May 12, 2012 - Looking a little lost

May 12, 2012 - Looking a little lost


This is one of my nephews. I grabbed this shot while we were all attending his half-brother's Bar Mitzvah. Everyone was dressed nicely, we were all there at temple a bit early, waiting while the photo pro shot pictures of the family. I look for these kind of pictures - the little guys always seem to get a bit overwhelmed at times, looking sorta lost in the sea or a forest of tall people.  Many of the adults, even if they're family, are basically strangers from out of town, seen only at times like these when extended families come together.

This was shot with my 5dII, using my now somewhat dated Canon 24-70 f/2.8 L zoom. The lens is big and heavy, but is pretty much perfect for shooting at gatherings like this. It covers a nice range, is bright enough to use inside, and is built like a tank.  Its is the first L lens I bought - and one I have no plans on giving up. This image was shot zoomed to 70mm, at ISO 200, f/3.5 and 1/125'th. The zoom compresses things some, the larger aperture gives us some good blur in the background. Did some quick retouching in Lightroom.

January 5, 2012 - Cynthia K.

January 5, 2012 - Cynthia K.. My very patient wife, partner, roommate, and part time photo model.

Canon 5dII + Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8. Exposure, 1/60th @ f2.8 ISO 100. Lit with a Canon 550EX speedlight gelled with 1/4 CTO (never heard that before) to the left and slightly behind the camera, triggered with the ST-E2. There was also a floor lamp with 2 halogens bulbs, out of the left side of the frame, aimed at the wall. Flash was set at -1ev and had the built in diffusion screen pulled over the front. Retouched in Lightroom - light balance adjusted, contrast and highlights increased, saturation dropped slightly. There's a gradient shadow across the bottom right corner, plus and a slight post-crop vignette added.

This was a quick portrait after we got home from dinner this evening. I was enjoying how she looked in the scarf.

What could I have done better? Lots. Lights could/should have been more diffuse - note the hard shadows. Needed a bit different place to take the picture - the couch isn't very conducive to a good seating position to pose for a photo. And, we have the odd corner of the window sill in the background. I had to do a bunch of cropping in Lightroom, which indicates to me that I needed to spend a bit more time setting up the picture and then composing in camera.

January 4, 2012 - Killer Kale.

Canon 5dII, EF 24-70 f2.8 USM zoom @50mm. 1/60th @ f/5.6, iso 200. Lit with overhead incandescent floods, plus a Canon 550ex speedlite gelled 1/4 CTO held below the camera pointed up at the kale, and a 430ex speedlite set to 1/16th power, buried in the greenery and aimed straight at the vase. Used an ST-E2 to trigger them strobes. Retouched in Lightroom to adjust the white balance, contrast, crop and then added some post crop vignetting.

We get a "green grocer" box now and then - today they screwed up and we got part of ours and part of one that probably should have gone elsewhere. There were 3 bunches of kale included. Not really sure what to do with it, other than use it as a photo subject. Anyone want some kale? Speak up!

Improvements - probably could use a bit more context to say "kitchen" in the background. I actually cleared the decks a bit, moving appliances and trying to angle myself to cut the paper towel holder and the sink out. I do like the hard shadow, ala Ed Wood, in the back ground. If I had another light, I could have given it some contrasting color.

Sad note today - Penn Camera is filing for Bankruptcy.

January 1, 2012 - Home made bread from a recipe in the "Beard on Bread" cookbook. Didn't rise quite as much as I hoped, but turned out pretty well, none the less.

Photo was taken sitting on my stove - note the two parallel lines behind the bread. Photo was taken with a Canon 430EX speedlite mounted on the camera pointed to the right. I used the lid from the plastic bread box as a reflector, up and to the right. Flash was set to 1/16 power and gelled with 1/4 CTO. There is an under counter light just behind and to the left of the bread.

Couple things I'd adjust - first, the specular highlights off the stove in the background - either I need enough light to show what it is, or the reflections need to go. And, I'd adjust the DOF so that the whole face of the loaf was in focus.