Some Like to Bounce...

One of the problems that I run into as a photographer is that there usually isn't enough natural light for the lenses that I have. One way to get around this is to add a flash, the problem with an on camera flash is that it can leave the subjects looking washed out. Almost like the paparazzi's just shot them. If you have a flash that has a swivel head just aim it at the ceiling or a big white wall. This will give you smoother lighting that looks much better. In these pictures I used a flash to bounce off the ceiling which made for nice even lighting. The lighting looks pretty natural which is nice. If you are shooting people you have to be careful that you don't get ugly shadows under their eyes. You can aim at a wall or you can shoot from above them looking down. The shots of Angela and Owen below where both bounced off the ceiling but I had them look up. You can see the nice catch light in their eyes. I cheated a bit because I used my off camera flash setup but it works the same as an on camera flash.

Volleyball Game

Skyview had a regional game against SOHI their rival. I should be a bit more involved with my little sister Missy's games but I find I have enough going on with my own family. I did make it to my one game for the season. Skyview ended up winning and Missy had a really good game, it was fun to watch. As you can see by the pictures I used some off camera flashes. I set up 2 flashes, one near mid court and one on the far end of the gym. I got in trouble by one of the ref's for pointing a flash towards him. Missy got a bit embarrassed because they stopped the game and told me to move my flash. Big baby (the ref)... You can see more pictures on my flickr photo stream.

High Key Shots

Here are a few high key shots I took last night. I figured that I needed a backdrop to get good shots but a white wall worked just fine. I set my background flash about 2 stops above my exposure to blow it out then used an umbrella to expose the girls correctly. You can see the setup in the last picture. Had Kaitlyn jump for dramatic effect. Did it work? Enjoy. ~Erik

Little Monsters and Another Race....

I tried a few different things with my pictures this post. It seems like it is all the rage to have crooked pictures, some vignetting and overly saturated pictures. This last week I made a weird light box for my flash (picture #6), it was something that I saw on flicker. The first and third pictures were taken with the flash box which seemed to give really nice lighting. It consisted of tin foil inside and a slot cut out and covered with tissue paper. Not real high tech, but the results were nice. The catch light looks very good as shown in the first picture. Fortunately for the girls, I made this contraption after they went to bed; Angela didn't want to be my model so the girls got to stay up late. The second and last picture were taken today when the girls were being fairy princesses. All that I have to say is that my girls are all girl. Angela ran another 5K today with her friend Melissa. It's like a disease or an addiction, well I guess it could be worse - she could like crack...Anyways she finished in 34 and half minutes, a personal best. She was pretty stoked because she ran the whole way. Picture 4 and 5 are from the race today. ~Erik

Camping and Photo Shoot...

We went camping at the beach this weekend with some friends and had a blast! It was cold and windy, but the sun was shining and it was beautiful. The kids loved playing with their friends and all the kids played really well together, especially considering their lack of sleep the night before. The kids loved the four wheelers. Erik borrowed one from his parents along with a trailer to pull the kids behind it. They thought it was so fun! We also enjoyed some great food and fun campfires. Grandma and Grandpa even stopped by to say hi on their motorcycle. All in all, it was a great weekend. Thanks to the Swansons, Ponds and Hansens for letting us tag along.

This next set of pictures is Owen and I. Erik got an umbrella to diffuse the flash a little and was so excited that he wanted to do a photo shoot, so he talked me into getting dressed up and being his model. These are a couple of our favorites. Owen is making his new "cheese" face in the first picture. He likes to say cheese now when we take pictures. The second picture is later the same day after "his brains started squirting out of his head" (as Kaitlyn said). He hit his head on the rocking chair. After the initial shock we wanted to take pictures - he just wanted to stick his finger up his nose. Erik says after major trauma he likes to stick his finger in his happy place.

Kaitlyn and other stuff...

Our spotlight this week is on Ms. Kaitlyn. Although I would say Kaitlyn serves up the most sass out of our kids, she also is so kind and loving. She loves her brother and sister so much and would carry Owen around all day if we let her even though he weighs about the same as her. She is an amazing helper with a great work ethic. She also has endurance (like when she ran/walked an entire 5K with me last summer without complaining once). She is hard working and intelligent. She is learning to read, mostly because of her own self motivation. What would we do without our spunky little Kaitlyn? ~Angela


So Angela suckered me into painting the bathroom this weekend. She wanted to go for some sort of beach theme. Here are some pictures of how it turned out. The pictures don't really represent the color too well but it definitely looks much better.

Well I got a couple new lenses this week for the camera. I had a lens in mind but I talked to a guy at Ritz cameras and he persuaded me otherwise. I didn't really end up taking his advice either. I originally wanted a 18-200mm Nikon VR lens but I ended up getting the Sigma 10-20mm and the Nikon 50mm 1.8. The 50mm lens seems to work very nice. The first 3 pictures below were taken with this lens, at $110 this is a great value lens. I have been messing around with still shots and I have a lot to learn. You can see my attempt in the first picture below. The 1.8 is nice for shooting indoors, the 2nd and third pictures were taken without a flash. That third picture I was messing around in gimp for an effect that I have seen on dpchallenge. The 10-20 lens is great for landscape type shots. I am most excited about this lens as it opens up some possibilities that weren't available with my old lenses. You can see that it has a fish eye effect, the last shot in the series is using this lens adapted from a tutorial I found on dpchallenge. Kind of a different look but I kind of like it. ~Erik