Week 34: Fisheye lens

I am ready for my close-up. I am literally an inch from the lens!

The view looking down at my feet.

Laying down and shooting straight up..you can see my feet!

I am shooting from less than a foot behind these chairs.

Everything around me from directly above.

My whole truck from 3 feet away..I can touch it with my foot.

Photos of the Week

Week 34 Assignment: Fisheye Photography

I have a new lens to play with for some new shoots I am doing. The lens in an 8mm fisheye lens and it has a view of about 180 degrees, so it see almost everything. You get some serious distortion as you can see from the close ups of my face (I don't think my nose is really that big). It is a fun lens to play with to get some very interesting photos. It gives you a little different view of the world.

Coming Next:

Week 35 Assignment: 24 Shots in My Truck

Week 33: Wedding Photography

Photos of the Week

Week 33 Assignment: Wedding Photography

This week I had the opportunity and pleasure to photograph my sister Amy's wedding in North Carolina. It was a beautiful wedding on the banks of the river. My approach to shooting a wedding is to focus on the bride. There are probably 5 pieces to the wedding package of photos: pre-wedding and preparations, photojournalistic coverage of the ceremony, family and group portraits, bride and groom photos, and finally reception photos.

I chose not to showcase each of these on the blog, but instead, a handful of my favorites.

Coming Next:

Week 34 Assignment: Fisheye Photography

Week 32: Vacation Photography

Photos of the Week

Week 32 Assignment: Vacation Photography

I was on vacation this last week with my wife's family on a lake in northern Wisconsin. It was a nice relaxing vacation, which included a little golf (of course), boating, games, swimming and fishing. I tried to capture a bit of everything to put in the memory books (or at least the hard drive of my computer).

Coming Next:

Week 33 Assignment: Wedding Photography

Week 31: Twilight Real Estate Photography

Photos of the Week

Week 31 Assignment: Twilight Real Estate Photography

I had my first Twilight real estate photography shoot this week and I decided to share it with you. Overall I think the shoot went very well. It was tricky trying to figure out the best time to take the photos and I think they may have been a little better if I waited a little longer to get a bit more blue in the sky.

One trick I did learn is to water down the driveway and walkways to get some nice reflection of the lights to make it a bit more dramatic. It was a warm evening so the water dried up fast as you may see in some of the photos, but I believe the effect worked great. This was a great modern home to photograph and I hope to do more in the future.

Coming Next:

Week 32 Assignment: Vacation Photography

Week 30: Clones

Photo of the Week

Week 30 Assignment: Clones

I wanted to have a little fun this week, So..I cloned myself. I figured if there were more of me I could get a lot more done, or at least, talk to myself and not be too crazy.

I have seen a few photos like this where the people cloned themselves a few times and I thought they were very interesting and unique. I had always wondered how they were made and until I decided to give it a try, thought it was difficult. But, to my surprise, I found that they are quite easy to create.

To create a clone collage of yourself, you need to know a little about Photoshop and layers. First, take photos of yourself in multiple location in a scene, without moving the camera. Next, open the photo where you are furthest back in the photo and add the remaining photos as layers on top of this photo in order from furthest back to closes to the camera. Next, except for the bottom photo, erase all of the photos leaving only yourself to remain in each of them. If the layers are set up correctly, the remaining collection of photos should give you something similar to the above photo. Cloning was fun, and who wouldn't want an extra Fred or two to have around.

Coming Next:

Week 31 Assignment: Twilight Real Estate Photography