March 2023 – frederikboving

Portrait Photography Away – Check list for beginners (part 2)

Photographers often question their current gear and is constantly scanning the market for better options with more advanced features. There is often no need for that. Your good old trusty DSLR will do just fine!

Gear acquisition syndrome (GAS) is a common disease amongst photographers.

Yes, a more modern camera may have more megapixels and face recognition and the like, but I would suggest that you put these considerations to a side and focus on getting to know your camera. Not that you need to know and understand each and every detail about the deepest menu system, but more the basics related to focus and exposure. Here I will take you through some of the important aspects of your camera and gear.

Megapixels

How many megapixels do you need as a portrait photographer? Not many. I have shot with my trusty old Nikon D700, and it is a 12megapixel camera, and used the files to print in size 70 x 100 cm and the client was happy as can be. The thing is, the larger you print, the larger the viewing distance.

If you see a large print on a wall, your natural reaction is to take a step back to allow you to take it all in. Otherwise you will be viewing the image as you would a tennis match – your eyes would go back and forth, and most don’t do that, but take a step back. If you pass a billboard, try to go up close. You will see that the resolution is very low (= looks horrible!), as it is intended to be viewed from far away.

The most common reason for wanting a lot of megapixels is to be able to crop, but if you frame your images carefully, then cropping should not be necessary. When the first digital cameras came out, they had only about 8 megapixels, but it was still amazing images the pros could produce. So don’t worry about the number of megapixels. Worry about filling the frame with your subject, and you are good to go.

Sensor size

Another common worry amongst photographers is choosing between APS-C and full frame. There are differences, granted, and you need less light with a full frame camera. But modern sensors (i.e. produced within the last 15 years) are so good that I find the difference to be negligible. You can shoot amazing images also with APS-C. So I would not worry about the sensor size.

File format

Your camera most likely offers different file formats – the one with most information is RAW and that is the format I recommend. You will get the most flexibility and headroom if you shoot raw. But there is a downside of course, and that is the space it requires both on your memory card and your computer.

You can do fine with say a JPG file, but you cannot recover so many details from the shadows or highlights if you need to, when your exposure is a bit off or the dynamic range of the scene stresses the dynamic range of the camera. So it is a balance between the need for post processing flexibility and saving disc space. Your call. My suggestion is to go for the flexibility and then have sufficient storage to accommodate the raw format.

Exposure parameters

Exposure is obviously important. But with digital photography and raw file formats, I would say less so now than in the film days. You can do a lot of adjustments to exposure in post when you shoot raw, and also you can preview the images on the camera’s rear LCD, along with a histogram. So if your exposure is off, then the options for learning about this while shooting are many.

But, there are 3 vital parameters you need to work with when we are talking exposure: ISO, aperture and shutter speed.

Your camera comes with a base ISO value, typically 100 or 200. From here you can turn up the volume and the higher ISO, the less light the camera needs to expose correct, all things being equal. The down side is that you will pay a price in terms of grainy images and washed out colours if you go too high on the ISO.

You can test this with your specific camera model, but I would stay below or at ISO 2000 as the limit. Different cameras have different limits to when the images start to turn bad, so give it a try with your camera model and see where the pain point starts to set in and stay well below that.

Auto ISO can be a great help. It means that the camera sets the ISO automatically to give the correct exposure. Typically you can limit the ISO so the camera will not go over a certain value – I recommend that you set this limit so you are sure not to come home with grainy images. And then I recommend that you switch Auto ISO on – it gives a bit more headroom for the shutter speed and aperture.

Shutter speed

Speaking of shutter speed, the reciprocal rule says that you should not go slower than the reciprocal value of your focal length. So if you are shooting at 85mm, then 1/85th of a second is the slowest you can go. Modern cameras with vibration reduction in both lens and camera have moved these limits and allow much slower shutter speeds, but if you have a good old DSLR with no vibration reduction, then the reciprocal rule is a good guide.

Aperture

If you ask me, aperture is the most important parameter in the exposure settings, as it dictates the depth of field. The more closed down the aperture is (higher f-stop numbers) the more depth of field (DOF) you get. And depth of field can be a life saver if you don’t manage to get the focus just right – the DOF introduces a “forgiveness” factor that can save you from minor misses on focus.

Google a depth of field calculator app and load it into your smartphone. Put in the parameter from your camera and the settings you plan to use and see what DOF you get. I prefer to have a DOF of at least 30-40 cm, so that when I focus on the eyer, the person in focus is sharp front to back. Notice that even though the aperture has a big influence on the DOF, the distance to the subject has even more. So getting some space between you and the subject can be absolutely vital for getting the DOF you want.

