August 03, 2007 - UH Warrior quarterback Colt Brennan for the Warriors Report magazine photo shoot. Exposure details: Canon EOS 20D, EF 50mm f1.4, Manual, 1/250 sec at f/7.1, ISO 400, Daylight setting, Canon 580EX speedlights

University of Hawaii football starts play this weekend, and that means it’s time for another episode of the football preview magazine saga.

This is the third magazine the Star-Bulletin produced for which I was responsible for the photo shoots. I got involved a few years back with the QB and Warrior 3D magazines.

Previous magazines I’ve shot

This year I was again tapped to shoot the photos for the player profiles as well as something for the cover.

I met with the magazine’s designer Michael Rovner and photo editor George Lee back in July to find out what the game plan was.

The theme was going to be a pseudo-Consumer Reports type deal, and the pictures needed to be clean and relatively simple. After looking at some mock-ups of the magazine, I started thinking how I would approach shooting it. It looked like a simple white backdrop and a couple of lights is all I would really need.

I prefer the less-is-more approach, and decided I wouldn’t need anymore light than I normally use, or perhaps a few more strobes to get the background really white.

George secured a day for us to go to UH and shoot all the players in one fell swoop. It would be kind of an assembly line deal, since the players were coming in on their lunch break, and I didn’t think they’d be in the mood to sit through some photo shoot.

So Mike and I drove up to Hale Aloha cafeteria and set up about an hour before the players would arrive. I brought a roll of white paper and a bevy of 580 strobes just in case.

We had no idea where in the cafeteria we’d be, but were pleasantly surprised to find that there was a large room we could use. Lots of space, and the ambient light (basically dim fluorescent light) was easily controlled. I set up two umbrellas on stands equidistant from each other, and taped a couple of strips of white paper to the wall (which was an off-white color).

August 14, 2007 - Michael Rovner, assistant editor of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin stands where the football players would for the Warriors Report magazine photo shoot. Exposure details: Canon EOS 20D, EF-S 10-22mm (at 10mm), Manual, 1/250 sec at f/6.3, ISO 400, Daylight setting, Canon 580EX speedlights

I was worried that the background might not be lit enough and had brought a couple of extra strobes borrowed from Jamm Aquino, but it turned out there was enough spill from the umbrellas that they weren’t needed.

Mike knew essentially what kinds of poses and pictures he needed, so as the players came in, we put on their pads and uniform, and ran them through a series of poses, looking left, right, looking tough… whatever. They were all really nice guys and were great to work with.

August 03, 2007 - UH Warrior WR Davone Bess for the Warriors Report magazine photo shoot. Exposure details: Canon EOS 20D, EF 50mm f1.4, Manual, 1/250 sec at f/6.3, ISO 400, Daylight setting, Canon 580EX speedlights

A few players couldn’t make it that first day, so we had to return a week later to get them. I drew a quick diagram of the set up, noting exposure, ISO and all that, so it would be easy to replicate what I had shot already for seamless continuity.

For the most part everything went smoothly, and we got the look we had wanted for the photos.

August 19, 2007 - The arsenal. Top: 2 Photoflex 3′ convertible umbrellas, 2 Bogen 3330 light stands. Right: PowerMac laptop. Left: Tamrac waist pack. Center: Canon EF 28-135 f3.5-5.6 IS, Canon EOS-1D Mark II with EF 70-200mm f2.8 IS, Canon EOS 20D, with EF-S 10-22mm f3.5-4.5, flashlight, 2 Canon 580 EX speedlights, Canon EF 2X II extender, Canon EF 1.4X II extender, Canon EF 50mm f1.4, 2 Stofen Omni Bounce units, Canon ST-E2 transmitter, pack of smokes, extra AA batteries. Exposure details: Nikon D2H, AF Nikkor 20-35 2.8D, Manual, 1/250 sec at f/10, ISO 200, Daylight setting

“Are you a photographer?”

For some reason I always get asked that as I walk down the street, cameras dangling from my shoulders.

So, yeah, I guess I am. At least that’s what I’ve been told.

I try to keep my equipment to a minimum, and the photo above shows what I carry with me on a daily basis when working for the Bulletin. Less is more.

Flash Set-up:
The umbrellas and stands are always in the car. I like to keep them on hand since I’ll never know what assignment I’ll get, so if a portrait comes up I’m ready. I carry two 580 flashes which I use with the umbrellas for a quick lighting set-up. I trigger them remotely with the ST-E2 transmitter. Nice light, cheap, and quick and dirty. I use the Omni-Bounces when I need to go on-camera with the strobes. They soften the light a little, and disperse the light for a somewhat softer look than straight, naked, on-camera flash.

