Advanced Photography Class - Previsualization

Last Wednesday I began the advanced (probably more like intermediate) photography class. Our lesson was on previsualization. Our project for the week was to previsualize a photo, take it according to the steps laid out in this article by Ron Bigelow, and then send it in explaining our steps. I took a lot of photos I liked over the weekend, and a lot of them previsualized and technically better photographs, but I decided to send in the one that stirred me the most.

EMOTION

This year over 1400 runners registered to participate in the Soaring Wings Ranch Half Marathon. The proceeds from the marathon benefit abused, neglected, and abandoned children in the state of Arkansas who reside at Soaring Wings Ranch. As the marathon participants run their course, the children of the Ranch line up by the finish line to prepare to pass out medals. When runners come over the finish line, the children excitedly hand them a finisher's medal and shout out words of encouragement and thankfulness. It was the feeling during this moment that I wanted to capture. Many of the runners participate strictly because of the cause. The children enjoy cheering them on and runners are touched by the greeting they receive from these happy children at the finish line.

APPEARANCE OF THE FINAL IMAGE

I am actually on staff at Soaring Wings Ranch. I am their graphic designer and in charge of publications for the Ranch. I wanted to capture a photo that could be published for our newsletter. However, there are state regulations on publishing photos of children in DHS care (for the protection of the children). With those goals in mind, I knew I had to capture a scene that did not include a child's full face. Image quality just needed to be good enough to produce a small print for publication. I visualized an image that showed part of a child's face and an extended arm handing a medal to a runner.

EDITING

I shot in RAW since I was having to quickly take photos while shooting in manual mode. I was unsure whether or not I would be able to expose everything perfectly and have everything as sharp as I wanted so I wanted the comfort of that flexibility (BUT I still tried very hard to get everything correct initially in the shot).  Out of camera, the photo was a tad underexposed and I also needed to sharpen the hands up a bit and up the contrast levels, but editing was minimal.

METHODS OF SHOOTING

Lens: I chose a long lens to capture the scene from a distance and minimize my depth of field even further to blur out the busy backgrounds at the race.

Position: I squatted and positioned myself, focusing on the hand of one of the children and waiting for the opportunity to arise to snap the photo. I was excited when I got this shot of a runner stopping to hi-five one of our kids and take time to speak with him personally after receiving his medal. 

ISO: I chose a medium ISO that gave me maximum flexibility for fast changes of exposure.

Aperture: I chose f/7 so I could minimize depth of field and yet still insure that I kept the subject in focus if he moved slightly.

Shutter speed: I made sure my shutter speed was quick enough to keep up with the movement going on in the scene.

Multiple shots: I set my camera on continuous shooting mode so I could shoot bursts and capture the photo at exactly the best moment.

State Fair

There is something those in the production business call FILO. It refers to First In; Last Out. I married into FILO. I experienced it while dating, but nowhere near the extent I experience it now. My husband is very good at what he does. Not only that, but he loves it. I enjoy watching him enjoy it, and in many ways, I enjoy being involved in it, as well.

Can I just say, though, that after a couple weeks of watching him have to get up early, come home after midnight every night, skip meals, and deal with the frustrations involved with production (not to mention us struggling to find time to talk or spend time together!), I am glad to see the state fair come to an end. 

I made an appearance several different days at the fair. I remember I used to love that old movie State Fair, where they sang about how great the fair was, romance was kindled in the Tunnel of Love, Blue Boy won a blue ribbon, and the judges happily smacked on mincemeat that had been spiked. I don't know if the State Fair was really like that in the 40's, but now it's a bit different. Mostly to me, it is full of tackiness and germs and nasty smells rather than good 'ole American charm. But still there is a little fun to be found in the bright colors, the eccentric carnival workers, the delighted look on children's faces, and the classic rides like the carousel horses and ferris wheel. 

I can't eat them anymore since this whole gluten-free way of life that's held me captive the last year and a half, but once upon a time I did eat the turkey legs...and they were good.

I loved the bright colors of the slushee machine.

