I’ve always been a big fan of Matrix (sometimes called Evaluative) metering and exposure compensation. That combination has helped me work quickly in all kinds of situations. However, when you’re photographing people in spotlights, you’re often changing your framing from tight to loose. When you do that the ratio of light to dark areas changes dramatically, so some shots need no exposure compensation while others may require minus two or three. That results in lots of over or under-exposed pictures. Recently I’ve had a number of questions about when to use spot metering, and thought, “this could be it.”

Spot Metering gathers exposure information from a very small circle in the center of the viewfinder. In the past I rarely used it because it often meant reading the exposure, locking or setting that manually, then re-framing for the composition I wanted. Not a fast way of working. But that was based on the old style of spot metering. Today’s cameras usually tie the spot meter area to the active focus point, so you’re not locked into the center of the frame. That means if I set the focus for “Continuous,” and then move the focus point to the subject’s face in the composition I want, it will expose for the face while tracking their movement. Using Nikon cameras with the 51-point autofocus system, I can move that active dot over a wide area of the viewfinder to put it wherever I want without sacrificing composition. And using it that way for the recent musical, my exposure “hit” rate (good ones) was over 90%, far higher than my old way of doing it.

Next year I’ll hit forty years since I first picked up an SLR camera, and I’m still learning. That’s one of many things I love about photography – there’s always room for improvement, and new techniques to learn and try. With a little luck, I’ll get another forty years, and I hope I’m still learning right up to the end.

Running to my room (the light was fading fast), I grabbed my camera and lens (Nikon D300S and 70-300 f/4.5-5.6 VR) and a large bath towel. Getting back to the window, I made a bed on the windowsill for the camera to lie on. To reduce reflections as much as possible, I removed the lens hood so I could have the front of the lens against the glass. Now I had a good stable spot for the camera, but I had to worry about causing blur when pushing the shutter button. No problem.

An old photographer’s trick when you don’t have a cable release is to use the self-time. Set it (I use five-seconds), press the shutter button, and leave the camera alone. Any movement you introduced by pushing the shutter should be gone by the time the camera fires. For a little added benefit, I turned on “Exposure Delay Mode.” Many Nikon digital SLRs have this feature, and when it’s turned on, the camera lifts the mirror, pauses briefly, then fires the shutter. The purpose is to reduce any vibration caused by “mirror slap” when the mirror flips up.

With this combination of towel, self-timer and exposure delay, I was able to shoot up to twenty-second exposures, giving a nice blur to the headlights and taillights on the highway. Thanks again, Kent, you were a great teacher!

In the last month I’ve had to rebuild both a Windows 7 system and a Mac OSX system. Not pretty, but not as hard as it used to be. The pain is in all the loading of applications, updates, and plugging in the serial numbers. I’m hoping to never do it that way again.

Both Microsoft and Apple make it pretty easy these days to backup not just your documents, but your system and applications as well. In fact, they each have that built in, without even having to buy more software. Windows uses Backup and Restore, a utility in the System and Security Control Panel. I have it set to backup both to my HP MediaSmart server as well as a small external USB drive I travel with. And every time I plug that drive in, the Autoplay asks if I want to use it for a backup (which is really just an update to what’s already there). In addition to that, I’ve also taken advantage of Windows’ ability to help me create a System Repair Disc. That utility is in the “Maintenance” folder in your Program Files folder. The disc it creates can be used to boot the computer and try to repair problems, or if all else fails to reinstall the system image made with Backup and Restore, right off that USB drive if need be. That disc also travels with me.

On the Mac side there’s Time Machine. With it you get a spare drive (larger the better) and attach it to your computer, then set the TIme Machine preferences to use it. From that point on, as long as it’s turned on, it will keep your system imaged as well as update any changes you make to your documents. Since I get tired of it running so much, I usually have it turned off, and occasionally turn it on to update. Of course, when I had my problems, it hadn’t been run in ten days :) Won’t do that again! If I have problems (like I did when trying to update to Leopard), I can boot the Mac from a system disc and tell it I want to restore from the Time Machine volume. In the morning it was all restored, and I just had to update my documents. Thankfully I have those set to backup automatically, daily, to my MediaSmart server, so I lost nothing there. Whew!

