I'm Blocked.....

I've been fighting with a case of photographers block for months now. It just feels like I'll never get past it. Nothing seems to excite me photographically these days.

Now, I realize this is normal. I've not fallen out of love with my camera. I still have that passion for photography that I've had for years but I'm just not feeling it these days. What can I do to get past this? Do I need to take a trip? No. I don't think that will do it. Do I need a new camera? Definitely not! A new lens? No. I doubt that will make a difference either. What to do, what to do?

The fact that I'm aware of it just being a creative block is the main part. I realize I still love photography. I'm not going to sell all my gear and take up another hobby that's for sure. I just need to ride it out but not become inactive within my hobby. Maybe I'll start looking at more photography or find a photographer whose work inspires me. Maybe I just need a change of scenery. Being stuck at the same place all day and then having the dark cold winter nights everyday is not helping that's for sure.

I think for now, I'll start by looking at more photographs on Flickr and 500px. They always get me motivated. Maybe get involved in a few group discussions about the photos or specific techniques. Whenever I start talking about photography, I get all excited and my passion bubbles to the surface.

That's it. A good place to start.

I did manage to dig out my lighting kit and do a one light portrait of my son. He likes to play on the PS3 on the weekend and I thought I'd capture the moment for him to look back on later in his life. He may get a kick out of it.

I set the umbrella up on camera left and collapsed the umbrella down over the flash to narrow the light a bit so I wasn't lighting up the whole room. I set up a silver reflector on camera right low and bouncing light upwards to fill in the shadows on his left side. None of the angles I was trying was doing it justice so I went high on a chair for a change. I like the resulting point of view. 

Chris.

Updated Family Photo

My Brother and I and our wives threw a 50th anniversary party for our parents this pas weekend. It took a fair amount of planning and a whole lot of secrecy and pulling the wool over our parents eyes for months. Everything went really well and they were very surprised that we could manage to cooperate for the time it took to put this all together. It was a lot of fun in the end.

Here is an updated family photo of all of us. We have never had one will all our kids in at the same time. It just never seemed to work out. Finally I have that photo. I'll have to be sure to print one for my parents and my Brother and Sister-in-law as well for the wall.

 

 It is official, I am the tallest in my family now. Dad was the tallest at 6'4" but he's shrunk with age leaving me the tallest at 6'3". I'm taller than any one on either side of my family now. It's good to be the king. LOL!

Chris.

More Time With The 17-85mm.

So, I've been spending a lot more time with the 17-85mm that I had all but written off. I'm sure the last time I used this lens was 4 years ago. I'm not sure why I got it into my head that it was not a good lens. I do that kind of thing from time to time. Like when I learned that I could shoot at very high ISOs in the day light to get really fast shutter speeds. Then I got stuck thinking that all my shot's should be at a high ISO just to get that fast shutter speed. What ended up happening was poor photos with bad contrast and color.

So, what I'm learning about this lens is also something that I'm learning about myself. It is pretty good. And I'm pretty good. I don't want to toot my own horn but my photography is pretty descent. Even if few people actually look at it. I don't really go out of my way to promote myself these days. Maybe soon but I don't do it right now.

Anyway, I've drifted from my topic a bit. I tend to do that.

Here is a photo from my playings around today that really shows off what this lens can do under the right circumstances. We were out in the yard again, boy I love summer, and I had my speedlite on the camera to test what this lens could do with some nicer fill flash. I was quite happy with the result.

 

Let's ignore her mop of a hair doo this evening. It's been hot and the play was hard! Look at her eyes, so sharp and the color is just popping out at you. Then there is her freckles across her cheeks and over her nose. They just pop as well. With the right amount of light, this lens is very sharp. Sharp enough that I'm proud to show off this example from the lens.

I have a shoot tomorrow with a young married couple with a new born. They are looking for some good quality photos of their new son and I'm confident that I will be able to produce some very good images for them with this lens and my 50mm. I'm taking all my gear. The tripod and my umbrella too. Might as well run through everything I have.

Chris.

Dad And His 38 Ford

 

Cab Over 2 Ton Custom Build Project.

My Dad has been working on this truck for at least 5 years now. He's rebuilt it from the rubber up doing most of the work himself and only getting help with the really crazy stuff. I can't wait to see this truck rolling down the road.

Chris. 

Got Milk?

 

My daughter always seems to have a milk mustache. So many of the photos I take of her have it. Maybe I should hire her out to the Milk Producers PR board if such a thing exists. LOL.

Chris. 

Is It Good Enough?

I always seem to worry about what people think about my photos. Are they good enough, will they like it? I've come to the conclusion that it just doesn't matter and I just don't care. Photography is an art and I know I've said this before but it's just so subjective. There are so many opinions on what is art that you just cannot please everyone.

