It was the first time, I’d been able to attend a photo meetup. The class was made up of pros and enthusiasts, so it was cool to see some of the gear the pros were carrying around. After about an hour class, we started taking photos of a local area model. The weather was nice, but we had a slight overcast, so I really didn’t get to practice taking outdoor portraits in direct sunlight. It was good that we were able to practice right after the class, because the information was still fresh in our heads.

I used my Nikkor 50mm 1.8 and the Nikkor 55-200mm for the photos below. I shot in RAW which came in handy because the original version second photo was extremely overblown. I tried a couple of things to save it and came out with the high contrast black and white.

Overall, I have to say I’m pleased with the results. It gives me a little confidence to go out and find more people (other than my kids) to photograph. As time permits, I’ll definitely be going to other meetups and will post the photos here.

While he was shooting, I decided to get some shots of my own.

The two black & white photos are some I took while we were out for another day at the park. In these economic times, the park is a great way for them to have fun and stay out of my wallet at the same time.

The more photos I take outdoors, the more I see the need to use a flash to get rid of shadows. I still need a course on flash photography.

My wife was a great assistant and helped a lot, but my son who refused to take a nap earlier, decided 30 minutes into the shoot that now was a good time. But she was prepared for that and handled the situation while I kept going.

As always, I like to share what I learned, so here goes:

• Pay attention to the details. The arboretum was really busy that way, so I had to pay attention to what (or who) was in the background. I was constantly having to stop or reposition myself because of people walking by. There’s a lot you have to consider when taking outdoor photos, but I think I managed it well.
• It helps to have an assistant. My wife was able to catch things I missed. She made sure they were looking right, which allowed me to focus on composition and finding good spots to shoot.
• You really do need a flash outdoors. I used to wonder why photographers had flashes outdoors. The pictures where I didn’t use one had a lot of shadows and came out dark. I learned I need a lesson on flash photography and lighting.
• When outdoors, bring water and something for sweat. Because of the kids, we had drinks, but I wouldn’t have had one if I were on my own. It was hot that day and there was no cloud cover at all.
• Have a couple of planned out posed shots to start off. It was slow in the beginning, but things got easier as we went on. There was a lot of potential for some really good pictures, but the time went by fast. Guess I have to save them for later.
• Having a photogenic couple helps. When I was looking through the full set of photos, their smiles and expression were so natural. But that’s the way it is when you’re in love. They made my job a lot easier.

It was a great first time experience for me and we’ll see if there are more to come. Here are just a couple of the ones I took. I’d like comments on the photos. Any advice or tips are welcome. Enjoy!

The biggest thing I had to remember was to decrease the aperture because my first set of pictures came out all white. I thought my camera was on the fritz, but realized I had it set to 2.8 for some indoor shots I was taking earlier. I lowered it to 8 and everything was all good. I also threw in some black and white shots.

All of these pictures were hand held because I knew the camera would do well with a tripod. The first set of pictures are in Downtown Dallas. I hadn’t been there in a while and didn’t know they completed the park, so I decided to stop and get a couple of shots. They had so many other nighttime shots I wanted to get, but finding a place to park for a few minutes was tough.

The second set of photos were taken in San Antonio. I’ve finally started taking the white balance off Auto and think I may start doing it more often. The camera does a good job of choosing the best setting, but sometimes manual is the way to go.

The third set of photos were taken New Year’s Eve. My wife and I got a chance to go out without the kids for dinner and a movie. After having dinner in Plano, we took a little stroll around the Shops at Legacy. I had my camera and decided to get some shots of the area. It was cold, but nice that night.

For those photo enthusiasts, if you click the view on flickr link, you’ll be able to see the camera settings I used.

I don’t know how photographers did it back in the days of film because I took around 130 pictures. Most were unusable, but there were some that I was able to keep. I thought I’d share some of those along with the final poses I used for the card. The last picture is the card that I created at ritzpix.com. I probably should review their service, but I’ll save that for another post.

“The colour orange occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum at a wavelength of about 585–620 nm, and has a hue of 30° in HSV colour space.

This challenge couldn’t be more simple…find an item or object that is orange in colour and create something interesting enough to impress your fellow photographers.

Any new photo where the colour Orange is featured in the composition is welcome. The manner in which you create your photo and the post processing is entirely up to the individual.”

It usually takes me a week to come up with an idea for these challenges. Sometimes I just come up blank and it’s those times when I’m not thinking about it that I see something I like. On the day I took the picture, it was a nice sunny day with very little cloud cover. While the sign was warning drivers of the work ahead, I looked at it from another angle.

Romans 7:14-25 in the Bible that reads “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!”.

This verse talks about the constant struggle we have when it comes to sin. I like this verse because it acknowledges the constant evil and tempations that are all around us. But it also reminds us that there is victory in Christ and that we do have the power to through Him to win the battle. One of the goals in life of a Christian is to live a life pleasing to God. It’s not easy, but it is possible. People may think you’re weird and call you names, but that’s all a part of being “set apart”.

Now, I’m sure the million dollar question is how did I get this from a picture? I don’t know, but that was my intention when taking the photo. I even created a motivational poster out of it. Enjoy.

Here’s what I learned:

• Don’t go to a crowded park if you want them to focus on you. The playground was packed and my youngest was all over the place.
• Make sure you have plenty of daylight and a fast shutter to prevent blur. I couldn’t set my shutter speed too high as the sun went down, which caused some of the pics to come out dark.
• Make sure the camera focuses accurately on the subject. Moving targets can be hard to get in focus.
• Take plenty of pictures. With digital you can always delete the ones you don’t like.

BTW: For those wondering, I know pumpkins is spelled wrong in the title. That’s how the boys say it.