Images, thoughts, and crib notes from near and far.
Posted in Studio Works on Jul 28th, 2009
Here it is, the very last of the studio shoots of Coogan. While these are more of the classic portrait shots, they are shots every serious photographer needs to know how to do. They include managing your shadows, fill light, and striking a balance with ambient light. Enjoy
Posted in Photo of the Week, Studio Works, Uncategorized on Jul 26th, 2009
You have seen a great deal of my youngest daughter, Coogan, lately. To keep the playing field even, I thought I had better toss in a photo of my oldest daughter, Alexis. I am blessed by having two wonderful and beautiful daughters. I am even more blessed by having them as my best friends. Life simply does not get much better than that!
Posted in Studio Works on Jul 25th, 2009
Continuing with the next to last installment in this series are several images of Coogan. All images demonstrate the wonderful abilities of the Nikon Creative Lighting System which is available in their pro-sumer and professional model cameras. SB900 and SB800 flashes were used along with diffusers and reflectors.
Posted in Studio Works on Jul 22nd, 2009
Here I am up late again continuing to do some processing from last weekend’s shoot of Coogan and Melissa. In most of these shots below, I was using a softbox and or a shoot-thru diffusion panel with a pair of SB900’s. In all cases, exposure was controlled using the Nikon Creative Lighting System (CLS) system from the back of the camera. Camera was a Nikon D300 with a 70-200 or a 17-55 lens. I’ll be shooting at Studio 619 again on the 8th and 9th of Aug demonstrating the Nikon CLS. Here are some of my favorites of the two of them doing their thing.
Posted in Studio Works on Jul 19th, 2009
Coogan by the Window
Nikon D300, 70-200VR, SB900 + SB800 shooting thru Lastolite panel
I had a great surprise this weekend. Coogan flew up from LA to surprise Alexis, Kevin and Mr. Cole (the grandson). Alexis and crew flew in from Fort Hood Texas to celebrate Kevin’s safe return from Afghanistan. So while everyone was out doing their thing with the Kevin’s family, Coogan and I hit the road for Studio Six19 in Seattle for some indoor studio work. Coogan is always a pleasure to work with and is a real sport when it comes to helping Dad try out new photo gear. The shot above was a challenge in balancing full sun screaming in from the window (4th floor next to Alaskan Way) with sufficient flash power from the left to create a full wrap.
Coogan & Melissa
Nikon D300, 70-200VR, SB900 with a Lastolite EzHotshoe Soft Box
I had previously scheduled Melissa for the studio for a ‘play on lights day’, so it was a special treat to have Coogan join in. Not surprising, Coogan and Melissa made a great team and we had a blast shooting it up.
Coogan & Melissa being a Pair of Hams
Nikon D300, 17-55mm at 48, SB900 +3EV at flash with Lastolite EzHotshoe Soft Box
There comes a time in every session, when the models just need a break. In this case, they were having a grand time making fun of me and my camera funnies. As I recall, I was talking to my camera. In this shot, I positioned the softbox higher than normal camera left. With a little more distance than normal, I increased the output of the strobe to compensate for the additional light throw while maintaining a balance with the background lighting pouring thru the window. When using the the softbox, as good rule of thumb to use is one drop in f-stop per foot of light travel. You can see the presentable out-takes from the shoot on the blog in a couple of days – so stay tuned.
Cheers and happy photoing
Posted in News, Pacific Northwest on Jul 16th, 2009
The Tacoma Waterfront Association selected my print of the Lady Washington sailing on Commencement Bay, as the anchor image for their new banner. The 90 x 30 banner will be seen throughout Tacoma as the Tacoma Waterfront Association aligns with the Tall Ships for future events.
During the last Tall Ships Festival, I served as the Photography Pro and photography coordinator for the week long event. Coordinating some 20-30 photographers from sun up to well beyond sun down for the entire event was a very rewarding as well as challenging at times. Without a doubt, a great time was had by all. Should you get the chance to volunteer for future Tall Ships events, I would certainly encourage you to do so. You will have a chance to work with some very professional and dedicated individuals; plus you will learn a great deal about the ships as well as event organization.
Cheers
Posted in Africa, Photo of the Week, Safari, Travel on Jul 11th, 2009
Red Dunes (Dune 43) of Namib-Naukuft Park, Namibia
Nikon D300, 70-200VR, 95mm @ f9 1/640 sec, -2EV
While shooting in the sand dunes of Namibia, I found myself in an environment that was largely reds and blues. After looking at the large histogram for general exposure, I always shifted to the RGB histograms for evaluation. More often than not, I found that I was blowing out the reds. A simple drop in EV solved the blown channel. Usually using only a -1/3EV to solve normal exposure problems, I was very surprised by having to drop down into the -2’s for a correct exposure. While post processing, I was also surprised by the white balance of the camera. I always shoot in auto WB mode and correct during post processing. When shooting in extreme conditions, it is not uncommon for me to use either a white balance card or a color checker to help with setting my white balance in post processing. What surprised be was how far off the color temperature was when I started the post processing. I am going to attribute this to the high amount of reds from the sand. The lesson here is to use all of your tools, both in camera and out of camera. Learn when the in-camera meter is smart, when it is dumb, and take the necessary actions to get the shot.
Cheers and happy photo’ing
Posted in Uncategorized on Jul 6th, 2009
Hanalei Valley Lookout offers one of the most famous views on Kauai. The valley is one mile wide and six miles long. Most of the taro grown in Hawaii is grown here. On the valley floor is a one-way truss bridge built in 1912. The bridge was damaged by a tsunami in 1957, and subsequently reinforced.
Although the lighting is all wrong on this shot, I wanted to share with you what ease it is to do a complex panorama from Lightroom using the export to CS4 command for panoramas. Before using this feature in CS4, I used third party software such as Pano Factory or other stitching software. New to CS4 is a refined stitching algorithm that really does a great job. The shot above is a 7 shot stitch using Lightroom and CS4. So what is involved in making photos like this?
Congratulations, you just hit a home run.
A visit to Kauai is not really a complete visit unless you see the Na Pali coast. From air or water, the views of this coastline are simply breath taking. In all of my trips to Kauai, including numerous trips out the the Na Pali coast, I have always been greeted with fog and low clouds. My recent trip was the exception with high clouds and near perfect lighting early in the morning.
Fingers of the Na Pali Coast
Coast Line Close-Up
Stacked Coast Line
If you get a chance, visit Kauai. You might just fall in love with all that it has to offer, just as I have.
Cheers and happy photo’ing
Randy