Monday Photo Roundup - April 29

The Terrell High School Tigerettes put on a great show this weekend.  It is always nice to see great students doing good stuff.  Nice job, ladies.

Now this would be a fun gig.. shooting 'official' sportraits for a big college football team.  Great behind-the scenes video of how that works.

On the sports theme.. here is another great look at high quality work.  If any of you crazy motocross guys want to try for some photos like this, let me know. (via @fstoppers)

How about shooting in space?  I'd like to try that too, but... well... you have to be an astronaut.



Or.. maybe you don't really have to be an astronaut.  Chase Jarvis talks about false barriers and a guy flies a camera (almost) to space and back.

Digital darkroom - Figuring out how layer blend modes work can be a life changing experience ... I have only scratched the surface but it really changes how you can use the program.  Here is a great post explaining it. (via @thomasshue)

OK, one more from me.  Like journalism, being a photographer puts you all over the place.  With all kinds of subjects.  From beauty, as at the top, to...  not beauty, below.


Have a great week.

Friday Featured Photographer - Robbie Rakestraw

This week's featured photographer is Kaufman County based Robbie Rakestraw.  I have had the pleasure of meeting Robbie on several occasions at sporting events and can confirm he is a great guy.  He was helpful with some tips on using strobes for basketball when I was first getting into shooting high school sports.

"I have two boys (13 & 18) that are both very active in sports," he said. "I found it very challenging to capture good images of active subjects, especially when they were in dark dungy gyms and nighttime games played in the great outdoors.  That challenge sparked a quest to capture the perfect action shot; proper exposure and white balance, no motion blur, and a compelling composition.  I’m still chasing that 'perfect image."

Shooting sports, especially high school night games, just getting a crisp action shot can be hard.  Robbie added the following tips to get the best shots possible.

"Shoot as low to the ground as you can get.  A low position makes any athlete look more majestic," he said. "If you don’t have long glass (big telephoto lenses) be patient and let the action come to you."

Like any good sports photographer, Robbie knows that there are great pictures to be had besides the athletes...

Sports photography naturally led to shooting portraits as well, but the sports influence seems to come through there as well.

"I started shooting high school seniors due to repeated requests by parents and students," he said. "This genre of photography allows me to be creative with natural and strobed (off camera) lighting.  I offer a combination of studio and outdoor locations.  I like to match the location with the subject.  If they are athletes we go to their field of play.  I always try to include action shots along with formal shots in an attempt to capture the true spirit of the subject."

While photography is his passion, Robbie manages to fit in another 'regular' full time job into his schedule as well.

"I do have a full time job that keeps me away from my photography more than I like, and I also shoot for MaxPreps (CBS Sports)," he said.  "My biggest challenge is finding time to process my images after a contest.  This past football season I shot 45 high school varsity games along with numerous varsity volleyball matches and middle school football games.  I’m currently shooting soccer and basketball and the baseball season starts next month."

Shooting one or two games in a week is time-consuming.  45 games in a season is a serious commitment of travel time, wear and tear on your equipment and carpal-tunnel syndrome in front of the computer.

As you might expect, sports photography requires a hefty bit of gear in the camera bag.

"I’m a Canon shooter, and I generally only carry one camera body, which is a Canon 1D Mark IV," he said.  "If I’m lucky enough to get a day game, I will carry a Canon Mark IIN as a second body.  My go-to lens for most field sports is the Canon 400mm f/2.8 with a 70-200mm f/2.8 on the second body.  I will also carry a 24-70mm f/2.8 lens for post game shots.  For softball I will use my 300mm f/2.8.  At volleyball and basketball games my primary lens is the 70-200 and sometimes the 300."

Robbie can be reached through his website, www.r2images.com.

He also posts a lot of recent highlights on Facebook.

Before and after - Post processing sports in Lightroom

Here is a quick look at a few images from high school basketball and how I adjust them for newspaper, as well as how far you can take them with a quick edit in Lightroom.

