November 19, 2009 - Armageddon cometh?

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I was lucky to get this, and it didn't even turn out the way I expected. Coming home from work with my carpool, we had left Buckhead under party sunny skies. But by the time we got halfway home a thick layer of foggy, misty clouds had settled over us.

The setting sun gave us a rare moment when the sun was just off of the horizon and visible under the layer of clouds. I quickly pulled out my camera and attached my 70-200mm lens to get a few quick snapshots as we were going over the interstate. Most of my shots were jostled by the moving car (no, I wasn't driving) or blocked by the accompanying flow of cars. But this one shot was clear.

I used my long lens to put an emphasis the interaction between the sun and the edge of the clouds. I had to guess at an ISO because of the (extremely) short amount of time I had. But it worked, and for that I am glad. I wish I had a higher vantage point so I could have caught the long line of cars backed up on the highway, but the car was too low and the overpass' railing was in the way.

November 18, 2009 - Is the tree on fire?

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Just a real quick post today for a photo that didn't take long. There is a beautiful flame-orange tree in the park down the street and I had been dying to take a photo of it. But there was a slight problem — it is sandwiched between the four-lane street and the parking lot for the park, so I wasn't sure how to photograph it without including something distracting in the backgroud.

Obviously, I finally figured it out.

I took out my 70-200mm lens and positioned myself along the fence about 80 feet from the tree. Using the focal length to my advantage, I was able to frame the tree and the fence in such a way as to leave out the parking lot (which was immediately outside the frame on the right). It also required some timing to leave out all the cars driving past on the left. It took several attempts, but I finally got a good, clear shot.

I didn't have a tripod or monopod for this shot, so I had to brace the camera as much as possible to avoid camera shake at this low shutter speed. Since I was shooting around 70mm, that meant my shutter speed needed to be at least 1/70 of a second. As you can see, I wasn't there. So some of the shots came out a little blurry from me not holding the camera still enough. This is another instance of where taking a lot of shots (by holding the shutter button down) helped produce a clear, shake free image.

To brace the camera, I knelt down on my right knee and rested my left elbow on the top of my left thigh while keeping my right arm close to the body. Because I was holding the heavy lens in my left hand, the left leg provided lots of support.

As for things I wish I could change, I wish the day had been sunny and not overcast. That would have let the blue sky shine through the leaves instead of the bright white overcast sky. I also wish there wasn't so many leaves on the ground because the nice thick green grass made a good contrast in color with the leaves in the tree.

And in case you are wondering, these leaves are really that color. I did very little manipulation in Photoshop Elements to accentuate the color. Very little.

October 24, 2009 - the best Photoshop Elements book

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After my success with using Curves in Photoshop Elements, I am totally convinced this is the best book for digital photographers to use for Photoshop Elements. If you don't have version 6, just look the edition that matches your version. Scott Kelby and Matt Kloskowski do a great job of having an edition out immediately after Adobe releases a new version.

To take this photo, I placed the book on my kitchen table (which has a nice black surface). I stood on a chair to get over the book so I would have more a a head-on view. I used my 50mm f1.8 lens and pumped up the ISO to 800 so I could shoot with natural lighting in the room and not rely on a flash. Finally, in postproduction, I adjusted the color to make everything appear natural.

The only thing I wish I had done differently is pay more attention to the corners. I had clipped the lower right corner of the book while taking the picture. To compensate a little for that, I also clipped the upper left corner when I cropped the photo down to fit on my blog.

And I really do love this book. Can you tell by the roughed up edges to the cover?

October 21, 2009 - Black and white ivy

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Today's photo is a closeup of some simple ivy against its concrete border. I used my 70-200mm f2.8 lens to isolate just the ivy in the photo and create a nice depth-of-field.

In Photoshop Elements, I increased the contrast and added to the shadows. I also burned in (darkened) the edges to bring more attention to the leaves in the center.

I like this photo a lot. What do you think?

October 18, 2009 - A nice warm fire

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The weather is getting colder, so we put some logs in the fireplace today. After the girls got dressed for church, they sat in front of the fire to play.

