INSIDE

FUN WAYS TO I MP ROV E YO U R D I G I TA L P H OTO G RAPH Y

p h o t o November 2008
Edition 2

INSIDE ASSIGNMENT: THAIPUSUM

The most amazing festival you will ever shoot
DEADLINES: BEYOND THE OBVIOUS
The story behind the photos in the D Scene newspaper
SKILL FACTOR: PAN-ACTION-FLASH
Easy ways to add drama to your images
PROCESS: SATURATION LEVELS
Make your digital images look like Velvia
TRAVELSHOOTER: On ASSIGNMENT
Fish and chips in Tsujiki

You’re out!...Not!
O ver a recent weekend I was
forced to revisit a time that
seems so long ago and yet it was
only 2002.
My trusty Sigma 70-200 f2.8 HSM
tele-zoom has finally fallen over
and is in dire need of repair so I had
to dig up and resurrect to usable
condition my first digital SLR, the
venerable NIKON D100. Why?
Because it had my other 80 - 200 f2.8
attached.
Now how did we cope with such
2 3
INSIDE
slow speeds back then?
Make no mistake I loved my time
with the D100. It regularly gave me
A3 sized images with full colour and
no noise from just 6MP.
I lovingly carried it all around Asia
and Oceania shooting sports, travel
and editorial images, all at just 3
fps, and only capturing just 6 JPEG
images in one continuous burst.
The AF while sharp, was never going
to be racy fast and I remembered
that Manual Focus Mode was used a
INSIDE
FUN WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY
p h o t o
lot on moving subjects.
So off into the wilds I went to shoot
sports in Dunedin.
First memo to myself: Pack my Photography is like making cheese. It takes a hell of a lot of milk
glasses as the 1.8 inch LCD seems to make a small amount of cheese just like it takes a hell of a lot
so small now compared to today’s of photos to get a good one. -Robert Gillis
3 inch models and I cannot see the
images to review them.
contents
Second memo to myself: Quickly
relearn all the tricks we had to learn
back then to cope with shutter lag,
Editon 2, November 2008
slow AF and slow motordrives.
The answer was simple. I needed
to plan my shots carefully as I no
longer had the luxury of 6.5 frames INSIDE ASSIGNMENT: Thaipusam
per second and a super fast AF. At
the first day of the local softball The most amazing festival you will ever P4
competition I positioned myself at shoot
the side of the fences near the home
plate and started to relearn those
old DSLR skills long since forgotten as DEADLINES
the camera technology marched on.
I could now only get one frame of The story behind the photos in the
the batter hitting the ball, one shot D Scene newspaper P20
of someone sliding into third base
and almost no follow focus. I also
had to remember that everything SKILL FACTOR: Pan-Action Flash
on the Nikon was opposite to the
Canons I have used for the past four
years. So I really had to plan my
shots to pre-empt any action, I had How to easily a drama to your
images
P22
to watch my subjects for muscle
PUBLISHER/EDITOR/DESIGNER/PHOTOGRA-
indicators that marked when they
were going to swing and I had to PHER/WRITER: PROCESS
watch using both eyes watching for John Cosgrove
the pitchers throw and shooting Travelshooter1@gmail.com Saturation: how to adjust saturation
when it left his hand to compensate levels to mimic Velvia P24
for a small amount of shutter lag. INSIDE Photo e-magazine is published by:
I also had to use manual focus to
stop the AF hunting a lot.
INSIDE Photo
5 Council Street
St Kilda
TRAVELSHOOTER:
‘Oh by the way the umpire called him Dunedin On assignment
New Zealand
out sliding into third but the action
P: + 64 3 4555998 An early morning visit to the famous
photo clearly shows he wasn’t out”.
So keep on shooting and stay in
Tsujiki Fish market in Tokyo, Japan P26
touch p www.insidephoto.info
John C Material published in INSIDE Photo is
LAST FRAME:
The travelshooter copyrighted and cannot be reproduced
Contact: travelshooter1@gmail.com
(or photocopied) other than for individual P44
personal use.
pO N A S S I G N M E N T:
Words and Photos by John and Kath Cosgrove
T H A I P U SA M F EST I VA L

S ome say it’s a supreme act of religious devotion,

others say it a contrite act of penance for a
blessing bestowed on them. Others just think of
it as a simple act of repayment for a vow to succeed
in exams or pledge for success that they had made to
the gods which was rewarded and now it’s time for the
payback. And what a payback!

