93 - Dog Tired

92 - The Photo They Don't Want You To See From Roswell

91 - Workin' It

My favorite models glamming it up for the camera.

I've had this shot in mind for while. One easy formula to take pretty portraits: Find a pretty landscape, then put people in it. We have several nice little parks in our neighborhood that are great photo settings if the lighting is right. As we were heading home from dinner, it was still over an hour away from sunset but  I noticed that the clouds seemed well-formed for a nice one. So when we got home, I asked the boys to keep their shoes on (they didn't, of course), I slapped together a simple one-light rig that my wife could hand-hold, and I waited until about 10 minutes before I thought the sunset would be at its prime.  Then we went to a nearby park. You have to work fast in a sunset because you have maybe 10 or 15 minutes when the light will be at it's best.

You can really craft the final look of an image when working with mixed ambient and flash lighting. That's because you have independent control over how much the background (ambient sunset light) and foreground (flash) is lit. A camera flash is a very short, but intense burst of light. It's so short that it will fully drench the subject in its light regardless of the shutter speed, up to the "sync speed" of the camera which is typically 1/200 or 1/250 of second on a modern camera.  The shutter speed will therefore control how much ambient light is in the photo, but won't affect the flash at all. Conversely, the flash will have controls to adjust its intensity and therefore the amount of flash light hitting the foreground subjects. Meanwhile the aperture and the ISO speed will affect how much of both kinds of light are in the image.  Between all of these controls you can dial in a custom mix of background and foreground lighting. I went with a somewhat underexposed sunset because that causes the sunset colors to be more rich and saturated.

Now, this works fine with an on-camera or pop-up flash, but it doesn't look nearly as good as it can. Having the flash so close to the lens basically gives you light that is shadowless from the lens' point of view (objects block their own shadows from the lens' view). That is not very flattering light. You get that camera-at-a-party snapshot look, plus it practically guarantees red-eye on anyone looking at the camera. The first way to improve the look is to take the flash off the camera and simply aim it at the subject from somewhere else (which means that you have to have a way to trigger the flash remotely). Moving the flash away from the camera will cast shadows, providing depth and contour to people's faces and other objects. It makes a world of difference. Second thing is to put the light through some kind of diffuser to soften the shadows so there's a smoother gradient between those highlights and shadows you've introduced. In my case, the flash is to the left of the camera. I ran it through a softbox so if you look at, say, the light on the left boy, you'll see a smooth gradient between highlight and shadow on his left cheek and arm, instead of a hard shadow line.  It gives a softer look that is more flattering, especially to people, unless you're deliberately going for a harsh look (like, say, for a sports photo).

90 - Storm On The Horizon

There's a storm headed our way. This was the actual color of the sky about 20 minutes ago. We're under a severe thunderstorm warning and some parts of the area under a tornado warning.

You may have noticed that I didn't post a photo yesterday.  I'm pretty disappointed that I missed a day, but frankly, it was the last thing I wanted to do at the time. I've been sick as a dog the last couple days and yesterday was the worst of it. Got some kind of stomach virus that wiped out the entire family. I'm on the mend now, but my muscles are still all achy and I have a headache.

88 - My Latest Camera

I figured I'd follow up the photo of my first camera with one of my latest. This is my "take everywhere" camera, a Fujifilm X20. It's not my best camera (that would be my Nikon), but it's small, has good controls, and it takes nice photos. It also has this old Leica vibe that's pretty cool.

87 - My First Camera

Today's picture is of my first good camera. A Canon AE-1 from around 1978. I purchased it from money I earned mowing lawns in the 8th grade. Millions of photographers started with one of these. They were good, inexpensive cameras that were easy to use but could be put into manual mode to learn the basics of photography. This one literally traveled the world with me, going to the Philippines, Brazil, arctic Canada, and too many places in the US to name. For the first several years I used it, I just put it in shutter-priority mode (it's only automatic exposure mode) and left it there, except when I used flash. But in college I took a photojournalism class that finally taught me how to bend it to my will and develop my own prints. I still have the camera and it still works, although the light seals need replacing. I dedicate this photo to my life-long friend Richard, who had a camera very similar to this (the follow-on model, called the AE-1 Program).

86 - Java

85 - Cow Noir

On the drive back from the Lexington, I stopped to get a couple photos of cows grazing in the mist under this fine-looking oak tree.

84 - THBBFT!!

We spent Saturday night on the USS Lexington, an Essex Class aircraft carrier built during WWII and in commission all the way until the early '90s. It was Cub Scout event and a highlight of scouting here in Houston as far as I'm concerned. The best word I can come up with to describe the Lexington is magnificent. It truly is. The overnight event is a special way to see it because at 5PM they send all the other tourists home and you get the ship to yourself for several hours. For a history buff like me, that's heaven. They also let you into areas of the ship that are generally off-limits, and of course you get to sleep and eat on the ship. You sleep in one of the enlisted bunks, which are essentially cot-size bookshelves, stacked three units high. Not exactly Ritz-Carlton, but more comfortable than camping and hellaciously cool.

