BAPC Portrait Field Trip 2

Nikon D700, 60mm lens at f4.8 and 1/250th, ISO 200

no flash, reflector

This model was our first victim subject 
when we began our portrait field trip and I wanted to start our group with ways to shoot portraits without relying on flash.  Since the light was still bright enough at this time, 6:30 pm, we used a reflector to bounce light onto her as she sat in shade on the warehouse loading dock.  I think the following image was also shot with the reflector.
 

She's A Natural

Nikon D700, 60mm macro lens at f 5.6 and 1/90th,

ISO 200, flash in softbox on camera right

C. had picked these flowers quite a while before the shooting started.  It was just perfect that she wore a very vibrant peach-colored outfit that coordinated with the flowers so well.  But most of my images of her had a very strong orange cast, probably due to the combination of her clothes and the cloudy whitebalance setting I was using so I added a hue/sat adjustment layer in Photoshop and decreased the reds until I liked the tone of her skin better.  She has perfect, beautiful, peachy skin and I did not want to drain all of that tone away. I did not have to direct C at all in her posing, she just naturally seemed to look great no matter what she was doing.

BAPC Portrait Field Trip

This little model was such a trooper on the long, hot evening our photography club met to practice portraiture in Galveston. I wish I had been able to spend more time with her as I have been longing to photograph a little girl who likes to dress up and pose but I had to share her with several other group leaders and a whole bunch of photographers.  By this time she had been posing for a couple of hours but you would never have known it by her demeanor.  Though I only photographed her for a few minutes I got quite a few nice shots and I hope her parents like them as much as I do.  When we were planning the site and the models to ask to pose for us I think some people had reservations about the warehouse background and all the concrete, rust, etc but I really like the contrast of the young sweet child with the gritty environment (though you can't see it in this shot).  I wanted to get the kids out in the weeds and flowers too but we ran out of time.

Starring In Her Own Cartoon

Recently I found a fun dog-related site and submitted some of my dog photographs and yesterday our very special Maggie May was featured!  Check it out:

Draw the Dog.   
You can sign up for daily emails of the cartoons --- If you are a pet lover they are sure to make you smile.

Almost exactly a year ago we had a photo club assignment of Unusual Perspective and I took some shots of her diving from the bottom of the pool, and then combined some images with ones I had taken on a dive in Cozumel.  Never did I think of anything as creative as "The Little Mermutt"!  I posted them back in September '09.

Cuteness Overload

Felix --- just darling, who can resist him?

Ace --- playful and sweet.

I have recently been able to photograph the animals available for adoption at Friendswood Animal Control.  Then those images are posted on Petfinder.com, Facebook, and can be viewed on Friendswood's cable channel.  I have had to use EXTREME self control to walk out of there without one of these darling kittens.  Happily 3 of the older cats were adopted last weekend but I am really surprised these two playful darlings are still there.  If I did not have 3 large dogs, 2 of which have serious health problems right now, these guys would have been in my camera bag and headed home with me.

Did you seriously think I could leave only felines in a post?  The following puppy and 2 dogs are waiting for a new home too.  Pass the word on if you know of anyone who would like to give them furever homes.

Boomer --- what ears!  He is very sweet, energetic and loving.

Allie --- scruffy looking but VERY soft.

Mozart --- looks like a small version of a Bernese Mountain Dog.

UPDATE:  Felix has been adopted!  But I happen to know there are 4 newborn kittens that just arrived.  They aren't ready to leave Mama yet but check back in a couple of weeks.

She's BACK!

Maggie is SO happy --- she can swim again!  And with the heat we have had lately, she is really really happy about it.  The surgeon wants her to walk 1/2 mile twice a day...but right now a snail could pass us.  If I had a free hand I could read a book, type a letter, make some phone calls, etc.  Poor Pearl can't figure out why I am holding HER back. But in just 2 weeks I can see Mags getting stronger and less wobbly, so I know it will just take time.  It is too hot for anyone to be out walking even before dawn so the reward of jumping in the pool on our return makes it worth dragging her out...sort of.

Maximum Security

Nikon D700, 60mm macro lens at f8 and 1/125th, 

ISO 800, flash in softbox on camera left

This was one of my submissions for our August assignment of Monochrome But Not Black and White.  I had processed this image in both color and a neutral black and white (in Silver Efex) but when I thought about what I wanted to say with this shot, I found that the sepia toning was more dramatic and it allowed the skin tones of the father and baby to have more contrast and yet looked more natural and organic to me.  I tried to emphasize the difference in the texture of the rugged, hairy arms of the father and the smooth perfect skin of the baby by adding a high pass filter and masking it off the baby's skin.  The judges that night thought the baby should have been turned more horizontally, as a baby is often held in that position but the father was holding him vertically when I shot it and I just cropped out the father's face in the upper left.  This was the only shot I took of the baby being held this way and I like how alert and awake the baby is, while being so safe and secure in his father's arms.

Another suggestion I got was that the baby's feet and the father's hand cradling them were distracting and taking attention away from the main subject of the baby's face.  I tried that crop below and am interested if anyone prefers it to the full length of the image I submitted.  I have to admit that I am biased and one of my favorite parts of this shot is the way those tiny baby toes are being cupped so gently and how the light is hitting the toes just peeking out. 

I do like the crop, but it is a different image for me... I guess I feel that it does not tell the story that I wanted to tell.