Aleksi Lepisto's Blog

Rivercats vs. Redbirds May 23, 2010

Aleksi — Mon, 24 May 2010 06:15:20 +0000

Sacramento River Cats vs. Memphis Redbirds 5-23-2010 - Images by Aleksi Lepisto

2010 AMGEN Tour of California

Aleksi — Mon, 17 May 2010 01:30:46 +0000

Today I had a chance to shoot some of the first stage of the Amgen ToC. It was an interesting experience, having never shot bicycle racing before - and really never shooting point to point racing. You wait and wait, they ride by in a huge pack for about 5-6 seconds, and then you have to run to the car, get in, and drive far enough ahead to scout a new spot, adjust for crowds, and then wait again.

Overall though, I had fun. I learned a lot and can always stand to improve - next year!

2010 Amgen Tour of California - Images by Aleksi Lepisto

Cordova Track & Field

Aleksi — Sat, 15 May 2010 05:41:23 +0000

I had the chance to shoot some high school track and field events today. First time shooting actual field events, as last time it was rained out.

I have a lot to learn, but I am happy with some of the images, overall. Shooting in high sun when it's about 90 degrees out is not easy, and I am reminded why the best cameras cost the most money.

Enjoy!

Track & Field League Finals 5-14-2010 - Images by Aleksi Lepisto

Sharing a few images from Raley Field

Aleksi — Tue, 11 May 2010 04:48:50 +0000

I was intending to write a longer post with experiences, but unfortunately, it was deleted. Because I am being lazy, I thought I'd just share a few of the pictures and let you figure it out for yourselves! Sorry!

Okay, just kidding. A few quick tips:

1. Follow the play past the action - I wouldn't have gotten the first picture if I had moved on to the player moving to field the ball, and not kept shooting. It's easy to catch the peak action (the bunt in this case) and then move on to the next, but sometimes the moments between those two points make the best pictures. Everyone has bunt pictures. I don't know anyone who has one where the player is leading the box, with the ball and the bat, with eye contact.

2. Look for stories - I was lucky in that I got the same player to do two interesting things in one game. But you could easily have snapped the pictures of him chewing gum - because he was doing that too. The point? Look, and keep looking for moments that would be great for an alternative article. Don't fall into the stereotypical shots that won't set you apart.

3. Have fun - This is fun because you get great shots - so keep having fun, you'll keep shooting great.

Salt Lake Bee Freddy Sandoval always keeps his eyes on the ball

Freddy Sandoval continued to watch the ball as he made a routine catch

Review: Sigma 120-300mm 2.8

Aleksi — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 22:20:51 +0000

Buy this lens from B&H Photo by clicking the picture.

Over the last week or so, I had the ability to test and review the Sigma 120-300mm 2.8 lens for the Nikon mount. As a disclaimer, I did NOT buy this lens, I rented it, as I do with many of the other expensive lenses that I only use on occasion. I usually rent through www.lensrentals.com but I am aware of many other options as well.

The one problem that I had instantly with this lens was that the zoom ring was a little sticky. It actually took a decent effort to turn it quickly, so I missed a few quick opportunities. I state this here because it could easily be a problem with the lens because it's a rental. Although I'm sure Lensrentals.com does their best to make sure everything is perfect, this could be considered an acceptable problem. It could also be just how these lenses are made, so I will reserve judgement on that portion of it. Just keep in mind, there is a chance your copy could have this problem out of the box, develop it later, or be perfectly smooth.

For shooting low light, the 2.8 makes this lens amazing. I was shooting professional baseball, and it really worked nicely. Depending on your setup, this lens might be a little long. If you have a DX body (crop sensor) then I'd caution to make sure you need it. If you have a FX body (full frame sensor) then I think this will work nicely.

Why Sigma? Well, no one else makes a lens in this range at 2.8. No you can't do the same with VR. Yes, if you have a D3 or maybe a 1Dmk3 or newer, you can shoot at f/4 and get the same results given their higher ISO capabilities, and in that case get either the Sigma 100-300mm f/4, or perhaps the Nikon or Canon version of a similar length. Shooting anything unspecific like baseball, being trapped at 300mm the entire time is costly, unless you're going to be focusing on a specific area of the field at a time. If you're trying to follow the flow of the game and general action, being stuck with only a 300mm could prove costly. Again, it depends what your level of access to the field is and where you will be setting up. Thankfully, I can get fairly close to the field and so I can get away with a shorter lens.

