Kevin at the Bat!

Kevin takes a practice swing as he steps up to the plate...looks bigger than six huh?  One of two photos I took at his last game of instructional T-Ball.  I'm glad I made them count, while I enjoyed the whole game without a large camera tied to me.  Sometimes it is very helpful to enjoy life through your own lenses.

I took this photo through the fence with my Fujifilm X20.  It is quite sharp, and provides a lot of dynamic range to pull out and play with.

I took some liberty with it in PerfectEffects, and I am pleased with the results.  I did vignette the photo as well to focus the eyes on the batter.

-ehw

Breakfast with Grandma

Moments of a lifetime...that is why you need to have your camera ready at all times.

It is not everyday you get to catch your child stealing bites from Grandma's breakfast plate.  It was just too cute to pass up.

The little Fujifilm X-20 is continuing to impress.  It is still a small sensor, but it is very capable.

-ehw

Dance Art

Last photo from this year's dance recital...I think...

As the girls get older they tend to increase their synchronization greatly, and it makes capturing artistic moments like this a lot easier.  I also enjoy how good lighting by the stage crew can make this red/green one moment and red/white the next. So you might get a chance to have two or three versions of a frame provided for you mere seconds apart.  One will usually work better for your mission of making than another.

If you can shoot your photos at the rehearsal I highly encourage you take advantage of the opportunity.  It lets you just take in the moment as designed on the big night and does not bother other guests enjoying the show.

-ehw

Photog Delight

Took a walk through Scenic Roswell, Georgia today with my wife and stopped by a very interesting store called Bilthouse.  It was very well designed, well from a photographers frame of mind.  The light was fantastic in there as well...

One of the displays held watches and trinkets galore.  So while my wife bought a gift for her parents (babysitting at home and giving us some date time), I just had to start photographing these little trinkets until I got one I liked!

Downtown Roswell is like this, lots of fancy little boutique stores.  So over time don't be surprised if you see some more captures downtown!

-ehw

Emotion in the Motion

Putting dance into a still photo almost sounds sinful.  Dance is the art of moving one's body, and that of others to create visually pleasing sights though motion.  So it definitely sounds nuts to capture the soul of dance in a single frame.

This capture is one of the better ones from the night.  Beautiful motion frozen with just a tinge of motion in the dresses, hands and feet.  Then I caught some excellent emotion in the dancers faces conveying joy in the act of dancing.  It was that emotion that really set this photo apart from a similar one take a few seconds later.

To achieve this I had to be careful with the shutter speed and experiment...the variable of course is also that the speed of dancer motion which of course varies greatly in any one routine.  Since this shoot occurred only with available light, and no flash, the experimentation was critical to know my gear's capability and the type of scene I could reasonably expect to capture with some quality.

So experiment...be thoughtful and look for the emotion in the motion to sculpt a wonderful photo.

-ehw

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

Brotherly Love

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!

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

The Cattleman Cafe

The Cattleman Cafe in Oklahoma City is a local favorite...and was recommended by friends at work today when we said we wanted something good and local.

Steaks are "just off the prairie" good. For a guy who gets to eat a stake maybe twice a year, if even that much, it was just old fashioned goodness to me. They serve delicious big hot and soft rolls too...hard to leave this tradition filled resturant.

It was a very nice treat to enjoy the special meal.

I'm sure this guy would have approved of our All-American meal selections....

'nuff said..thanks God for the nice night with friends.

-ehw

Signs of Spring 1

April Tears and Trials

April is a rough month for victims of terror. It was in April of 1995 that evil struck the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing and maiming hundreds. Today I had a chance to visit the memorial there, and honor those innocents who's lives evil shortened. Within minutes of starting our tour, friends told me of the horrors unfolding in Boston. The history I was looking at was made present in our lives anew a thousand miles away.

All I can do is offer prayers for healing of hearts, prayers for broken bodies to mend, and prayers that those taken from us here are in the loving embrace of Christ our King. I hope you can join me in that cause.

-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

Friday Night Lights!

 

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

From a new perspective

Down at the church for a few minutes, and saw this great image...also wanted to test the phone photo editor! -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