Transcript
Upper Blue Mountains Camera Club Inc.
Newsletter Albrect Dürer, the masterful Reformation period painter and engraver said, “Nature holds the beautiful, for the artist who has the insight to extract it.
From Mirroring Emotions — to the Theory of the Mind — To Photography and the Feelings of Others Admirers of the defunct, but frequently re-run, television series Star Trek will recall the Starship Enterprise’s Vulcan Officer, Mr Spock. Spock differed from earthlings in two important ways: he had odd pointy ears and he was always eminently logical and unemotional. Even when the murderous Romulans seemed certain to destroy their starship, Spock never panicked. On such occasions the crew would accuse him of being “inhuman” since to them, the essential characteristic of a human being is the ability to feel emotions. The importance of emotions in our lives is also apparent in our language. There are are over 400 English words to describe feelings such as joy, passion, sorrow, ecstacy, anger, fear, lust, love, grief, awe, and so on, each with a slightly different meaning. You have probably
noticed that the emotions of people in close proximity tend to synchronize. Happy people can cheer up sad people, or sad people can sadden happy people, depending upon which emotion dominates the situation. This tendency can also affect your photography work. Your emotions affect the way you think and perform, so they affect your photography, your pre-visualizing sense, the way you compose, and so forth. Your job is to extricate yourself from your emotions or dive into them as the situation calls for it. Depending on the situation you can be completely free in what you want to shoot, or you will have to be totally composed and do just what you are being paid for or what the occassion calls for. When you aren’t on the job, you should express everything you feel through your photographs.
This will make them worth more than a thousand words! In a Podiatrist’s office: “Time wounds all heels.” On a Septic Tank Truck: “Yesterday’s Meals on Wheels” At an Optometrist’s Office: “If you don’t see what you’re looking for, you’ve come to the right place.” On a Plumber’s truck: “We repair what your husband fixed.” In a Non-smoking Area: “If we see smoke, we will assume you are on fire and take appropriate action.” On a Maternity Room door: “Push. Push. Push.” At a Car Dealership: “The best way to get back on your feet – miss a car payment.” Outside an Exhaust Shop: “No appointment necessary . . . we hear you coming.” In a Veterinarian’s waiting room: “I’ll be back in 5 minutes. Sit! Stay!” At the Electrictricity Company “We would be delighted if you send in your payment. However, if you don’t, YOU will be de-lighted.” In a Restaurant window: “Don’t stand there and be hungry; come on in and get fed up.” In the front yard of a Funeral Home: “Drive carefully. We’ll wait.” Radiator Shop: “Best place in town to take a leak.” Sign on the back of another Septic Tank Truck: “Caution — This truck is full of Political Promises”
DIGITAL PRINT OF THE MONTH
Photographing birds requires discipline to create an effective photograph that captures their beauty and their nuances… when not in flight. It’s in this situation that you need to call upon all your photographic knowledge to make these images pop out on the page, and you need a little bit of luck to go with that too. Birds are notorious for not doing what you want them to do, and are easily spooked and you don’t want to scare away your subject just when you’ve got everything perfectly set! David further explains his particularly striking shot “White Splendour”. “White Splendour” was taken while we were holidaying in the Lake Como area of northern Italy in May 19 this year. Upper Blue Mountains Camera Club — September Newsletter
The peacocks were in the Palace Gardens of “Isola Bella” (which means ‘beautiful island’) in Lake Lugarno. Isola Bella is one of the Borromean Islands of Lago Maggiore in north Italy. The picture has been cropped slightly with very little Photoshopping. It was taken at 180mm and f5.7 on a sunny day. I was quite fortunate as there were plenty of birds and they did tend to perform for the public. That said, I still needed to chase and manoeuvre myself for the best shot. Even so it’s always enjoyable spending time outdoors finding that perfect moment in which a bird is completely oblivious to you, and is going about its natural business. Page 2
Did you know that Ferns have existed for over 360 million years. They are some of the oldest plant life on our planet. Their presence is sometimes lush and is always vivid and varied and lend a primordial feel to the landscape. They exhibit a wide variety of detailed structure, both at life-size and when photographed in-close. Most are recognized by their characteristic leafy frond, as seen in Alan’s bracken, or are they the prickly rasp-ferns, where the gentle curve of the frond is one of its most obvious and attractive features. Their shapes and heights are so diverse because they’ve been around so long, filling different ecological niches through the millennia.
