Four Chickens and a Camera

Purple on Purple

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Coutts) — Wed, 23 May 2012 03:58:00 +0000

My partner Jen brought home the most gorgeous purple tulips the other day — instant inspiration! I don't believe I had seen that colour of tulip before, they were just stunningly beautiful.

They had to be photographed!

I really wanted to emphasize the incredible, deep, rich colour so instinctively I stuck them in front of a purple background to really push the colour. However, I did not want to wash out the beauty of the tulips with a big blob of purple so I modified my main light to about a quarter of its size and used a snooted flash to pop a selected circle of background. The final touch was a separation light, directly offsetting the main light, to bring dimension and pop them off the backdrop. Three Canon 580EX II flashes in total.

Keep shooting.

A Beautiful Smile

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Coutts) — Thu, 17 May 2012 04:31:00 +0000

I make a lot of pictures of people. And as I'm making those pictures I am engaging them with mostly witty banter. I say "mostly" because it's not always witty but I do try, especially if a natural smile is what I am trying to coax forward.

Anyhow, that's not the point. The point is that during a photo session I am constantly engaging my subject in conversation. At some point during that conversation I usually ask them if they like having their picture taken. Yeah, it's a loaded question and unsurprisingly most answer that they do not like it. Even though I usually know the answer before I ask the question, i ask it regardless because it is a good icebreaker and it can help to address the elephant in the room, even if it's a small elephant. It also helps them to relax when I share that I don't like to have my picture taken either.

It is my job as the photographer to extract the best look out of my subject, even the most camera shy. Sometimes, getting that look can be the most difficult and energy sapping part of my job. Every once and a while though, I come across someone who requires little to no coaxing to produce the most naturally beautiful smile.

Today I had that "someone" in front of my camera. With the minimal amount of effort on my part I received an amazing smile that reflected the personality and radiance beautifully, perfectly and ever so easily. I love it when that happens.

Keep shooting.

Bikes, Bikes, Bikes...

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Coutts) — Thu, 10 May 2012 05:09:00 +0000

Man do I love bikes! When it comes to bikes, the older the better and the more unique the better. Calgary seems to have no shortage of cool, vintage commuter bikes.

Today, I spotted this beauty while waiting to pick up my partner after work. I pulled out the best camera I had with me at the time - my iPhone - and I snapped a bunch of pics of this gorgeous, old bicycle.

Sweet! I just can't get enough of these magnificent machines.

Keep shooting.

A Quick Spin With The 5D Mark III

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Coutts) — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 04:55:00 +0000

My friend Amy Thiessen, the lovely and talented gal that she is, was playing a show Ironwood Stage in Calgary last night and I was invited along to shoot pictures. I thought it would be a great opportunity to try out Canon's new 5D Mark III so I rented one from The Camera Store for the day.

Of course, the Mark III was new to me so I spent the day setting it up how I liked and getting familiar with handling it and using some of the new features. Just to be safe though I decided to bring my Mark II along as well and shoot the two cameras side by side. After shooting both cameras for about twenty minutes and comparing the results, there was a clear winner - the 5D Mark III.

Being in a bar, the lighting wasn't great so that meant high ISO. I shot everything at ISO 6400 to have ample shutter speed for my longer lens and the Mark III hands down produced cleaner images but probably even more important than that was it's ability to acquire focus. The Mark II is OK at focusing in well lit places but not so much in dim light. The Mark III on the other hand had no trouble focusing in minimal light and producing many, many more keeper images like the one below.

I didn't have long with the new camera but it was long enough to know it had some clear advantages over the 5D Mark II. Hopefully I will have a chance to use one again in the near future.

Keep shooting.

On The Fly...

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Coutts) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 20:58:00 +0000

I had another fun shoot at a local yoga studio yesterday and this was one of my favourite shots.

More than the lighting, colours or reflections, this one is all about an authentic expression and the joy of the practice. For me, it's the difference between a shot that ends up in the trash or in the keeper pile.