I bounced the flash off of the ceiling to light up this photo. I took a bunch of photos to get a really good expression from one of the kids, and it worked. I also got down to their level instead of simply taking the photo while standing up. If you aren't doing this yet with your photos, do it — it is a subtle but significant change that will make your photos much better.

October 15, 2009 - Behind the scenes at a HowStuffWorks podcast

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I lucked out today. For the past several weeks, ever since I made this photo for Chuck and Josh of Stuff You Should Know fame, I have been wanting to get a photo of one of the podcast teams at HowStuffWorks doing their podcast. Well, today it happened.

I happened to pass the recording studio when they were just setting up for a recording of Stuff You Missed inn History Class. I politely asked permission to get some shots, and they agreed as long as it was during their sound check before they started recording. So a hearty thanks to Sarah and Katie for their cooperation, along with Jeri and Elizabeth who are part of the production crew.

For the photo, I got down to the same level as Sarah and Katie and bounced the dedicated flash off of the ceiling. I put the camera into manual mode, dialing in f5.6, 1/60, and ISO 400 for aperture, shutter, and film speed, respectively. I focused about a third into the scene (the microphone by Katie on the right), which helped produce a nice sharp photo from front to back.

I took a bunch of shots and selected this as the best. I felt it showed how much fun these two ladies have when talking about their subjects. Sarah definitely seems to be chucking about what Katie is saying. And if you listen to their podcasts, you know that happens a lot.

Taking a lot of shots also helped me with another problem. When taking photos of people talking it is very easy to catch them in unusual (and sometimes goofy) facial expressions. When you look at someone talk, you don't really notice how many positions the mouth and lips take to form sounds and words. But a photo freezes that motion. So take a lot of shots when you are shooting someone talking. It will give you more of a chance to get a good looking shot that still conveys the idea of talking.

I wish I could have gotten a better angle, however, one that would have shown more of Katie's face. But there was some equipment in the way. Plus, I wanted to isolate the photo on the table where they do their work and leave out the other stuff that is used for the video podcasts. Some of that video equipment is literally a foot behind Katie, but because of how I shot and cropped this picture you wouldn't have any idea if I hadn't told you. This is another good example of how photography can be as much about what you leave out of the shot as what you keep in.

October 11, 2009 - Sunday morning coloring

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I really like today's photo. There may not be much technically masterful about it, but it shows two of my daughters doing one of their favorite things — coloring with their extensive set of tinted, sparkly glue. It's almost as fun as finger paints, but the colors are shimmery and fantastic.

And best of all, Emma and Morgan can really create some dazzling artwork . . . well, at least in my eyes they do.

Once again, I put the camera into manual mode and used my favorite settings for photos with a flash. I find this setting really helps the camera by taking out a bunch of guess work for it to do. Instead, it's like you're telling the camera, "Okay, here's the shutter speed and aperture. All you need to do is figure out the right amount of pop to put into that flash." And by reducing the options, the camera excels.

As for the flash, I used my dedicated Sigma EF-500 DG Super flash and pointed it up at the ceiling. I also zoomed in with the lens some to help isolate the girls and their fun from some of the distracting background in the kitchen.

In hindsight, I wish I had gotten some pictures a few minutes later when their art on the pages in front of them would be more complete. This would really help bring out the idea that they were coloring.

What do you think? What would have been better?

October 10, 2009 - Youth temple trip

Today I accompanied about half our church's youth group to Columbia, South Carolina, for a church activity. It was an all-day trip and I enjoyed being there very much.

When we were done, we gathered outside for a group shot. My camera bag was left home accidentally ("You asked me to pack it? Honest, Dad, I thought you said you were going to put it in the van!"), but one of the kids brought his Nikon D70. It was a little unfamiliar to me (remember, I shoot Canon), but I think I pulled off a decent photo.

I put the group in the shade of some trees to keep the sunlight off of them, but then turned on the camera's built in flash to make them brighter. Otherwise, the bright white building in the background would have over-powered the exposure, leaving them in the dark. I also dropped my shooting level down a little bit to make it easier for me to include the whole spire and statue in the shot.

