Playing with my 50mm lens again today. I really love the flexibility it provides as far as depth of field, but with opportunity comes challenge. Today I experimented with very shallow depth of field. It is quite the challenge to find that sweet spot, but oh how I love the effect of falling off focus! f/1.8 was a bit too tight, so I stopped down a bit to 2.2. The best results of both are below.
ISO 100, f/1.8, 1/200s, 50mm
f/2.2, ISO 100, 1/30s, 50mm
Another stab at abstract motion. I really need to play with this more.
A branch against sunset shot with very shallow depth of field.
And lo and behold . . .
A few photos from school tonight.
Caught this guy on his skateboard as I was heading to class.
The first floor hallway of the art building.
Is this where I tell you I messed up and didn’t print my assignment? I thought we were going to show JPEGs. Guess where I will be tomorrow?
Anyway, after critique we all grabbed our cameras and flashes and remotes and headed outside for a lesson on how to shoot with flash outdoors and still have a lovely photo. To get the background to have detail and color and not blow out the subject, essentially you expose for the background, then stop down two stops, and adjust your flash to light your subject. After a lot of trial and error, my partner and I seemed to get the hang of it. I get the concept. Now I must practice, practice, practice!
My partner. This was shot in a well-shaded area with bright light behind her. A little blurry, but you get the idea.
Another classmate working with two others and using a remote flash trigger to light their subject with two Speedlites. I took her picture with my flash, and it set off the other Speedlite being held by her partner.
The weather has been pretty miserable and dull lately, but today, at least for a while, the sky was blue and the clouds were fluffy.
Sometimes you just get a lucky shot.
A friend of mine posted a link to this Virtual Lighting Studio (be patient…it takes a while to load). Of course, I had to play with it. What’s really cool about it is that once you find a look you like, you can save it as a jpeg. When you open said jpeg, you see not only your image, but a diagram on where to place the lights to get the same effect. Pretty nifty, huh?
And so you know, I felt the call to try it out. I clamped a dark blanket to our living room windows to block out the bits of sunlight that leaked through the wooden blinds. I shoved the hutch away from the tall wall and pushed the sofa and love seat to each side of the room. I grabbed my studio lights and set them up, along with my camera.
“NO!” I told myself. “Get your taxes done. THEN you can play. And while you’re at it, start some laundry.”
Sigh. Okay…
I quickly worked through our taxes (and lo and behold, we’re getting a bit back – taking a couple of photography classes at the university does have other benefits!)
I finally was able to get going, and just had some fun for a bit. But the best moment was when Maya jumped up onto the chair I’d been posing in. She’s a bit shorter than I am.
As for what I was trying to accomplish in session today…highlights in my hair and a defined jawline. It’s all about seeing the light.
Main light (soft box) was in front of me to camera left and high, angled down. Second light (soft box as well) was behind me and to camera right. Slightly lower than the main light. This light got moved quite a bit during the session to try to give me what I was going for. I moved it closer, raised it, brightened and dimmed it.
I know I'm not smiling, but look at the highlight on my cheek, and my jaw looks great!
I really like the highlight along the right side of my face. Nicely lit hair too.
I'm liking the hair and the cheekbones.
My eyes are very tired from two days of photography, and I’ve still got a lot of photographs to go through and process, but Antonn deserves special mention. Antonn is sixteen years old and the sweetest kid. And he’s true to his word. He promised that he would provide music at the MOR event, and yesterday, when he realized he didn’t have a ride, he strapped his guitar to his back and hopped on his bike to ride the twenty miles from Dayton to Silver Stage High School where the event was being held. One of our key organizers saw him peddling in the cold and wind as she was driving in. She caught him at about the ten-mile mark. If she hadn’t seen him, he would have pedaled the entire twenty miles. We had a lot of dedicated volunteers for this event, but this kid gives special meaning to the phrase “going the extra mile.”
Carissa Snedeker Photography 