Whats in the
bag? The combined weight of these limes must have been extremely painful for this devotee.
A Sony DSLR-A200
Kath shot this image using a Sony Alpha A200 at 1/500th @f6.3 on ISO800.
and a couple of
G series lenses. What gives this shot impact is the subtle colours and the hands holding the shoulders
Kingston CF cards as they support the devotee.
and GP batteries.

4
5
 This is where knowing what your DSLR can do really comes in handy. I shot this image
several years ago on an NIKON D100, 6MP using the kit 18-55 zoom lens.
I knew that Nikons often defer to highlights in Matrix Metering Mode so I set the camera up
and then dialled in -1/3rd compensation and went shooting.
Because it reads the highlights and drops the middle exposure values it really punched up
the saturation and gave me exactly what I wanted for this shot of a devotee with peircings.

6 7
 H eld annually between
January and February in
Singapore, Thaipusam is a
deeply religious and amazingly
photogenic festival that should
be on everyone’s must-do
photo bucket list along with
photographing the Passion of
Christ in Oberammergau and
the running with the bulls in
Pamplona.

It’s all about payback and the greater

the pain the more god-earned merit
one receives.
After weeks of fasting and prayer
hundreds of Indian, Malay and
Chinese devotees will be pierced
with fish hooks and meat hooks on
which heavy milk churns or heavy
fruits such as limes or oranges are
hung.
Tongues and cheeks will be pierced
with brass skewers or spears.
It is thought that with a spear
pierced through his tongue or cheeks
The devotee will always be reminded
constantly of thier faith and it also
prevents them from speaking and At the moment of piercing you are looking for any pain. The secret here is to shoot with a tele-
aids in their endurance. zoom with a wide aperture to blow any backgrounds out of focus.
Some will walk on shoes of nails Concentrate on their expressions and you will get your shots.
while most will have their backs and
stomachs stabbed by hundreds of
sharp rods supporting the weight
of heavy Kavadis decorated with
flowers, gold chains, brass idols,
peacock feathers, photos and palm
leaves.
The larger more spectacularly
decorated kavadis can weigh as
much as 40 kg and often reach
to a height of nearly four metres.
Supported by chanting family and
friends these devotees will often
struggle to carry these heavy
loads nearly ten kilometres from
one temple to another under a
mercilessly hot sun, hoping their
deep faith and beliefs will get
them through the pain barriers.
Throw into this colourful mixture
a managed tourist spectacle with
hundreds of foreign photographer’s,
all clamouring for the shot, and you
get some idea what the Thaipusam
festival is all about.
While Hindus around the globe
celebrate this act of gratitude
dedicated to Lord Subramaniam,
the Hindu deity of youth, power
and virtue, the largest Thaipusam
celebrations often take place in
8 9

