Posing Eyes

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[slideshow] Last week my good friend Rich asked me to demonstrate a few things I learned in Skips Summer School, so this post and several to follow will let me do just that.

One very important, but usually forgotten task is to pose eyes.  I did not have a chance to set up a portrait session, but I will demonstrate this works for any type of photography.  In this case sports!

In this sting of photos note on the picture of the boy grabbing a pebble and getting the catcher gear on, you do not see the pupils.  Yet you will follow them to what they are looking at!  This allows you to create some drama and set the stage for a good photo.

In the remaining photos note how the eyes add or subtract from the image.  In each case the boy catching (well trying to catch) has eyes visible or hidden from view.  I think most viewers will automatically have a great sense of connection to the photos where they can see what the boy was focusing on.  This applies to whether or not you can see the object of the boy's interest (the ball) in the photo.

And a final learning point...remember I said to get the ball in the photo?  Well there is the tip again!  Photos with the ball in them make the photo more relevant and understandable.

So whenever you edit any photo session, apply these rules of thumb.  It will lead you right many, many more times than not.

(Thanks to Roberto Valenzuela and Scott Kelby for those tips...and their books have many more)

-ehw

Summer School Lessons

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[slideshow] I attended Skip's Summer School this week with over 100 other aspiring photographers in Chicago.  The atmosphere crafted by Skip Cohen and his incredible instructors electrified the place for four days.  I was starstruck when I sat next to Scott Bourne, talked to Clay Blackmore, took classes from Tony Corbell and Roberto Valenzuela, saw Jerry Ghonis, and enjoyed the company of Levi Sim to mention a few of the many incredible pros there!  If you do not know these folks you should.   They are incredible talents and even better people.  They took the time out of their schedules (for very little monetary payback) to help people like me discover what it will take both in business and in skills to survive as a photographer.  The passion they shared lit the school like a four alarm fire.

I am forming my business plan now, with the help of my lovely bride, thanks to lessons taught there at Skips's.  These baby steps will allow me to grow over the next year in confidence that I can pursue this dream (and still feed the six of us).  It feels good to be taking constructive steps forward.

On the photographic side here are two photos I'm sharing from the ride home Thursday with my son.  Both were taken in Vincennes, Indiana.  One is a standard touristy type photo of the George Rogers Clark statue at his Revolutionary War Western Victory Memorial.  It says. "I was there!"  It is an ordinary photo of an extraordinary thing.  The second photo uses some lessons I picked up from Tony Corbell and Roberto Valenzuela.  Note the drama in the lighting.  The tension between the shadow and light makes it a better keepsake.  The pose and sharp contrast also help you see the power and strength of the man it represents.  It provides the onlooker an vision of a bold man who captured Fort Sackville during the high water mark of the winter floods while cut off from all supply and reinforcement.  That photo says, "I was there and the achievements of this man's small 130 man army in defeating a 300 man fortified army are legendary!"  (Do read the story of this man and his army!  Take that from me Mr. Bachelors of Science in Military History at West Point)

The motto of all this is to take every lesson you can into your heart.  Put those lessons into passionate practice both in business and skill execution every day.  Doing so builds businesses, nations and legacies worth remembering by our children.

-ehw

Nashville, Indiana

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[slideshow] On my way to Skip's Summer School...yes I was bad boy in school last year...I stopped to visit a friend in Nashville, Indiana. It is a small town in the middle of a State Park between Columbus and Bloomington. Most people don't realize that there are hills in Indiana, especially south of Indianapolis headed towards the Ohio River. The town's major business consists of artisans of all types selling their wares to passing tourists.

Whenever I pass through small towns my normal tack is to try and locate something that will remind me of the people. The downtown architecture is a mix and match hodgepodge of styles. Rustic and fantasy all wrapped into one. WIth that in mind I took a few photos trying to capture that feeling around storefronts just opening up for the day.

Next time you travel, try to use a picture to capture those thousand words you just don't feel like writing down!

