I am in awe of the athletes in Austin. Cindy is one of these amazing people, nursing school, check, 2-time Leadville 100 mile Finisher, double check. Sweet, Funny, down-to-earth. check, check and check.

Got the chance to meet up with her for a photo session down at a mutual friends house, and we shot away for a few hours. Mind you, this was a week after finishing a 100 mile race in altitude.

Mentally and Physically Strong!

I love this one of her holding a winter jacket, looking tough and serene at the same moment.

I think this session has kicked off a new idea in my head for some of the personal work that you will be seeing from me, runners, triathletes, cyclist, I love what they represent and the beauty of a soul revealed through dedication.

See an interview with Cindy here

–JB

I promised more pictures after my no picture Lightroom post, so why not go with a BIG image. I present to you, the Stinson Family Panorama – Funny Faced Edition.

(click for larger)

The full image comprises 5 exposures, developed in LR3, stitched in Microsoft ICE, and tweaked in Photoshop.

The youngest son, Parker, is a stud runner heading off to the University of Oregon to run for their famed program. I met him through my work with Team Rogue, and through some of his high school cross-country teammates.

We met at Riverplace Country Club in West Austin. Kathryn, who heads up the catering there, was kind enough to let us borrow a few golf carts to reach this location above the 9th hole. Not carrying my 20 pound battery pack up the hill made the rest of the shoot a snap! Thanks Kathryn! (if you need a catered event hosted, give her a call)

The first thing I wanted to do was this panorama, because, well, I am smitten by them right now.

(nerd lighting talk below)
My basic capture process is to put the camera on a tripod in between the middle subjects, and then get everyone roughly equidistant from the lens so that everyone appears properly sized. I put my big 4 foot octobox up high above me with the AlienBee cranking out some good wattage. I have tried this with portrait and landscape orientation, both work fine, just depends on your desired output and how many people are in each shot. I expose for the background/ambient light, and then bright out flesh tones with the light bank. Don’t move the Lightsource or the shadows won’t line up, found that out the first time the hard way.
(end the nerd talk.)

If you would like to get your family a cool panorama shot, contact Josh@azulox.com for more details.
–JB

The point of this post is not to give a full blown review of Lightroom 3 (LR3). There are enough of those out in the ether. My point is to tell you how I use this piece of software and what parts have become crucial to me.

First up is the new watermarking feature. Love it! One more reason to not have to launch Photoshop for redundant tasks. I can now export web-sized watermarked images with my logo for quick uploads to Facebook, blog posts, and Flickr. Especially when doing large batches of watermarks, this saves me hours of tedious work. Thank you Lightroom Dev Team! Previous versions of Lightroom only allowed text export for a watermark. The use of my logo staying at relative sizes to multiple sized outputs is fantastic.

Second, Noise and Custom S-Curves. The new noise reduction is superb for being able to apply at the RAW level in large batches. I still use Imagenomics Noiseware for mission-critical images (such as iStock uploads) with its ability to reduce noise separately on the Shadow, Midtone, and Highlight levels. My cameras are bad in the shadows but typically not elsewhere. For large events, big batches, and a light first pass, the new noise feature works well. I usually run the noise reduction at the 15-25 level in LR3. Your results may vary. Along with Noise, the ability to have finer control over the tone curve is nice too, and goes hand in hand with noise if you raise black and midtone levels too high. For Lightroom 4, I want even more fine tuning capability in tone curve profiling, but the steps are in the right direction. Again, working with a batch of files, I can now process without needing to open any other program, saving me time and money again.

In General, LR3 just feels more robust and powerful. I spend the bulk of my time in the Library and Develop Module. Leave the Print, Web and Slideshow discussions to others.

My third impression is the Smart Collections. Once again, they save me so much time and effort. For instance, the ability to separate your photoshoot into different camera bodies/serial numbers, especially for Weddings and multiple camera/multiple shooter events, epic! Export in camera/shooter bunches for a nice linear export. And the ability to use Smart Collections in the Develop module? Someone at Adobe was listening.

I feel if you use LR1 or LR2 you should definitely upgrade to LR3. Just seems more pro-grade in your workflow. Less application switching, faster response.

That said, here are some issues that still perplex me.

Really? I can’t delete a photo from a Smart Collection? Trying to find the logic in that one, seems arbitrary and frustrating to have to flip in and out of collections to delete a blurry or unwanted photo.

Vibrance Brush! give me one, I want it, and I want it now. Please add this in a point release. Although I worry about even more selective coloring popping up in peoples portfolios. (you know who you are)

Preferences? Not so intuitive. Can we get a better menu system please. Trying to make simple changes is awkward.

Oh, and maybe a simple crop feature in the Library mode? That would be super too

Now that said, here are some questions for you.

1. How do you manage Catalogs? One per shoot? Catalog for photo type? Which yields the fastest performance?

2. Does anyone use the pixelated automask feature on brushes?

3. What is your favorite aspect of LR3?

4. What do you want to see in LR4?

Thanks for playing along today, more pictures next time

–JB

Rogue Running is on a roll this Summer! We have already seen the Double Dare Challenge, the first Rogue Raffler and now a Diva Night!

