One of my favorite events to cover each year is high school graduation. Graduates are often so "over-the-top" about everything; they are almsot giddy with anticipation. Below are some images I captured during May 2010 Graduation activities at TK Gorman Catholic High School here in Tyler, Texas. Captions below the picture will tell you a little about the photo and how it occured.
(above) As is the tradition at many schools, the newly annointed Gorman graduates had just gathered outside the gym for the traditional hat-toss (technically the hat is called a mortarboard, but that's another story). As everyone gathered, I positioned myself for the best shot. I wanted to see the hats in the air and the people throwing them. I set my camera on rapid-fire and began shooting away. Imagine my amazement when I got home and began to edit the pictures and discovered this little gem. All around this graduate, her friends are wildly tossing their mortarboards while she stands there smiling, so stoic, so totally non-conformist. Why did she do this? What was she thinking? I love this photograph, so I doctored it a bit with Photoshop imaging software, made the photo black and white with "spot-color" to give this grad a little more emphasis.
(above) In the world of texting, this new grad is LOLH. I looked at the series of images just preceeding this one and she definitely built up to this crescendo moment. Maybe it just hit her that graduation for was for real. I don't know, but it made for a cool picture.
(above) As graduates were filing into the gym, they entered together with an invited alumni from a previous graduating class. The rehearsed drill was, they walked together to the front of the gym and then parted . As they went their seperate way, each graduate was suppose to hand a rose to the honored alumni as a keepsake. This young graduate apparently got distracted and looked up just in time to see his appointed alumni already headed to his seat. The rest of the story is in the photograph.
(above) I was setting up my lights on stage before the ceremony. I needed a stand-in and this young man, a lower-classman, accomodated me. I just liked his cheesy pose. I am sure he will provide great fodder for next year's batch of graduation photos.
(above) I couldn't tell if this graduate was singing the Hallelujah Chorus Hymn or just paying homage to the principal. Either way, I thought it was a cool photo with a great expression.
My good friend and portait photographer Danielle Roper at Cafe' Portraits in Tyler has introduced a new portrait product she calls "Colorful Kids." These portraits are so much fun to shoot. Danielle (and other photographers at Cafe' Portriats, too) have learned how to photograph children with these unique and colorful backgrounds to achieve striking images. Call and request an appointment (903-509-3311).
Greetings Fellow Photographers!
Today I am going to talk about image size and resolution. These elements of your digital photo play an important role when you decide to order prints and photo products through your online photo account.
Image Size
Image Size is the size of your original digital photo file, measured in pixels and DPI (Dots Per Inch, sometimes referred to as PPI, Pixels Per Inch). What is a pixel? A pixel is a small square dot. DPI refers to the number of dots (pixels) per inch. Why is this important? Well, if an image is too small, you might not be able to order a large size print or other photo product. A general rule of thumb for image size versus print size is: the image size should be at least the size of the print you want multiplied by 300, at 300 DPI. For example, if you want to order a 4x6 print, the image size should be 1200 pixels (4 x 300) by 1800 pixels (6 x 300) at 300 DPI. If the image size was half of that (600 by 900), then the 4x6 print would likely come out distorted or pixilated if you were to order a print.
Camera Settings
Decide in advance what is more important: image quality or room on your memory card. You can set your camera to take photos that are larger or smaller in size. If you know you will only be printing 4x6 photos, then you can reduce the image quality, which allows you to store more photos on your memory card. If you will be printing enlargements or other photo products like photo books, then keep the setting on "high" for higher quality images. The image sizes will be larger and you will not be able to store as many on your memory card at one time. Also, set the file type as "jpeg" if your camera allows you to control that detail. You might have a "tiff" option, but it is not necessary to save the photos as "tiff" files, and it will only take up more room on your memory card.
If you have a point and shoot camera, open your main menu, and find the setting for "image quality" (or something similar). Usually, the options are "low," "medium," and "high." Choose "high" for higher quality (larger) photos. If you have an SLR camera, you probably have additional options. Just stick to high quality jpeg images, unless you know you will be doing extensive image editing and post-production. In that case, you might want to shoot RAW files.
I have always felt that some of the greatest sports photos of our time were not necessarily the stop action NFL leaping grabs you see in Sports Illustrated (though they are awesome). I personally like the close up, gritty photos that show the faces of winners and losers. I think maybe ABC's Wide World of Sports said it best in their classic theme line, "The thrill of victory...and the agony of defeat!"
The Saturday morning soccer pitches and T-ball fields across America offer drama; maybe of a different sort, but drama nonetheless. Below are a few photos I have chosen from recent trips to those hallowed fields of sport — T-ball and soccer.
Sometimes the best photos from children's sports are actually kind of funny. Below, this young T-Ball player totally obliterated the "T" while missing the ball - leaving the sphere perfectly suspended in air. I love this child's expression.