I focused on the kids (which I think caused the Nikon to set the exposure mainly based on them) and then recomposed the shot to where they were in one corner and the angel atop the spire was in the other. I also helped them stand as a group, staggering each one so all of their faces were easy to see.

I definitely wish I had paid more attention to if I was keeping the camera level. It seems obvious to me that the shot is a little crooked. And there are two or three kids that are in less-than-ideal poses, which drives me crazy. I try to notice these kind of things when I shoot, but I don't always remember.

I apologize for not having any of the settings for the shot, but I was given a copy of the photo and it had lost all of its Exif data.

October 7, 2009 - Gorgeous sunset photo

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We just had a strong front go pushing through today and it turned into a beautiful, clear day. From past experience, I knew this would produce some strong colors at sunset, so I planned out this shot in advance.

My son and I hiked through a field with waist high grass in order to get on the other side of this massive, old oak tree. We set the camera up on a tripod to insure stability, and took a bunch of photos.

Each shot was done on 'M' so we could alter each shot slightly from the previous one. We mostly experimented in longer or shorter shutter speeds, but we also changed angles and orientations.

Sunset photos are the best when you include something in the sunset. It doesn't matter much what it is (like a silhouetted tree, your best friend, or reflections off of a surface), but its inclusion is vital.

For this shot, I put the silhouetted oak down in the lower corner to also use the rule of thirds. As for the other settings, I wanted a good, deep depth of field, so I went with f11. ISO 100 insured the photo would be smooth and grain-free, and the tripod prevented any blurriness on such a long exposure.

I liked this one the best. There was still enough light so the field wasn't thrown into complete darkness, and the clouds had a little hint of pink in them at the top of the frame. But when I loaded it up into Photoshop Elements, however, I couldn't quite get the color that I wanted. Either the sky wasn't blue enough at the top, the clouds weren't bright enough, or the horizon wasn't yellow enough. And I totally couldn't see any pink in the clouds.

So what did I do? I pulled out The Photoshop Elements 6 Book for Digital Photograhers (here's a link to the same book for the latest version of Photoshop Elements). I reviewed the book for ideas on getting the missing colors, and found the solution &mdash the 'Adjust Color Curves' tool. It's amazing! I'm going to need to use this one more. Not only did it bring out all of the color that was missing, but it also helped me keep the field from going completely black. It completely saved me from going into depression (because I was so frustrated with the lackluster look of the photo).

What do you guys think? Did I go to far? Is the color unreal? Or did I get it right?

October 6, 2009 - Beauty amidst the rain

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I know it's been a while since my last post, but I hope this one is a treat!

Today I went out during lunch after a light rain to try to get some water droplet photos, and this time I think I found a real keeper. These were odd little flowers (all of the blooms are half-circles), but were beautiful and vibrant.

I shot them hand-held with my 18-55mm IS lens, which makes for a decent macro lens in a pinch (or on a tight budget, like me). The sky was still overcast, but there was plenty of light to get a good shutter speed and small-ish aperture (to increase depth of field), all while using a good ISO to avoid graininess.

Having shot in RAW, I loaded it into Photoshop Elements and used Adobe Camera Raw to do some post-processing. I actually lowered the exposure by a quarter and bumped up the vibrance to saturate the colors a little more.

Then I did something I usually don't do — instead of raising the clarity to help sharpen the image, I lowered it to make it appear softer. Then I sharpened just the water droplets in the focus zone to make them really pop out. By being selective with the sharpening, I kept the blurry areas nice and smooth (the sharpening affect would have made these more grainy). For the final touch, I put a vignette around the frame, darkening the edges slightly to bring more attention to the brighter center of the photo.

I like this photo a lot. How do you think I did? If there was one thing I wish I had done a little differently, it would have been to capture the photo at a little bit of an angle instead of being so 'straight down' on the flowers.

October 4, 2009 - Cinnamon baked goodness

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I feel like I really learned something from today's photo. Once again, I found myself baking (some cinnamon rolls this time) and took some photos as the batch was cooling. Unlike most of my other photos, however, this was shot from a tripod instead of hand-holding and praying for the best.

I tried two different lenses &mdash first I went with my 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 IS lens, and then I tried my 70-200mm f2.8L lens. After looking through the shots, I really liked the perspective and angle of view of the first lens.

