Studio lighting Photowalk part 1 – February 21, 2012

For the 5th straight February in a row the Photowalking Utah group has held its Studio Lighting Photowalk at the Gateway Community Church in Draper, Utah. They hold this every year to give us a break from the winter weather and to give inexperienced photographers like me a chance to see, learn about, and participate in various forms and styles of studio/portrait photography. Volunteers set up and "host" a number of various lighting scenarios, this year there were 10 different set ups ranging from window light with a reflector, all the way to full on props, multiple strobes, with various modifiers and wireless triggers. It was an absolute blast, the walk lasted four hours but I could've stayed there all day! All the models (who volunteered, but we chipped in to pay them for their time) were an absolute joy to work with and so very gracious with their time, talent, and patience of having around 200 people all staring at, directing, and photographing them over and over.

I took quite a few shots so I'll split the post in two so I don't bore you more than usual.

The first set up was an African Tribal/Jungle theme set using hot lights (4 in total if I recall correctly) The host was local photo pro Tom Sparks I've had the pleasure of interacting with Tom on Google Plus a few times and he's a great guy, full of great info and was very generous and patient with talking about this set up and how, and why to shoot with hot lights.

Model: Shakira Farrar:  She was so incredibly expressive and giving as a model! Most of the time we lined up to use the strobe triggers one at a time, but as this was a hot light set up there were always a half dozen or more photographers swarming around her taking shots. She would just rotate between them all giving expressions and poses to each in turn.

One of my favorites!

Not bad for being way off set and using iso 800!

Next up was a two light (softbox) set up with a model on a swing!

Model: Lissa Legg, Lisa is Rich Legg's daughter (he's one of the founders of Photowalking Utah) and his studio was next door to the church, and it also had one of the set ups inside.

After the swing I moved over to the natural light set up which was using a north facing window, an overcast day, and some reflectors to bounce in some fill light.

Model: Justin Schoenrock, Seriously guys shouldn't look this photogenic!

From up on a step stool

Here are the black and white versions!

From up on a step stool

I joked with Justin that he was going to have a million new profile pics now, I hope he likes my versions.

So that was half of the set ups I shot, I'll have the rest up in a few days.

Here are a few more of Shakira (I took more of her than anyone else - I think it was because there was no line in order to shoot her, no recycle time for flashes, and she's just awesome!)

Happy Shooting!

Howard

Mirror (actually my preferred blog site is here: http://newd7000user.wordpress.com/2012/03/04/studio-lighting-photowalk-part-1-february-21-2012/

