Interview with Photographer Jim Sabiston
Owner, Essential Light Photography
By Brian Tannehill
Jim Sabiston runs his own web site called Essential Light Photography. I have known Jim through a couple of different forums for the better part of 6 years now. Jim lives and works in Bay Shore, Long Island, New York, and escapes regularly to the Adirondack Mountains, the Catskills and Harriman State Park for hiking, camping and photography among other things. He was one of the star photographers for an outdoor calendar I produce for the last 5 years and I am very excited to get to interview him! I also just recently bought a Nikon D40 camera and am learning to use it. As a budding photographer myself, Jim has always been kind enough to help critique my shots to make them better.
BT: When did you become interested in Photography?
JS: I have always had a strong interest in the visual arts. In the seventies I made a small living doing custom painting on vans and motorcycles and sold my paintings at local art shows. Photography always held my interest as a medium, but I never quite hooked up with film processing for one reason or another. The advent of digital photography changed all that for me, however. The immediacy of the feedback allowed me to connect in a very direct way.
The prime motivator was my backpacking. Here I was, hiking, climbing and canoeing to all these wonderful places and I had no way to share them with my friends and family. When Canon came out with the small Elf series cameras, I immediately saw the potential.
BT: How did you get started?
JS: I finally made the jump when I bought my first digital camera in 2004. The camera was the Canon G2. The camera was not as small as the Elf models, but it had higher resolution at 4 megapixels (high for the time) and a decent lens assembly. The first trip with the cameras was a four day canoe trip to the Pharaoh Lake Wilderness in the Adirondacks.
BT: What was your first camera?
JS: The first camera that I really learned to use was an old Yashica Electra 35 35mm film camera. I really loved that one. Unfortunately, the camera was stolen many years ago and I was unable to replace it. The Canon G2 was my first digital camera and it opened up a whole new world for me. At the time, it was the highest resolution available in an affordable, small camera with a decent lens. It was the first of what would become the very popular Canon G Series cameras. I carry a G9 with me these days pretty much all the time and some of my best images have been taken with it.
BT: Are you a self taught photographer or did you have a mentor that showed you the ropes?
JS: I am strictly self taught. I am a very quick study, though, and I make heavy use of the enormous resources available. This is especially true with the internet. Access to information is really amazing. It just takes the time, energy and interest to access and use it.
There are also many excellent books in the local library and book stores. I’ve read at least a half dozen books by the best photographers out there. The best resource, however, is web groups such as naturephotographers.net. Forums like this, where you post and critique yours and others work is probably the single best resource there is once you get past the basics.
BT: Do you have any inspiration for your photos?
JS: Where does one start, there are so many sources of inspiration? Oddly enough, I would name two painters to start with, Maxfield Parrish and Andrew Wyeth. Parrish had a wonderful way with landscapes and lighting that I find irresistible. Wyeth’s work has a stark semi-realism that pulls me in a way that I can’t quite explain. I’m only just starting to figure out how to capture some of that feeling with a camera.
Of course, the most immediate thing was the scenery seen on many of our backcountry trips. My early work is almost entirely landscapes for this reason. It wasn’t until later on that I started finding inspiration almost everywhere I go.
BT: When did you know you were a good photographer?
JS: That’s a tougher question to answer. Truth be told, I’m still working on that. It would be easier to tell you when I started getting strong, positive feedback from people seeing my images, which was almost immediately. At my wife’s prodding, I entered some of my photos from that summer into the local Adirondack Mountain Club annual photo contest. I placed first in 3 of the five categories and received honorable mention in the rest. That gave me a pretty positive boost. One of my shots from that canoe trip placed second in the National Geographic Adventure/Wild Angle photo contest a few years later. That seemed a pretty strong hint that I might have some ability in the medium, but I am very critical of my own work and put a lot of time and energy into constantly learning and improving. I was going through some online tutorials on masking and image sharpening just last night.
BT: What do you want people to take away from your photography?
JS: What I really look for is that emotional hit when the image reaches the viewers heart. You know you have a good shot when people stop dead in their tracks and pause for a long moment to take a really deep look at an image. I especially like it when that person then comes over to me and wants to talk about the photograph and their reaction to it. In these cases, the image has clearly scored a hit and reached out to someone.
One of the hardest things for a beginner photographer to learn is how to use light and composition to convey their message to a total stranger. It can be a difficult barrier to breach, but when you do it, WOW! Most of the time you get the ‘pretty picture’ reaction, which is OK. Sometimes, that’s all a picture is.
Landscape photography tends to suffer from the ‘pretty picture’ syndrome, so it takes a little more effort in finding the right combination light and scenery elements to get past that. Outdoor people, such as backpackers, are an easier audience in this regard as they are more likely to have an innate appreciation of these beautiful places that we work so hard to get to.
