Graduation Photos

My wife and I are proud parents of two wonderful kids: Shauna and Brian; both of them had graduation ceremonies this year.

Brian graduated from High School and started college.

Shauna graduated from college last week.

We had a chance to capture those two special events that serve more as a transition to a new stage in life for them. It's always challending trying to take pictures from inside dark auditoriums... sometimes from the upper deck!

The picture below was shot at ASA 1600 without a flash. Just really so-so results. I'm glad we got a chance to shoot some portraits outside.

Hopefully, we'll get an opportunity to shoot some formal graduation portraits soon.

Smoked Chicken: I'd Rather Eat It Than Shoot It!

A few weeks ago, I tried my hand at taking pictures of a delicious smoked chicken meal. For a first attempt, I was satisfied with the results... I would eat it!

After slow-cooking chicken on the grill for about two hours or so, I decided to try out my shooting dome. It's an enclosed dome with opaque sides to let in diffused lighting. It has one open side for shooting.

I placed the dome on the deck a short distance from the grille. Safety first! The dome was positioned so that the strong sunlight was coming from the right of the dome so that I could create some contrast and interest. I placed my camera on a tripod and set my camera to ASA 100 in aperture priority. I used a remote trigger to snap each shot.

I posed the food in a way that looked appealing. I added broccoli and different color lettuce to add variety of color and textures. Once I got the right exposure, I varied the f-stop from f/3.5 to f/22 for each composition that I created.

I am open to suggestions and will definitely try this again. In case you were wondering, the chicken was delicious. Just can't wait to prepare some more... for shoot purposes, of course!