Hyperfocal Distance and Tripods

I just finished watching the "Live Action Training" which accompanied Unit 1 of the NYIP course.  Some notes about the video:

• It ran about an hour.
• It was over 10 years old.  It talked about film cameras, didn't even mention digital cameras.
• But ... the photography concepts they discussed are still pertinent and they complemented Unit 1's audio and text lessons.
• Seeing the professional photographers actually use the techniques and then critiquing the different shots (good and not-as-good) was most helpful.   Don, Chuck, Linda and Jerry, were good teachers.
• I understand hyperfocal much better now and I know why I need to understand it.

The first topic after the introduction was framing a shot and depth of field, specifically using hyperfocal distance to take sharp pictures.  This was explained in depth by a professional photographer taking various shots for a local chamber of commerce calendar on location at a church yard.  Then Chuck Delany, back in the studio, demonstrated how to set the lens aperture and distance.

The second segment discussed two topics, using a tripod and taking motion pictures. The first photographer took pictures of a waterfall and wanted a softer motion shot with a misty look to the water falling, while the second photographer needed to illustrate, in sharper focus, a cantering horse and rider. 

More on Hyperfocal Focusing:
Hyperfocal Distance Guide (DOFMaster)
Hyperfocal Focusing (Great Landscape Photography)
Demystifying Hyperfocal Focusing (Nature Photographers)

More on Using a Tripod:
How to Use a Tripod (Roberts Web Photoschool)
It's Not as Simple as You Think (Digital Photography School)
Why You Need A Good Tripod (ZDNet)

More on Taking Motion/Action Pictures:
45 Beautiful Motion-Blur Photos (Smashing Magazine)
Taking Sports Pictures (photo.net)
Fun With Photography (About.com. Photography)

NYIP, Unit 1 update

I finished all the lesson CDs for Unit 1 on Sunday and found Units 2 and 3 waiting at my doorstep when I got home from work Monday.  How's that for timing?  I took the comprehensive on-line test for Unit 1 and got my grade a second after clicking Submit.  (I got an A+.  I missed one question so I think it should be an A, but the results said 97% was an A+.)

I'm still not finished with Unit 1 as I have a "Live Action Training" DVD to watch that reportedly shows professionals demonstrating the topics discussed in the lessons, and there are 2 more CDs.  One is a "NYIP Insider's Guide" titled How to Enter and Win Contests and the other is a "NYIP Business Series" for Freelance Opportunities which is accompanied by a 66-page booklet with the same name.

Then I have to submit 3 photo projects, but that may have to wait till spring as we are having a colder and snowier than usual winter and I'm a bit of a wuse.

It took about 12 hours to finish the lessons for Unit 1, but that doesn't count the research I did "outside class".  The research was valuable and interesting, but probably not actually necessary as it appears topics are introduced gradually with subsequent lessons going into more detail.

01/29/11: I finished the video and the last 2 CDs.  That brings the total time to 14 - 15 hours, but it took me a month to do those 15 hours.

Depth of Field

I've been researching Depth of Field (DOF) and Aperture and other things I was introduced to in my recent photography lessons. In the lesson on DOF, I was referred to DOFMaster to calculate DOF for different apertures to complete an exercise. 

DOFMaster has an easy to use calculator that produces DOF tables based on your camera and the focal length of the lens.  You can set it to give results in feet and inches, feet, or meters.  You can also download the DOFMaster Depth of Field Calculator application if your computer has Windows® 95, Windows® 98, Windows® ME, Windows NT® 4.x, Windows® 2000, or Windows® XP operating systems.  (Mine does not so I can't give any other information on this app.)

You can see a picture of how one photographer, Bernie Sumption, uses the DOFMaster DOF tables on his personal website.  He created a table for each lens, printed them, and then laminated each table.  This is a site worth visiting  You'll find several articles for beginner photographers on Bernie's site and amazing pictures of the Sumptions trip from England to Australia.  The last update was January 15th from the White Desert; it looks like salt instead of sand.

NYIP Unit 1, Lesson 3, continued

I finished Lesson 3 last Saturday.  In my opinion I didn't learn as much about "The Lens" as I should  have.  The conversational type lessons are easy to listen to and hold my attention fairly well, but I think I'd prefer a little more lecture with the conversation. Another instructor joined Chuck and Missy for the end of this lesson.  I didn't catch his name, but he's very experienced.  I am probably learning more than I think I am by listening to the professionals discuss what they do, but only time will tell how much I'm absorbing.  Not counting my self-assigned research, this lesson took a little over 2 hours. 

I started Lesson 4 this morning on How to Use Your Camera with the same 3 instructors mentioned above.   Again I feel like I would prefer more lecture even though the conversation was quite interesting.  I got lots of pointers on what the professionals do, but as a rank beginner I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet.

