(From left to right: Adam Perkins, Joe Thorne, Darren Brown, Kyle Miller)

First up, I remembered to take some setup shots so that I don’t have to draw cheesy diagrams in photoshop.

Second, these Team Rogue guys are F-A-S-T. I asked Coach Sisson if they would be moving quickly through my lighting zone. He said, “well, you won’t be able to tell the difference between their hard and easy, from 4:10 to 4:30 pace.” That, my friends, is hurtling through the bi-pedal atmosphere.

This weeks workout was at Zilker Park in downtown Austin, Texas. I wanted to get more essence of place than last weeks non-descript track. The skyline of downtown Austin would be awesome. The fog and haze prevented a clear view, but at least my strobes weren’t working overtime like last week.

The runners were coming by from both sides of the road, running an out and back course. So I setup a modified triangle lighting. The flash to left had a 1/4 cto on it, and the middle side light had a blue gel. I should have put a warming gel on the far right side. The middle light was for rim lighting, and at some point I moved it across the street into the same position.

Not having an extra person around this week, I had to self test the light to make sure I had a decent exposure.

I know that David Hobby uses his hand for this type of thing, and I usually do too, but I want to see how the gels would play on my noggin first.

When the guys and gals started their workout, I wanted to go low with a wide-ish angle and get close to get the feel of speed and still get some of the Austin Skyline. It worked okay for a single runner, but for the guys in the groups, the person closest to me would look good and the others would become obscured. The point of these photos is the team, so I switched to my trusty 70-200 and captured the Rogue’s as they came around turn 1.

Lots more from this group to come, including my favorite composite.

EDIT: HERE is the video link from the workout

JB

A quick little plug for a piece of software that is going to be a new component in my retouching arsenal, Imagenomic’s Portraiture.

I have been wanting software that could give my models and subjects the refined look of polish that I see in so many photographers imagery. After reading some reviews, I decided to give Portraiture a try.

First off, I can’t believe how quick and easy it is to use. I wasn’t really looking forward to using and learning another piece of software for negligible results. Quite surprised/impressed with the power of the results in basically no time at all. The above image is off my mother, (hope she doesn’t mind), I felt if that the image was fairly good to begin with. Went with a clamshell light setup with a bare bulb behind to add texture to the background. The image on the left though lacked that final polish. With Portraiture, I think I spent about 45 seconds editing the image on the right. I messed around with some sliders based on the default presets, found what I liked, presto!, great looking skin that isn’t plasticky or devoid of details.

Second, the cost. 199 for a Photoshop plugin?, sounds expensive at first. How many minutes/hours would it take me to get these results freehanded? 30 minutes at least, and the look wouldn’t be as good. Also, when you can present your subjects looking their best, the clients will be thrilled. Raise your hand if you hate thrilled clients? thought so.

If you photograph people of all ages, download the trial of Portraiture to see if you can’t take your images to the next level.

–JB

As some of you may know, I take many of the images seen on Rogue Running’s Blog. The folks at Rogue have a nascent elite training team that need more exposure. (<--- photog joke).

Today we are going to talk about how light a subject like Raul, in the above image, to give some dramatic light to fast moving subject.

Going into to this photoshoot I knew that I wanted to add edge lights. With my wireless triggers, the excellent AlienBee CyberSyncs, my max shutter speed is going to be 1/250th of a second. Faster would be better, but then the lights start doing funny things, so 1/250 it was.

To set my aperture, I just kept upping the dial until I got an f-stop that was making my ambient go somewhat underexposed. It was between f11 and f14 depending on cloud cover. My plan was then to build the subjects up with flash, making them the brightest object in the frame. I setup the flashes at the transition area from straightaway to curve on the track. This gave me the opportunity to shoot the runners straightaway, profile and everywhere in between. The sun is coming in at about a 45 degree angle to the runner.

I setup 3 flashes, one from behind and 2 in front of the subject.

Hopefully, my crude photoshopping will illustrate this setup. The flashes were at 1/2 power, to get me some recycle time. The low flash in front is aimed at the shoes to help freeze the motion in the lower leg and foot area, since this is the part of the body traveling with the most speed. Part of the issue with shooting at 1/250th is that you can get some motion blur in heavy ambient, I was ok with a little but that one flash done low really helped out.