Sandy Balloon Festival - A Short Notice Photowalk

With less than 24 hours notice a Photowalk of the Sandy Balloon festival (August 13, 2011) was announced on the Photowalking Utah flickr group message board.  I took the family and we planned on making a nice evening of some cool sights and entertaining tunes from "Cold Creek" who were performing on a stage set up between the two fields that would house the Hot air Balloons as they did an evening "glow." A wildfire burned on a not so distant mountainside, and a storm was blowing in from the south, as we walked over to the promenade we saw the band warming up. [caption id="attachment_516" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="Cold Creek warming up for the concert"][/caption] After setting up I did a little "people photography" of a few of our fellow spectators. [caption id="attachment_520" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="Stars!"][/caption] I love this one, mostly because I saw it coming, I wish I'd had a better angle but I like how it turned out anyways. [caption id="attachment_523" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="Puppy Love"][/caption] Another shot of the band warming up. [caption id="attachment_524" align="aligncenter" width="624" caption="Cold Creek still warming up, Ryan Shupe of the Ryan Shupe & The Rubberband  is on the right with the violin, he filled in for a missing band member."][/caption] And possibly my favorite from the evening. [caption id="attachment_525" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="In the grass"][/caption] Photowalkers started to trickle in, and I ended up chatting with a photographer that I greatly admire Scott Stringham.(seriously check out his work, he's insanely good) Eventually we ended up meeting with the other photowalkers and took a group shot (still not posted on the groups flickr page) Immediately after the group photo the balloons started to "glow" and we all scattered and scrambled to start taking pictures. [caption id="attachment_517" align="aligncenter" width="663" caption="The First Balloon - HDR"][/caption] Notice all those clouds? It was darkening quickly as the cold front moved in. So I moved in for some close ups. [caption id="attachment_535" align="aligncenter" width="641" caption="Boys are drawn to fire like a moth to .....ummmm.... a flame"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_529" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption=""Whoah!"   I love the expression and the bonus LCD capture. You could feel the heat, that little guy was toasty hot I'm sure."][/caption] Even closer: [caption id="attachment_530" align="aligncenter" width="575" caption="3 exp HDR handheld"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_531" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption=""Still closer" 3 exp HDR - handheld, I like the 2nd pilot light"][/caption] The second balloon soon followed. [caption id="attachment_532" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="Two balloons at sunset 3 exp HDR - handheld"][/caption] The third balloon to get fully inflated was a fun "Pig" representing a piggy bank based on an ad campaign to help Utah save money. [caption id="attachment_528" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="You make me feel all warm inside..."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_534" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="This little piggy went to Sandy... 3exp HDR - handheld"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_533" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="dual glows"][/caption] Very soon after this shot the balloons started to de-flate and no more than a minute later the wind started to gust past 30 mph so big kudos to the organizers for letting us see the balloons and for keeping us all safe by calling it off in the nick of time. It was a short but fun photowalk and I'm glad I was able to get there and to share it with my family. It gives me some ideas for the next time I have a chance to shoot balloons. Hopefully the weather will cooperate better and I'll have some better shots. Thanks as always for looking I truly appreciate every visit and comment. Next week (hopefully) is another photowalk. Happy Shooting!

Wait for It!..Seeing the light

After getting literally washed out on my attempt at a waterfall shot, My family and I enjoyed a great dinner with my brothers family at his home in American Fork. Fortunately my brother lives very close to the Mt. Timpanogos Temple, and as we ate dinner I kept on eye on the sky. Why you ask? Because I noticed something happening to the remnants of the thunderstorm we had just endured, specifically that the clouds were breaking up, especially towards the western horizon.

I don't think I would have been so keenly aware of the approaching sunset and light if not for two very big factors. 1st - I'd been skunked earlier in my photographic plans.  2nd - I was inspired by an image of the Mt Timpanogos Temple that had been shared a week or so prior by the amazing Utah Photographer Jeremy Hall, who also happens to live in the same general area as my brother (give or take a dozen miles) After seeing his image the week before, a nugget of an idea to get a similar shot had lodged itself into my wee brain. As I sat munching on a very tasty Brat I resolved to run up the hill to the Temple and see just what might happen.

I grabbed my wife, and we left the kids behind to play with their cousins. After parking at the north lot we walked to the front of the Temple and set up across the street on the east side.  I set up the D7000 on my Benro Tripod looking west directly at the front of the temple.

[caption id="attachment_492" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="1st shot - HDR from 9 exposures 8:19pm"][/caption]

As you can see the light wasn't very spectacular, the clouds were gray, and a little flat and because the Temple was backlit, so the dynamic range was too large to make a single exposure look decent. I decided to shoot HDR to grab the entire dynamic range, I also noticed that the spot of gold near the sun was opening up and I needed to be patient. I plugged in the Promote Control and waited.

[caption id="attachment_483" align="aligncenter" width="517" caption="Temple Steeple Close Up - HDR of 9 exposures"][/caption]

I took this close up of the Angel Moroni statue on top of the temple while I waited for the light. (I grunged it up a little in Photomatix)

[caption id="attachment_493" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="My 6th shot - HDR of 9 exposures 8:28pm"][/caption]

Here you can see that after only 10 minutes the color is starting to spread out behind the temple and you can see some structure in the clouds as the sun goes down. If all goes well those clouds should light up really well...

[caption id="attachment_494" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="my 11th shot - HDR of 9 exposures 8:32pm"][/caption]

Look at the difference that 5 minutes makes! The color is really starting to develop and deepen, and what first looked like featureless gray clouds have really started to show texture and depth. I was getting excited, add 3 more minutes and we get this!

