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