Exposure modes

Your camera will have several exposure modes: PASM, meaning program, aperture priority, shutter priority and manual. To allow you to focus on the client and the shoot, I would stay clear of manual mode unless you are very comfortable with keeping an eye on the light meter. Aperture priority means that you are the boss when it comes to the aperture, and the camera selects the shutter speed. For shutter priority it is the other way around. Program mode means that the camera sets both the aperture and the shutter speed – this is the mode where you have less control.

Finally, many cameras also have a Auto mode. It is the same as program mode, but in addition the camera has pre-selected and locked a number of other values so it is in “point and shoot” mode.

I typically shoot in aperture priority to control the DOF, and the camera then selects the shutter speed. And in addition I switch on auto ISO, so the camera has to variables to play with to get the exposure right. But I always try to keep an eye on the shutter speed, to make sure it does not get too slow.

Compensation

Your camera probably has an exposure compensation button. It typically sits close to the shutter release button and has a +/- sign. If you push that button, your can use the front or rear command dials to set the exposure compensation in stops of light.

It can be very useful if you don’t agree to the cameras automated metering, i.e. you find that it systematically exposes to much or too little, or you just want to protect the highlights. The adjustment of the automated exposure can be really useful, but be careful when you have it activated – you may forget it is on! Keep an eye out for the metering scale – it will show if you have compensation turned on.

Metering modes

Your camera probably offers a number of metering modes. The most automated and advanced is named matrix or weighted metering. That is the one I would recommend you to use.

For portrait there is an alternative to consider and that is the center weighted mode. It will prioritize metering according to the amount of light in the center of the frame. This can be useful if you are shooting against a very bright background like at white backdrop.

No matter which mode you choose, it will not change the amount of ambient light- only the way the camera interprets the light.

Shake

You don’t want shake or movement. Camera shake is when the camera is moved while the shutter is pen. Movement is when the subject moves while the shutter is open. The slower the shutter speed, the bigger the risk of shake and movement there is.

Shake and movement is not what you want in portrait photography. You can use it creatively for some images, but my guess is that for the most part your client would like to have images that are not blurred. And shake and movement will look blurred. Many mistake images with blur for being out of focus, but the cause is different.

A tripod is a good way to mitigate camera shake. But it does take up space in your backpack, and although modern tripods comes in carbon versions, there is still a weight penalty to be paid. If you are to do 100 corporate headshots, then you definitely want the camera to be on a tripod to make sure you get exactly the same angle and position for each image (along with a cross on the floor to indicate where the employee is to stand).

When we are on the subject of tripods: consider to get an l-bracket. It makes shooting in portrait mode so much easier without tipping the balance of your camera on the tripod.

White balance

Your camera probably has a button named “WB” or a quick menu where you can set the white balance. The white balance is something camera producers generally try to make accessible easily.

Don’t mix light sources with different colour temperatures – it is a safe route to trouble, unless you shoot black and white!

You will probably find that your camera offers a lot of options for white balance settings. Don’t worry and put the camera in automatic mode. Modern cameras have an excellent white balance automatic system, and you can always tweak the white balance in post if you are not happy with the chosen Kelvin value!

However, be careful not to mix two colour temperatures! I once photographed a birthday where the party was held inside (candescent light) but there were some very big windows also that contributed with a lot of natural light (sun). When I shot people standing close to the window or even worse: with the window as a backdrop, I got two different colour temperatures mixed! The result: Either their skin tone looked absolutely horrible and the room colours looked ok, or their skin tone looked natural and the room had the most weird colours! That taught me to not mix colour temperatures!

Focus settings

Your camera probably has a lot of options for setting focus, and with mirrorless cameras it has gotten a bit more complicated adding face recognition and even recognition of animal faces! So many choices!

My advice is: shoot with a focus option where you control what the camera selects to focus on. In auto focus mode, you have no control of what the camera focuses on, and it will typically select whatever is the closest to the camera. But that my not be what you want it to focus on.

I prefer a low tech option that gives me control. So I usually shoot with a small focus point that I can move around with the command wheel on the rear of my camera. If you don’t have time to move the focus point around, then move the camera so the focus point is on the eye of your subject, half press the shutter to lock focus, recompose (i.e. move the camera so you get the framing you want) and then press the shutter fully to take the picture. When you’ve done this a few times, it quickly becomes second nature.

Portrait Photography Away – Check list for beginners (part 1)

Portrait photography away from home is a brutal game if you ask me. Not only do you have to be ready with the gear and your skills lined up, but you also have to adjust to the lighting conditions and the physical location the client has chosen. The parameters in play are many more than if you ask the client to show up in your studio where you know exactly what backdrops to choose from and where the flashes are positioned.

This little checklist is intended for you if you are new to the task of shooting (digital) portraits away from home. A getting started guide, if you like. As your experience grows, you may find that you grow out of the advice given here, but that is as it should be. The intention is to get you going, not to limit you as your skills and experience grows.

