Ryan Estrellado

Shot outside the Sushi Deli on Washington Street in San Diego.  LOMO LC-A+, Fujicolor Superia 400

Productivity blog Zenhabits addresses the issue of “flow,” or the state of mind that puts us in the zone as we engage in important work.  The concept is frequently discussed in a number of different contexts such as productivity, sports, and spirituality.  What might be less apparent is the discussion about how to achieve it.

The post presents nine different ways to achieve this “in the zone” feeling.  Tip #4 is one I’ve found particularly useful:

Find your quiet, peak time. This is actually two steps grouped into one. First, you’ll want to find a time that’s quiet, or you’ll never be able to focus. For me, that’s mornings, before the hustle of everyday life builds to a dull roar. That might be early morning, when you just wake, or early in the work day, when most people haven’t arrived yet or are still getting their coffee and settling down. Or you might try the lunch hour, when people are usually out of the office. Evenings work well too for many people. Or, if you’re lucky, you can do it at any time of the day if you can find a quiet spot to work in. Whatever time you choose, it should also be a peak energy time for you. Some people get tired after lunch — that’s not a good time to go for Flow. Find a time when you have lots of energy and can concentrate.

Everyone has responsibilities in their work that require a lot more mind power than others.  If we have the luxury of choosing how we spend our time, it is helpful to strategically schedule those brain-intensive tasks for the times of day when we are most inspired and have the most energy at our disposal.

What are other tips you’ve found useful for achieving this level of concentration and productivity?

9 Steps to Achieving Flow (and Happiness) in Your Work

The New York Times Blog commented on a PsychCentral article about basic guidelines for fatherhood.  Some of the points made are likely agreed upon by the parenting community at large; the first point made is simply “Be there.”  Other points might make dads say “I knew that!”, but are still refreshing and inspiring when presented in such a concise way:

Balance discipline with fun. Some dads make the mistake of being only the disciplinarian. The kids grow up afraid of their dads and unable to see the man behind the rules. An equal and opposite mistake is being so focused on fun that you become one of the kids, leaving their mother always to be the heavy. Kids need to have fathers who know both how to set reasonable, firm limits and how to relax and have a good time. Give yourself and the kids the stability that comes with clear limits and the good memories that come with play.

Because the topic of being a dad is so personal, guidelines for how to do it well are likely to be an ongoing discussion.  With that said, the article presents some pieces of the puzzle that rightfully raise the sophistication of the discussion.  The quote above is some indication that as a parenting community we are moving beyond one dimensional questions such as, “Should I be the good cop or bad cop?” and challenging ourselves with tougher questions such as, “How do I balance being the setter of limits with nurturing a carefree and memorable childhood for my kids?”  Hopefully questions like the latter will move each dad closer to where he wants to be as a parent.

The Basics of Fatherhood

Photo by Thomas Hawk

Whether you are a first generation iPhone user making an upgrade or a recent convert readying the funds for a first-time purchase, gathering useful information about the recently announced 3G iPhone requires wading through an ocean of blogs, rumor sites, and tech punditry in search of the facts.  Ultimately, the safest advice would be to wait until the release of the 3G iPhone in July and let the early adopters review the phone based on actual experience, but where would the fun be in that?

Below is a collection of interesting links to help answer your 3G iPhone questions, or at the very least keep you busy while you wait.

• Apple’s Official iPhone Page
• iPhone 3G: The Details You Never Wanted to Know
• 5 Reasons to Buy the Apple iPhone 3G
• Thomas Hawk on the Upgrade to 3G
• ZDNet Blog Post on What’s Missing in the New iPhone
• News Story on Apple’s and AT&T’s Efforts at Preventing the Unlocking of the 3G iPhone
• Investment Strategies for iPhone Customers

Dr. Timothy Pychyl and Dr. John Perry were guests on June 12th’s Talk of the Nation.  The topic of the show was procrastination, a theme as common in conversations about productivity as the evil villain is in fairy tales.  During the show, host Neal Conan and listeners related their experiences with procrastination while Pychyl and Perry offered advice and tools to counter it.  The participants did well to keep the discussion stimulating, light, and humorous.

Many good ideas were explored, but there were a few points made that resonated strongly with my own experiences and with concepts discussed by some of my favorite thinkers in the productivity space, such as David Allen, Merlin Mann, and Steven Pressfield.  Here are three concepts from the show I found particularly interesting:

Perfectionism has its benefits, but can fuel procrastination.