Singapore, Mauritius and Malaysia.
But only in Singapore will you
find the body piercings making
this festival a major photographic
spectacle. Most Hindu devotees
see it as a time for repentance as
10
they believe that Lord Subramaniam
is also the universal dispenser of
favours.
Hence, those who have made vows
and pledges in the past to Lord
Subramaniam must prove their
gratitude to him by undergoing self-
mortification during the festival of
Thaipusam.
To get to the mental and physical
state whereby the many piercings
often don’t draw blood or inflict
excruciating pain, devotees
practice a very through and lengthy
purification of their bodies.
This includes taking just one
vegetarian meal a day for more than
a month beforehand and total sexual
abstinence. A 24-hour fast is also
observed on the eve of Thaipusam.
Many women devotees, while not
permitted to carry kavadis by law,
some still allow themselves to be
pierced before they join the men on
The Kavadis are always very gaily decorated
with flowers, gold and silver and are extreme-
ly heavy. Use all your lenses to vary the angles
and then zoom in for detail shots. These shots
help you tell the story of the long walk down
to the other temple. Think about using rear
curtain sync flash to lighten the colors and
make the whole image more vibrant.
the long walk carrying a heavy pot
of milk called a palkuddam on their
heads. The milk is later poured over
the statue of Lord Subramaniam at
the end of the procession.
Starting after an all night prayer
11
 Be prepared to be shocked, the skin of these devotees is being pulled by a very heavy man. Use you zooms to highlight the tension.
meeting which involves fire walking
in the early hours before dawn at the
Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple, located
in the middle of Singapore’s famous
Little India on Serangoon Road.
The real spectacle starts after sun
rise.
While it is still cool the kavadi
carriers, together with their relatives,
friends and well-wishers take it in
turns to be lanced and suited up
with their Kavadis before walking
along Serangoon Road, over Orchard
Road and finally down to the Sri
Thandayuthapani Temple at Tank
Road. All along the way, devotees
chant hymns of praise for the deity.
The kavadi carriers’ arrival at the
Murugan Temple at Tank Road marks
the accomplishment of their task, a
12
repayment of their debt.
The Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple
The first stage of the ritual, the self-
mortification appeals to all as the
most photogenic of the festivals
many events.
And here you will find hundreds
of foreign and expat amateur
photographers, some on dedicated
photo trips, all clamouring to get
a good angle, the best position,
the most colourful image and the
moment of incision or even some
blood if they can.
In some ways it’s kinda crass but
when you get there it isn’t hard to
be swallowed up by the moment and
find yourself elbowing your way into
the crowds, shooting over heads and
clipping ears with long tele zooms,
before zooming tightly into the faces
of the devotees to try and get the
ultimate piercing shot.
It’s not that easy especially if you are
squeamish but there is some much
of it going on around you that it’s
hard not to get a good shot.
Rule Number One: Take off your
shoes in the temple, nothing sadder
than seeing rude ang mohs (euros in
general) feeling the wrath of temple
priests because they have walked
into the sacred shrines.
Rule Number Two: Follow the
crowds and the noise, as the temple
attendants prepare a devotee for
lancing they will start loudlychanting
and singing to help the devotee
13
Devotees put all kinds of heavy objects on their backs, here are a few; miniture urns of milk, limes, oranges, spikes , skewers and larger bottles
of milk. I have even seen cigars and other ornate bits of heavy gold jewellry hanging by hooks stuck into devotees. Again what you are trying to
capture is the repeating pattern caused by the objects.
Use a average depth of field, say f8 or below, to keep the background out of focus and from distracting the viewers.

14 15
 Many devotees walk the distance with heavy urns of milk called palkuddam mounted on their heads. The photos you are
looking for here are the patterns of the silver urns or any reflections you can zoom in. In the image shot by Kath she
zoomed in tight to get the expressions oon the devotees face as milk dripped down on him.

16 17
 walk those weary miles under the
hot sun to the other temple. Look
for sights such as their skin being
pulled and stretched by the skewers
(incidentally often there is no trace
of these incisions the day after the
festival), the patterns of the skewers
and then think of ways to alter your
perspective by tilting and twisting
the camera, think colours and use
rear or second curtain sync flash
to lift the shadows or use you tele-
zooms to focus only on the faces.
Learn how you camera sees light
through its meter and use that
to your advantage like I did on
the leading page shot. Matrix
or Evaluative metering always
defers to highlights so use this and
-1/3rd compensation to punch the
saturation of your images. Look
for emotions, moments of pain or
trepidation on the faces of those still
to go through the process. p

Thaipusam is a lot of fun to shoot

attain an almost trancelike
appearance aiding the insertion
of the skewers. But when they do
this they often crowd the devotee
making the shot harder to catch so
use your tele-zoom to get closer,
Rule Number Three: Don’t jam
your camera into the face of a
18
devotee being lanced, it is liable
to offend and it may get roughly
knocked away.
Rule Number Four: Wait and look
around, there is so much happening
in such a small area that it’s not that
hard to find good, unique shots.
As the sun rises you will often get
more colourful shots as the crowds
thin when the temperature rises
forcing many ang mohs to seek
shelter and sustenance from their
early morning rise.
The streets around the temple are
full of cheap well stocked restaurants
and hawkers centres offering many
Indian delicacies.
Out on Serangoon Road:
This is Singapore, so the event is very
well stage managed with an active
police presence controlling the day
long procession down Serangoon
Road. Position yourself along the
barriers and shoot headshots and
the spectacle or take a punt and walk
along with the devotees.
There are many good action
shots to catch here. Look for the
milk from the heavy palkuddams
spilling out and dripping down the
heads of devotees, the reactions
of the crowds to a devotee with
an especially painful kavadi on his
shoulders, the young and the old
devotees who take part and the
pain on their tired faces as they
and you will go through a lot
of card space so remember to
pack extra memory cards, flash
and camera batteries and water,
but all the time remember to
be respectful of the faith of the
devotees and don’t be rude to
others even when they stand up
in front of you just as the spike
lances his cheeks.