So, please yourself. If you are happy with it then it's good enough. Stop trying to measure up to anyone. Sure, try to make the best photo you can using the techniques you have learned but realize there is a point where it's good enough.

Take this photo of my daughter for example.

 

I love this photo. It makes me smile and melts my heart. I like how I've placed here off to the side. I like how I've used a wide open aperture to blur out the background. I don't even care that the eye closest to the camera is slightly out of focus. The other one is tack sharp. I'm not going to bore you with what lens I used or what my settings were, it just doesn't matter. What matters is the feeling, the emotion in this photo. Such a warm genuine smile and love that touches her eyes. I'm not even worried about how many people like this. I like it. 

To me this shows great growth in me as an artist. You will never please everyone. Sometimes you won't please anyone. I aim to first and foremost make sure I like the photo. I have so many photos that I thought everyone would just love and you know what, they didn't. Not even close. Some even went so far as to tell me the photo was not taken properly. Funny how we all have our own ideas.

So, you just go out take photos and practice, practice, practice.

Chris.

 

And The Season Of Snow Photography Arrives!

I'm always excited when winter first arrives. The photos look so clean and crisp. The excitement soon gives way to being tired of the cold and having to sweep the truck off and shovel the walks but oh the bliss of the first month or so.

 

It's been snowing most of the day today. The Girl and I tried to make a snow man but the snow is just too dry. She did make for a good subject though.

Chris.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Started From Scratch

As I've noted in a previous post I was very unhappy with the portraits of my kids I did out at the lake this summer. Of course I waited too long to do them and the day felt rushed and so on and so on.

What I did was take the photos in lightroom, reset them completely and worked them a bit from the beginning. I'm happier with the results now and I think I'll let it go and just be glad that I have something from the rock at the lake this year. Sometimes you just need to accept your own failings and move on.

 

 All in all, I think they look good enough to print. There's a project for the weekend.

Chris.

Don't Write Off That Kit Lens

I'll admit, I've been a bit of a lens snob the last few years. I don't own any of Canon's L series lenses but I picked up a Tamron 18-270mm a couple of years ago and I love the lens. When I bought my 50D it came with the 17-85mm witch in my opinion is just not a very good lens. It was never a very sharp lens. But the Tamron 18-270mm performed well for me across the board when I tested it out.

Yesterday I was going through my little collection of lenses that I've gathered over the last 4 or 5 years and noticed the 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens that came with my Rebel XTI. Now back then I was happy with the lens but all the reading and podcast listening had turned me into a bit of a lens snob and I discounted it as a bad lens when I got my 50D.

Just for kicks I put the lens on my 50D and I must say, I'm very happy with the results. I was going to use it just for long exposures of moving objects like water and grass blowing in the wind because of the ND4 and ND8 neutral density filters I have for it but after taking some test shots I'm going to be using it a lot more. I was very surprised at how sharp the images were with my 50D.

Here is a portrait of my daughter that I took just to test out the lens. Granted how can you take a bad shot of such a cute model but this cheap little lens really came through for me.




I'm not going to write off this lens anymore and I do believe my Tamron is going to suffer for it!


Chris.

43.365.4 On The Portrait Rock - Winter Version.

Sunday February 12 2012.

You may recognize this location from my summer photos at the lake. Why not a winter portrait on the rock?

Chris.

37.365.4 Beard.

Monday February 6 2012.

I'm growing a beard. At 44 I've never tried to grow a beard. I figured why not.

One question....Does this bloody thing ever stop itching?!

This is after 6 days. I will shave it off before my daughters birthday party on the 19th. I promised to do that. :)

Chris.

317.365 Lily - Strobist.

Sunday November 13 2011.

Finally, I managed to get Lily under the strobe. It wasn't easy. I had to have the girl hold her still. I managed to get 3 or 4 shots off before she had enough.

And I had it in my head that I would like to be a pet photographer! LOL.

I ran this through Color Effects 4 to jump up the contrast a bit. I've been testing the program out this weekend. So far I really like it.

Chris.

283.365 Jurassic Forest

Monday October 10 2011.

We made it to Jurassic Forest on the last day of the season for one more walk around the trails.

Looks like the Pteranadon on the right is getting ready to come at us....we better run! LOL.

Chris.

281.365 Corn Maze Fun

Saturday October 8 2011.

Went to the corn maze today for some family fun. after the dizzying trails on the maze, the kids relaxed on the hay stack.

Chris.

276.365 My Princess.

Sunday October 2 2011.

She's getting so big. I can hardly believe my eyes when I look at her sometimes.

No matter how hold she gets she will always be my Princess and my Sweetpea.

Chris.

251.365 Last Lake Portrait

Thursday September 8 2011.

This is the last lake portrait for the girl this year. We are all done and we have winterized our trailer. Maybe we will make it out there this winter for some skating on the lake and a cold winter fire but I doubt there will be a short sleeved portrait. :)

Chris.