Probing the depths in shallow field: Whose toy is it?

Carl Kurtz checks out the toy city he built for his daughter in their home in Fort Worth, TX on Sept. 29, 2013. (TCU/Bethany Peterson)

Carl Kurtz goofs off with the toy city he built for his daughter in their home in Fort Worth, TX on Sept. 29, 2013. (TCU/Bethany Peterson)

Annabelle Kurtz examines the toy city her father, Carl Kurtz, built for her in their home in Fort Worth, TX on Sept. 29, 2013. (TCU/Bethany Peterson)

One situation Carl Kurtz created in the toy city he built for his daughter in their home in Fort Worth, TX on Sept. 29, 2013. (TCU/Bethany Peterson)

It takes a lot of light to shoot a shallow depth of field. Shooting this inside is challenging, thankfully, the toys were still and sitting on the ground kept Carl Kurtz steady enough for a slow shutter speed. I also positioned a small light from the lighting kit to kill the ambient light discoloration.

I had to move the table the toys were on to ensure I had a background to fall out of focus. Also, some pieces had to be moved to clear the foreground. I found out shooting a shallow depth of field does not mean you can ignore the fore and back ground. The ghosts of items that are too close can be a huge distraction.

When the camera focused on Carl’s face (the top photo), the depth of field was so shallow the city went entirely out of focus. This didn’t provide any context for what was going on, and I thought with this subject it might be helpful. The other photos play with what happens when I wasn’t zoomed in so closely (photo 3) or adjusted the focus to the back of the city so some of the toys and his face were in decent focus (photo 2). The last photo was just cool.

Progress on a Portriat

George Hernandez with the ’59 Buick Coupe he is restoring for a customer at H&H Body in Fort Worth, Texas, on September 21, 2013. Hernandez owns H&H body with his brother Lewis Hernandez. (TCU/Bethany Peterson)

 

George Hernandez with the ’59 Buick Coupe he is restoring for a customer at H&H Body in Fort Worth, Texas, on September 21, 2013. Hernandez owns H&H body with his brother Lewis Hernandez. (TCU/Bethany Peterson)

George Hernandez’s mother was deeply religious, he said. Every time a severe storm was headed into the area, she would say the rosary and then throw the beads, asking God to direct the storm away. Her son’s, however, all own body shops and receive business from fender-benders and accidents caused by slick roads.  Their mother’s prayers were effective enough that before every storm, George and the other Hernandez brothers would call her and beg her not to throw the rosary.

Working with a large, light colored object angles so that it catches the light was more of a challenge than I anticipated. But the car was the best (and cleanest) object to demonstrate clearly Hernandez’s passion. Since the car couldn’t move and the window was permanent and the best source of light, I decided to work around the challenges.

After clearing out the trunk, uncovering the other cars, kicking aside about a thousand bolts and adjusting the shutter, I took these pictures. I worked with the angle of the car and ceiling lights to try to show the depth of the shop. It took some real effort not to zoom in close, and moved to several angles to make keep the support beams from growing out of George’s.

On my computer, I tweaked the mid and light tones to bring out the curvature of the Buick’s side panel and while not losing the planes of George’s face. I also cropped out some distracting foreground junk, which was slightly difficult to do without cutting off parts of feet or the car.

Portraits of an Individual

Mike Christian, 75, surveys jump poles in his workshop in Fort Worth, Texas, on Sept. 18, 2013. Christian donates jumps to the Texas Christian University Equestrian Team. (TCU/Bethany Peterson)

Mike Christian, 75, cuts slats for flower boxes in his workshop in Fort Worth, Texas, on Sept. 18, 2013. Christian has built equestrian jumps for 20 years. (TCU/Bethany Peterson)

Mike Christian, 75, cleans his work space in his workshop in Fort Worth, Texas, on Sept. 18, 2013. Christian started managing horse shows for the U.S. Equestrian Federation and the American Quarter Horse Association, judging and building jumps after retiring from the corporate world 20 years ago.(TCU/Bethany Peterson)

Getting Mike Christian to relax for a natural looking photo was a bit of a challenge. The easiest images to get were when he was working, completely oblivious to my presents and the saw was covering the shutter sound.

But portraits require faces too. During a break to cool down in the warehouse, purposefully kept warm to speed up the paint drying, I asked him to move from in front of one fan to another one located with a much more photo-friendly background. But by asking him to move, I re-alerted him to the camera and he looked posed again. I make a quick joke about betting he never imagined he would be a model when he grew up, earning a quick laugh and a more relaxed posture. I was ready and caught the honest expression after his laugh.

I also had to be aware of the light and which parts of the image were in danger of being washed out. I had to move several times to find the location in relation to the open door to utilize the natural, and very directional, natural light.

 

Playing with light in the dark

Annabelle Kurtz, 7, uses a souvenir snow globe to create designs on her glow-in-the-dark drawing board in her room in Fort Worth, Texas on September 8, 2013. (TCU/Bethany Peterson)

Annabelle Kurtz, 7, plays with her glow-in-the-dark drawing board in her room in Fort Worth, Texas on September 8, 2013. (TCU/Bethany Peterson)

First things first: Annabelle was a terrific and patient model, holding positions and following instruction perfectly. She had several good ideas for different angles.

Finding the right focus was the main difficulty I had with this project. The room was pitch black other than the drawing tools and glow board, making details hard to see in the view finder. I was fortunate to be able to turn the room light on to focus the camera exactly where I wanted it, then turn the light off and to take the photo. We had to experiment with different drawing tools to find which one gave off enough light to shorten the exposer to a reasonable length for her to stay still.

I didn’t see the other issue until I uploaded the photos  and couldn’t wake her up to reshoot. The light source is the brightest part of the photo, drawing attention away from her face. In several photos, this creates a “magical moment” in a child’s fantasy, but is also distracting. Removing the bright drawing tool was not really an option, as the photo no longer makes sense. In the future, I could angle the light source farther away from the camera, elevate the camera, or play with a defusing material in front of the light source.

In a Different Light

Kiley Hall examines Camp Carter Equestrian Center’s remaining kitten, Dolly, on August 31, 2013. Hall believes Dolly’s siblings were eaten by coyotes after drought killed the wild rabbit and rodent population.

Kiley Hall walks across Camp Carter Equestrian Center’s dusty pasture on August 31, 2013. The lack of natural forage increases the likelihood one of Camp Carter’s horses will fatally colic.

Danielle Grady checks the feed inventory at Camp Carter Equestrian Center on August 31, 2013. The years of drought have raised feed costs, pinching budgets across the state.

 

The worst problem I had this week was changing the ISO fast enough to catch the shots I wanted while Danielle Grady and Kiley Hall worked, moving between bright outdoors and dark indoors. This constant movement also made focusing and framing the shot difficult. I preferred to follow the two workers around during their shift rather than asking them to pose in order to get natural and accurate facial expressions and body positions.

Reaching the right balance between diffused light and artificial light in order to capture a usable photo was also trickier than I thought. I had to open the office door as far as possible, position myself between the door and Grady to make sure to keep the defused light from becoming too strong while keeping my shadow out of the frame.