Oak Brook Polo Club

Got to see some wonderfully talented players at the Oak Brook Polo Club this weekend. Quite a bit of fun. Never seen polo before. It was amazing to see the skill of the players and horses. Each player has 6 horses that they use during the match. Amazing!!!

Pine Cone, Portland

Just looking through some old shots this morning and found this nice cellphone shot of a pine cone from last December's trip to Portland. Since it is a nice hot day in July, why not post a warm December shot?

Best Lakefront in the World

Best Lakefront award goes to Chicago. Just my opinion.

Troll....Not Sure What is Happening

I am not sure what this Troll from Lisle Arboretum is doing. Is he relaxing on the ground eating a berry? Or is he taking a pill and not happy about it? Maybe he is in pain and pulling out a tooth? Can't tell. Still love these life-sized trolls and hope you get a chance to see them before the weather starts to take them apart. They will be at the Lisle Arboretum until then.

For Sale, Spider Web not included

Hard to sell something I would imagine if spiders come along each night to decorate the merchandise.

Flower Art

Whenever I see a field of daisies I have to take a picture. Always hear the line, "Don't you think daisies are the friendliest flower" when I take the shot. Thought a little pencil edit improved the look. Movie line is from 'You've Got Mail', of course.

Door County Sunset

Was up in Door County all week with my camera on me 90% of the time, looking for shots. Of course, the best opportunity hit, all I had was my cell phone. So, this is a cell phone shot of a sailboat crossing the horizon as the sun gave us a beautiful sunset.

Buckingham Fountain at Night

Super wide angle shot of the Buckingham Fountain at night. Very popular spot for tourists and everyone else apparently who is out late on a summer weeknight.

Light and Airy wedding shot

This style of photography is all the rage today in weddings. Light and airy look with no or almost no flash. This shot is on the retaining wall near the planetarium on Lake Michigan. Fun models to shoot. Very photogenic.

Model Behavior #2

This is my (rather poor) attempt to create a dramatic bridal shot somewhat in the style of Michael Anthony or Sal Cincotta. Not liking the outcome much but it was a fun attempt. Like yesterday, maybe it is more interesting to see the before picture. Remember, nothing you see in photography is real. Here is the proof:

So, Michael Anthony, who was setting up the shot, was in the primary position. I was standing just behind watching the action. That caused a problem when I decided to edit this picture as I normally would want the top of the building in the shot. As I wasn't really shooting, I just took a shot of the initial set up. Michael's wife is doing the 'fluff and run' honors to get the veil to catch the wind.

Michael was shooting using the ProPhoto B1 being held by an assistant (actually, an amazing photographer in his own right and one of the owners of SylkMarti Studio in Chicago). I didn't use the light on my shot. My interest was originally just watching the set up. This meant that I had to "relight" the bride and groom in post by separating them from the background in Photoshop and adding some light. I started to adjust the background to add drama:

First step in editing this shot is to do a second shot with them out of the frame. I forget to do that so I had to erase the human light stand out using Photoshop. The better way is to take a "frame" shot without moving the camera and then use that as a bottom layer. This gives a clean edit when taking out the assistants. Again, I am not going for competition so erasing them out and trying to clean up the edit by copy and pasting on the stairs also worked. Worked on editing the background to add drama and to keep the light on the bride and groom. As it was easier to keep the light on the bride so I decided eventually to take the groom out of the shot. He wasn't doing anything to make the picture better. I might have extended their hands towards each other to give more of a connection. So, taking him out was the better choice. 

I thought I would stop with this edit, but I didn't really like it. I think the final shot where I take out some of the color adds more drama. I'm in danger of doing this as a selected color shot which is a no-no for professional photographers. Very cheesy and overdone. Michael Anthony's style is a final shot that has its color suppressed. My attempt needs work but not bad for a first try. 

Model Behavior

I always hesitate to call these shots totally mine when I am at a photo class. I didn't hire the model or set the pose. However, I did do a lot of original things with this particular shot so it is a bit of my style. This shot was from a Michael Anthony photo class that I took over the past two days. Michael is an amazing wedding and portrait photographer working out of Los Angles and doing fantastic work out there. This class was on off-camera lighting and how to overpower the sun to get a dramatic shot. While Michael was shooting up the length of the veil to my left, I shifted to put the sun in the frame and switched to my brand new Sigma fisheye lens. It distorts the image but gives a wonderful view when used from very low and very high angles. The original shot is shown below. Obviously, extensively edited, but I knew I would like the shot from the moment I hit the shutter. The editing balanced the lighting on her dress, fixed the hair, smoothed the skin, added drama to the skies, cropped, took out some of the distortion in the body and removed the light stands from my lights and the other photographers. Fun shot and wonderful model.

Yea, I am not a morning person....

That about sums it up.

Obsessed with Trolls

I must admit I am obsessed with Trolls. From the Morton Arboretum.

Summer of Beading

When you have two pre-teens around, there will be beading. Note to Papa: don't bump the table. 

Can't get out of the week of the 4th without at least one flag post

Wave that flag.

Annual Fireworks Composite

Here we go again. My annual fireworks composite, this time from a show in downtown Chicago from last week. If one shot of fireworks exploding is interesting, 15 of them is even better. The more the merrier. Getting easier each year to do the composite in Photoshop. The tricks are starting to be ingrained in my memory. These shots were take from Buckingham Fountain, quite far from the display closer to Navy Pier. One night, maybe this summer, I will shot from the Pier and see how that goes. Happy 4th.

Naperville Cannon Fire

If you are shooting off fireworks, be careful out there. This is from the Chicago Light Artillery. Battery A cannon display at the Naperville Patriotic Salute 1812 Overture Concert last week. They fired all of their cannons at once. I thought they blew up the place. 

Calm pond on my ride

The powers that be hooked a new side path to the normal bike path that I usually ride in Naperville. So, last week I took the side path for the first time and saw that this new path connected to Hidden Lakes Park, an area that I did not know existed. It was quite beautiful and an amazing surprise. Had to stop and take a snap.

Chicago River Scene

For a simple cell phone shot there is a lot going on here. Tourist boats, pleasure boats, a water taxi, traffic on Wacker Drive and construction across the river for another high rise apartment building. This is shot from my office building at Nuveen on a hot summer weekday last week.