I’m always looking at creative ways to utilize photographs to tell a story. I’ve been creating for myself video/slide shows of some of the different events, etc. that I’ve photographed. Based upon feedback from several individuals, I’m launching this new product/service for business, as well as individuals.

The challenging and time consuming steps are:

• Taking the right kind of photographs.
• Editing down the number of photographs.
• Choosing the right kind of music. Cannot be copyrighted, so you are limited to Royalty Free music.
• Choosing the timing, syncing the music.
• Transition and effects.

Here is the finished product. Let me know your thoughts.

Understanding White Balance

If you come from the world of films, you may remember using filters to correct for incandescent or fluorescent lighting. Most people don’t bother and their indoors pictures invariably come out with a yellow/orange or bluish cast. In the digital world, these correction filters are no longer necessary, replaced by a feature found in most — even the entry-level — digital cameras called, “White Balance.”

Light Color Temperature

The reason that pictures turn out with a yellow/orange cast in incandescent (tungsten) lighting and bluish in fluorescent lighting is because light has a color temperature. A low color temperature shifts light toward the red; a high color temperature shifts light toward the blue. Different light sources emit light at different color temperatures, and thus the color cast.

By using an orange or blue filter, we absorb the orange and blue light to correct for the “imbalance” — the net effect is a shift in the color temperature.

In digital photography, we can simply tell the image sensor to do that color shift for us. But how do we know in which direction of the color temperature to shift, and by how much?

Manual White Balance

This is where the concept of “White Balance” comes in. If we can tell the camera which object in the room is white and supposed to come out white in the picture, the camera can calculate the difference between the current color temperature of that object and the correct color temperature of a white object. And then shift all colours by that difference.

Most advanced digital cameras therefore provide the feature to manually set the white balance.

By pointing the camera at a white or gray card (angled so that it is reflecting light from the room) as a neutral reference, filling the screen completely with it, then pressing the White Balance button (or set it in the menu), the camera does its WB calculation.

From then on, any picture taken will have its color temperature shifted appropriately. It’s quite simple, really, and you should not be afraid to try it out and see your indoors pictures improve considerably (assuming there is enough light for correct exposure).

[A "neutral" gray is 18% gray and will reflect all colors equally.]

One product that is very helpful in post processing for white balance and color balance is The Color Checker Passport, made by X-Rite.

Andy Childs and Sixwire

Steve Mandile of Sixwire

Chuck Tilley of Sixwire

John Howard of Sixwire

Tagged: Blair Ball Photography, Event Photography, Memphis Photographer, Memphis Photographer Blair Ball, Sixwire, Sixwire Band, Tennessee Event Photography ]]> http://blairballphotography.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/photographing-the-band-sixwire-part-ii/feed/ 0 Blair Evan Ball 101511_Six Wire_001 101511_Six Wire_006 101511_Six Wire_036 101511_Six Wire_029 http://blairballphotography.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/photographing-the-band-sixwire/ http://blairballphotography.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/photographing-the-band-sixwire/#comments Wed, 16 Nov 2011 07:25:18 +0000 Blair Evan Ball http://blairballphotography.wordpress.com/?p=511 ]]> Photographing bands with all the crazy lights, colors and action going on is a challenge. Thought I’d share some photographs of that nights event when they played at the Grand Ole Opry Hotel back in October.

Andy Childs of Memphis lives now in Nashville with his band called Sixwire. Appropriately named in reference to six strings in a guitar. In the Next Great American Bands, of which 10,000 participated, they came in 2nd.

Andy Childs and Sixwire Band

Andy Childs of Sixwire

Andy Childs and Sixwire Band

Most of these were shot with a Nikkor 12-24mm wide angle lens which gives a different look. This last image I converted to Black and White for a different effect.

Here are some more photographs from the Smokey Mountains of East Tennessee.

Smokey Mountains Cabin

Photographed these at ISO 200, F22 for depth of field, 1/60 of a second exposure, on a tripod, mid morning.

Smokey Mountains Cabin

Tagged: Blair Ball Photography, blair evan ball, Landscape Photography, Photograph Fall Colors, Photography in Smokey Mountains, Smokey Mountains ]]> http://blairballphotography.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/photographing-a-simpler-life/feed/ 2 Blair Evan Ball 101811_Smokey Mountains_021 101811_Smokey Mountains_019 http://blairballphotography.wordpress.com/2011/10/24/photographing-in-the-smokey-mountains/ http://blairballphotography.wordpress.com/2011/10/24/photographing-in-the-smokey-mountains/#comments Mon, 24 Oct 2011 18:57:59 +0000 Blair Evan Ball http://blairballphotography.wordpress.com/?p=481 ]]> I had business over in Nashville at the Grand Old Opry recently. In visiting with the staff, the flooding last year reached the 2nd floor. Unbelievable…however it took them only 6 months to be back in business.

Being so close to the Smokey Mountains, I decided to head that way for a couple of days, knowing full well that the colors had not reached their peak. I still had fun photographing landscape and nature images, which is a break from my sports, action and event photography. Now I need to spend some time in post processing…I seem to enjoy photographing more than the post processing, how about you?

Cable Mill in Cades Cove

There were some great winding roads with some awesome colors, but…the traffic as many of you know was brutal. I wanted so badly to plant my tripod straddling the double yellow line and take some landscape photographs, however I wouldn’t be here writing this blog. I was still tempted, so this was the best I could do without a tripod, and very quickly at that. The birch trees had vibrant yellows at this elevation.

The Smokey Mountains are a magical place, and it draws 7+ Million visitors each year, but it is tough on photographers and LEAVE LOOKERS!

