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A Week in Haiti with the D3S (gallery)

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jbcrane

jbcrane

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Greetings All,

http://jbcrane.zenfolio.com/p7560339



Just returned from a week in Haiti, including Port-au-Prince for a week of shooting. The short story is, the D3S is a simply unbelievable piece of equipment. Shot thousands of stills and lots of video and am just getting a prelim wave of editing done and posted.

Spent a good bit of time between 1250 and 6400 (found myself in the back of vehicles a lot bouncing down not so good roads), and am simply stunned at what 3200 looks like. Shot mostly 17-35, 28-70, 70-200VRI and 50/1.4, but a few 85/1.4, 105VR's as well. Used CLS extensively and really tried to run the camera out-but it was there every time.

Camera was knocked around a lot in the back of various tap-taps, pickups, and other vehicles and not a mark on it. Dirt, dust, rain, filth... can't praise this camera enough. Simply amazing. C&C always welcomed.

--
Kind regards,
JBCrane, Shooter in Colorado.
http://jbcrane.zenfolio.com/
http://www.johncranephotography.com
http://www.outdoorphotoblog.com/
Member ASMP, NPS
Husband. Dad. Dog lover. COG.
Long live film.
 
Just an amazing gallery of photos. Congrats on all your good work.
 
dw1338 said:
How many kids did you "save"? nt
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Our role was to go down and serve the kids others have saved. The folks at Global Orphan Project and the locals on the ground down in Port-au-Prince and Croix-des-Bouquets/Ebeneezer are the ones doing all the saving. We just got to go down and love on the kids. And it was truly amazing.

--
Kind regards,
JBCrane, Shooter in Colorado.
http://jbcrane.zenfolio.com/
http://www.johncranephotography.com
http://www.outdoorphotoblog.com/
Member ASMP, NPS
Husband. Dad. Dog lover. COG.
Long live film.
 
First a big thank you for the service you did. The images tell a story that is probably much deeper and meaningful than any of us can imagine.

The individual images are good (an understatement by any stretch), but after looking through them a couple of times, I believe the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts. Your first image caught my eye, but after looking through the collection, that same picture brings out more emotions than before.

Thanks again.
--
ssjackson
 
Very touching gallery.

What was your workflow/post-processing technique for processing such a large number of photos? You did a really good job.

--
I'm a noob, so everything I say can be, and most likely is, wrong.
 
nikonist23 said:
Very nice gallery of photos. I wish I had your set up!
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Thanks. And yes, I was fortunate to be able to shoot with the D3S. Until this trip I'd not had a tool like that and I found myself taking advantage of the low-light capabilities constantly. When in doubt on shutter speed, I'd crank up the ISO without any hesitation. The results speak for themselves. This camera simply rocks. It's everything I've wanted a digital camera to be - and more. I shot my F6 with a variety of emulsions as well, including a lot of Provia400X, and it performed flawlessly. Thanks for your comments.

--
Kind regards,
JBCrane, Shooter in Colorado.
http://jbcrane.zenfolio.com/
http://www.johncranephotography.com
http://www.outdoorphotoblog.com/
Member ASMP, NPS
Husband. Dad. Dog lover. COG.
Long live film.
 
sjackson462000 said:
First a big thank you for the service you did. The images tell a story that is probably much deeper and meaningful than any of us can imagine.

The individual images are good (an understatement by any stretch), but after looking through them a couple of times, I believe the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts. Your first image caught my eye, but after looking through the collection, that same picture brings out more emotions than before.
Click to expand...
Thanks very much, and so well put. The whole being greater than the sum of its parts is exactly what I'd hoped people saw. It's tough to single out one image that defines the trip - there's just so much to see and experience. When I shot the hand, though, I knew it was my opener. It came the morning of day 4 and represented everything - human beings crying out for something - anything. It was extremely moving. Thanks again for your kind comments.

--
Kind regards,
JBCrane, Shooter in Colorado.
http://jbcrane.zenfolio.com/
http://www.johncranephotography.com
http://www.outdoorphotoblog.com/
Member ASMP, NPS
Husband. Dad. Dog lover. COG.
Long live film.
 
JoeinLA said:
Very touching gallery.

