Photo Collage

Navy Knights

Austin's second soccer season was another huge success!  Although his newest team, the Navy Knights, didn't go undefeated like his last team; Austin has definitely come into his own as a player.  Of course five-year-olds can be a bit selfish at times on the field but Austin is really starting to become a threat out there.  I'd guess that for the season he probably scored half his team's goals.  

Unfortunately I had to miss several of the games do to a volunteer job and because I shot a couple of weddings.  I did, however, get to make it to four games and I'm working on getting through the pictures I've taken.  Below are some pictures from his first two games.  If anyone is interested in ordering pictures, please leave me a comment with your email address and I'll send you the smugmug password when I'm done getting everything together.  Enjoy!  

He thinks the soccer field is the most fun place on Earth

This and the next two pictures were part of a sequence.  Austin scored on the shot.

Austin about to score while his coach cheers in the background

Austin being silly in between plays

Update: I'm Back!

Sorry for the recent hiatus from the blog.  As many of my readers know, the last few months have been quite hectic, but exciting, for Michelle and me.  We recently had a baby girl and I started a new blog as a personal journal to her.  You can check out the blog to Emmalyn here.

I appreciate everyone's patience as I get back into the swing of things.  I've shot a few weddings in the last couple of months and have plenty of pictures from Austin's soccer games.  I'll be working on getting some of the images posted in the next few days.

Until then, God bless!
 

Picture of the Day: Inside the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry

This is from the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.  The room is really dark so I had to handhold the image at ISO 3200.  Kind of like yesterday's shot, I thought it lent itself well to black and white.  The original statue is like an orange sand color.  It's also really big!  

Picture of the Day: Brookfield Zoo Owl

I took this image inside a really dark room at ISO 3200.  The graininess lent itself well to black and white, in my opinion, but I couldn't get over how dramatic the pose was and how incredible the owl's eyes were.  So, I wanted to make them the focal point by desaturating the rest of the image but leaving the owl's eyes relatively untouched.  Anyone have any name recommendations for this stoic creature?

Picture of the Day: Steve the Pug Lounging

Here's a fun shot of Steve the Pug laying around at Cape Cod Farm, the barn where Michelle keeps Rhett.  He's a fun little guy and has quite the following on Facebook.  Check out his page!  His momma, Rachel, runs the youth lesson program at the barn.

Picture of the Day: Illinois Sunset

I captured this beautiful sunset back home in Illinois over the 4th of July weekend.  Michelle and I were there with my family to view the fireworks.  The fireworks were incredible; the sunset was equally amazing.  

Review: Horse Photography: The Dynamic Guide for Horse Lovers

I recently purchased Carol J. Walker's Book Horse Photography: The Dynamic Guide for Horse Lovers (Horses Ponies) in hopes of finding an excellent reference on how to improve my equine photography.  My wife, Michelle, is a horse owner and lover and I have found that photographing horses has been a great way for us to share something we're both passionate about.  

I'm definitely a suburban kind of guy and my experience with horses prior to meeting Michelle was limited to taking one horseback tour through the Garden of the Gods about 15 years ago.  As I've learned to take better pictures and delved into the horse world with Michelle, I've found myself seeking to know more about horses and how their owners want to see their images taken.  I saw this book as the first big step toward obtaining that knowledge.  I couldn't be more disappointed.  

First, let me say that the book is very short - 98 pages in total, with only about a third of it being text.  Despite it's length (or lack thereof), Ms. Walker decided she'd cover nearly every topic in photography.  Unfortunately, while attempting to cover so many topics, in my opinion, she failed to cover any sufficiently.  

This book seems to be written for people that love horses and maybe like photography.  Her broad strokes of attempting to define basic photographic skills are mediocre at best.  Additionally, her example images are weak, at best.  Yes, there are many beautiful photographs in this book but they don't often highlight her points.  The captions are also garbage.  She probably mentions about 15 times how important it is to shoot a dark horse on a light background and visa versa.  She also beats a dead horse, pun intended, by constantly pointing out that her images always have the horse on level ground.  She also inaccurately discusses shutter speeds by stating that you can use a slower shutter when the horse is coming directly at you versus moving laterally across you.  

Another very poor lesson in this book was Ms. Walker's discussion on light.  She basically says to avoid backlighting like the plague, unless you're purposely trying to silhouette your horse.  The page is filled with images of silhouetted horses!  But she completely ignored the fact that you can expose directly on your horse or you could use fill flash to properly expose.  The lack of explanation on light, and in my opinion laziness in terms of properly explaining a concept, is repeated throughout this book.  

