November 04, 2007 - Hawaii’s Julia Siljestrom stands in heavy rain during a soccer game against Idaho in the second half just before the game was called at Waipio Soccer Stadium. Exposure details: Canon EOS 1-D Mark II, EF 400mm f2.8, Aperture priority, 1/2000 sec at f/2.8, ISO 3200, Fluorescent white balance

I had a bad feeling about the weather at yesterday’s soccer game in Waipio.

For the most part, the day was relatively dry, but as I headed out to the stadium, the skies started looking angry. I had my rain gear at the ready.

For years, rain gear for me meant the Deluxe Garbage Bag rain cover for the lens and some flimsy jacket for me. I’d recently upgraded to the El-Swanko pant leg cut from a pair of pants from a rain suit, and the jacket top for me.

There were some preliminary tests done at Aloha Stadium during UH football, and the rig worked well.

Turns out last night would be the true test of its mettle.

The pant leg fits snugly over the lens and there’s enough to cover the camera, too. Good protection for cheap. My kind of deal.

As I walked on the field, the skies were dry, but they soon opened up and I got a good soaking. But the gear (and the top half of me) stayed dry. Good deal.

Just before the end of the first half I went up to the press box to edit and send some photos from an assignment I had right before the game.

While up there, it really started to rain. Cats, dogs…. horses…. elephants….

It was crazy. “Glad I’m not out there,” I thought.

The rains slowed a little, then got harder. And harder.

“Hey, they might call the game!” someone in the press box mentioned.

At this I gathered my gear and headed towards the door.

“You’re going out there?” someone asked.

“I got to. This is crazy!” I said, and headed into the wall of water.

When I got to the field, the rain was off the hook. My glasses were drenched and fogging (I longed for little windshield wipers) and the viewfinder on my camera was filled with water. The players on the field were doing what they could, and I was aiming my camera at what movement I could see. I had no clue if anything was in focus.

Then I saw a lone figure in the rain. It had a moody look, and would make a good summary of the deluge. So I aimed in that direction, and hoped what I was shooting was in focus.

Then the game was called, and I ran back upstairs to start sifting through the murky photos.

Turns out things were as in focus as could be, and I had a picture.

****

And with that, I head off on vacation for a while. Wish me luck at the Vega$ craps tables…

Inside my car editing and transmitting after the HHSAA Div. II girls volleyball championship…

With all this digital photo business, we are able to send our pictures direct from the event venue. Which is great, we can spend more time shooting, and can still make the paper’s deadline. This works well for spot-news stuff and sports which usually run pretty late at night.

Every photographer has his or her own way of working under deadlines, but I’ll share how I go about it.

As I’m shooting an event, say last night’s v-ball championship, while I’m shooting, I’ll take mental notes of good plays, etc., as they happen. When everything is over, I’ll run out to my car (or sometimes, depending on the event, run to a corner in the gym) and get started.

I download my CF cards to my laptop, and then open the files using the Photoshop browser (a lot of people use Photo Mechanic, too), and start sifting through looking for pictures. At the same time, I’ll fire up my wireless air card, and open an FTP client. After I find a picture, I’ll crop it, do very light (if any) exposure/color correction (our laptops aren’t the greatest when it comes to doing corrections — it’s best left to the person working the desk in the office), add the caption to the File Info dialogue box in the file, and toss that image into the FTP bin.

Lather, rinse, repeat…

…until I’ve sent all I need to send for the night. It usually takes me about 15-20 minutes to edit/send 5-10 photos (saved at about “8″ or “9″ in the jpeg quality scale).

Once everything is sent, I call the photo desker in the office, who will then take the photos off the FTP, and put them into the system at the office.

Of course, sometimes I have more time, and other times I have less, but the workflow is generally the same for most situations.

October 11, 2007 - Commander Kevin Mannix, flight leader and commanding officer of the Blue Angels stands with his aircraft behind him at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe. Exposure details: Canon EOS 20D, EF-S 10-22mm f3.5-5.6 (at 10mm), Manual Exp, 1/320 sec at f/14, ISO 200, Daylight white balance

The U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels air show team was in town this weekend for a couple of shows out at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe.