You are not alone

If you are a photographer and not super comfortable with all the buttons and dials on your camera, then here is a little secret: you are not alone! Many photographers are not engineers but originate from a more creative line of business, and hence the many technical aspects of photography is either not of interest or not necessary to get the job done. The most important thing is that you are comfortable with the fact that you don’t need to know all corners of your camera. Or to say it another way: it is OK to be uncomfortable with the fact that your are uncomfortable with some buttons on the camera. You can get the job done still.

Respect your own role

You have been hired to do a job. To be successful in that job, you sometimes have to instruct and direct the client. Maybe they need to adjust the hairdo, bend an arm a little more, the dress folds in a way you don’t want it to, etc. Make sure you are the boss when it comes to the photography work.

The client may be tired and want to move on, they don’t want to do as you say, etc. Here you need to take charge and not cave in: Your success does not come randomly, but through carefully managing the shooting process, and that entails directing the client and being the boss when needed. Be polite and friendly of course, but do stand your ground. The better you are at this, the better results and the happier clients.

Take time to talk to the client during the shoot. Not everyone is comfortable in front of the camera, and then your job is the help them. You can try different approaches like asking an open ended question or cracking a joke – both helps them being less self aware. Or involve them in the shoot and ask them to hold a reflector, if that can stay out of the frame. But first and foremost: read the person you are photographing and adjust your instructions accordingly to create the best atmosphere possible.

Agreed

To define your role, an agreement in writing is a must. It does not have to be very long or in the shape of a formal contract, but an e-mail to agree terms and conditions along with the scope of the assignment is mandatory if you ask me. Many photographers are not comfortable with this part, but it will come back and bite you if you do not lock the scope of the assignment with some sort of written agreement. And define what you plan to charge.

The important is that you have a good understanding of what the client wants to achieve and that expectations are managed on both sides. So if you are hired to shoot Adam at his 18th year birthday, then that is the job. Not to shoot Adam’s girlfriend or his parents. Use the scope definition as a central tool in managing the expectations. And also define who owns the images and if example copies can be used in your marketing or not.

If you plan to deliver the images on a memory stick and this is defined in the agreement, then it should be clear to everyone that ordering 10 printed copies of one of the images will be charged separately. Having a list of prices for additional services (such as printing) can help manage expectations.

Pricing is very individual per country and hence difficult to be specific about, but make sure you don’t sell yourself cheap. Just because it is easy for you to shoot 10 additional images does not mean it is easy for anyone. When you hire someone to paint your living room, it may be easy for that person to do the job because they have the skills and the training. But the value add for you is that you get the painting done with a very capable person that can paint much better than you will ever be able to do. Or find the time to do it. And there is the value, right? Look at your own profession the same way – your skillset did not come easy and there is a lot of value add from hiring a pro photographer.

Work backwards

When I was new to photography, I never gave the end result a thought. I was more worried about framing, light, exposure, etc. And that is also important. But it can be valuable to know how the digital images are going to be applied. There is a huge difference if the image is going to be posted on instagram in a 1:1 format, shared on a UHD TV set in 16:9 format or printed huge in 3:2 format to hang in a hallway somewhere.

When I shoot images that I know are going to be cropped to 16:9, then I often go a bit wider in my framing to allow the top and the bottom of the image to be cropped in order to fit the 16:9 format that I often use. Had I not zoomed out a bit, then I would be facing some difficult cropping choices. So beginning with the end in mind is a good exercise.

When shooting portraits, you may find that to fill the frame the best way, you may need to turn your camera 90 degrees to – well – portrait mode. Hence the name, I guess. But it can make a huge difference how you frame the shot. And if you find that portrait mode works for you, and you shoot with a tripod, then maybe an L-bracket is something you need in your camera bag. This question only came up, because you started thinking the process though.

Mind the background

Your subject is the star or the main actor. You don’t want anything to steal the attention from the star. So mind the background, please. If you study flower portraits or portraits of insects, you will see that the best photographers are very good at selecting backgrounds that do not dominate the subject.

Some photographers love to give their subject props such as flowers, hats, umbrellas or glasses. I am a bit sceptical to this approach. If you think it is the right thing to do, the do it by all means, but please consider if the props start to take focus away from the subject.

One way to make the background less dominating is by making it blurred. This is a common technique amongst photographers, as it makes the subject pop: Razor sharp subject, super blurred background. And it does work. But the price is that you may need to shoot at a shallow depth of field, and then focusing can become more tricky. And in extreme cases, only parts of the subject is in focus. What you can do is to make sure there is much more distance between the subject and the background than there is between the camera and the subject. In this way you can shoot at a middle-of-the-road aperture as f/5.6 and still get a reasonably blurred background.

