September 9, 2009 - Morgan in black and white

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Here is my fourth child, Morgan. She was excited when I told her it was her turn for a portrait by the window. Just like the others, everything I said about the first photo applies here, too.

While I like the photo, I am not sure if does a good enough job of capturing her personality. But it was the best of the bunch. Morgan likes it, however, and so does Rachel.

I do like how the lighting turned out on this one. The light seems to wrap around her face better than the other three, and I think I did a better job on the black and white effect this time.

Having said that, you may be seeing another photo of her coming soon. And then we'll pick which one is 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 7, 2009 – Aaron and Kirsten

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Since today was the last day for us to all be together for the family reunion, several of us went out to eat dinner at James Joyce, an irish pub in Decatur. It was a night for fun and relaxation — which means we left the kids at home!

Rachel's youngest brother, Aaron, married a couple of years ago, but it happened at a period where we could only afford to fly out Rachel for the wedding. So I hadn't met his wife, Kirsten, until this weekend.

We were sitting in the outdoor area at a large table with an even larger umbrella over it. I put the flash on my camera and set the flash compensation setting to use one full-stop less light than what the camera thought it needed (if you have a DSLR, this setting usually has a button that pairs a lightning bolt with a "+/-" sign).

I did this so I would get a little light from the flash to make sure their faces were brightly lit. I feared the large umbrella would make their faces darker while the background areas would still be pretty bright. I also knew the flash would lighten up their eyes nicely.

I should have used ISO 200 to get a faster shutter speed, but thankfully I was using my 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 IS lens. The IS stabilized the shot so even the slow shutter speed of 1/25 didn't create any camera shake.

The only thing I don't really like about this snapshot is the guy behind Aaron's shoulder is a little be too much in focus. I don't mind him being there, I just wish he was more blurred out like the people over Kirsten's shoulder. The people help set the situation and environment. It's just that I think the guy is a little too much of a distraction.

September 6, 2009 – 40th anniversary photo

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Like I said in an earlier post, we had a miniature family reunion this weekend. Everyone got together because we had two children baptized (one mine and the other my niece) and a baby blessed (another niece).

After church today, we all went over to my sister-in-law's house for a big sunday dinner. Rachel's parents, Mike and Pam, had a question for me when we got out of the car.

"Chris, Mike and I would like to get a photo done." Pam said. "Since we just had our 40th anniversary, we want a nice portrait."

"Sure!" I replied. "When do you want to do it?"

"Right now, before we change out of our church clothes," she said. "We were just thinking of something here in the front yard."

"Um . . . okay." They had caught me completely off-guard. I quickly looked around for areas around the house that would work. Luckily, the neighbors across the street had this nice white fence, and I thought this would work well.

Is this my best work? No. I found several things I didn't like when I uploaded the photo to the computer. Their faces were in too much shadow, which I tried to fix with dodging in Photoshop Elements (which lightens parts of the photo). The tree in the backgound is right behind Mike's head. Too much of the photo is in focus. Mike's jacket is hanging funny. And for some reason, even at 1/100 of a second there was still a little bit of camera shake in the photo.

The only thing I can think of is I was a little "out of it" because I had skipped breakfast and lunch that day and was super hungry. But that's an excuse — I should have done a better job.

Overall, I thought the picture was okay and I hope my in-laws like it. That's what is most important. I am sending it to them today.

September 5, 2009 - Beaming ring bearer

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Weddings can be a lot of hard work, but a lot of fun, too! I had the pleasure of getting this shot of a very personable ring bearer today. The wedding was severely delayed (by an hour and a half) while they were waiting for the bridal group to show up, but he kept a great attitude going.

I got this shot as they were just about to start the ceremony, while they were preparing in a back room. He was concentrating on what he had to do in a few minutes, and when I snapped his photo he didn't look happy. I joked with him about it, and teased that it wasn't against the law to smile at a wedding. He perked right up and let me get a second shot.

I purposefully got down to his level to help make him appear more natural, like a real person instead of a little child. I had a dedicated flash attached to the camera, with the flash head pointing straight up to the ceiling.

This flash technique helps create a brighter and larger source of light directly overhead. Because it is larger (turning the whole ceiling into a source of light), it is also a softer light, meaning it has no harsh shadows. To help bounce a little light straight from the camera to the subject, I attached a little white card to the back of the flash head.

