Buick at Peace

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

Day One at Old Car City

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

Old Car City

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

On Freedom's Wings Pt 1

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

White Out!

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

Fun Under "Water"

A trip to the Atlanta Aquarium a few weeks ago brought up this fun opportunity to shoot under "water."  As you walk through the plexiglass tunnel huge fish and sharks swim over you.  Amazing stuff.

Now to shoot underwater like this will trick your white balance.  So you have to either adjust it there or in post.  Not being the good boy, I did it in post processing.  Doing it in post should never be your default...I know...but I was running and snapping away for two grandparents, two sets of parents and seven kiddos.  So I chose to shoot and then fix in post.

-ehw

Spring's a coming!

Signs of Spring are popping out here in Atlanta.  Just about one year ago we saw out current home for the first time.  It was the third of forty homes we would see...and I knew it was "the one".

If I get to shoot it again I'll try for the hyperfocal effect..but for now the hint of Spring color on a warm later winter day will have to do!  In this shot I wanted the heavy bokeh and got it instead of hyperfocal.

Techies...K-5 with 60-250 set at 153mm ( 229mm in 35mm terms), F4.5 and 1/400 @ ISO200.

-ehw

Friday Night Family

By Friday I am smoked.  Coming home from work all I could think of was getting dinner down and crashing.  As God would have it I walked into the kitchen with four kids all doing their assigned tasks (table setting, feeding baby, getting water) while Mom and the five year old boy spoke to Grandma on the phone about his Valentine card.   Somewhere in there dinner was almost done on the stove.  Each child broke away from their job one at a time to give me a hug before I put my work bags away and hang up my coat.  We had a great dinner, and then my daughter hopped to her newly assigned duty of clearing the kitchen with me.

The reason you see her smiling...is not because Dad was goofing off with his camera ... but because I had her favorite music kicking on my iPad.  We trade turns choosing songs while we work.  It is sweet and fun to be able to enjoy my eldest daughter on nights like this..and let me remember why there was so much more than a nice nap waiting for me at home on Friday night.

For you techies...nothing fancy.  Just a snap with Mr. Pentax K-5, Sigma 17-50 zoomed out to 50mm  So on the crop it gives me a 75mm short telephoto compression effect.  I used a high contrast B&W conversion in Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 with a sepia tint.  I used a U-Point option here to increase the exposure on her face and skin...which of course helped remove some minor flaws just like they do with fancy smancy models.

-ehw

Overpass

You need to keep your smarts up when you want the trains to run on time!

This is what you get when you want to make sure you don't cut through the wires with busy trains running over them.

Kalen wanted a few photos for his grand parents, and of course I wanted one to see if I could make something interesting out of a simple floorplan shot.

This was my fun shot...for the geeks I desaturated most color except for yellow and red. Then I threw a Kodachrome filter on it in Perfect Effects...and the camera was a simple Olympus ZX-1 point and shoot.

-ehw

Tow Truck

Nothing wrong with this little tow truck...still got another 100K in these tires!  Just the driver is finally growing out of it!

With this shot I wanted to test the depth of field a telephoto would deliver.  I wanted the car and driver in focus, the background into bokeh.  Since the car is in this photo the long way, you have to make sure your depth of field covers more than the driver's eyes.  In this case I went wanted from bumper to bumper.

I accomplished this by going f5.6 on an APS-C Pentax K-5 at 220mm (330mm equivalent 35mm).  I think it worked pretty well, let me know what you think!

-ehw

Pool Shark

My son plays his first game of pool...while doing a Cub Scout achievement no less!

To capture a moment of timeless contemplation what else to do other than get a nice photo finished as sepia?

I am really starting to enjoy environmental portraiture.  To photograph people in their element makes catching a glimpse of their soul so much easier!

For you camera geeks like me...shot with a Pentax K-5, Sigma 17-50 F2.8 OS with reflection coming off the pool table itself actually giving me some fill light!  Fantastic combo of camera and lens.  Post was completed in Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.

-ehw

Winter Holds On

Winter is holding on for another weekend here in Roswell, GA.

This was an experiment to capture the feeling of being in the woods on a cold day with a "small" sun fighting through the trees.

The lens is at 68mm (102mm equivalent) and then closed down the shutter to F29.  I went to B&W in Silver Efex Pro 2, and then added a hint of contrast and structure to enhance the star burst a bit.

Please let me know if I got the effect I wanted!

-ehw

Valentines Day with Four...

Even with four little ones, and a crazy week of family trials we had a great night!  I hope you did as well!

I really did not know how my wife did it, but she pulled it all off.  Candlelight dinner for six...Pork Tenderloin, Roasted Potatoes, and Squash for the toddler.

Just a quick snap with my little X10 and some photo fun in my current favorite editing app Perfect Effects 7.1. Both have a light HDR effect added to enhance the dynamic range of the photos.

-EHW

Do you capture or create?

When you say, "Lets go out and take a photo!" do you usually record a scene or create a scene?

This is important for us to all examine if we want to improve our photography.  Why?  Well if you are a creator you might miss the elements in front of you in your haste to make your creation.  If you are a recorder you may forget that you can enhance the scene with a new element added by you.

