So I coined a new phrase for myself, wanna hear it? Sure ya do! So the day before, I was driving home and I was thinking about my scheduled photos for the next morning.  Where would we take the photos, how is the lighting going to be, etc. That's when I thought, it's evening now and the lighting will be totally different. I decided to stop beating myself up and overthinking it. I realized then, that, you can't plan for inspiration. Long story short, I am really excited about the way photos turned out this morning. I thought the fog may end up being a hinderance, but not knowing how long it would take for it to burn off, I decided to take a gamble and incorporate it into the first set of shots. My senior this morning played field hockey as you can tell and I think the shot is awesome. "You can't plan for inspiration!"
Tech Specs: 1/400s, focal length120mm, f10, ISO200 on a tripod using D90 and the 80-200 2.8f Nikon Lens. No post processing!

The Green Family was on our way to celebrate Grandma Barko's 80th birthday at Leo's in Mt Pleasant. Victoria looked so pretty in her polka-dot dress. Mommy even accented her dress with a matching hair band. Don't be fooled by her demure look, a few moments later we were blowing gum bubbles bigger than our face!


I am not sure what style you call this but it reminds me of a recolorized 1950's photo. I reduced the noise (shot at 800ISO because we were travelling in the car and I wanted a fast shutter speed to avoid motion) using Noise Ninja and then another plug-in called Grain Surgery. I created a layer and used the highest setting to create a nice soft look. I then erased through on the eyes to regain some of the sharpness and a little on the eyelashes, brows and nose. I flattened these layers and then created another. I made the top layer black and white. I set a custom black and white look adjusting each of the colors to get the look that I wanted. Then I erased through the eyes very carefully at 100%. I also erased through the cheeks and lips. I only used about a 15-20% opacity on the eraser for that part though. I flattened the image and did an adjusted additional contrast for the final look.

The original specs from the camera were 1/125s - f/5.0 - ISO800 - no flash. Also, I used a D40. lightweight and easy to carry!

Folks this is NOT a stuffed animal! It is the latest addition to the wildlife academy at Nemacolin. It is a baby white lion. I needed to take a few shots for Marketing, Retail, etc. The little guy, dubbed "The Prince of Nemacolin" will be on The Early Show this coming up Tuesday August 2nd. Watch for it!  Tech specs?  1/125s, f/7.1, ISO800.  Bounced an SB800 off of a 7ft white ceiling at full power.  The room had flourescent lights.  I had to do some post production with WB and levels.  Oh, and he had a little eye booger that I cleaned up in Photoshop.  Your welcome.

Victoria with her horse Sugar.  PapPap loves his granddaughter soooo much!  PapPap took the week off of work and has taken Victoria down to see her horse every day this week!  PapPap got the horse for Victoria last year and takes care of EVERYTHING!  I don't think I thank him enough for what he has done for her, but I hope Victoria has.  Oh, about the picture...this was totally Rhonda's vision. But I get to post it because I pressed the button :)  Mostly post-production work.  Converted to B&W.  Soft Focus and glow using Picasa simple edits.  I already printed a copy for myself to put in my office!

Took some engagement photos last night. I have been wanting to take photos at this location longer than these two have been dating! Three years in case you were wondering.  Used the D90 with "vivid".  Manually set the WB to about 5500k.  1/200s f/8 ISO400.  I also used teh SB8oo as a slave flash at 1/4 power and the on camera flash at 1/5 power.  7:45pm or so.

I am pretty sure I found my new favorite place for family photos! Well, it has to be July, less than 10ppl, early in the morning and they have to be willing to travel to the Maples Condos! I had scouted the location a week prior. I had even cleared some random tree branches so they wouldn't get in the way. Well, this this spot was across the street! When I approached the family, they were lingering in the area and I thought, oh my, this would be perfect. There is a street behind the rocks and foliage. I took the photos from a tripod only about 30 inches off the ground so as to not get the road. 1/160s, f8, ISO400 (it was overcast, and I needed some extra shutter speed because of the babies random movements), Manual WB 5880k. In retrospect, the picture could have benefitted from the white balance being a little cooler, but I am still happy with the results.

I have been wanting to get a picture of Sean Tyler riding his motocross bike for at least 2 years. Well, it took a personal invitation from him telling me that he is leaving for college in 5 days! I had to stop by to wish him well because I have known him since he was knee-high! Amazingly, he volunteered to ride around a bit so that I could get a few pictures. I printed this one for him the next day. 1/2500s, f7.1, ISO800.  Yes, I know the ISO is a bit high and the f-stop a little low, but it was nearing 8pm and the light just wasn't there to get the stop motion that I needed.  Sheesh, what a bunch of critics!!

Victoria's Tennis Lessons

Victoria's tennis lesson on June 19th. I really like this picture. You can't see the ball but you can tell she is really ready to smack it! Plus, look how cute she looks! Boy. I really like the D90 camera. Such beautiful color. With the right settings, white balance, and the appropriate use of the D-Lighting feature, my outside photos are gorgeous. 1/640, f10, ISO200.

Fourth of July fireworks at Nemacolin. This one almost doesn't look real. It's definitely my favy. I was pretty lucky this year in that it wasn't windy and the sky was crisp. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful night as well. 5 second exposure on a tripod. f10 and ISO200. Happy Fourth!

