New Territory

Thank God for wives.  My son's soccer league was not going to have team and individual pictures this year so she volunteered me to take pictures of my son's team, the Blue Sharks.  So off I went, to take sports team pictures, woot, woot.

I have never done team or individual sports portraits.  I have done more game pictures than I care to think about, I've also spent endless hours in event and controlled portrait work, but never done onsite team pictures before.  As always, I learned a ton about how I must adapt as a photographer to this new photographic form.

So if you have some time, not too much needed, lets talk about what I learned and must now integrate into my photographic life.

What did I know going into the shoot.

• I would be shooting in mid-day sun.  Therefore I would need fill light to prevent harsh shadows.
• I knew posing would be challenge - kids like to slouch.
• Corralling 9 year-olds is very, very difficult.  Nine year-olds are fast.  :-)

As you can see, I knew some things that would be challenges, like getting the the kids to cooperate and dealing with the bright mid-day sun.  I felt prepared as I had done my research to address these.  I knew what I could know, but no more.

How did things develop?

• The consensus was to use a goal as the background.  Not my personal choice, but the right one given the streets and mall surrounding the soccer field.
• Using the goal caused issue with the sky.  It was a very bright day with no clouds or color, just sun.  No matter what I did, I couldn't get the sun under control.
• Challenges in posing showed.  Looked at the team picture in the memory mate above.  A few of them were wearing sun glasses.  A rookie mistake.  I did ask them to remove the glasses after a few pictures but every shot taken after that had a bad pose.  Closed eyes, looking at a passing car, etc.  Sadly, the above was the best of the shots.
• The most valuable thing I brought were weights to prevent my light-stands from blowing over.  I have scientifically proven that winds pick up as soon as an umbrella opens, and calm as soon as the umbrella is closed.

At the end of the day everyone seemed happy as was my wife, my most important customer.  Enough for now, as always, if you have any suggestions let me know.  Lets just say I'm glad I had the opportunity to do this shoot and look forward to doing more team and individual sports portraits in the future.

Simple Mistakes

Saturday was Easter Egg coloring day which means we go over to Gustavo's Godmother's house to color eggs.  Keep in mind that this entails 8 dozen eggs and more colors than most monitors can display.  Yep, its a good time for all.  By the end of the day all eggs were colored, colors were mixed and designs applied.  Most importantly I want to thank Gustavo's Godmother who we call Madrina for her hosting us, making her how and love open to us.

Since Madrina is such an important part of our lives and as she is so loved by Gustavo I wanted to do a quick portrait.  So I quickly pulled out a light stand, reflective umbrella and a 580 EXII to light them.  It was supposed to be quick and dirty since everyone was a bit tired, but that is no excuse for what I did.  :-)

Now to the point, take a look at the above, it isn't a portrait that will be published, nor was it ever intended to be.  But it is one Madrina can have in her wallet to show off to her friends.  The problem I created was the umbrella placement.  Look at the window, yep there it is, my 42" Westcott collapsable umbrella, nice isn't it?

I'm so disappointed in myself, I know better, it was such a rookie mistake.  Sure I can Photoshop this out, but I don't want to miss the growth opportunity the brings to me.  It reminds me no matter how rushed things are that I must pay attention to what is going on around me and pay attention to all detail.

That is the purpose of this post, a reminder to pay attention to details and not rush through a shoot just to get it done.  I'm sure everyone has experienced a similar situation.  If you care to share I would be very interested in hearing about your experience.

iPhone Shots

I acknowledge that have a project going on now, the Picture a Week Project, however, I am having such a good time with the iPhone and the post processing that can be done with it, I decided to upload any pictures I take with it to Flickr.

There are only a few rules.

1. The picture must be taken with my iPhone.
2. Any post processing must be done in the iPhone, no use of Lightroom or Photoshop.
3. The images must be uploaded right from the iPhone to guarantee they have not been touched on a PC.
   

So stop by and take a look now and again. To view the iPhone set on Flickr, Click Here.

Oh, and I do want to give a quick thank you for the inspiration to do this to Chase Jarvis. Chase is doing a wonderful iPhone Project and has inspired me to do mine. Not that my shots will be anywhere as good as what Chase creates.

Picture a Week Project - Week 4

Tired:

It has been quite a week. Work is killing me but I don't want to lose focus of my project commitment. So when I saw this picture after shooting some pictures of my son's Track-A-Thon (a fund raiser for his school) where he gets pledges to run around a track, racking up the dollars, I knew I had my picture for the week.

