With December right around the corner it was only natural that we spend a frantic two hours this past weekend trying to get the Christmas 2009 pictures completed. This was the first time I got to use several new pieces of equipment that I picked up in the past year.
First up, I used an 812 filter for the first time:
This filter provides some red tones to the image and is very useful when taking flash portraits. I needed this filter because this was my first true attempt at using off camera flash for my portraits. There are many ways to get the flash off the camera and away from the lens. I used an inexpensive wireless option from Cactus Flash Triggers:
My subjects aren’t easy. Our boys tend to not want to sit in one location for very long and the smiles quickly become very strained. Here is the best of what I gathered:
Son #1:
Being 11 he is pretty easy to pose and will sit there patiently. He’s also getting braces in just a few weeks so this is the last non-shiny smile he will have for the next two years.
Son #2:
This guy sits down, smiles and holds a pose like a statue. I shot maybe 8 pictures of him and the only thing that changes was the position I shot from. It’d be interesting to look at each of his pictures and see how much his face has changed from year to year.
Son #3:
Son #3 is having a tough time right now getting a non-cheesy smile on his face. Look at how long his hair has gotten compared to his picture from his birthday just a few months ago! I’m not sure how much longer he is going to get to keep those locks unless he can figure out how to take care of it better and keep it off his dinner plate.
Son #4 is a nightmare to keep in one place right now. This was the very first shot I took of him, the others were a mess. Cute kid that just won’t sit still!
One of the bright spots of my time in High School were the two photography classes I took. My teacher was a cranky Vietnam vet that always felt I wasn’t living up to my potential in anything I did. I co-opted my Dads full manual Yashika 35MM SLR and started shooting black and white film and developing it like crazy. I learned a lot about shutter speed, aperture and how it relates to film speed. I began to get a feel for what would work and what wouldn’t settings wise. Being able to load up film at school and shoot it without worrying about film cost or development costs allowed me to really go nuts. Having a much younger sibling gave me a great subject that just loved to have her picture taken. Color called and I began shooting as much of it as I could afford since the school didn’t have a running color lab. Several of my better shots are still on display at my parents house; a picture of my youngest sister with a beloved family pet is one of my personal favorites.
The photographer in me began to stir when my own children began to arrive. I started with a simple 35MM point and shoot and found myself very unhappy with the results. Too flat, not enough range, no method of setting the depth of field to what I wanted. I broke down and bought what would very quickly become a dinosaur – a 35MM Canon with a stock 28-70MM zoom. The pictures improved but I still wasn’t getting the results I remembered. Perhaps I only remembered my best on display and not the hundreds of shots that were discarded. I buckled down and re-educated myself. I converted to digital with the purchase of a Canon Rebel. Bought a telephoto portrait lens to go with it. The pictures on the banner above are all shot with it in natural lighting. So are the shots from this past Christmas (all shots in natural light – shot in our family room with Canon Rebel and 85MM telephoto lens 400ASA):
Very minimal editing was performed on these pictures. As you can see, the lighting varied greatly. Relying on natural light is great and I love the depth and feeling you get from a natural light source. On camera flash just isn’t an option. It reduces a great shot to a flat cardboard cutout. Off camera flash used to be the realm of professionals only. I’m pleased to say that just isn’t the case anymore.
While conducting some research on off camera flash viability for future portraits I came across a few websites that really helped to encourage me to take the leap into applied lighting. First up was Strobist which is a great place to learn about the process and very inexpensive options for getting the off camera flash into your every day photography. I’ve also found The Digital Photography School to have some really nice tutorials for creating homemade devices that can give pro results.
