A Lesson at Every Shoot

You know, I think I've said this before and if I haven't than I really
should have, but I learn something at every shoot. Sometimes it's
something small but more often than not it's something rather big. And
more often than not it's something technical like, I should watch this
more carefully or THAT'S what happens when you put a light here or
there or set this like that.

Here's something for the log books: This is typically how I set up my
lights.... I set the a light where I think I might like it, but leave
it off. Then get an ambient reading through the camera and manually
zero in on that (I try to get the fastest sync speed with an aperture
of F7 or 8 or something in that area. Then I dial down two full stops,
then turn on the strobe and then only work with the light output until
the image looks right. BUT I learned that (and it's very subtle) that
if you stop down using your aperture you will get a general darkening
of the image but if you stop down with your shutter speed you will get
a darker image but with more fall off. Maybe every photographer out
there already knows this and there is probably a technical term for
it, but this is just what I've found out on my own.

Anyway, something that I just learned is that you just can't count on
people to love everything you do. Every once in a while you will get
someone that is just not on the same page with what your vision is.

Just recently I was assigned to take some corprate head-shots for a
website. I was pretty nervous because it was the most formal thing
that I have ever done to date. But I was looking forward to the
challenge and I bought a softbox to help with the task (I bought the
softbox because I've been unhappy with how much spill there is with
the umbrella).

The shoot itself was so painless. The easiest. I set the softbox up at
a forty-five at camera left close in with a white reflector on a table
sitting right in front of the subjects. Then placed a snooted strobe
set at it's lowest power aimed at the wall behind the subject. I got
the first guy in the chair, worked out a very simple pose, got my
exposure and clicked a few frames... well... maybe ten or so, because
I like to be sure I got a good expression. Then I had the next guy
come it, do the same pose and he's out. I was in and out of the office
within a half hour. Awesome. Then, when I got back home, I find that
the images are better than I thought that they would be. I don't
really ever do these kind of shots so I really liked what I saw. I
processed them and sent the proofs out.

Then a day later I get an email that they want them all reshot.

What?!

Why?!

Is it the quality of the work? Is it the lighting? Does something
totally suck and I just don't see it?

I thought they were really winners but the clients thought that almost
all of the guys had strange looks on their faces and it turns out
that's about as far as the gripes go.

Admittedly, as of this writing, I am not the best director in the
posing department so I was happy to go back and reshoot a couple until
they were happy with it.

And, technically, I might not have let the shadows get as heavy but at
the same time I think that it looks great so.... I just can't guess on
what to expect anymore.

But I'm okay with that.

Nearly Blew It.

This was a shoot that I did in October for E-Town. I got the assignment right before I left for Colorado, I mean, RIGHT before. Like, as I'm shutting down the computer for the week. So, when I returned home, I relaxed for a couple days without a care in the world. Then one Saturday morning, I'm drinking my coffee and cleaning out my email inbox when I come across a vaguely familiar email about a photo assignment... something to do with a native american in full dress.... yeah, what was that... "Oh, crap! I was supposed to do that!" I said to myself, "I'd better see check the date on that... S**t! It's today... What time? ... IN FIFTEEN MINUTES!!!"

Luckily, I keep my gear packed up and ready to go. I change out of my Coffee-Drinking-Morning-House clothes and with tires screeching and smoking drove off to the appointment.

It was a seminar on the Native Americans in the Western Oklahoma area. The seminar started at 12:30 and Mr. Childs would be in full dress by 12:00. I'm sure some pros could knock this out without issue, but for me... I really felt the pressure of time. I set up the lights as fast as I could in the only area that really would lend something to the photos and that was a bare and dark corner of the room. Everything else was a bit too cafeteria looking, which I personally don't think goes too well with Indian warriors.

I would love to say that Mr. Childs was such a great model and everything was going great, but... I'm a bit too honest for that. He was nice and he looked great but everything else was a real chore. Given: he was hot as hell under all that stuff and the AC was not working that morning. Given: We was really trying to play up the stoic indian persona, but there came a point when I just felt like I was torturing him to get him to look at the camera, or not have such sleepy eyes. Sleeeeepy.

However, they were really grateful that I was there and that the magazine was giving them attention. They were so nice, and at the end of if all, I do think I got a couple shots that I think are good.

Is that what counts?

Half.

Shaye the Therapist

This is just another example of not knowing what to expect when coming to a photo shoot. I think for the first time I wasn't all worked up and nervous beforehand. You know, worried that things won't go well, or basically that I'll come away from it without a single shot.

I had only talked to Shaye briefly on the phone to set up the appointment but other than that I had no idea what to expect, I mean, for all I know I could've been walking into the most boring corporate office with no possibility for a decent shot. Ok, through that all aside, the office was pretty nondescript in the waiting room, but Shaye's office itself had this wonderful green on the walls. Anyway, that's not really important, I was just really happy that there was something striking about the place. I knew it was something we could work with. Shaye was a riot, laugh a minute. I knew that it would be real easy to jive with her and get something good, however...

