Jeff, my friend and neighbor, enjoys doing Photoshop editing and creating interesting projects. Last year, he did a cool poster for his daughter’s basketball team, and he asked me to help out by shooting some full-length portraits to be included in the poster (see this post). A year later, he has a new poster idea. He once again contacted me about doing the photography for him. The concept included a team photo and several action shots.

The team photo would be shot in the gymnasium some time when we could gain access to it. He mentioned perhaps we’d try to do some action shots then, too. But also, if I could shoot a game, there’s be some photos of the girls in action there.

The opportunity for shooting at a game happened first. I don’t do a lot of sports shooting. Certainly, my gear is more centered on portrait and landscape photography. Specifically, the Canon 5D MkII, while being a wonderful camera, is not the first choice for a sports shooter. It’s focusing is a bit old-ish technologically compared to some of its peers, and it’s frame rate, while decent, won’t win any contests. Still, it has good ISO performance in low light, and its 21 megapixels makes up for some shortcomings.

But it was certainly fun shooting the game. Someone told me to watch the refs who will invariably stand between you and the shot. It turned out to be quite true. Especially for free throws, when I’d set up the perfect angle and composition, the girl would dribble a couple times, then the ref would ease into my frame. Arg!

Jeff and family and friends were into the game. He later told me he forgot I was there. As a photographer at an event, you always wonder about this. At a wedding, I don’t want to be what the attendees see and remember. Same thing for other events – you want to try to be there but unnoticed.

On Sunday, we were able to use the gym. I was looking forward to this shoot. This time, I’d be able to use lights to construct the shots. I brought three Speedlites – one on the camera as a master and two slaves. The master was set to not fire during the exposure – it was there only to control the other two. The team shot was first. Using a couple umbrellas, this gave me some remarkably even lighting. Jeff was great in arranging the girls to match his vision and the girls did really well as I clicked off a couple dozen or more shots.

But I was most excited about what we might get for action shots. I had the lighting and a particular look in mind. It took a few minutes to find the right setup for the lights - still using two strobes. But once that was nailed, things went pretty smoothly.

The baskets were raised and we were losing the gym to another group, so we couldn’t spend much time exploring various types of shot. But we were able to catch each girl in some action. I really enjoy using lights like this. It adds drama to the shot, and when it’s combined with a cool move, the result can be terrific.

I think I have some good shots for Jeff to use. I took the resulting images and applied some effects in post to give them the look I had in mind when I shot them. This was my favorite shot as it really hit the mark I wanted. She’s in a great position and her flying hair adds to the motion and action of the photo.

I’ve never been a big fan of basketball, but put a camera in my hands and, better yet, give me the freedom to put up some lights, and I’m loving it!

I love the look of fresh snow, especially the kind that builds up on the trees, fluffy and white. We had our first real snowfall of the season yesterday – several inches. It was a wet, heavy snow. Here in Minnesota, we see a lot more of the light, dry snow with our typical cold temps. But, it’s been fairly mild so far.

Luckily, there was practically no wind today. The snow covering the trees was still there pretty much all day. I told Lynne I might go out and try to grab some shots. I was thinking driving out to the countryside and looking for some cool image. My car does okay in the winter with its winter tires, but it’s not the sort of car you go wandering about looking for some out-of-the-way location.

When I look over my big collection of photographs, winter and snow shots tend to be few. I do like the look, the way it blankets the landscape. But I really don’t like cold. I figure it’s my Mediterranean blood.

Still, I can’t deny how terrific snow photos can be. I still remember some I shot after a big snowfall back in NY when I was shooting slides. Some of those were pretty darn good, if I do say so. Lots of big fluffy, heavy snow back there.

Lynne thought I was talking about walking out back and taking some shots of our trees. Hm. Why did I immediately think about going out driving and hunting for a shot when the backyard looks so great?

I pulled out the camera and thought a moment about lenses. It might be cool to shoot some close-in photos. Focus on the snow and some other natural element. And, it could be useful to shoot wide-open and avoid having any nearby houses or other distractions in the shot. So, I grabbed my 135 f/2 lens.

I dialed in the aperture to f/2 and set about shooting. The obvious starting point is our crabapple with its load of fruit waiting for birds to clear it, usually in late winter. The red crabapples look great with the white of the fresh snow. And it’s one of my favorite color combinations – red and white.

Then I started looking around for other interesting subjects. Couldn’t miss Coco, our neighbor’s dog. He doesn’t like to stand still so focusing with such a shallow depth of field is a challenge, but I started seeing this peaking-out view of him and managed to grab a nice photo with sharp eyes. Or, I guess, sharp eye.

The grapes still hanging from the vines on our fence and the apples in the neighbor’s tree caught my eye. You might imagine how the grapes look in December, so I was thinking black and white when I shot them. The apples are looking a bit worse for the wear, too, but their color was just too wonderful to leave out.

