King Street Metro Station - Alexandria, VA

My Photo; My Comment., Places 2 Responses »
Aug 012009
2982145253 8b21d7c441 m King Street Metro Station Alexandria, VA


While in VA on business for 2 days I decided to walk over to the metro station one evening. Boring stuff, but I was bored.

I had always hesitated taking photographs of strangers on the street. I’m not sure what I expected by way of reaction from people but the truth is no one really seemed to notice. People would watch me take pictures of others, but when they thought I might take their photograph, they ignored me.

People are funny.

-- Weather When Posted --

  • Temperature: 63°F;
  • Humidity: 29%;
  • Heat Index: 63°F;
  • Wind Chill: 62°F;
  • Pressure: 30.06 in.;

Posted by Ray at 4:27 pm

Nikon D700 vertical banding issue: It happen to me.

My Photo; My Comment. No Responses »
Mar 192009

ths girls lacrosse team 0401 300x199 Nikon D700 vertical banding issue: It happen to me.

Response (Kevin J.)

11/15/2008 06:26 PM

Dear Ray,
This does in fact look like a banding issue and unfortunately there is nothing I can do over the phone.
I am sorry to say you will in fact have to send your D700 into our facility for evaluation:
Again, Thank you
The Nikon Team

I FedExed my D700 to California today ($87 overnight); Kevin, the Nikon rep I spoke to, tells me it’ll be 3-4 weeks to get it back. I purchased the camera in Albany, GA on September 26, 2008 while visiting my folks, so the camera is, what, 2 months old.

I first saw some vertical banding a couple of photographs I took at a local airport. The red (pink) vertical lines were in the gray overcast sky of two pictures. The sky was a bit overexposed and I ignored it, thinking it was something I did wrong.

Last Saturday I was asked to take a team photograph of my daughter’s (See “My Daughter the Ax Murder” article) high school girls LaCrosse team for their website. The coach was there with her young daughter and I took the opportunity to grab a couple of pictures of her with her little girl. (See attached photo – full sized). The banding was intense, bright and undeniable.

The banding was intense, bright and undeniable.

I checked the Nikon website, saw the support office was open and called. I spoke to Kevin who actually told me ‘he’ had not seen any red banding from a D700. I pushed and asked was there a known issue with banding; he again said he had not seen any banding or heard of many at all. We discussed the problem, he opened a trouble ticket, I uploaded the Jpeg to him. Well, I wish I had recorded him when he opened my file; “Wow, I’ve never seen red banding before; it’s usually gray.” No, I didn’t go there.

I have got to tell you: my camera bag full of lenses sure looks empty.

Only 3-4 weeks to go.

UPDATE: November 27: After speaking to a Nikon manager on Tuesday about the problem and possible solutions I arrived home yesterday to find a brand new D700. They replaced the camera.

-- Weather When Posted --

  • Temperature: 50°F;
  • Humidity: 56%;
  • Heat Index: 50°F;
  • Wind Chill: 47°F;
  • Pressure: 30.06 in.;

Posted by Ray at 5:11 am

Post processing; finding the edge

My Photo; My Comment. No Responses »
Mar 192009
3366997252 6ea11ee97e m Post processing; finding the edge

Before and after: Too much?

Sometimes I like to play with a photograph that doesn’t appeal to me in it’s original form. I see other’s work and like the processing or like the concept of it. I tend to get fixated trying new filter effects, crops or plug ins while trying to produce an artistic version that is like a gossamer thread in my mind’s eye.

Sometimes I get to the ‘ah ha’ moment – sometimes I don’t. I do however enjoy the journey to artistic expression.

-- Weather When Posted --

  • Temperature: 56°F;
  • Humidity: 66%;
  • Heat Index: 55°F;
  • Wind Chill: 54°F;
  • Pressure: 30.05 in.;

Posted by Ray at 5:11 am

Cropping to change mood, attention or perspective

My Photo; My Comment. Comments Off
Feb 202009

Want to completely change the mood, refocus attention or perspective within your photograph? Try cropping in tightly. Near 100% crop to highlight the gull here.

Truth be known, although it is the same gull as in the taking flight picture, I did not notice its presence until post processing.

