John Ellsworth's photo notebook

Two of my pieces, “Endurance” and “Moored” are on display in the Main Gallery of the Salmagundi Club in New York City.

They are among 98 pieces selected for this annually juried show, which is in session from June 28 through July 9, 2010. Both these images are part of my “water palettes” series whereby I look for images, sometimes abstract, in water reflections. The beauty of such images, is that they appear less cluttered because the angle reflects back to the sky.

In “Endurance,” 85% of the image is water. We need not show the top of the vessel, for it is in the reflection. This image seems to reinforce the theme of the vessel’s name. Among other traits, in order to endure, one must simplify, reflect, and focus—all characteristics of this image.

In “Moored,” we see the bow of a wooden sailboat leashed to it’s mooring buoy. This image was photographed from a small motorboat at about 7:30 am while the harbor was still calm. When I compose and shoot, it is reflexive. I really don’t analyze a composition while shooting—I compose intuitively. It’s not until I look at an image, sometimes days, months, or even years later, that I realize why an image works. “Moored” works for me. It’s probably because of the contrast in overall design. The lower part is undulating and free-form. The upper part is geometric with visual elements forming triangles which point to the top of the mooring buoy. The notion of “moored” suggests being home in a safe harbor—an inviting idea.

While attending the University of Florida as an undergraduate in the late ‘60s, I met a professor with whom I had something in common—the United States Navy. I had recently returned from two years active duty as a quartermaster on the destroyer, USS Forrest Sherman, and was continuing my education on the G.I. Bill.

Having navigated across the Atlantic and throughout the Mediterranean and Caribbean Seas, I was very interested in taking geography courses. The first was physical geography. It was taught by Dr. Lou Paganini, a new professor at 48. His previous career was as a navy harbor pilot, having served 24 years before retiring then going on to college to earn his Ph.D. in geography.

Lou Paganini at 86

His lectures were interwoven with relevant stories from his travels. The tales always brought geography to life; made it exciting; and made me want to learn more. As a result, I minored in geography and forged a friendship with Lou.

Years went by, and there would be an occasional card or phone call, but eventually we lost contact.

In 2005, I was visiting Florida with my family and we drove to Gainesville to show my sons the university. While at the Ramada Inn watching “20-20,” there was an episode about how easy it is using the Internet to find someone you haven’t seen for decades. My wife said, “Why don’t you see if you can find Lou.” I figured he must be in his mid-eighties and if he was still around, he’d probably be in Gainesville. Before logging on, I simply reached for the hotel-room phone book. There he was, “Louis A. Paganini,” living in the NW section of Gainesville, where I remembered his home.

I dialed his number. He picked up. “Hello?”

“Lou?”

“Yep.”

“John Ellsworth. . . , from the 60s.”

“Hey, John, how ya doin’?” There was instant recognition. “Where are you?”

“In Gainesville with my family and dog. Can we come say hello?”

“Absolutely!” He gave me directions and off we went—we were there in less than an hour.

While visiting, I noticed a photo on his wall of eight dugout canoes, or piraguas. He said he took the photo while living with an indigenous people in Panama, while researching his dissertation. Here’s the photo:

Piraguas of Panama, 1968

I exclaimed that I had a modern-day version of a similar photo—one of eight dinghies tied to a floating dock in my hometown of Northport, NY. I showed him the photo on my website using his computer.

The compositions of our photos were almost identical. We couldn’t believe it until he told me that he showed this photo in one of his slide shows while teaching physical geography. We concluded that the form of the image resided in my senses all those years, for I composed my shot in a parallel manner. Here’s my photo:

Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do

After staying in Sanibel Island for a week, we returned through Gainesville and Lou gave me the transparency of the shot. Eventually I scanned it and sent him “Deja vu”–his photo and mine under a single frame. I also have a copy in my house.

I have since returned to Gainesville twice and hope to go in the near future. The photo of Lou above, was taken about two years ago on my last visit. He turned 90 in March and is alert and healthy.

Throughout the seasons, I walk my dog most mornings at Northport’s dock. Yesterday I noticed two small open workboats filled with lobster-pot markers. I went home, got my camera, and started shooting. As I worked my way around the small inlet, I was soon in the vicinity of two baymen discussing the forthcoming lobster season. As I clicked away, I asked them what they thought the owners of these boats were going to do with the markers.

One volunteered, “Well, they’re mine. I’m going to use them for my own lobster pots. I was about to take them to my boat but I’m waiting for you to finish photographing them.”

