My wife Becky prepares the dye for the project.

Becky applies the dye to Raina’s hair.

Close-up of the process.

Raina’s hair is towel-dried after the dye is rinsed.

And now for the reveal…

Raina’s husband Paul looks on in amusement at his wife’s new hair color.

Raina checks out her new hair color for herself.

Becky goes to work on Paul’s hair next.

Becky applies a the dye to Paul’s hair.

Raina looks on in amusement as Paul gets pink-tipped highlights in his hair.

Closeup of Paul’s new hair style after a rinse.

Paul was not quite expecting the shade of pink he agreed to.

January 13, 2012 Gallery

January 14, 2012 Gallery

Merry Christmas all, and a Happy New Year! It has been a fun and interesting year of photography, and I thank all who have made this possible for me!

Steve

Steve

All of the portrait packages have been delivered to CPT Tong at HHC from the 1/6 Infantry Battalion Ball held on Friday, December 9, 2011 at the Camino Real Hotel, El Paso, Texas.  The gallery link is below or you can click the image above.

I received email addresses for most attendees (some did not provide an address, some were not legible); you should be receiving a gallery invite that allows you to download digital copies of the photos, as well as any of the extra and out-take shots that were not used for the portrait packages.  If you did not receive an email inviting you to the gallery, drop me a line and I will add you to the list.

Prints and packages are also available online if desired.

Image Gallery

Steve

As I sit here sipping a luke-warm cup of coffee waiting for the all of the images from the event to upload, I said to myself, “Self, you should post a blog entry about this event”.  Melissa and Mando, my friends from Shundo Dance Studio, invited me once again to come out to the latest of their “Gotta Dance” series titled “Superstars”.  The event was held on Sunday, October 23, 2011 at the Chamizal National Memorial Theatre, and featured a full spectrum of dance routines performed by professional and student dancers from Shundo.  The dances were set to music from six legendary performers over the last century; Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Abba, Gloria Estefan, and Michael Jackson.

The night’s take was approximately 1500 photos, all shot handheld without flash at ISO 3200 using a mix of lenses and Canon EOS series DSLRs, and I tried desperately to keep the shutter speed at around 1/160th to 1/200th of a second to try to freeze the action as much as possible.   I applied a liberal amount of noise reduction in post processing to reduce the grain produced at such high sensitivity, and while I am not a big fan of noise reduction in general, for these events it is almost a necessity, and provides the pleasing side effect of softening and smoothing skin in the harsh stage light.  Clearly, you get to be the judge on how the photos turned out.

The images will are available on both of my online photo services at Photoshelter (downloads only) and SmugMug (all purchase types).  If you are interested in purchasing prints, products, and/or downloads of the images (including the entire gallery of images), please visit the gallery on Smugmug.  This site allows me to offer a single flat rate price for visitors to purchase the entire gallery.  Unfortunately, Photoshelter does not have this feature, but has other features that I use so I decided to upload to both places.  The images are exactly the same quality and size on both sites.

You may also contact Melissa or Mando at Shundo Dance Studio for availability of a DVD containing all of the images.  The price is the same as a full gallery download; just be sure to give them your name and address so a DVD can be mailed to you.

NOTE:  This is the link to the gallery of images with purchase options.

Steve

Roller derby is fast paced with multiple sets of wheels attached to some pretty athletic women who speed along a hard surface in a roughly oval-shaped track.  That may be stating the obvious, but as a photographer determined to capture a roller derby match in all of its’ glory, the potential exists to thoughtlessly fire away at the endless stream of fast moving players, looking to freeze the moment with a properly aimed flash.  A flash firing in a dimly lit venue is capable of producing a blinding swath of light that can disrupt any event, especially in sport and theatrical environments where a momentary lapse of intense concentration (from a bright flash firing) can cause one to lose their place or worse, crash.  Cause an accident on the track floor because of an errant flash, and not only could you wind up sending a player to the hospital, I guarantee that you may not get an invitation to return for another event.  I don’t use a flash during roller derby (at least during track activities), and these few tips can help you survive to shoot another day at the roller derby.

I am not saying I don’t like flashes.  I love them!  Flash photography can convey emotion, drama, and set the scene in a way that natural lighting can not achieve.  I am saying that flash photography is not always appropriate for every subject, especially when the explosive burst of light emitted by one or more flashes can create a hazardous situation for the subject of your composition.  Roller Derby is one of those situations, especially around the track.

Roller derby, as in most indoor, modestly-lit venues, can be a challenge to photograph, especially for the budget minded photographer who does not possess fast zoom or even faster prime lenses that are capable of snapping away at shutter speed that can freeze the action when desired to get that tack sharp athelit portrait worthy of a magazine cover.  Indoor photography is a challenge on its’ own without trying to freeze track action that is moving at 15-25 miles per hour.

When I shoot roller derby, I am aiming for a shutter speed of at least 1/200th of second, and optimally faster (1/320th or more) if possible.  How do you achieve this speed on a modest budget?  One way to do this is to raise the ISO setting on your camera.  Don’t be afraid, boost the sensitivity of your sensor.  Most modern DSLRs can easily achieve ISO 3200 or even higher, and when ISO settings are used effectively, they can stop action with even the most modest kit lenses that have a minimum aperture in the f/4 or f/4.5 range.  Got a faster lens?  Even better.  I typically use zoom lenses with a minimum aperture of f/2.8 (24-70, 70-200), and fast primes capable of  f/1.4 (20mm, 50mm, 85mm).  I also use other lenses that are not so bright, like a 10-20mm f/3.5, and the wider the lens, the more forgiving the aperture.