The action on the soccer pitch in the photo below is great stuff, but I love the facial expression on the kid in gray. He's probably thinking, "Whooa . . . that ball is coming fast."
The photo below tells a story: the life of a first base coach (in this case a parent snagged for Saturday morning duty). Do you suppose this coach is advising his player on a grand-strategy for stealing second base or is it a grain of sand that got in the runner's eye? Either way, this is the stuff of real drama on the diamond.
You think the player below adjusting his hat, but not really. Check out those stealy eyes. Naw! He's actually sending the catcher a secret signal that the coach is offering free ice cream to the whole team after the game.
Here are some quick tips for your Saturday morning trips to the world of kids-league-sports:
Tip 1: Set your camera's quality level to the highest possible resolution (super-fine or something similar)
Tip 2: Set your camera's ISO to 400 (it will allow you to shoot at a faster shutter speed)
Tip 3: Set your camera's shutter speed (Time-Value) at 500 of a second or faster
Tip 4: Use your flash (even in the morning sun) - it's probably a setting called "Daylight-Fill Mode" or something similar
Tip 5: Use your camera's telephoto zoom function to "zoom-in" on the action
Tip 6: Take lots of pictures (for action photos your "yield" will be lower; maybe even as low as 20% really good photos)
Tip 7: At home, online, or a photo-store digital-kiosk like MotoPhoto in Tyler, crop-in on your photos to emphasize your young player on the soccer pitch.
Tip 8: Take advantage of your sports-action photos and make photo-gifts. Order one on a coffee mug for Dad. Make a photo tie for grandpa. Put one on a mouse-pad for your own office. At MotoPhoto in Tyler we have all of these gifts and many more available at great prices.
Until next time, live well and take lots of pictures!
I have discovered a simple truth about photography: some of the best picture opportunities are right under your nose if you just look for them.
Take the above photo. Around sunset today I was walking in our backyard admiring my wife's garden. Her Knockout Roses are just awesome this year. She had the water sprinkler going and I noticed the droplets from the sprinkler really created an awesome visual effect when set against the late afternoon sun.
Sensing a good photo-opportunity, I quickly gathered my camera (Canon 50D), slapped on a telephoto zoom lens and dug out my tripod. I set up my gear shooting directly into the roses with the sun behind them, streaming through the water droplets from the sprinkler.
Then, to exaggerate the effect of moving water droplets flying through the air, I used my camera's "Time Value" setting and moved the shutter speed dial to a very slow shutter speed (1/10th of a second). You really need a tripod to do this successfully. I also positioned my camera so I had a dark background behind the streaming water droplets and the colorful roses.
The picture above is the result. I also ran a Photoshop filter to add a little artsy effect.
I like taking photos of flowers more than just about anything.
I photographed this Star Gazer (Lily) with the sunlight backlighting the pedals. When photographed that way, together with a dark background, flowers really stand out, as opposed to photographing them with the sun on the face of the pedals.
Below, I made this picture in Limuru, Kenya, and utilized the same technique - dark background, backlighted sunlight.
The photo below uses another photo technique, but one that requires a digital imaging program like Photoshop Elements. I masked the flower and kept its native color while I changed everything else in the photo to black and white. This effect brings all the focus to the one flower.
You could use the same technique with a backyard portrait of your child. Create the portrait in color as normal, mask a bow in her hair or maybe some other subject element, then convert the rest of the picture to black and white. This is a popular duo-tone technique used in many professional studios. In our studios we offer it to our clients as "spot-of-color."
Until next time, remember your back yard. It is a great place to take awesome pictures.
When I am not blogging, I am in the retail photo imaging business (MotoPhoto – Tyler, Texas). Most days in our imaging center we receive a variety of consumer questions about their digital pictures and cameras. Digital photography is not well understood by many people, but it seems to be getting better.
By far the number one question concerns how and when to delete your pictures. This blog will hopefully take some of the mystery out of deleting photos and explain how and when to delete, including that dreaded process that few people seem to understand “formatting your media card.”
Let’s start out with the basics: media cards. Inside your camera is a small, removable “chip” (that term seems to be what many people call them). The proper name though is a media card. In many point-and-shoot cameras the media card is located inside the battery compartment, next to the battery. To get the media card out, you simply press on it with your finger (any finger will do) and it pops up and you pull it out.
The media card is to a digital camera what film is to a film camera. The media card temporarily stores your digital photos until you are ready to make prints, copy images to a CD, e-mail your photos, upload them to Facebook, put them on photo-gifts (there are literally thousands of things you can do with your digital photos).
Some people permanently store their photos on media cards and keep buying new cards when the old one is full. That’s okay I guess, if Uncle Harry endowed you with a fortune and money is no problem. But media cards are really made to be reused, over and over.