Relying on the advice of Strobist, I’ve begun to assemble my off camera flash gear. My first purchase was from Gadget Infinity, a wireless flash trigger along with two receivers. This will allow me to place my flash units anywhere around my subject and fire them when I press my shutter release. The model I purchased is not ‘pro’ grade but should work fine for me. The next step was to purchase an additional flash. The current flash I own is not adjustable and is an ‘all or nothing’ deal when fired off camera. It will work – but isn’t the best solution for what I want. This is where the Vivitar 285HV steps in. An older flash, it is fully customizable and will allow me to tweak my lighting to the nth degree. The final items to acquire are a stand for the flash and an umbrella set up. The stand will come first and I’m debating between two; the Quick Pod Pro which would also act as a monopod for the camera or a hand held way to extend the flash or the diffusers/flashes first and see those results before making a final decision.
Once I get the setup right I’ll post my results here.
Several months ago I upgraded our Flickr account to pro status. This allows us to upload as many pictures as we like, no limits on size whatsoever. A great way to archive pictures in case of a disaster with the home pc. It also allows us to quickly order prints via their partners or a place like Shutterfly our current favorite.
One of the best features of Flickr is the ability to flag pictures as viewable by everyone, friends or family. No worries about people using your images or getting pictures you don’t want them to have. If you happen to have a Flickr account and wish to see the pictures I’ve posted there then feel free to comment here and I will add you to our friends list.
The next gigantic task is to scan in all of our 35MM negatives – that should take a few months.
Here are a few recent pictures of the boys from youngest to oldest:
As a true-blue multi-tasker I usually have five or six programs running on my work or home PC at the same time. Switching between email client, word processor, accounting program, newsgroup reader, IM client and media player often ends up with my desktop being buried in a similar fashion as my real desk. Despite that I like to switch up my background wallpaper frequently. Last night I found a great collection of high quality desktop wallpaper at Crestock.com. Take a look and maybe break up the monotony that is your desktop today.
Don’t stop at the desktop wallpaper on Crestock, they also host professional photographers and the work they have for sale. Beautiful images of a wide variety can be found from photographers all over the world – images you would never get to see otherwise is one of the best parts of the web.
This morning I reposted the aeration photojournal and the Manroom photojournal from my Blogger days. I’ve added a spot for these albums and future journals on the right. I really need to figure out the whole three column holy grail thing as my side column is getting a tad big.
Today just might be the first slow day at work in a long while. If it holds out, and it never seems to, I will repost my Yellowstone journal as well. If I had a lot of time I would gather together the pictures of the kitchen and residing project as well. If only…
As for the appearance of the journal, I’m not a big fan. It doesn’t match the layout of the main page, the colors are different, it’s missing the sidebar. I guess I could fool around with the css for the albums but I don’t want to devote all that much time to it right now.
On Sunday Philadelphia sports fans shed a tear for the Vet. This dirty old pile of concrete served as home to both the Eagles and the Phillies for as long as I can remember. Sparkling new homes for both teams sit along the wreckage of the multi-use stadium that was the object of scorn for many years. Players would often tell stories of rats that rivaled small dogs in size. The local and national media played an endless loop of young, fresh faced cadets falling from a broken railing at an Army/Navy game. Jimmy Johnson, the coach of the rival Dallas Cowboys dodged snowballs as he ran off the field. Fans fought, cried, lived and died with their Birds and Fightin’ Phils. One fan went so far as to fire off a flare gun on a Monday night Eagles game.
To people and players from outside the Philadelphia area, the Vet was an eyesore, the ugly cousin that people would not make eye contact with, let alone acknowledge as part of the family. At its core it was what Philadelphia is – a hard working underappreciated blue collar slob.
Maybe that is why so many people find themselves missing it. Now the area waits for the new stadiums to gain character and flavor. We can only hope they are home to more winning than the Vet. For all it’s ‘charm’ the home teams didn’t win too many championships while it was home.
I took this picture during my last trip to the Vet. I’ve yet to see a game at the Link (the Eagles new home) and the Phillies new stadium has yet to open. I think I will make it down to both sometime this year. I’ll try to park in one of the 5500 new parking places that replaced the Vet.