I've only been using my monolights for a little over a month now. I've tried to practice and study and all that but when you get it into the shoot it just adds so much complexity. And the more you add to it, the complexity doesn't just double, it squares itself. Like it your camera is x (x-complexness), then camera plus one monolight is actually x². Then add another monolight to the equation and it becomes x³. Dig? Anyway, I was having problems with exposure, I just couldn't seem to dial it in and then the white balance seemed way off, not that I was super worried about that because shooting in RAW allows for changing that, but everything on the back of the camera seemed so cold. We had a great time, laughed a lot, but I really felt like I left without getting any good shots.

But....

Once I got home and loaded the images into the Mac, I was very happy. I brought the white balance back to where it should be and fiddled with the color balance a little to set off the green of the wall against the red of her hair and wow... I really like these.

I have also been really sold on the ND4 filter technique. I think it really adds something to the image. Makes the background really lay down almost like a
backdrop.

Pretty happy with it.

I have two shoots tomorrow and another on Thursday. I'm looking forward to them, as always.

My New Nikon D90

Cricket and my First Day with the New Nikon D90
Originally uploaded by Cody Lee Dopps

Well, I've saved. And spent, then saved some more. Then went traveling over the summer. So I had to earn more and save more. Finally, the Nikon released the D90 and I scraped my pennies together and bought myself a new camera.

A quick note while I break my arm trying to pat myself on the back....

I could've easily bought this camera online, plenty of places were selling them and a load of good deals are out there. But I'm always going on about buying locally. Supporting the local community. Bypass Walmart and go to the local grocery store. Well, I don't mind saying that I put my money where my mouth is and bought this camera from Cliff's Camera in Enid. Really nice people there. Anyway, I ponied up the sales tax just to help the local retailers. Gimmie a damn prize.

I love this camera. The only issues I've had are One: the dials are all opposite from my last camera (but you can change them around, but I'll just get used to it soon enough) and Two: (and this was a huge disappointment) but Aperture doesn't support this camera's NEF raw files... yet. Who knows when? It took them two months to get a patch for the D700. So I might be stuck with JPEG for a while. Not that that's bad. But I really love working with RAW files.

The Art of Shaun Cummings

This was a completely amazing experience. While I was in Mexico to photograph my cousin Christians wedding, I got an email from E-Town saying that they were going to do a story on Shaun and that he asked if I would do the photos for it.  I was nervous because it was my first big assignment with the added threat of being on the cover of the magazine. 

I won't give you a play by play but this is basically how it went down. The first time I met Shaun I went to the funeral home where he's the director, jefe grande, master undertaker or whatever you want to call it, I brought along my camera but I didn't really plan on taking any photos. I wanted to get a feel for him and what he was like. 

Working in the funeral business I thought that it would be really cool yet a little typical of us to go down the macabre road and come back with some gloomy or creepy portraits, however, I quickly shunned this idea once I met Shaun and realized what a gentle and caring person he is. So what I decided to do was to set up a time at the funeral home where we would do some very straight forward, almost stiff, portraits. And then later on we would get together at his house to focus on him as a person and his art. This strategy worked better than I could have hoped. 

At the funeral home, things went pretty smooth. I had just purchased a set of monolights and I think these shots were the first time I really got to use them. Shaun was patient while I scrambled to set up lights and reposition them and dial them in then move them again and on and on. Finally we got some good shots.

The next weekend I showed up at his home. I brought a bottle of wine and we made a night of getting some more photos in the bag. We would talk for a while and then shoot for a while. It was such an organic way of going about it. I really hope that it shows. He's a great person and I'm sure we'll get together again and again to visit and yuk it up.

Please go to flickr to see the rest of the Shaun Cummings shots.

Evans Garage

Evans Garage
Originally uploaded by Cody Lee Dopps

This assignment was honestly a little tough for me and I really didn't think that I was going to be able to pull it off. Is that always the way it will be? I mean, you're asked to go out and photograph "something" and sometimes you have no idea what that "something" is supposed to be. Events are my least favorite things to shoot because once it's over it's not the best form to ask if they would do whatever it was over again because your camera didn't focus on the right thing.

Luckily, with the Evans garage I was able to come back to the garage a couple times. Plus, it was also very handy to work so closely with the layout artist (or designer, I don't know what they are called these days). I mean, I like to find my own vision and whatnot, but it's so valuable to have someone else to say "this is exactly what we need". You can kinda help shape the story right there.

The other major challenge that I faced with this assignment is that I don't really know that much about cars. Or care. Sorry. Wait, why am I apologizing? I don't. All the guys in high school that were into cars were total pricks. Shallow, macho douche-bags. So I never cared for cars. As long as my truck runs, I'm pretty content. So when I came to shoot this, I was very happy that I had people tell me which cars were important to get. For me, I wanted to get the Delorian. You can see it in this photo, it's the second one in. I was all, "whoa, a DeLorian." But it turns out that without all the time travel stuff stuck to it, it's kinda a goofy looking car. Anyway...