I used the finish line as a marker and general guideline. When I saw a foot or body pass by this position I took a frame. I use this technique in races a lot where I have my triangular zone lighting setup. My flashes are generally out of view, so I use a rock, or stump or whatever I can scrounge as a key to where the exposure will be best.

The second part of the track workout, I wanted to give the new 85 1.8 a spin, to see how it would do in fast moving conditions. Used f2 and underexposed by a stop or so, and then brought down even more in post. I got some images like this one:

No lights were used in these because I was getting f2 and 1/6400 at iso 100. Radiopoppers would be nice, but alas.

You will be seeing more from this group in the future once the Team gets settled and in town.

-JB

Today we are going to talk about overcoming the best prepared plans going out the window.

I schedule a bridal session with Kylie for this past Saturday at a location in Pflugervile at a local park featuring a Green Red Barn, a nice little gazebo, and a Century Old House. I had gone there twice for scouting purposes, planned where I would want to place her and which lenses to use and where. Even wrote them down to carry with me so that I could let emotion and creativity take over once the shoot started and still get the framework of images I wanted.

Texas Weather had other plans.

On the Thursday before the Saturday session, weather.com was predicting rain. Uh-oh, start looking for back up sites. On Friday, it looked like Saturday would be nice and clear. Saturday came, and the rain I had hoped wouldn’t show didn’t, but in it’s place came a mighty wind. If you have lived in Central, we get these blue northerners coming through pretty briskly, and then a coastal south wind returns the favor. At least the skies were cool.

The winds were in the 15-20 mph range with some serious gusts coming through from time to time. Sandbags weren’t going to hold a 2 foot square softbox. Luckily for me, my second shooter for the wedding came out to help and meet the bride. Thanks Kaush and Chris!

So what to do? your favorite spots are invalid with the wind blowing.

First thing we did was keep the bride in the car while Kaush and I scouted for both look and wind shields.

The house from the top picture was something I wanted to incorporate into the pictures, so we found a corner where the wind was minimized to get the sitting down shots from the prepared list. This bought us time in hopes that the afternoon wind would wind down. (see what I did there)

The second location of the big red barn we had to move to the side to keep the wind in the right side of Kylie’s face.

The best thing was the crazy sky that added a touch of the dramatic to the photos, and with the wind speed they were moving fast enough to give us “multiple backgrounds”

The key to making this a successful shoot in spite of the howling breeze, was having a vision of the images you want from the get go. Wind can be blocked by buildings, light stands can be held by assistants, advance scouting will key you in to alternate shots. Shooting on-location portraits is always going to be a chancy game, so do your best to come with an ability to roll with the punches and make the images you want to make.

Pictures are made with cameras or crayolas, and our craniums.

Been a crazy couple of photography days, mixed in with days of marketing myself. Learning to balance them to get AzulOx Photography where I want it to go. I am feeling more comfortable with my approach to image making, but still learning the ropes of marketing to new clients. At any rate, here is a recap of the past week, and a look forward to next week.

Last weekend saw me in Houston for the third straight week. The 71 to I10 to 610 South drive. We kicked off Saturday with trying to find the Houston Marathon Expo, I had registered to run this race, but an onset of Racing/Training Fatigue in November prevented me from training. . I wanted to still get the shirt though. We parked on the curb in front of the convention center, but I was 10 minutes late. Good thing I wasn’t racing on Sunday, I would have been a nervous wreck trying to get my bib number.

After the Expo try, we set off to meet up with Mark and Debbie Davis. The three of us have done many, many long runs together. We met up at Mia Bella’s downtown. Good Italian food, Strangest Mural painting on the wall. I know, this thread is useless without pictures, but the mural had a strange pastiche of Italian Renaissance-esque figures in gold on a blue sky. Even the waiter agreed that it was out of place.

After a good meal, Becca and I roamed over to the team brightroom photographers hotel, Aloft. I had to grab my media credentials and compact flash cards. Ran into Larry Castillo in the funky lounge at this W hotel. Went upstairs to check out the room I wasn’t staying in and met Andy Heatwole. Houston is his first marathon to attend, and first big race to cover. We bored Becca out of her mind by talking race photography and logistics. Turned out we would be shooting side by side for 7 hours on Sunday morning. Good thing he was a cool guy.

