A photo taken a year ago while we were on summer vacation. We went around the Oregon Coast and this was taken one early morning when I was able to get up early to catch the sunrise while the 3 girls slept. It wasn't ideal conditions and I've processed this photo more than once. Having recently learned about light and shadow, dodge and burn, and b&w post processing, this image seemed to be a good choice.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
rugby playoffs
I went to pick up Alyssa who was taking photos for the school yearbook. I was a bit late but still managed to take some pictures. This is typical of the way my work has evolved. The photo is dark and applied a grunge effect. The players are blurred and are cropped a little from the photo and yet I like it. 6 years to learn to do it by the rules and then you start breaking all of them.
anchor
Dug this out of the archives as I was reviewing old work for making calendars. I liked the square crop which eliminated elements in the old photo that was a distractive element in the old version.
2008 Calendars
It's getting to be time to start thinking about making calendars for the coming year. I did this for the first time last year and gave them out as gifts to friends and family. They came out real well and I was quite happy to give them out as they were personally mine.
autumn colours
Have not gotten into the autumn scene until late in the season. I took a lot of shots last year so it was hard to see something different. I took these when I was watching Ashley's soccer game.
grunge 2
My first attempts at using textures to create a grunge type effect. Will need to experiment some more but compared to the original images which had just plaiin backgrounds, these look a lot better.
muddy foot
We stood in the rain for hours waiting for Ashley's cross-country race. We didn't expect her to finish among the first ones but there is a parent's pride in a child's joining in an activity that she doesn't really like and participating and finishing is a winning effort. I was proud of her today.
darkfield shot
Glasses pick up reflection like mad. I had gobos (black cards) to block out reflections as much as I could and still picked up some unwanted reflection. A clutter-free room would be a lot easier for this shot.
seeing and creating
Two modes of capturing. One is 'seen' and the other is 'created' from scratch. I have found seeing to come fairly easily now but creating photos is a different matter. Setting up the subject, background and lighting is so difficult to visualize before shooting it but I'm trying.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
portraits lighting styles
There are 3 basic lighting styles...high-key, low-key and mid-tone. Recognizing the elements that belong to each style is what determines whether it is successful or not.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
We were invited to a debut party and since they were friends I volunteered to shoot it. It was fun and a good learning experience but as all events are, it can get extremely difficult to do. I took natural light photos (view of Vancouver), balanced flash and natural light, used Gary Fong's diffuser, cross-lighting, high ISO with no flash, Nikon diffusion dome and a photo booth using a single strobe/connected to a PC/triggered remotely. I ran out of gas at the end when I could have taken better cross-lighting photos since there were less people on the dance floor to cast shadows at each other. Whew...this is a lot of work.
Strobist info: Set up a Photo Booth where people can take their own photos or with assistance from my daughters. 1 Alien Bee 400 on stand with shoot-thru umbrella placed beside the camera on the tripod. AB400 slighly higher than head height and angled down. Camera connected to laptop so that images can be downloaded straight to the laptop and reviewed after the shot. Camera triggered by wireless trigger.
Strobist info: Set up a Photo Booth where people can take their own photos or with assistance from my daughters. 1 Alien Bee 400 on stand with shoot-thru umbrella placed beside the camera on the tripod. AB400 slighly higher than head height and angled down. Camera connected to laptop so that images can be downloaded straight to the laptop and reviewed after the shot. Camera triggered by wireless trigger.
Friday, October 12, 2007
One of the basic mistakes I make is sometimes trying to get past familiarity. What we see everyday and people we know very well we tend not to see 'photographically'. I was staying at my brother's place and it was a few days befpre I opened my eyes and started shooting. I found the stairs to be interesting with the angles and the lights and shadows.
window setup
My brother, Joey, is quite a creative guy and has worked in the graphics/advertising field for many years. I wish I could hang around him more as I learn the nuances of photography. I discovered he had collected some bottles bought from old and used stores (50cents). He had it set up on the window and we did a little experimentation with the light. We did this with the intention of blowing the highlights and after a few shots we got the results we wanted. What it taught me was that blown highlights aren't necessarily a bad thing and if used properly can make for a more effective photo.
Friday, October 05, 2007
alien tomato
I took this photo at my sister's house in Port Washington. It's a kind of milestone I think as I would never have created an image like this before. I like the b&w, the blown highlights. I used flash on this and also a piece of white paper to reflect some light back to the front of the tomato to lessen the dark area.
bump in the road
Just fooling around while waiting for my Mom to finish her shopping. Spotted my shadow while sitting down so I played around. I'm here in Port Washington, NY to visit my Mom who was unable to visit us in Vancouver. I miss my 3 girls as I am not away much from them. I have also discovered that I have a blocked artery when I failed my stress test. It makes me even more uncomfortable to be away from home. Hopefully it will be fixed without too much impact but it will still mean that I won't be able to live 'normally' until it is fixed. Fortunately medicine is in such a state that angioplasty and bypass procedures are routine procedures. Meanwhile I sit and wait until my cardio appointment.
I love the twilight. It took me a long time to get to taking photos during the twilight hours as I thought photography was over after the sun had set. I find I take just as much after sunset as during sunset now. It's been a while since I've been able to take photos around sunset and I really do miss it. It's just that our driving schedule just didn't fit it.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
There is a couple of night markets around the Vancouver area. One is at the Chinatown area at Pender and Main but the bigger one is in Richmond where we usually go to. The market is crowded with people shopping for bargains and various food dishes. It's quite fun and if you arrive at the last hour the food goes on sale as they have to be sold or otherwise thrown away.
light: science and magic
Experimenting with light. Camera set in one place and moving the light around.
soccer sunday
The soccer season started today and both my daughters are playing. Fortunately their schedule today was staggered enough that I could drive them to their games and still watch some of the game. The younger ones played in a dirt field due to the strike and there sure was a lot of dust stirred up.
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