Going into the shot, I thought I would like the photos better from the other lens. Why? Because it is optically sharper. But in reality the smaller, cheaper lens was easier to work with and I got a better angle of view on the rolls.

The tripod let me pick a nice, slow ISO that would give a good, clean image that's free from digital noise (graininess). If you will notice, the shutter speed was 1/4 of a second. Without the tripod, this would have been an impossible shot to make. But even with the tripod there was a problem. This particular shutter speed is smack dab in the middle of a short range of shutter speeds that is susceptible to blurring because of the force of the internal mechanisms of the camera shaking the camera during the shot.

This shake affected the 70-200mm, but not the 18-55mm. I think the difference is the image stabilization. Without it, the 70-200mm had problems. But with it, the 18-55mm performed like a champ.

What would I do differently? I think I would have tried to move the rolls somewhere else, or at least do something to avoid the tile backsplash of the stovetop. The tiles have a floral arrangment printd on it, which can be a little bit of a distraction. Now that I have finished the post, I also think the image is a little tilted. I should have made sure it was level (either when I snapped the photo or with Photoshop Elements in post-processing.

And one other thing &mdash I wish I had made two batches of rolls instead of just one!

October 3, 2009 - What are you willing to give up?

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I am so proud of my daughter. Leigh Ann had decided that her beautiful long hair was getting too long and she wanted to get it trimmed to shoulder length. But then my wife asked why stop there? She was only a couple of inches shy of the minimum length required for donations to Locks of Love.

So she agreed. She even went above and beyond and cut off nearly a full foot of hair so she could have the haircut you see in the photo.

I took this using the available light from the same window I use for many of my black and white portraits. Thanks to the image-stabilized lens I used, there wasn't any camera shake in the shot despite the slow 1/30th of a second shutter speed. I also removed a painting from above the couch so there wouldn't be any distractions — just a nice blank wall. This let the viewer's concentration be solely upon Leigh Ann and her hair.

About the only thing I wish I had done differently is to lower my angle of view just a little more to completely get rid of the couch. And it would have also been nice to get Leigh Ann to part her lips a little on her smile. When she shows just a little bit of teeth, her smile really shines.

And as you can tell, she just loves her new hairstyle. Not only that, but she is ecstatic that the hair she cut off is not going to waste!

October 1, 2009 - Well planned snapshots

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A little more simple of a shot today. I got this while my kids were browsing around for a book to buy at their school's book fair. But even with something that looks like a snapshot still has some thought and planning behind it.

Take this shot, for instance. I cheated a little by putting the camera in 'P' mode. This mode lets the camera make all the decisions but lets me influence them. In this instance my influences were setting the camera to ISO 800 and using the fluorescent white balance. The film speed gave it enough light to properly expose the shots without using a flash, while the white balance matched the lights in the library.

Now all I had to do was follow my kids around as they looked at books. But even there I used a specific technique. In this shot, I crouched down so the camera was on the same level as my kids. This simple change in angle of view really changes the whole feel of the photo because it is as if we are seeing the world from their perspective. It's subtle, but can have a powerful effect.

As to what I would change, I wish I had a little more shutter speed. The camera was fooled a little and overexposed the shot, but I was able to dial it back down using Adobe Camera Raw adn Photoshop Elements. If the camera hadn't been fooled, however, the shutter speed would have been a little faster and maybe I wouldn't have gotten the slight motion blur in Morgan's hands.

Oh, and one more thing — why in the world are they holding the book upside down?

September 26, 2009 - Beautiful day in Buckhead

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Well, I have finally done it. I missed a day. I was going to try to sneak this past you, but then thought surely someone would catch that the metadata for the image clearly showed it was taken on Sept. 25th and not the 26th and I would have a huge Internet scandal on my hands that make my life a living nightmare.

But then I thought, why not admit it? I'm not perfect, just like David Letterman isn't perfect, and if he can admit his shortcomings on national TV then I can surely admit mine to the world.

Whew. That feels so much better.

