February 15, 2012 – A year of portraits – Jim Pearson

02.15.12 Jim Pearson

As part of this year long project I plan to include at least one self-portrait each month. For this one I used my iPhone 4 and a app called 6×6. You can shoot with it’s native camera in color or B&W and apply a border if you like. I like the square format that it shoots and how it handles the black and white photos. It brings back memories of the days of shooting with 2 1/4 film cameras. Find out more by visiting the apps website at http://jag.gr/6×6/

I did do some post processing with this image in Photoshop CS5 also. Mostly because I wanted to darken down the hooded jacket I was wearing to make my face stand out more and I also applied the Topaz Adjust Filter “Simple Pop.”

Technical Details:
Camera: 6×6
Lens: Built-In Camera lens
Exposure: The iPhone doesn’t record shutter speed or aperture information
Apps Used: 6×6 and Photoshop CS5

February 14, 2012 – A year of portraits – Jason Carl

02.14.12 Jason Carl

Jason Carl is with Trover Health System Sports Medicine in Madisonville, Ky and the athletic trainer for Hopkins County Central High School in Mortons Gap, Ky. An outstanding individual that always has the interest of the athlete at heart and keeps an eye out for their well being in all sports.

Photo was cropped slightly from the original photo to remove a distraction in the background. I usually like to shoot in the camera the way I want the final photo to look, but sometimes that doesn’t work. Post processing was done with Photoshop CS5 with levels being adjusted, slight burning in on the background to darken it down and then I applied the Topaz Adjust “Simple Pop” filter to provide the final look.

Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: Nikon 50mm F.1.4
Exposure: Matrix Metering, 1/60, f/4 with an ISO of 4,000
File Type: Nikon RAW

Jason M. Carl

February 13, 2012 – A year of portraits – Dick Dodds

02.13.12 Dick Dodds

Today’s portrait is of good friend and fellow photographer Dick Dodds. I’ve know Dick for a long time as he used to be my mothers doctor and as the years have gone by he’s retired from that profession and pursued the passion he’s had since the 1970’s… photography. I asked him when he started in photography and his reply was, “I got serious about photography in the mid-70’s when I bought a camera that I could focus.”

Well, he’s been focusing a lot since then and has opened his own photo printing and restoration business called Southside Prints, in Earlington, Ky. His love is shooting a broad range of photography from nature to portraits and everything in between. His camera of choice is a Nikon D3S and for this portrait he’s leaning on his Nikon 300-800mm f/5.6 lens.

Lighting was available light from a window with a white board to bounce some light back into his face to fill in the shadows.

I used Photoshop CS5 to do the post processing on this portrait, however, I didn’t do much other than adjust the levels slightly and a little bit of burning in around the edges of the photo and applying the Topaz Adjust “Simple Pop” filter. The photo was used as shot without any cropping.

Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: Sigma 24-70mm F.2.8 @ 65mm
Exposure: Spot Metering, 1/100, f/10 with an ISO of 4,000
File Type: Nikon RAW

February 7, 2012 – A year of portraits – Scott Schaefer

02.07.12 Scott Schaefer

When I started this year long challenge I said I was going to photograph the interesting and inspirational people that I meet along my daily travels and Scott Schaefer has to be one them. I have already posted one portrait for this day on this year long challenge, but since the paper’s story about Scott wasn’t scheduled to run until the 11th I didn’t use his portrait till today.

Scott was missing part of his heart when he was born and the doctors never expected him to leave the hospital.

In his 11 years, Scott has had five heart surgeries, 14 heart catheters and one bilateral hernia repair. He also suffered a shower of strokes during one surgery in 2007.

“I made it through because Jesus was with me,” he said.

He is called Scott Awesome by many of his friends and the short time I spent with him for the interview and pictures last Tuesday was enough for me to understand why he’s called that.

He’s a well spoken, well adjusted and compassionate young man, that loves going to school, Kentucky Basketball, football and NASCAR.

His mom, Kim, says Scott rarely gets upset about his condition and is more disappointed if he has to miss school.

It was an honor to help tell his story.

February 12, 2012 – A year of portraits – Justin Randolph

02.12.12 Justin Randolph

Justin Randolph is a senior at Hopkins County Central High School in Mortons Gap, Ky. I captured this “high key” stage portrait of him during rehearsal of “Little Women” by the school’s drama department Sunday afternoon.

He plays the part of Mr. Lawrence in the play which will be performed in the school’s auditorium February 12th and 13th night at 7pm.

