Marge and the moon

I was in the neighborhood of the Margaret Hunt-Hill Bridge this evening, which warranted some quick pics.


The occasion was a creative Circle Meetups gathering and presentation by Austin Mann.  To say he does good work is an understatement.

Most of the conversation revolved around storytelling and creative work for nonprofit and faith-based organizations, which is exactly where I want to be, so that was great.

The other thing that grabbed my interest was Mann's work on "motion fine art."  The idea of high definition screens as art displays is not new, but the idea of fine art with a time/motion element thrown in is intriguing.  The possibilities are quite endless.  Wouldn't have to be video, per se.  Digital mixed-media.  Or something.

Here is one of Mann's creations.
Covet from Austin Mann on Vimeo.

Monday Photo Roundup Oct. 8

The annual "National Night Out" activities in Kaufman could use a little boost and involvement from more folks.  Thankfully, the KHS Jazz Ensemble sets up and provides some entertainment and good music.  Also thankfully, they bring lights.

Reminiscing about low light shooting ... back in high school, I was amazed to find Kodak T-max 3200 speed B&W film at Ritz Camera in the mall.  That meant I could occasionally get decent photos at football games.  The film has now been discontinued.

Colby Brown has a nice post showing the effects of retouching a landscape image in LightRoom with a nifty before/after slider...

How about riding across the northern USA with eight iPhones rigged as a giant panoramic camera?  Even more curious, the footage is for a "live stage show."

Understandable...

I wouldn't call it a facelift, but if you have expensive Leica lenses, I guess why not?

Going beyond capturing images...


And a few more NNO photos..

5D and 50mm f1.4 makes for nice short-depth-of-field fun.


Lights, lights everywhere..

Lens, Baby

Shooting at FC Dallas Stadium in Frisco seemed like a perfect opportunity to break out the Lensbaby Composer.  I haven't used it in more than a year, so it was time to play.


It is fun, but very tricky to focus quickly, so it isn't much for action shots.  That would take some serious practice and a lot of luck.

Works for band with a little lens flare..


I think it is just time to find a tilt-shift lens to play with instead..


Have a great and safe holiday weekend, folks.

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.

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)

Quick Pic - Lightning in Dallas

Our room in the new-baby section at Methodist Hospital in Dallas has a great view of the Dallas central business district, so when a nice spring thunderstorm rolled through, it made a great first shared photo experience for me with our new baby Joshua.

Missed a lot as always with lightning, but you have to take advantage of unique photo opportunities, right?

And the results.. nice!




I had debated bringing the Gorillapod, assuming I would shoot most everything hand-held. I'm glad I did!

Don J.

A fair affair - The Bunnies

The Kaufman County Fair / Junior Livestock Show is all kinds of fun. Unfortunately this year I did not get to spend much time there taking photos.

One thing I caught that I had not seen before was rabbit judging. And of course, it doesn't get any cuter than bunnies, right?


I tried for an interesting shot of this girl and her dad watching as the judge checked out her rabbits, but it just wasn't working. 14mm on the 5D was just too wide to bring in the judge.


From the side though, it was a nicer moment when the girl came up and looked over the cages and the judge wiped his brow.


And this little guy was just looking for a way off of the table alltogether.


Finally, my favorite shot from the event was not at the rabbits...... instead this lovely cow made my day.

Baby Joshua is due Saturday. Pray for me :-)

Don J.

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.

Lots of stuff. And lightning.

Fall is coming quickly and sports, school, a trip and some big projects are all happening at once. Fun times. And did I mention my wife is expecting our first baby!? Exciting times in the Easttexasphoto household.

A system of storms moved through the area this evening and I could not resist stopping beside the road for some lightning photo attempts. Got lucky on this one too, with lots of bolts at once...


With all of the water around, lights and signs take on new life in the evenings. Even the grocery store gets more interesting to look at...

Football has started, and Terrell won their first matchup against Kaufman Friday night. It was tough to shoot 'for' Terrell after two years of shooting 'for' Kaufman. Got some shots I liked too...
The light at the beginning of the game was excellent and made fun shadows.

Full sets of photos can be seen (and bought) for Terrell here and Kaufman here.

Sportsshooter monthly contest winners are always good... this month seems exceptionally so.

Have a great rest 0' the week everyone.

It is more Friday night lights for Terrell vs. Greenville this week.... should be fun.

Don J.

Purdy Flowers ...

After a hectic week of driving, visiting, 'vacation' and even some work, the lovely wife and I had a wonderful visit with friends in the Texas hill country for Memorial weekend. One part of that was a visit to the Antique Rose Emporium so that the ladies to could make gardening plans. If you are in the area, it is a very nice place to stop and look around.

One problem that comes up often for me is how much camera to take, and how much energy to devote to fun photography (as opposed to work photography) while hanging out with friends and family.

To solve that dilemma here, I took one camera and lens... the 5D and a 50mm. This was limiting because it is not a very good close-up lens.

The real key is to use what you have in hand rather than looking at all of the shots you would get if you took a whole kit with you. And the bonus... you focus more on what is around you instead of the camera itself.

I am not a very good flower photographer, so composition could be a lot better, but it is fun to practice. At least flowers don't get bored, annoyed or angry about posing :-).

One thing is certain... it is essential change viewpoints and get down on flower level to shoot. Shooting from snapshot-standing position will result in a bunch of boring photos.

As always, look for interesting things to use in the background (or foreground) to add depth to photos.


Triangles almost always make a nice composition, whether it is flowers or any other subject.


If you have a DSLR and a lens that can give you a nice out-of-focus background, use it wisely. If you don't have a good, single focal point in the photo, the short depth of field can actually just make the photo a mess. Like this, at f2.2.


As a contrast, leaving enough in focus will give plenty of pieces to draw the viewers' eyes around the photo.


Finally... don't forget to take people photos too.


Thanks for stopping by... if there is a particular photo question, subject or idea that you would like me to explore, please drop me a line.

Don J.

Photo fun with kiddos

I don't think of myself as a typical portrait photographer, so when I get the chance to do a set-up that a lot of people will go through, it isn't a couple of lights with umbrellas at 45 degree angles. Instead, I like to play with lights and have some fun while making photos that look (I hope) a little edgier.

A lot of this is probably due to spending too much time reading the likes of Joe McNally.

I just hope parents like having something a little bit different...

These are from a shoot I am in the middle of that we are also doing as a fund-raiser for Kaufman County Relay For Life, so there is a little extra room for having fun there.

For the regular portraits, the lighting is actually pretty even. It is a 3'x4' softbox slightly to the right, and smaller softboxes (the ones that come with the Elinchrom BXRi kits) on each side behind the subjects. I will probably change up the ratios a bit for Wednesday night...


With fast moving subjects (and they move a LOT) the all-around lighting is pretty flexible. There are some middle angles that have odd shadows, but even that isn't so bad considering.


The other thing that happens with strong lights from the sides is dangerous shadows from things like hair. Again, not bad, but distracting once you see it.


After the main shooting was over on Monday, it was time to play with the new lights.. this is the two BXRi softboxes directly left and right (no regular key light), with some fun post processing in Lightroom.

Have a great week everyone

Don J.