I thought the snow on the gate was interesting with the patterns and gray background. Another good subject for B/W treatment. Of course, it was already nearly black and white to begin with.

Sometimes you do need to just look around you. Even living in the city with a small yard, there can be some cool photographs waiting for you.

I shot a couple Halloween events this year. First up was the Fright Farm presented by Rochester Horror. These same folks dressed up their house in previous years each time adding more and more. But they’ve really outgrown the house. This year, they were out at the Olmsted County Historical Center where they had lots of room.

Shooting a haunted event poses some challenges as you might imagine beginning with lighting. Or lack thereof. My solution is to use a flash appropriately gel’d. I like a blue gel which evokes night and dark. For the Fright Farm, I had the flash on a cord, so it could be aimed anywhere. Lynne helped out. With a zoom lens, it is often a three-hand operation.

Where there are already colored lights – which is often – I try to keep my Speedlite from spoiling that mood, using it more to fill in the shadows a bit. It’s a balancing act and definitely a place to use eTTL with the flash exposure compensation dialed down. And ISO dialed up.

The other big issue is focus. This was especially true with the flash out on a cord. It will fire a red/IR beam the camera can use to help focus, but with it out on a cord, it’s tough to get it aimed at the proper subject. Manual focus isn’t a lot better since, well, there’s no light!

My son never liked clowns. I think they all looked like this to him.

We were walking along with one of the tours of paying customers, so I tried to stay out of their way and not overly flash the scenes. That usually means hanging back. That also allowed us to have the actors recreate something I missed because of the crowd.

The next night, Halloween night, I shot some photos at Rochester Civic Theatre’s Haunted Theatre. This was a single night event providing a tour of the theatre backstage, green room, and dressing area where various creatures, zombies, and other frights were found. For this tour, Lynne was busy handing out treats (one of our best years at the house), so I slapped the flash onto the camera and swung it around, up, or down to bounce the light. Blue gel again.

I was able to make a couple walk-throughs with the guides before the action began for real. It was a good help. I actually did some DSLR video on one walk-through. There are some usable bits, but it was really, really dark for much of the tour.

The theatre has some nice props which were used well. I think I’ve seen this casket before. In Dracula perhaps?

Out in the lobby, I grabbed a shot of a couple of our hosts. It’s fun to watch folks truly immerse themselves in a role if just for one night. I enjoy working with theatre people – in case that hasn’t been apparent!

If you’re going to take Halloween photos, you have to have a good zombie photo. This was mine, taken at the Fright Farm. I collected a few zombies and asked them to pose in the graveyard. I took a few shots before my battery died. I was prepared with a backup, but no need. I had the shot. This one warranted a little work in post to give it the effect I wanted. I think it works.

Scott Kelby’s Worldwide Photowalk moved from summer to autumn this year, and it was set for two days – the first and second of October. Walk groups could choose which day to hold their walk. Our group in Rochester had the walk on Sunday the second. We walked in downtown Rochester again this year and timed the walk to cover the golden hour around sunset.

It’s always fun to gather with several other photographers and shoot. And, of course, talk about gear and photography. We started by the Mayo Civic Center where I took the shot of the bridge. I particularly liked the reflection and the golden colors against the blue sky.

I shot the group photo with us gathered by the feet of the Mayo brothers. I used a bit of on-camera flash to fill in our faces as we stood in the shadow. The sky was clear, so the sunlight behind us was pretty bright.

Then we headed off. A number of us stayed more-or-less together, but others wandered off in different directions.

I think most, if not all, of us had at least one shot of this building. The bright yellow and orange draws your eye making it tough to not notice. The low sun added to the effect and, with much of the river in shadow, the reflection was pretty awesome. So this is my take on the photo of the yellow building!

Some of us later noticed the hot air balloon as it made its way across downtown. I had opted for my main walk-around lens, my 24-105mm, and I had my 50mm in my bag. Out for a walk, why would I need anything longer than that? Hmm. As soon as I saw the balloon I was naturally wishing I had brought something with more reach. But I did what I could at 105mm. I loved the ring of light on the left side from the setting sun. It just glowed, and a longer lens would have shown it off more. But I watched as it moved closer, moved into a position near the building, so I could at least frame it, have a foreground, middle-ground, and background. A decent shot, I think, but it could have been more.

I found these berries along one of the paths. I looked at the glow from the back-light and the dark leaves behind. They made a nice subject, and I love red anyway! I like to refer to these as red poison-berries. I have no idea what they really are or if they’re poisonous, but I like how it sounds. Goofy, I know.

I saw this young lady sitting in a swing by the river. The setting sun provided a wonderful light. And I saw the river and bridge in the background. I asked if she’d mind me taking her photo, and she generously agreed. She asked if I wanted her to turn around, but no, the shot was perfect like this. It made a nice color photo, but the textures and shades told me it would be a great black and white photo.