If you choose say a white wall as a background, be mindful that the light metering system in the camera can be a bit confused. Your camera probably has an option named something like “centre weighed metering” – try that for size and see if it gives better results.

Focal length

If you want to be REALLY bored (say, you can’t fall asleep), try this: Ask two portrait photographers which focal length they prefer. Chances are that they don’t agree and will debate for hours on end. We are in personal preference territory.

One thing is certain: a very wide lens (say 20mm) will not make the subject look attractive, especially if you put the camera right in front of their nose! Whatever is in the middle of the frame will take up a disproportionate size, which of course is funny if you want the clowns red nose to be extra big, but most buying a portrait photographer expects something a little more accommodating.

The classic focal length for portrait is 85mm. It is like buying a Volkswagen Golf – it can hardly go wrong. Others prefer a bit longer lenses like 105mm or 135mm. But it stays in that range. The reason is that 85-135mm gives a natural representation of proportions without compressing the image too much. In other words: it looks natural.

Zoom versus primes is a discussion that started when the earth cooled down. In the old days, it was probably true that primes were sharper than zooms, but a zoom lens today is very, very close to a prime. So close that I doubt you for any practical purposes (other than pixel peeping) will notice the difference. And I do find that my 70-200mm zoom gives me some options to vary the framing via zooming that my 85mm prime does not. But it is very much up to you and your personal preference.

Notice that when I talk focal length here, I refer to the full frame (35mm) focal lengths. If you are shooting with an APS-C camera with a cropped sensor, then you need to multiply the focal length with 1.5 approx. to get to the full frame equivalent. So a 70mm lens on a APS-C camera is the same as a 105mm lens on a full frame camera.

Home

My best advice? Make sure you come home with something. Anything but empty hands. Your clients have put trust in your ability to do the job, and if your memory card goes belly up for some reason, or your camera gets stolen on the train on the way back from the event, then you have zero. Zip. Nada.

It is not funny to tell the clients that the important event wasn’t documented, unfortunately. And how ever good a reason you have, it does not help much. So do everything you can to avoid ending up in that situation. That is my best advice. Even the best composition with wonderful lighting captured with just the right exposure does not help much, if it sits on a memory card you cannot read or in a camera you don’t know where is. So backup, backup and backup.

If you watch some YouTube videos with camera reviews, one of the things many reviewers talk about for hours on end is if the camera has one or two card slots. I did not understand the importance of this in the beginning, but now I do – it’s all about having no single point of failure to ruin your day. If your data is duplicated at the source (= two card slots) then that helps a lot.

But even if you only have one card slot, you can bring a laptop or a storage device to make backups during the shoot. Or even better: to some cloud solution. Even if you have a dual card camera, you may want to do a backup still.

Be mindful that theft is a risk if you e.g. go via transportation shared with others, such as a plane or a train. Many people store their backups the same place as the original and forget that fire and theft will potentially ruin both the original and the backup in one sweep. So be a bit paranoid: make backups during the shoot and split the original and the backup as best you can.

Some older DSLRs allow you to happily shoot away with no memory card installed! There is a little sign on the rear LCD notifying you of this, but in principle you can go all day and shoot without noticing this. Such a grim situation will also be mitigated if you make it a habit to do backups during the shoot.

Procedure

Photography is in the creative genre. Quite opposite to procedure. Agreed. But combining procedure and creativity in my experience is the best way forward. Having worked in procedures you follow loyally allow you to focus on the more creative and fun part, while the more dull and boring part runs on routine. Well worked in routine.

It is not funny to establish these procedures or routines. But it will help you produce the same high standard result on a consistent level. And the difference between a pro and an amateur is exactly the consistency. So establish routines that lay the foundation for success, such as:

Have a checklist for what needs to go in the camera bag and follow that list to the point.
Bring spare batteries fully charged + a charger and a power bank
Bring spare and formatted memory cards that you know work
Test your flashes from home and how they are set-up in groups and channels

The above are just examples. But work on your routines to make sure you take all the unnecessary variables out of the equation. That gives you comfort and surplus to focus on the more fun stuff about photography.

Light

Photography is writing with light, so obviously light is important. If you need to travel carrying as little as possible, chances are that you do not have flashes or video light as an option, let alone light diffusers and stands to hold it all. So you are left with ambient light.

For portrait photography soft light is the preference by most, unless you are doing something very specialised, which I assume is not the case.

Soft light makes the transition from light to dark areas happen gradually rather than the abrupt way that hard light does. If you are standing in the sun on a cloudless summers day around noon, then you will know what hard light looks like!

Soft light is produced with a large light source relative to the size of your subject. So this is why the sun on a cloudless day can produce brutally hard light: it is a very small light source, far far away from your subject. If a cloud obscures the sun, then the cloud serves as a diffuser (and increases the size of the light source) and all of a sudden the light is much softer.