What got me thinking of this was this photo.  I was walking by the grotto at church, when I saw all these elements (frame, ground light, sunlight, perspective and golden rule potential) create a possible composition in the morning light.  I then asked myself..but could I build this photo myself?

So this is setting me on a little path of needed enlightenment.  Now I have to not only look at scenes for what they are, but evaluate what they could be if I develop my creativity as well as my recording skills.

So what are you?  And what does that say about what you need to develop to meet your full potential?

-ehw

Motherly Love

My youngest was feeling under the weather Friday...doing better now but not getting far from a parent's arms (writting one handed now as I make this Saturday AM).

I love capturing these emotional scenes. They really speak to the moment, and tender love my wife gives the children.  It speaks volumes to the peace I feel when I come home at night. (Yes even with four kids you can have peace in your home).

On an editorial note...I edited this RAW photo with a few curves, and a brush to handle shadows on my daughter's face.  Overall I wanted a more analog quality to the photograph.  I personally like contrasty photos with natural skin tones.  In this photo the light in the room reflecting off those purple/pink sheets gave everything this glow I wanted to keep.  It was that color mood I wanted to freeze.

Is that perfectly, and technically correct?  Nope.  Is it what every camera maker and software converter does when they process your photos into JPEGs though!

So just be aware that you are always being influenced by different parts of the photographic process.  Everything from 77-automatic exposure zones, to JPEG processing, to the color calibration of your screen, and a hundred other sub-routines we cannot even begin to fathom.  If you want to be in charge of the memories you make, be aware of this and take charge of the photo wherever possible in this process so it looks the way you want.

...and that will take me to tomorrow's piece...

-ehw

Bright Light in the house!

For this little challenge I wanted to do two things: Study a high contrast light environment in post and see what type of results my little Fujifilm X10 can make in this harsh environment.

I took several pictures, but this one looking up and into light gave me the photo with the highest contrast between highlights and complete darkness.

I like the color range and detail rendered despite the bright light attempting to overpower both.  To prevent radical blowout of highlights, and the edge areas between them, I used the camera's EXR mode with a -1.33 exposure.  I ran it through Perfect Effects to help bring out some details, and extend the dynamic range with some HDR effects.

This little camera had a ton of data for the Perfect Effects to work with (much more than I anticipated).  Remember, the best software in the world can do nothing if you and the camera give it bad data to work with.  What you see is the result of my two minute and done rule in post.

So the moral of this story is to push the limits of a scene by taking enough shots to find one which will get the effect you want, and remember to use post processing to pull all the data out of the photo possible to give you the best image possible.  A corollary to running through many perspectives is to work with other settings such as exposure compensation in each camera position to observe its effects on dynamic range and composition.

-ehw

Color me Purple

I was out front a little while ago on a glorious Sunday and was playing a bit with backlight and fill flash...

While developing the "roll"I thought it would be fun to make the purple really stand out and make a statement.  What better way to make a photographic color statement than to make it the centerpiece of the photo?

Since one of my co-workers today said they liked photos with one color left outstanding, I thought I'd make this post for him!

-ehw

Friendly Surprise

When you lay on your back to photograph a flower always remember to keep an eye on your surroundings.

I turned and looked up to find this guy about to breathe on my face...luckily with a snap shot I caught him looking pretty cool inches from my nose.

This was a surprise...why?

I don't own a cat.

I was in my own yard.

I'm allergic to cats.

My favorite cats are the neighborhood mouser and snake eaters...all others need to keep a respectful distance.

My five year old (child 3 of 4) and wife...well they love cats.  They'd have one if I was eaten by this one.

Well luckily this guy did not lick my face.  He works very well as a good mouser and snake eater.  He belongs to a neighbor who rescues cats.  She has four or five that roam the neighborhood.

Two of them work shifts in my yard.  Every once in a while they pose for me after they get happy petting visit from my cat loving son.

Ok so the moral of the story is?  Just keep your eyes on more than the pretty picture.  Especially if you want to visit Africa, Brazil, Los Angeles, Chicago, downtown Atlanta...there are dangerous cats that might visit you not so nicely if you forget to monitor your surroundings.

-ehw

UP! UP! And Wonderful!

I was enjoying a birthday party with my family at the Georgia Aquarium and as we walked a ray of light ran over my head...so I looked up to behold...this wonderful sight!

I loved the confluence of the circles, rectangles, reflections extending the scene into the glass and the beyond.

So the moral of the story is an old one.  When you are roaming looking for photos remember the world goes left, right, up and down!

-ehw

REACH!

Visiting the park is a joy...you see the fearless try to fly and the nervous take small steps...but the kids just know to keep moving.  If you stop moving of course parents may just find you and take you home!

For this one I framed and shot the photo a little larger and cropped when I got home.  I do that a lot when photographing action.  You just have to know where you put your focus point, and make sure that was actually the part of the photo you wanted attention drawn to.

Some people do focus, recompose and then shoot.  This is ok if you are using a really large depth of field, but will not work on shallow depths.  The focal plane will just be too small, and your properly composed shot will be out of focus on the heart of your photo.

So the moral of the story is...frame enough to catch the action and then use your little select autofocus point option to get the part of the photo you want sharp.

-ehw