Christmas Play and my new lens

Velveteen rabbit 008
Originally uploaded by Chris in KC

When I started shooting with my DSLR, I never imagined how much shooting I would do inside. Shooting indoors brings a host of challenging lighting issues with it. When people are considering a new lens, I always encourage them to buy the fastest lens they can (F/2.8 or better throughout the focal range) so they will get better results when shooting in challenging lighting. This same advice was given to me, and the more I shoot, the more I see the wisdom in it. I recently photographed my church's Christmas play, which came in two parts, one performed by children and the second performed by adults. My wife bought me a Tamron 17-50 F/2.8 lens for Christmas and this is the lens I used.
These types of events are fun, challenging, and frustrating all at the same time. The light range was tremendous. Sometimes the stage was barely lit at all and other times a blinding white spot light was employed. I was constantly scrambling to adjust my settings. I have shot photographs in this venue several times before (all of the Jimmy Bratcher shots were shot here), but in previous events the lighting has been very consistent. The upside is that when the brighter lights were employed I was able to up my ISO to 800 for slightly less noise. I hate noise in my photographs, but I have not figured out a way to shoot at higher ISOs in this setting, so I have to rely on noise reduction software to assist in the post processing phase.
My new lens performed very well. I wish it had been longer for certain shots, but that is my only complaint, and I was well aware of the range limitations when I purchased it. I had often heard people describe the results from this lens as "creamy" and I never understood what them meant until I began using it. The color quality from this lens is far superior to the Canon kit lens I was using.
The white spotlight posed the most problems for me. It was very difficult to keep from blowing the highlights. The white light was also very unnatural, however. This shot of the Velveteen rabbit and other nursery room toys illustrates that. This is actually how that looked. In my opinion they should have used some kind of filter to soften the effect or give it a slightly yellow cast. I was able to change some of those shots in post by playing with the white balance and forcing it to something that looked more natural.

I need to consider using my flash more in events like this. I usually don't because I don't want the flash to distract the audience and the performers. I think I am overly sensitive to this, however. Towards the end of the performance I realized many others were using their flash and I had not noticed myself. There is a difference between the flash on a point and shoot, however, and the flash from my 430EX which is much more powerful. I also don't like the results from using a flash for this type of performace because it lights up too much of the background. The angel shot above is a great illustration. In this shot (taken without a flash) the background becomes almost completely black which hides the instruments, microphone standes and other distractions.

In this shot of the dancers I used a flash which lit the entire scene evenly so the background distractions were lit just as much as the dancers themselves. There was very little stage light used during this scene with the dancers, so without the flash I would not have gotten the shot, but the end result is not one I like with all the distracting items visible.

I keep shooting...I keep learning. Nine months ago my photographs would have been much worse. There is an art to learning when to use natural/ambient light and when to use the flash. I can see that with more experience, I am better able to make decisions on when I should use each.

Here are a few of the shots I liked best.

Family Christmas Photographs

Did you have a good Christmas? I did. I got to spend time with family and eat a lot of good food (now I have to get back to the gym). For a photographer, Christmas is filled with lots of opportunities to take photographs. There is a tendency to try to photograph everything, which I think is a mistake. The subjects in our photographs can become irritated if they are constantly being photographed. There are also several events that are very fun to participate in, but are not much fun to look at later. I put opening presents in this category. I have looked at lots of pictures of people opening presents and I find them boring. I also find the rushed nature of opening presents often yields photographs that are blurry, or poorly composed, or poorly exposed, or a horrible combination of all three. The subjects are seldom caught at their best either. The one exception to this might be children opening their presents, but even then one should be careful not to overdo it or you end up with lots of photographs that are all basically the same.

Keeping that in mind, I went out of my way to deliberately take only high quality photographs of the family members this year. We spent Christmas Eve with my wife's family. There was another photographer there who was taking photographs and we all worked with her to get some group portraits. She was doing a fine job, and I saw no reason to take photographs myself at this event, so I left the camera in the bag for the most part.

On Christmas Day we were at my Father's house and everyone was interested in a family portrait, so we spent some time choosing a location and I set up my tripod and began taking test shots. The background we chose had two windows in it. What typically happens is that I expose for the lighting indoors and the highlights in the windows get blown out completely. I was very conscious of this and metered for the windows instead. I love the look of a photograph where the subject are properly lit, but you can also see what is outside the windows as it just looks more natural.