PRINT OF THE MONTH
Alan writes . . . This shot was taken on the Grand Canyon walk near Blackheath the well-shaded track meanders through luscious native vegetation of ferns and golden wattles, and remains close to Greaves Creek, all of which combine to make this a particularly good walk. On the day, we were blessed with diffused, even light, thanks to an overcast sky, and a total stillness through the canyon area – perfect conditions. In the creek on the valley floor, these ferns stood out just
Upper Blue Mountains Camera Club — September Newsletter
begging to be photographed. I really wanted to bring out the detailed, delicate nature of the fronds against the dark rock background, so using a tripod, a lovely Sigma 35mm ART lens and the Pentax K1, I snapped off a few shots. Back at home I did a bit of fiddling in Lightroom before throwing it into Silver Effects for the B&W conversion and out it popped. Nice work Alan, Congratulations on your work!
Page 3
Choosing an SD Card — With an explanation of class and speed ratings Choosing SD cards can be a mine-field, so . . . this month we’ve put together an explanation of what all those markings mean . . . The humble SD card, or Secure Digital card to use its full name, has been around a long time. In fact, it dates all the way back to 1999. In that time it’s fought off competition from other memory card formats such as Sony’s Memory Stick and CompactFlash to become the de facto standard when it comes to expandable storage. Nowadays, that means you’ll find SD cards in many guises in a multitude of devices from digital cameras to smartphones to games consoles and laptops. However, not only are there numerous different types and sizes, both in physical size and capacity terms, there are different speeds available too. This can make buying the right SD card a confusing affair, so we’ll try to explain just what all of those different labels mean. SD card types — SD, SDHC and SDXC As SD cards have begun to physically shrink in size over the years, the SD card can be considered the ‘full-size’ variant. It’s typically what is used in most modern digital cameras and nearly all laptops these days come equipped with an SD card reader slot. Where things can or do start to become confusing is when you see ‘SDHC’ and ‘SDXC’. The first stands for ‘Secure Digital High Capacity’. This was initially introduced to cover SD cards with a capacity above 2GB and below 32GB. The latter stands for ‘Secure Digital eXtra Capacity’, which go far beyond 32GB in capacity. You can buy SDXC cards with a whopping 2TB of storage.
Upper Blue Mountains Camera Club — September Newsletter
SD, SDHC and SDXC all physically look the same, which says they’ll all fit in a regular SD card slot. Problems might arise depending on the device you’re looking to use them in. Older devices that pre-date SDXC’s introduction might not be compatible, so be sure to check your product’s specifications. Devices are backwards compatible, so an SDXC-compatible device can use SDHC and SD cards. An SDHC-compatible device can use SDHC and SD cards, but will not be able to use SDXC cards.
