Tobias as a ... space pirate?

My kids were given a copy of the really odd game, Ring Around the Nosy.  It led to some amusing dinner table conversation between Carly and I.  We are grateful for that, not too much has been amusing lately.  Unfortunately, I can't really repeat any of it.  Partly because it was a "you had to be there" moment, but mostly because it was super-saucy.

Despite that, I thought it could be used to make one of Tobias' character pictures, but not with the ridiculous elephant nose.  It reminded me a bit of the little character in Fifth Element, so I started to think a bit sci fi.  Tobias was playing with Pirates when I was thinking through this so I mixed the ideas together.

We may revisit this idea later.  To me this looks like my idea accidentally channeled a bit Eminem.  Besides, I'm thinking a space pirate needs a mechanical hook hand with a frickin laser beam attached.

Just captions

 

 So far, this has been one of those years.

 

And it has been one of those days.

All the Grandchildren

I had a chance to photograph all my cousins.  This represents all the grandchildren on my Dad's side of the family.  I'm there, just hiding behind the camera [they say the camera points both ways right?].  This is one you probably have to click on to really look at.  It looks a bit wonky so small.

The ages here range from 35 (me) to about 5.  That is a pretty large span of time!

It is a single light, in a barn.  Seeing this all together, I should consider pulling up the midtones in a few of these. 

Center of the Arts Rehearsal 2011

 

I had chance to make some pictures of the people that perform with Freedom Valley Center of the Arts this weekend.  I do a few of these types of things a year.  It is a little different than the photography I do the rest of the time.  I needed to find a setup that works with whatever gets placed in the scene, yet one I don't think is too boring.  Afterall, I need to look  through a few hundred frames on the backend. 

I have based my setup on 1 key light, with no fill.  I like to create some shadows on the other side of my light.  I'll then either light up a white background with two lights.  Or, if I am using a grey background I will use one light to provide a spot light on it, and use a second light as a rim for the subject.  Both are pretty simple, but seem to work.  At least it isn't cross-lit, which is what you see so often quick mass-shoots like this. 

With the performers I generally ask them to pick a pose from their routine or training that they like and is easy for them to hold.  When I saw this through the viewfinder it looked pretty perfect, it fit in with a theme running through the production, it was simple, the main light was mostly right...  The final picture was already in my head, black and white,  I knew exactly what I wanted it to look like, but ...

But-- the setup I was using, the white background setup I described above --wouldn't allow me to make it.  Fortunately she allowed me to kill the background lights and make another.  This is pretty close to what I would have done if I was just making one picture, instead of one of 60 or so more people.

Every time I am seriously photographing something, whether it be completely personal, or a very interactive customized session with a small number of people, or even in the midst of a mass assembly-line style shoot -- I look to to make one image that is for me, something that reminds me why I pick up a camera in the first place.  This is the one from this weekend.  A few more examples from other "assembly-style" shoots are here,  here, , and here.

Small realization

This has been bugging me for a while, but I didn't know what the issue was.  I felt it photographing at Harvest Cry.  I carried it with me to North Carolina.  And I felt it deeply Saturday at the photowalk.

I forgot how to look for photographs.  Sure, when they were gifted to me by my surroundings I recognized them, and occasionally made them.  Or, if my primary subject was a person or group of people I didn't have much trouble finding a suitable place and using/making the light I needed.  But, those are easy.  I know where I am going when I am doing that.

However, what about taking a camera somewhere with no preconceived ideas and hunting down an image or two?  Other people's photowalk images showed me I had grown pretty lazy in looking.  That is a painful realization, but its fixable.

Today we went to the local zoo.  I was determined I would break this bad habit.  I spent a lot of time watching butterflies flutter about flowers.  Even though it would be easier to make a picture of them in the morning when its cooler (not to mention more cooperative light) I still managed to get a picture.  I think its because I spent time there and learned to look at them.  I also pushed my wide angle a bit.  I can't picture what that lens gives me reliably without looking through it, so it encouraged me to explore behind the viewfinder.

