Skating is Better With Pads

Here's a recent session with one of my daughters. The biggest technical challenge, other than making her wear her pads, was that of her height. Without skates she's about 5' 10" which presents a problem in a small area with a low ceiling. It becomes quite a challenge photographing certain angles while trying to stay on the backdrop. So, to make it easier, I had her bend slightly like she was just finishing her workout and trying to catch her breath. These images are the first in a series of skating portraits. Next, we have to do the outdoor portraits.

The lighting set up consisted of two side lights and one overhead light to illuminate the face. The lights were flagged in order to keep them from spilling on the background.

The goal was to try to make the skating pads, which she's not happy about wearing, look stylish. (Yes, I know those of you who grew up like me, didn't have pads and probably survived the jump in the grass to save your hide trick many times. However, I've become the crazy dad who bellows, " No pads, No skating.")


I hope you like the pictures. If you do, or have questions about the details of the images please let me know.


Also, click on the images below to see them at full size.

A Behind The Scenes Look At A Portrait

Stephanie wanted a portrait of her and Joshua, so we set up the lights and got to work. Technically there are several things going on here worth discussing briefly. This is meant to show just a few of the details that go into making a portrait.

Lighting, Posing, Clothing, and Retouching.

This was a 3 light set up plus one reflector. A main light, a hair light, fill light and a reflector. The light was adjusted so that there was a 1 stop difference between the main and the fill light. This adjustment along with the reflector control the contrast of the image. The contrast is the difference between the lighter and darker parts of the image. The hair light was used to separate Stephanie's dark hair from the background so you could distinguish between the two.

Joshua was posed in the classic basic pose. That is, his head and body are facing the main light and his head is perpendicular to his slightly angled shoulders. His height was also adjusted to place his lips near the height of Stephanie's eyes. He is also posed sitting straight at the camera while Stephanie is standing on his left shoulder. Here, she is actually in the classic basic pose.

Stephanie, when seated, is in the classic feminine pose. Her body is turned away from the main light while her head is turned back towards the light and tipped slightly toward her higher shoulder. She is also in the same pose while standing on Joshua's right shoulder.

Stephanie and Joshua were trying to stay in the same tone while picking there clothes and also trying to avoid busy patterns. That way, the main emphasis of the portrait stays on the face. Some corrective steps were taken to assure that the emphasis was on the face. Such as, a closer camera view and bringing Stephanie's hair forward over her shoulders.

Retouching consisted of several levels. It began with simple contrast adjustment and included skin softening, eye touch up and skin touch up.

Click on the images below to enlarge them.

Motorcycles Are Dangerous

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Everybody usually says that motorcycles are more dangerous than cars. Well, I guess they are if you ride them, but during this portrait session the cars proved to be more dangerous. These images were made near the Alton bridge during the middle of the day. I used to ride on this particular road a lot and I don't remember there being as much traffic as there was during this session.

In order to get these pictures I had two edge lights set up behind the subject connected with a power cord. The main light was set up on a stand with a boom just above Mike's head. Every time a car started to come I had to move all the lights and Mike had to get out of the way. Once the cars were gone then we had to reposition, remeter the lights and try again. This whole process took well over an hour.


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Children At Play

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It's August in Texas and we all know what that means. HOT! Here are a few pictures of children beating the heat. They're in black and white because I was practicing some black and white photo techniques for a new product that I plan on offering. One of the pictures is not actually playing in the sprinkler, but I thought I'd just throw it in since it was taken the same day while I was doing some black and white practice.

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Since She's a Stand Up Comic in L.A. does this make me famous?

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Here are pictures from a recent session with Kristin Weber. She performs stand up comedy in L.A., teaches voice and piano, tours with Kerri Pomarolli, and writes a monthly column, "It's Okay to Laugh at me," for Susie Magazine. Well, since I did a portrait session with her, does that make me famous?

Probably not, but I have known Kristin since she was about 10 yrs. old and it was fun taking pictures of her.

