Mudfest

As I said previously, we had just finished 10 straight days of rain, so the trails at In Sync Exotics were pretty muddy. It was hard to avoid at times, and I felt really bad for the girl wearing her pretty new sneakers who was trying so hard not to get mud on them.



Everyone headed back to the visitor center at the end of the tour.

Girl Scout Outing

More from the outing with my daughter's Junior Girl Scout troop. These were both taken near the end of the tour. The girls were tired, hot, and somewhat muddy (we had just finished 10 straight days of rain).

There were some very shady areas and it probably would have helped to use a flash when taking pics of the girls, but I didn't want to take it out in the mud and I was afraid that a flash that big might spook some of the cats. One tiger named Apollo gave me a big roar when I approached his cage holding the camera.

The pic below is my daughter, the same person on the right in the pic above. It seemed like when one kid crossed their arms, they all did.

Tunnel Light

This is a recent shot of my daughter taken at Adriatica. I had her stand at one of the tunnels that go under Virginia Parkway trying to get the effect of directional light.

Abby #2

Another from the same session. Mom ordered 11X14's of this picture and the previous one.

Abby

I figured I'd take a break from the graveyard stuff and post some pics from a recent shoot.

This is Abby and she didn't know she was getting her picture taken this day. Mom didn't know either...they were visiting and knew I was going to do some pictures soon, but we hadn't "officially" set a date. Surprise! They walk in and I have the studio set up. Abby had some stains on her clothes from breakfast but I took care of that in Photoshop.

I definitely like the expression and I have to give credit for this pose to Abby. She came up with this position mostly on her own...I only suggested moving her head slightly. Mom was a little annoyed about her peeling nail polish but I think it adds spontaneity to the portrait.

Brick Ledge

This is from the same session as the last post.

I also fixed my Twitter link. Thanks Michelle!

"Fix your hair, please."

I'm fortunate to have an attractive daughter that when her father says "let's go take some pictures," she's always agreeable.

This was taken in Adriatica last summer.

Chocolate Chips @ Crystal Palace

Here's one from last year I recently rediscovered. Julia eating a cookie at the Crystal Palace in Disney World. I don't think she finished the cookie. She never does.

Natural Light

This is from last summer.

I noticed right around 7PM our family room was getting some good light from the setting sun. I set up a black background, had my daughter put on a black top and sat her with the windows to her right. I also shot at a really wide angle (18mm) and at f3.5 which is as fast as that lens can go. ISO 200, 1/60 sec. No flash.

I really liked the lighting I was able to get and I found that natural light is a lot easier to work with than artificial light when you're converting an image to black and white.

Cut-Offs

I don't usually like brick backgrounds, but on this particular day the light was good and I had about 20 seconds to get the shot.

My daughter was about to leave for school and came out wearing these cut-off shorts. They looked like ones that you buy in the store that are made to look like you cut them yourself, with loose threads hanging off, etc. But these actually were home made cut-offs. I asked my daughter to come stand under our front archway and I took 3 fast shots. I chose this one because she moved her hand up closer to her face.

WANTED! part 2

BOOT SCOOTIN' JAMBOREE was the name of the event. The folks at one of the elementary school in town, including the PTO, teachers, staff and volunteers, did an unbelievable job. I was hired to take the pictures to be placed in the WANTED frames that I talked about here.



My setup was the usual 2 softboxes. The background was already provided, and it was more than I could have hoped for (and better than anything I could have thrown together). An old shed with a wooden fence, haystacks, a saddle, etc. All the kids really wanted to sit on the saddle but it was not steady on the fence, so I limited it to kids who were under school age.

It was a pretty steady crowd for the 2 hours I was scheduled, but was still half expecting to sell more portraits than I did considering 500 tickets were sold.  I've been working these types of events for a couple of years and I've definitely seen a decrease in the number of pictures people seem to be buying since the economy got into trouble.  I'm still appreciative for the business I did get and will definitely do more of them. Hopefully it will lead to a few extra clients.

Frontiers of Flight

The Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas is an assembly of artifacts celebrating the history of flight. My son and I were there once 3 or 4 years ago for someones birthday party but we never made it back with the family.

There are some interesting artifacts, several restored aircraft, some replicas..etc. Worth the admission price ($8.00 for adults, $5.00 for kids). My kids have been to some fantastic museums in the past, not to mention both the Kennedy Space Center in FL and the Johnson Space Center in Houston, so they've seen it all. Not sure what they were expecting, but I think this one left them a little disappointed. Still, plenty of interesting things to see.

The lighting actually wasn't bad for pictures, but like I've mentioned before, the Nikon D80 has severe limitations when it comes to low light. I used my 50mm f1.8 while we were indoors and got a few interesting shots, but the low light shots are far too grainy. I didn't push my ISO past 300.



The museum is located right next to Love Field so the kids enjoyed watching planes come and go from the parking lot. There's a wire mesh fence dividing the museum parking lot from the airport.

