Revisiting a Photo Shoot

Rusted Hinge

I sat back down today and reviewed all the pictures I took over the weekend at Wallsburg. I decided it would be good practice for me to look at all the pictures again, several days removed, and think about what I would do differently if I could go back and do it again.  Here are the things I came up with today:

1. Give myself more time to scout.  I was only there for two hours, and in retrospect, I should have gone earlier so I would have time to drive around and see different things to shoot, and then spend the quality light time back at the places I liked best.  To be fair, I planned on shooting some sunset-type shots and was out there three hours before “sunset” specifically to scout out what I wanted to do at sunset.  But the geography in the valley was not what I was expecting, so I ended up missing out on the sunset shots I really wanted because the sun had already set behind the hills when I got back.  Perhaps going out a day or two before would have been beneficial, but distance kind of held me back.
2. Always check my camera settings before I start shooting.  I forget to do this all the time, but maybe if I write it down I’ll remember next time.  The first hour I was shooting in Auto-bracket mode and not paying attention.  I finally noticed when I stopped for a few minutes to look at the LCD screen.  Oops.
3. F/1.8 has a super narrow depth of field when you are in close.  Really narrow.  Super narrow.  For close-up shots, I need to look at maybe F/5.6 as my maximum aperture and go down from there.
4. Step back and take some shots of the entire scene.  I spent so much time shooting detailed shots of little things, that I neglected to take any shots of the entire scene.  It would be helpful in framing the entire shoot later if I had taken some landscape-type shots of the entire complex I was at.  Talk a walk up a hill or something and get some big-picture shots.
5. Be careful about bowing out highlights.  I had a string of shots that looked fine in the viewfinder, lots of detail in the icicles.  But when I got home, all those details were gone-blown out by the sun that was behind them.  I probably just need to learn more about metering, to be honest, and learn to expose properly (instead of relying solely on the auto-metering in the camera).

So there you have it, a photo shoot review.  I’m going to make this a regular habit in the hopes of improving the time I have to spend shooting, since it is at a premium most weeks.  If I can steadily improve my shooting habits I think I can make the most what little time I have to spend on photography.

Wallsburg

I don’t get to do it much, but when I can I like to roam around old farms, ranches, and other rural areas, and shoot what strikes me.  Yesterday I drove out to a small town called Wallsburg.  It’s a few miles south of Deer Creek Reservoir, up in a small valley in the Wasatch Mountains.  I went there in the afternoon hoping to spend some time there during the evening/twilight hours.  I didn’t take into account that the valley is so narrow that the mountains don’t give it a full day’s-worth of sunlight, so I was a little bit late getting any sunset-type pictures.  But I did spend some time around some old out-buildings of a small farm way up at the top of the valley.  I got several shots that I like, this one among them.

Post and Shed

Fog

Fog

This shot pretty much sums up our weather over the past week.  While there was lots of fog this morning, we’re right in the middle of a nasty inversion in the Salt Lake and Utah valleys, which makes for low visibility and bad air quality.  We could really use a good storm to blow out all the nastiness.

Top 10 Photos from 2010

I don’t know how prolific my shooting was this year compared to other years.  My unofficial count is about 3,200 pictures in 2010 which seems like a decent number.  Fortunately for the purposes of this post there were not a lot that stood out as really good shots, so it was fairly easy to whittle the number down to twenty-or-so that were better than the rest.  From there, I picked the ten that I really liked, and the ten for which I could identify why I liked them.  That’s been an important thing for me this year: thinking more about the photos I’m taking.  I made a more conscious effort to compose before I shot, and look for angles, symmetry, and things out of the ordinary.  Of course, with kids around, there are always chances to capture little moments.  So with all that being said, here are my favorite photos from this year (in no particular order) with a little explanation for each on why I like it and maybe a little bit about the shot itself.

New Baby's Feet

1. New Baby’s Feet.  I had my first foray into newborn photography this year, using our own little one as the guinea pig.  I tried a couple of different things, but this shot was the one I liked the best.  The combination of the feet and mom’s hand made a connection that gave the picture some meaning.  I rarely us vignettes in my photos (I think they are a bit overused to be honest), and when I do I try to keep it light.  This one is probably the heaviest one of them all, but I thought it worked well here to soften the whole photo and really bring the focus onto the feet and hand.