3313120320 b49999a31c m Cropping to change mood, attention or perspective

-- Weather When Posted --

  • Temperature: 43°F;
  • Humidity: 70%;
  • Heat Index: 43°F;
  • Wind Chill: 38°F;
  • Pressure: 30.22 in.;

Posted by Ray at 4:59 pm

Bokeh: How we love thee

Lighting tests, My Photo; My Comment., People Comments Off
Feb 142009

I shot a corporate annual conference dinner the other evening, then posted the images on-line for the attendees to download. We used flash at the start of the event. In an attempt to capture the feel of the evening I switched to my Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 IF-D and shot wide open at f/1.4 in the dimly lit rooms.

I love the lens for it’s sharpness and speed. It works amazingly well with the high ISO capabilities of the D700 which I had set to ISO 1000.

Nearly all of the feedback I have received were on the photographs with the heaviest bohek.

“Bokeh (derived from Japanese, a noun boke 暈け, meaning “blurred or fuzzy”) is a photographic term referring to the appearance of out-of-focus areas in an image produced by a camera lens using a shallow depth of field.”

I like the bokeh too but the comments got me to thinking about why. I will hazard a guess that it most closely mimics the human eye’s ability to sharply focus and isolate upon a single subject within a busy field of view.

Pay attention to your vision the next time your gaze is fixed on just about anything. Notice the ‘bokeh’ effect of the background when concentrating on your morning coffee cup; the sharpness of the person across the room while all else seems to disappear.

Let me know.

-- Weather When Posted --

  • Temperature: 37°F;
  • Humidity: 75%;
  • Heat Index: 37°F;
  • Wind Chill: 29°F;
  • Pressure: 30.09 in.;

Posted by Ray at 6:08 am

It ain't easy being beautiful

People, Rant No Responses »
Jan 062009
3167476271 d9b652047e m It aint easy being beautiful

I have been both pleasantly surprised and left speechless by the way some of the folks I have photographed show up for their portrait session.

‘Models’ show up with only the street clothes they have on. Personal hygiene, chipped and mismatched finger and toe nail colors, dirty feet, makeup, hair weren’t a consideration. When I’ve mentioned it they have done everything from just shrugging their shoulders to suggesting I ‘could’ have had an MUA and hair dresser for them to telling me to ‘fix’ it in Photoshop. And yes, I do mention the above to any model I shoot TFP – doesn’t seem to matter.

Others walk in just drop dead ready to go with makeup, hair, nails and wardrobe and most importantly – ideas.

Paying clients generally do better but I’m still perplexed at times by some of the by what some folks consider ‘portrait ready‘ appearance for themselves and their family.

This is a small rant only, the majority of the many people I’ve photographed are very nice, ready for their session and know what they want from it. But some of them—-

People are funny.

-- Weather When Posted --

  • Temperature: 42°F;
  • Humidity: 82%;
  • Heat Index: 42°F;
  • Wind Chill: 36°F;
  • Pressure: 29.64 in.;

Posted by Ray at 9:04 am

Portraiture: The changing human face.

My Photo; My Comment., People No Responses »
Dec 202008
3127347223 4d0bb3f17a m Portraiture: The changing human face.


With every portrait session I use light, shadow and pose to portray a different mood, facet and aspect of the subject. I see it during the session, I count on it to produce the shoe-box photograph – the keeper.

During nearly every post production process I am pleasantly surprised how a single person can look so differently in a photograph. Soft, rough, hard, beautiful, thin, heavy – you name it. The human face holds a true fascination for me, the eyes – the eyes, expressing the wisdom of the ages or the delight of youth.

People are wonderful creatures.

-- Weather When Posted --

  • Temperature: 34°F;
  • Humidity: 78%;
  • Heat Index: 34°F;
  • Wind Chill: 25°F;
  • Pressure: 30.01 in.;

Posted by Ray at 8:42 am

Lincoln Memorial

My Photo; My Comment., Places No Responses »
Dec 172008
2665554223 1f57a90379 m Lincoln Memorial


On a recent trip to Washington, DC, see Hassled by the Washington, DC Park Rangers for taking photos, I did the tourist thing early Saturday morning before heading back to Texas. I went out at 7am to avoid the heat and the crowds.

