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.

Networking

In the past few weeks I have done a massive amount of photography for a number of organizations. While there I make sure to give my business card to people I deem important to my photography – that includes people at the events whom I photographed, other photographers and just people who look like they need some pictures. Today, for some reason I had about eight or so messages from people interested in my work or saying how much they enjoy the photos I take. I give the 500 business cards I receives a few weeks ago much credit for this occurrence.

 

 

 

Shooting From the Field

It started with a friend asking me to shoot his varsity football game and ended in a new discovery – sports photography. I have focused far too much on portraits, mostly because I did not have a good lens to shoot sports. But now I have the perfect lens – the Canon 70-200mm. For those that don’t know, this is one of those long white lenses that you’ll see professional photographers use on the sidelines of games. In fact, for football, it’s the perfect sidelines lens.

When I arrived at the game, I was surprised at the number of people for a game in the summer at 10AM. I noticed two professional sports photographers on the other side of the field. I started taking some shots from the seats, then I walked down to the sidelines, about 3 feet from the bench where the football players sat who were not playing. Then I eventually took some shots from the field. Generally you’ll know which way the ball is going and can even be in the middle of the field where reffs go. This, however can be very dangerous. Two times the ball was turned around and I was almost tackled by football players. One of the times I had to make a very quick dash with my camera. That would be awful to disrupt the game and damage my gear at the same time – especially if you knew what I paid for my lens and camera.

After about 30 minutes, I found my self being where the other photographers were. One used a Nikon mount with a massive lens and the other used a Canon D30 and 70-200mm, same lens as me. We talked a little on the sidelines and sometimes would show each other our good photos. We talked about technical things like what sports at best for AI Servio and what modes to shoot in. He told me he shot for a newspaper in Brevard and I gave him my card, then I went back to shooting. Here are a few shots I got. Both were taken at f/4 at 1/1500th of a second.

More photos from the game HERE http://www.facebook.com/pages/Oliver-Sholder-Photography/106283589406299?ref=ts#!/album.php?aid=20137&id=106283589406299&ref=mf

Good Portraits

I found a great portrait photographer, perhaps one of the best in the world! He lives in Escheburg, Deutschland and his name is Markus Schwarze. Here are some photos of his. He mostly uses a 5D and 35mm f1.4. Here are a whole bunch of his photos http://www.flickriver.com/photos/wefwef/popular-interesting/ but here are a few I liked in particular.

 

 

More HDR

This is a photo I took after school with some friends. It sat around on my Hardrive for a few weeks and then I decided to edit it a little. First I did HDR through Photomatrix, then I added more effects and filters on photoshop then put it into lightroom to edit the lighting and composition a little and put some of the final touches on. This is the final product.

HDR

This is HDR done well. The boats in the water add a great sense of depth. This is clearly photo shopped a lot.

Taking photos in Public

Taking photos in public of people and other things has always been murky waters for most photo takers. I have done it before and I'v seen everything from smiles to fingers (middle fingers). Once i was downtown taking a photo of my friend and there was some lady in the background, she asked me if she was in it. Being honest, i said yes. She yelled at me to delete it. Us photographers must stand up and use our rights! Here is some advice from an professional photographer.

The Ten Legal Commandments of Photography

I. Anyone in a public place can take pictures of anything they want. Public places include parks, sidewalks, malls, etc. Malls? Yeah. Even though it’s technically private property, being open to the public makes it public space.

II. If you are on public property, you can take pictures of private property. If a building, for example, is visible from the sidewalk, it’s fair game.

III. If you are on private property and are asked not to take pictures, you are obligated to honor that request. This includes posted signs.

IV. Sensitive government buildings (military bases, nuclear facilities) can prohibit photography if it is deemed a threat to national security.

V. People can be photographed if they are in public (without their consent) unless they have secluded themselves and can expect a reasonable degree of privacy. Kids swimming in a fountain? Okay. Somebody entering their PIN at the ATM? Not okay.

VI. The following can almost always be photographed from public places, despite popular opinion:

* accident & fire scenes, criminal activities
* bridges & other infrastructure, transportation facilities (i.e. airports)
* industrial facilities, Superfund sites
* public utilities, residential & commercial buildings
* children, celebrities, law enforcement officers
* UFOs, the Loch Ness Monster, Chuck Norris

VII. Although “security” is often given as the reason somebody doesn’t want you to take photos, it’s rarely valid. Taking a photo of a publicly visible subject does not constitute terrorism, nor does it infringe on a company’s trade secrets.

VIII. If you are challenged, you do not have to explain why you are taking pictures, nor to you have to disclose your identity (except in some cases when questioned by a law enforcement officer.)

IX. Private parties have very limited rights to detain you against your will, and can be subject to legal action if they harass you.

X. If someone tries to confiscate your camera and/or film, you don’t have to give it to them. If they take it by force or threaten you, they can be liable for things like theft and coercion. Even law enforcement officers need a court order.

Intro

This is a new blog dedicated to photography. It's my second and i have learned somethings so hopefully I won't make the same mistakes. I guess i referred to my self as a shutterboy in the name because well, am no photography expert but on the other hand, i know a good deal about photography. Some of my good photos go on Flickr! and here is my stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/olirv/