On to Casa de Fishel for the night, I quickly headed to bed for a fitful night of sleep and a 5am wakeup call.

Race Morning, cruised to downtown Houston in the Jetta, found an awesome driveway to a field that served as the parking lot and headquarters of our group of 4 photographers. Stayed in the car for the first hour, eating a honey bun. Headed to the first position around 7am, began the machine gun barrage at 7:30. From 7:30 to 1pm I average 2000 shutter clicks an hour. The Houston Marathon had roughly 30,000 participants, and I took 12,000-ish frames. When you wake up sore from photography, you have done something right.

After the throng passed through at mile 7, we walked a few hundred yards down to mile 24 on the course. Had a sweet spot with good cheering and good music being played across the street. I cheered through the lens at all my Rogue buddies coming down the line. Gave them high fives and support where I could. I wished I could run the last miles for them, but a marathon is a lonely journey even in a sea of people.

Finished up with brightroom, and headed back to the Fishel’s after a Whataburger stop. David had made some game chili, and that put me on my back for a while.

Woke up from the chili nap to drive back downtown for the Fishel’s maternity shoot. We had tried to get together earlier, but things happen and time runs short. She is due any minute. Really cool park – Discovery Green Park – artwork, water features, ice skating rink, hot air balloon rides. All in about 2 city blocks. If I was a houston based photographer, I would be there often to take advantage of the various vignettes in close proximity.

That finished up the weekend.

Looking forward, We have a bridal shoot on Saturday, and the second edition of the Ox and Ham Podcast on Tuesday. If you have questions for the podcast, leave them in the comments either here or there.

After the Capoiera Dancers in front of the graffiti on Thursday, I headed over to Rogue Equipment to cover the Zooma Run 2010 kickoff party. The weather turned away the weak, but the strong women that showed up had a great time and enjoyed increased odds in winning the door prizes.

Some really great organizations there including Advanced Rehab and LifeWorks Counseling, but I am pretty sure everyone’s favorite was the food from SimplyFit Meals. Chris, the GM, brought over some power pancakes and buffalo meatballs with a agave sauce. Mmmmmm. Luckily I stayed around til the end to gobble up some leftovers. Thanks Chris!

This weekend, I am headed off to Houston again to cover the Chevron Houston Marathon.

Just a quick post before I run out the door for some location scouting. Geoff and I photographed Raphael y Boca and their dancing/playing/fighting skills in downtown Austin.
We had an AlienBee in a 3×4 softboox, a 430ex in a 24inch softbox and a bare 430 with a full blue gel on the background.

The main light is coming from Camera right, as is the background light. The fill light from the smaller Lastolite softbox is from camera left and behind the subjects.

I cross processed the images slightly to bring out the blue and green tones that seemed to permeate in the images.

So enough about the images. Raphael has been doing Capoeira since he was 6 years old, he was outstanding, giving us three or four backflips in a row. He went after it! Boca is a fine art major, cool guy, even got some glass shrapnel in his hands from all the hand stand kicks, tough guy too.

Click the picture to see the rest of the images.

Geoff “Ham” Hammond and I are now podcasting a 2x monthly show about photography in Austin. Our first episode is up at oxandham.com. In it, we talk about Cedar Allergies, When is the right time to hire a pro photographer?, and the World’s Greatest Dad T-shirts.

I would tell you more, but then you wouldn’t listen, so give it a spin and let me know what you think.

We are still figuring out all the niceties of producing a podcast, so if you have any experience in it, let us know in the comments.

–JB

This post is out of order in terms of my weekend, but these photos had to be edited sooner than later. We will get to Friday’s Rehearsal Dinner later this week.

Saturday Morning (yes, capitalized) started at 3:15 AM. Friday night ended at 2:15 A.M.

Woke up, got gear together, kissed sweetie on the forehead and off to meet up with Jake at his house in west Austin. He had a hot cup of green tea waiting for me, good man. We packed up the gear into his truck, and set sail for the trails of Bandera where we were to photograph the race for 12 hours or so.

