Little League again

I got a little bit closer to what I wanted out of little league photos.  This is the second team I've shot in as many weeks, but this time the weather was much more cooperative.  We started at 7 p.m. and the sun had settled behind some hazy clouds.  I need to photoshop that guy out of the background.  The one above is actually a little over-processed for my taste (and I did it :).

This is what the standard photos look like.


And here is the setup..  Softbox as key camera left (didn't have any lefty batters to shoot this time either).  Second light is an ABR 800 shooting through a Lastolite Tri-grip behind and right.

Monday Photo Roundup - Feb. 4

A lot of Dallas press showed up for a U.S. Honor Flag ceremony honoring Kaufman County Assistant D.A. Mark Hasse, which presents a whole set of other photos to take, of local officials being interviewed.  I am glad to see that the story has received a lot of attention.  I also wonder how much of that comes from the current gun law debate.

Overheard ... "They can catch these guys and string them up right there on the flag pole."
Overheard dumb question from a reporter to the district attorney ... "Are you still actively looking for suspects in the case?"

Here are some tips on getting the most from older images (digital, film or print).

Do you have any subjects that you want to document for decades to come?  How about more than 30 years covering prisoner work details?

If you are trying to grow a photography business, this would be the contest to win.

Plot your spot to shoot the next full moon... it will be hard to top this.  Oh, and you will need some serious lens.


Also good... some tips for making your landscape images better...

Favorite SuperBowl commercial?  Mine was the Dodge Ram Paul Harvey 'Farmers' spot for a few reasons.  I am a sucker for sentimental sappy patriotic stuff anyway, but I was also a Paul Harvey fan.  The man simply knew how to tell a story, and he was an authentic and overwhelmingly decent guy.  Throw that together with some very nice still photos and it is golden.  Of course we find out that the concept was taken from a Farms.com YouTube video (obviously with a lower budget) post by ... I hope that the person who put together the first one is getting proper credit for it.  Here is the rest of the story about the ad.

And a few more from today...  I shot the event for the Kaufman Herald and assume they will put up a slide show of images at some point.

Translation - No one attacks me without being punished.




Have a great week.

Monday Photo Roundup - Dec. 10. And a large green man.

I was asked to so some simple head shots for a new ladies' mentoring group at church.  Which means trying to get the most out of a simple set up in a small space.  White cloth on the wall, two lights and a reflector and I'm pretty happy with the results.


Being the official White House photographer would be a dream job, even though it is pretty much giving up four years of your life.  Apparently things get really crazy on overseas trips.

Petapixel has so many interesting things.. just browse around over there.  This made a neat series - Everyday objects as sea creatures.

Photo-geekiness alert.  Reuters selected their 95 photos of the year.  And here is a breakdown of cameras, lenses and camera settings that were used to get them.

I saw this creative baby belly series a couple of places this week... maternity photogs, top that!

The Canon 6D looks like an interesting combination of features and price.  I have been pondering a 5D MkIII to replace my aging original 5D, but the wifi control could be useful from time to time.

If you are looking for fun photog Christmas gifts, I heartily recommend Photojojo.  Because most photog time is spent at the computer, the most useful gift may be these.

Speaking of which, you are almost out of time to do photo Christmas cards.  And you will need to come with something pretty clever to top these.

It is time for year-in-review photo sharing.  The Atlantic's InFocus blog is a good place to start, in three parts.  One.  Two.  Three.

From the flickr blog... use your lenses and glass objects in a different way.

It isn't easy being green.

So close ... Five seconds of playoff football

I made the drive up to Allen's Eagle Stadium to shoot Mesquite Poteet taking on Lancaster in 4A division 2 playoff action.  The $60 million facility is just as nice as you would expect.  Most importantly, the lights are very good.

Poteet had no real solution for a strong defensive effort by the Tigers, but they got the ball down by 8 points with about 1:20 left to try to tie it up and no timeouts.  After some heroics and penalties, the Pirates had five seconds to score.

Up to this point, mind you, it had been a fairly mediocre effort on my part.  Nothing dramatic or grand, just decent shots of regular football action.

So on the last play it was a gift to have QB Tanner Ramsey send the ball my way.


Receiver Nathaniel Gaines and defender Dakota Austin jumped for the pass at about the 5-yard-line, but neither secured the ball.


Gaines came down under it and willed it into his hand... a tremendous concentration effort...








As he turned to try to bull his way into the endzone, Austin got help from teammates and they finally stopped Gaines short.


With a referee coming to block my shot, of course.


And to think I had considered leaving at halftime.  Sometimes it really is the last play of the game.

