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.
Again, the lighting was working against me, but I did manage to get a few nice bridal portraits.
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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.
Debbie really liked this one of her holding the cedar tree.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Again, the light was a challenge. Debbie did not like the shadow on her cheek, but there was little I could do about it.
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.
On this one, I again like the strong light on her left, but I think the lighting across her face was effective.
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My first shots were with a nice family, Brandy, Tye, and Tripp. It was windy and the light was pretty bad, but I found a nice place for them to stand, and things worked out OK.
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I kind of liked the wider view just as a little distraction.
As with all kids this age, the challenge was to get him to look at the camera. I really liked this one because he is actually looking at me (in spite of the hair problem).
Last night, I had the pleasure of being a guest at the Heart of Texas Professional Photographers Guild open shoot out. The event was held at Airport Park. The HOTPPG is a group of professionals in the area. In this meeting, they allowed local photographers who were not so professional to tag along. I had a great time.
They had a variety of models representing different types of photography, and, there were so many I did not get to photograph them all. They had a family, a bride, a teen age girl, a ballerina, a “tween” girl, an infant and a bride and groom. We each took 10 minute turns with the models.
I had a great time, but it was hectic. Ten minutes does not give you much time to find a location, build a report with the model, and get some shots. Additionally, the circumstances made it difficult, if not impossible to use any kind of lighting. The even was in the evening. So, there was a pretty good sunset, but it didn’t really play into the even that well.
Anyway, it was a great experience. I will be posting images as I get them processed. This is a group I would like to continue to be associated with. However, I may not quite be in the same league, professionally, as they.
On a recent CreativeLive, the speaker said he has all his work done at Costco. He said they do it right there and do it fast, and, for the most part, the work is no different than that done at a custom lab. So, I decided to try Sam’s. I uploaded twelve images. I went to order the prints and immediately saw that I had a problem. The selection of sizes was limited. The only sizes that would allow me to have prints of the full image were 4 x 6 and 20 x 30. There was a selection called “True Digital” but there was no indication of what that was. So, I was stuck with 8×10 or 11×14 and having to crop the image. Well, I ordered one of the “True Digital” prints just to see what it was and one 11×14 of each of the images.
I did not hear back from them notifying me the prints were done. So, I asked in the store, and I was told it takes about an hour. The “True Digital” print was something slightly smaller than a 4×6. The 11×14 enlargements were all well done. They were printed on a semi-gloss paper that was acceptable for the images. I got to manipulate the cropping. So, that was acceptable from the point of view that the images were cropped where I wanted them to be. But, they were still cropped. A couple were somewhat darker than on screen. There is, of course, no ability to calibrate. So, that might be something that needs to be considered.
My next job is to locate appropriate matts for them.
Galveston has a huge number of large historic houses. I have wanted to get HDR images of many of them to add to my Galveston images. A few months ago, I got some of the Bishop’s Palace and a house across from it on Broadway, but didn’t have time to get more of other places. I started today with the ones that the Galveston Historic Foundation lists on their web site.
This was the Samuel May Williams house.
This was the Michael B. Menard House. Note the bird on the porch. Those looked like herons. They were walking around the front lawn. I don’t know if they were in some way domesticated, but they didn’t seem very concerned with me taking pictures.
This was Ashton Villa.
This was Moody Mansion.
I enjoy “event” photography. It is a way of taking candid pictures of people. The expressions on their faces are spontaneous and relevant to the moment. Last night was the Fourth of July Parade in Galveston. The parade was on Seawall. It started at 59th St. and went in to 25th. We walked down to about 57th and got a good spot on the curb. Once the parade started it was a general melee and people crowded into the street, mainly because most of those marching in the parade were throwing beads or candy. In spite of the crowd, I was able to get some good shots of the people in the parade.
This was a little boy who was “dancing” to the music provided prior to the parade.
The expression of concentration on this woman’s face was great.
This woman was on the Yaga’s float. She had a variety of small stuffed animals, and she would reach out with one and shake it back and forth. she would then toss it to one of the children.
I Pirate relegated to driving a golf cart in a parade.
We went to the pool. Behind the rock waterfall is a Bird of Paradise plant. I have looked at it for quite a while, and thought it would be interesting to take some shots of it. This time, the blossoms were perfect. I used my 90mm Tamron macro. I like that lens, but it was a little difficult under these circumstances. The plants were between the rocks by the pool and an iron fence. So, I had to get the picture by shooting between the bars of the fence. But, it still came out nicely.
