Iphone again

While attending a wedding as a participant and not the photographer. I could not help myself with my iPhone. I saw this gift and said to myself, I like that I need a picture and maybe use it sometimes. So I went around the gift and wanted to take the picture backlit.

Fun with the iPhone

When I got home, I transferred the picture to Lightroom and made some adjustments. Next went through some stock photos of a beach and came up with what you see.

I guess I am saying that the iPhone is a camera and can do things just like some of those thousands of dollars cameras. So don’t use the excuse I need an excellent camera. No, you need a camera to come up with great ideas. Have fun making art.

High School Senior Session in Bryan, Ohio

Another fall and another Senior High School Session. Senior sessions are a lot different than my days. Not as many anymore and mostly our door. Not as many may be that everyone today is a photographer.

For me, I like doing environmental pictures. We lucked out this day because the weather was warm, and we did have a light breeze to deal with. Our goal was this senior wanted nothing to do with Bryan sights but wanted to deal with something different and towards the glamour side. With this in mind, we went out and started shooting. I used at times flash and, at times, just sunlight to my advantage. She did want a studio-type picture, and we took a close doorway for that.

This day was fun, and I came up with some good ideas with posing and locations. All pictures were done in less than a 100-yard area. As I said numerous times, first for me is the light, then do I need to make light? Next, make the picture that I am thinking. Environmental is fun and challenging with the elements. But it fits my style. I am a photojournalist and like natural-looking photos. I am not a person who likes the so-called Instagram looks. I feel my style is good today and will be for years to come. Thanks, Katie, for your trust in me, and hopefully, we accomplish what you were looking for.

Playing and learning

The cool thing about photography is that you can do it anytime. I like to practice and learn and then practice some more. Today I wanted to play with gel lights and practice shadows and highlights. So I grabbed something that would not complain, and I worked with what I had. For I was at a bed and breakfast place, I had no idea I would do this.

I had two lights, one light stand, and my gels. The first thing I wanted to do was light from behind to give it backlight. Using a CTO gel and a MagMod Grid, I set this up first. I liked what I had, but way too much shadow in the front. I knew I wanted to reflect light back into the front but did not have one, or did I. Yep, pillowcase to the rescue. I brought in really close to the left side and got what I wanted. Next was to set up the fill light. I wanted the shadows to fill in with blue—my second light I set up using a blue gel. I had no light stand, so I set the light on the floor and flashed on the ceiling. Yep, I took advantage of a giant softbox with a flash of blue to fill in shadows with blue. It worked and did what I wanted without using Photoshop.

So much playing and learning. Just another thing to put into my back pocket.

First Look for Wedding's (How I did it)

First, looks are always exciting, and you never know what you will see when your photographer. For me, I don’t want to be the attention. It’s the bride and groom and their private moment. In this case, we set it up. I had the groom sit on a bench. I told him to think about his bride and this day. With that, when his bride gets into position, I would ask him to get up and go around the corner of the tree to see her for the very first time.

When I told him to move, I went way out with my 100-400 lens so that they would not hear me or see me. It’s their special time. My job now was to document it.

Next, I told dad to wait for 15 minutes and then come down to see his daughter for the first time.

There is always a special moment between a dad and his daughter.

First looks as I said before are special. It’s our job to document and stay out of it. Yes, a few tears came out of my eyes. It’s a special time even for the professional.