Being that this lens is 2.8, it's really heavy. Some people claim they can hand hold this lens for a bit. I don't see how you could. It's very front heavy, thanks to the massive front element, so trying to balance this and still see through your body and pan with action would take a miracle. It's much more accurate using a monopod, at least. I shot 100% of the time with a monopod on this monster, even when sitting in the seats behind home plate.

The image quality of this lens is great. I don't notice any difference between this lens and any of the other longer pro lenses, like the Nikon 300mm 2.8. This is known as being one of the best examples of Sigma's lens quality - and I don't have a problem with that. It's built like a tank, solid, and produces sharp images.

The one beef I had while shooting this lens was the amount of Chroma noise, mainly Cyan, that appears on white subjects. It's understandable that lenses will produce some of that fringing, but this lens produced enough to make me wonder if there was a problem with it. After some reading, I found it's not uncommon. This is only an issue when you're trying to shoot in bright light with white clothing. Sports is a perfect example. White, or near white uniforms against really bright backgrounds like a blown sky or even bokeh from the crowd can really test the capabilities of it. If it's really bad, you can always reduce it enough in Lightroom or Photoshop - it's in no way beyond the realm of being corrected, but just keep that in mind.

The AF is great. It's quiet, fast, and reliable. I never had a problem with it. Sigma isn't holding anyone back with their HSM technology, and it works just great here. Some people claim the Nikon system is faster, but I couldn't see how they could be right.

Aside from the zoom ring and the fringing though - this lens is great. They usually sell for somewhere near the $3,000 mark, significantly less than the Nikon competitor, the 300mm 2.8. If you can get away with something slower and are willing to shoot at a higher ISO, I see no reason why something like the 100-300mm f/4 wouldn't do a great job as well. There may be some loss in quality near the edges wide open, but overall I think that this range is a very useful one. I'm honestly surprised that there aren't any Nikon lenses that can directly compete in this area. Of course, a D3 with the 70-200mm 2.8 VR and the 1.4x teleconverter would solve a lot of the issues and probably be cheaper, but I have no idea how the AF would compare.

If I scored this lens on a scale of 1-10, I'd give it about an 8, maybe an 8.5. Mostly due to the fact that it's the fastest lens you can get in a versatile zoom range like this, and because of it, it's very valuable. Factor in the lower cost, the acceptable build and the performance of the AF and I think this is a real winner.

Colorspace

Aleksi — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 03:18:40 +0000

One of the things that took me the longest time to fully understand and realize how it implemented itself to real world, was colorspace.

Read a lot of photography books, blogs, and talk to general people, and you may never even get into the topic of sRGB, Adobe RGB, or ProPhoto RGB. However, just because it may not pop up as often as say, lens choice, it's very important to understand and utilize.

The simple definition is that sRGB, the default setting on most cameras, is frankly the least powerful of the 3 main color choices. Why is it default? Probably a number of different reasons, like file size. First, what is colorspace? Simple put, the color space you are using is like the box of crayons that you are choosing to "draw" your picture with. The web only displayed a certain amount of colors accurately. Printers only print certain colors accurately. Your monitor only displays certain colors accurately. What does this mean? Simply that that shade of red, yellow, green, or cyan that you like may not show up accurately on your camera, computer, or your print medium. When you capture in sRGB, your box of crayons, or color choices, is quite a bit smaller than in Adobe RGB or ProPhoto RGB. Want that nice deep green? You may have to choose something that is quite a bit different than the original color was, because you have 2 greens, not 6. (That was overly simplified).

Now, most people say to solve the problem, just shoot in Adobe or ProPhoto RGB colorspace. Sure, that approach doesn't hurt, but understanding why we choose to do something is important. Most monitors, even your really nice iMac, only displays sRGB. That means that there is a range of color values that your eye can see, that your computer cannot display. The same goes with your printer. In fact, many of the print labs even use sRBG color profiles to print. Why use more than what you can use then? Simple. Prepare for your future.

Personally, I don't feel that sRGB is a good choice, even if it's all most people can use currently. If you consider the fact that many professional photographers have their negatives from decades of their assignments still available to them, the invention of the digital sensor and the progression of the camera and accessibility of cheap digital storage doesn't lend itself to the pro sRGB argument. In my opinion, if you are serious about your job, your craft or your hobby, shooting in anything less than Adobe or ProPhoto RGB is simply irresponsible.

