I'm very excited to share my multimedia project on the integrated education system in Northern Ireland. Take a look here:
Showing posts with label photography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label photography. Show all posts
Friday, June 29, 2012
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Photography Activities for Kids (or Fun Adults!)
If you follow me on Twitter, Flickr, or Facebook, you may have seen some of the daily photography challenges I've done with friends over the past couple of months. I recently had a friend say she wanted to have her kids do a daily photography challenge over their summer break. I'm not sure why, but I never thought to encourage parents to have their kids do these challenges (probably because I don't have kids!). If you've ever thought about doing a daily photo challenge, don't worry that it's March 27, or that it's a Tuesday, or that you might miss a day. Just do it! Get your kids on board...make it a family affair by sharing everyone's picture at dinner time.
I'm sure you have many excuses - I did! So why should you do this? Why should you have your kids do this? Here's what I've noticed:
1. Doing a daily photograph generally increases my awareness throughout the day. It causes me to be "on guard" for pleasing compositions, interesting light, etc. It usually makes me more present in the moment. For example, if I had an awesome meal, I'll sit and reflect on it for a minute while I think about how to photograph it.
2. It helps me exercise creativity. I think you'll find the same thing. There will be days when the prompts aren't very inspiring, or YOU just don't feel inspired. However...a funny thing often happens - a few days later you'll take notice of something you could have photographed for that day's prompt...something you probably would have ignored before.
So, what are you waiting for? Start today! Get your kids to start! Call your friends to join the challenge with you! You can use a cell phone camera if you want! If you don't have a camera your kids can use, they could try drawing the prompts. Do you have another suggestion for how this could be modified for kids?
(P.S. In case you were wondering, our March daily prompts come from here and although I have made at least one photograph every day since Jan. 1, I have missed/skipped some of the daily prompt suggestions. It's all good.)
I'm sure you have many excuses - I did! So why should you do this? Why should you have your kids do this? Here's what I've noticed:
1. Doing a daily photograph generally increases my awareness throughout the day. It causes me to be "on guard" for pleasing compositions, interesting light, etc. It usually makes me more present in the moment. For example, if I had an awesome meal, I'll sit and reflect on it for a minute while I think about how to photograph it.
2. It helps me exercise creativity. I think you'll find the same thing. There will be days when the prompts aren't very inspiring, or YOU just don't feel inspired. However...a funny thing often happens - a few days later you'll take notice of something you could have photographed for that day's prompt...something you probably would have ignored before.
So, what are you waiting for? Start today! Get your kids to start! Call your friends to join the challenge with you! You can use a cell phone camera if you want! If you don't have a camera your kids can use, they could try drawing the prompts. Do you have another suggestion for how this could be modified for kids?
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| March One A Day #10 - "Loud" |
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Guest Blogger - John Felkins
Today I'd like to introduce you to John Felkins. I have known John for many years and have only recently learned of his love of photography. John is an amatuer but he is like a sponge for photography knowledge. I try to answer as many of his photography-related questions that I can and he's definitely asking the "right" questions - things that really matter and that will help him to improve his photographic skill and vision. His main interest in image-making is landscapes and since his somewhat recent move to Nashville, TN, he has taken an interest in photographing a Hackberry tree right next to his house. Today he shares with you his personal project and his goal to capture this tree in a variety of lighting and weather situations while also using it as a subject with which to experiment and try out the things he learns about photography. I hope you enjoy his project and maybe it will inspire you to start your own personal photography project!
The Laboratory
by John Felkins
Behind my house is an old Hackberry tree. When I say old I mean about 40 years old which is how old I am so it's not really that old! But like me it's a gnarly old tree and has some good character - worthy of photographing. My photography is in it's infancy and as such I'm still exploring "my style". The old Hackberry tree has provided me with a great subject on which to try different techniques and has kinda become a teacher to me. Everything from different lighting situations, different perspectives, and even painting with light have been attempted.
The tree is so nearby I can walk out the back door and just try something new. I like exploring new areas all the time but it is nice to be able to just go out the back door and start making photographs and the Hackberry has been a good canvas for that. It helps me to make pictures as often as possible. Daily is great. At first I thought I'd get bored with one tree but as I began to photograph this one tree I started to notice things a lot more. The sameness of the tree accentuated the changes around it. Light, seasons, and weather all became a lot more apparent to me. It was like I was paying closer attention without being told to do so. I felt more connected with what was going on around the tree and that encouraged me to look closer and find new ideas about how to photograph the tree.
The Laboratory
by John Felkins
Behind my house is an old Hackberry tree. When I say old I mean about 40 years old which is how old I am so it's not really that old! But like me it's a gnarly old tree and has some good character - worthy of photographing. My photography is in it's infancy and as such I'm still exploring "my style". The old Hackberry tree has provided me with a great subject on which to try different techniques and has kinda become a teacher to me. Everything from different lighting situations, different perspectives, and even painting with light have been attempted.
