Boys And Their Toys

Of course there are no toys in this shot, at least none that the viewer can see. The "toys" are mine. Santa brought me a couple of new pieces of photo gear and I finally got a chance to try them out today.

First was a Honl 1/4" Speed Grid. A speed grid is an attachment that goes on the front of a speedlight strobe and looks somewhat like a honeycomb. The light passing through the honeycomb grid forms a circular light with soft fall off around the edges. In this shot, the speed grid is positioned to the far right of the subject and you can see how his face and upper torso are evenly lit, with the light level softly tapering off from his arms and downward.

The second toy is a Wescott Apollo 28 soft box. In this case the soft box is positioned to the immediate left of camera and providing fill for the main light coming from the speed grid.

Both have a distinct advantage over umbrellas by way of controlling light spill. Where as umbrellas tend to throw light all over the place, both the speed grid and the Apollo 28 softbox provide much more directional control and the ability to feather the edge of the light where you want. In this shot for instance, I have my lens bumped right up against the edge of the soft box in order to get it as near to on-axis as possible. I could never do that with an umbrella because it would end up spilling light and flaring into the lens.

I'm looking forward to doing a whole lot more shooting with these in the next few weeks.
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There's No Place Like Home For The Holidays

My wife and I are pretty much empty nesters now. The oldest lives with his wife and new baby in Lawrence, KS. The younger two are in college about 7 hours away. One graduates this spring and both have many post-college prospects and plans so I don't expect to see much of them after school is done. So holiday time is a blessing for us since it's about the only time we get them all together in one place now.

I planned this shot using Strobist David Hobby's tutorial on holiday lights. After looking at the shots I realized I didn't get the sky line above the house so I missed out on some of that deep blue action you get by setting the white balance on the camera to tungsten.

With the WB set on tungsten, I had to color correct the flashes so they didn't turn the kids blue. The main light, which is in a shoot through umbrella to camera left, has a full CTO orange gel on it that turns it to the same color as tungsten light. The rim light to rear camera right also has a gel - generic amber since I didn't have another CTO gel.
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Christmas Was Made For Children

What a joyous Christmas this year! My precious little grandson, Hudson, is celebrating his first Christmas. He and my daughter-in-law have come home a few days ahead of my son. The "cute baby in front of the tree with the Santa cap" shot is, of course, probably one of the most overdone cliches in all of photography. But when it's your own grandson, there's simply no resisting the temptation.
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The Evening Watch

It's not often you see a deserted beach in Florida. But drop the temperature down to about 48 degrees and crank the wind up a little bit, and none but the hardiest souls endure.

There have been several times in the last few weeks that I've come out of work near the end of the day, and kicked myself for not being in the right place at the right time with my camera. During these fall and winter months, the sunsets can get pretty spectacular. For starters, it's the only time of year that the sun sets over the water. Since we are on the northern Gulf coast, most of the time the sun is going doing right over the beach itself, or farther inland during the summer months as the sun moves into more northerly latitudes.

The other contributing factor is the atmospherics. I don't know all of the meteorological conditions that must be present, but the high stratus clouds that we get this time of year make for outstanding shooting opportunities.

I've taken lately to keeping a very close eye on the sky during the day and if conditions seem favorable, I try to make sure I have my camera in the car with me as the end of the day approaches.

Today was just such a day. Got to the beach about 30 minutes before sunset. I took a whole bunch of pretty typical sunset on the water pictures. And then this guy showed up. These herons that hang around our beaches and docks are pretty accustomed to people and if you move slowly you can get pretty close to them.

Fortunately I had my entire gear bag with me so I pulled out a flash unit, fitted with a Cybersync remote radio trigger, and held it in my left hand at full arms length. Took a few shots to dial in on just the right balance of flash/ambient and a good aim point. But this gentleman was very patient and cooperative, letting me shoot for about 15 minutes without hardly moving a feather.
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For Unto Us A Child Is Born

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given...and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6

I guess no photographer worthy of the title can let the Christmas season pass without the obligatory photo of something in front of the bokehed Christmas tree and lights. I chose our family nativity set for my first attempt.

