Camera: Canon EOS 1D Mark IV, EF 24-70 f/4 L IS @ f/4, 70mm, 1/3200, ISO 100
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Examination for Reuters FullFocus 2013 Pictures of the Year
If you want to take a Reuters Best Photo this is what you need: A Full Frame Camera - with a 16-35 lens, shooting at f/2.8 or f/8 set your ISO at 400 with a single person as your subject, the content should be shocking in some way but a funny picture may also work.
I was looking at the Reuters Full Focus, Best Photos of 2013. I found it interesting that for their 93 best photos they also showed the camera and EXIF info. I did a little analysis and thought I would share what I found. The assumption here is that this is a group of really good professional photographers and editors - therefore this collection represents the best work over the course of a year.
Obviously these photos were chosen for their content and not their technical attributes - but my question still would be: Is there something in the technical information that is common or popular in the collection. As you can see from my headline above what I found was:
1. Camera: Use a full frame DSLR. (Canon 1DX or 5D Mark III were the most popular)
2. Lens: Use a 16-35
3. Settings: Shoot at f/2.8 or f/8, ISO 400.
4. Subject: By far a single person within the frame was the most popular.
The collection can be found here: http://blogs.reuters.com/fullfocus/2013/12/01/best-photos-of-the-year-2013/#a=2
A more in-depth summary follows.
Camera Manufacture: Canon is the camera manufacture of choice by this professional segment. 80% of the pictures within the collection were taken with Canon cameras. Actually the Canon 5D Mk3 and the Canon 1DX were the most popular each with 27 photos in the top 93. (29% each, 58% together) The Canon 1DMkIV had 11. What totally blew me away was that Nikon as a camera was only used for 11 pictures in the collection of the top 93. What was it about this segment that Nikon was under-represented? i don't know, just reporting the results. This is a trend that has been going on for the years that I have viewed this collection. Is this only for Reuters photographers or what? The numbers are so one sided that it really stands out.
Here is the full list by camera manufacturer and model:
1. Canon 5D Mark III 27 pictures
2. Canon EOS 1DX 27 pictures
3. Canon EOS 1D Mark IV 11 pictures.
4. Canon 5D Mark II 7 pictures
5. Canon EOS 1D Mark IIII 3 pictures
6. Camera with two photos in the collection:
a. Canon 7D
b. Nikon D3s
c. Nikon D4
d. Nikon D300S
e. Nikon D3
7 . Cameras with one photo in the collection:
Canon EOS 1D Mark II.
Canon EOS 1D Mark II N
Canon EOS rebel T3
Nikon D7000
Nikon D700
Nikon D3100
iPhone
GoPro Hero II
Other than Canon… Nikon, iPhone and GoPro were represented with on picture each.
Lens: The favorite lens by far, if you going to take a "top picture" is the 16-35 lens. 24 of the 93 pictures (26%) were taken with a 16-35 lens. The combination of the Canon and EF16-35 was the top camera/lens combo. Fully 17 out of 24 were shot on full frame cameras the other 7 were shot on 1.3x crop sensors.
The fact that this lens was number one and number one by a fair distance surprised me. (The 70-200 came in at 14 pictures in second place) It seems to me, that the professionals are certainly making the choice to go with the 16-35 over the more standard and "loved" 24-70 which only registered 5 pictures.
I had never really considered this lens before and the reviews on even the version II of the 16-35 lens seem mixed at best - especially considering all the love the new version II of the 24-70 lens gets in the reviews. But I guess when the professional photographers are out to make the shot that counts they put the 16-35 on their body, or, maybe the pictures taken with the 16-35 are just more compelling.
For me, as a Canon guy, I guess, there is no question that if you want to take a good picture, a 16-35 would be a safe bet.
One thing that I read recently that stuck with me on the 16-35 is that one may not think it is that different from the standard 24-70 or the more common 24-105. But if you think about it, at the wide end - 16mm is as different from 24mm as 200mm is from 300mm. That really hit home for me.