At first this pic looks like she's jumping, but she's actually trying to balance herself on one of parking space dividers while carrying a toy plane she bought inside.

WANTED!

Next week I'm doing a shoot at an elementary school dance. It's going to be a "western" theme and they wanted the pictures to look like "wanted" posters. Since I only offer 4X6's at these events it was a challenge figuring out exactly how to pull this off. I managed to locate some frames on line that already said "wanted" on them. The only additional thing I would need to do is give the pictures an antique look.

I wanted to try one picture before the event so I have something to show potential customers. The sun was a concern, but this was only supposed to be a throwaway that I could use to see how the pictures would look in the frame.

At first I took about 15 pictures of my daughter wearing a cowboy hat and then sent her on her way. Then I realized there was no memory card in the camera (OOPS). I called her back to do it again and she was a bit irritated with me. I quickly took 6 more shots (WITH the memory card this time) and managed to get this pose from her. I told her to look like a mean criminal and I think it was easy since she was already mad at me.

I edited the picture and put it inside one of the frames I'll be using at the event. Below is the result.

More B&W Please

It occurred to me while I was reviewing my past blog entries that although I market myself primarily as a "black & white" photographer, I haven't been posting nearly enough black & white pictures to this blog. My website is all black & white and it's a niche I like sticking to. I do plenty of color also and most of my clients get a mixture of both color and black & white. Still, if I want people to see the work I enjoy doing the most, I should probably start posting THAT work with an occasional color picture.

Anyway, the pic above was taken during spring break last year at Disney's Animal Kingdom. This is my son, then age 12. He was in a playground area sitting in a jeep that was converted into a piece of playground equipment. He wasn't expecting me to take a picture which is how I was able to catch this expression.

Here's another taken moments later...his expression now says it all...

Spring Break

Spring break crept up on us this year. Usually we plan one of our two annual family vacations during spring break while the kids are out of school. I didn't even start thinking about it until two weeks ago or so. I can't take all of the blame though...my wife also knew this time off was coming. Due to the uncertain economy and my wife's employer being unwilling to commit to letting her have off for specific days, we made no plans.

Last year this time we went on a big week-long trip to Disney World and visited my family who live in the Orlando area. That was quite an excursion and I have the pictures to prove it. Maybe a later blog entry...

Anyway, Monday the 16th was the first "official" day of no school for the kids. My wife, always the one to keep the kids as busy as possible, made them each a "to do" list so they didn't get too bored too quickly. By 12:30 there was only one thing left on both of their lists..."walk the dog." So the three of us took the dog down to a nearby park. I brought along the camera and grabbed a few pictures. Totally wrong time of day to be trying to take good pictures due to the strong mid-day sun, but who cares..it's spring break!

My biggest fan

She got this from me.

When the kids were little I could never resist talking into a fan to alter my voice. They would always laugh and want to try it too. Now they're older and I need to be more creative to get a laugh out of my kids, but that doesn't stop them from taking my old habits to the extreme.

Shot with my 50mm at f1.8, 1/50 sec ISO 100.

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!

Shooting kids (with a camera)

I’ve found that the trick to getting good photos of kids is to just take zillions of pictures of them. Maybe not a zillion, but at least 100 per shoot. Kids won’t do what you ask them 90% of the time, so 90% of your pictures will be unusable. If you take 100 pictures, that’ll give you 10 good ones, and out of those 10 maybe 2 really good ones.

My 18 month old nephew Chase was the perfect example. I chased Chase (ha ha) around the house for a good long time just snapping away. He was not at all interested in having his picture taken or even sitting still for a minute. I took just about 100 pictures and ended up with 5 that I thought were really good. My favorite is the one pictured above. I was using my Nikon D80 with 50mm f1.8 lens and shot wide open with natural light the whole time. This one was done at 1/800 shutter speed and ISO 100.

And that’s another trick…a fast shutter speed to catch the expression. Kids won’t do any one thing for too long and their expressions change every ½ second. You have to keep shooting until you catch the right expression. After I hear the shutter click I immediately refocus and recompose, holding the shutter button down half way, and just wait for the right moment. Of course, once he moves, I have to refocus and recompose.

Some friends asked me to take a picture of their two boys (ages 6 and 4) sitting on the back of their ’63 Thunderbird during the holidays. These two were no different than my nephew, especially the 4 year old. Although they knew and understood why I was there, they still goofed off a lot. This is what kids do and I was expecting it. So I got in position and just started firing away. I took a total of 92 pictures and got two good ones.

The car was parked in their garage and I wanted to eliminate some of the clutter so I used the patch tool and the clone tool in Photoshop to clean it up, added the vignette and then fine tuned it in Lightroom. Below are the before and after results. I again used my 50mm f1.8 at 1/30 sec.





It’s also important to point out that digital photography makes this kind of shooting possible. I could never do this with a film camera (unless I had an endless supply of free film) and of course the touch ups are done digitally also.