Long Exposure and Christmas lights.....

Enjoying some fun with long exposure shots and outdoor lights.  I have so many more ideas in my head, but they'll have to wait until I have more time and can maybe pose the shots a bit.

Some are from church and some from home.

Enjoy.

Advent Wreath at church with snowflake bokeh lights

Advent wreath and lights on stage

Candlelight Service

Candlelight service

Luminary lights

Luminaries

Advent Wreath again

Fireplace, mantel, advent wreath

Christmas scene

Self-Portrait

Collage

I was asked to take some photos for a going away gift for our church choir director.  She is also an organist and is in love with our church organ.  So I took some photos of the organ.  So as not to have a boring photo straight on of a dark organ, I had to be arsty and make it a collage.  Here is the end result.

We printed it at 11x14 (or whatever size is one bigger than 8x10) and put a cream/brown matte on it.  Then all the members of the choir signed the matte.   It was quite lovely.

As a secondary gift and kind of a joke about our church building, I did a photo of the building.  I created an overlay collage, again to make it interesting.  I did a multiple exposure of the church name on the front door over a photo of the building.

We printed it 5x7 and framed it without a matte.  Just something small so she doesn't forget the circus tent church building.

Open Mic - Again

The church had another Open Mic Night and I enjoyed taking photos of all the participants and audience.

Ministry Photography: Around Campus

Open Mic Night

And another from the ministry photographer category.

This was Open Mic Night.  This is just as it sounds ... everyone goes up to share their talent with the guests.  From dance to solo to full band to a capella there is a great display of talent.

Like the worship concert, this provided a degree of difficulty, but a different one.  The lighting was better (the congregation seats were lit up as well), so it was fairly easy to meter from one photo to the next.  The stage decorations were the same with similar lighting, so that was fun and made for soft backgrounds.  But everything was the same.  It was a different person on stage, but there was little movement from the performer, and the audience was an audience, not an engaged congregation worshipping.  So the challenge was to find interesting shots that spoke to the fun of the day without being the same every time. This required movement around the room and finding a new angle periodically.  I had to really think outside my normal box to get something interesting.  I don't know how successful I was.  But here are a few that I've captured.

Father and Daughter ... one of those that's special by knowing their story

She was doing an interpretive dance to "Jesus, Lover of my Soul"
It was fun to photograph because she was all over the stage.  But I couldn't get my shutter speed fast enough.  In hindsight I should have increased my ISO and underexposed a little.

I love this one because it takes me back to my days of piano recitals.  Being nervous and flustered.

She was reading a poem she wrote and won 1st place for at the Alameda County Fair

This cracks me up ..... Sisters sharing an ipod so they could sing the song a capella

Cousins ........ singing "Blessings" by Laura Story.  Another one that's special by knowing their story.

PROUD Grandfather ... this makes me tear up every time I look at it.

Larry ... a guitar novice ... but very passionate.  It's great to see him so excited to play, being very diligent to play every note exactly as written on the page.

Worship Concert

I've taken on the role of being a ministry photographer for the church. It was born sort of out of my always being there with a camera anyway (taking photos for my own edification) and Pastor M mentioning that they'd like an official ministry photographer or two. So I immediately sent off an email and volunteered.

Worship Concert.

The Worship Concert provided a bit of a challenge in the lighting. The lighting was concert style, so it was bright (and colored) on stage and dark in the congregation. That's fantastic for worshipping, really tricking for photographing. It was a real test of my ability to expose properly on manual. And of course the flash was off (not that it would do any good being in the back of the sanctuary trying to capture the front). Additionally, the lights would change color and intensity so I'd have to truly meter my exposure for every ... single ... shot. And sometimes I forgot or didn't have time to get it accurate. One thing that was nice was the soft colors up front and the background. The background on stage makes for some really fun photos. The way the plants or backlit and the soft blues off the wall and the pallet like wood structures. It is one of my favorite backgrounds the church has had and I love taking pictures against it. Almost so much that I want to do a couple portraits up there.

I am working on editing photos still. Knowing what to edit and how to edit and how to improve the photo after it's captured. Digitally photography and post-production software has really changed the photographic world and I'm not caught up yet. Some of these I think would make fantastic black and white photos; some need some lighting alterations. Some are perfect just as they are. I didn't go too deep in editing these photos, but am starting to think about what I'd do and how I'd do it.

Anyway ... Worship Concert Photos

No photo shoot is complete without the baby.

I think this could be so much more powerful in B-and-W or even Sepia or similar.  I love the hands raised contrasted with the head down contemplation.

Like I said ... sometimes I forgot to adjust my settings before getting the shot.  Unfortunately I didn't have time to re-meter and reshoot this shot.

So I've been playing with it in photoshop.  This is the best I've done so far.  Cool effect, but I was hoping to just calm down the bright and see the real thing.