Terrell played hard but lost to Carrollton Newman Smith Tuesday night... It was not a great night shooting for me as much of the best action took place on the opposite end of the court, regardless of where I went.

However, when looking through the images, I was pleasantly pleased to find that the players were very expressive.  When players are really hustling, it shows on their faces.  That, in turn, makes much better pictures even when you don't get the best action shots.

OK... here is a quick 1-2-3.

Camera setup was Canon 1D mkIV, 50mm, ISO2000, 1/1250, f2.  That turns out slightly underexposed.


Same picture, as sent it in to the newspaper...  Bumped up the exposure a bit, sharpened and with some noise reduction.  It makes a big difference for the newspaper press, which tends to print dark on most days.  If the images will run in black and white, I bump the exposure even more because anything dark gray prints black, and white is the color of the paper itself.


I do more than 90% of my normal processing in Lightroom, and really 100% of the work for newspaper.  But even in Lightroom, you can go pretty far into the realm of 'edgy magazine feature' with just a few clicks.  Oh the drama.


Here are a few more with a basic edit and an over-the-top version based on Matt Kloskowski's "Game Day" Lightroom presets.

This one is with the 70-200mm lens, iso3200, f2.8, 1/1000






Another boring shot but with nice expression in the eyes.

Getting the timing back

Shooting sports is a lot of fun for me, but each sport has its own timing and rhythm with a camera. Beyond that, even each level of play has a unique rhythm and speed.

Volleyball can be mind numbing to get a shot you really like, but it is fun anyway.

The timing is starting to come back, but of course, this is the junior varsity. Moving up to higher levels requires faster reaction time and more concentration. Football is very similar.

Good times... sure with that guy wasn't walking in the background at that exact moment.

And then there was autofocus. And it was good. At least when the operator had control. Then it was just as ornery as manual focus.




When the autofocus and your brain are in sync, then the fun begins.


Have a good week, everyone

Don J.

2009 in Review...

I'm a little late to wrap up 2009, but that has been typical of this holiday season.

It was a big year for me in a lot of ways, and photography has been a big part of that, so first, to those of you who have shared it with me, thank you!

Early in the year was some sports and portrait work that I was pretty happy with. One of the themes I will explore more in 2010 is portrait lighting, which finally started to click for me.


Shooting sports was a big part of the year, and I have felt better about these images this year as well.

Sometimes, of course it was just dumb luck of being at the right place for once...


... and other times it was all about making the time to be somewhere because just because I could...


... and then there are the combinations of both.


I was blessed to take a big adventurous trip to Peru with my wife. It was a wonderful place visually, and will be memorable for many reasons, but as the first major destination we've visited since I dived into photography it was even more amazing.


And that wrapped up the first 3/4 of the year, along with the first career of my adult life. After twelve years at a tradeshow technology company, I switched to journalism as an entry-level reporter at the Terrell Tribune.

While I am not exactly pulling my weight as a reporter just yet, it has been great fun to stretch my photo skills in all sorts of ways. In a smallish market, newspapers still have an opportunity to be relevant and meaningful to the community, while major news outlets tend to rehash the same major stories all day long.

On the "Community and Schools" reporter beat, it is usually just flat out fun.

Cute kids...


Caring kids...


Seriously.... no bad pictures with subjects this good...


Of course, cheesy group shots... but great kids make it bearable.


Throw in some random product photography...



And back to cool kids...



While that is all wonderful stuff to shoot, there have been some very emotionally difficult stories as well. Terrell lost two fine young men in Afghanistan within a month. Shortly after that, two sisters and a friend, all TISD students, died after being struck by a car.

Photographing at a funeral is not pleasant, but I am very thankful to the families who were so gracious to us in allowing me to be the eyes of the community during their time of grief.

These photos are from the return and funeral of U.S. Army Spc. Joseph Lewis just before Thanksgiving.

Hopefully by the end of the week (or month at this rate) I will have this blog planned out through the end of 2010 with some meaningful content... stay tuned.

