November 02, 2007 - Word of Life’s Janna Kaupuiki goes up to try and block Seabury Hall’s Kaipo Rocha. This composite shows pre- and post-color and exposure correction. The image on the left is how it looks “right out of the box.” The image on the left has been corrected. Exposure details: Canon EOS 1-D Mark II, EF 70-200mm f2.8 (at 200), Manual exposure, 1/320 sec at f/2.8, ISO 3200, Fluorescent white balance

I went to McKinley High gym last night to shoot the HHSAA Div. II girls volleyball match between Word of Life and Seabury Hall.

Most high school gyms are notoriously dark, but I had recollections of McKinley not being too bad. But when I walked in last night, it seemed darker than usual. I took a test shot at 1/400 sec. at 3200 ISO and it was dark. Way dark. Gloomy. Oh well, shoot at 1/320 and hope for the best. I was worried a bit about subject movement, but there was nothing I could do. At least with volleyball, the players kind of “hang” in the air for a split second, so I figured I could get a shot somewhere along the line.

Of course, 1/320 sec. was still underexposing, but nothing too awful. Canon cameras yield good files even if underexposed, and the noise isn’t too bad. In the above photo you can see what came out of the camera, and how I adjusted the exposure and color in the end product.

A tale of two rosters — These two images are right out the camera. The color cycling of the gym lights is painfully obvious. Exposure details: Canon EOS 1-D Mark II, EF 70-200mm f2.8 (at 150), Manual exposure, 1/250 sec at f/2.8, ISO 3200, Fluorescent white balance

The color of light in gyms are also hard to work with. When you walk in a gym, and look at the light, it appears to be a constant color and brightness. Alas, it’s not really that way. The lights are like fluorescent lights, and are actually flickering at a rate fast enough that you don’t notice it. And the color temperature is constantly changing.

As you can see in the above composite of rosters (which we shoot photos of to ID players later), sometimes the light is a true fluorescent balance, while other times it’s not.

I used to try and set a custom white balance, but that doesn’t make any difference since the color is constantly shifting. It’s a sad fact that some frames are just going to look weird.

I’m going back there again tonight, looking forward to wrestling with color and light.

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.