50mm Friday - Rusty Lock Hasp

Friday September 28 2012. 50mm Friday.

A great shot of a rusty crusty lock hasp in the early morning light. Nothing looks better than rust in the morning light.

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.

Priceless.

Click for Priceless Photography Funny!

Arachnus Deathicus

It's for stuff like this that I need that 100mm macro lens.

 

Chris.

The Best Camera....

It's been said, over and over again, that the best camera is the one you have with you. Well, I suppose that is true but I still think my Canon 50D kicks my iPhone 4's ass every time. That said my iPhone is easier to take along on bike rides and get great fun memories like this one.

She made the 2 mile ride to the 7-11 and never complained once. That's my girl.

So, my iPhone may not be the best camera I own but it sure is the most convenient.

Chris.

Cool Rock - Fridge Panel

My kids found the coolest rock a while ago. It's been sitting on the front porch for weeks. Today I thought "hey, that would look really cool on my fridge panel" and here we go. I was right.

Chris.

Reflective Panel

I have a black fridge panel that is nice and reflective. I used to use it all the time for small objects. Over the last year, I've been so busy at work that I've stopped taking photos of those small objects on my fridge panel on top of my desk. I've decided to change that.

Here is the first of what I hope to be many fridge panel photos.

Chris.

It Comes Down To Complacency

I've become complacent. Yup. I finally figured it out. I like to think I'm such a great photographer and then I go and do something that a beginner would do. I took a photo of my kids in a more or less back lit scene and screwed it up. I know better but I was in a hurry and just rushed through it.

Here's what I did.

I posed them on a rock that I use every year out at the lake for their portraits. It was late in the summer and early in the morning. That rock is to my south so the sun was coming in from behind them camera left when I took the shot. I used spot metering (no idea what got me on that kick) and just took the shot.

Well to say the least, it looked like crap. I'm not happy with the photo at all and when I tried to fix it up a bit, I just made it worse. Here are the results.

Original image.

 

Ok, I could have just adjusted the exposure on the image but if you look at the hot spots along the side of the kids and the rock where the light is coming in, you can imagine how blown out that gets with even the slightest adjustment.

So called edited image.

To say the least I'm going to have to redo these shots. The problem is it's a 2 hour drive out to the lake one way just to take them. Fortunately, I have to go out in a couple weeks anyway so I will take the kids and reshoot the photos.

What will I do differently this time? Well first off I'm going to pay more attention to the direction of the light. I'm going to take my flash, my light stand and my umbrella this time to get a nicely exposed image that I will be happy to print and give out to family and friends. Not this crap I produced this time.

It just goes to show that once you start thinking you are a good photographer, you start to make mistakes that can just be avoided. All I needed to do was slow down and analyze the scene.

Here is a shot I took using my flash in a very similar situation. Much better exposure.

The sun is coming from behind her camera left just like the rock portraits but by this time I had figured out my error and popped the flash on my camera with the diffuser as well. I'm happy with this photo. I didn't do any editing other than a crop and a very slight exposure bump. Very slight just to bring the whites up a bit.

Now if you are a potential client of mine, please only look at the last image. :) Talk about not showing your mistakes! I believe in helping people to learn and showing how human I am no matter what I tell myself.

Chris.

It's Back! Now I'm Afraid.

It's back. That feeling that I want to start making more photos. Not just taking snap shots of the family at the lake but actual making of photographs. It must be that time of the year.

I've been very focused on my health since June 4th and have been devoting a huge amount of my free time to reading different health related books (10 so far) and blogs as well as podcasts. As a result, I've put photography on the back burner for the summer with the exception of family snap shots at the lake.I figured that if I didn't get my health in line I was not going to have the energy to pursue my passion for photography for long. Things were not too bad health wise but were bad enough for me to take notice and do something about it. Now though, I'm feeling great! I have energy to spare and my mind started racing this morning about some personal projects I want to do and about starting that portrait business that I so long to do but have been hesitant to start.

I've asked myself "Why have I been so hesitant?" I've compiled a list of reasons.

• I'm afraid of failing.
• I'm afraid of succeeding (that one hit me pretty hard).
• I'm afraid I'm not good enough.
• I'm worried that my gear is not good enough (I know that' silly).
• I worry about what my family will think. 

