Photo of the Week: Oct. 16, 2013

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: I now spend about a third of my professional time teaching − in classes, workshops and privately − with a growing population of camera users hungry to improve their skills. I have discovered that the most important gift I can pass on to my students is the ability to see better. It not only makes one a better photographer, but also increases one’s appreciation of the visual world no matter where or how one is engaged with it. With photography, seeing better often means being able to see beyond what is right in front of you. This requires an ability to see by exclusion, to remove things that are in plain sight and leave behind only a mental image of the final photograph.

No place offers quite the visual challenge as a chaotic, noisy, crowded market. The myriad, multi-sensual-distractions make honing in with one sense – sight – much more difficult than on a quiet hilltop at dawn. I love the spice stalls in Machane Yehuda, in part because they never bore my camera but I also enjoy their aroma and the thought of the exotic and tasty dishes the spices embellish. In its final airing, this photo seems simple and easy to shoot. In order to perfect the composition, however, I had to rise on my tiptoes to gain a slightly elevated perspective that moved the handle of the left scooper below the upper rim of the top bowl so that the two elements did not overlap. A small but hugely important difference, made possible only by seeing in my mind’s eye how it should look and then finding a way to make it so.

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TECHNICAL DATA: Camera: Nikon D300, hand held, center-weighted metering mode, f6.3 at 1/160th sec., ISO 800. Raw file converted to Jpeg. Lens: Nikon 28-105 macro zoom at 46 mm. Date: July 29, 2013 10:26 a.m. Location: Machane Yehuda Market, Jerusalem.

Photo of the Week: Oct. 9, 2013

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: I am disappointed with Nikon Corporation. A beautiful promotional poster featuring the family of Nikon professional lenses proclaims in a bold headline: Nikkor Lenses – I am Your Eyes. Sorry, Nikon, but neither you nor your lenses is anyone’s eyes. This is a typically cynical ploy to make consumers think they will get great pictures just by choosing a Nikon camera or lens.

I inherited Nikon cameras from my father, z"l, and have been a loyal customer for more than three decades. But for aspiring photographers, the quickest route to improving your pictures is learning how to see better: light, form, depth, color, lines, background and shadows. And with your own eyes. Digital cameras do a remarkable job of rendering color and proper exposure, but they have yet to replace the human brain for thinking and seeing.

This week’s photo is a view of Nahal Zin from a vantage point between Sde Boker and Avdat National Park in the Negev Desert. The low angle of the setting sun works magic on the landscape, creating a dramatic interplay between shadow and light. The more elevated features remain sunlit while the shadows help form a frame and contain the viewer within the image. The arrival of fall brings cooler air and dust-banishing rains that make it the perfect time to visit and photograph one of Israel’s beautiful deserts

TECHNICAL DATA: Camera: Nikon D700, tripod-mounted, center-weighted metering mode, f16 at 1/320th sec., ISO 400. Raw file converted to Jpeg. Lens: Nikon 135mm prime. Date: Oct 28, 2012 4:17 p.m. Location: Above Nahal Zin, Negev Desert.

Photo of the Week: Oct. 2, 2013

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: Rainbows are rare, unique, compelling, and, as we are reminded by this week’s Torah portion, a symbol of both the flood and God’s promise not to destroy the world again. During the rainy season, I am often propelled from couch to car, chasing these fleeting phenomena over hill and dale while flirting with cardiac arrest. Occasionally I succeed and in the category of “expect it when you least expect it,” I present this image which appeared while I stood on a hilltop in the Judean Mountains preparing for a family to arrive for a portrait session.

Rainbows are rare because several simultaneous conditions are necessary for their appearance. The sun must be low on the horizon (below 42 degrees), which is why rainbows are only visible in the morning or late afternoon. There must also be both precipitation and open sky to allow sun beams to shine through the cloud cover and pass through the raindrops and refract into the colors visible in the rainbow.

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My elevated perspective allowed me to see and capture the entire arc of this rainbow, actually a double rainbow, and if you look carefully, you will notice the color pattern is reversed on the upper arc. The second rainbow is caused by a double reflection of light inside the moisture droplets. Rainbows always appear opposite the sun, with a well-lit foreground culminating in the sky show. They are indeed rare, but rarely are they disappointing.

TECHNICAL DATA: Camera: Nikon D300, handheld, manual exposure, center-weighted metering mode, f22 at 1/500th sec., ISO 400. Raw file converted to Jpeg. Lens: Nikon 18-200 zoom at 18mm. Date: Feb. 24, 2012 3:36 p.m. Location: Efrat, Gush Etzion.

Photo of the Week: Sept. 18, 2013

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: It's the time of year again for the ritual of assiduous inspection of the leaves, branches and fruit that combine to form the four species of Sukkot. The color and creative carpentry of this week-long festival is spiced by the commandment to be joyful. Are we just happy that Yom Kippur is behind us for another 12 months or do we truly celebrate our return to Jerusalem and the blessings that permeate our lives?

This photograph evolved from a series of situational constraints. The residents of Jerusalem's religious neighborhoods often frown upon having a camera pointed at them. I needed to shoot from an unnoticed vantage point while still capturing the essence of the activity I witnessed. This shot retains the subject's anonymity while sprinkling a bit of humor on the subject as it documents this man's search for a beautiful Hadas branch.

Moadim L'simcha and Chag Sameach.

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TECHNICAL DATA: Camera: Nikon D70, handheld, manual exposure, center-weighted metering mode, f7.1 at 1/160th sec., ISO 400. Raw file converted to Jpeg. Lens: Nikon 70-300 zoom at 190mm. Date: Oct. 4, 2006 10:37 a.m. Location: Mea She'arim, Jerusalem.