Here is former Terrell Tribune staffer Cliff Gibson's game story at ionmesquite.com.

I look forward to seeing how far former Terrell coach Chris Gilbert can take his Lancaster team.

Have a great weekend.

Monday Photo Roundup - Dec. 3

Oh my, December already.  If you are wondering, I only want one thing for Christmas – good-natured, adventurous photo subjects.  And B&H gift cards.

And to start it off, another image from the Dallas Christmas parade.. another snap by the lovely wife.


Last week I mentioned "motion fine art"...  I think these slow-motion videos fall in that description.  Be sure to read the details... these were created from single still images, not as stop-motion.

These luminous plastic light fixtures are interesting...  if they can be shaped and molded in any shape, there could be huge possibilities for constant-source photo and video light there. (via @halfpress)

Always a good reminder - we rely on our eyes, but treat them poorly.  Keep 'em in good shape...

Which reminds me ... there are blind photographers out there making great images.  What would it mean to you if you could never appreciate the art you created.  Would you keep doing it? More to check out here.  here. and here.   And the flickr group.

Stock photography rarely gets to be artsy.  And it can be, of course, pretty bad. (via @jdblundell)

I have several friends in law enforcement, and they know all to well how easy it is to make them look bad with a camera.  So, for them, it is good to see this image of an NYPD officer go viral.
*** Update ... And to show that the problems of homelessness and poverty require a much larger solution than simple provisions, the homeless man is shoeless again.  Would it have made a difference to buy $20 shoes instead of nice boots?  Hard to say.

Have a great week, everybody!

Thursday Night Lights at Mesquite Memorial

The Terrell Tigers will go into Mesquite Memorial Stadium as the definite underdog for tonight's matchup.  Luckily for everyone shooting photos, the lights and unique features of the venue can help make up for what may be a lopsided game. The large communications tower at the south end of the field can be incorporated with a wide-angle lens ...






And a nice grassy bowl at the end of the field makes a clean background for on-field action.


And lighting is better than average, so it should be a good night, at least for the cameras.

Monday Photo Roundup - Oct. 1

Settling into fall and football weather..  To follow up on last week's homecoming post, here is an interesting observation.  On Friday, the best reaction upon the announcement of king and queen winners was from the parents rather than the students.

Be a Photographer!  1946 vocational film shows that everything has changed, and not much has changed.


The cost of printer ink, relative to other liquids.  There's gold in them thar cartridges!

Big price drop on the still-impressive Canon 5D Mk II.  The dreamy look of modern wedding and family portraiture is, in part, the work of this camera.  However, the autofocus and sensor improvements of the Mk III version may be worth almost twice the price?

There are other Canon rebates as well...

Golden corporate headshot advice from The Slanted Lens is up on Strobist...

Finally... In low-light high school football, you really want the action to be right in front of you (or invest in an $11k lens).  So it was nice to be in the right place at the right time Friday.  In Terrell, the light is particularly bad, as you can see in this series....

Have a great week!

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..

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.

On the right track...

Photographing sports is fun, but shooting a track meet can be a beating. There are multiple events happening at the same time, and there is always a nagging thought that somewhere, at that very moment, one of the kids you should be covering is doing something great in nice light.

It is easy to sit and wait for 20 minutes as kids from various schools go through their turns at something, only to have the one athlete you want a shot of knock off the bar or foul out.

So, I've adopted a much more fun strategy of trying to shoot somewhat creatively and try to find a creative shot at each sport I make it too. And to do that, I shoot students from anywhere.

Finding good backgrounds can be a chore, but so far both meets I've been to this year gave me blue skies. Makes for a lot of low-angle photos, but I'll gladly take it with the evening sun.

The other fun track meet adventure is silhouettes in the setting sun.

Best with the relay, but I would love to get rid of the fence.


Runners in a closer lane make it easier... and throw in some wispy clouds for dramatic.


Works for people warming up on hurdles in the infield too...


Pole vault is fun to shoot... you never really know how things are going to work out.

Nice and clean


Did I mention the background problems?


To deal with the bad bg, zoom in closer, right?


The track at Rockwall has a nice hill at the finish end for sprints (they run right-to-left on hurdles and sprints). That gives you a perch to use the track as the background. Looks cool with hurdles too.




And when boredom sets in, fun detail shots are available






High jump makes for nice shots too..

She isn't that short... these guys jump high

A lot of the athletes have unique styles or traits... This guy flies like an airplane..

While this one floats as if levitating

Ok... that is enough of that...

Have a great weekend everybody!

Don J.