Justin and Rusty–Black and White Shots from the Garage

In early September I met and became friends with Jackie and Steve who were buying a number of prints from my Southern Maryland Photography gallery.  The photography was printed, framed and delivered in time for Jackie’s promotion party which I attended this past weekend.  Jackie hired a couple of talented young men to perform at her party – another photography opportunity for me!

The photography was little challenging to say the least.  Due to the passing showers, Justin and Rusty were forced to set up in the garage.  In general, garages do not make good photo studios.  This was made even more challenging because Justin (guitar) had his back to the open garage door which meant the lighting was dominated by back-lighting.

Having only my camera and no lighting gear, I pressed on and did my best to take advantage of what I could.  With the less than optimal lighting, some odd backgrounds to deal with, and uninteresting or even distracting colors, all the photography was processed as black and white through Silver Efex Pro 2.

This was my first run at processing a group of raw photos through Silver Efex Pro 2, and led to a couple of discoveries with respect to work flow.  First I started with my normal workflow of importing all the shots into Lightroom.  Next I proceeded with my normal process of selecting and rejecting shots.  Then I went to work on individual photos.  This is the point where the workflow diverges.

At first, I went directly to Silver Efex and made the black and white conversion. With the round trip to Silver Efex complete, I found that some Lightroom work was still warranted – such as cropping, and using the spot removal tool.

I quickly found that these Lightroom adjustments are best made before processing in Silver Efex Pro.  In the end, I discovered the only Lightroom adjustment best left for post Silver Efex Pro was noise reduction.  Because I was shooting at ISO 800, there were a couple of shots with underexposed areas that benefited from applying the Lightroom noise reduction tool.

I remain completely enamored with Silver Efex Pro 2 and the level of control and added creativity it offers for processing black and white photography.

Have fun, and go make some great photography.

Craig

Patuxent River Naval Air Station Triathlon–Bike

Welcome back to part two of my mini-series of posts featuring photography from the Patuxent River Triathlon.  Today’s post will focus on the bike leg of the race.

Similar to the case with the swim, the bikes and clothing are plenty colorful.  However, I believe these shots work much better in black and white.  For example, the first shot of the post has a couple of distracting elements when viewed in color; a) the green of the grass and background trees that bisect the photo, and b) the yellow of the center line cutting through his bike.  While these are not horrible flaws, when processed as black and white, they become complete non issues.

If you scroll back up to take a look at the second photograph, you can see a good example of a traditionally framed cycling shot.  The components to this composition include a) leaving “room” in front of the cyclist so he visually has a place to go (imagine how awkward it would look if the front wheel were on the right edge of the composition with a bunch of open space behind the bike), b) I used a sufficiently slow shutter speed to blur the wheels a bit – introducing a sense of motion, and c) further enhancing the sense of motion by panning the shot and introducing more motion blur to the immobile parts of the composition.

Have fun, and go make some great photography.

Craig

Patuxent River Naval Air Station Triathlon–the Swim

Back in the day (I think it was a Wednesday), I used to go to triathlons to compete.  This weekend I went to the Patuxent River Naval Air Station Triathlon to support Chef Sue (my wife), Gunslinger Teji, and Triathlon Buddy Brian.  Back in the day, Brian and I trained and raced together with religious fervor.  Quite impressively, Brian is still racing – and racing well.  At a shade over 50, He won his age group and was not far off the leader’s time – quite impressive.  Chef Sue and Gunslinger Teji were there with the intent of finishing; both accomplished their goal.  Congratulations.

Triathlons are target rich environments for photographers, so I took advantage of the opportunity.  I do not claim to be a sports photographer and definitely tend toward a more artistic interpretation of anything I shoot.  This triathlon is no exception.

So what distinguishes my “artistic” interpretation of a triathlon from what one would normally expect from a sports photographer?  While taking the photography, I probably would not have been able to tell you.  But in retrospect, as I look through the entire group of photos, I see several trends including:

• lots of shallow depth of field
• composition that fills the frame rather than larger environmental compositions
• about half of the photographs were processed as black and white – an artistic choice
• detail shots

With so much activity and being surrounded by interesting subjects, I shot a lot.  My hit rate (shots I felt worthy of keeping) was also pretty high.  For this reason, I will cover the race in several posts.  Obviously, this post focuses on the swim.

From a photographers standpoint, triathlons are generally started in good light.  Triathlons normally start early in the day to avoid the heat of the day.  With a 8 am start, I was lucky to have some great light (relatively low on the horizon) for shooting.  It became progressively harsher toward the end of the run, but overall, light is an advantage for early morning race starts.

The choice to process photos as black and white is not always an easy one at events such as this. One of the cool things at triathlons is the rainbow of colors. Swim suits, swim caps, bright blue water, race shirts, bikes – all full of color. Still, I find that black and white works with many of the shots.

Stand by for more posts later this week covering the bike and run portions of the race.

Have fun, and go make some great photography.

Craig

Bound for Life–Protesters at The Supreme Court Part II

These are some additional photographs of the Bound for Life group holding vigil at the Supreme Court.  Other than being the subjects in the photography, this post is not about the group Bound for Life.  More generally, this post is about protesters and photography.

