Film Noir-ish Shoot with Becca and Brittany

This past summer I had an idea to try a "film noir-ish" kind of shoot with my little sister, Becca.  I was thinking low key, vintage styling, black and white, lots of shadows, maybe even a little Dick Tracy themed.  Check here for some of George Hurrell's photography.  His style is pretty close to what I was envisioning.  We still had a bunch of props that our mom had rounded up for the Roaring 20s shoot I had done the previous summer of the staff at Digger's Sting Restaurant in La Crosse, so that helped.  This summer Becca was in a boot after having surgery on her foot and was hobbling along on crutches and an amusing (sorry) knee scooter.  We shot in her living room to accommodate her lack of mobility,  Her friend Brittany also joined in.  These are all lit with window light plus a cheap clamp light which I craftily clipped to some soft of fishing spear her roommate had laying around.  It's Wisconsin; fishing is a big deal.  I'm not sure that these really have a well developed theme, but it was fun and here are my favorites.  Your critiques are much appreciated.

 Oh, that hidden eye!  Should have had more or less shadow.

Somehow Becca had exactly the prop I needed for these photos--mini blinds that were already detached from the window.  The clamp light is off to the left.  My brother and my husband held the blinds and the light.  Couldn't decide on a favorite here.  Your thoughts?  1, 2 or 3?

 Here's a behind the scenes picture, courtesy of Becca.

 Something a bit brighter.

Afterward they wanted just some of them together.

Same pic, but in color.  Not usually my favorite, but I liked that it showed the red lipstick more.  Plus, I love how this wall looks green.  It's not.  It's white.  Made for a nice backdrop.

Verduzco Wedding

Back in December I shot a wedding.  Here are a few of my favorite photos.  It was a smallish wedding in a tiny church in the evening in December.  So, a technical challenge for sure.  Also, there were no outer aisles in the church.  So, I had to have a pretty solid game plan so as not to be a distraction while still getting all of the shots.  I got there early and left reserved signs in two pews somewhat near the front (which I had cleared with both the couple and the priest at the rehearsal.) I highly advise going to a rehearsal.  You meet all your key players, get to scope out the location usually at the time of day you'll be shooting, and it just generally makes you feel more prepared the day of the wedding.  After reserving my seats I met up with the wedding party--first the guys and then the ladies.  

After getting my initial photos I headed in to take my seat.  When the bride came down the aisle I was able to duck down and peek out of my row, or maybe I even took a knee in the aisle,  to capture her entrance.  Everybody was watching her, so nobody was watching me.  Unless there were other photographers there, because I know that as a photographer I always notice the photographer at a wedding.  I watch their moves, sneak peeks at their gear, and generally try to learn something.  The ceremony at this wedding was really beautiful, and the priest was super funny and inviting.  I shot about half from one side of the aisle and then sneakily moved to the other when the kids did their reading on that side.

 After the ceremony we did posed family photos and then some of just the bride and groom.

After the nightmare that was editing the last wedding I did (there were countless times I actually fell asleep while working on my computer) I decided I needed to be more meticulous this time around.  To begin I kept a time card so I'd know how much time I spent.  It kept me accountable to myself--I have a family and time with them is very valuable, so I have to edit smart.  I try not to go off on editing tangents.  I always begin by backing up the photos in multiple locations.  Then I wrote out a workflow.  I used Adobe Bridge to organize and then rate the photos, deleting outtakes as I went.  I created actions for each lighting situation.  Then I edited a color, black and white, and a watermarked jpeg for each shot.

Here's a rare selfie-- me the day of the wedding.  Do I look the part of the wedding photographer?  Bangs out of the way? Check.  Got my quiet shoes on? Check.  Dressed professional? Check.

 One of my favorite parts... delivering the final product!  I really have fun with the packaging and presentation, making my own envelopes and thank you cards with scrapbook paper.  I put so much into it that I always end up shooting pictures of it.

Kaleidoscope - Bottles and Antlers

I was testing out a possible project and, as always, learning something new along the way.  I want to do Kaleidoscopic Photos of some sort to talk about repetition and pattern.  I found a tutorial that was pretty good HERE.  But, my image didn't look as amazing as his did in a x4 pattern.  I wanted a true kaleidoscope look with lots of segments.  I suppose I could have done the math to extend the content of that tutorial to a more complicated pattern.  But, a suggested video after the tutorial led me to a site where someone has already done just that!  And he has posted them complete with instructions for anybody to use HERE.  No need to reinvent the wheel.  I just downloaded the zip file and got to work.  The part that was new information to me was the proper way to use a smart object in Photoshop.  I didn't know that you could double click on a smart object's layer and it opens in a separate window where you can edit, save, and it automatically updates your file.  So the kaleidoscope templates work like this:  you double click on the bottom layer (the first smart object), it opens in a window, you copy and paste your image in there, stretch it to fit, save, close, wait a few seconds, and voila!  Your kaleidoscopic photo is a new surprise every time!  If you don't like how it looks repeat the process and select a different photo or part of the photo.

