Cover Story - Kaufman County Life fall edition

For the fall edition of Kaufman County Life, we featured three new head football coaches at area schools.  Unlike the last cover (coffee!), this one required some more preparation and logistics.

The concept was to have all three coaches standing together on a football field.  At this point in the year, brand new head coaches are the busiest people on the planet, so actually getting them together would be impossible.

They were generous with their time, however, and traveled to the Tribune office for individual shots.  I chose a very high angle (from a stepladder) to give an exaggerated perspective.  A low angle would have worked too, but the high angle emphasized their faces, and allows the football field background to have more impact while not identifying any particular school as a location.

Keeping the camera, lens, lighting and shooting angle the same is the only way to make the images come together well.  I shot everything with a 5D and 14mm lens.  Key light was a 3x4 softbox high and just to camera left, and 2x2 softboxes on each side and slightly behind the subjects.

Each coach posed separately, so I did my best to pose them in the right spot as if they were standing together, in relation to the ladder.  Everything was on white seamless to make the cutout easier.

Terrell coach Kevin Wilson came in first and chose to be on the right.  That is a full 9' roll of paper to get an idea of how the 14mm lens warps perspective.

North Forney coach Lance Gary was up next in the center spot.


And Crandall coach Todd  John rounded out the bunch.


The field was a bit trickier, because there is no way to really match the light.  Instead I went to the North Forney field early one morning to catch nice light that would show the texture of the turf.  I wanted to make sure to get some lines or numbers to identify it as a football field.  The only problems were dodging the shadows from the light poles and some kids playing ultimate frisbee :)


Time was short, but it all came together pretty nicely.  I would like to go back and adjust some things in photoshop after seeing the final print, but overall, I think it works.  It is visually interesting enough to draw the eye.


Next up, I will tell you about my trip to jail for another story in this magazine....

Don J.

Quick Pic - Spinny things

Carnival rides make for fun long-exposure shots. I was trying to get something for the top of the Tribune's Facebook page, and this worked very nicely.


I liked this angle because it got the two main rides closer together, but it did not work for the very horizontal layout of the Facebook timeline header photo.


And another just for fun.

Quick Pic - Wheels

The Terrell Heritage Jubilee is this weekend, which provides countless photo ops if you have some free time. The carnival rides are just about ready to go. Having the rides up, but no people makes for a strange feel in photos, I think.



The ferris wheel is set up across what are normally handicap parking places. That makes for a strange combination of wheels.

Track attack

High school track season is in full swing. Aside from the incredible frustration of waiting for particular participants that you want to cover and missing events because different things are going on at the same time, it is really a lot of fun photographically.

If you aren't looking for particular team members, there is a chance at repeated action in the same place, which gives you a chance to try different things and different looks in a short time frame.

With great access for photogs and the kids going all out to do well, good photos are everywhere you look.

Finding a good background can be difficult, so sometimes it is just best to shorten the depth of field (low aperture #) and get in tight.


Sometimes if the background is other participants, the blurred out people can add a little to the photo...


Go low, low, low and the sky makes a nice background. Of course, in some harsh daylight, you may need to watch the shadows.




Or find the sports that get way above like pole vault.


But sometimes the distracting, busy background is just there and there isn't much to do about it.


Finally, if you get some broken-cloud blue sky, use it for all its worth. A wide angle lens makes it all good, but you have to get very close to your subject. This is a full-frame camera (5D) with a 14mm, on the ground and about 6" from the edge of the long-jump landing pit.


Same thing, crazy wide angle for sky, sitting closer than I probably should... you have to watch out to make sure you aren't distracting athletes or getting hit by a piece of equipment.

Sunset

Driving westward toward home in the evenings has given me a wonderful light show over the last couple of days. Today I finally stopped on the side of the road to take a snapshot. This is the Sigma 14mm on the 40D.

This lens has a tendency for lens flare, but I did not take the time to remove the little dot on this one.... it is just part of the deal I suppose.

In case I do not post between now and then, blessed, happy, safe and meaningful Christmas and holiday season to you.

happy shooting,

don j.

Quick Pics - Bonfire!

Bonfires don't quite carry the emotional significance that they did back in my high school days, but I made a quick trip to the Kaufman HS homecoming tradition to have some fun with the camera.

I was a late arrival, and the sun was setting behind the stage area... not great. Over on the side, another trailer had a line of cheerleaders. The sun made for an interesting near-silhouette. Your camera will automatically do this most of the time when shooting into the sun as it tries to compensate for the brightness with extra shutter speed.