The lesson books/booklets are very nice.  They are more like glossy magazines than text books. They are well illustrated, both with drawings and pictures, and are easy to read. 

[Update 2/23/2012: Not all of the booklets I received were like "glossy magazines".  Some of them were 20 - 30 years old with no color.  They were not all the same size but all fit into the included slipcover (except for the pdf lessons should one want to print those).   NYIP should have more of the booklets updated by now. 

Booklets for lessons 1 - 6, 8 - 11, 13 - 15, Unit 5 (2 lessons), and Unit 6 (3 lesson) were from 2008 - 2010,  with lessons 7, 12, Unit 5 (3 lessons), and Unit 6 (2 lessons) from 1978 - 1995 ] and 6 lessons from Units 3 - 6 as pdf files.  There were 3 "Updates" booklets for Units 4 - 6.  Some of the booklets are labeled with the lesson number, some are not.]

As nice as the lesson books are, I think I want to supplement them with a book specific to my camera, but there are so many books available for the Canon Rebel T2i that I can't decide which one(s) to get.

F Stops

After my last lesson on f stops I wanted to know more about them.  Like, why are they called f stops and how did they come up with those numbers.

Thanks to Rex914's article on the forums at Digital Camera Resource Page  I now know how the numbers are derived.  It involves Pi and the square root of 2 (which is 1.414).  It looks like there are good camera reviews and buying guides on this site.

The f may stand for fraction or function.  I'm just guessing, speculating, making it up.

As usual when I'm surfing the web, I found several other interesting sites.  Here are just a few of them.  (Please note that these sites are new to me so I can't verify the contents, I'm only recommending that you check them out if you find the subjects of interest to you.) 

David Dahms and Paragon Press
Lens Focal Length Chart
Nature and Wildlife Tips
Check out the wildlife photos when you visit this site.

Photonhead
Beginners Guide to Photography
Digital Camera Buying Guide
Photography Tips   (Be sure to experiment with the SimCam)

Bryan F Peterson
I read today that Bryan F Peterson has been a photographer for about 30 years which may be why he looks like a photographer.  He's been teaching photography for 20 years and has written several photography books that have received great reviews.
Picture Perfect School of Photography  If you register, you can access free video photography tips.
His blog It doesn't look like this blog has been updated since July 2010, but there are some interesting articles here.  I recommend you read the June 25 entry, Every photograph is a lie ....

NYIP Unit 1, Lesson 3

I started Lesson 3 (The Lens) today and finished Part 1.  Between reading, listening, looking at my camera, and thinking it took about 70 minutes.  This part is more technical and therefore harder for me to grasp even though I've studied apertures and f stops before.  Today I learned that f stops are fractions and that's why the smaller numbers indicate a larger opening, just like 1/2 is larger than 1/3, and 1/3 is larger than 1/4.

We discussed lenses, lens speed, lens speed vs shutter speed, apertures, f stops, and a little bit about depth of field and focal range.  And that was just Part 1!

If you want to hear an example of the lesson CDs, check out the NYI podcasts, such as the one on apertures.

NYIP Unit 1, Lesson 2, cont

Well, I jumped ahead of the class.  We weren't through with the parts of the camera as I had assumed.  I spent another 30 minutes today listening to a more thorough discussion of the parts of the camera as well as 30 minutes on types of cameras. 

If you have read reviews that claim the NYIP course is outdated because it focuses (HA!) on film cameras, you're reading old reviews.  They do teach about film cameras because many people still use film, but there's more information on digital cameras.

FYI: I aced the quiz.

The next CD begins with the final few pages of Lesson 2 and then - on to The Lens!

NYIP Unit 1, Lesson 2

I began Lesson 2 and completed the first section which completed the second CD.  We briefly discussed the history of photography.  This took about 15 minutes which was probably about right for most people.  It was an interesting topic and when I have time I may do independent research to learn more.  The major point of the discussion was the photographers took beautiful, relevant, interesting pictures long before digital cameras were made.

The next 15 minutes was spent on a high level over-view of the parts of the camera, with promises that more detailed explanations would follow.  I find this a good approach.  It gives one a sense of the "whole picture" so you can see how the parts relate to the camera and each other.

By reading ahead I saw the next section is on types of cameras and they discuss what camera is recommended for the course.  I also saw a quiz on the last page.

So far, so good.

NYIP Unit One, Lesson One

I got my first box of lessons for the NYIP course - Unit 1 contained:

1. 5 audio-lesson CDs
2. 4 lesson books, 30 - 70 pages each, beautifully illustrated, easy to read print
3. 1 DVD for Live Action Training
4. 1 66-page booklet on Freelance Opportunities
5. 1 CD on Freelance Opportunities and the Business of Photography
6. 1 large slipcase (black cardboard box) for storing all your printed lessons neatly on a bookshelf 
7. 1 matching, smaller slipcase for storing the CDs and DVDs
8. Envelope for submitting projects, with photo log sheet
9. 1 CD entitled NYI Insider Guides - How to Enter and Win Contests
10. 1 gray card (at least a $5-$10 retail value)

I didn't keep track of what I got when so I'm not sure if # 9 and # 10 came in the Unit 1 box or one of the other packets I've received, but the main thing is, I got them.  I'm supposed to get my next box in about 30 days, but since I've paid for them I can request that they be sent sooner.