I said, “I appreciate your patience.”

“All for the sake of art,” he responded.

“How did you acquire them?”

“They wash up on Ashroken Beach and the residents gather and save them for me each year. See that one? That would cost $12.50, whereas those are about $3.50 to $6 bucks or so.”

I was amused, but more important, glad I got the photos. Today, while walking my dog, I noticed the boats were empty.

This shot is the best of the lot:

Recovered Assets

Wire to Wire

Closeups of the Golden Gate lend an unusual perspective of that which is beyond. In “Wire to Wire,” we witness a sailboat race between the cables of the bridge. The span of this image would have lent itself to multiple shots to compose a panorama, but because the boats were in motion, I settled for one shot.

This blog page is simply to share photos I took while exploring the many trails of Point Lobos.

In July of 2008 my family and I visited my wife’s relatives in the San Francisco Bay area. One of our excursions was to Monterrey and nearby Point Lobos. Since 1933, it has been a California state natural reserve. As the Point Lobos website says, it derived “its name from the offshore rocks at Punta de los Lobos Marinos, where the sound of sea lions carries inland.”

With its varied geological formations–stark headlands, narrow and hidden coves, and undulating meadows–plus an array of diverse flora and fauna, it’s an extremely alluring place.

After having scouted Point Lobos, I now plan to return and spend three days or so exploring and photographing this eloquent voice of nature.

Up until this year, my few panoramas were obtained by cropping single images. Since the advent of digital photography and advanced software, many photographers take a series of photos from left to right, overlapping each by about 30 degrees and have a digital imaging program stitch them together. The obvious advantage of the latter is the extreme wide-angle view and the ability to print larger images while maintaining image integrity.

If you are printing a single cropped image, say up to 2-3 feet long, a good print can be made depending on your lens, use of a tripod, and file size. For my shows, I print the following image, “Seymours Emerging” as a 16×36-inch photo on canvas.

Seymours Emerging, Northport, NY

Here’s another, “Day’s End.” This one I also print on canvas–20×36 inches.

Day's End--Northport Harbor, NY

Getting a sharp image that size also requires “rezzing up,” or increasing the size of an image while retaining it’s print resolution, anything from 220-360 pixels per inch (ppi). One method for achieving a larger image size while retaining sharpness is by using OnOne’s Genuine Fractals, a Photoshop plugin. I’ve been using it for years.

Two years ago while at Point Lobos, California, I created a multi-shot panorama by hand-holding my camera and visually working my camera from left-to-right, overlapping each shot. One of the better panoramas resulted in a misaligned, jagged, stepped image. To salvage it, I severely cropped the top and bottom, losing a lot of good imagery. Plus I had to morph, or stretch the lower left side to fill out the bottom. This is the final image:

Stairway to China Cove--Point Lobos, CA

Having lost a lot of this image and having spent too much time realigning it, I regretted not carrying my tripod. Subsequently, I’ve taken several stitched panoramas with a tripod and discovered two more mistakes. The first was not having my tripod absolutely level. You can’t rely on eyeballing it. You’re still likely to end up with stepped image, The tripod base must be level to ensure a perfectly horizontal image, one you won’t have to crop or skew to salvage.

The other mistake I made, was not keeping the exposure the same for each shot. If you don’t, your tonal continuity will suffer.

“Northport Dock–Looking South” is a panorama where I did not have the tripod level. I thought I did, but it was off slightly. I remember the image “sinking” as I progressed, so I stopped and tried to visually level the tripod. I probably did that two or three times. Notice too, that the exposure varies, particularly evident in the sky. This image is also a good example of where I should have used portrait mode rather than landscape mode. This panorama comprises about 10 shots. I cropped a lot off the lower left side and the upper right side to achieve this image.

Northport Dock--Looking South

During the last two months, I’ve been researching the best ways to ensure a higher percentage of successful panoramas–at least in the technical sense.

