Harter family portraits 2015

I shot the Harter family's photos again this fall. We did it a little later in the season so a lot of the color was gone, but I think it was actually good to distinguish the look from last year's. The other distinction is that they are expecting a new baby!

It still feels weird to share another family's photos, but I want to document my photography work on this blog. Here are a few favorites from the session:

Portrait of a piano teacher

The longer I practice photography, the more I appreciate good lighting. I don't even bother to take my camera out of the bag in certain conditions. A talented photographer, however, can adapt to whatever the conditions are and make something interesting out of them. It's good to have goals.

My wife's dear friend Emily is a piano teacher and she asked me to take some head shots to help promote her business. The lighting conditions for this shoot were tricky -- overcast skies are great when you are outdoors, but they can be too dim inside, especially when evening is coming on. There were also windows on three sides of the room, making it difficult to avoid heavy back light from most angles. I've shot in more challenging environments, but something about this set-up was just draining my inspiration. I didn't have a good feeling about what I captured at the end of the night.

Do you know what saved the project? Shooting in RAW format and putting in a lot of work in Photoshop. The results still look a little stretched and strained to me, but that may only because I saw behind the curtain.

Here are my favorites from the set:

Iron Range, part 2: Sparta

I'm continuing to document the area of northern Minnesota in which I grew up.  These were taken back in July during a photo walk through the disappearing town of Sparta.  The light wasn't great and my time was limited, but believe me: this location is a photographer's dream.  I barely scratched the surface of this place.

The shot below was actually taken the day I did my Gilbert photo walk, but the location is actually closer to Sparta so I'm including it here instead:

Harter family portrait session

I feel a little weird posting another family's photos on my blog, but I want to share my work. I shot these around mid-October when the fall colors were at their peak. This was a favor to some friends and also good practice shooting portraits.  I wanted to see if I could pull it off and to ask myself if this is something I want to do more of.  Sessions like this (and hours of editing) are fun but not as fun as, say, working on a short film.  This is also the kind of work that demands perfection.  My skill level isn't as high as my tastes, which can lead to frustration.  But overall, I think my friends received some decent options for a Christmas card and I learned a thing or two for next time.

Iron Range, part 1: Gilbert

File this under my list of ongoing projects. I want to catalogue the old buildings in the small town of Gilbert, Minnesota. I got up early one morning during a recent visit to my parents' house and snapped these before anybody knew I was missing. The plan is to eventually go back for more, hopefully on a cloudier day for the diffused lighting, especially if I'm going to convert to black-and-white anyway. These were all taken with multiple exposures to capture as much detail as possible. Click on them to see the detail.

Photo project: Mural capture

My Godparents had us over for a delicious brunch the other weekend and also gave me a photo assignment: to capture the mural their talented son-in-law painted on a wall in their basement. They are moving to a new house, and they want to preserve what they can of this artwork that is obviously very special to them.

My goal here was to simply capture the mural as it really exists. To do that, I applied the HDR technique, which involves taking multiple exposures and combining them to reproduce a larger range of contrast.  What you see below is actually three images: one under-exposed, one exposed properly, and one over-exposed.  I think it helped balance out the lighting in the room and capture extra detail in the shading.

I also boosted the saturation, removed lens distortion caused by the wide angle, fixed discoloration from sunlight coming in on the right, patched lens flares, and sharpened the image.  All this helped make up for what was lost in the digital translation to the camera.

Painting by Erik Lundgren

This was not a big project (not nearly as big as painting it must have been!), but it was an interesting challenge.  I think it will look good printed on canvas, hanging in my aunt and uncle's new house.

Settings on Canon 6D:
- 24mm
- f/10
- 1/2s, 1s, 2s
- ISO 200

Photo project: "Overshadowed"

This was more of a technical exercise than a creative achievement because it's not an original concept.  I got the idea from a magazine and put my own spin on it with the shadow of Mickey (as opposed to a galloping horse statue).  I like shadowy lighting.  I like chess.  And Mickey Mouse has been a dominant presence in the last year plus of my family life.  I thought something like this would make a good 8x10 print in a game room / play room, perhaps in our basement after we finish it.

Settings on Canon 6D:
- 50mm
- f/18
- 20s
- ISO 200

Post-production in Adobe Photoshop Elements 9:
- Removed dust from lens and chess board.
- Removed marks from the wall.
- Straightened and cropped to 5:4 ratio.
- Sharpened.
- Adjusted contrast, made monochrome.
- Added a shadow to the board between the knight and Mickey.
- Added vignette via gradient mask and burn tool.

Thanksgiving photo shoot with Trevor Finc

My brother Trev is the most humble rock star out there, but I convinced him to let me take these "glamour shots" of him on Thanksgiving night in 10 degree weather.  Click on the images to see them larger.

Marty

I saw Martin Scorsese on the red carpet at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival this year. More accurately, I saw a ton of people flock around Martin Scorsese and conceal him from my view.  It was really tricky to get a clear shot, but I enjoyed the challenge.  Honestly, I think my pictures of James Franco from last year turned out much better (a few were posted here), mostly because the dude was taller.

So Called Myth

I finally had the opportunity to see my younger brother play in one of his two bands, So Called Myth, on July 1st in our hometown of Eveleth, MN.  The lighting was dim, but I managed to grab a few gritty shots.  Here's a sample from the set:

That's my bro featured in the last one.  Nice playing, Trev-man.

Brian and Jenny's engagement photos

A couple of friends are getting married soon and they asked me to shoot their engagement photos. I told them I'm not a professional, which means two things: 1) I couldn't offer a guarantee on quality and 2) I wouldn't accept any compensation.  In the end, they walked away with about 90 shots to choose from (cut down from the 250 I snapped), and I got some experience in the business without the pressure of having to satisfy a paying customer.

Plus, it was fun.  I would do something like this again way before I agree to, say, videotape a wedding, which (at least for me) ends up being a lot more work with less polished results.  I'm not saying I want to dedicate my nights and weekends to volunteer photography jobs, but once in a while I enjoy a creative challenge and I do like the idea of developing my skill set. If you are interested in setting up a free shoot with me, send me an email.

The fine print: I don't have any formal training, I use an entry-level SLR, and Veronica still receives priority booking :-).

Change of scenery

Here are a few non-baby related photos I've taken around town recently, just to freshen up the look around here. I'm not quite ready to begin writing much yet, but I'll probably post a brief summary of the year-in-Jeff at some point this month. Keep checking over at Three Peas for the photo story in progress.