Baby Shots

I haven't done too many baby shots, so I was excited when a good friend of ours just had a cute little baby girl and wanted me to take some pics. I wasn't sure if it was more quantity vs. quality of shots with a newborn. I remembered with both of my sons when they are itty bitty, taking pictures of a new baby can be extremely hard to do - there's really no bribing with toys or treats, well, yes, you can bribe them with food, but alas, It's hard to take pics that way.

With Baby L, we had some on and off time shooting. She was quite hungry while I was there, so she and mom would take a break every now and then to eat. We'd just wait till she was in a good mood - or, just asleep :)

This picture I had planned on for weeks. I coordinated with mom in how the look was going to be set up - black blanket, basket from home and ribbon from Hobby Lobby. Their house is a photographer's dream - large, floor to ceiling windows letting in lots of natural light. We set up just under the stairs, laid the blanket out and put Baby L in her place.



I was quite happy with the shot in camera. I had no worries. The other shot I really wanted, I actually messed up and had to reshoot a few days later. The family has this beautiful dining room with deep red walls...and I wanted to incorporate that with some other "stuff" I picked up weeks before. There was a nice large mirror up on the wall opposite of the window, which I thought looked good at the time, but when I got to checking it out in post processing, it just didn't work. Too much bad reflection and stray lighting. I thought about photoshopping the mirror part out, but that would just make things look worse. And on top of all that, I had left my ISO up to 600, and had way too much digital noise on the final picture. Since I was shooting on my tripod, I should have had it back down to 100, which I did this second time around.

So here it is:



Now that I've had a chance to play with the pictures, I'm really happy with them. Hopefully, their parents are too! We took some other "non staged" shots as well, which I'll post some later, but I really wanted to share these with everyone.

Stable Pics - 3 Versions

Last week my family made it out to Grant's Farm - a St. Louis area staple attraction where you get to see animals from all walks of life - zebra's, deer, bison, buffalo as well as pet and feed goats, guinea pigs and chickens. Elephants to llamas, there's so much to see...and that's before you get to the famous Busch Clydesdales (which for some reason or another, we have yet to see). Go figure.

As we're walking through the stables where they keep several variations of horses, I noticed this room blocked off from the public, except for a split door where one can lean in and take a peak of the room. The light was hitting just right and I knew I had to grab a shot. Problem was, for the shot I wanted, I needed a tripod...1 second or longer exposure. I did my best by resting my hands and camera on the split door and took this picture. I'm trying to figure out which variation I like best.

St. Louis Athletica vs Sky Blue FC June 7th

Last week I was able to take my son and some friends to our first women's professional soccer game - St. Louis Athletica vs Sky Blue FC. We won with a 1-0 shutout and I was able to shoot most of the first half straight from my seat right by the sideline. I had my Canon 70-200L IS lens, which is a baby compared to some of the other lenses there, but I think I captured some great shots. My favorite? The Hope Solo save with her arms stretched out punching the ball!

PocketWizard MiniTT1 and FlexTT5 with Canon 580ex II Review : Part VII

I don't plan on doing a "review" each time I use the new PocketWizard system, but I was really excited about the results I just received and I had to share them with everyone. Before you get excited, the range distance here is within 10 feet - but the results this go around were excellent.

Here's the setup. 40D with MiniTT1 attached and 580EX II on tripod with the FlexTT5 attached. The flash setup was probably 5-7 feet away from me, and at approximately 45 degrees from the models left (viewer's right). It was about 7-10 feet from the model, and about 3 feet off the ground. We were probably an hour away from sunset on a gorgeous St. Louis evening.




So for now, with the setup I have, if the PocketWizards are within 10 feet of each other and you have a model that can sit still, this seems to work pretty good, with outstanding results. Again, I had to make sure the FlexTT5 antenna was on the near-side of the flash. If not, it would not fire. I got pretty consistent fires - about 90-95% of the captures had flashes. 3-5 pics were completely overblown by the flash, but I'll take that right now. For younger kids, I'd probably pass on using the MiniTT1 and FlexTT5 right now. Moving around following the subject as well as making sure the antenna is near-side, it's just not worth it. If I have the time to set up and compose a shot, I'd definitely want to give this a try.