I was somewhat stumped in trying to get the look I wanted. Due to the width of the tree, the size of the set, the available shooting distance front-to-back, and lack of a really wide aperture lens, I really couldn't get the background out of focus the way envisioned. In order have the tree fill the background of the nativity set I had to arrange items and select a zoom length on my lens that would only let me stop down to 5.6. I'm holding our for 2.8 from Santa this year!

To get the bokeh effect, I used the Lens Blur filter in Photoshop. This is the first time I've tried this and while the purists may turn up their noses, I think it's just fine for this particular shot and certainly a vast improvement over the out-of-camera composition that had the background in much more focus.

Lighting set up was a Canon 430EX II flash in a shoot thru umbrella to camera left to illuminate the nativity. The tree was far enough back that it got very little spill from the key light so I added a second 430EX II in a shoot through to far camera right, dialed down a couple of stops and aimed at the tree for some background fill. Every thing is topped off with a bare LP120 high and behind the subject to camera left to give some rim/backlight illumination.

May the love of Christ richly bless you and your family this Christmas season!
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On Second Thought....

... maybe I do like the beach after all.

I was coming out of a friends house this evening and saw an awesome sunset developing. But I'm 6 miles from the coast through traffic, I don't have my camera, and it looks like the sun has maybe 20 minutes before it goes below the horizon.



I ran home as quick as I could, grabbed my camera and tried to head to the beach. When it was clear I'd never get to the beach in time, I opted instead for the inland water way that seperates us from the Gulf of Mexico. A nice little park right in town, with lots of birds that have been tamed by human feeding and contact.



This guy was kind enough to pose for me.
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Fall Has Fell

For the life of me I don't know why I live near the beach. Never have been fond of it. My house is 5 miles from the most beautiful part of the Northwest Florida Gulf Coast and I could count the number of times I've been to the beach in the last 10 years on one hand. Something about the sand and salt that just doesn't appeal to me.

My wife and I claim we are mountain people and often joke that we should pull up stakes and move. Of course that isn't going to happen any time soon, but it's fun to imagine.

Of course, the Gulf Coast does have it's natural charms but one thing that this part of the country definitely lacks is Autumn character. Most of the trees that we have here are green year round and those that aren't don't really go through much of the glorious change that is evident in other parts of the country at this time of year.

This shot isn't in the mountains. Far from it actually. This was shot in Lawrence, Kansas about 5 minutes after sun up. I had scouted this spot out while visiting my grandson and carefully watched the weather and sunrise times. After several days of heavy overcast, it seemed as if both would come together at just the right time so I got up early to be here about 15 minutes before the sun rose above the surrounding trees and started shooting.

The sun had just fully emerged from the tree line that is back over my right shoulder. I was fully expecting a glorious show when the sun hit this Fall foliage and I wasn't disappointed.
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The Giant Softbox

When you've been bitten by The Strobist bug, you sometimes get wrapped up in all the equipment and such. So much so that it's easy to forget that at it's core, The Strobist philosophy is really nothing more then thinking about and controlling the direction and quality of light.

So after you've shot a large number of frames using off-camera flash and modifiers like umbrellas and softboxes, you can start to think about and appreciate how to get the same effect when you don't have that gear available.

And there is no better soft box than the big, giant one in the sky that you get with a thinly overcast sky. No flash needed. Just get the directional light positioned for a bit of rim or back light, expose for nice, saturated colors, and fire away.

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Shooting On The Run

Learning and using off camera flash, ala The Strobist, is a great way to really ramp up your photography skills and results. The downside, if there is one, is that once you get used to the outstanding results as compared to bare, on-camera flash, you never want to go back. But that presents some real challenges when presented with a "shoot on the run" situation like you might encouter during an event like a party or reception. You obviously can't run around with a set of stands and umbrellas and then ask people to stand there while you fiddle with the gear and set the exposure. You've got to be able to shoot quickly and move on.

I was presented just such a challenge recently when my new grandson came for a visit. I wanted to have the camera ready and be able to fire in an instant, but couldn't mess with hauling all of the Strobist gear around.

