Photographers call the hour just after sunrise and just before sunset the "golden hour." I think that prairie grass in late summer is inherently beautiful but the golden hour certainly flatters this patch of prairie grass.
This blog is decidedly apolitical. If there is any political content, it is so subliminal that even I am not aware of it.That aside, in the USA we just finished conducting our once-every-four-year presidential contest and the incumbent won. In South Dakota we conducted our state legislative races and Jeff, the subject of this post, was one of the candidates. In his race the incumbent won, too, which means that Jeff, the challenger, lost.I have never known a candidate for office who believed that he or she wasn't good and right for the office they were running for. And I imagine that when you lose, you wonder if what you believe about yourself is true. I also know that good candidates invest not only some of their money but a good part of their heart and soul. The money can be recovered, I suppose, but a loss must cause wounds that are otherwise slow to heal. All of that makes me grateful for people like Jeff who take the risk of being a candidate.I gladly accepted Jeff's request to capture a casual portrait to be used in a political mailing. My motive for saying "yes" wasn't political. My reason was that I believe that Jeff is a good and genuine person whose cause is public service. It's hard to go wrong taking portraits of people like that. . .
Here's another portrait from the archives (2007). This shot is of Gabe H. and the location is a short distance away from the abandoned farms that I have posted several times in this blog. What made this photo special to me was the subject: Gabe was relaxed, happy and, being a country girl, in her element.The timing was right, too. This is a beautiful field of ready-to-harvest wheat and the setting sun was strong enough to create excellent backlighting. To balance the sunlight, I put the camera in Aperture Priority mode and used a shoot-through umbrella and a Canon flash running off of a Canon IR transmitter. This lighting set-up is very user friendly and does a good job lighting Gabe, especially her eyes. Because South Dakota is a windy place, using an umbrella lighting set-up outside is risky. But on this particular evening it was calm and quiet.I could return to this field on the same date at the same time for a decade and not get the conditions I had on this evening in July. I certainly believe that good timing is the essence of good photography and this photo may be evidence of that.Canon 1D Mark II 1/160s f/4.0 ISO200 59mm
I don't normally endorse products, especially alcoholic beverages, though my title gives you a little insight into how I feel about the general subject being photographed. However, I haven't sampled this bottle of Cardhu Scotch since I wanted it full for the shot. (It's another kind of Scotch in the glass pretending to be Cardhu.) Why this brand? Well, it came in a short bottle and I figured that would help the composition. So, yes, I bought this Scotch just because it would fit the photo. I think that's certainly a form of sacrifice. . . .Click here to see a quick snapshot of the lighting setup. In summary, the main light is set up on the left with a small soft box and the background light has a 20 degree honeycomb grid to create a small glow behind the shot. The "studio" was our dining room, which has a perfect deep brown accent wall.Canon 5DIII 1/160s f/7.1 ISO100 95mm
Here's one I took a few years ago and which I found yesterday in a quest to find a photo to "operate" on. By operate I mean "to rescue from relative mediocrity by using cool software." (Try finding that alternate definition in your dictionary!)The software is onOne's new Perfect Photo Suite 7 and the subject is a mossy branch I discovered deep in the shadowy woods along Iron Creek a few miles away from our cabin in the Black Hills.
I am teaching a little bit about food photography in my studio photography class and that has sent me in quest of photos I've taken that might illustrate the art and practice of making food look good in photos, which is rarely easy.Bill Zubke's buns are always photogenic, however, as these detectible samples demonstrate.
My friend Jack H. asked me yesterday if teaching photography has helped make me a better photographer and he had barely finished the sentence when I said, "Yes." I then went on to say that in finding words to describe thought and physical processes that are the result of 10 years of fairly random reading/looking and endless practice based mainly on intuition has made me more aware of the complexities of finding, framing and capturing my subjects.Beyond that, I am much more sophisticated in how I use software. And this photo is an example. Frankly, I have posted a nearly identical shot of this place in this blog already. The difference is that I was "playing" with software that I didn't have a few years ago and with processes like sharpening, white balance, saturation and contrast that I didn't have as of understanding as I do now.Is this a better photo? Maybe not. In fact, the casual observer may not even see what is "right" about this photo. I would like to think that my second year photo students would because I see clear evidence that they "get it": that they see and understand the 10,000 minute differences between the simple and the sublime.Here's the previous version:
Several of my studio photography students spent most of the day yesterday getting face paint applied and then documenting their efforts in the studio. The makeup artist was Alli, who is also a talented photographer. The subject of this portrait is Valerie, who is a talented photographer, too. And she is a natural in front of the camera. :-)Canon 5DIII 1/125s f/8.0 ISO200 70mm
Canon 5DIII 1/160s f/2.8 ISO320 200mm
Warm sunlight bathes the east facade of the Terry Redlin Center in Watertown, South Dakota.
If you were to lie flat on your back in the central chamber of the Codington County Court House, this is what you'd see. I didn't lie on my back to get this photo, though I did lie my Canon camera on its back. It helped to use the 16mm-35mm lens. :-)