And the snake!  I spent quite some time looking through the lens at it. I only made 3 frames.  And I really like this frame I got.

I plan on spending more time hunting "random" pictures, I don't plan on forgetting how to do that again.

Freedom Valley Center of the Arts Rehearsal

I spent some time this weekend making pictures for the Freedom Valley Center of the Arts.  I had the chance to create some individual pictures on white seamless, and group pictures on stage.

I had a few challenges. 

The first was I needed to find a way to do something "creative" while I was there.  The pictures I was there to make are created through my "technical" mind.  Once I have a setup put together, the hard part is trying to interact with the people out in front of you.  I also wanted to get a picture or two that was out of the norm. 

The second challenge was determining how could I go back and forth between stage pictures and individuals.  Ideally, I would simply have the stage lights set on one trigger frequency, and my individual lights set on another.  However, I do now own 5 trigger receivers.  In fact I only have 2, and both were needed for the stage lights.  I couldn't take time to move them around.  Of course, when I realized this I had a one of those fantastic moments of absolute terror that strike when you aren't sure what to do.  I calmed down, remembered that my Bees can be triggered optically and set my on board flash 1/100 power.  For the stage I used ISO 1600, and used ISO 200 for the seamless.  Power levels on the flashes were set to give me the same aperture in both locations.  It was just a matter of turning some dials as I walked back and forth.  Simple right?

The final challenge was trying to tear down fast enough.  I got it done, but I need to find a way to be faster at that.

Trying a "photo essay"

One of the forums I have read has a meme that runs through it.  The idea is present a set of pictures containing some events from a day in the life of a family.  Recently I have spent some time looking through collections over at burn magazine (careful, quite a few of the sets aren't safe for work).

These two things got me thinking.  This can be dangerous, but I have it under control this time.  I think.  I decided to try my hand at a bit of family photo journalism, and try to tie it into a theme like the collections I have seen at burn.

I wanted to started small, because this is a new thing.  I chose to photograph those few moments of during the morning when everyone wakes up.  I decided to make this relatively high contrast black and white, and tried my best to embrace the softness and motion blur caused by the use of high ISOs and slow shutter speeds.  This is all unmodified available light, and the images-- apart from the B&W conversion are straight out of the camera.

So, no more words, here its.  Mornings...

Tiny Bubbles

Tiny bubbles
In my milk
Make me feel happy...

That is not really how the song goes, but it will do for now.  I am not sure if I have written this before, or not, but I tend to go in cycles about how I feel about my photography.  I have short periods of time when I'm way too happy with it, and short periods of time when I have tremendous doubt about anything I make.

I found a defense mechanism to cope with each of these.  Ironically, I do the same thing to fix both.  I try something new.  I try to find an idea to chase that will push me to solve a problem, or is simply just fun.  I always discover I have a lot to learn, but I always end up with a picture that is interesting to me. 

This weekend I found myself at the "wow, I must be terrible" end of the curve.  I spent time looking through the website of a few photographers.  I didn't feel like I was any better than them, and I really didn't like anything I saw. I then started wondering how I would feel about my own stuff if it wasn't mine.

I caught myself early, and started thinking about making a picture instead.  This is what ended up popping out of that experience.  Now I'm back to healthy thoughts about what I do.  Its not bad, but, I still have many areas I can improve. 

New Year's Eve

We spent New Year's Eve at a friend's house.  It was a fun time.

It had all the things a celebration should have, people, crab dip, chips, water, and so on.  It also had cake.

Weatherwise it was a messy night.  Shoes seemed to congregate by the front door.  Perhaps they were anticipating the return "out there".  Or perhaps they were planning something scary, I kept a good eye on them just in case.

