"Clandestine Hip Shot..." Candids from Road Trip

So I said in my last post that I had learned a new technique for taking photos. I stumbled across this blog post, from a safari photographer, Roger Moore (his work is beautiful!)... He calls it the "Clandestine Hip Shot"...

I've always wondered how to get really great people shots of strangers, without being obnoxious and intrusive, or how to not spoil the moment with kids by pulling my camera to my face... this is the answer and I LOVE the look of them (I realize that may be personal preference), but they have movement and interest, more photojournalistic in their look... And it gives you a whole different perspective...

I also ordered his camera strap and made an adjustment to it, so it would feel more secure, if you're interested, just leave me a comment and I'll tell you what I did... But it will be the all-time strap for my camera... Much more flexibility and so much easier to use and carry my camera...

So here are the candids that I got using the "Clandestine Hip Shot"... I then had a lot of fun post-processing them in Lightroom 2... What an AWESOME program, I'm totally HOOKED!! I need to practice some more, some of them aren't focused like I'd like... I shot in aperture priority, so I think I need to increase my aperture setting so more of the picture is sharper...











For these next two, I reached my camera across the fence... It's amazing what you can get when you learn to see what the camera sees... (I have a lot to learn!!)





Back to the hip shots...

















I'm sorry this one didn't turn out better, but I love the feel of it... It would have been my favorite if it had been sharper... Oh well, still learning...



A few more...







This last photo was from a baseball game when Abby was hot and tired and did not want me taking her photo...



So you can crop these in...leave them at the wide angle, you could even them straighten them out, but I really love this new technique... I think it will be great for Africa...

Shooting Sports Photos

Ok, I’m just an amateur who loves to take photos, especially sports photos, but since a few of you have asked me to re-post this (because I deleted it), here we go… This post is probably better suited for someone who uses a D-SLR, although I used to get great shots with a point and shoot digital camera before I made the leap to a D-SLR…also, as I write this, I’m assuming a basic knowledge of photography.

Ok, I shoot with a Nikon D50, older model that is no longer made. The one downside to the D-50 is that it only has 6 megapixels…since you definitely need to crop sports photos, more megapixels are better. I always shoot with my Nikkor 70-300 mm lens, I believe it’s the ED-series.

For all other pictures, I always have my Quantaray 18-200mm lens available. Definitely not the quality of a Nikkor lens, but I still love it and it’s much more affordable.

When I’m shooting sports, I always shoot on Shutter Priority… that means I can set my shutter speed and the camera does the rest. Soccer moves way too fast for me to try and shoot manual. On really bright, sunny days, I also use my Circular Polarizer to get those pretty blue skies.

I like my shutter speed to be at 1/1000 of a second or higher, but you need really bright sunlight for that. I’ve been known to shoot at a shutter speed as low as 1/250, and sometimes that gives you a cool effect, like the blur of the ball or foot, but it doesn’t give you as crisp of a photo because it’s not fast enough to stop the action completely. Remember too, when you’re using a long telephoto lens, it picks up camera shake and that can make the image blurry.

(This photo shows you an example of a slower shutter speed...1/640 at f/8... See how the player is sharp but the ball was moving so fast that even 1/640 didn't freeze it, it's just a little blurred. I tend to like that effect because it gives a sense of movement.)

You can also play with your ISO (essentially your film speed, if you had film)… I prefer 200, but I’ll go all the way up to 1600 to capture a late afternoon game, the photos are just more grainy.

One thing to watch is when your shutter speed is set to high, you start compromising your aperture (depth of field) and since you’re shooting from a distance, you want a decent aperture…at least an f/5.6, or f/8 is even better.

As for focus and metering, I use center weighted for both because my main concern is the subject. The one thing you have to be really aware of when using center weighted focusing is that you are centered on the subject… I can’t tell you how many great shots I’ve had be out of focus because the center was just a little off and something in the background was more in focus than the subject.

As for capturing the moment… you need to learn to pan the camera. That means that you anticipate where the ball is headed and start shooting, moving your camera with the player. I set my camera on Continuous Focus so it’s constantly focusing as I do this.

(This photo gives you an idea of what's possible when you start shooting with the beginning of the action... This was a corner kick, I focused on the players all grouped around the goal and started shooting when the kick was made... It is cropped just a tad.)

In a typical soccer game, I will shoot 200-300 photos and keep maybe 50… I literally shoot a play from start to finish, it’s really fun because you can actually watch a play unfold in photos, kind of the old flip book idea… I keep the really good series, but I believe in really editing my photos and keeping the best of the best.