One way to soften ambient light is to put a big white cloth between the light source and the subject. You can do this both outdoor and indoor. The biggest challenge is to find a way to mount the white cloth, but a few pieces of cord and a bit of ingenuity can get you a long way. If this gets to complicated, holding a shoot through umbrella between the light source and the subject is another way of softening the light. Get the umbrella as close to the subject as possible to maximise the effect.

Finally, as simple tool as a reflector can maximise the use of the ambient light. If the light enters from the left, hold the reflector to the right to make the two sides of the face more evenly lit. If it enters from the top, hold the reflector under the chin to balance the light more evenly. You will be surprised how big the effect of such a simple tool can be. If you don’t have a reflector, simply use a white piece of paper or cardboard. A bonus is here that you can ask the subject to hold the reflector and hence be more engaged in the shooting process, which may help some become more relaxed and less self aware.

Continued reading

In part two I talk more about camera settings and the like operational stuff. Thanks for reading this far!

What is PPI in photography?

PPI is pixels-per-inch or points-per-inch. It is used to express the resolution for a screen, say a monitor, a television, a tablet or a smartphone, just to mention a few.

If you think of a game of chess measuring 1 inch by 1 inch, the PPI is 8. You have 8 pixels across and 8 pixels down, giving a total of 64 pixels. So the PPI does not count the total number of pixels per inch, but tells you how many pixels you will find on both sides of the 1 inch by 1 inch square.

The PPI cannot change. The resolution of your monitor or your television has the PPI set from the factory and it remains fixed – no parameter of configuration can change that.

The PPI is a grid into which the pixels in your image can fit. If your image file has a lot more resolution than the PPI, the screen simply cannot do justice to the quality of the file and will have to scale down the resolution of the file to match the PPI of the screen. You can counter this when you edit by zooming in on the image in which case the constant PPI would be applied to a small(er) part of the image and hence would yield a relatively higher resolution.

Typically the PPI increases the smaller the device is. My iPhone 13 has a PPI of 440 approx, whereas the 32 inch AOC monitor I use to write this has a PPI of 140. You would think that the iPhone is a much better screen than the AOC, but here you have to factor in the viewing distance: The greater the viewing distance, the less PPI you will need. I find this to be a bit counterintuitive, but have accepted that it is the way it is. If a billboard was made using a monitor, you would not need 140 PPI’s!

Many want their camera to have a lot of megapixels, and primarily use the files produced to present on a UHD monitor (typically 32″ in size). The resolution is 3840 x 2160 equal to 8.3 megapixels which is much less than say the 24mp you would find in a Nikon Z6ii or a Nikon D750.

Review: Galen Rowell’s Inner game of outdoor photography

Imagine a job add where you would ask for someone who is (1) a master mountain climber, (2) an outstanding and engaging author and (3) one of the best outdoor photographers with 40+ years of experience. And add to that that travel experience requirements is to have travelled all 7 continents and both poles! Do you think someone from HR would let you publish such an add? Nah. They would probably tell you such person does not exist. But such person actually did exist in the shape of Galen Rowell.

Asking a photographer what model of camera he uses is like asking a writer what type of typewriter he uses. Galen Rowell.

Galen

According to wikipedia, Galen Rowell was born in 1940 and died in a plane crash in 2002. The inner game of outdoor photography was published in 2001. So Galen has probably written a some of the book quite late in his life. Other parts of the book is based upon essays previously published in the Outdoor Photographers Magazine.

Especially in the first of the 4 parts of the book, Galen strikes me as a very well read person who is not afraid of taking a big step back and looking at things from the outside in. My guess is that he has learned this from his father, being a philosopher, but it is of course a guess. The philosophical angle runs as a red thread throughout the book, and to me this is an additional dimension to the book that I really enjoy.

The medium may not be the message, but it sure can make a big difference. Galen Rowell.

Inner game of outdoor photography

The book contains 66 essays or small chapters, varying from 2-5 pages, and blended with the text comes more than 140 colour photographs that illustrates the essays. The 4 sections are:

Visions: creative and cognitive processes
Preparations: equipment, film and technique
Journeys: merging visions with realities and
Realisations: communicating your worldview through photography

You can tell that the book is 20+ years old today when Galen talks about pushing the ISO on the film or how to get the weight of his gear reduced as much as possible e.g. using the Nikon F65. Also, towards the end of the book he talks about scanning and enhancing the 35mm film digitally, which also shows that the book was published at the brink of the digital revolution. It is also interesting how some of the readers of the Outdoor Photographers Magazine have sent letters (!) as part of a debate about outdoor photography! I think today that would have been settled via social media.

Galen Rowell's the inner game of outdoor photography — An example page from Galen Rowell’s the inner game of outdoor photography – there are 140 colour photographs in the book!