On Thursday I went out for a media meet-and-greet with the pilots. I knew we’d only have a very short time with the pilots so I had to be quick to get a portrait.

I got to the base and was escorted by a public affairs officer out to the flight line. The planes were still in the air doing a practice run, so I popped off a few shots, just in case, but I figured the pilot pic would be the main deal.

After a few minutes, the head PAO guy from the Blue Angels herded the media together and told us we’d be shuttled further down the tarmac to where the planes would be parked. So we dutifully hopped into some waiting cars and off we went.

The planes landed and parked and the pilots got out. Each media outlet was assigned a pilot, and the Bulletin was assigned the #1 plane with the flight commander.

As we walked over to the plane, I figured to myself that we’d have about 10 minutes with the pilot. So I told the reporter to go ahead and do his interview while I set up the photo, which needed to be a quick and dirty set-up.

It would be a one umbrella deal, which I would trigger using pocket wizards. I lined up the shot and marked a spot on the tarmac where the pilot would stand. The sun was coming from the left of the frame, so I set the umbrella up on the opposite side. I wanted the light even with the sun, so he would be fully illuminated from both sides. It gives a clean look with a lot of depth. I also like that type of lighting because since only the subject is fully illuminated from both sides (and not anything else in the background) it has a slightly surreal look to it. It makes the subject pop out of the frame.

After the interview was done, I had only a few minutes for the picture. I had him stand on his mark, tested the lights and exposure, and was done in about a minute or two. The set up and break down took longer than the actual photo itself.

October 13, 2007 - The U.S. Navy Blue Angels performed a variety of complex maneuvers over Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe during the Blues on the Bay air show. Exposure details: Canon EOS 1-D Mark II, EF 300mm f2.8, Manual, 1/3200 sec at f/4, ISO 400, Daylight white balance

A few days later I went out to shoot the actual air show. I’d never actually been to one of these, always instead ending up shooting practice sessions, or whatever. So, I drove out early thinking I’d soak in the atmosphere, but got stuck in traffic instead. It took over an hour to get on the base.

Once there, I found the media tent, and wandered around for some general interest pictures. Which pretty much ended up being pictures of people trying to avoid the sun.

The Blue Angels were scheduled to go around three, so I went back and waited for the show to start. As I waited, I noticed more and more clouds rolling in — good for the heat, terrible for pictures. Instead of having nice blue sky, the planes are against bright white.

But whatever, the die had been cast, and it was time to get some photos.

I decided on using the 300mm f2.8 since it’s sharp, fast, and easy to hand hold. As the pilots flew around, I tripped out at how close they flew to each other. They looked like big blue darts in the sky.

My favorite photo came along when two planes were flying side-by-side, one upside down, the other rightside up. They approached from the right and I tracked them as they flew over the runway. The key was keeping them in the center of the frame, and getting a photo as they passed directly in front of me.

Luckily it worked out.

August 17, 2007 - Sean Akita, owner of the store Mechahawaii in Kaimuki, holds a Zegapain character in his store. Exposure details: Canon EOS 20D, EF-S 10-22mm f3.5-4.5 (at 10mm), Manual, 1/200 sec at f/5.6, ISO 400, Daylight balance

These pictures go way back to August (I can’t write about anything that hasn’t been printed yet, and these pictures came out this week in our progress edition). The assignment was to shoot the owners of two toy stores in Kaimuki. I figured I’d do simple environmental portrait deals.

I decided to keep things as simple as possible, so I left the umbrellas and light stands behind, and went in to see what I could do with what I had.

The first store was Mechahawaii, which is filled to the gills with various Japanese toys and models. I looked around for a place that would show as much of what the store had, and found a corner lined with models. Sorry, I didn’t shoot a photo of the set-up, but it was essentially two Canon 580 EX speedlights with Stofen Omni Bounce units on them places on the shelves on either side of him. I used the Omni Bounces since I wanted light scattered around the room to show everything behind him. The light behind to the right was about a stop or two brighter than the one to left, which adds a bit dimension to the subject, while providing enough light to show the background. I had him hold a character figure “for effect.”

After that shot was done, I moved to the other store, Urban Toys, which was in the same building.