Some of these images were created in studio using a 3 to 4 light setup. The outdoor images were taken by a pool. The second pool image looks a little different because I adjusted the shutter speed to decrease the background ambient light. Kristin was lit using a speedlight and umbrella. Her mom shielded her from the harsh sun by holding up a high tech shielding device....a towel.

To see larger images of the pictures below please click on the images.

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Thanks for looking


EJ

I Want Better Vacation Pictures

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Returning from our first camping trip in July I looked at all of the pictures taken and boy was I a little disappointed. There either weren't enough pictures taken or there were too many taken of stuff like walking sticks. There was also the problem of not really knowing how to use my wife's point and shoot digital camera.

Well, during our second camping trip I made sure to prepare...I actually read my wife's point and shoot camera manual. I found and dusted off an old film point and shoot camera and gave instructions to the kids to PHOTOGRAPH EVERYTHING that moves. Well, as a result we looked like the stereo typical Japanese tourist group. There were bodies running everywhere when the big yellow van stopped to take pictures. After all of the appropriate taking pictures of each other taking pictures was done, the troops set off to document the daily events. Well, I'm happy to report that we had a huge amount of pictures to sort through, but we also did much better documenting our vacation.

Also of note....I really have a renewed appreciation for Film. This picture was taken with a 15 year old pentax point and shoot camera using 400 ISO Fuji Reala film. The only thing done to it was raise the contrast just a tiny bit. I had it developed and scanned at Costco. I think I'll shoot more film in the future. I noticed that I have more keepers shooting film than with digital because I take the time to slow down and think.

"Click on the images below for a larger view"





This picture was taken using a Nikon D70. I saw the setting sun filtering into our cabin and ran for the camera. I used Lightroom to add a slight vignette to the picture.

Young Soldiers In Highland Village

Caleb and Joshua grabbed their airsoft gear and let me make a some portraits of them.

Usually these guys don't like this sort of thing, but they suffered through it like champs. I used a three light setup and one very small soft box. The light on the right of the image was gelled to give an amber appearance like the sun. The only thing that was edited in the images was some very minor skin touch up.

Thanks for looking.

EJ

P.S. For Facebook users who see this post, you must select the BLUE link at the bottom of the entry that says "View Original Post" in order to see the images.

She Lost A Tooth But She Still Looks Charming

Here is Jacque who recently lost one of her front teeth. The mission was to make a new portrait to update Mom's wall, but Jacque didn't want to show her new "gap" in the front.. So, we decided to go for a different look. This image was converted to black and white and also retouched. It has a formal and slightly dramatic look. I hope you like it.

This portrait was done using a four light set-up and a reflector. One light on the background, one for the main light, one for the hair light, one for the fill light. The reflector was also used to control contrast on the shadow side of the face.

If you like the portrait, let me know.

Regards,

EJ

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The Pretty Red Head, Not So Red

Greetings again from Highland Village. This portrait has been edited again. No, the skin touch up etc.. was not done again, but rather the following was done to it:

- A vignette was added to the portrait

- It was converted to black & white

- It was also tinted slightly with some color

It continually amazes me how different an image looks when converted from color to black and white.

I hope you enjoy looking.

EJ


P.S. For Facebook users who see this post, you must select the BLUE link at the bottom of the entry that says "View Original Post" in order to see the images."

A Pretty Red Head In Highland Village

Greetings and Happy July 4th Weekend.

I decided to take a moment to show once again the importance of retouching an image even though it is created under controlled lighting conditions in a studio. The following pictures are of Jessica. As you can see she is a very attractive young lady. I can brag a little bit because she is one of my daughters.

The first picture was taken after taking a custom white balance and carefully metering the lights to ensure proper exposure. It's a very complimentary picture, but it is being seen directly out of the camera without any retouching. You can even see evidence of some sensor dust from the camera in the image.

