Scott O. Smith Photoblog

Self Service

Scott Smith — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 22:04:39 +0000

Canon 40D * EF-24-105mm f/4.0L * ISO 160 * 1/125 second * f/4.0

While filling up for gas the other day it struck me as odd to see the word “Self” on the gas pump sign. Are there any “Full” service stations anymore? It’s been about 15 + years since I’ve seen any full service stations around here.

I worked at a gas station/farmers co-op when I was in college that was a “Full Service” gas station. As the cars pulled up, I would quickly fill the car with gas, check the oil and fluids, clean the windshield and check the air pressure in the tires. Now as I fill up my car the “attendant” sits in their air conditioned/heated shack and watches me as I fill the car with gas, check the oil and fluids, clean the windshield and check the air pressure in my tires. – Go figure

Fireworks 2009

Scott Smith — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:44:17 +0000

Canon 40D * EF-24-105mm f/4.0L * ISO 100 * 10 seconds * f/9.0

My family and I were in Jackson Hole Wyoming this year for the 4th of July. My wife and I started going to the firework show when we were dating and have continued that tradition with our kids. The nights in Jackson can get chilly so we all load up with jackets, blankets and chairs and just hang out until the show starts. I didn’t take as many photos as I usually do, you can check out my full gallery here.

Independence Day

Scott Smith — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 08:00:38 +0000

Canon 40D * EF-70-200mm f/4L * ISO 320 * 1/500 second * f/4.0

Independence Day honors the birthday of the United States of America and the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. I was able to capture this photo at our local Zoo (Hogle Zoo) recently and thought it was appropriate to share today.

“The bald eagle was chosen June 20, 1782 as the emblem of the United States of America, because of its long life, great strength and majestic looks, and also because it was then believed to exist only on this continent.”

I will be celebrating Independence Day in Wyoming with my family. It’s a tradition we started when our kids were young and is something they look forward to each year.

Image in use at UtahSymphony.org

Scott Smith — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:40:37 +0000

I was contacted recently by Utah Symphony to use one of my photos that I took last year at an outdoor Utah Symphony concert at Wolf Mountain ski resort. If you live in Northern Utah I would encourage attending one of there events across the valley. I will be out of town when they are at Wolf Mountain this year but will be attending their concert at another location. Gallery from the event last year

Little Feet

Scott Smith — Fri, 15 May 2009 17:05:52 +0000

Canon 40D * EF-50mm f/1.8 II * ISO 200 * 1/125 second * f/3.2

Violin Making School

Scott Smith — Tue, 12 May 2009 17:43:35 +0000

Canon 40D * EF-24-105mm f/4.0L * ISO 200 * 1/500 second * f/7.1

Lately I’ve been taking different routes to work to break up the monotony of my morning commute. I’ve driven past the Violin Making School in downtown Salt Lake City before and have always wanted to stop and take some pictures of the mural wall on the side of the building. Whenever I’ve driven by the lighting hasn’t been ideal so I tell myself another day. Well, last week I drove past on my way to work and noticed that the morning sun was reflecting off a glass building just down the street onto the side of the building, the sun made the colors on the mural pop. I drove by a couple of times on different days and noticed that the sun would only light up the building from about 8:30 am to 8:45. I stopped on a day that I didn’t have any meetings and made sure I was there before 8:30 to get the optimal lighting.

On the front of the building there is a window where you can watch students carve and sand violins. One day I’d like to go back and photograph them working. If you want to check out the place they are located at 304 East 200 South downtown SLC.

Vintage Steam Locamotive

Scott Smith — Thu, 07 May 2009 17:20:45 +0000

Canon 40D * EF-24-105mm f/4.0L * ISO 400 * 1/2000 second * f/5.6

In my previous post I talked visiting this train in Ogden Utah. Of all the shots I took that day this one turned out to be one of my favorites. I had a couple of seconds to capture this photo as the train was traveling down the tracks at 70 plus miles per hour.

Union Pacific Steam Locomotive No. 844

Scott Smith — Tue, 05 May 2009 08:00:07 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I had an opportunity to go see the Union Pacific’s last steam engine that’s in production in Ogden Utah. The train was leaving Ogden heading to Nevada on a cross country journey. I met a local photog (Ann Torrence) there who had made friends with Jim by the time I arrived. He has photographed the train before and knew the route it was taking when it left Ogden. He let us tag along with him for a couple of hours. After the train left the station we all jumped in his car to see if we could get some more pictures of the train going over a local bridge. As we pulled up to the bridge we barely made it across the road when it sped by going 70+ miles an hour. Bill was determined to catch up and pass it so we all jumped in and headed to the last crossing before it headed over the causeway of the Salt Lake. I was able to capture an image of it speeding along at 70+ miles an hour with a large steam cloud that I will be posting later this week, it turns out that it’s one of my favorites of the day.

I’ve added some of my favorites photos below. You can check out my high resolution gallery here.

The Eyes Say It All

Scott Smith — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 08:00:46 +0000

Canon 40D * EF-50mm f/1.8 II * ISO 800 * 1/60 second * f/1.8

Caribbean Blue

Scott Smith — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:36:37 +0000

Canon 40D * EF-24-105mm f/4.0L * ISO 100 * 44 seconds * f/4.0

Today’s photo was taken at the top of Emigratin Canyon just East of Salt Lake City Utah I kept my shutter open for 44 seconds to allow for enough light from the evening to light up the sky. During those 44 seconds I fired my hand held speedlight about four times. A blue gel was attached which gave the snow a blue glow.

Featured Photo on NewWest.net

Scott Smith — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:18:57 +0000

I was flattered to have my photo featured on the front page of NewWest.net website yesterday. I’ve contributed several times and enjoy getting the request from Ann asking for permission to use my photo.