The above was taken at lap 68 with a minute and a half to go. My son committed to running 70 laps. Ya know what, in the remaining minute and a half he did it, he completed 70 laps exactly. He taught me a lesson, no matter how tired more can always be done. (I acknowledge this sounds a bit like a sports gear add.) Relating this to myself, no matter how much I'm working I can always shoot and find pictures which make me reflective, which teach me something, which force me to grow in something I love.

So while this weeks post is short, take a look and reflect about your passion, do you have the time, do you make the time, will you hit your 70 laps no matter how tired you are?

Week 3: Reading
Week 5: Victory is Mine!

Picture a Week Project - Week 3

Reading:

Wanted to look at things a bit differently this week. Having started shooting back in the film days I was taught to always try and solve all issues in camera, to have the picture as taken represent what I want it to be. As a result it has always been a bit of a struggle for me to see an existing image differently as the result of post processing. This is due to my taking it as I want it to be and why you often see me saying that a picture required very little post processing.

When my wife and son were reading this past weekend I took the opportunity to take a quick shot as I thought it was cute how they were laying on the bed. Below is the picture I intended it to be, a nice traditional snap shot.

It is what I meant, clean and simple with a little bit of a knowing look coming from my son. Its that look where he is telling me to leave him alone and stop taking pictures already. :-) Yes, he is my favorite subject.

It was the look that made me consider another take on this picture. Looking at pictures processed at the dawn of color film and the styles of the 70's street photographers I thought that a LOMO based look with higher contrast and muted colors would be interesting. Below is what I came up with, a LOMO version of the same picture.

I'm not sure I'm in love the the above, but it is different and demonstrates as with last week's picture, that I'm seeing more than I initially would, this makes me very happy. Anyway, let me know which rendition you prefer, I'd love to hear the feedback.

Week 2: Transformer
Week 4: Tired

Picture a Week Project - Week 2

Transformer:

Okay, I'm not a guy that is excited by cars. They are nice to have, but I don't spend much money on them nor am I usually impressed by them. When I buy a car I buy it for utility, not because it is fast, or cool. Strange as this is to my family, I come from a family of car mechanics, a profession to which my Father and Brother both belong. So when my wife and I went to the Chicago Auto Show this year it was to research a new car purchase, not to just look around. As my wife will attest, I'm very task oriented at this type of event going with a list of cars to look at and as usual I wanted to review those and then leave. Nothing surprising, its my MO.

Then something unusual happened. I was walking by the GM display and came across the new Stingray concept car. It caught my attention, but not why you might think. I kept thinking how much like a Transformer (yes the Hasbro toy) the car looked...so I started taking some pictures. It didn't disappoint as the tail light reminds me of the eye, as if the Transformer is looking at me. I had a vision of the environment being dark with light showing the contours of the car. All of the above was done with available light and the only post processing I did was to boost the blacks a bit to darken the non-car areas of the shot.

What I like is that this showed that I was seeing something for more than it appears to be at first glance...seeing what something could be. To me this demonstrates that I'm using a new part of my brain, being less rigid than I normally am. So thanks to a car, something I'm normally not excited by, I've expanded and grown. Thanks GM. ;-)

As usual, take a look and let me know what you think. You can find the full gallery of Transformer shots on Flickr by clicking here.

Week 1: Three Friends
Week 3: Reading

Picture a Week Project - Week 1

Three Friends:

This is a picture that revealed quite a bit about the subjects to me. The shot is of my son Gustavo (center) and two of his best friends. The one on the right and my son are very close, they call each other best friend and how they are leaning into each other is typical. They have a genuine concern and caring for each other, typical of an 8 year-old friendship.

However, its the boy on the left that brings the story to the picture. He is a best friend of my son as well, but is a very independent spirit. He's a great kid, but you often see in his affect that he is independent and does not need anyone, that he is here by choice and could leave at anytime. He adds the character to the picture. The stark contrast of the two that cannot be separated juxtaposed to the one that is fiercely independent is fascinating to me.

I kept the processing simple, just doing some high contrast black and white. It allows the picture to remain simple while naturally placing the two close subjects brighter than the one off to the side. It just seemed to inherently exemplify the contrast (no pun intended) between the two themes.

Anyway, let me know what you think, the shot is far from perfect, but the story it tells is compelling to me.

Week 2: Transformer

Shooting in the Mountains

Meant to post this some time ago, but hey, I'm finally getting around to it.

I took this shot while on business travel in Phoenix. I like to take one body and a walk around lens with me on all trips. My hope is that I will get out in the evenings to take some pictures and relax. While I'm not usually able to get out, given late work nights, this was a happy day where I did.