When shooting with the 16-35, wide open is the way to go. One third or 8 out of 24 pictures were shot at f/2.8. I just picked up the Canon EF 16-35 f/2.8 L II as a new companion to my relatively new Canon EF 24-70 f/4 IS L, I am wondering if I might need to sell the 24-70?
Aperture: Shoot f/2.8 or f/8
ISO: The major learning for the data for me on the ISO settings is to keep it below ISO 800, the most popular setting is 400. The most popular high ISO setting is 1600. Two thirds of all the pictures were taken at an ISO of 800 or less.
The Number of People in the Picture: One thing that I noticed when going through the collection was the number of single person pictures. Going back and analyzing the number of people in each picture I found the following: About one third of the pictures or 31 of 93 had as the subject a single person.
0 people - (landscape or object) 15 pictures
1 person - 31 pictures
2 people - 16 pictures
3 people - 4 pictures
4 people - 2 pictures
5 or more people - 4 pictures
The one lesson I can pull out of this particular set of data is that if you find yourself looking through your viewfinder and you see between 3 and 5 people in the frame - STOP and reframe it. Add a whole bunch of people or get it down to 2 or better yet - one person. No people is also somewhat acceptable.
The subject matter also was varied and a mixed bag - probably by design.
Funny pictures came in at 18
Disasters as the subject - 16.
There were 8 pictures about protests.
Death was the subject of about 12 pictures.
I also assigned a value of "shocking" to pictures and those came in at about 28. Although the pictures about death were shocking and disasters were also in some cases shocking.
Anyway, I hope you find this summary useful in some way.
I was looking at the Reuters Full Focus, Best Photos of 2013. I found it interesting that for their 93 best photos they also showed the camera and EXIF info. I did a little analysis and thought I would share what I found. The assumption here is that this is a group of really good professional photographers and editors - therefore this collection represents the best work over the course of a year.
Obviously these photos were chosen for their content and not their technical attributes - but my question still would be: Is there something in the technical information that is common or popular in the collection. As you can see from my headline above what I found was:
1. Camera: Use a full frame DSLR. (Canon 1DX or 5D Mark III were the most popular)
2. Lens: Use a 16-35
3. Settings: Shoot at f/2.8 or f/8, ISO 400.
4. Subject: By far a single person within the frame was the most popular.
The collection can be found here: http://blogs.reuters.com/fullfocus/2013/12/01/best-photos-of-the-year-2013/#a=2
A more in-depth summary follows.
Camera Manufacture: Canon is the camera manufacture of choice by this professional segment. 80% of the pictures within the collection were taken with Canon cameras. Actually the Canon 5D Mk3 and the Canon 1DX were the most popular each with 27 photos in the top 93. (29% each, 58% together) The Canon 1DMkIV had 11. What totally blew me away was that Nikon as a camera was only used for 11 pictures in the collection of the top 93. What was it about this segment that Nikon was under-represented? i don't know, just reporting the results. This is a trend that has been going on for the years that I have viewed this collection. Is this only for Reuters photographers or what? The numbers are so one sided that it really stands out.
Here is the full list by camera manufacturer and model:
1. Canon 5D Mark III 27 pictures
2. Canon EOS 1DX 27 pictures
3. Canon EOS 1D Mark IV 11 pictures.
4. Canon 5D Mark II 7 pictures
5. Canon EOS 1D Mark IIII 3 pictures
6. Camera with two photos in the collection:
a. Canon 7D
b. Nikon D3s
c. Nikon D4
d. Nikon D300S
e. Nikon D3
7 . Cameras with one photo in the collection:
Canon EOS 1D Mark II.
Canon EOS 1D Mark II N
Canon EOS rebel T3
Nikon D7000
Nikon D700
Nikon D3100
iPhone
GoPro Hero II
Other than Canon… Nikon, iPhone and GoPro were represented with on picture each.
