Unbecoming Levity

Briaver and the Lynneaputians

Abacquer — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 21:29:00 -0400

So my friend Brian had an idea for a fun photo he wanted me to create for him. He wanted to be Gulliver of Gulliver's Travels, tied down on a beach by the Lilliputians... all of whom would be played by his wife Lynnea.

I originally wanted to shoot this on a beach (as per the original idea) but the lake in Chelmsford, MA that we were relaxing at didn't afford a beach with a suitable layout for the shot. So we instead did it on a nearby grassy knoll.

First we "bound" Bri by encircling him over and over with a thin twine. Then I helped him lie on a slightly raised knoll and lay flat before him so that the camera would be angled up to make him appear bigger. I said "imagine there is a six inch high person standing on your chest lecturing you" so that he would look in that direction. That was the first shot.

The subsequent shots all featured Lynnea using the thickest rope I could find on short notice as a prop. Bri would stand out of shot (typically on a footstool) and hold the rope while Lynnea would pull on it this way and that.

After recording about a dozen different poses, we did the lecturing pose, and then I shot the "sitting on the toes pose" when Lynnea was just relaxing on the stool. I thought the pose would come in useful and as you can see it did.

Shots were all done by daylight, no flash. EOS 5D with the EF 24-70mm 2.8L lens, which is the widest I own.

Then, after some cleanup in lightroom, came the hours of photoshop work to carefully clip Lynnea out of her surroundings in various pictures and edit her into this one at reduced scale. I thought the grass, which to a Lilliputian should be knee high at least, would be a problem, but it turned out that just using a gradient transparency on the ends of her legs (or whatever was closest to the ground) worked fine unless you look really close.

Things I would do differently if I shot this again:

I really need to get a chromakey backdrop for shoots like this. I shot Lynnea against a grassy green background, but that was not uniform enough to make clipping her out simple... it was fun, but it was a LOT of work.
Lynnea had been swimming prior to the shoot, and threw on a pair of pants for her poses. But in each subsequent pose water slowly seeped through the material and created spots in various places. I was mostly able to edit those out, but it was additional work.
Get thicker rope, or simply edit the rope out altogether and use the twine. The size difference between the reduced rope and the twine bugs me a little.
A beach location with a nice uniform ocean background would have made for easier editing.
I would have backed off a little more when shooting Bri. At 4x6, 6x9, or 8x12 the photo is fine, but at 8x10 the ends get clipped. That was just dumb on my part... to produce an unclipped 8x10 print some edits would be required.

All that said, I am really pleased with how the resulting image came out. And more importantly, my beloved friends Brian and Lynnea are happy with it, which is really what this was all about. Doing something nice for people I hold very dear in my heart.

Love you guys, glad you liked the photo!

Samantha's Big Day

Abacquer — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 00:20:00 -0500

Back in the ides of December my niece Samantha had a big day. She performed in a Christmas-themed dance recital with her dance troupe and then went home to have a birthday party. After the party she went back to the stage for an encore performance with her troupe. It was an important day for her and she was really keyed up, but did an excellent job during her numbers onstage. Way to go Sam!

My sister-in-law Kris, Sam's mom, asked me to come to the recital and party to take pictures. I packed some equipment up and made the long trip with equal shares of nerves and anticipation. During the trip down Kris phoned me and let me know that the director of the show wasn't keen on photographs being made. There could be no flash, and I could not stand close to the stage--she was concerned I would distract the dancers and block the views of the other patrons, which doesn't give me much credit but I could understand her concerns. More annoying was that I would not be able to use a tripod (so as not to be distracting).

So the tripod stayed in the car and my nerves got worse. How dark would it be? Would I be able to shoot anything decent at all? Would Kris be disappointed?

The answer to the first question was pitch black. The stage was lit dimly but the room was black as black could be. I went over my lens options and eventually settled on the EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS. I had both the 35mm 1.4L and 85mm 1.2L with me, but I was nervous about confining myself to fixed focal lengths given the admonitions I had received--I didn't want to be moving around a lot. Fortunately I spotted a place to the side of the auditorium where I would be out of the aisle and not blocking anyone. I asked the person collecting tickets if I could stand there quietly and shoot and she said "I don't see why not."

