On a side note, it looks like Nolan might be a future trekkie…

"Live Long and Prosper"

At the beginning of April we had the privilege of taking our first vacation overseas. We’ve been wanting to go abroad for a long time and the perfect opportunity finally presented itself to make it happen. Our friends were temporarily living in Aberystwyth, Wales which allowed us to stay with them for a portion of the trip. We chose the UK because it was a relatively easy entry into the world of travel and there’s plenty to see in a small area. Naturally, I was excited because it’s somewhere I’ve never been and I didn’t know what to expect – All I knew was there would be some amazing architecture and probably a lot of wide open spaces with grazing animals… and plenty of new inspiration. There’s something about taking a picture of something you’ve never seen before. You don’t have to try to capture it in a new way, you can just focus on taking the photo in the best way possible for the subject. For the first time in a long time, I decided to only shoot JPEG so I wouldn’t have to worry about the massive file sizes of RAW and constantly switching cards. I planned on doing plenty of bracketing for HDR’s inside cathedrals and many panoramas.

While the weather was generally nice (often not the case), late in the afternoon a mist would descend upon the land and give it a dull muted haze. I’m so often drawn to bright colorful things that it was nice to be reminded how beautiful and simple things can be when not you don’t have color to distract or enhance the scene.

One of my favorite photos from the trip, for it’s sheer simplicity

What I was pleasantly surprised to discover was that the UK was full of interesting compositional opportunities. Maybe I’m just becoming more sensitive to those kind of artistic elements due to my focus on them as of late, but the architecture and structures really created prominent leading lines and divisions of color and form that I wasn’t used to seeing. It allowed me to focus on simplicity and a sort of purity that I’d been craving.

I love the blue stripe, the 2 windows, the grid paneling, the white bird vs blue sky

I definitely got a chance to shoot HDR’s inside the York Minster, which was one of my favorite locations to shoot of the trip. Such beautiful architecture  made for some really detailed shots with gorgeous lighting. By combining bracketed shots, it brought out a lot of the detail that might normally be hidden in shadow or blown out by the bright windows. I even tried shooting “vertical panoramas” since the ceilings were so high and those came out rather interesting.

Inside the Minster’s quire, 3×3 shot hdr+panorama

All in all, I definitely caught the travelling bug and I can’t wait to keep exploring. There’s so many cultures, so many people, so much to see out there and I can’t wait to capture it all in memorable ways.

[view the full album on my flickr page]

I’ve been playing around with off-camera lighting here and there. Since lighting is such a huge component of a good photo, it’s nice when you’re able to control it to achieve a certain look. When I had to chance to shoot Cale, I was all prepared to try using a couple flashes set up indoors with a simple backdrop – a very simple home studio setup consisting of a speedlite and 2 optically triggered flash bulbs (which don’t refresh very fast).

After setting up and snapping some photos, I became painfully aware that this setup wasn’t working. It wasn’t because the lights weren’t working together correctly, or that the setup was incorrect… But simply the fact that I was trying to take pictures of a 1-year old having fun in a relatively small area. He just wanted to crawl and explore and play! He’d dart across the floor and the lighting balance would be thrown off. I’d snap a pic and be waiting for the flash to recycle, and then I would miss the next shot. I suppose if I had a little’n of my own I would have thought of this beforehand. Live and learn I guess.

After 15 minutes or so, I decided this setup wasn’t working and to go the much simpler and more mobile route of fast lens + available light. I love using natural lighting anyway and try to incorporate it whenever I can. It makes it a lot easier to shoot wide open as well and get the nice shallow depth of field I love. Cale’s parents just so happened to have a nice huge tall window with some gorgeous sunlight streaming through. Since the sunlight was so bright, I placed a large white sheet opposite the sun as a reflector to even out the exposure on his face. This is one of my favorite lighting setups – it’s so simple and effective to shoot with the sun behind your subject and use a reflector as fill light. A flash can also be used effectively, but a large reflector will give you nice soft shadows, much like a huge softbox would.

In short, I love how the photos of Cale turned out, particularly with the window lighting. I predict he’ll be quite the bookworm when he gets older. Once he got his hands on a book he sat intently, his little fingers poking and prodding the thick pages as he slowly flipped them.

Moral of this story? Be prepared. Prepare yourself mentally beforehand by envisioning how your shoot will go and whether you’re using the right approach to capture your subject effectively. Bring the right gear and don’t let preconceived ideas get in the way of getting a great photo in that moment. Be prepared to adapt if something unexpected happens, and adapt as soon as you recognize you’re not going to get what you need in the current situation. Shooting in the moment can require some quick thinking, but it’s fun and you’ll get better and more authentic shots.

With my recent shoots I’ve been trying to achieve a more consistent look across the images. In the past I would pick and choose different looks for different shots, trying to maximize the potential and uniqueness of each. In retrospect, I think that was counterproductive. While some individual shots may have looked spectacular, sets as a whole lacked a certain cohesiveness and individual shots lacked their own place in the grand story. Consistency in processing also helps a photographer hone and develop his or her unique style. More people notice it and begin to associate you with a certain look. The challenge is to keep learning, keep evolving, and keep your look fresh.

View even more photos on my Flickr