Category Archives: Life in General

On Photographing Couples

★ Posted on at 12:55 pm ★

the old man

Caught this whimsical image of the old man walking leisurely down the street while the rest of the runners were still huffing and puffing trying to finish the Kids Run.

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Wrapped up the shoot with my cousin and her fiancée yesterday and so far I like what I see in the pictures that I’ve taken. There were some experimental shots that I tried and the style of the shoot was a little different to what I’ve been doing previously, due to the elegant gowns and suits worn. So I had to adjust the way I shot a bit, and I can understand why it’s easier to just shoot with natural lighting, just before sunset, as you get gorgeous light without having to worry about settings too much.

I lost an umbrella yesterday as the wind pushed my light stand to the ground and the weight of the flash and stand crumpled it. Heh, I haven’t looked at it yet but I hope it’s still salvageable. The light from an umbrella definitely softens up the scene and while you don’t notice it on the camera screen, you can see it when you look at it on the monitor during post processing.

I had to learn on the fly what flash settings work and even tried a gobo to focus the light and got some amazing images with it. I think the moral of the story is that you have to just shoot and shoot and shoot. I feel less uncomfortable shooting portraits now, knowing what to do, knowing when to move on and seeing an opportunity for a shot. It helps that couples offer suggestions as well, and we can get a nice image from the resulting idea.

Heh, there’s just a whole bunch of stuff I learned the last couple of days, so I’ll need to test out other ideas and there are sites I follow that make it look simple in theory, but you really have to practice to get it right. I have to say that while I know my camera well, I’m beginning to wonder about some of the aspects that I’m not so familiar with and I really should spend more time with it.

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Found out this morning that Joe McNally is heading to Melbourne. It’s exciting and I’m really keen to sign up for his workshop when he is here in May.

Starting April

★ Posted on at 12:59 pm ★

mist

The misty morning at the farm. Some subtle post processing brought back the edge detail of the mists in the hills.

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Went for the Kids run yesterday. Clocked around 1 hour 36 minutes plus. A pretty decent time in my opinion as I didn’t really train for it this time around. Feeling a little sore now but after some self massage I think I’ll be fine. For the first time I feel like I had managed to run through more of the course than I have done in previous years.

I was just reaching to the finishing line when it occurred to me that my body was sort of battle hardened. I’ve done it before a few times now and you sort of know what to expect just round the bend. I will need more training going up hill and I need to strengthen my knee muscles. Heh, a new pair of shoes might also help since the current ones have been around for a few years now.

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Need to sort out some housekeeping issues so I can concentrate on getting the photography business going. I need to spend sometime setting up some business structures and also taking the time to talk to clients. I think email isn’t quite adequate as a form of communication and it would definitely be more personable if I picked up the phone more. Sometimes you just can’t take things too slowly and a little pressure puts things into perspective.

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Doing a photo shoot for my cousin tomorrow. Need some time to plan that out.

New Fascinations

★ Posted on at 08:30 pm ★

water lily

A water lily at the lake at the wedding. I don’t often shoot with longer focal lengths, so when I do, you get interesting landscapes and I’d like to share one of those photos in the next post.

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It’s been a pretty busy week. I’ve been doing the usual house chores, running up and down, meeting up with people but mostly just editing photos. I’ve become quicker at it and a little more disciplined, flagging photos and not trying to edit them individually so I can get a consistent feel throughout the entire series of pictures.

Since I’ve been doing jobs for people, I’ve been trying to standardise my images a little in terms of styling. I’ve also adjusted how I do touch ups just so it doesn’t look too touched up. It’s something I have to learn through trial and error, plus you really need to go through a variety of photos to get a sense of how you’d like the pictures represented.

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I’m starting to also become fascinated with video editing. I’ve been taking video clips but I rarely know what to do with them. Windows Live Movie Maker does allow me some basic edits and hashing together a simple and elegant slideshow, but motion design intrigues me, adding footage to still photography really enhances the overall experience. This is sort of a Heston Blumenthal inspired idea, where you eat not just with taste and smell, but sight and sound as well. I think video complements stills because there are just somethings where the emotion is better conveyed through sound and motion.

I’m currently scouring the Internet for information on my new found interest, and I probably don’t want to dwell too much into it (one less thing to obsess about is a good thing) but a few touches here and there would be helpful to creating more meaningful slideshows down the road.

Heh, the world seems new again with so much to explore.