The Independent Collective

YFJ: Catching Dance

Eric Lee is here weekly to write to you about DIY photography and cinematography. Straight out of high school, Eric is sharing his ways hoping to learn from his readers as well, only hoping to get better every day.

How do you capture moments that can happen in less than 1 second? A camera can shoot 3.7 frames per second to 10 frames per second, even my Canon Film SLR can shoot 10fps with the power grip locked on; but a camera is only a tool. A tool is only as good as the person using it. Today’s post is about shooting sports and action scenes. I started dancing at my high school freshman year. It wasn’t something I thought I would be recognized for, nor would it be something I loved. You would be amazed at the number of hours I watch of dance and the hours I spend choreographing or just dancing. Just last year, my junior year of high school, I got this camera, a Nikon. It was my first one with an 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 VR and a 55-200mm f/4.-5.6 . It was for my musical tour of Italy in Florence and Rome. Fast forwarding to my senior year, dance concert was coming around the corner for me. It’s an annual show which choreographers, juniors and seniors in the “advanced dance class,” create pieces to be shown later. With minimal guidance, they are left to create a masterpiece that lasts 4 minutes. Every year there are photos of the dances taken to remember the journey of “Dance Concert.”

Just this today, it will be specifically about dance, next week will probably be about other sports and action clips. Dance stands in an awkward position; its physical education, but also art. It’s also sometimes awkward to photograph. Sometimes the crop is too wide, or just too darn close to even focus. Sometimes the motion is blurred and not sharp at all. Well here are a few tips when shooting dance (tips that can also carry over to other sports!):

1) Shoot at a high shutter speed. This way you can make sure you capture the moment flawlessly.

2) If you’re going to shoot a group, shoot at a lower f stop, so everything get’s into focus. To compensate for lighting, just up your ISO!

3) Timing, timing, timing. Not every movement is necessary to be caught. Only the exciting bits. Jumps, pirouettes, leaps, freezes, tuts, flips, etc. Go catch those. Also if a jump is happening, you don’t want to be too early! Sure a camera can capture X frames per second, but you need to be the only to hold the shutter at the right time!

4) Shooting straight at or slightly below a dancer is better than shooting above. Dancers tend to look straight out compared to actors who look up at a balcony. Their body positions are also not the same. Shooting straight at a dancer has more connection to it.

5) You can use a flash, but a majority of the time you are not allowed to. Flash is good for staged shooting; this will cause your camera to catch the brightened subject at a higher shutter speed.

6) You can pre focus where someone is about to be so that way, when the action happens your auto focus doesn’t need to fumble to find the subject. If you’re using pro gear that has 39+ focusing points; good for you never mind this tip.

These are a few of my shots of dance. If you want to see me dance, I don’t have a video, but check out MY choreography. Dance, to me, was something to fill my time between soccer season and baseball season; or I thought so in my freshman year. I got picked into Shanaye’s dance. A hip hop/modern piece with an ill beat. My only part in the dance was to come on stage and do a 16-24beat combination. From then on, my passion for dance blossomed. I signed up for the school’s course, signed up for more roles, and even started taking outside classes. It’s something that let me express myself in a way that was vigorous, but yet so suave. Next year at Gettysburg College, I plan to keep dancing. I can’t wait to dance. I’m actually working on a short film/dance piece with my friend Corina, who happens to be this week’s artist of the week. She’s short, but can move like a bird. She also draws and paints so well, I thought it was the work of Monet (not Manet! I took art history I know the difference now). I wish she had a flickr so I could show you her work; I’ll ask her and I’ll edit the post then. I’m also making a music video with my friend Henry, HMillie. This summer is filled with art and I can’t wait to keep pursuing.

Don’t for get to go to itselee.tumblr.com for updates of my photo blog.

Check out the New York Times article on shooting a dance performance.

Photography by Eric Lee

This is a move I proposed to my dancers. They looked at me like I was crazy. I took this shot in our dance studio during a rehearsal. Adam G, on top, does a butterfly kick, while Kevon, in the middle, jumps from a plank position, as Adam M slides across towards Adam G’s starting position.