-ehw

Inspiration

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Who and what inspires you to take photos or capture a moment?  Today we are flooded with images on TV, the web, in print, or as we travel at 65mph on the highway.  If you are like me, you see a lot, but have little time to reflect on it.  Yesterday a nice gent asked me where I get my passion for shooting.  All those thousands of images I see each day came flooding back and I had to think hard to come up with an answer.

Growing up my first visual artist I connected with was Norman Rockwell.  Whatever he made and I saw resonated with me.  It was what I visualized life is like, and should be in America.  I am very proud to say my wife got me a special Boy Scout collection of his work, and I've read it back and forth a few times now. Whenever I do photojournalism stories I try to see the Rockwell moment and capture it in frame.  Check out some of his work here: http://www.rockwellsite.com 

When I get my camera going I am always most attracted to people who use light and paint with it.  I love artists who make such a dynamic contrast between darkness and beautiful light.  It is really hard for me to think back and say who inspired me first or lately...at the risk of offending someone. I get inspired all the time!  However I will give you three names of people who I do like for light painting, and who I heard about as I started getting serious about learning this craft.  David Ziser (who shows some of his work at (http://www.digitalprotalk.blogspot.com), Jerry Ghionis who is available at http://www.jerryghionisphotography.com, and Joe McNally who you can find at http://portfolio.joemcnally.com.  Each one creates something special.  You cannot go wrong by studying any of them.

One more lesson on inspiration I picked up was when I read the book Going Pro: How to Make the Leap from Aspiring to Professional Photographer.  (You can get a copy here Going Pro @ Amazon)  Scott Bourne and Skip Cohen wrote and provided great ideas on building a photography business.  Just as important though are the inspirational photographs throughout the book.  It is one stop shopping for inspiration.

One important sidebar comment.  I kept hearing Scott Bourne was a great photographer, but I could not find anything of his "good stuff" on the web since he usually worked special commission jobs.  Then I saw this book and his photos.  I was floored with his images powerful composition and art.  Thankfully he now is devoting a little more time to showing off his work at Scott Bourne.com.  After creating three of my best images ever last week I may understand his position a bit better.  I cannot share those great images because they were for work and limited distribution.  Maybe he felt the same way for a long time, I don't know.

The final place I want to point you to is www.pentaxphotogallery.com.  This is a great site where enthusiasts like myself share photos, vote on the best ones and get them posted by Pentax.  Ordinary people, professionals and artists all post and share.  Some incredible images...and if they can do it I can learn how too! Long post but some great places to go and absorb the art of photography! -ehw

Flash in Landscape Photography

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[slideshow] When I visited my parents farm in Northern Virginia last week i did what I always do...roam the fields looking for something fun to shoot.   On one end of the farm the trees help frame up objects, and make a shot a little more interesting.  One thing I knew though was that when I took the photo I would have too much dynamic range in the photograph.  In this case, the trees provided framing around a trailer and my parents home.  The foreground item I wanted to include in both shots fell in the shadows and would not provide any anchor if they were too dark.  Why you ask?  Eyes are attracted to light, and in any scene you look at your eye always goes to the brightest part of the scene.  That is just the way our bodies work.

So I pulled out my little flash and set it up for wireless shooting, aimed it at the foreground item of interest, and shot away!  I made several exposures to see if I was getting the thought process down and to share them with my blog post for the week.

I the first shot of the trailer you'll see the first in sequence has flash hitting the woodpile.  The pile is lit enough to tell you something is there, and puts the scene into context.  In the second slide the slash does not fire.  The woodpile becomes a dark mass of nothing important.  It adds nothing to the photo.  In the final shot of the house you'll see the woodpile illuminated low in frame, underexposed leaves framing the house and a really "hot" house that pushes the other end of the dynamic range.  The flash again provides context as well as helps the camera keep everything just about inside its capabilities.  In both sequences I hope you can see that a flash or reflector can be a very powerful asset in landscape photography.  It is a subject and technique that is explored by the masters, and should be by us as well!

-ehw

Take me out to the ballgame!

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[slideshow] Going to a ballgame?  Here are a two tips I've picked up over the years that apply to little league and major leagues.