So what have I learned through all this? It’s not enough to just have your photos and key documents backed up. You need a system image as well, and that’s easy to accomplish these days. And, doing that will help you sleep more soundly!

Then at the end of 1999 along came the Nikon D1. 2.7 megapixels, $5000, reasonable ISO up to 800 (and decent at 1600). This was the camera that most newspapers bought to make the conversion to digital. Over the years we’ve seen many improvements through many models of cameras, both Nikon and Canon. And as each new release brought new features, one big one we all looked at was ISO performance. Any photographer will tell you that the higher ISO they can shoot, the easier it is to make good pictures. Raising the ISO means the camera needs less light, which often equates to a faster shutter speed. For sports or news photographers in particular this is important. And the last couple of years we’ve gotten cameras that have given much, much higher quality at those upper ISO’s than ever before.

At the beginning of digital, I said that all I really wanted was a camera that could give me pretty good images at 3200 ISO. The Nikon D3 and D700 made me stop saying that. With those cameras, I started shooting night and indoor sports at 4000 ISO, something I still marvel at. And the images look great. And last week I took the new Nikon D3S to a Big 12 basketball game and shot at 10,000 ISO. Yes 10,000! Not only that, but the quality was as good as I was getting a few years ago at 2000. That night I was telling a friend that I really have no idea where the upper limit on these cameras will end up being. Both the D3S and Canon’s new Mark IV have a top range of over 100,000 ISO, though the noise level there will doubtless be too much for most people. But that’s right now. Where will we be in two years, or even five years? I know one thing – I can’t wait to find out.

Speaking of renaming, maybe it’s time to look at your workflow and think about whether it’s truly efficient or not. Again, good browsers won’t only rename, but they can also automate the download process with folder creation and adding IPTC.XMP metadata. Someday your images will be part of a database administered through a catalog, and having that metadata, including captions, locations, etc. will make that catalog much more useful.

Most photographers I talk to have old images that aren’t organized. No time like the new year to start digging into those, scanning them if they’re not digitized, and moving them into coherent collections too.

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Or in the digital age, one medium. Have multiple back-ups, both on DVD and hard drive, and have at least one set of your most important data off site. And remember to update those back-ups regularly. Six months ago is not regular.

Make sure that your family will have photo memories in the future. Too many people shoot photos on the camera phones and never off-load them, or save pictures from their camera to different computers. Consider putting a server on the family network (they’re easy to set-up and use these days) or at the very least, go around “harvesting” photos from the various devices everyone uses. Ten years from now they’ll thank you.

And speaking of family, get out those old, fading, disintegrating albums and copy those photos (much easier than scanning them). Don’t let your family memories turn to dust.

Make it a goal to get at least one new imaging software program this year and really learn it. If you haven’t tried Adobe Photoshop Lightroom or Apple Aperture yet, those would be good places to start. All-in-one photo applications like these are probably the future for photographers. While neither of them do everything I want yet, they have some strong points, and learning about them now will make the later transition easier. If you’re already familiar with them, then dig into a cataloging program like Expression Media (by Microsoft, cross-platform). Regardless, pick one piece of software and use it to expand your knowledge base.

If you’re a Windows user, upgrade to Windows 7. I’ve been running the beta version, and now the release version for most of 2009 and can’t say enough good things about it. Time to move on from XP, and if you’re a Vista user, you’re going to enjoy the upgrade too. ‘Nuff said.

As you upgrade camera gear and computers, consider donating the old stuff to local high schools. Most have photography programs, but no money to support them. This is especially true in the cities. There’s no better feeling than knowing an old piece of equipment is finding a new life, and maybe changing one as well.

