PERSONAL PROJECTS

I'm a big believer in personal projects for photographers. The main reason for this is it keeps the creative juices flowing. Many of my personal projects have also turned into actual assignments. For example, I just found out a Magazine called Christianity Today wants to buy my photos for a story they are doing on refugees in the U.S. This has been a project I've been shooting on for about three years now.

Here's what I do starting a project. First I must have a personal interest in the subject. Regardless of how popular the subject might be, if my heart is not in it, then neither will my commitment to do what it takes to complete the project. That way, you will be shooting for yourself and not others. Whatever you like, go for it.

Like all communication, the more you can address the who, what, when, why and where questions, the better. So, as you prepare for starting to shoot, think about how to visually communicate the message of the story.

If your project is about some natural beauty like mountains, then you may want to first decide which mountains you want to shoot and from what angle. I like to shoot subjects many others have done before me in ways few before me have done. Most mountains are shot in clear sky conditions. So, first I'll wait for a day with clouds that will give me some dramatic sky structure. Then I decide the time of day. If most shoot at dawn, then I'll shoot at dusk. If most shoot at dusk, then I'll shoot at dawn, etc. In short shoot them in a unique and different way than others have.

If your project is about people or a person, then your approach will be different than when just collecting a series of beautiful shots. You will want to actually tell a story with photos. You'll want to shoot your subject loose and wide to show their surrounding environment. You'll also want to shoot closer to isolate your subject but still leave a sense of their environment. Finally you'll want to shoot your subject up close to provide details that reveal intimate info for the viewer.

All this takes time, but if you stick with it, you will in the end collect some great shots and continue to grow as a photographer. My workshop "The Art of Telling Stories" is a great workshop to take for learning and sharpening these skills. As an award winning former photo editor for Texas Highways Magazine, I'm just the person you want teaching you these skills. Here's a link in case your interested...http://www.texasphotoworkshops.com/node/222

Covering Hurricanes

When I was young and dumber, I would go and shoot things like war in the middle east, erupting volcanoes, tornadoes and hurricanes. One of my wildest rides was covering Hurricane Gilbert which landed a cover and double truck for Life Magazine. With spring upon us, hurricane season is just around the corner. I thought I would take the time to share what I have learned from covering many hurricanes in the past. First, there are two sides to a hurricane. The WET north/east side and the DRY west/south side. The wet side is were all the dangerous action is…tornadoes, 30 foot storm surges, 150mph sustained winds, etc. Here is the big question, who can shoot in that? I’ve been there, you are surviving and fighting for your life. Photography loses it’s appeal during those moments, not to mention camera’s don’t work well wet. I learned the hard way that the dry side of a hurricane is less dangerous and you can shoot dramatic photos during the hurricane without being in the worst part of the hurricane. Once the worst has past you are usually about an hour away from the wet side and arrive about the time other photojournalist have come out of their zombie states the hurricane beat them into. I have literally followed the waters edge of a storm surge as it recedes into the heart of the destruction where you can find more unique and dramatic photos. You just have to watch out for the snakes, alligators and power lines.  The shot I got for the cover was on the dry edge of Hurricane Gilbert. Then photojournalist Doug Milner and I drove decided to drive into the middle of this monster to get better photos and ended up holding on for dear life and got no photos during the storm. We did get some great aftermath shots…which did not make the cover.

TP&W Cover continued

I felt like it would benefit all if I also posted here many of the photos submitted for the request so you can see what kind of variety was sent. Along with the cover, the magazine also selected another version of the photo used as a full page photo inside the story. For this photo, I shot with the white balance set for daylight and used a warming gel on the flashes. However, I positioned the one light at about the 340 degree mark. The photo had a completely different look, even though it was basically the same shot published for the cover. This is one reason why I usually always change my lighting package up when shooting assignments. It many times will lead to more sales. The magazine also used the cover for their online edition and in the end hundreds of dollars was sent to my mail box.

As I mentioned before, I teach this stuff in my workshop called Masters of Light, which is without question one of the best lighting workshops offered. Here is a link...http://www.texasphotoworkshops.com/node/212 I also teach many of my lighting techniques on our expeditions. The next one up is Glen Rose, Texas and it will be an amazing workshop. Here is a link to that one as well...http://www.texasphotoworkshops.com/node/222

God be with you all!