Adobe RGB captures the same color values as sRGB but exceeds in the green tone. ProPhoto adds more capabilities as well. While our software and most of the equipment available to your average photographer cannot make use of these color values now, in 5 or 10 years, we may very well be able to. Wouldn't you love to go back in your libraries and unlock the extra vivid colors that were capture in your digital files? I would. The same goes for shooting in RAW, but that's another topic for another post. Simply fact is though, shooting in sRGB limits any advancements that will be made. You can't make 24 crayons into 99 crayons. Get the 99 crayon box so when you can use the rest of the intermediate shades, you can.

If you shoot in sRGB, it's not too late. It works for what it is - most people won't see a difference, and most won't even have the ability to afford the equipment to print or display anything more than sRGB - but looking into the future lends itself to being prepared and using all of the advantages of digital photography now, so we can benefit from it later on.

If you'd like some more technical information about color space, a cool reference I found when I was first learning about this is here: http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/sRGB-AdobeRGB1998.htm

I urge you to educate yourself about this and make a good choice.

Shooting Baseball, pt. 2

Aleksi — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 08:02:08 +0000

A few days ago, I touched on part 1 of a 2 part segment with tips for shooting baseball. After some careful thinking, I've decided that I can finally narrow it down to the vital tips that really helped me once I learned them the hard way (making a ton of mistakes and being in the wrong place.)

This part of the series pertains specifically to baseball, although there are some key concepts that can be applied to other sports. (Just don't look for 3rd base at a football game, they may not ask you to come back and shoot!)

1. Study the Game - Baseball, unlike a lot of sports, is fairly scripted. That is, the offensive players always run the same path, and you know what kind of plays you can get, and what course they will occur on. While you cannot control where or even if the ball will be hit, you know exactly where the pitcher will throw it, where the batter will swing, and where a runner will go if the ball is hit. Since baseball has a solid foundation to build on, adding some simple game knowledge will go a long way. If you aren't familiar with the rules, become familiar with them.

Once you understand the rules, positioning on the field becomes much, MUCH easier. Almost second nature. You may want to get a couple great shots of the pitcher and batter, but that's not all that baseball is about. For example, with 1 out, a close game, in the 8th inning, I knew that with a runner who just stole second base from first base would be aggressive to get to 3rd base, or even home if there was a hit to the outfield. Knowing this, I camped just behind the fence along the path from 2nd to 3rd base. As soon as the hit came (the offense was popping all game) the runner broke for 3rd, giving me a nice frontal shot of him.

Before this shot, I was positioned on the 1st base side shooting at batters. Had I not been alert and moved, I would have missed the opportunity to shoot this angle and could have missed this action. Anticipating what could happen and being in the right place, ready can really allow you to get those peak action shots. Shooting at a runner's back from the 1st base side would have made this picture useless. If you study the sport or event you will be covering enough to understand basic strategy and can learn to find angles before the action starts, you will be in a better position to take advantage of even the most eventful outcomes. Had something extraordinary happened on this play, like a close throw to 3rd base, or even a slide to second by the batter, I was in good position to capture both.

2. 2nd base is your friend - It won't buy you lunch, but indirectly it may save your job. Over the past few games I have shot, I have noticed that aside from shooting the batter and the pitcher, shooting at second base from usually the 1st base side (if you can't get above the field) will yield you great results and put you in a good spot to get some interesting images. Why? It's simple. In baseball, batters tend to pull the ball. Pitchers also like to throw low, if they can help it. Low pitches usually means ground balls. A batter pulling a low fastball has a very high chance of being a ground ball to either the shortstop, or the 2nd baseman. With a runner on first, you get an entirely new dynamic. Players on defense in the infield tend to move back, and the shortstop and the 2nd baseman usually step a bit closer together. This is to hopefully "turn a double play." What happens is that if there are 1 or less outs, and a batter grounds the ball to either the shortstop or 2nd baseman, one of them will field the ball, flip it to the other who is now at 2nd base, and then a quick throw to first base will get the batter out - two outs, voila! Easier said than done of course. Why again? Well, because at 2nd base, so much can go wrong. A bobbled hit can eliminate, or make the play at 2nd very close. If you watch baseball, you will instantly know that the runner from first will slide feet first and try to break up the relay throw for the 2nd out at first. This can produce some big collisions and some very interesting images.

Worst case scenario? They miss the double play and you get an interesting shot of an error and the player's expression. Best case? You get a great shot of dirt and dust flying as the player at 2nd leaps over the sliding running while throwing to first. See what I mean? 2nd base is where it's at.

