It reduced the amount of exposure "fiddling" to almost nothing. Basically what happens at this setting is that the camera keeps the highlights from "blowing out" (within a certain range, of course.) It was a very bright sunny, cloudless day Saturday, but when the bride came out of the house into the direct sun, I was able to just keep on shooting with out any worry of overexposing her gown. The cameras worked perfectly in this regard all day long.

Next week, I plan to run an in-depth article on the little discussed "Highlight Tone Priority" feature of Canon's new cameras, so be sure to check back. I think I'm in love.......again!!

A Big Canon Weekend

I'm getting my Canon 40D in today and can't wait to give it a try!! Mary Mannix, our regional Canon Rep, has been out of town so she told me to just hang on to her Mark III till her return next week - no complaints from me - thanks Mary. It should be a kick this weekend shooting Canon's latest and greatest - I'll post a few observations and comparisons about the cameras next week.

Friday -

Good Morning Everybody,

What a nice dinner LaDawn and I had with Bert Monroy last night. We took him to the "world famous" Montgomery Inn at the Boathouse. If you ever hit Cincy - this place is the place to go for "finger lickin' good" ribs - they sell more ribs than any restaurant in the world. Bert told us about a new project he is starting that is going to take him two years! to complete - and the technology to complete the huge project is not quite in place - whew! I'll let him tell you the whole story when he visits a city near you on the Photoshop CS3 Creativity Tour. Nice visit last night.

Speaking of visitors, I asked Mary Mannix, our regional Canon rep, if I could borrow her Canon EOS 1D Mark III and the WFT-E2A Wireless File Transmitter for my Pre-Con shoot at Photoshop World next week. She graciously agreed and headed on over to get me up to speed on the wireless system. I have to say, this was really easy to set up and it worked flawlessly - and it is super small. I really loved the "Live View" mode too. This is going to be a great teaching tool for me. Can't wait to give it a try. And, look closely now, what's that in my hands - you are right - the brand new Canon 40D. Huge viewfinder, highlight Tone Priority, and a bunch more features - can't wait to get my hands on one - I hear they are shipping in the next few weeks. I'll keep you posted. Thanks to Mary for all the help and the Canon 40D preview.

Well, how about we get on with some news.

Canon Mark III Review:
Speaking of the Canon Mark III, I just found a brand new review over at Steve's Digicams. Click here for the link and review. This is a thorough review of the camera, so if you are thinking of making the jump, give it a read.

Podcast with Pete Turner:

Since I was a kid reading Popular Photography - I still read it by the way - I have always admired Pete Turner's work. He is the "Master of color photography." He talks about how he got started in photography and his early experiments with color. Along the way this legendary pioneer of color photography talks us through the creation of dozens of his “signature” photographs. Here is the podcast link. Enjoy.

Canon 580EX Replacement Foot with Sync Port:

I was checking on the comments posted to the Digital ProTalk blog and saw a note from Ryan Dlugosz. He is a freelance photographer and tech guru in Cincinnati, OH. Can you believe it right here in Cincy - we are almost neighbors. He has a great site, by the way - check it out here. Anyway, while reviewing his posts I saw this little piece of great news about the Canon 580Ex replacement foot. I've been been looking for something like this since I purchased my 580EX's. I always wanted to fire them remotely with my Quantum radio transmitters - finally a solution. If you are the least bit interested in this, check out - here is the info and link. Hey Ryan, thanks for the tip - great blog too.

Apple talking with Volkswagen over 'iCar':

I know what you are thinking - an iWhat? - yep, an iCar - a car with more Apple gadgets in it than any car in the world. Actually Bert mentioned this last night to me at dinner so I had to check it out when we got home. Click here for the link for the AppleInsider news story. What will they think of next?

Food for Thought:

MediaStorm has another great piece of photo-journalistic media that is worth a look - it's only about 10 minutes long. It's entitled "Two Years After Katrina - Finding a Way Home." The manner in which the images are combined the video and dialogue makes the a compelling documentary on a subject that has been to soon forgotten by many of us. The beautifully produced and thought provoking presentation can be found by clicking here.

Well, after my wedding shoot on Sunday (I'll post a few images next week), I packing my bags and heading to Photoshop World in Las Vegas. Hope to see you there. Have a wonderful labor-free Labor Day weekend everybody. --David