The photo was taken East of Salt Lake on I-80 (parleys canyon). I was with a group of local photographers on a night photowalk. I always enjoy getting out and shooting with others. It was my first time with the group and I’m planning on making it to the next event. I posted a larger photo below.

Canon 40D * EF-24-105mm f/4.0L * ISO 100 * 20 seconds * f/4.0

Review: Canvas Print from ZaZa Gallery

Scott Smith — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 19:54:09 +0000

I’ve been wanting to print a favorite photo of mine on canvas but just haven’t taken the time until recently when I received a complimentary 8×10 canvas print from ZaZa Gallery. They sent out a message on twitter: “Free 8×10 canvas print in exchange for link and blog post 10 spots” so I quickly responded. For the exchange I was asked to write a review of the canvas print. This was a perfect opportunity for me to “try before you buy” to see if printing on canvas is something I want to offer to my clients in the future.

I emailed my hi-res photo to them on April 7th and received the print on April 17th. The print was wrapped in a plastic cover then wrapped in bubble wrap. After unwrapping the bubble wrap I was amazed how the quality of the print.

The stretched canvas is stapled to the wooden frame on the back. One thing I notice immediately was the price stickers were left on the wooden frame. Even though it’s the back of the frame, I would have liked to have seen the bare wood with no bar code sticker still on it.

The canvas comes out of the box ready to be hung on the wall. I included a close up view of the canvas below to illustrate the texture of the canvas. I chose to put mine on my desk in my office. For more information about pricing and sizes be sure to check out their site here.

Thanks ZaZa Gallery

Jaidyn @ Two Months

Scott Smith — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:50:39 +0000

Canon 40D * EF-24-105mm f/4.0L * ISO 100 * 1/125 second * f/8.0

Little Jaidyn is becoming a regular here on my blog. This is the second time I’ve photographed her and I’ve photographed her mother before Jaidyn was born. Her mother wanted to get a few photos of her on this scale before she got any bigger. She weighs nine pounds so I don’t consider her big by any means. The tricky part was making sure she didn’t move too much and fall off the scale. She was great even though she doesn’t like to be put on her stomach. The photo below is of her siblings.

For the photog geeks
Basic post processing in Adobe Lightroom. I used a preset that I’ve created that works well in a controlled light environment to give it a sepia tone.
Camera right, a Canon 430EX on stand with a shoot through umbrella set at 50mm, ETTL and slave.
On camera a 580EX II set to -2 1/3 stop for fill set to master, using ETTL

For indoor/studio work I really like using ETTL, I focus more on my subject and less on my equipment. I’ve got my eye on the new pocket wizards that will give me more control outdoors.

Canon 40D * EF-24-105mm f/4.0L * ISO 100 * 1/125 second * f/8.0

Corps

Scott Smith — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 08:00:31 +0000

Canon 40D * EF-24-105mm f/4.0L * ISO 250 * 1/400 second * f/4.0

No Sign of Spring

Scott Smith — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 08:00:58 +0000

Last weekend my family packed up the car and headed to our cabin in Star Valley Wyoming. When we arrived were surprised at how much snow was still there. In Utah all of our snow is gone (in the valleys), tulips are up and our trees are blooming. It’s amazing to me the beauty you can find in an area blanketed by snow. After hours of shoveling a spot to park in the driveway we were able to get out and go for a ride across the valley and soak in all the beauty. I’ve included a few of my favorite photos from the weekend.

Nicole

Scott Smith — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:27:27 +0000

I had the pleasure of shooting Nicole for her graduation photos recently, below are are a few of my favorites

Canon 40D * EF-24-105mm f/4.0L * ISO 250 * 1/400 second * f/4.0

Canon 40D * EF-24-105mm f/4.0L * ISO 250 * 1/200 second * f/4.0

Canon 40D * EF-24-105mm f/4.0L * ISO 100 * 1/640 second * f/4.0

Snapshot

Scott Smith — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 08:00:31 +0000

Canon 40D * EF-24-105mm f/4.0L * ISO 400 * 1/160 second * f/7.1

Saturday’s Photo Shoot

Scott Smith — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 08:00:40 +0000

Canon 40D * EF-24-105mm f/4.0L * ISO 500 * 1/100 second * f/4.0

I had a great time with my daughter and her friend on Saturday. My wife want’s to print a 20 x 24 photo of our girls to hang on our wall. I had taken the my other two daughters photos last summer but needed a new one for my oldest daughter. We headed to one of my favorite locations, the Ogden Union Station.

The photo above was taken in an old wooden train car that is quite dirty and discusting but made for some great photos. For the shot above of my daughter, I needed to lighten the train up a bit so I attached a red gel to my flash, set it to 1/64( i think) power slave mode and used a voice activated lightstand (her friend) camera right aimed at the back wall. I then had a second flash on my camera set to master @ 1/32 power just to give a little fill. It was fun experimenting with different colored gels. Below are a few of my favs – enjoy

Canon 40D * EF-24-105mm f/4.0L * ISO 320 * 1/60 second * f/4.0

Canon 40D * EF-24-105mm f/4.0L * ISO 100 * 1/250 second * f/4.0

Canon 40D * EF-24-105mm f/4.0L * ISO 400 * 1/100 second * f/4.0

The “C” family

Scott Smith — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:54:38 +0000

I was asked by some good friends to photograph their family before their oldest son leaves on an LDS mission to the West Indies. All the photos were taken at the Union Station in downtown Ogden Utah. It has such a great variety of colors, lines, and backdrops that make for some great photos. I’ve included a few of my favorites from the day.

Keeley

Scott Smith — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 08:00:49 +0000

Canon 40D * EF-24-105mm f/4.0L * ISO 100 * 1/125 second * f/9.0