Kevin Gliner’s Blog

PC crash…

The primary PC I use for all my photo work has been down for about a week.  As a result, I haven’t been able to post any photos (either of local volleyball or composition/processing examples).  It’s been a bit of a struggle to get it stable again, but I hope to have everything up and running again in the next couple days.

August 26 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments »

Austin Volleyball August 23: Blind Draw 4’s

Only one tournament last weekend, a somewhat small Blind Draw 4’s at Aussies.

Coed Blind Draw 4’s - Aussies - August 23, 2008

Final Standings

1st - Elizabeth / Chris B / Patrick D / Frank
2nd - Cheryl / Chad / Patrick D
3rd (tie) - Kacie / Garrett / Blake
3rd (tie) - Karen C / Chris W / Johnathan
5th (tie) - Misty / Hon / David J / David N
5th (tie) - Kristin S / Patrick K / Richard H / Scott W
7th (tie) - Lyssa / Steven H / Craig / Manny
7th (tie) - Sarah / Ryan M / Pete S

Pool 1

1st 4-2 Cheryl / Chad / Patrick D
2nd 4-2 Elizabeth / Chris B / Patrick D / Frank
3rd 4-2 Misty / Hon / David J / David N
4th 0-6 Sarah / Ryan M / Pete S

Pool 2

1st 4-1 Karen C / Chris W / Johnathan
2nd 3-3 Kacie / Garrett / Blake
3rd 3-3 Kristin S / Patrick K / Richard H / Scott W
4th 1-5 Lyssa / Steven H / Craig / Manny

Playoffs

Semi Finals: Cheryl / Chad / Patrick D def. Kacie / Garrett / Blake 21-19
Semi Finals: Elizabeth / Chris B / Patrick D / Frank def. Karen C / Chris W / Johnathan 21 - 18

Finals: Elizabeth / Chris B / Patrick D / Frank def. Cheryl / Chad / Patrick D 21-14

August 26 2008 | Volleyball | No Comments »

Daily Photo - ATT Crit Motion Blur

Here’s another shot from the ATT Crit early this summer (the previous one can be found here). This one’s from the men’s race and was a little later in the day, creating some exposure challenges.

Exposure

• Shutter: 1/320
• Aperture: f/2.8
• ISO: 3200
• Camera: Canon EOS 1ds mIII
• Lens: Canon EF 16-35 f/2.8L II USM (at 16mm)

Original:

Composition and Processing

• I wanted something that exaggerated the long line of riders as they swept by, making it look almost as if they trailed off into the horizon. I chose a slightly off center shot to make sure foreground riders didn’t obscure the riders in the rear, but stayed close enough to close the gaps in the tail. I really wanted to be as wide angle as possible, which meant making a choice between the 1d (1.3x crop) to get the high frame rate (10 fps) and 1ds (no crop, so wider angle, but only 5 fps). I settled on the 1ds: composition trumps shot opportunity, in this case. Shoot smarter.
• The shutter speed is actually a little high for a typical motion blur shot, but I wanted to insure most of the riders were relatively sharp. The only motion blur I needed was on the lead rider to show speed; I think the eye naturally applies that to the whole chain because the riders are sort of connected visually anyway. Considering the angle of the camera and how close I was to the lead rider (you can see my own foot in the scene), the higher shutter was the right choice.
• This might have worked in color, but I didn’t like the way the noise looked, even after cleaned up, at ISO 3200. And the riders didn’t quite separate from the background enough. As I’ve done on occasion in other shots, I used Nik Color Efx infrared filter to convert the image to black and white. I certainly could have gotten this look with other black and white plug-ins or just using channels, but this was faster and occurred in the context of a lot of other filters (black and white or otherwise). Being able to creatively explore a lot of options quickly is one of the biggest advantages to Nik’s product.

August 19 2008 | Photography | No Comments »

Austin Volleyball August 16, 17: Coed A, Men’s BB

Coed A Doubles - Aussies - August 16, 2008

There were only eight teams for this tournament, so match play was used (best 2 of 3).