Lens: The favorite lens by far, if you going to take a "top picture" is the 16-35 lens. 24 of the 93 pictures (26%) were taken with a 16-35 lens. The combination of the Canon and EF16-35 was the top camera/lens combo. Fully 17 out of 24 were shot on full frame cameras the other 7 were shot on 1.3x crop sensors.
The fact that this lens was number one and number one by a fair distance surprised me. (The 70-200 came in at 14 pictures in second place) It seems to me, that the professionals are certainly making the choice to go with the 16-35 over the more standard and "loved" 24-70 which only registered 5 pictures.
I had never really considered this lens before and the reviews on even the version II of the 16-35 lens seem mixed at best - especially considering all the love the new version II of the 24-70 lens gets in the reviews. But I guess when the professional photographers are out to make the shot that counts they put the 16-35 on their body, or, maybe the pictures taken with the 16-35 are just more compelling.
For me, as a Canon guy, I guess, there is no question that if you want to take a good picture, a 16-35 would be a safe bet.
One thing that I read recently that stuck with me on the 16-35 is that one may not think it is that different from the standard 24-70 or the more common 24-105. But if you think about it, at the wide end - 16mm is as different from 24mm as 200mm is from 300mm. That really hit home for me.
When shooting with the 16-35, wide open is the way to go. One third or 8 out of 24 pictures were shot at f/2.8. I just picked up the Canon EF 16-35 f/2.8 L II as a new companion to my relatively new Canon EF 24-70 f/4 IS L, I am wondering if I might need to sell the 24-70?
Aperture: Shoot f/2.8 or f/8
ISO: The major learning for the data for me on the ISO settings is to keep it below ISO 800, the most popular setting is 400. The most popular high ISO setting is 1600. Two thirds of all the pictures were taken at an ISO of 800 or less.
The Number of People in the Picture: One thing that I noticed when going through the collection was the number of single person pictures. Going back and analyzing the number of people in each picture I found the following: About one third of the pictures or 31 of 93 had as the subject a single person.
0 people - (landscape or object) 15 pictures
1 person - 31 pictures
2 people - 16 pictures
3 people - 4 pictures
4 people - 2 pictures
5 or more people - 4 pictures
The one lesson I can pull out of this particular set of data is that if you find yourself looking through your viewfinder and you see between 3 and 5 people in the frame - STOP and reframe it. Add a whole bunch of people or get it down to 2 or better yet - one person. No people is also somewhat acceptable.
The subject matter also was varied and a mixed bag - probably by design.
Funny pictures came in at 18
Disasters as the subject - 16.
There were 8 pictures about protests.
Death was the subject of about 12 pictures.
I also assigned a value of "shocking" to pictures and those came in at about 28. Although the pictures about death were shocking and disasters were also in some cases shocking.
Anyway, I hope you find this summary useful in some way.
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Bremerton Ferry, Long Dark Winter Number 9, December 27, 2013
Canon 5D Mark III with EF 24-70 f/4L IS lens @ 50mm, f/4, ISO 100, 1/1600 seconds. Processed in Lightroom 4 and Photoshop CS6
Friday, November 29, 2013
Elliott Bay with Ferries, Long Dark Winter Number 8, November 29, 2013
Another picture from my morning session at Kerry Park in Seattle on Wednesday, this from the same spot as #7 just turning the camera a little to the right to catch Elliott Bay and a couple of ferries coming and going.
Again, this is a series of 5 pictures taken with my Canon 5D Mark III and my new EF 70-300 f/4-5.6L IS lens (This is a great lens - I have only had it for a week and love it!) @ 78mm, f/6.3, ISO 100, and shutter speeds of 1/20, 1/6, .5, 1.6, and 5.0 seconds. I processed in Lightroom 4 and did the HDR in Photomatix Pro 4.2, blended it all together in Photoshop CS6.
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Seattle from Kerry Park, Long Dark Winter #7, November 27, 2013
I was inspired by some photos displayed on the PNW Photographer's Facebook page. I have lived in the Seattle area for close to 23 years and had never been to Kerry Park in Seattle. This is now officially on our visitor's list of places to see. What a view of downtown Seattle! So I had the day off and looked at the weather forecast the night before - the situation looked iffy...