The strong graphical elements in the picture invite the viewer to look around and yet it says very quickly what is happening in the frame - a mans head is being shaved - simple and effective.
Shooting beyond the obvious: the key to success
“Sometimes you can’t see the tree’s
for the forest.”
N ow how many times have I
heard that old pearl of wisdom
and yet in the world of newspaper
photography it happens on average
once a day to most photographers.
You can arrive at a function or event
and despite having access to all the
relevant info about who, what, when
and where, you just can’t see any
photo ops as you look out over the
room. The pressure to perform rises
inside you as you struggle to find a
unique angle or different view point
20
to snap your subject from.
Sadly some photographers quickly
fall back into their old comfort zone
frame of mind and simply hold the
camera up and shoot off a couple of
frames and then leave – their job is
done. They have recorded the fact
that Yes! They were there and Yes!
Something did happen there.
Now I saying this because as you
scan through the newspapers of
today it’s pretty obvious which
were the images shot by record
photographers and which were
the ones were shot by the talented
shooters on the staff.
Make no mistake, there is a lot of
The story behind images shot for D Scene Newspaper
decide what really news is worthy.
Let’s look at a couple of news
situation I experienced recently.
Case #1: The local volunteer fire
brigade at Ravensbourne near
Dunedin had decided to shave their
heads in a fund raising venture. A
nice feel-good story as it promised
some interesting before and after
photos. After standing around in
the crowd watching the action and
snapping off a few frames I soon
realized that I was just recording
the action. There wasn’t anything
wrong with the images, they were
sharp and to the point but they
lacked some sort of unique angle
to attract the eye of the reader,
so I started to vary the angle I was
shooting at. Crouching down to
look up at the men and snapping
their pained expressions or going
higher to change the view point of
my images. Still not happy I changed
lenses and put on my trusty Sigma
tele-zoom and look for shapes and
angles. Now the photos I had shot
up until then had been okay, they
would have suited the story but as
a photographer I wasn’t happy with
the record feeling about them.By
zooming in and removing distracting
backgrounds I have now created
a unique viewpoint that everyone
understands just what is happening
at the event.
So rule number 1 is: Vary your
angles and rule number 2 is:
Remove distractions.
talent out there in New Zealand and work for.
yet we all know that to take it to the My top count was 13 separate
next level you have to go off shore to assignments in one eight- hour shift
reach out to the higher paying career and that was in pre-digital days.
advancing jobs.
That leaves a lot of photographers
back here quite comfortable in their
The average assignment count can
be from four to five assignments.
Now factor in interviews and
daily work. Flip the pages on any travelling times, image processing
newspaper and despite the work and transmitting delays and you can
of the page subs and designers have a very busy day especially as we
sometimes they have to use what all know that news never happens
they are given and often it isn’t to a schedule. Racing from one
pretty. assignment to the next you often
Here‘in lies the problem, a news arrive on site unaware on what is
photographer often has a very busy actually happening. Snap decision
daily shooting schedule depending making skills are very important
on the size of the newspaper they for photographers, helping them to
Case # 2: A call came through
that the Mayor of Dunedin Peter
Chin was opening a new business
venture in a nearby suburb. The
business reporter needed an image
to hang the story on so off I went.
The usual suspects had turned
out with colleagues from the daily
and community newspapers all
congregating outside the Mosgiel
railway station to watch as Mayor
Peter arrived by helicopter to show
off the new GPS technology of this
business. The usual shots were
being taken, corporate handshakes,
the mayor arriving by helicopter,
the mayor standing by the fertilizer
spreading truck, the mayor sitting in
the truck etc, etc.
By now I was getting a wee bit
restless, again the shots I already had
on my Kingston CF card were good
enough for the story but I wanted
something different to what the rest
of the media was shooting. It was
then I started to look for alternatives
and I spotted this large puddle of
water nearby.
Hooking on my super wide 10-22mm
WA lens I started shooting. I could
hear some of my my colleagues
sniggering behind me when they saw
me crouching down beside it but
later when they saw my reflection
shots they all wished they seen it as
well.
So rule number 3 is: Always look
for reflections to increase the visual
impact of your pictures. p
21