Photo was processed using Photoshop CS5 using levels, a little bit of dodging and then I used the Topaz Adjust FIlm Collection’s filter called “Retro Sytle IV.

Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8
Exposure: Matrix Metering, 1/200, f/4 with an ISO of 5,000
File Type: Nikon RAW

 

February 11, 2012 – A year of portraits – Dai Carter

02.11.12 Dai Carter

Today’s environmental portrait is of Hopkins County Central High School’s Dai Carter, as he lifts 265 pounds, during the power clean event Saturday afternoon, during weight lifting competition, at Madisonville-North Hopkins High School. Dai is a sophomore at the school and is a running back for the football team.

I used Photoshop CS5 for postprocessing in this portrait. Adjustments were made in levels and some slight darkening was done using the burning tool, before applying Topaz Adjust’s Photo Pop filter to sharpen up the image a bit more.

Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: Nikon 18mm F.2.8
Exposure: Matrix Metering, 1/250, f/2.8 with an ISO of 4,000
File Type: Nikon RAW

February 10, 2012 – A year of portraits – Brett Hoffland

02.10.12 Brett Hoffland

Brett Hoffland is Madisonville’s Bureau Reporter for NBC’s 14 News out of Evansville, Indiana. He works out of The Messenger’s newsroom and covers the Western Kentucky beat for the TV station. The Messenger and other newspapers are starting to partnering up with area TV stations and sharing their assets in doing so. The paper’s conference room has been converted to where Brett can do live newscasts. Brett is from suburbs of Chicago, Illinois where his interest for a career in television began. When he is not working, Brett loves following all Chicago sports teams, especially the Cubs. A great asset to the Madisonville community.

The photo was processed using Adobe Photoshop CS5 with adjustments in levels, some burning in and the Topaz Adjust Filter “Photo Pop” was applied.

Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: Sigma 24-70mm F.2.8 @ 24mm
Exposure: Matrix Metering, 1/500, f/2.8 with an ISO of 4,000
File Type: Nikon RAW

 

 

February 9, 2012 – A year of portraits – Toby Miles, Sr.

02.09.12 Toby Miles

Toby Miles teaches business at Hopkins County Central High School in Mortons Gap, Ky and is also the boys basketball coach. Today’s environmental portrait was taken on the slidelines during his teams win over the Fort Campbell Falcons Thursday night.

Photo was edited using Photoshop with adjustments in the levels, some burning in on the edges along with the Topaz Adjust Filter “Photo Pop” applied.

Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: Nikon 300mm f/4
Exposure: Matrix Metering, 1/200, f/4 with an ISO of 4,000
File Type: Nikon RAW

 

February 8, 2012 – A year of portraits – Lowell Mendyk

02.08.12 Lowell Mendyk

Lowell Mendyk has been a good friend and photographic mentor every since I was a junior at Madisonville-North Hopkins High School. Over the years we’ve had many photographic adventures together and still do today. I stopped by his house today to help with a computer issue; he is a little technology challenged when it comes to some things, and made this portrait in his office with two of his “kids.”

Post processing for this portrait was done with Photoshop CS5 with very little work done on it. I adjusted levels, dodged the edges a little and applied Topaz Adjust’s “Simple Pop” filter to round it off.

Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm
Exposure: Matrix Metering, 1/80, f/4.5 with an ISO of 4,000
File Type: Nikon RAW

February 7, 2012 – A year of portraits – Pat Walters

02.07.12 Patrick Walters

Sometimes portraits present themselves where you least expect it, as with this one of Patrick Walters in Earlington, Ky.

We were having lunch with members of The West Kentucky Photography Club, which Pat is a member of, and a couple members started taking pictures of Pat to go with an upcoming club program and after they finished I caught this portrait using the light in the restaurant.

Photo was shot using my iPhone, but processed using Photoshop CS5.

Levels were adjusted slightly and I did some dodging on the eyes as the light coming from overhead produced darker shadows than I wanted. I then applied the Topaz Adjust filter “Simple Pop” to produce the final look.

Technical Details:
Camera: iPhone 4
Lens: Built-In Camera lens
Exposure: The iPhone doesn’t record shutter speed or aperture information
Apps Used: Standard phone app

February 6, 2012 – A year of portraits – Maria Lee

02.06.12 Maria Lee

For Maria Lee creating things from fiber is her obsession. She is the owner of Black Dog Fiber Studio in Madisonville, Ky. Her favorite tools are her spinning wheel and rigid heddle loom – each allows her to work closely with the fiber she dyes and cards into batts and roving to create one-of-a-kind art garments. She also weaves with exceptional commercial yarns, many of which she has hand-dyed. An outstanding artist and business woman in our community.

