Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Anything for the Shot

A friend caught me in action at a recent event at Paris Las Vegas. This ain't always easy, folks!

Monday, April 5, 2010

Let Me Be Frank

OK, he's Frank (and yes, he's homeless), but I'm going to be frank, too.



Frankly, I'm so happy with this portrait. Why? Because it's in focus in the parts where it should be in focus, and out of focus where it should be out of focus.

One of the reasons I spent to much on this lens (50mm, f/1.2) is I loved the blur. But I quickly learned that the blur (called "bokeh") is tricky, and more often than not, an ear's in focus and an eye is out of focus. Or a lip is in focus, and not the eye. I've tried to learn how to wrangle this lens, but the results have been inconsistent.

But this is what I was looking for. I love the look, and I'm going to spend a lot of time trying to replicate it. I wish I were better, or knew what questions to ask in this area, but I'm not and I don't.

So, I'll take the little victories when they come. I count this as one of those.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

I Don't Do Malls

But if I did, I imagine the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace would be the mall I'd do.



A little HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography. Three exposures, taken on a tripod, combined with Photomatix, and run through a Photoshop plug-in, Topaz.

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Picking Your Moment

Sometimes, when you're shooting kids, you just have to pick your moment. This young lady was generally cooperative on the day of our shoot, but a slightly-forced smile kept creeping into her photos. (The photographer's fault, not the subject's!)

I tried the usual bag of tricks, but ultimately, packing up my camera bag was the first time she really seemed to relax. I said, "Hey, help me out. See that big window? That's really pretty light. Just have seat for a second before I go." She didn't have time to think too much, and we found a nice spot by a big window. We just kept chatting, and I think by that point, she was relieved to be done. I think it shows!

Bing!

Welcome Home, Daddy

I've been so lucky to be involved with a group called Operation Love: Reunited. It's a program where photographers volunteer to do portraits of military families before, during and after deployments. I recently got to shoot a family being reunited after nearly a year-long deployment.

Very emotional stuff, but also very rewarding!



One of the bittersweet parts of the recent family reunion here in Las Vegas was seeing the expression on this baby's face. Her dad had been deployed for almost her entire life, and wasn't quite sure what to make of this uniform-clad "stranger."

These folks in the military make sacrifices, on so many levels. It means a lot that I'd be invited to witness, and document, their journeys.