people pics

This boy makes a good subject. (I have his dad's permission to post the pic.) I know that the photographer is supposed to make the subject feel comfortable, but it was the opposite with him. I asked, "would you stand by that tree? on the other side? come out a little more. now step back just a smidge... He let me tell him how I wanted him to stand on a nearby fence, and let me take several photos with the sun behind him, as I messed around with the flash. He was so accomodating, and put me at ease from the start. When I looked at this picture, I got to feeling pretty competent.

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Ha! Then I asked a visiting telecommuter if I could take her picture. She said yes, but I felt sooooo uncomfortable. I don't know why, but the creep-o-meter was off the scales. My confidence waned to zero. (I don't know why--it didn't make any sense.) She asked what I was going to use the picture for, and I didn't have the heart to tell her, "probably nothing, because most of what I take is thrown away." The LCD screen was dark, but I didn't want to take any more time to fix the lighting, so I told them (2 coworkers) thanks, and crawled back into the hole that is my cubicle. That is all.

say cheese

Two long tables had been joined together for a chili cookoff. These are the kinds of competitions a person can really sink his teeth into! It is critical to take small portions, especially if you want to taste as many varieties as possible. Instead of serving one bowl, I carefully grabbed a bowl AND a cup in the same hand... that way would spend less time waiting in line. As they were making announcements and presenting the judges, I wondered if the shredded cheddar would come out okay in a photo. I went in for a macro (using a new light ring that I made myself), and I heard some people making fun of me for taking pictures of cheese.

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Pfft! (muttering) People.

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You know, that these are probably going to be the very people who get in a jam and need a free photographer at a moment's notice to produce "professional" looking prints and have them turned around overnight. (And I would be the guy with a camera who says yes.) They should never make fun of a guy who takes pictures of cheese? I mean, what if he really IS crazy?!!!

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I think people are difficult. What I mean is, that even though I love people (I really do), it's harder to get a good photo of them, than say a bumblebee or a flower or whatever.

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I practiced this weekend. I set up a spot with four flashes. One was a few feet to the left of the subjects, and aimed to the wall behind them. One was at the end of a stick that I held high to my left. On the right, I had a flash unit covered with tissue paper for soft fill-in. All of this was triggered by my camera's little flip-up flash, and I had wax paper in front of that, for a softening effect. I was happy with the results, but I did not have them sign model release forms, and I don't want any trouble with the stuff I publish on the blog.