recent snapshots

recent snapshots

May 29, 2013

Check out my  pals for their interpretations on this theme: Fishing Guy, Katney, Imac and Lew.  We are each doing our own thing this week, just showing recent snapshots.  Go see what my friends have been up to.

There was a lot of fun stuff going on as I have been exploring light in these shots.  The header was an experiment to see how well I could separate his dark hair from the black background, without washing out the details from his fair complexion.

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"Vadering."

 The trick shot where my daughter is using a force choke on my son, that was a combination of the right time of day (dusk) as the backlight, plus an over-head streetlight to give nice highlights in the hair, and on-camera flash for front fill.  He jumped from the concrete base of the streetlight (off-camera) to give the illusion that he had been lifted from the ground.  She is on her knees to exaggerate the height, and I shot the pic on my belly.

musician's promo pic

 A musician friend needed to put a promo package together real quick for a new project, so I tried to get an artsy kind of portrait that mixes warm, natural colors for her person, and cooler tones on the wall. She was very cooperative as we tried a bunch of "scenes" and lots of tries with different lights.

graduating from 8th grade

 My newest portrait is one that we needed for the graduates' bulletin board at church.  He's moving up from 8th grade.  This was taken with one off-camera flash high and to my left, and I held a second flash on the other side of the tree to illuminate the background.

pet project

In case you haven't met them before, allow me to present my regular pets; these are not foster pets.  Here, our dog is basking in a golden evening glow.  He likes to sit with us, or ON us.  Notice that he isn't wearing a collar.  We found that it rubbed fur off his neck, so it is only worn when he goes outside.  Our cat appears as an enigmatic shadow in most natural light pictures, but here, you can see some of his form and he was kind enough to let me snap a pic with his eyes open.

There is a corkboard in the lobby at my veterinarian's office.  It is filled with photographs of the pets who appreciate their doctor.  No, it is more than filled, because there are a bunch of new columns that have been added next to the board, with a dozen more pics were taped to the wall.  Then as we look around the other walls, we have the large professional pet shots in fancy frames.  There is a discrepancy between the kind of portraits we see in the personal shots and the higher caliber professional shots, and I would like to see if we can bridge the great gulf between them.  Here is my idea:

What if... I consolidated and simplified the most useful pet portrait tips and created a flyer for these customers to take better pictures?  I mentioned it to the folks at the clinic, and they have not expressed any opposition to it or reservations.  Especially, since it would be a free pamphlet that, once created, would be totally under their control and discretion.

Maybe I could create a checklist, and hand it to a few pet lovers as a test.  They could indicate with a checkmark, which pieces of advice they found most helpful.

What do you think?  Nobel Prize potential or a total waste of time?

mr. dave

Dear Friends, things have been crazy-busy lately! I miss our regular visits.

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Mr. Dave has done some clever things with his photography. First, he takes pictures of animals at the zoo or on a nature hike. Then, he prints them with Scripture or an encouraging saying. Then he sells them at a very reasonable price. If you buy these prints at a craft show, you'll get it framed, too. He doesn't get bogged down in high tech stuff or fancy equipment. We frequently tell each other stories about a recently captured image.

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He lives in the area. Last week, I had the chance to snap his portrait, and he gave me permission to show one of his pics. Friends, he is a man of excellent moral fiber and a likeable, genuine simplicity. (I tend to be more... complex. By that I mean that I am a meddler, and I am drawn to exploring the details. If I think something is broken, I can't resist the urge to try to fix it. It's terribly annoying; I know.) He is a Christian with a quiet spirit who models an approachable meekness. It is good to know people like that.

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Sad news came in today, Folks. Mr. Dave's dog died. I imagine this is a difficult pill to swallow. Please remember Dave in your prayers.

an angel among saints

Whew! I have been worked like a dog lately! (That makes as much sense literally, as sweating like a pig.) Gabriel, the dog in this photo is an angel in a house of saints. By way of explanation, the home is owned by godly Christians (saints), and the dog is named after an archangel. Christopher Walken played that same angel in a 1995 movie called The Prophesy, but his character was nothing like either of the other Gabriels. This dog does not work hard at all. He exists by gobbling up dog chow and tons of affection.

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But I digress. Recent events my own life seem to be accumulating exponentially, unrealistically growing into a kind of TARDIS effect, pushing more on my plate that what I can conceivably handle. What I would like to do is just sit for a while and let someone else come and scratch behind my ears, say "good boy" and toss me a treat. Is that too much to ask?

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Gotta go. Lots to do!

family portrait

One child is a missionary, visiting from another continent. Another child is an out-of-state college student. When will we see this family all together again? Nobody knows.

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The mom asked me to take a family portrait, and between everybody's hectic schedules, we only had the one opportunity, so here's what I did. I scoured the web for samples of family portraits, to see if I could get some ideas for lighting and positioning. When I went to the house, I had three rough sketches for suggested poses. This is the first time I started a project with a drawing.

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Mrs. Craver accompanied me, and was a tremendous help because she notices things that escape my attention. After I explained that I need to work on the camera settings and positioning of the flash, I said that they could relax, and I would tell them when I was ready to take the actual pictures. They ended up with three final proofs, but it took sixty shots to get there. Portraits have been my biggest photographic challenge.

