Friday, February 29, 2008

State Final Blues

P.K. Yonge lost in the state final for the second consecutive year. Tricia Coyne (shooting video) and I got to Lakeland extra early so that I could hang a remote on the hoop.
I think my pictures are solid, but I wish they were better. Since hoops season is over, it's time for baseball, spring football and a little bit of track and field. After several months of working in gyms, I'm ready to be outdoors!

Monday, February 25, 2008

Light. Lots of Light.

I've been planning this portrait for about a month, so I was really happy the day finally came to shoot the image.
I brought a whole lot of extra gear that I don't normally use on a shoot. Namely, that extra gear was a giant boom and large octabox. I knew that I would be shooting the group of five straight on, and I needed to get a large light source directly in front of and above the team members. So I used the boom and octabox.

There were two rim lights behind the team at 45-degree angles to add definition. I used a fourth light to light the basket.

But here's where I need your help: Which crop do you prefer?

Sunday, February 24, 2008

What A Day It Has Been

I thought it would be a good idea to borrow my brother's bike to use while covering the marathon this morning. Half the city is blocked off because of the race, but on a bike, I don't have to worry about that.
I scouted the half marathon route yesterday and found a few places to shoot from. After the start, I went to the 34th Street wall and shot from there. Then, I left the race route and continued north on 34th Street to the intersection with SW 16th Boulevard/SW 16th Avenue. There's a great hill there with a wonderful line through the frame. And there's a hydration station nearby.

I followed the route for a bit, then headed south towards another location I had scouted near the UF Campus. About a third of the way there, the rear tire blew. Awesome. I had to walk back to the finish line before the marathon runners got there.
After the marathon, I headed to the UF Golf Course to shoot the final round of the Lady Gator Invitational. Since it was almost noon, the light was pretty crappy. But Florida won, and senior Tiffany Chudy won her first individual title. Pretty cool.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Gator Invitational

I haven't shot golf in a few years, so I was excited to shoot the last round of the Gator Invitational on Sunday afternoon at the University Golf Club. I tried to shoot a mixture of clean golf action and sense-of-place shots.  My skill level is very low, so I hope to continue shooting the sport and eventually make some really nice images.

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Only 15

Hannah Yun is a 15-year-old golf phenom and she's majoring in psychology at UF. We had to reschedule the portrait shoot several times, but the results were worth the wait.

Originally we were going to shoot early in the day, and I planned to set up on the 18th green. There's a large oak tree that cast a great shadow over half of the green. My plan was to have Hannah sitting in shadow on the green with the sun-lit hole in the background.

When the shoot was moved to late afternoon, I scouted a few locations. I decided to use the putting green because it was in the shade and I liked the repetition of the shorter flags.

Friday, February 1, 2008

No. 75

A few weeks ago I was at the UF-UGA gymnastics meet. I had a great time, even though the Gators lost. When I heard there was another meet tonight, I volunteered to shoot it for The Gainesville Sun. I'm glad I did.
I photographed the Gators on vault and uneven bars from the floor. For the balance beam and floor exercise rotations, I climbed to the top row of the O'Dome with a long lens. When I'm shooting in a place with busy backgrounds, one of the things I try to do is get above the scene to clean up the shot.
For floor, my 400 was a bit too tight, and the 200 was a bit too loose. I'll try a 300 next time. But for the beam, I had just the right lens.