I wanted to maintain a very shallow depth of field, like f/2.5. That meant the shutter speed was 1/3200 sec, WAY over the 1/250 sec sync speed on my Nikon. So the solution was to pull out my SB-900 flash and shoot in high speed sync. I positioned the subjects with their back to the sun. Dialed in my exposure for the ambient light (bright sun – f/2.5 at 1/3200 sec). Dialed in +1.3 compensation on the SB-900. Stuck the flash on a stand with a shoot-through umbrella. Triggered TTL with built in pop-up flash on my camera (set to commander mode only). The result is so much nicer than just shooting “available light.” I love having options. High speed sync is a nice option to have when you need it.

I don’t claim to be a graphic designer. I know enough about graphic design to be dangerous I guess. I took a graphic design class in college. My professor was Henry Brimmer.  I ended up being hired by him to be his assistant for the semester. It was fun. We both shared a love for photography. This was when digital cameras were just starting to gain a big hold. I would bring my DSLR to class. Everyone was envious of it. They were not so common then as they are now. It seems just about everyone has a DSLR now.

Henry designed many of the dance concert posters for the College of Performing and Visual Arts at SUU. Sadly, he is not there any more. He moved on to another university somewhere. I learned a lot from him in the one class I took. He left a big impression on me. I’m not bragging, he probably wouldn’t be too impressed with my graphic design skills. Like I say, I’m not a graphic designer. I’m a little afraid of what Henry would say if he saw my posters.

This is the poster my wife, Jennie, ended up printing. I did three different designs. We held an informal poll on Facebook, Twitter, and in Jennie’s classes. This design and one of the others were almost even as far as votes go.

The initial idea for the poster was actually quite different. Jennie had several of her students show up for the photoshoot. I took a variety of photos. I was planning on doing something that involved multiple photos, but things don’t always turn out the way you initially envision. Heather was the last dancer to photograph. I wasn’t excited about the light when we started. We took an hour break and then resumed the shoot as the sun set. With the whole shoot combined, we got many great shots. Any one of them could have made a great poster. As Dewitt Jones says, there were many right answers. I kept looking for the next right answer. The shot above was it.

Another “right answer” was this shot.

This was taken during our hour break while we waited for the sun to go down a bit. I had Heather stand in our front room. I stuck a Vivitar 285HV flash outside pointed through the window with the blinds slightly open. What you see is right out of the camera, with the text dropped in there of course. This one was probably a more solid “graphic design.” I think it probably communicates “dance concert” more clearly than the other poster.

From what I hear, the first poster (the one that was printed) has drawn a lot of attention at the school. That to me says that it was successful.

Most of the creative world is aware that Adobe announced CS5 earlier this month and today it was officially released. I’ve been excited to download the trial version of Photoshop CS5 to try out. Today was the day.

First a disclaimer. I don’t actually do a lot in Photoshop. I mainly use it for stitching together panoramas. I mis-use it by doing some print design in it (that really is a job for InDesign). Occasionally, I’ll do some retouching in Photoshop that requires some major work, such as removing something from a shot, or swapping heads in group shots (don’t get me started, shooting large groups is my least favorite thing to do). That said, Photoshop really is invaluable and is an absolute necessity as a photographer. No other product can match it. I’m a big fan of open source software. The closest thing to Photoshop in the open source world is Gimp, and it just doesn’t come close to being a viable replacement for Photoshop.

Alright, so with that out of the way, I would like to share my initial thoughts on Photoshop CS5. I had no idea the trial download would become available today, so it was a pleasant surprise.

It’s Fast

Photoshop CS5 is finally a 64-bit application and the performance difference is very noticeable. It opens faster and it just runs much quicker. Doing a panorama photo merge with 6 raw images is significantly faster. The first thing I tried was a photo merge and then did a content aware fill. This panorama was taken yesterday at Parowan Gap. Normally at this point, you would crop the image to get rid of the funny looking edges. I gave content aware fill a try.

