My oldest son started school at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) this fall. My wife and I were able to take him to Savannah and get him settled. We spent a few days hanging out in, and around, Savannah. I have to say, wow. What a great old town! The locals are so patient with the tourists it is amazing. Such nice people.  And the Historic District of Savannah is just awesome. It has some amazing architecture along with some great parks and squares to just hang out in and look at the old oak trees covered in spanish moss.

Nikon F4, Nikkor 35-135 F3.5, Kodak Tri-X 400

There is such a variety of things to see in the Savannah area that it kept our days full. We went to the beach at Tybee Island and had some great sea food there. We got to explore the antique shops and eat on the river front at some great places. Everywhere I looked there was a picture to be taken. This shot is taken at Tybee Island. Right now it's a work print that I am playing with in the darkroom. I am playing with some toning techniques to see where I can take this one. So far so good. 

Okay, not to brag but Money Magazine has named Louisville the best small town to live in (or something like that) again. Louisville, Colorado is a great community for sure. I have loved living here ever since we moved in 10 years ago. For a little bedroom community we have some pretty swank places to eat and shop. There are really nice people here too. Here are some shots I took just bumming around the neighborhood last summer, Friday night street fair, walking trails and old town.

Mamiya 645 80mm, F2.8 Kodak Portra 400

If you ever get a chance to come to town make sure you hit the old town main street and grab some great tacos, burgers or a nice cold one.

I have been covering Team Anomaly, a local paintball team, over the summer. When I tell people I photograph paintball tournaments they always look at me a little funny. They sort of cock their head to the side and say "You photograph paintball tournaments?". Most people think of paintball as some sort of game for young kids or middle aged men who run around the back woods shooting each other. While there is that side to it, Team Anomaly was in an Xball tournament series this summer. Xball is very different than the stereo type of paintball that most people think of. It is more like a sport than most people realize. There are rules, referees, positions, strategies, sponsorships, and even bleachers for spectators to watch. It is a real x-games type sport.

Nikon F4, Sigma 70-300, Kodak Portra 400

It is quite a challenge to photograph a paintball tournament for sure. I have to wear all the protective gear the players are wearing and try to look through a viewfinder while dodging paintballs. Very exciting! Nothing like a family portrait session. Team Anomaly ended up taking 2nd place overall for the whole tournament series, these photographs were taken of their first place win for the 5 man game.

I had a great time photographing Kendra's senior photos a few days ago. It was one of those summer days in Colorado with afternoon scatered rain showers. Of course it scatered on us, but that didn't slow us down. We got some fantastic photographs she and her family are really happy with.

 

Mamiya 645, 80mm F2.8, Kodak TRI-X400 

If you don't keep a camera of some sort with you all the time you should. I can't tell you how many times I stumble across something and say "I wish I had my camera". For those of you who say "just use your phone", my phone camera sucks. I use a little pocket camera now. The thing is, you never know when you will see a great grab shot.

I was in Florida a few months back and had some time to go out and shoot on the beach for a couple of hours in between meetings etc. I had my trusty brick of a medium format camera with me. I had a great time shooting and was headed back to my hotel room happy with what I shot. On the way up to my room I walked past the bar and just happened to glance over as I walked past. Holly smokes! The afternoon light, streaming through the windows, played perfectly with the architecture of the space. I stopped, pulled out my camera, took one exposure and moved on. Below is the quick grab image I have now because I had my camera at the right time. This one didn't get away.

(Mamiya 645 80mm F2.8, Kodak E100VS film)

Keep your eyes open always looking for images, even if you don't have a camera with you. Stop and take a look at the world around you, it makes you think. Then, when you do have a camera, you will be able to capture what you are seeing.

It's been a while since my last post. Sorry for that. I was in Florida a few weeks back for a corporate event. The usual stuff, meetings and dinners etc. One of the things that I was part of was a shell hunting excursion. We had a boat that took us out to a little sandbar of an island called Romeo Island. The boat dropped us off on the east side of the island and we started to walk around it, nose pointed at the ground looking for the "killer" shell. As I walked around the little island I looked up and saw this weird looking ruin of a house! I dropped my bag of shells and made a beeline for it. I found my beach treasure.

As this year gets started with really cold temperatures and snow on the ground I can't help but wish for summer. I am able to get some of my negatives out, head for the dark room, and make some nice prints while the weather is cold. While I was sorting through some of the film I want to print, I came across a roll that I fired off in the back yard last summer. My sons were running around playing Appleball (they hit rotten apples with baseball bats) and playing with the dog. I thought it would be a good time to capture our little schnauzer then. He was having so much fun with his boys.

Nikon F4, Nikkor 35-135, Freestyle Legacy Pro 400

If you want to photograph your pet you will need to be fast. If you have a camera that has a burst mode, use it. Get down on their level, on your belly if you need to. Think/look ahead to get in the right place at the righ time. Bring treats, and shoot a LOT.

