Learning From Failures

I have come quite a long way since I first started taking pictures as a new hobby. I have learned a lot from websites and books that I've read, but I've learned from a source that I should mention. I have learned quite a bit from my own failures.

This photo is one of my failures. I was practicing this technique. I wanted highlights on the side with a fill light bringing in the rest. I used 3 speedlights for this shot. Two 430ex speedlights set up to the left and right of me. The third 580 ex II was handheld by my girlfriend. She snapped the photo for me as well, I just did all the setup. The 580 ex II triggered the two speedlights wirelessly.

Since it was just practice, I didn't worry too much about the background. I know I wanted to get the sky in the shot, but if I do this photo again, I won't include the power lines or houses in the background. But the background isn't why this photo is a failure for me.

The part I failed on was the lighting. I didn't have the two speedlights to the left & right far enough back. The lights are hitting the front of my face instead of just the sides, causing a very weird and nasty look for my nose. Really, it looks messed up and fat. I also don't like how there isn't much separating my legs from the background. This to me flattens out the image and doesn't define my outline.

So, this certainly taught me some things to watch out for next time. Remember, you can learn a lot from your failures.

Anniversary Take 2

I decided to shoot their anniversary photo from two different locations. This was actually the first I choose. This was taken from the side of their house. I choose this spot because of the continuos color and for the texture of the stucco. I thought it would provide an interesting backdrop for them.

I have tried this technique once before and I LOVED the results. Although, I had only one person in the shot, this time I was dealing with two. I pressed forward and decided to see what we could get, if anything.

I set up one 430ex speedlight right above my camera. I shot this speedlight through an umbrella to get a nice, soft fill light. Then I knocked the exposure of this light down 2 stops. I didn't want this to be the main light - just some fill. I then set up another 430ex camera left to shoot through a snoot. (My own version made from a cardboard box) This would help funnel the light and keep it contained so it only hit their faces and not fill in the rest of the photo.

With the fill light 2 stops underexposed and the key light right on the money, I was taking photos. That's when they started to act natural now that I had things set up. I choose this photo because of the bit of attitude Debbie is showing off. There were some other photos with them laughing and smiling, but this one stood out from the others.

If you have any questions, let me know in the comments. I'll try to answer them best I can.

The Anniversary

It was my sister's anniversary this year with her husband. She asked me to babysit. Okay, she didn't ask, we volunteered. But it was still fun. We got to watch 4 kids and eat pizza. Somehow, we survived.

Since I was going to be coming over, Debbie did ask if I wouldn't mind taking some photos of her and Mike. They haven't had a photo taken of just them for quite awhile. I agreed and thought I would put to use some of the techniques I have learned lately.

For this particular photo, I used two lights. One was a 430ex speedlight camera left shot through an umbrella to soften the light. The other light was the sun. The sun was setting and creating a nice warm light that was just hitting the their hair. I did put a CTO gel on the speedlight to help match the warmth of the sun. The sun put a nice rim light on them while the speedlight filled in from the left.

This was captured during their fun banter between each other. There was a lot of playing around with these two so we have quite a few photos with bunny ears and open-mouth laughing. I did capture this photo and I choose this one to highlight because of the uniqueness to this photo. I like it because the anticipation of the kiss - just enough separation between them to create a highlight and their expressions show how much they care for one another. There is so much emotion spilling from this photo.

Happy Anniversary Debbie & Mike. I hope you enjoy the photos. The bill is in the mail. ;)

Her Favorite Photo

To continue the "ode to the model", I must to showcase her favorite photo. I took this photo last spring. We went to pick up her little boy from Kindergarten and decided to grab some photos in the playground. We really enjoyed the bright colors the playground had to offer for background elements.

I sat him down on this bench because of the playful handprints. I liked the bright colors and wanted to contrast them with an attitude; I wanted him to pout. I told him to sit on the bench and pout for the camera. He didn't understand. He didn't know how to pout. So, I asked Kirsten to sit on the other side and show him how to pout. My intention was to photograph just him and not get his mom in the shot. She sat down and showed him what it meant to pout.

He cracked up! He thought it was so funny his mom was pouting on the bench. He burst into laughter and I quickly snapped this shot. I knew I was capturing a fun moment between the two of them so I made sure to include them both in the shot.

This has become Kirsten's favorite photo of mine.

I knew I wanted a bit of motion in the shots we had been taking so I had the camera on shutter priority and choose a speed that would allow a bit of motion blur - 1/40 of a second, which you can see in his feet. The camera did the rest. Shot at 85mm, ISO 100, 1/40 of a second at f/10.

I set out to create an image about a boy in trouble on the playground. I thought it would be fun to have such a scorned look on his face with a playful background to contrast the emotion. We never got that shot. But going with the flow, I was able to get a great photo for both of them to enjoy.