But despite the book clearly being 20+ years old, the vast majority of the content is as relevant today as it was back when he wrote it.

The format is excellent – the chapters / essays are so short that you can read them rather quickly and independent of each other. Just like a step-calendar leading up to Christmas.

The best photographers know better than to try to lead others all the way down their inner path, because the act of following someone else’s, instead of discovering your own, will eventually be self defeating. Galen Rowell.

The first part of the book is the most abstract and philosophical talking about cognitive processes and the meaning of photography. The second part takes a big swing the other way and becomes very operational and hands-on and how-to use flash and push film and make your backpack as light as possible. Third part is enjoyable stories from all his travelling around the globe and the final part again zooms out and looks more at the photography industry and the relationship between man and nature. And every section of the book is really well written and a joy to read – provided of course that the outdoors and outdoor photography is close to your heart.

Conclusion

I am really happy that I got to read this book. And I think I will read especially part 1 several times. I feel this book has given me the privilege to look over the shoulder of an exceptional photographer, one that has travelled the world and seen things I will never get to see. And alone for that reason, I can highly recommend this book for any outdoor photographer. Despite some sections being dated obviously.

Consistently creative photography requires learning to bridge the chasm between and engineer’s technical mastery and a blind monkey’s unselfconscious intuition. Galen Rowell.

The book also leaves me a bit sad. Galen was killed in a plane accident, and I cannot help thinking how much experience and knowledge that was lost in that incident. How many of those funny little stories that this book is filled with did Galen have on stock that he just did not have an opportunity to tell? Today he would have been well into his 80ties and I envision an old man sitting by the campfire telling stories from his long life to his grandchildren and any young photographer that drops by. But obviously that vision will never materialise and this book is as close as we will ever get.

Many have made me aware that Thom Hogan in this blog post has described his relationship to Galen Rowell and what Galen meant to him as a mentor and a friend. I highly recommend that you read Thom’s blog if you want to learn more about Galen and his work and influence.

Practical note

I live in Europe and copies of this book does not come easy. I ordered a used copy via Amazon and it took a month (!) for it to arrive. I ordered a copy in UK, but apparently the supply chain started in US, which explains the long wait for it to arrive. So should you decide to buy a copy you may find that a bit of patience is required.

Review: HORL 2 knife sharpener

What is it?

The HORL 2 knife sharpener is a manual grinding solution that applies a new principle: where the traditional principle is to have a fixed stone you drag the knife across, the HORL flips these two. Here the knife is held in check with a magnet and instead the stone is rolled back and forth along the knife blade to sharpen the knife.

HORL 2 review — The traditional way: The stone is fixed and the knife is moved. The HORL 2 flips this logic and fixes the knife with a magnet and moves the stone by rolling it.

The advantage is that the angle between the stone and the knife can be held constant. An amateur knife sharpener like me struggle to keep the angle constant and that is the safe route to failure. So here the HORL 2 comes to my rescue with a solution to keep the angle absolutely constant during the grinding.

Horl 2 cruise — The HORL 2 cruise comes with a grinding disk, a magnetic angle support and two guides: a quick guide and a more detailed instruction manual.

The solution itself is therefore simply a little magnet to fix the knife and a grinding stone on a rolling device. Thats basically it, along with a quick guide and a more detailed instruction. The image above shows what I found in the box from HORL.

Price

I find the HORL 2 to be quite expensive, so I went for the budget version named HORL 2 Cruise, which here in March 2023 set me back 120 EUR. I think it is a lot of money for a knife sharpener, but my logic is that I have around 10 knives which makes up a significant investment, and as I do not have the skillset to maintain the sharpness of the knife with a traditional sharpener, the value of my knife portfolio is steadily declining. My hope is that the HORL will bring my knives back to tip top shape, and in that light, I can justify the investment.

I thought the main downside of the budget version was the replacement of delicious oak wood with plastic, but it turned out that the budget version only comes with a 20 degree angle (and not both 15 and 20) and that the grinding disc cannot be exchanged! Take note of this, as many especially Japanese knives are born with a 15 degree angle, and hence you may want it to stay that way. The ability to change grinding disc is mainly an issue if you want to shift between different “strengths” of grinding – the disc should not need replacement due to wear according to the instruction manual.

Use

I find the use of the HORL 2 to be easy. It comes with a good instruction manual and also the quick guide quickly gets you going. Also, if you google a bit, there are a lot of YouTube videos that shows how to use the HORL.

HORL 2 Cruise Review — There us both an instruction manual and a quick guide. The use of the HORL 2 is not complicated at all.

As I am not an expert when I comes to sharpening knives, I did not really pay much attention to the fact that the HORL 2 has both a diamond grinding disc AND a stainless steel honing disc. In other words, you need to use both sides of the HORL 2. This is important to get a good result! I figured that the honing side did really not have that much influence on the sharpness of the knife, but judging from what experts say, the honing side is just as important as the grinding side to get a good and sharp result! I wish the instruction manual had underlined this point.