Diva Night is full of Power Women!

Rupal, leading a discussion on posture and alignment

Gundy trying to figure out how a sports-bra works. He was giving information on the proper fit in the Moving Comfort line

Uncorked was on hand filling up wine glasses

Stan the Man, being more of Stan the She-Ra

Gaggle of Gals giving me the princess pose

Be sure to come out to Rogue EQ on Thursday for the second edition of the Raffler!

From our not-engagement shoot from a few weeks ago with Noel and Denise. I knew in my head that I wanted to surprise the couple with a little something different. I have been experimenting more and more in the Still+Video hybrid shoots. For this shoot, I knew that I wouldn’t have access to my video function (that camera was elsewhere), but I did have access to my high speed burst mode

We went with a cinema theme because the happy couple loves movies! There will also be an appearance of the PropBooth at the Reception.

AzulOx Photography will be covering this wedding on 12/11/10.

Noel and Denise – Save The Date from Josh Baker on Vimeo.

Noel and Denise, I am so excited for you guys!

To get your super-awesome Engagements-Save The-Date video, please contact Josh at josh@azulox.com

Robin and Gary are some of our great friends. We have been in each others weddings. My wife and Gary’s wife were college room mates. It was therefore a great thrill to be able to take Gary’s family Portraits in New Braunfels, Texas this past weekend.

We did a combination of outdoor environmental portraits and indoor mobile studio setup. We knocked out the outside first and then as the temperature got to be a little too much we headed indoors for the white background and cool AC.

Thank you Goodson Family! We had a wonderful time documenting your family.

I work for a great running company, Rogue Running, and they like to put on crazy events to break up the summer doldrums. Last week they put on the Rogue Double Dare Challenge. A timed obstacle course ending in a murky inflatable slip n slide.

First up, Bobbing for Apples

The Second Event is High Knees

Third, Shaving Water Balloons, aka Steve’s Revenge

Fourth, Medicine Ball Reverse Shot Put

The Fifth event is interesting. Whip Cream Pie Pushup to find the Gummi Bear. One pushup per bite.

Sixth up is the Hula Hoop. Guys had way more issues than the Gals on this event.

The seventh obstacle is over and under hurdles.

The World Cup-inspired eighth event had runners weave through soccer cones with a super light kids ball.

Ugh, Dizzy Bat for number nine.

Immediately following Dizzy Bat, the Egg Carry required the exact fine motor skills that Dizzy Bat depleted.

Remember the murky slip n slide? Yep, that is the finish.

And your reward for completing these 11 events? Beer, from North by Northwest!

This past Saturday I participated in the 3rd Annual World Wide Photowalk. This event takes place simultaneously across the globe and involves all levels of photographers. For me, it is a fun social event where I get to meet and greet with socially-minded photographers. These are my people.

I should also note that I make poor decisions before I have eaten or had my caffeine in the morning. In this case both. So for a 1.5 mile, 2 hour walk, I thought it would be fun to lug around the 300mm f2.8 IS lens with 1.4 teleconverter on my 50d and giottos monopod. What could go wrong besides an aching back? Well, nothing went wrong, except for an aching back for the next few days!

Less talking, more pictures

The group heads out down 8th street.

The Sun backlighting a sprinkler

Pretty sure everyone took a picture of this hound dog on the porch, luckily I had the reach to get in close

The favorite stop along the way – an old mechanic garage that has collected some interesting pieces over the years.

Welding on a Saturday morning. This is from my favorite part, the unexpected welder. Again, the reach of the 420mm really helped get in and tight, without putting myself in too much danger.

Thanks to the Lone Star Model A Club for bringing your lovely Cars out to show off. We appreciate it!

Big thanks to Geoff Hammond of Hammondovi Photography for leading this walk for the second year. Great job, and great to keep it interesting.
Next year I invite you to come out and play with your camera. Come be a part of something bigger than yourself. It’s always fun.

The full gallery is here

–JB

The first monthly Flower Power Happy Hour is going to be held at Flower Child Design in Pflugerville, Texas on Wednesday, July 28th, 2010 from 6:30pm to 8:30pm. Flower Child is located on FM 1825 near Railroad Avenue.

Local Plfugervillian Wedding Vendors will be on hand to provide expertise in Photography, Flowers, Wedding Planning, Catering, Hair and Makeup, and Cakes. We are also going to be providing excellent group discounts where the more vendors you book, the bigger the discount you receive. How is that for one stop shopping!

If you know any brides-to-be, please pass this information along because they will be receiving a great value with local vendors

–JB

A reminder to remember to check out the podcast that I am part of at www.oxandham.com.

The last episode has us talking about Scott Kelby’s Worldwide Photo Walk that Geoff is leading in Georgetown, and we talk through the process of post-production in answer to one of our listeners questions.

Feel free to drop us a line about any topic related to photography, we will do our best to answer your questions.

–JB