1) When photographing a play it means little without the ball.  Make sure you can see the ball in motion or in the possession of a player who can make or break the play.  A blurry ball often works better than a frozen ball because it gives you a sense of the motion.

2) Get photos of the elements of the entire environment at the sporting event.  We often go for the main event, but there are so many stories told at a game that can be told!  Take a look at the kids helping with the field work for one example.

I can go on and on...but I'll save that for future posts.  Got a five month old girl crying  who needs Daddy to hold her tonight so she can sleep!

-ehw

Tint in B&W

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[slideshow] I took these two photos specifically to be processed as B&W.  I knew I would have to experiment with different B&W tints and processing to bring out the clouds.  I wanted to do this get some understanding of what tinting can do to influence one's perception of a photograph.

In both photos I hoped to bring out the interesting cloud formations to create a foreboding mood.  (I did think I was going to get dumped on the entire time I was on walk about in Savannah.)  In one photo you'll notice a sepia or golden tint.  It lightens the color, and helped increase the visible contrast.  As a result I got the dramatic sky I wanted.  However it does not give one a sense of danger that I wanted in the photo.  The second photo of the returning tour boat, used a heavy contrast with a non-tinted B&W color set.  As a result it generated a very serious mood.  I hoped it would look like the little boat was running from the storm...which in real life certainly was how it looked as the boat moved quickly to discharge its passengers at the pier.

 

ehw

Firsts

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[slideshow] Today was a big day at the Wojo 6 homestead.

Kalen (8 years old) started and drove the tractor for the first time on his own. Mommy gave the boys her first haircut.  Finally Kellie Marie (five months) had her first solids.  Three teaspoons of very "liquidy" cereal.

I also set up my future "pro" photo website.  Links here will now direct you to where I have never gone before.  I am slowly making the transition, learning, and enjoying the process.

Tell your friends their is a new kid on the block dedicated to capturing the glory of life in the lens.

EHW Photography

ehw

At Life Speed

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[slideshow] Life moves slowly and then it moves far to fast.  For four weeks the three big kids were gone with Grandma and Grand Dad.  They had an awesome adventure.  Mom left ten days ago to get them.  I ran around the house, work and the area getting projects done.  Although busy, I could still hear the house wanting its fill of noise and activity to come back.

They all came home last night.  Today we had out fill of church and a lazy afternoon...with Dad remembering camera lessons as fast as he could to freeze the reunion day in my mind.  There was just so much to take in. The children grew and matured far beyond what I thought a month could offer.  They had stories to tell about adventures in Dollywood, the Grand Canyon, Lake Havasu, and Grandma's pool.  Mommy worked hard making dinner (camera not allowed in there or I'd get a knuckle sandwich for me) and Kellie was just rolling around being cute and bubbly.

It was why I picked up the camera to begin with...to record life as it passed by.

While nothing I took today will win an award, or merit a paycheck it will record a moment that passed by at life speed for the rest of my life.

ehw

Hammer hit my head

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[slideshow] Light....it is what photography is all about.  Thanks to taking a class by David Guy Maynard I finally started to get why I am just frustrated when I come home and look at my photos!  His instruction, and reflection it caused me to feel like I had a hammer hit my head.

I am no different than many who learn photography.  I started out and said I want to do this "naturally."   Well that is all well and good at a pool with the kids at 4-5 PM when the light is strong, warm and appealing.  However life does not occur in golden hour in a pristine environment!  You have to shoot models in basements with florescent lights.  You'll shoot birthday candles at 2PM with a bright window behind you.  You have to cover baseball games shifting from shade to harsh light at 12:30PM.

To my credit I figured that out two years ago, but darn it I still did not get how to start fixing it.  I always tried to cut it close with big glass, lowest ISO possible, get a flash to bounce off a wall, anything to get an effect that the books said would make my subject work.  Always well intentioned, but successful maybe half the time.  Usually I missed the exposure, blew highlights or never got enough light to create a sharp image of my subject.

