Week of the Flag - Day 2

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 5 seconds, f/22, ISO 200

Week of the Flag - Day 1

Canon PowerShot G7 - 1/250 second, f/4, ISO 100

From Photographer to Model

There's a pretty cool post up today over at Photofocus featuring yours truly as the model. When I look at the image I have to chuckle at how I have my left hand on the lens, even though that camera has NO manual controls there. What a geek! :)

The technique described in the post however is quite cool and caused me to rethink how I use my Canon G7, especially in social settings.

http://photofocus.com/2009/06/26/dragging-the-shutter

Have a great weekend!

On the Fence

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 70-200 f4L with 1.4x Extender - 1/80 second, f/5.6, ISO 6400

My First Rodeo

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 70-200 f/4L with 1.4x Extender - 1/1600 second, f/5.6, ISO 400

In preparation for a photography clinic I will be teaching at a rodeo next month with Ann Torrence, I spent Friday night at the rodeo in Morgan, Utah. While the clinic we're teaching isn't specifically about Rodeo Photography, it is in the arena and will have horses & riders as subjects. With this in mind, I figured it would make sense to do a scouting trip to another event ahead of time to familiarize myself with the surroundings.



Here are a few things I learned:

- High ISO on the Canon 5D Mark II is a Godsend
- The longer the lens the better (especially on a fullframe body)
- The 5D Mark II's focus points & speed are nearly inadequate for this type of work
- Be ready for the transition from daylight to dark
- Shooting with a monopod is a must
- Consider JPG to keep from filling the buffer too quickly
- Cowboys are genuinely nice people
- Rodeo's are great fun at an affordable price

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 70-200 f/4L - 1/80 second, f/5.0, ISO 6400

All in all, it was a great evening. If I were doing this type of work on a regular basis, I would definitely want a faster body. I think a Canon 50D with it's faster frame-rate and 1.6x sensor would be a nice camera at an affordable price. Of course, budget permitting, it goes without saying that a body from the Canon 1D or Nikon D3 series would be the best choice.

Digital Wedding Photograph Secrets - My Unplanned Purchase

This past weekend I made an unplanned book purchase, but one that I was happy to make. The purchase began with a phone call from a fellow photographer. She was at Barnes & Noble and recognized one of my images on the back of a book. It's always neat to find one of my stock photos "In the Wild" so I figured that I would stop by the store sometime and take a look at how it was used.

While headed to a Father's Day lunch with my daughters the next day, we found ourselves next door to Barnes & Noble so we popped in to find the book. When I found the book I was pleasantly surprised. In addition to the single image on the back cover, there were six other uses of my work inside the book. That was great to find, but what really caught my attention was the quality of the book. Not only was the photography top-notch (heh heh), but the content was very good - good enough in fact that I coughed up the cash to add this book to my library.

The book is titled Digital Wedding Photography Secrets and is written by Rick Sammon. I have listened to Rick on the PhotoFocus podcast, but had never read one of his books.



The information presented in the book is very thorough and informative. Rick covers nearly every aspect of what it takes to photograph a wedding - from planning to shooting to processing. The information is presented in a way that it is usable to photographers regardless of skill level. After leafing through just a few chapters I knew this was a book I wanted to have on hand to use as a reference manual. As anyone who photographs weddings has probably experienced, there can be a fear of missing out a key detail in the craziness that can happen when shooting a wedding. A brush-up from a book such as this before heading out to photograph the event can be a valuable tool in ensuring that you don't miss a thing.

The book can be found at Amazon.com for under $20. If you're a photographer that shoots weddings or are thinking of heading in that direction in the future, I'd definitely recommend picking up a copy for your library.

...and once you have it, be sure to look for my images :)

Turn & Burn

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens - 1/160 second, f/4, ISO 6400

Rich Legg, Cool Photographer - Not!

One of the great things about doing what I do is that I get to hang out with some awesome photographers. Scott Jarvie is one of those people.

Jarvie dropped by the studio earlier this week to take part in a planning meeting for the August photography clinic that we'll be teaching when an impromptu photo session occurred. He was mesmerized by the mirror ball hanging in the studio (oh! Shiny!!) and wanted to take some shots with it in the background. I was the lucky model chosen to stand in. The tough/cool/trendy photographer look I'm sporting in the shot just cracks me up. But hey, gotta love how I got my White Lightnings in the shot. Thanks Jarvie!

Nikon D700, Nikon 14-24 f/2.8 lens - 1/125 second, f/2.8, ISO 1600

Player

I did a session in studio yesterday of a high school hockey player as a Father's Day present. In addition to some full length shots of him in all of his gear on a white background, I did a few close-ups with a bit more dramatic lighting. This is my favorite of the set.



Here's a behind-the-scenes snap that Niki took with her iPhone while I was shooting. For the lighting setup on this image, I simply turned off all the monolights except for one (I use four for isolated shots) and moved to the subject's side. I didn't bother re-metering the scene and instead chimped the histogram on the back of the camera to set exposure. Quick and easy.