The Bag:
I’m not much of a bag man. I prefer to keep my cameras out so they’re always ready. And since I don’t carry much else, I just use a waist pack to hold my strobes and transmitter, the 50mm, the extenders, and some extra batteries. The 28-135 comes with me sometimes, otherwise it’s in the trunk. Just in case. The smokes… well…

The Cameras:
I carry two bodies. The Mark II and the 20D. The 70-200mm is always on the Mark II since the 10-22mm only fits on the 20D. Most of what I shoot here is done with those pieces of equipment. The Mark II is great for sports and fast moving subjects, and does well in low light. I also really like the 20D. Sure, it’s a “prosumer” camera, but who cares. The color is good, and I can use the super-wide zoom on it. I like the 10-22 a lot and that’s why I got that camera. Gotta take care with it though — beware the “cone head effect.” If you shoot at 10mm and put people in the corner of the frame they tend to end up looking like cone heads. But I like the look of really wide photos where there’s so much context jammed into one frame.

The Laptop:
We’ve been fully digital at the Star-Bulletin since 2001, and we use our Mac laptops to process and edit our daily work. Of course, since the advent of digital, this also means we can send pictures to the office from the field. So after a football game we can whip out the computer, edit our take, and send the pictures to the office with our wireless air cards. Makes things a lot easier. It also helps when we’re off-island since we can send from anywhere there’s a cell signal.

And now the cat’s been let of the bag.

August 17, 2007 - Kahuku’s Jray Galeai coughs up the ball after being sandwiched by St. Louis’ Kalani McLaughlin, right, and Steven Donohue in the first half at Aloha Stadium. Exposure details: Canon EOS-1D Mark II, EF 400mm 2.8, Manual, 1/500 sec at f/2.8, ISO 3200, Fluorescent setting

Well, we’re slowly getting back into the swing of football season here. Preps started this weekend, and I was assigned to games Friday and Saturday.

I’ve always enjoyed shooting sports (even though I don’t follow much sports in real life), and football is one of my favorites. I think it’s the thrill of the hunt of trying to get one of those classical “sports photos” that keeps me going. And since those photos are so elusive, I love going back weekend after weekend, trying to get something good.

Of course, not every game, or weekend, or month, is going to produce a winner, but I try to keep a few things in mind when shooting football.

I always shoot with a long lens. For prep sports I use a 300mm or 400mm f2.8. For UH games I like to use the 600mm f4. High school stadiums are usually dark pits of doom, and it’s a stretch to get 1/500 sec at 3200 ISO. Aloha Stadium is nice for UH games (I can get away with shooting at f4), but they don’t turn on all the lights for preps.

There are a number of ways to shoot football. Ask any photog how they do it and you’ll probably get a different theory on how they approach the game. For me, it depends on the type of shot I want. For the above photo, I was looking for a defensive play, so I was behind the goal line hoping for a sack. Luckily it happened… and even luckier the ball popped out for added effect.

August 18, 2007 - Waianae’s Justin Kauwalu tries to fend off Farrington’s Mark Stowers in the first half at Waianae High. Exposure details: Canon EOS-1D Mark II, EF 400mm 2.8, Aperture Priority, 1/640 sec at f/2.8, ISO 640, Daylight setting

For this photo, I was looking for offense, and was again in the end zone. I like shooting from the end zone because more often than not your background is going to be clean. I like as little as possible in the frame aside from the actual subjects, and with shallow depth of field, this effect is maximized. Even in broad daylight, I’ll shoot wide open so I can get as little depth of field as possible. This Waianae game started early, so there was still some sun when the game started, so I could shoot at a lower ISO.

August 18, 2007 - Farrington’s QB Alefesio Iu is sacked by Waianae’s Wade Keliikipi. Exposure details: Canon EOS-1D Mark II, EF 400mm 2.8, Manual, 1/640 sec at f/2.8, ISO 3200, Fluorescent setting

This photo was again me looking for defense. Just hanging back in the end zone and waiting for something.

I’m looking forward to shooting UH in a few weeks, and these prep games are a nice warm up.

August 10, 2007 - Stephen Stills performs at the Hawaii Theatre. Exposure details: Canon EOS-1D Mark II, EF 70-200mm (at 195mm), 1.4X tele-converter, Manual, 1/125 sec at f/4, ISO 3200, Daylight setting

I’ll admit it… one of my favorites things about my job is getting to shoot concerts. As a musician, it’s great to be able to see legendary acts up close and personal. So, I was glad to be assigned to the Stephen Stills show last week at Hawaii Theatre.

