Three days of shooting!

I'm on training this week and that means I'm out of the office, and very close to Assiniboine Park which has consistently been one of my favourite places to shoot. On top of this, a friend who bought a DSLR this year was also on the training.

So, for the last three days we've been taking off at lunch, walking over to Assiniboine Park, and shooting for 30-40 minutes. I've collected some favourite shots from the Conservatory, Leo Mol Sculpture Garden, and English Gardens.

There is a little landscape, macro, flowers, insects and a bit of people watching too. Enjoy!



























As always, I welcome and value your comments and criticisms!

Band Promo Shots

After about two hours of shot selection, post processing and re-post processing, I've got a series of promo shots and headshots for my friend's band. I've shot them before but this was outdoor shots, and properly lit indoor work as opposed to the dive bar from last time.

The band members have changed up a bit too, so I was shooting some of them for the first time.

First, we did a quick series of headshots for promo use. I shot this with a three light setup: Key to camera high left, fill to camera low right and hair light subject high right and behind, all fired with pocket wizards. The key light was shooting through the Lumiquest SB3, the fill in a 43" shoot-through umbrella, and the hairlight was snooted with a Honl collapsable snoot.

All headshots were taken with the 70-200 at focal lengths around 130mm.

Lead singer - Jack


Lead guitar - JJ


Bass - Keith


Drums - Mitch


After, we headed out into the Winnipeg winter and shot some outdoor group shots. We hit the back roads and went looking for trucks, tractors, or wide open spaces.

Initially, we shot a bit on a nearby back road, but there was a bit of a lack of interest in the shots. One worked well enough to keep, but Mitch had stepped slightly forward in the frame. Not a huge deal, but noticeable and annoying in the shot to my eye:



A quick note on this shot and the following ones. I sharpened in post, cranked up the contrast and colour and then applied a very light texture from Totally Rad Actions called 'Dirt Bag'. This is a bluegrass band, and they wanted a rough look to the shots, and I found that this touch helped to capture the feel.

Our big break came when a friendly trucker gave us ten minutes or so to shoot with his rig while he was in a service station. We moved quickly, picked a few angles and started shooting:







My favourite shot of this session was taken down low, at a wide angle, with (to my eye) the best composition of the session. I'm quite fond of this one:



I just wish I had got that one boot all the way in frame! Gah!

Anyhow, thanks for reading, I'd love any opinions on these shots!

Woof! Pt 2!

A while back I went to take a few quick shots of a friends' new Sheltie, Rascal. They have two Shelties and wanted some more pictures taken, and a pic of both together for submission to a fundraising calendar. Hopefully it gets selected :)

I shot with the 70-200 and a single flash on-camera, the 580EX II using a Sto-Fen Omnibounce to diffuse. The lighting is simple but for a fast moving critter, setting up lighting would be an exercise in futility. All in all they worked out well!

First, they wanted a similar shot to the once linked above of their other dog, Roxy:



Roxy wouldn't lay down, but the look is similar enough that the two would look cohesive if seen together.

Roxy was happier to pose on the couch, and gave me this shot:



The couch was also where I tried to get both together. This was by far the hardest shot to get since they were trying to play together and any noise made to draw their attention pulled them off the couch to investigate.

Still, I got one that was half-decent :)



Not direct eye contact, but at least they have their ears up and look interested. The point to learn here is that whoever is making the distracting noise should be *directly* behind the camera!

Respect!

Every have one of those days where to take a silly snapshot of a goofy co-worker, you take it home and apply way too many filters, and end up with something odd, slightly disturbing, and completely unexplainable.

I have.



I don't know what this is, but it make me giggle and feel a little bit creeped out at the same time.

Pics from the weekend

Had a couple of trips out this weekend, and here's a few favourites.

We went back to the zoo for the third time this summer, this time with friends and their son. I promised them at least one family picture, but their little guy was not in the best mood and basically refused to make eye contact with the camera. Still, I managed a fairly nice shot:



The goal in this shot was just to keep it informal and loose, but still a nice family shot. I just wish we could have got a smile out of their little dude. He *did* smile for me later, in a shot that I like much better that was taken on the playground in the zoo:



Where was that big grin earlier in the day?! I took a candid shot when he was racing his father as well, and I think it's cute:



My daughter would simply not allow pictures to be taken without her chance in front of the lens, so she decided to jump for a picture:



Yeah, she's a goof.

