The wireless triggers for my flash arrived today.  Just in the nick of time, too.  I'm heading south tomorrow to take maternity portraits of my sister-in-law.  It came with one trigger (fits on the camera) and two receivers.  Alas, I only have one flash.  I'll have to save up some more money and get a second (it will be a while....).  This is going to be so FUN!   

While I've been waiting for these to arrive, I've been playing with some old photos in Camera Raw.  Today's creation comes from last September's trip to the Hogle zoo.  Here is the original, straight from the camera:

 Here is the black and white conversion.  I also added a bit of vignette around the edges.

 To see a larger version of this, click here.  

Three more packages arrived yesterday, bringing the total number of completed shipments up to 4.  I'm still waiting for my light stand and umbrella. 

I tore open my flash and couldn't wait to get started experimenting with some off camera stuff, then was disappointed to discover that the my model of camera does not send a wireless signal.  Grrrr..  I thought I had read all the fine print, but I guess in my enthusiasm that little detail eluded me.  Still my new flash is pretty stinkin cool and I can do a lot with it, just not as much as I had hoped. 

The new flash has a light sensor, so I can still use it off-camera as a slave.  That means that when the off-camera flash sees a burst of light from my built-in on-camera flash (or anywhere else for that matter -- sometimes flickering fluorescents can trigger it), the off-camera flash will fire at the same time.  ( Did you follow all that? )  The down side is that working as a slave requires me to use the on camera flash and every shot will have some light from directly in front.  That can be a serious limitation when I am trying for some specific or creative lighting results.  Another limiting factor is that the off-camera flash has to be positioned so that it can "see" my camera.  

I ordered a wireless transmitter and receiver that will connect my camera and flash for wireless communication, but I had to order it from the manufacturer in Hong Kong.   Past customers have received their shipments here in the US in as little as 3 days, so I'm hoping that the transmitters will arrive soon enough for some family portraits I am scheduled to shoot the first weekend in February.  

If you would like to see how my new flash affects the look of a photo, check these out. All these shots are straight off the camera with no post processing in photoshop.

This one used only ambient light.  No flash at all.  Because of the low light the shutter speed is slow.  This means that she and I both had to hold very still to keep this as non-blurry as possible.  Also it has the usual yellow tint that comes from indoor lighting.  Photoshop can compensate for the yellowing, but for the purpose of example I left it as is.  

This one used the built-in flash on my camera.  I do this as little as possible because it has a tendency to wash out the colors and make a photo look very flat and boring.  

Finally, this was taken with my new flash.  I angled the flash so the light bounced off of the wall rather than hitting her directly.  The bounced light lets me use a faster shutter speed, but also provides a softness that brings out texture and softens the shadows.  Also, the colors don't suffer so much the way they do with a built-in flash.  

So there ya have it.  A quick and dirty comparison of how different flash options affect a shot.   Now please excuse me while I go hunt for some more victims to flash.

Lately I've been wanting to do a photo shoot of Andrea and Gwyneth.  Last Friday afternoon the light reflecting off of the snow and into my living room was perfect, so I threw a nicely wrinkled sheet over the back of a table and chairs, sat the babies on it and started shooting.  (I don't have any non-wrinkled sheets.) 

Coming off of the camera, the photos looked like pretty decent snapshots, but it wasn't until I started working with them in Photoshop that they really started to sing.  CS3 is the first version of Photoshop that allows jpeg images to be converted into Camera Raw for editing.  Camera Raw provides easy and powerful options to make the most of a photo.  Don't ask me all the technical details, all I know is that I LOVE the results.  

After getting the exposure, clarity, and color just right in Camera Raw, I went to the regular Photoshop tools and worked with cropping, background touch ups, etc.  I also added a vignette to some of the shots.   Here are some before and after shots.

Before (Straight from the camera).  This was one of the last shots I took.  It was late in the afternoon and I was loosing my sunlight.

Work in Progress... After editing in Camera Raw and touching up the background.

Final result, after adding a white vignette...

Before...