BT: For a lot of folks digital cameras have made photography easy for the masses. I use a Nikon D40 now. How can I get maximum potential out of my camera?
JS: Read the manual and use the features while you read the manual. Seriously. I know that sounds like a joke, but you have to learn how to use your equipment properly before you have any hope of success. When I get a new camera or lens, the first thing I do is sit down and read the manual with the equipment in hand and use it while reading the manual. I may spend several hours doing this. The trick is to know exactly how the gear works, what it can do and what its limitations are. This little exercise will improve your odds of getting the shot you want enormously.
BT: I recently took some photos over a July 4th camping trip. I had close to 900 pictures when I finished over the 4 day weekend. I posted a lot of them online and Jim was kind enough to critique them. Here are a few where I thought I had a good solid photograph but it just did not have that WOW factor! Jim explains what I could have done better, mainly turning off my automatic settings on my camera! I used a Nikon D40 with the standard lens.
This first shot was a series of river shots right by our campground. I bet I took over 200 pictures of this river to get this one. I was trying to follow the rule of thirds, with the blue sky on top, the mountains in the middle and the river running up through the middle of the picture. Overexposure was a big problem I had in this very sunny environment the whole weekend.
JS: The composition is generally good on this one. The brook starts in
the lower right and brings the eye into the image. The horizon is in a good place, giving lots of room for foreground elements. Portrait orientation works well, too.
Suggestions: The exposure is too high, as we’ve ‘discussed’ already. I would like to see this shot from a slightly lower angle. A common mistake of many photographers is to use the standing position all the time. This often works fine, but you will be surprised how lowering the viewpoint can effect- to the better – some images.
BT: This second shot was further up the road and for some reason the big rock caught my eye. These were my comments to Jim. I think this one follows the rule of 3rds well. It has the blue across the top, the two trees on the sides but could be removed, and the big rock on the left.
JS: Generally good comp here. OK on rule of thirds. Lose the trees at the extreme right and left.
Suggestion: Decide what the center of attention should be. The deep DoF here has me eye going all over. I might have used that rock to fill nearly the entire left side of the frame – super sharp focus to pull all the textures and detail out of it, with the band of trees out of focus, which would add interest without calling too much attention to that part of the image.
BT: Whats your favorite lens to use?
JS: My favorite lens? The one that happens to be best for the job at hand. The real workhorse for me is the Canon 24-105L Series on the 5D body. I do at least 80% of my work with this one lens. It is reasonably wide for the big scene, but has enough telephoto to zoom in on interesting details.
BT: How many pictures do you take during a session to find the right one?
JS: On a typical weekend backpack built around photography , it is not unusual for me to come back with 250 images. This is a result of multiple images of the desired shots. Multiple images are important, as there are any number of factors that can ruin an image and taking multiples is a form of cheap insurance. Also, I will usually take several shots at different settings and compare them later, selecting the best for my portfolio. That 250 will likely be wittled down to 10 or 20 ‘keepers’.
BT: Can you give a beginner a perspective on composition? Can you explain the rule of thirds?
JS: Composition is at once easy and not-so-easy. The most basic, but important, place to start is the Rule of Thirds. Start here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thirds
These are basics covered in a decent photography book. The fundamental idea is to learn how to present your subject in a way that heightens and maintains interest. While these rules are important to learn, it is also entirely appropriate to ignore them on occasion. The trick is to know when and why to use the rules or ignore them. This first requires that you know the rules and understand them.
Like all rules, this one is made to be broken, but not until you understand WHY you want to break it. My best advice is to get a good photography book – or a couple of them – and read them with the camera within reach and try out all the things they teach you. This helps drive the points home and
you familiarize yourself with the equipment and process at the same time.
The next best thing is to join a photo site like naturephotographers.net where photos are posted for critique. These are an enormously valuable resource. Learning why you like, or don’t like a particular image is an excellent learning tool.
Then just take lots of pictures to find what works for YOU.
BT: What websites and books would you recommend for beginners? I know you
mentioned the one, but do you have others? Do you still use Flickr?
JS: Google is your friend. There are literally too many web resources to mention, so I’ll stick to one favorite and one recent site I’ve been perusing:
One pro photographer I follow is Guy Tal. Guy and I occasionally critique each others work on naturephotographers.net and he has a very good web site and blog at www.guytal.com. His blog is always good reading and worth following for anyone interested in pro photography or just practical photography in general. He did an excellent writeup on the practical aspects of using a Canon G10 compared to a pro DSLR with some very interesting comparisons. It is worth visiting his blog for that article alone.
