Originals*
This image, above, I shot during a drill weekend in my hotel room. I had the idea to make myself dead and have my ghost staring at my lifeless body thinking "huh, now what?" Basically I set the camera up on a tripod, "gently" placed the lamp on the floor, tossed around the contents of the room as if a struggle or something took place, measured the light and had my roommate push the button. I took two photos, one of me dead and one of me as a ghost. Later in photoshop I stacked the images and erased certain parts of the top image. Because the camera never moved I was able to lower the opacity of the top image (me as a ghost) and erase the areas around the ghost me. The end result was me appearing to be transparent. I did some other editting to add the "look" the image has. This type image (me dead with my ghost visible) is the first in a series of similar shots I'll be doing. Stay tuned.
This is my son, Elijah. For this shot I attached a large plush blanket to a backdrop stand and set up a single soft box to the upper left side of him. You have to be on your toes with children, especially babies. Eli never stopped moving...and I never stopped shooting. Trial and error, the best teacher.
My family and I waited for nearly two hours at this park for everything to be just right. I feel like the majority of people think photography is a quick "point and shoot" and move on type thing. It's not. Amazing images are generally achieved by finding that awesome location, composing the shot and waiting for the perfect lighting conditions. Occasionally you'll come across everything at the right time, but please understand this isn't always the case. Patience. Also, I entered this shot in a local photo contest. The winners will be announced in their August magazine issue. I'll let you know.
I try to always always ALWAYS have my camera on me. I was visiting friends with my wife when one of them carried out this tiny puppy. The first thing that came to mind was "holy crap I'll get my camera." A few shots later I asked for a coffee cup and the shot I wanted came "into focus"...so to speak. The point is, you never know when an opportunity will come your way. Be ready for it.
Here's another one of my favorite wedding shots. For this I asked the couple to go in for a kiss slooowwwllyyyy. Later in photoshop I added the dreamy effect.
This shot sat in my pictures file for nearly six months before I did anything with it. I took this in Virginia Beach during the day. I "turned on the lights" in photoshop. With the lights off I felt the image was missing something. Not super amazing or anything but it's my first pier shot. Just because the photo has been taken doesn't mean your creativity with it ends. Photoshop or any editting software can push the envelope with some stuff; though you don't always have to use it. Like any tool, sometimes it's appropriate, sometimes it's not.
I got the idea for this one from a photography magazine. I used black felt for the background and a single stick of incense for the smoke. I colored it in photoshop with a rainbow gradient layer style. Photo magazines are great places to get ideas. You should always seek to learn something new or try a technique in a different way. Who knows what it could lead to?
Here I am in Florida...in the middle of nowhere...conducting training for Iraq in the middle of the woods, lol. I handed off the camera to a friend and instructed them how to compose the image I wanted. Later in photoshop I removed my face. Something different. This was awhile ago. I returned from Iraq in spring 2010. I'm currently a SGT in my unit.
Fast forward to Iraq and we find ourselves inside the "victory over America" palace. Note how it's been bombed. Victory over America my ass. I had some awesome opportunities to photograph the inside of this place. A tripod and a long shutter speed made this image possible. Even if your out shooting during the day, you never know when you'll step inside somewhere you might need a tripod to get that tack sharp shot.
Rewind to before Iraq. I took this when my wife and I were traveling through the Guadalupe Mountains on our way to the Carlsbad Caverns. Man meets nature...or mountian...whichever.
There's an old building downtown that I was fortunate enough to be able to photograph it's basement. There's was some neat stuff down there, such as these pipes.
Interesting story behind this photo. I shot this through a dirty truck window (I was the passenger) while going around a turn during a snow storm. Man did I ever get lucky.
Towards the end of my deployment in Iraq...and also close to Christmas...I shot elevan photos, cut and arranged them to create this "star wars" style movie poster of my squad. I had a print made for each of them for Christmas. I'm the guy on the left above the top truck (RG-33 MRAP) with the sunglasses.
Here's another shot from the basement of that old building. I used my speedlite, camera mounted, to light this (same with the other one).
No comments:
Post a Comment