In terms of how long time to sharpen the knife, there is very little guidance, other than “between 2-5 minutes” or something vague like that. So what I do is that I count the number of times I move the HORL 2 back and forth, and then I make sure to apply the same number to both sides of the blade. And if the result is not as satisfying, I simply repeat the process. They say that once you have sharpened the knife, a re-sharpening only requires a few movements. I have not tested this claim, but it would be nice if it is the case.

Be prepared to be dirty! The grinding will result in small metal particles and metal dust that will be all over the place in no time!

The rubber that the HORL 2 rolls on when you move it back and forth can leave small marks on the surface you use. My kitchen table is a bit sensitive so I generated several “tire tracks” from rolling the HORL 2 back and forth. So you may want to be more smart about it than I was.

Result

The result is … okay. I am not excited. I really thought I would get super sharp knives, and they do get better, but to my surprise it seems to be a little random still. Some knives becomes very good, others less so.

One of the reasons is that I find it hard to sharpen the part of the knife that is close to the tip. I think it is because the angle changes slightly. Also the magnet cannot cover the entire range of the knife and obviously gives the best support where it is mounted. So I find that I have to move the magnet a bit back and forth to get the support I need.

Despite all my attempts to vary the position of the magnet etc, I cannot seem to get the far end of the knife sharp. The part close to the handle: excellent! Not so much the other end. The difference is so noticeable that my wife commented on the difference in sharpness unsolicited!

The instruction manual gives guidance to both narrow blades and so called “extremely broad blades”. Apparently my knifes are not in any of these extremes, as I have been able to use the HORL 2 Cruise on all my knifes with not problems. Except for my ceramic knife, that obviously does not work with the magnet.

Conclusion

I’m a bit divided here. Intuitively and looking at the design, this solution should work! It does take the biggest uncertainty out of the equation for manual sharpening of knives: the angle between steel and stone. It should turn an amateur like me into a pro. The problem is, as they say, that reality does not always follow armchair logic. And this is one of those cases.

I do think that this solution is as good as it gets when you cannot hold 15 degrees manually and need help from the HORL. And maybe my problem is that I was hoping for more than I got. But I still have this idea that my knives can be sharper than they are right now, and I am not sure the HORL 2 is the solution that will fulfil that ambition.

Afterthought

After using the HORL 2 for some time, I ended up buying a more traditional sharpening steel. The sharpening steel is actually built into the HORL 2 solution, so it may seem like a superfluous step. But I did find that I got better results if I used the sharpening steel from a more traditional solution. I still use the HORL 2 stone for the initial sharpening but finish off the job now with a traditional sharpening steel. I now get results that even my wife praise. And you know what they say: Happy wife = happy life.

Review: Ernst Haas by Photofile

Photofile is a apparently a series of books that provides what they describe as “an accessible introduction” to some of the greatest photographers. And in this case it is Austrian / American photographer Ernst Haas.

The book is a relatively little paperback book (20 cm tall) with 67 photographs by Ernst Haas in colour and duotone. A far cry from some of the big and delicious coffee-table books you can find about photography, but so is the price, to be fair.

The book gives a relatively short 9-10 pages well written introduction to the professional life of Ernst Haas by Virginie Chardin and then the rest of the book is simply a presentation of 67 pictures shot by Ernst Haas.

Over at the homepage independent photo, Ernst Haas is quoted for saying: “Bored with obvious reality, I find my fascination in transforming it into a subjective point of view. Without touching my subject I want to come to the moment when, through pure concentration of seeing, the composed picture becomes more made than taken. Without a descriptive caption to justify its existence, it will speak for itself – less descriptive, more creative; less informative, more suggestive – less prose, more poetry.”

This book gives absolutely no information about the images other than the year and location, and as such it is very much in the spirit of Ernst Haas (“less descriptive, more creative”).

As I am a big fan of Ernst Haas’ work, I could have wished for more information about Ernst, more examples of his work, etc. But as such the format of the series Photofile aims for a lighter touch. So I find it to be a good introduction, but and introduction that wants me to see more of his amazing and pioneering work.

Review: Street Photography – A history in 100 iconic images, by David Gibson

I like tapas. Small portions of delicious food where you taste a lot of different food and flavours. You won’t get full from the individual tapas, but ranging across a lot of different small dishes, you eventually will be full.

This books is a bit like tapas: 100 different street photographers. Hand picked by the author David Gibson. And for each photographer, one image and one page of accompanying text. Really well written, well researched and an interesting read. And I think he has picked some of the most interesting street photographers of all time (Saul Leiter, Vivian Maier and Diane Arbus just to mention a few).

