Vrienden and Gasten

It's been a couple of weeks since I posted, but it's not because there haven't been things to write about.

After my birthday, I've had the opportunity to hang out with a couple of different friends and also had new friends come to visit, all of which were infectious.

You can expect a number of photos and also some photo tips in this post.

If you ever checked out my friend's post about my birthday, you know that I was exposed to some form of respiratory infection. My friend's husband and children were practically coughing up lungs the day I was there, and it turns out that her husband had Bronchitis.

Since then, I did have a chance to hand out with Jackie, but it was at Photo Club. The following photo was inspired by the spot of light on the wall behind Jackie.

We were discussing shooting objects that were in motion, but when I saw the spot behind Jackie, I thought it might add something to a portrait, so I asked Jackie to hold still. Sometimes you just have to give it a shot and see what happens.

After that, I had the opportunity to visit with my friends, Kevin and Brandi, and their four children. Their third son wasn't feeling well and was also practically coughing up a lung. I visited with the family all day/evening and the text I got from Kevin the next day was...Have you ever had the Chicken Pox? (Well, as a matter of fact, I've had it twice.) He goes on to tell me that the third son not only had Chicken Pox, but Pneumonia....what are these people trying to do to me?

This photo is of the fourth son, which was simply inspired by wonderful window light and a happy/healthy child.

 

Finally, this past weekend was a special treat, because my mother came to visit again. However, she had a cold, so I took her picture from a distance.

 

My mother is the one standing by the car.

The other lady in the photo is Elly. Her and her husband, Martin, came along for the visit with my mother, all the way from Holland. Martin is the older brother of Paula, who you may remember from a previous post.

 

They were infectious as well, but it was their personalities that were contagious. Although I had never met them before, and they were only here for three days, it felt as though I had known them for ever and we had a marvelous time.

 

I took them to the Gettysburg National Military Park and showed them around, the best I could. Martin is interested in photography as well and I was able to share some tips with him, for which he was very appreciative.

 

This is Martin in front of the Pennsylvania Memorial,
with Lincoln in the background.

One of the things that Martin was really excited about was learning how to create images with more shallow depth of field. I wasn't sure how much he new when he first took out his camera, but was pretty sure he could use some help when his pop-up-flash kept going off when taking photos in well lit, outdoor conditions. Tip 1 - get out of the Automatic modes on your camera and take control. Learn how to adjust your aperture settings, combined with focal length, and putting distance between your subject and the background.

 

An interesting thing about Martin, is that he has a fear of heights. However, he set that aside and joined me on the top of the Pennsylvania Memorial, which is where the following shot was taken from.

 

I zoomed in on this one, so it doesn't really
convey a good feel for the height.

The next few shots will give you a better sense of what he overcame to experience the Battlefield and to get some great images.

 

This is where I got the
shot of my mother and
Elly by the car.

This is the tower by the
Eisenhower Farm

 

Martin is getting a shot of Little Round Top, which is the
first stop we made on our Battlefield tour.
It's the brown sliver, just right of center, in the lower hill.

The next day, I had the pleasure of creating a couple of portraits for them. In exchange, Martin had to pose for me, so I could try something new.

 

The image at the beginning of the post was the first shot I took of them. When I first asked them to stand together, the stood side-by-side like in painting American Gothic.

 

I asked them to get closer and Martin quickly leaned over and embraced Elly, for this wonderful photo.

 

We then did a seated photo, and when they posed themselves Elly did a great job at positioning her hands, but the expressions were...well..., let's just say they weren't.

 

Not a bad photo, but I had seen them interact
with each other and new they had more to give.

I joked around with them a little and immediately their personalities came through, resulting in a much more pleasant and true to life portrait. Tip 2 - engage people when you take their photos; sometimes people don't know how to pose for nice pictures, because so many other people have taken really crappy ones of them in the past.

 

Now this gives a truer representation as to
the couple I had the complete pleasure to
meet and get to know.

I then took individuals shots of each of them. I did have to coax a smile out of Elly for hers...

 

...but specifically requested that Martin be more serious for the shots I took of him, with a harder lighting style.

 

Tip 3 - if you want to get rid of a shadow on a background, move your subject away from the background. You can also move the light closer to your subject (turning down the power), which will help the light to fall off sooner and possibly not reach the background. Changing the angle of the light can help direct the shadow to hit the background lower...possibly out of the frame of the shot.

 

 

Well, I hope you enjoyed the post as much as I enjoyed spending time with my friends. I can't wait for my chance to visit with friends and family in Holland and bring back some amazing photos to share.

 

Blessings!