No Flash in the Author's Chair

I LOVE it when I don't have to use a flash!

Flash's are usually too harsh and very hard to control. In low light situations you'd be better off shooting with a wide aperture if you can. When outdoors I sometimes use a very subtle fill flash just to fill in some shadows or to make a key light visible in the subjects eye, but in a situation where I have little control (like in my daughters school) I hate using it.

Of course, using a higher ISO setting will increase the cameras sensitivity to light which also helps in low light situations. But with a Nikon D80, you can't really go higher than ISO 400 without getting a grainy image. I don't care what the manual or the "experts" say, that's the limit of the D80. I usually try to stay at either 100 (the lowest setting) or 200.

Anywho, yesterday my daughter's 4th grade class was doing something called "Author's Chair" where each student sits in a rocking chair in the school library and reads a story they wrote to parents, staff and other students. I noticed that the florescent lights were pretty bright in the library so I figured I'd try my 50mm f1.8 without the flash and see how it looked. I had the ISO set at 200.

Since my 50mm lens is a prime lens and not a zoom, I was constantly moving around trying to get a better shot. Some of the kids were distracted and my wife had warned me to try to stay in one seat, so I alternated between two different positions and then cropped the pictures after I got them home. I thought the results were not too bad for going flash-less.



The new Canon 5D Mark II reportedly can get up to ISO 6400 without being noisy. The camera is $2700 just for the body. I don't have any Canon lenses so I'd have to invest in that too. Altogether I'd be looking at.......well, I'd probably have to sell my car. For now, I'm saving my pennies and cutting my Starbucks visits.

Uninspired at the Heard

So last Saturday I decided to go out shooting and I took the kids with me. I was hoping to get some outdoor shots at the Heard Museum that I might be able to use in my portfolio. As it turned out, it was a cold, cloudy, extremely windy morning. The kids were not happy about having to go out first thing on a Saturday morning and it definitely shows in the pictures I did manage to get.

The wind at times was blowing pretty strong and the sun was in and out. I was constantly fiddling with the camera controls while I made the kids stand there freezing and waiting for me to get it right. It was an uncomfortable situation for all of us and I wasn't feeling very inspired. Needless to say, I didn't get this pictures I really wanted to get, but did manage to get a few decent ones.

The one above was shot at 1/160 sec, f5.4, ISO 200 and lens set at 42mm. I added some vignetting in Photoshop and a small crop and I think the results are not bad. However, I can't use this in my portfolio because it's shot as landscape instead of portrait like everything else in my portfolio...multiple streams lack intensity. I haven't even tried making it black and white yet.

1/125 sec, f4.8, 38mm, ISO 200, fill flash

1/200 sec, f3.8, 20mm, ISO 200
Think he's cold?

1/200 sec, f5.3, 46mm, ISO 200, fill flash

1/200 sec, f5.3, 46mm, ISO 200

At this point the sun is becoming an issue. I think I forgot to adjust my ISO back down to 100 since I was using a fill flash when I needed it anyway. It didn't matter as the kids look pretty miserable in every picture. At least I captured their mood!

Valentines Day Photos

Valentines Day is a great time for doing portraits, particularly at schools.

Many schools use Valentines Day as an opportunity to have a school dance fund raising event. They'll always want a photographer there to catch the moment for kids and their parents. When I work a school fundraiser I generally don't make a lot of money, but it's a great way to gain some new clients.

This year my setup was pretty much the same as what I did last VD at another school. Two soft boxes set up with a neutral gray background. I offered a few props to the kids if they wanted them i.e. heart shaped boxes, roses etc. All shot at 1/125 sec f10, 34mm or higher. I probably could have used my 50mm prime lens like I did last year, but wasn't sure about how much room I'd actually have to work with and wanted to limit my movement as much as possible. Getting the picture taken as quickly as possible is important especially if there's a line of people waiting.

For the post-processing I used Lightroom to adjust the exposure, white balance, then added the vignette in Photoshop. I also had to re-crop almost every picture...another disadvantage of not owning a camera with a full image sensor (Nikon D80). Below are some results:

2000 Pictures, part 4

Continuing with the exercise, I decided to take a walk around downtown McKinney early one morning before the crowds showed up. McKinney is the county seat for Collin County, and the downtown area has several very old buildings and some interesting architecture. These days, it's mostly antique shops and boutiques, cafes and restaurants, etc. Again, my goal was just to take as many pictures as I could without trying to find a good subject and getting good composition. These are my favorites.