3. Shoot Pitchers and Batters on their chest side - It may seem simple, but so many shots are ruined because all you can see is a back. Shooting the pitcher on their throwing side allows the image to show a facial expression, a number usually, in addition to the team name. These three things in an action shot are key, and really make your images marketable. A picture with a player who can't easily be identified by either a number, team name or face is a stock image, and no one wants a generic looking stock image on their baseball highlights or sports page. They want to see sweaty eye black running down the player's cheeks as they dive for the catch. Facial expressions are the number one attraction in sports images, so do whatever you can do get these. That doesn't mean never shoot from the player's back, just do that after you get your facial shots.

The same goes for batters. Shoot towards their chest and you will see their face, their hands, the bat position, and if you get it right, even the ball. Take a look at a local paper or the MLB.com website. Those are the images they use the most.

4. Time for the peak of the action - This is where having a nice, fast camera will really, really help. The newest sports and action cameras shoot at 9 or faster frames per second. That means, holding down the shutter button will shoot off 9 or more full resolution images in one second. That's a lot of pictures. How does that help? No one can reliable take a picture of an action moment with only one image and get the best composition, expression, and body position. In a lot of sports movements, if frozen still, a player can look unhuman. Having 4-5 good images of an event, say a batter's swing, or slide into a base will help you choose the best image that captures and relays that moment the very best. The most dirt flying up, the ball making contact with the bat, the player completely stretched to make the catch, etc.

It seems like an easy thing to do, but it gets increasingly more difficult if you don't have a fast camera. It's not impossible, but learning to read and time body movements, as well as knowing how fast your camera is will make a HUGE difference. This comes with practice - and nothing else can substitute for it. Practice shooting anything that moves fast and changes it's behavior. Children and animals are great for this. Once you get the hang of capturing that peak action moment, applying it for baseball, or any other sport is a lot easier.

In the example to the right, you can see that the ball is just leaving the pitcher's hands, which is one of the "ideal" places to have the ball in your frame when shooting the pitcher, especially from the front. Hint: Watch the pitcher carefully and learn his throwing mechanics. If you start your images too early, even if you have a faster camera, you will still miss that perfect frame. Starting your motor drive at the right point in his windup will increase your chances of getting the perfect shot!

Summery: I cannot reiterate enough how important it is to understand and learn the game. You will learn as you shoot, but honestly, the best way is to at least get the basics before you get there. Knowing things like when a player may steal, as well as why and how are vital to really getting the right shots. Understanding when a player may bunt, or run home by watching the 3rd base coach will help you set up for your shots before they occur, so you have the best chance of success. If you have no idea what I just said, then please, do some reading before you head out - you will be very glad that you did!

Aside from shooting a lot of your sport and doing your research, just pay attention to the game situation. Watch your players, and learn their tendencies. Does that particular baserunner like to lead off a lot? Does that pitcher throw over to first a lot? If you get a situation like that, you may be looking at a great image of a pickoff. Tailoring your experiences and applying them to your situation is very important - as is situational awareness. Understanding the players and the game go hand in hand.

Lastly, some great place I like to be at various points of the game are, obviously on the 1st and 3rd base lines. From here you can shoot at the pitcher, the batters, as well as 2nd base, and from 3rd base, depending on your lens, you can even shoot the plays at first. Watch carefully though. Many times your great angle will be spoiled by the umpire, who is complimenting you by agreeing that your angle is best, and using it to make the call. Sometimes you need to take the 2nd or 3rd angle to shoot around or through limbs of the officials and other players. Sometimes your shots get ruined, but sometimes you will nail it, and when you do, it makes it that much more satisfying.

Enjoy your sports, shoot a lot of baseball, and feel free to share it with me here!

Shooting Baseball, pt. 1

Aleksi — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 01:28:28 +0000

The last few weeks have been great. The weather here in California has been warm, the sky has been blue, and grass is still green.

I've had the chance to shoot a few events for a newspaper in Rancho Cordova, and I've gotten some great experience shooting baseball, something I didn't really have much experience with prior to this event. One or two of these images have even made it to my Portfolio.

One of the issues with shooting high school baseball is that the games take place after school, before dark. What does this mean? Two things. First, it means shooting in harsh lighting conditions, as the games start anytime before 3:30 and 4:30. This seems to be one of those rare situations where shooting at 12pm would be ideal, just because there is SO much extra light, you don't have to worry about working with available light and shooting backlit.

I've managed to put together a few tips I have figured out from my experience, that will probably help capturing images of not only baseball, but other outdoor sports, especially at this time of the day.

