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.

See and read more...

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.
See and read more...

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.
See and read more...

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.
See and read more...

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.
See and read more...

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.
See and read more...

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.

See and read more...