On to the picture. The cloud cover was just gorgeous today (oops, I mean yesterday), so I got a good shot of the office building and condominium you can see from the 15th floor deck at my office. And because my floor is roughly halfway up the height of these two buildings, I don't get any perspective distortion.

Based on the image data, it looks like I had the camera in 'P' mode, which means the camera made most of the decisions for me (which is generally fine for a photo like this). My only post-production thought was if I should take out the tower crane or not that is protruding on the right side of the image. Since I am so far behind in making my daily posts, I decided not to.

What do you think, should I have?

September 22, 2009 - Damage from the lightning?

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My neighbor, whose lightning strike I told you about in yesterday's post, had a bunch of electronics blow out in his house. How? The water pipe from the city supply ran through the roots of the tree. The lightning's charge traveled down the pipe and into their house.

Thankfully, we were more lucky. We didn't get any lightning strikes. But for some reason the DVD player was dead when we tried to use it today. Today's photo is of Joshua trying to get Tannah's favorite movie out of the player.

I used my dedicated flash pointed up into the ceiling, as I described in the third paragraph of Sunday's post about making some muffins. I composed the photo with Joshua off to one side and the player at the bottom to kind of frame the image a little.

I just wish I had left the armoire door so you could see the TV inside. That would really help set the photo properly. I also wish I had put a little white card behind the head of the flash so it would have bounced a little light into Joshua's face.

September 20, 2009 - Making pumpkin muffins

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Tonight we made a treat — chocolate chip pumpkin muffins!

I used my dedicated flash to light up the kitchen. I pointed it straight up so it would bounce off the ceiling and create a brighter, broader light. It did a good job.

I set the camera on manual, with the shutter at 1/60, aperture at f5.6, and ISO at 400. For indoor shots with a flash, these are my favorite settings. The camera does a great job of figuring out how much flash to use, and my Sigma EF500 Super flash has plenty of power.

The 1/60 shutter speed does a good job of stopping action, while the f5.6 aperture usually creates a good depth of field for indoors. With the film speed set at ISO 400, it's fast enough to light up most of the room and have a slight (yet pleasant) light falloff towards the back.

I composed this shot specifically. I got in close to Tannah and down on her level so you could easily see her. I arranged the simple ingredients so you could see what they were. Because I focused in close, the depth of field in this shot was fairly shallow which helped put the messy counter behind her out of focus (which helps reduce its distraction yet convey enough to easily convey that this is a kitchen).

I like this photo. It really captures the idea well of making something with my kids. Leigh Ann was helping a little, too. And when she wasn't helping, she took my camera and took some photos of Tannah and I working side by side.

By the way, the recipe is really simple. One box of spice cake mix, one bag of mini chocolate chips, and one regular-sized can of pumpkin. Mix it all up (no water needed) with a teaspoon of nutmeg and put it in muffin tins. Cook them at 325° for 10 minutes (for miniature muffins, longer for regular ones) and enjoy!

September 15, 2009 - Up in the trees

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We had a tree cutting service come out today to take down some dead, diseased, and damaged trees. There was a lot of activity and they were under the constant threat of rain, which made them work even faster.

The guy who climbed the trees had been doing it for years, and was very good. I got up on my roof to take this photo. By getting up on the same level as him, it allowed me to put a background of treetops behind him instead of the overcast sky. Our front yard slopes down to the street (by about 25 feet), so he was about 40 feet off the ground as he was making this cut.

I used my 70-200mm f2.8L lens so I could get a good, up close shot of him with all of the chips flying. I set the white balance mode to cloudy, and then added in more contrast in Photoshop Elements. And the shutter speed was in that magic range where most of the falling chips were frozen in air but the chips coming right off the chainsaw are slightly blurred. This really conveys the action of the photo.

I love how I caught a look of utter concentration. I also wanted to leave some negative space at the bottom (to help convey how high he was) but was careful not to include too much (which would have made him smaller in the photo).

I really like this photo, and I not sure if there is anything I would have changed. What do you think? Do you have any suggestions on what could have made this better?

September 8, 2009 - Another self portrait

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I almost didn't get a photo today. Back on Labor Day, I fixed a broken pipe under the sink. After dinner tonight, I checked to see if there was any water under the sink.

Sure enough, there was.