After editing in Camera Raw, copping, lightening the dark circles under her eyes, and finally sharpening...

In case you think all this touching up is a cheat, know this.  Many professional photographers don't like you to see what's up their sleeve, but don't let them fool you.  Editing digital photos is standard practice these days.   While it's true that a good photographer wants to capture an image as close as possible to perfect right out of the camera, rare is the shot that can't be improved with a little wave of the magic software wand.  

To see all the best of my little photo session with the wee ones, check out my Portfolio Set on flickr.    

I've decided to move to Hodgkins, Illinois. Hodgkins is a stone's throw from Chicago, and I've always wanted to visit the windy city.  This decision basically comes about because I'm a terribly impatient person.  This morning I am awaiting the arrival of no less that 5 packages, all from different locations east of the Mississippi and the UPS tracking web site says all 5 packages were last seen departing from Hodgkin, Illinois.  If I lived there I would already have my stuff.  As it is I still have to wait.  *sigh*

So what's in all these packages?  Ah, I'm glad you asked!

1)  A package from my dad.  It contains the hard drive from his dead computer.  Scott is going to try and resurrect some of the files.  

2)  A new external flash for my camera.  It can either sit on my camera or can communicate wirelessly from somewhere off my camera so the flash will fire when I click the shutter, even if it's not on my camera.

3)  A light stand, photographer's umbrella, etc to make the most of the off camera capability of my new flash. All this equipment is designed be light and fold down ultra small for portability.

4)  A small package that contains a little plastic thingy that fits over the end of my flash and diffuses the light, creating a soft light effect.  No harsh shadows.

5)  Finally a new, bigger, weather proof camera bag so I can easily tote around all this fun new equipment. 

So why all the new camera stuff?  I'm been reading extensively about strobist techniques in photography.   Basically it's a super cheap alternative to expensive studio lighting.  Also it's considerably more portable than studio equipment.  According to what I've read, spending a little money on lighting equipment gets a lot more bang for your buck than buying expensive "fast glass".  Cheap and easy.  That's how I like it!  (Note:  "Fast glass" refers to a lens that has a wide aperture capability, allowing a lot of light in, reducing the length of time the shutter needs to be open, giving the photographer a lot more options in low light situations, but that's probably more information than most people are interested in.)  

If I lived in Hodgkins I could possibly be posting some strobist photos for you to see today, but since I live in Utah, you are going to have to wait -- just like me.

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Upadate:  12:29pm.  Package #4 arrived.  Now I have my flash diffuser, making me all the more HUNGRY for my flash.  Oh well, maybe tomorrow. 

Ariel the mermaid, as our third born child is now demanding we call her, had a bad dream the night before last and woke up screaming "MOMMY!"  Since then she refuses to go into her room after dark, and sometimes even during the day, because she says there is a giant potato that scared away all the birds and is trying to kill her.  I'd like you see YOU handle that one with a straight face! 

Alex keeps trying to convince her that Mommy and Daddy have mashed the giant potato and there is no further cause for fear.  She's not quite buying it.  Last night she snuck into our bed and slept between Scott and I from about 1 am on, and she's not really one for sharing the blankets.  Tonight we were lucky enough for Ariel to fall asleep early and stay asleep when we moved her into her bed.  Hopefully she will forget about the bird hating killer potato and stay there tonight.  *fingers crossed*

He's home.  He's happy.  He's all in one piece.  He says he stayed warm, except his feet got a little bit cold during the night.  He hasn't stopped talking about it all afternoon.  He obviously had tons of fun. 

After being home for about one short hour he went right back out into the snow to go sledding.  

My plan for tonight.  SLEEP! 

