Art By Fuzzy - News » Photography

Senior Photos – Seth

Fuzzy — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 01:18:27 +0000

My wife and I had the pleasure of taking some photos of a high school senior from “The Ridge” a few weeks ago. He was more a fan of architecture and structures instead of nature and landscapes so we got together in the booming metropolis of Goshen, IN. Below are some of MY favorites:

I’m always surprised how different some of my favorites are compared to what the client picks out or even my wife’s favorites.

It was our 3rd or 4th senior photo session but our first time shooting in “the city”. There were a lot of great backgrounds and interesting textures and places to shoot photos. In fact, I wish we had more time to do some experimenting. But in the end we got a pretty good group of photos for him to choose from. I even got to have a little fun in Photoshop while doing the post processing. I added some graffiti to some of the walls using Photoshop and some tutorials from here.

All the photos were shot in RAW format on a Canon 20D or 350D. Raw files were processed in Camera Raw and some effects were applied in Photoshop CS4.

Golf Photos from South Bend

Fuzzy — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 00:09:18 +0000

Last Saturday I got to drive over to the Warren Golf Course at Notre Dame and watch the Future Collegians World Tour golf event. I was most interested in one particular competitor: Ezekiel Schwartz of Brooklyn. I had my camera so I took a few photos while I was there.

It was a pretty cool event even though the weather was pretty wet and dreary. All the images were shot on a Canon 30D with either a Canon 28-135 IS or Canon 100-300mm 4.5-5.6 lens. Images were cropped and slightly adjusted in Photoshop CS4.

Golf Photos…

Fuzzy — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 03:20:54 +0000

On Father’s Day we went on our usual golf outing. My first (and possibly only) 9 holes of the year. I took my camera along for fun. Here are a couple decent shots I got:

I just took some pictures of some of my recent pottery (and found these golf pictures on the memory card). As soon as I get those cropped and touched up I’ll post them.

Baseball Photos

Fuzzy — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 20:15:18 +0000

A few weeks ago Schwartz Photography traveled down the road to the baseball fields to take some team photos of two local Little League teams. Everything went pretty smoothly and the photos turned out pretty well. Here are a few of the shots:

We had a good time and hope that this could be another area of photography to explore.

A Little Exposure…

Fuzzy — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 02:01:42 +0000

Photos on Display

I have a few photos of hunting dogs on display out there on the world wide web. Boberosa Gun Dogs just launched a spectacular new site and many of the photos that are currently scattered throughout the site were taken by “Schwartz Photography”. Hopefully I’ll be able to take some more photos for them in the future.

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Photos of Dogs That Hunt Birds

Fuzzy — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 05:06:09 +0000

A couple weeks ago I was hired by a friend to do some photography for his business. He and his dad train dogs and run a kennel in Albion, IN called Boberosa Gun Dogs. They wanted some pictures of their dogs and kennel to use for the new website that they are having designed. So I had to get up early on a Saturday morning but it was worth it. The lighting was awesome and I got a lot of good shots (as far as I can tell). I don’t really know much about hunting or training dogs but they said that I got some good photos. It was pretty cool and I learned a lot. And they said I might be able to do it again. If it works out right I might take some photos of dogs on a regular basis for their clients. Here are a few of the photos I like:

Christmas Photos (from church)

Fuzzy — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:37:06 +0000

Every now and then I get asked to take some photos at an event that our church puts on. About the first week of December Crossroads had their Christmas music program. There was a lot of good music and the kids put on a good show and I took a few photos of all the action. They wanted mostly photos of people coming in and a few of the band but the shots of the band are more exciting so take a look at those:

Family Portraits at the Park

Fuzzy — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:37:35 +0000

Even though we learned a lot by taking pictures of a baby it was nice to get back to a family with kids that wouldn’t start crying every few minutes. We photographed this family at Bonneyville Mill park on an overcast day in October. Here is a small sample of the photos that we ended up with:

They were a great family to work with. They were a lot of fun and we got a bunch of great shots. We got some good individual photos of each kid and some good shots with all three kids… I should have put up more but I had a hard time deciding. Now I know how they feel when they say that they are having a tough time deciding which they like. At least they aren’t saying that they don’t like any of them…

Into the Realm of Baby Photography

Fuzzy — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:09:00 +0000

In October my wife and I were asked by some friends to take some photos of their son. Though we didn’t have any experience (or idea about) taking photos of very young children we decided to give it a try. We spent most of the time at the park and also took a few at Fashion Farm and a couple at their house. It was a little cold so the poor kid probably didn’t want to be out there. He wasn’t extremely cooperative but we still got a few good shots of him and the whole family. Check out a few of the photos below:

Photo Booth for Shooting Ceramics

Fuzzy — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 00:50:34 +0000

Here is my biggest project from Christmas Break. I wanted a place to photograph some of my more appealing ceramic items. I started thinking and designing a few months ago. When Christmas Break finally rolled around I put my plan into action. Since I don’t have large quantities of empty space I decided to make it collapsible. You can see the whole thing in action and a few test shots below. Not bad for my first attempt…

I did a lot of “winging it” but it turned out pretty well in the end. I built the base first. Nothing too complicated here. I made the back pretty sturdy and then attached some arms using hinges so they can swing out and hold the lights and then fold back in when I want to put it away. Next I made the “light support” which goes on top of the base and holds the arms in one place. It also makes a little tray for the lights to slide forward and backward. The height of the light support can also be adjusted somewhat. The last step was making the actual light box. I got a book from the library so I could wire the lights without electrocuting myself. I put 6 sockets inside and even put an on/off switch on the box. Everything seems to work fine but I’m going to have my electrician (brother) check it out and make sure it’s up to code (or at least won’t burn my house down). He probably could have wired the whole thing in about 20 minutes but it took me an hour or two. But at least I learned something… I cut up one of those white ceiling panels that are used for flourescent lights for diffusion and put foamcore around the box so I don’t accidentally touch some live wires.

I’m currently using some daylight CFL 100w replacements that I got from Lowes. The gray fabric that I got from Walmart seems to have a slightly yellow cast in these lights. I’ll probably try some other options and play with the White Balance on my camera and in the RAW editor to get the color the way it’s supposed to be. I used custom white balance for the test shots but it still might be a little off. Eventually I’d like to make an actual gray board for the background or even one of those graduated backdrops. It would be easier to set up, smoother, and I could probably get a completely neutral gray. I also need to paint the legs of the base black. After taking a few pictures I noticed they were showing in some of the reflections on the pots. For a temporary fix I covered them with black paper. I’m also going to work on getting the “fade to black” in better position and maybe a little more light on the front of the pot. Some of the round pieces don’t have enough light at the bottom. I’ll probably experiment with some reflectors. So far I’m pretty happy. We’ll see if it holds up and if I can make any more improvements in the future.

I did a lot of research (aka “surfing the net”) before I actually started this project so I have to give some credit. Here are a few of the sites that I looked at while working on my project.
John Glick - especially this and this
Alex Campagna
Ceramics Today
Make Film Work and Indie4K
There was also a good one on diynetwork.com but I can’t find it now.