utd senior send-off

Last year everything was free: the rides, eats. Not this year. Still fun and lots of give aways.

See you next time! or if you're like Arnold Schwarzenegger, I'll be back.

35 Rules for Portraiture

Adapted from http://lumitouch.com/benstudiotutorial/index.html : summarized and re-ordered. The original has photo examples.

Please comment on any rules you disagree with, or that surprised you. Which rule was your favorite?

35 Rules Of Good Portraiture
Portraiture is about the face. No element should distract from it.

1. Clothes: tell the subject, “No sleeveless clothes in a head and shoulders portrait”

2. Clothes: tell the subject, “Avoid bright colors and bold patterns in clothing”

3. Avoid Clutter: use simple fabrics and blurry backgrounds.

4. Choose correct stool height.

5. Choose a long lens to minimize foreshortening.

6. Camera at eye-level for head-and-shoulders framing, chest level for ¾ framing, waist level for full-length.
When shooting full length, a slight upward angle makes subject appear taller. A slight down angle can make one appear thinner.

7. No Flat Lighting. Maintain shadows and highlights on the face, but generally avoid black shadows.

8. Hair and kicker lights should kiss the subject, not blast it.

9. Generally, light clothed subjects look best on light backgrounds and dark clothed on dark backgrounds. (Related to “High Key”: no dark tones in frame, and “Low Key”: no bright tones in frame.)

10. Sit tall

11. Avoid “football shoulders”: shoulders flat to the camera

12. Lean over the belt buckle for a feeling of motion

13. Females: lean slightly away from the camera, so the camera-facing shoulder is higher

14. Project the chin

15. Males: never incline the head toward the high (feminine) shoulder

16. 1-2-3 Posing Technique (especially for females): Body turned 45 degrees from camera and main light, head turned back 20 degrees past camera position, eyes toward camera.

17. Pyramidal Base: body at 45 degrees to camera, lines of arms point toward the face

18. If It Bends, Bend It: no straight limbs or fingers.

19. If the subject has two of them, make them different.

20. Avoid 90-degree arm angles

21. Hands look masculine from the palm or back, feminine from the edges.

22. Don’t Stack or Clasp the Hands.

23. Miss America pose: weight on the back foot, back knee slightly bent, front foot before back foot and turned toward camera.

24. Don’t shoot into a bare armpit. Cover it with hair or something.

25. Don’t shoot into the crotch. Cross the legs, use a prop, or something.

26. Don’t pose a bride kneeling: wedding dresses are made to look elegant when standing.

27. Eyes should usually face the camera with whites visible on all sides. Males: eyes should follow the direction of the nose. Females: look best with more whites visible on one side than other, more glamorous if more whites on bottom than top (shot from slightly above). If any part of an eye is visible, the whole should be.

28. Glasses? Beware of a broken cheek line, especially with a strong prescription.

29. Keep the line of the cheek. Don’t turn the head so far that the nose crosses the cheek line.

30. Crop between the joints, not at them.

31. Beware Foreshortening: if one hand is closer to the camera, it appears over-large. Same with legs.

32. Couples: No two heads at the same height

33. Couples and Groups: No head directly above another

34. Groups: have those on the edges face slightly inward.

35. Groups: no shorts allowed

TIPS AND TRICKS:

Lighting: Soft main light at 45 degrees from subject. Gentle hair light (behind, top) and kicker (behind, opposite main light). Fill light (-1 or -2 stops, on other side of camera from main light). Optional light on backdrop to frame face.

Colored Backgrounds: Use gels to change color of a gray backdrop.

Heavy Subject: Shoulders back, head tall, and projected chin. Leaning forward (over a prop, for instance) helps to sweep away a paunch. Letting shadow fall on one side of the face helps to give it a longer shape.

Animated Bokeh

One of my Motion Graphics assignments is to create a piece that interacts with music.
I decided to use bokeh effects from my 85mm 1.4. Each frame was shot on automated intervals depending on how fast the scene was to be played out; all the jpegs were imported as image sequences into Adobe After Effects. While the camera shot at quick intervals, e.g. 3 frames per every 1 second, I controlled the elements on the set, grabbing lights, water control, and focus rack. I shot about 4000 frames of which 2500 got chosen into the piece. Towards the end of the piece, I used this technique to create the N & E letters.

*details later*

Spot the Soft Edges

Most lenses, when making the picture, create softness on edges of the frame. The lens focuses light sharply in the middle of the camera's sensor but as the light reaches the rim of the lenses, the sharpness deteriorates, hence the soft edges. More expensive lenses allow for more complex lens configurations to treat the soft-edge condition. For any lens, using high f-stop helps prevent soft-edge effect but not always 100%.