I usually advise my customers to copy their images often from their media card to another medium, more permanent form of storage like photographic prints, CDs, DVDs, or especially popular these days, online albums and backup services.
MotoPhoto offers an online album. An online backup service that I personally use is called Mozy. For a small monthly fee (less than $5), Mozy will backup your photos (and other types of files) to their storage vaults (probably located under the Nevada desert somewhere – just kidding!). The online backup uses your Internet connection. Often, that happens at night while you sleep.
Okay! Back to deleting. When should you delete your photos off your media card and reuse the card to take more pictures? Only delete your pictures when you are 100% satisfied that you have made a backup of your precious photos with some other form of media – like real photographic prints, a CD or DVD or an online backup service. Once you are sure you are backed up, you can feel comfortable deleting your photos from your media card and starting over taking more pictures on that same card.
How do you delete pictures? With your media card still inside your camera, go the camera’s main menu and find “delete” or find the “trash can” icon (often a button on the back of the camera). The camera will warn you before deleting that you are permanently removing (deleting) the photos. You can delete one photo at a time or all of your photos with a single press of the button. I always warn people that “delete all” is kind of like saying “I do” at your wedding. There’s no turning back at that point.
What is “formatting?” Formatting your media card is a process of “conditioning” the card and removing all data (photos) from it so it will be ready to use again. Your media card likes to be formatted occasionally. How often? I don’t know; how long is a string? Pretty often though.
Actually, in our own studio (www.cafeportraits.com) we format our media cards before every portrait session. That might be overkill for most people using a digital camera for personal use. For sure, I would format your card before going on a vacation or attending a big event where your pictures are important to keep. Formatting keeps your media card in tip-top working condition and often will prevent dreaded card failures (malfunctions) right when you don’t need one, on vacation or at little Suzy’s school play.
How and where do you format a media card? I am a big believer in formatting your card inside your camera. You can technically do it using your computer, but I discourage that in favor of using the camera’s formatting function. You can find this feature on the main camera menu and it is called, FORMAT. Isn’t that handy? The icon looks like this one below.
WARNING: formatting your media card is almost always permanently removing your digital pictures. Don’t be shy. Do it and do it often. But, ALWAYS back up your digital pictures to another media first. Or better yet, make prints. Prints will be around for years to come.
What do you do if you accidently delete your photos and you want them back? Do you live near a tall cliff? Ha! Just kidding! Take them to a photo lab that offers media recovery services; like our lab at MotoPhoto in Tyler, Texas (903-509-3311). You’ll pay for the service but it is normally well worth preserving your memories. See my blog on media card recovery.
Until next time . . . take lots of pictures; and always backup to preserve your photo memories.
I was on the playing field photographing a kids soccer camp one morning recently when something in the bleachers caught my eye. Most of the kids were quiet and even a bit contemplative; after all, it was early morning. Who's got time to get too excited on a hot summer morning sitting in the Texas sun? But right there in the middle of this group of calm children sat the most enthusiastic and pumped future Texas Aggie I have ever seen. He was anything but calm.
In photography, a group of subjects in a picture can create patterns or repititions. Breaking the pattern makes for the most interesting photographs. In this photo for example, ten of the eleven children are very quite and controlled, forming a pattern of sorts. Our future Aggie interrupts the pattern.
You almost have to be from Texas, and maybe even from Texas A&M University, to fully comprehend this thing called Aggie Spirit. Actually, come to think of it, Aggie Spirit is pretty much indescribable. Can you imagine this little guy ten years from now at an A&M/UT game? Watch out Longhorns! Gig 'em Aggies!
Cafe' Portraits and Photography is a Tyler, Texas studio located in East Texas' bustling retail center on South Broadway Avenue (across from Lowe's, Outback, Olive Garden and right in front of the Holiday Inn).
Cafe' Portraits specializes in children and family portraiture, newborns and maternity, seniors, bridals, executive portraits and quick-turnaround headshots. Cafe' Portraits loves to photograph people and their pets. We also do portraits on location at one of our favorite places or a location of your choice.
Cafe' Portraits and Photography is associated with MotoPhoto Imaging Center, a longtime Tyler retail presence in photo-imaging, large-format digital printing, user-friendly digital kiosks, a creative center featuring one-hour photobooks, greeting cards and other creative digital products. Our online digital photo center offers busy moms the convenience of at-home digital prints upload and one-hour drive-thru window pickup.
The media card is to a digital camera what film is to a film camera. The media card temporarily stores your digital photos until you are ready to make prints, copy images to a CD, e-mail your photos, upload them to Facebook, put them on photo-gifts (there are literally thousands of things you can do with your digital photos). 
How and where do you format a media card? I am a big believer in formatting your card inside your camera. You can technically do it using your computer, but I discourage that in favor of using the camera’s formatting function. You can find this feature on the main camera menu and it is called, FORMAT. Isn’t that handy? The icon looks like this one below.