Mr. Maynard said he likes the right light.  He wants to chisel out his effects, and you need lots of light to do it.  I don't think he cares if you do it with fancy lights, flash lights, or candle light.  But the light has to be good, and shaped to effect the way you want your subject to look in a purposeful manner.  Some techniques just do it better than others.

We learned about Expoimaging products this weekend (I wanted some of their products before, but now I am hooked).  They bounce, flash box, color correct, and more!  Once you see how they make things "right" easily you are hooked, but I digress.

We learned how with a simple flash head, off camera and a flash box you can soften shadows behind your subject from the flash.  This is because you make the light bigger.  Then you can change the color of a wall with another flash behind your subject covered by the proper gel.  Then throw a snoot on a third flash and create a hair light to make dark hair pop (but as he pointed out be careful with the angle of the snoot so you don't bleed out into the background color flash).  Add a ring light to hide skin imperfections since it is flat and fired head on.

What I learned is that if you want your photos to pop you need light.  Lots and lots of light.  Not just a little, but copious amounts of light.  The extra light gives you the sharpness of subject, and the power to chisel out the effect you want.

So for me it is back to the basics.  Get light, lots of light.  Start with one and master chiseling with it.  Then move forward to add two, three and four to make effects match the carving you had in your mind.

ehw

PS The bug shot is a tribute to Mr. Maynard who loves shooting macro.  It is a nicely caught bumble bee, with lots of good light shot with a Tamron 70-200 F2.8

In the Bird House

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Image

Today was a long day...my wife took the last kid out to Arizona to be with her family for a special family celebration.   So I am all alone, and in the bird house all by myself.

So I was looking around the yard, and saw this shot which described my mood.  I little tired, and little sad, and still all by myself getting the job done.  This fulfills an assignment I recently got to take a shot expressing a mood.  I have many more moods to work though, but this is a start towards that assignment!

ehw

Small Camera Big Results

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I was lucky enough to pick up a used Olympus XZ-1 yesterday.  I wanted to get a little camera I can keep on my belt all the time.  Since I got it used, I picked up something with higher quality than if I bought new at the same price.

One little thing I learned a while ago about point and shoots is not to disrespect them!  Especially for macro shooting.  Due to the size of the sensor and lens they can obtain magnifications and high quality output that surprises many. I read a lot about this in Bryan Peterson's book "Understanding Close Up Photography."  He showed how you can make great images with point and shoots, close up lenses and dedicated gear.

It is not the gear, it is the creativity and technical knowledge of the photographer that will make the keeper. So no matter who we are, we all have no excuse if we have something to capture an image in our hands. Grab a tool and make an image happen!

ehw

To fll or not to fill

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[slideshow] Last week I took lots of photos around the yard.  Got out the tripod, put the top shelf macro on, grabbed the 5-in-1 reflector....but left the flashes in the house. Learned a ton from the shoot.  Here is a one of the highlights of my learning:

Backlight of a flower or plant can be quite fun.  Dark parts get lighter in color, translucent areas show up with unusual details revealed while the thinnest areas have highlights getting clipped.  In addition the bokeh around the plant blurs out of existance with fewer round circles.

Using the pop up flash and reflector was hard.  I dialed the pop up all the way down, and lowered the ISO as well.  The resulting shots showed great detail around the focus point, the dark areas showed great contrast, and then the image gets dark fast as it moves away from the focus point.

It is a great example of why the use of flash is so important, but also the power of selective lighting techniques.  It shows the power one can have over their images when they match the effects they want, with the knowledge of techniques and tools required to get the shot.

Ok so that means it is back to the books memorization room for me!

ehw

Photo Evolution

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[slideshow] Today we went to the Train Museum.  We had a very hard day to shoot anything.  Overcast with lots of blinding haze.  To get decent shots I tried the overpower with flash technique.  It worked some of the time.  I also dreadfully over exposed two photos (well more than two).

Since I shot RAW files I was able to make it useable.  Still not satisfied I took the photo first into Nik Veveza 2.  Using the selective edit feature I darkened the horrible sky to bring focus to the people and train.  Then I took the photo into Color Efex 4 where I applied two filters, and a few negative control points.  Once done I finished by repairing a few points in the sky, and sharpened up the faces for a 10x12 screen shot.