[caption id="attachment_495" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="12th Shot -Boom goes the color! - HDR of 9 exposures 8:35pm"][/caption]

Then this!

[caption id="attachment_491" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="18th shot - HDR of 9 exposures"][/caption]

This was the shot I had envisioned while sitting at my brothers home. I was pretty sure that if the clouds cleared from the horizon long enough this type of sunset would occur so I clicked away, (being a newbie means I over shoot) it was funny because right around this time a few cars pulled over and you could see people sticking their phones out the windows to take the shot I wonder if they would've done so if I hadn't been set up taking pictures? (bet they don't look quite like this one though)

I moved to the south to get a 3/4 view.

[caption id="attachment_484" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="3/4 view - HDR of 8 exposures"][/caption]

I'm thinking of entering this image into a contest. My only regret is that the street starts to dip on the south side instead of getting higher, what I would've given for a cherry picker to get a higher vantage, then I could've included some great mountains in the background as well.

We crossed the street again and from right along the fence on the south side I took these images.

[caption id="attachment_489" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="South side view - HDR of 9 exposures"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_490" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="Wider south side view - HDR of 9 exposures "][/caption]

I decided as it got darker to go back to the front of the temple and I grabbed a few more shots from the corner again.

[caption id="attachment_487" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="Temple lights come on - HDR of 9 exposures"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_486" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="View from in the grass on the front corner - HDR of 9 exposures"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_488" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="Getting dark - HDR of 9 exposures 8:58pm"][/caption]

So that's it, my last shot of the night was at 8:58pm. So all in all I shot for 39 minutes of fast and furious shooting with a tripod and a Promote Control hanging off of it, I couldn't have done it as quickly if not for the help of my wonderful wife. (I'll be making a holder for the Promote Control because letting it hang from its cables is no good) I was glad that I "saw" the light evolving earlier, and that I took the initiative to go find the shot I wanted. My work schedule prohibits me from shooting the "Golden Hours" very much, so it's always a treat to be able to play in its beautiful light.

Here are two of the mid or "0" exposures showing why I went with HDR - the dynamic range was really too much. You can see the blown highlights, blocked up shadows, and washed out colors in both images.

[caption id="attachment_500" align="aligncenter" width="650" caption="Mid exposure examples of 1st and 12th shots"][/caption]

Happy Shooting!

PS: I wanted to share this blog post I read Monday that parallels my experience, and has more validity to the concept of waiting for the light than my own.

Water Fall hike to watching Water Fall...

Waking up early to go to work after a late night of baseball and fireworks is hard, the solution? Don't do it!

Instead my wife and I took the day off, slept in a little, and then planned on taking the family on a hike with my brother and his family to a dual waterfall near his home called Battle Creek falls . It's a short drive from his home in American Fork to nearby Pleasant Grove, and we drove down around 3pm thinking we'd take the hike and some pictures, then have a BBQ at his home for dinner before heading back home. I was really excited to go because despite my plans for this summer we haven't been hiking at all this year and now summer's nearly over. Also I had taken all my strobist kit so I could practice some outdoor portraiture with his family and all of our kids, what's better than a huge waterfall as a backdrop right?

As we left  our home we ran into a thunderstorm but it looked clearer the farther south we drove so we were hoping it would stay clear over the canyon, by the time we collected my brother and his family and drove to the mouth of Battle Creek Canyon it was obvious that the storm had turned towards us and that we were either going hiking in the rain, or waiting it out. I'm not afraid of getting wet, but my gear is so we decided to wait it out at the Kiwanis park at the foot of the trailhead.

[caption id="attachment_434" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="The Kiwanis Park at the foot of the Trailhead, the pavilion in the back was our lifesaver"][/caption]

As it started to rain we thought we'd just shelter in the picnic pavilion and wait it out. Most summer thunderstorms in Utah last around 20--30 minutes before moving on. That's true when you're in the valley, but we were up against the base of Mt. Timpanogos  a massive 11,000 +ft wall of stone, and the storm just slammed into it and stalled for over an hour puttin us in the middle of a constant downpour, and near constant lightning. I'm seriously amazed that we weren't fried sitting under that metal roof.