Cloudy Sunrise

2. Cloudy Sunrise.  This is the best shot of a bunch that I took early this year.  I got up long before sunrise hoping to be able to catch some good light over the valley.  Unfortunately, it was quite overcast that day, but there was some decent color in the sky as it got lighter.  I like the lines in this shot: the descending line of the mountains lead the eye to the color in the sky, and the lights in the valley complement the coloring of the clouds.

Moonrise

3. Moonrise.  I loved how this shot blew the moon up to what seems like monster-size.  I believe from my reading, that this is an effect of using a long lens.  This was taken at 200mm, my longest focal length on any lens I own, and it really brought the moon in close.  The colors in this shot are okay, but it’s really the moon that is striking.

Dock on Ice

4. Dock on Ice.  This was one of my most favorite shots all year.  It is an HDR tonemapped composite of three images.  I tried my hand at HDR and tonemapping a few times this year.  This was both my first attempt and my best.  I love how the lighting was perfect and the details really pop.  It turned an otherwise drab photo into something I enjoy.  I think the detail in the clouds and the ice work well together, an the lines of the dock really draw me in.

Tulips

5. Tulips.  I’ve not done much with flowers and vegetation before, but the colors and the shallow depth of field on this photo make it work.

Snowy Bridge

6. Snowy Bridge.  This is another photo where the lines make it work.  The banks of the river draw the eye in to the bridge, and the top lines of the bridge keep my eye from getting out the top.  The fact that the shot is taken from what looks like the middle of the river keeps it interesting.  And there is enough color in the rock to keep it from being just another shot of snow.

Headlamp

7. Headlamp.  There isn’t a whole lot to this photo-it’s just a close-up shot of the grill and headlamp of an old truck that was in the parking lot at work one day.  I spent probably 45 minutes walking around this old beat-up flatbed truck.  I liked the color, and I liked the distressed nature of the truck: the scratches, dents, and rust gave it some character.  The large aperture and the edges of the front-end of the truck keep my eye in the frame.

Sinclair Station

8. Sinclair Station.  I love the color of this old building.  There are a number of things I would do differently if I could go back and do this over again.  I’d probably shallow up the depth of field to lose the detail on the buildings in the background, and I’d probably try a few different angles (not just the straight-on shot).  But the HDR and tonemapping process make this a worthy effort anyway.

Laughing

9. Laughing.  This one was all about luck.  It was just good timing, but I really like it.  He is such a happy baby, and this tells you all you need to know about him.  Having mom in the picture helps tell the story.

Fisherman

10. Fisherman.  This one has a lot working for it.  I like the silhouette effect, and the fact that it was done with the sun setting behind us (and not in front).  We were in the shadows of a fairly large hill that ran right down to the lakeshore, and that made for some fun lighting.  The colors of the water, the dam, and the trees/grass give it a lot of life.  And all of the lines (mountaintops, trees, the dam, and the outcropping he is standing on) all draw me in.

macs and macros

green spines

i spent quite a while the other day trying to figure out how to add my own pictures to the default wallpaper folders in mac os x 10.6.  i found lots of forum posts with only half of the information i needed and just couldn’t make it work.  i don’t have a lot of pictures of my own that are what I would consider “desktop” quality, so i didn’t want to just pick my own folder and end up with two pictures in it. and we like having the pictures rotate through, so ideally i could take one or two of mine, add it to the rotation, and slip them in every once in a while.  anyway, after some trial and error i finally found the right location and since none of the posts i found were quite helpful enough, i thought i’d show it here with screenshots, just in case anyone else ever needs to know.

first of all, make sure your image is sized correctly for your screen resolution.  mine happens to be 1680×1050, so i just had to make sure my final resolution on the image i brought out of lightroom was the same ratio.  alternatively, you can make it the same size of the default images, which are 2560×1600 (or a 640×400 ration).  make sure the export is a .jpg file (since that is the file type of all the default wallpaper images).  next, you need to know where to put your image.  all the forums ever said was that there is a folder in the library folder called “desktop images.”  while that is technically correct, no one bothered to point out that there are multiple “library” folders on your mac: one on the root drive, and one for each user.  that’s what took me the longest to figure out.  you need the library folder on the root drive, whatever that drive is named.  in my case, it’s called “main drive,” as the screenshot below shows.  sure enough, once i found the right library folder, there was the desktop images folder, organized all nice and neat where i could just drag and drop my newly exported jpg image.