Secret Assignment #4

When you watch a show, or walk around the city, photograph or film dance from an interesting perspective. It would be great to see what your city or town has to offer. I also want to see how you view dance through your lens.

Eric Lee is a young Brooklyn based artist. Fresh from high school and moving on to college, Eric is writing about his experiences as the young cinematographer and photographer he is today.

Young Filmmakers Journal: Behind the Lens

What makes a shot well spoken? Is it the color, contrast, lighting, or the subject itself? I would agree all those factors make shots interesting and thoughtful, but for me composition in a shot is the most important. Composition is essentially how the picture, movie, or visual piece of art is made up. It’s the components of what makes the image. But each various way of looking at something has a different connotation. Camera angles, and shots pull an audience into or away from characters. Along using composition, lenses are a photographers tool to create this image he or she imagines. The lens is like a painters brush tip, or a knights blade. Though it’s not what controls the photographer or the camera, it empowers the artist to ignite their imagination.

Each lens has a different purpose; speaking from my end, I consider myself an amateur/enthusiast. For my Nikon DSLR’s I have a couple different lenses; I use primarily my “nifty fifty” (http://www.youtube.com/user/DigitalRevCom i love these guys) 0r 50mm f/1.4(normal lens), I also have a 28mm f/2.8 (wide angle), an 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6. You may ask, “hey Eric, since you have an 18-200mm zoom lens, why not just use that and save money?” Well each lens has its own purpose like I said. A 50mm lens is a great portrait lens because it usually has a low F stop number, meaning a bigger aperture, meaning more light. It also increases the amount of bokeh, or background blur. A great portrait lens is usually 50mm to a 105mm. It gets up close and personal with the subject.  Just like this!

Photography by Eric Lee

I wont lie, I saved the photo by converting it to black and white; I originally over exposed it. But the shallow depth of field is great, making Ittai’s face the focus. The power of a 50mm is great; it seems to be the most convenient lens. I do get a little bit annoyed that it’s not a “full” frame lens on my DX (crop sensor dslr) camera, but it’s fast and takes nice sharp images. The slight tilt of my subject adds character to his personality, which he truly is bubbly and happy. I shot a little bit below him, giving him the slightest edge over the viewer. Instead of having Ittai square to me, I went on an angle.

I like keeping my subject within the frame, not using the edges very much. I don’t like cutting peoples arms and pieces of the forehead out either. I, frankly, don’t like those “just face” shots in movies or photos, it’s too much. I like to stick to horizontals or verticals that keep enough head room around the subject. Sometimes I’ll keep the camera horizontal and shoot the head, leaving a nice bokeh effect in the background with such a large aperture. I’ll be shooting an hopefully soon, video that is, and I’ll need to keep the part I’m capturing in focus and within frame. I don’t want to miss anything. But since video and photography on the go is so different (like sports photography and concert photography), don’t worry too much about not getting the right crop or composition. Shoot a bit further out, depending on where you sit, 35mm-100mm should be enough for a concert, unless you’re going for a nice close up of a member of the band. This way you can crop out  what you don’t need and focus in on what you want. It’s a safe proof way, unless your camera is pretty bad and doesn’t have enough megapixels or resolution to compensate; but don’t worry about that, because every camera now a days is of great quality.

Both 28mm or a 35mm are considered wide angle lenses. They perform decently in low light and capture everything without lens distortion. Composing a photo with these kind of lenses seems easier to me. It captures everything all in one image. It feels a bit pulled back, distanced from your subjects. These types of lenses are great for landscape photos and interior photos. Though bokeh is not a wide angle lenses’ forte, it makes up for the great level of detail and vibrant colors.

Photography by Eric Lee

This was taken in Times Square with my 28mm f/2.8 lens. I positioned myself near the sidewalk of Broadway and aimed forward. I was able to capture all the signs and board, which illuminated with great colors and contrast. The photo splits into two directions in the background. I really enjoyed editing the photo a little bit, adding contrast and saturation. It did not need to be cropped because I felt the photo was able to depict Times Square well enough.