The only pages that I found helpful were specific shots on what moments to capture during a walk, trot or canter.  These were the kinds of moments I was hoping for in this book.  I wanted specific details with photographic examples on what a horse owner wants.  I wanted to find examples of images I could sell.  Unfortunately, those moments were few and far between.  

Ratings (out of 10):

Content - 4

Images - 7

Writing Style - 4

Overall - 5

Summary:

In conclusion, I don't recommend buying this book if you're interested in selling equine images.  If, however, you want a book filled with decent horse images and you're a horse lover who occasionally takes pictures, this book might be the one for you.  I find that good books on equine photography for professionals seem to be lacking.  Maybe I'll pursue writing a book of my own on the  topic in a decade or so!  

Lesson: Capturing Jaw-Dropping Fireworks Shots

This year's Independence Day was a blast and it also provided a great learning experience for me that I'm really excited to share with my readers.  I had never taken fireworks photos before but I'm really happy with how mine  turned out.  Below, I'm going to highlight my keys to success.  

1.  It all starts with a firm base: Use a tripod

A tripod is an absolute necessity for taking pictures of fireworks.  Shutter speeds will be at least a second (I'll go into my camera settings in a bit) which makes steady hand-holding impossible.  I also highly recommend using a ballhead to allow you to quickly move and reframe your shots as you follow the fireworks into the night sky.

  

2.  Camera Settings...  these are settings I used and/or recommend as well as a few ideas for differing shooting from different perspectives.  

ISO - It is a necessity to keep your ISO as LOW and possible.  I shot at the Nikon default low - 200 but going down to 100 or even 50 isn't a bad idea.  Reasoning?  High ISOs lead to more noise (graininess) in your pictures.  Add long exposures in and high ISO is a recipe for disaster.  Bottom line, if you want your pictures to stay sharp, keep your ISO low.  

Aperture - I highly recommend an aperture of f/8 or f/11.  Reasoning?  The fireworks are going to be fairly far away, certainly far enough away to be considered at infinity on your camera.  As I've read in many books and learned from experience, f/8 or f/11 are perfect "who cares" apertures that will allow you to keep everything at infinity in sharp focus.  Stick with either of these values and you won't go wrong.  

Mode - Keep everything in manual mode!  I know that sounds scary in the world of thoughtless program mode or even aperture or shutter speed priority but it's not as bad as you think.  In some ways, shooting fireworks is a guessing game or an exercise in trial and error.  The good news is you already know where to keep your ISO and aperture so the only thing left for you to adjust is shutter speed.  

Shutter Speed - There is no "right answer" on where to set your shutter speed.  All of my pictures below were taken at shutter speeds between 1 and 2 seconds, usually around 1.6 seconds.  To get the full shape of the firework you're probably going to need at least a one second exposure.  A good recommendation is to pick a speed and check out your pictures.  If you want more movement in your fireworks or you'd like to incorporate multiple bursts, just adjust to a longer shutter.  Another helpful recommendation is to shoot in bulb mode which allows you to control exactly when the shutter stops.  

Flash - Don't use it, ever.  Just don't do it.  You'll wash out your foreground and your images will look like junk.  There's nothing else to say about it.  

3.  Lens Choice

Lens choice will be completely situationally dependent.  I actually took fireworks shots on two consecutive nights this holiday.  The first night I only brought my 70-200mm lens and I experienced a letdown because I was too close to the fireworks to allow me to capture the scale I was looking for.  The second night I used my 18-200 and I was thrilled with the results.  If I wanted a close up of one explosion, I could get it.  If I wanted a wider perspective that allowed me to capture multiple bursts at once, I could get that too.  So, consider where you'll be taking pictures from and how far away you'll be from the fireworks.  Decide how much flexibility you want and the perspective you're looking for.  

No matter what lens you choose, one thing is important.  Also focus manually to infinity.  ALWAYS!  Set your lens to infinity and keep it there.  You'll never need to give your focus a second thought.  

4.  Other Considerations...

Remote Release - It may be helpful to use a remote release in order to ensure your camera stays as still as possible during long exposures.  I have one but didn't use it and was still very happy with the results.  I was really close to the action at both locations and as a result, was constantly reframing and tracking the fireworks through the lens.  I also strongly prefer to view through the lens to constantly know where I'm at.  Sometimes using a remote release just makes me feel too far from what's going on.  That being said, if I were shooting fireworks from say a half mile away and my composition was fairly constant, I'd use the remote release in a second.  

