Snow Day Highland Village TX

While playing with the kids during a recent snow this martin bird house caught my eye.  Before the cold drove us back to the house, I grabbed a quick photo of the bird house and the cold lake.

This photo was taken using the Olympus XZ-1.  The file was adjusted in Lightroom.  Color Temp., tint and exposure where modified slightly.  Also, a vignette was added to taste.

Before the Light in Dallas

Short video of a 777 turning onto an ILS final.  This was filmed just prior to sunrise.

Nights and Lights.

Recently took the time to view some photos from a trip to South America.  These photos were taken at night hand holding my Olympus XZ-1.  I don't think they are particularly interesting  regarding the scenery, but the lighting was interesting enough to make me want to post them.

This caught my attention because of the contrasting light on the tail and the stark white light emitting from the window of the aircraft.

This image white balance was cooled off so the blues on the tail and reflecting on the fuselage would stand out better

Bording stand leading to the front left boarding door of the 777.

Evening Comes to Hong Kong

Recent photo taken from a trip to Hong Kong.  This was taken quickly from the window in the hotel. I am amazed at the beehive like buildings in Hong Kong.  Space is at a premium in Hong Kong due to the mountainous terrain.

This photo was taken using my Olympus Z-1, ISO 200, f1.8, and 1/40.

This Image was taken somewhat later than the one above from the hotel window.  ISO 400, 1/25, at f1.8.

Superman

Well, I haven't traveled as much lately so I took some time to practice in the studio again.  I saw one of my children run by in a costume and snagged him for a few photos.  There is an edge light on his right shoulder which is about 1 stop brighter than the main light.  That's all that was used in this setup.  2 lights.  One main light and one edge light.

The first picture was a little challenge.  I used a fan to blow the cape around.  It wasn't an exact science and my son was quickly getting tired of this.  The expression was still good enough to use and he liked the billowing cape.

The Boeing 777

I have found it difficult many times to take things I consider mundane and make them into an interesting photo.  Many people wouldn't consider the 777 mundane, but when you work around things a lot they can become common place.  Here are a couple of pictures where I am struggling to capture something unique about aircraft operations.  The picture taken from underneath was selected because I was attempting to capture a glimpse of the massive size of a 777.  It is massive.  Certain models can take off weighing over 700,000lbs.

The other picture is an attempt to make a ground fueling station look interesting.  I think I'll keep trying.  Early morning and late evening lighting is much more interesting and easier to work with.  Bright daylight is a challenge.  That's why I tried to make some interesting images during the bright daylight.  I wanted to force myself to try even though the conditions were not ideal.

On The Rode Again

Here are some recent photographs from travels to Hong Kong, Japan, and Buenos Aires.  I'm trying to push myself to continue posting pictures because it's good training.  It helps me continue to refine the whole digital file handling work flows and it makes me look critically at what makes a good image.  I'm not saying these are great images.  It's just an exercise used to increase skills.

These photos were taken using my Olympus travel camera.  It's very easy to take on the road and has enough manual settings so it allows me to make some creative choices fairly easily.  It also does pretty good in low light.

Back In the Studio

I"ve slowly been preparing for a special western shoot.  As slow as I've been moving I'll be lucky to get it complete prior to the Spring of 2015.  Anyway,  I used some of my kids as guinea pigs working through the lighting etc....My wife saw some of the pics and she wanted to use them to update her wall.  So, I figured I might as well post a few on the blog.

What you'll see is a single light set up using a black background.  When I finally get the look I'm after I'll be using some black backgrounds, but I'll also be using my Virtual Background Machine for some added variety and creativity.   The colored images are the original images with a slightly warmer white balance than was actually used in camera.  The "almost" sepia images are the same images after using Lightroom 4 presets to get close to a sepia image.

Japan and The Aleutians

While heading to Japan we flew over the Aleutian Islands.  Many times there isn't much to see, but this time I got a pretty good view of one of the volcanic formations.  It's hard to get picture that shows much detail and depth at 35,000 feet with a pocket camera, but I had to try.  During post processing I adjusted the contrast a little, warmed up the white balance and applied a slight vignette.   The second picture is not a very good composition, but I liked the lighting.  It was taken at 1600 ISO by my Olympus ZX1.  I did not attempt to do any noise suppression.  I'm amazed at how well this camera does at high ISO's.

Japan Travels

I'm staying in Hong Kong currently, but had some time to post a few pictures from a recent Japan trip.  Again, I was using my Olympus XZ-1.  Most of these were low light shots and the camera surprisingly did not introduce too much noise.  I really enjoy using this XZ-1 even though it's an older camera by today's standards it really does a good job.

I decided to try my hand at posting some pictures again.  I've been busy traveling so I decided to post pictures of my travels.  I have more practice and enjoy portraits more than things, but I thought it would be good practice.  These photos were taken while walking around Buenos Aires.  It was a cloudy day with light rain.  I was using my little Olympus xz.  It's much easier to carry around than my Nikon 35mm.

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.