So the night before, I rigged up a DIY bounce card, which consisted of a 5X8 index card, with a few large holes cut in it. I flipped the flash head straight up and attached the bounce card so that most of the light went up to the ceiling, with the perforated bounce card catching just enough residual light to provide some near-on-axis fill. This is a fast improvement over ceiling bounce alone, which tends to create some darkish shadows around the eye sockets and under the nose and chin.

I also bungied a Cybersync flash trigger to the flash so I could hold it off camera at about arms length away. Getting the flash off the lens axis gives a little more form and depth to the light, rather than that typical harsh, washed out look that bare, on-camera flash results in.

To finish the prep, I spent about an hour experimenting with various aperture, shutter and shooting distance combinations to come up with an optimal set that would let me shoot from about 7-8 feet away without having to make any exposure adjustments at the camera. Any minor discrepancies were such that I could fix in post processing.

Now I was ready for Hudson's arrival. Although I shot a lot of typical candid group shots during the week, the two shots in this post were my best keepers and speak volumes to what you can do to get the best of both worlds with a simple set up - namely the beauty of off camera flash and the flexibility to shoot and run.

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A Room With A View

The third Strobist Boot Camp assignment is to shoot an interior residential space. This is the den in my home. The wood floors were installed by yours truely a few months ago. This was a tough room to shoot. The fireplace obviously needs to be the focus of any shot of this room. Getting lights positioned so they aren't actually in the frame or flashing hot reflections off the glass in the doors was the first challenge. Second challenge, totally self imposed, is I don't have a wide angle lens. I would like to have given this a little "grander" feel with a wider view but this was as wide as I could get with my equipment.

My food product shoot got one of David's "Good job!" remarks. Although I didn't make the top 10 finalists, getting a thumbs up out of a group of 800+ was still pretty cool for me. If I do as well with this one, I just don't know what I'll do with myself.

Update

No joy from David on this shot. I was a bit luke warm on it myself but I found this to be incredibly difficult.
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An Instrument of Praise

Gena is a dear friend and neighbor. She plays piano at our church and we've lived right around the corner from her for about 15 years. Our kids grew up knowing each other and hanging out together.

Gena has been teaching piano in her home for many years. Her brother is also an accomplished pianist and recently decided to "upgrade" his instrument. This Yamaha baby grand was his piano before his recent purchase. It now graces the front room of Gena's home and her students have a really outstanding piano at which to sit and learn.

This was a challenging shot because the room that the piano is located in is quite small. The piano occupies at least one half to two thirds of the floor space. The location of windows and other things in the room further restrict the possible shooting angles. And the distance from the piano to the back wall is very short, making it somewhat difficult to control the light on the background.

The back wall is also just a plain white painted surface. I wanted to spruce things up just a bit so I placed a blue gelled flash down on the floor in the space between the piano and the wall and shot it downward into a large white reflecter, resulting in the blue background.
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An Unexpected Compliment

Strobist blogger David Hobby gave out the second assignment for the 2009 Strobist Bootcamp II about a week and half ago. This time the assignment was a food product shot.

I must confess that I didn't warm up to the challenge very quickly. Product photography and still lifes have never held much interest for me and I spent most of the week arguing with myself as to why I wouldn't bother with this one. But guilt got the better of me on the night before the due date and I hastily tried to put something together.

Based on what I saw of the other submissions, I thought this was pretty lack luster and while I wasn't embarassed by the end result, I also didn't think it demonstrated anything particularly noteworthy.

Low and behold, I'm looking at my Flickr account and my submission got one of David's "Nice Work!" postings. As he did on the first assignment, he goes through all 700+ submissions and any that he thinks are potential candidates for the final round get a "thumbs up" comment from him on Flickr. Needless to say a "thumbs up" or "nice work" from David Hobby is a pretty big deal to an aspiring amateur photographer and new Strobist.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll also get one of the highlights in the final results posting on the Strobist blog. But even if I don't, I'm more than content to get this nod of approval.
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Happy Anniversary To Me!

Mary Ann and I are married 31 years today! She got me some new photo gear, which I very subtley hinted at by emailing her a direct link to it on Amazon.com :) So after spending the day just hanging out together and enjoying one another, I convinced my normally camera-shy wife to sit with me for an anniversay self-portrait.

