Archive for September, 2008
These guys played on the pool deck of the new AMLI building in downtown Austin during SXSW (part of the Texas Garage Event in the parking garage of the structure). There’s really not much difference between the original and the final, so let’s look more at the composition and lighting choices.
Exposure
- Shutter: 1/250
- Aperture: f/4.0
- ISO: 400
- Camera: Canon EOS 1D Mark III
- Lens: Canon EF 14mm f/2.8L II USM
- Lighting: Canon 580EX II connected via off camera shoe and held in left hand.
Original:
Composition and Processing
- Normally I’d try to shoot live music without a flash, but this stage was really really dark. On camera flash would have been far too harsh, and there was no room to set up a strobe on a stand, nevermind any sort of umbrella or softbox to diffuse the light a bit. Fortunately, the organizers of the event set up this giant white reflector over the stage (I imagine it also helped shade the stage during the day and protected them from rain too). I used an off camera shoe cable to connect a 580EX flash to the camera, then held it in one hand above my head (pointed at the concave canopy) while I took the shot. That distance was enough to keep the hard light off the musicians, while the light reflected off what was effectively a 10′ wide umbrella.
- I wasn’t thrilled about the position of the band members in the photo, but my main interest was in trying to capture the angle of the bass as it bent away from the camera. 14mm is the widest lens I have, but I really should have used the 1Ds instead of the 1D to exagerate the effect more (the 1D has a 1.3x crop sensor, whereas the 1D is full frame.) As it is, the bass doesn’t quite take over the shot like I want it to.
September 24 2008 | Photography | No Comments »
Coed Blind Draw 4’s - Aussies - September 20, 2008
Final Standings
1st - Joy / Hon / Brian / Amy
2nd - Donna / Charles / Blake / Misty
3rd (tie) - Cindy / Ben / Will / Sarah
3rd (tie) - Tracy / Chic / Pete / Cassandra
5th (tie) - Nani / Patrick R / Ferdi / Pam
5th (tie) - Cherish / Chad / Patrick D / Frank
7th (tie) - Sherry / Todd / Gerald / Jennifer
7th (tie) - Rosa / Chris B / Chris S / Tish
9th - Karen / Colby / Richard / Zafer
Pool 1
1st 3-1 Joy / Hon / Brian / Amy
2nd 3-1 Nani / Patrick R / Ferdi / Pam
3rd 3-1 Cherish / Chad / Patrick D / Frank
4th 1-3 Sherry / Todd / Gerald / Jennifer
5th 0-5 Karen / Colby / Richard / Zafer
Pool 2
1st 5-1 Tracy / Chic / Pete / Cassandra
2nd 4-2 Cindy / Ben / Will / Sarah
3rd 2-4 Donna / Charles / Blake / Misty
4th 1-5 Rosa / Chris B / Chris S / Tish
Playoffs
Quarter Finals: Donna / Charles / Blake / Misty def. Nani / Patrick R / Ferdi / Pam 25-14
Quarter Finals: Cindy / Ben / Will / Sarah def. Cherish / Chad / Patrick D / Frank 25-16
Semi Finals: Joy / Hon / Brian / Amy def. Cindy / Ben / Will / Sarah 25-20
Semi Finals: Donna / Charles / Blake / Misty def. Tracy / Chic / Pete / Cassandra 25-20
Finals: Joy / Hon / Brian / Amy def. Donna / Charles / Blake / Misty 25-16
September 23 2008 | Volleyball | No Comments »
One of the very first studio lighting shoots I did was courtesy of Trey Ratcliff, and the setting was his office in downtown Austin. Another photographer and friend of his, Andrea, agreed to be the model for the afternoon.
Trey’s office had a nice brick wall on one side. The bricks themselves weren’t very interesting, but I figured they’d be perfect to try some texture experiments with later in Photoshop.
Exposure
- Shutter: 1/250
- Aperture: f/11
- ISO: 100
- Camera: Canon EOS 1ds Mark III
- Lens: Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM
- Lighting: One AB camera left in a 42″ umbrella; another camera right also in a 42″ umbrella (and further back, acting as fill).