And finally, the real reason I visited the fair: the production for the main stage is awesome! ;) 

Honestly I don't care for most of the music (although the sound guy is really good!), but I do enjoy hearing Luke Williams. I've gotten to hear him and meet him quite a few times since he's usually at the State Fair and the White County Fair. He's a nice kid, and very talented.

Easton Corbin also did a concert one night. My husband has somewhat trained me to try to get some of the rig in pictures. Hah. I actually got to run that lighting rig one night. It was sort of fun. Something tells me that won't be my last time as LD.

There's another term thrown around in the production business: GAK. Gak is all that stage stuff...all the road cases and cables and other things that you find backstage. There is also a term used in photography: The Magic Hour...that beautiful time at the end of the day before sunset that provides lovely lighting for pictures—in this case—backstage with the gak. (My good friend Beth is sweet to go and hang out with me every year...although she says that we're just her backstage ticket.)

(By the way, I was surprised and excited to get two photography ribbons this year. A 3rd place color scenic ribbon, and a 1st place black and white portrait ribbon.)

Photo challenge: Reflections

Learning to Ride

My nephew Aidan is learning how to ride a bike! He's so excited.

Photography Challenges and Class Submissions

I posted this photo awhile ago, but I'm reposting it to take part in today's Simplicity photography challenge: Flowers.

I'm also submitting one of my favorites to the Aspire photography challenge: Lovely.

And now for this week's class submissions. Last week in class we discussed flash techniques and ISO. Our assignment was to experiment with different types of flash and to shoot in an ISO mode we'd never shot with before. Here we go:

My friend Beth, who is also taking the class, got together with me to practice. This photograph was taken using fill flash and a diffuser. She was positioned turned sideways with her back toward the sun to give direction to the light and shadows and fill flash was used to remove excessive shadowing from her face.

I posted this one a couple of days ago, also, but it was taken with fill flash. My family was positioned where they were backlit by the sun and fill flash was used to remove shadows from their faces. I also practiced with metering on this photo. I believe I took a meter reading off my hand to set the exposure for this shot.

This photo was taken in the evening at home after I had washed the freshly-picked apples and getting ready to peel and slice them for freezing. I used bounce flash with a mirror, bouncing the light off the ceiling to give a more even and natural looking lighting.

Lastly, my ISO picture. I took this with 3200 ISO, shooting inside at AWANA Sunday evening. This kid is adorable, but high energy, so I had to have a relatively high shutter speed to capture him clearly. I also used a diffuser on my flash to even out the lighting.

And just because I want to, here's another photo...this one taken by my husband. Isn't it nice? That's another picture of my fall table centerpiece. I'm diggin' the burlap.

Pumpkins and Apples

Fall is here! I enjoyed the cool, crisp air this weekend by getting out with my family and visiting the farmer's market and the apple orchard. Here are some photos of the day.

Loving my new camera!

The husband and I have been looking into getting an DSLR for awhile. He took photography in college and has a nice Rebel film camera, but we wanted to get a digital to use. I've made my way pretty well in photography class using my Canon A650, which is a glorified point and shoot with manual controls, but I've been itching for something a little better. 

Our plan was to invest in a new camera after he was done working the State Fair this year. In the meantime, we've researched, played around with different models at the store, and had come to the decision that we wanted to start out with a Canon T2i, an intermediate level camera.

On Thursday I got an email from one of my favorite technology stores, NewEgg, saying that they were having a three-day sale. I looked at it on a whim, and saw that the T2i was one of the items on sale! Using some of our hard-earned savings, we went ahead and ordered the camera. Imagine my surprise when, after paying for standard UPS ground shipping, the camera showed up at my house the next day. The guys over at NewEgg are my favorite.

My husband was out of town over the weekend working a rock festival, but I had plans with my family to hang out and enjoy the fall weather. It gave me ample opportunities to practice with the new toy. Can I just say I am in love? 

I'll share more pictures later, but I'm going to go ahead now and upload one of my favorite shots I took over the weekend. When wandering around a college campus getting a couple of portrait shots of my sister, we spotted a bumblebee burrowing energetically in a bed full of bright fall marigolds. Right now I only have the standard kit lens for my camera, but I took a macro with it and was pretty impressed. I love how you can see the reflection of the flower in his big bumblebee eyes.