Keep shooting.

Under

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Coutts) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 07:25:00 +0000

Calgary had a lovely bit of spring weather today so I decided it was a good night to head out and make some pictures.

By the time I got organized it was fairly late and being on foot I decided to stick closer to home. Not surprisingly I ended up at the Peace Bridge. Instead of shooting the same old picture from the same old spot I wanted something unique.

I found it.

Keep shooting.

Yet Another Self Portrait

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Coutts) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 03:38:00 +0000

I seems like I have been doing a lot of self portraits lately. So much so that my one-and-only modeling look is starting to get on my nerves. It is getting harder and harder to muster the patience to make another picture of my well photographed mug. And I won't even get in to moving furniture so I can set up the equipment in the first place.

So if they are such a pain, why do I do them? Simply, I do them for a couple of reasons. First is to test and play with new or proven lighting techniques and second is to keep my skills sharp when I don't have a full schedule of work. Mostly though it's the former but the practice never hurts either.

The past couple of weeks I have probably done four or five experimental self portraits. Today was no different. I needed a lighting solution for teacher head shots for a yoga studio and below is what I created.

And the finished self portrait looks like this.

On shoot day I will vary the looks, the poses and the framing but I am confident in the light and that is what matters most.

Keep shooting.

Really Nice Light...

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Coutts) — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 05:53:00 +0000

Tonight was one of those nights. I had an idea and I wanted to try and make a picture. A family picture of my partner Jen, me and the cat, Whitey. After playing around with the idea for an hour or so things were not working out very well, it was getting late so I pulled the plug on it. However, the time was not wasted. Instead of creating a good picture I created some really nice light.

Below you can see one of the test shots as I was in the early stages of setting up the shot.

If you look carefully in the top right corner of the frame, you can get a wee bit of a sense of the light source. What I rigged up was two, 580EX II flashes with Sto-Fen caps shooting through a Lastolite 4x6 foot diffuser. I also created flags out of black paper, which I placed on the top side of the strobes to kill the light bouncing off the ceiling.

The set up creates a really large light source resulting in soft, wrapping light leaving only very light shadow beneath the chin. The downside is the light gets chucked everywhere. It is quite similar to what you would get shooting through a large umbrella but the main intention tonight was to try something different, to find a different way to create some really nice light.

The shot didn't succeed (for now) but the light did.

Keep shooting.

Peace Bridge

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Coutts) — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 16:57:00 +0000

Yesterday, once again, I returned to Calgary's Peace Bridge to make some more pictures. The goal was motion. Using slower exposures I wanted to capture the pedestrians and cyclists commuting home from a day's work in the downtown core. The light wasn't great but I still managed a couple of keepers from the effort. But rather than it being an immensely successful photographic outing, something much bigger struck me.

I setup on the bridge at the height of the after work commute. That was my intention. I needed plenty of pedestrians and cyclists to fill my frames with motion. A few minutes in to my session one of my friends gave me a wave while he rode by on his bike. I returned the wave and dug back in to my work. Moments after that another friend, again on a bike, stopped behind me and teased at me to stop disrupting bridge traffic. We had a nice chat before he peddled off on his way. I had a several brief conversations with other pedestrians before wrapping up my shoot and having one final conversation with a photography student before heading for home.

On the brief walk home I thought about my outing and it struck me that the bridge, more than a piece of art or architecture, is about building a community. If the bridge ultimately becomes a catalyst to pull more people out of their vehicles and on to the pathways and sidewalks, it will indeed have been a successful project.

Keep shooting.

A Different Perspective

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Coutts) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 18:35:00 +0000

Last night I was out once again taking shots of Calgary's Peace Bridge. Now that it's actually open to the public it was great to walk across it and thoroughly check it out.