I’ve been shooting bands since I started photography back when I was a student working at UH’s Ka Leo O Hawaii. The first band I ever shot was Pearl Jam on their Ten tour at Andrews Ampitheatre. Good times. Ever since then I was hooked. Combining live music and photo is one of my favorite things.

Every show is different, though. Everything from staging, to lighting, to shooting positions vary. You never know what you’re going to get until you show up at the venue.

One thing that’s for sure though, especially with big acts, is that we’re limited to shooting the first three songs (sometimes it’s two, sometimes it’s just the first 30 seconds of the first three songs) with no flash. I don’t care much about the flash thing, since I rarely use them, but the song limit thing can be tricky.

Sometimes the songs are short. Sometimes there’s little or no light. Very little time to really get a wide variety of good pictures. But then again, I’ve been doing this for 15 years, so I can usually pull something out of the hat.

I arrived at Hawaii Theatre about an hour before show time so I could get my pass, find the shooting position, and ponder my fate.

Things were pretty low key, and I was told that I could go down to the front, but to be mindful of those there to watch the show. I decided I’d park down at the right of the stage. There was a mic and two monitors in the center of the stage, so I kinda gauged things with my 70-200. Seemed a bit loose, but whatever. I had no clue what the lighting would be like, but guessed it would be one of those minimal “light-up-the-solo-guy-in-the-middle-of-the-stage” affairs.

Right after 8, he took the stage. There were a few lights from the front, and some from behind for the rim. Not very bright. It looks bright with the naked eye just looking at a guy lit on a dark stage, but it wasn’t really that much light.

I set my ISO to 3200, and the exposure was around 1/250 or so at f2.8. For concerts I almost always use the daylight color setting. The stage lights are funky no matter what, and trying to compensate just makes it look even stranger.

I was shooting from the side, but it was pretty loose. I shot some full-body shots, and some horizontals. I like my stuff tight, and the straight 200mm wasn’t cutting the proverbial mustard. So I pulled out my 1.4X converter and stuck it on. My 200mm was now like a 280mm. I’d lose a stop of light, so I’d have to lower my shutter speed, but since I have image stabilization on the lens, a slow shutter speed wouldn’t be a problem. I was kinda worried about subject movement, though. But then it was just a matter of shooting when he was still (har, har…. Stephen Stills… get it?… sorry).

Anyway, I moved a little more center at this point, kneeling to keep out of the way of fans. The angle was better, and the increased focal length was much nicer, too. There wasn’t a lot going on aside from him playing and singing at the mic, so I figured I keep tight to look for expression on his face.

Before long, my three songs were up, and it was time to leave.

Bob Boone rode around the corner of South and Pohukaina streets yesterday among a pack of cyclists during Race B of the Kakaako Criterium. Exposure details: Canon EOS 20D, EF-S 10-22mm (at 10mm), Manual, 1/200 sec at f/14, ISO 100, Daylight setting, Canon 580EX speedlight

Sunday rolls around, and I was assigned to the “wild art hunt.” We refer to those stand-alone “kiddie in the park” feature photos as “wild art.” It’s a task that often involves us jumping in our cars and driving around looking for something remotely interesting or, “wild,” to stick in the paper. Sometimes we drive for hours, other times the pictures just appear.

I was outside our office at Restaurant Row and noticed cones being placed up South Street, and remembered that BOCA was holding their Kakaako Criterium bicycle race. Ahhh… the perfect opportunity for “wild art.” So I grabbed my cameras and wandered out to see what was up.

Criterium races generally involve racers riding around in circles for a set period of time, then on the final lap sprinting to the finish. I pondered a finish line shot, but instead opted to hunt for something on the course.

I walked pretty much the length of the course looking for interesting walls or shadows to use, but nothing really lit my candle, so I decided I’d try something with the riders turning a corner. I noticed they really hug the inside of the turn, so now I needed at good turn with decent light. I went to the corner of South and Pohukaina Streets where the sun was at a good angle for drama — slightly backlit, but still some rim light on the riders.

I figured I’d go with some fill flash (on-camera) with a slow shutter speed and pan with a wide-angle lens. The fill would give detail to the riders while the pan would lend a sense of “motion.” So I sat on the corner, far enough away to avoid the riders (all I need is to cause a pile-up), and stuck my camera out and panned wildly as the riders whipped around the corner.