Content Aware Fill

The first attempt failed with the message “Could not fill because there is not enough memory (RAM).” This is on a computer with 4 GB of RAM. Not a big deal, the missing sky area would likely have been filled with just more gray sky, so no big loss.

I cropped the image so to just keep the portion of the sky I cared about and tried content aware fill again.

Here is a side-by-side comparison of before and after content aware fill.

I had to do a bit of spot healing on the edges and a little bit of cloning in the foreground, but otherwise, it did a pretty darn good job of filling in the space on the edges. I would say content aware fill gets you 90% of the way there.

Here is another example. You may recognize this photo. It has been posted on my blog and is in my portrait gallery. The original shot had my son, Gavin, in it. I just wanted Jason in the shot because I really liked his pose and expression. I removing Gavin originally took a significant amount of work. There was a lot of cloning and healing that took place and I spent a long time trying to make it look like it wasn’t “Photoshoped.” My original job done in CS4 is on the left. The middle image is done with CS5 using content aware fill with just a little bit of the healing brush and cloning. It took maybe 2 minutes to do the same job in CS5 that took me probably an hour in CS4. Anything that can save me that much time is huge!

Original image on the right. Left image was done with CS4 in 1 hour. Middle image done in CS5 in 2 minutes.

So I’m pretty excited about CS5. I have yet to play with the HDR Pro feature, which is the other big thing I was looking forward to. I am happy with the performance improvements and with content aware fill. Those two alone are worth the upgrade to me.

Photo taken with NIKON E995, f/2.6 @ 8.2 mm, 1/13, ISO 100

I took this picture 8 years ago with the very first digital camera that I had ever laid hands on. It was a Nikon E995. A point-and-shoot. A whopping 3.34 mega pixels. It was my Dad’s camera. I borrowed it for a trip to Kansas City and Nauvoo Il. I think it had a 64MB compact flash card in it. That got me 131 pictures, which I thought was a ton. That was like 5 and a half rolls of film. Prior to this, shooting more than 1 roll of film on a trip would have been considered a huge luxury for me.

As far as photography goes, back then I knew absolutely nothing. It is kind of scary how little I knew. I actually could hardly believe my eyes when I looked at the tiny LCD screen on the camera. The only thing I had going for me was being able to recognize a moment and clicking the shutter button at the right time. A skill that is still very important and serves me well. That was the beginning for me. I recognized that it was a good picture, but I really didn’t understand why it was a good picture. I really had no idea how to repeat that success. From that point, something inside me was driven to seek out more. Later that year, I bought my first SLR camera. It was digital of course. I was mesmerized by the instant feedback. I bought a Nikon D100 with two kit lenses.

Even with a DSLR, I didn’t really understand photography for a long time. I am almost ashamed to admit that it took me several years to figure it out. Here is the biggest thing I didn’t understand: LIGHT. It seems silly to me now, but for a long time there was no real connection between light and photography for me. Understanding light was a missing link. When I discovered it, it was like turning a key on a locked door. Behind that door was a whole world that had eluded me for so long. I longed to shoot pictures like the one above. Light is a funny thing. It is always there. Even when we don’t notice it. We take it for granted. We appreciate it unknowingly. We respect good light subconsciously. We recognize good lighting without knowing it.

So why is this a good picture? What qualities does it have that make it good? Remember it was an accident for me. I didn’t know what I was doing at the time. It is actually quite remarkable that it isn’t blurry. It was taken at 1/13th of a second, hand held.  Here are the reasons I think it is a good picture:

• Directional light
  It is natural light coming through an open door of a root cellar. No light source on the inside. Only soft diffuse light (cloudy day) pouring in through the doorway.
• Shadows and highlights
  Notice the shadows that give him depth, dimension, and detail. The shadows bring out detail in his clothes and face.
• Catchlights in his eyes
  Notice the big highlights in his eyes. Catchlights are so very important. Zack Arias recently said, “if you don’t light the eyes, you have failed as a photographer.” What does he mean? Catchlights of course. They bring the eyes to life.
• Expression and pose
  The expression and pose are perfect and natural.
• Composition
  The subject isn’t dead center in the frame. He is slightly to the left. I would actually prefer that he was a little further to the left.
• Sharpness
  Overall the photo is remarkably sharp for being shot at 1/13th of a second. There is a little bit of blur in his hand, but his eyes (the most important thing to be sharp) and body are sharp.

