We were invited to a surprise birthday party on Saturday. I figured it was a good opportunity to have a little time behind the lens. I’ve been pouring most of my creativity lately into the RCT new season posters and haven’t done much shooting. The other day, I took a few shots of our daffodils. When I imported them into Lightroom, I saw that some other daffodil shots I took of our garden were dated late in April. Here it is a full month earlier. Although today has been more seasonal, the weather this month has been wonderful!
I packed up my camera and we headed out to the party. I did a few test shots to set my exposure, then I was ready when Ellie arrived. The backlighting of the low evening sun was pretty nice. When I’m shooting at something like this, I’m taking what I guess I consider snapshots. Trying to grab some moments and emotion. Not unlike a bigger event like a wedding reception, but with obviously less pressure. More chances to experiment. I figure I’m not shooting fine art or portraits that will grace a wall, but they have their own appeal.
You try to keep your eyes open and capture the hugs and smiles as best you can. We like to say equipment doesn’t matter – only the photographer. But, yes, it does help having the ability to open up the aperture and blur the background. Can’t always do that with a point-and-shoot.
I try to take a lot of photos. With people, expressions can change from second to second, so I’m pleased when I can catch a wonderful smile (and a bottle of wine!).
As evening progressed and the sun began to fade, I added a flash. I set my ISO a bit higher so the ambient light – what there was of it – would still fill in the frame with some light. I blasted the flash off the house wall behind me so, although the light from the flash is mainly straight on, the shadows aren’t harsh. I had a diffuser on the flash so there’s still some light coming directly from the flash, but it’s tolerable. A bit of yellow gel adds some warmth.
Down at the bonfire, I let the fire provide a lot of the light with a touch of fill from the gel’d flash. When it’s balanced right, the main light – the brightest light – is clearly the fire. This may even be a bit hotter, flash-wise, than I’d prefer, but I’m still happy with the result. Without the gel, I’d be fighting with the colors – red and yellow from the fire and blue from the flash. I’m a big fan of gels. It’s something I can say definitively I learned from Joe McNally.
RCT was having a Jazz Jam that same evening, and Ellie wanted very much to drop in. So, some of the party moved to RCT where Ellie took a couple turns at the microphone. I think she enjoyed her birthday party in spite of claiming she hates surprises. We had a good time, too, and anytime I can do some shooting, you know I’m happy.
