Friday, October 26, 2012

And Now, The Girl.

And Now, The Girl.

We had such good luck at the fence, I decided to make a portrait of the girl there as well.

I think I love this fence.

Chris.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Cool Fall Day Portrait

Cool Fall Day Portrait


We popped outside for a bit and I just couldn't resist the color of the fence in the shade. I had my nifty fifty on and had to bump the ISO up to 1600 on my 50D so I could get the exposure I wanted.

I'm excited about the sharpness of his eyes and the way the color of his sweater, eyes and fence go together.

I'm quite happy with this photo.

Chris.

Monday, October 22, 2012

Hi Key Lighting

I've always been a fan of Hi Key images. That's to say images with a lot of bright white. Portraits on a seamless white background with the background completely white. It's something I've never been able to do with a portrait before. I only have the one flash so it makes it a bit difficult to get that white background pure bright white.

This weekend I borrowed a flash from my dad. He has an old Minolta Maxim 7000 film system that he never uses so I picked up the flash and added it to my lighting. This flash is pretty much unusable for anything else when it's off the camera it was made for. It's a dedicated flash with no easy way to adjust the power output. The head doesn't tilt or swivel either so aiming this flash took some creative positioning.

That is all OK for my needs at this time though. I just needed a flash to blast my white background and turn it pure white. This flash was more than enough for those needs. I tore my 8 year old son away from his computer game on my laptop and asked him to model for me so I could test out this flash on the background. I used my umbrella and flash for the main light and away we went. Basically this works the same as my black background that I use but I was not worried about spilling any light onto the background this time. I normally will try to control that on the black background.

What I ended up with was this fantastic Hi Key portrait. I am really please with the results.


I don't think the borrowed flash will suffice for long. I have plans of picking up another more modern flash that will allow me some easier control over direction and intensity of the light but I also don't think my dad will be getting this flash back any time soon.

Chris.

Friday, October 19, 2012

Taking A More Minimalist Approach

Battery Grip

There has been a lot of discussion out there about how much gear you really need and which camera or lenses you should get. I get caught up in that myself and I will admit to having much gear envy.

But the more I think about it the more I realize that no matter what gear I have or how big and fast my lenses are, it will not make me a better photographer. What I need to do is get my creative juices flowing. I'm hoping to accomplish this by pulling back on the amount of gear I carry around with me.

Here's what I have done. I took my battery grip off the camera. It's so heavy. My camera is almost double the weight with this beast on it. I decided to only take one lens with me when I go out. Today I have the 50mm f/1.8 on the camera. Such a nice lens. Then, and here is the big one, I left my camera bag at home and just brought my camera with me to work. Normally I have everything with me. Today, it's just the camera and the one lens. Nothing else.

I must admit, it's a bit of an odd sensation and I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. One lens, no strobe, no other toys! Yikes. Well we will see what happens but I'm hoping to increase my vision instead of relying on any gear.

Chris.

50mm Fun

There is just something about the nifty fifty. My Canon 50mm f/1.8. It's so sharp and light and easy to use. The only thing I wish was different about it is the minimum focusing distance. 1.5 feet is just too far away for my liking. I'd like to knock a foot off that. Maybe extension tubes would help. I'll have to look into that.

Anyway, my son and I were goofing around with the 50mm last night and I really liked this shot so just had to share it with you. It's so sharp! So awesome for a $130.00 lens.

Chris.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Luck Favors The Prepared

Every time I hear that luck favors the prepared I roll my eyes and think that sounds like something someone who just got lucky would say.

Well I happened to get lucky.


During dinner with my in-laws last Saturday evening, I spotted my neighbor on her deck with her camera pointed at the sky. I've never seen her out with her camera before, heck, I didn't even know she owned a camera. So, being the opportunistic photographer I am, I grabbed my camera and stepped out onto my own deck. The above photo is what I was greeted with.

The sun was almost down and a nasty fall storm was rolling in. Really nasty, hail, lightning and thunder with some pretty nasty winds. Of course I snapped several shots. This was my favorite of the bunch. Such amazing color on the  sky.

So, luck favors the prepared. Always and I mean always keep your camera out and ready to go. You never know what's going to come your way.

Chris.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

More Flash Required

I've decided that I need to start taking more photos with my flash. You can use the cheapest nastiest lens and get great results with a bit of strobe thrown in.

Here's a couple quick and dirty photos for example. No editing just good quality light and a cheapo 18-55 kit lens.

20121011 IMG_0283


There's just something so nice about off camera flash.

And Thus It Begins....

Looks like winter is on it's way....again.