As for books, hit the library first. Free is good and you can cover a lot of ground while saving your hard earned cash for your camera goodies. If you insist on a book of your own, you could do a lot worse than National Geographic’s Photography Field Guide Series. I will confess to owning the ‘Secrets To Great Pictures’ entry from this series. It is an excellent general reference.
I started with Flickr when it first came out and it can be a decent resource. The problem is that it is a real hit or miss experience and one tends to get lost in the sheer number of users, especially now that it has grown so large. I find it more frustrating than useful, as you have no idea who the people are who see your work and comment on it. I still have my Flickr page, but I maintain it only occasionally. It is far better to find a forum dedicated to the particular type photography you are interested in. You are much more likely to get quality feedback that way.
BT: In baseball they say the game is 90% mental and 10% physical. How does that compare to cameras and photographers? Meaning how much is it the camera and how much is it the photographers eye?
JS: A good question! This is where many would-be photographers go badly wrong. It is 90% mental. Most people think that the quality of the camera is the sole determining factor in achieving a first class image. The opposite is actually true. All a good camera will do is increase your options and control. That picture that did so well with National Geographic Adventure was taken with a camera that you could buy for about $200 these days. Of course, a pro camera will ultimately give you better image quality, but a decent camera like the G9 comes surprisingly close. The differences often don’t become apparent until you try to enlarge an image beyond a certain size, which isn’t a factor for many people.
A good photographer will understand how to work with the camera in his hand to get the image they want.
BT: This next shot I took was actually a cropped down version of a larger one. I wanted to focus on how the stick was standing still in the middle of this river. The rule of thirds has me placing the stick on one side as well.
JS: This has real potential. Framing and comp are good. I might add just a bit of space on the top and bottom, but not much. The standing wave and flow add real interest.
Suggestions. This is one of your more interesting shots (to me, anyway!). These shots really call for a tripod – the stick demands super sharp focus and detail to contrast with the blur of the moving water. And stop down that exposure!
BT: What is your opinion on post-processing, especially enhancing pictures?
JS: This is a very subjective topic and causes much heated debate. For me, it comes down to the intent of the photographer. Is the intent to provide a realistic representation of a particular scene? If so, then processing should be as minimal as possible to achieve that. Cropping, adjustments to brightness, contrast, saturation with some dodging and burning are all reasonable adjustments here. I draw the line at major physical changes, however. I may clone out a distracting twig, but I won’t remove a rock or tree, for instance. Ansel Adams’ work provides an excellent example, as he considered getting the initial photograph only the beginning of the process. The rest happened in the dark room.
Now, if the intent is to create an image that does not represent a real, specific place or scene but rather to convey a feeling or statement, then go for it, the sky is the limit. Just be clear in your intent and represent the image honestly for what it is.
BT: What software do you use or recommend for processing photos? Free if you have one and paid.
I’ve never found a free program that was at all satisfactory for me. They may be fine for fixing red eye problems in snapshots and so forth, but I hit my limits in a matter of minutes with those programs. If you are going to be serious about photography, you will have to learn about image processing. The good news is that with the advent of digital technology image processing is more accessible than ever to the beginner.
Photoshop is the industry standard for the vast majority of photographers and for good reason. It is a really good, really powerful program. It is also absurdly expensive. I currently use the current CS4 version which has some really good workflow upgrades and can highly recommend it, but it will just be too expensive for most beginners. On top of that, the learning curve can be pretty steep, but there are a lot of good online tutorials.
Fortunately, there is a stripped down version, Photoshop Elements, that gives you much of the larger program for a lot less money – list is about $100 and I’ve seen sales for less. This version can keep the beginner satisfied for a long while and it is a very good program to start with. Unless you get into the more involved layered processing, you may never need to go beyond this program.
BT: Where is your favorite place or places to take pictures?
JS: I prefer the outdoors and landscapes, naturally, but where ever I happen to be will do once I find something interesting! My usual stomping grounds are the Adirondacks, the Catskills and Harriman State Park, all in upstate New York. Mountains, trees, lakes, rivers, wildlife, we have it all. Fire Island is only a few minutes from my home and the beach, the Inlet and the Great South Bay islands and salt marshes are always interesting to explore
BT: For the beginning photographer, what is a good all around lens/camera for taking pictures?
JS: Personal preference comes into this quite a bit. I happen to prefer Canon equipment, but there are plenty of good choices out there. For the beginner, I would suggest something along the lines of the Canon G10 for several reasons. It is a good starter camera for someone thinking of getting more serious as it has full manual control options. It is not a camera you will grow out of, as it will serve as a viable backup to the high end equipment and you can learn the important techniques with a fairly minimal investment. From there you can decide if you want to spend the money on higher grade equipment and your original purchase will still be useful.