TP&W Cover

One of my favorite things in this world is mailbox photography money! Recently, one of the magazines we submit stock images to upon their request is a wonderful little pub called Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine. The love to use images big and the design of the magazine is really nice. In February, they wisely chose the above image which was originally shot for National Geographic Adventure Magazine. A lighting package I’ve used since the mid 90’s that Joe McNally made himself famous for was chosen for this shoot.

To start with, my camera white balance was set on tungsten. Some of you are asking why would a photographer do that when shooting outside? Isn’t tungsten used for indoors? Normally yes! However, the color temperature reaction is a heavy shift blue. Add underexposing a stop and you end up with what you see in the background. This part of the river is pretty shallow with deep channels running through it so my Nikon flashes were attached to stands and placed in the river with us. Since my camera was set for tungsten light, a CT Orange conversion gel was needed to convert the daylight balanced light coming from the flash to a tungsten balance so the flashes light photographed white.

Finally, one flash was used to light the subject and it was placed about the 140 degree mark. For me, that scrapping light/angle of incidence is what I was going for, which helped illuminate the fly line whipping in the air as it is being cast. So, with the shutter, I controlled the exposure of the background and with the aperture I controlled the exposure of the flash. This is called dragging the shutter. At 100 ISO, I shot at 1/3 of a second @ F 5.6.

Ansel Adams always talked about seeing the image first in your minds eye and then shooting it. Most of us know that shooting the image is only half the job. Superior darkroom skills also are required to finalize the photo as you saw it originally in your minds eye! That said, for this image, the photo needed very little darkroom work. The sky was burned down a little to achieve that rich looking blue. You can learn more about my lighting techniques via my photography workshops or one on one mentoring programs.

FREEDOM FIREWORKS

Since I was in high school I’ve enjoyed shooting fireworks displays/celebrations. Just about every year I try to get out and shoot different fireworks displays. I always like to look for the unique versions. In my opinion, the big brand fireworks shows with big city skylines all look the same. Last year I found this show and shot if from down on the bridge.

This year I chose to climb this hill to gain a perspective that would include the bridge I shot from the year before. Wow, what an angle! You have the time exposed car lights stream through the frame, along with the boats on the water cruising and anchored watching the show. Of course the main thing is the fireworks display going of in the middle of all this. Off in the distance you can see the show for the city of Austin, Texas. This show is on Lake Austin sponsored by Austin Country Club.

Here’s how I shot this scene. It all starts with the angle. When shooting events where you get just once chance to get the shot, I always scout my angles out ahead of time. The day of the shoot, I arrive early to make sure I secure my preferred angle before anyone else does. In this case I was set up ready to shoot three hours before the show. I had my assistant hold the position while I went to this great Mexican food dive to grab some spicy food to go along with the show I was about to shoot. I still shoot with a Nikon D2x for one reason…four kids in college! Attached to my D2x was a Nikon 17-35mm 2.8 zoom. My camera was attached to a Gitzo tripod with the graphite legs and a Gitzo ball head. Using Nikon’s cable release I would shoot my exposures ranging from 30 seconds down to 5 seconds at F-8 up to F-16 always at ISO 100. The actual setting depends on the frequency of the fireworks burst along with the overall scene. One thing you need to watch for is burst frequency. At the start of the show, the bursts start out slow. At times they will increase in frequency of burst and then slow again. Always at the end there is the grand finale which if you’re not careful, you will overexpose your shots.

I like to use the aperture to control the over all scene with and I use the shutter speed to control the look of the fireworks with…shot burst and long trailing burst. My favorite exposure for fireworks is ISO 100, 15 seconds at F8 plus 2/3. Usually the trailing of the fireworks is just the way I like it, The 15 seconds allows for three burst and the illumination of the three burst is just right for just under F11. At least it has worked for this scene for the last two years.

One last thing to note, In Post you can curb the contrast levels by using a little Shadow/Contrast control in Photoshop. It’s also fun to play with the layering capabilities Bibble offers, which I prefer over both Aperture and Lightroom hands down!

I’ll be teaching a fireworks workshop on New Years Eve in Austin, Texas. For more info you can check it out at www.texasphotoworkshops.com.

Don't forget to checkout my workshops at www.texasphotoworkshops.com...Maybe we can use your mom on a workshop shoot.