The results were less than stellar. The shutter speed was too slow, and the flash not really getting any detail, so the pictures were turning into bizarre abstracts. Not necessarily a bad thing, but not quite what I had in mind.

I’m not a big fan of on-camera flash, and soon realized the photos had a real flat look to them. So I decided I’d take the flash off-camera and trigger it remotely with a ST-E2 transmitter. I was a little concerned it wouldn’t fire in the sun (the transmitter is an infrared affair, so it gets moody in bright sunlight), but since I didn’t have any Pocket Wizards on me it was the best I could do.

So I placed the flash on the sidewalk aimed directly towards the sun. This would provide the main light for the subject, and the sun would act as a giant rim light. If you look in the lower left corner of the photo you can see some light spill on the sidewalk from the flash.

I panned the camera as the bikes came riding by, but kept the shutter speed relatively high to minimize any really crazy abstracts like I was getting earlier. Now there was just a suggestion of motion. After a few passes of riders, I had what I was looking for.

I shot a few “safe” shots with a long lens, just in case, but turns out they weren’t needed.

Referee George Adkins pulled Niko Vitale off Steve Renaud in Vitale’s TKO win on Saturday night at the Blaisdell Arena. Exposure details: Canon EOS 20D, EF-S 10-22mm (at 10mm), Manual, 1/500 sec at f/3.5, ISO 3200, Tungsten setting

It was fight night Saturday at the Blaisdell Arena. X-1 mixed martial arts was the name of the game, and I was there ringside to shoot it.

The Bulletin’s been covering MMA for a few years now, and while I look forward to shooting it, there’s also a little fear and disgust lurking in the back of my foggy mind.

“Great seats!” one might think — we’re there in the thick of it, right up on the edge of the ring. And it’s true to a certain extent. Every punch to the face, or inadvertent kick to the groin, is stunningly close. There in all its painful glory.

But the drawback is that there tends to be blood. Lots of it. Sometimes it merely dribbles here and there on the mat. Other times it’s pouring like wine, and a nice punch to a bloody nose sends it showering all over us at ringside.

Tigre Marcelo is bloodied during his fight with Vernon “Tiger” White. Exposure details: Canon EOS-1D Mark II, EF 70-200mm (at 110mm), Manual, 1/640 sec at f/2.8, ISO 1600, Tungsten setting

There were a couple of nice bleeders Saturday, and thankfully I was spared most of the spillage. The photog next to me wasn’t so lucky, and after one fight I looked over and mentioned, “Uh, dude, you might want to clean yourself up.” There were drops all over his face. I just had some on my cameras and notes. Star-Bulletin writers Jason Genegabus and Billy Hull, who were sitting behind us, shook their heads. I longed for some sort of biohazard kit.

Most times, the action stays in the ring. Sometimes it nearly falls into our laps. For the most part, I like to shoot ring sports with a 70-200mm lens. I like the action a little on the tight side, always better for those classic face-distorted-by-a-punch shots.

This time, for the Vitale-Renaud fight, the finale ended up right in front of me. The fighters were on the opposite side of the ring from me and I was looking for a shot with my 70-200. Then all of a sudden they come rushing straight at me, so I switch cameras to my 10-22mm lens and when I look up I see the ref is pulling Vitale off his opponent. I was like, “Geez, where’d that come from?” Glad I managed to get a shot (top photo).

A good melee between opposing corners is always a good time, too. During the Moreno-Ebanez fight, something went south between the two fighters (see Billy Hull’s story), and the next thing I know both corners are trying to leap in the ring. Burly security dudes appear from nowhere, and HPD jumps in the ring, mace at the ready. “Oh great, mace,” I thought (my last episode with mace was at the UH/Cincinnati brawl at Aloha Stadium). One cop in the ring had the Dog The Bounty Hunter industrial-sized magnum jug strapped to his leg.

Giant Mace can

But things simmered down pretty quick before any real drama got cooking. And thankfully no mace was squirted.

A fun time had by all.

Thanks for stopping by the Photo Lounge - a place where I’ll be writing about my life and times as a Honolulu Star-Bulletin photographer.

I’ve been working here for more than six years now, and really enjoy what I do. I feel pretty lucky to be able to work on the road, meet new people and learn new things almost every day.

I plan to share stories behind some of the photos that I’ve taken for the paper, technical details on what was involved and what I was thinking about when approaching the shoot.

I’ll be posting stories a couple of times a week, so feel free to swing by often.

Cheers!