The photo above was taken on the trip to Corpus Christi where the Lexington is anchored as a floating museum. It was kind of a dreary day, but the light fog made for nice atmosphere and the wild flowers give a nice splash of color in the background.

83 - Lean On Me

Lean on me, when you're not strong
And I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on
For it won't be long
'Til I'm gonna need
Somebody to lean on

82 - Renaissance Man

My older son's class had a "living museum" today where students dressed up as, and educated other students about, influential people from history.  D played Michelangelo and my wife put together a costume for him.  I'm biased but he's gotta be one of the cuter polymaths I've seen, and he makes the beard just work.

81 - Discipline

80 - Possibility

79 - Looking Through A Glass Onion

78 - Cherubs

Sometimes angels can be stinkers.  ;-)

I had intended to do a portrait of one of the boys using a "soft clamshell" lighting - an overhead softbox and a reflector underneath to lighten the shadows. The original idea was to place him in the middle of a room and nuke the ambient light by using a faster shutter speed so the background would be black. But while I was setting up, I saw the print of Raphael's  La Madonna di San Sisto (actually, it's a portion of that famous painting) that we have in our bedroom and the idea struck me. I got a kitchen chair for D to stand on to get him to the right height. The juxtaposition of his mischievous grin with the angel's innocent expression was planned, but the placement of the angel wings was just a fortunate accident.

77 - Midnight Gazebo

76 - St. Anne's

My boss took a vacation week for spring break. However, on Friday he called me and asked for a favor. He bought some furniture from somebody off Craigslist and he needed help moving it. (No, he wasn't taking advantage of his position - he's also a long-time friend, so it was completely appropriate to ask and I was glad to help.) On my drive back from helping him, I saw a very nice Catholic church, St. Anne's. So, not having my photo for the day I stopped and took some shots. It's a lovely church and I imagine it looks a lot better in good light (it was overcast) and with the foliage in season. Another place I'll need to re-visit come spring.

75 - Cobalt

74 - True Detective

The wife and I watched the finale for True Detective last night. Great show, I really liked it. It was dark, brutal, and nihilistic, but I'm a sucker for long story arcs, intricate plots, complex characters, and lots of little mysteries that reveal themselves over time. True Detective had tons of all that for sure. But I have to say that the story was so complicated and there were so many characters that I didn't really feel like I understood everything. So I spent a half hour during my lunch break today reading through online episode synopses and drawing a mind map of all the characters and things that were relevant to the main murder mystery. The exercise helped; I think I have a very good grasp on it all now.

Looking at this you might ask (I certainly did), "What the heck is the appeal of a show that requires so much effort to understand it?" I guess the answer is I don't mind entertainment that's high effort as long as it's also high reward. The challenge with this sort of show is that so much of the reward rests on the finale! It can ruin the entire experience if the writers screw up the finale (The X-Files comes to mind).  Or worse, if they don't make it to the finale (see American Gothic, Flash Forward, or the reboot of V). Anyway, I like the ending of True Detective. It wasn't perfect, but it was very good.  I'd give it an A-.

73 - Half-Pint Lotus Position

72 - The Orchid Thief

The wife bought some orchids today for the kitchen and I stole them (temporarily) to use as a subject for today's photo. I don't take many flower pictures mainly because there are so many photographers out there who specialize on them and they're really good. But this did give me a chance to practice on lighting a bit. This one was a little tricky because I was shooting white flowers on a white background and that can make it tough to get separation. I lit this one with a shoot-through umbrella on the flowers (camera-left from above) and a bare speedlight on the background which is a white reflector.

71 - Galactic Titan

After the skating rink, we went back home to celebrate my older kid's birthday. He went with a slightly lower key affair - he just invited one friend over and we took them to Chuck E. Cheese's. Of course, they had a blast. Then we came home, had cake and ice cream, and opened presents. We bought Dylan the "Galactic Titan" Lego set which he built this morning (it was getting late on Saturday and he didn't have time then).  After he was done, he wanted me to take a picture of it for posterity.

70 - Their First Set Of Wheels

It was a birthday party weekend. First we went to a friend's birthday party at the skating rink. I had forgotten how hard it is to learn to skate! I figured the boys would take right to it but it took awhile. As I was helping them and watching them struggle, I remembered: When you first get on skates you try to walk. And because you're on wheels, walking is incredibly precarious. So you try to walk carefully which makes things worse. It's not until you decide, "Screw it, I don't care if I fall" that you really make progress. Then you start letting yourself roll more freely instead of trying to control it so much. That's the way it worked for me anyway. The boys were really struggling with it until we rented some "walkers" for them. We didn't have those when I was a kid but it's a pretty brilliant idea. It's a walker on wheels. It keeps them from falling over but at the same time it gets them used to the feeling of being on wheels. By the end, my youngest one was letting go of the walker and letting himself roll. I think one more session (if I don't wait too long for it) and they'll have it down.