1. Shoot Fast - As in, fast shutter speeds. This may seem obvious, but at first I was shooting at 1/640th or 1/800th and saw that even at the high school level, that was a little too slow. Sure, you can freeze a running player, but you can't freeze the ball, or even the bat of the bigger players who swing a lot faster. If you want sharp pictures, don't go anything lower than 1/1,200th. I try to shoot at 1/2000th to freeze everything. If it's really bright, and you want to shoot at 2.8, then I use 1/4000th and it works out great.

2. Shoot Wide - Obviously you're limited by your glass, but shooting as wide as possible not only gets as much light in your lens as possible, which is really vital for faster shutter speeds, especially when the sun begins to set, but it also helps you deal with the extremely distracting backgrounds that are naturally going to surround most public baseball fields. If you're fortunate to be shooting at an event with a dedicated arena or stadium, then consider yourself off the hook. Houses, cars, parking lots, and chain link fences in the background doesn't lend itself to the best pictures, so shooting with a wide aperture, like f/4 or even f/2.8 will really help to keep your busy backgrounds suppressed. Another way to think about it would be to consider bringing your subject out of the frame, so it draws the eye of the viewer.

In the example to the left, you can see that I was shooting from the 1st base foul area, just beyond the fence. In the background, there are trees, no fence to mark home runs, and a parking lot with cars in it. If I was shooting with something like f/8, maybe even f/5.6, the details in the background which take away from the feel of the image would be more obvious. Shooting at f/2.8 in this example lets me blow out the background and bring the attention to the 2nd baseman who is getting in position to make the catch.

3. Shoot frontlit - Usually, shooting with flat, front light on your subjects is boring, but with baseball, it's extremely helpful. Sometimes, depending on the cloud cover, your location and the time of the day, shooting towards an entire side of the field is nearly impossible.

In this instance, I had to get a frontal shot of the pitcher on his throwing arm side (another tip for another post). Fortunately, I was able to do this while the sun was still high in the air, which keeps it somewhat possible. Had I waited to take this image until the sun began to set, I would have had a few problems, one being that he may be removed. Aside from the game strategy though, I would have had a severe backlit situation and may have lost more details and some shutter speed. Even with this in mind, you can clearly see that the sky is completely white (blown out) and the grass in the background was getting dangerously close to following. Shooting in RAW in this situation is vital, as I was able to recover a lot of the saturation and exposure for the areas that were almost lost without losing a ton of image quality. Some creative cropping could bring this image to near print readiness, and that's how it ran on the website.

Moral of this story? Like the tip says, shooting with the sun to your back means you don't have problems like this and can concentrate on capturing action. If you can't however, find a solution with a darker background. Including the trees and bushes in the background behind the pitcher was important to me here because it allowed me to not only autofocus faster and with more accuracy, but it also helped to define the pitcher against the background, even in his white uniform. Shooting a white uniform against an overexposed white sky would be a total loss, and be a complete waste of time.

Summary: Hopefully these tips will help you increase the quality of your baseball, and other sports and action related images. The thing that I love best about photography, is that regardless of where and what you're capturing, you can use the same tricks to get quality and well composed images. The simple rules applied here are, shooting with the sun at your back, using a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the action and get crisp and clear shots, and thinking through your images before and while you are taking them will really help you show a specific part of the action that you want to convey. Keeping your images simple, and intentional will really set your images apart from the rest.

Part 2 of this series can be read here.

The Blog

Aleksi — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 07:38:30 +0000

Rather than go through the formalities of telling my life story and aspirations for a blog that I may not be able to sustain, I'll keep this short.

This is the place where you can see personal opinion, reference and feedback about all things photography that I explore throughout my day. I hope to keep this somewhat personal, so that other people may learn my mistakes, and success stories regarding my climb through the ranks of becoming a full-time photojournalist.

I will also be posting how-to articles, and plugging other people's blogs when they post great content. Rick Sammon, one of the many photo guru's I have listened to over the years always sticks to his guns when it comes to sharing his knowledge and content - saying that "we're all in this together." I hope to apply that philosophy when it comes to sharing my knowledge and daily experiences so that others can learn from this as I do, and hopefully not make some of the mistakes that I have made, and will probably make.

I always welcome your e-mails and your feedback. You can also follow me on twitter, (twitter.com/aleksilepisto if you can deal with the occasional political comment (we're not all perfect!) and ridiculous point of view.

Thanks for reading,

Aleksi