So while I was digging around under the sink trying to figure out where the water was coming from, I remembered I still hadn't gotten a photo yet. So I pulled out my tripod, set the camera on it, and adjusted it to where the camera was at head level. This way the photo would have the same perspective as if you had walked in the kitchen and found me there.

I also set the camera on f5.6 to make sure everything was in focus and put it on the widest zoom possible. I adjusted the white balance to match the light bulbs in the kitchen. Finally, I put it on the 10-second timer so I would have enough time to get under the sink before the picture was snapped.

I wish I had a wider lens for a shot like this. It would have helped. I think the perspective could have been better if it had included more of the kitchen.

What do you think? Did I do a good job?

September 3, 2009 – Buckhead sidewalk during lunch

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Today was packed with stuff that was demanding my time, and I really had one easy chance to get some photos &mdash walking to and from the Chick-Fil-A during my shortened lunch. I used my 70-200mm f2.8L lens to compress the angle of view. I liked how the longer lens compressed the view down to just the sidewalk, the trees that lined it, and the building in the background. This angle really helps convey how much greenery there is on this block of Peachtree Road where my building is, and the tress on the right provide a kind of leading line into the center of the photo.

I stayed a few minutes to get a few shots with a varying amount of pedestrians walking along. Now that I have looked at the results, I decided it looked a lot better with more people in the shot, so I went with this one. And the lighting was wonderful, too. When I took this photo, the sun had gone behind a thin cloud, giving a soft, diffused light. This eliminated the harsh shadows that full sunlight can create. Not sure what I mean? Just pay attention to the shadows of the closest pedestrians. They are soft and fuzzy. If the sun was shining fully, they would have been dark with sharp outlines.

Sometimes a photo is about what you leave out as much as it is what you leave in. One big thing I left out of this shot was a giant for sale sign. Technically, I guess you can say it's still in the photo, but it is behind the shubbery and flowers in the lower left corner of the photo. I definitely liked the angle, but the sign was obnoxious and immensely distracting. So instead of giving up on the photo, I found a way to get rid of the sign! I just backed up about 20 feet and moved a little to my left, and presto! The sign was gone.

As for what I would change, I wish I had more time to get some variety (specifically, a few more women walking around). I also don't like the do not enter sign and the red hand beside it. I could use Photoshop to get rid of those, but I am a huge fan of getting photos right in the camera and not relying on tools like Photoshop to fix them.

August 31, 2009 - Self portrait

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Well, it finally happened. I finally had a day where it was getting time to go to bed and I hadn't taken a single shot yet. I was sitting at my computer, trying to update the blog when it hit me.

Oh, crap! I thought. Here it is at 10:15 p.m. and I haven't taken any pictures!

I sat there wondering what I could do for a couple of minutes when inspiration hit me — do a self portrait!

I wanted this self-portrait to be realistic, to reflect how I usually do my photo work. So it had to be fairly dark. It might not be best for my eyes, but I tend to sit with the lights off so I can see the photos easily.

I set up my camera on a tripod, took a few practice shots, and then got serious. I realized right away that letting the light spill in from the kitchen didn't work for a pleasing portrait. So I attached my dedicated flash to the camera, pointed it at the ceiling, and set it to shoot in manual mode at 1/32 power (in case you're wondering, 1/2 power was enough to brightly light up the room).

I decided on ISO 200 and a full second exposure time (obviously I put my camera into manual mode in order to do that) to get a balance between a fast enough shutter speed to prevent motion blur and a slow enough film speed to prevent heavy graininess in the dark areas.

I also set the camera at head level so the angle of view might be like you were sitting down with me to look at the photos. Finally, I tried to eliminate distractions in the photo, so I cleaned up my desk (and put all of the junk on the floor). What you see in the photo is what I wanted you to see.

From beginning to end, this shot took less than 15 minutes to create, and that included using the 10 second timer on my shutter (I would press the shutter button, and then have 10 seconds to climb into my chair and position myself).

In hindsight, I wish I would have taken the time to set the camera to a wider angle (maybe more around 18-20mm) and move it closer to me and the screen. This might have further enhanced the perspective of you sitting down with me.