These are all things that I didn’t understand 8 years ago when I took the photo. Now that I know and understand them, I can re-produce it every time.

This is kind of fun. I caught this photo of Scott and the Jarvie Window in action with my iPhone. The next picture is the result.

The highlight of the day was the keynote by Zack Arias. He absolutely knocked it out of the park and he deserved the standing ovation that he got at the end. The keynote, and other presentations, were recorded and can be watched online right now. Definitely worth checking out, especially Zack’s presentation.

More than anything, the greatest thing about the event was just rubbing shoulders with other photographers. I enjoyed talking to everyone that sat next to me. I got to see the Jarvie Window in action and even got to experience it for myself. As soon as he uploads them I’ll grab mine and share it. I’m curious to see how it turned out.

Jarvie Window in action.

I hadn’t planned on attending the Business Planning session, but I’m glad I did. Zack Arias made a surprise appearance. The session was really great. More than anything, it was a great validation for me. It is good to know I’ve been doing things right. Accounting, business insurance, business license, and taxes were all topics covered.

Zack Arias makes a surprise appearance on the Business Plan Pannel session.

The print display was really cool. It was fun to see the prints. There was some really great work on display. I waited until it was too late to order my print and I wish I hadn’t been so lazy.

Print display.

Several things Zack said really hit home with me. He ended his keynote by picking up his camera and saying, “if at any time, this thing, this stupid piece of plastic, gets in the way of my family I have to give this up…” I am impressed with his love and respect for family. I highly admire that. The other thing that hit home for me was his description of a photo he took that changed him. He described it as a series of tumblers going off inside of him. They all lined up and something clicked. I had an experience like that too with a photo I took about 8 years ago. It was the beginning of my interest in photography and it took 7 more years before I decided to start doing photography professionally.

Zack's photo that set off a series of tumblers inside him.

So, overall I was happy that I made the four hour (one way, 8 total) trip. The event also inspired me to get more serious about organizing a photographer community here in Cedar City. I’m looking forward to it.

]]> http://pagrimes.com/blog/602/photocamp-utah-my-report/feed/ 2 http://pagrimes.com/blog/579/looking-forward-to-photocamp-utah/ http://pagrimes.com/blog/579/looking-forward-to-photocamp-utah/#comments Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:00:01 +0000 parker http://pagrimes.com/blog/?p=579

I’m really looking forward to attending PhotoCamp Utah this year. It is only their second year (I didn’t go last year) and they seem to be putting together a really great event. I can’t wait. One of the keynote speakers will be Zack Arias. I don’t mean to sound like a fan-boy, but seriously, I really admire him for a number of reasons. First, his photos are killer, some of the best lighting I’ve seen. I would love to attend one of his OneLight workshops. Second, he seems to be really down to earth. He had humble beginnings as a photographer, this is his second go at it, and he has just gradually built his business into something a lot of folks really look up to. Third, he gives fantastic advice. Anybody that is thinking about becoming a photographer (especially for pay), or wants to improve their craft should watch his critiques. There are 12 episodes about an hour each and you will learn immensely. I could name a bunch more, but just go check him out if you haven’t already.

There are a couple of groups in Northern Utah that I am quite envious of, specifically the Photowalking Utah group and the Utah Strobist group. Both hold events regularly and I would have loved to attend every single one of them if it weren’t a 4 hour drive just to get there. There are a few of us photographers in Cedar City that have toyed with the idea of starting our own group. It would be small. We just don’t have the population to pull in groups like they do up there, but it would still be fun.

PhotoCamp Utah is this Saturday. I hope to meet some new people and enjoy a day full of photography goodness. I’ll also report back here on the blog how it goes.