I got up at 5:00am and checked all the web cams and weather sites I could find on my tablet. I have to say, webcams are not helpful as far as discerning the cloud cover. I found one TV station that said it was cloudy and another that stated it was clear. I guess I could have gone outside, but it's cold here. So I got up and decided to give it a try. Once I stepped outside my home the sky was clear - great! So off I went to Seattle. I got there early and set up. By the time I took this picture at 6:49am (sunrise was at 7:30am) there was a little crowd of runners and photographers.
So here is the shot:
It is a series of 5 pictures taken with my Canon 5D Mark III and my new EF 70-300 f/4-5.6L IS lens (love this lens!) @ 70mm, f/6.3, ISO 100, and shutter speeds of 1/6, .4, 1.0, 2.5, and 6 seconds. I processed in Lightroom 4 and did the HDR in Photomatix Pro 4.2, blended it all together in Photoshop CS6.
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Don't be a turkey! Long Dark Winter #6, November 24, 2103
Taken at Pike Place Market, Seattle WA.
Canon 5D Mark III, Canon EF 24-70 f/4 L IS, ISO 800, 24mm, f/6.3, 1/60 sec.
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Burnoff, Long Dark Winter #5, Sunday November 10, 2013
Driving through the Snoqualmie Valley on Saturday morning. Sunny up the hill at our house, thick fog down in the valley, see #4. The sun was starting to burn through the fog when I got to this farm, this surreal scene was presented. I wanted to get it before the light changed - which it did within a minute or two. So my camera settings were not the best. I should have moved the ISO down to 100. No worries the 5D Mark III did OK.
Camera: Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-70 f/4L IS, 24mm 1/1600 sec, f/6.3, ISO 250
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Saturday morning fog. Long Dark Winter #4, Saturday November 9, 2013
Camera: Canon 5D Mark III, EF 24-70 f/4L IS, 24mm. 1/640 sec, f/6.3, ISO 250
Saturday, November 2, 2013
Dark Commute. Long Dark Winter Winter Number 3, Saturday November 2, 2013
With winter we now commute in the dark. Within the week I will be going to and coming from work in the dark. That is the worst part of the long dark winter. Going to work in the dark and coming home in the dark.
Multiple exposures... Camera Canon 5D Mark III, EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS, 90mm. 0.4 sec, f/16, ISO 800
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Tangle, Number 2 in the Long Dark Winter Project October 31, 2013
A fallen tree in the forest is the subject for number 2 of the Long Dark Winter Project.
Camera: Canon 5D Mark III, Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L @ 24mm, iso 1000, f/7.1 for 1/80 sec
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Sunrise, Number 1 in the Long Dark Winter Project. October 30, 2013
The first photo in a new project that I am calling the Long Dark Winter. I need it to get back into photography, my cameras have been sitting unused and sad for the last couple of months. Not sure where this will lead but here is my first submission. Unfortunately this first picture was taken with my phone appropriately... That unfortunately is kind of not the idea. I will try to do this as a photo a day type of thing, through the end of January.
Camera: Samsung Galaxy Note II, using HDR mode, processed with Snapseed Android photo editing app.
Saturday, June 29, 2013
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Graduation Rock, Entiat Washington. August 14, 2011
Canon 1D Mark II, EF 24-70 f/2.8L at 59mm, 1/800 sec, f/5.0, ISO 200.
We always love to see how the class years change whenever we travel to Lake Chalen. In looking at Google maps I found out that Entiat Jr/Sr High School sits right above the highway looking over to this hill, no wonder the hill is painted with these "class of" insigna.
Lat/Long: 47.66328, -120.2255
Saturday, September 3, 2011
San Juan Island, September 3, 2011
West Side Road, San Juan Island WA on Saturday September 3, 2011
Canon 5D, EF 70-200 f/4 L: 1/500 sec at f/5.0, ISO 100, 70mm.
Lat/Long: 48.506521, -123.140535
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