Creative Lighting System at High Speed

Navy veteran Nikon CLS Creative Lighting System SB800

William Rosen is a retired disabled Navy veteran who I first knew through his car parked at the library. Its rear panel shouted at me as I walked to my car books and cds in hand. I waited for its owner to return until I couldn’t wait any longer because of a previously arranged appointment [...]

Picture Of The Year – 2009

outdoor softball player portrait nikon d300 cls sb-800 strobist

Every year, as I ponder my new year’s resolutions, I always try to find the one photo that best describes how I met last year’s promises. The process keeps me grounded in success and helps me determine realistic goals for the new year for creating better photos. This year’s best photo is of a young [...]

Merry Christmas

Have a Happy Penguin Christmas

Have a Happy Penguin Christmas from your friends at NewDigitalPhoto.gs

Active Athlete Portraits

active athlete portraits sb800 cls nikon creative lighting system swimmer swimming

Creating portraits of active young athletes is a set of mixed blessings.

Finding the natural moments that express the joy of competition and its associated training goes beyond standing near the finish line of an event. It also requires a good understanding of phot technique to create an image that explains the moment and the athlete.

Seeing professional photographer’s photos from major sporting events makes it look simple. Stand in the right spot with the right camera and lens combination might be all that is necessary to duplicate their result.

Sunrise before sunrise

sunrise strobe sb800 nikon d200 strobist fill flash

The wakeup call was well before sunrise. The arrival time was not long after wakeup.

The assignment was a series of photos of a fitness athlete doing warmups at sunrise, then follow her for the day for training and meals.

For anyone show shoots at sunrise you know the planning is precise. The sun is in the right position for a very short period of time before it loses its warmth or the angle is too high.

To capitalize on the early arrival we began the shoot before sunrise. In our case sunrise was a little later than normal because the sun had to break across a line of trees across the lake where we were shooting.

When sunlight becomes the secondary light source

portable flash nikon sb800 cls d300 secondary light source

As the city planned its advertising campaign for a levy to increase the income tax, one of the projects the increased revenue would be used for included renovating and repairing the city’s brick-covered streets.

My assignment for an editorial client was to show the streets and I had to do it the day I received the assignment. Typical news job. Here it is. Do it now. Make it look great.

The sky was cloudy which meant not light to created shadows and detail.