A few animal shots from the day as well. First, a gibbon who decided to stare me down:



And our Zoo's newly arrived Lioness, who was napping at the time:



I think there is a universal rule that the coolest animals at the zoo are always asleep. They might be stuffed, I have no idea.

Our other day trip was back to Oak Hammock Marsh, but there were some high winds so despite it being migration season, most of the birds were hunkered down. Didn't shoot much and what I did shoot was just too far away for the 70-200 even with the teleconverter. I'm looking forward to the day I can land a 400mm+ lens for these birding trips.

I *did* take another bee/flower shot that had a nice colour contrast though:



Thanks for reading!

I'm alive! Woof!

So I took a hiatus, and it was much needed. I felt like taking pictures was becoming a chore rather than a hobby or a passion, and I didn't like the way that was heading.

I took out my camera for the first time in about two weeks on the weekend, and went to visit friends who just brought home their new Sheltie pup, Rascal.



He's a cute little guy and it was fun to get down on the floor and play with him. Not a great picture, but I'm easing my way back int and just shooting what I feel like when I feel like it. It's a lot more natural and a lot less stress.

Bored at Church

Today was rather busy as we attended a friends wedding. I brought the 70-200 and 17-55 thinking I might get some nice shots of the ceremony, but the horrid lighting and not-at-all-good seating prevented that.

Fortunately another friends son provided a good shot for today:



He was two rows back and was just barely holding on by the end of the ceremony. Shot at ISO 400, f/2.8 and 1/15th shutter speed. He was sluggish enough that 1/15th was enough to 'freeze the action' as it was :)

Engagement pics - Round 2!

I'm late posting these, but these shots were all done and processed last night. I was just too bagged to get them posted! Still these qualify for day 165 ;)

The Bride


The Groom


The Ring


She said yes!


Dancing lessons pay off!


Holding hands


All shot on the muslin backgrounds with the 17-55 which I am really finding I use all the time for portraits now. It's plenty sharp, good contrast, and for full-body work it's a good focal length range for indoor use.

I took a variety of shots of them sitting as well, but the muslin really lets me down here. If I blow it out to white, the subject gets massively overexposed. If I expose to subject well, the muslin is gray and wrinkled. I can't clean it up well enough in post to make it look good *and* natural. I may have to bit the bullet, clean a section of the basement out and buy paper or vinyl. Muslin is portable, but for full body shots it's a continual problem.

Engagement pics, rounds one!

Today I did the first round of my pictures for my friends who are getting married in two weeks. They are looking for photos to display and project at the reception, so I guess these would be considered engagement photos.

I'll be doing another series with studio lighting on Thursday night, so I get two days of my project 365 out of the deal :)

Our first stop was St. Vital park:











I liked this set quite a bit. Lots of shade to shoot in, lovely backgrounds and a variety of benches, stones and the like to use as props.

After we arrived home, we wondered over to the local community club and hit the playground. These shots were much more challenging with no shade to speak of, and much more urban backgrounds, but we were just having fun here. I did a fair bit of low perspective and wide angle here:





I'm currently waiting to hear how they like them!

Coffee Talk

Sorry, day 149 has to be quick. Had a friend over for coffee and dessert tonight:



This composition sort of came together as I was reclining on the couch chatting with my wife and a friend. I really just liked the slice of life aspect of this. It's basically a snapshot I know, but it's pretty organic so I just rolled with it.

I really need to tidy up that side table.

Babies everywhere!

We had friends visiting today, and although I hadn't really planned on pictures, when you get babies together, cute stuff happens.

My boy, Marcus, and their daughter, Norah, did the classic baby thing of staring at each other in amazement and pawing away at each other's faces. I only took a few shots but I kept one and I thought it would be more post processing practice time. I think I'm getting a style down that I like, not fully Lomo or anything, but slightly contrasty and desaturated.

Anyhow, here is the picture for today:



Shot with the new 7D, and my 50mm. She's a little doll, but I couldn't get a lot of smiles out of her. I wasn't really trying to force the issue, it's not a shoot, but she was quite a serious little lass. A good visit with friends though.

This picture also illustrates the value a big wide aperture. There was not going to be a good background to this shot, period. We were all sitting around on the floor, so it was going to be someones knee or elbow or something, so dial back to f/2.2 and blur the heck out of it!