Dance!

It is that time of year to enjoy the wonders of dance in my house!

My daughter's dance company just put on their annual production, and it was quite nice.  Since our family moved last year before her recital in Virginia, its been two years since I was able to see her really perform.  One trick she learned this year from her teachers was to have confidence and smile while dancing.  It really made her start to glow up on stage, and display the fun she has performing.

I learned a lot this year while shooting dance.  After shooting several years at my daughter's old studio I discovered the different challenges that come from choreography styles.  In the old studio I could easily predict when a worthy frame was coming because I knew the style.  They also used a smaller stage, so formations were tighter.  Here the stage is larger, and the staff uses it.  So it looks just as nice, but as a photographer I needed more zoom than I had to get the proper elements for a good frame.  If you are going to shoot dance I will always recommend you attend a rehearsal or multiple shows before you have to get the captures you want to keep.  This way you can know your subject, lighting and the choreographers style before the big dance.  It just makes your subject and you look so much better in the end product.

That brings me to another point, lens choices for a concert or dance.  I recently sold my 50-135 f2.8 zoom.  On a crop it is a 75-203 zoom with a depth of field around 4-5.6.  For this show it would be perfect.    Since I had not replaced it yet, I was stuck with my excellent 60-250 F4, a 16-50 F2.8 and a set of primes.  The F4 would not give me enough light to capture at the proper speed to blend motion and frozen faces I like.  The 16-50 would not get me close enough this year.  Some of my best photos in previous years came from my 50-135 and my 43...one was not there and the other would not get me close enough this year because of my location choice.  So I shot with....a 100mm F2.8 macro!  Great lens, but I was really out of my mind shooting dance with it.

A few more lessons to post this week...

-ehw

When I'm a Big Girl

"Daddy when I'm a big girl..I'll play with them!"

I can only imagine what she is thinking, but I know I'm right.

I enjoy taking the advice of Scott Bourne who said shoot like a five year old...my twist is that I am looking at life like a one year old.

-ehw

Music through the looking Glass

Last night we attended the Joyful Noise Spring Orchestral Concert.  Joyful Noise is a music organization serving the musical education needs of over 300 home and charter school students in bands, orchestral, vocal, guitar and marching band. The ministry is supported gracefully by Sandy Springs Baptist Church, and is a Christ focused music organization.

While walking the halls with my one year old before the concert I was able to capture this photo.  I am fascinated by the play of glass on my image.  In this case the children of the beginning band were tuning up in the cry room, and the glass captured the reflection of the busy sanctuary where people were waiting, music stands awaited a musician.  Our children's teacher was helping another child with the tuning of their violin...and I tried to capture that whole story in the frame.

I hope you like it!

For you techies....F6.3 to get some depth in the photo, 1/50 sec @ ISO 1600.  I used a 35mm Macro so 1/50 was the slowest I could go to prevent shake on a Pentax K-5 APSC sensor. Post processed in OnOne Perfect Suite.

-ehw

More Spring

Spring continues to explode in color around the yard...so far this is one of my wife's favorites.  So much so she pulled a few for the kitchen table!

-ehw

Airport Survival

This is how one can keep a happy face after getting up at 4AM make a 7:10 flight...only to find it cancelled and you get rewarded with a five hour delay going home...

Free refills helps the attitude as well!

Well back to enjoying my friends as they compete for higher scores on some new game called Freeflow...some good graces come out of everything!

PS. This is not fancy coffee just the regular joe type stuff...no burn't beans here thank goodness!

-ehw

Scrub Up Sunshine!

Start your week off with a smile!  I know I'll try to!

I was just avoiding a little bit of post dinner cleaning for a few more minutes by playing with my camera...

Everything is spick and span now.  I'm in good graces with the wife and she thinks I'm a bit crazy...but says she'll keep me another week!

If I scrub up myself up that is...

PS Techies...just a simple shot using my X20 in one of the filers called dramatic tone. I think it has its uses.

-ehw

Saturday Morning Glory!

A week after I bought these flowers for my lovely wife, they are entering their full bloom.  So I just had to share a quick photo of them outside in the lovely morning light.

This week my devotional had many references to the Glory of God...his rising and the message of hope he brings precisely because he is now risen and on the unstoppable road to full glory in heaven with the father.

I must admit that after many weeks of Lent, and very contemplative devotionals this is quite a drastic change.  Lent forced me to be introspective, and  contemplate my weaknesses which could prevent me from reaching full communion with Christ.  So the celebration this week still has me wondering if I can meet the challenges ahead.  Can I obtain this rather incredible reward Christ offers us all?

These flowers though can teach a lesson about natural law we are all called to follow.