If you hold yourself to the unachievable standard of “perfect”, you may be reluctant to work a project to completion until you can present a product that is close to that.  This becomes a problem when the epic path to perfection becomes the rationale for why you should put off starting for another day.  I paraphrase one of my favorite teachers, who used to say, “There is never a final product, only a due date.”  It is difficult to argue against holding high standards, but this must be balanced against the cost of not actually producing anything at all.  Perhaps the key perspective here is to set the intention to achieve your vision of perfection and have the courage and humility to be content with the closest you can come to that by the time the work is submitted.

If you can’t win the battle against procrastination, at least do something useful in lieu of what you originally intended.

Even for the best of us, there are times when we have to concede that we may not meet the challenge of starting our work. During these times, the next choice we face is deciding what to do instead.  Assuming that the time period in question is one dedicated to work (as opposed to family, recreation, or naps), the difference between choosing to do something even marginally defined as necessary (e.g., putting in that order to replenish a quickly diminishing supply of staples) and doing something that has no definition within your realm of things to do (e.g., taking your fourth self-tour of the new office filing cabinets) can have a significant impact on your sense of control.  The difference lies in whether what you do next is meaningful and necessary or a randomly selected activity designed to avoid your original intention.  The best implement in your toolbox for making this decision is a predefined list of these secondary, but ultimately necessary, tasks you can choose from when your procrastination and due dates give you permission to not start on your original intentions.

Counter procrastination by defining an intention in operational terms and breaking it into smaller and more doable tasks.

It has become such a universal mantra for productivity enthusiasts that it’s verging on being a cliche, but for the life of me I have yet to prove the idea incorrect.  The more nebulous an outcome or the path to get there, the easier it is to stare at it, ponder its vastness, and then decide that the discomfort warrants more time away from it.  The opposite also holds true.  The more defined an outcome and the more granular the steps to achieve it, the more likely you are to act on it.

I once allowed an item titled, “Replace water heater” long-term residence on my to-do list.  Visions of me with a water heater manual and an industrial size wrench justified enough non-action that “Replace water heater” gradually became the distant relative who overstayed his welcome.  After weeks, I reluctantly changed the title to “Call home warranty company re: replacing water heater.”  After one week, a new water heater, and very little additional effort on my part, I wondered why I suffered so long with lengthy heating times.

Interested in exploring more?  Read on:

• NPR: How To Be A Productive Procrastinator (Audio)
• Dr. Timothy Pychyl’s Blog: Don’t Delay
  
• Dr. John Perry’s Blog: Structured Procrastination
• Merlin Mann and David Allen Discuss Procrastination (Audio)

The Canon G9 Series is a group of posts that discuss digital photography techniques and their application on the Canon G9. Feedback, especially from new and veteran G9 users, is welcome.

The first discussion in the Canon G9 Series is about Aperture Priority Mode, noted as Av on the camera’s mode dial.  Much of the information in this post is likely applicable to other point-and-shoot cameras that have Aperture Priority mode, but also includes some specific behaviors I’ve observed when using this mode on the G9.

Before we get into how this mode works on the camera, we’ll first need to define aperture.

What Is Aperture?

Digital Photography School has a very simple and well-presented discussion about the concept of aperture and how it affects the way photographs look:

Put most simply - Aperture is ‘the size of the opening in the lens when a picture is taken.’

When you hit the shutter release button of your camera a hole opens up that allows your cameras image sensor to catch a glimpse of the scene you’re wanting to capture. The aperture that you set impacts the size of that hole. The larger the hole the more light that gets in - the smaller the hole the less light.

Aperture is measured using f-stops.  A lower f-stop indicates a larger opening in the lens and a higher f-stop indicates a smaller opening in the lens.

What does this mean for your picture? Aperture is used to manipulate depth of field, or how far back your camera will bring objects into focus. When the aperture is at its widest setting on your G9, f/2.8, your photo will only bring specific objects into focus while defocusing everything else. When the aperture is at its narrowest setting on your G9, f/8, your photo will not only focus on what is in front of it, but on most of what is behind it as well.

Examples

Let’s look at some photos that demonstrate the different effects achieved when using Aperture Priority mode.

