Tuesday, July 14, 2009

ABC Wednesday: Z is for Zoom

For all our photographers, Zoom means one thing the "Zoom lens". The marvelous invention that allows us not walking back and forth to frame our pictures, actually this is the worst way of using zoom lens but it is what most often used for. The Zoom Effect is created by setting a relative slow shutter speed then zooming the lens during the time that the shutter is open. It is usually used at night when longer shutter speed can be employed.

Then comes the Photoshop, under Filter>Blur>Radial Blur click "Zoom" and you get this artificial "Zoom Effect". It is a marvelous toy to play with especially for the very busy images, such as ones taken at festivals. Quite often, at those situations, it is difficult to isolate the subject from the very busy background.

This picture was taken at Pow Wow of Mashpee Wampanoag Indian on July 4th. Mashpee is the town where we lived on Cape Cod. From 1870-1960 Wampanoag maintained political control and represent Mashpee. Many Indians of our age still remember the day they used to fish and hunt in their land of Mashpee. After the 60's, the land of Mashpee was started to be taken over by the developers. Wampanoag filed suit but failed. In 1977, the judge declared that Mashpee Wampanoag was not a tribe and have no standing in pursuing land suits. It was not until 2007, with the financial backing of casino industry, that Mashpee Wampanog was finally acknowledged by Bureau of Indian Affair as a Federal Recognized Tribe. In the meantime, the tribe also relinquished its claim to the land of Mashpee.

Pow Wow is held yearly and this year's Pow Wow is the 88th annual event. Here is a quote of the 85 years old Chief Vernon Lopez (Silent Drum) of Pow Wow: "Powwow is a gathering place, and a time of the year for our youth and elders to come together. To help renew our sacred traditions, maintain our culture, connect with our ancestors and build our spiritual ways".

To see more entries of ABC Wednesday click here.

15 comments:

Unknown said...

haha.. i'm also doing zoom. Glad I make it to the Z of ABC Wednesday.

Mara said...

You lost me on the technical bit, but more than made up for it with the beautiful photos and the lovely story.

Rune Eide said...

I'm glad if Photoshop helped in zooming in on the problems of the native Americans. They deserve it.

mrsnesbitt said...

Wow the spirit of the dance has certainly been captured by your oom!

photowannabe said...

Stunning pictures with such vivid colors. Most interesting information too. Thanks.

Janie said...

Very cool zoom effects!
We have a Ute pow-wow in our area every summer. We've been several times and the dancing, singing, and drums are quite impressive.

Vicki ~ FL said...

Beautiful photos.......

J said...

Thanks for the fascinating information and Photoshop tip! I find native American culture absolutely fascinating. The photos are awesome too, I can feel the energy of the event.

Miss_Yves said...

A perfect choice and an amazing photo !

Joy said...

What vibrant images. It is a shame about the tribal lands.

Amit Varde said...

wow! a little dizzying but amazing colors and great photo, loved the first one more.

Dragonstar said...

Zoom is good for Z, and the focus needs to be on the diffuculties faced by the native Americans.

On behalf of the ABC Team, thanks for making it to the difficult last letter.

kRiZcPEc said...

wow, the first one is great!

Jay said...

I quite like the special effect blurs, and they look good with subjects like this, but I still do believe that the best use of the zoom lens isn't the fancy trick-shot stuff, but simply to allow me to get closer to things that might otherwise be gone long before I can take a picture!

Craver Vii said...

Those zoom shots are cool. The first one looks like it's moving. I can't do that with my digital, but maybe I'll try it with my film camera. Thanks for the tip!

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