I wasn't entirely sure what kind of picture I wanted to make but I brought along one flash and a few PocketWizards to give me some options. I played around for quite a long time trying to make an interesting self portrait on the bridge but was not having much luck. The normally super-reliable devices were giving me trouble. I'm not sure if there was some kind of interference or low batteries or, I don't know, the cold temperature but they were not working reliably. However, what I thought was a bit funny and ironic was that I was not able to reliably trigger the devices from my pocket. Huh, PocketWizards don't work from pockets - weird.

Eventually after many, many unsuccessful attempts and freezing hands I swung my camera around and made this picture.

It is a frame that was not possible, well, not easily possible before the existence of the new structure.

Keep shooting.

14 Hours

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Coutts) — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 03:28:00 +0000

I took the two pictures below about 14 hours apart. The first, at night, was taken before Calgary's Peace Bridge opened to the public. The second was taken moments after the public was allowed to cross the bridge for the first time.

Calgarians seem quite polarized on their feelings towards the bridge. Some love it and others consider it a folly at the tax payer's expense. All politics aside, I think it's a gorgeous structure and I look forward to photographing it for many, many years to come.

Keep shooting.

I'm Lucky...

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Coutts) — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 02:07:00 +0000

Oh, I'm sure I have posted something about this before but yes, it's true, I'm lucky.

I am oh so lucky to have such a supportive and understanding partner, one who is willing to patiently model for me while I practice my craft or experiment with some crazy new idea I want to try. She is one of a kind and I am ever so grateful for her love and support.

Keep shooting.

Yeah, I Did...

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Coutts) — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 05:14:00 +0000

I bought the "new" iPad. But before to go thinking I'm just one of those Apple fanatics that will buy anything the Cupertino based company produces, please let me explain.

Before embarking on my photographic journey I spent 22 years of my working life in Information Technology. And, never once during that span did I ever spend time waiting in line for any "must have" gadget. The one and only time I waited in line was last year when Apple released the iPad 2.

The iPad 2 was my first tablet and has easily been one of my favorite gadgets EVER! I have used it every single day since I purchased it, and typical usage can be hours per day. I use it for writing, blogging, researching, reading, watching videos, surfing the web and the occasional game or two. It has accompanied me on trips and vacations and I even take it to photo shoots.

So why did I decide to upgrade? One simple feature - the retina display. The iPad 2 has been incredibly useful but when it came to photography, it came up a tiny bit short. It lacked the definition I needed to check my images in the field for sharpness and flaws. Now, with the new iPad's incredible retina display I can see every little detail and feel confident my work will look just as good when I get the images back to my Mac. So awesome.

And if you didn't think a screen could make that much of a difference, look as this shot comparing the new iPad with the iPad 2.

Wow!

Keep shooting.

Gear Kit: Maui

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Coutts) — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 04:21:00 +0000

I recently had a two week stay on the beautiful island of Maui, Hawaii. It was an incredible trip and it was very hard to come back to a cold and snowy Calgary. A few days before the trip I carefully put together an extensive yet compact kit of photography gear so I could record the adventure.

When travelling, I really like to be nimble. I don't want to be weighed down with excessive gear and baggage. I like to have the ability to carry it all on my person and still be able to make that last minute dash to a taxi or to the gate of a departing flight. And, more crap just means more worry about things getting lost or stolen.

Here is what I put together.

The Details…

Spiralling clockwise and inwards from the bottom left corner, here is the gear:

Two (homemade) gels each of 1/4 CTO and full CTO
Black Rapid camera strap
Canon battery charger
Two 580EX II strobes
Two Honl Speed straps for attaching the gels
64GB Apple iPad for backing up pictures from the camera, post-processing, blogging and such
Crumpler Six Million Dollar Home - fits all the gear with the tripods on the side
Joby Gorillapod Focus with Ball Head X - this was my main camera support
Joby Gorillapod SLR - for a remote flash
Circular polarizer
Canon 5D Mark II
Canon Remote Switch (RS-80N3) - This well worn remote is used for landscape shots to avoid vibration
USB cable with Apple Camera Connection Kit - for pulling pics from the camera to the iPad
Spare PowerEX rechargeable batteries
Canon RC-1 Remote - for the times when I want to be in the picture :)
Two Sto-Fen caps - I used them for times with indoor flash
Tiffen 8-Stop ND Filter - when I need less light during the middle of the day
Canon 24-105mm f/4.0L IS lens - pretty much my workhorse lens for everything
Spirit Level - for getting those nice, straight horizon lines.