Aprils "2 Minute Workshop"-Time Exposure Portraits

I have several very hard working interns and when I can I like to set up a photo shoot as a private workshop for them to say thanks for their hard work! So, recently we made arrangements with a carnival company to shoot on one of their Ferris wheels. Since my seventy something mom is the craziest actress I know, I asked her to be our model. As you can see, she came up with a great outfit and some scary make-up.

My favorite portrait lighting style is something I call Time Exposure Portraits. Basically, this is where we light our subjects using a moving background, usually with artificial commercial lighting and drag the shutter so the background exposure is properly exposed. In this case, we will use the Ferris wheels movement as our background. The Ferris wheel basket we had also had a center poll mounted roof. Perfect! This will be a great place for me to mount my Nikon SB-800’s set on remote from. Using a couple of Manfrotto Majic Arms with Super Clamps on one end and a flash shoe mount on the other, I hung my lights on each side of the basket. They were placed slightly in front of my subject, pointing at her and locked down with diffusers.

I waited until dusk to start shooting and we shot through dusk to complete darkness. Since the lights were so close to the subject, we only needed about 25% power. Using the SU 800 Commander on my camera, I dialed down the flashes. I was also shooting with a Nikon D2x and a 17-35mm 2.8 zoom. The iso was set at 100. My f stop was F11 and when we started, the shutter was dragging at 1/10 of a sec and at complete darkness the shutter drag ended up at 4 seconds. Oh yeah, one last thing…I had the shutter set to go off at the end of the shutter, which is called a rear curtain sync. This means the shutter opened first and at the very end, just before the shutter closed, the flashed triggered. I also hand held the camera.

One little backend story… When I recruited my mom for the shoot, I had only told her we would be shooting at a carnival. When we got in the Ferris wheel basket for the first time, I could tell she was upset with me. Since there were interns with use, she was quiet, but her eyes said “Your Dead when I get through with you”. I think we all have moms with that look. When the operated cranked up the wheel and we jerked to a roll, my moms eyes almost popped out of her head and she screamed in complete terror. She then explained to us she had a sever fear of heights and had never been on a Ferris wheel before. So, the fear looks are not all acting on her part. As you can see, the shoot was a huge success and we all got some very funny photos…at my moms expense! Thanks Mom, now I know you really do love me. I’ll make it up to you on Mothers Day. I have a sky diving shoot I’d like to use you on:) Don't forget to checkout my workshops at www.texasphotoworkshops.com...Maybe we can use your mom on a workshop shoot.

http://www.manfrotto.com/
http://www.nikonusa.com/
http://www.thomascarnival.com/
http://www.kevinv.com/

Two Minute Lighting Workshop #2

In the not to distant past, I taught what is my favorite workshop to teach, "Masters Of Light". I won’t make some cheap pitch here for the workshop, but here is the url to my workshops in case your interested… www.texasphotoworkshops.com. I wanted to teach my students how to think wildly out of the box. My neighbor is Willie Nelson’s Golf Pro and he looks like he could be wild, but in fact he is gentle as they come. Well, unless you really piss him off and from what I’ve seen that is pretty hard to do. Anyway, I recruited Jeff to be our “Bad Ass Harley Model”. However, rather than shoot the typical location static portrait, I wanted my students to learn how to shoot action portraits using remote lighting. First I demonstrated the shoot with my Nikon D2X (yes, I’m a bit behind on updating my equipment. It’s called having too many children in college at the same time:). I also used the Nikon SB800’s. I mounted my camera on the back gate of my SUV using a Bogan majic arm. The Nikon master SB800 was attached to my camera's hot shoe, but the flash itself was in the off mode. I also attached another SB800 to the frame of the Harley using a Bogan Super Clamp. I've also connected the camera to my computer so I could control everything remotely from the front seat. I’ve left the flash in the shot so everyone can see its placement. For publication, I've photoshoped it out. From here, we took off and cruised 6^th street in Austin, Texas. Jeff followed with his cig hanging from his lips. Oh yes, I also dragged the shutter for one second. Dragging means to set the flash to trigger at the end of the shutter setting and in this case it was one second. My aperture was around F 8 and the iso was set at 100. My zoom was set at 24mm. As we cruised, sometimes we would hit small bumps and the camera would bounce a little, adding to the unique wild look of the photo. Now that’s how you shoot a “wow” portrait. Again, this is my favorite class to teach.