Reflections by the Hill - Wedding & Portrait Photographer

Small Photo Booth

Calvin — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:15:13 +0000

I setup a small photo booth for brides and friends at my booth during the bridal show. Over all the people I hand out a brochure to, little over a handful participated. I have to admit, I was still taking the photos. I told them to just think of me as the inside of the box. Some of them didn’t know what a photo booth is (I must be getting old). Let me ask you all a question. If you had a photo booth setup at an event would you participate? My wife and I would, and have. We didn’t do it for event but we went on a double date for Valentines before we were married. The girls blind folded us and took us all over the city. We ended up at a photo booth at the mall. I still have the picture up at work. What a blast! Here are few images from the photo booth at the Bridal Show. Enjoy!

This is my mom testing it out.

Little Bridal Session

Calvin — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 05:44:21 +0000

This past weekend was the Conway Bridal Show. I wanted to convey to the brides and moms the difference between hiring a professional photographer and using someone in the family/friend. When they were walking by and I asked if they were looking for a photographer, I found several that said: I am using my sister or I am using my aunt or I am using a friend. Everybody has their reasons why they need a free wedding photographer. However, is that really how you want to remember your wedding? Anyway, I took a few bridal pictures for this show. I appreciate E for allowing me to shoot her and to thank her sis-n-law for allowing us to use the wedding the gown. Here are few images from that session. Can you tell the difference? All the images were taken with a Nikon D700. The reason I use the same camera is because these family members are carrying these cameras. The cameras themselves can produce a good image. But, is it a great image or an image to remember? Comment and let me know which one you like better. Enjoy!

Big Boy! “A”

Calvin — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:29:47 +0000

It has been a little while since I blog last. Some of you that follow me on FB know that there were complications with my wife’s blood. Well, we have some good direction from the doctor. It is still rough right now (especially for her) but she is getting her strength back. We will see a surgeon on Thursday where we find out what he thinks and the next step.

I have been wanting to get these out there. I did a session earlier in the month with such a big boy. We had a blast. He had couple of emotional moments but once he got the giggles and knew that everyone was watching, he let it loose. He was the star. Our Yorkie, Merlin, even wanted in on the action. “A” just didn’t know what to think of Merlin at first but just kept laughing and throwing himself on the blanket. Here are few of my favorites. Enjoy!

P Family Session

Calvin — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 04:09:08 +0000

This past weekend I had the privilege to shoot a beautiful family. Let’s see, we had sister and her two kids, P and her two kids and the grandparents. It took some time to get the little one to smile. But we were able to get several different poses and out of them these are my favorite. Enjoy!

Snowman Time Lapse Fun

Calvin — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:40:07 +0000

We don’t get a lot of snow here in Central Arkansas. But this Monday we got about 5-8 inches. It has probably been 10+ years since we have had that much snow. Normally it is an inch or no snow and just ice. I got the camera out, set the timer, and let it run. I had take every 30secs at 600 times. Click the image below to view the movie.

Practice Session

Calvin — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 03:39:21 +0000

This weekend has been very busy. I have had two girl gymnastic shoots, a family session, and a toddler session right before the Super Bowl. On Saturday evening, since I had everything out, my youngest son ( Co ) help me do some practice sessions. Actually, I have been wanting to do more lessons from the Strobist site. But first, I work on getting the white background lighting the way I wanted.

These first two shots I used two flashes aimed at the background doing TTL. Those two flashes were set at 50mm zoom. The third flash was my main light shooting through an umbrella. I am getting great light on Co but notice that my background just is not white enough. I can’t get very technical about the ‘why’ but I do know that with TTL, it only allow enough power to get the right exposure. Since I had the right exposure on Co, the camera controlled the two flashes to use a low power setting. Here are the two images.

Then I took the two flashes off TTL and put them on manual. This did give me more control over power but I still had to turn it down. I think I started off at 1/6 power and ended up at 1/80 power. At 1/6, I found that light bounce off the backdrop and washed out my camera as seen below.

Notice that the stool top is gone, Co hand is gone with the side of his face. Once I turned down the power of the flashes, I was still able to get a more white background than a light grey color. These next two images are much better. I am still getting blinkies on the background, but I am not getting enough light now to wash out my subject.

I only have three flashes using the Nikon wireless control. I still wanted to add just a little more. So, I took one of the flashes and aim it at Co’s head, changing the zoom to 80mm. I took the other flash and moved it to the middle and background. I changed it’s zoom to 28mm. Now, take a look.