If you want to get to know these photographers in depth, then this is not the book. It only scratches the surface for each photographer, but if you want a good overview and a light touch on the 100 greatest street photographers of all time, this book comes highly recommended.

Lumix S5: Manual exposure guide

Manual exposure

I recommend that you try out manual exposure. You will learn a lot about exposure doing so, and you will be a better photographer when using some of the semi automatic modes like Aperture priority, because you will understand much better what the camera does and what you control.

First things first: select manual mode using the mode dial on top of the camera. It sits to the right of the viewfinder. Manual mode disengages the automated metering, but the metering system is still at work, and the camera will tell you how you are doing in terms of exposing right, both via the preview in the viewfinder / rear LCD and via the exposure indicator. So you are not left entirely on your own, but you need to keep an eye out for the exposure when in manual mode. If you shoot RAW you can fix a lot of mis-exposure in post processing, but it is more fun and more rewarding to get it right in camera!

Lumix S5 exposure — Choosing M for Manual on the mode selector top right on the camera.

Aperture

There are 3 values to work with when in manual mode: Aperture, shutter speed and ISO. You have probably heard of the exposure triangle, and it is exactly that triangle you need to be on top of.

Lumix S5 manual exposure — The front command dial controls the aperture.

The front command dial that sits under or around the shutter release controls the aperture. Turning the command dial updates the aperture setting. You can see the aperture value both in the electronic viewfinder and the rear LCD as you turn the dial. When you are changing the aperture value, the setting turns yellow to help you see what you are changing.

Shutter speed

The shutter speed is selected turning the rear command dial that sits top right on the camera, closest to you. You can read the value of the shutter speed both in the rear LCD and the bottom of the viewfinder.

ISO

On a digital camera, ISO is actually not part of the exposure. The sensor has the sensitivity it had when it left the factory and it cannot be changed.

By setting the ISO to other values than the base ISO 100, you apply a gain to the values read by the sensor. It is camera internal post processing that happens from the sensor has read the light and until the image sits on the memory card. Just like in the old days when you turned up the radio, you both amplified the signal and the noise – the original signal remains the same. ISO works the same way, so the price for turning up the ISO is more noise and grain.

The S5 has an ISO button sitting right behind the shutter release. When pushed, you can change the ISO value turning either the front or the rear command dial.

Contrary to what I am used to from my Nikon cameras, the selection between Auto ISO and manual ISO does not happen as a consequence of turning the front command dial, rather it is as the near end of the ISO scale, i.e. when you try to select a value smaller than ISO 100, then it selects auto ISO.

Lumix S5 — The auto ISO option is at the beginning of the ISO scale, i.e. as if you were trying to select a value lower than 100.

When you have auto-ISO switched on, the camera will be in a – if not semi automatic – then quarter automatic mode. In other words, the camera will try to make the picture correctly exposed ALONE changing the ISO. So if you have a dark scene where the aperture is closed down and/or the shutter speed is fast, the camera will have to go to very high ISO values to compensate.

Exposure metering

When you switch to manual mode with manual ISO as well, then you disengage the metering system in the camera, i.e. you are in full control. However, the camera is looking over your shoulder and has an opinion about how you are doing. You can see this in the viewfinder and the rear LCD: if the image turns dark or very bright, it is a clear signal that your exposure is off to some degree.

You can keep an eye out for the metering scale both on the rear LCD and the viewfinder; this will give you an indication of how the camera thinks you are doing with regards to exposing (technically) correct. You can choose to ignore this of course – the artistic freedom – but in the beginning I would recommend that you see what the metering scale tells you.

Management information

The information that the Lumix S5 shows varies subject to the display settings.

If you hit the “DISP” button shown above, you will toggle between different options for what is shown in the viewfinder and the rear LCD. You can make further and more detailed configuration of what is shown via the menu system, but for starters try the “DISP” button options and see which one you like.

Next step

I hope the above was useful and that you may start to feel a bit comfortable with shooting in manual mode. The worst thing that can happen is that you come home with some images that are exposed poorly. If you shoot RAW, chances are you can fix this in post if need be. So the worst case scenario is perhaps not so bad if you think about it. Best of luck with manual exposure!

Megapixels

Sensor size

File format

Exposure parameters

Shutter speed

Aperture

Exposure modes

Compensation

Metering modes

Shake

White balance

Focus settings

Related reading

You are not alone

Respect your own role

Agreed

Work backwards

Mind the background

Focal length

Home

Procedure

Light

Continued reading

Related reading

Related reading

Galen

Inner game of outdoor photography

Conclusion

Practical note

Related reading

What is it?

Price

Use

Result

Conclusion

Afterthought

Related reading

Related reading

Further reading

Manual exposure

Aperture

Shutter speed

ISO

Exposure metering

Management information

Next step

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