The tree is so nearby I can walk out the back door and just try something new. I like exploring new areas all the time but it is nice to be able to just go out the back door and start making photographs and the Hackberry has been a good canvas for that. It helps me to make pictures as often as possible. Daily is great. At first I thought I'd get bored with one tree but as I began to photograph this one tree I started to notice things a lot more. The sameness of the tree accentuated the changes around it. Light, seasons, and weather all became a lot more apparent to me. It was like I was paying closer attention without being told to do so. I felt more connected with what was going on around the tree and that encouraged me to look closer and find new ideas about how to photograph the tree.
I started with closeups and worked towards photographing the entire tree. One night a saw a lot of lighting bugs around the tree and had to get some pictures. I ran out the back door, forgetting to spray my legs with insect repellent, and started shooting away. Setting up my tripod and shooting as the sun went down, I ran out of options when it got dark until I thought of something I had seen in another picture. I yelled for my daughter to bring me a spotlight and I tried painting with light a little. I got some cool shots that and sadly I also got a good batch of chigger bites!
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| ©2011, John Felkins |
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| ©2011, John Felkins |
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©2011, John Felkins |
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| ©2011, John Felkins |
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
How-To: A Makeshift Set Up for Headshots Against A White Background
Last week I had the opportunity to photography people who attend Journey Church as part of a project to celebrate our five years here in Bozeman, MT. The goal was to make close-up portraits of people (read: anyone who would show up at the designated time) against a white backdrop. The portraits of the models, who were asked to make funny, happy, or silly faces, were to be slightly overexposed.
Since the portraits were only going to be from the neck up, I didn't have to worry about having a full-length seamless white backdrop. I didn't have access to a white wall at The Commons where I photographed, and I don't have any type of solid white sheet or other white backdrop material. Instead, I taped together three or four sections from a roll of white craft paper. The roll of craft paper was probably about 1.5' wide and each section I cut was several feet long. The result was a white backdrop that was about 5' wide and long enough to cover a wide range of heights. Now...on to the lighting...
I don't have a studio, so all of my lighting must be ready for "on location." For this reason, I choose to travel light. My main light was an Alien Bee 800 located in front of the model and raised up about 8-10'. Since somewhat harsh lighting was called for in the style of portraits we wanted to create, I simply used the small reflector that comes with the Alien Bee rather than a softbox or some other modifier. The light was angled down over the model's head.
Since I used overlapping sheets of paper and the background needed to be very bright, I brought along two flash heads to aim at the white backdrop. I didn't use modifiers on the two flash heads and I pointed them directly at the background. The flash heads and Alien Bee strober were triggered by the Pocket Wizard attached to my camera. You can see my lighting set up in this diagram:
I stood under and just barely to the left side of the Alien Bee's light stand (although this was difficult to show in the diagram). I brought along a step stool for me to stand on to photograph tall people and for the younger kids to stand on. Overall, I think the job was a success!
The technical:
* Canon 5D with 85mm f/1.8 lens
* Camera settings f/11 @ 1/125
* Alien Bee 800 setting: lowest power
* Flash Settings: both at 1/16 power
I hope this has been helpful. I plan to do more "how-to's" in the future. If you're a photographer, or even just a parent taking photographs of your kids, how have you had to improvise with a background or lighting to create a portrait you have in your mind?
Since the portraits were only going to be from the neck up, I didn't have to worry about having a full-length seamless white backdrop. I didn't have access to a white wall at The Commons where I photographed, and I don't have any type of solid white sheet or other white backdrop material. Instead, I taped together three or four sections from a roll of white craft paper. The roll of craft paper was probably about 1.5' wide and each section I cut was several feet long. The result was a white backdrop that was about 5' wide and long enough to cover a wide range of heights. Now...on to the lighting...
I don't have a studio, so all of my lighting must be ready for "on location." For this reason, I choose to travel light. My main light was an Alien Bee 800 located in front of the model and raised up about 8-10'. Since somewhat harsh lighting was called for in the style of portraits we wanted to create, I simply used the small reflector that comes with the Alien Bee rather than a softbox or some other modifier. The light was angled down over the model's head.
Since I used overlapping sheets of paper and the background needed to be very bright, I brought along two flash heads to aim at the white backdrop. I didn't use modifiers on the two flash heads and I pointed them directly at the background. The flash heads and Alien Bee strober were triggered by the Pocket Wizard attached to my camera. You can see my lighting set up in this diagram:
I stood under and just barely to the left side of the Alien Bee's light stand (although this was difficult to show in the diagram). I brought along a step stool for me to stand on to photograph tall people and for the younger kids to stand on. Overall, I think the job was a success!
The technical:
* Canon 5D with 85mm f/1.8 lens
* Camera settings f/11 @ 1/125
* Alien Bee 800 setting: lowest power
* Flash Settings: both at 1/16 power
I hope this has been helpful. I plan to do more "how-to's" in the future. If you're a photographer, or even just a parent taking photographs of your kids, how have you had to improvise with a background or lighting to create a portrait you have in your mind?
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