Click Here to see the original photo from a frigid visit to the Oro Grande Bottle Tree Farm last year.

Candid Portraits

I love the look of candid portraits, but rarely conduct photo shoots that way, and have never assigned them to my classes.  This year I did, and before my students shot I did a test to see how it went.  We had discussed talking to your subject and/or having your subjects talk to each other to get genuine expressions rather than posed ones.  My family and I had just finished dinner, and while we were all still at the table I asked Dustin to start telling funny stories to the boys.  As he talked I shot.  I started in a really high ISO and then switched to flash.  I love how engaged they are as they listen intently.  Of course there were LOTS of outtakes, but I did manage to get a good one of each of them.  I was really proud of how the students' candids turned out too.  It's definitely something we'll do more of in the future.

Pomegranate Part II

One of my first posts on this blog was a photo of a pomegranate.  It was titled "I've never eaten a pomegranate before..."  I have since tackled the tedious task, and I think I'll stick with pomegranate juice.  The fruit is just too much work for me.  Now photographing them... that I can handle.

Winner! - Daily Press Photo Contest

I recently had each of my advanced photo students enter work in a local contest through the Victorville Daily Press newspaper.  I was really excited that we were able to do this despite an entry fee for each photo, because my school site really supports my program and agreed to cover the costs!  The theme of the contest was the four seasons, because the newspaper would be making a calendar with the winning 12 entries.  As part of their preparation for the project I gave students a bunch of pictures from the internet that could potentially be winter-themed entries, and each of the photos had to do with hot chocolate.  Some were really beautiful, others were obviously terrible, and some were just ok.  The students' goal that day was to rank the photos from best to worst and then debate their choices.  It ended up being a very enlightening discussion, as several groups were very adamant that the photo they had picked was definitely the best.  In the end I hope it helped the students see how staging and careful attention to detail was really important to their contest entries.

  With hot chocolate photos on the brain I decided to give the contest a shot that night. It was last minut, but why not?   I busted out my Christmas decorations, an old cutting board, some cinnamon sticks and set up the scene.  I carefully added more and more props (I'm still a little unsure if I added too many) and worked with the lighting (it was less than ideal.)  The above photo is my final product.  It was shot on my dining room table with the Christmas lights at one end and the cutting board and teacup at the other to create the right amount of bokeh.  The editing is very minimal, and I'm kind of wishing I had noticed the cocoa on the edge of the cup.  It bugs me now.  Anyway, I got an email the other day saying that I had a photo selected as a winner in the contest!  The thing is, my husband also entered photos, and we used the same email address on our entry forms.  So, for a couple days we weren't sure which of us had won.  However, we just heard back from the photo editor that we had EACH won... how perfect!  His photo is really beautiful and very deserving.  I also found out that one of my students won for a stunning photo of a ferris wheel!  I'm still not 100% sure that all winning photos make it into the calendar, but either way I'm excited and proud :)

Elements of Composition Study ~ Pattern

I was going to have my advanced students do a project where they'd select one element of composition and study it in depth--creating two distinct images that utilized that element to strengthen the composition and highlight their subject.  I always put myself in my students' shoes and test out my assignments first, so here are a few of my test shots.  My favorite element is pattern (with symmetry in a close second place.)  I started taking pictures really late in the evening, so light was limited, but I still like how they came out.  I processed this fork photo quite heavily, and in this case I like the added noise.  I experimented with several different fork/shadow patterns, but I liked the depth on this one the best.

 This little guy is growing in a tree stump planter in my front yard.  I like the pattern in the leaves (or are they called petals?)  The low angle of the sun created the additional pattern of the shadows, which gives the plant a depth it might not have had if I had shot at noon.  I think the reason that the element of pattern speaks to me so much in photographs (or in art in general) is because it can feel infinite.  I wanted to include the tree stump, because it had a pattern as well, but I think if I had cropped in closer to the plant it'd feel even more infinite.

 I have a super old iron, but it gets the job done.  On this photograph I increased the contrast and played around with the sliders on the black and white layer to bring out all of the scratches in the metal part while darkening the wood in the background.  I wanted the light on the iron to stand out the most.  The iron looks very utilitarian--built for function not looks.  Its scratches are a testament to that.  The steam holes leading to the point at the top give a feeling that it's standing at attention.