Wednesday, February 6, 2019

Photographing Classic Cars



Also in this edition:
  • An Invitation to Las Vegas!
  • Banding Effects with Electronic Shutters (video)

Photographing Classic Cars

If you've ever wanted a legitimate excuse to go to Las Vegas, I'm here to give you two.  And I'll tell you about them both in just a minute.  

First, I'd like you to have this free mini-E-booklet I put together for the Las Vegas Cadillac Club on the secrets of photographing classic cars.  It's called "How to 'Wow!' for Classic Cars" and you can download the .pdf file here
I created this e-booklet for members of the The Las Vegas Cadillac Club, who in the past has hired me to photograph their annual Cadillac Through the Years car show, a gathering of proud classic Cadillac car owners under the Vegas sun.  This year the event will be held on Sunday, April 28, 2019 and you are all invited to attend and try your hand at this kind of photography.  You can also submit your work and see it published on their official website.

This time, though, I'll be coming out a few days earlier to conduct another world-famous Friedman Archives High-Impact Photography Seminars, and because the Cadillac Through the Years event happens on a Sunday, the Friedman Archives Seminar will be held two days before, on Friday and Saturday, April 26th and 27th.  So two days of inspiration followed by one day of field practice.  Plus you can stay a few extra days to enjoy the rest of Vegas.  A destination event!  

Enjoy the free e-book, and look forward to seeing you there.

In the Pipeline


Tony Phillips is finished completing the rolling release of Fujifilm's most advanced "X"-series camera ever, the X-T3.  The full version is over 700 pages and you can purchase downloadable or printed versions of it here.

Yes, I'll be writing a book on the recently-announced Sony A6400.  You can pre-order it at a discount here.


Banding Issues with Electronic Shutters

Photo courtesy Kirk Tuck at KirkTuck.com.  Image used with permission. 
He's also an awesome blogger at the Visual Science Lab
Traditional DSLRs have two shutter curtains - one that stays closed just before the exposure begins, and one that closes just after the exposure ends.  Both are designed to prevent light from hitting the sensor while it goes through the crucial process of either zeroing out the pixels beforehand or reading out the pixels afterhand (that's a word!).

In the last few years large engineering efforts have gone into eliminating one or both of these shutters.  But are there drawbacks to electronic shutters?  I explain all in this video.  Once again, technical insights you won't find anywhere else!



Until next time...
Yours Truly, Gary Friedman

11 comments:

  1. Thank you for the clear explanation! I noticed the banding when I processed my first pictures from a workshop (a year ago with the A7M3). I thought I was going to love that feature because I shoot a lot of events. The "Anti-Flicker" feature helps but not enough. I was surprised you didn't mention that, though. I'd also like to know more about the Gedox flash.

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  2. Thank you for the clear explanation! I noticed the banding when I processed my first pictures from a workshop (a year ago with the A7M3). I thought I was going to love that feature because I shoot a lot of events. The "Anti-Flicker" feature helps but not enough. I was surprised you didn't mention that, though. I'd also like to know more about the Gedox flash.

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  3. I blogged about the godox flashes here
    http://friedmanarchives.blogspot.com/2018/04/upping-my-game.html The one I held up works like an AD200 but can be mounted on a hot shoe

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  4. Question - I had heard that slower shutter speeds can reduce and eliminate banding in the electronic controlled LED lights like stage lights and I have some around my home that produce banding. I have tested that theory (on my home lights) and it worked (no banding at say 1/50 second) BUT I'm not 100% clear on the why or how of that?

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    Replies
    1. Yes, the slower the shutter speed the less you'll see this phenomenon. The threshold is the duty cycle of the alternating current feeding the light. In most countries it's 50 Hz (so anything slower than 1/50th of a second will start to show less); in North America and other countries it's 60 Hz; thus slower than 1/60th of a second.

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  5. Wow Gary,

    In my 35 yrs of Pebble Beach and numerous other Concours, resulting in over 50k pix, I am thrilled to have something like this!!

    Went to a Michael Furman forum at Pebble last year but no help, unfortunately.

    Thanks a million!
    Another Gary

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  6. Outstanding eBook Gary, even if you don't want to photograph classic cars, there is some great wisdom in there - many thanks

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  7. Thank you Gary for such a clear explanation. I had that sort of notion from reading your book but this brings it home.
    Do I spread the word! Of course with every opportunity.

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  8. This summer we happened upon a car ‘convention’ while riding through Sweden. Actually, it was a meet for American cars, mostly, but not all, from the 50’s 60’s and 70’s. This was the biggest collection of
    American classic cars in one place that I have ever seen… thousands, and it must of covered a field of at least a square kilometer if not more.

    There was a constant parade, for hours, of cars going slowly by like a dressage of horses.

    So, the message is: If you want to see old American Cars, go to Sweden.

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