Here’s a picture I took at the widest aperture allowable at that focal length:

Aperture: f/3.5, Focal Length: 18.9 mm

Notice that the object of focus, the toy, appears sharp while everything behind it appears blurry.  The wider aperture allows you to isolate your subject when focusing.  The effect is to draw attention to it while drawing attention away from everything around it.

Here is a picture I took with the narrowest aperture allowable at that focal length:

Aperture: f/8, Focal Length: 7.4 mm

In contrast to the picture of the toy, the flowers in the foreground of this picture are in focus, as are the man in the red shirt and the mountains in the background.  In this way, the long depth of field gives a feeling of vastness to the photo.

When To Use Aperture Priority Mode

With any photo, the depth of field, appearance of motion, and sensitivity to light will be affected by a combination of the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO settings.  When you want to control the depth of field in your photo, the Aperture Priority setting on the G9 allows you to manually set the aperture while letting the camera automatically decide which shutter speed will provide the best exposure for the aperture you selected.  Want to shoot a portrait of your daughter with a sharp image of her face and a nice blurry background?  Use Aperture Priority mode to force the widest aperture possible.  Capturing the vastness of the grand canyon on a family trip?  Set your aperture to the narrowest setting possible to keep everything in focus and let the G9 do the rest.

Aperture Priority on the G9: Things to Think About

There are some other things to keep in mind when using this mode on the G9.  If you are shooting indoors and want a very short depth of field, shooting at a wide aperture such as f/2.8 will result in the camera struggling to find a fast enough shutter speed to prevent motion blurring.  You’ll know this is the case when you see a small icon of a red camera appear on the LCD.  To counter a blurry image, you can select a higher ISO (I suggest no higher than 400 to avoid excessively noisy images) to brighten the image and a tripod to steady the camera for the shot.

You’ll also notice that the G9 will change the maximum aperture possible as you zoom in.  At the shortest focal length, you will be able to shoot at an aperture of f/2.8.  When you zoom in, the camera will change the maximum aperture setting to f/3.2, f/3.5, f/4.0, and f/4.8 as you do so.  This is presumably to reduce the amount of shaking that happens when longer focal lengths are used.

Conclusion

Depth of field is not the only element to consider in a good shot, but it can add a lot of dramatic effect to your photos.  I shoot on Aperture Priority mode often, as it allows me to control the depth of field and makes the Canon G9 automatically do (most of) the rest of the work.  In this way it doesn’t take the spontaneity out of your shooting, as the “no holds barred” approach of Manual mode can sometimes do.  In order to maximize the use of this mode on the G9, practice shooting the same subject while adjusting the aperture, your physical distance from the subject, and the amount you zoom in.  Take note of which factors do what, and which combinations yield the photo you are looking for.

More Reading

Looking for more information?  Read on:

Wikipedia Entry on Aperture

Digital Photography School’s Post on Aperture

Photo by *nathan

I’ve seen it mentioned on Flickr, alongside out-of-focus photos of laughing hipsters or lonely armchairs in someone’s disorganized living room.  The photos have a spontaneous look characterized by everyday subject matter, lots of saturated blues and greens, and the signature vignetting darkening the corners.  Interested, I did some online research and found lots of fun reading about the history, culture, debate, geeky equipment specs, and tech tutorials surrounding Lomography.

Started in the early 1990s, the Lomography philosophy is grounded in a set of simple rules, found on the official website:

1. Take your camera everywhere you go
2. Use it anytime — day or night
3. Lomography is not an interference in your life, but part of it
4. Try the shot from the hip
5. Approach the objects of your lomographic desire as close as possible
6. Don’t think (William Firebrace)
7. Be fast
8. You don’t have to know beforehand what you captured on film
9. Afterwards, either
10. Don’t worry about any rules

If you’re a fiddler of settings (as I am) and your shooting tends to be slowed down and premeditated (as mine does), this approach might inspire a different perspective or add variety to your photography experience.

Here are more interesting Lomography reads:

The Lomography Official Website (including Lomo cameras):

http://www.lomography.com/

The Lomography Wikipedia entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lomography

A critique of the Lomography movement:

http://cameras.alfredklomp.com/lomography/

Flickr photos tagged with “Lomography”:

http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=all&q=lomography&m=tags

A tutorial for simulating the Lomo look using Photoshop:

http://photoshoptutorials.ws/photoshop-tutorials/photo-effects/lomography.html