Original:
Setup (from a similar shot, except the light positioning is reversed; that’s Trey shooting):
Composition and Processing
- The background was processed on a separate layer. I didn’t actually apply a texture to it, just used some of the more funky effects from Nik Color Efx to generate the colors. I’ve said it before, but one of the big advantages of plug-ins like Nik is the ability to rapidly test a diverse set of effects, particularly if you’re not sure what you’re looking for. In this case I settled on something that fit the Andrea’s color tones (shirt/skin), while still providing some range in brick color relative to the original.
- For Andrea, I used Nik’s Glamour filter, which gave her a a softer look (and a bit of a glow). It would have been easy to go overboard here, but since I’d increased the contrast on the background (to show off the texture more), making her too soft would have been noticeable to the eye. In the final result I think both are complimentary (i.e. the higher contrast background makes the softer subject stand out, but the texture of the wall also draws the eye a little relative to the subject).
- I had some issues with the mask and getting an edge that worked well with the glamour filter. After a while I got impatient with it and moved on, but if you look closely (or maybe not so closely), you can see a minor halo on some parts of her.
September 16 2008 | Photography | 2 Comments »
Coed BB - Aussies - September 13, 2008
Final Standings
1st - Colby McCarty / Amy
2nd - Mark / Jamie
3rd (tie) - Scott / Laura
3rd (tie) - Paul Bostrom / Stacey
5th (tie) - Rick Larabee / Meg Poag
5th (tie) - Ben / CC
7th (tie) - Montana / Brian
7th (tie) - Hon Chan / Marah Friesen
9th (tie) - Ben / Kate
9th (tie) - Steve / Liset
Pool 1
1st 4-0 Colby McCarty / Amy
2nd 3-1 Scott / Laura
3rd 2-2 Montana / Brian
4th 1-3 Ben / CC
5th 0-4 Ben / Kate
Pool 2
1st 4-0 Mark / Jamie
2nd 3-1 Paul Bostrom / Stacey
3rd 2-2 Rick Larabee / Meg Poag
4th 1-3 Hon Chan / Marah Friesen
5th 0-4 Steve / Liset
Playoffs
Quarter Finals: Scott / Laura def. Rick Larabee / Meg Poag 28-26
Quarter Finals: Paul Bostrom / Stacey def. Ben / CC 25-21
Semi Finals: Colby McCarty / Amy def. Paul Bostrom / Stacey 25-14
Semi Finals: Mark / Jamie def. Scott / Laura 25-22
Finals: Colby McCarty / Amy def. Mark / Jamie 25-17
Coed BB - Aussies - September 14, 2008
Final Standings
1st - Colby McCarty / Cindy Chapa
2nd - Shawn Brown / Sherry
3rd (tie) - Rick Larabee / Raven
3rd (tie) - Mark / Melanie
5th (tie) - Milk (Steven Raesz) / Jayna
5th (tie) - Marah Friesen / Joe
7th (tie) - Bob / Allie
7th (tie) - Shalee / Jon Rookstool
9th (tie) - Matt / Tracy Singleton
9th (tie) - Chic (Ryan Ciccarelli) / Stacey
11th (tie) - Tish / Chris
11th (tie) - John DeMarines / Jamie
Pool 1
1st 5-0 Shawn Brown / Sherry
2nd 4-1 Colby McCarty / Cindy Chapa
3rd 3-2 Milk (Steven Raesz) / Jayna
4th 2-3 Bob / Allie
5th 1-4 Matt / Tracy Singleton
6th 0-5 Tish / Chris
Pool 2
1st 5-0 Rick Larabee / Raven
2nd 3-2 Mark / Melanie
3rd 3-2 Marah Friesen / Joe
4th 2-3 Shalee / Jon Rookstool
5th 1-4 Chic (Ryan Ciccarelli) / Stacey
6th 0-5 John DeMarines / Jamie
Playoffs
Semi Finals: Colby McCarty / Cindy Chapa def. Rick Larabee / Raven 21-19
Semi Finals: Shawn Brown / Sherry def. Mark / Melanie 21-13
Finals: Colby McCarty / Cindy Chapa def. Shawn Brown / Sherry 21-13
September 16 2008 | Volleyball | No Comments »
Every month or two a group of local photographers get together to shoot at an interesting venue in Austin. The emphasis is off camera flash techniques, and the group maintains a regular forum on flickr called, appropriately, Strobist Austin.