And finally, try something new with your photography in 2010. Maybe start playing with lights, convert a camera to infrared, work in black and white for a few months, buy a close-up lens and get your knees dirty, or find some other way to explore your world in a different way. Photography offers endless variety – pick a new direction and make it your own.That’s one sure way to make 2010 a year to remember!

The first part of the week was mostly about learning to ski and snowboard, and I met Jason Roberts, a Marine who lost one of his legs in Afghanistan through an IED blast when thrown from the humvee he was turret-gunner in. I caught up with him his third day on a snowboard, and had a hard time staying with him. This just four months after his injury, and only four weeks after he got his prosthetic leg. Then I photographed three guys who are training to compete in the biathlon. Justin, Anthony and Eric have been blown up, shot and dropped from helicopters, but there they were, learning nordic skiing (often called cross country) and having a great time.

And the end of the week was the NORAM race at Copper Mountain, one of several qualifiers for the 2010 Vancouver Paralympics. I’ve always been impressed with the speed and control of race skiers, but people doing it on one leg or a monoski takes that to a whole new level. For an able-bodied skier who can make it (barely) down a black slope, it was a humbling experience.

Since I’d be skiing with my gear, I decided to go light. I used one of my all-time favorite fanny packs, the Thinktank Speed Demon, and carried a Nikon D300 with 16-85 and 70-300mm lenses in it. I kept a close eye on my exposure and shot JPEGs, both to make my life simpler and because that’s what they’d need for their publications and website. Every night I downloaded to my Lenovo W700 using Photo Mechanic, and went through and selected the best images.

The truly new thing I’m adding to this project is audio. For years now, many of my friends at newspapers have been collecting audio (interviews as well as live) and creating wonderful slideshows with that combination of sound and photos. I’d been wanting to start doing this, and with the help of a great small recorder, the Olympus LS11, and a free Windows audio editing app, Audacity, took the plunge. I’ll write more about that at a later date.

Over the next year I’ll be doing more shoots for the Wounded Warrior Project, and look forward to meeting more of these amazing people.

I’ve now covered my last two Chiefs home games with the 200-400, and it’s been a joy to use. Since I regularly push the ISO on it up to 4000, I can easily work with its f/4 maximum aperture. In fact, I can even get away with f/5.6, which is what I have when I add the TC14E teleconverter. I use that when the action gets further away from me, as it makes the 200-400 a 280-560mm f/5.6 (.4X increase in focal length and one stop less light). Being able to use those slower apertures (it’s been rainy and overcast both games) allows me to take advantage of the zoom, so when a play comes my way, rather than trying to grab a second camera with a shorter telephoto and get it up in time, I can simply zoom out while following the play. Very cool!

In the first pair of images here, I started at 400mm on the quarterback, and when he throws to a receiver closer to me, I can zoom the lens out to 200mm to get the catch and the tackle. In the second pair of images I’m using the teleconverter for greater focal length, and I start at 550mm as the running back heads my way, and zoom out to 400mm as he comes closer and is tackled.

And now with the D3S and its further expanded ISO range (reviews claim it maintains the same image quality at one-stop higher ISO), this lens will be even more useful. Plus, the 1.2 crop option you can turn on means that when the action gets far away, I can select that and have in-camera cropping for tighter framing, while still having eight megapixels of information. And, I’m looking forward to taking the 200-400 to Big 12 basketball. No more switching cameras as the teams move from one end of the court to the other. Instead I’ll just zoom. Can’t wait!

In the old days we looked to new film stocks to give us more capabilities with our lenses. Now we’re getting that with new camera and sensor designs. The Nikon D3, D700 and now D3S, and Canon’s new Mark IV are letting us push the boundaries of what is possible in high ISO’s. It’s a great new world.

I’m drawn to scenes where the subject is in light and the surrounding area is darker. There’s hardly a better way to get that than shooting at night. The real trick to working with low light is managing your shutter speed. You need to keep it fast enough to avoid blur from either your movement of the camera or subject movement. That can mean raising the ISO. If your subject’s not moving, then a tripod can be your best friend.