A Shift In Thinking

As I have been editing my photos from our local Help-Portrait event, I can’t help but ponder about what a cool experience it was. I first heard about the Help-Portrait movement from Jeremy Cowart’s guest blog on Photoshop Insider. I thought at first that it sounded like a pretty good idea and began to follow @help_portrait on Twitter to just keep an eye on how it developed. I didn’t necessarily have any intentions to be a part of it. Then the brains behind HP launched a video and a blog post that blew me away. Seeing those really struck a chord with me. “That is some powerful stuff” I thought. I wanted to be a part of that. If you’re not familiar with Help-Portrait yet, spend some time at http://help-portrait.com.

With that, our Cedar City Utah Help-Portrait event was born with the help of 3 other local photographers. The experience has been amazing on several levels. First of all, what other profession/hobby has banded together on a global scale to just help people before? I don’t know of any. Second, the way we have helped people is completely different. It isn’t monetary, or physical help we were rendering. We were’t helping build schools, or feed the hungry. Rather, it was much deeper than that. It was us saying, “hey, you know what? I care about you. I want you to feel good about yourself. I want you to know that you are special.” We took people’s portrait and we will deliver a print, that is it. It is incredible that something so simple could have such a big impact on someone.

I’ve worn many hats when it comes to professions. I’ve always maintained a straight career path, but I’ve also branched off to do other things along the way. When I wear the “photographer’s” hat, so to speak, something fundamentally changes in the way I think about other people. My tendency is to think that people are idiots sometimes, however, as a photographer, I look at someone and think about how they would look in a photograph. I even imagine what type of setting and lighting would make them look best. This completely transforms my  thinking and my attitude toward other people. The most gratifying thing about photography is having someone look at a photo I’ve taken of them and love the way they look. Basically it is helping that person realize that they are special. Something we easily forget. It is easy to get down on yourself and feel like nobody cares or thinks you are important.

The other amazing thing about Help-Portrait is that it brought a group of photographers together which has now become a friendship. Our group had never all met together until Help-Portrait. We have interacted online, but never in person. We all had an instant connection- photography. Now it looks like we will be getting together just to collaborate and share ideas and information. I can’t wait!

Our Event

There were four photographers involved in our event. Terrel Fox, John Lisonbee, Jen Ova, and myself.  We held our event at Kolob Regional Care & Rehabilitation, a long term healthcare center in Cedar City. Dani Katwyk, at Kolob Regional, did an amazing job scheduling and organizing things. She arranged for all of the people we would photograph to arrive at scheduled times. The spacing between each photoshoot was perfect. We setup two backdrops and had two portrait sessions scheduled at a time. The four of us photographers took turns taking photos.

Dirk Evans from Evans Hairstyling College arranged to have two stylists there to do hair and makeup. The ladies at Kolob were thrilled to have that done. It was so fun to see them looking their best. The girls that did the hair and makeup were great.

We ended up taking photos of 40+ people. For me, I could have taken just one portrait and it would have totally been worth it. The reaction we got from some of the people was absolutely priceless. The whole Help-Portrait movement is about giving photographs. The point was to give the people their photo, not to share them and say look how great I am. Still, I would love to show you some of their photos. Not to show you how great I did, but we all took some great photographs of some really awesome people and I would like you to see how awesome those people are too. However, for privacy reasons, we have been asked not to share the photos publicly. That request isn’t specific to our event, but a global request by the whole Help-Portrait organization.

Next year I will absolutely do this all again. I may even find more opportunities like this throughout the coming year. We’ll see. One thing for sure, I made some great friends. So I wanted to give a huge thank you to Terrel Fox, Jen Ova, and John Lisonbee. Also a huge thanks to Dani at Kolob Regional and the gals from Evans Hairstyling College.

I got the first set of custom printed DVDs back today from the professional print lab, MpixPro, that I use for all my prints. I am very pleased with the quality. They exceeded my expectations.

These pictures don’t really do them justice. They look amazing in person, but here is what they look like.