I have been hearing about how good Photoshop CS5’s Content Aware Fill is, so I tried to give it a chance. I took 7 different shots at Round Bald on NC/Tennessee border during spring break, using those I created a panorama. I used Photomerge in CS5 to stitch all the images, so it did not took me much effort. Here is the outcome –

As you can see, lack of tripod will always result in these unfilled spots in a panorama. Usually when I have situations like these, I get the best possible crop of it and utilize it. This time I tried to use Content Aware Fill. The result is shown below. You will notice it has filled almost all the spots. The procedure I followed was to use lasso took to select dark areas and delete that portion. When deleting I get an option to use Content Aware Fill and I said Ok. This did not happen in one go, when I selected a large area, I got the error message that my computer does not have enough memory (RAM), even though I have 3GB RAM on my system. I used bits and pieces to fill the image and took me less than 10 minutes. I deleted 7 different selection to get this result.

As you can notice, there are some improper edges and some fills are not smooth. But these can be smoothened easily by putting some more effort.

I do not like to use Photoshop for my images, not because its not good tool but I like to use my photography skills more then to use photograph as my canvas. This certainly is a step too far into that direction and I do not like it. I agree their are times when we need to have good image, but personally, I like to show what real world looks like. Good bye Content Aware Fill.

I have been shooting sports for Collegiate Times for over a year. I started with very little  knowledge of photography and no experience in shooting sports. I have learned a lot from my fellow photographers and still there is a lot to learn. Here are some tips that fellow photographers have shared with me and I am jotting them down.

1. This tip does not basically belong to photography but how to behave on field. Players should always get the preference no matter. There are always limits where a photographer can go in field, but in those limits also photographer should try to sync in background. He should be almost like invisible, so in any condition he is not disturbing any players or blocking any viewers.
2. In a sport where ball is involved, always get ball in the picture. Ball in the picture always gives your viewers what is going on in the picture. I was taught this skill while shooting tennis. Taking ball out of photographs can confuse viewers what’s the player doing.
3. Study the players. After shooting a particular sports for a team we know what kind of moves/shots/dunks a player has. If we are able to predict players next move in the game we can be at exact place to capture that moment. Its true that it will take many hundred bad shots but one good shot is enough to make you happy.
4. Know the sport well, especially the rules of the game. It may seem trivial but sometimes when we are trying to figure out what’s going on in the game and we miss the chance. Rules also help us decide which is the perfect position to take for photographs e.g. one should know where the referee would be most of the time so they don’t block the shot.
5. Study the fellow photographers and their photographs. I think this is the most important step in learning. You know the photographers that usually shoot with you and the spot they choose to take photos. When analyzing their photographs we can find out why they chose that place, what kind of shot they were looking for etc. We should also search for images from that sports and try to figure out what composes a great shot. I believe, learning from others experience is the best way.
6. Its not just the action that is important, we should be able to capture the reaction as well. Since we get only one photo to tell the story of the game, we need to know exactly what is going on in the game and capture that moment. Sometimes the frustration, joy, excitement, eagerness,  anger, intensity, and concentration of the player make an excellent shot. Fans, cheerleaders, half time activities and mascots are very good subjects too.

I learned a lot in last two years from SPPS photographers and seeing others shoot at Cassell. It has been a joy shooting Hokies at Basketball and Volleyball, I am definitely going to miss it.  

PS: These are just few basic tips I learned, I believe I have a lot of learn. I would try to update this blog regularly based on comments/tips I receive.

Today I shot my last Basketball game for Collegiate Times. One interesting thing that happened today reminded me of the first Basketball game I shot. I am attaching both the photographs as part of story.

First shot is from my first game (14th Dec 2008) and second is from today’s game. Both times I was sitting at exact same location when this happened, player lost control of ball and it came toward me. Being a rookie that time, I could not move and I was hit by ball and the player. This time I was fast enough to move and get out of the way. Not only did I achieve it, I was able to capture a much better photograph too. I surely learned a lot in last two years about photography, thanks to all the photographers around me. That blog would be some other day, but I just find this “coincident” humorous. 

Last Saturday I got a chance to shoot the football game. I don’t know all the rules of Football but as a photographer I know all the moments that needs to be captured and that is why I took this opportunity. I have been doing sports photography for almost a year not but this game was most exiting for me because of the craze of Football here at Hokie Nation. Other obvious fact was the energy at Lane Stadium, where just as a viewer a person gets exited listening to Enter Sandman and starts jumping on the seat, and being on field for such a game itself is an amazing experience.

Preparation for the game included asking some colleagues about all the accessible areas on field and what kind of shots people like. But I just got one advice – do whatever you think is appropriate but don’t get hit by a football player. My gear for the game was two Nikon D200, a Nikon D40, a 300mm prime lens, 55-200mm lens and a 28 mm lens.

Lane Stadium has excellent facilities for press. I was amazed to see how different it was from the general area, its obvious that Alumni and people who pay a lot for tickets should get that kind of facilities. Photographers had a separate room with facilities to keep camera and other equipment and upload photos during half time. As always, I would like to say the management of event was perfect.

The game went pretty well, I don’t understand all the rules but I know when its attack and defense. I have basic understanding of rules, so it was not hard to capture all the important moments. My colleague and I decided to switch sides at half time so we can get shots from all the angles and it was also important that we both don’t end up on one side and miss some important shots. Overall it was a great game and the story was published here (with photo) and rest of photo gallery can be accessed here.

Mistakes I made:

1. Almost got run over by a Football player, but he was quick enough. Else I would have had similar accident as at Basketball game last year.

2. Took all the photos at 1600 ISO. I should have not gone above 400 because the light was pretty good and photos may have to be blown up.

3. In all the excitement I forgot to take the crowd, cheerleader and wide angle shots.

I was always attracted to wide angle photography, but never owned a lens to try out. I decided to buy a fisheye lens and as always first place I checked was Amazon. I looked around a lot and finally found - Opteka .35x HD² Super Wide Angle Panoramic Macro Fisheye Lens. First thing that one notices about this lens is the price, it is a very cheap lens ($29.95) and then their are some reviews which say – the lens did not come up with a manual or how to use it, so we couldn’t use it. I took the bet, thinking, it is a cheap lens and the best way (and investment) to start with. I ordered (for Nikon D40, you can get same setup for same rate for Cannon fitting too) it and received in 7 days and was surprised to see that there were no complexities using it.

The lens has 2 parts, a macro lens which fits over your normal camera lens (in my case AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm). You can use this lens to shoot photos in macro mode. On the right, this is photo taken in macro mode of my Windows Key of laptop at settings 1/125 sec, f/5.6 and focal length as 55mm.

We have to mount the fisheye lens on macro lens, without macro the fish eye does not work for normal setup. There are people who have different settings or a step-up/down to mount fisheye lens directly on the camera lens. I am using the standard settings.

Standard (without fisheye) – f/5.0, 38 mm

Semi Fisheye – f/4.5, 31 mm

Full Fisheye – f/35, 18 mm

Rest of the settings were not changed and I did not move away/close, left/right. I find this lens pretty easy to use and good for beginners. Only problem as I can see from photographs are the colors, my Nikon stock lens picks up very good colors, but use of this lens cause a bit of color loss. This is not evident in routine but a very close observation will tell you the difference. I am sure, at this price I could not have got a better deal. I would recommend this lens to anyone who wants to play with fisheye and is trying for the first time.

There are more details about this lens (how to use it, problems, experiences) and great macro shots here.

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