There was a time I thought landscape photography would be what I’d mostly like to shoot. I find I’m really drawn to people photography now. Interestingly, I think I’ve enjoyed shooting people for a very long time. I just didn’t realize it until recently. Funny how the mind works!

Once again, I was a sponsor and official photographer for the Pond and Garden Tour in and around Rochester. The tour includes some commercial locations, but it is mostly private gardens at homes around the area. The focus is sustainability, so there are several rain gardens included along with more traditional waterfalls with and without ponds.

The gardens range from fairly modest but lovely gardens, often with the soft sound of falling water…

to much more elaborate, extensive gardens covering vast spaces.

And, mostly, there are gardens in between. It’s fun and interesting to photograph, looking for something different or maybe a different angle, or a flower which catches my eye in some way.

Or a racing flock of pink flamingos running out of the woods.

The weather this year was hot – like it’s been since the cold June – and was mostly dry except for a line of storms that blew in and blew out after a half hour or so. I found myself sitting in my car contemplating the pond that was growing around me during the rainfall! Afterward, there were water droplets all over the plants which isn’t bad for photography.

Just due to the timing of the tour, most of the photos were shot with the sun fairly high overhead. We deal with that lighting as best we can. Clouds and drizzle after the storm helped for a while. Then it became hot and the rain added to the humidity. July in Minnesota.

The ponds were interesting. Many are home to some colorful fish and water lilies and other flora.

Statues were more common this year than I remember seeing last year. Many were religious, like Mother Mary in the grotto above or St. Francis or St. Anthony. Some were the small children, or the occasional frog.

I enjoyed the waterfalls. Even fairly small falls produced a nice water sound, which I’d imagine could be soothing to listen to while relaxing on the deck or porch.

There were some gardens on the tour this year which had been on last year’s tour as well. One I particularly liked then, and again this year, forms a labyrinth. It’s well kept, beautiful, and filled with hope and faith. As you can see.

Different folks enjoy different holidays. The Galaty’s enjoy Halloween. Each year, they spend countless time and effort converting their home into a haunted house. I’m talking about most of their home. At a party there early this year, we had a tour of the house. In several places, the discussion was something like, “this is for the haunted house,” or “we will use this room for the haunted house this year.” That was last winter. Planning is basically a year-round activity.

They now even have a web site for the event. Part of the proceeds this year went to support Rochester Water Ski Shows which had heavy losses during the recent flooding.

As I mentioned in my last post about the drive-through Halloween event, shooting in darkly lit places and conveying a spooky mood require some thinking about lighting. The haunted house had lots of moody lighting already, although it was pretty dim as you’d expect. If you look at the background in the top photo, behind our greeter, you can see some of the red light that filled the room with the casket.

I decided to bring along my strobe attached to the camera via a cord. That let me aim it wherever I wanted. And I added a deep blue gel to keep a cool, nighttime undertone to the shots. I had to be careful not to overly compete with the great colored lighting already there, but sometimes my blue is the most noticable light. However, I think it still matches the scenes, conveys the feelings, but is just a bit different than the live experience. If I have to compromise, I want to compromise artistically, I guess.

Groups of visitors were guided through the haunted house. Each room had a different theme. The clown room must have been designed with my son in mind. He always hated clowns as a kid!

Both of the Galatys are fitness nuts, so it’s no surprise to find a room filled with fitness equipment. Apparently, some exercisers have been at it too long.

Black lights were used in various parts of the house. Mixing with other lights and my blue flash, the images I captured are almost surreal. They looked pretty cool in person, but the photos are amazing. I had someone ask about this image wondering what work I’d done in Photoshop. Turns out, no pixels were harmed to produce this image. It’s basically what came from my camera.

There were quite a number of actors helping throughout the tour. The costumes and makeup were great.

I particularly enjoyed this zombie boy as he crawled across the floor. Here you can see my blue flash providing just enough light to brighten his face. I would often fire the flash down or behind me to achieve the balance I wanted.

There were some rooms in which the group was treated to a brief performance such as this room with an electric chair. You can imagine what was shown. Special effects, especially smoke, were used throughout the house.

This kitchen was well stocked, although the cook was a tad ragged.

The tour ends downstairs at the back of the house, and other props such as cemetary and the Galaty’s new hearse provide more for visitors to enjoy as they walk back around the house. As I left, I was struck by all the work they put into this production and the dedication of the folks who helped make it happen. Walking back around the front of the house, the line had grown substantially since we arrived – we came early.

In one night, I shot two Halloween events. Although they had the same scary theme, they were vastly different in so many ways. As a photographer, it’s this variety that keeps me shooting. It’s not just the desire to grab a few good images but the planning and exploration of light and lighting that make it fun. When I’m all done, I look at the photos and consider whether I achieved what I set out to do. Do they match the pictures I had in my head before the shoot began?

That’s the final test. I’m happy with the results making it a good night of shooting.