More great news and sports photos

It seems everyone is coming up with their lists of "photos of the year" or "photos of the decade." here are some of my favorites:


The Charlotte Observer Year in Photos

Sports Illustrated best photos of the decade


Boston.com 50 photos of the decade

Time Magazine The Year in Pictures

Mike

Cool photos from space

NASA has released some new photos from the Hubble telescope. Since we're only a few days away from Christmas, I thought it would be appropriate to view the stars in the heaven close-up.



Hubble's Festive View of a Grand Star-Forming Region
Click on the picture for a larger image.

Hubble's Festive View of a Grand Star-Forming Region

A directory of more images:
hubblesite.org

They are worth a look.


More on Christmas and the birth of Jesus Christ


Mike

Great news photos from 2009

boston.com has compiled 120 great news photos from 2009. It's worth a look to see how visual journalists captured some of the biggest news stories of the year. You can find part one here.

I wanted to share some insight about photo No. 1 in Part 1, the image of President Obama and his family during the inauguration. Photographer Chuck Kennedy was able to capture the image from a unique angle and it is believed that it was the closest any camera had ever been during the presidential inaugural oath.



If you watched the inauguration, did you see Chuck standing behind the podium with his back to the crowd during the oath? Was he crouched down low next to the podium? Did he have some special zoom lens from afar? No, no and no.

Chuck captured the image by using a remote camera with a wide-angle lens mounted at the base of presidential podium. Before the actual event, he tested the camera position several times to make sure he would be able to capture the once-in-a-lifetime photo.

At Homan Designs Photography we use similar technology for weddings and special events. By using remote cameras placed at unique location allows me to capture photos that I wouldn't normally be able to get. For example, during certain weddings I will place a camera somewhere on the altar to capture those moments when the bride and groom are looking away from the audience (and towards the camera).

Here is an image I got during a wedding in a small church. There was no way I could stand on the altar and not be a nuisance. I was able to get Michele and Justin as they were lighting the unity camera. No one in the church pews could see their smiling faces but I got the photograph using a remote control.



This type of technology is not some type of gimmick. They are tools used by the creative photographer to capture unique images. I had a professor tell me one time to imagine my eyes on the end of a long stick and to hold the stick high and low to find new angles to view your subjects. He was trying to encourage me not just to stand there with the camera at eye level, but to look for creative angles and locations.

By lying on your stomach you can get below your subject and shoot upwards. Using a ladder, you can get above your subjects to get a different angle. I have two different sized ladders I use on photo-shoots to assist me in getting better photos.

Next time you are taking photos, just don't stand there with the camera at eye level. Move around and try to find a different angle to view your subjects from.

Mike

Photographing wildlife

I love the outdoors and spend a lot of time in the back country camping. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is one of my favorites destinations. I've visited many different areas of the park but had not been to Cataloochee Valley since Elk were reintroduced to GSMNP in 2001. Cindy and I got a chance to visit on Nov. 4 to see the Elk and enjoy the park.

Photographing wild animals can be a challenge. Unlike a zoo or nature center, the animals are not enclosed so often you often have to "hunt" them and be ready with your camera at all times. The good news is the Elk in the Smokies are easy to photograph and relatively easy to find. They frequently can be found in the fields in Cataloochee and are not easily spooked by humans. The best time to see them is early morning or evening but they often herd together in the open fields during the day as well. Note: all the elk are tagged with numbers and wear tracking collars.

Cindy and I arrived around 1 p.m. with plans to hang around until sunset. When we arrived, I immediately saw a large bull by himself so I hopped out and took a few quick photos and then decided to drive down the gravel road to find a head. Sure enough, there was a herd of 35 in the field not far from the road. There were not many people there, probably only 8-10 vehicles parked along the road.

As I got out of the car, a couple of the females decided to cross the road right in front of me. I was able to get some closeup shots without moving.



Later on, we went back to the place where the large male was located and a second male had joined him. I got several good shots of the two bulls together.