[caption id="attachment_432" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="The Kiwanis park area looking northwest - 3 bracket HDR"][/caption]

Battle Creek Canyon was named after a horrible incident in 1849 when Native Americans were murdered by Mormon settlers under some very sad circumstances.

[caption id="attachment_436" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="A plaque honoring the slain sits inside the park near where the murders occured - 3 bracket HDR"][/caption]

I was very saddened to learn of this event as I researched the waterfalls, I had never heard about this incident before. I'm a Mormon and to think that our people who strive to live Christian values would do such a thing was very disturbing to say the least.

The rain continued...

[caption id="attachment_438" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="One of many roof drains coming off the pavilion"][/caption]

It was raining, and blowing  so hard that I couldn't even get near the edges because of all the spray coming in under the roof, so I set up my tripod and zoomed in on a few areas of interest.

[caption id="attachment_435" align="aligncenter" width="524" caption="A locked lock box, for what purpose I have no idea. There must be about 1/4 inch of ugly brown government issue paint on this thing as well  - 3 bracket HDR"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_437" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="Rain misting off some stumps and rocks at a fire pit area -  3 bracket HDR"][/caption]

Finally the rain stopped, unfortunately it was now too late, and too muddy for us to hike, so we explored the park a little. We found a path to the north leading up to an overlook on the side of the mountain. It was a short but steep climb to a magnificent view of Utah Valley. Even though it was still extremely windy I set up my tripod, plugged in the Promote Control and snapped off 7 bracket HDR's in a panorama that used 11 frames for a total of 77 images to make, and it's huge! I've resized it here but the link will take you to a larger version on my flickr page.

[caption id="attachment_429" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="11 frames @ 7 brackets each = 77 images HDR Panorama of Utah Valley looking south west. You can see the remnant of the storm on the left side as it slides over Provo"][/caption]

We left for my brothers home and a great dinner that he grilled up for us, but a very nice surprise (sort of) awaited us later that evening, but that's for the next post!

I'll leave you with two last images:

[caption id="attachment_428" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="The trail head sign for Battle Creek falls a scant 0.5 miles away. This sign was as close as we got."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_430" align="aligncenter" width="529" caption="Battle Creek as it empties from the canyon into a catch basin below the park. It's flowing water so it's almost a water fall right...? 7 bracket HDR with the Promote Control."][/caption]

Happy Shooting!

Hits,Fireworks & Rain

July 24 is a holiday in Utah, we celebrate the arrival of the Mormon pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley in 1847.  Since it fell on a Sunday this year (and we keep the 7th commandment) we celebrated it on Monday the 26th with a family outing to our local AAA Baseball team the Salt Lake Bees (affiliated with the Anaheim Angels).

I had fun finding out if they would allow DSLR's at the game and after quite a run around and many conflicting answers, and definitions, along with a plea from me to post the info on their website, I finally received an email from the stadium manager stating that all cameras were allowed  but no tripods or monopds, and to be respectful of the other fans ie: don't hit them in the head with your camera. Great so I could take my 18-200mm but tough luck on the fireworks. I tried anyways but.. well, you'll see.

OK so hand held with a f/3.5-5.6 lens and low light and to make it worse what daylight we had was falling fast as a storm moved in.

We reached our seats and I took a metered reading switched to manual and fired off an 11 shot pano:

[caption id="attachment_392" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="17 shot Panorama @18mm, f/3.5, 1/400sec, iso 200 Stitched in Autopano Giga"][/caption]

We were just off the backstop netting so we had to keep an eye out for those foul tip nose breakers. Just as an aside panos at 18mm gets nasty due to its vignetting, it just about killed Photoshop so I used AutoPano instead and it did a better job removing the vignette.

