HOTPPG Image Competition

We had our last regular meeting of the HOTPPG two weeks ago.  As always we had our image competitions.  The challenge for this month was Low Light images. It was a black and white print competition.  While we were on our cruise in August, I took photographs during the entertainment in the evening.  In looking at them, there was one that struck me as a good candidate for conversion to black and white.  So, I used Nik Silver Effects Pro and converted it to black and white, and then cropped it square. It ended up coming in second, but that was enough to guaranty that I would win the Black and White Artist competition for the year.

Spotlight

HOTPPG Shoot Out 2016 Famillies

We had two families.  They first was this couple and their daughter.  This was really hard as the little girl was not really into the experience.

Christa Aaron and Noraa

My second station was with a teenage girl.  As we were finishing with her, her mother came up and wanted a picture of the two of them.

Courtney and Cindy

The second family was my last station.  It was getting dark, and the little girl was obviously done for the night.  As I was setting up the light and getting my exposure, I clicked this one and it turned out to be quite good.

Benjamin and Baby

I did get one of the whole family after that.

Stevens Family

HOTPPG Shoot Out 2016

Last week we had the annual HOTPPG shoot out at Carleen Bright Arboretum. We had seven models/families and got to shoot each for about 10 minutes. Courtney

Again, as I said in a previous post, I am enjoying these moody kinds of portraits in which the subject is looking away.

Matthew

This was of a young man.  I had him posed standing against a rail fence, and it gave kind of a rustic look to the overall image.

Chris

Another young man. This one was the hardest to get. We did this in the evening as then was setting, and this location had really strong direct sunlight.  It was almost impossible to get anything that looked good, but I was finally able to get this, and I like the casual look of it.

Colby

Another one of my kind of experimental images.  I wanted to incorporate the leading lines of the fence, but the light wasn’t cooperating with me. It turned out OK, though, as this could be used as an image for a graduation announcement or something like that by adding text to it.

Cindy 1

This woman is a local author who needed some shots for publicity.  I like the colors in it.

Additionally, she asked if I could take one that could be used for her business cards.  I did one that I really liked on the back of the camera, but when I looked at it on the screen, the focus point was off, and her face was out of focus.  However, I took this one as well that I think really did do what she requested.

Cindy 2

HOTPPG Shoot Out 2015

The Heart of Texas Professional Photographers Guild held their annual Shoot Out on October 13.  Because there was a competition, I did not post any of the pics.  We had several models and each photographer shot each model for 15 minutes.  After everything was done, each model got several images from each photographer.  This was the best of mine.

Shoot Out  001

Denton Guyer H.S. Silverados

Audrey is in the Denton Guyer HS Dance Squad – The Silverados.  We went and watched them at halftime of a football game on Friday.  These are some of the pictures I got.

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Galveston

I spent last weekend in Galveston and just about all I had to do was take pictures.  I began at the harbor in my usual spot where the shrimp and fishing boats dock.  I got some reasonable pictures of birds, but I got a pretty good environmental portrait of this fisherman mending his net.

After The Catch

That evening was Art Walk.   After that, I waited until the sun was down and went to the beach.  I wanted to get a night shot of the fishing pier.  That mean a really long shutter speed which meant that as the waves came in, there was a sequential reflection of the pier’s light on the water.

61st St. Fishing Pier

HOTPPG “Bridal”

Melanie served as our “Bride.  I tried to get on of those really popular shots with the train/veil being blown out by the wind.  It did not work all that well, but the shot isn’t that bad.

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Again, the lighting was working against me, but I did manage to get a few nice bridal portraits.

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HOTPPG “Ballerina”

The “Ballerina” at the HOTPPG Shoot Out was Genna. Again the light was harsh, and you had to shoot either in shade or in bright sun.

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Debbie really liked this one of her holding the cedar tree.

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I tried to get a good image of her doing a jump.  Between the timing and the framing, it was nearly impossible.  I probably should have zoomed out more. I finally go this one, but she was way off to the side.  So, some cropping was in order.

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HOTPPG “Child”

The “child” model for the HOTPPG Shoot Out was Rachel. She was an 11 year old girl.  I asked her what she wanted to do and she said “Get in the water.”  The look on her mother’s face was of concern.  So, I told her she get in as long as she didn’t get her dress wet.

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The sun was going down quickly, and she was not really all that interested in posing any more, but I got a couple nice shots of her.

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HOTPPG Shoot Out – “Senior” Portrait

Our “Senior” was named Nimsi.  I tried getting pictures of her in one of the cabins, but the light cast shadows on her face, and the background was terrible.  So, we moved outside.

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Again, the light was a challenge.  Debbie did not like the shadow on her cheek, but there was little I could do about it.

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We shot on the shore of Lake Waco, and the lake made for an interesting background.  In this one, I like the strong sunlight on her left side.

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On this one, I again like the strong light on her left, but I think the lighting across her face was effective.