Well, the month is up and I've finally finished my SoFoBoMo project so now I can concentrate on Shutter Scouts development again!
When Weather Forecasts go bad
Apparently 25,000 people didn't visit Bournemouth because the weather forecast was for thundery showers when in fact the weather was lovely. The tourism chief would prefer more accurate, and apparently more optimistic, forecasts!
The accuracy of weather forecasting is something that I've constantly struggled with for Shutter Scouts. Will the forecasts be accurate enough to be useful? I've certainly found them to be good enough to make broad decisions about where to go, what to photograph, and what equipment I might need. For example, a prediction of an overcast evening has meant that went out knowing that I wasn't going to shoot anything with the sky in it. Instead, I was going to concentrate on flowers and macro shots with the flat light. These forecasts have allowed me to make lens and filter choices before I've left home, which as cut down on the "what should I be shooting... hmmm... need to change lenses" process on-location.
The weather data that Shutter Scouts currently uses is certainly more accurate than what you find in the daily newspapers. Sure, it has been wrong on occasions but then blindly following a weather forecast would be like following the directions of your GPS off the edge of a cliff. It's pretty stupid, isn't is? No photographer is going believe a weather forecast when the prevailing conditions outside their window say otherwise.
I'm confident that more accurate forecasts can be aggregated and overlaid to improve Shutter Scouts considerably. Also, there are constantly evolving weather models which will improve the accuracy and scale of weather forecasts and again I'm confident that these will come online over the next few years. I could sit around waiting to build Shutter Scouts on the perfect weather forecasts but then it would never get built! By building it now I can provide a decent amount of value to other photographers, which will only increase in the future.
The accuracy of weather forecasting is something that I've constantly struggled with for Shutter Scouts. Will the forecasts be accurate enough to be useful? I've certainly found them to be good enough to make broad decisions about where to go, what to photograph, and what equipment I might need. For example, a prediction of an overcast evening has meant that went out knowing that I wasn't going to shoot anything with the sky in it. Instead, I was going to concentrate on flowers and macro shots with the flat light. These forecasts have allowed me to make lens and filter choices before I've left home, which as cut down on the "what should I be shooting... hmmm... need to change lenses" process on-location.
The weather data that Shutter Scouts currently uses is certainly more accurate than what you find in the daily newspapers. Sure, it has been wrong on occasions but then blindly following a weather forecast would be like following the directions of your GPS off the edge of a cliff. It's pretty stupid, isn't is? No photographer is going believe a weather forecast when the prevailing conditions outside their window say otherwise.
I'm confident that more accurate forecasts can be aggregated and overlaid to improve Shutter Scouts considerably. Also, there are constantly evolving weather models which will improve the accuracy and scale of weather forecasts and again I'm confident that these will come online over the next few years. I could sit around waiting to build Shutter Scouts on the perfect weather forecasts but then it would never get built! By building it now I can provide a decent amount of value to other photographers, which will only increase in the future.
SoFoBoMo — one month's motivation
SoFoBoMo is short for the Solo Photo Book Month, a worldwide group event where photographers work individually on producing a photobook. The idea is to spend 31 days (and not a day more!) on putting together a photobook of at least 35 images. There's a 2 month window in which to start & finish your 31 days (to make it flexible around holidays etc) and I startted mine today.
Why would you take part in SoFoBoMo?
My project is to shoot a wide variety of scenes and conditions on a short stretch of coastline in Ireland.
But, seriously, why do this?
Well, I find that any type of photo project can give you great focus and motivation to your work. I've learnt so much, taken so many photos and been out far more since I start my one-photo-every-day photoblog, "Hot off the Memory Card" - and that's just in the first few months!
Why would you take part in SoFoBoMo?
a book is a big commitment and a lot of work. That to me is the beauty of the SoFoBoMo challenge. It isn't a huge commitment. It'll all be over in a month, one way or another. You'll either have a book, or you won't. It can't stretch out into a multi-year or multi-decade albatross around your neck.In fact, I do have a 2-year photobook in mind and making any sort of consistent progress on it is very hard. Because your SoFoBoMo project will only last 31 days it is much easier to make the commitment and put all your effort into it.