I shot with a wider aperture (f4.5) to help get the maid of honor out of focus in the background. I purposefully wanted to include the maid of honor to help tell the story of the photo, so I put the ring bearer on one side and her on the other.

As for what I wish I could have changed, I don't really like the stand of religious pamphlets in the background, nor do I like the pair of hands sticking into into the left side of the photo. But this was taken at the spur of the moment, and I didn't want to take more than a few seconds to compose the shot because the announcement to line up could have been coming at any time.

The one thing I could've changed (and now wish I had) is to have him turn his pillow around so the tag isn't showing. But some people will argue that the tag adds to the overall photo by reinforcing this is just a little kid and despite his utmost concentration he will still miss some of the fine details (like having the tag sticking out). What do you think?

An apology

Just a quick note as an apology. I know, I know — I'm missing a few days. We had a family reunion over the Labor Day weekend and we hosted it (with the help of my wonderful sister-in-law and her husband).

So with all of the preparations and the actual reunion, I have fallen behind on making my posts. I promise I have been taking photos every day, so in the next couple of days I hope to get caught up!

September 4, 2009 – Getting my cameras cleaned

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Ugh. Hopefully you'll never have to do this, but if you have a DSLR then chances are pretty good you will.

I had to get both of my cameras cleaned today because of dust buildup on the image sensors. Whenever I would take a photo at an aperture like f11 or smaller, I could see dark spots in my photos from the dust collecting on the sensor.

If you have a point and shoot, then you can skip today's tip because it will never happen to you. The inside of your camera is always sealed, whereas with a DSLR the benefit of having interchangeable lenses means you are always opening up your camera's guts and exposing it to the elements.

I am fortunate enough to have a fantastic pro camera shop (Photo Barn) close by, and one of the services they offer is cleaning. While Jim was working on my first camera, I took this shot with my old Canon D60. He is in the midst of using a specially sized cotton swab to wipe the dust off of my sensor.

If you find yourself in my position of seeing spots on your photos where there shouldn't be ones (especially if they are appearing in shots like landscapes where there should only be clear blue skies), I would suggest calling around to your local camera shops to see if any offer a cleaning service. If they don't, find a place that sells the special cleaning supplies and then read your camera's manual on how to do it yourself. If your manual doesn't explain it, then this website may help.

As for this shot, I used my 50mm f1.8 lens so I could shoot at a wide aperture and not use a flash. The combination of f2.2 and ISO 400 allowed me to get a 1/50 shutter speed, which was fast enough to hand-hold without a blurry photo.

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.

September 2, 2009 – Capturing facial expressions

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I had so much success with yesterday's post that I went back and did the same thing with another daughter (in case you don't know, I have five kids &mdash one boy and four girls). And just like the previous post, everything I said about the first photo applies here, too.

Emma remings me so much about myself when I was her age &mdash reserved and quiet at times. But she had seen the photos I had gotten of her sisters and wanted a good one of herself, too. So she really worked with me and made it easier.

While I don't think her expression is quite as precocious as Tannah's, I love it anyway. I feel like she is exchanging a knowing smile with me, like she knows what I am thinking and she agrees.

If you can capture expressions in your subjects that convey a feeling to the viewer, then you are doing a great job with your photography. It's something hard to do, and there will be times that you start to feel like you're doing it, and then you go for a long time without any luck (it's what makes quality photography such a joy to acheive).

If this happens to you, don't despair. Just keep clicking away.

As for what I wish I could change, I shot this too loose and had to crop this in quite a bit to get the composition you see. As you know, my wife wants an 8x10 of each child, and I worry that I had to crop in too much to get a good 8x10 out of this.

September 1, 2009 – Mischievous!

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Same time &mdash same place, and the result is the next black and white photo of my kids. Everything I said in the previous post applies here, too.

This is my youngest child (only 4-years-old), and she really moved around. I kept shooting through it all, hoping that I would get a good one. And get a good one I did. I just love her expression! When you look at this, don't you wonder what she is thinking?

One thing I did while shooting her photo is I kept talking with her. I asked her questions about the doll she was playing with, how pre-school went for her that day, and what she wanted to eat for dinner. It helped her to keep looking back at the camera.