I spent the night running about with a camera, generally being annoying.  But I'm good at that.  The annoying part anyway, I may not be too great with the camera part.  Here is one of the "portraits" I caught.   I think the background is pretty busy, but it places it during the holidays I think.  Its a bit more obvious the background is a christmas tree in color, but I wasn't making color pictures that night.  Most of my pictures are of kids, which I won't post without parental permission.

Anyway, thanks for looking. These are all taken in the available light with a 50mm lens at ISO 6400.

Backlight in Black and White

I decided to experiment a little bit this weekend with monochrome and back light. I haven't really done much too "different" lately. Messing with the light painting earlier this week reminded of that. I realize that I'm not really getting any better unless I'm trying new things. If I'm not, at least occasionally, looking at the back of the camera and feeling that picture doesn't work at all, I'm not trying hard enough.

I wanted to go for a comic book feel. Maybe something along the lines of Frank Millers B&W comics.

I think the picture of Tobias works the best here. Kathryn's hair makes it difficult to figure out what is in the picture. She also decided to "pose" for a school picture instead of doing what I asked! Ah, its okay, at least she was trying to cooperate.


Tis the season...

I took a quick picture of a workmates baby Friday. I knew she was bringing him by so brought a "real" camera instead of relying on my cell phone. After the pictures I was asked one the questions I dread in life... it ranks up there with "What were you thinkin?" However, its not that one, its "We need to get a good camera, can you recommend one?" I don't have a good answer. But I thought about it this weekend. Here it is...

If you are going after a dSLR you want to find a camera with at least 6 megapixels ( thats all of them! Yay! ). Handle various entry level models. Lean towards the one that "feels" the best to you. I say "lean to" because the final thing to consider is what do you friends and family have? If everyone you know that has an SLR uses Nikon, you should at least consider Nikon too. Why? Because maybe you can bum some gear off them every once in a while. Or, if you run into a bizarre problem, maybe someone you know can help you solve it. Do a bit of reading at that point and decide if you want to get a camera that isn't "entry level." So, now I just need to memorize that and spit it out when asked the difficult question.

I also thought about what is the bare minimum of kit of gear that I would "need". Its pretty small I think. A camera body, a fast fixed "normal" lens, a small lightstand getup with an umbrella, flash, and radio triggers. Simple.

And no, I haven't assembled my computer yet.

Graduation blues

Its that time of year again, graduations galore! It was no different in our family. Mr. Tobias was moved out of the 2 and 3 year old Sunday school class. I am not completely sure why this happened, because he just turned 3. But, it is just one of life's mysteries I suppose.

He wasn't completely thrilled.

However, he was given a cool little graduation hat, so we had to take a picture!

My goal was to recreate those horrid yearbook pictures we all got as seniors. I stopped short of setting up two lights on either side of the subject. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I did hang a sheet in the background. Key light is softbox, no fill, and background is lit by a snooted shoe-flash. The whole shebang was triggered by radio.

I also chose the pouty-picture because, as I mentioned, he isn't super happy leaving his class behind. Deep down, I'm pretty sure this is how we all feel about leaving that piece of our lives behind!

Senior Moment with D

Reflector camera left. Basic, nice shot.

Today was one of those days. You know the ones, you spend half the day in bed and then spend about half of your wake time pre-occupied with taxes, and various other equally as pleasant thoughts and tasks.

But tonight, things seem a bit better. Tax materials are all organized, and the tedious process of entering numbers has started. I just hope I didn't sleep too much today, I want to be able to sleep tonight.

Umbrella camera left, ambient 1/2 under. The wind helped us out a bit.

I had a good giggle at the terrible spring picture Lifetouch made of my daughter. Its unfortunate, they made a pretty decent one in the fall. They actually seem to do a pretty good job all-around given the constraints of their picture making. I do an "assembly-line" type shoot every year too, and it is extremely hard to get good shots. I learned a long time ago its best to setup very safe and boring lighting, and then try to talk people into given me a look or an expression that carries the picture.