So I cranked my ISO wayyy up (most shots at 1250 or 1600, a few at 1000) and took a boatload of shots. The angle was less than ideal. I really needed to be in the center aisle (and on a tripod!) Despite all this I managed to snag a few dozen really great shots (IMHO). Choosing the zoom was definitely the right idea... it gave me a lot of needed flexibility.

Afterward I got to meet the show's director and the first thing she said to me was "Was that you taking pictures out there with the flash?" I assured her that was someone else and pointed out there was no flash on the camera. Then I offered to get her copies of the pictures and she seemed agreeable.

Then the 70-200mm came off and the 85mm went on for portraits of Sam at the venue where the show was held. Then it was back to her house for her birthday party where I shot over a hundred pix of her and her friends, using both the 85mm and the 35mm primes.

During the following week in rare free moments, I post processed the photos heavily in lightroom and photoshop, and prepared a CD for both my sister in law, and the dance troupe director. The CDs included my business card and a text file discussing the shoot. Hopefully the dance theatre director will be pleased with the shots and decide to contract me for future work. That would be nice!! I did hear back that Kris *loved* the pictures, and that she gave her permission for me to share pictures of Sam on flickr, and on my business website (which very much bare and under construction), and that definitely warmed the cockles of my heart.

Sadly I don't have permission from the parents of the other kids at Sam's party, or the other dancers during her show, so I am limited to sharing just pictures of Samantha, but that's okay, in my eyes she really was the star of the day. I suspect if you check out the photos you'll agree. Click the image above to check out the photoset in my flickr photostream.

Happy 11'th birthday Sam, and bravo for a terrific show!

Kittycats, Kittycats, 1, 2, 3...

Abacquer — Wed, 23 May 2007 18:15:00 -0400

This is what I saw in my upstairs bathroom window after pulling into the driveway and getting out of my car today:

Ever get the feeling someone was waiting for you to come home?

Haunted Kitties

Abacquer — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 08:00:00 -0400

I'm not sure how my wife discovered it, but we have learned our cats are terrified of ghosts. Or at least ghostly sounds. If you walk into a room in my house and let out a ululating ghostly cry, any cats anywhere in the room will suddenly reveal themselves and bolt for the door. Doesn't even have to be loud... they just freak out when they hear it. This has become a useful tool for dealing with a cat that is getting into something she shouldn't. Instead of scolding or trying to chase the cat away we just go "WOOooOOOooOOOooOOO!" and the cat will stop immediately with an extremely hilarious expression and then vacate the premises.

Our dogs remain unimpressed.

Interesting Recipe

Abacquer — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 12:16:00 -0400

What do you get when you leave a box of tissues sitting on a table in front of a running table fan?

A cat magnet!

Them Kids and Their Lingo

Abacquer — Mon, 15 May 2006 18:16:00 -0400

So Lynnea was feeding the cats tonite, and was pouring water into one of their bowls. In so doing she suddenly noticed bits of food floating in the bowl. I said "Lynnea, typically we put dry food in that bowl and water in the other one." She got a sheepish grin on and said "aw snap!"

Oooooh... Shiny!

Abacquer — Wed, 11 Jan 2006 00:06:00 -0500

New Kittens!!!

Abacquer — Sun, 27 Nov 2005 05:28:00 -0500

Since we called up the shelter on Wednesday and told them we were interested in Debbie, Dolly, and Dottie, I have had to repeatedly warn my daughter that we may not get these kittens after all, and so she should not latch on to these particular kittens just yet...

Kid Catches 5 Foot Bass, Wins Competition

Abacquer — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 11:14:00 -0400

This is a cute story, a 12-year-old girl with the prophetic name Molly Fischer showed just what a fisher she is this year by winning the Martha's Vineyard striped bass fishing tournament with a 5 foot 1 inch, 49.2 pound bass she caught...