Monday, January 2, 2012

What if you saw a cow doing a backflip?

The title of this note is only a portion of what I want to talk about. It is one of MANY questions we ask our boys (& clients) in order to get their attention. Asking weird and intriguing questions to your subjects is one of the best ways to (1) get their attention and (2) get a real reaction and expression. They are caught off guard and will give real results.

"What if you saw a monkey on your swing outside?" "What if backhoe knocked on your bedroom door and asked you to play?" "What if a trash truck said, "ooooooooooooh yeah!!! ?" "I think YOU smell like a trash truck!"
Here are a few results.





The more important thing I wanted to talk to about (IMO) is the more technical part of the photo shoot. I was eating breakfast with my boys and wife when I realized the rising sun was reflecting off a window of a neighbors house, through our kitchen window, and onto our kitchen floor. WOW! What an opportunity. This a FREE opportunity. I say free because there was NO need for flashes or strobes. The sun was doing all the work. All I needed to do was use it.
I shot all these at F1.8, 1/125 and an ISO at 400.. It is all natural light.

You can see in this next photo what I am talking about. There is just a little room where there was "good" light. This allowed me to light my subject and keep the background dark and "mysterious" thus giving me a great image!

By using natural light I was able to (1) NOT have to use expensive equipment such as strobes, flashes, pocket wizard’s, and other triggers as well as (2) be creative in my manual settings in my camera and get THIS SHOT



He's such a cutie.

Give me your thoughts, questions, and insights!