Final Standings

1st - Frances / Scott
2nd - Montana / Rich
3rd (tie) - Erica / Dan
3rd (tie) - Kelly / Zack Kweder
5th (tie) - Nicole Smitt / Collin
5th (tie) - Ally / Shawn
7th (tie) - April / Milk (Steven Raesz)
7th (tie) - Jayna / Ben

Pool 1

1st 3-0 Frances / Scott
2nd 2-1 Kelly / Zack Kweder
3rd 1-2 Nicole Smitt / Collin
4th 0-3 April / Milk (Steven Raesz)

Pool 2

1st 3-0 Montana / Rich
2nd 2-1 Erica / Dan
3rd 1-2 Ally / Shawn
4th 0-3 Jayna / Ben

Playoffs

(game scores unavailable)

Quarter Finals: Kelly / Zack Kweder def. Ally / Shawn
Quarter Finals: Erica / Dan def. Nicole Smitt / Collin

Semi Finals: Montana / Rich def. Kelly / Zack Kweder
Semi Finals: Frances / Scott def. Erica / Dan

Finals: Frances / Scott def. Montana / Rich

Men’s BB Doubles - Aussies - August 17, 2008

Final Standings

1st - Josh Fitzhugh / Zack Kweder
2nd - Mark Herrin / Daniel Sulak
3rd (tie) - Rick Larabee / Kirk Attwood
3rd (tie) - Shawn Brown / Milk (Steven Raesz)
5th (tie) - Scott Galup / Paul Bostrom
5th (tie) - Eric Price / Justin
7th (tie) - Gareth Sampson /Anthony Duke
7th (tie) - Tom / Francisco
9th (tie) - Colby McCarty / Lester Saucier
9th (tie) - Ben / Dan Bockman
11th - Chic (Ryan Ciccarelli) / Francois

Pool 1

1st 5-0 Shawn Brown / Milk (Steven Raesz)
2nd 3-2 Scott Galup / Paul Bostrom
3rd 3-2 Rick Larabee / Kirk Attwood
4th 3-2 Gareth Sampson / Anthony Duke
5th 2-3 Colby McCarty / Lester Saucier
6th 0-5 Chic (Ryan Ciccarelli) / Francois

Pool 2

1st 4-0 Mark Herrin / Daniel Sulak
2nd 3-1 Eric Price / Justin
3rd 2-2 Josh Fitzhugh / Zack Kweder
4th 1-3 Tom / Francisco
5th 0-4 Ben / Dan Bockman

Playoffs

Quarter Finals: Josh Fitzhugh / Zack Kweder def. Scott Galup / Paul Bostrom 25-20
Quarter Finals: Rick Larabee / Kirk Attwood def. Eric Price / Justin 25-10

Semi Finals: Josh Fitzhugh / Zack Kweder def. Shawn Brown / Milk (Steven Raesz) 26-24
Semi Finals: Mark Herrin / Daniel Sulak def. Rick Larabee / Kirk Attwood 25-22

Finals: Josh Fitzhugh / Zack Kweder def. Mark Herrin / Daniel Sulak 25-21

August 18 2008 | Volleyball | No Comments »

Daily Photo - Jenny Johnson Jordan

I took this shot of Jenny Johnson Jordan at the AVP Las Vegas God and Goddess of the Beach Tournament last September. It’s a bit of an experiment really; it’s unusual in a sports shot to have the subject in the shade while the background is lit up, so it was worth being less conventional in the processing.

Exposure

• Shutter: 1/2500
• Aperture: f/2.8
• ISO: 400
• Camera: Canon EOS 1d mIII
• Lens: Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM (at 200mm)

Original:

Composition and Processing

• I kind of knew what I was after when I first took this shot. I saw the difference between the lit background and the shaded foreground and thought there might be something to that (particularly with the pattern of the benches in the background). That’s as far as I considered it at the time though.
• The framing of the original wasn’t too good. Aside from losing the feet (which I could have possibly recreated from another shot if I were less lazy in Photoshop), Johnson-Jordan was too close to the right edge of the frame. For most shots, and for action in particular, I prefer the subject be moving into the center, not be there already. And since the motion suggested the movement would be lateral and far (for the jump serve), I wanted a horizontal composition to better communicate this to the viewer.
• This might have been fine in color, but black and white created a far more interesting texture on her skin and exaggerated both the back light and the light reflecting off sweat and sand.
• The horizontal composition meant I had to extend the now faded pattern of the bleachers through the right side of the frame. That was a much easier task once they were so light and almost unidentifiable. It meant I could be less precise and no one would notice alignment errors.

More of my AVP shots can be seen here.