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/80 second, f/4, ISO 100

Tru Colours

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/80 second, f/9, ISO 100

Image in Use: Science Daily

While I get caught up on life after being gone for a week, I'm going to take the easy way out and share a quick image-in-use snapshot for today's post. Enjoy your Tuesday!

Last Night in Houston

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 20 seconds, f/8, ISO 200

XLI

Canon G7 - 1/500 second, f/5.6, ISO 100

The Photographer's Day Off

Today is a day for recuperation after a 26 hour marathon drive from Salt Lake City to Houston on Sunday/Monday. I made the trip as a co-driver to help a friend who is moving back here. After some rest today, I will continue on to College Station tomorrow to spend a few days with my son before flying home.

Today's image is a quick oneI shot this morning while taking a walk around a nearby park. Even though I was tempted to try and capture some Stock Images on the outing, I mostly ended up taking touristy snaps.

Blog updates will most likely be sporadic this week, but next week things should get back to normal.

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 24-105 f/L lens - 1/250 second, f/4, ISO 100

Photowalking Utah: Recapping the June Mini-Clinic

Photo by Nicole Young

I'm pleased to say that last night's Basics of Exposure mini-clinic at the Salt Lake City library was a success. Over 60 photographers listened in on my 90 minute presentation about the subject. It is always great to meet new people that share my passion and last night was no exception.

I have made my Powerpoint presentation available for download for anyone who would like to recap the session. It, along with some of my other presentations, can be found at leggnet.com/presentation.



As a humorous aside, while a few of us were chatting in the library lobby after the class, Niki spotted one of my images in use - the same image that I had just used as a background for the slides in my presentation. Too funny!

Basics of Exposure Mini-Clinic - Tonight!

The third session of my 2009 Photography Mini-Clinic series is being held tonight at the Salt Lake City library. So why did I post a picture of a water spigot? Since the subject of the class is the "Basics of Exposure", one of the analogies I use to teach exposure is water moving through a pipe. If you want to learn more you'll just have to come :)

The clinic is free to anyone who wants to attend. For all of the details, visit the announcement post by clicking here.

Canon 30D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/1600 second, f/4, ISO 100

Dentist Office Photo Shoot

I've just completed the editing, keywording and uploading of images from my most recent stock photo shoot. The location for the session was a local dentist office with a goal of creating realistic images of dental professionals at work. To help me keep things real the both the owner of the dental office and one of the dental assistants were available during the shoot. Shannon, the dental assistant, also participated as one of the models and did an outstanding job as evidenced by the image above.



In this behind-the-scenes image of models Nate and Sarah portraying dentist and patient you can see Courtney (the office owner) watching the scene to ensure accuracy. It was great to have her help. She completely understood the importance of keeping the images realistic.

As always, big props go out to the people that made this shoot possible. Without great locations and models, I absolutely could not do what I do. Thanks to Courtney for access to the location; Shannon, Kati, Sarah, Saylor, Mark, Nate & Harry for modeling; Tori for assisting and lastly Huge Props to Jenn for introducing me to Courtney!

The set of images from this outing can be found in my iStock portfolio once they clear inspection by clicking here.

Save the Date: Photowalking Utah Star Party

The June event for Photowalking Utah has been set, and this one is going to be a Star Studded Outing. Here's the info from the announcement over at PhotowalkingUtah.com:

Saturday June 13th, 2009, Photowalking Utah will be at Stansbury Park (near Tooele) for Star Trail Shots.

The Salt Lake Astronomical Society will be hosting a Star Party at the Stansbury Park Observatory in the evening. Members of SLAS and other enthusiasts bring out their telescopes for the public to look through in addition to the telescopes at the observatory. Check out Saturns Rings or Jupiters Moons while you wait for your Star Trails Bulb shot to complete.

We will be meeting out there at 9:00pm, where I will introduce you to the Vice President of the SLAS. This should also give us enough time so we can be set up by 9:30. Around 10:00pm is about when the stars should really start to shine. Typically the star parties last until 11:00pm, but the ending time for this is still TDB.

You can find Maps to the Observatory on SLAS's website:
slas.us/maps/SPOCMAP.HTM
slas.us/images/MAPS/SPOC_Map.gif (printable)

Once again, the details:
* Stansbury Park Observatory (Not Island)
* June 13th (Saturday)
* 9:00 pm - 11:00 pm (ish)

As always, these events are free of charge and open to photographers of all skill levels. For up-to-the-minute information and to let us know that you're attending, go to the Photowalking Utah Flickr group by clicking here.

Canon Rebel XT, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 339 seconds, f/4, ISO 100

Image in Use: Seagull Book

I had heard about one of my images being used on the Mother's Day advertisement for Seagull Book, but I hadn't seen it. My friend (and fellow iStock contributor) Jacom Stephens received a copy and was kind enough to send it over. This is a great use of the image and I'm happy to see it used in this context.

p.s. The model in the image might look a little familiar.