On the Web:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/blackdogfiberstudio
https://www.facebook.com/BlackDogFiberStudio

This photo was processed using Photoshop with levels being adjusted, a slight amount of sharpening and burning in on the edges to bring the eye to her.

Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70mm
Exposure: Matrix Metering, 1/80, f/4.5 with an ISO of 4,000
File Type: Nikon RAW

February 5, 2012 – A year of portraits – Dana Classen

02.05.12 Dana Classen & Kids

Today’s portrait is of Dana Classen, grandkids, Chris, Elizabeth, Micheal and his nephew, Taylor, after today’s services at First Christian Church. Dana is very involved in our youth groups, a scout leader for Boy Scout Troop 1 and is one of the sound technicians at our church. A mentor to all the kids of our church.

Shooting and post processing was done today on my iPhone 4. After shooting the picture with the standard camera I opened it up in the Snapseed App and adjusted the contrast, brightness, did some dodging and sharpening.

I then opened the adjusted picture with the App called PerfectlyClr and applied the standard settings to the photo which clears up the image even more. The final App I used was Photogene to apply the border.

Technical Details:
Camera: iPhone 4
Lens: Built-In Camera lens
Exposure: The iPhone doesn’t record shutter speed or aperture information
Apps Used: Snapseed, PerfectlyClr and Photogene

February 3, 2012 – A year of portraits – The Maroon Mop

02.03.12 The Maroon Mop

Today’s portrait is of the Madisonville-North Hopkins High School mascot who has been the Maroon Mop as long as I can remember, probably dating back to when I was in high school there in the early 1970’s.

Photo was processed using Photoshop CS5 with some burning done to tone down the edges. Afterwards I applied the Topaz Adjust Filter called photo pop to finish off the processing.

Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 @65mm
Exposure: Matrix Metering, 1/500, f/2.8 with an ISO of 4,000
File Type: Nikon RAW

February 2, 2012 – A year of portraits – Scott Dillingham

02.02.12 Scott Dillingham

I grabbed this portrait of Scott Dillingham during Thursday night’s basketball game at Dawson Springs. Scott is the editor and publisher of the Dawson Springs Progress newspaper and is one of those guys you’d say has ink in their blood. Great guy all around. We were setting next to each other under the basket and pointed my camera at him and called his name. I shot off about four pictures and this is the one I liked the best.

I processed the photo in Photoshop CS5 and converted it to black and white using the Topaz B&W Effects plugin to achieve this final look. I also used the burn tool to darken down the edges slightly to draw focus on him better.

Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: Nikon 50mm f/1.4
Exposure: Matrix Metering, 1/500, f/2.8 with an ISO of 4,000
File Type: Nikon RAW

February 1, 2012 – A year of portraits – Joe Kington

02.01.12 Joe Kington

Joe Kington has been a barber for 37 years, since he was 18 years old. That’s a lot of haircuts! He opened his own shop in Mortons Gap, Ky back in 1984 and has been in this place since 1996, which used to be the towns city hall. Like most small town barber shops it’s the hub for folks to stop by and visit, not just to get a haircut. If you need a good haircut and want to chat about anything then stop by and pay him a visit.

Image was processed with Photoshop CS5 with levels adjusted to lighten up the midtones and then I applied the Topaz Adjust Photo Pop filter to sharpen up the final image.

Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: Sgima 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 32mm
Exposure: Matrix Metering, 1/160, f/6.3 with an ISO of 4,000
File Type: Nikon RAW

January 31, 2012 – A year of portraits – Randy Hardesty

01.31.12 Randy Hardesty

Randy Hardesty is one of the Madisonville Community College Community Theater actors who is performing Thursday – Saturday at the Glema Mahr Center for the Arts in a production called “Almost, Maine.” Here he portrays a character named “East.”

Image was processed with Photoshop CS5 with levels adjusted to lighten up the midtones and then I applied the Topaz Adjust Photo Pop filter to sharpen up the final image.

Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 @ 80mm
Exposure: Matrix Metering, 1/160, f/2.8 with an ISO of 4,000
File Type: Nikon RAW

 

January 30, 2012 – A year of portraits – Henderson Pep Club

01.30.12 Henderson Pep Club

I just had to shoot this group portrait of the pep club at Henderson High School for my portrait of the day. I love the many different costumes, expressions and interactions going on in this picture. Of course anytime teens see someone taking their picture, they have to ham it up a bit, which usually makes for a better picture.