MiniSD and MiniSDHC The MiniSD was the first miniaturisation of the SD card and is around half the height of the original SD card. You can also find miniSDHC cards, which expanded storage to 4GB. Again, you’ll need to make sure your device specifically supports miniSDHC rather than just miniSD. The miniSD card never gained much traction however, so devices that use it are relatively uncommon. Often, miniSD cards will come with an adaptor that can convert it into a full-size SD card, which
Page 4
makes it easier to use with laptop card readers. MicroSD, MicroSDHC and MicroSDXC The microSD is the smallest version. You might have also seen it referred to as TransFlash or abbreviated as a TF card. MicroSD cards, as the name implies, are physically tiny and came about predominantly to be used in smartphones that would benefit from a much smaller card. Like the full-size SD card, there are also microSDHC and microSDXC variants that expanded the storage beyond the initial limitations. Right now, the largest microSDXC available is 128GB, which isn’t as much as the largest SDXC card but then you’re limited by the physical size of the card. When buying a microSD, microSDHC or microSDXC card you’ll usually get a full-size SD card adaptor as well. Again, SDXC-compatible devices will be backwards compatible with microSDHC and microSD cards, and microSD cards can be used in micro SDHC devices. SD card speed classes The next area of confusion is around speed classes. These are how different SD, miniSD and microSD cards are rated in terms of read and write speeds. These are important particularly when the cards are used in camcorders or action cameras as the speed of the card will limit the video resolution and bit rate you’re able to record. High-resolution and high bit rate video requires a lot of data to be written to the card quickly. Stills cameras with high resolutions and fast burst shooting will also take modern cards to their limits. The SD Association devised a way to standardise the speed ratings for different cards. These are defined as ‘Speed Class’ and refer to the absolute minimum sustained write speeds. Cards can be rated as Class 2 (minimum write speed of 2MB/s), Class 4 (4MB/s), Class 6 (6MB/s) or Class 10 (10MB/s). It’s important to note that these are the minimum, so it’s entirely possible a card can achieve faster speeds but these give you an impression of the least you can expect. Many SD card manufacturers will also list a specific speed alongside the Class rating. This means a card can be Class 10 but also be listed as ‘up to 80MB/s’. The wording is important, as that’s the best you can expect but not necessarily what you’ll always achieve. You might also see a description such as ‘533x’. This refers to a multiplication of the speed of an old CD-ROM (150KB/s). So in this case 533 x 0.15 = 80MB/s (as there are 1,000KB in a MB). On any type
Upper Blue Mountains Camera Club — September Newsletter
of SD card, the Class rating is denoted by a number inside of a C symbol.
UHS Speed Class The next rating is the UHS Speed Class. This stands for Ultra High Speed and refers to minimum sustained writing performance for recording video. UHS came about due to 4K-capable video devices needing faster write speeds. The SD Association has two UHS Speed Classes, UHS Speed Class 1 and UHS Speed Class 3. UHS Speed Class 1 supports a minimum 10MB/s write speed, whereas UHS Speed Class 3 supports at least 30MB/s write speed. The UHS Speed Class is denoted by either a 1 or 3 inside of a bucket U symbol. As a rule of thumb, 4K-capable camcorders will usually require at least a U3 rated SD card. UHS Bus Speed Things get a little more confusing as UHS Speed Class-rated devices will also use one of two UHS Bus Interfaces that indicates the theoretical maximum read and write speeds. They’ll be listed as either UHS-I or UHS-II to show which interface is used. UHS-I devices have a maximum read speed of 104MB/s, whereas a UHS-II card has a maximum read speed of 312MB/s. Note, that unlike the UHS Speed Class, these are not sustained speeds. Buying the right SD card It might sound obvious, but the safest way to make sure you buy the correct card is to first consult your product’s user guide or specifications, at least to be sure if your device takes full-size SD or microSD cards. Checking before you buy an SD card is particularly important if your device has specific requirements, such as many 4K camcorders. These will usually explicitly state what type of memory card is required in order to record at the top resolution or bit rate. The Sony FDR-X1000V action camera, for example, clearly states that it needs a Class 10 U3 microSD card in order to record in 4K. If you’re not recording in 4K, the speed might not be so important. A faster-rated card will still be useful if you’re using the card to expand the storage in a smartphone or laptop, as a faster read and write speed will make it more responsive. Faster cards in a still image camera will also mean being able to take more or faster photos in burst mode, as these can be written to the card far quicker. Class 10 cards are usually not much more expensive so it’s worth paying the extra
Page 5
OUNTAINS CAM ER A
10
CL U
C. IN
U P
M UE BL
B
R PE
for
$20.00 PICTURE
MOUNTING
BOARDS
Upper Blue Mountains Camera Club — September Newsletter
Page 6
