Ken Rieves Photography

You know I try to add an entry to the blog about once a week. However, this week I don’t have much to say. I’ve been pretty busy with shooting and editing photos so I haven’t had a chance to come up with something to post. I was sorta thinking about adding a post about incident versus reflective metering, but haven’t had time to shoot some sample shots that illustrate the differences.

I also have seen a large egret stomping around the edge of the lake (I live on a small lake) eating fish. I would love to sit on the deck with my 300mm + 1.4 TC and get some action shots of him in action catching a fish. I just don’t have time right now. I also need to make some time to play my guitar more. I have pretty much finished learning “45 (Acoustic version)” by Shinedown and started working on “Are you gonna be my girl” by Jet.

There’s just so much to do and so little time.

Thanks for reading!

Well, today’s post is gonna cover a few topics. I’ll try to keep things rolling along will attempt to keep things slightly interesting.  My first thought is about a concert I shot last night. I have previously shot publicity photos for the band Jacob’s Well. We shot in the studio a couple of weeks ago and got some really nice images. I shot the band individually, then composited the guys in so it looked like a group photo.

Last night I got to shoot Jacob’s Well in concert and they put on a really good show. If you get a chance to see them, make sure you do. They are not only good musicians, but also good song writers. Here is shot from last night.

Ok, here’s another topic. Over the past couple of weeks I’ve spoken with several aspiring photographers as well as a professor of photography at a local college. In speaking with all of these people it occurs to me that sometimes people overlook learning the basics. They try skip over the fundaments of photography and then wonder why some of their work is lacking. It seems to me (IMHO) that one of the single best ways for a beginner to improve is to set the camera’s exposure setting to manual. This will force you to think about 3 things every time you take a photo, shutter speed, aperture, and depth of field. Since photography is the art of using light to create images, by shooting using manual exposure, you are forced to think about how your subject is lit. In doing so, you will start to look at lighting from a different point of view and you’ll see the overall quality improve.

Or, maybe not.

I had lunch the other day with a friend who is wanting to improve his photography. He asked me what he could do take better photos. This may sound obvious, but the best way to improve is to look at some else’s work, (someone whose work you respect and admire) and compare it to your own. Look at your work critically and see where you are lacking. Then, the next time you are shooting try to improve on those weaknesses. It also helps to deconstruct photos you like. Try to figure out how it was shot.

For instance, I don’t shoot a lot of sports. So, my ability to keep moving subject in focus isn’t as good as I would like. To improve on that skill, I periodically stop by a local park that has a lake that attracts a lot of waterfoul. I try to shoot the birds in flight, this forces me to concentrate on accurately panning with the moving birds and reacting quickly. It really seems to help.

So, that’s it for today.

This past weekend was really nice. In general, the weather was really pleasant. My wife and I just hung out and didn’t really do much. We sat out on the deck, read, grilled out, watched movies, walked the dogs, and generally had a quiet relaxing couple of days. While eating Brat-burgers on the deck, I saw a small spider hanging from the umbrella. He was working hard to build a web, not realizing that it would be destroyed when I cranked the umbrella closed.

I would say that this would lead me to some analogy about the spider wasting his efforts in web building and comparing that to the futile efforts that we all go through, but it didn’t. Instead of pursuing an meta-physical internal discussion on the spider’s efforts, I got my camera and took a couple of photos.

I was driving home from work today and it occurred to me how fortunate I am. I have a job that I absolutely love, I have a great wife who is the love of my life, and I have a couple of goofy hound dogs that make me laugh. Life is good!

My studio has been open for over 2 years now and business continues to grow and diversify. It is so amazing that I get to do what I love - create fun and unique images.

Can you tell, I’m a happy guy?

OK, this post is VERY photography related. While I use a bunch of different lighting modifiers in the studio, I’ve never did a head to head comparison between them. Over the years, I have learned how each modifier affects the quality of light and am pretty competant at creating just about any lighting configuration I need. That said, I never set up a direct comparison between modifiers.

To create the comparison, I metered each photo at the edge of the book’s binding. I then adjusted the power output so that I got an aperture of f/5.6 at 250th. There was no ambient light and only one light source was used. Each light was placed 5ft from the edge of the book. Now, these images are not meant to be great photos in terms of composition or subject matter. I tried to use objects that would have diferent reflective qualities so the quality of the light could be examined.

Here are the results:

Let me know if you have questions about this test or the series of photos.

Last week I had a really fun and unusual shoot. I shot some pictures for Amanda (a local model) and we were going for a unique and mysterious look. After describing the look I was wanting to capture to Amanda, I was surprised on how well she created an outfit from scratch. She pulled together bits of fabric and well as other garments to create a dress that was perfect for the shoot.

The photos were shot at in the woods at Franke Park in Fort Wayne. There were only two lights used (AB800s), one with a beauty dish and the other was equipted with barn doors and a blue gel. They were powered with DC/AC pure sine wave inverter.

It’s been almost a year now that I started wearing one contact lens. Over the last couple of years I’ve found that I have a hard time reading or see object up close. I don’t understand why I’m having the problem, it can’t be that crazy “age” thing. I tried reading glasses and, while they did help, they were too cumbersome and interfered with shooting. My eye doctor suggested wearing one contact lens for seeing up close. Since I can see distance without any problem, I would not need a lens in the other eye.

I have to admit, it took a while to get used to it, but now it’s second nature. It’s amazing how quickly my brain has adjusted to using one eye for reading and the other for distance vision. While it’s not a perfect solution, it is a great compromise. For a photographer, it’s important to be able to switch my vision range from close up to distance, then back to close up, quickly.

Sometimes it’s fun to go over old photos. I shoot so many photos every week for a wide variety of purposes and clients that it’s easy to forget about some of the photos I shoot. For instance, I’ll do a shoot for a company and provide them with the images they need and will often shoot a variety of pictures so that they have different shots to choose from. The photos they don’t select will just get archived and tend to get forgotten about.

This morning I was looking over some old photos can came upon this one:

It’s one I shot for a company that sells the raw ingredients for soaps and lotions. They didn’t select this photo because it is too cold and clinical looking. They wanted something warm and more homey so they chose a different shot (I won’t post it here because they are using the photo on their website). Anyway, I thought this was still a cool shot.

When I was working on the image above, I had to use food coloring to tint the water in the beakers. So I couldn’t fight the temptation to play with the colors. This photo is really just a couple of drops of food coloring in stirred water.

I thought it looked pretty cool.

You know what? I haven’t had a chance to post anything of any interest (I’m assuming that someone might find something I write interesting ) lately because I’ve just been too busy. Really it’s a good thing. I love my work and apparently other people appreciate it as well.

It is really rewarding to find that my clients are happy with my work and recommend me to others. Maybe I’m doing something right.

This morning I spent a few minutes playing with my dogs, Kate and Abby. They are two big goofy hound dogs that really love to play, eat, and sleep. They are fun to play with because their zest is infectous. They indulge themselves into everything they do, whether its playing with a tug rope or sleeping in the sunshine. They throw themselves into it 110%.

This morning we were playing with one of their favorite toys, a rope circle that serves as a tug rope.

Getting started:

Tugging:

Grrr: