Monday Photo Roundup - Feb. 25

Almost two months into 2013 ... I hope that is going well for you!  Are any of you ambitious enough to do a "365" or photo-a-day project?  If so, I would be interested in talking to you for a blog feature.

With Valentine's Day just behind us, love is still in the air, and brides are (hopefully) getting plans together for the big May-July wedding season.  Photogs, it is worth the 5 minutes to read, then re-read this nice article on what brides really want out of us personally, not just the images. (via @fstoppers)

While you are there.. a nice set of looks for bridal portraits using a minimal setup.

I saw very little of the Oscars last night, but it would be fun to make movie posters.  Chase Jarvis put up a nice collection from this year's nominees. 
My thoughts..  The bottom two Django Unchained posters my faves, followed closely by Beasts of the Southern Wild.  Lincoln and Les Mis are nice photographically, but just OK as posters.  Amour is a nice set of posters as well, but you almost have to have them together, or know the premise of them movie for them to click.  Silver Linings Playbook and Argo posters look like typical DVD cover material.  The life of Pi posters are ruined by seeing them both together.  Did they only have one picture of the actor and the tiger to work with for both posters?  Also, have you ever seen the ocean so smooth?

Wednesday night will be another Circle Meetups event at Weld, this time with Dave Onkels ... "Double your Price."

Finally!  How to be a happy photographer.

If you must shoot silhouettes, make them good.

Geek-a-riffic... Slow-mo video of how your camera shutter works.  It really is kind of violent.

Monday Photo Roundup - Jan. 14

Happy New Year everybody.  I hope that you have had a great Christmas holiday season and that your 2013 is off to a great start.

Around the Johnson household we had guests for good portions of the last month.  That means test models for new lights and such, including my niece, above.  New additions include a ring flash, mobile battery power for strobes and a few other goodies.  Wherever you need studio-lit photos, we can do that.

I like Norman Rockwell's art, so I liked this collection of photos he used in the creation of his work.

Old meets new ... the marriage of an old Speed Graphic 4x5 camera and a Fuji digital mirrorless camera.

Interesting post by photographer Chris Crisman about failure. (via @davehillphoto)

Being a second-shooter includes the fun part of actual photography without the post-processing and marketing (or credit :).  Here is some help in being good at it so that you will get called again.

And, while  on that subject, there is a whole website dedicated to second-shooters.  I added myself to their list but without any results so far.

Ahh, the value of photographs as propaganda.  It happens everywhere, but North Korean dictators have it down to an art form :)

Actually, Russia's Vladimir Putin is probably tops in the political photo-op management business.

Meanwhile in the US, political photos get scrutinized and critiqued from every angle,  especially if it looks like image manipulation.


Finally, cooperative photo subjects are great, and when they let you experiment a bit, even better.  After getting some sunset photos with this cool character, he let me try something a little different...


Have a great week,

Don J.

Where to shoot - Cedar Hill State Park / Penn Farm

First - a quick disclaimer.  The photos for this post were iPhone snapshots from a family camping trip, not examples of decent photography :)

I will update this "Where to shoot" series of posts from time to time when I find  a spot to share.  To that end I have also started a flickr group for area photo locations.  Feel free to come add to it.  If it grows over time, it could be a good source for shooting spots when you run out of ideas.

A few weeks ago we packed up and headed to Cedar Hill State Park for a quick camping adventure.  I intentionally left all photo gear at home except my iPhone and the camera above.  It was not to be a photo safari, but a family fun time.  As we left the house, Renee said that I should be bringing more camera, and, as usual she was right.

Any state park will offer a multitude of natural backgrounds and potentially great portrait spots.  Cedar Hill gives that and more.


There are a few unique spots like the "perch pond" for kid fishing above, a short hike back to a natural pond, some well maintained hiking trails, and great views of Joe Pool Lake.

The real gold mine here, though, is the historic Penn Farm within the grounds of the park.


There is a short walk from the parking area back into the farm (with restrooms near the entrance), but the dirt road pathways and trails are good enough for strollers or wheelchairs.  A variety of old farm equipment is scattered around the grounds, and old wood fences are in abundance.


An old windmill can be a great prop.  Unless the person volunteering to take your photo puts it right on your wife's head.


For my money, the best features are the old barn and house buildings.


Wood and stone features are everywhere, with lots of big shady spots to find good light any time of day.


There are also some wide open fields available, although it seemed to be a popular place for people to let their dogs romp around.


There were several photographers out doing the work on a beautiful but cold Saturday morning, and I see why.

Entry to the park is $7 for adults, free for kids under 12.  Park hours are 6  a.m. - 10 p.m., but the website lists Penn Farm as closing at 5 p.m.

It is a beautiful spot within an easy drive of the general D/FW area.  Enjoy!

Alan + Nevada

I don't get a lot of time to do weddings, portraits and such, but when some friends are flexible and the schecule works out, it certainly is a lot of fun. Alan and Nevada will tie the knot in July, but we got to hang out for a couple of hours last Saturday evening.

First things first... photographing folks with great personalities is a huge plus, and these two are pretty much naturals in front of the camera.

Second, it wasn't quite 'golden hour' light yet, but we found some good light and fun backgrounds around downtown Terrell.

Old storefronts are abundant.

Canon 5D, 50mm, f3.5, 1/125, iso 100

There are many brick walls to choose from.

Canon 1D-IV, 70-200mm, f6.3, 1/80, iso 200

Architecture to use as props.

Canon 5D, 50mm, f6.3, 1/125, iso 100

Canon 5D, 50mm, f6.3, 1/80, iso 100

And random spots of nice, shady light

Canon 5D, 50mm, f4.5, 1/100, iso 100 (-2/3 EC)

Shady spots are good, but you still have to look at where the light is coming from. I did not have any helpers for reflectors or lights, so I packed very light. Just a fill flash here and there and available light for this shoot.