My project is to shoot a wide variety of scenes and conditions on a short stretch of coastline in Ireland.
But, seriously, why do this?
Well, I find that any type of photo project can give you great focus and motivation to your work. I've learnt so much, taken so many photos and been out far more since I start my one-photo-every-day photoblog, "Hot off the Memory Card" - and that's just in the first few months!
Preventing Underexposure from Stray Light
As photographers we are obsessed with light — but it's a rare that we encounter too much light which cause our shots to be underexposed. It's not supposed to work that way, is it?
Here's a botched shot from last Sunday:
It's obviously massively underexposed... but what caused the automatic metering to fail so drastically? The clue is in the top corners. I was using a polariser and ND8 filter stacked with the polariser closest to the lens. In the top corners you can make out the shadow of the polariser's notched edge being reflected in the ND8 filter. Therefore the light was from coming directly behind the camera, bouncing off the nearside of the ND8 filter. Because I didn't want my own shadow in the shot, I was standing some distance away and triggering remotely. But if a strong light source (like the sun) is coming from directly behind the camera, it can fool the camera's light meter into underexposing the shot.
Here's what it should have looked like (by covering the viewfinder as described below):
The solution is incredibly simple. Most cameras will come with this little viewfinder cover that is usually attached to the camera strap:
By removing the viewfinder eyepiece
You can slide the cover down over the eyepiece and prevent any stray light from entering the camera during an exposure
Here's a botched shot from last Sunday:
It's obviously massively underexposed... but what caused the automatic metering to fail so drastically? The clue is in the top corners. I was using a polariser and ND8 filter stacked with the polariser closest to the lens. In the top corners you can make out the shadow of the polariser's notched edge being reflected in the ND8 filter. Therefore the light was from coming directly behind the camera, bouncing off the nearside of the ND8 filter. Because I didn't want my own shadow in the shot, I was standing some distance away and triggering remotely. But if a strong light source (like the sun) is coming from directly behind the camera, it can fool the camera's light meter into underexposing the shot.
Here's what it should have looked like (by covering the viewfinder as described below):
The solution is incredibly simple. Most cameras will come with this little viewfinder cover that is usually attached to the camera strap:
By removing the viewfinder eyepiece
You can slide the cover down over the eyepiece and prevent any stray light from entering the camera during an exposure
Weather Data!
One of the major factors holding up development of Shutter Scouts has been negotiating with weather data providers. Even in these apparently bleak times there's a lot of companies out there who don't even respond to business enquiries. Unlike the average person, I can't simply scrape weather from Google or use freely available data (because it's not actually free of usage restrictions). Also, I'm committed to obtaining the most comprehensive and accurate data I can — my users will depend on it and that data doesn't come free.
Thankfully I managed to find three good providers and after a lot of back-and-forth, I've signed up with one. This means that the next stage of development can progress and it should accelerate the release of a preview version. I'll also be evaluating this data and may in the future augment it with further weather forecasts.
Thankfully I managed to find three good providers and after a lot of back-and-forth, I've signed up with one. This means that the next stage of development can progress and it should accelerate the release of a preview version. I'll also be evaluating this data and may in the future augment it with further weather forecasts.
New Site for Shutter Scouts
I've finally updated the Shutter Scouts site with much more information about the features of the site and why I'm building it.
There's also a signup form for the preview version, which I encourage you to complete if you're at all interested in Shutter Scouts. The more information I can gather from potential users, the more I can tailor it to your needs!
There's also a signup form for the preview version, which I encourage you to complete if you're at all interested in Shutter Scouts. The more information I can gather from potential users, the more I can tailor it to your needs!
Photo Radar
Photo Radar looks like an interesting app for the iPhone-carrying photographer. Unfortunately, I don't have one so I can't check it out.
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