Part of life if getting up after falling on our fourth point of contact....(your posterior for non-army airborne types).
I just love to remember that helping hands, no matter how small, go a long way to making life that much nicer as we recover from the falls.
-ehw
PS Just a little cell phone capture....still getting the handle on it but it was what I had on me when the moment arose!
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
Here is Friday Night Lights as I am living out right now....
My son was out in right field, and it was a long night of walks...17 of them in fact. So the only action all night long were the throws between the pitcher and the catcher.
Making the best of it I got a high vantage point in the parking lot, went as high ISO as I dared on my Pentax K-5 and shot away. I was at 1600 here and at F4.0 on my long telezoom. Pretty much convinced me that one are two artsy type shots were all I'd get last night. This would be the one reason I'd like a fancy full frame sensor...but I don't have the extra five thousand to get the body...not to mention more to get the right lenses.
When you got what you got, you just need to work that gear to the max...work your technique and make art with the scene God gave you.
Amazing how everything in photography is a microcosm of life!
-ehw
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
A lovely day to shoot in Northern Georgia..Day Two of His Light's Old Car City HDR Workshop.
Check out www.billfortney.com to see what it is all about...It is heaven sent for photos and the soul.
More later..in class now!
-ehw
Heading back into the evening class...put wanted to post something from this morning. Six miles of trails and seventy years of cars to photograph! I only covered two small yards so far, and they are full of fun shapes and images just crying to be photographed. I am of course the only Pentax shooter here! So my stuff does not get borrowed much for some reason.
Getting ready for critiques tonight and learning from what I've done and failed to do...
More tomorrow!
-ehw
I arrived and met the gang of His Light Photographers...
This weekend will primarily be an HDR photograph weekend. That means multiple exposures with the same aperture which over and under expose the image. This batch of photos becomes data for combination into a single image. A program will merge the images, taking the best exposed parts of each exposure and make them one photo.
Why do this? Well a camera, even the best camera built, still cannot see what your eye sees in one frame. So to replicate what your eye sees you need merge a few frames and make and HDR to capture the dynamic range of light that is actually right in front of you...if you look hard enough.
If you want to know what is going on, and the program...I'll fill you in a bit over the next few days. Until then check out
www.billfortney.com and see what it is all about.
-ehw
Driving to work today I swung by the airfield to see Memphis Belle on her annual visit to Atlanta.
She will fly over my office a few times during her visit, and the roar is tremendous. I cannot image the site of a 1,000 plane raid, with hundreds of fighters darting around guarding the flock.
This aircraft was also the first plastic model I ever built, with my Dad after my first communion. It hung over my bed for years with doors open suspended by fishing line.
I'll post a few variations of the photo to show the effects of creating a black and white from this image...but today I just wanted to imagine walking out to the flight line on a cold English morning and getting ready to risk my life fighting for freedom in the skies of Europe.
-ehw
What kid does not like Power Rangers? Heck I like them when I was a kid listening to them in Japanese in an Army Post in Japan in 1982!
Well I needed to practice with my flash and lighting this weekend and I wanted to try blowing out a background with a color gel. So I got a few willing volunteers to hop in and play Pink, Green and Blue Rangers. This is one of the final shots.
Set up? Standard camera with short zoom. One constant florescent into and umbrella to the left of the picture in front of my son. One medium strength flash fun on manual set behind my son on a flash stand with a green gel. Remote trigger via a radio popper.
When it fires it gives me a pretty well blown out set of white double doors acting as a back drop. I could improve on the glow a little by adjusting the distance of my son from the door to create more separation and using s diffuser of some sort.
As it was I am happy to get the subject in focus and depth of field set properly so he remains the focal point of the photo.
I am pleased to report all three customers were happy with their final portraits!
-ehw