First, photographers and protesters make a good match.  Protesters want to be seen and heard – photographers are usually willing to play along with the “being seen” part.  Many photographers find it difficult to approach people, begin a conversation, and get permission to include them in a photograph.  Protesters short circuit this ritual – they are there to be seen and (mostly) expect to be photographed.

Second, protesters are usually involved in some extraordinary behavior.  Whether carrying a sign with spelling errors, holding a bible up to the Supreme Court, or shouting their message at passing tourists, something interesting is sure to happen, or a unique juxtaposition emerge if you are patient.

Third, protesters are normally in interesting places – particularly here in Washington DC.  Having a nice back drop like the Supreme Court, the White House, the Capitol Building, or even the Department of the Interior, is a nice prop for the photography.  Thanks protesters.

Speaking of the Department of the Interior, my wife was in lock down at the DOI HQ building yesterday at the precise moment I was shooting the protesters in front of the Supreme Court.  DOI was locked down due to protesters that were less well behaved than the silent and respectful protest of Bound for Life.

I am accumulating a sizeable portfolio of protests, marches, rallies or individuals marching around with battered signs while looking for that beer they lost leaving them one bottle short of a six pack.  Most of my encounters have been happy coincidence.  What I really need is a way to easily know the schedule of all these events in advance.  An iPhone app for that would be very cool.  I believe I will begin my own protest demanding a protest app.

Have fun, and go make some great photography!

Craig

The Not “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear”

My last post – Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear – featured a few photographs from the rally and made commentary on the thoroughly moderate and reasonable nature of the rally in comparison to the more common march or rally that includes tasteless attacks on some person, politician, policy, or group.  Unfortunately, I do not have a collection of photography to support this.  I plan on correcting this by attending and photographing as many rallies, protests, marches or other such events that occur in DC.

In the mean time, I thought to share a couple of photos I happened to find while processing some shots from last spring.  These shots are emblematic of what the rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear was not.  I don’t recall the purpose of this rally, but I was able to catch this guy passing by the Capitol Building on the way to the Mall.  As you can see, the Capitol Police were quite entertained as he chanted and marched in the midst of his solitary protest.

Have fun, and go make some great photography.

Craig

Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear

This weekend I attended the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear hosted by John Stewart and Stephen Colbert.  From a photographic perspective, it was a great opportunity and I had a complete field day.  Unlike some of the rallies in DC often filled with hateful, mean, or completely slanderous messages, this rally was a remarkable exercise in moderation – as it was intended.  Certainly there were people with signs that poked harshly at some of the people and policies on the extremes, but the vast majority of participants with signs were creative and frequently entertaining.

One aspect of the rally that impressed me most was the shear number of people.  The rally was well organized and designed to take place on the National Mall between 3rd and 7th streets.  It was clear that the organizers had underestimated the popularity of the event as the crowds stretched to the Washington Monument (14th street) and clogged many of the cross streets for several blocks off the Mall.

I am including several photos here, but you can see more at my Flickr Photostream.

Have fun, and go make some great photography.

Craig

Event Photography – Retirement of Captain David Newton

Recently a good friend of mine, Captain David Newton, retired from the US Coast Guard after 25 years of service.  As the date of his retirement approached, Dave asked if I would take some photographs of the event.  For the loyal readers of this blog it should be clear that “event photography” is not something I normally do.  On the other hand, I thought it would be great fun to marry my artistic approach to Dave’s ceremony.

In addition to the challenge of trying something new while helping a good friend, this event was a real treat because it featured a number of interesting subjects including the U.S. Coast Guard Honor Guard, and the U.S. Coast Guard Silent Drill Team.

I imagine event photography such as this is similar to the process and challenges faced by wedding photographers – a prominent genre of event photography.  While I have never photographed a wedding, I experienced some of the challenges that I am sure wedding photographers encounter on a regular basis.

Some of the challenges include:

1. Being in the right place at the right time.
2. Having the right lens on the camera while being in the right place at the right time.
3. Changing lenses in the midst of activity…risking missing that perfect moment.
4. Adjusting and adapting to a variety of light conditions.
5. Aunt Irma moving into the frame at the wrong time.
6. Fully prepping your equipment (batteries, memory cards, etc.).
7. And on, and on.

In the end, I had a great time shooting Dave’s retirement.  It was a fun challenge and certainly a target rich environment.

I have a number of additional photos featuring the U.S. Coast Guard Honor Guard and the U.S. Coast Guard Silent Drill Team.  I promise to post more images of these fine young men and women.

A photographic note regarding the first and last photographs.  The ceremony proper occurred inside.  The official party for the ceremony was back dropped by a set of windows with bright midday light shining into a dimly lit room.  This was further complicated by the white uniforms.  At first, I was horrified…these are difficult conditions to shoot.  Rather than fight the environment, I decided to take advantage of the conditions.  I exposed for the highlights in the uniforms and let the background blow-out.  I took this a step further in post processing by increasing the contrast dramatically while also increasing the exposure.  The result is this somewhat surrealist interpretation of the event.
Congratulations to Captain David Newton, USCG (Retired) and best of luck with your next adventure!
Have fun and go make some great photography!
Craig