My Life, my photography, my passions
Just thunderstorms tonight in Nebraska, but note the circular rotation in the clouds overhead. They were definitely moving in different directions. No tornado, the clouds quickly merged into each other, but we did get a wonderful thunder and lightning storm. I love weather, ok, dramatic weather.
We really needed the rain too, it was getting very dry.
Shot in RAW, processed in Lightroom 4, used adjustment brush over the clouds to increase the clarity and shadows between the clouds.
I’ve read about using fill flash, but I had never tried using this photography technique until last week. Now I think it is the most valuable tool ever invented on the camera (just kidding) . Many people totally believe in natural lighting, while I can respect that I also believe in using tools to improve results.
When my daughter and I took a trip to Missouri and Arkansas to tour a few colleges we decided to make it a camping trip. Two out of the three days we camped out in tents by the lake and it was wonderful The scenery is so unlike the plains of Nebraska I was itching to capture and play with different settings on my camera. My daughter was a willing subject on this trip and I was bound and determined to make the most of the opportunity.
With so many trees around she was constantly in the shade. The first photo above was disappointing as I had too much shadow on her face. Then the brainstorm. “Let’s try the flash? Stay right there and smile. ” I popped it open, heck why not? I set the intensity on the menu as high as it would go as I was using the 75-300 lens from about 20 feet away.
What a difference! The extra lighting opened up the shadows, warmed the tone of the photo, and overall enhanced the image.
Photo was taken with a Canon Rebel XS so it’s far from a professional camera by far, but I got much better results straight out of camera which is the ultimate goal of any photographer. Time saved in post production is more time shooting.
Many times people avoid using a flash for the dreaded “flash burn” on the skin and highlights. Professional photographers control this in the studio by using soft boxes or flash diffusers which cover or screen the bright bulbs. The same thing can be accomplished with using a diffuser.
There are even flash intensifiers such as the Rogue flash booster. This is designed when long range lighting is needed beyond the 10-15 feet of a pop-up flash.
Pop-Up Universal Soft Screen Box External Flash
Rogue Safari DSLR Pop-Up Flash Booster (Black)Opteka PD-10 Universal Soft Screen Pop-Up Diffuserpangshi® Flash Bounce Reflector Card Diffuser ReflectiveMicnova Universal Soft Screen Flash Diffuser forProfessor Kobre’s Lightscoop, Warm Version Bounce Flash
The clouds in Nebraska take on a life of their own and offer a landscape panorama that takes your breath away
I am always trying to expand my photography skills and shoot different topics, events, and subjects.
It isn’t often I have full permission from my daughter to take my camera (Canon Rebel XS) to her softball game. So when I got the chance I took it, and did I ever experiment with night action sports photography. Not easy, but I finally did get the hang of it. I set my camera on manual and just played until I got it right.
The above picture was taken with at 1600 ISO, 5.6 F stop, and a 1/160 shutter speed, 75 mm zoom with a continuous burst with the camera file size at small for a faster response. With the exception of the graininess at the high ISO I’m pretty happy with the results.
Again graininess with 1600 ISO, but right now I can’t see anyway around it, 800 was too dark with the needed shutter speed. The second photo was on large/RAW file size and was a little dark in the original image. With the lens resting on the fence I shot through the chain link at 300mm focal length, 1/160th of a second at a 5.6f
I increased the exposure in Lightroom, cropped the original horizontal shot to vertical, decreased the white and decreased the shadows. Don’t like how the grain distorts the background player, but couldn’t figure out a way to compensate.
The last photo was obviously taken earlier in the night before the sun went down. All I did here was decrease the exposure, increase shadows, and warm the white balance. My camera tends to shoot cool (blue) and a the sun was glowing on all the players. I try really hard for realism in my editing and this is what my eye saw.
My daughter has played softball since T-ball in preschool starting at Elmwood-Murdock, then Lincoln Y-league, Eagle, and the past three years for Louisville. The Louisville team joined the Omaha league a few years ago and the first year they didn’t win a game. Competition was a little harder than their previous league and the girls had to try a little harder. The record the next year was about a 50:50 record.
A lot of the girls play on two teams, most of the teams are Select and have the intimidating matching travel bags, and “muscle” jerseys. Most play school ball, but it doesn’t matter what they look like, can they play? My daughter loves the game, she only plays during the summer and she has a mean steal and isn’t afraid to use it and slide to where she wants to go.
Photography Tips
I’m a big proponent of shooting in RAW, but there are many instances that a regular JPG photo will work just fine, especially if you taking the photos for yourself and just going to post to Facebook and share with friends. If you’re goal is to enlarge the photos, post them for sale, or use them commercially, then a camera with a wider range of options is necessary.
A lone buffalo stands guard between Omaha and Lincoln Nebraska at the Lee Simmons Wildlife park. While he may not be wild, or even real, the buffalo inside the park are real. It is ironic this buffalo stands next to a fence, which to me symbolizes how barbed wire and man civilized the prairie to the point where the only buffalo can only be seen in captivity.
The above shot is straight out of camera shot, a little over exposed. When I adjusted the exposure the scene was just too contrasted for the texture of the bronze buffalo. So I turned him to black and white in Lightroom 4. This is a reach for me as I LOVE the blue of the sky and high contrast.
I adjusted the clarity in the clouds and reduced the shadows in the grass.
What version do you like best?
