Trophy Time

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/125 second, f/10, ISO 100

Emily's Last Shoot

Here's a sample image from the last shoot I did of 2008 which also happened to be the last time I was able to work with Emily since her family is moving back to Australia. I was able to refer her to an outstanding iStock photographer in her home country though, so while I won't be working with her anymore she will get to continue modeling.

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/80 second, f/5.6, ISO 100

2008: My Favorite Photos

I've spent some time over the last few days reminiscing about the photos I took in 2008. I wanted to pick my favorite image for 2008. Instead of picking a single image, I decided to put together a few of my favorites from different categories.


OVERALL FAVORITE IMAGE

When I think of the thousands of images I took in 2008, one image stands alone in my mind as my favorite. It was taken on a rainy/snowy day in May when everything came together perfectly for me to capture what I envisioned in my mind. The shot was made at the Salt Lake LDS Temple at the wedding of a young woman who grew up in my neighborhood.


Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/640 second, f/4, ISO 100


FAVORITE PHOTOWALKING IMAGE

My next favorite is an image that was taken on a Photowalking Utah event in March. The group was riding the light rail system through downtown Salt Lake City and getting off at each stop to photograph. At one of the stops we met this gentleman who kindly let us photograph him. I opted to get in very close and to position him in the light so there wouldn't be catch-lights in his eyes. I wanted to portray the harshness that is reality when living on the streets.


Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/80 second, f/4, ISO 250


FAVORITE STOCK IMAGE

It was difficult to pick a favorite in this category. I added over 2,800 images to my stock portfolios in 2008 so there were plenty to choose from. My pick is one I shot back in the spring titled Scary Movie. I love how the girls were each able to portray spontaneous fear as if they were actually watching a scary movie. The fact that the image features my two daughters doesn't hurt either.


Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens - 1/160 second, f/7.1, ISO 100


FAVORITE PORTRAIT

My favorite portrait is of a member of my church named Leon. What makes this image special is that Leon passed away on January 23rd, a relatively short time after this image was made. Even though the image was actually taken a few days after Christmas '07, I consider it a 2008 image because that's when I did the editing. I remember talking to Michelle on the way home after photographing Leon and telling her that I had a strange feeling while shooting that this would be Leon's last portrait. I'm grateful to have been able to capture his warm smile one last time.


Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/125 second, f/10, ISO 100


FAVORITE PHOTO SHOOT

My favorite photo shoot of the year took place nearly a year ago in January. Through a pilot friend, I was granted access to a private jet for an afternoon to do a stock photo session. My goal was to create a series of images that portrayed passengers inside an airplane in flight.


Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/60 second, f/8, ISO 100

Even though the temperature was in the teens (inside of the airplane and out), the models all braved it to help me create a nice set of stock images that have sold relatively well all year. Of the dozens of shoots I did this one is probably my favorite because of just how cool it was to play around photographically in a multi-million dollar jet.


Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/160 second, f/6.3, ISO 100


2008 will go down in my memory as the year that my photography business took a front seat to my other endeavors and became my nearly-sole source of income. This would have never happened without the support of my family, the willingness of people to open up locations for me to photograph in and the dozens of great models that worked with me throughout the year.

To each an every one of you I issue a heartfelt Thank You!

Now it's time to quit looking back and to focus on the future. 2009 here I come!

Happy New Year!

Thanks to all the readers of LeggNet's Digital Capture for a great '08! Here's to a safe and happy New Year's Eve and a Fantastic 2009.

- Rich -

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/160 second, f/7.1, ISO 100

Mpix.com - Turning Frowns Upside Down

I use the online photo lab Mpix.com for my photo printing needs. I first tried them a few years ago after reading a comparison of online labs in a photography magazine and saw that they were rated the best overall. I have been very pleased with their quality and service. I've often said that it is more convenient for me to use Mpix and have the images overnight shipped (for a very low flat rate) to my home rather than driving to a local lab.

Earlier this month my faith in Mpix was put to a test. I arrived home to find a FedEx package waiting for me that was in pretty bad condition. It's not an exaggeration to say that the box was literally "Run Over". Knowing that the package contained a 16x24 and 11x14 mounted on canvas (in addition to a lot of smaller prints), saying that I was alarmed is an understatement. Opening the box confirmed my fear. Both of the mounted images were goners, though all of the unmounted prints survived.

Since my client was anxiously awaiting the order, I quickly sent an email to customerservice@mpix.com hoping for the best. To my surprise, I received a reply in less than 5 minutes. Without hesitation, Matt at Mpix offered to reprint the entire order and overnight me the replacements. He didn't ask for proof or give me any hassle at all. He simply said he was sorry and that he would take care of it.

This is the kind of service I want to receive from companies I frequent. Accidents and mistakes will happen. When they do, it is nice to have them quickly resolved. This potential relationship damaging incident actually served to further increase my loyalty to Mpix. Nice job, Matt & Mpix.