The plan was for me to sleep on the ride out, yeah, that didn’t happen. Me and Jake were doing what photographers do when not actually shooting, we talked about gear.

Stopped in Bandera for some donut holes and kolaches. My brain was fuzzy upon entering the little shop but the conversation went like this:
Me: One kolache for 95 cents, Half Dozen for $5.95?
Jake: Yep.
Me: Is my math wrong? or are they charging a bundling fee?
Jake: (something about arbitrage)
Me: arbitrage is a big word pre-dawn.
Jake: We can go outside and resell them, make up for it in Volume!

We laughed about this the rest of the day.

Ambled over to the start of the race. Took one step out of the car – Shiny it was cold

Can you see Jake’s frozen breath?
Apparently it was 8 degrees at the start. Ice was on the ground throughout the day in the shade. Brrr.

I got the gig to travel up the second hill climb, with strobes, food, water, and camera gear. In normal temperatures this wouldn’t be an issue for me, but I was dressed like Ralphie’s little brother in “A Christmas Story”, so my mobility was hindered all day. Made it to the a lechugilla cactus gauntlet where I shot for the first 3 hours of the morning.

My setup shot here at the lechugilla gauntlet

After the last of the runners passed through, I headed down the mountain to the finish area, then over to my spot in the woods. I found my trusty log from last years 50 miler and plopped my stuff down. Got the strobes setup again for the runners and whaddya know? Erik Stanley (StanFan) shows up to goof off.

For those that don’t know, Erik is part of Team Rogue Elite, and is a coach for Rogue Training Systems. He is also really fast, like sub 2:30 marathon fast. yowzahs. He is also a goof ball as here he is giving the victory sign to the imaginary crowd.

I stayed in the woods till about 3pm. Made some friends along the way, guys from Kansas, Arkansas, New Mexico. All with the trail runners vibe. diggin it.

Headed back to the crowd, Rick had his new 300 f2.8 IS lens attached to a 1d3 body. Decided that would be fun to handhold for 5 minutes, so I walked around to hand hold it for as long as I could. Made it about 3 minutes, then handed off the 15 pound behemoth to Jake and shot finish lines photos for a bit.

In my lack of sleep delirium I figured it would be wise to ask the race director where some good sunset shots with runners would be. He pondered a bit, then pointed to a far reaching hill and said, “There”. I took off with all my gear in tow. Camera around Neck, Camera Backpack on both shoulders, Strobes and Stands on Right Shoulder, Food and Water on Left Shoulder. 2 mile hike out and up. 10 pictures with runners in them. 2 mile hike back and down in the dark and cold. Still, it was worth it. Why? Because one of the runners never saw me until the strobes fired, and she jumped, accusing me of being a mountain lion. She was delirious and sleep deprived too apparently.

Grabbed some Sonic in Bandera (who forgot my corn dogs), and headed home. Edited 1500 photos on Sunday and posted that PM. Long Weekend done.

The event photos are/will be at www.endurophoto.com
Jake is at Jake North Photography

The New Year has been an exciting time in the AzulOx Photography workshops. We have some new projects and packages that are receiving finishing touches as we speak. One of the projects that I am most excited about is the jump into Wedding Photography. I have been refining my skills over the last year or so, getting used to new sets of gear, really directing the photo shoot, and becoming comfortable with my worth to the picture marketplace. Beginning in February, I will be photographing Brides and Grooms as they walk down the aisle. I am super excited!

(The photo above was taken at Bloomer’s Bridal Shop in Seguin, Texas. Go see Colinda for your Wedding and Formal needs.)

The other new market that we are entering is the High School Senior Market. I know that when I got my Senior Photos done, I wish that I had known about the possibility to get custom Images done by a professional. If I can find my old ones, I will post them, but believe me, they are nothing that spoke to my personality. That’s what we try to capture – the essence of change, potential, and accomplishment of the next generation. I love to work with this age group because I am reminded of the excitement, anxiety and hope that were stirring inside of me at this age. AzulOx Photography goes to where your memories are made – on the farm, on the field, out with friends, downtown. We are on location specialists, but you know that already, don’t you?

Old with the Old… is the old design of this blog, In with the New…. is the excitement and direction that we headed.

Come be a part of the excitement of AzulOx Photography
–
JB