The second image is the same image after doing some of the following. Retouching the eyes, retouching the skin, adjusting the hue of the skin and removing some dust spots. Even if your skin is as smooth as Jessica's if you light a portrait correctly it will reveal the smallest of flaws.

The point I'm trying to make is that retouching a portrait is a must although the levels of retouching will vary.

I hope you enjoy viewing the portraits.

Thanks for looking,

EJ

P.S. For Facebook users who see this post, you must select the BLUE link at the bottom of the entry that says "View Original Post" in order to see the images."

Now, I think I'm even cuter

I was just doing a little photoshop practice today. I'm taking two of the same images to show what a little skin softening can do for an image. This skin touch up was VERY slight. If you apply too much it can make the image begin to look like plastic. Which image do you prefer?

Thanks for looking.

EJ

I'm really cute now.

Another portrait day in Highland Village, TX.

This is another picture made during the June 26 session. Now, he's not trying to scare me and just playing around with me. This portrait is also one light and a reflector, but it was not converted to black and white.


Thanks for looking and Happy July 4th.

EJ

I'm really scary

It was hot today in Highland Vilalge, so Jonathan was more than happy to play with me in front of the camera. He put on his scary face, growled.and did his best to scare me.


This image was converted to black and white and then some simple burn and dodging was also done to personal taste. This image was a simple one light set up with one reflector. There were also some less scary images made which I'll post later.

I hope you enjoy.

EJ

Portraits with puppets

Here are a couple of portraits of Rebeca, Chino, Cassie. Rebeca is a ventriloquist and these are her "babies".

These portraits were done with 1 large main light and 1 light on the background. There was also a reflector used to the right of the set up to keep that side of the subjects in less shadow. These pictures were done in a home in Highland Village, Tx.

Thanks for looking,

EJ

A Boy and His Toys

Sometimes you have to distract them in order to get them to cooperate.  This little guy was having a great time playing while I talked to him and took some portraits.


If you'll notice, the second picture shows more contours of the face.  This was achieved by allowing the subject to be just a little more back lit.  These images were done with a 3 light setup using white vinyl as the backdrop.

Digital Creations

Hello Everybody,

Here are 2 more digital creations that I've been working on today.  The props were created in house and then combined with little Jonathan to create this image.  I hope you like them.

EJ

Playing with Composites

These images were created using some creative photoshop techniques.  Hopefully, I'll be offering these as some children specials soon.

The end result:

Portraits At The APC

Just a couple of portraits taken at the APC in Lewisville. It 's always a great time visiting with John and Judy along with the children.

This was a 2 light set up using a reflector. The space was kind of tight so I kept the lighting very simple.

Senior Session With Rebeca

Here are a few samples from a recent portrait session. Some of these were done at Stone Creek in Flower Mound. Some were done inside using 3 lights and a reflector.





Here a few from outdoors. I was using an SB-800 turned way down to ad a little fill light.

Looking For Thomas

Note: The blue background picture, #1, was actually done on purpose. There was enough of an amber gel used on Jonathan so that he would not be blue like the background is.

This was an afternoon on the railroad tracks in Highland Village, TX. Jonathan was busy looking for Thomas and I was busy trying to take good portraits of a fast moving 2 year old.

It was a lot of fun, but also had some technical challenges. One of them was trying to deal with the setting sun in the west. With a fast moving subject I opted to use a Nikon SB-800 set at about -2 to sometimes -3 ev. I had to stay at or below 1/500 shutter speed in order for the light to synch. If I was opting for a shallower depth of field I shut the flash off and used only natural light trying to be careful of not allowing the horizon enter into the picture too much since Jonathan was backlit. If I didn't watch that the background would have been bright white which I felt would be distracting.

I hope you enjoy the pictures.

EJ

Little Patriots

These Portraits were done using two lights. One main light, an accent light and one reflector.. Since the children had fair hair I had to be careful not to use too much accent lighting or it would blow the highlights out of their hair. The kids had fun and I had a blast playing with them. I hope you like the portraits.


EJ