I normally start out at most indoor (non-flash) sporting events at ISO 3200.  Seems high, and while nobody would ever want to take a beautiful portrait shot at this setting, it is more than acceptable for sports photography.  The goal is to capture the image, a little noise is more than a sufficient trade-off when the alternative is an underexposed or blurry image.  Some of the best derby shots I have seen were shot at ISO 4000, 1/320th of a second.

I didn’t forget the aperture; For derby, I leave that to the camera.  I normally set my camera to Tv (shutter priority on a Canon), start at 1/200th of a second and let the camera figure out the rest.  For those brave at heart, go Manual, but keep in mind that you are bouncing around the venue shooting into light, out of light, and changing angles so frequently that a fixed manual setting may not provide the best overall exposure for the whole space.  Stick to Shutter Priority, and as you gain confidence, flip the dial to manual.  You can also compensate a bit by adjusting your exposure compensation a bit (stay at +1 EV or less).  You will generally know you are underexposing when your lens has a hard time autofocusing.  It does happen when the subject is too dark for the lens to align properly on its’ own, and you may decide to switch to manual focus occasionally for the more challenging shots.

Focus is always an issue, but is purely subjective and based entirely on what you are trying to highlight in your composition.  Are you looking for player expression?  Focus on the eyes.  A skate? Aim for the skate.  It’s your choice, but tell the story of each image pointing your viewer to the sharpest part of the composition.

Another reason that I like to use shutter priority is that the setting allows me to easily increase or decrease the speed that I want to expose the image.  Roller derby is an incredible photography playground, with stop motion drama, individual portraits of both players and audience, and the all elusive motion blur shot.  I love experimenting with deliberate motion blur during derby events, because you can achieve some really interesting effects by slowing down the shutter and following the action.

So, in a nutshell, for roller derby photos:

No Flash!!!
Set camera to Tv (Shutter Priority)
Start at 1/200 (or higher).  Slower lens? Sharpness is possible at 1/160th if it is all you can get.
Boost the ISO (3200 or more if possible)
Leave the aperture to chance unless going for a critical shot.  Face it, you are going to be shooting a minimal apertures, like f/4.5 and below.  Focus on the subject at hand and take the shot!)
Image Stabilized Lens?  Turn it off.  The fast shutter speed is your ally to a sharp image, and remember your handheld reciprocal rule (shoot at a shutter speed that is the inverse of your focal length, i.e., 1/200 for a 200mm lens, etc.)
Feel free to experiment.  Drag that shutter and try your hand at motion blur.  Your friends will call you “artsy”!

Another thing to consider is your color balance.  Do your images look a little too orange? A little too reddish?  Auto White Balance may not work so well in the sports venues, because the camera will try very hard to guess at the dominant color temperature in the room.  If you are focusing on a pink jersey, the camera will most likely get it wrong, and indoor lighting is rarely daylight balanced.

Most modern DSLRs have the ability to set a specific color balance into the camera.  I always color balance for the venue, and I have tools for that that assist me.  I have found that many indoor locations tend to use either flourescent or tungsten lighting, and these are usually available as color balance settings in your camera.  When in doubt, try each setting for the most accurate result.  If you have a white balance tool (white disc, gray card) to set the balance, better, but one of those two will normally work in pinch.

If you have the ability to shoot in RAW format (not JPG), go for it.  RAW images will give you the maximum ability to manipulate your images in post if you find that you need to adjust a little.  With RAW, you can, for example squeeze almost three stops (+/-) of exposure out of an image with the right software.  I use Adobe Photoshop Lightroom , but there are many.  You can also tweak color balance.  Shot the whole bout in flourescent light, only to realize that it should have been tungsten?  If you shot in JPG, you are going to have issues getting the color straight.  With RAW, just change the image to a tungsten balance, and voila, the image (and all 999 others) are instantly corrected.  Tradeoff – RAW files are much larger than JPGs, so you can shoot less images per memory card (about 40% of what you can shoot with JPG Large Fine).  Again, a matter of personal preference, but from experience I will tell you that it is better to shoot RAW and own a few more memory cards than spend hours trying to repair a lot of JPGs that are just not quite right.

Noise bother you?  I mentioned shooting at a high ISO, which means that you will have some noise issues to contend with.  75% percent of the time, you will barely notice the noise produced by a modern DSLR using ISO 3200 in a sports shot.  The other 25% of the time, you might want to reduce the noise a little in post.  Some cameras have the ability to do in-camera noise reduction.  I leave this turned off most of the time, only because the time the camera takes to perform the internal image correction annoys me when I am trying to take a series of high speed shots in rapid sequence.  Again, Lightroom is my friend and can eliminate most noise with minimum loss of sharpness, with the added benefit of reducing minor skin flaws that exist in even the most beautiful of women rolling around the track.

I hope at least one person finds this useful.

Thanks again to Floyd for inviting me out to shoot the band.  I always enjoy their high energy performances and usually come away with some memorable shots from their shows!

Here’s a link to the full set of images, and you can also click on any of the images below to get to the gallery!  They should all be available by this afternoon.

Candids and Miscellaneous (A few family shots also)

El Paso band Skyscrapers perform on stage…

Oklahoma City based group Aranda performs…

Halestorm performs on stage during the evening…