Christmas circles....

With a severe (but short-lived) thunderstorm rolling through the area, I made preparations for lightning pictures on the front porch as usual.

It was not so good shooting because of low clouds, but there was lots of lightning in them.  Also, I did not do a very good job of prefocusing the camera..  this was about as good as I got...


But then I was going the the photos and noticed the look of an accidental shutter trip as I was picking up the tripod to go outside... the Christmas tree in all its trippy glory.

Sort of a magical weirdness to it.


The storm blew through in a hurry, so I was still plenty awake to play with more tree pics.  And I had the tripod setup.  Sooo.....    How about the angel on top, lit by a handheld flash during a long exposure, then spin the camera around while the shutter is still open?

This (and the pic at the top) were my favorites.  Not perfect, but a fun exercise anyway.


Have a great Thursday.

Fun with gifs part two

After yesterday's fun with some animated .gifs, I noticed another perfect opportunity for more.  Students performed with jump ropes and hula hoops at halftime of this evening's Terrell vs Tyler John Tyler basketball game.

To make these, I just fired a high-speed burst of the action, processed them, and joined them using an online .gif maker.  This one was very user friendly and allowed more images in the mix than some others (some limit to 3).  Google will find you many others if you search 'animated gif maker.'

And, for you Gosnells...

Have a great weekend.

Cover Story - Kaufman County Life Winter 2012

The winter 2012 edition of Kaufman County Life is circulating in the wild.  I can't say this was my favorite cover concept, but simplicity is often the best choice.  One thing I miss about being on staff is the day-to-day input and haggling over details and design.  Once you are out of direct contact, it is harder to have meaningful input.

The cover story involves three local musical acts who are making headway in the music biz: Chip Murrey and Texas Underground, Kimberly Torres and Swamp Love, and the Acoustic Sound Hounds.

I shot performance or practice photos of all three, but the cover needed to be inclusive of all of them.  The concept that was chosen was an iPod playlist with the three bands in it.  An old jukebox would have been more fun, but alas, the budget was closer to whatever was handy, so my iPhone got the call.


I set up in the kitchen (The garage shooting space was not yet complete) to see what kind of light would work to show the phone and playlist well.  The key considerations were plenty of detail to read the playlist, no reflections off the glass (easy since it is flat) and a balance between the phone screen and the ambient light.  I ended up at ISO 100, 1/2 second at f10.

Here is how that breaks down.  Shutter speed really only affects the ambient light, in this case the iPhone screen.  The aperture, meanwhile, has to be closed down to make sure everything is in focus, so I balanced that with a studio flash in a small softbox that is very close to the subject.  The slow shutter speed also required that the use of a tripod and not having a person as a model.

Next, to give the shot some personality, I borrowed my wife's dress form, jeans and a shirt to put the phone with.  A plain white or other color shot similar to the test would have been interesting as well, and definitely more "Apple" looking.  We did not want it to look like an ad for phone.

Here is the setup.


One light in a 2x2 softbox to the side and a reflector.  Simple wins the day again.  No reflections in the phone and plenty of shadow detail in the fabric.

The back pocket shot was used for the cover...  It had more room for text.


I think the front pocket is a little better proportioned...


That is about as simple as you can get, and now you've seen my kitchen :)

Don J.

Telling the tale of a losing effort

Action shots at sporting events can often be misleading in telling the story of the game.  Photo editors look for shots that depict how the game went, but it is sometimes the non-action shots that really tell the tale.

Such was the case last night as Terrell (the team I was covering) fell behind early.  It was clear that the teams were badly mismatched and it would be a long night for the Tigers.  After several turnovers and no offensive movement of the ball at all, Terrell head coach Kevin Wilson called a timeout in the first quarter to rally the team a bit.  A short walk to my left and I had the team, coach and scoreboard lined up...


The action shots can be telling, of course, but that becomes a bit like singling out players in one instance of bad play.. A quarterback falling untouched in the backfield for example..

Or getting tossed at the line of scrimmage..

An interception..


Or being tackled by more than half of the opposing team's players at once. Not sure how that happens. Seven West Mesquite players got to the runner.


There were three Terrell highlights, only one of which I managed a photo of.  I was in a bad spot for a fake punt that worked for a first down.  Same an interception that went back for a long defensive touchdown.

A long (81 yard) pass and run for a touchdown was right in front of me, so of course, the receiver was facing the other sideline...

He turned my way after the catch, but alas, the moment was gone. It could be any play of the game.

Still, for me, the photo at the top tells the tale pretty well by itself.