Photography by Randy Hanna » Photography information http://randyhannaphotography.com/blog Images, thoughts, and crib notes from near and far. Thu, 09 Sep 2010 03:41:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Dubai, UAE http://randyhannaphotography.com/blog/2010/08/dubai-uae/ http://randyhannaphotography.com/blog/2010/08/dubai-uae/#comments Thu, 05 Aug 2010 06:53:26 +0000 Randy Hanna http://randyhannaphotography.com/blog/?p=1189 TWELVE  hours later from Washington DC, I faced a temperature of 107F on landing.  Dubai, an interesting mix of modern finance, incredible infrastructure, all with a mix of classic Muslim overtones. With Starbucks on just about every block, and often sightings of everything from Pizza Hut to Tony Roma’s, it took no time at all to feel somewhat at home. Staying at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel, while en-route to Kenya, I spent most my time doing night photography of the wonderful skyline. With the winds blowing off-shore and the atmosphere full of fine sand particles, the sky was set ablaze with reflections from the artificial lights that adorn the night scape . This later proved to be somewhat of a challenge, as I found myself working vary hard for angles that minimized the reflected light and the impacts of the airborne sand particles.   Armed with my Nikon D3s, optimized for long exposure noise reduction, I hit the beach in hopes of finding just the right spot to photograph the Dubai Icon, Burj Al Arab. The constantly changing lights on the surfaces of the hotel put on a wonderful light show.  The images below are all single shot exposures from different locations along the Jumeirah Beach Road Exposures were taken in manual mode after doing a fast exposure calculation (sometimes my brain really does work). Exposure times ranged from 15 to 45 seconds, all at ISO 400 and f/9. No noise reduction, other than in camera settings, was applied.  Kudos to the new D3s sensor!!! Everytime I turn around, the D3s just keeps surprising me.  More on the Jumeirah Beach Hotel on the next update. Meanwhile, enjoy the light show below.

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]]> http://randyhannaphotography.com/blog/2010/08/dubai-uae/feed/ 1 The Photographers Ephemeris (TPE) http://randyhannaphotography.com/blog/2010/04/the-photographers-ephemeris/ http://randyhannaphotography.com/blog/2010/04/the-photographers-ephemeris/#comments Tue, 20 Apr 2010 03:46:02 +0000 Randy Hanna http://randyhannaphotography.com/blog/?p=1035 Not very often does one run across an application that makes your life simple when it comes to taking photographs.  In this case TPE  is free, available for Mac, PC, was well as the the iPhone.   While there are many applications for the computer and iPhone which annotate sunrise and sunset for a given location, this little beauty stands apart from the crowd as a true interactive planning tool.  The Photographer’s Ephemeris  can depict  sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset PLUS it will show the actual sun angle at any give hour from any given location, all with the Google Earth / Google Maps in the background. TPE is fairly simple in concept: 1) display a Google Map 2) choose a date 3) calculate and display a bunch of astronomical data.  The tricky part comes from the connection between 1 and 2. Most similar programs and web-sites have you select from a pre-defined list of locations, where, presumably, things such as the relevant time zone are already saved – not much help if you are in the middle of BFE and it is not on the pre-defined list.  I love it as a planning tool and will use it in planning my outdoor shoots.  As an example, the screen shots below indicate the sun angle by the thin yellow line, while the thicker yellow/orange lines indicate sunrise and sunset direction.  Lots of detailed explanations are on the site so give it a look.

Head on over to The Photographer’s Ephemeris and run the tutorials, download the application.  If you like it be sure to come back and toss the author some coins for his efforts.

Cheers and happy photo’ing

]]> http://randyhannaphotography.com/blog/2010/04/the-photographers-ephemeris/feed/ 0 Hyperfocal Distance Baiscs for Landscape Photographers (part I) http://randyhannaphotography.com/blog/2009/11/hyperfocal-distance-baiscs-for-landscape-photographers-part-i/ http://randyhannaphotography.com/blog/2009/11/hyperfocal-distance-baiscs-for-landscape-photographers-part-i/#comments Mon, 30 Nov 2009 04:12:34 +0000 Randy Hanna http://randyhannaphotography.com/blog/?p=791 Hyperfocal distance is a function of focal length, f-number,  and the circle of confusion (or most correctly, the circle of least confusion).  Simply put, using the hyperfocal distance setting at any given aperture will result in the greatest depth of field (New York Institute of Photography).  At the heart of the hyperfocal equation is a value known as the circle of confusion (CoC).  The CoC is, without a doubt, the most misunderstood and controversial variable among imaging experts.  The basis for the CoC has invoked a debate that has been raging for some 70 plus years and will certainly continue into the future as the purists refine the resolving power of imaging devices.  Boiled down to the most basic level, the CoC is the reciprocal of resolution and is directly related to the sensor size of the digital camera.  The CoC describes the smallest image element that retains identifiable details.  Obviously, this would vary based on the distance from the object in primary focus.

Although I will further explain and provide examples of how to use hyperfocal distance in the next update, if you have an iPod or an iPhone, you are in luck  because there are two good applications to assist you.  Rather than carrying around a number of tables, simply let Mr. Apple do the math for you.  In coming postings, I will review the hyperfocal distance applications as well as demonstrate several applications of hyperfocal focusing and the benefits of such, so come on back for parts II and III.  ‘Til then,

Happy photo’ing

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