Winter is on it's way! We got a nice preview yesterday with some blowing snow and a nasty wind.

Today we have frozen puddles and a wind chill of -10C. Good thing I had the tripod to hold the camera!

Here's to getting some great winter photos this year!

Chris.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Thoughts About Feedback

Let's face it, we all crave acceptance. No matter who you are or what you do, you just want someone to tell you you've done a good job. I see it in my kids. Every drawing, every Lego creation, every fancy back yard gymnastic move, they want to know that you thought it was 'cool'.

Me, I like to hear that my photos are good. It makes me smile inside when someone says "Nice Photo". But, lately I've begun to dislike that kind of comment. And since the universe loves to throw things at me that I need I came across this fantastic post over on Digital Photography School about the very thoughts I've been having.

After reading the article I realized I'm stuck at the level I am now because I'm afraid of constructive criticism. I don't really want to know what's wrong with my images. That has to change.

I love to share on Flickr. I like the community and most of the people are great to chat with.I'm a member of over 90 groups right now. That's way too many for me to be actively involved it. I need to cull that down to 10 or so really good groups that are offering some great feedback. That's going to be tough. So far I've brought it down to 46. I'll see what I'm actually involved in from here on.

I think I need to be more involved in the photography community in general. I spend so much time worrying about what people might think that I never put it out there for people to actually see and comment on. That changes today. It just has to.

So going forward I'm going to be much more involved with the community. Starting with Flickr. I'll start posting into the groups and commenting on photos from those groups in hopes of getting some good feedback from other members in the groups.

Chris.


Friday, October 5, 2012

Foggy Morning Drive

Foggy Morning Drive

In keeping with my plans for motivation, I had my camera on the seat beside me on the drive to work this morning. It was quite foggy and I took several shots from the window while I was sitting at the red lights. This one was my favorite. I love the color gradations in the sunrise and the fog lying low. It was a nice drive and being on the look out for photo opps helped me to appreciate the drive all the more.

Chris. 

Thursday, October 4, 2012

A Question Of Motivation.

I love photography. There's just something about capturing a moment in time that seems powerful to me. But I find that lately my motivation for photography is slipping.

When I purchased my first DSLR I went crazy. I took photos of everything and anything. Then I started learning. I took the New York Institute of Photography's Complete Course in Professional Photography. I learned so much so fast. The whole time I was taking the course (3 years for me) I was constantly taking photos. Then I completed the course.

Now that I have no reason to practice my course materials I find that my motivation for taking photos has slipped. Don't get me wrong, I still love photography and I still love taking photos but I just don't seem to have the same passion for it anymore. Some days I don't even look at a photograph or take my camera out of the bag.

I've been thinking, again, about how to better motivate myself to get out there and practice this art I love so much. I know, I've blogged about this before and probably will again but I'm really struggling with it this time.What am I going to do?

I have noticed that listening to photography related podcasts and watching YouTube videos really make me feel like getting the camera out and taking some photos.I guess this is a great start then. I have my iPhone so listening to podcasts happens all the time for me. I'll just need to ramp up the photography side of the podcasts I listen too. As for YouTube, well I subscribe to several photographer's channels but I think I may need to look for some more.

Another thing I'm going to try is always having my camera handy. When I got to the day job this morning I took it out of the bag and put it on my desk I took the lens cap off and put the hood on the lens then turned it on. Now when I see a great shot or some great light, I'll be more prepared to take advantage of it. I'm also going to keep my camera out of the bag in my truck on the commute to and from work each day. There have been times where I saw something that would have made a great photo but didn't have my camera out in time.

As I right this, when I should be working at my day job, there is some fantastic early morning light streaming into my office window. I'm feeling motivated so please excuse me for a moment while I take advantage of this amazing light......................................Ah, that's better.

Here's what I got!

Morning Rust

Dew Drops On Packing Tape

Now that I have gotten that out of the way I can focus on my motivation again. Just kidding. I realized that I had my camera out and the light was just right so I found a couple of good subjects to show off that light. Good thing I did it when I did too, within a couple of minutes some clouds crossed over and the light was gone. By the time the clouds moved the sun was much higher up and the light was a much different quality.

So for now I guess I'll up my consumption of photography related media be it podcasts, YouTube videos and blog posts. Hopefully the universe will help me out and life will be grand again.

Chris.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Sunday Walk In The Park.


A girl and her dog.

We went for a walk and stopped by for a quick portrait. Not looking at me but at least they both are looking the same way and have their eyes open.

The dog even has her tongue in her mouth for a change.

I love the colors in the background. I think I need to do some more fall portraits before the dreaded white stuff hits us!

Chris.