Pixels welcomes Mr. Norm Haughey of Photoflex at our store tomorrow, July 9, 2010. This will be a free studio lighting course held from 1:00 PM – 4:30 PM and will cover a number of exciting lighting topics. Attendees will be eligible to win a free Small Litedome Kit courtesy of Norm and Photoflex.

Space is limited and you must RSVP at 801.233.9090 to attend.

In a rematch of last years’ MLS final, Real Salt Lake took on the LA Galaxy to a sold out home crowd at Rio Tinto Stadium. With key players from both teams playing on the United States World Cup team, I knew it would be an interesting match. RSL picked up the pace and stayed consistent for almost the whole match making numerous attempts on goal before Javier Morales scored the match winning point in the second half (photograph below).

I love shooting soccer, partly because I identify with the sport from playing through most of my childhood. The last year of RSL soccer has really been exciting to watch as the team has started to get the recognition they deserve. I had the opportunity to shoot a home game last season against Seattle Sounders FC and had been longing to get another taste of the action.

Knowing that I may not ever get another field pass I seized the opportunity to try something a little different for the game against Galaxy. I looked at all the photographs I could find from field photographers at RSL home games and found a perspective that seemed to missing: behind the goal. A little known feature of the popular Pocket Wizard Plus II radio triggers is the ability to fire a camera from a remote position via a pre-trigger cable into the camera’s cable release port.

A simple Manfrotto Super-Clamp to the barrier behind the goal, a Nikon D300, and a wide lens and I had my remote goal capture setup. I popped my triggering Pocket Wizard on top of the D3 I was hand holding and waited for the opportunity to try it out. As RSL players would close the ball in for potential strikes I would quickly flick the PW on and a shot from the D3 produced a simultaneous shot on the remote D300. Pretty cool stuff.

So why am I so frustrated by this? Invariably a technique you’ve never tried will have some kinks to it, something you didn’t foresee while you were planning. My problems were two fold:

1. Lens not wide enough. While it was close, 18mm couldn’t quite cover the entire goal edge to edge meaning that in order to cover one extreme corner of the goal I had to give up coverage on the other. Go wide or go home if you try this. Ideally I’d rock the 10.5 DX fisheye on the D300 if that had been an option or a 14mm lens on an FX body.

2. Buffer differential. Not only does the D3 have a faster continuous frame rate, it has a larger image buffer than the D300 (9fps to 6fps on continuous high). Begin a burst to early on the D3 and I could easily run the buffer out on the remote camera before the decisive moment while still having headroom on the D3′s buffer. Ideally this setup would be fun with matching camera bodies and cards ensuring that both are producing and writing images at the same rate all the time.

I bring these things up because they caused me to miss several awesome photographs. Morales’s winning kick which you see above has a companion shot out of the remote camera. The reason you aren’t seeing that shot is because I picked the wrong corner of the goal to focus the remote camera on. It was only off by a matter of inches, you can see the net curving back with the force of the ball hitting it while the Galaxy goal keeper lays on the ground looking back. Inches separated me from the perfect capture and the missed shot I have.

Several other exciting close calls by RSL strikers were missed by the remote camera because of a full image buffer. So close, but so far. I really wish I could go back for the rest of the season and perfect this stuff, because nobody else was trying it and I loved the perspective; but alas, I do not have the hookups in that department. I’m pretty proud of a few of the captures I did manage to get and to see the whole set you can visit me here.

Photo by Sam Scholes

The Utah Renaissance Festival and Fantasy Faire continues this weekend! The event is located at Millcreek Hollow, 3109 West Pioneer Road in the beautiful village of Marriott-Slaterville. Only 25 minutes north west of Salt Lake City, the Utah Renaissance Festival is a lot of fun. This year the Festival features full contact jousting, music by Lady of the Lake, the legendary Royal Magick, the incredible talents of the Rovin’ Boozers, the amazing Yom al Had Band, home town favorites Gypsy Magik, the delightful Puppet Mania, the inimitable Cranachan and the comedic exploits of the Outlaws. Dozens of other outstanding performers and musicians will be on hand to revel and entertain patrons! The gates open at 10 AM daily and close at 6:30 PM. This is a great opportunity for photographers as there are many interesting people dressed up and usually more than willing to have their photos taken. Check out my photos from last year’s Festival on Flickr.