folder location

once you’ve found the desktop images folder, just select the group you want to add your image to, and drop it in.  once that’s done, it will show up in the system preferences window under your desktop/screensaver section, as shown below.

desktop selection window

you can see my two images shown in amongst all the default ones (top row, middle image and bottom row, last image). you can tell they’re mine because they aren’t quite as good as the others.  but i was fairly pleased with how they turned out, and it’s fun to have them in the rotation.  anyway, there you have it…the quick and easy way to add your own images to the default mac os x wallpaper collection. ciao.

baby portraits

i’m making my first foray into newborn photography-using our own baby as the guinea pig.  i’ll be taking him down to the makeshift studio in the basement once or twice a week (if my wife will let me) and trying a few different things.  this was attempt number one, and he cried most of the time.  a few came out okay, though, probably between breaths…

family drive

i took the family for a drive this afternoon.  as usual, the weather was uncooperative, but i’m getting used to it so i don’t complain about it anymore (out loud, anyway).  the kids were entertained by watching a movie, and my wife and i by talking and looking at the scenery.  we stopped in elberta for a few minutes, long enough for me to pull out my camera and take a few shots of this old sinclair oil station.  this is a fairly raw image (just a few adjustments in lightroom for exposure and color).  but i bracketed a few sets to experiment with them in photomatix as well, just in case they turn out well that way.  i liked the green paint and the old look of the building.

i was hoping for some more good scenery along the drive, but we hit a snowstorm and stayed in it most of the way.  it didn’t stop snowing until we were back on the freeway, and that’s not very conducive to taking pictures, even if there had been something worth shooting.  i’ll post everything to flickr, as usual.

frozen harbor

i went to the american fork boat harbor today specifically thinking of bracketing exposures in order to merge them together for an hdr treatment in photomatix.  most of the shots i took were of the lake (which is frozen all around the shoreline) and the sky, which was completely cloudy, with mountains in the back.  i think that a few of them have some potential, but almost as an afterthought i took some shots of the boat dock, which is completely surrounded by ice.  after i got home and looked through everything, the dock pictures actually looked the most promising, so i used a set of them instead and got to work in photomatix and lightroom.  tonemapping aside, i love playing with hdr to see all the details that come out in one image.

there are a few others that i’d like to play with, but for today i think this is enough.

pineview and 50mm prime

Pineview Reservoir at Sunset

i was digging through my photos this morning and came across a few pictures i took last summer at pineview reservoir, near huntington utah.  of all the photos i took last year, i thought that these had the most potential for some hdr treatment.  so i grabbed this one, did some quick touch-ups in lightroom, and dumped it into photomatix.  i didn’t have three bracketd images, and i didn’t even have a raw image, but all things considered, i think it turned out pretty well.  nice enough to post about, anyway.

i don’t know if it’s just because it’s winter right now, and everything is gray all the time, but i’ve been having a rough time finding any color to shoot lately.  i’m not really into “urban” style photography; i like the look and feel of country, old towns, landscapes, etc…  i’m tired of taking photos around the house, and those photos are pretty boring anyway.  so it was fun to pull out an old photo and play around with it.  you can find the real thing over at flickr.

i also neglected to mention my christmas present from the family this year: my first prime lens, the nikon 50mm 1.8d.  i did some testing this morning, comparing it against my old tamron 28-200 to see if i could spot any differences in quality.  i had the tamron set at 50mm, and took the same shots (aperture, shutter speed, etc…) and loaded them up.  sure enough, there is a noticeable difference in clarity and depth of field with the prime lens.  i guess all those reviews i read were right.

sunrise

my daughter and i got up early, dressed warmly, and took a small excursion up into the hills above our home to attempt some sunrise shots. unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate (typical for days when i am free to go on photo trips) and it was neither clear skies or partly cloudy skies. just a mass of ugly gray clouds that didn’t let the sunlight through. oh well.