Metering on the windows meant the indoor part was going to be very dark, so I had to use the flash to properly light the subjects. I played with bouncing the flash off a few different walls, but ultimately settled on bouncing it off the ceiling as the best choice. I also used the "better bounce card" to throw some of the light forward. I settled on ISO400, 1/125th shutter, and F/9 with +1/3 flash exposure. By putting the camera on the tripod I was able to use my remote shutter release and this made being in the photograph myself very easy. We took about 8 exposures and reviewed them each time making changes to where people stood, how they held their arms, etc. The photograph at the top is the culmination of our efforts. The size presented here does not give the best viewing results, so I encourage you to click on it and look at a larger version. It is not perfect, but I was pretty happy with the results.

The number one thing wrong with this photograph?...the bright flash reflection in the picture behind the subjects. I knew this was going to be a problem, but I got caught up in all the other details, and never changed the position of the camera. I probably could have moved the camera 5 feet left or right and eliminated (or at least reduced) the flash reflection. This is the kind of thing that I may be able to fix in the post processing stage as I learn more about PhotoShop and similar programs. For now, I am just going to have to live with it and hope the family is not too disappointed.

The bottom line is that we spent maybe 20 minutes on photographs, and then I simply enjoyed the rest of the day. I also don't have a ton of boring photographs that no one will care about looking at later. A few of the other family members used their point and shoots to take a few photographs, but they also kept their exposures to a minimum and only took specific shots they were interested in. Now, don't get me wrong. I like to take LOTS of photographs, and I frequently overshoot a subject, especially when I am experimenting with lighting, composition, etc. This is an excellent way to learn. I just feel family events call for a more measured and calculating approach so the subjects don't get burned out, the photographer can participate and have fun, and the end results will be something everyone wants to see.

The best of 2007

Someone over at dpreview started a thread on their best photographs of the year. I thought this sounded like an excellent idea and decided to look back through my own photographs. My Flickr account now has over 400 photographs which were all taken in the last 12 months. I figured they couldn't ALL be bad, and a careful review found a few gems I am actually quite proud of.

This first photograph is from one of my first studio sessions. I envisioned it being used in an article dealing with violence and weapons at school. Alas, no one else was interested in it, but I quite like it.


This next shot was a barn fire I photographed this summer. I had been working on a Saturday and when I walked out of the office I saw this plume of smoke nearby. I beat the fire department there by just a few minutes and was able to get into a pretty good position without getting in their way. The barn was filled with hay and it burned very quickly. No one was hurt, but the barn was a total loss.


I was on the way home one night when I saw quite a few emergency vehicles nearby. I arrived on the scene in time to photograph this roll-over accident. No one was seriously injured, but the driver that caused the accident was arrested for drunk driving.


We recently had a pretty strong ice storm roll through. While it was devastating for many in the local community, it also made for some very interesting photographs. This is my favorite photograph of the entire year.
I have a long way to go as a photographer, but I have learned a LOT this year. Keeping this blog has helped keep me on track. I am also very glad I started my portfolio on Flickr. This has been an excellent tool for storing my best photographs, sharing them with others, and having a record of my progress. I can't wait to see where I end up next year.

If you are reading this, thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a wonderful and happy Christmas season. I pray God will bless you and your family with health, happiness and prosperity.

Chris

Gingerbread Manger Scene

Gingerbread Manger scene 001
Originally uploaded by Chris in KC

I went to church this Sunday and they were auctioning off a very nice manger scene made of gingerbread. I was very impressed with the quality and detail, so I spent some time photographing it. I especially like the toasted coconut used for hay. Very creative.

I used my 50mm f/18 (the plastic fantastic) and the ambient lighting in the foyer. I had to bump the ISO to 800 and jumped back and forth between f/2.8 and f/4. I like the bokeh on this first shot, but working with such a shallow depth of field really shows how everything in the manger scene is set at different distances from the lens. It was difficult to keep everything in focus and I did not bring my tripod.

Even so, it was nice to capture this work of art before it was eaten and lost forever. Kudos to the artist, whom I do not know.

Breaking Free

Tree locked in ice
Originally uploaded by Chris in KC

I felt your moist and gentle touch
cool and refreshing on my skin so rough.

