Sunday, December 31, 2006
Every couple of years I believe the city or some group arranges to have some artists create their version of some sculpture topic. The last one were the orcas in the city and this year the spirit bears were created. At the end of the exhibit, the sculptures are auctioned off and the proceeds donated to charity.
The Central Branch of the Vancouver Public Library is an architectural wonder imo. It looks so much like a Roman building. It was moved from the old library on Burrard and Robson years ago. A huge building with many library facilities it is always packed with people. Some facts about this building: http://www.vpl.ca/branches/LibrarySquare/misc/faqcen.html#HowDid .
Granville Island has so many subjects to shoot. There is the buildings, the market, the colors, the little designs like this and the landscapes. I am here a lot mostly because my 2 daughters have their dance classes at the Arts Umbrella. It works out real well as it gives me a quick break to take shots and experiment.
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Boxing Day Ritual
LOL> My daughter and I went to Best Buy at 5:30am this morning. By that time the line had snaked its way around the block. Getting in was no problem and inspite all the people getting help from a salesman wasn't that difficult. The cashier line was a bit long but we got out in reasonable time. Damage just to experience this ritual - a Canon Selphy DS810, a Toshiba DVD Recorder and an IPOD Case. There was a Canon IP6600D display item) for 99.99 that I was tempted to buy but what would I do with 2 of them?
Sunday, December 24, 2006
This photo involves the technique of setting the camera white balance to incandescence which turns the daylight background to blue. A gel filter is then used with the flash that cancels out the white balance and makes the close objects properly white balanced. I read about this technique in a couple of places...a website that expounds on his lighting techniques and coincidentally a book I stumbled on at Kerrisdale Cameras and just had to purchase. I actually bought 3 books, a book on printing which is kind of obtuse (the printing process, not the book), a book on fashion photography in which I read about this technique and a book on portrait photography. I have nearly finished the fashion photography book and hope to start on the portrait book next. Maybe I am just postphoning the difficult one...printing how-tos but I have to bear down on this someday. I need to be able to consistently produce quality images from my inkjet printer.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
young violinist
The Christmas season is upon us. The stores are advertising heavily to get the customers in. The shows are starting up and Ashley and her music class went to the Oakridge Mall and performs Christmas Carols on the violin. An enjoyable event...
Getting close to Christmas. I was experimenting with Flickr toys and my new Canon IP6600D printer and I think the results are awesome. I generated calendars which I printed and will give to close family and friends this Christmas. I figure this was better than giving away tacky presents. The inks and paper cost a ton but it's still better than buying the equivalent presents. I hope I learn how to do proper print processing someday. There are some intricacies I still don't understand. A Spyder 2 has helped with the monitor callibration but sometimes the colours don't come out the way they are supposed to come out. The B&W are printing beautifully in a sense but they are not true b&w. Sigh...more work. I also created versions in my smugmug account and will send the link to our family and friends. They will be able to print off the site on their own computers.
Saturday, December 09, 2006
I joined a group of photographers who belong to flickr and a group that arrange photoshoots on a regular basis. Today's photoshoot was at the Vancouver Aquarium. I came dressed to the hilt and sweated inside the aquarium. I was unsure of what equipment to bring but I didn't want to lug everything so I brought what I thought I needed. It was a learning experience. The most basic mistake I made was to shoot sideways at the glass which resulted in blurry pictures. Shooting with the 50 F1.4 meant a narrow DOF which also resulted in some blur. Using a flash resulted in harsh effects and some of the light bouncing back into the lens so I stopped using it. I also later found out that the glass and water cuts down on the amount of light so some compensation is required. The belugas, dolphins, seals etc were a bit far so I was sorry I left the 80-200 lens at home. I hope to get another chance again soon.
headshots
Alyssa volunteered me to do headshots of all the kids going on the Russia Tour (choir, strings and band). It was an overnight request so I had to rush and get all the equipment together. I also did some testing since I hadn't used the strobes for quite a while. I got them all into a big plastic container, my carry-on bag and then had to just lug the stands any way I could. It was a bit tiring and when the majority of the kids came it was shot after shot after shot. The best part of the shoot was after everyone was finished and the kids started to mess around in the front of the camera. That was fun. PP wasn't. I shot the kids wide since I didn't know what kind of pictures they wanted and then provided the originals and a closely cropped version. It turned out that they wanted the cropped version which was also my preference. Later on I provided a square format which I really like but don't think will be used. This was more interesting and educational than the birthday party. I am looking forward to doing more portraiture.
birthday shoot
I accepted a friend's request to shoot here 60th birthday celebration. These events are a bit of a challenge creatively as most are just photos of the guests with the celebrant. The best pictures I was able to do were of the kids, both the grandkids and kids. Post processing took a lot longer than I expected as it appears no matter how much you study and practice using flash, you will always just be a bit off. I used Gary Fong's diffuser which helped the photos more consistent but it still required adjusting pics. Part of the problem is I discovered that I have a tendency to knock the camera dials and mess up the settings. Bummer.
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