I walked from the Washington Monument, past the World War II Memorial headed for the Lincoln Memorial along the Reflecting Pool. There were a few joggers, a few Ron Paul supporters (interesting group of characters) and city workers. As I approached the Lincoln Memorial a small group of tourists were already starting to mill around. I noticed this black city worker mopping the steps, back and forth, back and forth and I knew right away I wanted to include him in the photograph.

When I got to the bottom of the steps the group of visitors were all over the steps and inside the memorial. The worker patiently continued his work, waiting when the people blocked his path.

Standing there with my Nikon D300, waiting for the moment I wanted to capture I was approached by, wait for it — a Canon shooter. He was carrying two cameras (a Rebel XT and a 5D). We had a brief discussion about the light and our shared hobby. Nice fella; other than the Canon part.

Just as we were parting ways I got this photograph. It’s the best of the three I took of this man maintaining the monument’s appearance. The fact that it is a black man working for the Federal Government at the Lincoln Memorial somehow struck a cord with me. I mean no offense to the man doing an honest job, the fact Lincoln’s eyes appear to be watching him, makes, to me anyway, this photograph sort of special.

-- Weather When Posted --

  • Temperature: 93°F;
  • Humidity: 44%;
  • Heat Index: 97°F;
  • Wind Chill: 93°F;
  • Pressure: 30 in.;

Posted by Ray at 6:09 pm

Hassled by the Washington, DC Park Rangers for taking photos

Places, Rant 5 Responses »
Dec 172008

I’ve spent the last three days here in Washington, DC on business. Meetings with the Emily at the WW II MonumentFAA, HHS and the WAAS office. Long times between meetings and I’ve been done pretty early in the day. So, I placed a casting call on ModelMayhem to see if I could pass the time doing what I like to do, take pictures. 5 or 6 TFCD models responded and I set up sessions with two of them. As my luck would have it – both at the same time. That wasn’t a problem for me (read assistant) or them though so we met at my hotel and headed for the National Mall to shoot. The plan was to use the monuments as the background. Sounded way cool.

We chose the new WW II monument because it had a nice water fountain. We got there around 7pm, good light, not huge crowds. As one model was getting her ticket from the Park Police (wrong way on a One Way street) the other model (Emily) and I set off to set up and shoot along the granite outside wall of the monument. I Danielle 087 Hassled by the Washington, DC Park Rangers for taking photosused 2 SB800s, at first to fill then to light her. Nikon CLS is so cool. So far so good. I get about a dozen shots off when the other model, Danielle walked up. She dismissed the ticket as part of life in DC and we starting posing her along the same wall Emily had used. About 10 minutes later I hear:

Sir – Sir:

Click to continue reading “Hassled by the Washington, DC Park Rangers for taking photos”

-- Weather When Posted --

  • Temperature: 93°F;
  • Humidity: 44%;
  • Heat Index: 97°F;
  • Wind Chill: 93°F;
  • Pressure: 30 in.;

Posted by Ray at 6:09 pm

High-key portrait process

My Photo; My Comment., People 2 Responses »
Dec 172008
2748002099 d50e91b09a m High key portrait process

From my Flickr photostream of this image:

Mark Chamberlin says:

“This is a really strong effect. Would you mind divulging what you did to the original image to get it to this point? “

Well Mark, I start with a nice looking model.

Seriously, this photograph was taken almost as framed here. Sometimes when I really like the expression on a wider framed picture I will crop down to the face. this photo of Mona Marie was one in a series of tight shots I took over several minutes, I coached her to look here, there, up and down. I feel this image has the ‘strong effect’ you mention because she is looking pencefully away from the camera.

Orginal photograph

Orginal photograph

The original image is show here. The first step I took was to spot heal any blemishes (of which there were very few, Mona Marie has very smooth skin), then I did a general smoothing to accommodate the high-key effect. I try to leave enough detail to the face so the larger delicate features are not destroyed.

With this photograph I did add back a bit of color to her lips, but just color, I liked the formation and shape/size as it was. After several bleaching passes to reach the desired effect, I sharpened the image.

Normally I have to resist the urge to tweak more; here I did not.

-- Weather When Posted --

  • Temperature: 84°F;
  • Humidity: 54%;
  • Heat Index: 86°F;
  • Wind Chill: 84°F;
  • Pressure: 29.78 in.;

Posted by Ray at 6:09 pm
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