BT: This last shot was kind of a panoramic of what I saw out of my camper. This shot was late afternoon after a rain storm. I wanted to capture the whole valley.
JS: I like this one – close to another winner. I would have moved a bit left or right to get that center rock off-center. The horizon is level and positioned well. This is a good example of why the Rule of Thirds can be toyed with a bit. That central peak is dead center (normally a photo killer) but the two descending diagonals from either side serve to support it nicely. A polarizer would improve the contrast and I would favor moving right over left to eliminate the distracting detail in the bottom right corner. Everything else pulls my eye into the middle distance at the center of the frame. Nice.
BT: On your site Essential Light Photography, I see you have some black and white shots. How do you decide if a picture should be color or black and white?
JS: The decision as to whether a particular image should be color or black and white is very subjective. I sometimes don’t make the decision until I see the image on the computer, but these days I often go for the black and white shot more often as I learn to evaluate the scene with different potentials in mind.
The decision is primarily driven by the subject matter and the quality of the lighting.
I ran across a comment somewhere that you “take color shots in the morning and evening and you take black and white in-between”. It was intended as a bit of a joke, but there is actually something to that statement. Color shots tend to be about the color as much as anything else in the image. Black and white is entirely about the subject, as the potential of color as a distracting element is removed. Accordingly, much more thought and consideration have to go into the subject. Black and white images also tend to benefit from hard, high contrast light more than color shots, a point which lies at the heart of that comment.
BT: Whats your favorite photo on your site?
JS: I get this question a lot and my favorite answer is “the photograph I’m working on at the moment”, which is true in its way, because that is where all my attention and focus and love of the medium and the process are going at the moment. Sometimes I will put hours into an image and toss it because it didn’t play out the way I had hoped. Other times all the elements fall into place seemingly by magic and all I have to do is have the camera ready and push the shutter button. Ultimately it is the image that speaks or it doesn’t. I become so involved in the experience that it is difficult to pick favorites, its not too different from trying to pick your favorite child – it just doesn’t work, you love them all, even if for different reasons.
JS: That said, I’ll select a couple of examples and explain why. The first would be ‘Pharaoh Lake Sunrise’. This was, for me, the photograph that started my career as a photographer. Taken with a pretty basic point and shoot camera, it shows that you don’t need the high end equipment to get a wonderful image. The light was amazing and the scene has all the right elements in it.
BT: Pharoh Lake Sunrise is one of my favorites as well. If I am not mistaken it was one of the photographs in the outdoor calendar!
JS: Another would be ‘Silver Maple I’. A simple black and white study, this image calls to me in a very direct way. It illustrates that you don’t need the big ‘wow’ factor to make a point, just a simple exploration of shape and detail in this case.
JS: ‘Stony Brook Autumn’ is an important photograph for me, too. It is what I consider my first successful high contrast forest scene. I just love the detail and depth in the image that this very challenging technique brings out. It doesn’t hurt that this was the lead image for my article in Nature Photographer Magazine on Harriman State Park.
BT: If you could go anywhere and shoot anything what would it be?
JS: Give me a blank check and charged batteries and I will go almost anywhere! Landscapes remain my first love and backpacking is a great way to access those remote wonderlands that most people never see outside of a photograph. My friend Steve just showed me pictures of Iceland and now I want to go there. I would love to go back to the Scottish Highlands again, or the Sierra Nevada, or the Grand Canyon, or the French Alps, or, or, or….
Then again, a 15 minute drive and a couple of miles of walking will get me to
Fire Island Inlet, which seems new every time I go there.
The world is a magical place when you open your eyes to it. I want to see, and photograph, all of it.
BT: What are the best tips for a beginner?
JS: Pick up a camera, any camera, and get out in the field and learn to use it. It really is that simple. Nothing teaches like experience. Read some books by accomplished photographers and learn the how and why of their work. Use that as a starting point and then make your photographs your own. It takes time, but if you have the drive and interest, you will be amazed at what you can do.
Aside from that, find the automatic features on your camera and turn them off. Automatic functions use averaging to choose what the software thinks is the best setting. The result is usually an average photograph. Learn how to take shots manually or, lacking a camera with manual controls, learn how to trick your camera into doing what you want it to. An example: If you want to darken an automatic exposure setting, point the camera at a bright area and push the shutter button down half way to lock the settings. Then, point the camera at your subject. You will see the darker image on the camera lcd. This takes some practice, but can be used very effectively.
Many thanks to Jim for taking the time to answer my questions and for always helping me better my photography skills!
BT