69 - Life In The Bayou

Today I'm enjoying a day off. Originally, the plan was to spend a good portion of the day at my kids' school where they're holding Spring parties for the various classes. But that activity was cut short by my older son getting sick yesterday. Still, I did spend some time at the school with my younger son. Afterward, I took a drive looking for my daily picture. This photo is of a really nice little pond near the jogging trails not far from the school. There are several spots like this in my neighborhood, which is obviously very pleasant. Lest you start feeling too at peace, however, every one has signs warning you to watch for alligators and poisonous snakes! I've never actually seen either in the neighborhood ponds, but it's still makes this desert boy a little uneasy when I get near the water.

68 - Under The Weather

The school called today.  My older boy threw up and was in the nurse's office.  Par for the kiddie course.  But unfortunately his school is having a celebration of some kind tomorrow that he won't be going to.  And worse, his birthday party is this weekend and he may not be ready for that either.  We promised him that we would make sure he had a proper birthday celebration next weekend if necessary.

67 - Form, Texture, and Tone

Today's photo subject is a vase that the wife and I got in Ruidoso, NM many years ago.  It occurred to me while looking around for subject matter that it might make a cool photo because of its graceful curves, mixed with the overlaid textures of soft feathers and crackled glaze.  I lit this one with a single, small softbox on the left-hand side of the photo, trying to emphasize depth and shape.  You can see the reflection of the softbox on the vase.  I added a bit of fill light by reflecting some of the light onto the other side of the vase using a piece of white cardboard.

66 - Frozen Bud

We had some frozen precipitation last night.  We've had two days this year where they've called off school when there was no snow or ice to be seen, but today when we actually get some, school is still on.  I think they've used up their scheduling slack and don't want to have to figure out how to make up any additional bad weather days.  In any case, some of the bushes in the back yard were covered in ice which always looks interesting.

Photogeek Talk:  Bokeh is a term for the subjective beauty of the portions of a photo that are out of focus.   The word is a phonetic spelling of the Japanese term boke, which means blur.  The optical characteristics of a lens determine the quality of its bokeh.  There are several specific things that photographers look for in judging bokeh, but the simple version is that good bokeh looks smooth and creamy while bad bokeh looks jumbled and jittery.  Like I said, this is a subjective thing.  Anyway, this photo has a shallow depth of field from a combination of proximity to the subject, a relatively large aperture (f/4), and a relatively long focal length (70mm).  Bokeh is key in a shot like this because so much of the image is outside the focus area.  Most of my lenses have reputations for good, but not great, bokeh ("cream machine" lenses tend to be very expensive).  That said, I'm very pleased, and frankly a little surprised, by the blur in this photo.  It's quite nice, if I say so myself.  Looks more expensive than it is.

65 - Goodnight, My Angel

Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)

Goodnight, my angel
Time to close your eyes
And save these questions for another day
I think I know what you've been asking me
I think you know what I've been trying to say
I promised I would never leave you
And you should always know
Wherever you may go
No matter where you are
I never will be far away

Goodnight, my angel
Now it's time to sleep
And still so many things I want to say
Remember all the songs you sang for me
When we went sailing on an emerald bay
And like a boat out on the ocean
I'm rocking you to sleep
The water's dark
And deep inside this ancient heart
You'll always be a part of me

Goodnight, my angel
Now it's time to dream
And dream how wonderful your life will be
Someday your child may cry
And if you sing this lullabye
Then in your heart
There will always be a part of me

Someday we'll all be gone
But lullabyes go on and on...
They never die
That's how you
And I will be 

- Billy Joel

Photogeek Talk: I really like the lighting on this one - the way it makes C's face glow from the bottom. This is hillbilly lighting at it's finest - no expensive strobes, just an LED flashlight that I held in one hand while taking the picture with the other. The trick was not to shine the light directly on the subject. I did that at first and it was very harsh and gave the whole thing a creepy voyeuristic vibe. So I shined the light on the bed sheets just out of the picture frame on the bottom. So C is getting the light bounced off the sheets, which makes lovely soft shadows and a pretty gradient on his face. A flashlight, especially bounced, means I was working with very low light levels so the photo is kind of noisy. But in black and white the noise adds character in my opinion.

64 - Rocketeers

I had picked out an interesting activity from The Dangerous Book for Boys to do with my kids this weekend - making marbled paper (the swirly printed paper they use to line hardcover books). Unfortunately Hobby Lobby didn't carry marbling ink, so I had to figure out a Plan B. Browsing around the store, I found a kit for a water bottle rocket.  I've seen instructions for making your own but this kit had all the parts and it looked easy, so I picked it up for $20. Too often, cheap toys that sound really cool on paper end up being a disappointment. But this rocket greatly exceeded expectations. It worked exactly as advertised, soaring up to around 90 feet. The boys loved it and so did I. We mixed in a short lecture on air pressure and the physics of action and reaction. But mostly, we just loved launching the thing.

63 - Send In The Clones

Another Saturday, lounging in the living room.