The greenery in the background is a part of about 200+ feet of skuppernong vines (that's a type of grape for those who aren't from the south) that cover most of the fence around our back yard. We also have a free standing arbor full of them that is about 30 feet long and 8 feet high. We've taken many a prom, graduation and family holiday snapshot in front of these.
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Strobist Boot Camp II

David Hobby, who runs The Strobist blog, sponsors the Strobist Boot Camp. Participants are given a real world shooting assignment and must go out and plan, execute, and submit a photograph according to David's specifications. Since The Strobist is all about creating world class photographs with small, portable, speedlight flash units used off camera, the assignment will usually revolve around solving some lighting challenge. After all the submissions are in, David uses his blog to showcase and comment on the best examples from all of the completed assignments.

David just started up a new Boot Camp session for Summer 2009, Strobist Boot Camp II. The first assignment is a head and shoulders portrait. For this assignment, David suggested shooting someone who needs a portrait as part of a job search. This is the portrait I shot for my friend Tom as my submission for the first assignment of the current Strobist Boot Camp session. Tom and his wife Linda retired as public school teachers and have taken up a second career doing event vidoegraphy and photography.

One of the things that has really gotten me reengaged in photography is the Strobist phenomenon. It's a photography movement created by photojournalist David Hobby, and dedicated to teaching the tools and techniques of world class photography using small, portable, off-camera flash units. David's blog, The Strobist, is one of the most popular and highly regarded photography-related web sites in the world. David literally gives away his many years of knowledge and experience for free through his blog. If you're not already plugged in to The Strobist, I highly recommend you dive in.
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My First Real Gig

After the pictures I took of my new grandson Hudson had made the rounds to my wife's friends and co-workers, one of them asked if I would shoot her and her daughter. Sandra is a single mom from Columbia. I was happy to do this shoot for her at no cost just so I could get some experience with outdoor portraiture, which is a new area of photography for me and one I am really developing a keen interest in.

I had a great time shooting Sandra and her daughter Melissa and learned a ton in the process.

One of the techniques I learned from The Strobist blog was using flash to shoot against the glow of the setting sun. This shot of Melissa is one of my all time favorites. Several people have said she looks like she's standing in front of a painted backdrop.



These are just a small sample of a couple hundred frames we shot that day in various areas around a local waterfront park.

And adding to the day...

We had an unexpected bonus shooting opportunity this day as well. A young lady whom I'd never met before accompanied Sandra on the shoot. Lindsey was just a friend along to accompany Sandra and Melissa for the day. She was a great help during the shooting session, pitching in to help move equipment, hold light stands in the wind, coach mom and daughter in posing, etc.

During the course of conversation I learned that Lindsey's husband is in the Air Force and deployed to Iraq. So we decided right there on the spot to include her in the shoot so she could have some nice pictures to send to her husband in the desert.



Lindsey proved to be a natural in front of the camera, requiring absolutely no coaching to strike several attractive poses.

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This Is What It's All About

This is what it's all about...right here. This is the reason I picked up a camera again after all these years. The beautiful one in the picture is my brand new grandson, Hudson Patrick. The old coot is yours truly. Hudson was right at 3 weeks old when this picture was taken. Just to be on the safe side, I got my new digital camera a full 3 months prior to his expected arrival date and practiced like a mad man so I would be ready for him when the time came.



My wife and I got to spend a glorious week loving on him and were already missing him before we were half way to the airport to begin our journey back home.



I know every grandparent thinks their grandchild is the most beautiful in the world. But all of you other grandparents are just going to have to live with the knowledge that mine is.



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In The Beginning

When I first became interested in photography over 30 years ago, I gravitated to black and white images, mainly of outdoor scenary. I think I moved in that direction because the only dark room facility available to me was a black-and-white-only setup. So when I picked up a camera again, my first incliniation was to look through the view finder with the same eye.



These were the first keeper images I shot with a new Canon 40D that my wife bought me for Christmas 2008. It took me a while to develop the right skills and eye for doing the black and white conversion in PhotoShop, but these first two images now proudly grace my wall as 20X30 fine art posters.



All were shot on the grounds of the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina.



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