To illustrate this I’m going to use some photos from my recent trip to Egypt. The first day there we went to the Great Pyramids in Giza. That night we returned for a sound and light show. We’d been warned we couldn’t bring tripods, but took our cameras anyway. After all, we’re photographers :-) Arriving, we discovered there was a small cafe at the back that had a slightly elevated patio. We paid the extra fee to sit there, where we had a wall we could set our cameras on. Voila! Instant tripod! Using camera bags and our self-timers, we were able to get some pretty good shots. For the one of the pyramids and the laser show, I used an exposure of 1/2-second at f/4, ISO 2000 with a Nikon D700.

Near the end of the trip we headed out into the desert southeast of Cairo. There are two unique sections of desert down there that we wanted to see. After a full day exploring the Black Desert in four-wheel-drive jeeps, sunset found us arriving at the White Desert. Wow, what an amazing area. Covered with white rock formations, it’s truly a spectacular place. As it got dark we stopped for a Bedouin dinner by candlelight. With a full moon overhead, the rocks looked like they were made of chalk. Finishing dinner, I grabbed my tripod and walked about ten minutes away from camp, to one of the more unique formations. I was shooting 30 and 60-second exposures, and at one point noticed movement off to my right. Glancing over, I saw a small desert fox running past. As desolate and hot as the desert is during the day, we’d been told it supported a rich ecosystem. This shot was done at ISO 200, 30-seconds at f/5.0, again with the D700

When I heard singing from the camp, I knew it was time to return. The Bedouin were putting on a concert by the fire. There wasn’t much light, but the D700 excels in low light situations. While it goes up to about 25,000 ISO, I chose to set it only to 6400 for the shot of the performers. Again on a tripod, I shot at 1/4 second at f/2.8. That slow most pictures were blurry, but a few, like this one, came out well.

Egypt was a great trip, and as usual, some of my favorite photos were done in available dark. All you need is a tripod and a little imagination.

Dave Black, one of the world’s best sports photographers, recently told me, “My grandmother could make good pictures at an NFL game if I gave her a Nikon D3 and 600mm lens.” And he’s right. The technology of auto exposure and autofocus has gotten so good that just about anybody could. And that’s where luck comes in. Anybody at any sports event with a good camera can get lucky and make a great photo. It’s just a matter of having the camera pointed in the right direction and happening to hit the shutter at the right moment. I’ve been the benefit of that myself many times, and am grateful. But good sports photographers have more than luck working for them. They must, because they always seem to be in the right place at the right time.

Those photographers use a combination of things to make them better than the others around them. First, they know the game and the players. They anticipate what’s going to happen, and that’s 90-percent of being in the right spot and prepared to make the shot. They think ahead. They play the odds. They put themselves in a position to make good pictures. That’s how I was able to get the shot of the blocked punt and resulting touchdown by San Diego. I was in the right spot and ready.

They also know their equipment. They know how to massage the autofocus settings to make the system perform the way they want. They keep a close eye on the amount of light and their shutter speed, adjusting the ISO when needed. They use pro-level bodies and lenses to have fast frame rates, fast apertures and dependability and toughness in cold and rain. At this game I used a Nikon D3 and 200-400 f/4 zoom, and despite a steady downpour during the second half, was able to keep shooting. Mainly because rain was forecast and so not only was I dressed properly, but I had Thinktank Photo’s excellent Hydrophobia rain cover protecting my camera and lens.

Most important, they pay attention. If a team’s got a good chance to score, they’re near the end zone with several cameras, at least one with a telephoto and the second with a wide-angle. That way they’re ready to make the shot whether it’s ten or one-hundred feet away.

For twenty years I covered every season of the Buffalo Bills for my paper in upstate New York. Now most of my time is spent teaching and writing, and I shoot much less. Thank goodness for autofocus! I still know where to be at a game, and still have a fair amount of luck working for me. Those great sports photographers rely on skill and a bit of luck. Me, I rely on a lot of luck now. As an old friend says, “I’d rather be lucky than good!”