What was your workflow/post-processing technique for processing such a large number of photos? You did a really good job.
Click to expand...
Thanks Joe. I shot everything in 14-bit lossless compressed RAW. Shooting dark faces against light backgrounds, I pretty much lived at +.3EV, +.7EV, even +1EV comfortably. I shot everything on 8gb cards and backed up to my Epson P-5000 each night (the P5000 doesn't guaranty compatibility with 16Gb and up cards - it's too old). When I got home I did a dump into the computer (60+Gb).

I use ViewNX to catalog, rank and sift, then (always) CNX2 for RAW conversions, batch-processing with (usually) original settings to final JPEG's ready to upload. I used to use Lightroom but my version (1.4.1) doesn't support the D3S files and I don't care to upgrade. With ViewNX I'm lovin' how I get the file with the original Picture Control settings to see what I really got. So now it's super fast. While not every image was perfect right out of the camera, they were pretty darn close.

The hard part is going through a burst of 3-6+ images and identifying "the best" (based on what? varies). On occasion I'll drop a control point on a face that's darker than I'd like it to be to bring out features, and I've cropped occasionally to keep the frame clean. Often times - especially in the street shooting, there was simply no time to obsess over a clean frame. Something catches your eye, you grab it and clean it up (crop if necessary) later. Besides that there's very little done in post to the images. Though most images see Photoshop, it's only for color-space conversion (if nec.), re-sampling for web use or adding a by-line.

Please ask any other questions you'd like and thanks for the comments.
--
Kind regards,
JBCrane, Shooter in Colorado.
http://jbcrane.zenfolio.com/
http://www.johncranephotography.com
http://www.outdoorphotoblog.com/
Member ASMP, NPS
Husband. Dad. Dog lover. COG.
Long live film.
 
It is hard to separate the drama and emotion from the photography.

The child with the toy car made from a milk bottle grabbed me at
a very deep level. Then I caugt the new car in the background.

Both the child's toy and the new car are very incongruant and
very telling about the exisiting conditions in Haiti.

The photos of the children resting in the arms of your associates speaks volumes for the need to deliver the warmth and re-assurance of your simple touch,
your group's stated mission.

These are images I will always hold in my heart. Thank you.

Photographically, some of your f4.0, f5.6, and f6.3 shots have very short apparant depth of field for these apertures. I suspect you are rather tall and your vantage points helps create this apparant shallow depth of field when shooting these children.

The close up wide angle portraits distract a bit from each subject.

Their wonderful smiles and evident contentment from your members embraces make up for the wide angle distortions.

All of your group shots are great.

Many of your 800 shots of 'white skin' subjects have very soft detail in the highlights. Don't know if the bright spots affected your AF.

Perhaps you should use some compensation as you indicated you did for the 'dark skin' subjects.

If the D3s sensor finds itself in a D700 this summer, I will replace my D700 immediately.

Many blessings to you and your group members for reminding us of the value of a simple touch, a shoulder to rest on, to those whose world has been torn away form them.

Thank you.
 
Ralph E burns said:
John,
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Ralph E burns said:
I leave on Friday to work with in Haiti for a disaster-recovery NGO. I woke up today to pack and thought that I could pick up a D3s to compliment my D3x. Do you know a reputable place to get one this week?

Thanks, Ralph
Click to expand...
Ralph,

I got mine from Mike's Camera here in Boulder, Colorado. Give Andy Horton a call at 303-443-1715. Andy's been good to me. He's the Pro/Industrial Sales guy and has a close connection to the local Nikon Rep. If there's one getable through his outfit, Andy will get it for you.

Wishing you the very best on your trip and please share what you return with.

--
Kind regards,
JBCrane, Shooter in Colorado.
http://jbcrane.zenfolio.com/
http://www.johncranephotography.com
http://www.outdoorphotoblog.com/
Member ASMP, NPS
Husband. Dad. Dog lover. COG.
Long live film.
 
I really enjoyed your gallery, but I really found photo # 70 interesting. What's the story behind that photo? The guys with the 9mm's. I really thought the lighting was perfect. I see that you used a flash, but was it off to the side and triggered with an SU-800 or was it a shoe mount and the light was a cars headlights?

Thanks again, truly powerful images. Thanks for sharing.
--
http://www.colwellcaptures.com
http://randycolwell.zenfolio.com
 
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