Photography by Eric Lee

I set this image on a ledge under the Brooklyn Bridge. It was at my friends new apartment building, that his family has been working on for years. I set this long time exposure with my 28mm.

I don’t really want to talk about my telephoto zoom lens. It’s honestly, a piece of crap. Even though the 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 has vibration reduction, the lens just doesn’t have sharp images or good color. It seems good until you shoot all the way out. I even took a video with it, in my last post you can see the video I made (see if you can find the section I used a 200mm to shoot with!).

Composing is an art. Frame your shots with some though, even if it requires taking an extra step back or some lateral movement. Remember, it doesn’t matter as much if your camera shoots 60fps or 24fps, nor does it matter if its 30mp or 12.3mp, it’s more about the archer than it is the arrow (I don’t quite remember where I heard that from). If you want to see what I’m also talking about, watch this link where Jared Polin talks about composition for photographers.

10mm-18mm ultra wide angles, great for fisheye skate and action sports, and to fool around in tight spaces.

20mm-35mm wide angles, good for interior and low light events, such as parties and even weddings, when on the dance floor.

50mm-85mm normal lenses are usually fast and let in enormous amounts of light. This is great for portrait and just every day use.

105mm-200mm are good portrait lenses, but I don’t see a need to use those for portraits as much as sports and far away needs

300mm+ telephoto lenses are great for sports. capture a moment from a distance.

These are just my opinions, don’t go and quote on these purposes, but from my experience, these groups work. And I promise, I’ll do a blog about video next week.

This weeks artist of the week is my friend Alex Lordahl. A photographer and gadget geek, this kid keeps it real. He even figured out how to use black and white film to create nice color images. check that out here

He has great experience in dark room photography and even took a class at the school of Visual Arts here in NYC. Check out these pieces to his AP Art Studio Breadth

Secret Assignment #2

go out and take a shot or video; film or take a picture of someone or something. Tell me your meta data, let me know what lens you used and all! I want to see different angles and interesting shots.

Eric Lee is a young Brooklyn based artist. Fresh from high school and moving on to college, Eric is writing about his experiences as the young cinematographer and photographer he is today.

Young Filmmaker’s Journal: NYC, What You Might Not See

Hi, my name is Eric, as you can tell from my username. I’m 18, and just graduated from high school. I met Jayce through my screenwriting class at Packer; he seemed friendly, warm, and determined. I emailed him a couple of weeks later, showing him my own work. He found it exciting and thrilling; or at least that’s what he told me!

I’m here to talk and post about DIY photography and videography. Yes, I don’t have an impressive resume like Jayce of Tiffany, but I’m all self-taught…. with a little bit of help my friends along the way. That’s what it’s all about, learning. I’ll be often referring to them, since they themselves are great artists. You can catch me every Thursday writing about things you can do to Do it Yourself. This is my first post; an entry into the Young Filmmakers Journal:

How long have you lived in New York City? or a city at all? I’ve lived in Brooklyn all eighteen years of my life. First living in the concrete filled streets of Canarsie, then moving to Brooklyn Heights, the contrast is unbelievable. But sometimes don’t you get bored with walking the same path every day to work or school, and having the same routines in the “city that never sleeps?” I sure did. One day after school, a couple of friends and I snuck into our school’s roof and watched the sunset over the late Winter’s sky. Purely amazing. This only satisfied us a little bit. We wanted more, a better view and more daring experiences. We decided to scavenge through our school’s walls and other rooftops. Finding hidden spots of interesting experiences. On my own I went to my roof. Though I’m allowed to be there, it gave me a good amiable feeling despite the harsh winter’s cold. The moon was bright and shining well over the Brooklyn brownstones and buildings:

[caption id=”attachment_483” align=”aligncenter” width=”926” caption=”Super Moon”][/caption]