August 17, 2007 - Owners of Urban Toys in Kaimuki, Kathy Bachelott, left holds a Kid Robot Smokey figure, and Scott Nonaka holds a Kid Robot Geisha Dunny figure in their store. Exposure details: Canon EOS 20D, EF-S 10-22mm f3.5-4.5 (at 10mm), Manual, 1/200 sec at f/5, ISO 400, Daylight balance

This store wasn’t quite as packed with stuff, and things were a little more spread out, so I figured I go with a wide view of the store with the owners in the foreground. One side of the store is just large windows, but the available light wasn’t all that great, so I decided to just light it up with my two Canon 580 EXs. Again, I wanted to light the whole room, so I stuck on the Omni Bounces. I was a little torn where to put them, though. While there was one convenient shelf to the left of the photo, there wasn’t anything on the right. So I stuck the strobe on the handle of a door to the side of me.

Strobe set-up. I stood a little off to the side of where my camera is on the floor.

The strobes were set at almost even power, if I recall correctly, but since they were a little closer to the strobe on the left (which was slightly behind them) that side is a little brighter and adds some depth. For the pose, I just had them grab a couple of toys they liked for that “holding a toy effect.” The only by-product of this “naked light” is harder shadows, and you can see shadows of the subjects thrown on the wall behind them (which didn’t thrill me too much…). I also could have used a third light in the far back to the right to light more of what was behind them.

The shoots were a good exercise in getting reasonable lighting using as little as possible to achieve it. I’m always looking to improve my work, and I learn more and more everytime I try different things.

September 01, 2007 - The University of Hawaii Warrior football team takes the field before the start of the game against Northern Colorado at Aloha Stadium. Exposure details: Canon EOS 20D, EF-S 10-22mm f3.5-5.6, Aperture priority, 1/100 sec at f/11, ISO 800, Auto white balance

In case you missed the hype, UH football started again at Aloha Stadium this past Saturday.

Since it was the first game of the season, I thought I’d try to get a “players running on the field” shot. I wanted to get a little higher angle, with the smoke and stadium all around… something a little different than the same old field-level deal.

So I decided to try out the “camera on a stick” technique. I put my 20D with the 10-22mm on my monopod, and shot that way. It gives me the height and maneuverability to move around and adjust angles on the fly. I attached Pocket Wizard remote receiver to the camera, and triggered the camera with another Pocket Wizard transmitter which I held in my hand.

Me holding the pole-cam as the players took the field. I’m holding the trigger for the remote in my right hand. Star-Bulletin photo by Jamm Aquino.

I took some test shots prior to everything starting so I could gauge the angle I needed to hold the camera to get players and stadium in the same shot. Once I had that down, it was just a matter of waiting for them to take the field.

I’m not sure I really like the results, but pole cam was nice to have. I did like the results from the pre-game haka, as well as some other pre-game stuff. I already have some other ideas on what I can do with the “camera on a stick” and will be trying them out in the coming weeks. Photo involves a lot of trial and error, and sometimes you’ll end up with a total bust, or some wild stuff. Don’t be afraid to get out and try seemingly weird ideas. I’m sure people in the stands were looking at me thinking “whoa, what’s that guy on?”

September 01, 2007 - Hawaii’s Gerard Lewis holds up the fumbled ball he recovered from Northern Colorado’s David Woods in the first quarter at Aloha Stadium. Behind is Karl Noa, and at left is Fale Laeli. Exposure details: Canon EOS-1D Mark II, EF 600mm f4, Manual, 1/1000 sec at f/4, ISO 1250, Auto white setting

We’re always looking to get peak action pictures, but many times, an even better picture is the celebration shot after a big play. It’s nice to see emotion from the players, and so I keep my eyes peeled after plays to see what I can find.

September 01, 2007 - Hawaii QB Colt Brennan throws against Northern Colorado in the second quarter at Aloha Stadium. Exposure details: Canon EOS-1D Mark II, EF 600mm f4, Manual, 1/640 sec at f/4, ISO 3200, Fluorescent setting

And yeah, Colt is the big thing this year. So I’ve been stocking up on the Colt shots. We can never have enough of them. It was nice to see, however, the other QBs getting some play time, too. Good time to get stock pix of them, too.

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.