We were only in the Smokies for about 4 hours but we took hundreds of photos of elk, turkeys, and other beautiful and interesting views in the park.

All my shots of the elk and turkeys were using a Canon 70-200 f4 L lens.

Here are some tips for photographing animals:
1) Use a monopod or tripod to help you steady the camera. It's a must if you are using a long lens.
2) Use a single point to focus your subject on. Focus on the animal's eye(s).
3) Watch your backgrounds. Move to a different location (if possible) to get more appealing backgrounds. If you are shooting dark animals, look for light colored backgrounds and vice versa.
4) Maximize your available light: Bump up your ISO; find those animals in brighter areas; watch your shadow areas.
5) Shoot in RAW.
6) Take lots of photos


Here are some of others shots we got during the day. To view the entire gallery, go here:
Smokies & Western NC gallery

For more info on the elk in the Smokies, go here:
GSMNP

A few photos from the trip:

Fun with Justin and Michele

My wife have attended and photographed dozens of wedding. No wedding is alike. Some you dance, some you don't. Some weddings the bride tosses flowers, some weddings there is no flower toss. Some are held in a church, some are held on a golf course.

When we met with Justin and Michele for dinner at our house for the pre-wedding photo consult, we quickly found out what pictures were important to them. There were a vareity of special shots they wanted but one area stood out: they wanted quite a few creative wedding party photos. Michele had even scouted out a location near the church: a court house in the middle of a traffic circle that would work great. They also arranged the wedding day schedule to accommodate extended time for this to happen.












Both Michele and Justin are very creative people and this was reflected in many ways throughout the wedding. My favorite detail was the purple Chuck Taylor tennis shoes that the guys wore.




Another creative thing about the wedding was instead of serving traditional wedding cake, they had cupcakes iced in the theme colors of the wedding: green and purple.



One of the people Cindy and I tried to capture in a special way was Michele's son Cody. We tried to pay special attention him all day and we were able to capture some special moments during the service.











Cindy and I were honored to be a part of Justin and Michele's special day and hanging out with the Renzi's, Tillotson's and all their friends.

To view all the photos, click on the photo below.

Doctored photographs

10 Most Famous Doctored Photos

I like this one the best. Check the link for more.




http://om.ly/Ipoi

Fun weddings

Now this would be a fun wedding to photograph....

On vacation with the photo-obsessed Homan family

Always be ready with your camera
When I take vacation, it usually is centered around fishing. It doesn't matter if we're vising the mountains, the beach or in-between, I love to fish. Of course my camera comes along me and my wife has her camera as well.

Recently, my family and I had a great vacation at Emerald Isle, N.C., and one of the highlights of the trip was a 6-minute and 50 seconds period of time right after dinner that had NOTHING to do with fishing.

Cindy and I were sitting at the table finishing eating at the beach-front house after a long day of mostly rain and clouds. We were lazily looking out at the heavy surf breaking less than 100 yards where we were sitting when Cindy yells out 'RAINBOW.' Without hesitation we both jump up, grab our cameras and run out the back of the house yelling upstairs to alert the kids.

The sun had just broke through the clouds about an hour before sunset and a beautiful rainbow formed directly behind the house. Cindy was photographing it from the porch and I ran down to shoot through the Sea Oats. We were excitedly shouting back-and-forth to each on what we were seeing through our cameras when her observant eye notices that there was second rainbow just to the right of the brighter one. We continued firing and I looked down the beach to my left when I noticed the other end of the brighter rainbow could be seen on the horizon. Cindy ran out on the beach with her wide angle lens trying to capture both ends of the rainbow in one shot. Unfortunately she needed a fisheye lens to get both ends. In the six minutes and 50 seconds that these rainbows made an appearance, we made 92 photos between the two of us.

To view more photos of the double rainbow, go to the Homan Designs galleries web site. You can leave comments or purchase prints including poster-sized prints on canvas.

Mike