Here’s my list to optimize one’s procedure:

1. Use a sturdy tripod. Much has been said about choosing a quality tripod, but if your interested, read Thom Hogan’s article, “Serious Support,” on how it is less expensive to choose a quality tripod intially, than to keep trading up until you get one that is suitable for excellent field work.
2. Use a ballhead with an independent panning base and a quick-release (QR) clamping system which is Arca-Swiss compatible.
3. Make sure the ballhead base is absolutely level. Some photographers have extended a metal plate sandwiched between their ballhead and tripod base to position a small spirit level while they re-arrange their tripod legs. It works, but it is time consuming. The light is changing! The best suggestion, I think, is to get a tripod base leveler, such as AcraTech’s leveler which is positioned just below your ballhead. It has a bullseye bubble level. Manfrotto makes one also. You simply maneuver it until it is level, then tighten. Another option is to replace your center column with a one with a leveler built in. Bogen and Gitzo make one. You can even buy a tripod with the leveler built in–see Gitzo’s leveler (LVL) series. Make sure the base diameter accommodates your ballhead. I tried a Manfrotto center-column leveler but the base of my Arca Swiss Monoball B1 eclipsed the bubble level. Had to return it.
4. Level your camera, at least on the left-to-right axis. Some Arca-Swiss compatible clamps have a built-in level. That’s a nice reference. You can also get a 2- or 3-axis hotshoe level which does the same thing. If you level the fore-and-aft plane, you will be acquiring a panorama with the horizon right in the middle–not necessarily advised, from an aesthetic view point. As long as you are level left-to-right, you can raise or lower your aim to suit your visual taste.
5. Make sure your camera rotates around the aperture, or “entrance pupil” of the lens. This is referred to as rotating your camera on the nodal point of the lens. Doing so prevents parallax. How do you know where that point is? Some photographers employ a sliding rail, or nodal rail. Before shooting with a particular lens, mount the nodal rail on your ballhead and your camera on the nodal rail. You need two vertical references, one a few feet away from the lens, the other about 15-20 feet away. You can shoot from inside a building looking out. The close vertical reference can be the side of a window For your second reference, perhaps the the side of a door, a telephone pole, etc. Look through your viewfinder and align the the two references. Now rotate the camera as if you were shooting a panorama. If the space between the references opens up, you need to slide your camera on the rail slightly. It’s done by trial and error. When you have rotated your camera through various angles and the two references are always in the same visual position, you’ve got your lens positioned at its nodal point. Now simply note where the camera sits on the rail when using this particular lens. Keep in mind, that a zoom lens changes its nodal point with each focal point. You may want to use a prime lens for your panoramas.
   
6. Shoot in portrait mode. You might as well optimize your vertical range. Your horizontal range is “endless.”
7. Shoot in RAW. It is likely your software will not be able to stitch the shots together without doing so.
8. Set your camera to manual:
   Use one exposure for all shots. Check the exposure reading across your perspective span and use an average.
   Set your white balance to accommodate your lighting. Avoid auto white balance.
   Use one aperture and one focus point for all shots.Your depth-of-field will otherwise vary between shots which may not result in crisp alignment when your software is overlapping and stitching your shots. Most panoramas will be shot at infinity, but there will be cases when you want to shoot closer spans.

During the coming months I will be shooting some more panoramas using the methods here. I will post them on this blog.

EQUIPMENT REFERENCES

Tripod base levelers:

• Acratech Leveling Base
• Manfrotto 438 3/8 Ball Camera Leveler (Replaces 3502)
• Gitzo GS5121LVL Systematic Leveling Base–column
• Manfrotto 555B Leveling Center Column

Dedicated leveling tripods:

• Gitzo GT2941LVL Series 2 Levelling Basalt Tripod
• Gitzo GT2531LVL Series 2 6X Carbon Fiber 3-Section Leveling Tripod with G-Lock – Replaces GT2530LVL

Ballheads with quick release (QR) clamps and independent panning base:

• Giottos MH-1000 Large Ball Head with Independent Panning Lock with Built-in MH652 Quick Release
• Giottos MH-1001 Pro Medium Ball Head with Independent Panning Lock and Built-in MH652 Quick Release
• Acratech Ultimate Ballhead with QR Clamp
• Acratech GV2 Ballhead with Gimbal Feature, with all Rubber Knobs, Quick Release & Detent Pin, Supports 25 lbs.
• Acratech V2 Ballhead with All Rubber Knobs, With Quick Release & Detent Pin, Supports 25 lbs.

Nodal rails (or slides)

• Acratech nodal rail with level and QR clamp
• Really Right Stuff nodal rail and clamps (several choices)
• Kirk focusing rail (can be adapted as nodal rail)

Genuine Fractals 6; 1-user

HOW-TO REFERENCES plus extensive array of panorama equipment including great ballheads.

Acratech instructional videos
Kirk Photo
Really Right Stuff