Jim Larson Photography

There is a park in downtown Boise at the old “Boise Depot.” There are no longer any trains that come through on a regular basis, but it is a fun place to go. On the depot grounds is a small park with many ponds. This was our spot for the day to take some more photos of our dog Alle.

When taking portraits, it is best not to have the subject looking into the sun. Even though the sun would give plenty of light, it causes the subject to squint and they are not relaxed. In this shot, you can see by the shadow that the light is to the right and slightly behind Alle. I used a flash on the camera to fill in the shadowy side of my subject. It also give a catch light to the eyes, which you can’t see too well here because of the small size of her eyes.

You should also use a larger aperture (smaller f stop number) to slightly blur the background. This will help keep the viewers eyes on the subject and not wandering around the whole photograph.

Canon 20D, Canon 70-200 f2.8 L IS at 145mm, 1/500 at f4, ISO 100

About 25 miles from our house is Lucky Peak Reservoir, the closest place to do any sailing. One morning the wind was kicking up very well and we noticed a sailboat across the lake enjoying the intense wind. I was shooting very much into the sun which gave some pretty high dynamic range lighting, meaning some intense highlights and shadows. The small looking sailboat (although fairly good sized for a sailboat at this lake) is dwarfed by the immense size of the mountains.

I converted the image to black and white, as the normal colors did not look as spectacular in my opinion.  That is the fun thing about being the photographer; you make the image look how you want it to look.

When photographing water shots like this, especially on the ocean, make sure to keep the horizon level. Otherwise, the water will appear unnatural.

Olympus E-10, lens at 36mm, 1/500 at f4, ISO 80

My subject did not last too long after I took this shot. I’m not sure if they looked or tasted better, but I got to consider both.

This image was extremely easy to take. I poured the M&M’s into a bowl, put the camera on a tripod and focused as close as possible. I used a smaller aperture (larger f stop number) to keep everything in focus. The lighting was a standard incandescent 100w light bulb.

After bringing the image into Photoshop, I adjusted the white balance to take away the normal orange cast seen with incandescent lighting.

Try photographing some common objects around the house and see what you come up with for the final image. You might want to eat something before you start, otherwise your subject may disappear right before your eyes.

Olympus E-10, lens at 36mm, 1/125 at f11, ISO 80

This is another portrait that I took while at Boise’s “Museum Comes to Life.” I picked this particular one today to show how you can use on camera flash to create the catch lights as I talked about in the last post.

Flash was pretty much necessary for this shot because of the large brimmed hat the girl was wearing. It brought out the detail in the shadows quite nicely. The flash was off the side of the camera too, not off the top. Had it been on the top, you would see a shadow of the hat across the girl’s forehead.

One thing that I should have been paying attention to while I was shooting this portrait was the girl’s hands. Stepping back just a bit, or zooming out with the lens would have allowed me to get both of her hands in the photo. Cutting off hands is something you try to avoid in a shot where both of them are playing an important role in the composition.

For those of you looking at the detail of this image there is one more thing that needed fixing. Pierced earrings were not in context for the period being portrayed. These could be easily removed with Photoshop.

Keep in mind the details as you shoot.

Olympus E-10, lens at 26mm, 1/80 at f8, ISO 80

It’s time for another Alle shot.  A couple of years ago I went away on a business trip and brought back a new toy for our dog Alle.  As soon as she saw it, she grabbed it out of my hands and carried it around with her everywhere.  We refer to this toy as “her baby” because of how she watches over it.

One day Alle had her chin resting on her baby, so I grabbed my camera and took a few shots.  I like to use natural light whenever I can which is the case with this photo.  There was a framed picture on the wall in back of me which reflected some “catch light” off of the glass and into Alle’s eyes.  Highlights in the eyes can add a nice touch to a portrait.

Do you have a pet?  Keep  your camera handy, as you never know when a shot will make itself available to you.

Canon 10D, Canon 28-135 f3.5-5.6 IS at 95mm, 1/15 at f5.6, ISO 400

Here is an image of the Boise valley shot through a rock wall. Actually, this is a combination of two images. The rock wall is one image, the cross, sky and city are in the second image.

The rock wall was at the old Idaho Penitentiary. This hole was already in the wall, but I had to get rid of the original background that filled up the hole. This was simply done with a layer mask in Photoshop. Other photo editing applications have the same feature. Once the mask was in place, I could layer the rock wall image on top of any other image. I chose the cross at Table Rock above the city.  The stone that makes up the wall was excavated from the quarry at Table Rock years ago.

One thing that makes this work is that I made sure the sun was at the same angle in both photos. Otherwise, it would have been an obviously fiction. For those familiar with the area, it is obviously fiction anyway, but it was a fun experiment.

Wall: Olympus E-10, 19mm, 1/160 @ f9, ISO 80

Cross: Olympus E-10, 22mm, 1/160 @ f8, ISO 80

Until recently, Boise had what was called the Boise River Festival. It had many things for families to do including watching the hot air balloon rally every morning. Each year you would see different shapes and sizes of balloons. Some of them were just strange as you saw them hanging about the city. I am very surprised there were not more car wrecks due to the distractions. I loved watching the kids expressions more than anything, as these monsters of the sky were all new to them.

This particular year I was down at the park at sunrise and took quite a few pictures of the various balloons. This is one of my favorite shots of the partially inflated Coca-Cola balloon.

Keep your eye on the local newspaper for special events that may turn out to be great photo opportunities.

Olympus E-10, 36mm, 1/100 @ f8, ISO 80

When you are in a bike race, it is all about speed.  When you are taking photos of people racing bikes, you need to think about speed as well…  Shutter speed that is.

I took this photograph during one of the HP Women’s Challenge bike races.  It was a grueling race that covered many hundreds of miles during a 10 day or so period.  This particular day the racers were in north Boise showing the onlookers and their competitors just how fast they all were.

I had the option of going for the fastest shutter speed I had available on the camera, which would “freeze” the racers in place.  I chose instead to use a medium shutter speed so that some of the racers would be blurred by their motion.  This gives the sense of motion to an otherwise still picture.

Next time you are shooting some action, try different shutter speeds and see what works  best for your particular situation.  Most importantly, keep shooting!

Olympus E-10, 36mm, 1/200 @ f9, ISO 80

Boise is a wonderful place to live. There are so many different things to see, from desert land to the south, flat farmlands to the west and hills and mountains to the north.

About 5 miles into those hills is a farmers field with a lone tree in the middle of it. I often wonder why there would be a tree in the middle of nowhere like this one.  But, maybe it wasn’t always in the middle of nowhere. Just maybe there was a farmhouse nearby and this nowhere was somewhere for the farmer and his family. It’s fun to imagine…

It’s time to get back to real life now. Whenever there is a lone subject like this tree, it can make an interesting photograph. Generally, but not always, it is best not to center the subject, but have it 1/3 from the top or bottom and sides.

Olympus E-10, 13mm, 1/60 @ f8, ISO 80

On the same trip to the San Juan Islands I wrote about a couple of days ago, about a stones throw away from the Orcas Hotel is the Orcas Market. I spied the cool lights on the market’s sign and thought it would make an interesting photograph. I like the curves of the light poles taking your eyes back down to the sign. I also like the vibrant colors of the sign and the sky.

If I would have had more time on that particular day, it would have been fun to shoot this photograph at dusk, when the sky still had a lot of color to it, but the sign was being illuminated by the lights. I see it in my head. We recently visited this island again and this sign is no longer.

Take the time to get the shot that is in your head. You may never have the opportunity to do it again.

Olympus E-10, 27mm, 1/320 @ f8, ISO 80