The point of these photos shows that tools can help you improve a shot, but never replaces getting the conditions right before you close the shutter.  A little negative compensation, exposure lock, and tight flash work would make a better photo in my opinion.  That is my 20/20 hind sight talking.

But if you make a mistake like this....you can use powerful tools to help make something out of not much.

 

ehw

 

Special Ordinary

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[slideshow] In the midst of a family move time flies with a little extra emphasis on speed.  So the last few weeks saw precious little time to shooting,  So when I got the precious second I had to find some way of making ordinary life timeless in the lens.  These two captures used two different methods of doing that.  In the first I made a black and white.  The second was a capture of Kellie in a mirror.  It was special since it was her first time on the floor with the mirror.  What a surprise she had when a cute baby cooed back!  The mirror helped in two ways.  It helped frame up the image in the viewfinder, and it also made you part of the moment.  Just like you were there observing from nearby.

Oh well back to boxes and prep for real work.

ehw

Monster Racers!

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[slideshow] Two days ago I got a chance to give some of my gear a heavy workout shooting model race cars.  I know you are thinking, "Model cars would never be a challenge!"  Well if they go 0-40mph in the blink of an eye they are a challenge.  If driven by wild and crazy friends you have a challenge.  If the sun is setting you have a triple challenge.

Challenge #1 is to get the tracking techniques down.  I was able to use AF-C and either center point or auto select focus point to get an acceptable success rate.  Framing the photo was problematic, but became more successful as I got to know what the drivers were doing with their cars.  Just like sports, anticipating the desired shot was vital to success.

Challenge #2 was accepting the use of jpegs.  My preferred method of capture is with RAW (PEF format) photos.  Problem is the buffer would fill up and slow down too much if I used RAW, so I needed to do something I don't normally enjoy doing. I did succeed in keeping my bursts down to two or three shots at a time before I recomposed.  In the past the RAW files may have kept me from shooting again while they were processed for longer periods of time than what I experienced that day.

Challenge #3 was getting a safe position and then getting my three kiddos (age 4, 8 and 10) to be safe as well.  Trucks flying off the ramp could easily go 30ft in the "wrong" or unexpected direction on the ramp.  So safety conscience Dads needed to be a shepherd as well.

Over all I had a blast.  The captures were great practice.  I processed the photos in Aperture with a mix of presets (from Aperture Expert and MacCreate) and selected photos in the Nik Collection.

Here is a movie I made with the photos!  Enjoy!

Monster Racers!

Bokeh

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[slideshow] Today I had a short opportunity to get outside and work with my gear.  I wanted to practice a few techniques with my camera body, and check out how my new Pentax DA* 60-250 F4 will work.  I used these four photos to demonstrate (to me because I because I may be the only one who reads this) the effect of aperture on the bokeh, or out of focus areas, in a photograph.

I shot this birdhouse at F14, F11, F5 and F4.  The smaller the aperture the more depth of field you have in your photo.  This means more will be in focus at F14 than F4.  In this series you can see also how the larger aperture allows you to focus more on what you may want to be the focal point of the photo.  In this case it is a simple photo with no artistic intent other than to demonstrate how being able to open up your lens aperture can be a powerful tool to a photographer.

So when you hear people lament that they "need" expensive fast glass...you can see what they should be using it for when the situation arises.  You can isolate a model, a bird or bolt on a bridge if your tools will allow it in the space you have to work.

Color

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This photo utilized a lovely afternoon sunset to brilliantly display the stained glass windows of a baptismal font.  When you add in the symmetry and converging lines it gave the photo a rather lovely cast.  It is convergence of several photographic principles that made the photo successful.  It recently was accepted to the Pentax Photo Gallery and became my highest grossing photo at the recent charity art auction I donated a 16x10 to. I know it worked when I heard several people come up and gasp the words "wow" or "Lovely".  I highly suggest just displaying your best work, and getting some real world feedback from someone other than your Mom and Dad...it will inspire you to work harder and give you focus.