The pep rally stage had a rather cluttery background (nice logo placement by our friends at Paul Murrey Ford though) so I gave up on that pretty quickly.


Up close is better, but still not great. Here the Lionettes officers show off their dance moves.


I thought it would be cool to shoot from behind the stage to show the crowd while the dancers danced. On second thought, there are probably a bunch of photos from their perspective that make it look like I'm shooting the dancers' backsides.


Having given up on the stage, I went out to visit the Lion Band... Go Band. Shiny reflective stuff, cool evening sky.. it's all good!

And now... time to have a bonfire. The only reason to take photos at a bonfire is a silhouette shot of people in front of the fire, right? Again, the camera will usually do this on its own as it tries to compensate for the brightness of the fire. To make sure, either manually set your camera for the fire, or just use exposure compensation and intentionally underexpose by -1 or -2.

This is -1, aperture priority on f2.8 for out of focus fire...



I tried the 14mm for a wide view from behind the fire to show the crowd and sky, but the people were so far away that they don't really register in the photo. The sky might be OK with some processing work, but nothing too exciting. By this time, the fire was going very well, and the heat was getting up there. My vote... move homecoming later to ensure a cooler night to enjoy the heat by!



Some more shots... Go Lions! Should be a great night for football on Friday.









Happy Shooting Everyone

Don J.

Quick Pics - Drag Racing

I am a big fan of Mark J Rebilas' race photography (and a gearhead at heart) so I have been eager to get out to the new Dallas Raceway in Crandall, TX to watch some racing and take some pictures.

The track website lists Prestage Photo as a sponsor, so I guess that must be these guys... I like the golf-cart/photo stand.

Of course I was a bit jealous too, because without access like that, shooting from up close got a nice shot of the concrete wall...

From the other side, a little panning with slower shutter speeds makes it more interesting, but still the wall is intrusive.

Up higher in the stands gave a great view of another beautiful Texas sunset... here with a 14mm on the 5D for a super-wide view.

And here with the 70-200 on the 40D for a tighter shot and more compressed background.

I did not find a good spot for shooting the starting line... the wall and ugly backgrounds conspired against me... The racers were quite impressive nonetheless, pulling the front wheels off the ground and launching hard.

One of the Moser Racing entries held his wheelie well down the track..

...then came down hard with a shower of sparks from beneath the car. The car had drifted over the center line, which must have been a bit of a rush considering there is no directional control with the front wheels off the ground.

When the racing had to be suspended for some track clean-up, it was time for a walk through the pits. It is nice to have access to walk around and talk to the racers, and to look at the cars.

Little Red Corvette..


More slow-shutter panning as cars moved through the pits...


There were lights coming from all over making interesting shadows and light patterns on the cars...


Playing with the Canon 50mm lens and short depth-of-field is always fun...



And in the pits you can get some unique angles that you just don't get to see every day...



With that, it was time to come home (gotta sleep sometime!). I would not spend $20 every weekend to shoot from the stands, but it is definitely worth the trip occasionally for the sights, sounds (bring your earplugs) and fun of fast cars and good folks.

Have a great weeked... and go make some pictures!

don j.

Quick Pics - More Fireworks

The wife and I had a fun 4th of July evening hanging out in Terrell, TX with Michael, Christina,  Jim and Karl.  Of course, it was another evening of fireworks fun..  here are a few shots I liked.

I played around with two cameras, the 5D and 40D.   It turned out that we were very close to the fireworks, and it seemed they were explodind directly overhead.  I like to get foregroud elements into the frame so the 5D with a Sigma 14mm lens was great for capturing everything.

This is a 7 second exposure, f13, iso200 with the 5D/14mm combo.

This was one of the first attempts with the 40D and the 14mm, also 7 seconds but at f11, iso 100.

This is the 5D/14mm, another 7 second exposure this time at f16.  This has had a lot of adjustments in lightroom to pop the color.

While playing around in Lightroom, I started playing with the "Fill Light" on the fireworks shots.  It really brought up the noise, but I think the overall effect is a fun, almost nostalgic look.  5D/14mm, 9 Seconds, f16,  iso 200.

Another crazy lightroom bonanza, maxing out the saturation, blacks level, clarity...  all kinds of adjustments.  It turned into neon fireworks...  definitely not the original colors, but a fun look.  I like the silhouetted trees as well.

don j.