For the March gathering, 45 photographers descended on Vicci with five models in tow. Vicci has a fairly interesting and diverse interior, so we rotated groups of photographers and models around the site in an effort to keep everyone’s shots from being identical. Still, there’s only so much you can do with that many people (subsequent get togethers have had a better subject to shooter ratio).
I wasn’t too happy with this particular set up — the colors were all wrong, the outfit was weak and the background stunk. Michelle was a trooper though, and everyone did their best to make the most of it (did I mention the 4 or 5 strobes? Complete overkill). To be fair, these gatherings are supposed to be learning experiences, so the goal wasn’t necessarily to get a great shot as much as to deepen our knowledge of lighting.
Exposure
- Shutter: 1/125
- Aperture: f/5.6
- ISO: 100
- Camera: Canon EOS 1ds Mark III
- Lens: Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM
- Lighting: 60″ softlighter camera right, SB800 camera right (further right than the softlighter and aimed more at the background), SB800 camera left as fill, plus one more strobe camera left and on background (I think, going mostly from memory on this and the fact three of the lights show up in the reflection from her eye).
Original:
Composition and Processing
- We each had only a few minutes to shoot in each setup, so I thought up a few compositions in advance. There was a curtain hanging on the wall behind the couch she was sitting on (the couch you can’t see), and I thought we could do something interesting with it draped partly around her. Except that when we set the shot up I discovered it was tacked to the wall in a million places, allowing about as much movement as you see here. So I had her pull it as tight as she could, framing her face with the material on one side and her arms top/bottom.
- I didn’t expect to crop so close afterward, but it really focused the attention on her face and, conveniently, got rid of most of the yellow dress. I often do off-center compostions like this, but I’d normally move it to the opposite corner (upper left) because her head is turned slightly down and to the (camera) right. Sometimes its better to go against your normal instincts.
- I tried a number of other colors for the dress, but couldn’t find anything that matched the curtain better.
- Her arms and face are blown out intentionally. I like that look when I use Nik’s bleach bypass effect. The original image was so monotone, it needed something, and the composition itself wasn’t strong enough to carry it otherwise. I do like the final color for the curtain, although that’s due as much to the bleach bypass effect as the color balance I did afterward to cool it off (lots of blue).
The rest of the Vicci shoot can be seen here.
September 14 2008 | Photography | No Comments »
Here’s another shot from the ATT Crit in Austin earlier in the summer. This is during the final race, after the sun had already gone down. There simply wasn’t enough light to work with, even at the extremes: max ISO, almost wide open, slow shutter speed. Not exactly ideal for a sports event.
Exposure
- Shutter: 1/60
- Aperture: f/2.0
- ISO: 6400
- Camera: Canon EOS 1d mIII
- Lens: Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L USM
Original:
Composition and Processing
- Due to the shutter limitations, I had been trying panning shots. But after a while I kind of got bored with that and decided to reverse things: blurred subject and static background. I liked the way these fans had lined up on the construction barricade across the street, and thought the extra light from the walkway would help highlight the riders. I could have taken this shot against a simpler background, but having the fans in there made the shot less one-dimensional.
- The motion blur itself was a bit tricky: I needed just the right amount of blur to imply motion, but not so much you couldn’t identify what it was. On top of that, I didn’t want to obscure the fans too much. 1/60 turned out to be the right shutter speed, but it took a lot of shots to get a lone cyclist in just the right position in the frame.
- I tilted the shot to the right to increase the feeling of action and speed (downhill, essentially). That’s a pretty straigtforward technique. Fortunately I had enough room to do it without losing too much of the cyclist.
September 12 2008 | Photography | No Comments »
This shot was taken with the help of Christopher Fergusen of Definitive Images. It’s the image I use for kevingliner.com.
I had a very clear idea what I wanted to do composition-wise for this shot, and I needed something that would fit the layout and simple color scheme I had planned for my home page. I tried repeatedly to take this as a self portrait, but the act of walking back and forth to the camera (which sat on a tripod) to evaluate each image was time consuming and somewhat futile: even if I could recognize the slight adjustments I needed to make, having stood up and walked away from where I sat made it very difficult to re-create the pose and adjust accordingly.