I took shot of most of these cars individually and to make sure I'd get it right I brought along a set of monolights. It was really my first time bringing the lights out. I haven't really used them before. It was neat but slightly puzzling because it's just more and more that you have to keep in control. But I'm glad that the Evans's were patient and wonderful to work with.

Waiting for a new camera.

The Bear
Originally uploaded by Cody Lee Dopps

Ever since Nikon announced the asap release of the D90 I've been digging around my house for things to sell. Ebay and Craigslist here I come!

I had been thinking about upgrading for sometime now and I just loved the D80 every time I would pick one up. The D300 is mega-neat but i don't feel that I'm making enough money with photography right now to justify buying one. I mean, cripes, I only work part time at it. Well, because the D80 is now a few years old I new (as did everyone else who pays attention to such things) that the D90 would be coming out soon. And now it's almost here! I'm totally geeking out.

Anyway, the above shot is another from the evening I spent with Shane and Sara. This was very simple. One light, Shane and his wine. I didn't tell him to do anything but sit there. What I really trying to do was work on positioning the light and getting my eye used to the different effects. I tried way up close, way far away. And everything in between. And while most of the shots are of Shane sipping, talking to me, talking to Sara or petting Andy the Dog there were a few in the mix that were really striking. I liked this one the most.

Natural Curiosities

Natural Curiosities
Originally uploaded by Cody Lee Dopps

This is one of my favorites from the night with the Scribners. I spent so long dialing in the lights. A little tweak here and then a reposition there, then take it down and start all over.

The funny thing about this shot: You know, I came over there to take pictures of them just as practice. To get more comfortable with proficient with my lighting setup. When it came down to the actual shot, I thought that I didn't really want to do a straight on serious shot so I told Sara to go to the closet and pull out some of the weirdest close they had. "Get dressed up," I told her. At one point Shane even had these gross fake teeth in. All the while, I had set my camera up on a tripod with a good composition so i could concentrate on the lights. When I finally got the lights dialed in and once I figured I had gotten a good capture I took the camera off the tripod and did a few "freehand" shots (this being one of the last one's I took) and it wasn't until then that I actually read the title of the book on the coffee table.

The Dinner Table

The Dinner Table
Originally uploaded by Cody Lee Dopps

Last night at dinner with my dear friends Sara and Shane Scribner we got to talking and I realized that it had been some time since I had actually taken picture for just myself and not for work. I enjoy both, because hey, it's still photography, but my personal file wasn't growing.

So I decided to grab my camera and lights and head over to their place. Their house is awesome, it's big and long and neat and swell and full of cool odds and ends. My main purpose was to take some shots of them, which I did and which I will post later, but before we got started I thought that I would get a shot of their very cool dining table. I tried to get as dark as possible. Kind of like an Edward Gorey drawing. Like what you'd see if when you just barely open your eyes.

Enid City Commissioners

Enid City Commissioners
Originally uploaded by Cody Lee Dopps

Mostly this post is a test to see how well I can use the flickr blog feature and what happens as a result of it.

This is a photo from my first assignment. I was very nervous. I had no flash and the shots where to be taken in the depths of the Enid City Building. I asked these two commissioners to follow me to a staircase where there was at least some natural light.

This image, of course, was not used because it was too moody and the one that was is very good too but I really like this one. So I kept it for myself...

The Joyner Farm

The Joyner Farm

This farm had a lot of little treasure for detail shots but getting
overall scene shots was very hard. These are just a few of my
favorite. The apples were so close to being ripe and I was very
tempted to pull one off the tree and eat it myself.

The biggest issue that I am having as a new photographer, is dealing
with, and doing my best with available light. I mean, as a landscape
artist, I can wait for the perfect light, the perfect skies and the
perfect season. This magazine "work" is completely opposite of that. I
am on their time. I have to do the best with what I'm handed. Luckily
this was in the afternoon, not noon, so I didn't have to deal with
harsh sun but the light was still just a bit too high for my tastes.
What to do...

Centennial Farm

The project this afternoon was a feature on this farm east of Enid a
little ways. It was a nice place, well kept with a lot of neat things
but it just wasn't photogenic enough. I walked around the entire place
twice before even finding anything worth pulling the camera out of the
bag. This is always where I wish another photographer was with me. To
help me see things that I am having a hard time seeing. Angles,
features, etc. I would like to say that this one was in the bag but,
but... I suppose I won't know until I actually work with the images.

I find that it does help me gain a little bit of perspective or at
least a more unbiased eye when I put some time (sometimes a few hours,
sometimes a day or two) between the shoot and the processing.
Tomorrow I will go through the photos and see what I have. I will then
post a few... maybe.

First...

Hello,

My name is Cody Lee Dopps. I am a self-taught part-time part-hack photographer. Well, I don't really think of myself as a hack. I just like to be self effacing in hopes that it makes me seem endearing.  I am starting this blog as a compliment to my website www.codyleedopps.com. My goal is to use this blog to write about my projects past, current and future and hopefully post pics from said projects. 

I just came back from Tulsa, it's getting late and I have work all day tomorrow plus another shoot in the afternoon. (Makes me happy... keep the work coming!)