Even in the ground attached to their roots, these flowers were destined to die.  Once cut their death will be accelerated.  But if cared for with nutrients and sunlight they to can go out achieving their mission of full bloom pollination.  How does this relate to us?  We are all destined to die.  All of us walk off the path of goodness from time to time...and that hurts our growth.  Christ's gift to us in this Easter is that if we look back to his word, pay our penance, and move back to the living water we can still reach heaven.

I'll pray today that we all can find the living water we need to make the goodness grow to full potential in each of us.

-ehw

Easter Child in Motion

Easter is not a static event.  One must cover the sport as well as you do the church events!

Tracking motion is hard.  I need more practice.  The basics are to set the shutter speed lower than freezing the major motion.  In this case I went down to 1/80 of a second.

You then have to track the subject, and capture the part you want to see in focus because it is moving inside that focus plane.

With the number of kids floating around here you'd think I'd be in better practice!

-ehw

Big Kid Now

In the joys of everyday life...keeping a camera on hand lets you turn a moment into a memory.

Here is my youngest playing in the big kid area for the first time.  For all she concerned she is flying to the second star to the left and on 'till dawn.

Yep..that is something I don't want to miss.

As for cameras...I will attempt to write a review about this little Fujifilm X20.  After a few days getting to know this little guy, I learned there were a few things I needed to take control of.  Well now I am really happy with it's results as a large P&S.  This is a shot with in-camera B&W with a crop and minor tweak in lightroom.

No DSLR replacement or large sensor replacement...but really capable and if you take control of the camera.

-ehw

Will You Help Him?

On his way to the cross Veronica reached out to help Jesus.  Most of us today can not fathom the bravery it took to do this act of mercy.

Remember the crowd was frenzied.  The governing powers led poor in spirit around like sheep.  Any sympathy to Jesus could lead to an enforcement gang immediately targeting you for death as well...without a trial and rather brutally..especially if you were a woman.

When you accept the call of Christ, you must live it out by both in your heart and in your deeds.

Jesus dined with sinners yes, but he called them to repent in their hearts live it in their actions.  I submit to you he is calling each of us as well...

So to build his kingdom on earth we are called to be like Veronica.  We are called to risk our lives to help Christ build his kingdom.

A quick look at the television today shows us the dangers that lie in wait for us...false accusations, projections, and yes even physical violence if we preach for and walk with Christ.

Will you take the risk to walk with Christ like Veronica?  Or will you hide in the shadows?

As Easter Monday rises...what will your choice be?

-ehw

PS Techies...this was taken with a little Fujifilm X-20.  Nice little camera.  Converted to B&W in OnOne Perfect B&W

He is Risen! He is Risen indeed!

 

After watching the altar stripped and made bare on Thursday, it was so refreshing to come back and see it set to celebrate his rising!

The contrast between Thursday's post and today's could not be greater.  As a photographer, much of my mind is constantly searching the world in front of me for a composition.  Something in the daily course of life that tells a story.

Friday while at Stations of the Cross, with the bare sanctuary I remembered the lessons of black and white photography.  In B&W you strip something normal from the picture, in this case color.  This absence of color subconsciously forces the viewer to look for patters, form, contrast changes and ask why something familiar looks different.  Good B&W artwork lets you appreciate the world in a way you never could before because of the forced re-examination of the "normal."

For three days I forced myself see the world differently and I heard it in my devotional.  I took home lessons I was not ready to receive at different points in my life...and have a new set of challenges I hear Christ calling me to rise myself up to.

I hope you have a good Easter celebration today, and accept whatever challenges God has set before you to come closer to him and his people.

-ehw

The Way of His Cross

It was all done to save each of us...the pain...the suffering...the perfect sacrifice of God's only son as ransom for our lives.

Through the suffering he delivered his last sermon.  He demonstrated his love for us while he lived out the ancient prophecies.

Now we have a long night to contemplate the way of the cross...and if we will begin accepting its calling to change our lives.

-ehw

Prayers for Jack Please!

I'd like to ask a great favor from everyone who sees this blog over the weekend.  It involves prayers for a very good man and his wife.

We honored WWII veteran Jack at our little Cub Scout Veteran's Day ceremony back in November.  He's 90 now, but in this photo you see 17 year old Jack in the US Navy at the end of World War II on his Destroyer Escort.  A very little tin can that floated all over the Atlantic Ocean protecting troopships and the merchant marine from submarine attacks.

Jack sits right behind us at church every week with his lovely wife Ann....and he got charmed by my toddler every week for the past year until about five weeks ago.

Concerned that I had not seen him or his wife, I found his number an called this week to make sure everything was ok.  Unfortunately Jack fell, and was in the hospital for 11 days.  Now he is in a rehab facility trying to get out and home.

His wife is exhausted, but she shared with me that she could tell people like myself were praying for them when they were not at church.  She felt the prayers were what was giving her the strength to keep up her care for Jack in the long days since his fall.