So I called up Christopher and asked him to lend a hand. He made a couple minor adjustments to the lighting, but left the camera where it was on the tripod and tweaked the pose (more on that below).
Exposure
- Shutter: 1/250
- Aperture: f/9
- ISO: 200
- Camera: Canon EOS 1ds Mark III
- Lens: Cnaon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM (at 68mm)
- Lighting: Zeus head in 60″ softlighter camera right (at about 45 degrees from subject); 4′x8′ black foamcore left of subject; Second zeus head with 7″ reflector blowing out background and flagged with some black foil to prevent spill onto the subject (although enough came off the background to overexpose the bench).
Original:
Composition and Processing
- Anyone who does studio work should really spend some time on the other side of the lens. It’s amazing how awkward an otherwise comfortable looking pose can be. I’m actually sitting on the very edge of the bench and my pants are pulled down as far as possible because they were sliding up too much off my feet in this posture. My neck is craned up and forward. And my shirt, which was drooping down loose as I leaned forward, is clipped behind my back with several gel holder clamps. All those little things were Christopher’s doing.
- I obviously had to clean up the scene to make the edges all white and blow out the floor. But the more interesting question with shots like this is what to do with the shadows. You can always wipe them out entirely, but I think that makes things look like they’re floating. It doesn’t take much to ground the shot though — in this case, just a little bit of shading where the feet and the bench legs meet the floor.
- I mucked around with color balance a lot but wasnt’ really happy with any result — part of the problem was the sunburn on my face, but in general nothing really jumped out as appropriate. I ultimately used Nik Color Efx’s bleach bypass filter and did a 50% blend with the original.
- I prefer off-center compositions, and this particular one had the requirement of also framing (on one side) the menu items that would appear below it (hence my choice of a long bench, but sitting at one end of it).
September 08 2008 | Photography | No Comments »
This past weekend Aussies held Queen of the Beach and Century Triples sand tournaments. The coed triples tournament is held once a year and other than featuring three players also requires the age of all players to add up to over 100.
The QOB is slightly complicated. 16 players are sorted into four pools of four. In the first round, each pool plays all possible combinations of teams against each other (within the pool). With four players per pool, that’s three games. Winning or losing the games doesn’t matter — all that counts is the point differential in your win/loss, which is assigned to each player. The totals after three games determine how each player finished in the pool. Being good obviously helps, but being able to play well with others is even more important.
The top two players in each pool move on to the Queen bracket for the second round. The bottom two head to the Princess (losers) bracket. Each bracket consists of two new pools of four, and the same thing is repeated (three more games for each pool).
The top two players of each pool in the Queen bracket move on to the third round and form one pool of four players. They play another three games to determine the final winner of the tournament. A the same time, the top two players of each pool in the Princess bracket do the same (but only to determine the semi-consolation prize of coming out on top of the losers bracket). Of the 16 players who start the day, half the field will end up playing six games while the other half will play nine. That makes for a long day in the Texas heat.
Queen of the Beach - Aussies - September 7, 2008
Final Standings
1st - Kelly L
2nd - Erika
3rd - Kelly H
4th - Rosa
5th (tie) - Cindy Chapa
5th (tie) - Teresa
7th (tie) - Nicole Smitt
7th (tie) - Marah Friesen
9th - Rita
10th - Jamie Lynn
11th - Amy
12th - CC
13th (tie) - Trina
13th (tie) - Meg Poag
15th (tie) - Tracy
15th (tie) - Angela
Round 1
Pool 1
Kelly L +28
Kelly H -2
Meg Poag -10
Amy -16
Pool 2
Rosa +25
Cindy Chapa +13
Tracy -17
Jamie Lynn -21
Pool 3
Erika +24
Marah Friesen -4
CC -6
Angela -14
Pool 4
Nicole Smitt +15
Teresa +7
Rita -3
Trina -11
Round 2
Queen Pool 1
Kelly H +19
Erika +11
Cindy Chapa +1
Nicole Smitt -31
Queen Pool 2
Kelly L +25
Rosa +1
Teresa -5
Marah -21
Princess Pool 1
CC +17
Amy +7
Trina -1
Tracy -23
Princess Pool 2
Rita +10
Jamie Lynn +6
Meg Poag +0
Angela -16
Round 3
Queen Pool
Kelly L +23
Erica +11
Kelly H -6
Rosa -29
Princess Pool
Rita +16
Jamie Lynn +6
Amy -2
CC -10
Century Triples - Aussies - September 8, 2008
If anyone knows the names of some of the missing players (e.g. Matt and Mark’s teams), drop me a note and I’ll fill them in below.