PocketWizard MiniTT1 and FlexTT5 with Canon 580ex II Review : Part VI

A successful trial tonight! This really gives me hope in finding a way to get the PocketWizard MiniTT1 and FlexTT5 system working on a consistent basis. This was mostly a spur of the moment deal tonight with testing the PocketWizards and my gear, as I found myself not quite ready for bed when 10pm rolled around. Let's get to the setup.

I got the usual suspects out tonight in the middle of my kitchen. My Canon 40D, the 580EX II flash, the PocketWizard MiniTT1 and FlexTT5, a tripod and my 5 in 1 reflector. Oh, also the Canon 70-200L IS. I cleared out an area of our kitchen where I could set up a chair where I could practice taking self portraits and enlisted the help of my wife before she went to bed. I had her manually focus on my face as best she could so I could skip over trying to do it myself. I hate doing it myself.

I set up a tripod with the 40D and the MiniTT1 about 8 feet away and then positioned the 580EX II with the FlexTT5 almost 90 degrees from that position, using myself as the "pivot". I wanted to work on side lighting of the face to enhance the dramatic effects on a certain picture style I was wanting to create. Something very black and white...contrasty...gritty. Usually, what I start with envisioning and what I end up with come out completely different, but in this case I think I got what I wanted.

I made sure to position the antenna for the Flex TT5 closest to the camera, but I will have to say, I had close to 100% firing accuracy all night. A couple of blown out shots and a couple non fires, but for the most part, the PocketWizard system worked great. Now, from what I've read, the effectiveness of the MiniTT1 and FlexTT5 are vastly improved in an indoor environment since the radio waves can bounce around and off the walls. On some other tests I've done indoors earlier on, I can say I never got this sort of consistency. Which, in it of itself, is inconsistent when you think of it. To say I expect the FlexTT1 and the FlexTT5 to work just as good next time with the same setup, well, that is anyone's guess. But tonight, they worked great!

I took about 150 shots in about 2 hours. Getting up and down...up and down, hitting the timer delay button on the camera and then briskly walking to my spot and sitting down just in time for the shutter to go off. I also killed all the lights in the kitchen, save for the small aquarium light in the other room that I used so I wouldn't run into anything and make noise to wake up the sleeping family!

The only other change I made as I was shooting was to put a white plastic trash bag up in front of my 580EX II to diffuse the light a bit and give it a bigger area to flash through. It would be nice in the future to have better equipment (light stands, umbrellas, etc...) but taping a trash bag to the cabinets in front of the flash did the trick. It actually made me feel good that I McGuyvered something! My reflector was on the opposite side of the flash to add some fill light and through the night, I practiced moving it around and finally behind me to try and get some separation light from the back ground and some faint rim lighting - but it really didn't work as well as I thought it would. Probably need another flash for that purpose and keep the reflector for regular fill lighting.

So here is the set of pictures I got and ran through Lightroom. Cleaned them up a bit, but again, I was going for a very gritty, grainy look.

Mike and Amber Wedding

A couple of weeks ago, I was able to help my friend, Dana, from Moments Photography, at Mike and Amber's wedding. As the second shooter, I was able to hang out with Mike and his guys prior to the wedding and help Dana shoot the ceremony and creative shots at New Town. These are a few that I captured that day.

Sidenote: After 10 hours on my feet, lugging around camera gear and wearing dress pants a bit too tight, my back has been out of commission since. My wife says I need to go to wedding boot camp to get into shape. I agree. Whatever gets me in shape and fitting into my dress pants is what I need to do quick :)


























Here is Dana doing her thing behind the camera!

PocketWizard MiniTT1 and FlexTT5 with Canon 580ex II Review : Part V

Today, I received an email (and a missed call) from Phil Bradon, Product Marketing Manager for PocketWizard. He confirmed he was able to read my posts and reviews and has offered some suggestions as well as plans to release this new device that deals with the RF interference with the 430EX and 580EX II.

One of the tips he states is to make sure the antenna on the FlexTT5 is on the side of the shooter. Which I've tried - and does seem to make it "better" but not to the extent that I think this is why I bought these items. If I had to keep making sure the antennae is on the shooting side - and with my range still being within 10 feet - I might as well use the Canon IR system in the flashes.

So, as soon as I talk to him and try to work some things out, I'll post here to let you all know.