Framing - This is all about personal preference.  I used portrait for all of my shots because I was so close and portrait orientation allowed me to capture the firework going into the sky and then falling back down to Earth.  If I were further away I may have switched to landscape.  It's all up to you so try both and see which you prefer!  

Location - Try to find a great backdrop or an interesting foreground (like my pictures with the car).  Another important thing to consider is wind.  Try to stay upwind from the fireworks.  It may seem like a minor detail but when it's the middle of the grand finale and your shots are blocked by clouds of smoke you'll think of me and wish you would have picked a different seat.   

Just Keep Shooting! - I took about 150 pictures in 30 minutes.  Shoot the entire time!  The more you shoot the more you can hone your methods and the better chance you'll walk away with "the shot".  

For my first time, I'm really happy with the results.  One of the pictures below earned me my first-ever publication and the honor of being a finalist for photo of the month for a Chicago area newspaper.  If you'd like to purchase any of my pictures please check out my smugmug account.

Review: VisionMongers: Making a LIfe and Living in Photography

In my humble opinion, VisionMongers: Making a Life and a Living in Photography by David duChemin, is an incredible book that both scares and inspires the reader.  I purchased the book in hopes of finding some answers and while I did find many of the things I was looking for, I was left with many questions I would have never known to ask.  

David makes many things clear in his book.  First, he states there is no secret to being a professional photographer.  The bottom line is that all professionals share a few things in common: hard work, knowledge on how to please their clients and over deliver and the drive to constantly improve their craft.  

The second fact David makes clear is that becoming a vocational photographer is not for the faint of heart.  Photography by profession is not a get rich quick kind of business.  He discusses many skills one must have from marketing to interpersonal skills to being financially sound.  He discusses rejection, debt, etc.  The bottom line is he's real about what one can expect in this field.  

One of the things I appreciated most about VisionMongers: Making a Life and a Living in Photography was David's use of many examples.  First, he talks extensively about his own experiences which include some drastic career changes, poor financial management which resulted in debt and dealing with clients which often have small budgets for photography.  He also included 4-5 page sections on six different professional photographers who offered their advice on different aspects of approaching photography as a vocation.  

Things I Learned:

First, I learned that I have a lot to learn.  The marketing section was especially eye opening.  David talked about the importance of creating a brand around your photography.  He discusses congruency between your blog, website, business cards, mailers, etc.  The book really pushed and inspired me to learn as much as I can about marketing, especially with the progression of importance of social media (like this blog) in today's world.  

I also learned that I don't have all the necessary tools and it may not be worth learning them.  The bottom line is I'm not great in design.  So, maybe it'll be best for me to one day higher a company to create my logo and help refine my website.  I'm no expert in tax either so hiring an accountant is a must.  While it seems like a good idea to learn to do these things on your own when you're just starting out, it may be more helpful to spend the time honing your photography skills then learning how to write off all your business expenses.  

Finances, insurance and other liabilities are also discussed in depth.  David really stressed living debt free (woohoo!) and I couldn't agree more.  I consider myself a Dave Ramseyian (if that term hasn't been coined, I'm claiming it) and living debt free is priority number one for my financial plan.  While I consider myself relatively financially savvy, I did learn a lot about insurance needs, including insuring your studio for liability should someone have an accident during a shoot. 

Summary:

This book really is one of my all time favorite photography books.  It's not the type of book that will teach you what aperture and shutter speed to use, which lenses to buy or even which website to use for your blog or webpage.  VisionMongers: Making a Life and a Living in Photography goes deeper than that.  It challenges you to decide if photography is really something you want to pursue.  It guides you and informs you of many different methods to achieve success, while always preparing you for potential collapses.  It doesn't claim to have all the answers.  It's meant for the person that thinks of photography constantly - the person who, as David puts it, can't not do it.  That's me and I thought this book was exactly what I needed as I'm just starting out.  If you want to check it out, I couldn't recommend it more.

Ratings (out of 10):

Content - 10

Images - 8

Writing Style - 9

Overall - 9

For those of you who aren't familiar with David duChemin, I recommend you check out his blog, this book and others he has written.  As a whole, I think he's my favorite photographer.  I love his cause (shooting for NGOs), his attitude, his work and his teaching style.