Fire Fighting

On Sunday October 18 District II Fire Department had a controlled burn of a house that had previously been damaged by fire. The structure was unsafe so interior operations and training were not possible. Some entry techniques were discussed and then the fire was lit.





The fire quickly got rolling and hose lines were use to keep power lines and other items cool.







A couple of the guys that were manning the pump, tanker and supervising has left their helmets lying around. Some of these made for some nice shots.







Thanks for looking.

Enjoy

Fall Photography Workshop

This past Saturday I attended Eric Hoffman's Fall Photography Workshop. The workshop was held at the Old Bear's Den. The shooting was done at Hocking Hills State Park. The weather was cold, overcast and a light rain. We headed to Rose Lake to shoot the reflections and the changing fall foliage.

I enjoyed the morning of shooting, but I was hoping for pictures with more "pop". The mood of the pictures matches the weather of the day. They just feel gloomy.

The first picture was at the end of the trail to Rose Lake. An old log was laying in the lake and the reflection of the trees in the still water was very strong.



Next I turned my camera down the shore line. I wish I could have gotten more separation of the reflection of the trees from the shore.



Walking down the shore line I came across another tree lying in the lake. Due to the overcast I could not get the highlights and shadows to expose properly. So I took a series of exposures and used Photomatix to create an HDR.



Walking back up the lake I shot another shore line shot that included the path along the shore.



Using a tree and vegetation for a natural frame I captured some of the wetlands area at the head of the lake.



Again using natural framing I shot the lake using a tree on the right and sapling with red leaves on the left.



The leaves were just starting to change color and on the trail there was a variety of leaves of different color. Just a simple shot that is oversharpened.



Along the trail there is a large group of pine trees. One had fallen. I got down low and shot along the tree. Due the high contrast of the scene this is another series of shots making an HDR using Photomatix.



Almost back to the cars looking back up the trail I shot another HDR. I am not really pleased with this image. I was hoping for a better shot but sometimes it doesn't work out the way you want.



Crossing the road back to the cars I could not resist this shot. The typical fall colors with the road winding through the scene.



We went back to the workshop center and had a wonderful lunch. We headed over to Old Man's Cave. It was the weekend of the fall hike so the crowd level was overwhelming. Since I really did not want people in my shots I did not take very many. The first is looking up some old tree roots through a mossy opening in the rocks.



Next Eric directed us to a small water flow across some rocks that easy to use natural framing.



If you are in the area when Eric is offering one of his workshops it is worth looking into.

Enjoy,

Chris

Creek Stompin'

Friday after school was a rainy afternoon. Shortly after 5:00 it cleared up and the boys were dyin' to get outside and play. I wanted to go down over the hill to the creek to look for some walnuts and what better way to have some fun. The hill behind our house is very steep to say the least and the 4 of us(me, the boys and Duke our lab) got down to the creek. Since it had just rained and the moisture was rising off the foliage you could easily see the sun's rays dancing through the leaves.



We walked along the creek, Duke in the creek, for a while. Isaac decided to kick at something on the ground and off came his shoe into the creek. It was a deeper section of creek so fortunately Duke rescued the shoe. After that Isaac decided that since his foot would be wet he would just go ahead and slosh through the creek and have some fun.



Trevor was not so inclined to get wet so he wanted to skip rocks so as we walked along he skipped every flat rock he could find.




After about an hour or so the light was fading due to fall arriving so we headed back up the hill. After bathing 2 kids and a large wet dog we called it a night.



As always click on the images to take you to my site to see a larger version.

Enjoy,
Chris

Ohio Foothills Outing

I recently joined a Flickr group that share photos of the Foothills of Ohio. It is dedicated to the rolling hills of the area I live in. Sunday September 27, 2009 was their monthly outing. I decided to join them in the Hocking Hills State Park. Roman Wilshanetsky AKA Lost In the Hills put together a presentation about HDRI images. Though I have done HDR images before I did learn a lot. I had primarily used an open source program called QTPFSGUI. After seeing Roman use Photomatix from HDRSoft I became a convert. We spent the afternoon hiking from Old Man's Cave to the Lower Falls and back. The weather was cool and the day started out cloudy and windy. During the day the clouds came and went creating variable lighting. It was a great afternoon of shooting in a very beautiful place in Ohio. If you would like more information about the area click here.