So I get in my car, not knowing Phoenix at all, and started driving about. I ended up in Scottsdale, a suburb of Phoenix and stumbled upon the above at sunset. Trust me this was luck, I'm not good enough to be in plan for this sort of event on purpose. After all Ansel Adam's moon picture was a happen to come across a moment photograph, so I figure I'm in good company. (No, I'm not comparing myself to Ansel Adams, I'm just saying we were both lucky once.)

Taking out my trusty camera I snap a few hand-held shots which with very little processing (bumping the darks and boosting vibrancy) I end up with the above. When I return home and process the images I'm thrilled. What more could I hope for.

Here is where it gets fun. I was on the phone with some co-workers in the Phoenix area, telling them about my excursion. They are thrilled for be but had one question. "Did you see any snakes or scorpions?" Snakes & scorpions I ask, you have to be kidding? Let be set the record straight, I'm a city guy, I have lived in major cities most of my life and always find it a bit strange to not have concrete around trees. So you can tell me about roaches and I'm fine, but snakes and scorpions, I don't think so. Apparently, snakes & scorpions are very common in Arizona. In Chicago we get roaches while they get scorpions in Arizona. That confirms it, I'm never moving to Arizona.

So why did I post this picture? Because its pretty? Nope! Because I learned a lesson taking it. The lesson being that I should pay attention to my surroundings, keeping myself aware of what is going on around me. Every time I see a sunset or mountain photograph I think of this lesson and smile. It was a good trip, a good trip in deed.

Have any of you encountered this lesson? If so, let post your experience, I would love to read about it?

Night During the Day

I was board today. Then I found a large icicle hanging outside my dining room window. So I pulled out my 5DII and start to take some shots as I’ve always found the textures of ice interesting. Using the ambient light I got board quick. Then I remembered and article I read on Pixsylated (click here) about using high speed sync (HSS) to turn day into night. So I figured, why not lets give it a try.

Below is what I came up with. I cranked up my shutter speed, closed down the aperture and lowered the ISO to get everything as dark as possible. The only post processing was to boost the blacks a bit and add some sharpening.

I have to say I’m happy with the results for a first attempt. Let me know what you think. After each picture is a shot of how the light was setup. I used my 430EX off camera using my homemade clamp (click here) and triggered it with my 580EX II as a master.

One thing this exercise proved to me was how diminished power is in HSS. Not something I couldn’t work with, but it is much the reason the flash is so close to the ice. I eventually knocked the icicle down by bumping it with the flash, or I would have gotten more shots. ooops!!!

You can find the images at my Flickr site if you want to look at larger versions and see the EXIF (click here)

Disney Fireworks

I often see people asking questions as to how to shoot fireworks and where to take them when at Disney World in Orlando. Just wanted to take a quick moment to outline some of the places I've found which are good for fireworks shots. I will do a post later on how best to take fireworks shots.

Magic Kingdom:

Approaching Cinderella's castle walking up main street go to the right of it as if you are walking to Tomorrow Land. As you make the turn immediately to the left is a Kodak Picture spot. About 45 min prior to the fireworks the Disney potog will leave and you can walk up to this fence and setup with you tripod. I was there two nights and not many people came up to the area, seems pretty unknown to watch them. Some people will hop the fence after the parade is done, but they don't stay. Each night I was there only one family was next to me, plenty of room for that.

I with I had a pic to post of fireworks from this great spot, but the first night I didn't know we would be there for it and didn't have my tripod and the second it rained like a mad man and I didn't take my gear out so as to keep it dry.

Trust me though, with my 17-55 IS I could have framed the fireworks with the castle on the left and trees below if I wanted and still got all the action. Very nice location.

Epcot:

Go into Italy and you'll find a small Italian style bridge. Pick a spot anywhere on this bridge and you'll be all set. People don't go on to it until right before the actions begins so you'll be left alone to setup. There is an alcove right below it that would also be a great vantage spot but that is where most people hang out and in my opinion it is no better than the bridge and you won't have to fight for real estate.

Below is a pic from the bridge. I am no expert at shooting fireworks and I'm sure this could have been framed/executed better, but it will give you an idea of how clean a view you'll have of the action.

As always, please let me know if there are any questions.

Click here if you want to see all the pictures on Flickr.

A Lighting Lesson

Well, I learned a lesson about effective lighting recently. I was taking some pictures of my son doing some Christmas Caroling with his Cub Scout Den at a local nursing home and assumed I would need a flash. There were two errors in my thinking...which I will get to later.