Keyboard shortcuts are one of the fastest ways to get things done in any program but especially in Photoshop. If you aren’t using keyboard shortcuts you need to start. Download some cheat sheets and then watch my video demonstrating how to setup custom keyboard shortcuts to speed up image editing.

Looking for something to do this Saturday? Go to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point Gardens! The gardens are open Monday through Saturday, 10am until 8pm. Visit the Thanksgiving Point web site for more information.

Photo by Sam Scholes

The expression “the Devil is in the details” refers to a catch or mysterious element hidden in the details.

I think this is an important expression for every photography to consider. To me the difference between a snapshot and a photograph is all in the details.Learning to see and to capture the mysterious elements that are hidden in the details of every subject can make the difference between an okay snapshot and a great photograph.

Whenever you are photographing a subject, be it a person, a landscape, or an old truck (like I’ve shown here), learn to work the subject, to explore it, and then capture the details that you see. You might be surprised by what you’ll find.

Join Photowalking Utah for a special photowalk this Saturday to support the Utah Chapter of the National MS Society.  The Photowalking Utah group has been asked to capture images of the WALK 2010 event and its 4,000+ participants.  This is a great way for photographers to help ‘give back’ to a great cause through photography. Visit Photowalking Utah from more information.

The SLC Photo Club meeting is meeting tonight Wednesday, April 21st @ 7pm. They will be taking a short photo trip/hike up to Ensign Peak where there is a beautiful view overlooking Salt Lake City. Visit the SLC Photo Club for further information.

Photo by Sam Scholes

The Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point has started last week and continues through May. This is a great opportunity to explore their beautiful gardens and see thousands of colorful tulips, daffodils, and many other flowers. I love the Tulip Festival because it is a great place to take flower photos. If you’ve never been to the Thanksgiving Point Gardens this is a great time of year for your first visit.

“Come see over a quarter million bulbs bloom in our 55-acre garden paradise. There are over four miles of winding paths that will rejuvenate and inspire you. In addition to the spectacular display of tulips, the Thanksgiving Point Tulip Festival includes music, demonstrations, vendors, tours, food, and even storytelling for children.”

The gardens are open Monday through Saturday, 10am until 8pm. Visit the Thanksgiving Point web site for more information.

Recently I went on a road trip through parts of Utah, Arizona, California, and Nevada. We traveled about 1800 miles in 4 days. During part of the trip we traveled through Joshua Tree National Park and the Mojave National Preserve, California. These areas are both known for their Joshua Trees, and I really wanted to get some photos of the trees silhouetted against an amazing sunset. Driving down a two lane highway in the Mojave National Preserve the sun began setting and the light was just beautiful. It was the beginning of the golden hour and I was hoping for a great sunset. We pulled off the road and crossed the road, over some railroad tracks, and hopped a barbed wire fence.

Photo #1 - 6:56 PM

Photo #1 – 6:56 PM

Light is getting interesting but is pretty dull right here. Couldn’t isolate the tree from the foreground as much as I wanted. Background is cluttered with electrical poles and railroad signs.

Photo #2 - 7:00 PM

Photo #2 – 7:00 PM

Moving positions and looking for a better tree I found this one. Taken only minutes after Photo #1, the light here is getting a lot more interesting and the sky is starting to show some more color. But this still isn’t what I wanted…

Photo #3 - 7:09 PM

Photo #3 – 7:09 PM

I hiked up a small hill and then shot slightly upward, positioning the camera back towards the sunset and captured this amazing sunset. FINALLY I got the photograph I’d set out to capture. I was able to get a strong silhouetted Joshua Tree against an amazing sunset, minimize the foreground, and keep eliminate the signs and electrical poles that were distracting before. In 13 minutes I went from a really boring photo to something considerably better.


FINAL WORD: Being in the right place at the right time only got me part of the way there. By knowing what I wanted and pre-visualizing the photo I wanted to create I was able to make it happen. I did this by working the subject (the Joshua Trees and sunset), trying different compositions, and finally, using the terrain (the hills) to my advantage.