Not shown is the six, 8GB compact flash cards I had also packed. Here is one shot where a lot of the pieces came in handy.

And here is how I set up the gear.

As you can see, the camera was on the large Joby and the flash was just off to the side on the smaller Joby. The flash on the camera was only used to trip the second flash via infrared and was set in ETTL mode. The main flash was gelled with 1/4 CTO to get a bit warmer skin tones. And, of course, the Canon RC-1 is safely nestled in my left hand to trigger the shutter.

The great thing about the Joby Gorillapods is you can stick them pretty much anywhere. The downside is a few times I wanted them higher off the ground and then you're out of luck unless there is a handy tree somewhere nearby.

For the most part the kit had everything I needed but I had a few regrets.

Hoodman Loupe 3.0 - Nearly everything I shot was in bright daylight, which makes it impossible to see the LCD. The loupe would have saved me pulling my shirt overtop the camera to check details not revealed in the histogram.
Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS + Canon 1.4x Extender - I didn't need this lens all the time but it would have been great for the surfing and whale watching days. Also, this lens has fantastic bokeh. It is a little heavy and bulky though.
Twenty foot ETTL cable (or longer) - Canon's infrared system is good but not great outside, especially in bright sunlight. With the ETTL cable I could have forgone the second flash as I only every used one flash to light my subject.

Keep shooting.

Take The Time, Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Coutts) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 22:41:00 +0000

I have previously blogged about "taking the time" to make pictures but it is such an important idea it's worthwhile to revisit it once more.

My partner and I have been on Maui, Hawaii for the past week. Maui is a gorgeous paradise and we have enjoyed every minute of our stay. Of course being a photographer I brought along a small but potent kit of gear to record our visit in pictures. Sometimes though making a picture requires more energy then you may want to divert to the task and that is where the choice between no picture and "taking the time" comes in to play.

The other day we made a short drive and twenty minute hike to a nearby waterfall. Of course, I had brought along my gear. I took some "easy" pictures during our trek but shots at the waterfall required more effort. To get that dreamy, smooth effect on the waterfall I needed a longer exposure. The longer exposure meant a tripod, variable ND filter and a few other gadgets. No problem. I took the time to dig out the requisite gear and made my pictures. A few snaps later I disassembled the gear and we continued exploring. Not long after I decided to do a shot of the two of us with the waterfall in the background. Making that picture required considerably more effort (I needed off-camera flash) and a bundle of patience to set up the necessary equipment. It was decision time. Take the time or not bother?

I took the time.

I took the time because I know the how much the picture will be cherished when looking back at a wonderful vacation. I know how important it is to document the special moments and I know how important it is to do it right. It is always worth the time.

Keep shooting.

Beautiful Maui

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Coutts) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 06:07:00 +0000

I have been on the beautiful island of Maui, Hawaii for the past five days. Its amazing scenery affords limitless opportunities for making great pictures. I packed a very light kit of gear, including a few new pieces - a Joby Gorillapod Focus with a Ballhead X and a Tiffen variable neutral density filter. Both pieces of equipment are small and super light to pack and helped me make this picture.

Keep shooting.

Night Moves

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Coutts) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 05:38:00 +0000

It has been quite a while since I got out for some night shooting. I honestly can't remember the last time I did it but I'm sure it has been a few months or more. Sad really because I really love shooting in the city core at night. I especially love long exposures with moving subjects. I love how you never really quite know what you're going to get. The light just seems to bounce everywhere. The mysterious light trails from vehicles that seem to make no sense and the shadows. When it goes well they all perform this magical dance and you get a cool picture. When it doesn't go as planned, uh, well, you just delete the picture when you get home. Regardless, it's always fun to capture activity after dark.