Having used crop bodies for years now, with a ceiling ISO of 1600 or so, I slapped on my 580EX II flash and configured my settings appropriately. I was convinced that given the dark situation there was no way to get shots without the flash. With my 40D this is a true statement, at least without unacceptable image noise.

Okay, so you see one of my errors in thinking, that I had to have the flash. I was forgetting that I was now shooting with my 5D Mark II, a camera I have discussed here previously and one that has much superior low light abilities to the crop bodies I have been using. In retrospect, with the 5D Mark II I should have 86'ed the flash and cranked up the ISO.

In shooting with the flash, one I am comfortable using, I realized after the fact that I was shooting down which caused the flash not cast evenly out across the halls and large rooms we were in. So the nearest part of the shot was over exposed and the back underexposed due to the angle of the flash.

So what did I learn???

1. Keep in mind what camera you are using and shoot for that camera. If I had remembered the 5D Mark II's capabilities I would have not used the flash and gotten much more natural exposures.
2. Thought about how my light was reflecting. Even if I had used the flash no matter what I would have adjusted the angle to best cover the space I was shooting.

In the end my lesson is to pay attention to what equipment I am using and what conditions I am shooting in. I was able to adequately fix all the pics in post processing but getting it right the first time is always best.

Consideration Of Others

As I'm sure is true for many of you, much of the time my primary photographic subject is my family. As a result, I find myself often lugging my gear to and from my children's events, swimming, baseball, Boy Scouts, etc.

Last week was no exception, it was swim class day and of course I went with my usual gear. My gripped 40D with a 70-200 f/2.8 L attached, all sitting on top of a monopod. I like the 70-200 when shooting swimming as the pool is indoors and every bit of speed is welcome as well as the fact that I like to shoot from across the pool so as to get the best angle, thus every bit of reach is welcome as well.

Now on to the point of this post...

Now keep in mind, this is a pool at the University where my wife works/teaches and where my son has taken over a dozen swim classes, we are known by name to the pool staff. So last week I was sitting there with my gear, snaping away, happy as any enthusiast photographer can be when a pool security guard walks up to me and asks if my son is swimming. I answer yes and point to my son (pic above) who at that moment waves to me. At that point he tells me that shooting pictures at the pool is not allowed...something I've been doing for years. However, he tells me he will give me a pass this time and walks away.

I didn't think much of it at the time but looking across the pool I see the security guard and other staff talking and pointing at me. My wife notices this as well and walks up the security guard and staff and points out I am her husband, my son is swimming in the class and I can stop taking pictures if they wish. They tell her no and she walks away. Unfortunately, jabbering and pointing continues.

The short of this is that it seemed obvious my presence and camera were making pool staff very uncofortable so I decided to pack it in for the day. After putting everything back I went and sat over by my wife. This is when everything came together. Apparently my sitting on the other side of the pool with a big white lens, shooting away was making some of the other parents nervous so they were asking pool staff who I was. Pool staff whom I at least looked familiar to wanted to do something to put the parents at ease. Hence why the pool staff were obsessing over me so much.

Apparently, my coming to the other side and sitting by my wife put things at rest. I allowed the other parents to realize that my son in fact was in the class and my interest was merely that of a parent that loves to take pics of his family, nothing more sinister.

This was a huge learning experience for me. I was reminded that while my intentions are pure, not everyone's are. I learned that other parents care and wish to protect their families as I do. I learned that letting other parents know who I am and why I'm sitting across the pool with a big white lens will go a million miles in eliminating issues and headaches. This week I showed up with the same gear and was not bothered in the least.

Thanks for reading along with this long story, just remember that a quick introduction in some circumstances can go a long way in putting your subjects at each and making your presence not affect the situation around you. This week, not only were the parents more relaxed but so were the children, resuling in much richer and more valuable outcome.

A Plug for Natural Light

Take a look at the picture below. I would like to use to make a plug for natural light. This was taken in a hotel room in Guatemala during the afternoon sun which was shinning through some white curtains which covered the windows.


This was a pure opportunist shot, taken while my wife was playing with my 4-month old daughter. Granted I got lucky, granted, but I wanted to share as it acts as a means to illustrate to not miss the moment and work with the envionment you are given. Everything came together true, but hey, if I hadn't ignored the urge to take out my flash I would have missed this.




Hope you enjoyed the shot, it brings me joy each time I look at it.

Update: The light was coming in camera left going through some soft white curtains which gave it a great feel.