But a simple touch was not enough
and slowly your embrace
became a cold and heavy burden
from which I could not escape.

The darkness grows
my body aches.
You will not relent
so I bow...and wait...

The light falls upon my skin
I feel the warmth of day again.
You cry out! Your voice cracks.
I begin to feel your grip relax.

Slowly...I am able...
to reach...for the light.

Your glassy grip
I begin to shake.
You forced me to bow
but I did not break.

Your cruel love
is not for me
and the time is short
when I will break free.

Time flies!

Wow! Where does time go? I did not realize how long it had been since I updated my blog. I haul the equipment for the NFL football teams in Kansas City, so my weekends from August through December are very busy. My blog clearly reflects this through its neglect.

In spite of this, I have actually been pretty active photographically. Most of it has been for my church providing photographs for our web designer. I don't feel at liberty to post most of these shots publicly on my Flickr account, so they don't make very good blog material. I have also been busy shooting lots of technical photographs at work (detailed shots of servers and other computer equipment), but I don't feel comfortable sharing those either because I would not want to inadvertently reveal anything confidential.

The last few weeks have given me some interesting photographic material, however. So, this seems like the perfect opportunity to bring my blog up to date.

We are recovering from an ice storm right now. I love this shot of the crabapples trapped in the ice. You can see how thick the ice is on the tree limbs.














I have also been experimenting with black and white quite a bit. It is not always easy to tell what will look good, but it is always interesting to convert an image with unusual lighting, one that has very little color anyway, or one with lots of contrast. This is one I took of the ceiling in Union Station in Kansas City. I like how the light from the window comes in from the bottom. The line from the bottom or the chandelier to the circle on the ceiling pulls the eye into the photograph.

I have added quite a few other photographs to my Flickr account. Now that football season is winding up, I hope to begin adding a post each week to continue chronicling my progress. Thanks for checking in.

Piggie races and bunnies

There was an event in Kansas City this weekend called Oktoberfest (yes, I know it is still September, but someone forgot to tell the promoters). This was at Crown Center in the Downtown area. There were lots of activities all happening at the same time including several different stages where musicians were performing. They had a chainsaw artist that was carving all kinds of very cool pieces including tortoises, eagles, and bears. We had just missed his performance at 7pm when we got there and my plan was to shoot some photographs at 9pm when he was going to perform again.

In the meantime, we headed over to the piggie races! Yep, you heard me right, piggie races. They have a half round track where people can gather around and watch these little porkers race to the finish line where the winner gets a prize. Now, what do you suppose would motivate a little piggie to race his peers in an all-out effort to be the first one at the finish line? Nothing less than one single Oreo cookie. It turns out pigs love Oreos. Who would have thought? Getting this shot was tricky. It was already dark and they were relying on the street lights in the area to provide enough light to see. The street lights were not very close so the ambient light was very minimal. The second problem was the pigs moved too fast during the race to get an accurate focus. So, I pre-focused on one of the flags near the gate. I used the hotshoe flash with a Stofen cup and snapped the photograph as the gate was opened. In the post processing stage I cropped the photograph to remove the uninteresting parts, brightened it, adjusted the white balance a little and applied a little sharpening. The focus was not spot on, but considering the conditions, I was fairly pleased.

Very near to the piggie races was a carnival with rides and games. One of the games was called the Bunny Toss. Now, I thought tossing bunnies sounded like all kinds of fun and decided to investigate this game more closely. Unfortunately, the game only involved tossing tiny plastic bunnies into glass bowls as they floated by. They did have real live bunnies though and they were VERY cute. If you won the game, you had the option to take one of these cute little buggers home. This game was surrounded by some fairly bright tungsten lights. The bottom photograph was taken using no flash. The top two bunny shots were taken using the hot shoe flash and I thought they came out very sharp. The more experience I get with my flash, the more I like it. The secret is knowing when to use it and when not to. All of my subjects last night were close enough for the flash to be very effective.

At this point it began to rain. At first it was just a steady drizzle, but it soon became a very steady rain. After about 20 minutes we were all completely soaked and we figured it was not going to let up. I really wanted to photograph the chainsaw artist, but everything was closing due to the rain, and we decided to head home. It was a fun event anyway. It was also cheap. Admission was $5 for adults and children under 12 were free. That admission price covered the whole weekend, so we may still go back. I might get photographs of that chainsaw artist yet. =)