Dougan Photography

Mt. Airy, Part II

2007-10-19T07:19:00.000-04:00

On October 14th I participated in the second Mt. Airy photo shoot organized by one of my online friends, and fellow member of the modelmayhem.com website. There were quite a few more photographers and models at this shoot. Greg Kalmbach and I arrived at around 11am, and the park shelter was already full of people, food, and photography equipment. Quite a few people had even been there for a while and shot some photos.

For the most part, the modelmayhem shoots are a good time. They give me a chance to meet other photographers and share my experiences in photography. They also let me photograph people that I haven't previously worked with. The only issue I've had so far is the reliability of some of the models. In the three shoots I have been part of, some of the models have either been late, or have not shown up at all. My assumption is that these shoots are not taken too seriously by some, since they are not paid shoots. I can understand that, to an extent. But I still think that there is a level of professionalism that needs to be met. Just my 2¢.

Below is a slideshow of some of my photos from the shoot. There are only a few so far. I will have more as I complete them. There however will not be as many as some of my previous photos shoots, because I did not actually schedule models this time. I spent most of the shoot networking with the photographers and models.

Red/Blue channel swap for infrared photography

2007-09-21T10:13:00.001-04:00

Many people have asked me how I get the white trees and blue skies in some of my infrared photographs. This technique is achieved in Photoshop by swapping the red and blue channels. This basically replaces the red channel with the blue channel, and vice versa.

Below is a short and basic video tutorial on how to do the channel swap in Photoshop. If you have any questions, just ask.

Wedding photography. Is it for you?

2007-09-14T12:38:00.000-04:00

To answer my own question, no. Being a photographer who works alone, and is very particular, I just do not have the equipment or resources to shoot weddings at a level that I am satisfied with. I have only shot two weddings in my life. The first being my wife's cousin, and the second being a former coworker. I am happy with the "candid" shots I took. But, at the second wedding, I also took group shots after the ceremony. They just did not meet my standard for my photographs. The problem was the lack of sufficient lighting. Without a minimum of a good hotshoe flash (which I did not yet own) I had to use a higher ISO and slower shutter speed than what I would have liked to use. Because of this, they just did not turn out how I'd have liked. The reception had even less light. But with the low, white ceilings, the Nikon SB-800 flash that I own now would have worked perfect. But, the wedding was one week before I was able to buy my flash. Bad timing, for me. The resulting photos are not "bad", but they are not what I would have liked to see.

Below is a photo from my first, and second weddings (respectively).

Artist Spotlight: Gregory Kalmbach

2007-09-07T12:39:00.001-04:00

For this post, I am going to spotlight a photo from Greg Kalmbach, of Gregory A. Kalmbach Photography (GKPhoto). Greg is a friend, co-worker, and fellow photographer. He purchased his first D-SLR around March of 2007. Since then I have been lucky enough to watch as he grows as a photographer and develops his now large amount of skill. Greg began shooting nature photographs, but like myself has now grown in interest in model portraiture.

Below are two of my favorite pieces of Greg's.

Also, in the right panel of this page is a link to his blog.

Mt. Airy photo shoot

2007-08-29T11:30:00.000-04:00

Being part of the Buck Creek photo shoot sparked my interest in portraiture. So, I decided to join the next modelmayhem.com group photo shoot. This time it was located at the Mt. Airy forest, which is just north of Cincinnati, Ohio. The weather was near perfect. There were more photographers and models at this shoot. This time we had a lunch together in one of the shelters in the park, where we were able to meet and greet one another and socialize a bit. I was able to work with new models at this shoot, which added to my interest and experience shooting people.

Below is a slideshow of some of the photos from the shoot. You can also click each photo individually for more info.

Buck Creek photo shoot

2007-08-29T10:20:00.000-04:00

A few months ago a friend of mine from deviantART.com invited me to join him on a photo shoot he was getting together. He was arranging it with other photographers and some models from the modelmayhem.com website. Since most of my experience as a photographer was in landscape photography, shooting people was new to me.

Everyone at the shoot was great to work with. The models were professional, yet fun. We all had a great time. Below is a slideshow of a few photos from the shoot. You can also click each individual photo to see more info.

Infrared Photography

2007-08-29T09:39:00.001-04:00

A few years ago I purchased my first D-SLR (digital single-lens reflex) camera, a Nikon D50, and quickly began to see what I could do with it. After a few years using a point-and-shoot it was nice to finally have full control of shutter speed, aperture, and other settings that I could not fully control before. After a few months getting use to my new found control, I began to branch off into IR (infrared) photography. IR photography uses a special filter that screws onto the end of the lens to block all light but that of the infrared wavelength. I use a Hoya R72 filter on my Nikon D50. The D50, like most D-SLRs, has a filter in the camera to make it less sensitive to IR light. But that filter on the D50 is less aggressive than other cameras, so it is still fairly sensitive to IR. With IR the shutter speeds are fairly slow, so using a tripod and remote shutter release are important.

Below are some examples of my infrared work. You can click each individual photo for more info.