Waterfalls were crowded at all times of day. However, got this flower in front of the waterfall for a different effect. 30mm, F4, ISO 800, Shutter 1/100 which allowed me to capture the flower that was blowing, and yet show the waterfall more smoothly.

Cumberland River Tennessee

Coast Guard Protecting the Swimmers

The race was delayed for 45 minutes until the fog lifted. You always want to protect the athlete, and be able to see them in case someone gets into trouble.

Recently photographed three triathlon’s on the same day near Nashville, Tennessee. Fortunately they were at the same location, but staggered in start times. The longest triathlon of the day was 1/2 the Iron Man, where it would take the athletes 4-8 hours to finish. You will see athletes from 15 years of age to 70 years of age. Amazing athletes.

Family Finishes Together

Proud father with his two daughters get ready to cross the finish line at the Nashvegas Triathlon outside of Nashville, Tennessee. This action photograph represents the emotion one can feel as they approach finishing the race.

This action photograph was shot at ISO 200, 85mm, F11, 1/320 of a second, with flash. Most of the time I want to use flash at the finish line depending on the light conditions, and direction of the light.

Andy Childs from Sixwire was playing along with some of his friends. Steve Frey, Brady Spencer and Freddie Kirksey. I believe all these guys now live in Nashville, with Andy growing up here in Memphis. BTW…Andy does an incredible job singing ELVIS!!!

What’s cool…Andy, Steve, Brady and Freddie have tagged these photos on FB.

Andy Childs

Andy Childs - Sixwire

Steve Frey

Brady Spencer

Andy Childs and Friends in HDR

Try to photograph from different angles, they had flag poles in the background which was kind of nice. The bridge was off to the right which made for a good background at times. Sometimes challenging though with some of the distractions, just keep photographing, reviewing, critiquing you photographs and you will get better.  Photographed these from f8-f11 shutter speed around 1/180 – 1/250 of a second to stop motion.Remember composition and light are key to making a good photograph.

Till next time, click away, all the best. Blair

It was another hot tournament in Memphis for the golfers and fans, which they have come to expect. Another playoff, the 3rd in the last 4 years. Robert Karlsson of Sweden was in a playoff for the 2nd straight year, only to lose again. This time to Harrison Frazar on the 4th playoff hole.

Robert Karlsson & Harrison Frazar

This sports photograph was taken from the 18th tee box where they played the 1st playoff hole. Interestingly enough they would be back again at 18 since they tied on the first playoff hole.

Robert Karlsson tees off on 18

Harrison Frazar tee shot goes wide right on 18

These sports and action shots are typically set on shutter priority going from 500th of a second for them standing still, to upwards of 2000th of a second for a bunker shot. Those shutter speeds will freeze the action, and eliminate the blur.

John Daly

John Daly has lost quite a bit of weight and has had gastric bypass surgery. Even though he has lost quite a bit of weight, he still can drive the ball a mile, and there are a group of fans that seem to still love the guy considering all his flaws. Don’t you just love his pants?

John Daly in HDR

This sports photograph was enhanced using HDR – High Dynamic Range techniques in post processing. I created a more old time feel to this. What are your thoughts?

Remember when photographing Sports and Action, to utilize your shutter priority and after some test shots blow them up in your LCD screen to see if your shutter speed is freezing the action.  Happy Action and Sports photographing.

• Use a tripod.
• Use a cable release.
• Set your aperture to the same for each image.
• Most DSLR cameras allow for 3-9 images to be taken automatically with a 1/3, 1/2, or 1 full stop. This maximizes the range of light for the images.
• You can even do HDR with single images. The one shot below was just a single image.

There are several HDR software packages available:

• Adobe Photoshop CS5 
• Photomatix
• Nik Software HDR Efex Pro
• Artizen HDR
• Dynamic Photo HDR
• HDR Photo Studio

What is HDR? It stands for High Dynamic Range, is a set of techniques that allow a greater dynamic range of luminance between the lightest and darkest areas of an image than current standard digital imaging techniques or photographic methods. This wide dynamic range allows HDR images to more accurately represent the range of intensity levels found in real scenes, ranging from direct sunlight to faint starlight.

The two main sources of HDR imagery are computer renderings and merging of multiple photographs, the latter of which in turn are individually referred to as low-dynamic-range (LDR) or standard-dynamic-range (SDR) photographs.

Tone-mapping techniques, which reduce overall contrast to facilitate display of HDR images on devices with lower dynamic range, can be applied to produce images with preserved or exaggerated local contrast for artistic effect.

Consider the Dynamic Range of the following:

• 5-6 stops for slide film and digital.
• 6-7 for negative film.
• Just over double for the human eye… 13-15.

Here are some examples:

Motorcycle Burning Rubber HDR Black & White

Motorcycle Burning Rubber HDR

What are your thoughts about HDR? Do you like the B&W or color better?

Each time I visit…I get a glimpse into some of the compelling reasons why people want to live in California. Sunshine and the nice weather just seems to put people in a better mood, people want to exercise more and be healthy. Along the beach people are running, roller blading, surfing, swimming, playing volleyball, etc.

One of the photography tools you need for sunsets or sunrises is a graduated neutral density filter. Some will do this in post processing, however I prefer to try and do this in the field. It comes it different strengths, but helps to tone down the sun and brighter spots on the horizon so that you can create a more balanced photograph.

Sunset on Huntington Beach

When photographing action, be sure to try different shutter speeds. I typically start at 1/500 of a second, and will sometimes end up a 1/1500 of a second. When you photograph be sure to check you LCD and blow it up to see if everything is in focus, adjust accordingly.

Airborne Surfer

Huntington Beach from Pier

Concrete & Ceramic Made Surfboards

Both of these photographs I converted to Black & White to give a different mood and perspective.

Huntington Beach