Born to Lose

So it was another tough BCS night for Ohio State fans....

This is my friend Josh and I in agony during the Fiesta Bowl. I lighted this photo with two of my speedlites reflected into white umbrellas, each about 45 degrees out on either side of us.
As heartbreaking as the game was I thought it could have been much worse. The Buckeyes hung with a team that some thought was deserving of playing in the national championship - and they did it without Chris Wells for most of the second half.
I was also glad that Tressel used Todd Boeckman(I was never sure he should have been benched in the first place).

...but...as we say, "there's always next year"
.....um....Go Cavs!

A Smooth Transition

My goal with this new site is provide our readers with three different perspectives on our hometown of Akron and the things we see. The subjects we cover will be wide ranging and random. It will be a mix of news worthy events and simple shots of our daily lives. In our first staff meeting, our team agreed that the more random our subjects the better. The site will also be a forum for us to share what we are trying to figure out and what we have learned. My motivations are also selfish. I like Tim's and Brian's work and want to hear their thoughts on the pictures they take. I'm excited they are on board and I look forward to working with them on this new project.

For our old readers wanting to take a stroll down memory lane, you can click on the archives link in the sidebar to visit all the old posts at archives.thechiefsource.com. My other hope is that transferring all the old spam filled comment threads to a new domain will eliminate the spam that was overtaking the site. I hope it works.

Holiday Trip to Yellow Springs

This holiday season we were in Yellow Springs, Ohio (near Dayton) visiting family. We stay at a great B+B down there fittingly called the Country Bed and Breakfast. It's a restored Federalist house from the 1820's now owned by a very successful farmer. I've found the best part of the B+B is the breakfast. The center pic shows how I felt (it's a before and after) about the scrambled eggs with salsa, cornbread and sausage (all locally raised and grown). The left pic was shot against an old barn next to the house, and the right pic is in the cornfield behind the house. They were all shot with a 50mm 1.8 lens. I thought a vintage-y faded look would work well with the rustic country imagery. Sorry no pics of the house itself, I'll take some next time.

Learning To Use A Wide Angle Lens

I spent much of my holiday break leaning to use my new Canon 10-22mm lens. Basically, it is a wide lens with little zoom. It is made for 1.6 crop factor Canon cameras and is the equivalent of a 16-35mm lens on a full frame. I considered getting an L series lens, but didn't find one that I really needed at this time for a price I was willing to shell out. I read countless Flickr threads, online lens reviews, and a couple magazine articles to try to figure out if this was the right lens for me. I have been very happy with my decision and the new perspective I have when I look in the view finder. Compared to the other lenses in my bag, this is the sharpest one I own. At 10mm (wide), it gives the images a slight a fun house effect with slight pincushion distortion. It can make small spaces look cavernous and get all of a landscape in the shot. This photograph of a small artists studio in Wadsworth is a good example.

Part of my process when I'm trying to learn how to take a particular picture is to practice on myself. Self portraits are a strange thing, but that will be another post. I have found that it is tough to shoot people with the lens because of distortion. I have to get my subject dead center or they get stretched out. In glass of milk picture, I was able to center myself in space and it makes me look normal in a giant room. The light comes from a bounce flash off the ceiling. I chose milk so I could have a reference point for my white balance, which is an area I need to continue to work on.

I'm finding the key for a wide angled lens is to get the person centered in the frame. It seems that the closer I get to the edge the greater the chance of a noticeable stretch. In the picture on the steps, look at the size of my head compared to the size of my hands. There is a sweet spot in the lens that pulls the subject out, but I need more practice to consistently find it. However, I do like how long the short staircase looks and I continue to be happy with the sharpness the lens without editing. I look forward to using it on some subjects besides myself soon.