1/1.3th second @ f8 ISO 100

tripod

Sometimes the soft-edge effect doesn't affect our photos much. Your audience won't be spotting lens deficiencies on the first look; they'll be looking at your subject matter more importantly. There are some cases where soft edges are undesirable: A solid or consistent pattern/texture across the whole image will reveal itself more easily, you can see soft, sharp, soft looking left to right on the frame. A subject who partly reaches beyond the frame, for example, an arm that crops off to the right causes sudden sharp to soft.
Edge softness also reduces contrast in those effected areas.

Top 10 Misconceptions about Photography and the Law

From an authoritative resource, the Wedding Photographers Association.

1. You don’t need permission to photograph a work of art that is in a public area.

2. A news publication may use your photograph without your permission because it is fair use.

3. You need a model release to use a photograph of a person on a book cover.

4. If you make money from a print, it is a commercial use.

The rest on the link.
http://www.wppionline.com/newsletter/November2010/Business-Landscape.aspx

Meeting Tomorrow

Sorry for the short notice. Some of you know already. There's a meeting tomorrow in the Art Barn at 12:30 (Oct 15). Bring your camera and gear!

Experimental animated light painting

More information on the youtube description.
Do you guys want to do more of this?

New President

Hey UTD Photoclub, Ryan is now Admin. for the club... contact him for meeting details and shooting times.

Best- Stern Hatcher

HEY-UTD Photography Club,
Next meeting: Tomorrow/Friday October 1 @ 11:30AM in the ARTBARN. If you have any questions let me know. All are welcome!
Stern Hatcher- 469-450-9702

Jasna

bad

Next image REVIEW meeting: Friday Sept. 24 in the Library ... down the long hallway by the old multicultural center offices then right and another right @ 11:30. If you have any questions let me know. All are welcome!

Meet this friday in the art barn!

There's a club meet this friday in the art barn at 11:30! See you there.

ryan

late reminder: meeting tomorrow!

sorry for the late notice. there's a meeting tomorrow at 11:30 in the art barn, bring your camera and gear!

Critique Meet this Friday!

I haven't seen everyone's photos from last week, but from the ones I saw, they were pretty cool! Our next meeting is this Friday, the 3rd. We will be meeting in the multicultural center meeting from 11:30 AM to 2:00 PM. We will have access to a projector and computer, so have your files ready online or a flash drive!

We will go over everyone's photos from last Friday, answer questions, give critiques, see what we could've done better, and whatever else comes to mind.
And if we have time/people remaining, we can go shoot some pictures as well.

See you there!
Ryan

Reminder: Tomorrow is our Meeting!

Hey everyone, this is just a reminder that tomorrow is our meeting. The meeting is scheduled for noon, but I will be at the welcome week BBS picnic at 11:30 if anyone wants to eat lunch. They'll have hot dogs, burgers, and games. It is just north of the green building, in the trees. It would also be a chance to take some pictures and possibly enter it into the welcome week contest.

See you tomorrow!
ryan

Welcome Week Photography Contest

I meant to post this sooner, sorry about that. There's still a few days left! Anyways, the school is having a photography contest and is giving away Flip HD camcorder and $25 gift cards to the book store. They want submissions for pictures taken during this week's Welcome Week events. It's a great opportunity to take festive pictures and get FREE FOOD! :)

Details here: http://www.utdallas.edu/welcomeweek/

There's 5 categories. How cool would it be to have a winner from UTD Photo?!

* Most spirited
* Most creative
* Most original
* Best composition
* Best in show

Good luck!

edit: submissions are here. I see our very own Duc Cao has an entry!

OK, we will meet FRIDAY in the ARTBarn August 27nth @ NOON! Bring friends, models, props, and lunch if you like! Bring your images on a jump drive or printed for review if you can. Hope to see you all there!
Best in all things- Stern (Group Admin.)

Good evening and I hope everyone is surviving the summer heat. QUESTION: Would the club like to meet FRIDAY in the ARTBarn August 27nth @ NOON for our end of month meeting? OR should we meet at the Multi-cultural center in the library? Which do you all think is best? We can look at images, maybe shoot some pics and brainstorm imaging ideas... either place. Just let me know and I will make an Event and send it out. If we are ready, I guess I will approach the Mercury about advertising the club. I just need to know which place is best for everyone to meet. Please contact me and I will keep track and democratically we will decide. Stay COOL!

Stern- Club Admin. 2010
" I am just passing on the reminder that bringing a gun (knife or sword) onto campus would result in a felony.> I heard that some students wanted to stage an event on campus, for filming, where they would use fake guns, etc., which is not permitted under university guidelines, as well as the law.> > I know that you are aware of these restrictions, but better safe than....> > Thank you! > > Best,> > Marilyn "

Recent Model Shoot

Hey Guys,

Sorry I've been MIA for so long. I've had a busy summer.
I figured I would share some shots I took earlier this summer for the company I am interning for. It is an apparel company called 413Strengthgear.

Reminder: Photo Shoot + Meeting Tomorrow at Noon in the Art Barn

Quick reminder that the meeting is tomorrow from about 12:00 to 3:00(ish). Bring you're camera and LIGHTS! (and transmitters por favor).

see you there,
ryan