Day 203: Shedding Some Light

(Nikon D90, 35mm DX, f/8, 1/200, ISO 400, Off-Camera Flash)

Don't worry, it's still a Practice Thursday ableit with a bit of a twist, and some reflection.  More after the break.

Went a bit of a different route this week.  To try and expand a little, I've been making the occasional prod into the land of portraiture here and there, with the occasional shoot.  I decided to enlist the help of Ekklesia, since the only other option on such short notice would be a self-portrait of me, and they won't always look this good.  Above is Assistant Coach Grace.  She's lit with one softbox, camera left.  The flash has a full-CTO gel (aka, an orange gel used to correct for tungsten light).  In-camera, I set the white balance to Tungsten to get the blue sky behind her, whilst the flash keeps Grace herself from turning some horrible shade of blue.

(Nikon D90, Sigma 70-200 II @ 92mm, f/4, 1/320, ISO 400)

As mentioned, it was still a Practice Thursday.  The infielders were at their usual routine, so I decided to shoot some of the outfielders who were beating themselves up quite badly working on diving drills.  They were pretty much spent after about thirty minutes of repeated diving.  Heck, I probably would've been black and blue all over had I been doing that, but I digress.  I had asked for the last hour of practice to be set aside for me to have free reign to shoot.  Probably my first mistake, given that I had essentially forced the entire team off the diamond before they really need to.  Compound the fact that I was doing individual portraits and you can start to see where things began to go south.   My second mistake was probably putting enough thought towards it at the macro level.  In my mind I had a few shots planned, but they definitely did not need that much time or that many bodies.  When it came time to take control of the situation, in some sense I felt like I failed.  As a photographer, one tends to probably feel that way when unable to answer a simple question as to "how do you want me to pose?".

(Nikon D90, 35mm DX, f/8, 1/200, ISO 400, Off-Camera Flash)

Alas, some folks did run with it in their own way, like Justin above.  Perhaps the only thing I didn't quite like with the photo was the fact that I caught part of the fence in the background.  Of course, I wasn't really paying much attention to that because I wasn't sure how long Justin would hold such a pose.  Below is something that I had been experimenting with lately: in-camera multiple exposures.  The premise, was simple.  Pictured is Cindy, a well-known player amongst the ETCBC crowd.  While I did not have the opportunity to watch her play from the beginning of her CCSA stint, I have noticed a significant improvement in her abilities since joining Ekklesia.  As such, I wanted to depict a 'past-versus-present' theme with the photo.  Some Photoshop-savvy folks would've probably taken two separate photos and masked in once Cindy into the other photo which is true, however I'm a strong proponent of getting as much done in-camera as possible so that one can spend less time post-processing.  To get such a shot, make sure your camera can take multiple exposures, and use your AF points to compose.  Right-Cindy sat in the on the upper-right AF point, and Left-Cindy sat in the upper-left AF point.  For Nikon cameras, make sure your meter doesn't automatically turn off (by default, I believe it's set to 6 or 8 seconds), else you'll end up with whatever exposures you've already taken.  Ultimately, the goal is to kill all ambient light (with a high shutter speed), and light only what you want the camera to see. 

 (Nikon D90, Sigma 70-200 II @ 70mm, f/8, 1/200, ISO 400, Off-Camera Flash)

Of course, the above photo is not without its faults.  I was so caught up in things that I forgot to move my light, and so both Cindys are lit from the exact same side: camera right.  Both could've also benefitted from a rim light to pull just a bit more detail out of the hair.  You can also see some of the background, as I failed to account for all light spill/sporadic ambient light.  Overall a decent attempt, but it could've been a much better photo had I not fouled it up.  Below is a photo of Ray running and jumping towards me, as if he were making a leaping grab.  He is sidelit by Justin, my VAL (Voice Activated Lightstand) holding an SB-900 in a 24' Ezybox Hotshoe Softbox.  Perhaps it would've been better if I didn't light the ground too.

(Nikon D90, 35mm DX, f/9, 1/200, ISO 400, Off-Camera Flash)

So where did it seem as though things went wrong?  Well, probably the photographer sucked.  Horribly.  I didn't utilize what I was given (subjects, time), I didn't utilize what I had brought (brains, SB-800), and I didn't utilize the situation.  Perhaps I expected too much from my subjects, in that I thought they'd be drooling over every exposure that I made.  In the past I've usually received nothing less than "we love your photos!!!1ONE!1!" or "awesome".  If nothing else, both this shoot and the one prior to it (Day 202) have been a sobering reminder that I am not always Mr.Super-Awesome-Number-One photographer out there.  I'd be lying if I said that the shoot wasn't a huge blow to my ego and self-esteem (what little there is), but perhaps it's for the better, especially the former.  I have since been more reserved about future portraiture opportunities.

(Nikon D90, 18-55 VR @ 18mm, f/4, 1/6, ISO 200, Off-Camera Flash)

The photo above was one suggested by Albert Leung.  In some ways, I can't help but feel as though it echoes how I've felt as a photographer since then.  The little bubble I had been living in up until that point had burst, and what lies before me is an open field with significant potential.  Whether or not I'd seize the opportunity remains to be seen.

I had been expecting to making significant leaps and bounds photographically over these two days.  I saw them as opportunities in the realm of portrait photography, lighting, and photographer-subject interaction.  I feel as though failed to achieve any of that, but what I got out of it may have been more important - a reality check.