Sometimes it looks like you have fluked it. This shot of a
rider was captured on a Canon 40D @ f8, 1/50th of a sec
using ISO 800. I was shooting in the trees because out in
the sun it was too bright to use flash.
During the exposure I was also pulling the zoom on my
Sigma 70-200 and it captured this nice effect.
Always used the rear LCD monitor to check your progress
22 and look for over movement which can ruin your image.
Pan Action Flash: Putting drama
and movement into your images
Flash or strobe photography,
call it what you like, has
One of the easiest ways to lift
always be regarded by most your images above the others
photographers as a black art
and better left to the pro’s. is to simply move from Front
M ost are simply happy to leave
their flashes set on E-TTL and
Curtain to Rear Curtain Sync
live with the results. Over the years
the flash technology has improved
shooting with your flash.
and today using either the pop-
up flash or an external flash can
give us what we need in terms of
usable photos. BUT! Now that
we are getting better at our own
photography our desire to improve
and extend our skill sets now In the default Front Curtain Sync mode,
includes flash work. 1/10,000th of a second after the shutter
is depressed the camera fires a pre-
Tech Notes: flash to determine the exposure.
In ‘Front Curtain Sync’ or ‘A’ Flash
mode (the default on all cameras)
the flash firing sequence is as
follows:
i: Just 1/10,000th of a second after
you have fully depressed the shutter
button on your camera it fires a weak
pre-flash beam out at your subject.
Ii: The reflected light is then read
by the cameras inbuilt flash meter
to determine the output ratio the
flash will need to discharge to give 1/1000th of a second later
an average exposure based on the the main flash fires.
settings you have preset including
ISO, Color space, scenic mode, sync
mode and shooting mode etc.
iii: Now, 1/1000th of second after the
Shutter Blinds start to move in their
exposure sequence, the main flash
discharges and the sensor records
that reflected light as an image.
The results are the usual flash photos
we see, nicely exposed subjects and
black under exposed backgrounds. In Rear Curtain Sync mode
A nice and safe way to take pictures, the camera makes an
but what about fill flash and the fact ambient light exposure first
that the room you were shooting in before the flash fires.
was light and airy not dull and dark
as recorded? 23
 One of my favourite shot was again shot
in under trees to slow the exposure down.
I was shooting this time with a Fuji S3Pro
and shot it at 1/20th of a sec@f8 using ISO
200.
Panning the camera with the rider
increases the sense of speed and yet
there is enough in focus to capture his
emotions.
24
In Rear Curtain Sync or Slow Flash
Mode the sequence looks like this:
i: As you depress the shutter button,
at a point 1/10,000th of a second
after you have fully depressed the
shutter button it fires the pre-flash
beam out at your subject.
Ii: The reflected light is then read
by the cameras inbuilt flash meter
to determine the output ratio the
flash will need to discharge to give
an average exposure based on the The flash has this icon visible when set to
settings you have preset including Rear Curtain Sync mode.
ISO, Color space, exposure mode
and the sync mode you have now
selected.
iii: Now, because you have selected
REAR or SLOW curtain sync the
Shutter Blinds will complete their
exposure sequence, exposing for
the ambient light in the room or
location.
iv: Just 1/1000th of second before
the the Shutter Blinds start to close
marking the end of your exposure
the main flash discharges a balanced
beam that adds a smaller amount of
light to your total exposure.
The sensor now records your
combined flash supplied and
ambient light image and the
results are wonderfully lit balanced
exposures. But you will have noticed
that the exposure has changed from The shot of a boxer above is a classic example of using the flash to add movement to increase
its usual 1/200th of a second to a the sense of drama in a photo. Shot on a Canon 40D at 1/13th of a sec @f4, using ISO1600 to
capture the low ambient light in the gym. Pre–focusing on the boxer I just kept on shooting as
much slower speed to allow for an he bobbed and weaved around the ball.
ambient light exposure. Here lies Below is an example of where the flash set on rear curtain sync adds just enough fill light
the fun element of rear curtain sync to illuminate your subject and make it more colorful. I ran alongside the bike, shooting as I
flash photography. You can use that carried my Canon 30D down behind the bike as it climbed a small hill.The use of a 10-22mm
slow shutter speed to add drama and super wide and fill flash made a unique viewpoint of the cyclist.
movement to your photos. Simply
pan and or zoom the camera as the
exposure sequence happens and
marvel at the results.
Hint: Watch your shutter speeds as
it can become too slow, blurring out
the effect you want. It is a simple
matter of trial and error to see which
shutter speeds are going to give you
the effects you want.
I have been a big fan of Mountain
Biking and as a sport it lends itself
to great imagery and here those Pan-
Action-Flash techniques really work
to add both drama and movement
to your images. Regular high speed
exposures will freeze the action but
panning and kicking in a little flash
makes for better, more impactful
photos. p 25
 TIPS:
1: Use the pop up flash as a fill
light and it can also act as the
commander unit in multi-flash
sequences.