Photography by Eric Lee

What a sight right? A long time exposure set on a tripod of a Nikon D5000 makes this a nice view over the BQE and out towards Williamsburg/Queens. It had everything I wanted, a clear and crisp view of NYC during such a cold night. But yet again, this wasn’t the only view that the city had to offer that was daring and as exciting as what I was told that could be seen. The following week we went to a place we called, “Windy City,” a name that stuck because the day we visited, it was gusty and overcast. Easily past the guard, we went to the roof exit, which read “an alarm will go off.” With ease, we went through while nothing made a noise. Once outside, the view was fabulous:

Photography by Eric Lee

Atop the roof, we climbed higher. The ladder brought us near a large water tank. The view was nice and tall, peering towards the Manhattan skyline. It also had a short view of the Verrazano bridge and soon to be infamous, Red Hook Grain Terminal. A view isn’t just a view, it’s the compilation of the civilization and nature in one screen. So this was our pursuit, to find hidden treasures in one of the most protected cities in the United States (obviously after Washington D.C.). This was great, but we wanted to go higher. We found our next spot, across the street from this medical building. 36 stories later, and one block further away, we found this view.

Photography by Eric Lee

This is the 2nd tallest building in downtown Brooklyn. Famous between us students as the “Green Box,” the building is about 35 stories, but above the elevator room, by climbing a ladder, is this amazing roof top. It looks over what you see above. The space itself is about 10 by 20 feet (I’m being pretty lenient). It also views Bay Ridge, New Jersey, Downtown Manhattan, Manhattan Bridge, and some of the Coney Island area. A person reblogged this photo from me on tumblr and said “every street is like a little piece of hell, take me there please.” And I liked that because those orange lights just illuminate the Brooklyn Height’s streets.

Photography by Eric Lee

We then went a step further, not to residential or office buildings, but to complete abandoned warehouses. You know that big clunky thing across from Ikea in Red Hook? Well this was an aventure in and above The Red Hook Grain Terminal. Built in 1922, the terminal sits on the Gowanus Canal. There until 1965, the terminal was never used again after for organizing imports of grain, except for graffiti artists to paint on, and photographers/cinematographers to shoot inside. I found this place magical, solely made on cement and rusted metal, the building felt sturdy and untouched. It felt as if I was the first person ever inside. The chained doors and locked windows almost prevented us getting in, but we are educated kids; we found a way. The police didn’t even know how it was possible, thinking we dug a tunnel of some sort. But watch the video for what happened to us. There are rules and guidelines to follow for urban exploration. Not actually, but rules that explorers need to know, like: -always wear gloves and long shirts/pants -bring a mask incase of asbestos -wear closed toe shoes -safety first, watch your step, make sure things are sturdy -beware of your surroundings, including people and security

Photography by Eric Lee

(I won’t lie, I’m no expert on this type of stuff. I do it for fun and the art. If you want to learn more and read more, go here: http://www.infiltration.org/index.html) We got in through a disclosed ladder over the Gowanus. I climbed a set of stairs so I could shoot down upon my friends bridging the gap. It was daring, but yet made the shot interesting. I filmed every aspect of our journey, getting in, climbing rigged stairs, being lost, almost falling, and everything else. I loved it. I was determined to get footage of us getting in, the hidden passages, and the creative beauty the location possessed. I wanted to make a movie for our school’s film festival, competing in the documentary category. It seems to be, the best shot (cinematography wise), is the one you are forbidden to get. Well, here it is, the video that won “Best Documentary” at Packer’s Film Festival: Underg7ound   I created this movie using a Nikon D5000 SLR camera. I attached an 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 lens so it gave me some range. But some footage also had an 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 with a 52mm diameter filter so I could mount my Opteka fisheye lens. I also used a slik tripod as a stabilizer. I used iMovie to edit the footage (I know so noobish, but I don’t have money to buy better software). I edited all the photos, adding a bit of contrast, increasing exposure, sharpening edges, but never changing my subject or altering the photo itself. I use iPhoto (yes again a noobish piece of software, but gets the job done. I do have adobe light room 3, but I can’t for the life of me use it well). I use a MacBook Pro 15” 2.66 GHz Intel Core i7. The music was done by my good friend Henry, whom we call HMillie: http://soundcloud.com/fortayoz he does amazing mash ups and also creates his own beats. He’s also DJ’ed a premier for these two young rappers in Williamsburg: FortayOZ/HMillie watch the performance here (beware of adult language, the rappers, not my friend! say some inappropriate words). I know a documentary is about showing, not telling, but an issue with iMovie is separating the audio from the footage. I was unable to delete the video and keep the audio. Maybe it was just me, but I would have liked to show more visuals. I have so much more raw footage. A difference with this type of documentary filming versus other types, is that we cannot stage what happens; we cannot retake videos if we mess up. Timing is key in urban exploration, who knows how long you have until the police show up, a ladder breaks, or someone gets hurt. I took 39 videos that day, all ranging form 30 seconds to 5 minutes. I like using off centered titles because something in the middle seems so tacky and so in your face. The lower or upper corner titles let the viewer see the image without a big block of text in their face. Obviously there are many cases in which that way works. Personally when I film, I like to create transitions myself by going to black or focusing in/out. In between footage, I use crossfades, because anything else is just too heavy and too distracting. The video is to show the beauty in such a rushed placed. New York City has been my home for the longest time, and it’s nice to see the structure of “what the city is built on.” I want to do many more explorations and enjoy the underground aspect. But until I build the guts to do another big exploration, I’ll be shooting other types of photography and video.

