Tag Archives: Portraiture

HOTPPG Image Competition

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We had our last regular meeting of the HOTPPG two weeks ago.  As always we had our image competitions.  The challenge for this month was Low Light images. It was a black and white print competition.  While we were on our cruise in August, I took photographs during the entertainment in the evening.  In looking at them, there was one that struck me as a good candidate for conversion to black and white.  So, I used Nik Silver Effects Pro and converted it to black and white, and then cropped it square. It ended up coming in second, but that was enough to guaranty that I would win the Black and White Artist competition for the year.

Spotlight

HOTPPG Shoot Out 2016 Famillies

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We had two families.  They first was this couple and their daughter.  This was really hard as the little girl was not really into the experience.

Christa Aaron and Noraa

My second station was with a teenage girl.  As we were finishing with her, her mother came up and wanted a picture of the two of them.

Courtney and Cindy

The second family was my last station.  It was getting dark, and the little girl was obviously done for the night.  As I was setting up the light and getting my exposure, I clicked this one and it turned out to be quite good.

Benjamin and Baby

I did get one of the whole family after that.

Stevens Family

HOTPPG Shoot Out 2016

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Last week we had the annual HOTPPG shoot out at Carleen Bright Arboretum. We had seven models/families and got to shoot each for about 10 minutes. Courtney

Again, as I said in a previous post, I am enjoying these moody kinds of portraits in which the subject is looking away.

Matthew

This was of a young man.  I had him posed standing against a rail fence, and it gave kind of a rustic look to the overall image.

Chris

Another young man. This one was the hardest to get. We did this in the evening as then was setting, and this location had really strong direct sunlight.  It was almost impossible to get anything that looked good, but I was finally able to get this, and I like the casual look of it.

Colby

Another one of my kind of experimental images.  I wanted to incorporate the leading lines of the fence, but the light wasn’t cooperating with me. It turned out OK, though, as this could be used as an image for a graduation announcement or something like that by adding text to it.

Cindy 1

This woman is a local author who needed some shots for publicity.  I like the colors in it.

Additionally, she asked if I could take one that could be used for her business cards.  I did one that I really liked on the back of the camera, but when I looked at it on the screen, the focus point was off, and her face was out of focus.  However, I took this one as well that I think really did do what she requested.

Cindy 2

Denton Guyer H.S. Silverados

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Audrey is in the Denton Guyer HS Dance Squad – The Silverados.  We went and watched them at halftime of a football game on Friday.  These are some of the pictures I got.

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HOTPPG “Ballerina”

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The “Ballerina” at the HOTPPG Shoot Out was Genna. Again the light was harsh, and you had to shoot either in shade or in bright sun.

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Debbie really liked this one of her holding the cedar tree.

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I tried to get a good image of her doing a jump.  Between the timing and the framing, it was nearly impossible.  I probably should have zoomed out more. I finally go this one, but she was way off to the side.  So, some cropping was in order.

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HOTPPG Shoot Out

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Last night, I had the pleasure of being a guest at the Heart of Texas Professional Photographers Guild open shoot out.  The event was held at Airport Park.  The HOTPPG is a group of professionals in the area.  In this meeting, they allowed local photographers who were not so professional to tag along.  I had a great time.

They had a variety of models representing different types of photography, and, there were so many I did not get to photograph them all.  They had a family, a bride, a teen age girl, a ballerina, a “tween” girl, an infant and a bride and groom.  We each took 10 minute turns with the models.

I had a great time, but it was hectic.  Ten minutes does not give you much time to find a location, build a report with the model, and get some shots.  Additionally, the circumstances made it difficult, if not impossible to use any kind of lighting.  The even was in the evening.  So, there was a pretty good sunset, but it didn’t really play into the even that well.

Anyway, it was a great experience.  I will be posting images as I get them processed.  This is a group I would like to continue to be associated with.  However, I may not quite be in the same league, professionally, as they.

