Gray Christmas?

It’s supposed to be White Christmas not Gray Christmas, then why is it when you take a photo of snow it looks gray and dark. Your camera is programmed to average out the dark areas and the light areas and make them gray. When you take photos of snow or hockey where there is a lot of white in the photo the camera will make it gray. With point and shoot cameras that have a “snow scene” setting, set it to that and the camera will know that you are wanting your snow to look white. If you have an SLR look in your manual for “exposure compensation” and set it to +1 and this will tell the camera to adjust the exposure to make the photo brighter.  

You Press The Button We Do The Rest

When I go to a Lab these days it’s to get my Cholesterol checked. Back in the days of film the photo lab is where you had to go to get your film developed. You could go to a pro lab or your local drugstore or supermarket and they all did a good job. Yea it cost money to have prints made but not much more than what they charge now. When the lab processed film most shutterbugs did not relies that the lab did a lot of work for them. They adjusted exposure and corrected color the get the best prints possible. Now that were are in the digital world it seems like we are all on our own especially if we print our own pics on our home printer. Sometimes I miss kodak’s original slogan. “You press the button and we do the rest”

Photos From The Front Line

I have many photographs that my grandfather has taken, he was never a professional photographer but he loved taking pictures. I found this photo and I can only assume it is a photo he took of his wall next to his bunk during WWII. He past away several years ago so I can’t ask him about this photo but I do know the people in the photos are my grandfather and my grandmother. I am thinking he took this photo and sent it back home to show my grandma that he has photos of her and is thinking of her all the time. I am sure he looked at these photos before he stormed Omaha beach and carried them with him throughout Europe. Now here we are 65 years later and photos to our troops are just as important but now we send them in Emails instead of V-mail, in 50 or a 100 years from now what are our photographs going to say about us. Technology has made taking photographs and sending photographs so much easier but the magical properties of photographs we cherish still remain. Thank you to all who served to keep the dream of freedom alive.

Moment Of Creation

Professions such as Engineering, Accounting and Programming are great carreer choices and pay well, and as and engineer I made a good living and a nice paycheck. When I am dead and gone, hopefully not for a while, I don’t think anyone is going to remember me for knowing how to run AutoCAD. I have never been to a funeral and heard anyone say, “they are going to be missed they were a wiz at Microsoft Office”. I think we want to be remembered for things we are passionate about and things we created. There is nothing wrong with having a good job and a nice income but we need to make time to create things that inspire us such as Paintings, Photographs and Music. You don’t need the most expensive guitar or camera you just need to be creative and take a few chances.

"Peepers Bridge" at the Chippewa Nature Center

taken with my digital rebel and a kit lens

Cartoon Network TV Spot

I got a real treat this Halloween my photo of my son wearing bunny ears was used on Cartoon Network for a spot that listed the 10 laziest costumes for Halloween. He made #4 on the list. I bought the bunny ears at the dollar store and figured the photo would be used for Easter but it’s amazing to see your work show up in unexpected places.

     

Click here to see the Video

Cool Collages

Photoshop collages are what’s current right now, just like parachute pants are what the cool kids wore when I was in school.  I wasn’t cool, thank God; I don’t need a photo of me in parachute pants floating around on the web. To be a great photographer now a days you gatta be good with a camera and with Photoshop. Even though senior portrait season is coming to an end I still have to keep my Photoshop skills sharp and try new things for next season. I don't think I will ever be cool to the high school seniors but as long as I can create cool images, that's whats important.

Senior Portaits

Bracketing 101

Went to Mackinaw City this weekend and as usual I have to photograph something while I am up there. We went to McGulpin Point Lighthouse and there was a beautiful blue sky, but capturing that sky can be tricky. One solution is to “bracket” your exposure. I set my camera to auto bracketing and took 3 photos one over exposed one under exposed and as goldilocks says one just right (according to the camera). I then layered the photos in Photoshop masked out the sky and the foreground to achieve the desired look that I wanted. There are other options to doing this such as HDR or using a graduated neutral density filter but the main point in this post is that your camera does not see the range of light and color that your eye does so you need to help it out to get a great looking photo.

McGulpin Point Light

Michigan Images Galleries

Priceless To Me

This shot may not be one of my best sports photos but it’s special to me because it’s my daughter scoring a goal at yesterday’s game at the Saginaw Township Soccer Complex. I shoot a lot of games but I usually don’t know any of the players and after a game I go thru my photos and delete the photos that are not “good enough” like photos of the player’s backs. It’s different when it is a photo of your child playing and you were there. So, to the average person this is a rather boring photo but to me it’s priceless because it will always remind me of her kicking that ball into the goal and seeing her turn around with a big smile on her face.

Youth Soccer Galleries

Background Check

Besides the subject the background is an important element in any photograph. You need to pay attention to the background to make sure it enhances the photo and is not a distraction to the subject. I took this photo last week at the Chippewa Nature Center in Midland MI. I lowered the camera and moved it into a position to place an out of focus tree in the position I wanted. It also helps when we have a beautiful sunny autumn day.

Clash Of The Titans

Throughout the course of human events there have been many epic battles fought on the face of this planet. Well, this is not one of them. On October 2^nd at the Bay City State Park in Michigan at the Halloween Festival there was a great rivalry in the pumpkin seed spitting contest. Kevin, Half-a-duck(yes that is his name) and Ray were all battling for bragging rights for the following year. Once again Kevin dug down deep with the winning spit of over 26 feet and he is the raining champion for the 2^nd year in a row. I know this is not some big sanctioned event in a gigantic stadium full of people, but you can still have a great time with a bunch of friends and a bag of pumpkin seeds 

Rainy Day Photos

The trees here in Michigan are starting to turn their beautiful autumn colors. I try to head up north for a weekend every fall to shoot the changing leaves but every year it seems to rain that weekend. It does not mean that you can’t create some great photos. If the sky is a dull gray then don’t include it in your photo. You need to just be open minded and let nature guide you. Photograph in a forest that covers the sky. Find a stream that you can do some long exposures since it is darker on a cloudy day. If it is raining get some photos of drips on a leaf. If you go on a trip with preconceived photos in mind and it does not work out you will go home disappointed, but if you are open minded and shoot what nature gives you then you will go home with some great photos and joy in your heart.

Seven Bridges Recreation Area north of Kalkaska Michigan
Northern Michigan gallery

Classic Style

One of my models brought with her some vintage hats. We did some portraits in a classic black and white style. Photos that go back to that time of black and white movies and the stars of the 30’s and 40’s seem to never go out of style. There is a certain timeless nature to them. That’s why we continue to convert digital photos to black and white. There are things that just stand the test of time, like the new Camaro that looks like an old Camaro. We need to look at our past success for inspiration and apply what worked then with modern technology to make it a current success. Now if only GM would build a new Nomad instead of pushing these so called cross-overs.

Hold My Drink and Watch This

Well, here it is my first blog post. I have been thinking of doing a blog for a while now but I figured no one would read it. Al at Saginaw Sports said he would link to my blog if I do one. Who knows maybe I will get a movie deal out of it like “Julie and Julia” maybe mine will be Mike and Mike. Michael Jordan played basketball and when I was a kid we used to stand at the end of the driveway chucking basketballs at the backboard bolted on the roof above the garage. Didn’t make to many baskets and managed to blow out all the windows in the garage door in the process. Anyways hope to start posting pics of what I have been shooting and other thoughts.