Umbrella camera right, flash on the background, foreground ambient neutral.

Its nothing like the chance I had early this month to do a senior portrait session with D. I got to try a number of things with lighting and backgrounds. Unfortunately rain dropped out of the sky before we had a chance to play in town, maybe next time!

I like the warm/cool going on here-- I even like the flare, even though it robbed me of a bit contrast. Crosslight, umbrella camera right, ambient 1-2 stops under

She was a lot of fun to work with and did a fantastic job!

Building a Portfolio

I started looking at my images, again. I am specifically looking for what are my strongest portrait shots. My intention is to build a portrait portfolio.

It's amazing, but any time I get ideas like this in my head I am always provided something that makes the project easier. I am not sure how, or why this happens, but it does and I am extremely grateful.

This time, my help has come from Zack Arias' blog. He is doing portfolio critiques, in a "screencast" format. I watched closely as he went through the first few submissions he received. Its amazing what he is doing for people, but it makes me feel about this big, and he isn't even critiquing my stuff. However, I challenge any photographer to watch these. If you don't see your shortcomings reflected in something he says you are either a) already amazing or b) not honest with yourself. Right now, I'm not feeling very special, which is probably a good thing. But it hurts some.

I already had a few images in mind that I wanted to include in my portrait group. I watched Zack's critique of one image in horror because I realized an image I wanted in my portfolio has the exact same set of issues. Fortunately he offered a solution.

You have already seen the color version of this picture back in January. Let me know what you think of this one. I will probably work it a few times before I am happy with it. I am not very skilled converting to black and white. However, I at least do better than simply de-saturating the image. That really sucks.

I have upped the resolution of the pictures posted. That, too, is suggested in the critques.

Shortcomings? What shortcomings?

I have heard the phrase "a poor craftsman blames his tools" many times. Every time I hear it I wince a little because the poor craftsman also chose his tools. Tools matter, and it takes knowledge to choose them. However, the take-home message from that proverb is do not blame poor results on poor tools.

My tools are light, lenses, and cameras. This particular post will focus on cameras.

My current camera is extremely old for a dSLR. Its almost 3! Does this make it bad? No. Its not bad. It compares well with newer machines, until you start raising sensitivity more than 2 stops beyond base ISO . Then, you can easily see how much better the newer cameras perform.

My daughter was in her first school production tonight. I wanted to get a few shots. I know, from past experience, that it takes ISO 1600 and an aperture opened to at least 2.8 to get remotely close to a decent shutter speed. To make it worse the stage lights seem all over the map in terms of type and color.

I started having a conversation with myself.
Self, do you want pictures from this production?
Yes.
You will need ISO 1600.
I know.
The files look like poo at that ISO.
Yeah, I know they are noisy, and the color...

Wait... color?

At that point I realized what I was going to do. These pictures were going to be made in Black and White! This helped me achieve a few things. First, I no longer had to deal with the mixed lighting in the venue. Second, I do not view noise as a problem in black and white images. I find rough and tumble, grainy B&W images preferable. When I used film regularly I never used a B&W film slower than than 400. My favorite was Delta 400 pushed to 1600 - 3200 and developed accordingly. To say I like B&W grain is an understatement. I love it!

I could have have decided my tools were too limited to take any pictures at this event. I could have shot away, and then hemmed and hawed about how crappy my camera performs in those conditions. I could have broken etiquette, like so many others, and used a flash. But I thought through the problem, and came up with what I consider a great solution. I grabbed a few decent frames, ones that may even appeal to my sense of aesthetics. Yes, they are "just" a dad's documentary snapshots from a typical audience seat. But, sometimes snapshots can say important things. These say "Hey world that is my girl up on stage!"






It is probably best I say it in pictures, instead of standing up in the middle of the performance.

Photo Notes : Available light snapshots from audience seat. ( The mic boom arm, just adds tons don't you think? )