2: Monitor your progress using

the rear LCD looking for over
movement and blow out in your
images.

3: Plan your shots well and use

back markers as test dummies to
aid your setup, they make good
subjects as they are usually slower
than the experts at sports events.

4: Use the Green Square or (P)

setting if in doubt and remember
to always cover yourself if
shooting for the bosses.

5: The Rear Curtain Sync mode

is usually found in the Custom
Function menus on most cameras
and most flashes have it also on
their own LCD panels, just look for
the logo.

Jet lag had kicked in and I was wide-awake

at 5am in Mumbai, India. Not wanting to
miss the sunrise I wandered down to the
historic Gates of India and hoped I could get
a nice sunrise shot. Sadly the smog and haze
ruined that idea but I started to play with
the pigeons resting nearby. Setting my Canon
30D with the 10-22mm super wide on to f3.5
on ISO 400 in the low light I wandered into
the flocks of birds scattering them. With the
focus set on Ai Focus I was able to get a few
shots off each time before the pop up flash
recycled. It is fun to use the pop up flash as
it is very capable and can aid your creativity
heaps.

26 27
How to make your images look like Velvia

F UJIFILM Velvia: Loved by many

while others hated it but you
couldn’t dismiss its ability to punch
up the saturation in your photos.
Landscapes were not worth looking
at unless they were shot on 50
ISO Velvia film with its ability to
accurately render deep blues and
vivid greens. Digital came along
and we all decided to live with the
reduced levels of saturation in our
images. Fujiflim kept Velvia alive
with its S1/2/3/5pro series of DSLR’s Saturation increase #2
which had a sweet RGB color space
you could dial in that replicated Use the SPONGE tool (quick key letter o) and select Saturate as the mode and 50% for the flow and simply rub
Velvia but others left it up to the it over the areas in the image you want to increase the levels of saturation in.
user to dial up the sat levels in
Photoshop. To punch the saturation
in your camera you can adjust its The original
level under the scene or image
custom functions or simply shoot
images at -1/3rd compensation.
In ADOBE’s excellent Photoshop
CS series and Elements you
can easily adjust the levels of
Saturation in an image under the
IMAGE>ADJUST>HUE /SATURATION
control. But when you move that
slider along past 10-15 you noticed
that the image started to posterize
and look fake.
Saturation increase #1
After creating a new adjustment
layer and selecting LEVELS, hit the
auto key then use the layer opacity
to dial back the effect.

Or under IMAGE>ADJUST>LEVELS,
select Auto and then EDIT>FADE
to adjust the amount of effect you
want.

28 29
Saturation increase #3
One of the best ways I have found to
replicate Velvia in digital images and
control the levels of SATURATION in
your landscape images so that you
don’t posterize the image is to use a BEFORE AFTER
simple LAB method.

Step One: Change the Image

mode from RGB to LAB
Step Two: Open a new
Adjustment layer and select
CURVES and then tap your Step Five: Adjust the level of
mouse in one of the large saturation using the Layers
squares whilst holding down Opacity control in the Layers
the Alt Key to increase the palette.
number of sections in the
Step Six: Change the Image
Curves graph.
Mode from LAB back to RGB
Step Three: Under the A
Step Seven: use another
channel simple move the
Adjustment layer to
top point one square to the
highlight other areas of the
left and the bottom point
image.
one step to the right. (Don’t
stress about what the image
looks like as it will improve
in the next step)
Step Four: Repeat step 3
under the B channel.

30 31
32 33
Shots to look for:
Repeating patterns - long rows of
frozen Tuna fish lend themselves to
great repeating pattern shots. Use
them as leading lines to draw your
viewer into the image.