I like these better just because it adds a nice hair and shoulder light to give separation. Though, what I think might work better is to have that hair light above Co than below.

This whole time, I was shooting roughly at 4400K for the White Balance. I really wanted to practice with using Kelvins when I don’t have my Calibration Target with me. The next image is at 3700K.

Notice how cool blue everything is starting to get. The background, hands, face are all turning bluish color. You might have thought I turn on the air-condition . The next image I bump up the Kelvins to 5000K.

It sure did warm up the image. That actually looks really good when using flash. I like it when the skin tone color is what it is suppose to be. Well, what happens you bump the image up higher? Good question, and that is what I did, I bump it up to 6000K.

Now the image is really warm. Maybe too warm. Notice that the background and skin are turning to a yellowish color (actually the skin might be more orange). Ok, now I know that I need to shoot when using flash around 5000K. But what if I am shooting outdoors or indoors without a flash? Good question. This is how I think of it: Incandescent (or Sunrise/Sunset) ~ <= 3000K; Sunny Day (Noon) ~ 5000K; Overcast Day (shade) ~ >= 7000K. So, the redder the color the lower the Kelvin temperature and the bluer the color the higher the Kelvin temperature. It is still confusing but the more you practice the more you will understand how to adjust White Balance.

I mention earlier in the post that I wanted to work on an exercise from the Strobist blog. The exercise I worked on was Lighting 102-1.2. I always wonder how a photographer could make the background darker. This was a great exercise in showing that I have control over the amount of light that falls on to the background. So, I took away the other two flashes and just had the flash shooting through the umbrella. The light was 5 feet from Co and 10 feet from the background. The flash was set at 1/13 power and the camera was set to ISO 400 f5.6 1/125 shutter. Now, I realize I did not follow the exercise precisely. The shutter should have been at 1/250. On this first shot, the background is a nice gray color. Remember the background is white.

Then I moved the light 1 foot from Co. My camera settings were f9 1/125 shutter using 1/30 power on the flash. Check out that background now. It is a much darker gray.

I realized that in order to make it darker, my subject will have to be further from the background. So, I moved Co twice finally he was 10 feet away from the background. The light would be 11 feet. I took the shot with the same camera settings. It did get darker but not black.

We ran out of room so, I couldn’t move Co. I realize that I could change my flash power. So, I changed it to 1/80 with the camera settings at f9 1/160 shutter. That did the trick. Thinking back on it, the power on my flash was too strong to begin with. In those first shots, his cheek and ear had the blinkies. The last image even though is dark, the right side is exposed close to the correct exposure.

Baby E

Calvin — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 05:25:20 +0000

It was so great to finally meet E last week. We had great time. She is so adorable. All though she couldn’t figure out what we were doing, she was a trooper through it all. E, thank you for being such a good model last week. Brother G got in and was sooo sweeeet to his little sister! Enjoy!

Need maternity and baby pictures, give me a call or email and let’s talk.

Podcast?

Calvin — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 05:26:23 +0000

Yes, podcast. I was invited over to my neighbor’s house to discuss a little bit about the iPad. The Cotton Club is great tech blog and now podcast where you can find excellent content with what is going on with software, hardware, tech companies and of course Wordpress. You can listen to the podcast at his latest blog post. Here is one pic I did for their Christmas cards. Cotton is great guy and you will have fun time listening to his podcast. Enjoy!

Facebook fan?

Calvin — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:22:30 +0000

Hey, if you follow my blog on google reader or any other RSS client and love facebook, then check out my facebook page and become a fan.

January Special is still going on. Remember, you can choose an available calendar day in 2010 for just $20. Plus, get 15% off on all prints. Don’t wait get me the $20 by January 31st to hold that spot. Check out here or here for more information.

Check out the Special now…

Calvin — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:11:49 +0000

I have added more to the Special. You need to check this out now.

Reserve your spot on any available date on the 2010 Calendar for only $20*. Just reserve your session by January 31st. That’s it! Babies, children, seniors, and family portraits! Needing a portrait done as a gift for Valentines, Birthday, or just because.

Not only that but for all those that have already set a date and those that will by January 31st will get 15% off all prints. Let me say that again. Sign up your session today with your $20 and you will get 15% off on all prints. Hurry now, January 31st is right around the corner. I am just an email or phone call away.

Has it been 2, 4, 6, or more years since your last family session. Let’s set that appointment and capture those memories for 2010. Call 501.499.9PIC (9742) or email calvin@reflectionsbythehill.com.

*$20 is nonrefundable.