So here are my results from the day. By clicking any image you can see a larger view.

The first shot is looking back up the trail towards the visitors center. I set up and waited for several minutes for foot traffic to clear before taking the 4 exposures that make up this shot. Most people when shooting for HDR, shoot a 3 to 9 image bracketed exposure. I tend to take as many shots as required to make sure I get all elements of the scene properly exposed. I do this using the histogram and taking shots until I have the highlights properly exposed. I make note of this setting and then find where I get the shadows properly exposed. I then take a dark frame(put my hand in front of the lens to let me know where the correct image sequence begins). Then I capture the shots as quickly as possible with a one stop interval between the light and dark exposures capturing the full range. This allows you to get every thing from the sky to the shadows properly exposed for the HDR conversion.

So now for the first image.



The next image was at the bottom of Old Man's Cave there is a bridge over the creek. I set my tripod up low the ground and got a great image of the bridge.



I looked right and saw the sun peeking out. I turned my camera and moved so the sun was just touching the edge of a tree trunk and grabbed another series to make what is my favorite shot of the day.



The next image is the stairs leading up, around and down to the Lower Falls at Old Man's Cave.



I tried getting a shot of the Lower Falls but every image seemed to have a person in it. I am going to go through and see I can get something worthwhile out the series in the next few days.

I did go behind the bridge at the lower falls and set my tripod up in the creek, balance precariously on a rock to get the next shot.



Hiking back up to the visitors center you come to a wooden staircase that is very narrow.



Then you climb a long staircase through a long dark tunnel. After going through the tunnel I got a shot of the exit/entrance.



Enjoy the photos and if you have any questions click here to contact me.

Also on October 17 I am going to a photography workshop at Hocking Hills so stay tuned.

What's in a Package?

The other day I was thinking about print delivery. I was trying to decide how to best package prints in a pleasing way.

When you go to any "chain" portrait studio your prints are delivered in a cheap envelope with a window. These envelopes usually have "Portraits" stamped on them in bold letters. They are just as cheesy as when your school portraits used to come home.

I thought a lot about how to stylishly package my prints.

I wanted to package my prints in a way that showed how much I care for my clients prints and their business. I did not want to hand my client prints in a plain envelope marked "portraits".

So after looking around the house and dragging my wife through the local craft stores, I came up with a solution I am happy with.

Using tissue paper and twine I wrapped the prints and placed a thank you card in a clear plastic presentation folder. So to give you an idea of how your prints will arrive I snapped a photo of my packaging.




Enjoy,
Chris

Photo Session

I had a photo session the other day at O. O. McIntyre Park District's Raccoon Creek County Park. This was a session with a brother and sister. We had a great time taking the pictures and I really enjoyed the shoot. The park provides a great place to photograph. Take a look, if you want to arrange your own photo session contact me.(just click the link)

So here are the photos. They were taken with natural light. On a few I had to use a little fill flash to bring out the shadows.



Jenny was a great subject we shot several poses and had a lot of fun.



It took Eric a little while longer to warm up to camera. Lilly the dog was the easiest subject though.


Thanks for looking and Enjoy.

Where Did Summer Go

Summer, so many plans, but where did it go???

With a new job getting the kids ready for school it was hectic. It was a wet summer and the garden did not do well but we did get some stuff canned. I have not been out shooting like I wanted to. With fall coming I hope to change that. I had my first portrait shot the other day and I am happy with the results. I have a couple of ideas for some shoots but lining up willing participants may be difficult. Last night I forced my self to go out and shoot a little and got some results I am happy with. I also have some new gear and will be talking about it later.

So now for the pictures. I ventured out after dinner to O. O. McIntyre Park District's Raccoon Creek County Park. I thought I would just hike around and see what jumped out as interesting. While hiking I ran across a mushroom. With light I used my tripod and 10mm extension tube on my 70-300mm.



I shot a quick Panorama overlooking the hills of the area.



While leaving I grabbed a bracketed shot of the Hummingbird Gazebo to try to put together an HDR. Using QTPSFSGUI



Last I stopped in town at the Bandstand in the Gallipolis City Park and snapped another set of bracketed shots for an HDR of the Bandstand after dark.



Thanks for looking and enjoy!