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I feel pretty good about the idea to separate them into two groups. Mom & Dad are together in the foreground, and their grown children are clumped together about a foot behind them. If I had not done that, I would have dwarfed the parents, because these kids are so tall! The back wall is creme colored, or off white, but solid. I got that look by placing two incandescent lamps on the floor behind the family and two bounced flashes lit the family. What do you think... any helpful advice? What would you have done differently?

clicking with confidence

Landscapes, macro, portraits, still life, etc. It seems that most photographers can be identified in one primary style, even if they do all kinds of other stuff. I do not yet have a niche category that I specialize in. It depends on who you talk to, right now you might classify me somewhere between a clueless dabbler and a wishful perpetrator. Wherever I end up, my biggest challenge has been taking pictures of people. One way or another, the light was always working against me. Meh, who needs light, anyway! (kidding)

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When my Pentax went belly-up last week, I borrowed a friend's Canon and spent two days with them, their daughter, and my wife. Mrs. Craver suggested this pose, and helped with the reflector/diffuser, and makeup. I barely did anything, but keep on pushing the shutter release! The young lady was a fun model, and so easy to work with! All things considered, the indimidation factor was nullified, and I am pleased with the results.

absent and absent-minded

Friends, it's been way, too long. I apologize for not having visited you. I have been painfully busy, and I sure hope things settle down to a more manageable level soon.

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I do not even have a lot of photos to show for the absence, but here is one from last week.

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As usual, there is a story behind the pic. I went fishing with five kids from church. When I arrived at the desired spot, they jumped out of the minivan and started running towards the water. I called out to them and recalled the young fishermen because although I had a tacklebox and even some worms, I had forgotten all of my fishing poles!

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Okay, so we all went back so that I could retrieve the poles from my house, and then we had the normal amount of activity, helping them all get set up to fish. I began casting as well, but half-an-hour into it, a chill ran down my spine. I suddenly realized that I did not have my fishing license with me.

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Children under sixteen years of age do not need a license, so I set my pole down, and let them continue as I walked back and forth checking on them, untangling line and typical troubleshooting. My wife's camera was in the van, so I hovered over and around them, looking for a good shot.

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As the sun was setting, I was aiming to get something with a colorful background and fill-in flash. I think this was a test shot of what I was trying to get, but I played with post editing, and liked this one better.

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Oh, and as it pertains to the fish... we all got skunked!

old picture/new picture

[painting from 1982 (old picture), photo taken this week (new picture)]

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Back in 1982, I was in high school. I enjoyed art quite a bit, painting murals, and participating in the school's art club. The murals were directed by my art teacher, who was Artist-in-Residence for the city of Chicago at that time. We did Trompe l-oeil on the sides of buildings, the tallest of which five stories. That's a lot of scaffolding!

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For my own pleasure, I liked painting surrealistic images with acrylics. One Saturday afternoon I painted this picture while talking to my next door neighbor, window-to-window.

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She was sitting at the bottom of a staircase in her house, and I was in my own room. Chicago gangways are so narrow, you can stand in between and almost touch both houses at the same time. I don't remember how long it took to complete it, but the whole time, the neighbor girl sat very still, at the bottom of the stairs next door.

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I can't say for sure, but judging by how still she sat for me, I wonder if she thought I was painting a portrait of her. She was a pretty girl, and that might have made a good picture. But no, this is just your regular o'l run-of-the-mill flower pitcher with eyeballs.

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f.y.i.

To make the © symbol, hold [alt] and press 0129.

dear dad

This weekend, a family posed for portraits. It was so cool! I set everything up in a locked classroom the night before. The room had air conditioning; I played soft music; the lights and backdrops were all in place. It was as smooth and "professional" as I could reasonably expect.

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I was mainly looking for the one portrait that goes in your standard 8 x 10. You know, the family picture that goes in the living room. But as I tweaked the settings and lights (three of them wear glasses), I collected a couple dozen shots. As I posed them, the teenage daughters would ask me, "Should we smile for this one?" Every time they asked, I barked "No! Don't smile yet!" (heh heh) I think Grandpa took it seriously, because he didn't smile, except for when I asked him to.

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I picked three shots that I think accomplished what we were hoping for, but then browsed through the rest of them for fun croppings. I like this one a lot. This is because I like to give them a little more than they ask for. In this shot with Grandpa, Mom has her eyes closed, but the emotion is just right! That's a keeper.

wedding photographer

People pics have been the most challenging for me. There are so many variables... so many plates to keep spinning, do you know what I mean? It is complicated sometimes to get them to be comfortable, natural and keep a warm, genuine smile. There is an aspect of timing for the expressions, and coaching them to show them the best way possible.

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I was asked to photograph a wedding. The couple (pictured below) will be married in August, so I have plenty of time to prepare. Rather than just wing it in August, I have begun looking for volunteers to take pictures of, and even have a makeshift portrait studio. A friend gave me a backdrop and light stands, and I can set these up in one of the classrooms at church. I was surprised at how much space is needed, when you don't want to cast a shadow on the backdrop!

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Anyway, we were at a wedding reception on Saturday, and I got a few friends to come and get free pictures. This is the best (photography) of the bunch. I need a faster shutter time, because most of the pictures came out blurry from (the subject's) movement. But there was one more problem that makes me a little scared...

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Most of the pics were slightly out of focus. It is difficult to see that in the viewfinder, but it was most annoyingly obvious when I reviewed the images later on the computer. I'll have to work on that diligently for the next three months!

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.

vintage photo booth

The camera goes with me almost everywhere. Sometimes, people ask me to take their picture. I try to take more than one snapshot, because the first one is usually less than spectacular.

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On one occasion, I tried setting up a space like a traveling portrait studio. I marked an "x" on the floor, and put flashes on light stands. I was happy with this makeshift studio, because I had one strong light source, some fill-in, and no shadow on the wall behind the subjects.

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This couple on the left was special. They gave me the opportunity to try one thing after another for a total of about twenty minutes. In post-editing, I selected three poses for the finished product. I called those "primary" and retouched blemishes from the wall in the background, but I wanted to do something more for added value...

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So I made a collage of some of the "secondary" pictures. This collage is made to look like the strip you might get in a photo booth. I try to get the images where they were not ready, or blinking or clowning around. This photo strip idea has been received very well so far.

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.