To help with get some extra prayer support please say a prayer and "like" this page.  On Easter Monday I would like to give Jack and Ann a simple present.  A long list of people who are praying to God for their continued strength as they continue their loving example as a married couple working through the challenges of life.

Thank You for a even a moment of prayer for this good family to help them keep living out their faith.

-ehw

Fun Work!

I had a chance to have some fun today while doing a quick job for a friend.

My friend's wife runs probably the most awesome seconds store I've ever seen, and they needed some photos made up for their new website.

So after taking photos of the store i got some environmental shots, and this cool red animal just stuck itself out at me wanting its photo taken.  It was also saying. "Take me home to Kevin."  I was able to satisfy the photo craving without adding to the extensive at home stuffie collection.

I'm still not sold on Lightroom as the be all, end all of photo organizing.  It certainly has a lot of rough edges left, and need for speed improvements in other areas where Aperture still shines (yep that Aperture).  It does however have one killer tool everyone should try....CLARITY.  It helps with sharpening and contrast.  It is just awesome.

So that is what I'd like to share tonight...try clarity!

PS:  If you need seconds for children in Roswell go to Ladybugs and Lizards in historic Roswell!

-ehw

Published on Bill Fortney!

 

Hey Hey!

My friend Bill Fortney just published one of my HDR photos to illustrate how you can use various types of tripods to get "surprising" shots.

To check it out please go here!   http://billfortney.com/?p=7863

In this photo I wanted to try and see what motion would look like in an HDR photo.  In my first attempt the exposures were way to long, and the trains actually disappeared.  So unlike my other HDR where I kept the ISO down at 80, these are way up at 1600.

And in my final photo of the day I wanted you to see what it looks like when a group photo is requested...and you get a lonely tripod field of dreams...

If you get a chance do attend a His Light Workshop!  It is so much more than the photos!

-ehw

Field of Dreams

Went out to test a new camera tonight....a Fujifilm X20.  Out of the box, with no manual read yet...all I can say is that for a point and shoot I am amazed.  Almost able to do sports photography AT NIGHT!

I picked up this camera as a go everywhere camera.  I really enjoyed the X10, but this new camera has a viewfinder which actually works.  I can read focus point and other information inside the viewfinder.

There are a lot of other little improvements I still have to learn, but so far so great.

For this photo I shot it in color, and converted it to B&W in Perfect Suite's B&W.  I used a full dynamic range B&W conversion, and loved what I saw on the big screen in terms of available range and detail.

So far highly recommended....just too tired tonight to write or think any harder.

-ehw

Game on!

T-Ball season is on!  I've been moving up the baseball chain with my older son, and now its time for my younger son to join in the games.

This is a typical early season sight...multiple players creating a scrum for the baseball...oh that's a rugby term?  Well it might as well be rugby for the first few weeks.

By the end they will start actually making a few plays..that is just the way it is.

So the challenge for the photographer is finding the scene which captures the love of this new game...with the innocence of youth springing forth in boundless energy.

In all, it is a wonderful journey to take frame by frame.

Because in a blink of an eye they will be....ready to fly away.

-ehw

Self Portrait

Just had such a fun time this weekend, that I also snapped a quick one of me that actually came out alright...

I will not make self portraits a habit, but for a change up I wanted to toss it in.

-ehw

Bel Air Glamor

One of the effects of HDR photography is also to bring out textures and color in a very realistic way.

I took this photo and had some fun with it in HDR Efex Pro 2, then ran it through Color Efex 4.  Sharpened to taste and called it a day.

RC Conception pointed out to us on the second night that the purpose of HDR is to get a good product to finish in post processing.  He found many people shot, process and don't finish.

It would be like writing the first acts of a play, and then walking away from the final act.

I called this Bel Air Glamor because the Glamor Glow filter seems to be all the rage in many a circle today, and I wanted to try it out for myself.

If you want to see some really extraordinary HDR check out both RC Conception's website and Jim Begley's.  Both are true master artists with this technique.

Check them out at www.aboutrc.com and www.wowphotoshdr.com.

-ehw

-ehw

Mail Time!

Day Three at the Old Car City HDR Workshop took us to the Duluth, Georgia Southeastern Railway Museum.  Twenty six photographers danced their way through this car...which except for the cooking cars was the top attraction for the day.

The team was fantastic. During the day talked gear, life, Christ, and how to get shots right in camera.  It was big boy rules, if you wanted help you got it.  If you did not want help you just shot... and shot...and shot again.

This postal car was the first scene one I wanted to process and share.

I'll write more later.  For now I wanted to let you know to keep His Light shining in your hearts and send it out for all to see.

God Bless.

-ehw