Cale Yarborough

-- Its always a pleasure to photograph someone in their environment. First they are inviting you into their domain, something not always done lightly. Second, it usually gives an opportunity for props that normally wouldn’t accompany a studio session. This day ended with more props than I’d ever need. I met Mr. Yarborough at his dealership and photographed him next to a trophy as large as he was among several others but after he felt comfortable with me, he wanted to show me his trophy room at the ranch. We met his gracious wife and entered the room full of memorabilia from a career of 30 years. Lighting the the room was a bare bulb for the background and the Yarboroughs was a small umbrella. They were quite at ease talking about the past and the collection. One of my favorite celebrity pics.

If I didn’t mention it before, your light source can be varied including anything you might have at hand, candle? Flashlight? Cell phone even. This image was created with a small flashlight simply moving back and forth across subject during a long exposure. Allowing beam to stay in one spot of course brightens the area exposed. Less and darker. The pattern is up to the artist. Go do some light painting! A soft focus filter adds to the effect and emulates the look of the Hose Master technique brought to my attention by Scott Blaylock of Digital Arts and Graphics.

Broadway night aerial

Not often do you see night aerials, as the shutterspeed required to stop vibration is at least 1/125 of a second. And exposures such as this can be in the seconds normally. So what to do? The first thing is to bump up your ISO. The new digital cameras go upwards of ISO 6400, thats a long way from film days of maybe 800. This was ISO 800 and with steady hands, a large aperature and successive exposures, 1/15 of a second yielded several acceptable images . Yet to be seen what the new upside down house is going to do to this landscape!