To really capture good photos, you pretty much have to keep the camera to your face... It will take practice, but since you’re probably shooting digital, go for it…take a thousand pictures if you have to. And don’t get frustrated, it just takes some time… I even have to learn how each new team plays so I can better anticipate what’s going to happen.

As I said in the beginning, you will need to crop your photos because the best action shots are the ones that fill the frame (picture)… So, it’s better to shoot at a little wider angle since the action moves so fast, but I do my best to capture what I want in the camera, because the more you crop, the more resolution you lose. The next two photos are a before and after of one that I cropped...Notice how in the second one the players really fill the photo...

I hope this helps a little… Good luck and happy shooting!

SNOOOOOOOOOOOW!!!

Ok...I love snow! I love snow days... I love watching the kids play...hot chocolate...warm blankets...the excuse to park the car and stay home...taking photos and the incredible beauty! We aren't blessed with a real snow very often in the south so I took advantage and headed out with my camera...

There are more photos of Abby because she's still struggling with bronchitis so I kept her closer to home while the others went to the sledding hill... She finally got to build a full grown snowman!!







Isn't he handsome! Scott...not the snowman!!





I happened to catch the boys on the way back from the sledding hill...

This is what teenage boys do in the snow...in the rain...in the house...in the sun...our friend K. looked at me and said, "Ms. Sharla, they do this all the time!" YEP!!!

It started with a face plant... (Actually, Nick started this by planting his own face first, Zack just decided to help him out the next time!)





They do this too...INCOMING!!



I think Nick has had enough...ya think?!



After everyone went inside, I took a walk down to where the lake runs into the back of our neighborhood...it was so beautiful...here are few photos.

I thought the contrast of the branches...the snow and the vibrant blue skies was just stunning!












All the pretty blooms wearing a coat of white...



It was a really fun morning!

Still Life Photos...

I posted these as my theme photos on Mamarazzi, but I was so excited about how they turned out that I thought I'd post them here too...

I had put off doing this last theme, Old/New, because I just couldn't get inspired. But this morning, the early morning sun was so beautiful coming through the windows, and last night I had dug out my really old 50mm 1.4 fixed lens, so I decided to give the theme a try.

For all the other themes, I had posted pictures of the kids, but I really wanted to try something I'd never done before, so I went for it with a couple of still lifes... It was really fun and challenging!

The biggest challenge is that my lens is so old that it won't even read the exposure through the lens, so I had to guess at a starting point and then work from there...it wasn't as hard as I thought.

So here's what I shot...

The first is a really old leather bottle that I found at an antique show... I was immediately drawn to it because it has Nick's initials on it. The old is the green bottle, the new is actually the background...it's a new brown leather bottle!



The second photo is the really special one... Our 19th wedding anniversary is coming up in a few days. Before we married, my mom and stepfather (John) lived in California. I loved visiting them in Huntington Beach and I loved eating at the club in their neighborhood, the food was outstanding.

Well John, who knew his wines, introduced me to this wine that I loved and he always ordered a bottle for us when we ate there. So the last time I was out there, before Scott and I married, John surprised me with a bottle to take home and save for a special occasion.

Just before our first wedding anniversary, when we had planned to drink the wine, John died tragically of a heart attack. I just couldn't bring myself to open it for another 2 1/2 years... We finally opened it when our first child was born! But I could never bring myself to throw the bottle away and I have kept it all these years (Yes, I'm hopelessly sentimental!)

So, with the beautiful light streaming through the window, it occurred to me that I should photograph the bottle...as a tribute to him but also to our anniversary!

John was an amazing man... He loved my mother so well, and he loved me well too. I couldn't have asked for a better stepfather... I miss his laugh, his generous spirit, his honesty and his spontaneity... John knew how to live life! I will never forget going to dinner with mom and John one night and a song came on the radio that he and my mom loved...he pulled the car over, and in the middle of the road, they danced! It still brings a smile!

But I will also never forget how one night, while I was in college, I heard a knock on our back door late at night and it was my mom and John bringing me a heater because he didn't want me to be cold in the old house and he didn't want my mom worrying... That was John...he played well and he loved even better!

So, in honor of John, here is the wine bottle... However, it represents the new in the photo because the old is his 100 year old dictionary that it is sitting on! That represents him also because he was brilliant! John... 18 years later, I still miss you...