One Day, One Picture

People look at the above photo and almost immediately ask “what’s up with those funky clouds?” I tell them that this isn’t a straight picture, it’s a reflection out of a mud puddle. “Ooohhhhhh, now I see.” The inversion of this image so that the mountain is pointing up totally throws people off. It’s kind of funny to me, but it also makes me wonder how good of an idea it was to flip it 180° to satisfy my feelings on what looks better.

Compare the shot above to the original below:

Which works better for you? Or should I not have gone through all this, and instead used a different image I captured, from a little further out, that really puts the scene in context?

Me being me, I naturally continue to like the first the best. I think if it makes people talk, then it can’t be all bad, right?

These are our lights this year. I just grabbed my camera, went outside, and started shooting. Wish I had remembered about the Strobist guide to shooting holiday lights from 3 years ago. But I found the link, and you can benefit from it’s great tips. Strobist: How To Photograph Christmas Lights.

We received about 10″ of snow recently, so I took that opportunity to go get a new view of my normal surroundings (luckily my Sorel’s are good to about 12″ of snow). Got what I think is a great shot of this creek near my home. Converted it to a high contrast black and white in Lightroom. I wish it snowed more often.

The image above is of a braided hose line on the primary lift motor of a Titan II missile. In September of 2008 I had the opportunity to visit the Titan II Museum outside of Tucson, AZ. The museum is actually a decommissioned Titan II complex, a relic of the Cold War. This photo is available for purchase as a print or digital download in my Art Gallery.

I took several interesting pictures on that day. It was one of the more fruitful photography days I have had, most likely because that’s all it was supposed to be. No doubt more of those images will make their way here as photos of the week.

More information about the museum can be seen at their website.

I have scored a few product shoots because of my demonstrated ability to take good pictures of glass objects. Truth be told however, there really isn’t a whole lot to it.

First step is to have the proper environment to shoot in. For me that means using my oversized DIY PVC Light Tent. It is big enough that the light is distributed really well within. For added measure, when I was building it and then making the second revision, I made sure that the fabric would cover any of the PVC so it would not show up as a reflection in the objects I was shooting.

Second step is, obviously, lighting it. When shooting in the big tent, I tend to go between two different placements for my lights. I use a pair of 27W, 5500K compact fluorescents in standard 10″ clamp light fixtures I got at Home Depot. Sometimes I will place them slightly ahead of center on either side of the tent. Other times I will put them overhead, either facing directly into the tent or bouncing the light off the rafters overhead (sounds goofy, but it works). I take a couple of shots, see how they look, and then readjust as necessary. Most of the time I can get a good idea of how the lights are working from peeking through the viewfinder and then adjusting.

I generally do one or two shots in auto mode to get some idea of the f-stop and exposure ratio, then start working from there. As you can see from the EXIF for the shot above, it can be fairly fast. But again, that depends on how you light it.

One key I have been working on is how to keep the camera reflection from appearing in the object. I account for this in a couple of ways:
1) The opening in my front curtain is only large enough to let the lens through.
2) I do not use any sort of lens hood.
3) When practical, I elevate above the object and shoot downward at an angle. Straight on shots are the worst for showing the camera lens, and I try to avoid this at all costs.
4) When 4 isn’t practical, I try to get any opaque objects on the surface of the object to be in the forefront.
5) When 3 and 4 don’t work, I just deal with the fact that the reflection is part of the image.

These things must be working, as I continue to get product shot engagements, and several specifically indicate it is because of my work with highly reflective surfaces.

Hard to believe, but on this day 68 years ago, Pearl Harbor was attacked, throwing us into World War II. But you didn’t need me to tell you that. The only reason I am posting about this today is that I was recently going through some old photos I have taken over the years, and came across this group from my trip to Hawaii in 1984. I was 13, and armed with my Kodamatic instant camera. Anyone old enough to remember it knows that this was the Kodak version of the Polaroid, and that the film production had to cease because of a lawsuit from Polaroid. I think I got a rebate check for $30 from Kodak as a way of saying “sorry, we shouldn’t have sold you this camera.”

Nearly everyone agrees that a good photo should evoke some sort of emotion. In that regard, I love these pics. I can’t remember much of that weeklong trip (except the Dole pineapple cannery tour, Hilo Hattie’s signs everywhere, the beach), but these pictures remind me vividly of what it was like on the Arizona Memorial that day. It was a strange feeling, standing on the monument, straddling the remains of the Arizona, and knowing there were still people (their remains anyway) in there. There were also reminders that the ship is not done settling in, as there were small oil slicks (maybe a few inches across) hanging out near the rusted gun turret mounts. It’s a powerful mood, being out there and seeing these things. No, these Kodamatic pics don’t do it justice, but if you have been there, maybe these are all it takes to bring your memories back. If so, let me know by commenting below.

I had an occasion where I needed to light an object from underneath (the glass of beer in the pic above). I wrestled with it for some time, and then came up with what turned out to be a pretty easy solution.

Using a flat fluorescent light fixture I picked up at Home Depot, and a piece of black craft foam, and my large DIY light tent with glass riser, I was able to get the photo above. I cut a hole in the black craft foam that was roughly the same size as the base of the glass. I then put my black backdrop into the light tent, set the fluorescent light on my workbench inside the light tent, and then placed the craft foam on top of that so no light escaped except through the hole I had created. From there I inserted my glass sheet to have a riser (which was conveniently about an inch higher than the surface of the fluorescent light), filled the drinking glass with beer, and turned on the light. This photo did not require any additional lighting other than the fluorescent underneath the product. And by using the pane of glass as a riser, a nice reflection appeared as well.

That’s all there is to it, hope it works for you if you need some illumination from underneath on an object.

My daughter is one of the hardest kids to get a good picture of. At 3 years of age (4 in a couple weeks), she is a non-stop dynamo of energy that never seems to stop. That energy is magnified even more when we are exploring a new (to her) place.

This past weekend she decided she wanted to go see Red Rocks - as in the Red Rocks Park & Amphitheatre, but famous by the U2 video in the 80’s. It is actually a pretty popular hangout among people in Denver, there were a lot of people using it for a workout today (running up and down the stairs and “seats” is a popular workout).

Natalie was in explorer mode today, so she wanted to go all the way down to the bottom and look around. I was able to convince her to pose for me a little bit at the top first though. As she gets older, she is starting to enjoy being in front of the camera. Later in the day she told me I should be taking pictures of her splashing in the puddles left by the rain.

I haven’t shot any families with little kids other than my own, but my advice would be to be patient, follow the little ones around, and shoot a lot of pics to get the keepers. It’s kind of like shooting sports. They are that unpredictable and fast paced.

Rained all of the preceding day, followed by freezing cold temps overnight. Resulted in nicely frozen water drops that started to thaw the next morning. Backlit by the morning sky, before the sun crested the roof of our house.

Just A Test, originally uploaded by DeNic Photos.

Was testing out my new Nikkor 180/2.8 lens and a park setting I want to use for some upcoming senior shoots.