Closet Full Of Orange

OrangeShirt
Originally uploaded by motoed.

I have been told that I like orange shirts. I guess it has been somewhat of a "flavor of the month" for me for the past year or so.



Since I was harassed for it, I felt I need to do an "editorial" shot of myself. I had fun with this. It's not often that I do a shot for "no particular purpose" other then for the sake of doing an idea. This is an interesting arena for me, one that I plan to play more with.

Losing the battle

This is pretty much a typical evening at my house. If you sit on the floor, it's an invitation to be "pounced on".

To entertain my "monkees", sometimes we'll break out the camera and take some photos. This particular session seemed to degenerate into a wrestling match.

Technique:

Ironically, this was pretty bright day, but the key lighting was lit with my onboard flash bounced off the ceiling overhead and a wireless flash (sitting beside the TV) with an omnibounce diffuser on it.

This image and others in this series is available on istockphoto.com.

Memorize This!

Note to self, commit this stuff to memory!

These are some good facts to know. They'll help get you out of a jam or help you get a good base setup when your meter fails.

My favorite one is:

3. Camera shake rule The slowest shutter speed at which you can safely handhold a camera is one over the focal length of the lens in use. As shutter speeds get slower, camera shake is likely to result in an increasing loss of sharpness. So, if you're using a 50mm lens, shoot at 1/60 sec or faster. Not enough light? Use a flash, tripod, or brace your camera against a solid object.

Then again, an IS lens adds an addendum to this rule.

Getting back to basics

As I take focus on my photography style, I'm noticing that I'm primarily a candid shooter. The majority of my shots I find myself sitting back, observing a scene and then grabbing something unseen. In doing this little exercise, I realize that I need to step out of this little comfort zone to create the type of images I really want to do.

I've been focusing on more studio style "created shots" in the past few months. I have a good handle on my lighting, but I find myself challenged by the poses and directing models. As I do more of it, I'm finding more comfort in it. But the biggest thing I've found that's helped is "finding a vision" of what I want before I start to shoot.

So, to find my vision and plan a little better, I've taken up sketching again. Not anything detailed, just gesture drawing. I find that it's a great way for me to gather my thoughts and pre-shoot a scene and concentrate on the shot before I take the picture.



I shared this idea with a friend last night and was told, "but I can't draw". The great thing about gesture drawing is that you don't HAVE to be good. It's just a matter of getting the pose right. I've included a couple links for people who want to learn a little more about this technique.



External Resources
http://drawsketch.about.com/library/weekly/aa052003a.htm

http://www.portrait%2Dartist.org/misc/proportion.html

http://www.awn.com/mag/issue3.3/3.3pages/3.3vilppudrawing.html

Internet Site Of The Week - Lenswork

Internet Site Of The Week - Lenswork

Lenswork is a great magazine. The images they publish are great. I must confess, I'm not a regular reader of the magazine, but the ones I've read are outstanding.

What has grabbed me most about Lenswork is their audio blog they post on their site. Published nearly daily, Brooks Jensen sums up a thought, idea or concept in a short 2-3 minute sound byte. What's even more interesting is that many of his thoughts and comments can apply to many different subjects, not just photography.

Even more interesting, Brooks recently spoke about how the internet is changing the way he reads magazines. Granted, Lenswork is a completely different magazine then Popular Photography, Photographic and Shutterbug. When a publisher states internet chat groups, forums and archives more useful then waiting for a magazine to be published, it's gotta make you stop and think.

The web has really shifted the way people interact and collect information. The two way communication the 'net can provide is something that print publications will never be able to provide.

Make yourself a reminder to go in and grab the Lenswork Audio Blogs every couple days. Collect them all!