Disclaimer: This is not a scientific test, my results may be different than yours and results may vary.

I have ordered some of the new Kodak Portra 400 film and can't wait to give it a spin. I have seen some posts on a few other blogs that have shown how wide the exposure latitude of the new film is. You can see some good examples over at Twin Lens Life. They are some great film shooters in the Riverside area. I have also seen a test of Fuji X-tra 400 consumer film that showed how much exposure latitude it has over at Figital Revolution. All films are different and behave differently, that's the beauty of film. Knowing what you want to get right out of the camera and knowing what film will get you there instead of working for hours in photoshop to get there is a great way to work.

For my example I chose to shoot with some Kodak Ultramax 400. It's easy to get your hands on and I figure that if someone wanted to start shooting film for the first time, or go back to it for kicks, they would be likely to pick some of this up and start shooting. It breaks down to about $2.50 a roll, not expensive and easy on the wallet.

What I did on my first roll is to expose the first frame at 50 iso and then move each frame after that up one stop, all the way to 6400 iso. I did this so I could find the "sweet spot" to set my iso on my camera. You might be saying "But the box says 400 iso, don't you set it at 400?". The short answer is maybe. Just because the box speed says 400 doesn't mean that you get the best results at 400. In the other examples from Twin Lens Life and Figital Revolution you can see that the films performed really well at just about all speeds. That's right, you can shoot those films like you can with digital and move the iso around! The Kodak Ultramax however, doesn't perform so great at 400 or higher (again these are my results, yours may be different). You can see my examples below.

 

All shot with a Nikon F4 and 50mm F 1.4 lens. 1 hour minilab at walgreens.

As you might be able to see 400 iso is about the max this film can shoot at. It seems that the film starts to flatten out in contrast and the grain starts to get bigger at 400 iso. If a person didn't know this and was excited to "try film" and shot this at box speed they might be a bit disappointed and think that all film looks like this. Now that I know how this film behaves with my shooting style and camera system I will be shooting this film at 100 iso not 400. The grain structure, color saturation and the blacks seem to be real nice at 100 iso and it still gives me about 2 stops + or - for error and I will still get a nice exposure. If you want to get into shooting film and you chose this film just for "testing it out" you would probably be better off setting your iso at 100 or 200 to start out. I think you will like your photographs more and it wouldn't discourage you from shooting some more.

People ask me all the time "when is the best light to photograph our family?". Anytime as long as it's not dark is my answer. People have heard that the best light is the "Magic Hour", the hour at sunrise and at sunset. It is true that this light can be absolutely amazing at these times of the day. It can make a corn field in Iowa look like a destination vacation. I don't know many people, even some photographers, who love to get up an hour or two before the sun to have their photograph taken, let alone a family of four with small children. So, that leaves the rest of the day to take photographs. I will give you two tips on how to make a great portrait with not so great natural light. In order to use these tips however, you will need to figure out how to set your camera in manual mode. 

Tip 1: Back Light
Two of the images below are done with this technique. Find where the sun is in the sky and put it on the back side of your subject. This will create a shadow that falls on the face and front of your subject. If you leave your camera on Program or "P" (no, P does not stand for professional) and shoot the photo, your photo will most likely have a dark face and a perfectly exposed background. That's not what you want. What you need to do is meter for the shadows so that your subjects face will be properly exposed, let the background blow out if you have to. One way to expose for the shadows is to point your camera into a dark shadow of a tree or something that is casting a big shadow. Another is to set your camera meter to read 2 to 4 stops over what it says is correct. Open the aperture all the way to 3.2, 2.5 or if you have fast lenses 1.4 or 1.2. Then adjust your shutter to get the exposure set. My meter on the two below wanted me to shoot at something like f2.8 at 1/250th but when I metered in the shadow it was more like f2.8 at 1/60th. Shooting this way made a nice hair light, made the color all nice and creamy and exposed her face properly.

 

Mamiya 645, 80mm f2.5, Kodak E100G

Tip 2: Shoot in Open Shade
The next tip is to find some nice open shade. Under a garden gazebo, large shade tree or whatever you have available. When you put your subject in the shade you have eliminated the hard shadows made from the sun. The first tip talked about metering for the shadows, in this example you are IN the shadow. Depending on your camera and meter though, you will still want to over expose a bit. One stop probably, but to make sure just point your camera at the ground in the shade area and set your camera to expose for the dark part of the shade you are in. Two of the images above were shot this way. My meter wanted me to shoot at f2.8 at 1/125th but I shot at f2.8 at 1/60th.

These tips work best with color negative films. But it still works, with a bit more practice, for slide film and digital cameras. If you are shooting with a digital camera set your capture for RAW not jpg. That will give you a greater latitude for capturing all the values in the image. Give it a try and see what you come up with. It's a great way to stretch your creative eye, and gets you out there shooting even when you think the light sucks.