Self Portrait

A few days ago someone mentioned to me that I take tons of photos, but seldom of myself. I took the liberty to finally do a self portrait. Unlike most of the photos I take where I make poeple look better, I think I did a good job of making myself look worse. One person on facebook commented this...

• • You look like golum

    19 hours ago · · 1 person

facebook aside, I shot the photo on my plain 50mm lens and this was shot at f/1.4. I cranked up the clarity giving the effect that my face is really bumpy or something. This is just extra added detail in the photo. I also added grain. Opposites of what I usually do, again. I always turn down the clarity as you can see in the 2nd photo of my good friend, Rhonda. The colors and hues in the two photos are similar, however, sharpness reveals a sharp difference between the two.

Shooting the Purim Carnival

As a freelance favor, I shot the Purim Carnival at the JCC. I was taking photos for the local Jewish youth group I am in called the BBYO. The conditions for shooting were the worst that could possibly be. It dim lights, indoors and little kids; everyone was moving around quickly and I was doing my best, mostly sticking in 800 or 1600 ISO. Overall, I got the hang of it. I kept settings around this: 1600 ISO, 1/50 shutter speed and 3.5f. I needed between 1/40-1/60 to avoid blur in my photos. I wish i had one of those uber cameras - the ones with over 100,000 ISO and that i had a 1.2f lens, that would have made it much easier and my photos better, however, i managed well with my gear (about $1500 total).Overall it was a good experience for shooting indoors.
    I have a cocktail party/dance/other things coming up to shoot. It's in a week or so and i'll be sure to blog and post photos of my experiences and encounters there, for I'm sure it will be exciting.