August 15 2008 | Photography | No Comments »

Daily Photo - SXSW DJ

This was taken during the Texas Garage Event at SXSW this year. The top two decks of the new AMLI building were closed off for three days of non-stop music. Something like 75 bands and DJs performed at the free event, and nuisance or not, I happen to live in the building. Sometimes it’s just easier to photograph what’s right in front of you.

Exposure

• Shutter: 1/125
• Aperture: f/2.8
• ISO: 200
• Camera: Canon EOS 1d mIII
• Lens: Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

Original:

Composition and Processing

• I had actually spotted this composition earlier in the day and figured the sun would be dropping down just right to backlight one of the DJs. What I wasn’t sure about was whether I’d get just the right amount of flare in combination with, at a minimum, a typical DJ pose. And in fact, it wasn’t quite right as I ended up clipping a bit of the hand.
• There’s more detail in the shot than suggested by the original, and most of that came back by simply running blacks up to 100 and the shadows slider down to -100 in Lightroom. I didn’t really care about clipping the shadows, and in fact preferred it since turning the canopy black provided a stronger background and better contrast to the sun. What really brought the detail out though was the Nik Efex bleach bypass filter. The image was already washed out anyway so I didn’t care what it did to the colors, but the somewhat high contrast filter helped shrink the flare and bring out the face more.
• The nice colors came from a color balance layer in Photoshop. Since I wasn’t looking for a realistic rendition, I just twiddled with the various sliders until I got a combination I liked.

More from SXSW can be found here.

August 13 2008 | Photography | No Comments »

Austin Volleyball August 9, 10: Coed BB (both days)

Aussies held two Coed BB sand doubles tournaments this weekend.

Coed BB - Aussies - August 9, 2008

Final Standings

1st - Eric / Melanie
2nd - Daniel Sulak / Megan Carlegis
3rd (tie) - Colby McCarty / Dana
3rd (tie) - Jamie Isaacs / Cindy Chapa
5th (tie) - Mark Herrin / Aimee Richardson
5th (tie) - Rick Larabee / Raven
7th (tie) - Hon Chan / Marah Friesen
7th (tie) - Scott Galup / Tracy Singleton
9th (tie) - Matt / Nani Aguilar
9th (tie) - Mark / Kathleen

Pool 1

1st 4-0 Daniel Sulak / Megan Carlegis
2nd 2-2 Jamie Isaacs / Cindy Chapa
3rd 2-2 Mark Herrin / Aimee Richardson
4th 1-3 Hon Chan / Marah Friesen
5th 1-3 Matt / Nani Aguilar

Pool 2

1st 4-0 Eric / Melanie
2nd 3-1 Colby McCarty / Dana
3rd 2-2 Rick Larabee / Raven
4th 1-3 Scott Galup / Tracy Singleton
5th 0-4 Mark / Kathleen

Playoffs

Quarter Finals: Jamie Isaacs / Cindy Chapa def. Rick Larabee / Raven 25-15
Quarter Finals: Colby McCarty / Dana def. Mark Herrin / Aimee Richardson 25-19

Semi Finals: Daniel Sulak / Megan Carlegis def. Colby McCarty / Dana 25-23
Semi Finals: Eric / Melanie def. Jamie Isaacs / Cindy Chapa 25-18

Finals: Eric / Melanie def. Daniel Sulak / Megan Carlegis 25-19

Coed BB - Aussies - August 10, 2008

Final Standings

1st - Cindy Chapa / Anthony Duke
2nd - Nicole Smitt / Shawn Brown
3rd (tie) - Kelly / Kirk Attwood
3rd (tie) - Melanie / Elliot Will
5th (tie) - Samantha German / Rick Larabee
5th (tie) - Nani Aguilar / Scott Galup
7th (tie) - Angela / Josh Fitzhugh
7th (tie) - C.C. / Ben
9th (tie) - Marah Friesen / Paul Bostrom
9th (tie) - Jamie / John DeMarines
11th (tie) - Tracy Singleton / Colby McCarty
11th (tie) - Meg Poag / Dan Bockman

Pool 1

1st 5-0 Kelly / Kirk Attwood
2nd 4-1 Melanie / Elliot Will
3rd 3-2 Samantha German / Rick Larabee
4th 1-4 C.C. / Ben
5th 1-4 Jamie / John DeMarines
6th 1-4 Meg Poag / Dan Bockman