Image was processed with Photoshop CS5 with levels adjusted to lighten up the midtones and then I applied the Topaz Adjust Photo Pop filter to sharpen up the final image.

Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 31mm
Exposure: Matrix Metering, 1/40, f/3.2 with an ISO of 800
File Type: Nikon RAW

January 29, 2012 – A year of portraits – Don McLaughlin

01.29.12 Don McLaughlin

Today’s environmental portrait is of pastor Don McLaughlin during communion today at First Christian Church in Madisonville, Ky. Don is a loving and caring pastor that makes all who come through the doors of our church feel welcome. He is an outstanding role model and we’re honored that he is the leader of our congregation.

The processing for this photo was done in Photoshop CS5 where the photo was cropped, levels adjusted, white balance tweaked for the stain glass windows and a little dodging and burning was done. I then sent the photo to my iPhone and used the Photoshop Express app to add the border before uploading the resulting image here.

Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm
Exposure: Center weighted metering, 1/200, f/4.5 with an ISO of 4,000
File Type: Nikon RAW

 

January 28, 2012 – A year of portraits – Lana Kunz

01.28.12 Lana Kunz

Don’t Take My Picture! – Actually, I asked before shooting a picture of my co-worker Lana Kunz this evening and she was gracious enough to say yes.

After about the 8th picture she started doing the don’t take my picture thing, which helped make for this interesting portrait. The whole picture reminds me of a paparazzi type photo.

Lana is The Messenger Newpaper’s crime beat reporter and she says that the reason she is a reporter is because she doesn’t like being in front of the camera, so by reporting on the news and shooting pictures occasionally for the paper she does a pretty good job of keeping behind the scenes.

Everything about this photo was done on the iPhone. The slight blurring was due to the slower shutter speed the camera used to capture the photo and I like the way it adds to the picture. I did a auto levels adjustment in the app called Snapseed and also did just a little sharpening as well. Afterward I opened the app called Photogene to add the old style Polaroid look to the picture.

Technical Details:
Camera: iPhone 4
Lens: Built-In Camera lens
Exposure: The iPhone doesn’t record shutter speed or aperture information
Apps Used: Snapseed and Photogene

January 27, 2012 – A year of portraits – North Pep Club Group Portrait

01.27.12 North Pep Club Group Portrait

Saleste Springfield, center, along with a host of other Madisonville-North Hopkins students cheer on the Maroons to a 82-49 victory over their cross town rival Hopkins County Central Friday night at Madisonville. They are members of the peo club and had these large cutout portraits of coaching and school staff members along with players of the team they were using during the game and I couldn’t resist shooting a group portrait for my year long challenge.

Sometimes you don’t really know what to expect that helps make a picture, for this one it was Saleste. She was standing at the right side of the picture when I stepped over to them to shoot this group portrait. She wasn’t really looking at what was going on at first, as she was talking to a friend. When she looked up and saw I was taking their picture she jumped into the middle and made the picture.

The photo was edited using Photoshop CS5 using levels, standard sharping and the burning tool to darken the edges of the photo to draw the viewers eye into the center of the photo. Most folks don’t realize it, but typically your eye will go to the brightest area of a photograph first and then work its way around from there. So, keep this in mind when shooting your pictures and try not to include bright objects that might detract from your photos subjects.

Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 26mm
Exposure: Matrix Metering, 1/320, f/2.8 with an ISO of 4,000
File Type: Nikon RAW

 

January 26, 2012 – A year of portraits – David Jackson

01.26.12 David Jackson

David Jackson is the Mayor of Madisonville, Ky and recently celebrated his first year in office as mayor.

He is a graduate from the University of Kentucky and is both a certified public accountant and a certified management accountant. David is also pastors Living Waters Church of God on Dulin Street.

I shot this informal portrait as he was preparing to address an area group known as the ‘Concerned Citizens Society’ and deliver a ‘Minority Report’ at the Larry Carney Neighborhood Center in Madisonville.

The photograph was processed using Photoshop CS5 where some slight cropping was done, burning down of the mid-tones around him a little and some standard sharping of the image was done also. I also used an f/stop of 2.8, for shallow depth-of-field, as I wanted to throw the background out of focus and keep the attention on him.

Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 56mm
Exposure: Matrix Metering, 1/125sec, f/2.8 with an ISO of 4,000
File Type: Nikon RAW