When in doubt, jump.

Canon 1D-IV, 24-70mm, f7.1, 1/4000, iso 200 (-2 EC)

Turn your Christmas lights into a softbox?

Making better photos involves a seeing, finding and using light for the look that you want. My goal for the blog in 2012 is to do something fun with light every week and talk about it here.

Don't store your Christmas lights away just yet... How about turning them into beautiful photo light instead?


When I first got back into photography in 2007, I saw a guy's use of a Christmas strand to make a Christmas Ring Light. That must have stuck with me because this year I had the idea to make a softbox style light out of the Christmas tree lights this year.

I started with a 2'x3' piece of foam board. With small slices into each end, I was able to put two strands of lights covering one side... these are the tiny lights.

Joshua was due for another chair photo so I used the DIY project for that. Set up in front of the chair, the Christmas light softbox added a some nice directional illumination to the existing room light.

Overall, the light helped, but wasn't all that bright. Shutter speeds were low, so a tripod helped get some reasonably good shots...

The real magic happened by moving the light closer and turning off the main room light so that there was more shadow definition.

Moving in close, you can see the Christmas light contraption in the eye highlights.

After the chair photos, Joshua played on the floor. I propped the DIY softbox on the floor in front of the couch and took photos. Because it is a constant light, there is much less "flash shock," so he just sat there and let me snap away. Good stuff.

The verdict? It definitely works. This is easy, cheap, beautiful light.

The good?

This was a very easy, low-cost project. Wrap the lights and turn them on.

It isn't a flash, so for the baby, it was great.

Also, because it is constant, you can use this with any point-and-shoot or video camera. You may need to do some +/- exposure compensation to get that right.

I think this would also be good for objects, close-ups, food or anything else where you use a tripod.

The negatives?

It is not very bright. Shutter speeds will be low, ISOs will be high.

Positioning it is not simple. Standard spring clamps work, or you could hang it on a wall, but you will want a light stand or something similar to move it exactly where you want it.

To make it better...

I would like to try lights with brighter bulbs. Unfortunately I don't think the newer LED bulbs will be have the same light quality.

Covering the board with foil or reflective tape would probably add a lot of efficiency without degrading the light quality. Same with more strands of lights.

Multiple points of light, if they are close together, can be as good as one big light. Have fun, wrap something in light... and of course get some pictures. Happy New Year!

Don J.

Quick Pics - Lightning (Again)

Yet another major thunderstorm and tornado warnings in the area. I can't imagine what the folks in Joplin, Alabama and elsewhere are feeling.

More lightning in my neighborhood... here are some bolts I caught before it got uncomfortable to be standing next to a lightning rod known as a tripod.

Early, with nice cloud forms and light.


And as it got darker, longer shutter open times meant more captures..

Saturday evening

Got to take a few minutes to get some editing done.... but that was interrupted by some spectacular thunderstorm happening overhead. Most of the lightning was in the clouds, but I caught a few bolts from the front porch before blowing rain forced me back inside.


What am I editing? Photos of pure love, joy and unabashed cuteness...

Quick Pics - Snow day

Terrell Library Asst. Director Mr. T was nice enough to help push my truck through the slick parking lot after standing out in the cold for a picture.


I-20, my preferred route to work, has been turned into a milder version of "Ice Road Truckers."


Equine friends are always fun to take pictures of, but these weren't all that excited about the cold and snow.

dj

Quick Pics - All in a day's work

Working for the Tribune over the last year has been great for many reasons, but sheer variety of work has been great as a person with a short attention span.

The last 25 hours has been a pretty good example of that...

Yesterday's fun included a bunch of Girl Scouts visiting the office for a cookie tasting feature...


In the evening, there was a program honoring Dr. Martin Luther King at the school. Lots of good photo ops at that, but my favorite all involved the praise dancers. They are so expressive, it was hard to pick which one to look at through the camera.


On the way out the door, one of the TISD police officers told me about a call regarding a 'bad accident' on one of the highways out of town. Someone's horses had escaped to the roadway and it really made a mess of a full size Chevy truck. I think this gentleman is probably counting his blessings that he was not severely injured.


This morning, I took some photos of a wallet that my dad made so that we can use the texture and stitching as part of a business directory cover...


For the afternoon, a quick corporate portrait for a local executive...


Still to come, a school board meeting. That is always exciting.

If you have any desire to get better at a wide variety of photography very quickly, go work for small newspaper.

Don J.

High School Rodeo

This week had a serious farm and ranch theme for me, with three days of the Kaufman County Youth Livestock Show and today, about an hour of youth rodeo. As I mentioned a few posts ago, it is good to have some boots for this job.

Even with bright sun outside Wade Arena in Terrell, TX, there is not a lot shining through the open sides of the building. I will try again closer to sunset to see if any shafts of light come through... that could be interesting.
Today, it was only good for some silhouettes.







Shooting toward the opening made for intriguing backlight, and some terrible exposure issues. Shooting at +1 to +2 exposure compensation helped, but it was really random for nice shots. Interesting, yes... good.. not so much.






If anything, that shows that catching interesting moments is more important than good light, but finding good light makes the nice moments look a lot better.


From the side of the arena, the open end made a nice big light source, even if it was not very bright with all of the dark dirt soaking up the light.




I like how much angle the horses get when going around a tight turn... much like a motorcycle. Judging by the fearlessness and ease shown by most of the riders, I would think they spend quite a bit of time in the saddle.







I tried some slow-shutter blurs for the fun of it... with limited success. Some riders are smoother than others, but there is so much motion going on, getting anything in the frame to be sharp is a trick.


OK, that was fun.

Don J.