Elisabeth "On the Bus"

With the typical "busy-ness" that seems to encapsulate the holiday season I haven't been photographing much. This creates a bit of a challenge for meaningful blog fodder, so for today's post I'm gonna feature one more image from last week's School Bus stock shoot.

Tomorrow's post: an example of good customer service from a photo lab.

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/40 second, f/6.3, ISO 200

On the Bus

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/60 second, f/5.6, ISO 200

The Night Before...

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/160 second, f/4, ISO 100

Behind the Scenes - School Bus Photo Shoot

I wrapped up my last stock photo shoot of the year this morning. The shoot involved a group of kids on a school bus. Finding the bus was a little bit of a challenge, and I ended up being blessed to have a local church offer their bus to me at no charge. While the bus didn't look much like a typical "school bus" on the outside (where's the yellow color?!?), it was a perfect location on the inside for my purpose.

For lighting, the bright reflective natural light (helped by the fresh snow) coming in through the side windows worked great. I accentuated this light with a large softbox aimed at the windshield and a smaller softbox inside the bus.

It was a lot of fun working with the 10 models. The fact that the majority of them were kids and that it's two days before Christmas added to the excitement on the bus. Together we created a nice set of images to add to my stock portfolio.

Parka Girl

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens - 1/250 second, f/5, ISO 500

Almost there...

Yup, we've almost arrived at another Christmas. My surprise this holiday season photographically was which one of my themed photos became my top seller. I would have never predicted it back in September when I shot it, but this image of a frazzled looking Alyssa outsold any of my other holiday images by a considerable margin. I guess we can just chalk it up as a commentary of how many people feel during the holiday season.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens - 1/160 second, f/4, ISO 100

Recap: Photowalking Temple Square

Photo by Scott Jarvie

Last night's two-part Photowalking Utah event was a success, at least it appeared to be from where I was standing. We had great participation in both segments of the outing.

The evening began with a mini-clinic on Nighttime Photography at the City Library in Salt Lake City. We managed to squeeze 50+ photographers into the conference room provided by the library. It is always a challenge to present relevant information to photographers of such varying skill levels, and hopefully I was able to do so.

I had more than a few requests for a copy of my Powerpoint presentation, so I have uploaded it to the server. It can be found here. The slides were more of a starting point for our discussion, but I hope this can at least help with remembering what we chatted about.

After the mini-clinic, the group hopped on Trax (Salt Lake City's light-rail system) and headed over to Temple Square where we met up with several photographers that didn't make it to the earlier session. While it was a fairly cold night, the day's earlier snowstorm had moved on so conditions were good for shooting.


Photo by David Terry

This was probably the first photowalk that I didn't take any pictures on. I loaned my camera to one photographer and my tripod to another, so I spent my time just walking and talking with the group. Even though I didn't shoot, I still really enjoyed the event.

The Photowalking Utah Flickr pool is beginning to see the night's captures filter in. Be sure to check it out over the next few days to see a sampling of the participant's work.

Photowalking Utah enjoyed a great 2008. We have had over a dozen events and have seen the attendance steadily increase. I really look forward to seeing where this group can go in 2009.

'tis the season

Photowalking Utah: Recapping the Hill Aerospace Museum

Thanks to everyone who ventured out early this past Saturday morning despite the winter storm warning to photowalk the Hill Aerospace Museum. It was a great time in a great location. Extra special thanks go to Photowalking Utah member Averie for getting our group the VIP treatment! Our tour guides could not have been more accommodating - they were great!

To see a great sampling of images shot by the group, visit the Photowalking Utah pool on Flickr.

The next Photowalking Utah event is tomorrow night in Salt Lake City. It features a nighttime photography mini-clinic (which looks to be standing-room-only at this point) and then a photowalk around the famous Temple Square Christmas displays. For all the details, here's a link to my previous blog post.

Lewis at ISO 800

One of the main reasons for my recent camera upgrade from the Canon 5D to the new 5D mark II was the ability to shoot at higher ISO settings without a significant degradation to the image. In my stock photography, I never went over ISO 400 with the original 5D and typically stayed under 200. While this was fine for shooting in studio, when I shot outdoors with existing light I frequently found myself shooting at a slower shutter speed than I would have preferred.

On a recent outdoor session, I was able to put the Mark II's higher ISO ability to a test. It was an overcast day and I used a combination of reflector and speedlite to accentuate the diffused natural lighting. By pushing the ISO to 800 for this image, I was able to use a shutter speed of 1/250 to eliminate camera shake. Had I used ISO 100 for this image I would have been forced to a shutter speed of 1/30, all but guaranteeing camera shake.

The final test for this image was to submit it to iStockphoto for inspection. I'm pleased to report that the shot passed and is now in my stock portfolio. My next test will be to submit an image shot at ISO 1000.

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens - 1/250 second, f/4, ISO 800