So I literally put the camera around my neck and clicked the shutter every 4 or 5 paces. Many of the pictures were just out of focus shots of random lightposts, trash cans and street signs, but I occasionally got an interesting shot, like this one of birds flying away as I approached:



Smith Drug Co. has been a staple of downtown McKinney for over 100 years. I have other pictures that I have taken over the years, but the store closed for good not long after I got these shots. I've always loved that sign.



There are a lot of glass storefronts downtown and ended up getting several shots of those. Some including my own reflection:


This guy was staring at me from inside a restaurant as I came around a corner so I took his picture:



A few random ones:



This one is probably my favorite, and I'm pretty sure I composed this one and it wasn't randomly taken while I walked down the street. I really like the shallow depth of field.

What's A Podcast?

You DON'T need an iPod to listen to a podcast. You DO need a computer.

Put simply, a podcast is a radio show broadcast over the interwebs. Sometimes you can listen live through a feed, but mainly it's downloaded using something called a podcast aggregator or a "podcatcher." Lot's of commonly used apps have this ability. The most popular is probably iTunes.

So is it as simple as downloading an audio file? Well, yes and no. What makes it a podcast is the fact that you can subscribe to it (for free) and it comes to YOU. If it's just an audio file that someone posts on their web site, technically it's not a podcast. It works like this....

Let's say you manage your music files using iTunes (like me). iTunes has a section specifically for podcasts and you can subscribe to as many as you want by simply clicking on it. Then, whenever you open iTunes, it automatically checks to see if there are any new episodes of a podcast you're subsrcibed to. If there are, they are automatically downloaded. That's all there is to it.

I have my iPod set to automatically download any new podcasts to it when I plug it into the computer. So all I literally do is plug it in, unplug it when it's done, and listen to it at my own convenience.

No iPod? No problem. You can just as easily listen to the podcast right on your computer using iTunes.

So what's the connection to photography? There are a number of podcasts out there that are well worth your time if you're into photography. From beginner to advanced, history, equipment, news, interviews with the pros...you name it. Here are some of my favorites...

There is a gentleman named Jeff Curto who has two podcasts that in my opinion are better than almost anything else out there.

Camera Position - talks about the creative side of photography


History Of Photography - Jeff Curto is a Professor of Photography at the College of DuPage and records his class sessions. This podcast might save you a bunch of money if you were thinking about taking a course in the history of photography.

The other great thing about Jeff's podcasts is that they are enhanced, meaning there are visuals to go with what he's discussing.

Lightsource is by two photographers who talk about studio lighting and do interviews with working professional photographers.


This Week In Photography is a round table discussion about equipment, software, technique etc. Very informative.


There are many, many other photography podcasts out in cyberland, but those are my favorites.

I'm a little surprised that podcasting hasn't really taken off yet in a really big way. There's a wealth of information out there and it's all free. You can find podcasts that are about almost any subject you can think of. But be warned, it's not all good information, and some podcasts are just plain unlistenable. Anyone with a microphone and a computer can create a podcast, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they should.

2000 Pictures, part 3

So now we move on to stuff in my backyard. Again, I'm just trying to take 2000 pictures, not picking specific objects and trying to photograph them well.

I'm into tiki stuff, so you'll find a few scattered around:





Bark peeling on one of the Crepe Myrtles:


Edge of a birdbath:

My favorites are the first two. The rest of them don't do anything for me. I even tried setting the timer and throwing the camera up in the air just as the shutter clicked. I didn't bother to increase the shutter speed so they all came out blurry. It wasn't a smart idea anyway. I had read somewhere that it was a way to get some interesting shots. I don't reccommend it, especially with a good camera.

2000 Pictures, part 2

These are from Day One of the exercise. I had to drop my car off to have some work done, went across the street to Starbucks, then walked home 1.5 miles taking pictures of random things. By the time I got home I had taken 60 pictures...barely scratched the surface.


Again, all done with my 50mm 1.8. I liked these in color rather than b&w.






BOOORING...people are so much more interesting to photograph. I was in Starbucks, but walking up to complete strangers and asking to take their picture is something I still don't feel comfortable doing. Maybe it's the funny looks I get from people...