Pool 2

1st 4-1 Cindy Chapa / Anthony Duke
2nd 4-1 Nicole Smitt / Shawn Brown
3rd 2-3 Nani Aguilar / Scott Galup
4th 2-3 Angela / Josh Fitzhugh
5th 2-3 Marah Friesen / Paul Bostrom
6th 1-4 Tracy Singleton / Colby McCarty

Playoffs

Semi Finals: Nicole Smitt / Shawn Brown def. Kelly / Kirk Attwood 21-18
Semi Finals: Cindy Chapa / Anthony Duke def. Elliot Will / Melanie 21-17

Finals:Cindy Chapa / Anthony Duke def. Nicole Smitt / Shawn Brown 21-18

August 12 2008 | Volleyball | No Comments »

Daily Photo - Zion on the Tracks

This shot was taken at the Creative Lighting Workshop thrown by Christopher Fergusen and Steven Noreyko in March 2008. We hauled a chair out from the studio to the nearby defunct railroad tracks and tried to find an interesting composition (this chair has been featured enough in Christopher’s work, in addition to the photos of various workshop attendees, that it probably needs it’s own agency representation).

The photo itself was taken during the setup, before we had the lights in place.

Exposure

• Shutter: 1/250
• Aperture: f/5.6
• ISO: 100
• Camera: Canon EOS 1d mIII
• Lens: Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM

Original:

Composition and Processing

• Yeah, dark again. The tonal range of this image is pretty broad though, and if you look at the histogram it’s actually clipped at the top (the tracks, sky and part of the road) but is about 15% clear of the bottom end. And thanks to the 1d’s shadow detail, perfect for this shot. In fact, with Zion largely backlit anyway, I decided to emphasis this and blow the background out more, while bringing up the shadows.
• The image required some cleaning up and reconstruction. That was easier on the left, but the right required a lot of grass and the addition of the obscured part of the chair. Blowing out the background meant the grass duplication could be less than perfect, and I took a piece of the left side of the chair and used it to rebuild the right side.
• There was good color separation between Zion and both the chair and background, but not very good separation between the chair itself and the background. And the yellow-green color wasn’t working in general. I tried a number of things: changing the hue of the green, going to black and white, etc. After the black and white experimentation I decided that the image should probably have the same overall color, and given that railroad tracks have a bit of a classic western feel to them, chose this reddish sepia tone.

More shots of Zion can be found here.

August 11 2008 | Photography | No Comments »

Daily Photo - Dalhauser vs. Lambert

I took this shot at the AVP God and Goddess of the Beach tournament last September in Las Vegas. The general idea behind this tournament is to play with a wide range of different partners (and not your regular tour partner) against a varying combination of opponents. So in each round of pool play, the four players in the pool will play three matches (the number needed to play all possible combinations in the four player pool).

The win for each match is credited to both players on a team. At the end of pool play, the individual player with the most wins advances. After all rounds of pool play are complete, the top two players each pick a another player from the tournament to play with in the final match. This photo is from the final match for the men between Dalhauser and Hyden — Dalhauser had chosen Rosenthal and Hyden had taken Lambert. Hence the matchup here (Hyden won).

The whole reason I was actually in Vegas for this tournament was thanks to an amateur-level King of the Court tournament (whose rules I won’t bother explaining) thrown by one of the sponsors at the Dallas AVP event. Of the 20+ entrants, my double partner and I came out on top. The prize was a free trip to the Vegas tournament (we had to play in another King of the Court tourney there too, but only finished 5th out of 9).

Exposure

• Shutter: 1/2000
• Aperture: f/2.8
• ISO: 1600
• Camera: Canon EOS 1d mIII
• Lens: Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS USM (at 70mm)

Original:

Composition and Processing

• One of the nice things about AVP tournaments, even ones like this with one court, is that despite the crowd it’s relatively easy to get a front row seat. The barrier between the players and the crowd is low, and unlike some sporting events, you can bring in whatever (still) camera gear you like. I could probably get a press pass for some of the less popular tour stops (like Dallas), but there’s almost no benefit to it. At least, not if you know where the best angles are and have an understanding of the game. Press pass or not, when you’re trying to capture the hit, it’s good to be back far enough on the angle to get the blocker too; it’s also helpful to shoot from the opposite side of their hitting arm so that their arm doesn’t obscure the face.
• Shooting any sport at night is a challenge. I’ve sometimes used prime lenses wide open (at f/1.2 or 1.4), but there are serious drawbacks: first, they simply focus too slow for this level of action; second, the depth of field is so shallow that you’re unlikely to catch more than one player in focus on a shot like this. I normally like to shoot f/4 at the net to guarantee both hitter and blocker will be sharp (I probably got lucky at f/2.8 due to both players being lined up more or less in the same plane of focus). That said, I’ve lately been shooting some sand volleyball mid-day at f/1.4 as an experiment (I’ll post some from that at a later point).
• Lighting for this shot came from two banks of lights atop mobile cranes at opposite corners of the court. There was enough light I could stay at ISO 1600 and not have to go to prime lenses. I could have shot at ISO 3200 or 6400, but 1600 is the last point on the 1d where I know the noise cleanup will be easy. Beyond that, and given a bunch of other exposure issues likely to be present, it becomes a bit more problematic.
• I shoot a lot of local volleyball and I’ve gotten used to the players and what they’re capable of. The pros jump a lot higher though, and often at the peak of the action they’re high enough that the tape (at the top of the net) obscures their face. So you have to get really low, or much higher, if you don’t want photos of a bunch of anonymous volleyball players. I shot this pretty low, but mostly I benefited from Lambert’s late jump to intercept Dalhauser.
• This is normally a vertical composition, and ultimately that’s what I settled on. But I shot it horizontally because I was just learning to use the AI Servo focus and wanted to keep the hitter lined up with the center focusing point without losing the blocker from the frame.

A small side note: it may look impressive that the ball is being compressed during Dalhauser’s hit, but that’s actually pretty common even from weak hitters I’ve shot at local courts. It’s a fairly soft ball. Dalhauser hits really hard, of course, so odds are the ball ultimately compressed down to about one quarter of it’s size during the hit (I have photos of other pro players where the ball is nothing more than a pancake on impact).

For more AVP volleyball photos, check here.

August 10 2008 | Photography | No Comments »

Daily Photo - BMX Aptos

This shot was taken back in April, during a family visit to Aptos, California. There’s a large dirt lot at one end of town frequented by BMX riders, although on this day over 50 of them descended on the site for an informal competition of sorts. The riders were top notch — which probably explains the 30+ photographers also in attendance (and we’re not talking cell phone cameras here…L lenses were de rigueur).

I only had 20 minutes to shoot, but the frequency and quality of the action allowed me to get a few good images. The action in this particular shot isn’t terribly interesting, but I liked the camera angle and lighting.

Exposure

• Shutter: 1/4000
• Aperture: f/4
• ISO: 200
• Camera: Canon EOS 1d mIII
• Lens: Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L USM (at 70mm)

Original:

Composition and Processing

• Most of the photographers were trying to catch something from the side that more clearly showed what the rider was doing. I had plenty of those shots and was getting a little tired of that, so I tried to line up dead on with the riders in such a way I wouldn’t also get run over. I also wanted to catch them less than vertical, so I positioned near a small bank turn that followed a large ramp. They weren’t doing much in the turn besides catch a little air, but that was enough to isolate the rider and get this fairly tight shot.
• If you’ve been reading these (semi) daily photo posts, you’ve probably noticed a tendency for me to shoot dark. Part of that’s habit — shooting sports or low light, I tend to push the camera to the limits of ISO, shutter and aperture that I’m comfortable with. I’m so used to darker images being standard that as long as the histogram isn’t clipped (much), I tend to be shoot underexposed even if it’s unnecessary. The remarkable shadow detail of the 1d mIII only encourages it. In this case I had a little more latitude with ISO (would’ve been fine up to 800), but I didn’t want to be any wider than f/4 because of the depth of the bike. I also wanted to shoot at 1/4000 because I didn’t know the sport and wanted to be sure the images were crisp. The histogram for the original is actually nowhere near clipping at either end.
• Amping the contrast and converting to black and white really separated the rider from the background and accentuated the strong side lighting. I considered going to an all white background, but without the faded buildings in the back the rider would have appeared more vertical in the frame.
• With the way the rider was turning his arms and shoulders, I wanted to get him closer to the right edge of the frame. But I had no room to work with on the left, and I didn’t like how it looked if I cropped into the subject itself. So I shortened the height of the image and narrowed it as much as I dared without turning it into column. It’s still a bit skinny, but tolerable.

August 07 2008 | Photography | No Comments »