Keep shooting.

Food!

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Coutts) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:46:00 +0000

This afternoon I had a great time shooting food with my talented friend Jacinthe Koddo. If you have always wanted to learn how to make healthy and delicious meals, you need to talk to Jacinthe. You can find out more about her on her website.

Here is a sneak peak of one of the delicious creations I shot today. It was my first attempt at shooting food in a serious way. I have much to learn. :)

Keep shooting.

A Quick One

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Coutts) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 04:16:00 +0000

On Wednesday night I had a great shoot with the "Pussywillows", a group of lovely and talented ladies who host an open mic jam on Wednesday evening at Mikey's Juke Joint. It was one of the fastest on-site shoots I had ever done.

Here is how it went down.

The shoot had been scheduled about one week in advance, but I didn't know all the details until the afternoon before. I did have some vague details ahead of time and I used that limited information to plan my shoot. My biggest concern was only having one hour to get the shot. Usually, I plan two hours for most shoots as it affords time to play with a couple of options. One hour, in my books, is tight.

Having been to the location before, I had a good visual of exactly the shot I wanted and exactly where I would take it. Unfortunately for me, my memory is not quite as good as I thought. The location I had mapped out in my head did not quite match reality. Oops. Fortunately for me, I arrived half an hour before the shoot and I quickly found a suitable location in the bar. After kindly asking a few patrons to switch tables, a bit of table shuffling, and throwing up some lights I was ready for some test shots.

It was pretty simple lighting. One 580EX II in a softbox overhead, reflector underneath and a gridded flash, gelled blue to rake the wall behind the subjects. I'm not sure what it is about blue but it always give a shot that cool, nighttime, in-the-bar kind of look. Perfect for what I needed.

Most of the girls arrived on time but by the time everyone was present our shooting time was even shorter. It's always challenging to get multiple people doing the right thing and the right time but on this particular shoot with these particular ladies, the pieces fell in to place quickly. Within forty minutes, a few changes of camera and subject position, we had our shot. Awesome!

I credit the success of the evening with one thing - planning. Visualizing the shot in advance and knowing the lighting setup required to pull it off allowed me to concentrate on getting my subjects looking their best in our limited time.

Keep planning and keep shooting.

Hello 2012!

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Coutts) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 05:19:00 +0000

I am still kind of shocked how quickly 2011 came and went.

I spent a quiet New Year's Eve day cross country skiing with my partner Jen and some friends. It was a great way to wind down an otherwise busy and transitional year. I didn't pack my SLR with me but I had my iPhone to snap a few pictures to mark the day. Here was one of my last pictures of 2011.

I am really looking forward to making 2012 a very, very memorable year.

Keep shooting.

Take The Time

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Coutts) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 03:14:00 +0000

It was late, it was Christmas Eve and we were both tired from the preparation and activities of the day. It would have been easy to plop down on the couch, flip on a movie and snooze until Christmas morning. Instead we decided to make a short trek, with gear in hand, to a nearby park to make a holiday picture.

It didn't take long but the picture and the memory will last a lifetime. And, it was actually a lot of fun too!

Take the time and keep shooting. Merry Christmas.

The Jiggle...

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Coutts) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 06:50:00 +0000

I wanted something a bit different tonight for family Christmas pictures so I pulled a fun and dynamic technique out of my book of tricks - "the jiggle". I know what you're thinking, "just what exactly is 'the jiggle'"? Well, read on and find out.

The family Christmas shoot had been scheduled for weeks. I knew how I was going to shoot and after debating a number of different outdoor locations, I made my final choice the night before. The only thing missing was a lovely bit of snow but Mother Nature came through and delivered fresh snow throughout the day and during the shoot. It makes for great pictures but it's not so great for handling the equipment and the cold temperature made for some pretty sore hands. I'm not complaining, I'm just saying.