This afternoon (during a snowstorm I should add) Alex left for his first Klondike campout.  I've done everything I know how to do to keep my dear firstborn child dry and warm despite the fact that he will be hiking and camping in about 3 1/2 feet of snow at the top of a windy mountain.  I sent him with his own jar of peanut butter to keep his calorie count up.  I bought him the last pair of kid sized winter hiking boots that could be found anywhere in the county.  He's outfitted with snow pants that are two sizes too big (I told him they are warmer that way, but actually every place was sold out of his size), and his down jacket is the fluffiest I've ever seen in my life.  He also took a huge stack of hand warmers and is wearing a brand new pair of name brand ski mittens to stuff them in.  He is with smart and capable leaders.  They have a cell phone and a GPS device with them.  They have plenty of food (although he won't eat anything but the peanut butter) and firewood.  There isn't supposed to be any more snow coming for the rest of the time they are gone. 

So despite the fact that he will be dragging a sled loaded with all his gear for 1/2 a mile to the campsite, and ignoring the weather reports of a 15 degree overnight low in the valley (I have no idea what it will be in the canyon), and considering that the kid is skinny as a rail and barely eats even when he likes what's served....despite all that there is really no reason to worry.  At least that's what I keep telling myself.

I'm not so sure I'm going to get much sleep tonight. 

CS3 ROCKS! I plugged 12 shots of Gabrielle's basketball practice into the CS3 Automate and Photomerge functions and out pops this panoramic. I didn't do any tweaking to this image after Photoshop spit it out.

I thought for sure that the software would choke on my hand held auto setting shots with dozens of kids running all over the place, but I am now ashamed by my lack of faith. There are some spots where the straight lines in the rail and the basketball backboard are visibly jagged, but I can forgive that considering the horrible conditions I gave it to work with.

I am impressed!  Can you tell I'm having fun.  : )

Click here to view a larger version. 

Andrea's vocabulary is starting to take off.  Every day she seems to have something new to say.  However, I've noticed that some of her words mean something different to her than they probably mean for the rest of us.  For example, to her "thank you" means "please give me what I want".  Usually what she wants is something to eat or drink.  Last night around midnight, she woke up crying.  Between sobs she was screaming out "THANK YOU!  *sob, sob* THAAAAANK YOOOOOOOUUUUU!" not because she was so incredibly grateful that her parents have provided her a safe, warm and comfortable place to sleep at night but because she wanted a drink of milk, or "meow" as she calls it.

Another translation from Andrese to English:  When you ask her if she wants something, if she shakes her head from side to side and answers "uh-uh" she means yes. Of course to most of us "uh-uh" accompanied with that particular head gesture would mean a definite "no", but in Andrese it means "Yes, and please hurry up about it.  Thaaaaank Yoooooouuuu."

There are also a lot of things she gets right.  "No, no, no" means "I know I'm not supposed to have that" often along with the secondary Andrese translation of "but I don't care, so I'm taking it anyway".  When I grab my car keys or a coat (hers or mine) she lets out a confident "GO!"  First thing in the morning when she sees me she says "Hi, Baby!"  Ok, so that's a bit of a English/Andrese hybrid, but since that's what I've said to her almost every morning of her life, I can see why she thinks it's the appropriate morning greeting. 

Really, I can see the logic behind most of her little verbal faux pas.  I mean, aren't we supposed to say "thank you" after we've been handed something we are asking for.  She has streamlined the process and can both ask and express gratitude at the same time.  It really isn't such a bad idea when you think about it.

I noticed one more Andrese word today.   Snacks are named "Daddy".  Specifically, it's the snacks that I am less likely to give her.  Chocolate, ice cream, chips... you get the idea.  Even when Scott's not home she will stand by the counter under the bag of M&Ms, point up and say "Daddy? Thank you?"

Hmmmm, I wonder how she's developed that particular word association.... 

This photo is from Oct 2006.  Andrea was 4 months old.  I added the high contrast treatment yesterday and I love the result.

Today's CS3 project has been to revisit some of the engagement photos I took of Jessica and Justin last June. Not the least of the fixes is color correction, but there are some other little portrait tricks I tried as well. 

 Before:

After: 

I also did a little experimenting with a trendy looking high contrast effect.  Here are the results:

Flour and pancake flour are not created equal, so please pay attention to which canister you grab.  Those were the most unappetizing pancakes I've ever laid eyes on.  Seriously.

Oh, and Happy New Year.  : )