You get what you pay for

I've said it before, and I'm gonna say it again: YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!

Well, usually.

I have run across yet another "I'm a photographer because I bought an expensive camera" person who markets themselves to brides and seniors. I used to see this sporadically in the 80's when the old film SLR cameras were becoming more popular. I worked in several photo labs, and I saw the results (ie DISASTERS) these people inflicted upon now-devastated brides.

Fast forward to 2010. Ashton Kutcher shows us how easy it is for the average Joe-Schmo to be Ansel Adams. Oh, if it only worked like that in real life!

On the TV commercials, Ashton takes his entry-level Nikon DSLR and wows people with the spectacular shots he was able to pull off in any lighting situation, with nothing more than an SD card and a kit lens.

And like Samantha Stevens twinkling her nose and having Tabitha's teddy bear fly across the room, this is TV fiction, for the most part. The entry-level DSLRs can do a beautiful job, no doubt! But these gorgeous TV shots are usually reserved for optimal lighting situations, or for someone with a little knowledge about photography.

Having your cousin shoot your wedding to save money will generally net you 2 things:

1. An unhappy bride

2. An excommunicated cousin

Please think twice before having an amateur capture the most special day of your life! If you're willing to spend thousands on the perfect wedding, make sure you designate a substantial part of that budget for professional photos, or you could end up with this.....(snagged from the web):

I love photos in fall!

Fall in Indiana has a way of improving your mood. It's the only season where it can be sunny, rainy, cloudy, foggy, chilly....and no matter what, it's a great day outside.

I love the challenge that Indiana weather hands me. It's my job to create a photograph of someone that makes the viewer say, "Wow, I wish I was there!"

I've had brides in strapless gowns standing in darkness on lit gazebos in 15 degree temperatures in the snow.

I've had engaged couples traipsing through the forest on a 96 degree/90% humidity days.

But the bottom line to all of these photographs is this: Discomfort is not perceived in the final photograph.

In this photograph I exploited the deep rainclouds overhead. Instead of hiding them, I wanted to use them for dramatic effect.

By shooting from a low perspective, I was able to include a large segment of sky.

The added bonus of such clouds is the nice soft diffused light they give me. I supplement their soft, natural light to fill in gaps, but the overall result from such a day is very pleasing.

Working with sunlight can also be a challenge! While sunlight surely brings out those nasty, harsh shadows, it also brings out the nice saturated colors that can make a photo really POP! The secret is to not let those harsh shadows control you. When you're a photographer, YOU need to be in control. Ambient light is great....sometimes!

You can augment the sunlight with strobe, or you can simply reflect some of that natural light back onto your subject with a reflector. A fancy silver or gold "pop out" reflector works great, but so does a nice big hunk of white board.

The more you light your subject, the better the background can become. If your subject is backlit, the sky will be washed out in the attempt to lighten your subjects, plus your subjects will lack contrast and color.

Here I used the sun to halo-highlight their heads/hair, while using my Metz to fill in the faces. The sun on the hair is always a nice dramatic effect for women, and for couples.

The sunlit trees was an added bonus.

Additionally, you can find ways to exploit harsh sunlight. Use shadow play, look for patterns that shadows cast, and use them to your artistic advantage!

I did not set up this photo. The couple was walking to the spot (where the above photo was taken) and I whipped the camera up and popped off about 4 frames.

Sometimes the favorite shots aren't the ones you set up. In fact, that seems to be the rule rather than the exception, when shooting on-location sessions such as this one.

Shadows can make excellent portraits!

Try to find an interesting and relevant medium onto which to cast your shadow.

For little children, you could use a merry-go-round, or a patch of concrete that they've recently decorated with sidewalk chalk.

Here, we have an engaged couple against the Robert Indiana "Love" statue.

As my high school photography teacher, Kerry Brown, once told us: A camera is nothing more than a light-tight box.

It's what you do with it that makes you a photographer.

Cruisin'

I cruised off to the Caribbean as the snow fell here in Indiana. I visited Grand Cayman and Cozumel, Mexico. It was a welcome break from the cold!

Clouds look so cool from above, don't they? Taken from the plane, somewhere over Georgia, I think.

We set sail in the late afternoon, giving us a gorgeous sunset view of the Sunshine

Skyway Bridge in Tampa Bay, Florida

We passed under the bridge with only a ten foot clearance for our ship!

If you have never seen this bridge, it's quite a sight to see!

I have never driven over it, only sailed under it.

This is a view of the bridge as we approached it from the Carnival Inspiration on our way out of port

at sunset.

Ten feet!

These are the feet of my sisters and me, all wearing matching toenail polish!This was taken on Seven Mile Beach in Grand Cayman. This was the day we got 16 inches of snow back home!

A pretty rainbow at sea

The Carnival Inspiration, docked in Cozumel, Mexico

The "Three Amigos" cantina in Cozumel, patterned after the movie that starred Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, and Martin Short

Inspiration passengers as they walked the dock back to the boat for the trip home. It was an incredible day!!

It was a trip I'll never forget. It was a "bonding time" with my 4 sisters, and was worth every penny!

Illegally cute

This is my cousin's baby. He's just the cutest thing. I babysat him today and took the liberty to grab some shots. I used one studio monolight with a 36 inch softbox, softened further by some white nylon draping. The light was placed slightly above and directly in front of the baby, over my shoulder.

Gary Fong Lightsphere blog

I received my Gary Fong Lighsphere II in the mail. I have only played around with it a little indoors because it's been very cold outside.

Here are a few "side by side" comparisons. I used "straight on" flash (SB-600), regular bounce flash, bounced off of a 9 foot white textured ceiling, and diffused flash via the Lightsphere with the white inverted dome in place. Here are my results:

Straight-on flash:

The face is crystal clear, but you have the typical "flash" attributes, such as harsh shadows from the nose and chin. Also, the background is dark.

Here is standard, regular "bounce" flash. It is obvious that the light is coming from above (notice the shadows in the left eye area, caused by the nose and bridge of nose).

The light is soft, but some details are lost. If this had been taken in a room with a very high ceiling (or a dark, wooden ceiling) this photo could not have been possible with bounce flash at all.

Taken with the Lightsphere II. The face is much more evenly lit. You get the crispness of straight-on flash, but the softness of bounce flash. The face is completely lit, shadows are softer, and less of the background is lost.

These pix probably aren't the best examples, but it's too cold to go shoot what I really want. Bottom line: I'm very, very pleased with what this device will allow me to do in the future. It was worth the modest investment.

I've recently invested in a Gary Fong Lightsphere II. I have not taken any shots with it. I bought it to use (mostly) outdoors, and the weather here in central Indy really bites right now. I will use it during weddings in lieu of standard bounce flash. I'm tossing around adding an amberdome to the gadget bag. I'll need to read more reviews.

I also invested in a radio slave device to fire my Nikon Speedlight off of the camera's hotshoe. It will be fun to incorporate the two.

Thus far, I've used mostly fill flash and reflectors to fill shadows thrown by unavoidable harsh light:

Stay tuned for the Great Gary Fong experiment!