Day 334 of 365

Day 334 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

Busy doing some "glamourizing" of some of yesterdays shots so went with the easy shot tonight. A Christmas ornament (wooden oak leaf) lit by Christmas lights. We put up our trusty little artificial tree on Friday...it may not feel like Christmas outside (mid 60's and sunny most days) but it does have that feeling in our house.

As mentioned yesterday and because at least one person mentioned that would like to hear of my first photo shoot experience yesterday...here goes.

My client and I left it open for either Saturday or Sunday for the shoot depending on the weather. We had a minor storm blow through here on Friday and it was a bit windy out on the coast on Saturday so we postponed to Sunday. I ended up going out there on Saturday anyway to scout the area a little better even though I've been there several times but really wanted to find a good area to park since the sun is setting quite a bit south along the coast this time of year and knew there were only a few good unobstructed vantage points. The entire strip along Asilomar Beach in Pacific Grove was swamped with cars and RV's on Saturday. It was a good thing we postponed as we wouldn't have found a good place to park anyway. I ended up getting the silhouette shot of the golfers, which I really thought was cool, probably because it's not a typical shot for me.

So Sunday rolls around, I'm still nursing my cold, but was not about to cancel for a runny nose. We touch base and plan on meeting around 4pm. I head out early to first stop at an auto supply store to buy a cheap reflector, why pay $30+ dollars for a "photographers" reflector when you can buy a cheap car window screen for under $5? Don't answer...I'm sure there reasons for the more expensive version, like being able to clamp it onto a stand. As I'm driving out to the coast I notice that there is absolutely no wind. Not very often you don't have some kind of wind at dusk but this was one of those nights. I get out to the area I scouted earlier and find the perfect spot. I park between two cars taking up two spots, it's a dirt turnout so easy to do. I just hope that the cars don't leave and others pull in right next to me. I had about a hour wait and as luck would have it a space stayed open for my clients to pull their '61 Corvette in at a good angle so I could include the ocean and sunset without other cars and people in the shot.

This is my first real attempt at portrait. This is also my first time using flash outside, and on people. Since it wasn't windy I was able to use my stand and umbrella. My first tip...even if you think you have enough light because the sun is still pretty bright, use the flash for fill. I didn't pull out the flash until it started getting fairly dark. I have several shots with shadows that can't be removed that could have easily been taken care of with a small amount of fill. Another tip...advise against wearing dark clothes for sunset shots. The female was wearing a red shirt, which was fine, but a black coat and with several shots the black made her head seem like it was floating. The guy wore a white with colorful stripes and it worked great.

To determine my flash and camera settings I had recently watched a free flash training video hosted by NAPP done by Joe McNally, who I hear is a great guy and as I've learned a wonderful teacher and master photographer. In the video Mr. McNally set his camera to shutter speed 80 and f/5.6 for some sunset portrait shots and changed the flash power to suit his needs. This is what I've been practicing and used on my shoot. I didn't quite know what to expect but I was really impressed with how sharp my photos came out. I used my 50mm f/1.8 as it really is my sharpest and best lens. As mentioned previously there were some things I wish I had done different but I have these written down and will write down the rest of my tips to remember for myself.

- with cars...remove things hanging from the rear view mirror
- wear lighter colors for dusk shoots...unless you're going for the whole floating head thing
- use flash for fill even if you don't think you may need it, if anything to get rid of annoying shadows
- don't have them look into the sun...I knew this yet did it anyway...squinty eyes aren't very pretty
- expect that the client may not like the shots you think are good (I'm doing some glamour work as soon as I'm done here)...we are our own worst critic of ourselves. I hate how I look in photos so rarely allow myself to be photographed (yeah I know..selfish)...so it is easy for me to understand when the client my feel a bit of the same way.

Day 333 of 365

Day 333 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

Today was my first photo shoot. It involved two people, a vintage car (a 1961 Corvette), the Pacific Ocean and the sunset. The hard part was finding the right place to park the car without a bunch of other cars finding their way into the shot.

I'll write more about my experience tomorrow. Want to get this posted before midnight and it's going to take longer than 10 minutes to write it all up.

Day 332 of 365

Day 332 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

My photo shoot was pushed to tomorrow so I went out to the same area to dial in some settings so I don't have to fiddle with them too much tomorrow. While walking along I noticed these golfers lined up nicely in a silhouette. The boundary marker to the right of the far right guy is a bit of a distraction but can easily be photoshopped out if for some reason I wanted to print this.

Day 331 of 365

Day 331 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

I came down with a cold suddenly late yesterday so most of today was sitting in one spot on the couch wrapped up in a blanket watching reruns and drinking 7-Up. Finally at about 11:30pm I decided I probably should do my photograph...not my best effort. I hope I feel better tomorrow because I have a paid shoot in the late afternoon.

Day 330 of 365

Day 330 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

Some mashed potatoes, peas and Tofurky. It could only mean Thanksgiving here in the United States.

Well most people are probably having turkey but us vegetarians are enjoying something much different but just as tasty...Tofurky. :)

Day 329 of 365

Day 329 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

Figured I would take as many food related shots during Thanksgiving as I can. My wife is making dressing from scratch so after I cut up a whole loaf of sprouted grain bread and laid it out on the table to stale up a bit I took a few shots. I wanted to work with the natural light I had and angles. I notice that a lot of food photography is done straight down or at odd angles.

Day 328 of 365

My wife needed to bring something for a potluck her astronomy class is having tomorrow. The item needs to be inspired by something astronomical so the rocky outer ring of Saturn inspired Monkey Bread.

It was also great practice with my off camera flash and umbrella and probably my first and only time where I don't have a specific photo as my daily shot but rather a series of shots. If I had to choose one photo as my favorite it would be the dough and knife, the second image down.

monkey bread ingredients, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

Cut the dough into quarters

coat with sugar & cinnamon

put into bundt pan

pour some butter over it

Are your arteries hardened yet?

Out of the oven

Out of the pan

Day 327 of 365

Day 327 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

Only 38 more days where I have to come up with something to photograph. While I'm sure I'll be a little sad that the project is over I'm looking forward to a little freedom.

Day 326 of 365

Day 326 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.

I found the contrast between the rusty chain from the swing set and the blue sky appealing.

I have tried photographing this, abandoned out in the middle of nowhere, swing set before but just can't figure out a way to do so. Either there isn't an appealing way to photograph it or I just haven't found it if there is one.

Day 325 of 365

Day 325 of 365, originally uploaded by Rob Weiher.