Let's look at these reasons one by one. Not too deeply. I don't want to use this as a personal growth session that you are stuck reading but maybe you have the same thoughts and maybe my working through them will help you work through yours as well.

I'm afraid of failing.
Well now, there's a basic human fear. Everyone is afraid of failing. Even those who say they are not. They are lying to us. They are still afraid but they push through the fear and give it their all anyway. This is in my opinion the hardest and most important of my fears to get past. It stops me before I even get started.

How can I get past this first road block to my success?

I have to realize that not trying is a guaranteed failure. How can you ever succeed at something if you never begin? Even if I don't succeed, at least I will have stretched myself beyond my comfort zone.

I'm afraid of succeeding.
I know, I know, how could one be afraid of succeeding at something? Well I thought about it and this is what I came up with. If I succeed at it, I'll have no excuses not to follow through. I might get too busy with it. I might get too big too fast!

What the heck is that all about?! I can do as much or as little of it as I want to. My own business means I'm in charge of the work load. Only I can push to do more and more and more.

I'm afraid I'm not good enough.
Ok. Maybe I'm not good enough. Maybe I'm more than good enough. If I strive to improve my photos every shoot and only show the best of the best well then, I'll just get better. As it is I think I'm a good photographer. I'm not a fauxtographer like you see on some of the poke fun websites. I don't try to pass off poorly exposed, out of focus and badly photoshopped images as professional quality. I do however think I'm a descent photographer with some skills. I take images like this one on a regular basis.

 

So I tend to think I know what I'm doing. I may not be Photographer To The Stars but I do a good job.There is no issue with my skills for taking photographs. I will admit though that I need practice with strangers and posing. I'll never get more comfortable with taking photos for people I don't know if I don't take photos of people I don't know. How profound is that. Posing is a creative endeavor that I'll just need to work on just like composition and lighting. All creative aspects.

I'm worried my gear is not good enough.
Ok. I suffer from gear envy just like everyone else but my gear is better than the gear the photographer from our wedding used back in 2002. Way better. I shoot with a Canon 50D and various lenses. No high end "L" series glass yet but what I do use is still so much better than what that wedding photographer had 10 years ago. Remember, it's the photographer who makes the photo not the camera.


I worry about what my family will think. 
This is a major one. I'm not worried about them liking my photos. That's between me and the client or for personal work it's my opinion that matters in the end. What I am worried about is the family being upset with any time I spend focusing on photography and business. I've been holding back a bit because my kids are still at the age where they actually want to spend time with me. Once they are teenagers I'm sure they will want to spend more time with their friends than with their parents. That will open up some free time for me to pursue business more aggressively. But that is no excuse for me not to start building a business now.

 
Well, now that I have that all figured out, ;), I just need to get out there and do it. It's not going to happen over night I know but if I keep at it I'm sure it will work out just like I want it to.

Chris.

Summer Time Means Lake Time!

We spend a lot of time at the lake in the summer. Every weekend and a couple weeks straight. Summer is so short in Canada that we just have to take advantage of it when it's here.

I'd like to take this opportunity to share some of my favorite photos from our summer so far. I was going to wait until after the September long weekend but I decided to just share some now.

My son sure loves his new Kayak.He's all alone in his own world just paddling around the lake.

My Dad, out in his canoe testing the 2HP Engine he bought for it. He was like a kid with a new toy the whole time he was out at the lake with us. :)

Out for a cruise.

Still too small to keep at this lake though. Only 80cm long. It was pretty thick though.

We had to get back from the lake in time for supper at our lot so we really had to fly.

My Daughter. She caught the one on the stick first. She was so excited. I put it in a pail of water and she just watched it and watched it. I told her, you realize that's not a pet right, we are going to eat it. She said yes.

The one still on the hook was second. It swallowed the hook so had to stay on that handy handle.

I bought her a new fishing rod just for her this week. She is very excited to go back fishing.

So, here is where it went bad for me. I hit some waves and started to bounce really bad. The rope snapped out of my hands and there I was. Stranded in the middle of the lake.

I yelled to him not to let go and they kept on going with out me. I'm not sure he even cared about losing me. LOL.

Yes, That's me learning to wake board. I'm a slalom skier so this is very different! I fall a lot but, hey, that's half the fun.

I didn't edit these much as they are just summer snap shots but I just had to share the fun.

Chris.