Cocteau Twins

Whenever I shoot I have to have to be listening to music.

In the studio, I plug my iPod into my CD player/Radio and when I'm out and about I simply carry my iPod. The choice of music directly influences my mood and the way I see things. Lately I've been finding a lot of inspiration from a Scottish band called the Cocteau Twins.

This was a 3 piece group who were around during the 80's and 90's consiting of Elizabeth Frasier (vocals), Robin Guthrie (guitar), and Simon Raymonde (bass).Trying to describe their sound is no easy task. Although they seem to fit in with the alternative genre, words that come to mind are "angelic," "haunting," "hymn-like," "ethereal..."

Guthrie's guitar work is unlike anything I've ever heard. Heavy on reverb and echo, quite ambient but melodic. Frasier's vocals are at times undecipherable, but the lyrics aren't what's important. She uses a lot of unpredictable word play which draws you in but you can only pick out an occasional word or phrase...her voice is more of an instrument. Her singing is beautiful and sad, optimistic and haunting.

There are so many ways to describe their sound I couldn't possibly list them all...

Aikea-Guinea:





I first discovered them in 1984 when I bought an album because I liked the cover (sometimes you CAN tell a book by it's cover - or in this case an album). What I heard was nothing like I had ever heard before and I was instantly hooked. I was a loyal fan until the early 90's when they started to get a little too "pop" for my taste and I lost interest.

In the last 10 years I've managed to track down most of the music they released on CD (I only had vinyl Cocteau Twins releases) and finally gave a serious listen to their later material. I found that I liked them even more than before. When I feel like being "transported" to someplace else, this is the music that does it for me.

So while I was in the woods taking pictures of trees searching for something suitable on my iPod, I tuned into my Cocteau Twins playlist. It worked...for me anyway. I feel like I get in the right frame of mind to take photos and now whenever I'm out and about with the camera I'm always listening to the Cocteau Twins.

In the studio it can be a much different story. I always ask the client what they'd like to hear to which the most common response seems to be "whatever." Next time I hear "whatever" I'm definitely putting on my Cocteau Twins playlist.

Heaven Or Las Vegas:

2000 Pictures, part 1

Last summer I took a class on "seeing creatively." The first assignment was to go out and take 2000 pictures in b&w at one focal length and a fixed aperture. The goal of this exercise was to help define your style. I knew what my style was already so I just decided to have some fun with it. I found that there was just no way I could take 2000 pictures of just people, so I took pictures of just about everything else I saw.

Toward the end of the assignment, I found that the vast majority of my pictures did not have people in them. So, I dragged my daughter down to a development in the Stonebridge area of Mckinney known as Adriatica. I took about 200 pictures of her just walking around, goofing off and having fun, but caught some really interesting poses. I was able to catch these because I was focusing on volume, not posing. I tried to compose the shots quickly since she never stayed in one area too long.


As per the rules of the exercise, all of these were taken with the same focal length and aperture. I chose my 50mm and shot wide open at f1.8.




She sure looks mad in this one. It was just an expression I happened to catch while trying to take as many pictures as I could:



Usually when someone blinks I delete the picture, but in this one she looks like she's deliberately closing her eyes:


Obviously I have many, many more pictures from this exercise which I'll post in the near future.

Limbs, part 3

NOW, we're getting somewhere.

This time, I went out on a clear day. I found some trees early in the morning that were getting full sun. I shot the same way and made sure there were no clouds. Then in Lightroom, I converted the images to grayscale, tweaked the exposure up just a bit, and then adjusted the blue mix waaaay down. The result was a light tree against a dark sky, giving it an almost infrared look. This is very close to what I was picturing when I first had the idea.

Two things were important. First, the pictures needed to be taken within 10-15 minutes of each other to take advantage of the same light. After I did these I drove to the Heard Museum again but could not get similar results because the light had changed. Second, the sky has to be perfectly blue and clear. That makes it easier to adjust just the blue channel in Lightroom giving it that infrared look. Again, when I tried to take similar pictures at a different location, time had passed, the light had changed and the sky wasn't the same shade of blue anymore.

The only thing that bothers me with these is the the shadows being cast by other branches. Apart from that, I might have the images I need to complete the project.