Final Standings
1st - Matt’s team
2nd - Keith Cassell / Randy Armstrong / Eva
3rd (tie) - Carol and Greg’s team
3rd (tie) - Anthony Duke / Kirk Attwood / Cindy Chapa
5th (tie) - Josh Fitzhugh / Shawn Brown / Angela
5th (tie) - Craig / Lucas Johnson / Debbie
7th (tie) - Hon Chan / Rick Larabee / CC
7th (tie) - Peter / Mike / Shelly
9th (tie) - Brian / Dedric / Sherry
9th (tie) - Peter / Craig / Kelly
11th - Mark’s team
Pool 1
1st 4-1 Keith Cassell / Randy Armstrong / Eva
2nd 4-1 Josh Fitzhugh / Shawn Brown / Angela
3rd 4-1 Matt’s team
4th 2-3 Hon Chan / Rick Larabee / CC
5th 1-4 Brian / Dedric / Sherry
6th 0-5 Mark’s team
Pool 2
1st 4-0 Anthony Duke / Kirk Attwood / Cindy Chapa
2nd 3-1 Craig / Lucas Johnson / Debbie
3rd 2-2 Carol and Greg’s team
4th 1-3 Peter / Mike / Shelly
5th 0-4 Peter / Craig / Kelly
Playoffs
Quarter Finals: Carol and Greg’s team def. Josh Fitzhugh / Shawn Brown / Angela 21-18
Quarter Finals: Matt’s team def. Craig / Lucas Johnson / Debbie 21-15
Semi Finals: Keith Cassell / Randy Armstrong / Eva def. Carol and Greg’s team 21-16
Semi Finals: Matt’s team def. Anthony Duke / Kirk Attwood / Cindy Chapa 21-18
Finals: Matt’s team def. Keith Cassell / Randy Armstrong / Eva 21-18
September 08 2008 | Volleyball | No Comments »
Coed BB - Aussies - August 30, 2008
Final Standings
1st - Nicole Smitt / Shawn Brown
2nd - Megan Carlegis / Lucas Johnson
3rd (tie) - Kelly / Kirk Attwood
3rd (tie) - Dana / Daniel Sulak
5th (tie) - Jayna / Colby McCarty
5th (tie) - Melanie / Jamie Isaacs
7th (tie) - Marah Friesen / Scott Galup
7th (tie) - Angela / Josh Fitzhugh
9th (tie) - Amanda / Sam
9th (tie) - Ally / Jeff
11th (tie) - Cat / Manny
11th (tie) - Misty / Brandon
Pool 1
1st 5-0 Megan Carlegis / Lucas Johnson
2nd 4-1 Dana / Daniel Sulak
3rd 3-2 Melanie / Jamie Isaacs (unable to continue to playoffs due to illness)
4th 2-3 Marah Friesen / Scott Galup
5th 1-4 Amanda / Sam
6th 0-5 Cat / Manny
Pool 2
1st 4-1 Nicole Smitt / Shawn Brown
2nd 3-2 Kelly / Kirk Attwood
3rd 3-2 Jayna / Colby McCarty
4th 3-2 Angela / Josh Fitzhugh
5th 1-4 Ally / Jeff
6th 0-5 Misty / Brandon
Playoffs
Quarter Finals: Dana / Daniel Sulak def. Jayna / Colby McCarty 22-20
Quarter Finals: Kelly / Kirk Attwood def. Marah Friesen / Scott Galup 21-10
Semi Finals: Megan Carlegis / Lucas Johnson def. Kelly / Kirk Attwood 21-17
Semi Finals: Nicole Smitt / Shawn Brown def. Dana / Daniel Sulak 21-14
Finals: Nicole Smitt / Shawn Brown def. Megan Carlegis / Lucas Johnson 21-15
September 03 2008 | Volleyball | No Comments »