Spring 2010

I had the wonderful opportunity to take my oldest daughter's photo before she went to her school dance. I really have to hand it to her, she looks beautiful. My wife really did a great job on her hair and helping her get ready. Don't think I didn't give the boyfriend the evil eye. He's a really good kid though but I just had to! I'd have to draw a diagram to show you where I set up the lighting. It's not easy shooting the glass!

Yeah, that's right! I took pictures of the Stanley Cup yesterday. I set my camera on a tripod with a timer and pre-focused. Peep the GreenStudios shirt!

Is getting a good family photo taken a myth? No, I don't think so. A little planning on everybodys part to somewhat match and agree on a color scheme is important. You don't have to go out and buy all of your shirts at the same time to match exactly. Everyone has their own personality. Is time of day important? YES! If you want to do an outdoor photo indeed. You may have to wait from day to day to wait for the perfect weather opportunity but it will be well worth it. When possible, try to do early in the morning, about an hour or so after sunrise. You can also do an evening shoot. Plan on starting about an hour and a half before sunset. Spontaneous placement lends itself to a much better appeal in the finished product. We took the photos Wednesday morning and then enjoyed the day together. Thursday morning Rhonda and I uploaded the photo to MPix.  We had it printed on their metallic paper and received it Friday.  It's on display, I wish you could see it!  It looks awesome...

Stew. Short for Stewart. Say hello. Three feet away from this cat can be quite intimidating.  But what a great opportunity to get this shot!  I took this with a small point and shoot.  A Canon SD800.  I had it on manual so I could set the white balance and ISO.  I couldn't set the shutter or aperature but the camera chose 1/200s and f5.6.  I turned off the flash.  I can't imagine what how Stew would have reacted with a flash going off in his eyes.  I certainly don't want to find out either.  I really wish I would have had my D90 or D200 with me but I am quite happy with the results from my point and shoot.  I am thinking of the movie Ratatouille when the chef says "anyone can cook".  I think the same holds true for photography that anyone can take great photos.  It just takes practice and patience.

Tennille needed a new profile picture for MySpace. I like these kind of assignments when I am given liberty to do whatever I want. She just got some new eyeshadow and made a rainbow out of all the colors. So creative, just like her dad! I used a shallow depth of field and stood on a crate! Anyway it is my first day of vacation and I am happy to be at home with my family doing these kinds of projects!

I was doing some photography for a group last week involving golfers and printing and then putting them into frames. I take a photo of the golf foursome before they tee off and while they are doing their 18 holes, I process the photos and print one copy for each participant. Everything is all fine and good until I see the generic photo put into the 5x7 frames that this company provided. I really wish I would have kept it to show you. It was terrible! This girl is all wet but she looks like she is slimy and sweaty. Her look is something between a heroin addict and Cindy Lauper with jogging shorts and a tank top! Well I was lucky enough 2 days later to do Senior Photos for this great gal pictured here. I am afraid I may compare her to all future Senior Photo clients. She remembered my instructions from the beginning of the shoot and smiled graciously throughout. I would like to unofficially submit this photo as the replacement for the hideous "frame picture". Thanks Autumn, you were great!

Today is September 1, 2009. This has to be the most georgeous day on record. I could not pass up this day without taking some photos. I planned on taking my daughters out to take photos after dinner. I was going to supply each of them with a camera and see what they came up with. My oldest has other plans to hang out with friends, typical teenager. Victoria was game! I gave her a Canon SD800 point and shoot. You can see her holding it in the photo. I used a Nikon D40 to take this photo of her. Since the sun was still pretty strong, I put the color on MORE VIVID and the white balance to direct sunlight. When the camera is set to being extremely vivid, the contrast can sometimes be too much and darken the photo. I set the exposure compensation up a 1/3. This was definitely a picture for me. I can't wait to print it tomorrow.

Will you look at this B-E-A-utiful dog! It is a Bernese Mountain Dog. It belongs to a nice young lady who works at the Nemacolin Pet Spa. You should see this dog in person! The paws are HUGE! Gert. That's the name. Short for Gertrude I believe. Gert weighs in at 101 pounds. I had to take a photo of Gert for some flags or banners that will be hung around the property. She was freshly groomed and washed just before she came out into the sunshine. So what did Gert do? Ran straight for the lake! 1/200s - f10 - ISO200 - WB:Direct Sunlight - Vivid Color. I photoshopped out some "shoestring" saliva from the mouth. I think I am going to submit this photo to Bernese Mountain Dogs Quarterly as the cover image. Whaddya think?

Layers. That's how this is done. How could I get a photo of the family AND fireworks at just the right time? The next day in photoshop. Camera on a tripod to get the fireworks. I handed the camera to a friend for the family shot. There's a few different ways to do this but I chose to lasso around what I wanted to keep with a feather of 25 pixels. I copied what I had lasso'd (ctrl-C) and then pasted (ctrl-V) on top of the fireworks photo. I positioned the family photo where I wanted and then began to erase away any extra that I didn't want from my lasso'ing. That's about it. It looks pretty cool though and you know it was a Fourth of July photo! I am sending to all friends and family who don't subscribe to my blog. They should all be subscribed to my blog right ... um... hello...