Anyhow, about "the jiggle". It's a pretty simple technique. Slow shutter speed, plus flash, plug camera movement adds up to a dynamic, unique look. The "jiggle" part creates the blurred effect on the ambient light in the shot and flash keeps our subject sharp. It starts by finding the desired camera settings to expose the ambient light to your liking while keeping your shutter speed between about .25 and 1 second - your "jiggle" time. Once you have your settings dialed in, set your flash output to match your aperture and you're ready to start jiggling. The rest is simple - frame and focus your subject, press the shutter (the flash fires) and before the exposure ends you give the camera a little jiggle. Easy peasy.

It may take a bit of practice to get it right but the results can be pretty cool. Give it a try.

Keep shooting.

Growing...

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Coutts) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 05:41:00 +0000

I haven't been shooting much in the past month. Instead, I have been logging hours and hours, sitting on my butt culling my massive image library. It had to be done. I could procrastinate no longer. I was down to my last few gigabytes of disk space and I had photos to load and projects to edit. I needed space!

The easy solution would have been to open my wallet, buy some more disk space, archive a bunch of junk and be done with it. But as it turns out going through years and years of pictures turned out to be a pragmatic process.

First, it made me realize how many bad pictures I had to take in order to start making good ones. It gave me a chance to see how my photography had grown and improved since I grabbed my first SLR shot with a Canon Rebel Xti. I was able to spot photographic flaws more readily. I became ruthless in my editing, deleting literally thousands of images. It was a long, tiring, yet rewarding experience that is still only half way complete. But I think the best part of the whole exercise is that I found these little gems along the way. Images that stood out amongst all the - *cough* - crap. Small, positive reminders of growing skills.

It seems to me I *had* to make thousands of crappy shots in order to realize how to make good ones. I just wish I had of cleaned up the mess as I went (sigh).

Keep shooting.

Peace Bridge

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Coutts) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 23:24:00 +0000

Last week, I finally took a break from three weeks of butt surfing and got outside to take pictures of Calgary's new Peace Bridge as it was being pushed across the Bow River. The bridge is over a year behind schedule and has been a tad controversial since it was first announced but I have to admit it was very impressive to see it in person. The shot below I took late in the afternoon on the first day the bridge was on the move.

There still was a long way to go and it seemed like it was done moving for the day.

However, the very next day it was already fully across. I was actually quite surprised. I thought it would take a lot longer.

The bridge still needs to be plucked off of the temporary supports and placed on its permanent moorings. That should make for some exciting pictures so I will be watching the newsfeeds closely to make sure I don't miss it. I am also really excited for the photo opportunities once the temporary support structure is removed revealing the bridge's unique aesthetic fully.

Keep shooting.

Farewell Little Snoof...

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Coutts) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 05:54:00 +0000

Yesterday was a very sad day for my partner Jen and I. We had to say goodbye to a wonderful, loyal companion of nearly 18 years, Jen's beloved cat Snoof. Her real name was Patches but she became a part of my life after Jen moved in with me almost 3 years ago and eventually she became known as Snoof. For some reason the name was the perfect fit for her personality. She was a bit aloof, she was bright and demanding but very loyal and loving. She was a tough, agile, spunky little girl in a small package. She was the Snoof.

Snoof was also quite camera shy. It would be very lucky to get a shot of her actually looking at the camera and nearly impossible for her to seem pleased about the process. As soon as the camera would come out, she would hide her face or completely turn her back to the camera. Sometimes I think she would toy with me and let me believe she was cooperating while I set up lights and umbrellas only to walk away just as the camera came out. On a few rare occasions I was able to grab a shot or two but now that she's gone I regret not making more of an effort to capture pictures and video of an amazing little cat.

It is easy to fall in to thinking the shot I didn't make today is the one I can make tomorrow. Sadly, tomorrow is sometimes too late.

Rest in peace little Snoof.