I started Lesson 1 on 1/1/11 which seemed fitting.  It took me a while to figure out what I was supposed to do first, but later I found the instructions in the Welcome Letter that came in the box.  So Lesson 1 - read everything carefully.

First, you listen to the CDs.  I was afraid the audio would put me to sleep, but they are quite interesting so far.  There were moments when my mind wandered off by itself, but these were short and infrequent and their voices were NOT monotonous.   There were a few times when one or the other of the ladies didn't seem close enough to the microphone.

Lesson 1 begins with the director and two of the instructors introducing the course and themselves.  It was very much a conversation, not a lecture, and while the introductions may have been longer than absolutely necessary, they did give me a good sense of their perspective and experiences with photography. 

The format of the lesson (and apparently all lessons) is that after the instructors talk awhile, you read a few pages from the lesson booklet then go back to the audio for another conversation then read a little book and so on and so on.  There was an interesting exercise in the middle of the lesson to help you begin to learn to look at photographs as a professional photographer would and to help you begin to recognize photographic opportunities.   Lesson 1 was covered in 1 3/4 CDs and took at least 3 hours (spread over 2 days). 

So far I'm pleased.  I wish that the different lessons were all on their own CDs, but that's a small inconvenience and would probably add to the cost of the course.   The other lessons in Unit 1 appear shorter - at least as far as the audio goes.  There may be more reading and exercises so the total time may be greater (or shorter).

The instructors did occasionally use a technical term in discussing the pictures, but they would stop and acknowledge that the student might not be familiar with the term so they would briefly explain it, adding that future lessons would be more detailed and promising that we'd have a better understanding of the technical terms by the end of the course.  I find this introduction of the terms in context helpful.

I took notes as they talked as I find this helps me concentrate on what is being said.  I rarely had problems keeping up with the conversation while writing, but I did have to scribble fast enough that I probably can't read some of the notes later.  That wasn't the intent of my note-taking for this course.  I bring this up because for the last web-based course I took, the instructor recommended taking notes, but then talked so fast that I had to "re-wind" over and over to catch what she was saying and had to pause frequently to write the notes legibly.  By the way, that software training course cost $500 (paid for by my company, thank goodness!), was completed in less than a month, had only summarized written material which I had to print at my own cost, and was just a detailed overview of the software, not an in-depth course that gave me enough information and practice to feel comfortable using the product.

New York Institute of Photography

Before I plunked down any money for the NYIP's Complete Course in Professional Photography, I did a lot of on-line research and reading.  I found a lot of people, like me, who wanted to know more about the course.   That's why I'm going to chronicle my experiences with the course.  I've very opinionated and I like sharing my views with the rest of the world.

After I did my research and decided to take the course, I plunged in feet first and paid my dues in full.  I did this for several reasons:

1. It saved money over the installment plan,
2. I had the money and I might not have it next year,
3. I got a box full of freebies.

Within a month, I'd received my "welcome package" and other assorted papers, including an enrollment agreement (2 copies - one for me and one for them that I have to mail back by providing my own stamp), a student ID card, a welcome booklet which answered a few questions for me, a "personal" schedule form, and a small 66 page "Professional Photographers Log and Reference Guide" (small meaning a little larger than pocket size.)

I also received my free gifts:

1. a welcome letter (not addressed to me personally) from the director, Chuck DeLaney,
2. a monopod with a carrying bag and instructions (I learned something already - how to use a monopod correctly by forming a tripod with it and your legs),
3. a collapsible reflector in a carrying bag that has other color reflectors inside itself (you'd have to see it, I can't explain it, but a note of warning - don't take it out of the bag till you need it because you have to fold it back up.  To see a demonstration, watch this magician on YouTube, then watch this guy to learn how to get it back in the bag),
4. a 4 GB thumb drive,
5. and a travel bag (it's a large, zipper-closing tote with no padding - I'm not sure I'd want to use it to carry an expensive camera etc  However, it does make a nice place to store all the NYIP papers I've received to date and later will be handy to carry around extra non-breakable stuff when I go on location. 
6. I didn't get the promised lens cleaning cloth because it's out of stock, but Chuck's letter did say if I wanted it, I could send them an email and they'd send me one as soon as they're available.

Altogether, I'd estimate I got about $40 - $75 worth of freebies, all emblazoned with a large NYIP logo. 

Next post: Unit 1, Lesson 1 (Unless I post about something else.)