The fun part

For me a 13-hour stretch this weekend was great example of why it is fun to keep a foot in the world of photojournalism.  Dealing with a lot of varied situations can only make you a better photographer.

Friday night started with volleyball as the two Forney ISD high schools squared off.  I had about 20 minutes to get some useable shots for the Tribune.  Getting there a little early allowed me to get some stock shots of most of the players for North Forney.  Of course, you also get a lot of this in volleyball.


Then it was a short drive over for the first night of Rodeo Terrell. The Tribune had a big hole on the front page that needed a photo, so no pressure there. Second rider out of the chute in Bareback Bronc riding was a keeper..


More photos from Rodeo Terrell can be seen at the Tribune's Facebook page.

After editing into the weee hours, it was a early alarm to head to the lake. High school fishing competitions are apparently a rapidly growing, with lots of prizes and college scholarship money on the line. We will look at that in the next edition of Kaufman County Life magazine. No clouds meant a beautiful morning in the boat with some really cool young men and dedicated volunteers who make Kaufman's program a success. Did I mention the light was great?

You'll have to get the magazine to see the good ones :). Of course, a large part of fishing is waiting for fish. The 70-200 is NOT a birding lens by any stretch, but hey, the birds were there.

I just need to figure out how to tell them to fly on the other side of me to get the good light. Hmmmmm... Have a great rest o' the weekend.

Volleyball

I was honored to be asked to photograph the THS Lady Tiger volleyball teams this year, with only one request from the coach. She wanted something "Different," especially for the varsity squad.

Last year they took pictures with flowers at the Dallas Arboretum, so I went the opposite route, looking for something a little bit rougher around the edges. The school maintenance facility had some nice surfaces for backgrounds including a loading dock, wooden fence and sheet metal siding, so I gave that a shot. The facilities director was super cool about it and even provided us with an extension cord. Thank you!

The varsity shoot was early in the morning to beat the bright sun. That said, by the time we wrapped up around 9:30 I was already using the lights cranked up to full power to compensate.



For the girls who wanted to do individual shots, the sun made a nice rim light as well.



Luckily for me, these girls were willing to put up with acting a little bit goofy for the camera.



Sometimes great things just happen during a shoot. This time, a gentleman parked across the street in a perfectly red classic Mustang. He obliged the ladies and let us include it in their photos, and the coach had the idea to fill the empty grill hole with volleyballs. That really made the shoot a lot more fun.



For the JV and Freshmen teams, it was a rapid-fire shoot in the gym during their athletics time. All told it was two team shots and some 21 individuals in about 45 minutes.

Even though it was in the gym, I still wanted a different look than you typically get from sports photos.

For the teams, I tried using the floor reflection, which turned out (I think) kind of neat.



I took some team photos closer as well to save detail in the players, but I like the reflection.

For the individuals, I used a large "T" that is made into the bleachers as the background. The subjects are lit with a 3x4' softbox pretty close to camera left and a silver reflector on the other side of the net to camera right. A separate light is on the background, which is at least 50' away.





This is in a fully lit gym. To kill the ambient light, I used a low ISO (100) and high-ish shutter speed (1/200). Here is what it looked like without the background light.. if I had flagged off the main light from the background, it would be totally black.



Obviously, too much fun. Thanks to the volleyball ladies for asking me to do this. This is what you will be showing your grandkids in 40 years!

Tech info.. these were lit with Elinchrom bxri500 and bx400 lights fired by skyports.

Don J.

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.

Catching Up- Volleyball

Working at the Terrell Tribune has given me a whole new set of challenges and daily photo opportunities, but I was back in familiar territory to shoot the Tigers volleyball team when they played Forney for a playoff berth in the Kaufman gym.

Luckily, the "upper room" was open. This second floor window on the gym gives a great vantage point for unique shots...

In my two earlier volleyball outings this year, I did not come up with any shots that I really liked, but this game was different. Timing felt better, the competition was great, and it was good to see the Lady Tigers playing so well together. They really put a great effort and great teamwork on the floor.










To purchase prints... head over here.

Have a great week, and Happy Shooting!

don j.

Volleyball... with the Lensbaby

I did not shoot any volleyball last year, so as with baseball and basketball, my timing is way off and the results so far have been less than what I'd like.

One thing I have been wanting to try is using the new lensbaby with every possible shooting situation... and my first volleyball game of the year was just such an opportunity.

And it is difficult!

Being manual focus along with selective focus, it is pointless to try to follow the action. Instead, you have to pick a spot and wait for the action to come to you.

I think I also need to adjust the diopter correction on the 5D, as what I though was in focus clearly was not. Clearly not in focus... hmmm... it is getting late!

Still work to do on that front ( composition, focusing and exposure)... more to come.

Here are some more volleyball shots.. I hope to get more chances to improve as the season rolls on.

Probably my best shot of the night for timing and composition... of course, the focus was way soft. At least some creative adjustments in Lightroom make it interesting to look at.


Focusing on one player can help, but timing is still difficult. You can anticipate some things by watching where serves are going, etc.


With arms constantly in the air, shooting through the net is a good bet to actually see players' faces. Of course, you have to contend with the camera focusing on the net sometimes. Also, backgrounds are rarely good from floor level.






Shooting from the floor at the side of the court, through the net is a focus problem again, but looks promising. It is a bit of a low percentage shot with the arms though... this one is about as good as I got from there.. . . focus?


Shots of the serve are easy enough... now how to make them interesting? Not sure yet.


That is a good shot for the lensbaby.. routine action at the same place makes it easier to get something resembling in-focus.


Last thing.. I did like the results looking directly down the net... when the focus was on..
Here it worked as a shot of the ref. Unintentional, but it works.


Wider..





No Posts for the next two weeks.. and lots of exciting changes in the EastTexasPhoto/DonCJohnson Photography Universe are coming in October.. and it is all good!

Go out and take some pictures!


Happy Shooting

Don J.