34 35
Shots to look for:
Watch out for lovely street scenes inside the market. Set you camera to
Aperture Priority Mode and enjoy the scenes as the appear.
TSUKIJI: FROZEN FISH AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE
Words and pictures by John Cosgrove
T okyo at 4.30am is a very quiet
place. It is cool and quiet, in
complete contrast to the usual
tourists perception of Tokyo being a
fast paced, action packed city 24/7.
A couple of mates and I were
standing on the platform at
Shinagawa’s subway station waiting
for the first train of the day to carry
us up town to connect with the
Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line and then
onto the Tsukiji Station and our
eventual destination, the Tokyo
36
Metropolitan Central Wholesale
Market or as it is more commonly
known as The world famous Tsukiji
fish market. Despite visiting Tokyo
countless times over the past 20
years I have never found the time to
look at this popular tourist attraction
so it was a real treat when we found
we had time to sample the delights
of this famous market. It just meant
sacrificing some sleep time which I
knew I could make up later.
Tsukiji is the biggest wholesale fish
and seafood market in the world and
despite being a must-see destination
for foreign travellers passing
through Tokyo, very few locals will
ever visit it. We had planned our
early morning photo expedition to
get there just as the famous tuna
auctions were starting at 5.30am,
shoot up a storm and then get back
to our hotel in time for breakfast and
the start of the day’s activities with
Canon, our kind host for the week.
As our train got nearer to the Tsukiji
37
 Station I noticed more and more
camera toting tourists getting aboard
and at the station it was easy to join
the lines of people all heading in just
one direction – the markets.
Once inside the huge multi-acre
complex your aim is to get over to
the inner market area where the
auctions take place and most of the
processing of the fish is handled.
The outer market is a mixture of
wholesale and retail shops that sell
the usual Japanese kitchen tools,
restaurant supplies, groceries, and
seafood, and upstairs are many
excellent restaurants. There isn’t
much in the way of English language
signage once you enter the site the
but you can’t get lost, just follow the
crowds as they are all going in one
direction. If you are really cheeky,
latch onto the back of one of the
many guided tours that run through
the market each morning. They are
almost military like in their precision
for getting tourists through the
market as quick as possible and back
to their hotels in time for breakfast.

(Note: Always plan an exit strategy.

Shots to look for:
Arrange a meeting point and time
(Above) Breaks in repeating pattern shots – look for a buyer’s legs or hands to break the patterns and create nicer
and stick to it! Remember which
more dynamic images.
station exit you arrived at as there
are many exit points and stations (Below) Viewpoints – vary your angles and lenses to change how you view the subject
all within walking distance of the
market. The Tsukiji station itself has
one exit that exits directly into the
market. I always pick a prominent
landmark, building or signage to use
as a reference point to find my way
back. )

I soon lost my travelling buddies in

the crowds at the station and hooked
up with one tour group of 10 rich
American tourists, all dressed to
the nines in their fancy gear (Man
would they suffer later when they
realised just how much fish by
product, scales, oils, crud and smells
are associated with the market. It
is not the place to wear high heels
and fancy branded shoes or clothes).
I followed them through the outer
market and over to the auction
houses before I broke off to shoot
my own shots.

Shots to look for: Problem number 1: The local traders

Pan Action Flash photos- rear curtain
sync the flash to shoot the workers
as they race by.
38
don’t want your there, in fact online
they advise you not to come citing
hygiene and sanitation problems.
The official quote is: “Sanitation
management problems such as 39
 temperature control issues caused by
the entry and exit of large numbers
of unauthorized persons, and
problems with visitors impeding the
auction and other trading activities
especially at the early morning
auction held in the tuna wholesale
area. For these reasons, tourists are
currently not allowed to enter the
tuna wholesaling areas.”
The reality is that you can usually
walk around there just watch what
you are doing and shoot from the
open sides of the warehouses or
from the designated walkways they
have made through the long lines of
frozen tunas. Travelling on your own
rather than in a group usually gets
you places you wouldn’t normally
get to.

It’s a place for both wide angles and

tele-zooms but not flashes so pack
carefully. Don’t put your bag down as
the floor as it is covered in oily water
and seafood by products.