Photography by Eric Lee

I hope this article was some what amusing, introducing you to a new form of what lies ahead in the world of art. This talk even leads into my post next week about composition and lenses, and some nerdy gadget camera stuff. I hope you enjoyed the video and inspired you to Do it Yourself! We had no help from anyone besides the internet and each other. Remember, this opportunity wasn’t just given to us to take and go shoot; it was seized by our own determination and waking up at 5am to start our adventure. A major inspiration was this awesome video by Andrew Wonder: Undercity. If you liked what you saw, please visit my NYC photo blog itselee.tumblr.com for more photos: http://itselee.tumblr.com/page/12 from this page on for urban exploration material. If you would like to see more interviews from my group, please see: http://vimeo.com/20908620 - Scott Enman’s Interview http://vimeo.com/20923624 - Adrian Nugent-Head’s Interview http://vimeo.com/20923398 - Eric Lee’s Interview http://vimeo.com/20912886 - Eddie Owen’s Interview http://vimeo.com/20923123 - Willy Gillespie’s Interview All these interviews were conducted and filmed by my friend, Adrian Nugent-Head, an awesome young filmmaker himself. He uses a Canon 7D (50mm prime f/1.4 and I believe a Tokina 35mm f/3.5 with a Nikon to Canon Adaptor) for video and does amazing time-lapses. If you message him, tell him Eric Lee sent you there: http://vimeo.com/nugenthead If you find yourself lazy to copy and paste that link, or even click on it; you can click here to see his The Good, The Bad, The High Line time lapse of an entire day there. Also see the intro to his movie Currently Untitled , an Ooma production (partnered with James Sui).   I also want to give a big shout out to Olivia Luder, a foreign exchange student from London, England, studying for another year of high school here in New York. She has been a tremendous friend and force in our school’s community. I’m sad to see her leave, but I know I’ll be seeing her and hearing from her in the near future. She actually leaves today, Thursday June 23, we’ll all miss you! Much love Luder, thanks for the memories!   Eric Lee is a young Brooklyn based artist. Fresh from high school and moving on to college, Eric is writing about his experiences as the young cinematographer and photographer he is today.    

Photography by Eric Lee

Secret Assignment #1: If you’ve made it this far, congratulations! I’m glad you stuck it out and read what I have to say. Go out and walk around with your camera; SLR, film, or video, and capture something you find beautiful about the city you live in. It can be a coffee shop or a 70 story high building. And hey, it doesn’t matter if you use a Canon 5D Mark II or an iPhone 2. Just go out, shoot, and have some fun. Post your work in the comment section below! Or post it @ itselee.tumblr.com in the ask section