Photo Shoot: Janie

View More Photos From The Photo Shoot

I got the opportunity to do a photo shoot with the rather inexperienced but still amazingly beautiful Janie this last weekend. She may have been inexperienced but she picked it up quickly and was all smiles. She did an excellent job! She was a blast to hang out with, and the photo shoot ended up taking most of the day, and I captured around 350 photos of her. Out of those, 150 of which she really liked! I probably wont release all of them, but I’ll pick out the ones I like the most out of those to share specifically for you.

There will be more photos uploaded soon. I first have to finish editing some previous photo shoots before I finish editing the rest of Janie’s photos. I’ll keep you posted!

Have a wonderful day!

Thursday Thoughts

A few weeks ago I drove up to Portland, Oregon to go to a photography seminar after work. The seminar was exciting, being my first, but disappointing that it was mostly just advertisement for product.

A few things that I did learn were the importance of a tripod in specific shoots, which convinced me to get a new Manfrotto 190XPROB tripod with a cool head. At the time of writing this blog entry, I have not gotten to use my tripod considering that it is still conveniently located in it's box, and the head is sitting somewhere in either a UPS truck or UPS's home base in Springfield. Regardless, I am excited to use this tripod for some Midnight Photography with some of my friends.

Most importantly, at this Seminar I realized how important it was to go out and take photos for me. I never really went out on my own to explore and take photos by my self. My first time was Sunday afternoon after a couple of my friends convinced me to get out and do some photography. The weather was amazing for early spring, and I took advantage of the amazing clouds in the sky to help compose my photos. And also, later in the week I took some more to add to the collection.

Photography is very important to me, there is very little that can stand in my way of pursuing it as a life long goal. I have been processing the idea of going back to school and it has been becoming very huge deal in my life to find a great school, but not disconnect myself from Eugene at all. I am currently looking at the Art Institute of Seattle, which is very expensive.

Other projects in mind include raising (yes, 100% of all profits) money for a charity or a missions trip by putting together a book of my photography related to Eugene, Oregon before I move on to another location (such as Seattle). I would be getting it printed and selling it myself (obviously) through my web site. Also, I think it would be really cool to have a coffee table book with my photography it.

Anyway, thanks again for all the support, and thoughtfulness. Go ahead and check out all the photos from my photo walks in Eugene, Oregon (More cities coming soon!)

Photo Shoot: Angel in the Cemetery

Earlier this week my friend Angel contacted me and threw out an idea to do a photo shoot in a cemetery at night. I quickly recommended shooting during the day. For once, it was less creepy, but also because the photos would have a bunch of light provided by the sun. Angel did a great job, she had never really been in front of a camera before. She is actually a photographer her self. She had a lot of fun, and unfortunately, I didn't post any of the more fun photos, because they were just really goofy. Maybe someday!

I recently got my hands on some neutral density (ND) filters for my 50mm lens, so I was finally capable of shooting at f/1.4 with my flashes. So, this is my first photo shoot that I have done using my 50mm (my favorite lens for portraits) with flash (my favorite way of lighting the photo). After piling on a ND2, and ND8 filter onto my lens, I was then able to shoot at ISO 200, 1/80th shutter speed, and f/1.4 for most of these photos, which is just amazing considering with out the ND filters, I would have easily been pushing 1/800th or 1/1000th with that lens! So, expect more with this lens now that i am capable of satisfying myself with light and my favorite portrait lens.

Update: A friend of mine, Zack, asked me "Why wouldn't you want 1/800th or 1/1000th of a second shutter speed?" Well, the answer to that question is quite simple. With most cameras, they can only sync your flash to a certain speed. my Nikon D300 DSLR can only sync with a flash at 1/250th or 1/320th of a second or lower. So when using my 50mm f/1.4 with flash before, I lost my depth of field because I had to adjust my aperture to a setting that wouldn't over expose the photograph with the flash. So, by reducing the amount of light that can enter the lens using a ND filter (or two), I am able to produce photos with a more natural light source (sun) and my 50mm at f/1.4 and receive beautiful photographs of the model popping in focus from the blurred background behind them without it being over exposed.