Problem number 2: This is a working

market that is very, very busy with
multitudes of trucks, forklifts, and
other small vehicles all moving about
Shots to look for:
seemingly without order or speed
Viewpoints – vary your angles and lenses to change how you view the
controls. Be especially careful and
subject. Look for the odd shots that can act as filler photos to add impact to
vigilant when visiting and always
your photo story.
look around first before you decide
to move. I am sure the drivers of the
small one man tuna trolleys run a
book to see who can get the closest
to a tourist and splash them in oily
water or even clip them on the back
of the leg or worse still knock them
over. I saw so many close shaves
in a short period of time that I was
amazed no one was killed. These
guys have no time for tourists as
they are racing against the clock to
move sets of 300KG frozen tuna from
the markets to the buyers. At about
NZ$18 -20 per kilo for the cheapest
Big Eye frozen tuna these NZ$6000+
fish are treated with more care
than gawping photographers. The
other thing to watch out for is their
swinging pickaxes. The fish handlers
swing their sharp knifes around with
lightening speed as they move the
heavy fish up onto their carts and
don’t care if you get hit, so watch
out.

Timings

It all depends on when you visit the

40
market but because we were there 41

in spring time it was still dark until
about 7am so if you are looking for
those lovely ‘nat geo’ style images
of rows of steaming frozen tuna
warming up in golden glow of the
morning sun, go only in the summer
months. I peeled off from the
tourists, found a quiet safe corner
in one of the sheds and took the
time to watch what was happening
all around me and then plan my
shooting schedule. It’s dark in there
with halogen and fluorescent lights
everywhere so I was fortunate to
be using the newly launched Canon
40D during this visit. I knew that
at 1600 or even 3200 ISO I wasn’t
going to strike any banding or noise
problems.
Plan your shots carefully as it can
soon become a boring procession
of images of long lines of tuna
and nothing else. I watched as an
auction for tuna began. The fish are
inspected by middlemen for the
42
buyers who look firstly at a small
sample cut in the frozen flesh before
noting the numbers on coloured
labels. As soon as a hand bell rings,
these middlemen line up on a
terraced platform and the auctioneer
calls out the number and opening
bid for the tuna. If they want it the
middlemen will use a gesture called
“Teyari” to inform the auctioneer of
their respective bids and then these
bids and the final prices are agreed
upon almost instantaneously, it all
takes but a few seconds and they
move on to the next sale.
Using one of the very lightweight
‘White’ f 4 EF70-200 Canon lens
I went in search of this gesture.
It happens so quick that you may
often miss it. So I reposition behind
a buyer and shot a wide angle view
looking over his shoulder.
Because the market is such a noisy
busy place you may find it very
exhausting. There seems to be
Shots to look for:
Look at the outer markets for shots of butchers carving those very expensive
frozen carcasses up for sushi. That’s a 2metre long sword they are using and
it so sharp with went through the frozen carcass like a hot knife through
butter.
everything happing in front of your less people hanging around. The
lens. I recommend taking time out morning light also made for good
to visit the upstairs restaurants to pan action flash shots of the busy
take a break and let the sun come up drivers moving the tuna around. As
a bit further. Then head back down the morning auctions progresses
into the markets to see what it looks you will start to see freshly caught
like after the tourists have all left. Tuna and sailfish appearing. But the
After 7am most have gone back to clock was against me so I made my
their hotels lamenting their choice way back though the outer markets
of wearing fine clothes and shoes to looking for repeating pattern shots of
such a busy messy place. fish, trucks and knives; in the many
With them gone and the sunlight stalls there before I finally met up
drifting through the sheds it changes with my colleagues and we boarded
the way the markets look. You can the underground back to our hotel.
look out over the nearby river and There the others in our travelling
get golden sunrise shots or catch rays party firstly commented on the
of sunlight filtering through the roof strong odours emitting from our
lights. The Tuna starts to defrost and clothes and shoes and then moaned
steam up so it all adds to the flavour loudly that they had missed an
of the place. I shot more images after excellent photo opportunity, one
7am than I did before as the light they will endeavour to shoot next
was much better and there were time they visited Tokyo. p
43
44 45
 Sometimes you just have to laugh and take the photo. This isn’t an exercise in composition or colour it is just one of thos ephotos that
make you go “Hmmmmm!” enjoy.

46 47
 INSIDE
FUN WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY

Inside Assignment: Sports - fun in the sun p h o t o

Skill Factor:
Working to a shot
count

Deadlines:
Ways to be creative
when nothing is
happening visually.

Travelshooter on assignment: Cambodia

45