The only thing I wish would have been better was the focus point. Because of her constant movement, the focus point wasn't her closest eye, but instead seemed to be somewhere closer to her leading shoulder. In a web shot like this, it is not so noticeable. But we want to make an 8x10 of this for the wall and the soft-focus might be too much for a print that size.

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.

August 30, 2009 – Window light portrait

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I felt like I was getting into a little bit of a rut (especially since it seems that many of my photos were of buildings, flowers, or bugs), so with today's submission I am going back to two things that will make my wife happy — one of my kids and black and white photography.

My kids were sitting at a little white table by our front window, doing a little bit of crafting. I was helping them out, and it suddenly struck me this would be a great location to get some good black and white portraiture. The window faces north, so it never gets any sunlight shining directly through it. Therefore, all of the light is this beautiful, soft, ambient light.

Notice the pleasing effect this indirect light has — it softly wraps around her face. And while part of her face is in shadow, it isn't a harsh shadow. This lighting also does wonders to make the photo look more three dimensional. The soft shadows do a great job of showing the contours of her face without creating something harsh and unflattering.

Because I already had black and white in my mind, I did three things. First, I set my ISO to 1600, which will produce a grainier photo than normal. Second, I wanted to create a narrow depth of field, so I pulled out my 50mm f1.8 prime lens and set it to f2.2. This gave enough focus to grab my daughter's face, but it still threw everything in the background out of focus. And third, by turning all of the lights off in the room I created a dark background that will not only help focus attention on my subject but also give me a chance for a deep, rich black.

In this photo, the eyes are the most important, so I focused on them to make sure they looked the best. Everything else blends nicely into an out-of-focus backgroud (this blurry effect is called bokeh). Finally, I cropped the photo to put her eyes in the upper-right third of the photo to follow the rule of thirds. I also cropped out the large rainbow hanging from her necklace. It was distracting, and took away from the photo.

The one thing that I wish I had done for this is remove the darned ironing board from behind her, which created the fuzzy bar that you see in the background.

Brian, I thought about burning out the board, but honestly didn't want to make the effort getting rid of the board but not getting rid of the strands of her hair. So instead, I removed the string that was hanging conspicuously from the end. Thanks for giving me the challenge to do so in my previous black and white photo.

Photography behind the scenes

I came across a couple of items today that went along perfectly with each other. First, I was at a college football site that was talking about schedule posters. BYU has this really nice one.

Linked to it is this great video that shows what happened behind the scenes. There is no explanation, but sometimes just seeing the preparation helps illuminate the techniques to our minds.

Then I found a great entry in Scott Kelby's blog that details the work that went into his fantastic photo shoot of a Army Reserve Medevac unit. I know I haven't included one of his photos in this post, but believe me — they're incredible. Just click here and see for yourself.

August 29, 2009 – Day hike at Stone Mountain

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As many of you know, I am the Scoutmaster for our church's Boy Scout troop. Next summer we are heading to Philmont Scout Ranch for a 12-day backpacking expedition, and today we officially started our preparation. It was nothing strenuous, just a 6.5 mile hike around Stone Mountain with simple day packs. Philmont allows only small groups, so our expedition will have only 12 people. Today's group was slightly smaller than that, but it did include one of the boy's mother.

Because the trail weaved mostly through the dense forest, I put my 18-55 f3.5-5.6 IS wide angle lens so I could capture more of the trail and our hikers. I didn't want to interrupt their pacing (and just capture things as they were happening, photojournalism style), so I set the camera in 'P' mode. This lets the camera make most of the decisions for camera settings, yet allows me to make modifications in case I think the shutter speed is too slow or the shots are underexposed (by the way, the camera did a great job picking).

I kept hiking ahead of the group to find places where I could get a good shot, like this one. The trail curved in front of me, and there was a log I could stand on. I had to wait a few minutes for everyone to catch up, but it was worth it.

My son is in the lead. If you will notice, his hind foot is slightly blurry, which helps convey the idea of motion in the photo. The 1/100 shutter speed was just fast enough to freeze the movement of their torsos but some extremities are blurred.

I shot about five photos at this bend in the trail, but this was the only one that was devoid of bright sunlight reflecting off of their clothing. This one also had some good spacing between the hikers, which is nice.

In hindsight, I wish I had put the people in the front a little higher up in the frame (hmmm . . . maybe I shouldn't have stood on the log). I also wish they were looking up and you could see more of their face. Sometimes it's the little details like this that can change a good photo into a great one.