Archive of ‘Technology’ category

Interstellar Review

Photography Inspiration

I hope all of you had a nice Thanksgiving weekend! It was another nice day for family gatherings with a long weekend. It comes in handy to recover from all the eating and visiting. With the break, I took some time to see a new feature film playing in a real IMAX theater. At this time we went to the National Air and Space Museum in downtown Washington, DC. Being Black Friday, I did not expect too as many people filing into a museum.

There was a line through security, and all the exhibits had people going through them for most of the day. It was encouraging seeing as this was probably the only museum that I requested to visit as a child that was enamored with the space shuttle program, and all the technology that has come from aeronautical research. This was the perfect setting to watch the movie, Interstellar.

Space Shuttle Discovery arrives at the Air & Space Museum - ©TimeLine Media
Space Shuttle Discovery arrives at the Air & Space Museum – ©TimeLine Media

This movie is another good story told by director Christopher Nolan. For me, he creates films where I end up really pulling for characters to overcome obstacles as they strive to accomplish an almost impossible goal. Technically, Nolan has used the IMAX to his advantage in previous movies like The Dark Knight, and seeing it in a real IMAX theater can make panoramic vistas look even grander, and can make simple dialog scenes very intimate. It teaches lots of photographic lessons of framing, composition, and he uses the effect to really enhance the storytelling.

Science Fiction

The almost 3-hour movie did not seem much longer than an hour and a half. The musical score by Hans Zimmer was very celestial to go along with the space travel focus. Overall the keyboard was used throuhgout. It sounded like old pipe organs, and synthesizer pads that reminded me of scores from many 1980’s science fiction movies. The sound also had a lot space with the reverberating chords. In an IMAX theater, the volume and strong low-end tones added to the dramatic action scenes. The collaboration between Zimmer and Nolan has spanned a few films including the Dark Knight Trilogy and Inception. Again, it works well here. I am listening to the sound track again now to catch more of the subtleties. For sure it was hard to not be distracted by the visuals.

Air Force Memorial - ©TimeLine Media
Air Force Memorial – ©TimeLine Media

Without giving away the movie, I really connected with the motivation of the characters. They have ambitions to save the world, do tasks that are in the best interests of their families, and to leave the human race in a better place than they are now. It is very inspiring to see these themes told in such a big movie, then to walk out of the theater and see the actual machines that were very much a part of the recent non-fictional past can be inspiring. Hopefully many in the 3 sold-out shows that evening felt the same way!

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iOS Camera Improvements | Tech Tuesday

There has been a lot of excitement lately with the new iPhone 6 and iOS camera improvements from Apple. Even though I am not upgrading from my iPhone 5, I am enjoying using the new features that come from the operating system update. Smartphones are really quite amazing in what the programmers can add and change without having a change to the hardware. As a photographer that is used to having more control over the exposure, I like the ability to have more controls. Previously, you hold your finger over a part of the image to set an area to meter the exposure. This really helps to get some control over the brightnes in the photo.

Monterey, California

Monterey Bay Aquarium - ©TimeLine Media
Monterey Bay Aquarium – ©TimeLine Media

In the new iOS 8 version of the camera, you can still specify a point to get a meter reading. Now, an additional control has been added. To the side of the box that pops up after you select a metered area, there is a sun icon that appears. You can then move that sun up to increase the exposure, or down to decrease the exposure from that point. This really came in handy as we walked through the amazing displays at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Monterey Bay Aquarium - ©TimeLine Media
Monterey Bay Aquarium – ©TimeLine Media

The glass that they use for display is so clear. You can put your smartphone right up to the glass without getting bad reflections through the lens. They also control the amount of stray light coming in with their darkened rooms,. This really puts the animals front and center. With the new exposure controls, I could ensure that the meter readings were taken from the bodies floating in the water, then took down the exposure. This helped to make a faster shutter speed to keep the subjects sharp, and helped to pop them out of the background. This was probably my most re-tweeted image yet!

Monterey Bay Aquarium - ©TimeLine Media
Monterey Bay Aquarium – ©TimeLine Media

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Morning Moons | Tech Tuesday

Fairfax, Virginia

I feel like I have been so lazy with the blog! Sorry if you have just been anxiously hitting refresh to see if I get inspired today J Well, I am really getting caught up with all my assignments, and getting things back on track after going on a short vacation. Last week some excitement happened in the early morning skies that I almost missed! There was a lunar eclipse that would be viewable in our part of the world right at the time that I would be getting up to start my day – a perfect chance to make some photos without too much effort! And with the backlog of things I had to do, this was what I needed.

Early-morning-lunar-eclipse-©TimeLine-MediaEarly-morning-lunar-eclipse-©TimeLine-Media

Lunar Eclipse

A lunar eclipse is an awesome practice for your camera. Trying to get good photos of a bright moon can teach you a lot about metering, or “how a camera views and image”. Left on automatic, a camera has a difficult time getting a good photo of the face of the moon. This is due to the construction of the light meter in every camera system. They do not see composition, nor can they read the photographer’s mind to know exactly the goals for the image.

A meter measures all the light coming into the sensor, and it calculates the aperture and shutter speed that will give a middle gray image. It does not know that you want the bright light of the moon to be lowered to see the details of the surface. Lowering the amount of light will also make the rest of the photo darker – which is the compromise when making these photos. You will lose detail around the bright moon. During an eclipse that is happening right outside my front door– that is fine by me! I do not care about any of the other surrounding details.

Early-morning-lunar-eclipse-©TimeLine-Media
Early-morning-lunar-eclipse-©TimeLine-Media

Once I figured an exposure that gave me the detail that I was looking for, I played with all kinds of settings. Sometimes I changed the aperture, sometimes the ISO. The exposure values were very similar, but I wanted to see how the camera responds when pushed in such a dark scene.

Lightroom-Library-of-lunar-eclipse
Lightroom-Library-of-lunar-eclipse


It only lasted a few minutes before the moon ducked too low in the horizon. I was very lucky! No need to go to extra lengths to get these photos, but so many that I’ll keep in the collection.

Early-morning-full-moon-©TimeLine-Media
Early-morning-full-moon-©TimeLine-Media

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703-864-8208

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