Here's a3 shot sequence of the first pitch:

[caption id="attachment_394" align="aligncenter" width="630" caption="Coming forward..."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_395" align="aligncenter" width="630" caption="The throw..."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_393" align="aligncenter" width="630" caption="The follow through"][/caption]

Love our seats! Those were taken at 200mm, f/5.6, 1/400sec, iso 800 in continuous high mode, and using back button focus 3D tracking.

BTW that's Matt Palmer pitching and he did a great job!

Here's the Mascot the lovable and uber friendly Bumble:

[caption id="attachment_397" align="aligncenter" width="570" caption="The Salt Lake Bees Mascot "Bumble""][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_398" align="aligncenter" width="530" caption="Mascots get to watch the game as well"][/caption]

That little bit of sun you see on Bumble was the last we'd see of it.

Here are some random shots...

[caption id="attachment_399" align="aligncenter" width="630" caption="yummy!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_396" align="aligncenter" width="630" caption="Some random couple doing the Facebook "hey were here at the game and here's our crappy cell phone pic to prove it" shot."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_401" align="aligncenter" width="530" caption="I made the big screen! This was about 2 stops under exposed thank goodness I was in RAW"][/caption]

How about a few "action" shots?

[caption id="attachment_402" align="aligncenter" width="630" caption="A Tacoma Rainer player almost gets tagged leading off of first too far."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_400" align="aligncenter" width="630" caption="I believe I can fly..."][/caption]

We got a triple off that play, the fielder missed the bounce and pick up off the wall.

So by now it was getting a bit darker and I wanted to get some Panoramas from other areas of the park before it was too dark, so I headed out to left field.

[caption id="attachment_406" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="A 3 shot Hand Held HDR from Left field."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_412" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="Hand Held HDR Panorama from Left Field. 6frames x 3brackets=18 shot panorama!"][/caption]

See the rain coming?

Here it is:

[caption id="attachment_411" align="aligncenter" width="630" caption="Raining"][/caption]

Some creative umbrellas for the dedicated fans:

[caption id="attachment_414" align="aligncenter" width="630" caption="Programs work, at least for a little while."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_413" align="aligncenter" width="630" caption="Plates! These were my favorite."][/caption]

We chickened out and hid under the 2nd deck overhang until it stopped just after sunset. (I'm still babying my D7000) However before it stopped completely we got a nice treat that I just couldn't capture very well but I tried.

[caption id="attachment_415" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="Rainbow(actually a double - but very faint) Handheld 3 bracket HDR"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_405" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="The Bees at bat - 3 bracket Hand Held HDR"][/caption]

I headed out to right field to try and capture what little color I could in the sunset from there with less than stellar results, sure could've used a tripod!

[caption id="attachment_416" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="Looking from the right field fence - 3 bracket Hand Held HDR"][/caption]

Well lets do a pano, but it's too dark now to bracket hand held that many shots so it's a "normal" pano.

[caption id="attachment_417" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="A poor sunset from the right field General Admissions area"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_404" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="Looking down the 1st baseline - 3 bracket Hand Held HDR"][/caption]

That's one of my favorite shots from the night! Wish I'd had a 300mm.

[caption id="attachment_403" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="The walk of shame - 3 bracket Hand Held HDR"][/caption]

This poor guy! Notice how no one's looking at him, they're all looking at the Tacoma dugout, and I'm mad I missed focusing on him but check out the umpire doing the whole "does my butt  look fat in these pants?" thing in the background.

OK so we win the game - Yay!

After a little wait for the wind to settle they put on a nice fireworks display. I did my best but I had no tripod, just a camera bag on my lap jammed up agaist the seat back infront of me, and the guide wires for the backstop netting in the middle of my view but here ya go with a few I liked.







And my favorite fireworks shot which was a semi accident. I was zooming in to recompose (All with the camera in my lap so I was just guessing) and after changing the zoom I waited for a blast and I wiggled the camera to settle it into the bag for better support and I liked what it did to the firework.

 A fun night with the family and my wife and I extended our vacations one more day so we could go hiking with my brother and his family, but that's for next time...

Happy Shooting!