Beauty Lighting and Head Shots

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Saturday, I watched a video of Peter Hurley doing head shots of various people. He took some amazing shots, but the video was really about his “process.” Debbie was doing a bunch of things and heard it more than watched it. She hated Hurley. He was loud and abrasive and even somewhat abusive with these people. He would say things like “You’re eyes aren’t the same size. Turn your head so the beady one is closer to the camera.” but, he did do something quite interesting.
He had a chart called “How Does Your Inner Child Feel Today?”. It is a bunch of faces that correspond to emotions. He would look at it and randomly choose one of the emotions. He would say, “Show me innocent.” He explained that the expression he got might or might not be something interesting that he could photograph, but he said that the person would always realize they made a silly face and break out with a huge smile.
OK so, today I decided to try some beauty lighting. I powered my beauty dish with the Polaroid PL135 as the key light with a reflector underneath in a clam shell orientation. I added a Qflash T4d as a hair light. I had to power both down as low as they would go to shoot at iso 100 and 1/100, f/2.8 with my 85mm lens.

So, I told Helen to give me Joy.

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Then, I asked for wistful

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OK. Rather plastic.  So, I sat down.

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Serious.

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Apprehensive

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Anticipation

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Relief that this is over.

 

Vision

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I just came back upon Don Giannatti’s “Project 52” web site.  I had seen the site several months ago, but it slipped from my memory.  I have been a member of the flickr group for a long time, but, I can’t remember the last time I actually visited the group page.  On this site, there is a weekly photography assignment. The assignments for this year start on February 1.  So, I looked at the 2012 assignments.

The first assignment is to create a Vision Statement.  This is basically a statement describing why it is that I take pictures.  As described on the web site, “Tell us with a single paragraph what you want to be able to do with your images. Tell us what you do without telling us you are a photographer. Accompany that message with a single image taken around your home.”

To me, the reason I enjoy photography is it differs from other modes of expression, and there is something that is transcendently stimulating when I see a really great image I have taken. In 2012, my Aperture Library has over 7700 images.  Every once in a while, as the image would come up on the screen, there was a moment of awe.  Kind of, “Oh boy.  That is good!”

It is becoming easier to take technically perfect images – those with proper exposure, composition, lighting, whatever.  I can look at those and think, “That’s a good image.”  But there is the added, intangible element that is included in an image that is really great.  I take photographs because I enjoy that feeling of producing a picture that is really great.

Now, what kind of image around the house can I make that illustrates that?

Lily

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SONY DSCMy sister and Brother in Law brought my Mother to Frisco to have Christmas with my Nephew and his wife and their 18 month old daughter – Lily.  We went to visit them on Sunday, and I took my camera. This was a quick snap inside.

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My sister took Lily outside and started up a bubble maker.  Lily got really animated, chasing the bubbles all over the yard.  This is one of her trying to figure out the bubbles.

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Bright Sunlight

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SONY DSC I had a session with Heather Lynn Johnson in Harker Heights.  We went to a local park for the shoot.  The problem was the sun was absolutely terrible.  It was mid day, and bright.  Since there were no leaves left on most of the trees, there was little actual shade.  It was almost like a fight.  I kept trying to get her to turn her head for decent light, but every time I did, she couldn’t open her eyes because the sun was so bright.  It turned out that I was able to get some good pictures.  So, it wasn’t a total loss. The one above was somewhat of an accident.  Out of the camera, it was way overexposed.  But, in Aperture, I reduced the exposure, and the result was this picture.

SONY DSCI got some pretty even lighting on this one, and I really like the way it turned out. There was a tree that forked at the ground, and she could lean into it and lay her head on it.

SONY DSCShe brought several changes of clothes, and from the beginning, she said she had a black dress that she thought would be really good to twirl around in.  The problem was the terrain didn’t suite wearing heels.  She did several twirls, and some of the shots came out great.  Then I had her walk towards me, and this was one of the best of the day.