My best wishes for a blessed and happy new year, and of course, lots of great photos.

Happy Shooting,

don j

SWCC Basketball

I was a little bit worried about the lighting situation at Southwest Christian College when I left with Cliff to go get a shot of the SWCC homecoming game vs. Mountain View College. I had only seen the gym from the outside, and it is a pretty old building.

The pleasant surprise was that there is a large row of windows along the top of each side, and it was a 2:30 p.m. tip-off. It was a beautiful mix of hard light from the windows and soft light in the shadow areas.

Even better was the game action. If you are within driving distance to Terrell and you want to see some great basketball from up close, these guys put on a show. You won't be disappointed, and the atmosphere is just the opposite of the over-commercialized college sports in the big schools.

I only took the 40D and a 14mm f2.8 and 50mm f1.4 lenses with me, knowing that no matter what the light would be like, I could sit under the basket and get a shot. I only had about 20 minutes to get it before going to another assignment.


This is a better shot of the atmosphere of the gym, with some adjustment of the drama in Lightroom..


Have a wonderful weekend,

Don J.

Quick Pic - Football Begins

Tonight kicked off (pun intended) the 2009 football season for me. While shooting a scrimmage is not as fun to as a game, it was good to get some practice. Yes, it takes practice!

Here is a quick pic to start the year off.. I could not ask for a more beautiful backdrop than this sunset. Now I wish I had worked it for more shots.


Happy Shooting,

don j.

Fun Photo Stuff from the Web

Point and Shooters... tips on getting the most for portraits here...

I have mentioned before how much thought and effort pro photographers put into their work... a great illustration of this is the level of critique they give to students trying to get into the field. Read the pros' comments below each shot in the gallery and you will see what I mean.

My favorite quote from that is "What do you consider your responsibility to society? Your subject? You are responsible to your subject when you take a photo." I suppose that is not as important when taking snapshots, but a photograph can certainly tell a story, and it should be a truthful one.

I hope to make it out to a HS powerlifting meet this weekend... I wonder if I can put up a remote camera for something like this?!

Shooting motorsports events is high on my "want to do" list... Mark Rebilas is a master of this, Even on days as miserable as last Sunday in Daytona...

Of course, he pulls off great shots at most any kind of sport... (Is UFC a sport or some other category of competition? Just checking)

Ok, one from me too, even after seeing how the pros do it! The challenge in basketball is to catch unique moments, like a player going up and hitting the bottom of the backboard instead of getting in front to the basket...

Canon 40D, 85mm, f2.2, 1/400, iso1250

Basketball - KHS vs Venus 2/13

I was happy to make it out to the last regular-season home-game for the Lions vs. Venus Bulldogs match-up. (Boys)

With a 77-37 home win, you can certainly expect plenty of highlights, which is good for photographers! I am a bit saddened that the season is ending right when I feel like I am finally getting some nice shots.

One thing I have been playing with at previous games was slow-shutter panning type shots... these turned out nicely I thought...

Canon 40D, 50mm, f2.8, 1/60, iso800


Canon 40D, 50mm, f7.1, 1/30, iso800


Canon 40D, 50mm, f4.5, 1/30, iso800

The game action was fast and furious all evening, with lots of photo opportunities.

Canon 40D, 70-200, f2.8, 1/500, iso3200


Canon 40D, 70-200, f2.8, 1/500, iso3200


Canon 40D, 70-200, f2.8, 1/500, iso3200

Lucky catch... a Venus player using his face to block a pass down the court..

Canon 40D, 70-200, f2.8, 1/500, iso3200

As I was leaving, the KHS vs. Royse City varsity soccer game had 10 minutes remaining... got a few shots in..

Canon 40D, 85mm, f2.2, 1/500, iso3200


Canon 40D, 85mm, f2, 1/500, iso3200

Time for some new lights at the stadium, you know, for better photos.

Happy Valentines and have a great weekend!

Don J.